You are invited to stop chasing the blessings and start pursuing the Blesser in your daily life. Take time to sit at His feet without an agenda, allowing His presence to satisfy your soul completely. Commit to making Him your first love and priority above all else.
Today, I have the privilege. Robbie Pastor Robbie Huffman, would you come out?
Honor.
What you honor, you can receive from. This **man of God** is an evangelist on staff at Real Church. 30 third company sent him. Here, we hired him as a youth pastor slash running Belong, and and taking Belong to the next level, our Belong ministry on Tuesday nights. And boy, has he ever done that.
We have a culture of evangelism and discipleship throughout our church. A lot of of what because of what this man has sowed into you guys. So I'm I'm proud to get to have him on our staff. I've heard the outline and a lot of the points that he's gonna make today. It's powerful.
I want you to "lean in". This is going to challenge you forward in your personal relationship with Jesus, maybe as much as any message you've ever heard. So prepare your heart, take notes, process this, and allow the Lord to speak to you through my my good friend, pastor Robbie Hoffman.
Amen. Thank you, pastor David. Well, somebody must have prayed like Gideon because their fleece is dry. It's a little bit dewy in here. I worked on that during the worship.
Thank you. Thank you. No. But I have the honor of being able to pastor new believers as well as youth, and it's been an amazing journey. So so far, just this year, this is also including the intensive, but between Belong and what we did at Engage, the testimonies that have come from those 2 ministries and the intensive that we had in this summer, it's 223 decisions for Jesus.
Yeah. Those are all souls that are gonna be with us in heaven. And we don't just leave them in Walmart, we we invite them. We we invite them for a coffee. We invite them to belong.
We invite them to be discipled, whatever, place they are willing to come with us. So I want to make another announcement. I want to invite you, starting in August, the first Saturday of every month, we're going to have a church wide outreach. So we're going to meet in the parking lot at 09:30, once a month, the first Saturday of every month. 09:30 in the parking lot, come be equipped and go out with us and go win the loss because you We can celebrate the 223 decisions, but don't you wanna be a part of it?
And I know there's many testimonies outside of those ministries that have seen multiple testimonies, which is awesome. But come, this is an avenue to walk with people in the same direction. So I'm always honored to preach, but I I first, I wanna draw our attention and adoration unto the Lord. *Jesus*. Lord, I worship you.
I *worship you, Lord*. I ask right now the glory of God fills this room. Fill this room, Lord. Send that send your rain and pour your wind in this place, God. Send the wind.
Thank you, Jesus. I love you. My heart I'm talking about today, a topic that is so weighty in my heart. It's the importance of knowing God. It's the importance of pursuing God.
It's the importance of making him "first love" and first priority of our life. I don't know about you, I never wanna minister out of a dry well. I never wanna tell someone Jesus loves them if I'm not convinced that I'm loved by him. All we're doing is coffin dust. Man, I want my words to be clothed in his words so the words of life to get poured out.
Oh, to know him rightly in a manner that's worthy of him, and he calls all, all who are heavy laden and burdened, all who are tired, come into me, I will give you rest. The prerequisite in that statement was, you're weighty without him, you're burdened without him. Come to him, he'll give you rest. But the thing is that so often we find a habit of finding our comfort, our rest in other little things that shine way dimmer than his brilliant light. Oh, man.
Whoo. Here we go. Psalm 27 4. David was known for what? After God's own heart.
Bring up that scripture. He's he's praying to the Lord in this proverb, this this Psalm, and of course, Psalms, he has a list that he has like asking the Lord for protection and and peace, all these other things. But in this Psalm specifically, he says there's 1 thing I ask. And I'm here to tell you there's times to approach God without your prayer list. With no agenda, "no strings attached", but to simply minister hint to him for the sake of glorifying him.
Because once we get a glimpse of him, we see that he is the full package. He is enough. See, we can't separate his gifts apart from him. He's in the gift. We can't glorify something that he blessed us with over him.
The struggle when the American church today is people cheat on God with the things he blessed them with. Then you ask for more and it's a no because your heart's not okay. I feel tense in here. We okay? Man, I don't know about you.
I wanna be a man after God's own heart. Let's read this. 1 thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and to gaze upon his beauty. Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. If there was no strings attached to this, it wasn't, Lord, give me something and I'll I'll pay you back with praise.
Oh, no. That wasn't his the desire. That wasn't his ask from the Lord. He says, this 1 thing I want is to seek you, to dwell with you, and to gaze upon you. I think about how Moses, he had these 40 days with the Lord where the Lord put him in a cleft of a rock for his own protection because he was gonna pass his glory by.
