17 Oct This is us: Authentic life

Psalm 139:1-24

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! ² You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. ³ You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. ⁵ You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! ⁹ If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” ¹² even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

¹³ For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹ Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! ²⁰ They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. ²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? ²² I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Does anyone love fake items? Okay, maybe I’m asking the wrong question. Does any of you love to shop at Mangga Dua mall? If you do not know what Mangga Dua is, it is a place in Jakarta where people go to increase their self-esteem by buying fake items. Indonesians are experts at fake items. We even have different grades of fake items for different prices. But I think it is safe to say that even though some of us might like fake items, none of us likes fake people. We do not like fakers, and we crave authenticity. Our society loves the idea of being real. I am sure you have heard of this slogan before. “Don’t let anyone tell you who you are. Be the real you.” We promote authenticity all the time. We tell one another that we don’t have to worry about other people’s opinions. We just need to be true to ourselves, to be authentic. But even though we promote authenticity, if we are honest with ourselves, living an authentic life is very frightening. It does not matter who we are, all of us have skeletons hidden in our closets. We have some secrets that we don’t want anyone to know. And to be authentic is to have other people know our skeletons.

As much as we like the idea of being known for who we truly are, we hate the consequences that come with it. So, what happens most of the time is that we become hypocrites. We promote authentic life with our mouth but deep inside our heart, we feel insecure if people would still look at us the same way once they know our skeletons. Our skeletons could be our past, our present struggles, our present sins, consequences of past sins, our family, etc. Whatever it is, it makes us insecure. All of us have skeletons that we try to hide from people and because of it, all of us have insecurity and fear of being rejected if we are known for who we truly are. We think that it is impossible for us to be loved if we are truly known for who we are. So, we try our best to cover it up and fake it. We try to live the best fake authentic life we possibly can. But it does not work. Do you know why? Because even though we do not want anyone to know our skeletons, we have the innate desire to be loved and accepted. We want to be loved and accepted for who we truly are and not who we appear to be. And as long as we still keep up the fake appearances, we know that we are not truly loved and accepted. It is superficial. And because of it, we are stuck. This creates a massive dilemma in us. Here is the dilemma. We want to live an authentic life because we desire to be loved and accepted. But we do not want to live an authentic life because we desire to be loved and accepted. Do you see what happened? And until this dilemma is solved, we won’t be able to have a genuine relationship with one another.

Today we begin a new series titled, “This is us: Growing together as righteous sinners”. In this series, we are going to talk about the challenges that we often face as we grow together in a community. I used the phrase righteous sinners intentionally. Because I think this describes who Christians are. Christians are people who have been made righteous by the sacrifice of Jesus. But at the same time, Christians are also sinners who struggle with sin every day. It means that Christians are far from perfect. And when a righteous sinner meets another righteous sinner and lives together in a community, it bounds to be messy. And in this series, we will explore how the gospel enables us to grow together as righteous sinners. But before we talk about us, we must talk about God first. We must see who God is and what he has done to solve our dilemma. Because if our dilemma is not solved, there is no hope for us to have a genuine relationship with one another. But if God has solved our dilemma, then it is very possible for us to grow together as righteous sinners. For this, we turn to Psalm 139.

Psalm 139 is one of my favourite psalms. It is written by King David. And I love Psalm 139 because it speaks to both our head and our heart. It engages both our intellect and our affection. Psalm 139 is intensely theological and wonderfully personal. In this psalm, David tells us that God is far greater than we could imagine. Yet at the same time, God is a close intimate God who cares for his people. The God of the Bible is both great and intimate at the same time. In this psalm, David introduces us to the God who knows everything about him. God knows David’s past, present and future. God knows his thought, desire, and plan. Nothing escaped God. And yet God loves and accepts David. How is it possible?

I have three points for this sermon. God is all-knowing; God is ever-present; God is all-powerful. Another way to say it is God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. And I will give you two quick implications at the end.

God is all-knowing

Psalm 139:1-6 – O Lord, you have searched me and known me! ² You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. ³ You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. ⁵ You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

The first thing David tells us about God is that God sees and knows all things. And if we pay attention to the descriptions David gives, it is very intense. God knows every little detail about David. He knows when David sits down and when he rises up. He knows all David thoughts. Before David does anything, God already knows what David would do. Even before a word comes out of David’s mouth, God already knows what David is going to say. It means that God’s knowledge of David is not simply a record of David’s life. It is not like God is paying attention to David’s life 24/7 through heavenly CCTV. It is deeper than that. What David is saying is that every detail, every possibility, every event, in past, present, and future, God already sees, and God already knows. Nothing escapes God, nothing can be hidden from God, and nothing is forgotten by God. God misses nothing and knows everything. He is highly involved in David’s life.

