Participants: David Shin
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000333
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00:31 I like to welcome you today to Faith Chapel.
00:34 My name is David Shin. 00:35 And we'll be spending the next few moments together 00:38 in a study of God's word, but before we do 00:41 so like to invite you to bow your heads with me 00:44 as we seek the Lord in prayer. 00:47 Father in heaven, we thank you for the privilege 00:50 and opportunity that we have to study your 00:52 Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us 00:54 wise unto salvation and we ask that our Holy Spirit 00:58 that inspires would also be the Spirit that instructs. 01:02 In Jesus name, Amen. 01:05 The topic of our discussion today is entitled 01:08 Faith and Feeling, what do I do when I don't feel 01:11 like being a Christian, what would I do 01:13 when I don't feel my faith and by way of introduction 01:17 I like to go our first passage here today. 01:19 Romans chapter 7 verse 15 through to 17, 01:24 the Apostle Paul frames very nicely for us to topic 01:27 our discussion today. For what I am doing 01:30 I do not understand, for what I will to do, 01:33 that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 01:37 If, then, I do what I will not to do, 01:40 I agree with the law that it is good. 01:42 But now, it's no longer I who do it, 01:45 but sin who dwells in me. 01:48 The Apostle Paul talks about a very real conflict 01:52 between these two powers within themselves between 01:55 the spiritual nature and the carnal nature 01:58 Between his flesh and between his Spirit and I think 02:01 all of us here today can identify 02:03 with the Apostle Paul in a real way, because all of us 02:07 have a part of us that pulls towards a spiritual side 02:09 and another part of us that pulls away 02:12 to the carnal side. It's interesting what's being 02:16 published in the bookstores nowadays and I came across 02:19 this book that had a kind of a cute title it says, 02:22 Stop Me, Because I Can't Stop Myself, 02:25 and I like to read to you a quotation 02:27 that this author describes and I think all of us 02:29 can identify with this quotation to some degree 02:32 or another. And he says, I feel guilty 02:35 about what I'm doing but I can't stop. 02:37 When I get these urges nothing seems to relieve them 02:41 except gambling. If I don't get to go to the casinos 02:44 when I have these urges, maybe my wife 02:47 asked me to do something 02:48 or a family emergency comes up. 02:50 I feel incredibly anxious and get very irritable. 02:55 The way I treat my wife and my family 02:57 is sometimes horrible, I leave them alone for hours, 03:01 I lie to them, I cancel family plans 03:04 and it's all due to gambling. 03:06 The amount of energy, time and money 03:09 I spend gambling has me shaking my head in disgust 03:12 I look back and wonder how 03:14 I could have ever lived this way. 03:17 This disease controls me, not the other way around. 03:21 I know I'm ruining my career, 03:23 but I just can't stop my behavior. 03:27 Now, I maybe not gambling for some of us 03:30 and maybe some other addictions, some other vice, 03:32 some other sin, but I think all of us at certain point 03:35 in our experience have something 03:37 that we struggle with, something that we try 03:39 to overcome but it seems like this thing 03:42 keeps on overpowering us. 03:44 Now modern psychology has come up with some 03:46 very interesting mechanisms for dealing 03:49 with this thing that we call the flesh, 03:51 this experience of Romans chapter 7 03:53 and one of them is repression or suppression. 03:56 And that is simply the conscious and the unconscious 04:00 slouching of human emotions. 04:02 So, if someone makes you angry, you simply hold it in 04:04 and you don't expressed that emotion. 04:07 Another psychological response that is different 04:11 than repression and suppression is expression. 04:14 So, lets say that your wife or your husband 04:16 makes you mad you shouldn't go over to them 04:18 and vent in a angry way, you should perhaps 04:22 go out to a solitary place and scream 04:25 or vent in a healthy innocuous way. 04:28 Now, I would like say today that these mechanism 04:31 suppression, repression and expression are simply 04:35 unbiblical and unsupported by scripture. 04:38 Now that I just with a few statements deconstructed 04:42 the modern psychological mechanisms for dealing 04:45 with the flesh, what is to be the proper way 04:48 that we deal with negative motion. 04:50 How do we deal with our carnal sinful nature 04:53 when I don't feel like being a Christian, 04:55 when I don't feel like being kind, what is to be the 04:59 Biblical response. And today I like to take a little 05:03 bit about Bible study, a journey through scripture, 05:05 looking at three different passages that outline for us, 05:08 how the Bible depicts to deal with this 05:11 Romans chapter 7 experience. 