Scott continues exploring the importance of trusting God's sovereignty and providence, especially when life seems unpredictable or overwhelming. He highlights how people tend to focus on what isn't working rather than recognizing God's active hand in every aspect of life, from the endless cycles of nature to our individual journeys. Scott also discusses the importance of regularly checking your perspectives by remembering God's power and intimate care, drawing on scriptural examples—such as God’s control over the ocean and the stars—to support this view.

Scott talks about the foundation of knowing who God is via the formation of how to live out that knowledge, and the fulfillment of living with purpose. He also addresses common misunderstandings about God's sovereignty—such as ignoring it, trying to master it, or confusing it with fatalism—and explains that while God’s ways are a divine mystery, His providence is both reliable and personal. He urges listeners to respond with trust and surrender, recognizing that God is with, for, and in them.

Download the Insight Sheets Here:

Blank Insight Sheet:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LjhZIjRlAlCNCvwiQ8HS0dQdkK-CfjV1/view?usp=sharing

Insight Sheet With Answers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PKjuuccaxsnRrKDGDdsouP4jsL-N2qTk/view?usp=sharing

Key Topics Discussed:

• Trusting God's sovereignty and providence in every season
• Adjusting perspective: focusing on what God is doing, not just what’s missing
• The mystery of God's greatness and His closeness
• How to respond to God's providence: trust, surrender, worship
• Misunderstandings about sovereignty (ignoring, mastering, fatalism)
• Responding with gratitude in adversity and prosperity
• The assurance that God’s love is unchangeable and He will keep His people
• Approaching doubts and fears by running to God honestly
• The concept of finishing strong by fully trusting God

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website@beholdingbibletruth.com and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

When folks come in to work with us in our business, one of the first things I start with is what's working well. What's working well before we talk about what's not working, because everybody walks in with what's not working right. It's kind of the way we're wired, isn't it? We think about what we don't have, we think about what's broken, we think about what's not working right. And so as we walk through this idea of the sovereignty and providence of God generally, as we wake up and look at the world, we see what's not seemingly in line with God's providence and his sovereignty. Isn't that true? We just say, what about this, what about that, what about that? What I call the tobac, right? We generally see that as I sit at the ocean in the summer when we get away for a couple of weeks, the ocean reminds me just, it reminds me of God's sovereignty because it just continues to roll. And unless I knew what God says, because I always think, why does the water stop there? Why doesn't it come across upon land? Because Scripture says God said no further. It says in scripture, God says to the ocean, no further. You can't come up here.

And so we try and understand, well, it's because of gravity, it's because of the moon. And that, yes, all we are doing is observing. We're not explaining. It's the sovereignty of God. And so when the Israelites were questioning back in Isaiah's time, the Lord says, lift your eyes on high. He says, see the stars. So he says, the one who leads forth their host by number, he calls them all by name. So how many stars are there? Billions upon billions upon billions.

All with a unique name. All with a unique name. He says, because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one of them is missing. So he calls them all by name. He knows their name and he keeps them all. Do you think, despite all the evidence, that he knows you by name and he can keep you? As he said, I do it with the stars. Do you think I can do it with you? And so we need a perspective check regularly. Recheck our perspective, keep it in mind.

So we're now in the second section, right? And generally, as you probably know, I only preach, teach line upon line, precept upon precept. I start a book, go to the end. Occasionally I will take a concept like we are here. So we're going to talk about how to finish strong. Last week we laid the first session in the foundation. You can see at the top, right? So there's three parts to this. The first is the foundation, which is doctrine, who God is that session one and two, this is the second session. We're going to talk about God's sovereignty and providence.

They are the sure foundation for trusting him, particularly in a world which seems to regularly remind us, or at least make us think, is God really on the throne? Is he really on the throne? Then we're going to do two sessions on formation or our devotion, which is how to live. How do we live in light of that? Trusting in God empowers daily devotion, purpose of living and persevering faith, which is really what this about. How do we endure to the end? And how do we not just say, oh, because it's always, can you lose your salvation? What about this person? What about that person? How about if we flip it and say, how do I finish strong? Not how do I barely make it? Who doesn't make it? How can I lose it? I mean, why am I focusing on all that? How can I finish strong? That's what we're going to talk about, right? Number three is fulfillment, which is destiny. Live your purpose. So God created you with big impact purpose, and he will keep you to the end. And we'll go over exactly how you can know what that is, that your time on earth is purposeful time. It's not. You're not here for a random amount of time, right? Tim Keller seemed like he should have stayed longer, right? Bodie Bakam seems like he should have stayed longer.

