God Is One God (01/30/2005)

All right, well, let's See if we can remember where we left off up it's like I've been in another world for quite a few days

And I know things have gone on normally but for me they've been a little bit different But it is wonderful being a grandfather.

I can tell you that We had been talking about Jesus Christ who is this child?

Was the message that we began a few Sundays ago. I Want us to go back and review a couple of the

Old Testament verses as we get into the new material today And it's very interesting material.

I've been wanting to get to this but we had some other Verses we needed to get through first. I want to review some of those before we get into today's

Material so let's turn with me if you would to Isaiah chapter 45 in verse 21

To me you can read a lot of things written about the Trinity My mom was just reading a book about it a couple of weeks

Well before the baby was born, I guess but I said hey when you finish that I want to read it So she left it on my counter a few days ago

And I've been reading through it. It's it's very informative about the history of the doctrine and how it evolved

Because it's one of those doctrines. That's the word Trinity is not in the

Bible and So it's sort of a it's created by the theologians as far as the word itself to describe what's happening there and describe

God's Existence the best they can But if you go all the way back to the first century the things that the early church fathers were saying about the

Trinity are Different than they are if you move forward even 500 years

And so it's interesting to see the progress in how they word it And a lot of it is theologians wording things and you have to remember that they had councils back in those days

The primary reason they had those was because they were having problems with teach different groups teaching different things

Which they believe to be heretical and so they would have a council and bring the theologians together and say now let's define

What Christians really believe true Christians and so everything else other than exactly how we word this everything else is not a true

Christian And so those would be called creeds and the word creed

Literally has to do with the idea. I believe that's what the word creed means credo means.

I believe and So there's another form of the word which means we believe the Western Church that Catholics that where the

Catholics came from Used the creed which was I believe in the Eastern Church not yet in the

Eastern Church Preferred the phrase we believe But they would come up with these creeds and in almost every creed, especially beyond 300

AD was always wording about the Trinity So you can go and you can sort of follow that church history and see how this doctrine evolved

From the first century through the fifth century and it's kind of interesting to do that But I really believe this

I think you would agree with me that Really what we should be concerned with is exactly what the Bible says

Not what theologians say, I mean we should read what they say because we don't want to have a private interpretation

We don't want to just come up with our own idea of what a verse means If it's different from what and no other

Christian for 2 ,000 years believed it that way then you have to be you know It take a strong look at that and say now how did

I figure this out? And for 2 ,000 years, no one knew this meant this that's where cults are started from So you don't want to have a private interpretation

But on the other hand, you also don't want to believe theologians at the expense of what the

Bible clearly says so you have to balance all that and the best way is as a mature believer is to Simply pray obviously and say

Holy Spirit lead me as I read the scriptures and give me the sense That God intended this to me from his mind to our mind.

What does this mean? What does this passage mean and then to follow well -defined? Interpretation rules and I have a list of about ten rules

I should print that out bring it up here for you to take home with you It's kind of interesting to see what the rules that that That people have used as far back as you can go

Like read it in the context, you know do a grammar study Do a word study

Understand what the whole Bible says about this issue and let the Bible interpret the Bible those sorts of things

So to me that weighs more than what the theologians have said, but you need to read what they've said

So we've tried to do all of this, but I want us to go to the Bible today and I do believe this

I believe that the Old Testament Should be a foundation for almost every doctrinal belief we have if not all of them

We should go back to the revelation that God gave progressively down through time to the prophets of old and Read what the

Hebrew mind and I mean, I mean the godly Hebrew mind believed that certain

Things about God that they knew what did they believe were true? And what did they stand on if they were going to write a creed?

in the Old Testament times What would be part of their creed and I want to show you one that is absolutely no mistaking.

There's absolutely no debate about it in circles who believe the Bible is

God's Word and That is that they believe that God is one God There is no doubt about that the

Hebrew mind believes that and that the Old Testament teaches it So let's look at Isaiah 45 in verse 21

Tell ye and bring them near Yea, let them take counsel together

Who hath declared this from the ancient time who hath told it from that time have not

I the Lord and there is no God else beside me a

Just God and Savior There is none beside me Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am

God and There is none else Now within that verse. It's really interesting if you can see through this and see some of the

Hebrew words Because the word God or Lord is found several places here. It's not always the same

Hebrew word. So let me point this out to you It'd be Needful when we get to what we're going to talk about today

Have not I the Lord you see that it's all caps So who can tell me what word for God is used there in the

Hebrew? When it's all capitals capital L or D all caps. It's always the same word

That's Jehovah All right now it says so I have not I Jehovah and then it says and There is no

God else beside me. It's interesting the word God there is Elohim Do you remember when that was first used?

