Some of you have funeral plans pre-paid because you know there is an end. If you have ever paid or rec'd child support you realize it will one day end. Even this sermon will come to an end... eventually. But not God!

There was a family who prayed the Lord's Prayer together every night for their family devotions. In San Francisco at the turn-of-the-century, they owned a boarding house with a number of rooms they let out. They were all numbered one to ten. The youngest member of the family used to deliver the mail to the rooms, and thereby learned to count up to twelve as well as recognize the numbers even though they only had ten rooms and ten boarders. It was a long time before room number seven was finally rented, although all the rest had been let for some time. It was rented by a man with a long, white beard, who sang hymns and carried a Bible. Naturally the youngster was curious about him. "We pray about you ever' night," said the child with the diction of one who had not yet entered school. "Indeed?" said the older man. "Yes, we pray for 'our father who art in seven.'" "My child," said the aged man, "I'm grateful for your prayers, but I believe you mean to pray, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'" "Oh, no," responded the child cheerfully. "'Our Father who art in seven' is right. We only have ten rooms, not h'leaven." "But heaven isn't a number," said the gentleman kindly. "It's where God dwells." "God can't live in h'leaven. We's full up."

Not everyone has a great grasp of God, or heaven. Kids are excused for not fully comprehending God. After all, the nature of God has been the subject of church councils, and discussion for years.

As Christian adults, we too, are excused for not knowing all there is to know about God. Those who have studied God for years still feel as though they have only scratched the surface. [Frankly, others have only scratched the surface]

Let me share with you what I believe is inexcusable for adult Christians in their understanding of God.

I believe it is inexcusable for us to not try to know and understand our God!

I believe it is inexcusable to make all our conclusions about God during the first few year of our Christian life and then not continue in our understanding about God.

I believe it is inexcusable for a Christian to determine they do not have the time to invest in knowing their God.

God can be known! God can be experienced! God can be understood!

We need to do that! We need to know Him!

This series of messages has dealt with the attributes of God: He is one - He is a three fold personality - He is a Spirit - He is Omniscient - He is Omnipotent - He is Omnipresent - He is infinitely just - He is infinitely Holy - He is infinitely Good...

There are four more - Three of which we will consider this evening in our quest to understand more about our Glorious God!

I want you to know 3 more glorious truths about our Great God!

I. God Is Eternal.

Do you remember the question they asked: Where does God come from? Do you remember the answer - ah, ah, ah, ah... Do you remember the look in their eyes?

Yet, it is true! God has no beginning! He has no end! There never has been a time when God was not, nor can there ever be.

Eternal as it relates to God means = Without beginning of days or end of life. Hard to grasp isn't it... Everything we see has a beginning...

We had a beginning, we call it our birthday. We have our wedding anniversary.

Everything has a end as well. I know how much longer I have a car payment. I know how much longer to expect all the items I have under warranty to last - until the day after the warranty expires.

Some of you have funeral plans pre-paid because you know there is an end. If you have ever paid or rec'd child support you realize it will one day end. Even this sermon will come to an end... eventually.

But not God!

The Scriptures says... Psalms 90:2 1 Timothy 1:17

What does all this mean to me?

It means there never has been a time God was not here and involved in the lives of his people.

Even more importantly, it means there never will be a time in which God is not here and involved in the lives of his people - including you!

God will always be here. He will always be aware of what you are going through, what joys you are feeling, and what sorrows you are experiencing.

He is not dead! Never has been! Never will be...

Forever is a long time! Our minds, because we are so conditioned to measurement, are hard pressed to imagine how long forever really is! No matter how large a number is, it is finite, it is less than forever. It is always possible to add one and have a number larger than any you may mention. For example, scientist now have developed the concept of the "googol." It is one followed by one hundred Zeros. The googol is inconceivably large. But then think of the "googolplexes", which we are told is the googol raised to the googol-th power. It is said that if this number were to be written out, there would not be space on earth to contain the pages required. In fact, they would more than fill our galaxy! Now that we have that number, let me remind you, the googol raised to the googol-th power is just the beginning of forever! [Don Emmitte]

God is beyond "googolplexes! Another great truth about God....

II. God Is Unchangeable.

James 1:17 " But whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God, the Creator of all light, and he shines forever without change or shadow." (TLB)

They say everything changes. While that may be true of everything, it is not true of God. God does not change. He is always the same.

