I know the plans I have in store you whisper in my ear Words of affirmation, things I need to hear. But of all the things you planned for me, I never would have guessed that bringing me right here is what you'd call your best. In this unexpected place A place I did not ask for But one that's filled with grace And here I am In this room I did not know Jesus, you are here. Jesus, you are grace. Jesus, you are with me in this unexpected place. And in this room I learn the truth that blessed are the poor, blessed are the scorned, blessed are those who mourn. And in this room you'll teach me that this time is not in vain. There's purpose for the pain, and beauty's there inside. So here I am, in this unexpected place. A place I did not ask for, but one that's filled with grace and healing. In this room I did not know But Jesus, you are here Jesus, you are grace Jesus, you are with me In this unexpected place ♪ That comes with all diseases ♪ ♪ Jesus waits for us ♪ ♪ In these unexpected places ♪ ♪ Jesus waits for us ♪ ♪ In these unexpected places ♪ If you find yourself in an unexpected place, a place you did not ask for, but, oh friend, there is grace. If you find yourself Jesus is there, Jesus is grace, Jesus is with you in this unexpected place. What a powerful song. Thank you, Molly. Let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to Psalm 68, Psalm number 68. And let's pray together before we try to understand the mind of God here. Heavenly Father, God, thank you for our worship time already this morning. As I've tried to focus and worship on you, or worship you, you have been ministering to my own heart, Lord, through the truth of the songs that we've been singing, the passages that we've looked at already. God, you have me anticipating what you have for us now as we look into your word. I ask your spirit to to guide me, Lord, as I deliver this truth, what my plan was for this truth anyway, and that I would follow your spirit's leading, help all of us, our hearts and our minds, to just allow your spirit to continue to lead us closer to you. In Jesus' name, amen. Many times in the past you see the title there, How to Have an Abundant Life. Doesn't that just sound like a Joel Osteen sermon? Well, that's what I did last week on the beach. I was memorizing this. No, I did not. Many times in the past, before armies would go into war, or political leaders, or the king, general, they're about to do something big, before they address the troops, the talk that they gave the troops was not, well, I hope you all do okay today. Could you imagine Patton giving a speech like that? Well, Patton certainly wouldn't have used this passage yet, we're looking at today. But others have, okay? They wouldn't give, I hope you can do it, I'll be praying for you. No, the purpose of that talk before they go into battle was to encourage. to remind them of what they were fighting for, to motivate, to excite, to empower them with confidence as they go. And our psalm this morning has in fact been used many times in the past for this purpose. I mean, just let's look at the first verse. It says, let God arise. Let his enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate him flee before him. Now go get them, troops. The Bible speaks of our daily lives as a battle. Sometimes we don't see it as a battle because we're kind of like on easy street coasting through. You know, we got a stretch of good things going on right now. Everything good seems to be happening. And sometimes for those that are cynical, okay, you're waiting, you're waiting because you know something bad's gonna happen, right? It's just been going along too good. That was kind of like our trip this last week. We had no travel mishaps. We're like, oh man, no lost luggage, no delays, something's gonna happen on the way home. Well, it didn't. And sometimes we can go through our lives and we're in a battle every day, it seems like. Actually, can I just say this? We are in a battle every day. And if we go through a day not realizing we're in a battle, then we may be lost ground. Because 1 Peter 5.8 says, be sober, be vigilant, your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. And he's not looking for the ones that are standing guard ready for him, he's looking for the ones that aren't paying attention, okay? Ephesians 6, the battle that we are in is not with other people. Many times that's the focus of our battle. The co-worker, the boss, the family member, whatever it is. We are in battle with spiritual enemies. As God points it out to us in Ephesians 6, these enemies that we're in battle with are Satan and his fallen angels. But those sound like God's enemies, don't they? Yes, they are God's enemies. God's enemies are our enemies, folks. Satan attacks God by attacking his people, and Satan attacks God by attacking his people through temptation, difficult circumstances, other people. So when everything is bad happening to us all at once, we're having a bad day, bad week, bad month, whatever it is, Satan is attacking God through us, by attacking his people. But we have to be honest here too, folks, okay? In James chapter one and 14, I'm gonna read this and you'll see what I mean by this. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed. We just can't blame Satan for the stuff that we're battling. Our temptations are not Satan's fault. He just knows our weaknesses. And He comes at us with those. They come, our temptations, we just read it, comes from within us, from our own corrupt human nature. And if I were to stand before you eyeball to eyeball, nose to nose, and call you corrupt, would that rub you the wrong way? You are. And so am I, okay? It's called a sin nature. That means at the core, our default is corrupt. Our own capacity, our own default to things, according to the Bible, things such as moral impurity. We have a default to that. Giving in to our desires. Hatred, strife, discord. I don't like this, I don't like that. Whine, whine, whine, complain, complain. What is that? Whine, whine, whine. Do you want some cheese with that whine? Is that what they say, right? Whine, complain, we don't like this, this isn't right, I don't like that. Whoa, we're losing a battle right there, folks. And we feel justified sometimes in our whining or complaining because this is not right. And we're losing a battle. Right there. We give in to our default, and not just in those areas. How about jealousy, anger, selfishness, division, stealing, greed, substance abuse, verbal abuse, dishonesty, pride, and then there are our weaknesses. Discouragement, anxiety, discontentment, laziness, impatience, unkindness. I mentioned this, I think, last Wednesday night. Unkindness. You know how we as Christians cover up us being unkind to people? We say, hey, I'm just being real with you. Okay, fine, but God says love is kind, love is not rude, okay? We give in to our defaults. How about a lack of discipline? This psalm has been borrowed, as I pointed out at the beginning, for other purposes, but it has actually been given to us, not to generals to motivate their troops. It's been given to us to own, to do. Look what Jesus said in John 10. Verse 10, he says, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Folks, we need to get this through our head. I could probably rattle off a list of things right now and just have a series of preaching on things that I know people will, that will intentionally elicit this response in you. Oh brother, why is he making a big deal out of that? And I can give you a chapter and verse on these things. Man, why is he making a big deal about that? Because God's word says it's wrong. Satan is trying to, what does he say there? Steal, kill, and destroy you and me. And he comes at us through these little things. That's why we're to be sober, be vigilant. Most of us have been on the earth long enough to know that life is hard. And now, I'm starting to feel like my dad. Now I think I'm at the age where I see younger people going through some life lessons as we call them. And those of you that are my age or about my age, and you see this too, you're kind of like, Yeah, they gotta learn too, just like we all did. But you wanna have compassion and all of that, right? Life is hard. Life has the ability to destroy a person, spiritually, physically, emotionally. At the very least, life, as it comes at all of us, keeps us from the abundant life that this psalm addresses. The abundant life that Christ came to give us. These things, whatever they are in our lives, these things, they do take our joy. They take our peace. They take our confidence from us. Sometimes they seem way too strong for us. And we say those words, I can't. Those are the words of defeat. When Satan hears us utter those words, I can't, or we have them in our minds, I can't. He's like, yes, I got him. Satan wins when we say or think that. Because why? Why does he win? Because God's power is greater than all of our sins, right? We sing that. We read that in God's Word. God's power is greater than all our problems. Every single one of them. We can be victorious. John, or 1 John chapter 4 and verse 4, it says, He are of God, little children, and have overcome them Because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. This psalm teaches us how to have that abundant life. Not a life free of troubles, but a life filled with joy and confidence and peace in spite of trouble. I'm gonna take two words here, it's kind of an oxymoron. But I've used them in the last couple of weeks with different folks in our church that have been going through a valley. Only a Christian can experience the loss of a loved one, that new Christ, and they can experience grief and joy at the same time. So in spite of circumstances, we can have a life filled with joy and confidence and peace. So what do we have to do first? You say, sign me up. I want an abundant life, right? Let me interject here that I want to caution all of us. This isn't about us. If we approach this this morning like, okay, I want this, how do I get it? How do I get it? What is our focus on? Me and what I want. We're gonna miss it if that's our focus. You will notice as we go through these steps, we're probably gonna be in this psalm for a couple of weeks, this is all about God. The abundant life, I think, begins and starts when we take our focus off ourself and decide to start focusing on God, our creator, who we are here to represent Him, not my own interests. This is all about God, our creator, our sustainer, okay? So in all these steps, we focus on God. Here's the first step. Are you ready? Pray for God's coming. It is believed that this psalm was written by David on the occasion of bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. And he wrote this psalm. It was a huge time of celebration. David knew, however, as they're bringing this Ark of the Covenant back, celebrating, but he knew they still had enemies. They still needed to be defeated, those enemies. And so he prayed. Now, that right there is us. We have cause to celebrate. Jesus died for our sins. We've been forgiven. We know we're on our way to heaven. He's blessed us with things, answers to prayers, but