Participants: Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000001
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00:21 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN, "A Sharper Focus."
00:24 My name is John Lomacang, 00:25 I'll be your host for this program, 00:28 and I'd like to once again welcome you 00:29 to the first of our many broadcasts of a Sharper Focus. 00:34 Now, if you're joining us via television, 00:36 we welcome you, if you're joining us 00:37 via Internet or radio or satellite, 00:40 or whatever medium you're using, 00:42 remember this time and this station 00:44 because right now you're watching the only 00:48 live prayer meeting broadcast around the world 00:51 from your station, Three Angels Broadcasting Network. 00:54 And all of us here would like to welcome you 00:56 with a hearty amen. Can you say, "Amen?" 00:59 You know, a few months ago, the idea came to our president 01:02 Pastor Jim Gilley, as to how we can grow our channel, 01:05 how we can be a greater blessing to those 01:08 who are members of our network 01:10 and people that support this ministry. 01:12 And we thought, well you know, 01:14 since Wednesday night seems to be a dying blessing, 01:18 so to speak, and that's an oxymoron the dying blessing, 01:20 but something that seems to be fating away in many churches, 01:24 not just the Adventist Church. 01:25 And so, what better time to recharge our batteries, 01:29 revitalize our lives spiritually 01:30 than in the middle of the week as we get together 01:33 as a people of God, to study and pray together. 01:36 And so remember, if your church does not have 01:38 Wednesday night prayer meeting, even if you're living far away 01:41 and you can't make it, invite friends to your house, 01:43 maybe you wanna videotape this. 01:44 If you do have prayer meeting 01:46 and share with your friends and your families, 01:48 as well as your church family. 01:50 And for those pastors that have many churches, 01:52 this may, we hope, be a help to you 01:54 as you grow your congregation spiritually. 01:57 Before we go any further though, 01:58 I'd like to invite you to bow your heads with me 02:01 as we invite the Lord's presence to continue with us. 02:04 Let us pray. Our gracious Father in heaven, 02:07 we thank you, Lord, so much 02:09 that whenever we open Your word, 02:10 we open up to our minds 02:13 a treasure house that's deeper than intellect can comprehend, 02:18 but we also open ourselves 02:20 to the working of your Holy Spirit. 02:22 And so tonight, as we begin this program, 02:24 as we begin, sort to speak, this anchor program, 02:28 we ask that You'll guide us from the inception, 02:30 and if it goes until the day that You return, 02:32 Father, giveth the strength, and giveth the context 02:35 and the meaning that You desire. 02:37 But bless us with Your presence 02:39 and with Your Holy Angels 02:40 and with the power of Your Holy Spirit 02:43 in Jesus name we pray, and God's people said- 02:45 Amen! Amen. Amen! 02:47 Now the question that people may ask us, 02:49 why the phrase "A Sharper Focus?" 02:53 Now I'm a person that likes photography 02:56 and our cameras here at 3ABN, 02:59 particularly like when things are in focus, 03:01 but think about a camera for a brief moment. 03:03 A camera has a body, it has a view finder, 03:07 it also has a lens with focusing capabilities. 03:11 Now the camera would be of no value, 03:14 of absolutely no value unless it has a subject to focus on. 03:18 In other words, if you brought a camera 03:19 and never used it, you might as well take it back, 03:22 but when the lens is pointed at the subject, 03:26 the lens focuses to produce a very, very clear picture. 03:31 So here at, at our topic on "A Sharper Focus," 03:36 our program on the "A Sharper Focus," 03:37 we're taking topics in the Bible that are not clear 03:40 and we're focusing to make those hopefully clearer to you. 03:45 The Lord says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, 03:48 and a light unto my paths." 03:50 And the one thing I've learned about photography, 03:52 the more light that's focused on the subject, 03:54 the quicker it comes into focus, 03:56 and the clearer and brighter it appears. 03:59 And so the word of God is the light 04:01 that we're gonna be looking into, 04:03 that's gonna shed a brighter ray of divine light 04:06 on whatever topic we cover. 04:08 And there are a lot of topics that are not very, very clear. 04:11 And so here at "A Sharper Focus," 04:12 there's a text in the Book of Psalms 119 verse 130. 04:16 You don't have to turn that, I'll just read it to you. 04:18 But it says, "The entrance of your word gives light, 04:21 it gives understanding to the simple." 04:24 So the Bible is going to be the light 04:26 that we're going to share on every subject, 04:28 and hopefully when we're done, it will be brought into a-- 04:33 "A Sharper focus!" A-- 04:35 "A Sharper focus!" "A Sharper focus!" 04:37 Now the topic, we're gonna begin with is one entitled, 04:41 "How to Live a Spiritual Life in a Natural Body." 04:47 Now I once said, "The hardest thing about 04:49 being a Christian is living the Christian life." 04:52 It's one thing to be baptized, 04:54 it's one thing to join the church, 04:55 but how to be victorious. 04:57 It's like joining a basketball team, 04:59 joining a football team, you don't win the game 05:01 by joining the team, you have to learn the rules, 05:04 you have to learn the plays, 05:05 you have to focus on the opponent, 05:07 you have to study diligently to be victorious 05:09 when the game comes. And so here, 05:11 what we're gonna do is look at the topic 05:13 of how to live a victorious Christian life, 05:15 and see what the Bible says, in fact, is the foundation, 05:20 the middle and the top of what it means 05:22 to be a victorious Christian. 05:25 I have grown since I've been a Christian. 05:27 Anybody else here? Yes! 05:29 We've all grown. But, do we have growing left? 05:34 Every one of us is continuing to grow 05:36 and the confidence we have is this. 05:37 The Lord says, "He who has begun 05:39 a good work in you will do, what? 05:42 complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." 05:44 So where I used to be, thank God I'm not there. 05:48 But where I'm going to be, I'm on my way. 05:51 So if the Lord is gonna reflect through my life, 05:53 and if you see there are changes in my life 05:54 for the better, give God the glory. 05:56 But the reason why this topic is so vitally important 05:58 is because many people join the church, 06:01 and they often say, you know, I've got the victory over drugs 06:04 and alcohol and pornography and cigarettes and gambling, 06:07 and a bad temper, over the big sins, 06:11 but then they also confess that they are struggling 06:15 with little sins. That seems kind of odd to me. 06:18 If God could deliver you from the big sins, 06:21 surely God can deliver you from the little sins. 06:25 The other thing is, sometimes we become 06:28 members of a church and don't know what to expect, 06:30 and as a marriage counselor I always say, 06:32 "If you don't ask for what you want, 06:35 you have to settle for what you get. 06:38 But if you don't ask for what you want, 06:39 you don't know what to expect." 06:41 So a lot of times people become Christians and say, 06:43 "Okay, great, I'm a Christian now, I'm saved 06:45 I'm baptized, I'm in the church." 06:47 Oh, I'm so happy that battle is fought, 06:50 it's over and done, but you'll discover 06:52 as we study this topic, when you become a Christian, 06:55 the battle begins. Can you say amen to that? 06:58 But so often, we don't focus on 06:59 what we do after we become Christians. 