Pillars of The Church - Presence of God New Song Students OKC

“One thing, I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:4Pillars of the ChurchThe pillars of our church are PURSUING THE PRESENCE OF GOD, TRANSFORMATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP, KINGDOM COMMUNITY, AND SACRIFICIAL MISSION“At New Song Church, we pursue the presence of God by seeking him first and above all else.”-NSC website
We are to pursue.What we are to pursue is the presence.The what is actually a who, because it is the presence of God. 4. We are to do this first, above every other action/option.“The reason the church is in crisis today is because we have settled for the omnipresence rather than for the manifest presence of God.”- Frank Hartlythere is an aspect of God where he is OMNIPRESENT meaning he is everywhere all at once at all timesthere is a MANIFEST aspect of God’s presence. Manifest means to display or show by one’s acts or appearance; demonstrate.“The presence and the manifestation of the presence are not the same. There can be one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifesting when and as we are aware of his presence.”- A.W. TozerPursue means to chase something, run after, seek to attain.“The church has developed a mentality that wants to do nothing, but yet receive everything. We don’t want to make any effort on our part anymore, we just want to sit by and wait for God to hand it to us, drop it into our laps, so to speak.”- Pastor Curt (article on pursing God)“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” Isaiah 55:6“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek his face forevermore.” Psalm 105:4“The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.” Psalm 14:2“3He (Zacchaeus) sought to see who Jesus was but could not because of the crowd…4 so he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him…5 And when Jesus…saw him he said ‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.’” Luke 19:3-5“27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind him in the crowd and touched His garment…32 and He looked around to see her who had done this thing.” Mark 5:27,32“37 When she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at his feet behind Him weeping and she began to wash His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with fragrant oil…” Luke 7:37The Hebrew word for presence is parim=face.This implies a close and personal encounter with the Lord as the face reveals the unique identity of a person.“15 If your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16For how then will it be known that your people have found grace in your sight, except you go, with us?” Exodus 33:15,16“One thing, I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:4“In America, there is a generation that is experiencing more options than any generation in all of history.”-Jesus Culture“And they (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord…” Gen 3:8“Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.” Gen 4:16But what defines a true church is to run after (pursue) the presence (manifest/personal encounter) of God as our only hope (first/above all else).“One thing, I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:4desire, decide, doWhen we desire to pursue the presence of God we will decide what we