God's Pursuit Of Man

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• ·   Gen :1-3  God created heaven and earth – note The Spirit brooded over the waters – caring / salvation. God is good…..all the time…..that’s the way God is - the model for all parents dealing with their children.

·        

•  even before man’s existence God cared for and planned to take care of mankind to begin pursuit

•  Dictionary.com definition of “pursuit”

1. The act or an instance of chasing or pursuing.

2.  The act of striving: the pursuit of higher education.

3.  An activity, such as a vocation or hobby, engaged in regularly.

•  out of desire for fellowship and deep caring - established first a place for man and gave him everything he needed – you only pursue what you care about.

examples -

Adam / Eve – Disobedience in Garden

·         Gen 3:9  “where are you?” – among God’s first dealing’s/man – He had relationship (Gen 3:21) – walked in cool of day

·         When Adam disobeyed, God started relentless pursuit of mankind

                  

Dictionary.com

re·lent·less–adjective   - that does not relent; unyieldingly severe, strict, or harsh; unrelenting:   —Synonyms 

 rigid, unbending, obdurate, adamant, unyielding.

unrelenting, unyielding pursuit 

•  God without giving up – does not care about emotion – unyielding – does not give up

·         Adam said “we are hiding because we are naked” – at that point (they didn’t realize it) they were spiritually naked – without God – vulnerable.

·           Gen. 3:21 - God took care of them – made clothes for them from animal skins – already taking care of them. Begins pursuit – even though fallen state.

·         Gen. 22:7-8  Abraham knew God would provide either through his son or His Son – Abraham did not know specifically about Jesus, but knew God would reward obedience and provide one way or other.

·         Gen. 22:10-13 – Abraham / Isaac – God provided sacrifice (His compassion – He found one man faithful) – Was God bound to sac. Jesus since Abe willing to sac. Isaac? (would God be outdone – “no man is greater than his master”)

·         Took care of Noah (preserve Noah and family – as well as pursuing and preserving mankind) 

·         God takes care of man, throughout  history, in ALL dealings with mankind regardless of degree of  Love. God is Love – 1 John 4:8 – everything He does - whether it seems like it or not, is done out of love. – IT HIS NATURE!

·         rescued nation from Egypt

·         provided means for escape – Pharaoh – Red Sea

·         gave them manna, quail, water

·         Duet 30:19 told them what was good for them and then told them what to choose/do

(life-death - choose life)….not  only physical but spiritual

·         even though trip took longer than it should have God took care of them and got them there

·         Through tough love – a cycle of God punishing and man coming back and the falling away again - etc. etc. He (God) pursued (pursues) man relentlessly because of unquenchable desire to have relationship with him.

·         God made final sacrifice for us – taking care of and providing sacrifice in His Son (Him) for us – we can not be good enough or take care of ourselves.

·         How to accept His help – Rom 10:9…Eph 2:-9

·         His pursuit so relentless He made it about Him – not us

·         He knew and we proved time and time again He would have to do redemptive work for us.

·         One final plea for us – Rev 3:20 (door of heart and knock) (pursue/knock example)

·         Rev 22:13 – Alpha & Omega – 1^st and last to say about our lives –

·          Eph 1:4 foundations of earth 1^st thing to say

·         John 3:17-18 – last thing (JUDGED ALREADY)

·         God does not know time – past, present and future are all the same. So “where are you”

has same relevance today to us as it did to Adam

·         He always pursues us – it’s His Nature / up to us to answer call (at the door of our hearts) –

·         Heb 11:6-7 - When we respond the circle of pursuit begins

He rewards us with his presence

·         throughout the Bible God seems less interested in proving existence but more interested in showing what He is like.

God's Pursuit Of Man

·    
Gen 1 :1-3    God created heaven and earth – note The Spirit brooded over the waters – caring / salvation.  God is good…..all the time…..that’s the way God is - the model for all parents dealing with their children.

·        even before man’s existence God cared for and planned to take care of mankind to begin pursuit

·        Dictionary.com’s definition of “pursuit”

                              1. The act or an instance of chasing or pursuing.

2.  The act of striving: the pursuit of higher education.

3.  An activity, such as a vocation or hobby, engaged in regularly.

•      out of desire for fellowship and deep caring - established first a place for man and gave him everything he needed – you only pursue what you care about.

examples -

Adam / Eve – Disobedience in Garden

·        Gen 3:9  “where are you?” – among God’s first dealing’s/man – He had relationship (Gen 3:21) – walked in cool of day

• ·        When Adam disobeyed, God started relentless pursuit of mankind

                 

Dictionary.com

re·lent·less–adjective   - that does not relent; unyielding severe, strict, or harsh; unrelenting:   —Synonyms
rigid, unbending, obdurate, adamant, unyielding.

• God, without giving up – relentless – unyielding – never stops

•   Adam said “we are hiding because we are naked” – at that point (they didn’t realize it) they were spiritually as well as physically naked – without God – vulnerable.

