Participants: C.A.Murray (Host), W.Clarence, Schilt
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000192
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00:29 Hello welcome to Issues & Answers.
00:31 I'm C.A. Murray and I'm so very glad 00:33 that you joined us today. 00:35 My guest is Dr. Clarence Schilt of the Rockwood 00:39 Seventh-day Adventist Church in Portland, 00:41 Oregon. And we're so happy that he's here 00:43 today because the subject we're going 00:45 to be discussing is a very, very important 00:48 one for Christians and their Christian walk 00:51 with Jesus Christ. We want to talk about 00:53 resurrection power. Resurrection and power, 00:57 we're gonna combine those two and see 00:59 how they affect us and how we can grow in 01:01 Christ Jesus. Good doctor, good to have 01:03 you here again. Thank you, glad to be here. 01:04 Two words, resurrection and power. Yes. 01:08 Combine them, tell them what they're all about 01:10 and the benefit they have for the Christians. 01:12 Well it's interesting that Paul in Ephesians 01:16 when he was praying for the church he prayed 01:19 for a number of things in Ephesians 1 and in 01:21 Ephesians 1:19 he said, I pray that Christ 01:25 incomparable great power will come for us 01:28 who believe and he said that power is like 01:32 the working of his mighty strength 01:34 which he exerted in Christ when he raised 01:36 him from the dead. And so he said I want 01:38 you to have power and this specific kind of power 01:41 I want you to have is resurrection power. 01:44 Now the word he used there was the word that 01:48 we use for word dynamite comes from, 01:50 dealing this, which is, that was powerful then 01:52 why now, why dynamite kind of pales in 01:54 comparison to atomic power. Why in particular 01:58 resurrection power as apposed to some other 02:00 kinds of power? Because when we accept Christ 02:06 we say that we want to surrender ourselves, 02:09 in fact we use the term we die with Christ, yes. 02:14 And only way you can live after you've died is 02:21 to be resurrected. So, we're talking about life 02:25 after death aren't we? We're talking about life 02:27 after death. Sure. A story that I love to share, 02:30 there was a little 18 month old girl in 02:32 Northern Canada who somehow wandered 02:35 out of her house in the middle of the night 02:36 when it was 40 degrees below zero and as 02:40 you can imagine she froze to death rather 02:42 quickly and when her mother found her 02:44 several hours later she was hard as marble 02:46 and when they took her the hospital they 02:49 pronounced her dead but they began warming 02:52 her up and she came fully back to life, 02:56 didn't even lose any fingers or toes. 02:58 Incredibly. And people talked about Erika 03:01 being resurrected. Yes. I mean if someone 03:04 was on their death bed with cancer and was 03:09 miraculously healed without dying we 03:11 wouldn't say they got resurrected. 03:14 We'd say, we'd say hey, they were healed. 03:18 But resurrection power is needed when there 03:23 is death and it's needed only there. 03:25 Yeah. You think, I mean when did Lazarus 03:27 need resurrection power? When he dead, 03:31 after he died. Yeah. Sure, sure. 03:32 The widow's son it named after he died, yeah. 03:36 I mean even if a person is hours from death 03:38 on their death bed resurrection power 03:41 isn't needed till after they're death. 03:43 So resurrection power assumes that there 03:47 has been a death, a death sure. 03:48 And Paul says, I want you to have the 03:51 resurrection power that Jesus had which 03:53 means he assumes there is going to be a death. 03:55 Now for those who may not be quite following 03:58 your train of thought, yeah. That death is, 03:59 walk us through what that death is? 04:01 Alright, yeah. The Bible talks about dying to self. 04:04 Yes, Paul says I've been crucified with Christ. 