• Play:
• Song Name: Session 2
• Artist: Intimacy with God Conference

Hey Church...
I just want to spend the next couple of
hours stating the case for intimacy.
Tomorrow you will hear some teaching on
how, and you will hear some
encouragement on our response to the
call to intimacy, but I want to outline to
you briefly why this Father wants an
intimate relationship with you. I may
cover some things you will hear
tomorrow, but that's ok. We sometimes
need to hear things repeated to allow
them to seep in.
A definition of intimacy is 'close familiarity
or friendship'. It is that place where two
people share a closeness that allows for
vulnerability and knows no shame.
When I was young...
Lady in the cafe with the toddler...
Intimacy is born either out of desire or
necessity... Hazel and toothbrush...
I want to show you that intimacy with
Christ is both desirable and required. God
wants you to know Him. And tonight we
begin a shift, as a church in this town and
for this town, from knowing about him to
knowing him. A church that knows about
him will produce religion. 'I know Jesus
did this so I will do it'. That can produce
some amazing good works but our
intellect is exalted and Jesus JUST
becomes an example. But when you
know Jesus we will produce Kingdom and
He will be exalted.
I wasn't to show you that intimacy is not
just a preserve of the full time minister
who needs to hear words, or for those
who have time. I want to show you that it
is the basis of ALL we receive from
heaven.
Turn with me to 1 John 1:1
'That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have
looked upon, and our hands have
handled, concerning the Word of life'.
Here we see John describing an
increasing level of intimacy. We hear
something, like on the radio; you add
vision to that it increases and intensifies
the experience; then there is a difference
between seeing and looking; finally our
hands have handled.
John did not just know Jesus. He handled
him.
Knowing God can be reduced to an
intellectual concept. He can only be
known through what we read in the book.
We need the book, but a book cannot
contain God. Even the heavens cannot.
God is to be handled, and wants to
handle.
Every revelation from His Word should
lead to an encounter with Jesus and exalt
Him. Anything else produces pride, self,
religion.
He is a Father who longs for intimacy. I
know this because I am a father and I
love intimacy with my children. In my 19
years as a parent I have had to shout at
my children at times, to discipline them.
Bohr I have not enjoyed that. What I have
enjoyed is wrestling on the bed with
them, and tickling them until they begged
me to stop or else they are gonna wet
themselves! To you have a concept of an
Abba, a papa, who wants to treat you so
uproariously, so tenderly, so intimately,
that he would want to pin you down and
tickle you?
That's too irreverent Dave. Listen, God
has many concepts and there are times
for awe and times for repentance but I am
made in His image and nothing pleases
me than seeing my kids laughing and full
of joy. So why not my father.
And look at this John, the one who
handled Jesus, in John 13:21-23:
'When Jesus had said these things, He
was troubled in spirit, and testified and
said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, one of
you will betray Me." Then the disciples
looked at one another, perplexed about
whom He spoke. Now there was leaning
on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples,
whom Jesus loved.'
John, lying at the table for dinner as they
did in those days, had his head between
Jesus' arms with his head on his chest. Is
that irreverent? This is God himself, the
creator, the one who spoke galaxies into
existence, allowing a mere creates being
to recline on His bosom.
Now to most guys here, this is slightly
creepy. But it shows us the level of
intimacy allowed, how close we are
permitted to get. That innocence and
purity that allowed me to prod my mother
inappropriately, with no shame and full
access, is available to you and I today.
He is not a remote entity which just
requires studying: He is a personal Abba
who longs to connect.
Really quickly, what did this intimacy
produce? What did it produce in and from
John? What kind of man did he become?
Why was it so desired and so necessary?
What was the payback of such a
relationship and what can it bring today
for us today?
This John is the most prolific NT writer of
all those who walked with Jesus through
his earthly ministry, writing a Gospel,
three letters and the final book. His
Intimacy had great affect. Here are four
reasons you will want to be intimate with
God:
1. Intimacy means you know Christ.
There is a real desire to know Christ and
to study him. You can buy books that
explain Him, and you can watch and
listen to discussions about Him. We can
debate about predestination, creation,
pre, post or a-millenniumism...
When you read Johns writings, it is
simple, plain, straightforward. The
Greek us simple and uncomplicated,
and he uses simple contrasts: light and
dark, day and night, up and down. He
speaks in a way that is clear and without
room for negotiation. And that is not
popular today.
Look at 1 John. Short, simple, staccato
statements of fact.
3 Now by this we know that we know
Him, if we keep His commandments.
9 He who says he is in the light, and
hates his brother, is in darkness until
now.
6 We are of God. He who knows God
hears us; he who is not of God does not
hear us. By this we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for
love is of God; and everyone who loves
is born of God and knows God.
8 He who does not love does not know
God, for God is love.
Any ambiguity? Is he arrogant and
dogmatic? No, it is simply that he
speaks from a place of intimacy
because he has heard, seen, looked at
and handled Jesus Christ.
