a conversation with pastor Paul 04-25-2003

The speaker discusses the proof of God's existence through creation, revelation, and redemption. He emphasizes the beauty and complexity of creation, the influence of Abraham and the nation of Israel as evidence of revelation, and the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus as a defining moment in history. He mentions that science does not contradict God's existence but rather complements it. He concludes by stating that he cannot convince someone who does not believe in God, but encourages love, respect, and kindness in discussions about faith. Good morning everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. It's good to see you all this morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. It's good to see you all. Hope we're all doing well. Good morning everyone. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Let me get to where I need to here. Good morning everybody. Good to see you. Good to see you. Let me turn my Bible here. Man, I tell you what, I slept so good last night. I almost slept in. Alright Brother Ray Lambrail, good to see you all this morning. Good to see you all this morning. I hope, do you have any experience, wait, do you have any experience with 12-step programs? I don't. I have zero experience with 12-step programs. But thank you for asking though. What's going on? Ms. Kim, good morning. Good to see you this morning. Ray, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good to see all of you this morning. Good morning brother and sisters. Amen. Another day. Good morning Jim. Good to see you. Good to see you Lambrail. A brick of faith. Good morning to see you friend. Good to see you. Another day. What a blessing. My name is Matt. Can you please pray for me? I feel like giving up. Father God, I just thank you. Lord, I pray for Matt this morning. I pray Father that you would just bless him, watch over him and keep him. Lord, as he feels like giving up, I pray that you would just encourage him. Give him a hope. Show him grace, show him mercy Father God. And Lord, I pray that he would just keep his focus on you. Keep his head up. Not be consumed or concerned with the circumstances, but his faith and trust in you. Father, we ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Good morning. Good morning. Hey, real quick. I've had a young man that has, I guess he's on my lives in the morning and he has, he made the comment and I paraphrase. He says, you know, when I ask on your lives to prove if God's real, um, I'm muted. And so, uh, I, I saw that and you know, folks, I, I've got to be very candid with you and thank you so much. Um, um, um, it's, it's a question to prove if God is real when, and this is one man's opinion, please, please, uh, um, um, don't take this as, as, as doctrinal or biblical or, or, or just, this is my opinion. When someone asks me to prove God is real, it's sort of a, I don't know the word I'm looking for, but the question is to me, very elementary. I don't know any way to put it. I don't want to offend, but I don't, I also want to express my thoughts. When you ask me to prove that God is real, it, it, it, it, it just, Ace501, good to see you, uh, too. Good morning. It's, it's, it's, when someone asks me to prove if God's real, it's such an elementary question because in my thoughts, in my heart, it does not take much for me to understand that there is God. No title for today, Jim. It doesn't take much for me to understand that there is a God. When I look at the creation, when I look at the sky, when I look at, uh, um, the, the, the movement of birds, when I look at the transition of, of, um, um, wells going from north to south and, and vice versa. Good morning, Joshua. When I see these things, I can't help but think of God. And so when you ask me as a Christian, prove there is a God, I look just around me and I see the creation and I know in my heart of hearts, there is a God. So when people ask me, prove there is a God, I, I, I, I, that question just does, it, it, it just somehow, some way, it just does not, I look at that person and say, how, what are you asking, prove there's a God? I can't. I cannot prove there's a God. I know there's a God. I see his creation. I have seen beautiful things that only God can have created. The young man was a little short with me and he says, well, see, that's, that's obvious. That's obvious. This is, you guys can't do it. And I said, well, the question should be for you, prove that there is no God. And then he said, well, the burden of proof is on you. But see, the, there is no burden of proof for me. I see God's presence everywhere. To wake up this morning, knowing that in the course of the last night as I slept, God was watching over me, my heart continuously beating, my breaths inhaling and exhaling, my mind doing what it needs to do. I, I, I, I can't help but think there is a God. And when people ask me to prove that, however, let me give you three things and I wrote them down that I believe proves that God exists. The three words that I'm interested in sharing with you this morning is creation, revelation, and redemption. Creation, revelation, and redemption. I'm going to use those three words to express why I believe that God