IS IT CREDIBLE TO BELIEVE IN GOD?

Credible #2

Pastor Dennis Clanton

Woodland Church

Sunday, September 22, 2024

1.      GOD IS INESCAPABLE.

a.      God knows everything. Omniscient.

(Psalm 139:1–6, NLT) “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!”

b.      God is everywhere. Omnipresent.

(Psalm 139:7–12, NLT) “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.”

c.       God’s power is infinite. Omnipotent.

7 in 10 American adults agree that suffering is “mostly a consequence of people’s own actions.”

7 in 10 agree that suffering is “mostly a result of the way society is structured.”

8 in 10 believe—either in “God as described in the Bible” (58%) or in “a higher power or spiritual force” (32%)—yet say most suffering “comes from the actions of people, not from God.”

7 in 10 believe human beings are “free to act in ways that go against the plans of God or a higher power.”

5 in 10 believe God allows suffering because it is “part of a larger plan.”

4 in 10 believe Satan is responsible for most of the world’s suffering.

Less than 2 in 10 say they have doubted God’s omnipotence, goodness, or existence because of suffering.

(Psalm 139:13–18, NLT) “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”

2.      GOD OVERWHELMS. Terrifying.

(Psalm 139:6, NLT) “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!”

(Psalm 139:11–12, NLT) “I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.”

3.      GOD TRANSFORMS ME. Goodness.

God loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way. – Leighton Ford

(Psalm 139:9–10, NLT) “If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.”

(Psalm 139:17–18, NLT) “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”

GROWTHWORK

1.      ASK GOD TO SEARCH YOU. Knowledge.

(Psalm 139:23–24, NLT) “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

2.      GOD WILL SHOW YOU WHO YOU REALLY ARE. Identity.

(Psalm 139:13, Message) “Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out…”

(Romans 1:16–17, NLT) “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

(Romans 5:5, GW) “God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us ”