The Providence of God.

[mlqurgw]

Considering the way in which so many talk about things that are happening in the world and how often we hear about coincidence and luck : When was the last time you heard a message on the providence of God?

[mlqurgw]

Disappointing. I find the Providence of God to be very comforting and assuring in times of trouble.

[DeaconDean]

Talk of the providence of God:

"The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." -Psa. 18:2

Love ya Brother.

In Him,
DD

[DeaconDean]

Oh, before I forget, I've been asked to preach the last Wednesday of this month at my church. I feel led to two messages. One on Matthew 22:34-40, I'm calling it "The Law verses Jesus' Laws", or one based on John 15:20. Because of my experiences here lately on the forums and my stance on what I believe, I'm thinking of doing a sermon based on whether or not your being persecuted because of your faith and beliefs. I'm leaning on thew later, but preparing for both. What I'll most likely do is write one on both, pray to God and ask which one, if either, He will led me to. Anywho, God Bless brother.

[mlqurgw]

The providence of God, simply put, is His order and government of all that comes to pass in His creation. Almost everyone is familiar with Rom. 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Many take comfort from reading this verse but do so with a sort of resignation to misery, “ Oh. I know that it will work out for good it just doesn’t look like it now.” To be sure no time of trouble and trial is pleasant to go through but it should never cause the redeemed of the Lord to fear. How often does the Lord speak to His people “Fear not?” If God be for us who can be against us? Rom. 8:31 He that keepeth thee will not slumber, Psa. 121:3. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever, Psa. 125:2. I want you to understand that everything that God does in providence is for the glory of His name and the good of His people. He that sets on the Throne of Heaven ruling among the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth is none other than Christ Jesus the Lord who loved us and gave Himself for us. My purpose here is to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, Isa. 35:3. Let those who wish to debate and argue do what they will.
Eph. 1 speaks of being blessed of God in Christ. We have been chosen in Him, predestinated in Him, adopted in Him, and accepted in Him. In verse 6 we read why God has dealt so bountifully with us: it is to the praise of the glory of His grace. In verse 8 we read that He has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. All that He does is according to perfect knowledge of all things and infinite skill in the arrangement of everything, especially that which concerns His loved ones. In verses 19-23 we read of the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe and that He has set Christ above all principality and power and hath put all things under His feet for the church. If He who loved me and gave Himself for me now sits on the throne ruling all things for me, why should I fear?
In Isa. 43 we find another instance of God displaying His providence for the good of His people. In verse 1 we are told to fear not because we are His. He promises in verse 2 to control and not allow the rivers of trial nor the fires of trouble to harm us. In verses 3,4 He declares how He has and will providentially raise up and destroy both nations and men for us. Since this is true the happenings in the world should never give us cause to fret.
As we read, beginning in Genesis, through the histories in the Scriptures we can easily see the hand of God working all things to bring to pass the glory of His name and the good of His people. In Gal. 4:4 we read that Christ came in the fullness of time, the time ordained and prepared by God to bring to pass His purpose of mercy and grace. All that happened up to that time was working to that great climax of history. All that has happened since then has been and will be working to bring those whom Christ loved and redeemed to an expected end. Jer. 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Isa 12:1 And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
Isa 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Isa 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Isa 12:4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

[mlqurgw]

Oh, before I forget, I've been asked to preach the last Wednesday of this month at my church. I feel led to two messages. One on Matthew 22:34-40, I'm calling it "The Law verses Jesus' Laws", or one based on John 15:20. Because of my experiences here lately on the forums and my stance on what I believe, I'm thinking of doing a sermon based on whether or not your being persecuted because of your faith and beliefs. I'm leaning on thew later, but preparing for both. What I'll most likely do is write one on both, pray to God and ask which one, if either, He will led me to. Anywho, God Bless brother.I have this pasted in the front of my Bible;
Mr. Brewers advice to Toplady:
Preach Christ crucified.
Aviod needless controversy in the pulpit.
When you ascend the pulpit leave learning behind.
Do not effect too much oratory( showmanship).

I believe it was Spurgeon who either gave this advice to a young preacher or was given it as a young preacher;
Find the road to Christ, get on it quickly and stay there.

[edb19]

Considering the way in which so many talk about things that are happening in the world and how often we hear about coincidence and luck : When was the last time you heard a message on the providence of God?

I hear them fairly often - my pastor loves to point out that's why we're PROVIDENCE Reformed Baptist.;):thumbsup:

edie

[mlqurgw]

I hear them fairly often - my pastor loves to point out that's why we're PROVIDENCE Reformed Baptist.;):thumbsup:

edieIsn't it truly a blessing to know that God does all things for me? 2Cor. 4:15

[ZiSunka]

Just about every day I think about the providence of God.

I don't go to church, so I haven't heard a sermon about anything in a long time, so I can't say I have recently heard anyone preach about providence. sorry.

[mlqurgw]

Just about every day I think about the providence of God.

