Okay, children, you can head on out, and I'm sure you know where to go, and I'm sure you're excited about that. So, young people, you can head on out. The rest can go to 1 Chronicles, chapter number 16. I saw that group singing up here, and so boy, I tell you what, they ought to form their own group. I even got a name for them, the royalties and the non-royalties. But I got to thinking that's not a very good name, so we could just change it to the princes and the paupers. Okay, there it is. So there it is, got a name for them already to go. Okay, so good to see you tonight. And boy, our crowd went down, you know why? Because all the people we've been recruiting in from other churches went back to their own churches at your pastor's instruction. Okay, so that was a good thing to do. But the rest of us are here and this is the hometown crowd. And we'll thank you for being here tonight. And trust the Lord will give you something. I know many have been here the whole journey, and some of you are joining us tonight. Others have been here one or two times. We're certainly grateful for any time you can be here. And we still have two more nights. And tomorrow is the Bended Knee Conference. I hope you pray, because tomorrow I've got to work for a living. So you pray, I'm just teasing. Tomorrow, we'll be busy all day long. You can pray for us that God will just work in the hearts of the people to be here, work in our hearts. And I've been to several Bended Knees. My brother, Pastor Van Gelderman, is always the ones there. I join him, not the majority of them, but a minority of them, I'll join him from time to time. And I've certainly always been encouraged. And some of the things that have happened, some of those Bended Knees have been remarkable. where a pastor has just caught fire. I was telling your pastor this, Pastor Van Gelderen and myself went to a Wisconsin fellowship of pastors, a Christmas banquet that they have on a yearly basis. Normally I'm not around, but I was able to go on that particular time. And after they had the banquet, they came into the auditorium there at the camp, and they were going to have a special speaker. And I knew the speaker. He's one of the pastors in Wisconsin. I'd gotten to know him over the years I've been in the state. He got up and said, and he was leaving the state to go to Tennessee to pastor, and he'd been in the state for literally a couple decades, and it was kind of an emotional farewell, but as he was giving his message, he said something that stunned me. He talked about the fact he'd been to a bended knee two years before, and it had absolutely transformed his life. And he spent about 30 minutes telling about his journey, and honestly, he cried more than he didn't cry. And the entire message was just impacting. And I know it impacted every man and woman that was there. And so I know the Lord can use that, and I hope you'll be praying for tomorrow. If you're not able to be here, we certainly would encourage you to pray for us, because I do believe that the greatest need of the hour for God's people is to get back on our knees and learn how to pray. We've got some spiritual battles to fight, and the weapons of warfare are not carnal. And I'm telling you, friends, I'm all for going to the ballot box. I've said it already this week. If you can do some things politically, fine. I mean, I sent an email out recently to different things that I felt were constrained upon me or left a voice message with a senator. Whatever I've had to do, I do that. But I will tell you this, the greatest thing you and I can do is get on our knees and pray that God will work on the hearts of not just our politicians, but our people. The problem with the United States sometimes, well, it's been a tough year. We had the coronavirus and all these things. But I will tell you, friends, can I say this? You ever had a big windstorm come through when you looked out in your backyard, the big tree that you thought was doing real well was blown over? You went and investigated the tree. What did you find? It was hollow. It's hollow. The wind didn't cause the tree to fall. I mean, the wind didn't rot the tree out. All the wind did was show us that we had a bad tree. We just didn't know it. And I will tell you, 2020 just showed the United States of America we are in trouble. We are in trouble. And if you don't think we're in trouble, you're missing it. I'm talking some of you young people, this country may be in a whole lot more trouble than you realize. And I think it's time for us to wake up and realize we've got to get our knees. We have a morally bankrupt country. We have a country that has allowed sexual infidelity now for decades. And most people are selfish to the core. And it's killing us. When a guy looks at pornography, you've heard me say this before, he turns his selfishness on steroids. And that's where we are today. A culture that is men and women that are just absolutely, selfishness has gone rampant. And it's killing our culture. And so the answer is obviously revival, and it's God doing a work in hearts. And I'm simply reviewing some of the places I've been, but I get stirred about it. Because I do believe there's an answer. I'm not like hopeless. I know what the answer is. I can tell you what the answer is. I think the Lord, it's only God's goodness and the gift He's given and the opportunities He's given. But I've seen Christian schools, revivals sweep through Christian schools. I was in a Christian school just a few months ago and all week long we were in a battle and we knew it. I mean we were in a battle and we knew it. And it came time, I don't know how to explain it, it was the final chapel service. We were going to, actually it wasn't a chapel, it was going to be a testimony time. They had given us a class period in the afternoon and we were going to have a testimony time. And I'm telling you, a boy got up, about three testimonies in, a boy got up and he was just, he was, I don't know how to explain it, he was at the end of himself. He said, man, I'm sick of it. I'm done with it. He said, man, I've been involved in looking at filth. He said, it's over, man, I'm done with it. And he gave a powerful testimony. And I'm going to tell you, it broke that school wide open, so much so that we had to go to second class period. We just took it to the end of the day. Kids getting right with God, kids getting up and confessing sin. principals over there or the typewriter. I'm not a typewriter, a computer, okay? That dates me. But he's a computer. He's recording all the stuff that God's doing because they needed to do follow-up. So many young people were just getting right with God at the moment. And God just swept through that school. And I believe God could do that. I'm convinced you give the United States of America some good old-fashioned Revival preaching and I guarantee you God's going to work. It's still dynamic. It still works. And we're so encouraged about it, but my point is we've got to wake up, God's people have got to wake up and realize we're in dire need. The country has been in need before, and God has met with us before, and it's certainly not a time for pessimism, but it is a time for understanding the great need of the hour. And prayer is part of the answer. That's back to where I'm at. prayer is a major part of the answer. So I hope you'll pray with us about tomorrow. That's what we're at in the business, getting God's people stirred about the matter. Okay, now, I know many of you have been on the journey. I don't want to say too much tonight in review. We'll wait until tomorrow to go right back through it. But let's just talk a little bit about last night. Last night we talked about the issue of faulty reliances, high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. In other words, it's something you take and make it more important than knowing Jesus in a personal, real spiritual relationship. Well, tonight I want us to, how do you cast down the high things? Well, casting down imaginations, how do you cast down imaginations? Well, with the Word of God. You take that wrong and