Participants: J.D. & Shelley Quinn (Host), Jason Bradley, Kenny & Chris Shelton
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW015015A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:07 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Today Family Worship. 01:10 We are so thrilled 01:12 that you're joining us for worship this evening. 01:15 And I just want to introduce everyone at the table. 01:18 My name is Shelley Quinn. It's JD. 01:20 JD Quinn and I have the privilege 01:23 of being this wonderful man's wife. 01:26 And that's one of the greatest blessings 01:28 God ever gave me was a godly husband. 01:29 Yeah. 01:31 And I'd also to introduce Kenny and Chris Shelton. 01:35 And you all are not a stranger on 3ABN. 01:38 You have "Behold the Lamb" as your program. 01:41 And you're with "Behold the Lamb Ministries." 01:44 And we're just so thankful 01:45 as part of our 3ABN family 01:47 that you are joining us at the table this evening. 01:49 We are excited. Thank you for the invitation. 01:51 We love to talk about Jesus. 01:53 I know you do. 01:54 And I know you've always got something wonderful to say. 01:57 And then over on this end, 01:59 we have got my sweet precious co-handed... 02:03 Praising hands. 02:06 Jason Bradley. 02:07 We call you Jay, 02:09 but you are the assistant to the general manager 02:12 of Dare to Dream. 02:14 Yes. 02:15 And who would that general manager be? 02:17 Well, she's been my boss for 29 years, 02:20 Dr. Yvonne Lewis a.k.a. mom. 02:24 Oh, Jay, we're so glad 02:26 that you're joining us here as well. 02:28 And then on the piano 02:29 we have our precious sister Jill Morikone. 02:32 We're so thankful 02:34 that Jill agreed to play for us. 02:38 And as part of the family, 02:39 we just welcome you to the table. 02:42 And we hope that tonight 02:43 as we're welcoming the Sabbath... 02:45 Now depending on where you are, 02:47 you may be saying goodbye to the Sabbath 02:50 if you are that much ahead of us in time, 02:52 but we're here to welcoming the Sabbath. 02:55 And we're going to begin 02:57 by singing "Amazing Grace." 02:59 Amen. 03:00 This is hymn number 108 in your Adventist hymnal. 03:04 But also the words will be on the screen. 03:07 So join us. 03:09 Amazing Grace! 03:13 How sweet the sound 03:18 That saved a wretch 03:22 Like me! 03:26 I once was lost 03:30 But now am found 03:34 Was blind 03:36 But now I see 03:42 'Twas was grace that taught 03:47 My heart to fear 03:51 And grace 03:53 My fears relieved 03:59 How precious 04:02 Did that grace appear 04:08 The hour 04:10 I first believed 04:16 The Lord has promised 04:21 Good to me 04:25 His word 04:27 My hope secures 04:33 He will my shield 04:37 And portion be 04:41 As long 04:43 As life endures 04:49 Amen. Praise the Lord. 04:51 And what a song of praise that is. 04:54 That's why I call that song they were singing 04:56 about the wonders of God's grace. 04:59 And that's what we're gonna be talking about tonight. 05:02 We're gonna be talking about grace alone and grace always. 05:07 Amen. 05:09 You know let me share something with you 05:10 before we pray. 05:12 I once, when I grew up 05:14 I didn't ever hear about grace. 05:17 In the denomination in which I grew up, 05:19 I knew nothing of grace. 05:21 And then I started studying 05:23 and I studied my way out into a different denomination 05:26 and I start going to nondenominational church, 05:29 where that's all they talked about was grace. 05:31 But somehow 05:34 there wasn't balance on either side. 05:36 And you know the devil doesn't care 05:39 which side of the ditch you fall out, 05:41 whether it's liberalism or whether it's legalism. 05:45 But, so God when He called me to full-time ministry, 05:49 He said, forget what you're thinking off, 05:50 come sit at my feet, I'm gonna teach you. 05:53 And He was teaching me on grace. 05:56 And I said, Lord, give me an illustration 05:57 that I just want to share this illustration 06:00 with all of you and with those of you at home. 06:02 Here's what God showed me. 06:04 That, God's heart just wells over with love for us. 06:08 Yes. 06:09 God is love. Amen. 06:11 And His heart wells over for love. 06:13 And that love, that grace, 06:16 He sends down in a pipeline from heaven 06:19 and then the way that we tap into His grace pipeline 06:23 is by faith. 06:25 Amen. 06:26 And what is the foundation for faith? 06:28 Trust. 06:30 Now, what is the foundation for trust? 06:32 If we're gonna trust in the Lord 06:33 with all of our heart, 06:35 it is relationship. 06:37 And, then what's the relation-- 06:40 foundation of a relationship? 06:42 It's love. 06:43 See, it's full circle. 