God’s Providence

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:08.119
Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast

2
00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:15.880
making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Wednesday, July the seventeenth,

3
00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.920
twenty twenty four. It is currently
ten oh one am Central Time,

4
00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:27.079
and I am coming to you live
from the Theology Central studio located right here

5
00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:35.679
in Abilene, Texas. Well.
Probably since Saturday night, probably since Saturday

6
00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:43.079
night, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and now entering into Wednesday, I

7
00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:53.200
have found myself extremely frustrated, irritated, bothered, discouraged, and I think,

8
00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:59.479
if I'm even going to be remotely
honest, very angry, extremely angry.

9
00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:03.439
In fact, I had to do
a little episode, a live broadcast

10
00:01:03.519 --> 00:01:10.560
yesterday kind of talking about my anger
and maybe apologizing for how angry I have

11
00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:15.439
become and what has led to all
of these emotions. Well, there's really

12
00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:19.159
two parts to this. The first
thing that led to me being very bothered

13
00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:26.599
and upset and frustrated and discouraged was
obviously the assassination attempt on President Trump or

14
00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:34.359
on the presidential candidate, the former
president Donald Trump. That obviously entire situation

15
00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:38.359
was just like what is happening?
Why is this going on? Our country

16
00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:42.120
is already more divided. This is
just going to throw gasoline already on an

17
00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:46.920
open fire. This is just not
good. This is bad. Okay?

18
00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:49.719
Where are things going to go?
Are things going to get better? Things

19
00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:53.359
going to get worse? Just trying
to process all of that. And as

20
00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:57.760
I was trying to process all of
that, immediately my attention turned to now

21
00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.799
how the world was going to interpret
the assassination attempt, how the world was

22
00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:06.280
going to cover it, what their
opinions were, what their predictions were.

23
00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:14.199
My attention immediately turned to Christianity.
How was Christianity at large going to respond

24
00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.439
to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump? How were they going to respond to

25
00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:21.400
this, to the shooting of Donald
Trump? How are they going to respond

26
00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:23.439
to this? How were they?
Were they going to handle this in a

27
00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:28.599
very biblical way, in a very
philological way, and a very godly way,

28
00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:32.000
where they going to follow some basic
guidelines ensuring that everything we said was

29
00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:38.719
truthful, that everything we said was
correct information, We were not sharing misinformation,

30
00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:44.439
We would not slide down into conspiratorial
thinking and throwing out accusations and bearing

31
00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:50.360
false witness and basically engaging in gossip
and slander. I was that was my

32
00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:53.439
hope, you know, or that
was at least my question. Is Christianity

33
00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:57.800
at large going to handle this in
a correct way or is this going to

34
00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:01.039
just turn into something very neative.
Now I'm being honest with you, I

35
00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:06.360
tend to be very cynical anyway.
So I was pretty cynical thinking it's gonna

36
00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:08.639
go really bad. It's gonna go
really bad. And I was really bothered,

37
00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:15.400
and I tried not to make any
dogmatic assertions, but there was definitely

38
00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:19.280
you could tell that I was really
bothered in concern and where things were going

39
00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:23.360
to go. So I decided,
Okay, I'm not going to sit here

40
00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:25.360
and monitor what the world is doing. I'm not gonna sit here and worry

41
00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:29.919
about how Democrats are responding or Republicans
are responding. I'm not going to get

42
00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:32.240
into all of that, because well, this is a theology podcast, and

43
00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:37.000
the Church should be outside of all
of that. We are supposed to be

44
00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:39.759
looking at the world from a biblical
perspective, from a thiological perspective, not

45
00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:45.080
a political one, not political ideology. No, it's not about that.

46
00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:49.319
It's about from a Christian perspective.
So I decided, well, I will

47
00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:55.120
monitor how Christians are responding to the
assassination attempt of Donald Trump. I said,

48
00:03:55.159 --> 00:04:01.879
I will monitor it. I put
my focus on monitored how broadcasters,

49
00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:09.000
churches, pastors would respond to the
assassination attempt via the sermon's two point oh

50
00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:14.039
app. Now, the reason why
is because all of twenty twenty four are

51
00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:16.680
we've had a challenge, and that
challenge we're calling it the sermons two point

52
00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:21.120
oh app sermon challenge, where once
a day, every single day, for

53
00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:25.920
the entire year, you're supposed to
be grabbing the sermon's two point oh app

54
00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:30.240
finding a random sermon random You're not
choosing a specific broadcaster or anything. You're

55
00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:33.480
choosing a random sermon. You're listening
to it. You're writing down in a

56
00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:38.319
notebook the name of the sermon,
the broadcaster, and then you write out

57
00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.959
a summary of the sermon you listen
to. And the goal was by the

58
00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:46.480
end of twenty twenty four you could
grab your notebook, open it up,

59
00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:50.079
and go I listened to one sermon
every single day for the entire year,

60
00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:56.480
and here's the summaries of every sermon
I listened to. Now two to try

61
00:04:56.519 --> 00:05:00.639
to make the challenge interesting and to
change it up, and to add variety.

62
00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:02.600
There's times I would turn on the
microphone. Okay, all right,

63
00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:08.879
guys, this week, you're only
looking for random sermons on this particular passage

64
00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:13.160
of scripture? Are this particular subject? Right? So that we we've that's

65
00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:15.040
been our focus for twenty twenty four. So then I'm like, well,

66
00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:20.319
that's the focus. Let me make
the focus then for since the assassination attempt.

67
00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:26.720
I'm going to be looking at how
broadcasters are responding to the assassination attempt,

68
00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:30.800
right, because this would give me
insight on where the church is,

69
00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:33.759
how it's thinking, is it thinking
biblical in the present, and then this

70
00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:38.279
may give me some idea of where
the church is headed into the future.

71
00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:46.279
Right, So pretty simple, right, monitor, review, analyze, critique,

72
00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:53.639
try to maybe kind of predict where
things are headed. And then I

73
00:05:53.720 --> 00:06:01.160
started the process of listening. I
do not know how to just what I

74
00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:08.879
have heard so far, other than
say it's been troubling, it's been bothered

75
00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:13.079
at troubling is probably a nice way
of saying it. It's been disturbing.

76
00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:17.519
It has bothered me greatly. There's
been frustration, there's been irritation. And

77
00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:23.000
then slowly but surely, it kind
of descended into almost full blown anger because

78
00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:29.959
we have heard conspiratorial thinking, we've
heard absolutely fraudulent information being given, We've

79
00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:36.600
heard just absolutely ridiculous things being said, and it really has just I don't

80
00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:42.560
even I'm almost exhausted at this point. And it's only Wednesday. It's only

81
00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:45.439
Wednesday, for crying out loud,
like it would be different if this has

82
00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:47.360
been going on for like two weeks
or and you could be like, okay,

83
00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:51.439
all right, but it's only Wednesday. The assassination a timpt occurred on

84
00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:56.600
Saturday, and that was Saturday evening, so it's not even really been that

85
00:06:56.759 --> 00:07:00.639
long, and I'm already to the
point of like, this is crazy.

86
00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:06.480
Now. Someone he did send me
a link to a response that is much

87
00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:11.000
more positive that like, in other
words, I could, I probably would

88
00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:15.639
agree with it, and probably far
more so. I will be reviewing that

89
00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:20.480
at some point. So, but
I'm so frustrated that I did not necessarily

90
00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:26.839
today want to immediately start the day
with a review of the latest response on

91
00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:31.720
the sermon's two point oh app to
the assassination attempt for on Donald Trump.

92
00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:38.040
So I'm like, so, what
can I do today? What should I

93
00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:46.439
do today? Well, here was
my thinking and almost every single response to

94
00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:53.000
the assassination attempt, even though for
almost I don't well, I think it's

95
00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:57.800
very fair to say I don't think
in any of the responses did anyone actually

96
00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:03.399
pursue this from like a very doctrinal, philological or biblical perspective. But in

97
00:08:03.399 --> 00:08:07.800
almost every single one of them,
certain phrases were used, right, certain

98
00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:11.879
philological terms were used. They were
just briefly mentioned and then moved on.

