This morning I want to preach on the greatness of God. Before we come to the table and begin to share the body and the blood of Christ, I want us to remember the mighty God that we serve.
Psalms 145:3-7 says, " Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your Majesty and on your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of your awesome acts and I will declare your greatness".
Spirit of God we thank you for being here today. Lord we thank you for this marvelous word. God I pray that we would have a fresh revelation of who you are and Father as we leave this place today we would never be the same and we would know that we've met with you. May we decrease today and you increase in Jesus name, Amen.
Many times when we come to church to study the Word of God we're looking for those practical applications that we can look at and apply to our life on many different levels and on many different subjects. But I think one of the greatest ways to apply the word of God is by having a fresh perspective of who God really is, recognizing his greatness, his worthiness, knowing that changes everything in the world. Think about how good he's been and think about all that he's done. To think about who he really is I think changes our life, how we deal with problems, how we look at one another and how we will worry and how we won't worry.
The greatness of God is amazing. How does our limited mind comprehend such an unlimited God? In just a minute we're going to come and receive the body and blood of Christ. Were going to receive the symbols of what he did for us on Calvary. There are so many things that we do in everyday life and when we get to doing our everyday thing it's very easy to forget all and who God really is. There are times when I think each of us has had a true personal revelation of the greatness and the immensity of the Lord, the enormity of his power, the largeness of his love, the grandeur of his Majesty. I wonder how does the human mind really comprehend? How do you adequately explain someone who is all powerful, all knowing, always present, all wise, perfectly just, absolutely loving, someone with no beginning and with no end. The greatness of our God. I believe that when we begin to understand and we keep that in front of us how wonderful God is, how big our God is, how great our God is then as his children we begin to live a whole lot different.
I remember as I was growing up I would look at some adults or I would be in certain places and I remember thinking how big those people were and how amazing they were and it seemed that there was nothing they couldn't do but that's just because I was small. All of a sudden some of those people that I thought were so big as I got older weren't so big anymore. There was a little bit of a letdown but you know I have never had that when it comes to our savior, never had that when it comes to God. As a matter of fact the moment that I began to think that God is just getting a little bit smaller and I've got him all figured out God begins to do something in my life that helps me realize that I haven't even begun to start to understand how great he is.
I want you to mark this down, I'm going to teach you some things this morning. I want you to write down something so profound and I believe if you will begin to live it, it will change your life. Are you ready for it? "There is no one like our God". You need to write that down because The truth is sometimes we begin to forget that. As a matter of fact I pray that this is one of the greatest messages you've ever heard, not because of the great profoundness and depth of what you're hearing but because you'll have a fresh perspective of God all over again.
Psalms 113:4 - 5 says, " the Lord is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high? That's a question that all of us could answer, "No one". Those who have had the revelation of how great God is have tried to write songs that express in our meer words how wonderful the Lord is. I want to tell you that when we sing songs like this they become the most powerful songs we ever sing. How many remember the song, "All hail the power of Jesus name"? It's an old song but I want to tell you that every time that it's sung something happens in the life of a church that begins to sing it? Because we begin to get our focus off of everything that God can do for us and just on who he is. We sing a song, " How great is our God". I want to tell you our God is a great God. There is another song that says, you are so great, you do miracles so great, there is no one else like you".
How many of you have ever had God touch you in such a special way and you could remember there was no one else like him? For some of you it was the day you received him as your Savior. You didn't do it because you were afraid, you didn't do it because you thought you'd go to hell, you did it because you had an understanding that this great God who has everything in this world for you loved you so much and it struck you. Another song that we sing that I love when we sing it as a church and I know it's old but you know that song "How great thou art"? I want you to think about this for just a minute, how many when you've sung that song, "How great thou art", something happens inside of you because you know you've been singing about God? The Bible tells us when we're going through those things, when we're going through the trials and the struggles that one of the greatest things we can do is praise.
Sometimes people will tell you, "You know, you need to thank God for what he is about to do". How many have been a little unthankful when you've been in a situation that's been real trying? The Bible doesn't say to begin to thank him, it says to begin to praise him. The issue is who he is and not what he's going to do because when you get settled in your heart who he is, you'll have no question of what he can do. There are times in church when we're reading the word and in our private time at home that we spend so much time on what God can do that we forget who he is. Knowing the greatness of God will change how we live and what we worry about, it will change how we worship. It will change how you worship in your car and it will change how you worship him in church. It will change how you worship him at home in the shower because all of a sudden you will know that He is God. The acoustics may be great and you may sound better than you ever have before but I want to tell you the presence of God is always there when you begin to declare who he is, not just what he's done.
