HOW BIG IS GOD?
April 13, 2008 Jay Davis Robison ISAIAH 12:1-6
She was a precocious 6 year old with a pink bow in her hair
It was after worship service at church one Sunday
When she turned and asked her mommy How Big is God?
Is God bigger than our dog, or daddy or a mountain?
Perceptive question I wonder if maybe girl sensed two issues,
God big enough to handle everything that happens all over world?
And is God big enough to handle my life and care about me?
1st of these dealt w\in book 1952 Your God is Too Small JB Phillips
Shook the Christian world Phillips rightly understood as science
Advances inadequate understanding of God will not hold up
Many arrogant intellectuals say if smarter learn God is a myth
Phillips also said many believers had misconceptions about God
were no more than superimposed human characteristics see God
as Santa, our parents, or big police officer, or grand old man
Think of size of the universe. Nearest star is about 4 light yrs away
How far is that? Light travels at 186,000 miles per second.
This means nearest star is about 24 trillion miles away from earth.
That’s a long way, but it’s just a speck of distance in the universe.
Isaiah 40:12 God measured off space with his fingers.
Scientists estimate may be up to 200 billion galaxies out there
Feb 1, 2003 space shuttle Columbia crashed on re-entry to earth
Commander Rick Husband in space began each day w\CD
God of wonders beyond our galaxy you are holy, you are holy
If there are beings on other planets needing saving do that too
Sometimes we like our God to be more manageable
Don’t want God to get in and mess it all up
We may believe God is not bigger than our church
Or our pastor, or than my Sunday morning, God in a box
Far be it for God to expect any more than that
Phillips’ book asked How Big is the God we worship
Consider that today, cannot answer it all
But in Isaiah people there asking just such questions
They had many gods to choose from, as do you and I
But wanted to know does God really matter in our lives
1. Is God Bigger THAN MY MISTAKES?
Really this chapter is a couple of songs
Isaiah was overwhelmed thinking about God look at first one
"I thank you, LORD! You were angry with me, but you stopped being angry and gave me comfort. I trust you to save me, LORD God, and I won’t be afraid. My power and my strength come from you, and you have saved me." Vs 1-2 CEV
2 popular perspectives on how God sees our sin
Usually emphasize one or the other of these
GOD HATES SIN ROMANS 3:10-12
As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is
none that understand, there is none that seek after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Cannot be friend of God without obedience to God
SIN IS EASILY FIXED BY GOD
Believes sin no big deal
Look at vs 1 again God is angry about sin
But you stopped being angry with me and gave me comfort
Psalms 103:8-12 TNIV 8 The LORD is compassionate & gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Sometimes we do not believe God is bigger than our sin
See ourselves only as a sinner that God hates
Listen to the first stanza of the hymn God was angry
Singer’s deliverance from great distress, God’s anger at sin
Not any more anger turned away, he has become his salvation
Name Isaiah means “the Lord is salvation”
Reggie McNeal says You are not a problem for God to fix
You and I are never gonna fill that hole of sin in our lives
Never be good enough or do enough
Why Jesus came to die and said It is finished
2. Is God Big enough TO LOVE THE WHOLE WORLD?
Is God bigger than my ideas? Does God really love the whole world?
Even my enemies, Crazy people not like me?
Those who vote for other candidate, Even those who not Baptist,
or who live in places we will never see or cannot pronounce
Drink FROM THE WELL OF SALVATOIN
We don’t tend to think much of wells these days do we?
After all we just turn a tap and there’s the water, who needs a well?
Not case for Isaiah wells source of life centerpieces of a community
Communities sprang up around wells where is water there is life.
