God’s Design for Relationship with Him // Pastor Morgan Milliken

okay so today we are ending our series

um our relationship by Design series and

I am excited because we've never really

talked about this and it might seem

weird to you but we're going to talk

about what God's design for relationship

with him is supposed to be like and I

believe that Revelation brings

transformation and I also know that in

this room today the only way for God to

reveal things to your heart is by having

an open heart and mind to what he wants

to do often times you'll hear people in

church it's like well I got something

out of it today and I didn't I would say

that the person that got something out

of it the only difference was is that

they were open and ready to receive what

God has and so that's my prayer today is

that God would reveal things to you that

would open your eyes and bring

transformation to your life so let's

pray before we

start God we thank you that you are

already in this room that you have

already been moving through worship we

thank you God that you have a plan for

this service today that you have a plan

for these people in this room that they

were meant to be here today I pray God

that you would allow me to say what your

heart desires to say and God that I

would move past the things that are not

on your heart for this room today I pray

God that we would experience miracles in

our mind today that we would experience

Miracles and transformation in our life

would you have your way I pray that I

would get out of the way and that you

would be the one seen in this room today

in Jesus name

amen well we live in a society today

that loves

self everywhere you look on social media

we are staring at people literally

through a screen and what they have to

offer us as consumers and we talked

about it last week about how we consume

in marriage but re really we consume in

every aspect of our life most of our

relationships are based on if they

benefit us even our churches we decide

on how much it benefits Us and how much

we enjoy going to a specific

Church our homes our clothes our

activities our

hobbies are all mostly based around the

thought is is this going to make me

happy or not and not all of that is bad

I think that God wants us to enjoy Earth

but I will say that I think that we

think a little bit too much of ourselves

and that our faith has become about us

I love God because he's there for me he

helps me if I were to ask you today why

do you love God I think that the ending

statement would end with me he fills me

he comforts me he protects me he answers

my prayers he gives me a better life he

satisfies me he delivers me many of us

we chose salvation why because we wanted

to receive heaven some of us didn't want

to change much but we wanted to benefit

from the gift that he

offers and our relationship with God has

become about us when our relationship

with God was actually designed to be all

about him all about his glory all about

how he will glorify himself and how he

desires to be

glorified by his people

and when we make our relationship with

God about us it becomes what he can do

for me and what he isn't doing for me

when he's doing what I

desire I tend to like him and when he's

not all of a sudden for some reason I

feel distant from him it's based on how

he's providing and how he's working

things for my good and that's why you

see people fall from faith when times

are difficult it's because their faith

often times is solely based on God

meeting their needs and meeting their

desires and they believe that because

he's providing good things for them

they'll believe in him and yet when he

doesn't intervene in the way that they

desired or when he ask them to give up

something or to change a behavior and

they don't want to what we see happen is

they leave the church they become

distant they become mad at God because

the relationship was about

them and what I came to share and remind

us today is that our relationship with

God is ultimately not about

us we often have the same consumer

mindset when it comes to

church it's about how

comfortable church is for you how does

the music sound how much do I actually

have to be

involved do I like the preaching am I

satisfied with the kids

ministry how many times have you left on

a Sunday morning and said I really liked

that message today but the last series I

wasn't really feeling

that that topic didn't really fit where

I'm at and I didn't get much out of it

today we've all all said it I've said it

right here's the deal the church is for

the equipping of the Saints and liking

it is important right right okay we want

good Community it's not just to want

good Community is necessary because if

you fall out of community your

relationship with God suffers right I

see it all the time and we want to grow

in our relationship with God

we want amazing worship how many of you

have ever sat in a room with bad

musicians and it's distracting right

okay we want to be encouraged I am all

for those things trust me we will do our

very best here to provide those things

because we know it's important in

finding a church and we know it's

important in connecting with God that's

why we exist we want to be a place of

trans information a place where the Lost

would find Jesus a place that we could

build amazing relationships with people

and a place that you and your family can

grow but even the church is all about

God and it is all about him being

glorified here it's about him being

