FIrst in a series on the Question of God. June 28, 2020
Posted by Church of God of Carmichael on Wednesday, July 1, 2020
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TEXT: GENESIS 2:15-20
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
Who, What, When, Where, Why? Who Is God? Who’s talking? Who’s listening? God is in the midst of the garden, Adam is there, and God is creating creatures, that He has Adam naming. But for Adam, there is no help meet. So then God creates woman for Adam. There’s man, and there is God. Not from reading, but because God is with him. Experience. Who. What. Today many people are asking Who is God? And it’s important that today we have questions about God that will help us focus on what’s really important, to keep us centered on those that things that will answer those questions in these times. Who…is God?
EXODUS 5:1,2
1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
Pharaoh asked “Who is God?” that I should obey and let Israel go? Until Pharaoh let Israel go, he had this negative assessment of God. We learn more about this through reading about the plagues that came after. Pharaoh learned the hard way. But God desires us to learn in a blessed and beneficial way. We can learn of God the hard way, …or in a blessed way! Pharaoh asked “Who is God?” …and that’s the first question this morning. Who…is God? Both of these scripture passages ask this question. So when we ask the “W’ questions, (who, what, when, where, why) there’s a framework to when we ask these questions. There’s various ways to when we understand God. It is through 1) knowledge 2) experience 3) belief, and 4) hope. Those four things inform us on those “W” questions. Do you know what this question is and what people still ask today? I wonder ..”God.” About Him. I hear people talk about God. That they know God; that they are saved, etc. whatever they say about God. I wonder what that could be? Many of us have asked that question before we knew God. We didn’t have answers. The bible says when you really want to know God, the Holy Spirit will “draw” you to Him, and help answer those questions. But even if you have little knowledge, …you can have a great experience! But an experience without knowledge is misinformed. There are many people that have an experience “of sorts,” but it is not based on the Word of God. So the ways we know God is important! It’s not just experience, because you can have an experience that ultimately becomes misinformed…”or gets off.” But if it’s founded on knowledge of the Word of God, then you can gauge what you believe, what you have, ..based on what the Lord teaches. Ultimately that forms your belief. Who is God? Based on what we’ve read, we know God is : 1) Creator, ..He creates. And we also know from what we will read that God is also 2) Destroyer; when God saw everything on the earth was rampant with wickedness, it grieved Him and He destroyed the world through the flood. When God saw the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, God destroyed them. And there are still times God destroys when He confronts evil. God does not destroy what is good, …He only destroys what is evil! But God began’s to reveal Himself through this knowledge…as Creator.
When men and women want to know Who God is, the first way we begin to know Who He is, …is through Creation. He creates in us, a new spirit, a new heart, a new life. When we come to Him, in the emptiness, the hopelessness of what we bring to Him, He takes that which is nothing, and God creates something. A life that which is nothing in the eyes of God, He takes that and makes something out of it! So God is still Creator today! That’s the first thing we know about Him! Do you have an experience with God, where He has created something new in you? Is that your experience? Do you know this? Not by something you’ve read, but because you’ve experienced that He’s created something new in you?
Who Is God?