Knowin but not seeing

Knowing but not seeing

Welcome

‌Opening Prayer

1 John 3:1-7

3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.

6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

‌

Worship song

Offering

Junior church

Joys and concerns

Worship song

Apostels creed

‌I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth;

‌

I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;*

He descended to the dead

on the third day he rose again

he ascended into heaven,

is seated at the right hand the Father

and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

‌I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic* church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Amen.

‌

‘Knowing but not seeing.”

So last week we talked about doubting when we can not see. well today God has asked us to talk about Knowing but not seeing. Wow that sure changes up the process. Jesus actually wants us, no requires us, to know his love even though we can not see or touch him. But is this true? do we really believe we can not see God. How many people witnessed the eclipse? if you did not see God in that you must need your heart shocked. I can honestly tell you I am one who said whats the big deal. Well I took the time to witness this and I could only think what an amazing act of God. Who could make everything set in motion and orchestrate such an amazing feat. This is a time when we are looking for God and he is moving right in front of us and we still try to find another answer for this happening. You see in

Acts 3:12-19

12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.

14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.

15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.

18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.

19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

You see even in acts Jesus told us what was going to happen to him and we did not see or understand what he was telling us. But once it happened we all who came later know but did not see. If we read and listen to the word of the lord everything we come across in our life will be addressed by Jesus. We can know if only we believe in Jesus and except him as our lord and savior. You see God also gives us Jesus and the Holy Spirit to guide us in knowing what God wants. We have the ability to know and not see only if we are willing to trust in Jesus Christ. If as a child you stood at the wood stove and touched it even though you were told not to, you did it anyways. if your brother or sister were standing there and seen you do it and the pain you went through. 9 times out of 10 they wont touch it because of what you went through. Can we as Christians learn from what the Christians before us went through. We reflect on last weeks scripture about doubting Thomas who would not believe unless he put his fingers in his hands and his hand in his side before he would believe Jesus had risen. But in

2 Corinthians 5:7

7 For we live by faith, not by sight.

So I have to ask how many of you live by faith in Jesus Christ. If you claim to live by faith, are we not charged to believe even when we can not see? This is a requirement of Christians. In

Hebrews 11:1

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

When we have this kind of faith it becomes confidence in what we can not see. This is our foundation as Christians so we can trust in God. Without faith where would we be? as a whole the bible encourages us to believe and have faith in God and his promises, even when we can not see. This kind of faith is seen as a virtue that brings blessing and spiritual growth. So I ask you are you in a place in your faith that you can say you know God is real without seeing?

Amen

Doxology-RNHC

Worship song

walk to the back

Benediction