French philosopher Blaise Pascal observed: "In every person’s life there is a God-shaped vacuum." Each of us tries to fill that vacuum with a god of some sort.
Christians are almost atheists. There are thousands and even millions of gods we DON’T believe in.
When someone tells you that they don’t believe in God, try saying: "There are lots of gods I don’t believe in either. Tell me about the one you don’t believe in." Chances are very good that you won’t believe in that god either. Or at least it will be a distorted view of the true God.
I often wonder about those who rejected God or deny the existence of God if they would have if they really would have known God for who he is.
Fowler: egomaniacal, childlike Christian God is another reason I dropped Christianity all those years ago
Doubt the existence of God?
Disappointed with God?
Searching for God?
Q: What is it that you are looking for in a God?
The Apostle’s Creed -- "I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth"
"I believe in God ..." -- but not simply that he exists, but we mean something specific about God.
"I choose to believe what I want to believe and worship how I want to worship", reason many. But do we really have the right to do that? Or is God the only being that exists who doesn’t really care what you think of him? After all, who among us would not feel insulted or hurt if people chose to believe things that were untrue about us simply because they preferred to think of us in that way?
"Let me introduce you to Dave, he’s a big Oiler’s fan."
"Actually, I’m a Canuck fan."
"Well I prefer to think of you as an Oiler fan".
"Okay, but you’re never really going to know me!"
Absurd right? But let’s be honest, how many of us draw up certain conclusions about God (or refuse to believe certain things about God) simply out of preference?
The fact remains that God is the way God is regardless of what we might believe.
To believe in something that is not true is to believe a lie regardless of how sincerely and devoted we are in our belief. It can’t possibly save us or deeply transform us or give us any lasting peace or happiness.
By "God" we are not saying simply "higher power"; "prime mover"; "creator". We are not simply saying we believe in God, and that he is whatever you want him to be or however you want to define him.
We mean something far more specific.
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
God is not part of His creation (Pantheism), He is not infused into His creation, His creation has come from Him, He originated it and He is over it.
He is God and you are not. And that’s one of the most important lessons you could ever know. Notice how it puts it: “It is He who has made us and we are His.” (Ligon Duncan)
"Father" alludes to the fact that God is Triune -- three-in-one/tri-unity -- Trinity. That he is "Father" assumes that he also has at least one child.
“For this reason therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He was calling God His own Father and making Himself equal with God.” - John 5:18
The Bible clearly teaches that although God is One, and that there is only one God, he exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Creed is also outlined this way.
Whereas other faiths would agree with God being Almighty, they deny that he is Father, because they deny the Son. Thus, although on the surface it looks like they and Christians are all talking about the same thing or being, when they talk of God, we discover that that is not at all the case
-yes, they also believe in one God, maker of heaven and earth. But it is NOT the God of the Bible or the God we as Christians believe in.
“Father Almighty” combines two words that don’t normally go together. Father goes in one direction, and Almighty goes in another.
To call him “Father” means that he is a personal God who cares about me.
To call him “Almighty” means that he is able to do whatever needs to be done. There are no limits with him.
“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’”Revelation 1:8
"Almighty" suggests that with God all things are possible. Mary declared this at the troubling and perplexing news of her pregnancy with Jesus: "For nothing will be impossible with God."
He is Almighty: He can do anything he wants to do.
He is our Father: He will do all that is necessary for our well-being.
He is Almighty: He can!
He is our Father: He will!
Do you believe in THIS God?
Isn’t this the God you are looking for?
Chances are, the God you believe in is something a lot less than this -- unfair, uninvolved, uninterested -- or at least that is how you live your life.
"I believe in God the Father Almighty" is a statement of trust as well as belief -- "I am your God" is God’s way of saying "trust me" -- to provide, take care of, direct, have a purpose for trials and your life. God didn’t make us in order to ignore us, but to take care of us.
"I believe" -- do you? Then why the fear, anxiety, depression, the commitment to the safe life? Do you really believe he is the Father who is Almighty?
Q: Is the way I am living my life/the risks that I take/the causes I stand behind/the way that I pray and what I ask for/the way I deal with problems and pressures/approach death/respond to disappointment, tragedy -- an affirmation or contradiction of my stating that "I believe in God the Father Almighty"?
---The amount of money I give?!
DO you need to be repenting of your unbelief?
Great News!!
What is it that you are looking for in a God?
This is a God who is committed to those who believe. He becomes Father by giving up His Son for us. He is on your side.
This is a God in whom you can trust. He has never made a promise that he does not and cannot keep. He will never let you down (although he may not come through the way you thought he would).
This is a God in whom you can have peace. He is in control. He is more powerful than anything that can threaten us, and who is good. he is in control. “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32 You are absolutely safe. You can relax! Nothing catches him off guard or takes him by surprise or stumps or worries him. He knows the end from the beginning because he has ordained the end from the beginning.
This is a God you can take your problems and heartaches to. He is compassionate and sympathetic.
This is a God who sets you free. He is strong enough to free you from sin and to give you life. Merciful enough to forgive you of all your guilt, and to cover your shame.
This is a God who makes us fearless. "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
He is even a God who is great enough, powerful enough, to make awful things work out for our good. He is more powerful than evil and suffering, and so powerful that he can transform even these to serve good purposes. eg. He turns Good Friday into Easter; death to live; darkness to life; slavery to freedom; sorrow to joy; poverty to riches.
The greatest display of God’s Almighty power is not creation, but the cross -- overcame sin, death, evil. The cross is also where we come to see and to know God as Father; where we see his Father heart for those who believe.
Application:
If I truly believed in God the Father Almighty, I would __________________. How would you fill in that blank?
I would pray more and worry less -- trust.
I would ask for BIG things --, passionately, confidently.
I would risk more -- believing that God is with me and for me -- what I say, attempt, sacrifice.
Give away more.
More hopeful, joyful.
Share my faith more.
SEEKER:
That he is "Almighty" means that this is a God you WANT to be on your side (or whose side you need to be on). You cannot afford to have him against you. That he is Almighty means that he is also almighty in knowledge, and knows everything you ever thougth or did. (Ill. Bruce Almighty) he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
That he is "Father" means that he is a God who WANTS to be on your side. Wants to be found by you.
26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
But he must become YOUR Father (see Jesus: God is not your father). He becomes that way through faith in Jesus -- the eternal Son, who became "fatherless" on the cross so that you and I could be the adopted sons and daughters of God.