lifted up in this place it's about him

being glorified in the way that I serve

this house it's about him being

glorified in my giving in my

testimony why so that others would draw

near to

him when is the last time that you left

church saying God were you pleased with

today did we bring you glory in our

serving

today did my attitude bring you glory

did we bring you you glory as we

worshiped

you it's for him it's not for us that's

why when we worship it's never about how

good you sound or how much you like to

sing it's about bringing glory and honor

to his

name our posture every Sunday should be

that we get to go to God's house that we

get to bring a sacrifice of praise to

Jesus that we get to serve his body we

get to bring people to Jesus we get to

glorify him in this place we don't come

for us we come for him we come servant

leaders we come early and we stay late

why to glorify him and to draw others to

him what is your purpose in life I hear

that a lot what's my purpose it's not

about what you do for a living it's to

glorify God and to draw others to

glorify him wherever you are whatever

you're

doing our relationship with God is about

his glory salvation is about his glory I

was saved you were saved because Christ

died on a cross for you and that's true

every other God asks you to give your

all for them but not our God he gave his

all for us there's nobody like him but

did you know this that Christ also died

to glorify his father and I will prove

it to you John 17

4-5 I have brought you glory this is

Jesus talking I've brought you glory on

Earth by finishing the work that you

gave me to do and now father glorify me

in your presence with the glory I had

with you before the world began if you

ever wondered if Jesus was there at the

beginning this scripture proves it with

the glory I had with you before the

world began the cross exists for his

glory and for his name's sake and we get

the benefit

of the

Cross when I got this Revelation it

really changed how I saw everything it

changed the way that I viewed God and it

makes me ask this question in every

situation does this glorify

God because bringing him glory has to be

our highest

priority over and over again in the

Bible God promotes

himself everything is about his glory

and his name's sake and I I'm not going

to ask you to show your hand but I will

admit I have asked the question is it

prideful for God to promote

himself and to say over and over again

that everything he does is for His glory

and everything you do is supposed to

bring him

glory and over the past few weeks this

is what I've learned as I've studied is

that it's not arrogant to promote

yourself when you're God because who is

there else to

promote he is omniscient that means that

he's all knowing he is

omnipresent that means that he's

everywhere there is no one more powerful

or worthy than

him and I heard this illustration from

Pastor Lou Giglio and I thought that it

was so good and I think that it will

help you you understand why God promotes

himself I want you to think in your mind

this is kind of morbid but a terrible

car accident in the middle of the street

maybe you've been there and people are

injured to the point of almost death and

people start gathering around trying to

see what happened and if they can help

and the ambulance isn't there yet

and traffic is starting to form and

three cars back there is a lead trauma

surgeon and this doctor he gets out of

his car he comes up and he pushes people

out of the way and he gets to the front

of the scene and he says hi I'm Dr soand

so I'm a trauma surgeon at whatever your

favorite hospital

is I know what to do here and he

maintains life in the person until help

arrives and the ambulance comes and they

take the person to the hospital and the

person

lives now you go home to your spouse or

boyfriend girlfriend

friend and you

say you are not going to believe this

the most arrogant doctor can't came over

to this car and he announced how great

he is he pushed people out of the way to

get to that

person like they

were hurting and he made it all about

himself no you would say this amazing

doctor was at the scene and he

miraculously maintained life in this

person he didn't hang back and watch

because he knew who he was and he knew

what to

do in the same way God knows who he is

and that he is the very best thing so he

has to bring glory to himself because he

is the best at it he brings himself

Glory because he knows he's our hope and

I want my God to be confident in who he

is and what he's capable of

amen and if I were to ask you today what

is the gospel

message most of you would say Jesus

loves

you and that's true he loves you and he

died on a cross for your

sins but what I want our church to

understand

today and it's important for you to know

that when you were in a mess when you

were at your

end it probably wasn't enough to know

that God loves

you our

message the gospel the reason we worship

God Is Bigger than the fact that he

loves us and I think it's important to

know about his glory because when we

need him or when your friend or a family

member needs him to arrive on the scene

of your tragedy or your heartbreak or

your failure whatever it is we have to

be able to articulate for people that we

are ministering to that there is a

greater message than just the love of

Jesus we have to be telling people that

there is a God in heaven who's come and

he's come to arrive on your

scene created this world not just

