God’s Conversation

God Began the Conversation at Creation

God Spoke Creation into existence

God has always communicated with his creation through his word. It has been a divine conversation from the beginning when he said let their be light.

In Genesis 1 God speaks and creation obeys-light appears, the sky forms, the waters gather and dry earth is revealed. Over and over God speaks and all that was made is made.

Psalm 33 sums up the beginning of the divine conversation beautifully

Psalm 33:6 CSB

The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 33:7 CSB

He gathers the water of the sea into a heap; he puts the depths into storehouses.

Psalm 33:8 CSB

Let the whole earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

Psalm 33:9 CSB

For he spoke, and it came into being; he commanded, and it came into existence.

2. John opens his Gospel describing this conversation in majestic terms.

John 1:1 CSB

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:2 CSB

He was with God in the beginning.

John 1:3 CSB

All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

God Escalated the Conversation in the Incarnation

Then in the fullness of time his word became flesh and dwelt among us.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God was continuing the conversation in a very drastic and costly way: His Word became part of Creation.

His creation was descending back into chaos. It was heading full speed into death. Humanity was in full out rebellion against God. And like a child in a full blown tantrum isnt hearing his parents words, Creation was no longer listening to God. So God did something drastic!

The Word became flesh: We call this the Incarnation which simply means the state of being in flesh-something that has no flesh is now in body form. To fully understand what happened at that moment it helps me to consider it with contrasting words: the infinite became finite; The God who is spirit and has no body takes on a body; the all-powerful God became a human who had to sleep; the God who is everywhere at one time now is human and needs to walk from place to place; and the all-sufficient God, meaning he has no need of anything now must eat, breathe oxygen and drink water to survive.

This is God escalating the conversation, raising His voice, so we will hear, listen, and be safe.

Then…

God Continued the Conversation Through His Apostles

Now that he had the attention of his followers (Matthew, Peter, Mary Magdalene and the others), he would continue the conversation with them as well as through them.

Jesus, the Word of God, the substance of the conversation from creation through incarnation, told the ones who were now listening to him that he was going away, but he would send His Spirit as a comforter and as a guide for them. That this Spirit of God would continue the conversation Jesus had been having with them and extend it further.

Jesus commissioned them to wait for this Holy Spirit because then they would be endued with power to spread the divine conversation to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the world.AND THEY DID!

It spread like wildfire across the Roman Empire and beyond.

According to Paul God was making his appeal to the world through them.

We read this in 2 Cor.5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

God hasn’t grown silent, he hasn’t stopped the conversation. NO!

Remember, God has always interacted with his creation through His word. He has invited us to be part of his conversation with those around us. Let's grow in our love for him and that message will be clearer. The result will be more people finding the freedom and joy of Life in Christ.

Now that he had the attention of some, he could continue the conversation with them and actually through them.

Jesus, the Wod of God, the substance of the conversation from creation through incarnation, told the ones who were now listening to him that he was going away, but he would send His Spirit as a comforter and as a guide for them. That this Spirit of God would continue the conversation Jesus had had with them and extend it further.

And Jesus commissioned them to wait for this Holy Spirit because then they would be endued with power to spread the divine conversation that they had heard, and were in deed hearing, to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the world.

According to Paul, He is continuing the conversation through us, through you, as if he were making his appeal through us.

We read this in 2 Cor.5:20

2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

God Now Continues The Conversation Through You

We know God wants no one to die, no one to be separated from Him. That is the point of the conversation. It was to create us, to redeem us, and restore the relationship with us. But there are so many that do not know about this life creating and life restoring conversation God has had with us.

When His Word became flesh he was able to talk with those around him. Those that believed spread the word. Everyone who believes in Jesus, each one of you without exception, has heard about Jesus because God reached out to you, spoke to you, in a very real way continued the conversation with you through others. probably many others.

God is making his plea through us, he is conversing through us to everyone we meet. Everyone. Depending on how long we are connected to a peron we may be a simple sentence in the lifelong conversation God is having with them. We may be a paragraph, a chapter, or even longer. But God has given us the privilege to be part of the conversation he is having with those we around us.

Let me explain this from my own life:

__________________, was the guest speaker at a youth retreat I went on when I was 12. It was just 2 days long. very short time frame in my life. But his words had an impact. It was at that retreat I committed my life to Christ. He was a sentence in God converstion with me.

Don cologeo, rob Schenck, Jean DeGroat, Sister Cooper, Al Burgess, Bro and Sister Bartholomew, and so many others who were in my life for a year, two, or decades long, were paragraphs and chapters in God’s conversation with me. Some of them taught me in Sunday School, Pastor Bartholomew preached to me on Sundays, Rob Schenk was the youth pastor that encouraged me in my faith and let me know that i was saved by God’s grace not my goodness. Don Cologeo was the youth pator that instilled a love for God’s word and a desire to read it and stidy it, and even gave me my first opportunity to preach.

Mom, Dad, my brother and sisters, grandparents, all of my aunts, Uncles, and cousins (and I have a lot of these!!), some were preachers, some church leaders, some just struggling in their own walk with God, but all were extended parts of God’s conversation with me. And they still are. They are all still in my life, some in reality and some in memory, but God is still speaking through them to me. They are more of esays or whole books worth of his converstion.

I could go on and on. Teachers. Friends. New believers. But do you get the picture? God is reaching to everyone just like he reached out to me and to you. And he is using me and you to have his converation with them. To some we are just a sentence or two. To others we are book length converstaions. But to all we are to be faithful