Pastor Brad DeLong - That I May Know Him

during that message in tongues it was almost a direct verbatim excerpt what i plan to preach today at least one of the themes i feel a word for individuals for our church i'm going to read from the same passage brother peter wright read from on wednesday night found in philippians chapter 3 in verse 7.

before i do i want to thank all of our guests for being here today at apostolic pentecostal church we welcome you we honor you we're thankful that the god of heaven has come to meet with us and with you he's come to help all of us today all of us seeking answers philippians is considered one of the last three or four letters that paul wrote he's writing from a jail cell to the church at philippi he makes some strong and powerful statements concerning his mindset and view of his walk in relationship with god verse 7 where things are gained to me these have counted as a loss for christ yet in need i also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord for whom i have suffered the loss of all things i count them as rubbish that i may gain christ i want to 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 that i may know him the power of his resurrection the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death if by any means i may attain to the resurrection from the dead not that i've already attained i'm already perfected but i press on that i can lay hold of that for which christ jesus has also laid hold of me brethren i don't count myself to have apprehended i haven't arrived but one thing i do for getting those things which are behind someone needs to forget some things which are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead i press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus i count all things as loss he says i suffer the loss of all things i want to gain christ i want to be found in him i i press on i move on i face suffering and pain i continue on that i may know him that i may know him why do you do it all paul why do you face all of this what reason could there possibly be simply putting it's my title today that i may know him we want to know him and we want to seek him today i'm going to ask you to pray with me along those lines would you lift your voice again church and can we pray for god's help he's already in the room today we trust in you we trust in your power we trust in your word it's going to bring clarity to someone today and i need your help and this body of believers needs your help to receive that word and let it change us like it always does that your word would get in our ears and our hearts today and let it produce a harvest within us in the name of jesus we pray in jesus name amen amen and you may be seated

jesus going up here at apostolic pentecostal church in the outlet youth group i have been fortunate to make and build many connections and relationships within our church family within the church body for which i'm so thankful i've grown up with some lifelong friends here at our church and i've maintained those relationships to this day but there's one relationship in particular that has had a profound and lasting impact upon my life one that is more than i could express in an illustration or even an entire sermon this morning you see i was in the fellowship hall one night after a youth service as a young man and i struck up a conversation with a young lady a conversation that really piqued my interest i'd always been around her growing up we had been in close proximity with one another we went on youth group trips together we even sang in the choir together but all of a sudden my interest level skyrocketed i had this desire to get to know her more and to develop a more meaningful relationship with her her name is of course moriah and i'm so thankful today that over 12 years ago this august i began to pursue a relationship with her she's not feeling well today and i ask you to pray for her she's not able to be here but she is watching i love you mariah and i'm so thankful for our marriage and in pursuing this relationship though i noticed that i started to do some things that were really out of character for me i would text and call her for no apparent reason at all i came up with the worst excuses ever to call her they were horrible but i shot my shot i took my chance anyway because i wanted to get to know her more and eventually i took her out on a date i bought her flowers and gifts that i had never bought before i had never been to some of these stores that we went to ross dressed for less i'd never been to ross i'd never been to the land of marshalls before but i braved all the elements i went into uncharted territory anyway i went out of my ways to for a way to forge a relationship with her i would buy her food and presents and donuts one time many times but she remembers the one time and i just about empty my bank account in order to win her affection her admiration i would sacrifice time effort finances my own desires all for the sake of knowing her getting closer to her i did this for about five years until i did something very far outside my comfort zone i spent all of my money on an engagement ring i got down on one knee and i asked her to marry me and thank god on august 15 2014 i did marry her and i've spent the last seven plus years getting to know her more and more every day i enjoy talking to her i enjoy spending time with her i still buy her gifts i do my best to sacrifice on on her behalf on the name of strengthening our relationship and getting to know her my wife more closely and personally and i know that some might be thinking at this point that this relationship and the one that we're going to be discussing today do not always equate that in some senses they are apples and oranges but the point i'm making today is that one of the fundamental building blocks of any personal relationship we have in our lives especially this vertical relationship that's all important to each of us one of the fundamental building blocks is that it ought to be built upon a desire to know the other member of that relationship and to know them more closely and intimately in other words the parallel rings true that my relationship with jesus christ ought to exemplify the fact that i simply want to know him and i want to know him better and i want to know him all the more my walk with him and my connection with him my interactions with him they ought to flow out of a desire that like paul i've just got to know him i want to know jesus and i want to be closer to him i want to know my savior and i want my life to be pleasing to him i want to know my redeemer and i want to walk in communion and covenant with him i don't just want to know about him i want to know him for myself i don't want to just be in close proximity with him i want to be in relationship with him and i don't want to just hear about him from someone else or over a pulpit but i want to talk to him and i want to hear from him myself it is the basic building block of my relationship with him the driving force behind all that i do in his name in my lifestyle of walking

