Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] We are a church that does hard things and we do it because without faith, it is impossible to please God.
[00:00:11] God's not looking for people who are looking for the shortcuts and the easy ways. He's looking for people who have the faith to say yes and attempt to do things that only can be done under the power of God.
[00:00:29] Nine years ago, we went. We started a project to provide another ministry for our church.
[00:00:37] A columbarium is a place that you can have ashes interned.
[00:00:43] And we started our columbarium project nine years ago.
[00:00:50] And if you look outside today, you'll see the columbarium setting out there.
[00:00:56] And I want to say a special thank you to some people who just worked and worked and worked and worked to make it happen.
[00:01:04] I want to thank my friend Mike Misiak, I want to thank Marianne Wright, and I want to thank Matt Str.
[00:01:19] They did a remarkable job.
[00:01:24] And it's not done yet, but there'll be real nice pavers around all that because my buddy Lucas Lons is going to put the hardscaping in. It'll be absolutely gorgeous.
[00:01:42] And if you'd like that to be part of your future, you can contact somebody in the office. I'm just not really sure.
[00:01:51] Let's pray.
[00:01:59] Dear Heavenly Father, Jesus taught us nobody knows the Father, if not the Son, nobody knows the Son, if not the Father.
[00:02:16] And out of the riches of your grace, you choose to reveal yourself to us.
[00:02:24] And so we're studying the moral attributes of God so that we can know you more accurately, so that the knowledge of God can change how we think of things and how we engage in life, and that the truth of the scriptures might be fulfilled.
[00:02:52] This is eternal life, that you may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
[00:03:00] And so I pray that your Holy Spirit would do his good work in us today and we would come to know you as the God of steadfast love in Christ's name. Amen.
[00:03:16] In the Bible, there is a progressive revelation that means God didn't say everything at once.
[00:03:30] He started with Genesis and told us some stuff in Genesis. Then he told us some stuff in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Then he told us some stuff in Psalms. He stole us some stuff in the prophets, the Gospels.
[00:03:48] The Bible doesn't dump everything on you all at once.
[00:03:53] It reveals stuff progressively.
[00:03:58] But that's exactly what happened when you were growing up, as a kid.
[00:04:03] When you were in third grade, they didn't tell you everything.
[00:04:06] They told you what a third grader could get right.
[00:04:10] And then in fourth grade, it was a little harder. And then you went to junior high and it was a little harder. Okay, so in the Bible, God wants to make the initial stuff easy and very accessible.
[00:04:30] But in the Bible, God wants to keep pushing every one of us so we don't grow content with a third grade knowledge of God.
[00:04:42] God wants each one of us to allow the Holy Spirit to challenge our thinking, to expand our thinking, to teach us to think better about God.
[00:04:57] And so we grow spiritually. Throughout our whole life, I have shared with you that because God is infinite, you will be learning something new about God for all eternity because his infinite nature is greater than eternity.
[00:05:18] Eternity is less than the infinity of God. So you will be learning something new about God through all eternity.
[00:05:28] So why show up and have to go to summer school in heaven because you didn't put the effort in on earth Church.
[00:05:41] We're going to look today at the truth that God is steadfast love.
[00:05:49] This word, steadfast love is used 246 times in the Old Testament, all right? That means it's important.
[00:06:02] It is a word that is used in connection to God at the very top of the list.
[00:06:11] So in the Old Testament, God said, if you want to think right about God, if you, you, you have to understand that he is a God of steadfast love.
[00:06:22] The Hebrew word is say it with me.
[00:06:29] You got to have that gravelly sound in the back of your throat.
[00:06:33] It makes the word even more cool. All right?
[00:06:38] And we translate it in the. The English Standard Version translates it as steadfast love.
[00:06:46] The King James Version translated it as loving kindness.
[00:06:52] And I studied the word this week in the Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis.
[00:07:00] And it prefers the idea of loyal love.
[00:07:07] The concept is God has a generous disposition toward those he loves.
[00:07:16] God's love toward the people he loves is loyal.
[00:07:21] It's steadfast.
[00:07:23] It doesn't waffle with our behavior.
[00:07:28] Do you get this one more time? The steadfast love of God. God loves us not because we're lovable, but because he's loving.
[00:07:41] I also learned this week that the use of this word is always implied, that it takes a superior soul to have steadfast love for an inferior soul.
