Episode 5

In God Alone: The King We Worship (North OC)

In this concluding sermon of the 'In God Alone' series, Marcel Hall reflects on the themes discussed in previous sermons and delves into an in-depth study of Psalm 145. He highlights the importance of recognizing God as the true king, exploring the comprehensive and unchanging attributes of God described by King David. Marcel emphasizes the importance of developing an accurate theology through scriptures, relationships, and experiences with God. The sermon encourages believers to praise and trust God wholeheartedly, and offers practical steps to deepen their faith.

00:00 Introduction and Recap of the Series

00:30 Opening Prayer and Reflections

01:27 Exploring the Psalms: Spiritual Playlist

02:25 Psalm 145: A Deep Dive

04:25 David's Praise for God's Character

09:42 The All-Encompassing Nature of God

12:54 Trusting in the God of Psalm 145

20:31 Developing a Proper View of God

29:12 Practical Steps to Strengthen Faith

30:25 Conclusion and Final Reflections

Transcript
Marcel:

We're going to conclude our series that we have in God alone.

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And so to bring everybody up to

speed, the previous messages we talked

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about how, uh, Dallas talked about

how we're in good hands with God.

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Then we talked about how God is our

refuge and our strength and that God

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wants our trust for the generations.

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And then last week we talked

about trusting at all times.

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And today our message we're going

to be talking about is studying

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how looking at the king we worship.

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The king we worship.

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Let's go to God in prayer.

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Father, thank you so much already.

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I feel filled up.

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I feel encouraged and

strengthened in the faith.

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Thank you for the ways in which we've

already been ministered to, to hear

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Jessica and her sharing and being

able to connect and commune with you.

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God to hear Philip share his,

his God story and be able to

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see how you worked in his life.

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And God gives us so much encouragement and

we praise you for the way you worked in

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his life or the way you've worked in all

of our lives in the way you are working.

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And father, I pray right now that

as we dig into your scriptures,

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father, you will speak that you

will minister and father that we can

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walk away with greater and greater.

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I'm going to read the first verse.

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that are firm and steadfast

that will lead us to greater

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faithfulness in the name of Jesus.

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We pray in the name of Jesus, amen.

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Amen.

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Now, we've been walking through some

of the Psalms for our Sermon series.

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And to remind those, or those who are

coming for the first time, uh, the

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Psalms, the Book of Psalms, what we

call the Book of Psalms, are really a,

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a, a collection of poetry and songs.

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And so they serve as a spiritual

playlist, uh, as these were some of

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the songs that the ancients used to

sing out to God when they gathered

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together, just like we gather today.

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And the Psalms really serve,

uh, several purposes for us.

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Uh, help us reveal and, and,

and understand how to have a

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deep, real, and honest, and

transparent relationship with God.

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They also remind us of biblical and

divine truths of who God is and his word.

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And, and they really sure

up our foundation and our

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convictions of who God is.

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And they shape and help us in

our view and our theology of God.

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And so today we're going

to look at Psalm 145.

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And this psalm here is one

of the last five psalms that

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really deal with praising God.

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And in Psalm 145, to give a

little background in history,

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Uh, it was written by King David.

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And so, many of us know

who King David is or was.

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And David, we've all heard

of David and Goliath.

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And so that's the David that wrote this

psalm, and he was a king, he was also

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a shepherd, and he was a warrior, and

he writes, and he's actually written a

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number of these psalms, and he writes

this psalm, and this psalm is an alphabet

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acrostic poem, and so what does that mean?

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It means that in the Hebrew language,

because this was originally written in

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Hebrew, it's translated into English

for us, is that each line in the

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psalm, Begins, or is in consecutive

order of the Hebrew alphabet.

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So if we had a psalm today and

we wrote it, it would start off

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that first line with the letter A.

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And then the next line would be,

see, you guys get what I'm saying.

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And so we can't really capture this

psalm in that essence because we

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don't read it and speak Hebrew Conker.

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He shakes his head, no.

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But, so in order for us to understand, so

that's some of the beauty of this psalm

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that we're about to read, is that each

line, if you were reading a Hebrew, you

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would be reading and going, wow, that

is so creative, that's so incredible,

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as he's walking through each letter of

the Hebrew alphabet, and yet praising

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God, and so, we're gonna read Psalm 145.

