Discussion of "How the Nativity Demonstrates that God Is Trustworthy"

[0:00] Luke 2 was the text from this morning's sermon, verses 1-7, about the birth of Jesus Christ.

[0:19] ! I'm going to reread that and then we'll go over our application questions together. Luke 2, verses 1-7.

[0:55] So the first question that we have to discuss is, why do you think God desires for you to trust Him?

[1:24] I have a microphone up here. Josiah, you want to volunteer to be the mic man? Thank you, sir. Why do you think God wants you to trust Him?

[1:38] Why do you think that's so important? Alright, Doylene, over here. I tried to look up the word trust this afternoon.

[1:51] It didn't help. But the more I thought about it and looked back at this sheet, I feel like He desires us to know Him fully.

[2:05] And to do that, to get to the point of truly trusting Him, you have to understand and accept His sovereignty.

[2:16] You have to read and believe and accept and see His faithfulness. You also read Scripture. You spend time with Him. You understand His goodness even through the trials.

[2:29] So I feel like He desires us to trust us. Because when we finally get to the point that we can fully trust Him, not partially, you know, I'll trust you on Sundays. I trust you with my salvation.

[2:41] I'll trust you here. But, you know, this part I'm going to take and do myself. You know, do I fully trust Him? I think to do that, I have got to work through these other words that you mentioned this morning and make sure I have an understanding that continues to grow and to keep spending time with Him.

[3:03] And as I accept those attributes, His sovereignty, His faithfulness, and His goodness, that trust continues to grow. So I'm thinking He's basically saying, I want all of you.

[3:13] Yeah. Good. And I liked your point, too. The purpose also for why He wants all of you is because He wants what's best for you to delight in who He is, to treasure who He is, to be less of this world.

[3:31] He wants to conform us evermore into the image of His Son. And that requires trust, as you mentioned, in order for us to get to that point where we truly treasure the Lord and truly delight in who He is, no matter what our present circumstances may be, because we treasure Him and we delight in Him.

[3:54] And we know that He can be trusted and that whatever situation we're in, though it may be a hard thing for us to go through, we know that there is still a sovereign God behind it.

[4:09] And there's a reason, there's a purpose for it. And so even when we're in those times of difficulty, we're not despairing because we know that God works all things together for the good and we know that we have this hope in Christ that is eternally secure, that those whom He predestined, called, justified, sanctified will be glorified.

[4:34] Each person falls into the next category. And so we have this hope that is eternal based upon who God is. And so the more we learn to trust Him, these other aspects, as Doyleen mentioned, the more hopeful we are, no matter what the circumstances might be.

[4:54] Any other answers, Wes? Why do you think God desires for you to trust Him? Proverbs 3, 4, and 5, where it talks about trusting the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

[5:10] If you're not trusting in Him, you're trusting in yourself. So I think a lot of times, the Bible talks about Jesus couldn't do some things because the people didn't believe in Him or whatever.

[5:20] So by trusting in God that He can do the things, so you think of Noah, trust me, start building this ark. It's going to rain. But it's never rained before. Build the ark, you know?

[5:30] And so if you're trusting in Him, you're going to do things that might seem, you know, out of your ordinary thing to do. You know, everybody's heard the stories about the guy that buys the gallon of milk and he delivers it to some apartment someplace.

[5:43] And ladies, you know, my kids were starving to death and you saved our day and all that kind of stuff, whether that's true or not. But I could easily see it happening. But just by, if you trust in God and He leads you in a certain direction, then He can do mighty things through you just because you're trusting in Him instead of just trusting in yourself.

[6:01] Why am I going to buy a gallon of milk and take it at this apartment? I need to just get home. It's snowing right now. That kind of thing. So, or why build an ark, you know? I would probably say, why build an ark? Good.

[6:12] Yeah, and I love, that's probably my favorite Bible verse because I think for me and probably maybe for you, we're so tempted to lean on our own understanding or the understanding of someone else or the understanding of this world.

[6:26] But God says, don't do any of that. And then the promise is, if you trust in Me, I will make your path straight. Good.

[6:39] Because haven't you, have you trusted in yourself and been wrong to have placed your trust in yourself? Have you thought, I can do this.

[6:51] I trust myself. And then you let yourself down. Or you've trusted in another person, even if it was someone who had proven to be trustworthy to you in the past.

