Here, There, and Everywhere!
Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-16
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
For the past month or so we have been discussion the attributes of God; His
character. We’ve talked about how important it is that we do more than just knowing
who God is; we must know Him not just know about Him. Last week we touched on
the fact that Bible prophecy tells us that in the end many will be deceived because
the don’t know His voice. Jesus told us that His sheep would hear His voice and
respond only to Him so, what about those who don’t know His voice? An imposter
can rise up who may sound like Him to lead those who don’t know Him enough away
from Him so, what does it take to really know Him?
Psalm 27:8-9
8 When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
9 Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
We must seek Him with everything we have and everything we are. When we do, we
will find Him. That’s what Yeshua tells us. (Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 11:9-10) He does
not hide from us. The in the garden after they ate the fruit, they hid from His
presence (Genesis 3:8), not the other way around. God does not hide from
us…ever! Our scripture reading makes that abundantly clear. There is nowhere we
can go to hide from His presence. Most people know that but they see it like He’s the
Gestapo or some undercover cop that’s out to get us. Like He wants to get some dirt
on us so He can bring us down. You would only have that impression if you don’t
know Him. If you’ve been studying with us these past few weeks, I would hope you
know He seeks nothing but the best for us. Right here in psalm 139 we read that
even before we were born; before we were even formed in our mother’s womb, He
took notice of us. He saw our substance; who we really are and gave us purpose.
Since then He has been lead and guiding us to that purpose, while it has been when
we stray away from that guidance that things do not go well for us. It is God’s desire
to have a person relationship with His people.
Exodus 20:18-21
18 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the
trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar
off. 19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak
with us, lest we die.”
20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear
may be before you, so that you may not sin.” 21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew
near the thick darkness where God was.
How much would have been different for them if they had wanted to hear Him?
Maybe they would have recognized from the beginning that the Law He gave through
Moses was not about the rules and the rituals, but was about the relationship. It has
always been about the relationship. If you’ve ever played the ‘telephone game’, you
know how quickly things get twisted. You whisper something to one person, then
they whisper to another, and so on. Then by the time it gets said down the line,
many times it has nothing to do with what was initially said. That’s what had
happened by the time Yeshua came. Though they thought they knew what God had
said, they clearly did not know what He had meant, because their fathers hadn’t had
the desire to hear God.
Matthew 15:3-9
3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God
because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your
mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say,
‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a
gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the
commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy
about you, saying:
8 ‘ These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
They had completely missed the point. They had made it about the rule and not
about the relationship. You see, rules can be circumvented; relationships can’t or I
should say shouldn’t. By creating a reason to get around the rule they had missed
the importance of the relationship. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 29 saying that though
the people draw near to Him with their mouths, their heart is far from Him. They had
not sought after God with their hearts, but had attempted to seek after religion
through rules. But God's Law that He gave through Moses wasn’t meant for the sake
of following rules, there was more to it.
Joshua 1:7-9
7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law
which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left,
that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your
mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all
that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good
success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor
be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
YHWH makes it clear to Joshua that it’s for his prosperity and good success that He is
encouraging him to do according to what He has commanded. God wants His people
to do well and as our Creator He knows how we function best. It’s like the pool in the
back yard. We’re watching four kids under ten every weekday so when summer hit
we started doing what we felt we need to do to get the pool back right for the
season. We did everything we thought we needed to do but the water just was not
getting blue. It was like we were just throwing money into a hole because nothing we
did seemed to help. We had actually spoken about just getting rid of the pool, then
mom said she would pray about it to see if we should just get rid of it and baptize at
the beach or something. The next thing I know she’s coming into the house with a
bunch of chemicals from the pool store. She had taken them a sample of the water in
a container; they had analyzed it and given her a detailed list of exactly what we
needed to do. We did the first thing on the list and by the next morning it was blue.
However, when we tried to skip a step because everything looked alright on the
surface, it messed up again and we had to start over. The bottom line is that when
we took our problem to the experts and followed their direction, all was well. That’s
what God is as our Creator. He is the Expert; the only One that truly knows exactly
how we operate on the deepest levels, and this is the best part, He is always there.
We don’t have to go looking for Him.
Jeremiah 1:4-8
4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
5 “ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then said I:
“ Ah, Lord GOD!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
7 But the LORD said to me:
“ Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.
We know that God is not a respecter of persons. He does not revere one person
over another. Before Jeremiah was formed in the womb he had already been
ordained a prophet. What has God ordained for you? Do you have any idea? Have
you sought after your answer with your whole heart? Have you, like Jeremiah, tried
to tell God why you can’t fulfill that purpose? Do you feel you are too young, or too
old, or too quiet, or too loud, over educated, not educated enough or whatever else
your mind may try to convince you of? As YHWH said to Jeremiah, “Do not say”
whatever it is that makes you feel inadequate, because God is with you. He will
deliver you.
Deuteronomy 31: 8 - And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you,
He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
And again from the lips of Messiah.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven
and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
He is with us always. He will never leave us. The last personality we’re looking at in
this series is from Ezekiel 48:35; YHWH Shammah or Jehovah Shammah, the LORD
is there! But not in an afar off sense like, you have to go there to find Him. Rather
like when you are in trouble; He is there. When all is going well; He is there. When
you go left; He is there. When you go right; He is there. Wherever you go; He is
there. It’s about the relationship. Like a loving Father tenderly holding the hand of
His child.
