{"id":107,"date":"2010-09-13T11:23:17","date_gmt":"2010-09-13T15:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=107"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:29:21","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:29:22","slug":"knowing-god-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/knowing-god-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowing God Better"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the principle:\u00a0 the more you know a person, the more important that person becomes in your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The more you know a person, the stronger and closer your relationship with that person becomes; and if that\u2019s true of our relationships with other people, then it\u2019s also true of our relationship with God.<\/p>\n

God deserves first place in our lives.\u00a0 And He wants our closest and strongest relationship to be with Him.\u00a0 But if we\u2019re going to grow in our relationship with God, that means we have know more about God. \u00a0We have to know God better than we know anyone else.<\/p>\n

\"Kid
We're teaching kids about God's character traits this year. But this truth is timeless, and it's not just for kids. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This fall, we\u2019re taking our 3rd<\/sup>, 4th<\/sup>, and 5th<\/sup> Graders about through a series called Knowing God Better<\/em>.\u00a0 We\u2019re looking at what the Bible has to say about the character of God.\u00a0 But the goal of this study is not simply to learn facts about God.\u00a0 The goal is to understand God in a way that deepens our appreciation and love for Him, that deepens our relationship with Him.\u00a0 The goal is to understand God in a way that motivates us to become more like Him.<\/p>\n

Knowing God is a Big Deal<\/h2>\n

<\/strong>Paul talks about the importance of this pursuit in Philippians 3.\u00a0 He says\u2026<\/p>\n

Philippians 3:7-8
\n“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.\u00a0 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can tell that Paul placed a pretty high value on knowing Christ.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a piece of information about Paul\u2019s background that makes his statement even more significant\u2014Paul was a Jew.<\/p>\n

And you say, \u201cSo what?\u00a0 Big deal.\u00a0 Practically everyone in the Bible was a Jew.\u201d<\/p>\n

While that\u2019s true, we have to think about it from their perspective.\u00a0 The Jews were God\u2019s chosen people.\u00a0 They were the nation that God had chosen from among all the nations of the earth to be His special people to represent Him to the world.\u00a0 And the Jews were very proud of this fact.\u00a0 In fact, many Jews believed that just because they were Jews they would be going to heaven.<\/p>\n

It would be the same as if we believed we could go to heaven just because we\u2019re growing up in America, or just because your family goes to this church.<\/p>\n

But Paul was different from many of the other Jewish people because not only was He a Jew, but Paul was also considered a \u201crighteous Jew.\u201d\u00a0 Paul obeyed the commands of the law.\u00a0 He even obeyed the extra commands that the Pharisees and rabbis had added to the law.\u00a0 And he lists all of the things that would have made him special.<\/p>\n

Philippians 3:4-6
\n“If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:\u00a0 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paul basically says that if anyone had a right to think that he had it \u201cgoing on\u201d spiritually, it was him.\u00a0 But even though he had all of these reasons to boast about who he was, the things he had, and the things he had done, he says that ultimately those things were nothing to him.<\/p>\n

Philippians 3:7
\n“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, he says\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I found out about Jesus\u2026when I found out about the truth that I was a sinner, separated from God, who couldn\u2019t do anything about his sin\u2026when I found out that Jesus had paid the price that I deserved to pay…when I found out that by trusting in Him, I\u00a0could have eternal life\u2026when I found all of this out,\u00a0the things I valued became like nothing to me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only that, but Paul also goes on to say,<\/p>\n

Philippians 3:8
\n“More than that, I count all things <\/em>to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paul says, \u201cNow that I know Christ, even the things that I don’t have, even the things I might want, even those things are worthless to me compared to the value of knowing Jesus better.\u201d\u00a0 In short, there was nothing in\u00a0Paul’s life that was more important to him than developing his relationship with God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat!\u00a0 Way to go, Paul!\u201d\u00a0 What does that have to do with me?\u201d
\n<\/strong>That’s an important question, and it’s one that Paul answers.\u00a0 He says…<\/p>\n

Philippians 3:17
\n“Brethren, join in following my example.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, developing your relationship with God needs to be the most important thing in your life too.\u00a0 The Bible commands it.<\/p>\n

In our Children\u2019s Ministries, one of the things we believe it\u2019s important for every child to know is that God has one overarching goal for each of our lives.\u00a0 In fact, I tell kids that I ought to be able to wake them up from a dead sleep at four o\u2019clock in the morning, and they ought to be able to tell me God\u2019s goal for their lives.\u00a0 This goal is found in places like Romans 8:28-29, Colossians 1, and others.\u00a0 We say it like this:\u00a0 God\u2019s wants us to become like Christ.<\/p>\n

