#7 God's Providence
Notes
Transcript
Response of Worship and Sharing what God has had you bring.
Response of Worship and Sharing what God has had you bring.
Ben Vann,
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Bible Amazing Verse: love your enemies; pray for them
Bible Amazing Verse: love your enemies; pray for them
Terrorist like Hamas teach their kids to hate Jews. the Koran teaches Muslims to hate Jews. this is not the way of God and the Bible:
7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.
One of the most remarkable laws in the Bible is in the Book of Deuteronomy: “Do not hate an Egyptian.” It is remarkable because it was given to the generation of Israelites that had just been liberated from slavery in Egypt.
Imagine how specific and direct this is...
A people who had been enslaved for hundreds of years, and for a period of time had their newborn sons drowned, was instructed — by Moses in the name of God, no less — not to hate the people who had just enslaved them.
How do you love people if you fear them? abhor them. despise them?
This is one of many examples why America’s Founders regarded the Bible as the most important book ever written. According to one historian who studied the issue, the book the Founders quoted most often — more often than any Enlightenment book, more often than any Greek or Roman work — was Deuteronomy, the biblical book in which the law prohibiting hatred of Egyptians appears.
It is difficult to think of a law more relevant to today’s America.
Imagine if everyone in the country adopted this law and substituted “white” “or “Black”, or Left” or “right”, for “Egyptian.” or any other real hatred
Almost overnight, the gratuitous hatreds wrecking our country would begin to disappear.
Hatred of whites and Christians is the most prevalent — certainly, the most acceptable — hatred in America today. At almost every college, students are taught, often from their first day, that all whites are racist, that a black person cannot be racist, that America is systemically racist, that every black person is a victim, and that America was founded by whites to be a racist nation. Almost without exception mainstream newspapers and websites That could change everything — almost overnight.
Sermon Series : Hearing Gods voice
Sermon Series : Hearing Gods voice
#1 The Established Word of GOD
#1 The Established Word of GOD
LOGOS - Jesus! the word became flesh!
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
no fair leaving book out - you miss out on the full picture of god, and risk making god in your own image.
The word is a sword - sharp and active!
Handle the word of GOD diligently
Ask “What DID it mean”? to the original audience. the context contains power.
then use three steps
1. Observation (what did it say?)
2. Interpretation (what did it Mean?)
3 Application (what is God saying to you personally?, and this is for your own good, so be honest!)
conformity to God’s word is our way to holiness, obedience and action.
Our culture is saying NO to the Bible, but it is the very source of everything they need! They are trading the True of God for a lie. It is only hurting themselves.
lets not make the same mistake
Living LOGOS and memorization
Living LOGOS and memorization
What struck me in Thessalonians 1& 2:
Gentle - we are not to be Harsh. with the truth we can get harsh, but humility and love are to be used to accurately handle the WORD of truth.
Hard working - the great resignation is an outgrowth of anti-christian work ethic.
#2 The living Word (Rhema)
#2 The living Word (Rhema)
Romans 10:17 “17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” “ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
A passage of the bible suddenly seams to shine light into your heart and applies uniquely to your particular situation. Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
It is the living breathing word of God. It will illuminate YOUR PATH, specifically for the concerns you have IF you submit yourself and your reading to the Holy Spirit.
It is supposed to be fresh and daily.. like the mana from heaven (the bread of life) it must be gathered and consumed daily. it is fresh.
examples
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - “When you read your Bible you must think that hear and now God is speaking with you! You can’t be a Christian unless you hear from God. He wants to speak to you Personally, not just in principles and beliefs… but to you personally.” - Dietrich was struggling with knowing what to do when he retreated to america for a short time in the face of the rising Nazi threat in Germany. He read in his bible Isaiah 28:16b “‘Whoever believes will not flee in haste.’” I knew that was his answer. and he quickly boarded the very last ship that was allowed to leave before the war began.
Alexander Peden - was on of the 17th century Scotland “Conventers” and a powerful preacher that was driven by the authorities to live a life on the run. He traveled through the countryside sleeping in barns and haystacks to preach the word to small groups of believers secretly. He knew that god had lighted Psalm 32:7 just for him “thou art my hiding place...” He then lived in EXPECTATION that God would do just that for Him as he was strengthened in God’s presence in His WORD.