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Church, are you with me here?

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Alright, Psalm 145.

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Let me actually start this here.

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Psalm 145.

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We're going to read, not from

the NIV, but from the HCSB.

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That's the Home and

Christian Standard Bible.

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And that's actually become

one of my favorite, uh, uh,

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translations of the Bible.

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It's a thought for thought translation.

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There's some similarities to the NIV,

but it's a really good translation.

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So we're going to go

ahead and read Psalm 145.

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It reads, I exalt you.

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My God, the King.

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Let's stop right there.

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It's interesting.

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We don't really know when

David wrote this psalm.

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Was he a king at this time?

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Was he in the, in, in, in, was he a

servant to King Saul at this time?

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Or was he a little shepherd boy in

which he was thinking about God?

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We don't really know, but we know

David is familiar with kingship.

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Because it, during his life, it was

either Saul or himself as a king.

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But who does he call the real king?

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He says God.

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Now isn't that interesting?

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He says, God, you're the king.

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And so maybe he's the king, but

he wants to acknowledge I'm not

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really the king of all this.

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It's the almighty.

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Who's the king?

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Or maybe Saul's the king.

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He's like, yeah, Saul's the king.

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And we know King David, he served Saul

faithfully, but yet he acknowledges,

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Hey, he might be the king, but

the true king is God almighty.

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Or maybe he's a shepherd boy before he

even gets involved in the king's court.

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And he just recognizes, Hey, God is king.

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What a great perspective.

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Isn't it?

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Acknowledging, realizing who God

is in the grand scheme of things.

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But let's continue reading.

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He says, And praise your

name forever and ever.

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I will praise you every day.

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I will honor your name forever and ever.

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He's starting off with a conviction.

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Here's what I'm going to do.

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I'm going to praise God.

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And as he continues, he says, Yahweh,

and this is God's name and, and

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Yahweh means I am or I will be, and

so he's acknowledging who God is.

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He says, Yahweh is great

and is highly praised.

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His greatness is unsearchable.

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One generation will declare

your works to the next and

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will proclaim your mighty acts.

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He's speaking now to God, not only

what, well, here's what I'm going to

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do, but now God, hey, how great you are.

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The next generation is

going to praise you.

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I will speak of your splendor and

glorious majesty and your wonderful works.

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They will proclaim the power

of your awe inspiring acts, and

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I will declare your greatness.

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They will give a testimony of your

great goodness and will joyfully

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sing of your righteousness.

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Not only me, not only I will praise you,

but God, those that are after me and those

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around me, they will praise you as well.

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Why?

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Why?

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Because God is worthy.

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And we continue.

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He says the Lord is gracious

and compassionate, slow to anger

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and great in faithful love.

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I love that phrasing right there.

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We should always say hallelujah

every time we read that.

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The Lord is gracious and compassionate.

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I don't want them to be un non

gracious and non compassionate.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Mean and cruel.

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He says he's slow to anger.

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Hallelujah for that.

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Cause if God was like me, he'd be quick

to anger and I'd have a serious problem.

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He says he's slow to anger and great

and not only love but in faithful love.

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And so he's rich, he's

abounding in this faithful love.

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For his creation and children.

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He says the Lord is good to everyone.

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His compassion rests on all he has made.

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All you have made will thank you, Lord.

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The godly will praise you.

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They will speak of the glory of your

kingdom and will declare your might.

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Informing all people of your

mighty acts and of the glorious

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splendor of your kingdom.

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Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

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Your rule is for all generations.

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The Lord is faithful in all his words

and gracious in all his actions.

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The Lord helps all who fall.

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He raises up all who are oppressed.

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All eyes look to you and you give

them their food at the proper time.

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You open your hands and satisfy

the desire of every living being.

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The Lord is righteous in all his

ways and gracious in all his acts.

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The Lord is near all who call out to him,

all who call out to him with integrity.

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He fulfills the desires

of those who fear him.

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He hears their cry for

help and saves them.

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The Lord guards all those who love

him, but he destroys all the wicked.

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My mouth would declare Yahweh's praise.

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Let every living thing praise

his holy name forever and ever.

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Amen.

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What a wonderful psalm.

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Psalm 145.

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You know, this is a psalm of praise.

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David praises God for his character.

