In this sermon, David Barton emphasizes the importance of seeking God's perfect will for our lives. He encourages listeners to trust in God's thoughts and plans for them, which are abundant and cannot be counted. Barton also highlights the relevance of the Scriptures in providing guidance and answers to life's challenges. He urges individuals to identify themselves in light of Scripture and learn from the examples of those who have gone before us. Ultimately, he reminds listeners that Jesus holds the words of eternal life and encourages them to remain steadfast in their faith.

You guys alright? Let's pray. Father, we ask Lord that you would cause your word tonight to absolutely conquer us, Lord, to rule over us, to reign over us. Father, we pray that your very Bible, the eternal word of God, that we have Lord before us, invincible forever, so much so, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And Father, as we look around at this world and we see all that's going on, Father, we just ask you to pull us in a little closer, pull us in a little tighter. And Lord, just remind us again, remind us afresh, even tonight in this gathering together of your people. Father, may there be a renewal of our relationship with you. Lord, just as it were with a husband and a wife and a look, maybe it's flowers, maybe it's a date, it's something that invests in their lives, in their relationship to draw closer. We pray now, Lord, that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would woo our hearts, you would date our souls tonight. And so, Father, we pray that you would not only go before us now and the acquisition of your word, that it would become applicable, Lord, down to the soles of our feet, that where we go tonight, tomorrow, it would be strength to us, it would be activity, that the word would be not just heard, but it would be done. And Lord, we're committed to you, Lord, we're going to keep doing this until you come again, or we go see you, one or the other, either way we win. But Father, tonight we pray that you would just inhabit the praises of your people as we look, Lord, now to you in the word. We ask it in Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen. Well, church, listen, grab your Bibles tonight and turn, as you know by now, as we are in this series, turn to Matthew chapter 28, Matthew chapter 28, you come on Wednesday nights, you mark chapter 28, Matthew 28, and I'll read that portion of scripture to you, and then we'll go tonight over to 1 Peter 2.20. Tonight's message is the disciplines of dependence, being dependent upon God. And that is a discipline that you and I need to work on in our series of the disciplines of life, a discipline of being dependent upon God. It's all part of being a disciple, being a follower of Jesus. Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, verse 20, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And behold, or be very wide-eyed, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. And then 1 Peter, turn to the right and go to 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 20, about being dependent upon God. 1 Peter 2.20, Peter says, For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, listen, church, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his footsteps. Now, I got to tell you right now, there's a high probability that if you go down to the Bible bookstore someplace and you buy, you know, the little memory packet of verses, the memory verses, and they're great verses. And if you don't own them, go buy them. They're great to have. But usually you don't get those kinds of verses where it says, hey, cheer up, you're going to have a rough life. It's going to be difficult. People are going to spit on you and hate you and shake their fist at you. And they're going to wish you to be dead. That's not the most encouraging memory verse to maybe memorize. But I got to tell you this, it sure is practical. It sure is real. And so as we look at our study tonight, we are looking at in the Disciplines of Life series, this discipline of dependence upon God. And nothing reveals for you and I our sonship in Jesus Christ than how dependent we are upon God. How dependent are you upon God is a very, very important question to ask yourself. Can you do that? Can you ask yourself in the recesses of your heart, of your mind? Be honest, Lord, am I very, very dependent upon you? And here's the tremendous thing about Christianity. The weaker we are in self-strength, the stronger we become, the less dependent we are upon self, the greater dependent we are upon God. It is a kingdom that is upside down, according to the way the world thinks. If you were to look at a business chart or a flow chart of a corporation, you've got the president of the corporation at the top, and then you've got all the people that make all the money for the president of the corporation down at the bottom. You take that pyramid and turn it what we would say as Christians right side up. It's all about God's people all resting upon the focal point of one set of shoulders. And you know whose shoulders those are. Those are Jesus's shoulders. It's a kingdom that is in reverse than what we know from this world. And when we just sang the song a moment ago, when we're weak, then we're strong. By the way, we did not rehearse that. That's very cool that they sang that song. When I'm threatened to be panicking about something, it's that moment where God's peace and strength and comfort is most available. If I discipline myself to recognize that. Oh, my goodness. What news have you heard this week? What is going on in your life? Stop. What is it recorded? It's this, Pastor Jack. It's the other thing. It's finances or it's health or it's relational. What is it? Whatever it is, that thing that troubles your heart is an absolute open door to drawing closer to God. It's the way his kingdom works. And it's a discipline that you and I need to understand as believers as we go through this series. Some verses for introduction. Very important. Again, the more that we are weak, the better off we are. Second Corinthians 12, verse eight says, and this is, again, by introduction, mark it down concerning these things. Paul, the apostle said he's talking about his physical ailments in that second Corinthians chapter 