WEBVTT 00:04.839 --> 00:08.823 [SPEAKER_00]: As we have learned this week, our God is fully trustworthy. 00:09.883 --> 00:15.008 [SPEAKER_00]: Placing our trust in His hands is the wisest thing we could ever do. 00:16.289 --> 00:25.277 [SPEAKER_00]: As we finish up our week on trust today, we'll explore how trust plays a role in our sanctification and maturing as believers. 00:26.631 --> 00:34.558 [SPEAKER_00]: As we commit to walk with and trust the Lord, may He bring forth a harvest of righteousness in our lives. 00:35.639 --> 00:37.941 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the first 15 podcast. 01:04.928 --> 01:10.693 [SPEAKER_00]: Our Scripture for today comes from Psalm 37, verses 5 and 6. 01:11.954 --> 01:19.561 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says, commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He will act. 01:20.782 --> 01:27.228 [SPEAKER_00]: He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the new day. 01:31.090 --> 01:36.153 [SPEAKER_00]: sanctification and holiness are words that used to strike terror in my heart. 01:37.394 --> 01:43.218 [SPEAKER_00]: As a believer, I've always tried to pursue holiness and I always seem to fail. 01:44.672 --> 01:53.314 [SPEAKER_00]: It seems like no matter what I do, I can't escape sin and can't get past my own brokenness and mess. 01:54.775 --> 02:04.597 [SPEAKER_00]: Even in seasons where I am experiencing freedom from some sins, there always seems to be something else I need to fix or get better at. 02:06.002 --> 02:16.090 [SPEAKER_00]: I felt like I was on this endless tightrope of spiritual development that I kept falling off of and of which I couldn't seem to find the end. 02:18.592 --> 02:28.360 [SPEAKER_00]: While God's heart is most definitely for our sanctification and holiness, his perspective is far different than what I just described. 02:29.541 --> 02:34.866 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, God knows that sanctification doesn't come about through our efforts. 02:36.366 --> 02:43.633 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't in no way sanctify myself because in and of myself I have no holiness. 02:45.434 --> 02:55.323 [SPEAKER_00]: The truth God has for us today is simply this, sanctification comes about by true relationship with our Heavenly Father alone. 02:57.056 --> 03:07.666 [SPEAKER_00]: holiness is the direct result of openly and continually encountering the nature of a perfect loving and available God. 03:09.798 --> 03:19.425 [SPEAKER_00]: If we are going to experience the fruit of righteousness, we must learn to trust God in His plan for our sanctification. 03:20.426 --> 03:31.554 [SPEAKER_00]: We must learn to trust that in countering Him, we will experience freedom from our sin and healing for the wounds that drive us to the things of the world. 03:33.907 --> 03:43.633 [SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 37 verses 5 and 6 says, commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He will act. 03:44.914 --> 03:51.538 [SPEAKER_00]: He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the new day. 03:54.316 --> 04:09.044 [SPEAKER_00]: When we trust God, to bring about our righteousness, by simply committing our way to Him and trusting in Him, we engage in a process of sanctification founded on encounters with His loving grace. 04:09.064 --> 04:19.189 [SPEAKER_00]: S sanctification is not meant to be this heavy process of turmoil and striving that we so often experience. 04:20.840 --> 04:29.502 [SPEAKER_00]: While it may be difficult, it is designed to be filled with the continually forgiving and loving heart of our good Father. 04:30.843 --> 04:36.804 [SPEAKER_00]: It is designed to be based on experiencing Jesus that we might become more like Him. 04:39.245 --> 04:44.006 [SPEAKER_00]: Spend time today seeking the heart of your Heavenly Father in guided prayer. 04:50.083 --> 04:53.066 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask him to reveal his heart for your righteousness. 04:54.668 --> 05:01.815 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask him to guide you into a process of sanctification marked by his grace, love, and nearness. 05:03.656 --> 05:08.241 [SPEAKER_00]: Stop seeing the process of sanctification as a never-ending timeline. 05:09.302 --> 05:14.387 [SPEAKER_00]: And instead, center it wholly around relationship with your heavenly Father. 05:15.910 --> 05:23.074 [SPEAKER_00]: May you experience righteousness and holiness today, as you encounter the perfect nature of Jesus. 05:24.815 --> 05:31.478 [SPEAKER_00]: May your day be marked by peace, as you commit your spiritual development to the hands of the Potter. 05:32.939 --> 05:44.645 [SPEAKER_00]: And may you be transformed into the image of Jesus as you engage in the process of sanctification, based on a relationship with a good, near God. 06:15.370 --> 06:30.027 [SPEAKER_00]: as we begin, meditate on the process of sanctification, allow God's heart as described in Scripture, to stir up your desire to engage in relationship-based sanctification. 06:31.952 --> 06:40.236 [SPEAKER_00]: Second Corinthians 5, 17 says, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 06:41.377 --> 06:46.319 [SPEAKER_00]: The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. 07:28.210 --> 07:28.711 [SPEAKER_00]: and next. 07:29.932 --> 07:37.221 [SPEAKER_00]: In what ways have you been striving for your own righteousness and holiness, rather than receiving it from God? 07:38.823 --> 07:47.473 [SPEAKER_00]: In what ways have you been looking at sanctification as a timeline or tightrope, rather than as a relationship with a good God? 07:49.280 --> 07:54.471 [SPEAKER_00]: Galatians 221 says, I do not nullify the grace of God. 07:55.373 --> 08:00.144 [SPEAKER_00]: For if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. 08:44.535 --> 08:49.777 [SPEAKER_00]: in last, take time to encounter the holiness of your loving father. 08:51.337 --> 08:59.360 [SPEAKER_00]: Open your heart and receive His presence, and in His presence commit to him the process of your sanctification. 09:00.921 --> 09:10.864 [SPEAKER_00]: Allow peace and rest to fill your heart as the burden of striving for sanctification falls off in light of God's glorious grace. 09:54.755 --> 10:03.904 [SPEAKER_00]: I pray that second Peter 1 verses 2 through 4 will fill you with the courage to have grace and rest in the process of sanctification. 10:05.205 --> 10:08.669 [SPEAKER_00]: May your life be marked by God's forgiveness and grace. 10:10.190 --> 10:19.019 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says, make grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 10:20.531 --> 10:26.655 [SPEAKER_00]: His divine power has granted to us all things that pertains to life and godliness. 10:27.416 --> 10:37.803 [SPEAKER_00]: Through the knowledge of Him, who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises. 10:38.803 --> 10:46.629 [SPEAKER_00]: So that through them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption 11:20.207 --> 11:26.233 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for listening to today's podcast, the last and our week-long series on Trust. 11:27.114 --> 11:33.840 [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you sense a deeper level of connection with God as the result of engaging in greater levels of Trust. 11:34.761 --> 11:37.964 [SPEAKER_00]: And come back tomorrow as we kick off next week series. 11:39.085 --> 11:43.530 [SPEAKER_00]: Have a wonderful rest of your day today and may God bless you as you see Kim.