06:45 We love God because He first loved us. 06:49 And the more we understand God's love, 06:51 then the closer 06:53 and more intimate our relationship will be. 06:56 And more intimate that relationship, 06:58 the more we trust Him. 06:59 The more we trust Him, the more we pray with faith 07:03 and the more we tap into His grace pipeline. 07:06 Right. So everything is by grace. 07:10 But I have to say this, 07:12 grace includes obedience. 07:16 That's right. Sure. 07:17 We can only obey by grace 07:19 and I know we're gonna talk about that tonight. 07:21 So why don't we now just begin with a prayer of praise. 07:27 There's not gonna be any particular order. 07:30 These are just kind of like prayer sentences. 07:32 If you have something to say-- 07:34 Even if you've already prayed, come back in and pray again. 07:37 JD, why don't you begin our prayer praise? 07:42 Father, we thank you for the Sabbath day. 07:44 Amen. 07:46 We thank You, Lord, 07:47 that You have indeed set it apart 07:49 and we thank You, Lord, that we can be part of it. 07:53 We thank You Lord 07:54 that we're brothers and sisters in Christ. 07:57 We thank You that we have family. 07:59 And we just ask, Lord, 08:00 each one that they also take this time 08:05 to lift Your name above all. 08:08 We love You and thank You. 08:10 Amen. Amen. 08:11 Heavenly Father, as we continue this prayer, 08:14 just thank You so much for the love 08:17 that You've extended to each and every one of us. 08:21 Thank You for bringing us out of the darkness 08:23 and into Your marvelous light. 08:26 And, Father, as we sang an amazing grace, 08:28 what a wonderful, what gifts You have given us 08:32 that we don't even deserve. 08:33 Yeah, that's right. 08:34 Father, thank You for bringing us 08:36 here at the Sabbath day 08:37 and all of our friends and family around the world, 08:40 may Your name make the love of Jesus 08:43 be uplifted around this table here this evening. 08:47 And we give You all the praise 08:48 and all the glory and all the honor, Father. 08:51 Amen. Amen. 08:53 Heavenly Father, we praise You 08:55 because You are worthy of a praise. 08:58 Father, how we thank You 08:59 for Your salvation planned for Your plan of grace. 09:03 And we thank You for the gift 09:05 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 09:08 Your greatest gift of grace. 09:10 And we thank You, Father, for Your Holy Spirit, 09:13 Your second greatest gift of grace 09:15 and for Your word, oh Lord. 09:18 We thank You for the Sabbath day, Lord, 09:21 that reminds us that You are our Creator 09:24 and the One who recreates us in the image of Jesus. 09:28 And, Father, You said in Exodus 31:13 09:31 that the Sabbath is a sign 09:34 that You are the one who sanctifies us. 09:37 Amen. 09:38 We are even sanctified by grace as we cooperate with You. 09:42 So, Lord, all of-- 09:45 With all of our hearts, we give You thanksgiving. 09:48 With all of our hearts, we praise You. 09:51 And we thank You for the answer to the prayer. 09:54 Thank you. 09:55 Amen. Amen. 09:57 Dear Heavenly Father, we want to thank You so much 09:59 for the sacrifice that You have made for us, 10:01 so that we may have a chance at eternal life, Lord. 10:04 I want to thank You for all the many blessings 10:06 that you bestowed upon us, 10:08 the air in our lungs, our health, 10:10 food in the refrigerator, gas in our cars, 10:13 a shelter, a roof over our heads, Lord. 10:16 All the things that we take for granted 10:18 on a day-to-day basis, 10:19 Lord, we want to lift You up right now. 10:20 And we want to thank You and praise You 10:22 for all those wonderful things that You've done for us. 10:25 And thank You, thank You again for Your sacrifice. 10:28 Amen. 10:30 All in heaven we thank You and we give You praise 10:32 and give You honor and give You glory. 10:33 Our hearts rejoice. 10:35 We're exceedingly glad 10:36 because you set aside a certain day 10:39 that we'd to fellowship, not only with one another, 10:41 with all of heaven. 10:42 We thank You for the Sabbath. 10:44 We thank You 10:45 that the promise where two or three are gathered together, 10:47 You would be in our midst. 10:48 As the wonderful, beautiful pages of Your word is opened, 10:51 we pray Your Holy Spirit will accompany every thought, 10:54 every word, every action. 10:56 May each one of us be pointed to Jesus Christ 10:59 who is the author and the finisher of our faith. 11:02 Lord, we praise You. 11:03 Bless those who are 11:05 fellowshipping with us right now. 11:06 They are taking their Bibles. 11:08 There's many are kneeling right now. 11:10 They are praying. 11:11 They are opening their heart to You 11:12 and we serve a wonderful loving God 11:14 who promised to hear and promised to answer. 11:17 May this be a wonderful, 11:18 wonderful time that we spend together here. 11:20 We're gonna give You praise in advance. 11:22 We're gonna know that You're going to guide, 11:24 you're going to direct our hearts and minds, 11:26 the words that we speak. 