All Together God

We are finishing our study tonight on the anthropomorphic

words. So an anthropomorphic word, I'll remind

you, means it sounds human. So with a hand and

arms, we studied the hand of God, we studied

the arm of God, the eyes of God, the ears of

God, all of those things. And tonight you're

going to kind of get a summary. So if you've

missed them, you can suck up as much of it as

you possibly can as we go over the summary of

it tonight. Interestingly enough, these words,

which do not really apply to God, right, because

God is spirit, so he does not have ears like

you or I have ears, or hands like your eyes have

hands. He certainly can if he wants to, but he

is not bound by such a form, okay? And so those

words that God then uses to describe himself

teach us really cool things about him, and that's

what we've been studying for the last seven weeks.

All right. And so I'll give you the key verse

for tonight's lesson. And it is not on your paper.

I'm just telling you what it is. Hebrews 1 .3.

The sun is the radiance of his glory and the

exact representation of his nature and upholds

all things by the word of his power. And that

is a verse about Jesus Christ. And so Jesus came

in part to show us the wholeness of God, the

whole person of God. And so we talked about before

how if you really want to know God, learn more

about Jesus. Because everything about Jesus tells

us everything that we need to know about God.

So today, we will bring together the seven lessons.

And I'll tell you right now, there is not enough

room to put all the notes that you might take

on this lesson on one page. You see there's a

lot of lines here. And there may even be in some

places a little bit more lines than you need.

But there's a lot of lines here. But there's

a lot that you could take away from a lesson

on the whole person of God. So we're going to

dive right in. In the middle, we will have a

stunt. And probably at the end... as well, and

we will probably not do trivia tonight. We'll

rotate back and forth. If you finish your worksheet

at the end, I'll give you two tickets, and then

we've got some stuff up here that you can win.

If you don't want it, you can win it and give

it to somebody else. Generosity is a good thing.

So number one, the eyes of God. So on the first

week, we looked at, I'm not 100 % sure that these

are in the same order that we looked at them.

I assembled them, but I don't even know if they're

in the same order. And I also skipped the big

picture notes. So I don't know if any of this

goes on in what I was saying, but I didn't tell

you exactly what to put in the blanks. So the

big picture essentially is that God could have

told us, and you don't have to write these words,

that he is omniscient, unpresent, sovereign,

holy, and loving. Instead, by using these words,

he told us that he's, so this would be your list,

he sees and hears. So that's number one. He works

with his hands and his arms saves. So he sees

and hears. He works with his hand and his arm

saves. God's face shines upon his people. I know

that's going by quickly. I apologize. I'll repeat

them. God's face shines upon his people and God

speaks with his mouth. So the first one is just

he sees and hears, right? So that's pretty easy

to remember. Then he works with his hand and

saves with his arm. Those go together, hand and

arm. The third one is God's face shines upon

his people. And the fourth one is God speaks

with his mouth. We're going to break those down

a lot better. So it sees and hears on the first

line, hand and arm on the second line, face shines

on the third line, speaks with his mouth. Now,

the eyes of God. The reference there on the blank

is Proverbs 15 .3. So on the blank where it says,

key scripture, write Proverbs 15 .3. And Proverbs

15 .3 says, The eyes of the Lord are in every

place watching the evil and the good. You're

not writing that in, but that's what it says.

So the eyes remind us that nothing escapes his

knowledge or attention. You can imagine the person

who has the best eyesight probably sees the most.

That's just the reality of it, right? The person

who has the most trained mind probably sees the

most through their eyes. Good eyesight, good

insight. God is like that. God's eyes are as

big as everything that was ever created, and

I have a lot more. And God has the insight to

use his eyes to see everything. He can see internally,

etc. So that's what we learn. The eyes of God

remind us that nothing escapes his knowledge

or attention. So you're going to grab out of

this. Now you've got four dots there. You can

grab any of these main ideas that catches your

fancy. I'm going to give you more than four,

so you've just got to pick and choose. At the

end, I'll give you four in a summary, but you

don't have to use those four. So pick and choose

four things. So God sees what happens publicly.

He sees what happens privately. He sees what

others overlook. He sees what we attempt to hide.

