Bealeton Baptist Church
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
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God Speaks

Footpath of Faith….He Speaks
 
Hebrews 1:1-2
 
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
 
The credibly of the statement, “God Speaks”
  • The watchmaker who “made things and went away?”
    • Albert Einstein seemed to believe in some type of transcendent being but he wasn’t a Christian, nor did he believe in a personal God.
    • Benjamin Franklin, a deist for most of his life, believed in a Creator who made things and went away.
    • The challenge for many is they do not see non-theological natural evidence for a personal God.
The challenges for addressing the issue of the God who speaks…
  • There is no non-theological natural evidence for a personal God or a God who wants to communicate with his creation because personal encounters with God are by definition theological and supernatural.  Not allowing me to use Scripture to show that God speaks is like telling me I cannot use the letters of Harry Truman to his wife, Bess, to show that he loved his wife.
  • How would we expect a multi-dimensional creator communicating with a three dimensional creation to speak?   Isaiah 55 tells us that God’s thoughts are so much superior then ours.
    • Some say that God communicating to man is like an adult communicating to a child, others say it is similar to a human trying to communicate to a flea.
    • I believe it was the Astrophysicist Hugh Ross who said that the comparison is not a matter of “big-ness”, it is a matter of greatness. God speaking to us would be like us trying to communicate to a two dimensional animal (if one ever existed.) The best we could do is to speak in terms that it could understand and to inject ourselves into its two dimensional environment to explain three dimensional concepts.  AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT GOD DID…
How God spoke in the Old Testament (Hebrews 1:1 says he spoke through the prophets.)
  • The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob spoke directly to the ones he called
  • The God of Moses spoke audibly to Moses and through visible signs to the people of Israel
  • The God of the Prophets spoke to the people through His chosen mouthpiece
  • In the Old Testament God is seen speaking to people audibly, speaking to people through visions, speaking to people through miracles and activities, and speaking to people through his chosen servants.
How God speaks in the New Testament (Hebrews 1:2 says God speaks through Jesus Christ.)
  • God injected himself into our world. Eugene Peterson in the Message translates John 1:14 as, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”
How does God speak to us today?
  • He speaks through his inspired trusted Word. (2 Timothy 3:16)
  • He speaks through situations
  • He speaks through other Godly people
  • All these are illuminated by the Holy Spirit. (John 16)
How I know God speaks is through biblical accounts and evidence, personal experience, trust in the historical account of Jesus of Nazareth and satisfaction that the God who created the universe would want to communicate to his creation.