Everlasting

Everlasting Declaration: ● ● ● ● ● My eyes are on Jesus My heart is tuned to His Spirit My ears are listening to His voice My mind will believe what He says My voice will declare the truth of His word Today, we are beginning our series, “Asking For A Friend”. In this series we will answer your questions regarding the church, God, faith, theology or anything else that comes up! The questions I’ve heard most over the years were pertaining to God. Questions like: who is God (is He male or female), where did He come from, what is the trinity (is that biblical), were we really made in His image, and did He create good and evil? We are probably going to break these up into two messages, so if you have more questions like these, pertaining to God, please let me know. **(Show Graphic) As a reminder, you can write your questions and drop them in the baskets or you can send them to me via email. Who Is God? As we open our bibles to the first book, Genesis we see the words…In the beginning God… Our translations use the word God as a name, but what is found there is actually a Hebrew word, Elohim. This word is often used to describe Him as creator. It doesn’t have the personal connection that the name Yahweh does. This name is first mentioned in Genesis 4:3, we see it there as LORD. This is because the Hebrews were commanded to not take the Lords name in vain, and they didn’t want to use it in conversation (to make sure they didn’t), so they would substitute with other names. A good example that I’ve heard is, Adonai which means master (Lord) or HaShem, which means “The Name”. -> We might take time to explore the names of God in a future message if you’d like! Is God male or female? The most correct answer that you will find is - neither, as we understand it, because He is a Spirit, **John 4:24 (NIV) 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. But, scripture often refers to God as “He”, God the Father. In fact, God “the Father” is a title referenced ~170 times in scripture. Jesus even refers to Him this way. However, we also find passages in Scripture that reveal God's sensitivities from a female perspective. For example, in Matthew 23:37, Jesus declared, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" (see also Luke 13:34). The simile evokes the actions of a hen, clearly a motherly illustration, yet it was expressed by Jesus, the male Son of God. God can perfectly identify with the needs and emotions of all people, male and female. This is because of what Genesis 1:27 says: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Both male and female have been made in God's image; He understands both. The question of whether God is male or female often arises from a concern over whether Christianity equally values both men and women. The Bible is clear that God does value both equally. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." God loves us all perfectly. We are all one in Christ Jesus. Where Did God Come From? I like the way that Billy Graham answered this one, God had no beginning (just as He will have no end); He has always existed, and He always will. (He had no father or mother.) I know that’s hard for us to understand, because everything we see around us had a beginning. Even the universe–the stars, the galaxies, even the atoms you can’t see that make up everything in the world–all had a beginning. But God had no beginning. The Bible says, “The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28). And God also never changes or grows old. Have you ever noticed how everything around you changes? People and animals change and grow old; trees grow up and die; even rocks eventually weather and disintegrate. But God never changes; as the Bible says, “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6 & Hebrews 13:8). This is one reason why you can depend on Him, because He’ll never change His mind or go back on His promises. He is El-Olam (Gen 21:33), which is Hebrew for The Everlasting God. What Does He Do? So what did God do before He made the world? We need to first understand that when God created the Universe, he also created time. Time needs space and matter to exist, and neither existed until God created them. This all happened on Day 1 of “creation week”. So, He existed even before time did! There He was, existing in eternity! This is something humans, as finite created beings, can never really understand. That’s why the Bible makes it clear there is always a “faith” aspect to our understanding of God. **Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) 6And 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. In Psalm 90:2 we read: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” So what was “before” creation? God existing from everlasting to everlasting— God existing in eternity. Another point to keep in mind is that God wasn’t alone. God is Triune (its where we get the term trinity), three persons in one. God didn’t need Creation to fill a loneliness in his heart. It gets a little confusing, but as humans, we have finite minds, attempting to comprehend an infinite God. He Is Creator & Sustainer I love how God responded to Job in Job 38-41, here are a few highlights: **38:4-5 -> Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? Genesis 1:1-19 -> we see God speak all this into existence in 4 days. **38:19 -> What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Genesis 1:3-5 & 14:19 -> we see God speak and create light and dark as we understand it. **39:1-2 -> Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn? Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth? **40:15 -> Look at Behemoth which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. **40:19 -> It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with His sword. Genesis 1:20-26 -> we see the Lord create animals of all kinds to inhabit the earth. Made In His Image **Genesis 1:26–27 (NIV) 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. What is His image? We’ve already discussed how God is spirit, so it’s not in physical likeness it’s in our spiritual and emotion likeness. We were meant to rule and have dominion on the earth, but when we sinned, we gave all that up. **2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV) 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. I like the way another pastor said it, God created us in his image so that we would display or reflect or communicate who he is, how great he is, and what he is like. Here’s the picture in my mind. I was created like a mirror. And a mirror that was supposed to be 45 degrees with the clear reflective side pointing upward so that as God shone on it at the 45 degree angle, it would bounce off, and it would make a 90 degree turn and be reflected out into the world. And at the fall, Satan persuaded me that my image is more beautiful than God’s image, and so I flip the mirror over. Now the black back side is toward God. It doesn’t reflect anything. Instead, the mirror casts a shadow in the shape of itself on the ground, and I fell in love with the shadow. That is what happened. And we have been loving ourselves ever since. And in salvation, two things happen. The mirror gets turned around, and we see the glory of God again, and the defilement that had gone over the face of it gets wiped off gradually, and we begin to reflect God. So I think being created in the image of God means that we image God. We reflect God. We live in a way, we think in a way, we feel in a way, we speak in a way that calls attention to the brightness of the glory of God. It wasn’t until Jesus came as the second Adam, the perfect image of God, that He fulfilled the will of God. Closing John 1:1–4 (NIV) 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 2 3 God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; 4 without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. **Colossians 1:15–17 (NIV) 15 16 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created 17 through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. **Hebrews 1:3 (NIV) 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. Have You Heard of Laminin? Laminin is the cell adhesion molecule. It's what holds our bodies together. **(Video) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1rPalyUshw section (28:35-34:30) Whose image are you reflecting? Is it the image of the Everlasting One? The one who made you and who holds you together, even when you feel like everything is falling apart? Have you allowed Him to have Lordship in your life? Have you allowed Him to show you how be He really is or is your image of Him, that reflection, only a fraction of who He is?