There are several areas of God's greatness and I think that when they begin to sink in they move us to a greater faith in him, to a deeper amazement of who he is, to a greater level of trust. If we keep the greatness of God before us I believe it will keep us in right relationship with him and help us in every area. Another great profound thing about the greatness of God is this, that he can never, ever, ever be praised enough. Do you want to know why? There are no boundaries on his greatness, not a boundary at all. I wonder if you've ever been overwhelmed whenever you've begun to seek the Lord, when you've prayed or when you've begun to worship, when you think of his works or his miracles, when you've begun to think of all that he has created?
One of the things that we read in this scripture says, " I will meditate on the Majesty of God", to think about his righteousness, to think about his faithfulness. The reality of who he is I believe will thrill you and humble you all at once. You may not be the most emotional person in the world and I want to tell you that sometimes as Pentecostals we get real caught up in our emotions. I'd rather be a little emotional than dead. Someone say a good amen. It is impossible to begin to love on the Lord and to get to know him for all that he is and not have it touch you because truly knowing God will change you. There are some people who say, " you know, I don't think about God and I don't think about religion that way. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about those things, I don't meditate on God like that or I'm not real emotional in my worship to the Lord". I wonder how many in this room are married? Everyone of us who have a spouse, you may not be the most sentimental person in the world but there are times when I know you must have looked at their face in the quiet of your room and if you have kids you've just sat and watched them. There is something about that when you begin to think about them and that love has really just welled up within you.
The other night I couldn't sleep and I walked through the House like Dads do just making sure things are locked and checking out what's going on, hearing sounds and not knowing what they are. I opened the door and my boys were just sleeping in those wierd positions boys end up in. I don't know how they do that and not wake up with a backache? But you know I was just looking at them, just seeing them. Some of you have lost your parents, I lost my dad when I was five but there are times when I think back. We will do that with each other. I want to challenge you to have that same kind of a thought about your God, to begin to meditate on who he is and really what he has meant to you and to recognize him for just a little while. Sometimes when we come to prayer we spend so much time talking to God about the things that we need that we forget who he is and that's why we wind up in a panic. There are times when I get to that and God will say, " just be quiet for a minute and go to the Book of Psalms, I want you to see what some people remembered about me". As I begin to do that my prayer begins to change. He begins to change my perspective.
Psalms 148:1-13 says, " Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights, praise him all his angels, praise him all his hosts, praise him sun, moon and stars. Praise him all you stars of light, praise him you heavens of heavens and the waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created. He also established them for ever and ever, he made a decree that will not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth you great sea creatures and all the depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind fulfilling his word, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, beasts and cattle, creeping things and flying foul, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of he earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and heaven and he has exalted the horn of his people. Praise the Lord all his saints, all the children of Israel and people near to him, praise the Lord.
You know there is something about the greatness of God that we need to understand, there are no boundaries. Psalms 151:2 and 6 says, "Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord in the sanctuary". Now listen, how many know that when we come to church this is a good place to praise the Lord? Praise the Lord in his mighty firmament of the heavens, praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord".
This is why when we come to church we start our services off with praise. People say, "I wonder why we do that, where do we get that from"? The Bible says that there is no limit on his praise and on his greatness. I believe that what we do before the preaching of the word and what we do before we begin to dive in, it's important to reverence him for who he is and remember who he is so that when his word is spoken it can have it's perfect work. Praise and worship is like a plow that goes before you plant the crop, it makes the way for our hearts to receive. The Bible says his greatness is unsearchable beyond understanding, beyond comprehension. The truth is we will never know its depths, we will never know its heights but my prayer is that we as the people of God would have a desire to at least try to know him and understand him.
In Romans 11:33-36 it says, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out? For who has known the mind of the Lord, who has become his counselor? Who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him? For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen
You know the word great means advanced beyond measure, to be exceedingly excellent. How many of you have found God to be exceedingly excellent in your own life? Something happened when Jesus was walking on the earth. They began to say of him in Mark 7:37, " they were astonished beyond measure saying he has done all things well". You know God is good, he is great, and he does all things well. That would be a great prayer before dinner, " God is good, God is great, let us thank him for our food Amen". How many know God is good, God is great and God you're doing everything right? I want to tell you, the truth is this, if we would understand the greatness of God there is one thing in our life that we would begin to know is that there is nothing that he will ever mess up. Who has ever been
able to offer him counsel? How many of you have ever found yourself telling God the way you'd like things to be? How many of you felt real silly after you got done with that prayer? "God, here's what I want to go on, here's when I need it to go on, here is the timing that I need it to go on in and thank you for doing what I asked". God says, if you had any idea exactly what you asked it would be all messed up. God does all things well.
Another realization of his greatness is this, it is the greatness of his goodness. You know God really is good?
Psalms 145: 8-14 says, "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. All your works shall praise you, Oh Lord, and your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Your Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.