[7:03] And they've let you down in some way. Or you've trusted in something that the world has had to say. You know, you should do this. Or the world's wisdom, I guess, is what I'm trying to say.

[7:14] And that has let you down. And I think what God is trying to communicate to us as well is why He wants us to trust Him is because He loves us and because He is reliable at all times.

[7:28] He doesn't let us down. He doesn't leave us. He doesn't forsake us. That He truly is trustworthy in everything. And you think about too, you know, as a believer, isn't it important to you that people trust you?

[7:46] That you be known as a trustworthy person? And why is that? Why would that be important to you? You know, why would it be important for you in your marriage to know that your spouse trusts you?

[7:57] Why would it be important for you if you have children to know that they can trust you or that people in your church can trust you? Why is that? So why would that be important? Why is that important to you, Wes?

[8:07] Well, the first thing that came to my mind is thinking about your kids. It's like, I've been there. I've done that. Trust me. This is not going to work for you. You need to save your money now. You don't need to buy the model car now.

[8:20] You need to save it for later on or whatever the situation might be. And so many times, they still don't necessarily trust you. But a lot of times, when they do, it makes you feel good. It's like, I know you don't see this, but I've been there.

[8:31] And later on, you're going to be glad that you didn't do X, Y, or Z. So just trust me and go along with what this suggestion I'm giving you. And it's great that when you see your kids take that advice and it comes out good for them, they realize, okay, you can trust Dad.

[8:46] He's not going to steer you wrong. And you see good things happen to him as opposed to the bad thing happen because you jumped off the cliff and landed in the garbage pit or something. Yeah. So trust communicates care.

[8:58] Trust communicates concern. Trust communicates love. Kendra? Trust communicates identity with Christ.

[9:11] The Bible talks about Satan being the father of lies. And so I think when we are untrustworthy, we are showing part of that sin nature that's in us that identifies not with Christ, but with that who we were previously in cahoots with, you know, was Satan.

[9:35] So. Yeah, good. Well, we were there not that long in John 8 where Jesus tells the religious leaders of Israel that your father is the devil, is the father of lies.

[9:47] And so that's important that we be trustworthy because we want to, as you said, we want to reflect Christ, not Satan. We want to be trustworthy people.

[10:01] So again, I think it goes back to what we had mentioned before. Why does God want you to trust him? Because God can be trusted. Because God cares about you. Because God is concerned for you. Because God loves you.

[10:11] He wants to make your path straight. And when you trust him, haven't you realized that before? As a believer, that maybe there was something, maybe it was something like Wes said, or it could have been something else, instead of buying milk and taking it up to somebody you didn't know before.

[10:29] But you, he asked you to trust him in something, whatever it was, and you trusted in him, despite your hesitations.

[10:40] And then it, what God did through that, and how he revealed himself to you in that situation, didn't it cause you to delight and treasure in God?

[10:51] Like, wow. You know, you are trustworthy. And you are sovereign. You are faithful. And you are good. Let's move on to the next question.

[11:04] How does dwelling on God's sovereignty produce trust? And if you want to use biblical examples of this as well, that would be, that would be really good.

[11:16] Because there's one in particular that I have in mind. We'll see if you guys have someone else in mind. How does dwelling on God's sovereignty produce trust? His being the ruler over creation.

[11:28] His being the one who has declared the ending from the beginning. How does dwelling upon that, thinking upon that, produce trust within us?

[11:41] Trust in God within us. Doylene? Well, get Wes, because he's right there. I'll make it easy for you. I forgot what I was going to say.

[11:58] I just had a brain fart there, so I guess. Oh man, we missed. All right, we'll bring it to Doylene. We'll see. We'll see if it comes back to you. Up here to Doylene, Josiah. Yeah. Yeah.

[12:08] I thought you got lost back there for a second.

[12:19] It was, didn't you? All right. Um, this year, I've been trying to learn more about the prophecy and stuff in the Bible in my personal time.

[12:33] And I was just, I always knew it, but it really hit home this year, it seemed like. And you touched on it this morning, how he's sovereign in history and, and governments and all the empires.

[12:47] And I remember when, uh, for the example, uh, the Bible is Nebuchadnezzar's dream. And he saw that wonderful statue. Mm-hmm. Started with him and the Babylonian empire.

