A Heart Like His - Journey to the Heart of God

Well, um, I see the word journey, and I think of what I would say was the most significant journey of my life. Just a quick missions history lesson, because we have different awarenesses on this. Some years ago there were five American missionaries that went to the jungles of Ecuador, outstanding young men, leaving many promising futures here in the States Because they heard of a tribe then called the Alkas, now known as the Walanis. The story was that no one had ever gone into the jungle to meet them and came and come back. No one lived who had ever seen them. Deep in the jungles of Ecuador, obviously they had no idea of a God or a savior. And Jim Allen, Nate Saint, and these five missionaries decided that God had called them together to go there. Nate was a pilot. He landed on a little strip of sand by the Katanae River, deep in the jungle. Well, um they almost had a breakthrough and then suspicious of these different colored men and so on, they were martyred, and that news went around the world the next morning. And they were found later in the Kotadai River with alkalances in their body. Their story was told to young people across this country. I was one of them. Karen was another one. Me in Chicago, her in Arkansas. And their story launched thousands and thousands of people, a whole generation of missionaries and Christian leaders. From there, you know, grain of wheat falls in the ground and dies. It bears much fruit. All my life I wished I could visit. It was almost like a holy pilgrimage for me. I wish somehow I could go to that beach and stand on that beach where they gave their lives. Unlikely to happen But because of radio and our partnership with the radio ministry in Ecuador, I did have that opportunity. It wasn't even clear whether we'd be able to go into the village. Now I should tell you, in the years that have gone forward, The sister of Nate Saint and the wife of Jim Elliott went back to those people that had murdered their loved one And now some of the murderers were the pastors of the Alka Church. It is a story that could only be told about Jesus. I wanted another generation of young people to know that story. At that time I had started the only the first Christian youth broadcast in the country called Saturday Night Alive. And uh it was I I was able to go there, but what a journey it was. You don't get deep into uh Auka territory in the jungle easily. First of all, we weren't even sure we would get to go until hours before. I flew in with a missionary pilot. We flew over what looked like a sea of broccoli, which was the jungle. Baccaly as far as the eye could see. We landed in a little field that no plane should land in. You know missionary pilots. But we weren't there yet. No, then came the hiking part of it. They kept telling me about the snakes, which didn't interest me at all, and I got the thickest boots I could find. And there are there are some pictures of me trekking through the jungle uh with uh a native guide. And uh that was quite a part of the but we weren't done yet. Oh no no no no wasn't there a a movie called Planes, trains and something. Yeah, well this is kind of this trip. Now now we get into the long canoe on the Kutodai River with the piranha fish in it. And uh so uh we took the long canoe ride And finally, after a pretty arduous journey, we arrived at the beach. And it was one of the most moving moments of my life. We still had to get to the village to talk to some of the people we wanted to interview, including one of the men who had been one of the men that martyred the missionaries. And so another hike through the jungle, and at that point this journey had reached its destination. It was incredible. It was not an easy journey, but it was worth it because it was a journey of the heart. That's what this weekend is all about. Look at our life is a journey. We don't we don't we're not born in one place and stay in that place and every day is the same. No, we're you all you're somewhere on your journey right now Seasons change. Sometimes the scenery is beautiful. Sometimes it's terrifying There are sometimes that you like the people you're traveling with on the journey and other times not so much. There are surprises on the journey. There are wounds from the journey and many opportunities for a detour from the journey we were born for. For there is a journey that is the ultimate reason for our existence. It is a journey to the heart of God. I have been living in this under incredible times with God this past year And uh there is no greater destination. By the way, I was as I was thinking of life's journey, I thought about Ruth Graham, Billy Graham's wife, her epitaph, which she wrote. Don't look at me weird, because she was a very original lady. Her epitaph says, End of construction. Thanks for your patience. How many of you would like to consider that as an epitaph? But that's how she described her journey. I want to go to Romans chapter 11. Let me show you a little bit. We'll start there, and then we are going to go uh we're going to talk to the expert on this The depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, his ways are past finding out. For of him Through him, to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. That's our journey is headed to touch the heart of God. Colossians 1. 