Is God sovereign in all things? Part 1

It seems these days I am debating a lot about salvation. This bothers me because people who claim to be christians do not know how they are saved.
I grew up in a oneness (modelist) pentecostal church. I was taught that God exists in modes rather than a trinitarian view. I was also taught that baptism was required for salvation. I carried my bible in high school and echoed all these same sentiments. Then around my senior year people began to challenge my views and my faith. I found that when I went straight to the bible with these questions, they did not line up with the doctrine I was being taught in my church. I began a quest for the truth. I wanted to know what the bible said about these topics as well as I wanted to know where the histories of these doctrines came from. I have been blessed by God to learn a lot in the years that followed. One of the key things I have learned is the importance in understanding the sovereignty of God. Lets first look at the definition of sovereign.

Sovereign /Sov´er·eign/ (? or ?; 277), a. [OE. soverain, sovereyn, OF. soverain, suvrain, F. souverain, LL. superanus, fr. L. superus that is above, upper, higher, fr. super above. See Over, Super, and cf. Soprano. The modern spelling is due to a supposed connection with reign.] 1. Supreme or highest in power; superior to all others; chief; as, our sovereign prince.

This was taken from the 1913 websters unabridged which is my preferred dictionary. So God is the supreme or highest power. If this is the case then he is either the supreme power over all or he is the supreme power over nothing. So what does have to do with how are we saved? Well it establishes Gods authority in everything. It also establishes our role in this world. We are going to do an overview here, and dig into this deeper in the coming weeks

“Christ is the Master; the Scriptures are only the servant. The true way to test all the Books is to see whether they work the will of Christ or not. No Book which does not preach Christ can be apostolic, though Peter or Paul were its author. And no Book which does preach Christ can fail to be apostolic though Judas, Ananias, Pilate or Herod were its author.”

Martin Luther

Lets begin looking at some passages that defines God’s sovereignty. We will start in Daniel 4:35

35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
So we see here one of the first passages where God says he does what he wants, and that we are nothing. Lets look at

Psalms 115:3
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

So once again we see God does what he wants. This has nothing to do with us.

 I Timothy 6:15-16

15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

This is a interesting passage because it says God alone has Immortality.  So lets now go a step further with God’s sovereignty and ask a question. If God is the master of everything is he the master of our salvation?  Did Jesus come for a specific group of people?

In Matthew 15:21-28 Jesus says he was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  In John 17:9 Jesus says the following.

“9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. “

 So Jesus only prayed for those which the father gave him. Is this sovereign choice of God shown in any other passages. Lets look and see.  In Romans 9:11 it says

“11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call”

 Lets look at some more passages from Romans 9:14-16

 “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy “

 So we see here it depends not on human will or exertion but on God. There is yet still more in Romans chapter 9:17-18

 “For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills”

 So we see that God raised pharaoh up for the sole purpose of revealing his glory. Romans 9 continues to answer questions that someone would be expected to ask surrounding this topic. I will not go into he whole chapter now. I would like to challenge you to read it yourselves. We will continue in part 2

God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.
John Calvin

 Sovereignty Part 1: Download

Demon Hunter Tonight

It has been almost a decade since I have been to a concert like this. I have really fell in love with this band. Few groups out there express a true biblical view of sin in their lyrics.  Not only does Demon Hunter do this, but they do it well. I will give you the low down after the show.

Post Show Update

Here are my observations from the show.

1. Next time bring earplugs. ( my head is still ringing and I am afraid to talk because I might be yelling at someone) LOL
2. At my age 1:00am is too late to get in bed when you have to work the next day.
3. Of the 5 bands last night the first one was not that good the other 2 bands were pretty good
4. I do not want to become my friend Scott Moore and bash the music people, but who ever was working the mixing boards needs to go back to nashville tech, or stop smoking before he goes to class if he went to MTSU. Because he had no clue how to mix a show.
5. The best mixed band of the night was a group called “The Famine”

6. Another good band which was not mixed well was “Oh Sleeper” they are pretty good .
7. Living Sacrifice was awesome the mix was ok, not good, not bad, just ok. But they rocked it.
8. Demon Hunter puts on a good show and they were taping for MTV that night as well. The mix was horrible, the drums were way to high in the mix and the vocals were largely inaudible about 50% of the time. But the energy was great , and he worked the crowd well.
9. I have not done anything like this since the time I met my friend Scott  in Redondo Beach, CA. I may be to old to do this again. Man is my head hurting.

