Friday, January 1, 2016

God is With Us

Last Sunday I heard this great sermon from down here in New Zealand, preached by Matthew Guddatt. He is a Britain, come down to NZ and is currently a youth pastor.

So what is the big deal about this sermon?
I haven't often heard a sermon where God's sovereignty and power is connected to our daily lives.

Here is a summary of what the sermon covers:

- Matthew talks about the greatness of God and how we cannot limit God to one name, but He encompasses many names describing Him.
- He also talks about how the church today can have a tendency to go back to Old Testament ways by having super spiritual "priests" (pastors, and elders) who harbour spiritual connection with God for the lay people. Matthew points out that we are all called to be priests and all can access God.
- Lastly he talks about how God is omnipresent. I like how he says that God is in the very breath of the atheist, and that church is not the only place to find God. Matthew points out that God can be found anywhere and we don't need to chase conjured up feelings and emotions, but to know and have faith that God is with us anywhere.

Matthew has a good sense of humour and is easy to listen to. Click the link below to listen -



Photo Retrieved from:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gDvNsJRUMUMcJWOAGf2kzikQvzrJUIgNIwZ7J6IpGxid8USzNElMBDO_LZAEXL9EHgvutQXCaYRRCRzP9Jk2CMjgonXZKoo6rUdHl1haH3cpVy8WH29l0AXnDmIoPE_Od-WLziO2zq0/s1600/galaxy_universe-normal.jpg

        

7 comments:

  1. Hi Daniel, thanks for the link. I was listening to Matthew Guddat's preaching.
    Well, I must say that I don't like preachers screaming into my ears.
    Because a man is shouting, that doesn't make him right or have insight into the Word of God.
    Mostly people who shout have something to hide.
    He didn't preach Jesus Christ and he doesn't even know it.
    Yes he preached a god, but WHICH god did he preach? A god with no name? A God he doesn't know?
    Even the god of this world has a name, called Satan (2 Cor. 4:4).
    It always troubles me when a preacher doesn't know the Name of God and preaches a lot of religious rhetoric.

    Please tell me, which god is in the very breath of an atheist?
    The only true God (the Lord Jesus Christ) is surely not in the breath of Satan.
    The Pharisees would not have preached that kind of religious nonsense.

    The Jehovah Witnesses do a lot better than Matthew Guddat, at least they give their god a name and call him 'Jehovah'.

    Look brother, if he doesn't know the name of God, then he simply doesn't believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY God of the Bible, and his preaching is useless.

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  2. Hi Paul,
    I too agree that preachers don't need to shout and I generally dislike it, however there is a volume button for that very purpose :)

    You said here "Because a man is shouting, that doesn't make him right or have insight into the Word of God.
    Mostly people who shout have something to hide."

    1. I never said shouting people have insight into God's word, and 2. the assumption that people who shout have something to hide is unsubstantiated, unless you would like the task of demonstrating how that statement is substantiated??

    We have spoken at length in the previous post about the topic of whether God can be known without the literal name of Jesus Christ being understood. I don't want to repeat myself and I am sure you don't like to also, but for thousands of years people knew God personally without knowing the literal name Jesus Christ. The name Jesus Christ only came into existence two thousand years ago and therefore is not necessary (though is sufficient) for someone to know God intimately.

    I think we will just have to disagree here. I think I can understand where you are coming from. You seem to desire certainty about who God is, but I don't know whether that is possible because He is so great. We have words that we use to attempt to describe who He is but really each word only grasps a small part of who God is and by pulling these words together we can glimpse a picture of who He is... God is Love, yet He is Judge and also Saviour...

    Cheers brother




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  3. Ups, I forget about that volume button :-) I'm glad you reminded me.
    In church they surely didn't have a volume button.

    No Daniel, nobody can know the true God unless they know His Name, since His Name has been given once and for all, and there is no other Name given under heaven and earth (Acts.4:12).
    Just think, how could you know my natural fathers unless you know his name.
    Do you think, that those who call him Allah or Krishna or Jehovah know the true God? I think not.

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  4. HI Paul,

    Do you think that people are saved through the name of Jesus Christ or the person of Jesus Christ?

    Cheers

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  5. A name cannot save, but only the person who holds that name can save.
    In case of Jesus, it has to be the 'Jesus' who is the Christ also called Lord (meaning GOD).
    It is God who does the saving and 'Jesus' is only His Name.
    Yes it is only Jesus and no other name, that is very important.
    Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha etc. they cannot save because they are false gods.

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  6. "A name cannot save, but only the person who holds that name can save."
    That sentence right there is my point entirely. If I call for a person, it is not necessary that they have only one definite name that they will answer to, just as Abraham and Moses found out. It is the person of God, of Jesus Christ that saves, and not a name.
    I understand your point that it is important to identify who we are talking to, but to me it would be a shame to limit God to only answering/saving those that get His name right. A name is not the person, it is a description of that person.

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  7. Yes Daniel, but it is the Scriptures (the Word of God) who limits us, you and me and anyone else to just ONE name, Yes brother, just ONE 'definite' name and that Name is JESUS.

    This is what the Lord Jesus said in Acts 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

    Can you see the importance of that NAME?
    NO OTHER NAME!
    That means that nobody can be saved by another name, apart from the Name 'JESUS'.

    Yes, there are some people who try and call on other names, but I think that they are wasting their time. Churches are full of people who call upon the names of their gods and none of them has any power to respond.
    But whosoever will call upon the Name of the Lord , which is 'JESUS' will be saved, and whosoever will call upon any other name will be rejected.

    ReplyDelete