For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV
http://bible.com/111/2co.1.20.NIV
What promises of God do you have to agree with today?
In these Road Road Through Romans Posts we have been discussing the “invisible qualities of God” from Romans 1:20.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
To help us along the pathway we are referencing A. W. Tozer’s thoughts from his book , The Attributes of God.” In his book Tozer discusses 18 attributes of God he sees in the Scripture. You can fund those attributes listed HERE.
If you have missed any of our previous discussions they can be found on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we are discussing the unchanging nature of God or his immutability. Let’s hear some thoughts on this attribute directly from A.W. himself.
I see God’s unchanging nature, in counterpoint to the rest of creation’s changeability, reflected in the mountains. The picture at the top of the page was taken at the Middle Lake just outside of Kilkenny.
My daughter and I were headed up to Moll’s Gap. We stopped as an autumn storm began to sweep down from the mountain across the lakes. The clouds rolled in fast chasing boaters and fishermen from their afternoon recreation. Then the lightning began to flash and the wind began to howl. The whole world was changed in an instant
Within a half hour the storm passed, leaving the world wet with dew and filled with the scent of clean rain but for it all the mountains had not moved. The stiff rocks barely registered that a storm had ever been there at all.
It may be a poor reflection in nature but there it is anyway, the changeability of a storm facing the unchanging nature of a mountain. What lasts for a moment loses power when it is tossed against the surface of a thing that never changes or moves. God is more unchanging than those mountains. He is a rock that will never fail in the face of any storm this world may throw against Him. At least so says Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.c
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shieldsd with fire.
10He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
I finished with the Book of Ezekiel yesterday and in my morning prayers I sensed I was to jump over to 2 Corinthians again for another look at what the apostle might have to say to me.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-9
Today we are talking about the justice of God using Romans 1:20 as our spring board.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Justice is one of the invisible qualities of God as described by A.W. Tozer in his book The Attributes of God.
I don’t think there is a better time to address this characteristic of God’s justice than as we begin Holy Week.
So just what is God’s justice?
We see the justice of God written into the very fabric of the universe. Newton’s third law teaches us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is justice. You reap what you sew.If you put garbage in you get garbage out. We get that in every other area of life. Why do we think it is different in the area of spirituality? God is just. Our only hope is that God’s character of mercy will work alongside His character of justice and that is the glory of the cross. God’s justice was satisfied in the mercy of Christ’s cross.
If you have missed any of our previous discussions on this topic they can all be found on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
We have been exploring the Book Of Romans verse by verse for some time now and for the last 13 sessions in this series we have hovered over Romans 1:20 exploring the invisible qualities of God. We are using A.W. Tozer’s, The Attributes of God, as a jumping off point for our discussions. If you have missed any of the previous posts they can be found on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we are discussing God’s self-sufficiency. This is the idea that while we need God, God does not need us. He is everything He needs. The creation is dependent on the Creator but the Creator is not dependent on the creation.
This makes perfect sense and is reflected in nature by the relation of men to their own creations. If an artist paints a canvas, that canvas is entirely reliant upon the artist for what it becomes. If however the canvas is destroyed in a fire, its destruction does not change the artist into a non artist because it was destroyed. The art does not make the artist. The artist makes the art and the artists does not require anything from the art in order to remain artistic.
Some people think that God created us because he NEEDED worship or fellowship. But this is not true. God may find that an appealing attribute of His creation but He does not NEED worship to be God. He would be God still if not one angel or person ever lifted their voice in praise to Him again (I shudder to think what would happen to angels and people if that suddenly happened but God would have no worries).
That said we must realize that God alone is self-sufficient.Self-sufficiency is a quality of God and not man. We were made with limited sufficiency not all sufficiency. The idea of becoming totally self-sufficient is not a godly idea. It is not even a possibility. We were made to need God. We were made to seek God when we have a need not to try and figure it all out ourselves.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
We have been studying through the Book Of Romans verse by verse for a while now. We have come to verse 20 in chapter 1…
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Using this verse we are doing a study of God’s invisible qualities using A.W. Tozer’s list from The Attributes of God.
If you have missed any of our discussions thus far you can find them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we are discussing God’s self-existence. God shows Himself in Exodus chapter 3 to be, “the origin that has no origin.”.
That is a tough one to understand. Maybe Buffalo Herd can help us get a better grasp on it.
Did you get that?
In our study through the Book of Romans we have come to chapter 1 and verse 20.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
In light of that verse we have been discussing the invisible attributes of God as described by A.W. Tozer in his book The Attributes of God.
If you have missed any of those discussions they can be found on the ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we are discussing God’s quality of Omnipotence. These two videos help us to understand the incredible unlimited power of God and how that is expressed in creation.
