Seeking God

The atmosphere of the Old Testament, is one filled with relentless hunger. This definition of hunger differs from the common conception of the word. Hunger is: “A craving or urgent need for a specific nutrient .” This hunger does not concern the desire for food but the desire for a relationship with the Christ. Jacob’s continuous plight for God’s blessing, or David’s uncontrollable passion for the Lord, are living testimonies of humanity’s hunger for something more than themselves. According to Hebrews, this hunger originates from deep within the human physic, due to the measure of faith that God has given to each person.
Observing common worldly functions gives great insight into this lost, and felt emptiness, that is occurs on a daily bases among unbelievers. These sad attempts to satisfy and fill, whether it be a push toward wealth, sexual fulfillment or popularity, end up amounting to nothing and leave broken, contrite spirits. King Solomon continually emphasizes, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the meaningless nature of earthly living. Solomon was one of the wealthiest men in all of history and was described in the book of 1st Kings as having 12,000 horses, horsemen, 1,400 chariots and a yearly income of 666 talents of gold. Despite his vast material wealth he knew that it was only spiritual wealth that would satisfy. Solomon understood that a life that was not tangential with its divine purpose was not worth living.

• Why should we pursue God?

Since the beginning of time, God has let us choose whether or not we wanted to pursue Him. Adam and Eve were the first humans to be given such a responsibility and they unfortunately chose the latter. This defining moment in human history is an excellent illustration of a situation where humanity is deceived into refusing God. It is moments like these that beg the question, all over the world, during both the old and the new covenantal periods: Why should the Lord be pursued and sought after by man?
The answer to the question lies in three distinct facts about God:
God is all-powerful.
God holds a great unsurpassing love for His people.
God is all-knowing.
The delivering of Israel from Egyptian rule was amazing feat which included the creation of plagues of mind boggling proportions, the death of every Egyptian first born and the dividing of an entire ocean. Moses, for the most of his life, was smart man who understood the might of God and revered it. A review of the book of Exodus would show how much his life depended on God’s absoluteness. In Exodus 2, Moses was divinely saved from the wrath of the Egyptian pharaoh and finally, in Exodus 12, releases Israel from bondage through God power. Moses was a man who realized early on in his life that he could do absolutely nothing on his own. Without God’s unlimited power, and His love-based willingness to weald that power, he was a meaningless, lifeless fleck of dust.
The post-Exodus God had an exuberant amount of compassion for His people, the Isrealites, during their time of wandering. Constantly, the people kept falling away from God’s plan and kept pushing the lordship of God from their priority. Moses and later Joshua, however, continued to seek after God on behalf of Israel. Not only was Israel forgiven by God, but many were spared their very lives, and continued to thrive in blessing. Exodus 34:5-7 states:
Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
Being a passage written directly after Israel’s blatant refusal of God authority, in the land of Baal, God openly reveals his persistent love and patience. Despite the short-comings of the Israelites, the Lord still gave to them the promised land of Canaan. God later sent the Babylonians, in the book of Jeremiah, to conquer and to punish Israel; however, He still imparts mercy, and promises that Israeli freedom would eventually return. The Old Testament clarifies the fact that humanity is inherently sinful, and would perish, without the loving kindness of God, and the constant pursuing of His leadership by intercessors. Jeremiah 29:11 is a declaration from God telling His children that He has plans to prosper them, give them hope and to give them a future. It states immediately in the next verse that God hopes that they will then seek Him, so that he can find them and impart to them even more of a blessing.
Falling backward a few centuries brings us to the story of Joseph. Genesis 37 describes the turbulent life of Joseph. He was singled out by His parents which created jealousy among his brothers. His brothers decided to sell him to Egyptian-bound slave traders, so that they would not have to see him ever again. At this point to Joseph’s life, it would seem as if there was no hope for his future. The temptation would have been there to give up on God and to mope about his suffering. Joseph however did not do this. The scriptures never refer to a time when he uttered a word of self-pity. Joseph trusted that His God was the all-knowing God of 1st John 3:20 and lived out his life in peace. It didn’t take to long until God made Joseph the second in command for all of Egypt. Joseph was a radical and persistence pursuer of God. His life was completely bent on trust in an all-knowing higher power.

• How should we pursue God ?