04:08 Hey, let's look over Romans 6 for a minute, 04:12 because Romans 6 in a sense talks about this 04:15 fairly specifically. He says in verse 3 of 04:18 Romans 6, don't you know that all of us 04:21 who were baptized into Christ Jesus were 04:23 baptized into his death? We were therefore 04:27 buried with him through baptism into death, 04:30 it's we actually, it's like we go into a grave 04:33 only it's a watery grave, oh yes. 04:35 With him in order that just as Christ 04:39 was raised from the dead through the glory 04:41 of the Father, we too may live a new life. 04:45 Yes. Now when Erika got resurrected and 04:48 when Lazarus got resurrected. Yeah. 04:50 They just got back to physical life they 04:52 had before. The Bible says that when we get 04:56 resurrected spiritually from the death of sin 05:01 and I think it's fair to say the Bible called 05:04 Sin Death. Yes. When we get resurrected 05:07 from spiritual death we don't just go back 05:10 to the life we have. We have a different 05:12 life instead of having our sinful, selfish life 05:15 that's primarily ruling us, we have 05:18 resurrection life. Yeah and I think that's 05:21 an important point. If after we are resurrected 05:25 we have the same habits, the same tastes, 05:28 the same life as before, then we haven't 05:30 really progressed. We haven't really done 05:32 anything; we are pretty much the same. 05:35 We maybe buried alive. Yeah. Yes, very much so. 05:37 However, I was thinking this could be very 05:41 discouraging to our watchers. Yeah. 05:43 Because everybody that, when we become a Christian 05:47 and receive his new life there is that old self 05:51 life still clamors for recognition. 05:54 I mean it clamors for ruling, rule and so on. 05:57 So, the old self life can be there but it's not 06:02 our primary master anymore, oh yes. 06:05 I mean the Bible says sin no longer reigns. 06:08 Yes, yes. As the King of your life, now Jesus 06:10 is the King of your life. Yes. And you have 06:12 resurrection or power, but a line that 06:15 I would like to use a lot is resurrection power 06:18 comes only to those who are dead, dead 06:20 to self. Yeah. And when I don't die to self 06:23 I can't expect resurrection power 06:25 because it's not going to compete. 06:27 You see, so, so I need to constantly stay 06:30 dead to self, if I'm going to receive resurrection 06:35 power. Now that's a crucial point, in that 06:39 there maybe someone who is saying, 06:40 why don't I have that kind of power. 06:42 Why don't I have that kind of victory? Why? 06:45 She has it, he has it I see, others walking 06:48 in that power, why not me? May be you 06:50 haven't met the prerequisite which 06:52 is dying to self. I think, to me that's 06:54 really crucial. I puzzled for years over highly 07:00 religious people, devoted people, 07:02 people that had daily devotions studied their 07:05 scriptural lesson every week. Went to church, 07:08 paid debt, all of that and yet seem to have 07:11 so little power and spiritual joy and peace 07:16 and even victory over temptation. 07:18 And my conviction is this that those individuals 07:22 are trying to put on Christ and overly Christ 07:26 on self that steal all the life. Aha. 07:30 I mean Paul says, you know, you were 07:31 talking with him regarding your former 07:33 way of life to put off your old self and to 07:36 put on the new self. Now, I think a full 07:40 Christian experience needs devotion to 07:42 two journeys, one is putting on Christ 07:45 through all of the religious spiritual 07:47 activity but also putting off self. Yeah. 07:50 Because if I, if self stays alive, I've got 07:55 the form of religion, yes, but not the power, 07:58 yes, yes, as the Jews in Jesus day did, 08:00 you know we've talked about that before. 08:02 This is both crucial and exciting. 08:04 In that you are giving a recipe for true success, 08:09 it's not cosmetology; it's not just putting on 08:13 coat of pain, because then you're just a, 08:14 wearing a separate coat, that's exactly right. 08:16 You know you look good on the outside 08:18 but inside dead man's bones. Right. 08:19 So it's not going to the beauty shop and 08:21 getting a facial and a hairdo. 08:23 It's a change that begins from within, 08:26 absolutely. Because if you just put a coat of 08:29 pain on after a while the rust is gonna 08:30 show through, exactly. And you're not gonna 08:32 that kind of success that you have, exactly. 