Sermon Central
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Every Spiritual Blessing Pt. 3
Contributed by David Mcallan on Aug 8, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Paul writes that it was God’s good pleasure to make known His master plan for the universe to the Church and that is to unite all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Intro
Eph. 1:8 -10 In all wisdom & understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed beforehand in Christ, into a management plan for the fullness of time – to gather up all things into Christ from both heaven and earth
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In the introduction to his book, A History of Europe, H. Fisher writes: “One intellectual excitement, however, has been denied to me. Men wiser and more learned than I have discovered in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following another, as wave follows upon wave...
- Let me ask you a question...
Q. Has the general population lost hope in the purpose of our world?
- Of course they have! They have been indoctrinated in the evolutionary dogma that there is no purpose to the world
- That the cosmos is only a matter of time + chance (it is purposeless)
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- There is a philosophy called “Nihilism” which expresses an utmost pessimism regarding the meaning of life
- In fact, the word “Nihilism” means “nothing”
- There is nothing in life, no values to hold to, no meaning
- They are the ultimate sceptics
- They are anti-institution & anti-authority
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- Wikipedia (an Internet Encyclopaedia) says that much of the modren punk rock music incorporates Nihilist themes – a “live fast, die young” attitude with a self-destructive lifestyle
- It goes on to say this about a band called Nine Inch Nails...
“Nine Inch Nails, fronted by Trent Reznor,...have several nihilistic lyrics...[the song]..."Every Day is Exactly the Same," for example, states: "I believe I can see the future, ’cause I repeat the same routine. I think I used to have a purpose, but then again, it might have been a dream."
- Trent Reznor, they state, also owns a record label called “Nothing Records”.
- They also claim that many gothic bands have lyrics with nihilistic undertones – something young people need to be careful about!
- That sort of music will drag you away from the truth of God
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The French Philosopher Andre Maurois says: “The universe is indifferent. Who created it? Why are we here on this puny mud-heap spinning in infinite space? I have not the slightest idea, and I am quite convinced that no one has the least idea.”
- Well I’m convinced we have the very idea because one of the great blessings that God has given to us is that He has made known to us His master plan for the universe
- Which means you know the future & where you are headed & therefore everything in the present IS meaningful & has purpose
1. God has made known to us His master plan
- No doubt everyone here has made plans at some time or another
Q. Have your plans always gone to plan? Not always!
- Sometimes things go to plan & sometimes they don’t
- We have to admit the fact that our plans are never set in concrete no matter how resolved we are in fulfilling them
- There are reasons for this & they should help us to greatly appreciate this blessing from God
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1. We are Fallible
- We make mistakes & err
- We all exhibit something we share in common - weaknesses
- We are at times forgetful; we are often times selfish; and at the best of times, we are fickle & like to change our mind
- Our wisdom & plans are fallible because as humans we are fallible
2. We have limited Control
- We cannot control our environment – the unforeseen things that arise that we can do nothing about, can throw our plans into chaos
- We have limited control over ourselves
- We are limited by our health, our environment AND our responses are to a large degree governed by those factors
- So what I’m suggesting is that when it comes to seeing OUR plans through, there are no guarantees
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- However, this is not the case with God
- At the moment, we have a meaningless world based on a purposeless set of evolutionary principles
- To me, it sort of resembles people in boats heading for, say, Niagara Falls
- There is not the slightest hope – it is a matter of waiting for the inevitable – death - what a terrible existence!
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- But God does not give us this sense of hopelessness because...
1. He is infallible
- God does not make mistakes
- The dictionary meaning of infallible is... “incapable of error”, “not liable to mislead, deceive, or disappoint”
- Satan is the one who deceives & misleads – God does not do this
