0:00 Um, I want to share an encouragement that I received from the memory verse. Um, how the Lord wants me to react to daily convictions uh, that he's been speaking to me. I want to share from Nehemiah chapter 8. Uh, in this chapter we see the Israelites 0:19 who had returned from Babylon and had just finished uh, a very important work of building the wall around Jerusalem. Uh, and once they finished it, uh, they were the the law was read to them by Ezra. Um, and when they heard God's word spoken to 0:37 them it says that they were convicted and they were mourning. Uh, and I believe they saw how uh, short they fell from that standard that they saw in the law that was preached to them. Uh, and that made them really sad about 0:54 their sin. And I was thinking in a similar vein uh, about how we have listened to so many different messages over the weeks uh, that showed us God's standard um, being preached to us every week after week about family life, about how 1:11 to be a devoted Christian how to uphold the standard of Jesus. Uh, and daily we see our shortcomings. I see my shortcomings. Uh, and I was encouraged by this passage. We see here in verse 9 that Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites 1:30 they say to the people who were mourning uh, and it says uh, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep. For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, go eat of the fat, 1:47 drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared for this day is holy to the Lord. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And um I was thinking about why they were asked not to weep. 2:03 Um when the Holy Spirit convicts me of my shortcomings, yes, there is mourning. Um the Lord brings um deep sadness about uh the fact that I don't um that I don't fulfill his his law. But at the same time, I am asked to rejoice. And I see 2:19 that in our memory verse as well, that he's still working on us. Um I'm encouraged to rejoice in the fact that uh the Lord loves me enough to show me my shortcomings in the first place. Uh and not only that, but to rejoice 2:35 that he is the one who will help me overcome my sin. He doesn't just give me a bad report about my health. He's the one who offers to make me whole. Um In other words, that um blessed me in this regard was Psalm 30:5. It says, "For his anger is but for 2:52 a moment. His favor is for a lifetime." "Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning." And in this uh I want to find strength every day. Uh especially when he shows me my shortcomings as a husband, I want 3:07 to go to him. Uh when he shows me my shortcoming as a uh as a new father, I want to go to him. And uh in the New King James version, this uh our memory verse is uh translated like this. It says, "The Lord will perfect that which concerns 3:24 me." And so with every area of my life, and especially in the area that the Lord is working on me today, uh to make me a little more like Jesus, I believe that he will uh work on me in love until I'm perfect like Jesus. Amen. 3:42 Psalm 138: 8. "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me." "Your loving kindness, oh Lord, endures forever." To grow in Christ likeness is like a climbing a mountain as we have heard often. I feel the giants in my flesh and the 4:00 world around me too strong for me to walk on. And the trials that I go through are not pleasant. My cross feels even more heavy when I look at other people's crosses. So, I must be very careful not to look at anyone else. 4:16 In the midst of it all, I'm encouraged to look at the memory verse. That the Lord will deal with whatever he's throwing me and he will work out his plan for my life out of his faithful love. Also, he will give me strength as I walk 4:33 towards him. In Psalm 138:3, uh it says, "You made me bold and strengthened my soul." According to Isaiah 40:31, as I wait on the Lord, I will gain new strength. And Jesus said, "Take heart, I have overcome this 4:51 world." In John 16:33. I want to take heart and trust that the Lord is more more than able to carry me. Uh I would like to share from the promise of this week's memory verse. The my Lord will 5:09 accomplish what concerns me. And the loving kindness, oh Lord, uh is everlasting. So, um I I received this week uh uh an encouragement and uh a blessing and a warning from the 5:29 life of uh King Solomon. And uh he's the the most wisest man uh ever lived uh on the earth. But but if uh if if I I request you to turn towards the uh book of First Kings, 5:47 the 1st chapter chapter 3. 1st Kings chapter 3. And verse 3 says, Solomon loved the Lord. And it continues verse 4, Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 6:07 Verse 5, Gibeon and in Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon. And asked God God asked him hey ask Solomon what do you want? And then verse 6, Solomon says you have shown great loving kindness to 6:26 your servant David my father. And again in the same verse it says, You have reserved for him this great loving kindness. And verse 7, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in the place of my father David. Yet I am but a little child. I do not 6:46 know how to go out or come in. Your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people. So, here I received first verse it says like you know in the verse 3, 7:01 Solomon loved God. So, as a as as a believer and as