Article 43

By Steven J. Hogan

God is sovereign, and that is the absolute truth, one we need to be convinced of, and apply to our daily lives, and to our entire life. Once believed and understood, this truth will bring comfort, peace and wisdom to your soul, and great glory to God. To learn about God’s sovereignty, you must read and study His word. You must then look at life through the lens of His sovereignty, for only then can you more clearly see God, and how He works in life, and what He is doing in your life. Following are hundreds of verses about His sovereignty, and I encourage you to take the time to read them all, as well as the time to reflect, to think about what they mean. Share them with your family and friends, and pass them on to your pastor, for it is necessary for your church that he teach on this vital and most important truth. After the listing of these verses, I will share a number of thoughts about sovereignty. 

ABRAHAM: 
* Genesis 12:2 – “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing.”
* Genesis 17:2-6
* Genesis 18:18-19 – “I have chosen him (Abraham) so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what He has promised.”

ANGELS:
* Psalm 103:20-21 – “Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will.”
* Matthew 26:53 – “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
* Revelation 7:14 – “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.”

ANIMALS:
* Numbers 22:28 – “The Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’”
* Isaiah 34:16 – “Look in the scroll of the Lord and read, ‘None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate.’ For it is His mouth that has given the order and His Spirit will gather them together.”
* Isaiah 11:6 – “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together.”
* Isaiah 46:9-10 – “I am God, and there is no one like Me… saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east… Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.’” 
* Isaiah 65:25 – “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food.”
* Matthew 10:29 – “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”

BABIES:
* Genesis 18:14 – “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”
* 2 Samuel 12:22-23 – “Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live. But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
* Psalm 139:13-15 – “For you formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb… My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.”
* Jeremiah 1:4 – “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I set you apart; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
* John 9:2-3 – “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned nor his parents; but it was so the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day.”

CHURCH:
* Psalm 127:1 – “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”
* Matthew 16:18 – “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
* Acts 9:31 – So the church through all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”
* Ephesians 2:20-21 – “… Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.”

CREATION:
* Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
* Psalm 104:5, 14, 19-20 – “He established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not totter forever and ever… He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man… He made the moon for the seasons; the sun knows the place of its setting. You appoint darkness and it becomes night.”
* Jeremiah 32:17 – “Ah Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
* Colossians 1:16-17 – “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

DAVID:
* 2 Samuel 7:8-16 – “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I will cut off all your enemies before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of all the earth.’”
* 2 Chronicles 6:6 – “Now I have chosen Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.”
* Acts 13:22, 36 – “After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He testified, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all My will’… For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep…”

DEATH:
* 1 Samuel 2:6 – “The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and raises up.”
* Matthew 28:6-7 – “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead.”
* Luke 7:14-15 – “‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.”
* John 11:43-44 – “When he said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and cloth around his face.”
* Acts 2:24 – “But God raised Him up again putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”
* Hebrews 2:14-15 – “He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

DEMONS:
* Mark 1:34 – “He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons, and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.”
* Luke 4:41 – “Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.”

DISASTER:
* 1 Samuel 2:7 – “The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts.”
* Isaiah 45:7 – “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I the Lord do all these things.”
* Lamentations 3:37-38 – “Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?”
* Amos 3:6 – “When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?”

FUTURE EVENTS:
* Isaiah 46:8-10 – “I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.”
* Ephesians 1:9-11 – “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the summing of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.”
* Matthew 24:3-41, Mark 3:13-37, Luke 21:7-36, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
* Revelation 1:1 – “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place.”

ISRAEL:
* Genesis 13:14-16 – “The Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, ‘Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth.”
* Exodus 6:7 – “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”
* Deuteronomy 7:6-7 – “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession. The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.”
* Deuteronomy 8:18 – “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers.”
* Joshua 24:3-8, 13 – “Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan… To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau… Then I sent Moses and Aaron… I brought your fathers out of Egypt… Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites… I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you lived in them.”
* Psalm 105:8-10 – “He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham… to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you will I give the land of Canaan.’”
* Ezekiel 37:23-24 – “I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their land.” 
* Haggai 1:12-14, 2:4 – “The whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you.’… So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel.”
* Romans 11:25 – “A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved.”