99
00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:16.879
They weren't. They didn't because they
wanted to get into oh the Biden administration

100
00:08:18.040 --> 00:08:20.680
did this, or it was a
plot, or or this happened, or

101
00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.680
this happened, or and just making
all kinds of wild claims that in many

102
00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:28.959
cases, in real time I was
fact checking, going well, that's not

103
00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.959
accurate, that's not true, that's
right, which is insane that you have

104
00:08:31.039 --> 00:08:35.639
to be fact checking what you're hearing, you know, coming from you know,

105
00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:37.879
churches, but reality you have to
do that, you have to do.

106
00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.840
It's like one of the greatest things
about artificial intelligence is that while you're

107
00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:46.799
sitting in church, you can just
have your AI app open and you can

108
00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:48.559
just be asking AI, is that
true? Is that true? Is that

109
00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:50.799
true? And you can just find
out well, you know, maybe I

110
00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:54.480
should just stop coming to church because
I'm hearing more lies from the pulpit than

111
00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:58.320
I hear from I don't know the
world. Okay, maybe that's a little

112
00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:03.399
bit of hyperbole, but you get
my fresh stration. But in all cases

113
00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:11.320
they mention at least thistiological concept,
and the philological concept mentioned frequently is God's

114
00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:20.600
providence, God's providence. Some may
kind of add they may not use the

115
00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:28.559
word, but God's decrees, God's
providence, and God's decrees. So,

116
00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:37.879
ladies and gentlemen, starting today Wednesday, July seventeenth, twenty twenty four,

117
00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:43.600
for your sermons two point oh app
challenge, we are going to have you

118
00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:50.639
spend the next week at minimum,
probably maybe a week plus listening to sermons

119
00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:56.639
on the sermon's two point oh app
that deal with God's decrees and God's providence.

120
00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:03.240
Since these terms have and mentioned,
but no one is exploring them in

121
00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:07.600
a very you know, and a
deep way, at least in their responses

122
00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:13.679
to the assassination attempt, we're going
to ensure that we pursue these things as

123
00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:18.879
deeply as we can. So we'll
be reviewing some sermons on the sermons two

124
00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.919
point oh app on this subject.
I'm going to be pointing you to some

125
00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.879
resources here in the next few minutes. I'm going to remind you now,

126
00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:31.639
for us and my reviewing these responses
to the assassination attempt, I did go

127
00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:37.039
I didn't go way in depth,
but I did define what we mean by

128
00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:41.320
God's eternal decrees and what we mean
by God's providence. Now, of course,

129
00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:48.440
just full transparency, I approach the
doctrine or the theology of God's eternal

130
00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:56.159
decrees and from God's providence and line
most like I'm well, almost definitely with

131
00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:01.080
the London Baptist Confession of Faith of
sixteen eight the sixteen eighty nine London Baptist

132
00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:05.440
Confession of Faith, for some reason, have too many dates in my mind

133
00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.759
right now, all right, because
one of the things is a lot of

134
00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:11.600
well, well, won't get into
some of the things that I've heard people

135
00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:13.600
say, but all right, we
will, we will. I won't chase

136
00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:18.879
that rabbit right now. But sixteen
eighty nine London Baptist Confession of Faith is

137
00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:22.240
what I will be. I have
used and what I already used in trying

138
00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:28.879
to review some of these messages about
the responses to the assassination attempt on Donald

139
00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:33.759
Trump. So that's where I know, that's probably a good idea of where

140
00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:37.639
I'll be coming at it from.
However, even though I hold to the

141
00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:41.399
London Baptist Confession of Faith, right, remember I am not bound by a

142
00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:45.240
confession of faith in any way shape
performance. I mean, that's the whole

143
00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:50.200
kind of non Catholic approach. Right. We believe Scripture is the final authority,

144
00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:54.720
and that these confessions of faith or
creeds are great and helpful and can

145
00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:58.840
summarize biblical doctrine. But we believe
the scriptures are the ultimate authority. But

146
00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:05.480
I also have a tendency to offer
criticism and challenge things within Christianity. It's

147
00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:09.759
one of the things we do in
this podcast is I question things and ask

148
00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:13.080
difficult questions and be willing to admit
when things don't make sense, and when

149
00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:18.399
you get into the discussion about God's
providence and God's eternal decrees. Ladies and

150
00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:22.240
gentlemen, if you don't find yourself
at times just going blah blah blah blah

151
00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:24.480
blah blah, what is happening?
My brain is melting. I don't get

152
00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:30.039
this. This makes absolutely no sense. This is disturbing, This bothers me

153
00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.279
greatly. If you don't experience that, then I don't know if you're really

154
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:39.159
studying it or you're just not real
you're unwilling to look at the negative side

155
00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:43.759
of these concepts, because these there's
a negative side of these concepts, and

156
00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:50.639
people have struggled with it throughout church
history. They always try to think that

157
00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:54.360
they've offered dissolution to make all the
problems go away, but they never really

158
00:12:54.399 --> 00:13:03.000
makes the problem go away. So
in the real responses to the assassination attempt

159
00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:09.039
of Donald Trump, you hear people
say God spared Donald Trump's life. It

160
00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:13.759
was God's providence. It was God's
providence according to God's decree. He stepped

161
00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:20.200
in God's providence and he spared Donald
Trump, he protected him, he saved

162
00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:22.720
him. Now, of course,
in any cases, in almost every case

163
00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:28.039
where that is mentioned, they forget
that Corey, that's the name of the

164
00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:30.559
individual. There was a man by
the name of Corey who was trying to

165
00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:37.919
protect his family died at the very
same political rally, at the very same

166
00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:45.960
place where God's providence, God's decree
spared Donald Trump saved his life. God

167
00:13:46.039 --> 00:13:50.480
did not step in to save Corey's
life. Who was trying to protect his

168
00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:56.639
family. That man is dead.
A family. Now they've lost their husband,

169
00:13:56.759 --> 00:14:01.159
their father, brother son, whatever
the case may be. They've lost

170
00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:05.120
him. He's gone. While everyone's
running around to this. But praise God,

171
00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:11.039
God's providence stepped in and saved Donald
Trump. Hey two and well,

172
00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:13.759
in many cases, nobody even wants
to mention the name of the man who

173
00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.639
died. In some cases and many
of the responses, I think American Family

174
00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:22.840
Radio is the only one who's offered
even mentioned the man's name. I think

175
00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:26.639
in many cases, like Donald Trump's
name has been mentioned five thousand times,

176
00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:31.639
but the echory is just forgotten,
and which is very frustrating. But I

177
00:14:31.799 --> 00:14:35.080
tried to explain to you that when
you were going to start talking about God's

178
00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:39.240
providence or God's decrees, that we
need in a sense, this situation,

179
00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:45.360
this assassination attempt. As horrible and
as tragic at as it is, it

180
00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:50.200
also serves as kind of a slap
in our face as Christians, to force

181
00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:56.039
us to face the difficulty of God's
providence in God's decrees. What do I

182
00:14:56.120 --> 00:15:01.840
mean? Well, I told you
to write on paper Donald Trump and then

183
00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:07.559
write down Corey's name right Why?
Because here. Once we talk about providence

184
00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:15.639
and decrees. God's providence and decrees
spared saved Trump's life. Well this man

185
00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:20.799
died. Now did this man die
apart from God's decrees, apart from God's

186
00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:28.759
providence, Or was God's providence and
decrees just as much at work in the

187
00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:39.080
saving of Donald Trump but in not
saving Corey? And if we say yes,

188
00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:46.080
now, it's typically Christian men typically
who kind of just shrugged their shoulders

189
00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:46.960
and I'm like, well, yeah, that's just the way it works,

190
00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:52.000
so what And it sounds all tough
and you know, yeah, okay,

191
00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:56.240
but yeah, it's all great until
you get the phone call that your child

192
00:15:56.519 --> 00:16:00.720
was just kidnapped and murdered or your
child was just killed by a drunk driver,

193
00:16:02.519 --> 00:16:03.440
and you don't want someone to walk
up to you go, well,

194
00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:08.960
you know, just God's providence,
God's God's sovereign. He saved the drunk,

195
00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:11.759
you know, the drunk who killed
your kid. They're okay, but

196
00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.039
your kid's dead. Hey, hey, it's just God's providence. It's just

197
00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:18.879
God's decree. Like yeah, now, you don't want to hear someone talk

198
00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:22.080
all tough like that, right,
because I've had Christian it kind of just

199
00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.320
shrugged their children. Well that's just
the way it is. Okay, Well,

200
00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:30.320
okay, well that's the way it
is until it works the way opposite

201
00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:33.840
that you want. I mean,
right now, is it God's providence and

202
00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:37.120
God's decree that it was at work
that right now, as I speak,

203
00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:44.879
there are children and a children's hospital
suffering horrible diseases. They will not see

204
00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:48.519
their sixteenth birthday, they will never
have their first kiss, they will never

205
00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:51.960
have their first dance, They're never
gonna date anyone, They're not gonna get

206
00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:56.120
married. No, They're going to
die, probably in that very same hospital.

