Welcome back...
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before the break, we
were studying "Glorification"
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and we looked at Scripture,
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how glorification begins with
character transformation now,
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the Bible says that we are
transformed from glory to glory.
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The other part of glorification
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is at the
second coming of Jesus,
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we will have a restoration
of our physical nature,
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when Jesus comes the second time
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and the clouds
open like a scroll
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and Jesus descends and He
calls up the righteous dead
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and the righteous living
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at that point, the Bible says
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that we will
receive glorified bodies.
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Praise the Lord
for that reality,
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I'm looking forward to
the day of a new body...
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of a glorified body...
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we're not taking
our bodies to heaven,
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we will receive a new
body at the second coming
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and here it is in 1st
Corinthians chapter 15
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verse 52,
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"In a flash, in a
twinkling of an eye,
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at the last trumpet.
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For the trumpet will sound,
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the dead will be
raised imperishable,
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and we will be changed.
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For this corruptible
must put on incorruption,
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and this mortal must
put on immortality. "
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What a day that will be Friends,
when Jesus comes the second time
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and we receive a new
body... immortalized...
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I imagine looking down at my
hands I say, "Ah, new hands!"
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Imagine looking at your face
in heaven for this first time,
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and you're like, "Wow! amazing!"
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And we will have no
more death, no more pain,
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no more sorrow,
no more funerals,
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no more cancer,
no more heart attack,
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no more hospitals,
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we will receive immortal
bodies at the second coming
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and this is an important
part of the restorative process
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and if you give your
life to Jesus Christ...
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if you accept Him as
Savior and Lord of your life...
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glorification is a
guarantee at the second coming.
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Philippians
chapter 3 verse 21 says,
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"Who, by the power that
enables Him to bring everything
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under His control, will
transform our lowly bodies
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so that they will be
like His glorious body. "
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We come to our third
point of the restorative process
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in glorification...
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environmental restoration,
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glorification will mean
the restoration of Eden.
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In other words, our planet today
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has been wearing out like a
garment according to Scripture
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there's natural disasters...
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there's thorns and
there's thistles...
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there's elements
of our planet today
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that are an
evidence and a result of sin.
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As soon as Adam and
Eve partook of that fruit,
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not only were
his physical natures
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and his
spiritual nature affected,
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it also affected
the entire planet
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and the way that
animals related to each other
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and nature itself was affected.
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God never
intended for this planet
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to be the way that it is today.
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Now I praise the Lord that
even despite the effects of sin
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that we see all around us,
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there are still beautiful
things that we can behold.
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There are roses
upon the thistles
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but at the
second coming of Jesus,
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we will receive our restoration
of our physical nature
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and then in the final
restoration of our planet,
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after the Millennium...
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according to
Revelation chapter 20:21 and 22,
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God will create a
new heaven and new earth
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and here is Eden restored.
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Revelation
chapter 22 verse 1 and 2,
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"And He showed me a
pure river of water of life,
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clear as crystal, proceeding
from the throne of God
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and of the Lamb
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and in the middle of its street,
on either side of the river,
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was the tree of life,
which bore twelve fruits,
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each tree yielding
its fruit every month. "
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This is Eden restored...
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what was in the Garden of Eden?
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The Tree of Life...
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and here we can see
that in the new earth
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the Tree of Life
will be restored.
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Eden lost... Eden restored...
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in the book of Genesis,
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on the first
part... the first bookend...
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you can see the
loss of the Tree of Life.
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At the end of the Bible,
in the book of Revelation,
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we can see that the
Garden of Eden is restored
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because the
Tree of Life is back.
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God will give us
environmental restoration,
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I believe that we
can't even imagine
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how beautiful heaven
and the re-created earth
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will really be like.
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The other restoration that
will take place at glorification
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is what we call,
"Relational Restoration. "
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Glorification will mean the
restoration of relationships.
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As soon as Adam and Eve sinned,
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notice what happened.
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There was a breakdown
of their relationship.
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When God talked with Adam and
Eve about what had taken place,
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what happened?
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Adam blamed Eve...
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Eve blamed the serpent...
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there was a relational dynamic
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that changed
immediately after sin.
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Furthermore, we
can see that in nature
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there was a relational
dynamic that changed as well.
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We have prey and
we have predator...
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this was never meant to
be according to God's plan
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but as a result of sin,
every relational dynamic
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beginning with
the human relationship
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on down to the animal kingdom,
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there was a dramatic
change that took place
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but after the restoration
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of the new
heavens and the new earth,
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there will be a restoration
of animal relationships
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and this is according to
Isaiah chapter 11 verse 6,
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Listen to this, "The wolf
also shall dwell with the lamb,
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the leopard shall lie
down with the young goat. "
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There will be a restoration
of the Edenic relationship.
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There will be no more
prey and no more predator,
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the predators will
become vegetarians.
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Praise God and the Bible says,
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"They will dwell together
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and there will
also be a restoration
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of human relationships. "
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According to
Revelation chapter 22 verse 2,
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the Bible says,
"The leaves of the tree
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were for the
healing of the nations. "
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What does that mean?
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I believe that means
that when we get to heaven,
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all of the social dynamics and
the strife that we experience
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this side of heaven,
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will be healed in the new earth.
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I praise the Lord for that,
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I praise the Lord
that when we get to heaven
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there will be no more genocide.
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There will be no
more ethnic cleansing.
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There will be no more racism.
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There will be no
more racial tension.
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The Bible says, "The
leaves of the Tree of Life
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will be for the
healing of the nations. "
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When Jesus comes the second
time and brings us to heaven,
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at the end of the millennium,
after the 1,000 years
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and the heavens and
the earth are re-created,
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every level of
the results of sin...