05:13 And I like to start off by going to the book of 05:16 Romans and then to the book of John and ending 05:20 with the book of Philippians. 05:21 So, lets go to our first passage here today, 05:24 Romans chapter 7 verse 23 through 24, 05:28 I'll be reading from the New King James Version. 05:31 But I see another law in my members, warring against 05:35 the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity 05:38 to the law of sin which is in my members. 05:41 And he says this, O wretched man that I am! 05:45 Who will deliver me from this body of death? 05:49 Notice that Paul says these words, 05:52 he says O wretched man that I am! 05:54 There is only one other place in the Bible 05:56 where that word wretched is mentioned 05:58 in the New Testament and it's the book of Revelation. 06:01 In Revelation chapter 3 where it says, 06:03 O wretched man that I am! He says and I was miserable, 06:07 blind and naked talking about 06:09 the Laodicean experience. And Paul comes to this point 06:13 in his human experienced talking about this struggle 06:15 between the flesh and the spirit between the feeling 06:18 and his conscious. And he says who will deliver me 06:22 from this body of dead. He concludes this chapter 06:25 with these words found in Romans chapter 7 verse 25, 06:29 Romans chapter 7 verse 25, and I thank God through 06:34 Jesus Christ our Lord! So that with the mind 06:37 I myself serve the law of God 06:39 but with the flesh the law of sin. 06:43 He talks about this experience in Romans chapter 7:25 06:46 he says with the mind, with the conscious I serve God, 06:50 but with the flesh, my carnal nature, 06:52 I serve another entity. And I think that all of us 06:56 have experienced this before. 06:58 Have you ever had something in your life that you wish 07:00 you could have stopped, you know with your conscious, 07:02 with your spiritual nature that is something that you 07:05 shouldn't you do, but your flesh keeps pulling 07:07 in that same direction. And Romans chapter 8, 07:10 Paul gives the solution to this problem 07:13 of negative emotion. Let's go there to the next part 07:17 of this passage, Romans chapter 8 verse 1, 07:19 there is now therefore no condemnation to those 07:23 that are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk 07:26 after the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 07:30 Notice that Paul uses a very interesting word 07:33 in Romans chapter 8 verse 1, he says 07:35 there is now therefore, now therefore 07:38 is a concluding statement. In other words you have a 07:42 passage that's going on and whenever you're reading 07:44 the Bible make a note when you see the word therefore 07:46 So, you have promise, promise, promise, therefore. 07:49 So, Romans chapter 7 and Romans chapter 8 07:53 are inextricably bound together, you cannot separate 07:56 the two. Romans chapter 8 verse 1 is a conclusion 07:59 of the rest of that passage. Now, notice what he said 08:04 as in the passage that we have just read. 08:06 He says there is now therefore no condemnation 08:09 to those that are in Christ Jesus. 08:11 And I want to tell you today friends that there is no 08:14 amount of psychological mechanisms 08:16 that you can exert. No matter how much human 08:19 will power you're able to master, there is no way 08:22 that you can conquer the sinful nature 08:24 and negative emotion on your own. 08:26 The only way that you can conquer this thing 08:28 is through the power of Jesus Christ. Amen. 08:31 By being in Christ you are enabled to conquer 08:35 the sinful nature. And the next part of the verse 08:38 he says that who do not walk after the flesh 08:41 but after the spirit, this is called sanctification. 08:45 The first step is to give your will to Jesus Christ 08:47 and the second step is to walk in the spirit 08:50 and not in the flesh. I like to read to you 08:54 this quotation from the one of my favorites authors 08:57 in the book Steps To Christ and she says these words 09:00 It is impossible for ourselves, to escape 09:02 from the pin of sin into which we had sunken, impossible 09:07 Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. 09:10 Education, culture, the exercise of the will, 09:14 human effort, all have their proper sphere, 09:17 but here they are powerless. 09:19 They may produce an outward conformity 09:22 an outward correctness of behavior 09:24 but they cannot change the heart; 09:26 they cannot purify the springs of life. 09:29 There must be a power working from within, 09:31 a new life from above, before men can be changed 09:35 from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. 09:39 His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties 09:42 of the soul, and attract it to God, in holiness. 