It's always such a wonderful feeling having all of you here.
Heavenly Father,
May the worship that we lead be a favorable means for You to reveal Your Word, Your awesome power, heal the sick, lift up the lowly, restore the broken, comfort the hurting and bless Your Church.
May our worship invite your grace to move in our lives and cultivate resilience during temptation, repentance during sin, forgiveness during hurt, trust during disappointment, fortitude during suffering and prayer at all times, shaping us to become imitations of You. Draw us closer to Your irresistible heart of love, may we always minister in Your Name and under the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus' name
Amen
“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.”
1 Chronicles 28:9-10
It was the desire of David that his son, Solomon, would know God. The only way Solomon would be able to serve God with a perfect heart and with a willing mind was to know Him.
It is my strong desire that each one of you would know God in the same measure and with the same results. I don't want us to wait until I finish preaching to seek Him but could we reach out to Him right now and seek Him? He will be found of you! He will show Himself to you! You can know Him in these next few minutes in a very personal way…
GOD MUST ENLIGHTEN OUR EYES IN ORDER FOR US TO TRULY KNOW HIM AND THE THINGS OF GOD.
The
highest knowledge possible to man is the knowledge of God. This cannot
be gained by human reason alone. It is acquired only as God reveals
Himself to man- whether it be in nature and conscience; in history or
providence; in the Bible, or by preaching. It is possible, however to be
acquainted with what the Bible says, and know where certain truths are
found in the Bible, and yet not really know the Word.Leading educators say there are 4 degrees of knowledge.
First degree - ability to recognize certain facts, things, or ideas. For example, any one of us can identify the picture of President Clinton even though we never have met him. We may have seen our mother bake a cake; we saw the finished product, but we have never personally experienced the process.
Second degree of knowledge is that of the ability to recall facts or info: a scripture, shopping list, certain identifying features of a person. Yet there is no knowledge by actual experience. You remember what is on the shopping list, but you haven't yet taken the items from the shelves, pushed the shopping cart through the check-out area, and paid for the groceries.
Third degree - able to explain the facts to others. Can tell why each item of groceries is on the list: "I am buying these eggs, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, and powdered sugar because they are the ingredients I lack to make a cake."
It is not until the person actually goes home and mixes the proper amount of each ingredient together, heats the oven to the correct temperature, bakes the cake, frosts it, and eats a piece, that he can say he has a full knowledge of the cake.
That's the 4th degree of knowledge: acting upon what a person is aware of and understands - becoming a participator in the experience.
It is vitally important that each one of us know God for ourselves, that we go beyond merely knowing about God and accepting the facts of His existence, to experiencing Him fully in the inner man. The Bible must become more than just a rule to live by; the word of Christ needs to dwell in us richly, and work in us mightily to conform us to the image of Christ by transforming our very nature.
A poor self-image comes from a lack of achievement. A lack of achievement stems from failure to follow through with our good intentions. Those good intentions came because our emotions were stirred. Sure, our emotions do motivate us, but decisions made on the basis of emotions lack the foundation to enable us to follow through.
You may hear a fiery message and be moved to become more godly, to pray more or become a soul winner, only to find yourself fall back into your previous pattern of unconcern and laziness. Having our emotions stirred is a part of the process of change, but there has to be more. You may be able to recognize, recall and even explain God to others, but he has got to become so much a part of your life that your actions show that you have truly come to know him.
THE HIGHEST FORM OF KNOWLEDGE IS TO KNOW CHRIST JESUS
"Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."
Philippians 3:8-11
THE DRIVING AND CONSUMMATE DESIRE OF PAUL WAS TO BE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD WHEN THE LORD COMES TO RAPTURE HIS PEOPLE! HE DETERMINED THAT HE WOULD WIN CHRIST, EVEN THOUGH TO DO SO MEANT SUFFERING THE LOSS OF ALL THINGS. HE LONGED FOR "THE EXCELLENCY" OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST.
Even if all the wealth and honor that could be conceived of were his, he would be willing to renounce them in order that he might obtain the knowledge of Christ. He would be a gainer who should sacrifice everything in order to win Christ. Paul had not only acted on this principle when he became a believer, but had afterward continued to be ready to give up everything in order that he might win Christ.
He held everything else to be worthless in comparison with that knowledge, and he was willing to sacrifice everything else in order to obtain it. He highly valued this knowledge.
This apostle had not really known the God of his fathers, except in a limited way, before the time of his conversion to Christianity in Acts 9. Prior to his encounter with the risen Christ, he had diligently studied the scriptures, sitting at the feet of a learned instructor named Gamaliel. His knowledge of God had been sorely limited. He had been able to quote the scriptures and could quite possible even explain them to others, but his understanding of the will of God was flawed.
Seven men chosen by the church and appointed and prayed over by the apostles to serve the needs of certain widows. One of those men was Stephen, a man who was full of faith and of power and of the Holy Ghost. Great miracles and wonders were done by God through Stephen. Acts 7 is the manuscript of a sermon he preached in the audience of a high echelon of Jewish elders, scribes and Pharisees… Acts 6
Being full of the Holy Ghost, he saw the heavens open and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Told what he saw. It infuriated the congregation. Cries of "blasphemy" went up from them. Tore off their outer garments and grabbed up stones to cast at him. Laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. By accepting the responsibility of guarding their clothes, Saul was consenting to Stephens death. He heard the prayer of the first martyr as his blood was being poured out from the sharp stones piercing his body. Stephen called upon God, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
From that time, Saul made havoc of the church. Great persecution came to all the saints. Saul hunted down those who believed on Jesus, beat them, and committed them to prison. While on his way to a nearby city to get letters that would authorize him to persecute the church even more, something happened…
Jesus Christ alone perfectly knows the Father, and reveals Him to man.
