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God-s-Hands-on-Human-Clay · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: If any one of you were to ask me what
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Speaker 1: my wish for you would be this year, it would
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Speaker 1: be that you and I would learn to rest in
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Speaker 1: our God, a steadfast spirit, with a sense of inner peace,
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Speaker 1: a quiet confidence, knowing that He is at work in us,
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Speaker 1: through us, and around us. That's it. What a great
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Speaker 1: accomplishment that would be if we could come to that place,
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Speaker 1: a perfect rest and trust be great. I want you
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Speaker 1: to put your finger at one part of the scriptures
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Speaker 1: and then turn to another locate Romans chapter eight. Put
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Speaker 1: your face there, and then turned back to Isaiah chapter
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Speaker 1: fifty five. First Romans eight toward the end of that chapter,
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Speaker 1: and then a couple of verses out of Isaiah over
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Speaker 1: in the Old Testament chapter fifty five. I'll read them
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Speaker 1: in that order, and we'll begin the message out of Isaiah,
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Speaker 1: and then we'll turn to Romans to complete our thoughts. Together.
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Speaker 1: We'll speaking today. Don't miss the treasure, and I'll be
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Speaker 1: honest with you, most people do. I did for years,
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Speaker 1: and once I found out there was such a treasure
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Speaker 1: that I could count on, a truth that would go
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Speaker 1: me through my life wherever my life would lead me,
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Speaker 1: it just made it made all the difference in the world.
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Speaker 1: I don't think there's a week that passes that Cynthia
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Speaker 1: and I don't share with each other as a reminder
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Speaker 1: this particular treasure. So today I'll make you acquainted with it,
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Speaker 1: and then well we'll hear it defined and illustrated in
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Speaker 1: the Word of God. Now you have the verses, May
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Speaker 1: we stand together for the reading of the scriptures. I
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Speaker 1: will read first from Romans chapter eight, beginning at verse
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Speaker 1: twenty six, and then we'll look at Isaiah fifty five
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Speaker 1: Romans eight twenty six. And the Holy Spirit helps us
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Speaker 1: in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God
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Speaker 1: wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays
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Speaker 1: for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
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Speaker 1: And the Father, who knows all hearts, knows what the
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Speaker 1: Spirit is saying. For the Spirit pleads for us believers
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Speaker 1: in harmony with God's own will. And we know that
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Speaker 1: God causes everything to work together for the good of
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Speaker 1: those who love God and are called according to His
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Speaker 1: purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance,
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Speaker 1: and he chose them to become like his son, so
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Speaker 1: that his son would be the firstborn among many brothers
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Speaker 1: and sisters, And having chosen them, he called them to
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Speaker 1: come to him. And having called them, he gave them
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Speaker 1: right standing with himself. And having given them right standing,
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Speaker 1: he gave them his glory. And then back to Isaiah
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Speaker 1: fifty five, verse eight. My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,
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Speaker 1: says the Lord. My ways are far beyond anything you
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Speaker 1: could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than
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Speaker 1: the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways,
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Speaker 1: and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The Lord, on
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Speaker 1: this day, the first Sunday of the year, open our
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Speaker 1: eyes to see what he has said, and our hearts
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Speaker 1: to accept what these words mean in our lives. Please
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Speaker 1: be seated. You may have noticed this past week that
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Speaker 1: our longtime friend and respect we did national Evangelists Billy
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Speaker 1: Graham released a prayer for the new year. I saw it,
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Speaker 1: and then more than a few of you sent me
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Speaker 1: a copy of it, thinking I might have missed it,
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Speaker 1: and I thank you for that. Today I would like
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Speaker 1: to use it, with all credit going to doctor Graham,
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Speaker 1: as our prayer before the morning offering. As we bow together,
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Speaker 1: May we consider these words and take them to heart
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Speaker 1: as we call upon our God in prayer. Please bow
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Speaker 1: with me, our Father and our God. As we stand
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Speaker 1: at the beginning of this new year, we confess our
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Speaker 1: need of your presence and your guidance as we face
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Speaker 1: the future. We each have our hopes and expectations for
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Speaker 1: the year that is ahead of us, but you alone
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Speaker 1: know what it holds for us, and only you can
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Speaker 1: give us the strength and the wisdom we will need
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Speaker 1: to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put
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Speaker 1: our hands into your hand, and to trust you, and
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Speaker 1: to seek your will for our lives during this coming year.
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Speaker 1: In the midst of life's uncertainties in the days ahead,
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Speaker 1: assure us of the certainty of your unchanging love. In
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Speaker 1: the midst of life's inevitable disappointments and heartaches. Help us
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Speaker 1: to turn to You for the stability and comfort we
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Speaker 1: will need. In the midst of life's temptations and the
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Speaker 1: pull of our stubborn self. Will help us not to
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Speaker 1: lose our way, but to have the curveage to do
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Speaker 1: what is right in your sight, regardless of the cost.
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Speaker 1: And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits,
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Speaker 1: open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our
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Speaker 1: hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and
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Speaker 1: sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need. May
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Speaker 1: our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmists. Teach me, O, Lord,
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Speaker 1: to follow your decrees, then I will keep them to
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Speaker 1: the end. We pray for our nation and its leaders
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Speaker 1: during these difficult times, and for all those who are
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Speaker 1: seeking to bring peace and justice to our day dangerous
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Speaker 1: and troubled world. We pray especially for your protection on
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Speaker 1: all those who serve in our armed forces, and we
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Speaker 1: thank you for their commitment to defend our freedoms, even
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Speaker 1: at the cost of their own lives. Meet with their
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Speaker 1: families also, and assure them of your love and concern
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Speaker 1: for them. Bring our divided nation together and give us
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Speaker 1: a greater vision of what you would have us to be.
