Participants: Carlton P Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000616S
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00:05 Sermon #B616 - Why God?
00:19 PB: Our text of Scripture is very easy today; very easy. It's Genesis 1:1. Heh heh heh. 00:29 Genesis 1:1, let's say it together. "In the"--what, everybody? [Aud.: Beginning] 00:33 Come on, talk to me. In the what, everybody? [Aud.: Beginning.] 00:36 "God created the heavens and the"--what? [Aud.: Earth.] 00:39 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." "In the beginning, God." 00:51 Now, this Sabbath and next Sabbath, I'm gonna preach a two-part series on "Why." 00:56 Everybody say "why." [Aud.: Why.] 00:58 Come on, say it like you mean it. Say "why." [Aud.: Why.] 01:01 All right, now. Today, my question I ask you is why God? Why God? 01:11 Now, we're living in a post-Christian society. 01:17 Which means, we're living in a world where the influence of Christianity is declining by the minute. 01:26 "Post-Christian" means we're living in a world where people say there are no moral absolutes. 01:35 There are no ethical givens. No absolute truth; no outright truth. 01:41 Your truth is your truth; my truth is my truth. 01:44 It used to be that if even people didn't practice Christianity or practice the things of God, 01:52 they did still believe there was a God. 01:55 But friends of mine, in this world, it is not automatic anymore that people believe in God, 02:02 the existence of God, or the things of God. 02:09 So while we're discussing what kind of music we should sing at church; 02:15 while we're having vote after vote and debate after debate on women's ordination; 02:21 while we're discussing and trying to figure out whether or not the angels left the front doors 02:27 at the movie theater; while we're debating the relevancy of Ellen White. 02:35 While we're talking about hair color, jewelry, tattoos, wedding bands, and veganism or not, 02:47 the world is asking, "Why God?" Is there a God? Does God even exist? 03:00 Let me tell you something. And some may get mad--that's all right. I love you anyhow. 03:06 We've got bigger issues than gospel music; bigger issues than should drums be played; 03:15 bigger issues that women's ordinations, going to the movies, wedding bands, 03:21 or whether or not you eat cheese or not. Y'all don't misunderstand me. 03:26 I'm not disparaging this study or the discussion of these subjects. We need to study them. 03:31 But what I am saying is, if people don't even believe in God, 03:35 then we can't even begin to talk about these other things. 03:39 You can't get to second base if you don't first get to first base. [Aud. reaction] 03:45 Now, according to ABC News and the Washington Post, between the years 2003 and 2017, 03:53 the percentage of adult Americans professing no religion has grown from 12 to 21 percent. 04:01 Among younger people the trends are even more pronounced. 04:04 In 2003, 19 percent of people under the age of 30 professed no religion. 04:10 But by 2017, this group had grown to 35 percent. 04:16 But not only do we see decline in those who profess no religion, but the number of atheists, 04:22 those people who don't even believe in the existence of God, they're on the rise. 04:27 According to the Pew Research Center, the number of atheists in the United States doubled from 2007 to 2014 04:34 and the median age for atheists in the United States is 34, 04:39 which means most people who don't believe God are young people. 04:44 In fact, 25 percent of Americans born after 2000, that's this group we call "Millennials," 04:52 they aren't even religious and they're asking Why God? 04:59 Post-Christians, they aren't into organized religion anymore. 05:05 Post-Christians are people who have never seen Christianity, who have seen Christianity rather, 05:10 in some way in their life, and they've decided they're not interested anymore. 