His Sovereignty, Our Perspectives
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Opening
Opening
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
God is good church. In all things God is good. We thank Him for being God, and God alone. He is the lifter up of our heads. He does all things well.
God is sovereign and I want to preach to you today for a little while on the Sovereignty of God.
The sovereignty of God means that as ruler of the Universe, God is free and has the right to do whatever he wants.
He is not bound or limited by the dictates of his created beings.
He is in complete control over everything that happens here on Earth.
Sovereignty in the Bible is often expressed in the language of kingship, or rulership:
God rules and reigns over the entire Universe.
He cannot be opposed. Well you can try to oppose God, but God will never be defeated.
He is Lord of heaven, and earth.
He is enthroned, He sits on the throne of the universe.
Everything that he created he rules over, and He created everything.
There is not one person or thing that operates outside the sovereignty of God.
Nothing catches Him by surprise, He rules all things.
In His sovereignty He either made it happen, or He allowed it to happen.
Nothing exists outside of the reign and ruling of God.
He is sovereign in all things.
He is God in the good times and the bad time. He is absolute ruler over all things.
13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
2 I know that thou canst do every thing, And that no thought can be withholden from thee.
3 But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased, That did he in heaven, and in earth, In the seas, and all deep places.
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
God is the absolute ruler, and sustainer of all things.
Nothing is outside of His sovereignty.
We are His. We are His creation.
We cannot loose sight of His Sovereignty
6 And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
God rules everything. Directly or by what He allows.
Everything that happens, happens because He did it or He allows it.
Free Will - Choice
Free Will - Choice
In His sovereignty, He has grated us free will.
When God created this world He included choice.
He gave humanity the decision to make choices.
God created humanity to have choice essentially because He wants us to serve Him by choice not by mandate.
The fall of humanity was by choice.
God has established sovereign boundaries, no one can cross those boundaries, but within those boundaries you have free will, choices.
Only you can make the choices within those boundaries.
Sometimes you will receive a prophetic word in your life.
That word is a sovereign boundary, but it must be followed by a decision or choice.
There is a difference between a spoken word of faith, and a thus says the Lord.
Many times our faith leads us to speak things by faith, and in faith we speak things into existence.
A word of Faith is not a prophecy. Some people hold on to words spoken in faith as if they were a thus says the Lord Prophecy.
There is nothing wrong with speaking a word in faith, but we must understand that speaking something in faith, is not a prophetic word from God.
When God speaks a Thus says the Lord, that is a sovereign Word that God has spoken, it is a promise, a covenant, a boundary.
It was the Will of God to take the people of God out of Egypt, and bring them into the promise land, however because of the choices of the people, the mass majority where left behind in the wilderness.
They were within the boundaries of the will of God and choices had been made.
Let my people go was a Thus Says The Lord.
Be careful to never say, Thus says the Lord unless you are absolutely sure that you heard from God.
God will make the determination of when you have infringed on his sovereign will.
Sovereignty is real and choice is real.
Our choice is not sovereign over God.
Our Choices are limited to the boundaries of His Sovereignty
To have sovereignty without choice negates to be created in Gods image.
To have choice without sovereignty would mean that man is in control not God.
We live in a day where men want choice without sovereignty.
That’s the reason that we see the horrible things that humanity does, it is because humanity wants to be its own sovereign.
The current government administration of this country desires its own sovereignty. Creating Chaos. Self serving. Self glorifying. Sin justifying.
Sovereignty involves choice, and choice allows for evil.
God did not create evil, He created choice.
The fact that God has given you a choice, means that you can chose evil or good. You can chose sin.
Adam and Eve failed, they chose to eat of the tree. God did not make them do it, they choose it.
God did not create sin nor evil, he created choice, which allows those things to happen.
Why?
Why?
Why does God allow it?
Gods sovereignty, is controlled by His attributes.
The reason why God rules all, is because all is what makes Him God.
His attributes make Him God.
His perfect goodness
his omnipresence,
his omnipotence,
His holiness,
His immutability,
His eternity,
His wrath,
His mercy,
all that He is, He is and the attributes glorify Him.
The attributes of God ensure that His sovereignty occurs.
Because God manifests His attributes, there needs to be conditions where various attributes are needed and therefore manifested.
So God allows things, even if they are against Him, because those things that He allows that are against Him, present the opportunity for God to demonstrate His attributes that would otherwise not been seen, for example His mercy, His grace, His power and wrath.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
One of the attributes of God is wrath, but the only reason we have wrath is because we have sin, the only reason we have sin is because he have choice.
Choice produces sin, sin opened the door for the wrath because humanity chose to reject Him.
So the choice of man created the open door for Gods character of wrath to be demonstrated.
That open door has also created the opportunity for God to demonstrate another one of His attributes, mercy!
Mercy is not getting what you deserve for the choices you made.
Everything that happens creates an opportunity for God to manifest His attributes, thus that is another reason as to why He allows for choice.