biblical thinking, you throw it down and you replace it with biblical thinking. And the core issue on imaginations was, we do not believe God loves us. We do not believe God loves us. In fact I've got a couple of quotes here in regard to that I probably should have used the other night. It says very interesting here, a Christian sexual addict is someone who has not received God's love in their heart. Very interesting statement. Another writer puts it this way, I've yet to work with a sexual addict, homosexual or troubled spouse who understands God's grace. That's a stunning statement isn't it? And so these imaginations, these wrong thinking patterns have to be pushed down and replaced with Bible thinking. Now what about high things? They need to be cast down too. So if you cast down imaginations with the Word of God, you cast down high things with the Word of God. Except I'm talking about the incarnate Word. you cast it down with a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now in the study I've done, I've kind of mentioned this before, but in the study we've done, when it comes to people in addictive behavior, besetting sins, whatever, one of the key elements, of course one is understanding the love of God and living and reveling in it, but there's a second one, and that is a daily meeting with God and having a very real spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ. That is key to overcoming addictive behavior. It's absolutely key. So that Jesus becomes that which meets your need. In other words, you're not looking to something else to meet your need. You have now found fulfillment, satisfaction, and joy in your relationship with the Lord Jesus. So that's what we're going to do here tonight. So go to 1 Chronicles 16. We're going to look at verse 11. We're going to look at that particular dynamic. of making knowing Jesus the most important in pulling down the high things, the faulty reliances, and turning to the one true reliance. Verse 11 of 1 Chronicles 16. Seek the Lord and His strength. And here's our text. Seek His face. Could you tell me that last word? continually. Would you agree with me that every command in the Bible is important? The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 5 that if you do and teach the least commandments you'll be great in the Kingdom of God. Now I'm telling you friends, what are the least commandments? Well those clearly are commandments that aren't mentioned that often, maybe once or twice. But God says they're all important And by the way, your surrender to God is not determined at the great commandments, it's determined at the least ones. That's where you determine how sold out you are to God, but that's another message entirely. Okay, but there are great commandments. I don't know about you, but I think any command of God that tells us to do it all the time must be kind of important. What do you think? You ever heard the command, rejoice? evermore. Pray without ceasing. OK, so there are certain things God says I want you to do all the time. Sounds like those are pretty important, don't you think? What about this one? Seek his face continually. So how often should you seek God's face? And the answer is all the time. Now, here's the problem with that command. Most people don't know what it means. Have you ever noticed if you don't know what God means when he says to do something, pretty good chance you're not going to do it? You know, back when your parents told you to do something, if you didn't understand it, pretty good chance you weren't going to get it done. You ever been given instructions by a boss? You're thinking, I don't think I get this. OK, you know, I'm talking pretty good chance it's not going to be done correctly. So I know it sounds simple. Seek God's face. What does that mean? It's very important that you understand what it means, because, again, if you don't know what it means, you won't do it. So what does it mean to seek God's face? One of the big problems we have is this. We live in 2021. Because it's talking about God's face. You say, well, preacher, how can you see God's face? Because the Bible says no man has seen God at any time. So we got a problem here. Well, actually, we don't because God's using imagery. He's bringing imagery out of the human experience. God does use imagery. He talks about rend the heavens. You know what rend the heavens mean? In other words, it's like God coming down. It's like the heavens got ripped and God just stepped down. OK, it's talking about the presence of God. So God uses all kinds of imagery in the Old Testament to kind of help us understand the same thing, and that's what He's doing here. The problem is in 2021, if you see somebody's face, it could be a variety of things. It could be like you're in their presence like us right now. It could mean you saw a photograph. It could mean you see a video. It could mean you're looking at YouTube, watching some family video that got posted there or whatever. It could mean that you're doing FaceTime or Skype. You with me on the deal? See, in our culture, someone's face doesn't mean anything. It could be a variety of things. They could be thousands of miles away, and you could be Skyping them. Now, personally, I'm still old school. I call my wife. You know what I'm talking about? Pick up the phone, call her. And I hear her voice. Now, most of the time, she's with me, but a few weeks of the year, I do summer camps, and she doesn't come with me. I'm just going to speak there. And so on those times, I'll call her. But I usually don't do FaceTime or Skype. One of the reasons is because when you do FaceTime and Skype, have you ever noticed your nose is about two times bigger than it normally is? You know what I'm talking about? I don't know about you, but when you're Dutch, you're trying to de-emphasize certain parts of your anatomy and your nose is one of them. Okay, but anyway, all that aside, if you're not a Dutchman, you don't understand, I've been watered down 50%. But anyway, at least my kids are down to 25. Okay, but anyway. But yeah, so I don't do much Skype FaceTime, but you know, if I was Skyping or FaceTiming my wife on a cell phone, I'm going to just tell you right now, I could kiss the cell phone. But I'm telling you right now, I'd rather kiss my wife. What do you want? You with me on the deal, man? OK, you understand. I'd rather be in her presence. I'd rather her be there. I could Skype her on my computer, I could hug that computer, but I'd a whole lot rather hug her. What do you think? You see, all of us understand this. Somebody you care about and you love, you'd far rather be in their presence, wouldn't you? So we live in technology where we see somebody, but we're not connecting with them like we would if they're actual presence. So what does it mean in the Old Testament when it talks about God's face? Let me just stop for a moment and talk about theology. If you took theology class, and part of theology class is talking about God, the word theol, of course, is talking about God. If you took theology, you would talk about the attributes of God. One of the ones you talk about is omnipresence. Omnipresence, you know what that means, don't you? God's everywhere. In fact, the songwriter and I sing the mighty power of God, put it this way, everywhere that man can be. Thou God art present there. I love that song. I don't know what it is about it. You know, you can't be anywhere where God isn't. OK, everybody in this room, the Bible says the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Doesn't matter where you go, some remote island, God's there. OK, the point is you can't God. He's everywhere. If you're lost. OK, God's there. He knows you're there. He knows what's going on. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs 15 3. OK, we call that omnipresent. But that is different. Theologically, that is different than a manifestation of his presence. See, everybody in this room right now knows theologically God's here. But some of you know he's here because he has manifest his presence to you. You've been walking with him today. See, so the manifestation of the presence of God is when, or maybe put it this way, seeking God's face is seeking the manifestation of His presence. Now, you have to understand, one of the other problems we have, not just this technology when it talks about this imagery of seeking God's face, one of the other problems we have today is we live in a culture that exalts the sensory, right? We live in a culture that takes the five senses and does everything they can to get those senses going haywire. You know why? So they can make some money. And you know what? We fall into it. I'll give you a few examples. Potato chips. Back when I was a kid we had potato chips. And then all of a sudden a flavor came along called sour cream and onion. The place went berserk. Unbelievable. Now you have two flavors of potato chips and sour cream. How many remember the advent of sour cream and onion? Anybody at all? Okay. Got a few out here. And then of course came barbecue. And barbecue came along. Now we got three flavors. Now, I don't know how many flavors we have now. I go through the grocery store, I'm seeing them all the time. I remember one time just recently I came through chicken and waffles, potato chips, chicken and waffles. I didn't try it, but I think, you know, I like chicken and waffles, maybe that'd be pretty good. And number one, where did we come up with chicken and waffles? We didn't have that when I was a kid. Chicken and waffles don't seem to go together, but they kind of do. But anyway, okay. And how many have had cheeseburger potato chips? You know what I'm talking about? Man, I've had those things. You can taste the pickle. You can taste the mustard, the ketchup, the beef. I don't know. Something's going wrong. But I mean, cheeseburger potato chips. The other day I went through the store and I saw some potato chips that I have a conviction against buying. And if you're a teetotaler, you would, too, because they were called beer battered onion rings. OK, beer battered onion rings. Couldn't buy those. OK, but anyway. So we're living in a culture that absolutely caters to our taste buds. Have you noticed that? No, when I was growing up, we had candy. Some of it was pretty boring. Like wax lips. How many remember wax lips? Yeah, wax lips, five cents. Why did we buy that stuff? I don't know. How many know what I'm talking about? I mean, way up here. Okay, now these are the very old people in the room, unbelievably old. Okay, here it is. And you remember the buck teeth? You know, they'd have buck teeth and they have all kinds of stuff. And then when you were done using them, now kids, you're going to love this, you chew them like chewing gum. But you know what wax lips taste like? Wax! Which means they taste like nothing. Okay, that was bad stuff. Have you noticed? They don't make them anymore. Okay, done with those. They couldn't sell them today if you wanted to. Okay, you know, they just had candy. Now, have you ever been on the candy shelf? The stuff they've come up with? I mean, Sour Patch Kids, man, unbelievable. That'll send your taste buds in the next atmosphere. Unbelievable. It's just crazy today what's going on. Now, I could talk about other things today where our culture is just into the sensory. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying it's sensory, like roller coasters, roller coasters. Back when I was a kid, we had roller coasters. And I remember when north of town they built Marriott's Great America. Now it's called Six Flags Great America, north of Chicago, that is, and south of Milwaukee, now where I live. I haven't been there in probably four decades. I've reached the point in my life where I do not like blood on one side of my body. I kind of like it everywhere. You know what I'm talking about? You ride some of those roller coasters, I'm telling you weird things happen. But anyway, I remember back when I was a kid, they put in a roller coaster. Unbelievable, it went upside down four times. Man, we thought that was the coolest roller coaster. I mean, we get in line for 45 minutes to ride that two second thing. You know what I'm talking about? And went upside down four times. We thought it was unbelievable. Now, every time I go by that amusement park, I look in there and try to find that ride. They've moved into the kiddie ride section. OK, that's now entry level stuff. Unbelievable. And they got all these roller coasters. I'm telling you, they have said in roller coaster technology that it's gotten so bad that if they go any further, people are going to black out. That's the next thing. Ride this roller coaster, black out. You know what? People will do it, too. You know, I'm talking about people will do it. Unbelievable. That's what goes on. Okay, so we're living in a world that caters to the sensory. Now, one of the problems is, as Christian, it affects us. We think of reality as that which you can assimilate through the five senses. But I know I'm giving you a lesson in metaphysics, but you'll be all right with this. Do you know that everything you can see, everything you can assimilate through the five senses, one day is going to be gone? The things which are seen are, anybody know? Temporal. And the things which are not seen are, anybody help me out now? Eternal. So God says the things that really are lasting and important are things you can't see. Now, so that brings us down to something that you say, well, preacher, what are we talking about? Seeking God's face. Well, seeking God's face is imagery about the presence of God. Bible's telling us that, can I put it this way? What I'm talking about is not assimilated through the sensory. We don't see God with physical eyes. We don't hear God with physical ears. We don't touch tastes, okay? Smell God, okay? It's not how we don't assimilate God through five senses. You know what we do? We connect with God where? Okay, here it is. God, John 4, 24. God is a spirit and they that worship him, hang on now, must worship him. Anybody know? In spirit and in truth. Now don't miss this. You connect with God in the spiritual realm. That's why unsaved people cannot connect with God. The only thing they can get from God is Holy Spirit conviction. See, before you got saved, your spirit was dead. And when you got saved, the Holy Spirit came in and regenerated your spirit. You were born again. You were born of the Spirit. You were born spiritually. So now you have a connection to the spiritual realm. You were born again. And now you can understand the spiritual realm and you can connect with God. And it is in the regenerated spirit where you meet with God. I like what Pastor Van Gelderen calls about the manifestation of the presence of God. He calls it a spiritual reality, a spiritual reality. It's real, but it's in the spiritual realm. Several years ago, I was at a doctor's home down in South Florida, and I wasn't sure he was saved, so I decided we were trying to help him to understand what it meant to be born again. And I said, you know, if there was a baby in a womb and somehow could communicate, which we know they can't, and we would somehow be able to go into that womb and communicate with that baby, how in the world could you communicate to that baby color, space, dimension? You couldn't communicate any of that. Why? It's not been born yet. But the moment a little baby is born, guess what they begin to do? Assimilate through the five senses the world in which they've been born. They begin to understand dimension, space, color. All of those things begin to assimilate with their five senses. You see where I'm coming from? So before a man's, if a man's not been born again, he has nothing, he cannot, he can't assimilate the spiritual realm. Like I said, the only thing that can happen to him is Holy Spirit conviction, God drawing him. See, but the moment you get born again, the moment you get saved, the Spirit becomes regenerated. And all of a sudden now, you can begin to understand the spiritual realm, the realm in which God lives and moves. OK, so when you're talking about seeking God's face, we are talking about the manifestation of God's