Late Sunday Reflections

This Sunday was a great worship experience at Idlewild! We continued our series - Tough Questions: The Believers Guide To The Christian Life. This weeks question was, in my opinion one that is foundational to a person's growth in their sanctification. The question is: Did God know, before he created the "perfect" world, that sin would enter it and ruin it? If so, why did he go ahead and create in the first place?

How you answer this question really depends on your theological perspective. The following was the answer that I gave to my congregation on Sunday:

"In God's sovereignty and holy wisdom, God permitted (ordained) sin to enter the world with the purpose of magnifying the glory of himself through Jesus Christ."

This does not imply that we glorify God when we sin. However, due to our sin, we are in desperate need of the grace and mercy of God, that comes from the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary and his resurrection from the dead. When we are called out to his salvation, we, who were once enemies of God, are now adopted into his family. As his adopted children we now bring glory to him, by pursuing to live a godly life and growing in our knowledge of God.

At the end of the service, I had the awesome and humbling opportunity to baptize for the first time. I had the privilege of baptizing a young man who came to know the Lord this Easter.

Over all, it was an incredible Sunday! John and Kelley did a wonderful job leading us in worship via praise, and Sunday night it was great to continue our walk through the book of James. I am looking forward to next Sunday as we go ahead with yet another question. Praise God for what he is doing in the lives of individuals in our church, and I am humbled and grateful for God allowing me to be a part of the journey.