WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:22.800 Well, good morning, Awakening. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.160 It is great to be with you all. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:30.960 And uh Ryan, obviously, Robbie is getting married today. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:32.079 Big day, right? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:32.880 He and Brita. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:38.560 And um Ryan and Jenny are down with them, so I get to be with you. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:39.920 So that's a real thrill. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:43.359 Okay, I'm gonna ask you to go to a uh a little bit different place. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:49.200 I want you to, if you're comfortable, um, close your eyes because I want you to visualize a couple things. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:57.280 I want you right now to think about, ask literally God to bring to your mind what's the most challenging, difficult. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:04.319 Boy, Lord, if you could pray one prayer and he would just either change it or take it away, what would that be? 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:11.120 And if it's not something maybe just right now, maybe even in your past. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.640 Not just something hard, but something where you you just don't understand. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:29.040 I mean, if God really loves you and if he's good, then how did that person get taken away in the pandemic? 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:32.319 Or why did he or she break up with me? 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:51.920 Or how come this health issue never goes away, or this marriage never gets fixed, or ongoing something with maybe one of your kids, or you gotta betray, or you should really think about something more down deep, you say God. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:53.920 I don't get it. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:56.799 It just seems so unfair. 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:09.280 Have you got it? 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:18.240 If you're there, I'd like you to keep your eyes closed and and listen to words that might wash over that experience. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:37.039 To act actively believe that our Heavenly Father constantly spreads around us providential circumstances that work for our present good and our everlasting welfare brings to the soul a benediction of peace. 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:50.960 Most of us go through life praying, a little planning, a little jockeying position, hoping but never being quite certain of anything, and always secretly afraid that we will miss the way. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:59.439 This is a tragic waste of truth and never gives rest to the heart. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:02.080 There is a better way. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:08.319 It's to repudiate our own wisdom and take instead the infinite wisdom of God. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:15.759 Our insistence upon seeing ahead is natural enough, but it's a real hindrance to our spiritual progress. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:31.199 God has charged himself today with the full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready to take over the management of our lives the moment we turn to him in faith. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:36.080 As you open your eyes, let me repeat that last line. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:50.400 God has charged himself with the full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready today to take over the management of our lives the moment we turn to him in faith. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:54.319 We're talking about the wisdom of God in this series called Broken God. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:56.879 Really, it's more about our broken view of God. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:09.840 And my prayer is that you're gonna get a new set of glasses, a new lens, that you start looking at circumstances and life and yourself and the future through a new set of glasses that are the wisdom of God. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:24.480 And the definition classical of the wisdom of God is God brings about the best possible ends by the best possible means for the most possible people for the longest possible time. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:29.839 And that truth saved my life. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.600 I'm doing what I'm doing today because of that one truth. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:49.519 You know, sometimes I like to think of uh, you know, theology as like all these great big thoughts about God, but what I want you to know is that it's taking theology and connecting it with how life really works that brings about great peace and great transformation. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:53.360 And often it's like, when's the first time that you learn that? 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:56.560 I have to rewind many, many, many years. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:07.360 Uh I was in seminary, Teresa and I, we had at the time two little boys who were about five or six, and an 18-month-old who later became the pastor at Awakening named Ryan. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:12.720 And I was uh had a commitment, we had a commitment that Teresa should be home with our children. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:39.519 And so I was going to school full time and I was working full time, and that meant in that current world, and I had a lot of energy that I got up at about 4:30 in the morning, went to an all-night donut shop and studied Greek for about an hour and a half, got on a carpool at about seven, uh, went with a group of guys, went to school, and every moment I wasn't in the class, I had a book open to get everything done, got home, played with the kids for a few minutes, ate dinner, then went to work about 6:30 until about 11 at night. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:45.759 And then for three years, over and over and over, it was a straight commission job, so we never knew if we had enough money. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:47.920 And a number of times we didn't. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:53.199 And after three years of that, then uh the job literally it died. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:54.879 So we're broke. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:06:05.680 Um, the the little thing we did in order as an outlet, we did a little college ministry that started out with a few, you know, not that many, and it just mushroomed, and it added great joy but great stress. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:12.000 And I found myself um going on about four or five hours' sleep for three years, tension in my marriage. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:13.360 I'm absolutely broke. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:15.439 I have no money, I'm discouraged. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:21.199 In fact, I'm not discouraged, I'm depressed, and I'm thinking I was gonna be a major college basketball coach. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:34.720 I've already been through grad school, you've called me to be this vocational ministry, and my life is broken in every area, and I'm discouraged, and so I've decided I'm gonna quit. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:57.839 Not gonna quit on God, He's way too great and wonderful, but I I remember sitting in an absolute stupor in a class, and in I don't know why I pray in King James when I'm really discouraged, but I remember thinking, is this how you treat thy servants when we give all that we have to you? 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:05.680 I mean, I as far as I was aware, there was no big sin in my life, but everything was depleted and broken. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:10.079 I can't pay the rent, I don't have any money, I and I'm done. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:17.199 And I was sitting in this theology class, and it's one of those, you know, about 200 students, you know, that have the steps that come down. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:20.639 And I just got so engrossed in this stupor. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:24.879 I I remember someone tapping me on the shoulder and I looked up, and it was Dr. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.759 Ryrie of the Ryrie Study Bible. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.879 And I looked around and everyone else was gone. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.879 And somehow I was so discouraged and despondent. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.639 I sat in the class and everyone left and I didn't notice. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:45.199 And he just said to me, Chip, whatever you do, don't make any big decisions for the next 48 hours. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:49.120 Go home, get some rest, get a couple good meals. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:52.639 Whatever you do, don't make any big decisions. 00:07:53.040 --> 00:08:05.040 And I was driving home and had pretty much decided I can't do this anymore, and I'm gonna quit, and I, you know, I'll be a Christian, but I can't, whatever ministry is, this I can't do this anymore. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:06.240 I'm done. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:07.199 And Dr. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:32.320 Ryrie had a way of uh stating things real uh pithily, and and as I uh the next day, you know, as I was thinking of all the implications of quitting, the definition of the wisdom of God, because I was taking a theology class with him, God brings about the best possible ends by the best possible means for the longest possible time for the most possible people. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:40.320 All the circumstances, all the things of life, orchestrated decisions, people who make willful choices, freedom, sovereignty, all the rest. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:55.200 And I remember thinking hypothetically, like I don't know if I believe that, but if I did, and and and I'm certain my life wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but as far as I knew there wasn't sin in my life, I'm doing what God's called me to do. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:09:08.799 And I remember hypothetically thinking, what if, if that's true, if there was a kinder or gentler or better way for God to make me more like Jesus and prepare me and launch me into what I'm supposed to do? 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:13.200 What if this is the most kind and gentle and good way? 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:25.039 And I remember grabbing onto that and thinking, if it if there was an easier way, if there was a gentler way, if there was a kinder way, that would be it. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:27.679 But what if I'd need this? 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.480 What if for reasons I don't understand? 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:39.919 And of course, later it meant I had to step back, and a little church needed a pastor, and it was out in the middle of nowhere, and it was the last place in the world I wanted to go. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:45.120 And I took Teresa out there and we looked at it, and she cried all the way home, like, don't take me there. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:57.360 And you know, I ended up in a in a little town of 3,000 people and guns in the back, and they still used the N-word, and it was it was I I can't fathom. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:15.440 I was there for eight years, that I had so much to learn, and I had such prejudice and biased against, quote, redneck people and environments, until God sent me to Santa Cruz and I learned I had equally prejudiced and biased with super progressives and all the rest. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.000 And God had to teach me through a journey. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:19.519 I love them all, Chip. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:26.000 I just see them as people in great need who've been raised by all kinds of people and influences. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.840 I chose to believe that God was all wise. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:43.600 And I think about the dominoes that would have happened if I would have opted out for my family and maybe even for others. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:50.639 At the bottom of your notes, it says, How would your life be different? 00:10:50.799 --> 00:11:00.000 I mean, what would happen in you as you go back to what you were pondering in your mind about God take it away? 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:07.840 I mean, I just was with a couple after the first service who six months ago a drunk driver killed their son. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:12.080 This isn't hypothetical stuff. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:14.080 They're wrestling. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.360 They're asking God for a new lens. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:20.799 Where and how could this be good? 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:23.840 And so, what I want to do is three things. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.320 I want to define wisdom for you biblically. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:37.039 I want to show you how God has revealed his wisdom, and then third, I want to help all of us learn how we can actually get the wisdom of God and live out of it. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:37.759 You ready? 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:40.639 Turn the page, if you will, defining God's wisdom. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.919 I've already started down the path, but this is Burkhoff. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:46.559 This is a classic German theologian. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:54.080 Wisdom is that attribute of God whereby he produces the best possible results by the best possible means. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:06.159 Webster defines wisdom as the quality of being wise, the power of judging rightly, following the soundest course of action, and it's based on knowledge, experience, and understanding. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:12.159 And don't miss this, the root words are to know and to see. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:24.639 In other words, if you get wise counsel from someone, if they know things you don't know, they see things, they've been there, and they can say to you, in light of this, in light of that, in light of this, and this truth and where I've been, this is the best step. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:30.559 Now, who's the only one that knows all things actual and all things possible? 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:42.720 Who's one that sees everything, every human heart, every decision, every global movement, everything from the supply chain to a little Chinese five-year-old today praying to God, ask me for help? 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:43.919 Only God. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:53.840 He's all powerful, he's all-knowing, he's omnipresent, he's just, he's holy, he's powerful, he's compassionate, he's tender. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:04.000 The scripture says now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:06.720 That's who's orchestrating the world today. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:11.519 In a fallen world, he's given freedom, but he limits evil. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:15.120 Remember, remember that he said to Satan about Job? 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.639 You can do whatever you want with him, but you can't kill him. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:23.919 That's true at the personal level in your life and my life, but it's also true globally. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.960 There was a Hitler and a Stalin, we've got a Putin. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.320 There's people in corporate worlds, there's people in individual worlds. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:35.200 There's free choice that allows evil to go, but God says, I put a limit on it. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:40.799 Only so much here, only so much there, because my purposes will not be thwarted. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:59.519 Paul, at the end of his magnificent picture in Romans 9, 10, and 11 of the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God in praise says, Oh, the depths of the riches of the underlying wisdom and then underlying knowledge of God. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:02.960 Oh, the depths, oh the riches. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.679 How unsearchable are his judgments. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.879 The judgment is what he does and why he does it. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:10.480 Unsearchable. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:21.600 And his paths, or literally his ways, the way he works in your life, the way he works globally, the way he works in your family, the way he works at your work. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:25.519 They're beyond tracing out. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.919 The word wisdom all through scripture has the idea of it's used of God and men. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:37.360 It always carries a moral connotation of pure and loving and good. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:41.440 By now you recognize that Ryan and I both like A.W. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:42.080 Tozer. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:45.279 Notice in your notes, he gives us his definition of wisdom. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:53.360 Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:59.200 It sees the end from the beginning, so there's no need to guess or to conjecture. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:10.559 Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in its proper relationship to all, and is thus able to work toward a predestined goals with flawless precision. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:14.639 Now that's a lot of highfalutin language that I think is very, very accurate. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:20.159 I want to tell you a little story, so you can lean back for a minute, and I want you to picture the story. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:28.480 This is a PG-13, possibly R-rated story in terms of where your emotions might go, but I think it's been very helpful to me. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:46.480 Imagine it's about a hundred years ago, and there's a there's a there's a beautiful little hill, and it's all grassy and has some stairs, and then there's railroad tracks right here, and there's gravel on this side, and gravel here, and then you come up, and then there's another little incline up here, and there's just a it's like a little box. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:51.919 And in the old days, if you train tracks would go this way, and then there was a switcher. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:57.759 And if this if the train's gonna go this way, someone would manually switch it and it would go this way. 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:02.799 And so this is the story of the man who was the railroad switcher. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:22.000 And so he would get up in the morning and play with his little five-year-old son and have a great time, and then he would go down the steps, cross the railroad tracks, come up, sit in his little box, and he would wait and look for the trains that would be on time, and then he had a little chart which ones need to be switched, and if they came fast, he needed to do it early. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:29.679 And on this particular day, the little boy comes down, he's got his daddy's lunch, and he's running down the steps, and as he comes across, he trips. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:35.840 And as he trips, he catches his foot underneath the track, and he can't get out. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:45.840 And his father sees a train coming about 500 yards at 60 miles an hour, and he realizes I don't have time to get down and save my son. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:48.080 And I have one or two options. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:52.399 Option number one is it's coming and it's supposed to be on this track. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.120 And if it is, then my son will die. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:01.440 I can switch it, but at the speed, if I switch it, the train will derail and probably kill four or five hundred people. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.960 Now, here's the question. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:06.160 If we were in Harvard Business School, we would make this a case study. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:11.839 And in the case study, we would sit in small groups, and I would say, what's the wisest thing to do? 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:21.200 Not the moral thing, not the Christian thing, not the most noble thing, not the most sacrificial thing, but what's the wisest thing to do? 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:26.000 And then we would sit in groups and talk about why we think our opinion about what's wisest, right? 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.359 Well, we're not in Harvard Business School. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:35.119 And I think if we were with a group of Christians, most of us would talk for a while. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:47.119 And as hard it would be, we would say something like, Well, God the Father gave his son, and to save four or five hundred people, the wisest thing to do would be to watch your son die. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:51.680 And I think that would be a good Christian discussion. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:59.599 What if uh that little boy, however, was the next Billy Graham? 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:05.519 And what if millions of people would spend eternity in heaven if he lived? 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:24.000 Or what if instead of Billy Graham he actually was a scientist who little would we know, but 20 years later he would discover the cure for cancer, and millions and millions and millions of people for decades on would live because that little boy lived. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:29.200 Or wait a second, what if the next Billy Graham's on the train? 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:33.359 Or the next Mother Teresa? 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:49.039 Or a person that would understand the next law of physics and would allow us to see things like never before it and string theory would be like ABCs to him, and the world would change, and the food supply for all the world would be changed. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:51.920 Are you get are you starting to get it? 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:08.160 The only one that can make a wise decision would have to see all the possibilities, both actual and possible. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:12.000 By the way, that's the definition of God's omniscience. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:14.640 He knows all things actual and possible. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:16.160 You say, but where do you get that? 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:17.039 Do you remember Jesus? 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:22.400 I think he was speaking to the in Capernaum, and they didn't respond. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:29.440 He said, if the message I gave here in Capernaum would have been taught in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:30.720 He knew. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:33.440 He knew how they would have responded. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.440 So all I want you to get is so much of here's life. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:42.400 Life is this beautiful, beautiful tapestry from heaven's side. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:51.920 And threads of suffering and pain and beauty and good and bad and decisions and nations, and it's all woven together. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:20:02.559 And from eternity's side, from God's side, it is this fabric, this picture of his wisdom bringing about the best possible ends for the most possible people for the longest possible time. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:17.599 And on our side, it's like the tapestry where you see knots and strings and knots and strings, and we in our humanness say, How could you let this happen? 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.160 I mean, this is a good woman, this is a great man, this is a faithful family. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:24.160 I'm walking with God with all my heart. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:27.839 I've sacrificially given my time, I've sacrificially given my money. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:29.920 I volunteered for the peace course. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:33.519 My son had this bright future and a car comes. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:35.039 Oh God, how? 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:43.519 All I want you to understand is that the lens of God's wisdom. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:56.799 If, in fact, to the best of our knowledge, we're walking with God, He can give us a new lens that allows us to trust Him, just like we trust His goodness, His love, His power. 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:11.680 Tozer finishes, all God's acts are done in perfect wisdom, first for His own glory, and then for the highest good of the greatest number of people for the longest time. 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:19.759 And all his acts are as pure as they are wise, and as good as they are wise and pure. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:29.519 Not only could his acts not be done better, a better way to do them could not be imagined. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:48.799 I think back of uh when I just hung on to the wisdom of God and ended up in that little church of 35 people in a very redneck community, in a town of about 3,000 without a stoplight. 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:55.200 And it seemed like the worst thing that could ever happen. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:10.079 And I look back and Realize the arrogance and the insecurity of one of the men in that church has become a father to me for the last 40 years. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:11.920 We talk every week. 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:18.960 God sees things you don't see. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:22.960 In the present, in the moment, and the difficulty. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.279 His heart is with you. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:26.720 He wants the comfort. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:30.480 But there are things that he's doing that we can't grasp. 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:33.279 It's the wisdom of God. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:38.480 How has God revealed his wisdom? 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:41.200 First creation. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:43.519 Psalm 104, 24. 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:46.160 It says, How many are your works, O Lord? 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.160 In wisdom you made them all. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.759 The earth is full of your creatures. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:23:09.039 Whether you take an electronic microscope and you look at DNA strands and realize that in one single cell, it's called a human being. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:22.160 And then it starts to multiply, and for ways no one can understand, all of a sudden this gets a skeletal system over here, endocrine system over here, circulatory system over here, brain development over here, heart rate starts here, boom, boom, boom, boom. 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:26.400 And then you have this amazing miracle called the human body. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:44.799 Or whether you take a telescope and you look at the Milky Way, and you look at the gravitational pool and the pools of these planets, and there's a hundred to two hundred billion stars, and I can't fathom a hundred or two hundred billion other galaxies. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:47.839 And he created them all. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:24:01.680 And whether it's looking at the beauty of a flower and realizing these tiny little things called bees, if they don't go from here to here and here to here to here to here, we don't even have crops. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:07.359 And there's birds that fly thousands of miles and lay eggs within two or three feet of where they did the last year. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:12.559 And you see the harmony and the beauty and the wisdom of God in creation. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:17.759 Creation reveals the wisdom of its creator. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.880 The second way he reveals it is through providence. 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:25.519 The Lord foils the plans, Psalm 33, verse 10 says, of the nations. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:34.240 He thwarts the purpose of the peoples, but the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:37.279 He does limit evil and freedom. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:41.039 He does orchestrate things, but he does that in our lives as well. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:46.559 I was uh the pandemic has been a tough time for for all of us. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:50.559 I think for us extroverts, it was doubly tough. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:58.640 And in early on, I mean it was so tragic, and we it was always tragic, but we wondered where and how and is it ever gonna stop? 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:05.759 And we watched what happened in Italy, and everything was shut down, and you know, only for three weeks, of course. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:16.240 And then it turned into two years, and you know, I was I actually had my tickets, I was on my way to China, God had opened such great doors, and it was gonna be, I think, my eighth trip in about three years. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:17.119 Can't go. 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:18.559 What was gonna happen? 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.880 And then pretty soon you can't see your family, you can't see your kids, can't see your grandkids. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:35.839 I remember Annie and the kids came over and they put a blanket out, and and and then we were over here, and you know, people were wearing masks and just trying to, you know, you can't hug, you can't kiss, you can't talk, and you know, I'm an extrovert, it just made me nuts. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:41.279 And I got where I couldn't do anything, I just felt so stuck and then angry. 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:44.640 And then I went from anger to getting discouraged. 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.599 And then after I got discouraged, I got depressed. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:49.839 I mean, just dark, right? 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:50.960 You've been there? 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:59.200 I mean, where I know it's you get so self-focused and and then not good thoughts, right? 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:03.920 You know, you know, you you know, it starts getting dangerous when you start thinking thoughts like, whoa, whoa, that is a really bad thought. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:11.039 I mean, I don't think I'd ever do that, but I might, you know, if I keep thinking it, I mean, you know, and you know, I got like, I gotta get out of this. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:14.640 And I'm not talking clinical depression, I mean just when you really, really get down. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:27.279 And so I I'm my three-part game plan uh after all these years for depression is no matter how you feel, pull yourself up by the ears, go out, get on a treadmill, whatever you need to do, get sweaty and get those endorphins, get a good workout. 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:28.240 That's step one. 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:36.079 Step number two is even if you can't sing, get on some worship music and as loud as you can, where no one's around, and start praising God. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:40.799 You know, I don't feel like it, I don't know any of this, but I'm gonna thank you, thank you, thank you, praise you. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:44.400 And whether my emotions are in it or not, I'm just gonna do it. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.720 And number three is find someone who hurts a lot worse than you and go help them. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:27:03.359 And in this particular case, I um I uh I've I've heard something on the news about you know the markets had closed in Egypt and and they didn't have any you know resources and no vaccines, and it was just it's terrible. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:07.519 And I'd done significant work with the head of all the churches in Egypt. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:13.680 And I thought, well, he's certain more than me, so I will uh I think I'll I'll zoom with him. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:14.400 And Dr. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:15.759 Zaki, how are you doing? 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:22.160 Oh, you know, I haven't had it yet, but I mean, Chip, we're barely surviving in the church and the country's in shambles. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:27.039 I feel like the government's really doing all that they can, but we're barely surviving. 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:34.960 And I heard come out of my mouth, because you know, when I'm going through things, I'm always asking, where in the scripture, God, would you speak to us about this? 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:36.720 And I just said in passing, you know, Dr. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:41.279 Zaki, um, I've been thinking about a series called The Artist Revival. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:43.039 He goes, Oh, send it to me, send it to me. 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.599 I said, No, no, I've been thinking about the series. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:47.039 I don't have the series. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:55.119 And uh, it was out of James one about, you know, an attitude, consider it all joy, a resource, God's wisdom, and think it away in the midst of tragedy. 00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.599 And and he just said, No, you have to send it to me. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:06.559 And and you know, sometimes when you've been down, down, down, and you've been self-focused, and something goes, boom, and it was like, I gotta help them. 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:13.200 And I made a phone call and got a couple guys to come in with a couple cameras, and we took PVC pipe and put some cloth over it, made it look like something. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:19.359 And I mean, I I did a three-part series, you know, like I studied over the weekend and did it on Monday, sent it on Friday. 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.200 It was translated by the following Friday. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:32.720 Then we did a webinar with all the pastors, we did an hour of Q ⁇ A, and our head of international was there, and he goes, Chip, I don't I don't think this is for, I don't think this is just for Egypt and the Middle East. 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:39.759 And teams of pastors in India, then it was Africa, then Central America, and then across parts of the world. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:49.519 And I found myself for the next 18 months doing a once-a-month webinar with about 10,000 pastors in 60 countries, who all were ready to just give up. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:57.200 And God gets all the glory because it didn't grow out of, oh, I have a great idea, I think I can teach something. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:07.680 It grew out of in the wisdom of God, I got so low and so discouraged, I just tried to throw out a line and say, Lord, would you do something? 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:18.000 Today we've done live training in four or five countries in Kenya and some going on in Mexico right now, and launches in India. 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:23.039 You don't know what's going on in the province of God. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:34.480 You don't know how what you are doing now or not doing, or what you're experiencing, or how hard it is, or what you don't understand, you see knots and threads, knots and threads, knots and threads. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:44.000 If you will not give up and not give in, God is saying to you, through the lens of my wisdom, there's a tapestry being formed. 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:50.000 And you may not see all of it until you're on the other side in relationship with me. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:30:24.319 But if God brings about the best possible results by the best possible means for the most possible people for the longest possible time, and as far as you know, you're not actively rebelling and you're doing what he wants you to do, perhaps the most difficult thing in your life right now, or the thing that you regret in the past the most, is the kindest, most gentle, good way that God can form Christ in you and then do something through you that couldn't happen any other way. 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:33.920 The wisdom of God is revealed in creation, in providence, and then just most profoundly in redemption. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:35.599 Christ's death. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:40.480 Literally, the word redemption means to buy back, his blood, the purchase price. 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:44.960 The Apostle Paul would write to the Corinthian church, follow along, it's in your notes. 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:57.519 And he writes this we do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, not the wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.000 No, we declare God's wisdom a mystery. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:01.440 Circle that in your notes. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:02.160 It's a mystery. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:06.880 The word means it's a secret, his past, you can't understand all of them. 00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:14.000 And if you demand with your hands on your hips and say, this isn't right, this isn't fair, you've got to show me, you may get silence. 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:17.200 And it doesn't mean God doesn't love you. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.359 His judgments are beyond finding out. 00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:28.960 Mystery that has been hidden and that God has destined for our glory before time begin. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:35.119 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for they, if they had, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory. 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:53.359 However, as it is written, and this is for you, this is for me, and this is for now, what eye has not seen, and what ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the mind or the heart has ever conceived, the things that God has prepared for those who love him. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:32:03.279 They're great things, they're blessed things, they're rich things, they're good things, some of them now, and others forever and ever and ever. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:13.200 These are the things God has revealed to us by his spirit, and the spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:19.039 I mean, he's revealed it through his son. 00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:28.000 It says in 1 Corinthians and 30, it is because of him that you are in Christ, Jesus, has become for us the wisdom of God. 00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:31.519 That is our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption. 00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:35.039 The wisdom of God that we are now right standing with God. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:36.960 We are now pure in God's eyes. 00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:38.640 We have been bought back. 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:40.400 Now think of this plan. 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:44.960 I mean, I mean, we can't really do this, but you know, I feel the freedom to be hypothetical. 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:49.680 I just want you to imagine, I know it's hard, let's just pretend you're one of the angels. 00:32:49.759 --> 00:32:51.359 You don't even have to be a cherubim, okay? 00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:55.200 Just like a regular, you know, run-in-the-mill angel. 00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:00.400 And um the angels long to look into some of these things, and that tells me they didn't understand it. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:10.720 And so the you know, the Godhead has made from the foundations of the earth this plan, because he so loves us, to give us freedom, but with that freedom came evil, and he wants to buy us back for himself. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:12.240 And here's the plan. 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:18.559 And you're one of the angels, you know, you're like like on the edge of angel seat, and you're watching. 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:26.559 And God the Son, oh my gosh, the Holy Spirit goes into this teenage girl, and he's vulnerable for all these years. 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:29.359 And you know, you have private conversations to another angel. 00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:32.720 This is and this, what's he thinking? 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:35.359 Don't say this out loud, but this doesn't make any sense. 00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:46.960 And then he lives 30 years of a perfect life, and then and then he heals people and he loves people and he speaks God's truth and he reveals the Father, and and oh yeah, I mean, you're an angel going, oh wow, this is so cool. 00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:48.640 Everyone's gonna respond. 00:33:49.200 --> 00:34:00.799 And then instead, the very people he came to save turn on him, and the government turns on him, and people are afraid, and he's got this little handful of followers, and then he's hanging on that cross. 00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:14.800 And now instead of being an angel, if you will, come out of your angel body and be Mary or James or John, and you're looking up at that cross, and you hear the words, it's finished, and he dies. 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:22.800 And they're taking a limped, bruised, beaten, bloody body, and they're taking it away. 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:33.280 And you have left home, you've been rejected in the synagogue, you've left your job, you've left your work, you've left your identity, and he was your hope, and you're done. 