(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

But let's look at Isaiah 55 and I want you to just look at some very common or very famous verses here. Isaiah 55 is such a beautiful chapter overall in the Bible. I mean every chapter in the Bible is beautiful but so much is Isaiah 55 and I just want to pause and meditate upon verses 8 and 9 which says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. The title for the sermon this morning is, God knows better than you. God knows better than you. And this is a very basic doctrine. We all know that God knows better than us. We all know that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, you know, almighty. And it's a basic concept I suppose in the Bible but really when you stop and meditate upon God's knowledge, when you understand that God knows better, far better than you, you know, if you were given the position of Godhood, you were made God. All right, first of all that'd be blasphemy but just consider for a moment, how would you operate the world? How would you operate the universe? How would you offer salvation? You know, your ways will not even come close to the ways of the Lord. You'll fail. You'd fail on day number one, you know, trying to be a God as it were, you know, and but we serve a mighty God. We serve an amazing God. And the reason I wanted to preach about this topic today is if you ask me what is your greatest learning of the past year, you know, having left the Sunshine Coast, come to Sydney with a family, you know, what's the greatest thing that you've learned? So I'd say to you, man, I really learned that God knows better than me. Like my plans, I can plan. There's nothing wrong with planning, you know, you know, generally speaking life before COVID world, generally speaking life was the same, right? Days was very similar. Mondays were similar to any other Monday, Tuesday similar to every other Tuesday, Sunday similar to every other Sunday. And when things are pretty consistent and organized, it's easy to make plans. You know, you expect things to turn out a certain way and it just seems to happen. And there's wisdom in planning. There's wisdom in planning ahead. You know, you'll be a lot more productive in life if you were more organized than but what about when things aren't organized? What about things when your plans don't work out the way you thought and the world changes, you know, unlike you ever expected, you know, I was the original plan when I came down to Sydney was I'd be traveling every week, pretty much every week to be up there in Queensland with you guys preaching for the midweek services that didn't work out. You know, my plan, right, was to do so many things that I intended to do here in Sydney for the helping that this place about this church and that a lot of that hasn't worked out. You know, I never thought that I'd be carrying out things like church discipline. I never thought I'd be limited to live streaming and, you know, the frustrations of not being able to get back up there. This is supposed to be the week that our family is now preparing to get back up to the Sunshine Coast and to, you know, get back plugged into new life at the church and it hasn't worked out. So what do we do? You know, do we panic? Do we get frustrated? Do we get upset? And, you know, we might go through those emotions and but I look and I just have to say, you know what, God, you know, another title that I was thinking about this morning is let God be God. You know, and it's not it's not up to me to decide whether God is God. God, of course, is God. But it's about accepting where God allows situations or God plans situations and you need to just rest and say, well, God knows better than me. God has his ways. God has his plans. And it doesn't always line up with what we want. Well, you know what, that's if he knows better and he has a great love for me and I'm his child, I know that whatever happens that it's going to be in my best interests. It's going to be in the best interest of new life at this church and blessed up at this church and we need to learn to just rest in knowing that God knows better than us. Now if you look at Isaiah 55 again, look at verse 8. It says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Well, obviously, I mean, did you think you could work out God? Do you think you can understand every decision, every thought process that operates through God? Of course we don't. Now we're given a glimpse, of course, through his word. We understand the Lord God through his word. But overall, brethren, we truly cannot process what God knows. It would destroy us. It would utterly destroy us. And as I said, I want to meditate on this today and just consider our God, our great God. You know, when it comes to our anniversary sermon, I could be preaching about our church, I could be preaching about the work we've done for the Lord, but I really just want to magnify the Lord God. I really want us to just reposition ourselves, understand who God is, how he's allowed us to go through four years of our church, and why God's allowed it, and how God's seen us through this process, but just to consider our almighty God, to give him praise, to give him worship. He deserves it when we understand how great our God is. It says, neither are your ways, my ways, sayeth the Lord. Hey, my way was to get down to Sydney. Will the Lord allow that? My way was to get back to the Sunshine Coast this week. God has not allowed that, okay? Neither are your ways, my ways, sayeth the Lord. And as I said, I can either get frustrated, and let me just share with you, I have been frustrated many times throughout this past year, even beyond this past year, I've been frustrated. So I've had to learn this. I've had to relearn something that is so basic. It's one thing to understand, and just to understand, like to know a doctrine, that God knows all things, and God allows all things for his purposes, but then to live through that is something else, something else entirely. And you can truly appreciate that doctrine, that teaching, when you have to really learn it, when you really have to give up your ways, give up your understanding, except that you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, and say, well God, you know, and I'm just going to rest in you. And what's wonderful about verse number nine, he kind of compares our knowledge, and our plans, our ways, compared to God's ways, by saying, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways. So as different as heaven, as far away, and as high as the heavens are compared to the earth, that's how different the thoughts of God are to the thoughts of man. He says, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. So notice in verse number nine, he compares the heavens, plural. Okay, so the Lord gives us this illustration in creation to best understand how far we are removed from the thoughts of God. You cannot outthink God. You cannot know better than God. It's not, it's impossible, Reverend. Okay, now you can, as I said, tap into some of the knowledge of God, again through his word, but he gives us this comparison of the heavens. So let's consider the three heavens. Of course, the first heaven that we can look at is our sky, is our atmosphere. You know, it's visible. We can see the clouds. We can see the birds, all right. We can see the effects of the winds as they blow in the air, and we have an understanding, because we can observe, right. We can see, we can see how clouds become rain clouds, right. Even with a lot of effort, a lot of, you know, engineering, we've learned how to get up in that place, get up to that atmosphere, right. With vehicles, with planes, with hot air balloons, or, you know, with helicopters, you know, mankind has discovered, hey, we've learned, you know, aerodynamics. We know how to get up there, right. We've observed the shape of a bird's wing, and we've shaped the wings of an aeroplane in such a way so it can maintain and keep, you know, flying up in the air, and we can understand the atmosphere. We can understand our sky to a large extent, okay, but it still requires effort, doesn't it? It requires some effort and some knowledge, the knowledge of the sciences to understand the sky and the atmosphere, and we might liken this to, you