Participants: Peter Gregory
Series Code: 10AYC
Program Code: 10AYC000005
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00:16 Good Morning, good morning,
00:18 happy Sabbath! Happy Sabbath! 00:21 Are you alive this morning? Yes. You sound like it, 00:26 you know life without passion it may not be a 00:32 life at all, what do you think? 00:35 I think life deserves to have a passion they can 00:39 live for and the Bible teaches that God wants 00:45 to give us full of life and everybody wants to 00:49 experience that fullness of life and this morning, 00:53 I want to share with you from the Bible, 00:55 What the Life is All About. Turn your Bibles with me 00:59 again to the book of Genesis, 01:04 Genesis chapter 2, Genesis chapter 2 01:18 and once again verse 8, and the Lord God 01:23 planted a garden eastward in Eden and 01:26 there he puts the man whom he had formed, 01:30 once again we talked about yesterday the, the 01:34 word Eden, it means pleasure and delights 01:40 and happiness, but let me ask you something 01:45 when you look that word garden. 01:47 Garden of Eden, what do you think that word 01:52 garden means, I know what your thinking, 01:57 some of you are thinking garden is like 02:01 a you know having tomatoes, and 02:04 cucumbers and squash like a vegetable garden, 02:09 but if you look at the original word, 02:15 original meaning behind this word garden 02:17 you will discover that garden means 02:21 surrounded, enclosed, cover. So, when we interpret 02:29 this name that Garden of Eden, it's really 02:32 surrounded with pleasure, covered with delights, 02:39 enclosed with happiness, that's what it means. 02:44 And I'm wondering what made the Garden 02:46 of Eden, a place of a full of life and I began 02:52 to wonder about these rivers in the garden and 02:56 when was the last time you study about the 02:59 rivers in the Garden, let's look at it, Genesis 03:03 chapter 2 and look with me, verse 10, and a 03:11 river went out of Eden to water the garden and 03:14 from hence, from thence it was parted and 03:18 became into four heads the name of the first is 03:23 Pison, and then verse 13 and a name of the 03:30 second river is Gihon, and then verse 14 and a 03:36 name of the third river is Hiddekel or Tigris, 03:41 and then the fourth river is Euphrates, and when 03:47 you read the names of those rivers may be 03:51 you're saying tears of so what or we just, we can 03:57 just simply saying hmm interesting, they were 04:01 rivers in the Garden of Eden, we just, we can 04:05 just move on but sometimes may not be 04:09 all the times, but some times it is interesting to 04:13 study into the meaning of these names in the Bible. 04:19 And when I did that I began to discover 04:22 something every interesting, first of all 04:26 in order to, for us to understand this spiritual 04:29 application from this, now let me ask me 04:32 something, in the Bible, a river usually 04:36 represents what? In the book of Revelation the 04:41 Bible says rivers of life, perhaps this is a reason 04:47 why major cities are build near or on top of a 04:54 humongous river, because it needs lot of water. 04:59 So, river in the Bible often represents life, 05:03 so is it possible, is it possible that these 05:09 rivers can teach us something about life well, lets see. 05:17 Then I began to look into the meaning of these 05:20 names Pison, in the original language, the 05:25 root word of that name means increase, increase. 05:34 Gihon, what a name huh, Gihon means 05:40 bursting forth, like flower, blooming and blossoming. 05:48 And Hiddekel, means rapid speed, it give you 05:55 the idea of energy and then Euphrates, 05:59 I am sure you are familiar with that one. 06:02 Euphrates means much fruit or fruitful. 06:08 So, let me ask you something, when you 06:10 hear these words increase, bursting force, 06:15 rapid energetic, fruitful, how do you feel, do you 06:20 feel like you are alive or dead. Alive, that's right 06:25 and if we really analyze the desire of every 06:29 person in this world. We all want to 06:33 experience this increasing life, bursting forth life, 06:39 energetic life and fruitful life. But, let me 06:44 ask you something when you wake up in 06:46 the morning how do you feel, 06:49 how do you feel when you wake up in the morning? 