Inspired By Things Outside Of Yourself Genesis 7:1-10 Genesis 18:13-14 Exodus 6:6-8 Isaiah 46:8-11 Psalms 19:1-4 Jeremiah 32:17-19 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 08.12.20

INSPIRED BY THINGS OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF

BREAD

¹ The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ² Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”  ⁵ And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. ⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.  Genesis 7:1-10 (NIV) 

¹³ Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”  Genesis 18:13-14 (NIV) 

⁶ “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ⁸ And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’” Exodus 6:6-8 (NIV) 

⁸ “Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. ⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  ¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.  I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.  ¹¹ From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.”  Isaiah 46:8-11 (NIV) 

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. ² Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. ³ There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.   Psalms 19:1-4 (NIV) 

¹⁷ “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸ You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, ¹⁹ great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.”  Jeremiah 32:17-19 (NIV)

“We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NIV)

BUTTER 

“The mercy of God is that attribute which we, the fallen, sinful race of Adam, stand in greatest need of, and God has been pleased, according to our needs, more gloriously to manifest this attribute than any other. The wonders of divine grace are the greatest of all wonders. The wonders of divine power and wisdom in the making of this great world are marvelous; many wonderful things have happened since the creation of the world, but none like the wonders of grace. ‘Grace, grace!’ is the sound that the gospel rings with, ‘Grace, grace!’ will be that shout which will ring in heaven forever; and perhaps what the angels sung at the birth of Christ, of God's good will towards men, is the highest theme that ever they entered upon.”  Jonathan Edwards

“Is it not wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves?”   Martin Luther

“The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it till we see it in this context. The key text in the New Testament for interpreting the incarnation is not therefore, the bare statement…‘the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us’, but rather the more comprehensive statement…‘ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich’.  Here is stated, not the fact of the incarnation only, but also its meaning; the taking of manhood by the Son is set before us in a way which shows us how we should set it before ourselves and ever view it—not simply as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace.”  J I Packer

“God is wonderful in all his doings, his ways are past finding out; at the end we can see best the wise and gracious steps he took with us:  therefore, when things take such a wonderful turn that we are quite at our wits’ end, and do not know which way to go, we may believe the hand of the Lord is in it, and some good will come of it at last.  As we experience the name of Christ to be wonderful at such times, we may well expect that he will show himself to be our Counsellor and mighty God also.  At first, everything may seem to be against us, and go quite contrary; but at last, we see plainly that it was highly needful that it should go contrary to our corrupt nature, and that thus it went well; for though the ways of God are marvelous, yet they are glorious.”   K. H. Von Bogatzky 

“The grace of God is love freely shown towards guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit.  It is God showing goodness to persons who deserve only severity, and had no reason to expect anything but severity.  We have seen why the thought of grace means so little to some church people—namely, because they do not share the beliefs about God and man which it presupposes.  Now we have to ask:  why should this thought mean so much to others?  The answer is not far to seek; indeed, it is evident from what has already been said.  It is surely clear that, once a man is convinced that his state and need are as described, the New Testament gospel of grace cannot but sweep him off his feet with wonder and joy.  For it tells how our Judge has become our Saviour.”  J.I. Packer  

“The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder.”    G. K. Chesterton 

“Wonder is the basis of worship.”    Thomas Carlyle 

“The love of God is broader than the measures of man’s mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.”   Frederick William Faber

“The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time. He treasures us and anticipates our departure from this earth to be with Him--and we wonder, indifferently, how much we have to do for Him to get by.”   Francis Chan

“We can spend our whole life studying the Bible, but unless we act on what we are reading, the full power of the words lies dormant and we miss out on what God has for us.”  Ann Voskamp 

“There is something fresh to be said about anything and everything, especially the inexhaustible, living Word of God.”   Quina Aragon

“Somehow in the wonder-working providence of God, our worst problems become our best pulpits. God turns our tragedies into testimonies and our emergencies into evangelism. Our testimonies are forged and crafted in the trials of life, our pain has an evangelistic purpose, our problems become His pulpits, and the things that happen to us turn out for the furtherance of the gospel.”  Robert J. Morgan

“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.  Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill He treasures up His bright designs and works His sovereign will.  You fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.  Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace; behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.  His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour; the bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.  Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.”  William Cowper 

HEART SAVOR 

• ·         Nothing is too hard for God.
• ·         All nature declares the works of His Hands.
• ·         He stooped to save us – as wretched and miserable a lot as we are – all included.  That my friends is the biggest wonder and inspiration outside ourselves of all.