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you would correct me through a brother or sister that’s here Jesus name amen amen this is the uh second time that I’ve had a chance to be a part of the team to teach one of the lessons uh the book trusting God has been uh quite an experience for me in preparing for these two lessons these two chapters the first one that I did was about a month ago it’s about U God’s rule over our Nations and today it’s about um knowing God’s love I um I approached preparation for this lesson a bit differently than I did the first one and I came to the realization that we each hopefully as Christians do have some way of knowing God’s love and Jerry Bridges who is the author of this book talked about his reason reasoning or the the burden that he felt to study the sovereignty of God and uh I felt both for him and and a few other people that you’ll see in this presentation that he quoted uh I felt I was reminded that we each uh have a role to play in God’s family and certainly uh his contribution uh in my growth uh has been pretty significant because of what he has shared um just a little bit about him he’s was born in Texas he had a degree in engineering he was in the US Navy during the Korean War as an officer and beginning in 1955 he was with The Navigators and on that slide it lists several books that he has written in addition to this one and he went home to be with the Lord in 2016 uh in the book’s preface Jerry Bridges wrote learning to trust God in adversity has been a slow and difficult process for me it is a process proc still underway and I’m assuming you like I can identify with that he wrote that it took him four years in the study to write this book and he did reference various people and their life experiences to illustrate the need to trust in God during today’s lesson I will highlight several scripture point points made by Jerry Bridges and individuals that made themselves available to serve God some were quoted by Mr bridges in this book I’ll also feature a few songs and lyrics that are based on scripture that he emphasized in this book all of these have been particularly meaningful to me and help help have helped me to know God’s love as I work as I worked on this lesson I was deeply moved my sense of knowing God’s love would sometimes fill my heart and mind the scriptures that he included the commentary as I said the lyrics to some of the songs that I’ll reference based upon the scriptures that he included in the lesson um where an incredible learning moment for me in being reminded of how I’ve been able to know God’s love in my life a week ago yesterday I uh Was preparing reviewing my PowerPoint that I had started literally the day after my last uh lesson that I taught and a week ago yesterday sitting at our kitchen table and I lost several of the slides being technologically challenged um Sage was I’m the technologically challenged one not Sage she tried to help and I uh I was pretty distraught but came to realize that that was not material I was to share here we go s Sage we go the opening scripture for chapter 4 Romans 83537 who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us a central idea of this chapter was summarized in the following excerpt by Bridges we can trust God’s love because he loves us loves us with a perfect and infinite love which was demonstrated on Calvary because of our Union with Christ we are secure in that love we can trust God’s love I look in the dictionary for the definition of the word trust definition is as follows assured Reliance on the character ability and strength or truth of someone or something thank you Jackson do you trust God do I trust God do we trust God the way that Jerry Bridges urged us to in the book he loves us with a perfect love definition of the word perfect being entirely without fault or defect he loves us with an infinite love definition of the word infinite extending indefinitely endless immeasurably or inconceivably great or extensive ensive inexhaustible subject to no limitation wow Bridges wrote that God’s holiness is one of his essential characteristics just as is as just as it is impossible in the very nature of God for him to be anything but perfectly holy so it is impossible POS for him to be anything but perfectly good as I read that I found some scriptures that I want to share with you 1st Samuel 2:2 there is none holy like the Lord for there is none besides you there is no Rock like our God Psalm 993 let them praise your great and awesome name he is Holy 1 Peter 1:15-16 but just as he who called you is Holy so be ye holy in all n in all manner of conversation Revelation 15:4 who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name for you alone Are Holy concluding comment in his in this on this page because God is love it is an essential part of his nature to be good and show Mercy to his creatures 1 John 4:8 another one of the scriptures he included in the chapter he who does not love does not know God for God is love Bridges suggested that examining our trust in God is important and God’s plan of Christ’s sacrifice was obviously a critical component to his plan he wrote there is no doubt that the most convincing evidence of God’s love in all of scripture is his giving his son to die for our sins anytime we are tempted to doubt God’s love for us we should go back to the Cross we should reason somewhat in this fashion if God loved me enough to give his son to die for me when I was his enemy surely he loved me enough to care