You're going to be here. On my last video I was talking about the issue of when we put God on trial and the

passage I used was Romans chapter 9 talking about the issue of predestination

and God's election of some people and not others because that

passage was a sticking point for me when I first came across the issue of God's

sovereignty in a way that I really had to struggle with. And honestly, the instigating factor in that situation was dealing with the salvation of a loved one, who I thought perhaps was not a believer and what if they died and were not God's elect

you know according to the standard definitions that you hear you know how how

is I going to handle that and how was I going to reconcile my faith with the

fact that God did not choose them? Well that's what perpetuated my crisis where I

had to dig into this issue of God's sovereignty.

And I want to talk to you today about where I've landed and how an understanding and

acceptance of God's sovereignty has really become a comfort and a strength and a power in my life.

Now what do we mean when we talk about God's sovereignty?

Well there are varying definitions out there, some that you'll hear that are very expansive and broad and some that are very narrow in a sense of limiting God's sovereignty to certain realms.

My definition is one of the broader ones. I believe that sovereignty when it comes to speaking of God means God is absolutely in control of everything.

Let me say that again.

God is absolutely, that's a powerful word, a broad word.

He's absolutely in control of everything. And he is in that control from a loving perspective out of his

wisdom out of his omniscience out of his discernment out of his plan his purpose his capacity and his competence

all of those things go into God's plan for all of eternity, not just human history. You see God is so sovereign, he's so

in control, that he's got plans far beyond what we can see. He's got purposes that extend into the realm of spiritual beings.

You read Ephesians 3 and it tells us he is demonstrating his manifold witness to principalities and powers, authorities in the heavenly realms, through

us the church.

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