We are currently doing a study through the Book Of Romans verse by verse. We have been stuck in verse 20 of chapter 1 for some time as we study the invisible qualities of God using A.W. Tozer’s book, The Attributes of God.
Helping us today to understand the eternal nature of God is Pastor James McDonald. God being eternal is not about God having a long life. God being eternal means He has no limits in expanse or in time. He can focus on everything and everyone at once while being in and out of time all at the same time. It means He can accomplish anything at any time in any place under any set of circumstances because He is without limit. He never runs out of power or strength or resource. He is eternal.
Worship Wednesdays was launched to help facilitate a culture of worship here on the blogosphere. Here is a worship song from Rend Collective. Join the worship by creating your own worship post
Don’t miss your church’s Easter service this week! Rend collective tour dates and store can be found HERE.
There have been many leadership lessons I have had to learn over the years. I don’t think I am what you call a natural leader. I guess I had to come to that admission over time but there it is… the confession. I have had to learn to be a leader.
When I first started taking leadership classes it seemed like everything in the class was an indictment against my personality: If you want to lead you have to vision;If you want to lead you have to schedule; If you want to lead you have to be intentional; If you want to lead you have to embrace healthy conflict; If you want to lead you have to actually deal with people and the biggest one of all…If you want to lead you need to say “no” more than you say “yes”.
Saying “no” has been one of the hardest lessons for me. I have had to learn it by increments over time.
When I first began learning the lesson I couldn’t say “no” to anyone. It just felt mean. People would show up at my door and ask me for a favor and I felt like I had to do whatever they asked because that was what Jesus would do (that’s a lie we Christians tell ourselves by the way).
I remember one time a lady from the church showed up unannounced at my home and told me I had to set the clock in her car because she didn’t know how to do it herself. Apparently, in her world, pastors setting clocks fell under the line in the job description which read “and other duties as needed.”
The first level of learning to say “no” was learning to say “no” to the things I had no business doing, like setting the clocks in someone’s car or going out to rake the woods around the church because the woods around the church should be neat (a real suggestion in case you are wondering). Believe it or not this took practice and I actually felt bad about saying “no” to begin with.
But saying “no” to whackadoo suggestions was not the end-game, by a long shot. It was the first lap, not the finish line. I have learned that the enemy of the best is not the bad. The enemy of the best is the good. It is not enough to say “no” to bad suggestions. In order to say “yes” to the best in life I am learning I have to say “no” to a lot of good things, a lot of worthwhile things, a lot things I am even talented for and enjoy.
Reaching God’s best for me is not attaining a life full of things I enjoy. Reaching my best means completing the tasks God has for me, period. Now, while I believe ultimately that will bring me great joy and will involve me using my talents to their fullest potential, God’s plan is not about my joy or my talents. It’s all about Him and His kingdom.
I am finding that there are a lot of worthwhile things, fun things, enjoyable things in the Kingdom that just aren’t my job. I could do them. I would do them. I would even enjoy them…and other people would like it if I did them. But those good, enjoyable, worthwhile things do not match the vision God has given me for my life. They match somebody’s vision but not mine.
What that means is that if I do them not only am I getting distracted from God’s plan for me but I am stealing someone else’s God-vision.
It’s hard. It even makes me a little sad to start saying “no” to some of the things I am currently doing, but it is necessary for my sake, for other people’s sake and for the Kingdom’s sake.
As we have walked our way verse by verse through the Book of Romans, we have come to verse 20 of chapter 1. We have hovered over this verse for some time now as we learn about the invisible qualities of God. We are using A.W. Tozer’s material from The Attributes of God to work from.
Let’s move on to our discussion of the quality of mercy.
Mercy is the quality we depend on to even be able to stand before all the other qualities of God. Except for His mercy we cannot partake of anything else in His divine nature. Let me ask you, where in the creation do you see the quality of mercy being displayed?
Here we are once again at Monday beginning the work week with a praise to the Lord (well most everyone’s else’s work week this is my Sabbath). Join me in praising God today by adding a song of praise in the comments sections below.
You can find out more about We Are Messengers Band HERE.
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.
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
It’s Palm Sunday! Can you shout Hosanna (Lord Save)?
Sacred Sundays is one of seven weekly posts on Lillie-Put which direct readers towards a culture of worship. Sacred Sundays celebrates the Lord using the older songs of the church. Join in us in worshiping this morning by placing one of the hymns of our heritage in the comments section.
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