Prayer Service 5-10-23

Adoration

Immutability

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Immutability)

The doctrine of divine immutability affirms God’s freedom from all change.

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Immutability)

Existing outside of time, he is all that he is in one unchanging moment, free from the movement and development of history.

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Immutability)

But within time, his creatures experience him as unchanging in his relations to human beings and therefore perfectly worthy of trust.

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Immutability)

Immutability distinguishes God from mutable creatures . . . that are born, grow, and die. It also distinguishes him from inanimate things that are molded, moved, and destroyed. Unlike these, God does not have to grow and change, nor can he be reshaped or destroyed.

Any change he would undergo would be for the better or for the worse, but each of these is impossible for a perfect divine being.

At the same time, God is not static and lifeless. Rather, he is free from change because he is, all at once, the totality of life and activity.

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Immutability)

Where God is said to change his mind, to repent, or to move from one emotional state to another, we understand that he is revealing his unchanging character in judgment at one time and in grace at another.

When we see a different side of God’s face, it is not because he has changed, but because we have changed in relation to him

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Immutability)

At the same time, God shows his immutability in remaining perfectly faithful to his promises.

What God wills he will do, and what he begins he will complete. God’s immutability is not an obstacle to human relationship to God but is the foundation for trust in him.

Psalm 102:25–28 (ESV)

25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26 They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.

28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

Numbers 23:18–20 (ESV)

18 And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor:

19 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?

20 Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

Malachi 3:6 (ESV)

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

1 Samuel 15:26–29 (ESV)

26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore.

28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”

What about:

Genesis 6:5–7 (ESV)

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Nacheym. To sigh, feel sorrow, or regret. Niphal (reflexive voice i.e., the subject of the verb both commits and receives the action of the verb)

"The force of יִנָּחֵם, “it repented the Lord,” may be gathered from the explanatory יִתְעַצֵּב, “it grieved Him at His heart.”

This shows that the repentance of God does not presuppose any variableness in His nature of His purposes. In this sense God never repents of anything . . .

The repentance of God is an anthropomorphic expression for the pain of the divine love at the sin of man, and signifies that “God is hurt no less by the atrocious sins of men than if they pierced His heart with mortal anguish” (Calvin)." K&D

James 1:17–18 (ESV)

17 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.

18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth...

Hebrews 6:17–18 (ESV)

17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,

18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

Hebrews 13:8 (ESV)

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 1:8–12 (ESV)

8 But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom...

10 ...And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;

11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,

12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

6 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.

Prayer of Adoration

Supplication

James 1:17 (ESV)

17 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.

Needs:

Sonya Picon: Chronic Respiratory Disease

Erica and Baby

Luke Thacker: Bone Cancer in shoulder

Dan Larsen: Recovery from Heart Surgery

Martha Orr, Mark Hill, Lou Jones, Hope Sanders, Randy Young, Allen Garver, Ty Benton, Makenna Cook

Andrew and children, Bridget

Thacker family

Blessings on our ongoing study of marriage, family, and sexuality

Help for all our marriages and families

Missionary efforts of the Sawyers and Legges

Missionary efforts of HeartCry, RBNetwork, and the IMB.