Hello friends, I am your co-host
James Rafferty with Ty Gibson
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and this is Books Of the Book.
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We are in Hebrews Chapter
12, and we want to invite you to
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open your Bible and have a
listening ear and join us in
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Hebrews Chapter 12.
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Hebrews chapter 12, like
many of the chapters in Hebrews
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James, begins with
the word therefore,
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so we need some context.
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What we are about to launch
into in Chapter 12, is referring
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back for its
context to chapter 11.
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We have a whole list
of individuals who have
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been mentioned,
who's faith accomplished
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great exploits and
now, having concluded
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that list we come to chapter 12.
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Paul says therefore, we also
since we are surrounded by so
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great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight and
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sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance
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the race that is set before us.
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Looking unto Jesus, now I really
like this, because this is
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pointing out TY, it
there is a besetting sin.
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All of us have sins,
all of us have weaknesses,
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all of us have problems that
we are dealing with in our walk
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in our Christian experience.
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But there is a besetting
sin, I believe, of human nature,
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now this besetting sin began
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right at the very inception
right at the very fall,
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right at the very beginning,
and that besetting sin,
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I believe, is the inclination
that we have to find fault to
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look at our failures and
our imperfections, either
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in others or in ourselves.
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You know when Adam was
confronted by God with partaking
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of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil he pointed to Eve.
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and Eve pointed to the
serpent, and we have been
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pointing ever since.
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Paul is saying here, you are
surrounded with a great cloud of
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witnesses, you know, the only
way that we can overcome this
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besetting sin of finding
fault is by recognizing God's
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perspective on our lives.
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All of the witnesses of Hebrews
11 have one thing in common.
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The record of their lives is
minus any failure any sin any
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record of where they
came short of God's glory.
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Have you
noticed that? Well yeah!
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The chapter just gives a glowing
report about each one of them
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and there is no mention of any
of their failures which we have
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in the biblical record.
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I mean, we know that
these were human beings who
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were weak and faltering.
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Noah built an ark,
but he also got drunk.
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Abraham and Sarah were faithful,
but he lied about his wife.
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Sarah, she laughed about
the idea of having a child.
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Moses he fled Egypt, but
he also killed an Egyptian.
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Smote the rock of impatience.
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They are not mentioned there.
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We're surrounded with witnesses,
who from God perspective,
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are seen perfect and complete
in Jesus Christ by faith.
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We also have need of this
prospective and see people
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as they are in Jesus,
lay aside the inclination
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we have to judge,
criticize and condemn others.
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One of the great truths of
the gospel is that love covers a
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multitude of sin.
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That doesn't mean that love
becomes deceived, I mean, God
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knows our failures.
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He sees those things in us
that are out of harmony with His
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will and are
contrary to His love.
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But God looks upon us and
exercises confidence He instills
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faith in us by exercising faith.
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Yes, you know, it's interesting
because Paul and first 39 of 11
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is calling us to the better
thing, the better experience
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something better the essence
then of what Paul is saying is
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keep positive keep
to the affirmative.
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Jesus does not dwell upon
our sins upon our failures.
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So why should we? Amen! Amen!
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I want to connect to
verses 1 and 2 now James,
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because we have this cloud
of witnesses the faithful of
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all ages that are
delineated in chapter 11 and
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then in the light of their
faith, we are encouraged to lay
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aside sin to run the race
that is set before us with
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endurance, but at the end of
verse 1 there is a comma, it's
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not the end of his thought.
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He's not saying hey,
you need to overcome sin.
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You need to run this
race, he's not imposing
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responsibility in a vacuum here.
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He's saying to us, run this race
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lay aside your sin, looking
unto Jesus the author and
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finisher of our faith.
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In other words,
the means by which the
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way in which we lay aside sin
and run this race with endurance
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is by looking to Jesus.
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I really like this verse,
I really like this context.
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Basically what we are
saying here is not only
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do we need to keep positive,
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not only do we need to keep
our positive focus, but we also
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need to keep our
focus on Jesus not on man.
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You see with Christ,
we will not grow weary.
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We will not faint.
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When we focus on men
will refocus on ourselves.
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We were going to grow weary, we
are going to feel overwhelmed.
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But when we keep our focus on
Christ who is the author and the
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finisher of our faith, were
going to find He will finish the
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work He has begun in us
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This is amazing that it
said He has authored our faith.