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:40.559 And now the Jews hate you, and the Romans are after you, and you go hide somewhere, and you're wondering, God, where are you? 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:42.559 Where's the wisdom of God? 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:56.320 And in the darkness, he descends into the lower parts of the earth, and he proclaims of those who have died in ages past. 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:15.199 Satan is defeated, sin is paid for, death will be overcome, and he rises from the dead, and he says, Because of what I've done, all people of all time come unto me, your sins are forgiven. 00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:22.320 But while he was in the grave, while he was hanging on the cross, I can almost hear the demons. 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:26.239 Ah, we got him, we killed him. 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:30.000 Because the plan looked like foolishness. 00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:37.199 And Paul would write to the Corinthians and say, the wisdom of man is the foolishness of God. 00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:40.559 We have to trust God's wisdom. 00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:43.519 We see through a veil dimly. 00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:46.400 This is how God has revealed his wisdom. 00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:48.960 It's magnificent. 00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:51.039 It requires. 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:55.119 At the end of the day, we all trust something or someone, right? 00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:58.079 Do you believe God is good? 00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:01.519 Do you believe he's holy? 00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:06.880 Can you trust in the things that don't make sense? 00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:09.280 That he's all wise. 00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:13.039 That he's more than got your back, he's got your front. 00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:15.760 Now, please hear me. 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:28.960 If you're doing things you know are wrong, if it's very clear this is God's will, this is righteousness, and you're living this way, there's consequences. 00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:32.400 And the consequences aren't because he doesn't love you. 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:35.599 The consequences are I want you on this path. 00:36:36.159 --> 00:36:41.039 Because like every good father, every good mother, he wants the best for you. 00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:43.760 Well, how do you get this wisdom? 00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:47.679 How do you learn to walk in the ways of God? 00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:52.239 First of all, we we learn that we must learn to live wisely. 00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:58.000 And as much as as motivating as is, because of all that it'll deliver, I got news for you, it's actually commanded. 00:36:58.239 --> 00:37:03.679 Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15 to 17 says, be very careful then how you live. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:05.280 Literally, the word is to walk. 00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:14.000 Be very careful how you take your steps in your life, the steps in your relationship, the steps in your work, the steps with your marriage, the steps in your singleness. 00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:16.320 Be very careful how you walk. 00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:20.800 Not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of the opportunity. 00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:21.440 Why? 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:23.199 Because the days are evil. 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:24.880 Life is short. 00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:29.519 You're the light, you're the salt, you're the hope, you're the church. 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.159 Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 00:37:34.400 --> 00:37:38.079 And verse 18 goes on to say what God's will is. 00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:43.840 Do not be drunk with wine, for that's dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. 00:37:44.719 --> 00:37:48.719 Allow, literally, the word filled, literally, it's the idea of being saturated. 00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:57.840 Be saturated like a sponge, so that when the difficulties and the pains and the issues of life, what comes out is the very fragrance of Christ. 00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:01.440 Well, how do you get that kind of wisdom? 00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:03.119 How do you live wisely? 00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:05.519 Let me give you three specific suggestions. 00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:09.920 Number one, it begins with reverence for God's ways. 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:18.960 Proverbs 1, 7 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 00:38:19.679 --> 00:38:21.440 The fear of the Lord. 00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:29.920 The fear of the Lord is, yes, to be, He's God, He's awesome, He lives in unapproachable light, so there's a fear. 00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:32.559 But there's a beauty in the fear. 00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:37.840 It's this idea that I don't want to live my life in a way that would be displeasing to you. 00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:42.559 And also, since because of who you are, there are real consequences, so I'm afraid. 00:38:42.960 --> 00:39:09.599 I remember uh we lived uh in Texas for a number of years, and I remember on one occasion uh when tornadoes would come, we were in that alley in Dallas between here and Oklahoma, and I mean there were like hail, golf ball size, and I mean, and then lightning and thunder, and you know, the whole family's in the bathroom, and you know, we have the mattress, you know, every whole family in the bathtub, and because we don't have a basement, and and I couldn't resist, like, I wonder how's it going out there? 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:12.800 And I remember, you know, family stay here, and I was gonna go see how it was going. 00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:20.480 I remember going out there, and it was like lightning going through the sky, and I looked in the backyard and saw a little tunnel thing. 00:39:20.719 --> 00:39:27.199 And it was like, I am scared to death, but it was so beautiful. 00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:29.039 You know what I mean? 00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:36.800 It was breath, it was it was like, and and then you know, you had a tree go like this, and something goes. 00:39:36.960 --> 00:39:41.119 I mean, it was power, and it was so awesome and so beautiful and so terrifying. 00:39:41.280 --> 00:39:50.239 In the words of Tozer, the paradox of faith is to fear God, and yet, because of Jesus, to come and not be afraid. 00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:54.239 That's where it starts. 