presence so that God becomes a reality. Just like we sang a moment ago, it is glory. just to walk with Him. Unsaved people cannot understand that, because they're not spiritually alive. They're dead spiritually. They don't get the fact that there's a realm in which you can fellowship with a being that you cannot see. And yet it's real. It's spiritual, but it's real. Now, the only thing many times unsaved people can understand is that there is a realm they don't understand. And in fact, Sometimes people and missionaries in third world countries are dealing with the people are in fear of the spirit world. and these animistic cultures. They know there's something spiritual, but that is all, that is a realm that they don't understand. And so they just know it's bad, it's negative. They don't know the light, the God side of the whole deal. So seeking God's face is seeking the manifestation of the presence of God. You say, okay, Preacher, how are you going to do that? Okay, now, there's a couple things we need to see. I just want to give you three little clues here tonight. And I told myself I'm going to preach a little shorter tonight because you guys got somebody going to be here tomorrow all day long, etc. But that's usually wishful thinking. OK, but anyway, we'll try. We'll try. We're going to try. We'll try to get this thing in here tonight and move along. Seeking God's face. Now, the first thing I want you to understand about seeking God's face. Why is it so important? Well, you might even say, how do you do it? We're going to see in a moment a few principles, but how do you do it? Well, let me just kind of put it out this way. If you read the book of Psalms, many of the psalms are the heart cry of the psalmist for God. How about this one? Psalm 42, as the heart painteth after the waterbuck, so my soul painteth after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God. You get an idea that the psalmist wants God? How about Psalm 63? Oh God, thou art my God early while I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee. In a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory so as I've seen thee in the sanctuary. How about a few verses later in verse number eight? My soul followeth hard after God. So many throw my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God. You got an idea David wants God? See, the book of Psalms is about a man who wants God. He's on a search. He wants God. He can't make it without God. Okay, so Psalms helps us understand a bit of a picture. But all throughout the Bible, I will say this, we find promises about it. Do you know one thing the Bible tells us about seeking God? How about this one? Deuteronomy 429, but if and thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if you seek for him with all your heart and with all your soul. How about Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13, and you shall seek for me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. How about there into the book of Isaiah 44 verse number 3, I will pour water on him who is thirsty. Isaiah 41 verse 17, when the poor and needy seek water and there is none, their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. Into the New Testament there in the book of James chapter 4 and verse 8, draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. See God has promised over and over again if you seek me you'll find me. Can I say this carefully? God doesn't play hide and go seek. Can I say this? If you can live without God, you will. But if you cannot live without God, you don't have to. Do you know that God is predictable? He always responds to a hungry heart. He always responds to a seeking heart. He always does. God's predictable. He says, draw nigh to God, He'll draw nigh to you. Now, the best illustration I can think of, it's not great, but hopefully it will help. Back when I was a kid, My mother used to take me shopping. Now, I'm going to tell you, I love my mother, and I'm just going to tell you about it though. She loved shopping. And I will tell you, she cured me good on shopping. You know what I'm talking about? I'm not a real good shopper. Okay, on the deal, I'm just not. My wife has to drag me in there even to buy clothes from me. You know what I'm talking about? It's just like, yeah, just put a patch on it. Okay, let's just keep going with it the same deal. Okay, so, you say, what happened? Well, she used to bring me around to the department stores, big box stores, and one of them I remember was Montgomery Ward. Montgomery Ward. How many remember Montgomery Ward? These same people that raised their hand a moment ago on the Wax Lips. Okay, Montgomery Ward. Okay, big box store, and she dragged me out there to Montgomery Ward. I don't know what my mother was doing, but she'd try out every dress on the rack. You know, I'm talking about mom, just make your decision. Let's get on with the deal. And, but she just loved the shop. She did. And, uh, so, uh, she'd bragged me along of course. And the one thing Montgomery Ward had is they had walls and mirrors, you know what I'm talking about? And mirrors everywhere, different angles. And as a kid, you're just trying to entertain yourself. So you'd entertain yourself with the mirrors, you know what I'm talking about? And so sometimes I'd look at that mirror, get a little ways away, look at that mirror. I had to take a step toward the mirror. And I'm going to tell you, this is going to shock you. The guy in the mirror would take a step toward me. Yeah, isn't that pretty cool? I'd take another step. He'd come a step toward me. I'd keep stepping, stepping, stepping. Pretty soon, we're nose to nose in the mirror. He looked just like me, by the way. Unbelievable. Okay, now can I say something carefully, friends? God's more predictable than the mirror. You draw on a guy, he'll take a step towards you. God's not a respecter person. You ever wonder why Peter, James, and John were closer to Jesus than the rest of the disciples? Because they wanted to be. You ever wondered why John was closer than Peter and James? Because he wanted to be. I'm just simply saying, friends, God's not a respecter of persons. He tells us he's not. He just simply says, you're hungry, you want me? You're thirsty for me? I'll respond. One of the problems we have in our culture today, we don't have thirst quenchers in our culture. We have what I call thirst dullers. See, something that quenches your thirst, you don't have thirst anymore. But we live in a culture where you get your thirst dulled. It'd be like this, friends, and I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you got really thirsty. I think most of us as kids, remember we, in the middle of the summer, we'd come in to mom and we'd say, oh, mom, mom, mom, I'm dying of thirst. Remember that? You weren't dying of thirst. You weren't dehydrating. Your life was not in danger. But you know, as little kids, overstatement is kind of what we say. Okay, dying of thirst. No, we weren't dying of thirst. I doubt anybody in this room has ever been dying of thirst. Maybe there's an exception or two, but probably most of us never have been. Several years ago, somebody handed me the book, Unbroken, on Louis Zamperini's life. And if you've read it, it talks about how that plane crashed out there in the middle of the Pacific. And he and a couple of crew members got in this raft. And the author does an amazing job of helping you almost vicariously feel the thirst. Can you imagine being surrounded by water and be dying of thirst? That's how it was. They couldn't drink the water. If they did, they'd die. They knew it. They had to fight delirium. They had to fight all kinds of things. And if a rainstorm came, man, they would do everything they could to collect every drop of water they could. And you could almost sympathize with them in that they would listen. At that moment of dehydration, they would have given everything they had for just a glass of water. See, it's like this. The more dehydrated you are, the more consumed you are with meeting that need. Have you ever noticed that? That's just the way it is. You just