How can a perfect being have “passions” or emotional responses to
things? The Bible doesn’t say. It just talks about God’s response to things in emotional language and then claims that God is perfect in the sense that he is completely properly formed in his being and person.
For those interested in trying to understand this better, I recommend this article by Paul Helm here.
The Doctrine is called “Diving Constancy” or more commonly “Divine Impassibility”.
i. His Deity– He alone is God.
ii. His Sovereignty– “That he made heaven and earth, and that he has the right to rule what he has made as he thinks right.”
iii. His Glory- the quality of his person is worth the highest valuing and should eclipse all other lesser glories.
iv. His People- his covenant is more sacred and enduring than the most beautiful marriage.[1]
Read Spurgeon’s Sermon here
[1] We should have pity on those that ridicule and hate God’s people. They are evoking the jealousy of God and his avenging of his bride is an awful fate.
In the last few posts I’ve discussed the five purposes of small groups at High Point church. Our vision for small groups is for them to be Christ centered, transformational communities. The five purposes and practices of small groups are designed to build these communities.
To review, the 5 purposes are:
1. Community
2. Spiritual growth
3. Prayer
4. Supporting mission
5. Service
In this post I want to discuss purpose #5: Service.
Continue reading Five Purposes and Practices of small groups: 5. SERVICE
In the last few posts I discussed the five purposes of small groups at High Point church. Our vision for small groups is for them to be Christ centered, transformational communities. The five purposes and practices of small groups are designed to build these communities.
To review, the 5 purposes are:
1. Community
2. Spiritual growth
3. Prayer
4. Supporting mission
5. Service
In this post I want to discuss purpose #4: Supporting Mission.
Continue reading Five Purposes and Practices of Small Groups: 4. MISSIONS
In the last few posts I discussed the five purposes of small groups at High Point church. Our vision for small groups is for them to be Christ centered, transformational communities. The five purposes and practices of small groups are designed to build these communities.
To review, the 5 purposes are:
1. Community
2. Spiritual growth
3. Prayer
4. Supporting mission
5. Service
In part one I broke down in some detail the practice of community. The second purpose and practice of small group community is spiritual growth. In part two we talked about the importance of the gospel and the Bible in spiritual growth. Much more could be said about that.
In this post I want to talk about Purpose 3: Prayer
Continue reading Five Purposes & Practices of Small Groups: 3. PRAYER
In the last post I discussed the five purposes of small groups at High Point church. Our vision for small groups is for them to be Christ centered, transformational communities. The five purposes and practices of small groups are designed to build these communities.
To review, the 5 purposes are:
1. Community
2. Spiritual growth
3. Prayer
4. Supporting mission
5. Service
In part 1 I broke down in some detail the practice of community. The second purpose and practice of small group community is spiritual growth.
Continue reading Five Purposes & Practices of Small Groups: 2. GROWTH
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