11:27 You said, if I be lifted up will draw all men to you. 11:31 I thank You for that in Jesus' precious Holy name 11:33 we thank you, amen. 11:35 Amen. Amen. 11:37 Well, we've sung a song of praise 11:40 and that's what I consider as a song about God. 11:43 Now we're going to sing a song of-- 11:47 That's like a sermon to put to music. 11:51 So this is a true worship song. Amen. 11:53 And for those of you at home, if you're joining us. 11:56 This is hymn number, oops, hymn number 334. 12:01 But the words will also be on the screen. 12:06 Come, thou Fount of every blessing 12:11 Tune my heart to sing Thy grace 12:17 Streams of mercy, never ceasing 12:22 Call for songs of loudest praise 12:27 Teach me ever to adore Thee 12:32 May I still Thy goodness prove 12:37 While the hope of endless glory 12:42 Fills my heart with joy and love 12:47 Oh, to grace how great a debtor 12:52 Daily I'm constrained to be! 12:57 Let Thy goodness like a fetter 13:02 Bind me closer still to Thee 13:07 Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it 13:13 Prone to leave the God I love 13:18 Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it 13:23 Seal it for Thy courts above 13:29 Amen. Halleluiah. 13:31 Wow. Praise the Lord. 13:32 Yeah, I love that song. 13:34 Mercy. 13:35 You know especially the part that-- 13:38 Do you ever feel like your heart is prone to wander? 13:41 Oh, boy, I'll tell you. 13:43 And to know that, 13:44 that someone else experiences that 13:46 and, and God's got the answer. 13:48 Yes, He does. That's what so wonderful. 13:49 Amen. 13:51 Okay. 13:52 Tonight we are going to be 13:54 using life affirmations from scripture as our book. 13:59 And we're going to be looking on page 87 and 88, 14:03 "Grace Alone and Always." 14:05 Now, had you all ever done an affirmation from scripture? 14:08 Never. 14:10 Good. That's what I get to teach you. 14:11 Amen. 14:13 We'll talk about it for those at home. 14:14 Essentially an affirmation is just, 14:18 it's taking a scripture, 14:20 you're praying it back to the Lord 14:22 or you're speaking it over your life. 14:24 You are affirming 14:26 that you agree with God's testimony 14:28 about who you are in Christ Jesus. 14:30 You are affirming your total faith in God. 14:34 You are also claiming that promise at the same time. 14:38 And it's a beautiful way. 14:40 I confess, I don't like to memorize. 14:42 So I've never tried-- 14:44 I'm not good at that. 14:45 But, there's a lot of the scripture in my heart 14:48 from just doing life affirmations. 14:51 I'm going to read the introduction to this. 14:54 And in this introduction, our all the scriptures 14:59 that we're going to study tonight. 15:01 And I hope you have your Bible with us. 15:03 But these are scriptures 15:05 that now I have put into an affirmation, 15:09 then we're gonna read and discuss 15:11 each one of these scriptures. 15:12 But, let me quickly read that for you. 15:15 Here is what it says. 15:17 "I am what I am, by the grace of God, 15:20 everything concerning God's kingdom 15:22 comes to me by grace. 15:24 Grace is the unearned, undeserving gifts of God. 15:27 His greatest gifts are Christ in me, my hope of glory, 15:32 the Holy Spirit in His written word. 15:34 These gifts may grace more than merely unmerited favor. 15:39 Grace is the force of divine assistance 15:44 working within me, 15:45 God's supernatural power for salvation." 15:50 Now, Chris, why don't you read the second paragraph? 15:52 Okay. 15:53 "By His grace and through my faith in Him, 15:55 I have been given the gift of salvation. 15:58 His grace empowers me to obey as Jesus obeyed 16:02 and secures my eternal salvation. 16:05 I am sanctified by grace to obey by grace. 16:08 As God works in me to will 16:11 and to act according to His good pleasure. 16:13 And Jay. Praise the Lord. 16:15 Amen. 16:16 "Saved by God's mercy I'm justified by grace. 16:19 My works evidence my justification, 16:21 just as the works of Abraham and Rahab 16:24 deemed them to be in right standing with God. 16:27 I am made righteous by grace 16:29 to practice righteousness by grace." 16:32 "And by His grace, 16:34 His supernatural power for salvation 16:37 working in my life. 16:39 God will complete the good work He has begun in me." 16:42 Amen. 16:44 "I am what I am by His grace alone and always." 16:48 Praise God. 16:49 Now some of you at home may not understand 16:53 obedience is being part of God's grace. 16:55 But everything that we just read, 16:58 we're going to look at in the scripture 17:00 so that you can see. 17:02 And I'll take the first scripture. 17:05 This is 1 Corinthians 15:10. 17:09 And this is the Apostle Paul speaking. 