"Who I AM" - Immense!
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Some reflection as I hold the newspaper in one hand and scripture in the other
Some reflection as I hold the newspaper in one hand and scripture in the other
I, by conviction, have predominately stayed away from anything political during this election cycle. To espouse my political beliefs would be a disservice to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ who have called me to be your Pastor. For months if you have joined our services online or in-person, you have heard me repeatedly say that we are citizens of Heaven on temporary assignment here on earth. We are sent on a mission and for a mission. To reach as many as possible, here in our community, in our nation, and in our world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28:18–20 (NIV84)
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
It is our responsibility to live above “the fray." “The fray,” by my definition, is the sometimes-deafening noise that comes from everything that the “world” has to offer. This is especially difficult for Americans. The “noise” that we experience each day because of our free and open society distracts us. Our wealth and power individually and as a nation distracts us. Frankly, we have allowed satan and his minions a playground into the very core of who we are as a people and a nation. We have become so enamored with who we are that we have forgotten who we are.
As we move forward, yes, all of us will move forward, we as “followers of Christ,” regardless of our brand and differences, need to “lean into” setting the world right. It is, unfortunately, impossible to change what is behind us. We can only look forward.
Hebrews 12:1–3 (NIV84)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Please do not mishear me; I am not asking any of us to give up our rights and freedoms that have been worn on the backs of millions of Americans that have and are serving in our Armed Forces. I am not asking anyone to set aside our form and practice of government in the United States set down by our forefathers in the United States Constitution. But I am asking in the strongest terms possible to start acting like the followers of Jesus. I am asking that we recognize, affirm, and practice that we have a higher calling to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Romans 12:1–3 (NIV84)
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
If you are a follower of Jesus, when you accepted Christ, you were given access by the Grace and Mercy of God, delivered on the cross by the death of Christ to the very throne room of God in Heaven. You also accepted the responsibility to live and love in the way that Christ laid down His life for us. You were given the opportunity to be “made right” and to “live right.” It is LONG past time that we begin to own up to our responsibilities as followers of Jesus.
STOP THE NOISE! STOP THE DISTRACTIONS! GET ON WITH WINNING OTHERS TO THE CAUSE OF CHRIST!
In light of what our nation and our world experienced in 2020, it is finally time. It is long past time that we return to the people we were when we accepted Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives. You might say, “well to much has happened to much has changed.” Has it..? God is still on His Throne, Jesus and the Holy Spirit sit beside Him in eternity. We live in the end-times; God’s clock on His creation will not tick forever; there is an end coming. What that looks like, how it comes, and how it plays out, we can discuss and disagree, but Christ is coming back.
Mark 13:32–33 (NIV84)
32 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.
Ok, I’m ready, I’m ready to start fresh, I’m prepared to commit my life to Christ… for the first time or for the 100th or 1000th time that you have recommitted your life. What do I do? It sounds simplistic and part of a “formula,” and I guess it is. Pray! Pray! Pray! Ask God to give you a new heart, one that is soft to everyone. One that first shows the love of God, the Mercy and Grace of Christ, and your willingness to lead with that in your life. Let everything else follow behind that. Our citizenship is first in Heaven, then on earth, then in the United States of America, in Washington State, and then here in Sunnyside. Then to prayer, how should I start, where do I start, what should I pray? Well, let us begin with Jesus’ prayer to His Father.
Matthew 6:9–15 (NIV84)
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:” ‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Take some time, let it sit in your soul, let the Holy Spirit come alive in you, maybe for the very first time. Understand who we are, what we were sent here to do, and live like that. Don’t live in the ugly, combative, argumentative, nasty fashion we have become accustomed to.
Finally, I address you as your Pastor, as your co-laborer in Christ, as a sinner who is saved by grace. I’ll take a deep dive into the Old Testament, the way that the Lord instructed Moses in talking with Aaron and his people.
Numbers 6:22–26 (NIV84)
22 The Lord said to Moses,
23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
24” ‘“The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’
Amen, go out and change the world, one person at a time!
