Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 347 | Hope in God’s Sovereignty and Love

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347 | Hope in God’s Sovereignty and Love · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living her life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries, Part 5 of a series discovering
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  the hope that is found in the Bible, we are going to learn to find hope in God's
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  sovereignty and His love.
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  Join us as Kim takes us on a journey through God's Word, revealing the hope the Scriptures give.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries
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  as we continue to walk through the Scriptures, discovering hope that we find in them.
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  From Genesis to Revelations, we see the greatest love letter ever written,
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  And we watch God be completely revealed to us through his son, Jesus Christ.
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  And because we can know Jesus personally, we can also know the Father.
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  And because Jesus went away, he left the comforter to teach us and to lead us and to guide us.
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  So we have full access to God through Jesus the Son and through the Holy Spirit
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  that dwells inside of us.
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  And we are connected, assimilated to, and associated with the entire Trinity.
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  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
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  All three in one. All with distinct personalities,
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  distinct roles, and all the same power, glory, and honor we should be given them forever and ever.
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  As we begin to look in this particular part of our series, we are looking in
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  hope that we find in God's sovereignty and love.
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  And we are going to be looking at Psalm 33.
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  And so I want to read this psalm in its entirety in your hearing.
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  Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely. for the upright.
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  Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright.
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  That means praise is right.
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  Praise is natural for those who are following after him, because when you are
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  walking closely with the Lord, you can't help but see his goodness and his greatness.
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  Verse 2 says, Praise the Lord with harp, sing unto him with psaltery,
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  and an instrument of ten strings.
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  Sing unto him a new song. Play skillfully with a loud noise.
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  And then verse 4 says this, For the word of the Lord is right,
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  and all his works are done in truth.
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  Psalms 33.4 dovetails perfectly into Romans 8.28.
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  Romans 8.28 assures every believer that all things work together for the good
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  to them that love the Lord, to them that are called according to his purpose.
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  All things in our life are to bring him glory and honor and are used to mold
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  us and make us into what he'd have us to be.
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  This unity between Psalm 33 and Romans 8.28 should give you great great joy
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  because they're written hundreds of years apart,
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  yet they are in sync.
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  We see so often in the Old Testament that the role and the promises of Jesus
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  are prophesied in the Old Testament and they come true in the New Testament.
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  But let me tell you, Jesus quoted the Old Testament Mint.
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  The Old Testament is still relevant today, and many of its truths are repeated
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  either exactly or in some other way in the New Testament.
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  There is no division of word or authenticity between the Old and the New Testament,
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  and when we read it, that should give us hope.
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  It tells us about the plan he
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  has for us to prosper us and to give us an expected end in Jeremiah 29 11.
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  It tells us that he is the potter and we are the clay and he doesn't throw the clay away.
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  When we look at Psalm 33, we understand that the word of the Lord is right.
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  What he says for us to do is the right thing to do. It's the best thing for us.
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  It's what's going to allow us to live the life he intended for us to live.
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  It's what's going to give us the abundant life he promises in John 10, 10.
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  In verse five, he says, he loveth righteousness and judgment.
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  The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
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  By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth.
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  He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap. He layeth up the depth and storehouses.
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  Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in all of him.
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  Let's pause for a moment at this concept that we're being told by the Psalmist
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  David as he's telling us in Psalm 33 that God is to be praised for his goodness
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  and his power and he tells us what he's done.
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  He tells us that the entire earth is filled with the goodness of the Lord.
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  He tells us that he is a good God and a powerful God.
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  He tells us that by the word of the Lord, by the spoken word of the Lord, the heavens were made.
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  He tells us how he gathers the waters of the sea and how he lays things up in storehouses.
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  He tells us that we should stand in awe. all. The more you know about God,
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  the more you should be in all of him.
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  The more you know about God, the more you should want to be like him.
