BECOMING BY BEHOLDING
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ILLUSTRATION: Accident
ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN IN ACCIDENT KNOWS WHAT THOSE MOMENTS BEFORE IMPACT FEEL LIKE.
SEEING THE UNAVOIDABLE - MIND AND BODY JOIN TOGETHER TO PROTECT YOU AND SEND THE SIGNAL TO REFLEX AND EMBRACE FOR IMPACT.
THE WORSHIP OF GOD IS LIKE THIS.
WHEN YOUR SOUL SEES THE LORD YOU MIND AND BODY UNITE AND THE SIGHT OF THE LORD CAUSES A MASSIVE REFLEX
WORSHIP IS THE SOUL’S REFLEX TO THE SIGHT OF GOD
WORSHIP IS THE SOUL’S REFLEX TO THE SIGHT OF GOD
WORSHIP IS AWE AND AWE IS THE RESULT OF THE SOUL BEING STRUCK BY THE SIGHT OF GOD
WORSHIP IS AWE AND AWE IS THE RESULT OF THE SOUL BEING STRUCK BY THE SIGHT OF GOD
AS IN THE CAR CRASH YOU BODY AND MIND CONNECT TO PROTECT YOU FROM IMPACT I WANT UYOU TO KNOW THIS
WORSHIP IS PROTECTION OF THE SOUL
WORSHIP IS PROTECTION OF THE SOUL
LET’S GET ANOTHER PICTURE TO SHAPE AND PROMOTE OUR WORSHIP
“Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
LAST WEEK: AWESTRUCK: THE GOD WHO OPNED OUR EYES
TODAY’S SERMON
SERMON- AWESTRUCK-PART 2: THE GOD WE CAN ALWAYS DEPEND ON
SERMON- AWESTRUCK-PART 2: THE GOD WE CAN ALWAYS DEPEND ON
ON NOVEMBER 25TH, 1985 A SONG WAS RELEASED
RAND B TRIO (STEVIE, DEION, GLADYS
Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forevermore
That's what friends are for
KEEP SMILING KEEP DEPEND ON ME
IMMUTABILITY
UNCHANGING: EXPLAIN IT: SHOW THE GREATNESS OF GOD IN THIS
He never differs from Himself (we are not like this)
God existed before the heavens and the earth were made: He existed before time and therefore is not subject to time (last week’s thought). BUT WE NEED TO GET THIS
Problem is our conception can be
- that God is like us - scripture
- Or that God can be substituted with other things - Golden calf
BUT GOD IS NOT LIKE US
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
THERE IS A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE CREATOR (GOD) AND THE CREATURE (US): ONE SUCH DISTINCTION:
HE NEVER CHANGES AND WE ALWAYS CHANGE
HE IS ALWAYS THE SAME AND WE ARE SUBJECT TO EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS, ETC, THAT CAUSE US TO CHANGE
EVERY HUMAN BEING IS CHANGING
“CONSTANTLY STRIVING, SEEKING REST AND SATISFACTION IS CHANGING THINGS. BUT WE HAVE NO TRUE, GENUINE OR AUTHENTIC REST UNTIL WE REST IN THE UNCHANGING GOD
MY APPEAL TO YOU: STOP SEEKING REST, SATISFACTION OR JOY IN
PEOPLE WHO CHANGE
CIRCUMSTANCES THAT CHANGE
JOBS THAT CHANGE
THIS WORD THAT CHANGES
* IF ANYTHING CHANGES IT DOES SO BY BECOMING BETTER OR WORSE
GOD CANNOT CHNAGE AND THIS HAS TO BE OUR VIEW OF HIM BECAUSE, AS HUMANS, WE TEND TO THINK THAT HE HAS CHANGED WHEN THINGS ARE GOING WRONG OR WHEN THINGS ARE GOING RIGHT
WE TEND TO THINK A CHANGE IN OUR CIRCUMSTANCES REFLECTS A CHANGE IN GOD’S WAY WITH US
“ALL THAT GOD IS HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN AND ALL THAT GOD HAS BEEN AND IS NOW, HE WILL ALWAYS BE”
APPLICATION:
USE JAMES 1 17 SOMEWHERE
I. God Is Unchanging in His Plans for you
I. God Is Unchanging in His Plans for you
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 is addressed to a group of people, not individuals. It’s a promise that God is still in control even when things are bleak. It’s a promise that even though things might not make sense to them now, God’s plan is still good. This verse is giving hope to a group of people that are struggling with understanding what God is doing.
THE THOUGHT OS JEREMIAH IS CONNECTED TO THIS. WHAT GOD SAID TO JEREMIAH APPLIES TO ALL WHO KNOW AND LOVE HIM
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
THE LORD FINISHES WHAT HE STARTED
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
II. God Is Unchanging in His Promises to You
II. God Is Unchanging in His Promises to You
A. Your salvation is secure
A. Your salvation is secure
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:4–5 (ESV)
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
B. Your spiritual transformation is certain
B. Your spiritual transformation is certain
1. He makes us like Himself
1. He makes us like Himself
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
SPEAKING OF THIS ETERNAL IMMUTABLE GOD PAUL SAYS
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
2. He gives good gifts to us
2. He gives good gifts to us
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
THE “SHADOW OF TURNING” REFERS TO OUR PERSPECTIVE ON THE SUN: IT IS ECLIPSED IT MOVES AND IT CASTS ITS SHADOW. THE SUN RISES AND SETS, APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS EVERY DAY; IT COMES OUT OF ONE TROPIC AND ENTERS INTO ANOTHER AT CERTAIN SEASONS OF THE YEAR. BUT WITH GOD, WHO, SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING, IS LIGHT ITSELF, THERE IS NO DARKNESS AT ALL; THERE IS NO CHANGE WITH HIM, NOR ANYTHING LIKE IT.
GOOD GIFTS
Good can mean differently than we conceive of it
God will always give “good” gifts for
our enjoyment of Him in this life
our changing to be like Him …
a. Good gifts can be struggles and testings
a. Good gifts can be struggles and testings
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
THE LORD’S PROMISES DON’T CHANGE. SUFFERING ALWAYS IS FOR THE PURPOSES OF
MAKING YOUR FAITH MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD.,. RESULTING IN PRAISE, HONOR AND GLORY
III. Unchanging in His Passion (Love) for You
III. Unchanging in His Passion (Love) for You
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
IN THIS POINT SPEAK ABOUT THE UNCONDITIONAL AND UNFAILING LOVE OF GOD BECUASE HE IS UNCHANGING
Lamentations 3:22–23 (ESV)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
THIS
NEVER CEASING LOVE
THESE NEVER COMING TO AN END AND DAILY NEW MERCIES
ALL OF THEM, ARE TOWARDS US AND FOR US ONLY THROUGH THE LOVE OF GOD IN AND THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
CHRIST IS THE CHANGELESS GOD IN THE FLESH
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
IF YOU ARE IN CHIRST
He cannot love you more or less than He has loved you by the cross of Christ
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
THIS IS WHAY PAUL WOULD BOAST ONLY IN THE CROSS
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
THIS IS WHY PAUL WOULD ONLY PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
THIS UNCHANGING CHRIST SHEDS IN OUR HEARTS AND UNCHANGING LOVE EVEN WHEN WE, AS CHANGING HUMANITY, - FRAIL AND FALLIBLE - ARE ASSAULTED BY SINFUL PASSIONS AND VICTIMIZED BY INDWELLING SIN BY BEHAVING I SINFUL WAYS THAT DISPLEASE HIM
EVEN IN ALL OF THAT - THIS UNCHANGING GOD AND HIS UNCHANGING MERCIES NEVER CEASE TO BE LAVISHED UPON US:
The Gospel of God in the Psalms puts it this way:
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
The Gospel of God in Romans puts it this way
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37–38 (ESV)
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure....
“FOR I AM SURE” BECAUSE THE LORD IS IMMUTABLE PAUL IS SURE
(CERTAIN, CONFIDENT, TRADE EVERYTHING FOR IT)
SURE OF WHAT
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SO HOW SHALL WE RESPOND TO THIS WORD?
SO HOW SHALL WE RESPOND TO THIS WORD?
1. For Those Who Do Not Follow Christ You Must Repent And Trust Christ
1. For Those Who Do Not Follow Christ You Must Repent And Trust Christ
(BY THOSE WHO DO NOT FOLLOW CHRIST I MEAN - Professors and reject)
Rejectors of Christ and His gospel: profess but do not practice and who reject Him outright. Here is your response
REPENT: To turn away from sin, self and the worship of others gods and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why repent?
Since God never changes neither does His wrath change towards those who reject Christ, His Son
I am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord God.”
2. For Those Who Follow Christ (Worship Him)
2. For Those Who Follow Christ (Worship Him)
a. Trusting and Giving Him Thanks
a. Trusting and Giving Him Thanks
b. Embracing and Enduring Suffering
b. Embracing and Enduring Suffering
Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.