05:14 A Post-Christian is somebody who attended church but witnessed hypocritical Christians 05:20 who said one thing but did another. [Aud.: Amen.] 05:22 A Post-Christian considers Christians legalistic or untrustworthy, and they ask Why God? 05:31 Somebody's still not getting it, so let me try it this way. 05:34 When 1,000 children in the state of Pennsylvania alone are molested by priests, supposedly men of God, 05:45 somebody's asking Why God? When 72 people are shot in one weekend two weeks ago in Chicago, Illinois, 05:54 with 13 of these people being killed, somebody's asking Why God? 05:59 When 1620 people die from cancer every day right here in the U.S., 06:05 the most advanced nation in the world with the best resources and technology on the planet, 06:09 people are asking Why God? When the devil keeps messing with you, keeps beating you up, 06:18 when you feel in life you can't win for losing, you're asking Why God? Is there a God? 06:29 Does God even exist? Why God? But today my job is to let somebody know that the devil is a lie. 06:44 MY job today is to tell somebody, don't you let the devil get your mind. 06:50 There is a God![Aud. reaction] 06:54 If you're having questions; if you're having doubts; if you're wondering in your mind, know this: 07:02 There IS a God! He still sits high, but He still looks low. 07:12 He that watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. 07:16 He can still do things I can't do; reach things I can't reach; see things I can't see. 07:25 There IS a God! [Aud. reaction] 07:28 Now, the existence of God is the most important concept of our faith. If you read the Bible carefully, 07:38 you'll notice that the Bible doesn't begin with an argument for the existence of God. 07:44 Now, the Bible says, in Psalm 14:1 that the fool in his heart knows that there is, says, 07:51 that there is no--what? God. But the Bible doesn't begin with Psalm 14:1; 07:56 the Bible begins with Genesis 1:1. 07:58 The Bible begins with a simple yet powerful sentence that lets us know God is. Genesis 1:1: 08:05 "In the"--what, everybody? [Aud.: Beginning.] 08:07 Come on, in the what, everybody? [Aud.: Beginning.] 08:08 "In the beginning, God." This is a declaration, not an argument. "In the beginning, God." 08:17 This is a pronouncement, not a dispute. "In the beginning, God." Somebody's still not getting this. 08:25 Let me help 'em right now. What God is saying in Genesis 1:1 is: I am the beginning. 08:34 I never had a mama. I never had a daddy. Nobody made me. Nobody voted me in my position. 08:42 I can't show you my beginning because I am the beginning. I am God. In the beginning, God. 08:50 Before there was an angel. Before there was an Adam. 08:54 Before there was an alligator, amphibian or ape, there was God. 08:58 Before there was sun, before there were moon and stars. In the beginning, God. 09:05 Before a man, a woman, a whale, water or wind. In the beginning, God. 09:11 Before there was a day, a week, a month, a year. God. 09:14 Before there was anybody to sing Him a song; say to Him a prayer; or give Him a praise, God. 09:21 God is timeless. God exists out of time. Outside of time. 09:27 God made time for you and me so we could number our days. 09:31 But God existed before the evening and the morning were the first day. 09:35 In the beginning, God. God is the beginner of the beginning. 09:40 God is the beginner in Whom the beginning began. God is the beginning before the beginning was begun. 09:45 God is the beginning Who did not begin to be. 09:47 God was always here; has always been here; always will be here. 09:51 In the beginning, God! [Aud. reaction] 09:55 But remember now, you can't get to second base without getting to first base. 10:02 God's Word says, "In the beginning, God." 10:07 But how can somebody believe in God's Word if they don't first believe in God? So Why God? 10:17 How do I know God is real? How do I know God exists? Two reasons and I'ma sit down 10:24 because we are strategic about getting you out early. Come on, say amen. [Aud. reaction] 10:29 On time is early at Oakwood. Come on, say amen. [Aud. reaction] 10:32 All right. Number one, how do I know God is God? Creation. [Aud. reaction] 10:40 Creation testifies to the fact, the existence of God. 10:45 Now remember, the Bible says in Psalm 19:1 that the heavens declare the glory of God, 10:50 and the firmament showeth his handiwork, which means that God has not left us any room to doubt. 10:56 The heavens preach a sermon about the wonders of our great God. 11:01 The sun shines, the rain falls, the wind blows, the leaves fall, grass grows. 11:09 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Why God? Creation. 11:16 Let's look at creation. I'm gonna give you a few examples. I'm not going to be exhaustive. 11:20 But let's think about the earth. Everybody say "the earth." [Aud.: The earth.] 11:23 Come on, say "the earth." [Aud.: The earth.] 