Latest / Time with God with John North / What To Do When You Are Far From God Pt. 2

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What To Do When You Are Far From God Pt. 2 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Heading into Tuesday, I hope you're ready for a good day.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: We start the day the best way possible by just
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: opening the Bible and reading a little bit of what
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: God has said to us and learning something that helps
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to shape our lives in the best way possible.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: If you've been doing that for long, you know that
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: this is one of the most important things you can
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: do in your life. Let God shape your thinking, the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: God who made this universe and you and knows how
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: your life will work the best.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: We're talking all this week on the topic when you
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: are far from God.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: You're never far from God, of course, in that He's
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: always there. He's always ready to respond to you when
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you turn to Him, but often we do find ourselves
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: far from God. You may never have come close to God.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: You may just live a secular, self-centered life, or you
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: may be a Christian and you feel like you've wandered
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: away from God. He's no longer the most important person
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: in your life. Well, we said yesterday, your first step.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: is to recognise that you need God.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: We're looking at the story Jesus told about a son
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: who went away from his father, far away, lived a
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: godless life, embarrassing to his father, and found himself in
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a place of desperate need and came back to his father.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Jesus told this story to represent people who find themselves
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: far from God.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Step one, recognise that you need God. And this young
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: man came to a place of desperation in his life.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: He hit rock bottom, and he remembered that even the
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: servants in his father's house, uh, his father took care
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of them, and here he was having to feed pigs
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and so desperate for food he was longing to eat
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: even what the pigs ate, and no one would even
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: give that to him.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Well, step number 2 on your journey to being right
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: with God is to come to God on His terms.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Come to God on His terms. Jesus' story continues. When
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: that young man came to himself, Jesus said, He said,
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  Speaker 1: How many of my Father's hired servants have more than
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: enough bread, but I perish here with hunger.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I will arise and go to my father, and I
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: will say to him, Father.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: no longer worthy to be called your son.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Just treat me as one of your hired servants, and
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: he arose and came to his father.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Well this is how we need to come to God too.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Not proud and as if we're doing God a big
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: favour by getting right with Him. Poor God, who's waiting
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: for me to get right with Him. No, I'm the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: one who has offended God with my life. I'm the
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: one who's been pushing God away, even though He is
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the one who created this universe and me and is
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: in charge of and in control of all things. No,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: I'm the one who has to come to God and say, God.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I know you designed my life for it to work
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: right when you are at the centre of it and
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: I've just been pushing you away, leaving you out of
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: my life.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: And as I look at the mess I'm making of
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: my life, I realise the people who serve you and
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: honour you.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: You take care of them. Their lives have a wholeness
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and a rightness that I am totally missing. I may
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: be successful.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: In my business or in my finances, but in my
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: inner life I know I need you, so I'm in
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: coming to you on your terms.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: I want to be right with you. Well, that's what
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the Bible calls repentance, turning around and making things right
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: with God on God's terms. It means coming to God
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: with humility, knowing that you can't make things work on
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: your own, knowing that you need Him, coming to Him
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: and saying, God, I'm a broken person. Everyone else might
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: think I've got it all together.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: But you and I know better, and so I'm coming
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: to you. I'm desperate. God, please help me.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Well, if that's where you are, you can be confident
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  Speaker 1: when you come to God with that attitude, God is
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: already waiting for you, so ready to help you, and
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: that's where we're going to look at tomorrow morning.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I'm John North.