know, the Ten Commandments, where generally speaking, even the unsaved, you know, even the godless can look upon the Ten Commandments, understand the Ten Commandments, because the Lord has written his laws in our hearts as well, and generally speaking, people say, hey, these are good rules to live by. Yeah, it's good to not lie. It's good to not murder, right. We should not cover it after the things that belong to others, etc., right. You know, people can look at, you know, certain things about God's knowledge and tap into it to some extent, right. It's obvious, it's visible, you know, that would be our atmosphere, that would be our sky, and then, of course, we have our second heaven, which we know much less about, which is what we know as outer space, okay, and again, we can observe to some extent, you know, your eye can see the celestial bodies, we can see the sun and the moon and the stars, hey, but if you had a telescope, you'd see a lot more of the stars. If you had a telescope, you'd be able to zoom in much closer to the moon, and, you know, this requires a lot more effort. I mean, like, okay, you know, a lot of people now can easily purchase, or not right now because of COVID, but generally speaking, when it comes to traveling in our sky atmosphere, people can book a flight and experience it, but how many of us can book a flight to outer space? It's very few and far between, isn't it, okay, and it literally costs in the millions of dollars to get a vehicle up in that area, okay, and even then, you can't get very far, okay, really, I mean, you really can't get too far. It'll take, you know, the lifespan of entire man, basically, to travel, you know, any, you know, distance in space, and still, you're not even coming close to how far it extends. You know, by looking at the celestial bodies, we're able to track and understand time, we can understand days, months, and years because of the way, you know, the celestial bodies move, the sun, and the moon, and, but when we look at the stars, the stars cannot be numbered. We can look at the stars and go, boy, there's so many stars we cannot number, and I said, just, you get a telescope, and you'll see even more stars, okay, it's just, well, we can understand to some extent, but we truly can't fathom how wide and how expansive the space is, and yet the Bible tells us in Psalm 147 verse 4, it says, he telleth the number of the stars, he calleth all by their names. The Lord knows every single star, he knows how many stars there are, okay, he created them all, he put them all in its place, and he's even named them all. You know, yes, man has attempted to name some stars, some constellations, well, God has achieved naming them all, numbering them all, he knows exactly what's going on in outer space. You know, one thing that truly boggles the mind, oh, actually, let me just read verse number five there as well, Psalm 147 verse number five, it says, great is our Lord and of great power, his understanding is infinite. Infinite, what's infinite? It means it never ends. God's understanding never ends. Boy, you know, we can read our Bible cover to cover. I truly believe when we get to heaven, we're still going to be learning. Say, what are we going to be doing for all eternity? I believe we're still learning, and say, but surely we get to a point where we stop learning, where we've learned it all. You can't learn at all, because if you learned it all, you'd be God. His understanding is infinite, meaning that for all eternity, we're going to continue learning about our God, continue learning about his knowledge, okay? Continue learning about everything there is to know, and we'll never get to the end of it, because he's God, and we're just Batman, okay? And it's just, you know, it's difficult to fathom the understanding and the knowledge of God. You know, understanding the science behind an expanding universe boggles the mind. You know, the sciences have, you know, have basically said the universe continues to expand. It's just constantly expanding. The outer space, the second heaven, is constantly getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Try to wrap your mind around that. You say, well, maybe that's false. Maybe that's a false science. No, this is actually confirmed with us in the Bible. If you're in Isaiah, please go to Isaiah 42 in verse number five. Isaiah 42 in verse number five. Isaiah 42 verse number five says, Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them out. He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. All right, so notice that God stretched out the heavens. Now, that is saying past tense, that is stretched out the heavens. Please go to Isaiah 40 now. Let's go to Isaiah 40 and verse number 22. Isaiah 40 and verse number 22. Okay, we can, I guess, understand, yeah, God stretched out the heavens, and you know, but now he's done. That's the past tense. He's done. Well, no, actually, he continues to stretch it out. In Isaiah 40 verse number 22, it says, It is he that siteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Notice that the stretching is stretched earth. It's in the present tense. The Lord God, not only did he stretch the heavens, but he continues to stretch out the heavens even today. Science is still trying to understand that, okay. That's something that they've come up, they've discovered apparently, that the heavens can, my question is, okay, it continues to grow, it continues to stretch, but into what space? If that space doesn't exist, in what sense? I mean, these things just blow the mind, okay, yet God is continually blowing our minds, okay. We cannot understand even the second hand. We can observe it to some extent, but to truly understand and the distances of certain objects, it just blows the mind. It blows, it truly blows the mind, and again, God is just using this as an illustration of how far his thoughts are removed from our thoughts, and that's just the second heaven. You know, there's nine times in the bible that he references that he stretches out the heavens. Nine times. So this is something that the Lord wants us to understand, right. Then we have the third heaven. This is of course where the throne of God is. This is where the presence of God is. This is where the heavenly hosts abide. This is where the spirits of God, and this is where you go when you die. This is where the angels are, and for us today, can you see it? We can't even see it. Hey, we can see the sky. We can see space to some extent. We can't see heaven. We cannot see heaven. Okay, so as I said, looking at the sky is kind of like looking at the ten commandments. Okay, we get it. Okay, looking at our space is like kind of digging deeper into the understanding, the doctrines of God, and it's like, you know, it requires effort. It requires reading. It requires meditation. It requires study. Okay, but you get to the point where, yeah, I get it. I get what God is saying. When you consider heaven though, the third heaven, we can't even see it. You know, we get some descriptions, the streets of gold, mansions, but truly, you know, are we just considering mansions on the earth, and we're just considering gold in this earth? What is gold like in heaven? Apparently, you can see through it to some extent. How big are these mansions that God himself is building? You know, truly understanding that, we cannot wrap our minds around it, and you know, truly, when it comes to the Bible, you're never going to fully wrap your head around every thing, every doctrine, every verse, every chapter. You never get to the point where on this earth, you fully understand it all. In fact, there'll be things in the Bible that you just do not understand. Okay, you say, well, what do we do then? Well, this is why God requires our faith. We get to a point where we just do not understand. We cannot comprehend the third heaven. There are things we just will not understand that takes even takes place on this earth. There are things in the Bible that we just won't be able to wrap our heads around, but that's okay, because God's thoughts are not our thoughts. Okay, his knowledge is infinite. There's a continually, continual learning that we get to experience. I like to learn. I don't know about you, brethren. I was never really academic in