[00:07:57] The weak soul is not capable of, of steadfast love.
[00:08:03] Only the strong soul is capable of steadfast love.
[00:08:08] So it turns out in our relationship to God, he has steadfast love for us, but we don't have steadfast love for Him.
[00:08:19] Our love for him, vassals, some days we feel closer to Him. Some days we feel farther away. Some days we feel like we understand him better. Some days we feel like we don't understand him at all.
[00:08:32] Sometimes we just cannot wait for prayer time. And sometimes we have to drag ourselves into prayer. And sometimes we don't even pray at all.
[00:08:43] So steadfast love is a quality that God has for us in spite of our sorry love for Him.
[00:08:54] God is never going to love you the way you love Him. He's always going to love you as the being who is steadfast love.
[00:09:08] There's another aspect of this that I think is important.
[00:09:12] This steadfast love of God ameliorates or limits God's wrath.
[00:09:28] Wrath in human beings can be an ugly thing.
[00:09:31] Wrath in God is not judged by what anger looks like in man.
[00:09:37] God has the right to be angry about some terrible things that are happening in the world church.
[00:09:45] He has the right to be angry about how we have betrayed him, how we haven't lived up to his desires, how we've messed up his good plan.
[00:09:57] But that anger of God is lessened, softened, and made tolerable because of his steadfast love.
[00:10:12] He is never angry without steadfast love.
[00:10:17] His steadfast love always tempers his his anger.
[00:10:22] So we have a God who loves us because he's loving. He loves us with an absolutely loyal love.
[00:10:31] His love doesn't reflect our love for Him.
[00:10:35] His love softens his wrath.
[00:10:42] Now I want to think about, does God have steadfast love or is God's steadfast love? There's a difference.
[00:10:53] There's a difference between having something and being something, right?
[00:11:00] You can have a cold, but that doesn't make you a cold, right?
[00:11:08] On the other hand, if you are something, it can't be separated from you. It's what you always are.
[00:11:17] And so Christian theology is always taught that the perfections of God are attributes without which he would cease to be God.
[00:11:29] What does that mean?
[00:11:30] If God ever stopped having steadfast love, he would stop being God.
[00:11:38] To be without steadfast love is to lose an essential aspect of deity.
[00:11:49] God must be who he is.
[00:11:52] God is unchangeable in his steadfast love.
[00:11:57] Now, I know a lot of you grew up in religion that kind of said God always treats you the way you deserve.
[00:12:05] So if your life is being something's not going well. God's treating you the way you deserve. That is an absolute lie.
[00:12:15] God is a God of steadfast love.
[00:12:19] We're going to study that. God is a God of grace.
[00:12:23] God is a God of mercy, steadfast love. Grace and mercy have nothing to do with what I deserve. They have everything to do with. With what I don't deserve. And God gives to me because he's God.
[00:12:39] Would you open your heart to this?
[00:12:42] I have a friend. I say to him, how are you doing? He goes, better than I deserve. That is a wise answer.
[00:12:48] Every single one of us are doing better than what we deserve because God is a God of unchangeable, steadfast love.
[00:13:01] The steadfast love of the Lord is what inspires us to pray for grace.
[00:13:08] Psalm 86. 3.
[00:13:11] Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day.
[00:13:19] Verse 6.
[00:13:21] Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer. Listen to my plea for grace.
[00:13:27] Because God is a God of steadfast love. We can ask him for grace every single day.
[00:13:35] Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel bad when I say to God, this is the hundredth time I've said to you, I'm sorry about this.
[00:13:48] Anybody?
[00:13:50] Thank God I'm not the last sinner.
[00:13:53] All right.
[00:13:56] I grow weary of saying to God, I need more grace on this again.
[00:14:03] But listen, I don't need to grow weary because the steadfast love of the Lord is the guarantee that he'll be gracious to me.
[00:14:16] I'm talking about praying for grace. And let's talk about the grace of forgiveness. Every single one of us need the grace of forgiveness.
[00:14:25] If you don't believe that, just ask somebody honest around you, and they'll tell you you need the grace of forgiveness.
[00:14:34] All right?
[00:14:37] If we're honest with ourself, we all have to admit to ourselves, I have an internal code that I'm not as good as my internal code tells me I should be.
[00:14:52] My internal code says, you ought to be doing better than this horse, Church.