06:53 Many times we feel like we're decreasing, 06:57 we feel as though we're dried up, we feel as 07:01 though we're slowing down, we feel as though 07:06 we are withering away, so what do most people 07:10 do in the morning what do most people do 07:14 in the morning in order to experience to have 07:18 this feelings of you know increase and 07:21 bursting forth, energetic, what these really do, 07:25 they drink coffee, and you know that we don't 07:29 promote you know caffeinated drinks. 07:34 However I do sympathize, I do understand why 07:39 some of these people they drink that why it 07:43 just shows you one thing is clear and that is 07:48 we all want to live a vibrant life, don't you 07:52 think so? So perhaps the Bible is trying to 07:56 teach us how we can have this kind of life, 08:01 the description of life should be increasing 08:05 life, bursting forth life, energetic life and 08:09 fruitful life, but now the question is how can we 08:15 have that kind of life. Well, in the Garden of 08:21 Eden, was there anything in the Garden of Eden 08:26 that talked about life? Ahh! The Tree of Life, 08:33 that's right the Tree of Life, and it is very 08:36 interesting, it is very interesting when Adam 08:39 and Eve, when they were kicked out they 08:43 had to say goodbye to three unique things, 08:52 in the Garden of Eden, look with me, Genesis 08:58 chapter 3, and verse 24, Genesis chapter 3, 09:05 and verse 24, the Bible says this, so he drove 09:14 out the man and he placed at the east of the 09:19 Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword 09:23 which turned every way to keep the way of the 09:28 tree of life. So the Bible makes it very clear that 09:33 Adam and Eve, they had to say goodbye to 09:37 the tree of life. You see my friends 09:43 when we began think about the Garden of 09:47 Eden and the outside of the Garden of Eden, 09:54 what made the Garden of Eden so, so special, 10:00 it was the tree of life because when you have 10:03 think about it, I mean in the Garden of Eden 10:06 they were trees right, what about outside? 10:11 I mean are you trying to tell me that as soon as 10:14 they walked out of the Garden of Eden it was 10:17 desert, desolation, and only a few cactus, 10:25 is that you're trying to tell me, I mean were 10:27 there fruit trees in the garden? Yes. Fruit trees 10:30 outside? Yes. Grass inside? Yes. Grass outside? 10:35 Yes. Animals inside? Yes. Animals outside? 10:39 Yes. Then what made the Garden of Eden so special? 10:46 Number one, it's clear from the Bible, the tree 10:51 of life, so lost item number one, tree of life, 10:57 lost item number two, the garments of lights, 11:06 let me show from the Bible turn your Bibles 11:08 with me to the book of Genesis chapter 2, 11:10 once again and verse 25, Genesis chapter 2 11:19 and verse 25, the Bible says this, and they were 11:24 both how? Naked, the man and his wife and 11:32 they were not ashamed, okay so the Bible 11:35 makes it very clear that Adam and Eve, 11:37 were how? Naked, okay, a question for 11:42 you, were they really naked yes or no? 11:47 Yes or no. Naked, yes, no, you don't know, I mean it's 11:57 English, you don't know, it's right there, 12:01 it says they were naked but wait a minute, 12:04 wait a minute, something very strange, look at 12:07 this Genesis 3 and verse 7, right after they 12:11 commit a sin, see what the Bible says, and it 12:15 says in the eyes of them both what? 12:18 Were opened. Literally? Literally? No, if you 12:28 say literally, are you telling me that God 12:30 created half way blind Adam and Eve. 12:35 Eve, where are you? But that wouldn't make 12:40 any sense right. Okay, then what it mean their 12:42 eyes opened, then we conclude, eye in the 12:46 Bible represents enlightenment, 12:49 understanding, perception, oh now they understand 12:54 that they are naked, oh that's a good 12:58 interpretation Okay, but the problem is my friends. 13:02 If you say now they realized that they are 13:05 naked, are you telling me that God created 13:08 them halfway dumb. Like they were naked, 13:11 don't know I'm naked. But, then after I eat a 13:16 fruit oh, I'm smarter, oh I'm naked. 