Actions, motives, obedience, suffering. The verse

says God sees both the evil and the good. And

his perfect vision means that no injustice will

ultimately be overlooked and no faithful act

will ultimately be forgotten. Now, for those

of you who are just linear thinkers and you need

me to give you four exact things to put on those

lines, and you haven't put anything down there

yet, here's why. God sees everything. God sees

everything. That's the first one. God sees everyone.

There is nowhere to hide from God. He sees everything

and he sees everyone. God sees what is private,

too. In other words, God can read what's written

on the walls of your heart. God sees what is

private and God sees with perfect understanding.

So there's no kidding, no deception, no trickery.

You may not even understand it. You might be

doing something to yourself and you think, I'm

doing good. And then God knows better. He sees

what's actually happening. And then the application

line there, because God sees everything, we should

live with integrity when nobody else is watching.

Someone will arguably say that integrity is...

living right when no one else is watching, but

that's far short of what integrity is. That's

just one proof of integrity, right? So the application

was because God sees everything, we should live

with integrity when nobody else is watching.

If a person is alone in the woods and he tells

a lie, is it still a lie? Yes, it's still a lie.

A lie is a lie. It doesn't matter where you tell

it or who else might be there or who else might

not be there. If you take something that doesn't

belong to you, it doesn't matter if you can find

the person to whom it belonged or not. You still

take something that didn't belong to you. We

should live with integrity when no one else will.

All right, number two, the ears of God. So the

reference there, Psalm 34, 15. Psalm 34, 15.

And this was that kind of cool one between the

first two weeks that we saw, because it says

the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous.

It says, and his ears are open to their cry.

So God is not only seeing everything that's happening

to you. God is seeing everything that's happening

to everybody, right? But for the righteous. God

is listening closely for what you're saying.

He wants to know what you need. He wants to know

what you desire. The hope is that you will desire

what he desires. But even if you didn't, God

is okay with that. You get mad, talk to God when

you're mad. You may say some things that later

you'll regret, but that doesn't change anything.

You have a relationship with him. He hears. His

ears are open to your cry. In that lesson we

learned, the ears of God remind us that God is

attentive to his people. In fact, I didn't put

it in here, but there was one where we looked

at a certain word, and it was like God was leaning

down close to listen. And that really spoke to

my heart and has ever since we did that lesson.

So he hears our prayers. He hears our cries.

He hears our praise. He hears our confession,

our request for help, even the prayers that we

cannot adequately put into words. Words. God

hears. So you might be praying sometime, and

you're praying, and you're like, I don't really

know. And then you're all confused about what

to say exactly. God knows. There's a language

that goes beyond what you can speak with your

mouth that God hears. God's hearing is never

limited by distance, volume, time, or the number

of people praying. I've had a number of times

where I prayed all by myself, and God did something

amazing in response. I've had a number of times

where I prayed with other people, and God did

something amazing. I remember once I prayed into

the carpet, and I could barely hear what I was

saying. And God did exactly what I asked for.

And then there have been times where I shouted

to the clouds. It doesn't matter. God hears,

right? Especially for those who have accepted

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Millions can

pray simultaneously. God never becomes distracted.

A couple of quick references that go along with

that then, and these might actually be your points

if you like it that way. Psalm 65 .2, O you who

hear prayer. Talking about God. Psalm 65 .2,

O you who hear prayer. Psalm 116 .1 -2 says,

Psalm 116 .1 -2 says, I love the Lord. Because

he hears my voice. In other words, that trait

of God is enough for me to fall in love with

him. If you realize that the God of heaven, the

God of the universe, is listening to you specifically,

that would be enough to make you know women like

it when men listen to them, and men like it when

women listen to them, and God listens. The third

one is Isaiah 59 .1. And it says, His ear is

not so dull that he cannot hear. If you write

these references down, you can look them up in

a Bible and you wouldn't have to try to brush

to write down all the words. Psalm 652 is the

first one. Psalm 116 .2 is the second one. And

Isaiah 59 .1 is the third one. And then the last

one is 1 Peter 3 .12. And it is sort of a repeat.

It says, The eyes of the Lord are toward the

righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer.

