Beyond A Reasonable Faith #1: Seeking Our Highest Good

We Are Creatures Of God God is our Creator Genesis 1:26-27 – “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

John 1:3-4 “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

God Created Us Uniquely Not like inanimate objects They are also created, but without life

Not like plants Which are created Which have life But which cannot experience the sensory world.

Not Like Un-reasoning Animals Which are created. Which have life. Which can experience the sensory world. But which cannot see beyond the immediate world or experience the spiritual.

But In The Image Of God With horizontal awareness But also with vertical awareness With the ability to think, plan and reason. With the ability to perceive and grasp the supernatural.

We Were Created For Eternity We have a will and a reason We have a heart “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23

We Are Aware Of The Spiritual Ecclesiastes 3:11 -- He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

We Cannot/Should Not Be Satisfied With merely the temporal Matthew 16:26 – “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Do We Seek God? We have the ability to decide. What does this say about us? Psalm 10:4 – “The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All this thoughts are, “There is no God.”

Psalm 63:1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Acts 17:26-28   “…and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’

Romans 10:3 “For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”

Will We Recognize God’s Presence? In science? Art? Philosophy? 1 John 2:17 – “The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

Foolishness Compared To God 1 Corinthians 3:19 – “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness.”

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

Romans 1:21 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Seek Eternal Life John 3:16, 36 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life….He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”