Drink from the well of salvation with joy
God created us to bless us, when God created human beings,
reached back for little extra Whirred into nothingness
and made man and woman said it is very good
Wells take hard work to locate, establish and maintain
but they bring life, they transform communities
First message for today God loves you bigger than your sin
Jesus said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me &
drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of
living water will flow from within them." . .He meant the Spirit,
whom those who believed in him were to receive. Jn 7:37-39 TNIV
Look at what it says come to god as thirsty people
And then God will be a river of living water flowing in us
That river is the Holy Spirit
This requires DAILY FAITHFULNESS
Need fluids every day or we will die
So also we must drink of God in our lives daily
God is a big God! But some Christians act as if they have
a big devil and a little God working in their lives.
Nothing is too hard for our God
Partner with God living life
Persian Legend king needed a faithful servant had 2 candidates.
He took both told them to fill a basket w\water from a nearby well,
saying that he would come in evening to inspect their work.
After dumping 1 or 2 buckets of water into basket, 1 of men said,
"What is the good of doing this useless work? As soon as we pour
the water in, it runs out the sides."
Other answered, "But we have our wages, haven’t we?
The use is the master’s business, not ours. He is a wise King, and
must have his own purpose that we do not understand."
"I’m not going to do such fool’s work," replied complainer.
Throwing down bucket, he went away.
1st continued until he had drained the well. Looking down into it,
he saw something shining at bottom - it was diamond ring.
"Now I see the use of pouring water into the basket!"
If the bucket had brought up the ring before the well was dry,
it would have been filtered out in basket. Work was not useless.
Phillip Yancey We make faith not an attitude of trust in something
unseen but a route to get something seen-something magical &
stupendous, like a miracle or a supernatural gift.
Faith includes the supernatural, but it also includes daily, dependent
trust is spite of results. True faith implies belief w\out solid proof
evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for.
God is not mere magic (Where is God when it hurts? 73)
Share THE WATER OF LIFE WITH OTHERS
Group of God followers who drink from well of salvation Church
We guzzle down salvation then become a hose to carry living water
Living water can transform communities, and bring life
If a drought comes we can die, see death in grass flowers & trees
You and I are to carry living water to world around us
As we worship God, there is the kingdom of God among us,
Vs 4 Makes known to the nations the wondrous deeds of Yahweh
Because many people feel like they are a mistake
A failure, worthless, ugly, remember you are not a problem
For God to fix, you are a piece of heaven made to be blessed
So we gather here at the well parched to drink deeply of God
We pray and find God’s presence, sing and heaven comes down
We become a hose to take water to others church to be a blessing
Because of your wonderful deeds we will sing
your praises everywhere on earth. Vs 5 CEV
You know what it is like when you find a great restaurant
That you really enjoy want to share it w\others let them try
The most effective outreach tool is . .
Most people are not converted to faith by a preacher.
See us as professional salesmen doing our job.
79% of people come to Jesus Christ as their Lord & Savior through
a friend or relative. (Institute for American Church Growth, 1997)
Jesus had 132 contacts recorded in the gospels . .
6 WERE IN THE TEMPLE, 4 IN SYNAGOGUES
122 WERE OUT IN THE WORLD J.K. Johnston Sermcent).
People are converted, saved by faith, when they understand how
God meets them in the real life and the best way for them to
understand that is through your gospel, your story.
Stories build a relational bridge that Jesus can walk across from your
heart to theirs. (Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren page 290).
Great Commission doesn’t allow for excuses.
Everyone can sing that is what we are called to do
Sing of the glorious things God as done, how he has strengthen you,
how you trust him, the joy he has have brought in your life.
1 Peter says “give the reasons for the hope you have.”
Acts 4:20 We cannot help speaking about what have seen & heard.
God can only be as big AS YOU ALLOW HIM TO BE IN YOUR LIFE
If God seems too small to meet your needs or to solve your problems,
Remember God is big enough to create all the galaxies
And to care for you
Sometimes we’ve got more faith in sickness than they do in health.
More faith in lack than they do in God’s abundant provision.
They’ve got more faith in fear
than they do in God’s protection and His love for them.
“May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:18-19
Is God big enough to lead your life? To hold your hurts, to take care of you? Created everything