A man who is convinced that he should begin to pursue God’s plan and purpose for his life, may not know how. God wrote the Bible just for humanity for the very purpose of teaching man how to seek after him. The Bible gives us three main suggestions as to how to be an active pursuer of God:
Setting God as your priority
Becoming a person who becomes sensitive to Godly calling.
Being a living sacrifice.
Setting someone who can not be seen as a top priority can be difficult, however, the more it done the more real God will seem. God will begin to open your eyes and let you experience His absoluteness, just as he did to the widow in 1 Kings 17:7. This widow lived during a time of great famine. She had one child and had only one more jar of oil and a handful of flour. She told her son that they were going to prepare their last meal and then die. The prophet Elijah then came to their house and asked the widow to prepare for him this last meal. The widow, who sensed that it was God talking through Elijah, obeyed him and to her surprise her oil and her flour never ran out until the end of the famine. This woman had the Lord set up on a pedestal in her heart, and was ready to be tested in a time of trial.
It is important for a person not only to set God as a priority but for him to be able to sense his life’s divine calling. This involves living a life that is tangential with God’s will. Reading God’s Word is a great way to stay in tuned with the Lord. Becoming a servant by taking spiritual ownership is another. The great leaders of the Old Testament got into there great position of influence because they knew the will of the Lord. Because they knew the Lord’s will they understood the ways as to follow Him.
The term “living sacrifice” is not readily used in the Bible until the New Testament. There are, however, many cases in the Old Testament where this future concept is divinely commanded. All of the Old Testament leaders and prophets went through times in their life when they needed to put the familiar and comfort aside and simply obey the Word of the Lord. Moses was living a good life in a place that had become familiar before God told him to return to Egypt and to lead his people to the Promised Land. Abraham was living a comfortable life until God tested him, by commanding the sacrifice of his son.
Our role as pursuers of God is to give things up for the One we wish to follow. This may not be initially pleasuring but with time Gods plan is eventually carried out and the big picture is revealed.

The active pursuing of the Most High God is one of the sole purposes of the Old Testament. This section of the Bible is filled with detailed historical accounts of men and women experiencing God. This supernatural view of entire lives wrapped up in these few pages gives an amazing oversight of God’s overall plan in all of our lives. Pain and struggle that a person is dealing with in one season may be for the sole purpose of giving happiness and joy to that same person in another season. This all-powerful, all-loving, and all-knowing God that we serve has so much in store for every single life that he has created. It is partly our job, however, to make a choice that will bring us to our highest potential in Him.

Intro

My name is Josh Enobakhare a Nigerian-American recently turned Portlander. I am a born again Christian. I am ecstatic about City Bible Church and what God has done gone in my life there! In my spare time I enjoy shooting and editing films or digital videos for church and for fun. I have an deep passion for Sonic Drive-in burgers, everything Hillsong, improvisation events, Generation Church, biking, Chad Vanhorn and those blueberry muffin halfs they serve after service ends. As my name implies I'm entering my sophomore at George Fox studying engineering. I'm hoping to add to this blog on a consistent basis.

Some video notes

Youtube site: http://www.youtube.com/user/frenchfry22

Upcoming Summertime short film

I've been working on the storyboarding and initial shots of this film for the past few weeks and have been impressed with how its turning out. My sister and I have been working on molding the storyline and subplots for a while and have finally agreed with a good one. Look out for this short film in early August.





City Bible Church Vids

Here are two videos that were made at church. The first one is a promotional for Generation Church 217. The second one is an unfinished lipsync music video with the Edge band. The music video was supposed to be for the kids ministry on Super Sunday but we couldn't finish it in time.

GC 217


Hillsong Free by the Edge



How to make a Chocolate Cake

My little sister Rachael and I found ourselves sitting alone in the house at 1 am on night. Just about everyone had fallen asleep and we decided to make a fun baking video (our mom ended up helping a little bit with the baking). The video took us about 2 hours to shoot. It then took me another 4 hours to edit.






The Moebius Social Experiment

*My Testimonial*
I was watching some ImprovEverywhere videos one night when I noticed their "Moebius" video that they had pulled in a NYC Starbucks. The point of the event was to confuse costumers by have a group of people create a 5 minute loop of activity that they continued to repeat and repeat for an hour. By the end of the ImprovEverywhere video the customers and staff were really confused and referenced that they felt like they were in the "Twilight Zone." My sister and I called up 5 friends at George Fox and we all decided to recreate the Moebius "prank" at Chapters Books in Newberg. Our video roughly followed the same guidelines, we hid a
camera in the corner, 5 of us performed a 3-minute loop of activity, consisting of 4 parts, for 30 minutes. The event was a success, we had practiced each of our parts at the university for only 10 minutes before we began.


