9-27-19 The First 15

The Overview Throughout Scripture we see countless examples of God meeting with man and countless lives being transformed as the result. These examples are in Scripture to stir our faith and fill us with a desire to meet with our Creator. When we read about the life of David, we should be filled with a longing to live as he did, centered around meeting with our heavenly Father. When we read about Gideon or Moses, we should long to know our God as they did. When we read about Jesus coming down to us or his heart for the woman caught in adultery, we should respond by pursuing encounters with our Savior. And when we read of Pentecost and Jesus’ second coming, we should seek out the fullness of God’s presence available to us on this earth in preparation for the age that is to come. May your heart be filled with a wholehearted desire to pursue meeting with God this week. “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” - Matthew 1:23 The Worship Experience Hillsong Worship feat. Brooke Ligertwood Song: What A Beautiful Name

The Devotional There is no more powerful depiction of God’s love for us than Jesus stepping off his throne to humble himself, take on flesh, and dwell among men. Jesus coming down to us perfectly demonstrated God’s grace and desire to meet with man. Imagine for a minute the sacrifice of Jesus. Prior to coming down to us, he was Spirit, like God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He dwelled everywhere in every point of time. He was in perfect communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave up the very nature of his existence that we might walk in restored relationship with God. He sacrificed being Spirit that we might simply know God’s love.   Jesus was the heart of God perfectly personified. In everything he did, he clearly displayed God’s heart for mercy, grace, justice, redemption, and empowerment for his people. He is the center of all history. All of creation looks to him as King of kings and Lord of lords. Isaiah 9:6 tells us, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”   We serve the only King who would lay down his own life for his undeserving, rebellious subjects. We serve the only God who would step down off his throne and humble himself before us, even to the point of death. We serve the God of perfect love who can do nothing that isn’t completely drenched with his affection for us.   You can look at the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and know without a shadow of a doubt that God longs to meet with you. If Jesus would come to earth that you might receive redemption and restored relationship with your heavenly Father, there is no doubt that he will meet you exactly where you are, right now. Jesus’ sacrifice was so powerful that it set you free to live in true communion with God. Ephesians 2:4-7 says,   But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. May you discover what it truly means to be seated in the heavenly places with Christ. May you pursue all the fullness of relationship afforded to you by the powerful sacrifice of Jesus. May his coming to earth demonstrate its power in your life. Take time to fellowship with God today the way Jesus did. Walk as he walked. And experience today the fullness of life that only comes by meeting with your heavenly Father by his grace and love.

The Prayer 1. Meditate on God’s desire to meet with you as demonstrated by Jesus coming to earth.   “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” Matthew 1:23   “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14   “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8   2. Where do you have doubt about experiencing the presence of God? Where do you feel like it is impossible or difficult to encounter your heavenly Father?   “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16   3. Align your perspective with the truth of Scripture. Allow Jesus’ coming to fill you with faith and expectation to experience all that he came and died to give you. Take time to press into the heart of God and encounter the depths of his love today.   “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7

We as modern-day believers often grow content with so much less than what’s available to us in Christ. We grow content with programs, sermons, worship, and Bible study that’s void of God’s presence. We believe that the Christian life is one solely marked by discipline and moral living rather than transformative encounters with the holiness of God. Pursue the greater things today. Press into the heart of your Creator that you might know how truly near he is. Seek him and discover the wealth of his presence and love that has been available to you all along. Instead of programs about him, may your life be marked by meeting directly with your good and loving Father. Extended Reading: Philippians 2 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Philippians.