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Speaker 1: Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection and the Life.

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Speaker 1: He that believeth in me, though he were dead, Yet

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Speaker 1: shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me

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Speaker 1: shall never die. Believest thou this John eleven, twenty five

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Speaker 1: and twenty six. O Lord, how powerful you are. Martha

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Speaker 1: wasn't too happy with you when you finally arrived after

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Speaker 1: her brother Lazarus died. She complained that if you had

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Speaker 1: been there, her brother would have lived because she believed

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Speaker 1: you would have healed him. When you tried to comfort

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Speaker 1: her and said that her brother would rise again, she

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Speaker 1: brushed it off as if it were a generalized statement

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Speaker 1: for the last days. But you said, I am the

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Speaker 1: Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me will live

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Speaker 1: even though he dies. I don't think mark Artha got that,

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Speaker 1: as many don't. You said, I am I am the

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Speaker 1: Resurrection and the Life. You pulled her out of her

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Speaker 1: grief and opened her eyes to see the truth of

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Speaker 1: who you were. With the revelation that you are the Resurrection,

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Speaker 1: it is not coming, It has arrived through you. Even

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Speaker 1: if I die. You were talking about physical death. Yet

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Speaker 1: I will live. I will be resurrected from the grave,

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Speaker 1: and if I believe in You, I shall never die.

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Speaker 1: My spirit is tied to yours eternally. My body may

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Speaker 1: wear out, but my spirit will fly away home and

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Speaker 1: never know decay or death. Yes, Lord, I believe you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for what you have done for me and

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Speaker 1: for all those who believe in You. I give thanks

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Speaker 1: to the Holy One and bow down to you and cry, Holy, Holy, Holy,

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Speaker 1: as the Lamb of God in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to today's daily prayer. For more

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Speaker 1: inspiration and an incredible message from our feature pastor, stay

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Speaker 1: tuned to pray dot COM's Sunday service.

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Speaker 2: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram

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Speaker 2: Here on pray dot com. We are an international teaching

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Speaker 2: and discipleship ministry devoted to helping Christians worldwide live out

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Speaker 2: their faith for the glory of God and the benefit

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Speaker 2: of all people. Today, we're excited to share the first

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Speaker 2: message in Ship's powerful series to the Real God, How

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Speaker 2: He longs for you to see him through. This insightful

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Speaker 2: teaching hip highlights seven fundamental attributes of God's care that

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Speaker 2: will give you a fresh, accurate perspective of who he

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Speaker 2: really is. And as you'll learn, when you get an

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Speaker 2: accurate view of God, it changes everything. But before we

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Speaker 2: dive in, let me encourage you to subscribe to our

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Speaker 2: page here on pray dot com so that you can

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Speaker 2: follow along with Chip's latest series, including the entire The

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Speaker 2: Real God Study, which begins September third. Also, do you

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Speaker 2: want to listen to Living on the Edge without commercial interruptions,

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Speaker 2: then click the give and go.

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Speaker 1: Add free button right now.

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Speaker 2: It's a great way to support pray dot com and

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Speaker 2: our ministry as well. All Right, if you're ready, here's

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Speaker 2: Chip with today's message, Seeking God.

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Speaker 3: There's a quote by aw Towzer that changed the course

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Speaker 3: of my life many many years ago. What comes to

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Speaker 3: your mind when you think about God is the most

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Speaker 3: important thing about you? He'll go on to say, by

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Speaker 3: a secret law of the soul, whatever your mental image is,

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Speaker 3: you will gravitate toward it. How you view yourself, how

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Speaker 3: you pray, how you relate to others, how you perceive

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Speaker 3: the future. Every relationship, every decision will be rooted in

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Speaker 3: how do you mentally perceive God? And here's what you

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Speaker 3: need to know. All of us are off. We're falling people.

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Speaker 3: You have a distorted picture of God. I have a

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Speaker 3: distorted picture of God. The question is how distorted your

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Speaker 3: mental image of God? Is a montage, a montage of

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Speaker 3: early experiences, family of origin issues, some religious training and

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Speaker 3: experiment that someone said this is what he's like, or

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Speaker 3: a religious group, or you've difficult times or pain, or

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Speaker 3: a parent or someone close to you that has died.

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Speaker 3: All these different things over the years have brought you

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Speaker 3: to today. And today, when you bow your head or

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Speaker 3: when you think about God, you have a picture. It's

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Speaker 3: so unconscious. The reason I had you start is I

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Speaker 3: wanted you for Some of you you thought, I don't

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Speaker 3: know what the picture is, right. I'm guessing some of

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Speaker 3: you bowed your head and go, well, I'm He's God.

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Speaker 3: I don't know that I really think about who I'm

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Speaker 3: talking to. That, by the way, is a problem, but

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Speaker 3: it impacts everything. Let me give you some very quick

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Speaker 3: examples from my life that might help you know connect

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Speaker 3: the dots. I did not grow up as a Christian.

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Speaker 3: I did not grow up in a church that taught

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Speaker 3: the Bible. But I remember vividly thinking that my view

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Speaker 3: of God. By the time I was about sixteen or

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Speaker 3: seventeen was that there was he was like a cosmic

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Speaker 3: cop and there was this some big powerful person in

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Speaker 3: the sky somewhere that had a blue suit and his

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Speaker 3: arms are crossed and a toe tapping, and he had

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Speaker 3: a badge and a big club. And basically, if it

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Speaker 3: was fun, it was wrong. And the whole goal was

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Speaker 3: to catch me doing something wrong, which was not hard

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Speaker 3: to do. And it was basically, you've messed up again, Ingram,

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Speaker 3: You've messed up again. So my view of God was

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Speaker 3: longing to pray. In the song we sang about delight

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Speaker 3: and beauty, that wasn't my God. My God was you

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Speaker 3: don't measure up and you need to get with the program.

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Speaker 3: And then that got compounded because despite a father that

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Speaker 3: really loved me, he went through World War Two, he

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Speaker 3: lost his dad when he was thirteen. He was a

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Speaker 3: fifty caliber machine gunner. He spent time Guamiwajima, saw all

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Speaker 3: of his friends killed. I became an alcoholic, very functioning,

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Speaker 3: really cared about me, and in his hara, you didn't

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Speaker 3: say I love you, and no one hugged you. And

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Speaker 3: the way you loved your son was you want him

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Speaker 3: to be successful. So I was setting goals. By the

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Speaker 3: time I was nine years old, I had three jobs.

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Speaker 3: By the time I was twelve, I lent my money

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Speaker 3: three thousand dollars to my parents at six percent interest

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Speaker 3: when I was thirteen years old because I had and

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Speaker 3: I collected, and by the time I was I knew

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Speaker 3: I wanted to do this in basketball, this in baseball,

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Speaker 3: have a girlfriend that looked like this, get a scholarship

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Speaker 3: and get a's. And I work like crazy because what

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Speaker 3: I found is the only way you could please my

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Speaker 3: dad was you had to succeed and affirmations, not love.

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Speaker 3: But it's the next best thing you're growing up. So

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Speaker 3: no matter what I did, the bar always went up

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Speaker 3: the bar. So I got a God in the back

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Speaker 3: of my mind because our parents and we as parents

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Speaker 3: and grandparents were impacting our kids and grandchildren with a

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Speaker 3: view of God by who we are, and so I

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Speaker 3: had a God. So I trusted Christ by God's grace,

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Speaker 3: introduced to the Bible, and a group of athletes loved

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Speaker 3: me and cared for me, and a bricklayer began disciple me.

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Speaker 3: But deep seated was this God who was always waiting

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Speaker 3: for you to mess up. And this God who, no

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Speaker 3: matter how much. So do you pray fifteen minutes seventeen

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Speaker 3: half hour? What if I'm praying a half hour and

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Speaker 3: God wants thirty one minutes? And then pretty soon the

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Speaker 3: group I was with really was in descripture memory? So

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Speaker 3: is it a verse a day? Well? Is it one

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Speaker 3: hundred verses? Is it five hundred verses? What about it?

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Speaker 3: I know some guys that are memorizing books. I don't

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Speaker 3: have many books down. And I became this neurotic, workaholic

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Speaker 3: Christian trapped in a performance trap because that's my view

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Speaker 3: of God. You know, I probably need to go to

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Speaker 3: like a twelve step Christian recovery program. You know, all

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Speaker 3: that was rooted deeply in some family of origin issues

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Speaker 3: growing up, and I didn't know. You know, when you

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Speaker 3: grew up in a family you think is normal, right,

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Speaker 3: so we all it's just we're all dysfunctional. It's just

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Speaker 3: how much. And I don't think it's all bad, it's

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Speaker 3: a fallen world. But then I get married and my

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Speaker 3: wife begins to speak to some things, and I realize,

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Speaker 3: down behind all of that, if down deep in your heart,

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Speaker 3: you don't view a God who, apart from anything you've

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Speaker 3: ever done, looks at you and says you are precious.

