What Kind of God do You Believe In?
On Pentecost Sunday, one of our pastors gave a sermon that was well-seasoned with Scriptures. This is one of my favorite things about our church—it’s firmly rooted—it’s absolutely grounded in the Gospel. However, I wasn’t the most alert person on the pew that morning because I’d stayed up later than usual the night before reading a book I couldn’t put down. But I became more and more attentive during the sermon as I noticed an especially attractive attribute of God’s.
I’ll explain what I mean after I’ve shared some of what I scribbled down in my sermon notes. By the way, don’t be impressed I take notes—they help me pay attention—they help me with my struggle to fit in. I usually attend church alone, and this accentuates my nervousness.
Now, let’s dive into some stuff that’s based on the sermon notes I wrote down:
(You can listen to the podcast version of this blog post here: Will He or Won’t He? )
Pentecost Sunday is about a big change. It’s about when God moved His Spirit from “with us” to “in us.” Believers are filled with the Holy Spirit because Jesus promised we would not be left as orphans when He left this earth. Although Christ was sinless, He bore the sacrificial fire to cleanse our stains so we could be saints. He took the heat so our hearts could burn with the Holy Spirit’s fire instead of with the condemnation that would have sent us all into the fires of hell.
Pentecost Sunday is about the Holy Spirit’s peace, presence, and power empowering believers from the inside out to fulfill the will of God because God is a will-do God.
By trusting in His Son, we’re transformed from will-not obey sinners to will-do saints because we have the same Spirit in us that’s in Jesus—who is part of the triune personhood of God.
Will is a four letter word to love, enjoy, and appreciate.
God’s a will-do God. He does what He says He will do. His will… will be done. And this is the attribute I caught onto like I never have before:
God’s a will-do God
- He will not leave us.
- He will come to us.
- He will complete the good work in us.
He’s a will-do kind of God.
Too often I focus on and worry about what I will do.
- Will I pray hard enough?
- Will I believe big enough?
- Will I obey faithfully enough?
Philippians 1:6 NIV says:
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.
Will.
God will carry on with the work until when?
- Until we stumble one time too many?
- Until we get one of the details of our particular churches’ doctrine wrong?
No. No. And no.
God will carry and complete us until Christ carries us Home.
John 14:16 NIV says:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor
to be with you… forever—
Jesus said He will ask, and God will give believers the Spirit… forever. Forever. God is a forever will-do-what-He-says-He-will-do-God. It’s not about us… It never was.
Acts 2:4 NIV says:
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Did you catch that? Did you notice the last phrase?
“As the Spirit enabled them” is the key to a will-do walk with God.
We can’t do the will of God without the power of God in us. Religion is about man’s power exercised in an attempt to please God—not possible. A born-again Christian has a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that’s initiated, sustained, and completed by a will-do Father-God.
Pentecost Sunday is the perfect time for us to remember Who began, Who performs, and Who completes the good work in us. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the will-do Trinity we would be wise to worship and wait upon.
And then we, too, can say as David was quoted in Acts 2:25 NIV:
“I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
Jesus is making me a will-do woman. How about you—are you a will-do believer?
Psalm 62:6 NIV says:
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
Let’s pray together:
Dear Lord,
Help us treasure what we have in You. Help us remember You will do what You said You would do. May we yield ourselves to Your perfect will so that Your peace, Your power, and Your provision will flow freely in every area of our lives.
In Jesus Name, amen.
And now I’d like to close with a short poem:
I will treasure God forever
For He’s worth more than all earth’s gold
And no one else compare’s with Him
Whose Word is honey for my soul.
Will-Do Blessings ~ Wendy
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What attribute of God’s have you especially noticed lately? I’m nosy-to-know what kind of God you believe in.