exists. Number one, we've already talked about it. Creation. Creation. Folks, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior on a surfboard in the ocean. I was in the Pacific Ocean. I was in the, on the Central Coast. I was on my surfboard. And as I was on my surfboard, as the ocean behind me, I was looking at the hills in an area called San Simeon. The landscaping is so beautiful. You have rolling hills. You have wildflowers. You have the, the, the, the, the, the beautiful landscaping, the fog, the marine layer on top of the mountains. And I remember sitting there on my surfboard and as the waves are coming in and I'm just, just, just my buoyancy is just floating over each wave. I fell in love with the creation. As I've seen the marine life, dolphins, whales, in these waters, not in that day, but in these waters. I've seen dolphins. I've seen whales. I, I've seen seals. I've seen all this beautiful, all these beautiful creatures living and existing in the ocean. The time that I went to see the Grand Canyon, all its beautiful layers of sediment as the beautiful Colorado River flows through it. As I have traveled the world and I've seen beautiful rainforests and the incredible ocean and vast deserts and beautiful mountains that would just blow your mind. I cannot help, but think of God. But to be honest with you, there are brilliant scholars that have completely devoted their life to studying our planet and how they came to the very conclusion that this, as we see it, cannot and could not be an accident. It couldn't be luck. It couldn't be chance. It couldn't be, it couldn't be, it couldn't be, as you look at creation, it couldn't be a flip of a coin. It couldn't be by chance. It couldn't be by accident. Everything is very methodically in place and everything is doing what it's supposed to do. Even the axis of the earth, the way that it's tilted, too much to the left, too much to the right, we could freeze or we could burn up, but it is precision. When you look at the skies and the star formation and how the seasons and the patterns within themselves, how men and women have looked to the skies to guide them and direct them, and they are precision. There are scholars that have explained this. The individual who was on the DNA discovery, who started doing his research with regards to the DNA discovery, he started off an atheist and he ended up a religious believer because when he started delving and digging into the creation of the anatomy, our DNA, he came to the conclusion there must have been a God. Folks, I can't deny God. And someone said, I don't worship the creation. I fell in love with the creator, but I looked at his creation, his handiwork, and I looked at it and I fell in love and said, there must be a creator. So for you to ask me, prove there's a God, I say, look around you and you will see God. The birth of a child, a child in the womb of a mother, to me is amazing. A butterfly and how it evolves, and I use that term loosely, how it evolves from a caterpillar to a butterfly amazes me. The flight of a hummingbird amazes me. So creation speaks volumes, and someone pointed out Romans, they are without excuse. But when you look at creation, it speaks volumes to who God is. Number two, revelation. So we have creation that proves God exists. And once again, there are far smarter people than me that can profoundly break down the science of our earth and conclude and conclude there must be or there has to be a creator, God. Number two, revelation. God reveals himself through his creation. But then I believe God reveals himself through his people. Abraham. Abraham, here, let me, I'm going to put this to the side. I'm just going to talk to you all this morning. I want you to think about Abraham. Do you know, I just want you to think about something, that half, Lee Strobel wrote good books, be it an atheist to a Christian, amen. Do you know that half the planet, right now, thank you, serves the God that Abraham served? Wait a minute. What are you saying, Pastor Paul? There are three major religions that came out of Abraham. We have the children of Israel, the Jews. We have Islam, the Muslims. And we have Jesus and his followers, Christians. That makes up half the population of the world. Between those three religions, half the population of the world serves and honors the God of Abraham. Think about it. Now, I don't agree with Islam. I am a Christian, but I am a, if you will, derivative, if you will, of the Jews. But can you explain to me, why half the earth's population serves the God that Abraham served? If God was not real, if God did not exist, how is it that half the population would honor God? Isn't that amazing? That is simply amazing to me. And Abraham, he wasn't a general who won wars. He wasn't a captain of industry. He wasn't a political figure. He was no one according to world standards of any importance. But Abraham's name still exists today. And we serve the God that Abraham served. And that within itself is amazing to me. We have creation. We can see God's creation. We have Abraham as a revelation that even, we look at Israel. I want you to think about Israel. Israel is a small group of people that cannot be eradicated. That's revelation. Israel, the descendants of Abraham, in a small land of Israel, has a veil of protection that watches over them. That is God revealing Himself through Israel. And we, America, Russia, you name the country, can do nothing to Israel. Israel has the favor of God. Israel has been chosen by God. They are descendants of Abraham. You need to explain to me, why is it that the descendants of Abraham, a small nation, reforms a nation in the 40s and has their country given back to them? God. Nothing but God. Those people that are walking around saying, God does not exist. How do you deny that God doesn't exist? Matter of fact, it takes more faith for you not to believe in God than it takes for me to believe in God. Hi, Kiana, baby girl. I love you. Be careful, okay? I see you, mommies. That's my baby girl right there. That's Kiana. She just did a flyby right there. That's my mommies right there. Kiana Rae Abram. Follow her. She said, hi, dad. Kiana Rae Abram. That's my baby. But it takes more work not to believe in God. So you look at creation. I'm sorry. I see creation, and I can't help but think of God. I look at the revelation. Once again, Abraham. Half the earth serves the God that Abraham served. That blows me away. If God was not real, why would half the earth, why all the things going on in the Middle East if you do not believe God exists? So this individual who comes and says, prove there's a God, prove there is no God. The individual who said, well, prove there is a God. I want you to prove. I want you to prove that God. I'm sorry. I was reading something that was sort of rude. Matter of fact, hang on. I probably shouldn't even acknowledge this, but he looks like he's blackface, not because of his voice, just his face. What does that mean? What does that mean? I know I should not even acknowledge you, but what does that mean? That's rude. Let's get back to what we're saying here. It's a crazy statement. Folks, I don't understand why people feel that they need to say rude things. I don't understand why people, and I know I'm not upset. Don't get me. I'm not upset. I'm just amazed how when comments need to, why do people say rude things? It's just an observation. Well, how is it rude? Are you serious, my friend? How is that rude? It's just an observation. How is that rude? Why does my face or the complexion of my face have anything to do with anything? That doesn't make sense to me. How is the pigmentation of my skin have anything to do with our conversation and what we're talking about? How is that rude? How is that rude? Our conversation and what we're talking about. Do you just not filter things and just say things without thinking it through? And you've not hurt my feelings, but I'm amazed how rude or how strange people can be. It doesn't make sense. I love this. Treat others with love and respect. Hey, man, we should treat each other with love and respect. Why is it that we just want to say things, especially in this climate, in these times? Why do we even say blackface? Why is that necessary? But I choose to love you. I forgive you, but please be respectful. I should have probably not acknowledged that and please forgive me, everyone. But I don't understand why we feel necessary that we just say whatever comes to our mind. It's just not acceptable. And we need it. I think it's the book of James talks about the tongue. We need to control our tongue. All right, back to God. So creation. We have revelation. Once again, Abraham, the children of Israel. God has revealed that to us and we can't deny the power of God working with his people. Last but not least, redemption. The most defining moment in history that has affected each one of us is the death, or I should, let me back up, the birth and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Sister Coleman, good morning. It's good to see you. Let me repeat that. Redemption. The greatest event that has touched every individual in this world is the birth, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ himself. It cannot be denied. Every part of society has been affected by Jesus Christ. Every ethnic group, every culture, every country has been affected by Jesus Christ. His birth, his death, and his resurrection. Every country. That cannot be denied. Even the calendar itself speaks to Jesus. You can deny it. You cannot accept it. But Jesus has made his mark. Now, here's the powerful thing. We we know of other important figures that have come down the pipeline. But what do we say about them? They've come and they've gone. They had a sunrise and they had a sunset. We visit their graves. I just talked to my brother the other day, and this is just an example. He was in Seattle. I said, what did you do while you were in Seattle? He goes, I went to A, B, and C. I go, well, what in particular? He goes, we went to go see the grave of Jimi Hendrix. The key to that conversation is Jimi Hendrix is in the grave. Muhammad is in the grave. Confucius is in the grave. The list goes on of individuals who made their mark on humanity. They were born, they lived, and they died. But when we talk about Jesus Christ, the grave could not hold him. The tomb could not stop him. Death could not hold him back. And he resurrected on the third day. And the world has been changed ever