school, but I like to learn my Bible. I like to learn interesting facts, you know, about the world. It's actually fun to gain knowledge. Well, it's going to be fun for all eternity, continually gaining the knowledge that God has for us. And you know, we've never seen the Father. No man has seen the Father. Some have seen Jesus Christ, but hey, we've not seen Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost lives in us. The Holy Ghost is working our hearts right now, but we don't see the Holy Ghost. But I believe in the Trinity. I believe in the Triune God. I believe that 2,000 years ago the Father sent the Son to die in my place, and I know you believe that too. We believe it because of faith. God is pleased when we believe his word. You know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2 9, but as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God have prepared for them that love him. You know, we cannot comprehend the things that God has prepared for us. Again, it requires faith. Faith to know that God has prepared for us something wonderful that cannot be seen right now. But I'm looking forward to it. I know I'm looking forward to it. What are you looking forward to Pastor Kevin? I'm not really sure, but I know it's going to be fun. I know it's going to be awesome. I know heaven, the new heavens, the new earth are going to be the most amazing things. It'll continually blow our minds. Okay, it's going to be the best rollercoaster ride we've ever been on. Okay, it's going to be great. And then it says in verse number 10, but God have revealed unto, uh, sorry, revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. You see, the only way to understand the deep things of God is through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, thank God, that has given every believer the Holy Spirit. Okay, we can all apply faith on his word and understand it to a greater degree. You know, there are many things that I've just not understood in life. But I just say, God, I'm just gonna have my faith in you. You're doing what you need to do. You know, you've had to operate the way you have to operate. And then when you place your faith, it's kind of like, now I understand. Some people seek to understand and say, well, now that I understand, now I'll place my faith. It doesn't really work like that in the Christian life. In the Christian life, we go from faith to faith. We put our faith in what God is doing. We put our faith upon his word, and we say, and then eventually it comes to mind. Eventually, it makes sense. You understand certain truths. You know, the Bible tells us in Romans 12 2, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. See, our mind needs this constant wash. It needs a constant renewal. Okay, renewal means it's over and over and over again. We've been trained to consider this world. We've been trained in the philosophies of man. We've been trained about the things that we can see and touch, the temporary brethren. And we can see in society, and we understand how man sometimes is and thinks. We need to put all of that aside and say, well, God, I need to renew my mind because this just gives me a very worldly, a very fleshy understanding of all things. I want your wisdom, Lord, and to gain that wisdom, to understand why God allows certain things, why God has allowed you to suffer, why he's allowed you to go to free tribulation, why he's allowed you to go through illnesses, things that you prefer you have never gone through, somehow God saw fit to allow you to go through that because he knows better than you. He knows better than you say, Pastor Kevin, why? People sometimes ask me this, they go through hardships. Why? I say, I don't know why, but I know the one who knows why, and that's the Lord God. The Lord God knows why, so I can maybe guide you to some understanding of the scriptures, but at the end of the day to truly understand why, you need to go to the Lord God and ask him why, and sometimes you'll get the answer, and sometimes you won't. Okay, and when you don't get the answer, you know what, just have faith that God knows best for you, that he intends the best for you. You know, the Bible said that my ways are higher than your ways. You know, if we put ourselves in the in the place of Adam and Eve when they fell, when they sinned against the Lord, and knowing that there's punishment to come, knowing that you've disobeyed God, and mankind is now damned and sinned, and you're going to be cast out of the garden. Imagine God went to you, pretend you were one of the two, Adam or Eve, and said, well, we need to fix this up. You know, we need to find a way to, you know, cleanse you from your sins. We need to find a way for you to be righteous now that you've you've messed up. You know, what could you come up with? You know, what could man come up with? Why there's so many religions in this world? Because man is trying to come up with a way of salvation, a way to heaven, a way to be made right with God within man. We all know that there is a heaven. We all know there's punishment in hell. We all know these things. Man knows these things. They can deny it as much as they want to, but deep down they know God has already put that in their hearts, in their conscience, that one day they're going to stand before the judgment of God. Okay, and so man is constantly trying to come up with a way, how do I get myself cleansed? And what do I end up with? Good works. Well, just do the best you can. Give money to the poor. Give money to the church. Show that you truly love, and yet the Bible tells that our hearts are desperately wicked. Who can know it? You know, how many of us would have come up with a thought and say, well, God, maybe if you sacrificed your son, you know, maybe if Jesus dies for us and sheds his blood, and we can have the cleansing through his blood, and the wrong that I've done, God, how about we put that on your son? And all the righteousness of Jesus Christ, how about you give that to me, Lord? How about that be the way for salvation? I mean, that would not be a way that man would come up with. Who would have the courage to ask God, God, can you sacrifice your son for me? We would not even think about that, and yet the Lord was able to say, you know what, I'm going to send my son to die in your place, to take your punishment, and take your sins on his body. You know, God's ways are higher than our ways, you know, and I praise God for a God of the Bible that makes salvation so easy, you know, just by simple faith on him. Can you please go to Isaiah 40, please? Isaiah 40, 28. Isaiah chapter 40, verse number 28, please. Isaiah 40, 28 says, has thou not known, has thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. There is no searching of his understanding. Man cannot understand God. Man cannot understand. Again, you must be saved. You must have the Holy Spirit of God in order for him to reveal the understanding of God. What a blessing, as a Christian, to know the truth of God's word. There are so many lies in our world today, so many lies from the official narrative of everything that's going on in this world, okay, all the COVID things, and everything else that's going on, okay. Possibly COVID is just, you know, the cover for other things that are going on in this world, think about all the lies that have been pumped into us by mainstream media, and as I said before, even the lies of the alternate media, even the lies of those that are trying to fight the official narrative, they're full of lies. There's lies everywhere. This is 100% the source of truth, God's word. What a blessing to know that we can have truth all the time, and it all requires us to open up the Bible, pray to the Lord, God guide me, give me your spirit to understand your wisdom, Lord, and we have the greatest information, the greatest media that God has ever given us in black and white, you've written down all on your phones, hey, you know what, the word of God is not bound, and we found all over the place, you know, pretty much anybody can have the Bible in their pockets now, because we all have smartphones, and what an amazing thing that we are given the privilege as God's people to receive 100% truth. We don't have to filter and go, okay, what's the lie here? Let's just make