Our Heartfelt God, Part #1
Sunday Evening English Worship
November 3, 2019 - 5:00 pm
Messenger: Don Frank
Bible Passage: Revelation 4:11 and others
Introduction: Let me start out our study tonight by asking a question: "What do you love to do?" We can see a lot of people answering that question these days by saying that they love to make handmade goods such as pottery, they love art and fashion, and they love making and drinking coffee. These are just a few examples. As for me, I love talking to people and I love teaching and sharing new information!
And day by day as our society becomes more automated, the experts are telling us that more and more of our jobs are going to be taken over by AI and robots. When that happens, they also tell us that for us to enjoy our lives, we should try to find out what we have a passion for. What really interests you? What do you love doing? What can you put your heart into?
And that last question is what brings us to our study tonight as we continue to talk about the different aspects of God. And tonight we'll take a short time to look at what God really enjoys putting His heart into. So, I'm calling our study this evening, "Our Heartfelt God."
1. Creating from the Heart
Let's begin with one of the very first activities that we know God did - and that's creation. And let's begin with our first Bible passage taken from the last book of the Bible...
Revelation 4:11b (NLT) - You God created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.
And of course we know that God created everything because we know the creation story from the book of Genesis. But the key point with this verse is that God got great pleasure from making everything! Now, let's think about this for a minute. The Bible tells us that God made us humans in His image. We have many things in life they give us lots of enjoyment and pleasure. And since God is infinitely greater than we are, then His joy and pleasure must be very, very great indeed!
Psalm 104:24 (NIV) - How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
And He enjoyed creating so much that He filled up the world with all of His creatures. And not just the earth itself, but the whole universe! And you might think that creation ended a long time ago, but God is still creating new people, new animals, new plants... and just everything, every day! And scientists tell us that the Milky Way galaxy is growing as new stars are added every year! In fact, researchers tell us that there's a good chance that 275 million new stars are being born in our universe every day! God is definitely not finished with his creation!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
And this brings us to another really beautiful Bible passage that is absolutely one of my favorites. Here we read that God is not only in the business of creation, but also re-creation! When we believe in Jesus Christ, then Paul tells us that we are born again and a new creation starts! I think this makes God so very, very happy! Shall we say that God is getting a whole lot of pleasure from putting His heart into His work of creation and re-creation?!
2. Giving from the Heart
Now let's move onto our 2nd point where we can see God putting His heart into another one of His many works. God is not only our Creator but He is also our Giver. So let's take a look at just a few of the many, many things that God loves to give us.
James 1:17 (BSB) - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
So, let's set the stage. God loves to give good and perfect gifts. God is good and so His gifts are good. But the next word, perfect, has the idea of something that's completely finished. When God gives us gifts, of course, they are totally wonderful and they perfectly fit each person! God is by His nature a Giver - just naturally.
Psalm 37:4 (NIV) - Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Now, let's unpack this a bit. This is our part of the "giving process." First, we take delight in the Lord. The idea here is to be soft or bendable or obedient. When God takes first place in our lives and we obey Him, then comes the desires of the second part of this verse. The word desire here means the word request. And this is so simple. When you love and delight yourself in God, you naturally want to talk to him and when you do, you naturally tell him what you desire! God is becoming your treasure. You spend time with your treasure. You talk to him often, maybe even nonstop all day long. Then you tell him what you want. And a little by little, your desires and God's desires lineup perfectly. And He has promised in this verse that He's going to give you what you desire! And those things are naturally the things God wants to give you anyway!
Moving on to the next promise I have loved for a long time...
John 10:27-29 (NLT) - 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
This is one of those Bible passages that I memorized when I was much younger. And it's special for me for a couple of different reasons. First, Jesus calls me His sheep. I love to hear His voice and to know Him better and follow Him everyday. But the promise comes in the next sentence, "I give them eternal life." Is there anyway that we can understand or measure this gift? Eternal life! Life that never has an ending! This isn't something big like a house, though we're going to get one of those too when we get to heaven! And no one can snatch this away from our Protecting, Giving God!
And the final promise I'd like us to dive into this evening is...
John 14:27 (GNT) - Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.
Wow! If eternal life wasn't enough, now Christ promises us His own special kind of peace! Now, to unpack this one too, He actually repeats His promise a second time in the same verse. Actually, He is saying that He is the Giver of a true gift that He has and wants to give us. That's why He uses the word My. And Philippians 4:7 says, "the peace of God which surpasses all understanding." Just as we can't really understand eternal life, we can't understand the size of this gift of peace - at least, not till we get to heaven anyway!
Conclusion: Now, if I had unlimited time... oh, that's right, I do - all of eternity! Well, we'll continue this study next month, at the beginning of December - and then we'll have all of eternity to dig into it - with the Lord Himself guiding the study! But just to wrap things up this evening, we saw that God loves to put His heart into His creating and also His giving. There are so many more promises in God's Word, hundreds in fact, that speak of God's heart. I challenge you to set aside some time everyday and see how many more you can find. And may the Holy Spirit apply them all to your hearts!
Closing Prayer: Let's close out our evening by reading one of our Bible passages together.
John 14:27
Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.
Now let's look at our closing prayer, based on God's Word and pray it back to Him together:
Lord, our God, we want to thank you for our study and fellowship tonight. We are so glad that You enjoy Your work so much. Thank you for creating and re-creating us in Your image. Thank you for all the many gifts You give to us each day. And thank you for putting Your peace into our hearts this evening. Please calm us down and guide us everyday by this special peace of Yours. Keep us safe as we go home tonight. Bring us back again soon for more rich time together! We pray this now in Jesus' precious name, Amen.