consume with it. And the more dehydrated, the more you sacrifice to meet that need. Now, why is it that as people, as God's people, we are literally spiritually dying of thirst and we don't even seem to care? Because somehow our thirst gets dulled. Now, last night I talked about a lot of thirst dullers. You start watching stuff that grieves the Holy Spirit, you're going to be literally dehydrated spiritually, but you're not even going to realize it. Start making poor choices on technology and grieving the Holy Spirit by some of your choices, you're going to lose your thirst for God. You're going to quench the thirst. Why? Because you're quenching the Spirit. You're not, you're dulling the situation. You're not in any way satisfying the real deep needs. So I want you to understand that the very first thing God says here is He says, seek God's face. So what are we talking about? I want you to see three things real quickly and I want you to see it. Number one, I want you to understand it is a pursuit. It is a pursuit. In other words, there has got to be a hunger in your heart, thirst. Now, it's interesting that God uses a part of that pursuit. He uses the picture of thirst. You know what I love about thirst? It's non-meritorious. It's non-meritorious. Do you know that most believers are really good people who have a propensity toward meritorious thinking? You know what I mean by that? Some of you out, please, I know we're staying live stream, sometimes I hesitate to say something because I don't want to be misunderstood, but some of you out here make really good Catholics. I mean, you're always earning. The very concept of grace means you can't earn it. It's a gift. Grace, the whole concept of grace is that it's a gift. You can't earn it. And the point, friends, is simply this. Thirst is a great picture because it's not meritorious. You don't walk into McDonald's and say, you know, I want a dollar Coke. Do they still do a dollar Coke? I guess they still do. And that day is fast, probably going to leave us here. It's going to be two dollar Cokes pretty soon. But anyway, dollar Coke is basically in California. But anyway, and so dollar Coke, you ever walked in? They say, OK, that'll be a buck eight. I think it's eight cents here, isn't it? Eight cents. I've already got my dollar coffee at McDonald's, so now it's eight cents. Go to California, it's a buck fifty. OK, New York State, about a buck fifty five. But anyway, OK, so just depends on the state you're in and they tell you how much you owe. So you go a buck eight. What do you mean a buck eight? Look at me. I'm dying of thirst. I am dying of thirst. I have earned this Coca-Cola. I am so thirsty. I've earned it. What are they going to do you at McDonald's? Probably pitch you out the door and say, this guy's crazy. Thirst doesn't earn you anything. All thirst does means the more thirsty you are, the more sacrificing you will make to get that need met. You see, that's the idea. And so the idea of this pursuit is the fact that, God, I want you. I remember several years ago coming across a song at camp. I heard several camps singing it, and I started investigating the text, and the text really stirred me. It was an old text. It's been to put several different tunes. It was written by Frances Havergal, which is a wonderful writer of hymns. She died young in her life, but she wrote a hymn saying, I cannot do without thee. I cannot do without thee. Do you know what I found? A lot of Christians sure act like they can. See, the idea of the search is, God, I can't do without you. God, I can't go on. I can't make this thing work. God, I've got to have you. You see, friends, all I'm talking about is the search is not checking your list. It's not saying, okay, I've read my two chapters, I've spent my five minutes, I'm in good shape. No, it's saying, God, I need your presence. God, I need you to show up in my life. God, I need your grace. God, I can't go on without you. Seeking simply means it's number one priority. It says with all your heart, all your soul, what it means is it's the most important thing. I can do without food, but I can't do without you. I can do without other comforts in life, but I can't do without you. God, I gotta have you. I can do without my dumb smartphone, but I can't do without. Most Christians could do without God, but they sure couldn't do without their smartphone. Some of you ought to go to Treasure Mountain Bible Camp every once in a while. I get to go there once a year. I love going to Treasure Mountain. You say, why? Number one, it's at 8,600 feet. That's pretty cool, 40 degrees. Evenings in the middle of the summer, unbelievable. Sun comes up about nine o'clock as the mountains. It's in a very sharp valley. And when I get there in June, if I ever go in June, the stacks of snow are still there from the avalanches. It's really a remarkable valley there. It's very dangerous, they say, in the wintertime. But when I go to Treasure Mountain Bible Camp, it's 45 minutes away from cell phone coverage. You can't even come close to getting a signal. And not only that, they have no electricity. Like, like it's 24-7. They have to turn on a big locomotive generator to run. And they only do that when they have to, you know, I'm talking, it costs money to run that generator. So it's not on very often. Okay. So, and even if you did turn it on, you couldn't, you couldn't, you could put your computer in, but you're not getting, you're not getting any signal. There's no signal. There's no phone wires. I mean, there's nothing you're no internet, no phone signal for a whole week. And I'm going to just be honest with you. It's unbelievable. It's probably the week, my highlight almost every year. You know why? Because you're not distracted in your search of God. You don't hear any beep beep when you're having your devotions, you know what I'm talking about? Or whatever. Zach over here has got the dumbest cell phone. He's got a sneeze on his. Think about it, coronavirus. So a text comes in, and Zach's phone sneezes. It's really remarkable that his team members haven't killed him yet, but anyway, or destroyed his phone. But he's still alive. He's got three more days to go. But if the phone disappears, you'll know what happened. OK, but the point is, no sneezes if you're trying to spend time with God. No blips or beeps. It's great. No checking your dumb cell phone to see if somebody just happened to tell you that the world's blowing up. It's really great, because you could have had the world just have a meltdown, a nuclear holocaust, and you wouldn't know until you're disintegrated. You know, that'd be it. Oh, that'd kind of be a nice way to go. OK, I guess this is the end. OK, but anyway. But the point, friends, is simply that we get so distracted by the world in which we live, and it diminishes our thirst for God. So that's why the time we're going to talk tomorrow about having an extended time with God, for those of you who come, some of you have already been presented with the material. It's not just that checking off a list and doing that. It's that the fact that this gives you structure to say, you know what, I'm going to spend time with God. And I will tell you, when I made my first commitment about a certain amount of time, which I'll not mention to you, a certain amount of time every day to spend with God, that was life changing. to commit this is the minimum amount of time I'll spend with God. Life changing. I would say that was a turning point in my life. There's no doubt about it. Now there's a long way to go but that was very much a turning point in life. So he's saying I need God. I need God and every day I need God. Can you do without God? Because I'm telling you if you can do without God you will. I'm talking to folks out here, you can go without God. You can go days without knowing the presence of God, and it doesn't even bother you. In fact, most Christians in our culture live months, and I would say sometimes even years, without knowing what I'm talking about, about meeting with God on a regular basis, and it doesn't even bother them. See, seeking