From Living Over God to Living With God

Holy Spirit is not a genie in a bottle. Amen? And, Jesus does not invite us into some shame based or fear based or performance based relationship with him. God, the father, is not some far off entity who wants to give us all of the answers, and all of the principles, and all of the programs, and then have nothing to do with our lives as we live it out. The gospel of Jesus is that he brings those who are far off near to be with him. Amen? [00:03:29] (26 seconds)

``Life over God is not life at all, and we are desperately in need of life with God. And every moment, every waking, breathing moment of living in dynamic partnership and relationship with God, because we might think that if we have the principles, and the programs, and the things from the past that worked, then we have some form of life, but it is an empty and half life. But Jesus comes to invite us into his story, and into a relationship, and he sees us when we reject him. When he says, don't eat from that tree, but we eat from it anyways. Speak to the rock, but we strike it with our staff. He sees us in those moments, and he says, here's my body that's been struck so that you have living water. [00:18:12] (41 seconds)

Life over God is not life at all, and we are desperately in need of life with God. And every moment, every waking, breathing moment of living in dynamic partnership and relationship with God, because we might think that if we have the principles, and the programs, and the things from the past that worked, then we have some form of life, but it is an empty and half life. But Jesus comes to invite us into his story, and into a relationship, and he sees us when we reject him. When he says, don't eat from that tree, but we eat from it anyways. Speak to the rock, but we strike it with our staff. He sees us in those moments, and he says, here's my body that's been struck so that you have living water. He says, I see you reaching for that tree, but the cross that I bore is a tree of life so that you could eat and live forever. [00:18:12] (48 seconds)

Numbers 20, our friends in this text did the exact opposite of choosing posture. They chose principles over posture. Right? They allowed their quarreling and their fears and their control for outcomes to persuade them to say, we want proven principles from the past rather than living according to the direction that God gave us for that moment. And it was unknown, it was uncontrollable in that moment, but that was what he called them to do. [00:20:54] (26 seconds)

And, this is why we've gotta come to the scriptures and allow ourselves to choose a posture over principles, not because we shouldn't honor God's word as authoritative or study these pages and allow it to form our lives. I want to say, we should be in this book every single day. We must be in this book every single day because it will show us and point us and lead us to the one with whom we are called to commune. But, if we only come to these pages to grab instructions, if we only come to these pages to grab principles, and it's not leading to communion, we are missing the point of these pages. Amen? [00:25:42] (37 seconds)

I wanna give you a second way that we can live with God rather than living over God, and it's it's it's this idea, choose God's presence over programs. Choose presence over programs. Choose programs. Now, choosing God's presence over programs, I think, is one of the most important things that we can do is we are living with God rather than living over God. And, I say that because in Numbers 20, the people are quarreling. Right? They're looking for Moses to provide answers, to provide a program that's going to lead them through the wilderness. We are thirsty. Create a system and structure so that we will no longer be thirsty. We are dying. Create a program and a structure so that we do not die. Which can I tell you? If you're gonna quarrel and be angry and ask a bunch of questions, it's that's a good reason to do it. Right? It's life or death. They are going to die. They're in the heat of the wilderness. They have no water. Their livestock are dying. People are dying around them, and they're grieving it. The start of the chapter was that Miriam had just passed. Right? [00:33:09] (59 seconds)

Think about it. If you walk into Barnes and Noble, if you search on Amazon books, if you are an avid reader and you want to find something to help you in your leadership, in your parenting, in your marriage, in your family, in the world, you can go and find the seven highly the seven habits of highly successful people, or the seven habits of highly successful marriages, or the seven habits of highly successful whatever it might be. And that book will offer you programs that if you install them into your life, you will be set, you'll be the most successful parent, you'll have the best marriage, you'll be the best worker or leader, the best in your field, whatever it is. Right? [00:38:15] (35 seconds)

Can I just ask a question though? What if the goal in our lives is not to be the most effective, it's to be the most engaged? What if the goal of our lives is to be the most engaged? Because if we know what the most effective principles and programs are, we can simply just implement them, and we will be set. But, what if we just go with whatever those things are, whatever is most effective, we are taking away the process, and the beauty, and the pain, and the ups and downs of living out a prayer filled life, and a life in which we discern with the Lord and partner with God. And, can I just say sometimes in those places of prayer, he says, remember when I did that? Do it again. But if we start with, that worked in the past, let's just do it again, we're not even inviting the Lord into it. Think about it this way. Numbers 20, Moses was effective. He was effective as a leader. He went away to be in God's presence. He came out, and even when he disobeyed and he struck the rock twice, water came out. The people survived, y'all. He was an effective leader. The outcome was good and the outcome was successful, but can I tell you who was most unimpressed? God. God was most unimpressed by his success, his outcomes, and ultimately led to Moses and the people having a terrible outcome. You will not enter into the land that I'm giving this people. [00:38:50] (82 seconds)

Exchange outcomes for obedience. Exchange outcomes for obedience. Saints of God, my prayer this week has been that we as the people of God would become less obsessed with outcomes and more obsessed with obedience. That we would become less obsessed with the outcomes and driven by the outcomes and more obsessed with simple, radical obedience. Because listen, as the people around as as the people of God, we just wanna know what's gonna lead to the best outcome, the most successful, effective outcome. I I just wanna know it so I can set it. I don't need to deal with the unknowns or the uncontrollables or the unpredictables. I just wanna find the right, the most thing the most effective thing and move forward, but it's living over God. I will argue that for much of the scriptural account, the most powerful moments are not the big displays. They're not the big displays. It's not in the fire, it's not in the rain, it's not in the wind, it's not in the earthquake, it's in the still small voice. [00:41:52] (63 seconds)