we still have enemies. Look in the mirror. There's one. And that enemy still needs to be defeated, okay? So he prayed, Psalm 68, verse 1, let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. So we pray that God will subdue those who oppose him. This is a great chapter to remember as we get closer to November. Without getting political, I'll just throw that out there. Pray that God would subdue those that oppose him. Not just subdue, but completely conquer them. We can pray that. Psalm 68, 3, it says, but let the righteous be glad, let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Okay, do we see that in an election cycle? Christians rejoicing? No, we don't. Why? Maybe we've taken our eyes off of God. The day after the election, it didn't turn out the way we thought it should have. There's no rejoicing because taking our focus off of God again. So we pray that God will make the righteous victorious. And that may not happen in this election cycle, I'm just speaking politically, but we can apply that in every aspect of life. The righteous. Who are the righteous, by the way? If that's you, raise your hand this morning. No one's raising your hand. You know something's up with that, right? You're a little hesitant. Oh, man, I don't know about that. Let me define this and maybe it'll be a goal for us. The righteous, those that put their trust in God in this context. Those, the righteous are those that through their behavior, and their lifestyle outside of church represent God on earth. It's not perfect people, but those that represent God through their lifestyle, the behavior, they put their trust in God, the righteous are the ones that seek to do God's work, not sprinkle God in their life, but seek to actually do God's work. An amazing promise here that God fights on behalf of the righteous. Not everyone that comes to church, but God does fight on behalf of the righteous, Next thing we pray for, let's look at verse four. It says, sing unto God, sing praises to his name, extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name, Yah, and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in his holy habitation. God setteth the solitary and families. He bringeth out those which are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. So we pray. that everyone will praise his name. Just praise God. You're in a bad season, praise his name. You're in a bad situation, a job situation, it's not how you want it to be, wah, wah, wah. You're not praising his name, are we? This should have been done this way, wah, wah, wah. We're not praising his name. Let's think about this concept in terms of the election cycle, because that's what's coming. Well, not coming, we're in it. A candidate runs for office, okay? We understand that. The plan, and so they plan their campaign. Their goal with their campaign is that everyone will praise their name, okay? so to speak. Well, the candidate needs to give them something to praise them about, right? God does this here in this psalm. He gives us everything to praise him for so that we can praise his name. He talks about his majesty. He is our Lord, the one who makes and keeps his covenants. That's my God. God watches over his people in this psalm. He is a defender. He is an advocate of those that are cast out. We read this. Those that are suffering injustice. He steps in and he, I love this, because this fits my personality. This God, he executes justice. Don't you love that? Things that aren't right, that aren't fair. God will execute justice. Yes, there are a lot of unfair things in the world. And do you know why? Because everyone is corrupt. So of course there's going to be unfair things. There's a lot of challenges in this world. Sometimes God orchestrates them to help us to grow. There are a lot of times when it seems like life is just piling on us. Take heart, because God will execute justice. Now, let's not miss the application of this to us, okay? Every day we go into a world, when we leave our homes, sometimes it starts in our homes. that is against us, or our flesh is against us. Folks, some of you, well, none of you because y'all are like perfect and righteous and love your pastor. In a past pastorate, okay? Sometimes people have been a real challenge to me. I have been my biggest enemy. Every day. And you are your biggest enemy. We are against us. The devil is against us. What does that mean? We need God to go before us. We absolutely need it. Why? Because, let's be honest, We will face temptations. We will face challenges. We will face dangers because Satan is seeking to kill, steal, and destroy us. God, we need God going before us. One illustration from Puerto Rico, because it fits in here. At the end of our work, when we got it all done, mission accomplished, We feel it's important that we also have some relaxation time, some time to bond, experience the culture. So we took this, we chartered this nighttime kayaking trip. I've never gone kayaking at night. Ooh, it was amazing. You know when it started? We got in the boats at 8.30. We waded out into this bay, got into these kayaks at 8.30 in this tropical region, and then there was a tour guide that led us through this channel And on either side, there was these huge mangrove trees that were growing over, creating a canopy over it. And it was all dark. We had glow sticks on the front and back of our kayaks so we could see the person in front of us. And the only instruction was, follow the glow stick in front of you, OK? And so we're weaving our way, twisting and turning through this darkness, this water. And they told us