Reese Howells - felt god was asking him to build a bible college, in whales and began praying. Later He read the word and in 1 Chronicles 28 and knew that God had called him to” be strong and do it” and that it would cost the equivalent of a Talent go Gold (6,150 lbs)- and it turned out to be the case as he moved in obedience.
Corrie Ten Boom - the word called her to repent and forgive the man who betrayed her family to death and her to endure the concentration camp for housing Jesus in the Hiding Place in their shop. her forgiveness after the war cause the man to turn his life over to Jesus and become a Christian.
the result of listening to God is often greater Holiness Discipleship and evangelism
#3 The Inner Witness of the Holy Spirit(check/peace)
#3 The Inner Witness of the Holy Spirit(check/peace)
He is also the the “Counselor” and as the Spirit of Truth the Holy spirit will bear witness to TRUE FACTS inside us.
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Like a stoplight - The holy spirit provide to us Guidance in the form of simple response to our questions… Red light, Yellow light, Green light
Holy spirit is the spirit of truth.
#4 The Still, Small Voice of GOD
#4 The Still, Small Voice of GOD
the inner voice of the Holy Spirit - sensing the Divine within
1 Kings 19 - Elijah on Mt Sinai - wind, earthquake, fire, but god’s voice in the silence.
inaudible… “whisper” = . דְּמָמָה demâmâh, dem-aw-maw´; quiet:—calm, silence, still.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
so this makes sense, we should be able to hear this small voice.
Holy spirit speaks to Philip to go to the Ethiopian. Acts 8
we see this same “Spirit said” over an over again in Acts several more times.
examples:
The Quaker and George Fox
Our daughter Amanda ear tube needing surgery (dad got msg from HS)
Abraham's faith is tested on his three day journey to sacrifice his son.
Ken Geer in College at concert - the spirit said “you must talk to her”
What's the Spirit sound like?
There of course no “sound”
But the inner voice will appear to sound like the accent and way the words are phrased are in your own style, like your voice… it is coming from inside your spirit, so the voice “sounds” like your own.
#5 The Desire of our Hearts
#5 The Desire of our Hearts
a stream. Imagine the will of god like stream. It is certainly narrow compared to wandering all over the countryside, Within the banks of the stream there is room to follow jesus within our free will. we can make our own choices within the revealed will of God, as we ASK & LISTEN, and THEN when we get directions from the Holy Spirit, we can move right or left to as needed. As long as we do not climbing out of the river and onto the banks, God’d will leaves room for the unique self expression he has given to each of us.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Could it be that God give will you multiple gifts and talents and interests, and allows you to decide? perhaps. That is him directing your steps through the desires of your heart. placing in you with
The key is to maintain a close relationship with with the Holy spirit… the closest of any relationship you have. more important than everything else.
Example: Eric Liddell - not running on Sunday. seeking first the kingdom of God yet having a sense that God had made him fast and he could Feel god’s pleasure when he ran in right relationship with God.- and reaching the world for Jesus.
When you depart from putting God first the desires of your heart become Idols and sin.
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
#6 God’s voice in Creation
#6 God’s voice in Creation
The father Spoke, and Jesus created. It is the Fathers creation - and he uses it to speak to us profound messages about who he is.
All men are able to recognize this voice and are without excuse. Romans 1-2.
Satan has done allot to try to silence our society to the voice of God in creation
There is a great danger in ignoring Gods voice in Creation. You become a hypocrite!
The “Natural Law” that is evident to all is what this nation used as authority to justify separation from King George.
There is amazing worship of God in creation, and Science reveals it. Yet Stan has desperately tried to numb us to this voice with the lies of evolution.
Jesus does a fantastic job of showing us how to interpret creation and what it is telling us about our father in heaven.
consider… Lilies of the field, Ravens… they are tell you some profound truths about your father. What else can you learn if you stop and really consider creation is saying.
Consider the Universe with the
Note that God will speak to you by sending, cats, ferrets, ravens and otters and all manner of creatures to you as needed!
#7 God Speaks thru Providence
#7 God Speaks thru Providence
A quote by Gandalf, to Bilbo a the end of the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein.
You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes where managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you, but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all. - Gandalf’s to Bilbo a the end of the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein.
But today I want to draw your attention to a more subtle way in which God speaks to us. Not through creation, nor through direct supernatural miracles — but something much more subtle and mysterious. Providence.
