Pursued by God – March 8, 2015

I. Opening: Today is International Women’s Day, addressing the women, but pray all
are encouraged and able to hear something from the Holy Spirit

A. A lot of jokes in the world about the confusing minds of women and what they
want

1. “The great question that has never been answered, and which I have
not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul,
is 'What does a woman want?'” –Sigmund Freud

2. “After about 20 years of marriage, I'm finally starting to scratch the

surface of what women want. And I think the answer lies somewhere between
conversation and chocolate.” –Mel Gibson

II. What we want deep in our hearts

A. Christian writer Staci Eldridge writes, “Although every woman is a unique

creation of God, we share an essence at our cores. We share desires. Every woman's
heart holds three core desires: the desire to be romanced; the desire to play an
irreplaceable role in a heroic adventure; and the desire to have a beauty all our own to
unveil. Because of the desires God placed in woman, every little girl is asking one
question: "Do you delight in me? Am I lovely? Am I worth fighting for?"”

1. A lot of books, movies, legends made for women portray stories that cater to
these desires like Sleeping Beauty, Helen of Troy and Ulysses in Ancient Greece, and
Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare.

2. But these are false realities, because they place expectations on another
human that can only be met by God.

3. Only God can meet the deepest desires of our hearts to be pursued,
protected, and loved

4. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take
refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” Ps. 118:8-9

a. Many young women have this list of ideals in their heads they want in a
husband or father, but no person is perfect, and it’s unreasonable to expect fulfill all of
your needs and make you completely happy. Only God can do that; only He is eternal,
unchanging, forever faithful, always just, pure, righteous, holy, and loving. Don’t expect
a husband to be God.
 b. So, if you’re waiting on God for a husband, not sure about marriage or
currently married, know that no one is going to fulfill your deepest desires and
hopes and be your all-in-all, your prince, except the Prince of Peace, Jesus.

III. Wrong ways of fulfilling this desire

1. Because of sin and brokenness, people who don’t know God (and who do) will
seek love in many wrong ways, falling way short of what God desires

a. improper relationships

1.My past relationship: dysfunctional: took my identity from this

person, who criticized me often, didn’t want to commit, only wanted me
around when it suited him, so I did things I was uncomfortable
with/immoral things in the hopes of earning his love and approval; never
felt loved or valued or acceptable for who I was; so there was always the
fear of being rejected and cast aside

-hindered my relationship with God & how I understood Him as a

father, love, bridegroom with unconditional love; felt I had to earn it and
that I was constantly going to disappoint Him and never be good enough

-had junk to work through after becoming a Christian so as to not

let those thoughts taint my relationship with my future husband

b. having been hurt by men, they don’t trust them and get into all sorts of
abusive relationships

c. withdraw and denounce men and marriage (or lesbianism)

d. don’t feel worthy of love and care

e. filled with insecurity and worried they don’t measure up to society’s

beauty standards

2. All this can affect how we view God and His love for us

A. Lillette: abandoned by father at age 6 for alcohol, sexually abused by

uncle for years, mother said she wished she’d aborted her…so much
rejection that she couldn’t comprehend a God who could love her so
unconditionally and extravagantly when I shared with her about Jesus;
very guarded around men and very independent, a failed marriage, but
with all that God still desires to draw her to Himself to show her what real
love looks like that will never disappoint or reject, perfect love that casts
out all fear
 B. insecurity, religious spirit, fear of rejection/failure, condemnation

C. we either run from God or try to earn his love through works, always
coming up short

IV. Getting a right perspective

1. “When I stand up to preach the Gospel, I often preach to people who have no
idea who God is because they worship idols, very terrible idols. They spread the table
for their gods, and I tell them that the Christian God does it the other way around. He
spreads the table for His children. In the other religions people always seek God. In the
Christian faith, God seeks man.”
Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist – Christ for all Nations

2. Parables in Luke 15: 4-7 (Lost Sheep and Lost Coin)

A. 4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of

them, does not leave the ninety- nine in the open country, and go after the one
that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his
shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends
and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep
that was lost. ' 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety- nine righteous persons who need no
repentance.

