The Pursuit | God and Us | Pastor Rodney Thrift
Rodney Thrift   -  

The Pursuit
God and Us

Pursuit: To follow or chase in order to overtake or capture.

Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV) 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Soul Tattoo: God pursues me, because He loves me.

God Pursues us:

  • God pursued Adam and Eve.
    Genesis 3:8-11 (ESV) 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked?
  • God pursued Moses.
    Exodus 3:1-4 (ESV) 1Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
  • God pursued King David.
    2 Samuel 12:1 (ESV) 1And the Lord sent Nathan to David.
    2 Samuel 12:7 (ESV) 7Nathan said to David, “You are the man!
    2 Samuel 12:13 (ESV) 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
  • God pursued Zacchaeus.
    Luke 19:1-6 (ESV) 1He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
    Luke 19:9-10 (ESV) 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
  • God pursued the woman at the well.
    John 4:1-4 (ESV) Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria.
    John 4:25-26 (ESV) 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
    John 4:28-30 (ESV) 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
    John 4:39:41 (ESV) 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” 
  • God pursued the Apostle Paul.
    Acts 9:1-6 (ESV) But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
    Acts 9:17-19 (ESV) 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.

We pursue God:

  • We have to pursue God with our time.
    Proverbs 8:17 (ESV) 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
    Isaiah 55:6 (ESV) 6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.
  • We have to pursue God with intentionality.
    Matthew 6:33 (ESV) 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
    Luke 12:31 (ESV) 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
  • We have to pursue God to learn how to trust God.
    Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
    1 John 2:6 (ESV) 6whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
  • When we pursue God, we learn how to love like God loves.
    John 3:16 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Soul Tattoo: God pursues me, because He loves me.