I. Introduction
   A. Purpose: to bring us to a place of submission to God's sovereignty.
   B. Discussion
      1. Evaluate each of the following statements:
            a. "I planned each chartered course, each careful step along the byway. And more, much more than this,
                I did it my way." (Paul Anka)
            b. "It was my good fortune to receive the promotion I wanted."
            c. "As chance would have it, I met my wife there."
            d. "I pulled it off, all by myself!"
            e. "Good luck in your new home."
            f. "We're in this class by coincidence."
            g. "Believe in yourself: you can do it."
            h. "That decision sealed her fate."
            i. "Satan won big time in that situation."
            j. "You did it. Why don't you take the credit for it?"
      2. What is God's sovereignty?  (BOTTOM LINE OF LIFE)
         a. "God's right to do anything He wants to do, anytime He wants to do it, any way he wants to do it,
             for any purpose He wants to accomplish."  (Tom Larry, former student of Lee and Peg)
         b. God's rule over everything, including evil.
                1) God is not the author of evil.   Job 34:10 "Far be it from God to do evil."
                2) God "decreed to permit" evil.   Job 2:10  "Shall we accept good from God       and not trouble?"
                  3) God is the author of how evil is used.  Eph 1:11  "God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of
                      His will."
      3. What happens if we attribute life's circumstances to:
            1) our own efforts?
            2) to chance?
            3) to Satan?
      4. How we react to God's sovereignty is a choice we constantly face. Resist and be miserable or bow to it and be at
          peace.
   C. Contrast the 10 earlier statements with these:
      1. "God ordains whatsoever comes to pass."  (Westminster Confession)
      2. "Chance is the pseudonym God uses when He doesn't want to sign His name."   (Anatole France)
      3. "Whatever men or Satan devise, God holds the helm and makes all their efforts contribute to the execution of His
            judgments."  (Calvin)
      4. "God so presents the outside inducements that man acts in accordance with his own nature, yet does exactly what God
            has planned for him to do."  (Boettner)
      5. "For the things which God rightly wills, He accomplishes by the evil wills of bad men."   (Augustine)
      6. "Satan himself performs his part, just as he is impelled and succeeds only in so far as he is permitted." (Calvin)
      7. "God so controls the thoughts and wills of men that they freely and willingly do what He has planned for them to do."
          (Boettner)
      8. "That men sin is attributable to themselves, that in sinning they produce this or that result is owing to the mighty power of
           God, who divides darkness as He pleases."      (Augustine)
      9. "While they acted against the will of God, His will was accomplished in them."       (Calvin)
     10. "The disciple who abides in Jesus is in the will of God, and his apparently free  choices are 'God's foreordained
            decrees.'  Mysterious? Logically contradictory and absurd? Yes, but glorious to a saint."  (Oswald Chambers)
   D. Conclusion:  Everything is in God's hands  (WHOLE WORLD!)
II. Biblical support for the sovereignty of God
   A. Over creation
    Ps 135:6-7   "The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths."
      1. Over the heavens
        I Cor 15:41   "The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another, the stars another; and star differs from star in
                               splendor."   (NO COMPETITION)
     2. Over the earth
        Isa 6:3  "The whole earth is full of His glory"  (continents, minerals, trees, flowers, birds, fish, etc.) NONE

    3. Over weather
        Ps 107:25,29,33,35  "For He spoke and stirred up a tempest; He stilled the storm to a whisper.  He turned the rivers into
                                          a desert; he turned thedesert into pools of water."
        (IMAGINE WEATHERMAN SAYING THAT)
   B. Over nations
        Ps 22:28   "He rules over nations"   (HELP!)
          1. In how He deals with them.
            Ex 19:4,5  "You yourselves (Israel) have seen what I did to Egypt (plagues) and how I carried you on eagles' wings."
             (SPECIAL TREATMENT)
          2. In the designation of leaders.
            Dan 2:21    "He sets up kings and deposes them."     ("lowliest of men"  Dan 4:17)    (HAVE SEEN)
          3. In the bent of leaders' hearts.
            Prov 21:1   "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse where He pleases."
          4. In leaders' plans.
            Acts 4:28   "They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen."
          5. In what happens when leaders resist.    Dan 4:28-37
               a. Nebuchanezzar  v30:  "Is this not the great Babylon I have built by my mighty power and for the glory of my
                                                     majesty?"    (THUMBS UNDER ARMPITS)
               b. God:  v32  "Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass
                                      like cattle until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men."
                (HEAVY JUDGMENT)
           c. Consequences   v33    "His hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird."
                (LIKE MILLIONAIRE HOWARD HUGHES)
           d. Confession   v37   "Now I, Nebuchanezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven."
(EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW, EASIER RIGHT NOW)