17:11 And he says, 17:13 "By the grace of God I am what I am, 17:18 and His grace toward me did not prove vain, 17:22 but I labored even more than all of them, 17:28 yet not I, 17:30 but the grace of God within me." 17:33 Amen. Yes. 17:35 This is something 17:36 that Paul who was such a legalistic person, 17:41 who is out persecuting the early Christians. 17:45 When he had that Damascus road experience 17:50 and he had that personal meeting with Christ 17:54 when he was born again, 17:56 he became God's greatest ambassador for grace. 18:00 But Paul never let go of the idea 18:06 that obedience was by grace. 18:08 Paul is saying, 18:10 hey, I labored more than all of them, 18:12 but he recognized no, it's not me, 18:15 it's the grace of God in me. 18:18 If we recognize Christ 18:20 as being God's greatest gift of grace. 18:25 It's Christ dwelling in us by the power of the Holy Spirit 18:29 that enables us to do God's work. 18:33 Amen. Beautiful. 18:34 Yes. 18:36 Wonderful. Amen. 18:37 Amen. That's balance. 18:38 You know as I'm looking at this, 18:40 I like the way that it's put together here 18:41 as we read in the first paragraphs. 18:43 By the grace of God, 18:45 the definition of grace, 18:47 there's the force of divine assistance. 18:48 Yes. Amen. 18:50 So by the force of divine assistance 18:53 being God that I am what I am. 18:56 It's His-- 18:57 Grace is His divine assistance through the spirit, 19:00 the hope through Christ, the spirit and the word, 19:03 but it's also His supernatural power for salvation. 19:07 Grace is wonderful. 19:09 Wonderful. 19:10 I love what you're saying about the obedience part as well 19:13 because I think that, that's a common misconception is that, 19:16 oh, we're saved by grace. 19:18 So does that mean we can go out and steal? 19:20 Does that mean we can go out 19:22 and just break all the laws of God? 19:24 Does that-- you know, and I think that's something 19:27 that gets neglected a lot is, is you can't go out 19:32 and just deliberately disobey God 19:34 and say I'm saved by grace. 19:36 You have to in a relationship-- 19:38 You know you two are married, 19:40 you want to do things 19:41 that would make your husband happy, 19:43 and you want to do things that would make her happy. 19:46 And so that's the same thing with God 19:48 as we have to obey God and out of love for Him. 19:52 Amen. Amen. 19:53 And following that vein in what I was just saying here. 19:56 The everyday grace is the force of divine assistance. 20:00 Divine assistance is not going to assist you 20:03 in doing something that's wrong. 20:06 So you know that's all, 20:07 Michael gonna shut that door right there. 20:09 Well, and you know, 20:10 that's, if you recognize God's greatest gifts of grace 20:14 is being Christ the spirit and the word. 20:17 When that power, the power of Christ, 20:20 the power of the spirit, the power of the word 20:22 is dwelling within you, 20:24 certainly grace cuts us free from Pharisaical Legalism. 20:30 But to say that anyone 20:32 that mentions obedience is unlearned in grace is wrong 20:37 because grace-- 20:39 Christ living in me, the Holy Spirit living, 20:41 isn't gonna give me license to sin. 20:43 So your point is well taken. 20:46 Why don't you do the next scripture? 20:47 Sure. 20:49 This comes from Ephesians 2:8-10. 20:52 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, 20:55 and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, 20:58 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 21:01 For we are His workmanship, 21:03 created in Christ Jesus for good works, 21:05 which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." 21:08 Yes. 21:09 So essentially can we ever save ourselves? 21:13 No. 21:15 There's nothing we can do to save ourselves. 21:16 So is there, Pastor Kenny? 21:18 And going back to what he said earlier 21:20 and what you alluded to 21:22 in the beginning of the program. 21:23 So many people will look and take these 21:25 and dissect them out of scripture 21:28 and they see, see, it doesn't matter what I do. 21:30 It doesn't matter which day I keep. 21:32 It doesn't matter what I eat. 21:34 I'm saved by grace. 21:35 Once saved always saved. 21:37 But the beautiful thing is, we're taking the Bible 21:39 and we're beginning to put it together 21:41 and letting it answer all these questions. 21:44 And it's so beautiful as you study into grace, 21:47 you see there's so many varied facets of the meaning 21:51 and there's power in grace alone. 21:54 Amen. 21:55 A good book, 21:57 "Ten Commandments Twice Removed," 21:59 that was a good book, 22:01 dealing with the laws and all that stuff as well. 22:04 But you know what I love about this scripture 22:05 right here in Ephesians 2:8-10. 22:08 "By grace you have been saved." 22:10 There's nothing-- I mean-- 22:13 It says not of works. 22:14 So being a vegan, being, you know, tithing. 