Friday, July 5, 2013

God



I.  What is the name of God?

  A.  “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14)
    1.  When Moses was chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of
         Egypt, He talked to Moses at the burning bush.  When 
        Moses finally agreed to do this, he said this to God:
    2.  “Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the
         children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers
        has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?
        what shall I say to them?  And God said to Moses, “I AM 
        WHO I AM.”  And He said, “Thus you shall say to the 
        children of Israel:  ‘The lord God of your fathers, the God of
        Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent 
        Me to you.  This is My name forever, and this is My
        memorial to all generations.”  (Exodus 3:13-15).
    3.  “I AM WHO I AM” is Yahweh in Hebrew.

  B.  Other names for God.
    1.  Yahweh.
    2.  Jehovah.
    3.  Abba
    4.  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  
II.  The difference between our God and all the other religions.
  A.  Our God has a son.  No other religion can say that.
    1.  His son is Jesus Christ.
  B.  Christianity is the only religion in which works is not the
way to get to heaven.
    1.  We get to heaven through grace, and not works.
    2.  All others religions of the world, you have to have works.

  C.  We are made in the image of God.
    1.  All other religions and cults originate in the minds of 
        human beings who project their own thoughts on to how
        they vision the god they worship.
    2.  Instead of a god produced in the image of men and women,
       Christianity reveals that men and women are created in the
        image of God.
    3.  This is why you are special in the eyes of God.  You are
        made in the image of God.

III.  God is love.

  A.  “And we have known and believed the love that God has for
       Us.  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God,
       and God in him.”  (I John 4:16).
    1.  God is love.  That’s not an adjective describing God.  He is
        love.  And we are to love God back.  This is how it works.
    2.  “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your
       strength.  This is the first commandment.  And the second,
        like it, is this:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
       (Mark 12:30-31.)
    3.  Love God – Love Neighbor = world peace.
    4.  God loves us unconditionally.  Agape love.  Unlike most 
human beings, God can forgive.  If we have done something 
wrong and come to God with a heart of sincere forgiveness,
God promises us He will forgive us.  Amazingly, not only 
will He forgive us but He will completely forget it like it 
never happened.
    5.  God loves us not because of who we are or what we do.  
         God loves us because of who He is, not who we are.  

IV.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish but
       have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16).

  A.  God loved us so much that He took the form of a human.
    1.  He revealed Himself in Jesus Christ.  He was the scandal
       of all religions because God was completely different than
       the way human beings thought He should be.  
    2.  Jesus spent most of His time with the poor, the outcast, 
       children, and women.  He healed on the Sabbath.  He 
       touched lepers.  He loved everyone and in doing so He 
       broke every list of rules the Pharisees had.  He couldn’t 
       possibly be the Son of God they thought.  They felt they
       had to kill Him.
    3.  Finally, the One we sinned against took our sins and paid
       for it Himself.  When He rose from the dead unconditional
       love was now forever defined in blood.  Jesus Christ died
       for our sins.  He defeated Satan and all evil.  
    4.  God sends the Holy Spirit who is with us every day.  God
       comes into our life by way of the Holy Spirit and fills our
  heart with divine, agape love.  
    5.  Who is God?  God is love.     





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