When I was 10 years old or so I realized I wasn't cool. Until then I don't think it crossed my mind. At that time I instantly wanted to be interested in everything the "cool kids" were. In my neighborhood, that meant sports and sports cards. I had to trade in my Hardy Boys books for a Beckett magazine. In hopes of skipping a few steps in the cool ladder I wrote to a famous sports start asking for his autograph. A few weeks later, what I believed to be a genuine, signed picture from Bo Jackson showed up on my doorstep.
My Father, who practiced the parental strategy I call "brutal honesty", was pretty quick to help me understand this was not really signed and probably sent to anyone who wrote to him. My hopes of getting cooler had to find a new avenue. Me and Bo had a non functioning relationship.
Over the next two months at St. Paul's our entire church is focusing on Christian to the Core in both worship and Sunday morning discipleship. Our sermon this week will be the first in the series and we will be talking about Intimacy with God.
At times we hold God off at a distance and have as much claim to a relationship with him as I did with Bo Jackson. This isn't the relationship God designed us for. Our scripture focus comes from Exodus and talks about the magnificent encounters Moses had with God.
Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in the entrances of their own tents. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside. As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and hover at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. When the people saw the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they would stand and bow down in front of their own tents. Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Exodus 33:7-11a
What God desires for us is for you and I to have the full relationship He created us for. We work best when we are in a deep relationship with God. In it we are formed in the image of Jesus, turned not into idolaters, seeking after our own desires, but into worshipers...focused on the glory of God. We are called friends of God.
We will spend our morning talking about the essential elements of this friendship. I invite you to come and worship with us.
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