12 verse. He says these things I pleaded with the Lord three times, three times. I asked the Lord that it might depart from me. And he said to me, market church, second Corinthians 12, nine. My grace is sufficient for you. Have you ever heard from God? And he says, I'm not going to take that thing away from you. I have. My grace will be sufficient. My grace will be enough. All you need is me in this situation, Jack, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul then says, therefore, most gladly, will I rather boast in my infirmities. The world wants to cover up their infirmities. Paul says, no, the believer, we rejoice in those because look what he says, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in my infirmities, in reproaches that is being rejected in needs, persecutions, distresses for Christ's sake, he says, for when I am weak, then I'm strong. And this is a tremendous discipline for us as Christians to learn tonight that those areas that we think we want to cover up those areas that we think we want to hide are those areas that God says, move over. I'm going to use this. And let me tell you, by personal experience, those weaknesses will be things that you dare not take glory for whatsoever. It will be incredibly obvious that he'll get all the glory and he will constantly remind you of those weaknesses. And rather than that, pull you down. It actually lifts you up because he speaks instantly and says, I'll be stronger in that thing for me to stand in front of you publicly to be speaking. As many of you know, three years into my Christianity, Jesus radically healed me. I stuttered so bad all my life I couldn't even get through the vows on our wedding without stuttering. And I always wanted to be able to tell somebody about God. I always want to tell somebody about the word of God, but I dare not. But the Lord touched my life. He takes those weak things and he makes them his strengths in you. And there's a great difference. And so we revel, as Paul says, I revel, I take pleasure in those infirmities. Think about it physically. Well, what about emotionally? Think about that emotionally. That's in 2 Corinthians 10, verse five. Our dependence upon God is an indicator, it's a barometer. And in 2 Corinthians 10, five, it says that we're to be casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Let me tell you, that is emotional stability. Are you stressed about your thoughts? Are you being tempted? Do you hear this song or do you hear that thing and it puts this image in your mind? Or when you hear that name, does this happen in your head or emotionally? How are you affected? The Bible says that you can bring every thought under the captivity of Christ. Again, I remember being so convicted of my lost condition that for so many years in my life. That verse, 2 Corinthians 10, five, was the only thing that I could hang on to. You guys, they didn't have Bible programs in computers back then. I'm not even sure if they had computers back then when I got saved. I think we had smoke signals and those little... But I took my Bible and I made photocopies of that verse in 2 Corinthians 10, verse five, and I put them in my bathroom in the mirror where I shaved. I put them on my dash of my car because of my thought life. Because your thought life affects your emotions. And then your emotions, if they're not reigned in, they'll affect your entire life. Physically, emotionally, what about spiritually? Proverbs 3, verse 5 to 7 is a great verse regarding the Spirit of God at work in us spiritually. Proverbs 3, verse 5 says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord. Notice, fear the Lord, be in awe of Him, is what that word means, and depart from evil. So we've got a physical aspect of the disciplines of life and our dependence upon God. We've got an emotional understanding and we've got a spiritual power to apply to our lives that we are to be fearing God. And let me tell you, if the fear of the Lord is upon you and I, that is if we love God. Listen, we could post up a bunch of rules, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. Some years ago, I went to a church and they had red curbs. Of course, every building does. By law, there's red curbs painted for places that you cannot park. And what they did was, they painted the curbs red and then in white lettering, it said, thou shalt not park here. And I thought that was kind of cool. But we could have a list of things that say, thou shalt not. And you know what that does? That winds up breeding within you either a, a wall of separation between you and God that you can never scale. Instantly, you're defeated. Or if somebody can, at least in their minds, begin to think that they're keeping some of the rules, their head begins to get as puffed up as a cream puff as they think, boy, look how good I'm doing. And that's equally as dangerous. We are to fear the Lord, meaning we are to love him. That sin and the things of this life will cause us to be so sickened and terrified of it that we will depart from evil. Evil will come up and go, Hey, look, take a bite of me or take a drink of this or come run to the other. And you will run from it because you love God more. A dependence upon God. So church market down as we go through this discipline tonight of dependence upon God. Number one is wake up, write that down. Wake up. Your life is too big. Can you write that down? Wake up. Your life's too big. So what do you mean your life's too big? Your life is too big this way. Church market down. Our life is too big in this sense that for you and I to wake up and be dependent upon God is to face the facts that life in and of itself is too big for you and I. We need to understand that there is no way that mankind was created to deal with this life's situations. Let's be honest. You and I were designed to live in the Garden of Eden until Adam and Eve blew it. You and I were designed to live in perfection. You and I were designed to live in fellowship with God. And now we find ourselves in a fallen world and we find ourselves trying to cope with this age in which you and I live in and this flesh that you and I live inside of. And in the beginning, it was not what God intended. Life, you need to wake up to this fact, is just too big for you to do it on your own. You can't