series explore god - part 7 - can i know god personally - 10-25-15 -presentation
TRANSCRIPT
CAN I KNOW GOD
PERSONALLY?
QUESTION:DOES GOD WANT A RELATIONSHIP
WITH US?
ANSWER: YES! GOD LONGS
FOR US TO KNOW HIM PERSONALLY
Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very
own through what Christ would do for us . . .
His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into
his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did
this because he wanted to!
. . . God has told us his secret reason for sending Christ,
a plan he decided on in mercy long ago; and this was his purpose: that . . .
he will gather us all together —
to be with him in Christ forever. Moreover, because of what Christ has
done, we have become gifts to God that he delights in,
for as part of God’s sovereign plan we were chosen from the beginning to be his . . . (Ephesians 1: 4-5, 9-11 – Living Bible)
He does not want anyone to be lost,
but he wants all people to change their hearts and
lives. (2 Peter 3:9 – New Century Version)
QUESTION:IF GOD LONGS FOR US
TO KNOW HIM, WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
ANSWER: OUR SINS CAUSE A DISCONNECT BETWEEN GOD
AND US
Once you were under God’s curse, doomed forever for your sins. You went along with the
crowd and were just like all the others, full of sin, obeying
Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air,
who is at work right now in the hearts of those who are against
the Lord. All of us used to be just as they are,
our lives expressing the evil within us, doing every wicked thing that our passions or our evil thoughts might lead us
into.
We started out bad, being born with evil natures, and were under God’s anger just like
everyone else . . . Remember that in those days you were
living utterly apart from Christ;
you were enemies of God, and he had promised you no help.
You were lost, without God, without hope.
(Ephesians 2: 1-3, 12 – Living Bible)
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s
glorious standard. (Romans 3:23 – New Living Translation)
QUESTION:CAN WE FIX THIS
DISCONNECT WITH GOD ON OUR OWN?
ANSWER: NO! BUT JESUS MADE
A WAY FOR US TO RECONNECT WITH HIM
But God is so rich in mercy; he loved us so much that
even though we were spiritually dead and doomed
by our sins, he gave us back our lives
again when he raised Christ from the dead —
only by his undeserved favor have we ever been saved —
and lifted us up from the grave into glory along with
Christ, where we sit with him in the heavenly realms—all
because of what Christ Jesus did.
And now God can always point to us as examples of
how very, very rich his kindness is, as shown in all he has done for us through
Jesus Christ . . . But now you belong to Christ Jesus,
and though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought very near to him because of what Jesus Christ has done for you with
his blood.
For Christ himself is our way of peace . . . Now you are no longer strangers to
God and foreigners to heaven,
but you are members of God’s very own family and you belong in God’s
household with every other Christian.
(Ephesians 2: 4-7, 13-14, 19 – Living Bible)
Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we’re in
by offering himself as a sacrifice
for our sins. God’s plan is that we all experience that rescue. (Galatians 1:4 – The
Message)
Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned,
but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God.
(1 Peter 3:18 – New Living Translation)
Do vs. Done
Religion vs. Relationship
Achieved vs. Received
QUESTION:TO RECONNECT
WITH GOD, WE DO WE NEED TO DO?
ANSWER: NOTHING. WE ONLY RECONNECT WITH
GOD THROUGH CHRIST
It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and
stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our
shoulder, hated and hating back.
But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in,
he saved us from all that. It was all his doing;
we had nothing to do with it. (Titus 3:5 – The Message)
Because of his kindness, you have been saved through
trusting Christ. And even trusting
is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done,
so none of us can take any credit for it. It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from
Christ Jesus . . . Now we can come fearlessly right into God’s presence,
assured of his glad welcome when we come with Christ
and trust in him. (Ephesians 2: 8-10, 3:12 – Living Bible)
But to all who received him, he gave the right to become
children of God. All they needed to do was to trust
him to save them. (John 1:12 – Living Bible)
A gift to be received
Look! I have been standing at the door, and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me
calling him and opens the door, I will come in.
(Revelation 3:20 - Living Bible)
A door to be opened
May you be able to feel and understand how long, how
wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to
experience this love for yourselves,
though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or
fully know or understand it.
And so at last you will be filled up
with God himself. (Ephesians 3:18-19 – Living Bible)
A love to be experienced
Let’s Pray