sure we only pick up the truth in God's word. It's all true. Even the lies are recorded for us, are truthfully recorded for us, the lies that have been said by other people, not the lies of God, God cannot lie, but the lies have been said of other people are truthfully recorded for us, all right. History is recorded for us, creation is recorded for us, okay, salvation is recorded for us, the future is recorded for us, what a wonderful thing to have the Bible and to have the Holy Spirit that guides us into all truth. So our fleshly mind is unable to completely process God's methods and reasoning, and as I said, that's probably my biggest lesson that I've learned this past year. Nothing I planned, nothing I planned when according to plan, nothing I wanted, brethren, but I look back and I go, well God, you know better than me. It's not like things didn't work according to my plan, therefore I've had a bad year. Actually, I've had a really good year. I've learned so much. I've learned so much. I mean, I haven't really spent some time with my family, you know. As much as I wanted to fly up there every single week, I've been prevented. I've enjoyed the break, believe it or not. I've enjoyed the break, right. I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad I'm in Sydney. The brethren in Sydney needs their pastor at this point in time, I suppose more than New Life Baptist Church, but the Lord knows this. Right, it's not like I came up with that. The Lord knows this stuff better than me. Okay, you know, I think if I was in Queensland this whole time and and the church down here is going through all these lockdowns restrictions and you know the five kilometer rule, I think it'd be hard for me to wrap my head around that and be a supportive pastor for them, but having to go through that with them you know is a real blessing. And I don't know, maybe these same regulations and you know health orders, maybe they're all coming to Queensland eventually. Hopefully I'm back up there and I can, hey I've learned the lessons and in Sydney maybe I can be a greater blessing up there in Queensland. The Lord knows, I don't know. I've come to realize I do not know, you know, and I think a sign of spiritual maturity is when you're able to say, boy the more I learn about God the less I realize I know about God. The more I learn about the Bible the less I realize I understand his infinite knowledge and wisdom. Hey, that's a true sign of maturity, of growth, when God allows you to experience these things and you can see and, wow God you're really working in my life and you're trying to make me a better man. You know, God you're trying to make me a better pastor, you're trying to make me a better father, you're trying to make me a better husband, right? In my case, you know, I apply that for you and I hope you can look back in the past and say, boy God you've made me a better person. And if you can't say that, well maybe your lessons are still still need to be learned. Maybe there are many things in your life that you still need to to learn. You know the Bible tells us in Hebrews 11 6, but without faith it is impossible to please him. Without faith it is impossible. And this is contrary to the thinking of man. Man thinks well if I see it I'll believe it. No, even if they saw it they wouldn't believe it. You know they'll say if you if Jesus Christ appeared before me and did a miracle I'd believe in him. No you wouldn't because the Pharisees saw Jesus, they saw the works of his hands, they saw the father do amazing miracles through the son and they still did not believe on him. God has given us his word, he's given us faith, he's given us the Holy Spirit, he's given us a gospel preacher, he's given us a soul winner that showed us salvation, that guided us through the scriptures so we could call upon the name of the Lord in faith and accept him as savior. There's nothing else that God can do. That's the only way they can cut through the heart of man is by using his word a soul winner, teaching us the words of God. People don't understand God, you know even Christians, even saved Christians. I have to say saved Christians because Christians means nothing. Even saved people do not fully understand God you know and it's almost like a resistance in man to want to know God. People will say things like God isn't angry right even saved Christians would say God isn't angry but then you got Psalm 711 God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. Listen there's not a single day that goes by where God is not angry. God is angry at the wicked every day. Say well okay he's angry but God doesn't hate. You know hate is a sin right hate leads to the dark side of the force and God is not that kind of God. No you know what God hates. God hates right. Say well maybe God hates the sin but he doesn't hate the sinner. Surely God does not hate people. Well then you got Psalm 5 5 the foolish shall not stand in thy sights thou hatest all workers of iniquity. It doesn't say God hates the iniquity and God does hate the iniquity but God hates, hatest all workers of iniquity. God hates the people that do iniquity. This is the Bible. This is the God that we need to learn about. This is the God that Christians need to learn about. This is the God that churches need to preach about. His ways are not our ways. God knows better than you. God knows about himself more than you know about God okay because you come up with a crazy God of your own imagination and you can't understand this these attributes of God. You know some will say well God doesn't send anyone to hell. God doesn't send anyone to hell. You send yourself to hell they'll say. But then you got Matthew 13 41 the words of humble Jesus Christ okay he says the son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Who cast them into this fire? Jesus Christ the son of man is going to cast the ungodly those that have not believed on him into the lake of fire. He doesn't just send them there okay go your way there. No he casts him he picks him up and he throws him into hell fire. This is the Jesus of the New Testament that we're talking about here. This is the true God of the Bible okay plus all the wonderful qualities that we love to preach about but we need to understand the wholeness the fullness of God. It's revealed to us in his word. Why do we ignore? Well I don't ignore it anymore but hey you know people Christians save people want to deny change the bible make excuses for God the reason they do this is they just do not understand the Lord. They haven't got the faith to say well God you hate God you get angry God you cast people into hell fire I'm just going to believe it it's hard for me Lord I need to renew my mind here I need to accept what you're saying and I'm going to go by faith that you do this Lord and when you do that you start to understand and then you can appreciate sin you can appreciate sorry how much God hates him you can appreciate why God is so angry you can appreciate why there's nothing man could do to be saved except for the Lord God to send his only begotten son to die in our place then you can fully comprehend and understand the goodness and the love of God as well as I said the other time did I say it already the other title that I was thinking about today is let God be God let God be God because he knows best okay I mean these two things go together and you know when we don't fully understand God you know you can look at your life maybe not just the past year but maybe the past 10 years your whole life you look at it and say well there are things that happened and I wish it never happened to me I wish I didn't go through that I wish God did not allow me to go through that but again God knows better than you and listen when you don't understand when you can't when you when you when you go to your past and you ask questions and you still don't understand when you go to God's Bible and you read God's word and you still don't understand and you go to God in prayer and you don't get the answer and you just still don't understand hey then you just need to learn to rest in him and and and a pre and accept that you're never fully going to understand the knowledge and the counsel of God you can ask him in heaven okay you can ask him in heaven but when you