THE SERVANT'S FOUNDATION — KNOWING GOD ====================================== Course: KGM School of Service (KGM School) Lesson: 2 Scripture: John 17:3; Jeremiah 9:23-24; Philippians 3:7-11 Language: English URL: https://kgm-school-preview.netlify.app/lessons/en/kgm-school/02-the-servants-foundation/ WhatsApp: KGM EN 02 LESSON 2 — THE SERVANT'S FOUNDATION: KNOWING GOD ================================================ "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." — John 17:3 THE DANGER OF WORKING FOR A GOD YOU DO NOT KNOW A pastor can preach for thirty years and never sit still long enough to know the One he preaches about. We must not let that happen to us. In Jeremiah 9, the LORD says something startling. He lists the things a person might be tempted to boast in — wisdom, strength, riches — and rejects them all. Then He says: "But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth." (Jeremiah 9:24) Notice the order. Understand and know. Not memorise. Not study about. Know. Personal, covenantal, face-to-face knowledge. WHAT "KNOWING" MEANS IN THE BIBLE In Hebrew, the word for "know" is yada. It is the same word used in Genesis 4:1: "Adam knew his wife Eve." It does not mean information. It means union — the deepest kind of personal contact possible between persons. When Jesus says eternal life is to know the Father (John 17:3), He is not talking about doctrinal facts. He is talking about yada — a real, living, two-way relationship. This is the foundation under everything else in this school. You are not being trained to manage information about God. You are being invited to know Him. PAUL'S CONFESSION Look at Philippians 3. Paul has every reason to boast — pedigree, education, zeal, achievement. He counts the whole pile as garbage. Then he gives the reason: "...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." (Philippians 3:10) Paul, the great theologian, the planter of churches, the writer of half the New Testament — at the end of his life, still says: that I may know Him. If Paul is still pressing in to know Jesus, none of us has graduated. THREE PLACES WE MEET HIM The Bible gives us three primary places where we come to know God: 1. The Word. Not Bible study as homework, but Scripture read on our knees, asking the Holy Spirit to show us Jesus. 2. Prayer. Not a list we recite, but two-way conversation. Listening as much as speaking. 3. The community of His people. "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). We come to know God in part by walking with others who are coming to know Him. If any one of these three is missing in your life, your knowledge of God will be lopsided. A WARNING FOR THE BUSY PASTOR The enemy is content to let you do ministry as long as you do not stop and know God. Activity is not intimacy. A full schedule is not a full heart. Many of us are tired not because we have served too much, but because we have served from an empty well. Mary chose the better portion (Luke 10:42) — and Jesus said it would not be taken from her. Martha was not wrong to serve. She was wrong to serve in a way that made her resent the One she was serving for. REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. When did you last sit in silence before God with no agenda? 2. Are you running on stored grace from years ago, or fresh grace today? 3. Which of the three places — Word, prayer, community — needs the most attention in your life this month? PRAYER Father, I do not want to be a pastor who preaches a Christ he does not know. Draw me back to the well. Open my ears. Give me hunger to know You — not just about You. In Jesus' name, amen. ========== Next lesson: The Power of His Name. ---------- KGM School of Service — Knowing God Missions · Tumenyimana https://kgm-school-preview.netlify.app