God will always accomplish His purpose. What you do or do not do will never detour God from His will, and purpose.
He will go with you, around you, or over you but you will never interfere with His will.
God never limits himself to one route.
God would prefer to accomplish His plan with your cooperation, but He does not need it!
When you cooperate with Gods will, everybody wins, but when you do not cooperate, don’t think you were His only option.
Yes, you can miss the will of God. He can and He will do it with you or without you.
Gods sovereignty does not negate your choice, it includes freedom of choice. Some of our choices will be right, some will be wrong.
I do guarantee you that the odds of making the right choice significantly increase when we are making choices in prayer and according to the written word of God.
Listen, a choice that goes against the Word of God is never the right one.
No matter how much you feel it is the will of God for you to marry someone else spouse, listen to me… IT IS NOT. It goes against the Word of God.
Your “happiness” is never greater than what the scripture tells us to do. Your satisfaction or approval are not and never will be greater than Gods sovereigncy
You are free to chose.
God did not stop Eve, God did not stop Adam, He gave them the ability, the same ability that He has given us to chose.
God might give you indications, but He will not overstep the boundaries of choice that HE created.
He will let you chose.
When you chose, you open the door for the manifestation of one or many of Gods attributes.
When you choose to praise, God responds with an attribute. When you worship God respond with an attribute. What attributes are your choices demonstrating you are after?
Gods manifested attributes manifest His glory.
Your decisions, will manifest His attributes.
God is so good, and He is good at being God. Even when people are evil, God can uses it for God.
Remember what Joseph said, what you meant for evil but God!!!! But God meant it for God.
God is sovereign.
He rules both the God and the evil. He rules over everything.
The Battle Against His Sovereignty
The Battle Against His Sovereignty
When you understand the God is always in control, you then take praying without ceasing to the place the God intended it to be.
When you realize the God is sovereign you start taking everything to the throne of God.
You start looking for Him in everything and everywhere.
When you understand the Sovereignty of God you understand that the Will of God is never defeat but always victory.
When we decided to allign our lives with His soverin rule your dept of relationship with God is expanded to better see how great God is, and you see it in your life.
Many of the problems that we face in life, many of the strongholds that we battle are due to the fact that we don’t allow God to rule in our lives in certain areas.
We will let Him rule here, but not over there.
The biggest obstacle to living a life where God is sovereign is pride.
Nebuchadnezzar had a pride issue.
28 All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
29 At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
31 While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
36 At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellers and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.
37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Whenever God sees you infringe on His sovereignty, He is going to make a lesson out of you, and when you think that you are all that He is going to show you that there is one God, that you are not that one God.
He is God, He is in charge! To God be the glory, great are the things that God has done.
Everything that you have, all that you are, is for the glory of God.
Sometimes our faith becomes a justification for pride.
We can stand in pride, disguised as faith, or we can humbly bow to His soverignty with outstrached hands trusing Him.
God is sovereign at all times. In the good times, and in the bad times God is sovereign.
Believing in the Sovereignty of God changes your perspective.
Believing in the Sovereignty of God changes your perspective.
Here are some perspectives when we accept that God is sovereign:
The Past Becomes The Past.
Growing in grace causes us to look back and want some “do overs”.
Regret and guilt creep in. However.
The Sovereignty of God means we don’t need to worry about the past. Whatever happened wasn’t powerful enough to thwart the purposes of God.
When we understand the sovereinty of God, we realize that Romans 8:28 is for us
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
All things, whether Good or Bad from our perspective are working together for the God.
When we understand the Sovereignty of God we are able to get through current situations. Paul understood the sovereignty of God and that is why he wrote what he wrote to the church of Philippi in
4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
verse 13 I can get through this through Christ who strengthens me
When we understand the Sovereignty of God we stop worrying about the future.
As Paul was preparing for his missionary trip to Spain he write to the church or Romans with great anticipation and confidence in God because he understood the sovereignty of God. In Chapter 8 he says this:
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
No matter what I might face, I know that God is in control, and despite what the road ahead has, I am more than a conquer, and nothing, absolutely nothing can separate me from the love of Christ!
The Key To Accepting His Sovereignty is Thanksgiving and Praise
The Key To Accepting His Sovereignty is Thanksgiving and Praise
In all things, be thankful. In the God times, in the bad times, God is good and He has been good to me. Weeping may endure for a night.... But joy....
But Joy commeth in the morning
the enemy doesn't want you to understand the sovereignty of God because he wants to keep you in the weeping night, today is a new day. Today is a new morning, and joy comes in the morning.
I wonder if someone can bless the Lord like David did in 1 Chron 29:10-13
10 Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.
11 Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
12 Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
13 Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
Is there anyone here today, that wants to let God rein sovereignty over there life? When you understand His sovereignty He will change your perspective, He will review your strength , you shall mount up with wings as eagle, you shall run, and not be weary, walk and not faint!
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