207
00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:04.960
Is it God's decree of how many
people will die today on this planet

208
00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:11.880
from starvation? Look up the numbers. Look up the numbers of how many

209
00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:18.559
children will be molested this year alone, how many women will be raped,

210
00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:22.559
how many people will be murdered,
how many people will will will face some

211
00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:27.079
kind of violent crime that will leave
them injured or or or you know,

212
00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:34.000
greatly traumatized for the rest of their
life. Is that God's providence and God's

213
00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:41.599
decrees? Now say we can't we
we love when the story's like, oh

214
00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:45.680
look, how look how close it
was? Donald Trump could have been killed?

215
00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:48.279
I mean it was just it was
just a few inches and it would

216
00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:52.400
have been over. Oh wow,
God is so powerful. God is so

217
00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:56.359
amazing. It's a miracle. It's
so great. And you're like, but

218
00:17:56.359 --> 00:18:02.279
but but just just a few feet
over there was another man and that the

219
00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:14.519
God. What about the other man? What about what about the other man?

220
00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:18.599
See, that's the thing we have
to struggle with. That's the thing

221
00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:22.599
we have to be honest about.
If we cannot be honest with that,

222
00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:27.240
then all we are doing is we've
created a Christianity. We've created a Disney

223
00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:33.559
version of Christianity, a Hallmark Channel
version of Christianity where we only want to

224
00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:37.880
take the good and we don't and
we want to try to ignore the kind

225
00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:42.200
of the double edged sword to this
very important topic. So here's how we're

226
00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:48.759
going to proceed Throughout at least the
next week plus. You're going to be

227
00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:56.279
finding random sermons random Please note random
don't look for certain kinds of churches.

228
00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:03.200
But you want to look for sermons
on God's eternal and God's providence. Now,

229
00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:07.599
what you're probably going to find is
that most of the churches probably are

230
00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:15.240
going to be a that actually mentions
God's providence and God's Decrees are probably going

231
00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:18.559
to be churches that are in line
with either the Westminster Confession of Faith or

232
00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.920
the London Baptist Confession of Faith,
meaning they're coming at it from much more

233
00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:26.480
of a reformed perspective. Now,
if you can, and if you stumble

234
00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:34.319
upon people who kind of criticize,
openly criticize the more reformed understanding of God's

235
00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:38.759
eternal decrees and God's providence, if
you find any that are kind of coming

236
00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:44.079
at it from a non reformed perspective
and may be critical of the London Baptist

237
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:49.359
Confession or Westminster Confessions way of approaching
this subject, then by all means,

238
00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:53.759
make sure you email me immediately because
we definitely want to hear the counter argument.

239
00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:57.880
If one is made, and how
it is made, we will see

240
00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:03.720
how the week goes. So let's
start here. So that's that's your challenge

241
00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:06.279
for the week. So here's what
we're going to do. I'm going to

242
00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:10.559
just once again remind you of some
basic definitions of God's eternal decrees and God's

243
00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:15.960
providence. Then I'm going to point
you to a sermon series on God's providence

244
00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:22.440
and God's decrees, and then I'm
going to point you to a book that

245
00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.240
is free, and I'll and I'll
send out the link via the church one

246
00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:32.279
app that you can read a very
famous classic work on God's Providence, and

247
00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:34.839
I'm going to point you to that. So I hope this will be beneficial

248
00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:40.079
and helpful. And because this is
a very I mean, since everyone's talking,

249
00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:45.039
since the term God's providence or God's
decrees have been used frequently, and

250
00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:49.640
those responding to the assassination attempt on
Donald Trump, since many keep using the

251
00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:55.440
phrase, but nobody seems to want
to actually dig into the concept and address

252
00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:57.920
the negative side of it. Well, then that's what we are going to

253
00:20:57.960 --> 00:21:03.319
do, and hopefully it's going to
be beneficial. So are you ready.

254
00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:07.960
Let's start with the London Baptist Confession
of Faith. I've got the London Baptist

255
00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:11.200
Confession of Faith here. What I'm
gonna do is I'm gonna back up and

256
00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:15.839
I'm gonna go to chapter three of
the sixteen eighty nine London Baptist Confession of

257
00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:21.680
Faith of God's Decrees. You can
find the London Baptist Confession of Faith online

258
00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:26.359
just like that. It's everywhere,
right, it's everywhere. The London Baptist

259
00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:30.200
Confession of Faith of sixteen eighty nine. I told everyone to be reading it

260
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:33.680
already, over and over all this
week, you're supposed to be just reading

261
00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:37.559
chapter three and chapter five the London
Baptist Confession of Faith, over and over

262
00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.079
and over and over and over this
week. I don't know if anyone has

263
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:45.240
taken that challenge serious. But now
for the next week, I want you

264
00:21:45.319 --> 00:21:48.039
to continue to do that. All
right, here we go, and I

265
00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:52.039
want you to look up all the
scripture references and everything. Are you ready?

266
00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:56.799
Here is the sixteen eighty nine Baptist
Confession of Faith of God's decree.

267
00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:03.279
Chapter three, paragraph one we read. Depending on your perspective, you may

268
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:06.720
find this great. You may find
great comfort in this, or this may

269
00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:11.920
actually horrify you and keep you up
at night. Are you ready? Here

270
00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:26.319
we go? God have decreed in
himself from all eternity, by the most

271
00:22:26.359 --> 00:22:41.920
wise and holy counsel of his own
will freely and unchangeably all things whatsoever comes

272
00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:53.039
to pass. Now just stop right
there. Do you truly believe that God

273
00:22:53.079 --> 00:23:02.400
has decreed in himself from all eternity
whatsoever comes to pass? Please note the

274
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:14.559
word whatsoever do you believe God from
all eternity has decreed everything that comes to

275
00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:18.839
pass? Do you truly embrace this? Now I've said this, I said

276
00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:23.480
this before, and I'll say it
again. It is so easy to say

277
00:23:23.559 --> 00:23:29.119
a men to this when sitting in
a pew on a Sunday and you got

278
00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:33.799
your family next to you, and
everything is wonderful. Everything is great.

279
00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:38.200
The birds are singing, their sun
is shining, you've got a bag of

280
00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:41.480
skittles. Everything okay, everything is
wonderful. Yeah, I'm being a little

281
00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:45.440
sarcastic, but everything is beautiful and
wonderful. You can say, a man

282
00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:51.319
pastor, praise God. God has
decreed from all eternity whatsoever comes to pass.

283
00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:56.960
Amen. It is so great on
a Sunday morning with my family and

284
00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:02.759
my friends and everything is perfect,
everything is wonderful. And then it's far

285
00:24:02.839 --> 00:24:06.960
different to say that on Thursday when
you find out that your seven year old

286
00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:11.400
has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It's in the brain and they've got

287
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:26.839
six months to live. Theoretically sounds
great. Practically it sounds great when well

288
00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:33.000
the news is positive, but when
the news is it's difficult. Do you

289
00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:37.039
truly believe God has decreed in himself
from all eternity, whats whoever comes to

290
00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:41.920
pass? Now immediately said, once
you start talking about this, there's gonna

291
00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:42.720
be like, well, well what
about this? And what about There's going

292
00:24:42.759 --> 00:24:47.519
to be pushback. So almost immediately
the authors of the London Baptist Confession of

293
00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:52.359
Faith starts trying to come in here
and trying to offer some kind of explanation,

294
00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:56.839
and people trying to work around this
concept. Okay, if we believe

295
00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:00.480
God from eternity decrees whatsoever comes to
past, this is going to raise some

296
00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:07.240
serious questions. So theologians, christians, pastors have all tried to tried to

297
00:25:07.319 --> 00:25:11.519
offer well, okay, well he
does decree whatever comes past, but that

298
00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:14.079
doesn't mean this, and that doesn't
mean that. And we try to find

299
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:17.119
a way, almost ultimately, to
try to get God off the hook.