for me now that I am his child let that last Point sink in I’ll repeat it if God loved me enough to give his son to die for me when I was his enemy surely he loved me enough to care for me now that I am his child amen God loves us he created us before we were redeemed he sent his son as a sacrifice that we might be saved from Eternal Eternal punishment punishment that we deserved can you really absorb that anyone here the infinite measure the infinite infinite measureless love of God is poured out upon us not because of who we are or what we are but because we are in Christ Jesus it is very important that we grasp this grasp this crucial concept that God’s love to us is in Christ just as God’s love to his son cannot change so his love to us cannot change because we are in Union with Christ Jesus with the one he loves God’s love to us can no more waver than his love to his son can waver God does not look within us for a reason to love us he loves us because we are in Christ Jesus as I read read through the chap this chapter chapter 4 in scriptures I did think as I mentioned my opening of several songs or hymns that are based upon these verses all pointing to God’s love certain songs have particularly impacted people’s lives and this has been the case for me I um I attend um God loves us because we are in Christ this vital Point reminded me of the song everything’s going to be all right in Christ it was sung by The Haven of Rest quartet some of you may remember this radio program where they were featured I was fortunate to attend one of their concerts with friends from the church we used to attend where I was a member of a men’s quartet and we often sang some of their Arrangements uh Sage’s mother uh has been a genuine encouragement to Sage and I as we have faced a few trials and some of them have been very significant she regularly makes the statement with her very pleasant Southern draw everything’s going to be all right because some of the things we have faced are pretty significant um sometimes we might I can be candid with you at least I’ll speak for myself thought is that a bit simplistic is it childish but we are to approach faith in Christ as children uh join me now in listening to everything’s going to be all right in Christ [Music] o going be all right [Music] now when you need a hand to hold everything’s going to be all right in Christ take his word and fill your soul everything’s going to be all right give praise lift your hands lift your hands and praise His name your heart for eternity the same his mercies we Proclaim don’t you know everything all right in Christ W everything’s going to be all right in Christ when you’re leave you everything’s going to be all Christ by his will everything’s going to be [Music] all and praise His name we everything going to be everything going to be all everything is going to be everything going to be going to be feel s everything going to be all in Christ he will give everything’s going to be all INR your pra his Mercy weim don’t you know everything’s going to be in ch everything’s going to be everything’s going to be everything’s going to be everything’s going to be everything going to be everything going to be all everything going to be everything going to be allr it’s going to be all right in Christ going to be everything going to be all it’s going to be all right oh it’s going to be everything’s going to be all right right in praise God God cannot forsake us because we are his children in blessed Union with his son we cannot be cut off from his sight but we can be cut off from the Assurance of his love when we allow doubt and unbelief to gain a foothold in our hearts knowing God’s love is the theme of this chapter and the following verses which Bridges featured emphasize God’s love John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Romans 83839 for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our lord that scripture made me think of another song the love of God I think you’re familiar with it was written by Frederick H excuse me Fredick M Layman he was born in Germany he was a minister and publisher he immigrated with his family when he was four settling in Iowa he pursued theological education at Northwestern College in neille Illinois and ministered in Iowa and Indiana he devoted he devoted much of his life to writing sacred songs and compiled Five song books in 1917 he wrote the love of God based upon the scriptures that I just read and now we’re going to hear the love of God sung by George Beverly Shay when he was well into his 90s he sang The billag Graham Crusades for many years we can only we stand there’s more there’s more we can only see a few rich but there there’s there love of [Music] God it goes beyond [Music] the ever more and the sa this is their [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on Earth will and every [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] nor and [Music] [Music] you this is song [Music] [Applause] [Applause] we can we now I included that not to elicit emotional response as I show it but I think sometimes for me the thought the emotion that might well up helps me remember the significance of God’s love Psalm 14579 and 17 they shall utter the me memory of your great goodness and shall sing of your righteousness the Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and great in Mercy the Lord is good to all and his Tender Mercies are over all his works the Lord is righteous in all his Works philippus was often quoted in this book by Jerry Bridges and as I saw his quotes a number of times I want to know something about him he’s from South Africa came to the US in 1964 taught in several seminaries Columbia Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary he was um exceptionally skilled in Greek language and he wrote um books commentaries on Corinthians 2 Hebrews in the Book of Revelation Bridges wrote my own experience suggests that Satan attacks us far more in the area of God’s love than either his sovereignty or his wisdom we cannot keep from being tempted but if we are to honor God by trusting in Him we must not allow such thoughts to Lodge in our minds as Philip Hughes again said quote to question the goodness of God is in essence to imply that man is more concerned about goodness than God is to suggest that man is Kinder than God is to subvert the very nature of God it is to deny God and this is precisely the thrust of the temptation to question the goodness of God I find these found these comments particularly challenging because we tend to think that we’re just terrific people we’re not um you know you see sometimes um the last few years signs people post in front of their homes hate has no home here has anyone seen those you ever encountered any of those folks yes I I have found that most don’t see seem to uh appreciate God’s role in the world and they feel that they can take control and make things better through treating people better and it’s good to treat people good well but uh it’s not sufficient anyone care to share anything Mark yeah to your point I uh I don’t I don’t really feel love when I talk to to people toote that because it tends to be a a definition of love that’s demanding of others to accept things that God does not accept um and it’s a challenge I think to communicate wisely with these people that God is not against this particular lifestyle this defition of marriage or gender because he doesn’t he does that his design is best and it’s loving and um yeah it’s interesting because you see the real battle there that people are love doesn’t necessarily mean you support everything that someone’s doing and that seems to be the notion of the sentiment of Love is anyway you get you get the idea that um get to your point in this is love not that we love God God us so it’s so important I Mike to let God def love for us it’s it’s what is best for us not what we want necessarily that make sense sure does thank you Mark uh yes Glenda I think we our emotions override everything and when we go into circumstances we don’t fully understand that what I what I take from it I understand that Christ came to this world he was perfect but he went struggles and when I look back and see what I am going is nothing to compare with what he went through and because he went through it to di for me when I was an enemy and now I’m his child I look forward to see where one day going to to me and I that’s what I look on because God said I love you with an everlasting love can Everlasting anything Everlasting go out and that’s where I look at my life in Christ he loves me because I’m in Christ and because I’m in Christ he can never dis own Christ loving him and I stand on that ground because he said he loves me with an everlasting love and I know Everlasting can never go so that’s I take courage in knowing the god always always be there thank you so much uh Magna I really appr 137 mle paragraph our emotions must become subservient to the truth this does not mean that we do not feel the pain of adversity and heartache we feel it keenly nor does it me that we should our emotional pain and a stoic like attitude we are meant to feel the pain of adversity but we must resist allowing that pain to cause us to lapse into hard thoughts about God thank you for sharing that um over the years I’ve heard different uh preachers and it’s a very really important point that sometimes is not mentioned that God created us with with emotions as well as with a brain and they all are important parts of who we are as he has made us uh Steve he Chas so when you’re chasing you don’t think that God is Ling you he is he wants you to partake in his Hol hard to get through that though sometimes isn’t it Romans 8:32 he did not spare his own son but delivered but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things of course all things is all things that are good for us right couple of um comments from the book and scripture God’s love at Calvary there is no doubt that the most convincing evidence of God’s love in all scriptures is his giving his son to die for our sins 1 John 4:9 and10 this is how God showed his love for us he sent his one and only son into the world world that we might live through him this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins he went on to write if we want proof of God’s love for us then we must look first at the cross where God offered up his son as a sacrifice for our sins Calvary is the one objective absolute irrefutable proof of God’s love for us one of the essential characteristics of Love is the element of self-sacrifice and this was demonstrated for us to its ultimate in God’s love at Calvary the next slide slide that I’m going to show is a screenshot please tell me if you recognize it this is the opening scene of Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ what you see is a raindrop falling from the sky but I think it was also meant to depict a tear falling from the eye of God this is another screenshot portraying Jesus on the cross with the very same raindrop you can see falling to the ground for as far as the heavens are above the Earth so great is his love for those that fear him Psalm 10311 do I Fear God do you did the people that condemned Jesus to death hate him or did they fear Him or were they jealous surely they witnessed his love but it didn’t seem to have any impact on their actions or did it this is another screenshot from the same film where you see the actor portraying Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate with all the religious leaders there’s one man among all those people and they feared him Romans 8: 37-39 again yet in all these things we are are more than conquerors through him who loved us for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our lord has anyone experienced U being able to conquer something because of Christ in you I’ll share something in a moment yes Mark I think just just the sins that seem to be set us that we seem to struggle with over the years I think some of us have ones that we think we’re never going to get victory over over and um I think I’ve recognized over time as I as I listen to these verses and let them wash over me that it’s not so much a matter of my self-effort uhu but it’s what is submitting to the work of God in Me you’ve mentioned in Christ a few times in Christ in Christ and it’s all those resources that we have in him this is why Paul prayed in Ephesians 1 that we our eyes would be open to see those things and in Ephesians 3 that you and I talked about that um that we would know the love of of Christ which surpasses knowledge so it’s I I find it’s it’s um if there’s any effort it’s an effort of surrender and submission and acceptance of it and asking God to do what only he can do thanks Mark it um at U certainly I have experienced that some of the lowest points in my life is when uh surrender takes place and I hope to think that now it’s not the last um it’s not my last reaction it’s my initial reaction Isaiah 4010 to11 behold the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him behold his reward is with him and his work before him he will feed his flock Like a Shepherd he will gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young Psalm 11 1911 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not that I might not sin against you surely Mark you have something to say about this verse since you wrote a book about Psalm 119 only to say that God’s transforming power is incredible I mean um we’ve been talking an Iron Man about the disciplines of a Godly Man and and that and the time that we we spend in the word and sometimes it seems dry sometimes it seems um like it’s not bearing any fruit um but you know the word of God is like a seed that bears fruit in God’s time and in God’s way and so um what I love about this verse is God changes our affections and our desires by the means of his word um and his word is a means by which he expresses his love to your point Mike that God would these aren’t just words on a page we know this right um Psalm 1941 says you are near and all your words are truth so what that tells us is is that when God gives us his word he’s coming to us personally speaking to us personally he’s with us and he’s giving us everything that we need so that that verse is one that a lot of us may memorize as a kid but it becomes more precious to me the more I think about it thank you thank you for that book I’m sure each of us have read that book thoroughly and have studied it could comment as much as Mark but really appreciate that I I remember uh one of the first memories I have of this verse is uh again the hymn Thy word have I hid in my heart I remember hearing it sung by a Mixed Quartet at a funeral well this is the man that wrote the song Ernest Orlando sers was born in Michigan in 1869 he was a surveyor and civil engineer he went to M A Moody Bible in Institute in Chicago was involved with the YMCA and ended up as the Director of the music department at Baptist Bible Institute in New Orleans where the music building was named in his honor and I I I as I read about him again thought here’s a man who was an engineer God used him to write a hym that has touched many many people over the years Ephesians 3:18 I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is the John MacArthur Study Bible has a note about this verse which I’d like to share a Believer cannot understand the fullness of God’s love apart from from genuine Spirit owered love in his own life love is both granted to and commanded of every Christian not just those who have a natural a naturally Pleasant temperament or have great spiritual maturity width length depth height not four different features of love but an effort to suggest its vastness and completeness that verse made me think of this song How Deep The Father’s Love For Us was written by steuart townend around 8 uh 1995 was probably first sung at a church of Christ the King in Brighton England where townend was worship leader Matthew 10:31 fear not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows look at the birds of the air they do not sew or reap or store away in Barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not much more valuable than they Matthew 6:26 beautiful picture of sparrows made me think of the song his ey Is On The Sparrow whenever I see a sparrow hear about it hear the verse think of the verse I think of the song many of us uh remember Ethel Waters singing this again at Billy Graham Crusades well this is the lady that wrote it this is going to be hard for me to read but I read wrote this because you’ll understand why it was written by Sevilla dery Martin who was born in Nova Scotia she wrote this song in 1905 one writer remarked as I was doing research about her this has been one of the most influential and often recorded in sung gospel hymns of the 20th century her husband Walter Martin was a Baptist Min Minister I will now read her account of how she came to write it early in the spring of 1905 my husband and I were sojourning in Elmyra New York we contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr and Mrs D true saints of God Mrs dou had been bedridden for n 20 years her husband was an incurable [ __ ] who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheelchair despite their afflictions they lived happy Christian lives bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them one day one day while we were visiting with the dittles my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for their secret of it Mrs Doodle’s Mrs D’s response was simple His Eye Is on the Sparrow and I know he watches me the beauty of the simple Faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr Martin in me the hym his eyes on the sparrow was the outcome of that experience some of you know my wife Sage was quite ill a few years ago she endured a lengthy Hospital stay where at the most critical point she was cared for by these people I saw God’s love through the retentive care of sage each day for the 76 days she was there I viewed them as His Hands and Feet they cared for her when I could not God showed us Mercy God showed us love in so many ways in many ways I was the greater recipient of that love and mercy many of these people were Believers and ministered to her and to me in countless ways that photo was taken about a year and a half after she had been released from their care we wanted to go back and thank them many of them had never heard her voice because she had been on a respirator while she was there I’m going to point out a few of them the first is the woman to the right the second from the right with gray hair Lauren the director of nursing who on the first day I visited Sage greeted me with a hug the man with the light colored shirt behind Sage is Dr Michael Rodricks who directed her care if I didn’t see him when I was there he would call me on the phone every day give me a detailed progress report of her condition so many people were praying and every day every day except for two days every day there was stability or slow incremental progress there were nurses that seemed to have a deep attachment to her sage and they were such a blessing later we come to find out that those that visited her when they were not assigned to care for her came to see her because she was one of the few people that they were caring for that was actually improving and they were inspired that what they did mattered there was a team of respiratory therapists that even seemed to have a more deeper attachment to Sage there are three of them pictured Justin who’s the young man at the back row in the center Matt who is to the left the beard and Maria next to him Matt is a Christian and is a member of a worship team in a local church and uh he was present when Sage came out of her sedation he was with her when one other story about Matt is after she was discharged from this hospital she went to another hospital to St Peters and uh 22 days later she was off the ventilator and uh since I had been visiting her every day and got to know these folks uh Matt was one of the people that wanted me to keep in touch to let him know how she did and uh when I texted him 22 days later he said that I’ll share this with you now that when she was admitted with a group of other people and put on a ventilator she was the only person that survived there’s uh one other person who’s not pictured that I want to mention and that is uh a lady by the name of Emily bricks Emily was a custodian elderly woman from Jama and a few days before Sage was discharged she told me that she was going home for Christmas and that she wanted me to know that every day when she cleaned Sage’s room she was praying for her his eyes on the sparrow is one of Sage’s favorite songs and I’d like to share this with you [Music] now should I feel discouraged and why should the Shadows come why should my heart be [Music] lonely and long and home when Jesus is my [Music] my his eye His Eye Is on [Music] the I know I know he watches me his is home a SP and I know he watches so I Sing Because [Music] sing because I free is he is all he watches [Music] [Music] your heart [Music] TR resting I lo the doubt and the fear I call [Music] and I know you want [Music] [Music] his is [Music] [Music] know he want me [Music] [Applause] so that concludes my thoughts for today I uh just hope that if I’ve done anything today is to highlight the scripture that uh Jerry Bridges highlighted added a few scripture myself and that I would hope that through some of the sharing that I did that would cause you to reflect upon how some time in your life you have known God’s love any closing thoughts from anyone if not I’ll um pray Lord thank you for the opportunity to speak uh to these folks to share my heart and to share most importantly your scripture and the repetition throughout your word where it speaks to your love for us thank you for that love in Jesus name amen amen next week um Ian Pang will be teaching and his topic will be experiencing God’s love look forward to that God