16/09/2014

1

What do you want from God?

World War I centenary

How does this fit with what we think of God

16/09/2014

2

Why have swords not been

beaten into ploughshares?

Isaiah 2 v 4

Choices in a marketplace

16/09/2014

3

Choices in a catalogue

What do you want?

In the Garden of Eden,God offered a choice

� Genesis 3:2 & 3 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' “

�Marketing…� v 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate

16/09/2014

4

The consequence of the choice

3:19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

Till you return to the ground,

For out of it you were taken;

For dust you are,

And to dust you shall return."

Choice of religion today

16/09/2014

5

God’s choices for Israel� Deuteronomy 30:16 “…I command you today to love the

LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

� vv17 & 18 "But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess

� v19 …I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Palestinian funeral

Rocket attack

on Israel

16/09/2014

6

Choices that were made in Judah

Worshipping Asherah the

queen of heaven

Jeremiah 44 vv 15-23

Making images of false godsIsaiah 40 vv 18-20

God shows himself as the

powerful one vv 21-31

Iraqi refugees on Mount Sinjar

16/09/2014

7

Jewel wasp & cockroach

Unpleasant things in nature

Luke 2 v 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

Even sparrowhawk chicks need to be fed…

16/09/2014

8

New heavens, new earth

� Isaiah 65 from v 17

� v 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

The lion shall eat straw like the ox,

And dust shall be the serpent's food.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,"

Says the LORD.

Paul’s summary – Acts 17� v 24 "God, who made the world and everything in it …

He is Lord of heaven and earth,

� v 26 & 27 "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

� v 30 & 31 "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."

16/09/2014

9

What do you want from God?

The real question is, what does God want from you?

Matthew 28 vv 19-20