08:34 And certainly you can't tap into the 08:36 power base that you should because 08:38 you haven't cleaned out from inside. 08:40 Oh it was precisely, yeah in fact I mean 08:43 I think the reason we are so poor at 08:46 following through on resolutions. 08:48 New Year's resolutions or any kind of change, 08:51 it doesn't have to be New Year's anytime is, 08:53 we're trying to outwardly force a 08:57 change of behavior when there has not 09:00 been an inner change, yes. And so there is 09:04 this dissidence and tension between 09:07 who I'm inside and what I'm trying to 09:09 do outwardly. And where as when I 09:12 inwardly surrender self and die, yes, 09:17 so that another power can resurrect me 09:20 and give me a whole different life. 09:22 And not just the life I had but Christ's life 09:25 then when I go after resolutions or 09:29 behavior change or whatever, why, 09:31 then that new life is going to empower 09:35 new changes and there is going to be 09:37 behaviors that stick, rather than I try it, 09:40 but I can't stay with it because it's the old 09:42 self trying to do new behaviors and it 09:44 doesn't mix. It just doesn't make sense, 09:45 it doesn't work, it doesn't work. 09:46 It's a strange kind of thing Yeah, yeah. 09:48 Now I want you just stay and maybe believe 09:49 lead down a different path, this is what occurs 09:51 to me. There are those who will tell you 09:54 because you're saying that victorious 09:58 resurrection power comes on the heels 10:01 of the death to self. Correct. 10:03 But I want you to wrestle with just 10:05 for a moment that the idea, espoused by 10:08 some that when you give your life to Christ 10:11 everything becomes for want of a better 10:14 term Hunky-dory, alright. Everything 10:16 is fine, correct; there is no battle to fight 10:18 anymore. Yes. And I think you're not saying that. 10:21 No. You're saying something totally 10:22 different. Well yeah I mean there will be a 10:23 huge battle to fight. I mean Paul talks about 10:27 put off your old self, do not be confirmed, 10:29 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 10:31 And Paul in Romans 7 talked about, he said 10:35 look something is going on, I don't do what 10:39 I wanna do, yes. And I do what I don't wanna do. 10:42 But interestingly enough he says it's no longer 10:46 I who do it, yeah, but sin living in me, 10:48 very strange words. I also, so maybe 10:51 I'm not responsible after all, I'm a victim 10:53 but you know the devil me do it or something, 10:56 but I think the reason he is saying that is 10:58 he is saying once I became a Christian, 11:00 my primary identity is Christ. 11:04 My primary authority my trained primary 11:07 master is Christ, however since living 11:11 in me sometimes I talk about a street orphan, 11:14 a kid who has no home, no name, 11:17 no base whatever and he is adopted, yes. 11:20 Given a home, given name, given a roof 11:22 over his head, given clothes, security, food. 11:24 A week after he is adopted will all of 11:28 his street life be gone? No. Probably not, 11:31 probably not, probably not, yeah, 11:33 but now that's secondary because 11:36 his primary identity is his new name, 11:39 his new family, his new security, 11:41 his new base, his new power in the sense, 11:43 but there is still street life and we 11:45 spend all of our lives trying to let the 11:49 new identity and resurrection power 11:51 in us just more and more lay aside and 11:54 just put to death, praise Lord sure, 11:55 our street life. But you know the battle with 11:58 self is the biggest battle's ever been fought, 12:01 very much so. I like your statement, 12:03 your primary identity, yes. You're playing for 12:06 a new team, you're playing for a new team, 12:08 if you're playing for a new team and it 12:09 doesn't mean that the old way doesn't prop up, 12:12 in fact that is your battle, keeping it from 12:13 doing that, that's right, but your primary, 12:16 it's a great life, your primary identity 12:18 now is Christ. Exactly, yes. And I think many 12:21 Christians feel because, I mean 12:23 I'll ask people sometime I'll say, 12:25 do you have a greater sense of who you are 12:27 in Christ or still have a greater sense of 12:30 how sin grips you and a lot of them will say, 12:33 yeah, I still feel more like a sinner. 