JESUS’ BIRTH:
* Isaiah 7:14 – “Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
* Isaiah 9:6 – “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders”
* Micah 5:2 – “But as for you Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Judah.”
* Matthew 1
* Luke 1:30-31 – “The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus.”

JESUS’ LIFE:
* Deuteronomy 18:15 – “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me among you.”
* Psalm 69:21 – “They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
* Isaiah 53:3 – “He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
* Hosea 11:1 – “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
* Zechariah 9:9 – “Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey…”
* Zechariah 11:13 – “So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.”

JESUS’ DEATH:
* Psalm 22:1-24
* Isaiah 53:4-12
* Luke 9:22 – “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
* Acts 2:23 – “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.”
* Acts 4:27-28 – “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against Your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.”

JOB:
* Job 1:21 – “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
* Job 14:5 – “Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; and his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.”
* Job 42:2 – “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

JOBS:
* James 4:13-15. “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why you do not know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.'”

JONAH:
* Jonah 1:4 – “The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea…”
* Jonah 1:7 – “So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.”
* Jonah 1:17 – “The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah.”
* Jonah 2:10 – “The Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.”
* Jonah 3:10 – “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.”
* Jonah 4:6 – “So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort.”
* Jonah 4:7 – “God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.”

JOSEPH:                    
* Genesis 45:5-8 – “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance… So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.”
* Genesis 50:20 – “You intended to harm me but God meant it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
* Psalm 105:17-21 – “He sent a man before them, Joseph, sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, he himself was laid in irons… He made him lord of his house…”
* Acts 7:9-10 – “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and He made him governor over Egypt and all his household.”

JUDGMENT:
* 1 Samuel 2:9-10 – “But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; for not by might shall a man prevail. Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered. Against them He will thunder in the heavens. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.”
* 2 Kings 19:25, 31 – “Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.”
* Psalm 9:5, 8, 16-17 – “You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever… And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity… The Lord has made Himself known; He has executed judgment. In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. The wicked will return to Sheol.”
* Psalm 98:9 – “For He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.”
* Isaiah 10:5-12 – “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of My anger, in whose hand is the club of My wrath! I send him against a godless nation (Israel), I dispatch him against a people who anger Me…. But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations… When the Lord had finished all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, ‘I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look of his heart.’”
* Isaiah 14:24-27 – “The Lord Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed so it will stand. I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.’ This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
* Acts 17:30-31 – “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
* Revelation 6:16-17 – “They said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”
* Revelation 8-9 – The Trumpet judgments
* Revelation 16 – The Bowl judgments
* Revelation 20:11-12 – “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. And no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds…. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake fire.”

KINGDOMS:
* Daniel 2:21 – “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings.”
* Daniel 2:44 – “In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all those kingdoms.”
* Daniel 4:34-35 – “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
* Daniel 5:28 – “Your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”
* Daniel 7:27 – “The sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.”
* Revelation 11:15 – “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

KINGS: 
* Psalm 47:7-9 – “God is the King of all the earth; sing to Him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted.”
* Proverbs 21:1 – “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.”
* Isaiah 40:23 – “He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.”
* Ezra 1:1 – “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia.”
* Isaiah 45:1 – “Thus say the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut; I will go before you and make the rough places smooth.”
* Daniel 2:21 – “He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men.” 
* Acts 12:21-23 – “On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept crying out, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man.’ And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”
* Romans 9:17 – “The Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’”
* Revelation 17:17 – “God has put it in their heart to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.”

LIFE:
* Job 12:13-16 – “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are His. What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released. If He holds back the waters, there is drought; if He lets them loose they devastate the land. To Him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are His….He makes nations great, and destroys them…”
* Job 14:5 – “Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; and his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.”
* Job 42:2 – “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.”
* Psalm 115:3 – “Our God is in heaven and He does whatever pleases Him.”  
* Psalm 139:16 – “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”
* Proverbs 16:33 – “The lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the Lord.”
* Proverbs 19:21 – “Many are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
* Proverbs 20:24 – “A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?”
* Jeremiah 10:23 – “I know O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.”
* Daniel 4:34-35 – “His dominion is an eternal dominion: His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the people of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him: ‘What have you done?'”
* Acts 13:36 – “For David, after he has served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep.”
* Romans 8:28-29 – “We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.”