get to that point where you just can't fully comprehend you can't fully understand you know I think of Psalm 17 8 this is what we should do we just ask God keep me as the apple of the eye hide me under the shadow of my wounds God I don't get it I don't fully understand life I don't understand why this happened I don't understand why I went through that Lord it seems like that that's a bad thing to happen to me you know I don't know I'm understanding how you could take good out of that situation Lord I don't know what you're planning for me Lord I don't know what my future I'm just going to hide myself under your wings Lord because I know you'll protect me I know you have your eye upon me and I'm just going to trust that you know better than me that you know better than me some other great passages I'll just read them to you about God's understanding you know Romans 11 33 says oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding outs for who have known the mind of the Lord or who have been his counselor obviously nobody you cannot counsel God you cannot know the mind of the Lord except we kind of can once again through his word but again we cannot fully understand it completely okay you cannot counsel God you cannot come to God and say well God look listen God you know we're having a hard time in COVID world right now we're having a hard time uh the masks have come back in southeast Queensland I don't think Sunshine Coast praise God but you know Lord looks if I was God Lord let me just give you some counsel let me just give you some advice right now God uh please uh kill all these uh wicked people right now uh Lord just remove all the masks I'll just right now we'll just get rid of all this COVID just just finish it with it Lord right now just we want to get back to life just open the borders of Queensland so a pastor can get up here Lord and uh I mean think about what are you like can you counsel God nobody can counsel God you say well God's not doing it God's allowing it to happen God is allowing it to happen God is judging our nation all right and God knows better than us okay that God is ultimately fulfilling his plans and sometimes he has to use the wicked to do that okay and then those wicked will have to deal the consequences for the wrong that they've done but God allows it and we just have to rest in faith God you know better than me you know what's better Lord and I'm gonna rest in you I'm gonna let God be God and I can't be God okay Jeremiah 23 verse 24 says can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him save the Lord do not I feel heaven and earth save the Lord the Lord fills heaven and earth he's not just situated in heaven which we said yeah that's where his throne is but if he were to just present himself in the open he would fill it all and fill it beyond that as well God feels it all we serve a big God we serve an awesome majestic God we cannot we cannot contain him creation cannot contain God he is the creator he cannot you know make a creation that you know is larger than him he is in all places at all times and knows all things you know God sees all and he hears all it also says in verse number 25 the Jeremiah 23 25 I have heard what the prophets said that prophesy lies in my name saying I have dreamed I have dreamed you know false prophets do not get away with teaching lies we can get we can get angry at those that are teaching uh false gospels and the false prophets are leading people to hell you know what they're not going to get away with it God knows what they're saying God knows when people speak lies in his name God knows when people twist the word of God to suit their biases or whatever their agenda God knows that and you know let that be a sobering thought not just to me but to any man that gets behind the pulpit trying to expound the word of God okay don't take shortcuts don't think well that verse kind of supports what I'm saying no not really but I'm just going to make it seem like it is you know God knows when you lie God knows when you're not honest with the word of God you know this should be a fearful thing to stand before God's people and preach his word I want to get it right I mean it's already 100 percent truth if all I do is just read it non-stop for a full hour I've done the best job I possibly can there's no corruption there there's no lies there we need to make sure that when you spend time teaching God's word whether it's behind the pulpit teaching our friends teaching our children that we don't you know lie we don't exaggerate you know we just let God's word speak for itself God can hear what you're saying he's interested in the sermon this morning God is you know it's Sunday here in Australia God is listening to all the preaching that's going on in Australia right now to see what is being preached that is true and what is being preached that are lies okay God hears and sees all things can you please send to Job 28 the book of Job please go to Job 28 verse number 24 Job 28 24 you can see that this is a very deep topic then of course it's deep it's infinite the knowledge of God is infinite right but look what Job says Job 28 verse 24 Job this is what this is what Job says about God it says for he looketh to the ends of the earth and seeeth under the whole heaven to make the weight for the winds and he weigheth the waters by measure when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder then did he see it and declare it he prepared it yea and searched it out what so he saw it he declares it what you know uh the earth the winds the waters the rain the lightning he sees it he declares it he prepared it yay and searched it out God knows every little detail there is to know every little detail about the wind he knows it he knows how much it weighs he knows the speed at which the wind blows he knows the the damage that wind can make he knows which way it's moving I mean there is constant wind on this earth all different directions all different forces God knows it all he prepared it he leads it that way the way he sees fit it says he weigheth the waters by measure the oceans the seas the rivers God knows how much all that water weighs and that guess what that water is constantly moving we have water that's constantly evaporating into this atmosphere we have rivers that are constantly flowing in and out we have tides moving in and out you know every moment the waters are moving every moment the weights are shifting okay up up you know from mountain side down to the lower valleys right uh evaporation for the atmosphere and yet at every moment while it's all changing the weights of the waters are constantly changing God knows how much it weighs right now and now he knows how much he weighs right now and that's changed again he knows how much he weighs right now God's knowledge is amazing and you say why would God need to know that you know it just seems like pointless God knows it though all right God knows it though that's how great our God is okay there must be purpose for God to even know such detail that just seems to us insignificant yet God knows right it says when he maketh the decree for the rain God decrees for the rain to fall he knows how many drops have fallen every single drop that falls from the sky on earth he knows where that drop has fallen he knows the purpose for why that drop fell he knows why that drop fell on your garden or on your roof on your pagola okay God knows that drop that maybe a child opened his mouth at the rain and the drop fell in his mouth and he knows why he did that God has purposed every single drop of water to fall on this earth and he knows exactly where it's gone and for what purpose okay and not only that it says and a way for the lightning of the thunder we've all seen storms and it's amazing sight right to see you know not just the sound of great thunder which can be scary but also the direction like you see the lightning it's so quick okay it is so powerful and it just seems to zigzag in random ways it seems to us we might even have thought it was random but actually it says in verse number 26 it says and a way for the lightning of the thunder God said all right i want that lightning to go this way i wanted to have that shape i wanted to hit that tree i wanted to hit that pole i wanted