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Transcript

The God Who Knows · The Grove Church

• 0:01
  Charlie Loften: Hello, and welcome to The Grove Church podcast. I'm Charlie Loften, the lead pastor there, and we are so glad that you're joining us. Whether you are a member and you're just catching up on a sermon that you missed or you're someone who's brand new, we are really glad that you are joining us. And if you are new in some way, and I know that a lot of people will do that, we'll listen to sermons first before they visit. I want you to know that we would love to meet you at any point.
• 0:25
  You can join us live in our services on Sunday, nine and 10:30, or our streaming service at 10:30. Either way, we would love to be able to get to know you. And regardless of why you are here listening to this sermon today, thank you so much for joining us.
• 0:41
  Mark: I like the title, above above the noise. I'm sure there's a lot of noise out there. Right? It's it's where where we wanna live. Hey.
• 0:48
  Hey. Good morning. My name is Mark, and, excited to be, together with you. I know on, if you haven't been around much, maybe you haven't had a day like this yet, but Charlie, our lead pastor, he'll... If the hogs have a big day, he'll wear the red pants.
• 1:02
  Right? If we had a reason to do that today, I don't own any red pants, which would be problematic, but the Springdale bulls. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Sixth grade team.
• 1:14
  Yeah, baby. Yeah. Yeah. Yesterday, we got us a big win. We've had a tough season.
• 1:23
  Best way to... I've been I've been helping coach these guys for a while, and we got a little small issue with most of our guys just haven't grown. They just don't grow. They were pipsqueaks in third grade, and they they weigh the exact same amount now. And these are kids that are playing our our key positions.
• 1:40
  And so it's it's been a rough season, and we had really walking into yesterday kinda zero hopes to make it to the to the playoffs. And the team we played yesterday has had our number the last few years. And let's just say their kids, I don't know what they're eating over there, but they're a lot bigger than us. Manny went down right to the end of the game, in the past to the corner of the end zone, caught, two point conversion. You'll see it on SportsCenter tomorrow, I promise.
• 2:09
  It's gotta be a top 10. It was really sweet. I I had to step away for a minute because my heart rate was too high. Just just take some deep breaths. Isn't it sweet to see the the underdog win?
• 2:24
  Ain't there just isn't there just something about us when the one that's not expected? You know, I'll get asked sometimes, like, who's my pro team? Or who's my college team? Or who do I want to win in this? And usually, it's just the one that's behind or the one that's the odds are against them.
• 2:40
  There's core in me for sure, and I think core in us. Actually, I think it's core in that we're made in the image of God, because if you read the Bible much, you'll see story after story after story of God showing up big in these situations where it looks like this is the one that's gonna lose or should lose or it doesn't make any sense. You know? Rocky, even though Stallone was a genius on the highest levels, Rocky, he didn't start there. He wasn't the first underdog.
• 3:14
  Right? They even mention it in the story when several times when he's in different ing matches, they'll they'll mention this is a David and Goliath moment. Because in God's word, we see these pictures of the one that you didn't expect is the one that God shows his favor on and shows his power. He moves in these different situations. The Gideons, all these all these different stories.
• 3:37
  We're gonna look at at a few today. And why does God do that? Well, if if if he just supported the one who was expected to win anyway, everybody would just go, yeah, that's the way it's supposed to go down. But when God steps into these different situations and and these miraculous things happen that you have to give credit to... Only to God because there's no possible way it could have happened otherwise, And he flexes his muscles.
• 4:03
  Everybody has to stop and go, oh, their God is the true God. You know, toppling empires like like what happened in the Exodus story with with with Pharaoh. I mean, the the the impossible things, and he shows off who he really is. So I do. I really love these stories.
• 4:24
  One of one of my favorites from from my life, back in high school, my... I played a little golf, and me and my dad would play sometimes. And one day, we're out at the golf course, and there's this other guy playing who would often play out there, and we decided to play together with him, me and my dad, to scramble and go against him because he was pretty sure he could take us both. The whole time we were driving around the course, this was the most affluent guy, the wealthiest guy in our small town, and he had just purchased him this golf cart. And let's just say it's the best golf cart that money could buy at that time, and it looked like it, and and he knew it.
• 5:03
  And so the whole time we were playing, it was... Was as much about the golf cart as he was about his game and how fast it was and how it did all these fancy things and all of that. So so we get around to to the end of the match, and it's been... It's it's about to be dark. You can hardly even see a ball.