God's face means I can't live without you, God. I cannot live without you. Days ago I have headaches, don't feel sorry for me, it's not a bad thorn in the flesh, just the one God gave me. I woke up in the middle of the night, had a headache, get up and take my medicine. Usually I can't go back to bed for a little while anyway. So I decided I'm going to find out what Oswald Chambers is going to say today. Have you ever read Oswald Chambers? That guy, I'm telling you, I read Oswald Chambers and I say, man, that's really good. I just wish I knew what it meant. You know, I'm talking about like Chambers is just like, whoa, that's up there. That's up there. I ain't got that yet, but I'm going to I always like to read Chambers because it helps me realize how stupid I am. OK, you know, it just kind of keeps you humble a little bit. So I was reading Chambers. And you say, you should you read them? Yeah, because every once in a while I understand. Boy, I got that one. That was good. I got that one. And he was talking about, he was talking about the fact that most of us like the future to be certain, don't we? We want to know what's going to happen tomorrow, the next day. We want to, you know, we want to be certain about the future. But you know what he said? When you're certain about the future, your certainty is not in God. He said, really what you ought to be is certain about God, and who cares what the future holds? He said, when you are certain in God, you don't care what tomorrow holds, you live in breathless expectation to see what God's gonna do tomorrow, even though you have no clue what He's gonna do. He said, just simply take the task at hand, whatever God's given you to do, do it with breathless expectation and put your certainty in God, not in the future. I thought, man, that's good. Because I don't know about you, sometimes we get all bent out of shape like, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or next day. Oh, this is, oh, this is a disaster. You know, what's going to happen here? Well, you can always be one certain of one thing. You can be certain of God. Even when you're not sure how things are going to turn out, how this is going to work out, how this is going to happen, how are we going to work through this problem, what's going to happen on this deal, we can always be certain of God and wait with breathless expectation that God's going to do what He said He's going to do. You see, that's what I'm talking about is seeking God's face. It's saying, God, I can't live without You. God, I need You. God, I can't go on. So understand that number one, there's got to be a search. Number two, time. You know, if you're going to seek something, it takes time. If you're going to pursue a relationship, it takes time. If you're going to say, I want my thirst quenched, it takes time. In other words, I've got to get to the washing of the water of the Word. I need to get to the place where I want to start to meet with God and know the Word. the fulfillment that only he brings. So time that you see, it takes time to build a relationship. I've kind of alluded to this and other messages. I don't need to say a lot about it, but I do need to say for each one of you in this room, if you know somebody well, I guarantee you this, it's taking time. You know that I always every team member I have ever had go on this team, I know I'm better at the end than at the beginning. I know you're shocked about that, don't you? You know why? Because we're in the trenches together. And I mean, sometimes we get tension and sometimes we got problems and we got to work through things. We got to talk through things. And sometimes we're in a prayer battle and we get shoulder to shoulder and say, God, you got to work. And we see God working. There's no doubt about it. You always feel way closer to a team member at the end than you do at the beginning. You know why? Time. you've taken time with them. And so it is, friends, with God, it takes time. I remember years ago I did one of the war, before I got into Special Forces, it was a week-long youth evangelistic outreach, some of you are familiar with it. And I was doing one with a guy who was one of the three Marines who was an ordained minister and not a chaplain. There were three Marines at that time in the Marine Corps who were ordained ministers of the gospel but were not chaplains. And I knew two of them. That was kind of the funny part. Both of them I'd been with during the war. And anyway I was with this guy and he had flown Cobra helicopters in Operation Desert Storm. He had flown missions, and he said he and his pilot crew had faced live ammunition. They'd had bullets pierced, you know, the whole thing. Okay, they'd been involved in firefights. I mean, real deal, you know what I'm talking about. And he told me at the end of the week, here is a Cobra helicopter pilot said to me, Brother Van Gelderen, he said, you don't know this, but he said, when you are in warfare together and you go in and in live combat, he said, when you come out, he said, you have a camaraderie with that crew in the cockpit that is unbelievable. You're like brothers. You just, you just are together. He said, I'm going to be honest with you. He said, after this week, he said, I feel the same way about you and your team. See, we're all, we were on the, you know, what we're doing is spending time together. We're in battle together. We're in prayer meetings together. We're working through opposition together. We're realizing we're in a spiritual battle together. And there's something it does. So friends, obviously if that's a human dynamic, think about how it is with God. I'm telling you, friends, you get in the harness with God, and you begin getting the battle, and you find out what God has called you to do, and Pastor's been doing this series on spiritual gifts, and you find out where God wants you to serve here in this local church, and you begin spending time with God, I'm gonna guarantee you, friends, you're gonna find that the reality of God's presence in your life becomes a reality. There's times you see God step down, and I don't know about you, friends, there's times when I'm desperately needing God, and God will step down, and I don't know how to explain it. The moment God steps down in your heart and life, there's a peace, there's a realization that God's here. He manifests His presence. He graces you. And it's a spiritual reality. It's the only way I understand it. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, just start seeking God's face continually and you'll know what I'm talking about. Got to be just a normal, just something that you just can't live without. That's really what tomorrow's all about, really it is. Tomorrow's a whole lot more about the manifestation of the presence of God than it is a methodology. Though there'll be a methodology, it's more about seeking God's face than anything else. By the way, if this is just doing something in your heart, you're certainly welcome to come. You can see your pastor about that. We'd love to have you come if you're saying, Preacher, I don't think I've been introduced to a way to do this, and I'd like some help on this. You certainly tomorrow would be helped. I know you would be helped with it. But it takes time. It takes time. And I thought, anybody who's been on the prayer journey will tell you that it takes time. It's like when, about four years ago, we started at the church, five years ago, I think now we did a Bend the Knee. It was the first victory conference that we did the prayer theme, Bend the Knee. And I remember that as that theme went on, God led us to this hour with God that's gonna be presented tomorrow. Long story, I think it was a year or two after that, I was walking down the hallway and saw one of our senior saints walking down the hallway and I said, hey Barbara, I said, how's your hour with God going? And Barbara looked at me and said, now Dr. Jim, you know I can't spend an hour. She said, I've gotta spend two. You know, I like that. I've had many people, that Pastor Oatesvall that I mentioned that in the state