But Scripture tells us his days were ordained when as yet there was none. He got the number of days that God gave to him and he lived it with purpose. And we're going to talk about how we do that. So we're back at God's sovereignty and providence, and it indeed is a divine mystery. It's the mystery that we cannot master. It's the mystery. It is indeed, isn't it? Scripture tells us there are things that God has given to us, but there are secret things which belong to the Lord. There are secret things, right? The secret things belong to Yahweh, our God.

But the things revealed to us, of course, belong to us. If you think about all that God knows and understands, how much do you think he's revealed to us? So my guess is my picture is the. The. The. He cracked a little crack on the door of his glory, and we see some rays coming out, and we're overwhelmed by those rays. But there's an entire glory behind that, right? He just has given us a little crack of his glory. And he says, greatest Lord and abundant in strength, by the way. His.

His understanding is finite. No, it's infinite. And you and I are finite, the finite. Contemplating the infinite. What's going to happen? We're going to be perplexed. We are going to be perplexed for as high as the heavens are above the earth. What do they say now, Chris? 90 billion light years. So I remind myself, God created the universe as a physical understanding the difference between how you think and how he thinks.

He says, here's my science project. Here's the ruler. That's God's ruler. So you can look at it. It's 90 billion light years between how you think and how he thinks, between your ways and his ways, huh? They're not close. They're not close. Like, if I think a little harder, I can understand God. So he reminds us, right? He reminds us.

So I put on there, God's sovereignty and providence are not fully explainable, are they? They're not fully explainable to you and me, but they are fully reliable. So the hanover Catechism in 1563, right? The. The group of those who sought to define, if you will, right. Help us understand, which would have been the educational program, if you will, of a Christian. How do you. How do you think the Almighty and everywhere present power of God. This is answering the question, what is the providence of God? What is the providence of God? It's not. It's not used often here, right? God's providence and sovereignty divine the Almighty and everywhere present power of God, as it were, by his hand.

Does he have a hand? No. What does that mean by his hand? Power, right? The strength of the Lord. This is the arm of the Lord by his hand. In other words, his control. Right. And by his strength, right. He will. He still upholds what Heaven and earth with all creatures and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty.

Gay. All things come not by chance, but by. By his father's hand. Right, but by his father's hand. Fatherly hand. His fatherly hand. So what he's saying is the same thing that Jesus said. Not one sparrow falls to the earth without God's leave and notice not one sparrow.

So he says, do you think you're more valuable than a sparrow? Sparrows don't live or die apart from God's providence, his sovereignty. Right, so how do we respond? So I put on there, here's some uninformed responses. Number one, I just want to ignore it. Ah, this is just too much for me. Too much for me. Let's just do the simple. And in some ways, faith is simple. Jesus loves me, this I know, but the Bible tells me so.

In some ways it's simple, but it's never simplistic, never meant to be simplistic. And he says there's some. There's a point where the milk is fine, but then you must move on to the meat. So you can't ignore it and become an immovable believer over time. You can't finish well by staying right and ignoring the sovereignty and providence of God. Number two is you can say, okay, well, I'm going to master. I'm going to master it. I'm going to know everything.

I must understand it fully. I must understand it fully. One of the weaknesses of evangelicals is we believe that we're evangelicals because we have all the answers, that we're required to have all the answers. Know the right answer. And I would say if you are going deeply with God, you will have more questions than you'll have answers, right? There's many things you will not understand. That's why we run to the core. At the core, there are many things you can know, but there's lots of things, right? You just have questions about, you won't master it. Number three is you could just argue against it.

That's all the, you know what the. Oh, that's a dead one. You know what the devouts are, right? What about right? What to bow. So and so. What. What about stuff going on in the world? What about, right, all the stuff. There's all, all this stuff, right? You can argue against it. What about so and so? What about lots of touts? Or the last one is confuse it with fatal Doris Day.

Hey, whatever will Be, will be. Right. We can confuse it with fatalism, that sovereignty and providence exist along with man's responsibility. So uninformed. Ignore it, master it, argue against it. Really resign yourself to fatalism. So here's the matchless mystery, which is this unique combination of God's greatness, His awesomeness. Ice cream is not awesome.