13:22 No, no, no, that would not make any sense 13:24 then what happened? What happened, ah, you 13:27 see my friends, let me ask you something, you 13:30 believe that they were, Adam and Eve were 13:33 created in the image of God yes, alright, 13:37 alright, I am about to ask you this question 13:39 and I want you to be mature about it and 13:42 I am not trying to be funny, but let me ask 13:44 something. So they were created in the 13:46 image of God, the question is, Is God 13:50 naked? And the answer is no, then what is he 13:54 wearing, what is he wearing, ah, let's see 13:59 with the Bible has to say, so turn your Bibles 14:02 with me to Psalms, Psalms 104, 14:10 Psalms 104 and verse 2, Psalms 104 and verse 2, 14:21 the Bible says talking about God who covers 14:26 thyself with lights as with a garment, there 14:32 you go the Bible makes it pretty clear that God 14:35 is wearing so to speak the garment of light, 14:40 therefore my friends when God created 14:44 Adam and Eve, they were naked meaning no 14:49 man made fabric however they had the 14:54 garment of light, imagine from your body 15:02 glowing light, perhaps it was bright enough 15:09 that it worked as covering your body, 15:14 it does not matter where ever go, it is always 15:18 bright, you cannot even turn it off at night when 15:22 you go to bed. Good night Eve, and 15:26 light goes out, are you with me. So, if you can 15:34 imagine this you see they were made with 15:37 the garment of lights but they are naked, but 15:41 no shame, as when they committed sin together 15:46 they lost the garment of light and then what 15:48 happened? Now they're able to see that they are 15:52 naked meaning without the garment of light. 15:58 So, lost item number two, the garment of 16:04 light, so the tree of life number one, garment of 16:09 lights, number two, lost item number three, 16:14 well it is not so clear, written in the Bible, 16:19 but I believe that we can safely come to this 16:23 conclusion and that is, Adam and Eve had to 16:28 say goodbye to face to face conversation, 16:36 communication with God. We see God speaking to 16:43 Adam, telling him what to do? So then we have 16:51 these three items, the Tree of Life, 16:56 the Garment of Light, and Face to Face 17:01 communication was God, these three things 17:07 made the Garden of Eden special and this 17:13 morning I want to observe that these three 17:18 things are teaching us something very 17:24 important about life. In some ways my friends 17:30 in order for us, listen in order for us to 17:33 experience life that is increasing, bursting 17:37 forth, energetic and fruitful, perhaps we 17:41 need these three things. So, let me ask you 17:46 something, tree of life, what is the tree of life? 17:51 Teaching us about life. If you eat that fruit what 17:58 will happen? You will live forever so perhaps 18:05 the Bible is teaching us that life should be forever, 18:13 life should be everlasting, we should experience 18:19 immortality because my friends you cannot 18:24 really, really enjoy life when you know that 18:29 you have an expiration date on your forehead 18:34 and this day it gets sooner if you smoke 18:38 and drink and do other things, and ladies and 18:42 gentleman, I know this is a morbid way of 18:45 saying it I know I'm so sorry to tell you this, 18:48 but as soon as we were born, we began to die. 18:55 You see death is never, we never get used to 18:59 death, I mean I know you see death on TV, 19:06 news and when you see death and somewhere 19:10 you're like okay people die, but listen when you 19:14 death, when it's so close to you and when it 19:17 happens so many times do you get used to it? 19:22 Every time it happens, what happens, well, 19:24 how do you react to that? 19:30 In shock, why? Shock. Some where in your 19:35 soul it's telling you it should not be like this. 19:42 If we were created to die, it's like oh! die 19:48 okay, he is dead, okay, that's part of life. 19:53 But, something is telling us from inside 19:56 the way we were created, the creator put this desire, 20:02 what desire? I want to live forever, yes or no? 20:08 Yes, you know back in those days, back in 20:13 those days I was break dancing, my hair was 20:16 down till here, I was deejaying, you know 20:20 doing graffiti, you know what graffiti is, 20:22 making people's wall beautiful without their 20:24 permission and you surprise them in the 20:29 morning and do it quickly and you run and 