13/10/2019
SUNDAY OCTOBER 13, 2019
SUNDAY SERVICE
MESSAGE TITLE: GETTING PERSONAL WITH GOD
PREACHER: PASTOR PHIL
INTRODUCTION
The dictionary offers different meanings of the phrase “getting personal”. In the context of my message this morning, I would want us to use this definition - “something done by someone directly rather than getting another person to do it.”
In the Old Testament, it was impossible for any person, perhaps with the exception of those individuals in the offices of the priest or prophet, to have that personal relationship with God.
Beloved, it is for that reason that the children of Israel feared, or rather, were frightened of God.
Even today, many believers struggle with having a personal relationship with God, although Jesus Christ has made that possible through his death and resurrection.
Mark 15:37-38 tells us, “And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. THEN THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS TORN IN TWO FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.”
The curtain was torn into two, exposing the Holy of the Holies, a part of the temple's sanctuary that had been hitherto only accessible to the priests.
The tearing of the curtain, however, symbolised that because of Jesus' death, access to the Father has been granted to every believer. It means we could all get personal with God.
One reason why some believers struggle to get personal with God is because they have not yet had the revelation of Fatherhood of God.
The relationship we have with God, and how we interact with Him, is usually influenced by how we related with our own biological father.
The relationship I had with my own father wasn't very intimate, so it took me a long time to really open up to God and pour out all that was in my heart. But God is ever-ready to embrace you as your Father because Christ has already done everything necessary for that relationship.
1. The Revelation of Fatherhood
Many people struggle with “father issues” for a number of reasons;
i. They grew up as an orphan
ii. They never knew or had a relationship with their biological father
iii. They never had a father figure in their life
iv. They were abused by their father
It is for this reason that when they hear the word
“father”, it invokes memories of pain or loss.
- The children of Israel always struggled with sin because they never had the revelation of God as Father.
- They only knew God as “judge.”
Jesus, however, was manifested on earth so He could reveal the Father.
John 14:9 (KJV) says, “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?”
2. Intimacy is Key
- I shared with you before a message titled Intimacy with God. I believe you have meditated on it and that you are putting it to work. Why is this important?
- You can never understand or appreciate God as Father unless you have intimacy with Him. That intimacy allows you to get personal with Him.
- Some, however, struggle to have that intimacy because of the father issues I mentioned before. Sometime it can be an orphan spirit. If you are one such person, it is important to pray that God heals you, or deliver you, from that spirit, and then manifest Himself to you as Father.
- When this happens, it allows you to have intimacy with God, and with that intimacy, it becomes easier to unlock answers to your prayers because you are bold enough to approach God as Father.
- When you are personal with someone, it means you have no fear to approach them or ask anything of them. Hebrews 4:14-16 (KJV) says, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
- If you have a bad relationship with your father, however, you will always avoid him.
3. Religion is Impersonal
- Religion is impersonal, but relationship is personal.
- Usually, when a person is saved, it can be an act of religion maybe because their emotions have been whipped up during praise and worship or when the Word was being preached.
- But it is important to move from religion to relationship. How do you do this? By cultivating a personal relationship with God. Get to know Him through study and meditation of the Word, prayer and worship.
- Having an intimate relationship with God, however, ruffles some religious people's feathers because they have a Pharisee-like attitude that seeks to bar people from approaching the Throne of God. They ask you, how can you call God, Daddy? But He is your Daddy, isn't He?
- Because the Pharisees frowned upon ordinary people's desire to be close to God, they never took it kindly when Jesus addressed God as “My Father.” They thought it was blasphemous!
- When I was in primary school, my dream was to become a police officer because that was my fathers job. At that age, almost every son wants to be like their father and in everything.
In like manner, when we come to Christ, this should be our desire, that we become like our Heavenly Father. All this is very scriptural. Ephesians 1:5 (AMP) says, “Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].”
- This is personal. It is intimate. And you must long for this kind of loving relationship with your heavenly Father.
- I encourage you to get personal with God although I understand sometimes its not easy to develop this kind of relationship. Like I said earlier, this can be determined by the kind of relationship you had with your biological father. For me, this was not instant primarily because the relationship I had with my biological father was to a greater extent, transactional. I remember that most of the conversations I had with him were about the things I needed, be it at home or for school: text books, stationery, school shoes etc. We didn't have conversations.
- I know it is like this for many believers. Our relationship with God is transactional: Lord, do something for me? But as you grow spiritually, it becomes personal: Lord, what can I do for you?
- Don't hide from God. I always avoided being in the same room with my biological father when I was growing up. Whenever I saw his vehicle's headlights through the window as he arrived home whilst watching television at night, my siblings and I would dash off to our bedrooms and pretend that we were asleep. But don't distance yourself from God. Don't run away from Him. He desires to fellowship with you. He longs for a loving relationship with you because love is His nature. Study the gospels and learn how Jesus related with His Father. He established a pattern for us that we must follow if our relationship with God is to be fruitful.
- At some point in my walk of faith I decided to become open with God, to be like an open book before Him. I don't hide from Him how I feel, and what I think about something. I pour out everything, wheat and chaff. Develop your own peculiar relationship with the Lord.
4. Cry, Abba!
- I don't know who God is to you. But it matters for you to know, and act accordingly. Consider what Paul said in Romans 8:15-16 (KJV), “For ye have not received the spirit of bo***ge again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, WHEREBY WE CRY, ABBA, FATHER. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God.”
(i)We received the spirit of adoption because we were once strangers to God, but we are now sons
(ii) Abba is the Aramaic term for Daddy. Aramaic was Jesus indigenous language. In its cultural context, when you say Abba, it means theres a close, intimate relationship between a father and his son.
(iii) According to Strongs Concordance, Abba carries the connotation of tender endearment by a beloved child who has an affectionate, dependent relationship with its father.
CONCLUSION
- Most of the things I did in the early years as I was searching for God were probably religious. It was after I got born again and started searching the scriptures and listening to other established ministers of the gospel who had walked with God for longer than I have, that I learnt Christianity is not a religion.
- Jesus didn't come into the world to give us a religion as many people including some Christians often assume. By the time Christ was manifested in the flesh in the world, the world was already choking with countless religions and there was no need to introduce another one. All those religions had failed to provide lasting solutions to mans condition the condition of sin. What man really needed was a vital relationship with God. And Christ came to show us the way back to the Father's throne room and to His heart.
- Jesus Christ clearly understood His mandate, which was why He said Hed come to bring life and restore the relationship that man had with God before the fall in the Garden of Eden. John 10:10 (KJV) says, “The thief cometh not for but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
- This was Jesus' purpose. This statement, however, appears to raise a lot more questions than answers. If the reason Jesus Christ came into the world was so that we might have life.
God bless you!
PRAYER FOR YOU
Father God I thank you for your children, I thank you for Kingdom Family Church. I pray that this word will transform each and every one of them. May you bless them and bless them indeed. May you heal all those with father wounds and father hurts and may you manifest Yourself to them as Father and give them power to become sons. We bless your name, Lord. In Jesus mighty name, Amen!
Have a blessed week!
