Now, that's a sermon in itself, isn't it? That our Almighty God, the transcendent God, the God of love, the God of grace, the God of mercy, the God of justice and holiness, is always at hand - always! This fact of the omnipresence of God is taught with great clarity right throughout the word of God - and it would take a lot of effort to misunderstand its teaching there. Literally, in the Latin, it means 'to be at hand'. God is omnipresent, God is 'all with us' - all of Him is with us, all of the time, in every single place - He is close to everything, He is next to everyone. Now when we put the prefix 'omni' in front of it, the Latin word that means 'all', we get the universality of it. It means that He is here among us at this moment, literally He is next to us, He is present. We can say that God is here, and that to bless us with the Spirit's quickening power. The last word, you will recognise, comes from the root 'to be present' - and that simply means 'to be close'. Now, let's dissect this theological word 'omnipresence'. ![]() So let us look, first of all, at this fact that we must ponder the presence of God. Then secondly, I want us to learn that we need to practise the presence of God within our lives. That is why I want us to first of all ponder the presence of God, as we begin our study this morning in His omnipresence. We do not believe that God is in heaven alone, that God is separated from us, that we are far from God in a geographical sense. Tozer said: 'The notion that there is a God, but that He is comfortably far away, is not embodied in the doctrinal statement of the Christian church'. Isn't that right? The child had more wisdom!Īs A.W. The boy looked up at the theological lecturer sharply, and promptly replied: 'I'll give you a whole barrel of apples if you can tell me where God is not'. ![]() 'Tell me my boy', continued the man - thinking to have some fun with the lad - 'Where is God? If you can tell me where God is, I'll give you an apple!'. This was recorded in the Philadelphia Bulletin, if you want to look it up - if you have a Philadelphia Bulletin - but you'll have to believe me and take my word for it! The boy was holding in his hand his Sunday School lesson leaflet, The lecturer sitting beside him was interested, and asked - in a friendly way - a question of the young boy. One Sunday morning a lecturer in a theological college was sharing a seat on a train with a small boy as he went to church. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee". ![]() If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139 and verse 7, David expressing this great doctrine of the attribute of God's omnipresence says: "Whither", where, "shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Let me say that - last week I think it was - we had a watch, now we have a key and a watch! So if you are less of a key or a watch, please do come up here and I'll leave them sitting up here for you to take. A very famous Psalm to do with God in general, and there are many attributes of God that are found listed within this Psalm - but we're going to just read the stanzas that refer to the omnipresence of God as we study this subject together this morning. ![]() Our text this morning, and our passage of scripture, is Psalm 139. God is as present as the air - that is the fact - He is all around us
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