20:32 it's one of those things. And I was doing that 20:35 and drinking and partying and you know 20:38 rock concert, performance and all 20:42 kinds of things. But, I sure remember that 20:46 night I was going to a dance club and my 20:50 friend was driving and he was about to make a 20:53 left turn and we heard this sound from behind 20:57 a car you know keee and boom and wow and 21:03 my friends were all in pain and I was able to 21:06 get of the car and look at the car and car use to 21:08 be like this but it became like this 21:12 and this lady hit us and she is. I mean I'm 21:15 thinking actually like play dead, scared her 21:19 even more, but I was just cursing at her and 21:23 just yelling at her, and she began to get like 21:25 scared and cry and it's like oh! and I still went 21:29 to dance club that night. But, my friend said man 21:34 you better go to the hospital I'm like yeah, 21:37 maybe I should. So, on the way to the hospital 21:42 I saw another accident, head on collision, 21:49 it looks like people died and it just hit me, 21:55 here I am 17, having, you know having this 22:01 great life, popular, lots of friends, I'm like the 22:05 leader of a gang and having this good time. 22:08 But, I could have been dead tonight, and ever 22:14 after that it doesn't matter how hard I try to 22:17 dance that thought kept hitting me. It's like I can 22:23 have you know, can laugh and enjoy, and 22:25 drink, and talk, but somewhere you're gonna 22:28 die some day and that just takes away the joy 22:34 of life all together and we all have this desire 22:39 of immortality, why people they write about 22:42 in their poem, they sing about, they make 22:45 dramas and movies about it, they write 22:48 books about it. Why do we have this desire? 22:53 Perhaps your soul is telling you, you miss 22:58 your home, the Garden of Eden. 23:03 How many meals do eat a day? 23:06 Three, some people six, some people one, 23:12 they start in the morning and 23:13 they finish in the evening. 23:19 But, three meals average, that's 21, that's 84 a 23:24 month, 21 a week, 84, a month, one year it will 23:28 be more than thousand. 70 years of life 70,000 23:33 meals, how would you like to see that at once, 23:36 well you know at one time, trucks, many 23:39 trucks and we are thinking, you got to 23:43 think this way basically our whole life, my own 23:47 life is eat all that and die. Eating all that cannot 23:55 give you life, but in order to eat that we 24:00 work so hard, we push so hard, we wanna live, 24:10 we miss home, we miss the original purpose of 24:16 the creation of man to live, forever. 24:24 The lost item number two, Garment of Light, 24:28 what is that teaching us about life? The Bible 24:33 says they both were naked and then it says 24:38 they were not what? Ashamed. So let me ask 24:43 something how would you feel if from your 24:47 body is glowing light, how would 24:49 you feel about yourself? 24:54 One thing for sure, since they did not feel 24:58 shame because they had the garment of light, 25:03 therefore the opposite of shame is what? 25:10 In a good way confidence, 25:17 confidence, what is God trying to teaching us here? 25:22 You see the tree of life is teaching the quantity 25:29 of life, life should be forever, longevity of 25:35 life, but the garment of light is teaching us the 25:42 Quality of Life, how life should be, how? 25:47 Without shame. In a very healthy way 25:55 confidence, stability. Are you listening? 26:05 And even today, what we do today 26:10 in a symbolic and spiritual way 26:15 we do things that will, will tell us we do miss 26:21 the garment of light, how? For some reason 26:27 psychologically we like to shine, what do you 26:32 think? We like to look bright, how do we do 26:39 this? We began with lotion, now lotion is not 26:44 sinful, so don't, don't. Alright, but we try these 26:48 things, ah! Garments, nice hairstyle, alright, 26:54 all good, all good, all good. Now what else do we 26:57 use? Ah! Talent, I know how to sing, I can 27:02 speak, oh, look at me dunk you know, look at 27:07 me, correct me, I don't know what that is? 27:08 But, look at me, look at me, you know so many 27:14 of these things might be innocent but we use a 27:17 lot of these things, look at my jaw, and see, oh, 27:21 I'm the President, look at my house, look at my 27:24 car, look at me, look, look, look at me, I'm bright. 