of Wisconsin, that got up and gave his testimony. I will tell you, he said, I can't spend an hour anymore. He says, I've got to spend more than an hour. He said, I've just got to spend time with God. It's not like because I have to. It's because I have to. Do you see the difference? Now, some of you say, well, Preacher, I can't clear, don't get hung up the hour. Here's what you get to need hung up on, is that I need to spend time with God, whatever that looks like. And I will say this, I will say that many of you may not say, well, I don't have an hour sitting around. I guarantee you don't. But I guarantee you this, you have less important things sitting around. And you clear out some of that less important stuff and say, I'm going to seek God. I need God's face. I need to know God's reality in my life. Listen, friends, you start walking with Jesus, and here's what I'll tell you to start doing. You will start seeing answers to prayer all the time. God, I believe, wants us to have answers to prayer, I'm gonna just be honest with you, every day. Now sometimes we're thinking of dramatic answers to prayer, but God wants to do all kinds of things, like just showing up in your prayer time to me is a miracle. See, so it takes time. I'm not trying to be unkind, but five minutes a day is gonna cut it, 10 minutes a day ain't gonna cut it. I hate to tell you, maybe even 15 isn't, but I will say this, 15's better than nothing. The truth is, there has to be extended time. I found personally, and maybe it's just because I'm a little dull on the deal. I found personally when it comes to a corporate prayer meeting, it takes 15 minutes before that thing starts to take off. You know why? Because we're distracted. You know, I found a personal prayer takes about the same amount of time. It takes some time to clear out all the clouds so you can get the business and start meeting with God. Now, maybe you can get on the deal a whole lot quicker than I can. But I was probably one of those kids that would have been diagnosed with ADHD or whatever, you know, I'm talking about. I think, I think all my, I think I had them all. In fact, I remember my mother crying in my dad's office at kindergarten graduation because my kindergarten teacher told my mother that I chewed my pencil and my mother thought life was over. I was done. Okay. So anyway, so if your kid chews their pencil, they might turn out, they might, just might. Okay. Might make it. Okay. So I get, I get easily distracted. I'm just, I get, I get distracted with anything. You know what I need when it comes to prayer time? Time. Takes time. All I'm going to simply say, friends, I don't know what telling you to do. I'm just telling you, ask God what he wants you to do. And he knows what you need. He knows the next step. He knows exactly where you need to go with this thing. So, number one, it's a search. Number two, it takes time. And don't miss this. This is key. And we'll wind her down. This is key. Here it is. It takes expectation. Now think about this for a moment. What would you do if you were out soul winning, and you go through the gospel, you want to get saved? Yeah, I do. Okay, and you tell them how to pray. They pray the sinner's prayer. If you died right now, where would you go? I'd go to hell. Well, didn't you pray? Yeah, I just did, but I don't think Jesus heard me. Would you be excited about that salvation decision? You know why? Because that's not faith. That's unbelief. You say, well, preacher, how do you know the person gets saved? Well, if they can manifest this out of their with their words, really manifest what's going on in their heart, they're going to manifest. Don't miss this. A spirit of expectation. So if you died right now, where would you go? Ever seen them kind of wheels turn? Well, I'd go to heaven. Why? Because he promised. How many sins did he wash away that you see the wheels turning? We washed them all away. So how many are left? None. You've ever seen that happen? You know what they're articulating? Expectations. In other words, I just asked Jesus to save me and he said he would do it. I just, I just asked Jesus to wash my sins away and he said he'd do it. Expecting Jesus to do what he said he'd do. You know what that is? Faith. So when it comes right down to seeking God's face, understand there is a search. It takes time, but don't miss this. It takes expectation. Now let me, if I could, if I could change the words a little bit, so let me just kind of, you'll understand where I'm coming from, thirst and rest. So if I came to you and said, hey, listen, I want to give you two synonyms today. I'm going to preach on thirst and rest. Would you think that's a little odd, synonyms, thirst and rest? But thirst and rest is really what we're talking about. Remember several years ago at Camp Joy, the camp not too far from us, they had a ropes course. I don't think they have this particular one anymore, but there was kind of way up high, there was a cable you were supposed to walk on, and there were two guide wires on either side. And of course they had a belt you clipped on in case you fall, because most people do, but anyway. And so they had these two guide wires, and the idea was you were supposed to kind of walk on the thing, and if you let go of one of the ropes, one of the sides, guess what happened? You'd fall off on this side. If you let go of this rope, guess what happened? You fall off on this side. You needed the tension of both of those cables to keep you balanced. Are you with me on the deal? See, when it comes to seeking God, you need thirst, and you need rest. You need to seek, and you need expectation. Now, notice that they each have a ditch. If you just hang on to the thirst side and let go of the rest side, guess what? You're going to have what I might call overactivity. you're going to get into human activity. But if you let go of the first side and just hold on the rest side, you're going to get into passivity. So it's kind of like this, God, I need you. I can't go on without you, God. But I'm expecting you to show up because you said you would. See, drawn unto God and? He said, preacher, I feel dry. I feel bankrupt. I feel dusty. I wake up in the morning, God seems like a million miles away. Can I say something very carefully? For most of the time of my life, join the club. So what's the answer? Well, God's not around. I guess we'll wait till he shows up. No. The answer is start seeking God and expecting him to show up. Does that make sense? See, so it's it's believe in the word of God. So that's one illustration that might help. Let me just give you one more and we'll wind her down to be done on this expectation thing. I remember Back when I was a kid, my uncle, who's now with the Lord, been with the Lord several years, Jim Stoutenborough, my mother's older brother, he for years led singing at the Bill Rice Ranch in Middle Tennessee. But when he was just a kid, 16, my mother, I mentioned the other day, when she was 14, he was, I think, 16, and their parents, their father died at 14. My mom was 14, uncle 16, and mother died when my mother was nine, my uncle 11. So they were, they're basically orphaned. And at 16, my uncle bought a plane kit and built an airplane. Not a model airplane, an airplane. OK, you fly in. He built this thing. And he got a license. I can't believe they gave 16-year-olds license for the sky. But back in those days, they did. I don't know if they still do, but they did. And he became the terror of the skies in this rural farm community in middle Illinois. And there were times when the farmers would be out, you know, doing their fields, planting, you know, how it is. Like my uncle would dive on them. He'd go. And when the guy jumped off the trailer here like that, he pulled out. He wasn't real popular in town, but anyway, he didn't have parents to stop him. His parents were gone. I mean, he didn't have a guardian or anything. They just raised themselves. And so my uncle said there'd be a bridge and there'd be water underneath and he'd fly underneath it. Then he'd fly upside down. He told me, he said, it's a miracle