a disciple who decided to follow Jesus Christ, I should have a great love for my God. Nothing Nothing is going to replace my God's place. That's the first thing. And then the second thing is the loving 7:20 kindness Solomon has kept remembering about how God is being faithful and remembering the loving kindness of God on his dad's life and his life and then he was asking here that Lord, I am nothing. I cannot I cannot take care of these your 7:38 children, but give me give me a discernment to know which is right and wrong. That helpless dependence on God and asking in his presence and God appeared and asked him in a dream that what do you want? And then we all know that 7:55 he received the wisdom. And the lesson what I learned here is that I should have that that helpless dependence on God asking for his help. Asking for his help every day to know which is right and wrong, which is 8:13 pleasing to my father's heart. He only can disclose if I go and depend upon him and ask him. So and another thing this week we were uh in the sign of Sunday school session we were thinking about Gladys uh who was a 8:32 British born and went to China as a Christian missionary. And uh uh at the time during her time China Japanese attacked China and there was a big war. So many people died and she has a concern to take care of those orphan 8:50 children. You know, more than 100 children she took care. And she wants to take them to a safe shelter and during that process they walked through more than 20 days in the wilderness. That wilderness like they were tired and 9:04 then suddenly they come to a LOC. They has they don't know how to cross that place and she she was sad and concerned about it. And then and so one of those little kids says that you know, you remember from the Bible you told a story that uh Moses and 9:22 Red Sea. She says, I am not Moses but the child reminds that God is still God. You may not be Moses. Then she remembers that and then she started praying. Suddenly the Chinese army people comes and says that hey, you guys 9:36 are the uh in trouble. So, help us help we will help you to cross the river this LOC. What I want to learn from these two things is that there is something concerning in my heart. What is really concerning God knows it because he he knows what 9:55 really concerns me and if I have that love for God and love for his children and praise in my heart and worshipping and thanking for his faithfulness and he will accomplish my God will accomplish what really concerns to me 10:13 and uh uh if I have a concern to be filled by the power of Holy Spirit to knowing that this is the my birthright and this high standards which I cannot accomplish Lord this is so much I'm helpless but fill me at that real 10:33 concern for me to be filled by the Holy Spirit power to stand as your witness and to with my family or wherever I go and work my Lord I need your Holy Spirit power if I that desperate calling and every day and from the life 10:50 of Solomon the warning which I received was that that desire and waiting and depending on child likeness on God eventually he drifted away from that. So, I do not want to land in that situation like you know, how I had that great love and desire for 11:09 my Lord when I was born again and when I decided to be a disciple after joining NCC of church and I want to continue throughout my life that not that grip of dependence on child like dependence on God and asking for the Holy Spirit power 11:23 and that if that's a real concern in my heart my Lord will accomplish what concerns my heart I I have a great confidence in this Lord. I believe he will help me. Psalms 138 verse 8. The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Your loving 11:40 kindness, oh Lord, is everlasting. I love how this verse is written in the living where it says, "The Lord will work out his plans for my life. For your faithful love, oh Lord, endures forever." This verse can be such a reassurance to 11:54 me and to every one of us every day of our lives. But we must be careful to examine whether we can really claim it. And I believe this promise is a conditional one. And the condition is listed a couple verses earlier where it 12:07 says, "Though the Lord is exalted, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud." This is Psalms 138 verse 6. And this is the same verse which is referred to in James and 1 Peter where it says, "God resists the 12:21 proud, but gives his grace to the humble." I believe the Lord cannot work out his plans for me if I'm not humble and lowly, and if he is keeping me at a distance and resisting me because of my pride. Secondly, this verse specifically says 12:36 that God will work out his plans for my life, not my plans for my life. So, what exactly are God's plans for my life? I believe God's plans for my life are the same today as they will be tomorrow as they were yesterday as they are for 12:50 each of us when he created us and when he created man 6,000 years ago. In Genesis 1:26, God said, "Let us create man in our image and our likeness." I believe today God is saying the same thing. Every day I picture God in heaven saying from 13:09 above, "Let me Let us create Sunil a little bit more in our image today." So, I want to yield to that purpose of God's plan and have him create me more in his image every single day. I don't want to start the day by praying, "Lord, help me with