Absolute

Often times when I am listening to a sermon or a prayer or even just reading scripture, I ask God to “spotlight” a word or phrase that he would want me to think about.  We have an associate pastor at CEPC who has a true gift of writing and delivering well thought out, strongly worded, deep seeded, emotional messages of God’s love, grace and sovereignty.  And all the while he lifts heartfelt requests for the needs and oversight and direction of God’s people and our country.  

This morning, his pastoral prayer was amazing, as usual but the word that was spotlighted to me was his description of God as being “absolute”.  I don’t know about you but I occasionally toss around the word “absolutely” meaning I am confident of my response in whatever subject matter I have responded to. But I cannot remember saying just the word absolute.And as God often does, with his spotlighted word,  I have continued to think about God being absolute all day. 

These are some synonyms for absolute:

Full, complete, infinite, pure, simple, unadulterated, unconditional, unlimited, just to name a few.   And our absolute God is all of those things plus so much more. 

Bill Bright told this story regarding our Inheritance

Once during a speaking engagement in Switzerland, I stayed at a beautiful hotel, compliments of the conference host. Each day, as I walked through the lobby, I passed the hotel's lavish dining room and smelled the wonderful aromas of delicious entrees and desserts. But, determined to save money, I bought fruit, cheese, and crackers from a local market and lived on that all week. As I was packing to leave, my host asked me how I had enjoyed the cuisine. I stared at him in amazement. He had not informed me upon my arrival that my meals were included! The hotel had one of the finest chefs in the entire country. I could have eaten like a king.

Likewise, if we are unaware of our wonderful spiritual inheritance, we will miss out on a bountiful banquet which God has prepared for us. Satan loves to keep us in the dark.

But simply understanding our spiritual inheritance is not enough. Many of us live like spiritual paupers because we do not really believe God. We do not take Him at His Word. But if God really is absolute truth, then we can and should stake our very lives on His Word.

Satan will do anything to prevent us from fully experiencing the blessings we inherit as God's dearly loved children. He will try to convince us that the treasure is worthless. Or, he will sow seeds of insecurity and guilt so we feel undeserving. But we must not believe his lies!

Trusting in God's absolute truthfulness releases His riches. The treasures of heaven that we inherit are claimed by faith here on earth.

God is absolute, he never changes, he is not dependent on anyone or anything. He is a power that none of us can even begin to imagine, yet we are offered a tap into his power to strengthen us and enable us to forge through the world we live in and the sufferings that come upon us. 

Our absolute God has given us a priceless inheritance, we are HIS children and set free from the condemnations that are thrown at us. Though we often times fall into the trap of being unworthy or not good enough or not measuring up to standards of this world and the society that confronts us, God has bestowed upon us HIS new standard of righteousness and forgiveness and has set us free from constant judgement of others and ourselves. We are showered daily by his grace and mercy but we too often times are shadowed by the distractions and pulls of trying to conform to the lower standards of this earth rather than identifying as his child that he loves dearly and is covering through his abounding sovereignty and trying to get our attention in spite of the noise about us. God has given us:

1.   A Priceless Inheritance

2.   Count On It!

3.   God's Truth Exposes Deception

4.   God's Truth Sets us Free

5.   The Greatest Power

6.   Truth Really Matters

7.   We Can Trust God's Word

D. James Kennedy:  “"The word "absolute" in Webster's Dictionary, "absolute" comes from the two Latin words ab ("from") and solvere ("to set free") from which we also get the word dissolve. So absolute means "to be set free." To be absolute is to be free from any kind of error, admixture, imperfection, or limit.

If there are no absolutes, there is no God, because God is the ultimate absolute. His omnipotence is without limit, restraint, or qualification. His omniscience is unlimited. His omnipresence is without restraint or restriction. God is the altogether absolute One. He is the absolute Monarch, the absolute God.” June 23 Who is He—this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. — Psalm 24:10

Just studying though these truths of God, if we truly ponder the reality of the truth that God has spoken through his word, why would we ever be despondent or feel unworthy or think we are alone in our trials or not good enough in our endeavors, or not meeting standards that the world has defined when we have GOD AS OUR FATHER and overseerer.  

Sometimes I think we just need to be reminded that GOD IS:

Omnipresence—All-Seeing.

Father God fills heaven and earth; He is always near; nothing and no one can hide from Him or keep secrets from Him (Jeremiah 23:23-24).

You are never alone. Like Paul on that storm-tossed ship, you can boldly say: “I believe God!” He will be with you no matter what you face in life (Isaiah 43:2). He is always everywhere (Jeremiah 23:24; Psalm 139:7–10).

Omniscience—All-Knowing. The Lord knows everything about you—everything you think, say, and do; everything you have done and everything you will do; everywhere you have been and also everywhere you will go (Psalm 139:1-4).God is vitally aware of His own creation—mankind. What’s more, He is interested in us as individuals. Not one single thing occurring in any place escapes His knowledge (Psalm 139:1–6; Psalm 147:4; Matthew 10:29; Proverbs 15:3).

Omnipotence—All-Powerful.

There is not anything that is too hard for Him (Jeremiah32:17; Genesis 18:14).God can do all things. Nothing is too hard for Him. No problem is so large that He cannot deal with it and, if it is His will, He is able to eliminate it altogether (Psalm 139:7–12; Job 42:2; Genesis 18:14).

God is Unchangeable, and Eternal… This day, this moment, be the active participant who God has called to be His own. Trust him. Be set free from Satans grip of darkness and veiled dependency. Let God be the one who lights up your life and you will find joy and peace and …his showering mercy will refresh His very Spirit that lives within you.  For God is ABSOLUTE!  And the greatest advocate and friend that we could ever imagine.  

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!

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