09:45 And the Savior says, "Except a man be born again 09:49 he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." 09:52 That's good new friends because the moment 09:55 that we accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior, 09:58 the moment that we surrender our lives unreservedly 10:01 to Jesus Christ. We stand before God 10:03 as though we have never sinned. 10:05 The moment the we accept Jesus Christ, 10:07 Jesus puts on us the robe of righteousness. 10:12 Let's read the next passage, Romans chapter 8 verse 2 10:15 Paul keeps going on in this passage, 10:18 Romans chapter 8 verse 2. He says, 10:20 for the law of the Spirit of life of Christ 10:23 had made me free from the law of sin and death. 10:27 This is the beauty of the gospel friends. 10:29 Because the moment that you give your life 10:31 and your will to Jesus, before your will 10:33 was enslaved to the law of sin. 10:36 It was enslaved to the flesh, you could not control 10:38 your habits or your behavior, but the moment that you 10:41 accept Jesus, he frees your will from bondage to sin. 10:45 From bondage to the flesh, so that you are able 10:48 to choose between the flesh and the spirit. 10:51 Lets move on to our next passage. 10:53 And this is a promise for all of us, 10:55 Romans chapter 8 verse 3, the next verse. 10:57 And the Apostle Paul goes on, for what the law 11:00 could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, 11:03 God did by sending His own Son in the likeness 11:07 of sinful flesh, on account of sin: 11:09 He condemned sin in the flesh. 11:12 Friends, Jesus is able to give you victory. 11:16 It doesn't matter with what you maybe struggling 11:18 in your life, whatever addiction, whatever vice 11:20 you maybe struggling, Jesus has given you the victory 11:23 at the cross and you can calm that by faith. 11:27 So, lets summarize and synopsis, 11:29 the first step in giving and conquering 11:32 this negative emotion, this carnal nature 11:34 is not by catharsis, it's not by repression, 11:37 it's not by expression, it's only by giving your life 11:41 unreservedly to Jesus Christ. 11:43 Lets go to our second point, our second passage, 11:47 lets go to the book of John. John chapter 1, 11:50 John chapter 5 verse 1 and 2, I'll be reading 11:54 from the New King James version. 11:56 And After this there was a feast of the Jews, 11:59 and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 12:03 Now there was in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, 12:06 which is in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 12:11 Jesus has just come down from the north 12:14 down to the south and by way just as a little caveat, 12:18 I mean the book of John is a little bit different 12:20 than the other synoptic gospels, 12:22 in that Matthew, Mark and Luke cover mainly his 12:25 Galilean ministry. But the Apostle John covers mainly 12:28 his Judean ministry. And Jesus has just made the trip 12:31 from the north, down to the south to Jerusalem. 12:34 To attend two of four pass-overs that is going 12:38 to be covering during his three-and-half year ministry. 12:40 And he's gone into Jerusalem to a place where 12:43 there is sea of pilgrims that are there. 12:45 And there is a pool called Bethesda, 12:48 that has five porticoes, there is a four and a fifth 12:50 bisecting it, and by this pool they were a multitude 12:54 of individuals as we'll see in this next passage. 12:57 Just read verse 3, John chapter 5 and verse 3, 13:00 Jesus comes in and he says, in these, 13:02 in the Pool of Bethesda, lay a great multitude 13:05 of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, 13:08 waiting for the moving of the water. 13:10 For an angel went down at a certain time to the pool 13:14 and stirred up the water; that whenever they stepped 13:19 in the pool first, after the stirring of the water, 13:21 was made well of whatever disease that he had. 13:25 The very interesting think about this passage is that 13:28 there was a legend that had develop during the time 13:30 of Jesus, that there was a certain time since 13:33 seasons that's actually historically verified 13:35 that the angel or the waters would start to stir 13:38 and they believed that a angel would come down 13:42 at certain times of the year and stir the water 13:44 and the first person into the pool would be healed 13:47 of whatever disease that he had. 13:49 Now scholars believe that this was a different 13:51 type of healing then Jesus had done 13:53 and evidently there had been some references 13:55 or some belief in this and you can just imagine 13:58 by this pool, that a sea, a multitude of sick, 14:02 of lame, of blind, of infirmed would be waiting 14:06 with anticipation with bated breath for one step 14:09 water started move. It was as if a pandemonium 14:12 broke out. There was a stampede and these individuals 14:15 rush upon that water and the stronger 14:17 would overtake the weaker. 