Video Transcript: Trust in the Providence of God

We're back with the mini course how to develop a great attitude. So the first  principle of a biblically understood great attitude, aside from the truth of the  gospel, the resurrection, a new relationship now, so now we're, we were  assuming that that is like core. So if you do not have a relationship with Jesus  Christ, seek one, receive one, receive the gospel, a morality will not do it. A  Christian worldview alone will not do it. It is a changed heart. That does it. But  they're still after a changed heart. Now it's about sanctification. So it's about  developing a great attitude. So in that, stepping, in that walk of developing a  great attitude, the first thing is to cultivate a trust in the providence of God. Jesus said, on the Sermon on the Mount, Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow  or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them, are you  not much more valuable than they? So there it is, you are more valuable than  the birds of the air. That's how you know Jesus uses us to basically teach one of the most important points and that's this God is for you. God has a plan for your  life, there is a bigger plan than we can even imagine. God upholds this universe, this multiverse as I like to put it heaven and earth. God is at the center of the  whole reality. And he has a calling. He has a plan. Not a hair can fall from your  head, without the will of your Father in heaven. So let's talk about the doctrine of Providence. So this comes out of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. And  interestingly enough, it's accurate in terms of the classical Christian doctrine of  Providence. God is the Creator of heaven and earth. And all that occurs in the  universe takes place under divine providence, that is under God's sovereign  guidance and control. According to believers, God governs creation as a loving  father, working all things for good. All things for good. Romans 8, he works all  things for good for those who love him. So he's a loving father. Here's Acts  17:24-28, the God who made everything, I'm sorry, the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples  built by hands. He is not served by human hands, as if he knew anything  because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth. And  He determined notice that Providence in there that time set for them in the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and  perhaps reach out and find him. Reach out for Him and find Him, though He is  not far from each of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being as one  of your own poets have said, we are His offspring. Providence is a theological  Christian understanding that God as the Creator and Sustainer and upholder of  the universe, multiverse. Multiverse means the different dimensions there's  heaven there's Earth. It' just not universe that that is a enlightenment term. Uni  is one. Verse is reality, one verse so we use universe, but Christianity always  understands the world as multiverse. Jesus said to the thief on the cross today  you will be with Me in Paradise, another dimension paradise Heaven Earth. But  anyway, I don't want to get caught up in that. But we believe that God upholds it 

all. As in that your birth was with purpose. Let's look at that. Just to make it  personal, I was born, given breath. I was born into my family and my nation from one man. That's what we read in the book of Acts, why? God did this so that  men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find Him, though He  was, is not far from each one of us, For in Him we live and move and have our  being, as some of your own poets have said, we are His offspring. So you were  born, you were born into your family, your situation, so that we would reach out  to him. Now, we each have a different situation. Some of us have been born in  great poverty, Others, not so much. Some of us have been given different  burdens. Now, somebody may say, oh, here comes this toxic provodence, toxic  providence where? Well, it's just what the Lord determines your lot in life. Well,  it's true, each of us. And we don't know why each of us had been born into a  different situation. I remember when I was in my teens, I met this gal named  Jody. And she was a very close friend of my wife at that time and, and we  weren't dating or courting at that time. But Jody worked with the photo club and  the school yearbook and one of the most positive person. But Jody had  muscular dystrophy. Jody actually lived to about age 20. But anyone that was  around her, knew about her acceptance of her lot in life, in her utter dependence on Jesus Christ. And when you look at Jody, all you can think about is smiling,  because her situation was her situation, but she reached out for him who brings  resurrection, she reached out to God who forgives sins. So each of us have our  different situations in life, and we reach out to God. A few more things. Our times are in his hand. Proverbs 31:15, my times are in your hands Deliver me from my enemies, and from those who pursue me. There is a great attitude brewing  when someone knows that they do not control all reality, but God does. And that  our times our very days are in God's hands. Professor Elzinga, one of the  professors here at Christian Leaders Ministries, talks about one of his favorite  passages in the Bible. And he says it's from Acts 13:36, when David had served  God's purpose, in his own generation, he fell asleep and was buried with his  father's and his bones decayed. I often think, why is that Professor Elzinga, one  of his favorite passages is because it really talks about how things are that each  of us have a purpose. And when our purpose is done, our time on Earth is done. Our times truly are in God's hands. So to have a great attitude is about is about  knowing that you have a purpose. And your purpose will continue until your last  breath. So develop a great attitude is trusting that God our Father, treats us as  our Heavenly Father, a father greater than any earthly father could ever be. And  we can trust our Heavenly Father, because he's got it. He's got a purpose, for us purpose for our lives. That we can not only live in the fullness of Jesus Christ  and the gospel, but we can share in ministry, the joy of a great attitude, born in  trusting our God and Savior.