Posts Tagged ‘anything’
God’s sovereignty: Acts 17:24-25 (Week of May 2, 2010; Sunday)
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
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God’s sovereignty: Acts 17:24-25 (Week of May 2, 2010; Sunday)
One of my favorite passages having to do with God’s will and Sovereignty is Romans 9:
10Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”[d] 13Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[e]
14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[f] 16It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g] 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ “[h] 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[i] 26and,
“It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ “[j]
What is the most important thing about Christianity?
Answer:
The most important thing is to believe in Jesus Christ as your only hope of redemption before God. We cannot do anything to save ourselves. How many times have you heard people say “I’m not so bad” and then go on to explain to you how they believe God will only send people like Stalin and Hitler to Hell. Others say “well, I go to Church” or “my uncle is a pastor” or any number of things. It makes me shudder to think of the ignorance about the most important thing of all in relation to Christianity.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say to “be good”, “go to Church” or “have a relative that is a pastor” and you will be saved.
See:
John 5:24 (New International Version)
24“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
John 6:47 (New International Version)
47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
John 10:9 (New International Version)
9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:5-7 (in Context) John 14 (Whole Chapter)
Acts 2:21 (New International Version)
21And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Romans 10:9 (New International Version)
9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
2 Timothy 1 (New International Version)
8So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.