The Power of Faith: Towards Understanding God's Infinite Blessings

What if we told you that the biggest and most unlimited resource in our lives is none other than God Himself? That's right! This podcast episode takes a deep and profound look at the concept of God as an abundant source of blessings. We kick off the conversation by acknowledging Him as the ultimate Creator, Provider, and Loving Father, while reflecting upon the multitude of blessings He showers upon us. Our church has been steering the community towards understanding this notion and utilizing these divine resources to make a real difference in society. We're all in this together, and this episode is a reminder of how our faith fuels our community outreach.

Does the thought of scarcity scare you? Do you worry about not having enough for yourself and others? Well, let us share a heartening story of how our church rallied together to provide Thanksgiving baskets for families in need, despite initial financial hurdles. We were in awe as God provided in His time and His way. This story, along with a reflection on a Psalm of ascension, paints a vivid picture of God's boundless provision and mercy, especially in troublesome times. Trusting in His kindness and mercy, even when the going gets tough, is a theme we delve into throughout this episode.

Lastly, we take a closer look at God's mercy and love, using the compassionate story of the woman caught in adultery from John 8:1-11. This powerful narrative demonstrates how Jesus embodied mercy and forgiveness at a time when it was least expected. We also draw upon the Psalms of Ascension, which continually remind us of God’s sovereignty. As we wrap up, we encourage you to ask yourself if your faith aligns with God's promises and if you truly believe in His power. It's a profound conversation that prompts us to trust in God's plan, even when life doesn't make sense. Tune in, and let's explore this journey of faith together.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:03

As always, I'm gonna ask you to take a minute to pray, to focus yourself, to ask the spirit to lead you and to ask God to really allow us to kind of dive in and to be encouraged by His Word this morning. God, I thank you so much for who you are. I think you are the fact that you are our Creator, our Provider, you are our Father and you are the One who has loved us beyond all measure. You are the One who has sacrificed greatly on our behalf. You've shown mercy, you've shown understanding, you have continued and consistently been the presence in our life that we need and, god, I pray that as we get through this series, that we really can take a look and look at our life, look at everything you've given us and understand that it's all yours anyways, but you've blessed us. You've given that to us. You've given us the very breath in our lungs.

Speaker 1: 2:40

God, I thank you and, as always, I pray that it's always you who speaks, and not me that. Protect those who are listening here and online. God, protect the words that are coming out of my mouth. Allow us to just continue to be ensune with you and how the Spirit is working in our lives. That's in your son's name. Pray, amen. I am, by the way, this is a wife that my a mug that my wife got me, and I really like it, because I don't know if you ever watched Park and Rex Ron Swanson is probably one of my favorite characters ever and on the back of it says I regret nothing the end.

Speaker 1: 3:25

And so I've committed in my life now that if I'm having a conversation with someone and I say something kind of to the point and they try to rebuttal, I'm just going to raise this up like this so they can read it. It says I regret nothing the end. I just got a picture of him with like an eagle is that a goose? I don't know. I want to share something real quick that happened this week that I thought was really profound and one of the things that I've and I'm not always good at it, but I think that the older I get, hopefully, the more I try to pay attention to what's going on in my life and really how God is working. And coming in November, it's all about being. It's a month of being thankful and we should right. We're reflecting on the things that matter and that's great Our friends, our family I think I talked about last week. We had our elders retreat and I'm so thankful for our leadership here at this church. There's so many cool things that are going to come out of that our time together that you will get to see, and I'm excited, just kind of reflecting back on where. What has God done here? What is God continuing to do? And one of the things that we came into day two was we had this question on the board that in the next five years, what would you like to see the church accomplish, under the idea that we have unlimited resources. And that's right, and I realize that no, I don't actually. I think God's an unlimited resource. I know God's an unlimited resource.

Speaker 1: 5:16

I think sometimes we kind of get in the way of ourselves because we try to make things work out that make sense to us right, and I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with being responsible and there's nothing wrong with any of that. But I think that there's a lot of times when we think about God, we limit God to what we think God can do, and I'm convinced that God is like hold on. You guys are great, but let me remind you who I am right, and so the songs of Ascension really that's kind of a part of my focus is this constant reminder that when things don't make sense to me, god's not worried. So I'll give you an example, one of the things we've committed to over the last year is to be really community-minded, community-focused. As a church, we believe that the ministry outside the walls is just as important as the ministry inside the walls. So reaching out to people, building relationships.