And something about that encounter completely turned Moses' world upside down. He knew and saw the glory of the Lord, and he said it was everything. It became everything to him. To the point where God says, the promised land is now yours, now go. Moses begged him.
He said, Lord, I don't wanna go to the promised land without you. Why? Because he found everything that the promised land was a dimmer light with God wasn't with them. Let us be ones who not glorify a blessing over the blesser. Let us be ones who pursue the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Have we learned to open the package of righteousness right standing with God? Have we learned it's a gift, it's a free gift, everyone's welcome to it. And it was Jesus' very own gift of righteousness. He gave us his very own right standing with the father and we says, be 1 as we are 1. It's an invitation from the Lord, come away and dwell with him.
Come away and dwell with him. Get to know him because he is truly the lover of our souls if you just open our hearts to him. There is power in knowing the person of his spirit. See, we talk about the presence of the Lord and some people, they're like, it's Is the presence of God, is it just like some spiritual goo? Is it some fog that's entered the room?
No. No. No. The presence of the Lord is His person. When we get a sense of His presence, it's not just Him revealing His pinky toe to us.
His fullness, his person is in the room. And he's saying, come away. Dwell with me. Give our attention unto the Lord. My goal today is not to impress you with something you don't already know.
In fact, I assume you already know this. I'm just wanting to build it up and edify it in you. I'm not claiming to have some unknown revelation. My heart today is to provoke you to enter back into first love with him. To set your hearts on the things that that the "main thing" instead of the lesser things.
So how do we participate in this gift of righteousness? Well, Jesus modeled this. He withdrew privately to be with the father. Often, it actually listed 6 to 7 times in the scriptures and each of those times it said often he did this. So if that was important for Jesus to withdraw and be with the father, how much more is it important for us to be withdrawn to the father, know him privately?
That was his way of seeing and hearing what the father was doing and saying to receive the instructions so he can he can do the ministry. *Matthew-6:6*, he points out something very vital about our prayer life. It says, but when you pray, go into your room. And when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place. Where's the father?
Pray to your father who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. What is the secret place? Secret place in modern terms would be any time where no 1 else is watching, it's just you and God. I used to work in a cubicle, and I used to bring communion in that cubicle, break the bread, and I I would just meditate on the Lord, put my attention and adoration towards the Lord, and I would experience his presence in my cubicle in the midst of an a mundane day. I used to work at an ink production plant, pouring ink, filtering ink.
The sink was always colorful at the end of the day. But I remember when I was pouring that ink, sometimes I would just lift up my heart to him and set upon him, and tears would run down my eyes as I'm funneling ink. That batch was a little bit more salty. The importance of the sick secret place, well, the Israelites modeled this for us. You remember the manna that fell from heaven, it was only good for 1 day.
I'm here to tell you, he's asking you, get your daily bread and and you can't get yesterday's manna. It's there for a day which what what does that mean? Means God has a specific appointment and a revelation to give you today. It only lasts today. And this is not a place of saying, oh, I missed all those days.
I must have missed God. No, it's not. I'm saying, get your day, daily bread today and keep moving forward. Grow in him. We want to have that daily manna.
We don't wanna miss what God has for us that is so specific and beautiful to us. And the beautiful thing about God is no matter how you've encountered him in the past, there's unlimited ways to encounter him. Unlimited ways. Whether it's in the scriptures or simply in prayer or a revelation, something deposits in your heart, God has something for you. See, He alone sustains us.
When we get in secret with him, we're shutting off everything that the world is trying to cause us to be provoked by, but he sustains us. The secret place is the key to a burning heart. Doctor Leon, he says, we need to burn up, not burn out. We need to understand that we don't burn out if we continue digging the well. We don't burn out if we continue to make oil or receive oil from him.
Private prayer turns into a public passion. When you get alone with him, oh, he sheds off all the fear where passion, boldness, revelation, compassion, all of it is sourced from the secret. Last thing with the importance of the secret place is to turn up the volume of the Holy Spirit and to turn down the volume of the flesh. So when we get in the secret place, when no one's watching, I'm simply saying become aware that he's there. Become aware that he is everywhere you are.
When you're in secret, there he is also. Then all of a sudden, you'll start ministering to the Lord from the shower. You'll start ministering to the Lord from your traffic, your your car in traffic. You'll start ministering to the Lord from the toilet even. Because suddenly you find he's accessible and his presence comes easy.
I'm talking about more than a feeling. I'm talking about knowing him. Never had a sweat rag before, but I appreciate it. A good example of the secret place and what it looks like is the story of Mary of Bethany. So Luke-10:38.