16. On every basketball court our team stands on, they will quote this verse to native young people. All things were created by him and for him. The reason for our existence, the question everybody wants the answer to, why am I here? The answer is for him. for a relationship with him. Now, I needed a, by the way, let me tell you what the journey to the heart of God is not. We often have a journey to the brain of God because we want to understand him. And that's good. I believe in theology. That's good. Many of us, especially the male half of the human race, have a very cognitive left-brain relationship with God. And so we we we we we want to our journey is to understand God. That's good. And for some of us, it's a journey to the hands of God because we generally want him to do something for us. This isn't that. There's a journey to the plans of God. I want to know his will. That's all good. But the ultimate The ultimate journey of our life is to get to a place where the heart of God and the heart of me meet. And do the rest of life together in a deep bonded relationship, which I will do my best and it won't be good enough To try to explain some this weekend. Now we need a guide. Boy, did I need a guide through the jungle, huh? Well, we need a guide. And he is the person that next to Jesus is the most dominant figure in the Bible. Jesus is mentioned the most. Just his name is mentioned, obviously, the most. In second place is David. David is mentioned more, except for Jesus, more than any other person in the Bible. He's in the Old Testament. He's in the New Testament And what an epic story he is. First of all, he goes out and takes down a giant that a whole army runs from. He starts out as a shepherd boy and very soon is in the throne room of the then king as his musical therapist. Seeing the king in ways nobody else sees him. He is best friends with the prince of the kingdom. He spends one-fifth of his entire life running as a fugitive from people who want to kill him. One of them is his own son. He spends much of his life in hiding. He is one of the greatest poets, if not the greatest poet, the world has ever known He starts out with a motley crew, not a band, not a band, but with a motley crew of guys who want to follow him, and they become a mighty army. That put him on the throne. He takes the nation of Israel and builds it to perhaps the most powerful nation in the Middle East at that time And he dreams a dream that no one has ever dared dream before. To build a temple for the Most High God. And while he will not live to build it, He will lay all the groundwork for it. What a life. And it continues into this day In this sense, what's the symbol of the nation of Israel, the star of And Jerusalem is known as the city of. Yeah, exactly. And when Bartimaeus tries to get Jesus' attention, he says, Jesus, son of. It's one of his messianic names, son of David. And uh Mary is told by the angel. That her son will reign on the throne of David. David, David, David. What is it? about this man that has a singular place in the plans of God. It's not, even though he not killed Goliath and all of that, it is not his heroism. That's not what defines a man in God's eyes. It's his heart. Let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 16 and look at what God is looking for. For the this is a fascinating picture. The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth. He's doing it right now. He's just scanning the planet. To strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Don't you want to be one of those that get his attention? He stops for some people and goes, I'm going to pour something special into them. Because of their loyalty to me. God's all about cardiology spiritually. God's about hearts. 1 Samuel 13. Saul, the first king of Israel, has failed to obey God. And God says, we're done. And he says, but now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people Let's go to 1 Samuel 16. The Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance or his height. Let me just underline those words for you. Do not consider his height. Anyway. I now have that on my desk. For I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance. The Lord looks at the heart. Now let's go to the book of Acts, where David is talked about a thousand years later. And here are the six words that define this incredible. Person. After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him. I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. David's life in six words, a man after God's heart, own heart. On February. 10th of this year. I started reading in 1 Samuel in the life of David. I did not expect to still be there now. That was not a short trip. Of course I've been into Psalms. You will go with me to see what he wrote and when he wrote it and why he wrote it. And it has been an incredible journey. But we're not done yet. I found that God put the most amazing epitaph I've ever read of anybody over David. God wrote his epitaph. Look at what it says and tell me, is there anyone in this room who wouldn't wish God would say this about you? When David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. Come on. You served God's purpose in your generation. You did what you were made for. Mission accomplished. Could there be a more glorious epitaph? And it's David God says that about. Nobody else in the Bible gets an epitaph like that. And of all the great Bible characters, we have their stories, right? But we have a unique relationship with David because we have his journal. We have what he was feeling During all of that. Nobody else did we have a little of Moses. We may have a uh a little of Abraham, but we've got I mean David's thoughts of all kinds of emotions, what he's feeling while all this is going on in this epic life, in this search for God's heart. We get to go with him. Through his journal, the Book of Psalms. So, this is what's become the defining question of the last season of my life What does it mean to be a man or woman after God's heart? Since God said, I'll show it to you in a human I'm like, okay, I I want this. And I can't just let those words go. So I've spent months. And uh you won't have to spend months. Well you can if you want. I'll get you started. But here's what I've discovered. Six passions. Six passions of life's greatest journey. A journey to the heart of God. And I will say. That along the way in our life, we have had other lesser passions that have consumed us. Family, business, medical. Having successful children, many things, many passions. None hold a candle. to being a man or a woman after God's own heart. So let's look at the first passion. Tonight, we'll just get started. I call it checking with God. Oh, that sounds pretty simple. Well, there are two defining keys in David's journey we'll look at tonight. There's what I call the relentless pursuit. And then the indestructible anchor. Let's take a look at that relentless pursuit, first of all. Now what I see what is what does the word after mean? You're like Ronda. No, but I mean here's what after mean. Any of you deer hunters? Any of you uh hunt deer? Yeah, okay. It's all about the buck, right? I mean you're after that trophy. You're after that rack. You're after that deer. It's consuming passion. When I was in school, I was hunting a deer too. What you're ahead of me? Will you wait till I get there, please? And her name was Karen. And I was a very constant presence. Because of her slowness and understanding what she could have. And so Oh yeah, I was after Karen. And I was relentless in doing the things I thought would get her attention, make her happy, whatever it was, it worked. And we've had we had a life of incredible love together. After his passionate pursuit And David's pursuit of the heart of God means, for one thing, he is constantly checking with God on things. Now let's do a really quick survey here. Now I want you to count the number of times he checks with God in these scriptures. All right? They're different incidents. 1 Samuel 23. Let's do a machine gun. David was told, look, the Philistines are fighting against Kalah and are looting the threshing floors. He inquired of the Lord. Shall I? Shall I God? Shall I go and attack these Philistines? Lord answered him, go, attack the Philistines and save Kalah. So David's men. said to him, here in Judah we are afraid, how much more than if we go to Kalah and we got to fight Philistines? And once again, you counting? Once again David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered him, Go down to Cala, yes, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand. And so David and his men went to Cala, fought the Philistines, carried off their livestock, inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines, and saved the people of Kalah. Dav Okay, nice. When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, bring the Ephad. David said, Lord God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Kalah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Kalah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? Lord God of Israel, tell your servant. And the Lord said, He will. Again, David asked, will the citizens of Kalah surrender me and my men to Saul? And the Lord said, They will. And they go and as usual, David has a very successful campaign. Now let's go to 2 Samuel accounting? 