Latest / Time with God with John North / We Need To Trust God Through The Struggles Pt. 3

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We Need To Trust God Through The Struggles Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: As we head into this day, let's head into it
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: with some input from God.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: That's right.
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  Speaker 1: Input from God comes through the Bible. God has sent
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: His Holy Spirit into this world to reveal Himself to us,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and He's done that one of the main ways through
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the Bible.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And as you read the Bible, God works in your
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: heart and mind to change you as a person.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Through your relationship with Him through Jesus Christ God.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Transforms who you are.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: In a great way
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: We're looking this week at this theme of trusting God
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: amid the turmoil of our lives. Maybe you feel like
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: you're in turmoil right now. I want to read a
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: passage from the Book of 2 Corinthians in the Bible,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: chapter 11, where the apostle Paul is talking about some
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: of the turmoil that he's experienced in life. He says,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Are they servants of Christ?
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Ay, more so in far more labours, in far more imprisonments,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: 5 times I received from the Jews 39 lashes.
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  Speaker 1: 3 times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: 3 times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I have spent in the deep.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I have been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the sea, dangers among false brethren.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I have been in labour and hardship through many sleepless
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: nights in hunger and thirst, often without food.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: In cold and exposure
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: upon me of concern for all the churches. Who is
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: weak without my being weak, who is led into sin
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: without my intense concern.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: If I have to boast.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: He who is blessed forever knows that I am not lying.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: In Damascus, the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: and I was let down in a basket through a
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: window in the wall and so escaped his hands.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: And he goes on.
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  Speaker 1: Well,
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  Speaker 1: Do you notice as Paul lists all these truly awful
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: experiences he's had, these experiences of great turmoil in his life.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: He says in verse 30, If I have to boast,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. I
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: won't go on and on about how great I am
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: and strong I am to face this and that. No,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I just want you to know how much I've struggled
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: through all these things.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: God met him in every one of those circumstances. Why
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: would Paul say he'd boast about his weakness? Because he
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: wants people to know that what has carried him through
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  Speaker 1: these circumstances of life has been his walk with God.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: God has taken care of him.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: What about you? How does the turmoil in your life
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  Speaker 1: measure up to what Paul is saying? Probably there's none
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: of us who have turmoil in our lives that measures
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: up to what Paul went through.
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  Speaker 1: But what about your experience of God?
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  Speaker 1: Do you know if like the apostle Paul you learn
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  Speaker 1: to know God, then you will be able to trust
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  Speaker 1: Him as you go through those difficult circumstances in life
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  Speaker 1: and as you trust Him, you will find God taking
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: care of you, carrying you through those circumstances, and working
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: through you in every circumstance in the lives of the
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: people around you.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I'm John North.