SPEAKER_00: But we were plowing, and I have always had a tremendous appreciation for God's creation.
SPEAKER_00: I love wildlife.
SPEAKER_00: I love animals.
SPEAKER_00: And we had a obviously a nesting kill deer.
SPEAKER_00: And as we were plowing, we would get closer and closer.
SPEAKER_00: So I was trying to find the nest so I could work out around it.
SPEAKER_00: And finally we did find it.
SPEAKER_00: And I actually remember my dad was there with us, and we found the nest.
SPEAKER_00: And little Lori, she was a little chunky and chubby at that age.
SPEAKER_00: I think she was three years old.
SPEAKER_00: And she was so excited to find this kildeer nest that she just couldn't contain herself, and she made this happy little skip and landed in the nest and broke an egg.
SPEAKER_00: And what makes me sad to this day is that I remonstrated with her.
SPEAKER_00: And here she was, experiencing just the joy and the beauty of God's creation and spending time with her hero.
SPEAKER_00: And what did that little kill deer egg mean in the universe to begin with?
SPEAKER_00: You know, probably almost less than nothing.
SPEAKER_00: But fortunately, as you mentioned, and I want to say this is an encouragement today, we're very close.
SPEAKER_00: So she has a capacity for forgiveness, and she still has that zest for life and enjoys the little things in life.
SPEAKER_00: So don't give up of your parents.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: It sure helps when we care.
SPEAKER_00: So I've been really blessed to be here.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in my uh journey through the Bible for this year, I've picked out a completely different uh path that I've used before.
SPEAKER_00: And it's actually entirely in the Old Testament at this point in time, which is creates a bit of a challenge because I do want to spend time in the New Testament as well.
SPEAKER_00: But it's just been such a wonderful experience for for lack of a better word, is so many of the times you kind of, you know, you I love the creation story, and Genesis is interesting, and then we move into Exodus, and the children of Israel, you know, they go through their Red Sea and into the desert, and they have their Mount Sinai, and it's very, it's riveting, it's it's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: It's something I can relate to.
SPEAKER_00: And then you get to Leviticus and Numbers.
SPEAKER_00: And it's just harder for me to stay engaged.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just being transparent and honest.
SPEAKER_00: For whatever reason, for this year, it has become fresh and new.
SPEAKER_00: And I finally, at 58 years old, think that I've got a little bit of a glimpse and a grasp of what God is trying to tell us.
SPEAKER_00: And what is that?
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I am of far too limited ability to do the subject justice, but I do want to very briefly just speak of some of the attributes of God.
SPEAKER_00: What makes God God?
SPEAKER_00: What are these attributes?
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what I'd actually be curious.
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome to shout it out if you want, but if you think about the attributes of God, what is the first thing that comes into your mind?
SPEAKER_00: Merciful love.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Merciful love, life.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: There's no wrong answers here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but just it's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: I know that I had been sharing about another with another pastor about some of the attributes of God, and and he asked me, well, what I thought of, and I thought of truth.
SPEAKER_00: And he disagreed with me a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: He said no, he said it's actually holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Well, and I thought that was a good answer.
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, we there are different ones, and I didn't count them here, but I I wrote a few of them down.
SPEAKER_00: And the first one was simply omnipotence.
SPEAKER_00: We recognize and we understand that there is no problem in the world today that God does not is not aware of, that he doesn't have a plan for it, and that he can't take care of.
SPEAKER_00: So it's simply God is all powerful.
SPEAKER_00: He possesses boundless power and accompl and can accomplish all things.
SPEAKER_00: One description that I really liked just said three words.
SPEAKER_00: He said, of infinite power.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's how we all know God, that He is indeed of infinite power.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the examples that we find for that uh would just simply be the very act of creation.
SPEAKER_00: I'm always reminded of the unbelieving scientist that wasn't all that impressed with the creation.
SPEAKER_00: He was talking with God.
SPEAKER_00: And so he asked God, he said, Well, what what have you done?