07:02 If you think of the life of Jesus 07:04 there in Matthew Chapter 3, 07:06 when He stepped down into the Jordan and was baptized, 07:09 we know He was baptized to take away His sin. 07:12 Praise God for that. 07:14 But it was right after His baptism that the devil 07:17 came to Him in the wilderness to tempt Him. 07:20 And as long as I've been a pastor, 07:21 I always say to people, "After you baptized, 07:24 after you're baptized into the church, 07:26 you're going to have a wilderness experience." 07:29 Anybody had one of those? Amen! 07:31 I could say this publicly because 07:32 my friend is Pastor Doug Batchelor, 07:33 because he said many years ago 07:35 and God has brought him a long way. 07:37 But he said that the day he got baptized, 07:39 he spent that night in jail. 07:43 So we don't go from baptism to victory 07:46 anymore than we go from the first game 07:48 of the season to the Superbowl, 07:50 and that time hasn't even come yet. 07:52 But we're going to unpack what it means 07:55 to live a victorious Christian life. 07:58 And by the way, this topic is very, very deep. 08:00 There are a lot of books written on it. 08:01 You have "Steps to Christ." 08:02 You have "Christ's Object Lessons." 08:03 There is another book, a favorite of mine 08:05 by a writer by the name of Meade MacGuire called 08:08 "The Life of Victory." But what we're going to do is 08:11 we're gonna take the Bible. 08:12 And by the way, for those of you who are joining us 08:15 just a bit of very important information. 08:17 We also are going to ask you to send your prayer requests 08:20 and your questions, and your comments. 08:22 And we have a couple of places 08:23 that you can get that information. 08:25 And by the way, if you're joining us 08:26 and you have access to the Internet tonight, 08:29 you can go to our church's website, 08:31 www.tvsdac.org and download the lesson for tonight. 08:37 You'll see there a link entitled "A Sharper Focus." 08:40 And you can download the lesson 08:41 and follow us along in your home 08:43 or wherever you join us from. 08:45 That's once again www.tvsdac.org. 08:49 In the future, you'll have a website there 08:51 with the 3ABN address, but for tonight, 08:53 download the syllabus and follow us along in the lesson. 08:56 For your questions and your prayer requests, 08:58 and your comments, we also have a page on Facebook, 09:01 A Sharper Focus 3ABN. 09:03 Put that in on the search engine, 09:05 and you'll find us on Facebook. 09:06 Upload your questions, your comments, 09:08 and your prayer requests. 09:09 Beginning next week we'll read some of those prayer requests 09:12 and your comments also. And finally on Twitter. 09:16 We might as well make technology work for us, 09:17 what do you say? Amen! 09:19 Twitter, Facebook, the Internet, 09:21 and if you have a cell-phone that has the capability 09:24 of watching us, don't do it while you're driving, 09:26 I encourage you. But tonight, 09:29 I'd like to open the word of God 09:30 and I will begin with the question 09:33 that's vitally important. Our question number one, 09:36 and if you have your Bibles, 09:37 turn with us to the scripture that you see there. 09:41 The first question for our series and for tonight is, 09:44 what are we called to reflect? What are we called to reflect? 09:50 And for the answer, go to the Book of Ephesians. 09:52 What book did I say? Ephesians. 09:54 Ephesians Chapter 4, Ephesians Chapter 4. 09:59 And if you don't have a Bible, that's okay, 10:01 we have it on the screen also. 10:04 Ephesians Chapter 4, the question is, 10:06 what are we called to reflect? 10:09 Ephesians Chapter 4 and verse 13, 10:12 is where we find our answer. 10:14 And the Bible reads, Till we all come to the, what? 10:19 Unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 10:24 to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature 10:27 of the fullness of Christ." What do we called to reflect? 10:33 We're called to reflect the fullness of Christ, 10:36 not just Christ, but the fullness of Christ. 10:39 It's like going into a hall, if the hall is not full, 10:42 it's an empty hall. Sometimes you see a picture, 10:44 you don't see the full picture it's a partial picture. 10:47 We are not called to reflect a part of Christ, 10:50 we're called to reflect the fullness of Christ. 10:53 And that's a process as Ephesians 4 points out. 10:57 We're called to reflect the fullness of Christ. 11:01 But let's follow along. 11:02 So if the Lord calls us to reflect His fullness, 11:05 what do you think Satan is gonna be determined to do, 11:09 which takes us to question number two? 11:11 Follow it. What is Satan determined 11:15 to keep us from reflecting? 11:20 We know the answer is the fullness of Christ, 11:22 but let's see what the Bible says. 11:25 Let's see what the Bible says. 11:26 And now we turn to Second Corinthians 11:28 Chapter 4 verse 3 and 4. This is a very vital topic. 11:32 And by the way, what we don't know is, 11:35 as Christians we're called to be 11:37 representatives of Jesus in the world. 11:39 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 11:41 Because the world doesn't see Christ, 11:45 but if you spell the word Christian, 11:46 what do you have at the very beginning of that? 11:48 Christ. C-H-R-I-S-T, I-A-N, 11:54 we're called to give the world 11:56 a representation of who Christ is. 11:59 But one of the great challenges is to reflect to the world 12:03 who Christ is unless we know what to reflect. 12:06 And by the way, before we go to the answer. 12:09 There are a number of reasons why it's not very easy 12:12 to reflect the image of Christ 12:13 when you first become a Christian. 12:15 We'll talk about that in just a moment. 12:17 We'll talk about the difference between justification, 12:19 sanctification, and glorification. 12:22 In other words, when the race begins, 12:24 the race doesn't end. 12:25 There's a whole lot of running to do, 12:27 a whole lot of growing to do as we enter the race. 12:29 But notice what the Paul the Apostles says, 12:32 "Satan is determined to do." Second Corinthians 4, 12:35 beginning with verse 3 and 4. 12:37 It says, "But even if our gospel is veiled, 12:40 or hidden as the King James Version says, 12:43 it is veiled to those who are what? 12:46 Perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, 12:50 who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel 12:55 of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, 12:58 should do what? Shine! 12:59 Should shine on them." Now just to emphasis this, 13:04 I think this fits right now. 13:06 There's a light shining on them. 13:07 If I step outside the light, you'll know. 13:09 Now our guys did a very good job, 13:11 but I'm doing this intentionally. 13:12 The more step away from the light the darker it gets. 13:14 Have you noticed that? 13:15 Now this is where we are before we accept Christ. 13:19 And the Bible says, "He calls us 13:20 out of darkness into His what? Marvelous! 13:22 Into His marvelous light." 13:24 Now lot of times we say the marvelous light is His word, 13:28 but I have a different approach to that because 13:29 Jesus is the light of the world. 13:32 And I would say that, He is brighter than His word. 13:35 As a matter of fact, this is the written word, 13:37 and the written word is not brighter than the living word. 13:41 The reason I say that is because the Bible 13:43 doesn't reveal everything about the Lord. 13:45 I like the way that John the Apostle put it. 13:48 He said, "If everything that Jesus had done, 13:54 had been written in a book. 13:56 I supposed that the world itself could not contain 13:59 all the things that He did." 14:00 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 14:02 So the Bible on the reveals, 14:03 what needs to be revealed for our growth 14:06 and for salvation, and for revealing Christ? 14:09 But God calls us out of darkness 14:10 into this marvelous light. 