• 5:20
  And so I just look over at him, and I'm like, tell you what, we're tied up. Instead of playing this last hole, let's just line them up. We'll line up our golf cart against your golf cart. We'll take straight down this fairway. We'll we'll go around the the green, and we'll come back.
• 5:33
  And the one that makes it back to the tee box, that's the winner of the day. And, of course, he's like, alright. Yeah. Let's let's let's do this. And so we we lined them up, and we took off What he didn't know is that old, used golf cart my dad had picked up on the side of the road somewhere in Texas, the guy who had done the work on it, he had removed all the governors, he'd done some modifications, and me and my dad both knew that this thing ran like a scalded dog.
• 6:08
  So we take off, and I even give him a little bit of head start, and then I hit the gas, and we just pass him. We get down to the green. We turn around. He's halfway, and he turns around halfway, thinking he's gonna beat us back halfway. But no, that's not gonna happen.
• 6:23
  I pass him even though he was going halfway. I... He turned around, and I still passed him and beat him back to the tee box and just said, sorry. Oh, that's so sweet. I I will never forget that moment.
• 6:37
  Something something godly about it. Right? God was present. God was present in that moment. But doesn't it seem like, normally, it's the rule of the jungle out there?
• 6:51
  Right? The... Those who have seem to only get more. Those who are in power take advantage of of the weak. And so it's easy for us to to look around and to ask the question, but but where is he?
• 7:08
  Will the underdog ever win? Will the will the tables ever turn? But when we see it, we really like it. You know, any movie that's like this, right, even even Wonka and his Chocolate Factory. Right?
• 7:22
  I mean, what's beautiful about that story is you got you got this 12 year old paper boy from a poor family. He... He's the one that gets the ticket, and then all the other kids, this snotty brats, right, that all, you know, found their way to get there. And what would happen? How horrible would the story be if one of those snotty brats ends up winning at the end of the day?
• 7:43
  No. We wouldn't be talking about it today. No. It's because it's because Charlie is the one, and the whole system is set up by Wong F that Charlie is the one that wins, and the tables the tables gets turned. There's just there's just something beautiful about it.
• 7:56
  And we see it happen here in this story of Samuel. We talked about it a little bit already last week. We've got this guy, Elkanah, and he's got two wives. Quick recap here. One of them was Fertile Myrtle.
• 8:11
  She had lots sons and daughters. And then there's Hannah, who had none. And of course, this created some tension between the two of them. In chapter one, it specifically calls the other wife Hannah's rival. It says that this woman would provoke Hannah grievously.
• 8:36
  It says that the testing or the teasing about her lack of children was just relentless to the point that Hannah became depressed to the point of starving herself. And then it says that Hannah pours out her soul. She is in this in this hopeless situation, and she pours out her soul. She believes that God can intervene. And guess what?
• 9:10
  It says, the Lord remembered her, and she bore a son and and named him Samuel. So a few huge things there. One, there was enough faith and hope in Hannah's heart and in this situation that seemed impossible to pour out her soul. That's not your normal prayer. Poured out her soul to God, and he remembered her.
• 9:36
  This this idea of God remembering and moving, it comes up a lot. That word is used a lot, and it it might be tempted or you might be tempted. I know I have at times to feel like, well, alright, so he remembered. So that almost seems like God was absent or he had forgotten. He was a forgetful God.
• 9:54
  He kinda forgotten what was going on, and then somehow he remembered. I don't think that's... When we see that, I don't think that is at all what's going on. You know, I I've got four kiddos, and despite my daughter's desire to be the favorite, all have an equal place in my heart. All all really have my attention at all times, although at different times, one might get more of my energy.
• 10:22
  Right? Or if if the moment calls for and there's there's one that's in need, then, of course, I mean, I remember I act in that moment. You know, sometimes it's happened in our family. Like, my oldest has had some car trouble at different times. I remember one time he was broke down on the other side of the state.
• 10:45
  He called his dad, and we rally. We go find a car hauler. We drive across the state. It was not that I didn't have anything on my schedule. In fact, if I remember right, it was like a Saturday night, and I was going to speak the next morning.
• 10:58
  I had plenty going on, but my boy is on the other side of the state in a Dollar General parking lot with his car broke down, and he didn't know what to do. And so we're going to drive across the state, we're going to grab it, we're going to haul that car back over here so we can get it to our mechanic, And I didn't think twice about it. I acted. It's my kid. And that one got all the attention that night.
• 11:19
  The other ones have gotten all the attention at other times. You know, right now, our son Brennan is serving in The Middle East, and, man, I appreciate the way you guys have sent him well and praying for him and supporting him. And let me just say, every time we talk to him, you know, we get to we get to do these video calls on Sundays, and he's just got this life in in the look on his face. He is absolutely thriving, and it's just really cool to watch. And he's telling these stories about these different friends that he's making and how he's getting talk about Jesus with them, and it's just...
• 11:53
  And things are happening, and it's just it's just really, really cool. But today, if I talk to him, and he pops up on that screen, and he got a frown on his face, and he needs anything, guess what? I'll be on the next plane out. I'll swim there. Because I'm I'm gonna be there.
• 12:09
  Right? And God acts here. He... He's not he's not forgetful. The moment comes, and the timing is right, and God acts.
• 12:19
  He responds to Hannah pouring out her heart. So as soon as baby Samuel could function on his own, Hannah delivered him to this priest Eli at Shiloh. And when she did that, she said she said to him, this is the child I prayed for. God has granted my prayer. He is the Lord's.
• 12:39
  Even when she was pouring out her heart, she was saying what you would say. She's like, if if you give me this child, this... I will give the child to you. And so here she she does it. She goes and she delivers him to the priest.
• 12:55
  I really resonate with this. Many of you may know this, but Terry and I had our own struggles with infertility. And so I get what Hannah feels here, that that feeling of... That that you were forgotten. You're looking around, and you're watching.
• 13:15
  This thing seems to happen so easy for other people, even sometimes in situations where the child is unwanted, and for whatever reason, it's it's it's not happening. It's not easy for you. It seems absolutely impossible, and you're trying to to search out why is this true. And then God miraculously gives you a child? I remember dedicating Caleb.
• 13:40
  All of our all of our kids, you know, we've been on some stage at a church presenting him and and praying over him. But I can almost remember word for words the prayer that I prayed over over Caleb that day. Because as I held him in my hands, I I saw a miracle. And probably the the biggest moment ever in my life, I realized that life doesn't just happen. It's it's not just an accident.
• 14:05
  It... Sometimes it seems messy and easy, but it's it's it's miraculous. You know, it's easy... If if it becomes easy to you, it's easy to take that for granted. But when it didn't come easy for you, like Hannah, she looks at this baby, and she's like, this this is God.
• 14:20
  God God has moved, and God, I I give I give him to you. And then she prays. But really, what we're about to look at is as much of just a declaration, a compulsion just to cry out who this incredible God is, and I wanna dive into it and kinda break it down. So in first Samuel chapter two, it says, Hannah prayed, and she said, my heart rejoices. She is...
• 14:51
  She's she's compelled to to rejoice. Remember, just a just a little bit ago, this this lady, she was... It says she was depressed and to the point of starving herself. And here she is. God has moved, and she is rejoicing.
• 15:03
  And what is her rejoicing in? Her rejoicing is in the Lord. She sees how incredible her God is, and it it moves her to rejoice in him. And it's in him that her horn, my horn is is lifted high. This is something else that's repeated a lot in in the Bible.
• 15:22
  It it comes up again... Even again here in her prayer. The best way to think about it is like, you know, an animal that that has horns, if it is... If its head is down and it's, you know, in dismay, but if it has confidence and it is ready to to take on whatever, its its head will be held high. And God has lifted her head.
• 15:48
  Her depression has now turned into rejoicing and confidence. Her her horn is lifted high. She says, my mouth boasts over my enemies. I... The the the tale has been...
• 16:02
  The tables have been turned. The script has been flipped. I am now boasting over my enemies, for I delight in whose deliverance? She didn't deliver herself. What has happened has been something that God did.
• 16:15
  I delight in your deliverance. For there is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides you. There is no rock like our God. She calls out, God, you are you are alone.
• 16:27
  There is nobody beside you. There is nobody that can... There's nobody. I might look at things, and people might claim things, or powers might say something, but the truth is nothing even comes close to our living God. And she's experienced it, and so she calls it out.
• 16:44
  Hannah celebrates what God has done. It is his power that's done it. Y'all owe that we would look at at life and just recognize that who our God is, what it means that he is holy, that he is above all, and that there's none beside him, and live like it. Then he goes... She goes on to say, do not keep talking so proudly.
• 17:16
  Now she's she's talking to the the arrogant and the boastful, and I'm sure she has old girl or the wife in her mind a little bit here. She says, don't keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak in arrogance, arrogance and pride, for the Lord knows, and by him, deeds are weighed. Isn't it funny, like, when people talk big, think much of themselves? God knows the truth. God knows knows what's really going on there.
• 17:50
  I've noticed, coaching, you know, youth sports and this this football team, that the kid who is usually... Like, his helmet, his head won't hardly fit in his helmet, you know, the the arrogant kid, the boastful kid, the kid that's got all the accessories and the drip. I mean, we actually have a kid I noticed on our team yesterday that wears gloves, and they got jewels on them, like like a like a Michael Jackson glove. What has football become? I don't know.
• 18:19
  I don't know. If that had happened in my locker room back in high school, you don't even wanna know what would happen. But you know what? Time and time and time again, it's that kid who will fold in a moment. It's that kid who will talk all the smack, and then he'll be on the sidelines saying, oh, my belly hurts, time and time again.
• 18:42
  And God knows the one who talks the biggest, the one that's the most prideful and the most arrogant, God knows the secrets of the heart. He knows, and he knows what you're really made of. It is by Him that deeds are weighed. And then it goes on to say, verse four, the bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumble are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
• 19:18
  She who was barren has born seven children, but she who has many sons pines away. You catch the contrast? He's he's going back and forth. This is what has happened. There was something that was true, but God has moved strongly and will move strongly on behalf of the weak.
• 19:36
  There's this... Also, these statements of it looks like this. This is what's been true in the past, but this is what is true now, and it's it's a different story. You know, we're tempted to look at what's happening in the moment and what what we see and to lose hope and to and to think maybe this is the end of the story, the way things are now or the way things are in a situation in your life like this. Oh, well, this is it.
• 20:02
  This is the way it's gonna be. And we miss the fact that God is moving. It just might not be in that moment. In the moment that she is barren and in a in a bad place and depressed, it would be easy to lose hope. But God was just waiting for the moment that he decided to act.
• 20:20
  And each one of these stories, each one of these examples, the warrior, but it's the one that stumbles who's armed with strength, the one that has all the food, but the hungry will hunger no more. Then goes on to say, verse six, the Lord brings death, and he makes alive. It is it is God who has the power. He brings down to the grave, and he raises up. It is him.
• 20:47
  The Lord sends poverty and wealth. He humbles, and he exalts. God is the one. God is the one that does it. Never forget.
• 20:58
  God is in control, even sometimes when it looks like like he's not. And it's tempting sometimes to look and to forget, to forget who your daddy is. Right? It's just easy sometimes to forget forget who who daddy is. And that at any moment, he could act and and change the whole game.
• 21:24
  Years ago, I was leading a a team to go serve in Taiwan, and I was the I was the leader. We had done all this training to get ready for this trip. We were gonna be there a couple weeks. And the night before leaving to go to catch a 5AM flight, I couldn't find my passport. We searched the house.
• 21:44
  We ran ransacked the house and couldn't find the... It had completely disappeared. And I felt like an idiot. Went and met the team, drove them two hours to the airport and watched them get on the... You know, go go in the airport.
• 22:02
  Team leader, no passport. Go back home. We start thinking through, who do we know that might be able to help in this situation? I mean, how in the world am I gonna be able to catch up with them? Maybe, just maybe, can get a passport.
• 22:13
  But I had a family member who had worked in Washington pretty closely with a senator, and we said something, and she said, Okay, let me see what I can do. She calls back in a little bit, and she says, if you'll be in New Orleans tomorrow morning when they open at the passport place, they'll have you a new passport. I said, no. Whatever. But, you know, alright.
• 22:38
  Yeah. I guess I guess I'll give it a whirl, even though I had zero hope that that was possible. I felt like I needed to make every effort. So I flew to New Orleans. I was there when the office opened.
• 22:50
  There was a little window thing, you know, they opened up, lady sits down. I walk up, and she said, What do you Well, blah blah blah. She said, well, that's not gonna happen. You're not gonna, like, get it... You think you're gonna get a new passport in a day?
• 23:03
  And I said, I I was told that that was possible. And she said, alright. Well, have a seat, and I'll I'll try to check this out. About five minutes later, she says, Hey, sir, come here. And in front of her, she's got photocopies of my old passport from somewhere.
• 23:20
  And she says, Give me an hour, and I'll have you a new one. I caught a flight, got it, caught a flight, and beat the team to Taiwan. Y'all, we know the living God, and yet a lot of times we just look at things and call them impossible and forget that he is the God of doing the impossible things. There is nothing too big for him. He is not weak.
• 23:45
  He is strong. And we sometimes forget it. Verse eight, he... This is what he does. He raises the poor from the dust.
• 23:53
  He lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them with princes and has them inherit thrones of honor. For the foundations of the earth are who? They're the Lord's. On them, he has set the world.
• 24:11
  It is him, creator God. He is... Let's not forget who he is and and the confidence that we should have in those types of situations. Was just talking to somebody a minute ago. There's a business in town that we know the owner, and there have been different times that, you know, the business, maybe somebody, the employee was treating us unfairly, and I got it in the back pocket when I need it.
• 24:38
  Hey, just go and talk to so and so. Drop my name, you know, because I know I the owner. We act like we walk through life, and things don't go our way or we we face some kind of opposition. We forget that we know the owner, y'all. We know him, and he will act strongly on your behalf.
• 24:59
  Verse nine. He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. Catch this. It is not by strength that one prevails. Those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
• 25:19
  It's not by strength. We look around and think that it's by power and strength on this earth that that things happen, but it it will be broken. It's not by strength. It's by his mighty power. And those who oppose him, it is not a question, might be, they they will be broken.
• 25:42
  This is the truth we need to grasp. Human strength and power are just a mirage. There is one God, and we worship him, and and he's in our corner. The Most High, it says, will thunder from heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
• 25:59
  He will give strength to his king. He will exalt the horn of his anointed. So our God likes to to flip the hierarchy. It's just it's just good to know he shows off in this. And there are a couple of examples we see here in this story of Samuel.
• 26:18
  The first is is the one we just talked about. Hannah has gotten the last laugh. She was in this impossible situation, and now God has intervened, and she has gotten one up on her mouthy rival. Right? In fact, by the time the story ends, she has three more sons and two more daughters.
• 26:39
  Yeah. God God kinda shows off. I feel that some way, honestly, sometimes when I when I look around, and and we got four kiddos. I'm like... It's like it's like God's just flexing.
• 26:49
  You know? Then, also, we see this this priest that she's taken Samuel to, his name's Eli. He's got two sons that also serve as priests with him, and and they're worthless. They're they're no good. They're doing several things.
• 27:05
  They it says that they didn't know the Lord, and so they would take the meat by force that was offered in sacrifice. So the priests were supposed to get a portion, but not the best portion, but they would force the worshipers to give them the best portion to eat. They also were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance of the temple. Was just worthless scoundrels. And when when Eli confronts them, they they wouldn't listen.
• 27:35
  And now God is going to do what Hannah called out here. He's gonna break the one who oppresses him, and Samuel is gonna be the one that inherits the throne of honor. So so watch what happens. As you keep reading the story, these guys are described as worthless and Samuel as growing in stature, in favor with God and man, which is interesting if if you've ever checked out beginning chapters of Luke chapter two fifty two, when we get the description of Jesus as he was growing up, this is exactly the same description. He grew in wisdom, in stature, in favor with God and man.
• 28:15
  God is showing Samuel this kind of favor. So chapter two ends with God declaring to this priest Eli, Those who honor me, I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house. God says the two shameful sons will die on the same day, which happens, and he will raise up for himself a faithful priest who will do according to what is on his heart and mind. And that's who Samuel is.
• 28:50
  So then he comes to Samuel chapter three verse one. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli in those days. The word of the Lord was rare. So we we get this setting where it's been a while since they heard God speaking to the people. There were not many visions.
• 29:10
  And one night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming weak so that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place, and the lamp of God had not yet gone out. That's a a time stamp for us, but it also in the context, man, it really feels like to me, like, we haven't been hearing from God, but lamp's not out yet. God's about to do something. And Samuel, here he is lying in the house of the Lord. He's in the place as close to the Ark of the Covenant as he could be, where the Ark of God was.
• 29:40
  And then the Lord called to Samuel. Now God calls to Samuel, but three different times, Samuel thinks it's Eli. So he runs to the other room, and he's like, hey, you called me. And he's like, boy, didn't call you. Go back to bed.
• 29:54
  Go back to bed. He comes back. He's like, but you called me. I hear you I hear you call him. He's like, I didn't call you.
• 29:59
  And then finally, the two of them put together God is speaking. And so finally, he answers God, speak. Your servant hears. And God says, he is about to drop the hammer on Eli and his bozo sons, so get ready. Let me ask you this.
• 30:15
  Would God's voice surprise you? Are are you are you in a position? Are you ready? It says that Samuel, at this point, didn't have the depth of relationship with God to identify and and hear his voice. It's kinda like the way I think I think sometimes I have in the past, being with with hailstorms.
• 30:40
  You know, we know they're gonna come. We know. But at our house, you know, I got weight room set in one side of the garage. We usually had other things in the other part, and a lot of times, the cars were parked outside. And I guess we all remember, however long ago that was, that a hailstorm came.
• 30:57
  Looked outside, and the hail was piled up this big. Walked out front, and my '94 Jeep was unscathed, but the Camaro next to it of Brennan's was totaled. Yeah. I wouldn't I wouldn't expecting it. I should I should have been expecting it.
• 31:14
  I should have been preparing for it. I should have been I should have been looking for it. I will from now on. I learned my lesson. God wants to move.
• 31:23
  God wants to speak. God wants to lead you. He has given you his Holy Spirit to guide you, but our ears are often... We assume when we hear voices like it's something else. We're not listening we're not listening for him.
• 31:39
  Finally, he answers. By the way, this is something just, as Charlie mentioned, the men's retreat. Guys, I think this is an example. Retreats, things like that, are times that you go, you sign up, you go, you set aside your schedule, you go, and you go expecting. You go expectant.
• 32:02
  What what might God do? What friend is there that I haven't met yet that I'm really gonna jive with? You know? What what thing about my life does God wanna put his finger on and change or or lead me in a different direction? But if you don't go, if you don't open your heart, don't open your life, if you don't open your your ears, you'll miss it.
• 32:25
  And then you wonder where is God? God was there all along. Right? He was calling. You just you just weren't listening.
• 32:31
  Would would God's voice surprise you? And then the last thing, first Samuel chapter three verse 19 Says, this is what happened in the end. The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up and let none of the words of Samuel fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
• 33:06
  Do you see God... God's power was evident in in Samuel's life. It was it was the Lord that was with him. It was it was God that was letting none of his of his words fall to the ground, but empowering them. He...
• 33:20
  God was the one revealing himself to Samuel. Samuel was ready and was a vessel that God that God could use. So my second question, do you believe that God is on your side? Like this, do you real... Do you really believe it, that God is on your side, that God is is in your corner?
• 33:43
  You believe as you face all of the obstacles and all the things that happen in life, tough things, the mountains, the valleys, do you do you do you believe that God is is with you? He is. You know, that that day on the golf course, I I made that wager with full confidence. There there wasn't any part of me that questioned. I would have put any amount of money on it because I knew full, well, this golf cart I had was gonna smoke that one.
• 34:23
  So let's do it. Let's go. That's the confidence that a true follower of King Jesus has, a God that is all powerful. He's with you, who's who's in your corner. That's the confidence with which we can face life.
• 34:43
  But do you believe it? Let me pray that we would. Father, I I ask that. I ask that you would just open our eyes, our hearts, our ears to see you as you truly are, even as we sing these songs here as we close out today, Father, to think deeply about how massive you are and how we often just take you for granted. We often have a smaller view of you.
• 35:15
  We often push you to the margins of life. We also often face all of the stuff on our own power, which is ridiculous when when you are with us. So, would you open up our ears like this... The title of this this series? Would you would would you take us above the noise so that we could walk with you and experience you doing all the things that only you can do to your glory.
• 35:45
  Amen.
• 35:48
  Charlie Loften: Thanks again And And that. So do to dealing with culture or theology, those kinds of things, you we're can check out our cultivate podcast. It's on the same feed, however you found this particular podcast. So again, this is Charlie, the lead pastor at The Grove, and thank you so much for joining us.