this family 13:26 situation or this work situation, or my financial situation, or with my kids' future, primarily. But, I want my primary prayer to be, "Lord, what are your plans for me today? I'm available to you. Use me. Help me to be a little bit more 13:41 like you today. Help me to be a little bit more loving to my brothers and my sisters in the church, to my family members, to my wife and my kids. Help me to be a little bit more joyful in every circumstance. Help me to be a little bit 13:52 more peaceful through the season that you're taking me through in the coming weeks. Help me to be more patient and long-suffering with my wife and kids." And I believe God will honor that prayer. And the best part about this 14:03 verse is the last part, where it says, "If I'm committed to God fulfilling his plans in my life, then his loving kindness on my life will be everlasting." Amen. I was encouraged from the memory verse to see David's confidence in God's 14:19 ability. David doesn't say in the memory verse, "I will accomplish." Instead, he says, "The Lord will accomplish." The source of David's confidence was found in God and not himself. And that's what encouraged me. David was a shepherd boy 14:39 and as a shepherd boy, he must have had very low thoughts about what his future would look like. Not even in the wildest of his dreams, David must have imagined that one day he'll end up being a king. But, God had different plans for David. 14:55 God wanted David to be a king. And it's not easy to take a shepherd boy who was never trained for war, shepherd boy who never held a sword. It's difficult to take someone like that at the age of 17 and turn him into a man 15:11 of war, turn him into a king. But, the Lord did it. The Lord accomplished whatever plan he had for David's life. And that gives me tremendous confidence to believe that the Lord can do something uh similar in my life, too. Uh I don't need to look at 15:28 my weaknesses. I don't need to look at my shortcomings, but I can look to the Lord and trust in his ability to transform me from the person that I am today um into the likeness of his son Jesus in the future. Uh I can trust in 15:43 God's ability to accomplish whatever plan that he has for me, that is to conform me to the image of his um son. One of the uh quotes that has always encouraged me is uh God doesn't call the qualified, but he qualifies those whom he calls. Uh and 16:03 I believe uh the Lord is um working in my life and in our lives to um qualify us and to transform us into the very high calling that he has uh for our lives. Psalm 138 verse 8, "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Your loving 16:21 kindness, oh Lord, is everlasting." Um as many have shared already, I was really comforted um where it says the Lord will accomplish what concerns me, and I was reminded of um a song that we know called He Is Able. And the first part just says um he's 16:36 able to accomplish what concerns me today. And for me, the reminder in that word today, um like Jeremy said earlier, too, that was a great comfort to me. And it was a comfort in that um it reminded me how the Lord can take care of my 16:49 present needs, and no matter how big or how small they are. Um not just the needs uh ahead of me, but the ones I'm facing today. Um and I find that often I can be concerned with um very uncertain various uncertainties about the future and um 17:05 see a lot of big mountains ahead, and I want to trust that God will help me overcome those. Um but more importantly, I want to see God as a God who also cares about the daily small slip-ups uh and challenges that come my way. And for 17:18 me, I was thinking if I added them all up, I think that these small slip-ups every day are probably they shape me more than the big mountains that lie ahead. And so, I just was reminded also of another verse in Psalms, Psalms 68:19. 17:35 It says, "Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation." And I want yeah, just really again thankful to see that God is one who cares about my burden, cares about my concerns every single day. And he 17:50 doesn't just give me this experience of salvation and taking care of my needs when I first commit my life to him, but he does this day-by-day. And if I'm not experiencing this every single day, especially in the small areas, 18:04 then I'm not truly living out the life and the promise that he's given me. And so, I want to yeah, just continually have faith that the Lord can accomplish whatever it is that comes my way each day, especially in the ordinary 18:18 situations of life, and to have faith that he can help me to overcome. Psalm 138:8, "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Oh, sorry. Your loving kindness, oh God, is everlasting. 