12:35 And in fact I have a friend who for years 12:39 has fought anger and being hard on people 12:42 at home or whatever and he just has not 12:45 been able to look at this and he said 12:46 he just gets up wrapped up 12:47 in his sense of failure, his sense 12:49 of just getting irritable or losing his temper 12:52 or being controlling or whatever. 12:54 And he suddenly got it and decided, 12:57 I'm gonna wake up every morning and 12:58 say Lord I thank you that you are my primary 13:01 master that you're healing the anger in me 13:05 and the attitude in me you're changing me, 13:07 that I have a new life that I can count 13:09 myself dead to sin as Paul said in Romans 6, 13:12 yeah. And his wife told me months afterwards 13:16 she said, he has become a different person 13:18 because he is more identified and he is 13:21 more aware of his identity in Christ then 13:24 the street life, the sinful nature that's 13:27 still in him even though that still crops up. 13:29 Yes, yes that's a fabulous thing. 13:30 And I think it is a question that each 13:32 of us needs to ask ourselves. 13:34 Paul talked about humility but he also 13:37 says I know him in whom I have believed, 13:41 I know. Right. You know we're not shadow boxes; 13:44 we're not beating the air. We are fighting in 13:48 strength, fighting in power. Yes. We're 13:50 fighting with resurrection power, precisely, 13:52 but before that I need to be just overwhelmingly 13:56 committed, yes, to dying to self no matter what, 14:01 and sometimes it's just excruciating painful 14:05 to die to self. When I, when I don't and 14:08 I don't think that some people get in 14:11 this crazy thing of every time I sin is 14:14 Christ left my life. I mean I'll say to a 14:17 married couple, I say you know when you have 14:18 a fight, do you lie awake nights wondering 14:20 if you're still married. Yeah. They don't. 14:23 Right. You know. Hey Christ is in us, 14:25 and in fact I picture Jesus life in us this 14:30 way as a huge body of water, an ocean 14:34 that goes on and on. And he is in us and when I, 14:38 when self rises he doesn't suddenly leave, 14:40 he's still there but I picture this dam 14:43 with gates that control the flow of the water. 14:45 Yes. And he is in me but when self rises and 14:49 sin rises in me the gates are shutting and 14:53 now I'm living out of self, and when 14:56 I die to self and let him control me, 15:00 the gates are opening and his life 15:02 is flowing in me and through me and 15:05 out of me to others, yeah, yeah. 15:06 But his life is in me when I become a Christian, 15:09 we're identified with Christ. Yeah, so. 15:12 Yes, and I think our life was not defined 15:15 by the occasional mistake or occasional slip, 15:18 right. It's more defined by the direction 15:20 as you said it before; it's our primary 15:22 identification, our primary master. 15:23 Yeah. That's right. And that is Jesus. 15:25 Yes. Do I not have times when I make mistakes, 15:28 when I am less than perfect as a Christian, 15:31 oh yeah. There are, yeah, but my primary focus, 15:34 my primary identification, my primary principle 15:37 master is Jesus Christ. It's absolutely Christ. 15:39 Now the time I find it hardest to let keep 15:43 those gates open. Is when I'm being treated 15:48 unfairly and I know I'm right. 15:50 I mean when I know I'm right, I'll never 15:56 forget the couple coming to me a while back 16:00 and she was ticking through his sins and 16:03 he was sinning, they're agreeing with her 16:05 that he wasn't caring, he didn't help with 16:07 the kids, he was ignoring her in this and that 16:09 and the other. But she said it so bitterly with 16:12 such sarcasm, with such anger, with such 16:15 resentment. And even though she was 16:17 absolutely right, I felt very nervous about 16:20 the way she was right. Yeah. 16:21 And later I began to reflect on this and now, 16:25 now I some times say this, that we do a lot 16:28 if not most of our sinning when we're right, 16:30 when we're right, yeah, yeah. 16:31 And I think it's hardest to die to self 16:35 when I am right. And I'm not talking 16:37 when I think I'm right. Sometimes I think 16:40 I'm right I'm not. Yes. I'm talking about 16:42 what I'm already am. I mean God wants us 16:44 to have a happy marriage. He doesn't 16:47 want me to be dying with cancer, 16:48 you know he, it's not his will that the boss 16:52 be treating me badly or all those sorts of things. 