Seeking a Revival Culture. Allen M. Baker

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Seeking a Revival Culture - Allen M. Baker


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practical, experiential understanding of His aseity, goodness, and wisdom?

      But why does God allow or bring suffering? Why must this be our foreordained lot? Secondarily because He knows that suffering weans us from the world, drives us to Christ for salvation, keeps us as believers at the foot of the cross, and sanctifies us, makes us more holy, (see 1 Peter 5:10). But primarily because He is worthy of our praise and everything He does is calculated to bring praise to Him. This statement would be arrogant if it were not made by God Himself. You see, our Savior is, to use the words of Jonathan Edwards, “All together lovely.” Seek after a deeper, greater, more experiential knowledge of the Triune God and His attributes. As you do, you will find that your ability to pre-hope in Christ will grow and flourish.

      Knowledge

      . . . that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

      Ephesians 1:17

      The greater your knowledge of God then the greater will be your peace, if applied in faith. Jesus tells us at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:24ff) that to listen and obey Him means to build our house on a rock, but not to listen means we build our house on sand. The storms of life are sure to come, and a house built on a weak foundation will be swept away. What are your tests of faith? Are you prepared to face the storms that are sure to come? On what are you building your hopes? To build on sand is to be man-centered, to view life as being fundamentally about your own comforts, desires, happiness, and prosperity. When you build in this way, without putting a growing, experiential knowledge of God as your foundation, then when the storms of life come you will be given to disappointment with God, disillusionment with your place in His plan, and despair over your future. But if you build with a growing, living, abiding, and deepening experiential knowledge of God, then you will begin to see all of life’s circumstances as being under His sovereign control. You will see that God’s primary aim in everything, including your salvation, sanctification, and glorification is His own glory. For a mere human to make such a claim is audacious and arrogant. Not so, however with the God of creation. He is in heaven and does as He pleases. He has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all.

      Hope, Riches, Power

      . . . the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

      Ephesians 1:18–19


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