Video Transcript: Our Seeking God, The Seeking Church

Ken Priddy here we're going to continue with skill one, unit one of our course  developing great commission skills and unit one, skill one, we're talking about  discerning and developing vision. And this would be video number three. Video  number three of that particular unit. Our focus is on two skill topics, our seeking  God and the seeking church. So I've got a question for you. Our God is a  seeking God, but what is he seeking? Or whom is he seeking? God is seeking  the lost. We've talked a lot about that already, and we're only on the third video,  but something new that we haven't talked about yet. God is seeking true  worshipers. Now in this particular video, we're going to take a deep look at that,  that tandem of God seeking the lost and God seeking true worshipers. So stay  tuned now. Scripture informs through, first of all, through Luke 19:10, now we've  seen that verse a couple times already. We'll probably see it a lot more as we  work our way through the course. It's a familiar passage. It comes at the tail end  of the encounter between Zacchaeus and and Jesus, where Jesus makes this  categorical statement he defines his mission, the Son of Man came to seek and  to save the lost. This was the very purpose of His incarnation. Now what I want  to do, what I want to do is I want to get a running start at this. I want to back up,  oh, 5, 6,700 years into the time of Ezekiel, and we're going to find something  quite interesting there. We're looking at Ezekiel 34 beginning with verse 1. And  what we find there is that Ezekiel was doing his job. He was a prophet, and on  this particular day, God was speaking through his prophet, Ezekiel, and Ezekiel  was relaying that message from God, those words from God, to the people of  God. And so when we look at verse 6, here's what God is saying. He says, My  sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains and on every high  hill, My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth with none to search  or seek for them interesting. So we find that the language of Luke 19:10, is also  the language of Ezekiel 34:6. God makes this observation, My people are  scattered, none to search or seek for them. So the question then is, what is God going to do? What was he going to do to solve this problem? Well, he  determines to take on this challenge himself. And we find in verse 11, God says  this, Behold, I, I myself, will search for my sheep and will seek them out. Now  we've already talked about the fact that in the Hebrew idiom, when something is  repeated, it's done so for emphasis. Well, in this case, there's repetition upon  repetition. I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. You think  God is making a point? I think so. Sheep are scattered. Who's capable of doing  something about this? Well, God, the Father. I, I myself, will seek them out. He  clarifies what that means. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among  his sheep that have been scattered. So will I seek out my sheep, and I will  rescue them from all places where they've been scattered on a day of clouds  and thick darkness, and I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them  from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. The people of God  have been dispersed. They have been scattered. They have been exiled. God is

going to pull them out of the peoples with whom they have been sprinkled and  distributed out of the countries they are now inhabited, and bring them into their  own land. So what we have here is God the Father, who is committing to a  search and rescue mission. He's going to find who's missing and bring them  together into their own land. Now with the coming of Jesus, Christ, the  incarnation of Christ, what we witness is the passing of the search and rescue  mission from God, the Father to God the Son. Jesus informs us in Luke 19:10,  that seeking and saving the law is at the very core of his mission, first, God the  Father took it upon himself. Now, God the Son takes on that responsibility. Well,  we know then that God the Father and God the Son are seeking the lost. But  what else? Who else is God seeking? Well, John 4 gives us the account of  Jesus in his interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well, now there are  many, many, many things to be learned from that particular encounter. We're not going to go into all of that in this course. We're going to look at one tiny little  thing, but it's very profound from John 4:23 Jesus is speaking to this woman,  and he says to her, the hour is coming and is now here when the true  worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking  such people to worship him. You catch that, for the father is seeking such  people. So on one hand, God the Father, God the Son, are seeking the lost,  Luke 19:10, but now we realize that God is also seeking true worshipers. Now  I've been around this verse for many, many, many years, and I really didn't see  this partially, because a lot of times when I hear this verse quoted, it's quoted  like this, the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will  worship the Father in spirit and truth period, as if that's the end of the sentence,  And the focus is all about spirit and truth. But it's not a period, it's a comma. The  hour is coming. It is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father  in spirit and truth. Comma for the father is seeking such people to worship him.  Okay, I've got a question for you. What does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth? Well, here's the thing. Entire books have been written on this subject.  There's a lot that could be said. I just want to say one simple thing. We're going  to look at one passage of scripture that I believe answers that question as to  what it means to worship in spirit and what it means to worship in truth. The  passage in view is Romans 12:1-2. So let's start by looking at Romans 12:1.  Paul is teaching, and he says this, I appeal to you, Therefore, brothers, by the  mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship? So Paul is defining spiritual worship, and he defines spiritual worship as presenting our bodies as living. Sacrifices. So  we're not talking about a worship service here. We're talking about a worshipful  life, a life of sacrifice, a life that says, not my will but Thy will be done, a life that  says, lose my life, give my life to Christ in order to gain my life living sacrifice, to  worship God in spirit is to live life as a living sacrifice. Now that's tough for us  because we're trapped in self centeredness, but what we're what we're having to

