What great truth there. Lauren was just singing to us. It's going to go right along with what we are looking at this morning in our message. Open your Bible, if you would, please, to Psalm 93. today. Rob did not steal my outline today. I'm in Psalm 93 but I wanted us to read Psalm 96 because the second point that he mentioned in Psalm 96 is the point of Psalm 93 that I want us to look at today. Well you know we are well into the beginning of 2025 and I trust that your new year has gotten off to a good start. I trust that those of you who are reading through the Bible are on pace with your schedule so far and keep on doing that. If you get behind a little bit then just gradually catch up, read a little extra for the next few days to get caught back up again and I hope that's going well for you. I've been enjoying the schedule that I'm reading, a different translation than I've ever read before but I'm really, really enjoying that. Janice is reading through the the chronological Bible and she is just thoroughly enjoying that already and I hope that you're staying on track with that and moving moving forward with that. And I hope also that the prayer week was helpful for us at the beginning of the year. Seems like it's been such a while since I've been here. I surely hated missing that prayer week but was so grateful for the live stream and to be able to stay connected. It's not the same as being here but it surely is helpful when you're not able to be here. But I hope that that was helpful for us as we begin our year just acknowledging our absolute dependence on the one that Lauren was just singing to us about, that the choir sang to us about, that we've sung about this morning. And I do hope that you are able to make your way through this prayer guide. I haven't been able to say anything about it, but I just want, right before I go into the message, just to mention again, I do hope if you if you haven't been able to do that yet, that you'll take some time in this book. It's not only a guide of lots of requests and specific things that we can pray for, for our church family, praying for one another individually, as well as praying for different things about the church, but it also says quite a few things to us about the subject of prayer. and helping us in our prayer life. There's a ton of material that's in here and I really would encourage you to take some time. This year I like to put different prayers in here and this year I spent quite a bit of time just calling prayers from the life of Matthew Henry, a 17th century British preacher that for 300 years now, many, many people across the world have been using his commentary set, six volume commentary set, or you can get it even in reduced volumes, but it's on the whole Bible. And it's a very devotional, but really helpful, very stirring commentary. And he's written a book called The Method of Prayer. And I have spent some time just calling through that book and pulling out various prayers. from this man and the prayers are not intended for us to repeat them but they're intended to instruct us on how to be more effective as we pray. Often you would see him praying the scripture and so there's quite a bit in here about that and I would just really encourage you just to take some time this year and go through a page or two a week and just really let God use what's here to help grow us in our communication with God, with our Creator. I hope that that'll be a really helpful tool for us. Well, you know, for many years we have tried to make the month of January a time where we emphasize our stewardship as Christians. And if you've been here for a very long, you know, and some of you have been here a very long time, and you know that January has been a stewardship month in many ways. We actually don't do as much as we used to do in January. Used to, in January, Every week, we were memorizing and quoting together as a church a verse. Every week, we quoted a new verse on stewardship. We would quote it through the course of the week. Every time we gathered, we had a testimony. The morning service, the evening service, in our adult Bible studies, in our staff meetings, in our Wednesday night time, every time we got together, somebody was sharing a testimony about stewardship and how God was working and had worked in their in their lives through that. Pardon me. But every month we've been seeking, every year in January, we've been seeking to emphasize this very important part of our lives. And each January we like to remind us that we are not owners. Truthfully, we don't own a single thing. God is the owner. He is the owner of everything and it all belongs to Him. We used to quote Psalm 24 1, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world And they that dwell therein. Now that pretty much in those couple of verses catches everything. The earth is God's and everything in it, including all of the people that dwell in it. It's all His. Everything belongs to God. We are just merely stewards of what is His. And a steward we've defined for many, many, many years here is one who takes care of another's goods. So the goods are not ours. They're God's. Everything is his. But we are stewards of those goods. And God's put goods into every one of our hands. And those goods are defined by the talents that God has given us. They're defined by the time, the amount of days and months and years that God gives to us. It's defined by the various financial means, the treasures that God puts into our hands, the opportunities. that God puts into our hands. So many things in our lives God brings to us out of His goodness and His kindness. It's all His, but He's allowing us to take these things and to steward what is His for His own glory. That's what Stewardship Month is to emphasize for us. And this year, I want to introduce us to two simple truths that you and I have to grasp if we're going to be good stewards. They're very basic and yet profound concepts. And no one in this room will be a good steward in 2025 unless we understand these truths that we are looking at. And the two truths have to do with the sovereign reign of God. which is the title of today's message, The Sovereign Reign or the Rule of God, which we get out of several of these Psalms here that you see in the 90s here in the Book of Psalms. But we're going to look at Psalm 93 this morning. And let's look at these five verses together. Notice what the psalmist says. The Lord reigneth. I'll just let that sink in for a moment, just those three opening words. You think about the power of those words, you think about the comfort of those words, the encouragement of those words, just three of them. The Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also is established that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old. Thou art from everlasting. And then notice what the psalmist says. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. And here's his conclusion. The Lord on high, the one who is reigning, is mightier than the noise of many waters. Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure. Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. The Lord reigneth. Do you believe that? Do you believe that the Lord reigns over everything? You have to believe that if you're going to be a good steward. You'll never be a good steward in 2025 unless you do embrace that truth. And you'll have many opportunities in 2025 to remind yourself of that. But none of us will be good stewards unless we really acknowledge that truth this morning. I want to remind us here of two. profound truths that are essential for us to be good stewards in 2025. And let's pray and ask the Lord to help us today. Father, today, we do acknowledge to you this morning, we do believe what we've just read. We believe that you reign. We believe that you reign over all. Help our unbelief. And we pray that in this new year in front of us and opportunities that only you know what lie in front of us. We pray that you'll help us to steward well everything that you put into our hands for your own glory. And may we boldly embrace that you, the ancient of days, reign over all. So help us today, Lord. Guide us into truth today that would encourage our hearts for your own glory. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to begin with this first truth, and you know exactly what it is. God rules over all. That's what this psalm clearly teaches us. God rules over all. And that's the first step in me being a faithful steward in 2025 is for me to acknowledge God in his rightful place. That he is who he has revealed himself to be. And I have to understand who this one is, whose goods it is that I am stewarding. And a huge, essential, significant truth that I must grasp about him is that he reigns. That he rules over all. Let's just kind of remind ourselves of some of that. First of all, he rules over all creation. All of it. You know this. He rules over the creation of the worlds. The very opening verses of our Bible tell us that the opening verse, Genesis 1.1, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. He made it. He owns it. He spoke and the worlds were formed. He upholds this world that he made, and he's the only one who can do it. He's the only one who really knows how it works. And so he must be the one, the maker, the owner to sustain it. And we are told that in the scripture, Colossians 1, 16 and 17, for by him, by God, were all things created. The things that are in heaven, the things that are in earth, the things that are under the earth, all things were created by him. And those things, I've missed a phrase there, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. How significant is that? And he is before all things. And by him, all things, the old English word is consist, we would say, hold together. Everything is held together. Everything is sustained. And there's so many illustrations that we could give about this. You study much in the science field, and I'm going to give you any of them because we don't have time. But you study in the science field and you study this earth and this world that God has created and how God is carefully, wisely sustaining everything. If things move one degree or another in what God has made, we're in trouble. But God is sustaining all of it. He not only rules over all of this creation that he has made, the creation of the worlds, but also the creation of man. You and me. Genesis 1, you know these verses. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let that man, let them have dominion over this creation, over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. God is making us stewards. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. God made every one of us. Let me ask you a question. What about the handicapped in our world? Did our perfect God make them? Do you remember when God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt? And do you remember how he offered, Moses did every excuse he could possibly think of in order to get out of what would be an admittedly difficult task? And do you remember? how God answered him. Many of us reading through the Bible, you've probably read through that just recently in Exodus, the first part of Exodus. Do you remember how God answered him in all of those excuses in Exodus chapter 4 and verse 11? God says, Who hath made man's mouth? But he didn't stop there. Or who maketh the dumb? Those who can't speak. The deaf. Or the seeing. Or the blind. Hath not I the Lord? You see, we might have expected Moses giving all of these excuses and we might have expected God just to say, Moses, I made your mouth. Now, go speak what I want you to speak. But God did not stop there. God makes an unequivocal assertion that he is the creator. Not only of the healthy and the whole. But also of those that we call handicapped. In some way. He claims that providential responsibility here over the very conditions that you and I tend to look at and say, oh, what happened? Did something go wrong there? No, God's saying I made it all. You remember this in John 9? Let me just read these first three verses for you. As Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind? Do you see that in our human nature? The disciples see this man born blind from birth and they look at him and their immediate inclination is something went wrong. So, so master, somebody messed up, was it this guy or was it his parents that's put him in this condition? And Jesus said, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. God is showing his works. God is ruling over all creation, over everything that he has made. The Lord reigneth, this psalm tells us. This is the one who is clothed with majesty, who has girded