because he loves you but because he has

the ability he has the authority and he

has the skill and the title to make all

things

good the worst day think about it the

worst day in

history Jesus dying on a cross what do

we say about that day it's

good that should be the hope for us our

message is that he is the all powerful

God that he is the all knowing god and

that your day may seem dark but there is

a God who loves you and who's bigger

than your

story he is bigger than you know and he

is better than you that's the god that

we lift up that's the god that we serve

the one who doesn't just love us but

that we can put our hope into he didn't

just die on a cross but he rose again

and he's the god that overcame death

he's the god that overcame hell he's the

god that overcame the grave and guess

what he's coming back for his church

come on you better get excited about

that today that's our

message that's who we

glorify everything exists for his glory

and he promotes himself because he knows

who he is and he knows what he offers

there are over 600 scriptures from

Genesis to Revelation that talk about

the glory of God and how our

relationship with him is not about us

but about him and I'm going to take you

through those not all 600 I'm going to

give you

some but what I do want you to do is I

want you to write in your notebook study

the glory of God because I can't do all

600 today but I am telling you when you

study it and you go from Genesis to

Revelation and you see how much

scripture is about the glory of God it

will blow your

mind I'm going to show you a little bit

about that

today Isaiah

Isaiah 43:7

43:7 everyone who is called by my

name who I I created for what what does

that say my glory who I formed and made

you were created for his

glory Romans

Romans 11:36

11:36 I want you to help me out today

whatever you see circled we're going to

say together for from him and through

him and for him are all things what to

him be the glory forever

everything exists everything that was

everything that is and everything that

will be exists for his glory Psalm 19:1

Psalms 19:1

the heavens declare what the glory of

God the skies Proclaim The Works of his

hand did you

know that the galaxies and the stars and

the Moon and the Sun and the Milky Way

and the planets that all of it was not

for our pleasure but for his that he

designed it to reveal what God is

like so that we would look

up and we would see that every morning

that the sun is held in place by

him so that we would see that every time

that the stars twinkle in the

sky that they are placed

beautifully by his hand that we would

experience

Seasons where the leaves just start to

fall at just the right time and where

snow Fades away and all of a sudden

flowers begin to bloom because the work

of his

hand and that we would look out upon the

ocean to where we see no end

and to know that God spoke that into

existence so that you would see and that

you would know his glory Isaiah

493 you are my servant Israel in whom I

will be

glorified Israel was God's people so

that he would be glorified through them

the hardships that the Israelites went

through was so that his glory would be

shown to show them that nobody else can

save the Israelites but him Exodus

Exodus 9:16

9:16 I have raised you up for this

purpose that I might show you my power

and that my sorry I missed one that I

might and that my name might be

proclaimed in all the

Earth why did God allow pharaoh to be

raised up to power and to oppress his

people and then Harden his heart in the

middle of the Exodus so that he might

display his glory over Pharaoh by

demonstrating that he is the hope that

he is the greatest power so he sends

signs and wonders and plagues so that

his name would be proclaimed in all the

Earth Psalm 106

7-8 is The Parting of the Red

Sea it says when our ancestors were in

Egypt they gave no thought to your

Miracles they did not remember your many

kindnesses and they rebelled by the Sea

the Red Sea yet he saved them for his

name's sake to make his mighty power

known why does he show Mercy it's for

his name's sake and they got the benefit

of

it Isaiah 48

9-11 for my name sake I defer my anger

for the sake of my praise I restrain it

for you that I may not cut you off

behold I have refined

you not as silver I have tried you in

the furnace of

Affliction often times we think it's the

enemy sometimes it

is but I have tried you

in the furnace of Affliction why does he

do that for my own sake and he says it

again for my own sake I do it for how

should my name be profaned my glory I

will not give to

another anybody in the room been

refined anybody prayed against it what

we need to pray is for the strength

through

it if you're going through it take heart

because hardship is there to reveal his

glory it's not because you're a bad

person it's not because you've done too

many wrong things it's because he has

something greater to reveal about

himself to

you over 60 times in the Book of Ezekiel

God says that he does all that he does

in order that the Israelite in order

that Israel and the Nations and everyone

will know that he's God Philippians bear

with me we're still going Philippians

Philippians 2:9–11

2:9 through 11 God has highly exalted

him and bestowed on him the name that is

above every name so that at the name of

Jesus every knee should bow in heaven

and on Earth and under the

Earth and every tongue confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord what do we usually

