{"id":3312,"date":"2014-08-24T22:16:11","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T02:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=3312"},"modified":"2014-09-07T20:15:48","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T00:15:48","slug":"god-is-good-82414","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=3312","title":{"rendered":"God is Good (8\/24\/14)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rev<\/a> Pastor Jim’s sermon on August 24 continued our look at the Attributes of God. So far we’ve seen that God is Awesome, Holy, and Faithful.\u00a0 This morning we looked at God’s Goodness.<\/span><\/address>\n
Click on the “Play” button below, then scroll down to follow along…<\/span><\/address>\n

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 <\/p>\nhttps:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Sermon-2014-08-24b-God-is-Good.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

The text for the sermon came from Psalm 86:1-13 and Nahum 1:7.\u00a0 Click on the arrow to open up the scripture…<\/p>\n

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Scripture Readings<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Ps 86:1-13<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.\u00a0 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord,for I call to you all day long.<\/p>\n

4 Bring joy to your servant,for to you, O Lord,I lift up my soul.<\/p>\n

5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord,abounding in love to all who call to you. \u00a0 Hear my prayer, O Lord;listen to my cry for mercy. \u00a0 In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.<\/p>\n

8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord;no deeds can compare with yours.\u00a0 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord;they will bring glory to your name.\u00a0 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;you alone are God.<\/p>\n

11 Teach me your way, O Lord,and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.\u00a0 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;I will glorify your name forever.\u00a0 For great is your love toward me;you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.\nNIV<\/p>\n

\u00a0Nahum 1:7-8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

7 The Lord is good,\u00a0 a refuge in times of trouble.\u00a0 He cares for those who trust in him,\n8 but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of [Nineveh];\u00a0 he will pursue his foes into darkness.\nNIV<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

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What is Good?<\/span><\/h3>\n

We frequently hear a pastor shout out, “God is Good!”\u00a0 And we then instinctively give the response, “All the Time!” and then the pastor will respond, “All\u00a0 the time,God is Good!”<\/p>\n

But what does that really mean?<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

In fact, there are a lot of “God is ____<\/span><\/strong>” statements.\u00a0 “God is Good.”\u00a0 “God is Holy.”\u00a0 “God is Faithful.”\u00a0 “God is Love.”\u00a0 The important thing to keep in mind about all of these things is that they aren’t statements of the things God does.\u00a0 He doesn’t just do good, or holy, or faithful things.\u00a0 God IS Holy, Faithful, Good.\u00a0 These aren’t adjectives that describe things that God does.\u00a0 They are terms that make up God’s attributes.\u00a0 They overlap.\u00a0 They must be taken together.\u00a0 Each one is a key part of who God is.<\/p>\n

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When’s the last time you heard a sermon on Nahum?!?\u00a0 Here’s some background on this “minor prophet” (he’s called “minor” only because the book is short).<\/span><\/p>\n

The word Nahum means “comfort.”\u00a0 The city in Galilee where Jesus spent so much time is named after Nahum: Capernaum (“the city of Nahum”).<\/span><\/p>\n

Nahum was a on a mission to Nineveh.\u00a0 Some 150 years before his time, Jonah was sent on a mission to this city. God wanted him to call\u00a0Nineveh to repentance.\u00a0 But Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrians,\u00a0 had done much harm to the Israelites and Jonah sure didn’t want God to show them mercy.<\/span><\/p>\n

But after a detour of running away and getting swallowed by a fish, Jonah gave God’s message and the people in\u00a0Nineveh repented.<\/span><\/p>\n

But they relapsed and went back into their sinful ways.\u00a0 Their sin found them out.\u00a0 They went backward instead of forward.\u00a0 So God sent Nahum to give them one more chance.\u00a0 The Babylonians were on their way to attack Nineveh, but “the Lord is slow to anger,”\u00a0 and God continues to call to them. In the midst of doom and gloom, there is hope in God.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

The Bible describes God as a Tower of Strength, and Anchor, a Rock.\u00a0 God wants us to take refuge in Him.\u00a0 Even in our sin and in impending judgement, God wants us to turn to Him.\u00a0 This all comes from His Goodness.\u00a0 Yes He is Holy, but in His Goodness God longs for us to return to Him.\u00a0 The reason He is good to us is so we may repent (Romans 2:4<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n

Romans 11:22…<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. NIV<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God doesn’t punish!\u00a0 Sin does!<\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n

God doesn’t stand over us ready at all times to hurl flaming arrows at us.\u00a0 But “sin will find us out.”\u00a0 When sin takes us off of God’s path, we suffer the consequences.\u00a0 But God in His Goodness, still wants us to return.\u00a0 Like Nineveh, God tries to warn us and caution us.\u00a0 Here are some other verses about God’s Goodness:<\/p>\n