[00:14:58] All right?
[00:15:01] When I feel that voice, when I hear that voice, I can remember the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. And I can say, dear God, I'm asking you to forgive me not because I deserve it, but because you are the God of steadfast love.
[00:15:21] Not based on who I am do I ask forgiveness. I ask forgiveness based on who you are.
[00:15:28] Are you hearing me, Church?
[00:15:31] There's a second kind of grace that I pray for, and it's the grace of empowerment.
[00:15:41] Empower me today to live up to my full potential.
[00:15:47] Dear God, I don't think I lived up to my full potential yesterday, but I want to do better today.
[00:15:55] And I'm praying for the grace to be the very best that I'm capable of being today, I'm asking for that. Because you are a God of steadfast love.
[00:16:10] Because it is who you are to show me loyal love. It's who you are, not to vacillate based on who I am. And so because you are who you are, I'm asking you to help me be my best self today.
[00:16:30] You see, we're praying for grace.
[00:16:33] And we're praying for grace based on the character of God, not based on what we deserve or don't deserve.
[00:16:43] Ah, but the steadfast love of the Lord also inspires us to pray for joyful souls.
[00:16:50] Verse 4.
[00:16:52] Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
[00:17:00] Do you believe living joyfully is a Christian requirement?
[00:17:06] Do you believe God expects you to live joyfully?
[00:17:09] Or have you set your standard based on what's happening around you? If good things are happening around me, I live joyfully. If I'm angry with somebody, I don't live joyfully. Listen, I think joy is a Christian quality. That God has a basic expectation that we're going to live joyfully.
[00:17:31] Cause it turns out he is a God of joy.
[00:17:34] God enjoys being God.
[00:17:38] God enjoys living the life he lives.
[00:17:41] And he says this to us. The joy of the Lord, your strength.
[00:17:48] You want to live a good Christian life? Do you want to live a remarkable Christian life? Do you want to live a strong Christian life? Then there's got to be some joy in there. Do you hear this?
[00:17:58] And so the steadfast love of the Lord inspires me to pray for the joy of the Lord to be an everyday quality of my life.
[00:18:10] Church.
[00:18:11] Because he is a God of steadfast love. Every day I can say to him, because of who you are, I'm asking you to help me to live joyfully. Today.
[00:18:23] I pray that I will be a breath of fresh air.
[00:18:26] I pray that I will be a spark of light. I pray that when people meet me, they'll be better, they'll leave better after they've been around me than they were before me.
[00:18:37] And I can pray that because God is a God of steadfast love in every single one of these sermons, God is a God of truth and is trustworthy.
[00:18:53] God is good and God is a God of steadfast love. The attributes of God are clustered together. Remember I told you this the very first sermon. Well, here it is again.
[00:19:04] Look at, look at verse five.
[00:19:09] For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
[00:19:18] The character of God is so great.
[00:19:22] The character of God is so magnificent. The character of God is so majestic. That often in the Bible, we. When God's character is talked about, there are multiple characteristic listed because it just doesn't feel like one is enough. It feels like it misrepresents him. And so we have the attribute cluster again in this passage.
[00:19:46] The steadfast love of the Lord inspires us to pray when we're in trouble.
[00:19:50] Verse 6.
[00:19:52] Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer and listen to my plea for grace.
[00:19:58] In the day of my trouble, I call upon you, for you. Answer me.
[00:20:05] Listen to this.
[00:20:08] We all.
[00:20:10] We all struggle with the trials and the troubles of life.
[00:20:14] You're not the only one.
[00:20:17] Fact is, you're in really, really good company.
[00:20:21] If, uh, the people around you were honest, they would all, almost all, say, yeah, I'm dealing with this issue right now, or, I just dealt with this issue, or I see this coming up on the horizon. Trouble.
[00:20:39] Man is born to trouble as sparks fly upward.
[00:20:44] That's a proverb, all right.
[00:20:51] And I hear people say to me, well, if God is good, why is there so much trouble in my life?
[00:20:59] If God is good, why does he let this happen? Why does he let that happen?
[00:21:04] All right, I want to ask this question in a different way.
[00:21:14] Since God is a God of steadfast love, why don't I look at the troubles of my life differently than I have looked at them in the past?
[00:21:28] Church.
[00:21:31] Maybe it's not an issue of the trouble.