300
00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:19.160
And I don't know if any of
the attempts work. Here's the attempt of

301
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:25.160
the London Baptist Confession of Faith.
All right, so he unchangeably freely from

302
00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:30.359
all eternity has decreed whatsoever comes to
pass. Yet so as thereby is God,

303
00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:34.559
neither the author of sin, nor
hath fellowship with any therein all right,

304
00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:37.920
So he mean like okay, now
look look, look, God decrees,

305
00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:40.160
everything comes to pass. But wait, wait, wait, he's not

306
00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:45.480
the author of sin. He's not
the author of sin. Now I understand

307
00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:49.680
why we have to try to deal
with this. I just think our attempts.

308
00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:55.200
Really, I don't know how well
any of our attempts actually work.

309
00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:57.680
So let me I've stated this a
million times, let me state it again.

310
00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:06.559
The most troubling verse in the entire
Bible, hands down, is Genesis

311
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:11.359
one one. In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth.

312
00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:19.559
Now, if you anyone reading that
lives obviously way after those those words or

313
00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:25.640
were written were spoken, right,
if you live after God is initial creation,

314
00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:27.960
which is all of us, well
then you know how creation turned out.

315
00:26:29.079 --> 00:26:32.960
Right, So I know how the
world turned out. So from the

316
00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:36.960
very first time I started reading in
the beginning, God created, I'm like,

317
00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:41.599
stop, stop, stop, don't
do it. Don't create, don't

318
00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:45.240
create the heavens and the earth.
Don't do it. It's it turns out

319
00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:52.440
to be a total, complete,
utter, dumpster fire. It's it's trash,

320
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:56.200
it's garbage. Don't do it.
Nothing good is gonna stop. I

321
00:26:56.279 --> 00:26:59.200
just want to start yelling out the
text, no, no, no,

322
00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:03.200
God create, no do something else, God, do something else, pick

323
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:06.960
a different hobby, do something,
don't create the heavens and the earth.

324
00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:11.599
Don't do it. You don't need
them because you are perfect and sufficient in

325
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:15.119
yourself. You don't need anyone,
because you've got perfect harmony within the trendy.

326
00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.599
You don't need anything. Stop just
stop. Don't do it. Don't

327
00:27:18.599 --> 00:27:22.960
do it. But he did.
Now the minute he did, Well,

328
00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:26.359
we got questions. Okay, Now, wait a minute. God is all

329
00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:30.440
knowing. So if he's all knowing, he knows exactly what's going to happen.

330
00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:33.319
The minute it says God created the
heavens in the earth. No,

331
00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:36.880
only do that. As you continue
to read your Bible, you find out

332
00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:45.720
that God created this angelic being that
we call Satan or Lucifer. Wait,

333
00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:49.440
he knew the minute he created that
angelic being exactly what was going to happen.

334
00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:53.240
Now, once that angelic being rebelled, God could have destroyed him.

335
00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:56.720
But God doesn't. Not only does
he not destroy him, he allows him

336
00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:02.119
to come to the very creation that
he created, letting him not only come

337
00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:06.440
to this, to the creation of
earth. He lets him into the garden.

338
00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:10.839
He doesn't keep him out. Then
he lets him tempt Eve, knowing

339
00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:14.119
exactly Eve's going to fall, Adam's
going to fall, and this is going

340
00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:15.880
to bring sin into the world.
He could have then killed Eve, could

341
00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:19.880
have killed Adam, could have killed
destroyed Satan be the end. But no,

342
00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:22.279
no, no, no no,
He lets it all happen. So

343
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:26.200
even if you want to say God
is not the author of sin, you

344
00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:33.960
cannot deny He created the world and
created everything, knowing exactly what was going

345
00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:38.079
to happen, and did absolutely nothing
to prevent it. Now I know I'm

346
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:41.559
going to have the non reform people
going free will, free will, free

347
00:28:41.559 --> 00:28:44.960
will, free will. Well,
God is the one who gave free will,

348
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:53.279
knowing exactly what was going to happen. Right. If if you heard

349
00:28:53.319 --> 00:28:59.559
that a parent right took their you
know, seven year old, and said,

350
00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:03.079
hey, here you go, here's
a loaded gun, go play,

351
00:29:03.880 --> 00:29:07.400
and then something happens and that that
seven year old kills someone or kills themself,

352
00:29:08.039 --> 00:29:11.599
everyone's gonna be like, well,
the parents should have known better,

353
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.240
The parent had to know what was
going on. Blame the parent, right,

354
00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:19.920
and the parent will get blamed.
Well, God knew exactly what was

355
00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:22.839
going to happen. And even if
you said, well, he gave and

356
00:29:22.920 --> 00:29:26.240
he didn't have to give anyone for
you. People always say he had to

357
00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:32.079
do free will. There's nothing requiring
him to give anyone free will. And

358
00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:34.440
even if you believe in an initial
free will, well, obviously, now

359
00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.039
if you if you continue to believe
in some type of libertarian free will,

360
00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:41.039
then you have to be a Pelagian
or a semi pelagiant, because you've got

361
00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:45.960
to deny the effect of depravity upon
the will, so that even that raises

362
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:48.119
all kinds of questions. But God
is still the one knowing exactly what's going

363
00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:52.559
to happen and does nothing to prevent
it or stop it. So even if

364
00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:56.039
you don't want to say he's the
author, you still are stuck with these

365
00:29:56.279 --> 00:30:04.680
very troubling situations. Nor is violence
offered to the will of the creature?

366
00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:07.960
Okay, well, he doesn't have
to offer violence to the will of the

367
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:12.079
creature, especially after the fall.
God doesn't have to do anything because now

368
00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:18.119
the will of the creature is impacted
by the sinful nature. All right.

369
00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:23.119
Nor yet is the liberty or contingency
of second causes taken away? Now the

370
00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:27.079
second cause is kind of a nice
little philosophical way of saying, okay,

371
00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:32.119
you see God's not the one actually
doing it. Second causes is see God

372
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:34.079
didn't do it, Satan did it
well, but God's the one who created

373
00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:37.720
Satan. God knew exactly what was
going to happen. So as much as

374
00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:40.680
you try to get God off the
hook, you really, I know,

375
00:30:40.759 --> 00:30:44.440
we want desperately to get him off
the hook, but they're really at all.

376
00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:48.200
Look, you go far enough back
in the beginning God. Every you

377
00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:55.359
go far enough back God, everything's
going to end. Everything goes back to

378
00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:59.559
the you know, right before God, everything goes right back to God.

379
00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:03.480
Everything is laying at the feet of
God. There's no you can try.

380
00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:07.680
You can spend all you can spend
fifteen years, you can spend thirty years

381
00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:11.839
trying to get God off the hook. You can't. In the beginning.

382
00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:15.079
God he's the one who started it
all, knowing exactly what was going to

383
00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:19.720
happen, and possessing the power to
stop it at any time. And we

384
00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:25.640
know from scripture there's times he does
intervene to stop certain things, and there's

385
00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:37.759
times he doesn't intervene to stop anything. And which appears his wisdom and disposing

386
00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:48.240
all things and power and faithfulness and
accomplishing his decree. So in the midst

387
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.519
of all of this he appeared.
His wisdom appears, and disposing all things.

388
00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:57.480
He disposes all things, and his
faithfulness and accompli accomplishing his decree.

