Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #156 The Presence Centered Life (8 - Drawing Near to the Presence of God)

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#156 The Presence Centered Life (8 - Drawing Near to the Presence of God) · The OneCry Podcast

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  How do we experience, I mean, just every moment of the day, the presence of God?
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  How do we live in it? How do we live from it?
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  Because everything flows from the presence of the Lord.
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  Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
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  The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
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  Well, welcome to the OneCry podcast. I'm Kyle Reno with my partner in crime,
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  Bill Eliff, right here today.
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  We're thrilled that you would give us some time to honestly,
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  hopefully, think through some truth about God's heart for revival and awakening.
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  And Bill, man, we're sort of turning the corner today, ain't we, bro?
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  Yeah, we really are. We're doing this series on the essential presence or the
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  presence-centered life.
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  How do we live in the presence of God and function out of the presence of God?
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  It's the most important thing I can think of, Kyle, and it's for every one of our listeners.
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  It's for me. It's for you. This is the foundation of Christian living.
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  And and in the first episodes, we we talked about this amazing truth that God
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  is relentlessly pursuing us.
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  Right. I mean, that's a startling thing to me is that he wants us in his presence
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  more than we want to be there.
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  And and and just like a father who has love for his children,
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  he has perfect love, perfect love for us.
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  And he wants us with him 24 seven. It's amazing.
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  Now we turn to the second side of that that we'll introduce here in just a minute.
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  Yeah, I love it, man. I would encourage our listeners. Listeners,
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  if you missed those first parts, I would really go back because you're getting
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  a whole perspective and picture of God's presence and how we live in it.
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  And we're going to talk about that some day.
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  But we're talking about our part now in our pursuit of God.
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  And I'm thinking about, as you're sharing some of the things we're talking offline
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  here, I got twins, you know, so I have five kiddos and I have six-year-old twins.
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  And, bro, we're in a moment right now that I don't know.
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  So they have energy like nothing I've ever seen like that.
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  I mean, they come by natural, I know. They feed off each other, too.
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  Here it is. So right now, the thing is, the way that our living room,
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  kitchen layout, there's this perfect circle.
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  And so, so Lincoln, Lincoln, yes, Lincoln will chase Tucker.
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  And it is like the Olympics playing out in my, it's as passionate and,
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  and they're screaming bloody murder.
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  Like until he finally grabs him and pulls him down and then Tucker turns and
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  starts chasing Lincoln.
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  And then it, it would, I think that they would eventually pass out and go to
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  sleep if we didn't stop it. But it's this nonstop pursuit.
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  And here's Lincoln pursuing Tucker. Like Katie and I just stood,
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  I'm telling you, we stood there. It had to be 20 minutes. I was like,
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  let's just see if it'll stop.
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  And it didn't until we stopped it.
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  But I was thinking in light of your illustration of God's passionate pursuit
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  of us and then our right response to him that we got a part.
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  That's a great picture of what we're to do.
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  Now, I want to remind us of this kind of foundational statement that we've been
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  saying the last few weeks,
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  and that's this, that God desires an unbroken daily personal relationship with us,
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  but we must cooperate.
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  And that here's a second statement. His presence is what we most need,
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  and our presence with him is what he most desires. That's the amazing thing.
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  But here's a little phrase, Kyle, that we're going to sit down on for the next
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  few weeks, and that is, he desires this relationship, but we must cooperate.
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  You know, my dad, who was a pastor and a wonderful man of God,
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  God always used to use the phrase that we must aggressively cooperate with God. I love that.
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  We're not initiating it. God is always the initiator. We love him because he
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  first loved us. But we've got to cooperate.
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  So as we've studied this.
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  How do we experience, I mean, just every moment of the day, the presence of God?
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  How do we live in it? How do we live from it? Because everything flows from
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  the presence of the Lord.
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  And I've been thinking about this a great deal because, you know, God has his ways.
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  The Bible talks about that. David and others said, Lord, show me your ways that
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  I may know thee. I want to know how you operate, how you function.
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  And these were not things that God did every once in a while.
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  It's the way he was. And so it just emanated from him.
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  Well, just like God has his ways, a man who walks with God in the presence of God has his ways.
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  And these ways really are ways into his presence and into a presence-centered life.
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  And I want us to see today that there are really, if we could say a lot of different
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  things here, a lot of different ways.
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  I want to boil it down to six ways of a presence-centered man or woman.
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  And think of us of a clock face, if you would.
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  And up at 12 o'clock, if you're writing this down, write the little words, drawing near.
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  A presence-centered man draws near to the presence of God.
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  About two o'clock, write the word communing.
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  He's drawing near, but he's constantly communing. At four o'clock, this word, cleansing.