8 "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a
lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she
has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with
me, for I have found the coin that I had lost. ' 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy
before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

B. God has pursued us, even when we were unloveable and undesireable

3. When we have become His children

A. You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;

you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,

with one jewel of your necklace.

10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is your love than wine, --Song of Solomon 4:9-10

B. Is. 62:3-5; 3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,

and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,

and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,

but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,

and your land Married;

for the Lord delights in you,

and your land shall be married.

5 For as a young man marries a young woman,

so shall your sons marry you,

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God rejoice over you.

4. People God pursued in Bible

A. Adam and Eve; God called for them asking where they were hiding

B. Abraham

1. “1 Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your
kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will
make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name
great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you,
and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed.’” Genesis 12:1-3

C. Israel using Moses

1. 23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the
people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.
Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their
groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac,
and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. Exodus
2:23-25
 2. So he appeared to Moses in a burning bush, named Himself and
sent Moses to rescue God’s people who didn’t even know Him yet. The
verses do not say that Israel cried out to God, but just that God heard their
groaning and remembered His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Though His people had forgotten Him, He remembered them and rescued
them.

3. Even when we were enemies of God, He pursued us. 1 John

4:19 “We love because He first loved us.”

5. Jesus Pursues the Hearts of Women in NT

A. When Jesus was alive on earth, it was not a good situation for women

1. How He treated women ran completely counter-culture

2. They were treated more like property than people

3. A husband could divorce wife for any reason, and the wife had
no legal rights

4. It was not often that women were taught Torah, and were
excluded from much of the religious life

B. Examples of Jesus’ encounters with women in Gospels

1. Samaritan woman at the well: she was a woman, bad reputation,

and from a race that the Jews considered unclean

a. The disciples found Him speaking with her and were

shocked that he would talk openly with a woman; this was unheard of; but didn’t deter
Jesus

b. He spoke first to her, acknowledging her, not ashamed of

her

c. He spoke to her of spiritual things: living water, worshiping

a God you can know in spirit and truth

d. He spoke prophetically to her, confronting her sin, but

showing a way to be free through Him

e. Through her, he reached a whole village of Samaritans

with the truth

2. Woman w/Disabling Spirit in Luke 13

 a. 10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on
the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a
disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not
fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her
over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your
disability." 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she
was made straight, and she glorified God. 14 But the ruler of the
synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,
said to the people, "There are six days in which work ought to be
done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath
day." 15 Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not
each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the
manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman,
a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be
loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" 17 As he said these
things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people
rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

b. He called her a daughter of Abraham, a person of faith,

receiving the inheritance of God

3. Mary Magdalene

a. Jesus had cast out 7 demons from her

b. He allowed her to follow Him as He ministered

c. When He’d risen, He sent her to tell everyone

6. This is how God pursues all His people with love: from Hosea 2:14-23

A. 14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

15 And there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 "And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will
you call me 'My Baal. ' 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and
they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on
that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of
the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make
you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in
righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me
in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

21 "And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord,

I will answer the heavens,

and they shall answer the earth,

22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and they shall answer Jezreel,

23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.

And I will have mercy on No Mercy,

and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people';

and he shall say, 'You are my God. '"

V. Our Response

A. Like in Hosea, we remove the names of Baals from mouths; remove all idols
and hindrances to loving and seeking God wholeheartedly

B. Don’t hide like Adam and Eve; don’t rebel like stubborn Israel after He led
them out of Egypt

C. Mary of Bethany: poured out worship extravagantly, expensive perfume;

Jesus honored her

D. Like Mary, mother of Jesus: sang a song of worship, “My soul magnifies the
Lord!”

E. Lastly, don’t try to earn His love and favor

1. Is. 30:15 "In returning and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."