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beginning with our
own human interactions
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down to the animal kingdom,
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there will be a
restoration that takes place,
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God will bring
us all the way back
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and there won't be in heaven...
I praise God for this...
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there won't be in
heaven any social awkwardness,
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no misunderstandings,
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no issues that crop up because
of personality differences,
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we will live in perfect
harmony and perfect community
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in the new earth in heaven.
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God will bring
us all the way back.
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There will be a restoration
of human relationships
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and most importantly,
there will be a restoration
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of our relationship with God.
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Here we have it,
last book of the Bible,
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Revelation chapter
22... last chapter... verse 4,
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"They shall see His face,
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and His name shall
be on their foreheads. "
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We will be restored back to that
relationship with Adam and Eve.
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Remember the relationship
that Adam and Eve had
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before the fall?
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They were able to have a
face-to-face communion with Him,
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open communion... uninhibited...
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they were able to have
this encounter with God
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and the Bible says that
God's name will be written
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on their forehead.
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This is where God
wants to bring us.
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He wants to bring us
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to that restorative
relationship with Him
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and God will bring us back
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and notice what the Bible says
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that His name will
be on their foreheads...
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on our foreheads.
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Now, this is not saying
there will be a literal name...
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a stamp on our
foreheads when we get to heaven,
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what that is talking
about is the character of God
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will be restored in man.
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"Imago Dei"
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the image of God
will be restored in man
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and we'll be brought back
to that relationship with Him.
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The relational tensions...
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the relational estrangement
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of every level of
humanity will be restored
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and ultimately, when
Jesus comes the second time,
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there will be a restoration
of our relationship with God.
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Now, the important focus for us
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when we talk about
glorification is to recognize
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that if the
character is transformed
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and we allow Jesus
to be reproduced in us,
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glorification is a surety.
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Now, what is character?
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We're told in the
book "Maranatha" page 222,
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"If the thoughts are wrong,
the feelings will be wrong
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and the thoughts and
the feelings combined
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make up the moral character. "
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If you want to know
what your character is,
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what do you think about?
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How do you feel about
what you are thinking about?
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What is the thing
that you think about
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over and over and over again.
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That is what makes
up your moral character.
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You see, God is not
just in the business
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of getting
external transformation,
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God is ultimately in the work
of working from the inside out,
00:10:47.88\00:10:52.78
some people
think, "You know what?
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I'm not going to
physically do it,
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but I'm going to
think about it in my mind
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but Jesus said in
the sermon on the mount,
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"If you lust after a woman,
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you have committed adultery
with her in your heart. "
00:11:02.96\00:11:06.63
So, God wants to
go all the way back
00:11:06.70\00:11:09.00
into the
thoughts and the feelings
00:11:09.03\00:11:11.37
and this process
of transformation
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begins with the character
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and it begins
ultimately with the thoughts.
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Here Stephen Covey says,
"Sow a thought, reap an action;
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sow an action, reap a habit;
00:11:21.78\00:11:24.25
sow a habit, reap a character;
00:11:24.28\00:11:27.48
sow a character,
reap a destiny. "
00:11:27.52\00:11:30.05
God wants to
transform our thoughts...
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God wants to transform our
minds from the inside out...
00:11:32.55\00:11:36.22
our thoughts and feelings...
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and when we are baptized,
we accept Jesus as our Savior
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and then, we make
Him Lord of our life.
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It's important that
it's in that order...
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He's our Savior first
00:11:47.94\00:11:49.80
and then we say,
"Lord... my Lord and my God. "
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We make Him Lord of our life,
we make Him Lord of our thoughts
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we subject every thought to
the obedience of Jesus Christ
00:11:59.78\00:12:04.89
and by beholding Jesus
daily... in the process...
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we become like Him in character.
00:12:08.79\00:12:12.03
God wants to transform
our thoughts and our minds.
00:12:12.06\00:12:15.23
Now, when we think of concrete,
00:12:15.26\00:12:17.23
we need to recognize that there
are two phases to concrete.
00:12:17.27\00:12:22.47
The "setting phase"
and the "fixed phase. "
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I believe that we are
living in the very end of time
00:12:26.91\00:12:30.48
and that during this
time of probationary period
00:12:30.51\00:12:33.78
that we have right now,
00:12:33.82\00:12:35.15
God is allowing our
characters to be molded
00:12:35.18\00:12:38.59
and to be developed
into the character of Jesus
00:12:38.62\00:12:42.09
but there will come a time
when we become set in our ways.
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I want to encourage you today
00:12:48.33\00:12:50.33
while you still
hear the voice of God,
00:12:50.37\00:12:53.37
to make the
decision to follow Him.
00:12:53.40\00:12:56.60
The Bible says,
"If you hear His voice,
00:12:56.64\00:12:59.84
harden not your hearts. "
00:12:59.87\00:13:03.14
The implication is
that God is not changing...
00:13:03.18\00:13:05.61
He's always calling you.
00:13:05.68\00:13:07.08
The implication is that
00:13:07.12\00:13:08.48
we change in our
decision-making process,
00:13:08.52\00:13:11.65
our characters are
being shaped and transformed.
00:13:11.69\00:13:14.19
I want to encourage you today
to hear the voice of God...
00:13:14.22\00:13:18.09
to respond to Him today
and respond to His call.
00:13:18.13\00:13:22.00
Join us again as we study
00:13:22.06\00:13:23.90
the sanctuary,
salvation and our Savior.
00:13:23.93\00:13:28.30
May God bless us as we
continue to walk with Him.
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