That I May Know Him
by Dan MacLeod
June 4, 2023 · New Life Terre Haute (New Life Fellowship)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Philippians 3:10, 1 Samuel 3, Genesis 19:27, Exodus 3, Mark 3:13-15, Galatians 5:16, Joshua 24:14

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dan-macleod--that-i-may-know-him
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

------------------------------------------------------------
and I'm grateful for this opportunity extended to me. and we'll read one verse of scripture, verse number 10. The apostle Paul writes, The power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. After all that Paul had seen and experienced and even accomplished, he says that I may know him. And from this I take my title today and I preach to you that I may know him. Father, I thank you for this great church family. I thank you for what you're doing among us and through us. It's an exciting season. Lord, there's a beautiful new sanctuary soon to be completed that our church family is going to move into. There's promises of revival and harvest all around us. The evidence of the work of your spirit is here. But God, I'm compelled by this stirring in my heart that there is a call to pursue you with greater hunger and passion than ever before. Father, I thank

you for everything you've done in the history of new life and I'm so excited about the future. But in the midst of all that you've done and all that you're doing, I don't want to lose sight of this one thing. God that I would know you. I pray today, Lord, your word would speak to the heart of every individual in this room. Everything that would oppose it, everything that would hinder it, we take authority right now in the name of Jesus Christ. Pray your perfect will would be accomplished. In Jesus' name we pray. And when somebody say, amen, the Lord bless you, you can be seated today. And then I may know him. We won't read the verses today for the sake of time, but I direct your attention to a story you can find in 1 Samuel chapter 3. The character we are introduced to in the narrative is a boy by the name of Samuel. He was born to a woman

named Hannah. She had been barren, unable to conceive until the Lord supernaturally opened her womb. She is, what you could say, moved by overwhelming burden. But it's noteworthy today that her pain did not cause her to drift from the presence of God. In fact, it was the exact opposite. She allowed her pain to drive her deeper into the presence of God. And here the priest comes and finds her in a deep place of prayer. Her tears and travail were so intense that he makes this accusation that she is drunk, which she was not, but she was deeply moved by an overwhelming burden that undoubtedly drew the attention of God. And so some time has passed from this moment that I speak of to what we find in 1 Samuel chapter 3. Here we are introduced to his life at a point when he is serving in the temple under the priest named Eli. There's much for us to consider today about the environment,

the activity, and the attitude we find in these verses. I would submit to you today that if you have a desire to know God, if you have a hunger to hear the voice of God, you're going to have to get in the right atmosphere. Atmosphere matters. Samuel had been in this atmosphere from the time he had been weaned from his mother. His mother willingly offered him back to the Lord for God's purpose and to serve in God's house even though this was the child she prayed for. As she had received, she now willingly gives and so it's noteworthy that probably for the last eight or nine years Samuel has lived every waking moment of his life in the atmosphere of God's house. All he knows is the service and the responsibilities of God's house. He's been here since he's three or four years old. This is what our pastor would refer to as the saturation principle. Samuel has literally saturated his life with

all things concerning God's house. This is all he knew if we could put it in modern vernacular and make it applicable to our context today. Samuel didn't miss a Sunday morning. Samuel didn't neglect a Sunday night. He didn't just willfully decide to skip over a Saturday night prayer meeting. Wednesday night Bible studies weren't optional. Samuel all he knew was that he had been saturated with the atmosphere that comes with God's house. Now I've had times where my kids have asked me why do we have to go there? Why do we have to do this? And I just say because that's what we do. We saturate ourselves with the things concerning God's kingdom. We saturate if the doors are open, we're just going to be there. It's not up for debate. Why? Because we're saturating ourselves. Because this is what I've learned. If you want to hear the voice of God, if you want to grow in relationship with God, you've got to get

yourself in the right atmosphere. But it's not only the atmosphere that matters. Your attitude matters. Because the Bible would tell us, Eli had sons of his own flesh and blood by the name of Haphni and Phineas. They too, by all kernel observation, had been saturated in this atmosphere. All they ever knew was the responsibilities and the duties of the temple. This was their life. But evidently, even though they had been in the right atmosphere, they had not yet developed the right attitude. They would go so far as to bring strange fire into the house of God. They would reach and take from the portion of the offering that was for the Lord and the Lord alone, and they would take it for themselves. And so, though they are in the right atmosphere, they have the wrong attitude. But our focus today is not them. We look back to Samuel. And we must consider this fact today. Samuel has been raised in this environment.

