NEVER FAR, JUST ANOTHER DIMENSION
Introduction:
– It is great to know that we can always have the Lord near to us.
– He is here now and wherever we go, He is there.
– There is no place where He is not and no point is nearer to Him than any other point.
– Nobody is any further from Him or closer to Him than any other person.
– This needs to become alive in us! The Lord wants to be real to each of us.
1.ADAM TRIED THE IMPOSSIBLE
– Adam and Eve were living in the garden of Eden when they sinned.
– Their immediate reaction was to try and hide from the Lord.
– The frantically tried to do the impossible – they tried to hide from Him and His presence.
– He is everywhere and we cannot run away from Him or try to live as though He does not exist.
– Sin makes us want to escape His presence, but even sin does not change the fact that He is there.
2. DAVID UNDERSTOOD THIS
– Psalm 139:7-12 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
– Great heights and great depths cannot separate us from the Lord.
– Distance cannot separate us from Him and living in a foreign country cannot separate us from Him.
– Darkness cannot separate us from Him.
– He wants to be there for us.
– Psalm 139:13-16 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
3. WE LIVE BECAUSE OF THE LORD
– He wants us to seek Him, to reach out for Him and to find Him.
– He is not far away.
– Acts 17:27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
– Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being.
– Our source of life is the Lord Himself and He wants this to become an even greater reality to us.
4. HE WILL NEVER LEAVE US
– This is a reassuring fact!
– Deuteronomy 31:6 The LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
– Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
– John 14:15 If you love me, obey me; and I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter, and he will never leave you.
– This encourages me – a lot.
– This fact remains the truth for you and me.
5. NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LORD AND HIS LOVE
– We cannot be separated from His love.
– Even when we are totally unaware of it, He is still there and His love is still reaching out to us.
– Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are – high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean – nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God.
6.THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PRESENCE AND THE MANIFEST PRESENCE
– They are not the same and we can have the one without the other.
– We know that the Lord is here, but we can remain totally unaware of it.
– Only as we become aware of His presence is His presence manifest.
– He wants to show Himself to us and we need to make ourselves available and seek Him.
– This is what makes the difference between a nominal Christian life and a radiant/alive Christian life.
– This difference is important to understand.
7. THERE IS SOMETHING WE CAN DO
– We need to develop a heart after the Lord: seeking Him and drawing near to Him.
– Psalm 73:28 But it is good for me to draw near to God
– James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
– Don’t become too busy.
– Avoid the pitfalls of religious business and religious activity and go for the Lord!
8. NEARER TO HIM
– Have you ever heard someone say: ‘My son/daughter is getting closer to me as they are getting older’, but the truth is that the child has lived with the mother or father all his life?
– It is like this with us – we live with the Lord all our lives, BUT there is another dimension altogether.
– A closer and a more real, special relationship.
– We are speaking here of experience; coming to know Him more intimately and with a deeper understanding.
– The barriers are disappearing and a close relationship of mind and heart is developing.
– This is what He has for each of us.
By: Andrew W Roebert
These notes may be shared with others.
