FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Encountering God: Existence & Knowability | Hebrews 11:6
Ever questioned the existence of God, especially during life's tough moments? This episode offers a profound exploration into these very doubts, urging listeners to engage deeply with scripture and find answers that resonate. We delve into biblical affirmations of God's existence through passages like Genesis 1:1, Hebrews 11:6, and Romans 1:19-20, illustrating how the universe and our existence serve as powerful evidence of His reality. Discover how knowing Jesus of the Bible can transform your understanding and faith, even amidst a culture where belief in God is on the decline.
Feeling hesitant about sharing your faith? We tackle common fears and misconceptions about evangelistic conversations, emphasizing that it's about sharing your story and relying on the Holy Spirit, not having all the answers. Learn how to help others recognize the inherent knowledge of God within them and the transformative power of a personal relationship with Him. With scriptures such as John 17:3 and Ephesians 1:17, and heartfelt testimonies, this episode calls you to a deeper, more intimate journey with God, culminating in a collective prayer and an invitation to worship, embracing a life guided by His love and grace.
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together if you're excited to be in church this morning. God is so good. He is working in all of our lives, so personally and relationally and intimately. It's so incredible to hear just personal testimony of what God is doing in people's lives. Obviously, that was our creative director, jenny Highsmith, and just a little bit about her testimony. Her full testimony will be online, I believe, today that you can watch in our different websites and social media and all that you can see the fuller version.
Speaker 1:But we're kind of changing gears and, as we've been in Genesis Leviticus, genesis Exodus Leviticus, and we're changing gears this morning, a new series just for this month, that we are calling Encountering God. Encountering God because God, he creates us to know him for the express purpose of encountering him, to know him, to have a relationship with him and for him to do a work in our lives, because we need him to work within us, because we are desperate for God. So, before we dive into it, I just want to say thank you to everyone. First of all for being here, everyone watching online, worshiping online with us. I want to thank our worship team, our production team, all of our group leaders. If you're a Bible study leader, a Sunday school teacher, one of our just group leaders themselves, or maybe you work in our serve, in our children's ministry, our student ministry, our hospitality ministry, or you've been doing mission, local mission, all week. I just want to say thank you, because it takes a church to reach a community, and that's what we're called to do is to reach our community, and God is working in so many ways. We actually have a church conference tonight which is like a business meeting, so if you're not a member, don't bore yourself with it, but we'll be talking about a lot of stuff that's going that God is doing in our church. And if you're not able to make it, I want to share with you a few things. First of all, just amazing things that God is doing. Our kids' ministry, from this time last year to now this year, is up 40% from last year to this year. That is unbelievable. Healthy church growth is about six to 7%. Our kids ministry is up 40%. Our adult group ministry, our Sunday school we are up 28% just in adult groups. We have somewhere around like another 240% more in first time guests this year compared to last year, which is crazy. That's only what God can do and that's how God is using you.
Speaker 1:Even just last week, we had a family that was here and one of our members met them, said, hey, how did you hear about us? They said, well, we don't actually know. And he said, well, what do you mean? He said, well. They said, well, we're from South Carolina. We were just here for the week and when we were hanging out here in the Powder Springs area, we heard about your church around town and so we wanted to come and check it out for ourselves, and so they came last week.
Speaker 1:It's just amazing what God is doing we just got to experience this morning I believe it was our 33rd baptism of the year, so we're very thankful for that and while we have had six people that, for whatever reason, god has led them to other churches and, by the way, we always want to celebrate God's will in people's lives. We want people to be where God's called them to be 60 people have joined First Baptist Church, powder Springs this year. So we're just incredibly thankful for all that God is doing. All of that is God-sized numbers. Put your hands together for all that God is doing, because we are incredibly thankful. Only God can do that kind of work. A growing church is a busy church and so there's just a few things I want you to know that's coming up the next couple weeks. First of all, today we are still in deacon nomination. So if you know men that are members in our church that you believe would make a great deacon, that God is calling them to be deacon, you can make nomination. You can go to our website. There's a link there where you can make nominations online. So there are physical ballots out in our lobbies.