You can not live off other peoples
convictions. Thank God for them, but I
need to know Him, and in knowing Him
all my doubts are scattered. Joe and
evolution...
2. Intimacy means you know His love
I have, after being a Christian for over
30 years, at least realised that his love
for me is more important than my love
for him. The quality of his love is more
important than the quality of mine. He is
my high priest and he is perfect in love.
The closer you get to Christ, the more
you will know His greatest power and
His greatest motivator - Love. John
majored on His love because he had
learned it leaning on the breast of
Jesus, and he saw it at Calvary. He
penned these great words in 1 John 4:
9 This is how God showed his love
among us: He sent his one and only
Son into the world that we might live
through him. 10 This is love: not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and sent
his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our
sins.
16 And so we know and rely on the love
God has for us. God is love. Whoever
lives in love lives in God, and God in
them.
John was the most secure person in the
love of God. He was the disciple who
Jesus loved, and he gave himself the
title...
Many of us are striving to earn our way
to his breast so we can receive his love.
His arms are open, whatever your state,
to come and receive that love. It has
been won for you. You are the disciple
whom Jesus loved.
3. Intimacy means you can love Him
John had no problem with how he loved,
and how we should love God. 1 John 5:
'3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his
commands. And his commands are not
burdensome, 4 for everyone born of
God overcomes the world. This is the
victory that has overcome the world,
even our faith.'
Worship is not just about singing, loving
God is not just about serving. Loving
God encompasses doing what he says
and walking in his light. For years I
strove to try and live right. Then I started
believing right, and believing in his
grace to enable me to walk free from
sin. It is not my goodness that grants me
access to intimacy: it is his intimacy
which enables me to live free from sin.
John was clear: there is a right and
wrong. No fudgy, flakey doctrine of
sloppy grace for John.his law still
stands. What has changed is that there
is now a place of intimacy where grace
transfers kingdom power to live at the
highest level of purity. And it comes from
Him.
You cannot control your flesh. It cannot
be corralled. You can try but you end up
in the perpetual state described in
Romans 7. You will win some and
looses some and life will be a religious
attempt to make yourself better. This is
the law.
But John, who handled Jesus, says that
I can obey Gods commands and they
are not burdensome. The more intimate
with Jesus we become, the more we will
want to, not have to, say no to sin.
I love my wife and it is not hard to not do
things that she does not like. She does
not like pilchards so I will not add them
to her cornflakes! Gods motivation is
love.
Bt it is more than that. This is grace, the
delivery system of the Kingdom, which
transfers power from the other
dimension in to our hearts so we
overcome the world. The only way to
deal with the flesh is to kill it. You spend
time in Jesus' presence you will literally
have no need for sin. It will become like
a third shoe. Romans 6:
'6 For we know that our old self was
crucified with him so that the body ruled
by sin might be done away with,[fn] that
we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7
because anyone who has died has been
set free from sin.'
We all fall from time to time, but my
practice is to say, with no fear of
condemnation or guilt, 'that is not me. I
am declared righteous and that is not
who I am'. And sin falls away. Holiness
is a fruit of intimacy not a route to
intimacy. The more we see,the more we
love him, the more we will do what he
says.
4. Intimacy is the source of true
Revelation
I am sure most people here want to
receive from God to share with him
others. We all want to hear what God is
saying.
How do we do this? More study, more
work?
I am sure John was studious and
disciplined, but this disciple whom Jesus
loved, this man who handled the
Messiah, who lent on His breast, was
trusted with what many would argue
was the most famous, amazing
revelation in all scripture. He saw our
future; he saw events he could not fully
understand but which are being played
out before our eyes.
It was The Revelation of Jesus, carrying
messages to global and regional
churches and mapped the next
millennia's of history. It started next to
the heartbeat of the Saviour.
What kind of church do we want to be for
this world. We owe the world a church
that knows its God and demonstrates its
God. We owe the world a church that has
not studied God and can explain Him, but
a Church that experiences God and can
demonstrate him.
A church that goes from our physical, four
dimensional home and dwells in that
multi-dimensional world of His Kingdom
and brings back the grace and power to
invade and displace the kingdoms of this
world.
His arms are open this evening for you to
'know' Him. God does not want a
business relationship with you. He wants
a love relationship. He wants to make you
glow with His goodness, like Moses did,
so that what we share with the world is
not based on others experience and
testimonies, but on our encounters where
we went to share Him, not have to share
Him.
Better a single day in your courts than a
thousand elsewhere. This is why the
most uneducated spiritually can possess
the greatest power. God, and the intimacy
of his presence, produces power. Our
ability, our wisdom, adds nothing. Indeed
learning can reduce this power because it
draws attention to me.
Is your faith plagued by questions -
intimacy with God will answer those.
Are you unsure of Gods love for you -
intimacy with God will show you.
Are you frustrated by your love for God -
intimacy with God will produce that
Are you longing for new things in Him,
new revelation - get intimate with Jesus
today.