Free Will Series

AT THE MOVIES 2020:

“Free Will”

Psalm 139:1-24

ANNOUNCEMENT

Welcome back church! We are still getting into the swing of things from COVID19 and all the isolation we went through. Next week is Father’s Day and we will have a drive-in service at 10:30am so as many people as possible can join us for that great day as we honor fathers. The week after that, the 28th we will be back here. Then… July 5… in the sanctuary and everything as much as ‘normal’ as possible!

We are in a series called “At the Movies.” Last week we saw a clip from Forrest Gump and we focused on the love of Christ and His sacrifice. This week is from 2011’s The Adjustment Bureau which I enjoyed seeing myself in the theater. As a side note, this movie was adapted from an author who also wrote the stories behind Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, and the Man in the High Castle. Amazing. Next week we will see a clip from the movie ‘9’ if I can figure out how to do that for the drive-in service and then on the 28th we will see a clip from E.T. Hopefully you consider this a fun and different way to dive into the Scriptures.

PRAYER

READ PSALM 139:1-24

“You have searched me, LORD, and You know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue You, LORD, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and You lay Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You. 13 For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful; I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 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. 17 How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with You. 19 If only You, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! 20 They speak of You with evil intent; Your adversaries misuse Your Name. 21 Do I not hate those who hate You, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against You? 22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

SITUATION (VERSES 1-18)

This morning as we look at Psalm 139, we find a wonderful passage all about God. We will get to the movie clip eventually, but before we do we have to do some ground work for it all to make sense. The first two-thirds of Psalm 139 focus on how awesome God is.

PERFECT KNOWLEDGE (VERSES 1-6)

King David first reflects in verses 1-6 that God is perfect and ultimate in His knowledge. God has absolute knowledge about all of creation, every creature, and each and every person. It actually doesn’t make sense to us that a Being can know everything about everything all the time. Some of us might act that way… but in fact God is the only One with perfect ultimate absolute knowledge. We are finite and subject to the unknown. God is infinite and is subject to nothing.

I love the part in verse 6 where David reflects that God’s knowledge is “too lofty” for us to attain. We can’t have that type of knowledge. God is eternal and uncreated. We have a certain number of days and we are created and we have limits. God has no limits and we can never ever be Him no matter what we do or achieve.