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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Dr. Charles Stanley on God's faithfulness

1 Corinthians 1:9  God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Preachers and preaching and Dr. Charles Stanley
Every once and a while I like to give readers of  this blog a treat in the form of reading the thoughts of a past or current preacher/teacher of the Word.  Dr. Charles Stanley is a beloved Southern Baptist preacher of the word to many people throughout the world.  He has pastored the First Baptist Church of Atlanta since 1971, has a nationwide ministry called "In Touch Ministries" and is author of many many books.  For over 50 years Dr. Stanley has been faithful in his ministry of the Word (now that's a fine example of faithfulness).  

A summary of Dr. Stanley's Message about Relying on God's faithfulness
In his message, Dr. Stanley was laying out the five essential attributes that God has to have in order to be the faithful God.  I felt that what Dr. Stanley preached on was of such great encouragement, that it would be fitting on this Lord's day to share the main points of his message.  May you be encouraged by the following thoughts from Dr. Charles Stanley on the subject of God's faithfulness.

First and foremost, Dr. Stanley defined faithfulness as follows: "faithfulness for God is that in all times, in all things and in all circumstances God is always the same."  In following from that definition, we see the following five attributes of God that enable Him to be the Faithful God:

1. God is Omniscient. 
That is, God knows all things.  If God did not know everything about me, my circumstance or the future of where things are heading, He could not guarantee and of His promises or His pledge to those promises. 

2. God is Omnipotent.
Since God knows all things, then it follows that He must be omnipotent (that is, all powerful).  What would happen if He were not omnipotent?  He would not be able to carry out His promises.  To be the Faithful God, God must be omniscient and omnipotent.

3. God is Omnipresent.
God thirdly must be omnipresent - which means every present.  He is not only everywhere present, but every time present.  In order for Him to be faithful, He has to be ready to meet me in those times that I may not even be at yet. 

4. God cannot lie.
If God were to lie, He would not be faithful.  Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie.  This is God's very character - to be truthful. 

5. God is unchanging
God is all knowing (omni-present) , all powerful (omnipotent) and every present (omnipresent).  He is the Truthful God Who cannot lie.  What other attribute must the God of scripture have in order to be absolutely faithful? Unchanging.  People change, circumstances change, but not God.  Because He remains ever the same, He Alone can be perfectly and absolutely faithful.

I pray these thoughts from Dr. Stanley have been an encouragement to you.  May you be blessed this Lord's day and may you and I be ever more faithful as we focus our attention on God's faithfulness.