you don’t have to be a preacher. // the sermon I shared in India.

Let’s get this straight: in case there was any confusion, I am not a preacher.

I passed public speaking in college, but that doesn’t stop me from getting jittery before standing up in front of a crowd. I often feel unversed and ineloquent. There are lots of people on my team and squad who are passionate about preaching, so a part of me figured I could pass the buck and go the whole World Race without ever really standing up in front of a crowd and giving a sermon.

And then we found out our ministry assignment in India: church planting—worshipping, fellowshipping, teaching, and preaching—every night all across rural villages in southern India.

Throughout the month of March, I set foot in more than 20 Indian villages. I sang and danced with countless beautiful children. I ate a lot of chapati. I prayed over hundreds of people. I saw maybe 40 Hindus hear and respond to the Good News. I witnessed four give their lives to the Spirit in baptism. I saw God physically heal many hurting bodies. And several times, and for the first time, I got to stand up and preach.

The messages were often to large crowds of Hindu’s: some who had heard of God, but lacked true understanding of the Gospel, simply “adding Jesus” to their list of a billion deities; some were believers but walking in fear, afraid to take the final plunge of baptism in turning from their family’s Hindu faith; and without a doubt there would be some in the crowd who had never heard the name of Jesus in their entire lives. The messages were simple, and relayed via our translator, brother Abhi.

The first sermon I preached I talked about when Jesus washed his disciples feet. For the second sermon, the Lord put it on my heart that many of the people would know who He is, but not know what He’s like.

How much does that resonate with us? with Christians in America? Many of us know about God, but do you know God the way you know a close friend? Do you know what God is like?

That’s what God put on my heart to share with these people.

This is the sermon I typed out, written simply for our translator and for a Hindu audience, and I thought I would share it with you.

(Just go easy on me if you will, this is only my second sermon. Like I said, I’m not a preacher. But last month, I learned you don’t have to be a preacher to preach!)

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“Tonight, I’m so excited to talk to you about Our God.

I know that you know WHO God is, but tonight I want to talk about what God is LIKE.

Because I think it’s easy to assume a lot of wrong things about God. I know I have.

When I was new in my faith, I thought God would be very mad at me if I did something wrong.

I thought God was too busy for me…if he loves all the people in the whole world, how would God have time to hear my prayers or even care about me personally?

I also thought the God we see in the Bible is always talking about rules…so God must be pretty boring, kind of strict, and mean.

But what I’ve learned as I’ve walked with Jesus is that God isn’t like any of those things at all. And I believe in my heart God wants someone in this room tonight to know that’s not what He’s like either.

I once heard someone say, “You will only trust God to the extent that you know He loves you.”
?So my prayer is that by learning more about what God is like, you can understand how GREAT HIS LOVE IS FOR YOU. And you can trust Him even more.

I want to tell you a few stories, share some scripture, and tell you seven things I’ve learned about WHAT God is LIKE.

I want you to know these things about God.

God is a Father
God is Fond of you
God is Faithful
God is a Friend
God is Fun
God is Forgiving
And God is Fighting for you.

First, GOD IS A FATHER.

I am very lucky to have a wonderful, loving dad who loves me very much.

One day a few years ago I was out shopping with my family and I found this beautiful red dress.

I tried it on and showed my mom and dad. I liked the dress so much and wanted to buy it, but I didn’t have enough money. So I put the dress back.

Later I realized my dad wasn’t with us and I wondered where he went. A while later, he came back; he had a bag in his hand.

He handed me the bag and I looked inside. It was the red dress! He had gone back to get it for me, and even bought a matching belt. My dad stood there, smiling as he watched me light up in happiness.

My dad isn’t always buying me gifts. So why did he go back to get me that dress?

My dad, you see, is a loving man, and he delights in seeing his little girl smile. He loves to take care of me, surprise me, and give me good and perfect gifts.

In this example from my earthly Father, I can see a little more clearly about how much my heavenly Father loves to do the same.

I want you to know God loves to take care of you, he loves to surprise you, and he loves to give you good and perfect gifts.

The Bible even says this exact thing in Matthew 7:9-11.

“If a son asks you for bread, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will you give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him.”

The second thing, GOD IS FOND OF YOU.

Do you realize that God made you on purpose?

He thought about you, and dreamed about what you would look like and what you would be like.

God knows everything about you.
The Bible says God even knows the number of hairs on your head.

And Psalm 139:2-5 … shows us that God knows even better than we know ourselves.

The beautiful thing about this is that because God knows everything about me…he knows me completely, there are no surprises.

Because of that, it’s impossible for me to let God down. He already knows my weaknesses, and my failures. And knowing all of this about us, God still loves us more than anything in the world.