Some review if I may...
Some review if I may...
This week the attribute of God, the character of God is expressed in His immensity.
Last week it was how infinite that He is. These are really the foundational issues of our understanding of God.
Ultimately, all of these that we are going to build a picture of God for us. It is NOT proof of His existence, it’s biblical led essence of His character. Of course we will be looking at scripture but others look at the same scriptures and come to slightly different conclusions. That OK.
As long as the story fits together, that it points to all knowing, all loving God who sent His Son to die for us, then I’m mostly OK.
I hope that you have questions concerning these messages, I hope you take the time to resolve them. Trust the Holy Spirit that He is telling you and then act on it.
Call me, text me, let’s have a discussion.
How Big is Big?
How Big is Big?
How far away is the farthest that you have ever been?
Iraq
Afghanistan
Vietnam
Norway
Sweden
The Netherlands
How very BIG is our God?
How very BIG is our God?
How far does light travel in a year? - 9.4 trillion miles
As we look up we see stars, how close are they really? - The sun our “star,” is 94 million miles away.
Outside our star, what is the closet star to earth - Alpha Centuri, 4.4 Light Years away, that’s 4.4 X 9.4 Trillion miles = 41.36 Trillion Miles or there about.
Galaxy Z11-HN is the furthest observable star - It is 13.39 Light Years away. That’s 125.86 Trillion miles away. (125,860,000,000,000) That’s 125 with 12 zero’s behind it.
The universe is estimated to be 93 billion light years wide… NOW THAT IS IMMENSE!
Let’s look at a definition of the “immensity” of God...
Imagine going out millions of light years into space and finding a body so vast that you could throw all our solar system into it. Like turning over a shovel of dirt... it would simply swallow up our solar system and go on.
God contains all that. Remember that God is outside of all things and inside of all things and around all things. Remember that our God made it. That is the immensity of God.
Our God has made all things...
24 “This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
The same God that formed you, He stretched out the Heavens [Cosmos = Eres in Hebrew]
Since God created it, He also rules over it...
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
This immensity that we call the Universe is ruled over by God. He has promised that one day he will create a New Heaven and New Earth… For us to rule with Him
17 “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
Christ as we know is God’s representative on earth. God gave His Son, Jesus as a redeemer to bring all that desire to relationship with Him.
The New Testament in the Book of Hebrews God gives The Son dominion “sustaining all things...”
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
It is only natural to try and explain the universe. “Science” has been trying to explain the events, processes and results of God’s work for centuries
Some are commited followers who are using their God given knowledge to attempt to put labels on to the observable actions.
Other’s are zealously trying to remove God from any and ALL of what is happening in the Cosmos or the universe.
The fact is that there is none to compare to God.
25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
You will notice some similar language here that we seen on the many, many passages that talk about Shepard's and sheep. God calls out each one by name… Each of the stars, each of the galaxies and everything that is contained in them.
The greatness, immensity, and imminence of God is setting over the vastness of the universe… shepherding us alone the path of righteousness.
How vast is our God!
How vast is our God!
I grew up in a religious system that taught me that God was my small ‘s’ savior.
My small ‘s’ savior got me between Saturday night mass and confession once a month until the next monthly confession and Saturday night mass.
The devil was on one shoulder and and angel was on the other. Both were fighting for my soul. And nobody, nobody in that religious system took the time to tell me that was really bad theology.
It wasn’t until I accepted Christ into my life, that Jesus became my capital ‘S’ savior and I realized that I needed to make him the LORD of my life. No “angels” no “demons” on my shoulder.
Just God who gives me life and breath and cares about me.
The creator of the universe, cares and loves me!
I had no idea that God loved me that much… Until I let him in to speak to my soul.
I had no idea that God was more than that. I believe that God truly.
God holds us together… literally
That’s why we don’t fall apart… because God made you. Clearly in His image.
God keeps us
God made
God loves… Why, It’s inconceivable that God should make anything that he did love.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
You know that you have heard that scripture 10,000 time or more.
