Rockport Sermon

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

What God?

My cousin told my Aunt the other day that I had said that God knows absolutely everything before it comes to pass. Her response was that she just doesn't believe that. As if what she believed had anything to do with what was true about God. It is true that we often imagine a god that is simply not the God of the Bible, and it would behoove us to study the God of the Bible, who is indeed the Sovereign Lord and Ruler of the Entire Universe.
So much of what we believe is tainted. Tainted with religion, false teaching, our own imaginations, our own presumptions, and even our own desires. We desire and imagine that God is like the god that we have created in our minds, because that kind of god is more palatable to our senses.
That is why so much of what men preach today is not simply the raw truth of the scriptures. It must be sugar-coated it order for it to be believed. It must be politically correct and watered down enough for the digestion of the many babes that continue to engorge our ranks. This would not be the case if indeed God would shake our world to the point where the God that we have imagined in our minds is not sufficient for the things we will face.
So perhaps our prayer ought to be, "Lord, shake our world for Christs' sake." "Shake our own personal worlds to the point where we either have to believe or deny the God of the Bible." But then, the world which we desire to live in is not compatible with such an earth-shaking God. He is not a tame Lion.

4 comments:

Scott said...

True Dat!

Anonymous said...

Amen! That is such a huge pet peeve of mine! It aggravates me so much when I hear pastors preaching a sugar-coated, feel good, everything is fine, you’re a great person, message. They strip God of His holiness so that everyone will be comfortable. It is a scary and sad thing to me to think about all the people who sit under that kind of teaching and have this picture of a god who is not the God of Scripture.

But when I think about it I can’t help but marvel and praise God for how patient and longsuffering He is. It seems like so many churches are afraid to offend anyone, but that is what the Bible does! It cuts to our hearts and exposes us for what we really are. And it shows us who God truly is.

Sorry for the little rant. Thanks for your post! I will definitely start praying that the Lord would shake our world for Christ.

Valerie

Anonymous said...

Okay one more thing (sorry I thought I got it all out a minute ago). These churches that preach these non-offensive, sugar-coated messages think that they are helping people. But what we all need is to know the God of Scripture. And we need to hear the Gospel, not a watered-down version of it. We need God and His Word. Not a tainted, twisted, warped version of who we are and who God is. No one is being helped with this kind of teaching.

Okay, now I'm done. :)

Valerie

Bob said...

Wow Valerie. Why don't you say what you mean.:) Really, it is good to be of a kindred spirit. What a great God we serve. Hope to see you Sunday.