{"id":10871,"date":"2016-08-17T01:23:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-god-who-never-changes\/"},"modified":"2016-08-17T01:23:31","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:23:31","slug":"the-god-who-never-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-god-who-never-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GOD WHO NEVER CHANGES"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>JAMES 1:12\u201318<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>(James 1:17)<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>The great difference between God and us is that we are mutable and He is immutable. In other words, we change, but He does not. How do we change? We grow older, for one thing. Also, we have changing emotions and we must learn new skills to grow intellectually. But God does not change. He has no weaknesses or defects that demand improvement or lead to decay. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal'><b><i>Is God immobile or inert?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>One of the important trends in liberal theology these days is \u201cprocess philosophy,\u201d the idea that God is \u201cin process.\u201d This has to do with a criticism that is often leveled against the orthodox view of God, which is that if God is immutable and doesn\u2019t change, He must be immobile. Critics claim that we cannot conceive of something as being active and alive apart from some kind of motion, and motion indicates change. So they contend that the only way God could be immutable is for Him to be inert.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Orthodox Christianity does not accept this, however. Immutability has to do with God\u2019s character. It has to do with the constancy, consistency, and dependability of God. This immutable God is hardly inert. The God of Scripture is a God on the move. He is a God who goes before His people, a God who is dynamic because He is alive.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal'><b><i>God\u2019s love never wavers<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>In James 1:17 we read, <i>\u201cEvery good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.\u201d<\/i> No one relies on shadows to be consistent and stable. In fact, they have no substance at all. What James\u2019s figure of speech portrays so well is that our God is just the opposite. There is no blemish in His character, nor does His love for His children waver. We base our lives on His immutability.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal'><b>CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal'>The immutability of God means that His promises are sure. In 2 Corinthians 1:20 Paul declares: <i>\u201cFor no matter how many promises God has made, they are \u2018Yes\u2019 in Christ. And so through him the \u2018Amen\u2019 is spoken by us to the glory of God.\u201d<\/i> As you pray today, cast yourself utterly upon God, your everlasting Father, rejoicing that His care for you never changes.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>friday<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>march<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JAMES 1:12\u201318 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17). The great difference between God and us is that we are mutable and He is immutable. In other words, we change, but He does not. How do &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-god-who-never-changes\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;THE GOD WHO NEVER CHANGES&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}