Who Is God? Series

Scripture: Genesis 1:1; Genesis 16:1-15; Mark 1:16-20

Title: Who is God?

Intro:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit who is leading us and guiding us.

Let’s take a few moments and think about an important question. In fact, it could be the most important question ever asked by humanity. The question is - Who is God?

Exactly, who is God?

Siri states that God is to be understood as the Supreme Being and the Creator of the Universe. Notice Siri says “understood”, it seems that Siri is not 100% sure of that definition.

ChatGPT on the other hand has a long list of answers depending on if you are asking the question – Who is God as a Jew, as a Christian, as an Islamist or a Hindu. They also add a few others like a Deist, an Agnostic or an Atheist.

ChatGPT is not quite sure either. It can only point to how God is viewed by different groups who have different ideas about God or if there even is a God.

So – who is God?

At first it seems like a rather “duh” question.

I mean shouldn’t everyone know who God is?

And yet all you have to do is to ask a few people who God is and there is more than a good chance that you will get a few different answers.

Is asking who God is really something that we should even ask in the Church?

I mean if any group should know who God is it is the Church, right?

So, let’s table this conversation and let’s look at something else this morning.

But then again let’s not.

For I have a pretty good feeling that there are many in this room and in church settings all over the world that would have a little bit of trouble knowing how to answer that question.

In his book, Renew Your Life, author Kai Mark Nilsen believes that all too often people have one of four different misunderstanding ways of viewing God. People often see God as:

1. Angry – and therefore we often wonder when He is finally going to drop the hammer on us.

2. God as Judgmental – We do our best to gain His approval so that we can one day go to Heaven and miss Hell.

3. God as Distant and so we can be rather ambivalent concerning all spiritual things for if God is so distant how do we know things matter?

4. God is Indifferent, Uninterested and Apathetic towards humanity so we can be indifferent, uninterested and apathetic towards Him as well.

However, as Nilsen points out what if God is

Loving, Merciful, Accessible and Compassionate?

Is this even important?

Think about it this way:

If we misunderstand who God is, then we will also misunderstand everything else about life.

So, is there a way to know God – His Identity, His Character and His Desires?

Yes, I believe this morning that not only is there a way but there are many different avenues for us to know who God is:

-God has given Us His Word – what we call the Holy Scriptures

-God reveals Himself through nature

-If we listen, God will speak to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Let’s take a moment to look at a few Bible passages that I believe can reveal to us some wonderful things that God says about Himself and that others say about God.

1. God tells us that He is the Creator – Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1

Before there was anything else there was God.

Do I fully understand that?

No.

But I do understand what I read –

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

God is the Creator – It all starts with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

At some point the Lord God Almighty created all that we see. All the billions of stars and trillions of plants. All the space that exists between all those stars and planets. All He created everything from the smallest microscopic thing to the largest thing in the Universe.

Therefore, God is the greatest artist, architect and author - ever.

He is the greatest thinker, planner and mind – ever.

Psalms 145:3 puts it this way:

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.”

Jeremiah 32:17 –

"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm; nothing is too hard for you."

Revelation 4:11 –

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things.”

The more you read about current scientific discoveries the more you come to the realization that from outer space to inner space none of this happened by accident. There is a creator involved and that Creator is God – plain and simple.