WEBVTT 00:00:05.129 --> 00:00:08.009 Well, here we are another week, another episode 00:00:08.009 --> 00:00:10.689 of the Semi -Seminary. And this week, we talk 00:00:10.689 --> 00:00:14.869 about gods that don't exist. It's a far too common 00:00:14.869 --> 00:00:16.789 story of people who were introduced to spiritual 00:00:16.789 --> 00:00:20.030 faith as a child, but as they grew up, they stepped 00:00:20.030 --> 00:00:23.370 away from faith often because of a belief in 00:00:23.370 --> 00:00:26.829 a God that just doesn't exist. Some characteristic 00:00:26.829 --> 00:00:30.429 about God that they felt He should have, but 00:00:30.429 --> 00:00:33.009 one that's just not promised to us in Scripture. 00:00:34.260 --> 00:00:37.500 Maybe that's you. Maybe your spiritual relationship 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:40.780 with God isn't what it should be, or maybe it's 00:00:40.780 --> 00:00:43.659 flat -out non -existent. And it might be, and 00:00:43.659 --> 00:00:46.640 I say this respectfully because if I heard your 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:48.899 story, I'd most likely feel the same way you 00:00:48.899 --> 00:00:52.020 do. But respectfully, maybe it's that you're 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:55.759 believing in a God that doesn't exist. Today 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:59.380 we look at hide -and -seek God. Sometimes we 00:00:59.380 --> 00:01:02.299 think that God's omnipresence means that we should 00:01:02.299 --> 00:01:04.659 feel him with us always, and there are times, 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:07.739 even times when we think he should be there, 00:01:07.859 --> 00:01:11.540 and we just don't feel anything at all. We think 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:16.260 God is hiding. Why is it sometimes we just don't 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:19.760 feel God near us? Today's installment of the 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:23.260 semi -seminary in Hide and Seek God. I'll see 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:31.500 you on the other side. So go ahead and get started 00:01:31.500 --> 00:01:34.719 this evening. The topic of tonight's discussion 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.719 kind of came out of the lessons that we've been 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:40.319 having at Sunday School, our Sunday School class. 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:44.420 It kind of began last Sunday in a conversation 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:49.120 we had about how when we grow up as kids and 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.439 we learn about the Bible and we become adults, 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:56.400 sometimes we... We walk, there are people that 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.879 sometimes will challenge church or maybe walk 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:01.060 away from church or they'll walk away from their 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:03.920 faith because the God that they were taught about 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:06.019 when they were children, when we grow up and 00:02:06.019 --> 00:02:09.120 we are faced with the difficulties of the world, 00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:13.099 sometimes that God doesn't exist. Sometimes I 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:14.740 feel like there are people that maybe walk away 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:16.620 from the church or they walk away from faith 00:02:16.620 --> 00:02:19.960 because they've been disappointed by a God that 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:24.379 just doesn't exist. And so I would like just 00:02:24.379 --> 00:02:27.099 in maybe different settings like this, maybe 00:02:27.099 --> 00:02:29.819 we're going to talk more about it on Sunday mornings. 00:02:29.900 --> 00:02:31.919 If you'd like to be a part of that Sunday school 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:35.120 class, I want to invite you, come on down on 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:38.199 Sunday morning. We'll be cooking you breakfast 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:41.000 for you, and we will serve breakfast at 9 .15, 00:02:41.219 --> 00:02:43.039 and we'll continue our Sunday school discussion 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.199 right here at 9 .30 next Sunday. So I'd certainly 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:50.430 invite you to come down for that. So in just 00:02:50.430 --> 00:02:52.830 different settings, I'd like to talk about, as 00:02:52.830 --> 00:02:55.849 I think about them, a lot of this, that idea 00:02:55.849 --> 00:02:59.370 there comes from Andy Stanley, who's Charles 00:02:59.370 --> 00:03:03.009 Stanley's son, a famous pastor from the Atlanta 00:03:03.009 --> 00:03:10.090 area. And that's kind of his ministry vision. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.020 is that he recognizes that there are people in 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:15.379 the world that have walked away from Christianity, 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:17.719 that they have walked away from their faith, 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:20.759 because they, at some point along the line, were 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:25.300 taught about a God that just doesn't exist. And 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:27.759 so, I'd like to think about some different gods 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:33.759 that people have, and maybe we could take a look 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:36.680 at them. Tonight, I'd like to talk about what 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:40.669 we could call the hide -and -seek God. I want 00:03:40.669 --> 00:03:44.909 to believe in God, but I don't feel God. How 00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:47.250 do you believe in a God that you can't see or 00:03:47.250 --> 00:03:50.949 that you can't hear speak audibly, that you don't 00:03:50.949 --> 00:03:55.750 feel? I want to believe in God, but I don't feel 00:03:55.750 --> 00:04:01.009 Him. Now, I wonder, have you felt God's presence 00:04:01.009 --> 00:04:07.330 today? Now, let me ask you, interestingly, how 00:04:07.330 --> 00:04:12.319 do you know? that you felt God? Think about it. 00:04:12.340 --> 00:04:15.180 How do you know? What would you say? You know, 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:18.660 you get goosebumps or you get that tingly, wingly, 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:21.939 ingly feeling, right? Maybe sometimes you feel 00:04:21.939 --> 00:04:23.420 God and you're overcome with the presence of 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:26.519 God, you start crying, right? Maybe it's just 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:29.759 a peaceful, easy feeling. Sometimes, I don't 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:32.980 know. So let me ask you, if you didn't feel God 00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:38.500 today, whose fault is that? Think about it. Was 00:04:38.500 --> 00:04:42.040 it God's fault? God might be looking at you and 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:43.879 saying, you know what, I don't like your attitude 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:47.660 this week. So I'm going to give myself to everybody 00:04:47.660 --> 00:04:51.480 else but you. Next week, maybe, if you're better. 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:57.180 Is it God's fault? Is it our fault? Is it that 00:04:57.180 --> 00:04:59.379 our spiritual antennas just weren't up and tuned 00:04:59.379 --> 00:05:03.779 the right way? What do you do if you don't feel 00:05:03.779 --> 00:05:07.350 God? So what I want to do this evening, hopefully, 00:05:07.410 --> 00:05:10.470 is to perhaps show you that the presence of God 00:05:10.470 --> 00:05:15.629 is so much bigger than our feelings. And to introduce 00:05:15.629 --> 00:05:18.069 this talk, I would like to say, and you should 00:05:18.069 --> 00:05:21.709 have a little note there, and it's this truth, 00:05:21.990 --> 00:05:25.170 that if you don't always feel the presence of 00:05:25.170 --> 00:05:30.189 God, you're not alone. If you don't always feel 00:05:30.189 --> 00:05:33.110 the presence of God, friends, the good news is 00:05:33.110 --> 00:05:37.139 you are not alone. alone. Let's look at the 88th 00:05:37.139 --> 00:05:41.240 Psalm for a moment, if you will, verses 13 and 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:45.040 14. The psalmist, you can feel the frustration, 00:05:45.259 --> 00:05:48.759 I think, as he cries out and says, but God, I 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:52.040 cry to you for help, Lord. In the morning, my 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:55.620 prayer goes before you. Why, Lord, do you reject 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:59.660 me and hide your face from me? God, I need your 00:05:59.660 --> 00:06:03.199 help. I need to feel your presence right now, 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:06.579 but it's like, For some reason, heaven is silent. 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:10.540 It's like there's a ceiling that is somehow blocking 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:14.040 me from knowing you, God. I need your presence, 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:18.040 but you're not even there. God, why do you reject 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:20.740 me? And we can look at some of the spiritual 00:06:20.740 --> 00:06:24.720 greats that we find in the Bible. David had very 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:28.639 intimate times with God. A man after God's own 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:31.449 heart, right? Yea, though I walk through the 00:06:31.449 --> 00:06:34.430 valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. 