18 Oct It is What It Is (Discovering the true character of God…because He is not a car-wrecking, cancer causing Creator, but a loving, life giving Lord!) part 12

Over the past few weeks we have shared many powerful truths.  Before we move on let’s take time this week to review.   We begin by remembering our key Scripture for this series:  Hebrews 11:6, “For without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

From these verses we shared with you three very important takeaways:

1. The word “cometh”.  The Greek tense for the word “cometh” is in the continual tense, meaning it is discussing those who continually come to God.  It could read “those that cometh and cometh and cometh to God”.  It describes a continual, communicative relationship.
2. When we continually come to God, we must believe the “He is” …not He was or He will be.  That describes a vast majority of the Body of Christ.  “God did a miracle in biblical days” or “One day when we all get to Heaven, He will heal then.”  God is not the Great I Was or the Great I Will Be…He is the Great I AM!
3. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  Now we’ve left behind three quarters of the Body of Christ.  Most don’t believe He is a rewarder…most believe He is a taker!

This verse travels a long way in helping us understand the true nature and character of God.  How you view His character is so vital to you!  Last month we gave you 4 View Verifications:

1. How you view Him will determine how much you come to Him.
2. How you view Him is how you will treat others.
3. How you view Him will determine your outlook on life.
4. How you view Him will determine your destiny.

Then we began to discuss “11 Charactersistic Concerning the Charcter of God”:

1. You can’t create God in your own image (Rom. 1:25).

2. Heaven Yes…Hell no!

From there we gave you “3 Hell Happenings”:

1. Hell was not originally created for man (Matt. 25:41).
2. God will respect your will all the way to Hell (Matt. 25:34,41).
3. It’s not sins that send one to Hell, it is a sin that sends one to hell (John 16:7-9).

We continue with…

3. Sin ruins the view.

4. Will the real God please stand up?  (John 10:10)

We learned that by putting aside our Sunday school and church answers we could be honest with ourselves…looking back at the Old Testament, God looks a little cranky!  He dealt with mankind in what appears to be a pretty harsh fashion.  I’ve had a number of people come to me over this issue in confusion.  “Pastor, which is it…the tough God of the Old Covenant or the tender God of the New?”  Then we jumped into the explanation of this through:

     6 Nice Nature Necessities:

1.  In the Old Covenant, sin had not yet been dealt with.

We learned that God poured out all of His wrath on the sinless Jesus Christ and His anger and justice was satisfied (see Isaiah 53:11).  

From this series we are beginning to understand the powerful truth that…

God is no longer mad at mankind (see II Cor. 5:17-21)!  God is no longer mad at me!  God is no longer mad at you!  God is madly in love with you!

Will the real God please stand up?!  He did…in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ as He stood on the cross as our substitute!  

Continue to join us over the next several weeks as we share many more characteristics of the character of God, because:

Your God is not a car-wrecking, cancer-causing Creator…but a loving, life-giving Lord!