BEYOND: The Love of God // Dr. Han Oh
Channel: Park Cities Baptist Church
Date: 07/02/2021

Sermon Response Guide

Primary Scripture
Exodus 33:14 – 34:7

Key Points
• We can’t truly understand God’s love until we understand God’s wrath.
• God’s wrath is God’s loving response to sin.
• Truth sounds like hate to those who reject the truth.
• Behind every one of God’s commands is God’s promise to protect us and provide something better for us in God’s love.

Memory Verse
Ask God to write this word on your heart this week:

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
-Romans 5:10 ESV

Questions for Reflection
Take time to reflect and respond to these questions on your own in the presence of the Holy Spirit, or with trusted friends or family members:

1: What is the difference between saying, “love is God,” versus “God is love,” (1 John 4:8)? Why does that distinction matter these days?

2: Michael Wittmer, professor of systematic and historical theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, writes about God’s wrath in his book, Don’t Stop Believing, “It is God’s voluntary gag reflex at anything that destroys his good creation. God is against sin because he is for us, and he will vent his fury on everything that damages us.”

Have you ever felt this kind of wrath on behalf of someone you love? How does that experience help you to better understand God’s wrath and God’s love for you?

3: Reflecting on the quote from Michael Wittmer above, what do you think has been damaging you lately? What have you been returning to that you know ends in destruction?

4: Read Romans 1:8. Where have you been suppressing the truth lately?

5: Read Romans 5:8. What truth is God impressing on you today?

6: How is God inviting you to respond to what God has purposefully revealed to you in love today?

Pray
Lord, long ago, you promised Moses, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Lord, let us hear the song of your same promise to us today.

Let each of us respond to your promise with the very words of Moses, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

Lord, thank you for your love. Thank you for your truth. We choose to walk in the truth of your love, believing you will protect us and provide something better for us in your presence.
[Exodus 33:14-16]

References
For those interested in further study, our pastors want to share resources that have aided them in their sermon preparation (in conjunction with the Bible and the Holy Spirit):

• The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer
• Not God Enough: Why Your Small God Leads to Big Problems by J. D. Greear
• Your God is Too Small: A Guide for Believers and Skeptics Alike by J. B. Phillips
• Knowing God by J. I. Packer
• The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century by Mark F. Rooker
• For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship by Daniel I. Block
• Exodus (Apollos Old Testament Commentary Series) by T. Desmond Alexander
• Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology by Thomas C. Oden
• A Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 3: 90-150 (Kregel Exegetical Library) by Allen P. Ross
• Proverbs (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms) by Tremper Longman III

Find more devotional resources for 2021 here.
https://www.pcbc.org/media/devotional-resources/