Playlist:

playlist Go to the Free Moral Agency (topic) playlist

Genesis 1 and Free-Moral Agency

CGG Weekly by John W. Ritenbaugh

What does Scripture say about free-moral agency? Are we human puppets on a string, manipulated from above? How does free will relate to God's sovereignty?


Freedom's Dark Underbelly

Sermon by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Any freedom to choose must be accompanied by a set of standards against which choices are made. The people of the world do not have this freedom.


Bondage and a Freewill Offering

Sermonette by Mark Schindler

A free will offering, when deeply considered, should help us to consider each holy day more deeply the cost of real liberty God has freely given us.


Our Declaration of Independence (Part One)

CGG Weekly by John Reiss

It is good for us to remember the freedom that God has given to us, those in the church of God, a freedom that the rest of the world just does not have.


Providence

Sermonette by James Beaubelle

Studying examples of God's hand both favoring and putting down, we must reach out to Him daily for His Divine Providence to be at work in their lives.


Succeeding in the New World

CGG Weekly

Each individual settler in the New World had not only to protect and provide for himself, but also to sacrifice for the community's sake.


The Sovereignty of God: Part Seven

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

One aspect of sovereignty that causes some confusion is predestination. God's sovereignty does not remove a person's free moral agency — we must still choose.


Sovereignty, Election, and Grace (Part Three)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

The term 'grace' describes a generous, thoughtful action of God, accompanied by love, which accomplishes His will, equipping us with everything we need.


Sovereignty and Choice

Sermonette by David C. Grabbe

Some theologians see law and grace at the opposite ends of a continuum. They cannot imagine how God's sovereignty and man's free moral agency can co-exist.


The Sovereignty of God (Part Seven)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

In the example of a child summoned by a parent to clean up his room, the child's dawdling and complaining are not predestined nor are they part of God's will.


The Sovereignty of God and Human Responsibility: Part Eleven

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

God's sovereignty and free moral agency set up a seeming paradox. Just how much choice and freedom do we have under God's sovereign rule?


The Sovereignty of God: Introduction

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

God's sovereignty is one of the most important issues a Christian must consider. Have we acknowledged that He has total authority over us in particular?


Little Choices

CGG Weekly by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

True Christianity is a religion of constant vigilance in a conscious endeavor—striving, struggling, and making choices—to do what is right to please God.


Sovereignty, Election, and Grace (Part Four)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Even though we have the free moral agency to run counter to God's purposes, we court disaster if we presumptuously plan against these purposes.


Fasting: Building Spiritual Muscle

Article by David F. Maas

Though fasting deprives the physical body of nutrition and strength, a proper, biblical fast adds conviction and depth to the inner, spiritual man.


The Sovereignty of God: Part Four

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

God not only rules in heaven, but He is also sovereign on earth! He is not an absentee landlord, but One who is actively involved in administering His creation.


Why Are You Here?

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)

God, following a pattern, routinely calls the lowly and weak to guard against pride. God will transform the weak of this world through His Holy Spirit.


Ecclesiastes Resumed (Part Fifteen)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)

Our relationship with God is often strengthened through hardship. We must choose to yield to God, living for a much higher goal than raw materialism.


Sovereignty, Election, and Grace (Part Five)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

In terms of salvation, works cannot save, but good works are the fruit of God's involvement. Grace frees one; works prove that one has been freed.


The Providence of God (Part Two)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Even when we exercise free moral agency, God engineers circumstances and outcomes so that we are virtually forced to make the right decision.


The Sovereignty of God (Part Four)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

God not only upholds, but also guides and propels His creation, periodically overruling man's mismanagement with floods, fires, winds, and earthquakes.


No Failsafe Needed

Sermon by Mark Schindler

The free-will God has allowed mankind has led to some tragic consequences or disruptions, but none of these are outside of His control.


Are These Your Feasts? (Part Two)

CGG Weekly by Mark Schindler

When a famine of the Word covers the land, only a few have the God-given free-moral agency to choose to be fed the truth. Are we making the proper choices?


The Ship Is Yours

Sermon by Mark Schindler

Just as the captain of a ship wants decision-makers, not just order takers, God expects us to make decisions in accordance with His will.


God's Creation and Our Works

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Like Joseph, we need to realize that God—not ourselves—is the Creator, engineering events that form us into what He wants us to become.


The Sovereignty of God: Part Five

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

Is God sovereign over angels? What about mankind's choices? God's sovereignty is absolute as He directs events toward the culmination of His plan.


Are These Your Feasts? (Part One)

CGG Weekly by Mark Schindler

This earth is a prison, and Satan is its jailer. The inmates—mankind—do not realize that there is no free will! A prison takes away freedom.


The Sovereignty of God (Part Twelve)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Those who emphasize one trait of God, or one doctrine, at the expense of the others run the risk of distorting the truth, creating a grotesque caricature.


Do We See the Line?

'Ready Answer' by Mike Ford

Lonesome Dove contains the story of a cowboy who fails to perceive the line between right and wrong, and for his lack of moral sense, he pays with his life.


God's Sovereignty and the Church's Condition (Part Two)

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

God's hand was definitely involved in the scattering of the church. We should respond by growing and preparing ourselves for His Kingdom.


The Providence of God (Part Three)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

We have to exercise faith, realizing the timing will be right for us, enabling us to accept His provisions and decisions for us without fear or anxiety.


Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Seven): Contentment

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

God desires far more for us than mere satisfaction: He wants to give us real contentment, a state that comes only through a relationship with Him.


Sovereignty and 'Once Saved Always Saved'

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Those who believe in the "once saved always saved" doctrine fail to see that God has a more extensive and creative plan for mankind than merely saving him.


The Sovereignty of God: Part Nine

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

God's sovereignty seems to imply that prayer is pointless. Yet the function of prayer is not to change God's mind, but ours!


Image and Likeness of God (Part Five)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

The true nature of God differs greatly from the trinitarian concept. Having created us in His form and shape, God is developing us into His character image.


Stewardship of God's Temple (Part Four)

Sermon by David F. Maas

One of the most marvelous gifts God has given humanity is water—having both physical and spiritual dimensions, serving as the symbol of God's Spirit.


Human Nature: Good or Evil?

Sermon by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Progressives tend to believe that human nature is perfectible and evolving. Conservatives tend to believe that human nature is evil and must be controlled.


The Faithfulness of God (Part Three)

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)

God is absolutely faithful to His promises. We attain salvation is entirely by grace; God owes us absolutely nothing.


Communication and Leaving Babylon (Part Two)

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

Our human nature reflects the nature of malevolent spirits' attitudes. The only way to overcome it is through God's creating a new heart in us by His Spirit.


Sin Is Spiritual!

'Ready Answer' by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Many people divide sin into physical and spiritual sins, but the Bible clearly says that all sin is lawlessness.


The Summertime Soldier and Sunshine Patriotism

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

We must put our lives, treasure, and honor on the line, picking up our cross daily, declaring our independence from carnality, evil and bondage to sin.