And we must get this right. This comprehensive knowledge of God is not God foreseeing everything that will happen in the future. The concept of past, present, and future do not apply to God. Why? Because God lives outside of time. God is the Creator. Time is God’s creation. The Creator is not trapped by his creation. God is not trapped in the present. He sees everything at once. It means that God never learned anything new. He cannot learn because he knows all things at once. He is perfect in knowledge. He is never surprised or amazed by anything. He knows the totality of our life. Every emotion, every feeling, every idea, doubt, question, God sees all like an open book. There is no secret before God.

Okay, let me put it in our everyday language. One of the dilemmas I faced during this lockdown is deciding what to eat. One of the goals I have during this lockdown is to lose weight. I have been gaining weight constantly. It’s not good. So, I decided to do some exercises. And one of them is to walk from my house to Chatswood to get something to eat. Back and forth, it is about a 4 km walk. Pretty decent. And when I get to Chatswood, I have lots of options on what to eat. And because I want to lose weight, I planned to buy Sumo Salad. But on my way to Sumo Salad, I have to walk past through the valley of temptations. And more often than not, I would go back home with Korean Fried Chicken instead of Sumo Salad. True story. Here is the question. Did God know I would choose to buy Korean Fried Chicken instead of Sumo Salad before I made the choice? Let’s say that I had chosen to buy Sumo Salad instead, would God have shouted, “Omo, I did not see that coming! Yosi chose to buy Sumo Salad. It is a miracle!”? Psalm 139 tells us that God knows exactly what I would have for dinner.

And David pushes it even further. Before I made the choice, before I was weighing my option on what to eat, all my consideration, all my thought pattern, my taste bud, my love for fried chicken, my distaste for salad, my desire to lose weight, my love for fatty food, God knows. God knows what I had for dinner and why I chose that dinner even before I even thought of dinner. And God knows what I am going to eat tomorrow. Tomorrow I am going to choose a burger over Sumo Salad. God is acquainted with all my ways. Nothing I do catch him by surprise. He knows every little detail of my life. Right now, if you are tuning in to this sermon while watching Netflix, God knows. He is no stranger to anything we think and do. God knows us more than we know ourselves. He is not a far-off distant God. He knows us intimately and it is impossible to deceive him. He knows us inside out. And this is problematic. Because it means that he is aware of all the skeletons we try to hide. We may dig a very deep hole so that no one would see it, but God sees, and God knows. There is nothing hidden from him.

Look at verse 6. Psalm 136:6 – Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. The word wonderful is an interesting Hebrew word. Because it can be used in a positive connotation. So, what David says is that God’s intimate knowledge of him is too deep, too high, too wide for his finite mind. He is wowed by it. But it can also be used in a negative connotation. So, what David says is that he is overwhelmed by God’s intimate knowledge of him. It is too much for him to handle and he is afraid of it. And if we read the following verses, it seems that this is what’s happening. David wants to escape from this intimate knowledge of God. Why? The same reason we don’t want other people to know everything there is to know about us. Think about it. Let’s say that right before I preach this sermon, God sent me an email from juicysecrets@heaven.com containing all the thoughts you had since the moment you woke up today. All the selfish thoughts, lustful thoughts, and angry thoughts. And I decided to read the email out loud in my sermon and call you out by name. “Edrick, this is what was in your thought today. Josh, Tim…” You would immediately switch off this sermon and move to a different church next week. We could not bear knowing our own thoughts, even more when other people know our thoughts. We are extremely afraid of being known. We don’t have the guts to be authentic. And this creates a dilemma for us. On one hand, we want to live an authentic life because we desire to be loved and accepted. Because if someone loves us but they have no idea who we truly are, it is superficial. It does not work. On the other hand, we do not want to live an authentic life because we desire to be loved and accepted. We are extremely afraid that if we are known for who we truly are, then no one would love and accept us.

And this is a fundamental human problem. This is the problem with our first ancestors, Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were created with the glory of God covering them. Genesis tells us that they were naked and not ashamed. It means they lived an authentic life. They had nothing to hide. They were known for who they truly were, and they were not ashamed. But the moment they sinned against God, their eyes were opened, they realized they were naked, and they were ashamed. And they quickly sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame. And we have been stuck covering our shame ever since then. We know there is something deeply flawed inside of us, and we try our best to hide it. We sew fig leaves to cover our shame. We find ways to cover our mess so that others won’t reject us. But as long as we still do that, we will never be truly loved. We won’t be able to have a genuine relationship with other people around us. Do you see the problem? Let’s move on.