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  And the more you should want to draw closer to him. And the closer you draw
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  to him, the more amazed you're going to be at this amazingly wonderful,
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  powerful God who loved you so much that he sent his son, Jesus,
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  who loves you so much that he died on the cross of Calvary to wash away your
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  sins, paying a sin debt for you that he never ever owed or never would owe.
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  But he loves you so much.
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  This should make you stand in
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  all. But I'm afraid we're complacent when we walk into the house of God.
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  Some of us call it just another building. And I get that it has walls and was built by man.
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  But it's the place we dedicate for serving the Lord. It's not the only place we serve the Lord.
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  But it's a place we go with with like-minded people.
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  It's where his people gathered together like a big family reunion every service.
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  Testifying to the goodness and greatness of God.
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  We pick up in verse 9 where he says, for he spake and it was done.
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  Do you remember in the New Testament, we're told that even the winds and the
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  waves obey the voice of Jesus.
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  We know that the world was spoken into existence, and when he said it, it was done.
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  That's how sure the God is that you're placing your hope and trust in.
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  It says in verse 9, For he spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast.
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  The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to naught, and he maketh the devices
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  of the people of none effect.
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  The counsel of the Lord standeth forever the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
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  Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen
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  for his own inheritance.
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  The Lord looketh from heaven, he beholdeth all the sons of men.
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  For the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
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  He fashioneth in their hearts alike.
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  He considereth all their works. There is no king saved by the multitude of a
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  host. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
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  A horse is a vain thing for safety.
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  Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
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  Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope
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  in his mercy, to deliver their soul from the death and to keep them alive in famine.
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  Our soul waiteth for the Lord. Lord, he is our help and our shield.
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  For our hearts shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name.
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  Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee.
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  Hope has a name, and his name is Jesus. And the Lord says that when we hope
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  in God the Father and God the Son and adhere to what the Holy Spirit is teaching us,
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  that we'll have mercy.
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  But it's mercy according to the hope. If you're hoping in yourself,
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  if you're hoping in your education,
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  if you're hoping in your status, if you're hoping in your wealth,
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  if you're hoping in your bank account,
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  if you're hoping in your friends, if you're hoping on anything or in anything
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  other than Jesus Christ and his righteousness,
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  you will never have hope or deliverance when it counts, because that's only found in the Lord.
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  Throughout all the history of Israel. God provided many examples to remind them
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  not to put their trust in their military power, not to put their trust in anything but to trust in God.
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  When they were leaving Egypt during the Exodus, God parted the Red Sea.
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  It wasn't Moses. It wasn't the staff.
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  It wasn't the rod. It wasn't anybody in the camp. It was the Lord God Almighty.
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  And we read about that in Exodus 14 When Gideon attacked the Midianite troops,
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  he succeeded with only 300 men that God had selected.
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  We read about that in Judges 7. God alone is worthy of our hope and trust. He is the creator.
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  Not only do we have that in Genesis, but he says that, as I read in your hearing, in Psalms 33, 6-9.
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  The world exists. It exists.
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  Because of God. No one, no global military power, no corporation can claim that truth.
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  Only Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Trinity are the truth,
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  and only they have the power,
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  and all three of them together create the God we serve through the Son who saved us.
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  And the Holy Spirit it teaches us.
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  God spoke the world into existence. God created it.
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  If this shakes your world because you have some other scientific worldview, so be it.
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  I'm a trained scientist, but all that did was reinforce the goodness and greatness of God.
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  I don't try to approve the Bible by science because science only exists because
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  of who God is and because he allows it.
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  So you never prove anything by an inferior source.
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  Science can be proved by God, but science isn't on the same plane for who God is.
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  Creation was spoken into existence.
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  In Psalms 33 15, he says this, he fashioneth their hearts alike,
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  considers all their works.
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  Brilliant people may think their good fortune is attributed to themselves.
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  Wealthy may think that their shrewd money management brought them all of their wealth.
