Known God
Notes
Transcript
God the Creator
God the Creator
Paul is talking to 2 very different philosophical people. He is speaking to Epicureans and Stoics. Their ultimate goal in life was happiness. They just had two different ways of getting there. Epicureans believed that the ultimate road to happiness was through pleasure and lack of things that caused pain. In essence do what you want to do that makes you feel good and avoid those things that you don’t like and you will achieve happiness. Stoics on the other hand believed that happiness could only be achieved by self-discipline through reason. They believed the universe had a natural order and to understand that order and live according to that would bring you happiness. The problems with these philosophical problems were that neither one of them achieved what they sought out to achieve. (Happiness) Epicurean led to licentiousness and unhealthy living that created disease and led to short lived lives. Stoicism led to frustration because no one could live according to the natural order. As a matter of fact the originator of Stoicsim, Zeno of Citium, took his own life because he could not live according to the natural order.
These are the people that Paul’s addressing. He notes that they are religious people. He meant they were people that tried to please a divine power. This should be noted by all the objects of worship. They had a god for everything. It was said of Athens that it was easier to find a god in Athens than it was a man. They even had a altar of a god called “the unknown god”. This was to make sure if they did not capture all the gods then this altar would cover the ones that they did not know.
Paul begins to share a form of the gospel that I believe we need to start sharing today. He starts from creation. He proclaims that there is only on God and that He made the world and all the things in it. God is a creator that has made all things. There is no need for a sun god, water god, tree god, money god, sex god, health god or any other god. He is the One true God who created all things.
Why is this important? Because different religions believe different things about God and Creation.
Jehovah Witness- Although Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in creation, we are not antiscience. We believe that true science and the Bible are compatible.
Mormons - Under the direction of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ created the heavens and the earth (see Mosiah 3:8; Moses 2:1). From scripture revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, we know that in the work of the Creation, the Lord organized elements that had already existed (see Abraham 3:24). He did not create the world “out of nothing,” as some people believe.
Muslims - According to the Quranic narrative, reported in the second chapter named Baqara (Cow) and elaborated elsewhere in the text, man came into being after Allah (God) consulted with his angels about his selection for the position of khalifa (viceregency) of Allah on earth. Although the angels and Iblis (Satan) warned Him about man's possible future of violence and mischief, Allah dismissed their objection by saying that He knows what they do not know about human possibilities.
Buddhist & Hindus - Hindus and Buddhists believe that there was no single Creation but rather the universe—without the help of a Creator God—is created and destroyed by fire, wind and water in a series of endless cycles. Buddhist believe these periods of transformation are divided into "Great Periods" (cycles with Buddhas) and "voids" (cycles without Buddhas). Each cycle of creation begins when the primordial waters recede and the dry land of the world emerges to reveal a sacred bodhi tree, whose lotus flowers indicate the number of Buddhas that are appear in that particular Great Period.
Darwinism - Darwin's theory consisted of two main points; 1) diverse groups of animals evolve from one or a few common ancestors; 2) the mechanism by which this evolution takes place is natural selection.
Big Bang Theory - Here’s the theory: In the first 10^-43 seconds of its existence, the universe was very compact, less than a million billion billionth the size of a single atom. It's thought that at such an incomprehensibly dense, energetic state, the four fundamental forces—gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces—were forged into a single force, but our current theories haven't yet figured out how a single, unified force would work. To pull this off, we'd need to know how gravity works on the subatomic scale, but we currently don't.
Church of Scientology - In Scientology, this view flows from the theory of theta (the life force, or spirit) creating MEST (a coined word for the physical universe, Matter, Energy, Space and Time). In fact, it could be said that the creation of the universe is an inseparable part of that theory. The origins of theta and the creation of the physical universe set forth in Scientology are described in The Factors, written by L. Ron Hubbard in 1953.
So why is God being creator So important? It establishes who He is and His authority. Any account outside the Biblical account of creation poses a threat to the existence or authority of God! Paul was establishing with the Athenians that God is the one true God and that He alone is authority over all!
This is something that we must convey to unbelievers. They must understand that God created them and they are accountable to Him. They will one day be judged by Him!
He does not dwell in the humanities creations nor does he need humanity for any aspect of his existence. God is self-existent and always has been and always will be. Humanity has no authority over God. Even unbelievers are under the authority of God. They just don’t recognize it. But one day they will.
For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, to Me every knee will bow, And every tongue will give praise to God.” Rom. 14:11
God the Sustainer
God the Sustainer
There are three ways that God Sustains His creation. He creates nations, He sets times and boundaries of habitation, He stays close to us.
He creates nations
He creates nations
The first nation He created was Israel. Abraham is the Father of Israel. His Father was not an Israelite. His father was a pagan. God called Abraham to leave his family to start a nation that God created. So why does God create nations?
He creates nations to worship him. The reason He created Israel was to be a lighthouse to the rest of the world. He wanted the rest of the world to see how a nation that submits to Him is blessed. He wanted others to come into a relationship with them so He could bless them. They failed to do this, so he turned his attention to the gentile nation.
7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but [a]those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; 8 just as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes to see not and ears to hear not,
Down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
“May their table become a snare and a trap,
And a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
10 May their eyes be darkened to see not,
And bend their backs continually.”
11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? [b]Far from it! But by their wrongdoing salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Rom. 11:7-11
Could it be that God has blessed the US because of our submission to Him. Could it be that God is cursing the US for not surrendering to Him. One thing you can do to help fix our problem is pray about getting Godly people in positions of leadership. You have an opportunity to do this Tuesday. GO VOTE!
God establishes times and boundaries for all people
God establishes times and boundaries for all people
God has ordained every one of your days. He knows how many days you will live. He knows how far you can go. There is nothing that will come into your life that God has not allowed. Before you were God ordained your life.
For You created my innermost parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, because [i]I am awesomely and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My [j]frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my formless substance;
And in Your book were written
All the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. Psalms 139:14-16
God created you for Himself. Let us walk in His intended purpose.
God Remains close
God Remains close
God promises that he is always with us. He has given us His Holy Spirit. He resides within us. He convicts us of sin and guides us to paths of righteousness. He is our helper!
16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [g]Helper, so that He may be with you forever; 17 the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17
God the Savior
God the Savior
God’s expectation for our life is perfection. None of us has hit the mark of his goal for our life. We have missed the mark. That is what sin is, missing the mark. Because we have missed the mark we will be judged. We cannot escape His judgement on our own. We are all guilty.
God loves us so much and knows that we are not capable of restoration on our own so He did something dramatic. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Jesus hit the mark! He was without sin! He gives us His perfection and takes away our imperfection.
He conquered death and hell for every believer. He gives them everlasting life! How do we know this? Because He was resurrected from the dead!