God is ever-present

Psalm 139:7-12 – ⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! ⁹ If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” ¹² even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

I think this confirms the fact that David tries to escape from God who sees and knows everything about him. And this also tells us why God sees and knows all things. God sees and knows all things because God is everywhere to see and know it. God is ever-present. When I first learned how to ride a bike, all I wanted to do every time I got back from school was to ride my bike and wander around the area with my friend. My dad warned me not to wander too far. But there was this one afternoon, where my friend said we should ride our bike to the lake nearby. And I thought, “There is no harm in biking to the lake. My dad won’t know.” So, I agreed. We went to the lake and when I got there I was surprised. Now, I grew up in Bali. At the time, the lake in my area was clean and nice. And many ladies took a bath in the lake. I was shocked. It was my very first time being exposed to the dark side. So, we started peeking at them from afar. And before too long, we were playing in the lake with them taking a bath in proximity. I thought it was all fine. And when I got back, I acted as if nothing happened. But I forgot that my clothing was still wet and because of it my dad found out that I went to the lake. And my dad “kappowow” me. In the same way it was foolish of me to think that I could escape my dad, it is foolish for us to think that we can escape God. I might get away with going to the lake if I pay more attention to my clothing, but it does not work with God. God was with me at the lake. God was with me on my way to the lake. He saw me peeking at those ladies. There is not a single place in the universe where we can hide from God.

David uses the expression of high and low, and east and west. He says that if he ascent to heaven, God is there. If he goes to Sheol, the land of death, God is there. If he goes to the east where the sun rises, God is there. If he goes to the west where the sea is from Israel, God is there. In other words, David is saying that God is inescapable. We can go to the moon, God is there. We can go to the city of the little mermaid and sing “under the sea” with Sebastian, God is there. We can go to Papua, God is there. We can go to Africa, God is there. We cannot escape God. We cannot flee from God’s presence. We can try but it is not going to work.

But David is not finish. He continues to say that even in darkness, God is there. Even amid the darkest place where there is no one and we can’t see anything, that dark space is not dark at all for God. We can hide under our blanket in a dark room, God is there. Darkness may hide us from other people, but it cannot hide us from God. And it is not as if God is present only by way of influence or power. Sometimes we think of God being ever-present like how oxygen is everywhere. But that’s not true. I love the way Herman Bavinck puts it. “God is not present in creation as a king in his realm or a captain aboard his ship. He does not act upon the world from a distance; but with his whole being he is present powerfully here and everywhere with respect to his essence and power.” So, at this moment right now, wherever we are, God is wholly present with us. He is completely present at every point in space. There is no hiding place from God. God not only knows our secret sins, but he is also present when we commit those sins.

This might sound like bad news, but it is also comforting. This also means that in whatever situation we faced today, we might be in the lowest valley where not a single person knows what we are going through, or we might be flying high with all the angels worshipping God, God has his eyes on us. He is present with us. We can’t catch God off guard. He does not sleep nor slumber. He is present with us at 4 in the morning when we cry on our pillow with only us, and he is also present with us at 1 in the afternoon when we go out to lunch with our mates. He was with us yesterday, he is with us today, and he will be with us tomorrow. He is not limited by time and space. Our tomorrow and our yesterday are not only something that God knows; it is where God is at this moment. God is ever-present. I know this is too much already for our finite mind to comprehend but David is not finish. it gets even more amazing.

God is all-powerful

Psalm 139:13-16 – ¹³ For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Pay attention to the word “for” in verse 13. It is crucial. David is giving us another reason how God sees and knows everything about us. God sees and knows all things not only because he is ever-present, but because he made and preordained all things. In other words, God not only sees and knows all things, but he is also the author of all things. God is not a passive observant but an active participant. There is no such thing as an accident for God. God is the God of purpose. Nothing he does is random or meaningless. It is like knitting. I don’t know a lot about knitting. But I do know one thing. You knit with the end in mind. You don’t knit a scarf without knowing that you are making a scarf. So, when David says that God knits us, he means that God knows exactly what he is doing. He doesn’t make mistakes. We are not an accident. We might be an accident to our parents, but we are not to God. There are no such things as an illegitimate child. It might be an illegitimate relationship. The child might be conceived out of rape. The parents might not plan for the child. But just because humans do not plan it does not mean that it is not planned by God. Every child is knitted together in their mother’s womb by God. And when God knits, he does not make mistakes. When no one can see us, God saw us, and he formed us. God took the time to knit us together. So, if we think that we are a mistake, we are accusing God of making mistake. But God never makes a mistake. He is too good and too kind to make a mistake. The truth is, we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God.

