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Wednesday, March 04, 2009
We serve a great and mighty God, but we must first grasp hold of the fact that He is alive, before we can be sure of our faith. Christians worship a God who is alive, and that makes us different. Isaiah 40:18-20 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple. Our faith is made certain because we serve a God who is alive.
1. God the Father in the Old Testament
- In the Old Testament, God had an intimate relationship with Man.
- God communicated with Adam. Even though Adam couldn’t see God in the form of a person, Adam heard God loud and clear. It is just like when we talk over the phone. We do not see the person we are talking to, but we can hear the person and know that person is real and alive.
- God also knew the needs of His creation. He saw a need for Adam to have a helper, and thus He created Eve out of Adam.
- God evidently shown Himself as a God who is alive. He could fellowship with man and He could meet man’s needs. Adam knew for sure this God he served is a God who is alive.
- After Man sinned, God was disappointed. But He never turned His back on His creations. He continued to love us and show us that He is alive!
- God made the impossible possible. Parting of the seas was clearly impossible in the naked eyes of man, but God made it possible.
- It is something no human beings can do, and very obvious it was done by God. A God who is dead would not have the power to perform miracles, so it is straight-in-the-face that our God who performed this miracle is alive!
2. God the Son who in the New Testament
- Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
- God knows the struggles we have as humans. we are all humans and being the scientific beings we are, we seek for proof before we choose to believe. .- By sending Jesus to earth, God showed himself in the very form of a human. Though he was 100% God, he was also 100%.
- He lived among His creations, fellowshipped just a friend would.
- No one can perform such miracles, except for God. All the miracles Christ performed showed that He was 100% God. The fact that He lived on earth showed that He was indeed alive. And when you put these two facts together, you get a God who is indeed alive!
- NT was also a very privileged and special period where God came in the form of a human. It is always easier to believe when we see it!
3. God the Holy Spirit in today’s context
- Jesus promised His spirit when he leaves. I used the word ‘leave’ because even though He died on the cross, He rose again 3 days later. He’s not dead, but he’s alive!
- And because God has promised never to leave nor forsake us, He sent His spirit to dwell within us.
- People began speaking in unknown tongues, and it must be God who made this possible. This again shows that He is alive and lives amongst us. - We have power when we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to do works for God, and these works point towards God and glorifies His name.
- The very works God performs thru us as willing vessels are proof and evidence that God is still alive today.
- Even though we do not see hear God audibly like in the OT, see God physically like in the NT, we feel God in our hearts, and SEE the wonders that He still performs today!
Conclusion:
We can see something common throughout the three different stages. In the old testament, we saw that Moses availed himself to be used by God, and God performed a miracle by parting the red sea. In the new testament, it was a small boy who sacrificed his lunch such that God could use his lunch to perform yet another miracle. In today’s context, it’s also about the availability of oneself. The Holy Spirit dwells in us only if we open up our hearts and allow Him to. He doesn’t force Himself into our hearts. We must be the ones who are willing to invite Him in. God is a gentleman. So today, if we want to see evidently for ourselves that the God we serve is a God who is alive, who is able to perform wonders and miracles, we must avail ourselves and allow Him to reside in our hearts.
Posted by exquisite me, @
7:53 AM
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