February 4th - Desire for God
February 4, 2024

ADAM - Desire For God


John

Losing Desire:

Transactional Understanding of God:
I serve God for a personal benefit.
I also see God as loving me based on how I perform.
Obligation rather than Relationship
Not for what he can do for me, or what I must do for Him… but for what we can accomplish together.

My story of quitting on God:
“You didn’t quit yesterday, you began quitting months ago… But tomorrow you’ll be back 100%”

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Revelation 2:3-4 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.

Fisherman don’t fish they fight: Max Lacado:

We could hardly wait. Days passed like cold molasses. Finally spring break arrived. We loaded our camper and set out for the lake.
We arrived late at night, unfolded the camper, and went to bed—dreaming of tomorrow’s day in the sun. But during the night, an unseasonably strong norther blew in. It got cold fast! The wind was so strong that we could barely open the camper door the next morning. The sky was gray. The lake was a mountain range of white-topped waves. There was no way we could fish in that weather.

“No problem,” we said. “We’ll spend the day in the camper. After all, we have Monopoly. We have Reader’s Digest. We all know a few jokes. It’s not what we came to do, but we’ll make the best of it and fish tomorrow.”
So, huddled in the camper with a Coleman stove and a Monopoly board, we three fishermen passed the day—indoors. The hours passed slowly, but they did pass. Night finally came, and we crawled into the sleeping bags dreaming of angling.
Were we in for a surprise? The next morning it wasn’t the wind that made the door hard to open, it was the ice!
We tried to be cheerful. “No problem,” we mumbled. “We can play Monopoly…again. We can reread the stories in Reader’s Digest. And surely we know another joke or two.” But as courageous as we tried to be, it was obvious that some of the gray had left the sky and entered our camper.

I began to notice a few things I hadn’t seen before. I noticed that Mark had a few personality flaws. He was a bit too cocky about his opinions. He was easily irritated and constantly edgy. He couldn’t take any constructive criticism. Even though his socks did stink, he didn’t think it was my business to tell him.

“Just looking out for the best interest of my dad’s camper,” I defended, expecting Dad to come to my aid.
But Dad just sat over in the corner, reading. Humph, I thought, where is he when I need him? And then, I began to see Dad in a different light. When I mentioned to him that the eggs were soggy and the toast was burnt, he invited me to try my hand at the portable stove. Touchy, touchy, I said to myself. Nothing like being cooped up in a camper with someone to help you see his real nature.
It was a long day. It was a long, cold night.

When we awoke the next morning to the sound of sleet slapping the canvas, we didn’t even pretend to be cheerful. We were flat-out grumpy. Mark became more of a jerk with each passing moment; I wondered what spell of ignorance I must have been in when I invited him. Dad couldn’t do anything right; I wondered how someone so irritable could have such an even-tempered son. We sat in misery the whole day, our fishing equipment still unpacked.
The next day was even colder. “We’re going home” were my father’s first words. No one objected…

I learned a hard lesson that week. Not about fishing, but about people.

When those who are called to fish don’t fish, they fight.

When energy intended to be used outside is used inside, the result is explosive.
Instead of casting nets, we cast stones.
Instead of extending helping hands, we point accusing fingers.
Instead of being fishers of the people, we become critics of people.
Rather than helping the hurting, we hurt the helpers.

John 4:32-34 (Samaritan Woman) Jesus said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about… ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

“Pastor try to stuff another message down me”
Eating for pleasure VS Eating to fuel my activity

My job is to present a Book Report every 7 days (For the last 46 years)… On the same book!
Fortunately, the book is that rich… Scripture is living and active.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Grandparents going to Disneyland. (Sharing it with the child, not just looking for an experience for myself)

Stephen ministries – joy even with the responsibilities, because they see the life change in someone else.

We lose our desire for God when we lose his passion for His love for humanity.

Matthew 16:25-26 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?