I experienced many worship services, sermons, youth camps, student ministry, Bible studies, prayer meetings and dinners for 8 – and never did I experience God. —Tony Murrow
God intends for us to Experience Him.
How to Experience God:
- God invites us to join his work.
- We must learn to hear God’s invitations.
- We experience god when we respond in obedience.
The Gospel of the Kingdom:
Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news. —Mark 1:14-15
Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is “at hand,” so close you could grab it with your hand.
We enter the kingdom by approaching God in spirit and truth.
Entering God’s Kingdom:
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:8-9
We are able to enter God’s Kingdom as he grants us the ability to see our own sinfulness and approach Him in truth.
The Work God Invites Us to Join:
“16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” —Mark 1:16-17
God invites us to become “fishers of men.”
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. —2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Saving Faith is Active and Alive:
The only invitation Jesus gives is the same one he gave to his disciples: Come. Follow me.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous:
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.