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

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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.

Episode Transcript

Brian (00:08):
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 inspiredwith joy as you listen.

The question of the day (00:17):
Is God easy to live with?
Pastor Tom Cullen will beproviding answers from God's
word that we know will be ablessing to you.
Let's get started as we inviteMac Wakefield to bring
encouragement to some awesomegospel music.
Thank you, Mac.

Mac (00:37):
Well, good Sunday morning to you on Hope Today.
Mac Wakefield with you.
Southern gospel music comingup.
We play a song by the New GraceTrio.
The prophet Isaiah has writtenthis.
Now, O Lord, you are ourfather.
We are the clay.
And you are our potter.
We're all the work of yourhand.
Aren't you glad he didn't throwthat clay away?

(04:29):
So the clay became a man, and the man became a sinner.
But thank God, Jesus hasstepped in, and God has said,
I'll give you grace, grace fornew life, and grace for living
that life day by day.

(06:58):
I'll give you grace, says God to each one of his children.
And the reaction from three andcompany 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 ourprogram well?
Hey, I have a question for youtoday.
It comes from a book I wasreading by A.
W.
Tozer.
He asks, Is God easy to livewith?
It's an important questionbecause how you answer will be
reflected in the way you live.
If you think God is grim,loveless, and hard to live with,

(10:41):
you in turn will be grim,loveless, and hard to live with.
And how you answer will bereflected in the way you relate
to God.
If you think God to be cold andunforgiving, you will find it
impossible to love him and willlive your life cringing in some
corner for fear the nextlightning bolt will strike you
down.
So let's think carefully thismorning.

(11:02):
Is God easy to live with?
The burning ones suggest ananswer in good good father.

(14:01):
We're asking the question, is God easy to live with?
It's an important question, butit's also a difficult question.
There is a sense that God isdifficult to live with because
of his demands.
God wants a first place in ourlives.
He demands that we have noother gods before him.
We're not to worship anyone oranything above or before him.

(14:23):
It's not that he is soimmature, it's that he loves us
so much that he cannot stand tosee us settled for anything less
than the bad.
He demands that we bow our kneeonly to him.
And he demands that we give ourwhole life to him.
If we're to follow him, it isto be with complete abandonment.

(14:43):
Either you are or you're notone of his followers.
And then there is his hatred ofsin.
He is the holy God, and werealize that he will never
condone wrongdoing.
He will never say that thewrong is right.
He desires for us to be holyabove all else.
He hates sin so much that he'swilling to let his son die for

(15:06):
it, and that is eradicated powerin our lives.
There is a sense in which Godcan be very hard to live with.
There are demands and he hatessin in our lives.
But to stop there, to let thatthought dominate our lives would
be wrong.
For the repeated note throughScripture, the wonderful,

(15:26):
exhilarating, good news ofScripture is God is very easy to
live with.
Latifa Makuy brings us to thefoot of the cross in for the joy
set before him.

(19:07):
And the answer is yes.
Consider Psalm 103.
It opens with the words, Praisethe Lord, my soul, all my
inmost being, praise his holyname.
When you think of the psalmistwriting these words, how do you
picture his demeanor?
Is he saying gloomily, Praisethe Lord, my soul?
Or is he saying, Praise theLord, my soul?

(19:28):
Hardly able to write the wordbecause he's dancing around the
room with joy.
Of course he is.
Because one of the qualitiesthat makes God so wonderfully
easy to live with is the joythat he brings into life.
The Apostle Peter makes it theinexpressible joy that is hard
and knowing God.
There are some people you canspend an hour with.

(19:59):
It is a joy to be around.
It is a joy to be a little joy.
Joy is one of God'scharacteristics.

(20:25):
We are living in a joylesstime.
Much that has given people joyin the past has been taken away
by this virus.
Can I encourage you to turn toGod and know the joy of living
for him, of serving him, ofallowing him to direct your
life?
Joy.

(20:46):
It's one of the reasons God iseasy to live with.
We lift up our spirits to Godwith Terry Posthumus in with
joy.

Brian (24:48):
Over the years, it has become difficult to separate
truth from fiction in the manyaccounts of his life.
We know that he was born in1182, the son of a rich merchant
in central Italy.
After a meager education, hejoined the army and was captured
in war.
He made a commitment to JesusChrist shortly after his release

(25:09):
and renounced his wealth.
He began traveling about thecountryside, preaching the
gospel, living simply, andseeking to make Christ real to
everyone he met.
He loved nature, and there aremany stories that spotlight his
interaction with animals inwhich he would remind them that
they should praise God whoprovided for all their needs.