do it. That's why there's drugs. Alcohol. All the stuff that people invest their time into trying to find meaning or trying to fill a void in their life, trying to somehow be somebody else or somebody more because life's too big. And then if that weren't enough, life throws its curveballs at you. Difficulty, challenges. And I need not even talk about things like that in this world today. You know all about them. They're even on the headlines of the papers as the world is in such a terrible condition. Life and at times can be completely overwhelming, even too big, as I say, in John chapter six, verse 67, John 6, 67. It says, Then Jesus said to the 12 disciples, Do you also want to go away? This is when the ministry was heating up. And Jesus said to them, Do you guys want to leave, too? You want to quit? But Simon Peter answered Jesus and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Man, that's a great word. The temptation today, church. Listen, it's huge. The world is pressuring against the church, and that's OK. That's what I'm here to tell you about. The discipline of being dependent upon God. It's OK for the world to hit us and come against us. It's OK. That's what we expect from the world. But why do Christians cave in? Because they have failed to remember. That Jesus Christ is the Lord, the son of the living God, the absolute power in your life. We don't have to do this on our own. Life is too big. And God steps in and says, I'll tell you what, I want my life to flow out of your life in abundance. Can somebody say amen to that more? That is absolutely true. Jesus said in John chapter seven that the Holy Spirit is to, as it were, gush out of your innermost being. Torrents of living water, he said. That's the work of the Holy Spirit coming out of the life of the believer. That's what he wants in our lives. But we need to wake up to the fact. Listen, so many people today are trying to hold up life and they can't do it. This great discipline of dependence is not something to run away from. It's something to embrace. People will say, I can't take life. I can't put up with it anymore. Good. You've come to the right moment in time of your life. It's time to quit this world and join his world. It's time to absolutely give up in your own strength. And I don't know why. I don't know where we get this idea that we're so strong anyway. Our world is broken. Sin is rampant. We are fallen creatures. But Jesus Christ came, died on the cross, rose again from the grave to give you and I eternal life and strength. And then if that weren't enough, he gave the Holy Spirit to empower the believer until he comes again. All of us are going to go through life. You're going through life right now. Look, you're sitting down, but man, you're flying through life right now. You're going through life. And the question is, how am I going to go through life and to whom and with whom am I going to go through life? And they'll always be the God factor in the life that we live. You may be here tonight and you may be kicking against God. I don't want anything to do with God. I don't like God. But you find yourself here. Well, that's because my friend invited me. But you're here and God is speaking. He'll speak to your heart. He'll say who you're running from. You don't believe in me. So then why are you running from me? You don't believe in me. So why are you so angry at me? A friend of mine was telling me the other day about his friend. He's an older man, and he said, I will not accept Jesus Christ into my life until God accepts certain things according to my rules. Isn't that something? Wow. But, you know, there's people like that. Best thing to do is to wake up and realize how big life is, that it was never intended for you and I to live it alone in our own strength. Psalm 55, verse four, Psalm 55, four says, My heart is severely pained within me. Do you find yourself ever in that place? And the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me and horror has overwhelmed me. Boy, is that a commentary in our age? So I said, listen to Psalm 55, verse six. So I said, oh, that I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and be at rest. Is that not the cry of the world and even the life of the believer? We might want to cry that cry. But as we'll see in a moment, the Lord comes in and says, I'm here. I'm with you. But the world tonight wants to snap their fingers as it were. By the way, I just think it's actually beautiful. You do, too, actually. You know the answer when people come to that moment and they say, yes, you know what? I'm not a Christian, but I like what that just said there on those screens. I want to sprout wings and fly away like a dove and get away from everything. People. That's what you do when you don't have God, you run. That's OK. You just keep running and eventually you're going to get tired. And you're going to poop out, poop out in Hebrew is a word for to become very tired and you surrender. I think it was a singer many years ago, even when I was a little kid, he was a famous guy, B.J. Thomas. Remember that guy? Raindrops keep falling on my head. And in his testimony, he gave at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa one year, he said. And this is way back in like 1869 or something like that, when he was he said back then, I remember he said I had a five thousand dollar a week cocaine habit back then. That was back then. And he said, I couldn't hear from God, I couldn't think about God until I was flat on my back and I could look any direction, he said, but straight up. And maybe you're in that place tonight, wake up to the fact that life is too big. The disciplines of dependence is coming to that point of saying, God, I can't do this. Psalm 61, verse one says, hear my cry, O God, the psalmist says, attend to my prayer. You ever cry that cry from the end of the earth? I will cry to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. Nobody cares about that verse until you need a strong tower, until you have an enemy. Oh, I pray enemies upon all of you tonight. You see, you got to be kidding me. No, man, when you've got enemies, you run, you run and run and run to that strong tower. God help us if our life is comfortable. That's a dangerous place to be. We need him. Overwhelmed the crushing when my heart