22:19 I mean you can give the 10th of your merit like this, 22:21 the Pharisees did. 22:23 This isn't what saves us. That's right. 22:26 You know the old and the New Testament 22:27 both say salvation belongs to God. 22:30 I have to insert this personal experience 22:34 with what you just said. 22:35 Because, be, even when I was younger, 22:38 you know, my heart was to please God. 22:40 And many times we adopt principles 22:43 that are not so clear in scripture, 22:45 but we hear others preaching and presenting them 22:48 and it seems to be right. 22:51 And so you begin that journey of works 22:55 because you want to please God 22:57 and pretty soon you no longer see Jesus. 23:00 You see, can I do this? Can I wear that? 23:03 Can I say this? 23:04 You know can I go here? 23:06 And it's all about works 23:08 and the joy, the love, the peace, 23:10 the happiness is gone. 23:12 It is gone. 23:13 It is the wrong balance or something wrong. 23:16 But you know like you said, 23:17 it doesn't matter which side the fence is on 23:19 as long as you're off. 23:21 The devil's gonna be happy. 23:22 But it's like-- 23:23 That's what Paul told to Galatians. 23:25 He says, you who are trying to be justified by works 23:28 are, have fallen from grace. 23:30 You're estranged from Christ. 23:31 And we're judgmental, criticizing one another. 23:36 But right here in this very scripture-- 23:40 Kenny, just comment on this. 23:42 He says, we are His workmanship 23:46 created in Christ Jesus for good works 23:49 which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them. 23:56 See, to me that's just so powerful 23:58 when you think about it. 23:59 And then it draws my mind back-- 24:01 I think it was your passage that you read. 24:03 I'm so thrilled when Paul made that statement. 24:05 But he said, His grace toward me did not prove vain. 24:10 Amen. 24:11 The grace that is applied to each one of us 24:14 is not in vain if we respond to the call. 24:17 God has begun the work, He will finish the work. 24:21 He's created us so we may witness for Him 24:23 and work for Him. 24:25 We may be able to get this message to the world 24:28 so that Jesus can come. 24:30 So we can rightly represent Him to the world. 24:33 And again part of that you guys, 24:35 you have been talking about is the joy in the Lord. 24:38 I feel sad sometimes 24:40 that maybe we've lost a little bit of that joy, 24:42 a little bit of that freedom. 24:44 You know, somebody said, why you guys are so legalists, 24:46 you know you won't obey? 24:47 And I said I'm so free, I can do anything I want to do. 24:49 They said, oh, what do you mean you're Christian? 24:51 You can't do everything you want. 24:53 I said I'm free in God. 24:54 I can do anything I want to do. 24:56 Yeah. 24:57 I choose just-- 24:58 I choose by the grace of God not to do the other things. 25:01 That's freedom. Well, and He changes-- 25:03 You know, when the Bible says He works in us to will 25:06 and to do his for pleasure. 25:08 He aligns our will up with Him 25:10 and He makes us desire His ways. 25:13 We're His workmanship, 25:14 absolutely He wants us to be like Him as an end results. 25:17 And it's out of love-- I think. 25:19 That He wants us to worship Him, 25:21 not out of fear. 25:22 He loves us so much that He gives us the choice 25:25 to serve Him. 25:26 We can go the other way. 25:28 Yes. 25:29 And as we progress that's who we become. 25:32 Absolutely. Yes. 25:33 Because I mean and that's where we're happy. 25:35 Absolutely. Let me do this. 25:37 I forgot to pray my scripture back. 25:40 And then I want you to pray your scripture back 25:42 because we're trying to 25:44 really learn how to make this an affirmation. 25:47 So let me pray 25:48 1 Corinthians 15:10 back to the Lord. 25:51 Father, I thank you that it is by your grace, 25:55 I am who I am, that we are who we are. 25:58 Yeah. 25:59 I thank You, Father, that Your grace 26:01 does not prove vain, 26:03 but, that Lord, You work in us 26:06 that we might labor 26:08 by the power of your grace. 26:10 Amen. 26:12 Dear heavenly Father, 26:13 I thank You that it is by Your grace that 26:16 and my faith in You that I am saved. 26:18 Amen. 26:20 I want to thank You for again Your precious sacrifice. 26:24 And wanting us to worship You out of love 26:29 and not fear. 26:31 That's right. 26:32 And so as we have this worship 26:33 we just, we just want to praise You. 26:36 Amen. Amen. 26:37 Amen. Amen. 26:39 All right. You want to do Hebrews 5:8, 9. 26:45 All right. 26:46 "Though he" He being Jesus 26:49 "was a Son, yet He learned obedience 26:51 by the things which he suffered. 26:54 And having been perfected, 26:55 he became the author of eternal salvation 26:58 to all who obey him." 26:59 Oh, there we go. 27:00 Well, there's very few people who know about this scripture. 