Who Is God to You?

Due to technical challenges, this message was not recorded.  However, the notes are included below.

1 ¶ Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
 2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
 3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
 4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
 5 ¶ To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
 6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
 7 They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
 8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
 11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
 12 Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
 13 I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
(KJV)

PRAYER

In this chapter, Isaiah declares that the idols of Babylon were so weak and so incapable that they themselves had to be carried on the backs and carts of beasts.  These false gods were so weak they could not even walk or move themselves.  Isaiah contrasts this with the love and care of the living God for Israel from beginning to end – from birth to death.  In verses 5-7 he then calls upon them to think about the origins and weakness of such made up gods.  Then in verse 8 Isaiah calls on them to face the truth and consider who God is.  Then he writes some beautiful words about God in verses 9-13, which include a prophecy of the Jews’ future deliverance from captivity and looks ahead to distant future coming of the Messiah.

So now that we have a vague understanding of the passage generally, let’s home in on our focus today:
Listen to Pastor Rick’s translation here of God’s re-introduction of Himself:

“Remember what you once knew: that I am God and there is no other living God at all.  I am the God there is nothing you can create that is like me.  I know and declare what will happen from the very beginning before it ever happens and what I say will happen, happens.  Whatever I desire to do, I do it and no one or no thing can stop me.  If I speak it I will bring it to pass and if I decide to do something it will be done.  I am bringing my righteousness nearby.  It is not far away.  I am bringing my salvation that will not wait any longer.  This salvation is established in Israel for my glory.”

These are powerful powerful words!  We will come back to them.  But with God’s words in your mind, I want to ask you a serious question today: Who is God to you? – Not only the general theological question, “Who is God?” but I added the prepositional phrase, “…to you?”

Let’s see the difference:  Ask an adult, “Who is God?” followed by “Who is God to You?”

Maybe this seems like a weird question to ask in a Christian church.  But let’s ponder it for a little bit. (Ask several people, “Who is God to you?”)

We live in a world full of gods and goddesses invented by humans for many different purposes.  For some they are means of control or power.  For others they are a means of income.  For still others they are a means to pleasure or fantasy, or an opening of the doors of the imagination.  For some they are an outlet for art and creativity.  For others they are a source of humor or mockery.  And on and on.  Even the story of the Supreme God of Christianity is manipulated and abused in these ways.  From the supreme deity of the Hindus, Krishna, with his hundreds of millions of sub-gods to the absence of God entirely in the lives of those who have enthroned themselves as god and master of their own destiny, the wide range of beliefs and ideas leaves many people reeling.  Then rather than deal with it, or sort through it, or address the hard questions, you begin to hear things like this:

“All roads lead to the same place.”
“Everyone worships the same God – He just has different names.”
“No one is wrong – everyone is right – we just need to be tolerant and coexist.”
“There is no God really so it doesn’t matter who or what you worship as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

These vague and dangerous generalizations leave many people lost, confused, empty, with still a nagging feeling inside that something just isn’t quite right.  And that’s because something still isn’t right.  The God of the Bible rather than by being fashioned according to the hands of men instead states that He fashioned them.  Rather than being invented, He invents.  Rather than being created, He creates.  And reveals Himself to mankind throughout history. 

But now, over 2000 years after the life of Jesus Christ, millions of Christians worldwide gather in His name to worship God and their methods and traditions and even their proclamations of what is true vary widely.  How are we in our little church able to know Who God is generally and even more important on a personal level, who He is to us?

Sadly, even in Christendom, God is far too often misunderstood, misjudged, and misrepresented. 

For some He is their ticket to prosperity.  If you follow the right formula of faith you will land a good job, have lots of money, live in a grand house, drive a Cadillac, and never be ill.
For some He is their health guru.  If you follow His dietary restrictions and pray the prayers of faith anointing with olive oil from Israel in a special fancy bottle then you will not get sick – or if you get sick you will always every time me miraculously healed.
For some He is their talisman and good luck charm.  They pray little prayers of protection when they travel or do dangerous things.  They expect that God will take care of them shielding them from harm like He is some kind of glorified rabbit’s foot.
For some He is their ticket into a social club.  If they say and do the right things then they get to be part of a community of people that all say they believe the same things.  They get to hang out, have friends, and do cool stuff.
For some He is a security blanket.  They rub Him when they are afraid or when life is tough: but only then.  As soon as the danger is past the forget all about Him.
For some He is their personal bodyguard and avenger.  They summon His protection amid their own foolishness and demand His wrath upon their enemies.

Now in all of these singular abuses of understanding are glimpses of the true identity of God.  He IS a source of blessing, sustainment, healing, protection, strength, peace, belonging, safety, and justice.  But these are merely fragments of His actions and abilities.  He is far more than some kind of vending machine for our well-being.  Focusing in on these various attributes and abilities of God in a vacuum causes many people to lose faith; when they pray for success and instead find failure; When they pray for protection and they are hurt in a car accident; when they pray for healing and yet their cancer persists; when these things happen, people are left wondering, “Who is God and is He even real?”

You see we have not truly discovered Who God Is to Us in the way He revealed Himself for us to know.  So if you will allow me for a moment, I want to introduce you to God in the way He wants us to know Him.

God begins all things with Himself…”In the beginning God….”  He masterfully creates everything we know of (and perhaps things we do not know).  Then, as He concludes His creation, He designs a reflection of Himself and His glory as ultimate objects of His love and devotion: male and female He creates them and places them in the midst of all He has made and then invites them to walk only with Him in love.  In that sweet relationship of communion and peace He intends to reveal all they ever need to know about everything and about Himself.  But they spurn His love and the dream is shattered.