PAUL:
* Acts 9:15 – “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.”
* Acts 13:2, 4 – “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’… So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia.”
* Acts 16:7 – “They were trying to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.”
* Acts 18:20-21 – “When they asked him (Paul) to stay for a longer time, he did not consent, but taking leave of them and saying, ‘I will return to you again if the God wills,’ he set sail from Ephesus.”
* Ephesians 1:1 – “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God…”
* 2 Timothy 4:17-18 – “The Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom, to Him be the glory forever and ever.”

PERSECUTION:
* Matthew 24:9 – “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.”
* John 21:18-22 – “‘When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where do not wish to go.’ Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death He would glorify God… Peter, seeing him said to Jesus, ‘Lord, and what about this man.’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’”
* Revelation 6:10-11 – “‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’… Wait a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.”
* Revelation 13:10 – “If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”

PURPOSES AND PLANS:
* Job 42:2 – “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
* Psalm 33:10-12 – “The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands firm forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.”
* Psalm 135:5-6 – “I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.”
* Jeremiah 29:10-11 – “‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”
* Romans 8:28-30 – “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
* Romans 9:20-21 – “One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who resists His will?’ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”
* Ephesians 1:11 – “We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.”

SALVATION:
* Matthew 11:27 – “No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”
* John 6:44 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”
* Acts 13:48 – “All those who were appointed to eternal life believed.”
* Acts 18:9-10 – “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you and no one is going to harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 
* Romans 8:30-39 – “And those God predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.”
* Ephesians 1:4 – “God chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.”
* Ephesians 1:11 – “In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.”
* 2 Thessalonians 2:13 – “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning, God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”
* James 1:18 – “In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.”

SAMSON:
* Judges 14:4 – “‘I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.’ His father and mother replied: ‘Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people?” … But Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.’ (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines.)”

SICKNESS:
* Isaiah 38:9-22 – “But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and He himself has done this… You restored me to health and let me live. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish…”
* Mark 1:34 – “He healed many who were ill with various diseases…”  
* Luke 4:40 – “While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him, and laying His hand on each one of them, He was healing them.”
* Luke 7:1-10 – “… Just say the word, and my servant will be healed… when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.”
* John 9:1-8 – “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth… So he went away and washed and came back seeing.”
* Acts 3:2 – “A man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along… he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were strengthened… it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

SIGHT AND SPEECH:
* Exodus 4:11 – “The Lord said to him, ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’”
* Matthew 9:27-29 – “As Jesus went on from there two blind men followed Him, crying out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’ … Then He touched their eyes saying, ‘It shall be done to you according to your faith.’ And their eyes were opened.” 
* John 9:1, 7 – “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth… and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.”

SIN:
* Genesis 3 – Adam and Eve
* Genesis 6 – The world in the time of Noah
* Genesis 16 – Abraham and Hagar
* Genesis 38 – Judah and Tamar
* Genesis 39 – Joseph and his brothers
* 2 Samuel 24:1 – “Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah.’”
*1 Chronicles 21:1 – “Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.”
* 2 Chronicles 10:15 – “So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of events from God that the Lord might establish His word…”
* Acts 2:23 – “This man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

SPIRITUAL GROWTH:
* 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 – “He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful…”
* 1 Corinthians 1:6 – “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.”
* 1 Corinthians 15:10 – “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of with me.”
* Philippians 1:6 – “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
* 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 – “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you and He will bring it to pass.”
* Jude 24-25 – “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

SPIRITUAL WORK:
* John 15:16 – “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”
* Ephesians 2:10 – “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
* Philippians 2:12-13 – “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

TIME:
* Joshua 10:13 – “So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.”
* Daniel 9:24-27 – “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement… And he (the Antichrist) will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will make a stop to sacrifice and grain offering…”
* Luke 9:22 – “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
* Acts 17:26 – “He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”
* Revelation 20:6 – “They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.”

WEATHER:
* Job 37:6, 10-12 – “For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong’… From the breath of God ice is made, and the expanse of the waters is frozen. Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning. It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, that it may do whatever He commands it to do.”
* Psalm 135:6 – “The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”
* Matthew 27:45 – “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon the land until the ninth hour.”
* Mark 4:39 – “He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Hush, be still.’ And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.” 