16:55 And when things are not going my way then 16:58 I know even God probably wishes was different. 17:01 Yeah. Why it's terribly hard for bitterness 17:04 and for resentment and for hurt and impatience, 17:07 to rise up and I'll be sinning all over the 17:12 place even though I'm right and that blocks 17:15 resurrection power. You know, you would think 17:20 and perhaps it's the way the human mind 17:22 works that, right is almost the substitute 17:24 for being redemptive, it is not. 17:28 I think we have a, as a greater responsibility 17:31 when we are in the right to be redemptive, 17:34 to be redemptive that's right. 17:35 Yeah, yeah. See Joseph, you look at, 17:37 hey Joseph's brothers were right, 17:40 he was kind of a spoiled kid, he was yeah, yeah. 17:42 And his father's treating didn't help, 17:44 that's right, yeah. And, but in their rightness 17:48 look what it let them to do. Yes, yes, yeah. 17:51 I mean it's awful I mean hearing it, they threw 17:54 Joseph in this pit, then sold him as a slave 17:56 and all that, the contrast is that Joseph had 18:00 the right to be bitter and angry, I mean for 18:04 13 years he was in Egypt as a slave and in prison 18:07 and all of that. And here I mean boy if anybody 18:11 was justified in having a sinful you might 18:14 say bitter, critical, angry, revengeful spirit 18:19 it be Joseph and he didn't. He never 18:22 manifested. I mean so, so he didn't sin when 18:25 he was right and it's, but it's, but when we 18:29 can surrender, I'll say sometimes, 18:33 I'll say sometimes what happens to us 18:35 is relatively inconsequential, 18:37 but what happens in and through us 18:40 has huge consequences. Oh yes, yes, yes I can 18:43 agree with that. It's kind of, when we, and 18:46 we are so eager that things go our way that 18:51 without knowing it, we just, the gates of those 18:55 then shut down and we're so invested in 18:58 things turning out our way, that God's 19:01 resurrection power is just blocked from 19:04 flowing through us. It might just doesn't 19:07 happen like it ought to. So, then your thesis is 19:10 we are most in danger of having that old man 19:14 to rise again when we're in the right. 19:17 It's seems so because it's so hard not to fight 19:23 for our rights, yes, yes. And we're in a world 19:27 that says take care of number one, take care 19:30 of number one, nobody else is gonna look after 19:32 you, oh yeah. And my belief is that I should 19:37 have abandoned myself protectiveness to Christ. 19:40 And this is very tricky I know but I ought to 19:47 be more concerned about the reputation 19:49 of Jesus through me. Then I am concerned 19:52 about getting my way. Because if I get my way 19:56 and I'm contradicting the spirit of Christ, 20:00 his reputation is being hurt, is being hurt, 20:03 sure, yeah. I mean the reputation of Jesus, 20:05 I mean in Isaiah we read, your name and your 20:08 renown are desire of my heart. 20:09 So am I absolutely more invested in how Jesus 20:15 looks through me, I understand. 20:17 Then I am being right or getting my right, 20:21 yes, yes, yes. And it's so easy the last 20:25 church that our pastor to had over 2000 members 20:27 and I recall there was some disturbance 20:32 between two women in the church, I went, 20:34 you know doing the settle diplomacy back 20:36 and forth, that's right. And when I went to 20:39 visit one member she said to me, pastor, 20:41 not now, you know I don't talk about that 20:44 forgiveness stuff, I wanna be mad, 20:46 you know let me enjoy this, I wanna be mad. 20:47 I want to like my pity party. Yeah, I want to 20:49 stay here and I want to be mad, talk with me 20:51 tomorrow. But I don't want to, I don't want 20:52 you to discuss this now, you're kind of 20:53 enjoying that anger, you know that kind 20:55 of thing and reveling in that anger. 