Do We Believe God Is? – Missing

• Do We Believe that God Is?
• Hebrews 11:6
• Diligently Seeking God …
• Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
• Can God be Pleased … ?
• God takes delight in His faithful people -- Psalms 149:4; Matthew 25:21
• It is our faith that pleases God – Romans 4:3-5; 5:1-2; 10:1-4; Gal. 3:11-13; Phil. 3:9-11
• Don’t We all Believe … ?
• Yes, we claim belief in God, but how real is it …
– Worldly lives, carnal attitudes
– Not involved in congregational work
– Lack of knowledge of scriptures
• What quality is our faith?
• 1 Timothy 1:5 --- the goal of sincere faith
• 2 Timothy 1:5 --- the genuine faith of Timothy
• Luke 17:5, 2 Thess 1:3 --- increasing our faith
• What quality is our faith?
• What can we do to move toward a faith that is more our own ? ….
• Ingredients of personal faith …
• Credence – believing not only that He exists, but why …
– John 8:24 for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.
– 1 Peter 3:15 always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear .
• An Intelligent Faith …
• Psalms 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."
• Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
• An Intelligent Faith …
• Every material effect must have an adequate cause that existed before the effect.
• How did this universe come into existence?
• Three Possibilities …
• The universe is eternal – has always existed
• It is not eternal - it created itself from nothing
• It was created by something superior to itself
• Only God could be the adequate cause of the universe …
• Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable…
• Only God could be the adequate cause of the universe …
• Jeremiah 32:17 'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
• Design requires a Designer …
• “Everything designed has a designer…”
• William Paley’s famous “watch argument”
• The universe, life forms and organisms appear to have been carefully designed …
• Complex design is not possible by chance …
• Psalms 148:5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created.
• Acts 17:24-25 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands… since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
• Vastness of the universe …
• Our galaxy estimated 100,000 light years diameter
• Earth is 93 mill. miles from sun – 4.3 light years to next nearest star, galaxy has 100 billion stars
• Sun’s surface temperature is 20 million degrees Celsius, yet earth is perfect distance
• Balance of the universe …
• Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees on axis, rotating at 1000 mph, moving in orbit around sun at 70,000 mph, yet veers from straight line 1/9 inch every 18 miles (if 1/8 inch we would come so close to the sun to be incinerated)
• Design of the human body …
• Four levels – cells, tissues, organs, systems
• 100 trillion cells in adult
• DNA molecule so complex would fill 1000 volume encyclopedia of 600 pages each …
• Ingredients of personal faith …
• Credence – believing not only that He exists, but why …
– John 8:24 for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.
– 1 Peter 3:15 always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear .
• Ingredients of personal faith …
• Confidence – learning to trust in God which produces obedience …
– 2 Timothy 1:12 for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
• Ingredients of personal faith …
• Constancy – faithful unto death, when tested
– 2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
– Revelation 2:10 Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
• Real faith is more than tradition …
• Tradition – that which has been handed down
– 2 Timothy 1:5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.
– 2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
• Has your faith been tested …
• James 1:2-3 count it all joy when you fall into various trials,knowing the testing of your faith produces patience.
• 1 Peter 1:6-7 now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
• Keep growing in your faith …
• Mark 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"
• 2 Corinthians 13: Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? -- unless indeed you are disqualified.
• Diligently Seeking God …
• Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
• Do We Believe that God Is?
• Hebrews 11:6