to cause this sound in the thunder God directed all these things that seem to us just random events on the earth no God put it in place he made it happen that way okay all the storms that are going on on the earth right now God is aware of it and he's directing it he knows his purpose behind it and you say i don't know the purpose i don't think there's a purpose God has a purpose for it okay God has a purpose for everything that he does you know i was thinking about this so just think about how God cares about just even the smallest details you know which just if we just if you just try to process every single rain drop on this earth you lose your mind you go insane okay i've seen about you know how can we sort of understand this a little bit think about the chessboard right i like what i'm not a big fan of chess nicholas loves chess but a lot of people understand chess and you know you've got so many moves that anybody can make right it's just the the amount of moves that can happen in any game you know with different players you know can be so many like you you'll never play a chess game which is exactly the same okay i mean i mean i'm just trying to copy it or something right but you're playing against different opponents they're going to have different moves okay they're they're going to decide to move the rook at different points in time or the pawns at different locations so whatever it is right and you know you can become very skillful at the game and you can you know create tactics and stretch you know our strategies but what if you knew every single move that is ever possible to have been ever made in any play of the game and that whatever player you're playing against not only do you know every single move of every single piece but you know every move that your opponent's going to make before they make it i mean think about how much brain processing you would need just for a game of chess to understand it all every single game say well maybe if i just okay set up the chess board and get ready to play and i just knock down all my pieces and i break all the rules and i just throw the chess board on the table yeah god knows that one as well god knows you're going to do that as well okay you can't outthink god but imagine just knowing everything there is about chess every single move every single play every single opponent even before they did it boy you cannot do it you could not do it you know one of australia's favorite pastimes is is the football i mean i know the queenslanders love football right i mean you love foot not you but not the church but you know the uh our premiere you know loves football players and their families more than queensland residents obviously because they can actually travel into the state okay but imagine right like obviously every single football game now whatever you know whichever code of football it is whatever it is whatever okay imagine you know knowing every single position that a person could stand you know every single blade of grass that a person could stand on you know every single move or every single pass every single kick of the ball you know every single save every single trajectory of the ball that it could travel for every single play possible on a football field listen this is why people can watch a game week after week after week or several days after several days because there's no game alike every football game's going to be different you could live your entire life just watching football okay from the time you're born to the time you die let's say you live 100 years you can watch everything that's what you do all day just watch football game after football game after football game listen none of them are going to be the same they're all going to be different yeah and you still when you die you still haven't looked at them all yet god knows every single play on a football field every single blade of grass on the football field god knows every single piece of dirt that got kicked in the sky when they kicked the ball or every piece of dirt that got trampled down on the ground god knows it all god knows every single move that is possible okay so again that would blow my mind that would blow yeah okay now think about the whole world now think about every single human being now think about everything that could possibly take place in the weather in politics in finance in education in knowledge in the choices of man okay and guess what we're given free will everything we do there's a free will we decide i'm going to decide right now to take a cup of water you know this is not pre-programmed by god yet god's not surprised one sip god's not surprised i just did that god's not surprised i just had that as an illustration for my sermon this morning god knew that was going to happen i don't even know how much how much what god knows how much that weighs god knows exactly how much it just drank i mean god knows the details god knows every single detail and when you can just sort of consider that it should blow your mind it blows my mind brevin it blows my mind and again god knows better than you god knows better than you now can you please turn to matthew turn to matthew chapter 10 for me turn to matthew chapter 10 i'm going to read to you from jeremiah 1 5 which says before i form thee in the belly i knew thee you know god knowing so many things god knows you as well you know god knew you before he formed you in the belly god knew everything there is to know about you your height your looks your preferences your personality god knows all of you god knows you even before you were formed even before you were born okay and while our gods you think would be so busy with everything there is to know about in the universe and to control every single raindrop and lightning strike yet god still cares about you god still has time to think about you and you know if you're saved and look even if you're unsaved god still loved you to the point where he sent his son to die for you and now that you are saved if you are saved you're a child of god you know what god it might seem like god is so busy it may seem like sometimes well things are out of control but they're not out of control they're out of control from our perspective but it's fully in control of god and yet even seemingly it seems like god would be so busy he's still able to think about you he's still with you he's still watching you he still sees the struggles and the concerns that you have in life you're in matthew 10 look at verse number 29 are not two sparrows sowed for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father every bird that dies god knows about it every bird that has something to eat god knows about it god knows every little movement of every single bird even when they die even when they fall verse number 30 but the very hairs of your head are all numbered god knows every single hair you've got in your head right now okay verse number 31 fear ye ye not therefore ye are more so ye have more value than many sparrows you are valuable to god you are a son of god saved by the blood of jesus christ you are valuable to god if god seems to care so much about the birds and the lightning and the waters and the oceans and the skies how much more does god care about you your child of god god loves you god has his eye upon you god has not forgotten you again we can go for this last year and go boy it's out of control i don't know my plans are out of control god knows god knew god knows better than us his plans are in place his purposes are in place and we just need to learn to accept it by faith can you go to matthew six please matthew six verse number seven matthew six verse number seven which reads but when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking so should we pray yeah we should pray but let's not pray like these uh um people that use vain repetitions let's be careful with how we pray let's not just repeat the same words over and over again ritual be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him does god want us to ask him in prayer for things that we need absolutely does he know that we need it before we ask him absolutely now this is not teaching therefore you don't need to ask because god already knows this is not teaching that if you don't ask you're still