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Speaker 3: I delight in you because of what Jesus has done.

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Speaker 3: You are my son, you are my daughter. You are precious.

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Speaker 3: I want to be with you. I affirm you. If

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Speaker 3: that's not your God, then you'll create all kinds of

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Speaker 3: different things to try and stay quote on his good side,

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Speaker 3: or perform. And so if you don't think God really

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Speaker 3: likes you just for who you are, and you don't

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Speaker 3: like yourself for who you are, when your wife starts

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Speaker 3: saying some things that she didn't think is so good

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Speaker 3: about who you are, I was very defensive. So, you know,

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Speaker 3: some marriage counseling and some time where little by little

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Speaker 3: by little, a guy gave me a tiny book called

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Speaker 3: The Knowledge of the Holy by aw Tozer, And I'll

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Speaker 3: never forget. It's just thin little chapters I read. Literally,

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Speaker 3: I read a portion of that book for the last

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Speaker 3: thirty five years, the first ten or fifteen years, a

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Speaker 3: chapter a week, and I would read these little chapters

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Speaker 3: on the goodness of God. I would just it was

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Speaker 3: like God finds holy pleasure in the happiness of his people.

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Speaker 3: Tozer would write that what would happen if we could

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Speaker 3: all but believe that we live in a friendly sky,

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Speaker 3: and that God, though exalted it majesty and power, is

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Speaker 3: eager to be friends with us. He's cordial, kind, benevolent, loving,

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Speaker 3: eager to share hearts. Those were like foreign thoughts for some.

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Speaker 3: It's on the whole other end. You think God's you know,

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Speaker 3: like grandma. You know, all he wants to do is

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Speaker 3: give you a dessert all the time. That's what my

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Speaker 3: wife does, sort of in the sense of God's white hot,

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Speaker 3: unapproachable holiness. And so we have Christians that don't see that. Yes,

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Speaker 3: God is pure and loving, but he is absolutely above. No,

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Speaker 3: he's holy, He's a consuming fire that his commands are

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Speaker 3: for our benefit. But you don't mess with the Holy God.

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Speaker 3: You don't look at his commandments as options. You bow

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Speaker 3: in reference. You meet anyone in scripture that encounters God

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Speaker 3: their face down. There's no casual. This isn't my buddy upstairs.

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Speaker 3: This isn't you know, pointing everything's okay, and you know

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Speaker 3: high five in Jesus and Jesus is my homeboy T shirt.

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Speaker 3: This isn't the God of jewelry and stickers on the

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Speaker 3: back of cars. This is the name that's too holy

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Speaker 3: even to utter that the scribes and the Pharisees would

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Speaker 3: just write the four letters of his name of Yahweh,

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Speaker 3: wouldn't even pronounce it out loud, and then go ceremonially

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Speaker 3: and wash before they could continue to copy the scriptures.

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Speaker 3: So all of us are off. But the most important

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Speaker 3: journey you'll ever have on your life that's never too late,

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Speaker 3: is to pause at certain seasons and say, God, I

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Speaker 3: want to see you as you are, the real God,

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Speaker 3: not the God that I've made up in my mind,

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Speaker 3: Not the God that's being passed around in Christian circles.

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Speaker 3: The real God, the God of the Bible. How he

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Speaker 3: longs for you to see him. That's what we're going

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Speaker 3: to study. And the first session here is to ask

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Speaker 3: the question is your God too small? And if you'll

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Speaker 3: open your notes, we're going to begin by some ground rules,

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Speaker 3: because if you don't get these ground rules, I will

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Speaker 3: assure you you will never see God accurately. There are

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Speaker 3: three common mistakes that we make when we think about God.

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Speaker 3: Three things that you have to know that are facts

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Speaker 3: to know him accurately. And then there's one really really

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Speaker 3: big question that I can't answer for you. You have

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Speaker 3: to answer for yourself. But to see God, the real

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Speaker 3: God of twenty twenty vision. And here's the difference. We

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Speaker 3: are not here to learn more about God. There's a

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Speaker 3: night and day difference between the knowledge about a person

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Speaker 3: and the knowledge of a person. I mean, you can

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Speaker 3: take a movie star, or dignitaries, or you know, the

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Speaker 3: president of the United States. We know a lot about people.

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Speaker 3: You can Wikipedia and know a lot about people like that.

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Speaker 3: We're taking about a knowledge of them, a relationship, a

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Speaker 3: heart knowledge, a connection from the heart. Knowing God by

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Speaker 3: way of intimate connection and relationship, not knowing facts about them,

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Speaker 3: not simply ideas that float around in your mind, but

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Speaker 3: a connection with Him. So three facts you need to

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Speaker 3: know for this to happen is One is that God

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Speaker 3: is not like you. Shocking, isn't it. God is not

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Speaker 3: like you. But our tendency is to take sort of

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Speaker 3: the best that we can think of, the kindest person,

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Speaker 3: the best person, the most holy person, and then somehow

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Speaker 3: we blow it up by ten, or blow it up

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Speaker 3: by one hundred, or blow it up by a million,

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Speaker 3: and things well, God somehow, some way is a lot

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Speaker 3: like a bigger, better, more pure, perfect vision of this.

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Speaker 3: Here's what I want you to know it's not true.

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Speaker 3: There is all created things, even the angels, and that

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Speaker 3: is a category. And then there's a another category, and

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Speaker 3: that's God, completely different category, completely other. That's the concept

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Speaker 3: of the word holy. It means he's separate, he's a

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Speaker 3: cut above. He's not like us. But every religion and

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Speaker 3: even we Bible followers, we want we want to make

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Speaker 3: God like us because we want to manage him, we

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Speaker 3: want to control him. Listen to what Isaiah would write

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Speaker 3: when it comes to God, because this is this is

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Speaker 3: not a new problem Isaiah forty verse twenty five. To whom,

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Speaker 3: then will you compare me? That I should be like him?

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Speaker 3: Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high

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Speaker 3: and see who created these, who brings out their hosts

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Speaker 3: by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness

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Speaker 3: of his might, And because of he is strong in power.

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Speaker 3: Not one is missing. Why do you say, oh, Jacob,

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Speaker 3: and speak O Israel. My cause is hidden from the Lord.

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Speaker 3: It's disregarded by my God. Do you not know? Have

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Speaker 3: you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting go the

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Speaker 3: creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn't grow

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Speaker 3: faint or weary. His understanding is unsearchable or beyond what

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Speaker 3: we can fathom. He's just completely different. But that's helpful.

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Speaker 3: That's why when the Ten Commandments, you know, no other gods,

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Speaker 3: no images, no pictures, nothing that can reduce him, nothing

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Speaker 3: that can get him in a smaller box. See, we've

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Speaker 3: got a box, and we want a God that we

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Speaker 3: can know and feel comfortable with. It's the great lines

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Speaker 3: by C. S. Lewis, you know, and the conversations were

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Speaker 3: Aslan and he says, you know. The little girl says, Aslam,

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Speaker 3: Are you tame? He says, no, I'm not tame. I'm

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Speaker 3: loving and I'm compassionate, but I'm not tame. God's not tame,

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Speaker 3: He's not on call. He's the creator word the creatures.

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Speaker 3: I put in your notes a great passage for me

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Speaker 3: as Romans chapter eleven, when when the apostle Paul was

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Speaker 3: talking about the sovereignty of God and the response stability

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Speaker 3: of man and the crescendo of that great Book of Romans,

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Speaker 3: he ends up with a doxology, Oh the depth of

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Speaker 3: both the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How he

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Speaker 3: talks about, Oh, the depth and the power and the

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Speaker 3: richness of his wisdom and his knowledge. It's beyond finding out.

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Speaker 3: He says, who has known the mind of the Lord,

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Speaker 3: that they should be his counselor no one who has

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Speaker 3: ever first given to God, that God would owe him

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Speaker 3: no one. And then he says, this amazing thing, For

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Speaker 3: from him and through him and to him are all things.

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Speaker 3: To him be the glory. Have you ever thought about

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Speaker 3: that everything in all the world is from him and

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Speaker 3: through him, and to him and to him be the

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Speaker 3: glory or the weight? And so what I want you

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Speaker 3: to know is that God is not like you, and

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Speaker 3: He's not like me. And so there's this category, this awesomeness,

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Speaker 3: this purity that we want to grasp. The second is

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Speaker 3: related to it. Left to ourselves. We tend to reduce

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Speaker 3: God to manageable terms. I want a God that I

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Speaker 3: can see. I want a God that I can control.

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Speaker 3: I want a God that I can tame and manipulate.