I'm reading out of the NLT. It says, as Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner. She was preparing and she came to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits while here while I'll I do all the work and tell her to come and help me?
Verse 41, but the Lord said to her, my dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these things, all these details. There is only 1 thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her. I wanna point out when Jesus when Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, the feet of Jesus, that's a phrase that only the the disciples were positioned for. So when she positioned herself at the feet of Jesus, she was posturing herself as a disciple, as 1 to look and gaze upon him.
See, Mary found the main thing and she caught a glimpse of his face and heard his voice. See, Martha just ended up making a sandwich Jesus never asked for. And if we learn to turn our eyes to the Lord, he will instruct us how we are to live in a manner. See, ministry of itself, it cannot replace intimacy. So don't trade his his presence for busyness.
I heard the I heard a pastor say 1 time, if the if the Satan if Satan cannot make you sin, he'll make you busy. For me, I wanna be at the pace of God's presence and move as he moves, not get ahead of him, not get behind him. I wanna stay in tune with where he is. I wanna know him more so what I can rightly share him. Because when it comes to the secret place, we must grow deeper so we can stretch even wider.
We must know him. And I love what Jesus said in response to Mary. He said that that this, she's discovered the main thing and this will not be taken away from here. I'm here to say any moment you've spent with God is never wasted. That's right.
It always remains. The Lord gave me a vision over a period of 2 months or so. He gave me a vision as I went into my prayer closet. He gave me a vision that roots were going down in his heart as I'm there. And every time I stood back up, I saw a image of him putting me in a clay pot as I walked out.
Speaks of the abiding. But every time I went down into this the the secret place, my prayer closet, the those roots would grow deeper and deeper. Every time I went, it was a little bit bigger, and then the pot would leave with me a little bit bigger. And I'm here to say you must grow deeper so we can have wider reach. We must bear fruit so others can pick it.
So to continue the story of Mary of Bethany, go to John-12 verse 3. Says, then Mary took a 12 ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard and she anointed Jesus' feet with it. Wiping his feet with her hair, the house was filled with the fragrance. I wanna point out, the expensive perfume she poured out was worth a year's wages. She "wiped his feet" with it with her hair, and the whole place smelled like that same fragrance.
Verse 4, but Judges Escharit, the disciple who would soon betray him said, that perfume was worth a year's wages. It should have been sold and money given to the poor. Not that he cared for the poor, he was a he was a thief. And since he was in charge of the disciple's money, he often stole some for himself. See, there are 3 people in the room with 3 different perspectives.
There's Jesus, there's Mary of Bethany, there's Judas. There's more people in the room, but this is what it records. Who was the 1 that was upset? It was Judas. He's the same 1 who betrayed Jesus.
See, when I look at this, 1, passion for Jesus always offends the religious spirit.
That's right.
Yeah. He was more concerned about doing something that would also benefit him, pulling from the treasury, something that would benefit him. She was concerned about "pouring it all" on *Jesus*, something that she wouldn't get a benefit of. He was thinking about selfish ambition. She was thinking about pouring it all.
See, her her costly offering was offensive because his sell out price was way cheaper. So when he saw her pouring all of these wages, all of this perfume on her, he's like, wait a minute, he's not worth that much. He did not consider him worthy of the offering that she was spilling. We need eyes to see that he is more than worthy to lay down your whole life and let all the oil just flow towards him because without him, we lose our source of life. See, there was something that Mary saw in Jesus that Judas did not see in Jesus.
He was looking at selfish gain. He was looking at promotion. He was looking at more money, but she was looking at how can I serve the Lord in a manner worthy of him? Judas was offended because her offering was worth more than his sellout price. Hers was worth over a year's wages.
His sellout price was worth less than 4 months wages. That's a huge difference. And it makes me wonder like, is it do we have the heart posture of giving him everything, no strings held back? Or do we have the posture, I'm I'm have a sellout price but I'll serve him in the meantime? Like, I'll follow him but I'll still have sex without a marriage.
I'll follow him, but I'll still be looking at lustful things on my computer. I'll follow him, but what is your sell out price? My knowing every most people in here, I don't I don't think there's many who would say they have 1, but this is a heart check moment. I'm just saying, would I would I sell out? I don't know about you, I'm gonna be like Mary of Bethany who's saying, take it all Lord.
It is all from you, it is all for you, every blessing's to and fro. The blessing is upon the Lord. No strings attached. Judas was missing something. He didn't see the same worth Mary was seeing.