understand here is we have to set ourselves aside again. What's the priority?  The glory of God. How can we glorify God? Well, we can live as living sacrifices, acceptable to Him, pleasing to Him. It says in the NIV, okay, so what does it  mean to worship in truth? Well, let's, let's read further into Romans 12:2. Do not  be conformed any to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and  acceptable and perfect? All right? The word truth is not used there. But think  about this. What is it that renews our minds? Well, the word of God renews our  minds. And what is the word of God? Well, in short, the word of God is truth. To  worship God in truth, then is to engage life in obedience to God's word. He tells  us what we ought to believe and how we are to live now, in combination, to  worship God in spirit and truth is to live a life that is a living sacrifice and that is  driven in both belief and behavior by obedience to God's Word. Now in regard to this verse, I want to share with you what Leon Morris has to say. Now, Leon  Morris is one of my favorite commentators, a very reliable source. He has a  commentary out called the gospel, according to John, and he says this about  this earth. He says one must worship, not simply outwardly by being in the right  place and taking up the right attitude, but in one's spirit. The combination of spirit and truth points to the need for complete sincerity and complete reality in our  approach to God. Now I want to back up a moment to Romans 12:2, where Paul says that we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. Why that? By  testing, you may quote, discern what is the will of God see, once again, when  we're talking about vision, and God is central to our vision, we're talking about  discernment. We want to discern what His will is for us, individually, for us,  corporately, as a local church. Now I've mentioned that God is seeking two  categories of people. He's seeking the lost, and he's seeking true worshipers.  Here's the thing. I used to think of these as two separate groupings of people.  On one hand, you have the lost. On the other hand, you have true worshipers.  But I've come to realize that, though these are two different categories, we're  talking about the same people, not two different groups of people. Now hold that thought, Why is God seeking the lost? What's he up to? Why is he seeking the  lost? Well, of course, God is seeking the lost so that they can be found, so that  they can be saved from their sins, marked for eternal life in heaven. Now, as  important as this is, it's not the top priority. Remember, the top priority is God's  glory. God is seeking the lost so that they. Might become true worshipers,  worshiping Him in spirit and truth, both now and forever. You see, here's the  thing, salvation being found is the starting point becoming a true worshiper for  all eternity is the ultimate destination. Now, when we understand this concept in  this light, what we what we realize is that outreach and evangelism are not  primarily about salvation. They are about eternal worship, rightly discerning and  developing a godly vision incorporates God's commitment to seeking and saving the lost, but continues with growing them into becoming true worshipers. God is 

a seeking God. Now let's move on to the idea of the seeking church. God is a  seeking God. We've learned that from Ezekiel 34. I, I myself will search for my  sheep. We know that we have a seeking savior, that Jesus came to seek and  save the lost. And you know that Luke 19:10, passage is not the only passage  that we have in regard to Jesus being the one who is seeking, the one who is  carrying the message of salvation, the gospel, the good news, let me. Let me  bring your attention to another place in Scripture. Luke 4, so let me, let me set  