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Speaker 1: Your word reminds us that blessed is the nation whose
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Speaker 1: God is the Lord. As we look back over this
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Speaker 1: past year, we thank you for your goodness to us,
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Speaker 1: far beyond what we would have deserved. May we never
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Speaker 1: presume on your past goodness or forget all your mercies
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Speaker 1: to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance
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Speaker 1: to a new commitment to make you the foundation and
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Speaker 1: the center of our lives this year. And so, our Father,
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Speaker 1: we thank you for the promise and hope of this
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Speaker 1: new year. We look forward to it with expectancy and faith.
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Speaker 1: This I ask in the name of our Lord and Savior,
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Speaker 1: who by his death and resurrection has given us hope
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Speaker 1: both for this world and the world to come. And now,
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Speaker 1: our Father, we ask that you would use these offerings
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Speaker 1: for your purposes and greater glory. They come from hearts
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Speaker 1: overflowing with gratitude and out of hand that have worked,
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Speaker 1: labored earning our living. May these offerings be used wisely
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Speaker 1: and well for the purposes for which they are given.
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Speaker 1: In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray everyone said, Amen,
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Speaker 1: we have arrived at the first Sunday of a brand
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Speaker 1: new year, some three hundred and sixty days stretch out
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Speaker 1: in front of us. What makes it so intriguing is
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Speaker 1: that there is not a person hearing me at this
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Speaker 1: moment who could tell you what one day holds, or
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Speaker 1: what one hour of any one of those days will include.
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Speaker 1: James was correct when he wrote in the book that
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Speaker 1: bears his name in the Bible, you do not know
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Speaker 1: what your life will be like tomorrow. I don't know.
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Speaker 1: You don't know. At the beginning of every new year,
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Speaker 1: I've made it a habit to take my daytimer and
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Speaker 1: to pull from it the previous record of the months
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Speaker 1: that have passed from that previous year, and to place
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Speaker 1: there a whole new set of calendars, monthly calendars that
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Speaker 1: will unfold in the year ahead. It's always interesting to
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Speaker 1: look back. I do know what happened there and then.
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Speaker 1: But as I placed the new months in the little
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Speaker 1: book I carry, I confess to you I'm a right
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Speaker 1: there the birth dates and the anniversaries of those I
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Speaker 1: love and know, and I may be able to lay
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Speaker 1: out some of the events that are planned, but I
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Speaker 1: don't know what a day will include. Specifically. When I
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Speaker 1: look back, I can see days of heartache and disappointment,
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Speaker 1: days of mourning sadness, when death visited someone I loved,
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Speaker 1: or when some illness occurred that had a very bleak future,
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Speaker 1: and I'm able for a few seconds to relive those moments.
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Speaker 1: I can see places where we went and things we
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Speaker 1: did that bring a smile because of the joy the
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Speaker 1: delight of those hours that were spent in the previous year.
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Speaker 1: I anticipate what will come, but I don't. I don't know.
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Speaker 1: I also noticed my birthdate, which is always surprising. I
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Speaker 1: can't be that old. Then I do a quick bit
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Speaker 1: of math, and it's true. And I don't know that
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Speaker 1: I'll live to see my next birthday or you to
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Speaker 1: see yours. We don't know. You know. What I have
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Speaker 1: discovered when I talk with people and i'm around people
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Speaker 1: is that folks often sort of meander through their year.
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Speaker 1: It's not that they're lost, but there's a there's a
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Speaker 1: lack of understanding of a particular truth that can make
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Speaker 1: all the difference in the world in every day we live,
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Speaker 1: every single day. I've discovered that, like a gift, we
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Speaker 1: could get caught up in the wrapping and miss the gift,
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Speaker 1: miss the actual thing that could be seen as a treasure.
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Speaker 1: And I want you to see it as that this
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Speaker 1: year holds for you an opportunity to claim the treasure
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Speaker 1: that you may have walked around or maybe even failed
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Speaker 1: to know was there all this time, as you have
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Speaker 1: been playing around with the trappings or the rappings of
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Speaker 1: the truth itself. I thought of that when I read
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Speaker 1: one of Robbie Zacharias's great insightful books This particular one
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Speaker 1: comes from a book titled Jesus among other Gods. He
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Speaker 1: tells a story that illustrates exactly what I'm getting at.
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Speaker 1: He writes, some years ago, my family and I were
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Speaker 1: visiting the city of Bedford, England, a little west of
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Speaker 1: where we were living in Cambridge. In the heart of
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Speaker 1: Bedford stands a larger than life statue of the famed
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Speaker 1: seventeenth century author John Bunyan. Any reader of literature knows
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Speaker 1: that though Bunyan has long been dead, his brilliant work
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Speaker 1: The Pilgrim's Progress does indeed live on. That book has
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Speaker 1: been translated into more languages than any other book in history,
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Speaker 1: with the exception of the Bible. We wandered through the
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Speaker 1: museum built in his memory, where there was exhibited a
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Speaker 1: copy of the book in every language in which it
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Speaker 1: has been printed. We were quite impressed by the people
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Speaker 1: of various nationalities engrossed in the display, walking from room
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Speaker 1: to room studying the exhibits. As I was leaving, I
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Speaker 1: commented to the woman at the front desk, isn't it
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Speaker 1: amazing that a simple little book, book from the hands
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Speaker 1: of a mender of pots and pans, has won such
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Speaker 1: world acclaim. She paused and said, I suppose that's true,
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Speaker 1: but I must confess I haven't read it. If there
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Speaker 1: hadn't been a hard floor beneath me, I would have
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Speaker 1: voluntarily fainted. Unable to help myself, I asked her why not?
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Speaker 1: I found it too difficult, I suppose, came this very
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Speaker 1: dispassionate reply. If shock were to be measured along a scale,
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Speaker 1: at this point I was nearly off the chart. What
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Speaker 1: does one say to the person who sells tickets to
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Speaker 1: a museum, the existence of which is owed to one book,
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Speaker 1: while she herself has left the work on read. I
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Speaker 1: recommended that, for the sake of your curiosity, if not propriety,
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Speaker 1: she might at least try the children's version, so she
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Speaker 1: could get a mild taste of what the interest was
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Speaker 1: all about. What a remarkable illustration, he adds, What a
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Speaker 1: remarkable illustration of self inflicted poverty. It is possible to
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Speaker 1: hold a treasure in your hand, but be ignorant of
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Speaker 1: it and go for the rapping instead. This proximity to
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Speaker 1: truth and distance from its worth is repeated innumerable times
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Speaker 1: in our lives. In Chesterton's words, we hold the dust
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Speaker 1: and let the gold go free. I'm concerned for you
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Speaker 1: who are not living your life based on this treasure.
