The Inseparable Love of God (1) [ Romans 8:38-39 ] Why can nothing separate us from the love of God? 1. Because God’s love is eternal. Romans 8:29a says: “For those whom He foreknew…” The word “foreknew” refers to before eternity began —before the creation of heaven and earth . The phrase “those whom He foreknew” does not simply mean knowing about someone intellectually, but rather loving them. In other words, it refers to “those whom God loved from eternity past.” Amos 3:2a says: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” If “known” merely meant intellectual knowledge, that would imply that God only knew Israel and did not know the other nations—which cannot be true, because the all-knowing God lacks knowledge of nothing. Therefore, “I have known you only” means “I have loved you only.” God loved Israel among all the nations of the earth. Hosea 13:5 says: “I knew you in the wilderness , in the land of great drought.” The “wilderness” was where the Israelite...
“Be saved from this perverse generation” [Acts 2:37-41] Dallas Willard states in his book "Renovation of the Heart" that efforts to change behavior without inner transformation are in vain. However, it seems that we are more focused on changing behavior rather than inner transformation. For example, nowadays many churches are putting more emphasis on hardware rather than software. In an internet article titled "The 'Plate' Has Shifted" on the Church Communication Research Institute website (July 11, 2002), Eui-yong Lee talks about ten ways the world is changing. The third change is described as follows: ‘The third change is a shift from hardware to software. If we consider the piano as hardware, then the sheet music can be considered as software. Until now, it was important how big and high-performing the piano was. But now, how to play the piano, similar to the sheet...