*Silvi Luft's Testimonial*
Although I was beet-red and nervous through the whole act, I found it amusing to shake up people's worlds a little bit. I sat down and watched (out of the corner of my eye) as Jordan and Tony came through the door and disappeared by the counter. All I could hear was Tony nearly shouting "Women!". Then, seconds later, Les only a table away would shout "Ah, it crashed again!". Then I'd get up and ask him for napkins, while texting Josh the cue "go" so he would wander through the store playing the 80s hit on his laptop.
The man sitting next to me began shifting in his seat more and more and looking like he knew something was up. Everyone else went about their business, and my view of the counter was hidden. I think we definitely broke the ice in the coffee shop and people seemed relieved to share their observations of us crazy kids. It was fun!


*Jordan Enobakhare's Testimonial*
Definitely one of the crazier things I've done, but it was pretty entertaining...I think the hardest part was walking by the same lady 16 (8 times entering, 8 times exiting) times. Seriously, she was getting worried. And I had had a short conversation with the cashiers before we started the loop, so it was kind of awkward to apparently "steal" some guy's coke in front of them, having established myself as a nice sort of girl beforehand.

Still, it all made some priceless memories. Quite an experience.

Transistions

Releasing the familiar and the seemingly secure to embrace something new is a hard task for anyone. Anyone who has had an uncomfortable experience can relate to how I felt when I first moved to Portland. Leaving the Los Angeles area meant leaving everything I knew behind. It meant taking a step of faith into an unknown environment and an unknown culture. As one might assume, I did not at first accept this transition with open arms.

When I left Southern California a year ago, I was just finishing my junior year in high school. I had plans to finish school quickly, go to Pepperdine University, and become an intern with one of the major movie studios in the area. I had friends that I had known for years, and had grown very accustomed to Southern California's stable Mediterranean climate. That would soon change when word came that my father would be transferred to Portland. We had a year's notice to prepare, and on a March morning we boarded a plane to PDX.

I soon observed that Portland was a relatively large city with an impressive urban layout that I hadn't ever seen before. The air quality was amazing and the roads were very clean and well kept. All the buildings were new and modern, and the water actually tasted like water. There were a few things that took getting use to, like the calling of carbonated beverages "pop," and the common usage of phrases like "no worries" and "spendy." The amount of rainfall that Portland gets was also new to me. I soon got used to the differences, and have even caught myself saying "pop" a few times-- in place of "soda."

The first month was an adventure. My family bought a beautiful house in Beaverton, and got to know the area. It was during the second month, however, when I began to understand how much this move had been divinely directed.

From the time we first arrived in Portland to this point, we had been looking for a home church. It had taken the entire first month and the visiting of about thirty different churches before we found the one that stood out. This church seemed to be different, and had a powerful atmosphere. For the first time, I felt an eternal peace that I hadn't really felt since I had moved. I knew right then and there that this was the place that I was supposed to be, and I began to attend regularly.

I remember the first service I went to on the 217 Campus, March of ’06. My sis and I were introduced to Pastor Asim and he invited us to go to GC. I’m not sure why we ended up actually going to Generation Church that first Wednesday. We had been invited to so many youth groups in all of the other churches that we had visited and we never ended up actually going. Something led us to visit GC specifically that first week, and I know it was God. That first night a GC was amazing I got to meet awesome men of God like Chad and Issac Tarter who invited me to join their small group, GMOD. I started going to GMOD and GC every week after that.

In the two years that I have been there, I have met amazing people, and have made irreplaceable friends. At City Bible Church, I have felt myself grow spiritually, and develop an unsatisfiable hunger for God. My way of thinking changed completely into one that cared deeply about my life's purpose. Before CBC and GenChurch I was a Christian, but I had never truly experienced God. GC invoked a passion in me for God like no other; He became so real to me and I couldn’t get enough of Him.

I have seen God do so many amazing things in my life since I've moved to Portland. I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if I had not moved. If I had not come, I would not have ever found my home church. I would not have met all of the great people I now know.

Just about everyone has gone through a similar experience. Romans 8:28 says that God makes everything work together for good for those who love Him, and who are called according to his purpose. I want this testimony to encourage you that God will take the transitions for which he has called you, and work them according to his purpose.