About this sermon
The Apostles’ Creed begins, ‘I believe in God,’ and everything depends on which God that means. The God of American civil religion is a spare tire for emergencies, while the God of Scripture is holy, sovereign, and triune. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ shows that God is eternal, self-existent, and needs nothing outside himself. God has revealed himself supremely in Jesus Christ, and knowing him through Christ is eternal life.
Sermon transcript
of God’s Word. This morning officially begins a new sermon series which is going to be guided by the Apostles’ Creed but based in the Scriptures. This is a series entitled Foundations of Faith. And the title of my sermon this morning is Foundations of Faith, I Believe in God, Our sermon text today is Genesis 1, verses one through three. We’ll be focusing especially on verse one, but let us hear God’s holy word from this book of beginnings, Genesis 1, verses one through three. Here with reverence and awe, the word of our God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light.” The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever.
Let’s pray for God’s blessing upon the preaching of His Word. Heavenly Father, indeed, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Holy Scriptures. They are indeed a lamp unto our feet, a light into our path. a guide to our way. We ask that by your Holy Spirit, the seed of your word would indeed find a lodging place in our souls and bear much spiritual fruit in our hearts and lives. We pray that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear that which the Spirit is speaking to us and teaching us in this portion of your inerrant word. And we pray, Lord, that once again that you would set a guard over my lips, that I might speak only that which is faithful to your word, and edifying to your people, and glorifying to your holy name.
In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. If you’re following along in your sermon outline, you’ll notice that there are a number of key words you can be listening for in my sermon today if that helps you to follow along. The words God, believe, eternal, self-existent, necessary, and creation. Well dear brothers and sisters in Christ, there is nothing more foundational, nothing more fundamental, nothing more central to our holy Christian faith than the truth of God’s existence. And while it is true that militant atheism seems to be on the rise in recent decades in our increasingly secular and even post-Christian context here in the United States of America, at the same time, it is my understanding that even today, in 2023, a significant majority of Americans, whether they be religious or secular, continue to profess belief in the existence of God.
If you were to take an informal survey, walk down the streets here in Sewickley and ask people, well, do you believe in God? You might get a few folks saying, well, no, I don’t, you know, I’m an atheist or I don’t believe in God. But my suspicion is that many would say, well, yeah, I believe in God. The phrase, in God we trust, continues to remain on our currency. One nation, under God, continues to remain as an affirmation in our pledge of allegiance. At many patriotic events, the popular song, God Bless America, continues to be sung, and often sung with vigor and deep feeling. And of course, the typical ending of political speeches given by our political leaders of both parties continues to be the typical benedictory statement, may God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America, or something along those lines.
But friends, all of this should raise in our minds an important question. The question, what do most people mean when they say, I believe in God? Indeed, dear friends, what do you and I, what do we mean when we say, I believe in God? Which God or divine being do we believe in? We might like to say in God we trust, but in which God do we trust? For example, do we believe in and trust in a lowest common denominator deity, the so-called non-sectarian God of American civil religion and patriotism? The spare tire God that we can turn to in times of national crisis and national emergency, but who can be safely ignored most other times. A nationalistic God who sort of serves as a mascot for our political and nationalistic causes and aims. Is that the kind of God that we believe in?
Or do we, in fact, believe and trust in the holy, sovereign, triune God, the true and living God who is revealed to us in the pages of His Word, the Bible, the God who is confessed historically and internationally in the Orthodox creeds of the historic Christian church, such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed? Friends, as we kick off this sermon series on the foundations of our faith, which will be guided by the affirmations that are found in the Apostles’ Creed, we consider today the first affirmation of that creed, which is, and I’m sure you’re welcome to recite it along with me if you wish, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in particular, we’re gonna focus today on the very first statement of this first affirmation, which is, I believe in God.