Don’t miss that.\u00a0 God wants us to become like Christ.\u00a0 That’s his top priority for our lives.<\/p>\n

As you look at Jesus\u2019 life, you see that there was nothing more important to Him than His relationship with God the Father.\u00a0 So, if it was important to Jesus, and if our goal is to become like Jesus, then developing our relationship with God needs to be the most important thing in our lives as well.<\/p>\n

But what does developing this relationship look like?<\/p>\n

Step 1:\u00a0 You have to begin the relationship.
\n<\/strong>To begin your relationship with God, there has to be a definite point in your life when you acknowledge that you\u2019re a sinner who can\u2019t do anything about your sins.\u00a0 You have to recognize that Jesus\u2019 death on the cross paid for your sins completely and that his resurrection proved that His payment was accepted by the Father.\u00a0 And you have to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to be your Savior and Lord.\u00a0 If you do that, the Bible tells us that you can know with certainty that God will answer that prayer.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve never done that before, or if you have questions about that, let\u2019s talk about that.\u00a0 Contact me<\/a>, and we\u2019ll set up a time when I can show you from God\u2019s Word how you can know that you\u2019re on your way to heaven.<\/p>\n

Step 2:\u00a0 Spend time on your relationship.
\n<\/strong>If you\u2019ve already trusted Christ as Savior, let me ask you a question.\u00a0 Can you really know someone unless you spend time with that person?\u00a0 Can you really know someone if you don\u2019t talk with that person?\u00a0 The answer is obviously no.<\/p>\n

Our relationship with God works the same way.\u00a0 In order to develop our relationship with Him, we have to spend time with Him.\u00a0 Of course, we can\u2019t sit down and have a face-to-face conversation with God over breakfast.\u00a0 But there are other things we can do.\u00a0 It boils down to this:\u00a0 read and pray and then obey.<\/p>\n

For as complex as our lives often are, the things you do develop your relationship with God are pretty simple.\u00a0 Spend time listening to God by reading His Word.\u00a0 Spend time talking to God in prayer.\u00a0 Spend time living out God\u2019s principles.<\/p>\n

Something amazing happens as we spend time praying and reading God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 Not only do we come to understand God better, but we also come to understand ourselves better.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Get Personal<\/h2>\n

<\/strong>I\u2019d like to ask you some questions.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • How are you developing your relationship with Him?\u00a0 Are you?\u00a0 What are you doing to get to know Him better?<\/li>\n
  • Are you spending time in prayer each day?\u00a0 Is it something you\u2019re initiating or are you waiting for someone else to suggest it?<\/li>\n
  • Are you spending time in God\u2019s Word regularly?<\/li>\n
  • What do you spend more time doing\u2014reading the Bible or watching TV, playing video games?<\/li>\n
  • Are you taking the initiative to listen to God through His Word?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    If you\u2019re not doing these things, or if you\u2019re not doing these things enough, what steps are you going to take to change?\u00a0\u00a0Let me make some recommendations…<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Talk to someone you respect and ask them to help you.\u00a0 Really, make a point of doing this.<\/li>\n
    • Ask them to help you set up a consistent time for you to read the Bible and pray each day.<\/li>\n
    • Ask them to help you spend more time with God than you do in front of a TV or a video game.<\/li>\n
    • Ask them to help you to grow in your relationship with God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Based on the authority of Scripture, I can promise you that you will never be sorry that you did that. \u00a0You will never be sorry that you chose to get closer to Him.<\/p>\n

      In the coming weeks, we\u2019ll talk about some specific attributes of God that we need to understand and emulate better.<\/p>\n

      What action steps for developing your relationship with God would you suggest?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This fall, we\u2019re taking our 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders about through a series called Knowing God Better. We\u2019re looking at what the Bible has to say about the character of God. But the goal of this study is not simply to learn facts about God. The goal is to understand God in a way that deepens our appreciation and love for Him, that deepens our relationship with Him. The goal is to understand God in a way that motivates us to become more like Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[97],"tags":[132,133,135,130,134,162,131],"yoast_head":"\nKnowing God Better - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/knowing-god-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Knowing God Better - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This fall, we\u2019re taking our 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders about through a series called Knowing God Better. 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