with him paul simply says it like this that i may know him and when i boil it all down then i peel back every layer in every intention when i get down to the foundation and the groundwork of my walk with him it is all fixed and founded on the desire to know jesus and to know him more than i currently do that i may know him this is why i do all that i do in the name of walking with him i just want to know him i want to know him this is all further compounded by the fact that not only do i want to know him but even more than that he wants me to know him as well in fact just this past wednesday night brother peter wright taught along similar lines he explained that the reason we read our bibles and the word of god in the first place is simply to know jesus and draw closer to him this has been a theme this week and of late as god is drawing us i believe he's drawing his church into closer relationship with him through his word and that word itself makes this theme abundantly clear reaching all the way back to the book of genesis in the beginning when the pattern of walking with god the initial relationship and covenant with god was portrayed and demonstrated seems clear it's always been god's intention for us to know him even as he would walk with adam in the garden and share himself with the first of mankind and even when that relationship and that communion was broken god still made himself known to humanity and would still make a covenant with the people of israel in order to make way for a broken and fallen humanity to walk alongside a holy god it was always about covenant it was always about relationship in fact the entire bible itself separated into the old and new testament the old and new covenant its entire breakdown revolves around the initial covenant treaty agreement and promise as well as the new covenant in which jesus would come and restore close communion with us he'd die for our sins cover us in his grace fill us with his spirit and allow us to walk with him in closeness in intimacy again john tells us this is the reason it came in the first place other than the cross it says first john 5 and 20 and we know that the son of god has come and he's 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 in eternal life jesus himself wanted us to know him he prayed along these lines in the garden before his crucifixion this is what he prayed father the hours come glorify your son that your son may also glorify you as you've given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you've given him that's still his intention today to give eternal life to as many as god has given him this is eternal life he says that they may know you the only true god and jesus christ whom you've seen it's always been about knowing him it's always been about being in covenant in relationship with him every command every principle every precept every prescription for living and walking with him that i may know him and please him that i would know him who is true the only true god whose name is jesus jeremiah chapter 31 verse 33 this is the covenant that i'll make with the house of israel after those days says the lord i put my law on their minds i'll write it on their hearts i'll be their god and they'll be my people no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every me and his brother saying you should know the lord for under this covenant they all will know me from the least of them to the greatest to them says the lord for i will forgive their iniquity and i will remember their sin no more i'll make a new covenant a new promise with him and through it they're going to know me they're going to know who i am they're going to know my name jesus a name that's above every other name for i'm going to forgive their iniquity and i will remember their sin no more jeremiah 24 says then i'll give them a heart to know me that i am the lord they'll be my people and i'll be their god and just five chapters later in chapter 29 he invites us and even those bound in captivity like he did just today he says seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart and then he promises i will be found by you says the lord you can only seek him for so long before you find them and when you find them you find answers and you find peace and you find strength and you find restoration and forgiveness seek him he says and i will be found by you and i only does he invite us to come revelation 3 says behold i stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door you can do this today i'll come into him and dine with him and he would he didn't just invite you to him but he wants you to know him so much he comes to you as well like he did when he was manifested in the flesh took on the form of a servant humbled himself unto death and died on the cross for your sins and mine so as much as i want to know him today the reality is that my desire to know him is dwarfed by his desire for me to know him as well as much as i want to draw nearer and i unto him i am outmatched by his desire to be closer and to draw nigh unto me as much as i want to know him he wants and desires that all the more in light of his grace his desire for us to turn to him with our whole hearts this is what hosea chapter 6 and verse 3 says oh that we might know the lord oh that we might know the lord let's press on to know him oh that we would know jesus let's pursue him and press on to obtain the prize of knowing him more closely and intimately oh that i would know him hosea is echoed by paul in the new testament in our text account all these