389
00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:04.519
What he decrees, he will accomplish. What he decrees will happen. And

390
00:32:04.640 --> 00:32:17.119
he decrees whatsoever comes to pass,
He decrees it all. Now again,

391
00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:23.440
that's great when we talk about positive
things. See, God from all eternity

392
00:32:23.559 --> 00:32:30.599
decreed that President Trump or the former
president Donald Trump. However, you would

393
00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:36.319
like to say it all right,
that Donald Trump would be speaking at a

394
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:40.839
particular place on a particular Saturday,
and I think Pennsylvania, I think is

395
00:32:40.839 --> 00:32:45.680
where it was at Butler, Pennsylvania, believe, and as someone would shoot

396
00:32:45.720 --> 00:32:50.799
at him, it would just barely
nick his ear, but he would be

397
00:32:50.839 --> 00:32:58.279
spared. He would be saved because
God decreed whatsoever comes to pass. See

398
00:32:58.279 --> 00:33:02.279
that sounds so good. And then
everybody's like amen, and people may applaud

399
00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:07.680
praise God. Let's sing now,
Terry, take your hymnals, and let's

400
00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:14.319
sing a praise song to God's providence, decree his omnipotence. He is our

401
00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:19.720
protector, He's our shield, and
we thank him for protecting and shielding Donald

402
00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:22.559
Trump, and everybody will be amen, and nobody wants to mention Corey,

403
00:33:22.599 --> 00:33:24.759
who, well, God did not
protect, God did not decree to save

404
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:29.359
his life, and he's dead.
We don't want to talk a bit about

405
00:33:29.400 --> 00:33:34.720
the troubling reality of how many children
were molested or abused and all the horrible

406
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:42.200
things that happened on that same very
saturday. See to say, God decrees

407
00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:59.359
whatsoever comes the past, that whatsoever
includes the positive and the negative. Now

408
00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:02.799
we could can tenue on there's paragraph
two, paragraph three, paragraph four,

409
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:07.920
paragraph five, paragraph six, paragraph
seven, And I want you to become

410
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:13.039
an expert in those seven paragraphs.
I want you to read them. I

411
00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:15.880
want you to meditate on them.
I want you to struggle with them.

412
00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:22.199
I want you to think of every
implication, positive and negative. That is

413
00:34:22.199 --> 00:34:24.679
what you're going to be doing for
the next week plus. We are going

414
00:34:24.760 --> 00:34:30.400
to take these things apart and we're
just going to try to struggle with it

415
00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:37.639
as much as we can, and
it's never easy. And then you can

416
00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:39.079
formulate where you fall it. Do
you believe God? And if you say,

417
00:34:39.079 --> 00:34:42.360
well, I don't believe God decreed
everything, okay, well then you've

418
00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:45.719
got things happening apart from God's sovereign
control, like, well, then what

419
00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:49.000
does that mean? And even if
God is not decreeing everything, then God

420
00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:52.159
chose not to decree everything, So
then things are operating according to what just

421
00:34:52.679 --> 00:35:04.519
chance, just luck, just happenstance. Yes, yeah, raises some unpleasant

422
00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:08.199
questions. So but I want you
to spend time on God's decree sixteen eighty

423
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:13.320
nine London Babtist Confession of Faith.
Please, I beg you make it a

424
00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:17.239
priority for the next week. Now
I want to go ahead and read paragraph

425
00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:21.079
two, but we're already thirty five
minutes into this. You know, if

426
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:23.440
I try to read all of this, that's gonna take forever. You will

427
00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:27.840
hear me reading from the London Baptist
Confession of Faith. Over the next week

428
00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:30.440
or so, I will be reading
all the scriptures, provided we'll be talking

429
00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:34.639
about the scriptures. We're going to
be making this a major priority. Since

430
00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:38.159
everyone's talking about God's providence, but
nobody seems to really want to talk about

431
00:35:38.199 --> 00:35:42.639
God's providence. Then that's what we
are going to attempt to do. Now,

432
00:35:42.679 --> 00:35:47.000
if we go to chapter five of
the London Baptist Confession of Faith,

433
00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:51.920
of divine providence, paragraph one,
chapter five, or here we go,

434
00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:54.519
Chapter five, Paragraph one, sixteen
eighty nine, London Baptist Confession of Faith.

435
00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:59.639
And this section is referred to of
divine providence. And I'll read paragraph

436
00:35:59.719 --> 00:36:05.320
one, and it begins like this, God, the Good creator of all

437
00:36:05.400 --> 00:36:10.480
things, in his infinite power and
wisdom, does are you ready? Here's

438
00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:17.440
the thing God does. He upholds, he directs, He disposed, and

439
00:36:17.639 --> 00:36:27.760
govern all creatures and things, not
just creatures, but even things, from

440
00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:35.280
the greatest even to the least,
by His most wise and holy providence,

441
00:36:35.320 --> 00:36:38.519
to the end for which they were
created, according unto his infallible knowledge and

442
00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:44.679
the free and immutable counsel of his
own will, to the praise of the

443
00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:49.199
glory of His wisdom, power,
justice, infinite goodness and mercy. So

444
00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:52.880
God not only does he decree whatsoever
comes to pass, he upholds, he

445
00:36:52.960 --> 00:37:01.079
directs, He disposes, and he
governs every single creature and every single thing.

446
00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:07.519
And listen, he does this to
the end for which they were created.

447
00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:10.199
In other words, he is going
to dispose. God He's going to

448
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:16.159
take care of it all. He's
in control of everything. So do you

449
00:37:16.239 --> 00:37:22.480
believe God from all eternity has decreed
whatsoever comes to pass. And do you

450
00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:31.280
truly believe that God upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures and

451
00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:37.360
things? And if you believe both
of those things, how do you understand

452
00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:45.480
that in light of all of the
horrific, horrible things that have occurred in

453
00:37:45.559 --> 00:37:57.320
life in general and in your own
life. I can't speak for you.

454
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:07.519
I can speak for me all the
abuse I endured as a child, my

455
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:17.320
mother dying while I was young,
my father dying of cancer. I you

456
00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:20.760
know, well, I won't go
through everything that happened to me in the

457
00:38:20.800 --> 00:38:22.920
military, But what happened to me
while I was in the military, and

458
00:38:23.039 --> 00:38:29.039
now being one hundred percent disabled having
neurological and seizures because of what happened to

459
00:38:29.079 --> 00:38:35.480
me in the military, that's just
my own life. My daughter being diagnosed

460
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:45.840
with a horrible disease that she suffers
great pain from every single day. I

461
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:58.239
can continue on whatever circumstance you find
yourself in right now, do you truly

462
00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:02.719
believe that God's when controlling and directing, And if so, how should you

463
00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:12.039
respond now? I think one of
the reasons the Bible has psalms of lament

464
00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:16.440
right is because people as human being
and we've been talking about this in our

465
00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:21.039
study of Psalm Maty three. We
believe in a God in whom we cannot

466
00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:24.000
see, and we believe that God
is sovereign, and that he decrees whatsoever

467
00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:30.159
comes to pass, and that he
governs, directs, upholds, disposes every

468
00:39:30.239 --> 00:39:35.280
creature in everything according to his plan
and his will. We believe all of

469
00:39:35.320 --> 00:39:38.599
that theoretically, We believe all of
that philologically right. But we live in

470
00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:44.000
a world where there are circumstances and
pain and suffering and tragedy, and it

471
00:39:44.079 --> 00:39:46.239
causes and we see that and we
feel that, and that causes us to

472
00:39:46.360 --> 00:39:50.920
question the God in whom we cannot
see. It may cause us to question

473
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:54.599
his existence, his involvement, his
wisdom, his sovereignty. It causes us

474
00:39:54.679 --> 00:39:59.639
to question it greatly. And that's
why we have psalms of lament, where

475
00:39:59.679 --> 00:40:02.960
they scream out and pain. A
psalm of lament is a spiritual cry of

476
00:40:04.039 --> 00:40:07.480
pain, going where are you?
God? I don't understand. Why are

477
00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:14.719
you not doing something? Do something? Do something now? But what we

478
00:40:14.840 --> 00:40:19.199
have to do is in struggle through
what we can see, what we can

479
00:40:19.320 --> 00:40:22.960
feel, to continue to hope and
cling to a God in whom we cannot

480
00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:29.119
see, believing that God in whom
we cannot see, will work all things

481
00:40:29.239 --> 00:40:38.039
ultimately to his glory, his honor, somehow to our spiritual good, even

482
00:40:38.079 --> 00:40:45.039
though we cannot necessarily see it or
understand it. And that doesn't take away

483
00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:50.840
your pain, That doesn't remove the
tragedy you endured. Nobody should throw that

484
00:40:50.920 --> 00:40:52.239
in your face like, oh,
well, that should just make everything better.

485
00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:59.360
No, you're gonna feel the pain
and you're gonna struggle. That's the

486
00:40:59.400 --> 00:41:04.320
reality of being someone who believes in
a God in whom you cannot see.

487
00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:07.719
Because you're gonna believe in a God
and whom you cannot see while enduring things

488
00:41:07.719 --> 00:41:10.000
that you very much can see,
and the things you see greatly calls in

489
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:13.719
a question the God in whom you
cannot see. That is what we've been

490
00:41:13.719 --> 00:41:16.039
talking about in SAW maybe three,
over and over and over and over and

491
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:28.760
over again. These are very difficult
concepts. So here's what I want to

492
00:41:28.760 --> 00:41:34.559
do. First. Well, first
again, I kind of gave you some

493
00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:37.280
some of the definitions just to remind
you, challenge you on your assignment to

494
00:41:37.280 --> 00:41:42.480
be reading the lundin Baptist Confession of
Faith Chapters three and five, over and

495
00:41:42.679 --> 00:41:46.000
over and over again. I'm telling
you. I know you're gonna read it

496
00:41:46.039 --> 00:41:50.559
once and think you're good. I
need you to read it like a hundred

497
00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:54.800
times until it almost enters into your
body and it becomes a part of you.

498
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:58.559
The more you read it, the
more you may see the good.

499
00:41:58.840 --> 00:42:00.880
You may see the beauty, you
may see the horror in it, you

500
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:05.559
may see the light, you may
see the dark. But I want you

501
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:08.440
to be confronted with it and discuss
it, talk about it with your your

502
00:42:08.519 --> 00:42:14.519
husband and friends. Just just make
it a major part of your life over

503
00:42:14.559 --> 00:42:16.400
the next week or so. I
don't know how long we're going to go,

504
00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:21.760
right, So that's the really the
first thing. Next, I want

505
00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:23.920
to point you to a book that
I want you to make a priority to

506
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:32.599
read. And I heard about this
book and the following message. Listen carefully

507
00:42:32.599 --> 00:42:43.119
to what I heard. Please be
seated. We we've been in a study

508
00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:49.679
for the last two weeks of God's
providence. God's providence a good word,

509
00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:54.360
an old fashioned word, one that
expresses this truth that our whole lives are

510
00:42:54.440 --> 00:43:00.719
in His hands and sends many of
you or travel on vacation in and out

511
00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:12.519
in July. I often choose a
book with which to make our study more

512
00:43:13.719 --> 00:43:15.519
rich. I want to try to
choose one of the best books that have

513
00:43:15.599 --> 00:43:20.840
ever been written and use that in
the summers to present to you some of

514
00:43:20.880 --> 00:43:25.000
these ideas. The one that we're
using now is from a Puritan English Puritan

515
00:43:25.119 --> 00:43:36.159
named John Flavel, called The Mystery
of Providence. The John Flavl f L

516
00:43:36.360 --> 00:43:42.599
a v e L. John Flavl
f l a v e L. John

517
00:43:42.639 --> 00:43:46.519
Flavl f l a v e L. John f l a v e L.

518
00:43:46.599 --> 00:43:52.559
John Flavl, a Puritan, and
the name of the book is the

519
00:43:52.599 --> 00:44:01.800
Mystery of Providence, John Flavl,
The Mystery of Providence, The Mystery of

520
00:44:02.199 --> 00:44:07.960
Providence. Now, what I'm going
to do is at the conclusion of this

521
00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:12.199
broadcast, if you have the Church
one app and you're following us Theology Central,

522
00:44:12.199 --> 00:44:15.039
which then makes the Church one app
our app if you if you're download

523
00:44:15.119 --> 00:44:17.519
If you don't have the Church one
app, go to the Apple App Store

524
00:44:17.519 --> 00:44:22.239
the Google Play Store, download the
Church oh n E app that's all run

525
00:44:22.239 --> 00:44:25.360
together Church O n E. Then
search for Theology Central, make us your

526
00:44:25.639 --> 00:44:30.599
chosen you you're broadcaster of choice,
and then I will send out a notice

527
00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:34.440
at some point at the conclusion of
this broadcast, and you'll get a link

528
00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:39.400
to the PDF version of The Mystery
of Providence by John Flavel. Right,

529
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:43.880
you will receive it, and then
you can follow the link, and then

530
00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:46.920
you can save that, and then
you can start reading the book today for

531
00:44:47.039 --> 00:44:52.760
free. Will not cost you any
money. We're not violating any We're not

532
00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:55.639
violating any copyright or anything like that, because I will be sending you a

533
00:44:55.679 --> 00:45:01.960
link to monargism dot com, which
makes available lots of wonderful works. Monegism

534
00:45:01.960 --> 00:45:07.280
dot com should be a site you
visit frequently, and you should utilize it

535
00:45:07.400 --> 00:45:13.000
frequently. All right, So I'm
going to back that up just a little

536
00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:15.679
bit more. See what else he
says here. I want you to hear

537
00:45:15.800 --> 00:45:20.760
him mention it again. And so
this book is going to be a major

538
00:45:20.800 --> 00:45:23.119
part of what we're going to be
looking at over the next week or so.

539
00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:30.760
All right, let me play this
again. Choose a book with which

540
00:45:30.840 --> 00:45:38.280
to make our study more rich.
I want to try to choose one of

541
00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:43.679
the best books that have ever been
written and use that in the summers to

542
00:45:43.679 --> 00:45:45.760
present to you some of these ideas. The one that we're using now is

543
00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:54.360
from a Puritan English Puritan named John
Flavel called the Mystery of Providence the Mystery

544
00:45:54.400 --> 00:45:57.559
of Providence. And if you're going
to be gone for a couple of weeks,

545
00:45:57.760 --> 00:46:00.760
well don't why not pick up a
copy and you'll learn much more from

546
00:46:00.840 --> 00:46:04.840
him than you will from me.
But I will be quoting him some and

547
00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:08.239
just so you know, that's who
John Flavel is, and that's why I'll

548
00:46:08.239 --> 00:46:15.360
be mentioning him. From Psalm fifty
seven comes our study. This a psalm

549
00:46:15.400 --> 00:46:22.000
of David when he fled from Saul
into the cave. We read when it

550
00:46:22.079 --> 00:46:27.159
looked like his life was at an
end. Saul in his army right outside

551
00:46:27.320 --> 00:46:30.880
David's cave where he and his men
were hiding. And then the king himself

552
00:46:31.320 --> 00:46:37.239
comes in in the sight of David, and it looks as though it is

553
00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:42.760
all over. Be merciful to me, Oh God, be merciful to me,

554
00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:46.519
for my soul trusts in you,
and in the shadow of your wings,

555
00:46:47.440 --> 00:46:53.679
I will make my refuge until these
calamities have passed by. I will

556
00:46:53.840 --> 00:47:00.880
cry out to God most High,
to God who performs all all things for

557
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:07.320
me, He shall send from heaven
and save me. He reproaches the one

558
00:47:07.320 --> 00:47:10.320
who would swallow me up. God
shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

559
00:47:12.480 --> 00:47:15.679
My soul is among lions. I
lie among the sons of men who

560
00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:21.159
are set on fire, whose teeth
are spears and arrows, and their tongue

561
00:47:21.800 --> 00:47:27.199
a sharp sword. Be exalted,
Oh God, above the heavens, Let

562
00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:32.199
your glory be above all the earth. We'll stop right there. I was

563
00:47:32.239 --> 00:47:37.480
letting him read a little bit of
Psalm fifty seven, because Psalm fifty seven

564
00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:43.840
to Psalm fifty seven to two,
I will cry out to God most High,

565
00:47:44.199 --> 00:47:49.639
to God who performs all things for
me. That's the key verse for

566
00:47:49.880 --> 00:47:53.079
John Fleabel's book, The Mystery of
Providence. So that's why I wanted you

567
00:47:53.159 --> 00:47:58.199
to hear that. So we're gonna
if you if you want to wait for

568
00:47:58.199 --> 00:48:00.320
me to send out the link,
I'll send out the link. If you

569
00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:02.199
want, you can start looking for
it right now. The Mystery of Providence

570
00:48:02.280 --> 00:48:07.159
by John Flavel. Make that a
priority. So what is your assignment for

571
00:48:07.280 --> 00:48:10.800
the next week or so? Well, your assignment is I guess if we

572
00:48:10.840 --> 00:48:15.679
want to put these in correct numerical
order, number one, you're going to

573
00:48:15.679 --> 00:48:19.320
be grabbing the sermon's two point zero
app over the next week and at least

574
00:48:19.400 --> 00:48:23.119
once a day you're going to find
the most random sermon possible about God's decrees

575
00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:28.199
are God's providence. Right, that's
what you're going to do. Number two.

