Welcome back friends.
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We're talking about the role
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of the "Word of
God and Salvation."
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Dr. Shepherd, so
what is this passage
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tells us about
salvation? All right.
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Well, if you notice
in starting verse 10,
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it says
concerning this salvation,
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we had talked abouts
alvation in the previous passage
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and how they
were looking forward
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to salvation,
salvation in last days,
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or
eschatological kind of concept.
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So concerning this salvation,
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it says that the
prophets, and these prophets
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are the Old
Testament prophets, are looking
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into this issue of salvation.
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Now let me just kind of
give a summary of the concept
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of salvation that is
found in 1 Peter, all right.
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In 1 Peter, God has the primacy
in the issue of salvation.
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It's always God who saves people
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we never save ourselves.
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There is not something we
do that brings us new birth
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or something that
gives us the new covenant.
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It's God who acts first.
So God is always primary.
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But there is human response.
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Humans response of
believe first and then of love
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and faith and joy
that flows out of that.
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And a obedient
lifestyle, a holy moral life
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that is part and
parcel of the experience
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of being in covenant with God.
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It is directed
towards God and His Holiness.
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And there is a
separation that takes place
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in the salvation experience
from the formal way of life
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that was impure.
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That's another
concept that we'll see flows
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through this book.
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But interestingly
enough, there is also
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a very strong concept of witness
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of sharing your
faith with other people.
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And of them
having contact with you,
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and actually
being one over to faith
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through this experience.
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And of course there is
this future orientation
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about salvation that is going
to come when Jesus returns,
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at the
revelation of Jesus Christ,
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at His second coming.
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So it's quite a holistic
kind of view of salvation
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that experienced,
you experience it now,
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the new birth,
the life experience.
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But it leads you
through life and it takes you
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to that great goal
that comes in your future.
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That's the idea of
salvation in 1 Peter.
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You know, Dr. Shepherd,
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recently I was talking to
an older man, an elderly man.
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He--his wife had
passed away a few years ago.
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He had a fight with
his son and so his son,
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he hadn't seen
him for about a year.
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You know, he was
totally lonely at home.
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And so we were having
this conversation and suddenly
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we began talking about religion.
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And so I asked him, what is
your favorite book of the Bible?
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And so he from only
just thought about it
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and he said, my
favorite book of Bible
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is the current one i'm reading.
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And his message really was
that regardless of whichever--
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wherever he is reading,
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there's always
something that just comes out
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like a message that God is
speaking to him at that time.
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And it's totally true.
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You know, if I'm
reading whether the Psalms,
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or Proverbs, revelation,
the gospels there is always
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it kind of like, oh,
this is my favorite book now
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because there's
always that message
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that God is wanting to say to me
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maybe something
that He wants to allow me
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to change in my life.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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This passage that
we're looking out here
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in Peter 1:10-12, has a--
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an intersecting kind
of perspective to it.
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It doesn't just talk
about what the Holy Spirit does?
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Actually there is a chain
of revelation that takes place.
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We have a graphic
here that shows us,
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which you can look at and see.
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It displays "The Chain of
revelation" that God has--
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we say God is working
from the past into the present
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and into the
future to save His people.
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So He started long ago.
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He is working now
and He is got the plans
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for the future, but you notice
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that the Spirit is the
first step in the chain.
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He indicated, the
Spirit indicated things.
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Then the prophets are involved
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because they
received the message.
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And we're gonna talk about
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the inspiration of the prophets.
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That's where we
come to Second Peter.
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We'll have more
to say about that
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and Peter has very
important things to say
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about the issue of
how inspiration works
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and how the
scriptures were given.
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And then it's revealed to
them that they're serving you.
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And then the
evangelists proclaim to you.
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Now who in the world
were these evangelists?
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Well, they were the people
who brought the Gospel message
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to these people and,
you know, Cappadocia,
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Bethania, Pontos,
Asia and so forth.
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Probably it's the
people that Peter evangelized
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on the day of Pentecost.
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We have
reference in Acts Chapter 2
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that there were people
from some of those provinces
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and they went back to
Cappadocia and Asia and Pontos
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and then they
started to share the message.
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These were the
evangelists to say.
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So there is a
chain that is involved
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in evangelistic work.
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Sometimes people get the idea
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that that they don't
need to do evangelistic work.
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That-- you know,
God will reach out
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to those people in some way
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and--and I don't need
to do anything forJesus.
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Well, that's certainly
not what the Bible says.
