The Word of the Week: Understanding God's Omnipresence

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,

where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical

words that have great significance to our faith.

The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where

once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are

familiar with in Scripture.

So come along with me.

Let's study the Word of the Week.

Pastor Josh here.

The Word of the Week is omnipresence.

In this study, we've been looking at the character traits of

God, his attributes.

And we've learned that there are communicable attributes, attributes

of God that we can't completely obtain.

But what we can do in our lives is mirror those attributes

as we grow more and more like Christ.

And so, for example, if we love, we're loving in the love of

Christ.

And even though we can't perfectly love someone the way that

the Lord loves in his holiness, we can grow in those areas

of character.

But there are some attributes of God that are incommunicable, meaning

there's no way that we as Christians could hold them in any

degree, because these are attributes alone given to God.

And one of those attributes is omnipresence.

What does omnipresence mean?

Omnipresence means that God is everywhere.

He's present everywhere.

Omni means all in Latin, and present obviously means he's there,

and so he's everywhere.

And God is regarded as omnipresent because of what Scripture

has to say about his presence in our lives.

And sometimes God's presence is evident to believers, evident

to people.

And sometimes we might not understand or feel his presence in

our life.

We know that in Psalm 46, verse 1, it says, God is our refuge

Psalms 46:1

and strength, a very present help in trouble.

And so there are going to be times in our life as believers that

we will feel God's presence as a refuge, as strength, as comfort.

But there will also be times in which we don't feel it.

Sometimes there will be those moments of.

Of quiet, quietness in our lives when it comes to God's voice

and God's presence.

But either way, we have to take it as a truth that God is present

in Every way.

Psalm 33 is a.

Is a really, really great passage of Scripture dealing with

these attributes of God, and specifically the attribute of God's

omnipresence.

And Psalm 33, verses 13 and 14, it says, the Lord looketh from

Psalms 33:13

heaven.

He beholdeth all the sons of men from the place of his habitation.

He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

And so God's omnipresence is a characteristic of him being present

in both time and in space.

And we know that God is not limited by time and space.

And so there are actually two different elements of God's character.

And these are a little bit technical terms, but we do know that

we have a God who is transcendent, meaning he is not bound

by space and time.

He transcends space and time.

He's not bound by the way that we are bound by it.

We are bound by linear time.

We are bound by the presence of where we are in that moment.

I know for me, sometimes I would like to be in two places at

once, but I cannot be.

But what we do know is that God is not bound by space or time.

And therefore he is transcendent.

But we also do know that he is imminent.

Imminent means immanence is God's personal connection to his

creation.

So God is not just a clock designer that sets.

Creates the clock, sets it in motion and steps away.

No, God is involved with us.

And so we know that in his omnipresence he is both transcendent

and imminent in the fact that he is not bound by space or time,

but he is also present with us in our lives.

And so what an amazing, unique element of God is that he is so amazingly

powerful, that he is not bound by space or time, but he also is

here, and he's present with us.

And that gives us comfort.

That should give us that comfort of what Psalm 46 says, that

he's a refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.

Now, a lot of people will misunderstand this character trait

by saying that God is everything.

Not that he is everywhere, but that he is everything.

And although God is not everything, that's a belief system

called pantheism.

That God is the tree, that God is the water.

No, God is not all of those things.

God is the Creator of those things.

But he is present at all times.

And so it's easy to get those confused, or it's easy for us to

kind of mend or blend those two things together.

But we do know that God is distinct in his.

In his character when it comes to the separation of his creation.

The Creator is not the creation.

And so there are plenty of passages of Scripture that talk about

this.

Isaiah 40, verse 12.

Isaiah 40:12

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and met

without heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the

earth, and measure and weighed the mountains, and Scales and the

hills in a balance.

And so there's this, you know, this question, this rhetorical question.

Who has done all of these things?

Well, it's God.

I mean, God is actively present in this world, and he's actively

present in the affairs of man.

And so God is in a very special way attentive to our lives.

He wants to intercede in our lives.

That's his imminence.

God wants us to seek after him in that personal way.

And we know that he is present in many different ways that we can

notice.

But really the greatest act of God's presence with mankind is Jesus

Christ is in the Son.

Jesus Christ.

Colossians, chapter 2, verse 19, it says, and not beholding the

Colossians 2:19

head from which all the body by joints and bands have nourished,

nourishment, ministered and knit together, increaseth with the

increase of God.

So essentially what we see here is that in Jesus Christ we can

see the presence of God.

We can see his care for mankind.

And it's described in the best way, I believe, in Romans, chapter

Romans 5:8

5, verse 8.

But God commendeth or demonstrate his love towards us in

that while we are at sinners, Christ died for us.

And so God loves us.

He's present with us.

He sent his only begotten Son for us because he loves us.

And so there is a lot of confusion when it comes to God's

presence.

Can he see me?

Is he here right now?

All we can know is through what Scripture tells us is that he

fills all things with his presence.

Colossians 1:17.

Colossians 1:17

And he is before all things, and by him all things consistently.

He upholds everything in his hand by the word of his power, as

the Bible says.

And so he's there to bless us.

He's there to guide us.

But we also can see God's presence in his judgment, right?

Some people have some questions about, well, is God with

those that are not with Him?