00:06:34.529 --> 00:06:39.149 That's David saying that. Why? For you are with 00:06:39.149 --> 00:06:44.089 me. And other times, David cries out to God, 00:06:44.170 --> 00:06:48.290 where are you? I can't feel you. Why aren't you, 00:06:48.310 --> 00:06:51.589 God, answering my prayer? Why are you allowing 00:06:51.589 --> 00:06:54.509 my enemies to do this to me, God? God, where 00:06:54.509 --> 00:06:58.480 are you? Paul, in the New Testament, right? This 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:01.259 guy experiences the risen Christ and he has this 00:07:01.259 --> 00:07:04.259 heavenly experience one time that is so glorious 00:07:04.259 --> 00:07:06.699 that he's not even allowed to talk about it. 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:10.500 Yet, you know what he did for the first 17 years 00:07:10.500 --> 00:07:13.379 of his life after he became a follower of Jesus, 00:07:13.459 --> 00:07:18.660 wanting to preach? He waited. He waited and he 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:22.420 waited and he waited, making tents. God, give 00:07:22.420 --> 00:07:27.899 me a chance. God, where are you? I don't feel 00:07:27.899 --> 00:07:32.459 you. Jesus, right? Even think about this. Jesus, 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:36.019 who walked in the most intimate fellowship moment 00:07:36.019 --> 00:07:39.519 by moment with God, on the cross, He becomes 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:43.420 sin for us. And I'll be honest, I can't fully 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:46.959 explain. what's going on here because I don't 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:50.079 know exactly what God did or didn't do scripture 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:53.420 just isn't very clear but evidently when Jesus 00:07:53.420 --> 00:07:57.920 became sin and died for our sins God was so holy 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:01.759 that he couldn't look upon him Whatever happens 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:05.339 in that moment on the cross, the world is going 00:08:05.339 --> 00:08:08.860 dark as Jesus gives up his life and he looks 00:08:08.860 --> 00:08:12.220 up in his most desperate moment and cries out, 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:18.180 Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? My God, my God, where 00:08:18.180 --> 00:08:24.920 are you? Why have you forsaken me? Jesus, God's 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.500 Son. in his greatest moment of brokenness. God, 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:32.620 I felt you my whole life, and I can't feel you 00:08:32.620 --> 00:08:37.460 now. Where are you, God? Now, I don't know if 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:39.120 any of you might have read a guy by the name 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:42.179 of C .S. Lewis, any of his books. He's kind of 00:08:42.179 --> 00:08:43.940 like, if you're a Christian, or maybe you don't 00:08:43.940 --> 00:08:46.539 know him, he's a literary giant in Christian 00:08:46.539 --> 00:08:49.779 writing. I'm sure you've probably heard of the 00:08:49.779 --> 00:08:53.330 Chronicles of Narnia, right? C .S. Lewis. He 00:08:53.330 --> 00:08:55.750 wrote other books like Mere Christianity. He 00:08:55.750 --> 00:08:58.529 wrote tons and tons of books. The Screwtape Letters 00:08:58.529 --> 00:09:01.370 is another really great C .S. Lewis book. Amazing, 00:09:01.509 --> 00:09:04.610 amazing books. And this spiritual giant actually 00:09:04.610 --> 00:09:08.049 wrote this at one time in his life when he didn't 00:09:08.049 --> 00:09:11.470 sense, he didn't feel the presence of God. Here's 00:09:11.470 --> 00:09:13.330 what he wrote during one of the painful times 00:09:13.330 --> 00:09:16.470 of his life. He says that he cried out to God 00:09:16.470 --> 00:09:20.179 and he said this. He said, I got a door slammed 00:09:20.179 --> 00:09:23.419 in my face and the sound of bolting and double 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:27.200 bolting on the inside and after the silence. 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:31.639 C .S. Lewis. He went on to say that this had 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:34.980 caused him to doubt the presence of God. He said 00:09:34.980 --> 00:09:38.559 this in a metaphorical way. He said there were 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:42.700 no lights on in the windows. It might be an empty 00:09:42.700 --> 00:09:47.879 house. In other words, is God even there? Was 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:51.360 that house ever even inhabited? It seemed so 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:57.740 once. Why is God so present a commander in our 00:09:57.740 --> 00:10:01.960 time of prosperity and yet so absent in our very 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:05.559 time of trouble? If you don't always feel the 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:10.019 presence of God, you are not alone. So what I 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.340 want to do... with the remainder of my time here 00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:15.379 tonight. So I would like to suggest three possible 00:10:15.379 --> 00:10:20.039 reasons why some people