While he has diligently and faithfully and likely wholeheartedly with a pure heart, in a good heart, a pure motive, has served the Lord, has fulfilled his duties, he has watched those who served by his side do it with carnality. He is exposed to the hypocrisy of Eli in his own family. He's seen the wickedness of these whom he serves with in the temple and still his attitude does not change. I would tell you today one of the great successes of Samuel's life in this moment was he refused to let the sin of others steal his own sincerity. If you come to New Life today and you are looking for perfect people, I'm sorry to bring you bad news. This house is full of imperfect people. And if you want to walk up and down the aisles and look across the sanctuary and you want to evaluate each and every one of us, you're going to find some things that are far from perfect.

But Samuel had this and I hope we have it too. We don't let the hypocrisy of one or the error of two or three steal our sincerity because though the people of the house aren't perfect, I tell you today the God of the house is perfect. The psalmist said it like this. He said as for God, his way is perfect. If you come in the house looking for your pastor to be perfect or for every usher to be perfect, I'm sorry, but you might leave sorely disappointed. There might be a day you don't see a smile. There might be a day somebody misses your hand and I'm sorry about that, but you hear this preacher today. Don't you ever let the sin or the mistake of somebody else steal your own sincerity towards God. Samuel served day in and day out and month after month and year after year and he refused to allow the hypocrisy of Eli or the error of Haphnei

and Phineas to steal his own sincerity towards God. So yes, serving is necessary and yes, we do serving well here at New Life, but I would tell you serving alone does not distinguish us from many others. You can get served at ricks. You can get served at monicles. You can get served at Kroger's. I'll tell you what sets us apart. It's a sincerity of attitude towards the things of God. Yes, God does command serving in His Word, but above all, it is the sincerity of heart that attracts God's presence. And in spite of all the heirs and the temple and the upraising of Samuel, it's the sincerity of heart that can't be shaken that God is so attracted to. And so the Bible would tell us that as he lays down to sleep one night and this, again, is noteworthy, it's night time. The duties of the temple service have subsided. The hustle and the bustle, the noise of busyness that fills the

temple throughout the day has diminished. Now the atmosphere is still. The night is quiet. If we could say it this way, God is not competing with the restlessness in the activity of life when he wants Samuel's attention. Now, in the quiet of the night hour, he hears this voice. It calls his name and he responds, here am I. In the sincerity and in the silence, he begins to hear God speak. Atmosphere and attitude. All of a sudden this voice, he's never heard before. Samuel, Samuel, thinking it's Eli, he jumps and runs to the priest but there's some noteworthy things that we can't overlook here. In the quietness of the night, he begins to hear a voice he had never heard before. Could it be that you're in the right atmosphere and you even have the sincerity of heart but could it be the difficulty to walk faithfully with God is the fault of distraction in your life? Your inability to develop the stillness

whether it come in the morning hour or the afternoon or the night as it did for Samuel. The inability to develop the practice of stillness and quietness of mind in heart before God makes it difficult to hear his voice and so I must pause today and preach to us that we are at danger of losing the ability to know God and walk with God if we cannot remove distractions. You can have a sincere desire but if you're not willing to deal with the distractions in your life it will rob you of the atmosphere that is necessary to hear the voice of God. A writer of Hebrew said it like this let's lay aside every weight in sin and when the Bible speaks of sin that's a pretty certain conclusion. It's not a matter of opinion. There's no room for preference in areas where the Scripture is black and white. It's either obedient or disobedient but I submit to us today the danger before

us is not necessarily in the area of sin but in the area of weight. What is a weight? A weight is something that's not necessarily sin. It's not morally wrong but neither is it spiritually beneficial. A weight is dangerous because it can be justified. You can say things like you can't give me Scripture in verse about that. Well show me in the Bible where it says that I would submit to you today there's some things I can't give you Scripture in verse 4 but I can tell you this if your desire is to know him there's going to be some things you have to let go of if your desire is to know him there's going to be some things that I can't tell you are black and white but I can tell you it's a weight that you're going to have to set aside because you choose to partake of things participate with things and watch things and hear things and talk