The third thing, GOD IS FAITHFUL.

God is always Faithful. The way that you were born with dark hair and brown eyes. It is God’s very nature to be Faithful. It is part of his DNA.

It is impossible for Him not to be faithful to us.
This means that God keeps His promises, and we can trust him.

Before I decided to go on this trip around the world, I was nervous because we had to raise a lot of money. I don’t have that much money, so I didn’t think I could do it.

But God promised me, “I will provide all of the money you need and even more.”

I trusted God was faithful. And He was. A few weeks before it was time to leave, I had raised all of the funds and enough to buy all of the supplies I needed for the trip. God had provided not just enough, but more than enough. Just like he promised me.

In 2 Timothy 2:3 God’s Word says, “Even if we are faithless, He will remain faithful for He cannot deny himself.”

The fourth thing, GOD IS YOUR FRIEND.

Did you know that in the beginning, when God created the world and it was perfect, God actually walked on earth with Adam and Eve, the way you take a walk with a friend?

And In the Old Testament, there’s a beautiful verse about God’s relationship with Moses.

It says in Exodus 33:11…”Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face-to-face, like a man speaking to a friend.”

That is the kind of relationship God desires to have with us. A face-to-face, intimate friendship.

And God knows us so well, he understands that it’s difficult for our minds to grasp Him. He is a HOLY GOD and we are sinful human beings. We can never understand something so much larger than ourselves. He is infinitely beyond our capacity to understand.

But God wanted to be our friend so badly, he appeared to us a human being, as a man. As something we could understand. As Jesus.

And as Jesus walked on earth with man, God again walked on earth with man. And through Jesus God brought us back to a face-to-face relationship with Himself.

The fifth thing, GOD IS FUN.

Did you know that? God isn’t boring or old or tired. He is creative, and full of life!

Think of everything in the world—sunsets, sunrises, tall mountains, deep oceans, monkeys, bugs, bananas, laughter, silly games, husbands and wives, little babies and best friends.

You know who had the idea for all of those things to exist?

God.

And you know why he created them?

Because he thought they were beautiful and he wanted His Children on earth to have fun and to rejoice in His creation.

I believe that God has fun showing me how much He loves me. There have been so many times a butterfly has landed on me, or I suddenly hear my favorite song playing…and I believe those are fun ways that God is telling me about how much he adores me, His sweet daughter.

The sixth thing, GOD IS FORGIVING.

You have to understand, God is not trying to punish us.

If you believe in Jesus and are still carrying the guilt and shame from the mistakes you’ve made—then you are carrying something very heavy that God wants you to hand over to Him.

The Word says in Psalm 103:12 that our sin has been removed as far as East is to West. The sentence is delivered and in Jesus, the verdict is NOT GUILTY. God no longer sees our sin. Through Jesus He sees purity. He sees innocence.

God fully and completely forgives you. He looks at you and sees Jesus, Holy and Perfect.

If you can’t believe that, then you are missing the entire point of the Gospel.

If you can understand that you are fully forgiven, I believe you will experience a life fully free on earth. And that is God’s hope for us. To be fully alive today, to live this life to the absolute fullest.

Lastly, the seventh thing, I want you to know is that God is FIGHTING FOR YOU.

There’s a story in the Old Testament when God’s people are fleeing from Egypt and being chased by Pharaoh’s army.

Pharaoh is coming after them on war horses, ready for battle, and God’s people are unprepared, wandering in the desert with their wives and children.

To the world it seems obvious who should win this battle? The army with weapons and war horses.

But with the God of the Universe fighting on your side…no one else can stand against you.

As the army is getting closer, God tells Moses to tell the the people, in Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

I believe God is fighting for you like this every single day.

Especially in India, you face challenges and dangers for your faith in Jesus.

But God wants you to know that He is fighting on your side.

So know these things tonight …

Know that God is your Father and he longs to give you good gifts.

Know that God is Fond of you. He knows you completely, and thinks you are so, so special.

Know you can trust that even though we are an unfaithful people and we mess up, God will never stop being faithful to us.

Know that God wants to spend time with you. He wants to have a face-to-face relationship with you like a friend.

Know God is fun, and I challenge you to start looking for all the ways He is pursuing you and showing you signs of His love.

Know God is forgiving, and He loves you the same way He loves Jesus, no matter what you have done.

Know that it might not make sense to the world, but with the God of the Universe fighting for you…no one else even stands a chance to come against you.

We can only trust God to the extent that we know He loves us.

So I hope tonight through looking at more about what the Bible says God is like, you can understand more about how He feels about you.
?That you can understand God loves you so very much. He has never been mad at you. He forgives you completely. He wants you to enjoy life with Him.

And you can trust Him.”