This past Sunday I had the priviledge of teaching our Sr. High Sunday school about one of my favorite topics, God's sovereignty. We are going through the doctrine of Salvation, and once we got to election, I knew we had to have a better grasp on God's sovereign nature before we went any farthur (In know my spelling is atrocious, sorry...) The discussion began with two table discussion questions. 1. What is God in control of? & 2. Define "free", than answer, Does man have free will? Needless to say, they sparked some great conversation. For those of you struggling with this issue, here's what we came up with.
-God is sovereign over everything, even the breakfast cereal I eat in the morning. Prov. 16:33- "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision comes from the Lord."
-God ordains everything to happen exactly how it happens, in every detail, big or small, good and evil. (Job 2:10, Amos 3:6, Lam. 3:38, Ps. 115:3)
-Man is still held responsible for his choices, even though God ordains or determines those choices (Rom. 9:19-23)
-Man does not have free will, in the sense that he can do whatever he wants. He is only free to live within the nature God has given him. But even within this truth, God still determines the free choices man makes.
-God doesn't simply allow things to happen. This implies that God is not in complete control and would contradict the above mentioned passages
Well, it was a great discussion. The ultimate conclusion was praise to our God for being in control, yet still holding up responsible for our actions. These seemingly contradictory ideas can only be true together with an almighty God making it so. Praise Him for His sovereign ways. In great contrast to this, we have the Pensacola "Joy Quartet" with their song, "I Give You Freedom" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrczyFvkv8Q ) If you havent' seen it, it's a kick in the pants to a god that isn't so powerful.
On a personal note, things are going really well here in IL. The jobs are great and I love being a dad. I'm sure Moriah has more details on that on her blog (ahufflife.blogspot.com). That's it for now. Later....
-God is sovereign over everything, even the breakfast cereal I eat in the morning. Prov. 16:33- "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision comes from the Lord."
-God ordains everything to happen exactly how it happens, in every detail, big or small, good and evil. (Job 2:10, Amos 3:6, Lam. 3:38, Ps. 115:3)
-Man is still held responsible for his choices, even though God ordains or determines those choices (Rom. 9:19-23)
-Man does not have free will, in the sense that he can do whatever he wants. He is only free to live within the nature God has given him. But even within this truth, God still determines the free choices man makes.
-God doesn't simply allow things to happen. This implies that God is not in complete control and would contradict the above mentioned passages
Well, it was a great discussion. The ultimate conclusion was praise to our God for being in control, yet still holding up responsible for our actions. These seemingly contradictory ideas can only be true together with an almighty God making it so. Praise Him for His sovereign ways. In great contrast to this, we have the Pensacola "Joy Quartet" with their song, "I Give You Freedom" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrczyFvkv8Q ) If you havent' seen it, it's a kick in the pants to a god that isn't so powerful.
On a personal note, things are going really well here in IL. The jobs are great and I love being a dad. I'm sure Moriah has more details on that on her blog (ahufflife.blogspot.com). That's it for now. Later....