about things and go places that make it so much more difficult to run the race. So when he says lay aside every sin that's pretty easy but this area of the weight is a whole lot more harder because these are things that we develop in our life things that we grow accustomed to but I submit to us today our ability to accomplish what God has set out for us to accomplish is dependent on knowing him I've come to preach to you today about having a relationship with Jesus Christ and if you really want to walk with God there's going to be some weights that you've got to set aside the story of 1 Samuel 3 is this it's a story about the priority of relationship this young boy had been raised in the temple he'd been serving in the temple it's the only life he's ever known but God speaks to him time and time again after the first call he rises from

his bed and he runs to the room of Eli and says you call it for me and though we often emphasize the error in his assumption he assumed the wrong voice he is worthy of a little credit today for his immediate action because I would submit to you one of the successes of Samuel's life was his unwillingness to delay his response to any spiritual encounter yeah he had assumed the wrong voice but he could sense the spiritual nature of the encounter and he wasn't going to lay in his bed and think about what had just happened no he was compelled by the spiritual way in the significance of this encounter to rise from his bed and to try to figure out who is talking to me what is this I hear what must I do and so I preach to us today God help us if we ever become accustomed to delaying our response to spiritual encounter you know what it's like when

the worship team's singing and you feel the spirit of God start to move on you and you think to yourself I really would like to lift my hands but then something rises up in your flesh and you just kind of put them in your pockets or pastor finishes preaching and the spirit of the Lord is moving so powerfully through the house and there's something that rises up in you that says I really want to go to the front I saw what happened when she went up there and the Holy Ghost touched her I saw what happened when that brother went up there last Sunday and the power of God really touched him and something starts telling you I want to go up there but all of a sudden something rises up in your human will and you sit down in your seat the danger of delaying your spiritual encounter is every time you delay your response it dolls your sensitivity and the scary

thing is when you come back next week it's not going to feel as powerful or as near as it did the week before and all of a sudden one week turns into two and two weeks into three and three into four and now you're missing a Sunday here and you're missing a Wednesday there what's happened you pulled yourself out of the atmosphere by virtue of a misalignment of attitude and the problem is if you're going to walk with God you need both the atmosphere and the attitude and so here's Samuel I know he didn't assume right but he's responding and God calls him again and this is noteworthy to me now because God is persistent in his pursuit of relationship Samuel Samuel I'm calling you by name because I know you I formed you in your mother's womb I've been watching you since you were a boy I see how you serve every day I see how you handle the hypocrisy of those

that you're with you've not allowed your heart to become corrupted you're still sincere before me Samuel it's the call of relationship but here as we are introduced to this scary reality as he had been conditioned living his whole life in this atmosphere and the Bible would tell us he did not yet know the Lord this tells me that to know and to know of are not the same it's one thing to know of God to talk about God but it's another thing to actually know him and the plight of this story today is that the temple service though it was necessary and though it was honorable temple service alone was not sufficient the ministry production in and of itself though it was pleasing to God was not really all that God was looking for what he was most interested in was not the performance of his temple duties but it was the purity of a heart that was in relationship with him and

so Samuel rises from his bed he runs to Eli again trying to figure out this voice that's calling to him he's not neglecting his spiritual encounter he's eager to respond he wants to understand and the Bible would tell us now that as the Lord comes to him again and again and again verse 10 says this he comes and stands as at other times as at other times four short words that seem so insignificant that we might easily pass over but I submit to you today have a profound revelation in it for us this phrase indicates to us that God had a repeated pattern of conduct that God had a particular pattern or mode of operation he had a particular way of coming and speaking and what Samuel was now discerning was he was learning God's patterns he was learning how God worked I would submit to you today that just as Samuel did this so can we but it involves time it involves

intention but it creates intimacy and this is the definition of relationship if you're in this house today and you're married you know what I'm talking about we'll be married for 15 years this August and weren't to the point now my wife will just look at me and she'll say what were you about to say how did you know I was about to say anything while your lip was doing this thing now I'm willing to make a guess today that nobody in this house would observe that but her but we have enough time together there's been enough fellowship and intimacy that she has observed things about me that others haven't she knows things that you don't know and so it is with God that when you walk with God when you live in relationship with God you will observe some things about him his preferences, his likes, his dislikes you say oh preacher we have the scripture for that yes we do but I