Speaker 1: 6:27

I know, when I was here before but I know, at least last year, I can speak to the truth of it that we do Thanksgiving baskets every year. We package up baskets for families who are in need and we try to provide a meal for them, and I think last year we did right around 26. And so the cost of that, in case you didn't know, is probably somewhere around $1,500, right, doesn't seem like a lot, but when you're trying to put together food baskets it's not. I don't know about you. Some of you might have $1,500 laying in your bank account. I have $1,500 a day. I get paid and then nothing, usually after the bills hit right. And so we came to it this year with the intention of doing more than we did last year, and so we partnered up with the FSC, which is the, or the FRC, which is the Family Resource Center out of Brook County, and we committed to come alongside them, and we wanted to do 100 baskets this year. Right, that was our goal. And so we were kind of having this conversation and Rob and I were having this conversation and then so we're sitting here and discussing and then all of a sudden we get word that the money that we normally use for this particular outreach, that it's probably not there this year.

Speaker 1: 7:59

And I can tell you my initial reaction to that statement is yeah, okay, now I'm not one that handles the finances in our church. I try to stay out of those things unless I need to, because I don't understand it right, and I'm aware of that. And so we had this conversation and we were kind of weighing the options and the reality of the statement was well, we just can't do it. And I remember that I got off a particular phone call and I sat down and listen. This is Monday, right, so I'm not feeling well, already really tired, I just wanna go to bed. And I remember I was sitting downstairs in my chair and I said you're right, God, we can't do it, but you can and I'm not worried about it.

Speaker 1: 8:53

And so I started praying about it and I started trying to figure out what can happen. Now I'm gonna tell you this and this is the first thought that came into my head. I shared this with one other person, so don't take this the wrong way, but my first thought was I think we should just cancel the Wednesday night meal that we're having together. I know, I know, I know it sounds harsh, but in my mind I was thinking I'm excited we're getting together as a church, but almost everyone who's coming to that Wednesday night they probably have somewhere they're going on Thursday. And so I was thinking I'm not the people that don't have that opportunity. And so I kind of wrestled with it and I was like no, no, like I think that that's trying to, that's me trying to figure out my way of doing it. That's still me solving the problem. That's not gonna work. And so I kept praying about it. So I reached out to some people and I put something on Facebook. Some of you saw that, some of you reached out to me, and I remember that it says I'm going through this. All I could think is God, you're gonna show up, you're gonna do this and it's gonna be extraordinary, and at the end of this week we're gonna have this conversation about how you showed up, because that's who you are and that's what you do. So by the end of Monday night I had people who committed $400 to what we needed. I was like cool. By the end of Tuesday we had a thousand. By Wednesday morning we had all of it.

Speaker 1: 10:37

Because when God shows up and when God wants to accomplish something through his church and his believers and his community, nothing will stop him, not even us. And I share that because as we get into, especially this series and into the next one, a lot of times the work that we see in our life, I think we limit what God can do because we try to do it in our perspective. It's not that I don't think it's necessarily lack of faith, it's just. When push comes to shove, faith is heart.

Speaker 1: 11:28

The idea of these Psalms is to remind us that there are things in our life that only God can do and if we can learn to live in light of that, it puts him in proper perspective. Listen, when we had that question, we asked that our leadership meaning about. What does it look like if we had unlimited resources? I wasn't just doing it to be silly. I believe God is an unlimited resource and I believe that if we allow him that, god will show up and provide more than we can even imagine, because it's his glory, his kingdom, his will on the line, not yours. And I believe with everything in me that if we want to see God manifest himself in our lives and our lives and things to come to fruition, we have to have faith that he can do what he says he can do. There was a quote earlier this week that said God isn't a genie who grants wishes. Instead, he rewards obedience.

Speaker 1: 12:48

We are called to walk in faith, and so, as we get into this, as once again talk about these Psalms of ascension, psalm 123, verses one through four, says I lift my eyes up to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. As the eyes of the slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of our mistress, mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord, our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, lord. Have mercy on us, for we endure no end of contempt. We've endured no end of ridicule from the arrogant, of contempt from the proud. This Psalm is written specifically in a moment in the life of Israel.

Speaker 1: 13:40

Israel, well, they're all the way around. Their enemies are against them, they're mocking them, they're ridiculing them, they're making life difficult and they cry out to God and they say, god, as we look up to you, grant us mercy, because choosing to live for you means that those around me don't necessarily understand this. We live in a culture today that thinks the church is just a joke. They openly mock God to our face, as if they won't have to stand in His judgment someday. They've eliminated Francis Chan. There's a book that he wrote called Racing Hell, and that's the premise of it is, when we live in a world that has erased all forms of eternity, there's no heaven, there's no hell, there's no nothing. And so we have a society that looks at God and looks at you and I and thinks that we're crazy, and, at the same time, we look at them and say, no, listen, you don't understand. We're not crazy and we love you so much that you need this, like that's all we want. We want you to understand that, as you look around you, as the world is falling apart, we wanna help you keep your eyes up on the one that matters the most. And so the psalmist is. They're persecuted and they're crushed. They say God, god, show us mercy, as their eyes are fixated on the one who sits on the throne.

Speaker 1: 15:46

You know, I've got three boys and they are. They are a lot sometimes, but I was sitting on my couch yesterday and watching the three of them play together and I was trying to remember back when I was younger. I don't know if the three of us ever accomplished that, because I feel like two of us would, and then the other one would always start something. And so, like I'm watching my three boys and they're playing, and Griffin, he looks at me and he says, hey, the data. He's. Like, can you give me some grapes? And it was a part of me. I believe that my kids are learning to become independent. A lot of times my response to that is I don't know, you go ahead and get your own grapes. Like I'll help you, like I'm not gonna leave you, but you need to learn how to do this. But in that moment, as I was kind of reflecting on that moment, I wanted to get them some grapes.

Speaker 1: 16:56

And as I thought about, particularly this week and looking at this song and looking at the series, is the kind of relationship my kids have with me as their father is this idea that they know that I'm gonna protect them. They should know that I'm gonna provide for them. And even though they're able to do some stuff themselves, they still have this understanding that my dad loves me enough that if I ask him for something, he is gonna provide Right. And so I started looking at my relationship with God and the order I get, or some reason. The further I walk in my journey, I forget sometimes that I'm just a kid to an incredible father who has more planned for me than I can ever imagine.

Speaker 1: 17:57

And God enjoys when you and I come in and say, hey, dad, I can't do this today. I don't have it in me, my bank account doesn't make sense, my marriage is struggling, my kids are being bullied, I hate my job. God, I just found out that I'm sick. God, I just found out that a friend, a family member, is sick and there's no cure. God, the world is chaos. There's wars, there's rumors of wars. The country is all over the place. God, I've been trying to do this on my own for so long and I forgot that you're there. And so the Psalmist.

Speaker 1: 18:55

When they speak of these words, when they ask God for mercy, it's because they have to refocus themselves, this idea that you and I, as a church and as Christians are supposed to figure out all alone and by ourselves, is really like a. I would say it's like an American concept, almost a modern day concept. But the creator of the heavens and the earth and the one who sits on the throne, the one who cannot be moved, the one who cannot be judged, the one who cannot and will not be overthrown, the oh, is it John? No, john, sorry, bergerman, that's his last name says this Psalm, and speaking of 123, is one of the loveliest prayers in all of scripture Simple and direct, trusting and confident, spoken out of need and in much hope. It begins abruptly to you, but the name of Yahweh is not uttered until the end of the long second verse. In this piety, however, there's little need to name the God addressed. So direct and obvious is the connection between the one who prays and the one who's addressed. Before God is named, god is characterized as the one, and thrown in the heavens, the creator who presides over the assembly of God's in heaven. Thus, in a simple utterance, the prayer appeals to the entire liturgical drama of divine enthronement, so central to the Jerusalem temple. This psalmist reminds us that when you look up, you have to acknowledge the God of all creation. The one who sits on the throne is the one that you're speaking to. A dude around me, 31.6, says this be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord, your God, goes with you. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you.

Speaker 1: 21:28

I did research a couple years ago. It's kind of on my own and nothing definitive, but I started to pay attention to the culture a little bit more. I will say this that I am blessed in my life, where I am now. Both my mom and my dad are in my life, in the lives of my kids, but they separated when I was about six, so I grew up and would be considered a broken home. It's been amazing to watch what God has done to fix that. My mom and dad are not back together. That's not what I'm saying, but what I'm saying is they're good friends, they love each other, we all love each other and the grandkids are really all that matters.