I lived out of my teenage years. You know what? I believe him. I believe him. I really do believe him. In fact, when he was in his 20s he was discovered by the late Dr. Bill Rice, founder of the Bill Rice Ranch. The way he discovered him is one day there was a revival meeting and the place was packed out and Dr. Bill was an hour late. And when he got up to preach, he said, the crowd was so fresh afterwards, he said, who is the song leader? Well, they say, oh, it's Jim Stoughtonboro, a farmer over here. He's the song leader. And basically, long story, my uncle began to link up with different evangelists. And he was known as the Flying Farmer. I've seen little handbills where it says the evangelist's name. And then it said, the Flying Farmer, song leading by the Flying Farmer, Jim Stoughtonboro. Literally, what he'd do is farm during the day. And then he'd get in his plane, probably about four o'clock, clean up, get in his plane, and he'd fly, you know, just an hour or two away all over the Midwest there. And he'd land. And he said many times the church was so packed, they had to open a back window and pull him in to lead the scene. And he'd lead the scene in that revival meeting. I mean, it was just then as soon as the day, you know, the sun went about six o'clock, he'd be in that plane flying back and then doing his farming and then fly back. So that's how he's known the flying farmer. in those early years. And so the only problem was is if a rainstorm came in or fog came in or if it was nighttime he couldn't fly because he didn't have his instrument ready. He could only fly by the seat of his pants. Boy, did he love to fly by the seat of his pants. He loved it. But one day I remember I was just a little boy. He got his instrument rating and now he could fly in the dark. He could fly in fog. He could fly in situations before he could not fly. Now, that's very important to do that, because if you get fogged in and you don't have an instrument rating, you'll die. OK, so it motivates you to get your instrument rating. So he got his instrument rating, get fly at night, et cetera. But he hated it. You know why he hated it? It's like flying in a flight simulator. Who wants to do that? You know, he just loved flying by the seat of his pants. But it's very important because sometimes you get disoriented, feel like you're upside down and when you're actually right side up and vice versa. Some of you are familiar with all those very dangerous things that occur in small planes, etc. So you say, what are you saying? All that was I'm saying this. Do you know, Francis, like this? That's a great illustration of what I'm talking about here, the tension between seeking and expectation, thirst and rest. So here it is. If my uncle was just flying around and boy enjoying the life and all of a sudden fog comes in. Do you know what he wanted desperately for that fog to lift? Because he wanted to fly by the seat of his pants. But when the fog came in guess what he did? He flew by the instrument panel. Now don't miss this friend. When you're living in the Christian life And you're saying, God, I want you, I can't go on without you. Maybe you're enjoying the presence of God, enjoying a walk with Jesus, and there's a reality, and you can just sense God's here, just enjoying everything about it. And all of a sudden, fog comes in. You ever had fog come in? You say, Richard, what's God doing when he allows fog to come in? I'll tell you one thing he's doing. I can't tell you everything he's doing, but I'll tell you one thing he's doing. He's trying to get you back to the instrument panel. Do you know what happens, I think, when fog comes in sometimes? I think God lets fog come in sometimes because we begin to trust our experience more than the Word of God so God fogs us in and says, nope, go back and make sure you're trusting the Word. Get back to the instrument panel. I think another, and there's several reasons why I could preach a whole message on this I think, but I think another reason God fogs us in is because we've taken Him for granted. We get a little sloppy spiritually, maybe watch something we shouldn't watch, do something we shouldn't do, and the fog comes rolling back in. And we've taken His presence for granted. I remember as a little boy, maybe illustrating this, I was four years old at the Durango Airport, where my dad pastored in Durango until I was six. I think it was my first visit to an airport. Durango only had one gate, you know what I'm talking about. And I'm looking out there at these airplanes, and as a little kid, four-year-old kid, I'm fascinated. These are huge planes, like 16-seater, you know what I'm talking about. Huge planes. And my face is up, you know, up against the glass, just totally enamored by those airplanes, when all of a sudden, in my four-year-old brain, it hit me. Where's mama? Remember when you were four? Security wraps around one person on planet earth and that's your mother. That's where security is found in your mother. And of course, when you're four years old, you're pretty sure your mom's trying to ditch you. You know what I'm talking about? She'll use any opportunity to try to get out of there and, you know, and claim she doesn't know you. Okay. So, you know, you got, you're, you're trying to deal with this thing. You don't want mom to kind of disappear on the deal. And so here I am four years old, man, I'm looking out there and all of a sudden it hit me. Where's mom? And I remember panic hit my heart, that little four-year-old heart. Where's mama? I turned around. I don't know if you remember this, but I remember when you identified people by their shoes, not by their faces. Okay, their legs and their shoes, their skirt, okay? And so I am. I remember looking around. I looked around about that two foot level. You know what I'm talking about? All across that gate. And there were people everywhere. I saw a pair of legs. I was certain were my mother's. And I'm telling you, it could have been chariots of fire. I'm telling you, I am running full blast toward those legs. You could have heard the doo doo doo doo, you know, the whole thing. And I'm heading right to those legs. And man, I embraced those legs, looked up and it wasn't my mother. That was a terrible deal. OK, but anyway, fortunately, my mother saw the whole thing. She came and rescued me. and then laughed about it for about half an hour. I didn't think it was funny, Mom, I don't think it's funny. Okay, but anyway, at that point. Now what did I do? I took her presence for granted. You ever taken God's presence for granted? You know what God's saying, friends, for every one of us in this room, many of the times we take God's presence for granted. You ever been going through life and the Holy Spirit is just stirring your heart? Why don't you spend some time in prayer and you pick up that dumb smartphone. You waste the time God wanted you to spend with Him. And the fog starts to roll back in. You with me on the deal? You know what God's saying, get back to the instrument panel. You know what you need to do? I think it's all of us, God, I need you, God, I need you. God, I'm expecting you to show up. Thirst, rest. Thirst, rest. It's the tension. It's again, it's where theology often takes us, right? To the apex of theological tension is where the truth is. And so tonight, friends, seeking God's face, seeking God's face. I trust that you're encouraged to say, God, I want to seek with all my heart. I can't live without, I cannot do without you. And I'm expecting you to show up. So tonight, seek God's face continually. Could I ask every head bowed, please, and every eye closed. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. No one's looking. How many tonight would say, Preacher, tonight I sense in God doing something in my heart. I sense Him stirring my heart about the matter. And I do believe God is stirring me that there's another step I need to take in meeting with God. And I don't know what it might be, but you say God's touched my heart. Would you just lift your hand? Just lift your hand. Amen. God bless you. Put your hands down.