14:11 And it's Satan's determination to keep the gospel of Christ, 14:17 who is the image of God from shinning on us. 14:21 That's why often times when you become a Christian-- 14:24 Let me just ask the question. 14:25 When you wake up in the morning, 14:26 do you ever have any battle between 14:28 what you should do and what you want to do? 14:30 Yes or no? Everyone of us, 14:33 when you wake up in the morning, 14:34 I always say to people, when you get up in the morning 14:36 guess who is waiting for you? 14:38 Guess who is--somebody tell me guess who is waiting for you. 14:40 I don't know. No, you are. 14:43 You are waiting for you, 14:45 because the challenge of being a Christian 14:47 is living a spiritual life in a natural body. 14:51 We are not immortal. We are not incorruptible yet. 14:55 The things that we used to do, now I must confessed, 14:58 I used to be a disc jockey, I used to gamble, 15:00 I was a pool hustler. I remember, 15:02 I can go back to a club, but you know, what? 15:04 God has taken for me the desire, 15:06 what do you say? Amen! 15:07 He does, those are victories. 15:09 And one of the greatest evidences 15:11 that the plan of salvation works, 15:13 is a victory in the life of a Christian. Amen. 15:16 Now, can you imagine, Paul the Apostle, 15:19 we'll read the story, how Paul used to killed Christians. 15:22 Just say for example, Paul was living in our day 15:25 and Paul was preaching in our church 15:27 and Paul stood in the pulpit, and said, 15:29 "You know, I'm still battling with that that, 15:32 you know, that that, that every now 15:35 and then I feel like killing somebody. 15:36 I'm still battling that you pray that are overcome day." 15:41 Wouldn't you have a hard time listen to his sermon? 15:49 If you had a pastor on the pulpit that says, 15:51 "You know, I'm really struggling with that, 15:53 I'm trying to overcome cigarettes and, man, 15:55 after the sermon I got to get a drink." 15:59 Wouldn't you have a hard time listen to that sermon? 16:02 And you would say, and you would say as a person 16:05 who may not be looking at yourself, you may say, 16:07 "How could he possibly stand over there and preach a sermon 16:10 while he's still struggling with alcohol 16:12 and cigarettes and killing folk." 16:16 When in fact, the ones that he's preaching to, 16:18 maybe struggling with the very same things. 16:20 However, I must say, there is a responsibility 16:25 to have standing in the desk, 16:26 so I'm not by any means giving a license 16:28 to preach your sermon or why you're still struggling 16:31 with alcohol and cigarettes and smoking, 16:33 but a lot of people live private lives. 16:35 But the greatest testament that the plan of salvation 16:38 does work is when the glory of God is shining on us. 16:43 But the question we have to ask ourselves is, 16:45 where do we get? 16:46 Where we do we get the image of God from? 16:49 That's question number three. So if you're following along, 16:52 question number one, we are called to reflect what? 16:55 The fullness of Christ. 16:56 What is Satan determined to keep us from doing? 16:59 Reflecting the glory, that light, the image of God. 17:03 He's determined to keep us from, 17:04 from reflecting the image of God. 17:06 In other words, sometimes, I heard a story 17:09 about a husband and wife, and this is really amazing. 17:13 The son was behaving very, very badly and, 17:16 and the wife and husband got together to talk 17:18 about having to have a teachers' conference. 17:20 And the wife said to the husband 17:21 while the kid is behaving badly. 17:24 You need to go to school and take care of your son. 17:29 But when the child was doing well, the wife said, 17:33 "That's my boy." You get the point? 17:36 When the child was doing badly that's your son. 17:40 But when the child was doing well, that's my son. 17:43 We don't identify with failure, 17:45 we often identify with success, am I right? 17:48 And so, in fact, for Christ who identify with us 17:50 which brings us to a thought in the Bible 17:52 about the story of Job. 17:53 Remember, when the devil was talking with God and wondering 17:57 how far God will let him go with the Job. 17:59 The Lord said to the devil, 18:01 "Have you considered my servant, Job? 18:04 Now, you may not know it, but on any given day 18:06 without any prior notice, 18:07 the devil and God maybe having a conversation about you. 18:12 I mean, is that far fetched? 18:15 But I want the Lord to be able to say about me. 18:17 Have ye considered my servant, John? Amen. Amen. 18:20 In other words, my life, 18:21 your life should be a reflection, 18:22 the fact that the Lord can bring us 18:25 from one victory to the other. Amen. 18:28 Here's the question, question number three. 18:30 Where do we get the image of God? 18:33 Where does it come from? 18:34 Where do we get this image of God? 18:35 It's not something that we naturally have. 18:38 Go with me in the Bible, 18:39 Genesis Chapter 1 and verse 26. 18:40 And those of you who know your Bible, 18:42 you know exactly where we're headed. 18:43 Genesis 1:26, and the Bible reads as follows. 18:49 "Then God said --" Let's read this together. 18:51 "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." 18:57 One of the, one of the greatest, 18:59 and I'm using the very light word here. 19:01 One of the greatest mistakes in history was, 19:04 to believe that by transgression 19:07 we could reflect the image of God. 19:12 Satan was successful in getting Adam and Eve to think that 19:14 by disobedience the image of God 19:17 could be seen in humanity. 19:19 But when God made them, He already made them 19:22 in His image according to His likeness, 19:24 they were reflecting the glory of God. 19:25 And that's why, when they transgressed, 19:27 the light of the glory of God that was shining around them, 19:31 that glory went out, and they immediately knew 19:35 that they were naked. If you read Genesis Chapter 2, 19:37 the end of Genesis Chapter says, 19:39 "The man and his wife were naked, 19:41 and they were not ashamed." 19:43 But then after sin entered the world, 19:44 the Bible says, "They were both naked 19:46 and they even said to the Lord. 19:47 We were naked and we hid ourselves." 19:50 So what happens is, one of the first things 19:51 that sin does is, it strips us the glory of God. 19:54 And there are many people in the world 19:55 that don't have the glory of God, 19:56 but those of us who claim to have the glory of God, 19:59 the glory of God can only be seen if we recognize 20:02 where the glory comes from. 20:04 It's not our own. It belongs to God. 20:07 He gave it to us in the very beginning 20:08 and He wants to restore that glory to our lives. Amen Amen! 20:12 Let's go onto number four, number four. 20:15 What has the fall of man done to the image of God? 20:19 What has the fall of man done to the image of God? 20:24 Romans 3 and verse 23. 20:29 I can hear somebody quoting that right now. 20:32 Romans 3 verse 23. 20:33 You know, what's amazing about this text? 20:36 Let's go to Romans 3 and verse 23 20:38 and read as I follow or follow as I read. 20:41 Here it is. The Bible says, "For most--" 20:47 For almost everyone. What's the next word? 20:50 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 20:56 That's a humbling text. Because you know, 20:58 after about 25 years and I know Pastor Gilley 21:00 has been preaching a whole lot longer than that, 21:02 been pastoring a whole lot longer than that, 21:04 but the Bible is in essence saying, 21:05 "No matter how long you've been around, 21:06 no matter what your works, 21:07 no matter how many sermons you preached, 21:09 how many songs you sang, how many people you baptized. 