the stage for you in Luke 4, we've got a situation where the disciples have  gathered at the home of Simon Peter's mother in law, and she is sick, and Jesus heals her. She goes on to fix dinner, and after dinner, they're moving out onto  the hillside, and Jesus is healing and teaching and casting out demons. Now  you can imagine that a crowd is gathering. I mean, if I were to walk outside right  now and start healing people and casting out demons and teaching with the  authority of Jesus Christ, I dare say that even I could draw a crowd. Apparently,  this goes late into the night, and finally the crowd disperses and disciples find  whatever lodging. I guess they were sleeping at Simon Peter's mother, mother's  mother in law's house. Well, we find out that in the next day that Jesus can't be  found. Now the crowd is gathering. Of course they're gathering. They've gone  back to their village or wherever they live, and they've been telling other people,  hey, guess what we saw last night? And I'm certain that they're they're gathering together anyone that they know, family, friends, business associates, neighbors  that might have some issue, like, hey, come out onto the hillside this this Jesus  just might fix you up, but they can't find Jesus. Says that he's off in a desolate  place. We know that Jesus had a practice of getting off to himself to spend time  with God the Father. Well, they finally get to Jesus, and the disciples say to him,  hey, the people are asking for you. And what does Jesus say? Well, he says  this, I just punched up the wrong the wrong video. He says this in Luke 4:42 he  says, I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the other towns  as well, for I was sent for this purpose. Now I want you to think about this for a  moment. Was it legitimate? Was it worthwhile that the night before, Jesus was  healing people, casting out demons, and I'm sure, teaching with an authority that was unlike anything they had seen before? You know, that was great ministry, it  was valuable ministry, it was important ministry, but it wasn't the most important  ministry. It wasn't the priority. The priority in the mind of Jesus is I've got to share the Good News of the Kingdom. Why? Because that is going to bring people  into the kingdom. Why? Well, so that they can be saved from their sins, but so  that they can become true worshipers. We have a seeking God. We have a  seeking savior. Now we also have a seeking church. Well, now it's time for that  John 20 passage that I popped up just a moment ago, a little prematurely. You  know, the scene. This is resurrection day. This is Easter Sunday evening, and  Jesus appears to the disciples. The apostle John writes this on the evening of  that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples 

were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his  side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw it. Jesus said to them, Peace  be with you, as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them. He said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.  Receive the Holy Spirit. Well, Jesus pronounces twice. He pronounces peace,  and certainly at this moment, these disciples are far from being at peace. He  wants the shalom of God to fall upon them. And it says that he breathed and  they received the Holy Spirit. Now hold that thought. We're going to come back  to that in a later session. Now here's the thing. I want you to follow the  progression in Ezekiel, God the Father, says, I will search and seek for them. In  Luke Jesus says, I came to seek and save the lost. And in Luke 4, he says, I've  got to go to the other towns and preach the Good News of the Kingdom. That's  why I was sent. Well, now at the end of Jesus ministry, as he's just about to  ascend into heaven. It's resurrection day. He's come back from the dead. He  says to His disciples, hey, as the Father sent me now I'm sending you. You see  the progression the responsibility for seeking and saving the lost has moved  from God the Father to God the Son. Now it's going to move to God to spirit,  working through his disciples, His disciples, then and his disciples now, in other  words, you and me. You see, there is this Trinitarian progression from God, the  Father to God, the Son to God, to God the Spirit. And he says to them, Receive  the Holy Spirit. Now, by way of preview, in the not too distant future, we're going  to find Acts 1:8, where Jesus makes the statement, when the Spirit comes upon  you, you will be my witnesses throughout Jerusalem, throughout Judea,  Samaria, to The ends of the earth. That's the progression. Why well, so that lost  men, women and children would cross the starting line of salvation and begin to  grow toward that ultimate destination of being true worshipers in spirit and in  truth for all of eternity. Here's the deal. The starting line is the line of salvation.  To the finish line of true worship. We have a seeking God the Father. We have a  seeking God the Son, a seeking God the Spirit, and we have a seeking church  that we are to be part of question, what guarantee do we have that our seeking  will be fruitful. Well, a couple of things I want to I want to share with you as we,  as we wrap up this video. Number one, Jesus himself is building his church. He  said, so I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome. It. Is  there any doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ is being built, that it will continue to be built until it is completely built, guaranteed, further guarantee the harvest is plentiful. There are plenty of lost people whom God loves, whom God will call to  Himself, and He will use the agency of the church. He will use the agency of his  people, you and me to help bring those people into the family of God, rightly  discerning and developing a godly vision incorporates God the Father sending  of the Son. God the Son's sending of the church through the power of the Spirit  to seek and save the lost, growing them into becoming true worshipers, all to the

glory of God. Now this completes our video on the skill topic our seeking God  and the seeking church. In our next video, we're going to be taking a look at skill one, discerning and developing vision part two, as we consider the skill topic,  great commission Central. May God bless your ongoing studies. Amen