God is Near to You – Walking In Power with Nate Ortiz

Everyone, welcome to Walking in Power and I'm actually coming from a campground right now

that we've just had about just under 2000 teenagers at three weeks and some of them back

at me these three weeks and I want to take time to record this video for you and just share

some thoughts that I have.

You know, when you have 2000 teenagers together and you are seeing that they're all from different

backgrounds, different races, different ways of being brought up.

It creates a lot of unique opportunities for people to experience Jesus.

Now, even though there are all those differences when people come together, we realize that

sometimes they have the same challenges or issues but they have different ways of going

about it or dealing with it and the thing about Jesus, when we introduce people to Jesus,

it doesn't matter where you're from, your life experiences in the sense of Jesus does

not look at us and well this is your experience, this is your experience.

You can come to know me or I can come to you but the Bible tells us that when we draw near

to Him, He draws near to us and I see at night after night after night that these students

who are really say I need something different in my life or I need to grow closer to God,

He meets them there every night and even as adults, I think we can look at teenagers and say

well that's good for them but I'm an adult, was it looked like for me?

I think it's gone in my life that are challenging, that are hard, that are difficult but I want

to encourage you that God is near to you, right where you are and where you listen to

some car at the gym, at your home, wherever you might be, God is near to you and when

you reach out to Him, He's always going to be faithful to reach back to you and I've

seen it over and over again, not just these teenagers' lives but also in the lives of adults

and it makes me think of John chapter 14 verse 6 where the word says that Jesus is the

way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.

I think as adults our challenges are that are probably come more complex, we make these

more complex, we make it seem impossible but with God all things are possible and so when

we read that passage scripture that Santa, He's the way, the truth of life, it's not just

saying He's a way, it's saying He's the way and when we think about the way that we

live our lives is honoring to God.

Other things that we're just trying to make sense of and we just say well I'm going

to create my own kind of faith or my own way of interpreting the Bible or we really people

say, now I believe that God's the way to eternal life, I believe that He's the path to take

in this life that we live, the mis-of-challenges struggles, all of it, that we don't have to

take our own way, we want to cover our own path but we say God no matter the path that

I'm on, I know that you're walking with me because I'm inviting you to take this path

with me in this life and I understand that if I want to have eternal life with you,

if I want to be healthy individual that you are the way and I also want to say that Jesus

is the truth and the culture that we live in, there's so many people, there are interpretations

of the truth or what is true or truth is, you know, this variable that changes but Jesus

word is truth and his truth is what gives us this hope in the mis-of-life, the mis-of-challenges

and when you look at the scriptures in Jesus saying that He is the way of the truth, it

also tells us in John that He's totally spirit guides us in all truth.

So there's times where we don't feel like we have an answer, we don't have a clear path

or we're understanding why we're going through what we're going through.

We have to ask to be guided in that truth.

To say, Lord, help me not to be governed by my feelings but by your truth and let

your Holy Spirit guide me and lead me so that I'll just be a healthy individual and not

be a person who gets stuck in sin cycles or just stuck in my own thinking and it happens

to all of us, it happens all the time that we begin to just be stuck in our own feelings

but God has caused me to be governed by His truth so it's important to read your word.

It's important to remind yourself of God's truth for your life and the other part of this

passage is that He's the way He's the truth, He is the life.

The Bible also says that Jesus has places life and death in front of us and that He

you choose life and it's so crazy that who would choose death, right?

Who would choose something that doesn't seem productive but there's people who do that

all the time where they feel like God doesn't know my situation or He's not here.

I don't know if He knows what's going on in my life but the truth is He does and He cares.

He cares deeply about you and this life that you live, you can try to fill it with so

many other things, people have tried to do it before.

They try to fill it with their own thoughts of what will bring happiness or completeness

or wholeness but when you fill it with other things that are not God, sure it feels great

or sure you just hide your issues better than someone else can but the reality is that when

we bring our issues and our challenges to God, that's where He's able to make us whole,

that's where He's able to make us complete.

That the life that we live, right, what is most meaningful to you in this life, we can

say it's family, we can say it's just being healthy and happy and those are all great things

but the Bible tells us what does a prophet, a person, gain the whole world but the loser's

soul, what does it profit us to feel like we've accomplished all these great things but

in our own heart we're mess, in our own family it's a mess, it doesn't really honor God

and so when we think about life, think about it, what gives you life?

What makes you wake up in the morning and just say, God, I want to give you this part of

my day or do we wake up and just get into routine and we just feel like I'm just trying

to make it through, I'm just trying to make it happen because that's what God has called

us to do.

So I want to remind you that in the midst of chaos, the midst of your life, no matter what

your background, your situations, your challenges that God is near to you and I'm always reminded

of this fact and this truth that after a week of camp being here and just the solitude

and being here just in God's creation that He loves us, He loves you and He wants to

pull you close but you have to remember that He is the way, the truth and the life and

if you try to create your own form of this, you're always going to be feeling just like,

you're not really grasping it but when you're in His Word and His truth and letting it

guide you, you'll be amazed what God could do in your life, you'll do the things that

you should never talk to happen for you because saying, God, I trust you with everything

I got, you are the way, the truth and the life.

Hey, appreciate you all, I love you, I hope you have an amazing week and that God will

continue to speak to you as you reach out to Him and I know He will.

He's always speaking but we're always listening.

I challenge you with that so go be blessed and I'll see you next time.