going to get it it's not teaching that okay the thought here is that god loves you that much that god's eyes are upon you so much okay that even when you're like oh i was earlier you know actually actually before the service the sermon started i was like looking for a pen i found a pen down here all right it's like well god knew i needed that pen right now just to make a little note in my in my my sermon notes right now right there okay why is that because god cares god finds you interesting he's interested in your life he wants your fellowship he wants to spend time with you he watches us and before we even realize that we're missing certain things before we even realize that we have a need of things god already knows because he's that invested in your life he's that interested in your life that he knows before you even know the things that you need but just like any father he still wants us to go to him and ask of him and say god you already knew that i needed this but i really need it can you please lord in your perfect timing give it to me you know better than me though lord and i guess if i don't get it i guess you knew the reason why but i feel i need it right now lord but i'm going to trust in you i'm going to have my faith in you that you're going to take care of my every need you know the bible says in first john 3 20 for if our heart condemn us god is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things god is greater than our heart you know god knows your heart that's why you know your heart's desperately wicked who can know it god knows it god knows more than you god knows more about you than you know about yourself whatever it is that your heart meditates and thinks upon and and supposedly knows god already knew that it's greater than our heart of course it is okay but notice god knows our hearts that's the point god knows our hearts not only does he know that we exist and that we're walking this earth and we need our food and our raiment and our shelter to get through life but god knows even the deep desires that we have in our heart that's why we can't even hide our sins before god you know it's foolish to think well i'll just sin and you know god doesn't know about it no one else knows about it no god knows every intention of the heart and god knows why you committed that sin you can't hide it from god don't be foolish just go and confess it before the lord get yourself right with god can you please turn to um first corinthians 2 please turn to first corinthians chapter 2 and i'm going to quickly read to you from hebrews 4 12 you go to first corinthians 2 i'll read to you from hebrews 4 12 you know the greatest piece of evidence that god knows us what is the greatest piece of evidence that proves that god knows us well as i said it's the bible it's the bible okay the bible is proof that god knows us not only is it great for us to know god but it's proof that god knows us okay hebrews 4 12 for the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart then it says this neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sights but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do this is why we can all pick up this book and we're all different people we all come from different backgrounds we have different ethnicities we have different experiences some of us have been saved longer than others okay and yet we can all pick up this bible and we can read about mankind we can read about creation we can read and go hold on that's about me oh god are you speaking about me what this is something i need to change in my life wow this verse comforted me today why is that because this is proof that god knows you he's given us a book not just to reveal him to us but it reveals us to ourselves this is proof that this is not the work of a man but the work of god every person that is saved can read this book and see as it were a mirror looking back at them and say boy i come short of the glory of god boy i need a savior boy i need the lord i need to have faith i need to grow i come so short in my failings i need the lord this is the greatest piece of evidence to know that god knows you personally he's written his bible not just for mankind in general yes but for you for you because god loves you so much that he's written you all these words all 66 books please read your bible cover to cover god intended it for you so you can learn more about yourself learn more about the lord god learn more how to be righteous you're in first corinthians 2 10 first corinthians 2 chapter 10 and as i said everything has a purpose and we cannot fully comprehend the purpose you know first corinthians 2 10 but god have revealed them unto us by spirit for the spirit search of all things yay the deep things of god for what man know of the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him even so the things of god knoweth no man but the spirit of god now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of god that we might know that we might know the things that are freely given to us of god which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the holy ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual notice this that god has revealed so much of his knowledge to us through his word verse number 14 but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned the only way we can discern god's knowledge is by the spirit of god god has given us such an amazing gift you know the third person of the trinity to live in our hearts to guide us in the truth of god's word it says in verse number 15 but he that is spiritual judge of all things yet he himself is judged of no man we can judge all things all things that are relevant to our understanding of society and life and you know with god's word we can make the best judgment every time we can make the right decision every time as long as we digest god's word and we allow the spirit of god to teach us great truths and develop knowledge and wisdom in our lives verse number 16 now this is amazing for who have known the mind of the lord and that's a great question who have known the mind of the lord that he may instruct him who can instruct god nobody who can counter god nobody who can know the mind of god nobody but then it says but we have the mind of christ oh man what an amazing thing okay we have the mind of christ god has given us a measure of his mind a measure of his understanding christ came to this earth as a man 100 man yet 100 god and he's given us the example his steps to follow okay and we can now have a greater relationship we can relate to god even more knowing that god has also been a man he's also lived on this earth he's also been tempted in all points and we have jesus christ to be that example of what we're trying to achieve in this world let it never be you know that your eyes are set upon just you know just a pastor or something pastor you know i've always said this i'm going to fail you i've already found i'm sure i've already failed you many times okay but you have to have your heart on the lord god you know have your heart on jesus christ your eyes on christ say you know what it's too much to comprehend all of god's knowledge but god has given me this measure the mind of christ and i want to set christ as my example i want to make sure that i walk in his paths and this is going to give me great wisdom great understanding great success to walk on this earth to walk after the steps of jesus christ as i said everything everything has a purpose and you're in first corinthians aren't you so yeah uh please go to uh yeah you're in first corinthians please go to first corinthians chapter 10 and verse number one first corinthians chapter 10 verse number one i'm i'm near the end now and i'm going a bit over time but uh eighth anniversary we've got one service today praise god so i forgot a little bit over time i'm sure that i'm sure you'll forgive me but first corinthians chapter 10 verse number one it says moreover brethren i would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea so we know the old testament stories of how the israelites evolved when they came out of egypt they went through the sea they went through the red sea and we can read that so you go that's amazing story wow imagine being experienced in that