All right, before we do our lesson, we're going to have a word of prayer. So let's all be very quiet. Shh. What? That's dangerous. That's not dangerous. It's all right. It'll be all right. All right, let's bow our heads. We're going to pray. Father, we thank you for the days you've given us that we can come to ABC Kids. And we pray that you'd be with all the folks that are not able to make it, and that have other needs that they're dealing with, and sickness, and other problems, that you'd help them. And be with folks that are dealing with economic trouble, and jobs, and all other kinds of stress, that you'd help them. Help us to concentrate for a few minutes on your word. Show us what you'd have us to learn about you tonight, and be with us as we continue through the rest of our night. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, you got to try to be really quiet during that prayer time. All right. Okay, so last week we talked about what life was all about. Again, I know some of you weren't here for that, but I summed the whole thing up. You should have been here. It was great. Okay, so if you missed it, actually it's on the internet, so you can find it at our website, which is addisonbaptist.com, and you'll find this lesson too. So if you have a friend that says, hey, what is that Wednesday night thing like? You can say, well, Look on your computer and you can see about one of the lessons. All right, so the reason we sang one of those songs, the songs about, do you not know, have you not heard that song? We sang that because that's what we're going to talk about tonight. That's taken from Isaiah 40. And tonight's question is, who is God? We know that God is a spirit. He doesn't have a body. But that's sort of like the tip of the iceberg of who God is. But Isaiah 40 really does a good job of kind of talking a lot about, tells us a lot about who God is. So my first question is, have you ever been really, really tired before? Of course you have. I don't want to hear your personal story about it. But you can hear my personal story about it. So last night I played some basketball for the first time in several months, and I was very, very tired. After the first couple of minutes, I was about ready to get back in my car if I could walk that far. But I kept playing, and I felt better at the end of it. Have you ever felt not only tired, have you ever felt weak? Like maybe other kids could do stuff, but you weren't able to do it or something. We can kind of feel that way. Last night, everybody else was hitting the baskets, but I only made two shots. It was pitiful. That's what happens sometimes. There's a lot of things that we can't really do, as well as other people sometimes. Of course, nobody's perfect. And there's always probably somebody that can do something better than you can. And you shouldn't be too discouraged about that. You should go and do your best. And you can certainly get better at the things that you try to do. But ultimately, at the end of the day, we're just people. We're just human beings. And we have limitations. We get tired. We can't even concentrate for 10 minutes here, because our concentration wanders, our minds wander, we want to do good things, but instead we end up doing bad things, and telling lies, and stealing from people, and hurting people's feelings, and all kinds of stuff like that. So we're kind of weak, but God is not like that. God is pretty much the opposite of all those things. All right, so we're going to read, there's actually several verses here we're going to kind of work our way through. So see if you can listen. And this is the prophet Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah talking to Israel. And his people, his people are trying to decide whether they're going to follow God or not. Some of his people want to worship idols. Some of his people want to worship idols instead of the real God. And they're not quite sure who created everybody. They're not quite sure what, if God's even powerful or if he's even up there somewhere. They're not sure. And so Isaiah's trying to tell them. So he says, this is what God is. He says, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, or like a ruler, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? So he's saying, of course, the answer is God, right? God could take all the water in the world, and it would just barely be a little drop in his hand, right? This is metaphorical. Remember, God doesn't have a body, but if he did, he would be able to do that. He could measure the skies with his ruler. That'd be a pretty hard job to do. He could measure the dust of the earth, like if you scoop up some flour or something, you ever do any baking? God could scoop up all the dust of the earth and be like nothing. Or he could weigh the mountains. Hey, turn around, please. Shh. Turn around. Turn around. He could weigh the mountains, figure out how heavy they were. Oh, my. That's one of my bookmarks. He says this. Who has measured the spirit of the Lord? And what man shows him counsel? Whom did he consult? And who made him to understand? Who had taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? Who's smarter than God? Nobody. Who went up to heaven and said, hey God, let me explain to you how this stuff works? That would be ludicrous, right? Because God already knows how it works. He knows a lot more than you. He knows all the paths of justice. He knows how to be fair with people. Nobody had to teach him any of that stuff. He knew it. He teaches us. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales, or like the leftover part, doesn't even matter. Behold, he takes up the coastlines, the coastlines like fine dust. All right, skipping down, what about this? To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness compare with him? In other words, what would you compare with God? What compares with God? Not much. And so here's what the prophet says. He says, is the answer an idol? He says, a craftsman makes it, casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts it with silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot and seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. He's saying all these people spend so much time trying to make this idol and they think that's going to be what they worship. Is that idol like God? No, God's too big for that, isn't he? You can't even really draw a picture of God. Now probably you've seen like maybe a picture of Jesus or something or whatever. Nobody really knows what he looks like. And for sure you can't draw a picture of God because you don't have a paper big enough. You don't have a pencil with enough lead in it. You can't do it. You can't contain him. He's too big. And then here he gets to the next part. He says, do you not know, have you not heard, Has it not been told to you from the beginning? He's