27:04 Well, I know. 27:05 As I was reading it earlier, 27:07 boy, I just jumped off the page. 27:08 But, He learned obedience 27:10 by the things which he had suffered. 27:12 Man, I think that if we will... 27:16 I certainly haven't suffered what Christ suffered. 27:19 You know, I mean that's just unbelievably 27:21 thank that you consider Him assimilate 27:24 every human as ever lived 27:26 and being part of, of your gift. 27:30 But I know that there are things that I have done 27:32 and I have to suffer the consequence of it. 27:34 Yes. 27:36 And by doing that, you know, I have learned obedience. 27:40 Oh, yes. Yeah. 27:41 Yes. Amen. 27:42 I thought that often, it's about that we... 27:44 God is so gracious and so good, 27:46 the grace that cleanses us from all unrighteousness. 27:50 But when we do the wrong things, there are scars 27:53 and He does not take those scars from us. 27:56 They are always there, but the healing is there 27:59 and the forgiveness is there. 28:01 But those scars remain as a reminder 28:04 of the mistake or the choice that we have made. 28:08 And some of the greatest victories I think 28:10 come sometime as when we do the wrong thing. 28:14 We recognize it. We come to Him. 28:15 We ask for forgiveness and really mean it. 28:19 We've learned a lesson to say, 28:20 I never by God's grace never want to go there again. 28:25 I thank God for that. 28:27 I said second chance, that's like grace. 28:29 He is the God of new beginnings. 28:31 But you know verse 9 here. 28:33 There's people who tell me, still to this day, 28:36 I'll have people say, you're being legalistic 28:39 if you are talking about obedience. 28:41 And right here, Hebrews says, 28:43 "He became the author of eternal salvation 28:47 to all who obey him." 28:49 Amen. 28:50 Now let me... 28:51 We're talking about salvation by grace. 28:54 We're talking about the grace of God 28:57 and yet this scripture says, 28:59 "He became the author of eternal salvation 29:01 to all who obey him." 29:03 How do we... 29:05 How do we justify or rectify these two thoughts? 29:10 He became the author of eternal salvation 29:12 to those who obey him. 29:14 Oops wait. 29:15 I thought we were saved by grace. 29:16 And the whole point is, we are saved by grace. 29:20 But if you understand that His greatest gifts of grace 29:25 are Christ, the Holy Sprit and the word, 29:29 when Christ is living in your heart through faith 29:31 by the power of the Holy Spirit 29:32 and the Holy Spirit is bringing God's word to you. 29:35 Remember, you, if you love Him, 29:38 He says, keep my commandments. 29:39 You will walk in obedience. 29:41 That's right. 29:43 Obedience is simply an outward expression 29:47 of an inward experience. 29:48 That's right. 29:49 So if I've been saved by grace, I will walk in obedience. 29:55 Absolutely. 29:56 And then, whose example are we supposed to follow? 29:59 We're supposed to follow Jesus. 30:01 Follow in His footsteps. 30:02 So if you're doing things 30:03 that Jesus wouldn't do 30:06 and you're saying, oh, I'm saved by grace. 30:08 It's all right. Yeah, that doesn't work. 30:09 That doesn't work. 30:11 We're supposed to follow His example. 30:13 Therefore, we should do as Jesus did. 30:15 Amen. You know, when we-- 30:16 Go ahead, honey. You got it. 30:17 Oh, I was just gonna say that, that as we were walking, 30:20 as we develop this relationship with Jesus, 30:23 as we're spending time everyday in study and worship 30:26 and singing songs as we're doing here. 30:29 Then our hearts become molded and fashion. 30:32 Our mind becomes more like the mind of Christ. 30:35 And then to do these things become our privilege. 30:38 It is my privilege to dress for Christ. 30:41 It is my privilege to eat the way 30:44 He would ask me to eat. 30:46 It becomes-- 30:47 See the whole process, our whole thought is changed. 30:51 It's no more works and focusing in 30:53 on what I have to do and when I have to do 30:55 at what time, it's focusing in on Jesus 30:58 and then He begins to do the heart change. 31:01 That's the beautiful part of grace. 31:03 It's the power of grace. It is exactly. 31:05 It's the grace in us 31:06 that is working to do His good pleasure. 31:08 Amen. And you know. 31:10 And that's what sanctification is. 31:11 Yes. Thank you. 31:12 But there's a statement that I've always used. 31:16 A little banner if you will. 31:18 That rules, R-U-L-E-S, 31:20 rules without relationship result in rebellion. 31:24 Kids who are brought up 31:26 that you can't do this, you can't do that, 31:27 you must do this, you must do that, 31:29 and they don't have that heart connection with God, 31:33 it's not joyful. 31:36 And they do rebel. 31:37 But what you said is, 31:39 as you develop that heart connection with God 31:42 and you understand 31:43 His commandments are like a protective fence around us. 31:47 It's your privilege to be walking in this pathway. 