What He was, He still is. What He was yesterday, He will be tomorrow. What He is today, He was yesterday.

Whatever God is for, He will always be for. Whatever God is opposed to, He will always be opposed to regardless of generations, geography, or opinion.

The scriptures say:

Mal 3:6 "For I am the Lord-- I do not change. That is why you are not already utterly destroyed [for my mercy endures forever]. (TLB)

1 Sam 15:29 And he who is the glory of Israel is not lying, nor will he change his mind, for he is not a man!" TLB)

Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (NIV)

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.(NIV)

With our God the rules do not change. Admission doesn't go up. No fine print. There is no revised edition we need to be looking for so we have the latest from God.

God is constant! But what does that mean to me as a Christian?

It means you can always count on God. It means you can have faith in God because He will not change his mind. You may be thinking it seems in your Christian walk, God has changed a great deal. This is not because God has changed, it is because you know so much more now about God and who He is, that your view of Him has changed. We are the ones who change, and the ones who must change.

Ready for another great truth about God...

III. God Is The Creator Of All Things.

Genesis 1:1

bara' "to create, make." This verb is of profound theological significance, since it has only God as its subject. Only God can "create" in the sense implied by bara'. The verb expresses creation out of nothing, an idea seen clearly in passages having to do with creation ..."

A little girl crawled up into her great grandmother's lap one day. And looking up into her great-grandmother's face she saw all those crevices, lines, and wrinkles. Then she felt her own smooth baby-like skin. She said to her great grandmother, "Did God make you?" Her great grandmother said, "Yes honey, God made me." Then the little girl said, "Well great grandmother, did God make me?" Her great grandmother said, "Oh yes, God made you too." And then the little girl said, "Well great grandmother, don't you think God's doing a lot better job these days?" [Mike Minix]

Rom 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (NIV)

There has never been anything created that was not created by God! God is the author, the designer, the artist, the architect of everything! You were created by God! In His image! The material used in this building was created by God! The stars you see at night, the sun by day, the moon, all were created by God...

U.S. News recently did a cover story on creation, comparing what the Bible says and what scientists say about how the world began. Readers are writing. Rabbi Samuel Silver writes from Del Ray Beach, Florida, "So it all began as the scientists say, with a big bang. But we theists insist, there still had to be a big banger." [ Associated Press, 12/7/91 ]

What does it mean to us as Christians that God is the Creator of all things?

	We are not here by chance but by design. This is no accident!
	We have a purpose and life is not hopeless
	There is meaning to our existence
	There is something more than simply this life
	God has the right of creation to rule
	God as creator has the right to expect to be obeyed!
	We are not now nor will ever be alone!

There is so much more we could say.

To believe other than God is the creator seems to me to be a hopeless and depressing existence. But insert God into the equation, and realize He is the creator, and all of a sudden the depression is replaced by hope.

There is purpose! There is meaning, There is a plan. There is an architect!

God is the Creator of all things... Even you!

IV. Personal Application.

"You're out of date, God. You were all right in the Middle Ages, God, when people were superstitious, but you just don't fit in now!" VOICE: What do you mean? "Well, people in the Middle Ages didn't understand things like disease. They thought sickness was caused by demons." VOICE: Yes. "And they didn't understand comets or eclipses--they were frightened by these things." VOICE: Right. "And they were afraid of plagues and pestilences." VOICE: I know. "But now we understand all these phenomena and know that diseases are caused by germs, that comets and eclipses are just part of the natural order of the universe, and that plagues can be averted by proper sanitation and preventive medicine." VOICE: Right. "We understand these things and aren't frightened by them, so we don't need to come running to You any more." VOICE: You think this was the only reason people of the Middle Ages needed me--because they were afraid? "People turned to you when they couldn't understand things. But today the mystery is gone." VOICE: The mystery is gone! Would you care to explain human life to me? "we;;...uh..." VOICE: Or perhaps the mystery of a flower's petals? In the Middle Ages many people turned to me not because they were afraid, but because they realized My love for them...because they found in Me the meaning of life.

Our God is Eternal He is Unchangeable He is the Creator of all things

Our God is not now, nor will He ever be out of date! Unless for some reason you allow Him to be...

Alan Walker is editor of The Preacher's Corner and Minister of Evangelism at the Mt. Vernon Church of Christ in Springfield, OR. He may be reached at adwalker@pond.net.

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