So that's the New Testament quote of Psalm 34

.14 is what we started at. I'm going to read

this for you one more time. I'm going to take

four things in the blanks. Psalm 65 .2, Psalm

116 .1 -2, Isaiah 59 .1, and 1 Peter 3 .12, which

is also Psalm 34 .15. And then the application

is, because God hears, we should pray confidently,

honestly, and persistently. If you don't like

those words that have too many syllables, then

you could put boldly. And you could put true,

and you could put never stopping. Pray infinitely,

honestly, and persist. One more, and then let's

go. The hand of God. He works. So sometimes people

don't want to work. People are working for a

good retirement. People are trying to avoid hard

work. When I was at Pizza Hut, I had to chase

the employees around because they had this big

rack of boxes. And if I was on the one side,

they would all flock and hide on the other side

of the box so I couldn't tell them what to do.

They were still getting paid. They just didn't

want to work. God's not like that. God wouldn't

have to work ever. He doesn't have to work. He's

the richest person there being to ever live.

He has the most power of anyone to ever live,

the most insight. You never have to work, and

yet he works. The reference is Isaiah 41 .10.

Isaiah 41 .10 goes in the blank. And the verse

says, I will strengthen you. Surely I will help

you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous

right hand. So God says he is going to do that.

You're not going to do that. It doesn't matter

how smart you are, how capable you are, how strong

you are. The truth is it all runs out, right?

All of it actually runs out. The hand of God

emphasizes his active involvement in the lives

of his people. That's what we kind of summarize

that lesson as. We've got his hand provides,

his hand protects, his hand guides, his hand

strengthens, his hand disciplines, his hand upholds,

his hand empowers. It's a lot. Remember, we did

this lesson and we drilled way down. God does

not merely observe what happens in our lives.

There are some very famous people who thought

they were deists. They thought God started the

world running and then just kind of quit. They

were retired or whatever. That's a deist, and

that is not what the Bible teaches. He's just

not what Jesus taught, not what we know to be

true. He's not just watching. He is active. He

works. Sometimes his work is dramatic. Sometimes

it's so ordinary that we recognize it only after

he does it or after it results. In other words,

it may be the smallest thing. If you think in

your mind's researching right now, you can think,

I remember when I did that thing, and I just

did it because I thought it was something I wanted

to do, and then it became something huge. God

really used it. That's what God does. On the

four lines there, which actually should be three

lines there. We want three lines, we don't want

to get to the four. So we got that whole bunch

of extra little space right there. The first

line, Psalm 145, 16. Psalm, P -S -A -M. Psalm

145, 16. You open your hand and satisfy the desire

of every living thing. God is meeting the needs

of every living thing. That's how you plants

need sunlight to survive. Well, who created this?

Who's keeping it going? That's how you animals

need water or diet. have thirst, and so do people,

right? Fluids, anyway. God said, the psalmist

writes, keep your hands satisfied with the desire

of every living thing. Ezra 7 .9 is the next

one. That verse says, the good hand of his God

was upon him. And then in the New Testament,

John 10 .28 -29. John 10 .28 -29. And Jesus says

that no one can snatch Christ's sheep from his

hand, from God's hand. If you belong to Jesus,

you're safe in the hand of God, and no one can

take you on. The application, because God's hand

is at work, we should trust his provision and

guidance, even when we cannot see what he is

doing. Even if you don't know, can't see, can't

understand, doesn't make any sense to you, in

the middle of that, you have to say stubbornly,

get mean if you must. and say, in the middle

of this, I cannot understand it, and I am going

to trust God's provision and his guidance. And

it's both, because the provision is he's going

to take care of it, and the guidance is you're

going to understand what you really need to understand.

So when you don't understand, you have to trust

that God has given you what you really need.

And sometimes understanding might be worse for

you. You might shortcut it, or you might try

not to do what he's having you do, right? You

do that sometimes. So his provision and his guidance

can be trusted even when we cannot understand

or cannot see what he is doing. Okay? We're going

to stop for a minute. So we've actually, have

everybody got a partner? If you don't have a

partner, I can be your partner or somebody else

can be your partner. We'll enlist somebody. Okay.

