What does it mean to trust God?
- Are you a trusting person?
- God is sovereign!
- God is infinite in wisdom!
- God is perfect in love!
- I will trust God's TIMING in His plans. (Hg 2:21)
- I will trust God's ABILITY to carry out His plans. (Hg 2:22)
- I will trust how God will USE ME in His plans. (Hg 2:23)
Jeremiah 22:24-25 - "As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans."
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:07
Part of Haggai's book, his last sermon, is the priority of trust.
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Let me ask you in general, are you a trusting person?
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Yes or no?
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We're not going to do a sliding scale.
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But thumbs up or thumbs down, are you a trusting person?
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Thumbs up or thumbs down?
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Generally I'm trusting.
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Generally I'm a distrusting person.
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Okay, looks like we have both sides represented today.
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Many many years ago, very early in my ministry, I had a pastor ask me to come and help him with this kids camp.
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It was for teenagers.
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I was like, "Sure, I'll come and help you out." And they did some, you know those camp things that teenagers do, right?
00:53-01:51
campy games and one of them they were doing was the trust fall. How many of you have been part of the trust fall? Okay, many of you have done the trust fall. Okay, so they were doing this really weird trust fall thing where you had to like, they like made this like circle and you had to stand with your arms folded. Anybody ever do this? And then you like fall back but then they like roll you, right? So, you know, your arms are folded and you're just kind of resting, and they're kind of pushing you, and you're kind of rolling around. Some of you guys have done that? Okay. Well, I'm watching them do that, and they're like, "Okay, now it's your turn, Steve. Okay, now it's your turn, Kelly." And they're like, "So, I'm just like sitting here watching this." And they're like, "Pastor Jeff, it's your And you know me, like ultimate good sport, like okay.
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So they're like, "Okay, stand in the middle." And yeah, they all talk like Mickey Mouse at this camp.
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It was really weird.
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I was like, "Why are you all talking like that?" They're like, "Stand in the middle and hold, you know, hold yourself like this." And they're like, "Okay, now fall back." And I kind of fell back, and I kind of roll, roll, and dump.
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In the dirt.
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I'm laying in the dirt, all these kids like looking at me.
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The pastor that was hosting this camp, not wanting to miss a teaching moment, you know, He helps me up, and he's like, "Okay guys, gather around.
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Ah, um, yes, yes, Pastor Jeff.
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How did you feel?
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Ah, when you fell?" And I'm like, "I felt like I shouldn't have trusted you." Like what a lousy game to play at camp, right?
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with a pastor in the dirt.
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Stupid camp.
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Well, I read a poll.
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Associated Press put on a poll.
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And they discovered that we are a very distrusting people.
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People polled, percentage of people that don't trust other people when they're traveling.
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You know, like you're traveling and you just have this distrust of other people.
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78% were like, I do not trust other people when I'm traveling.
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Anybody here like that?
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A little leery of people.
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OK.
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Distrusting other drivers.
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How many people distrust other drivers on the road?
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OK, 75% in this poll.
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How many people have little confidence in those who swipe a credit card?
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How many people-- this poll had-- where am I at?
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67%.
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This one cracked me up.
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People that have no confidence in who they share stuff with in social media.
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59%.
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Like, if you don't trust the people you're sharing it with, then-- help me.
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Thank you.
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OK.
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Don't trust those hired to come do work in their home, like contractors, plumbers, like, hey, come do work in my house and I'm not going to be there.
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How many people don't trust those people, helping themselves to the change on your nightstand?
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OK, 55%.
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This one really floored me.
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Percentage of people that don't trust those who prepare their food when they're eating out.
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How many people were like, I'm a little leery of the people preparing my food?
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This was only 50%.
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Like, man, I thought it would be higher than that.
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Didn't you? I mean, doesn't that seem low?
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Alright, percentage don't trust people who work at a doctor's office.
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How many people don't trust those people who work at a doctor's office?
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Okay, we have some of those people here in church today.
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46% don't trust you, Deb.
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Full disclosure here.
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If you're visiting with us, we believe in transparency.
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Percentage of people that trust the government to do the right thing.
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81% said some of the time I trust the government.
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15% said they trust the government most of the time.
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And 2% said that they always trust the government.