18:37 It was helpful for me to think the Lord will accomplish. The Lord, that was the focus. I thought one of the greatest concerns, the loving concern that God has for me is to do that impossible work, as we heard, of making me like Jesus. And we've heard 18:54 also so many times 2 Corinthians 3:18, that I look at Jesus so I can become like him. You know, for example, when he when Jesus went to go be baptized, though he was not a sinner, for righteousness, he stood in line and with everyone else, every other 19:13 sinner, and made himself of no reputation, not caring at all what others would think, but but what his father would think. And so he wanted to please his father, but so for me, too, you know, God can accomplish um that work of helping me not care 19:32 what other people think about me, good or bad, you know, but to spend a lot of time finding out, searching, what pleases you, Father? I believe that Jesus knew that all the time. To think often, you know, it pleases God. Uh 19:49 Philippians 2:13, right, to accomplish this work of making me like his son. You know, when I'm tempted to grumble or um tempted to argue with someone, argue with my spouse, um and cry out, Dad, please help me, you know, help me turn to you. 20:07 And I believe that absolutely delights his heart, you know, when I do that. Just like any parent, you know, when a when a child seeks uh help to I want to obey, you know, help me. And so it concerns my father in heaven that to partner with me to accomplish 20:25 this work of the impossible work of removing pride out of my life, you know, over and over again, one peel at a time. And as we heard from Bobby's blog, you know, the first thing on the list was what? A. You know, pride loves attention and 20:41 loves compliments, loves flattery, you know, in the secret of the heart. You know, it's the age of the selfie, you know. Look at me. You know, look at what I've done. Look at what I said. Look at you know, what I wrote or saying, you 20:55 know, me, me, me. And that ugly self is down inside of me. You know, it's in my flesh and so it partners with the devil. It doesn't partner with God. Um to uh to take credit for God's work sadly. But overarching for me, I think 21:12 what this shows, as this verse says, you know, and as we heard too, is loving kindness is everlasting. And meaning to me, you know, though God has many reasons, you know, he does not give up on me to make me like Jesus. And so, my heart 21:32 can literally leap for joy that thank you, Lord, for your enduring love, you know, to not give up on me. And if I lose everything, I still have your mercy. I still have your correction. I still have you uh rooting for me. And so, 21:50 it was also the helpful to see in verses 1 and 2, if you look there of this chapter, that I want to make up my mind right before the day starts out, I want to give you thanks. I want to pra- praises to you. I want to humble myself 22:09 as Jesus humbled himself. And then lastly, uh David says to God, on the day, verse 3, on the day I called, you answered me. And this is the key, you made me bold with strength in my soul. And that reminded me of God's grace that 22:28 the Lord will make me bold with strength to do this impossible thing of uh making me like his son. But as it's only as I turn to him, believe, Lord, you will do this for your glory. Amen. All right, uh 22:46 Psalm 138 verse 8, "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Uh your loving kindness, O Lord, uh is everlasting." I'd like to share a few things about God's love. Recently, I've seen the need in my own life uh of loving God more. And uh God has been 23:03 really encouraging me that area. Um the one biggest force that can help us go as fast as possible in the direction of carrying the cross, the narrow way, is the love of God. If that is I've seen that that is the that is the biggest force, but there are 23:21 times when I can as Jesus said in Luke 7:47 that he who is little loves little, right? Well, many times I can experience myself loving God very little. And that with that little love, the way 23:39 of the cross seems absolutely impossible task. And it leads into bitterness, discouragement, becomes a religion and things like that. But it shouldn't be that way. The love of God is absolutely powerful. The Song of Solomon says that this is 23:57 the love that the rivers cannot quench. This is the love that is so powerful that many rivers cannot overflow and and if you give all your riches, it is still useless. It it the love is so much more valuable than all that. And when when God's love is so 24:15 much available, why do I end up having this love in such a little little portion of this love? I think Romans 5:5 says that Holy Spirit is the one who gives this love freely. But um the thing that the enemy that or the virus 24:34 that can come and fight this love is I think I I think you can see in Mark 4:19 when in my heart I start giving room for the worries of this world. How will I pay all my bills? How will I you know, what about my children's 24:51 future? What about this? What about that? A lot of a lot of what abouts. And I start uh you know, maybe thinking about riches, the deceitfulness of riches, thinking as Bobby was sharing, "Hey, maybe I should think about just riches. It seems like 25:06 that seems to be solving all sorts of problems, at least 90% of problems." Or I can start desiring other things, desiring other hobbies, maybe to or desiring other skills to um up myself in my career ladder. And I guess what? That will absolutely 25:23 choke this love. And if I'm serious about walking in the way narrow way or the way of the cross, I will absolutely fall on my face thinking, "This is this is the biggest um uh hinder I mean, this is absolutely impossible. I don't know why God called 25:37 me in this direction. I can't do this." The reality will be missing my family, my life at home. But it doesn't have to end up like that. I can go to God, be honest, and say, "Lord, I lack um in your love. Your love is little in 