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WHERE ARE YOU?

WHERE ARE YOU?

Introduction:
– Where are you today with God?
– Have you ever actually given your life and heart to Him?
– Is He YOUR Saviour and YOUR God?- Perhaps you have loved and served God for years…..
– But are you where you should be with Him?
– Do you enjoy the relationship you used to know?
– Do you enjoy the relationship with Him that you long for?
– Is there anything in the way that could be blocking your relationship with Him?
– Is there anything that you are hiding from Him?
– Where are you when it comes to God today?

Scripture Reading: Genesis 2:15-3:10
 

1. RELATIONSHIP – GOD’S ORIGINAL DESIGN.
– Genesis 3:8 ‘Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day….’
– Relationship was God’s plan and intention for His creation.
– He would come in the cool of the day and walk with Adam and Eve and talk with them.
– I love the picture of walking with someone in the cool of the day…
– It is not a picture of a race track, or a quick appointment.
– It is a picture of uninterrupted, relaxed interaction.
– God had even created the environment in which they would walk and it was a magnificent garden.
– So the Lord creates the environment and the opportunity for fellowship with Him.
– His ultimate aim with everything He does is relationship and the restoration of relationship.
– Even when He sent His Son, Jesus, it was a deliberate attempt to bring humanity back into relationship with Himself.
– Relationship is a priority to God.
– The question we have to ask ourselves is; is relationship a priority with us, and especially when it comes to our relationship with God?
– It was a priority for the Creator of The Universe to make time and purposefully connect with mankind in a focused and suitable environment.
– It is still a priority for the Creator of The Universe to meet and interact with each one of us.
– Relationship with you is what is on God’s heart.

2. WE NEED TO DEVELOP OUR SENSITIVITY TO HIS PRESENCE.
– We need to develop our sensitivity towards God.
– In the busyness of life, do we actually know when He is trying to get our attention or if He is present?
– In the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, there is a verse that speaks about this.
– Genesis 3:8 ‘Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden…’
– I have always loved this verse as it is something special.
– The Garden of Eden must have been a very large place and Adam and Eve could have wondered off in any direction.
– But there would come a time in the day when they would ‘hear a certain sound’.
– They knew this sound so well, because it was the sound of the Lord God as He arrived on the scene for His regular walk with them.
– Most translations use the word ‘sound’ some use the word ‘voice’, but the original Hebrew indicates both ‘sound’ and ‘voice’.
– Are we sensitive enough to hear and respond to His ‘sound’ in our lives?
– Or are we simply too busy and too consumed with the issues of life to know He is calling us into deeper relationship with Him?
– I desire that I would always be ready to hear His ‘sound’ or His ‘voice’ as He calls out to me to know Him more dearly and to love Him more deeply.
– It is almost as if we have to ‘tune in’ to get rid of the noise and discern that He is calling to us.
– Sometimes we are listening to so many voices that it is difficult to discern His ‘sound’ above the din.
– Remember He has designed you for relationship with Him and He is calling out to you.
– He comes to different people in different ways.
– He comes to us if we are saints and He comes to us if we are sinners.
– Let us be determined that we want more relationship with Him and we will develop our sensitivity to His presence in our lives.
– Let this be a quality choice and a determined purpose.

3. AVOIDING THE GREAT DIVIDE.
– There is the possibility that this wonderful relationship that we were designed and created for can be hindered.
– When this relationship is damaged or broken it causes a divide to come between us and God.
– Adam and Eve had done what they were specifically told not to do and this changed the nature of the relationship.
– Genesis 3:8 ‘So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.’
– How often as humans when we do something wrong we want to run away and hide.
– You have heard of ‘hit and run’ accidents, when an accident occurs that the perpetrator rides off in the hope that they will escape the consequences of their actions.
– The great divide is sin.
– When sin comes into our hearts and lives it brings a separation between us and the Lord.
– Isaiah 59:2 ‘But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.’
– Iniquities, is the word that the Bible uses for sin or wrong-doing.
– Sin changes the dynamic.
– Remember that Adam and Eve were in relationship with the Lord.
– They were not strangers to God.
– But sin caused them to see themselves and God in a different light.
– As a result they chose to change their appearance (they covered themselves with leaves) and they chose to hide from God.
– In the process innocence was lost.
– Don’t give sin a foothold in your life.
– Deal ruthlessly with sin and when it happens don’t run and hide from God, but rather run towards Him.
– Be quick to confess, because He is ready to forgive.
– 1 John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’
– Remember that nothing can be hidden from God.
– Let’s live in such a way as to preserve and develop our relationship with Him and let us stay away from sin and its ability to bring a separation and a divide between us and our precious creator.

