UNFOLDING THE WORD With Dr. Gary Kuhne

While we are very much “lumps of clay”, we are also much more than merely clay – we are created in the image of God! God is patient with us as “rebel pottery”, wishing for us to repent and believe in the Gospel so we could change from being “objects of wrath” and become “objects of His mercy”! God’s great purpose is to patiently save out a remnant of rebel mankind to become His very children!

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is II Peter. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.

Don’t fall into the trap of questioning the justice of God! We can easily make some wrong assumptions about the implications of His sovereignty. We must always distinguish between God working in people in ways related to “positions” He has place them in, and the way God works in people in ways related to “personal relationship with God”.  No one can resist “positionally” God movement in decisions being made, but on the “personal relationship with God” level, a person can very much choose to resist acting properly in response to the conviction (which is irresistible) in their hearts about whether to repent and believe. While we are very much “lumps of clay”, we are also much more than merely clay – we are created in the image of God!

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is II Peter. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.

It is not unjust for God to choose to use certain groups or certain people for His purposes in this world – His choice in either case is not tied to the worthiness of the group or individual, but to His own good plan. To understand how such action on God’s part is not unjust, we must learn to distinguish between “positional hardening” and “personal hardening”. As Prov. 21:1 makes plain, the heart of a king is “water in the hands of the Lord”, and God will work to bring about the decisions He desires through their positions (even such hardening). But when it comes to a personal decision to respond to God, God does not harden a person, although a refusal to believe can lead to increasing spiritual hardness in a person.

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is II Peter. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse.Pastor Dwayne Seley is speaking today in the North Coast Pulpit while I am in the hospital.

Was God unjust in choosing who would be His people, or who would be part of the Messianic line? The answer to this question is tied to the fact that God’s decision to use a group or an individual for particular purposes has nothing ultimately to do with their inherent worthiness. No one or no group ever deserved God’s mercy and grace – all are stubborn and rebellious before God, breakers of the greatest commandment!

The second part of the explanation that Jewish ethnicity has never been enough for people to be saved is seen in the example of Isaac’s children, Esau and Jacob. Ethnicity must be combined with personal repentance and faith in order to be right with God.

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is II Peter. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.