25:53 my heart. You said you pour out your love through your Holy Spirit. I'm open. Show me these areas where there is desires for other things. I will get rid of that, as we heard in Revelation chapter 2. We I want to repent saying, 26:05 "God, show me these areas. Crack them open. Shine your light in the those areas. I will absolutely surrender those to you. And then fill me with your love and so that I can um go in this narrow way um fast as fast as you want me to be. 26:22 I I truly trust that God will help me do that. Psalm 138 verse 8. The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Your loving kindness, oh Lord, is everlasting. I also found the Living Bible really easy to understand that reads, 26:42 "The Lord will work out his plans for my life, for your loving kindness, Lord, continues forever." There are two things Jesus said at the end of his earthly life that tells me how he lived his life on earth and his attitude towards God's accomplishments 27:02 in his life. The first place is in John chapter 19 John chapter 19 verse 28. After this Jesus knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill 27:20 the scripture said, "I am thirsty." So I also need to be gripped by all that Jesus says and long for every word every his every word to be fulfilled in my life. 27:38 And the second place is in verse 30. He said, "It is finished." What an example for me to follow. After all that he had done he did not take any credit by saying, "I finished it." 27:56 So I must be thirsty to hear Jesus at every moment and have a desire to fulfill his will. To know they are they are not my plans. They are his plans and he will accomplish them. 28:13 He lets me participate in his marvelous plans. But all the glory and honor goes to my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Uh Psalms 138:8 My Lord will accomplish uh what concerns me. 28:31 Uh your loving kindness oh Lord is everlasting. When I saw this verse uh I asked myself uh what are my top most concern in my daily life? Uh the immediate thing that pops uh in my in my mind is that oh there is a software crash that I need to fix in my 28:48 office. Hey, this COVID situation, when is going to come to an end? When I'll be When I'll be back to my normal life? Uh when this COVID situation uh the COVID situation continues, how will be my job situation? etc. etc. etc. etc. 29:03 And then the uh I was asking what what is Jesus' life what it really concerned him every day. This is my life and my concerns are this but in Jesus' life what is his really concern? Uh God really led me to uh verse called 29:18 Hebrews uh 5:7 In the days of his flesh he offered up both prayers and supplication with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from the death. So the Jesus' concern is this that he wants to be saved from the 29:37 death. So what does the death really means here is death in this verse really means a spiritual death. Disconnected from God because of sin. So my prayer today is that I need the same concern Lord as you have. Not of this worldly concern, same 29:53 concern what you had Lord Jesus. Offering the prayer and supplication with loud crying that you are the only one able to save me from sin. I can't live the life that you want me to live without your Holy Spirit anointing today. 30:08 Luke 11:9 says, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you." Luke 11:12 says your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who who ask him. I believe and confess that my God will 30:23 give me a burden and concern as Jesus had to save from sin and God will accomplish this by filling me with his Holy Spirit and live for his glory. Uh Psalms 138:8, "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Your loving 30:41 kindness, oh Lord is everlasting. When I was meditating on this verse the Lord showed me that this is a wonderful promise that which David claims. The Lord will fulfill his purpose whatever he had planned for me. I was asking the Lord, Lord can I also claim 30:57 that claim this promise? And brother Zach always says that whenever the check is not in my name I cannot claim it. I realized that Sunil brother also also was sharing that this promise is only for the people humble in their heart and 31:12 leaning completely on God. In verse six like it says that he regards the people who are lowly and the proud people are far from him. Also the psalmist reminds himself that he's just a work of the Lord's hands, a pile of dust. And this 31:27 made me to examine myself like whenever I go to him like am I going to God in my unworthiness or am I going to him in a manner as though I deserve something? And God also showed me these verses in Jeremiah 18 verses one to six that 31:44 Jeremiah the prophet is going to the potter's house where the potter was making something on the wheel. And but the vessel that he was making of a clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter. So he remade it to another vessel. Here 32:00 even though the vessel he was making is spoiled because of its unyielding nature, he remade it to another vessel and fulfilled his purpose for the clay because his loving kindness is everlasting. Here I also saw that the 32:14 spoiled vessel is still in the hand of the potter. It was not slipping away from the hand of the potter in pride. It was just leaning onto the potter's hand. As long as it is in the hand of the potter