would submit to you hit the depth of your fellowship is in the scripture alone you are missing so much that God has for you now we don't get outside the boundaries of scripture but let me explain it to you like this if we go to the Old Testament you'll find the practice of worship you'll find the practice of sacrifice you'll find the practice of tithing all before God made it law decades and hundreds of years before God ever moved on Moses to make that law for the Jewish people his people were already practicing that where did they get that God didn't say Moses you need to write this down so Israel knows what I require no we're talking hundreds of years before that and they were bringing sacrifices and Abraham was paying ties where did they get that I'll tell you where they got it they got it in fellowship with God they started walking with God and they learned how God worked

they learned how God operated listen I kind of preach to you today that if you live the reality of your relationship with Jesus Christ based on the black and white of scripture you are missing the greatest depths of fellowship that the spirit of God has for you because somewhere somewhere back in the garden when he started walking with Adam in the cool of the day he started talking to Adam these are the kinds of things I like it's not yet scripture it's not going to be scripture for hundreds of years but this is what I like I like when you worship like this I like when you honor me like this I like when you give like this and so there's a principle here for us today that if we start fellowshiping with God if we start living in relationship with God he'll start putting things in our heart that I can't take you to the book I can't say it's sin I

can't give you black and white but what I can show you is there's a principle of spiritual communion there's a principle of spiritual fellowship and some of this falls in the arena of weight so Samuel learns now oh this is the same presence I felt before this is the same voice I heard before Lord you can speak now because your servant is listening the self-identification of a servant is just further evidence to us of the humility of attitude with which this man lives there's no sense of entitlement here no, he knows that if he'll hear from God if this one way communication will become a two way conversation it's contingent upon his attitude and this atmosphere so speak Lord your servant is listening he learned the patterns of God and this helped in his ability to walk in relationship with God I would tell you today that God has patterns just like you have a pattern you get up in the morning

and you turn your coffee pot on you brush your teeth once you're dressed or you brush your teeth before you're dressed I don't know what your patterns are but you do start evaluating your life and you'll realize you have some subconscious habits your way of doing things you don't do it intentionally they're just habits that have become ingrained in your way of living and I'm telling you today God does the same thing that's why the bible said he came to walk with Adam in the cool of the day but on that day Adam wasn't there Adam where are you he wasn't asking because he didn't know he was asking because Adam had broken the routine of fellowship because they had a pattern that they had become accustomed to God said you're going to go work in the field in the heat of the day but when that cool breeze starts to blow in the evening I want to come and walk with you

Adam I want to talk to you I don't want to just tell you the black and whites of my word I don't want to tell you what you can and can't do I want to talk to you about what I love I want to talk to you about what I like I want to ask you how your day is I want to offer you my counsel my wisdom I just want you to fellowship with me this is what this is really all about it's about relationship that's why the bible says in Genesis 19 Abraham went to the place where he had stood the time and the place where he had stood before the Lord you know why because he developed a pattern in his life he learned where God liked to meet with him he learned how God liked to talk to him and he built his life around that spiritual pattern it's when God looks to Moses in Exodus 3 he says

Moses there is a place by me I got to preach your simple message today I'm talking to us about having a relationship with God and here he comes to Samuel again four times Samuel Samuel and we cannot quickly overlook this Samuel had lived his whole life saturated in the atmosphere of the temple this is the only life he had ever known his days were consumed with the work of the temple but evidently even though he was busy with the work of God's house he didn't know the God of that house he knew about him he knew him by tradition he knew him by his mother's example he knew him by the upbringing of the temple but soon because God's relentless pursuit of this one child he would know him by divine revelation and by his own personal experience and so I preach to you today thank God you're here I thank you for being in the house of God today thank you for

prioritizing this atmosphere it's more important than any other atmosphere you'll find yourself in it's more important than where you're going to go to work tomorrow it's more important than what you did yesterday it's more important than any sporting activity or any vacation home I thank you for prioritizing it but I'm compelled to the Holy Ghost today to preach to us that if we're not careful we can consume our lives with the activity of the house but never actually know the God of the house he was there because his mother put him there and he was there because Eli kept him there but God was so determined to have a relationship with that boy and he was drawn by the sincerity of the heart that God said Samuel I destined you to be a prophet to my people I destined it for you to be a microphone to the nation of Israel but if that's going to happen you can't just know me by

