THE

GOD WHO

UNDERSTANDS“The

OMNIPOTENT God”

Psalm 147:3-5 He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in His power; his understanding has no limit.

l. Open-Theism vs. an Omnipotent GodOpen-Theism “In the Christian view, God knows all of reality, everything there is to know. But to assume He knows ahead of time how every person is going to freely act, assumes that each person’s free activity is already there to know, even before he freely does it! But it’s not. If we have been given freedom, we create the reality of our decisions by making them. And until we make them, they don’t exist.

Thus in my view at least, there simply isn’t anything to know until we make it there to know. So God can’t foreknow the good or bad decisions of the people He creates untilHe creates these people and they in turn, create their decisions.”

Bruce Ware: “God’s Lesser Glory” SBTS“Christians throughout history have been strengthened by their confidence that God knows everything about the future. But consider this: What if it simply is not true? What if God can only rely on His best guess about tomorrow, just as you and I?

Would it not affect your trust in Him, your confidence in facing the future, your worship, and your motivation to leave everything in His hands? And yet this is the consequence that has to be faced if you trust what a number of leading evangelicalism are proposing under the doctrine of open-theism.”

OMNISCIENCE - - “ALL-KNOWING” Omni - means “all” Science - means “Knowing”

In the classic theology, the doctrine of God’s omniscience means - that God knows all things, past, present, and future, real and potential, and He knows them all at the same time. He not only knows what was, and what is, He also knows what will be. More than that, He knows everything that could be, and is not.

Evangelical Theological Society “We believe the Bible clearly teaches that God has complete, accurate, and infallible knowledge of all events past, present, and future, including all future decisions and actions of free moral agents.”

ll. The Difference of Man and God The analogy of God and man in a ParadeIsaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Psalm 139:2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.1 John 3:20b …for God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything.

Reporter to Pres. Bush (2003):

- “How much of your faith influenced you in your decision-making?”

Pres. Bush:- “My faith has sustained me in

every way, especially the fact that prayer, and the prayer of people everywhere are what is carrying me”

lll. The Good News/Bad News Thing

The Good News – Because God knows everything that has happened, and everything that is coming, a child of God can have the confidence in his Lord to set everything straight.

The Bad News – is for those who have not yet trusted their lives to God in Jesus Christ. God sees. He knows everything about you. You may not see Him, but He is there, and He knows…

Luke 8:17-18 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

The Better News – Christ died for you1 Peter 1:17-21 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, so your faith & hope are in God.

HOW BIG IS GOD

Though men may strive to go beyond the reach of spaceTo walk beyond the distant shining starsThis world's a room so small within my Master's houseThe open sky's but a portion of his yard.

*How big is God, how big and wide his vast domainTo try to tell these lips can only startHe's big enough to rule the mighty universeYet small enough to live within my heart.

Your CHOICE…