A Grieving God – Divine Regret
This was an excerpt of the manuscript from a sermon preached on May 17, 2009 at Sardis Baptist Church in Sardis, GA. What does it mean that God regrets? (1 Samuel 15:11, 29, 35) There exists in this text a question that needs to be asked and considered. What does it mean that God regrets or repents? We are told twice in this chapter that God regrets or repents. Then we are told that God does not. The issue is context. The word na?cham has quite a few meanings and its meaning is based on context. The word can mean “to suffer grief”, “to be moved to pity”, “to be sorry”, or “to change one’s mind”. So, first we have a word that has not just one meaning or sense, but that is flavored by the context. We have this...
Read MoreDoes God Know All the Future?
I must say that I believe so. I read passages like Isaiah 46:9-11 and I believe it. However, in preaching and teaching to a local church congregation, I was caught off guard that some God-fearing, Jesus-loving, Sunday night church-going people don’t agree with my summation. Without knowing, I am apparently pastoring a sub-group of “Open Theists.” They hold to inerrancy and inspiration, and they believe Jesus is the only way. We just differ on the whether or not God knows the future. So I feel as a Pastor I must make a study of the doctrine of Divine Foreknowledge. Am I right? Are they right? I would love to hear from other Pastors who have dealt with this, or if you have some good resources on this topic. I will document my studies in hopes of...
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