Do You Know Him

In one paragraph

On Palm Sunday 2017, elder Matt Litzelman brought a message about knowing God personally. Drawing on Philippians 3:10 and passages from Matthew 6, he called the congregation to move beyond knowing about God toward a genuine, attentive relationship with Him. Matt opened by noting that Paul, a Pharisee who had every religious credential imaginable, counted all of it as loss compared to the...

Read together

1. John 12 The crowd taking palm branches to meet Jesus, shouting praise and hailing the king of Israel
2. Romans 8 The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you
3. Philippians 3:10 Paul's determined purpose to know Christ progressively and intimately, sharing in his sufferings and resurrection
4. Song of Solomon The Lord ravished by one look from the beloved's eyes, used to illustrate God's longing for our attention
5. Matthew 6 Instructions on praying in secret rather than to be seen, and the Lord's Prayer as an outline for how to pray
6. Psalm 119:160 The sum of God's word is truth, cited in the context of reading the Bible to know God
7. Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another, cited in the context of spending time with other believers
8. John 17:3 Closing words: this is eternal life, that they may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent

Talk about it

1. Matt opened with the crowd in John 12 recognizing Jesus as king and savior. In what ways do you personally recognize and declare Jesus as king in your everyday life?
2. Matt read from Philippians 3 where Paul says his determined purpose is to know Christ more deeply and intimately. What does that kind of determined purpose actually look like in a person's daily routine, and how does it compare to how you currently approach your relationship with God?
3. Matt described training his dog Joe to stop looking at his food bowl and look to him instead, drawing a parallel to our attention toward God. What are the 'food bowls' in your own life that tend to pull your attention away from God, and what has helped you redirect that focus?
4. Matt listed four practices for getting to know God: prayer in a secret place, reading the Bible, spending time with people who love the Lord, and finding a place to be alone and still with Him. Which of these comes most naturally to you, and which is the hardest, and why?
5. Matt mentioned that if you are talking, you are not listening, and encouraged people to simply wait before God in that secret place. How comfortable are you with silence before God, and what do you think gets in the way of that kind of stillness?