27:34 But, then, but then when nobody is watching 27:37 us we feel so dark, we eat and eat and do all 27:44 that we can to live, but yet we feel so lifeless. 27:50 We cover, cover, wear, do things to make 27:53 ourselves bright, but yet we feel so dark, 28:01 but we want it and God understands, some days 28:04 we think I wish I could live forever. 28:09 I wish I can shine. Your deep embedded 28:14 desire is telling you, go back to the Garden of 28:20 Eden, that's where you can get it, but yet we 28:27 don't go back to the Garden of Eden, 28:29 where do be go, we go everywhere else, 28:34 to get that. And we are disappointed, we see 28:40 are miserable, lost item number three, face to face 28:48 communication with God, basically talking, 28:54 you know talking is important, try to live 29:00 your life without talking? Why don't try 29:04 like a one month, speech fast, speech fast, maybe 29:11 some of you need that, you know maybe some 29:15 of you maybe you talk too much. So, no talking 29:18 for one month, on top of that see nobody for 29:21 one month, what would happen to you? 29:26 Can you really experience life, 29:29 you know what's gonna happen to you? 29:31 You're going to end up talking to yourself. 29:32 Good Morning Peter. Hi, how are you? 29:38 You go cuckoo and even some, some 29:43 computer you know game lovers as like a 29:47 little nerd says I don't need people, I can do 29:49 without people, I love to be by myself but they 29:55 are playing game with other people, 29:58 on the Internet. They have a virtual relationship. 30:04 My friends we love to talk right. That's why 30:07 we have a cell phone, chat room, Internet we 30:10 have all these things because when you study 30:14 the Bible carefully, it is very interesting. 30:19 Talking, listen, talking, I want to suggest to you 30:24 in many ways talking is the image of God and 30:30 you're like what are you talking about. 30:32 You know, having two eyes and one nose and 30:35 you know two arms, this is the image of 30:37 God. No, no, no. Yes. That's true. That's true. 30:40 But, I want to suggest that our ability to 30:44 express ourselves this maybe the best image 30:50 of God. Why? Well, Genesis chapter 1, 30:57 do we know what he looks like, in terms of God. 31:01 No, what do we know about him? What is 31:05 keep repeating himself over and over and over again. 31:09 God said, God said, God said, God said, 31:12 one thing for sure, God he speaks. 31:16 Therefore, when he gave us the ability to 31:20 talk, he gave us his image. Maybe this is the reason 31:24 why the way we express ourselves, the way we 31:28 talk reveals our character the most. 31:34 Maybe, so, talking is important. You know, 31:37 they have done a study to see how many words 31:40 do men use a day, how many words do women 31:43 use a day. And I don't think they went to 31:47 China for this, because let me explain to you. 31:52 So, when they study about male, they 31:55 discovered that male use around 1,800 words a day. 32:02 I mean to me that sounds a lot. 32:05 I mean, I don't think that's Asian. 32:07 I think Asian men maybe ten words a day. 32:11 And any how then they study about the female. 32:15 Now ladies, don't get mad at me. 32:17 This is not my study and this is not about 32:20 gender competition here but they discover ladies 32:23 use about 3,600 words a day. 32:28 But, one thing is for sure; one thing is for sure. 32:31 We all like to what, talk, talk. And have 32:36 you, have you ever, have you ever had this 32:38 experience, now here is a lady comes and she is 32:42 meeting her friend and this lady is talking 32:45 about her friend; I mean talking about her 32:48 friend's problem and her problem and just 32:51 keep talking about the problem, problem, 32:52 problem, problem, problem, and then after 32:55 three hours other friend goes yeah. 32:57 I have a similar problem too. So, they just keep talking 33:00 about their problems. No solution. 33:06 Just keep your breath, just keep expressing. 33:10 And after six hours of talking oh they feel so good. 33:14 Oh any solution, no, no solution. 33:17 It just feels good; just feels good. 33:20 You see my friends it is so true talking is important. 