Video Clip
In the fellowship of the Ring, Frodo who has inherited the ring from Bilbo is wishing the ring had never come to him. Gandalf tells Frodo There are other forces at work in this world besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to have the ring, and that meant Frodo also was meant to have the ring, and that is an encouraging thought.
What Tolkien is doing here in His books, is teaching this Idea that God is still active in his creation by adjusting things is subtle ways to direct the traffic of events to align to a master plan.
what is providence?
Providence is the governing power of God that oversees his creation and works out his plans for it. - Systematic Theology
This is important to remember. Especially when things are out of control… and evil appears to be getting it’s way. We see evil grabbing power and having it’s way in so many situations. but this is not a Uni
Tolkien was writing after seeing the the events of WW I, and was communicating the Christian world view, that even in the events of Horrendous evil, even in the events of WW II, God is working in Subtle ways.
The Devil is pushing people around with obvious power-plays attempting force people through FEAR and intimidation to do his will.
But God is much more subtle, and leave room for us to decide for ourselves in line with His Love for us, for his goal is not the destruction of humanity. But to see as many as possible choose to join the kingdom of God’s Love. to choose freely, and to freely become part of his grand plan.
God is directing the course of the world using the subtle art of Signs and Circumstances.... those perfectly innocent happenstances that just happen to align to His larger plan.
Gods Hand of Providence moves relatively often, and is unrecognized and often attributed to Luck, and Coincidence. As Christians we sometimes call these things miracles, but they are not a miracle in the true sense of the word. They are things that are most often consistent with God’s normal laws of creation, but the timing of these events are so precise that they do call attention to us.
avoiding icicles
When I was in 4th grade, and playing under the massive Icicles, that were handing down over a full story from the top of our school. Why did I jump out from under them, just seconds before they broke loose and crashed to the ground were i was standing? Was it coincidence? It could be argued that that event was - for there is plenty of room in this world for real coincidences. Yet it could be that God managed the timing of that through providence, angles, or the Holy spirit to ensure I lived through that event to fulfill a prupose.
It is when we start to see a series of seaming coincidences all fall in line for what appears to be a consistent plan that the case for providence becomes clear.
God the Father goes before you to prepare a way for you.... because he loves YOU personally.
God has fore-knowledge, and knows the choices you will make, and without affecting your freedom of choice can see you future.
He can make small or large adjustments to the various situations either now or possibly in the very act of initial creation, to “set things up” for you before you get their. He can make these coincidences perfectly consistent with the laws of His creation… but align them so they happen at preciously the right time to accomplish his will.
I think God like to often play a subtle role in these things.
2 It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.
Paul spoke about this when speaking to the people in Athens:
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
He has the ability to affect the circumstances surrounding each individual.
if you are his Child, and are loving him and walking in accordance to his Will… then he will make things work toward your good.
theme verse
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
You may not know what God has been doing for you. It is often not noticeable till much later and you start to see the Pattern of circumstances. Other time you will stand in awe of his amazing coincidences.
Hannah a barren woman in the OT who prayed to God for a child sang about it like this:
3 Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 4 The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. 5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. 6 The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. 7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.
Consider his activity “circumstances” in the life Joseph. For so long it looked like he was having a string of “bad luck” time after time things when wrong for him. - or was it. was it perhaps the provenance of god, who was turning all these things that the enemy meant for evil for an amazing Good?
encourages his brother’s natural jealousy of him by his lack of wisdom and judgement.
Being sold to slavers by His Brothers
Being accused of sexually attacking his Masters’s wife (though he was utterly innocent)
Being forgotten by those he helped in the Egyptian Jail.
He likely invents the Alphabet! (patterns of Evidence “The Moses Controversy”)
But then at just the right time a Dream God gave Pharaoh causes him to be remembered and He goes on to save all of Egypt and the surrounding nations from a severe Famine. — but most of all gives him a chance to reunite with his father and his brothers.
Joseph says it like this:
8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
SO you can see that in this world you may have trouble… but also as you Love God and walk according to his will in your life amazing things can happen.
this how we can sing that God is the waymaker - he turns what the devil meant for evil to your good!
