TALKING POINTS:
1. Today’s subject is a deep subject. One that does not seem to be spoken of as much as it used to be. What is it? See if you can tell me: a. According to Genesis 1:1 He created the heavens and the earth. Q: Who is God? b. According to John 1:1 He is the Word. Q: Who is God? c. He is Jesus’ father. Q: Who is God? There seems to be a lot of ink used to talk about Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but not much about God. But, if God is at the center of our believes, He must also be at the center of our lives.
2. What do kids say about God? (Overhead 1) Read Explain God illustration:It was written by an 8-year-old, Danny Dutton of Chula Vista, CA, for his third-grade homework assignment. The assignment was to explain God. Wonder if any of us could do as well?"
EXPLAIN GOD
One of God’s main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn’t make grown-ups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way He doesn’t have to take up His valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leaves that to mothers and fathers.
God’s second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn’t have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this.
God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn’t go wasting His time by going over your Mom and Dad’s head asking for something they said you couldn’t have.
Atheists are people who don’t believe in God. I don’t think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren’t any who come to our church.
Jesus is God’s Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performing miracles and people finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But He was good and kind, like His Father and He told His Father that they didn’t know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said "O.K." His Dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth so He told Him He didn’t have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So He did. And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of Himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important.
You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time. You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there’s anybody you want to make happy, it’s God. Don’t skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn’t come out at the beach until noon anyway.
Read God is Everywhere illustration: A fifth grade teacher in a Christian school asked her class to look at TV commercials and see if they could use them in some way to communicate ideas about God. Here are some of the results:
GOD is like a FORD ... He’s got a better idea.
GOD is like COKE ... He’s the real thing.
GOD is like HALLMARK CARDS ... He cares enough to send His very best.
GOD is like TIDE ... He gets the stains out that others leave behind.
GOD is like GENERAL ELECTRIC ... He brings good things to life.
GOD is like SEARS ... He has everything.
GOD is like ALKA-SELTZER ... Try Him, you’ll like him.
GOD is like SCOTCH TAPE ... You can’t see him, but you know He’s there.
GOD is like DELTA .... He’s ready when you are.
GOD is like ALLSTATE ... You’re in good hands with Him.
GOD is like VO-5 HAIR SPRAY ... He holds through all kinds of weather.
GOD is like DIAL SOAP ... Aren’t you glad you have Him.
Don’t you wish everybody did?
3. God has two kinds of characteristics or attributes – Divine and Personal
4. Divine characteristics are what makes God who He is as God. God has 6 such characteristics. (Overhead 2)
(Sovereign Psalm 135:5,6, Eternal Psalm 90:2, Unchanging James 1:17, All Knowing Hebrews 4:13, All Powerful Ephesians 3:20,21, Present Everywhere Psalm 139:7-12)
5. Personal characteristics are what make us like God and helps us to have a relationship with God. God has 5 such characteristics. (Overhead 3)
(Patient Psalm 103:8-14, Just and Righteous Psalm 11:7, Love I John 4:8, Truth Numbers 23:19, Holy I Peter 1:15- 16)
6. One other thing about God: the Trinity. (Water -H2O) (Overhead 4)
7. So what is the main point in all that has been said? We come to know and understand God by what the Bible says about Him and what we choose to do with that information. (Overhead 5)
CONCLUSION/APPLICATION:
(Overhead 6) What do these characteristics of God mean to you/us? What does the Divineness of God say to us about who God truly is? And how should our lives, individually and congregationally, reflect these personal characteristics of God? If we are going to be the people of God, then we must understand who God is and begin to act in ways that demonstrate that we are people of God.
Material on attributes taken from David Durey’s work Steps Toward Spiritual Growth. Published by Foundation of Hope, Portland, Oregon, 1994, 1996.
Overheads (formatted in PowerPoint) are available from me @ jimkane@maplenet.net Please ask for 021702 overheads.