Somebody beat Caleb's partner going once. I'm

going to do it myself. All right, Carrie, you're

going to do it too. All right. We've done this

one once before, but some of you won't have seen

it. You're going to stand back -to -back with

your partner. You're going to throw the ball

up in the air. Your partner's going to catch

the ball. You can't turn around, right? You're

going to stay back -to -back. You're going to

go up in the air. Your partner's going to catch

the ball. Then your partner's going to throw

the ball up in the air, and you're going to catch

the ball, right? You have to complete the rotation.

over and back within the 60 -second time limit.

Artie, can you get a timer on your phone? All

right. Just one second. If you complete the challenge,

then you'll get two tickets. If you fail, you'll

each get one. Ready, and go. If you miss it,

you start over. Try again. Try again. Try again.

Anybody else got it? Yes. Missy, you got something

over. Alright, just catch it wherever you got

it. Okay, that won't count. Last chance. She's

got to catch it or you lose. Oh, one for each

other. Okay, time's up. Cam Hadley did it. Where'd

he go? Okay. Remember that if you complete your

worksheet and your blanks are filled in, you

get two tickets at the end, and we're not doing

trivia tonight, so fun fun day. Quick throw in

the ball and just sit out there. There you go.

Good enough. All right, very good. Okay, we are

on number four. Because God's hand is at work,

we should trust his provision and guidance even

when we cannot see what he is doing. provision

and guidance. Number four, the arm of God. He

is strong enough to save. It sounds like duh,

right? Isaiah 52 .10 is the reference. Isaiah

52 .10. The Lord has bared his holy arm in the

sight of all the nations, that all the ends of

the earth may see the salvation of our God. That

is in the Old Testament verse. And they knew,

there were dozens of verses in the Old Testament,

they knew that the Messiah, the anointed one,

would be for everyone, not just for Jews. They

were already supposed to be working. They weren't

doing a very good job of it, but some of them

were doing it, right? The Pharisees were basically

almost like evangelical preachers of their day.

They just didn't follow the doctrine that they

preached. So there were people being lured to

Christ in the Old Testament. And that verse is

clear that Jesus would be for all of the nations.

So what we learned when we looked at the arm

of God was the arm of God emphasizes God's overwhelming

strength. God's arm delivers, saves, rescues,

defeats his enemies. accomplishes his purposes,

carries the weak, establishes his victory. Any

one of those things are very important. Remember,

they are all in the original lesson as well.

The distinction between the hand and arm is useful.

There is a difference here where the hand emphasizes

God's work. You heard it. We just did that, right?

The hand emphasizes the work of God, but the

arm emphasizes the strength behind the work.

And it's like that. If you have weak hands, as

I had from the time I was about... 17, the time

I was probably 27, right? Because I was beating

myself so bad and my hands were weak. My arm

was strong. I probably could have done maybe

15, 20 push -ups. Not that I was strong, but

I could do it. But my hands hurt so bad, I couldn't

do it. Weak hands, strong arms, there's things

you can't do. Strong hands, weak arms, there's

things you can't do, right? So that God has both.

God's hands do the work. God's... Arms emphasizes

the strength or the power of God behind God's

work. And then there's four important scriptures

that can go on those lines. If you want to use

those for your points, or if you already filled

in some, just pick a couple that you like. Deuteronomy

5 .15, God brought Israel out of Egypt with a

mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That's the

first one. It's beautiful. They come together,

right? So God was at work, and he did it mightily.

Jeremiah 32 .17, nothing is too difficult for

you. God can do it. Somebody just said that to

me like half an hour ago. God can do it. He wants

you to fix it, and he'll fix it today. Isaiah

Isaiah 40:11

40 verse 11. He gathers the lambs with his arm.

And Psalm 98 verse 1. His holy arm has gained

Psalms 98:1

the victory. 5 .15, Deuteronomy 5 .15, Jeremiah

32 .17, Isaiah 40 .11, and Psalm 98 .1. And then

the application, because God's arm is strong

enough to save, we should trust his strength

rather than depend upon our own. There is an

equation here when it comes to God's power and

strength that actually works itself out everywhere

in creation. So, for example, people began to

worship very expensive things. idols out of gold

or silver or find craftsmanship and make beautiful

statues and worship them you see we still have

some of that going on left over from thousands

of years ago but all of that amounts to worshiping

the creation rather than worshiping the creator

it's idolatry right so in us As I look around

this room, I see people who are strong. I see

people who are intelligent, people who are capable.