You've been in another world too since I was gone It was first used when the word was first used in the beginning

Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 through 6 everywhere. You see the word God is Elohim in that passage so it was the first word for God ever used as God revealed himself to us and It Elohim is an interesting word because it's a uni plural word it has a

Unified meaning but it's actually plural. It speaks of one God, but the word is plural

Then read on with me it says have not I Jehovah and there is no

Elohim else beside me a Just God and Savior now that word

God is a different word again So here we have three names of God within this two sentences

This word for God is The word ale if you spell it in English letters, it's e

L in Hebrew, it's pronounced ale and it means strength anywhere where you see the word

Almighty its ale and That is the word for God that's used here where it says and there is no

God beside me ale a just God that is also ale a

Just Almighty God and Savior is what that is saying There is none beside me look unto me and be saved you see that don't look to another

Look to me and I am the one who will save all the ends of the earth Now at the time that was written had the gospel gone out to all the ends of the earth yet No, it was to the

Jew and whoever came in contact with the Jew But he says I will be the

Savior to all the ends of the earth someday. Isn't that interesting? For I am

God that's ale and there is none else now if we go into Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 35 look at that one with me because this is important it dispels some of the ideas of people like the

Mormons The Mormons are very very crafty with their words

And I guess most false prophets are Very crafty

If you talk to them the first time you meet them, they will agree with everything you say They'll use all the same words you use they'll agree with you and they want to bring you in that way

The thing is they use the same words we use but they have a different dictionary Different meanings to the words, but they don't let you know that With regard to God they will say yes.

God is the one true God the only true God But if you talk to him long enough, they'll have to put a comma after that statement not a period

Because what they really believe is that God is the only true God with respect to the planet

Earth Now do you see the difference in the in the statement? Yes, God is the one true

God and there is none other with regard to the planet Earth But they don't tell you that part when you first meet him

But it is what they believe because they believe there are many many gods They believe in as many gods as the

Greeks used to believe in they even believe you if you're a man If you're women, it's too bad

But if you're a man, you can evolve to the place someday where you will be a god over your own planet

So that God himself was just like you at one point. That's what the

Mormon teaches That's exactly what Brigham Young taught and Brigham Young was worse than Joseph Smith.

If you read their writings Brigham Young. Well, I'm telling you what he said Adam is actually our God He is the

Adam dash God Now the funny thing is the Mormon Church says no, we don't believe that But if you read it

How can they say on the one hand that Brigham Young is a prophet and speaks with God's words on the other hand say well

We don't believe everything he said now now today. It's amazing. It's called confusion,

I suppose But if you look at Deuteronomy 435 and you understand it in the mind of the

Hebrew and the human penman of this and how his worldview was in those days

They believed there were three heavens, but not really three heavens like we think of Because when they talk about the three heavens the first heaven was where the birds fly

It's just the sky in the clouds where the birds fly everything to the to man back in that day

Everything up was heaven. Okay as far as you could go, but the second heaven was where the stars are

So that would be part of the known universe. The third heaven is where God is

So when they use the word heaven, they mean everything that's not the earth that you follow me They mean everything that exists anywhere

This beyond this earth. That's what they mean And so if you understand what they mean when they define their word heaven now the

Mormons don't define heaven the same way But we don't care how they define it

We define how God's people the Jews defined it because they're the ones that pinned the

Bible and they defined it to mean everything Beyond the planet Earth going upwards forever to eternal eternity is the heavens

So if you understand that let's read it together. It says unto thee it was showed That thou mightest know that Jehovah.

He is God Know therefore this day and consider it in your heart that the

Lord he is God in heaven above And upon the earth beneath there is none else

So that blows away their idea that God is only God over that Jehovah is only

God over the earth and if you get out there There are other universes and other places where there are in fact other gods.

This verse says no He is he is not only the only God of the earth Where it says the earth beneath but he is the only

God of heaven and their view of heaven Was everything beyond the earth as far as you can go that exists anywhere?

