Message: Where Are You?
I.
Introduction
a.
During this
coming year we are going to have an interlocking theme for each of the sermons,
each one will be about a question that is asked in the Bible.
b.
Often the Bible
gets looked at as something full of answers (which it does have) but it is
amazing when you read the Bible how many Questions it asks, and not just silly
questions, but deep ones that go to the core of our life.
c.
So each week we
will look at one of those questions and hopefully by the end of the year see
ourselves more rooted in Christ as we grow together.
d.
Illus: Have
Groups Present their Plays
a.
Saul –
Gordie/James
b.
Jonah –
David/Sharon
c.
Elijah – Lacey/Karen
e.
Each of these
stories had something in common, in each case the people in the story were
hiding from God
a.
Saul hid from his
destiny, his calling to be king. He was
afraid, yet God sought him out even though he was hiding because God had
something important for him to do!
b.
Jonah knew what
he was supposed to do but had ran from it doing his own thing. He was going to hide as far away from God as
he could think…but God sought him out so he could put him back on the right
track, correcting his sinful choices.
c.
Elijah was
depressed, scared, and in pain. He felt
abandoned and just wanted to die. Yet
God sought him out and gave him hope, healed his pain, and removed his fear by
showing how powerful he was.
II.
Body
a.
The first
instance of this hiding is found in Genesis 3:6-9. And this also where we will find our question
of the night
b.
Read Genesis
3:6-9 – “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and
pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and
ate it. She also gave some to her
husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and ty realized they were
naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for
themselves. Then the man and his wife
heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where
are you?””
a.
When they sinned
they had broken their relationship with God and felt dirty, thus they first try
to hide their sin by covering up their bodies, hiding themselves from each
other and the world around them. Suddenly
they felt exposed and ashamed, and could think of nothing better to do but to
hide
b.
But then things
get worse because they forgot about one part of the equation, God. And now he is in the garden walking toward
them. What would he do when he found
them? Would he kill them, would he hate
them? So they hid.
c.
But God doesn’t
just walk by, ignoring the problem. Nor
does he just walk up to them and say, “You dirty sinners come and get
judged.” Instead he calls to them,
“Where are you?” allowing them the
chance to come out of hiding.
d.
Did God know
where they were? Yes, but he was seeking
them out
i.
Even though they
were dirty, even though they were avoiding him, even though they didn’t deserve
to have a relationship with God again, he went looking for them
III.
Conclusion
(Things that are true for your life)
a.
We all hide at
some point in our lives
a.
Some hide to avoid
doing what God has called them to do.
Maybe this is with a calling in your life (to be a pastor, missionary,
teach a SS class, be on worship team, etc…), sometimes this is making a
lifestyle change (stopping hanging out with certain friends, getting out of a
bad relationship, etc…)
b.
Some hide to
avoid God correcting us from our sinful choices. We turn up our music and tune out God
(stopping praying, reading the bible, listening when in church), we like our
lives how they are and don’t want to hear we are doing something wrong.
c.
Some hide to
avoid God because we have lost our relationship with him and feel he might hate
us or not accept us back.
d.
Some hide to run
away from fear and pain, we are depressed and just want to die, so we hide from
God and from the world, the pain is too great we don’t want anyone to find out,
so we hold it in and smile.
e.
Maybe you are
hiding tonight
b.
But God is
seeking you out
a.
God wants to show
you your purpose and walk with you as you live that out, you won’t have to do
it alone.
b.
God wants to
correct you when you are making sinful choices because he wants the best thing
for you and to help you before things get worse.
c.
God wants to mend
the broken relationship he has with you, not so he can punish you but so he can
restore what has been lost between the two of you.
d.
God wants to take
away your fear, pain, and depression by showing his power to you and giving you
hope
e.
God is seeking
you out, tonight he is asking, “Where are you?”
c.
If that is you
tonight and you want God to find you, to guide, correct, mend, or heal, then I
want you to do something brave tonight, everyone look at your table leader, and
if that is you tonight and you want to stop hiding, tell your leader at your
table right now, “I’m here.”
d.
I’ll pray and
then you can talk at your table about this and be prayed for by your leader.