And friends, what better portion of God’s word to turn to as the basis for this foundational affirmation than the very opening verses of that biblical book, which is foundational for every other book that follows it in Holy Scripture, namely the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis is an incredibly important and foundational portion of scripture. The book of Genesis has rightly been called the book of beginnings. And it’s interesting to note that Genesis actually opens up in chapter 1, verse 1, with the Hebrew word bereshith, a word which itself means beginning or in the beginning. Friends, Genesis as a whole, of course, is focused on introducing us to the covenant history of Israel, the history of how Israel came to be. In other words, the particular focus of Genesis is on introducing the story of Israel.
But in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, the foundational chapters of Genesis, the story of Israel is set within its broader cosmic context. as the inspired author, who I believe to be Moses, the prophet, gives us the big picture background leading up to God’s covenant with the patriarch Abraham, which is recorded in Genesis chapter 12. And so friends, the creation account at the beginning of this opening section of Genesis introduces us to the story behind the story of Israel, namely the story of God’s creation of the universe. and his sovereign formation of the earth as a very good habitable dwelling place for his image bearers, mankind, male and female, Adam and Eve and their descendants. Thus our passage for this Lord’s Day morning introduces us to the glorious being of the true and living triune God, the God in whom we trust.
And this passage also introduces us to His mighty works of creation. Indeed, our passage for today implies and supports our foundational Christian belief in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. that foundational belief with which we and all Orthodox Christians throughout the world confess in that ancient ecumenical creed known as the Apostles’ Creed. So what do we learn from our passage for this Lord’s Day morning? Well, there’s many things that we can learn from this passage, but I want to focus on three important lessons that we learn about God from this passage of Holy Scripture. First of all, we learn here, beloved, that the true and living God is an eternal being. The true and living God is an eternal being. That’s the first main point in your sermon outline. To say that God is eternal is to say that he is beyond time.
He transcends time. Indeed, he transcends time, space, and matter. He is the transcendent, eternal one. Our shorter catechism in its Bible-based answer to question number four, the question, what is God, states that God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Friends, the Bible’s teaching that the true and living God is infinite and eternal is clearly implied by the opening words here in Genesis 1, verse 1. The words, in the beginning, God. You see, in the beginning God, this opening statement implies and necessitates that God existed before the beginning, before the existence of time, space, and matter, and that he himself transcends the limitations of time, space, and matter. God was there even from before the beginning, and thus, as Moses opens up this wonderful portion of scripture, and indeed all of scripture, in the beginning, God.
But this opening statement, in the beginning, implies an important question. One of the keys to being a well-informed and discerning Bible reader is to learn how to ask good questions of what you’re reading. And so I would encourage you when you’re studying the scriptures, when you’re reading the scriptures, to have perhaps a writing pad beside you. I mean, I know that’s old school. You can use your computer or your phone or whatever else you may choose to use to take notes. But however you do it, if you’re reading a passage of scripture, especially one that’s unfamiliar or difficult, then write down questions. What does this mean? To whom was this passage written? How would the original readers have understood this passage? And so forth. Well, one important question that ought to rise in our minds as we read these words in the beginning is the question, in the beginning of what?
In the beginning of what? And that’s actually the Bible exegetes and scholars actually have some different views on what is being spoken of here. You see, the question arises, is the divinely inspired author or editor here speaking of an absolute beginning of creation ex nihilo, as the theologians call it? In other words, is this talking about God creating all things out of nothing, simply by his sovereign word of power? Is that what verse one and this reference to the beginning, is that what that’s speaking of? Or is this particular text speaking about the beginning of a creation process where God sovereignly acts to bring order and purpose and to assign functions to material that he has already brought into being and which is laid out for us in these six creation days that follow this opening statement.
In other words, Does the statement in the beginning have in view an initial instantaneous act of absolute creation out of nothing? Is this referring to what we might call the biblical Big Bang, if you will, that act of divine creation whereby God brought space, time, and matter themselves into being? or is the beginning here meant as sort of a summary statement that has in view the entire creation process as revealed in the six creation days that follow here in Genesis chapter one. Well, friends, this is not an exegetical issue where conservatives and liberal theologians and scholars are at odds. Even Bible-believing evangelical and reform scholars differ on how to answer these kinds of interpretive questions. Now, let us say hypothetically that the beginning here, the word beginning represents a summary of the entire six-day creation process.