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2%.
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A point, we are very distrusting people.
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But the question as we wrap up this series is this, all kidding aside, here's where the rubber meets the road.
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Do you trust God?
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Do you trust God?
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Well, the church answer is yes.
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"Yes, Pastor Jeff, of course I trust God." And I don't want to focus on the Sunday morning answer, I want to focus on the Wednesday morning answer.
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You know, life isn't going the way I expected.
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You know, we've had these health issues come up in our family recently that we're not quite sure what we're doing with.
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Wow, we're in a financial crunch because of some changes at work.
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And, you know, my kids, I just can't seem to get a handle on the right way to discipline them.
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The future of my job seems to be in serious question.
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We've suffered miscarriage.
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I've suffered abuse.
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We have a lot of addiction problems in our family.
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I felt very neglected.
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Honestly, my future looks bleak parts that look uncertain.
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So getting away from Sunday morning, how do you do Wednesday morning?
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Do you trust God?
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Well, what does it mean to trust God?
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Well, here it is.
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Write this down on your outline.
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What does it mean to trust God?
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It means I trust that God has a plan.
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I trust that God has a plan.
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How many people here are planners?
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Meaning you keep an appointment book and you know, at 9 o'clock I'm doing this, at 10 o'clock I'm doing this.
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How many people are like that?
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How many people kind of like roll out of bed and you're like, let's see what's going to happen today?
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How many people like that?
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Okay, guess which one I am?
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I'm becoming more disciplined, but I'm more of the, let's see what's going to happen today.
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I have a list of things that need accomplished this week, and I'm really learning to be more disciplined in time management, because that's an area of weakness of mine.
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But my personality is to not try to dictate every minute of the day.
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And bless your heart for those of you that are able to discipline yourselves.
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Maybe you can give me some pointers.
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But the question is, of those two personality types, which one do you think God is?
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Do you think God has a plan?
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Like this is specifically what is going to happen?
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Or do you think God, every morning, sun comes up and he's just like, "Oh, what are we going to do today?" Which one do you think God is?
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Which one? Go ahead, shout it out.
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Yeah, yes, number one, right.
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God is a planner.
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Like how much?
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God has a plan for everything.
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You're like, "Can you break that down for me?" Sure.
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God has a plan for everything.
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You know, we throw a word around a lot, that we never want to trivialize by overusage.
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We say this phrase, "God is sovereign." You know what sovereign means?
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Sovereign means He solely reigns.
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God doesn't have an elder board that He consults to say, "How do you guys think I should do this?" God doesn't have a committee.
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God doesn't consult with people.
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God doesn't have a therapist.
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It's like, you know, they seem to be misbehaving down there.
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What should I do about them?
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The Bible says that God solely reigns over everything.
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There is not a molecule that exists in creation that the Lord doesn't know intricately, and doesn't have complete control over at every nanosecond of its existence.
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God is sovereign. He solely reigns over everything.
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A bird doesn't fall from the sky without God's notice.
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Sovereign over everything. Breaking that down even more, He's sovereign over the world.
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You know, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 both teach that He holds all things together.
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That's not a metaphor, people.
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It's not some kind of a poetic concept like, "Everything's just kind of held together by God." He literally holds every atom in the universe together.
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Scientists don't understand why every atom doesn't just explode because of its very makeup.
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Well, here's the reason why.
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God is holding every atom together.
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He sustains all things by the Word of His power.
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In Christ, all things hold together.
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He is literally holding every single thing in the universe together.
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He is sovereign over nations.
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When the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrew people, God was sovereign over the Egyptians.
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When the Romans crucified Jesus Christ, God was sovereign over the Roman government.
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United States, May 25, 2014.
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God is sovereign over this nation.
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Listen, whether you like the politicians or not, you are called to pray for them.
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But whether you agree with every decision that's made or not, The Bible says that God is sovereign over every nation and every government.
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And even sovereign over every decision.
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And you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, I don't think some of the decisions they're making are very godly decisions." Is God sovereign over that?
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Does God have a history of using wrong decisions to accomplish His purposes?
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You don't have to look much further than the cross of Jesus Christ.
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You talk about a corrupt government.
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That's the very thing that God used to purchase your salvation.