things i've gained as loss i've suffered the loss of all things i want to gain christ i want to be found in him i want to have a righteousness that comes from him i press on i forget those things which are behind i press toward the goal and the prize even the midst of suffering and loss and imprisonment and i repeat again why do it all paul that i may know him why did you endure prison cells paul why did you so willingly face shipwreck and starvation being stoned and beaten rejected and scorned by your own people chaste and hunted by those who oppose you hated and reviled by your former colleagues and eventually martyred for the sake of christ and the gospel i don't know his exact answer today but i can venture a guess that it would go something like this that i would know him and the power of his resurrection i press on i endure i face hardship and trial i overcome persecution and storm i walk faithfully instead fastly and i confront pain and heartache and struggle and i do it all that i would know him it's the root cause of my relationship with jesus christ and it drives us beyond anything superficial or anything shallow i just want to know him and i want to know him more than i currently do

in light of that this morning i want to rephrase the question and ask each of us and each of you why do you remain faithful saint of god why do you come to church every sunday every wednesday and when the doors are open why do you pick up that bible every morning and read those same pages all over again why do you pace the same spot in prayer every day why do you press on even when you're tired you're weary and you're weak why do you give so sacrificially pray so fervently and fast so regularly and surrender so freely and submit so willingly why do you do every act of devotion that you do even to the detriment of your own free will and your own ambitions while you walk with jesus and spend your life in service and dedication to him it might be an oversimplification but can i suggest this simple answer that i may know him i just want to know him why do you do all that you do why do you pray like you pray that i may know him why do you worship like you worship i just want to know him why do you show up to church that i may know him why do you give that i may know him i simply want to know him i want to please him and i want to know him more and to our guests and maybe to someone who's just beginning their walk in their relationship with god i want to encourage you a little further you've heard us say already that god desires for you to know him and to walk with him we obviously want you to have a connection with us and with his body and with his church but we still believe that the most important reason that you're here and really the most important reason that you're on this planet is that you would know him and then you would serve him and you'd walk with him i pray it every sunday morning god let our guests have a connection with the body let them have a connection with the church family but most importantly let them have a connection with the head of the body let them have a connection with jesus christ himself one of the quickest ways you can do that and be in covenant with him is by repenting of your sins asking god for his forgiveness doing it about face and turning away from sin and turning towards him and then you can be baptized in the name of jesus and have every one of your sins washed away you can forget what's behind and look ahead to what's behead you can be filled with the gift of the holy ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as the spirit gives the utterance your life can be changed and renewed and you can enter a covenant in relationship with jesus christ and we do it all simply because we want to know him we want to please him we want to be in relationship with him

this is the foundation and the baseline for our walk with him we want to know him it's why we pray it's why we worship it's why we live and walk in holiness and consecration that i may know him several years ago i circle back to this concept in my life i feel was changed and altered by this principle i had a very busy season in my life like somewhere and now my priorities got a little out of whack got warped a little bit what's interesting to me that this season i was during this season i was involved in probably more ministry than i'd ever been involved in before i want to pause here and tell someone ministry does not always equal relationship ministry does not always equal a depth and a walk with god ministry cannot usurp a walk with god and if i base my walk with god on what i'm doing for him or his kingdom and not that i want to know him my priorities are out of line i had preached several times in a week's span i had a couple other messages that i needed to preach in the next couple weeks and i remember near the end of that month i went to pray again i said lord i need to know what to preach what should i what should i say i remember the lord just firing back at me he said are you coming to me for another sermon are you coming because you want to know me are you coming to me with another list of needs are you coming because you want to know me are you coming to me just now because you're desperate for an answer or you're coming to me because like we heard i am the answer i felt such a conviction that moment in moments since and i realized my walk with jesus is not built upon or predicated on what he can do for me or what sermons he can help me write and preach but instead it is built upon the simple fact that i just want to know him and all the other benefits and all the other blessings of that are secondary and subordinate instead what's most important is that i seek him and not just what he can do for me i want to seek him and not just the answers to all my problems i want to seek him first and not just the miracles and the blessings he can provide and procure i just want to know him and i want to know him more that i want anything he can do for me we read this recently our staff's reading a book by larry crabb he says this when any ambition other than drawing nearer to god assumes first place in our hearts we are living the wrong way instead he says we ought to desire god's presence more than we desire the presence with a t that might come from living for him we know