Across the succeeding centuries, humankind willfully rejects all God designed to be to them.  They forsake Him utterly until the earth was full of wickedness and sin until only the family of one man can be found who will listen at all to the voice of the Creator.  For 120 years this man cries out to his generation calling them to repentance and back into relationship with God.  No one listens.  Finally the ark is finished.  Noah and his family enter in.  The door is shut.  God wipes the world clean of its wickedness and prepares to start again.  But it is not long before the children of men turn their backs again on the God Who made them.  Again the fall far from His glory.  They rush away madly after the pleasures of their own desires and in many ways push God completely out of their memory.

But God is love.  He is light.  He is holy.  He cannot abandon His creation no matter how far they flee Him.  So with great longsuffering He preserves a people and a family line that stretches all the way back to the beginning – through which He sends His only begotten Son for the salvation of mankind.  His Son comes – Jesus the Christ – and clarifies so much that had been forgotten and misunderstood about God.  Finally, Jesus laid down His life on the cross atoning for the sins of all men and raised again from the dead sealing the work He had completed.  Then He commissioned his band of followers to go into all the world with the good news that God had provided a means of restoration to Eden.  Eden might not be known again on earth, but walking with God as in Eden was again possible if only we would believe.  If only we will trust in Christ we will find the redemption of our hearts and the cleansing of our spirits that once again we might know God as He always intended that we might know Him: personally, individually, intimately walking with Him as Creator, as Friend, as Father, as Lover. 

In his proclamation of what God might do for fallen sinful Israel, the prophet Micah exclaimed, “7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

Jesus embodied this love and longsuffering of God and called us to know Him again.

I ask you again today: Who is God to you?
Is he merely your security blanket, your ticket to the club, or your fire escape?  Or is He Who He always intended to be in your heart:
Your Creator Whom You Worship
Your Friend Who Walks Always Beside You
Your Father In Who You Utterly Trust
Your Lover In Whom You Delight

Maybe you say, Pastor Rick, I have been guilty of only knowing God in a fragmented way and not knowing Him for real in the present in the way He designed me to know Him.  How can I go deeper?  How can I go beyond relying on Him as my own personal vending machine? 

Listen to the writing of the Apostle John who was the closest disciple to Jesus during his time on earth:
1 John 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
1 John 4: 14 ¶ And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
2 John 1:9b He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

In other words, surrender your life to Christ, take up your cross, and follow Him.  Say “Yes” to His proposal!  When you believe on Christ and walk in obedience in His ways, you will discover what life with God means and what it really is to know Him now. Through the power of the Holy Spirit you can know Eden again in your heart and walk with Him every day whether you fail or prosper, whether you are well or ill, whether you are happy or sad.  No matter what your life may hold, you can KNOW him and walk in the hope of His life in you!

 8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

12 Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
 13 I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

INTERCESSORS

Listen as Pastor Rick breaks down intercession simple enough for even our children can understand it.  Will you be an intercessor?

LET US PRAY!

Listen as Pastor Rick takes us a little further down the path of becoming a Praying Church.  Will you join us?

The Prayer Answerer

Listen as Pastor Rick challenges us to pray together and shares principles of public prayer before leading the congregation in corporate prayer.  It was a wonderful evening together.

More Than an Introduction

How well do you know Christ?  I mean, really know Him?  I have been thinking a lot about this question.  Let me phrase the question this way: when you get to Heaven, will it be an introduction or a reunion?

For far too many of us, our relationship with God is cursory or perhaps entry-level at best.  We want to know Him just enough to get in the door: kind of like the friend you have that you know just well enough to get you tickets or a good seat in the restaurant.

But God wants to know us far better.  Enoch walked so closely with Him that he walked right out of this world into the next.  Abraham was called a God’s “friend.”  Moses was allowed to see Him in person and hear his voice.  Isaiah, saw Him and cried, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips.”  Enough people in the annals of Bible history knew God well enough to lead me to the conclusion this is supposed to be the “norm,” not the exception.

Jesus went further, calling himself the heavenly bridegroom and describing the relationship of the church with Himself as a marriage.  Beyond this, Jesus commanded His disciples to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that the very essence of Heaven could flow through them into this world. These are concepts of intimacy.  Why then do we think we can or should live shallow lives devoid of His presence?

Instead of possessing the atmosphere of our lives, bringing our thoughts into captivity to the law of Christ, and instigating major change in our spheres of influence, we settle for “sermons on Sunday” and occasional “prayers in a pinch” during the week.  So much more is available, and I am in pursuit of it.

I want to have a relationship with God that is genuine and deep, one that permeates every thread of my life’s fabric.  I want to be on close speaking terms with my Heavenly Father.  He promised he would listen when I call and answer when I knock.  He promised if I would seek Him first, I could have anything I ask for in the name of His Son, my fellow heir.    He promised that if I would surrender and obey, He would guide and bless.  He didn’t say it would be comfortable, easy, or fun (in fact He indicated otherwise).  But, He did promise He would dwell with me, commune with me, and give me peace that passes all understanding. 

Imagine it: all of Heaven stopping stock still so God can hear the sound of your prayer; every angel pausing for the possibility of a new assignment when you knock on Heaven’s door; the throne room cleared to make room for your ascending praise when you lift it from your heart!  This is intimacy with Heaven’s King!

This is what I want: to know God intimately, not so I can be famous or successful, but so that I may breathe a whiff of Heaven’s air here on earth.  I want to know Him so well, that when I come before the throne, it is like meeting an old friend: not being introduced to a God I barely know. 

How about you?  Are you ready to Ask, Seek, and Knock so you can find this powerful peace ready to be given at the open door of Heaven?