himself with strength, and he is ruling over all of that creation. But he not only rules over all of that creation, he also rules over all, listen to this, circumstances. God rules over all circumstances. He is the unrivaled king. And he rules over every aspect of his creation, let me give you some examples of that, first of all, God rules over the we're going to call it hard. Things of life. Remember Genesis 18, verse 14, is anything too hard for the Lord? The scripture says. Do you remember the context of that question? It's very practical. God had just promised for the seventh time that an elderly and a childless couple, Abraham and Sarah, are actually going to conceive and bear a child of their own. And you remember that account. And God says, is anything too hard for the Lord? The word anything is an interesting word. It's translated there anything, a matter or a thing. But that Hebrew word tavar is normally translated most of the time with the word word. Or revelation. And the word too hard, of course, communicates something that's just marvelous, wonderful, incredible. And we could translate this verse, is anything, is any word too wonderful? For the Lord to perform. That's really the idea, is anything that God says just too good to be true? Is it just too incredible to be believed? Is anything on which God has given his word, his promise or his assurance? Is it too much for you and me to expect or to hope for? Is it just simply too good to be true? Abraham and Sarah, in your old age, you're going to have a son. And you know that story, and Sarah's laughing at that. It's just, that's crazy. That's just incredible. Is any word from God too incredible for him to perform? Paul calls it in Romans 4, the dead womb. And if opening the dead womb of a 90-year-old woman is not too hard for the Lord, God just says, is anything too hard for him? The New Testament twin to that passage you find in Luke chapter 1. We remember that story. We don't have time to read it, but you remember that this is the context of the biological impossibility of the virgin birth. And you remember the passage there, for with God, nothing shall be impossible. And that statement is really remarkable. but is even more remarkable when you think about the one who is making that statement. That's Gabriel. Gabriel, that angel who had served and dwelt in the presence of God for millennia, that angel who has had countless opportunities to witness God's words and God's works, and it's that one, with all of that experience, with everything that he has seen, who says, with God, Nothing shall be impossible. Those words speak to us about not only the ability of God, but the reliability of God, that we can count on him. What he has said, he will not fail to perform. And you see that phrase one more time in the Bible, in Jeremiah 32, and you remember that in Jeremiah Here, the year is 587 BC, Judah is staring down the loaded barrel of Babylon who will within one year demolish their city. take their land, take them away into captivity. And under those conditions, God instructed Jeremiah to purchase a parcel of land in Judah and to publicly preserve the deed on the grounds that houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. And Jeremiah followed through with God's instructions. asserting his conviction there in chapter 32 verses 16 and on through 25 that nothing is too hard for God to accomplish. God rules over the hard things in life. And the thing that we do not have to remember in 2025 is that there may very well be times as we are stewarding our lives that God in this new year, which only he knows what lies in front of us, That we're going to find ourselves up against what seem like impossible circumstances. Hard situations. The path that you may find yourself being asked to walk just seems unwalkable. The task that God seems to be asking you to do just seems to be undoable. And you and I need to remember. Is there anything too hard for God? He rules over all, all of His creation, all of the circumstances, even the hard things of life. But then I also want you to note that He also rules over what we might call the bad things of life. I wish we had time to develop this. Our time is quickly fleeting away. You remember in Job, most of us will look at Job and we would say, wow, that was bad. A lot of bad things happened to that man. And you remember what Job said in Job 2.10? What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? The word evil, we often think of it in a moral context. That's not what we're talking about here. We might refer to a bad storm. Now, we're not talking about that that storm is morally evil. We're talking about that's a bad experience coming. It's a bad storm. And what Job is saying here, should we expect only to receive good things from the hand of God as we live out our lives in a fallen planet? Should we not expect that sometimes God is going to allow some challenging circumstances into our lives, what we might call bad situations? Sometimes God does that. Isaiah 45 and verses 5 and 7, I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me, he says. I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create. Your translation may say calamity. King James says evil. And again, it's not moral. This is not what we're talking about. God never, ever, ever tempts you and me to do wrong. He never, ever tempts us with moral evil. But sometimes he does allow conflict and distress and calamity and difficulty to come into our lives. And he's right there. I think Lauren sang about it or the choir sang about it. I was thinking of the words as they were singing in light of the message. Even in challenging times and difficulty, God is right there ruling over everything. And you and I may find ourselves having to remind ourselves in 2025 that God is ruling over what we might call the bad circumstances of our lives. I had an opportunity actually just this past week to remind myself of this. It was on Monday after surgery last week and they had taken some tissue out of my kidney for pathology report and cytology to kind of figure out what's going on in my kidneys and my doctor, not my oncologist, but the surgeon who did the procedure calls me on Monday and says, hey, how you doing? Just want to let you know that there was a spill in the lab over the weekend that involved your stuff. It was