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  And God has allowed many people whatever success they enjoy for his purposes
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  and his reasons, but God has given it to you.
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  You may be abundantly wealthy in financial gains.
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  And bless the Lord, you are. You may be abundantly wealthy in amazing talents and skills.
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  You may be brilliant according to these world's standards.
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  But all of that is because of the blessing and the gifts that God has given you.
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  You, my friends, are blessed by God, but you didn't create any of that.
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  And when we allow him to manage the gifts he's given, when we give his gifts
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  back to him and he really lays his blessing upon it, then we can do great and
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  mighty things through him who strengthens us.
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  But don't ever lose sight of the fact that it is It's him who gives us the victory.
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  It's him who allows us the blessings.
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  Only true hope, the hope that lasts, the hope that is real, the one that we can...
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  Be confident in only that is found in acknowledging the Lord as the sovereign
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  creator whose love never fails.
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  In verse 33, 18, he says, Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear
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  him, upon them that hope in his mercy.
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  The Lord never sleeps or slumbers. He's watching you to and fro.
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  This hope allows us to rejoice while we're waiting on God to do it.
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  In Psalms 46, 10, he says, Be still and know that thou art God.
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  You know how we do that? Because we have a hope that can't fail.
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  We have a faith that is sure. We are confident in God's ability and his love
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  for us, and we know that we are safe in his hands.
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  And so while we're waiting for him to act on our behalf, we know that he is already doing it.
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  We know that he's making a way where there is no way.
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  We know that he wants only good things from them that walk uprightly.
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  We know that he loves us and that he loved us enough to die for us.
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  And we understand with full assurance that we are safe in the arms of God.
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  So we can rejoice while we wait for him to act on our behalf,
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  because we know he's doing something, even if we can't see it.
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  Understanding and acknowledging Lord as the sovereign creator whose love never fails.
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  It It also allows our hearts to be filled with joy because we trust in his holy,
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  faithful, loving character.
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  But, you know, we've spent our time in this series and we have laid upon the verse Romans 15, 13.
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  It says, now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that
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  you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
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  We are laying all of our truth upon that foundational truth and the God of hope will fill you.
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  But you need to know and discover through the scriptures what God says about
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  who he is, what God says about what he'll do.
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  You've got to trust a divine sovereign God who loves you and cares for you and
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  protects you and walks with you and who will never leave you,
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  but you need to know who he is.
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  You need to follow what he says.
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  The more you know him, the more you love him, And the more you'll have joy because
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  you will trust him greater. You will know he's faithful.
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  You will understand who he is. And in Psalms 33, 22, he says,
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  Let the mercy, O Lord, let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
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  We have hope because he never fails.
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  Ephesians 3, 20 says, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
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  all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.
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  That's the same situation here. If we are the conduit through which we allow
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  him to flow, we'll have the power that spoke the world into existence.
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  We have the faith to believe as a mustard seed. We can say to this mountain, move and it'll go.
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  And when we understand who he is, when we trust in his faithfulness,
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  when we look to him for our our guidance, and our strength.
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  When we acknowledge that all that we are and all that we have and all that we
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  will ever be is because of who he is and how we allow him.
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  To live and work and operate and maneuver and be in us.
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  It is then that we will know the hope of who he is, not just for today, but for tomorrow.
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  And his hope is steadfast and sure.
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  And his mercy will fall on us in buckets of grace, because he'll never fail us.
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  You can believe what he says, and you can know he will do it.
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  Take an assessment of your life and really look and see if you are trusting
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  in him or you're trusting in yourself.
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  Are you acknowledging the Holy Spirit who's guiding you and leading you and
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  giving the Lord praise for his blessings that are flowing over us in our lives?
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  Oh, friend, tonight, today, tomorrow, at this moment, praise him for his unfailing
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  love and his incredible sovereignty.
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  Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  our Heavenly Father, and it is through your loving and generous support that
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  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
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  Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.
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  Music.