is overwhelmed, where, listen, the spiritual situation upon your soul is so intense because of the physical setting around you that there is a crushing that will either destroy you or bring you to Christ. You'll either throw your arms up and surrender and worship and praise to him or you'll shake your fist at him. Isn't that what we see in the book of Revelation? We see a great number of people in a numeral host of people accepting Christ during the tribulation period. And then at the same time, you read in the book of Revelation that there are those who will not repent. And what do they do? They shake their fist at the great God that dwells in heaven. Remarkable. But we need to wake up regarding our body, our physical strength and say, Lord, I can't do it. We need to wake up in our soul. That is our emotions and say, Lord, I can't make it. And wake up in spirit to be awake to the things of God, we need to wake up your life, my life, it's too big. I'm going to give you this. It just pops into my head. I remember it from yesteryear. It's good stuff. Chuck, Mr. said this 30 years ago. He said, when we worry, we are assuming a responsibility that was never intended to be ours. Charles Spurgeon says that when we worry, we are putting faith in the devil. But when we give up and say, Lord, you take control of my life, he does that thing. Number two, the disciplines of dependency upon God is this to identify. The second thing you want to do is identify these things in your life, identify your situation in light of Scripture. I'm going to assume tonight we're all Christians in here tonight. Just make this assumption. And what you want to do regarding your life is identify what is happening or what the issue is in your life. And you want to identify that situation in light of the Bible. In other words, we put it this way. What does the Bible say? More affectionately, we used to have the bracelets or the T-shirts that used to say, what would Jesus do? Remember that? What would Jesus do? Well, we're really saying, what does God's word say about the situation that I'm in? Are you dating somebody? Yeah, how'd you know? I don't, but it's springtime. Is he a Christian? If you have to think about it, lose his number now. Forget her email. If she's not, that's a direct command of the Scripture. Identify the situation of your life now in light of the Scripture. Are you having a relationship trouble with your mom? The Bible's got the answer. Is it a friend? The Bible's got the answer. Are you having a situation at work with your boss and a coworker? The Bible's got the answer. You should know where to find it and apply that answer. Search the Scriptures, the Scriptures say. Why? In Romans 15, verse 4, it says, whatever things were written before time were written for our learning. That's the Old Testament, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Isn't that a great word? Identify those who have gone on before us and have taught us is what Paul is saying in Romans 15, verse 4. Think about Adam. Listen, identify yourself in light of Scripture. Think about Adam. God said, Adam, don't do this. And Adam did that. And I'm telling you, that's a painful yet real identification of what he did versus what God's Word says. What about Job? Wow. Have you ever suffered? Now, there's a great, great chance here in this room tonight that none of us combined have suffered like Job has suffered. But if you find yourself suffering, I don't care if you have a hangnail or you got cancer. If you feel like you're suffering, go to the Word of God is your number two discipline. Identify your life situation with the Bible. And this is going to keep the Word of God relevant in your life every day, every day. By the way, for those of us who are going through the daily Bible reading, man, I tell you, these last few days, Lisa and I are reading the Word of God together, the one year Bible together. And man, those things are applying to our lives and or giving us counsel for the lives of others. Powerful stuff. Great stuff. Wow. There's great wisdom there. Identifying your life in light of Scripture. Psalm 142, verse three says, For I am overwhelmed the crushing. There's the force of all these things coming upon me. He says, For I am overwhelmed and you alone know the way that I should turn. What a great prayer. Oh, Lord, we are overwhelmed as Americans. We're overwhelmed at times as Christians, but you alone, God, know the way that I should turn wherever I go. My enemies have set traps for me. I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought. No one will help me. No one cares a bit what happens to me. Verse five, Psalm 142. Then I prayed to you, oh, Lord. Notice that. Oh, my world's coming apart. Many praise. And he says, you are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. The name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and they are safe. Wow. So these three things we identify with Scripture regarding our physical body. We need physical healing. Identify with that. Do you need a physical healing? What does the Bible say about that? Cry out to God. You want to identify with Scripture regarding your soul. That is your emotions. The souquet is the Greek word for your mind, the seat of your emotions. And do you need mental or emotional stability? You go to God. You cry out to him, Lord, I need stability to my heart and my mind and then identify with Scripture regarding your spiritual life. Do you and I need strength tonight spiritually? I'll answer for you. Yes, we do. And we say, Lord, give me strength. Remember back in Exodus three, 14, when Moses says, OK, I'll go, I'll do everything you say, God, but who do I tell the children of Israel sent me? And God says, you tell them I am that I am sent you. And you look that up in the Hebrew and let me tell you, if you have socks on your feet, they will come off. It is awesome. You want to know why the word that God gives as his name is not only his name, but he's the conforming one. He is the becoming one. When he says I am that I am, this is what he is announcing. Regarding the deep inner meaning of Yahweh, the name of God, I am the one that becomes what you need or whom you need. Do you need protection? He's the Lord who will protect you. Do you need peace? He's Yahweh Shalom. Are you sick