Joe Pursch

Valley Fourth Church 03/03/2013 from Valley Fourth Church on Vimeo.

Valley 4th Church February 24, 2013 from Valley Fourth Church on Vimeo.

Valley 4th Church February 17, 2013 from Valley Fourth Church on Vimeo.

Sunday 021013 from Valley Fourth Church on Vimeo.

Sunday Sermon 020313 from Valley Fourth Church on Vimeo.

Sunday Sermon 012713 from Valley Fourth Church on Vimeo.

Good theology is based in the belief that God exists, is personal, can be known, and has revealed himself. These presuppositions motivate theologians to devote themselves to a passionate pursuit of knowledge from God’s Word. Unfortunately, the word “theologian” is used almost exclusively for vocational theologians rather than for anyone earnestly devoted to knowing God. On one level everyone who thinks about God is a theologian. But a believer whose life is consumed with knowing his Lord is most certainly a theologian, and theologians are committed to truth. Loving God means loving truth. God is a God of truth; he is truth.

Crossway Bibles (2009-04-09). ESV Study Bible (Kindle Locations 3369-3373). Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.

Sunday Sermon 012013 from Valley Fourth Church on Vimeo.

Valley 4th Church January 13, 2013 from Valley Fourth Church on Vimeo.

The picture of divine sovereignty in Scripture is that God positively ordains whatsoever comes to pass. He always acts with a purpose. Even the wicked unwittingly do His bidding, and they thus fulfill His sovereign purpose in the end.

This is admittedly a difficult subject, but it is also profoundly important. And the main ideas we need to keep in mind turn out to be fairly simple: the Biblical picture of God’s sovereignty is that he works in and through all that happens. Rather than merely trying to circumvent evil or rearrange his plan to accomplish good in spite of evil, he harnesses the deeds of the wicked to accomplish his good and perfect ends. He also guarantees the ultimate destruction of evil itself. Meanwhile, nothing thwarts any aspect of his plan.

Even the most stubborn actions of the worst sinners turn out to be no actual impediment to the divine purpose. He simply employs them as tools to accomplish his will. That, after all, is precisely what Scripture says happened at the cross, which was the worst atrocity ever carried out by the collective forces of evil. Yet in the hands of a sovereign God, it was also the greatest good ever accomplished on behalf of sinners. (Acts 2:23).