[12:59] Then it went to the Medo-Persian empire. And then here's the Greek empire with Alexander the Great that pummeled through. Mm-hmm. And then decided not to attack Israel at that point.

[13:11] God prophesied he would not bother Israel at that point. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, he destroyed Israel in 70 AD with the Roman empire. And you keep going on down the legs. The metal gets a little bit different.

[13:22] And you get back down to the feet where there's the 10 toes of clay. And this is yet to come in the tribulation and all. And when you see all that was done and revealed and interpreted by Daniel way back, what, 600, 550, 540 BC.

[13:40] And all that came true. Why would I think the rest of it won't come true? Yeah. I mean, the prophecy in the Bible proves the Bible is true.

[13:54] Yeah. Because you see it, you saw when it was given, and then you look in history and there it is. Yeah. And surprisingly, the only great detail was mentioned in the Bible that actually happened.

[14:05] Yeah. So if, you know, why should I doubt his sovereignty and who he puts in government, like you mentioned this morning? It doesn't. You know, just trust God's got it planned. And so I think, so I always think of, I'm beginning to always like that statue now because it just shows he didn't miss a beat.

[14:24] Yeah. History did not miss a beat. Yeah. You know, it's just awesome. Yeah. Good. So dwelling on his sovereignty reminds you that God has, what he has declared, what has come to fulfillment, and that what has yet to come that has been promised in his word based upon what, based upon his track record, it's going to come to pass as well.

[14:52] And so we should not fear whoever is the most powerful individuals in the world, because we know that ultimately God is the one who is in control.

[15:06] And just as mighty men have risen to power in the past and fell, and so have their nations, God and his rule and his sovereignty, that's never changed.

[15:23] Because, you know, you think about the Roman Empire and how powerful and how vast it was. And, you know, if you would have lived during that time, you would never have thought that it would have ever come to an end, you know?

[15:38] And now what is Rome? You can say that for any other great nation. Now who are they? Nothing. And you could say that, you know, potentially for well as the mighty nations that exist in this world today.

[15:50] They're not sovereign like God is sovereign. And absolutely powerful like he is. Wes, did it come back to you? Yeah, right after he left, but then Doylene stole it from me.

[16:02] No, what I was thinking of is, is, you know, God's always got a better plan, better than I could come up with or the president of Conical Phillips or whatever. But if he's truly sovereign, which he is, and he's got a better plan, then you should be trusting him.

[16:16] It's like, it doesn't, might not make sense, but he knows the beginning and the end. So, right now might not be the time to be doing the thing you're doing, but God's plan says it is, trust me, wait.

[16:29] You know, or, or move forward now. And because he's sovereign and he's got a better plan, that's why you should trust in him. Because he's only looking out for our good and because he loves us and he's in total control.

[16:42] Good. And bringing all that back to Luke chapter 2. And these details that Luke has provided us about, you know, Caesar, and we dig deeper, Well, who is Caesar?

[16:57] Emperor of Rome. And everything that had preceded him, his rise to power, men and nations that had fallen before. And, and don't you see God's sovereignty?

[17:10] You know, hopefully you saw that this morning. And that, uh, I wrote a paper in seminary and it was on that passage in Galatians about how was it the fullness of time. And it was so interesting to be able to go back and see, you know, through word, but through the history of the world, through God's word, but through the history of the world, how God had perfectly prepared everything for the arrival of his son.

[17:36] And then for the spread of the gospel afterwards, it was perfect. And he had prepared it all. And you think about God's sovereignty, obviously when it comes to the sending of Christ, the promises that were declared in the old Testament and how they were fulfilled in his first coming and the ones that have not yet been fulfilled, how they will be fulfilled in the second coming.

[18:05] And, uh, just as God worked all things together for the fullness of that time. So, you know, God continues to be the one who orchestrates history and, uh, and for the return of his son.

[18:17] Uh, one example from scripture that I was thinking about was, uh, Joseph and God's sovereignty in his life. Remember Joseph, who was despised by his brothers and sold as a slave.

[18:31] And he remained faithful wherever he was. And ultimately through all of those horrific things that he went through, through all those times of difficulty, all those people who lied about him, uh, that eventually God wrote, you know, caused him to rise to the right hand of Pharaoh.

