How we know God
Notes
Transcript
Illustration
Illustration
I got my daughter Cherise this little game called gravity. It is this little game made of towers, ramps and a little ball that you use to solve puzzles and get the little ball into the target.
Well the other day Cherise did something I am sure none of you have ever done. I was trying to help her with the game and she said to me, “I already know what I am doing.” None of you have said anything like that right. NO we all have.
So, I let her be and as time went by it got really quiet. When I went back to check on her, Cherise was coloring. I said “what are you doing, why aren’t you working on the puzzle?”
and she responded to me, “I couldn’t figure it out”
like all good parents I could not let this go and told her, “I thought you knew what you were doing.”
The truth is we have all had moments where we thought we knew but truly didn’t, and by the end of the event we where embarrassed. but thankfully the LORD has put people in our lives like parents and mentors to give us the information we need when we don’t have it.
lets change direction a little bit because there are two ideas behind our verse this that we need to understand.
Ok now I am going to need your help and participation for this next part. What is this? (hold up the ball) yes a ball (pause to get silence). now what is going to happen when I let this ball go? (wait for more responses) Its going to go down ok.
Man y’all are really smart how did you all know that it was going to go down?( wait for responses) right past experiences, or things we have done in the past before.
My point is with these two illustrations there are two ways we know anything by our experiences the things we have done, seen, felt, heard, touched and tasted. the other is by what other people have told us like when your teachers or parents explain something to you.
We also come to know who God is and what He has done for us by the same means. Last week our verse was
The NET Bible Psalm 19:1
19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God;1
the sky displays his handiwork.2
Mr. Parris showed us pictures of the vastness of space and beauty of the stars. through our experience we could see how God has revealed his greatness to us in his creation. we call this kind of revelation about God natural revelation.
However nature does not fully explain God to us. So how do we better understand and get to know God.
Lets look at our verse of the week
The NET Bible Hebrews 1:1–2
After God spoke long ago1 in various portions2 and in various ways3 to our ancestors4 through the prophets, 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son,5 whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world.6
So there are some big words and unusual language here so lets see I can unpack it for you.
in the original context our ancestors would be the men and women of the old testament, like Noah, father Abraham, Joseph, King David, and King Solomon. think of it as your grandparents’, grandparents that really old right.
What is a prophet well for those of you who do not know they were men and women of many different walks of life such as farmer, priest, and members of the royal family. Who were blessed by the Holy Spirit (God) and guided to speak the words God told them to speak to the people of Isreal and other nations.
“in many portions”. Math teachers will get excited about this part. portion are like the different ways and amounts you can cut up sandwiches or pies. the books of the bible are all different lengths some are really short some are long.
the different “ways” (this is what gets english teachers excited) are the different types of stories. sometime the Bible is in narrative about a character, sometimes it is in poetry, in can even be in the form of a long speech or a letter you would write to a friend.
Verse 2 “in these last days he has spoken to us in His Son,” Jesus Christ. Last days is a loaded term but for us what we need to understand is that it is referring to now, and are life time.
finally Jesus is given some special descriptions. the “heir of all things” and “through whom he crated the world” think all things. this is a very special description, “heir” means the one who will receive, or is the person something belongs to. So that means everything even you and I belong to Jesus.
why do all things belong to Jesus? because just like our verse in John 1:1-2 it is through him think like going through a door that all things are made. this also means that the word which all things were created we also have telling us about God himself.
I have three points of application for you all.
think of the first time you heard of Jesus did you read it or did a person tell you. who was the person who told you? (pause for students to have think time.)
my first point of application to know God we must encounter/learn about God by the testimony of Christians. testimony is persons story about Jesus in their life.
Second we must continue to learn about God through the reading and studying of the Bible.
Third if all creation was made through Christ, and Christ is our King then we are to proclaim Christ.