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Searching for God’s Glory

experience thefullness of God

Pastor Derek Neider

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IntroductionWhat is so amazing about the Christian life?

This is a great question to ask yourself, especially if you’re a Christian. Christians are people who, through faith in Christ and by God’s grace, have been redeemed to God and are being transformed by His Spirit. The Christian life is intended by God to be a pipeline between heaven and earth through which He manifests His glory. What is God’s glory? It is His holiness, His infinite perfections, His greatness, and worth on display. This is precisely why Jesus encouraged His disciples to let their lights shine before men, that men could see their good works and glorify the Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Did you catch that? Our lives should be a direct connection to the glory of God. In other words, when people see you, they should see God shining through you. That is God’s will for you and the reason you are in His kingdom.

This series is designed to help you put yourself in the best position to experience and express God’s glory. Expect to be encouraged, uplifted, challenged, and even surprised as God reveals Himself to you in new and life-changing ways. Expect others around you to notice that something has changed in your life that can only be attributed to the glory of God working through you.

May God abundantly exceed your expectations as you diligently set your heart in searching for His glory.

Pastor Derek Neider

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This booklet is a companion to Pastor Derek’s series “Searching for God’s Glory” It is meant to be read and applied during this series and will be referred to in the Home Group Curriculum.

Everyone is strongly encouraged to join a home group. It is the best place to find community, connection, and grow in your Christian faith.

You can join a home group and find all resources for home groups here:cclasvegas.org/groups

CONTENTS

Chapter one | What We’ve Been Missing | page 4

Chapter two | Generous Giving that Sets Priorities | page 6

Chapter three | History Impacting Prayer | page 10

Chapter four | Soul Shaking Fasting | page 15

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WHAT WE’VE BEEN MISSING

Revival! This word preached to God’s people will bring the loudest amens and the heartiest affirmations. But why is there such a stark contrast in the revival that we say we long for and the spiritual stagnancy we see and experience? Why is the church in the West, while possessing such immense wealth and resources, so spiritually anemic? In many areas of the world, the church is not gaining ground it is losing ground. Instead of the church being a mighty instrument in God’s hand to shape the world, it is being shaped by the world. What are we missing? I think the answer is so simple that it’s easily over-looked. We are living in unprecedented times. Times that I believe will yield an enormous harvest of souls into God’s kingdom. But before the lost souls are won, God’s church must be awak-ened. C.S. Lewis famously said, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

But pain and discomfort not only rouse a deaf world, it also gets the attention of God’s people. When God disrupts our lives we can try to muscle through the inconvenience or we can turn our ear to Him and seek to understand the message He is sending. God’s message to His church right now is simple, “It’s time to return to the Lord for spiritual renewal.”

Returning to the Lord for spiritual renewal requires a decision and

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determination. For example, when the prodigal son in Luke 15:11 became aware of how far he had drifted from his faith he made the decision to return to his father. With determination he made the long trek home hoping to find a place in his father’s house, even if only as a servant. He was lovingly embraced by his fa-ther. Another example to consider is Jesus’ letter to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7. The church had many good works that Jesus commended them for, but He also confronted them for departing from their first love. He challenged them to make a de-cision that required determination. To remember from where they had fallen, repent, and do the first works again. Today, God is calling His church back to Himself through three spiritual disciplines. These disciplines are giving, praying and fasting. They are famously described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, which is often described as the Magna Carta of disci-pleship. According to Jesus, these disciplines are essentials, or non-negotiables. To Christ, it wasn’t a matter of if a disciple did these things, it was a matter of when. Jesus wasn’t giving His disci-ples duties on a list to check off, He was giving them the secret of living with an awareness of God’s presence and full access to His mighty power. I want to challenge you. As a citizen of God’s kingdom you have all the resources of the King of Kings at your disposal, now is the time to access them. Put God’s Word to the test as you dedicate yourself to living out these disciplines. Expect God to demonstrate His power, to immerse you in His presence, and to do the miracu-lous He has promised to.