21:12 Outside of Christ, all of us have sinned 21:15 and fallen short of the glory of God." 21:19 So at the base form, I cannot reflect God's glory 21:23 because I don't have it. Because of sin, 21:27 I cannot reflect the glory of God in my natural form. 21:32 There is something that needs to happen in order for me 21:34 to reflect the glory of God. 21:36 And the reason why this is so vitally important is because, 21:38 there is a need for more people to talk about 21:42 becoming victorious in their lives over many things. 21:44 Amen. Am I right? 21:46 For a long time see, I've been a church member 21:48 as one person may say, "I've been in the way for 35 years 21:51 And that may just be the problem. 21:52 I've been in the way. 21:55 I've been walking in a way for 35 years. 21:57 I've been in the way. God doesn't want us 21:58 to be church members, He wants us to be those 22:02 whose lives do let the world know that Jesus does live, 22:06 because there are a lot of atheists. 22:08 There are a lot of people that don't believe 22:09 that God really exists. 22:11 How can they know that He exists, 22:12 because they see us as we were before Christ B.C. 22:16 and how we are after Christ A.C. 22:21 I went back to Brooklyn, New York, 22:23 a few years ago, I go periodically. 22:25 And I remember, turning the corner, 22:26 I always go back and go to my neighborhood. 22:30 And there are a lot of people that still 22:31 sit out on the steps. 22:33 In New York we call them the stoops. 22:35 And so, sometimes I drive to the neighborhood 22:38 to see if I recognize people and every know and then 22:40 I run into somebody that I've known, 22:41 that knew me since I was a little bit, 22:43 little, little boy. 22:45 And some of the people have gotten older. 22:47 Sorry, all of the people have gotten older. 22:50 Well, some of them look older. All right. 22:54 And I remember having a conversation 22:56 with one of the dear lady, ladies on the block there, 22:59 and she said-- She calls me Junior. 23:02 "Junior, you're looking good. 23:03 What you're doing for yourself." 23:05 And I said, "Well, I've been a pastor." 23:07 Man, Lord really brought you along, 23:09 but look at, just look at you. 23:11 She goes, just look at you. 23:13 And then I turned the corner right at the pool 23:15 hall that I used to gamble at, and one of the guys, 23:19 oh the world had taken such a toll on his life. 23:22 And he said, "Hey, John, could you lend me five dollars 23:26 'cause you look like you're doing good for yourself." 23:28 And he says, "Is that, is that you? 23:29 I said, "Well, it's the same name, 23:32 but I'm not the same that I used to be." 23:34 And there's a need to let people know that, 23:36 yes, I maybe the same person, 23:37 DNA and my blood type hasn't change, 23:40 and I'm the same person structurally. 23:42 But Jesus does make a difference in our lives 23:44 when He comes in. What do you say? 23:45 He loves us as we all, 23:47 but He never leaves us the way He finds us. 23:50 But often times we just, you know, in the churches too, 23:53 and this is something that, I want to pack this, 23:55 wanna let you know that we don't have to rush 23:57 to the end of the topic, we could pick it up 23:58 where we left off. 24:00 But often times, Sabbath morning 24:04 or Sunday morning, whoever you, 24:06 whatever church you maybe attending. 24:07 Often times, when we walk through the doors of the church 24:12 I think one songwriter said, 24:15 "Happy plastic people under happy plastic steeples." 24:23 "Stained Glass Masquerade." 24:26 We come to church sometimes 24:27 and we try to pretend that's altogether. 24:31 But in fact, we know we're struggling 24:32 with the greatest challenges in our lives 24:34 and we ought to feel the freedom to come to church 24:37 and say to a brother or a sister. 24:39 Can you pray with me about a struggle I've had? 24:42 Or if somebody says to you, "How is your life?" 24:44 Well, you know, I really do need to pray 24:46 about a certain issue in my life. 24:47 We got to be able to pull somebody aside 24:49 and pray for those things because every one of us 24:51 is in the journey of growing to be more like Christ. 24:55 But sometimes you come to the church on Sabbath morning 24:57 and we could hold it together pretty well 24:59 for that hour and a half or how ever long we're here, 25:02 but sometimes the moment we leave the church 25:04 or the moment the sermon is over, 25:05 we fall right back into our same dialogue, 25:08 we fall right back into our attitudes. 25:10 Sometimes we see a person coming across the congregation 25:13 or across the sanctuary or in the fellowship hall 25:16 and we change our spirit and we even begin to talk 25:18 differently because we haven't found victory 25:21 in certain areas of our lives. 25:23 And by the way, if we have bad attitudes down here, 25:26 we're not taking bad attitudes to heaven. 25:27 What do you say? Amen! 25:29 So we have to overcome it down here, right? 25:32 So here's the question. Look at question number five. 25:35 If you answer number four, "All of us have sinned 25:38 everyone has fallen short of the glory of God." 25:40 Question five, what did God create man to reveal? 25:45 What did God create man to reveal? 25:48 If you notice there, I said scream quotation. 25:51 So you can turn to this, 25:52 but I'm gonna read this for you on the screen. 25:54 A very important book I've taken this quotation 25:56 from Review and Herald, June 18, 1895. 26:00 "Man was the crowning act of the creation of God, 26:04 made in the Image of God, 26:07 and designed to be a counterpart of God." 26:10 And isn't that amazing? Designed to be a counterpart, 26:13 that is to work together with God. 26:15 Continuing, "Man is very dear to God, 26:18 because he was formed in what? His own image." 26:22 That's what, that's what God's plans were to have 26:25 man to be a counterpart with Him and Satan knew that, 26:28 so he broke the connection between God and man, 26:31 and that was the image that was created in man. 26:35 So that God had to restore that before He could now 26:38 rely on us to be a counterpart. 26:41 In other words, God is not gonna take somebody 26:43 that's living for the world and say, 26:44 "There is my representative." 26:46 God's got to take them from where they are, 26:49 bring them through victory or continue His victory 26:52 and then put them on display for the world. 26:54 Have you considered my servant? 26:56 But here's another quotation from the book, 26:57 "Daughters of God," page 22, paragraph 1. 27:00 "Man was to bear God's image, 27:03 both in outward resemblance and what? In character." 27:08 Meaning, on the outside as well as on the inside. 27:12 Now you know, sometimes look good on the outside, 27:14 but is there's something wrong on the inside. 27:16 Yes. He was holy and happy in bearing the image of God 27:22 in perfect obedience to His will. 27:25 Now, I don't take service a lot, 27:27 but let me ask you to question. 27:29 How many of us are living 27:30 in perfect obedience to God's will? 27:32 Raise your hand. Very honest response. 27:37 How many believe by the indwelling Christ 27:39 we could live in perfect obedience to the will of God? 27:43 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 27:47 That's what God intense were to live 27:49 in perfect obedience to His will. 27:51 So God does have a will. A lot of times people say, 27:53 "You know, pastor, if I can only find out 27:56 what God's will is for my life." 27:58 Well, you know, it's not necessarily important 28:00 to find out what that is because, 28:01 the Lord only knows that. 28:03 And so one of the reasons why we ask that question. 28:05 We want to find out what the will is and then do it, 28:07 but that's not what the Bible says. 28:10 "For it is God who works in you both to will 28:14 and to do of His good pleasure." 28:17 Let's take that to an example. Can you imagine a glove? 28:20 A glove, what did I say? 28:21 A glove, laying down in dealers, what's my purpose? 