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  When he or she gets into the presence of God, they constantly have to deal with
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  the issues that are making them not like God, that need to be cleansed and transformed in their life.
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  And then around about seven or eight o'clock, this word filling.
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  Once we have been cleansed, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and controlled by him.
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  And then the next way that's in that man's life is joining.
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  Once we're filled with the Holy Spirit, we're not filled to just sit around
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  and enjoy God. And we do that.
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  But to join him in his His activity, his work, his great mission.
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  And the final, up about 10 o'clock, write this word, and that's the word abiding.
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  It's one of Jesus' favorite words.
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  And it's a matter of learning. Presence-centered people have learned how to stay, how to stay put,
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  how to not run, How to not be drawn away by the distractions and the difficulties
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  of life, away from the presence of God.
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  So we're going to look at every one of those six of the ways of a presence-centered life.
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  Let's begin today with drawing near.
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  Now, there's so many scriptures about this, you'd be surprised in the Bible.
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  But I want to just use this favorite that's so simple to understand,
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  James 4.8, draw near to God.
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  And then here's the incredible promise, and he will draw near to you.
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  That's God making that promise. And it's one of the most amazing promises in the world.
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  We've already established and we understand maybe a little bit better now that
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  God really wants to be with us.
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  So he's saying, draw near to me, and I promise you, I will draw near to you.
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  And as another scripture says, the nearness of God is our good because everything
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  flows from the presence of the Lord.
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  And you say, well, Bill, why do I have to consciously draw near to the Lord?
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  Isn't the Lord around me all the time?
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  I mean, you talk about the omnipresence of God. Isn't God everywhere?
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  Well, of course he's everywhere.
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  But everybody doesn't acknowledge him.
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  Everybody doesn't experience him. Everybody's not listening to him.
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  Everybody's not being led by him. And there are things that keep pulling us
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  away from the presence of God, even followers of Jesus Christ, right?
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  Believers fall away. We move away. We get distracted. We get pulled away.
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  And one of the greatest passages of Scripture about this is that beautiful passage
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  in Luke 10, verse 38 and following.
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  And listen to what it says. It says Jesus was traveling along and he came into
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  a village and there was a woman named Martha who welcomed him into her home
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  and she had a sister called Mary.
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  And Mary was seated at the Lord's feet listening to his word.
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  But then it says this, But Martha, on the other hand, was distracted with her many preparations.
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  And she came up to Jesus and said, Lord, kind of angry.
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  Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Tell her to help me.
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  And the Lord said to her, Martha, Martha, you're worried and bothered about so many things.
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  And really, only one thing, here it is, only one thing is necessary.
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  And Mary has chosen that good part, which will never be taken away from her.
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  Now, the word distracted.
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  Martha was distracted, literally means to be pulled away, to be drawn away.
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  Here's Jesus, Jesus, the Son of God, right there in her house,
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  and she's not even acknowledging him.
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  She's distracted. She's pulled away from him.
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  Do you know the truth is, and I think you'll agree with this,
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  most Christians live their life drawn away from Christ.
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  They're not aware of him. They're not listening to him. They're not responding to him.
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  So great that we come together as churches and because we love that time because
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  it brings us back out of the world and we have a time where we can kind of refocus
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  our mind. But that's not enough.
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  I mean, what we need to be doing is living in the presence of God 24-7.
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  But that's hard, isn't it? Because of the many distractions and the deception
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  of the world and the sin, which the Bible says so easily entangles us.
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  But we live our lives drawn away. So we have to draw near. Can I just pause
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  right here and ask you, our listener, a very important question.
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  Are you drawn away right now?
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  I mean, just be honest. Just let the Holy Spirit help you really interpret that.
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  Last week, out of the seven days of last week, how much of that time were you
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  consciously aware of the Lord's presence?
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  And were you really communicating with him, really receiving from him, really being led by him?
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  We can go days and weeks and months and years without experiencing the presence of God.
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  And you see everything flows from his presence.
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  And the tragedy is when we draw away, we lose everything.
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  Everything that matters and lasts. And here's Martha in Jesus' evaluation.
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  He said, Martha, let me tell you something. You're worried.
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  Anybody listening today worried? You're just worried? Worried about this?
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  Worried about your money? Worried about your kids? Worried about a relationship?
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  Worried about the world? Worried about our nation? And there's this anxiety
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  that's just kind of a constant.
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  It's one of the number one causes of real emotional and mental and spiritual
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  problems in our nation today.
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  Anxiety. You're just worried. And not only worried, bothered.
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  That ramps it up a little bit, right? I mean, that's more agitated. You're just bothered.
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  Anything that happens just kind of bugs you. You know, nothing seems right about your life.