So God says I'm the only God no matter where you go there is none other Now we know that but we emphasize it today because I want us to I believe it's only fair that if we're going to study the doctrine of God who

God is We must look at who he first revealed himself as to his children the children of Israel First Samuel chapter 2 verse 2 says there is none holy as the

Lord So it's impossible to make Jesus Christ to be a second

God And have him be as holy as the Lord because he couldn't be because there's none as holy as the

Lord So he can't both be a second God and be as holy as God at the same time Because there is only one truly holy and that is

God So Jesus is not a second God now some people get the idea that he is because we talk about God the

Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit and it sounds Like three gods and the

Jews think we mean that today and they've thought that for 2 ,000 years It's one of the reasons they reject

Christianity. There can't be three gods and they think that that's what we mean We know that we don't mean that but I will tell you this many of the creeds

From which we many of the modern books written on the Trinity go back to the creeds to use them to define how

God exists And the wording is awfully close to sounding like there are three gods and I think they're wrong in the wording

I have a group of Roman Catholics get together and put a creed together in the year 500 or 600

AD It doesn't mean that we have to believe it just like they worded and it doesn't mean we're heretics

If we don't and yet there are many today Even in the Protestant Church because that church came out from the

Catholic Church and took the creeds with them That would consider you to be a heretic if you don't word it exactly like the creed words it

Well, I'm afraid that as a mature individual who studied the word all my adult life and As a person who's not really particularly concerned whether they consider to me part of me to be part of their group

I don't think I have to hold to that creed if it doesn't fit what the scriptures say exactly so I Think we should take a look at the scriptural view of how

God exists rather than what the creeds say We look at the creeds only as a historical matter

We have to understand their origin their origin is in fact the Roman Catholic Church the modern creeds

Now you can go back before that like we did earlier with Tertullian and read what he thought and I'll promise you does not read like the modern creeds

So these things can lead us astray. So I think we should look with a strong Foundation on biblical truth.

It has to begin with the truth that God is one God and there is none other

He will not share his holiness with another. He will not share his name with another.

He is the only Savior There is none other We have to start with that truth

Or you will be so confused by the Doctrine of Trinity that you'll just throw it out So I'll never study it because we can never understand it and that's false

We can never understand all of God is true But to say that we should stop studying the existence of God and his person and how exist is from hell

God wants us to study him every day and learn more about him So we should never get the place where we say doctrine is so difficult.

We'll never understand it So we just move away and we won't look at that one anymore Or we can't grow in knowledge of God anymore in that area.

That would be false But we have to start with who God revealed himself to be to the

Old Testament because God never changes God is immutable He cannot tell his

Old Testament saints He is one thing and then change in the New Testament now He may reveal more of himself in the

New Testament, but he can't change his essence or his being or how he exists He cannot change the fact that he is but one

God So, however, you word how God exists You better make it fit the fact that he's one

God and don't play games with your words Now, I think some of the creeds border on playing word games

They say things like God exists as one God, but he subsists as three distinct persons and yet one

God You can see you can memorize that if you want to and quote it and you'll you'll be perfectly orthodox, but does it really make sense?

Well, it doesn't have to make sense perhaps if it's so big we can't understand it

But on the other hand does not God say in the scriptures come let us reason together Doesn't he want us to use the best reason we can to understand the

Word of God? If that weren't true We would have to stop studying because the only equipment

God gave us To respond to the Holy Spirit is our reason as we look at truth

We have to use sound reasoning and not use confusion Satan is the author of confusion.

God is not so Let's start with this base. Now. Look at first Samuel 2 to there is none.

Holy as Jehovah For there is none beside him Neither is there any rock like our

God now, let me ask you this as a New Testament Christian. Who do you think the rock is? Tell me who the rock is

Jesus Christ, but that's you know, what what first Samuel 2 2 says is that Jehovah is the rock?

So who is the rock There can't be two rocks Are you with me?

There cannot be two rocks. There is one rock and that is Jehovah 2nd

Samuel 7 22 wherefore thou art great Oh Jehovah God for there is none like thee

Neither is there any God beside thee according to all that we have heard with our ears the

Hebrew says Isaiah 46 9 you might like to turn to that one

Isaiah 46 9 the the There was a first Samuel 2 2 and in 2nd

Samuel 7 22 And now back to Isaiah 46 in verse 9

We also had one in Deuteronomy 4 35 if you make sure you note that because that's one of the great ones that dispels the

Mormon heresy Isaiah 46 9 remember the former things of old for I am

We hear that phrase again and again, don't we I am God and there is none else.

I Am God and there is none like me Now think about this a moment

If you cling to every word and you are like me and believing that every word is important in the

Bible Every word is important even the little words And he says on the one hand

I am God and there is none else. That means there is no other God But he doesn't stop there he continues and says

I am God and there is none like me that means there is not another being Who is in the image of God?