Phones are not awesome. Your new clothes are not awesome. God is awesome. God is awesome. So the enemy does something. He steals concepts and he steals words. And in order to neuter concepts, everybody get that? And, and the essence of sin is to take the glory of God and make it pedestrian. And the way you do that is take an attribute of God, his awesomeness, and give it to phones or give it to ice cream or give it to something else, right? God is awesome.

I just don't know another word. I just don't know another word. God's greatness and his condescension. The greatness of God in his condescension. So you can see under the greatness of God arrow. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised. His greatness is. It's boundless, it's infinite, it's unsearchable.

In other words, if you sent out a sonar signal right to the edge of the universe, it would hit at some point and come back because it's physical. If you sent it out to the greatness of God, his glory, his character, his nature, it never returns because there is no end, no edge, no boundary to the greatness of God. Does that make sense? Not totally. Because we're a finite mind, so we think finite. There must be an edge to his glory, right? Must be only so much. No, it would never return. His greatness is unsearchable. Then he reminds us along with that.

There's this matchless mystery of the condescension of God. He humbles himself, underlie, humbles. He humbles himself. What's he do to. To behold or interact with the things that are in heaven and in the earth? How many built something in your life? Anything. Imagine having fellowship with something you built. It doesn't make sense. Does.

Doesn't make sense. Created, right. The creator of something doesn't have any intimate fellowship with something that's created because it's less than. It's. It's of not of the same nature. God who created you humbles himself by becoming interactive with the things he's created. It's hard for us to imagine because you think, well, of course he wants to have fellowship with me. I mean, yeah, who wouldn't? I Mean, the world housemates were amazing.

I mean, in the church we sing about me more than I think about anybody else. I mean, this is what it's about. It's about me, of course. But he's so different. So in the mystery of Providence, he says the greatness of God is a glorious and unsearchable mystery. The condescension of the most high God to men is also a profound mystery. But when both these meet together, as they do in scripture, they make up a matchless mystery. It's the great support and solace or comfort of the saints in all the distresses that befall them here.

That there is a wise spirit sitting in all the wheels of motion and governing and governing the most eccentric creatures and their most pernicious designs, like evil. Right to blessed and happy issues. And indeed, it were not worthwhile to live in a world devoid of God and providence. If you are struck and can't come to grips with God and his providence over all things, including evil, always say is take it away. Go, go to the other side and say, okay, God is not sovereign over all things. It's trying. But there are things that are out of his sovereignty. Which means what? Evil has more authority, power and dominion than our God.

Just put that in your pipe and smoking for a while. Think, meditate on that, right? So recognize that. And of course, we see it in the humility of the Son of God. So the Messiah Christ Jesus. The Messiah Jesus, Right. The God man who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But what did he do? He emptied himself, taking on the form of a bond servant, the Son of God in the bosom of the Father, in glory with him forever. This is my son, in whom I'm well pleased.

He took on the form of a bondservant and being made an appearance as a man. So I want you to think about this. The uncontainable one stepped into a container. The uncontainable one stepped into a human container. The infinite stepped into a finite body. What? And being made in the likeness of man. Right. He became obedient to the point of death.

Even death on the cross. Cursed is the man who hangs on the tree. Took a curse on our behalf to the point of death. Even death on a cross. The humility of the Son of God. So we see the greatness of God and the condescension of God together. Imagine if God were great, but not gracious, compassionate, slowed anger, abounding in loving kindness. Who would he be like? The Greek gods like us, right? With power, but like, with our passion.

Can you imagine if I were God? That would be scary. With the power and all the. I mean, you just start to think about that, right? So how should we respond if God is both infinitely great and graciously near? Our only response is trust. But what does trust really mean? It means surrender. That's what it means, isn't it? Surrender. Control. Surrender. Control, surrender.

The need to understand the surrender. The need to be in control. The surrender. Surrender, surrender. So that's the call, isn't it? But God somewhat makes it easy. He says, blessed is the man. This is interesting. He says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord.

So what's the difference? The one is the concept. I trust in the Lord. I trust in somebody. I trust in a thing. No, he's saying it's more than that. It's tr. Your trust is the Lord. In other words, it's intimate.

It's your intimate right. God is my trust. God is my trust. Not I trust in the Lord. Distant, but he is my trust. It's intimate, right? It's an intimate trust. Why, he'll be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream. And.