before we left, they said, if you have a light, don't turn it on, because this is a natural habitat area. And there's people, not people, there are things that live there. And they said this, you don't want to wake them up. And they also said, no screaming. I said, OK, I'm good. Yep, we'll just go quietly through this jungle, okay, in total darkness. And the guide was leading us. We would have been clueless without him. We needed him to lead us. Because I'd never been through that channel before. We actually did it the next night, too. We did it twice. I still wouldn't try it again by myself. Because the guide knows every twist and turn and where the branches and vines are hanging down from the tree and he would tell us go to the left, stay to the right, whatever. I still wouldn't try it, but the guide knows. The guide knows. He needed to go before us. That's how it is with God. This, you know, because God is not restricted by time, so whatever's going to happen tomorrow, God's already there waiting for you, okay? And what's going to happen today, God is with us, going through it with us. We've got to keep the guide in front of us. We can't ignore him. There were people in the flotilla of kayaks that didn't stay in a single file line. And sometimes they got twisted up and stuck in things on the side of the channel that we weren't supposed to be in. Okay. And got a little chaotic at different times. Because they weren't following the guide. They were doing their own thing. The guide leads us through. It's still dark. There were still things that we didn't want to wake up that were sleeping. There were still things sticking out of the water and hanging down from the trees. I was so hoping, this is my sick sense of humor, I was so hoping that like a sleeping snake would lose his balance and fall from the tree and land in someone's kayak and all the screaming would erupt. Wouldn't that have been cool? I thought it would have been, but it didn't happen. All of that was still there, okay? And we still have all of that in life. Psalm 23, 4. I want to take us back to that again. We've been here several times in the last couple of months. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. You know, we all experience fear. That's kind of extreme for us good Christians. Anxiety, well that might be a little extreme too. Stress, it's all coming from the same root. We're not trusting our guide. We're not following him. And then look at this, Psalm 32.8, God is saying, I will instruct you. and teach you in the way that thou shalt go. I will guide you with mine eye." The kayak guide instructed us. He would call out low-hanging branches, stay to the right, go to the left, and everyone was supposed to pass that on back down the line of kayaks. He told us every single step. It didn't always happen because someone didn't pass the message back. and then someone else's head would get wrapped up in some hanging vines or something like that. It is so important that we just follow the guide. Jesus, God tells us, I will instruct you. I will teach you the way. Just follow me. He has given us everything we need to go through these times, whatever your time is that you're going through. If we follow him, He'll make us victorious. That's His promise in His Word. Look at this passage in Ephesians 6. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. It won't be on the screen, so you just have to listen. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. But we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God." Here it is again, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And at the end it says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for all the saints. We cannot go to sleep. We cannot coast. We have to pray and watch with all perseverance. So we pray. Our second step is this. Remember that God marches out before his people and he guides them. We'll just kind of slide right into that. In Psalm 68 verse 7, O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, Thela, David is referencing some of their history. He's reminding them, here's what God's done for us. He says this, when you did that, the earth shook. The heavens dropped at the presence of God. Even Sinai, Mount Sinai, back in the day of Moses. Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. When God came down on Mount Sinai, I don't know if you're familiar with that part of Exodus. Do you remember what the mountain did when God came down on it? It shook. The whole mountain shook. God wasn't like shaking it with his hands. God's presence came down, and the mountain responded by quaking. Kings of armies did flee apace. She that carried at home divided the spoil. Though ye have line among the pots, ye shall be as the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, It was white as snow in salmon. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan, and high hill as the hill of Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in. Yea, the Lord will dwell in it forever. The chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. So as the ark is being brought back, David seems to be remembering their history the way it used to be. Back in the good old days Have you ever done that before? Remember what it used to be like all that means is you're getting old when you start thinking that way David's remembering that. He's remembering the plan that God had for the seed of Abraham, the promise that God made to the seed of Abraham. He's remembering the exodus from Egypt in this passage. He's remembering the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey and blessing and how God marched ahead of them as they went into the promised land. As the Hebrews accompanied the ark, to Jerusalem, bringing it back in. David looked back on all of Israel's glorious history. God had a wonderful plan for the seed of Abraham. He has a wonderful plan for us. God had a wonderful plan for that seed of Abraham to bring them out of the bondage of Egypt into their own land, a bountiful region where they would dwell, with his blessings on them, and in order to assure that they reached their destiny, God personally marched before them. I'm gonna take them to this spot, because that's my plan. It was a long journey for the Israelites, wasn't it? Do you remember how long it took them to get to the Promised Land, 40 years? they wandered in the wilderness, and He guided them each step of the way. even in their wilderness wanderings, which was referenced back there in verses seven and nine. Oh God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, okay? Verse eight, the earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God, even Sinai itself was moved. There's a reference there to that time in the wilderness at Mount Sinai. God himself guided the Israelites out of Egypt, Through their wilderness wanderings, the Lord was leading them with the pillar of cloud by day, that pillar of fire at night, leading them every step of the way. Look at Deuteronomy 1 in verse 33. It says, who went in the way before you to search you out of place, to pitch your tents. in fire by night to show you by what way you should go, and in a cloud by day." There's the guide. We follow the guide like they did. Now, even through their 40-year delay, they should have been in the promised land 40 years prior to when they actually went in. Their 40-year delay in the wilderness was God's discipline on them for their faithlessness. their lack of faith. They didn't trust Him. Now, when we don't trust God, what does that look like? Well, we do our own thing. We worry. We stress. We get all full of anxiety. We fear. We don't wait on God. We do what we think is right in our own eyes. We just mess. We whine. We complain. Oh, wait, that's what they did. Oh, there's no water. We're going to die of thirst. There's no food. It was better for us to stay as slaves in Egypt. I should have never come this way. This isn't the way we used to have it back in Egypt. That's what happens when we have no faith. That's what the Israelites did. They spent 40 years in the wilderness because of their lack of faith. And did you notice what God did or didn't do? didn't give up on them. He never, 40 years, and even in the wilderness, they kept whining and complaining. He never gave up on them. Their season of suffering that they went through, Their season of life that was happening to them was 40 years long, people. It lasted 40 years as a result of their own unfaithfulness, and yet he was with them each step of the long journey, protecting them, providing for them, not removing the circumstances. He was with them even when they were rebellious against him. It's kind of a comforting thought, isn't it? When we apply it to ourselves. In verse 8, David reminds them of another mountain from their past, Sinai. When the glory of God came down on that mountain, the whole mountain shook, it quaked. God provided for them despite them. Every step of the way. When they were thirsty, what did God do? gave them something to drink. When they were hungry, what did God do? Gave them something to eat, okay? And this psalm references the truth that God graciously provides for us. But notice something here. When did God provide the water? Only after they had been thirsty for some time. When did he provide the food? Only after they had been hungry. I don't know about you, but I don't like being hungry. And I don't like it when some of you are hungry because you get hangry, okay? I don't like being thirsty. That time when we're thirsty, it's not pleasant. Thankfully, it's only a short time. God allowed them to experience thirst and hunger And then he provided for them. Keep that thought in front of us when things in our day isn't exactly the way we want it. Little inconveniences. There's a little, metaphorically speaking, we got a little thirst in our life today because of my coworker or this or that. God allowed them to experience that. And then he provided what they needed. So, first, God will guide us. We're not going through life trying to figure this out on our own. Well, some might be doing what is right to them, what feels right. Some people just get completely lost in this life. And how sad. And I'm talking about us as Christians. All of that happens to us. Psalm 37 and verse 23, it says, the steps of a good man are ordered, planned by the Lord, and he delighteth. A good man delights in the plan that God has for him. So the steps of a good man, before we go on to the next verse, the steps of a good man, it doesn't say the good steps of a good man, it just says the steps are planned by God. Some steps are not pleasant. But a good man delights in what God has planned for him. The good, the bad, the ugly, the minor inconveniences, the things we don't like and don't think is fair. God planned them, so I'm gonna delight in these. Verse 24, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Did you hear that in that last verse? The good man, okay, that we talked about in verse 23. This is like, who is really like this? The good man delights in all the steps that God has planned for his life, the good, bad, ugly, and the inconveniences. The good man