Well, his presence is there, but his presence is not there to

bless them necessarily.

His presence is there to judge them, to convict them.

And so just because somebody is not honoring God, that doesn't

mean that God is not there.

It just means that they are in rejection of God.

And therefore God is enacting his justice and his righteous indignation

against them.

And so even when we see folks that are in rebellion against God

and we see them judged, there is the presence of God manifested

in his judgment.

And just as Christians, we get to rest and glorify him in his presence

in our life with blessings and love.

And grace.

So does the individual who rejects God sees his presence by

judgment.

And so God is never thrown off.

He's never surprised by what we do.

We cannot hide from Him.

And so the omnipresence of God should serve as a reminder that we

can't hide from Him.

We cannot hide our sin from Him.

But it also should be a comfort to us that even in the midst

of our deepest, darkest moments, he is there with us.

And we know that the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13 that he

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

will never leave us nor forsake us.

And I believe that that is a promise of God to his children, that

he will never leave us nor forsake us, even in the midst of

our failures.

And so, you know, one of the things that I think I struggle with

in my own life is that when I am failing and when I have put my

trust in other things and when my eyes are on other things, I tend

to believe that, well, it's God that has his hand off of my life,

or it's God who has forgotten me, but yet it's really the other

way around.

I have forgotten Him.

I have neglected to know that God is with me, and so he is in our

lives.

His omnipresence can guarantee us that he is not only powerful enough

to help us in the midst of our need, he's not only wise enough in

his omniscience to have all the answers for us, but he's present

with us in the sense of comfort.

And, and I, and I love the passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians,

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, that says that God is a God of all comfort.

God is a God of all comfort.

You know, I.

I think in so many ways we want God's presence in our life,

and we want that comfort in our life.

But yet in many ways, we do forget that sometimes with God's

comfort comes conviction.

So 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 3 says, he is the God of all

2 Corinthians 1:3

comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may

be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.

Meaning when we receive the comfort of God, we are then to turn

around and give that comfort to other people.

And so, yes, we love that comfort of God, but we also do know

that the presence of God brings conviction.

And so you would say, well, what does that look like?

Well, the conviction of God is met in our lives through the conviction

of the Holy Spirit.

And I know that many of us, many of us will wrestle with that

conviction.

At least for me, I wrestle with the Conviction of the Holy Spirit

in my life, because sometimes conviction comes in a way that is

not very comfortable.

I know that in my life I'll be hearing the preaching of the Word,

or maybe I will and be, you know, reading scripture in my life.

And, and I, and I will say, well, you know what, that's, that's

a strong one right there.

This is, this is, cuts to the heart.

And so a lot of times when we feel that pain, we, we begin to run

from it.

But what the Bible says is that when that conviction comes,

we should embrace that conviction because that brings us

to that place of comfort when we get right with God.

In John 16, verse 8 says that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will

John 16:8

convict the world concerning sin, concerning righteousness and

judgment.

So we know that the Holy Spirit is coming, is here to comfort

us, yes, in the presence of God, but also to convict us.

And so to convict means to get to a place in our life where there

should be a change and so there should be that submission to

God.

And so I think that two elements that we can kind of leave

with takeaways when it comes to the omnipresence of God is that

the presence of God in His comfort and the presence of God in

His conviction.

Now, we could talk about his teaching, we could talk about his

guidance, but I think all of those are kind of wrapped up in that

area of conviction and comfort, because the teaching comes

in the conviction.

The comfort comes with the peace that we take with us and the

truths of God that we take with us in the midst of that teaching.

And so I know that as Christians, we have to embrace these

perfect attributes of God.

His omnipotence, his omniscience.

Omnipotence, all powerful omniscience, all knowing.

And this week, his omnipresence that he is everywhere,

he is all present.

And so you know what, if you're a believer here today, he

is present in your life.

He knows your struggle, he has the power to handle your struggle,

and he's going to be there with you through that struggle.

And that's something that I know, for me, as a Christian, is

a, is a comfort.

Romans, chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

That nothing can separate us from the love of God.

And so if you're a believer here, when you're listening to this

video or listening to this podcast, you can rest in the presence

of God and His love and in his grace and in his conviction and ultimately

in his comfort.

And so we have concluded that three part series looking at the

omnipotence, the omnipresence and the omniscience of God.

We will continue next week looking at some of those communicable

attributes we're going to be looking at grace, mercy, forgiveness,

meekness.

These are all truths that I think will help us in our lives to

be more and more Christlike with that inward change that God

gives us in our salvation.

Well, I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your week.

I hope that this has been a challenge for you.

I hope it's been informative and I hope it's been a blessing when

it comes to this study in the Word of the Week.

If you have any questions about what we talk about here on

this podcast, or if you would like to know more about another topic

or another word, please contact us.

You could email me at joshmasaroiddletownbaptistchurch.org well,

God bless you.

Have a wonderful week.

We will talk to you soon.

Hey, I really appreciate that you listened to the Word of the Week

podcast.

If you have any questions about the podcast or about our church,

Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information about us

on Facebook or YouTube.

Or you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org you can contact me

directly at Josh massaro@middletown baptistchurch.org

Stay tuned for future Word of the Week episodes where we dive deep,

deeper into words that impact our life according to scripture.

Thank you so much.

God Bless.

We'll talk to you soon.