"All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."
Matthew 11:27
This knowledge of God in Jesus Christ is life eternal.
"As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
John 17:2-3
This is Eternal Life!
This is the source of eternal life; or it is in this manner that it is to be obtained.
Simply to have heard that God is one is not to know him. Simply to know that Jesus a Savior is not to know him. To have been taught in childhood and trained up in the belief of it is not to know it.
THE APOSTLE JOHN SPOKE FOR ALL THE OTHER APOSTLES AND FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST IN HIS DAY WHEN HE SAID "THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE KNOW AND I AM WRITING THESE THINGS SO THAT YOU ALSO MAY KNOW THESE GREAT TRUTHS.
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."
1 John 5:13
"We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."
1 John 5:18-20
This is the God Saul came in contact with on the road to Damascus. This is the God he immediately began to preach, as he convinced the Jews by proving from the scriptures that Jesus was indeed the Christ.
Not only did it become the consuming passion of Paul to know Christ in ever increasing dimensions, he wanted everyone to have that knowledge of God.
Ephesians 3:19
And to know the love of Christ:
To know this; to feel this; to have a lively sense of it, is one of the highest privileges of the Christian. Nothing will so much excite gratitude in our hearts; nothing will prompt us so much to a life of self-denial; nothing will make us so benevolent and so dead to the world;
Which passeth knowledge: There "seems" to be a slight contradiction here in expressing a wish to know which cannot be known, or in a desire that they should understand that which cannot be understood. But it is the language of a man whose heart was full to overflowing. He had a deep sense of the love of Christ, and he expressed a wish that they should understand it. Suddenly he has such an apprehension of it, that he says it is indeed infinite. No one can attain to a full view of it. It had no limit. It was unlike anything which had ever been evinced before. It was love which constrained Christ to become incarnate; to leave the heavens: to be a man of sorrows; to be reviled and persecuted; to be put to death in the most shameful manner-on a cross. The apostle desired that as far as possible everyone should understand that great love which the Lord Jesus had manifested for a dying world.
That you might be filled with all the fullness of God: What an expression! How rich and glorious!
They were to be "full of God." One commentary says it means "that you may have the richest measures of divine consolation and of the divine presence; that you may partake of the entire enjoyment of God in the most ample measure in which he bestows his favors on his people."
It was to be with "all" the fullness of God; not with partial and stinted measures of his gracious presence, but with "all" which he ever bestows.
This kind of fullness is spiritual, elevating, pure, and Godlike. We dwell with God; walk with God; live with God; commune with God; are like God.
"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit."
Ephesians 5:18
All intoxication is prohibited in the Scriptures-no matter by what means it is produced. There is, in fact, but one thing that produces intoxication. It is "alcohol"-the poisonous substance produced by fermentation. This substance is neither created nor changed, increased nor diminished, by distillation. It exists in the cider, the beer, and the wine, after they are fermented, and the whole process of distillation consists in driving it off by heat, and collecting it in a concentrated form, and so that it may be preserved.
Wherein is excess. It occurs only in two other places in the New Testament, where it is rendered "riot." It means that which is unsafe, not to be recovered; lost beyond recovery; then that which is abandoned to sensuality and lust; dissoluteness, debauchery, revelry.
Drunkenness is a sin that seldom goes alone, but often involves men in other instances of guilt: it is a sin that's very provoking to God, because it evokes a false sense of joy, strength and courage that is not only short-lived, but alcoholic substances are harmful to our bodies and to our minds.
Instead of being filled with wine, you need to be filled with the Spirit. Seek for a plentiful measure of the graces of the Spirit, that would fill your souls with great joy, strength, and courage, which things sensual men expect their wine should inspire them with. We cannot be guilty of any excess in our endeavors after these. We ought not to be satisfied with a little of the Spirit, but to be filled with the Spirit. It is by this means we shall come to understand what the will of the Lord is; for the Spirit of God is given as a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding.
Be filled with the Spirit is best clarified as: Keep on being filled; be continuously filled with the Spirit
In closing...
AS WE INCREASE IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, HE FILLS US WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL. IT IS THE WILL OF GOD THAT EVERYONE COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH COMES TO THOSE WHO HEAR THE GOSPEL AND ACT UPON IT. JESUS MADE IT PLAIN THAT WE MUST DO MORE THAN BELIEVE ON HIM.
WE SEE, UNDERSTAND AND PERCEIVE SALVATION, WHEN WE BECOME INVOLVED IN THE TRUTH BY CONFESSING THEIR SINS AND BY SUBMITTING OURSELVES TO GOD'S WILL.
Unfortunately, some people are never able to come to the knowledge of truth!
They are not able to know the truth, because they resist it!
Why do they resist the truth?
Because their minds have become corrupted, holding onto unrighteousness!
Because they know God, but neither glorify Him nor are they thankful towards Him!
They have become reprobates, an unprincipled people.
God wants you to know him, and He wants you to retain that knowledge through all of life.
And believe me, there is no other, no better way to live!
And now May the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you
The Lord life up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries