Sunday Sermon

Ever feel like God is bombarding you? It always amazes me how He can cause something to hit us over and over from different sources to the point that if it were rain we would be completely drenched! For months, the Sovereignty of God has been a topic at the forefront of my mind and heart. This very week, I have shared about it with friends and with my husband, blogged about it, responded to a message board post about it, and spent a good bit of time just pondering the subject. Our pastor has been preaching through the book of John verse by verse for almost two years now...and it is always exciting to see how God brings *just* the right message at just the right time from that. This morning's sermon was on John 10:17-18, and one of the first things Bro. Kent said was "These verses disclose the awesome Sovereignty of the Shepherd." He went on to say that Jesus's authority to lay down His own life and then pick it back up again shows that not only is He sovereign over His own life and death, but He is sovereign over every detail of our lives as well.

He then asked the question that has been on my mind in so many ways over recent months...both in asking and attempting to answer it:

"If God is sovereign, why am I going through this?"

The answers he gave confirmed what God has been teaching me through much anguish lately...
(these are my own very loose paraphrases...Bro. Kent said it all *much* better!)

* Trials are a consequence of sin--If our trials are because of our own sin...then God will likely let us suffer the consequences. And often...our trials are because of the sin of others/evil in the world. Regardless...he has our best interests at heart. He does have a purpose and plan for us in it...all of our days were written down before one came to be...none of it has taken him by surprise (Ps. 139).

*Trials are to make us more like Jesus--We are to "count it all joy" (James 1), as our suffering, no matter what the cause, is to make us more like Jesus. He perfects us through suffering. When he leads us through a valley, it is because He is in the process of making us more like Him.

*God does not owe us an explanation! He *owes* us His wrath....anything we get other than that is purely His mercy and grace. He does NOT have to explain Himself to his creations. Our confidence and assurance must be in Him...whether we ever see the *whys* or not.

I loved these quotes:

"Whatever He is doing will result in the greatest glory possible to God."

"We know that His Will and His Plan and His Work are perfect."