June 10, 2007
Scripture:
Prayer
EG Hymn 290 – Praise the Saviour, ye who know Him! Prayer Continuing on our “God is …” series, I’d like to talk about “God is almighty.” This means He is all powerful; He can do anything. I’d like to look at a few scriptures that use the word “almighty.” First, Genesis 17:1. The word “almighty” in the original language is El Shaddai. El means “God” and Shaddai means “breast, nourisher.” God had called Abraham out of the land of Ur of the Chaldees to live in Canaan. Abraham probably spoke Chaldean, while the Canaanites spoke their own languages; so he would have had a hard time talking to anyone. He might have been lonely. But God spoke to him and said that He was his El Shaddai. When a mother nurses her child, the child has a close bond, a sense of safeness and security. That is the way Abraham could feel when God was leading Him; we can feel that too. Turn to Genesis 28:1–3; Isaac blesses Jacob in the name of God Almighty. Read Genesis 35:1, 11; God Almighty spoke to Jacob and blessed him. In Genesis 43:14, Jacob sent his sons back to Joseph, and asked God Almighty to give them mercy. Turn to Genesis 48:3—Jacob tells Joseph how God spoke to him. In Genesis 49:22, Jacob begins to bless Joseph; in v. 25, he says that God Almighty will bless Him. Finally, in Exodus 6:3, God tells Moses that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew Him as God Almighty, but now they would call Him Jehovah. All through this we see that God was the nourisher of His people, and He can be to us as well.
I also want to look at a few times where we can see God’s almighty power.
1. Creation—He made everything from the biggest galaxy to the tiniest
molecule. And in all of that, God is everywhere.
2. The upholding of Creation—everything is always where it should be,
when it should be.
3. If we follow the Children of Israel, we can see time and time again
how God cared for them with His power.
4. In His manhood, the miracles showed the power of God.
5. His resurrection
6. His ascension
7. The rapture
8. The tribulation, when God will allow things to happen on earth.
9. The Millennium, when He will reign over the earth with His bride.
10. The eternal state.How precious it is to realize that the God who talked to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is our God today; He will nourish us and we can find safety, security, and peace
I Peter 1:6–9 In these verses, Peter is talking about a unique time in the Christian period: the co-existence of great joy and deep trials. It is brought out in contrast to the time the Jews were waiting for, when the Lord will reign. That is not a period of trial (see Psalm 96:11–13). This is similar to what Paul talks about in Romans 8:22 & 23; he mentions the redemption of our bodies as does Peter. So these Christian Jews, scattered because of persecution, were in a situation of joy and trial. When calamity comes to us, our immediate response usually isn’t “Praise the Lord”; that comes when the trial passes. But if we have joy through our trials, it will bring glory to God.
V. 8—the love spoken of here is not a natural love. The Jewish remnant will love the Lord because they will have seen Him. Although we have not physically seen the Lord, through the eyes of faith, we can. Can we love someone we have not physically seen? “We love Him because He first loved us.” Ours is a “because-of” love. Why did He love us? There was no reason; we were unlovable. Read Deuteronomy 7:6–8; The Lord loved us because He loved us! It is a divine love that will not let us go. Love should be two ways, but it isn’t always that way. We should reciprocate the Lord’s love. When the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him, He used the word agape (a deep, undying love) for love; Peter responded using phileo (a liking). He didn’t reciprocate the Lord’s love. The measure of our love to Him is related to the measure we understand His love for us; this should make us want to learn more about Him. That was the grand characteristic of John; he understood the Lord’s love better than any of the disciples. In the world, we say “seeing is believing.” But when it comes to this, believing is seeing. It is our faith that bring all this together. “And now abideth faith, hope, [love], these three; but the greatest of these is [love].” Soon “faith and hope shall cease, and love abide alone.”
EG Hymn 166 – In hope we lift our wishful, longing eyes
Prayer