God Encounter
Pastor Phil Derstine 11-13-22
God Encounter: What is it?
· Encounter (Def.) 1. To experience unexpectedly. 2. To meet face-to-face. 3. To contend with opposition
· Personal experience with demonstrated power and person of God
· I Corinthians 2:4 “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: (5) That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
· Discovering God: Salvation, a healing or deliverance, a Word from God, a dream of vision, a Miracle
God Encounter: How to get it?
1. Through Faith & Pursuit (Expectation)
· Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
· James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
· Fasting and Prayer for Revival – the former and the latter rain
2. Through Adversity & Desperation
· Matthew 14:22 (Peter walked on water) – Jesus sent them into the storm
· Mark 4:38 (Jesus sleeping in the boat) His main concern – their faith!
· Mark 5:25 (Woman bleeding for 12 years) – Touched Jesus’ cloak with her faith!
· The winds of adversity are opportunities for our faith to grow!
Growing your faith is a PROCESS, and is Progressive and Continuous
· TFC Logo: The cross in a single drop of water – “Growing LIFE Together”
· John 10:10 “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
· D.R.I.P. Acronym: 4 Words illustrate the systematic growth process of our Faith
· DISCOVER (Salvation), RELATE (Connection), INSPIRE (Holy Spirit), PROVE (Leadership)
· Our Faith grows little by little, drip by drip, through our Biblical response to life’s experiences.
· Drip Irrigation – Invented in Israel, innovative, strategic, surgical (I.V. drip for medicine), systematic
Keep Expecting Revival and Spiritual Awakening
· Zechariah 10:1 “Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain…”
· Joel 2:23 “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.”
· Joel 2:28 (Acts 2:17-18) “And it shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; (29) And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.”