You know all of us have been wrong, all of us have done wrong, all of us have been wronged, all of us have been hurt. And I know that there have been times when every one of us have felt like it was us against the world, where you felt like you were all alone and felt like God wasn't even there? The truth is that many times when we're all alone against the world we expect God to do the exact same thing to us, to just leave us alone. You know the Bible says that he will never leave us nor forsake us. The thing we need to understand is that part of the greatness of God is his great goodness that has no ending. One of the things that the enemy would love to do to God's children is to have us believe that at some point the goodness of God runs out but I want you to know it doesn't and that's a great thing to know about the greatness of our God. I believe God enjoys it when we're left standing in amazement at his patience, at his compassion, at his grace. You know God is slow to anger when you and I would be real quick to do something. He's rich in love when you and I would run out but everything he does is seasoned with grace.
As we're about to come to partake of the Lord's table this morning I want you to remember that about our God that he is exceedingly awesome but he is exceedingly good. Psalms 103:8 says, " the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy". Maybe you've never written this down but you need to write it, we serve a great big God. He's bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than our thoughts. He says his thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways are not our ways, for his ways are higher than ours, completely more magnificent. Too many times in our lives we've made God smaller than he is.
One thing I want to encourage you in your bulletin, you have a harvest seed there, something that God gives me to write to the church each month. You need to keep that and hold that and tape it on your refrigerator and do something with it this month because I believe that God has so much more for us than we ever give him credit for. It's easy to make Him small in our eyes. There is a song that I remember that says, " Lord I've made you too small in my eyes and I believed the lie that you were unable to help me and now I see. Lord forgive me and make me strong". How many of you have ever felt that way that God was too small and all of a sudden when you were just sitting there God began to touch your heart and helped you to understand just how great he really is?
My dad is an amazing guy. As a matter of fact as I was growing up it seemed like there was nothing he couldn't do. Even today, I called him up on the phone the other week, my dryer had gone out and he said, "I know exactly what you need to do" and over the phone from 1200 miles away he told me exactly how to take that dryer apart and how to remove and replace some of those parts. I asked him, "How do you know what that is"? he said, "Because I'm good". He's been telling me that since I was 14. Have you ever gotten with God and asked him, "Lord, how did you do that?" God is not an arrogant God, he just knows who he is. He's just looking at his kids and saying, "I'm good".
About two weeks ago a friend of mine took his own life. A good friend of ours, Pastor Rayburn , our district superintendent, his dad is just a good ole southern boy who pastors a church up there in Fort Pierce, one of the dearest men you'll ever meet, one of the greatest men of God you'll ever know. His brother who spent many years in ministry came to preach the funeral of this man. There were some issues that we were dealing with, can someone know the Lord and take their own life and still go to heaven? As we were coming out of that meeting one of the things that was so overwhelming was the great graciousness of God. He talked about things when God just holds things in our lives and our hands because we really are unable to hold them ourselves. How many of you have ever been in a situation when you wouldn't trust you with anything? It's in those times when the grace of God keeps them for us. As we came out of there a buddy of mine looked at me and tears began to well up in his eyes and said, " I've made God too small in my eyes this week but he is so big, so good".
I want to tell you what a wonderful thing it is when no matter what we're going through we see how big God is. No matter how deep your hurt is, God's love is deeper than that. No matter how big your financial need is, God is bigger than that. No matter the problem that your marriage is going through, God is bigger than that. No matter what you're going through God is bigger than that. Just when you're worshipping God and you're feeling good and life is OK and you have your arms outstretched and you can feel the power and the glory of God in the place, you feel that you could walk into a hospital and everyone would get up and be healed, I want to tell you, God is bigger than that.
There are so many times when we limit the Lord and I want to encourage you not to make the Lord small in your eyes. Making God small affects us in life in several ways. I want to teach this to you for just a minute before we come to the table. Making God small will affect our worship because worship isn't just a song, it's the way we live. If we make God small in our eyes it's easy to get halfhearted in what we're doing. You say, "Pastor, you know when you come to church sometimes I see your hands raised", because I know if I only give him half the praise I'm not giving him credit for who he is If I won't live my life for him everyday.
Making God small affects our living. We can grow complacent and even stop being holy. How many know that when we forget how great God is it's easy to forget that not only is he a God of righteousness but he's a God of justice? Making God small effects our peace because it's easy then to live in worry and condemnation and we begin to limit his power in our life but when we know that God is great it will begin to allow his power to have its work in us. I found a long time ago that my feelings are fickle. They seem to rise or fall with whether or not I got enough sleep, whether someone was nice to me or whatever. Regardless of how I feel, God is still great. Regardless of what I'm going through God is still God. He's greater than I am, more wonderful, more amazing, more loving, more compassionate, more powerful then anything I could ever know.
