I think Sundays sermon about God's sovereignty went well although a number of people where quite upset by it and in time, as they read, reflect and pray over it, they will come to see the glorious, magnificent and all powerful God whom we worship!
The one part of the doctrine that I did not tackle was how God's sovereignty relates to salvation, and I will address it in a few weeks time. This part is called predestination and it is a topic of conversation that should be avoided around the dinner table unless you want to lose friends! Mnay people don't like it but fail to see how clearly the scriptures tell the story in so many places. This is a clear doctrine of teaching from the scriptures and cannot be avoided if one is honest with the text. Augustine, Luther and Calvin held to this and are of the greatest influence over time in this regard. However humanistic thinking has allowed us to elevate humanity and our 'free' will to unbiblical proportions.
As with many things, the scriptures do not paint a picture that is as clear as us western minded people would like it to be. As with many truths in the scriptures, there are a number of passages that hold ideas in tension. In this case God's will vs human responsibility.
This article is really helpful and provides some information on the variety of views but is written from a Calvinistic (that means biblical :) ) view. It is really well written and will prove helpful for those who desire to unpack this most important but contentious issue.
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