You Who... Series

Sermon

Lanier Christian Church

Celebration Sunday - October 21, 2012

David Simpson

You Who....

Psalm 71:19 and Matthew 11:28

Many of you remember last year's Celebration Sunday sermon...right? M&M - our Mighty and Majestic Lord! Well, I thought about using another acrostic from candy this year - "Whatchamacallit" candy bar - so today we are going to have a 15 point sermon! No...

I wouldn't do that to you. So instead I settled on YOOHOOs!

That's right. Every time you drink a yoohoo chocolate drink or every time you see one I want you to think of two things.

1. YOU are a great God!

Say it! You are a great God! Look up when you say it! Look to the heavens.

Psalm 71:19?Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you??

We worship a great God! Do you believe that?

People need to hear us say that more often.

The Pew Forum released this month of October 2012 their most recent survey of 35,000 Americans (18 and over) which revealed some good news ....78% revealed they considered themselves Christians, but 16% said they were atheist, agnostic or nothing. And the numbers of those who don't believe in God are growing as the years go by.

We are not talking enough about our great God!

It doesn't take much for me to believe in our great God. Just this past Friday morning...about 5:30am....I went outside to walk our dog and couldn't help but notice the stars in the sky. They were brilliant.

I looked up at the constellation Orion and saw what is actually the 6th brightest star in the night sky...RIGEL. (RY-JUL) It is 117,000 times brighter than our sun. It is 74 times bigger than our sun and it is at least 860 light years away from us! Is that not mind boggling?

Now a light year is the distance that light travels in a year - which is just under 6 trillion miles. The light I saw from that star left that star sometime before Columbus discovered America!

God - YOU are a Great God! You are creator!

O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you??

Lee Strobel - former atheist- now a Christian, wrote a book called "The Case for a Creator." Strobel concludes that, when correctly interpreted, science and biblical teaching support each other. He quotes physicist Paul Davies, "…science offers a surer path to God than religion."

O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you??

A few weeks ago Faith and I were eating outside on our deck and a hummingbird came and fluttered in front of my face. I was stunned. I've never seen one up that close and personal. It was so close I counted the number of times it flapped its wings - 25 beats per second - or 1500 flaps per minute! (No I looked it up!) It is the only bird that can fly backwards.

O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you??

We have two deer who live here on the church property. They have eaten all the hosta plants we have here at church and gotten into other plants - but did you know that deer can eat mushrooms and poison ivy - and digest them with no problem - unlike we humans?

O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you??

I witnessed the birth of my children and I cried both times. As soon as possible after my grandchildren were born, I held them and cried. The miracle of birth is beyond description. Do you know the heart begins to beat the 25th day after conception when the baby is no bigger than a raisin?

O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you??

During winter there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis to take place on tree leaves. Chlorophyll begins to disappear and glucose becomes trapped in leaves and our beautiful fall colors result.

O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you??

Say it with me...Oh God, You are a great God!

But, we so limit God and rarely acknowledge his greatness!

I have a "jack in the box" at home for the grandchildren. You probably had one as a child.

Do you know what we do with God? We try to keep him in a box of our own making. We don't want him to be bigger than what we can control. But God cannot be limited. We cannot reduce him to a size of our own choosing. He is bigger than any box we may try to confine Him to. He cannot be limited by our boundaries. He is a Great Big God! Our children sing a song about a BIG BIG BIG God. And He is!