And this truth applies to everything about us. From our race, family, height, hobby, talents, personality, talents, and DNA. God designs us to be us, and he does not make mistakes. One of the things that I used to not like about myself is my eyes. I have very squinty eyes that make my nationality questionable. People used to say that I am too dark to be Chinese, but my eyes are too small to be Indonesian. But it’s not as if God was making a mistake in forming me. It’s not as if one day God was tired and he let one of the angels took charge of knitting me and when the angel finished his job and brought it to God, God was surprised. “Angel YYY, what have you done? His eyes are too small. He is going to be a public speaker one day. Don’t you feel sorry for him that a lot of people won’t be able to see his eyes when he laughs?” No. That did not happen. God created me with small eyes purposefully because he knew one day small eyes will be the new sexy. So, it doesn’t matter what our frame is. We can be tall or short, large eyes or small eyes, straight nose or bent nose, dark skin or white skin, God does not make a mistake when he formed us. It doesn’t matter what our personality type is, it is designed by God. And that includes those who were born with disabilities. God does not make a mistake knitting them together.

And it gets even better. God not only knitted us together, but he also has written our end from the very beginning. There is not a single moment of our life that is out of the script. God has written every single one of our days in his book before we breathe our very first breath. From the moment of conception to the very last breath on earth, our story is already written in his book. And God is actively directing and guiding every page of our story. So, when I was diagnosed with leukaemia, I was surprised. I didn’t even have a clue what leukaemia was. All I know was that Song Hye Kyo died in endless love because of it. But God was not surprised. He knew and he had preordained that as soon as I graduated from Dallas Baptist, I would be diagnosed with leukaemia. All my days are written in his book. All your days are written in his book. There is nothing we can do and there is nothing that happened to us that surprise him. Everything that happened, is happening, and will happen to us is orchestrated by the all-powerful God. God not only ordained who we are, but he also ordained our history. He leaves nothing to chance. In other words, our skeletons do not surprise God even for a millisecond. It is already written in his book.

Now, I understand some concerns people might have with this truth. But let me just address one. We are not comfortable with the idea of an all-powerful God because we have seen the abuse of power all around us. We have seen how people in power turned into monsters. All-powerful God sounds like tyranny to many people. That is why our culture rejects the truth of an all-powerful God. They either invented their own version of God that they can control, or they rejected the existence of God altogether. But think with me for a little bit. We cannot escape the idea of an all-powerful God. Because someone must be. Someone must have all the power to run and govern the universe. If God the Creator exists, he must be all-powerful. If God is not all-powerful, then he cannot create the universe and he is not God. And if we reject the idea of an all-powerful God, all we have left is a universe that is created by chance. It means that everything is a product of accident and there is no meaning to anything. But we know deep inside that cannot be true. Think about it. Why are we afraid of people finding out our skeletons? Why do we desire to be loved and accepted? It is because deep inside we want to matter. We want our life to have meaning. So, the question is not whether we believe in the all-powerful God or not, but what kind of God is he?

Listen to what David says next. Listen to the changes in David. Psalm 139:17-18 – ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. The word precious is a Hebrew word that is used to describe diamonds and emeralds. It is a word to describe ultimate wealth. In the early part of the psalm, David wants to escape from God. But now, when David thinks of the all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful God, he worships. The thought of God no longer frightens David, but it is precious to David. It is the ultimate wealth. What happened? Here is I think what happened. Psalm 139 leads us on a journey of discovering who God truly is. Remember our dilemma. We want to live an authentic life because we desire to be loved and accepted. We do not want to live an authentic life because we desire to be loved and accepted. We are stuck. And the thought of God who knows and sees all our skeletons frighten us. We reject him. We hide from him. But listen. What if this all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful God is using all his attributes not to condemn us but to guide us? What if his power is used for us and to care for us? Would not that change everything?

