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THE BEAUTY REALM OF GOD…Part 3
“He is our EXCEEDING Great Reward”
 Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!”
 There is no such thing as desiring God too much! He doesn’t tell us that we
can only seek Him “this much and no more”…when it comes to our
SPIRITUAL APPETITE…..the more the better!
 While there are no limitations on how much we can indulge our SPIRITUAL
APPETITES by seeking after God…there ARE lots of restrictions in the Bible
about our FLESHLY or SENSUAL desires…
 Why would God place restrictions on that?....because He knows what is
best for us…He knows those things are only temporary, inferior
desires…some of which might even KILL us!
 Lots of people think that Christianity is a religion that forbids you to do all
kinds of things…but that’s really not the case at all…if you think about
it…Christianity FORBIDS NO PLEASURES at all…..except that which is
temporary and will ultimately harm us!
 Actually it was the Puritans that brought this crazy, jacked up view to our
“Christian thinking”….they said that if it brought us pleasure, it must be
“bad”…cause, after all, surely something that gives us pleasure must be
wrong…..RETARDED THINKING!
 Then you end up with a church full of people who go around “repenting”
and telling each other that it’s WRONG to feel the way they do!.....
 We have got to get the realization that we were CREATED to seek after this
SPIRITUAL pleasure….He will satisfy us from a river that never runs dry!
 Psalm 36:8 “They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them
drink from your river of delights. ”
 Do you see what God has invited us to???....INDULGENCE in HIM!!!!
 He WANTS us to pursue PLEASURE…..in HIM!
 Is it s sin to crave this indulgence…ABSOLUTELY NOT!.....look what the Bible
says…
 2 Timothy 3: 4 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
2
People will be LOVERS OF THEMSELVES, lovers of money, boastful, proud,
abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love,
unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
4
treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure RATHER THAN lovers of
God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to
do with them.”
 This verse is not saying that it is wrong to PURSUE pleasure in GOD….but it
is wrong to pursue pleasure that is self-indulgent and selfish …pleasures
that leave God out ….
 We are to pursue pleasure in God AS God!
 Genesis 15:1 God says… “I am your EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD”
 NOTHING besides God could ever be our reward!!!!!....He is our ULTIMATE
PLEASURE!
 There is absolutely NOTHING that glitters or dazzles in this world that can
give us as much DELIGHT as God can!....The world is enough to BUSY
us…but not to FILL us.
 Even HEAVEN itself is not our reward….GOD TOTALLY IS!
 Psalm 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but YOU?”
 Job 22:25 “The Almighty shall be your gold”
 Psalm 16:5 “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup.”
 The Bible says that God is a SATISFYING reward…Psalm 17:15 “I shall be
SATISFIED when I awake with Your likeness.”
 Jacob knew he had God as his reward, so he was able to say…Genesis 33:11
“I have enough!”…..he was lacking nothing….. “nothing missing, nothing
broken” as Pastor Donny has been saying lately
 The Bible says that God is a PLEASANT or SWEET reward…
 Psalm 104:34 “My meditation of Him shall be sweet.”
 He is all beauty and love…to meditate or have thoughts of Him is
SWEET…or DELICIOUS!....
 We can’t even fathom how absolutely incredible God really is….God is far
better than all other things put together!!!!
 He is better than the world, and better than heaven! He is the original
cause of all good things! Nothing is sweet without Him!
 God is an EVERLASTING reward…Psalm 48:14 “This God is our God
FOREVER and EVER!”….Hosea 2:19 “I will betroth you unto me
FOREVER!”….
 Are we really supposed to pursue this incredible and great reward????!!!!!
Yes!!!! Jesus even encourages us to when he tells us in Mark 8:34 that
“whoever would come after Him, let him DENY HIMSELF…”
 It sounds like a paradox….but the BEST thing you can do FOR your “self” is
to deny “self”……because ETERNAL LIFE and all the pleasures of following
and seeking after God is the BEST and MOST ADVANTAGEOUS thing you
can ever obtain for your “self”…..but it will cost you TEMPORAL life and the
inferior, passing pleasures of sinful self-indulgence…
 Jesus is asking that you sacrifice the lesser blessings that things on this
earth could give us in order to gain the GREATER blessings of eternal and
unending pleasure!
 Jesus is saying “do what is best for your “self” and DENY your “self”
 Jesus isn’t telling us to ignore our needs or to repress our longings but to
FULFILL THEM…IN HIM!!!!!!!
 In his book called “the Weight of Glory”…C.S. Lewis says this…”…if we
consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of
the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our
desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures,
fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite JOY is offered
to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum
because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the
sea. WE ARE FAR TOO EASILY PLEASED.”…..WOW

 God’s greatest glory is in our PASSIONATE GLADNESS in HIM!!!!
 Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly
than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to
Him be GLORY in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.”
 In other words…may God be JOYFULLY and HAPPLIY seen for who He truly
is…and because of what He has done for us!
 So how can we exalt God like this….?.....How can we show that we PRIZE
Him above all else?....
 How do you normally decide on the worth of a prize?....EX: I know that if I
have a chance to win something that I really, really want…I will enter into
the contest many, many times (in other words, I will sacrifice to have it)…..if
I don’t want the prize that is offered…I will tell the people who are offering
it “no thanks”…..You determine the worth of a prize by how deeply it
moves your heart…by how excited or thrilled you are when you think that
that prize could be yours….You determine the worth of that prize by how
deeply it can satisfy you
 SO….God is most glorified in and by us when our PLEASURE in Him is at its
MAX!
 That is why the Bible tells us to MAGNIFY Him and to CELEBRATE HIM To
DELIGHT IN HIM, to ENJOY HIM!....When you do these things, you show
Him to be the most wonderful and sweet and most all-sufficient being in
the universe!
 Psalm 34:3 “Oh, MAGNIFY the Lord with me, and let us exalt His Name
together.”
 Psalm 69:30 “I will praise the name of God with a song. I will MAGNIFY
Him with thanksgiving.”
 Luke 1:46-47 “My soul MAGNIFIES the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God
my Savior.”
 ENJOYING God is not a momentary diversion from more important
responsibilities you have as a Christian…..ENJOYING GOD is what we were
created for!.....
 THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY…..If you are ENJOYING GOD….will you be
tempted to sin?....if you are completely ENVELOPED in HIM…the pull will be
so much less!
 Remember that God has placed NO RESTRICTIONS on how much you can
seek after Him to ENJOY Him!
HOW DO YOU DO THIS?..Here’s some ways to get
started…
1. ADMIT YOU NEED GOD

We are undone without Him. ……just like the song we sing “Woe, is me, for
I am unclean, for my eyes have seen the Risen King…” (which is actually a
Scripture too)
 Isaiah 6:5 “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine
eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts”.
 Don’t let pride sneak in which would cause you to think that you don’t need
God…BIG FAT HUGE LIE…

Beware of the Laodicean attitude in Revelation 3:17, "You say, I am rich
and have need of nothing."
 God will never give Himself to those who see no need of Him.
 SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: You can find happiness in life without
having need of God in your life. …Many people enjoy financial wealth, a
loving family, and few problems in life…. However, no matter how much
happiness you have right now, your life would be more fulfilling with God in
it…. Knowing God makes a HUGE difference.
 Think of it like this. Riding a tricycle seems fun to a child, but later if that
child grows up and drives a Porsche, the tricycle seems pretty boring. You
might think you've got all you'd ever want in life…BUT know that you might
be saying that FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOMEONE RIDING A
TRICYCLE!!!!!
 Jesus said that He could fulfill desires in us that nothing else can fulfill…
 John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drink of
this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall
give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become
in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.”

Because we're not just physical beings…but we're spiritual beings also….
only God can fulfill our spiritual hunger and thirst completely…. And while
we may be happy without God, it is only by knowing God that we can have
true joy, fulfillment and peace
2. HAVE A FOCUSED HEART
 It only makes sense that if you want to increase your SPIRITUAL appetite
…then you should think or meditate on spiritual things!
 You become what you think about…or you say that “YOU BECOME WHAT
YOU BEHOLD”.. .so it just stands to reason that the more you think about
the things of God….the less the pull of the things of this world have on you
 There is NO WAY that you can decrease your desire for sinful pleasures
unless you are filling your mind with the OPPOSITE….pleasures from God!
 Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is pure, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of
praise, THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS.”
 This verse doesn’t say to just ACKNOWLEDGE that these things exist….it
says to THINK ABOUT these things!!....that means you gotta spend some
time on these things…
 In the Bible, David was super good about thinking on these things….check
out what he wrote in Psalms…
 Psalm 16:2 “I say to the Lord, ‘You are MY Lord; I have no good apart from
You.’”