And the view that says the beginning represents this summary seems to be reflected in some of the more contemporary translations that are out there. For example, if you look at the Good News translation, the Good News Bible, it is translated in the beginning when God created the universe. Contemporary Roman Catholic translation, the New American Bible, translates it similarly. It says, in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. Now in this view, Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 does not seem to be speaking about an absolute beginning, but about the beginning of a process which is described again in the rest of the chapter, in which case the reference here to the beginning is a summary of God’s works of creation during the six creation days. Now, some folks might get nervous with that view.
Some might object to this summary view by asking the question, well, if the summary view is correct, doesn’t that undermine the doctrine of God creating all things out of nothing? Doesn’t it deny or undermine creation ex nihilo? And friends, the answer to that question, if you take the summary view, in my view, no, it does not in any way take away from the truth of creation ex nihilo. For even if this verse does not directly teach the doctrine of creation out of nothing, it most certainly assumes and implies it. Furthermore, there are numerous other passages of Holy Scripture that clearly teach or clearly imply the doctrine of creation out of nothing, or in the Latin, creation ex nihilo. Let’s take a look at a few of those verses. Let’s turn, for example, to the passage from the book of Psalms that I read in opening up our worship service today.
Let’s look particularly at Psalm 33, verse six. In Psalm 33, verse six, we read these words. It says, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth, all their host. This clearly teaches or implies creation out of nothing, that God, by his sovereign creative word, brought the heavens into being, and by the breath of his mouth, that imagery of God, God’s speech, his divine creative speech, bringing the heavens into being. Or consider, for example, Hebrews 11 verse three, which is arguably one of the clearest statements of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo in all of scripture, in Hebrews 11 verse 3 we read these words, it says, by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that, listen here, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
In other words, God didn’t need preexistent stuff in order to create the universe. For God, by his sovereign creative word, brought all that stuff into being. Or consider what is said in Revelation chapter four, verse 11. This is the final, as we compare scripture with scripture, this is the final passage of that comparison that we’re gonna look at at this point. Here, as we see a picture of heavenly worship, The following is said of God. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. Again, all of these biblical passages teach or at the very least strongly imply the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, that God created all things out of nothing. He simply spoke the word and all things instantaneously, time, space, and matter instantaneously came into being.
So even if, getting back to our passage for today, even if you take the summary view that the beginning is referring to everything that follows here in chapter one rather than the absolute creation view, the summary view does not undermine the truth of creation ex nihilo. But friends, I find myself leaning toward the view that the beginning in view here is the absolute beginning, when God instantaneously, by a supernatural divine fiat, spoke the universe into being by His sovereign, creative word. And the reason that I hold this view and would commend it to you is that when we compare Scripture with Scripture, it seems that the New Testament apostolic writers, such as, for example, the Apostle John, understood the beginning to be an absolute beginning. John himself lifts the language here from Genesis and speaks of the absolute beginning in John chapter one, verses one to three.
Let me just read that very familiar passage and remind us of what John’s prologue says in the opening verses of John chapter one. John writes, in the beginning, where have you heard those words before? from Genesis 1 verse 1. In the beginning was the word. It’s clear that in John’s writing, the beginning he refers to is not the beginning of the six day creation process, but the beginning, the absolute beginning. In the beginning was the word. That’s Jesus, that’s the eternal Christ, the divine Logos. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. That is to say the Lord Jesus Christ is the divine agent and mediator of creation itself.
And so again, as we ask the question, the beginning of what? This is speaking of an absolute beginning. Now what are some lessons that we can learn from this? We can learn many lessons from this, but I would commend a couple of applications to you, brothers and sisters. First of all, when you really dig down and think about it carefully, ultimately there are only two possibilities. Either the universe itself is eternal and uncreated, or God alone is eternal and brought the universe into existence into existence at a point in time in the past. The idea, however, and of course, if you’re an atheist, you have to believe in the eternality of the universe. I remember when I was in college I took an astronomy class and the particular professor that I had in that class was talking about the Big Bang Theory, which it’s my understanding is the typical accepted view in the scientific community today, and he was talking about how according to the Big Bang theory, all that we see, the universe exploded into being from an infinitesimally small point at some point in the past, usually billions of years in the past, that the universe exploded into being.
