God's is Gracious

What is the right way to Learn about God?

Imagine for a minute a microscope. have you ever used one before. It is amazing to see all the things that you can see with a microscope. You can take a drop of blood or another substance and see a whole new world that is beyond the normal eye. We can study and examine things in amazing way.

Now i want you to reverse that image. We are under the microscope looking up and all we see is a great eye looking down on us. That is comparable to our relationship with God. When we try to look up at God and understand him in our own ways its like trying to look up the microscope and get a full view of who he is.

It is a reminder that we have the word of God to help us better understand Him. He didn’t leave us with no way to understand him.

Romans 11:33 NIV

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

It is so valuable to come to know God To grow deeper in our faith with him.

Have you ever thought about that?

Have you ever really thought about what it is to know The creator of the Universe?

It is amazing to think about. Yet, It is not surprising that many of us, myself, included have questions still about God.

What are some of the Big questions that you want God to answer? Does the Bible answer your Question?

The truth is that there are lots of things that plague humanity with questions about God. WE have a lot of areas we don’t feel like there is a complete answer to all things. We are trying to understand a being that is beyond us and is on a level of existence that we are just a imperfect image of. WE may not always have the answers but we do have the ability to understand and study. That is why I love verses like this.

Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV

29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

We have to sometimes accept and have faith that he hasn’t revealed all things to us but we can take and cherish the things that he has shown us.

Why do you think we’re so uncomfortable not having access to the “hidden things”?

Would life be better if we knew all the “hidden things”?

God has shown us some things though. He has revealed his law and all that comes with us. He has reveled things and shown us truth about who he is and how he wants us to live.

What are some things that we know God wants us to do?

Tonight though I want to look more again at Exodus 34:6

Exodus 34:6 NIV

6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,

Particularly the Gracious God.

What does the word Grace mean to you? What are some examples of Grace?

Grace is Defined as the Unmerited divine favor, a favor from which comes many gifts

It would be easy for us to simply say Jesus Christ but is that all that we receive in Grace?

I think about this month a year ago. We were at church trying to do our best to lead this church in Bloomington. When our worship leader and children’s director tell us they need to talk to us. They informed us that they have decided that they need to find a new church that they need rest. They had been right along side of us through a lot of the battles that the church had faced. I look back on that and I do not fault them. In the moment I was incredibly frustrated, hurt, and so many other emotions. I struggled because i was faced with the challenge of how can we keep this up. We had been trying and struggling to get this church established. Every part of me looking back is where was God’s Grace in that situation? How was God showing me grace? Before I answer that Question though have any of you experienced that?

How have you seen God’s grace in a tough situation?

For me when we were in that situation Church on the line. Livelyhood on the line. Exhaustion setting in it was overwhelming. Yet, his grace was there. I look back and i realize now that God knew what was happening. We were tired. We were spent. We had already been giving so much of ourselves. God knew it was time to provide relief. God used a bad situation to bring about good. He provided rest and releif. We were able to shut down the church. Yes, I know that doesn’t seem like a victory but sometimes it is what is necessary. We were able to get time to rest and gather ourselves and then God showed us the way to this church. I truly believe that was an amazing part of God’s plan and his gift of grace to provide to his servants.

It all worked out but in the moment I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see the ways that he was going to bless us. His grace was there. He provided he was gracious beyond measure.

When we talk about Grace we can’t help but talk about more than just our experiences though of how God has provided we have to talk about salvation as well.

Have you ever felt like your salvation is something we have to earn or deserve?

It is hard at times to not feel like if i don’t do the things that I know God has asked me to do that i will some how fall short of what God has for me. That If i don’t live up to the things of this life that I will not enter the Gates of heaven.

I thankfully don’t think this way as much as i used to but it definitely took a lot of time for me to move beyond that.

This morning I kind of talked a little bit about those very issues. I remember often as a teenager and a younger Christian never feeling like i was living up to my faith. I believed in God and I knew that Jesus died on the cross for my sins but I had a hard time accepting that having a moment of weakness or sinning in anyway was keeping me from God. I thought I had to be perfect. This often would lead to moments of defeat and futility that caused me to struggle.

I felt like there is no way I deserve this relationship with God. I am nothing he is everything. That is a tough way to live but many people do live that way struggling through their faith and their belief because they don’t feel like they are enough.

Do you think people struggle with these kind of thoughts or attitudes about God? How could you help them?

How do we break this way of thinking. How do we move beyond that and instead focus on the good things of God. As Christians we need to work to help each other to be reminded of the grace of God. We can look at the moments of difficulty and the hardship that we face and share those experiences and share the love of God with others around us so that we can be loving and caring. Building each other up.

In many ways this is the very basis of testimonies in the world. If you think about it that is exactly what testimonies are. They are the opportunity to share the love of God with others and the grace of God and how he works in all of our lives.

Where are you in need of some of God’s grace right now?

WE can support each other and show love in amazing ways. It is a blessing to know that God himself has made himself known to us. It is this ongoing unfathomable grace that we need to hang on to. We don’t have to do anything special or go and do certain activities but we an know him.

We don’t have to solve the puzzle of God he is gracious, merciful and kind and abounding in steadfast love. His heart is bent toward our forgiveness and hat should bring us great joy.