curg12

Can You Reach God

Lesson Twelve: by turtle

Can we reach God? Nothing we do can reach God, however God reach down to us so we could reach
up to Him. He speaks to each and everyone of us. He demonstrates in our lives who He is and it is our
free choice to accept or reject God. This next chapter in Hebrews was a stumbling block to me for
years. A stumbling block because I heard the word, but did not grasp the meaning. In away it was God
way of correcting me, or warning me of not crossing the line of rejecting Him. I do not believe a born
again Christian can truly reject God. I think at times they may go through anger, sadness and
confusion, but I do not think a Christian can reject God. The main reason is God has you in the palm
of His hand and He never lets go. You may have a few dead limbs hanging on you, but I guarantee
God wants to take His pruning shears to you. Break all that dead rubble off and burn it.

The foundation is laid at the time we hear the word and believe. At the time we hear the word of God
first preached. From the time we are baptized in to the body of Christ, till when we are no longer
needing just milk but meat of the word. Just like children growing up we need to stop eating baby food
and eat solid meat. Only time baby food is need is for teaching of new converts in the faith. These new
converts are people we need to be searching for. People needing Christ and needing to know God.
Today we use the word evangelism.

Hebrews 6:1-3 KJV
(1) Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
(2) Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of
eternal judgment.
(3) And this will we do, if God permit.

Evangelism is a part of every believers life, though some think it not. It is our job to share who Christ
is. It is our responsibility. We are all called to preach and to teach.

Matthew 28:18-20 KJV
(18) And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
(19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost:
(20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mark 16:15-16 KJV
(15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
(16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Luke 24:46-49 KJV
(46) And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day:
(47) And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem.
(48) And ye are witnesses of these things.
(49) And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem,
until ye be endued with power from on high.

Acts 1:7-8 KJV
(7) And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath
put in his own power.
(8) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Did not leave the gospel of John out. I want to look at the last chapter in John. God commissions Peter
to feed the sheep. Sheep are the children of God. First he speaks of the lambs and then the sheep and
then last the sheep as a whole.

John 21:15-17 KJV
(15) So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more
than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my
lambs.
(16) He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him,
Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
(17) He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved
because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest
all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Christ commissioned us as a believer to share the gospel. The world can not hear without a preacher.
Jesus placed the responsibility on us as believers to share the gospel. Yet how many of us share. I am
as guilty as the next.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 KJV
(17) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.
(18) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us
the ministry of reconciliation;
(19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
(20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
(21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.

Romans 10:13-18 KJV
(13) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
(14) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
(15) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
(16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
(17) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
(18) But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words
unto the ends of the world.

Now this is the verse that got me stuck for a few years. I was not sharing the gospel, I was kind of at a
winter time in my life. Kind of time God was working on me in a different way. He was showing me
that I was not so perfect. Allowing Satan to shift me for a greater purpose. Allowing me to understand
the need to rely on His word and His word alone. Yet I began to question my faith with this verse.

Hebrews 6:4-6 KJV
(4) For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
(5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
(6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the
Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Keyword I over looked was the word impossible. Once you experienced God impossible those once
enlightened. To be enlighten is know or experience God. If you ever experience the power of God in
your life you can not fall away. Noah experience God in a mighty way when he was saved in the flood.
Abraham knew God from the birth of His son and the promise of land. Not one denied God though sin
still reigned in their body. Noah got drunk, Abraham had wives, and David slept with Bathsheba. Yet
the sin still reigns in our bodies from time to time, it does not mean we are lost from God. Example
Paul argument in Romans 7.

Romans 7:24-25 KJV
(24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
(25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God;
but with the flesh the law of sin.

Did David yield to his flesh with Bathsheba? We have to remember David was anointed King, anointed
by God through the prophet Samuel. The Holy Spirit rested on him.

1 Samuel 16:13-14 KJV
(13) Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of
the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
(14) But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

2 Samuel 12:7-13 KJV
(7) And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee
king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
(8) And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the
house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee
such and such things.
(9) Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast
killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with
the sword of the children of Ammon.
(10) Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me,
and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
(11) Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will
take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in
the sight of this sun.
(12) For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
(13) And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The
LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

David repents and the Lord forgives. What about New Testament after Christ died for our sins and we
believe what happens.

1 John 2:1-2 KJV
(1) My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
(2) And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world.

If you been saved and fallen away for some reason, not in disbelief but because of temptation confess
your sins and Christ will intercede for you. However sin is sin and it is the thing that draws us away
from Christ, we can not continue in sin if we are of Christ. However you still hearing still receiving the
word, all you need is to repent. However if your not receiving then this message just went over your
head and really and truly only hope you have is repentance.

Hebrews 6:7-8 KJV
(7) For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for
them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
(8) But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be
burned.

I know in my own life I sown good seed and bad seed. And in that order. What does it mean. Well lets
look at a king in the old testament to see what happened to Him.

2 Kings 20:1-11 KJV
(1) In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to
him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
(2) Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,
(3) I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a
perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
(4) And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD
came to him, saying,
(5) Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David
thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou
shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
(6) And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of
the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
(7) And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
(8) And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall
go up into the house of the LORD the third day?
(9) And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he
hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?
(10) And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the
shadow return backward ten degrees.
(11) And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward,
by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

Hezekiah sinned, yet he had good works before. God looked at the past and instead of just killing
Hezekiah brought him to repentance. God sometimes does this in our life. However there is no
sacrifice for sin after Christ. Christ actually paid for our sins yesterday, today and forever. That
something we have to grasp. Christ forgiveness was for all our sins.
However Timothy is writing Hebrews much in the style of Paul and I have to say Timothy was hoping
better of the followers of Christ.

Hebrews 6:9-12 KJV
(9) But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though
we thus speak.
(10) For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward
his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
(11) And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
unto the end:
(12) That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Through faith we inherit the promise of salvation. Abraham who was before the time of the law had
faith. We today having the promise of Christ have faith if we believe. Abraham received the promise
God made him to have an heir and also land.

Hebrews 6:13-15 KJV
(13) For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by
himself,
(14) Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
(15) And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

Because of this one promise of hope of something we can see God began to lay the foundation of faith
in Him. Laying the work by keeping those promises to each and everyone He promised. For God can
not lie. His word is true.

Hebrews 6:16-20 KJV
(16) For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
(17) Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his
counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
(18) That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
(19) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into
that within the veil;
(20) Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order
of Melchisedec.

We need to hold to the hope of our calling. Hold to the promise that God already given to us. The
promise of eternal life to those that believe in Christ. For Christ is our great high priest. He is our
intercessor for our sins. He paid the price on Calvary. He bore our shame for our sins. He paid the
price and He goes to the Father and intercedes on our behalf saying this is one of mine. Forgive
him/her. Do you receive Christ today. Do you receive the hope the promise of His return. The promise
of payment for our sins. Accept Christ today and if you know Him share Him with others.