Dynamism of God

“Summarize each subject looked at so far.
Bullet point from each week that fails to do justice to each speaker…forgive me
• Love – that God is in very essence love, and that it is his love rather than his power that determines all his actions & defines his character.
• Beauty – that all beauty points to Gods beauty, & that beauty, truth and goodness are all guardians of one another. There is no ugly truth! or good lie! or beautiful evil.
• Mind – that he reserves the right to change his mind, in response to his creation, based on his perfect judgments.
• Father -That this how God is revealed to us, and that he defines (for some reason, even if we never had one) what we all know a good father should be like.
• Tenderness – that God has many varied ways to communicate his tender mercies to our lives. He answers our prayers much bigger than we ask, but he silences unbelief and visits his people to set them free.
• Sovereignty – although some things are fixed (ie the sun will rise / there will be a judgment day), God has in his sovereignty chosen to limit himself within his creation, he does not control everything & there are things he does not know that we will choose, but he is tuned to our cry.
• Openness – God is not a puppet master who has fixed everything. But that at enormous cost to himself he has made a universe in which He interacts with us in a genuine relationship. – Both the future and Gods response to us (& ours to him) is partly open. God is ‘Omni competent’

There are many more attributes that we could examine – look at one more in this series

It’s clearly the biblical view that God is active in the world. That he remains active in creation and in the affairs of men. So – How does God get his will done?

Dynamism of God
Definition: a vigorously active, forceful, and energizing quality, especially as the hallmark of somebody’s personality or approach to a task.

The root of Dynamism is his ‘Dunamis’. Literally ‘dynamite’,
The Sheer charisma of his presence and his glory.
Its a bit of an understatement to say God is powerful – but what we want to understand more this morning is the nature of Gods power and in what way it defines his character.

Some may be aware Debate re Gods transcendence (separate & above) v his immanence (present and indwelling)
Beautifully captured in the story of the little girl & her inkwell.

Clearly God is both Almighty creator, separate and different from creation, and Emmanuel, God with us.

An over-emphasis on God as transcendent, almighty lord of creation can leave us feeling he is too far away & we are too unimportant for his interest. (Is that you?)

An over-emphasis on God as immanent and with us, has for some led them to lose sight of God as Lord of creation – of the fact that he is also far bigger than their immediate needs and concerns. (maybe that’s you)

Scripture presents a nice balance between the transcendence and the
Immanence of God
Isa 57:15 ‘he dwells in the high & holy place and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit’

We have too often favored Gods remoteness in contrast to his immanent presence – because lets face it – it easier to control a God who is far away and not likely to interfere with how I live!
Elderly woman – David Watson’s church when revival breaking out – famously declared ‘if God does anything in this church, I’m leaving’

people are desperately seeking for spiritual experience in our day.
• many accuse the church of killing off spiritual experience (too transcendent)
They want the immanence of God.

Post modern culture has rejected propositional statements about an Almighty God in favor of ‘truths’ they can experience. I think part of the reason for their rejection of ‘transcendent truth’ is that the church has not offered them experience enough of the imminence of God by his Spirit.

How many watched The Monastery? – 8 people over 40 day period in a monastery where required to join in the rythm of a contemplative life, with some wise monks as spiritual mentors
Almost every one of them discovered that God is real and that they could experience Him if gave him space & time.
• notably those who didn’t expect anything but came with an open mind. Including an atheist involved in the soft porn industry.

Because God is more than willing and able to step in when given a simple invitation to do so. He will always come, in fact the Lords prayer is one long invitation for God to come and change everything!
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God’s agenda for the world is an invasion of mankind by his Holy Spirit.
And what see in scripture is a progressive increase of that invasion through men & women of faith
The key question regarding Gods power is how does he use it to get his will done

1. By taking risks (faith)
All real life is a risk. From the moment he made creation God was risking.
He took one in making you & me. Some of us were clearly more of a risk than others…

Julie & I also took a risk when we decided to have children – we had no guarantee they would not turn away from us and break our hearts. We take risks with a hope – that love will be reciprocated and that we will ultimately be saved from evil. – So life itself carries proof that salvation is necessary!

2. By building friendships

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets.
John 15:15v “”No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you

3. By giving his power to others
Spirit impartation (Anointing)

• Num 11:23-29

• Acts 1:7-8 He said to them, “”It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”"

4. Through Sacrificial love (Identification)

• God suffers because of us
- God suffers with us
- God suffers for us

Job. ‘Even though he slay me – yet will I trust him’
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