14:20 Now lets go on in this next passage, 14:22 John chapter 5 in verse 5, and there was a certain man 14:26 was there who had an infirmity thirty eight years. 14:30 You can imagine that this man by the pool 14:34 of Bethesda, that was the worst case scenario 14:36 for almost 40 years, he was vegetating by this pool, 14:41 hoping with anticipation that he would be made well 14:45 of the disease that he had. And Jesus walks up to 14:49 in the next verse, in verse 6 John chapter 5 14:52 in verse 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, 14:55 and knew that he had been there already in that 14:58 condition a long time, He said unto him, 15:01 "Do you want to be made well?" 15:03 The Bible says the Jesus in John chapter 5 verse 6 15:07 said, he knew that he was in that condition. 15:10 Friend, does Jesus know your condition? 15:11 Does Jesus know your spiritual state? 15:14 And he comes to him and asked this very fundamental 15:16 question, do you want to be made well, 15:18 do you want healing in your life? 15:21 Jesus will not force his way upon you. 15:24 Jesus ask you this very question, 15:27 do you want healing, do you want spiritually renewal 15:29 and many people make that decision, 15:31 they say yes or they say no. 15:33 Let's read the next verse, Jesus said something 15:36 very interesting to him or the man responded, 15:38 in John chapter 5 verse 7. He says these words, 15:41 a sick man answered Him, saying 15:43 "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool 15:45 when the water is stirred up; but while I'm coming 15:48 another steps down before me 15:51 " He says there is no way that I can get to the pool, 15:54 Jesus I need someone to help me perhaps, 15:57 he is wondering if Jesus would be enabled to bring 16:00 him to that pool by the pool of Bethesda, 16:02 and Jesus in the next verse makes these three 16:05 fold commands and it's very interesting 16:07 in 5 verse 8 what Jesus says to him, 16:10 and Jesus said to him, 16:12 "Rise, take up your bed and walk." 16:15 This is a very interesting question, 16:17 because imagine, put yourself in the place 16:20 of that paraplegic by the pool of Bethesda, 16:22 you are in a nursing home and stranger walks 16:26 up to him and first he asks you, do you want 16:28 to be made whole and then he says, 16:30 rise, take up your bed and walk. 16:33 Now what would your natural reaction, 16:36 I wanna tell you my reaction. 16:38 If I was by a quadriplegic, vegetating away 16:41 and a stranger came up to me said rise, 16:43 take up your bed and walk, I'd be like yeah right, 16:46 what are you talking about, I don't really believe you. 16:48 But, the man responds in a fascinating manner 16:51 to this stranger's request in verse 9. 16:54 John chapter 5 verse 9, the man responds, 16:58 and immediately the man was made well, 17:00 he took up his bed, and walked. 17:03 And the same day was the Sabbath. 17:06 It's very interesting what happened, 17:09 notice what did not happen. 17:10 Jesus did not come to him with a transcended 17:13 glorious majesty and there was no emotion 17:15 that pulsed through this man's vein, a simple request 17:18 was asked and what happened, I believe friends 17:21 is when that request was made by Jesus to that man 17:25 by the pool of Bethesda, 17:26 rise, take up your bed and walk. 17:28 He made the effort to stand. 17:31 Even though those synopsis, those neural pathways 17:34 hadn't been used for 40 years almost, he made 17:37 the effort to act by faith and not by feeling. 17:41 Which brings us to our second principle 17:43 that regardless of feeling, regardless of human emotion. 17:47 God is asking us here to act by faith 17:50 and not by feeling, to base our reality upon the 17:54 promises of the word of God. 17:56 You know we live in an age and I'm a Gen-Xer, 17:59 we live in an age where my generation and the boomers 18:02 I believe and also the millennialists 18:04 or the Millennials have this thing about feeling 18:07 we believe that feelings are a true sign of authenticity 18:10 and we many times say I'm not gonna go to church 18:13 unless I feel like going to church 18:16 I'm not gonna be a Christian 18:17 unless I feel like being a Christian. 18:19 And we believe that feelings are a true sign 18:22 of authenticity, I read a book not too long ago by 18:26 by Malcolm Gladwell called Blink, 18:28 and in it he documents an interesting study 18:30 that took place by a group of scientists, 18:32 they wanted to compare the physiological responses 18:35 of human emotion with expression and they brought 18:38 this individuals into a room. 18:39 It's kind of an interesting study. 