33:25 But, look at this, eating is important but you 33:31 have to eat the tree of life. Feeling confident 33:36 without shame is important, but you need 33:39 the garment of light. Talking is important 33:43 and we can talk, talk, talk and talk and talk to 33:46 everybody but if we are not talking to God, 33:54 we may not have life. Do you understand? 33:58 So, tree of life teaching us the quantity of life. 34:06 Garment of light teaching us the quality of life, 34:10 but talking to God help us to understand the 34:14 author of life then its complete, complete package. 34:21 But, let me ask you something what happened 34:23 to the garment of, excuse me, what happened 34:27 to the Garden of Eden, where is it? 34:34 Where is it? It's in heaven, how do you know that. 34:40 Where is it? The best answer I think I don't know 34:43 I mean from the Bible, I don't know. 34:46 But, I'm guessing it was taken maybe or 34:50 something happened to it during the flood. 34:54 But, I wanna show you something very interesting. 34:58 Turn your Bibles with me to the book of Exodus; 35:04 Exodus chapter 25, Exodus chapter 25 and verse 8. 35:15 The Bible says and let them make me a 35:19 sanctuary that I may dwell among them. 35:23 Well, let me give you Peter Gregory's version 35:26 on this okay. Let them make me a sanctuary 35:30 that I may dwell with them as I did in the 35:35 Garden of Eden. Because when you 35:37 study those sanctuary, you begin to realize that 35:41 there are some things are very similar to the 35:45 Garden of Eden. Remember the meaning 35:47 of the word Garden surrounded, cover, 35:51 enclosed. When you look at the sanctuary 35:54 structure, is it surrounded, enclosed 35:58 and covered? Interesting isn't it. 36:02 And on top of that check this out when you 36:05 go into the holy place you have three items, 36:13 three items, to your right the table of 36:18 Shewbread, to your left the candle stick, just 36:24 before the most holy place, the altar of 36:28 incense and then when we begin to examine 36:32 those items very carefully you begin to 36:34 realize the table of Shewbread, and bread 36:38 is something that you eat and bread represents 36:42 the word of God. And if you eat the word of God 36:46 you shall live forever. And then when you 36:52 look at the candlestick, candlestick gives light. 36:56 It's based upon; it comes from using the 37:00 oil right. And oil in the Bible represents Holy 37:05 Spirit and other places in the Bible, the Bible 37:09 says we need to be anointed or we need to 37:14 be covered by the Holy Spirit in order for us to 37:24 shine the light. And then just before the 37:28 most holy place, the altar of incense and in 37:31 the Bible incense represents prayer, 37:37 very similar to three lost items from the 37:42 Garden of Eden. So, sanctuary becomes 37:48 portable Garden of Eden. So, what is God trying 37:54 to teach us. God is saying I know you miss 37:57 the Garden of Eden, I know you miss those 38:01 three items but if you have these three things 38:07 today, you can have Garden of Eden in 21st century. 38:13 What three things oh God tell us. 38:15 You need your Bible; the word of God 38:20 and you need to invite the Holy Spirit and then 38:26 you need to talk to me. And if you do that, 38:30 that is your Garden of Eden. And if you do that my 38:38 friends you are going to be able to have this life 38:43 that is increasing, bursting forth, energetic 38:48 and fruitful, you can. And the Bible it will tell 38:53 you and this is how. Do you remember when 38:57 Aaron's rod was placed in the sanctuary overnight? 39:03 You remember that. Not just for five 39:06 minutes, it was there overnight, long time. 39:13 What happened to the rod and by the way is 39:17 there any life in a rod. What happens if I stick 39:21 that rod into the best soil in Australia? 39:28 What would happen? Yeah, put some cow dung. 39:34 Let the sun shine upon it. Water it, what would happen. 39:42 Play classical music for it what would happen. 39:46 Nothing, because it is dead. This teaches my friends 39:52 many times we are like a dead rod. No life and 39:58 a rod is only good for one thing. What is it good for? 40:03 Hitting things, and we are totally spiritually 40:08 dead and we just end up hitting people. 40:13 No life, Aaron's rod dead rod, they place it 40:21 in the sanctuary and something happened. 