delights in that? Who does that? But then look at verse 24, when that person falls, when he falls, a good man falls? Yes. But what does he do when he falls? Well, what do some of us do? Or what do other Christians do when they fall? Oh, I've fallen. I've failed. No. Come on, man. He gets back up. That's what a good man does. Yes, you failed. Get over it. Get up. And did you see here in this verse? Verse 24, can we have that back up? Though he fall, he shall not be cast down, and God helps him up. Wow, what a beautiful picture right there. Can I point out something here now? I wanna take this out of Psalms, and I'm just being real, folks, okay? I'll try to do so with love and kindness and not be rude. It says the Lord helps him up. Sometimes God uses us to do His work. His work of helping people up, He uses us to do that. That means instead of us Thank you for leaving that verse up there. Instead of us, look at that. Utterly, utterly casting this person down, throwing him out the door with the trash because they fell, they've stumbled. Folks, when someone trips in front of you, what do you do? Don't say laugh. This would not be the time to say that. You help them, right? Someone stumbled. We can all stumble. We all do stumble in physical life and spiritually. And so we help them up, because God's using us to do His work. But secondly, God will provide everything that we need. God did this for Israel, folks, and there is our example to put our trust in. In the New Testament, he's promised to supply all of our needs. We like that. We're told not to worry. Don't worry. Instead, okay, here's our part. Yes, there is an our part in this. We just can't expect God to give us stuff. And sometimes as Christians we read the promises of God. God promises this and I get this and that and this and that. We have an our part in activating these blessings from God. We just can't expect him to give us stuff and make my life better. That sounds kind of spoiled, doesn't it? God said this, seek my kingdom, Matthew 6. Seek my kingdom. You, seek God's kingdom. Seek his righteousness, not your version of it. He says, seek me and he will meet our needs. Thirdly, God will fulfill his purpose for our lives. Yes, and I love this, he has a purpose. He has a purpose for your life. So it makes it hard to work with someone, a family that is experiencing the loss of a loved one that was self-inflicted. Someone who, no hope, thought they had no purpose for even existing. There's a reason that you were born. You were not a mistake. God had a reason for you, for Him putting you on this earth. He had a reason for that. And God will fulfill His purpose for our lives. He went ahead of the children of Israel until He established them in the promised land of Canaan. Now, that land is a picture of heaven for us. God has promised to complete the work which He began in us, Philippians 1.6. He started it. He's going to finish it. And he's promised in Romans 8, 28 that he's always going to work out everything in our lives for good. Let's look at that passage. We know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Here's how. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, pre-plan, to be conformed to the image of his son. That's the work that he has begun in you when you accepted Christ. He says, okay, it's time to make you righteous. And we're gonna start this right now. To be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Folks, we are kept by God's power and he will protect and preserve us until that time when we reach heaven. Here's our fourth thing to consider, God will lead us to victory over our enemies. Because greater is he that's in me and he that's in the world. And then we can't forget this, God is always with us. He dwells in us by the Holy Spirit. God, in the Old Testament, he chose Zion, okay? Zion as his sanctuary, so to speak. Now, in this New Testament era, after Christ died and rose again and sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, he chooses to reside in us. In the Old Testament, the Jews had to go to the temple to be near God. Today, God's in us. Romans chapter 8 and verse 9, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of this. We have the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit in us. And he has planned each step through that dark channel that's covered with mangrove trees and things you don't want to wake up. He's leading us. We just have to choose to trust and follow. Matthew 28, verse 20, Christ said, He will be with us always. Doesn't take a break. So we can be sure of His presence, His guidance, and His power at all times. That's the beginning steps. to an abundant life right there. Probably good that we don't do it all at once, it'd be too much. Let's just start with this, this week. Let's pray. Father, thank you God for what we've looked at here today. Your plan is to not have us just struggle through this earth till we get to heaven and then we experience everything all at once. God, you have come that we might have life more abundantly even right now on this earth. Like we experience a taste of it when a loved one dies that is in heaven and we experience grief and joy at the same time. Lord, that's because of you and yet every aspect of our life, The potential of abundant living in spite of all of that God, please help us with this Maybe maybe there are some ways where you haven't been trusting and following you as our guide God today is the day to to to get rid of that Choose to follow you to pray God as we spoke earlier help us to Well, make that choice now, in Jesus' name, amen.