Quote for the day

Sorry I am so late on this today

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?””

 William Arthur Ward

Quote for the day

“Pray, and let God worry”

Martin Luther 

Quote of the day

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

Saint Augustine

This week’s quote theme

This week I am focusing the daily quotes around prayer. This is an area I lack myself and I thought it would be good to see what people have said about prayer in the past.  My next podcast is coming soon and this time it will be in HD Video for all you apple tv owners out there.

Quote for the Day

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

C.S. Lewis

Quote for the Day

“I am fed up with the world, and it with me. I am like a ripe stool, and the world is like a gigantic anus, and so we’re about to let go of each other.”
-Martin Luther

On-Demand Theology

Perhaps one of the most frustrating and baffling aspects of my life has been waiting on the Father to reveal or launch a plan into action. I have launched myself into seasons of sin before because I couldn’t stand the silence. I suppose I thought I would get the Father’s attention even if it cost me. And that was bad thinking!!! Thinking that drove my relationship to God into darkness and sometimes despair. I would like to say I’ve gotten better at being more patient but if any of that statement is true it is because Father has allowed patience to develop in me.
If you haven’t picked up on it by now I am a selfish, self-centered individual and what I have discovered is that my selfishness is the source of my frustration with the Father. I know now that impatience and disobedience are directly related to one another in the spirit realm. They have an alliance together inside the wicked heart of man that continually robs man from the Father’s deepest callings. But believer don’t worry. He will continue to stretch us until we break and our hearts are brought back to Him or we learn to bend and not resist Him.

Let’s examine a passage together about waiting on God:

Ex. 24:12-18

12The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Moses was called by the Father to approach Him. Yet he sat on the edge of a cloud of fog for six days before Father spoke to him again. Six stinking days!!!

Now let’s get real here do you know anyone, one person in the United States who would wait SIX DAYS to meet with God. We live in an impatient culture. This culture of ours is about supply and demand. And most Christians in this Nation, including me, view God as the supplier; which makes us the demanders.
“Whoa…? Back up here Thomas! You’re not suggesting that we are in charge are you?”

“No America Consumer Christian! I’m just suggesting that we THINK we are in charge.”

Church. Thomas. We need to WAKE UP! Our culture has fashioned a god out of On- Demand philosophies that do not exist. We stand at the microwave tapping our feet impatiently waiting for our food to be heated. We want to experience the depth of heaven in a fifteen-minute bible study. We are self-diluted.

In reference to the Exodus account:
I can hear the Optimists now… “The Word says have a mustard seed of faith and cast that mountain into the sea!” Congratulations! You just cast your only hope of knowing the Father, as He desires for you to know Him away from you.

And then the Pessimist… “Sometimes God just wants us to climb over the mountain, I guess I’ll start. Let the suffering begin.” Brother you just walked into the presence of the Most High unprepared and in your own strength. You will be more exhausted than ever.”

Church let’s ask God for His tender mercies. Read this passage again. And WAIT patiently with Faith!

An after thought: Moses had Joshua to wait with. The Father calls us into community with a few people. Jesus said two or three warrant His attention. We will rarely find the Father’s presence in a crowd, so being a celebrity is unnecessary. Father give us your eyes to see and your ears to hear for we are yours!

Employment Non-Discrimination Act CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!!

UPDATE

It looks like this is being delayed due to SCHIPS legislation

I will keep everyone updated

Employment Non-Discrimination Act CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!!

Tell them to vote NO!

Information for Greater Nashville

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN)

Contact Information
Web Site: alexander.senate.gov

Washington Office:
455 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4204
Phone: (202) 224-4944
Fax: (202) 228-3398

Main District Office:
3322 West End Ave., Ste. 120
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 736-5129
Fax: (615) 269-4803

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)

Web Site: corker.senate.gov

Washington Office:
185 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4205
Phone: (202) 224-3344
Fax: (202) 228-0566

Main District Office:
10 West MLK Boulevard, 6th Floor
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Phone: (423) 756-2757
Fax: (423) 756-5313

Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN 5th)

Web Site: cooper.house.gov

Washington Office:
1536 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4205
Phone: (202) 225-4311
Fax: (202) 226-1035

Main District Office:
706 Church St., Ste. 101
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 736-5295
Fax: (615) 736-7479