SPEAKER_00: You know, and they said, Well, I created, you know, I created man out of, you know, I formed a man and I made a man out of out of dirt.
SPEAKER_00: And the scientist said, Oh, I can do that.
SPEAKER_00: There's no problem.
SPEAKER_00: So he starts, you know, shoveling up the dirt, and then God said, Oh no, he said, You take care of your own dirt.
SPEAKER_00: See, God had even created the dirt.
SPEAKER_00: So, but we see his almighty power in the creation that out of a spoken word, all that we see came into be.
SPEAKER_00: We see his mighty power in the parting of the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_00: That's one of my favorite stories.
SPEAKER_00: I can't help it, but I kind of wish that if we could do time travel, I'd just love to spend two hours marching through that red steed, picking up rocks and throwing them into those solid walls and standing up in heaps.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, I just imagine you could probably see fish swimming in there.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that have been neat?
SPEAKER_00: But just an illustration of the almighty power of God.
SPEAKER_00: We all know that water seeks its own level.
SPEAKER_00: Water doesn't like standing in heaps, and then the most wonderful of all is that God was able to resurrect his son from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And not only his son, but us as well.
SPEAKER_00: We understand that as our life passes, that the shell is left behind, but that we are going to be resurrected and we are going to receive a new body, a glorified body that isn't gonna have any aches and pains.
SPEAKER_00: So there again we see the almighty and the infinite power of God.
SPEAKER_00: We see God is omniscient, God is all-knowing, having complete and unlimited knowledge, and I think personally when I think of omniscience, I also do think of the unlimited knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: But I think the next one, which is omnipresence, which God is everywhere, I think there's some correlation between that and omniscience.
SPEAKER_00: But do we believe that there is any part of this world that God is not aware of this moment?
SPEAKER_00: I recall a conversation that I had with a uh either an unbelieving person or one whose faith was a little wavery, but he said, Well, he really can't bother God with all the stuff that God's got bigger fish to fry than my flat tire.
SPEAKER_00: Well, by our way of thinking, yes.
SPEAKER_00: But if you know that's your biggest problem that you're facing at that moment, then God is interested.
SPEAKER_00: And we can come to God with our needs, whether they be trivial or whether they be great.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not taking away God's attention or his ability from working in China or North Korea or Africa or wherever it might be.
SPEAKER_00: God is everywhere all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, as we well understand, God is holy.
SPEAKER_00: God is set apart, and that's what I really want to kind of spend just a little bit of time on simply this holiness of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I've got to confess to you this morning, this is not a message aimed at you, but it is one aimed at me, because I recognize that I have a tendency to be very careless of this awesome holiness of God.
SPEAKER_00: God has absolutely no shadow of anything less than complete good.
SPEAKER_00: That's contrary to our entire experience in this life.
SPEAKER_00: So we may be able to see the beauty of creation, and yet we have a sister who's going in for a surgery.
SPEAKER_00: Everything we see or touch has been touched by the curse of sin in this world.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, God in his absolute holiness is absolutely pure.
SPEAKER_00: There is no shadow of turning with him, there is no darkness, but he is unapproachable light.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens when people throughout the entire Bible come face to face or they meet God?
SPEAKER_00: Their general acknowledgement is not to ask 15 questions and tell God, well, I'm going to tell you this or that, but they fall on their face and they worship and they cry, holy, holy, holy.
SPEAKER_00: That's a level of holiness that we have no experience with on our earth here.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's why it says that is without faith, it is impossible to please him.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many things that we just have to accept by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And just that mighty holiness.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe, and here again, this is not aimed at anyone in this building, but I see a casualness and a carelessness in the worship of God that I think is sad.
SPEAKER_00: When you see worship teams and men with their pants closer to their ankles and their hips, and you see them with a hat on, and you see them that's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: When we worship God and we come to Him in the beauty of holiness, our heads as men are to be uncovered.