And the question was asked, well, where did that explosion come from? And one theory that is out there is that there has been an eternal series, an infinite series of big bangs followed by big crunches. The idea being that, yes, the universe explodes into being, but then eventually, after billions and billions and billions of years, it wears out and then it falls back into itself and it crunches. So there’s been an infinite series of big bangs and big crunches. But that really raises, that just pushes the question back, the question of where did the first big bang come from, if this was the case? So you either have an eternal creation, an eternal universe, even if that eternal universe involves an infinite series of big bangs and big crunches, or you have an eternal God who at some point in the past sovereignly brings this universe into being.
But friends, the idea that the universe is eternal not only contradicts biblical and theological truth, of course, not only does it contradict logic, But it is also my understanding that it is contrary to contemporary science. For most scientists today, like I said, believe that the universe had a beginning at some point in time, that there was a Big Bang. Now we don’t base our faith on current scientific theories, which are often ever-changing, but friends, these are the ultimate two options. You either have an eternal universe or an eternal God. Of course, the Bible teaches us, God’s word teaches us that he is eternal. But that often raises the question. And children are wonderful in raising good questions. Out of the mouths of babes and infants, God has ordained praise and oftentimes our children ask very perceptive questions.
And have you ever heard your child, if you have children, ask the question, well, mom or dad, if God created everything, What comes next? Who created God? And of course, more cynical individuals, cynical adults like atheists and skeptics love to throw that question out there to believers to try to stump us and say, well, you say God created everything. Well, who created God? And the answer to that question, my friends, is that God, by definition, has always been. To suggest that the eternal, uncreated God needed to be created is to limit God in the way that we creatures are limited, as if God is, like us, a creature bound by time or space or matter. But no, my friends, God, by definition, is the uncreated creator. Any so-called God that needs a creator himself is not the God of Scripture.
The God of Scripture is the eternal one, the transcendent one, the great I am, the self-existent one. Oh, children, think about how great our God must be, so great that He has always been. Children, this is the amazing thing about the God that we worship, the true and living God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He has always been. And you might say, well, pastor, I don’t know how to understand that. How do I wrap my brain around that? A God who never had a beginning and will never have an end? A God who indeed is beyond time? How do I wrap my brain around that? And the answer is you can’t, because you and I are finite, limited creatures. God is infinite and eternal. And what that means, brothers and sisters, and children of God.
What that means for you and for me is that the God who has always been and always will be will always be there for us. He is ever present with us and he has loved us in Christ with an everlasting love. So the true and living God is an eternal being. We learn next that the true and living God is a self-existent being, which is to say God does not depend upon anyone or anything outside of himself to come into being or to remain inexistent. in existence. He is the self-existent one. We are told in this passage, in the beginning, God. Now the Hebrew word for the name God is the plural word Elohim. The singular would be El, the plural word is Elohim. This is the generic name for God. It’s the name of God which stresses God as the creator and the sovereign Lord over all.
Whereas the name Yahweh often translated in English versions as Lord in all capital letters. Whenever you see that in your Old Testament, you read the word capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That’s the English translators telling you that they are translating the Hebrew name for God Yahweh. And Yahweh is the name of God that speaks of God in His special covenant relationship with Israel, His redeemed people. But the name Elohim is a more generic name for God. It has in view God as the great creator and Lord over all. And one of the major lessons of the creation account here in Genesis 1 as a whole is that Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, is Elohim, the creator of all. The God of Israel was not some kind of nationalistic tribal deity, some kind of mascot for ancient Israel.