tradition you have to know me by revelation you can't just know me by your mother's story you can't know me by Eli's example you can't know if you're going to do it if you're going to be who I called you to be if you're going to do the work of my kingdom you've got to know me for yourself I'm preaching to you something I know because I've lived it I was raised on Pentecostal pews I knew the language I knew the lingo but I didn't receive the Holy Ghost till I was 18 years old I could look right I could act right I used to go to the altar poked my head out under the corner of my arm so I'd see somebody else leave because I didn't want to be the first one to leave the altar I've been around this long enough to know we can fool somebody else to thinking we know God when really all we do is know

about him I was raised in this my parents brought me up in this I heard the preaching I've been to the services but it wasn't till I was an 18 year old boy sitting on the back row of the district youth convention when God walked up in my world and awakened me to the reality that if my life's really going to be what he wants it to be I can't just serve him on the basis of somebody else's story or somebody else's experience I I I have to know him I thank God you're in the atmosphere I thank God you're here but hear me today it's the sincerity of your heart so yeah Samuel his life was marked with promise and destiny he would speak to the people of God he was a prophet of the Lord what an honorable task what a noteworthy calling but his ability to speak for God must be preceded by his ability to hear from God what

does he have to say if he can't first hear what good is his ministry if there's no relationship and this is the eternal pattern of God from the Garden of Genesis to this Sunday morning in June of 2023 I submit to you relationship always precedes ministry that I may know him Jesus in Mark chapter 3 go with up into a mountain calleth unto him whom he would and the Bible says in verse 13 they come unto him he ordained 12 that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out devils I know the part we shout about we like verse 15 we like the healing of the disease we like when the devils cast out but there's a lot to preach in those first two verses Jesus goes up into a mountain he separates himself from the crowd he goes to what we might call an inconvenient environment

if you want to come with me up here you might want to put your climbing sandals on and calls unto him whom he would why was God calling them because he wanted them why is God calling you why do you feel such discontent in your life why do you feel the spirit of God tugging on your heart because God wants you oh what's he want me for what great thing is he want to use my life for now I'll tell you what he wants you for he wants you for relationship he wants you to come through your door at the end of a frustrating day and sit down in your chair and say God that was a hard day oh it's your heart oh I know you've given him your hands and I honor you for it there's a thriving servant culture in this church I thank God for it I honor you for it but I'm really I am compelled of the

spirit to come to you today until you God is not content with the work of your hands he wants your heart hey guys I'm going up the mountain you want to come with me you twelve if you could only see what I'm going to do in your life Peter if you could only realize what's going to happen in a short while when you stand up on the day of Pentecost John if you could only know the revelation that's going to come through the pen you hold in your hands oh if they could have fathomed the work of their hands but the Bible says he ordained the twelve that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach the calling to him proceeded the sending to them what good is it to send them if they're not sustained by a relationship with him what good is the commissioning of ministry and the work of their hands if not sustained

by relationship with him hey your first calling Peter is not to the day of Pentecost it's not just to the Gentiles John more important than the revelation you're going to write is what you're going to experience first hand from me come on come close to me John I want a level of fellowship with you this is what God was trying to instill in him the eternal pattern that flowed from the garden of Eden even to this day that relationship must proceed ministry he called those he wanted you know why you're here today because the Spirit's drawing you because God wanted you God's interested in you with all your flaws and all your imperfections all your questions and frustrations and all your struggles God is interested in you and you're here today in the atmosphere and the sincerity of your heart is a gateway for the Spirit to draw you you know why you feel it because he wants you he doesn't just want

you to play a keyboard he doesn't just want you on a drum kit more than the guitar or an organ more than a microphone or a platform I'll tell you what he really wants he wants a relationship with you I'll tell you in the fear of God that is as grateful as I am to work in the kingdom of God I'll tell you this is not the first time I've said it but I'll make it public in the fear of God if God should lift his call from my life and I never touch another microphone and I never preach another message I vow I will walk faithfully with God because it's not about a platform it's not about a pulpit it's about a God who for thousands of years has been seeking relationship with us yeah Dan MacLeod you might preach here you might preach there but that's not really what I'm most interested in what I really want is your heart what