Speaker 1:Today's Promotion Sunday we're so excited about all of our students that are back in school. Just my little girl, our five-year-old daughter. She is now in kindergarten this year. She went to Kemp this past Thursday and Friday and that's where she will be for the year, riding the bus. For her first time the bus comes to our house. We don't take her to school anymore. We're blessed people. Promotion Sunday Excited about just all of our elementary department and our student ministry department. Congratulations to all of you.
Speaker 1:As Jenny already talked about, our group genius table with donuts, as she mentioned, is out in our lobby. If you are someone that you have not yet found God's group for you to be a part of a community, then we believe that God has a group for everyone here and we have a table with geniuses that can help you find the right group for you, the right people for you at the right time and the right place of the week for you. Tonight, as I mentioned, is church conference this coming Wednesday. We're calling our event this Wednesday, right here behind the CLC, the Great Grillout where we are going to have inflatables, we're going to have door prizes, we're going to have giveaways, we're going to have food trucks that are coming in, games for all the kids. All of the hamburgers and the hot dogs are for free. It's for you, your neighbors, your family, your coworkers, your classmates, acquaintances, that you meet. All we want to do is just serve and bless our community and just let them know that we love them and all that God is doing here at First Baptist, powder Springs. Next Sunday, we're also going to have another genius table, but it's a serve genius table. We believe that God has put a desire in the heart of every believer to serve in their local church, because that's what God has called us to do. So if you haven't found your ministry yet, we'll have a serve table next week for you to find the right ministry for you that God has called you to, and we're having a lunch for all of our group leaders next week. So if you're even interested in leading a group, then that would be a great lunch for you to come to. The lunch is for free. The next Wednesday is our first Wednesday night of official groups. The 14th We'll have groups all over this place. We'll have kids ministry, student ministry and adult groups all over the church, and then August 18th, we have our hospitality team lunch. All of our greeters, parking lot hosts, next step volunteers, and even if you're interested in serving on our hospitality team, we'd love to have you come and to be a part of what God is doing.
Speaker 1:And I'm out of breath and we're done. Here we go, let's dive in, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you. God, you're so good and God, we just pray that you would speak to us today. God, change our hearts and our minds and our lives. God, start with me. Father, we need your word, we need your voice, we need your presence, we need your power. We live in a sin-cursed world and, god, we need you to be able to live for you here in our world, god, so we pray that you would speak. We ask these things in Jesus' name, in all God's people said amen. Well, you can go and open up your Bibles to Romans, chapter one. This morning, romans, chapter one, we'll be bouncing all around the Bible.
Speaker 1:And this morning, as I said, we are starting a new series and it is called Encountering God. It's our series that's called Encountering God and I wanted to start a new series kind of on the start of school, and this is going to be a little bit of a different series, a different series. You know, we've been studying Genesis, exodus, leviticus, we've been going through the books, going through the stories of the Bible, and that's called biblical theology. Biblical theology is you're just working your way, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. Biblical theology is so important for your life because you find your life story in the story of God's word and in the story of the gospel of Jesus. Well, we're changing gears this morning. We've never done this type of series together here at First Baptist, powder Springs, and this is gonna be a little bit more of a systematic theology series. Systematic theology. What is systematic theology? It's when you take all of the different truths of God's word and you break it all apart and you look at them for what they are. And so this morning, encountering God, we're just going to take a deeper look over the next four weeks through August about who God is. We're going to break it all apart here as we're starting.
Speaker 1:You might have thought well, I thought my teenagers were starting school. I didn't know I was going back to school. We're all in seminary now, congratulations. We're gonna go deeper together. By the way, just talking about school, I miss school. This was my senior year football picture when I was in high school. I don't miss going to school, but I do miss playing school sports. Can I get an amen? I just wanted to show you this to prove that I did have hair back in the day. That was my basketball picture, that was my baseball picture.
Speaker 1:And there we go, encountering God. That's what we want to talk about this morning. We're just going to break apart all of the passages of Scripture that talk about God, because God's Word is where we learn about God most and most accurately. In fact, this morning, specifically, what we're going to be talking about God, we're going to be talking about his existence, god's existence and God's knowability, meaning knowing that God exists, but also God doesn't just exist, but God himself can be known.
Speaker 1:If I could kind of focus this into a group of people that this might especially help, it would be for those who are doubting. Maybe you are going through a season of your life that you're going through such difficult time that you are maybe even doubting does God love me? Is God there for me? Is God true? Does God even exist? Or maybe you are in a season of life that you're really encountering God. You're experiencing God, but yet you know people. People are surrounding you. Maybe you have people very close to you that are asking very difficult questions and the reason they're coming to you maybe is because you are encountering God. You obviously know God and maybe they have an interest in knowing God, like you do. But maybe you find yourself in a place where I often find myself in the same place that it is hard to answer everyone's questions about God's existence and about knowing God. It's difficult, but yet God gives us truths, god gives us answers. See, I don't want us to just be a church where we're always just skimming the surface of Christianity, where we're always just skimming the surface of the scriptures. I believe that you're going through real things, real problems, real problems, real difficulties, real trials, real sufferings. You've got real questions, those around you have real questions and we need to talk about the depth of God's word and who God is. If you believe that, say amen. So here's what we see in God's word as we talk about his existence and we want to see here with his existence that.
Speaker 1:Did you know that a study was done last year and about half of millennial Americans about half don't know, don't care or don't believe in the existence of God between the ages of 28 and 43 years old? Did you know that 80% of the world would say that they believe that God exists, but that 80% all disagree on who God is? Only about 30% of them would call themselves Christian. Did you know that somewhere around 74% of America would say that they believe in the existence of God, but only about 33% of them would call themselves Protestant, or in other words, that they would say that they believe in the actual God of the Bible? Or another way put, I've seen another study that says that 10% of our country actually less than about 9% of our country would agree to gospel, essential truths, biblical truths for salvation about God. So I'm afraid that America is not as Christian as maybe we think America is, because what it means to be Christian means to believe in Jesus and follow Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible.
Speaker 1:You know, we see here, when it comes to the existence of God, we see in Genesis 1-1,. We see the Bible starts out with his existence Genesis 1-1,. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. You know, what's interesting is that God never dives deep into proof and evidence in his word to give us arguments to prove that he exists. Do you know why? That is Because I never find myself trying to prove my existence to anyone else and God doesn't feel like he needs to prove his existence to anyone else either. There's something about God that when you look at the universe, when you look at the creation we'll get into this here in a few minutes when you look at humanity, when you look at relationships, science and atheism and agnosticism and evolutionism and all those type things Gnosticism and evolutionism and all those type things evolution they just don't seem to give the answers that people are really looking for to bring meaning and purpose to their life. That can only be found in God himself. We see here, we maybe even ask the question so what does the Bible actually say about God's existence.
Speaker 1:Well, hebrews 11, verse 6 says whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists. Just as a reminder, that word draw near, those words actually come from the book of Leviticus. It was that act of when someone would draw near to the tabernacle, draw near to the temple, they would bring that animal sacrifice, that grain sacrifice, that drink offering to God. And he says whoever would draw near to God in our day and time must believe that he exists and that God rewards those who seek him. In other words, we are not just called to believe that God is out there. Our call to belief, our call to faith, is to seek God, to know who he is, to know him personally and intimately and relationally.
Speaker 1:First Corinthians 8, 6 says yet for us there is one God, the Father, from who all things and for whom check this out for whom we exist. In other words, we don't just exist from God, we exist for God. God did not just create you to know that he is there. God created you to know him personally.
Speaker 1:You ever thought about that? God did not create the world because or us or you or people, because he was lonely. God wasn't lonely. There was God, the Father, god, the Son, god, the Holy Spirit. God didn't create us because he needed something. God wanted just simply to create you so that you would have the honor and the pleasure of knowing him. We have been created and we exist for God, the knowledge of God. And he says and there is one Lord, jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist, meaning we would not even exist if he did not exist. In other words, one of the greatest evidences of God's existence is your existence. One of the greatest evidences of God's existence is your existence. One of the greatest powerful ways of showing people that God exists is by your very life, is by your very testimony, is by your very story we see here in the existence of God. And so, as we continue to study the existence of God and look at all these different evidences or proofs or whatever it might be, next we have to ask the question well then, what are evidences of God's existence? There are evidences out there, but what are they?
Speaker 1:Romans, chapter 1, verses 19 through 20, is fascinating. The apostle Paul here is writing and he's actually writing about Gentiles who have never even yet heard the name of God, who do not yet know who God is, and this is what he says, for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. All. Right, paul. Well, how does God show those who have never heard of you, those who have never been told about you? How, god, how do you show them that you're there? It says, for God's invisible attributes, namely his eternal power, divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made, so that they are without excuse. Meaning. What we see here is that, as God is continuing to reveal himself to us, that God is actually making himself plainly clear, in plain sight, that God exists, and not only that he exists, but we can learn things about God by looking at the universe. We can see his invisible attributes, we can see his eternal power.
Speaker 1:Now let me show you just a couple of things that people would teach us what we can learn about God. First of all, when we look out at the universe, we can see something about God's infinity. The universe is so vast, it's so massive, it's so expansive. The universe has an order to it. The universe has a beauty to it. The universe is something that is just astonishing to us, because of not only its size, but also its beauty, but also its order. And so when we look at the universe, obviously something that is infinite must have been able to design. It must have been able to design, it must have been able to create it.
Speaker 1:Psalm 19.1 says that the heavens declare the glory of God, but not only the infinity of God. Also we can see the intricacy of God. The intricacy of God is when we can look at the human body, such as scientists tell us that if you just put a simple dot of ink from a pen on your hand, in that surface area of the dot of ink on your hand is somewhere around 10,000 different cells, and every different cell within those 10,000 is like its own city, and we are made up of billions and trillions of different cells. We know that scientists cannot replicate, scientists cannot recreate in any way the brain, the eyeball, the nervous system, that the human body is something that is created by God alone and it's something that is to be marveled at, and it's something that it is to point us to the existence of God. The Bible says that God created us in his own image. But also, not only do? We look at the infinity of God and the intricacy of God, but we look at the intimacy of God. See, evolution doesn't ultimately make sense, because lifelessness cannot create life, lovelessness cannot create love, impersonality cannot create personality, the impersonal cannot create the personal.
Speaker 1:And there's something that is very distinct about humanity that we love relationships, we love to love one another. Even often we get it wrong, even in a sin-cursed world, that they just say well, all love goes, love is just love. Well, we know that that is not true, because every love must have boundary, every love must have limit, because if you can define love into whatever you want it to be, ultimately that love for you is not going to be love for someone else. It's going to be hurt towards them or hurt towards society. All love cannot just be love because someone's going to get hurt. So, in other words, we allow God to define what love is, because the Bible says that God himself is love, and so we can't help but love one another. The world can't help but try to project love. The world can't help but try to expand love. Why? Because love is so important to God, because that's who God is and that's how God created us to be so.
Speaker 1:Even the very point of humanity, of existing together and loving one another shows, is proof, is an evidence to the existence of God. So maybe then the question is that we have to ask ourselves then why don't people believe in God's existence? Well, I want to make a point first, because sometimes we get all, as Christians, we get into what's called evidential apologetics, and evidential apologetics is like well, look at all the mud on the seafloor and look at all the dust on the moon and look at the salt in the ocean, and look at this and look at that and all these different evidences. There have been very few people hear me in our lifetime that have said that they got saved, that they gave their life to Jesus through the gospel of Jesus Christ, because someone talked them into all of the evidence that God exists. Do you know why that doesn't work? The reason it doesn't work is because God's goal for everyone's life is not just to believe that he's there, that he exists. God's goal is that Jesus becomes the Lord of their life. See, salvation is not just a smart decision, it's also a heart decision. That's why we share the gospel with people.
Speaker 1:We're not just trying to talk them into God, I wanna take the pressure off you this morning. You're not gonna be able to answer every question, you're not gonna be able to defend every argument. I think that Satan tricks us, lies to us, deceives us and tempts us to not even get into evangelistic conversations because we know that we're not going to be able to answer every question. So we don't even engage. And God is saying you don't have to answer every question. God is saying all you have to do is just present me. All you have to do is share your story, all you have to do is talk about me.
Speaker 1:Why don't people believe God's existence? Romans, chapter 1, says verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men listen who by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. Meaning this Paul is saying that God creates everybody in his image. The Holy Spirit is convicting everyone. The Bible says you can write this down in John, chapter 16, verses 8 through 11, that the Holy Spirit convicts the entire world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Meaning God creates us in his image. The Holy Spirit is convicting everyone.
Speaker 1:So what are people doing? Because of their sin, they're suppressing the truth of God in their life. Why? Because they want to live, however. They want to live and they don't want anyone holding them accountable. They especially don't want to be accountable to a holy God because they don't know the grace of God. To a holy God, because they don't know the grace of God, because they don't know the forgiveness of God, because they don't know that God has more for them in their life than they can give to themselves. He goes on to say in verse 21, for although they knew God, although everyone in the world knows that there is a God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened Verse 25, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. They worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Speaker 1:In other words, here's what happens. God creates us in his image. He creates us to worship him, and so in our life, even in our sin, even before we're saved, before I'm saved, before you're saved, we can't help it. We worship something or someone, because God did not just create us to worship. God created us as worshipers. We can't help it, and so what we do is we tend to live our life for something, for somebody, even if that means that it is for ourselves, because we don't want to live our lives for God. And so the Bible says that we've traded it out. And he says that we know the truth and we have suppressed the truth. So, in other words, here's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:In other words, I believe that God, in his word, has given you a bridge, because it may not be your life, it may be someone else's life that God has put you in their life to be able to share, about who God is, about what Jesus has done for them. And you can start to talk about them and they're going to ask questions and they're going to give arguments and you're not going to have all the answers. But here's the deal. But you just start talking about Jesus and trusting that God is going to do the work in their life. How can we help people to believe in God's existence? You know what's funny? When people don't even believe the Bible is true, god still calls us to use the Bible to talk to them. Why? Because if all I do is talk to them out of my words, my reasoning, my wisdom, all they're getting are things from me. But even when they don't believe the Bible when I'm giving them God's wisdom from God's word and God's truth, listen. That's when they start to hear God's voice, god's very voice.
Speaker 1:Here's what the Apostle Paul says. He's talking about helping people to come to know Jesus. He said, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. He said I was with you in weakness and fear, much trembling. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, which again takes the pressure off of you. Words of wisdom which again takes the pressure off of you when you're sharing Jesus with other people, about the existence of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:You don't have to be the smartest person in the room, you don't even have to be the smartest person in the conversation. You just have to come. He says. But in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, you just have to come in, prayed up, you just have to come in, depending on the Holy Spirit. Oh God, I'm gonna open my mouth right now. God, I'm gonna tell him about Jesus. God, I don't have all the answers, I don't even know exactly what to say. But, god, I'm gonna start this conversation because I know that you've called me to.
Speaker 1:And Jesus says in many places of the Bible that he's going to give you the words. For the moment, we don't even always know the words that we're going to say, because he wants to say them through us. He said I only knew Jesus among you. My words were not plausible wisdom. My words were a demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but your faith might rest in the wisdom of God. You have people in your life I have people in my life that need God. They may be an atheist, they may be an agnostic, they might believe in a different God, but here's what we know that there is one true God and he loves them and he created them and he desires to save them and he sent his son Jesus to die for them, and he is calling us to have a conversation with them, to give them the opportunity to come to know him.
Speaker 1:So next, as we see the existence of God, then we've got to move on to the knowability of God. Because here's the point, if you heard me say before, the point is is not just that we believe that God exists. The point is that we believe that God can be known, that we know him personally, that we know him relationally, that we know him intimately, that Jesus Christ came to die on the cross for our sins and to rise from the dead so that we can be saved by God, to have that relationship with him, and so praise God. He's not just a God that is out there, he's a God that wants to be in here. So my question for you this morning is do you just know about God or do you know God? Think about your loved ones. Do they just know about God or do they love? Do they know God? So how does? Maybe? You're asking yourself the question. So how do you know? How do you?
Speaker 1:Let's go back to the one before I apologize. Not just how do you know that you know God, but first of all, how do you come to know God? John, chapter 17, verse 3, says this now, this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God through whom you have been sent. So the whole point is to know this is their life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So, in other words, the point of salvation is to know him, not just to believe that he's out there, but to believe on him, to have a relationship with him. It is to say, there's actually two different Greek words. There's one Greek word, it's oida, and oida means to know something factually or informationally. There's a second Greek word, and it's gnosko, and this word gnosko is like know, right here, and the word gnosko is to know personally or intimately. So the opportunity we have here in order to have eternal life is that we may know God as the only true God and that we may know Jesus as the one that God has sent.
Speaker 1:Maybe the next question you would ask well, how do you know that you know God? I've often heard it said that typically Christians have two major questions in life. Number one how do I know that I'm saved? Number two how do I know God's will for my life? How do you know that you're saved? Well, the Bible says in Romans 8, verse 15 and 16, for you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba, father and the Holy Spirit himself bear witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Speaker 1:I remember one day when I was in college I was probably about 22 years old. I was in Bible college studying to be a pastor. I was studying for a Bible exam and I'll never forget the feeling that washed over me that all of this is just false, it's all fake. I remember this feeling washing over me, thinking all of a sudden like it's, like none of it made sense anymore. All of the Bible, everything about God it was like all of the faith had just instantaneously washed out of me. I did not know what to do.
Speaker 1:I ended up standing up from my desk, walking over to my bed, getting on my knees and crying out to God and saying God, I don't know what's going on right now, but I'm not feeling it. I'm not feeling it. I'm not believing it. God, I feel like I've lost my faith out of nowhere. I didn't choose this, it just came over me. But, god, I choose to believe you. In that moment, god called me to cry out to him as Abba Father. But, god, I choose to believe you. I don't care how I feel, I don't care what kind of doubts I have. God called me to cry out to him as Abba Father. But, god, I choose to believe you. I don't care how I feel, I don't care what kind of doubts I have, I don't care what kind of questions that are hitting me in life. God, I'm calling out to you as my Father. God, I believe that I am your child, father. I need you right now and I need you to give me faith. And I remember that I stood back up from my bed and I got back to my desk and I kept studying and it felt like it just all just kind of crept back in again and I don't know what Satan was trying to do in my life. But I'm so thankful that God is more powerful than even the evil one in life.
Speaker 1:So what happens if you really know God? What does the Bible say? That when you experience God, when you encounter God, when you have a saving relationship with God, what happens in your life? Ephesians 1.17 says. The Apostle Paul says that I keep asking that the God of our Lord, jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. You know what happens when you know God, when you give your life to Jesus. You can't even help it.
Speaker 1:The Holy Spirit comes into your life and you just have to know God more. You just have to get into God's Word. You just have to get on your knees in prayer. You just want to go to church to learn more about Him, to learn the Word of God that's being preached. You just have to get more of God, because how much you have of God is great, but it's just not quite enough. You just need more of him. That's what the spirit of God is doing in a believer that you've just got to know him. All the more you've got to know him, all the better You've got to know him all the better God actually works his spirit in our life so that we desire him in that way.
Speaker 1:So how important is it to know God as we think about knowing him more and more and more and studying his word and getting with God in prayer and learning more about him in his church? How important is it really? Here's what the Apostle Paul said Learning more about him in his church. How important is it really? Here's what the apostle Paul said. He said, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth as knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. He said you cannot come up with anything in my life that is more important than me knowing God Nothing. God is the most important one. God is more important than everything else. He said try me, there is nothing more important than knowing the God of the universe, because when you know the God of the universe, then you have everything else that you need. He said for his sake, for Christ's sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and I count them as rubbish the word is garbage. I count them as garbage.
Speaker 1:In order that I might gain Christ, that I might know him, is that your desire? That you might know Jesus personally, relationally and intimately, and to know him all the more throughout your life. And I want not only to know him, I want to know the power of his resurrection, I want to know his sufferings, I want to become like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. What Paul is saying is there's no greater truth, there's no greater life, and maybe you're someone here today that you've just been searching, you've been looking, you've been trying so many different ways to live and nothing is working and you still haven't found that peace and you still haven't found that joy and you still haven't found that love and that satisfaction and that fulfillment. Paul is saying that everything is lost. But knowing Christ, knowing him and the power of the gospel is what makes sense of all of life.