and tired of trying to walk in this life in your own strength, of trying to keep yourself pure yourself? Tell him I can't do it. And he says, all right, Yahweh, I'll be your righteousness, the Lord, your righteousness. That's why Peter said, as I, the Lord says, I'm righteous, so you be righteous. And you say, I can't do that. And the Lord says, scoot over and I will be your righteousness. And then he says to us, be holy for I am holy. How can we do that? Because we are in Christ now and he becomes our righteousness. Yahweh to sit canoe is that the name one of the great names of God. What about Yahweh or Jehovah Jireh, Yahweh Jireh, Yahweh Jireh, the Lord, our provider. I heard on the news today foreclosures hit a all time record this week in America. Foreclosures, they're saying there's no end in sight, people losing their homes. And God says, I will provide for you. See, what does that mean? Does he mean he's going to make my house payment? I don't know what that means. He can, he can do it if he wants to. But this he's committed to. He said in the word, the righteous shall never be seen baking bread. He has committed himself to the righteous. I like the old saying, do your best and commit the rest. Number three, the disciplines of dependence upon God is this measure, measure your situation to God or in light of God or measure your life situation against God. The magnitude of the things of your life, measure them. How great is the problem that is facing your life? Measure that against the stature of God. Now, watch this. Oh, please, if you need to be offended, be please offended with this. It's a good shot in the arm. If you and I are freaking out about stuff, then we have a very small view of our God. Think about it. You know this. When David saw Goliath, did David run away from Goliath or did he run toward Goliath? He was just a punk kid, probably a teenager with a sling and some stones. He ran toward him. He took off toward him. Can you imagine what Goliath must have thought? This is this kid's on crack or something. What is he doing? He must think I'm a toy to be played with. David, if you look at it right and measure the situation against God, David was running right toward his Lord because there is nowhere that Goliath could have gone to have been safe from the eternal God. And David knew from being a young shepherd boy that wherever he went, God was. So put that together. Come on, think for a minute. Pinch yourself if you have to get this down. If David runs toward Goliath and then what is this kid doing? I'm running toward the situation because I know my God in the past has delivered me from everything I've ever been involved in. And so here, Lord, take this rock. And let it sink right into the big fat forehead of that uncircumcised Philistine. Hey, I didn't make that up. That's what it says. And when the Bible says that that rock sunk into his forehead, can you imagine the stump that must have made you ever hear somebody's head hit the ground? It's a sickening feeling, isn't it? Unless it's Goliath getting a rock in his head and then it's like, yeah. Can you imagine the angel that was behind that rock? That was a jet propelled turbo boosted egg. I mean, egg. I mean, rock and egg. It could have been an egg. It wouldn't have mattered. That giant was going down. I don't know. I must be hungry with the egg came from. I don't know. Oh, man. Oh, but life is just so overwhelming, Jack. I don't think I can make it. Listen, you need to measure that situation in light of God. And all of a sudden, though it may be unmanageable to us, it certainly is very manageable to him. And he gets all the glory. Did I tell you guys last Sunday? It was after one of the services. So you may have missed this. A woman came up to me last Sunday in between services, and we had prayed for her son Dylan as a church a couple of months ago. The little guy had tumors all over the inside of his body, cancerous tumors. She came up to me and she's crying. I go, what's the matter? And she said, my my son, they did the test. They did. They took another look and there's not one tumor. There's no cancer. It's gone. And I said, listen, you got to write that down. You got to write that down. And we got to give God praise, because if we don't, we'll be robbing God, because here is this life overwhelming situation measured up to the power of our God. It's our God who suspended the universe out there in space. It's our God that holds those constellations in order. And we panic about this or about that. He's got the rings around Saturn. He's doing it all. And we don't think he's going to come through for us or that he's going to get us into heaven. Proverbs 34, verse 18, says this. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart. Is your heart broken tonight? Is your heart weeping? Are you broken of heart? The Lord says, I'm near you. And listen, your emotions are screaming right now. There's no hope. It's out of control. There's there's no sign of life. And God says, hey, hey, that's why the Lord is in the Bible. You see it many times. Martha, Martha, Abraham, Abraham, right? Sarah, Sarah. He has to repeat himself. We're freaking out, we're freaking out, Martha, Martha. And he's saying to you tonight, broken hearted, hey, broken hearted. Wake up. Hey, you. I'm near to you. They may feel like a giant, but God is there. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and he saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Wow. Now here's the here's the cool thing. OK, Jack, so I measure up the situation and my God's bigger and I understand all that. But you know what? How does that work? He delivers us out of them all. See, here's the part that you and I often want to fight with God about. We want and back in the recesses of our mind, we have the description of what being delivered looks like. Let's be honest. We're dictating to him, though we don't say it. Lord, deliver me, deliver me from my situation. And God goes to deliver us. And we don't like his plan of deliverance. And so we either fight him or we argue about it, or when he does his thing, we don't like it. And I don't know what to say to you about that other than get over it. He's God, we're not. And he knows what's best. Matthew five, verse forty three says, Jesus said it. You have heard that it was said of those you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That was one of the proverbs going around in Jesus's day. Now, that's kind of stupid. You. That goes without saying. Really, it's love those who love you and hate those who hate you. Well, no kidding. Jesus said, verse forty four, but I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your father in heaven. You think that's easy? I'll tell you how easy it is. It's impossible. But now with God, for he makes his son or the son, his son S.U.N. to rise on the evil and the good. That means God's good even to the bad people every day. And he sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? What is that? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? It's easy to love people that love you. I mean, how do you know if you even love them if they love you? That's what's scary about rich people, cute people and talented people. How do they know if the people around them love them? It's quiet in here. How do you know? None of us have that problem in this room, so we'll just move on then, I guess, apparently. We need to see him for what he is and for truly the fact for what they are. If they are enemies and he is God and he says, hey, listen, love them. In fact, he would be saying to us, be like me to them. In Psalm 92, verse five, I'm going to give you several verses here, jot them down one after another. Psalm 92, verse five says, How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts. Psalm 40, verse five, Many, O Lord, my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. No one can recount to you where I speak to you and tell of them. They would be too many to declare. I read that verse today. True story. I read this verse today, walked outside at my house. I have a fountain in the front of my yard and there's a little hummingbird sitting in the fountain. And he was just as the water comes out, he's just dipping inside the water. I mean, he looked like a one and a half inch torpedo just going in the water. And I was thinking about that verse, the wonderful works of God, there are too many to count. And I thought, you know what, that bird, look at that bird, the sunshine. He's taking a bath in my yard. He doesn't pay for the water bill, the electric bill. He's oblivious. And you think he cares? Man, he's out there. He's taking a bath. He doesn't know whose yard it is. And he's bathing in it. And yet Jesus said the sparrows, which are the most common of birds, hummingbirds are like, wow, look, nobody says, look, a sparrow. Right. But people say, look, a hummingbird. Huh? Jesus said, your father in heaven cares about the sparrows that fall to the ground. And here's this little bird. And I saw the colors in his neck. So red and crimson. And I thought for a minute, well, that's an awesome verse, because right now I'm pausing for a second to look at that little guy taking a bath, having a great day. And he's so pretty, beautiful thing. And our God did that. And you walk outside tonight at the service and you look at the moon. Our God is doing that as we look at it. You're going to watch the sun come up tomorrow? As you sit on the freeway and watch the sun come up? My God is doing it. You ever watch it come up where it goes like that? You don't see the sun go across the sky like that during the day, but you see it come up like that. You see how fast it's going? Watch it next time. Slow down. Watch it. It's amazing the things that he does. Remarkable. The Bible says in Psalm 139, verse 17, how precious are your thoughts to me? Oh, God, how great is the sum of them? Listen, young lady, God's thoughts toward you are amazing. His thoughts are so good toward you. And there's so many of them that cannot be counted. Young man, listen, God's thoughts about you are absolutely fantastic thoughts for you. He's got an awesome plan for your life. He's got great thoughts for you right now. And you don't even think about that. You should. Isaiah 55, 8. I love this. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Aren't you glad that God doesn't think like you do? Like I do? Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. That's our God. How great is our God? He's that. He's that amazing. Number four, the disciplines of dependence is this. Understand. Understand your life is in his hands. That's nice. Understand this one thing, church. He knows what he's doing. My favorite verse in the scriptures this week is John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice. He's not he's not doubtful about it, is he? My sheep, he said, hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. Man, that's a matter of fact. I give them eternal life. That's a fact. And they shall never perish. True. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. Say that again. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. That's good stuff. My listen, my father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. It's almost like he's like, you're in my hand. You're in my father's hand. No one's able to take you guys out of our hands. I and my father are one. And it's almost like anybody thinking about yanking this jack out of my hands. I'm going to knock him out. I'll take him out. And you insert your name in there. If anybody tries to take, put your name in there out of his hands, which is not even possible. You don't take him out. I like that. That's my shepherd. My sheep hear my voice. They follow me. That's comforting. I like that. He knows what he's doing. But why do we struggle with this truth that he knows what he's doing? He knows everything. And we act like we're the ones who know everything. He knows everything. We don't know much. We've got more knowledge at the at the tip of our fingers available now. And we are getting dumber by the minute. I mean, it's true. I don't mean to insult anybody, but let's be honest. There's nobody in this room. I'm convinced of it now. I'm sure of it. I saw a 18 or 17. I forget what year it was. It was either 1793 or 1693. Entrance exam to Harvard. David Barton owns it. I think it was like 1693 or something like that. Harvard, either that or William and Mary entrance exam. And David Barton presented it to a room of 500 pastors on the screens. It happened to have been a math quiz for the entrance exam to Harvard. David