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Speaker 3: And that's not the God of the Bible. Every world religion,

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Speaker 3: you know, the old totems right or the moon or

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Speaker 3: the stars, or the image of a god is you know,

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Speaker 3: a lion or some animal. And it was the strength

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Speaker 3: of the bear. And if you go to anthropology all

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Speaker 3: over the world and you see what people worship. We

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Speaker 3: get some concept, whether it's a strength or some power

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Speaker 3: and the moon or the stars, and we take something

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Speaker 3: and we get it where we can see it, and

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Speaker 3: we actually, as human beings, will bow down to things

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Speaker 3: that our own hands create. And Isaiah would later reprove

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Speaker 3: his people and say, you worship gods that you have

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Speaker 3: made yourselves. They have ears and they can't hear. They

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Speaker 3: have hands but they can't they have feet and they

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Speaker 3: can't walk. And he was contrasting them to the real God.

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Speaker 3: But we all do that, we just reduce him. Exodus

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Speaker 3: thirty two one to six is the first and most

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Speaker 3: graphic story. Remember the story of when the people were

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Speaker 3: delivered out of Egypt and just try it, you know,

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Speaker 3: to not make it a Bible story, and try and

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Speaker 3: imagine what it would have been like. You know, for

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Speaker 3: ten generations, you've heard about this invisible God who made

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Speaker 3: some promises to some people that lived a long time ago,

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Speaker 3: and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and some guy named Joseph, and

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Speaker 3: you've heard the stories passed on carefully. But you're a

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Speaker 3: slave and life is hard, and I mean it's been

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Speaker 3: four hundred years and then this Moses guy shows up

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Speaker 3: and then there's these these wild things happening that happened

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Speaker 3: to the Egyptians that don't happen to you. And since

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Speaker 3: you've lived there, you know that every one of these

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Speaker 3: plagues is an attack on one of them, the Egyptian gods.

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Speaker 3: And so one by one that god, this god, this

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Speaker 3: god's the hail guts and the last god was the

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Speaker 3: Egyptians believed that Pharaoh was God, and so his son

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Speaker 3: would be the next god, and so the last plague

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Speaker 3: was the firstborn children. And you didn't get it. You know,

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Speaker 3: what's this blood over the door post? All? It was

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Speaker 3: a bunch of weird stuff. Then pretty soon it's the

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Speaker 3: middle of the night and everyone's saying get out of here,

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Speaker 3: and get out of here now, and here's gold, here's silver,

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Speaker 3: and take your kids and you know, you and a

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Speaker 3: couple million people, and then there's this fire huvving over you.

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Speaker 3: And then there's this wall of water and you remember

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Speaker 3: that night, and the wall of waters up like forty

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Speaker 3: fifty sixty feet this dry land and it's like, you know,

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Speaker 3: your kid's thinking you're going camping out and this is

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Speaker 3: a weird experience. And then the water comes back, and

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Speaker 3: I mean you know, this is like you've seen power power, power, power, right,

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Speaker 3: And then you're sixty days in. You're just sixty days in,

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Speaker 3: and you know, it doesn't feel quite like a camping

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Speaker 3: trip anymore. And you're in the middle of nowhere in wilderness.

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Speaker 3: It's it's wilderness is like desert type, and you know

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Speaker 3: where we're gonna get water, where we're gonna get food,

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Speaker 3: where we're gonna live, and you know, it says sixty

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Speaker 3: days and pretty soon Moses said, because God said, we're

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Speaker 3: come to this mountain, it's Mount Sinai. And you get

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Speaker 3: there and you know, he disappears for a while, and

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Speaker 3: you know, then it's like, okay, you know, you guys

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Speaker 3: are supposed to come out, and you come out to

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Speaker 3: the mountain and you you know, purify yourself and just

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Speaker 3: a bunch of weird stuff. What do you mean, You

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Speaker 3: wash your clothes, don't have any sex for a couple

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Speaker 3: of days, and then they mark off this boundary and

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Speaker 3: if anyone crosses the boundary high and then you come

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Speaker 3: out that morning. Exodus nineteen, by the way, is where

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Speaker 3: we're at. And you come out that morning and everyone's

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Speaker 3: standing and then pretty soon, pretty soon you hear this

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Speaker 3: rams horn. I think it's louder, and it's really really sweet,

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Speaker 3: and part of the wants to listen part of oh this.

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Speaker 3: And then you hear a voice and it's God's voice,

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Speaker 3: and you tremble and the earth starts to shake and

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Speaker 3: your face down and you look up and smoke is

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Speaker 3: billowing out. There's fire, and you're going, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 3: and you're just petrified. And then Moses speaks and you

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Speaker 3: hear his voice again, and then you're Moses, Moses, no more.

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Speaker 3: You just talk to him. He can't take it. And

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Speaker 3: that's God, right. This is a you are there moment.

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Speaker 3: And then after all of now get this, and then

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Speaker 3: Moses says that God, okay, I'm going to go up.

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Speaker 3: He wants me to come, and he's going to give

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Speaker 3: me commands. You know what he wants. He wants to

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Speaker 3: do a cutting. It's a covenant. And because of your background,

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Speaker 3: you understand a covenant has to do with blood. A

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Speaker 3: covenant has to do that we'll make a commitment to

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Speaker 3: God that we're saying that we would die before we'd

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Speaker 3: break the covenant. And he's saying the same thing, and

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Speaker 3: he's going to give us the agreement of the Covenant.

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Speaker 3: What it is we're going to agree to. I'm going

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Speaker 3: to go up and get that. So Moses goes up

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Speaker 3: and then we're people. Right, have you seen him? I

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Speaker 3: don't know. Where's he coming back? I don't know. It's

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Speaker 3: been on a long time. Kids are getting restless. This

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Speaker 3: is end camping trip. Is he coming back at all? Aaron?

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Speaker 3: We need a god. I mean, you know, people were

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Speaker 3: getting restless. It's getting a little up tidier. We need

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Speaker 3: but we did a solution. Okay, fear pressure is very powerful.

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Speaker 3: Why don't you all take off an ear ring bring

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Speaker 3: it to me? And he fashions a calf and they

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Speaker 3: put a golden calf and from their Egyptian background, the

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Speaker 3: bull the calf power fertility. We'll call him Yahweh because

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Speaker 3: we don't want to get in trouble, right, syncretism it

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Speaker 3: always works, so we'll call it Yahweh. And then tomorrow

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Speaker 3: will bring your sacrifices and have said they brought their sacrifices,

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Speaker 3: and then they begin to express their worship in the

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Speaker 3: King James's revelry. It's like a really hot weekend in Vegas.

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Speaker 3: I mean, and you need to understand all the worship

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Speaker 3: the ancient world built into all the fertility gods, it

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Speaker 3: was sexuality, all kind of in moral ways. And then

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Speaker 3: God looks down and sees what's happening. He says, Moses,

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Speaker 3: we got a problem. Now here's the question. I want

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Speaker 3: to ask you. How in the world could you have

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Speaker 3: that kind of experience with God, see those kind of miracles,

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Speaker 3: that kind of power, actually hear his voice, see the

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Speaker 3: earth shake, and then demand that you had to have

402
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Speaker 3: something you could see. I want to tell you it's

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Speaker 3: human nature. And before we get like I don't know.

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Speaker 3: As an early Christian, I remember reading through the Bible

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Speaker 3: and stuff like this. I'm thinking, man, these people are

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Speaker 3: nuts or the disciples, you know, like you know, Jesus

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Speaker 3: would heal someone and then they're uptied about not having bread.

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Speaker 3: You know. I was young and never read the Bible,

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Speaker 3: and I thought, man, man, I wish I was there, Man,

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't have those kind of problems. I have to.

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Speaker 3: I do have a confession. I need to make that.

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Speaker 3: So far, it's sort of the sign of spiritual growth.

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Speaker 3: I've never come home after you know, a long day

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Speaker 3: of work and say, honey, you know, just stay right here.

