2. SEEKING THE THINGS OF GOD 3 Beginning the search

3. Having the attitude of a seeker 1.Sufficient respect and value must be attributed to God to search at all! Psa 18:3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies

4. Having the attitude of a seeker 1.Sufficient respect and value must be attributed to God to search at all! Mal 1:14 …For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

5. Having the attitude of a seeker 1.Sufficient respect and value must be attributed to God to search at all! Rev 4:11 ¶“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

6. Having the attitude of a seeker 1.Sufficient respect and value must be attributed to God to search at all! Psa 63:1 Psa 63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water

7. Having the attitude of a seeker 1.Sufficient respect and value must be attributed to God to search at all! 2.We cannot search for God JUST to fill a void

8. Having the attitude of a seeker 1.Sufficient respect and value must be attributed to God to search at all! 2.We cannot search for God JUST to fill a void “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10 ESV)

9. Having the attitude of a seeker 1.Sufficient respect and value must be attributed to God to search at all! 2.We cannot search for God JUST to fill a void. 3.We cannot search for God just to know where he is

10. God is searching for us also… NOT to fill a void, NOT to know where we are in eternity He wants close, personal, intimate fellowship. He wants us in His house forever!

11. Knowing the Nature of our Search 1.We’re NOT searching for God because He is lost 2.God also is not the “divine search party” 1Pe 2:25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

12. Knowing the Nature of our Search 1.We’re NOT searching for God because He is lost 2.God also is not the “divine search party” 3.Our search is not a subjective experience that we sense in some way

13. Knowing the Nature of our Search 1.We’re NOT searching for God because He is lost 2.God also is not the “divine search party” 3.Our search is not a subjective experience that we sense in some way 4.Our search must be real, logical, practical

14. 2Pe 1:3 ¶His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence 2Ti 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

15. Knowing the Nature of our Search 1.We’re NOT searching for God because He is lost 2.God also is not the “divine search party” 3.Our search is not a subjective experience that we sense in some way 4.Our search must be real, logical, practical 5.Our search must work for any person

16. Rom 2:11 For God shows no partiality. Act 10:34-35 ¶So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

17. Why would one NOT want to search out a relationship with God? 1.Some are oblivious

18. Mar 4:15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

19. Why would one NOT want to search out a relationship with God? 1.Some are oblivious 2.Some feel they don’t know enough

20. 1Co 12:12-13 ¶For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

21. Why would one NOT want to search out a relationship with God? 1.Some are oblivious 2.Some feel they don’t know enough 3.Some suffer debilitating guilt

22. 1Jo 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1Jo 3:19 ¶By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 1Jo 3:20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 1Jo 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

23. Why would one NOT want to search out a relationship with God? 1.Some are oblivious 2.Some feel they don’t know enough 3.Some suffer debilitating guilt 4.And some are devoted to being critics

24. Gal 5:14-15 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

25. What’s the point? Our search for God is a search for personal relationship A relationship with the Creator is priceless We have lost our way to Him Many things stand in the way but they can all be defeated by choice and decision