[18:51] And then when his brothers came back and you know the story, and eventually Joseph reveals himself to him, you remember what Joseph says to them, uh, as for you, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

[19:03] And, uh, perfect picture of the sovereignty of God at work. And we could see that all throughout scripture as well, but let's move on to the second question. How does dwelling on God's faithfulness produce trust?

[19:20] How does dwelling upon God's faithfulness produce trust? Nick. Um, I just think of the, so many disasters that befell God's people in the scripture.

[19:41] Um, I mean, certainly conquest and exile domination by pagans. Um, the Messiah comes and then he's slaughtered by the Gentiles. Um, the church in Jerusalem is being built and then it gets scattered to the four winds.

[19:56] There's so many instances like this. And yet in all things, God is faithful and the situation never gets out of hand for him. Um, and his people are still here.

[20:08] We're still sitting in this room all these thousands of years later, and his kingdom is continuing to grow. Um, and he has continually been faithful to his people since the beginning. Good.

[20:21] And you think of like Romans 8, 28 with that as well, God works together all things for the good. Um, Christ being crucified.

[20:36] Horrific, right? Uh, like you said, slaughtered. Um, he was innocent, but he was crucified for our sins.

[20:47] You know, you think if you're a disciple follow watching that on that day, you know, wonder what good could come from this yet. It achieved the greatest good, uh, an atonement, a sacrifice was given to atone for the sins of, um, his people.

[21:04] You think about the church in Acts that was persecuted in Jerusalem. I mean, things were going great, right? Their numbers, they're increasing, they're growing, but, but, the Lord's calling, command was to go and make disciples.

[21:18] And so through that persecution, even, they spread out. Um, and the gospel continued to, to go, and, and the word of Christ, and the gospel continued to spread, and disciples continued to be made.

[21:30] Any other answers for this one? Mike. One of the advantages of getting older, and there are a few, is you got a lot of history in your own life that you can look back on.

[21:51] And I think it is refreshing to me once in a while, just to go back and say, okay, I didn't understand this. Why did God allow me to be drafted?

[22:03] I didn't understand. Hmm. On the last day of the official draft, to go in, be the last of the draftees, and, some, 50 years later, I understand.

[22:15] Hmm. Uh, I'm, I'm getting a little check from, for disability, for my war wound. And I thought, what a deal. Uh, God knew, that I was going to be working, independently, that I wasn't going to have a big retirement, that I, although I married well, I didn't marry wealthy.

[22:34] And, uh, and God said, you're going to need something. And, that disability from my war wound, by the way, I was playing basketball in the army, um, has provided enough that I don't worry about, you know, are we going to have enough to eat?

[22:54] Can we pay the rent? Um, all that kind of things. Other stuff that you look at, why did God bring us to Bartlesville? Um, why are we living in the house?

[23:05] I mean, just everything that we went through, we trusted God, and said, Lord, we don't always understand, but boy, he sure makes it plain later on, and that really fills my heart.

[23:16] Yeah. And again, like you said, when you think about that, when you dwell upon his faithfulness, and scripture, and in your life, the result is you treasure, and you delight in God.

[23:26] Um, and I'm sure we could go around the room, and we can, I think we have some time, to think about those instances too, where you've seen the faithfulness of God, in his word, but you've also experienced it, in your own life.

[23:44] And how encouraging is that? Isn't it? Whenever it all, comes together, or you get that, you realize, you know, why did this happen, back in, back then?

[23:59] And he's gracious enough, to show you. Maybe not all the times, but I think he eventually will, when we are in heaven with him, and we're like, well, why did that happen? Well, okay, I understand. And it's all okay now, I'm happy where I'm at.

[24:10] You know, I don't think any of us are gonna, go up to God in glory, and be like, now I got a bone to pick with you. Um, but just to, especially when we're tempted, I think, to doubt, or to question, God's trustworthiness, to stop, and to dwell, over his word.

[24:30] And this is why it's so important, to, to be in the word of God, so that when you're in those times, these things come to, to mind. The scripture, it comes to mind, and he uses it to comfort you, and to, to remind you of what is true, to make your, your path straight, to remind you of his faithfulness, and then also to, be reminded of, how he's been faithful, in your own life, and the ways that he's demonstrated to you, that he is someone, who you can trust.