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If God can be sovereign over such a corrupt and wicked and self-serving government that would crucify Jesus Christ, don't think that America is spiraling out of God's control.
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Yes, there is definite moral decay, but God is still sovereign over this nation, just as He is every nation on the planet.
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God is sovereign.
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Let's narrow it down. We talked about the world, we talked about the nations, I want to talk about you.
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God is sovereign over you.
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The Bible tells us that God knows what you're going to say before you say it.
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Did you know that?
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The Bible tells us that God knows how many hairs are on your head.
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Some of us that's a much lesser count than for others.
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Whether you have a lot or a little, He knows.
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The Bible tells us that God, Acts chapter 17, He appointed your time and place. Did you know that?
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He appointed your time.
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This time in history in which you live, God handpicked that according to Acts 17.
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God says, "This is the exact minute, this is the exact period of history where I want the Millers to live.
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This is the exact period.
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Bob Wilber, this is the exact timeline I want you to live in." God chose that.
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Not only that, but He chose your geography.
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Acts 17 also says that God chose the place.
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You're like, "What am I doing in Pittsburgh?" God picked that.
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God chose your time and your place.
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He is completely sovereign over every detail of your life.
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And if anything, if anything, one thing, just one thing, if there is one thing, In the history of our world, if there has ever been one thing that God has not been in control of, then you can't trust Him.
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If there has ever been one event, just one event anywhere in the world, in any point in history that happened that God was like, "I so did not want that to happen." And that means we can't trust Him.
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But the truth is, sovereign over all time, over all places, over all people.
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But the question this morning for you is, do you trust God?
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I mean do you really trust Him?
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What does that mean?
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Let's look at Haggai chapter 2.
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Bless you, verse 20 says, "The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month." Like, what do you mean a second time?
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Well, two sermons in one day here.
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Back to chapter 2 verse 10.
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Second sermon of the day.
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Verse 21, "Speak to Zerubbabel." So this is like a sermon for one guy.
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"Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, 'I am about to shake the heavens and the earth.'" So jot this down first of all in your outline.
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Number one, "I will trust God's timing in His plans." "I will trust God's timing in His plans." If you are here with us through this series, you see this is the same language that we saw in chapter 2, verse 6, about God shaking the heavens and the earth.
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This is actually quoted in the New Testament, Hebrews 12.26.
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Like, what's that all about?
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This is what that's about.
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God is looking forward to the events of the end of the world.
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The events of Revelation 6-19.
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The events that are going to usher in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
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He's going to return and He's going to reign on the earth, literally, for a thousand years, according to Revelation 20.
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And before that happens, the Bible says that God is going to take and shake the heavens and the earth.
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He's going to shake the nations.
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And I want you to think of what Zerubbabel has seen at this point.
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You can kind of imagine history of the nation from Zerubbabel's eyes.
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North Israel conquered 720, then 586.
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Judah conquered by the Babylonians.
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Zerubbabel probably lived through, when Judah was conquered, the exile and the Persians allowing Israel to return.
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He probably lived through those events.
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Israel certainly has a history of getting knocked around, and a promise of a glorious future.
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And with everything that's happened to Israel, and this restoration that's happening now, the Lord sends the preacher Haggai to Zerubbabel, and says, "I have a message for him. Here it is.
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I'm about to shake the heavens and the earth." You know what I was thinking about this week? He says, "I'm about to." "I'm about to." And when I hear that, I think, "Why not now?" Do you think maybe Zerubbabel thought that?
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Like, "Why don't you do something now, God?" And this is where your faith is going to get tested.
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Because I don't know about you, but I've noticed that God's schedule doesn't always line up with my schedule.
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There are some things that I would like to see happen, God, and here's when I would like to see them.
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And God doesn't always check my schedule when He's making His.
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You know, the health issues we have in our family with our own children.
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I believe that my children are going to be healed.
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I believe that 110%.
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They are going to be healed.
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Either on this side of eternity or certainly on the other.
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I believe that someday, someday, they are going to be healed.
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But I'll be honest with you, there are days that I'm like, "God, why not now?
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Why not today?" I believe that a day is coming that God is going to right all the wrongs, all the injustice, comfort all the hurting people.
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I believe that that's coming and why not now?
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What's this I'm about to do?