But not God Now many people say Jesus was the image of God and in their mind they're thinking

Okay, this is God the Son. This is the second God and he's in the image of the first God There is no such thing

Because God himself said not only is there none else, but he said there is none like me.

There's not one in my image You see what I'm saying?

So Jesus is not just an image of God And when

I say Jesus throughout this study I'm talking about the eternal Son of God I know his name didn't become

Jesus until he was born in the manger So I'm going I'm going even back before I'm talking about his eternal existence as the eternal

Son Sometimes I'll call him Jesus even looking back if that's okay with you because that it's the same person and that is his name now

So don't misunderstand me. I mean the eternal Son the eternal Son cannot be a

Separate entity who is nothing more than an image of the true God because this verse

Isaiah 46 9 denies that possibility There is not only another

God, but there is no one that's just like me either. So there's only one Now we have that information throughout the

Old Testament and now we come in and reviewing and we went through Matthew 120 and Following we're talked about this and first Timothy 3 16 and some of those verses and we brought down and we began to say, okay, who is

Jesus? What does the scripture reveal in the New Testament? First of all, the first point was he is

Jesus and if you remember in Matthew chapter 20 chapter 1 verse 21 it says his name shall be

Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins and We studied the very name

Jesus. Yeshua is Made from two words, which literally means

Jehovah saves That's who his name is Jehovah saves is what the angel said to name this child and we we go into Isaiah 43 and verse 10 now turn with me there and Because this is going to lead into The reason

I'm reviewing a little extra is because it has been a couple of weeks since we talked about this If it hadn't we were just going to the new material.

We're not going to even just barely get into that before next Sunday, but It's so fascinating.

We want to get the strong foundation built before we move into it this Isaiah 43 in verse 10 now if you're there,

I'm going to read Matthew 121 for you and She shall bring forth a son and shall call his name

Jesus, which means Jehovah saves For he shall save his people from their sins now

Isaiah 43 10 says you are my witnesses sayeth Jehovah and My servant whom

I have chosen That ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he

Before me there was no God formed and I want you to hang on to that word

Formed because we're going to look at that a little bit later. Neither shall there be after me

Jehovah says before me there was no God formed Now if you took that just on its face value and you didn't know any other scriptures at all you could say well that leaves the possibility that He was formed but before him no one else was formed the grammar leaves that possibility

But before him there was no God formed Neither shall there be after me

So before Jehovah, there was no God formed the Bible says and there is not one formed after him.

I Even I am Jehovah and beside me. There is no Savior Who do we say the

Savior is? So can it be a second Savior cannot be

So we see from this passage that Jesus is Jehovah of the Old Testament, and we also see that Jehovah of the

Old Testament was formed Now that if that were the only verse you could contest that so it may not be saying that but it's not the only verse

And we're going to get into that later. But the question is what does it mean form? Does it mean created? No, it does not mean created.

It cannot mean created because Jesus created everything that is so no one created him

But the word form does in fact have a meaning and we will look into that In fact, that's the new material that we're headed towards, but I'm still reviewing just a little bit here

I want to give you the definition of the word formed in Isaiah 43 10 it is y 'all

Tsar in the Hebrew and it means through the squeezing into shape or to mold into a form as a

Potter It carries the connotation of to be determined like the determinant will of God for example so it literally means a squeezing into a physical shape or A molding into a form is what this word means

Jehovah's God said before me there was no God formed neither.

Is there one after me? molded into shape it means It does not mean created the material

Was not created when you think of the Potter and the clay

He is not creating clay out of nothing. Is he? He's taking material that he already has in his hands and he molds it into a new pot

And that's what this word formed means So Jesus is the

Jehovah of the Old Testament and he was formed By the father there was no other formed by the father before or after this

We simply have to figure out what does the word form mean in the sense of this? It certainly does not mean created like the

Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons say they say Jesus was a creative being just like Lucifer and he's the brother of Lucifer and he is in fact an angel

Well, we spent a great deal of time last time. I spoke out of Hebrews showing how the

Apostle Paul argued against The idea that Jesus was an angelic being

I mean, it's just he totally blasted that away that argument You never have to argue that one again. It's already been done by the

Apostle Paul and one so in Colossians 1 16 and in Hebrews chapter 1 3 and following we see that Jesus Christ is the

In fact the creator of all things It says very clearly that for by him in Colossians 1 16

It says for by him were all things created that are in heaven. Now, what's the Hebrew minds definition of heaven?