since. Think about it. Think about it. So when you ask me to prove there's a God, from the point of creation, there are more brilliant scholars that could expound on our planet and give you scientific detail to exactly how precision this world is far better than I can. But I don't need them to explain, because my Bible says, in the beginning, God Bible says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's enough for me. And, he said, and it is good. I don't need any more. I receive that. I accept that. As for Revelation, I can't help but look at the children of Israel, their presence. Israel itself. The nation, the land, the people. That this is an old world country that is still with us today. That the very words they use in Hebrew could have been easily spoken back in the time of David. That the descendants of Abraham occupy a land in the Middle East. And they are still there. The descendants of Abraham, when it comes to Ishmael, with all the Arab nations that surround Israel, are still there. And if you look at them, you can almost see the pattern of life that Abraham would have lived. That right there, my folks, is a divine revelation, if you really think about it. They're going to fight until the end. It is sad that they're fighting, but they're fighting over some real estate. They're fighting over culture and customs. They are fighting because one is the firstborn son out of a promise of God, meaning Ishmael. And Isaac was the promised seed. One from a slave woman, one from a free woman. Isaac was the promised seed. One from a slave woman, one from a free woman. Sarah. And last but not least, redemption. God sent his only begotten son to save us, to redeem us, to restore us, that we may worship God, that we would be brought back into the favor of God. You want me to prove there's a God? Those are my three foundations of proof. But the most powerful thing is that I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, and God has revealed himself to me by his forgiveness, by his love, by his favor. I know God exists. However, for the individual, I don't know if he's on here this morning, but for the individual that has got on on my content and has challenged me, which is fine, who has challenged me with regards to God Almighty, I will not debate nor argue with you. I will not debate nor argue with you, because it's impossible for me to convince you what the obvious is. If you do not receive it or accept it, I cannot in no means convince you of what's obvious. I can sit here and say the sky is blue, but if you keep thinking it's orange, and if you have convinced yourself it is orange, what am I going to do? What can I possibly do? But if I will love you, I will respect you. When you see that pause like that, I'm sorry, guys, especially when one of the moderators says something, I stop and read it. I will love you. I will respect you. I will be kind to you, but I cannot convince you God exists because it's such an elementary thought to me. How can you not believe? How can you not think that God doesn't exist? This individual mentioned science, a hospital, a place of science, yet you ignore science and all other matters. Miss Jackie, I'm not quite sure where you stand when it comes to God, but I have worked in many hospitals with many surgeons. One of the most profound surgeons I have ever met said something very powerful. He said, I make the incision, but God does the healing. I have a personal friend, I will not mention his name. He is the leading expert on tissue regeneration. He's world renowned. We've known each other since we were teenagers. He speaks all over the world, and he'll be the first one to tell you you'd be a fool not to believe in God because science and God do not disagree with each other. Matter of fact, science compliments God. This is a world renown. From his lips to my ears, this is what he says. So please, science and mathematics, even God created that. You wouldn't have science or mathematics if it wasn't for God. You wouldn't have the ability to think and ponder the thoughts of mathematics and science if God didn't exist. Because you've got to remember, we are created in his image. And in his image, we have the ability, God has given us the gift to think and to reason and to create. That was a gift. But only God can create something from nothing. Man has to create from something. God is blessed. Science is just man's understanding of God's creation. Amen. So I finish this statement with this. When you ask me to prove there's a God, I will stop, take a breath, and I will look around and say, is this not proof enough? If you ask me to prove that there is a God, I tell you to look at the Middle East. Do your homework. I'm sorry, I look at Israel. When people say, how do you believe that God doesn't exist when you look at Israel? Study just the history of Israel itself, folks. It's not by luck. I mean, the Six Day War. The Six Day War. Israel. All these Muslim nations coming against them. And they couldn't overthrow them. That would prove Judaism exists, but not Christianity. But my point, if you heard me earlier, half the earth's population serves the God that Abraham serves. Is that by luck? Is that an accident? And out of Abraham, beyond Judaism, two major