(# 335) Romans 9 - God Reveals Himself in a Way That Makes Sense to Human Beings

Class Outline:

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/Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher\

Good Morning!

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  Barah Ministries teaches the Word of God from God’s perspective and not from the human perspective.  Our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Creator of the Universe and all things in it, including us creatures.  John, Chapter 1, Verse 3 says…

/JOHN 1:3

All things came into being through the Lord…God the Son, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.\ 

/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Reveals Himself in a Way That Makes Sense to Human Beings\

Human history was created by God to resolve a pre-historic conflict between the Creator and His creatures.  Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1 says…

/GENESIS 1:1

In the beginning (not a beginning) God (the Son) created the heavens and the earth.\

God has always existed…therefore the creation of the earth was not His beginning…and the perfect God created the perfect universe and perfect planets, among them planet earth.  Then something happened…Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 2 says…

/GENESIS 1:2

But the earth became formless and void…\

Jeremiah illuminates…Jeremiah, Chapter 4, Verse 26…

/JEREMIAH 4:26

I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were pulled down before the Lord (God the Son), before His fierce anger.\

God uses the bible to introduce Himself and His thoughts to all mankind.  Welcome to a place where you can learn about Him.

/MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

I AM

June Murphy\

The opening song for this lesson is all about the Sovereign God of the Universe, and we call Him the Great I AM…sung by June Murphy.

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...\

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

Thank you for giving us a way to be saved…thank you for freeing us from our imperfection and our sin problem…thank you for your forgiveness… thank you for Your gracious attitude toward us and for Your unconditional love…

Show us how to pass Your graciousness, Your love, and Your forgiveness to those with whom we are in relationship…

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...

Amen.

/THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall\

Let’s begin this lesson by giving you a chance to make an offering…we

need and we value your financial support as a prerequisite for continuing the work of this ministry…please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

/OFFERING VERSE

MATTHEW 8:24-25

And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves…but Jesus Himself was asleep.//And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord…we are perishing!”\

/OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental\

/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Reveals Himself in a Way That Makes Sense to Human Beings\

Last week, I flew to San Jose, California to evangelize to a friend.  Noticing some comments he was making on Facebook, I saw an opportunity to share some insights with him about God.  He made the mission of the conversation quite clear when he said, “I just want a relationship with God.  But I can’t tell what is the truth and what is bullshit.” 

This lesson, and the lesson before it, is dedicated to my friend.  It’s also an opportunity for you, as we close out the year, to remind yourself how to talk to others about God.  It’s a way to give you a framework for a conversation that gives people who are important to you a way to think about God.

In the last lesson we learned that there is a God…and He has an enemy… Satan…and they are engaged in a creator-Creature conflict.  Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 25…

/ROMANS 1:25

For unbelievers exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, The One who is blessed forever...\

Both the creature and the Creator are competing for your soul.  They both have an objective and a strategy in the matter of influencing you.  Once you become aware of this conflict…this battle for your soul…you can decide what you want to do about it…you can decide whose side you are on.

From physical birth, God places you on the side of His enemy…First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 22…

/FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22a

For all in union with Adam (and that’s everyone at physical birth) are set to die the second death…\

Revelation, Chapter 20, Verse 14…

/REVELATION 20:14

Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire.\

The first death is spiritual death…we are born spiritually dead…

/EPHESIANS 2:1

And you were born spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins…\

From physical birth you are placed in union with Adam, the federal head of the human race, the one who committed the sin that caused the fall of all mankind…you are spiritually dead…and you are set to go to the Lake of Fire…it’s not your fault this is your condition from physical birth, but it is your circumstance.  It would be quite unfair if there were no way to get out of this situation.  Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 4 to 7 say…

/EPHESIANS 2:4

But God the Father, being rich in mercy, because of His great and unconditional love with which He loved us….\

/EPHESIANS 2:5

…even when we were spiritually dead in our transgressions, made us spiritually alive together with Christ (by grace you believers in Christ have been saved)…\