And it will not fear when the heat comes. That's a good picture, isn't it? Why? The heat comes often, but its leaves will be green. Will not be anxious, but be anxious in the year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit. So it's not a distance trust. It's an intimate trust. Distant trust. It's an intimate trust. Intimate in terms of relationship to relationship.

He said, you can. You can trust me because God is with you. And for you. God is with you and for you. Isn't that good? Him not alone. Just be strong, courageous. Do not tremble nor be dismayed. For the Lord, your God is with you.

Yahweh. God, Yahweh is with you. Wherever you go, he's with you. And if God is for us, for us, who can be against us? You who did not spare his own son. So he asked him, if I didn't spare my own son, how will I not also with him freely give you all things? Is there anything he says? Is there anything that I withhold? I already gave my son. So if there's something that he's not giving you, that you believe you need and want and must have to enjoy life, what's the answer? It's not good for you. It's not good for you. John Piper said, I Remember when his son, he was rooting around the kitchen and he looked up there and he pointed to crackers and he said, dad, give me the crackers.

Dad, give me the crackers. He said, I pulled the crackers out and I said, I can't do that. He said, no, give me the crackers. He said, there's fuzz on the crackers. He said, I'll eat the fuzz. See? We'll eat the fuzz, won't we? Give me that thing. There's fuzz on it. I'll eat the fuzz.

But he loves us so much that he doesn't give us crackers with fuzz. So he's with you. For you and beyond all comprehension. God is in you. God. This is mind boggling to me, Lord. You don't want to come and live here. I live here.

In here. I've been in there. Like the world tells you today, go inside and find the answers. I've been inside. There are no answers inside. Not inside of me. Right? Search yourself and find your answer. Search your heart.

I've seen my heart. My heart is deceptively wicked. So he reminds us, God the Father, my Father will love him, right, Will come to him and make our abode within. Think about this. Think about this. The blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality. And he dwells in unapproachable life. That's who the Father is.

Eternal, immortal, invisible. The only God dwells in you. The glory, glory of God dwells in you. What? Christ the Son is in you. Christ in you is the hope of glory. And of course, the Spirit of God as well dwells in you. So God the Father, God the Son, the Holy Spirit, all dwell in you. All dwell in you.

How can I trust him? He's in you. He's with you. He's for you. And he's in you. Scripture says, Selah, whatever you say, mean. Stop. Think. Is that a good truth? Can I trust the one who is with me? Who is for me and who is in me? That's what he's asking.

Was with me. Was for me. Was in me. So flip over. What do we do? For Yahweh is a great God. He's a great king above all gods. In whose hands are what? The depths of the earth. So he says, the depths of the earth and the peaks of the mountains.

Then he says, the sea and all that is in it. Right. He made it. His hand formed the dry land. So he says, the the earth is his. The Valleys and the mountains, the sea and all that's in it, huh? So he says, what should we do? Come, let us. No, no, no. I'm going to explain it, Lord, you just hold on a second.

I want to be able to take a test and answer the questions. And he said, stop. Get on your knees and worship. When you're perplexed, when you're beyond comprehension, right? Get on your knees and just worship Him. Worship Him. Let's kneel before the Lord, our Maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. I know, but this is beyond my. I can't figure this stuff out, Lord.

I can't figure it out. Can't figure it out. So the apostle Paul, the Spirit of God is writing through him. So he writes in Scripture, says, as they were moved by God, they didn't know what they were writing, so they would stop and look at it and think. And then what does Paul say? Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, Unfathomable his ways. Then he says, okay, so who's known the mind of the Lord? Raise your hand if you've known the mind of the Lord. Well, how about his counselor? We said, I opened up a counseling service for God.

I put a sign out, text him, email him. He never calls. He doesn't ask. I have lots of ideas. Never ask. So he says, who's his counselor? Or who is first given to him that it might be paid back? In other words, does God have a. Does God owe you something? He doesn't. And yet, grace upon grace, he's blessed, basically.

Blessed. Amazingly. So he reminds us, by the way, from him and through him and to him are all things. They start with him, they go through him, they end with Him. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He's the author and perfector. So it reminds us what's our. We should worship.

Worship God for His sovereignty and providence. When we looked at last week, was it Psalm 73 where he says, I. I almost became stupid and I was perplexed until I went into the sanctuary of God. When you're. You're overwhelmed by the world and you wonder, really, is God on His throne? Go to him. Go to him. So why trust in God's providence? This is from Heidelberg Confession. So it asks, what's the benefit? That we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity and for what is future, have good confidence.