31:49 Yes. Yes. 31:50 Good. 1 John mentions that. 31:51 It says, "We ought to walk as he walked." 31:53 We must walk as He walked. Amen. 31:55 I mean to me that's just so simple to say, 31:57 we don't know what to do in this life. 31:59 Look at the life of Jesus. 32:01 Study His character. Study what He did. 32:03 Study how He talked to people. How He dealt with the people. 32:06 Decisions that He made and what He did 32:08 and then I walk as He walked. 32:10 You cannot go wrong. 32:11 Victory is assured 32:13 if we keep our eye on Him and not each other. 32:15 When you said about the relationship-- 32:18 Like when you have that relationship 32:21 you want to please God like-- 32:25 Out of that relationship 32:26 I was in the world for quite sometime 32:29 and I viewed things so much different back then. 32:34 Like I viewed things as a burden 32:37 more so than in terms of religion 32:40 and laws and you know, 32:41 Ten Commandments and all the stuff 32:43 as a burden, 32:44 as opposed to all these things were for my benefit. 32:49 Everything that the world is offering 32:51 liquor and drugs and all the stuff, 32:53 it's killing you, you know. 32:55 And God wants to sustain us. 32:57 He wants us to live a healthy, happy, fruitful life. 33:00 Amen. 33:01 And so now, it's like 33:03 being on the other side of all that-- 33:04 How beautiful. 33:05 And having a relationship with Christ, 33:07 it's a whole another-- 33:10 I view everything so much different 33:12 like it's not a burden, it's a blessing. 33:14 But you know, His commandments are a burden 33:18 if we're trying to keep them, to walk in them 33:22 by the power of our own flesh. 33:24 It is our own life as you've been born again. 33:29 And now all of a sudden what was a burden to you 33:32 because you were trying to work it out in your flesh 33:36 has become a blessing 33:39 because it is God working in you 33:41 to will and to do His good pleasure. 33:43 And you know and you're filling that void with joy. 33:45 Amen. 33:46 The Lord says, it's who you are becoming, 33:49 you know, it's really something-- 33:51 But I do. 33:52 You know, that, boy, 33:54 we hit on something a while ago, 33:55 I think that everyone certainly needs. 33:57 There's not a person on, there's not a person here, 33:59 there's not a person out there 34:02 that hasn't experienced some scars. 34:05 That scars is part of it. 34:08 But drop those scars and let them heal 34:10 and we transplant that, be transformed with the joy. 34:14 Amen. Amen. 34:15 It is the way. Amen. 34:18 You know and to add to that because 34:20 they both were emphasizing 34:22 that they had done something wrong. 34:23 Many times trials come to test the character, 34:26 to test the fruit, 34:28 to see just how sanctified we are in Christ. 34:31 To see how much love and patience and goodness-- 34:33 And what is that word that sanctified mean? 34:35 Yeah. 34:36 To be made holy, to become like Him. 34:39 To be separated from sin. 34:40 To be separated from sin 34:41 and to know whether one is sanctified or not, 34:45 we'll be by the fruits of the spirit. 34:47 Because when those fruits of the spirit will take over, 34:50 they are what are expressed in the life 34:53 the way you talk, the way you act, 34:55 the way you deal with other people and so-- 34:57 And the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, 35:00 kindness, goodness, 35:02 gentleness, humility, long suffering, 35:05 so it's as the Holy Spirit, 35:08 and we can't have that without His spirit. 35:11 Can we? That's right. 35:12 You know what? 35:14 I read a long time ago 35:15 and it kind of like 35:18 disheartened me in a sense, 35:20 but yet it drove me to the foot of the cross 35:23 because I read "The Spirit of Prophecy." 35:26 It says, unless we as God's people, 35:29 I have every one of those fruits of the spirit, 35:32 heaven will never be our home. 35:35 Amen. 35:36 And I looked at every one of those fruits 35:38 and I failed. 35:40 See this is self examination. 35:42 No one else needs to look at each one 35:43 and say what you did. 35:44 I looked at my own life and I looked at that joy 35:48 and that long-suffering and that peace 35:50 and that gentleness and that meekness, 35:51 that kindness, and that goodness, 35:53 I failed the test. 35:54 But also realized I said, 35:56 by God's grace I'm going to come back. 35:59 I'm going to come back and ask God 36:01 to give me these victories in every area. 36:03 If not, this is heavy. 36:04 If not heaven, will not be our home. 36:07 We can't fail on one of them 36:08 and there's no need to by God's grace. 36:10 He keeps coming back. 36:12 And He keeps giving us that power. 36:13 And when we fail, He comes back 36:14 and He gives more grace. 36:16 It's a second chance. 