every good gift and every perfect gift comes from the father above but i want to seek the father above more than any good gift or any perfect gift that might come from him i want to know him and i want to know him more than i currently do i want to know him more than i did yesterday and truthfully as i use paul an example i realize that this is both a worthy and a lifelong pursuit you look back to our text in philippians 3 paul's talking about his pursuit of god his desire to know god he says this in verse 12 not that i've already attained or i'm already perfected but i press on that i may lay hold of that for which christ jesus has also laid hold of me brethren i don't count myself as apprehended i have not arrived i'm not there yet but this one thing i do for getting the things which are behind and reaching forward to those which are ahead i press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of god i read this earlier this week and it just struck me especially considering the one who penned it and the one who dictated it you see this is the same paul who was caught up in the third heaven and experienced god like few others have ever experienced him this is the same apostle whose name is likely recorded on the foundation of heaven the man who wrote over half the new testament the man who started churches all over the world and the man whose ministry began with an encounter with jesus christ so bright and brilliant it left him blind and disabled instead he says i press on this is the apostle who writes i haven't attained it yet i haven't apprehended my goal yet i'm not there yet but i press on i continue to pursue him i continue to press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of god i'm not there yet the great apostle says so i continue to press on and i may know him it reminds me one of my favorite stories you probably heard me tell it before one that challenges me to this day our general secretary brother graham said he was because of the times he's walking through the altar space there's people laid out praying he paused and he felt someone tug on his pant leg he looked down to see sister vesta mangan great elder who's walked with god for hours a day for six seven eight decades of her life he looked down at her and she looked up at him he said she had tears in her eyes she said brother graham i just want to know him the graham jokingly said if she doesn't know him none of us do i haven't apprehended it yet i'm not already attained i'm not there yet even after all this time but i press on because i want to know him more than i currently do i'm not satisfied with my current knowledge and closeness with him but there's so much more to learn so i press on every day knowing him is the goal and the prize so i continue on i pray on i push on i pursue all the more i read all i can read i give all i can give i walk as faithfully as i can that i may know him and know him more than i currently do i do it all because i want to know him i want to know my savior i want to know my heavenly father i want to know more than i do right now i want to know him

and lastly like paul said not only do i want to know him in the power of his resurrection but i want to know him and the fellowship of his sufferings i don't want to just know him paul said but he takes it a step further which is the last thing i want to discuss today he says i want to know him even if that includes the fellowship of the sufferings now if we're honest this morning this is the part of the verse if we could we would love to leave this one out there was a line for us to use the white out on this would probably be the one to remove from the chapter if we could the truth is knowing jesus does not stop on the edge of suffering in the valley instead knowing jesus often involves walking with him through the valley even the valley of the shadow of death hear me today knowing jesus cannot be separated from knowing jesus in the fellowship of his sufferings because to know jesus only in the absence of suffering and pain is to know him in an incomplete way in manner instead if i want to know him i simply cannot blot out the part about knowing him and the fellowship of his sufferings the two often go hand in hand this is why paul was intentional to leave that phrase right where it was and make sure it was front and center and this is also why i just felt to walk in this vein for a moment because many of us are living in this vein of laden this is i believe going to provide clarity for someone that's been having questions and wondering what is all this for and why am i going through all this mess and i understand that circumstances vary but paul knew exactly what he was writing when he included that part about knowing jesus and the fellowship of his sufferings if you recall he wrote this from a jail cell cold dark primitive but peter i told me there was more than likely waste and sewage running across his feet he's quite possibly still battling a thorn in his side an ailment that god has yet to heal or rectify and to this point he had been beaten stoned hunted reviled rejected lied about falsely accused by his own people faced starvation and had faced death multiple times not only that but he's eventually headed to shipwreck trial further imprisonment execution that i may know him he writes with waste at his feet and in the fellowship of his sufferings he knew exactly what he was writing that day and yet he wrote it even still fully understanding what his pursuit of knowing jesus had already entailed and yet i press on i continue on i move forward i move ahead that i may know him in the power of his resurrection and he stands as a reminder today that knowing jesus oftentimes involves knowing pain and suffering at times as well as we share in the fellowship and the union of his sufferings and his pain which he himself endured for us i want to know him even in the fellowship of his sufferings and asking musicians to come i learned the hard way a couple years ago was talking to a friend in the fellowship hall just iron sharpening iron he told me a prayer he had been praying of late i thought that's a great prayer he said i've been praying lord i want to grow more in the next five years and i have in the last 10. that struck me okay i'm going to pray that prayer i got off the phone i was in the fellowship