Seek Him Early (January 14, 2024)

Family, today I want to focus on some principles that hopefully will practically enhance our relationship with the Triune God, going back to chapter 8 of St. John, the first 11 verses. John chapter 8 verses 1-11, and it is with probably greater emphasis that I want to draw out a great appreciation based in verse 2, beginning at verse 1, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives, and early, if you want to take some time, if you're reading the fine print as opposed to on your phone, if you could just underline that word early. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down. You can underline that too, if you will. Sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the mist, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what do you say? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him, but Jesus stooped him down. Thank God that he changed his posture. Hallelujah. Thank God he changed his posture. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the oldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the mist. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those that accuse us? Has no man condemned you? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I. Hallelujah. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. May the Lord bless the spoken word to penetrate our minds and hearts, to move us from bitter to better, from condemnation to consolation. In the name of Christ Jesus, amen. Family, I just want to go back and lift again verse 2, the verse out of our text, where it says that early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them. In this verse we see that our Lord Jesus had returned from having a good night's rest. He had been in the Mount of Olives and we see him now coming from a good night's rest. To teach in the temple early in the morning. It was early in the morning while he is teaching that the people came to him. I love the verse here because as he's sitting down, we can see him having changed his posture. Something that we are not accustomed to when we go to church. We usually don't see ministers and preachers and teachers sitting down when they teach. As we read here in verse 2, but he is not standing up. He's not standing behind the sacred desk. He is sitting down with the people. He's drawing near unto the people. He's on that same level. I believe that it is a revelation for those that have an ear to hear. That the truth don't need to be propped up. The truth don't have to be sensationalized. The truth don't have to be hyped up. It don't have to be hummed up. It ain't got to be dramatic. It doesn't have to be physically impressive. The truth ain't got to be caught up in a hoop and a holler. The truth, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. The truth is the truth all by himself and is indeed absolute and resolute. Absolute and resolute. Whether he is standing, whether he is sitting, whether he is stooping, whether he is kneeling, whether he is hanging on the cross. The truth is the truth all by himself. The truth can go to a burial place, but not be bound. Because he is the truth. And the truth says, I am also the resurrection. Hallelujah. And in my Christological mind, I can see truth sitting down with the people. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He's sitting down with the people, which symbolizes that the Word became flesh. Hallelujah. And draws among us, and we beheld him. The truth can sit down this morning, and just just even now in this hour of God's great revival. And I hope this morning that we begin to even use our own Christological minds and see him in verse 2. And see that he's not only in verse 2 when it happened, but he's right there in verse 2 right now in our very special places, wherever we are right now. And hopefully that as we begin to see him, maybe we can also begin to see him saying this. Bob, I thought you would hear us already in Revelation, but behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and eat with her, and will dine with them, and they with me. And this morning, I hope we can see him now. I hope that we can hear him now. As I take some time to feast and to meditate upon verse 2, in this hour of God's great revival, I believe that we all should be encouraged to seek him. Hallelujah. Seek him. They came to Jesus to hear him teach. The verse here is so interesting to me as the text teaches us about the motivation and the inspiration of his followers, and the text reveals that they were drawn solely to him. They were drawn solely to the Lord Jesus. They were at the temple, hallelujah, they were at the house, they were at the church, if you will, but they came to sit at the feet of the great teacher. They were not drawn just to the temple, they were not drawn just to the outer court, or to the inner court, or the holy of holies, they were not drawn to the high priest, or the low priest, the scribes, the Pharisees, they were drawn to the Lord Jesus as he's sitting down to teach them. Oh, how beautiful. How beautiful of an experience it is to sit down, hallelujah, sit down under some good teaching, hallelujah, to hear and to experience the beauty of holiness. In my Christological mind, again, I can envision a Lord Jesus who could embrace a democratic profile, who were, in a sense, too bankrupt to give, but too valuable as a people not to be poured into. When you read the verses, we don't see an offering being exchanged for the teaching, hallelujah, because Jesus was clear about who his demographic profile was, and he's still aware who his demographic profile is. And just in case we forgot, yes, when he began his ministry, he did so with the mindset of his demographic profile of the Ecclesia. He knows who the Ecclesia, who they really are. And so we can see here, if we go back to Luke chapter 4, verses 17 through 19, it is written of