KINGS AND KINGDOMS - SOVEREIGNTY
KINGS AND KINGDOMS
Why do bad things happen to good people? If God is loving, why is human suffering possible? Does the weight of a great life fall on God’s sovereign control, or are there human factors involved too? In this preaching series, KINGS AND KINGDOMS, we will explore how God has delegated to individual believers a kingship, with responsibility to understand the principles that make the kingdom thrive. We will learn how to engage spiritual authority, how to defuse the emotional shame that drives a king to live like an indigent, and ultimately how to live like God’s royal people. If you have ever had questions of why “God let this happen,” you will find nurture, freedom and a deep sense of security from this series.
TODAY’S SERMON NOTES
ROMANS 5:17 AMP For if because of one man’s trespass (Adam’s original lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing GRACE (unmerited favor) and the free GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS [putting them into right standing with Himself] REIGN AS KINGS IN LIFE through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
IF GOD IS SOVEREIGN,
AND WE ARE KINGS,
WHY…?
THE ANSWER COMES UNDERSTANDING TWO THINGS
1. God’s Sovereignty
2. The Nature of Evil
1 TIMOTHY 6:14-15 AMP [Timothy said] Keep all His precepts unsullied and flawless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Anointed One), Which [appearing] will be shown forth in His own proper time by the blessed, only SOVEREIGN (Ruler), the KING OF KINGS and the LORD OF LORDS…”
JOHN 8:32 NKJV [Jesus said] And you shall KNOW THE TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall MAKE YOU FREE.
THE POWER OF AN UNTRUTH
1. The truth you believe will make you free!
2. Partial truth is an untruth!
3. The untruths you believe will keep you bound!
STERILIZE THESE PARTIAL TRUTHS
God’s Sovereignty
The Nature of Evil
WHAT IS SOVEREIGNTY?
Above or superior to all others;
independent of all others;
under no rule or law outside Himself.
GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY IS FIXED
WITH FINALITY IN REDEMPTION!
GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY IS EXPRESSED
WITH FINALITY IN GOD’S WORD!
PSALM 89:34 NKJV [God said] My COVENANT I will NOT BREAK, NOR ALTER the WORD that has gone out of My lips.
MALACHI 3:6 NKJV [God said] For I [am] the LORD, I DO NOT CHANGE.
ERRATIC SOVEREIGNTY
VERSUS
PREDICTABLE SOVEREIGNTY
GOD IS ONLY IN CONTROL
OF THE PART OF YOUR LIFE
YOU GIVE HIM CONTROL OF!!!!
DEUTERONOMY 30:19 NKJV [God said] I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, [that] I have SET BEFORE YOU life and death, BLESSING and CURSING; therefore CHOOSE LIFE, that both you and your descendants may live;
DEUTERONOMY 28:1-2 NKJV [God said] IF YOU diligently OBEY the voice of the LORD your God, to OBSERVE CAREFULLY all His COMMANDMENTS which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 and all these BLESSINGS shall come upon you and overtake you, BECAUSE YOU OBEY the voice of the LORD your God:
DEUTERONOMY 28:15 NKJV BUT it shall come to pass, if you DO NOT OBEY the voice of the LORD your God, to OBSERVE CAREFULLY all His COMMANDMENTS and His statutes which I command you today, that all these CURSES will come upon you and overtake you:
HOW MARGINAL AND LOOSE
CAN WE GET
BEFORE WE GO TOO FAR?
MATTHEW 18:18 CEV [Jesus said] I promise you that God in heaven will ALLOW WHATEVER YOU ALLOW on earth, but HE WILL NOT ALLOW anything YOU DON'T ALLOW.
JOSHUA 24:15 CHOOSE YOU this day who you are going to serve…
ISAIAH 66:3 THEY HAVE CHOSEN their own ways…
MATTHEW 16:24, 25 If any man WILL come after me…
2 PETER 3:5 They deliberately [WILLFULLY] FORGET [what God said]…
JOHN 5:40 And you WILL NOT come to me, that you might have life.
IT’S NOT PERSONAL
AND GOD IS NOT TARGETING YOU.
IT’S SPIRITUAL LAW!
NEXT WEEK
HOW EVIL HAPPENS!