4. THAT TIME – THE COOL OF THE DAY.
– Years ago there was a man that was well known to our family. He was a great man that God had used in our country. One day he told us that he had a certain quote written in the front of His diary. The quote simply said the following: ‘There are just two days in my life, THIS day and THAT day!’ He told us that he lived by this principle that there are only two days that really matter in our lives, today and that day when we will see the Lord.
– Life is compared to a day.
– It has a dawning or a birthing, it has a daytime period during the heat of the day and then it has an ending or a setting, usually flowing out of the cool of the day.
– When we are in the ‘heat of the day’ in our lives, it may feel like it will go on forever.
– The truth of the matter is that the ‘cool of the day’ can sometimes arrive quickly or unexpectedly.
– Genesis 3:8 ‘Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…’
– There are two things we read into this phrase: ‘the cool of the day’.
– 1. God was very patient with them. He did not immediately deal with them, but He waited.
– The Lord is very patient towards us.
– 2 Peter 3:9 ‘The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.’
– Sometimes we can see God as this figure waiting to dish out flashes of lightening to deal with us.
– The Lord’s desire is that we would come to repentance before judgement is required.
– James 2:13 ‘Mercy triumphs over judgement.’
– 2. The Lord did not abandon them, He still came to them.
– Even though they had done wrong and God, being all-knowing, knew of the error of their ways, He still faithfully comes to them at exactly the same time in exactly the same way.
– We serve such a faithful Father and He is a Good, Good Father.
– In our situations, He does not abandon or leave us, but He comes to us.

5. WHERE ARE YOU?
– In the past when the Lord would come and meet them in the garden, they would be ready to meet Him.
– But this time they had run away and hid themselves.
– But the Lord, who knew exactly where they were, calls out and asks humanity one of the most important questions, Where are you?
– It’s a question that we need to ask ourselves.
– Where are you when it comes to your relationship with God?
– 1. Are you covering things up?
– Genesis 3:7 ‘Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.’
– Trying to make things look better than they are never works with God. It may work on Facebook, but God sees through all our attempts at covering things up.
– Proverbs 28:13 ‘He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.’
– 2. Are you hiding anything from God?
– Genesis 3:9-10 The Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
– We can never hide anything from God.
– He sees all, knows all and loves us all the time.
– Hebrews 4:13 ‘Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.’
– So we see that it is a futile thing to cover up things or to try and hide.
– Where are you?
– Is there any aspect that needs to be brought into the light?
– Do you need to step out of the shadows and into His glorious light?

6. COME HOME TO THE ARMS OF THE ONE WHO LOVES AND CARES FOR YOU!
– I often wonder what would have happened if Adam and Eve had rushed out to meet the Lord when He arrived and fell at His feet in repentance?
– We will never know how things would have turned out had they not covered and hidden things, but we do know that because of what Christ did for us on the cross, we can ‘come home’ to the loving arms of our Heavenly Father.
– In the story of the prodigal son we see things illustrated in great detail.
– Luke 15:20 ‘So he got up and went to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.’
– There is no need to cover anything and there is no need to run and hide.
– Run into His open arms with whatever it is that you may be carrying.
– He is ready and willing to receive and cover you and your issues.
– Notice the response:
  1. While he was still on route, a long way off, his father saw him!
– His father had been waiting and watching for this moment for years.
– The moment the father had longed for had finally arrived.
  2. His father’s heart was FILLED with compassion.
– Some translations say he was moved with compassion. The original Greek speaks of something taking place in the inward parts or even in the organs of the body. It speaks of a movement from the very seat of his affections. Gut-wrenching may be a better word to describe it.
  3. He runs to his son.
– For an old man to run is both difficult and undignified, But this father, a picture of our Heavenly Father, ran in this way to his son.
  4. He threw his arms around him.
– This was not a tender embrace, it was a forceful, involuntary and demonstrative action and would remove all doubt and debate.
  5. He kissed him.
– This became an intimate and uniquely personal moment between a father and his son.
– The Lord is waiting to do this for you.
– Come home!

By: Andrew W Roebert
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