SPEAKER_00: I just see a casualness, and we think that God, because of the tremendous sacrifice that Jesus made and that he was willing to give his life on the cross for us, that we can just carelessly and casually come into the presence of God, not giving a care.
SPEAKER_00: We need to prepare to come into the presence of an Almighty, holy God.
SPEAKER_00: And in spite of all our weaknesses and our faults, this is not an expectation that any of us are becoming instantly perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Our only perfection comes through the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But we dare not become careless at how we approach and we and handle this tremendous gift of having an avenue to a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: And people ask, what's so wonderful about heaven?
SPEAKER_00: It is the complete absence of evil and the presence of an absolute good.
SPEAKER_00: What are some more?
SPEAKER_00: God is immutable.
SPEAKER_00: And what does immutable mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that means that he is unchangeable.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't change.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of hard for us to really grasp, I think.
SPEAKER_00: At least for me, I am so prone to make decisions or have feelings based on my surroundings.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of amazing, actually, but let's just say that life is coming up roses and you've got a big raise and you're just going leaving for a wonderful vacation, and it's so easy to feel the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_00: And then when we're down in the dumps and we're tired, and it feels like the wheels are falling off, isn't it wonderful to know that God, all of his promises are still true today?
SPEAKER_00: If they haven't changed, then they won't change.
SPEAKER_00: God is immutable.
SPEAKER_00: I had prepared some references that I want to.
SPEAKER_00: I can't hit nearly all of them.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to go back in uh I love this this passage in Isaiah in chapter six, verses one through five, and here again this is going back into the holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Where it said, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Above it stood Seraphim, each one had six wings.
SPEAKER_00: With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
SPEAKER_00: And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: The whole earth is full of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried, Glory.
SPEAKER_00: By the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: That's going to be much closer to our response to when we meet our Maker.
SPEAKER_00: And then in Revelation 4 in verse 8, said the four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day or night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
SPEAKER_00: Past, present, and future.
SPEAKER_00: And I like want to share this from Max Lucato.
SPEAKER_00: He said, John was given a glimpse of the creatures in heaven worshiping the Lord on his throne.
SPEAKER_00: When the Lamb took the scroll, tens of thousands of angels began singing exuberant praises to him.
SPEAKER_00: John was then invited to witness as the Lamb opened the seals.
SPEAKER_00: Heaven is filled with creatures and countless angels who never stop singing to and worshipping the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is difficult to imagine Jesus as an active being before is it difficult to imagine Jesus as an active being before his birth on earth?
SPEAKER_00: If so, let me challenge you to widen your imagination.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's found in Hebrews 13, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: He was chosen before the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: The normal restrictions of time and space do not apply to him.
SPEAKER_00: We would be wrong to limit his corporal ministry to 33 years in Palestine.
SPEAKER_00: Long before Jesus ate with Zacchaeus in Jericho, he shared a moment with Joshua near Jericho, and what a moment it was.
SPEAKER_00: As commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come, Jesus declared.
SPEAKER_00: The human eyes saw two armies, the Canaanites and the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: But actually there was a third.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's army, God's angels.
SPEAKER_00: This is the heavenly host referred to in Psalms 103.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants, who do his will.
SPEAKER_00: Dismiss the notion of angels with chiffon wings and rosy cheeks.
SPEAKER_00: God's angels were strong enough to close the mouth of lions for Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: According to the book of Revelation, it will only take one angel to bind Satan and cast him into a bottomless pit.
SPEAKER_00: Just one angel can dispense with the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine what thousands of angels can do.
SPEAKER_00: This many exist.
SPEAKER_00: In Hebrews 12, verse 22, it refers to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.
SPEAKER_00: When John was given a glimpse into the heavens, he saw too many angels to count, numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousands.
SPEAKER_00: When God opened the eyes of Elisha's servant, the young man saw the hills full of chariots and of fire all around Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Their presence is a promised land perk.
SPEAKER_00: All God's children being Yeshua of God's angels.