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Speaker 3: I know, I put a little statue in the back room,

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Speaker 3: I'm going to go pray to it. So I've never

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Speaker 3: done that, just once. You know, I've never worshiped, but

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Speaker 3: I've worshiped a lot of idols that I've created in

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Speaker 3: my head, idols like success, family, kids, education, prosperity, money, comfort,

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Speaker 3: self fulfillment. See, we don't worship idols. They actually used

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Speaker 3: God made a picture, worshiped it in a way that

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Speaker 3: they could actually get quote what they wanted, in the

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Speaker 3: way they thought that would satisfy them with total disregard

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Speaker 3: for the real God. And I like to suggest that

425
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,960
Speaker 3: we do the same thing. There's two big idols that

426
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,240
Speaker 3: I want to touch on that I think have infiltrated

427
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:47,040
Speaker 3: Bible believing evangelical Christianity. The first one is what I

428
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 3: would call happiness and self fulfillment. The awesome God that

429
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 3: spoke the galaxies into existence, sent God the Son on

430
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 3: a rescue mission to explain him, to redeem mankind, to

431
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,960
Speaker 3: forgive us of our sin, to restore relationship and build

432
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 3: a bridge, bring people to himself, and that he would

433
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 3: actually be God and we would be followers, or the

434
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,919
Speaker 3: word is disciples. To take that ministry and mission, and

435
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,400
Speaker 3: he would be the creator and we're the creatures, and

436
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,080
Speaker 3: we would obey Jesus and follow him as his spirit

437
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:23,320
Speaker 3: in the New Covenant living inside of us, and we

438
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 3: would be on this mission together to fulfill God's will

439
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 3: and he would be the focus. That was the game plan.

440
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:36,479
Speaker 3: But somewhere along the line we flipped it and it

441
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 3: was Jesus is my self, help, genie and Guru. And

442
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 3: there's a Christian way that if I read the Bible

443
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:46,880
Speaker 3: and if I pray, go on a short term missions trip.

444
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:49,199
Speaker 3: You get extra points if you give beyond ten percent,

445
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,880
Speaker 3: go to religious activities and try and be a little

446
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 3: bit more moral than other people. The promise is you'll

447
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 3: have a marriage that's out of sight with no problems.

448
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 3: Your kids are all going to turn out great. You're

449
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 3: going to be upwardly mobile. They're going to get into

450
00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:08,919
Speaker 3: the buried best schools. If other people get cancer, you won't.

451
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:12,639
Speaker 3: You're going to have amazing prosperity. God's going to bless

452
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:17,200
Speaker 3: you financially, and Jesus' role in your life and the

453
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 3: formula is is that his goal is to make you happy,

454
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 3: because what really matters is are you happy? Are you

455
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:29,160
Speaker 3: fulfilled so much so that if some of the commands

456
00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,359
Speaker 3: of Bible are some of the challenges in your life

457
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 3: threaten to make you happy, you redo your theology and

458
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:37,440
Speaker 3: we do our theology and say this couldn't be God's

459
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 3: well because God wants to make me happy. I remember

460
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:43,400
Speaker 3: we did a series that living on the Edge called Love,

461
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,480
Speaker 3: Sex and Lasting Relationships and became one of our real

462
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 3: well received small groups, and then a book came out

463
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 3: of it. And so when you do that, usually are

464
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:52,479
Speaker 3: on these like two or three days, you do these

465
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 3: radio kind of talk shows and people call in and

466
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 3: they talk about that stuff. And this lady said, well,

467
00:26:57,800 --> 00:26:59,560
Speaker 3: I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying that.

468
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:01,720
Speaker 3: I just want you to know I believe in God

469
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 3: and I love Jesus so much. You know, Jesus really

470
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 3: loves me. But I'm just we've lost the love in

471
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:10,520
Speaker 3: our marriage. And I said, well, I mean, as your

472
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 3: husband committed some immorals. Oh no, no, no, he's okay.

473
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 3: But you know what, I just want you to know

474
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,360
Speaker 3: that I know God wants me to be happy, so

475
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 3: I'm divorcing him, and I'm divorcing him because I can't

476
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,399
Speaker 3: see the next ten years. These challenges are just too hard.

477
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,920
Speaker 3: God wants me to be happy. And you know, then

478
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 3: I sort of gave her a number of kind clear

479
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:35,920
Speaker 3: passages about he certainly as a byproduct of obeying him,

480
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 3: wants us to have joy and happiness. But actually, you

481
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,199
Speaker 3: made a covenant and made a covenant with God, and

482
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 3: you know, these are pretty normal times we all go through.

483
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,080
Speaker 3: But I will tell you is in the Evangelical Church,

484
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,679
Speaker 3: the divorce rate is no different than outside. And by

485
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 3: the way, I mean, I'm just please, if you're sitting here,

486
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:57,000
Speaker 3: going my wife is divorced. There are biblical divorces. My

487
00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,800
Speaker 3: wife was an unbeliever, married a guy. He started selling drugs.

488
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,600
Speaker 3: He ran away with another woman. She wanted it to work,

489
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 3: and he after two years. And you know, God can

490
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:12,359
Speaker 3: can redeem and take things. But the great majority of

491
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 3: divorces in our day are not about that. It's you know,

492
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 3: irreconcilable differences. It's hard, it's difficult, it's painful. Hello, And

493
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 3: guess what. The second one is hard and difficult and painful,

494
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,880
Speaker 3: and the third one is harder and more difficult and painful.

495
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 3: And honestly, here's the thing. We think that the whole

496
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 3: goal of marriage is self fulfillment redefined it. Guess what

497
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 3: it's to make you holy? The purpose of marriage is

498
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 3: that the people could see the covenant of a man

499
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 3: and a woman worked out in the flesh, with the

500
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 3: ups and downs and struggles, and so they could see

501
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 3: what Jesus in the church looks like. It's a testimony.

502
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 3: It's the most powerful other than the Body of Christ.

503
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 3: It's the most powerful visual that God has for his

504
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 3: relationship with this church. So as I obey that, yes,

505
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 3: there's a byproduct of joy and connection, but we've turned

506
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 3: everything on its head, and so life really becomes about

507
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 3: am I happy? Am I self fulfilled? And then all

508
00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:20,680
Speaker 3: of a sudden, we've got this prosperity stuff everywhere, and

509
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 3: we have disillusioned Christians because guess what. You can have

510
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 3: your quiet time, read the Bible, give above ten percent,

511
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 3: go on a short term missions trip and a drunk

512
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 3: driver hits one of your kids, or your wife gets cancer,

513
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 3: or you save and save and save and faithful and

514
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 3: serve and serve and serve, and it's a fallen world

515
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 3: and you saved, and these are going to be the

516
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 3: sunset years and you're sixty eight and in great health,

517
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 3: and someone gets cancer and has gone in three months,

518
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 3: and it's like, what, man, this, what happened to the

519
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 3: formula Jesus? Here's what it is. You owe me God,

520
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 3: you owe me happiness, you owe me a future, you

521
00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:56,719
Speaker 3: owe me this. You say, you know why, because we're

522
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 3: claiming all kinds of promises that aren't in scripture. When's

523
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 3: the last time you heard a Christian claim this promise

524
00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:05,880
Speaker 3: For all those who desire to live a godly life

525
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 3: in Christ, Jesus will be persecuted. Oh yeah, that's the

526
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 3: plaque in the bathroom. Or how about Philippians, one for

527
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 3: to you, for to you? It has been granted not

528
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 3: only to believe in Him, but to suffer for his sake,

529
00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 3: experience the same conflict what you see and here to

530
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 3: be in me that I'm presently suffering. The apostle Paul.

531
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:35,800
Speaker 3: What a joy, right, American Christians? It's like what I

532
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:40,240
Speaker 3: sat across the table from a house church undercover pastor

533
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 3: in Hong Kong who came out to do some work

534
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,520
Speaker 3: and go to a seminar, and on his last trip

535
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 3: out his wife was beaten by the police and she

536
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,120
Speaker 3: claimed to be the pastor so he wouldn't get in trouble,

537
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 3: and none of the other people. And I mean, she

538
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 3: was beat to a pulp. And I'm at the edge

539
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 3: of my seat in my mind thinking, man, I don't

540
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 3: know if I could be very Christian with those police.

541
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:09,480
Speaker 3: When I got home, you know, I sting like a butterfly,

542
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 3: you know, and I'm getting mad for this pasture. And

543
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 3: then he gets to the end where I'm thinking, you know,

544
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:20,560
Speaker 3: in my good American Western Christianity, man, I know it

545
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 3: would be sinful to do something really wrong, but I

546
00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 3: want to take him out. And then with tears in

547
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:25,760
Speaker 3: the eye his eyes, he looks at me, he goes,

548
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 3: can you imagine that our God gave us the privilege

549
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 3: to suffer for him even as He suffered for us?

550
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:39,640
Speaker 3: And I was thinking, embarrassingly, actually, I didn't say this.

