GOD IS ALL-KNOWING - Levi Ferguson | Midtown Church Sacramento

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Today, I'm gonna share four scenes of my life with you. Two of those scenes you will have to select and identify yourself later in this message. But right now I'm gonna give you two scenes. Scene number one. In 2015, I accepted a position as a youth pastor at a church in the Sacramento area, which is what brought me to California from Georgia. In 2017, I had a young man who was 18 years old, was a freshman in college, and his girlfriend also 18 years old, a freshman in college, both of them serving as small group leaders in the student ministry where I was a youth pastor. That young man broke up with his girlfriend and began to date a girl who was 14 years old who was in the student ministry. When I became aware of that situation, I had a conversation with him and I told him, You can't help out in youth. You cannot help out in the youth ministry. Because of the way I handled that situation, the guy who had taken over as the main pastor at that church threatened to fire me. That young man, his father, and his grandfather were both deacons in the church. Their family had been members of that church since the inception of the church almost 30 years earlier. And so because I felt so unsupported because of the way the church dealt with this situation, in January of 2018 I chose to resign. And as I'm in my last week at the church, I receive a random email from an anti-tobacco program that is looking to hire for a position. Now, I don't know about you, but rarely would I ever hear about somebody who needs a job but isn't looking for one yet and gets a random email about a job. I wasn't on any job search sites, I wasn't looking for a job yet. In fact, the church had given me a five-month severance package, so I didn't even start looking yet. And yet, there was this email. So I accepted an interview for this program. And on the day of the interview, I'm actually in the church office clearing out the last bit of my stuff, and I'm sharing information about this program with our secretary and telling her about the interview. And as I'm sharing this information, she says to me, My husband used to oversee that program. Her husband is a federal law enforcement agent, and they were parents of two of the students in the youth ministry. I knew them very well. And so as I go to this interview, I share this father's name with the guy interviewing me, and he says, Oh, I used to report to that guy. So he serves as a reference for me. I'm offered the job, and I start that job less than a week after I resigned from the church. Scene number two. February 1st of this year, I came on staff as the interim youth director at Midtown Church. Somebody say praise God. February 8th, excuse me, Tuesday, February 9th, eight days later, I was informed by the anti-tobacco program that I'd now been working for since 2018, that has been around for almost 30 years, that the entire program is coming to an end on March 31st. I share those two scenes of my life with you to let you know that God knows everything about you. But before the world began began, God would know every need that you would ever have. And before He set the universe into motion, he had already provided for every single one of your needs as you stepped into the moment that you would need it. God knows all things. And so that leads us to three scenes from Scripture. Scene number one is a scene from the Psalms, and the title of that scene is God Knows All. Somebody say God Knows All. Psalm 139, verses 1 to 4. Check them out on the screen. Oh Lord, you have examined my heart and know what?

unknown 4:47

Everything about me.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts, even when I'm far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know what? You know everything I do, God. You know what I'm going to say when. Even before I say it. God knows every single thing about you. God knew everything about you before the world even began. He knew every single detail of your life. He knew every sin you would commit, every mistake you would ever make, your greatest failure. He knew before he even created the world. He knows every success you will experience. He knows every thought that you will ever think. He knows every word that you will ever speak. He knows every single detail of every single scene of your life. And that reminds me of scene selection. I don't know if you remember scene selection, but on DVDs and Blu-rays, you could pull up every scene in a movie. It's called scene selection, and you could select which scene you wanted to watch. If you noticed a detail early in the movie, and then later on in the movie in another scene, you caught a connection to that detail, you could then pull up scene selection, go all the way back to the scene you caught the detail in, rewatch it, and better understand the details of the connection between the two scenes. God has every scene of your life pulled up, and He can watch every single scene of your life and knows every single detail of every single scene of your life simultaneously and eternally. But God's knowledge is infinite. Somebody say God's knowledge is infinite. He knows all things, past, present, and future. And so not only does he know every single detail of every single scene of your life, he knows every single detail of every single scene of every single person's life who previously existed, who currently exists, and who will ever exist. And he knows all those details simultaneously and eternally. But watch this. This blows my mind. God doesn't just know every single detail of every single scene of every single person who has ever existed, currently exists, or will ever exist. He also knows every single detail of every single scene of every single person's life who could possibly exist but never will. So he knows every single detail of every single scene of every single person's fictional life, fictional character that you've ever created in your mind who had a limited lifespan and limited details. He knows every single detail about that fictional character. So Spider-Man. He knows every single detail of every single scene, of every single Spider-Man that has already been invented, and every single one that has not yet been invented, and all the ones that will never be invented. And he knows all those things simultaneously and eternally. And so God knows every single detail of all reality, but also he knows every single detail of all possible reality that will never exist. And so whenever you chewed that piece of gum and you put it under your desk in third grade, he knows exactly what would have happened had you not done that. He knows exactly what would have happened had you not married that person, or had you married that person, or had you made that biggest mistake in your life that you didn't. He knows exactly what wouldn't have happened had you not made the mistake that you did. Had you not gone on the date with that person, had you gone on the date with that person. He knows every single detail of every single scene of every single person possible and real. And here's what blows my mind even more. God doesn't think, he just knows. God doesn't have to reason his way through things the way that we do, he doesn't have to consider things, he doesn't have to use logic to work his way through things, he doesn't have to think through things, he just knows all things simultaneously and eternally. Thinking about that topic and studying it pushed me to Genesis chapter 3. In Genesis chapter 3, we're told that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. And we're told that the serpent came to Eve and told Eve, if you eat this fruit, you'll become like God, knowing what? Both good and evil. And so you have to understand that at that moment, as Adam and Eve ate that forbidden fruit, they came to a place where now they didn't just know the knowledge of good, but now they know the knowledge of good and evil. And so in that moment, we have to understand that there were then things that Adam and Eve wished they didn't know. They didn't want to know evil no more. They had knowledge that they wished they didn't have. And so studying that, it made me ask the question about God, and it's just a question, it's a pondering something I do that God doesn't have to do. I wondered, since God knows all things, he knows the detail of every single scene, of every single life, of every single person, and all things possible and all things real, is it possible that there are things that God knows that he wished he didn't know? Is there knowledge that God has that he doesn't want to know? For example, God knows every single detail of the most heinous crimes ever committed. Does he want to know that? God knows every single detail of the most evil of things that are done to children. Does God wish that he doesn't know that? Whether there are things that God knows that he doesn't want to know, one thing we can be certain is that there is one thing that God does want to know, and that's you. That leads us to scene number two. Scene number two is a scene from the streets, and the title of this scene is God Wants to Know You. There's one major problem. God wants to know us, He knows everything about us, and still He wants to know us. But there's this thing called sin. Sin separates us from God. But God knew every single sin, every mistake, every failure that you would ever make before He created you, before He set the universe in motion, He knew all of those things about you, and still He wants to know you because He loves you. And so before the world ever began, He provided a way to remove every obstacle that would ever prevent you from coming to know Him. And that's why, in reference to Jesus, Revelation 13, 8 says, the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world. In John 1, John the Baptist looks at Jesus and he says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Romans 5, 6 to 8 says this. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for who? Before we were ever born, Christ died for the ungodly things that you and I would do. He knew those things and provided a way to remove them from you and I knowing him. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this way. He shows us what his love is like in this way. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God loves us so much so and wants to know us so much so that before we were ever born, he provided a way to remove every obstacle that would keep us from knowing him. And so the question is not, does God want to know us? We know that he does. The question is, do we want to know him? And that brings us to this scene in the streets from Matthew 7, 21 to 23. Matthew 7, 21 to 23, Jesus is in the streets. He's having a conversation, and he says, This, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father in heaven will enter. And Jesus tells us in another place in John chapter 6, he says, It is the will of God that you believe in me. And when he says, It is the will of God that you believe in me, he's not simply saying that we can just agree that Jesus is who he says he is. It's not simply acknowledging the fact that Jesus died for our sins. It's not simply acknowledging the fact that on the third day he rose from the grave. It's not simply acknowledging the fact that he is who he says he is, it can do what he says he can do. It's moving from that place of acknowledging those things as facts to the place of I'm ready to give my heart to you, Jesus, because I know who you are. I know that you love me. I know that despite my sin and my shame, you want to know me, and I want to give myself to you. I want to know you. I want to surrender to you in faith. That's the place that Jesus is talking about. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me, On that day, Jesus said, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name? Lord, did we not perform any miracles in your name? Look at me, God, look at what I did. And I will say to them, on that day, away from me, you workers of evil, I never knew you. And that statement is always striking to me because we're told elsewhere that Jesus knows everything about us. So what does it mean? What does it mean when he says, I never knew you? It reminds me of Genesis chapter 3. See, in Genesis chapter 3, we're told that Adam and Eve ate that forbidden fruit, and as they ate that forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked, and for the first time ever, they were ashamed. So, what did they do? Genesis 3 says that they ran away from God, they tried to hide from God, and then they did something else. They took fig leaves and tried to cover themselves. Because of their sin, they felt ashamed, and therefore they didn't want God to see their heart. They didn't want God to know who they really were, they didn't want God to see what was really in them now. They felt ashamed of it, so they tried to run away from him, hide from him, and cover up what they were feeling on the inside, and cover up their sin, and cover up their shame, and cover up their failure and their mistakes. And so when Jesus says these words in Matthew 7, he's talking to people in a very religious society. He's talking to people known as the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day who created all these rules and traditions that people needed to follow, these expectations that they would try to follow. Why? Because it made them feel better about who they were and the mistakes that they made and the sins in their lives. They thought, if I just do that, I'll be this, I'll be right with God. If I just do that, I'll be right with God. This makes me feel better about myself. The Pharisees and the people of that day, they wrapped themselves in the robes of religiosity, thinking that it made them right with God, thinking that it covered the shame, thinking that it covered their sin. And we do that today, right? We think if we do our devos or we pray or we read our Bible, then that covers all of those things when really it's giving our heart to Jesus. It's us coming to the place where we acknowledge, yes, God, I'm a sinner, and I feel shame and hurt from the things that people have done to me and the things that I've done. But God, I'm willing to give my heart to you. I'm willing to surrender my life to you in faith because you knew this before the world ever began, and you provided a way for me to know you. See, God, He can't save the person you pretend to be. He can only save you. God can't bless the person you pretend to be. He can only bless you. And so some of us we we come in here thinking, you know, I'm a good Christian. Uh I'm right with God because of the things that I do. Some of us we come in here with designer clothes on, designer shoes on, and the bank accounts overdrawn because we want to look a certain type of way. But God is calling us to be real. It's not about how you look, it's about what you're willing to give to God. Your heart. Are you willing to give your heart to Him? When I was 16, I was arrested for the first time for underage possession of a firearm. I was so drunk and so high in the backseat of a car after a botched robbery. I fell asleep with a loaded gun in my hand and a beer bottle between my legs. And as I did that, the beer bottle fell over into the floorboard. And when it did, it woke me up and I leaned over to pick it up, and boom, gun goes off. I accidentally shoot myself in the leg. Before the world began, God knew that I was gonna make that mistake. Before the world began, God knew that I was gonna commit that sin, that I was gonna commit that failure. And before the world began, he had already provided a way of protection for me so that as that bullet entered my leg even at a strange angle and came out all the way down here, it completely missed the main artery in my leg so that I didn't bleed out like I should have, and I didn't die like I should have. But not only that, it completely missed the bones in my knee joint as it passed through my leg, so that there was no damage to my leg, so that now today I can stand on this stage walking just fine. And I can preach this message to you, even though I should be so ashamed of telling you that story. But I know that God knew before the world began that he was gonna use that for good. And so he took that epic failure and he put me into a position where I had conversation after conversation with a girl about a message called the gospel. And the gospel is this Jesus died for our sins to pay for our sins, to pay a debt that we owed that we could not pay ourselves. And three days later, he rose from the grave, and that girl told me, He's got that kind of power, he can change your life. But before the world began, God knew I wasn't ready yet. And so, two more times, that's three times in less than a year, I ended up being arrested again. And at 17 years old, in Gwinnett County holding cell, I fell flat down on my face on a cold metal bench, and I cried out to God and I said, God, I don't want to live like this anymore, but I know I can't change. I said, You know I can't change. I said, Take my life and do what you want with it. Make me who you want me to be. And up until that point in my life, I would have told you that I believe Jesus died for my sins. I would have told you that I believe he rose from the grave on the third day, but I've never given my Heart to him. I'd never surrendered my life to him. I'd never had faith in him. But right there in that jail cell for the first time in my life, I gave him my heart and everything in it. I surrendered my life to him in faith. And even though I was in a jail cell, I was more free than I'd ever been before in my life. And as I walked out of that jail cell, God radically transformed my life. He radically transformed the direction of my life so that eventually I became a youth pastor, and that's what brings me here today. And some of you, you need to wrestle with God like that. Because we come up in here thinking, man, I read my Bible. I'm a good Christian. I go to church. I pray every day. I do my devos. I've helped out uh in church. I've even helped out in youth camp.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

All of these things are good. But what I really want is your heart.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

But God, I I give money to the church. I give 10%. I tithe. I even dress my best when I come to church.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

No, you're not hearing me. I don't want your performance. I don't want the person you pretend to be. I want the real you. I want your heart.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

But God, that's that's why I do those things because they make me feel better about myself and the things that I've done, the mistakes I've made, the sins I've committed, the failures of my life, God, they make me feel better about myself. If people knew what was really in my heart, if they knew the sin, if they knew the failure, if they knew the mistakes, if they knew the pain, the things that people have done to me, nobody would ever accept me for who I really am. God, nobody could ever love me for who I am, not even you.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

I knew everything you'd ever do before you were ever born. Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you and I loved you. I knew every mistake you'd ever make, and I love you still. I love you anyway. That's why before you were ever born, Jesus died for you. So surrender to me and give me your whole heart.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

God wants your heart. He doesn't want you to run and hide from your sin and your shame. He wants you to give him your heart and everything in it. He wants to reel you. And that leads us to scene number three. A scene from the seas. God knew. God knew then exactly what you would need right now. God knew back then, before the world began, the exact word that you would need to hear right now in this moment. God knew back then before the world began the exact message from Him that you would need to hear right now in this moment. God knew back then exactly what you would need now in your moment of greatest failure, and your moment of greatest sin and your moment of your greatest mistake, he knew then exactly what you would need right now. Matthew 14, verses 22 to 33. Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him to the next city that they're going to. They get on a boat and they're out on the seas. Jesus is up on a mountain and he's praying and he decides to go and meet them, and he leaves to go and meet them. As he's going to meet them, he's walking on the water. As he's walking on the water, the winds are blowing against that boat. It's rocking them. And even though they're experienced at being on boats, they're scared because the winds are so rough. The storm is beating against them. And as Jesus is walking on the water, they see him and they become even more afraid. They think he's a ghost and they cry out because they're afraid. But Jesus is like, yo, Jill, it's just me. And Peter's like, oh, for real, Jesus? Well, if it's just you, then command me to come out on the waves. And he was like, Come on. So Peter steps out of the boat and onto the waves. And I don't know if you realize this, but as followers of Jesus, we're called to live a life of faith, meaning that sometimes he calls us to step out of the boat and into risk because of our faith in him. And so Peter takes that step, and as he steps out onto the waves, the winds are blowing, they're rocking the boat, and they're rocking him. He's distracted by the storm around him, and he feels the impact of the storm within him. And as he does, he begins to sink beneath the waves. But Jesus knew then what Peter would need now. And so as Peter begins to sink beneath the waves of doubt, Jesus is right there in front of him with his hand out, and Peter cries out, Lord, save me. And Jesus takes Peter's hand, he pulls him up from beneath the waves he's drowning in, he puts him back in the boat. And this would become an incredibly important moment in Peter's life because not long after this, he would make the greatest mistake of his life by denying Jesus three times. And it was important for Peter to get this lesson because in his moment of greatest failure, he's reminded that even when I mess up in my moment of greatest failure and I'm sinking beneath the waves, Jesus is always going to be there to pull me back up from the waves I'm drowning beneath when I fix my eyes on him. And so Jesus is saying to us today, take your eyes off the storm around you, take your eyes off the storm within you, fix your eyes on me. I am the author and perfecter of your faith. I am the one who, for the joy set before me, endured the cross to save you. Brothers and sisters, Jesus knows everything about you. Jesus knows everything you need. And Jesus is everything you need. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus is the beginning and the end. Jesus is the first and the last. Jesus is the judge. Jesus is the killer of death. Jesus is the keeper of life. Jesus is the King of Kings. Jesus is the Lord of Lords. Jesus is love. Jesus is life. Jesus is our maker. Jesus is our Messiah. Jesus is our master. Jesus is the newness of life. Jesus is never ending. Jesus is never gonna stop. Jesus is omnipotent. Jesus is omnipresent. Jesus is omniscient. Jesus is the orchestrator of the miraculous. Jesus is our provider. Jesus is our power. Jesus is our peace. Jesus is our promise. Jesus is the question we should all be asking. Jesus is the quest we should all be on. And Jesus is the quiet in the midst of the storm. Jesus is the reason for every season and everything. Jesus is the realest one you know. And Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus is the solution to every problem. Jesus is our savior and Jesus is our sanity. Jesus is trustworthy. Jesus is our teacher. Jesus is our truth but Jesus is the truth. Jesus is understanding. Jesus is unending Jesus is unstoppable. Jesus is our vision for life. Jesus is our victory and Jesus is a very present help in a time of need. Jesus is the word of God. Jesus is worthy of all of our worship and Jesus is the way maker Jesus is the X Factor. Jesus is the X-ray by which we see within ourselves the desperate need for salvation and Jesus is the xylophone on which the Father plays the music of salvation. Jesus is the yearning of all of our souls. Jesus is yours and Jesus is the yes and the amen to every promise from God. Jesus is the zen that we all seek. Jesus is the zero point of all things and Jesus is the zenith over everything. Brothers and sisters Jesus knows everything about you. Jesus knows everything you need and Jesus is everything you need. And today today he's here calling out to us and he's saying take your eyes off of the storm around you take your eyes off of the storm within you fix your eyes on me. I'm here I'm ready I'm holding my hand out I'm ready to pull you up from beneath the waves I don't know what scene of your life you're in. Maybe you're drowning in the waves of addiction maybe you're being battered by the storm of a false identity. Maybe you're drowning beneath the darkest depression you've ever experienced or the the deepest doubt you've ever felt I don't know what scene you're in but he does. And today he's calling out to you and he's saying take my hand and let me lift you up from the waves that you're drowning in. God we come before you today in the name of Jesus God we thank you and we praise you Lord that there's nobody like you we we thank you that you are Lord over the storm you are Lord over the boat. You are Lord over the waves God and you are the worker of the miraculous you are the worker of the impossible so even when we get to a place of truly drowning you are right there to pull us up God you are the one who puts the breath back in our lungs and so Lord we ask that today you help us breathe again we surrender to you God we ask Holy Spirit that you would move in our hearts that you would lead us to give ourselves fully to you so that you can do what you want to do in our lives God. I thank you for every person that is in this room today. I thank you for every person that is at this altar today laying themselves down before you Lord crying out to you and saying I'm ready God for you to rescue me. I'm ready God for you to lift me back up God I pray that you would put them on the exact path that you want them to live out the purpose you have given them and that you would continue to lead them to to just die to themselves every day and give themselves fully to you God so that you can use them to build your kingdom and bring your name glory Lord. God we thank you for who you are we thank you for all you've done we thank you for all you're doing right now and we praise you in advance God for all that you're going to to do we ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus amen