11:24 All right, its size is perfect. 11:27 The earth's size and its corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of primarily nitrogen and oxygen gasses, 11:33 extending about 50 miles above the earth's surface. Because of this, 11:37 any scientist will let you know that if the earth were just a little smaller than it is now, 11:42 then our livable, breathable atmosphere would be impossible and earth would be like the planet Mercury. 11:49 If the earth, on the other hand, were a little larger than what it is, 11:52 it would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter, and we would still not be able to breathe properly. 11:58 So earth, then, would be unlivable if it were just a little little or a little smaller, 12:02 or a little larger than what it is. 12:05 Only a precise, specific Creator could ensure the right size of the earth. [Aud. reaction] 12:13 But not only that, the earth's distance to the sun is very precise. 12:19 Now, our temperatures on planet Earth fluctuate between negative 30 degrees below zero or 120 degrees 12:26 above zero. If the earth were any further from the sun, we would all freeze. 12:32 But if the earth were closer to the sun, we'd all burn up. 12:36 Only a precise, specific Creator could ensure this. The earth is tilted on its axis. 12:46 If this were not so, there would be no such thing as changing of seasons. 12:50 There would be no spring, summer, winter or fall. Only a precise, specific Creator could ensure this. 13:00 But not only the earth. Let's talk about water. 13:03 Water is colorless. Water is odorless. Water is without taste, 13:08 but yet no living thing can survive without water. 13:12 Water allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature change while keeping our bodies 13:17 at a steady 98.6 degrees. 13:20 Water is chemically neutral, without affecting the makeup of the sustenance it carries, 13:24 water enables food, medicines and minerals to be absorbed and used by our bodies. 13:31 Only a precise Creator could ensure this. 13:38 But then the crowning act of creation, man. The human body. 13:45 You can't find anything more complicated than the human body. Let's take our brains. 13:50 Your brain takes in all the colors and objects you see. 13:54 It takes in the temperature around you, the pressure of your feet against the floor. 13:58 The sounds around you, even the dryness of your mouth. 14:01 Your brain holds and processes all of your emotions,thoughts, memories, 14:06 while at the same time keeping track of the ongoing functions of your body, like your breathing patterns, 14:12 eyelid movements, and the movement of the muscles in your hands. [Aud. reaction] 14:16 There is intelligence to your brain. The ability to reason, to produce things, to dream, to plan, 14:22 to take action, to relate to other people. Only a precise, specific Creator could ensure this. 14:31 But not only your brain, your eyes. [Aud. reaction] 14:33 The human eye can distinguish 7 million different colors. 14:37 It has automatic focusing and handles 1.5 million messages all at the same time. 14:44 Only a precise, specific Creator could ensure that. 14:49 It's amazing how all of this: the earth, the sun, water, the brain, your eyes. 14:56 It's amazing how all of these things work and there's no way all of this happens by accident. 15:03 Only a precise, specific Creator could ensure that. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 15:19 Man didn't come from monkey. Man came from God. Man didn't come from a big bang theory. 15:28 Man came from God. [Aud. reaction] 15:32 But then, my final response. The second answer to the question "Why God?" "Does God exist?" 15:41 The answer is found in the Person of Jesus Christ. 15:46 Study all the world religions you want and you'll find that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, 15:55 all identify themselves as teachers or prophets. But none of them ever claimed to be God. 16:02 But Jesus did, and Jesus was God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and God said, 16:17 "Let us make man in our own image. After our own likeness." 16:23 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 16:29 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Jesus said that anyone who has ever seen Him, 16:36 you've seen the Father. He said, anyone who's believed in Him, you've believed the Father. 