Verse 7, Jesus replied, leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. See, Jesus sees as purpose what others see as waste. Your time spent with God does not happen in vain. I love that Jesus actually took a moment to honor Mary.
This will never be taken away from her. When you think about the third perspective in the room, it's Jesus' perspective. He was seeing someone who loved him without strings attached and then someone who was benefiting off of him. It was a self made religion versus a life laid down of devotion. Let's see him rightly.
Let's get a glimpse of his eyes. What did she see that was worth all of that? What did she see in his eyes? His eyes of fire. She saw the worth of the God man.
Sometimes we don't need a touch from the man of God, we need a touch from the God man. I think about the woman who struggled with the issue of blood. She went beyond all cultural boundaries to grab onto the hem of his garment, pressing through the crowds no matter what it looked like, no matter the embarrassment or the risk. See, pursuing God looks like something, And his hem the hem of his garment's worth it. Looking at his face is worth it.
He is the bright and shining 1. See, perhaps when Jesus was sitting there and he was seeing a follower of himself pay the price, counted the cost, and decided to surrender all of it. Perhaps, he was seeing a type in a shadow of his future bride of a people who would be willing to lay everything down. Surrender everything. He is more than worse worth it no matter the cost.
It takes a heart that's laid down before him. I'm inviting you get a glimpse of this if you haven't already. He said, she did this in preparation for my burial, which insinuates that when he hung on the cross, he still carried the same fragrance. The costly fragrance that Mary so willingly gave. There was 2 people that carried the same fragrance fragrance on the day of his crucifixion, and it was *Jesus* hanging on the cross and it was Mary of Bethany.
I'm here to say anything that you have sacrificed to give to the Lord, again, it's not wasted. It's purposeful. Any moment you've counted the cost and you've surrendered something, sacrificed something, it's purposeful. And perhaps every time that he took a breath on that cross, he was getting a whiff of that fragrance and reminded of his future bride to be, that he was gonna return for 1 day. A pure, holy, spotless bride.
We okay? I just so want his heart.
Oh.
He is so good. *1 John-5:21*. It says, dear children, keep away from anything that might take away God's place in your hearts. When I'm talking about returning to your first love of Jesus, I'm talking about the moments where maybe you can reflect and remember. There's times in your life you used to read this and weep.
Maybe there's times in your life where you just said his name and all of a sudden, you felt the atmosphere shift. Maybe there was a time in your life when you thought about the *cross* and it was just this moment of, *Lord*, how like help me to believe and understand. A hunger to know, A hunger to recognize him. See, we don't need dust in our bibles. We need tears that he's placed inside of us in those words, in these pages.
We need history with God. We learned from the parable of the 10 virgins, which are bridesmaids. They were preparing for the wedding, and 5 of them had oil that would last for the bridegroom to come. The other 5, they were running out of oil, and they were like, give us some of your oil so that we can also go. And they're like, we don't have enough for both.
What I get from that is you can't impart your history with God. No 1 can lay hands on you and impart their history. You have to develop your history with God. And you're like, Robbie, sometimes I get alone with God and and I just don't think I connect. Again, I'm not talking about feelings, I'm talking about being aware of him.
But when you begin "digging a well", sometimes you gotta go through a lot of yards of dirt before you actually start seeing water poured out. So it's daily repetition, *Lord*, I Lord, I'm I'm not here to prove anything to you. I'm not here to wear a mask before you. You see me through and through and you choose to love me holy. I come to you and with no strings attached Lord, do in me what you want to do in me.
Mold me and shape me and rearrange me. Make me holy as you are holy. Help me to see your face so I could shine bright. Oh, give me a glance of his eyes with just 1 look.
Everything changes. I'm captivated and I'll never be the same.
That's what it's about. With 1 look can change everything. Every time you encounter his presence, you don't leave out the same. There's something internally that changes because your soul is seeing what it's been longing and craving for. Recognizing I was designed for him.
My inward parts, they crave to bless him. My inward being, it craves to bless him as a deer panteth in water, so my soul longs for him. He is good. He is good. He is good.
And if we trap him in a box and only understand him from his the things that he's given us, then we're missing something. There's power in knowing him privately. So how do we "sit at the feet" of Jesus? Number 1, we acknowledge him. When we're seeking the Lord, we must know that he is and know that He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
We must recognize He is. We must become aware that He is here. Meaning, you close the door and all of sudden you're like, oh, Father, here I am. Sometimes I get into the room with the Lord and like, Lord, I have no strength. I don't know how to pray, but I'm here.