religions exist. Islam and Christianity. All serving the God Abraham served. Or I should say, wanting to serve, because I do not believe, well, that's another subject another day. Half the earth's population. But when you look at Israel, and how God has delivered them, and watched over them, and kept them, and provided for them, and 2023, they're still there. When you look at all the prophecies throughout scripture. When you look at Jesus, that redemption, that Jesus, I mean, God would send his only begotten son to redeem us, to save us. How do you believe that there is no God? Folks, that's me. That's me. Now, though, I leave you with this, though. Here we go. Are you ready? In your free will, in your free will, in your choice, you have a right not to believe in God. You have a right. And I would never, hi Ms. Lacey, I would never infringe on your free will. I would never step in the way of your choice. I would never, ever disrespect you with regards to your choice and God. If you don't want to believe that God exists, I respect you. If you don't want to believe that the word of God is real, I will honor that. If you want to believe that Christians serve a sky daddy, and that somehow we are weak, that's your choice. But let me warn you. One day, you will take your last breath. I've been in the medical field for a long time. I've been in many, many ORs. I've seen codes after codes where people have flatlined. They went in semi-healthy. The procedure was going to be a simple procedure. It was going to be, you know, you know, in and out, get you back home, you're done. But I've seen it over and over again that an individual went in and all of a sudden that it was pronounced they are dead. But here we go. You, my friend, might want to think about eternity. Because I will tell you your soul was built to last for eternity. Your soul was built to exist after life. Make sure that you are not making a decision out of pride, intellect, or opinion. Because I'm telling you right now, the moment you take that last breath, if you do not have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you've not repented and put all your faith in the Son of God, you will be separated from God for eternity. Amen. Nowhere in scripture, I like that, nowhere it says prove. We don't have to. That's why it's called faith. But when you take that last breath, hear me friend, hear me, you will know God is real. When you take that last breath and that heart stops and you transition from life unto death, you will know that God is real. But here lies the problem. If you did not accept Jesus Christ in this life, it will be too late for you. It will be too late for you. It's that simple. It is that simple. You can go on. I won't get in your way. You don't want to believe? That's fine. You don't want to accept the Lord? That's fine. That'll be on you. And God will honor you. You don't want to have nothing to do with Him? There's no sense in me trying to push my belief on you. But you've heard me say it before and I'll say it again. Thank you so much, Brother James. Listen to, I've said this before and I'm going to say it again. It's not my job to make you believe. Let me repeat this. It is not my job to make you believe. It is my job to live what I believe. And I believe in the living God. I believe in His Son. My faith is in the Lord. That's in the subject. That's in the subject. And that subject within itself, thank you. And that subject within itself, I can't argue. Now, we can debate who the greatest football team is, because I think Dallas Cowboys are the greatest, even though they don't win. We could debate politics, you know, the Republicans versus the Democrat, what president, this and that. We can debate about everything. But the one thing I will not debate with you is the King of King and the Lord of Lords. The King of King and the Lord of Lords. The King of King and the Lord of Lords. Because I cannot and refuse to debate the obvious. It's no debate. It's no debate. That's basically it. Deliverance. I believe that Jesus Christ went to the cross for our sins. Our sins that we have committed. We know this in the book of Romans, that the Lord went to the cross for the sins that we've committed. This is why we say, Lord, forgive us, for I am a sinner. I have sinned. But then we are filled with the Spirit for our deliverance. Uh-oh. I hope that answers your question. See, as a Christian, and I was explaining this to somebody yesterday. I've got to get going here in about one minute. But we are filled with the Spirit, because why? We struggle with the issue of sin. See, we've been forgiven of our sins. That was done at the cross. But now we are filled with the Spirit so that we can be delivered daily. That's called progressive sanctification. As a Christian, we still, as Christians, we still struggle with the sin nature. Because why? We were born sinners. We inherited from Adam and Eve. Trust me, there's Christian folks that are struggling right now with pornography. There are Christian folks that are struggling right now with addictions. There are Christian folks struggling right now with anger. There are Christian folks right now that are struggling with thievery. Right now, there are people, some of you, you're struggling