551
00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:45,720
Speaker 3: That thought never crossed my mind. It never entered my mind,

552
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 3: that we get to enter into a suffering, that the

553
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 3: goal would be intimacy with God, that the goal would

554
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 3: be we say it glory for God. That the goal

555
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 3: would be that God would take the difficulty and the

556
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 3: pain of a difficult marriage, or a hurting child, or

557
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 3: a physical disability, or a downward economy or the upside

558
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:05,520
Speaker 3: down house, and that the real goal is that God

559
00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 3: would meet you in ways that your friends, your neighbors,

560
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:15,160
Speaker 3: your family could be completely aghast at what holds you

561
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 3: up inside because those circumstances cross you everyone else because see,

562
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,160
Speaker 3: that's He's God. He's a kind God. But it's a

563
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 3: fallen world where I live. I'm surely it's not where

564
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,360
Speaker 3: you live. But I see great Christian families that you

565
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:38,640
Speaker 3: would think that the goal in life is to have

566
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 3: your kids in as many activities as possible, to be

567
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 3: in the car most of the time, to figure out

568
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 3: how not to eat together almost ever, not tuck your

569
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 3: kids in bed, and don't teach him the Bible. But

570
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 3: they made the traveling team. Now, don't get me wrong,

571
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 3: I love sports. God paid my way through school and sports.

572
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 3: I've coached my kids. But we I've just I mean,

573
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 3: is there like ESPN forty five channels now or something.

574
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 3: I mean, it has become a cult movement. I mean,

575
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 3: we don't even care about the games anymore. It's just

576
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 3: my fantasy team. And they even think of the focus

577
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 3: of forgive me Lord, but the self focus of it

578
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 3: doesn't even matter what teams play, I just choose people

579
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 3: that I'm coordinating. He got hurt at take him off

580
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 3: my team.

581
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:37,160
Speaker 4: The trivia of life. Here's what I want you to

582
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:39,400
Speaker 4: know is if we get a clear view of the

583
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:44,080
Speaker 4: real God, some of the things that we have slowly, slowly,

584
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,600
Speaker 4: slowly come accustomed to and think is normal, as Christians

585
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:53,760
Speaker 4: would shock us. And one is the idol of happiness

586
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:56,719
Speaker 4: and self fulfillment. The other idol, I think is what

587
00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:02,360
Speaker 4: I call the salad bar approach to Christianity, and the

588
00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 4: way it goes is something that we're seeing in Bible

589
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,280
Speaker 4: or into churches now. And it's like God had a

590
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 4: good day when he gave the ten Commandment's just not

591
00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:13,440
Speaker 4: a great day. Eight out of ten are good. Now

592
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:15,799
Speaker 4: you get to choose which two you don't like in

593
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 4: our day. You know, this one about.

594
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,960
Speaker 3: Adultery or sexual purity, I think that was very old fashioned.

595
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 3: It was probably for the community of that time and

596
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 3: in our more existential, wiser way. I don't think that

597
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 3: really applies today. Oh this one, Oh no, we don't

598
00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,120
Speaker 3: just know that we've been You know that thing about greed.

599
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:36,839
Speaker 3: Greed is good. He obviously hadn't seen the movie, we'll

600
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:41,000
Speaker 3: cut that one out. And we have taken the Bible,

601
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:46,000
Speaker 3: and we've decided selectively which parts are true, which parts

602
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 3: are not true, instead of it being the authority, and

603
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:54,720
Speaker 3: we've created it around a lifestyle and an American dream vision.

604
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 3: And we have taken a book removed the God of

605
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,120
Speaker 3: authority and the God that holy and the God who

606
00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 3: loves us and the God who wants our best, and

607
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,839
Speaker 3: we have basically said, how again can this? And so

608
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,279
Speaker 3: when you decide what's true and what's not true, there's

609
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:16,000
Speaker 3: a new God on the throne and it's you. I mean,

610
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,560
Speaker 3: it's massive across America right now. We have tens of

611
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:25,440
Speaker 3: thousands of people flocking to services where part of the

612
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 3: Bible is taught as though it's some sort of a

613
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:32,800
Speaker 3: positive thinking self help manual instead of the Holy creator

614
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 3: of the universe sent his son, and that he's asked

615
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,800
Speaker 3: us to join him in a mission to rescue people

616
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 3: off this world called the Titanic that's sinking. And we

617
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 3: have the only hope and that needs to be our priority.

618
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 3: And by the way, by the way, as that's your priority,

619
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 3: and he is Lord, and as you serve him, he

620
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:55,640
Speaker 3: is so kind and so generous that the byproduct is

621
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,560
Speaker 3: very very often an amazingly deep intimate marriage. The byproduct

622
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:03,520
Speaker 3: is the level of joy regardless of circumstances. The byproduct

623
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,000
Speaker 3: is that your kids will see that and catch the

624
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,919
Speaker 3: vision and probably follow in your steps. But it's a byproduct.

625
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,120
Speaker 3: And so what happens is when you make the means

626
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:17,279
Speaker 3: the end, it becomes an idol. It's what happened I

627
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 3: believe with Abraham. Why would God ask Abraham to give

628
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:25,080
Speaker 3: his son? I mean, you wait one hundred years for something,

629
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,719
Speaker 3: you think that by twelve thirteen the kid kind of

630
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 3: was an idol. So anytime we worship an idol, two

631
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 3: things happen. The idol can't deliver, and we take God

632
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:38,239
Speaker 3: out of the equation in our life. So the whole

633
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:42,799
Speaker 3: point of Abraham giving Isaac was for his good to

634
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:47,920
Speaker 3: free his heart. Isaac can't deliver fulfillment. Isaac can't fulfill

635
00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:54,200
Speaker 3: my will. Isaac is a gift. It's to steward. Children

636
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,960
Speaker 3: are a gift from the Lord. And so that moment

637
00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 3: for him to take Isaac up was a moment of

638
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 3: life lordship to believe that he could trust what God's

639
00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,960
Speaker 3: word and Hebrews eleven says what he went there believing

640
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,360
Speaker 3: that though he slay him, he would rise. And you know,

641
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 3: just we might as well just start this time off together.

642
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,279
Speaker 3: Just ask yourself before you hit the pillow, do I

643
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 3: have any isaacs? And usually they're good things. It's a

644
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:29,480
Speaker 3: good job, can be a great marriage, could be one

645
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:33,400
Speaker 3: of your kids. It can be ministry, believe me. So

646
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:34,880
Speaker 3: what we want to do is we want to pause

647
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:39,480
Speaker 3: and say, okay, Lord, I know that you're not like me.

648
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 3: I know that I will reduce you to manageable terms.

649
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:45,640
Speaker 3: And third, God can only be known as he reveals

650
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,280
Speaker 3: himself to us, and he does that in three ways,

651
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:52,759
Speaker 3: and these will develop throughout the whole time. But let

652
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 3: me give him to you. The first way God reveals

653
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,600
Speaker 3: himself to us is through nature. Saw in nineteen one says,

654
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,080
Speaker 3: the heaven's declared the glory of God. The sky I

655
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:02,759
Speaker 3: proclaimed the work of his hands. Day after day, they

656
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:07,719
Speaker 3: pour forth speech, night after night. They reveal knowledge. One

657
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 3: of the things I do, I like, I just like

658
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:12,200
Speaker 3: to get up early. It's just work for me, and

659
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 3: so it's always dark and often when I get up,

660
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:18,040
Speaker 3: you know, that's when I spend time with God and

661
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 3: my warped personality. Sometimes I think of all the things

662
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:24,120
Speaker 3: I've got to do, and I start feeling pressure, and

663
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:27,000
Speaker 3: so I usually list the things I'm thankful for to

664
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 3: get my perspective, and then I'll write a little box

665
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,359
Speaker 3: in my journal, and I'll put a box and then

666
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,200
Speaker 3: I'll write, and I'll turn the pressure into a prayer request.

667
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 3: And some of them sometimes, you know, I have like eight, ten, twelve, going,

668
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, and that's just today. And and then

669
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:42,799
Speaker 3: I often, you know, I'll get that second cup of

670
00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,840
Speaker 3: coffee and I'll and I'll go outside. And when I

671
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:47,600
Speaker 3: go outside, and then I just look at all these

672
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 3: stars and I just look at my little boxes, all

673
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:56,359
Speaker 3: those stars, and I just think men have been looking

674
00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,279
Speaker 3: at these for thousands of years. You hold you know

675
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,680
Speaker 3: every name. This is just the Milky Way. There's only

676
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:07,680
Speaker 3: a billion stars, only a billion, and you know all

677
00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 3: their names. By the word of your power. You're holding

678
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:14,480
Speaker 3: them right now. Outside the Milky Way. There's between two

679
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:20,920
Speaker 3: hundred and three hundred billion galaxies. I'm going to cast

680
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:24,839
Speaker 3: my care upon you because you care for me. You're

681
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:29,520
Speaker 3: an all powerful god, and yet you care about one

682
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,640
Speaker 3: little guy in California named Chip and you know I

683
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:37,160
Speaker 3: feel those pressures, and you're committed to giving me the

684
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 3: grace to either say yes, to say no, or to

685
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:43,640
Speaker 3: do whatever you want me to do. So I'm going

686
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 3: to go back inside and I'm just going to remember

687
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:50,000
Speaker 3: who I'm really talking to. And sometimes it's three minutes,

688
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 3: sometimes it's ten. And then I go back and I say, Okay, Lord,

689
00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:57,319
Speaker 3: what do you want me to do? What do you

690
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,839
Speaker 3: not want me to do? What could someone else do?