Speaker 1: 22:18

But I grew up in a broken home and I had a lot of issues. When I was younger, my dad moved away and he was working. He was an over-road truck driver, so he was gone a lot. That's not him, his fault. He's got to make ends meet. I really struggled and I lived with him for a little while, but I remember when I first came to church because my dad and I at the time were really kind of separated from each other and that I didn't really have him in my life the way that I had wanted to.

Speaker 1: 22:51

Once again, thankful now that it's not the case, but I remember when I first came to church, my first order going to church, and people were presenting God as, like this father figure. I was like, yeah, like I don't know if I like the reference right, and so I started to pay attention to those around me. And if you do a decent amount of research, you find the divorce rate in this country is continued to grow throughout the years, and a lot of times what happens is mom ends up with custody of the kids and statistically, a lot of dads exit the picture for one reason or another. This is not a condemnation on them, by the way. I'm just. I'm telling you what we've observed, observed as a society and so I started questioning.

Speaker 1: 23:45

You know, when I grew my faith, I was like how in the world do we help people understand that God is their father. When you have a bunch of people who come from homes with there is no dad, that's a tough sell because the only earthly father they know wasn't there. And so you start to try to compare the two. And so about 10 years ago I was having a conversation with one of my students and come from a broken home and I was trying to connect the dots right, like how do I help them understand that, yeah, their dads not around, but the God loves them and he wants to be their father?

Speaker 1: 24:34

And then all of a sudden I kind of changed the direction, and so I asked my student this question as a grant How's it going? Let's, let's, let's just stop. You tell me, if you had to describe the perfect father, what would that be?

Speaker 1: 24:57

So this sat there for a couple minutes, they started to kind of rattle off some things. Well, they would be there. They would be interested in my life. They would provide for me If I needed something. They would be reliable. They would love me in spite of me sometimes. They would be honest with me. They would continue to be my biggest champion in my life. They would support me. They would be a shoulder to cry on.

Speaker 2: 25:41

If you're warm hug.

Speaker 1: 25:42

At the end of the day, they would forgive me for what I messed up, but they would discipline me to make sure I was doing the right things. They would teach me, they would, they would grow with me. Simply put, they would be there when I needed them the most. And I remember, looking at my student. I'm like that's exactly who God is. Everything you described, he will meet and exceed every single expectation you have. And I need you to understand that, because the world will try to convince you that that is not true, that God will abandon you, that God will leave you high and dry, that God will be like everyone else in your life and will let you down. But that's just not who God is. And as the Psalmist, as he writes these words and he looks to the throne, he says Grant me mercy, psalm 130,. God, give me an understanding of your forgiveness as the Psalms continue. God, thank you for your provision. God, thank you for your discipline. Thank you for continuing to remind me that you are God and that you are my father and that you are the perfect example of what a father should look like.

Speaker 1: 27:40

I said something stupid yesterday. You know, surprise Danny. We were giving our kids a bath and you know I'm just enjoying the moment and trying to keep the bath and remember me and flooded with water and all those fun things. And she says to me I'm so glad that you're a good dad.

Speaker 1: 28:08

And in my response once again and I say this because my dad's here, so don't take this I didn't grow up with my dad around, so I don't have really a kind of a male figure in my life for a while to show me these things. And I said to her well, I'm not sure how I did it, because I didn't really have that like I wanted to growing up, and then I realized that I did and I was in God, god modeled for me. He showed me everything I needed to be the best father that I could be, because he showed me mercy, he showed me love, he showed me grace, he showed me truth, he showed me discipline, he did everything that I needed him to do and Jesus modeled that in human form perfectly. I want to watch this clip real quick.

Speaker 2: 29:06

I've been caught outright and dragged straight into open daylight. Bystanders gawking the village, women absorbing every morsel of gossip. Common decency dictated that the shame of the moment was enough, but the law called for something greater my life, of course. A long audience followed behind. Don't think I didn't recognize a couple of them. Their words condemned me, but they didn't dare look me in the eye. I did everything to try to cover my shame that I couldn't hide from the onlookers or this holy man whose feet they threw me to. I was finished. I stared at the ground. When he said that whoever was sinless, they should go first. They should throw the first stone Squeezed my eyes shut, grasping at the gravel, waiting for the end of my life to unfold.

Speaker 2: 30:34

Nothing, though. Then footsteps, except they were walking away. I looked up Is there no one left to accuse you? He asked me. No, I don't either. He said go and sin no more. That's how he ended up on the cross and as he hung there, dying, he didn't say I am finished. He said it it is finished. That's something different. That's a different thing. It means that something is accomplished, restored. He restored my hope, my self-respect and my dignity. I didn't even know I had any left. On a day when I thought that my life was finished, the only man there holy enough to demand justice handed me mercy.