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GENEROUS GIVING THAT SETS PRIORITIESMatthew 6:1-4Matthew 19:16-22 tells us the story of a rich young ruler who had everything that the world said would bring him satisfac-tion. He had power and authority, he had wealth and posses-sions, and he was young! He came to Jesus asking what else he needed to do to enter into eternal life. Jesus, knowing that this young man was worshiping his possessions, ad-dressed the real issue in his heart. He told him to sell all of his possessions, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Him. Unfortunately, the young man was unwilling to follow Christ’s command and he went away sorrowful. You see, instead of possessing his possessions, the young man’s possessions were possessing him. His love for his wealth was holding him back from experiencing Jesus. Now, we don’t have to sell all of our possessions and give the proceeds to the poor to be a disciple of Jesus, but our pos-sessions shouldn’t be what we worship or what we build our lives upon. Being generous in your giving puts your posses-sions in their place. It helps you to prioritize God’s kingdom and guards you from seeking to build your own kingdom on this earth. It helps you to engage in God’s mission. There’s a reason that Jesus lists giving as the first discipline. Keeping your possessions in their rightful place prepares your heart for God-empowered prayer and fasting. Remember this basic truth, “Giving is an expression of worship to God, for His glory and for the advancement of His kingdom.” Here are some key principles on why and how we should give:

IMITATING GOD: We give because we imitate God as His beloved children (Ephesians 5:1) and God gave in abundance when He gave

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His Son for us (John 3:16). Really, if we are walking in the Spirit and following the example of our Heavenly Father, there is no way for us to be stingy Christians. The child of God says, “God, You gave so much for me and for my de-liverance, I want to follow Your example and give to You for Your glory and for the deliverance of others.”

WORSHIP: Generous giving is an expression of worship. It is amazing how we will spend lavishly on luxury items we feel are justified and yet when it comes to God, He’s “lucky” if He gets the leftovers. A couple approached me after review-ing their year-end giving statement. They said, when they saw the bottom line, they were horrified that their giving to God was so little. At that moment, they made a decision to give to God first, before money went anywhere else. Times were lean but they believed this would honor God and that He would faithfully provide for their needs. So they gave and God provided, faithfully. The joy they had on their faces said it all. I’m also reminded of Mary of Bethany who came to Jesus with the greatest financial possession that she owned. She was so overwhelmed with love for Him she knew the best use of that possession was for it to be poured over the feet of her Maker and Savior. John remembered the moment, 60 years later, as he declared the fragrance of that oil and how it filled the air. It was not simply the fragrance of the oil but the fragrance of worship – Mary’s generous giving motivated by her love for Jesus and her desire to worship Him (John 12:1-9).

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STEWARDSHIP: Everything in your possession belongs to God. Giving is simply giving back to God what already belongs to Him. I think that this is one of the most liberating biblical truths. When we realize that everything we have belongs to Him, our possessions are put into proper perspective. The fact is, we are stewards, not owners. He has given us every-thing that is in our care, and as stewards, our job is to use the material blessings He has placed in our care as He sees fit.

FAITH: Giving is an act of faith that liberates us from being pos-sessed by our possessions. In Matthew 6:19-34, Jesus makes three points that can be summarized by saying, “Treasure God because there can only be one Master in your life. Put your trust and faith in Him and make His kingdom your priority.” As citizens of God’s kingdom we don’t treasure our earthly possessions, we treasure God. We pray for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heav-en. We trust that as God directs us in our giving, and as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, He will faithfully meet every single need that we may have.

INCREASE: You cannot out-give God. God promises, throughout the Scriptures, that as we use our resources for His kingdom and His glory, He will bless us with more. It is important to make sure that our giving is not simply motivated to get more for ourselves, but to give more to God. Nevertheless, God Himself says, “Test me in this matter.” (Malachi 3:10) Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-11, “He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly but He who sows abundantly will reap abundantly. God loves a cheerful giver.”

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Apply: Pray that God gives you wisdom, faith, and courage to be a generous giver. Pray that generous giving becomes a consis-tent discipline in your life. If you have a family, teach them the principles of giving. Discover how God is stirring their hearts to give and then take action as an expression of worship!

Consider:1. Support the local church of which you are a member.2. Ask God to show you missionaries and church planters

who are effectively doing the work of the ministry that you can bless.

3. Engage in a special project with family members and friends to meet the needs of the homeless or vulnera-ble in your community.