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Now we know an author is
someone who writes a book.
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Someone who originate
something so Jesus is the
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originator of our faith.
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He is the one who has produced
it, He's the One who's worked
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it out in His own
human experience as our
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representative and
having authored that faith then
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The apostle Paul says He
finished, He originated it,
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and He finished our faith.
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Now that's vital.
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Because many times we think
Jesus started it, but He is
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asking us to finish He begun it.
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but we have to do the rest
NO! Hebrews is telling us very
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clearly He began it
and He will finish it.
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And that is very encouraging.
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So He has authored our faith.
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He has originated and
He has finished our faith
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so at that point,
some one may be thinking,
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I've wondered at times, if He
authored it if, He finished it,
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is there anything at all
involved in my own experience.
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Well, there is the faith
that He's authored and finished
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is a living vibrant faith.
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That is clearly referring back
to the experience of all these
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faithful who we noticed in
our previous time together, who
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when they had faith, when
they experienced faith, they
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accomplished great
things by that faith.
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Faith is active, it's
aggressive, it moves it,
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it accomplishes things,
faith without works is dead.
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Be it alone as a very context
of Hebrews 12 is tell us lay
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aside every weight that sin
does so easily beset us look to
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Jesus consider Him that endured
such contradiction of sin
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against himself,
lest you be wary faint
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in your mind verse four.
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You have not yet resisted
unto blood striving against sin.
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So there is this active faith.
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Faith that is motivated by
love that strives against sin.
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that resists unto blood.
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Now in this context, we
might want to point back to the
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experience of Jesus in
Gethsemane because frankly,
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there is nowhere in the
Bible that I find where anyone
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ever resisted unto
blood striving against sin,
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but Christ, and I think that
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Paul here is
speaking metaphorically,
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in a very real sense of an
experience he wants us to have.
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When you look at
Matthew Chapter 26,
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you look at the
experience that Christ had as He
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entered Gethsemane you see an
outline of the way in which we
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can strive, we can resist sin.
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There are basically about
eight points here that you can
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consider that I would like
to go through very quickly.
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They are powerful, because
what you have here is you have
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Jesus Christ seeking
to maintain His connection
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with the Father.
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What does He do, first
of all, He sings a hymn.
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We are admonished in the
new testament to sing hymns and
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spiritual songs.
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Then as He goes
out with His disciples.
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He preaches the word He shares
with them prophecies about
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what's going to
happen to Himself.
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So He places His
faith in the word.
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Then He asks His
disciples to pray for Him.
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And then He Himself
seeks help from the Father.
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He goes off and He
prays as He asked disciples to
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pray for Him.
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And then finally He confesses
His unwillingness to go in the
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direction that God wants Him
to go but He says not my will,
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though, but thine be done.
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In this agony of
separation He submits
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His will to the Father He says.
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You know My will wants to
in this direction, but I submit
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My will to you Father,
and He prays that three times.
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I believe that
Jesus is outlining for us,
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as Paul points to
resisting in the blood.
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Jesus is outlined for us what
He would ask us to do, to have
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hope to sing, to
trust in the word of God.
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To pray and have
others pray for us.
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And finally to submit our
will and our way to God's will,
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and God's way and to
commit ourselves to Him.
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We look to Jesus as Hebrews
Chapter 12, Verse 1 and 2
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It admonishes us to do.
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We see in incredible things
for example, Paul says here and
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verse 2, that when we look
to Jesus, one of the things we
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are going to see James, is
that He authored our faith.
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He finished our faith for
the joy that was set before Him.
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He endured the cross.
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The joy that was set before Him.
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I think wow, what is it that
Jesus is looking forward to as
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the joy that will be the result
of His sacrifice, and I am
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reminded of His prayer in John
17 where He expressed what His
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desire was and what He
was looking forward to Himself
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after His sacrifice.
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In Chapter 17 of the Gospel
of John and verse 24, He says
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Father, I desire that they
also whom You have given Me
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may be with Me where I am that
they may behold My glory, which
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You have given Me for You
loved Me before the foundation
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of the world.
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So, Jesus basically says, here
I am going to endure the cross.
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I'm going to move straight
through with this infinite self-
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sacrifice and endure this
pain and suffering because I am
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looking forward to eternity
future living in fellowship
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with my sons and
daughters, with those who have
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been redeemed by life
virtue of this sacrifice.
