0:07 Increasingly, I find as I become more comfortable with speaking in new places where I haven't been before that it's easy for me to rely on my own strength and as I've done it more often, it can become okay, I I I'm used to this now, 0:23 but I feel that's a very dangerous place to be. And I think it's symbolic of our Christian life as well that if our Christian walk ever becomes so routine that I know what to do next or like Merv was bringing out in what he 0:38 shared as well, it's a dangerous place to be and I take my example from Jesus who said the son can do nothing outside of himself outside of the Father. He can do nothing on his own. This was Jesus who never once sinned who lived the perfect life showing us 0:57 the secret to how to live a perfect life and saying, "I can do nothing. I depend on the Father." I was sharing with somebody yesterday that what changed for Jesus when he came down to this earth was that before when he lived in heaven, 1:11 as far as I understand at least, he didn't have to live in that dependent way cuz in a sense he was equal with the Father. He was the only begotten son of God, but I understand that there was an equality among the Trinity, the Father, Son, the 1:25 Holy Spirit. But when he came down to this earth and lowered himself beneath the angels, became one of us, a man he put himself in that place where he now had the choice to exercise his own will or not. And he put himself in that place where 1:43 he was dependent on his Father showing us that that's the secret to living a godly life on this earth. He was full of the divine nature inside of him. He never ceased to be God. But God became an example for us in this in that it demonstrated that God in 2:01 flesh on this earth must be dependent on that life that the Father has to give. Perhaps we should start there in John chapter 5. I hadn't planned to share this, but I think it's good to look at it. John 5:26 2:25 It's a powerful thing that Jesus, who was God and always remained God even while he was on this earth, showed us very clearly that when we live on this earth, we must live in that dependence on God. And for Jesus, even though he was God, because he had flesh, 2:43 the likeness of sinful flesh, that potential to be tempted, and he was tempted just like we are, he showed us that even though he he had never sinned once, even though he had no history of sin in him, there was no sin in his 2:57 flesh, the secret to living in continuous victory and overcoming in every situation was this dependence on the Father. And he says that in verse 26. Just as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have 3:15 life in himself. Jesus, who had life in himself when he was in the heavenlies before he came down to this earth, brought himself and lowered himself into this position where he needed to get that life from God. Where he needed to get that ability to 3:30 live and function from God. And the reason this is an important thing to consider is because you don't have to try to live. Physically, you and I don't have to try to live. It's just in our bodies, we live. Now, if you're 3:44 unhealthy, yeah, your body has to fight, but there's nothing you could do. Let's say you were, you You let's say you were dying beyond your ability. You you There's nothing you could say, "Hey, I need to go to the gym or do this or do 3:55 that." There are things you can do to help. But, it's built into us physically to live. And spiritually, we must resist that self-sufficiency that is built into our human nature and say, "No, I'm not going to I'm not going to rely on my own 4:12 ability to live. I'm going to rely on the Father." That's the struggle. That's how we overcome is I know that this this power is there within me that's built to to to survive on its own. Self-sufficiency is built into our human 4:26 nature. And living as Jesus lived is coming to the place where he came and he talks about in John 5:26 where he says, "I reject that self-sufficiency that's built into my human nature, which is the result of sin." See, sin came all the 4:42 way back in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3 because of that self-sufficiency. Eating out of the tree of knowledge of good and evil can be summarized in one word, self-sufficiency. I don't need the tree of life, which is God. And Jesus came, 4:57 he is the tree of life now and he said, "This is the secret to the tree of life is that I get my life from the Father." Just as the Father has life in himself, he says the Son does not because he came down to this earth. The Father has life 5:11 in himself, so he gives to the Son also to have life in himself. So, the life that Jesus had that caused him to live a perfect sinless life was this life that he received. He didn't come up with it. He didn't struggle and just come up with a 5:27 perfect technique of how a human being can overcome sin. He received it. Now, look at what he says in verse 21, a few verses back. Just as he's talking about the same life. This life is the secret to our living like Jesus lived. For just as the 5:42 Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he wishes. This is our This is where we come into the picture. Jesus exemplified it. He's our perfect forerunner. He's opened up a new and 5:57 living way through the veil which is his flesh into the heaven the most holy place. And now he says, "Follow me." How Jesus? He says, "I made this way which is the way of getting life from above. Getting life from above." Lord, how do I 6:10 resist this temptation? Give me your life. Give me your life. Give me your life. How do I be an effective employee in my workplace? Give me your life. I've been there 20 years. I know what I'm doing. Give me your life. It's like I'm 6:22 there for the first day because I'm depending on my father for everything that I do. How do I be a a loving husband? We've been married for 9 years. How how do I be a loving husband? Give me your life. It's not that I figured it 6:34 out after so many years and now I'm an expert in these things. But it's this constant dependency. See, if there was one person who was qualified to be an expert on how to live the earthly life on his own, it was Jesus at the age of 6:48 I don't know, maybe 32 when he said these words. But the expert who could have been an expert, let's call him that, says, "No, I'm not an expert. I am dependent on the Father. The Father gives me life and so you too come to me 7:00 for life. To whomever whomever he wishes, he will give his life." Okay, now we'll begin. Uh the title of my message today, go back to that first slide, is Oh, How He Loves You. I don't know if I preached a message