18:41 That we're experiencing extremes of human emotion 18:44 whether they were angry, sad, bitter, venting 18:47 or whatever emotion it maybe, they said 18:50 you're experiencing extremes of human emotion 18:53 and what we want you to do is experience that emotion 18:56 and we wanna take your vitals, your psychosocial 18:58 responses, they took those down on a chart 19:00 and they brought other individuals into the room, 19:03 that were not experiencing those same emotion 19:05 that were natural and they said we know 19:07 that you're not experiencing that emotion 19:09 but what we want you to do is act like you're angry 19:13 or sad or happy. And so you could imagine these guys 19:16 are in this room, they are not even feeling angry 19:18 but they're giving the facial expression of anger. 19:21 They're giving the facial expression of happiness. 19:23 And they did this for a period of time 19:25 10 to 15 minutes or so. And it's interesting 19:28 what they found that those individuals that 19:31 were experiencing human emotion and got the 19:35 psychosocial response and those that were not 19:37 but were acting the part had the same 19:39 psychosocial emotion. Virtually the same 19:42 and Malcolm Gladwell concludes by saying 19:46 this that human emotion and expression 19:48 are equal partners. Many times we believe that our 19:52 human emotion is dominance over our expressions. 19:56 But he says that our expressions play on our human 19:59 emotions and vice versa, so you can actually 20:02 manipulate your emotion by acting a certain way. 20:06 Now, I'm not saying today that we should go out 20:07 and do psycho manipulation, but I'm saying that your 20:10 feelings can go up and down by the way you act. 20:13 You can actually determine your emotion by your action. 20:18 I like to read to you a statement that's 20:20 very interesting, that goes something like this, 20:23 that faith and feeling are as distinct as the east 20:27 is from the west. A very cognitive statement, 20:30 it says faith and feeling are as distinct as the east 20:34 is from the west. Faith is not depended on feeling. 20:38 We must earnestly cry to God feeling or no feeling. 20:43 Let's do a quick review here today a synopsis 20:45 number one, in dealing with negative emotion, 20:47 in dealing with the flesh, the first step is to surrender 20:51 your will unreservedly to Jesus Christ. And secondly, 20:55 to act by faith not by feeling but like the man by the 21:00 pool of Bethesda. Lets go to our last passage here 21:03 today, Philippians chapter 4 verse 8 the last key 21:07 in dealing with this carnal nature. 21:10 Philippians chapter 4 verse 8 the Apostle Paul 21:13 is speaking he says, finally, brethren, 21:15 whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 21:18 are noble, whatsoever things are just, 21:20 whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 21:22 are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, 21:25 if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, 21:29 think or meditate on these things. 21:33 The Apostle Paul is back getting us to control 21:36 our thought pattern, to think about the things 21:39 we're thinking about and to think about those things 21:41 that are pure, right and good. I have a fascination 21:44 with neurology and I'm the first person to admit 21:47 that I'm a pure layman when it comes to science. 21:49 But, did you know according to Dr. John R. Platt, 21:53 who's an eminent neurologist, biophysicist 21:55 and social psychologist announced that we have 21:58 over a 100 billion brain cells in our mind. 22:02 There are 1000 interconnections or 22:04 synaptic junctions per cell or 100 trillion 22:09 interconnections. In just one DNA cell, 22:12 listen to this he says, it has the capacity of 30 times 22:16 the letters in an Encyclopedia Britannica. 22:20 And if you were take all the trillions of cells 22:23 of in your body stretched end to end these DNA 22:25 stands and unstretch them they were to stretch 22:28 across the enter Solar system. We are truly, 22:33 fearfully and wonderfully made. And it's very 22:35 interesting the way that our minds work and these 22:37 neurons correspond to thoughts Dr. Chambers 22:41 who has his Ph.D from the University of Tennessee 22:43 says it takes about 30 millivolts of electricity 22:47 for a neuron to fire and the more that we do an 22:49 event says that that neural pathway becomes 22:52 stronger and stronger. And he uses this interesting 22:55 illustration to depict how our thoughts in fact 23:00 impact our human emotions and our actions, 23:02 he says something like this imagine that you've just 23:05 eaten a three course meal. You have stuffed 23:07 yourself, you can't eat another bite and out comes 23:10 dessert whether it's German chocolate cake 23:13 for instance and you know that there is a part 23:15 of you, once it comes out apart you're saying eat it, 23:17 you know you want