Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

*If I were to ask you to close your eyes and think about God, what would come to mind?

Old man like Father Time?

Giant with muscles and lightning bolts flashing around?

A question mark?

In his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer wrote:

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.

Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.

We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.

This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church.

Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God. 

—A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1978), 1.

*Where did you get you understanding of God?

What teaching, experiences, or cultural absorption led to your view of God?

The goal of study over the next several weeks is to know about God that we may know Him - to wreck preconceived ideas and assumptions, to knock down idols that we have created and called “God,” and to take the lid off of the box we have placed God in.

ILLUST - radio voice - when you see the person behind the voice you are sometimes surprised- it didn’t match your assumptions.

Mel Blanc

the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, the Tasmanian Devil and many of the other characters from the Looney Tunes

**God exists and wants us to seek Him for faith and life.**

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him (A), for whoever would draw near to God (B) must believe that he exists ( C) and that he rewards those who seek him (D)

How do we please God?

How do we draw near to Him? (A, B) How do we come to experience God in a powerful, life-changing, and world-denting way?

1) God exists.

must believe that he exists

‘believe’ is from the same word as ‘faith’ - It’s impossible to have faith if you don’t believe.

Prove to me God exists:

The author of Hebrews points back to Creation as the beginning of faith:

While we as humans are the ones who are made in the image of God, it is more often the case that we understand God to be made in the image of MAN.

Common misperceptions of God:

God is an old Judge

God is a superhero (really strong man)

God is a genie

How do we get these views?

Told them, absorb them, assume (create) them.

ILLUST - Jehovah’s Witness who admitted he only held his views of God and Jesus because they were given to him by his mother.

- woman at coffee shop who told me she ‘made up’ her view of God.

God is:

Self-existent

Eternal

rev

Unchanging

All-present

All-powerful

All-knowing

Completely Holy

Always Good

***Can you accept the fact that maybe you’ve been operating under a misunderstanding of who God really is?

Maybe you’ve bought into popular but incorrect description of God.

Maybe your experience of life has led you to assume things about God that may not be true?

Could you believe there is more to God than what you have previously understood?

Maybe you’re here today and, if you’re honest, you’re questioning whether God exists at all.

Prove to me God exists:

Here’s the problem with this statement - it is a categorical mistake.

Usually when we think of ‘proving’ something we are referring to the ‘hard sciences’ of mathematics and natural science - if you can see, taste, touch, hear, or smell something you can prove it.

When dealing with the realm of philosophy and theology, ‘proving’ something is more about the evidence and less about the senses.

It does not mean you are any less confident in the final outcome.

ILLUST - suppose friend from PA came and had never seen a squirrel.

Look at the squirrel droppings - No, droppings of a mouse.

Look at the chewed acorns - No, your kids were hungry.

Look at the squirrel nest - No, it was windy and the leaves, grass, and straw happened to collect there.

Best evidence points to the existence of squirrels.

Even if the senses are used (see a squirrel) someone could try to discredit the evidence.

We don’t operate this way in life.

(Ex.

existence of the president)

We could talk about:

universal moral code

uniform laws of math and logic

The author of Hebrews points back to Creation as the beginning of faith:

Fred Hoyle is the atheist-astronomer who coined the term “Big Bang.

Hoyle confessed that his disbelief was “greatly shaken” by undisputed science, writing:

“A common-sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellectual has monkeyed with the physics, as well as with chemistry and biology”

When we look at all the evidence:

Universe had a beginning

Universe is knowable

Universe is regular

Universe is fine-tuned for life

We come to the conclusion that God exists.

God is not simply interested in you intellectually acknowledging he exists, he desires for you to personally interact with his existence.

Malcolm Muggeridge, socialist and philosophical author, wrote,

"I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued.

2) God is actively interested in you.

he rewards those who seek him

Seeking God is possible

‘Seek Him’

God is not hiding from you.

More often than not, it is we who hide from him (cf.

Adam and Eve)

1

jer 29

God actually wants you to seek him:

Acts 17:26-

Seeking God is profitable

‘He rewards’

He rewards his presence

In , God is actively present in the lives:

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob,

You may not feel you are reaping any rewards for all the time you have invested in seeking God, but this list shows us that the very ability to know God personally and have promised presence of the Creator with us no matter where life takes us is a reward for sure.

He rewards his power