like this. I can't remember the last 7:17 time and I felt the Lord pressing it on me to share it with for myself first of all. I needed to hear it as I meditated on it. But to share with us as a church, to share with for us as children to grow to that our the foundation of our church 7:32 will be that. And uh so let's look into this. It's It's uh I'm going to show you a lot of scripture. I don't really have that much to say per se, but just to show you a lot of scripture and make a few points about that about the love of God and His 7:44 love for us. You know, the the gospel is called is it means good news. The message that we have is called the gospel, which essentially means good news on that next slide. And I I don't know if you've thought about why is it good news? 7:58 I used to think that it was good news because something good happened to me. I used to be really bad and then something happened really good to me. My life is good now. That's good news. Yeah, that's true. But it also be a very self-centered 8:11 perspective on gospel on the what it means to believe in the gospel. I believe this more recently now as I've been meditating on it is that the gospel is good news because it's about God who is good. When we see that the gospel is about God 8:28 and it's not focused on me. Yes, I got the benefit. The benefit that I get from it is wonderful, but that's really the the second thing in the picture. That's the overflow. What transformation I've received in my life is the overflow of the gospel. The 8:43 gospel is this, God is good. I'll show you these three things. Three things I want to highlight on there. God is always good. God is always in control. And God is your heavenly Father. Think about this. If we have a firm 8:58 foundation on these three things, you realize that there's absolutely nothing that could happen in our life that could shake us. The source of all anxiety, discouragement, worry, a lack of fervent love for for God comes 9:13 from a something missing in these three things. I do I believe it's a cascade. One, two, and three. That's why I've listed it that way. But if we have a firm foundation in this that God is always good. God is always in control. 9:31 And this God who is always good and always in control is my loving heavenly Father. What a transformation it will make in the way we actually live our lives. Now, I know we believe that now. I know I I am almost certain that every 9:44 single one of you will say amen wholeheartedly to what I'm saying. The problem is when we face situations where I'm tested in one of these three things, that somehow God is not good right now. How could this circumstance that I'm 9:57 going through right now be a be from a God who's not good. So, the first thing that the devil will try to get me to question is that God must not be good right now. Yeah, he's good when you're good, but you did that bad thing 10:10 yesterday, or you did that other thing a couple weeks ago, and he's keeping track of it. And because of that, he's not going to be good to you today. And this circumstance you're facing that you really hoped would come through for you 10:20 and didn't and fell through, and you had the rug pulled out under you is because God is not good right now. And that's a lie of the devil. He started he got Eve and Adam to fall into that trap all the way in the beginning in Genesis chapter 10:33 3. God is always good. Now, the second thing, God is always in control. Because sometimes we can start to think that well, is really God in control? If he was in control, how could he allow this to happen? Why would he allow this to happen? How could a good 10:48 God, let's say I come to the place where I say sure, God, you're always good. But how could a God who is always good allow such devastation to happen in the world, or more specifically, in my life of what I'm going through right now? 11:03 God must not be in control of this circumstance. Perhaps something I have done, and the fact that I reap what I sow has caused God to no longer be in control of my circumstance. That too is a lie of the devil. See, you it is the 11:16 Bible is absolutely clear, you will reap what you sow. But I want you to know, dear friend, dear brother, dear sister, if you are reaping what you sowing right now, it doesn't change the fact that God is in control. God is still in control 11:28 when you're reaping difficult circumstances. When you're When you're reaping sickness, perhaps. When you're reaping pain. When you're reaping consequences on this earth because of things you've done wrong or just because of life, 11:42 because of the fact that we live on an earth that is still affected by the curse that God placed on it. It doesn't change the fact that God is in control. He is always in control. He's always in control. And thirdly, this God who's always good, always in 11:57 control, is your heavenly father. I'm going to delve into that a little bit more. I want to show you these verses. Psalm 136. I hope you'll turn there with me, every single one of you. It's good to have a Bible and I personally I'm You can call 12:13 me old school or well, I like one of these more than the phones because I see it in context when I have a book. I see the the verse that's before. I see why the therefores are. It's a little bit more difficult for me to you do that on 12:25 a phone. So, good habit to have a Bible that you have handy. Now, I still use the Bible on my phone, by the way, when I'm not carrying a book with me, but there's something about turning to it and looking at it and seeing it in its 12:37 context. It tends to come alive to me more powerfully. And so, I if you're tempted to be drawn away in this current age of electronic devices, ask the Lord to to show you what's what he what what's his will for you in that 12:50 area. Verse one, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good." David knew this all the way back in the Old Testament. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good." Why are you giving thanks to the Lord today? Have you ever stopped and said, "Thank you, Lord?" 13:05 Now, maybe you have nothing to thank him for specifically that you can think of. Well, "What have you done for me lately, Lord?" That's the mentality of the world. I'll thank you if you have done something for me lately. But, this is 13:16 the heart of man, of somebody who is after God's own heart, like David was. "Thank you, LORD, BECAUSE YOU ARE GOOD." "You are good." That's who you are. That's your identity. I thank you because your personality, your nature is 13:31 always good. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52, we'll read in verse 7. This is a verse you probably know, have heard many times. But I wonder if you would look at it look at it again afresh this morning in 13:50 a new way, in a way that maybe you haven't seen it before, in a way that I don't know that I had really seen it before. Isaiah 52, verse 7. You must know that Isaiah was preaching to a people a speaking as a prophet to a 14:04 people who were in rebellion, and he was trying to warn them. He was trying to draw them back, and then along came Hezekiah, and he ministered to him, and Hezekiah was a good king. But Isaiah was set in this context where where 14:16 it was a precursor to the judgment that was impending. And here he says, "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news." This is a verse that's often used in the context of evangelism, of going out and 14:31 telling the world the gospel, telling them that Jesus died for them and has come to save them. But read it carefully again with me. "Who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation." And I want you to 14:45 see who the salvation is being announced to, who the good news is being announced to, who the gospel is being announced to, who says to Zion, "Who's Zion?" Anybody know? Children? Who is Zion? Look around you. We are the Yes, 15:01 Nathaniel. Heaven is Yes. And the fact that God has come to bring heaven down to this earth is we are now Zion in a physical reality that is Zion, you're right. But today we, the church that will be taken up to heaven if when Jesus comes back, we, the 15:16 church, look around you. This is Zion. This is the gospel. This is the good news. Telling Zion, "Your God reigns." I think we need to go back to the foundation of the gospel. As a church, perhaps, the church of Jesus Christ needs to come back to a 15:34 foundation on this reality, our God reigns. And you know what would happen if we come to that place where we are secure, where we're resting in the fact that my God reigns. It will cause us to go out into circumstances on this earth where we 15:50 could be shaken, harassed, oppressed, uh perplexed, and all kinds of things could happen to us. We could be caught off guard, and we will be proclaiming loudly, "Our God reigns." I believe that this is our mission and when we gather 16:04 here on Sunday morning, when we meet for Bible studies on Wednesday, when we gather for prayer, it must be us STIRRING EACH OTHER UP. IT MUST BE US STIRRING EACH OTHER UP. WHEN you come and share your testimony with me, I want 16:16 to hear through that, but you know what, Santosh, in the midst of everything I'M GOING THROUGH, MY GOD REIGNS. Our God reigns. And then I'll share a testimony with you. And then and perhaps things are going so bad and this seems 16:27 hopeless, but at the end of it we will proclaim loudly, "Our God reigns." Do you believe that? Let's say that together, church. Our God reigns. Let's say like we believe it. Our God reigns. Amen. That's why he says in verse eight, 16:43 "Listen, your watchmen lift up their voices. They shout joyfully together, for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion." So, I understand that this in the when he's saying this verse, it's set in the 16:57 context before the restoration. Maybe you're in a phase in your life, dear friend, where the restoration has not yet happened. You're waiting for something to happen, for the Lord to bring you into a place, into the promised land, into an area of freedom 17:10 in your life that hasn't yet happened. And in the midst of that, while you're waiting for the miracle to happen, he wants you to wants to hear you say, "Our God reigns." This is what the watchmen are proclaiming. Your restoration is yet 17:22 to come, but God has planned it out from the beginning. Our God reigns. You know that verse in 1 John 4 verse 16, "God is love." God is love. He reigns. He's in control, and he's your heavenly father. On that next slide, in the beginning. 17:40 You know, from I wonder where your Bible begins. For most people, in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 because that's how it's written. I want to show you where my Bible begins. It's actually in Ephesians chapter 4. Actually, in Ephesians 17:53 chapter 1. My Bible begins in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1 verse 3. See, Genesis chapter 1 talks about in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God made the things we see in the beginning. The Bible calls it the 18:12 beginning. But, that's just because that's what he's talking about. If you read the Bible more carefully, you will see that there was a beginning before the beginning that he's talking about in Genesis 1 verse 1 that he talks about 18:22 here in Ephesians chapter 1. And that's where you and I come into the picture. The beginning in Genesis 1 verse 1 was for the world. And yes, our physical reality. The beginning in Genesis 1 verse 1 was about the physical reality that we see 18:35 when Adam became a living soul. The spiritual reality is talked about here in Ephesians chapter 1. Verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the 18:47 heavenly places in Christ just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." He chose us in him before Genesis 1 verse 1. That's what Ephesians 1 verse 4. So, my Bible, because I'm a child of God, because he 19:01 goes on to say that we would be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his 19:17 grace which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved which is Jesus. So, before the foundations of the world, he said, "Santosh is going to be my son." He looked into the future and saw the choices I make and he looked and he made 19:31 a plan for me. He says, "I'm predestined destining you to be my son and adopt me as his son. So, that's where my life began. My life didn't begin in Genesis 1:1 verse 1. My life didn't even begin on April 3rd in 1973 when I was born to this world or 9 19:50 or months or so before that when I was conceived in my mother's womb. No, it it happened long before that. Long before my grandfather and his grandfather and our ancestors, long before Methuselah and long before Adam, long before even 20:03 this world existed, you were there in the mind of God. And he predestined you. He made a plan for you. He says, "That's going to be my boy. That's going to be my girl. I have a plan for them. I have a destination for them. They I'm going 20:16 to adopt them into my family." I mean, talk about adopting a a child before the child's even born. I mean, that you you we have that in the world today where the where where the mom mom's carrying a baby and somebody says, "Okay, I'm going 20:30 to adopt that child because the mom can't have the baby or take care of the baby." What about adopting a child before conception? I mean, the baby's not even conceived yet, but I've already adopted it. This is God who before I was 20:42 even conceived, before I there was any physical reality, before my ancestors were conceived, before there was any evidence of life on this earth, I was already already conceived in a spiritual way in the mind of God. This is 20:55 Ephesians 1:4 and so I have this there. Your heavenly father's plan for you began before the foundations of the world and in that plan, he picked you to be his son or daughter. In that plan he picked you to be his son or daughter. 