28:28 If it could talk, what's my -- What have I, 28:30 what have I been create to do? 28:32 And somebody said, 28:33 "Well, to keeps somebody's hands warmer, 28:35 open doors or drive cars and steer steering wheels." 28:38 And that glove is laying with all of its effort, 28:41 trying its best to get up and do just that, but it can't. 28:44 Why? Somebody tell me. 28:46 Because there's no power on the inside. 28:48 So in the very same way, we may understand 28:51 what we've been created to do, 28:52 but unless there's power on the inside we cannot do it. 28:57 Here's another statement from the same book, 29:01 same page, second paragraph. 29:03 "The sinless pair wore no artificial garments, 29:07 they were clothed with a covering of what? 29:11 Light and glory, such as the angels wear." 29:15 And here's the point. 29:16 "So long as they lived in obedience to God, 29:20 this robe of light continued to enshroud them." 29:24 So here's the part. 29:26 The most significant part of that is not so much the robe, 29:28 or the light that continued to enshroud them, 29:31 but here's the part about victory. 29:33 So long as they lived in obedience, 29:37 and that's a word that's been 29:39 put on the endangered species list. 29:41 How many times do you hear the sermons about obedience? 29:45 You don't really. 29:47 Matter of fact, even wives sometimes say, 29:49 "Pastor, take that out of 29:50 the wedding vows to love and to obey." 29:54 No, I'm not gonna -- What if he says something, 29:56 I don't want to obey. I'm not gonna obey that. 29:59 Children, obey your parents and Lord. 30:01 What if I don't like my mom and my dad, 30:02 I'm not gonna obey them 30:03 and society is fighting in the opposite direction. 30:06 In the very same way, most of the sermons you hear 30:09 and I hope not in our church, 30:11 but most of the sermons you hear about 30:12 how to have a strong financial portfolio, 30:15 how to go to the next level, how to get ready for the shift, 30:18 all these things outside of 30:20 how to live a victorious Christian life. 30:22 There is a need for a victorious Christian life 30:25 and I believe that we can live in harmony 30:27 and in obedience to the will of God, amen! 30:31 But here's the next question because we're unpacking this. 30:34 We're unpacking this, just at the foundation. 30:36 Question number six. 30:38 How much effort is required to reflect God's glory? 30:44 How much effort is required to reflect God's glory? 30:50 How much? This is really important. 30:53 And I'll tell you a story after the, after we read the text. 30:56 I share this with my audience off the air a few weeks ago, 31:02 but it fit so well unto the sermon 31:03 or the study that I'll share it again tonight. 31:07 How much effort? 31:08 Listen to what Matthew 5 and verse 16 says. 31:11 What's the very first word in the text? 31:13 Let your light! 31:14 Let, let your light -- We all know this all, 31:17 are you ready, here we go. 31:18 "Let your light so shine before men, 31:22 that they may what? 31:23 See your good works and glorify your Father, 31:28 where, which is in heaven." 31:31 But notice this. What's the first word? 31:33 Let, L-E-T. 31:34 It's kind of like the text that Paul has in Colossians. 31:37 "Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus." 31:40 Do you know what? 31:41 All that has to, all that we have to do 31:44 for our light to shine is let. 31:48 Few years ago, when we drove to California 31:50 for the very first time talking about 31:52 letting the glorify of God be seen. 31:54 If the glory of God is seen in our lives, 31:56 it's not very hard, it's not very hard to be seen. 31:59 I didn't know how, how the deserts 32:02 were there in Texas and I want to make sure that 32:04 when we drove to California that I could seen my way, 32:07 you know, as we drove through the deserts 32:08 and Texas has some large deserts. 32:11 As a matter of fact, when we entered Texas, 32:12 I saw a mile marker, 880 miles, 32:16 which meant that's how many miles 32:17 you have to go to get out of Texas. 32:20 And I had never driven that route before, 32:22 so we had an old 1976, Toyota Corona, 32:26 at its best it had cancer, the fenders were, 32:29 you know, rotting from being in New York City 32:31 and all the salt on the streets. 32:32 But I wanted my headlights to work very well, 32:34 I needed to see where I'm going, 32:36 and I knew that's somewhere along the way 32:38 I'll be driving in the night, in the desert. 32:41 So I bought these Hella halogen headlights. 32:44 Anybody remember that? 32:45 They still sell them for racing vehicles. 32:48 Bright lights, I mounted them on the front of my, 32:51 of my fender, bumper whatever you want to call it, 32:55 got them hooked up and tested them, 32:57 they worked really well, and here we were 32:59 driving through Texas at night, route 10 going west. 33:02 And I turned my headlights on and I saw, I mean, 33:05 I was able to see -- Oh, it seemed like a mile or an half, 33:08 it was bright, it was huge. 33:10 For the first time, I was able to really see everything. 33:12 Dark desert, bright lights, no problem. 33:16 And I saw way ahead of me some flashlights, 33:18 and I thought, oh please pull somebody over. 33:22 Well, the lights were not moving. 33:24 They were getting closer, and I was getting 33:25 closer and closer to the lights, 33:27 but I thought somebody had been pulled over. 33:29 When I passed the lights, it came in behind me 33:33 and he pulled me over. 33:34 He said, he didn't ask me for license and registration. 33:37 And he said, "Would you turn those lights off." 33:41 And I said, "Why?" He said, 33:42 "I could see those things two miles down the road, 33:44 they were blinding me." 33:47 Well, my point is this. 33:48 If the glory of God is shining from us at night, 33:52 somebody ought to be able to see it. Amen. 33:54 This world is darker than it's ever been before. 33:56 The glory of God will be seen in the life that is reflecting 34:00 the glory of God, but it cannot be reflected 34:04 unless God is living on the where? 34:06 On the inside. So it's very important. 34:09 So if you put an answer there to question five, 34:11 what did God create man to reflect? 34:15 God created man to reflect His glory. 34:18 God created man to reflect His glory. 34:21 But question number six. And how does that happen? 34:24 By simply letting it happened. How does it happen, friends? 34:27 By, what? Letting it happened. 34:29 If you just let the Lord do what He wants to do in your life, 34:32 the glory of God will be seen. 34:34 There is no effort required to reflect the glory of God. 34:36 If you just simply say, "Lord, I give you my life, 34:39 I invite You to come into my life." 34:41 Everyday you do that, sooner or later 34:44 the light is going to get brighter 34:45 and brighter and brighter, and people are going to notice 34:48 the change because the Lord, who is the light 34:51 cannot be hidden once He's in our lives. Amen. 34:53 Question number seven. 34:55 Where does the light that the Christian reflects come from? 34:57 Did I just tell you the answer? 35:00 Did I just tell you the answer? 35:01 Okay, let's see what the Bible says. 35:03 This is very important, although you know the answer, 35:06 don't tell me. 35:07 Let's go to John 8 and verse 12, John 8 and verse 12. 35:11 Where does the light that the Christian reflects come from? 35:14 It doesn't come from Walmart. It doesn't come from Kmart. 35:19 It doesn't come from a flashlight. 35:21 Listen to the words of Jesus. 35:24 "And Jesus spoke to them saying, 35:27 'I am the, what? Light of the world. 