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Why not now?
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Why don't you do this now?
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Don't you see what's going on now?
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You know it was a long winter.
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I was sure I was going to get an amen on that, but you people have such short memories.
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I remember, it was a long winter and we promised our kids that we were going to have like family Fun Day during the heart of this bitter cold winter and we got all ready to go out and got in the car and it was just buckets of snow and the roads were so icy even crawling along I was determined I'm like we'll have family fun day if I have to drive 15 miles an hour to get there but even at that we were sliding all over the road.
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And we said to our kids, "Sorry guys, you know what?
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It's too dangerous.
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We're going to go home." That wasn't what they wanted to hear.
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I said, "We'll do something fun later, but we can't do it now.
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Like, why are you telling us this story?
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I just wanted you to remember how miserable winter was." No, that wasn't it.
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My point was, our kids were probably thinking, What's the delay?
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You want to have family fun day, I want to have family fun day, why not do it now?
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We couldn't do it.
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Now obviously God's not limited, God's not like, "Well, I want to do this end of the world thing, but the weather's just not been cooperating." God's not limited.
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But the point I'm trying to make is Aaron and I had to exercise wisdom to say, not the best idea to turn our Avalon into a toboggan down 79.
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We had to use a little bit of wisdom there to say, "You know what, we're going to postpone our plans because it's going to be better for the family if we do." Now God in His perfect wisdom and completely lacking limitations, He says, "Oh, I'm going to do it.
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But I have really good reason why I'm doing it in my timetable.
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Now, question, do we need to know why God would delay?
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The answer is no.
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Because the answer really always boils down to this, right?
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He is God, and I am not.
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So if God says there is a reason for delaying in the healing of my children, He is God and I am not.
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So I'm going to trust Him.
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God says, "There's a reason that Christ hasn't returned yet. He is God and I am not." "There's a reason that God has delayed His timing." Well, He didn't delay, it just seems from our perspective.
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Here's the point, church.
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Trusting God means you're going to leave timing issues up to Him.
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You're going to leave timing issues up to Him.
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I don't mean bitterly, like, "Oh, fine. We'll just do it when you want to do it, God." That's not trusting.
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Trusting is saying, "God, I know that your timing is based on infinite wisdom.
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Even though it might not be happening the way I'd like to see it happen, I'm still going to trust you.
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I have a better plan." God has never said, "Whoops." God has never missed a moment.
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As I heard one preacher say, God's never late, but He's seldom early.
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Question for you, whatever you're going through, are you going to trust God's timing?
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Are you going to trust God's timing?
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That the Lord says to Zerubbabel, "I'm about to do something." It's not going to happen today, and obviously at this point it still hasn't happened.
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But it's going to.
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Trust His timing on that.
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Finally, I will trust God's ability to carry out His plans.
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Look at verse 22.
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The Lord continues, "And to overthrow the throne of kingdoms.
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I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations and overthrow the chariots and their riders and the horses and their riders shall go down, everyone by the sword of his brother." I will trust God's ability to carry out His plans.
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Maybe the problem here is that God wants to do a lot of things, but He just doesn't have the power to do it.
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Maybe that's the problem.
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You're like, "Well, that's crazy talk." Well, it was a very popular idea.
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How many people remember when the book, when "Bad Things Happen to Good People" came out?
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Anybody remember that book?
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By Rabbi Kushner?
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Huge impact.
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That was the premise of his book.
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Like you know what?
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I'm sure there's a lot of things that God would like to see happen, but He's just not able to make them happen.
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And you know, God's sort of limited in the way that He can intervene and work.
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That is a lie from hell.
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Notice in this passage, verse 21, "I am about to." Verse 22, "I am about to." Verse 23, "I will take you.
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I have chosen.
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I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed." But when I read this passage, who's doing all the work here?
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God is, right?
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God is.
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That's why God keeps saying, "I'm going to do this.
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I'm going to do this.
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I'm going to do this.
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God didn't say, "Zerubbabel, here's this plan that I have, and it all depends on you being able to carry it out." The sermon was basically, "Listen up, here's what I'm going to do." Can God really do everything that He wants to do according to God's Word?
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Another question, where does the 500 pound gorilla sleep?
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Anywhere he wants, right?
