Introduction

 

A Sunday School  teacher began her lesson with a question, “Boys  and girls, what do we know about God?”  A hand shot up in the air.  “He is a painter!” said a little boy.  “Really?  How do you know?”  the teacher asked.  “You know - Our Father, who does art in Heaven...”

 

What do you know about God?  The Bible reveals a lot about God.  But what do you know about God and His relationship with you?  That is even more important.  In this lesson I wish to discuss four things that concerns God and each one of us specifically.  Let’s begin.

 

God Made You

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Of course we know that God is the One who created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1 ff).  And we know that He created mankind (Genesis 1:26).  But God not only created Adam and Eve, but He has a hand in the creation of every human being.  God created each one of us individually.

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Look at the way the Psalmist worded it in did in Psalm 139:13, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.”  God wove each of us together in our mother’s womb.  Each of us are unique and each of us are a special creation of God.

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God told the prophet Isaiah that even before He formed him in the womb, He knew Him and had a plan for his life (Jeremiah 1:5).  Even in the womb, God viewed Jeremiah as a unique individual.

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So here’s something I want you to realize – God made you!  That makes you pretty special, indeed.  It also means that God has a purpose for your life.

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God Loves You

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God loves each one of us immensely.

 

The very familiar John 3:16 reminds us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...”

 

Paul, in Romans 8:38-39, reveals “that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God...”

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I think we sometimes take for granted how much God loves us.  Do you know that you cannot keep God from loving you?  You can reject Him, but He will still love you.  You can ignore Him, but He will still love you.  You can curse Him, and He will still love you.  Nothing will change His tremendous love for you.

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Too often we feel we get lost in the world and are a worthless part of society – we feel insignificant – but we are each very important to God – and He loves us – and He always will.

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God Blesses You

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Some perceive God as a mean old being just waiting to shoot us down – nothing could be further from the  truth.  God blesses us time and time again.  God continually gives us good things.

 

In Acts 17:24, after introducing the Unknown God to the Athenians, Paul continues to tell them about Him in that He is not served by human hands, as though He needed anything, but that rather He Himself “gives to all people life and breath and all things.”  Here Paul tells of the goodness of God.  God is good – all the time and all the time, God is good.  And He blesses us over and over again.

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The Bible says in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father...”  The time we have on earth and the air that we breathe are gifts from God.  The talent or skill we have by which we earn an income and bless others is a gift from God.  The families that we are a part of are a gift from God.  The resources we have available to us are gifts from God.  The opportunities before us are gifts from God.

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God will continue to bless us because He loves us.  And He will always love us because He created us.

 

God Wants You

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God wants to be with us and He wants us to choose to be with Him.

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God wants you reconciled to Him.  We are reconciled to His through Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection.  This happens at baptism (Romans 6:3-5). 

 

God wants a relationship with you.  He wants you to spend time with Him in reading His word, praying to Him, and growing closer to Him.  God wants to use His word to influence your life.  He wants to use His Son to inspire your life.  He wants to use His Spirit to work through your life.  He wants a relationship with you.

 

In John 14:23 we read of the relationship God wants with us, “Jesus...said... “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

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It is also beautifully expressed in 1 John 5:19-20, “We know that we are of God...And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God and eternal life.”

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God wants you to be with Him in heaven forevermore.  That’s why He sent Jesus to bear your sins on the cross and die for you and be raised from the dead. 

 

Too many times we mess up our lives and think that God would never want us.  But nothing could be further from the truth – God wants you – He wants me.  Wow!  The amazing thing is this: God doesn’t need us – but He wants us!

 

Concluding Thoughts

 

Maybe the little boy in the opening story wasn’t that far off – “Our Father who does art in heaven...”  God does some artful stuff from His heaven.  He paints beautiful things for us – for you.  He created you.  He loves you.  He blesses you.  He wants you and makes a way for you to be with Him.

 

Paul reminded the readers of the book of Galatians in chapter 3 and verse 26-29, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

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The only way to be in a relationship with God is to be baptized into His Son.  Please consider doing so today.

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 - written by Edd Sterchi, minister, Broadway Church of Christ