do here we put a

period why does he do all that to the

glory of God the

Father Isaiah 43:25 why does God forgive

Isaiah 43:25

sins I am he who blots out your

transgressions for my own sake and I

will not remember your

sins John 14:13 why does he answer

John 14:13

prayer whatever you ask in my

name this I will do why so that the

father may be glorified in the

son is this crazy like crazy

cool 2 Thessalonians 1 9-10 it's talking

about Christ coming back for the church

and bringing judgment they will suffer

the punishment of eternal destruction

away from the presence of the Lord and

from the glory of his might when he

comes on that day to be glorified in his

Saints and to be marveled at among all

who have

believed 1 Peter 410- 111 as each has

received a

gift the gift sets that are inside of

you he gave to you

use it to serve one another as good

stewards of God's varied Grace whoever

speaks speak as one who speaks Oracles

of God whoever serves serve as one who

serves by the strength that God supplies

when you get tired there is strength

that he

supplies in order that in everything God

may be glorified

through Jesus

Christ you're serving in the church

you're serving your neighbor you're

serving your family serving your job all

of it is so that he may be glorified

through

you so that he would be lifted up and

that people would be drawn to him

because of what they see of him in

you it is not just a

task it's not just a thing to do it's

not just a

sacrifice it's the very purpose you were

created for to bring glory to

him first Corinthians this is the last

one First Corinthians 10:31 whether you

1 Corinthians 10:31

eat or drink or whatever you do do it

for the glory of

God everything you

do everything that you

say everything that you

think to the glory of

God there is weight in that and I could

go on and on but my point today is that

it is all about him

and if it's all about him then it is not

about

us and he loves us fiercely and with a

love that you and I will never be able

to give to anybody anyone greater than

we can

comprehend but I also want you to know

that everything that you are and

everything that you will ever

be is because of him

it is not by your own

strength but it's by him and the purpose

of your life is to bring glory to his

name every servant leader in this room I

want you to know today that your

service unto God brings glory to his

name I want to tell you a story as I

close today has anybody ever heard of

the spacecraft

Voyager yeah okay in 19 I I didn't know

this but in

1977 spacecraft Voyager set out to

space and in 1990 on Valentine's Day it

was near the edge of the solar

system and they sent a message to this

spacecraft called

Voyager and they said Voyager turn

around and take photos of the

earth so it took 60 images and it sent

it back to Earth and the images that

came back stunned the space Community

let's show the first

picture do you see Earth let me get out

of the way has anybody seen this picture

[Music]

before do you see Earth yes or or no

okay can you give the other picture

please that's

Earth that's Earth from

3.7 billion miles

away and what they say about this

picture is they call it the pale blue

dot seemingly insignificant and so tiny

that you can barely see

it and what I want us to understand

today is that at some point this world

is going to pass away that your nice

clothes that your beautiful

home that your amazing food that you eat

your vacations your retirement

plan your shows that you've got to watch

every night it's going to pass

away that we are a tiny little

part of this Earth that we are a

vapor that we are here one day and we're

gone the next that we are one of 8

billion

people we are a speck of

dust and the conclusion that the space

Community had of this

picture is that we are

insignificant and Carl Sean

he was leading this charge this is what

he had to say when he saw this picture

he said this dot is where our joy and

suffering

lies thousands of confident religions

ideologies and economic doctrines every

Hunter and forager every hero and every

coward every Creator and destroyer of

civilization every King and peasant

every young couple in love every mother

and father every hopeful child every

inventor and Explorer every teacher of

morals every corrupt politician every

superstar every supreme leader every

saint every sinner in the history of our

species lives there on a moat of dust

suspended in a Sunbeam

and the crazy thing about

God is that when he created this

world he looked at that dot and he said

Jesus you're

going you're going for everybody that's

going to be in that

dot seemingly

insignificant yet fiercely loved by

God the weight and the worth of

God coming to the dot to save us and to

reveal the glory of God I want you to

know that he cares about the Blue Dot

and he cares about every person in it

this is why he

came and the god that created everything

inside of it and everything outside of

it came for

[Music]