SPEAKER_00: They are mighty in power, they are many in number, and Jesus is the commander of them all.
SPEAKER_00: And then in 1 Peter 1, verse 14 through 16, he says, As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.
SPEAKER_00: So moving on, another one of the attributes of God that we see is God is sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: God is the supreme ruler over all creation.
SPEAKER_00: In Colossians 1, 16 and 17, he says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
SPEAKER_00: For by him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.
SPEAKER_00: In Isaiah 45, verses six through nine, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides me.
SPEAKER_00: I am the Lord, and there is no other.
SPEAKER_00: I form the light and create darkness.
SPEAKER_00: I make peace and create calamity.
SPEAKER_00: I the Lord do all these things.
SPEAKER_00: Rain down you heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together.
SPEAKER_00: I the Lord have created it.
SPEAKER_00: Woe to him who strives with his maker.
SPEAKER_00: Let the potshards strive with the potshards of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Shall the clay say to him who forms?
SPEAKER_00: It what are you making?
SPEAKER_00: Or shall you your handiwork say he has no hands?
SPEAKER_00: And certainly another one of the key attributes of God, just in closing here, is that God is a God of love.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot speak of the attributes of God without speaking of love.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know this?
SPEAKER_00: In Romans chapter 5, in verse 8, he says, But God demonstrates his love for us, that while we were yet sinners, what that Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_00: That's the greatest story of all time.
SPEAKER_00: How he made a way for us to become holy like him.
SPEAKER_00: In John 8, verses 1 through 11, very familiar story of the woman caught in adultery.
SPEAKER_00: What did he say?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Go and sin no more.
SPEAKER_00: And then in Jonah chapter 4, where we see that God is not only a God of love for humankind, he cares for animals.
SPEAKER_00: And that really doesn't surprise me.
SPEAKER_00: I just if as we get to know the heart of God, the animals are his creation as well.
SPEAKER_00: And he cares for sparrows, and he cares for the animals.
SPEAKER_00: And then God is also a God of justice, as we very well know.
SPEAKER_00: What are some of the examples that we see?
SPEAKER_00: And you know, a lot of the examples that we expect to hear from a God of justice and retribution are found in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The Great Flood, the Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah.
SPEAKER_00: They are all found in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: But I would also point to you to uh oh, I I can't, it's in Acts, I believe, in chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: For Ananias and Sapphira had God's judgment experienced it in a very sudden way.
SPEAKER_00: And I had to kind of chuckle.
SPEAKER_00: There's a pastor that I like to follow a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: His name is John Corson.
SPEAKER_00: And he said that he's that God was illustrating a point.
SPEAKER_00: There was a new age, the new church age, and God was trying to demonstrate his holiness, and they had clearly lied to him.
SPEAKER_00: And he said he's not sure that if that would be me, and I'll include myself as well, but you know, sometimes when we're standing there and saying, I surrender all, it's a wonder that there's not a boom.
SPEAKER_00: And he did mention that if we really followed that down to the letter that our churches would probably be a lot smaller than they are.
SPEAKER_00: So let's not forget that God is a God of love and grace, but he is also a God of righteousness and holiness.
SPEAKER_00: And that, I guess, in a nutshell, is what I was, you know, just trying to convey.
SPEAKER_00: God is good, and he is a God of holiness.
SPEAKER_00: And speaking to myself, I want to be careful how I handle this tremendous blessing and gift.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your goodness, your holiness, and that you care for us.
SPEAKER_00: But not only that, but that you dwell within us.
SPEAKER_00: And I just pray that you would be with us throughout the remainder of this day and this coming week, that we could lift you up and glorify you.
SPEAKER_00: I pray for Sister Regina that you would just guide the surgeon's hands.
SPEAKER_00: We lift her up to you and place her in your care.
SPEAKER_00: And we give you the honor and the glory for all good things, and we just pray that you would again be with us, guide us, direct us, and keep us in your care.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this in Jesus' name.