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Okay multiply that times infinity, that actually comes from the Bible.
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Psalm 115 verse 3 says, "Our God is in the heavens, He does all that He pleases." What does God do?
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Everything that He wants.
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What can God do?
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Anything that he wants.
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God doesn't lack the ability or the power to do anything, Rabbi Kushner.
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Isaiah 46.10, the Lord says, "I will accomplish all my purposes." And if that doesn't ratchet it up enough for you, I love Jeremiah 1.12, the Lord says, "I am watching over my word God says, "Okay, I made some promises here.
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Are you going to do them, God?" God says, "I'm actually watching over my Word.
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I said I'm going to do this, and here's what I'm doing.
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I said I'm going to do this, and here's what I'm doing." He is looking over His Word, making sure that He doesn't miss anything that He promised He's going to do.
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Watching over My Word to perform it.
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That is awesome.
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That's like the checklist that we keep at work.
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Here are the things that I want to get accomplished today.
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And we go back through, did I get this done?
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Did I get this done?
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That's what the Lord is saying He does with His Word.
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I'm making sure everything is checked off in its perfect timing.
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What has God promised?
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God's promised salvation in Jesus Christ for everyone who would believe in Him.
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Like, well, how do I know that I'm saved?
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Well, the Bible says if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you receive Him, if you cry out on the name of the Lord to be saved, you will be saved.
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That's a promise from God.
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I had somebody recently say, "I don't know if I'm saved." And I said, "Well, what does the Bible teach?
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How do you get saved?" And they shared with me, "Well, here's what the Bible says about how to get saved." I'm like, "Well, have you done that?" And they're like, "Well, yeah, I've done that." And I'm like, "Okay, then you're saved." Right?
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You're taking God at His Word.
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God said it.
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I believe it.
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Activated by faith.
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I'm saved.
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That's what God has promised.
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based on His integrity, not mine.
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Taking Him at His word.
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God's promised to provide for your needs.
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Not necessarily all of our wants, okay, but God did promise to provide for your needs.
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Does He have the ability to do that?
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God have the ability to meet your needs?
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Is God up in heaven saying, "Wow, there's just too much month at the end of the money this time around.
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He has the ability to provide everything that you need.
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Well, here's another promise.
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Jesus promised that He would build His church.
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Does He have the ability to do that?
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So do you trust that God has the ability to carry out His plans?
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Do you really believe that God has the ability to carry out His plans?
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Here's how you know that you trust God.
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It's going to show up in how you pray.
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It's going to show up in how you pray.
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If you're praying these safe little prayers that are just like, "God bless people and I hope everything works out for so and so." I encourage you again, pray big things.
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You look at how people prayed in the Bible, they prayed for big things.
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Why? Because they knew God had the power to do it.
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That's why we can boldly go before God's throne and say, "God, I'm praying for Him to be healed.
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I'm praying for You to remove the cancer.
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God, I'm praying that You would provide for this church in a supernatural and abundant way.
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God, I'm praying that this family member would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior." Pray big things.
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When you pray things like that, it shows up.
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that you really believe that God can do what He says He's going to do.
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And finally, not only do we trust God's timing in His plans, we trust God's ability.
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Thirdly, I will trust how God will use me in His plans.
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You're like, "Why was this message going to Zerubbabel again?" Look at verse 23, "On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, "I will take you, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel," declares the Lord, "and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you," declares the Lord of hosts.
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What's this signet ring thing all about?
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Well, the signet ring was a ring that the king wore.
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It had his symbol on it. An insignia.
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And they would actually seal letters, a layer of hot wax ring pressed in, to authenticate that it came from the king.
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But the ring itself was a symbol of honor and authority.
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He's the one that has the ring of authority.
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So what's going on here with, "Okay, Zerubbabel, I'm going to make you like a signet ring." Why is this message directed at Zerubbabel?
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You ready for a quick history lesson?
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Zerubbabel was the grandson of Jehoiachin.
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You're like, "Well, that clears things up. Who was Jehoiachin?" He was the ruler of Judah before Nebuchadnezzar conquered and sent the Israelites into exile.
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Well, I have on your outline Jeremiah 22.
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The reason that verse is down there is because this is in reference to Zerubbabel's grandfather, Jehoiachin.