I want to challenge you to never forget the greatness of God. Forgetting the greatness of God will affect our compassion, how we love people or how we take time with them, how we'll help others. Yesterday I was in the store at Beall's to buy a couple pairs of pants. As I was in the store I had already written this message and had been preaching this message and remembered that I have to be compassionate with people. One of these ladies at the check out was there and I never knew someone could move that slow in all my life. You know one of those ladies that looks like she's got it altogether but she couldn't possibly move any slower. How many know that I needed to remember the greatness of our God? Because he was able to help me and he reminded me that I needed to be compassionate for that lady. He's a great big God, full of compassion, abounding in mercy.
I want to leave you with this last one. When we know the greatness of God we will realize that he is ready to lavish us with His favor. There's nothing that I wouldn't do for my children. As a matter of fact there are things that I won't do for my children because if they don't learn to do it for themselves they'll never know how to do it for themselves .
Psalms 145:15-21 says, " The eyes of all look expectently to you and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, gracious in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He will also hear their cry and save them. The Lord preserves all who love him but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord and all flesh shall bless his holy name forever and ever".
God's great love is perfect. He's ready and mighty to save, to protect, to heal and to help. The Bible says that God is near to all those who will call on him who fear his name, he is not far off. You may feel God is farther than you've ever known but how many know that he is right here, right now in this place and he'll be near when you call. He is available, he is there for you. With a word he creates, with a touch he can heal and with a glance you'll know that he knows all your heart and is able to do great things.
I'd like the brothers to come forward for communion. As you begin to hold the body and the blood of Christ in your hand, I want you to just think about this for a minute, this great God who sent his only son Jesus. How many know he was able to forgive us of all our sins? He is able to overcome death, the grave, the devil, everything, he has already overcome it all. No matter what you're going through today I want you to take just a minute this morning to meditate. I don't want you to think about what's for dinner. As you hold this in your hands I don't want you to think about all the things you need God to do for you. We're not going to have an altar call for healing, we're not going to call you forward for any need you have in your life today. I'm going to tell you why. You can go to the Lord today and all you need to know is to be assured of who he is to be that real in your life. That's what I'd like you to do as you hold these elements in your hand. After you've been served I want you to just close your eyes and keep everything out that's you, don't even hold your spouses hand. You know, God is even greater than your marriage. That relationship comes first even before the closest one in your life. I want you to focus on him for just a little bit.
The Bible says that when we gather to partake of him, the body and blood of Christ, that a man ought to examine himself to make sure that he's in the faith so we don't do it in an unworthy manner. When we know how great God is, what a wonderful way, what a wonderful recollection to make sure that we know that we're in the faith of God because of all that he's done, because he's so great.
Lord Jesus as we come to you this morning we examine our lives. We know that you've done it. Holy Spirit we pray that you would forgive us of any ways that are in us that are not pleasing to you, any sin that you would remove it. Lord as we come to you this morning we thank you for how good you are, how great, how marvelous in every way. Jesus, the fact that you would come, the God of all creation, to lay your life down for us so that we might have relationship with you, that's beyond our understanding. In our pride and in our arrogance we would never have stooped down to help people out. We would have said they deserved it, but you're great in compassion and mighty to save. Jesus this morning we want to thank you for that.
Lord, your word says that when we gather to remember you and this morning were doing that. This is all about you. Thank you for setting us free from sin, thank you for changing our lives, thank you for giving us new life in Christ. If you don't know Jesus as your Lord and savior, if you've never taken the opportunity to invite him into your life this would be the perfect day to do just that. The Bible says that he loved us so very much that he gave his own life, God gave his own son. You can make Him Lord of your life today. " Lord I'm yours, come into my life, I invite you to be my Savior and from this day on I'll live for you". If you've done that today, your life will be totally changed because you belong to the Lord. If you have done that this morning I want you to come see me after church. Let me know, I want to welcome you into the Kingdom of God.
The Bible says that on the night he was betrayed Jesus took the bread and he broke it saying, "This is my body which is broken for you, take it and eat it and as often as you do, do it in remembrance of me". In the same manner after supper, Jesus took the cup and he said, "This cup is the new covenant, the new promise that is in my blood. Take it and drink it and as often as you do, do it in remembrance of me".
Lord Jesus we give you praise and we remember you for what you've done, but Lord you were able to do what you did because of who you are. Today we thank you for that. Jesus I pray that every one throughout this room today, that this word would stay deep in our hearts, that God we would have a greater love for you, a greater appreciation of who you are and Lord, today that we would make our relationship with you much stronger. Father I pray that your greatness would always, always, always be before our eyes. Father, around this room as we prayed today we know that there are many needs that are represented in this church. God you're greater than every one of them. I pray that God, as we leave this place, that we would go in greater faith, greater hope, greater knowledge, not just of what you can do but because of who you really are. We give you all the glory in the mighty and precious name of Jesus, Amen.