WAR:
* Joshua 11:19-20 – “Not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. For it was the Lord Himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that He might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.”
* Psalm 46:8-10 – “Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations He has brought on the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear, He burns the shields with fire. Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.”

WHERE AND WHEN YOU LIVE:
* Acts 17:26 – “From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”

WORD OF GOD:
* Joshua 21:45 – “Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”
* 1 Samuel 3:19, 21 – “Thus Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of His words fail… And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, because the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.”
* Psalm 147:19-20 – “He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation.”
* Isaiah 55:11 – “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
* Ezekiel 1:3 – “The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest.”
* Matthew 24:33-34 – “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
* Luke 24:25, 44-45 – “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken’… ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

Some concluding thoughts about God’s sovereignty:
1. To say that God is sovereign means that He predestines, He ordains, He chooses, He leads, He controls, He directs, He intervenes, He works, He initiates and He commands.
2. That God is sovereign means you cannot do whatever you want.
3. When making plans, learn to say, “If God wills.”
4. When it seems circumstances are beyond your control, remember that they are never beyond God’s control, for He is sovereign over everything. 
5. Don’t try to figure out everything, but rather, learn to trust God, and know that He is in charge, and that He is working all things together for good.
6. When difficult things happen, you will not feel like God is sovereign, and it may not look like He is sovereign. But you must have faith and trust God, knowing that He is working, and knows what He is doing, and that all things will turn out for your good, and for His glory.
7. Even though God is sovereign, you are still responsible for your actions. From a human point of view, you cannot understand how these truths can coexist, how both God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility can both be true at the same time.
8. Though God is sovereign over sin, He is never sinful, and He never sins. 
9. God’s sovereignty is based on many aspects of His character working together – His power, supremacy, holiness, wisdom, omniscience, love, goodness, justice, patience, faithfulness, and eternality, etc.
10. Because He is sovereign, God can carry out all His purposes and plans.
11. For God’s purposes to be accomplished, whether it is in your life or in the world, He must be sovereign over every single person, every single action and every single event.
12. Prophecy that has been fulfilled in the past is one of the greatest proofs that God is sovereign. For example, Christ’s first coming is the fulfillment of prophecy, and proves that God is sovereign. 
13. God’s sovereignty relates to the future, that is, in the end times, and in the ages to come. God is sovereign forever and ever, and we will see His sovereignty in the future.
14. The truth of God’s sovereignty is one of the strongest and clearest ways that we see that God is God, that He is in charge, and that He can do whatever He wants.
15. If God enables you to live until the time of Christ’s coming and the rapture, then you will be seeing His sovereignty in action like never before.
16. That God is sovereign should silence you, in that you are not to object to what is taking place, and get angry at God for what He is doing. 
17. To be a mature Christian, you must understand the truth of God’s sovereignty. You cannot rightly and wholly live for God without believing that He is sovereign.
18. It is very important that you understand God’s sovereignty with respect to your salvation, in addition to all other areas of your life.
19. Be assured that God is sovereign over the church, and that He is building the church, and that no devil, no demon, no person, will stop Him and His work in the church.
20. The truth and realization that God is sovereign should result in you being humble, having more faith, peace and joy, and desiring to fulfill God’s purposes for your life.
21. The fact that God is sovereign means He has a purpose for your life, and has plans for your life, and that He is now carrying out these plans, and wants you to do your part in fulfilling these plans. 
22. God’s sovereignty is seen in both the small things of life, and the big things of life.
23. On one hand, God’s sovereignty can be isolated and seen in one person, in one event, or in one day, but it’s also true that each thing that happens, each person in your life, each day of your life, can’t just be separated out, but is connected and relates to everything else, to the entirety of your life, and to all that God wants you to be and do. 
24. Take the time to reflect on the past, and think about the works of God in your life, and in others around you, for this will help you believe and see that God is sovereign.
25. That God is sovereign shows you that He is the King of kings, and that He deserves all the glory, resulting in you giving Him praise and honor.

ROMANS 11:33-36 – “OH, THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. HOW UNSEARCHABLE ARE HIS JUDGMENTS AND UNFATHOMABLE HIS WAYS! FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? FOR FROM HIM AND THROUGH HIM AND TO HIM ARE ALL THINGS. TO HIM BE THE GLORY FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN.