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as we get ready to jump into this uh penultimate chapter Let’s uh open up in a word of prayer uh Lord uh we thank you for giving us breath this morning we thank you for awakening us and allowing us to come together as a family once again as a body of Believers we thank you for your grace and for your goodness and uh just for everything that you’ve been teaching us through this book this year I pray that these words would be yours Lord and that that they would affect the hearts and minds of your people and that they would teach us to grow closer in our trust for you that we would decide these things Lord that you would guide us and enable us to look at things from history past from the truth and evidence of things that you’ve done in our own lives and the lives of those around us that we may grow deeper in our trust and love for you praise in Jesus name amen am okay so like I said this is the penal ultimate chapter uh Mark’s going to be bringing us home next week but Jerry Bridges goes through this concept of choosing to trust God he emphasizes the importance of actively choosing to trust particularly in difficult or uncertain times and he argues that trust in God is Not merely a passive state but a deliberate decision an act of the will something that we need to choose over and over and over again he discusses how trusting God is a fundamental aspect of the Christian faith and how it influences Believers respond are responding to Life’s challenges and his adversities he uses biblical examples and personal anecdotes to illustrate how choosing to trust God Can Transform one’s approach to life leading to peace and to resilience the chapter delves into practical aspects of building and maintaining trust in God Bridges offers guidance on how to nurture this trust through prayer meditation on scripture and the cultivation of a heart that is attuned to God’s presence and promises he encourages readers to reflect on God’s sovereignty wisdom and love as reasons to trust him fully choosing to trust God ultimately calls readers to reflect on their own faith Journeys challenging them to make a conscious choice to trust God in all circumstances thereby deepening their relationship with him and finding comfort in his Sovereign control over all aspects of life and the primary verse for this one was Psalm 56:34 when I am afraid I put my trust in you in God whose word I Praise In God I trust I shall not be afraid what can flesh do to me incredibly comforting so let’s get a little bit into the nature of trust and again if you guys have any questions comments I I know you’re not afraid to be interactive but I I’ll give you the reminder um in this part so we have the opportunity to look at two things here trust is an active Choice it’s not passive right it’s a deliberate decision to rely on God’s promises he explains that it’s not just this feeling right we we can’t be held captive or Hostage to our feelings or to our hearts right they’re they’re wickedly deceitful Trust involves a deliberate decision and he contrasts that with human trust which for us often depends on seeing right with spiritual trust which must be exercised even when physical evidence is lacking we’ll get to that a little bit um for active trust the verse that I thought was really great for this was Proverbs 35 to6 trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding feel like every little kid knows that one all these truths are so simple yet so difficult to live out and then leaning on God we choose to depend on God’s character even when it’s challenging God’s immutable character he’s consistent we are fickle and change but he doesn’t he’s omnicient he’s all knowing he’s always loving he’s always just he’s holy he’s the only one that is the way he is and because of that we can rely on him uh Hebrews 11:1 now Faith is the Assurance of things hoped for the conviction of Things Not Seen and he never leaves us Hebrews 13:5 never will I leave you never will I forsake you no matter what life brings God is always just God is always true and he is steady so we’ll talk a little bit more about what does it mean to have faith Beyond sight can’t just be physical evidence right we’ve just talked about that it must be something deeper right there’s a spiritual layer to trust and then how do you walk in that we often seek tangible proof in our daily lives that something’s real you show me the money I got to see to believe it you know if you’re going to go buy a car you’re going to go see the car right you want to test drive it you want to feel it does it does it work the way it’s going to if you’re going to buy a house you want to get it ready you want to see what it’s like is it this is this the space but it’s not that way with God we have to trust but like Thomas we all doubt John 20 24-25 now Thomas one of the 12 called the twin was not with them when Jesus came so the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord but he said to them unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side I will never believe and that’s so much us we want to see we want to touch we want to be able to verify for ourselves but what happens when you can’t how do you trust in God when you can’t see the outcome when it’s cancer or you don’t know where you’re going to live next or you don’t know where your next breath is going to come from because you feel like the weight of the world is just on top of you Faith calls us to trust beyond what we can see or touch spiritual trust is necessary even when physical evidence is lacking we think about Moses Hebrews 11:27 by faith he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible this invisible hand moving in the background we know it is the holy spirit right God moves in incredible ways and he pulls us forward we have a responsibility to walk in that to be diligent in his Commandments and we’ll get into the disciplines of Grace again in a little bit but we have to maintain those disciplines those things help to propel us forward by God working in and through us and in and through the people around us 2 Corinthians 57 we walk by faith not by sight overcoming trust challenges seems throughout the book that there were there were three main ways that Bridges wanted to tackle challenges in trust I think the most basic for all of us is Trials and suffering that typically leads to some type of doubt and then there’s the mundane there’s the the little problems that aren’t that big right we’re not going to necessarily bring it to God but we should he tells us to bring everything to him and in those cases there’s this self-reliance self-determination where we tend to just sort of say excuse me we tend to sort of say we can just go through it on our own do I really need to bring that to God I don’t even know if half of us think about it I know I don’t so oh that’s just a little problem but God tells us to bring everything to him a challenges do test our trust they also provide opportunities for growth and for deeper Faith challenges like suffering like loss they test it James 1 2:4 count it all joy my brothers when you meet Trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing Romans 5 3: 5 not only that but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces prod endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us God will never forsake us even in the darkest of days 1 Peter 5:7 casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you trials they they’re tough they’re not meant to be easy but God says he’ll always be with us I remember was it 5 years ago my mom had cancer for the first time wow that was a shock F super super fast moving two weeks later it’s okay we’re going in for surgery and we’ve got a plan forward and watching her say no matter what God’s got me so encouraging and then for her to be in remission for 5 years fantastic and then when it came back last year or earlier this year still she Praises him through and through and it is such a blessing and encouragement to our family we don’t need to be cast down Psalm 425 why are you cast down oh my soul and why are you in turmoil within me hope in God for I shall again praise him my salvation he is our hope right 1 Peter 1:6-7 in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuiness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in Praise and glory and honor at the revelation of who of Jesus Christ it’s all for his glory that’s why we exist another thing to be reminded of is that God must receive the honor that’s due to him he is the object of our trust he can work through or without the aid of man if he does work through man we should be mindful that he is not dependent on man right we we’ve talked about his sovereignty over and over again again uh in the first few chapters of this book God doesn’t need us but he brings us along for the ride and he makes us the instruments of his work for the glory of others and for the for the for his glory and for the good of others so we are to trust in God and not the instruments of his Deliverance really loved this quote from the end of the chapter by Philip Bennett power the daily circumstances of life will afford US opportunities enough glorifying God in trust without our wanting or sorry waiting for any extraordinary calls upon our faith let us remember that the extraordinary circumstances of Life are but few that much of life may slip past without their occurrence and that it is we uh sorry gosh I can’t read it up there is that uh that is and that is we may not be faithful and trusting in that which is little we are not likely to do so or be to we are not likely to be so in that which is great let our trust be reared in the humble Nursery of our own daily experience with its ever recurring little wants and trials and sorrows and then when need be it will come forth to do such great things as are required of it trust God in the little things be diligent in the little things because that’s the majority of life it’s the mundane it’s the getting ready every morning having breakfast it’s the having dinner with your family it’s showing up at work it’s those little moments of the day where we don’t necessarily think twice about it but where we have the opportunity to show our continual trust in God and to show that to the people around us and as you grow in the little things in life God gives you more and more and more right it should be then that when the big challenges in life come you’ve already sustained and built up such a trust in God with the daily walk that that trust shines deep and you can rely heavily on the power of God and your Reliance on him instead of self you we see that time and time again in The Parables where someone who’s given a little has a little someone who’s given much has much more responsibility it’s a muscle that gets built up over time so don’t rely on God to just get you through most of the difficult circumstances or the greatest crisises but rather Trust on him for all things in all times we as people have a tendency to seek the Lord as we should and our troubles we must remember to be just as diligent in seeking him and depending on him through the minor Troubles of the day and through the mundane and especially in times of abundance when things are bad how quick are we to drop to our knees we have to remember when life is good he controls that too we have to thank him for everything that he’s given us whether we like it or not there there’s a reason for everything whether it’s for you or for the people that he’s going to bring around you in order that they may grow in their gifts that they may grow in their Walk we’re not the protagonists of our own stories right we are side players we are the tools and the instruments that God uses this is his story this is his world we’re just playing in it let’s get into a couple examples of biblical trust Abraham and his sacrifice we’ve got job’s perseverance and David’s resilience with Abraham he was willing to offer Isaac demonstrating ultimate trust in God’s plan um I’m going to read uh Genesis 221 to18 little lengthy so bear with me for a moment after these things God tested Abraham and I said to him Abraham and he said here I am he said take take your son your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you so Abraham Rose early in the morning saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac and he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar then Abraham said to his young men stay here with the donkey and I am the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son and he took in his hand the fire and the knife so they went both of them together and Isaac said to his father Abraham my father and he said here I am my son he said behold the fire in the wood but but where is the Lamb for a burnt offering and Abraham said God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son so they went both of them together when they came to the place of which God had told him Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been I love my boy cannot imagine then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said Abraham Abraham and he said here I am he saido not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son your only son from me and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him was a ram caught in a Thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the RAM and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son so Abraham called the name of that place the Lord will provide as it is said to this day on the Mount of the Lord it has uh it shall be provided and the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said by myself I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done this and have not withheld your son your only son I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your Offspring as the stars of heaven and as a sand that is on the seashore and your Offspring shall possess the Gate of his enemies and in your Offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice so I ask you a question how did Abraham so trust in God or show trust to God rather Cory ten Boom or different people that you can’t look at someone else and go Sten yeah who Sten Stephen he will give you he doesn’t give it to you ahead of time but even if you have the strength it came from him at that moment to act in a way that you’re just like wow that where did that come from because it’s we’re not able to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps it we have to be dependent on God even for everything for everything everything we have comes from him so while he gave us these wonderful examples it’s it’s also uh be the Bible’s a reality because he also showed us all the flaws and that is US yeah and so we preach that gospel to ourselves all the time because if it isn’t by his grace we can’t muster it up in the midst of the crisis we can walk by faith in that we deny our feelings and we battle like David did like what talk to yourself why am I so downcast this is my God he gave me his word he gave me the spirit he gave me the church he gave me so you’re battling your flesh that’s our responsibility because we’re prone to do that so I just think we look at it that our God will provide for us in those situations if we’re willing to receive it and be open to that and and trust that and make a deliberate choice and battle our own own flesh it’s a battle amen oh see not good hi every oh I’m sorry my voice um first thing I wanted to say is that the gospel is written all over this passage um it’s a sermon in itself but um um in terms of how Abraham was showing his trust in God um the first indication was when he said to the men that were traveling with him to wait here and he and his son will return so that in itself showed that um Abraham had some understanding of the Resurrection because he believed that he was going to return with his son most people missed that the second thing was when um Isaac’s noticed that it’s his father has the wood he’s there and and the only thing that was missing was the the the animal or the sacrifice itself and Abraham said to his son God will provide the sacrifice um or the lamb and then um when he the fact that another thing that we may miss is that um we don’t realize that Isaac the age of Isaac at that time you could have probably knowing the age of Abraham easily have overpowered his father but he willingly allowed his father to put him um on the wood to be ready to be sacrificed and um the the last thing was that um we see um Abraham’s trust in God because um again pointing to um uh the Messianic promise um where Abraham said that God would provide the lamb we see the substitute of Isaac for the lamb itself the lamb became the sacrifice and um when God used the word you know offer of his only son his only begotten son and whom you love that’s the first time love is actually mentioned um in the Bible so again it it shows Abraham’s trust in God that even though he loved his son he showed his love for God to be more yeah it’s a wonderful foreshadowing isn’t it yes and Jody to your point before I mean we’ve got three guys on this sled we’ve got an adulterer a murderer and then I mean I don’t know what sin job specifically had other than challenging God directly and you know is that idolatry I suppose Steve did you have something you want to say yeah just real quick you know Abraham had a life that loed with failure you know I mean God made him the promise and then what does he do he hides behind his wife because he’s afraid he’s going to get killed yet God already made him the promise and if he died he couldn’t have fulfilled that promise so you know all along the way I think Abraham learned to trust God you know I mean through his failures he got to a point where he said I can trust what God has to say and you know lot of times we forget the successes and the amount that God has helped us and and and even just um you know delivered us from uh you know uh what could have happened to us you know so God has been faithful to Abraham all throughout the way and I think by this point in his life he just says you know and that’s not to say he didn’t have anguish you know but you know he had learned all along the way that God is faithful amen yeah so much of life is learning to trust in every aspect of God for everything in our lives go GL yeah he’s got the microphone for you Glenda um sometime we look at these mens Abraham job David and all these Patriarchs in the word of God and then when we think that they had a small portion of the scripture but we have the whole Bible and we can look back and see not only they was perseverance in what they did and trust God we look at a new Testament we see Paul we see Timothy and we see all these men so we make our flesh rise up and cause us not to trust God and as he say we choose we have to choose to trust him because we have a lot of examples from the Bible and as arur was saying Abraham said to him um to the PE the young the men I’m going and sacrifice and come back so he knew something was going to happen maybe he didn’t know how God is going to deliver his son but he knew exactly in telling them wait here we going to come back so we have to choose to trust God because we have the whole word of God that we can look and see example from the Old Testament and from the New Testament yeah not only do we have the word of God we have the Holy Spirit God indwells in us that’s incredible it’s an in literal incredible power that we don’t know that they had and we we see with David the spirit of God coming upon him but only for a period of time right this is as Christians the Holy Spirit lives in us and once he’s with you he’s never leaving you that’s an incredible Comfort let’s look at Job his perseverance he maintained Faith through immense suffering and loss and yet we look at job 1: 20-22 then job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped and he said naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return the lord gave and the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord in all this job did not sin or charge god with wrong he understood his place and he understood that that incredible blessing he had was a wonderful gift but rightfully job uh calls out that God gave and can take away and then Job 13:15 though he slay me I will hope in him you can take my body but I’ll be with you and David his Reliance during his flight from Saul in 1st Samuel 24:15 may the Lord therefore be judg and give sentence between me and you and see to it and and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand sorry I had a little something this week and we look at Psalm 571 be merciful to me oh God be merciful to me for in you my soul takes refuge in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge till the storms of Destruction pass by I think my favorite Psalm was my grandfather’s favorite Psalm Psalm 27 uh verses 1 to5 here the Lord is is my light in my salvation Whom Shall I Fear the Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked Advance against me to devour My Flesh it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall though an army besiege me my heart will not fear the War break out against me even then I will be confident one thing I ask from the Lord this only do I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to Gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his Temple for in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock all of this Echoes back to that original verse that we looked at at Psalm 56 he relies so deeply on God and he’s a skilled Warrior right David’s a man of war and how many times could he have taken Saul Hees doesn’t he trusts in the Lord he doesn’t raise his hand to the Lord’s anointed and he waits he’s patient he’s he’s anointed as a young man young teenager and he doesn’t become king for what 20 years patience and long suffering a long time of traveling the the countryside and being hunted down and he despite his great physical capabilities and his great mental PR when it comes to the Art of War in the battlefield he doesn’t rely on that he trusts in God can you think of any other people in scripture who chose to trust God despite their emotions I don’t know if that’s trusting emotions or just uh being foolish but yeah no incredible Peter she approached the king when she could have been killed yeah fearful right but doing what she can to to help God’s people and becoming that instrument what you say stepen and sometimes it doesn’t turn out all Rosy right he stands up for God and he’s martyred and you guys are going through Ruth and Esther right now and side by side right um again faithful even the even in the fear of going back to another country place where that wasn’t home I don’t think I could have gone through this entire uh chapter without constantly being reminded about the Hall of faith and Hebrews 11 um I don’t want to spend too too much time here but I definitely wanted to look at it um it hits through Abel Enoch Noah Abraham Moses Rahab and again we’ve got an innocent Survivor someone that’s so holy that or that God deems uh faithful enough rather that he gets taken away Noah has children problems Abraham’s an adulterer Moses is a murderer and rahab’s a prostitute and yet she’s in the genealogy of Christ God can use anyone for anything right um I’m going to read real quick uh Verses 4 to7 from Hebrews 11 by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as a righteous God commending him by accepting his gifts and through his faith though he died he still speaks by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God and with without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek Him by faith Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that comes by faith and if we look at verses uh 23 to 31 you’ve got Moses and Rahab there uh we go to verses 32 to 28 and what more shall I say for time would fail me to tell of Gideon Barack Samson jefa of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms enforced Justice obtained promise stopped the mouths of lions quenched the power of fire escaped the edge of the sword were made strong out of weakness became Mighty in war put foreign armies to flight women receive back their dead by Resurrection some were tortured sorry I lost my spot refusing to accept release so they might rise again to a better life others suffered mocking and fogging and even chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were saw in two they were killed with the sword they went about in skins of sheep and goats destitute Afflicted mistreated of whom the world was not worthy wandering about in deserts and mountains and in the dens and caves of the earth so whether God puts you in a situation and Deans it so that you you should have great success or if you are dying for his name you are malnourished and fleeing he’s glorified in all of it through our faithfulness and not our trust in him faith and trust form the Bedrock of our relationship with God Ephesians 2:8-9 for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of work so that one may boast Hebrews 6 uh sorry Hebrews 11:6 and without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him so living out our faith requires active trust in God’s promises like we talked about before active trust it’s an AC of choice Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me second Timothy 1 12 which is why I suffer as I do but I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I’m convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me he’s got us and we get example after example after example so that we don’t have to just believe without seeing we have so many examples of faithfulness of Wonder of people who were upright of people who were broken more broken I know I am so what are some practical steps that we can take to deepen our trust in God consistent communication with God builds that Foundation of trust so we need to be in regular prayer something I struggled with a lot earlier in my life but regular prayer God asks us to speak with him he wants to know what’s on our hearts and our minds yes he’s omniscient yes he already knows but how do you have a relationship with somebody that you don’t communicate with right this is far more for us than it is for him Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus Psalm 55:17 evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan and he hears my voice he hears our groanings he knows us but he wants you to talk to him he wants us to tell him what we need the kids version that is morning noon and night the Lord hears my voice simple simple but powerful truths scripture meditation right meditate on his scripture be in his word dwelling on God’s word reinforces his faithfulness and his promises gives you the opportunity to continually see all those examples to see how God works to read his word to hear his voice don’t shut him out Joshua 1 18 this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to it all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success Deuteronomy 111 18-20 you shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall teach them to your children talking to them when you are sitting in your house when you’re walking along the way when you lie down and when you rise you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your Gates the word of the Lord is never to be far from us should always be with us write it on your minds write it on your hearts memorize it love it be in it all the time there has never been a season of my life that went well where I wasn’t in the word every single time in my life that I felt far from God it’s because I for I lacked the disciplines of Grace and I let those things slip it’s incredible how God can put a shield around you with his word because his not that knowledge of him is constantly flowing through you day in and day out so even in the passive moments when you’re doing the mundane thing washing the dishes cening the car vacuuming changing diapers uh whatever it might be right that word is with you and it’s never far from you so keep it close learn it well and then recounting God’s faithfulness and we’ve talked about that quite a bit here but it is a wonderful tool to bolster or trust during current trials remembering PL past blessings makes it so much easier to walk through the the difficulties that you’re in in any given moment Psalm 77 11-12 I will remember the Deeds of the Lord yes I will remember your wonders of old I will ponder all your work and meditate on your Mighty Deeds Lamentations 3 21:23 but this I call to mind and therefore I have hope the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness he upholds us and he wants to remind us time and time again yeah what a wonderful gift that is so what are the benefits of trusting God Peace of Mind spiritual growth Spiritual armor the armor of God Isaiah 263 you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you that sounds pretty good to me peace in the world that we live in in an election year Psalm 32:10 many are the Sorrows of the wicked but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord peace sounds good it also encourages viewing trust as Spiritual armor Ephesians 6:16 in all circumstances take up the shield of the Faith with which you can extinguish all the Flaming darts of the evil one being in the word trusting God again it puts up this wall around you right if if he’s the one that you seek for Refuge nothing’s getting in nothing that he won’t allow Psalm 287 the Lord is my strength and my shield in him my heart trusts and I am helped my heart exalts and with my song I give thanks to him these are awesome things that it produces because all of this is not of us right it all comes from him these are all gifts so what do we do we have to go on trust how do we do that we talked about it a bit we have to act L decide to trust God in all aspects of Life make it an active choice to trust God it’s not always easy and sometimes it’s frustrating but it becomes sweeter and sweeter the more you do it and the more you do it the stronger the muscle gets and the stronger the muscle gets the easier it becomes Joshua 24:15 V but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord he made a decision I know that that thing’s been plered everywhere pretty sure the church gave it out to all the men last year for Father’s day but we choose to serve God and yes there’s the whole uh election piece but we still have to wake up every day and choose Mark 5:36 but overhearing what they said Jesus said to the rulers of the synagogue of the synagogue do not fear only believe Jesus tells us to believe we can use that as the Baseline and then once you’ve decided equip yourself with the word use trust as part of your Spiritual armor Psalm 914 right he will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find Refuge his faithfulness is a shield and a buckler he’s got us 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5 for the weapons of our Warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds we destroy AR arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ he’s talking about strongholds there he’s not talking about things made of stone he’s talking about the sin that’s so deeply entangled in our hearts in our lives that he can break that apart and give it over to him and all of those thoughts will obey Christ he is the Lord of everything so allow your trust to deepen in your relationship with God to grow daily anyone have any final thoughts you want to share yeah Arthur let got a microphone for you yeah oh I’m sorry about my voice I’m I’m right there with had laryngitis this week it was really bad but um one of the things that was on my mind um that I wanted to say um when we’re talking about trust um trust goes two ways if you’re married it it’s it’s no longer just an individual decision it’s you and your spouse or um and what I mean by that is that if you look in the Scriptures it starts with Adam and then you look at Abraham and his and his decision to to hearken to the voice of his wife to his wife and and have a child from her from his handmade from her handmade um which would be an example and then David and his first wife Saul’s daughter um how she reacted when David was rejoicing because they were bringing the Ark of the Covenant when you see these examples of husbands and wives where and job is a very good example because his wife said why not why don’t you curse God and die um it just brings up that scripture it says um two is better than one because when one Falls the other is there to help pick them up um that um and that special kind of relationship between a husband and a wife we um don’t realize that um how um if the partner is lacking in faith it can um affect the faith of the other partner so I think that’s important to keep that in mind and it was something else I wanted to say but I forgot so I went there yeah yeah it’s incredible like God gives us those instruments right go get to Jody he gives us spouses that can walk alongside us and encourage us when we’re low building on something that Steve said and Glenda said you know as you look at back at your life and your journey I don’t know how biblical this is but I I had a mentor and I really admired her she was an older woman and I think she knew she was going to move away and I tended to pick up the phone all the time to talk to her when when there was an issue going on I was a new believer and I didn’t know how to handle things and then at some point I called her one time and she just firmly said to me did you go to the Lord and I said no and she hung up the phone and I didn’t understand it at the time but you know we talked later and she said um you know you have to build your faith and by that it is an exercise like a muscle and I want you to do the opposite of what you’re doing that’s probably the spirit I mean if you don’t want to forgive you forgive if you she said you know you’ve come out of the world and you’ve operated in these ruts for so long and I found that to be very practical to just she said you go to the Lord first and then you can seek confirmation but practice going to him instead of talking about it and for me I she did move away and we’re we’re friends today but I just thought oh how cruel how mean but I I I understood it in time she was weaning me off her and pointing me to the Lord because you can talk about your issues forever but you have to develop that faith and and the way the faith I think gets developed is you are denying yourself one experience at a time you’re denying your comfort you’re denying your feelings you’re denying and then your faith is increasing before you don’t even know that it’s increasing but it is so it’s like that muscle and I I just felt that was very practical that she did that with me although I didn’t understand it in that moment I did come to understand it day by day right and he wants us to go to him first absolutely time and time again if something’s bothering you if something’s wrong go to the word go to the Lord in prayer and then go to the brother or sister that you might have that issue with but arm yourself with the word did anyone else um I don’t remember if this was in the chapter but this is a passage that um reminds me that trust is a choice um Psalm 56 3 and4 when I’m afraid I will trust in you in God whose word I Praise In God I trust I shall not be afraid what can flesh do to me and that’s all about the decision I when I’m afraid like we are afraid but you choose to trust and um and it comes from what we know about God’s word that’s right amen I remember yeah going to be very careful how I say this but when I was reading the chapter understanding that we say trust is a choice um I kind of modified that to say trust is not just a choice it’s an absolute necessity if you’re going to have a relationship with God and when um when when when talking about you know what are the benefits of trust um I think one of the areas where it it can be troubling for a Christian is if we always think when we always think that trust is always and you mentioned this that trust is always going to to show itself in uh something good or you know having a great life or whatever but personally I think when we talk about trust how it really manifests itself in your life is when things are really going bad um when life is very difficult and what I mean by that is that um one of the things that I’ve done is I’ve made a a practice I never leave my home without praying that God will not only protect me uh when I’m driving or whatever when I’m out but to protect the people around me because they can affect me this world is really dangerous very dangerous you can be driving someone another driver can be distracted and they hit you and then you ask the question God why did this happen well did you make a practice of praying when you’re driving that um you would not be the victim of someone that is a distracted driver so um what I’m saying is is that when we talk about trust and praying um we have to realize that that um until Christ comes back we’re not safe we’re not safe um in the sense that we can just leave our home or even be in our home and expect fact that you know everything’s going to be what is it Wine and Roses I whatever the expression is so um that’s an area where I would emphasize is that when we are praying that we re that we realize again that this world is very dangerous the safest place you can be is in your home and even that may not be safe if there’s an earthquake or whatever thanks Arthur all right just oh go ahead last one let make a quick it was just something that I had thought about as we talk about adversity and um just going through these troubles and how it builds your faith and I had written down um uh an observance of mine um I’m more PL I’m more malleable when humbled through adversity more willing to listen more willing to bend against my desire for Comfort y I think that’s all of us it’s so much easier to uh to bend the knee when things are tough can we do it when things are good let’s pray for us um Lord we thank you for for this time together for the ability to to look at how you have worked through your Saints throughout the ages and how we can develop better habits in order to strengthen our resolve and to build our trust in you Lord help us to grow our faith help us to hold and lift one another up so that as we go through this life we would bring you the honor and Glory that is Du your name that we would be an encouragement to each other and to those around us and that all this would work for our good that we would trust in you in the difficult circumstances of life that we would trust in you when things are going great we know there is nothing that we can’t bring before you Lord help us to be diligent in our in our prayer to be diligent in the way that we seek you to be diligent in the way in which we walk with one another thank you again for this time would you uh bless Pastor Bobby this morning as he preaches and continue to work in our hearts as we go out the rest of this week in Jesus name we pray amen