/EPHESIANS 2:6

…and raised us believers in Christ up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in union with Christ Jesus…\

/EPHESIANS 2:7

….so that in the ages to come God the Father might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us who are in union with Christ Jesus.\

If you are willing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ’s ability to save you, through expressing faith in Him alone, He will save you.  First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 22…

/FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22b

…just so, also all those in union with Christ will be made spiritually alive.\

By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be “born again” … you can be made spiritually alive.  Well all of that is a quite extensive study…so let’s just be aware of it right now.  Next let’s turn our attention to God.  Who is He?  I can introduce you to ten of His many attributes…

/GOD’S ATTRIBUTES

          Justice                              God is fair

          Righteousness                  God is free from sin

          Sovereignty                      God has ultimate volition\

/GOD’S ATTRIBUTES

          Omniscience                    God knows all that is knowable

          Omnipotence                   God has all the power

          Omnipresence                  God is everywhere simultaneously\

/GOD’S ATTRIBUTES

          Love                                God loves all creatures unconditionally

          Immutable                        God never changes

          Veracity                           God always tells the truth

          Eternal                             God has always existed and always will\

There are verses to prove these attributes…however that’s for a more extensive study as well…for the purposes of this study I’d like to zoom you in to God’s omnipotence…God has all the power…Psalm 147, Verse 5…

/PSALM 147:5

Great is our Lord and abundant in power…His understanding is infinite.\

Paul describes the Lord’s infinite power well in Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verses 20 and 21…

/EPHESIANS 3:20

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the divine power that works within us…\

/EPHESIANS 3:21

…to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.\

Abraham spoke well of God’s infinite, unlimited and all powerful nature in Romans, Chapter 4, Verses 19 to 21…

/ROMANS 4:19

Without becoming weak in faith Abraham contemplated his own body, now as good as sexually dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb (she was barren)…\

/ROMANS 4:20

…yet, with respect to the promise of God the Father, Abraham did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God the Father…\

/ROMANS 4: 21

…and being fully assured that what God the Father had promised, He was able also to perform.\

It’s important to know that God has all the power, called divine omnipotence, if you are going to have any chance to believe that the bible is the inerrant word of God.  If you believe that God has all the power, then He has to be powerful enough to…

/GOD’S POWER WITH THE BIBLE

          Get imperfect men to write down His exact thoughts

          Protect the bible from Satanic infiltration

          Provide teachers so His thoughts can be fully understood\

/GOD’S POWER WITH THE BIBLE

          Make His thoughts easily translatable into any language

          Make His thoughts make sense to people with different intelligence

          Provide His thoughts to every creature whom He creates\

The bible says God uses His divine power to do all of those things.  God is able to get imperfect men to write down His exact thoughts…Second Peter, Chapter 1, Verses 20 and 21…

/SECOND PETER 1:20

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own (private) interpretation…\

/SECOND PETER 1:21

…for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men carried along by God the Holy Spirit spoke directly from the exact thinking of THE God (the Lord Jesus Christ).\

Let’s take a music break and we’ll see what else the bible has to say about itself…

/MUSIC BREAK

YOU RAN AFTER ME

June Murphy\

/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Reveals Himself in a Way That Makes Sense to Human Beings\

Welcome back!  God’s power protects His work from Satanic infiltration.  First Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verse 16 says…

/FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:16

For who has known the mind of the Lord so well that he will be able to instruct Him? (No one!)  But we believers in Christ have the mind of Christ.\

The bible is the exact thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ…WE HAVE IT!  Satan sponsors the lie that the bible is out of date…that the “communication game” makes the bible invalid…that there are books missing from the bible…the Gospel according to Thomas…the Gospel according to Judas…that other books are needed to explain the bible.  I live in Salt Lake City Southwest…Gilbert, Arizona…there is a Mormon church on every corner…the Church of Jesus Christ and Later Day Saints.  They have four books they use for spiritual study…The Bible…The Book of Mormon (which is available right next to the bible in any Marriott Hotel)…The Pearl of Great Price…The Doctrine and Covenants.