There are all of these things. And you say, well,

I'm not as smart as somebody else. Pretty much

irrelevant on the grand scheme of things, right?

You have to deal with what God has given you

to deal with. Maybe they have to deal with something

that is maybe more academic. Or if you go like,

well, I can jack a tire. I can jack a car and

change a tire, right? So maybe you don't need

to be able to jack a car and change a tire, but

maybe you need to be able to do something else,

right? So strength is purposeful. But the bottom

line is, if you... start thinking that you have

something that didn't come from God, then that's

idolatry. That's thinking you are God, right?

And it goes both ways. Sometimes you pray, you

say, oh, I'm so good. I'm so awesome. I did such

a good job. That's idolatry. If you don't give

the glory to God for making you in trouble creation,

that's idolatry. And the reverse is also, I'm

so bad. I suck. I can't do this. That also is

idolatry because you're taking the place of God.

So the trick is, or the command, if you will,

is to trust God's strength rather than your own.

strength. And that is a lot of what Christianity

is all about. It starts with our recognition

that we could not save ourselves. And it continues

with John 15, 5, which says you can do nothing

outside him. And if you start to think you can

do some things outside him, you've got a real

problem. And if you start to think that you cannot

do the things that he has commanded you to, you

also have a real problem. Either way, you're

taking the place of God. So instead, trust his

strength rather than depend upon your own. All

right, number five, the face of God. He is present.

The reference there is Numbers 6, the book of

Numbers. 6, 24 to 26. And then in there is that

prayer. We talked about this when we did the

lesson. The Lord bless you and keep you. The

Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious

to you. The Lord lift up his confidence on you

and give you peace. And that is a prayer basically

asking that God's face would be toward you. When

a person's face is toward you, they are paying

attention. It represents their presence. And

you know this. You're with somebody and they're

like this. They're not really there. Some part

of them is not really there. them and they're

watching their phone while you're talking they're

not really present they might be 80 present or

50 present depends on how good what they're watching

on their phone is to them in that moment right

so when i'm preaching for example and i see people

on their phone and they're playing a game or

they watch whatever like they might only be 50

in the room that doesn't hurt me because i'm

doing what it is god's called me to do so it

can only hurt them because they're not present

in the moment that god has called them to be

in right and that makes me kind of heartbroken

but i'm sure if you're a parent in the room You've

been talking to your kid, and they're on the

phone. It's the same way, right? Or watching

TV, right? I talk to my wife, and she's watching

TV. And now, because we had this conversation

a number of times in the past or whatever, if

she starts talking to me or I start talking to

her, we immediately stop the TV or turn the TV

off. As soon as I start talking to her, she turns

the TV off. As soon as she starts talking to

me, I turn the TV off. Because you can be 80

% present. That is not the same. God is 100 %

present when it comes to us. He is our peace.

He is for us. So the face of God communicates

relationship and presence. To seek God's face

is to seek God himself. So don't ever smack your

friends in the face. Don't do that. Don't spit

in their face. Don't smear mud or something worse

on their face. Don't ever do that. And that is

a little bit like what it's like when God is

coming to you. He's trying to talk to you, trying

to represent whatever to you. And all you want

to do is your own thing and have nothing to do

with people. him, right? So seek God's face is

to seek himself. You want him there. His face

represents his presence, his favor, his fellowship,

his blessing, his peace, his holiness, his glory.

All of those things came out of that lesson.

I know we broke them down more then. You have

the past worksheets, great. If not, they are

online. The worksheets are online. David said

this. David said in Psalm 27, 8, he said, when

you said, seek my face, my heart said to you,

your face, O Lord, I shall seek. So it's God

wants us to seek his face, and we should. The

greatest blessing God can give us is not simply

something from his hand, but his presence. So

that brings us back to the crucifixion and resurrection.