20:58 And of course it's an expression of self, 21:00 I want to be mad, I don't want data, 21:02 I don't want rapprochement, 21:03 I don't wanna to be forgiven or 21:06 offer forgiveness, I want to be mad, 21:08 I'm man and I want to be mad. 21:09 And we enjoy our mad, yes, yes. 21:10 I heard someone did that, out of the 21:11 seven deadly sins, the anger is the most fun. 21:13 I mean to just enjoy and muse over 21:19 what's been done to me and muse over 21:21 what I'm gonna do back, yeah, yeah, 21:23 and really anger is, oh my, I mean it's 21:27 I call it the most dangerous emotion 21:28 because in Ephesians it says do not 21:31 be angry, do not let the sun go down on 21:33 you're anger and do not give the devil 21:36 a foothold. Now, I don't think it means 21:39 if one second before the sun goes down 21:41 you get angry, and you better get over 21:42 in the next half second. I think it means don't 21:45 hold on to it, surely, surely, surely. 21:47 And later it says do not grieve the 21:48 Holy Spirit of God and get rid of all bitterness, 21:50 rage, anger. And in that passage in 21:53 Ephesians 4, I think it's saying that when 21:55 I hold on to anger and get angry and handle 21:59 it poorly, I'm giving the devil a foothold, 22:02 I'm opening the door to Satan and 22:04 I'm slamming the door on the Holy Spirit. 22:05 Yeah. Do not grieve that. That's about as 22:07 frightening as it can get. To open the door to 22:09 Satan and slam the door on the Holy Spirit. 22:11 Surely, surely and of course it's at those 22:14 times when you are holding on to that, 22:17 that the devil brings something along to 22:19 show you how far from Lord you actually are, 22:21 'cause you sort of cut off, you sort of divorced 22:23 out from your power source, yes. 22:25 And certainly resurrection power 22:26 is not flowing through that time. 22:27 That's true. The reason we get angry 22:30 incidentally is we don't like to feel weak 22:33 and helpless and hurt and frustrated 22:34 and scared, you probably heard that 22:36 anger is the secondary emotion that always, 22:39 it was preceded by either fear, hurt or 22:42 frustration. Yeah. And we don't like those 22:44 feelings where as it's, it feels power, 22:47 anger's power, anger's power, yeah, yeah. 22:49 And so I feel, so I go to anger to feel more 22:52 powerful 'cause I don't wanna feel weak, 22:53 hurt or frustration, precisely, yeah. 22:55 So I, get anger, but when I do self is all 22:59 alive and it just absolutely slams the 23:04 door to resurrection power. 23:05 It just slam, because self is, when self is 23:08 alive it doesn't need to be resurrected, 23:10 it's already alive. When self is dead 23:13 that's when I need a new life, 23:14 I need resurrection power. Would you 23:16 agree, do you agree that this is something 23:18 that we have to, and I use the term work 23:21 at everyday it's not like you turn the button 23:23 on and the motor runs, and it just runs on 23:25 eternally, yeah right, but it's something that 23:27 we have to reaffirm everyday? 23:28 And I think you have to reaffirm it numerous 23:30 times a day. I mean numerous times a 23:34 day things happen that are just inconvenient, 23:39 they're irritating, they're scary, you know 23:44 whatever and, numerous times a day 23:47 we can practice, you know there's a lots of 23:50 duty practice dying to self or really it. 23:52 Yeah. I love definition Dallas Willard, 23:56 some people like to read Dallas Willard he says, 23:58 "a person who is dead to self is not offended 24:01 when things don't go their way, they're not 24:04 surprised when things don't go their way 24:06 and they're not controlled by the things 24:08 that don't go their way. Oh it's beautiful. 24:10 Now that's resurrection power. Yes, yes. 24:14 So not be surprised when things don't go 24:15 in my way, not offended when things, 24:17 and not controlled by the things that don't 24:19 go my way. Ellen White, an author that we love 24:23 a lot says it's the love of self that destroys 24:26 our peace. When self is all alive when we 24:28 stand ready continually to guard it, oh yeah, 24:31 for modification an insult. Yeah, yeah. 24:33 But when we are dead and our life is 24:35 hidden with Christ the God, we'll not 24:37 take neglects or slights to heart, 24:39 will be death to reproach applying 24:40 to score an insult now. And that's beautiful 24:43 stuff, oh that's beautiful. 