Circumstances that align with a clear pattern
Circumstances that align with a clear pattern
God’s favor toward Israel
God’s favor toward Israel
Throught the bible we see that there is a string of amazing “coincidences” and out right miracles, that lead to the forming of Israel, as a nation, and then keep bringing it back from the brink of utter ruin, and beyond. God has clearly documented this in the Bible and his prophetic utterances through his people have told us ahead of time of his plans an attentions. SO that when we see the return of Israel in our day and the remarkable “coincidences” that align to make it happen, and to protect the fledgling nation we see clearly Father GOD’s HAND OF Providence operating at the National level of Israel.
God tells us in his workd that it was not because Israel was better than other nations that he chose it. He chose it because it suited his plan and he blessed a Man called Abrham who demonstrated great faith.
God’s Favor toward America
God’s Favor toward America
It is a bit harder perhaps for some to see that God also has a plan for other nations. Because it is not reviled in the Bible. But for the last 400 years many have seen that God has some unique plan for America.
Once again, it is not because America is more righteous than other nations, or perfect. for our sins are many. But that doe snot stop God from having a plan an a destiny for America. What is it? that is open to some interpretation.
Example
How did Squanto know to plant fish with corn?
How did Squanto know to plant fish with corn?
Squanto had lived quietly with his tribe until he was captured by slave traders to
Squanto, Seeing himself as a lonely ghost or survivor spirit, Squanto lived in the woods for a time before making his way to Massasoit, the most powerful sachem of the region. This Wampanoag leader welcomed the newcomer warily, realizing that his many travels and his knowledge of European languages would make him valuable in dealing with the alien Englishmen who had established their struggling outpost, with just seven homes and a crude fortification, on the site of Patuxet. In fact, on the day the Pilgrims met Squanto, Massasoit waited nearby with a formidable force of sixty armed men, hoping that his English-speaking ambassador would help in negotiating a formal alliance with the newcomers. With his own tribe significantly diminished by disease, Massasoit wanted the fearsome power of the Europeans’ muskets and small cannon on his side to fend off potential attacks from the hostile Narragansett people, whom he deeply feared. Squanto achieved total success in this effort, helping bring together the Wampanoag “king” (as the English saw him) with the subjects of the great King James across the water. The Pilgrims wisely greeted Massasoit and his warriors with signs of honor, even reverence, inviting the sachem into one of their homes and sharing some of the same “strong water” that had previously pleased Samoset. The result of the friendly meeting was a formal treaty, preserved in writing by the Pilgrims, pledging the two groups to defend each other from any and all dangers.
Amazingly, this agreement lasted for more than fifty years and ensured that the Pilgrims would maintain friendly relations with the Indian tribe closest to them— relations famously celebrated at the first Thanksgiving, some seven months after this initial negotiation. Without Squanto deploying his utterly unique linguistic skills to act as intermediary, this understanding would have been impossible to achieve. His role in helping the Englishmen cope with local natives represents one of the two ways in which he proved indispensable to Plymouth’s survival. The other crucial service unfolded over the months that followed, as Squanto chose to stay with the Pilgrims on the site of his boyhood home and to cast his lot with the struggling settlers. After Massasoit and his followers had departed, the long-suffering, world-traveling Indian remained behind to help the newcomers adapt to the New England environment, and in the process he became an esteemed member of their community. They were amazed to discover that he had been schooled in biblical beliefs during his years in England and Spain. But it’s unclear whether he considered himself a Christian in terms his new friends would fully accept. The differences between the Catholicism of the kindly Spanish monks who rescued Squanto and the rigorous Calvinism of the Mayflower Pilgrims would have seemed vast and perhaps even unbridgeable to ardent believers of the seventeenth century. Nonetheless, Squanto’s devotion to his new neighbors brought benefits to the Englishmen that they viewed as a gift from God. For instance, he immediately introduced them to the eels that flourished on the bottoms of local streams, creatures the Pilgrims described as “fat and sweet,” providing lifesaving nourishment. The Pilgrims found them easy to catch by forcing the eels out of the mud with bare feet and then grabbing them with both hands. Similarly, he taught them the secrets of the spring run of the alewives, fast-moving fish that annually crowded all creeks and rivers in the area. Under Squanto’s direction, the Englishmen set up weirs, or low dams, at strategic points that trapped the fish and produced an abundant harvest. He then provided his most important guidance, showing the right way to plant corn— in April, place five kernels in a freshly made mound surrounded by three fish to nourish growth. The Pilgrims soon saw twenty acres under successful cultivation, producing the harvest that made the first Thanksgiving joyous and possible. The Pilgrims and most subsequent historians believed that the “fish fertilizer” system of planting represented an ancient Indian practice, but Charles Mann in his 2005 book 1491 challenges the idea. “So little evidence has emerged of Indians fertilizing with fish that some archaeologists believe that Tisquantum [Squanto] actually picked up the idea from European farmers,” he writes. “The notion is not as ridiculous as it may seem…. In his travels, Tisquantum stayed in places where Europeans used fish as fertilizer, a practice on the continent since medieval times.”