it has a hope and the potter will 32:28 fulfill his purpose for that clay. Even in my life whenever God takes me through a trial to make me a beautiful vessel, I know I'm not yielding sometimes to his hands because it is painful and and I become spoiled even sometimes in sand, 32:44 but I need not to be discouraged, but as long as I am clinging on to his the Lord's hands in faith and humility and cry out to him as the psalmist says that do not forsake the work of work of your hands. In my unworthiness, if I just cry 33:00 out to him, he is faithful and fulfill his perfect plan for me in my life because his loving kindness is everlasting. I believe I believe that this will become true in my life. Praise God. Thank you elders for giving me an 33:13 opportunity to share. Psalm 138 verse 8, "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me." "Your loving kindness, O Lord, is everlasting." In King James, the word accomplish is replaced with perfect. The Lord will perfect what concerns me. I like that 33:30 word. So, when I'm born again, uh God reached out to me in my sins and I responded to his love by repenting as the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins. But, that is just the beginning of the race. From then onwards, the work of God 33:44 has begun. Uh the work of becoming perfect to become to become like Jesus. So, even though the born again experience is a one-time thing, becoming like Jesus is a long process and the Lord is going to accomplish that. As uh 34:00 brother Paul also pointed out, uh it is the focus of this verse is the Lord. The Lord who is unchanging. Jesus Christ is same yesterday, today, and forever. It's uh he's going to accomplish that. And the other verses that come to my 34:14 mind when I was meditating on this verse is Philippians 1:6, "For I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ." And also one more verse in Hebrews 12:2, 34:30 "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. And this these two verses remind me again that the Lord it's the Lord who accomplishes it and perfects it. All I need to do is to yield and submit 34:47 to him joyfully during this process rather than fighting against the situation. If the Lord allows certain things for me in my life to accomplish what he wants to accomplish, I just want to simply and joyfully yield to it. 35:02 I just was thinking about an analogy in the software development, which is my field and many people who are working in that field can relate. Um the one who designs a knows how perfect the software a program or application is. 35:16 Typically, it doesn't take a lot of time to prototype and come up with the first version of the software application, but that is not all. Extensive testing is needed to make it perfect. You have to test all the corner cases. A lot of stress testing has to be 35:31 done to reveal the bugs which should be fixed before it is deployed. After many iterations of testing, fixing with various test cases, the software piece will become stable and it's perfect and ready to be deployed. The 35:44 designer or programmer knows the flaws of the software program, and my Lord knows exactly where I am falling short of, what my weaknesses are, and he is working in me to perfect that. Maybe I'm once upon a time serving money and now I 36:00 need to move on to serving God. Maybe I'm in between right now and God is perfecting that. Once upon a time I was lusting I I had lusting eyes. Now I need to have pure eyes treating everyone as a mother or sister. I need to perfect in 36:13 that. And anger and unrest and anxiety ruling my heart, now I need to move on to having perfect rest in the Lord in all circumstances. He desires to partake He desires me to partake in his divine nature, and he works patiently with me in accomplishing 36:29 that. So, what should be my response? I just want to be constantly rooted and grounded in his everlasting love, and kindness, and mercy, and willingly submit to his correction, chastening, and pruning during this process. 36:44 And knowing that the momentary light affliction is producing for me eternal weight of glory. I do not waste the trials that the Lord lovingly allows in my life as part of this process. And also, last but not least, to be 36:58 patient with others, starting with my own wife and my children, in whom God is still working. So, I need to be patient with them because they have not become perfect like me. And we're all work-in-progress projects. And even the the verse before this 37:13 memory verse also talks about uh this uh it says, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me." So, during this process, maybe the Lord has to take us through period of trial and trouble, but the ultimately, he will 37:27 revive me. That's my focus. I should not focus too much on the short-term trials, but we know that God is leading me. I must know that God is leading me leading me with his right hand, and he will revive me one day. Uh though he takes me through the 37:41 furnace of affliction, disappointments, pain, suffering, loss, he will revive me again and perfect my faith. The Lord will accomplish, and I have faith in him. Thank you. The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Your loving kindness, oh Lord, is 37:56 everlasting. Um Psalm 138:8. In the beginning of this verse, it says, "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me." Since the