The true and living God, the Yahweh, the God of Israel, the redeeming covenant God of Israel was the creator of the universe, is the creator of the heavens and the earth. It’s also interesting, as I mentioned, to note that the word Elohim is in the plural. And you might say, well, then why isn’t it translated, in the beginning, gods created the heavens and the earth? In fact, in other contexts in the scriptures, this word Elohim can sometimes refer to multiple gods, the false gods and idols of the nations. However, we know that it is to be understood singularly here in this passage, because in the context of this passage, The word clearly refers to the one true God, since the verb create here is in the singular, which indicates that this God, Elohim, is being presented as one divine being.
Well then why does Moses, under the Spirit’s inspiration, give him the name Elohim, this plural name? Well, most scholars believe that this is a plural of majesty. It’s not just in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It’s as if he’s saying in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God, the majestic one. And so it’s a plural of majesty. What are some of the lessons that we learn here? Well, first of all, beloved, as I’ve already mentioned, in the beginning God implies that God, Elohim, existed even before the beginning, which itself implies that the God we worship, the God we love, the God we confess and trust in is self-existent. He depends upon no one outside of himself. In the words of our beloved Westminster Confession of Faith in chapter two, section two, That section says this, God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself, and is alone in and unto himself all sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them.
Now, think about that. That is so different from the many sentimental ideas about God that are out there in our culture today, especially the idea, and maybe you’ve heard this expressed by some Christian preachers or teachers, the idea that, well, the reason God created us is because God was all alone by himself. He got lonely, he wanted fellowship, so he created us. Well, what does that imply? That implies that God needs someone or something outside of himself. But no, friends, God did not create us because he was lonely or because he somehow needed us. God has perfect fellowship within his own triune being. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally in love with each other, in eternal communion and community with one another within the one divine being. God does not need us. God certainly loves us.
He cares about us in Christ. but he doesn’t need us. He needs only himself. He has no needs outside of himself because he is self-sufficient, self-sufficient. Again, he loves us, but he doesn’t need us, for he is the self-existent, self-sufficient one. He is the great I am. And that’s a very humbling truth. We live in a very narcissistic culture, very self-centered culture, with the idea that God exists for our benefit rather than we existing for His glory. It’s very humbling to realize, yes, God loves you, but He does not need you. That’s very humbling. Another truth that we learn in this passage has to do with the doctrine of the Trinity. Now while this passage does not directly or explicitly teach the doctrine of the Trinity in its fully developed form, New Testament form, in this passage there are hints of a trinity of divine persons within the one divine being.
And I’ve already mentioned one of those hints and that is the name Elohim, God. As I mentioned, this is a plural of majesty, but this plural of majesty is certainly compatible with the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine that there are three divine persons within the one Godhead, that the one true and living God exists eternally in three co-equal, co-eternal persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So there’s the plural of majesty, which is used for God’s name. We also, in verse two, we read of the Spirit of God. It says in verse two, the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the what? The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Again, today we would, under the new covenant, we understand this to be and would identify this as the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity.
Another observation that supports the implicit Trinitarianism of our passage is that throughout this creation account, God uses his creative word, his let there be, in order to create and fashion and form. In John 1, verse 1, Christ is revealed as the eternal divine Word, the divine Logos through whom God the Father created all things. So this reference to creation by the divine creative Word points to Jesus, the eternal living Word. And therefore, friends, The Genesis account contains the doctrine of the Trinity in its Old Testament seed form. Again, it’s not fully revealed here. That would have been very confusing for the ancient Israelites. The thing that they were confronted in day in and day out was polytheism. Their Gentile nations worshipped multiple gods. It would have been very confusing to the ancient Israelites if God had revealed to them the truth of the Trinity in its New Testament fully developed form.
They needed to be reminded of monotheism, that there is only one true God. But nevertheless, the Trinity is here, at least in implicit Old Testament seed form. So friends, the true and living God, the God whom we worship, the God whom we confess, the God whom we serve, He is an eternal being. He is a self-existent being. But finally, the true and living God is a necessary being. The true and living God is a necessary being. One of the things that scholars have noted about the creation account in Genesis 1 is that in this account, Moses does not begin Genesis by trying to prove the existence of God. We might wish that he had, you know, some moderns might wish that, well, why doesn’t Moses give us evidence and proof for the existence of God?
