Latest / Time with God with John North / When God Gets Your Attention Pt. 4

Transcript

When God Gets Your Attention Pt. 4 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. I'm here to help you start your day right,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: as we start it by taking time with God.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Time with God. Nothing's more important in your life. I
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: hope you have come to that conviction.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Not just an acknowledgement, yes, I know that's true, but
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a conviction, something that is right at the centre of
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: your life, a commitment you have to a truth that
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: you are going to live out, and that truth is
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: that you must spend time with God if you want
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: your spiritual life to be healthy, because you must remember
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: you are in a relationship with God. You must spend time.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: To build that relationship.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: That's why we spend this time together each morning. Just
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: a starter for you to have a much more meaningful
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: time with the Lord as your day progresses.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: We're talking this week on the theme, when God gets
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: our attention.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: And you know, uh, a discussion of that theme could
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: not be complete without recognising that often God uses difficult
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: circumstances to get our attention.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: When Isaiah the prophet wrote to the people of Israel,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: God's people, uh, in the Old Testament, God's people were
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: walking away from God. They were not honouring God. They
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: were trusting in other things instead of trusting in God.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: And
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: God needed to get their attention. This is what Isaiah
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: said in Isaiah 31.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: and rely on horses and trust in chariots because they
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: are many and in horsemen because they are very strong,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: They do not seek the Lord.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Yet he that is the Lord also is wise and
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: will bring disaster.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: That's what God had to do to get their attention.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: They needed to learn that they couldn't trust in other things.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: They shouldn't trust in Egypt or Egypt's power. It was
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: God who would deliver them. They were God's people, and
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: they needed to trust in God. And as they walked
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: away from God and began trusting other things, God in
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: His wisdom brought disaster.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: And sometimes the best thing God can do for us
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: is bring pain into our lives. We say, Well, how
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: can that be if He's loving.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: And isn't that often the question we ask when pain
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: comes into our lives? Why me? God, how could you
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: let this happen to me if you love me?
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: But the answer is because God loves you. He has
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: brought this pain into your life. He wants to say
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: something to you through that situation. There are other reasons
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: too why God may allow suffering in your life. He
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: may want to use you in someone else's life in
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: that situation. But one of the biggest reasons God brings suffering, difficulty, pain.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Conflict hard times into our lives is to get our attention.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: And we need to constantly remember that when God puts
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: us in a situation like that, He is trying to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: teach us to turn to Him, to trust in Him,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: to bring Him back to the central place in our lives.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: What place does God have in your life right now?
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: What do you need to do in order to put
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: God right back at the centre of your life? Is
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: God trying to get your attention? Don't ignore His voice.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I'm John North.