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  And Martha was angry. She literally orders Jesus around, and she's controlling.
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  She wants to control Jesus to get him to get Mary back where she thinks she
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  needs to be. She wants to control Mary.
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  That's what happens when you're not in the sweet presence of Christ. Everything goes bad.
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  I love Isaiah 58. I love Isaiah 58.
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  Two that speaks about this. We'll get to that in just a minute. But we lose everything.
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  We lose everything when we lose the presence of God.
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  So you say, Bill, how do we draw near?
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  Now, that's the $64,000 question.
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  I mean, that's the most important thing. How do we do this?
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  Not for a moment. I know how to draw near for a moment.
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  But how do I draw near for a lifetime? How do I draw near as a lifestyle?
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  How do I become a man or a woman or a student who people look at me and say,
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  they're just always near to Christ?
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  I think about John, who wrote the book of John, and the Bible says he was a
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  disciple whom Jesus loved.
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  And we think upon him leaning on Jesus' breast.
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  He was just near. He was just near.
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  And here's Mary. How do we live in this all day long? And let me just mention three things.
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  There's hunger, there's a posture, and there's a choice.
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  First of all, there's a hunger. You're not going to draw near if you're not
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  hungry for it. You don't want it, right?
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  I mean, it just depends on how desperate you get.
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  That's why we come back to the Lord when we have pressure and we get desperate.
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  We kind of run back in because we know we need the Lord. but the present-centered
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  person lives there because they know.
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  They know they can't live without Christ. They know they can't get through a
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  day without listening and talking to Christ.
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  They know they can't do well in a business meeting without Christ.
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  They can't raise their children without Christ. They can't handle their finances without Christ.
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  So there's this humility and this dependence.
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  There's this hunger. And when you look at Mary right here, you just see she
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  didn't want to be anyplace else.
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  She wasn't going to be anyplace else.
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  She wanted to draw near to Jesus.
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  And there's this posture.
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  Martha had a sister named Mary seated at the Lord's feet, listening to his words.
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  Now, that position was the position of a discipler and a disciple in Jesus' day. It still is.
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  In fact, you go to the Temple Mount right now in Jerusalem, and you'll see Muslim
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  teachers sitting on a little stool and their disciples sitting around them.
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  It's very common in the Far East, in the Near East. So this was the picture
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  and this was the posture.
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  And you just think of Mary. I just close my eyes and think about that a little
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  bit. I see her. Her soul is quiet.
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  She's giving full attention. She wants to learn.
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  And that's the posture that she's in.
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  Isaiah 58.2 says this, speaking about the nation of Israel.
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  It said, they seek me day by day, and they delight to know my ways.
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  As a nation that has done righteousness, this was at a good moment in Israel's
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  history, and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God, they ask me for just
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  decisions. And then listen to this last line.
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  They delight in the nearness of God.
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  They just delight in it. And you see a person who's been in the Lord's presence
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  knows how sweet it is, how powerful it is, that it's the perfect place to be.
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  And the way that we were designed to live.
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  We're to be transformed into his likeness and into his ways.
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  Here's Jesus sitting at the right hand of his Father, and the Lord wants us to sit in his presence.
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  There's this hunger. There's this posture.
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  But that all comes about because there's a choice. I don't want you to miss this.
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  Jesus certainly didn't. Martha, he said, you're worried and bothered about so many things.
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  There's really only one thing that's most important in your day.
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  And Mary has chosen.
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  She has chosen the good part.
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  And that will never be taken away from her. It's a choice.
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  I mean, whether or not you're going to be a presence-centered person filled
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  with the life of God, that people look at you and they say, man, when I see him,
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  when I see her, I see Jesus.
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  I see the Father, the love of God, the grace of God, the wisdom of God,
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  the patience of God, the kindness of God.
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  And it just comes out. It just oozes out of them.
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  It comes out of their eyes, their mouth, their hands.
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  They're full of God. That's a presence-centered life. You only find that in his presence.
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  And they're full of joy because in his presence is fullness of joy.
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  As right hand their pleasures forevermore.
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  This is a choice.
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  Are you hungry for the presence of God? Are you seated?
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  Even if you're standing up, you're seated in your heart before the Lord all
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  the time. And are you making that choice?
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  Jaswell Sanders, Kyle said this incredible statement in his little book,
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  Knowing Intimacy with God.
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  It's a wonderful book for you to read.
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  And it's one of my favorite quotes. He says, each of us, each of the disciples
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  was as close to Jesus as he chose to be.
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  For the Son of God had no favorites. With him there's no caprice or favoritism.
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  Their relationship was the result of their own choice, conscious or unconscious.
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  It's a sobering thought that we too are as close to Christ as we really choose to be.