I really want is the sincerity of your life what I really want is your vulnerability before me that's what he wants and if you could hear it today if you could hear it you'd hear the voice of the Spirit walking through this house calling out names Mike Hedges Mike Hedges brother Derek Lex he's walking up and down the aisle calling your name brother coffee brother Fisher calling out names you know why because he's interested in you and a relationship with you it's not just about what you can do it's not just about what you're going to accomplish but it's about walking with you and the intimacy of fellowship I've preached to you today an old pattern of God that flows from the garden to this very moment he wants to walk with you in relationship would you lift your hands to him right now what you're feeling right now that's the Spirit drawing that's God pulling on your heart and the resistance you

feel is the weight in your life you want to serve God without any resistance you're going to have to lay aside the weight the Bible doesn't say that's a sin there's no scripture or verse about that I know but you have to determine do you want to serve God based upon your justified liberty or upon your pursuit of holiness in sincerity hear what Philippians 3 says in the New Living Translation I once thought these things were valuable but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done yes everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my lord well what things preacher everything your nice car your beautiful truck your house your career your 401k compared to knowing Him it's worthless worthless what you mean preacher I worked my whole life to pay for that I worked hard I know you did but I'm just telling you when you put it on the scales it's worthless

how in the world can God ask me to do things like give so sacrificially and move my family around the world how can God ask me to do this and go there and this and I'll tell you how He just measures it next to Himself fact the the Proverbs say this that an unjust balance is an abomination to the lord you know what an unjust balance is it's when the man comes into the shop and you say alright my scale set to one pound how much how much flour would you like to buy sir you'd like a pound of flour okay because you've rigged your scale in the interest of self gain you rip that person off you know what an unjust balance is it's when you don't measure the decisions of your life with the right weight you know what the word glory means in Hebrew wait because you weren't supposed to make a decision about your vacation home or what house

you were going to buy or your car based on your salary or your self interest you were supposed to make it on the basis of glory wow how it changes when I stack my decisions up next to Him why do you think Paul said I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God Paul didn't say I'm not asking you to do this because I'm the great apostle Paul I'm not asking you to do that no I'm asking you to do this because of how merciful God has been to you well let's just think about this for a minute before we rise up in our self-righteous indignation why don't we climb up the mountain with Him called Calvary why don't we stand had a foot of the cross at Galgotha and see Him in our mind's eye hanging there with the crown of thorns on His head and in that position when He demonstrated while we were yet sinners Christ demonstrated His

love in that in the shadow of God's interest in us in the shadow of God's pursuit of relationship with us my how the scales change preachy you really think I shouldn't do that I told someone recently I'm not telling you you can't do that I'm just telling you it's probably not wise you want to stand here in the shadow of the cross and justify it you probably can but I do know this you're not going to be as close to Him as you could be everything else is worthless what compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ verse 10 said I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power I remind you Paul's not writing this as some infant in the ministry he's weathered a few storms he's got some success stories he's seen some revival there's been growth but he's driven by this overwhelming desire to know him that I may know him that I may know him from the opening

pages of your Bible walking was synonymous with relationship I had him heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day Abraham walked with God Noah walked with God Enoch walked with God synonymous with relationship I'm getting ready to close so we come to the New Testament and Paul starts writing about walking in the spirit what does he mean he means our relationship with God is by and in the spirit you could read it and just replace the word walk with relationship Galatians 5.16 this I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh this I say then have a relationship in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh you can't just serve him on the work of your hands or your attendance in the atmosphere though both are needful necessary and honorable if you're going to have a relationship with Jesus Christ

it is only in by and through his spirit and Paul says that this walking in the spirit helps you not fulfill the lust of the flesh we could say it like this there's no victory without relationship there's no growth without relationship there's no harvest without relationship it's why Jesus said I ordained the 12 that they should first be with me and then with them if you want to see more miracles you want to see more deliverance you want to see more supernatural I'll tell you what you do you got a fellowship with God you want more deliverance you got to walk in the spirit you got to walk in the spirit because without relationship there's no victory stand together with me the promise went all the way back to Moses maybe even with the change of terminology you could say Abraham received the same but to Moses he said hey every place the soul of your foot shall tread I've given you the

land when Moses passes from the scene up rises Joshua who would write in Joshua 24 that if you serve the Lord you have to serve him in sincerity and in truth not just one you've got to come on the basis of revealed truth you've got to live by what the scripture says but you've got to do it in sincerity and God says to Joshua just like he said to Moses every place the soul of your foot shall tread I've given you the land and they come to cross that Jordan river and step foot into a promise that they had waited hundreds of years for and they're looking at the greatest obstacle they've ever seen a stronghold called Jericho walled cities it seems so much beyond them but in the intimacy of fellowship God said I'm going to tell you how I want it done you're going to walk around those walls every day for six days on the seventh day you're going to