576
00:48:28.519 --> 00:48:31.320
You're going to be looking at the
London Baptist Confession of Faith on chapter

577
00:48:31.360 --> 00:48:36.320
three and chapter five on God's decrees
and on God's providence, and you're going

578
00:48:36.360 --> 00:48:38.320
to be reading it over and over
and over. Next you're going to start

579
00:48:38.360 --> 00:48:42.960
reading and start working slowly. It's
a Puritan work, so it's going to

580
00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:45.480
be slow and at tedious and at
times frustrating. But try to work through

581
00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:50.320
it slowly, small little sections.
You don't have to read a lot of

582
00:48:50.679 --> 00:48:52.360
the Mystery of Providence. Don't make
it out like a oh, I got

583
00:48:52.400 --> 00:48:55.559
to read it quickly. Just who
cares? Just read a little bit at

584
00:48:55.599 --> 00:48:59.880
a time, just a little two
or three paragraphs and then just stop and

585
00:49:00.239 --> 00:49:04.760
just think about it all right,
right, and then next that's what you

586
00:49:04.800 --> 00:49:07.480
were just hearing right there. That's
from a sermon series, and I'm going

587
00:49:07.519 --> 00:49:12.679
to point you towards this sermon series. The sermon series is called The Mystery

588
00:49:12.800 --> 00:49:17.639
of Providence. The Mystery of Providence. There are three sermons currently in the

589
00:49:17.679 --> 00:49:22.239
series. Sermon number one is called
David's God and Ours Psalm fifty seven to

590
00:49:22.239 --> 00:49:28.239
two, is Providence Real Psalm fifty
seven to two, and My Life in

591
00:49:28.280 --> 00:49:31.960
His Hands Psalm fifty seven to two. This is a series entitled The Mystery

592
00:49:32.039 --> 00:49:42.760
of Providence. This series is brought
to you by Redeemer Church AARP. The

593
00:49:42.800 --> 00:49:50.199
pastor's name is David Vance v a
NCEE. David Vance. So what you

594
00:49:50.239 --> 00:49:52.960
may want to do while you're you
need to be picking random sermons, you

595
00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:57.360
can go ahead and just go ahead
and find this series The Mystery of Providence.

596
00:49:59.280 --> 00:50:01.360
And what I'll do maybe I'll send
a link out to this series,

597
00:50:01.679 --> 00:50:05.880
and I want you to definitely make
this a priority. We will probably be

598
00:50:05.960 --> 00:50:09.039
reviewing some of these, so this
is what I may challenge you to do.

599
00:50:09.280 --> 00:50:13.880
You may want to start following this
series because I won't be able to

600
00:50:13.920 --> 00:50:17.360
review all of them, but we
may review some of them, and so

601
00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:22.039
you'll already hear some of them in
my review and then you can go listen

602
00:50:22.119 --> 00:50:27.159
to the rest whenever you want.
In the meantime, look up other sermons

603
00:50:28.039 --> 00:50:30.960
on God's Providence and God's Decrees.
I think the two have to be they

604
00:50:30.960 --> 00:50:37.400
go hand in hand and my estimation
and my view, so you definitely want

605
00:50:37.679 --> 00:50:42.239
to do that. So do you
need your assignments again? All right?

606
00:50:42.639 --> 00:50:45.840
Are you ready? First and foremost, you're gonna start listening to random sermons

607
00:50:45.159 --> 00:50:50.719
on the sermons two point oh app
on God's Decrees and God's Providence number two.

608
00:50:50.719 --> 00:50:52.199
You're going to be reading the London
Baptist Confession of Faith, chapter three

609
00:50:52.239 --> 00:50:57.400
and chapter five over and over and
over and I cannot even begin to say

610
00:50:57.400 --> 00:51:00.760
it enough, over and over and
over again for the next week plus.

611
00:51:02.159 --> 00:51:07.440
You're gonna find a copy of John
Flabel's book The Mystery of Providence, or

612
00:51:07.480 --> 00:51:08.639
you're gonna wait for me to send
it out, and you're gonna start reading

613
00:51:08.639 --> 00:51:15.239
that slowly, slowly, slowly.
Then you're gonna look up the series on

614
00:51:15.400 --> 00:51:19.079
the Mystery of Providence. You're gonna
at least follow it, save it.

615
00:51:19.119 --> 00:51:22.480
You may want to follow that church. You can, you know, if

616
00:51:22.480 --> 00:51:25.239
you're using the sermon's two point oh
app you can follow them. That's Redeemer

617
00:51:25.400 --> 00:51:30.519
Church. Redeemer Church. I already
follow them. They're located in Virginia,

618
00:51:31.920 --> 00:51:37.559
all right, and you may want
to follow them now. That will give

619
00:51:37.599 --> 00:51:45.000
you a good rounded approach to this
subject, but I kind of want to

620
00:51:45.079 --> 00:51:53.559
do this. I want to end
with this. Typically this subject is approached

621
00:51:57.719 --> 00:52:05.719
and much more of a positive way. Hey, God's providence and God's decree

622
00:52:06.400 --> 00:52:09.199
brings great comfort. And by no
means do I want to deny any comfort

623
00:52:09.239 --> 00:52:15.800
that that may arise from the doctrine
of God's eternal decrees and God's providence.

624
00:52:15.320 --> 00:52:20.519
But I think sometimes because we so
want to turn it and spin it in

625
00:52:20.599 --> 00:52:28.679
such a positive way, that Christians
are not prepared for the obvious difficulties that

626
00:52:28.800 --> 00:52:34.239
arises from these concepts. Now,
in church history, there's been much debate,

627
00:52:34.320 --> 00:52:37.920
and there's been all kinds of theological
ways to try to answer these problems.

628
00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:42.639
I think when you get down to
the end, it doesn't really solve

629
00:52:42.719 --> 00:52:45.599
the problem as much as as everyone
thinks that it does. I think the

630
00:52:45.639 --> 00:52:52.280
problems continue to persist no matter But
I know this, if we believe there's

631
00:52:52.360 --> 00:52:58.559
a God, and if we believe
in God's eternal decrees, and if we

632
00:52:58.639 --> 00:53:05.320
believe in God's providences, then the
struggle will be when we are faced with

633
00:53:05.400 --> 00:53:08.079
when God's providence in God's decrees seem
to be going in a way which we

634
00:53:08.159 --> 00:53:13.639
do not like. In a way
which it seems painful, hurtful, harmful.