40:25 Something happened and I know that was, 40:29 that story is to tell us that how Aaron was 40:31 chosen to be the high priest. But we can have a very 40:35 wonder, incredible spiritual application from here. 40:38 Turn your Bibles with me, turn your Bibles 40:41 with me to the book of Numbers. Numbers, 40:50 Numbers chapter 17 and verse 8, Numbers 40:58 chapter 17 and verse 8, the Bible says, and he 41:04 came to pass that on the morrow Moses went 41:07 into the Tabernacle of witness and behold the 41:10 rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was what 41:14 budded and brought forth buds and then 41:21 bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds. 41:26 Now wait a minute, that's pretty interesting. 41:29 Check this out, wait a minute. So, Aaron's rod 41:32 did it increase yes or no. Yes. Pison, bursting 41:40 forth, Gihon, rapidly, Hiddekel, 41:47 produce fruit, Euphrates. That dead rod of Aaron. 41:57 No life at all, but because it was placed in the 42:01 sanctuary what happened? Overnight what happened? 42:07 It revived, what does that mean my friends. 42:11 Many times we have, we have no desire for 42:15 God and this is what it means by we're 42:17 spiritually dead. We have no desire to pray. 42:24 Yeah, we have a desire to go to heaven because 42:28 that is, that seems really enticing, but the thing is 42:32 you may have a desire to go to heaven but the 42:35 problem is you have, sometimes we have no 42:38 desires to pray, to study and to show the love of 42:45 God to the people that are around you. 42:50 We have no desire. We have no passion for this. 42:55 Our thoughts and feelings are not into this. 42:58 Our thoughts and feelings are into something that just 43:02 can please us, we have our own garden of pleasure, 43:10 not the Garden of Eden. So, we go for something 43:14 that will just please us and we have no 43:18 pleasure in the things of God and we're thinking 43:23 to our self, this is impossible I cannot 43:25 have spiritual life, how can I change my; yes, 43:30 I can go to, I can go to the church, I can read, 43:33 I can sing, just you know as pretending or 43:36 performing or as a ritual, as a ceremony 43:40 but for me if I'm by myself, if I'm alone, 43:46 do I really have the desire to do this. 43:50 Can I have a life, a spiritual life, can I have 43:55 passion for God. And God says yes you can. 44:01 I know in the beginning it's tough but dwell, 44:08 abide in the mist of where God, Holy Spirit 44:13 and prayer and stay there; stay there please. 44:22 Don't try this microwave oven Christian revival. 44:27 I just go to AYC and I pop into spirituality. 44:33 Come on, it's not gonna be like that. 44:36 You, we, me to abide; abide in what? 44:41 God's word. This word gives God's thoughts 44:48 and his feelings in the beginning, boring, 44:52 in the beginning we don't want, but abide 44:56 there, stay there, invite the Holy Spirit so that 45:00 the Holy Spirit can take the word of God and 45:03 put it into your heart and you pray, open your 45:08 heart, allow your thoughts and feelings to 45:11 be transformed and stay there if it need be all 45:17 night, all day until you begin to feel, until you 45:24 begin to know you have this peaceful assurance 45:27 in your heart that you have this new life. 45:36 Things that you used to love, you hate now. 45:39 Things you used to hate you love now. 45:43 And God says if you abide with me this way 45:52 you can live forever. You have confidence, 46:03 even though you're talking to other people 46:04 because you're talking to God, 46:08 your life will be complete. Oh! My friends, this is 46:15 the reason why Jesus said in John 6, I am the 46:20 bread of life, he is a table of shewbread, 46:24 he is the tree of life. John chapter 8 he says, 46:28 I am the light of the world, he is a candlestick. 46:33 In some ways he is the garment of light. 46:36 Jesus said chapter 14, In my name you pray to 46:39 my Father, he is the incense; he is the way 46:45 we can talk to God, face to face. In some ways 46:51 Jesus is the Garden of Eden. So if you have 46:55 him you have the paradise. And my friends you think 47:06 this Holy Spirit and this prayer, 47:12 you think it's all free. No, Jesus had to buy 47:17 back for us. He did, let me show you. 47:21 In order for him to buy back the Garden of 47:24 Eden he went into the Garden of Gethsemane 47:31 and Gethsemane means pressure. 