Hope Today 022 - Is God Easy to Live with?

A weekly program of word and music featuring an eclectic mix of Christian music and teaching by Pastor Tom Cullen and Brian Evans.  Mac Wigfield starts the program with southern gospel classics.

Produced at Straight Path Studio in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.

Christian Artists featured are:

New Grace Trio

McKameys

Three and Company

Burning Ones

Latifah Makuyi

Terry Posthumus

The Hope Arsenal

North Point Worship

Brooke Nicholls

Hallal Music

Worship Circle

Thank you for listening to HOPE TODAY. This is a program developed at Light & Life Programming, a registered charity. We are listener supported. If you would like to help with this ministry, donations can be made through our website at www.lightnlife.ca.

Transcript

Brian 0:08

It is great to welcome you to Hope Today for our program over this next hour. Thank you for tuning in. We do hope you will be inspired with joy as you listen. The question of the day: Is God easy to live with? Pastor Tom Cullen will be providing answers from God's word that we know will be a blessing to you. Let's get started as we invite Mac Wakefield to bring encouragement to some awesome gospel music. Thank you, Mac.

Mac 0:37

Well, good Sunday morning to you on Hope Today. Mac Wakefield with you. Southern gospel music coming up. We play a song by the New Grace Trio. The prophet Isaiah has written this. Now, O Lord, you are our father. We are the clay. And you are our potter. We're all the work of your hand. Aren't you glad he didn't throw that clay away?

Mac 4:29

So the clay became a man, and the man became a sinner. But thank God, Jesus has stepped in, and God has said, I'll give you grace, grace for new life, and grace for living that life day by day.

Mac 6:58

I'll give you grace, says God to each one of his children. And the reaction from three and company out of Alberta, Western Canada, I love living in grace.

Tom 10:17

I'm Pastor Tom Cullen, and I'm so thankful for Mac. Doesn't he start off our program well? Hey, I have a question for you today. It comes from a book I was reading by A. W. Tozer. He asks, Is God easy to live with? It's an important question because how you answer will be reflected in the way you live. If you think God is grim, loveless, and hard to live with, you in turn will be grim, loveless, and hard to live with. And how you answer will be reflected in the way you relate to God. If you think God to be cold and unforgiving, you will find it impossible to love him and will live your life cringing in some corner for fear the next lightning bolt will strike you down. So let's think carefully this morning. Is God easy to live with? The burning ones suggest an answer in good good father.

Tom 14:01

We're asking the question, is God easy to live with? It's an important question, but it's also a difficult question. There is a sense that God is difficult to live with because of his demands. God wants a first place in our lives. He demands that we have no other gods before him. We're not to worship anyone or anything above or before him. It's not that he is so immature, it's that he loves us so much that he cannot stand to see us settled for anything less than the bad. He demands that we bow our knee only to him. And he demands that we give our whole life to him. If we're to follow him, it is to be with complete abandonment. Either you are or you're not one of his followers. And then there is his hatred of sin. He is the holy God, and we realize that he will never condone wrongdoing. He will never say that the wrong is right. He desires for us to be holy above all else. He hates sin so much that he's willing to let his son die for it, and that is eradicated power in our lives. There is a sense in which God can be very hard to live with. There are demands and he hates sin in our lives. But to stop there, to let that thought dominate our lives would be wrong. For the repeated note through Scripture, the wonderful, exhilarating, good news of Scripture is God is very easy to live with. Latifa Makuy brings us to the foot of the cross in for the joy set before him.

Tom 19:07

And the answer is yes. Consider Psalm 103. It opens with the words, Praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. When you think of the psalmist writing these words, how do you picture his demeanor? Is he saying gloomily, Praise the Lord, my soul? Or is he saying, Praise the Lord, my soul? Hardly able to write the word because he's dancing around the room with joy. Of course he is. Because one of the qualities that makes God so wonderfully easy to live with is the joy that he brings into life. The Apostle Peter makes it the inexpressible joy that is hard and knowing God. There are some people you can spend an hour with. It is a joy to be around. It is a joy to be a little joy. Joy is one of God's characteristics. We are living in a joyless time. Much that has given people joy in the past has been taken away by this virus. Can I encourage you to turn to God and know the joy of living for him, of serving him, of allowing him to direct your life? Joy. It's one of the reasons God is easy to live with. We lift up our spirits to God with Terry Posthumus in with joy.