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He praises God for his

wonderful attributes.

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He praises God for his wonderful deeds.

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He praises God for his glorious

rule upon the earth and David

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acknowledges and recognize and

proclaims that God has been good.

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He's been good to him.

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He's been good to all of creation

and he's good to his chosen people.

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Now, as I was studying this

out, this stood out to me.

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I read this and I thought

this is really cool.

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But there's this Hebrew word, uh, kol.

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And so in the original language, there's

this word kol there, and when it's

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translated, it's translated as all,

or the whole, or every, or everything.

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And so in the Hebrew, this word

kol is actually over 15 to about

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18 times, just in Psalm 145 alone.

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And so as we read this, you can

maybe miss it, or maybe that word

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all kept standing out to you.

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As we read it, but I wanted to take a

second just to appreciate this because

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I thought this was really interesting

and really helpful for you and me.

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He says, I will praise you every day.

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That's again, that's that

work whole right there.

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Oh, the Lord is good to everyone.

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He has compassion.

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His compassion rests on all he has made.

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All you have made.

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Well, thank you, Lord.

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Your rule is for all generations.

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The Lord is faithful in all

his words and gracious in all.

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All his actions.

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The Lord helps all who fall.

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He raises up all who are oppressed.

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All eyes look to you.

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Satisfy the desire of every living thing.

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The Lord is righteous in all his

ways and gracious in all his acts.

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The Lord is near all who call

out to him, all who call out of

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him, out to him with integrity.

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The Lord guards all those who love him.

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But he destroys all the wicked.

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Did you see a theme there?

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There's this theme about all, right?

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And so it's interesting, he

says, look, God does all this.

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He is all this.

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And therefore, how does he end off?

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He says, you know what?

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All living beings should then praise God.

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And so we see this king is king

who knows all, who rules all, who

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is over all and is a king for all

and is a king who's all good, all

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righteous, holy and pure and faithful.

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And so when thinking of God's qualities,

when you think of God's deeds, it

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leads to us being in awe of God.

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It leads to us thanking God,

but it leads to praising God.

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Wow, you are incredible.

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Look at all you have done.

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Let me see, and I can only capture only

some of you, but if I can capture all

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of you, oh my goodness, I'm amazed.

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As we sang earlier,

Lord, I'm amazed by you.

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He blesses all of creation, especially

those who love and fear him.

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And he's helping to see that God, he's

been this and he will always be this.

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This is who he is.

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This is his character.

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This is his nature.

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And these are his everlasting deeds.

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Again, the king is for all

overall, has all power, all

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righteousness and good to all.

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Here's the question.

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Do you believe that God is this?

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Do you believe in the God of Psalm 145?

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Is that your God?

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Be honest with yourself right now.

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Do you believe that that's who

God is and that's what God does?

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That's his character

and those are his deeds.

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Ask yourself, do you believe this?

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If so, then not only is God worthy

of your praise, but then that means

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God is worthy enough to be trusted.

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You get what I'm saying here?

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If God is the God of Psalm 145, then

that means that you and I can do this.

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We can trust in God the King.

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Because if he does all those things and

he is all of those attributes, then you

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and I can put our trust in that God.

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We can trust in him and in him alone.

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Again, if God is all these things

and does all these things, we

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can trust them with our lives.

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That means we can also trust his

word and faithfully follow his word.

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Because he is all those things

and he does all those things.

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His direction for how we should live

can be trusted and followed faithfully.

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If God is the God of Psalm 145, then

that means that you and I, we can

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trust him with our jobs and careers.

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That means that you and I, we

can trust him with our schooling.

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That means that you and I, we

can trust him In marriage, we can

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follow his direction for marriage

and it will lead to something good.

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We can trust him in how we interact,

deal, raise, live in our families.

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When we see his direction for how we

should be as an employee, employer, as

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a family member, a brother, a sister

in Christ, how we should handle our

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finances, we can trust his direction.

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Because if he's all those

things, then he's trustworthy.

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If that's the king that you

worship, then there's good news.

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You could trust that king because

he's all those things and more.

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He does all those things and even more.

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So even when God allows.

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Or sometimes even when God puts you

into some challenging situations, we

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can remain trusting and faithful because

we know he's the God of Psalm 145.

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You guys get what I'm saying here.

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If he's that king, then man, oh

man, we have some great news that

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changes us from within and changes

how we deal with our circumstances.

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Because we know God is

faithful and God will deliver.

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He will provide, He will strengthen,

He will solidify, and He will lead

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us to glory and to His promised land.

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And so this is why it's so

important, brothers and sisters,

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that our theology, meaning our

view of God, that it's accurate.

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It's so important that our

view of God is accurate.

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Because here's the thing, you

won't follow a questionable or

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shaky character, now would you?

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Somebody that you wouldn't necessarily

follow their advice, you wouldn't

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follow because you feel like, Ah, if

I follow that, this might not go well.

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Think of a toothless dentist.

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She said, Oh, okay.

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If your toothless dentist

was like, Hey, let's go ahead

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and let's work on your teeth.

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No, that's okay, brother.

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Why?

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Because you like, man, you got

to get your stuff fixed first.

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You, you, you would be a

little hesitant, wouldn't you?

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Why?

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Because your view of them is like, I

don't think you're really trustworthy.

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I don't know if you're an

expert in this particular area.

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We've all done trust falls or

what they call trust falls, right?

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They call trust falls, right?

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And so let's say, Kenny, Kenny, can

you stand up for a quick second?

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Okay, just stand on up,

Kenny, there you go.

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Alright, Kenny, tall, strong, you

know, good looking brother there.

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There you go.

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Kenny, how tall are you?

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6'4 Okay, there you go,

Kenny, you're 6'4 Here we go.

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Awesome, that's good.

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Alright, Ariana.

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Ariana, can you go ahead?

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Can you stand up for me

here for a quick second?

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Ariana, how old are you?

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Huh?

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13.

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Come on, Ariana, 13.

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How tall are you, Ariana?

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Five feet.

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Now, we were doing a trust fall with Kenny

and Ariana, and she was the fall on, uh,

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uh, you know, she was the go ahead, and

you know, that's a trust fall, right?

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You go ahead, put your arms out.

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Ariana, would you trust

Kenny to, to catch you?

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Yeah, you would, right?

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That'd be awesome, right?

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You'd be like, oh, Kenny got me?

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Yeah.

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Hopefully his back isn't hurting,

but yeah, he got me, right?

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Now, let's say we reversed it.

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Kenny.

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You were to do the trust fall

with five feet, 13 year old

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Ariana, you 6'4 you said?

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Yeah, yeah, he said, yeah.

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Kenny put that bass in there, yeah.

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Now we were to reverse it.

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Kenny, how confident are you?

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Not 100%.

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And that's not a knock on Ariana.

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Because most of y'all said,

I don't know about that.

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Let's not do that one on the stage.

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Anna's like, don't do that one on stage.

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Julie's like, don't do that one on stage.

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We got insurance, but I don't

know if we want to do this.

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It's kind of on TV, you

know what I'm saying?

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You guys can go ahead and sit down.

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Here's the point here.

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You would question why, because

you're like, I don't know

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if I can fully trust you.

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And so his view is, I don't know if you

can carry me and hold me at this strength.

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And if we view God as, I don't

know if you can trust me, you

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can catch me, what would that do?

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We won't trust him.

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We won't lean on him.

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We'll try to take things

into our own matters.

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We'll try to make decisions based on

our thinking, our limited thinking.

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That usually leads to mistakes

and regrets and bad outcomes.

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But when we view God as being,

of course, he can catch me.

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Without a doubt.

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Then what will we do?

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We'll have that trustful.

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We'll lean upon God with our finances,

with our marriage, with our relationships,

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with our jobs, with our schooling, with

our brothers and sisters of Christ.

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We will trust because we know we

view God as what being able to do it.

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And so this is why it's so vital that

our view our theology of God is accurate.

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Because it affects the way you view God.

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It affects the way you respond

to God and it affects your

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choices and your lifestyle.

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So we need to have a proper view

of who God is and what God does.

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Brothers and sisters,

are you with me here?

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And so where or how do we

develop a proper view of God?

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Let's walk through this real quickly.

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Our view of God, we develop it.

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What I've captured here

are three main things.

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Through scripture, through

relationships, and through experience.

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We get the correct view of God through

His word, through our relationships,

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and through our experiences with God.

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Let's break this down real quickly here.

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Romans 10, 17, Consequently,

faith comes through hearing the

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message and the message is heard

through the word about Christ.

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You see, we understand God's character,

his nature, his deeds, his desires,

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his promises through his word.

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That's what we are doing right now.

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We are reading through Psalm 60,

uh, 145 and we are understanding God

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and our theology is being formed.

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Our view of God to an accurate

picture of who God is.

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Now, if we remove the word from

our faith, what kind of view

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of God are we going to have?

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I appreciate Phillip sharing.

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He didn't know the word, so his

view of God was, I don't know if he

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can really do anything in my life.

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But what happened when he was,

started doing those Bible studies?

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His view of God changed.

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He said, I can take steps toward him.

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And now we stand before you

talking about his transformation.

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Because of the scriptures and seeing

God in the narrative as we read from

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Old to New Testament, as we see Jesus

interactions with people, we understand

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God through the way Jesus responds,

the way he reacts, and the way he

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:

initiates in these relationships.

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So our view of God is formed.

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Even if we go in the Old Testament

from Genesis on, we see God again as

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:

the true hero in the story and then we

develop, whoa, this is what God is like.

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So we need the scriptures to

make sure we develop a healthy

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:

and accurate view of God.

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Also our relationships, I like

this Psalm right here, it says,

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come and hear all you who fear God.

399

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Let me tell you what he has done for me.

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There's this picture again.

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Let me, can I just talk

to you for a second?

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Can I just share with you, and

that's what Philip did, didn't he?

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He shared what God has done for his life.

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And what does that do that

helps our view of God as well?

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It's through our relationships.

406

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We can see different facets of God's

character through the eyes of others.

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Through hearing and seeing

how God works in other lives

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helps us understand God more.

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When we see and hear how God

works in others lives, it helps

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:

us understand God and it helps us

develop the proper view of God.

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Our relationships provide us with

tangible experiences of God's character,

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:

making concepts real and personal.

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:

And so as I hear Daniel share about

his view and understanding of God, that

414

:

helps me also gain a proper view of God.

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When I hear Jean share about

how God is working in his life,

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I go, wow, God is like that.

417

:

That's what God does.

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When Koki shares about how God has

been working in her family's life, I

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:

go, wow, that means God is a God who

works in these ways and I can serve

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:

and worship and depend on that God.

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You guys see what I'm saying?

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Our relationships help us

develop a proper view of God.

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Now, remove those relationships.

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How might that affect your view of God?

425

:

I'm inspired by Philip's story.

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If I didn't hear Philip's story,

I might have a little less hope

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:

today in the way God might work in

someone's life or even in my life.

428

:

But because of the relationships, now

my faith and my view is more solidified.

429

:

It's becoming more accurate.

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:

We also develop our view

of God through experience.

431

:

I want to read this passage

is going back to Abraham.

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He was one of the patriarchs in the faith.

433

:

And he has this experience where

he's tested by God with his son.

434

:

And many of us know this

and God just test him.

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But he realizes that God provides.

436

:

And so at the end of this

experience, Abraham says, so

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Abraham called this place.

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The Lord will provide

meaning Yahweh Jireh.

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:

Meaning, Yahweh will provide.

440

:

He says, after this experience,

I came to realize that you

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:

are a God who will provide.

442

:

Now if he didn't have that experience, he

wouldn't be known as the God who provides.

443

:

You see, before that he was God Almighty.

444

:

But after that experience, Abraham

was like, you're the God who provides.

445

:

And so it's through experiences

with God that we develop a greater

446

:

understanding of who God is.

447

:

And so as we go through experiences,

we learn, we understand God more fully.

448

:

I am 100 percent convinced that

God takes care of his servants.

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:

100 percent convinced.

450

:

You can't convince me otherwise.

451

:

Because of my experiences with God.

452

:

Because I've seen God take care of my

family, I've seen God take care of me.

453

:

I go, God you take care of your servants.

454

:

As I've talked with others, I go,

God you take care of your servants.

455

:

I'm convinced that God

vindicates the righteous.

456

:

That he will vindicate the righteous.

457

:

I know it, I've seen it in my life

and I've seen it in other lives.

458

:

I'm convinced, but it's because of those

experiences that I'm convinced of this.

459

:

If I didn't have those experiences,

it might be theory or it might not

460

:

be something that I truly believe.

461

:

And so as we go through experiences

with God, God helps us to see who he is.

462

:

This is why it's so important

that you and I, we remain

463

:

faithful and persevere to the end.

464

:

Whatever the situation, I know it's hard.

465

:

I know it's tough.

466

:

But once you persevere until the moment

you have victory, you'll realize who God

467

:

is in a greater and more intimate way.

468

:

But if you cheat yourself and you

cut yourself short and you quit,

469

:

you'll never see who God really is.

470

:

So this is why we must persevere.

471

:

This is why relationships must

encourage us to persevere so that

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:

we can see God in his totality.

473

:

Brothers and sisters,

are you with me here?

474

:

And so again, our view of God is

developed through the scriptures.

475

:

It's through the relationships

and through our experience.

476

:

And so what should we do in response?

477

:

I believe we should respond the way

David responds at the end of Psalm 145.

478

:

And that's to praise God.

479

:

To reflect on God's character, His

nature, His promises, His mighty deeds.

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:

The mighty deeds He's had in your life.

481

:

The work He's had in other people's lives.

482

:

The God you see throughout the scriptures.

483

:

When you reflect upon that, that

should lead to thanksgiving.

484

:

It should lead to all, but

it should lead to praise.

485

:

Hallelujah.

486

:

That means, praise the Lord, we

should be praising God again.

487

:

Why?

488

:

Because it reminds us of who

God is and what God does.

489

:

It reminds us again of his

character, his nature, and his

490

:

wonderful attributes and deeds.

491

:

As we sang these songs earlier,

you are reminded of the truth

492

:

of who God is and what God does.

493

:

And so this is why we must praise

God on a consistent basis because

494

:

it ministers to our very souls.

495

:

And what does that do?

496

:

It gives us the proper view of God.

497

:

It allows us now to do what?

498

:

To trust God more.

499

:

Which leads to what?

500

:

To faithfulness in our

relationship with God.

501

:

So when we praise Him,

we get the right view.

502

:

Then we start to trust Him.

503

:

And then we make decisions

to follow Him in His ways.

504

:

Which leads to greater faithfulness

in our relationship to and with God.

505

:

So let's get real practical here.

506

:

Brothers and sisters, are

you still with me here?

507

:

I'd like to give some action

steps real quickly here, okay?

508

:

First off here, real simple,

just spend some time praising

509

:

God every day this week.

510

:

Spend some time.

511

:

Go ahead and take a

picture, write it down.

512

:

Spend some time, whether it's a couple

minutes, a whole devotional time, whatever

513

:

the case is, spend some time praising God.

514

:

And let me just share this real quickly.

515

:

There's a difference between

thanking God and praising God.

516

:

Thanking God is thank you for this.

517

:

Praising God is giving God his

flowers, is giving God his props.

518

:

God, you are this, you are, you

are that, you are incredible.

519

:

It's recognizing who God is and

give, and articulating that.

520

:

You guys get what I'm saying?

521

:

And so sometimes we struggle with

this praise because why we're like,

522

:

uh, and this is why it's good for us.

523

:

Because then it expands and gets

our picture of God more accurate.

524

:

And so I want to encourage you, spend

some time just every day this week.

525

:

Maybe put an alarm on your clock or

whatever on your watch or on your

526

:

phone there and just praise God.

527

:

Because again, it leads

to greater faithfulness.

528

:

And then for some, this is

for some, this might just be

529

:

a very small percentage of us.

530

:

I want to encourage you,

consider writing your own psalm.

531

:

We want to trust for the generations.

532

:

We're called to trust at all times.

533

:

And the king we worship

is worthy of our trust.

534

:

We'll close out here

with Psalm 145, verse 17.

535

:

The Lord is righteous in all his

ways and gracious in all his acts.

536

:

The Lord is near all who call out to him,

all who call out to him with integrity.

537

:

He fulfills the desires

of those who fear him.

538

:

He hears the cry for help and saves them.

539

:

The Lord guards all those who love

him, but he destroys all the wicked.

540

:

My mouth would declare Yahweh's praise.

541

:

Let everything praise his

holy name forever and ever.

542

:

Brothers and sisters, may

we trust in God alone.

543

:

Amen.

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