[25:04] And I just think that's important, as well, just to stop and reflect, over, your salvation, since, the time Christ saved you, to see how he's been continually faithful, to you, throughout all that time, to look in his word, and to be reminded, that just as he's been faithful to you, he will continually, be faithful, to you.

[25:29] Any other answers, for this one, or, comments, that you would like to share? Mr. Grasser. I couldn't help, but think about Joshua 4, and how the Israelites, when they had crossed over, the Jordan River, that, you know, they were commanded, set up these stones, as a memorial, and, of, what the Lord had done, how he had directed them, and they followed through, they were faithful, and obedient, but that the Lord, had taken care of them in that, and, in our family, we've, we've really tried to establish, I love what Mike said, we've tried to establish, what are the stones in our lives, what are the things, that we want to remember, and that we want, our children to remember, because that's what that memorial, was supposed to be, it was supposed, supposed to be something, that the children, of Israel, could look back upon, and say, the Lord was faithful, and so for us, what are those stones, in our life, that we, where we've seen the Lord, be faithful to us, where we've seen him, just be good to us, and how he has directed us, and in that way, dwelling upon it, has, has allowed us to trust him, in the next steps of, of life, whatever that may be.

[26:46] Yeah, that's awesome, because we're so prone, to forget, and to be fickle, and to be so overcome, with whatever our circumstances, may be, that we're tempted to, doubt, and to raise those Ebenezers, do any of you guys do that?

[27:03] Do you have things, that may be in your office, or your house, that, they're reminders, to you of God's, past faithfulness? I have some, some of those things, as well, just to have, to look at, in my office, or at home, every once in a while, and it's just like a reminder, and I keep it, just to remember, God's faithfulness.

[27:25] One of those things, is this really, ugly, paperweight, really cheesy, paperweight, and it's just, you know, I'll say, that's enough.

[27:40] It's one of those things, that you would buy, at like, a store, for a couple dollars, and, anyhow, I received that, from someone, in my first, ministry position, which was at, the House of Prayer Rescue Mission, soon after I started, seminary, and, you know, I won't share, all the details, but the way I even, fell into that thing, and the whole situation, it was just odd, but, it was only a summer, but I, cherished that summer, and I cherished those people, because, I remember, throughout that summer, you know, getting opportunities, to serve, these people, and you wonder, you know, is it making any difference, and then I remember, my last day there, they threw a little, party for me, and one of the ladies there, gave me this paperweight, and, and I treasure it now, and it's, it's in my office, and even though, you know, if I saw it at the store, I probably wouldn't buy it, it's something that I, that I love to have, something that I would, be upset to lose, because it's just, a reminder again, of God's faithfulness, that you never know, what impact he might be using, you to make a difference, in someone's life, but just things like that, just to remind, yourself of God's faithfulness, and there's other ones as well,

[28:59] Danny had her, hand up, where'd you go Mike man, just side, there you are, back to Danny sir, I think that's a great point, like, Ben said, to, and you know, maybe something good, for you guys, for you to do as well, just to think about, as a family, or even individually, just to go through, and to spend some time, reflecting upon those stones, that those, times where God, has been faithful to you, and to keep, that fresh in your mind, write them in your Bible, or put them somewhere, because you will have, difficult times, to be able to go back, and, and, and look at your, Ebenezer, your, your reminder, of God's faithfulness, Danny, when Mike and I, were first married, we're super, super poor in seminary, barely making it through, and we decided, for Christmas, or I decided, we'll do something creative, and cheap, and so we were going to make, our own Christmas gifts, and so Mike painted, on this canvas, he was taken Greek, at the time, and he had painted this, verse in Greek, and had given it to me, well that, it was nice, but you know,

[30:16] I hung it in the, downstairs, guest bathroom, and it was just hanging there, for years, and so years go by, and we had had Jack, and a few years later, I had had a miscarriage, and so that was a really, really hard thing, to go through, I don't think I'd ever, been through anything, so dark before, and you know, just you know, lots of questions, and I remember, my kid came home, and he had that, had this verse, it was Romans 8, 28, and he actually, read that this morning, God causes all things, to work together, for the good of those, who love him, and, that, that painting, had been hanging, in the bathroom, for so long, and I remember, a few days later, Mike came upstairs, and he had the painting, he said, do you remember, what this says, and I'm like, no, it's in Greek, I don't remember, but he had written, on the back of it, Romans 8, 28, so it was kind of neat, that all those years ago, God had laid that, on his heart, and it was hanging, in our bathroom, that whole time, and then, that was a verse, that really, really helped us,

[31:23] I think, through our marriage, and through, something really difficult, that we went through, so God's faithfulness, it's not just, in the good times, you know, and God's faithfulness, was there, because he never left us, through our hard time, also, hmm, good, I don't think, that Ebenezer, is anywhere visible, in our house, right now though, I'm just joking, yeah, and I think, you made a really good, point as well, it's usually, in those times, where it was really, a difficulty, that we went through, that we really, see clearly, and vividly, the faithfulness of God, any other, okay, I challenge you guys, to do that, I think that, you know, Ben made a good point, and what a good exercise, to just, think over your life, with the Lord, and dwell upon all the ways, that he has been faithful to you, and find a way, to keep those things, fresh in your, in your memory, and then again, taking this back, to Luke chapter 2, we see the faithfulness, in God, and going back, to Genesis, 3, where, a deliverer, is promised, and then from, that moment forward, scripture continues, to unveil, more, aspects, about who this deliverer, will be, more promises, about what this deliverer, will do, and you know, the deliverer came, and I think for that, 400 years, of, silence, from Israel's perspective, you, wonder if they're, challenged, or tempted, to doubt, that this deliverer, would ever come, and God doesn't forget, the promises, that he's made, and I think, sometimes we've had, and I'm guilty of that, somebody was well intentioned, they made a promise to you, but they just forgot, and God doesn't ever forget, the promises, that he's made, that his son did come, and he came in an amazing way, and God was faithful, to send him faithful, to, redeem us, through him, and he'll, be faithful, when the time comes, for him to send him back, as well, the next question, how does, dwelling on,

[33:51] God's goodness, produce, trust, trust, it's kind of intertwined, a little bit, but, how does God, how does dwelling on, God's goodness, produce, trust, Josiah I think that he's like a generous God so you would trust him to be generous in things like he protected Israel while they were in the desert for 40 years I think good that's a great observation because God is sovereign we're not God is faithful we're not but even though we aren't faithful to God like he's faithful to us he's still good he is good to Israel despite their idolatry despite their disobedience he continued to be good to fulfill his promise and he continues to be good to his people today despite how unfaithful we can be to him and again when you think about that and I've

[35:12] I am I've been unfaithful you know when you think of Hosea and Gomer I'm Gomer we're Gomer we are adulteresses but the Lord has been faithful because he's good despite our wickedness!

[35:56] times by getting really stressed out and then being unpleasant to my wife and stuff like that and it's because I have forgotten about the Lord and his goodness and I'm focused on my circumstances and so if I dwell on the Lord's goodness and I am afraid or stressed out something I need to remember is that like God loves me so much that he demonstrated that by giving his son for me and how could the one who did not withhold his son also not freely give me all things and I think about the Lord Jesus and his goodness to me is demonstrated in him exchanging his life for mine and I should dwell on that or the Holy Spirit his goodness is shown in that he has chosen to live within my heart that he's with me in all things and so I think like when I think about the Lord and his goodness given to me it helps me to trust in the future that he has all things taken care of and it's something that I can believe and the more I think about him the more goodness I see that he has given to me and done for me the more grateful I am rather than stressed or afraid good

[37:13] I think what you mentioned in there too God's goodness is based upon his grace you know whereas it's not the case goodness often with us is it goodness is based upon something else I'll be good to you if you'll be good to me but God's goodness is it based on our being moral law givers it's based upon his grace it's based upon the fact that he is good and and I think sometimes if we're not dwelling on the fact that God is good we can get into moral moralism legalism and think that in order for God to continue to be good to us that we've got to prove to him in some way that we are good enough for him to be good to us if that makes any sense if you're following that but that's you know that's where our minds often tend to go isn't it but to dwell upon

[38:23] God's goodness and to realize that his goodness is based upon who he is it's based upon his grace we don't deserve the goodness of God but we've received it through Christ we're justified by grace through faith right not based upon who we are or the good works that we've done and then when we think about that it can't help but change our attitudes as well and how you know God has been so good to me and I didn't deserve it and you treasure him and you delight in him because of that and it compels you and I'm going to be good to people who don't deserve it either based upon God's grace based upon the goodness that I've received from him Eric so as as I something something that when I look at all these questions why do you think