The very glue that holds us together is the same glue that bonds God to his Son and His Son Jesus to us!
God made only you in His image and you’re stuck with it, You’re made in the image of God, and nothing short of God will satisfy you.
And even if you happen to be one of those “nickle-in-the-slot, get saved, escape hell and take heaven people” These Christians, with a kindergarten view of heaven), remember one thing—even you will find over the years that you are not content with “things plus God.” You’ll have to have God minus all things.
We as people of God, hunger for God… There is an emptiness in our soul, said another way there is a God-shaped space in our hearts that can only be filled by God himself.
How is it that same God that created and continues to create the universe by the greatest of all power, cares deeply and intimately about the various workings of my body and my soul?
This is a jealous God. God and Only God could do all of these things all at once, perfectly. Because God does not make junk!
What do we owe God, creator and maker of the earth. The Creator and maker of every human being???
Arguably we live in and love our great nation, the greatest nation on earth. The richest, the strongest, the most civilized, the one that has immense power and bring truth and justice to our boarders and those around the world.
With a 50% divorce rate
With 500,000 of our citizens living in cardboard boxes, in parking lots.
With 40,000 of our US military veterans homeless
With 11.9 million of our children. The very people who are our next generation, living in poverty.
IN THE “RICHEST” COUNTRY ON EARTH!!!
We should be embarrassed!!
We have missed it completely...
God Must Be First!! God wants to be First!!
It proves again and again no mater how much you give of your time, talent and treasure if you miss God… HE CRIES, HE MOURNS.
Money does fill the hole,"stuff” doesn’t fill the hole, He wants to be FIRST AND LAST!! He deserves to be the first thing that you think about in the morning and last thing that you think about when you get close your eyes.
20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
Isaiah is talking about the everlasting light that shows in your soul, the light that shows us the way towards God as an end for all of us.
For us this means one thing… REVIVAL!!!
Jack Cooper and I have been praying for revival for over two years. Could this pandemic, that has spread across our nation, effecting everyone, every social status, every race, color and creed be the spark that ignites revival in our world?
I pray for that revival, inside of me, inside of our church, in our community, our nation and the world.
36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
If your gain the whole and find not God in your soul, what have you really got… NOTHING! You are but a shell!!
Maybe, just maybe, we need to return to a child-like faith
To discover, or re-discover who God is, how big He is and what is requires of us.
2 He called a little child and had him stand among them.
3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Shocker… If this surprises you it should not…
God frequently takes the lowly, the homeless, “the least of these” and uses them for His glory.
We were with our grands last week… their world is VERY small. It is defined by getting to watch 1, 30 minute show a day. Meals and snacks, playtime and rest time and maybe, just maybe an extra show if their behavior is really great.
What a place to be in… what an opportunity that we have to return the the basics and act child like with and maybe if we have good behavior to watch an extra 30 minute show each day.
You might say because of what I have done, what I am doing this God who knows me in and out can never love me the way that your talking about
Video:
Nothing is to big for God… Nothing!
Please listen carefully...
I hope that we got this message. I hope that we can forget the things that are behind and press forward to the things that are ahead. Help us see a path straight toward you God. Our faith begins small as a mustard seed yet can grow as large as a grove redwoods.
What stops that? What gets in the way between us and this IMMENSE God that we see and recognize.
US, US, US!!
God is limitless and boundless and invites us into that… We fight it, it argue against our participation, we sabotage our standing with God over our small and petty things in our lives.
In spite of this… There God sits and awaits our return to Him.
Let me go back to Isaiah 40
25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
God is as immense as the originator of that stars and heavens, yet is an intimate as one who knitted us together in our mother’s womb. And acts like the Shepard if one sheep goes astray.
24 “This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
Close: Do not be afraid to approach the God of the Universe. Treat him as you would treat the maker of all things, the sustainer of all things. Know that He loves you and cares for you.
Next week… God is GOOD!!
68 You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.