Barton put it on the screen because he hasn't had anyone able yet to do the math under some considerable amount of time. It's that advanced. And now today it's like, you want to come into our college? How's your dad's bank account? Sounds good to us. And, you know, two plus two equals any number you feel makes you happy. It's remarkable. Psalm 139, verse 23 says, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties and see if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Understand that your life is in his hands. Knowing God's perfect will for your life. Listen, everybody. I'm not kidding when I tell you this. You might be surprised to hear this. Knowing God's perfect will for your life is very easy. We make it hard. Knowing God's perfect will for your life is found in the Bible, literally. It's easier than you think if we just decide right now to walk with him, understanding that our life is in his hands. Stop stressing about it. Some people get so stressed out over their Christian walk. You had less stress as a non-Christian. Now that you're a Christian, you're all stressed out because you're trying to figure out, what's God's will for my life? Read the Bible. Read it. He tells you. And here's the great thing. Even if you haven't read the Bible and you just became a Christian, just decide today, I'm going to walk with God. Listen to him when he speaks to you. Down deep inside, he's going to speak to your soul, and you're going to know it's him. It's stuff. He's going to say stuff in your voice. Usually, I mean, I don't know about you, but I've only heard my voice in my head, but it's his logic. And it blows my mind because I don't think like that. And he will speak to you pure truth from the scripture, but he will speak to you in such a way that you go, that's the Lord in my life. It's very, very simple. But listen, knowing God's perfect will for your life, we have to throw out an all stop. If you're living in sin or a sinful situation as a Christian and you're wondering, well, what God told me to do this and God told me to do the other. Listen, none of us are supposed to be sin sniffers and fault finders. If you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit speaking to you and he's saying you need to stop this thing in your life. Don't expect God to unfurl his Christmas list for you while you're living as a Christian apart from God's will. Here's why I bring this up, because God has a perfect plan, a perfect will to be executed in your life. There's something called the permissive will of God, which you do not want. And far too many Christians today settle for the permissive will of God. That is, I know that I shouldn't be doing this. I'm a Christian, but I'm going to do it. And my friends are doing this. So I think it's OK. And God doesn't kill you. He doesn't beat you up. He allows it. But his allowance doesn't mean he's approving. You can say, God, show me your way as you are already mapping out the direction you want to go. Guess what? You're still a Christian. You're going to go to heaven. You're just walking outside of his perfect will and your life will not be as blessed. You guys, Abraham walked with God. His life was super blessed. And when he got to heaven, he got out of God's will. His life got super in trouble. That's how close you want to walk to the will of God. That when you're off base, it will be so obvious. Your heart will be so sensitive to where he's not that you have to go back there to where he is. That's the relationship he wants with you. He wants you to cry out for his perfect will in your life. I'll give you some verses. Psalm 12, verse five, Psalm 12, five says, because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I, the Lord, will now arise. I will protect them from those who malign. Wow. That word malign means speak falsely with intent to cause harm. God says, that's it. You can see him. He's coming after those that are troubling his kids. When? When you walk in the will of God. James one, verse two, my brethren counted all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work and you may be complete or perfect and complete, lacking nothing. That's walking right in the middle of God's plan. You may be right now in the perfect will of God's plan for your life and everything's blowing up around you. Hang on to him. Don't think that God's perfect will for your life is some perfect rose strewn path. A great example of this is that verse in first Peter two, twenty one, first Peter two, twenty one says for for this, you were called. We looked at it earlier, but it goes on because Christ also suffered. Leave in us an example that you should follow in his footsteps who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. And when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him. That is his father, who judges righteously. Amazing and awesome. Number five point five will end with this. The disciplines of dependence upon God is this number five. Mark it down. It's very important. It is rest, rest, rest because your outcome has been planned. Now, look, I'm going to give you some stuff and some people are going to hope they want to get all controversy about what I'm going to say. I'm going to read your Bible. You have to deal with it. I'm going to give you scripture and I'm going to delight in it. You want to kick against the Bible? Go kick. But I'm not going to kick. I'm going to pull up my raft and lay down on it. OK, listen to this. Rest in the fact that God has determined, listen, the outcome of your life. He's determined it. Now, listen to me. Do I have your attention? What does that mean? It doesn't mean what you think it means. If God's determined my life, then. Then everything that I do must have been what he's determined. No, God has a plan. And as we just talked about, you walk in in his will. Can you walk out of his will? Oh, yeah. When we walk out of his will, guess what happens? We are not resting in the Lord. And what happens is when we are not walking in his will, we're not resting in him. We're out about on our own. And guess what happens? His plans not being fulfilled in our lives. Does he have a perfect plan for us? Yes. Has it been determined by him? Yes. But can we go against his will? Yes. Painfully so. Again, ask Adam, right? Ask King David