691
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:03,080
Speaker 3: And then okay, I know these Okay, I got to

692
00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 3: record this video and prepare me. I need to have

693
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 3: a hard conversation I need And it just changes, It

694
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:18,959
Speaker 3: just changes. When when's the last time you were out

695
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:24,240
Speaker 3: in nature and saw it? The theologians call it general revelation.

696
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,120
Speaker 3: In Roman's One, the apostle Paul would say, we're all

697
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:31,640
Speaker 3: without excuse because from the stars and the balance of

698
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:35,440
Speaker 3: nature and the mystery and the harmony of nature alone,

699
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:40,440
Speaker 3: God's invisible attributes, his eternal existence and his very character

700
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,320
Speaker 3: is revealed. What kind of a god has a bird

701
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:47,120
Speaker 3: that lays an egg here and flies thousands and thousands

702
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 3: of miles way over to here, and a year later

703
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 3: drops an egg twelve inches from the same spot. What

704
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:57,640
Speaker 3: kind of a god has gps into wales that travel

705
00:40:57,719 --> 00:41:00,880
Speaker 3: and crisscross. What kind of a god has six hundred

706
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 3: different kinds of beatles. He's a god of variety, a

707
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:06,760
Speaker 3: god of beauty, a god of power, a god of love,

708
00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:10,839
Speaker 3: a god of design. But you know what, he can

709
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,319
Speaker 3: just be the God of Help me get through this, God,

710
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:18,160
Speaker 3: I need a parking spot. Help it to be on sale. Yeah,

711
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 3: I mean, go to some of our prayer meetings. You know,

712
00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:24,600
Speaker 3: they're like anatomy meetings. Help Ethel's toe, help Bob's shoulder,

713
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:30,479
Speaker 3: help Georgia's ear, help him clean out thou the alven Bob,

714
00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:35,919
Speaker 3: it's a second time through. If you listen to his pray,

715
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:38,279
Speaker 3: you would think, honestly, what we really feel like is

716
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,320
Speaker 3: I can only pray about things I think I can control.

717
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:43,880
Speaker 3: And since God is obviously unaware of all this, what

718
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,320
Speaker 3: I'm trying to do is take this awesome, powerful God

719
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:48,359
Speaker 3: and bring him into my little world to get him

720
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,600
Speaker 3: to do what I think he ought to do. Then

721
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,000
Speaker 3: listen to how the apostle Paul prays. I pray that

722
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:56,560
Speaker 3: the eyes of your heart might be enlightened. I pray

723
00:41:56,560 --> 00:41:58,640
Speaker 3: that you might grasp the height and depth, and length

724
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:00,239
Speaker 3: and breadth, and to know the love of Christ that

725
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:03,680
Speaker 3: surpasses knowledge. I pray that God would give you insight

726
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,520
Speaker 3: into his will, that you could discern good from evil,

727
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:08,920
Speaker 3: in order that you might walk in a manner worthy

728
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:13,080
Speaker 3: of Him. I pray that you would understand the depth

729
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:17,879
Speaker 3: of His love for you, how precious of an inheritance

730
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 3: you are to Him, and the power that dwells within you.

731
00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:23,600
Speaker 3: I pray that you might be filled with the knowledge

732
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:26,640
Speaker 3: of His will. I mean those prayers and Philippians one

733
00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:31,759
Speaker 3: and Philippians three and Phesian three and Philippians and Clautionans.

734
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,759
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not the apostle Paul, and you're not

735
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:39,440
Speaker 3: the apostle Paul. But wow, it sure seems like he's

736
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,759
Speaker 3: asking not so much about tactical things. And I don't

737
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:46,400
Speaker 3: think it's wrong. I pray for tactical things. But I

738
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:51,240
Speaker 3: think he actually believes that if people could see God

739
00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,799
Speaker 3: for who he is, if people could be aligned, if

740
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,000
Speaker 3: God would reveal himself and they would be open, they

741
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:58,640
Speaker 3: would follow his will. All those tactical things that probably

742
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:02,759
Speaker 3: get taken care of the second Wave reveals himself as

743
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:06,000
Speaker 3: through his word. John chapter one and the beginning was

744
00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:09,520
Speaker 3: the Word, and the word was with God, and the

745
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 3: Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

746
00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:14,680
Speaker 3: Through him all things were made, and without him nothing

747
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:17,720
Speaker 3: was made that has been made. And him was life,

748
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:20,319
Speaker 3: and the life was a light of the world. I mean,

749
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,000
Speaker 3: I love you might just in your notices, I think

750
00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:25,120
Speaker 3: I put Hebrews one. It's one of my favorite passages.

751
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,279
Speaker 3: In times past, God has spoken to us through the

752
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:30,040
Speaker 3: prophets and the apostles, been in this last days, He's

753
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:33,080
Speaker 3: spoken to us through his son, who is the icon,

754
00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:37,920
Speaker 3: the exact image or representation of the Father. It's the

755
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 3: picture of if you've ever if you took a piece

756
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 3: of putty, and you took like a silver dollar or

757
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:44,400
Speaker 3: something like that, and if you pressed it into the

758
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,680
Speaker 3: piece of putty and then pulled it out real carefully,

759
00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:51,480
Speaker 3: you have the exact image. Right. That's the word. Jesus

760
00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:57,239
Speaker 3: is the exact image calautions to all the fullness of

761
00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:01,359
Speaker 3: the Godhead dwelt in christ se. If you really want

762
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:04,680
Speaker 3: to know what God is like, it's Jesus the very

763
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 3: last night, right. He's getting he wants the disciples to

764
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:11,520
Speaker 3: stay on track, and he's talking to him and he's

765
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,680
Speaker 3: preparing them, and it's really encouraging because they're really slow,

766
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:17,520
Speaker 3: which gives me a lot of hope. And he talks

767
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:19,320
Speaker 3: to me, well, you know the way I go, except

768
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:23,800
Speaker 3: to Thomas, you know what this is? The Ingraham translation.

769
00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:26,719
Speaker 3: I think you're talking in circles candidly, Jesus, I really

770
00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:28,440
Speaker 3: don't know the way, and I don't really get it.

771
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:33,480
Speaker 3: And Jesus said, Thomas, I'm the way and the truth

772
00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:35,680
Speaker 3: in the life. No man comes to the Father except

773
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:39,799
Speaker 3: by me. And then Philip frustrated, Well, such, it'll be enough.

774
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,640
Speaker 3: Just just show us the Father and it'll be enough. Philip,

775
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:45,719
Speaker 3: how long have I been with you? If you've seen me,

776
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:49,680
Speaker 3: you've seen the Father. If you want to know how

777
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:54,520
Speaker 3: does your image of God? How does God respond when

778
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:59,719
Speaker 3: you really mess up? When you do something that's wilful, malicious, sinful, shameful,

779
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,360
Speaker 3: wish you hadn't done it, and you feel terrible about

780
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:05,280
Speaker 3: it and you're coming to God. How will God treat

781
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:07,920
Speaker 3: you exactly the way he did the woman caught in adultery.

782
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:11,279
Speaker 3: If you want to know how God thinks of you

783
00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:13,319
Speaker 3: and how he'll relate to you when you know some

784
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,440
Speaker 3: of those times we feel like, Man, I'm reading the Bible,

785
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:20,319
Speaker 3: I got the quiet time going, we gave a little

786
00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:26,240
Speaker 3: extra money to missions. I think I'm feeling pretty holy.

787
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:31,400
Speaker 3: Then the way he feels about you is Jesus with

788
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:35,720
Speaker 3: the Pharisees. If you know when your heart is hungry

789
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:37,560
Speaker 3: and you're and you don't know the direction, and you

790
00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:40,000
Speaker 3: wish you knew what to do, and you're messing up,

791
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:42,600
Speaker 3: but you're making progress, and you say, Lord, but you

792
00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:45,839
Speaker 3: just help me. It's how Jesus related to the disciples.

793
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:49,120
Speaker 3: Did you realize he never got mad at them? One

794
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:53,919
Speaker 3: only issue all in all the gospels, only one thing. Oh,

795
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:58,440
Speaker 3: you have little his God's agenda is so simple. We

796
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 3: make it so complicated. Here's to trust me. Trust me

797
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:04,920
Speaker 3: in the hard marriage, Trust me with your kid, trust

798
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:08,359
Speaker 3: me with your money, trust me with the decision. I've

799
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:12,680
Speaker 3: got a little question that I write down in hard situations. Question,

800
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:15,760
Speaker 3: what does it look like to trust God in this situation?

