Dwelling Place

Narrator: Today, on the Dwelling Place.

Al Pittman: In other words, do not deceive yourselves. If we're going to keep that sin off, don't don't give it a new name. That's a problem with sin today is that it used to be sin yesterday, but mankind takes it and gives it a new label, calls it a disease and and gives you a pill for it. It's still sin to God and it must be repented of. Do not deceive yourselves. If it's sin, call it sin. Physically speaking, if you have, let's say this way, if if this was a weight loss conference, I would say to you, if your waist is 38, stop buying 34 pants, Amen.

Music: Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place, you are my Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place, Dwelling Place.

Narrator: Thank you for listening to the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow. To support this program financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at alpittmanministries.com. That's alpittmanministries.com. Thank you for partnering with us.

Narrator: Today we hear a message that was taught at the Soul Cow Men's Conference titled, The Pursuit of God. Even though this was taught to men, God's Word can be applied to everyone. So we hope you are ready to receive what God has for you. Now, here's Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: Oh, I love that song. Wasn't that a great song, man? That I'd like

Al Pittman: This is my story.

Al Pittman: This is my song. I love that.

Al Pittman: Praising my Savior. All the day long.

Al Pittman: Yeah.

Al Pittman: And this is my story. This is my song. Yeah.

Al Pittman: And praising my Savior. All the day long.

Al Pittman: Oh, blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, isn't God good? Hallelujah. They didn't ask me to sing, Amen. They didn't ask me to sing.

Al Pittman: Oh, God is so good, so great to be with you guys. What an amazing move of God. Don McClore and Bobby Hargrave, man. I mean, just that word, I needed it. I'm here to receive, not only to give, but I need to deliver to you the the mail. Amen. I'm just a holy mail man. Praise the Lord.

Al Pittman: And I want to talk to you about the pursuit of God. Philippians chapter 3, verses 8 to 11. Philippians chapter 3, verses 8 to 11. And if you have a Bible, turn there. I want to read that portion of scripture to you. Let us pray. Father, we ask for your blessing upon your word, that your word would go forth in your power, that it will not return to you void, but will accomplish that which you sent it to do. Grant to us ears to hear and hearts to receive your word, that we might bear fruit to your glory. In Jesus' name, and everyone said. Amen. Praise the Lord.

Al Pittman: The Word of God says, Philippians chapter 3, verse 8 says, yet. Paul the apostle says, yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his his death. In verse 11 says, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. Amen. God bless his Word.

Al Pittman: The Apostle Paul reveals here what I believe is three essential aspects of a genuine pursuit of the Lord. Those three things are these. Number one, losing, number two, gaining, number three, knowing. Those three things really identify, I believe, the a genuine pursuit in the Lord. The first is losing, verse 8, he says, I count everything loss. No one wants to be called a loser, but in Jesus it's a compliment.

Al Pittman: I count everything loss, that I may gain Christ. The loss that we experience is not without purpose. Paul declares that purpose for which he suffered loss. He says that I may have the excellence of the knowledge, the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. Unless we consider the knowledge of Jesus far more excellent than the former pursuits of the flesh, our faith will become will be rather, without any purpose or passion within our life.

Al Pittman: I'll say it again. Unless Christ is the main pursuit of our life, our faith will not have purpose or passion. He said, I'm pursuing the excellence of Christ. That word excellence, it it means in the Greek to to have or to to hold all. It it means to be that which is superior in rank and all authority.

Al Pittman: For those of us who are married, and those of you maybe you're dating a girl that you really like, a woman that you really like and all. You you know about pursuit. Amen. Let's not act like we're ignorant of it, Amen. We we know about what what it means uh to pursue. And uh, you know, we had to change some things in our pursuit. We we counted everything and everyone as loss, if you will, that we might gain that sweet thing.

Al Pittman: The excellence of the knowledge of her. Amen. And so, guys, when we find ourselves sometimes, finding yourself standing in the aisle between the scented candles and the essential oils and the uh bath and body works. I had to write it down. Amen. And you're asking yourself, how did I get here because I used to be so cool? Your pursuit got you there. Amen.

Al Pittman: I should be at home watching the game, but no, your pursuit to know her. Amen. That is what got you there. Uh, you know, I knew about pursuing my wife. I I I I saw her first time I saw her, I knew I was in love with her. And then our first date, I bought some of those store they weren't even in the store. The guy on the on the corner selling flowers. And I bought some flowers from from that guy and I drove, you know, to her house and and uh gave her the flowers.

