Sermon Notes

“It Pursues You”

By Brother Kenneth Ray

April 10^th, 2011

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The theme for this month is ‘Pursue After It.’  There is something chasing after you, as well.  I also want to make the point that there is a difference between knowing and considering.  You may know something, but do you consider it?

 Matthew 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness…

 There are two things here:  Seek God first, and that is a first person action; no one else can do that for you.  Also, Seek His righteousness, and that is also a first person action; no one else can force you to be righteous.  Matthew 6:33 gives an answer, at least in part, what it is that we are to pursue.

If I were to poll everyone in the room, I bet each of us would have or have had a goal or dream that we have or that we would like to pursue.  This topic, as with many others, is not cut and dried, but has many layers, from simple to complex.

I said earlier that something is pursuing you.  The things pursuing you have no lack of time, money, or effort.  How often do you consider that God is pursuing you?  Notice that I did not ask if you know that God is pursuing you, but how often do you consider it.  You may ask, “What does that have to do with anything?”  You don’t pursue what you don’t consider.  How often does somebody get their feelings hurt, and ask, “Why did you do that?”  Generally, the answer is simply, “I wasn’t considering you when I did it.”  It isn’t that you meant to exclude them, or do something to hurt them, you just didn’t consider them when you made your decision; they weren’t part of the process.  God wants to be part of your process.  If you don’t consider God, then you won’t pursue Him.  God is happy when you stop being stubborn and prideful and just allow yourself to be caught by Him.  How many times do we say, “I know, but…” and the ‘but’ is, I will not consider it.  Sometimes we forget just what we are.

 James 1:23-24 …forgetteth what manner of man he was…

 You notice that it says, ‘what manner of man he was.”  God does things to remind you.  Without considering God, we forget what we ‘was.’  Without considering God, we don’t practice, don’t study, we stop doing those basic things.  This is what we forget, that we need Jesus to get into Heaven.  We need Jesus to get through this life.  We are different than we were when we first came to Jesus, but we are still what we ‘was.’  We are still frail, and a vapor that is quickly gone (James 4:14).

 Jeremiah 2:32 …My people have forgotten Me days without number.

 How do people get to the point where they have forgotten God days without number?  Just live life.  There are plenty of day to day distractions.  You have to make time to consider God.  Take time for Jesus.

There are three things that God asks us to consider:

One:  Our ways. 

Haggai 1:5-7   …Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

Two:  What I say.

1 Timothy 2:7  Consider what I say…

Three:  Others.

Hebrews 10:24            …consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.

Who are you going to let catch you?  Two weeks ago we talked about a roaring lion:

1 Peter 5:8      …your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about…

He’s pursuing you, too.  It’s much better to let God catch you.  

Revelation 3:20-22      …to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne…

This is where we count the cost.  Consider both here and now as well as long term.  A lot of people talk about how being a Christian is boring.  Christians don’t drink, or have fun.  Of course, Christians also don’t get hangovers.  We don’t spend the morning wondering, “Why in the world did I do that last night?”  But we do have fun.  I went bowling the other night.  I got a gobbler—that’s three strikes in a row.  I was wondering if God was going to give me a four-banger—that’s four strikes in a row.  See, I know I’m just not that good; it was all God.  But it was fun.

I was watching the Masters Tournament (golf), and they kept talking about keeping committed to the shot, because the course is not an easy one.  One announcer said, “Good shots are not rewarded; great shots are.”  If you don’t feel that you are being rewarded, then you should consider, are you playing good, or are you playing great?  Do all that you can for God, because He will do all He can for you.  He will never leave us, nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

When we can see the end, we will keep pushing.  When you can see the finish line, it’s easier to keep going.  When we get set back, we keep going.  The end is so close.

                             Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd