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Trusting the Promises of God - Because of the Character of God · Clay to Crown

• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Clay to Crown podcast.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Amanda Hughes. I'm so glad that you
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  Speaker 1: are here with me today. And as we spend the
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  Speaker 1: next 30 minutes or so together, my prayer is that
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  Speaker 1: And it's really my prayer for all of these episodes.
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  Speaker 1: But my prayer is that he meets you, God the Father,
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  Speaker 1: the great I am, Yahweh, meets you with fresh encouragement today.
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  Speaker 1: So today what I have on the docket to talk
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  Speaker 1: about is I think something that every believer wrestles with
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  Speaker 1: at some point. Can you really trust the promises of God? Now,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not just saying know the promises of God, but
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  Speaker 1: can you trust the promises of God? And I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to tell you right from the outset, the answer to
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  Speaker 1: that is yes. The answer to that is yes, we
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  Speaker 1: can trust the promises of God. And the reason that
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  Speaker 1: we can trust them is very simple. And I've talked
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  Speaker 1: about this in a previous early episodes. Cause this, this
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  Speaker 1: particular topic is one of the foundations of my ministry. Um,
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  Speaker 1: one of the foundations of my belief, and I believe
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  Speaker 1: it's so important to get, um, specifically Western Christianity to,
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  Speaker 1: to get ahold of, um, this is why we can
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  Speaker 1: trust the promises of God because of the character of God.
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  Speaker 1: That's why that's how So let's talk about this. Let's
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  Speaker 1: start walking through this, right? God has placed an abundance
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  Speaker 1: of promises in his word. You can just start flipping
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  Speaker 1: through the pages and you can... you can start to
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  Speaker 1: see the promises revealed, right? Promises of love, of grace, provision, ability,
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  Speaker 1: you know, life, freedom, forgiveness, joy, justification, peace, redemption, protection, victory, wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: And those are just to name a few. I have
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  Speaker 1: on my bookshelf a book that's pretty thick. It's like
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  Speaker 1: Bible thick. that I got when I left a previous church.
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  Speaker 1: And it's all the promises of God. And there's like
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  Speaker 1: 76 some odd different topics that are promises of God
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  Speaker 1: in that book. And I'm sure that's not even all
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  Speaker 1: of them. But for many of us, the idea of
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  Speaker 1: a promise is kind of complicated. So, Why is a
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  Speaker 1: promise complicated? When we say we can trust the promises
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  Speaker 1: of God, why does maybe we're saying, no, we can't.
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  Speaker 1: Why in our humanity do we say that? No, we can't. Well,
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  Speaker 1: probably because you've had promises made to you by people
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  Speaker 1: who didn't keep them. And that hurt. You know, you've
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  Speaker 1: been let down by coworkers, by friends, even family members.
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  Speaker 1: And over time, maybe you've developed a jaded view of
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  Speaker 1: what a promise even means. Like, oh, I promise, whatever.
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  Speaker 1: I don't, you know, you might shake your head and say, okay,
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  Speaker 1: but in the back of your mind, you're saying, no,
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  Speaker 1: you won't. You won't do X, Y, Z, you know,
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  Speaker 1: whatever the thing is, because you've been wounded. You've been
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  Speaker 1: hurt over time. Or maybe on the flip side, you've
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  Speaker 1: wondered if God promises are really for you. Maybe over
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  Speaker 1: the years, you've developed this sense that God is mad
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  Speaker 1: at you or that he's punishing you or that he's
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  Speaker 1: withholding good from you in some way. Now, I want
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  Speaker 1: to stay very, very clearly. If you think that God
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  Speaker 1: is mad at you or punishing you or that his
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  Speaker 1: promises aren't for you, that is a lie from the
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  Speaker 1: pit of hell. It is a lie. John 8, 44
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  Speaker 1: tells us that the devil is the father of lies.
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  Speaker 1: And one of his favorite lies is convincing us as
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  Speaker 1: believers that God cannot be trusted. Those little whispers that happen.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't really love you. He's not going to deliver you.
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  Speaker 2: Lies.
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  Speaker 1: Lies. His main weapon against us is deception. And if
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  Speaker 1: he can convince you through deception that God isn't for you,
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  Speaker 1: then he's succeeded. But I want to reassure you today
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  Speaker 1: that God will not let you down. He keeps his promises. Now,
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  Speaker 1: how can we be so sure that God keeps his promises? Well,
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  Speaker 1: because of his character. It's as simple as that. And again,
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  Speaker 1: if you want to go back to the, I think
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  Speaker 1: it's like episode two or three where I talk about
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  Speaker 1: God's character. Go back to that. I encourage you to
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  Speaker 1: do that. So what's character? If I use the word character,
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  Speaker 1: what do I mean? What does that English word mean?
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  Speaker 1: Character is essentially the collective nature of a person. The features,
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  Speaker 1: the traits, the qualities that define who they are. That's
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  Speaker 1: somebody's character. You could have good character, bad character, you know.
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  Speaker 1: So God's character then is perfect, eternal, and unchanging. Now,
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  Speaker 1: how do we know all of this? Like how, well,
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  Speaker 1: we can, you know, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: we can gain wisdom and insight into who God is
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  Speaker 1: because we are communing with him through the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: But then also his word tells us. His word tells
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  Speaker 1: us who he is. So let's walk through these attributes.
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  Speaker 1: Let's walk through these attributes one by one. And I don't,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not listing out every single character trait of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord that we would be here for two hours instead
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  Speaker 1: of just 30 minutes or so. But I think I've
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  Speaker 1: pulled out important ones, right? And so let's walk through
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  Speaker 1: them one by one and let them strengthen our confidence
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  Speaker 1: then in his promises. Because again, what I'm saying, my
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  Speaker 1: premise is, is that you can trust the promises of
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  Speaker 1: God because of the character of God. So the number
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  Speaker 1: one character trait that I want to talk about is
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  Speaker 1: that God is infinite. He's infinite. He knows no boundaries,
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  Speaker 1: no limits, no measure. Revelation 1.8 declares that, and this
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  Speaker 1: is specifically of God the Son, but that he is
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  Speaker 1: the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, right?
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  Speaker 1: The Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet.
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  Speaker 1: The Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
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  Speaker 1: So when you hear that, it's talking about beginning and end.
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  Speaker 1: He is, he was, and is to come. He was always.
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  Speaker 2: A.W.
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  Speaker 1: Tozer said that God dwells in a mode of being
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  Speaker 1: totally beyond us. Think about that. I think we have
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  Speaker 1: a hard time in our human capacity grasping what that
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  Speaker 1: truly means, right? God is not material. He's not bound
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  Speaker 1: by space or time. Nothing can add to him and
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  Speaker 1: nothing can take him away from him. But the reason
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  Speaker 1: I started with this particular attribute is because if God
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  Speaker 1: is infinite, then every other attribute is infinite too. If
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  Speaker 1: God is infinite, then every other attribute is infinite as well.
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  Speaker 1: So the next one is that God is immutable. And
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  Speaker 1: that's a big fancy word, right?
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  Speaker 2: Immutable.
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  Speaker 1: Essentially is unchanging. God never changes. He says, already has
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  Speaker 1: perfect holiness. Psalm 90 verse 2 says, from everlasting to everlasting,
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  Speaker 1: you are God. He never changes. In Malachi, he himself says,
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  Speaker 1: I am the Lord. I change not. Right? So what
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  Speaker 1: does this mean for us, again, with promises and how
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  Speaker 1: we can trust them? This means that the God who
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  Speaker 1: kept his promises to Abraham, to Moses, to David, and
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  Speaker 1: even the early church, the one that kept his promises
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  Speaker 1: to Peter, to Paul, to the early church fathers, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and then moving forward through the centuries, the God that
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  Speaker 1: kept his promises to them is the same God with
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  Speaker 1: the same attributes. The same love, the same grace, the
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  Speaker 1: same storehouses. It's the same God keeping his promises to
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  Speaker 1: you today. God is also wise. So not only is
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  Speaker 1: he infinite, he's immutable, he's wise. He's wise. Romans 11,
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  Speaker 1: 33 says, how impossible is it to understand his decisions
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  Speaker 1: and his ways? In Isaiah 55, it says, his ways
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  Speaker 1: are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: He's wise. He makes no mistakes. He devises perfect ends
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  Speaker 1: and achieves them by perfect means. So how can we
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  Speaker 1: trust his promises? Because he's wise? We can trust his
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  Speaker 1: promises because he knows exactly how to fulfill those promises
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  Speaker 1: for us. The next one is that God is sovereign. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this is a big one, and I'm going to dedicate
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  Speaker 1: a whole episode to God's sovereignty. Speaking of suffering and sovereignty,
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  Speaker 1: kind of in the same episode, so you don't want
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  Speaker 1: to miss that. But God's sovereignty is a big one.
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  Speaker 1: What does it mean if you're sovereign, right? You have
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  Speaker 1: all authority. It's his way. He's in control, right? So
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  Speaker 1: he rules his entire creation. Isaiah 46.10 says that he
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  Speaker 1: declares the end from the beginning and accomplishes all his
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  Speaker 1: good pleasure. Nothing can stop God from fulfilling what he
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  Speaker 1: has spoken. His word will not return void. God is holy.
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  Speaker 1: He is majestic in holiness, perfect in purity. Exodus 15,
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  Speaker 1: 11 asks, who is like you, majestic in holiness? Why
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  Speaker 1: can we trust his promises? Why can we trust that
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  Speaker 1: his promises are for us? Why he has every good intention?
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  Speaker 1: On our behalf, his promises are pure because his character
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  Speaker 1: is pure. He's holy. So we can trust his promises
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  Speaker 1: because God is infinite. He's immutable. He does not change.
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  Speaker 1: He is wise. He has all wisdom. He holds it
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  Speaker 1: in the palm of his hand. He is sovereign. He
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  Speaker 1: declares the end from the beginning. He knows it. He's
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  Speaker 1: declaring it. He is holy. He is pure. He is all-knowing.
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 147 says that he determines the numbers of stars
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  Speaker 1: and calls them each by name. 70,000 million, million, million stars,
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  Speaker 1: and he knows every one. Think about that. He knows
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  Speaker 1: every one. And he also knows you. He knows me.
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  Speaker 1: He knows our thoughts, our ways, our fears, our needs.
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  Speaker 1: Matthew 10 30 says that he even knows the number
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  Speaker 1: of hairs on your head. So don't we think that
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  Speaker 1: a God who knows us that intimately will not forget
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  Speaker 1: the promises that he made toward you? And again, what
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  Speaker 1: are those promises? Promises of love, of grace, of freedom,
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  Speaker 1: of deliverance, of victory, of salvation, of peace. Right? He
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  Speaker 1: will not forget his promises towards you. So when you
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  Speaker 1: say that God forgot you, that completely goes against his character.
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  Speaker 1: He hasn't forgotten you. He sees you. He knows you.
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  Speaker 1: We can trust his promises because God is faithful. Deuteronomy
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  Speaker 1: 7 verse 9 says that he keeps his covenant of
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  Speaker 1: love to a thousand generations. He's faithful. He cannot lie.
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  Speaker 1: He cannot break his word. Every promise he made will
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  Speaker 1: come to pass. Do you trust him today? A covenant
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  Speaker 1: is an agreement, and some people like to liken it
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  Speaker 1: to a contract, right? And I don't know, I don't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily agree with it as a contract. I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: get it. I get the point of what people are
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  Speaker 1: saying because a covenant is an agreement. So in one sense,
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  Speaker 1: it is a synonym for contract. But when we think
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  Speaker 1: of a word contract, we're thinking about what each party
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  Speaker 1: in that contract is. is going to get, right? Like
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  Speaker 1: what's in it for me. But with a covenant, it's
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  Speaker 1: more what each party within that covenant will give. And
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  Speaker 1: God has given us a covenant of love. He's faithful.
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  Speaker 1: He won't break his word. And so speaking of love,
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  Speaker 1: God is love. We can trust his promises because his
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  Speaker 1: promises are filled with his love. And now I'm not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily talking about, you know, sappy romantic comedy love, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Hallmark Channel love. That's not the kind of love I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking about, not emotional love. But I'm talking about a steadfast, holy,
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  Speaker 1: sacrificial love, a love of action. 1 Corinthians 13 describes
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  Speaker 1: this love. You know, and this is a section of
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  Speaker 1: verses that is normally read at weddings. You know, love
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  Speaker 1: is patient. Love is kind. Love does not seek his own.
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  Speaker 1: And every description in those verses fits God himself. Not
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  Speaker 1: easily angered. Rejoices in truth. Bears all things. Endures all things.
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  Speaker 1: And the proof that God is love is found at
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  Speaker 1: the cross. This is the ultimate proof. Because a God
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  Speaker 1: who gave his son, gave a part of himself as
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  Speaker 1: the second person of the Trinity, a God who gave
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  Speaker 1: his son for you will not fail to give you
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  Speaker 1: everything that he has promised. Another reason we can trust
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  Speaker 1: the promises of God is because God is all-powerful. Not
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  Speaker 1: only is he all-knowing, he is also all-powerful. Remember, he's infinite.
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  Speaker 1: And so he also possesses infinite power. He never grows tired.
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  Speaker 1: He never needs replenishing. Hebrews 6.18 reminds us that he
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  Speaker 1: cannot lie. It's not because he lacks power, but because
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  Speaker 1: lying contradicts his nature. His promises are backed by his
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  Speaker 1: all powerfulness, his omnipotence. Never grows tired. Never needs to
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  Speaker 1: take a break. I just had a thought. It's not
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  Speaker 1: on my outline. I, uh, one of my pet peeves
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  Speaker 1: in the church and you're, you're getting a little insight in,
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  Speaker 1: in how Amanda's brain works. Um, and that's a scary
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  Speaker 1: thought sometimes, but anyway, um, I, I don't want to
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  Speaker 1: use the word hate, but I greatly dislike when in
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  Speaker 1: the church, when we say God is moving, like, God
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  Speaker 1: is starting something, you know, or God is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: this is a move of God, you know, and those
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  Speaker 1: sorts of things. And now I I, I understand the
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  Speaker 1: heart of where these things are coming from, or, you know,
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  Speaker 1: when we say that God is working, you know, God
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  Speaker 1: is doing, you know, I don't know. Cause it brings
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  Speaker 1: a connotation to me, like all of a sudden, like
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  Speaker 1: he started something right. Or he wasn't moving before, but
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  Speaker 1: he's moving now, you know, and, and those sorts of things. And,
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  Speaker 1: and so I, I don't necessarily appreciate when we When
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  Speaker 1: we talk about it like that, because in my mind,
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, well, God's always working and God's always moving
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  Speaker 1: and God's always doing something on our behalf. We might
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  Speaker 1: not see it. We might not recognize it, but that's
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  Speaker 1: not God's problem. That's our problem. Because he never grows tired.
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  Speaker 1: He never needs replenishing. He never stops then starts. Like
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  Speaker 1: that's just not in his nature. That's not in his character.
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  Speaker 1: So we can trust the promises of God because they're
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  Speaker 1: backed by that all powerfulness, his consistency, his constancy. Another
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  Speaker 1: way we can trust in the promises of God is
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  Speaker 1: because he is just. He is just, he is fair,
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  Speaker 1: he is impartial, and he is righteous. God hates oppression,
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  Speaker 1: he hates mistreatment, and definitely he hates evil. God's justice
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  Speaker 1: means that he will always do what is right, and
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  Speaker 1: that includes fulfilling his promises to you. Now again, we
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  Speaker 1: might not understand it, and we might not see his
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  Speaker 1: justice as as justice, especially maybe on this side of eternity.
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  Speaker 1: But just because we don't understand it doesn't mean that
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  Speaker 1: it's not there. And you can hold on to that. Like,
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  Speaker 1: even if you don't get justice on this side, there
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  Speaker 1: will be justice at some point. God is merciful. How
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  Speaker 1: is God merciful? How is God merciful? Because Jesus satisfied
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  Speaker 1: God's justice. Because Jesus satisfied God's justice on the cross,
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  Speaker 1: God is free to show mercy to his people. Mercy
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  Speaker 1: is not something that God occasionally does. It is part
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  Speaker 1: of who he is. And we see that mercy back
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  Speaker 1: to the very beginning. When Adam and Eve were trying
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  Speaker 1: to clothe themselves with fig leaves. When they were naked
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  Speaker 1: and afraid.
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  Speaker 2: And they realized that they did something wrong. And then
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  Speaker 2: his words came back to them saying that if you
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  Speaker 2: eat of this fruit, you will surely die.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't die. At least not physically.
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  Speaker 2: Physically.
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  Speaker 1: God showed them mercy by doing a work on their behalf,
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  Speaker 1: by shedding blood on their behalf when he made skins,
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  Speaker 1: clothing out of skins of animals for them. That same
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  Speaker 1: shedding of blood is what Jesus did on the cross
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  Speaker 1: on our behalf, satisfying God's justice in order to show
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  Speaker 1: us mercy. God is gracious. He gives gifts we do
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  Speaker 1: not deserve. The definition of grace, a lot of times
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  Speaker 1: we hear as unmerited favor. And Ephesians 1, 7 says
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  Speaker 1: that his grace is lavished upon us. God's promises, his joy,
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  Speaker 1: his peace, his deliverance. Those flow out of his grace.
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  Speaker 1: So God is also everywhere. Not only is he all-knowing,
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  Speaker 1: not only is he all-powerful, he is all over the place. Everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: You cannot outrun his presence. His presence is with me
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  Speaker 1: right now, sitting at my home office, recording this podcast
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  Speaker 1: for you. His presence is with you right now, sitting
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  Speaker 1: in your car or in your kitchen or sitting in
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  Speaker 1: your office or waiting, you know, wherever you're waiting as
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  Speaker 1: you're listening to this. That's where he is. You cannot
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  Speaker 1: hide from him. You cannot hide from his love and
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  Speaker 1: you cannot fall outside of his reach. Psalm 139 asks,
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  Speaker 1: where can I go from your spirit? David's like, where
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  Speaker 1: can I go? Nowhere is the answer because the Lord's
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  Speaker 1: promises follow us wherever we go. So, You know, I've
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  Speaker 1: taken great lengths, about 20 minutes or so, going through
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  Speaker 1: these 13 character traits of God and trying to show you,
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  Speaker 1: because of these things, that we can trust in His promises. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, that's why all of this matters, because when
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  Speaker 1: we truly know God, His nature, His character, His heart...
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  Speaker 1: You begin to trust his promises with new confidence, right?
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  Speaker 1: You begin to understand that he is for you, not
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  Speaker 1: against you. You begin to understand that his promises are
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  Speaker 1: yes and amen in him. Promises are only as trustworthy
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  Speaker 1: as the person who makes them. So those of you
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  Speaker 1: who have been hurt in the past because people in
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  Speaker 1: their humanity have have messed up the promises that they
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  Speaker 1: made to you. God is not human. He is not
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  Speaker 1: like us. He is not like us. We can trust
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  Speaker 1: God's promises because he is perfectly trustworthy. Because when we
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  Speaker 1: know him, really know him, our hope will rise. Our
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  Speaker 1: confidence grows. Our fear shrinks and our faith grows stronger.
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  Speaker 1: When we know him and we know his promises are
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  Speaker 1: for us, then that begins to change every area of
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  Speaker 1: our lives. So as we close today, I want to
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  Speaker 1: encourage you, get to know God. Get to know him more.
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  Speaker 1: Understand why his unchangingness is a good thing. You know,
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  Speaker 1: understand the fact that the, the fact that he knows
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  Speaker 1: everything about you is a good thing. Start to understand
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  Speaker 1: that his mercifulness, that it's infinitely there is a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: Read his word, talk to him, pray with, um, Ernesty
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  Speaker 1: toward him. Like he's your closest friend. The things that
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  Speaker 1: you tell your closest friend, tell it to God. And then,
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  Speaker 1: you know, ask him to reveal his character to you.
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  Speaker 1: Because when you can know his character, you trust his promises.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Why do you trust your friends around you? Because you've
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: gotten to know them over time. You know that they
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: won't let you down. I bet each of us has
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: somebody that they're thinking of right now where it might be,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: you know, six months since you've talked to the person
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: or a year since you've talked to the person. But
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: you know that if you call them up right now,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: that they'll answer the phone and that they will be
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: there for you. That's the Lord. That's the Lord. I
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: don't normally pray us out, but today I feel led
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: that I'm going to say a prayer over us and
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: pray us out of this episode. Heavenly Father, Lord, I
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: just thank you. I thank you for who you are.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I thank you for your wisdom, your grace, your mercy,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: your love. I thank you that you are for us
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and not against us. I thank you that we no
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: longer have to wonder if your promises are for us,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Father God, but because of your character, we know that
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: they are. We thank you for your faithfulness, Lord. We
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: thank you that you're not going to lie to us,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: that you're always working on our behalf, that you're that
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: you don't need replenishing, Father God, that you don't need
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: to rest. Lord, we thank you that you're a God
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: of justice. We thank you that even though if we
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: don't see it, Lord, that you're consistently working on our behalf, Lord.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: We thank you for your holiness, that you're majestic, Lord,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: that we can trust your promises because you are pure, Lord.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: And we thank you that you hold all of this
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: in the palm of your hand and your sovereignty. Lord,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: help us. Help us to see you in the way
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: that you deserve to be seen. Help us to trust
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: you when the trials and tribulations of life are seemingly
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: just tearing us apart. Lord, we give this all to you.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: We give our hearts to you, our minds to you.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Help us to see you more clearly. Thank you for
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: who you are. Thank you for showing us that we
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: can trust you with all things. In Jesus' name, amen. Well,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I want to thank everybody for listening to this episode
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: of Clay to Crown. Again, episodes drop weekly. So please
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: tune in, put us on a subscription and share us
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: with your friends. Until next time, grace and peace.