Al Pittman: She came into the living room, oh, she looked fine. Woo! You know what I'm talking about, yeah, you know what I'm saying. And uh, you know, anyway. So, I was just And I gave her the flowers. This is in her dad. Dad was a World War II veteran, big guy, mechanic, hands made two of my hands, one of those kind of guys, rough, tough dad guy. Would break your neck if you looked at him wrong. And he was in the next room, but when I saw her and I gave it to her flowers, I grabbed her and, man, I planted a kiss on her. Woo!

Al Pittman: I did not care where her daddy was. He could have been standing right there. That's pursuit. She had an old boyfriend that she was dating at the time and uh I was still in hot pursuit. Amen. I dropped her off one night and he pulls out from the alley, you know, with into his car with his lights on, driving all close, trying to run me off the road. I still kept coming, Amen. That's pursuit. Amen.

Al Pittman: We know about pursuit. You have to lay aside all things, count all loss. He counted all loss, even your very life for that woman you now have. Count the knowledge of her, the knowledge of your bride, more excellent. More excellent than football. Some of you will get that. All right. Just to know her, just to be with her, to have the knowledge of her. It's the same, and even more so with Christ.

Al Pittman: To know Jesus. I must count those things which seek to rob the Lord of my affection as rubbish. The old King James version says, as dung. That is the stuff your dog leaves in your backyard. I must count it as dung if I'm going to know the excellence of the knowledge of Christ.

Al Pittman: The loss that we suffer is not only spiritual, but it can also be material. It could be social today. And when we pursue Christ, your pursuit of Christ can cost you some things. Paul, because of his Paul the Apostle, because of his pursuit of Christ, lost all things, not only spiritually, but materially and positionally. He lost his position uh in the religion of Judaism and in all. And so, he was willing to lose all those things, and he counted the influence and affluence of life as dung that he might indeed pursue Christ.

Al Pittman: He was ostracized by society. Some of you are facing that today. As uh Don mentioned and and uh and all that you're facing the rejection of society. Maybe your friends, it's changing, your friends don't call you anymore, your, you know, your job, you don't get the promotion or whatever, because of your pursuit of Jesus Christ. The pursuit of Christ carries with it a cost.

Al Pittman: Jesus said in Luke chapter 14, verses 26-27, he says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, brothers and sisters, yet uh, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple, and whoever does not bear his cross and comes after me, cannot be my disciple. That's tough. What was he saying? That you would go around hating people? No. Not saying that you'd go around hating people, but there is a cost associated with our pursuit.

Al Pittman: Our pursuit of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, must outrank every other pursuit if we will have the knowledge of Christ. John chapter 3, verse 30. John the Baptizer, the Baptist said, He must decrease that he said, he must increase, rather, Jesus must increase, but I must decrease. And literally, in the original Greek, it's that he must continually increase and I must continually decrease in my life. Continually. It's ongoing.

Al Pittman: If I'm going to pursue Christ, I must learn to be a loser in the good sense. I count everything as loss, that I may gain him if we would possess the excellency of the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Less I possess a faith that looks like more of a treadmill faith, running but never moving forward. A lot of activity, but never moving forward.

Al Pittman: We lose, we surrender to God, that we might possess a transformative faith, not a treadmill faith. A faith that transforms you by the power of God. Here's the second essential aspect of a genuine pursuit of God. And that is we must not only lose, but we should also be gaining. Paul's loss resulted in gain. That is a healthier relationship with Christ. He said that I may gain Christ. I considered it loss. I lose these things that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, not my own self-righteousness, but that which is through faith in Christ, who is the righteousness, that righteousness which is from God by faith.

Al Pittman: The word gain, the Greek word, could dino. It means gain arising from escaping evil. Now, the world tells us differently, that the more evil you have, the more abundant life you're going to have. That's a lie. We know. We got a room full of guys who know, auditorium full of guys who know that that is a lie. That more evil is not gain. In fact, it has cost us. Many of us can testify to that. It has brought it's lost to our lives in a bad way.

Al Pittman: I was reading an article about weight loss and just uh, you know, I'm so skinny, I don't need to lose any more weight, but and you didn't come to a weight loss conference, but uh, Amen. This is not no no condemnation, guys. But but they say that if you lose weight gradually, that's a good thing. Not this all at once, you know. If you lose one to two pounds a week, they say that you are more than likely to keep the weight off. The problem with gaining Christ many times is the weight of sin that we keep putting on.