before we were able to analyze it. You're not getting any pathology or cytology from this surgery. I got that news when he called me and I was just incredibly disappointed. Janice was upstairs. I called her to her and said, honey, can you come down? And I explained to her, you know what she said? She said, God is in control of everything. He knows what's going on. What you and I might look at and say, wow, that's a bad experience. But for whatever reason, in the providence of our good and gracious God, He allowed what we would call a bad experience to take place. Now, that was just one event in my life this week. It's likely that you're going to have an event in your life this year. That you might look at that circumstance and say, wow, that's a bad situation. And let me just caution you, don't get mad at God. He's good. And he's always up to good in our lives, in every single thing, he doesn't waste a single thing, he's always up to good. So God rules over, as a first point, I got to remember as a good steward, God rules over all. All of the creation he made, all of the circumstances in my life, both the hard ones and what I might call the bad ones, God is ruling over all of it. And then very quickly, here's the second truth. No one rules God. No one rules God. And what I mean by that is no one can thwart his purposes. Right. There are so many passages that we can turn to Ecclesiastes 7 and verses 13 and 14. Consider the work of God. For who can make that straight which he hath made crooked? Who can undo what God does? Who can unsend what God sends? We can't alter the shape of events that come to us from God. So therefore, in the days of prosperity, be joyful. But in the days of adversity, consider, the Bible says. God appoints one just as well as the other. And he does it for his own purposes. As I mentioned, he doesn't waste a single thing. Isaiah 14 and verse 27, For the Lord of hosts hath purposed and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back? Or what about this, Isaiah 46, verses 9 to 11, I'm just able to give you the verses for time's sake. Can't say very much about it. Here's the scripture, I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. My counsel shall stand. And I will do all my pleasure. Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. No one rules God. And you remember. How that premier Gentile ruler of the dominant empire of the day, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. You remember that story and what happened to him and his response in Daniel 9 verses 35. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand. No one can say to him, what are you doing? You see, God rules over all and no one rules Him. And you know what? We actually find real comfort in that. Imagine if someone did rule God. But here God, the powerful one, the Omnipotent One, the Loving, the Caring One, the One who is the Ancient of Days, the One who is, as the choir is saying to us, Lord, is good and kind and careful and wise. And we don't want to be anywhere else but under His care. In a couple of weeks, we're going to look at another message related to this subject, but it's going to be very, very practical. Here's the heavy truths for us. I want to follow up with a message that says, okay, since God rules over all and no one rules God, then how do I respond to that? What are the appropriate responses of stewardship that I ought to have in 2025, knowing that God rules over all and nobody rules him. And I hope it would be a really practical thing. This is why you and I, have to be very careful as we live out our lives in our circumstances that we remember that God's in charge of everything. This is why you and I have to be very fervent about our evangelism and our seeking to see people come to faith in Christ. Because what God says, no one can thwart. People may deny it, people may laugh at it, people may scorn it, scoff it, do whatever, but no one can distort, annul what God has said. And when God says, we're all sinners, you know what that means? We're all sinners. When God says that our sins will forever separate us from God, you know what that means? Our sins forever separate us from God. That means I'll never have a right relationship with God. I'll never enjoy eternity with Him in heaven unless I do something with my sins. And when God says, I sent my son to be the savior of the world. No one can thwart that. That's exactly what he did. When God says, whosoever believeth in him shall have everlasting life, that's exactly what he means. No one can thwart that. When God says for any sinner, who comes and recognizes, I am a sinner, but Jesus is God's answer for me. He is the Savior, and I want Him to be my Savior. And I call upon Him, and I acknowledge, God, I am a sinner, You are the Savior, and I want You to save me from my sins. Do you know what He will do? He'll do exactly what He said, He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He will save you. And that's the greatest news I could give to you. If you're here today and you are uncertain about your relationship with God, he is the ruler and he rules over everything and he rules over you. And he wants to be your savior, and if you will call out to him, he will save you from your sins, give you a right relationship with him and eternity in heaven. That's how good he is. He'll do that for you. He can do it for you today. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your great love for us. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for these little glimpses that you give to us in your word that remind us of who you are. how comforting it is to us to know that we belong to you, that we can run to you, that you are the Lord over everything and we can find rest in you. You are the strong tower, the righteous run there and find safety. So we thank you for that. And we pray, God, that you would encourage us, that you would strengthen us. We don't know what lies in front of us, but you know every day of our life in the future, you've been there. And so may we rest securely in you and your goodness. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet. Stephen's gonna come and lead us in one verse of a song. We're gonna sing, reminding us of what we ought to do. When we have heard, sung, and preached today, Jesus is Lord, then we ought to worship him as Lord. Worship the Lord.