[39:25] God desires for you to trust him the dwelling of God's sovereignty produced trust faithfulness goodness what came to my mind was Paul 2nd Corinthians 12 beginning of verse 6 for I want to for if I want to boast I wouldn't be a fool because I would be telling the truth but I will spare you so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me especially because of the extraordinary revelations therefore so that I would not exalt myself a thorn in the flesh was given to me a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness therefore I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may reside in me so I take pleasure in weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and in difficulties for the sake of Christ for when I am weak then I am strong as you said grace that's

[40:36] I've been sitting on this for a little bit and I think of Paul he now understands God in his sovereignty he's given this to him he's allowing him to have it because he knows what's best for him his faithfulness I mean he's already proven his faithfulness to Paul his goodness and to be able to get to that point to where okay I'm gonna I'm gonna take this thorn I'm gonna run with it because of my weaknesses I am strong to get to that point and to and to his understanding of God and who he is it's something to behold it's something to definitely strive for and as I read this question that's what came to my mind was my grace is sufficient and being able to dwell on that and okay

[41:41] I'm good that's the way it is so I'm good good I think and thinking as you read that scripture as well and thinking about the good things that God gives to us are sometimes things that maybe even often things that the world would not perceive as good you know but the persecution that Paul mentions the thorn in the flesh that Paul mentions and all those things that he experienced and yeah and you know because he knew God was sovereign like he said God was faithful and God was good he had the spiritual maturity in that to see that this is a good thing for me because it's keeping me from boasting it's keeping me from trusting in myself it's keeping my focus on Christ and on the grace of God that I've received that my boasting should not be in me or who I am or what I've done but only in the cross of Jesus

[42:45] Christ alright that's a great thing to bring up as well when we think about goodness a lot of times and receiving goodness from somebody especially right now in our world you know we don't often see discipline as being a good thing discipline is a very good thing and it comes from you know from those who discipline it comes from a motivation of love you know I love you I want to protect you I want what's best for you I want to mold you and to shape you into something better therefore I'm going to discipline you and especially when we think about that in relation to God I think it's awesome that you brought up that verse because so often we don't we can be we can forget about how God's goodness works in that way as well his goodness to discipline his goodness to deflate our ego when it gets too big not to hurt us but to remind us of his grace of his love because you know usually when our ego is big like that we're certainly not acting like the

[44:02] Lord and we're certainly not having a benefit for other people and our concern is more for ourselves and we aren't modeling the character of our Lord and Savior any other answers for this one how does dwelling on God's goodness produce trust Wes I'm not Wes but I'll take it I think of the verse of why we were yet sinners Christ died for us and I think about the past before I knew Christ when I was blind and couldn't see all the protection you know and bringing me through things that I probably should have died but God had a plan for our lives for my life and yours and then coming to know Christ then looking back and reflecting on that goodness as we're talking about seeing his hand at work and protecting us so his plan can come to fruition to bring us to where we're at now awesome yeah yeah just thinking about the goodness of God in your own salvation and you know the miracle that that was and the goodness in his saving you and even for those of you who maybe have a story similar to mine to me where you were saved but you still acted really stupidly and God was still good to be faithful yeah all right

[45:39] Wes first I want to say I really think these are really good sessions when we come back and everybody is discussing I'm really impressed with how much people are really taking these back home reading it thinking about it studying on it looking at stuff and then coming back with something really constructive I think it's a really great thing that we're doing here I just want to thank everybody that's doing that now to make my point believe it or not I'm going to talk about training a dog but I believe that love produces trust and then God proves his love by his goodness and his grace and mercy well if you're training a dog and you want him to stay or come or whatever you're trying to teach him if you're hitting your dog and screaming at him and doing all this bad stuff the time is going to come when he's on the other side of the street and here comes a car and you want him to stay right where he is or you want him to come real quick because something's going to happen well if he doesn't trust you you're yelling at the dog come you come here and the dog is starting to run the other way and he runs out in the traffic or whatever he's got to trust you in order to obey you and do the things you want him to do so you think if you were treating your dog mistreating your dog and he's not going to trust you last time