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Jesus said go
and make disciples.
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We are not sort
of "off the hook."
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You know, to say, no
I can't go and you know,
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I don't know what to do that.
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I told you about this
experience of our little church.
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And they were two of us
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who were doing the
main speaking, pastor Thomas
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and I were doing
the main speaking.
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But there were so many people
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in the church who were involved.
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They were
involved in advertising
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and the pre-work going
out to the community of Mills,
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of registration and it was
just such a wonderful feeling
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to have so many
people linked together,
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giving--bring in the
way, being part of the chain.
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So not, even though not
everyone was the speaker
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though formed part
of that evangelism. Yes.
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I have this goal, you know,
I planned to hopefully make
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some write up on
our little campaign
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and what we did our
little evangelistic work.
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And what I like to
do is have a picture,
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pretty much the faces.
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I don't like these
pictures where it's way up
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to adjacent and you
can say, who is that?
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Well, that's me right there.
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You know, little
tiny of it, you know.
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I much rather have
the faces of the people.
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And have the faces of
the people that, you know,
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baptize coming to the church
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and they are
right in the middle.
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And then all these
other people around them,
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you know, faces
around them, you know.
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Just everybody pushed
together and it's a team
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that's together
sharing the word of God.
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So that was going on here.
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So if we look at verse 10,
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we see it says concerning
the salvation of the prophets,
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who prophesied about the
grace that was to be yours,
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searched and enquired carefully.
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So, what is this grace
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that Peter is
talking about in verse 10?
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Yeah. It's interesting.
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It's one word that kind
of summarizes everything
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he's already said up
to this point in the book.
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When he's been
talking about the salvation,
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about this covenant,
about all the--now one word like
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it summarizes
the whole thing from.
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He could summarize
on the word salvation
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and He also
summarizes by the word Grace.
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It's a unmerited favor
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that you have
received from the God.
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You didn't deserve
it, but He's graciously,
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He's given it to you. Okay.
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So we have this beautiful chain
of salvation that takes place.
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And that comes to us.
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But there's a little bit
of a surprise in these verses.
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And is this passage
about revelation or research?
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Yeah, that's the thing is funny.
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This idea of research--
we have another visual here,
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another graphic for you.
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It talks about
words of revelation
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and words of
research that appears just
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in these three
verses 10, 11 and 12.
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Look at the words on
the one side of revelation,
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words of revelation.
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It says reveal or
show, prophets and prophecy.
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Announce, Evangelize,
send, Angel messenger.
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These are all
words of revelation.
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But on the other side,
we have words of research.
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The prophets we're seeking out.
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They were seeking
for. They were searching.
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The desire to know
it and the angels want
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to stoop down and look into it.
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You know, you're like, wow.
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There is an awful lot
of looking going on here.
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I thought it was
all about revelation,
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you know, Him showing.
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No, it's not about
just about the revelation.
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It's about us
looking and researching.
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See some people think they
don't need to study the Bible
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that the message
is just on the surface
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as you don't need to
look very deeply to get it.
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Oh, no.
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You've to go deep
into the scriptures
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if you want to
understand His message well.
00:09:45.25\00:09:47.82
And I teach
students New Testament
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and of course so then
I'm a great believe in Greek.
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At one time I had a
student, graduates of one of our
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and of course
so college's state.
00:09:58.43\00:10:00.26
Dr. Shepherd he said, why should
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we study Greek and Hebrew?
00:10:02.10\00:10:05.10
Well, asking a New
Testament professor
00:10:05.13\00:10:07.00
that was kind of
like shaking a red cloth
00:10:07.04\00:10:09.77
in front of a bull, you know
00:10:09.80\00:10:11.77
but I kind of
held back a little bit
00:10:11.81\00:10:13.34
and it's like the Lord test me
with inspiration at that point.
00:10:13.38\00:10:15.98
I said, young man, I said I
have a one word answer for you.
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I said intimacy.
00:10:19.11\00:10:22.05
Intimacy with the word of God
00:10:22.08\00:10:24.35
that's why we
study Greek in Hebrew.
00:10:24.39\00:10:26.69
And then I said
something he could understand.
00:10:26.72\00:10:28.36
Well, I said, would
you rather have a goodnight
00:10:28.39\00:10:30.09
handshake or a goodnight kiss?
00:10:30.13\00:10:32.96
Intimacy, you see,
intimacy with the word of God
00:10:32.99\00:10:35.70
is what we're looking for.