him, and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found a place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me, here goes the demographic profile, y'all, he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set and liberty them that are bruised. So here is this demographic profile, and he comes to preach the acceptable here of the Lord. He understood who his demographic profile is, and yes, this profile, in a sense, bankrupt emotionally, financially, mentally, spiritually, but too valuable as a people not to be poured into. He's pouring into you now. Oh, how beautiful. Thank God for Jesus. Oh, how beautiful it is to consider how the Lord Jesus can stop by, hallelujah, in the presence of the Holy Spirit to teach us while we are going along our way. But family, are we seeking him? Are we seeking him? Sometimes we can go to the temple, we can go to the house, we can go to the church, we can go to the event that they're having, whatever the name event it is, from revival to anniversary, to assembly, to conference, to seminar, but are we seeking him? And I'm compelled today not only to create, I hope, a sense of urgency for us to move with intentionality to seek him, but also as we're seeking him, oh my God, to seek him first. The Word says here in verse 2 that the followers of Jesus Christ, they saw him early, early in the morning. Sister Annette has already talked about this because she was up at 1 a.m. this morning. She's an early riser, hallelujah, and she was seeking him not only, she was seeking him first. And I can hear so profoundly Proverbs 8 and 17, that the Word says, it says, I love them that love me. Y'all check it out, Proverbs 8 and 17, I love them that love me and those that seek me early. Sometimes when you're seeking him, hallelujah, you find him, hallelujah, and when you find him in his presence, you begin to share some tears, hallelujah, tears that come to comfort you in the moment because he says, I am with you, I'll never leave you, neither will I forsake you. I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me. Family, it is now time that the ecclesia not only seek him, but they got to seek him early, hallelujah, got to seek him early, hallelujah, early in your life, early in the morning, early in your finances, early in your relationships, early in your search for the new job. They got to seek him. Just don't be looking for the job, seek him. Don't be looking for the wife or the husband, seek him. And I can tell you this, based on my successes and even in my failures, leading to my successes, that I have learned that if it don't start right, it won't end right. If it don't start right, it won't end right. If you want it to start right, you need to start with the author so you can get to the finisher of the faith. Hallelujah, if it don't start right, it won't end right. 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with the Lord Jesus, if it doesn't start with the Lord Jesus, if it doesn't start with the Lord Jesus, if it doesn't start with the Lord Jesus, if it doesn't start with the Lord Jesus, if it doesn't start with the Lord Jesus surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house thank God for y'all who were in the house this morning, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever all that I'm trying to say is that if we want things to end right, if we want things to be overtaken by goodness and mercy rather than being overtaken by faults and failures, we've got to start it right with Christ Jesus, we've got to start it right with Christ Jesus Seek Him family, seek Him first, seek Him early, whatever you do just keep on keeping on seeking Him and I do have a cautionary note for the Ecclesia as we seek Him, hallelujah, as we seek Him, this is a cautionary note here as we seek Him, we've got to do it without an agenda, we've got to do it without an agenda, Dr. Glenn, it can't be about some personal advantage it can't be with an end view of having an end game, G-A-M-E, or an end game, G-A-I-N, so there ain't no G-A-M-E in this or no G-A-I-N in this for us personally Hallelujah, the scribes and the Pharisees, hallelujah, I hope you can see this with me now, the scribes and the Pharisees came to see Him but to trap Him They didn't come here to see Him as a teacher, they came to Him to trap Him, hallelujah and Dr. Glenn can appreciate this, as they come in, Dr. Glenn, they don't even have standing, hallelujah, to even bring their case because they come into the situation with unclean hands anyway, hallelujah, and they came in the situation having more knowledge than they talked about but we know about because we studied to show ourselves approved, or were people that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth They knew that the question of the hour, they knew that the issue presented, the issue being whether the woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery should be stoned to death under the law of Moses They knew that it was a moot question, it was not even, I just want to file my motion to dismiss for lack of relevance because the scribes and Pharisees knew that it was such a moot point because the Jews had no power to subject any Jew to capital punishment The Roman Empire had taken away that power from them anyway, they couldn't even kill Jesus, so they knew it was a moot question But they came to Jesus with a trick question, hoping to emasculate him and undermine him because he was going to be wrong if he said yes, or if he said no If he said yes, that she was worthy of death and should be stoned, he would be at odds with the Roman government If he said no, he would be at odds with the Jews But thank God that in the lesson and in the text we find once again that you can't trick the truth Hallelujah, you can't trick the truth, hallelujah, if the truth is absolute and resolute and he is still sitting at the right hand of the Father, hallelujah All by himself with God and the Holy