2 Samuel chapter 2. In the course of time David inquired of the Lord, shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah? Yes, the Lord said, go up, David asked, where shall I go? To Hebron, the Lord answered. Okay? So David inquired of the Lord, shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands? The Lord answered him, Go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands. Once more the Philistines came up, spread out in the valley of Rephayim. David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them. And do not go this time, and attack them in front of the poplar trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army. So David did as the Lord commanded him, struck down the Philistines, all the way from Gibeon to Gizra. First chronicles. So David inquired, this is later, this is a different situation. So David inquired of God, Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands? The Lord answered him, Go and I will deliver them into your hands. So David then went up to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. Once more the Philistines raided the valley. You wanna read this one? So it's getting boring. David inquired of God. Yen. And God answered them, do not go directly after them, but circle around them and attack them. All right, let's go on. You got it. Checking with God. How many shall eyes did you count? I lost count. How many was it? Six? Seven? Something like that? And those are just the ones that God recorded. David is constantly, he's after God's heart. And he's always saying, God, what do you want here? I'm often moving too fast to do that. Maybe it's just me We used to go down to a friend's house on Long Beach Island off the uh at the Jersey Shore. Um and um it's a long narrow island. You can see the bay over here and the ocean over here. and um and there's a string of stoplights there and um you start out I mean I've I've started out especially well off season and here's a green light but I see a s I see a sea of red lights but as you drive up to them Many times they would turn green and then green. I want you to know I was a good boy if they st I did stop for red lights, but at that point there were hardly any. As long as there were green lights, I would go. And there were a string of them. David only went. David only acted with a green light from God. And he made sure he had one. And occasionally he got a red light. This is one passion. This is a passion for him. I ain't moving till I know what God wants. Now, there's we're talking about processing life by asking this question. I think I first consciously asked it on September 11th, 2001. I happened to be on vacation when the towers went down. And having been up the at the top of those towers many times, I I I could feel it. And uh and watching this, I know America was in shock. We had no file folder for this. Nobody even knew what to do with this. And somewhere along the way as I'm watching, I never turned off the TV that day. And I suddenly had this impulse. I said, God, tell me what you're seeing here today. I can't, I don't know, I mean I don't know what to do with what I'm seeing. What do you see? And he began to show me. Souls is what he saw. The next day I had calls from a bunch of radio stations. They said, Ron, our people need help processing this. Could we do an interview? And thankfully. God answered my my cry. I've asked it a lot of times since then. This is the question. What does God see here I see what's going on in our marriage. I see what's going on with my spouse. I know what I see. God, what do you see? What do you see in this child that we're we're concerned for? This grandchild? I know what I see. What do you see? What do you what do you feel? What are you feeling right now when you look at this? This situation, this illness. This crisis, this problem, this decision, what do you see? What are you thinking? What do you feel? That's after God's heart. It says about Solomon who asked God for wisdom, David's son. And it describes his wisdom later in 1 Kings when it says, God gave him depth of insight and breadth of understanding. Because he wanted God's wisdom, he could see deep into a person or a situation what was not obvious on the surface, depth of insight. He could see deep, but he could see wide. He could see the big picture. He could see where this was going to go if you decided this. That's a glimpse of what happens when you stop and say, God, what are you seeing here? I don't ask it enough, but I'm asking it a lot more than I ever did. That's after. That's pursuing God's heart. So what does that mean? The highest priority of someone who wants to see what God sees. is spending time with God. If you are not prioritizing a meaningful heart-to-heart, not just run verses by your eyeball And get more information spiritually. But if you're having a hard time with God every day, you will be much closer to his heart. Look at David's heart. You see it in Psalm 42. As a deer pants for streams of water, my soul pants from you, my God. I can't wait till the next time I'm with you. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? You feel that urgency? Do you miss him when you don't? When can I go and meet with God? I'm after his heart. I don't, I can't afford a day without him. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them. And they follow me. You need to know his voice. You need to know what it sounds like. Just you like you know the voices of people you're around all the time. They don't if they call you, they don't have to tell you who it is. They just start out talking. Because you know their voice. We are bombarded with other voices. Calling us, influencing us You need to have a passion to be in the presence of Jesus so you know his voice when you need to. So after God's heart, you're checking with him. And this becomes now your paradigm for decision making. Checking with God. Before you write that. Before you make that call. Before you make that choice. Before you have that conversation. Before you go down that road. You know who has the hardest time with that? I know a lot of people in this room and you are in this group. I am too. The make it happen people. Because we got momentum and we're on a roll and we've got our ways of getting things done and deciding So you know what we are? I have a picture of us. We are holy bulldozers. Yeah, we are holy bulldozers. Pushing our way. Who has time to check with God or even a curse to us? So that's after God's own heart, because this journey I call the Jehovah journey. Now, I also said that besides this relentless pursuit of God's heart, that's just one of the passions is also this indestructible anchor. And here's where words fail, but I'm going to do my best. David describes this anchor in Psalm 26. 3 and many, many other places. He says, I have always been mindful. Of your unfailing love. And I have lived in reliance on your faithfulness. I want you to look at those two words, unfailing love. There is a Hebrew word that is like a multi-faceted diamond. And the word is chesed. C-H-E-S-E-D. We're too lazy to do the Hebrew chesed We might just get Hesed out. But this word appears 247 times in the Old Testament Half over half of them are in Psalms, which means, guess who's writing it more than anybody? David continues to talk about Hesed, Hesed, Hesed. It's translated many different ways and the translators run out of words for it. It's covenant love. It's loving kindness, you'll see that. You'll see unfailing love a number of times in Psalms. It's mercy. You know his mercies are new every morning? Hesed. It's got this mercy, it's kindness, it's loyalty, and essentially, as I said, covenant love. Literally the translators can't find a word comprehensive enough to get their arms around it, it seems. It is so deep. It is so profound. And David said, I've always been mindful of your unfailing love. This is the emotional glue of David's life. It's the spiritual glue of David's life It's the window through which he views every circumstance of his life. Unfailing love, hesed, mercy, loving kindness. And to see everything through this unfailing love is to connect your life with God's heart. That's the search we're on. Now think about David's life. It involves seasons that go from awesome to awful. From caves to a crown. But in all of them, guess what he's talking about? Hasid, unfailing love. Let's look at some. Let me let me just let's do a let's do a fast forward here. He's in a cave hiding for his life. Devil have a lot more to tell us about this. Psalm 57, look what he says. I cry out to God most high, the God. The entire Israeli army is looking to kill him on Saul's behalf, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me. God sends forth his Hasid. I'm in a cave, running for my life, surrounded by Hesed. God's unfailing love. Let's go to Psalm 89. Here's the situation. David has recently been anointed to be the king. But now the Philistines are moving to attack him. Here's what he says. Once you spoke in a vision to your faithful people. You said, I've bestowed strength on a warrior. I've raised up, this is him, I've raised up a young man from among the people. I have found David my servant. David is talking here. With my sacred oil I've anointed him He's reviewing his anointing. My hand will sustain him. Surely my arm will strengthen him. The enemy will not get the better of him. The wicked will not oppress him. I will crush foes before him and strike down his adversaries. My Hisid. When they're all after him to kill him again, we'll be with him. And thoroughly, my name, his horn, will be exalted, God says. Let's go to another situation. He's in the depths of a heinous spiritual failure. Here's what he writes. That's the situation in Psalm 25. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways. According to your Hiss it. Remember me. For you, Lord. Are good. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. That's at the bottom. Let's go to his glory days. In the glory days of his kingdom. Psalm 21. The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give. For the king trusts in the Lord through the unfailing love of the Most High, he will not be shaken. And then what I would call the final exam on David living in the blanket of God's unfailing love. His own son, his third son, Absalom. Has rebelled against him. Has dethroned him. David is once again going to the wilderness as a dethroned king. His loyal people go with him. The high priest says, well at least we got the Ark of the Covenant. Absalom is launching, just like Saul did. Troops to kill David, his son. Can you think of a more heartbreaking situation And the and the high priestess, we got the ark. David said, that really needs to be with the people. Get it back to Jerusalem. You know, like, what? Some of his men are ready to fight and getting their swords ready to fight. He says, no, no And then we see what he says when he tries to explain it in 2 Samuel 15. David said to Idea, one of his mighty men, go ahead, march on. So Ideai the Gittite, who had wanted to do violence to a number of unloyal people, marched on him with all his men and the families that were with him. Then the king sent to Zadok, he's the high priest. Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord's eyes He'll bring me back and he'll let me see it and his dwelling place. Again. David says, I want what God wants. And I'll let him decide. Even if it costs me everything He is that sure of God's love beyond words. Hesed is mercy. Hesed is loyalty Hasid is covenant love. Hasid is loving kindness. Hasid is unfailing love. Whether you were in a cave or a palace, facing death or celebrating life You can rest, no longer needing to seek validation from people, which many of us, it's a lifetime quest to be validated. But you are loved by God. Free from the bondage of comparing us with anybody else. Free from the bondage of performance, I must perform Because of Hesed love. I am seen by God in every situation, every environment Every burden, they all look different. When you're seeing it through God's eyes and you say, I am seen, I am heard, I am held. I am helped, I am his Life is so different. Seen through the eyes of a Hesed loved man or woman. Psalm 31, 21. Praise be to the Lord. Now watch, watch, there's a surprise here. Who showed me the wonders of his love? Boy, uh like what when you were coronated king or when I was in a city under siege? What? That's the first place. He showed me the wonders of his love when I was under siege. It has nothing to do with your circumstances, nothing to do with how people are treating you. Nothing to do with your health. Nothing to do with your bank account. You just keep getting closer to the heart of God. So to bring this together, and Doug's going to spend much more on this than I am If you want to read David's most autobiographical Psalm, the one written later in his life, Where as you know as you have birthdays, you have more perspective, don't you? You begin to see the tapestry and not just the threads that you saw when you were young. David wrote Psalm 18. It is so important to God that it's actually repeated word for word in 2 Samuel 22. You're like, wait, didn't I read this somewhere before? Yeah, you did. So God has it in 2 Samuel in the middle of the narrative, and he has it in Psalm 18. I'll just take you to Psalm, the first two verses. I love you, Lord. Out of the gate, he says, I love you, Lord. My strength. By the way, I want you to notice a word that's repeated a lot. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation. And my stronghold. Did you notice a word repeated a lot, a little word? My, my. My, my, my, something has happened through all the Hesed experiences of David's life that has made God so intimately personal to him. He isn't just a title. He isn't just a theological idea. He is not just a belief. He's my rock, my deliverer, my shield, my savior. He's mine. He's mine. I love you, Lord. You are mine. And so he has sought the heart of God. It doesn't mean that he ended up having a heart like God's. It means he wanted a heart like God's because he made some big mistakes and we'll talk about those. When we went to Ocean City, New Jersey, I did a radio program, I originated that youth broadcast from there. And uh I closed the program by going out on a rock jetty, big boulders uh that stick out into the into the surf there. And I stood at the at the end of that rock jetty and I was wrapping up the program. No one could see it, but you could hear the waves coming in. And I said, you know, hundreds of storms have come this way. By the way, yesterday we saw castles, because there had been a sandcastle competition at this youth conference. Masterpieces. They were gone. They didn't last the night when high tide came. I see these rocks. These rocks have seen more storms, more hurricanes, more nor'easters. And the castles are sand castles are gone. Some of the beaches are gone. But the rock! My rock! My rock! The rock is still there. Nothing has moved the rock Now for a fun little PS on this, the twenty-third song You know, David has talked about, and that we believe was written early in his life when his shepherding experience was either going on or was very much in his very very much in his very real past. He doesn't read talk about all the people attacking him and everything. It was an early psalm. Psalm 23. And the last verse, you know, the Lord is my shepherd and he leads me in paths of righteousness and beside still waters and all of that. And though I walk through the valley of the of the shadow of death, in fact, he talks about that. But now, here's the goody. I love this. I was shouting time when I discovered this, so I'll try to control myself. Last verse. Surely Your Hesed is the way it's translated in this verse, goodness, and love will follow me. All the days of my life, every day, has it. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You ready for this? That word follow is also translated chase. So David spends his life pursuing the heart of God and God's Hesed. is chasing him. It's a circle. He's chasing God's heart and God's love It's chasing him all the days, never a day, that God's love isn't chasing you.