So if Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose

again on the third day just so you can go to

heaven when you die, that is too small. It's

way too small. It's nice thought that we'll go

to heaven when we die. That's wonderful. But

it's not. If Jesus just died so you could go

to heaven when you die, and also so that you

could receive some blessings while you're here

on earth, some more money, a better job. proof

over your head, some provision. If that was all

he died for, that is not enough. We were created

to be in a right relationship with him, like

oneness. Right? So we're with him and he is with

us. And literally it says not just with us, but

in us. So that's what we are praying for. And

that is what Jesus lived and died and rose again

for. His presence. And if you cannot have his

presence in this lifetime, then that happens,

right? There's people who just don't want God.

They just don't. They may say words about God

or whatever. They may talk about God to many

preachers. Right? But if they don't want the

presence of God in this lifetime, then when they

die, they're not going to go to be with him.

Because then that would be the presence of God

for eternity. No matter what they say now. It

doesn't matter if they don't want his presence.

presence then they don't they're not going to

be with him for eternity okay so the greatest

blessing god can give us is not simply something

from his hand it is himself and you all know

that like every person in the room has a significant

other like you like to get cards you like to

get presents you like to get everybody likes

to be bought a nice dinner from time to time

or like that but what do you really want the

person that you care about from your best friend

right what you really want is that right and

all those other things represent some small part

of that like it's their thoughtful nature they

give you know, whatever that you really want.

So it's a sobering truth. Scripture also speaks

of God hiding his face because of sin. We're

going on this a little bit more like we did then

because it's huge. If you have sin, the Bible

says that God will hide his face. Isaiah 49 says,

Sin does not make God cease to be omnipresent.

It means he can be everywhere he wants to be,

but it damages our fellowship with him. So you're

breaking up with God when you choose to do. what

it is that you want to do rather than do what

it is that God wants you to do. And you don't

want to do it, right? And you may feel like God

is distant. You may feel like God doesn't hear.

You may feel like you can't pray or you can't

serve or you can't risk, right? Because you don't

know what's going to happen. All those kinds

of things are the result of our break in fellowship

with him, which is a result of our sin. And that's

because we're putting a block up between us and

his face. Revelation 22 .4 says our future hope,

they will see his face. That's us. believers,

followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will see

his face. What Moses could only partially experience,

redeemed believers will one day experience fully.

And then that brings us to the application. So

you can read any of that to fill in your blanks.

The application is because God's presence is

our greatest blessing, we should seek God himself

rather than merely seeking what God can give

us. I know we're hurting sometimes. We think

we need, I've got to have this, I need healing,

I need money, I need whatever. What you really

need is the presence. So seek God himself rather

than seeking what he can give us. Number six,

good progress. These last two will go a little

faster than that, but that's a big one because

it goes both ways, right? He wants to make his

face available to us. He wants us to seek his

face, but also there is a break. The mouth and

lips of God, he speaks. The reference is Matthew

4, 4. Someone in the room probably knows that

verse already. That's from the temptation of

Jesus. And Jesus says back to the devil, man

shall not live on bread alone, but on every word

that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And that

lesson we learned that the mouth of God reminds

us that God has chosen to communicate with his

creation. God is not silent. He is speaking despite

what someone might say. So God's word then. Reveals

truth, gives commands, makes promises, provides

wisdom, gives warnings, offers comfort, announces

salvation, and declares judgment. Very simply,

you could say, God is not sin. Also, you could

say, he has spoken. There are two very simple

points to take out of there. In creation, Genesis

1 -3, then God said, let there be light. We dwelled

on that during that lesson. We've dwelled on

it too much now, but it's the point that God

can bring something out of nonexistence into

existence by speaking to it. God spoke and creation

responded. God's word accomplishes God's purposes.

Isaiah 55 -11, that one there, God's word accomplishes

his purposes. Isaiah 55 -11 says, so will my

word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will

not return to me empty without accomplishing

what I desire. verse we're going to say, once

God speaks it, something happens. It may be that

people rebel, and that may actually have been

God's intention to give them the opportunity

to rebel if that's what they wanted to do, right?

But that's not what he desired, necessarily.

He also gave them the opportunity to be obedient.

So God's word is completely trustworthy. There's

another one.