 Psalm 16:8 “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my
right hand, I shall not be shaken.”
 THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY: God IS all you really have….but do you know
Him well enough for Him to be all you NEED????????
 You will only be satisfied to the degree to which you can both trust and
REJOICE when ALL you have left is GOD!
 This isn’t saying that there aren’t pleasures in other things…it is saying that
without God…everything else is completely INFERIOR
 This is why David was so diligent in setting before him, GOD and GOD
alone…he determined in himself that he would put his attention on the
majesty and power of the ONE who would keep him steady when all that
was around him was SHAKING!!!!
 We shouldn’t only focus on God when things are going bad or when we
“need something from Him”…but ALL THE TIME….He has to be our focus
ALL THE TIME!
 When God really becomes what you FOCUS on…all else fades away….SIN
has no hold on you because you realize the completely INFERIORITY of the
TEMPORARY pleasure that sin might bring….
 It won’t matter what all rages around you…who all is against you….it won’t
matter what people might have said about you….if you TRULY realize and
have the INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP with God…that “koininia”
relationship….you REST, KNOWING that GOD IS YOUR PORTION
 Just like the song we sing…(called Healer) ”I believe that You’re my Healer, I
believe that You are all I need….I believe that You’re my Portion, I believe
You’re MORE THAN ENOUGH for me…You ARE all I need!”
 When you have a FOCUSED HEART….it’s kinda like picturing yourself in the
middle of a whirlwind…no matter what is going on around you…you are
safe and content and totally at peace….like the stillness in the eye of a
storm…
 THINK ON THIS: Is your HAPPINESS out of the reach of your
enemies???....or does every little thing that happens affect you?
 KEEP your thoughts in the ALTITUDES!!!!..THINK about what God has
prepared for those people that LOVE HIM!.....MEDITATE on the reward that
He has for you!...Not just passing thoughts…but DWELLING on those
thoughts until your HEART is DEEPLY affected
 Talk about EXHILARATION!!!!! Nothing can touch you when your thoughts
are on those things!
 Our attitude should be like “WHAT, LORD??!!! That reward that is so sweet
and amazing is for me?!”……thinking on that reward will keep you from
temptation and any earthly lust that had previously had a hold on us!...
 When THAT is your attitude….you would immediately tell any suggestion of
sin to “BE GONE!”…you would no longer be DECEIVED by the “sugar coating
with the cherry on top” that the enemy placed on that sin
 It is a precedent set out for us in the Bible…remember when Moses was
gone up the mountain for a bunch of days and the Israelites couldn’t see
him anymore…so those silly people made an IDOL to worship instead.
(read the story in Exodus 32)…………….THIS IS HOW IT IS WHEN WE DON’T
KEEP GOD OUR FOCUS….we end up setting up some crazy idol and we end
up worshipping that instead
3. POSITION YOURSELF FOR PASSION
 Put yourself in a position to pursue God…make it easy on your soul by
exposing yourself to those things that would awaken your spiritual desire
and which would then cause you to hunger for holy things!
 It only makes sense that you won’t be getting too much of a spiritual
appetite if you never go to church, you never open your mouth to praise
Him, you never read His Word, you never hang out with His people, or you
never watch or listen to anything that EXALTS Him!
 There are specific things that you need to do…that God has SAID and
actually COMMANDED us to do in order to feed your spiritual appetite…you
already KNOW what these things are…..PRAYER, READING HIS WORD, and
TAKING COMMUNION (if you weren’t here for the teaching on
Communion….PLEASE download it from our website and read it!!!!)
 The Communion table’s major purpose is to bring to our minds and to help
us REMEMBER what He has done for us by offering us salvation and
forgiveness, …to help us remember what He is doing for us now…through
all His blessings and promises,…and what we are looking forward to in the
future…the Marriage Supper of the Lamb….DO THIS IN REMBEMBRANCE of
HIM….do it everyday!....
 If you take communion, pray, and read the Word everyday…..your FOCUS
will be on Him…and you will be in the correct posture to become ever so
PASSIONATE toward Him!
 Our PASSION for Him is AWAKENED when we do these things!
 Like that song we sing…by the Desperation Band…”I am Yours and You are
mine, I refuse to be denied…All of You is my heart’s cry, I refuse to be
denied….……..I’m coming after You, I’m coming after You, I’m coming after
You…”
 Posturing yourself for passion also has to do with your ATTITUDE…
 2 Corinthians 9:7 "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not
grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver" ….not just giving
money….but giving PRAISE…giving of your THOUGHTS….