it, you should eat it and another 23:20 side says you shouldn't eat it, you know you're on a diet. 23:23 And so you have this struggle and just with a 23:25 thought that cake looks good I should eat it. 23:28 Dr. Chambers says you have just caused that 23:30 neuron to fire 30 millivolts of electricity 23:34 and you are stuffing your face. 23:36 Now lets reverse this scenario, lets say that a 23:38 German chocolate cake comes out, 23:40 you have overeaten, you shouldn't eat another 23:42 bite and suddenly you think to yourself, 23:45 Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 perhaps, 23:47 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens 23:50 me. He says that is created from that neuron 23:53 is a chemical call GABA and GABA virtually keeps 23:57 that neuron from firing and he says by 40 to 30. 24:01 40 millivolts is transmitted to 30, 24:04 by 10 millivolts you have just kept yourself 24:06 from eating that German chocolate cake. 24:09 Now this is not a message on dessert at all. 24:11 I'm just using as innocuous illustration that you can 24:14 by filling your mind with scripture overcome 24:17 these temptations and these human emotions 24:21 whatever they maybe that surround us on a day 24:24 to day basis. I like to read to you this statement 24:27 from a favorite, another favorite book of mine 24:29 called Messages To Young People and she says, 24:32 many thoughts make up the unwritten history 24:35 of a single day; and these thoughts have much 24:38 to do with the formation of our character. 24:41 Our thoughts are to be strictly guarded; 24:44 for one impure thought makes an impression 24:46 on the soul. An evil thought leaves impress on the mind. 24:50 If the thoughts are pure, the man is better 24:53 and holy for having cherished them. 24:57 Is she is telling us virtually that the way we think 24:59 impacts the way we feel and way we act. 25:01 And just in the simple illustration of how our neurons 25:05 work. The Apostle Peter in Philippians chapter 4 25:08 in verse 8 is backening us, is encouraging us 25:12 to think on these things. So, on review how do we 25:17 deal with negative motion, what is the relationship 25:20 between faith and feeling. Number one, 25:22 give your life unreservedly to Jesus Christ. 25:25 And number two, act by faith and not by feeling 25:29 and finally the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 4 25:32 verse 8 is backening us to walk and to think 25:36 on these things. Not too long ago I read a book 25:42 by Corrie Ten Boom called the Hiding Place, 25:45 I don't know you have had the privilege or 25:47 opportunity of reading this book, but I want 25:48 to encourage you to read it. She had lost her entire 25:52 family during the holocaust. Evidently she was hiding 25:55 Jews that's way the topic of the book is called 25:57 The Hiding Place. Because she had a special 25:59 hiding place in her closet, where she stored 26:01 Jews and a myriad of people were saved as a 26:04 result. They were caught by the Nazis and shipped 26:07 off to different concentration camps. 26:09 In inadvertently her sister and her were 26:11 the only ones that were together in this particular 26:13 concentration camp of Ravensbruck. 26:16 And in this series of events the conditions were 26:20 terrible, there was hardly any food and 26:22 hardly any water and Betsy lost her life in 26:25 Ravensbruck. Corrie Ten Boom had a re-conversion 26:28 experience as a result. And she is going throughout 26:31 the country after the war, talking about the 26:34 forgiveness of God. Talking about the love of Jesus 26:36 and mostly talking about forgiveness. 26:40 After a particular sermon she had preached in 26:43 western Europe, a tall, a good looking gentleman 26:46 strode his way toward her, immediately from 26:49 the distance she recognized him, but he cannot 26:52 recognize her. He was a former SS soldier that 26:56 had been brutal in Ravensbruck, 26:58 especially to her sister Betsy. And it was during 27:01 this time that she was feeling this negative emotion, 27:04 she was cringing, she was not wanting to shake 27:07 the soldier's hand and it was in this moment 27:10 that he stretched out her hand and she said 27:13 by faith not by feeling, she stretched out her 27:16 hand and shook the hand of this former SS soldier. 27:21 She says it was in this event that the feeling 27:24 followed her human emotion. She acted by faith 27:29 not by feeling based on the promises of God 27:32 and it was later that the human emotion came to her. 27:36 It's my prayer for you today that you will learn 27:39 to walk by faith and not by feeling and it's also 27:42 my prayer for you that you will surrender 27:45 your life unreservedly to our Lord and savior 27:49 Jesus Christ. May God bless you and 27:52 may God keep you to that end this day. |
Revised 2014-12-17