Lafayette Advent Christian Church
Pastor Arthur Potter
January 21, 2001
Have you noticed the enemy has as number one on his agenda, to prove that God does not exist. Of course he knows that God does exist, but he does not want us to know. So he goes to and fro across the face of the earth and he does have some people convinced. We Christians would counter that argument with something like,
“If God does not exist, then how do you explain the earth in all of its’ complexities?”
They say,”Big Bang.”
We say, “No way, the earth was created with order not chaos.”
They say, “Man came together out of the primordial soup.”
We say, “Man was fearfully and wonderfully made. God counts the number of hairs that we have on our head.”
Now having a hard time convincing people about God he attacks Jesus. If he can cast doubts about Jesus, if he can cast doubt about the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ then that will be a soul that will not see the kingdom of God. Make no mistake, he is clever, he is conniving, he is patient, and he is subtle. He will wait for the opportunity to get his foot in the door, and he will jump in.
Look at what he did in the garden, so long ago…
GE 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?"
He cast the doubt, that was all it took. He doesn’t care who you are or where you’re at. He attacked Jesus on the cross. MT 27:39-40 “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
Today some are as blatant most are subtle. Look at the trash that is playing on your television, or in the movie theater. Sadly people let that perception shape their thoughts about God and Jesus, and because their minds are already made up with that twisted example these people will not come to a church. If that wasn’t bad enough it doesn’t end there. Today we have the internet. There is a site on the internet that is completely unbelievable to those who have the truth of God’s word. It is a project that is designed to help the Second coming of Christ…by cloning Jesus. A quote from their website…
“No longer can we rely on hope and prayer, waiting around futilely for Jesus to return. We have the technology to bring him back right now. There is no reason moral, legal or Biblical, not to take advantage of it.” “In order to save the world from sin, we must clone Jesus to initiate the second coming of Christ.” The Second Coming Project
Their goal is to have a virgin impregnated (a second virgin birth!) by April of 2001 so that the baby will be born by December 25, 2001.
Some are subtle…To suggest that Jesus would need our help to complete God’s plan. In some way God was too weak, too busy, or has forgotten about us. Here is that human thinking again saying that we have to save ourselves. The blood of Jesus Christ was not powerful enough.
So the question is, Where is the church? Where is God’s people?
EPH 6:10-11 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
This is the kind of thinking that the Apostle Paul is against in Colosse. The thinking there was that Jesus was not who He claimed to be. The enemy had made his way in to sow that seed of doubt. Listen to what Paul has to say in response.
COL 1:15-23 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”
What Paul is saying is that; JN 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, n that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
What a wonderful God we have. Would you give yourself to him? All of yourself? Even that part that you are holding back right now? God wants nothing but the best for His children. Sometimes we don’t understand everything that is going on right now. But that is when we have to trust all the more. Do you trust him?
COL 2:6-13 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, n not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.”
Father God we come before now, we ask that you would forgive our sins Lord. We praise you Jesus, that in you we have the fullness of God’s mercy. We take time now Lord to give of ourselves fully to you. We claim back from the darkness of this world the foothold that the enemy has gained in our lives and we cover that area with the blood of Jesus. Holy Spirit we pray that you would take full possession of our lives, remind us of the commitment that was made here. May we be men and women of the living God, Holy and pleasing to Him.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
Lafayette Advent Christian Church
714 Ten Rod Road
North Kingstown, RI 02853
