The Will of God: Understanding His Purpose and Power

1. Welcome To The Services Of The Dunlap church of Christ We Are Thankful For Your Presence!

2. Welcome To The Services Of The Dunlap church of Christ Questions? Just Let Us Know!

3. I Corinthians 4:10-21 “We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.”

4. (11) Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; (12) And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:”

5. (13) Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. (14) I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.”

6. (15) For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. (16) Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.”

7. (17) For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.”

8. (18) Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. (19) But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.”

9. (20) For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. (21) What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?”

10. On the cruise ship of life, which way is your deck chair facing?”

11. “I've never been able to get one unfolded.”

12. “You Blockhead! Give me a nickle!”

13. Is this your outlook on life under God’s Providence?

14. Frederick Nolan Frederick Nolan “Where God is, a spider’s web is like a wall. Where God is not, a wall is like a spider's web.”

15. “The Will of God” • Do serious Christians today say it? • It can be used flippantly & repetitively so that it means little or nothing. • Per Biblical usage, it is not a superstitious “knock-on-wood” formula. • Pagans, Greeks, Mohammedans, Hindus, & other Biblical illiterates are guilty of such, but they are not alone!

16. “Will” As Applied To God? • This must be understood in terms of its meaning in reference to man. • “An act or process of volition; purpose, intention, or determination; conscious and deliberate action or choice; disposition or attitude toward others.” • To grasp this concept applied to Deity in the Bible is to blessed with a more accurate view of and appreciation for the Great God we worship! • The reverse is true too!

17. The “Will of God” As It Relates To… • The Creation of the Cosmos • The Wonders of the Natural World • The Course of History • The Will of Man

18. God Is… • Purposeful, all-powerful, & self-governing in relation to His world. • He has a plan for the history of the universe, and in executing it He governs and controls all created realities. • God is both transcendent overand yet imminent inHis world.

19. God Is… • God is both transcendent over(distinct from His world – doesn’t “need” it – exceeds the total grasp of any created intelligence that is found in it), and yet imminent in (permeating the world in sustaining creative power–shaping & steering it in a way that keeps it on its planned course) His world.

20. Understanding This Is Essential! To recognize the existence of a will of God and its scriptural import is to see that the work of creation resulted from the divine will. • Genesis 1:26 • Psalm 135:6 “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.” • Jeremiah 18:6 “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.”

21. Rev. 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory & honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are & were created.” • Moment by moment the world continues or is preserved because of Christ’s “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3) and because “by him all things consist” (Col. 1:17). • Everything is directed to His appointed goal for His own glory (Ephesians 1:9-12).

22. Ephesians 1:9-12 “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (10) That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:”

23. (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: (12) That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”

24. This View Of the Will of God Excludes • Pantheism • Deism • Dualism • Indeterminism • Determinism • Chance • Fate

25. Examples • In II Samuel 7:13 God tells David that He “shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” • Despite the sins of the people, Samuel says, “For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people,” (I Sam.12:22). • In both incidents, God took the initiative to choose Israel as His own people and the descendants of David as the Messianic line. • God must, therefore, bless them both!

26. Examples • Peter declared that Christ was the great fulfillment of the promise made to David centuries earlier even though Solomon fulfilled it typically (Acts 2:30-32). • Peter & Paul declare Christians to be a “holy nation, a peculiar people, (a peoplefor God’s own possession)” because of Jesus the Christ “who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us fromall iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people (a people for his ownpossession)” I Peter 2:9; Titus 2:14.

27. Think About It! If God freely willed to bless David’s descendants and willed to make a people unto Himself out of the Israelites, then how much more will He exert Himself in caring for us?

28. Boldness Hebrews 10:19-23 “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (21) And having an high priest over the house of God;”

29. (22) Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (23) Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;).”

30. Matthew 6:10 “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

31. God’s Simple Plan HEAR (Romans 10:17) BELIEVE (John 8:24) REPENT (Luke 13:3) CONFESS (Rom.10:9-10) BAPTIZED (Gal. 3:27) ADDED TO THE CHURCH (Acts 2:41,47)

32. Are You Wayward? “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.” (Acts 8:22) “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16)