35:30 He who follows Me shall not what? 35:32 Walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'" 35:37 No one passed that. 35:38 If you follow Christ, what will you have? 35:42 You will have the light of life. You will have the light of life. 35:46 So could it be that we're not following Christ 35:49 that the light is not being seen. 35:51 Now that's just very important because 35:53 if you say you're a Christian, the next question is, 35:55 okay, you have the label, 35:56 but are you following the one with the light? all right? 36:00 Having the label is not what that said, it says, 36:03 "I am the Light of the world, he who follows Me 36:06 will not walk in the darkness, 36:07 but will have the Light of life." 36:11 I believe it was 1960 something, 36:14 I can't remember the exact date, but in New York City, 36:16 the first blackout that they had. 36:19 I was a little boy and I remember 36:20 Mr. Hahn's coming home. 36:23 The lights in New York City went out. 36:24 The first great blackout that they had. 36:27 And he was in the subway on his way home, 36:29 the A train on his way to Brooklyn 36:30 when the lights went out. 36:32 And for those of you who know me very well, 36:34 you know, I like flashlights. 36:36 Isn't that right? I talk about all my flashlights. 36:38 My wife has a flashlight. 36:40 I never traveled without a flashlight. 36:41 I'm on the plane, I have a flashlight 36:42 that hangs around my neck. 36:44 Little tiny one, looks like a little ball. 36:47 Anybody on the plane except me maybe in darkness. 36:51 I have a flashlight. I have one that fits my bag, 36:54 one on the side of my bed. 36:55 I have a long flashlight, a small flashlight, 36:57 I have a halogen flashlight, 36:59 and I have a two million watt candle one that plugs 37:02 into my cigarette lighter, my car. 37:05 But he told me the story very well. 37:07 When the, when the train broke down in the tunnels 37:10 of Brooklyn on its way to Franklin Avenue. 37:15 He who worked as a janitor at one of the buildings 37:18 in Wall Street, he took out his flashlight. 37:21 When they had to climb out of the train 37:22 and walk to the stop, he said, 37:25 "A lot of people were following him because he had the light." 37:29 Those who are not following him were walking in what? 37:32 Darkness. Darkness. 37:33 In the very same way, when we follow Jesus. 37:36 I reiterate what he said, "We will have the light of life. 37:41 We will not walk in darkness." 37:42 Now, why isn't so vitally important? 37:44 Is because, often times and the reason I'm gonna bring this out. 37:47 Remember that phrase, "We'll have the light of life. 37:50 We'll not walk in darkness." 37:52 Matter of fact, let me turn you to a text. 37:54 Go with me to the Book of Ephesians, go there. 37:57 This is not on the screen, every now and then we're gonna 37:59 break away from the script. 38:01 Is that all right? Amen! 38:02 Let me show you this. 38:04 Because there are, there are works of light 38:08 and there are works of darkness. Amen! 38:10 All right. Now, we know about the works of light, 38:15 but--Okay, here we are. 38:22 Galatians Chapter 5, did I say, Ephesians? Yeah! 38:25 You should be listening carefully, Galatians. 38:31 Galatians 5, very important. 38:34 Remember, walking in light, not in darkness. 38:37 So I'm gonna show you now. 38:38 Since we say, if we walk on the light, 38:41 if we follow the one in the light, 38:42 we will not be walking in darkness. 38:45 We will not have darkness, we will have the light of life. 38:48 It's not possible. Now I want you to notice. 38:50 Everyone knows, where the fruit of the spirit is listed. 38:53 Galatians 5 verse 22, 38:56 down to verse 20, 25, all right. 39:04 Very quickly, but the fruit of the spirit is what? 39:07 Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, 39:09 meekness, patience, you know all that, 39:12 you got all that, right? 39:13 And by the way, we make this particular point. 39:15 It's not the fruits of the spirit, 39:17 it's the fruit, one fruit. 39:19 You get that, you bite that one fruit, 39:20 there is love and joy and peace and long suffering, 39:22 and gentleness in that one fruit. 39:24 How many fruits did Eve bite? One. There you go. 39:28 Now let's look at the opposite side of that. 39:31 You remember now the works of darkness. 39:33 Look at verse 19. 39:36 These are the things that should not 39:38 show up in a Christian's life. 39:41 Are you ready? Galatians 5 verse 19. 39:44 I'm reading the New King James Version, 39:45 but whatever version you have it's fine. 39:48 "Now the works of the flesh are evident, 39:51 or as some transition say, are these, which are, adultery, 39:55 fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, 40:01 sorcery, hatred, contentions, are they contentions, 40:06 jealousies, outbursts of wrath, people loosing their temper, 40:10 selfish ambitions, jealousies that is. 40:13 People want to take your place, 40:14 and you want to take somebody else's. 40:15 Dissensions, that's problems. Things can't go right. 40:19 Heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelries, 40:25 and the like of which I tell you beforehand, 40:29 just as I also told you in time past, 40:32 that those who practice such things will not what? 40:36 "Will not inherit the kingdom of God." 40:38 Those are the works of darkness. 40:40 Those are the things that should not be 40:41 named in the Christian's life. 40:43 But I shamefully say that many Christians 40:46 still struggle in those areas. 40:49 Now, do you think it's God's plan for Christians 40:53 to struggle with all that stuff? No. 40:57 We'll find out in just a moment why? 40:59 It was never God's plan for us to struggle 41:02 with those kinds of things. 41:03 Let's go to the next question 41:04 to see exactly what I mean by that. 41:06 Question number eight, question number eight. 41:11 Here it is. How is the transaction 41:13 of accepting Jesus described? 41:15 How is he transaction of accepting Jesus described? 41:19 There was a transaction when you buy something. 41:22 If we are purchased by the blood of Christ, 41:24 it's a transaction, but how does 41:26 the Bible describe this transaction? 41:30 First Peter Chapter 2 and verse 9. 41:32 This is one of my favorite texts by the way, I love it. 41:35 Here we go, here's the answer. 41:40 "But you are a, what kind of generation? 41:43 Chosen generation. What kind of priesthood? 41:46 Royal priesthood, a holy nation, 41:49 His own special people, that you may proclaim 41:53 the praises of Him who called you out of, what?" Darkness. 41:58 "Darkness into His marvelous light." 42:01 I mean, have you seen bright light just a few nights ago? 42:04 I don't know how many of you are at home a few nights ago, 42:06 I think Sunday night when there was lightening 42:10 like I had not seen in a longtime. 42:12 My wife and I were driving together 42:14 and there were many instances where 42:15 the lightening actually hurt our eyes. 42:17 I started getting to the place where I was driving like this. 42:20 I said, and I took out, I got a--I took my, 42:24 my shades, sorry, my sunglasses. 42:26 Shades, is an old fashioned word. 42:28 I took my sunglasses out and began to drive 42:31 with my sunglasses at night 42:32 because the lightening was bright. 42:33 It was actually hurting my eyes. It was blue color. 42:37 It was very blue, very, very blue. 42:39 And at points maybe two or three seconds, 42:41 it looked like it was full day time. 42:44 But here's the thing, God hasn't called us into light. 42:47 He's called us into what kind of light? 42:49 Marvelous. Marvelous light. 42:50 He calls us to reflect His glory. We'll find out. 42:53 I'm laying the foundation because we're gonna get 42:55 into some things that are very important like Romans 5, 42:58 Romans 6, Romans 7, 43:00 the experience of Paul after he accepted Christ. 43:03 God knows where we are, but our God also knows 43:06 where He wants us to be. 43:08 So God calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light. 