47:35 Eden pleasure. So, Jesus was pressured 47:40 by the sins of the world, in order to buy back 47:45 the pure pleasure in God. In order for Jesus 47:50 to buy back the tree of life he carried the tree 47:56 of death to Calvary. In order for Jesus to buy 48:02 back the garment of light he was totally 48:06 naked on the tree and then he was covered 48:11 with darkness for sometime. And in order to buy 48:16 back the privilege to talk to God again, 48:23 Jesus on that Cross, Jesus on that tree of 48:29 death completely naked, completely covered 48:34 with darkness, he cried out my God, my God 48:40 why hast thou forsaken me. Basically talk to me oh God, 48:45 talk to me oh Father. Say something to assure 48:48 my heart, say something to comfort me, talk to me. 48:53 Silence, and the Father was holding back. 48:59 He was holding back to pay the price for us; 49:06 and Jesus cried out, talk to me, talk to me, but silence. 49:14 Jesus purchased the Garden of Eden for you. 49:25 But we ignore the Bible. Holy Spirit oh no, 49:29 pray and talking to God, well I'm not that interested. 49:33 I don't want these things, I just want to eat, 49:36 eat and I have my talent, who I am, my identity. 49:40 Yeah, I can do, I can live my life and yeah 49:43 I have lots of friends to talk to, this is what 49:46 I want and; and I die some day. 49:52 How foolish, how foolish. That thief on the cross, 50:02 he is a Jew. He went to Sabbath school lessons, 50:07 he was attending a church, synagogue, yeah. 50:10 But, he got into wrong friends and he found 50:14 himself a criminal. He heard the teachings of 50:17 Jesus impressed but not convicted and converted. 50:24 But, then on that cross he has nothing to look for now. 50:31 He is dying as a criminal. But, then this man Jesus 50:35 next to him and he heard these words, 50:39 "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." 50:42 But, the character of Jesus may I even say 50:49 the passion that Jesus had for the people that 50:53 were rejecting him. He had, Jesus had a passion 51:00 to be like God and this thief on the cross, 51:09 this must be the son of God. Master, I'm a criminal, 51:19 I'm about to die, but before I die I want to 51:23 die with just one thing in my heart that I'm 51:26 forgiven and then I can be changed and I want 51:33 to die with peace. So, master just remember 51:38 me when you enter into the Kingdom of God 51:42 and Jesus he said today; today I tell you, you 51:51 will be with me in my paradise. And that thief 51:56 on the cross he died with paradise in his heart. 52:03 O brothers and sisters, which paradise are you 52:09 buying. I want to challenge you, how 52:16 many of you are willing to say Oh Lord, 52:19 I am spiritually dead. My thoughts and 52:23 feelings, it's not good and I'm feeling so 52:29 discouraged, but Lord I see hope. If you die for 52:36 me like that, Lord help me to abide with you, 52:46 until I receive spiritual resurrection 52:56 and I'm willing to give up these things that are 53:02 killing me. So, how many of you are willing 53:07 to say Lord today I'm willing to give up that 53:13 which is killing me and then I may abide with you. 53:20 If you do, please stand wherever you are. 53:33 God Bless you. Let's pray together. 53:39 Loving heavenly Father, sometimes we are 53:45 totally confused about life. We don't understand 53:53 not only the world that is around us, we don't 53:57 understand the feelings that we have in us. 54:03 But, as we look back to the Garden of Eden we 54:05 begin to realize the type of life that we should 54:11 experience. But, we don't have it. 54:16 So, Lord today we're asking just, just, just 54:21 one thing. That we want you to take control, 54:31 we want to allow you to come into our hearts, 54:37 not just to come in but we want to allow you to 54:42 transform our thoughts and feelings and help us 54:47 oh Lord, to give up the things that are killing us 54:51 spiritually. Thank you. 54:58 We maybe like that thief on the cross, 55:01 But, lord help us. If we have to die may we die 55:07 with peace and paradise in our hearts. 55:15 We ask in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. |
Revised 2014-12-17