The Omnipresence Of God Series

HoHum:

Have children come up front and do Children’s Minute with them:

Object needed: A tin can.

Whenever I see a tin can like this one, it reminds me of how we used to walk along with my friends and kick the can down the road until we got to where we were going. Also, there is a game called "Kick the Can." Actually, it was just a way to add some excitement to "Hide and Seek." This is how the game is played: The person who is "it" stands beside the tin can, closes his eyes, and counts to fifty while everyone else hides. Then, the person who is "it" goes searching and tries to find everybody. Whenever a person is found, he races back to the home base and tries to kick the can before the one who is "it" tags them. Doesn't that sound like fun? Even if you have never played "Kick the Can," I am sure you have played "Hide and Seek."

Do you think anyone ever tries to play "Hide and Seek" with God? Do you remember the story of Adam and Eve? After they had eaten the fruit that God had told them not to eat, they heard God walking in the garden. They were ashamed of what they had done and didn't want God to find them. What did they do? They ran and hid. Did God find them? You can't hide from God.

Do you remember the story of Jonah? God told him to go to Nineveh and tell the people there to repent of their sin. What did Jonah do? He ran from God and tried to hide. Did God find him? He sure did! And you will remember that Jonah found himself... in the belly of a great fish!

The Bible tells us that God chose David to be the king of Israel because he was "a man after God's own heart." (Acts 13:22) But even David did things that did not please God. There were probably times when David wished he could hide from God, but he knew it was impossible. The Bible verses that Cody read to us tell us that we can't hide from God. He knows all about us. He knows what we are going to say before we say it and what we are going to do before we do it. How does he know? Because He is there and sees it all. It is foolish to play "Hide and Seek" with God. Besides, the reason God comes seeking is because he loves us and wants to bless us. Why would we want to hide from our good God?

Pray with them and then hand out some Children’s Bulletins to them.

WBTU:

Last week we started talking about the Omni’s of God. God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Last week it was God is omniscient. God knows everything about everything.

Today we are talking about the fact that God is omnipresent. God is everywhere all the time.

Don’t misunderstand. We are saying that God is present in all places all the time. We are not saying that God is in everything. God is not in the rocks, in the trees, in the earth and so on.

The first six verses of Psalm 139 answer the question: “How well does God know me?” Vs. 7-12 answer the question: “How near is God to me?”

A man offered a little boy, who was returning from a Bible class, a dollar if he would show him where God is. The little boy responded, “Mister, I’ll give you a dollar if you will show me where God ain’t!”

This is one of the reasons that it is foolish to run from God when we have problems in life with sin or with life in general. There is no “Hide and seek” with God. God knows it all because He sees it all.

In vs. 7, David asks some questions. I feel a sense of excitement in these verses as David tries to answer his own questions. This is not David trying to run from God. He did not express any fear in vs. 1-6 when he though about God’s detailed knowledge of him. Throughout David’s life when God confronted him, David did not run from God. On the contrary, he was so grateful for God’s love, care and correction that he often breaks forth in worship. Vs. 7 is a joyful astonishment that God is everywhere!

Thesis: From Psalm 139:7-12 we see that death, distance or darkness cannot hide us from God

For instances:

Death (Vs. 8)

As we get into these verses we need to understand them in 3 ways:

Geographically- Wherever we may go; up to the highest regions of space or down to the lowest depths of the earth- God is there.