[00:21:35] Maybe it's an issue of the way we think about the trouble.
[00:21:40] Instead of saying, if God loved me, why did he let this happen in my life?
[00:21:45] What if I said instead, because God is a God of steadfast love, how is he looking to help me in this trouble?
[00:21:56] Because God is a God of steadfast love, how is he looking to use this trouble to make me more of the person he wants me to be?
[00:22:04] Are you here in this church?
[00:22:06] The issue is not, is God a God of steadfast love that he. If he isn't, we have no God.
[00:22:16] It's absolutely certain he is.
[00:22:18] So if he is the God of steadfast love, what is this trouble about in my life?
[00:22:24] Perhaps it is God's way of calling me to himself, reminding me how much I need Him.
[00:22:33] When I don't have trouble, I get to thinking, I can run this thing on autopilot.
[00:22:39] Church, anyone? I get to thinking I'm on cruise control.
[00:22:44] I'm making stuff happen everywhere.
[00:22:48] Ah, but in Every life there must come some trouble.
[00:22:55] And now I have to think about things differently.
[00:22:59] And this is the moment where I remind myself that God is a God of steadfast love.
[00:23:07] That because he is a God of steadfast love, he's going to meet me in this problem in a way that is meaningful and rich and will glorify his name.
[00:23:18] I start asking different questions about the trouble and questions that assume his steadfast love instead of questions that assume the doubt of his steadfast love.
[00:23:33] Ah.
[00:23:36] In every prayer that you feel needy, connect your need to the God of steadfast love.
[00:23:48] I'll give you some examples.
[00:23:55] You.
[00:23:58] You have a health issue or somebody you love has a health issue and you feel you want to pray that God would help them in this health issue.
[00:24:14] What if you start by connecting the problem to the steadfast love of the Lord?
[00:24:22] Dear God, you are a God of steadfast love.
[00:24:27] And I know that you love me in this problem, in this sickness, in this illness, God, you are a God of steadfast love. And I know that you care about the way I feel today.
[00:24:42] I know you care about the loved one that my heart is breaking for today.
[00:24:48] I know you are a God of steadfast love.
[00:24:52] And I'm praying that in ways beyond how I know what to ask. I'm praying that you show steadfast love in this sickness, in this trouble, in this difficulty. Are you hearing me, Church?
[00:25:07] I begin to confront the illness not by a string of requests telling God what to do.
[00:25:19] I begin to make the request by reminding God, I know who you are.
[00:25:30] I know who you are.
[00:25:33] You are a God of steadfast love.
[00:25:36] This issue doesn't surprise you? This illness doesn't take you off guard.
[00:25:42] This illness doesn't change the way you feel about me.
[00:25:47] And because you are a God of steadfast love, I pray.
[00:25:51] I pray that you would act in this problem as only you can act.
[00:25:59] I know in our church, as I grow older, I become more and more aware.
[00:26:10] We get separated from people we cannot bear to be separated from.
[00:26:16] And one of. One of the. One of the lingering results of that is loneliness.
[00:26:26] And when you feel lonely, you may be inclined to say to God, why did you. Why did. Why did you take my loved one?
[00:26:37] I can't. My life doesn't work anymore without them. All right, that's perfectly human. And God has the heart to sympathize with you. But what if you started here? What if you started here?
[00:26:50] Dear God, I'm bringing my loneliness to you today.
[00:26:59] Because I am certain that you are a God of steadfast love.
[00:27:05] You are a God of steadfast love.
[00:27:08] And you know how to love my soul in this moment of loneliness.
[00:27:16] And so I'm calling upon your steadfast love to do in my lonely soul what only a God of steadfast love can do.
[00:27:27] Can you hear this church?
[00:27:29] I begin with the steadfast love of the Lord.
[00:27:34] That's the starting place.
[00:27:36] And then from the steadfast love of the Lord, I move to the need, I move to the trouble. I move to the sorrow.
[00:27:48] We, we. We contemplate his steadfast love. We make our appeal to his steadfast love. And then we let the steadfast love of the Lord nurture our faith and hope.
[00:28:01] Dear God, you are a God of steadfast love. I know that you have a way of loving me in this difficulty.
[00:28:11] And I believe that as I experience your steadfast love in this, my faith will grow, my hope will grow out of this experience of your steadfast love. I will be a soul of deeper faith and stronger hope. Are you in this church?