Lord will accomplish it, I don't need to worry about it. I don't need to worry about not reaching God's 38:14 standard because it's too high. Instead, he will give me strength and help me to accomplish all that he has promised in my life. I believe the Lord uh will allow things to happen which helps me to be more like Jesus each day. 38:30 Like so many of you are this year. Therefore, I don't need to get disappointed whenever I have a tough day or day that is not as I have planned it. But I can rejoice in it and believe that the Lord will accomplish something in my 38:45 life even on that tough day. From an eternal point of view, the Lord will use even that tough day to help me to be more Christ-like. Thank you for letting me share and thank you for listening. Psalm 138:8 And the Lord will accomplish what 39:03 concerns me. Your loving kindness, oh Lord, is everlasting. I was encouraged to see that the Lord is honored by bold statements of faith towards him. Psalm 138 is a psalm which David wrote. 39:21 So, David wrote this verse as part of the psalm that people would sing. It's part of it. Psalm lyrics. And so, anytime people sang this song, they knew one thing about David. They knew that David was a man who put his faith in the Lord and they knew that 39:36 David was a man who trusted that the Lord would accomplish what concerns him. And the wonderful thing that encouraged me is to see that the Lord honored David's faith. If you look with me at Acts chapter 13 and verse 36. Acts 13 and verse 36. 39:55 There's a wonderful description of David's life. There it says that David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep. In other words, David accomplished God's will for his life and fell asleep. And for me, I think that's 40:12 probably the most beautiful one-sentence biography of anyone's life in the Bible. And I would very much like that verse to be true in my life. But how is that possible? I know that God created me with a purpose. He allowed me to be born again 40:30 for a purpose. He gave me my wife for a purpose. And he gave me children for a purpose. So, all I want to do today is to follow the footsteps of David and to boldly and to publicly proclaim that God's word is true. And I believe that one day in 40:47 eternity God will also say that Wen Hai and his family served the purpose of God in their generation and fell asleep. And I have absolute confidence in that because God's word is true. The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. And 41:01 he'll do it not only for me, but for anyone else who puts their faith in him. And that's what encouraged me this week. Thank you. Uh Psalm 138:8, uh the Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Uh your loving kindness, O Lord, is everlasting. Um as I meditated 41:19 on this Bible verse, um the one thing that came to mind is how the Lord has a perfect timing for the things that he plans for us in our lives that he is wanting to accomplish. And so, um it reminds me of how when I'm putting things in prayer or asking the 41:36 Lord uh for certain things or uh answering the prayers, um I can see how uh sometimes there's like a waiting period. He's silent. I don't know what's going on. And so, I feel like the Lord has set like a speed limit uh to my my walk with 41:53 him. And so, it can be very um easy to get frustrated um in regards to saying that I'm not going fast and uh he's not answering, but I can look to my side and see all other answered prayers happening and almost like other drivers passing me 42:08 by, but the Lord has given a certain speed limit uh in my walk with him, and also um in the prayers and things that he wants to accomplish in my life. And so, one of the things that came to mind as I was thinking about it in that way 42:23 was how um it's good to put things in the Lord's hands, but to hold things loosely and to trust him for the outcome. And also to not try to help him when he is trying to do his work in my life. And a perfect example of this is Sarah in the Bible in 42:40 Genesis 16, where God had made Abraham a prom- a promise and Sarah went ahead and did it her own way and had to pretty much deal with the consequences of her choices cuz then Hagar was pregnant and there was all this anger 42:56 and frustration and why, but it's she was trying to help. And so, when I see that, I'm like, Lord, I don't want to try to do things my way. I want to do things I want to align my prayers and my desires and anything along with yours 43:09 because I want you will to be accomplished in my life, not my desires and not um uh the things that this world may deem important, but truly that I focus on you who has a plan and a purpose for my life. And so, um one of 43:24 the verses that comes to mind also is Jerem- Jeremiah 29 um 11 um or 10 and 11 and it says how he has a plan for our lives and um and it's for our wellness and for our future to give us hope. And in the times of waiting is in trusting in him, it's 43:44 also for us to become more dependent and trusting of him during that season. It's not he's trying to be a a hard God and not wanting to answer, it's just that he wants us to also build up our faith and our trust in him. So, my desire for me 43:58 is, Lord, help me to always align my prayers, my desires, and everything for the plan and the purpose that you have, Lord, that you want to accomplish in my life. So, praise God for that.