If you are not familiar with David’s story, he is a man with a big skeleton hidden in his closet. David sleeps with another man’s wife and kills her husband to cover his track. He tries to cover it up and he thinks he succeeds. Till one day God sends his prophet to tell David, “David, I know what you did last summer.” And the same God also tells us that he sees, and he knows all our hidden sins. He knows our skeletons. There is nothing we can hide from him. And God will make sure every sin receives just punishment. We will not get away with it. We can’t hide from him. We should be terrified of God. But in verse 17, David delights in the fact that God knows everything about him. And at the end of verse 18, David says, “I awake, and I am still with you.” What’s happening? Is David dreaming and wake up from his nap? I don’t think so. The term sleep and awake is often used in the Bible to describe death and life after death. So what David is saying is that even when he wakes up from death, God is still with David. He says, “I have a God who is constantly with me. I cannot get away from him and he will never ever let me go. This God is fully committed to me that even after I die, he is still with me.” From the earliest moment of existence to his existence after death, David has the confidence that God will not forsake him. After all that David has done, how is it possible?

Here is how. David gets a glimpse of who his author is for him. He gets a glimpse of who the all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful God is. David has the assurance that God knows all his skeletons and God is not going to exploit him. He knows that God knows him to the very bottom and he loves him to the sky. If David can know that before the cross of Jesus, how much more for us who live after the cross? Because the all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful God came to us. He revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And at the cross, Jesus was thrown into utter darkness. We were knitted together in our mother’s womb, but Jesus was unravelled at the cross. He was torn apart. At the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The ever-present God abandoned Jesus. If we cannot get away from the presence of God, Jesus got the absence of God. Why? Because Jesus took what we deserved so that when put out faith in Jesus, we can have the confidence that God will never ever abandon us. Rather than exploiting our skeletons, Jesus took our skeletons with him at the cross. Because of Jesus, we can have the confidence that the all-powerful God is using his power to love and care for us. The cross of Jesus Christ shows us that God knows all our skeletons and he loves us.

And the cross of Jesus Christ is the only solution to our dilemma. It tells us that we have nothing to hide before God. He knows us to the depth of the ocean, and he loves us to the sky. He experienced hell on the cross for us. Do you think that the God who went to that degree to love us will allow anything to stop him from loving us? Never. Jesus lost the presence of God so that we know God will never let us go. To the degree that we know that we have been loved and accepted by God because of Jesus, to that degree we can be authentic in our relationship with one another. To the degree we know what Jesus went through for us, to that degree we can say with David, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God.” And if we know what God thinks of us, why do we need to hide? The gospel gives us the freedom to be honest about our skeletons without fearing rejection. The gospel is our only hope for an authentic life. The gospel is what our heart needs to get unstuck.

Two quick implications and I am done. Psalm 139:19-22 – ¹⁹ Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! ²⁰ They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. ²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? ²² I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. First, the gospel changes our attitude toward sin. David’s hatred toward the enemies of God is because he is captivated by God’s love for him. He cannot stand those who oppose God. We should share the same hatred toward sin. It doesn’t mean we go out there and slay sinners. We know that God wants sinners to come to repentance. But he cannot tolerate sins. This should be our attitude toward sins. We should not tolerate it. The gospel drives and empowers us to fight sins in our life.

Psalm 139:23-24 – ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Second, the gospel enables us to acknowledge our weaknesses. Rather than hiding from the all-knowing God, David invites God to search his heart thoroughly. David acknowledges that the problem is not only outside of him but also inside of him. David is asking God to lead him in the right way. The gospel humbles us to admit that we have a lot of issues inside of us that need to be sorted. Rather than hide our issues, we welcome God to deal with them. And do you know how God does it? Through the person next to us. Through other Christians in our community. That is why we desperately need one another in our Christian walk. Christianity is a personal faith but a community project. And in the next few weeks, we will see how God reveals the junk inside of us through one another. But before we take a look at the junk inside of us, we need to be confident in who God is for us first. The gospel tells us that God knows the very worst about us and loves us with his very best. Rejoice in that truth. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. According to your opinion, why do you think it is very hard for us to be authentic?
2. Every Christian is a righteous sinner. Why do you think it is important for us to remember that Christians are both and not one over the other?
3. Look at the three attributes of God (all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful). Which one do you find most repulsive and why?
4. “God has written every single one of our days in his book before we breathe our very first breath. From the moment of conception to the very last breath on earth, our story is already written in his book.” Give some implications of this truth (Both what you might find comforting or disturbing).
5. How does the gospel free us to live an authentic life?
6. Why do we need one another to grow in Christ?