16:41 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the light. And no one comes to the Father but by me." 16:46 This is what sets Jesus apart from everybody else. 16:50 He said, God exists and you're looking at Him. [Aud. reaction] 16:55 So if you want to look at God, look at Jesus. If you want to know God, know Jesus. 17:02 If you want to love God, love Jesus. If you want the blessings of God, tell Jesus. 17:09 If you want the salvation of God, trust Jesus. 17:13 And if you want to live eternally with God, live in Jesus. [Aud. reaction] 17:18 Jesus existed before time and His birth. Before the world even existed, He existed. 17:24 You see, the life of Christ did not begin in the manger nor did it end at the cross. 17:29 Jesus has always been here. Christ spoke of His preexistence when He prayed to His Father 17:34 and asked Him in John 17:5, "Glorify me with the glory that I had before the world was." 17:40 Jesus, even speaking to the Jews, talked about His preexistence when He told them that His preexistence 17:46 and presence went further back than Abraham's past. For even, He says, before Abraham was, I am. 17:55 What do we have here? Jesus, who was born 2,000 years after Abraham, yet He said He was before Abraham. 18:04 Jesus, who was David's son, was also David's Lord. 18:08 Jesus, who was Abraham's seed, was also Abraham's Savior. 18:13 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 18:17 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. 18:20 So then, God the Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ. 18:27 The Father sent Jesus to the earth in the form of a baby, conceived through a miracle by the Holy Ghost, 18:34 born in Bethlehem, rocked in a cow's eating trough, wrapped in swaddling clothes, 18:43 worked in His father's carpenter shop, baptized in the muddy Jordan, preached a gospel message, 18:53 healed the sick, raised the dead, 5,000 hungry souls He fed, misunderstood by His own family, 19:02 rejected by His own people, condemned by the government, put out of the organized church. [Aud. reaction] 19:11 Crucified on trumped-up charges. Died on a cruel cross, but on the third-- [Aud. reaction] 19:20 Appointed day. [Aud. reaction] 19:23 He rose from the grave. Ascended back to the Father, and one day soon He's coming back. 19:35 I wish I had a witness in this place.is [Aud. reaction] 19:37 If you go to Buddha's tomb, his remains are still there. If you go to Muhammad's tomb, 19:45 his remains are still there. If you go to Confucius's tomb, his remains are still there. 19:52 But if you go to Jesus' tomb, He's not there! He is risen! Why God? 20:04 Because Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. [Aud. reaction] 20:11 Only God can create food out of thin air. Only God could walk on water. 20:21 Only a God could turn water into wedding punch. 20:25 Gotta say "wedding punch" 'cause some of y'all looking for license to drink wine. [Aud. reaction] 20:29 PB: Only God could spit on the ground, make mud, put mud on a blind man's eyes, 20:39 and then the blind man is able to see. 20:42 Only God could have more medicine in the hem of His garment than any doctors anywhere. 20:49 Only God could command a raging storm to stop. Only God could hurl demons into the sea. 20:58 Why God? Because of His miracles. There is a God because nothing in the universe makes sense without Him. 21:07 [Aud. reaction] 21:08 There is a God because He revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. 21:12 There is a God because Jesus died and rose again. Only God could do that. Scientists can't explain that. 21:23 Atheists can't explain that. Agnostics can't explain that. Post-Christians can't explain that. 21:32 There is a God! [Aud. reaction] 21:38 Let's be real. How will something made out of nothing; how do you explain a worldwide flood? 21:49 How does a donkey talk? How does a sun stand still? How do you make an axe head float? 21:59 How does a Red Sea become a dry highway? How do lions lie down like house dogs? 22:06 How do three men stand in fire and they don't get burned? [Aud. reaction] 22:10 How does a man lay down his life but then take it up again? [Aud. reaction] 22:15 How do you and I go to bed every night at different times and we wake up every morning? 