"In Pursuit" | Tanny Kellert
"In Pursuit" | Tanny Kellert
Sunday, July 6th, 2025
God loves His children so much and is in hot pursuit of us!
Examples of God's Pursuit:
1. God pursued Hagar into the desert
- Genesis 16
- vs 16: "She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” ("El Roi" - The God who sees me)
- God sees YOU and loves you!
2. The Woman at the Well
- John 4
- vs 10: "Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
- God is relentless in His pursuit of us!
3. God Pursuing Us
- Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
- We serve a God who loves and pursues us. He made a way for us.
Jesus wants to be "Lord of your life"
"He makes a way where there is no way!"
He wants us to be in Right Relationship with you so He can bless you!
We pursue God by Seeking Him
- Go deeper!
- Hunger and thirst after Him and His Righteousness
- "As the deer pants for the water, so my long longs after you" - Psalm 42:1
- Ask yourself: Are you hungry and thirsty for more of God?
2 Peter 1:2-9 "Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins."
He wants us to SEEK after Him...
What does Seeking Him look like? (if you seek you will find...)
1. Meditate on His Word
- Seek Him in His Word - read the Bible daily!
- Psalm 1:1-3 "Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers." - Memorize and recite scripture (so that it becomes part of you!)
2. Praying
- Isaiah 30:18 "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!"
- Matthew 6:8 "Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
- Ask God for the things you need - He knows what we need before we ask but STILL ASK...Pray...He wants us to talk to Him and express our needs...)
- He never gets sick of us - He LOVES it when we talk to Him!
- Don't forget to stop and listen...wait on the Holy Spirit... don't be in a hurry to get up and get on with your day... wait and stay in His presence...
3. Fasting
- It's not about not eating... it's about focusing on God.
- It tenderizes our hearts to help us hear His Voice!
- Ephesians 3:19b "...that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
- Psalms 139: 23-24 "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
- Spiritual Indulgence - we come in our weakness and express our needs to Him
4. Praising
- Thanksgiving, praise, adoration...
- Psalm 22:3 "Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises."
- Psalm 148:5 "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created,"
- Acknowledge His Character, love, wisdom, protection, provision, salvation, guidance...
- He is worthy of our praise
- He is the lover of our souls
5. Worship
- Worth-ship: The word worship comes from an Old English word, worthship, and it literally means “to give something worth—to demonstratively attribute value, especially to a deity or god." (Zach Neese, How to Worship a King). Worship is putting the value you hold for something on display.
- Psalm 95:6 "Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;"
- Luke 9:23 "Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."
- Declare His supreme worth and value
- Surrender our desires and very lives. (lift your hands as a sign of surrender)
More verses to look up about worship:
- Romans 12:
- John 14:21
- 1 Peter 1:15
- Mark 12:31
- Matthew 20:26-29
- 2 Corinthians 9:7
- Philippians 4:6-7
Worship is a lifestyle!
- God wants us to be Holy and pure before Him
- We are "Not of this world"
- God wants our obedience
- The one who obeys me is the one who loves me (John 14:21 "The one who obeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will love him; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him.”)
- Worship is between you and God - don't worry about anyone else (don't be self-conscious... be God conscious - pay attention to HIM!)
- Seek God - He deserves it - He is Worthy to be praised, worshipped and adored!
Communion - let us come boldly to the throne of God!
- Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
"Worthy of it All" (lyrics)