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In this passage he's called "Kaniah." It was actually a term of derision, but it's talking about Jehoiachin.
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This passage in Jeremiah was spoken before the exile of Judah.
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God was judging Keniah, Jehoiachin, by removing the kingly authority from him.
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Look at this. It says, "As I live," declares the Lord, "though Keniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, So were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldeans." So you see, as an act of judgment, the Lord was saying to Jehoiachin, "Okay, you have the kingly authority.
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I'm about to rip that off and give it to someone else.
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But then here in Haggai, what's happening is the Lord is restoring the kingly authority back to the family line.
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Do you get that?
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God says, "To your grandfather I ripped the ring off, but to you, Zerubbabel, I'm putting it on." Does that make sense?
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Everybody with me?
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Why is that important?
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This is monumentally important because in 2 Samuel chapter 7, the Lord promised David that he would always have a descendant who would be on the throne.
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Well, in removing the signet ring from Jehoiachin, they're like, "Well, wait a minute God, what about the promise to David?" He's keeping it because we see the restoration here is irrevable.
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Interestingly, the rubbable shows up on both sides of Jesus' genealogy.
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Did you know that?
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Does Jesus have the right to reign on King David's throne?
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He absolutely does.
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The rubbable is on both sides of the genealogy.
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Incredible.
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But here's what I want you to focus on. History lesson over.
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God is saying to the rubbable, "I have a plan.
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And I've chosen you." "Okay, I've got a question. How does that work?" How does that work? You know, the whole sovereignty versus free will?
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Calvinism versus Arminianism?
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How does that work?
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I'm going to give you the definitive answer on that right now.
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Are you ready? Are you ready to write this down?
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Sovereignty versus free will, Calvinism versus Arminianism.
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Pastor Jeff, can you explain that?
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How does that all work? Are you ready to write this down?
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I don't know. I don't have any idea.
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Here's what I do know. The Bible emphatically teaches both.
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That God chooses and that man has to choose.
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The Bible teaches both.
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And do you know why people have been fighting about this for centuries?
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It's because the Bible teaches both.
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You know, you have the Arminians, they're like, "Here's our verses that say that man has free will and makes choices." And then the Calvinists are like, "Aha, yes, but there are these verses that say that God chooses us." And I'm just like, "Yeah, yeah, you're both right.
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But neither of you are exclusively right." They're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, it doesn't make any sense." And I would say, "Well, of course it doesn't make any sense." Think about it. The second that you were born, there's only two things really that you've known your entire lives, and that's time and space. Right?
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Can you fathom an existence outside of time or space? You can't.
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You measure everything by time and space.
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Now you have a God who lives outside of time and space.
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It would stand to reason that there are some things that He does, and some things that He says that don't make human sense.
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So when the Bible says that we have to make a choice, and at the same time God chooses us, I'm just like, "Okay, both are true." And I have never lost a minute's sleep over that.
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Because He is God and I am.
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Not. Still not.
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But the idea of God's sovereignty versus man's free will, that's something that you can't reject and it's something you can't reconcile.
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Very simply, very straightforwardly, Zerubbabel, God says, "I've chosen you." Do we see where Zerubbabel had a say in the matter? I don't see it.
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Do we see where God had some kind of an election here, you know, "Get votes and let me see your conduct or your character." I don't see that. Here's what I see.
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"Zerubbabel, I've chosen you." You know, the Bible says that God, for you, for you, Christian, prepared works beforehand, and then He chose you to do them.
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Ephesians 2.10 says that we were saved for good works that God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
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And then He chose you to do them.
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And this is where your confidence comes from.
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Like, well, how is there confidence in this?
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As many of you know, a year and a half ago, I was at an all-time low as far as discouragement.
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I mean, I'm talking, "I don't want to get out of bed, I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to think about it." Just discouraged.
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Just wave after wave of discouragement, discouragement.
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There is one thing, there is one thing that kept me going.
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There is one thing that kept me from renting a Harley and driving until I hit water.
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And do you know what that one thing was?
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It was in my time of praying and crying out to God and my frustration, and His still small voice, you know, He didn't crack open the heavens and scream, He didn't send me an email, you know, when God speaks to you in that still small voice, you know what I'm talking about?
