Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Mighty faith and God's sovereignty (sixth in the series, 'Mighty Faith') Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA September 4, 2005 To be "sovereign" means to be "supreme in power, rank and authority." This supremacy applies to the godhead generally -- and it applies specifically to Jesus Christ, whom the Bible declares to be the fullest revelation of who God is. 1) Power -- The gospels tell us that even the wind and waves obey Jesus. By His touch or word the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the demonized are set free, and the dead are raised. And Hebrews 13:8 tells us plainly that this Jesus is "the same yesterday, today and forever." 2) Rank -- Scripture tells us that Jesus sits in "the highest place" and has "the name that is above every name." 3) Authority -- It is clear from Matthew 28:18 that "all authority in heaven and on earth" has been given to Jesus. A sovereign God is absolutely essential to mighty faith. If we don't believe in a sovereign God who is able to care for and provide for His creation, our hope will be non-existent and prayers useless. If we fail to hold firmly to the reality of God's sovereignty, we become prisoners of our own weakness and the evil present in this world. Earlier this week, a major portion of the Gulf Coast was destroyed by a hurricane and flood. Many people have seen their homes destroyed; many are in critical need for food, water and medical care. Armed gangs roam the streets. If you have a puny God you may as well not waste your time praying about this. Only a sovereign God, who has never lost a battle, can do anything about this mess. This brings us to the issue that has forever challenged God's sovereignty: If God is sovereign why doesn't He just do away with sin and pain? To answer that I'll defer to Methodism's founder, John Wesley, from his sermon, On Divine Providence: [God] created man in his own image: A spirit like himself; a spirit endued with understanding, with will or affections, and liberty; without which... [he would not be] capable either of vice or virtue. He could not be a moral agent, any more than a tree or stone.... Were human liberty taken away, men would be as incapable of virtue as stones. Therefore, (with reverence be it spoken) the Almighty himself cannot do this thing.... He cannot destroy out of the soul of man that image of himself wherein he made him: And [yet] without doing this, he cannot abolish sin and pain out of the world.... [A]ll the manifold wisdom of God (as well as all his power and goodness) is displayed in governing man as man; not as a stock or stone, but as an intelligent and free spirit, capable of choosing either good or evil.... [He governs men in such a way] so as not to destroy either their understanding, will, or liberty. He commands all things, both in heaven and earth, to assist man in attaining the end of his being, in working out his own salvation, so far as it can be done without compulsion, without over-ruling his liberty.... [T]he whole frame of divine providence is so constituted as to afford man every possible help, in order to his doing good and [shunning] evil, which can be done without turning man into a machine; without making him incapable of virtue or vice, reward or punishment. Mr. Wesley has helped us understand why there is human evil in this world -- but what about natural disasters, such as the South Asian tsunami, and now Hurricane Katrina? The book of Genesis tells us God gave dominion of the earth to humanity. And God declared this arrangement to be "very good." But because of human sin, pain and suffering entered creation. Weeds and thorns sprang up -- and in many ways, nature suddenly became our enemy. But in His sovereign wisdom God knowns that whatever suffering it takes to get there, the fulfilled Kingdom is going to be worth it. The fact that we experience hardship, calamity, disaster and suffering doesn't mean God has lost control or abandoned us. God doesn't always protect us from such things -- but He promises to always be with us and to give us victory over them! The question is not, "Why did this tragedy happen?" but "How are we going to respond to the needs caused by it?" Are we willing to pray to a sovereign God? and then do whatever He tells us to do, even if we have move outside our comfort zones to obey? Each of us will have to ask God how to participate. But, for a Christian, doing nothing is not an option. The world is looking at the Church right now. What will it see? Supporting texts: 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 | Hebrews 13:8 | Philippians 2:9-11 | Ephesians 1:18-23 | Matthew 28:18 | Genesis 1:27-31 | Genesis 3:17 | Hosea 4:1-3 | 1 John 3:17-18 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (32:00). (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 050904a: Mighty Faith and God's Sovereignty. © 2005 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us