walk seven times and when I say shout you're going to shout and when you shout that wall is going to come down knowing we were going to be gone the last couple weeks a couple of Sundays ago I came out and met pastor and we walked through the new building I was asking stories and he was telling me the history and after we came through the new sanctuary we were standing in the parking lot and he's standing there looking at the building and he says 24 years 24 years 24 years of work and sacrifice and relationship and we all get to stand here and see the fruit of it but I like in this moment in our church to Israel walking into that promised land and staring at a city called Jericho because if you think there's not obstacles and there's not junk war in this body against our pastor and against leaders in this house my friend you're mistaken in fact over

the past few months past month five or six weeks probably there's probably been a little militant vein here you remember mother's day or the week right around there we're right where God wants us but we've got some obstacles we've got some battles right now do I deal with my Jericho I know what we'd like to do we'd like to just stroll in here on Sunday morning and when the music starts going and when the singer starts singing we want to lift our voice with a Sunday shout yeah but the walls didn't fall because they shouted on one day you know why they fell because they were walking on Monday and they were walking on Tuesday and they were walking on Wednesday and on Thursday Friday and Saturday and Sunday let me preach to some frustrated believer right now and tell you why you're in a perpetual cycle of chaos and confusion and defeat and you're wondering why isn't it changing when I come

on Sunday and I shout with the praise team I'll tell you why it's because you're not walking the six days that precede your shout the only thing that gives your shout any substance is the daily walk that precedes it I thank God we're about to step into a new sanctuary but let me tell you what's going to fill it relationship several years ago there was an old elder that was going to start a church and we went to do some street evangelism with him one day just pass out flyers and invite people to his Bible study and we were standing in a coffee shop parking lot about to get in the car and drive home when we hear these voices off in the distance screaming at us and we turn and they're waving their hands and they come and they're puffing and they're puffing and they can barely breathe and they're who are you what do you mean who are we they said

we were standing all the way over there at that traffic light and we looked across the parking lot and could see the group of you standing right here and there was a gold glow around you old bishop men spoke I said oh that's Jesus you know what that is that's the spirit that's the supernatural substance of the spirit flowing emanating from a life that's walked with him and so here we are on the threshold of the greatest season our church has ever known what could be more important than to remind ourselves that above all I must know him this I say then walk in the spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh if you want victory in your life I'm going to tell you how it's going to happen it's a lot easier than your thing you got to have a relationship with God you want your finances to change I'm going to tell you how it's going to happen

you're going to have a relationship with Jesus Christ in the matters of your finances what's your marriage to change what's your parenting to change I'm going to tell you what you have to do you got to have a relationship with Jesus Christ in matters that pertain to your marriage in matters that this is what's got to happen every area of our life needs to be influenced by Jesus it wasn't enough hear me I feel this so strongly it's not in my notes but he wasn't enough for Joshua to walk the walls of Jericho by himself he needed the people to walk with him and I feel like I'm on a little bit of a recruitment assignment today for our pastor to say you know what he needs he's had a vision he's had a dream and it's being built right now but if the walls of Jericho are going to come down if the obstacle is going to be defeated if victory is

going to be ours if there's going to be a thousand people you know what it's going to take it's going to take every single member saying I'm going to walk with Jesus I'm going to have a relationship with him more importantly it's more important than anything knowing him knowing him it makes my bank account seem insignificant it makes my career seem meaningless nothing compares to knowing him come on if the spirit of the Lord is moving upon you I would that you would just lift up your voice right now alright but you're not going to overcome temptation with one Sunday service but the joy you walk out of here with isn't going to last you forever you're going to have to get up and find the mountain and climb it again and fellowship with him tomorrow no! you might have to lay some weight down today if you're going to get up that mountain with him some hobbies, some interests, some activities some

media choices come on pastors when talking to us about being set apart come on the spirit is drawing you don't delay don't delay if you delay in this moment it's going to dull your sensitivity to it next week you might be like Sam you may not understand everything just yet you may not be able to make sense of it just yet but don't delay get up and pursue it try to figure it out, try to understand and I promise you when God's one way communication becomes a two way conversation you're going to discover knowing him is worth it all