43:11 And the text that we read there in Galatians 5 verse 19 to 21, 43:16 talked about all the things that should not be named 43:19 in the life of the Christian, the works of darkness. 43:22 But here's the next question. 43:23 Question number nine, question number nine. 43:27 How does the Bible describe the character of mankind? 43:33 Are you all ready? I'm gonna talk about you. 43:36 Well, let me rephrase that. I'm gonna talk about us, right? 43:40 Are you ready? Can I hear, yes? 43:43 Yes! Okay, here we go. 43:45 Now you got to hold on because I'm gonna talk about you, 43:48 I'm not gonna use my own words, I'm gonna use the word of God. 43:52 He's gonna describe the character of mankind. 43:55 How we were when the Lord found us? 43:59 Isaiah 64 and verse 6 is our first passage. 44:04 Isaiah 64 and verse 6. This is a hard one. 44:11 "But we are all like, what, 44:16 an unclean thing, and all our righteousness. 44:21 Try to say that 15 times. Are like, what kinds of rags? 44:25 Filthy rags, we all fade as a leaf, 44:28 and our iniquities like the wind have what, taken us away." 44:32 No, you don't want to run pass this, 44:33 we've read this a thousand times, get it. 44:38 Our iniquities takes us away. 44:40 In other words, our iniquity, the sin that we cherish 44:43 is what separates between us and God. 44:45 In other words, a righteous God will not have 44:48 a sinful man stand in His presence or simple woman. 44:51 So if God is getting as ready to stand this presence, 44:54 what does He have to remove from us? 44:56 Here are some things, the unclean things, 44:59 the filthy things, our iniquities, 45:02 all the things that cause us to fade. 45:04 Now there is a difference between fading and reflecting 45:07 the marvelous light, is there not? Yes! 45:10 So, God doesn't want like an-- Matter of fact, 45:12 when your headlights begin to dim, 45:14 you think your batteries dying or your alternate is broke. 45:17 Just imagine a Christian with a, 45:18 a Christian with a very, very dim light. 45:23 And strangely enough, when people in the world 45:28 run into Christians that lose their temper 45:30 in public or maybe at work, the devil has it that moment 45:35 that they say, "I thought you were a Christian." 45:38 Have you noticed that? 45:40 But don't you, aren't you, but aren't you a Christian? 45:46 Kind of like Peter, but aren't you connected 45:48 with Christ and what did He do. 45:50 He began to curse. He was not yet where God wanted him to be. 45:55 And that's why, Jesus said to him. 45:57 "When you are converted, until you converted Peter, 46:00 you're not, no used to be. 46:01 When you are converted, strengthen the brethren. 46:04 God looks for converted people. 46:06 What, what kind of people did I say? 46:08 Converted. Converted! 46:09 Yes, He accepts us as we are, 46:10 but He never leaves us the way He finds us. 46:13 Now let's go to the part that's really gonna unpack this. 46:16 Question number ten. 46:17 And this may take us to the end of our program, 46:19 maybe or maybe not, but let's go ahead. 46:22 How reliable is our decision making and reasoning center? 46:28 Now some of you linguistics maybe saying, 46:30 "How reliable are our decision making and reasoning?" 46:35 But I'm talking about one place. 46:37 How reliable is our decision making and reasoning center? 46:41 There's a place where we make decisions, 46:43 there's a place where we reason. 46:44 He reliable is that place? 46:46 Let's start with the central, 46:48 let's start with the central location. 46:51 Are you ready? Jeremiah 17:9, 46:54 and I'd like us all to read this together because 46:56 I don't want to be inditing you about anything. 46:58 I want you to indite yourself. Are you ready? Here we go. 47:02 "The heart is deceitful above all things, 47:06 and desperately wicked." 47:09 And here's the question. "Who can know it?" 47:11 Have you ever surprised yourself with your reaction? 47:13 Come on, can I guess somebody-- Have you ever surprised? 47:16 You say, "Did I say that? Was that me?" 47:20 Have you ever been kneeling down while you're praying 47:22 and thoughts come in your mind that you're wondering? 47:24 "Lord, where are those thoughts coming from." 47:27 Or sometimes, you walk in church and you say, 47:30 "Oh, what a beautiful Sabbath morning and all of a sudden, 47:32 thoughts come into your mind or words fall 47:35 off your tongue and say, was that, was that me?" 47:38 That's what the Bible saying, "The human heart is deceitful 47:41 above all things, and desperately--" 47:43 We can even predicted, we can predict it. 47:46 So, if we can control it, do we need someone 47:51 that knows how to control the human heart? 47:53 Yes or no? Yes. 47:55 We need a power outside of ourselves and too often, 47:58 we rely on our own strength and our own power to be victorious. 48:01 In other words, triumph -- 48:04 And I've heard preachers once, matter of fact, 48:06 there's a young lady that came to a preacher 48:07 and she tell me about this what he said to her. 48:09 She was asking for help in a particular area. 48:11 And he said, "You know, if you just pray harder, 48:15 if you just try hard, you can do it. 48:18 Good, just try hard, just focus. 48:19 Salvation is not of works, lest anyone should boast." 48:24 There's not a matter of try hard to go into-- 48:26 It's not a Twelve Steps process. Now okay, try, how can I? 48:29 Say after me. I can do it, I can do it. 48:33 What's the problem there? Somebody tell me. 48:35 What? I, exactly. 48:38 It's a I problem, there you go. 48:39 The devil said, "I shall be, I shall be, I shall be." 48:42 And if we thought, I can do it, 48:43 I can do it, I know I'm struggling, 48:45 but I can do it, I can do it. 48:46 Focus, John, I can do it. You can't do it. 48:48 Because the heart is deceitful above all things, 48:50 and--We don't even know what is gonna do next. 48:53 That's the heart, the heart is bad. 48:55 So when people say to me, understand me in the context. 48:58 When people say to me, "You know, 49:00 I know a lot of people who have really good hearts." 49:03 And I would say, "Show me them." 49:06 Because, you know what, the fact that the matter is. 49:08 According to God's word nobody has a good heart. 49:13 Just catch Him on the right day, step on the right toe, 49:17 not the big one, get Him on a really bad day, 49:22 and they will remind you that they need Jesus 49:25 every moment of the day, as we all know. 49:28 Isn't that right? But let's keep going, let's keep going. 49:32 Psalms 14 verse 1, Psalms 14 verse 1. 49:36 And this is the reason why the Bible uses the word fool there. 49:39 Foolishness comes from the heart. 49:41 "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is, what, no God.' 49:46 They, the Bible says, are corrupt, 49:48 they have done abominable works, there is none who does good." 49:53 How many of us do good? Not a one of us. 49:56 Now God works through us. 49:58 And I want to put this in context because you may say, 50:00 "Well, you know, I have some people that are not Christians, 50:02 they help keep the neighborhood clean, 50:04 their yards are always perfectly manicured. 50:07 Whenever there's a project, they come forth and they help out." 50:11 I'm not talking about those kinds of things. 50:13 I'm talking about good in reference to salvation. 50:17 I'm not talking about a person who builds a great building 50:20 or paints or wonderful house or knows how to really 50:23 manicure the lawn and volunteers to do. 50:25 Those, those are good deeds, but, but you know well, 50:28 by the deeds, nobody is justified by their deeds. 50:31 Salvation is not something that we do. 50:34 It's a process that is done within us. 50:36 So when it comes to comparing us to Christ, 50:39 there is none who does good, no not, not one of us. 50:43 Let's continue to go on. 50:44 We talked about the hard both times. 