Speaker 1:So, can you know God? This is a question that so many people have. Can you really know God if you've never even seen God? In closing, 1 Peter 1.8, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him, now you believe in him and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Why? Because Hebrews 11.1,. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things that you don't even see. These are the last two verses I'll read to you this morning and, I'll be honest, I almost did not even put these in. I hesitated Because these break our heart, but also these reveal God and I felt like I would be a disobedient pastor if I did not read them.
Speaker 1:What happens if someone doesn't know God? 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 7-8 says 7-8, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. This is such a hard passage of Scripture to read, and the reason what makes it so hard is because it's so true and the reason what makes it so hard is because it's so true that your life, your eternity, your destiny is going to come down to whether or not you know God, whether or not you obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus To repent of your sins, to ask him to forgive you, to believe that he died for your sin, that he rose from the dead, that he's calling you to be the Lord of your life In Matthew 7, 22 and 23. And on that day, many will say to me Lord, lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Cast out demons in your name, do many mighty works in your name, jesus said. I will declare to them I never knew you. Depart from me, workers of lawlessness. I believe this passage here is talking about those who may have never even heard of God. This passage here is talking about the religious who knew about God, but they never knew God for themselves mercy, compassion, patience, desire. And he wants you. He doesn't just want you to know about him, he wants you to know him so that he can know you like a relationship.
Speaker 1:Think about my wife, michelle. There was a time I did not even know that she existed. Then someone told me about her and I knew she existed, but I did not know her personally. So I started to get to know her. But I did not know her personally, so I started to get to know her. Then there was a day that I got to marry her and I began a covenantal relationship with her and I knew her personally and relationally intimately. There was a time in my life that I did not even know that God existed. There was a time I was told about Him. I was learning about Him. There was a time that I gave my life to Him, began a covenantal relationship with Him to know Him personally, relationally and intimately.
Speaker 1:And that's why God created you, that's why you're here today, that's why God created your loved ones and those who have those questions, that you can engage in these types of conversations. So I'm just going to ask us all to bow our heads and close our eyes right now, with every head bowed and every eye closed this morning, I just want to encourage you. Are you the person that's here today that you know God personally? You've given your life to him. He has saved you. You have trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you maybe are struggling with doubt. It's normal. God's working in your life and he needed you to hear this today. Maybe you have people in your life that you just need to be reminded that. Just talk to him about Jesus, just share your story, just share the gospel. Let God do the work.
Speaker 1:Or maybe you're here today and you need to give your life to Jesus, that the Holy Spirit is working in your life right now and he's calling you to faith in him Right here, right now. I can't save you, I can't pray this prayer for you, but I can lead you through this and you can call on Jesus right now and you can just say Jesus, I believe in you, I need you, I want you. You can tell him from your own words and your own heart Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and I ask you to forgive me of all of my sin. You can tell him, jesus, I believe that you rose from the dead, that you're alive, and I turn from my sin and I turn and I give my life to you. I want a real relationship with you, I want to know you, I want you in my life.
Speaker 1:I call on you to be my Lord, because the Bible says if you call on him with your mouth to be the Lord of your life. Believe on him that God raised him from the dead, that you will be saved, god. We believe that. God, we need you, we're desperate for you. Thank you that you're not only out there but, god, you want to be in us so we can know you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said would you put your hands together right now for anybody that gave their life to Jesus?
Speaker 1:This morning, we're so thankful, we're so excited. God is so good and I just want us all just to stand right now Before we sing. I'm going to pray one more time, but as we stand together, we're going to sing one last song. I just want to encourage you that your worship matters. You are worshiping the God that exists. You are worshiping the one true God. You are worshiping the God that can be known. You are worshiping the God that you know he receives your worship. He hears your voice, he hears your heart, he hears your song. I want to encourage you this morning to worship him, to give him all of you, all of your heart, all of your voice, so that he can receive that worship and get the glory from your life.
Speaker 1:Heavenly Father, we love you and God, we pray, lord, that you would just do a work in our lives, one last work through this song. God, we need you. We live in a sin-cursed world. God, we need you to empower us in a sin-cursed world. God, we need you to empower us. We need you to guide us. God, we need you to be with us. We just thank you for our relationship with you. May we always believe in you, may we always live for you, and I pray these things in Jesus' name. And all God's people said let's sing to him together.