November 3, 2019 - 5:00 pm
Messenger: Don Frank
Bible Passage: Revelation 4:11 and others
Introduction: Let me start out our study tonight by asking a question: "What do you love to do?" We can see a lot of people answering that question these days by saying that they love to make handmade goods such as pottery, they love art and fashion, and they love making and drinking coffee. These are just a few examples. As for me, I love talking to people and I love teaching and sharing new information!
And day by day as our society becomes more automated, the experts are telling us that more and more of our jobs are going to be taken over by AI and robots. When that happens, they also tell us that for us to enjoy our lives, we should try to find out what we have a passion for. What really interests you? What do you love doing? What can you put your heart into?
And that last question is what brings us to our study tonight as we continue to talk about the different aspects of God. And tonight we'll take a short time to look at what God really enjoys putting His heart into. So, I'm calling our study this evening, "Our Heartfelt God."
1. Creating from the Heart
Let's begin with one of the very first activities that we know God did - and that's creation. And let's begin with our first Bible passage taken from the last book of the Bible...
Revelation 4:11b (NLT) - You God created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.
And of course we know that God created everything because we know the creation story from the book of Genesis. But the key point with this verse is that God got great pleasure from making everything! Now, let's think about this for a minute. The Bible tells us that God made us humans in His image. We have many things in life they give us lots of enjoyment and pleasure. And since God is infinitely greater than we are, then His joy and pleasure must be very, very great indeed!
Psalm 104:24 (NIV) - How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
And He enjoyed creating so much that He filled up the world with all of His creatures. And not just the earth itself, but the whole universe! And you might think that creation ended a long time ago, but God is still creating new people, new animals, new plants... and just everything, every day! And scientists tell us that the Milky Way galaxy is growing as new stars are added every year! In fact, researchers tell us that there's a good chance that 275 million new stars are being born in our universe every day! God is definitely not finished with his creation!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
And this brings us to another really beautiful Bible passage that is absolutely one of my favorites. Here we read that God is not only in the business of creation, but also re-creation! When we believe in Jesus Christ, then Paul tells us that we are born again and a new creation starts! I think this makes God so very, very happy! Shall we say that God is getting a whole lot of pleasure from putting His heart into His work of creation and re-creation?!
2. Giving from the Heart
Now let's move onto our 2nd point where we can see God putting His heart into another one of His many works. God is not only our Creator but He is also our Giver. So let's take a look at just a few of the many, many things that God loves to give us.
James 1:17 (BSB) - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
So, let's set the stage. God loves to give good and perfect gifts. God is good and so His gifts are good. But the next word, perfect, has the idea of something that's completely finished. When God gives us gifts, of course, they are totally wonderful and they perfectly fit each person! God is by His nature a Giver - just naturally.
Psalm 37:4 (NIV) - Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Now, let's unpack this a bit. This is our part of the "giving process." First, we take delight in the Lord. The idea here is to be soft or bendable or obedient. When God takes first place in our lives and we obey Him, then comes the desires of the second part of this verse. The word desire here means the word request. And this is so simple. When you love and delight yourself in God, you naturally want to talk to him and when you do, you naturally tell him what you desire! God is becoming your treasure. You spend time with your treasure. You talk to him often, maybe even nonstop all day long. Then you tell him what you want. And a little by little, your desires and God's desires lineup perfectly. And He has promised in this verse that He's going to give you what you desire! And those things are naturally the things God wants to give you anyway!
Moving on to the next promise I have loved for a long time...
John 10:27-29 (NLT) - 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
This is one of those Bible passages that I memorized when I was much younger. And it's special for me for a couple of different reasons. First, Jesus calls me His sheep. I love to hear His voice and to know Him better and follow Him everyday. But the promise comes in the next sentence, "I give them eternal life." Is there anyway that we can understand or measure this gift? Eternal life! Life that never has an ending! This isn't something big like a house, though we're going to get one of those too when we get to heaven! And no one can snatch this away from our Protecting, Giving God!
And the final promise I'd like us to dive into this evening is...
John 14:27 (GNT) - Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.
Wow! If eternal life wasn't enough, now Christ promises us His own special kind of peace! Now, to unpack this one too, He actually repeats His promise a second time in the same verse. Actually, He is saying that He is the Giver of a true gift that He has and wants to give us. That's why He uses the word My. And Philippians 4:7 says, "the peace of God which surpasses all understanding." Just as we can't really understand eternal life, we can't understand the size of this gift of peace - at least, not till we get to heaven anyway!
Conclusion: Now, if I had unlimited time... oh, that's right, I do - all of eternity! Well, we'll continue this study next month, at the beginning of December - and then we'll have all of eternity to dig into it - with the Lord Himself guiding the study! But just to wrap things up this evening, we saw that God loves to put His heart into His creating and also His giving. There are so many more promises in God's Word, hundreds in fact, that speak of God's heart. I challenge you to set aside some time everyday and see how many more you can find. And may the Holy Spirit apply them all to your hearts!
Closing Prayer: Let's close out our evening by reading one of our Bible passages together.
John 14:27
Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.
Now let's look at our closing prayer, based on God's Word and pray it back to Him together:
Lord, our God, we want to thank you for our study and fellowship tonight. We are so glad that You enjoy Your work so much. Thank you for creating and re-creating us in Your image. Thank you for all the many gifts You give to us each day. And thank you for putting Your peace into our hearts this evening. Please calm us down and guide us everyday by this special peace of Yours. Keep us safe as we go home tonight. Bring us back again soon for more rich time together! We pray this now in Jesus' precious name, Amen.