Now that we are finished with our conversation on the GOD CONSPIRACY. We can get back to our study through the Book Of Romans. If you recall we have been discussing the attributes of God from the stand point of Romans 1:20.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
If you have missed any of our discussions on these attributes you can find them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we are going to speak about God’s attribute of love. Watch this.
So where do we see the attribute of love revealed in the creation? Well, while the power of sin has done so much to warp our ability to recognize the qualities of God in the creation, these attributes cannot be blotted out. Of all God’s attribute love is the strongest. Its imprint can be seen all throughout the creation, but perhaps nowhere is it seen more clearly than in a parent’s sacrificial love for a child.
Photo by Deb Maciorowski
This is the final installment of our series transcript from last Sunday’s sermon at Cornerstone. If you have missed any of the previous installments they can be found HERE.
Here is our conclusion to the discussion.
The final step towards becoming the church God desires for this time belongs to a group of people called the elders. This is once again from the word I received a week ago.
Elders you are called to mentor a generation in a Pentecost they have never seen, known or experienced. I summon you to bear witness of the times you recall that a new generation may know the way.
You may be old. You may be tired. But if you have seen the past moves of Pentecost in the healing revivals of the 50’s, the Charismatic renewal of the 70’s or the worship revivals of the 80’s 90’s and early millenium, then you must dig back and speak to the power of miracle that you have witnessed because there are little children and young men and women in this church who have never witnessed the power of a move of God.When it comes they won’t understand or know how to tell the real from the fake, the charlatans from legitimate or the wild fire from the Holy fire. You, elders, are being called to speak for them and to them unafraid and undeterred, helping the church to chew the meat of revival and spit out the bones without complaining or creating dissension or fostering unbelief.
Everyone of us who consider ourselves part of the church have a step or a part to play in the revival to come. What is your step?
1.Do you need to be born again? Have you asked Jesus to be your Savior and have you made Him God of your life? Jesus won’t be just a Savior. If He is to save you then He has to be boss of your life too. Have you asked Him to be both? If not then you are not born again yet. If you need to be born again by accepting Jesus as Lord and savior. Hero and boss then pray the prayer found HERE from your heart
2. Do you need to ask God’s help to clean up your act Christian? Are there things you need Jesus to help you fix in your life so that you don’t get burned when the fire of revival comes into the church?
3. Do you need power from on high to help you perform the work God wants you to do? Then Jesus says you need the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Don’t worry about what all that means right now just acknowledge that whatever the baptism in the Holy Spirit is you need it because Jesus says you do.
4.Are you someone who has been in Pentecost for a long time? Have you seen the Holy Spirit move in revival before? Then acknowledge your role in helping those who haven’t seen.
I would love to hear more about the step you are on in the conspiracy!
This series is a transcript of the most recent sermon I shared at Cornerstone Church. Yesterday we concluded with Scriptures that asserted the need for every person to put their faith in Christ to forgive their sins and cause them to be born again. If you read that and have been thinking that you need to be born again, let’s stop before we go one word further and pray for that.
Pray with me: Dear Lord Jesus. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you for rising from the dead to break the power death has over me. Lord I know I need to be born again and in order for that to happen I need to believe in you and make you the God of my life. Lord Jesus I do believe in you and ask you to forgive my sins and I give you my life. You are my only God. I will follow you from now on. Thank you for forgiving me and causing me to be born again so that I might live for eternity with You. Amen!
Now if you just prayed that prayer and meant it you are born again. Please message me in the comments section below so that we can begin a conversation about next steps.
If you have missed any of our previous conversations in this series they can be found HERE.
As we stated yesterday, being Born Again is the first step. It is saying yes to being part of the conspiracy. But remember I said there were four parts to being part of the conspiracy. Part two is about living Holy.
Little children you must be clean that my fire does not burn you up. (reference Pt. 2 for whole prophecy)
We must choose, once we are born again, to leave our sin behind. We are praying for a move of God. In Scripture the move is sometimes referred to as fire of God . That fire will burn up everything that is not holy when it comes even if that something is us. Revival is nothing to be trifled with. It is the move of God, and for the church’s part it requires right living.
For instance, in Scripture we read:
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
7The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen…. 17For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God I Peter 4:1-11,17
In another place Paul, the apostle wrote, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved usa and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. 3Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.6Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:2-9
Listen to me, this is not a word of condemnation. It is a word of encouragement. God isn’t saying “Because some of these things are in your life you are not good enough for My plan.”
He is saying, “I have already determined that you are good enough for my plan. I want you to be a part of my plan but in order for you to be a part you must get rid of these things and I will help you. If anything on this list pertains to you God is crying out to you. Let’s fix it together so that you are ready when I move in power.”
Come back tomorrow for part 5.
Lillie-Put 