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Speaker 1: I'm concerned that this may be your last year and
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Speaker 1: you will have missed the treasure. What is the treasure
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Speaker 1: you're asking? It is the providence of God. It is
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Speaker 1: the providence of God. When you live without it, it
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Speaker 1: is a self inflicted poverty. When you live with it
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Speaker 1: at the front edge of your mind, it will make
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Speaker 1: all the difference in every day of every year from
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Speaker 1: here on out. Because it is a doctrine, we tend
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Speaker 1: to pass it off for theologians to wrestle with, or
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Speaker 1: ministers to talk about, or some teacher of an adult
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Speaker 1: fellowship to mention from time to time. Admittedly, it isn't
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Speaker 1: the term itself, isn't once found in the Bible, you
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Speaker 1: will look in vain to find the word providence in
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Speaker 1: the scriptures. By that term, though, you will see it
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Speaker 1: woven through the fabric of all the Word of God
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Speaker 1: and all of our lives. What is the providence of God?
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Speaker 1: It is God's timely provision for our needs. It is
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Speaker 1: God's purposeful interventions in our lives. Listen carefully. It is
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Speaker 1: his loving watchcare over every moment we live a watchcare
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Speaker 1: that is never absent, carrying out a plan that is
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Speaker 1: never frustrated, for a purpose that will never go unmet.
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Speaker 1: In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, God,
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Speaker 1: the great creator of all things, doth helphold, direct, dispose,
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Speaker 1: and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest
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Speaker 1: even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence.
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Speaker 1: I would add to that the world and our lives
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Speaker 1: are not ruled by chance or by fate, but by God,
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Speaker 1: who sovereignly and providentially carries out his plan and purpose
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Speaker 1: in all situations, all events that transpire on this earth. Yes,
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Speaker 1: all of them, stay with me. God's acts are done
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Speaker 1: in perfect wisdom, first for his glory and then for
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Speaker 1: our good. Not only could his acts not be better
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Speaker 1: better done, a better way to do them could not
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Speaker 1: be imagined. God sees everything in perfect focus, and therefore
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Speaker 1: accomplishes his goal and purposes with flawless precision. He's at work.
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Speaker 1: He's at work every day of your life and mine.
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Speaker 1: His plan is unfolding precisely as He has arranged it,
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Speaker 1: in flawless precision. And to think that people can live
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Speaker 1: their lives unaware of that, no wonder folks feel so
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Speaker 1: empty and struggle so much with things that don't happen
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Speaker 1: as they anticipated, or shake their fists as if they
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Speaker 1: could somehow affect the plan of God Daniel four thirty five.
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Speaker 1: All the inhabitants of the earth are his nothing. Listen
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Speaker 1: to this He does according to his will in the
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Speaker 1: army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. No
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Speaker 1: one can stay his hand or say unto him, what
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Speaker 1: are you doing? Though some try, and in unguarded moments,
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Speaker 1: you and I may slip into that kind of action.
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Speaker 1: But when you embraced the providence of God, you come
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Speaker 1: to realize there is a plan that is above and
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Speaker 1: beyond what I realized at the moment happened to me.
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Speaker 1: When I look back over last year in my daytimer,
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Speaker 1: I saw an event that I'd made a note of,
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Speaker 1: and at the time it happened, I struggled with it.
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Speaker 1: But looking back, even in a few months time, it
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Speaker 1: made sense like I'd never seen it before. Think of
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Speaker 1: what it would mean five years from now when I
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Speaker 1: have that perspective. All of this brings us to the
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Speaker 1: fifty fifth of Isaiah, where the Lord is speaking to
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Speaker 1: his prophet and he's reminding him of something that is
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Speaker 1: easily forgotten. Profound as it is, he puts it in
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Speaker 1: terms we can grasp Isaiah fifty five, verse eight. God says,
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Speaker 1: my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. Let that's say
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Speaker 1: what it says. Let us say what it says. You
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Speaker 1: have thought they are nothing like God's thoughts unless you're
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Speaker 1: thinking God's thoughts after him. My thoughts are not at
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Speaker 1: all like your thoughts. My ways are far beyond your
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Speaker 1: ways or anything you could imagine. As the heavens are
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Speaker 1: higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than
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Speaker 1: your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. This
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Speaker 1: reveals a couple of the reasons we wrestle with God's providence.
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Speaker 1: The first, we tend to focus on the immediate, whereas
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Speaker 1: God focuses on the ultimate. Our world is the here
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Speaker 1: and now. God's plan is overall. It is panoramic. We
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Speaker 1: tend to have a myopiche view of life as it occurs.
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Speaker 1: Some suffering, we're going through, some heartache. We're experiencing some struggle.
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Speaker 1: We're wrestling with, some disappointment, some misunderstanding that has occupied
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Speaker 1: our time and drained our energy. We see it now
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Speaker 1: and we tend not to think in broader terms, because
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Speaker 1: you will see here God's thoughts are nothing like our thoughts.
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Speaker 1: We see things and think about them in this simple
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Speaker 1: way for this moment, and God thinks about them as
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Speaker 1: it affects the overall plan he has in mind. Here's
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Speaker 1: the second reason we wrestle. We forget that our knowledge
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Speaker 1: is limited and his is infinite. We know only a
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Speaker 1: few things and can put it together in our own way.
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Speaker 1: But God knows it all and therefore has a deeper
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Speaker 1: and higher and better plan than we're able to grasp
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Speaker 1: at the moment. I have a good friend who says,
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Speaker 1: when we step into heaven, our first response.
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Speaker 2: Will be oh or maybe oh, so that's what that
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Speaker 2: was about, because then you will know as you are
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Speaker 2: now known.
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Speaker 1: You will realize that's why that occurred. That's why she
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Speaker 1: died when she did, That's why we lost our child.
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Speaker 1: So that's the reason I lost my job. That's the
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Speaker 1: reason we had more children than I thought we would have.
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Speaker 1: We need help with that one, especially at the time
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Speaker 1: we think the quiver's full. We already have too many
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Speaker 1: mouths to feed. And wouldn't you know it, the Lord
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Speaker 1: has other plans. Why his thoughts are greater than our thoughts,
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Speaker 1: his ways. See the difference it will make. And unplanned
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Speaker 1: pregnancy is it an accident? It isn't a surprise to him.
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Speaker 1: He knows exactly what he's about, and it's carried out
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Speaker 1: in perfect precision with his will. Now, with all that
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Speaker 1: in mind, Romans eight will make sense. Perhaps like never before,
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Speaker 1: we don't even know how we should pray. So the
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God comes through our rescue and prays for
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Speaker 1: us as he interprets our groanings, our aches, our sorrows,
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Speaker 1: our sadness, our wrestlings, our struggles, our arguments, and he
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Speaker 1: puts all of that together and brings it before the Father.
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Speaker 1: Because the Father knows our hearts Verse twenty seven. He
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Speaker 1: knows what the spirit is saying for. He's pleading for
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Speaker 1: us in harmony with God's own will. And where does
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Speaker 1: that bring us? It brings us to verse twenty eight.
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Speaker 1: Don't tell me you're familiar with the verse unless you're
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Speaker 1: living according to it. Don't tell me you've heard this
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Speaker 1: before unless it's made a massive difference in the way
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Speaker 1: you live your life. Because here is the treasure talk
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Speaker 1: about something making a difference. It was well over a
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Speaker 1: year ago, our youngest son asked my wife and me
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Speaker 1: to meet him at our home. As he came over
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Speaker 1: with his wife and sat in our bedroom, sat on
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Speaker 1: the footstool. His wife sat on a chair, sitting, and
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Speaker 1: I said, on a little sofa, and he revealed to
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Speaker 1: us that he had testicular cancer. My head swam, my
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Speaker 1: heart broke, all of us in tears as we talked
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Speaker 1: about it. How on earth could that occur? Why on
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Speaker 1: earth would that happen? In good shape, takes good care
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Speaker 1: of himself and this and of all things that disease.
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Speaker 1: And then he went on to describe his plan how
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Speaker 1: he would treat it. And I kind of held on
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Speaker 1: to Cynthia at that moment because he means so much
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Speaker 1: to me, and I struggled with it. And there, as
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Speaker 1: the tears dried, and as he had wiped his face
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Speaker 1: and we had wiped ours, he said, dead, I'm not
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Speaker 1: at all worried, not at all. This is not going
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Speaker 1: to get the best of me. I don't want to
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Speaker 1: get the best of you. And I sat there and
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Speaker 1: I came to terms in a whole new way with
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Speaker 1: Romans eight twenty eight. I could keep you sitting there
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Speaker 1: for another hour, telling you one story after another of
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Speaker 1: events in our lives that at the time they occurred,
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Speaker 1: I wonder, what on earth is this about? And now
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Speaker 1: I look back, and I think I see it's exactly
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Speaker 1: what the Father planned. Because his watch care is filled
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Speaker 1: with love, and because his purpose is being carried out
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Speaker 1: to precision. God doesn't need my assistance, and if I
32:51
Speaker 1: may say it, he doesn't even need me to understand.
32:57
Speaker 1: How could I understand? His thoughts are above mine, his
33:00
Speaker 1: ways are beyond mine. But we are so given to
33:05
Speaker 1: comfort and ease and relief and good health and great
33:13
Speaker 1: plans and delightful days and moments filled with laughter. And
33:19
Speaker 1: no one enjoys that more than I do. I hope
33:21
Speaker 1: you know that. But now, but there's a whole lot
33:24
Speaker 1: of life that is not funny and is not fun
33:28
Speaker 1: and in all of it God is at work. Now
33:34
Speaker 1: with that in mind, I want to take apart that
33:39
Speaker 1: twenty eighth verse so that hopefully it will mean more
33:44
Speaker 1: to you than it does when you just generally read
33:48
Speaker 1: it or quote it. And I hope as you hear
33:55
Speaker 1: these words, you will release your grip on your own thoughts,
34:02
Speaker 1: and you will release your grip on your own way,
34:07
Speaker 1: and you'll be willing to submit to the Father's plan
34:10
Speaker 1: and will and ways, And I will tell you will
34:13
Speaker 1: no a rest like you cannot cannot imagine. I should
34:20
Speaker 1: tell you that the latest news is that our son
34:22
Speaker 1: is free of cancer today. You know I cannot explain it.
34:32
Speaker 1: I can just say, by the grace of God, he
34:36
Speaker 1: worked in ways I could never have described. I would
34:40
Speaker 1: say that if he were dead today and the disease
34:44
Speaker 1: had taken his life otherwise, I don't believe Romans eight
34:50
Speaker 1: twenty eight. It doesn't have to work out as I
34:55
Speaker 1: think it ought to work out, or as I prefer
34:58
Speaker 1: it to work out. I'm not in the center of it,
35:02
Speaker 1: nor are you. Life isn't about you, are me. I
35:07
Speaker 1: was listening to a sports broadcast the other day and
35:11
Speaker 1: two men were sort of sparring with each other verbally,
35:15
Speaker 1: and one of them said to the other one, as
35:18
Speaker 1: he went on and on about his opinion on how
35:21
Speaker 1: this game was going to turn out by the way,
35:23
Speaker 1: he was wrong, but he was giving all of these reasons,
35:27
Speaker 1: all your and the other man said to him, you know,
35:29
Speaker 1: it isn't about you, and the man said, yes, it is.
35:34
Speaker 1: Now the world finally admits it stupid statement as it is.
35:40
Speaker 1: It is not about you were me. We do not
35:45
Speaker 1: wait on tiptoe for you to give us some profound
35:49
Speaker 1: prediction that's going to explain why this has happened. You
35:53
Speaker 1: don't know, You're not God. I think we can think
36:00
Speaker 1: it through best by looking at Romans eighth. As we
36:04
Speaker 1: see the unconditional promise of God in this twenty eighth verse,
36:10
Speaker 1: you can quote it quite likely from memory as I can.
36:15
Speaker 1: But I think you may have missed something that's here
36:19
Speaker 1: that you've not thought about before. So bear with me
36:21
Speaker 1: as I analyze this unconditional promise verse twenty eight. And
36:28
Speaker 1: we know that God causes everything to work together for
36:32
Speaker 1: the good of those who love God and are called
36:36
Speaker 1: according to His purpose for them. I want to highlight
36:41
Speaker 1: four parts of the verse. The first begins with and
36:47
Speaker 1: we know, well what do we know? Look at the verse.
36:55
Speaker 1: Let's start with the promise that is to be claimed
36:58
Speaker 1: and not ignore. And we know k and ow oida
37:06
Speaker 1: is the Greek word it has in mind the idea.
37:09
Speaker 1: We are confident, we are unshakable, we are absolutely sure
37:15
Speaker 1: we know this. He doesn't say we hope we guess
37:20
Speaker 1: today we feel, or we pray, or we've been told.
37:25
Speaker 1: We know it, we know it. I had to claim
37:31
Speaker 1: that that night after our son broke the news to us.
37:34
Speaker 1: That night, as I sank my head in my pillow
37:38
Speaker 1: and able to sleep, I had to claim something that
37:41
Speaker 1: I know. I know it to be true. It is
37:46
Speaker 1: a treasure, and I claim it. Though I cannot explain it,
37:53
Speaker 1: describe it, or for all human purposes defended. I simply
38:00
Speaker 1: know that what I'm about to read is true. So
38:03
Speaker 1: we start with claiming it. It's not chance, it's not
38:08
Speaker 1: blind fate. It is knowing that this connecting link to
38:15
Speaker 1: the will of God is reliable. I count on it.
38:19
Speaker 1: I stand on it. This year. I want to be
38:23
Speaker 1: a better model of it. We know. Look at the
38:29
Speaker 1: next that God causes. The first point was the promise
38:34
Speaker 1: is to be claimed, not ignored, and the second the
38:39
Speaker 1: project is God's not ours. God causes his hope is
38:49
Speaker 1: his plan is to cultivate an inner character within us
38:56
Speaker 1: that makes us more and more like Christ. Later in
39:02
Speaker 1: the passage, he talks about that that we might be
39:05
Speaker 1: conformed to the image of his son. That's the pattern.
39:10
Speaker 1: Let me show you something out of Jeremiah. You were
39:13
Speaker 1: in Isaiah. The next book is Jeremiah turned to chapter eighteen.
39:20
Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen only verses one through six, and I'll come
39:24
Speaker 1: back to romans eight. I want to show you how
39:28
Speaker 1: the plan is really God's, and it isn't it isn't ours.
39:36
Speaker 1: He causes it all to work together. Look at verse
39:39
Speaker 1: one Jeremiah eighteen. The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah.
39:43
Speaker 1: He said, go down to the potter shop and I
39:47
Speaker 1: will speak to you there. So I did as he
39:49
Speaker 1: told me and found the potter working at his wheel.
39:53
Speaker 1: But the jar he was making did not turn out
39:55
Speaker 1: as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a
40:00
Speaker 1: lump of clay again and started over. Then the Lord
40:06
Speaker 1: gave me this message, Oh Israel, can I not do
40:11
Speaker 1: to you as this potter has done to this clay,
40:16
Speaker 1: to his clay. As the clay is in the potter's hands,
40:20
Speaker 1: so are you in my hand. Eugene Peterson writes about
40:28
Speaker 1: that scene in a book titled Run with Horses. Listen
40:35
Speaker 1: to his words. Jeremiah's imagination went to work as he
40:40
Speaker 1: stood before this potter with his lump of clay and
40:44
Speaker 1: his wheel. Jeremiah had seen potters at work all his life.
40:49
Speaker 1: But today he saw something else. He saw God at
40:54
Speaker 1: work making a people for his glory, a people of God,
40:59
Speaker 1: persons created in the image of God, necessary, but not
41:03
Speaker 1: only necessary, each one also beautiful and beautiful, but not
41:09
Speaker 1: only beautiful, each one also necessary. Each human being is
41:14
Speaker 1: an inseparable union of necessity and freedom. There is no
41:20
Speaker 1: human being who is not useful with a part to
41:23
Speaker 1: play in what God is doing. Did you hear that?
41:26
Speaker 1: It's very important truth. There is no human being who
41:31
Speaker 1: is not useful with a part to play in what
41:34
Speaker 1: God is doing. And there is no human being who
41:37
Speaker 1: is not unique, with special lines and colors and forms,
41:41
Speaker 1: distinct from anyone else. All this came clear to Jeremiah
41:46
Speaker 1: in the potter's house, the brute fact of the clay,
41:50
Speaker 1: lumpish and inert, shaped for a purpose by the hands
41:56
Speaker 1: of a potter, and then as it took shape, the
42:01
Speaker 1: realization of the uniquely designed individuality and wide ranging usefulness
42:07
Speaker 1: it would acquire as a finished pot, painted and baked
42:12
Speaker 1: and glazed. God shapes us for his eternal purposes, and
42:18
Speaker 1: he begins right here. Jeremiah continued to observe, what would
42:25
Speaker 1: the potter do now? Kick the wheel and go off
42:30
Speaker 1: in a sulk, throw the clay at the cat, and
42:34
Speaker 1: go to the market and purchase another brand. Neither neither.
42:40
Speaker 1: He reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good
42:45
Speaker 1: to the potter. God needs k n ead. God needs
42:52
Speaker 1: and presses, pushes and pulls. The creative work starts over again, patiently, skillful.
43:00
Speaker 1: God does not give up. God does not throw away
43:04
Speaker 1: what is spoiled. Under a different image, George Herbert saw
43:09
Speaker 1: and said the same thing. Storms are the triumph of
43:13
Speaker 1: his art. You're in the middle of a storm. You're
43:21
Speaker 1: in the middle of God's artwork. The painting isn't finished.
43:30
Speaker 1: You want it to be sunlight. You want the rein
43:32
Speaker 1: to stop. You want the wind to quit blowing. You
43:35
Speaker 1: want the waves to calm down. You want your ship
43:38
Speaker 1: to be there without all of the tossing and turning.
43:41
Speaker 1: You want life to be placid and comfortable and easy.
43:45
Speaker 1: It is not the plan of the potter. Life isn't
43:50
Speaker 1: like that, except it. But know that it isn't out
43:53
Speaker 1: of control. He knows what he's doing. He knows what
44:00
Speaker 1: he's about. Back to Romans eight twenty eight. He causes
44:07
Speaker 1: this to occur. Now the third point I make of
44:10
Speaker 1: the four The plan is total, not partial. All things
44:17
Speaker 1: work together. Few things are more reassuring when in the
44:25
Speaker 1: midst of life's messes than realizing God is causing his
44:30
Speaker 1: plan to unfold. It's his project, it isn't yours, and
44:36
Speaker 1: it's all all working together. Listen to the words of
44:41
Speaker 1: Romans eleven thirty three. Oh, the depth of the riches,
44:45
Speaker 1: both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How
44:49
Speaker 1: unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways? Sounds like Isaiah,
44:56
Speaker 1: doesn't it. You search and you can't find your way
45:00
Speaker 1: through it. You try to plumb the depths and it's
45:04
Speaker 1: and it's bottomless. You you can't figure it out. So
45:10
Speaker 1: what must you do? Trust in the one who has
45:14
Speaker 1: the plan that's unfolding. Rely on him. Don't doubt him,
45:20
Speaker 1: don't question him, don't second guess him. Don't waste your
45:24
Speaker 1: time complaining to him. He is at work in unfathomable ways.
45:34
Speaker 1: Douglas Moo writes, nothing will touch our lives that is
45:39
Speaker 1: not under the control and direction of our loving heavenly Father.
45:43
Speaker 1: Everything we do and say, everything people do to us
45:49
Speaker 1: or say to us, every experience we will ever have,
45:52
Speaker 1: all are sovereignly used by God for our good. We
45:59
Speaker 1: will not always understand how the things we experience work
46:02
Speaker 1: to good, and we certainly will not always enjoy them.
46:06
Speaker 1: But we do know that nothing comes in our lives
46:08
Speaker 1: that God does not allow and use for his purpose
46:12
Speaker 1: and for his beneficent purposes. I've often said nothing touches
46:16
Speaker 1: us that has not first flowed through the fingers of
46:20
Speaker 1: our God. Every bit of it he directs, he permits,
46:27
Speaker 1: he allows, he releases. Can a woman forget her sucking
46:33
Speaker 1: child that she should not have compassion on the sun
46:36
Speaker 1: of her womb, writes Isaiah. Yea, they may forget. I
46:40
Speaker 1: will never forget you. I have inscribed you on the
46:44
Speaker 1: palms of my hands, says God. Your ways are continually
46:48
Speaker 1: before me. How valuable is that truth? That's a treasure.
46:54
Speaker 1: Believe it the night that you get the news that
46:57
Speaker 1: you didn't expect to get. Believe it when the phone
47:00
Speaker 1: rings and carries information that breaks your heart and causes
47:05
Speaker 1: you to grieve. Believe it. Your ways are constantly before me.
47:11
Speaker 1: I know exactly what I'm doing. It's total, it isn't partial.
47:20
Speaker 1: And let me remind you forth the purpose is good.
47:25
Speaker 1: It is not evil. They work together for the good
47:30
Speaker 1: of those who love God and those who are the
47:33
Speaker 1: called according to His purpose for them. It's good, It's
47:39
Speaker 1: never evil. How can I say that, because goodness is
47:44
Speaker 1: one of God's attributes, that he cannot be less than
47:46
Speaker 1: who he is. God's good. He cannot do bad. Oh,
47:54
Speaker 1: bad things happen. From our perspective, bad things occur that
47:58
Speaker 1: we would wish had never occurred. But from God's perspective,
48:02
Speaker 1: it isn't bad. Here's a good plan in mind that's unfolding.
48:07
Speaker 1: You wrestle with that because you still think you're in charge.
48:12
Speaker 1: You think you have a future that's mapped out that
48:14
Speaker 1: is best for you. You don't even know what's best
48:16
Speaker 1: for you. You are in the process of being built
48:20
Speaker 1: into like the clay being built into a vessel. You
48:24
Speaker 1: are being built into a shape and a size and
48:27
Speaker 1: for a purpose that you cannot imagine. You're not yet finished,
48:32
Speaker 1: and God is not finished with shaping you of blood
48:36
Speaker 1: for years. The words of John Oxenham, who wrote them
48:39
Speaker 1: years ago, titled God's handwriting. He writes in characters too
48:47
Speaker 1: grand for our short sight to understand. We catch but
48:53
Speaker 1: broken strokes and try to fathom all the mystery of
48:57
Speaker 1: withered hopes, of death, of life, the endless war, the
49:03
Speaker 1: useless strife. But there there, with larger, clearer sight, we
49:11
Speaker 1: shall see this. His way was right. I love it.
49:20
Speaker 1: I love that we shall see this. His way was right.
49:33
Speaker 1: But we want it easy, we want it simple, we
49:40
Speaker 1: want everybody to live happily ever after. That's a fairy tale.
49:50
Speaker 1: I don't know of a better example of this than
49:52
Speaker 1: the man named Joseph. Remember Joseph mistreated, he misunderstood by
50:01
Speaker 1: his brothers, left to die, and then they found it
50:06
Speaker 1: decide they would sell him to a group of strangers
50:10
Speaker 1: who were leading a caravan into Egypt. For a small
50:14
Speaker 1: amount of money. They sell their brother off and he
50:18
Speaker 1: winds up a slave in Egypt. Imagine this. He doesn't
50:23
Speaker 1: know the language, he doesn't know the culture. He isn't
50:27
Speaker 1: yet twenty years old. He's inexperience. He's away from his home,
50:33
Speaker 1: the father that loves him, and the father he loves.
50:37
Speaker 1: And while there he is, he is bought by a
50:41
Speaker 1: man who's never met before named Potiphar, and by and
50:47
Speaker 1: by he becomes Potiphar's house servant and ultimately a trusted
50:52
Speaker 1: slave in the house. And while in that responsible position.
50:59
Speaker 1: He grew in Potiphar's eyes as a man he can trust,
51:04
Speaker 1: and soon he's over all that Potiphar owns and everything
51:09
Speaker 1: under his roof. And then along comes Potiphar's wife who
51:13
Speaker 1: tries to seduce him, and when he doesn't fall for it,
51:18
Speaker 1: she screams rape and Potiphar hears of this and puts
51:23
Speaker 1: him in prison. He doesn't deserve that, he doesn't he
51:28
Speaker 1: has done nothing wrong related to Potiphar's wife. And there
51:33
Speaker 1: is in prison for the two years and more, forgotten, overlooked,
51:39
Speaker 1: and ultimately, through a series of events, he is released
51:44
Speaker 1: and by God's grace, he is promoted to a place
51:49
Speaker 1: of great responsibility and authority. Ultimately he is there when
51:56
Speaker 1: a famine comes across that region and reaches over even
52:01
Speaker 1: into the land of Canaan, where those brothers that sold
52:05
Speaker 1: him into slavery you're living along with their father. Long
52:09
Speaker 1: story short. They ultimately come and they need they need food,
52:15
Speaker 1: and he's responsible for the dispensing of food. Remember Joseph
52:20
Speaker 1: and the brothers, and this is his moment. They don't
52:24
Speaker 1: know who he is, but he knows who they are.
52:27
Speaker 1: It's a great scene. I mean, there's ever a hint
52:32
Speaker 1: of revenge that's going on in a man's life. Joseph
52:36
Speaker 1: has every right to go there, but he doesn't go there. Ultimately,
52:42
Speaker 1: he calls his brothers close to him, sends everybody else
52:45
Speaker 1: out of the room, and says to them, I am
52:48
Speaker 1: your brother. I'm the one that you sold into slavery.
52:55
Speaker 1: And you can imagine the brothers put yourself in their sandals.
53:01
Speaker 1: They're looking at the man. At all he's got to
53:03
Speaker 1: do is that and their history. But he doesn't do that.
53:09
Speaker 1: In fact, he calms their fears. And in the last
53:13
Speaker 1: chapter of the first Book of the Bible, there appears
53:18
Speaker 1: this magnificent statement that I've turned to many times in
53:22
Speaker 1: many years of my life Genesis fifty, verses nineteen and twenty.
53:28
Speaker 1: Joseph replied, don't be afraid of me, am I God
53:33
Speaker 1: that I can punish you. You intended to harm me,
53:37
Speaker 1: but God intended at all for good. He brought me
53:43
Speaker 1: to this position so I could save the lives of
53:47
Speaker 1: many people. Don't be afraid. I will continue to take
53:51
Speaker 1: care of you and your children. A perfect illustration of
53:58
Speaker 1: claiming the truth that we have been looking at. It
54:01
Speaker 1: is the practical application of God's Providence. I didn't deserve
54:08
Speaker 1: what happened to me. You had no right to do
54:11
Speaker 1: to me what you did. The claim that was made
54:15
Speaker 1: by Potiphar's wife was inaccurate and unfair. My time in
54:20
Speaker 1: prison should have, humanly speaking, should not have occurred. But
54:25
Speaker 1: through it all God has worked out a purpose and
54:29
Speaker 1: a plan. That's his providence, where ultimately I have emerged
54:35
Speaker 1: to this place where I am able to save your
54:38
Speaker 1: life and the lives of many others, Providence made practical.
54:46
Speaker 1: There's an unfolding process that is leading to what Paul
54:51
Speaker 1: writes in this passage of the Complete Work of God
54:57
Speaker 1: twenty nine. God knew his people and advance. He chose
55:02
Speaker 1: him to become like his son. Look at that, so
55:07
Speaker 1: that his son would be the firstborn among many brothers
55:10
Speaker 1: and sisters. Having chosen them, he called him to come
55:13
Speaker 1: to him. Having called him, he gave them right standing
55:15
Speaker 1: with himself. Having given them right standing, he gave him
55:19
Speaker 1: his glory. I'm not nearly as concerned about a person
55:23
Speaker 1: at the front desk who has never read Bunyan's book
55:27
Speaker 1: at that museum as I am about you, who occupy
55:32
Speaker 1: a place in this worship center today, who missed the treasure,
55:40
Speaker 1: because you're sidetracked by the rappings. You're grabbing for the
55:45
Speaker 1: dust rather than the gold. Listen to the words of Job.
55:51
Speaker 1: He knows the way that I take. Listen to this
55:55
Speaker 1: He God knows the way that I take. When He
55:57
Speaker 1: has tried me, I shall come forth as gold old.
56:00
Speaker 1: My foot has held his steps his way. Have I
56:03
Speaker 1: kept him, not declined? Neither have I turned back from
56:05
Speaker 1: the command of his lips. I have valued. I've esteemed
56:09
Speaker 1: the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
56:14
Speaker 1: I want it more than I want my lunch or
56:16
Speaker 1: my supper. I want his will more than I want
56:20
Speaker 1: anything I consume that I enjoy to eat more than
56:25
Speaker 1: my necessary food. That's, by the way, Job twenty three
56:29
Speaker 1: ten through twelve, that you need to memorize. Job twenty
56:34
Speaker 1: three ten through twelve will set you sailing into this
56:38
Speaker 1: new year like you've never sailed through a year. Storms
56:42
Speaker 1: not excluded. You get to the end of this chapter,
56:49
Speaker 1: you're standing there with your hands in the air, giving
56:53
Speaker 1: praise to God. I'm convinced nothing can ever separate us
56:58
Speaker 1: from God's love. And he names them neither death. Did
57:01
Speaker 1: you hear that first one? The death that occurred didn't
57:05
Speaker 1: separate you from God's love. He loves you too much
57:09
Speaker 1: to do anything as bad for you. Neither death nor life,
57:13
Speaker 1: nor angels, nor demons, nor nor our fears for today
57:17
Speaker 1: are our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of
57:20
Speaker 1: hell can separate us from God's love. No power in
57:23
Speaker 1: the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing
57:26
Speaker 1: in all creation will ever be able to separate us
57:29
Speaker 1: from the love of God that is revealed in Christ
57:31
Speaker 1: Jesus our Lord. And that's why doctrine is so important.
57:35
Speaker 1: That's what you stand on when the bottom drops out
57:38
Speaker 1: of your life. Nobody ever put it better than Donald
57:42
Speaker 1: Gray Barnhouse, the late Doctor Barnhouse wrote, there is no
57:47
Speaker 1: will or act of creatures, men, angels, or demons that
57:52
Speaker 1: can do other than work for our good. No dog
57:56
Speaker 1: can bark against us, No man or woman can speak
58:00
Speaker 1: or act against us. No sinister power of evil can
58:06
Speaker 1: be against us. But all must be for our good.
58:09
Speaker 1: There is no phenomenon of nature fire, flood, storm, earthquake
58:16
Speaker 1: that can work us ultimate ill. The law of gravity
58:20
Speaker 1: cannot trip us up or cause anything to fall upon
58:23
Speaker 1: us unless it has first been sifted through the will
58:26
Speaker 1: of God's purpose for our good. Every experience of our
58:31
Speaker 1: individual circumstances, whether temptations or whatever, concerns us, humbles us
58:37
Speaker 1: and forces us to rely on Him who alone can
58:40
Speaker 1: satisfy all things work together for our good. Otherwise the
58:46
Speaker 1: Lord would not permit them. I would say that's a
58:50
Speaker 1: rather complete explanation of what we just read at the
58:53
Speaker 1: end of Roman say. Our problem is we miss the
58:59
Speaker 1: treasure by not remembering that God is at work in
59:04
Speaker 1: us and through us. And you will spend your life blaming,
59:10
Speaker 1: feeling sorry for wanting to call a halt in life
59:15
Speaker 1: itself because you cannot justify what's occurring. You cannot find
59:21
Speaker 1: a human goodness or reason for us. So my answer
59:24
Speaker 1: is stop looking for it, stop thinking that it will
59:28
Speaker 1: make some kind of human sense. I want to say
59:32
Speaker 1: something that may be surprise you. God is not logical.
59:36
Speaker 1: That's row your curve right there. We want things logical.
59:40
Speaker 1: We want one and two to equal three, we want
59:44
Speaker 1: two and four to equal six. But in God's math
59:47
Speaker 1: it equals twenty eight or twelve, and it doesn't work
59:53
Speaker 1: out like we think it should. Because His ways are
59:57
Speaker 1: higher than our ways, and his purposes are beyond our own.
1:00:03
Speaker 1: That's what I have for you this new year. That's
1:00:05
Speaker 1: my hope for you, that you will be one of
1:00:08
Speaker 1: these unusual individuals who will claim over and over again.
1:00:12
Speaker 1: God's providential work is going on. Though it isn't what
1:00:17
Speaker 1: I expected for this year as it unfolded, it is
1:00:21
Speaker 1: exactly what God planned and I accept it from Him.
1:00:25
Speaker 1: And my ultimate goal is to be conformed to the
1:00:28
Speaker 1: image of Christ. And if this is part of it,
1:00:31
Speaker 1: as indeed it is, I accept it, and I don't
1:00:34
Speaker 1: argue with it. I don't fight with it. You would
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Speaker 1: do a lot of you, a lot of good to
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Speaker 1: learn the meaning of the words I don't know. Just
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Speaker 1: start there. I don't care how many degrees you have.
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Speaker 1: Everyone on pushes you further away from those words unless
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Speaker 1: you have a heart humble before your let's a bow together.
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Speaker 1: One of the secrets of living the Christian life as
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Speaker 1: God designed for us to live it is that we
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Speaker 1: take him seriously. We take him seriously. I plead with you,
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Speaker 1: take this seriously. The cross that hangs behind me here
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Speaker 1: is a symbol of one who was willing to trust
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Speaker 1: his father to come and live among us and die
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Speaker 1: for us. He took that calling seriously. The result was
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Speaker 1: billions of transform life lives in the centuries that followed.
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Speaker 1: Take him seriously. If you've never trusted in the Lord Jesus,
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Speaker 1: that's the place to begin. No wonder life has been
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Speaker 1: confusing for you. He has been working to bring you
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Speaker 1: to the end of yourself that you might find your
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Speaker 1: purpose and reason for existence in him. Trust him now,
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Speaker 1: our Father. We pray that our thoughts will be deeper
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Speaker 1: than they normally are, and our spirit will be calm.
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Speaker 1: But the realization that you are at work and your
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Speaker 1: plan is unfolding, and we are the recipients of your
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Speaker 1: good work. Quiet our fears, Calm our anxieties as we
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Speaker 1: on the cusp of this year, anticipate the months as
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Speaker 1: they unfold for your greater glory. Make this time meaningful, purposeful,
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Speaker 1: deep in our lives. As we sit quietly before you,
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Speaker 1: may we be reminded of the truth over and over again,
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Speaker 1: whatever the year may include, I pray in the name
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. Amen. The preceding message, God's Hands on Human
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Speaker 1: Clay and the sound recording were copyrighted in twenty fourteen
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Speaker 1: by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.