hall spend some time praying god i want to know you sincere prayer i want to grow more in the next five years than i have in the last 10. i want to be closer you know we don't often know what we're praying for we ask for things we don't really know what we're asking for sometimes see i learned to get to know jesus i'm still learning some of you could attest to the fact that it's not always in the ease of life he decides to reveal himself most brilliantly many times it's right in the middle of the fellowship of his sufferings that i get the greatest glimpses of god's glory such was the case the season of our lives after i prayed that prayer i remember one day it all came to head in my life we'd gone through a week and then a month and then a couple months of what i would just call an onslaught of suffering in particular just seemed like death and grief were everywhere you have to just pardon my vulnerability for a moment but i believe someone is walking through a similar valley today and you're looking around wondering okay god when are you lifting your hand when do i get out of this valley i'm tired i'm weak i'm weary i need an answer we had family prayer on a friday morning where i could attest the fact i was so broken almost felt embarrassed i told her i said i need to go i need to go find a place i got to get along with god and i asked him some of the same questions some of you have asked i know this is maybe not a a message right now for everyone but i think we'd be surprised how many are in this moment god why am i going through all of this what reason could there possibly be why am i in this valley why am i in the fellowship of your sufferings and i remember the lord in his mercy and grace responding to me and he gave me a word i believe is for some of you today he said you said you wanted to know me even in the fellowship of my sufferings someone hear me today i want to say again it's suffering knowing god rather does not end on the edge of the valley but oftentimes involves learning to trust him and walk with him through the valley riding it out with him through a storm sitting silently with him moments of brokenness enduring hardship alongside him as he draws you closer knowing him means knowing the fellowship of his sufferings as well but i encourage you that knowing him is worth every bit of pain and every bit of suffering that he will graciously allow you to endure because you may never know him better than you do when you're in the middle of the fellowship of his sufferings you may never be closer to god than when he allows you to walk with him in his brokenness and you may never hear his voice more clearly than when all the other distractions are diminished in light of the valley and the pain you may never gain more in your lifetime and when you gain a closeness with him and a fellowship with him through his suffering this is why paul wrote in ii corinthians so adamantly we're hard-pressed on every side yet not crushed we're perplexed but not in despair we're persecuted but not forsaken we're struck down we're not destroyed always caring about in the body the dying of the lord jesus why that the life of jesus also may be manifested in our body for we who live are always delivered to death for his sake that his life would be manifested in us verse 16 therefore we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing at the inward when it's being renewed every day for our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us if far more exceeding an eternal weight of glory the prize the goal the reward that i may know him in the power of his resurrection

i feel god's presence today i wonder if you'd stand together i'm going to ask you simply if you want to know him would you lift your hands across this place and begin to pray before i open this altar in just a moment and give some direction would you lift your hands right now and let the lord know god i want to know you even if that means i got to walk through some things my desire is still to know you i wonder if someone would lift their voice right now someone that's just beginning their journey someone who's been on this journey for 30 or 40 or 50 years but you're not content satisfied that god i like paul i just want to know you whatever that entails today i mean i know all that i'm praying right now but i truly do want to know you more than i do in this moment i've got to know you jesus oh continue praying and lift you in your voice i believe god's doing some things right here and now before i even open this altar god's drawing some people to his side god's given clarity right here and now oh lord this is a body of believers and family and guests that wants to know who you are this morning i want to invite three groups of people to this altar the first group of people is individuals who are just beginning to walk with god and you haven't yet repented of your sins and you haven't been baptized in his name just yet and you haven't received the gift of the holy ghost but you want to be in covenant in relationship with him in just a moment i'm going to invite you to come and repent and lift your hands and you can receive the gift of the holy ghost the second group is probably the largest in the room it's the group of people who have been walking with god been on a journey with god but something in you is stirring and you're saying i'm not content i'm not content where i'm at i've got to have more of him i want to know him more that's probably the largest group in the room and the last one is the group i just referenced you're walking through pain and turmoil and heartache and you want clarity and you want to know you want to respond the right way and you want to get to know your savior all the more simply put if you want to know jesus more i invite you to step out of your seat right now and come to this altar if you're in any of those three groups you're beginning your journey or you're in the journey but want to know him more or you're in the middle of the fellowship of his sufferings and you've got to have his help and you've got to have his strength i wonder if you come and lift your hands right now oh this is the this is the most worthy pursuit you will have today this may be the most worthy pursuit you will have in your life that i simply gotta know you i'm not content where i'm at god