4. Identify a brother or sister in Christ that you know loves God but has a particular need, and privately bless them.

Praise:Journal what God is doing in your life and what you’re learn-ing.

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HISTORY IMPACTING PRAYERMatthew 6:5-15Prayer makes history. Think about that. History either happens or it’s made through the prayers of God’s people. In other words, through prayer, you can shape history. Every great revival has been catalyzed through prayer because prayer brings the power of heaven to earth. This reality prompted Samuel Chadwick to say,

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

To put it bluntly, the prayerless Christian is neither a threat to the devil’s kingdom nor a benefit to God’s. Lord teach us to pray. (Luke 11:1) That’s what the disciples asked Jesus to do. They wanted to learn to pray like He prayed. Jesus was always praying. He prayed privately in the early morning before anyone was awake. He prayed in public thanking God for His blessings. He prayed for His disciples. He prayed in His agony. He prayed in His glory. When He prayed things happened! Prayer is a conduit through which God displays Himself in the lives of His children by wonderful and miraculous works. Of course, to have a prayer relationship with God you must first believe in His gospel. It’s through personal faith in the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ that you are forgiven, cleansed of your sins, and enabled to enter the presence of God in prayer. Jesus exhorted His disciples to get

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alone with God and to avoid pretentious prayers full of empty words. Prayer should be dynamic and multi-faceted. In fact, Jesus gave his disciples a model prayer as an outline to follow.

Relationship: Our Father in heaven. Remember that having believed in Jesus and His gospel, you now approach God as His child. You don’t come on the basis of your work but on the basis of His work for you.

Reverence: Hallowed be Your name. While we can be genuine and sincerely open with God without pretense, we remember simultaneously that we are addressing the Holy God who is the Maker of the universe. Therefore, we honor Him and remember that His very name is holy and to be hallowed. In a Christian culture that has gone overboard in an effort to make God relevant and relatable; we need to consider the words of the seraphim that fly around His throne day and night. They declare, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).

Submission: Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As Kingdom Citizens we are no longer pursuing our kingdom but His kingdom. Our chief desire is to see God’s will come to pass on earth in our generation. We have aligned ourselves with what matters to Him and have consequently submitted and surrendered completely to Him.

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Dependence: Give us this day our daily bread. Humble dependence upon God was the pattern that Jesus laid down for us to follow. The truth is that as much as we would like to think we are in control, control is an illusion. GOD IS IN CON-TROL. As we acknowledge this we learn daily, humble dependence upon Him to supply our needs and avoid the tendency to live independently from Him. You may be a mover and a shaker, you may have great position and influ-ence, but the truth is you can’t even breathe without God. (Daniel 5:23)

Confession: And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Confession of your sins is where your relationship with God began and it is a continuous part of your relationship with Him. Daily confession cleanses you, reminds you of the importance of walking in righteousness and helps you to remember how grave the issue of sin is to God. Your sin is what sent Christ to the cross. Invite the Holy Spirit to reveal sin in your life and be thorough in your confession.

Deliverance: Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Paul said that our weapons of warfare are not fleshly in nature, but mighty in God (2 Corinthians 10:4). God is your deliver-er. He delivers you to victory over your adversary, but that battle is not won in your power. It is won in His power. It is not a physical fight. It is a spiritual fight against wicked principalities and powers. And Christ alone has the power to make you more than a conqueror (Ephesians 6:10-20, Zechariah 4:6, Romans 8:37).

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Worship: For yours is the kingdom, power, glory forever AMEN. Worship is often consigned to corporate gatherings, but the adoration of God and the exaltation and affirmation of His beauty and magnificence is daily and forever. Worship helps us get our attention off of ourselves and our strug-gles and onto the Incomparable One. Your greatest need is to worship and you have been created to worship the Triune God.

Integrity: If you do not forgive others neither will your Father in heaven forgive you. God’s expectation is that as you come to Him asking for forgiveness, grace, and mercy, you are also freely reciprocating that to others!