24:44 And it shows a life of total surrender to Christ. 24:46 Because you're not offended, you're not 24:49 surprised and you're not controlled by it, 24:52 and all of us can sort of roll with things 24:54 when they're going as we wish. 24:56 That's right, yeah. The tests of our, 24:57 our walk with Christ is when things go 24:59 contrary to what we want. But what's 25:01 remarkable and exception and a miracle is 25:04 when you see people rolling with things 25:06 when they're not going their way. 25:08 Yes, yes. And there something, 25:10 I mean to have that kind of peace and 25:12 that kind of power, you know I some 25:15 times say that it's hard to beat peace, 25:19 and power to cope with whatever life 25:21 serves up. Having peace and power to cope 25:24 with whatever life serves up and you see 25:26 people with, that just relate in powerful 25:31 and peaceful and joyful ways, when life's just 25:34 slamming him in the teeth all the time. 25:36 Surely. Who? Yeah. That's an impressive 25:37 testimony for Christ. Oh it is. It is and what 25:40 must it have been like to have been 25:41 Jesus never get any peace, never get any rest, 25:44 never get a break from Satan, to have Pharisees, 25:46 Sadducees, nipping at your heel all the time 25:49 and a group of disciples in your inner circle 25:52 whose for the most part really didn't understand 25:54 your mission and yet maintained that peace, 25:56 maintain that calm, maintain that focus, 25:59 maintain that connection, that's the kind of power 26:02 that we can have here growing up, that's true. 26:03 Yeah. Now saying all these I mean it sounds, 26:06 I'm thinking it sounds awfully negative, 26:07 hated guy to right, so you can get up your 26:09 all those sorts of thing. You've got a have a 26:11 couple things going for you, one is you've got 26:13 to be just overwhelmed with the love of Christ, 26:15 yes. You got to be just absolutely overwhelmed 26:18 and say hey his love and his reputation are 26:20 absolutely so wonderful, hey I'm abandoning 26:22 self defending us and self protecting us 26:24 and fighting for my rights. The other 26:27 thing that it seems life you have to be just 26:29 really overwhelmed with is look being at peace 26:34 and trusting Christ, yes. Has guarded all over 26:39 fighting for my rights even, even when 26:43 occasionally I win. Yes. And it's so awful when 26:46 I fight for my rights, it doesn't even work. 26:48 Yeah. So why do it when it's not even 26:52 worth it. And be losing the opportunity sometimes 26:54 to represent Christ. You know because you're 26:56 fighting, you're in that fighting mode, yeah. 26:57 And you have to say look John the Baptist 27:00 he must increase and I decrease you have to 27:03 be terribly invested in him looking great and 27:07 his reputation is far more important than 27:09 how my life is going, oh yes. 27:10 How my life is going is relatively unimportant 27:13 compared to how he's looking and how he's 27:16 living through me, oh yes. Yes, yes. 27:19 This has been a wonderful study and 27:21 I thank you so very much we've really 27:23 just sort of looked at the tip of the eyes 27:25 because the power of resurrection, 27:28 power of the ideal resurrection power 27:30 such a wonderful thing and it is dead rock 27:32 foundational to our growth in Christ. 27:34 Die to self, come alive to life in Jesus Christ, 27:37 right, and experience a growth, a power 27:39 that we've never had before, right. 27:41 A whole different. And when I didn't, 27:43 until I got this I didn't get it. 27:44 Until I got it I didn't get it, right. 27:47 Praise God. Thank you so very, very 27:49 much for being with us. Yeah, thank you. 27:51 Again Resurrection power, experience it, 27:53 pray for it, live in it and your life will 27:56 be blessed, that's all for now, 27:57 God bless you, we'll see you again. |
Revised 2014-12-17