Everything except what you see on this earth So he's created everything that's even in the third heaven if you ever get to see the third heaven and there actually is an altar there like like the

Mercy seat a real one that's there Jesus put it there You see what

I'm saying? everything that physical in the universe is created by him in the heavens and in the earth and Things visible and invisible it includes the demon spirits that are invisible if they choose to be

Invisible spirits he created all them too. So he cannot himself be an angel

But you go into Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 and it goes on and says it even more clearly clearly all the way down through Verse 11 it just argues the case so strongly it puts it to an end that Jesus cannot possibly be an angelic being

All right. So then after that we talked about we went into Matthew chapter 1 23 and we looked at his title

He has a name Jesus, which means Jehovah saved now look at Matthew 1 23 and see what his title is

Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is

God with us Now, this is interesting

God with us the word aim if you call him Emmanuel aim the first part of that word is with an

Ale, you remember the little short word for God ale. This is it So he is ale with us the

Almighty with us. That's who Jesus is title is Who does that tell you that he is?

Is he a second God that is subservient to the first God and then there's a third

God down here or is he in fact? the Almighty Is he just a man who was in the image of God and so he is another image of a

God The Bible forbids that God says there will not even be another God, but there won't be one like me

It's either me or it's nothing is what he says so if you compare the word ale in the name

Emmanuel with the word in Isaiah 45 21 and also in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14

You're gonna find it. It means Almighty God Isaiah 714 is an interesting passage as well

Then we went on and we talked about he is God manifest in the flesh from 1st Timothy 3 16

Who is Jesus? He is not only God with us. He is not only the

Savior But he is also God manifest in The flesh the word manifest comes from a root word in Greek Which means shining forth making to appear to the eye the human eye

So he is not a form of God He is

God manifest He is God in The flesh so that we can see him

Now we went on to John chapter 1 verse 1 and we saw that the third thing about him.

He is the Word of God Now what we discussed when we got to this point if you remember is

That if Jesus is the Word of God We talked about the difference between receiving a letter from a loved one or actually being in the presence of the person

When you receive the letter it is that person It's that person's mind and soul on that piece of paper

But it's still not all of the person as if the person were sitting there So the thing about Jesus when he is if you go into Colossians where it says

He is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Are you seeing 1st Timothy 3 16? He is

God manifest in the flesh Two things are happening here. You have our viewpoint and you have the reality of Who Jesus is and was and when

I say was I mean as his earthly ministry on this earth who he was? If you look at it from the viewpoint of who we see him we do not see all of God We see the form the shining the part where the

Sun can cast Light on his body and reflect that to our eye and we see that and that's the part of God that we saw and we saw more than that because as he spoke his words and As we saw his person in his heart and his soul and all everything about him.

We could know God even more But we did not from our viewpoint see all of God when we looked at Jesus did we

Because God is bigger than that But coming from inside of him out all of God was there

Just because we didn't see all of God does not mean all of God was not there and we can show that very clearly as We go into Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 and 16

It says Jesus is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible and In Colossians chapter 2 verse 9.

It says he is all of the fullness of the Godhead bodily Now what's interesting about it?

The word all is the word pass Which means the whole and there is no stronger word for all in the

Greek language And then the word of fullness is play Roma Which means?

Replete are in other words completely full. It's like you take a glass You can't say this glass is more full than that glass.

You're either full or you're not full. I Remember my grammar teacher used to teach you cannot say my glass is more full than his glass

You can say my glass is more nearly full That's the proper way to say it so Jesus is all of God and all of the complete fullness to the brim of God in A body, but we could not see all of God in him, but that's our problem

It's our lack of vision. It's our lack of ability to see spiritual things and it's our

State this side of the fall is the reason we couldn't perhaps but he was there

Now you think about that when Jesus Christ is in that manger that babe in the manger all

Of the fullness of the Godhead in that body Did we see it all?

No, but we saw all that we could see didn't we? and So this is who

Jesus was he is the image of the invisible. He's the express image He is both

The Icon image in The character image that we talked about last time the complete image of the invisible

God Colossians 118 says he is the head of the body, which is the church.

That's a beautiful thing to contemplate He is all of the fullness of the

Godhead bodily Now that was review we took up most of time with it, but though but those passages

Have to be so well grounded in our minds if we're going to understand Any further

God is one God there is none other I will not share my image with another

I will not share my name with another there is no other Savior All of that has to be as well grounded in us as it was in the

Hebrew before God revealed Jesus to the Jews But it can't be because we're Gentiles.