Brian 24:48

Over the years, it has become difficult to separate truth from fiction in the many accounts of his life. We know that he was born in 1182, the son of a rich merchant in central Italy. After a meager education, he joined the army and was captured in war. He made a commitment to Jesus Christ shortly after his release and renounced his wealth. He began traveling about the countryside, preaching the gospel, living simply, and seeking to make Christ real to everyone he met. He loved nature, and there are many stories that spotlight his interaction with animals in which he would remind them that they should praise God who provided for all their needs. It is said the animals seemed to listen and then rejoice. With this perspective in mind and his understanding of Psalm 148, Saint Francis composed this hymn just before he died in 1225. He called it Son of Brother Son, now known as All Creatures of Our God and King. It was almost 700 years later, in 1919, that Reverend William Draper translated it into English to use it for children's worship in Leeds, England. Listen to the sound theology in this hymn as performed by Hope Arsenal.

Tom 29:33

Is God easy to live with? It's an important question, because how you answer it will be reflected in how you live. If you think God is grim, loveless, and hard to live with, then you in turn will be grim, loveless, and hard to live with. Think of the Pharisees, religious leaders during the time of Jesus. Now there was a grim, loveless group. The God of the Pharisees was not easy to live with, and as a result, they were not easy to live with. Is God easy to live with? Consider Psalm 103, verse 8. It says that the Lord is compassionate and gracious, as low to anger and abounding in love. That theme runs through the pages of Scripture. Here is Moses catching a glimpse of God. And do you know what he hears in Exodus 34, verse 5? He hears the words, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, low to anger and abounding in love. Or Nehemiah on his knees in prayer, recounting the history of the people of God, and he says that they have been a different negative people. That is stubborn. But in contrast, he says that God is forgiving, compassionate, and gracious, and low to anger and abounding in love. The prophets Joel and Jonah both come to the realization that God is compassionate and gracious and low to anger and abounding in love. It is the glorious refrain that we hear over and over again in the Old Testament. And then in the fullness of time, when God reveals Himself fully in Jesus Christ, we see it to be true. And we look at Jesus and we say, Is that what God looks like? Yes. Well, he must be very easy to live with because he is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. North Point worship reminds us that God's love for you and me is better than we imagined. In abundantly more.

Tom 33:46

Is God easy to live with? Yes. We know this because we're told again and again in the Old Testament that God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. When we turn to the New Testament, we see God revealed fully to us in his Son Jesus Christ. And we discover what the Old Testament writers knew to be true. He is compassionate. Martha and Mary could tell us about our Lord's compassion as he came to the graveside of their brother Lazarus. And in the sight of death. But there was one left. One who could accuse. One who was indeed without a sin. The perfect son of God. Standing in front of her. And she summons the courage to look into his eyes. And what did she say? The accusations against him are false. His friends have betrayed him, and the nails are driven into his hand. And is there anger? No. He is abounding in love. And the first word out of his mouth are the Father, forgive them. Abounding in love. On the last night of our Lord's life, you know what he did. He washed his disciples' feet, every one of them, even though he knew they would all abandon him in his time of need. What love! Then he shared a meal with them and put bread into their hands and said, This is my body broken for you. And he gave it to every one of them, to Thomas who would doubt him, Peter who would deny him, and Judas who betrayed him. He loved them to the end. Is that what God is like? Yes, he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Our God is very easy to live with. Here is Brooke Nichols with Grace Today.

Tom 39:48

Is God easy to live with? I'm not suggesting that God doesn't demand that we live holy lives. I'm not suggesting that God turns a blind eye to our sinfulness and allows us to carry on living in immorality. No, no, no. What I'm saying is that God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. Hellel music tells a truth you have to take in with how deep the Father's love.

Tom 43:25

I'm suggesting that God is easy to live with because He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. But there's one other quality we must consider, and that is His willingness to forgive. Psalm 103, verse 12 says, As high as heaven is above the earth, so God's love toward those who fear him. As far as east is from west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. It's important because If we travel north from a given point, sooner or later we will reach the north hole. Then we travel south to the south hole. Another definite point. We can start to travel east, and there is no point at which we start to travel west. The same can be said of traveling west. No matter how long we continue, there is no point at which we start to travel east. West is always west. East is always east. There is a point, of course, where that vertical line of God's love and that horizontal line of God's forgiveness meet. And that is the cross of Christ. So far as east is from west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Do you think God is easy to live with? Oh, may you answer yes. May you know the joy that is yours in him, may you know his compassion and grace, that he is slow to anger and abounding in love. May you know his forgiveness in your life as you place your faith in Jesus Christ, who died for you, so that you may be with God now and forevermore. Truly, Jesus paid it all. Here is worship circle.

Brian 49:02

It always seems so soon that we come to the end of our program. We appreciate the time you have spent with us today, and we trust that you have sensed God's presence. Hope today is produced at Straight Path Studios and continues to be brought to you by your friends. We do look forward to being with you again next time. Until then, may God bless you with his love in each of the days ahead.