Do you know what God looks like?
May 3, 2020

Good morning! On behalf of Cross Creek Community church, serving southwest Port Orange and northwest New Smyrna Beach, Florida, I’d like to warmly welcome you.
We are also a newly engaged part of the Dove International family. Welcome!

Also, Zoom... today first time... on website + app if know someone not on FB
AND. Please think about what’s (at least) that one thing you’ll keep doing moving forward. Or not return to. Let us know. Message for 3/17.

Today is May the 3rd. Whew! We made it through April! That’s something to celebrate! (“High Five” or “Elbow bump” someone nearby if you want to. Or high five yourself!
Praise God for His Presence in our lives. He is our Sustainer and Healer.

If we will fight through, we will win. He is for us. Come to a place where you believe with all your heart, and trust with all your might. He is the One who has sustained us, provided for us, healed us, and the One who walks with us. If we will believe this and re-establish it in our hearts and in our spirits today, we will have a phenomenal and glorious victory in the days that are ahead of us. (From SoP bulletin 5/3)

And so, yes, “Happy May.” Let me be the first to bless you with this greeting for this month if no one else has. May you experience great peace and great joy this month. May you draw closer to God and others too. May you abound in love.

PRAY. [Continued safety and protection for all watching the video, especially those on the front lines. Provision for those in need. Continued eradication of the coronavirus. ]

Today we’re going to share some very important Scriptures. Get your Bible out, or pull it up electronically, and be ready to go to the first chapter of the New Testament book of Colossians. (If you don’t know where to go for a free electronic Bible, check out our FB pg for more info.) You may want to have something to write on and write with too, if you’re a note taker.

Also, if you haven’t already, and you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, please gather some bread and grape juice, or something similar, to share in the Lord’s supper at the end of our time together this morning. Communion is a central part of Christian worship.

If you’re not sure about Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper as it’s also called, or Eucharist, (which means “thanksgiving” - another name for it) please watch the marvelous John Smith video on our church FB page, later. (It’s the “featured video.”)

John Wesley (founder of Methodism) is said to have taken Communion every 4 or 5 days. He believed you should take Communion "as often as you can.”
Wesley believed regular and frequent taking of the Lord’s Supper was essential to Christian discipleship because Christ commands it.

We will come to this table, in a little while, with reverence. It is not about us. It is about Christ. It is about remembering the depth and breadth of His love for us. It’s also a time for spiritual cleansing as we ask forgiveness from anything which has separated us from God or others. We’re told in John that if we’re faithful to confess, (to God), He’s faithful to forgive us.

Let’s start this new month off right! Let’s share in this holy meal this morning and be forgiven, cleansed, healed and empowered, together.

Now, I want to ask you a question. Do you know what God looks like?

Here’s another, do you know what He is like? What are His attributes?
An attribute is a quality or feature of someone, a characteristic. An inherent part of someone.

If you saw a recent FB post about the way people end Zoom meetings… you’ll know that humor was an undeniable characteristic of Laurel and Hardy.

Tony Fauci, the physician and immunologist who has served as the director of the Nat’l Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, and on the President’s coronavirus task force, is someone most people would agree has attributes of knowledge and calmness.

And then there’s Mother Teresa. It’s remarkable that she died 23 yrs ago, and yet continues to be quoted and admired and held up as an example of Christ-like living.
Her attributes would certainly include humility and servant hood.
Heidi Baker is still living, and demonstrates those attributes as well.
Along with empowered living.

So what about God? What are His attributes? What does He look like?
And maybe even more to the point, how can someone like Him ever care about someone like me? Or you?

The Bible tells us a lot about God.
It is the story of God and people.
There is Scripture that tells us that God knows every tear we’ve ever cried, (Psalm 56:8), and every hair on our heads. (Luke 12:7)
We’re also told He takes care of the little sparrow.
So how much more will He, and does He, take care of us?

In order to trust Him it’s important to know who He is.
The more we know about Him, the more we know of Him, the more we can relax and quit worrying and trust Him.

In the book of Colossians Paul answers our earlier questions.
In the first chapter, we’re told of just some of God’s attributes:
He is someone with a lot of grace! (1:6).
He is wise, and understanding. (1:9. You can talk to Him about anything. Anytime. He understands.)
He is powerful. He is mighty. (1:11)
He is generous. (1:12) He is a rescuer, a reconciler, and very loving. (1:13)

We begin the Christian faith life by choosing to believe in Jesus. He connects, or reconnects us to God. But that’s only the beginning. Even the demons believe in Christ.
What happens next is growing in a relationship with God. With Jesus. With His Holy Spirit. Yes, God is One substance in three forms: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Paul had not met the people of the church at Colossae when he wrote them the letter we now call Colossians. In fact, he didn’t even start their church. A man named “Epaphras,” who Paul describes as “our dear fellow servant,” started it about the same time Paul started the church at Ephesus.

Paul writes to the Colossians, from prison, and says, “we’ve been praying for you!”
Throughout the centuries, the words that follow continue to be prayed over other believers. Receive them now as I pray Colossians 1:9b-12 over you:
“We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you might have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.”