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Apply: Establish a consistent daily time to pray. While God is not counting the clock, set aside ample time and protect it. If you are watching your favorite TV show or sporting event, you set time aside and you guard it. Do the same thing with prayer. Your adversary knows that prayer is the lifeline for the disciple. He will do everything he can to disturb and disrupt. The phone will ring, the dog will bark, the sprinklers will break, your mind will be full of distractions. Discipline yourself so that you do not get sidetracked. As you speak to God, open up His Word and your heart to hear His voice. Expect God to hear you and expect to hear Him. Jesus said, “Ask, seek, knock!”

Consider:1. Create a secret place that provides you space to be

alone with God.2. Plan growth into your prayer life.3. If you are married, pray regularly with your spouse and

with your children.4. Identify the needs of people around you and ask God

to meet those needs, especially the need of salvation. 5. Develop an ongoing dialogue with God throughout

the day. Be aware of His presence in your life and His desire for you to experience Him.

Praise: Write down what God is doing in your life and what you are learning.

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SOUL SHAKING FASTINGMatthew 6:16-18Hangry. That word describes the wrath of a new born baby who has missed their regular feeding time! Also applicable to adults. We are a well-fed country, and most of us don’t know the misfortune of missing meals. Fasting is intentionally miss-ing meal time to draw near to God and secure His mighty power for circumstances that stretch beyond our abilities. Fast-ing is possibly the most misunderstood and under-practiced spiritual discipline. Fasting was part of the weekly religious routine of the Pharisees, but their fasting was focused more on themselves than it was on God. As with the other disciplines, fasting is an expression of worship and devotion to God. It also has great benefit for the disciple in keeping the appetites of the flesh in their place. Fasting, accompanied by prayer, empowers the Christian and the church to be the mightiest force to be reckoned with on planet earth. As Andrew Murray said,“

Fasting helps express, deepens, confirms the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.” JESUS and PAUL: Jesus fasted (Matthew 4) and He assumed His disciples would fast as well (Matthew 6:16, 9:14-15).

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FASTING and PRAYER: It’s evident that fasting is linked with prayer. On many oc-casions they are linked together as a powerful, spiritual 1-2 punch.

• Spiritual Battle: With respect to overcoming demonic activity in the lives of people Jesus told His disciples that some demons are exorcised only by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:20-21).

• Guidance: The leadership of the early church ministered to the Lord and fasted. In one instance, as they fasted and prayed, the Holy Spirit spoke concerning His will for Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3). This initiated the greatest church planting movement the world has ever seen.

• Intercession: As Paul and Barnabas established leadership in their church plants, they gathered the new believers together and commended them to God through prayer and fasting (Acts 14:21-23).

• In Repentance: The Bible teaches that fasting accompanies a heart that is humble and broken over sin (Psalm 35:13; 69:10). This also ensures that our fasting is pleasing to God, setting righ-teousness as a priority in our lives and not meaningless religious rituals (Isaiah 58).

• Separation from the World/Focus on Spiritual Things: Daniel and his three friends fasted from the delicacies of the king because they knew it violated the law of God. They entrusted themselves to God, separated themselves from the worldliness around them, and God blessed them (Daniel 1:8-21). While fasting is generally focused on food, identifying other distractions that are unhelpful to your spiritual life and fasting from them will deepen your rela-tionship with God.

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Apply:Jesus did not say to His disciples, “If you fast”. He said, “When you fast.” It is an expected spiritual discipline that has amaz-ing rewards. Incorporate fasting as a spiritual discipline. Pray that God would deepen your relationship with Him, give you a hunger for spiritual things, and put your flesh in its place. Pray that chains would be broken in your life and the lives of others! And that the gospel of Jesus Christ would be glorified as never before! Consider:

1. Start with one day. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” When you would normally eat, open your Bible and feed on God’s Word.

2. In times of prayer and fasting, focus your prayers on people around you that are in the midst of spiritual bat-tle, especially those who do not know Jesus.

3. Identify things that are spiritually unhelpful and distract you from God and fast from them. Fast from those things that consume your time and distract your atten-tion from God such as: smart phones, social media, internet, hobbies, television, video games, sports, overworking.

4. Couple this with the pursuit of righteousness, social justice, and helping people who are in need. The Bible says your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing will spring forth, and God’s glory will protect you (Isaiah 58:8).

Praise: Take time to journal what God has shown you through prayer and fasting.

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