•   Gen. 3:21 - God took care of them – made clothes for them from animal skins – already taking care of them. Begins pursuit – even though fallen state.

•   Gen. 22:7-8  Abraham knew God would provide either through his son or His Son – Abraham did not know specifically about Jesus, but knew God would reward obedience and provide one way or other.

•  Gen. 22:10-13 – Abraham / Isaac – God provided sacrifice (His compassion – He found one man faithful) – Was God bound to sac. Jesus since Abe willing to sac. Isaac? (would God be outdone – “no man is greater than his master”)

•   Took care of Noah (preserve Noah and family – as well as pursuing and preserving mankind) 

•    God takes care of man, throughout  history, in ALL dealings with mankind regardless of degree of  Love. God is Love – 1 John 4:8 – everything He does - whether it seems like it or not, is done out of love. – IT HIS NATURE!

•  rescued nation from Egypt

•  provided means for escape – Pharaoh – Red Sea

•   gave them manna, quail, water

•  Duet 30:19 told them what was good for them and then told them what to choose/do

             (life-death - choose life)….not  only physical but spiritua

• even though trip took longer than it should have God took care of them and got them there

•  Through tough love – a cycle of God punishing and man coming back and the falling away again - etc. etc. He (God) pursued (pursues) man relentlessly because of unquenchable desire to have relationship with him.

•    God made final sacrifice for us – taking care of and providing sacrifice in His Son (Him) for us – we can not be good enough or take care of ourselves.

•  How to accept His help – Rom 10:9…Eph 2:-9

• His pursuit so relentless He made it about Him rescuing us – not us rescuing us, then up to us to make final decision whether we want to be rescued or not.

• He knew and we proved time and time again He would have to do redemptive work for us.

• One final plea for us – Rev 3:20 (door of heart and knock) (pursue/knock example)

• Rev 22:13 – Alpha & Omega – 1^st and last to say about our lives –

•  Eph 1:4 foundations of earth 1^st thing to say -

•    John 3:17-18 – last thing to say JUDGED ALREADY in the sense that His decision, should we not accept Christ has already bean made.

• God does not know time – past, present and future are all the same (my opinion). So “where are you?” has same relevance today to us as it did to Adam

• He always pursues us – it’s His Nature / up to us to answer call (at the door of our hearts) –

•  Heb 11:6-7 - When we respond the circle of pursuit beginsHe rewards us with his presence

throughout the Bible God seems less interested in proving existence but more interested in showing what He is like.

Bitterness Stings

Text – Heb. 12:15 -  NKJV

looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled

This verse says much to us: also NIV translation

NIV      

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

A)    Dissecting this verse –

1)    Comparing these two translations the gist seems clear cut.

            Don’s version

·         Make sure no one, I mean no one, misses out on what God, the Master Of The Universe has to give each one of us as a free gift, (Eph. 2:8-9) and so that nothing we do or say causes others to have a bad attitude and a ruined perspective.

B)    We cause bitterness in others most often by things we say – offend = GR – aproskopos – void of offense not to stumble.

1)     bitterness or being offended come in only two ways

a)     what someone says or doesn’t say.

b)     What someone does or doesn’t do

           

James 3:5-8 – (read)

5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.  (fire useful in check…unchecked = great disaster)

            Leaven / yeast  (1 Corinthians 5:6)

 7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

·         These verses tell us what we already know, that things we say can and do sometimes cause others hurt (intentional or not).

C)   Be careful what we speak

(1)          Why does hell make what we say a stumbling block?

To destroy others

1.     Luke 17:1 

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe [unto him],    through whom they come!

·         Jesus tells His disciples (us) that we will be offended by what people say

·         Offense = Greek “scandalous”  = “trip and fall”

·         The way this sentence or verse constructed  “offenses will come” can be translated “ let it go”

·         He is saying “get a grip on yourself – you can deal with it” – “let it go!” – simple not easy

D)    We know or can guess, when Jesus tells us we have a problem He is also going to tell us how to deal with it.

With an illustration  and teaching. Luke : 1-6 (read)

1.     In these verses or teaching Jesus teaches on 3 things

a)     sin

b)     faith

c)     forgiviness – They were saying increase our faith so we can forgive

A)    In this study only the forgiveness aspect of the teaching will be dealt with

All are very important

1.     Luke 17:6 seen only (by many) as a teaching on faith.

2.     also an illustration of removing the bitterness or offenses that will come.

3.     In this teaching He has already mentioned forgiveness and sin.

B)    He uses sycamine tree as an example in vs. 6.

a)     He uses this example for reason – sycamine tree, like bitterness or offense, has very deep roots, grows in very dry, arid climates – just like bitterness

b)     Wood very hard and tough – just like bitterness. (preferred wood for making caskets)

c)     Only pollinated when it’s fruit stung by a wasp. (specific to that region) – being offended stings!

Jesus tells us, in this teaching, that offense, causing bitterness stings, but they can be removed by forgiveness – HE TELLS US TO LET IT GO!

He tells us we can forgive by faith – for our own sake