going to say that again, so this is not the song we sang, if you're wondering that, why it sounds different. He says, haven't you been told this from the very beginning? Don't you know who God is? It's a pretty good, it's like, you asked the question, who is God? And my response is, don't you know? I said, well, I don't know. But you know, deep down inside you, there's some part of you that knows. that knows a little bit about God. And that's what he's talking about. He says, have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in. So God looks down on us, we look like grasshoppers and ants. You ever seen an ant hill with all the little ants scurrying around? Yeah, and then some of you, you smash it with your foot or something. Shouldn't be doing that. We're even less worthy than ants are to us, to God. And yet he cares about us. He says, who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Think about how powerful the rulers of the earth are. Think about presidents and kings and people like that. They're very powerful. They can just like write their signature on something and millions of people will have to do some new thing or they'll have to wear masks or something or have to pay extra taxes or who knows what they'll have to do. That's a lot of power but God says all that stuff, that counts for nothing. Because God's power is much greater. He says they'll be like grass that's been planted and they'll just wither away. To whom then will you compare me? That I should be like him, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these. He says, look up into the sky. Who created all the stars? Who created all these? Who brings out their host by number, calling them by name, by the greatness of his might? And because he is strong in power, not one is missing. Not one star is missing. All of them are exactly the right place where he wants them to be. And he knows all the names of the stars, because he put them there. So now he's going to say, why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? He's talking to his people, Israel. This is what the Israelites say. They say, my way is hidden from the Lord. I can hide from the Lord. Does that sound like somebody you can hide from? No. You can't hide from God. Some people think they can. Some people think they can run away from God. God sees everything. God knows everything. He is powerful. And they say this. They say, my right is disregarded by my God. They say, God is not being fair with me. But do you think God can be fair with people? He knows how to be fair with people. And then he says this, and this is the one we sang. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God. the creator of the ends of the earth. That's who God is. Don't talk about how God is not fair, or don't think you can hide from God. He is the everlasting God, the creator. He does not faint or grow weary, or we talked about how we get tired sometimes. It doesn't happen to God. His understanding is unsearchable. You cannot figure out all the stuff that God knows. It's beyond our ability to even comprehend. He gives power to the faint. And to him that has no might, he increases strength. This is some really good news right there, because if you are weak, God says, I can help you. I can give you some strength. You don't need to worry about your weakness, because I can make you strong. It says, even youths, even young people, shall faint and be weary. Even young people get tired. let alone us old people. Even young people get tired. So don't say, well, I'm young. Nothing bad can happen to me. That's not true. Even the strongest athletes have limitations. And they will not always be the strongest athletes. But, he says, those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. So that's what God offers us. Life is not about how strong you are, or how smart you are, or how much money you have. or how much power you have. That's probably good news because most of us in this room, we probably don't have a lot of money. We probably don't have a lot of power. Might not have a lot of smarts, I don't know. Don't have a lot of strength. Are there any Olympic athletes in here? No, there aren't. Yeah, there aren't. Not Olympic athletes. Any billionaires tonight? No, no. Anybody the president of a large country? No. So that means this is us. Isaiah's talking to us. He's saying, hey, don't worry about it. If you're not strong, don't worry about it. If you're not rich, don't worry about it. If you're not powerful, don't worry about it. If you trusted in those things, if you trusted in those things, eventually they would run out. Eventually, your money will run out. Eventually, your power will go away, and somebody else will be the king. Eventually, your strength will leave you, and you'll just be sitting in some chair or something, and you'll be too old to do it. And, you know, eventually, ultimately, our lives end. And so if your whole purpose is to get more money and more power and more fame and more everything, eventually you lose. That's not what life's about. God says, don't worry that you don't have those things. Instead, rest in what I can do for you. Come to me for strength. I'll give you understanding. I'll give you riches. I'll give you, maybe not riches like lots of money, but richness of spirit, a rich life full of good relationships and things like that. That's what God wants for you. We need to admit that we're weak and humble and God is there to give us mercy and love. The Bible says that God leads us like a shepherd leads the sheep. Maybe you don't like to think of yourself as being a sheep, because we're all supposed to be leaders, not followers, right? But most of us kind of sheepish a little bit. But God doesn't expect us to just know everything. He wants to lead us, and it's OK for us to follow. He wants us to follow him, because he can take care of us. God can take care of us. So don't trust in what you can get in riches and power. Trust in God. And let that be what your life is about. And follow God, love God, love others. That's what God wants from us. And so that's the kind of life that God wants you to be involved in. God wants to make you part of his kingdom. You know that? You say, I don't have a kingdom. God has a kingdom for you that you can be a part of. God wants to make you one of his children. Think about that. Think about the riches that God has in heaven. And you have been heir to it. That's what God wants for you. So I leave you with that. This is a little bit about who God is. God is the everlasting God, the creator. All right, let's bow our heads. We'll pray. Father, we thank you for the time that we've had to talk about your word, to read your word, to hear about you, and to hear what you're like, and how you care for us, and help us to trust you and not in our own strength. In Jesus' name, amen.