[00:28:31] We begin at the steadfast love of the Lord. We appeal to the steadfast love of the Lord. And then we have the expectation that the steadfast love of the Lord nurtures our faith and hope and we actually become better Christian souls in the moment.
[00:28:52] The steadfast love of the Lord is an evidence of his uniqueness.
[00:29:00] Verse 8.
[00:29:02] There is none like you among the gods, O Lord.
[00:29:06] Nor are there any works like yours.
[00:29:12] One of the things that makes the God we worship different than all false deities.
[00:29:19] Some of you can have done classes in comparative religion and, and they're forever telling you that these religions are all the same. Well, here's a big difference.
[00:29:30] In all false religions, these deities require us to appease them in some way.
[00:29:40] All the ancient religions, they had appeasement rituals.
[00:29:46] You were forever worried that the gods were unhappy with you.
[00:29:50] Listen.
[00:29:51] Our God is a God of steadfast love and he appeases himself.
[00:29:59] Do you hear this?
[00:30:01] When God is unhappy with my failure, he doesn't make me appease him.
[00:30:09] He appeases himself. And that makes him unique among all the gods.
[00:30:15] The New Testament word. The New Testament uses the word propitiation. He propitiates, he makes an appeasement for what he doesn't like in our sinful nature. And he does it through Jesus Christ. There is no false deity that is self appeasing.
[00:30:36] You can read the books that you will read. You can study the religions that you will study. But there is no God other than our God who's self appeasing.
[00:30:48] And he's self appeasing because he is a God of steadfast love.
[00:30:54] Remember I told you God's steadfast love has an ameliorating and a limiting role on his wrath because he appeases Himself instead of venting his wrath on us.
[00:31:13] And no other God makes that claim. Only our God. He is unique and alone.
[00:31:21] We worship and glorify God because of his steadfast love. Verse 9. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you and shall glorify your name.
[00:31:34] The Mid CC Midwork is week is doing an awesome sermon series on the chief end of man to love God and to glorify him forever. All right.
[00:31:49] To glorify God and love him forever.
[00:31:52] Enjoy him.
[00:31:55] Hey, I like to get a little help once in a while.
[00:31:58] All right.
[00:32:02] How do I glorify God?
[00:32:06] I did a sermon series on this some years ago. I just want to tell you one one thing and then I'll move on. All right. We glorify God by speaking glowingly of Him.
[00:32:20] Glory is a word about shining.
[00:32:24] Ah.
[00:32:25] We glorify God when we speak glowing words about him.
[00:32:31] You want to glorify God? Tell somebody something about the wonderful steadfast love of the Lord.
[00:32:39] You want to glorify God? Tell somebody. Remember delicious words about the goodness of God. That's how we glorify God. We speak glowingly of who he is and what he does out of the abundance of his steadfast love. The Lord does wondrous things.
[00:33:02] Verse 10. For you are great and you do wondrous things.
[00:33:09] Remember the steadfast love of God in your life and how many wonderful things have happened because of it.
[00:33:19] This psalm has a repentance theme, so I want to stick with it. I want to look at my life and say, how many times have I needed to repent in my life? It's so many, I can't keep track of them. So I'll just say in one week, how many times did I have to repent last week?
[00:33:40] I know. I want to ask a second question.
[00:33:45] Why did I want to repent?
[00:33:50] Why is it that I felt comfortable doing, saying, being something I shouldn't have done, said or been?
[00:34:01] But then something happened in me and I no longer felt comfortable with that and I felt the inclination to repent.
[00:34:12] Where did that come from?
[00:34:14] You think you whipped that up yourself?
[00:34:17] Well, where was it when you were tempted?
[00:34:22] I feel differently when I'M tempted than when I need to be repented, don't you?
[00:34:29] Okay. Why? Because when I'm tempted, I'm feeling me.
[00:34:35] And when I am climbed to repent, I'm feeling the steadfast love of God.
[00:34:44] My steadfast love. God says to me, bro, you are off track.
[00:34:52] Let's get back on track.
[00:34:54] Do you hear this?
[00:34:55] It is the steadfast love of the Lord that does the wonderful and miraculous work that changes me from wanting to swear at people on the road to wanting to say, dear God, I'm sorry for my potty mouth Church.
