"Who I AM" - Good
"Who I AM" • Sermon • Submitted
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A good place to start is where we have been...
A good place to start is where we have been...
So far in this series, we dealt with the “infinity” of God and then the “immensity” of God.
Okay… Here is the foundation. God is maker, creator, originator, of ALL things. He did this “ex hilo” from nothing. As followers of God and Jesus we have FAITH that those things are TRUE.
Because of the that foundation… We add on the depth and vastness and IMMENSITY of the universe... We also add the TIME element that God did not have until we began. Before humans, it was just infinity… God added time for us to mark the space between our birth and death. Then INFINITY.
We are going to be relating the Attributes of God from now until Easter.
It seems that the toughest stuff comes up at the most opportune times.
This week is no different...
Main Point - “Is God is REALLY GOOD”
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Yes, I believe that with all my heart and all of soul. Why, because I have seen it in my life, the the lives of the people around me. I have heard you say that 100 times or more in the last 2 1/2 years that I have been called your Pastor. but...
Where is God good
We DO NOT know the total CoVid-19 numbers but they will rank highly in this list after this thing is done.
Where is God when 3000 people die in act of terrorism
Where is God when the absolute worst tragedy of our lives happens?
Still “God is good.”
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A little bit about my journey...
Nearly 20 years ago, had some very good friends, they were part of our small group.
Logan was my best friend, he was the Worship Pastor, Andre was a great guy, he was the Youth Pastor, both at our former church.
They were both in the early and mid 30’s. They both had two children, young kiddos.
Within two years, Andre would go to bed and not wake up. He died. Logan would have a some sort of seizure incident, go into a coma for 2 weeks, eventually be taken off of life support, linger for a few days more and then die.
Where is the Goodness of God in hiring and transplanting a pastoral family to First Baptist from California only to strike him down with cancer before he really got a ministry started.
Where is God when a young guy that seemingly has he whole world in front of him and dies by suicide.
Yet “God is Good.”
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I know some your stories and now you know part of mine… Where is the “goodness” of God in any of these things??
Seriously, i am asking you where is the Goodness of God to me, to Jill and I, to our small group, to our former church.
Where is the “goodness’ of God to the 4 widows and 6 kids left without fathers?
Yet “God is Good”
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I don’t know for sure but in these circumstances I had, and I’m still trying piece it all together...
But I’m sure God is Good all the time....
I’m looking that
Yes I am looking for lightening bolts to drop out of the sky on me RIGHT NOW.
Pause a minute and consider the multiple tragedies in people lives, in your own lives....
Both explained and unexplained...
They hurt deeply and you for a time you are out of sync with God. All of sudden you don’t trust Him the way that it has been in the past.
You begin to doubt, sometimes to your core who God is.
Yet “God is Still Good.”
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It takes time for us to get into sync with, into communion with God.
Sometimes that never happens. It leads us to question God in everything that we do, everything that we see, and everything that we experience.
When we lose some of these core values of God, our faith begins to wane and lose it foundation,
This is a topic that was on the minds of those who wrote scripture. Remember these 66 books fit together as one story of God dealing with people that He wants to call his own.
More than 450 times the topic of faith comes up. Gaining it, losing it, keeping it, growing it, and finding it.
God was very concerned about the Faith and our interaction with it.
POINT #2 - God provides for those who have lost faith.
He was concerned enough that He wrote this through the writer of Hebrews 11 to build peoples Faith!
1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
Listen carefully as Hebrews lays out a path for those who have a difficult time. God is affirming our journey
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
As people of faith we have not received all that God had promised. We know there was something more.
God gives comfort to those who have NOT receive whatever was missing in their own minds.
Sometimes what is asked for is not available here but is abundant in Heaven.
If you have difficulty with the Goodness of God, There is a place that we long for, that Heaven and there we will see and experience the Goodness of God in a ways we never knew possible.
See what God said verse 16. we are longing for a better place. God is preparing a place those who experience faith and goodness but are seeking more... He is NOT condemning but is drawing his people back towards Him.
POINT #3 - Our faith leads to seeing God’s Goodness
And seeing God’s Goodness encourages our faith.
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For me… with 20 years to look back on. My friends who died now have two new spouses who love them, are followers of the Lord and have blended their families together. The children are grown. They are all starting or are soon starting they careers and are well adjusted.
I don’t know why Andre and Logan died… But I can finally look and say that “God is Good.” [period]
Lord God I don’t know your will or your ways… But you are “Good.”
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Notice that was an “I” statement. God has ministered to me and through enough that I can say that He is Good.
What I am NOT going to say that He has done that same work inside of you. We all our individual hurts and tragedies in our life that are in various stages to repair between you and God.
My prayer is that you get to a place in your life that you can recognize by Faith that God is Good.!
Point #4 - The goodness of God is promised and delivered in scripture.
As I said before some 450+ times in scripture this concept of God being good is delivered.
He cares a lot His Goodness.
68 You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.
The psalmist make a declarative statement .
7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for the house of Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
The same root word used in “kindness” is used for “goodness.”
God, through the prophet Isaiah is telling the his people that God is ready to provide evidence of God’s Goodness. He did that for the people Israel. How much less would He do for us?
7 How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Those with varying amounts of faith… still find refuge with the Lord.
The Lord looks and has seen our present situations in our life and in our world. He is asking us not to look back at our failures, at our hurts and tragedies. What he is doing to asking us to with Faith to look forward.
Here is a major statement, this is a place that we have to strive for, we have to be there we have to get there.
With God it is IMPOSSIBLE for Him to be anything be infinitely Good.
God is not only infinitely good, He is perfectly good. You see God is NEVER partially anything… He is 100% perfectly, good and perfect.
To answer our original question
“Is God is REALLY GOOD”
The answer has to be “Yes, he is ALL the time”
This message may have brought up more questions than were answered. I hope that it stirs in your soul.
God is infinitely Good. And infinitely perfect. What awaits us in Heaven is a place were we can be with, experience and participate in the Goodness of God.