OceanSide church of Christ

 Previous Return to Sermons Next  Click to download Audio

The Providence of God
by: Dalton Gilreath

I.              Introduction

a.    Providence comes from the latin providential  and means “foresight”

b.    It has reference to three primary things

                                          i.    God maintaining the balance of the natural world

                                        ii.    Fulfillment of divine purpose in international affairs

                                       iii.    God’s special operation for those who do His will

c.    Providence is what God does through law

d.    Miracles are what God does outside of law

                                          i.    Isaiah 7:14 – Miraculous birth

                                        ii.    1 Samuel 1:19-20 – Providential birth

II.            Providence in Nature

a.    Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:17

                                          i.    God holds all things in place

                                        ii.    The Earth and all therein continue by Him (Genesis 8:22)

1.    Animals are taken care of by Him (Matt 10:29, Psa 104:21, 147:9)

                                       iii.    He uses nature to complete His will

1.    Abraham – Genesis 22:13

2.    Elijah – 1 Kings 17:6

3.    Elisha – 2 Kings 2:23-24

III.           Providence in Nations

a.    Psalm 22:28 – God is the governor of the nations

                                          i.    He sets up and removes kings (Daniel 2:21, 4:17)

b.    Consider the Hebrew nation (Genesis 22:17-18)

                                          i.    God preserved them providentially so the seed would come

                                        ii.    Joseph was sold into slavery but God used him to preserve Israel (Genesis 45:5-9)

c.    Jesus came in the “fullness of time” (Gal 4:4)

                                          i.    Hebrews prepared the world through Messianic prophecy

                                        ii.    Romans provided a highway system which helped evangelism

                                       iii.    Greeks devised Koine Greek which is the New testament language

IV.          Providence in People

a.    Onesimus ran away but was saved by Paul (Philemon 1:15)

b.    Nehemiah was able to return and rebuild Jerusalem because the king happened to see his sad countenance (Nehemiah 2:1-8)

c.    Esther was placed as queen at the perfect time to preserve the Jews (Esther 4:14)

V.           The king wasn’t able to sleep and everything changed when he happened to read of Mordecai’s good deed in the records that night (Esther 6:1)