The Pursuit Of God The Hound Of Heaven Genesis 3:8-9 Isaiah 63:9 Hosea 11:1-4 Deuteronomy 30:19-20 Zephaniah 3:17 Isaiah 66:4 Matthew 9:12-13 Mark 10:49-52 1 Peter 2:9 07.13.16

THE PURSUIT OF GOD THE HOUND OF HEAVEN

BREAD

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, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”   Genesis 3:8-9 (NIV)

9 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.   Isaiah 63:9 (NIV)

1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. 4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.”   Hosea 11:1-4 (NIV)

19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)

17 The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.  Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened.   Isaiah 66:4 (NIV)

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”   Matthew 9:12-13 (NIV)

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.   Mark 10:49-52 (NIV)

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

BUTTER

“As God pursues us with His wonderful grace, something magnificent takes place in our lives. Before God's grace was extended to us, we were dead in our sins and powerless to overcome them. We were in bondage to the enemy, and the future never looked so dim. But then, God entered the scene and demonstrated the power of His grace. After Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the Bible begins to tell the unfolding tale of God's pursuit of the human heart through the goodness of His grace. And each time God catches us and reveals the power of His grace, our once-dead souls become alive! Instead of being unable to fight sin's strongholds, God's grace gives us the power to overcome them through the Holy Spirit.”   Michael Youssef

“God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called.  Don't let Satan convince you otherwise. He will try. He will tell you that God has an IQ requirement or an entry fee. That he employs only specialists and experts, governments and high-powered personalities. When Satan whispers such lies, dismiss him with this truth: God stampeded the first-century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds. Before Jesus came along, the disciples were loading trucks, coaching soccer, and selling Slurpee drinks at the convenience store. Their collars were blue, and their hands were calloused, and there is no evidence that Jesus chose them because they were smarter or nicer than the guy next door. The one thing they had going for them was a willingness to take a step when Jesus said, ‘Follow me.’”   Max Lucado

“Did the Law ever love me?  Did the Law ever sacrifice itself for me?  Did the Law ever die for me?  On the contrary, it accuses me, it frightens me, it drives me crazy.  Somebody else saved me from the Law, from sin and death unto eternal life.  That Somebody is the Son of God (Who loved me and gave Himself for me).  Hence, Christ is no Moses, no tyrant, no lawgiver, but the Giver of grace, the Savior, full of mercy….. Visualize Christ in these His true colors.  I do not say that it is easy.  Even in the present diffusion of the Gospel light, I have much trouble to see Christ as Paul portrays Him.  So deeply has the diseased opinion that Christ is a lawgiver sunk into my bones.  You younger men are a good deal better off than we who are old.  You have never become infected with the nefarious errors on which I suckled all my youth, until at the mention of the name of Christ I shivered with fear.  You, I say, who are young may learn to know Christ in all His sweetness.  For Christ is Joy and Sweetness to a broken heart.  Christ is a Lover of poor sinners and such a Lover that He gave Himself for us.  Now if this is true, and it is true, then are we never justified by our own righteousness.”    Martin Luther

“Every time you prefer the pleasures of this world to the joys of heaven, you spit in the face of Christ; every time when to gain in your business, you do an unrighteous thing, you are like Judas selling him for thirty pieces of silver; every time you make a false profession of religion, you give him a traitor’s kiss; every word you have spoken against him, every hard thought you have had of him, has helped to complete your complicity with the great crowd which gathered around the cross of Calvary, to mock and jeer the Lord of life and glory. Now, if there be any sin which will make a man deeply penitent, I think that this sin when it is really brought home to the conscience will affect us. To slay him who did me no hurt, the holy and the harmless One! To assist in hounding to the tree the man who scattered blessings with both his hands, and who had no thought, nor care, nor love, save for those who hated him. To pierce the hands that touched the leper, and that broke the bread, and multiplied the fishes! To fasten to the accursed wood the feet which had often carried his weary body upon painful journeys of mercy! This is base indeed, but when I think he loved me, and gave himself for me, that he chose me, before the stars were made, and that I, when he came to me in the gospel, should have rejected and despised, and even mocked at him, this is intensely, infinitely cruel. Jesus, thou dost forgive me, but I can never forgive myself for such a sin as this.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

HEART SAVOR

·       The Lord calls me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

• ·       21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.   2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
• ·        Jesus calls me to “Follow Him”.  Jesus’ initiative comes out of His great love and compassion. 10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 19:10 (NIV)