801
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:20,080
Speaker 3: Not how do I fix it? Not God, will you

802
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,680
Speaker 3: do this and that? What's it look like to trust

803
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:26,800
Speaker 3: God in this marriage, in this decision, in this financial loss,

804
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:30,840
Speaker 3: in this hard conversation coming up? What's because here's the

805
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:34,359
Speaker 3: thing without faith it's impossible to please him. You can

806
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:36,400
Speaker 3: build a ministry, you can build a business, you can

807
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,000
Speaker 3: have a decent looking family. Without faith, you just can't

808
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:43,200
Speaker 3: please God. The heart of what it means to be

809
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:46,400
Speaker 3: a follower of Jesus is to trust him. And you

810
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:50,240
Speaker 3: can't trust someone you don't know. You only trust people

811
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:53,600
Speaker 3: that this is their character, this is their track record,

812
00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:56,200
Speaker 3: and over and over and over all. The lessons to

813
00:46:56,239 --> 00:46:59,480
Speaker 3: the disciples are what you can trust my word, because

814
00:46:59,480 --> 00:47:03,239
Speaker 3: when you see my word, it's always faithful. So many

815
00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:04,920
Speaker 3: of the miracles. Why did he do him the way

816
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:07,520
Speaker 3: he did him? When he wanted to calm the sea?

817
00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,120
Speaker 3: What did he do? He spoke? I mean he could

818
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:13,279
Speaker 3: have done hand signs. When the little girl was dead,

819
00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 3: how did he He didn't touch her? Little girl? I

820
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:22,839
Speaker 3: say to you, arise, bam, see calm, demon, come out.

821
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:24,920
Speaker 3: If I'm a disciple of what I'm thinking, I'm not

822
00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:26,680
Speaker 3: sure about this guy. But whatever he says, you can

823
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:31,840
Speaker 3: trust it. And that's for us. So he reveals himself

824
00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:37,680
Speaker 3: through nature, through his word, and ultimately through Jesus. No

825
00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:41,040
Speaker 3: man has seen God at any time. John One tells

826
00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:43,719
Speaker 3: us the word became flesh and dwelt among us we

827
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:47,680
Speaker 3: build his glory. Glory is the only one. And then

828
00:47:47,719 --> 00:47:51,759
Speaker 3: he says to us, no man has seen God at

829
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:57,160
Speaker 3: any time, but he has explained him. The word is exegeted.

830
00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:01,360
Speaker 3: Jesus explained the thought. You want to know what God's like,

831
00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:04,600
Speaker 3: it's Jesus. That's why I think it's no matter where

832
00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:07,160
Speaker 3: we're reading in the Bible, don't go too far away

833
00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:12,000
Speaker 3: from the Gospels. I've got a buddy. He's a Bible aholic.

834
00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:14,680
Speaker 3: He's my hero when it comes to the Bible. I've

835
00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:16,640
Speaker 3: never been around it. We went overseas together when I

836
00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:18,920
Speaker 3: was young, and he was the first guy that started

837
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:21,879
Speaker 3: memorizing small books of the Bible. And every time i'm

838
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:24,680
Speaker 3: with Glenn and he goes, chip, I just learned something

839
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:26,480
Speaker 3: what he says, no matter where you're reading, you're ready

840
00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:30,880
Speaker 3: for this. What if you just read just like three chapters,

841
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:33,480
Speaker 3: just three chapters in the Gospel? I mean, can you

842
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:36,040
Speaker 3: imagine only three chapters. If you read three chapters every

843
00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:39,000
Speaker 3: day in the Gospels, you can get through the Gospels

844
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:42,439
Speaker 3: like fifteen times in a year. Can you imagine fifteen times?

845
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:45,760
Speaker 3: You really see Jesus. I'm thinking, Glenn, you're still blowing

846
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:49,200
Speaker 3: me away. But what he's saying is, no matter what

847
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:53,960
Speaker 3: we're doing, Jesus is the focus. Jesus is the focus.

848
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:56,280
Speaker 3: Get to know Jesus, you get to know God. Okay.

849
00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:59,640
Speaker 3: The big question and this is the one will impact

850
00:49:00,040 --> 00:49:02,359
Speaker 3: and are time together. What must I do to see

851
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:05,520
Speaker 3: the real God as he is? What must I do

852
00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:10,480
Speaker 3: to see the real God as he is? The answer

853
00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:18,600
Speaker 3: is seek him, seek him Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven.

854
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,280
Speaker 3: Follow along as I read, for I know the plans

855
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:24,920
Speaker 3: that I have for you, declares the Lord plans to

856
00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:28,080
Speaker 3: prosper you and not to harm you. God's not the force,

857
00:49:28,120 --> 00:49:32,920
Speaker 3: He's personal plans to give you a hope and a future.

858
00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:35,759
Speaker 3: The God that you're talking to wants to give you

859
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:39,120
Speaker 3: hope deep in your soul and a future. And he understands.

860
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:42,040
Speaker 3: Then you will call on me, and you will come

861
00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:43,920
Speaker 3: and pray to me, and I will listen to you,

862
00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:48,840
Speaker 3: and you will seek me, and you will find me.

863
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:54,200
Speaker 3: What's the condition when you seek for me with all

864
00:49:54,239 --> 00:49:57,960
Speaker 3: your heart? And then all I can say is it's

865
00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:02,799
Speaker 3: almost mind boggling. Says I'll be fond of you. I'll

866
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:06,560
Speaker 3: be fond of you. This isn't for Superstar Christians. This

867
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:08,880
Speaker 3: isn't just for people went to Bible school or seminary.

868
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,040
Speaker 3: This isn't people who are smarter than the rest of us.

869
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:16,319
Speaker 3: Jesus would make the same statement, Seek and you'll find right.

870
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:22,760
Speaker 3: Knock and the door will be opened. Ask seek, knock.

871
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:26,960
Speaker 3: He wants to meet you. But here's the deal. How

872
00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:30,560
Speaker 3: how do you seek God where you really know him?

873
00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:34,680
Speaker 3: It's not through external religiosity, It's not through just intellectual

874
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:38,279
Speaker 3: cognitive information about him. There is a way to seek God,

875
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:42,439
Speaker 3: and the wisest person who ever lived, Solomon lines out

876
00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:45,000
Speaker 3: for us. Notice what he says in Proverbs too. I've

877
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:46,879
Speaker 3: put it in your notes, my son, If you will

878
00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:50,560
Speaker 3: receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, put

879
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:55,440
Speaker 3: a little arrow and write initiative in God's word. You

880
00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:58,080
Speaker 3: will never find a man or woman that knows God deeply.

881
00:50:58,239 --> 00:51:00,000
Speaker 3: That isn't a man or a woman of this book.

882
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:09,040
Speaker 3: Treasure his commandments, receive his sayings. Second, make your irritentive

883
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:12,560
Speaker 3: to wisdom. Incline your heart to understanding. Put a little

884
00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:16,719
Speaker 3: arrow and write teachable attitude. This isn't like, oh I

885
00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 3: would like to understand the outline of the Book of

886
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:21,560
Speaker 3: Philippians oh, I want to understand what's the major themes

887
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:24,480
Speaker 3: of the pentituke this all. I have a reading program.

888
00:51:25,160 --> 00:51:28,560
Speaker 3: I read three chapters a day to keep the devil away. No, no,

889
00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:31,239
Speaker 3: this is God. I want you to speak to me.

890
00:51:31,480 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 3: This is me. I got questions, I got issues, I

891
00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:38,560
Speaker 3: got struggles. I'm going to open your word. I want

892
00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:42,120
Speaker 3: you to speak to me in specific ways. Because here's

893
00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:46,320
Speaker 3: the deal. If you'll speak, I'll obey. That's when God speaks.

894
00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:50,160
Speaker 3: I don't want to become a smarter sinner. I'm going

895
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:53,399
Speaker 3: to become a more obedient son or daughter. So I'm

896
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:55,839
Speaker 3: going to read this and I don't understand it all,

897
00:51:55,880 --> 00:51:58,520
Speaker 3: and I may not understand it all, but I want

898
00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:01,560
Speaker 3: you to speak to me. I have a teachable spirit.

899
00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:05,160
Speaker 3: Incline your heart to understanding. Third, for if you cry

900
00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:08,279
Speaker 3: for discernment, lift your voice for understanding. Put a little

901
00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:13,279
Speaker 3: arrow and write passionate prayer. Passionate prayer. It's the kind

902
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:17,719
Speaker 3: of prayer God answers. This isn't no, No, Lord's good

903
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:19,040
Speaker 3: to pray hard Father art and haven't have a bath

904
00:52:19,040 --> 00:52:22,919
Speaker 3: that nam bath kingdom kind of. I might have missed

905
00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:27,120
Speaker 3: a couple. Now I let me down to sleep. Something

906
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:30,520
Speaker 3: about my soul to keep catch you later. I'm getting deep.