Bathsheba. Now, he could have said, wow, God, you built a beautiful woman. Great work. That's amazing sculpture. And you did there, God. And he could try to justify everything that was going on in his head. He was outside the will of God. Did it listen in David's life, did it derail God's perfect plan for his life? Absolutely. Was not his family riddled with trouble after that? Yes. Did David suffer unnecessary things because David did his will and not God's will? Yes. Same thing can happen to us. Yes, God has determined a course and a plan. Here's the goal for you and I. Are you with me? We're almost done. Are you with me? It's this, that you and I yield to his plan in every area so that his plan that is determined is lived out in our lives. That's the key to Christian success. I don't care how healthy or happy or wealthy you are. It's are you obedient to him and let him determine the outcome. And if you understand that, then you can settle it in your heart that why are there sick Christians all their life? Why are there healthy Christians? Why are they poor? Why are there rich? Why are there middle class? Why is this? Why is that? Leave it in the hand of the all-knowing God. He knows what he's doing. And the amazing thing is the outcome is tailor-made for your life and my life. But they're different. You will be held and I will be held accountable for what God has called you to do, what he's called me to do. So watch this. I can mess that plan up. That's why the Bible says in John 15 that we need to abide in Christ. Every morning you choose to be with God or not. So jot these verses down. Romans 8, 29. For whom he, what? For knew. Circle the word. It means he knew everything before it ever was materialized. He knew it all. He already knew the outcome. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, remember it's based upon his foreknowledge, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. Whom he justified, these he also glorified. Now watch the outcome of this. It's great if you get this, your life will be freed, liberated. Verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, was Jesus in the middle of the will of his father? Yes. He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? All things what? All things that pertain to God's perfect plan in your life. That's why what God gives you, receive with gladness and thank him. And whatever it is, use it to the glory of God. And don't worry about that. Anything else, it's to his glory. Ephesians 1 verse 4. Just as he chose us in him, that's Christ, before the foundation of the world, that's the definition of foreknowledge, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That's your position. Having predestined us to adoption as sons, all of us have been adopted. Isn't that cool? Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In him, we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Rest, church, in the fact that he has determined the outcome of your life if you just let him live his plan out in your life by yielding, surrendering, submitting to his wonderful plan. It's very, very fine. In fact, Romans, no, excuse me, Hebrews, Hebrews 4, 9 says, there remains therefore a rest. The word in Greek is repose, to recline. There remains, therefore, a reclined, reposed position for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. Let us, therefore, be diligent to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Draw near to him. In church, we're out of time. I'll just sum things up by saying this. As believers, when it comes to the discipline of dependence upon God, in Romans 15, 13, there's a great prayer that y'all ought to just mark down and we just start praying, and I'll pray it with you right now, even. This is a great thing. It says, may the God of hope fill you, that's us, with all joy and peace in believing that you, that's us together, may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. God wants to work his plan out in your life. That's why you have Jeremiah 29, 11, and 12. God says to you tonight, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Isn't he wonderful? Father, we thank you for your word. And Lord, that we tonight get to exercise the discipline of dependence upon God, upon you. Lord, like any parent, there's the welling up of the heart, the plumping up of the soul, when our children ask of us for a toy or a dollar or a helping hand. It's just a God thing. We want our kids to cry out to us, and we want to meet their need. And Lord, tonight here we are, a church in a very, very amazing prophetic time that we're living, challenging times. And yet, if we will let your word rule and reign in our hearts, these are going to be the most exciting days that we could have ever known. And on top of the fact that we weren't born at a time like this by accident, this is your absolute plan for our lives. And so as we get ready to worship church, as we bow our heads and our hearts together, I'm hoping for you right now tonight, if you are in distress, I'm going to ask you tonight, when I say distress, I mean, if you just, you're emotionally stressed or physically, or there's something that you want to just unload at the feet of the Lord, at the foot of the cross, then as we're worshiping right now together, if there's something that you want to dedicate to God, then Christian, come forward and bow down, kneel down, and give it to him during this song. Make this night, make it a hallmark moment, make it a touchstone that tonight you're going to say, I'm done with this thing, Lord, I'm giving this to you. Or maybe it's a decision you need to make. Do we do this? Do we do that? Do we move here? Do we move there? Do we get up or do we sit down? Do we, what is it? Maybe tonight you want to come and you want to just say to the Lord privately, Lord, this is my altar moment. So as we sing this song, and by the way, of course, if you want to accept Jesus, that Christ is your Lord and Savior, recognizing that you need your sins forgiven, then you come and grab a Bible up here. But people will let you out of the aisle, they'll let you come. So church, let's give to God those things that are keeping us from being fully dependent upon him. Let's worship him now. And you make your way forward between you and God. It's your moment to dedicate to him.