I don't go to church, so I haven't heard a sermon about anything in a long time, so I can't say I have recently heard anyone preach about providence. sorry.I am ashamed to admit how often I question His providence. :blush:

[ZiSunka]

I am ashamed to admit how often I question His providence. :blush:

Over my lifetime, even before I was saved, I constantly saw God provide for me. In fact, the very first true thing I knew for sure about God is that he is a Provider.

I could give you testimony after testimony about Him as a Provider in my life.

[edb19]

I am ashamed to admit how often I question His providence. :blush:

If we're honest we all do that - it's a sign of our still very human nature.

edie

[ZiSunka]

If we're honest we all do that - it's a sign of our still very human nature.

edie

I honestly don't doubt God's abundant provision. He provides all and more.

The real question isn't whether or not he will provide, the question is, what does he provide and for what reason?

If we are thinking that providence is all about getting that new car and digital TV and new clothes, we are apt to be disappointed. But if we think of his provision as being more than monetary and more than a source to feed out materialism, something to really meet all our needs abundantly, we will never see him fail us.

[edb19]

I honestly don't doubt God's abundant provision. He provides all and more.

The real question isn't whether or not he will provide, the question is, what does he provide and for what reason?

If we are thinking that providence is all about getting that new car and digital TV and new clothes, we are apt to be disappointed. But if we think of his provision as being more than monetary and more than a source to feed out materialism, something to really meet all our needs abundantly, we will never see him fail us.

I agree totally. I'm simply saying that we all, at one time or another, look at the circumstances in our lives and wonder.

[ZiSunka]

I agree totally. I'm simply saying that we all, at one time or another, look at the circumstances in our lives and wonder.

Wonder?

[edb19]

Wonder?

I'm sorry, I thought it was self explanatory - wonder where God is in our lives.

For example I believe the hurricanes last summer were God's providence - but I've been criticized for saying that God would cause and/or allow such a thing to happen. I watched my mother fight 2 separate cancers - it's very hard to see God's providence in that. Along the same lines just 2 months ago I underwent 2 biopsies to rule out breast cancer - my prayers weren't that the results be benign (which they were) but that God give me the strength to praise Him and celebrate whatever the results were.

Since this thread was started I've been doing some googling. Came across this article. I think it states pretty clearly the 21st century view of God's providence.
http://www.reformationtheology.com/2006/03/history_is_his_story_by_pastor.php

[ZiSunka]

Well, yes, and as a whole, modern Christians misunderstand and misuse Christ.

We treat him like a cosmic vending machine, or our servant, someone that we appreciate but who is fundamentally obligated to do our will, our way at our timing.

But in doing so, we not only make mockery of him, but we lose the impact of who he is and what he did on the cross.

We've made Christianity into a commodity, something to be bought and sold and experienced like tourists at an all-inclusive resort in paradise. And buying and selling and experiencing are things that grow tiresome and boring after a while, so we go on a search for new things to buy and new ways to experience whatever emotions we think we are supposed to have. To do this, we try a different church, shop for a new denomination, give ourselves over to new methods and buy more books that promise they have the keys to getting the most out of God. When we can't find what we're looking for, we say we are losing our faith or lost the joy of our salvation.

It's a symptom of modern America today; why visits to museums are down, but personal debt is up--we can't buy anything at a museum so we don't want to be bothered looking at stuff we can't purchase and own. We'll never own Christ, so we skip Him altogether and go for bracelets and tshirts and CDs and DVDs and books and communion cups and arguing about whether or not the bread has to be unleavened and the wine has to be alcoholic or nonalcoholic. We can own and comprehend those things. We can identify ourselves wtih a denomination or method or system like we identify ourselves by our car or our job or our timeshare in Branson, but it's really hard to identify ourselves with and by a person we can't touch and feel and own.

We don't know how to deal with the idea that all there is to faith is to walk humbly with God, so we create things, restrictions, methods, liturgies, rituals, orders of service, consumer goods that give us the satisfaction of thinking that we are the most important part of the equation. It's a lot easier to spend time arguing over which is the best Bible translation than it is to actually live out the idea that we are to love others (even our mortal enemies) and be thankful to God for everything.

A few years ago, I was out in the Flint Hills, where there are a lot of cattle on a lot of hills, and I kept thinking about "I own the cattle on a thousand hills," which is from Psalm 50, so I stood out on that prairie and read the psalm, expecting it to be a song about how God provides for all our material needs. I was shocked when I realized that psalm isn't about us getting anything at all! It's about us giving to God, giving our thanks and gratitude for who he is and what he does/has done. All he wants from us isn't our money. It's not our time. It's not our devotion to high ideals. It's not our zeal for spreading the gospel. It's not our zest for ferreting out the heretics and dealing with them. No! None of those things.

What God wants from us is for us to say grace over everything we have and everything that happens to us.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord!

All the denominations in the world, all the Bibles in the world, all the communion cups in the world, all the books in the world will never teach you to believe in the providence of God.

Being grateful for every blessed thing that comes your way, THAT is what teaches you the providence of God.

[Erinwilcox]

It's been a while since I've heard one, but I would agree that the Providence and Sovereignty of God is what keeps me going in life--knowing that He is in control, working all things to my good, and will never leave me or forsake me. Who could ask for more comfort?