Hope For The Heart

In this series of passages from The Word of God I'm intending to show primarily one truth and that is, God in His sovereign will is a God who makes choices. He actually chose who was to be saved before the world was created. Now, we call this doctrine, the divine of election or the doctrine of predestination. And yes, it is highly controversial-but it should not be so because it is all through the Bible-give it a listen and see what you think!!

Title: "Salvation Starts with God" Jeremiah 13:23 This passage speaks to the condition of mankind as an unbeliever before he or she becomes born again. It is also the condition of everyone ever born or will be born on this planet, and unless God does something to the individual that person will remain in that condition and die and go straight to judgment. Can God do something to change the condition to man or is man left up to his own will to change himself? If we are ever going to enter the kingdom of God(heaven) God must do something to an individual before he or she can be saved? What is it that God has to do? Stay tuned.

I think every time I read this passage it gets deeper and deeper . Jesus says that we cannot see the kingdom of heaven unless we are born again, then He says "that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit. We must be born again because we are of flesh and we must be of the spirit to go to heaven . In Romans 8:5-8 , Paul explains further that no flesh can please God so God has to do something to us before we can be saved and that is found in John 6:44-Give this message a listen and let me know what you think.

This passage is a real problem for a lot of Christians , in that it is a look at the absolute inability of man to have any real response to God. Now if that is true than the whole action of regeneration in up to God Himself. Also this passage looks at a very real story of the resurrection of Lazarus who had died and was dead for 4 days. This story is an illustration of the truths found in Ephesians chapter 2.

We know that sovereignty means that God rules and reigns over His creation. This passage is about God demonstrating His sovereignty with a most interesting story about King Nebuchadnezzar. The theme of this passage is given in v. 17, 'That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes,and sets over it the lowliest of men.'

God does not change, nor anything about God actually changes. He does not change His mind, He does not change His plan or purpose. If that is true-which it is -then how do I fit into the purpose of God. Another question that naturally arises is the question "Why Evil? Or If God is Sovereign then Why Pray?" These are just some of the subjects we will be discussing in this study of the Sovereignty of God.

This passage is only one of many verses that talk about God's sovereignty. This subject happens to be a very controversial one simply because it will inevitably lead to the question of "how much control, if any, does God have over events, actions or circumstances (even random acts) in my life. These are very important questions that we will be dealing with in the next several weeks as we dive into the subject of Sovereignty.

The Christmas Story is the most interesting story ever told. While reading lately I , once again became aware of a fact that most would agree with and that is that the Christmas story as seen and told by the culture through manger scenes and Christmas pageantry is different that the story as told in the Word of God. One example of that is that no star lead the wise men to Bethlehem. They knew where to go but, they did see a glow in the sky and this was confirmation that a King had been born.

Before you can understand the real uniqueness of the church you need to understand what Paul is talking about in this passage. In these verses he is calling the church a mystery from ages past and even adds that it can be reduced to actually 'Christ in you'. In fact, Paul is saying this truth was never seen in the Old Testament. i.e. The Messiah was never seen as an indwelling presence but only as a political earthly king. God has a unique plan for the church as well as a unique plan for Israel. So the church can have a rapture without interfering with God's plan for Israel and the tribulation period on earth.

We are seeking to answer the question, "will the church go through the tribulation period on the earth?" And to answer that question we must know somethings about the church, Israel and the tribulation period. This passage of scripture gives us two of the distinctive qualities of the church and they are (1) the church had a beginning different from the nation of Israel and (2) the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. Then compare this with Revelation chapter 13:7 and you will see that during the tribulation The beast will be given power and authority over the saints to overcome them, therefore, the saints in the tribulation are not part of the church-if they were then the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:18 would not be true.