right now. But you're growing. You're progressing. So that's the deliverance that God is working in you and through you. You are a new creature and a new creation. Sometimes it can happen just like that. The Apostle Paul, three days, blind. But then when God gave him his sight back, boy, he was on fire. So deliverance, that's why you're filled with the Spirit. Jesus was the substitute on the cross for sins, and Jesus is the substitute within for deliverance. But we have to be focused in our word, focused in our prayer, focused in who we interact with, that we may grow in Christ. You can't grow in Christ if you don't open your word. You can't grow in Christ if you're not in prayer. You can't grow in Christ if you're running with some folks that oppose, maybe not in words, but in action, oppose the word of God. You can't grow. But when we get serious about our word, when we get serious about our prayer, when we get serious about who we associate with, now we find ourselves that God is revealing himself to us, and we grow in Christ. We start reading the word, and we start dismissing the things we used to do because we were slaves. Because remember, we were slaves to sin, but because of Jesus, we are slaves no more. We are slaves to God. I'm a bondservant of Jesus Christ. I know some of you. You can never be Christ, but you can have the mind of Christ. You can never be Christ, but you can have the mind of Christ. If you read the Bible, you can never be Christ, but you can have the mind of Christ. What is the mind of Christ? He said it well. He says, I'm here. I'm about my Father's business. Somebody said, I'd rather be with God. The only way that you get through God is through Jesus, because Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one come to the Father. The Father is God, but by me. You can't get to God unless you go through Jesus. Jesus is the expression and image of God. God was in Jesus. God is Jesus. Jesus is God. Jesus is God. And I think the last words was said so eloquently right there by Irene, I choose love. I choose God, for God is love. Folks, I've got to get going. I am going to go back tomorrow, Lord willing, to 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, but then we're going to spin off. Because we remember yesterday, for the preaching of the cross, I want to know more of what they're preaching. So then what we're going to look at is more of what they're preaching. So then what we're going to look at is John 3, 16, and we are going to see the love of God. Because of John 3, 16, we're going to see the love of the Lord Almighty that he sent his begotten Son for the world to redeem us, to bring us back into fellowship with God. So, Lord willing, tomorrow, once again, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, we will use that as the foundation as we've been using for about five days now, but we will spin off from there. We will springboard from that to John 3, 16, and we're going to look at the love of God. Those of you who want to be on here, we welcome you. Those of you who are on here just to be rude, we'd love for you to be here, but you don't have to be rude. We want you to listen. We will pray for you. We will answer the best that we possibly can. You might not get the proof you want that God exists, but you will feel the love of God's people on here. So please be respectful to us. We'll be respectful to you. And if God will allow it, he'll use us in a way that you may hear his message. And his message is quite clear. I love you, and I sent my son to die for your sins. End of subject. Either we can accept him, or we can deny him. But we welcome you here to listen in and to learn. All right, everybody. I've got to get going. Praise God for you. I know this morning was a little bit different. I was going to talk about something else, but I really wanted to identify that young man with regards to prove God exists. Once again, the three things, creation, revelation, and redemption. I used the creation itself displays God's handiwork. Revelation, Abraham and the children of Israel, and Israel itself. And no doubt, in the end, I used Jesus Jesus. As far as I'm concerned, is the benchmark of who God is. I hope that all help. Praise God for all of you. Let me pray you out. And let's get going and go experience a beautiful day that God has made. Father God, we thank you. We praise you, Lord. If there were any prayer requests, and I miss Lord, you know, you know, what is needed in prayer, Father, and I pray that you would just bless and restore and that you will heal that you would deliver. Father, I pray that you would just watch over us and keep us that you would use us in the course of our day. I pray, Father God, as I go to ace today, that you would just bless me that you would use me to just love on someone or love on people in general. Father God, Father, we just thank you. We praise you. We love your grace. We love your mercy. And we ask all of this in the name of Jesus. And we all say, Amen. All right, everybody. God bless you. Have a beautiful day. May the Lord use you. And remember, wait a minute. You know what I'm going to say? Hang on. Hang on. There we go. Can we see it the right way? I choose love. All right, everybody. God bless you.