I'd like you to see watch this powerful video. - Joe Gibbs

I'd like you to see watch this powerful video. - Joe Gibbs

Is the Christian faith intellectual nonsense? Are Christians deluded?

"If God exists and takes an interest in the affairs of human beings, his will is not inscrutable," writes Sam Harris about the 2004 tsunami in Letter to a Christian Nation . "The only thing inscrutable here is that so many otherwise rational men and women can deny the unmitigated horror of these events and think this is the height of moral wisdom." [i] 

Let me begin in a prayer. Lord, we thank You this evening for the hope of the resurrection, the reality of Christ's resurrection from the grave, and, therefore, the hope that we have. We ask that we would live in that living hope; and that we would be a people for Your own possession and for Your purposes. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

We are going to be looking tonight at the most profound mystery of all, and in doing so we are going to be coming down to the very heart of all things.

I want to continue on our journey concerning the attributes of God and we talked last time about certain attributes that God has that we do not have, and that are really what we would call incommunicable attributes. These attributes had to do with the fact that God is spirit.

We are going to be looking at the whole area of what the Bible says about God and this is going to the first series in a series of series. I am going to be looking at what the Bible says about God; what the Bible says about Christ; and then what it says about the Holy Spirit.

When I'm asked what writers had the most profound influence on me as a young Christian, I always say there were three, and they continue to influence me today: C. S. Lewis, A. W. Tozer and Francis Schaeffer. In past months I've written about the subject of desire and longing in Augustine, Pascal and C. S. Lewis. Today I want to share from Tozer.

We are not always great at talking to God, at least I'm not, but I think we are even worse at listening to God. Of course, if we think we can't hear God's voice, at least in the figurative sense, why would we listen?

Some Christians "hear God" when He is not speaking, and many of us fail to hear Him when He is-and sometimes we manage to do both at the same time.

God is good. But until we understand the truth that He is not safe, that He is not under our control, until we come to grips with the truth of His uncompromising holiness, we will never begin to grasp His amazing grace.

God is not a genie, under our control. He is the master. When we fancy ourselves masters, it can be intimidating to agree to being a servant. Christ is in charge of the universe whether or not we recognize Him-but when we do, we honor Him by submitting to His lordship.

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Orlando and speak.  There were roughly 1,000 people there at this event at First Baptist Church of Orlando.  David Uth is the pastor there and he's a great guy.  Later that day I had an opportunity to go to a local prison and speak.  It really was a life-changing experience for me to speak there.  There were 1,000 prisoners in the courtyard at the prison and it was raining that day.  So, I walked out into the courtyard with them and for the next 40 minutes, I gave them my testimony. 

Since God is all knowing, all powerful, and eternal, did He know when He created Adam and Eve that they would fall and the earth would be as it is now, filled with sin and immorality? It is hard for me to understand why God would knowingly allow all the sin and suffering.

God is not the author of evil. Neither, however, is He ever the victim of evil. His hands are never tied by evil. He's never painted into a corner by evil. When Jesus went to the cross He didn't fall into Satan's trap-Satan fell into His. Wills were being exercised, but men weren't calling the shots-God was.

5. How do I know God hears my prayers?

Each of us have known the feeling of staring up against a darkened sky and wondering if the words we are speaking to God are merely words we are speaking to ourselves. This is part of the walk of faith, where He stretches us in areas we would rather not be stretched, helping us learn to think the way spiritual people are designed to think.

4. Father, Son, Spirit-isn't that three Gods?

One egg, comprised of yolk, white, and shell. Water, existing as ice, liquid, and steam. These are the most common analogies of how three distinct entities can unite in one single reality. Yet even these examples fall short because nothing in our frame of reference is as perfectly intact as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.