Al Pittman: Amen. And we need to resist that. And there are five steps in this one article lists five steps that you can take in order to keep the weight off. Now, we're talking that like I said, not a weight conference or anything like that or weight loss conference. But those those uh five aspects of keeping the weight off, you know, I started looking at those up, man, you could apply those spiritually. I want to go over those five with you real quick.

Al Pittman: The first one was this, make a commitment, Amen. You're never going to lose weight if you don't make commitment, right? Make a commitment. Applied spiritually, here's what the Bible says. Jesus said that no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be uh, or else the uh, he will uh be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. You cannot serve God and money. You cannot serve God and things. You cannot serve God and other people. God must be God alone in your life. Amen.

Al Pittman: And listen, the weight will not come off until we're willing to take off the old man and put on the new man. We can't carry the old man, the old sins of our life, the old habits and all, you know, along with us and have the new man too. You've got to make a decision. You've got to make a commitment. That's the first thing if we're going to keep, if you will, the weight off so that I might gain Christ, so that I can run my race in Jesus Christ.

Al Pittman: The second thing I need to do it said in this weight loss article, it said to take stock of where you are. Applied spiritually, we think of 2 Corinthians chapter 13, the first part of verse 5 says, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. In other words, do not deceive yourselves. If we're going to keep that sin off, don't don't give it a new name. That's the problem with sin today is that it used to be sin yesterday, but mankind takes it and gives it a new label, calls it a disease and and gives you a pill for it. It's still sin to God. And it must be repented of. Do not deceive yourselves. If it's sin, call it sin. Physically speaking, if you have, let's say this way, if if this was a weight loss conference, I would say to you, if your waist is 38, stop buying 34 pants. Amen.

Al Pittman: Examine yourself in the mirror. Amen. In the mirror is God's Word, we could say that. But examine yourself. Stop deceiving yourselves. The third step in keeping the weight off, if you will, is to to set realistic goals. Spiritually speaking, or the spiritual application, you could say Romans chapter 12, verse 3. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. I love that. Not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to. Set realistic goals. In other words, be careful. Hear me now. Be careful that you are not adding unwanted unwarranted condemnation to your life. A lot of, you know, the enemy, the devil is the what? The accuser of the brethren.

Al Pittman: And he's making accusations against you even now. And a lot of times those accusations come because we set unrealis unrealistic goals for ourselves and we bring upon ourselves unwarranted condemnation. And yet the Bible tells us there is now no what? Condemnation. Romans 8:1, for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rather than trying to impress God, let God put the impression of his love and grace upon your life. Amen. Because that's what we live by, by God's love and by his grace.

Al Pittman: Rather than trying to impress him. You know, God's not impressed with me. He wants me to be impressed by his love and to respond to his love and his grace. Here's the fourth thing in regards to uh, if you will, weight loss physically, but spiritually we're talking about here today. The fourth thing is identif- identify resources and support. You're going to continue to keep the weight off and all, identify resources and support. Spiritually applied, the primary spiritual resource and support, number one, the resource is the fear of God, the support is the Word of God.

Al Pittman: We need that in our lives. Proverbs chapter 3, verses 7 and 8 talks about the uh resources, do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Amen. We need the fear of the Lord, we need the Word of the Lord as our primary resource and support. The fifth thing that the talked about in his article, finally, fifth thing is that we should you should, if you want to keep weight off physically, but in the spiritual sense, continually monitor your progress.

Al Pittman: Spiritual application of that is Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 to 13, where Paul says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Listen, living for his good pleasure is progress in our pursuit of God. Amen. Pursuing him, as David was a man after God's own heart. Keeping in order to pursue him, I've got to keep the weight off.

Al Pittman: And those are great five five steps or five spiritual weight loss steps, if you will, that we can apply to our our own lives that we might be found in him, Paul says, not with the righteousness of my own, but with that righteousness which comes from God, the righteousness of Christ, and is by faith. Here's the third and final evidence. We talked about losing and gaining. And now finally, knowing. The third and final evidence of a genuine pursuit of God, is to know him.

Al Pittman: Why are we here? To know him. Why do we read our Bibles? To know him. Why do we pray? To know him. It's about knowing him. Not appeasing men. Not impressing people, but knowing him. Do you know him? Amen. Do you know him? You will become the very thing that you pursue. Amen. You become the very thing you pursue. If we want to know him, if we're pursuing him, then we will be like Jesus. It's important. Amen.

Al Pittman: It's important for us to understand that Christ must be our pursuit. We're pursuing him that we may know him. You know, I didn't pursue my wife so that I could live in the same city she's in or whatever. I wanted to know her. Amen.