If Mann is correct, then the good fortune of the Pilgrims in befriending Squanto becomes even more astonishing. They not only found a most unusual Indian who spoke good English, knew the basics of Christianity, and saw the newcomers as replacements for his departed family, but also managed to find perhaps the only Indian on the continent who had mastered the European agricultural technique that rescued the new colony from hunger and privation.
Medved, Michael. The American Miracle (pp. 44-45). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
No wonder that William Bradford saw his native friend as “a special instrument sent of God for their good, beyond their expectation.” Squanto became such a valued member of the community that when he was captured by a hostile group of Indians passing through the area, the Pilgrims sent a full armed military expedition to get him back, unharmed. In 1622, after a year with the Pilgrims, Squanto journeyed to the Wampanoags to refresh the alliance with them and to smooth over some recent misunderstandings, but he fell ill on his way home. In reporting on this affliction, William Bradford referred to it simply as “Indian fever,” resulting in “bleeding much at the nose, which the Indians take as symptom of death, and within a few days he died. He begged the Governor to pray for him, that he might go the Englishman’s God in heaven.” According to Bradford’s account, Squanto made a deathbed profession of faith in Jesus Christ and proved his loyalty to his friends by leaving his meager possessions to them “as remembrances.” Bradford concluded: “His death was a great loss.” The Plymouth Colony survived that loss because Squanto, in the brief months that he lived in the community, had already made his profound contributions to its well-being. He not only negotiated successfully with neighboring Indians and imparted essential information but also strengthened the battered settlement’s core belief in heavenly protection for the Pilgrims’ endeavor. In April 1621, while Squanto was still directing the planting of a new crop of corn, the surviving settlers faced a crucial choice that painfully tested their faith. Captain Christopher Jones, who had kept the Mayflower anchored just offshore throughout the fall and winter, now determined to sail back to England with the surviving members of his crew. He implored the Pilgrims, all of whom still mourned the recent deaths of cherished friends and family members, to end their misery and return with him to the familiar comforts of civilization. In direct contrast to the second settlers of the ill-fated Roanoke Colony of 1586, who had abandoned their mission and gratefully accepted an offer to transport them to the safety of the mother country, not one of the Pilgrims elected to leave.
Medved, Michael. The American Miracle (pp. 45-46). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Writing in 2014, David Adesnik of the American Enterprise Institute provided important perspective on widespread misunderstandings regarding American exceptionalism. “Exceptional does mean better in important ways, although these exceptional traits long co-existed with shameful ones, such as one century of slavery and another of segregation,” he wrote. “Critics often stumble on the complexity of this point, unable to comprehend how the United States can claim unique virtues if it also committed terrible acts of oppression. They fail to understand how the virtues embodied in the Founding ultimately subverted the forces of oppression.” In response to such arguments, cynics could reasonably insist that the usefulness of a notion hardly proves its validity. The idea of heavenly partiality toward America and Americans could qualify as nothing more than a convenient fiction. The fact that the nation clearly benefited from its much-trumpeted confidence in such favor doesn’t mean that it ever actually existed. But that acknowledgment still leaves contemporary observers with a difficult struggle to provide alternative explanations for America’s unprecedented, remarkable run of good fortune. The assumption that it’s nothing more than dumb, blind luck doesn’t add up; if the breaks operate on behalf of a particular party over more than three centuries, then that luck looks neither dumb nor blind. If fortunate coincidences form a consistent pattern over a broad sweep of history, then there’s an indication of something more at work. As previously observed, a pattern of happy accidents is still a pattern.
Medved, Michael. The American Miracle (p. 367). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
battles in the revolutionary war
battles in the revolutionary war