you and it blows my

mind because he causes the Earth to

rotate and yet he listens to my every

fear he speaks

planets into existence and he

keeps he keeps my heart

beating and he breathed the

galaxies into place and yet he answers

my

prayers and he weeps When You

Weep and he goes after the one who keeps

pushing him away and abandoning their

faith and wanting to live for

yourself that God came to the blue

dot that God is Glory

and that God's the only

way and he doesn't just love

you although that's a big deal but he's

the way he's the truth and he's the life

and he's bigger than you and he's bigger

than your

situation and he came to bring hope to

the pale blue dot

would you just close your eyes with

me I just believe that there are people

here

today that you have turned your

face from the god of the

universe because you've made this life

about

yourself because you've made it about

how much you can

consume what do you have to do to make

you

happy what do you have to do to have a

satisfied and fulfilled

life and yet scripture says that

suffering is the life that we should

seek and that's hard to

swallow but if you are in this room my

first

call is to those that have never said I

want you to be Lord and savior of my

life that I am done with my ways I am

done being a

consumer and I am surrendering my whole

life to you if that's you I want you to

just lift your hand so that I can see it

there are a couple Hands In This

[Music]

Place God we just pray for every person

in this

room that has their hand raised God that

they would receive salvation today that

they would receive a touch from your

spirit God that you would reveal

yourself to them as Glory

as

father as king

overall and to every other person in

this

room that feels ready to get a little

uncomfortable to not rely on

consuming but to surrender whatever you

need to

surrender to see his glory today

maybe you've turned your face even

though you know him you don't really

know

him and you need a new start you need to

see from the perspective that God sees

that this life isn't about you but that

it's to glorify him and maybe you need

to let go of some things maybe you need

to turn the other

direction and you need to make some hard

choices in your life that say that God

is going to be my only

thing if that's you would you lift your

hand so that I can

[Music]

see God for every person in this room

that

needs to let go of some things would you

give them the strength would you give

them the

ability God would you open up all of our

eyes in this

place the blinders that have been on us

that cause us to think more of ourselves

than we should the blinders that have

been on us that we couldn't see what you

see that your word has revealed to us

today

open our eyes today God open our

understanding as we leave this place

would you continue to Reveal Your

[Music]

Glory would you continue to work in

us the seemingly insignificant God would

you still work in and through us so that

we could bring glory to your name so

that all people would draw near to

you okay we all just lift our hands and

just sing this chorus really quick How

Great Is Our

God sing with me how

great is Our

God and all we'll see how

great How

[Applause]

Great Is Our God come on this brings

glory to him how

great How

Great Is Our

God sing with me how great

is our

God and all will'll see how

great How

Great Is Our God he's the

name he's the name above all

[Music]

names he is

worthy of all praise

[Music]

and my heart will

sing How

Great Is Our

God he's the

name he's the name

above wory of

is our

God sing how

great How

Great Is Our

God sing with me how

great is our God

and all we'll see how

great How

Great Is Our God come on can we just

lift our voice let's glorify him with

our mouth today oh we praise you Jesus

come on church just begin to lift your

voice begin to praise His name he is

worthy to be praised he is worthy to be

glorified

we love you Jesus thank you for coming

thank you for coming for us God thank

you for seeing us you are matchless you

are Mighty you are

wonderful

[Music]

Hallelujah hallelu

[Music]

hey thanks so much for watching today's

message our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart yeah and no

matter what it was that God spoke to you

I know that part of your journey is

other people being in a community

because we are better together so if you

made a decision to follow Jesus today

would you click the link below and fill

out the form this is going to help us so

that we can celebrate with you and equip

you with some tools so that your next

steps are great steps yeah thanks so

much for watching we're praying for you

we're cheering you on we believe that

the best days are ahead of you

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