Speaker 1: 32:14

One of the benefits that you and I have is really is the New Testament, the Psalmists, as they wrote these words, and they talked about mercy, and I think that they understood it. I really do, but I would bet that the person who wrote this didn't see Jesus. They didn't make it that long, and so, as Jesus entered into the life of Jerusalem, he started to live out all of the attributes that God had been spoken of in the Old Testament. There's part of me that, as Jesus showed this woman mercy If there was anyone in the crowd who thought back to Psalm 123 and said God, show me mercy. John 8, verses 1-11, is where we find this encounter. So Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Speaker 1: 33:23

Adonis appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him. He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery they may understand before the group and said to Jesus teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say? They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him, but Jesus bent down and started right on the ground with his finger and they kept questioning him. He straightened up and he said to them let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw stone at her. Again he stooped down and rode on the ground At this those who heard me again the gay, go away, one at a time. The order was first until all of Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her woman where are they? There's no one condemned you. No one, sir. She said I need to do. I condemn you. Jesus declared go now and leave your life of sin. It's modeled for us what the Old Testament is. We're already knew the God was God of mercy and love and understanding and provision. They saw it firsthand and you and I get to read about it and then and then model that in our lives. The Psalms of Ascension for Israel were a reminder of who God is and what God can do. In the same way, the gospel of Jesus remind us of that too, of who God is, what he's accomplished, what he can do and what he's going to do in our lives.

Speaker 1: 35:45

Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is who he says he is? Do you believe that he's given mercy, that he's granted mercy to you beyond your understanding? Do you believe that he's offered you forgiveness, even though you might not be able to forgive yourself sometimes? Do you believe that, when it comes to providing for you, god doesn't care as much as about your bank account as about your obedience to him? Do you believe that when he says that the gates of Hades will not prevail against the church, do you believe?

Speaker 1: 36:30

Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus died to offer forgiveness for the sinful humanity, so that we could be restored back into the presence of God? Do you believe that God is all powerful? Do you believe that God is all knowing? Do you believe that God sits in the heavens as the world around him? Do you believe that he made you? Do you believe that he created you? Do you believe that he designed you for a purpose? Do you believe that your life was bought with a price? And do you believe that God has a plan for your life, even if you don't know what that is yet? Do you live as if God is the center of your life and that he is priority number one above everything else? And it doesn't matter how we feel it doesn't matter whether or not it makes sense to us sometimes that when we're walking with God, we walk in faith, that he goes before, he stands behind and he stands to the left or the right and he surrounds us with his presence and says you follow me, you will prevail. Then, when you're sitting on top of the mountain, god is rejoicing with you, and when you're down in the valley, god says I'll cry with you too. Do you really believe that God of the Bible is who he says he is, and not just by the words that come out of your mouth, by the way you live your life?

Speaker 1: 37:59

As the psalmist would ascend to the city, they would remind themselves of who God was as they, as they walked into the temple. They would remind themselves of who God was because their entire life depended on it. God is the Alpha and the Omega, is the beginning and the end. The world is in his control. It's his to love, it's his to judge. You and I are his creation creator and, in his image, to do good things in his name. He has chosen us, loved us and continues to use us as part of his purpose. Everything you have is because he has allowed you to have it. Every breath you take is because he has allowed you to take them. As the world denies he even exists. He gave us Jesus to make sure we understand who he is, what he is doing and that someday he is coming back. Amen, because without God none of this matters. Without God, the church does not exist. Without God, there is no hope for anyone ever. But with God we're unstoppable.

Speaker 1: 39:48

The world doesn't worry me. Other people don't worry me. What worries me is that when push comes to shove, and instead of looking up, I'll allow my gaze to focus downward. Instead of believing that God can provide in the way that he does, I try to do it on my own. I fear doubting him, I fear not being obedient to him, I fear not teaching my kids how much he loves them and that, even if I fail them, that he is not me, because he is the perfect Father in every step, in every breath, in everything that he does, and I pray that every morning, when I wake up, the very first breath that I take, that I remind myself that I took it because he let me. I love the psalmist and it captures so much emotion in all of the psalms, but the ones that I love the most are the ones that talk about hope. That God is who he says he is mercy in knowing what he's offered us, and I said it last week that if we can just keep looking up, everything is going to be okay.