“THE GOD IS” SERIES
GOD IS OMNIPRESENT – GOD IS ALWAYS PRESENT
Mike Barnett
GOD IS OMNIPRESENT
·
God is
infinite and everywhere present through all time and space.
·
If God is
everywhere, it is foolish to think we can hide from him.
·
In the Old
Testament Jonah tried to run from God, but ended up as fish bait.
·
Elisha went his own
way, but God spoke to him not in the earthquake, or the fire, but in a small
still voice.
Jeremiah 23:23-24 says:
23 "Am I only a God nearby,"
declares the LORD,
"and not a God far away?
24 Can
anyone hide in secret places
so that I cannot see him?"
declares the LORD.
"Do not I fill heaven and
earth?"
declares the LORD.
Psalm 139 (pg. 444) says:
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know
when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You
discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a
word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me
in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where
can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go
up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I
rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even
there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I
say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around
me,"
12 even
the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For
you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise
you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame
was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of
the earth,
16 your eyes
saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How
precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to
count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
·
GOD IS ALWAYS
PRESENT, BUT FOR THE PERSON WHO DOES NOT ___________________(RECOGNIZE) HIM –
THIS TRUTH IS NOT THEIR __________________(REALITY).
What are the barriers to the Christian
experiencing God’s presence:
1. Christians do not read their Bibles
nor pray to God
2. We trust our physical senses than
God’s word by faith.
3.
We look to the outside for proof of God and it will never come from
there.
“Jesus said, the
4. Our paradigms and mental filters keep
us from experiencing God’s presence.
5. We are more influence by our culture
then by God’s word.
6. Our analytical minds. We do not think
the right thoughts. Attitudes of criticism, condemnation and judgment will keep
us out of God’s presence.
7. We dwell on the past (what was) or the
future (what we think it will be).
How can a Christian experience God’s presence
that is always inside and outside of them?
TIPS TO EXPEREINCE GOD’S PRESENSE:
1. GO TO THE KINGDOM
______________(WITHIN) FIRST AND THE KINGDOM OUTSIDE OF YOU WILL BE FOUND.
Luke 17:20-21 says:
20Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the
kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The
John 14:15-27 (pg. 764) says:
15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you
know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18I will not
leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long,
the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you
also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am
in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever
has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me
will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to
him."
22Then Judas
(not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself
to us and not to the world?"
23Jesus
replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will
love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He
who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my
own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25"All
this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the
Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach
you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give
to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be
afraid.
·
Have a daily
quiet time with God where you pray, read, and contemplate God’s Word.
2.
PUT YOUR TRUST IN GOD’S _______________(WORD), NOT IN WHAT YOU SEE AND
FEEL OR DON’T SEE AND FEEL.
Joshua 1:8-9 says:
8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your
mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything
written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not
be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 says:
13 Consider what God has done:
Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?
14 When
times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover
anything about his future.
3. ________________(PLANT) THE _____________(WORD)
OF GOD IN YOUR HEART LIKE A _____________(SEED) IN GOOD ___________(SOIL) AND
THE KINGDOM WILL GROW FROM THE ______________(INSIDE) OUT.
Mark 4:26-29 says:
26He
also said, "This is what the
Romans 1:16-17 says:
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the
power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew,
then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel a
righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first
to last,[a] just as it is written: "The righteous
will live by faith."[b]
4. SPEAK GOD’S
Mark 11:22-24 (pg. 717) says:
22"Have[a] faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain,
'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes
that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore
I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it,
and it will be yours.
·
The best way
to do that is to use prayer or praise affirmations to keep you focused on God
and his presence like:
·
“Jesus I
thank you for your promise that you will never leave me nor forsake me and that
you will be with me always”.
Examples:
Proverbs
25 Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
26 for the
LORD will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being snared.
Isaiah 12:2-4 says:
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my
song;
he has become my salvation."
3 With joy
you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
Isaiah 33:13 says:
13 You who are far away, hear what I have done;
you who are near, acknowledge my power!
5. HANG AROUND
__________________(CHRISTIANS) WHO _________________(EXPEREINCE) GOD’S
PRESCENCE AND JUST NOT KNOW ABOUT IT,
BUT ACTUALLY LIVE IT.
Hebrews 10:23-25 says:
23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for
he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how
we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let
us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us
encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
6.
STAY IN THE _____________(PRESENT) ______________(NOW) THAT’S WHERE GOD
IS.
·
God is not in
the past.
·
God is not in
the future.
·
God is in the
present now.
Romans 8 (pg. 800) says:
28And we know that in all things God works for the good
of those who love him,[j] who[k] have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30And those he predestined, he also called; those he
called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What,
then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against
us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up
for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has
chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that
condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at
the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As
it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered."[l] 37No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any
powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.