Gospel.
God.
There can be no gospel apart from God.
He's the beginning.
He's the starting point.
What does a person need to know and believe about God to get the gospel right?
Well, let's pass the microphone to God.
Dear God, who are You?
In the beginning, God.
He's the beginning.
He started it all.
In the beginning, God did what?
Created.
That's His first attribute we're introduced to in Scripture chronologically.
Evidently, that's how He would introduce Himself.
If you met God on an elevator and He only had maybe 30 seconds to tell you who He was, He would say, “I'm timeless, I have no beginning, I have no end of life, I'm eternal, and I made you.”
That should be enough to get our attention, right?
So, a person cannot receive the gospel properly apart from receiving the identity of God.
Do you agree?
Do you disagree?
We cannot have a God who does not create.
God must be the creator in order to qualify to hold the position of deity.
So, if you or someone you know is curious about the gospel,
First, we must explore who is this God?
Here's who He is.
He's the beginning.
He's the spontaneous combustion that started everything intelligently and intentionally, creatively.
He is also the ending.
He's the fulfillment of everything in between.
There is no point in time when He is not present.
That makes Him timeless, it makes Him way beyond human capacity because time has no constraint on Him because He made time and He's going to fold it up like a blanket and we'll be done with time.
We cannot fathom, our human minds cannot process timelessness because every second of our day has always been constrained by the sequential marching progress of time.
We don't know even how to compose a thought …
in the vast floatingness of timelessness, but God exists comfortably inside of “nothing”.
I mean, the Bible says He inhabits eternity.
Where's your house?
Everywhere, at all times.
So, God is timeless.
He is also intelligent.
Think about it.
To have a real God, He must at least be smarter than me.
You know, you might have heard people saying, “You need to hire people that are smarter than you, or at least hang around people that are smarter than you.”
Well, I want to hang around a God who at least has a higher intellectual capacity than this guy, right?
Number next, God must be fearless.
Now humans, we are saturated by fear.
We make most of our decisions motivated by fear, but God is fearless.
He's confident because there's no new information to Him.
There are zero unknowns.
He knows it all.
God must be fully aware, all-knowing.
I cannot fully process what all that means to know everything at all times, to know the sequence, to know the future.
But God does.
God, one of his natural proclivities must be industriousness.
In the beginning, He did something.
He didn't just show up and lounge around
and
God, the one true God, if you're going to get to the gospel, you have to go through God first.
This God, our God, must be a visionary.
Boom!
You know, we're excited that we have eyes, and we're made in the image of God, but God's eyes must be exponentially better than ours.
He has to have a plan.
He sees all, and He has a dream, a unique dream for each of us,
which is A Desired Outcome.
If God can name all the stars and He counts all of our hairs, don't you think He has a unique vision for your life?
A purpose?
A goal?
Something He wants you to accomplish with His help?
This God, our God, the one true God, the only God who provides the gospel and promises the gospel must be self-defining.
There's no Webster's Dictionary definition of God.
There's God's definition of God.
God must be self-existing.
No one gives Him power to exist.
He does that.
He must be self-supporting.
Doesn't ask you.
Doesn't need you.
He must be self-sustaining.
Able to maintain energy consistently without
needing to tap into reserves, without needing to rest, and He must be self-entertaining.
He can keep Himself occupied.
God, this God, the one true God, must be, by nature, pure.
Who wants a pervert God?
Who wants a selfish God?
God must be an excellent communicator, a most excellent communicator.
In fact, His words must be powerful!
He must want that connection with your soul and your spirit.
He resonates better than all humans on a spiritual connection level.
He's capable of expressing emotions.
Not weird, but emotions are not foreign to God.
He is capable.
The Bible calls Him the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief.
Capable of Experiencing and Expressing Emotions.
There is no gospel apart from approaching the one true living God.
So I would encourage you and invite you to explore what is your best definition of God?
And then can you just please replace that with God's definition of God?
Because if there is no God, there is no gospel.
And if there is no gospel, then you became your own Savior by default.
And how are you doing?
If all you have is a clear understanding of the actual definition of who God truly is, you are 80% on the way to receiving the gospel message.
Almost there, buddy.
So who is God?
He's holy.
He's just.
He is the justice system.
He cannot countenance or tolerate sin.
He is the enforcer.
He is the judge.
He is the decision maker.
He is able to rule well His own kingdom.
He temporarily gave authority, for whatever reason, to the prince of the power of the darkness of this world, and He gave us free will.
For the moment.
God must be considerate, compassionate, and humble, approachable, a gentleman.
God desires communication.
God desires a deep and meaningful communication connection with you on the daily.
So get to know God and you'll appreciate the gospel.
Define Your God