Then he quickens his spirit in me to begin praying with his words he's influenced. Praying from the scriptures, praying daily the scriptures, letting this wash over you. And as we get a glimpse of him, we become more like him. I was teaching the youth the nature of God and the names of God, and I taught it in a way that we can't truly experience an aspect of the Lord until we get a revelation, it's from him. And it's not only from him, he is.
That's why he named himself, I am who I am because he's everything we need to need to have. Where do I go to for healing? I am. Where do we go to for peace? I am.
Where do we go to for provision? He's saying, I am. So we acknowledge him. Second 1 is we adore him. I submit to you to learn how to delight yourself in God.
Learn to delight yourself in him. Find your your position at his feet until you've tasted and seen that he is good Because those who seek him will find him. And those who have ears will hear. Those who have eyes will see. But keep your eyes single and full of light.
Catch a grasp of his goodness. And it's his goodness that leads men to repentance. We adore him. What does that mean? So we acknowledge him, Lord, thank you.
You're in this room. Then we adore him, Lord, I worship you. I set my affection upon you. I set my adoration upon you, Lord. Remove all other idols.
Remove all lesser things from my heart right now. I wanna focus on you, Lord. Show me yourself. I adore you. You are the "king of kings".
And number 3, we yield to him. We begin to have a place of *surrender* in our lives where we're saying, here I am doing me all you want to do. You laid your life down, Lord. Here's my life. Take it and use it for your glory.
See, the goal of prayer in this secret place, I love prayer lists. I pray them. I pray specific prayers. I pray for breakthrough. I pray for souls.
I pray for the kingdom of heaven to come. But it's not me ever making a deal with God. Lord, if you do this, then I'll serve you better. It's not a bait and switch. It's not manipulation.
It's saying, Lord, here I am. Use me and teach me. I surrender everything to you, Lord. Just like Mary of Bethany, I wanna count the cost but also pour out that cost. See, he fills you up so he can you can be poured back out.
To come away with him, to dwell with him, to be satisfied in him. In the mundane of workdays, are you Can you be satisfied in Christ? He's there. He's in your workplace. I had a friend who worked at a construction site.
He told me that on his 15 minute breaks, he would hide in the porta potty and start weeping because he's experiencing his glory. I'll tell you today, Bethany didn't have AC. But can we remove the distractions and get a full glimpse of who he says he is? When I say look at the face of Jesus, I'm not necessarily saying try to imagine something, but I'm saying ponder your heart upon who he is. Understanding that who we know him to be, he's limitless.
He is the most joyful person you will ever meet. He is the most peaceful person you will ever know. He is the most patient. He's the most kind. And as we see him, we begin to reflect him.
So I invite you to come sit at his feet. Sit at his feet today with no agenda, but we find that we find we find that everything we we would ask for is found in him. *Righteousness* is in him. Like, can't be righteous outside of him. You can't live out the favor of God outside of him.
You can't live out the blessings of God outside of Him. But we come to Him understanding in Him, the person of the Christ, I found all blessing. I find all promises saying "yes and amen". In Him, find all of it is accessible and easy. I want to remind you that the veil was torn.
The veil that kept the holy of holies private, he tore it when he died on the cross, and he even wore it on his side. He had a wound on his side that pierced him. But blood and water came out that day speaking of the Holy Spirit in the covering to enter in. So I'm gonna pray. And here in a minute, 2 things are gonna happen.
1, after I pray, I'm just gonna dismiss anyone who you feel like you need to head out, that's fine. But if you feel like the Lord is prompting your heart today to return to your first love, to making him all because all things are lesser. If you need to do ministry with the Lord, I invite you either the I know the the floor is a little bit slick, so you can stay at your seat, but you can also come and fill this place. But I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna minister to the Lord and others are dismissed. Amen?
*Jesus*, I worship you. *Lord, I invite your spirit*. We don't just encounter you secretly, but we also abide with you publicly. *Holy Spirit, do a deep work in people's hearts* today. Thank you, Jesus.
Amen. If you feel like you wanna sit at the feet of Jesus, come on up here. We have the music turned on. Would you come? I remember 1 time I was sitting with the Lord.
I was sitting there long enough to feel like I got something that I needed. I stood up to stand and go out and the Lord whispered in my heart and he said, would you come and dwell with me a little longer? Linger a little longer. There's moments where it requires a little bit more lingering. Jesus.
Set your heart upon him and adore him.
Hair is like wool. And Lord, I "give you my heart", I give you my soul. I **live for you alone**. Every breath that I take, every moment I'm awake. Lord, have your way in me.
*Lord, I give you my heart*. I give you my soul. I live for you alone. **every breath** that I take,