(25:30):
It is said the animals seemedto listen and then rejoice.
With this perspective in mindand his understanding of Psalm
148, Saint Francis composed thishymn just before he died in
1225.
He called it Son of BrotherSon, now known as All Creatures

(25:50):
of Our God and King.
It was almost 700 years later,in 1919, that Reverend William
Draper translated it intoEnglish to use it for children's
worship in Leeds, England.
Listen to the sound theology inthis 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, lovelessgroup.

(29:54):
The God of the Pharisees wasnot easy to live with, and as a
result, they were not easy tolive with.
Is God easy to live with?
Consider Psalm 103, verse 8.
It says that the Lord iscompassionate and gracious, as
low to anger and abounding inlove.
That theme runs through thepages of Scripture.

(30:15):
Here is Moses catching aglimpse of God.
And do you know what he hearsin Exodus 34, verse 5?
He hears the words, the Lord iscompassionate and gracious, low
to anger and abounding in love.
Or Nehemiah on his knees inprayer, recounting the history
of the people of God, and hesays that they have been a

(30:35):
different negative people.
That is stubborn.
But in contrast, he says thatGod is forgiving, compassionate,
and gracious, and low to angerand abounding in love.
The prophets Joel and Jonahboth come to the realization
that God is compassionate andgracious and low to anger and
abounding in love.
It is the glorious refrain thatwe hear over and over again in

(30:58):
the Old Testament.
And then in the fullness oftime, when God reveals Himself
fully in Jesus Christ, we see itto be true.
And we look at Jesus and wesay, Is that what God looks
like?
Yes.
Well, he must be very easy tolive with because he is
compassionate and gracious, slowto anger and abounding in love.

(31:20):
North Point worship reminds usthat God's love for you and me
is better than we imagined.
In abundantly more.

(33:46):
Is God easy to live with?
Yes.
We know this because we're toldagain and again in the Old
Testament that God iscompassionate and gracious, slow
to anger and abounding in love.
When we turn to the NewTestament, we see God revealed
fully to us in his Son JesusChrist.
And we discover what the OldTestament writers knew to be

(34:06):
true.
He is compassionate.
Martha and Mary could tell usabout our Lord's compassion as
he came to the graveside oftheir brother Lazarus.
And in the sight of death.
But there was one left.

(34:39):
One who could accuse.
One who was indeed without asin.
The perfect son of God.
Standing in front of her.
And she summons the courage tolook into his eyes.
And what did she say?
The accusations against him arefalse.

(35:05):
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 hismouth are the Father, forgive
them.
Abounding in love.
On the last night of our Lord'slife, you know what he did.
He washed his disciples' feet,every one of them, even though

(35:28):
he knew they would all abandonhim in his time of need.
What love! Then he shared ameal with them and put bread
into their hands and said, Thisis my body broken for you.
And he gave it to every one ofthem, to Thomas who would doubt
him, Peter who would deny him,and Judas who betrayed him.
He loved them to the end.

(35:49):
Is that what God is like?
Yes, he is gracious andcompassionate, slow to anger and
abounding in love.
Our God is very easy to livewith.
Here is Brooke Nichols withGrace Today.

(39:48):
Is God easy to live with?
I'm not suggesting that Goddoesn't demand that we live holy
lives.
I'm not suggesting that Godturns a blind eye to our
sinfulness and allows us tocarry on living in immorality.
No, no, no.
What I'm saying is that God iscompassionate and gracious, slow
to anger and abounding in love.

(40:08):
Hellel music tells a truth youhave to take in with how deep
the Father's love.

(43:25):
I'm suggesting that God is easy to live with because He is
compassionate and gracious, slowto anger and abounding in love.
But there's one other qualitywe must consider, and that is
His willingness to forgive.
Psalm 103, verse 12 says, Ashigh as heaven is above the
earth, so God's love towardthose who fear him.

(43:47):
As far as east is from west, sofar has he removed our
transgressions from us.
It's important because If wetravel north from a given point,

(44:12):
sooner or later we will reachthe north hole.
Then we travel south to thesouth 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 oftraveling west.
No matter how long we continue,there is no point at which we

(44:35):
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 horizontalline of God's forgiveness meet.
And that is the cross ofChrist.
So far as east is from west, sofar has he removed our
transgressions from us.
Do you think God is easy tolive with?

(44:56):
Oh, may you answer yes.
May you know the joy that isyours in him, may you know his
compassion and grace, that he isslow to anger and abounding in
love.
May you know his forgiveness inyour life as you place your
faith in Jesus Christ, who diedfor you, so that you may be with
God now and forevermore.

(45:17):
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 havespent with us today, and we
trust that you have sensed God'spresence.
Hope today is produced atStraight Path Studios and
continues to be brought to youby your friends.
We do look forward to beingwith you again next time.
Until then, may God bless youwith his love in each of the

(49:25):
days ahead.