00:39:55.760 --> 00:39:57.840 I think that's a big one for us. 00:39:58.480 --> 00:40:12.960 You either decide, I know the best way to handle my money, I know the best way to do relationships, I know how to forgive or not forgive, I know how to handle adversity, I know how to suffer, I I I got a great plan for my life, and this is the plan for me, and this is what I'm gonna do. 00:40:13.039 --> 00:40:16.960 And when God doesn't fulfill it, hey, where are you and what's the deal? 00:40:18.239 --> 00:40:28.400 And I think we have a generation of Christians that are so discouraged and think God hasn't shown up because they're expecting things he never promised. 00:40:29.599 --> 00:40:31.679 We don't read 1 Peter a lot. 00:40:33.920 --> 00:40:56.079 For you have been called for this purpose to suffer, following in the steps of Jesus, who although he did no wrong, when he suffered, he didn't revile but entrusted himself to the faithful Creator, Father. 00:40:57.760 --> 00:41:03.920 All those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, promise, will be persecuted. 00:41:04.719 --> 00:41:13.599 This idea that when you're doing what God wants you to do, that things would go really well and you're gonna be blessed, and God longs to bless. 00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:21.039 But you are in a very volatile environment in a fallen world. 00:41:21.599 --> 00:41:24.480 The second way we receive it is the reverence for God. 00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:29.119 It's a bit of a decision, but it's revealed in receiving his word. 00:41:30.159 --> 00:41:40.480 You know, Jesus, Jesus said, He just said it as plainly, those who value my word and respond to my word value and respond to me. 00:41:40.719 --> 00:41:47.119 Those who don't value my word don't value or respond to me. 00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:52.000 Your relationship with God's word reveals your relationship with God. 00:41:54.159 --> 00:42:01.280 If it doesn't matter if you don't have time, but we all have time to put certain things in our mind. 00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:04.960 And we will all be shaped by whatever we put into our mind. 00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:28.400 All scripture is God breathed or inspired, is useful for teaching, understanding what's right, what's wrong, what's true, what's good, rebuking, cutting things out, correcting, getting back on track, and training the habitual habits of life in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:39.679 It took a while for me to say to the Lord, I'm gonna hear from you before I hear from anyone else. 00:42:41.199 --> 00:42:52.559 Before I pick up the phone, before I look at email, before I open Facebook, before I take at Instagram, or look at who slapped me. 00:42:55.360 --> 00:42:56.719 God, I'm gonna meet with you. 00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:04.159 Because as I read in Proverbs just a few years ago, nothing compares to the wisdom of God. 00:43:05.840 --> 00:43:08.880 Not rubies, not gold, not silver. 00:43:09.119 --> 00:43:25.039 There's nothing that you can ever get in all the world as valuable and precious than understanding this is what to do, this is how to do it, this is when to do it, and this is why to do it in every relationship, in every circumstance in your life. 00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:29.360 But God gives us wisdom through his word. 00:43:29.920 --> 00:43:32.639 And then he says, it requires that we ask for it. 00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:35.679 Great promise in James chapter one. 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:41.199 If any man or if any woman lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously. 00:43:41.599 --> 00:43:46.000 And I love the next line, and without reproach can it be given to him. 00:43:49.920 --> 00:43:51.679 God, I don't know what to do in this marriage. 00:43:52.079 --> 00:43:53.519 I don't know what to do with this health issue. 00:43:53.599 --> 00:43:55.199 I've seen every doctor under the sun. 00:43:55.760 --> 00:43:57.360 I don't know what to do with this kid. 00:43:57.519 --> 00:43:59.199 I don't know what to do with my work. 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:02.000 I don't know what to do with my illness. 00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:04.159 I don't know what to do with this addiction. 00:44:04.239 --> 00:44:06.719 I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying, and I can't quit. 00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:15.440 God, if you'll show me I commit in advance to do whatever you say, promise, 100% of the time He'll show you what to do. 00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:23.599 If your prayer is, God, I desperately need to know what you want me to do, because I'd like to take it into consideration to see if I'll do it or not. 00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:28.000 That's how we unconsciously pray. 00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:38.639 And verses 6 and verse 7 say, let not that double-minded man, we get our word schizophrenia from it, expect to receive anything from the Lord. 00:44:39.840 --> 00:44:43.440 See, a part of getting wisdom is you are God. 00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:48.880 You are infinite, and I am finite. 00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:53.840 And you have spoken, and the cross has demonstrated your love. 00:44:55.360 --> 00:44:58.159 And when it's pleasant, I want to do your will. 00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:00.960 When it's unpleasant, I want to do your will. 00:45:01.199 --> 00:45:05.360 When I don't feel like doing your will, I'm going to choose to do your will. 00:45:05.679 --> 00:45:08.960 And I'm going to trust because of who you are. 00:45:10.239 --> 00:45:18.480 Despite everything in me that cries out, and I'm going to share my anger and I'm going to share my struggle, and I'm going to tell you how unfair it is and how much I don't like it. 00:45:18.639 --> 00:45:40.159 And then I'm going to pause and I'm going to take all my struggle and relationships through the lens of wisdom and say, you are bringing about the best possible end by the best possible means for the most possible people for the longest possible time because you are a good and kind and loving God. 00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:42.400 And I don't get it. 00:45:43.039 --> 00:45:45.199 But I refuse to give up. 00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:49.599 Would you write the one word in in the final in your notes? 00:45:49.840 --> 00:46:16.800 We must learn to, we write the word trust completely that all that comes our way is from the hand of a good and loving God who knows all things actual and possible and is exerting unlimited power to execute the best possible outcomes by the best possible means to fulfill the highest possible purpose. 00:46:30.880 --> 00:46:40.079 Can I encourage you to go back to that big thing you want him to change or take away, or that you just wonder, God, why? 00:46:42.719 --> 00:46:47.679 And would you just lean in and say, Lord, would you give me wisdom? 00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:50.880 You know I want relief. 00:46:52.480 --> 00:46:54.320 And I'm asking for that as well. 00:46:56.639 --> 00:47:10.400 But until that comes, or until you do something through me or in me, or whatever you want to do, I refuse to give up because I believe that you're not just good or loving and holy and just. 00:47:11.280 --> 00:47:12.719 I believe you're all wise. 00:47:15.039 --> 00:47:16.639 And I want to walk in your wisdom. 00:47:18.239 --> 00:47:19.920 I want to become more like Jesus. 00:47:20.880 --> 00:47:25.920 And I want to fulfill whatever it is you want me to accomplish on this little time on earth. 00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:52.719 And then the worship team will bring us before the throne.com slash card.