635
00:53:14.119 --> 00:53:20.119
Are we going to respond and believing
in God and submitting to it no

636
00:53:20.119 --> 00:53:23.840
matter how much we dislike it?
Are we going to respond by rebelling and

637
00:53:23.920 --> 00:53:28.400
saying, God, I don't care
what you try to do. I'm going

638
00:53:28.480 --> 00:53:32.119
to do things my own way.
Now, in some ways, we do

639
00:53:32.199 --> 00:53:36.840
that every single day because we always
want our way and we do what we

640
00:53:36.880 --> 00:53:43.639
want. That's called, you know, sin, But it's something we are

641
00:53:43.679 --> 00:53:46.360
confronted with, and I think sometimes
nobody wants to look at the ugly side

642
00:53:46.360 --> 00:53:52.280
of this. And what better way
to see this play out? In one

643
00:53:53.320 --> 00:53:59.559
historic moment that will be talked about
for a long time, the assassination attempt

644
00:54:00.760 --> 00:54:07.079
on Donald Trump, Because in that
one incident, one man is spared,

645
00:54:07.280 --> 00:54:13.280
one man is saved. His name
is Donald Trump. The other man by

646
00:54:13.280 --> 00:54:17.360
the name of Corey. He dies. Two other people I don't even know

647
00:54:17.400 --> 00:54:22.280
if I have even seen their names, were wounded. Don't know how severely

648
00:54:22.320 --> 00:54:24.280
they were wounded. I don't think
I've seen an update recently, but they

649
00:54:24.320 --> 00:54:31.920
were wounded obviously. Then the shooter
himself was killed. All of that played

650
00:54:31.960 --> 00:54:38.800
out in one small area, right
within a small confined area. You have

651
00:54:38.840 --> 00:54:43.119
a shooter. God does not do
anything to prevent him, stop him.

652
00:54:43.320 --> 00:54:45.719
He gets access to the area,
God doesn't do anything to stop it.

653
00:54:45.920 --> 00:54:52.400
He allows the man to shoot.
He allows one bullet to just barely nick

654
00:54:52.920 --> 00:54:59.639
Trump's ear, but the other bullets
hit people, and in one of those

655
00:54:59.639 --> 00:55:02.400
individ Jos by the name of Corey
dies and the shooter himself is killed.

656
00:55:04.079 --> 00:55:12.800
All of that playing out and literally
seconds just like that. Now, if

657
00:55:12.800 --> 00:55:15.039
you say God, see, oh, God's providence, God's decree, God's

658
00:55:15.079 --> 00:55:22.719
protection there, you have to also
admit God's lack of protection, God's decree,

659
00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:34.880
God's providence right there. Now,
If you throw out God, then

660
00:55:34.880 --> 00:55:42.800
it's all just random actions of human
beings, and things happen the way they

661
00:55:42.840 --> 00:55:46.880
happen, and there's nothing guiding it. It's just circumstances the way they play

662
00:55:46.920 --> 00:55:51.960
out. There's nothing guiding it,
there's nothing directing it. It just happens.

663
00:55:53.119 --> 00:55:55.639
Now, in some ways, you
may find more comfort from that kind

664
00:55:55.639 --> 00:55:59.880
of an atheistic perspective. The only
problem is, well, then how do

665
00:56:00.079 --> 00:56:02.639
you judge the morality of it?
Then there's no real purpose in life like

666
00:56:02.800 --> 00:56:07.639
then you're left, You're still look, you're still left with the same tragic

667
00:56:07.679 --> 00:56:10.320
situation. One man lives and another
man dies. You're still left with that.

668
00:56:10.519 --> 00:56:13.880
But you can just say, well, that's just how random chance works.

669
00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:16.239
Right, But then there's how do
you judge things? There's no purpose,

670
00:56:16.280 --> 00:56:20.880
there's no meaning. How did we
get here? So we got here

671
00:56:20.920 --> 00:56:24.800
by an accident and a reality we're
just the results of an accident. There's

672
00:56:24.800 --> 00:56:29.239
no meaning, there's no purpose,
there's nothing transcending. Okay, look,

673
00:56:29.280 --> 00:56:32.400
you're still going to be left with
some very troubling situations and issues. But

674
00:56:32.480 --> 00:56:37.760
we can't deny that theism are,
in our case, the belief and the

675
00:56:37.840 --> 00:56:43.400
God of the Bible, not just
Christians. We're still left with many troubling

676
00:56:43.920 --> 00:56:50.960
situations. So for the next week, God's providence and God's decrees, we're

677
00:56:50.960 --> 00:56:55.000
going to put those two together.
I've given you your assignments. Now you

678
00:56:55.239 --> 00:56:59.320
either work to get the most out
of this or you will not. And

679
00:56:59.360 --> 00:57:04.719
I understand, I don't know where
it's going to go. I don't know,

680
00:57:04.800 --> 00:57:07.559
but I know this. If everyone's
talking about it, then what will

681
00:57:07.599 --> 00:57:09.440
be our job here is to dig
into it. And so that's what we're

682
00:57:09.440 --> 00:57:13.039
going to do. All right,
Thanks for listening, everyone, have a

683
00:57:13.039 --> 00:57:19.519
great day. Now, according to
God's eternal decrees and God's providence, I

684
00:57:19.559 --> 00:57:23.199
have to go help my daughter move
and I don't like moving. I don't

685
00:57:23.360 --> 00:57:30.280
like it. But that's God's eternal
decrees and providence, right. See.

686
00:57:30.280 --> 00:57:32.679
It's hard to live your life seeing
everything from that perspective, or at least

687
00:57:32.719 --> 00:57:37.159
it is for me. Sometimes.
Hey, if all of a sudden,

688
00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:39.679
you know, I get an email
and someone's like, hey, I just

689
00:57:39.760 --> 00:57:47.280
donated one hundred thousand dollars to your
podcast and to your church, all your

690
00:57:47.320 --> 00:57:51.239
financial problems, for give it one
hundred thousand. I don't even need one

691
00:57:51.280 --> 00:57:54.159
hundred thousand, twenty thousand, thirty
thousand. I don't know. One hundred

692
00:57:54.159 --> 00:57:57.679
thousand would be perfect. Actually,
one hundred thousand woud fix all problems.

693
00:57:57.679 --> 00:58:00.840
Okay, So I have one hundred
thousand. Then I could turn on the

694
00:58:00.880 --> 00:58:06.000
microphone and say, according to God's
eternal decrees and God's providence and his sovereignty,

695
00:58:06.159 --> 00:58:09.320
he has provided exactly what I need. I needed that to pay off

696
00:58:09.320 --> 00:58:13.639
my house. I need that to
ensure that the church lasts. The podcast

697
00:58:13.679 --> 00:58:16.760
now is saved forever. Everything is
perfect, everything is wonderful, everything is

698
00:58:16.840 --> 00:58:21.280
great. Thank you so very much, I give all praise and glory to

699
00:58:21.320 --> 00:58:25.760
God because in his sovereignty he provided
exactly what I needed, exactly when I

700
00:58:25.800 --> 00:58:29.639
needed it. Yeah, I say, it's easy to say it that way,

701
00:58:30.199 --> 00:58:32.519
but you know, the way things
are going, well, the church

702
00:58:32.599 --> 00:58:36.599
will be gone, and you know, I don't know what the future the

703
00:58:36.599 --> 00:58:39.280
podcast is and how am I going
to financially support things? And you know

704
00:58:39.480 --> 00:58:43.440
how this is going to go.
There's lots of financial there's all kinds of

705
00:58:43.519 --> 00:58:47.039
uncertainty. Don't know how anything's going
to work. There's possibly difficulty, there's

706
00:58:47.239 --> 00:58:52.280
just oh, everything's kind of you
know, a mess. Whether I talk

707
00:58:52.320 --> 00:58:53.800
about it or don't talk about it, there's just all kinds of questions.

708
00:58:55.719 --> 00:59:00.320
Well, guess what if things don't
work out, I have to We also

709
00:59:00.360 --> 00:59:07.920
believe that's God's decree, God's providence. See, when it works out great,

710
00:59:07.000 --> 00:59:10.400
it's so easy to think it's the
most amazing doctrine in the world.

711
00:59:10.599 --> 00:59:15.760
When it doesn't work out great,
when it goes when you get what you

712
00:59:15.840 --> 00:59:24.679
want and you get what you feel
providence and decrees. Amen. When you

713
00:59:24.760 --> 00:59:30.719
don't get what you want and you
don't get what you truly feel you desire,

714
00:59:34.360 --> 00:59:37.880
then you're like God What are you
doing? God? Where are you?

715
00:59:37.000 --> 00:59:47.840
What are you doing? We've got
to be able to embrace both concepts

716
00:59:47.920 --> 00:59:52.360
if we're going to embrace these very
important theological concepts. Thanks for listening everyone,

717
00:59:52.400 --> 00:59:53.559
have a great day. God bless