Hebrews 13:5-6
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He
Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”] 6 So we may boldly say:
“ The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
We can be comforted that He is always with us. We can be encouraged that He is
our Helper. We have no reason to fear or be discouraged because we know He is
there.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: July 1, 2007
Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-16
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
For the past month or so we have been discussion the attributes of God; His
character. We’ve talked about how important it is that we do more than just knowing
who God is; we must know Him not just know about Him. Last week we touched on
the fact that Bible prophecy tells us that in the end many will be deceived because
the don’t know His voice. Jesus told us that His sheep would hear His voice and
respond only to Him so, what about those who don’t know His voice? An imposter
can rise up who may sound like Him to lead those who don’t know Him enough away
from Him so, what does it take to really know Him?
Psalm 27:8-9
8 When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
9 Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
We must seek Him with everything we have and everything we are. When we do, we
will find Him. That’s what Yeshua tells us. (Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 11:9-10) He does
not hide from us. The in the garden after they ate the fruit, they hid from His
presence (Genesis 3:8), not the other way around. God does not hide from
us…ever! Our scripture reading makes that abundantly clear. There is nowhere we
can go to hide from His presence. Most people know that but they see it like He’s the
Gestapo or some undercover cop that’s out to get us. Like He wants to get some dirt
on us so He can bring us down. You would only have that impression if you don’t
know Him. If you’ve been studying with us these past few weeks, I would hope you
know He seeks nothing but the best for us. Right here in psalm 139 we read that
even before we were born; before we were even formed in our mother’s womb, He
took notice of us. He saw our substance; who we really are and gave us purpose.
Since then He has been lead and guiding us to that purpose, while it has been when
we stray away from that guidance that things do not go well for us. It is God’s desire
to have a person relationship with His people.
Exodus 20:18-21
18 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the
trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar
off. 19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak
with us, lest we die.”
20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear
may be before you, so that you may not sin.” 21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew
near the thick darkness where God was.
How much would have been different for them if they had wanted to hear Him?
Maybe they would have recognized from the beginning that the Law He gave through
Moses was not about the rules and the rituals, but was about the relationship. It has
always been about the relationship. If you’ve ever played the ‘telephone game’, you
know how quickly things get twisted. You whisper something to one person, then
they whisper to another, and so on. Then by the time it gets said down the line,
many times it has nothing to do with what was initially said. That’s what had
happened by the time Yeshua came. Though they thought they knew what God had
said, they clearly did not know what He had meant, because their fathers hadn’t had
the desire to hear God.
Matthew 15:3-9
3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God
because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your
mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say,
‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a
gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the
commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy
about you, saying:
8 ‘ These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
They had completely missed the point. They had made it about the rule and not
about the relationship. You see, rules can be circumvented; relationships can’t or I
should say shouldn’t. By creating a reason to get around the rule they had missed
the importance of the relationship. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 29 saying that though
the people draw near to Him with their mouths, their heart is far from Him. They had
not sought after God with their hearts, but had attempted to seek after religion
through rules. But God's Law that He gave through Moses wasn’t meant for the sake
of following rules, there was more to it.
Joshua 1:7-9
7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law
which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left,
that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your
mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all
that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good
success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor
be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
YHWH makes it clear to Joshua that it’s for his prosperity and good success that He is
encouraging him to do according to what He has commanded. God wants His people
to do well and as our Creator He knows how we function best. It’s like the pool in the
back yard. We’re watching four kids under ten every weekday so when summer hit
we started doing what we felt we need to do to get the pool back right for the
season. We did everything we thought we needed to do but the water just was not
getting blue. It was like we were just throwing money into a hole because nothing we
did seemed to help. We had actually spoken about just getting rid of the pool, then
mom said she would pray about it to see if we should just get rid of it and baptize at
the beach or something. The next thing I know she’s coming into the house with a
bunch of chemicals from the pool store. She had taken them a sample of the water in
a container; they had analyzed it and given her a detailed list of exactly what we
needed to do. We did the first thing on the list and by the next morning it was blue.
However, when we tried to skip a step because everything looked alright on the
surface, it messed up again and we had to start over. The bottom line is that when
we took our problem to the experts and followed their direction, all was well. That’s
what God is as our Creator. He is the Expert; the only One that truly knows exactly
how we operate on the deepest levels, and this is the best part, He is always there.
We don’t have to go looking for Him.
Jeremiah 1:4-8
4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
5 “ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then said I:
“ Ah, Lord GOD!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
7 But the LORD said to me:
“ Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.
We know that God is not a respecter of persons. He does not revere one person
over another. Before Jeremiah was formed in the womb he had already been
ordained a prophet. What has God ordained for you? Do you have any idea? Have
you sought after your answer with your whole heart? Have you, like Jeremiah, tried
to tell God why you can’t fulfill that purpose? Do you feel you are too young, or too
old, or too quiet, or too loud, over educated, not educated enough or whatever else
your mind may try to convince you of? As YHWH said to Jeremiah, “Do not say”
whatever it is that makes you feel inadequate, because God is with you. He will
deliver you.
Deuteronomy 31: 8 - And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you,
He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
And again from the lips of Messiah.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven
and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
He is with us always. He will never leave us. The last personality we’re looking at in
this series is from Ezekiel 48:35; YHWH Shammah or Jehovah Shammah, the LORD
is there! But not in an afar off sense like, you have to go there to find Him. Rather
like when you are in trouble; He is there. When all is going well; He is there. When
you go left; He is there. When you go right; He is there. Wherever you go; He is
there. It’s about the relationship. Like a loving Father tenderly holding the hand of
His child.
Hebrews 13:5-6
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He
Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”] 6 So we may boldly say:
“ The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
We can be comforted that He is always with us. We can be encouraged that He is
our Helper. We have no reason to fear or be discouraged because we know He is
there.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: July 1, 2007