Spirit It is a reminder to us this morning that often we are going to the house, we're going to the church, we're going to the temple, hallelujah But we go with, at times, an evil agenda, seeking our own personal gain There are many who are flattering and praising God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power they were But this morning, all of us need to change our posture, such that when we come into the house We come into the house with his agenda, not our agenda, but his agenda When we come into the house, we come in with an admission and a declaration of our own guilt that's nevertheless not my will But thy will be done, I'm not really happy right now, Lord, that you didn't answer my prayer like I wanted you to answer it But nevertheless, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done God, I've been praying that you remove this thorn from my flesh, but I get back to this place, nevertheless not my will But thy will be done, because I know that your grace is sufficient If we are abiding in his agenda, hallelujah, then we will move far away from being the center of attention To become Christ-centered Too often we are going into the church and want all eyes on us That's not what it's about, we don't go to church for all eyes to be on us Christ is the center To those who have gotten it twisted this morning, hallelujah Those who are blinded by their own personal agenda, their own personal financial coffers All of those who have gotten it twisted because they are perpetuating an unrighteous pyramid scheme I want to say right now, it's warned to you Warned to you who believe that gain is God And it's warned to you The kingdom of Christ is not about a pyramid scheme Where those below are given to feed those at the top The kingdom of God is not a pyramid scheme It is a pyramid, but it ain't a pyramid scheme As a matter of fact, it's an inverted pyramid, hallelujah I just need you to change your posture in your mind right now Yeah, consider the body of Christ as being an inverted pyramid Because Jesus said that the greatest among you I believe that's what Dr. King showed us The greatest among you shall be servant of all We are not going to the house We're not going to the assemblies and the conferences We're not going to the revivals just to see or hear the man of God or the woman of God Because if we ain't careful, hallelujah We will go and we will hear the man of God and the woman of God And we will still miss the Lord Jesus Don't miss him, don't miss him, don't miss him Don't be so engrossed with going to church that you miss Christ This morning we are here in the house To be taught by the spirit of Christ, the spirit of truth The parakeetos, the comforter through the word And be poured into under the anointing of the grace and truth Who we know is in Christ Jesus Because in the house we know that Christ is the head of the church That's why we can say that for by him All things created that are in heaven and that are in earth Visible or invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities Or powers, all things were created by him and for him And he is before all things and by him all things consist And he is the head of the body The church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead That in all things he might have preeminence For it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell Family is we We might miss a lot but don't miss that It's not about us being the center It's about Christ being the head and the center He is the author and the finisher of our faith And as I close and my final point For consideration this morning Is that describing the Pharisees They came with a mess but they left with a message They came with a mess But they left with a message They came with a mindset to kill and destroy Because the Lord Jesus came that people may have life Life more abundantly so they left with a message I want to say that too often we find that many are going to the house And they're leaving the house With a mentality that's more like a garbage can Rather than an overflowing cup I know you're a container this morning but I just want to ask you What type of container are you? Are you a garbage can or are you a cup Running over Today hallelujah if you hear his voice Hallelujah let us change our posture To appreciate that as his message That we need to be overflowing with grace That his containers are overflowing With truth and not with this trash His people hallelujah are overflowing with Reconciliation and restoration and not condemnation And death As I read verses 7-9 in John chapter 8 It says so when they continued asking him He lifted up himself and said unto them He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her And again he stooped down and were on the ground And they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one Beginning at the eldest even unto the last And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst Families of the scribes and the Pharisees They came with a suspect They came with a suspect standing in the midst But after a while they left out of the midst As suspects themselves They came with a But they left with a message And the message was so powerful They were convicted by their own conscience They left out as suspects themselves Hallelujah They came with condemnation But they left with conviction And what they brought standing as a mess Was the last woman standing as the message Not the last man standing But the last woman standing Listen to the teacher again who rises to the occasion And in verses 10-11 it says this When Jesus had lifted up himself And saw none but the woman the last woman standing Saw none but the woman he said unto her Woman where are those thine accusers Has no man condemned you She said no man Lord and Jesus said to her Neither do I condemn you Go and sin no more That's the message family Neither do I condemn you Go and sin no more Amen