21:11 No, you must be absolutely certain of this because you and I are are living in the midst of this time and space continuum where we're in the middle of our lives, where we have past realities that we're aware of and future realities 21:26 that we're uncertain about. And in the middle of this, sitting here, aware of all the wicked things I've done, aware of all the mistakes, uncertain about what might come in the future. Am I going to make it? God says, "In the 21:37 middle of that, here you are sitting in the middle of this time, linear time that you think of." I said, "That's my arms are beyond time. Time is contained in me, and in this containment, I already planned your destination." 21:51 In his plan, he picked you to be his son or daughter. At your beginning, when you came into the picture, when I came into the picture, Jeremiah chapter 1. It's good to know these verses because now you may not need them as much, but 22:09 the time will come when you'll need to have your foundation on the word of God. And I hope the things you hear today through the Holy Spirit, not through my voice, will stick with you. And if it means writing it down, if it means 22:19 taking a picture of the screen or whatever, so that you go back and you and and your foundation is built on the word of God because that's where you'll get faith in your circumstance when you need it. Faith comes from hearing the 22:30 word of Christ. Jeremiah 1:5, the word verse 4, the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." So, my beginning was even before my conception. I already showed you that my beginning was way back there before 22:45 the foundations of the world. But even before my dad and mom decided to have me as a son in their home, God decided to have me in his home, in his family. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Do you know that God knew you before you 23:01 were even conceived in your mother's womb. Before you were even conceived in your mother's womb, God knew you. You didn't know him yet, but he knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. Not only did he know you, but he set you 23:15 apart. He said, "That's my special son. That's my special daughter." Does God have favorites? I want you to know he does. You are his favorite. And every one of you are equally his favorite. God has favorites. He consecrated you. 23:30 That's what I think the word consecration means. Favorite. You're my favorite. Now, this this isn't about me looking at others and saying that God likes me more than you or likes me or he's given me more or God likes me less. 23:40 No. It's I am God's favorite. He consecrated me. He made a special plan for me that's just about me. That has nothing to do with anybody else. Not even my husband or wife or children or parents. Not nothing not affected by the circumstances in which I 23:56 was born. Not affected by my home life or the the brokenness of circumstances around me. None of that has anything to do with the fact that God knew you before you were even born. And he knew the circumstances in which you would be 24:09 born. And he made a plan for that. And he knew the home you would grow up in. And he knew all those things that would happen that you're aware of in the past and the things that are waiting for you in the future. And he knew you and 24:19 consecrated you. Your heavenly father knew you before even your mama knew you. And while you were in her womb, he had already set you apart for himself. Psalm 139. After you were conceived, 24:39 you know, most of us keep track of birthdays. I think every It's every human being, at least, in in most cultures keep track of birthdays. They keep track of the day they were born and they celebrate it every year. Um Um it's interesting that 24:54 you only see two people celebrating birthdays. I think one was Herod, and the other was Pharaoh. Uh they recorded birthdays that were celebrated in in in scriptures. I I It doesn't mean anything necessarily, but um I like to think of really my birthday 25:07 was all the way back, like I said, before the foundations of the world, cuz that's my spiritual birthday. Yeah, I you know, I actually don't remember the date when I was born again. And I'll tell you why that's not really 25:17 that significant to me. If you do remember, that's wonderful. If you do remember, I don't remember the date. I'll tell you why, because the date is not as important as the fact that it happened all the way back in the founda- 25:26 before the foundations of the world. That's when it happened. That's when God chose me already, and the date that I am aware of is when I just accepted that call. And I said, "Yes, Lord, you chose me. I choose you." Now, I returned that 25:38 choice. That's That's the date I'm trying to remember. Now, we don't know the date, but that's happened before the foundations of the world. So, before the foundations of the world was my spiritual birth, as it were, in 25:49 the mind of God. And then, before I was conceived, again he chose me and consecrated me. And then, after I was conceived, look at what he says in verse 13. Psalm 139, verse 13. For you formed my inward parts. Inside your mother's womb, God was forming your 26:07 insides, the insides of the insides. He says, "You formed my inward parts." The literal word is kidneys. That's the Hebrew word used there, kidneys. You formed my kidneys, representing those inner inner inner areas that sometimes 26:21 you don't even think about. When's the last time you thought about your kidneys? And yet, God took pains to record, "I remember when I made your kidneys." That day, I mean, some months before April 3rd, 1973, God was piecing 26:37 together my little kidneys, and he took pains to record it here in scripture. This is how much he cares for me. This is how much he cares for you. You formed my kidneys. You formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's 26:50 womb. Your heavenly father took great pains in stitching together. He used that word weave. In stitching together, you thought it was just cell to cell to cell and your mom ate good so that she nursed nourished you inside her womb and 27:06 eventually you grew and the baby belly kind of grew out. You thought that's all it was. But really this was God painstakingly stitching and knitting each inward part. Look at the detail with which he describes it. To show us how much he 27:19 cares for us. You think this problem that you're facing is so big when he took such pains to handcraft your body when you were in your mother's womb. Your heavenly father took great pains in stitching together your entire being. So 27:33 he loves you just the way you are. And we live in a world that shames people for the way they look or the glorifies people for the way others look. And what we see in God's word over and over and over again is reject this 27:48 world's idea of looks. Reject this world's idea of fashion or what's beautiful. You, my son, you, my daughter, are beautiful to me because I painstakingly took care about every little aspect of your body. I mean the way your chin is 28:04 and the way your cheekbones are and the way your hair is and your ears and all this stuff. The things that maybe you're sensitive about and you're you're embarrassed about, God was very intentional about it. You thought it was 28:17 a mistake. God didn't. He was very intentional about making you just the way you are and he wants you to believe in him and trust him that he had a purpose even in your physical creation for the spiritual reality that's 28:31 awaiting us. You wove me in my mother's womb. Verse 16. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance. This is while you were unformed yet in your mother's womb. He's talking about 28:51 all the way back, whatever number of years ago that was for each of you. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. While 29:04 you were growing in your mother's womb and just enjoying the swimming pool in there, what was God doing? Your heavenly Father was writing the calendar of your life. This day What are we on? April 24th, 2016, is not just going to happen. You know when 29:20 April 24th, 2016, was planned for your own life? While you were in your mother's womb. He made a record of every single day of your life. Maybe you're not facing a difficult circumstance right now, but the day will come, or maybe has come, maybe it is 29:34 today, when you're not sure if God is in control of the circumstance that you're facing. And in the midst of that trial, go back to Psalm 139:16 and say this. Proclaim our God reigns. Why? Why is that important for me to proclaim 29:48 in the midst of my circumstance? Because Lord, I'm facing a circumstance right now where the devil and everybody around me is telling me that you don't reign, and yet I must go back here and rest my faith and my confidence in the fact that 30:00 this day, every single minute, from the beginning to the end, was recorded in your book. And that book is still there in heaven. And you're looking at that book, and nothing's changed in terms of whether you're in control and whether 30:11 you're going TO FULFILL YOUR PURPOSE IN MY LIFE. OH, that brings me comfort. That brings me confidence that there in heaven is a book that has already written out what's going to happen, and God is paying close attention to it. 30:22 If not, why would he take the pains to record it? While you were growing in your mother's womb, your heavenly Father was writing the calendar of your life, every single day. And he finished it before you were even born. 30:39 The days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. He finished writing the book. There's no part of the book of your life that's unfinished yet from God's perspective. I don't know what's waiting me in the 30:50 future, but I know this. The book has already been written of my life. And by faith I can see at the end of that book it says, "It is finished." The end of God's book is not the end. It says, "It is finished." What? Here was my son, my daughter whom before 31:05 the foundations of the world I chose. In love I adopted them into my family and I I knit their body parts together and made them fearfully and wonderfully in her mother's womb, in his mother's womb, and I recorded it with great detail 31:19 every single thing that they were going to go through with that book. And at the end of that book I wrote, "It is finished." Because it was said about Jesus, because it was said about Paul, and it will be said, you can say by faith, about you 31:30 and I. It is finished. Verse 1 of Psalm 139. Beautiful Psalm. Go back and read the whole thing. It's just powerful what David saw. O Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise 31:49 up. I mean, how many times have you skipped over that verse? You know my sitting down and my standing up. You know the reality of that? I I was sitting there earlier when I was listening to the brothers sharing and I and I was just thinking about this verse 32:01 again. I was like, man, that's got to be a pretty that's quite the micro-manager who keeps track of when I stand up and sit down. Imagine if you had a boss who he's sitting there over there and he's got this camera on you. Okay, standing up now. Oh, sitting 32:13 down now. Standing up now. What's going on over there? Oh, he's going to go get a drink. Oh, he's going to the bathroom. This is God micro-managing your life in a loving way. Keeping track of your sitting down, your standing. I mean, you stood up 32:25 because Ruben said, "Let's stand up." And you sat down when Ruben said, "Okay, you can be seated." You know that God was keeping Yes, they sat down. Yes, they stood up. Before the foundations of the world. Do you think this God misses little other details of 32:39 your life that you think are you so important? When you forget about the standing up and the sitting down, you just do it. When you see somebody say, "Oh, yeah, it's time to sit down. Okay. Let's sit down and have a meal." It's 32:47 just so, you know, it just happens in our lives and yet God says, "No, it doesn't just happen. I'm recording it." You sat down, yes, let's write it down. A micromanaging God in a loving way. You know me when I sit down and when I 33:04 rise up. You understand my thought from afar. This is beautiful because God does seem distant, doesn't he? There are times when God seems afar and yet he records when I when when it seems like I'm afar, I want you to know I know your 33:17 thoughts. Not only am I am I aware of your circumstances, not only am I aware of all the things around you, I even know your thoughts. Those thoughts that you're afraid to even say out loud because you wonder, "Lord, will it be too much for me to say what 33:33 I'm thinking about how I I feel hurt or I feel a resentment towards you or I feel these things and I'm afraid to even voice it." God says, "I know it already. And even though I seem distant, even though it seems like I'm not near you 33:45 helping you in a way that you want me to help you, I am helping you. I'm aware of your thoughts even from afar." You scrutinize. That's the biblical word for micromanage. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately 34:02 acquainted with all my ways. There is no father or mother on this earth that could ever do this. I mean, I watch over my children, I try to and I'm very protective of them. I I'm careful over it, but that's nothing compared to what 34:15 he's I haven't kept track of when Xavion, Olivia, and Vienna, and Daphne, and Catalina stand up and sit down. I'm not doing that. Now, if they're running out on the street, sure, I'm watching over that and all these other things, 34:24 but standing up and sitting down, that's really not that important to me, but it is to my father in heaven. It's important to him. He want He records it because he wants me to know that if he would take such pains over that, how 34:35 much more those things that we think are important to me? Things that will affect the destiny of my life. Oh, he cares. Oh, how he loves you. You're intimately acquainted with all my ways. Your heavenly Father knows everything about 34:50 you, even when you sit down and stand up. Look at this in verse 17, same chapter. Psalm 139:17, "How precious also are your thoughts to me, oh God! How vast is the sum of them? If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. 35:08 When I awake, I am still with you." The next time you go to a beach and you're taken up with all the water, stop for a moment and try to count the sand in maybe a 1 square foot area. See if you can successfully do that. 35:20 Count the sand on the seashore. Your heavenly Father thinks about you more often than that. I mean, you You and I could not possibly count every grain of sand that's there. And yet, God says, "That's how great my thoughts are towards you. Even bigger 35:34 than all those sands. If you could count all the sand on the seashore, even that wouldn't be as much as much as my thoughts towards you. I'm thinking about you all the time. I've been thinking about you before the foundations of the 35:46 world." Doesn't that seem like an infinity ago? I mean, we don't know what that is exactly. The world, you know, scientists claim it's billions of years before this world was formed. I know that my life began billions, quadrillions, infinity ago in 36:01 the foundation of the world. And since then, he's been thinking about me. Since that time when all the stuff was going on and during the flood, you know what God was thinking about during the flood? Santosh. Put your name there. It 36:12 wasn't just Noah and his his family. See, that's the thing. We can get into these stories of the Bible and think this is for them. No, it was for you. God wouldn't have taken the pains to record these stories and allow that 36:24 preservation of life if he didn't have you in mind personally. Even the midst of that flood, as the world was being destroyed, says, "I got to make a way for somebody to survive through this flood because down the road is going to 36:36 come put your name there. And I have a plan for him. And nothing, even the sin of the world around around Noah, even that wickedness where God was like, "WHY DID I EVEN MAKE MAN?" didn't change the fact that at the end of it he says, "No, 36:50 I got to write, 'It is finished' at the end of Santosh's book life book." And you too, put your name there. Through Sodom and Gomorrah, and through the judgment, and through what was going on in Israel and Judah, God was like, "I got to get Santosh to 37:04 the end of his life so he says, 'It is finished.' And in order for that to happen, I got to preserve this line of Judah. And they're going to go to Babylon, but I got to preserve them there. AND THEY'VE GOT TO COME BACK TO 37:13 ISRAEL BECAUSE JESUS IS GOING TO COME AND Jesus is the center of it all. He's the hinge around which around which I can he can therefore write at the end of my life, 'It is finished.'" You see how God was doing a wonderful thing. 37:28 His thoughts towards me began all the way back before the foundations of the world. Matthew chapter 10. Here's some more micromanaging for you. I want to tell you the context first of 37:51 all. He's talking about where the world does evil to us. The we experience evil in this world. Specifically, he's talking about where we face persecution. And the time is coming, I believe in Christians will face persecution. 38:03 It's already happening in other parts of the world. Time is coming when it will happen in this country as well. Don't be fooled. Don't be deceived. So, this in the midst of that, he says, um "Do not fear those who kill the body." 38:16 Verse 38. Matthew 10 verse 28. "Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul." So, what he's saying there is this destination I have for you is not even affected by the fact that they will do harm to your body. 38:30 Let's say somebody comes in here right now and kills us all for the sake of Christ. Are you Christian? Hold your hand up. Yes, I am. Life over. They shoot me or do whatever. Even that which seems like is in the control of 38:42 that terrorist or in the control of that person waving that weapon at me is really not in his control at all. Because he says, "Do not fear those who can harm the body because your reality, the end of your life, your predestination has not is not affected 38:56 at all by your physical body. Do not fear those who seem to have control over your body because they don't have control over your destiny. They cannot harm the soul." That's what that means. They cannot harm your eternal destiny. 39:11 Neither can cancer, neither can sickness, neither can AIDS, neither can anything that I that God allows to happen in my life. The soul is the most important thing. What will it a profit a man therefore if he gains the whole world and has perfect 39:27 health and is healed from his sickness and lives a wonderful life and has all the money in the world and all his business prospects succeed and all his plans work perfectly but he loses his soul, what will it profit a man? 39:41 But it will be profit if the no matter what happens to us on this earth, no matter what frustration, no matter what roadblocks we face, no matter what brick walls we hit, they cannot touch my destiny that's hidden there in my soul. Even the devil 39:55 cannot touch that. What Rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. Two sparrows are worth one cent. You 40:14 know, every now and then um you might see a penny lying on the ground and so one of my kids asked me the other day, "Hey, how come nobody You see a lot of pennies laying around. You don't see dollar bills and hundred dollar bills. 40:24 You see pennies." And that was a teaching moment for our children. We told them, "Yeah, because penny's not that valuable. It's like, oh, if you lost a penny, if you can't find it right away, you probably think, ah, it's only 40:33 a penny." That's the mentality that you you you the world has towards sparrows. Not only that, half of that. He says, "Two sparrows are worth a penny." So, this is like half a penny. That's one sparrow. Do you feel like half a penny 40:46 in your life? Do you feel like you're insignificant in your life? I'm only half a penny. Look at what he says. "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent, and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father?" God is 40:57 watching that half a penny that fell out of your pocket and says, "That bird that That that is worth only half a penny to this world, I care about it. That bird just ran into that window, and boom, fell down. He watched it. 41:09 He saw it happen. You may not You may not have thought anything about it, but God did. Why did he do that? Because he wants to show you that his care for you and for me is even greater. "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent, 41:21 yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father?" Verse 31, "So, do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows." If God would pay such close attention to that half a penny worth sparrow, and then he 41:36 says, "You listen. You are worth more to me than many many. You take all of these sparrows, count them like the sand on the seashore, and you're worth more to me than that. Look at how I care for you." Verse 30, "The very hairs of your head are all 41:48 numbered." I don't know that I've ever, you know, even paid attention to the hair that I see on my pillow when I wake up in the morning or in the shower, you know. You get to be my age, all of a sudden the hair's coming out all over 41:59 the place. You see it, and God is keeping track of it. He says, "I I counted that. You know, you just went on with your life, but I love you so much, my child. I care for you so much that I want to show you my care by the fact that I even took the pains to 42:13 number your hair. And as they grew, I numbered it. You know, there's one more growing on his head. Look at the care that your father has for you. Is there any circumstance that he cannot handle if he's watching you that closely? 42:25 Is there anything that he's not in control of as he watches you that closely? When you got up this morning, you probably didn't even notice that some of your hairs had fallen out on your pillow, but your heavenly father did. 42:39 Jeremiah 29 You don't know the plans your father, heavenly father has for you. We're not given to know them, but he sure does. And those plans haven't changed one bit 42:58 despite the poor choices you've made. You've made a lot of poor choices. I have. And I know the devil has tried to hold that over me. He says, "Well, you see, you did that to yourself. You deserve what you're getting." But I want you to know, dear friend, 43:11 that God's plan for your life, to give you a future and a hope, is not in the one bit affected by the poor choices you made, by the sin, by the filth that's there in your past. No. Yes, it's there. Thank God for Jesus Christ that it's forgiven. If you're 43:25 forgiven, there's nothing that can hinder God from fulfilling his purpose in your life except if you say, "Well, Lord, my problem's too bad. You can't solve my problem." You know what Jesus said to such people? "According to 43:36 your faith, be it unto you." I believe that heaven in heaven we will see. There will be stories like this in heaven of people who didn't go to heaven because they thought, "Well, Lord, my problem's too big for you. I'm not going to put my 43:48 faith in you. It's too late for me. I'm already towards the end of my life. Uh come what may, I can't I It's too late for me. You can't My situation is too hopeless. I've been addicted to this for so long. I My habits are so I'm such an old dog, 44:02 you can't teach me new tricks. This is it. This is the life I'm going to live for the rest of my life. Let me just live out my miserable existence. And then there will be others in heaven who make it to heaven whose problem was 44:13 worse. Who were far more gone. Who were far more hopeless. Who said, "Yes, Lord, my situation is hopeless, more hopeless than anybody else I know of, BUT YOU ARE MY GOD AND you reign and you're a good God and you're my HEAVENLY FATHER. YOU 44:28 HAVE TRUSTED IN YOU. YOU PICKED ME OUT BEFORE the foundations of the world. You take care of this problem." And he said, "Good, I'm glad you asked because I will take care of it." And heaven will be full of the I think eternity will be 44:39 full of this these circumstances that glorify God. That God received glory through people who were willing to trust him in hopeless hopeless circumstances. Where they felt miserable and the the Christian life was just a matter of 44:53 going through the motions and they didn't really feel anything and they just went from one day to the next and this is my life. And God says, "Will you put your trust in me today? Will you allow me to captivate you and bring you into the reality of that rest 45:05 that we sang about and the rest that we heard about? Where we can delight ourselves in him." If you're not there yet, maybe it's a spiritual struggle you have. Where you think, "Well, Lord, why is it that I I I want these things in this world? Why is 45:17 that desire that word was talking about? Why is that desire there? I want to desire you. I want to be able TO SAY THAT I HAVE NOTHING IN HEAVEN or on earth besides you." Change me, Lord. Change my heart. He says, "Ask me. I will do it for you." 45:31 You don't know the plans your heavenly Father has for you, but he sure does. And those plans haven't changed despite the poor choices you've made. Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know Again, this is set right before the 45:49 captivity if not during it. Because he says in verse 10, "When 70 years have been completed." This is during the 70 years. This is during the penance, if you will. That the the discipline that God had put on his people in the midst 46:03 of that. Maybe they were already in Babylon. Maybe they they're already there and they're in captivity. And in the midst of that, he gives them these powerful words, "You who are in captivity, you who are in bondage, you 46:14 who are facing circumstances that you feel are beyond your control." He says, "I know the plans I have for you." Plans for your welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope in the midst of your difficult 46:28 circumstance. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. In the midst of your bondage, in the midst of your difficult, trying circumstance, 46:43 dear friend, call on him. Seek him with all of your heart. It's not too late. It doesn't matter how you feel. It doesn't matter if the last few days or weeks or months or years have been plagued with discouragement. Your God 46:55 says, your God who reigns, who is love, who is your father says to you, "Call on me. I will listen. Call on me one more time. I will listen. Don't give up. Don't give up hope. Keep hope alive." It's not too late. If you will seek him 47:10 with all of your heart, you will find him. That's a promise. That's a promise. And Abraham was called a man of faith because he believed God's promises. No matter what the circumstances around me, no matter how I feel, no matter how much people tell me 47:24 that you're not going to have a son, I did at the age of a hundred. And such people take and we take our example from Abraham and foremost from Jesus who allowed himself to come onto this earth and risked the potential of what could 47:38 happen to him on this earth having emptied himself and yet he trusted the Father completely and proved that that life of faith and dependence on God overcomes and reigns. And even death cannot hold it. You know, from an outward perspective, 47:53 it looked like Jesus' life was outside of his control. I mean, people were always harassing him, chasing him. He was always, you know, moving here and there, and people were playing him. It almost always seemed like circumstances 48:04 around Jesus' life dictated his life. The reality is that's not the case. Herod was out to kill him. God was still in control. Herod tried to kill him during his life. God was still in control. Pilate said, "Don't you know you I have the right to 48:15 kill you?" God was still in control. And Jesus proudly proclaimed that. He says, "You have no authority OVER ME. YOU'RE NOT IN CONTROL, PILATE. I know you're a control freak, and you like to act like you're in control, but you're not. My 48:26 father in heaven is in control." And when you face trying circumstances like that, dear brother, dear sister, where they try to threaten you, say, "Don't you know I have the power to" inwardly you can say, you don't have to 48:38 tell them outwardly unless the Lord gives you the the unction to do it. Inwardly you can say, "You don't have control. My God reigns. Yes, you're treating me this way. Yes, you're taking advantage of me this way. Yes, this 48:50 circumstance has happened to me. Yes, this sickness has come upon me that I wasn't aware of, but my God reigns." Romans 8. Your heavenly father is on your side 49:16 against the devil. I used to think, well, I'm on the Lord's side. Yes, that's true. The reality is it's the Lord's side, but he took pains to say I'm on your side. Here in 8:31, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, 49:32 if God is for us." Now, not everybody in the world can claim that. There's an if there. If God is for us, and the the promise is for those who are verse verse one, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So, if you want God to be for 49:45 you, you place yourself in Christ Jesus, because he is for Jesus. God the Father is for Jesus, for the kingdom of that Jesus has established. And if you're IN CHRIST, HE'S FOR YOU. That's what verse 31 means. What then shall we say to 49:58 these things? If God is for us, who is or who can be against us? Your heavenly Father is on your side against the devil. And to prove it, he says in verse 32, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how 50:14 will he not also with him freely give us all things? To prove that he's on your side, he delivered up his son. You know what delivered up means? It means that they came to grab his son, he says, "Yeah, take him." I would never do that to any of my 50:27 children. You try to grab me, I'm going to protect them. I'm not going to deliver my children up to you. And yet God, our heavenly Father, did. Cuz he says, "Here, here you scribes and Pharisees, take my son and and put the 50:38 thorns on his head and beat him and whip him and punch him and poke nails in his hands and crucify him. Here, do that to him. Why? Because Santosh, I want to write at the end of his life, it is finished. And I can't do that if I don't 50:51 deliver up my son to you, wicked chief priests and Pharisees and Roman soldiers." You see the intention of God as they were whipping his son, Santosh. Now, not be your name. It's important that you are resting in the reality of that. That as the Father 51:08 turned his face away and had to forsake his son and Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It's because God was determined to fulfill his purpose in my life and in your life. Even the agony of seeing his son suffer 51:23 on the cross. I mean, do you know what agony that is? I can imagine the the heart of God, whatever that is like in its infinite way, felt such agony that we can't even comprehend when Jesus was there on the cross for those three 51:35 and a half hours bearing my sin, becoming my sin, who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God. And in through that all, he he's like, I mean, I wonder if if I could put myself in that situation if just to use an 51:50 earthly example, I don't think this was a reality, but let's pause there for a moment and think of it this way. The the more they harassed Jesus and the more the Father who loved his son so much saw them torturing him, and he's like, 'I 52:00 got to make it stop. I HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE IT STOP. I'M GOING TO MAKE IT STOP right now.' But then, what held his hand back from doing it was he saw my name there. And at the end of my the book of my life, he remembered. He said, 'Yes, 52:12 it has to be said about her. It has to be said about him, "It is finished." Go ahead, do some more. Beat him some more. Press that crown of thorns down some more. Crucify him. Let him die. And let him bear my sin. Let him bear 52:26 their sin. That we might become his righteousness. Oh, how he loves you. We'll continue it next time. Amen.