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  It would seem that admission to the inner circle of deepening intimacy with
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  God is the outcome of deep desire.
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  Desire, only those who count such intimacy a prize worth sacrificing anything
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  else for are likely to attain it.
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  If other intimacies are more desirable to us, we will not gain entry into that inner circle.
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  And then he says this, the place on Jesus's breast is still vacant and open
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  to any who are willing to pay the price of deepening intimacy.
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  We are now and we will be in the future only as intimate with God as we really choose to be.
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  And Kyle, I think this is the heart of it.
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  I mean, this is the heart of it. If you don't learn how to consciously and consistently
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  draw near, and we're going to talk about that throughout the day,
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  you're not going to experience the presence of God.
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  Yeah. Yeah, I've been thinking, as you've been sharing, Bill,
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  just the battle, like the battle that wages in the human heart and in every
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  environment in which we live, that this world, our flesh, the devil is desiring to draw us away.
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  That there's this constant pull, this constant pull for our attention,
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  for our affections, for what we're going to give our time, our energy toward.
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  And we have to make, and this is our part, a decision.
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  A decision, will we draw near?
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  If not, the only response, there's no neutral. If not, we will be drawn away.
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  So today, what does that decision to draw near look like?
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  At some point, all this spiritual language has to get a lane and start moving towards something.
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  So it should be able to articulate that. Right.
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  And we're going to talk about in these next podcasts, I hope nobody misses each
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  of these, because each of these six ways all combine to keep us there.
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  Right. You know, they're all important. It's not like just do one thing, right?
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  It's incorporating these, the ways of God into your life.
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  And that's a process. I mean, that takes years. That's no doubt.
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  I'm just thinking right now, Kyle, of a dear couple that you know and I know,
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  Hoyt and Diana Powell, a medical doctor that is just so full of God.
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  He's 88 now, and they are just full of the presence of God every time I'm with them.
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  Well, that's been developed over years.
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  Yeah. But he called me the other day and he said, Bill, I just want to tell
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  you, I just read one of my books on prayer.
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  He said, I just read it for the eighth time and I'm finding so many new things.
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  Well, he's hungry and he's taking the right posture, not at my feet, but at the Lord's feet.
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  And he's making a choice to enter in. That's the best.
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  Well, let's pray it in. You know, I'm just thinking the promise is packed with
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  this, that if you draw near, if you draw near, I'll draw near to you.
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  The Lord is saying, just come on. You take one step, the Lord takes two.
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  You know, we will not out pursue our God.
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  So let's press in for a second. And I'll pray for us, Bill, and then you can
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  sort of close this thought out, okay?
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  And join us. We ask our listeners to not just listen to us pray. Join us as we pray. Yeah.
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  So, Lord, I ask in the name of Jesus for some decision points.
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  And that even now for me, for Bill, for every listener, in light of the invitation
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  to draw near, what would that look like today?
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  What would need to happen? And what would we need to do to rightly position
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  ourself for your presence?
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  So, Lord, I pray right now, Holy Spirit, make it applicable.
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  Make it positional for the sake of experiencing your presence.
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  And I pray for some divine moments in the days ahead where every person that's
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  listening would experience your presence because they did make the decision
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  to draw near. So please do that, I pray.
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  Lord, make us hungry. Use whatever means you need to, because for the nearness of God is our good.
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  Without you, we're nothing. You said that. You said, I'm the vine,
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  and you're the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing.
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  And Lord, we do a lot of nothing. We do a lot that amounts to nothing.
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  And I look back at so many wasted moments in my life.
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  And Lord, I thank you for your cleansing and your help and your grace.
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  But Father, we want to be people who live in your presence and who understand the ways of God.
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  And those ways become our ways.
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  And so, Lord, would you teach us? I pray that this wouldn't be just a brief little podcast,
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  but or that you would you would literally build something into our life that
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  would bear fruit the rest of our life.
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  And Lord, I know these truths will do that and that you will do that.
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  And we pray for that for every one of our listeners today in Jesus name. Amen.
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  Amen. Well, hey, to our listeners again, you know, on the onecry.com,
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  there's resources, the book that even has been referenced several times,
• 28:23
  The Essential Presence is there. We would encourage you to get one of those.
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  And then if you're impacted by this podcast, share it with somebody.
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  I mean, maybe call somebody, a friend and say, listen, I've been listening to this podcast.
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  It drops every Tuesday. Would you listen to it with me? And we could talk about it, discuss it.
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  It's awesome to go on a journey toward God in a pursuit of God with other people.
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  And we We look forward to having you back here next week as we continue to tease
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  out these thoughts, man, and learn what it means to draw near to God.
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  Look forward to seeing you next week.
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  Music.