 If you walk around being Negative Nilly…..you are completely unfit for
Christian duty!....How in the heck can you come into His “courts with
thanksgiving and praise” with a sourpuss look on your face….for that
matter…how could someone looking at you with that sour face ever even
THINK that God is a great reward!!!!!!!? REMEMBER: we are created to be
HIS IMAGE
 All of the eternal blessings of heaven are OURS!....
 Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
 But, you may say, “how can I be cheerful, you don’t know what I’m going
through”…NO, I DON’T….but I do know where you are going and what you
have been rescued from!!!!.....read Psalm 32
 Psalm 32 “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against
him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted
away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was
heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity I said,
"I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "—and you forgave the guilt
of my sin. Selah. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you
may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me
with songs of deliverance. Selah I will instruct you and teach you in the way
you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the
horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by
bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the
wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.
Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are
upright in heart!”
4. THE WAY OF WORSHIP
 Worship is simply EXPRESSING our longings to God…..when we EXPRESS
them OUT LOUD…our longings INCREASE!!!!
 It only makes sense….you don’t keep quiet about things that excite
you…you don’t keep quiet about those you love…
 THINK ABOUT IT: How completely frustrating is it when something
amazing happens to you and you are either alone and can’t share it with
anyone…or you have called everyone who you would like to share it with,
and no one will answer the phone!.....can you say YUCK!
 EX: Like right when we found out that Jewel was pregnant with Cohen…we
were at the hospital in the emergency room…and MY PHONE WOULDN’T
WORK!...I couldn’t tell anyone the awesome news!
 That’s how it should be with our worship!!!!...We should be at a place
where we are so completely utterly drowning in the delight, and bliss that
flows out of our relationship with Him…our JOY should be so full in Him that
we BURST open with worship to Him…..and as we celebrate God in praise
and worship…the Spirit works within US to cultivate a STILL DEEPER
DELIGHT in God that causes us to cry out even more to Him for MORE OF
HIM!
 When you ENJOY Him…you worship Him…when we WORSHIP Him…it brings
us more knowledge of Him (because of the Spirit working revelation in
us)…the more we KNOW about Him, the more JOY we have in Him…and the
more JOY we have in Him…the More we want to worship Him….WHAT AN
INCREDIBLE CYCLE TO BE ON!!!!
 Psalm 100 gives us some big clues about the importance of worship…
 Psalm 100:1 “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands…”
 We know that when we worship Him that our spirit is being mysteriously
fed as we commune with God. …We are being carried above our daily
problems, and the worries and concerns of our everyday life seem to dim in
comparison with our spiritual perception of the Lord’s majesty and power.
 … As you read through the Bible you will be amazed at how all of God’s
people spent time praising Him. If Abraham, David, Habbakuk, Peter, and
Paul felt it necessary to spend so much time worshipping God, don’t you
think we should spend some time at it too?
 Psalm 100:2-5 “Serve the Lord with GLADNESS, come before His presence
with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and
not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter
into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful
to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting,
and His truth endures to all generations.”
 Aren’t we gonna live forever with God????! THAT ALONE should cause us
to praise Him!
5. LONG FOR FULL POSSESSION OF HIM
 Though it is nice to be here on this earth….sometimes it is nicer than at
other times for sure ….we should have a HOLY LONGING to be with God
forever and ever…
 Philippians 1:23-25 “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be
with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I
remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will
continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith…”
 We are supposed to be CONTENT to live….but DESIORUS to die!
 Just like a bride longs for her wedding day….we, the BRIDE OF CHRIST, longs
for HIM….
 Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let those who
hear say, "Come!" Let those who are thirsty come…”
 THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY: If we really considered for a moment our
condition here on earth….with all the sin issues we deal with, that it’s even
hard for us to pray without our mind wandering, that we have issues
believing without doubt creeping in…if we really THOUGHT about
it…wouldn’t that make us actually DESIRE to be gone to heaven!!?
 Think how happy those believers are who are already there actually staring
into the face of God…in eternal bliss and happiness and peace…..if we really
understood the INCREDIBLE REWARD God is…..and what the JOY of the
Lord means….then we would actually have to pray for PATIENCE to be
CONTENT to stay here on EARTH!!!!! THINK ABOUT THAT!
 Romans 8:18 "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us!"
 OH, TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD!!!!!