How to Have an Intimate Relationship with God

“When you said, ‘Seek my face.”
My heart said to you, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.””

— Psalm 27:8

Would you say that you have an intimate relationship with God? It is amazing to consider that this  is what God wants with us!

Please listen to this recording of a message about how to have intimacy with God from Psalm 27:4, 8-9, given at Highland Christian Fellowship on Dec 20, 2015.

God call us to have intimate fellowship with him.

1. We can enjoy intimacy with God through singular focus.

2. We can enjoy intimacy with God by having a  pure of heart.

A Scripture Memory Review System

The challenge of memorizing Scripture is not just memorizing it the first time, but remembering it after that. I have spent much time memorizing large portions of Scripture that I did not review and therefore could not remember months later. To remedy this, I use a Scripture Memory Review System.

“I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.”

— Psalm 119:11

Memorizing Scripture is challenging. It is often challenging because, as a culture, we are not in the habit of memorizing. However, the more you do it (and the earlier you teach your children to learn it), the more accustomed our minds will become to it. Don’t quit because it is hard at first; keep training your memory muscle and it will become stronger.

Memorizing Scripture and using a review system also takes time. Is it worth it?

• How important is it to understand who God is and his will for our lives (Eph 5:15-17)?
• How important is it to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:1-2; Psalm 19:7-14)?
• How can we live out our freedom in Christ from sin (Psalm 119:9-11; Matt 4:1-11; John 8:31-32)?
• How can we have victory in the spiritual battle and escape from deception (Eph 6:10-17; Col 3:16; Titus 1:9)?
• How can we be equipped for every good work (1 Tim 3:16-17)?
• How can we be sure to grow, bear spiritual fruit, and enjoy success in all we do (Psalm 1:1-3)?

Here is David’s conclusion about the words of the Lord,

“More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned; In keeping them there is great reward!”
Psalm 19:10-11

I have written out in detail how I memorize Scripture and the system and charts I use for reviewing what I've memorized, if you would like to use it.

What If Noah Only Built Half an Ark?

This is an interesting warning from Paul to Timothy:

"Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." (1 Tim 4:16)

Most of us are pretty confident that we know how to be saved. Let us be watchful and make sure that we have a biblical understanding of how God offers us salvation from judgment.

Genesis 6:8-7:5 conveys the story of how Noah and his family were saved from the judgment of the flood. Today God offers salvation from judgment through Jesus Christ! How does God offer salvation from judgment? In this passage there are four descriptions of the coming of salvation from judgment.

1. Salvation from judgment comes by grace.
2. Salvation from judgment comes to the righteous.
3. Salvation from judgment comes through God's design.
4. Salvation from judgment comes through covenant.

Before I began this teaching, I showed a brief video of Ken Ham discussing Noah and the ark. You can view it here.

How to Clean Up All Your Clutter and Garbage

I had a gigantic pile of stuff on the couch in my office earlier this week. Where did it come from? I unloaded all the stuff in my office into one place. I emptied every drawer, cabinet, cubby hole, closet, and shelf (except for all my books)! I was following the advice of David Allen in his book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Allen claims that being a productive person means being an organized person. One important step to being organized is to collect and process all the clutter and loose ends in your life.

The collection step is just as I've stated, just dump everything you've got into one place. Don't organize anything yet (unless you already know it is trash), just collect into one location. Then you enter process mode. Allen provides a processing workflow diagram to help you decide what you are going to do with each item. His diagram is especially suited for ideas, paper, and tasks. But even objects need to be trashed or organized and placed in an effective location.

Of course, even after you have collected and processed all your loose ends, if you do not have an effective system for processing all future "stuff"  (and work it!), you will end up right back where you started. I recommend you read the book to find out how to do it.

How to Understand the Love and Judgment of God

Did God really destroy ALL the people on the earth except Noah and his family?! Would a loving God do that? Did they deserve it? Listen to this teaching on Gen 6:1-7 to discover how to understand God's heart for his creation, our purpose and freedom, and his judgment.

1. The sinfulness of man violates God's creative purpose.
2. The sinfulness of man grieves the heart of God.
3. The sinfulness of man will be destroyed by God.

What We Really Ought to Be Afraid Of

We fear many things. Unfortunately, we often fear the wrong things. We fear losing a loved one, not being able to pay the bills, losing our jobs, losing possessions, getting a disease. But the greatest threat in our lives is a threat to our spiritual well-being. The greatest threat is sin.

In Genesis 6:1-7, we discover how wicked the world was before God destroyed it with the flood. As we observe this wickedness, we are able to learn about the nature of human sinfulness. Here are the main ideas:

1. This sinfulness of man comes from choosing fleshly desires over spiritual priorities.
2. The sinfulness of man is infectious.
3. The sinfulness of man is a condition of the human heart.

Seven Surefire Ways to Find Yourself in Sin, Part 2

No one ever intends to be stuck in fear, depression, or addiction. No one ever intends to be trapped by sin. It happens over time, through a series of choices that we make. There is a path to sin and there is a way to avoid it. We can clearly see the path to sin as we observe the first human sin in Genesis 3.

Below you can stream or download the audio recording of Part 2 of my teaching on Genesis 3:1-7, given at Highland Christian Fellowship on April 26, 2015.

1. Be unaware of Satan's tactics (v. 1).
2. Ignore lines of authority God has  
    established (vv. 2, 6).
3. Become unclear about what God's
    Word says (vv. 2-3).
4. Doubt God's Word (vv. 1, 4).
5. Question God's goodness (v. 5).
6. Do not wait on God to satisfy your
    desires (v. 6).
7. Try to fit in and please people (v. 6).

Two Empowering Truths for a New School Year

We are gearing up to start the Fall school semester at our house. These preparations are often accompanied by a mixture of excitement and fear. It is exciting to look at the new books, the clean sheets of paper waiting to become masterpieces, the beautiful charts and schedules that hold promises of peace and order. Then we remember that it rarely turns out that way! That's when the fear (and maybe some discouragement) comes in.

I want to share two empowering truths to cling to as you prepare for a new school year:

1. "There is time to do anything and everything that God wants us to do." Elizabeth Elliot

One of the reasons we become overwhelmed, or do not complete all that we set out to do, is because we put too much on our plates. We have limited resources and abilities and, therefore, we simply cannot do it all! So, how do we decide what to do and what not to do? We ask an important question: What does God want me to do? What does God want our family to do? Pray about this and expect God to give you clarity and wisdom about the choices you make. We may not have time to do everything we want to do, or everything we think we should do, or everything everybody else wants us to do. But we do have time to do everything God wants us to do. He knows what we can do, and more importantly, he knows what he can do through us. This leads us to the next empowering truth to consider:

2 ."God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." 2 Cor 9:8

Although we have human limitations, God is able to give us everything we need to do the good things he wants us to do. When we endeavor to train and disciple our children, we are taking up a good work. We have the promise of God for everything we need to carry it out. When we face the old, familiar thought,  "I can't do it!" Don't try to argue, just admit it. "Yes, I can't do it. . . . Not on my own. But 'I can do all things through him who strengthens me.' (Phil 4:13)."