50:46 Let's talk about the tongue. 50:48 James 3 and verse 8, James 3 and verse 8. 50:56 There's a whole lot more James says about the tongue, 50:58 but I'll just narrow down to this. 51:01 Really, really amazing, what he says. 51:06 Have you heard somebody say, "I'm gonna bite my tongue?" 51:10 This tells you why, all right. Here we go. 51:13 "But no man, how many man? 51:17 No man can, no man can tame the tongue. 51:20 It is an unruly evil, full of what, 51:25 deadly, deadly poison." 51:27 Now, how many of you would give you a child 51:30 something to drink that's describe this way? 51:34 Full of evil and a deadly poison. 51:37 How many would do that? 51:39 But you know what, that's what, that's what, 51:41 that's what happens to the tongue 51:42 that is not under the control of Christ. 51:48 That's what happens. James says, 51:50 "From that same tongue comes blessings one day 51:54 to God be the glory." 51:56 Go home and lose his tempering from that same tongue 51:58 comes cursing and blasphemy. 52:01 So all we're gonna go to heaven with both functions 52:05 when we're in heaven. Yes or no? 52:06 You know, when we go to heaven, 52:07 we're not losing our tempers and our tongues 52:09 and not going to be a deadly poison because 52:10 the character of Christ will be completely reproduced on us, 52:13 but down here, here's the key between earth and heaven. 52:18 We've got to find out-- Let me put this together 52:21 and you'll see this as we go to the next study, not tonight. 52:24 But here we are when Christ, we're here when Christ finds us. 52:27 Let's just say this is us. 52:29 Then Christ, we're moving in the journey. 52:32 This is justificate Christ, we accept Christ 52:34 to comes into our lives. 52:35 He covers the payment for our sin, 52:38 He pays for us to be redeemed, He goes to the store of sin 52:42 and death and degradation and he buys us, 52:45 and He redeemed us. 52:47 Justification, we'll talk about that in detail. 52:49 Then we go to this part, sanctification. 52:51 He begins the process of restoring us. 52:53 Have you seen an old piece of furniture completely restored 52:56 or a house completely restored? 52:58 You look at that thing. 52:59 And my wife and I like to watch the HD TV channel where they, 53:03 you know, they get these houses they look like nothing. 53:06 And they say, "Well, I can fix that up for $30,000." 53:09 And the people say, "No, not that house." 53:13 But people are admired not by what happens 53:15 on the outside of the house, by what happens where. 53:17 On the inside of the house. 53:19 'Cause the outside doesn't change much outside 53:21 or maybe some paint or an additional room. 53:24 But Christ accepts us, He accepts us 53:27 and the process begin, the project starts. 53:31 But we have to remember where we started. 53:33 House messed, wives all messed up, 53:35 tongue doesn't work, bad attitudes, 53:38 could cuss at any moment, tell somebody off at any moment, 53:42 facial expressions change at any moment, 53:44 get angry at any moment, 'cause you don't get 53:46 the position you want to fight, somebody disrespects you, 53:49 you'll lose your temper, cut people off at any moment. 53:53 So if we see those things still spring forth in our lives, 53:56 either we haven't fully surrendered ourselves 53:58 or there are certain parts of our lives 54:00 that we still have to give to Christ to be removed. 54:04 Look at this, Romans 3 verse 10 to 12. 54:09 Romans 3 verse 10 to 12. Okay. 54:14 "As it is written, 'There is none righteous, 54:18 no, not one, there is none who understands, 54:22 there is none who seeks after God. 54:26 They have all turned aside, they have together become, 54:29 what, unprofitable, 54:31 there is none who does good together, no, not one.'" 54:37 Not even one. So, how many of us do good? 54:40 Raise your hand. Now, I'm not gonna leave you 54:45 discouraged, you're gonna go home excited, all right. 54:48 But I want you to see why we do need Jesus. 54:51 We don't need another fundamental doctrine. 54:53 We don't need number 29. 54:55 Those are facts, no matter whether you accept them or not. 54:58 But what I want, what the Christ wants us, 55:00 for us to be victorious. 55:01 I don't want to live a life of defeat in just 55:02 at the last minute, you know, 55:04 fall out of an alcohol bottle right into heaven. 55:05 It's not gonna happen that way. 55:07 Christ wants me to be a testament down here 55:09 that He can change lives, that's the only hope 55:11 that the person who is hung up on something has by seeing 55:14 the deliverance that's present in my life. 55:17 Look at in other one. 55:18 Question number eleven, question number eleven. 55:20 Go to this very quickly. 55:22 What did Jesus say is one of the greatest Christian challenges, 55:25 one of the greatest Christian challenges? 55:28 Matthew 15 verse 8, Matthew 15 verse 8. 55:32 One of the greatest Christian challenges. 55:33 He said this. "These people draw near to Me 55:41 with their, what, mouth, honor Me with their lips, 55:46 but their heart is, what, far from Me." 55:50 What do you, what, what can you think 55:51 of when you think of, they draw near to Me with their mouths. 55:55 Singing Christian songs, preaching sermons, 55:57 giving your Bibles that is talking about Jesus, 55:59 but the heart is a problem and heart somewhere. 56:02 You know, friends, Jesus is come to remedy, 56:04 not just what's happening on the outside because 56:06 all those things are, are just really good things. 56:08 And sometimes, if we're not careful, 56:09 we can lead people to Christ on ourselves be a cast toy, 56:13 what I'm talking about is, God does not want 56:14 to cast us away, He wants to hold, man, 56:16 He wants to save all of us, amen. Amen! 56:18 And so, we begin this topic by looking at where we are, 56:22 but where we can be in Christ, 56:25 where we begin and where we're gonna end up. 56:27 It's gonna be amazing, because you read about 56:29 heaven one day, each of us is going to walk 56:31 through the gates into the New Jerusalem. 56:33 Can you say amen to that? Amen! 56:35 But we're not gonna walk on the other way 56:36 where we are right now because there's a work 56:37 that still has to go on. 56:38 And when you go home, you know very well more 56:41 than anybody else that the work that Christ 56:43 is carrying on in your life, 56:45 is work that Christ can complete. 56:48 Isn't that right? Amen! 56:49 He can complete that. 56:50 "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 56:52 We're gonna talk about how that strength comes 56:55 and what it means, and how we could know 56:58 on a day-by-day basis that we have 57:00 that strength without guessing. 57:02 We can know, it'll be on a shadow of a doubt 57:05 that Christ is strengthening our lives. 57:07 You know, we want to invite you to in join us 57:09 next week for the continuation of this topic on 57:12 "How to Live a Spiritual Life in a Natural Body." 57:15 If you want to send us a question or comment, 57:18 you can go to Twitter and go to 57:20 "A Sharper Focus" on Twitter. 57:23 You can go to our Facebook page "A Sharper Focus 3ABN." 57:26 Or you can go to our church's webpage www.tvsdac.org, 57:31 where you can download the syllabus 57:33 and follow along in the lesson. 57:35 Now let me encourage you, if you have a copy 57:37 of the lesson, try to follow it through as best you can, 57:41 so that when we begin again on next week, 57:43 you can be ahead of the game, 57:44 and you can have a lot of the answers 57:46 that we're gonna get to. 57:47 But invite your friends and family members. 57:49 And once again, if you've taped this, 57:51 be desire us to share this with somebody else 57:54 because we do know that if you follow Christ, 57:56 everything we do can come into "A Sharper Focus." |
Revised 2014-12-17