Casa View Assembly of God Dr. Marcus Alexander

Have you ever gone HARD after something in your life (a job, a position on the sports team, a relationship, or a goal in life)? When you pursue it you give it your maximum effort and attention. What would happen if we gave that same kind of effort to following after God? Psalm 63:8 (Amp) “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; In today’s study pastor Alexander will focus on what it means to follow hard after God! He must be your First PRIORITY, your PASSION, and Your PINING . From our text in Psalm 63 we will identify four results of going hard after God.

We continue our theme of spiritually growing together in the fear of the Lord. We have learned that a lack of the FEAR of the Lord is the root cause of not drawing near His presence and not obeying the Lord’s commands. As a result we become HEARERS of the WORD but not DOERS of the WORD and we thereby DECEIVE OURSELVES. WE think we know God, but in reality we don’t! In today’s study we will identify three stages in deception in a Heart that lacks a holy fear of the God.

Pastor Alexander continues the CONTRAST between the Children of Israel and Moses and address the KEY to approaching God’s Presence, “the FEAR of the Lord!” “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to held in reverence by all those around Him.” (Psalms 89:7, NKJV) In today’s study we’ll discover that the evidence of the FEAR of the Lord in us is twofold: First, it’s the ATTITUDE of our HEART – God said, “Oh that they had such a HEART in them that they would FEAR me…” AND Second, it’s the ACTION of OBEYING God’s commands – “…that they would FEAR Me and always KEEP all My commandments…” (Deut.5:29, NKJV).

We continue our study on spiritual growth by identifying two common Biblical patterns of seeking God’s presence. There is a classic contrast between how the children of Israel approached God and how Moses approached God’s presence. One is focused on receiving the BLESSINGS of His Presence, and the other simply desired His PRESENCE. The same two groups are found in churches today! There are those who seek God for his protection, provision and promotion, but NEVER realize that they can EMBRACE Him for WHO He is and KNOW Him INTIMATELY. “You can be as close to God as you choose to be!”

We live in a culture where there is a lot of misunderstanding about the meaning of Easter. In today’s message Pastor Alexander will examine what Easter really means and WHY it was such a BIG DEAL to so many people throughout history. It’s one thing to BELIEVE in the resurrection but another to ACT upon what you believe by putting your faith in Jesus Christ.

Spiritual intimacy with God begins with a desire to KNOW God, not just KNOW ABOUT God. There are many who claim to know God, but the REAL issue is not do you know God, but rather does God know you? In today’s study pastor Alexander focuses on the process of deepening your relationship with God. From Psalms 27, he identifies four things we can do to increase our intimacy (relationship) with God.