right walking through dry ground and and seeing the lord then uh close those waters and destroy the egyptian army amazing you might say you know actually all that yeah it served the purpose for moses it served the purpose for the tomb of israel but you know somehow in god's infinite wisdom in god's infinite knowledge he said you know what when when the israelites go through the red sea this is also for new life at this church this is also for pastor support of it on this is also for brother jason this is also for brother calum this is also for for brother robin and for for brother caleb and for for brother matthew you know god already set these things in place with infinite knowledge well this is also for them in what way because it says in verse number two and we're all baptized unto moses in the cloud and in the sea so we understand baptism today and and one great understanding of the baptism is to go well you know what even the old testament saints in the past had a picture of baptism okay being passed through the water and now this is for us when we get baptized we can look back and say man god you've given us such great pictures great stories of the past and we're continuing on this great tradition of the bible of baptizing believers those that want to publicly recognize and acknowledge that they have put their faith on jesus christ verse number three and they all eat the same spiritual meat say what's the big deal about eating okay verse number four and did all drink the same spiritual drink what spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was christ what right so when they go through the wilderness and they're getting hungry and god provides their food and when they're without water and then god allows water to come out of a rock and say well wow that's wonderful for the israelites right it's wonderful how god provided for them well done guys you know you got to see amazing miracles and god says no no it's not just for them it's for you as well you're like at the church so you can learn that the rock is christ then you can learn that when you go without and when you need to be fed and you need to be uh uh when you're thirsty and you need to drink water that god's going to provide and the one that provides is the rock which is christ and it's for us to learn these aren't just stories of the past and yet they took place in the past and yet before we're even born god knew that this was stories for us that we can learn from god's wisdom is infinite his purposes are beyond okay beyond we cannot fully comprehend everything that takes place let's keep going verse number five but with many of them god was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness so we know now we're going to be looking not just at positive things but at negative things that happened with the israelites say well man those israelites of old boy they were horrible people why were they so stiff necked against god why did they disobey god well you know god says well yeah yeah i allowed them to disobey yes i've disciplined them i've corrected them i've cursed those people for the wrong that they've done but it's for you new life after church it's for you to learn the same not to make the same mistakes it says there in verse number six now these things were our examples what hold on god so when they messed up there was still a purpose like you might say well it'd be better if they never messed up but then god would say yeah but then i would have an example for you so you don't mess up you see god has a purpose for us god loves us he's interested in us he wants us to do well in life you know things that transpired in the past even though they're major mistakes even though you might say well man why did you do it so we can learn it's for you brethren you're that important to god that he cares enough about history to allow things in history to take place so we can learn from those same mistakes verse number six now these things were our examples of the intent which are not last lust after evil things as they also lusted neither be idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day free in twenty thousand neither let us tempt christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer boy there's a lot of murmuring going on in covid world please don't be a murderer please don't be a complainer please don't whine about everything that's going on in the covid world just rely on the lord say lord you have a purpose for what's going on well i can't see it right now but you've got a purpose and i'm sure there is rights of old when they're being chastised by god they're like i don't know what the purpose is right now lord but yeah it's to be corrected right now okay we can get right as a nation we can do the world is right but then god says yeah it's not just for you it's also for all the believers that go after you i've allowed it to happen there's a purpose for it reverend there's a purpose for covid world you know let's never wish that it never happened you know because then we're saying we know better than god no god allowed it to happen for his reasons okay let us not be murmurers and complainers it's not going to do you any good understand that there's a purpose for it okay we need to go through it for whatever reasons and then future generations we'll be able to look back and see the mistakes and go back we better not do that again oh boy look how the saints of god went through this tough time and then maybe a future generation that might go through something like a great tribulation end times tribulation can look back and see some good examples of the past and say hey man boy you know this is not the first time that saints have gone through some challenges let's continue soldiering for god we can't fully understand every little play that god has in mind because he knows better than us what does it say verse number 10 verse number 11 sorry now all these things happen unto them for end samples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come why didn't god record all these stories in the old testament for you and me that's why for our admin admonition okay you are important to god you are an important person in god's history okay his eyes are upon you he knows what you need okay and he knows better than you i'm going to quickly read to you from first corinthians 12 18 actually you're in first corinthians so just go there first corinthians 12 please 18 and i want you to also know that you're important and you're necessary to new life baptist church you are okay and the fact that i'm here in sydney longer than anticipated it's god's will it's god's plan there's nothing i can do brethren okay i mean i can force myself but i have a feeling god's going to make my life a bit hard if i force it to happen okay we need to just rest in god all right but you're important to this church we're celebrating four years and if you're there sitting in the church right now you're exactly where you need to be god put you there in place first corinthians 12 18 but now have god set the members every one of them in the body as it have pleased him speaking about a local church here god has set you at new life baptist church right now this morning why because it pleases god it pleases god that you're here right now celebrating the four year anniversary god cares about every single person that makes up our church okay we saw how infinite his knowledge is we saw how complex you know this world isn't yet god controls it all god sees it all god allows it to happen okay and with purpose you've got a purpose at new life baptist church you know you've got a purpose to god you're important you're loved by god you may feel like you're not loved by man you may feel like you're insignificant to man but you're not insignificant to god god knows even a number on your hair you know every single hair you've got on your head we saw that earlier he knows it all so brethren you are important to god new life baptist church is important to god everything that you've gone through and everything that you will go through has a purpose okay and sometimes you learn what that purpose is sometimes you won't but that's when you need to just put your faith in the lord and say lord i don't know you know god knows better than you okay let's pray