might say, yeah, I want 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:22.860 to believe in God, but I don't feel Him right 00:10:22.860 --> 00:10:26.360 now. Now, I am certain there are more reasons, 00:10:26.419 --> 00:10:29.580 but I'd like to start at least with three that 00:10:29.580 --> 00:10:35.179 might give a longing just to pursue God and the 00:10:35.179 --> 00:10:37.139 chance of perhaps finding Him in a more intimate 00:10:37.139 --> 00:10:40.299 way. Thought number one, why don't we always 00:10:40.299 --> 00:10:44.860 feel God? Number one, maybe, perhaps for some, 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:49.960 you're over -sensationalizing it. You're over 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:53.539 -sensationalizing it. You're doing exactly what 00:10:53.539 --> 00:10:58.860 the disciples did in John's gospel, chapter 6 00:10:58.860 --> 00:11:03.649 and verse 30. They said, give us some sort of 00:11:03.649 --> 00:11:06.830 big, bold sign. Give us something clear. Give 00:11:06.830 --> 00:11:10.110 us something that, you know, ta -da! That we 00:11:10.110 --> 00:11:13.210 can believe in you. They asked Jesus, what sign 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:17.190 then will you give that we might see it and believe 00:11:17.190 --> 00:11:20.009 in you? What are you going to do for us, Jesus? 00:11:21.110 --> 00:11:25.350 And then they start using the past to increase 00:11:25.350 --> 00:11:28.990 this argument. Our ancestors ate manna in the 00:11:28.990 --> 00:11:33.000 wilderness. And it's written that God gave them 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:37.639 bread from heaven to eat. God did this. God did 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:40.100 this miracle. That's bread from heaven. Jesus, 00:11:40.220 --> 00:11:44.360 do something like that. Give us some sense that 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:47.820 God is with you. There's some in our world today 00:11:47.820 --> 00:11:52.000 that may just be over -sensationalizing it. You 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.659 want to know God. You want to feel it. Yet you're 00:11:54.659 --> 00:11:58.299 looking for that loud, thunderous, audible voice. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:02.440 You're like, I want God to speak to me and it 00:12:02.440 --> 00:12:05.059 be like, thou shalt breaketh up with that man. 00:12:06.179 --> 00:12:10.460 You want the angel to appear to you and say, 00:12:10.580 --> 00:12:13.500 which way do I go? And the angel says, go that 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:19.919 way. Oversensationalizing it. That's what people 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:22.279 expect all the time. And if they don't have that, 00:12:22.299 --> 00:12:24.600 then they don't have God. And that's not how 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:27.679 God always works. God doesn't always reveal himself 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.789 that way. There are times when you may feel Him. 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:34.190 There are times when you may not. And we have 00:12:34.190 --> 00:12:37.809 to understand that feelings are not the only 00:12:37.809 --> 00:12:41.750 evidence that God is with us. And if you always 00:12:41.750 --> 00:12:46.889 felt God, then you wouldn't need faith. And without 00:12:46.889 --> 00:12:50.950 faith, it's impossible to please God. And there 00:12:50.950 --> 00:12:55.679 are some people just saying it. They over sensationalize 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:58.240 it. They're always looking for that goose bump 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.899 feeling, that audible voice, when sometimes it 00:13:02.899 --> 00:13:06.799 is a quiet whisper. Perhaps there are some of 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:09.960 you that you are looking for something that is 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:14.559 not there because God is with you always. The 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:18.860 second thing, there are some I believe, you may 00:13:18.860 --> 00:13:23.100 not feel God because maybe, truthfully, Your 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:26.539 heart is hardened. Maybe your heart is hardened. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:30.059 You were at one point in your life, there was 00:13:30.059 --> 00:13:33.080 a time when you were close to God, but now your 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:36.840 heart isn't as soft towards God as it once was. 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:40.120 This is Jesus quoting the prophet Isaiah in the 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:42.820 13th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:47.039 verses 14 and 15. Jesus says this. He said, you 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.320 will be ever hearing, but never understanding. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:52.440 You will be ever seeing, but never perceiving. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.120 And then he said, for this people's heart has 00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:59.379 become calloused. They hardly hear what their 00:13:59.379 --> 00:14:04.000 ears, and they have their eyes closed. They've 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:07.340 closed their eyes. What happened? They were close 00:14:07.340 --> 00:14:11.340 to God perhaps at one time, but over time things 00:14:11.340 --> 00:14:15.340 and their heart just grew harder. Now spiritually, 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:19.279 They didn't see like they used to see spiritually. 00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:24.360 They didn't hear like they used to hear. Perhaps 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:27.700 some of us have maybe allowed our hearts to grow 00:14:27.700 --> 00:14:31.500 hard for the things of God. And we need to understand 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:35.840 that the number one cause of a hard heart is 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:39.779 sin. Sin in our life, we just talked about this 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:43.179 on Sunday, sin in our life that separates, that 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:46.740 creates a distance. From God, right? Let me explain. 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:49.919 If you sin against God, does that mean that God 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:51.700 doesn't love you and you're not a Christian? 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:56.919 Obviously not. You sin against God and you're 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:59.659 a follower of Jesus and you're still a follower 00:14:59.659 --> 00:15:02.700 of Jesus. But what happens is that sin breaks 00:15:02.700 --> 00:15:06.679 the intimacy with God. And like we said on Sunday, 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:11.039 it causes a distance. Imagine, it's super, super 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.500 cold outside. It's 15 degrees. It's freezing. 00:15:13.980 --> 00:15:16.240 We get bundled up in our best gear. We've got 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:19.120 an amazing hat. We've got on our earmuffs. We've 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:21.840 got the ski mask thing. We put a scarf around 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:24.759 our neck. We put on full body, long underwear. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:27.940 We put on our best coat. Big, thick ski pants. 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:30.879 We've got wool socks on. Great boots with the 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:33.559 little heaters in them. The best gloves that 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:35.779 we can find and we walk out. And what do you 00:15:35.779 --> 00:15:41.340 feel? Not cold. Right? It's cold outside, but 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:43.820 you don't feel cold. Why? Why do you not feel 00:15:43.820 --> 00:15:46.700 cold? Because there is something separating you 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:50.580 from what's really there. And if we continue 00:15:50.580 --> 00:15:54.000 to let sin rule our life, it's not that God's 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.820 not there, but there's something separating. 00:15:57.220 --> 00:16:00.519 There's something blocking us from feeling that 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:03.879 intimacy and the goodness of God that is still 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:07.490 there. This is what David prayed in the Hebrew 00:16:07.490 --> 00:16:10.889 scripture after he sinned. And he did a lot of 00:16:10.889 --> 00:16:14.409 sin, by the way. And he prayed out to God. He 00:16:14.409 --> 00:16:20.029 said, create in me a pure heart. Maybe your heart 00:16:20.029 --> 00:16:23.929 is hardened. Create in me a pure heart. Renew 00:16:23.929 --> 00:16:28.450 within me a right spirit. Restore to me the joy 00:16:28.450 --> 00:16:33.059 of my salvation. There may be some of us. And 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:36.440 I am not here to heap condemnation on anybody. 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:39.659 Because if that's you, more than likely you already 00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:43.159 feel bad. But maybe you don't feel the presence 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:45.740 of God because you've got some sin blocking the 00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:49.139 reality that God's already there. But remember, 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:54.059 He's still with you. Some in our world are over 00:16:54.059 --> 00:16:57.039 -sensationalizing it. Some, our hearts have grown 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:00.200 harder. Number three, and I hope that many of 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:04.730 us, is this. Maybe God wants to draw you closer 00:17:04.730 --> 00:17:08.990 to Him. Well, I don't always feel God. Well, 00:17:09.029 --> 00:17:11.710 maybe it's because God is wanting to draw you 00:17:11.710 --> 00:17:15.750 closer to Him. I love what the Acts of the Apostles 00:17:15.750 --> 00:17:20.069 says in the 17th chapter, verse 26. Paul here 00:17:20.069 --> 00:17:24.049 is preaching in the city of Athens. And he preached 00:17:24.049 --> 00:17:26.809 this way. He said this. I can only imagine. Paul 00:17:26.809 --> 00:17:31.099 says in Athens, he says, from one man. God made 00:17:31.099 --> 00:17:33.480 all the nations that they should inhabit the 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:36.539 whole earth. He marked out their appointed times 00:17:36.539 --> 00:17:39.420 in history and the boundaries of their land. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.440 And then He gave the why behind all of that. 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:48.240 He said, God did this so that they would seek 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:52.720 Him. He did this so that they would seek Him 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.119 and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though 00:17:56.119 --> 00:18:01.859 He is not far from any one of us. What did God 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:07.960 do? God did this. God created. God showed the 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:12.000 glory of who He was. And He did it so that people 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:15.480 would reach out and say, I want to choose. I 00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:18.799 want that God. I want to know Him. And I want 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.579 to pursue after Him. And there may be those times, 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:26.180 and this is just me suggesting it, that you may 00:18:26.180 --> 00:18:29.240 not feel God because God wants to bring you to 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:33.059 a place where you have more of a desire for Him. 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:38.480 What does deprivation do to us? Deprivation draws 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:43.799 out desire. If I don't eat, what do I get? I 00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:47.880 get hungry. If I don't drink, I get thirsty. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:52.039 If I don't sense the presence of God, I might 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:55.960 start hungering and thirsting for God. And what 00:18:55.960 --> 00:19:01.450 happens? Perhaps, God is going to create a longing 00:19:01.450 --> 00:19:04.329 in your heart where you might wake up and say, 00:19:04.390 --> 00:19:08.170 God, I want to experience you today. I want to 00:19:08.170 --> 00:19:11.410 know that you are with me. And you press into 00:19:11.410 --> 00:19:14.630 him and you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. 00:19:16.109 --> 00:19:20.450 And then everything is added up unto you. Here's 00:19:20.450 --> 00:19:24.240 the deal. Anytime that you truly sense. in a 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:28.599 powerful, even at times a supernatural way, that 00:19:28.599 --> 00:19:32.740 God is with you, embrace that. Because He is. 00:19:33.380 --> 00:19:36.460 And never, ever, ever forget that He is with 00:19:36.460 --> 00:19:40.359 you always. Don't ever, though, forget to embrace 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:45.400 Him in everyday moments as well. When we're driving 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:47.880 to work early in the morning and we see the sunrise 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:52.519 and the colors streak across, The sky, you can 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:56.220 say, I see you, God, there. I see you displaying 00:19:56.220 --> 00:20:00.539 your glory in the heavens. I sense your presence. 00:20:01.420 --> 00:20:04.339 When you go to work and you do something you're 00:20:04.339 --> 00:20:08.440 pretty good at and you say, I feel you with me, 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:12.980 God, because I was created to do this. When you 00:20:12.980 --> 00:20:16.460 pray for somebody during the day, You make a 00:20:16.460 --> 00:20:18.839 difference or you reach out to somebody or you 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:22.779 give something to someone. God, I feel your presence 00:20:22.779 --> 00:20:29.500 as you have used me to represent you. If you'll 00:20:29.500 --> 00:20:32.819 seek him. When you seek him, you'll find him. 00:20:33.460 --> 00:20:36.940 Because he loves to reveal himself to those who 00:20:36.940 --> 00:20:47.089 pursue. Well, there you have it. I would love 00:20:47.089 --> 00:20:49.650 to hear what you have to say. You can connect 00:20:49.650 --> 00:20:52.289 with me on social media. All of the links are 00:20:52.289 --> 00:20:55.890 there in the show notes. Also, if you could take 00:20:55.890 --> 00:20:59.390 the time to rate and review the podcast, I'd 00:20:59.390 --> 00:21:01.710 greatly appreciate it. Your ratings and reviews 00:21:01.710 --> 00:21:06.430 helps more people to see the podcast. Take care 00:21:06.430 --> 00:21:08.569 and be blessed.