To show His brilliance, God allowed an unbelieving historian, Titus Flavius Josephus to develop a set of principles concerning what made any work canonical…that is…conforming in an acceptable way so as to fit into the bible.  For the four books of Mormonism to be considered canonical, they have to conform to the canonical principles, among those, internal consistency.  All things in all four books have to absolutely agree with each other.  They don’t.  The bible contradicts virtually everything in relation to the other three books. 

For example, Mormons do not believe that Jesus Christ is God.  Oops!  Game over.  Is Jesus Christ God?  He says He is.  John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…

/JOHN 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way (to salvation), and (I am) the truth (the Word of God), and (I am) the (resurrection) life; no one comes to God the Father but through believing in Me.”\

John, Chapter 10, Verse 30…

JOHN 10:30

“I and the Father are the same in essence.”\

God provides Pastors to help you get to know Him…Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 11 and 12…

/EPHESIANS 4:11

And the Lord gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers…\

/EPHESIANS 4:12

…for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ…\

Second Timothy, Chapter 3, Verses 16 and 17…

/SECOND TIMOTHY 3:16

All Scripture is inspired by God (theoneustos…God breathed) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness…\

/SECOND TIMOTHY 3:17

…so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\

Excerpts from Hebrews, Chapter 4, Verse 12…

/HEBREWS 4:12

For the Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing…a critic of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.\

So God has all the power, and He has been able to provide His creatures with a way to get to know Him.  He reveals Himself in ways that make sense to everyone in the world.  He has that power.  Romans Chapter 1, Verse 20 says…

/ROMANS 1:20

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes (His essence), His eternal power (divine omnipotence) and His divine nature (Deity), have been clearly seen (by all creatures), being understood even through what has been made (nature), so that all mankind are without excuse.\

All of us will meet the Lord Jesus Christ one day.  None of us will be able to stand before Him and say we never knew anything about Him.  Philippians, Chapter 2, Verses 9 to 11…

/PHILIPPIANS 2:9

…God the Father highly exalted the Lord Jesus Christ, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name…\

/PHILIPPIANS 2:10

…so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth…\

/PHILIPPIANS 2:11

…and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ IS Lord (Deity…God the Son incarnate), to the glory of God the Father.\

When you know the truth about God, and His Power, and His provision of the bible as His Word…you have what you need to have a relationship with God.  You can also spot the counterfeits.  Can you spot the counterfeit in this quote from an allegedly learned man?

/JOHN MACARTHUR ON GOD’ POWER

“Although such power (divine omnipotence) might seem frightful, remember that God is good. He can do anything according to His infinite ability, but will do only those things that are consistent with Himself. That’s why He can’t lie, he can’t tolerate sin, and he can’t save impenitent sinners.”\

Someone who is impenitent has no feeling of regret about sins.  Can God saved them?  First Timothy, Chapter 1, Verse 15…

/FIRST TIMOTHY 1:15

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.\

The New Testament…the instruction set for the Church Age…is only 27 letters…about 441 pages in a large print bible.  It is worth your time to find a great teacher, and to make time in your schedule to learn the most important curriculum of this life.  When you do, God will make sure you know Him and His exact thoughts so you can have a relationship with Him.

/GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life\

/ROMANS 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God the Father…divine omnipotence…to provide salvation to everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ…to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Gentiles).\

/MATTHEW 7:13

“Enter salvation through the narrow gate (the Lord Jesus Christ)…for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction…and there are many who enter through it.”\

/MATTHEW 7:14

“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to the resurrection life, and there are few who find it.”\

/JOHN 10:9

“I (the Lord Jesus Christ) am the door to salvation…if anyone enters through believing in Me…he will be saved…and then he will go in and out and find pasture.”\

/FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22

For all in union with Adam are set to die the second death in the Lake of Fire…but all those in union with Christ will live the resurrection life.\

/CLOSING SONG

IN THE BEGINNING

June Murphy\

/CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...\

          THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION

/Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

www.barahministries.com\