Notice Paul says “we’ve” been praying… Christianity is not a spectator sport or lone ranger experience. We all have our part to play. And we share life in community.
Even now, online, we are in community.

God modeled for us living together in community as part of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is my prayer this morning God continues to fill you with the knowledge of His will for your life.

He gives us wisdom and understanding, (some of His characteristics, or attributes), through His Spirit, SO THAT we can life a life worthy of Him and pleasing to Him! It takes His Spirit within us to live the Christian life! We cannot do it on our own!

No matter where you are or what you’ve done, come to Him anyway. He’ll take us just the way we are. But He loves us too much to leave us that way, thank goodness.

The more we live to please Him, the more peace we have. So how do I live to please God, you may wonder?
Paul tells the Colossians, and us, how to do this:

1) Bear fruit in every good work.
{May’s words after watching the Colossians video overview… share God’s love…}

2) Grow in the knowledge of God.

How do we do that?
a) Get to know Him. Spend more time with Him. Hopefully, in this slower paced time in which we’ve been living, you’ve begun to do more of that. If not, start!
b) Get to know more about Him, (as you would anyone else in any other relationship), through reading His Word. The Bible. {Again, we can help you with that if you’re new to this. Just reach out to our church FB page, or our website, crosscreekcommunitychurch.org, or app.- C C Connect.}
c) Get more of Him. Be filled with His Holy Spirit - the One who knows Him best!

At the end of the earlier prayer, we heard about our Heavenly Father who has “qualified us.” Through Christ, we’re “qualified!”

Recently there’s bee great frustration with unemployment applications.
And then there’s been the unfathomable news of 40% not being “qualified!”
Well I’m here this morning to tell you that you will never experience this with God.
He has “qualified us” to share in His Son, our Savior’s, Kingdom!

Yes. Jesus is a King. And He’s more than just a king, too.
So now we come to the second opening question. What does God look like?

Let’s turn to Colossians 1:15-20 for the answer. This is such important Scripture.
It’s believed that in the early church it was read as an affirmation of faith or sung as a hymn.
Let’s read and hear this special section of Paul’s letter to the Colossians now.
[READ]

In case you missed it, the answer to the question of what God looks like is found in the very first sentence we read: “The Son is the image of the invisible God…”

What does God look like? Jesus!
Jesus is not only the Son of God, He is God. In verse 19 it says “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him…”

We also discover attributes of Christ in this chapter too. He is a Son. He is a King.
(He has a kingdom.) He is the Firstborn. He is Creator. (Like His Father.) He is a Leader. He is “Super Glue.” (“In Him all things hold together.”) He is the Head of the Church.
{Please… if anyone ever asks you who is the head of Cross Creek Community Church, please answer: Jesus Christ.} And He is the Ultimate Reconciler.

It is through Him , and through His physical body we’re told, (:22) which we’ll share in the actual representation of soon with the bread and juice, that we are presented holy in His sight.

Beloved friends, family, honored guests, you don’t have to try to earn God’s love.
You don’t have to work yourself to the bone to please Him.
In verse 22 we read that through Christ, (our belief and relationship with Him), we become “without blemish and free from accusation.”

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE that thought! {Analogy of “the accuser…” etc.}
Picture yourself before the judgement seat of God pure, without blemish, and declared “not guilty!”
Right after that, though, is a phrase I’ve meditated on all week.
We discussed it in our Wednesday night group, too.

Paul says “if we continue in our faith, established and firm…” (:23)
Let’s be firm in our faith. Unwavering. Confident. Established.

Like we asked earlier about how we grow in the knowledge of God, I ask you this morning, how do we “continue in our faith?”
What does it look like to be “established and firm.”

I want to encourage you this morning that no matter where you are in your journey,
you can be “established and firm.” Sit up. Have confidence. You are a Warrior!
A child of the One True God! You are a King’s Kid!

You’ve made your choice. You’ve said you believe in Jesus. {And if you haven’t yet, nows the chance...}You know God raised Him from the dead.
You want Him to be in charge of your life, and you’re living for Him!
{If any of this isn’t true… now’s the time for it to become so…}

Now. Don’t look back. “Continue in your faith.” Keep believing. Spend time in prayer - talking and listening to Him. He is the Lover of your soul. He loves you and understands you better than anyone else ever has or will. Read His Word. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit if you haven’t already. Spend time with other believers to strengthen your faith. And share God’s love with others.

Let’s turn now to receiving God’s love through the elements of bread and juice as we remember the sacrificial love of Christ through Holy Communion.
Remembering is an important part of living in community.
[Have Jon come and join me!]



Hold back from eating and drinking until the words have been read, then we’ll all share in the meal together.

[Have elements ready to go. Hold up the cup as you read… Likewise, the bread…]

Hear more words from Paul, and Jesus, in I Corinthians 11:23-25 [Read]
Then, [Pray - Holy Spirit’s Presence on the bread & juice… Forgiveness.. Cleansing… Healing… Empowerment…]

Now release with Blessing!
[Prayer that God’s purpose for everyone on the other side of this pandemic will be made clear, too, as we know He’s going to be doing mighty things through His people, His church.]

2 Cor 13:14