[00:35:12] The swearing is me, the repenting is God.
[00:35:18] Do you see?
[00:35:20] It is the steadfast love of the Lord that changes my heart and says, you gotta be better than that.
[00:35:29] Reconnect with God.
[00:35:31] Ask for forgiveness. Ask for new strength. Do you see?
[00:35:36] That is a wonderful work of the steadfast love of the Lord.
[00:35:41] The steadfast love of the Lord shapes our spiritual lives. Verse 11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
[00:35:51] Teach me the way of a God who is a God of steadfast love.
[00:35:59] Because I've learned a lot about God that's wrong. And I want to know and I want to think properly.
[00:36:06] I want to know the way of a God who is a God of steadfast love.
[00:36:12] I've heard a lot about the angry God.
[00:36:15] I've heard a lot about the threatening God.
[00:36:19] I've heard a lot about the the other shoe is going to drop God.
[00:36:24] I don't need to hear any more about that God.
[00:36:28] I need to hear about the God who is a God of steadfast love.
[00:36:33] And when I am most in trouble, he is most loving.
[00:36:37] And when I most need forgiveness, he is merciful. And when I'm off track, he is good.
[00:36:45] And when I'm confused, He is truth. I want to know the way of the God of steadfast love.
[00:36:52] Because not only do I want to know his way, I want that way to have a effect on me. I want to be more consistent. I want to be more reliable. I want to be more faithful. I want to be more solid.
[00:37:06] I want to be more predictable for good. Do you hear this, Church?
[00:37:10] So the steadfast love of the Lord is more than idea. It's a way of life.
[00:37:18] And the psalmist said, because God is a God of steadfast love, he lives a life of steadfast love. And that steadfast life love can change the way we live.
[00:37:35] Through steadfast love we learn to respect the Lord more that My heart.
[00:37:40] Unite my heart to fear your name.
[00:37:43] The more and better I know God, the more I respect his name, the more I know about the steadfast love of the Lord, the more I hear myself saying to God, you are altogether wonderful.
[00:37:59] You are magnificent.
[00:38:04] You are majestic beyond my vocabulary.
[00:38:08] Because that's the effect that the character of God has on the human soul.
[00:38:15] Through steadfast love, we grow to be more grateful. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, my God, with my whole heart.
[00:38:23] Through steadfast love, we desire to glorify God's name. And I will glorify your name forever. Through steadfast love, our souls are delivered from the tyranny of death.
[00:38:35] This paragraph ends and says, for great is your steadfast love toward me, you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
[00:38:47] Listen to this.
[00:38:51] He's just.
[00:38:54] He's just immersed us in the effects of the steadfast love of the Lord.
[00:39:02] Then he brings us right here to the end of the paragraph, and he goes, and by the way, that tyrant of death that you fear, that tyrant of death who has bullied mankind from creation, that tyrant of death who has broken your heart, the steadfast love of the Lord is greater than the tyranny of death.
[00:39:29] Because of the steadfast love of the Lord, all those who have put their faith in him will walk triumphantly into the kingdom of God.
[00:39:40] No one gets stuck in Sheol. No one is left behind. The steadfast love of the Lord guarantees a triumph over the ultimate enemy of mankind.
[00:39:57] So there is only one God who is a God of steadfast love. And. And he is our God.
[00:40:06] Our souls were created to change and become better and then to thrive in the loyal love of God.
[00:40:18] Do you get this? Your soul was created to be changed by the steadfast love of the Lord, and then to thrive in that steadfast love.
[00:40:30] The more you are aware of the steadfast love of the Lord, the healthier your soul will be.
[00:40:36] It is a banquet to the human soul to experience the steadfast love of the Lord, our dear Heavenly Father.
[00:40:47] You are great, and there is none like you.
[00:40:56] You are so significant, we struggle to find vocabulary, to talk about you.
[00:41:04] You are so magnificent. It stretches our thinking, pushes the limits of the quality of our thoughts.
[00:41:19] But I pray your Holy Spirit would do what only he can do.
[00:41:22] And I pray that the steadfast love of the Lord would become significant in everybody. Everybody who's here this morning and everyone who's watching online in their soul.
[00:41:33] I pray that it would no longer be a peripheral idea that gets tucked away, but it would be a compelling relationship with you. It is part of our everyday experience of God, and I ask it in Jesus name.