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He is looking forward with joy
to spending eternity with us.
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Amen! and you know, it's
interesting because as you move
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through this Ty, you have in
verse five and onward, you have
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this exhortation to not
forget that God educates
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us through trial.
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Now there are times when
it becomes difficult for us to
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accept and understand
that when we are tested,
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when we're tried, when
we, as the old King James say,
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are chastened by the Lord that
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we tend to chide
under it and think,
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Oh, you know, have I
done something wrong?
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Does God not like me,
is He displeased with me?
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NO! He loves us.
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He loves, I disciplined my
son, I educate my son because
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I love him.
00:11:10.44\00:11:11.41
I discipline, my
daughter, I educate my daughter
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because I love her.
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God loves us and we don't want
to forget that we don't want to
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lose sight of the fact
that what God is doing is He is,
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working through these trials to
bring good out of them, for us.
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He's not seeking to chide us
in a negative but a positive way
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Well, Jesus told a parable.
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The parable of the vine in the
branches in which He indicated
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that when a branch
brings forth fruit.
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God prunes it so that it
will bring forth more fruit.
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So God actually sees potential
James He looks into our lives
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and into our hearts and
yes, He sees our weaknesses.
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He sees our failures is He
sees our sins, but God sees the
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potential of our lives,
and so He labors with us.
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He works with us in infinite
wisdom, He knows exactly what to
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allow at what to forbid from
taking place in our lives that
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will move and navigate us
through our experience in life
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to the best yielding of fruit
in our Christian experience.
00:12:12.04\00:12:15.42
So we need to keep positive.
00:12:15.46\00:12:16.43
We need to keep focused,
and we need to keep perspective.
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We need to understand why these
things are happening to us.
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We need to know as
Manasseh probably learn and
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Nebuchadnezzar learned,
that even though we go through
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some of these trials.
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I'm sure you have been through
them and I have been through
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them, that God is working
to bring good out of them.
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I can look back on my life and
say some of the greatest trials
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I faced were turning points
in my Christian experience.
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Were areas where I needed to
grow and where God was pruning
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in order more
fruit would come forth.
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Often times people when they
experience trials and suffering
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they make the assumption
that God is manufacturing these
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trials for them.
00:12:56.64\00:12:57.61
But in fact, the sin problem
has imposed great suffering
00:12:57.64\00:13:01.99
and trials upon the human race.
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And God is not the
manufacturer of the evil things.
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I mean, we need to be very
careful here because there are
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people who have experienced
very difficult things
00:13:10.43\00:13:14.20
in this life.
00:13:14.24\00:13:15.21
There are people who have been
abused by their parents, there
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are people who have
experienced tragedy.
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There are people who have gone
through things that are just
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unthinkable and we don't
want to give the impression, and
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Scripture does not want to
give the impression, that God is
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the author in source
of terrible deeds that are
00:13:29.09\00:13:32.47
committed against us.
00:13:32.50\00:13:33.53
But what we do know for
certainty is that all things
00:13:33.56\00:13:37.22
work together for the good for
those who love the Lord and are
00:13:37.26\00:13:40.69
called according to His purpose.
00:13:40.73\00:13:42.46
Meaning that God, while
He does not manufacture,
00:13:42.50\00:13:46.17
horrible things in our lives.
00:13:46.20\00:13:48.92
God does guide us through
those things in order to bring
00:13:48.96\00:13:53.12
good out of them.
00:13:53.15\00:13:54.19
Absolutely, and there may
be many of our listeners or
00:13:54.22\00:13:56.85
viewers who are going
through some trials and
00:13:56.88\00:13:58.39
tragedies right now.
00:13:58.43\00:14:00.53
I know that each one of us,
none of us are immune to that.
00:14:00.56\00:14:04.38
And if you are, please remember
this that God is working to
00:14:04.42\00:14:07.43
bring good out of it.
00:14:07.46\00:14:08.50
God is going to over rule that
evil, that tragedy, that trial.
00:14:08.54\00:14:13.40
He's going to
overrule it for good.
00:14:13.44\00:14:14.88
He is going to bring something
good out of it that can be
00:14:14.91\00:14:17.65
a turning point
in your experience.
00:14:17.68\00:14:19.19
Don't go away, we
will be right back
00:14:19.23\00:14:20.70