907
00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:35,520
Speaker 3: This is the kind of prayer when you got a

908
00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:37,880
Speaker 3: kid and I see you and the doctor says, I

909
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:39,239
Speaker 3: don't know if he's gonna make it. This is the

910
00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 3: kind of prayer when your wife or your husband positive results.

911
00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:47,640
Speaker 3: It's cancer and it's serious. How do you pray? No

912
00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:51,600
Speaker 3: little form prayers? You bury your heart before God. God.

913
00:52:51,600 --> 00:52:55,080
Speaker 3: I'm asking you, would you intervene? Safe my boy? God,

914
00:52:55,120 --> 00:52:57,439
Speaker 3: I'm here. What you know? God? It searched my heart.

915
00:52:57,480 --> 00:52:59,480
Speaker 3: If there's something between us, let me know. But it's

916
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:03,880
Speaker 3: passionate prayer. It's cry out to God. God wants to

917
00:53:03,920 --> 00:53:08,400
Speaker 3: hear from you. This isn't religious people. This is people

918
00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:11,960
Speaker 3: who long to know God. Notice, say says, if you

919
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:14,960
Speaker 3: seek for her speaking of this wisdom, this knowledge of

920
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:17,800
Speaker 3: God as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasure.

921
00:53:17,840 --> 00:53:21,279
Speaker 3: Look at the result. Then purpose clause, you'll discern the

922
00:53:21,320 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 3: fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

923
00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:27,080
Speaker 3: Circle this discover You won't get it from a preacher.

924
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:28,920
Speaker 3: You won't get it from a book. You won't get

925
00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:33,040
Speaker 3: it from someone else. You will discover. You want God

926
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:35,799
Speaker 3: to speak to you, and he wants to speak through

927
00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:37,720
Speaker 3: his word, and he wants to speak through his spirit,

928
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:42,040
Speaker 3: and yes, he speaks through people. But Solomon is saying,

929
00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:46,800
Speaker 3: as you dig in, as you make it a priority,

930
00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:50,440
Speaker 3: he'll speak. He wants to speak next to the one

931
00:53:50,440 --> 00:53:57,920
Speaker 3: where it says seeker for silver, right priority, priority, right,

932
00:53:58,000 --> 00:54:04,360
Speaker 3: first priority. If I told you right now that, and

933
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:06,880
Speaker 3: if you have a really big backyard, then then just

934
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:11,600
Speaker 3: limit it to like thirty feet out and across. If

935
00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:14,960
Speaker 3: you have a small backyard, this illustration works. If I

936
00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:18,719
Speaker 3: told you that in your backyard, why you are here.

937
00:54:20,440 --> 00:54:25,560
Speaker 3: Ten million dollars was buried in your backyard. We've resotted everything.

938
00:54:25,640 --> 00:54:28,680
Speaker 3: You have no idea where to look. It's only six

939
00:54:28,719 --> 00:54:32,000
Speaker 3: feet deep. You have three days to find it. From

940
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:34,239
Speaker 3: the moment you get home. You have three days. If

941
00:54:34,280 --> 00:54:36,840
Speaker 3: you don't find it in three days, it will be

942
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:42,840
Speaker 3: returned to me. Now you get home, your three days

943
00:54:42,840 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 3: starts the moment you hit the driveway. I can't quite

944
00:54:47,640 --> 00:54:51,240
Speaker 3: imagine you going, well, you know that NFL season has started.

945
00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:53,640
Speaker 3: I think I'll look for a little bit later. But

946
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:56,880
Speaker 3: you know it's a big game. Cowboys are playing Pittsburgh Steelers.

947
00:54:56,920 --> 00:54:59,720
Speaker 3: You know I love them, or you know I think

948
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:05,920
Speaker 3: it is Sunday afternoon. You know, naps are really important

949
00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:08,080
Speaker 3: on Sunday afternoon. I need I think I'll take a nap,

950
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:11,959
Speaker 3: or we could. I'll start tomorrow. Now. I can't start

951
00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:14,920
Speaker 3: tomorrow because the kids have a ballgame tomorrow. I have

952
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:19,759
Speaker 3: the ladies lunching in the afternoon. Gosh, I just is

953
00:55:19,760 --> 00:55:22,920
Speaker 3: that what you do? You know what some of you,

954
00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:25,800
Speaker 3: some of you would be buying shovels at Ace Hardware

955
00:55:25,840 --> 00:55:28,239
Speaker 3: on the way home, and some of you are high

956
00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:33,160
Speaker 3: tech shovels. Are you kidding me? The back hoe will

957
00:55:33,200 --> 00:55:38,880
Speaker 3: be delivered at four thirty five pm, and then this

958
00:55:39,239 --> 00:55:41,120
Speaker 3: mart need would you knock down the fence? In this

959
00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:43,480
Speaker 3: back ho is digging up your whole backyard, your neighbors?

960
00:55:43,520 --> 00:55:45,560
Speaker 3: What are you doing? Man? You're messing up our yard?

961
00:55:45,560 --> 00:55:46,920
Speaker 3: What are you doing? Hey? Forget it. I'll buy you

962
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:53,640
Speaker 3: a new backyard about three days. You wouldn't care. What

963
00:55:53,719 --> 00:55:55,799
Speaker 3: if you had if you would have that kind of

964
00:55:55,960 --> 00:55:59,960
Speaker 3: passion for ten million dollars in your backyard? What if

965
00:55:59,960 --> 00:56:03,560
Speaker 3: you had that kind of passion to know God that

966
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:07,200
Speaker 3: you would receive his commands, that would incline your heart

967
00:56:07,200 --> 00:56:10,720
Speaker 3: to understanding that you would cry out with passionate prayer,

968
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:13,520
Speaker 3: and that you would seek it as for silver and

969
00:56:13,560 --> 00:56:18,920
Speaker 3: as for hidden treasure. Then here's the promise. Then, not

970
00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:23,440
Speaker 3: someone else, you will discern, first of all the fear

971
00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:27,520
Speaker 3: of God. You'll learn he ain't your buddy, He's God.

972
00:56:29,040 --> 00:56:31,520
Speaker 3: And then these great words of toes Her again, the

973
00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:34,479
Speaker 3: great paradox of the faith is that you will be

974
00:56:34,640 --> 00:56:42,239
Speaker 3: afraid in awe and yet because of Jesus, fearful, but

975
00:56:42,360 --> 00:56:46,240
Speaker 3: not be afraid to come and come to the Heavenly

976
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:48,600
Speaker 3: Father who is eager to be your friend.

977
00:56:52,520 --> 00:56:55,239
Speaker 2: You've been listening to Living on the Edge with chipp

978
00:56:55,320 --> 00:56:58,520
Speaker 2: Ingram here on pray dot com. The message you just

979
00:56:58,600 --> 00:57:02,080
Speaker 2: heard is from our populars the Real God, and if

980
00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:04,319
Speaker 2: you want to join ship as he uncovers more about

981
00:57:04,360 --> 00:57:07,160
Speaker 2: our great God, subscribe to the Living on the Edge

982
00:57:07,239 --> 00:57:10,720
Speaker 2: page here on pray dot com. He'll explore key Bible

983
00:57:10,760 --> 00:57:15,040
Speaker 2: passages that reveal seven fundamental characteristics of our Heavenly Father,

984
00:57:15,600 --> 00:57:19,040
Speaker 2: attributes that reflect the very essence of his divine nature.

985
00:57:19,520 --> 00:57:22,280
Speaker 2: So I hope you'll join us beginning September third for

986
00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:25,840
Speaker 2: this entire study. Well, that wraps up this edition of

987
00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:28,840
Speaker 2: Living on the Edge with chip Ingram. Thanks for listening

988
00:57:28,840 --> 00:57:32,040
Speaker 2: to this Sunday service here on Prey dot com. I

989
00:57:32,080 --> 00:57:33,880
Speaker 2: hope you'll join us again. Next time.

990
00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:38,840
Speaker 1: You will be like.

991
00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:44,200
Speaker 3: God, human unity. God was severed and through it all,

992
00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:47,360
Speaker 3: God's promise remain true.

993
00:57:47,680 --> 00:57:52,000
Speaker 1: Follow me, April, and I will make you great.

994
00:57:52,880 --> 00:58:00,880
Speaker 3: This the Chosen People. Listen to the Chosen People at

995
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:05,760
Speaker 3: the Chosen people dot com. That's the Chosen People dot

996
00:58:05,800 --> 00:58:15,160
Speaker 3: com