So patience, gratitude and Confidence. Since no creature, right. Shall separate us from his love. Since all creatures, or so in his hand that without his will they cannot so much as move. So he says we should trust him in all seasons, in times of trouble, for sure, right. Times of trouble. People always say, boy, that's when my faith gets deepest, right? Be gracious to me, oh God, be gracious to me. For my soul takes refuge in you.

And in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until the destruction passes by. And then what should I do? I'll cry to God most High. To God, who accomplishes all things for me. I have to write, I go into worship. And I have to trust you're at work. I don't get it. You're accomplishing all things for me. All things for me.

Why? What will he do? He will. I love this. He will send from heaven. He will send from heaven. You ever get the box from Amazon? Where did it come from? Mike? I'm not My front porch. Where'd that come from? Oh, it's from Amazon. He says, that box, right? His provision comes from heaven. Imagine.

Ding, ding, right? The doorbell goes, what is that? It's a box from heaven. God is sending his provision from heaven. And it shows up right when you need it. Not just 4am to 8am or whatever they do. It shows up when you need it. Sends from heaven to save you. Sends from heaven to save you. And of course, the Lord Jesus in a look ahead in Psalm 22, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Scripture says that he is a faithful high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, he's been tempted in all ways as you have, yet without sin. What's that mean? He's able, right? He's able to come to your aid. There isn't anything that you face. You say, yeah, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why does it seem like God has left me? Lord Jesus would say, I know what that feels like. I know what that feels like. I know what that feels like. Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. Oh, my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer them by night.

But I have no rest. Don't stop crying. That's the point of this, right? Then he says, yet you are holy. Yet he says, yes, I cry. You don't answer. And I remind myself, your character hasn't changed. Your sovereignty and your providence are the same, yet you are holy. Oh, you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

And you, our fathers trusted it to remind ourselves, right? Believers through many years have trusted in you, trusted in you, and you delivered them. So I remind myself to you that cried out and were delivered in you. They trusted and were not disappointed. Times of trouble, easier to do because we come to grips with our inability, right? Our weakness. I can't fix this. Can't fix this, can't fix this. We live in a time when. When even as they think about God, right? The perspective about God is, I'm good, right? Break glass in in case of emergency.

That's when I call upon God. Only when it gets really bad. So for sure do that. But he reminds us also in times of prosperity. Well, why do I need to call upon him then? He says, here's why. He says, you're going to go into the land and beware that you do not forget Yahweh, your God. What do you mean? Otherwise, when you've eaten and are satisfied, you've built good homes, you've lived in them, birds and flocks multiply, you have a great 401k. You depend like you have, right? All that you need, right? You have health, you have money, you have health, you have all that you need.

He says, when that happens, then your heart will become and you will forget. You will forget Lord, your God, who brought you right out of Egypt, out of the house of Savior. Otherwise, you may say, in your heart, you know what? I'm pretty amazing, right? I worked hard for this. I deserve this. I deserve the money, I deserve the time, I deserve the trips. I deserve the stuff. I deserve it. Hey, what the heck? So he says, remember the Lord your God, for it is he who's giving you power to gain wealth.

Giving you power to gain wealth. So, David, the end of his life, as they are building the temple and literally sacrificing to the Lord, right? The gift to the Lord. He says, blessed be the Lord, God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. For thine is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed, everything that is in the heavens and on the earth, everything for that us rule, right? He says, in thy hand is power and might. And it lies in thy hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. So he says, now therefore, God, we thank thee and we praise thy glorious name. In other words, there's nothing I have that hasn't come from his hand. So he says, in prosperity, you will be vulnerable.

Vulnerable, right. To forgetting God. I'm good. Good. So he says, remember, God is sovereign even in your prosperity. He says he Satisfies our years with good things. What does that mean? Don't enjoy them. No, enjoy them.

Be grateful and remind. Remember, they come from his hand. They come from his hand. Then he says, trust God's sovereign love. How many want to be loved? So the one who is immovable, unshakable and unchangeable has set his immovable, unshakable and unchangeable love upon you. Which means it's immovable, unshakable and unchangeable. It doesn't waver. It never changes.

It just is. Always is. So the Apostle Paul says, well, I'm convinced then that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing. What are you convinced of? Will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. He changes not. And God the Father's love changes none. It is immovable, unshakable and unchangeable. So you want, isn't it? Everybody else's love will fail you.

I don't care. It's your spouse, your friend, right, Pastor? Everyone else will fail you at some point in time. How many know that? How many been there? We said. How long you been at the chapel? I don't know, 35, 38. How long, Tim? For you guys, 45 jump. Like 50 years. Long time. Long time.

Right. And then how come you haven't left? Well, you haven't been hurt? No. 4,392 times last year. Of course, it's. We're. We're just a broken group, you know, I said, the reason you don't change is this is God's. This is God's design. It's a local church, right? That.

That. This, what happens here, you'll always be disappointed. But his love never, never wavers, never changes, not one iota. And nothing ever can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. So you trust his sovereign love. I know, but I've seen me. I mean, looked in the mirror and said, I met the enemy and it'd be me, right? At the enemy and it'd be me. How will I endure? He endures to the end.

I mean, all that stuff you think, oh, I've seen me. I've seen me. I've disappointed me over and over and over again, right? Over and over and over again. Lord, I won't do it. I told the Lord when I first came to him, there's no way I'm doing this. I just won't I won't. Then I came across a verse. One thing I've asked.

That I shall seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That means I'm gonna do what I can, but I'm Lord, so I have to trust God to keep you. You have to trust God to. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the path of righteousness for his name sake.

He's not keeping you because you're worthy of keeping. He's keeping you because he's keeping you. His love is upon you because he set his love upon you. I love this right from confident in this very thing. Everybody argues. What does that really mean? What does that really mean? Means what it says. What's the very thing? He who began a good work in you will. He'll perfect it until the day of Christ.

Oh, do I lose my salvation? What about so and so? Oh, he says, I'm confident in this very thing. He's not keeping me because I'm worthy of keeping. He's not keeping me because I deserve it. He's not keeping me because I'm doing the right things. He's keeping me because he's keeping me. I'm in Christ. I'm in his son. He's adopted me.

He's adopted me. That's confusing. At the end of Jude, he says, now, now, here's how to have the right perspective. Now to Tim, who is able. What's he able to do to keep you from stumbling? And not just keep you from stumbling, but to make you stand Where? In the presence of his glory. Blameless, with great joy. If I get to stand in his presence blameless, that's great joy. Because I'm showing up thinking, lord, right, you're up to me.

I'm in trouble. And he said, to the only God, our Savior, Father, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. I love that ending. When before all time, that's before there was anything. And now when time exists and forever, when there ain't no time. Eternity to eternity, right? So trust God to keep you to the end. To the end. So I said, lord, I'm.

I'm. I'm. If you don't keep me, I'm the. I'm going over the hill. I'm going over there. I'm chasing the trinkets. I'm going after the wrong things. That's me.

You don't keep me. I'm. I'm touching, I know, but this is too hard to do, isn't it? No, it's impossible. It's impossible. So what do I do when I'm having trouble trusting it? Which is only when I'm awake, right? Only when I'm awake do I fully trust him. I thought about this. Have you ever laid down and you know you have 10 minutes, so I do, I do like a 15, 20 minute nap in the middle of the day. And there you can lay down in the first.

You're laying down, but you're not fully laying down. You know, you're still. Your body's still that way you have to do some breathing until you can kind of fully relax. So we live more in that state. Never fully relying on him. Right? Fully relying on him. Where I'm trusting completely. Right.

So what do I do? I love this. Immediately, the boy's father cried out and began saying, I do believe. I do believe. Help. I unbelief. It's a great prayer. It's a trust prayer. Lord, I believe.

I do believe. But. But my belief help. My unbelief. Lord is my strength and my shield. What is he? My strength and my shield. My heart. Trust in him and I am helped.

Therefore my heart exalts. And with my song I shall thank him. Lord is my strength. Then he says, I love this. Let me hear your loving kindness in the morning. See, praying at night. In the morning I gotta hear from you. What do I want to hear? It says scripture, says his faithfulness by night.

So remind me that he's been faithful through the day. In the morning. I want to start with your covenant love, your immovable, unshakable and unchangeable love. The love that you set on me. So he says, lord, I want to. He says, I don't. Not just that, I want to know it. What's he say? Let me here.

How will he hear it? That's the difference between trusting in the Lord and my trust is the Lord. This isn't. This isn't an equation. It's not a test. It's not a. To know the answer is. He wants to be the one who speaks his loving kindness to you. He.

He gives you his loving kindness. He says, so come in here. So the answer is run to God. Run to God. When you're having trouble trusting him, run to God. And I think all the helps are good, right? All the helps are good, right? When you have read somebody else's words that They've gotten from the Lord. What are those called? Devotions. Are they helpful? Yes.

Are they this? No. Run to God, directly to God. Speak to him. Don't just read about what he said to someone else. He says to the Lord, let me hear your loving kindness in the morning. I want you to speak it to me, not because he said it to someone else. Everybody see the difference. You see the difference, right? I want to hear it from you, Lord, Why? For I trust in you.

But I gotta hear it when I want to hear it in the morning. How about every morning? Every morning I'm going to hear about your love and kindness. So we run to God. We run to God and we're having trusty. Having trouble trusting him, which I always say is every day. So in your life, how does God's sovereignty and providence make you feel? How does it, how do you feel about his sovereignty and his providence? Think about it. How does that make you feel? Oh, I don't have to think about whether I'm good enough. And I would tweak it to say worry about, but I just think about, right.

To think about whether I'm good enough. Am I good enough? How else does it make you feel? Blessed, Comforted, Secure, Safe. Safe. Well, there's a nice words, aren't they? Comfort, security, safety. How many, how many in the world are looking for comfort, security, safety? Yeah. Joyful, peaceful. He's a good father. Yeah.

And for those of you who didn't have particularly good fathers. He's a great father. He's a great father. All the things that your, your earthly father could not ever be, whether you had a good one or a bad one or in between. Right. You. He. He's a great father.

Yeah. Who else? How it make you feel grateful? I was convicted. I was listening to this lady, she's a doctor and going through all these health problems. Her grandmother is a survivor of a witch oust which. Yeah. Concentration camp. And she said as a result of it, she, she and her mom raised me to be. Be grateful.

And she said, I do happy really well. And I thought, man, I was convicted. I was convicted. She every day she says, look, my grandmother said, every day you have freedom is a blessed day. Every day you're not in chains or, or say, nobody thinks that every day, right. We wake up and say, oh, what, what I don't want to get, you know, my back hurts or so. Gratitude, right? She said, I, I do happy really well. And I thought we should do happy really well.

Right? Should do happy. So I'm Working on it. I'm working on it. So what's your biggest fear? To fully trust God. What's your biggest fear? Suddenly automation knows where your biggest fear. He knows what our biggest fear is. The gracious. Do you? Right.

So when you think about, identify the fear, what's the biggest fear? If I fully trust God, what am I afraid of? Ah, think about that. That he'll turn me away. Will he knows. He knows what you're going to say before you say it. And then it says In Psalm 139, it says, he has as many thoughts to you as the sands upon the seashore. How many grains of sand are there in the world? Watch that. Get my calculator out. That's how many thoughts he has for me.

And I'd say, the Lord, well, I would not want to think about me that much. That's why David says, this is, this is too wonderful for me. Those are the thoughts that God has toward me. Toward me. And so what I want you to do is take your fear to him. Take your fear to him, because chances are you hold it back. You think, oh, Lord, I don't want to say I'm afraid. You know, I'm not afraid.

I. Well, he knows. I always remember whatever is going on in there, he knows. He knows before I come to him. I don't, I don't lay it before him. Because now I'm informing God. Like when he said, david says, search me and know me, right? See if there's, there's a hurtful way in me. What? As if God needs to do that.

Who's he doing it for? For you, right? For him to say, are you afraid of. So when Scripture says, do not be afraid, it's not do not be afraid, it's do not be afraid. Why would you be afraid? He said, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will I not also with him freely give you all things? The eternal, immortal, invisible. God is your Father. Your Father. He has adopted you. He's adopted you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why, he's blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose you in him before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy, blameless, and beyond reproach in love. He predestined you to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the kind intention of his will. The kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed upon you in him. You have redemption, the forgiveness of your sins in Him. You are adopted. He looks at the Son. This is my Son, in whom I'm well pleased. You are now sons of the Most High God.

So write down an insight you have about the sovereignties and the providence of Almighty God. Okay, here's an insight. Always for better that's a great reminder. Always once adopted. Always adopted. I live like he's in control and Mayor A providential and sovereign God. May he bless you, may he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you.

May he lift up his countenance and and grant you his shalom Deep, deep, deep, deep, deep in your soul that you can walk with the confidence and assurance that you are his both now and forever. Amen. Amen. Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and His Son, Jesus Christ. Until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May God bless you and keep you sa.