[46:53] I came to you you were mad because I was doing something wrong and then I came and then you hit me and so now I'm not going to come to you so I think when God shows his love for us that's how we build more trust for him that just we're going to trust in him and he does that through his goodness how he just richly blesses us all the time when I pray I just I start out just you could pray for hours on all the good things that God has done for us just the breath you have and I have both legs and I have a job and I've got a home and I've got food and I've never gone starving and I've got eyesight and I can hear and that's just the start of it right and you just keep on going with your friends and your family and your church body that you have and the word that you have that you can go into there's so many things that we have to be thankful how much he loves us you can trust him because if he loves us that much he's not going to put us through something that we don't need to whether it is being disciplined or he brings blessings on us

[47:56] God loves us and so we can trust him whatever he's telling us to do you know you read his words like okay I'm supposed to forgive 490 times and then you can stop forgiving right but anyway I just think that through his goodness he builds up that trust for us good well and as you had said Wes did you have your hand up Amy okay yeah the ladies bible study this spring or fall I don't remember exactly we were talking about the nature of God and all of these things that we're talking about today are the nature of God and my name is not

[48:59] Yvonne okay no God's goodness like you I began with Christ at a young age and I had a lot to learn I had a lot to learn about his nature and about how he deals with his children his beloved children the child that he gave Jesus and his goodness to me took the form hard things but he will not allow his child to wallow in sin he will bring you home and this one hurts but it is pure love to you that he cares enough to bring you home and we talk about you know all the things of this earth friends and church and stuff like that but the dearest the dearest thing is his faithful loving goodness to his child and he is faithful and he is good and like Mike the older you get hopefully the more you know of his nature and when you know his nature and what he does and how he deals with people and how he deals with you you can trust him because life isn't pretty and life isn't easy that he is good that's it amen thank you that's what delighting and treasuring in God looks like right there you know when we are brought to that understanding

[52:21] I mean it causes us to feel all the feels you know I realize that God is good and God is faithful and that he is sovereign and he loves you and you don't deserve it and you think about the goodness of God again and bringing it back to Luke chapter 2 how amazing it is that God would send his only son I mean John 3 16 is a verse we all know but just to stop and dwell upon that too God sent his only son to die for me that I could live last comment to Michael could you take it back there Josiah right here thank you just for me like talking about the goodness of God really takes me back to Psalms 23 and just how the Lord is our shepherd we shall not want makes me lie down in fields of green pastures I mean the whole psalm is about how good God is to

[53:24] David even when he was walking through the darkest times of his life through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil because you are with me and it just gives me comfort to know that even through the darkest times of my life no matter how bad it gets that God is going to provide for me he's going to be good for me the last little part right it says surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever just that goodness and mercy that's going to follow us all the days of our lives and that we're going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever is just that hope that we get to!

[54:00] and that trust that on the last question there is one for you to be praying over and thinking about as you also continue to dwell on the trustworthiness of God to demonstrate through his sovereignty his faithfulness and his goodness in what ways is God asking you to trust him today and will you trust him let's pray Lord God thank you for this evening that we've had thank you for this group that has gathered your word that we have turned into and discussed and how you've used it to sharpen us tonight God I pray that we would be mindful that we would dwell upon the fact that you are a God who has proven yourself time and again to be trustworthy and we can go through your word we can look in the world through the history of the world we can look inside in our own lives and see how you've been sovereign you've been faithful and you've been good so father

[55:17] I pray that we would continue to trust you that we would demonstrate your goodness and your faithfulness and that lord you would be exalted by that lord I pray that we would treasure you and we would delight in you and we would rejoice in all that you are salvation that we received that we didn't deserve through Christ Jesus your son and so father I pray that as we leave tonight and as we some of us are staying in town this week others are traveling that you would just be with us as we gather in the different places where we will be to celebrate Christmas that that that would be a sweet time of fellowship and most importantly Lord that you would just continue to ground our focus on the fact that Jesus has come and on the promise that

[56:18] Jesus will return until that time may we be found faithfully Lord going and making disciples and living our lives in such a way that that pleases you and that honors you and that glorifies the name of Christ in whose name we pray amen all right God bless you all have a great week we will not have we will not meet next Sunday night obviously we'll have church in the morning but we will not meet that Sunday evening so again I hope you have a great Christmas Merry Christmas and I will see you soon Thank you.