We don't think like they do so we have to work at that We have to keep putting that in our mind We have to remember that every day of the life of an

Orthodox Jew even today two times a day They have to say the little song and the children are taught to sing the little song

God. He is one God God he is one

God That is the root behind the existence of God It has to be so well grounded in our minds that if not

We will go astray and the other things that men right will lead us astray if we don't have that well grounded

I think we do now after reading all those verses a couple of times Now we've got about five minutes.

So let's let's move into the new material and we can at least introduce it We want to start by speaking of the pre -existence of Jesus Christ Before he was in the manger

Isaiah chapter 9 if you would turn there and verse 6 and then this fabulous

Verse in Micah chapter 5 verse 2 be looking for that one. Those are a little harder to find the minor prophets are

The easiest place to find them is in the index In the front of the Bible give you the page number

Awesome verse Micah 5 to While you're looking that one up.

We'll go ahead and start with Isaiah 9 6 unto us a child is born Unto us a son is given.

We're familiar with who this is. This is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ The government shall be upon his shoulder.

That's who the Jews were looking for was that ruling reigning Messiah? His name shall be called wonderful Counselor the mighty

God now, isn't that interesting? I showed that to a young Mormon once in my office He was confronting me in my church office trying to recruit me,

I guess And I showed him that verse and he looked at that even in his Bible. It said it he said

I'm sorry But I've never seen that verse We've got to go and think about that. We'll come back in a week.

I Guess so They don't believe that But it says it that Jesus is the mighty

God it doesn't leave it there it says he's the everlasting Father now, how do you make that fit with the common

Trinitarian view? Raise your hand and tell me how you make that fit

But it's very clearly speaking of the Messiah in 9 6 and it says he's the everlasting father not the everlasting son

Well, we know he is the son from the earthly viewpoint and as he's born into the manger and even more than that We're gonna get to that as far as we go back.

What does it mean when it says he was formed? We know he is the eternal son of God, but he's also the everlasting father.

How can that be because there's only one God and He is all of the fullness of the Godhead what?

in a body in a form of The increase of his government and peace there shall be no end so he shall have an earthly reign as well

Upon the throne of David that's the earthly reign and upon his kingdom to order it he's going to bring this world into order when he comes again and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever the zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this

That interesting it talking about the Messiah has the word Jehovah right there in the passage now

Micah chapter 5 verse 2 But thou Bethlehem Ephratah Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me

That is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting

So we talk about the pre -existence of the Son of God he came forth from everlasting

So you can go back in time as far as you can go back To the place where time began and the

Lord Jesus meets you there. He's already there. He was never created He has always existed.

He comes forth from everlasting awesome verse Micah 5 to Olam is the

Hebrew word for everlasting. It means from the vanishing point So as man looks back as far as he can see to the vanishing point

Jesus is beyond that And that brings us to Proverbs chapter 8

And we're going to save that for next time But you can study it if you want to look ahead.

We're going to study the passage in Proverbs that deals With the pre -existence of Jesus Christ and gives us some amazing information about it and We'll also look at verses like John chapter 8 verse 40

Where he himself said he came forth to see the fourth and came out from God And try to put all of this together as we see who

Jesus is who is this man? Jesus Christ and Let's stand have a word of prayer together.

We're out of time today Dear father, we thank you for your word for without it.

We could know you exist, but we couldn't know you We couldn't know about you Thank you that you have revealed yourself down through the holy prophets of old and in these last times through your son

Jesus Christ and his holy apostles and so Lord we thank you for the written word

We thank you for your spirit that teaches us every day in our life our earthly life and we

Assume that that will continue on for all eternity that will we will be taught of your greatness in your majesty and learn of you forever and ever through the ages and we thank you that you've called us as your children and You have had an appointment a divine appointment in our lives in time when we

Were born again and came to know you personally and we were redeemed and brought back to you

Lord we thank you so much for your beautiful plan of salvation For coming to this into this world in space and time in The body of the

Lord Jesus Christ and dying for us that we might live with you forever

Lord we ask you to give us wisdom as we study this doctrine of your existence

It is far beyond our ability to totally understand, but give us

Information so that we can know what we are supposed to know at this point in our lives with you

We want to know you better We want to know you more And we thank you that you grow us moment by moment.

Thank you Lord for watching over my family in these past days and for Jenny's safety and the baby's safety and Little new little one that you've brought into our church

We ask you to give them health so that they might be able to be here next Sunday help everyone in the congregation that's got the sniffles to get over them before next

Sunday and Bless our meal together and we ask it in Jesus name. Amen. That was not a selfish prayer at all.