00:10:35.73\00:10:37.10
And we have--so we have
to study the scriptures.
00:10:37.13\00:10:39.70
Not simply just
react to them or something.
00:10:39.73\00:10:43.04
We need to have this
research going on and reviewing
00:10:43.07\00:10:48.11
the revelation
and looking to it.
00:10:48.14\00:10:49.51
Now it's very interesting
00:10:49.54\00:10:52.05
what happened to the
prophets when they did this?
00:10:52.08\00:10:57.09
It says that they were searching
00:10:57.12\00:11:00.76
and they were
inquiring carefully, you see,
00:11:00.79\00:11:03.89
trying to figure it out.
00:11:03.93\00:11:05.79
Inquiring what person or
time the Spirit of Christ
00:11:05.83\00:11:08.13
in them was
indicating when he predicted
00:11:08.16\00:11:09.93
the efforts
Christ in such glory.
00:11:09.96\00:11:12.07
So they're really
doing careful research.
00:11:12.10\00:11:14.70
They're getting the Bibles open.
00:11:14.74\00:11:16.10
They're trying to understand,
00:11:16.14\00:11:17.51
what's this prophecy
that God has given Him?
00:11:17.54\00:11:18.94
What's it pointing towards?
00:11:18.97\00:11:21.21
And then comes a
special revelation, verse 12.
00:11:21.24\00:11:25.45
It was revealed to
them, not simply the prophecy.
00:11:25.48\00:11:30.09
It was revealed to them
00:11:30.12\00:11:32.02
that they were not
serving themselves, but you.
00:11:32.05\00:11:38.66
The revelation
that came to them was,
00:11:38.69\00:11:40.96
look what I'm giving
you isn't simply for you
00:11:40.96\00:11:44.00
it's for other people.
00:11:44.03\00:11:46.23
Now that--I suppose
they might have been
00:11:46.27\00:11:47.87
little
disappointed by that saying.
00:11:47.90\00:11:49.87
Oh, I thought it was
for me. This came to me.
00:11:49.90\00:11:53.84
Dr. Shepherd, what is this
verse tells about evangelism?
00:11:53.88\00:11:56.98
Does it have
message on that? Oh, yes.
00:11:57.01\00:11:59.65
Yeah, the message is
that you need to be involved
00:11:59.68\00:12:05.05
in sharing the word of God
and brig it to other people.
00:12:05.09\00:12:08.59
You see, when it says
that the people brought
00:12:08.62\00:12:13.23
the message to you that's kind
00:12:13.26\00:12:15.00
of the role that
we're suppose to have,
00:12:15.03\00:12:16.63
we're suppose to
share this message.
00:12:16.67\00:12:18.90
For the last 15 years
or so I've been involved
00:12:18.93\00:12:21.74
in ministry to the dorms
at the different colleges
00:12:21.77\00:12:26.31
where I've been,
first at Union College
00:12:26.34\00:12:27.71
now at Andrew's University.
00:12:27.74\00:12:30.81
I was concerned
about the young man
00:12:30.85\00:12:32.18
and about their spiritual life
and so I started to think about
00:12:32.21\00:12:37.22
how could I go to them?
00:12:37.25\00:12:38.62
What can I do?
00:12:38.65\00:12:40.02
My wife made a great suggestion.
00:12:40.06\00:12:41.39
She would make choc
chip cookies for me to carry.
00:12:41.42\00:12:43.66
I'm now known as the cookie man.
00:12:43.69\00:12:45.93
But I knock on
the doors and I go
00:12:45.96\00:12:48.26
and I search out the
young men and I pray with them.
00:12:48.30\00:12:51.13
And then in 15 years I
can probably count on one hand
00:12:51.17\00:12:54.04
the number of people who
said, no, don't pray for me.
00:12:54.07\00:12:57.41
And so it's been a
very wonderful experience
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taking to them just a simple
message of prayer to them.
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But there is something
special that came to me.
00:13:05.18\00:13:08.18
Perhaps it came to the Old
Testament prophets as well.
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I found out that
when I ministered
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to these young people
that I was more blessed
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than they were. That's right.
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The blessing came to me as
much or more as it came to them.
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I think when we take the message
of the Gospel to the others,
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it reacts back on us to bring.
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They bring them a blessing
00:13:30.84\00:13:32.37
and it comes back
on us to a blessing.
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I invite you to
do this as well as
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we will continue
in the next few days
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looking at this
wonderful book of 1 peter.
00:13:39.15\00:13:41.95