22:21 There is a God! [Aud. reaction] 22:27 Over the years, people have tried to say that there is no God. 22:33 They've tried to tell us that religion is a deception, that our theology is a lie. 22:39 In the year 1859, a man by the name of Charles Darwin published a book on the origin of species. 22:46 In that book, Darwin said that man had not been specifically created by God 22:52 but was in fact the product of biological evolution. 22:56 He said that man descended from a hairy animal, furnished with a tail and with pointed ears. 23:04 He said that man was the descendant of an ape, which was a descendant of nothing in particular. 23:10 He tried to say that we weren't created; that we simply evolved over billions of years. 23:17 He tried to convince us that random, accidental atomic collisions 23:22 resulted in the formation of some simple form of life, which eventually became us. 23:27 He said there were no six days of creation. He said there was no Creator. 23:34 That all of this just happened. But none of that makes sense. 23:42 How can people look at creation and claim there was no Creator? 23:48 Now, it's interesting, because people don't ever question whether or not a computer 23:55 came into being by the design of an intelligent programmer. 23:59 People don't look at a car or a jet and think it just happened. 24:04 So how can people look at other people and think about wondering if there were a creator or not? 24:12 God is the Creator and sustainer of all things. He alone is God. There is none other. 24:25 Before time began, He was. When time, as we know it stops, He will still be. 24:34 He has always been, and He will always be God. 24:41 And so I'm getting ready to take my seat, but may I remind you of that little story 24:45 where the little boy went off to college. And he studied all the basic sciences of life, 24:52 and he came home from school the first semester, and that little boy, that young man, knew everything. 24:58 It's Friday night, preparation day. Time to go to church on the Sabbath, the next day. 25:05 Mama says, "Son, what are you wearing to church tomorrow?" "I'm not going, Mama." 25:11 "What do you mean, you're not going? You're in my house! 25:15 And when I leave my house, everybody goes to church." "Mama, I'm not going." "Mama, I've been to school now. 25:24 I study the sciences. I don't believe, Mama, all that God stuff. I don't believe all that Jesus stuff." 25:33 The mama left her son alone and started going to her room, singing "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound." 25:40 Later on that night, Mama heard a moan coming from her son's room. 25:45 Mama got up and she went to her son's room and said, "Son, what's the problem?" 25:51 The young man was holding his jaw, said, "Mama, I've got a terrible toothache." 25:56 Mama used this as a time to witness to her son. Mama said, "Son, you've been studying all that science. 26:04 You've been studying all that biology. You've been studying all that chemistry. 26:08 And you said that if God defiles your five senses. You can't see Him. You can't smell Him. 26:16 You can't hear Him. You can't touch Hm. And you can't sure can't taste Him. But now, this toothache. 26:25 Can you see it?" "No." "Can you smell it?" "No." "Can you taste it?" 26:36 "No, but I can feel it all over me." 26:43 The mama said, "Son, that's what I've been trying to tell you about my Jesus. 26:49 I can't see Him; I can't touch Him; I can't taste Him. 26:56 I can't smell Him, But every now and then, I can feel Him all over me." 27:05 And that's what I came to tell somebody. I can't feel Him; I can't touch Him; I can't taste Him; 27:14 I can't smell Him, but I can feel Him all over me! Bless the Lord, O my soul, 27:26 and all that is within me bless His holy name. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. 27:36 Serve the Lord with gladness! 27:42 Thank you very much for tuning in to this week's Breath of Life broadcast. 27:46 We hope and pray that you've been blessed by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 27:51 If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, 27:53 please feel free to visit us at www.breathoflife.tv. 27:59 Or, call us at (256) 929-646 28:05 [End] 28:09 Social justice is embedded in Breath of Life's commitment 28:14 to carry this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ. 28:18 I believe in social justice. I believe in equality of all people. 28:26 And I also believe that Jesus died and His blood was spilt for all of us. 28:36 THE END |
Revised 2021-09-29