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He spoke to me in that way.
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He just simply kept saying this, "Jeff, I called you to this. I called you to this." "God, this is happening. I called you to this." "But God, you don't understand, it's hard." God's like, "I called you to this." That was the only thing that kept me moving.
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God chose me to do this.
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This is a privilege that God has laid on me.
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And in my bratty protests, there have even been times when I've said, "Well God, I didn't sign up for this." He's just like, "No you didn't. I chose you for this." That's what keeps me going.
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Like, well what about me?
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The work that's before you?
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Go after that!
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Because God chose you to do what He prepared for you to do.
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Does God ever make a bad choice?
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Absolutely not.
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Whether your role is involved in leading worship.
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God chose you for that.
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God chose you for that.
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Go after that.
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Whether you're a small group leader, involved with the small group ministry, making disciples in small groups.
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Is that the work that God has before you?
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Go after that because God chose you for that.
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Children's ministry.
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Do you work with the kids?
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children about the Lord. You go after that with everything in you because God chose you for that. You're involved in hospitality and assimilation and helping visitors become members.
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You go after that because God called you to that and He prepared that for you ahead of time. You go after that. As God called you to work with your hands and turn the school into a church.
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You go after that.
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Because God prepared that for you, and He chose you to do it.
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God says, "Here's your agenda, and I handpicked you to make it happen." We don't need to explain it.
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We just need to do it.
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I read a great quote from Jerry Bridges.
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I didn't write it down, but I'm going to try to remember it.
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He said, "When it comes to our duty, It's about the revealed will of God.
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But when it comes to trust, it's about the sovereignty of God.
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Meaning, what God says in His Word, I just do it.
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And when it comes to trusting God for the things that I don't understand, I just have to rest in His sovereignty.
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I'm sure I butchered that quote.
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more exact than we did or something. You get the point, right?
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As we close our series, it's decision time. It's decision time. And I want to say as we close the very thing that I said when we started this series, beginning of May. There is very There is very little you have control over.
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Your health?
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You have a little control over that.
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Not total.
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Your circumstances?
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You have very little control over that.
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Your relationships?
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Honestly, you have very little control over that.
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But there is one thing in your life that you have complete, absolute, total, 100% control over.
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What is it?
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Your priorities.
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And Haggai teaches that God is calling you to change your priorities.
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And He will bless your work when you do.
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And He loves you enough to discipline you if your priorities are out of whack.
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Looking back at this book, this prophecy, how are you doing in your priorities?
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Can you say, "I will make worship a priority." You know, I've been so busy just with my own business, I haven't allowed Jesus Christ to really have the first place in my life.
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and so busy with work and home and kids and sports and blah blah blah.
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I haven't really let Jesus Christ be first in my life.
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Change that priority today.
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What about relationship?
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Yeah, you know what, I've been kind of going through the motions and maybe kind of fulfilling a religious duty, but I haven't really been passionate about my walk with the Lord.
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I haven't really been in God's Word, in prayer on my own.
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I've kind of backed off on my own personal devotion time.
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You can restore that priority right now.
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Last week we talked about holiness.
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You know what, I've let some areas of sin creep into my life.
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You know what, I thought I was done with some things, and I've let some things creep back in.
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I've been watching some things I shouldn't be watching on TV or on the computer.
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I've been associating myself with some people I shouldn't have been.
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I've been saying some things that really are inappropriate for someone representing God to say.
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I've really let it slip in the area of holiness.
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Today can be the day that holiness becomes a priority.
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And finally, it's trust, right? Trust.
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You know what, I haven't really trusted God.
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I just haven't been trusting Him.
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I've been trying to take matters into my own hands.
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I've been worrying.
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I've been making myself sick.
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So worried about these things that are happening.
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I haven't really trusted God.
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Today can be the day that you make trust a priority.
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No matter what happens, God is in absolute.
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The one thing you can fix in this moment, to live the life that God called me to, The absolute fullest.
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I'm going to restore.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Haggai 2:20-23
The Bible teaches that God chooses people for salvation (John 6:37) and for their
good works (Ephesians 2:10). Does this comfort or confuse you? Why?
How do we know God’s promises are true? What is your assurance that God will fulfill
His plans for you?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another!