TWO GUIDING QUESTIONS DURING THIS SERMON SERIES
Are you growing in the knowledge of God?
Are you growing in loving God and loving people?
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SERMON TEXT
And God said... (Genesis 1:3a)
MAIN POINT
God has mercifully spoken through the scriptures to clearly give you everything needful to know him truly, love him dearly, and follow him completely.
Three Statements for us to consider...
It is a wonderful mercy that our God speaks.
In creation He spoke his character and his ways, and his plan of salvation for his people but we turned away and sinned and rejected Him. And so, God sends prophets, and he speaks through the prophets calling sinful people to repent and come back to him, to believe and trust in his character and his ways, and his plan of salvation for his people. But our hearts were hard, and we continued to stray. But this God of mercy continued to provide a way to know him, when he spoke through Jesus, his Son. God himself, the word – the speaking God - taking on flesh. Unlike the prophets of old, Jesus didn’t only come with God’s message, he came AS God’s message. He himself is the revelation of God’s character and his ways, and his plan of salvation for his people. Jesus is God’s message to humanity – his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension. He is the center of what God wants to communicate to us.
It is a wonderful gift to have a record of God’s word.
- God's Word is a gift because it is authoritative
- God's Word is a gift because it is necessary to know God personally.
- God's Word is a gift because it is clear and understandable
- God's Word is a gift because it is sufficient to know God and His Salvation.
It is a wonderful privilege to believe God’s word.
More to be desired is God’s word than gold. His words are sweeter than honey. By them are we mercifully warned and graciously promised reward for taking heed of them. By them we know God. By them we know his warnings and his promises. By them we know his will and his ways. By them we know Jesus through whom we are saved. By them we know how to walk. By them we know how to truly hope. By them we know what to fix our eyes on as we eagerly await that final day.
- We have the privilege of Faithfully Participation at SGC Dayton Gatherings that we might grow and be encouraged together.
- We have the privilege of Faithfully Praying for the Spirit to Illumine God's Word and Conform us to the image of Jesus.
As we devote ourselves to God’s Word, we commune with God himself and are fortified in faith, sanctified from sin, strengthened in weakness, and sustained in suffering by his unchanging revelation in Scripture (SGC Statement of Faith).
Resources
SGC Statement of Faith - The Scriptures
Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
SONGS TO ENCOURAGE