Rather, Genesis assumes or presupposes God’s existence. While the creation account in Genesis 1 does involve argumentation, it implicitly argues against polytheistic idolatry and it implicitly refutes the pagan creation stories that had saturated the ancient Near East and had undergirded the religious beliefs and practices of ancient Israel’s pagan Gentile neighbors. In other words, there is an anti-pagan, anti-polytheistic polemic going on in a very sophisticated way here in Genesis chapter one. Nevertheless, the inspired author or editor of this biblical creation account does not seek to offer any fancy philosophical or logical proofs of God’s existence. But that’s not a deficiency, actually, when you really think about it. If you think about it, this actually makes sense. After all, as the great Christian apologist, defender of the faith, Dr. Cornelius Van Til reminded us, the existence of the triune God of Holy Scripture is the necessary precondition of all intelligibility, which is a fancy way of saying that God is the foundation of all rationality, all intelligible communication. all logic and therefore all proof.
The reason that the universe makes sense, the reason that it is orderly, the reason that science can study the creation and make sense of it is because its creator is the divine logos, the eternal living divine logos. Our ability as creatures, image bearers of God to use reason and logic is grounded in the reality of the divine eternal logos. And so friends, another way of putting this is to say that without God’s existence, nothing else would exist including the laws of logic or the human capacity for rationality. If there is no God, the question should be raised, then why is there anything at all? In fact, if you’re ever in a conversation with a skeptic or an atheist, and you’re talking about the existence of God, ask your dialogue partner, well, why do you think there is something rather than nothing?
How do you explain, how do you explain the universe in which we live? The true and living triune God himself is the absolutely necessary being for without him nothing else is, nothing else can be. The ultimate reason that we are beloved is because he, Elohim, the great I am, he is. He is and therefore you and I are. So we confess together as the basic foundation of our faith, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Should we continue to believe in God? Absolutely, yes. We should believe in God. If we profess to be Christians, then we can confess without hesitation, without embarrassment, and with full conviction of mind and heart that we indeed believe in and trust in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. However, let us remember that the God in whom we believe, the God whom we seek to serve, the God whom we confess to a lost and dying world is none other than the true and living triune God revealed in the pages of His Word, the Bible.
And dear listener, the only way that you and I can truly know this true and living God, this God revealed in Holy Scripture, is by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as your very own Savior and Lord. For it is in Jesus Christ that God has revealed Himself supremely. Do you know Christ? Is He your Savior? As we close our time in the word today, I would leave you with these words from our Lord’s high priestly prayer recorded in John chapter 17. In John 17 verse three, the Lord Jesus says to his father, he says, and this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Dear listener, God, out of love for sinners like me and you, sent his son, Jesus Christ, to become incarnate, to come to this earth, to take upon himself our humanity, to go to the cross, to die on the cross as a penalty for sin, to take the punishment for our sins.
And he was buried, and on the third day, he physically and bodily rose from the dead, proving that the Father has accepted his sacrifice. He ascended into heaven, he reigns at the Father’s right hand, and one day he will return to judge the living and the dead. And God’s word says that God commands all men everywhere, all people everywhere are commanded to repent, to have a change of mind and heart, to turn from sin to the true and living God, and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Dear listener, God in the gospel calls upon you to repent and believe the good news. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And believing upon him, your conviction and belief about the existence of God will be deepened and strengthened. Believe upon the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved.
Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you, Lord God. that you indeed exist, that you are the great I am, that you are infinite, eternal, unchanging, that you created us and all things for your glory. We ask, O Lord, that you would deepen our sense of reverence and awe for the greatness of your divine being and that by your Holy Spirit you would cause us to walk in holy fear and reverence before you, trusting in you, rejoicing in you all the days of our life and serving you in the daily callings and vocations that you have called us to. We pray all of these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. As we close our time together, let’s rise and sing together hymn 213, Glory Be to God the Father, 213.
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