Sovereignty in Chronicles Part 1

1 Chronicles 10, describes the death of Saul. Although Saul killed himself, the Chronicler understood that the Lord put Saul to death. This is most likely to show the sovereignty of God over all things, even suicide. Though we should understand that God's sovereignty does not mean his direct responsibility, rather it is his divine oversight and removal of his grace that restrains evil.

Many have argued a different premise, but this chapter shows that Saul really killed himself, and yet, the Lord put Saul to death. We understand Saul was responsible for falling on his own sword, but how is God responsible for that?

God's responsibility appears to be in his sovereignty, he has removed the grace necessary to withold the evil, as a judicial punishment, and it results in Saul taking his own life. We see this constant theme throughout Scripture. Peter says in Pentecost, " this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." We know God was punishing Jesus for the sins of mankind not his own sins, "the punishment that brought us peace was upon him."

This is similar to two other instances of acts that highlight the Sovereignty of God. In "God Gave Them Up: A Study of Divine Retribution", S. Lewis Johnson Jr., highlights to key passages that are relavent to this discussion.

First in Romans 1:18-26; 28 we see Johnson explain that this act of God giving them up is a judicial consequence, and not merely a removal of grace.

Second Johnson highlights Acts 7:42, as the exact same greek reference to "God giving them up" and shows that it is a removal of grace, but as a judicial punishment.

Something Johnson doesn't not but is clearly present is also that "God giving them up" seems to be intrinsically tied to idolatry, and a rejection of faith in God, and a reliance on anything else. Hence we see the Chronicler explain that Saul "died for his breath of faith" and "did not keep the command of God" and "did not seek guidance from the Lord" but instead "consulted a medium" which is the moral equivalent of idolatry. Therefore God gave him over to his own wicked hand, and put him to death.

Stay tuned for more on God's sovereignty as a part of my study Chronicles 1 & 2.

Spiritual Fullfillment

Source: Wikimedia

I am not satisfied with material expressions of a divine order. I am not hoodwinked by cosmic forces as an conclusive explanation of existence. I do not believe that this world is only matter, and that this world consists of meaningless pursuits in a random chaos. Rain drops and tear drops are not random, I have no reason to think anything else is. 

Evil is denying the loving purpose and nature of the Almighty God. Evil is forsaking sacrificial love for fleeting chemical stimulus of the temporal lobes. It is no wonder the apostles warned so readily against the passions of the flesh. Because the flesh represents this natural world with its lifelessness and meaninglessness, its conscious devoid of God. The flesh and material substance pail to the Spirit and the spiritual substance of the infinite personal wonderful creator. Therefore we are not satisfied by idols made by the hands and the minds of man, but are filled to pursue by the Spirit of the living God, his very being. We seek the I am, the all existent one, who by his existence gives life, and meaning and existence. No the flesh itself cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart. Rather we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, sacrificing temporal human passions and deviations from His purpose and being transformed by His Spirit to conform to the purpose he has intended for us all along, which is to reflect His glory, in all of his righteousness as vessels of grace, temples pouring forth love and worship infinitely to him who gives life infinitely. Friends who is He? Whoever He is, I just know that He greater than I, and that now I am found in Him.

He is, Τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅ τι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν. May we hear what he has been saying from the beginning.

"The Lord is in his Holy Temple; let all the Earth keep silent before him" - Habakkuk 2:20

The Man Without God

Many people demand comprehensive explanations with reproducible experimental proof and predictive power for intelligent design arguments. When you provide the ideological proof for an intelligent designer, they reject it, and demand material proof for a spiritual and infinite being. Then when you point to the historical resurrection as the physical and material proof of the intelligent designer, they simply deny it as historical and unverifiable and unreproducible. Then you cleverly point to the leading materialistic origins theory and say that it too is historical, unreproducible, and and unverifiable. The materialist then quickly responds rejecting the notion saying it's parts of their theory can be reproduced to a degree and has been observed scantly throughout the scientific community. You respond by saying, the resurrection can also be reproduced to a degree and has been observed, citing historical and present sources, of the many supernatural and near death occurances that have been documented that do take place.

The materialist denies all such evidence saying it requires too much "blind faith", what the materialist does not know is that he is demanding that kind of faith from the intelligent design advocate for his own personal materialistic worldview.

Then it becomes clear, the materialist is not stricly concerned with evidence as he claims, rather is decapacitated by a personal philosophy and disposition for life, particularly his morality, the glaringly obvious distinction and primary concern of his worldview. You see from a theistic standpoint advocating intelligent design is not hindered by personal moral outlooks, since in his worldview the designer has provided guidelines for moral behavior and thought, and he has submitted to these guidelines and conforms to them. Even if he were to reject the notion of intelligent design and advocate materialism, his reasoning would not be hindered by a necessity to change moral outlook and perspective. It could be possibly hindered by a resistance to being wrong, possibly a moral trait he inherited from ancient primordial ancestors that so happened to survive better with that mutation, or he is a depraved human soul unwilling to yield his spirit to the truth, or the coherent view of reality, both of which the materialist is likewise suspect of. The theists reasoning would be more objective, one could even argue, in one sense of the word. But the same cannot be said about the materialist which must come to grips with the intelligent design argument by overcoming his personal decapacitating moralistic framework.

This particularly applies to the Christian faith and worldview. In other words a Christian need not repent of his belief and embrace naturalism, but the naturalist has the extremely expensive moral cost to pay for embracing Christianity specifically, and that cost is repentance, in addition to the possibility of being wrong and having predisposed genetics for resisting truth, and bearing the public shame he might receive from his community,  that he must bear for the switch in reasoning. Turning from previously held moral evils in thought, word, or deed, and trusting in God's only Son, Jesus Christ for forgiveness, and walking in light of this truth by the power of the Holy Spirit. Acknowledging a need for forgiveness, can they even overcome their own pride? The answer is no, that is why the Gospel message is absolutely necessary and Christ's blood and act of grace at the cross, on our behalf is the only power big enough to disarm human pride and redeem broken people.

Glory to the eternal Son, who on the Cross, while being crucified by his creation, said with his arms outstretched "this is how much I love you".

©2013 Little Unworthy Servants. Used by Permission.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in its entirety or in unaltered excerpts, as long as you do not charge a fee. For Internet posting, please use only unaltered excerpts (not the content in its entirety) and provide a hyperlink to this page. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Little Unworthy Servants.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Little One. ©2014 Little Unworthy Servants. Website: littleunworthyservant.blogspot.com

Wisdom About Christmas From a Man Wise in Christ

The gifts that were given by the wise men represent our common experiences: gold (representing our riches), frankincense (our worship), and myrrh (our bitter suffering).  In one person, the king, the priest, the Savior came to earth.  Eternity’s anvil was provided against which the hammers of time must find their meaning.  What more important message could there be than that there is a Savior who is the only hope for the corruption that is in all of our hearts?

Click over to RZIM to read the rest of this fascinating article, as Ravi Zacharias exposit's what is the true meaning of Christmas. 

"Exalted"- A Christian Lyrics App

From Developer:

"I'm excited to present my brand new iOS App - "Exalted", a FREE worship app that allows you to view the lyrics to your favorite songs. The next time you do worship in a small group, have everyone download the application on their iPhone or iPad and follow along.

Special thanks to Sovereign Grace Music, Paul Baloche, Bethel Music, and Mars Hill Music for allowing the app developer to use their song lyrics. Also includes Christmas carols and your favorite classic hymns. More songs coming soon!

iPhone Link: http://goo.gl/8qU0Lv
iPad Link: http://goo.gl/97nWnO
(Android version coming later)

Website: http://exaltedapp.wordpress.com/

Share it with your friends and tell your worship leaders.

Enjoy!"

Walking by the Spirit of God

There is really only two ways to live your life. By the flesh, or by the Spirit. If you live by the Spirit you will not walk according to the flesh and vice versa. You can put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit. All who walk by the Spirit of God are children of God. You can walk by the Spirit through Spirit filled songs and worship, Spirit filled prayers, Spirit filled reading, Spirit filled fellowship, all of which put to death the deeds of the flesh. But if you walk according to the flesh you will fulfill the deeds of the flesh. The deeds of the flesh are present in the absence of the Spirit. Its that simple. Wherever the Spirit of God is not present, there the flesh and demonic powers inflaming the flesh are at work. Just as there are many branches to walking by the Spirit, there is likewise many branches to walk according to the flesh. If you wish to be victorious over the flesh in your life you must walk by the Spirit. If you don't, then all things you do are fleshly.

©2013 Little Unworthy Servants. Used by Permission.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in its entirety or in unaltered excerpts, as long as you do not charge a fee. For Internet posting, please use only unaltered excerpts (not the content in its entirety) and provide a hyperlink to this page. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Little Unworthy Servants.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Little One. ©2013 Little Unworthy Servants. Website: littleunworthyservant.blogspot.com

Why shouldn't we be God?

"Why shouldn't we be God?" I believe is the blasphemous question the evil heart inquires, many times with the assistance of Satan. Its not only because God knows all, is all powerful,  and omniscient, but because possibly one thing we lack the most even if we were to have these "God" like attributes.  

That one thing we lack is love.... Could you possibly be a more loving ruler of the universe than God is? No you can't. Because you didn't create yourself or anybody else, therefore you don't have the capacity or ever will to love as much as God loves! He loves you with a unfailing never ending love, as you creator, and you his creature. As a perfect heavenly Father and you his child. He loves you so much he came and died for someone like you, who bears his image yet deviated from his likeness. He did that because he loved you. He can wipe you out, and perhaps that is what you would have done with man. But he chose to love. Love love love! His love is the greatest most incommunicable attribute. Love is most perfectly defined as the underlying reason of God's grace. It is his love! We know it the least, practice it the least, share it the least, believe it the least. Love means God is such an awesome ruler that even when you rebelled against him and had no way to reconcile with him, he sent Jesus to open a door of opportunity for humans to be reconciled back to him. Love is given freely, expect nothing in return. Love adores, love cherishes. Love doesn't quit or fail, it endures!

Love is what changes our heart to Jesus! Love is the reason why we give up our self! When we realize God's love, that is what compels us to him. Oh how he loves us! His love changes are hearts. Great is his love! No one can love like him! No one can has been sinned against more than him, and no one has forgiven more than him. You murdered him when he came to Earth, but he cried out to you for your forgiveness! He forgives you, if you would just realize how ugly your sins are, how bloody your hands are drenched with his blood.

God's love is this great, though he is king, ruler, creator of the Universe, although you choose to rebel against him, and declared yourself God, ruler of your own life, he has great compassion on you seeing how blind you are to your own blindness, how bent you are in your own destruction. 

Glory to the Lord who is great in mercy, we have no right to replace, neither could be we a better ruler, or king over our own lives, than he is! For he has made us! His hands have fashioned us, and his breath gives us life!

©2013 Little Unworthy Servants. Used by Permission.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in its entirety or in unaltered excerpts, as long as you do not charge a fee. For Internet posting, please use only unaltered excerpts (not the content in its entirety) and provide a hyperlink to this page. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Little Unworthy Servants.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Little One. ©2013 Little Unworthy Servants. Website: littleunworthyservant.blogspot.com