36:17 Brothers at the church sometimes says, 36:18 oh, second chance, he is a God of second chances. 36:20 And I said, oh, praise God, thousands for me 36:23 for knowing the grace that bound so freely 36:26 that I needed it and I'm so grateful 36:27 and thankful that He looks over that. 36:29 And it keeps going back 36:31 to that divine assistance, the divine assistance. 36:33 It's supernatural power. 36:35 Amen. All right. 36:37 I Thessalonians 5:23, 24. 36:42 Go ahead. Okay. 36:44 Good. All right. 36:45 It says, "Now may the God of peace 36:47 Himself sanctify you entirely, 36:50 and may your spirit, soul, 36:52 body be preserved complete 36:54 without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 36:57 Faithful is He who calls you, 37:00 and He also will bring it to pass." 37:02 That's a two hander, is it? 37:04 It is a two hander. 37:05 It's a promise and how can we-- 37:07 How can we miss it. 37:08 You know when I looked at that, 37:09 I say thank you, Lord, 37:11 because I'm trying to learn in my Christian experience 37:14 because previous to these verses, 37:16 I love these verses, that's why I read over this. 37:18 Oh, I like to talk about it just for a minute or two. 37:21 Because previous to this 37:23 Paul was, 37:24 was going over with the believers 37:26 and he set such a high standard 37:29 in the cause of Christ. 37:31 It was a standard of that scares people, 37:33 a perfection and holiness without, 37:37 the man will not see God, you know. 37:38 And so he set that high standard 37:40 and people begin to question. 37:42 And the Jews would say, 37:43 well, if it's such a high standard, 37:44 then that must cover every area of our life. 37:49 And Paul said, yes, it does. 37:51 And in that passage he goes on. 37:52 He talks about being holy unto the Lord. 37:56 What is holy? Holiness. 37:58 It's an attribute of God. 37:59 And then it's just-- 38:01 Yes. 38:02 I want to share something real quick 38:03 just because it's a great place to interject it. 38:06 God is love and I believe it is His love 38:09 that separates Him from sin. 38:10 His love establishes Him in holiness. 38:14 And the more we have that divine love in us, 38:17 He will establish us in holiness. 38:19 Go ahead. Isn't that, you know us. 38:21 Go ahead. 38:22 No, go. Okay. 38:23 You know, I'm just thinking, I felt that how, 38:25 how wonderful that is 38:26 that we may know that He says 38:27 that He's going to sanctify you entirely. 38:31 So then I would pose a question. 38:33 I posed it to myself. 38:35 I don't try to pose it on someone else 38:37 or you know try to say, well, this is-- 38:38 I looked at it and I said, okay, 38:40 He said He's going to holy sanctify me, 38:43 make me holy, prepare me for heaven. 38:45 "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." 38:48 And I thought there cannot be any-- 38:50 There can be no such thing as half, half sanctified. 38:56 So it has to be all the way or nothing in the sense. 39:00 In the sense that you can't say, 39:03 I want to be holy sanctified in this aspect of my life. 39:07 But there's a thing or two, 39:08 maybe my eyes or my ears that I don't want, 39:11 then it's the spirit can't do it. 39:13 So it has to-- You can't. 39:15 So you have to lay it all out on the table 39:17 and then it goes into body and soul and mind 39:20 which is the whole total being of the person 39:24 to repopulate heaven, certainly means we have to gain 39:27 victory over sin which most people just can't. 39:30 They can't get that. 39:31 They don't want to talk about it. 39:32 And I found this, as because they are not really banking 39:34 on the promises they made. 39:36 The grace of Jesus Christ, 39:38 what He can do in me and through me. 39:41 We look at our self and we look in the mirror and say, 39:43 you total, oh, you fail, you're not-- 39:45 We are. We are exactly. 39:46 Can't you look in the mirror and say, oh, you failure, 39:48 but because the grace of God, right? 39:50 These are gonna be victories that He's going to give me. 39:53 And He's going to give them 39:54 and he went over the body and the soul and the mind. 39:59 Which is, again he's talking about the mind 40:01 and then He's talking about-- 40:02 When he said body, the Jews thought this. 40:03 When you said the body, 40:05 it represented actually flesh to them 40:07 and bones and so on 40:09 which gets to the health message even. 40:12 They realized that what we've taken-- 40:13 Our body is a temple. 40:14 And then what we take in needs to glorify God. 40:17 If it's glorified God, 40:18 Holy Spirit come in by the grace of God, 40:20 the mind becomes pure and clean. 40:22 We make right choices, right decision. 40:25 And so it's that circle that goes on. 40:27 So it has to be the mind, 40:29 it has to be the senses, 40:31 that's what He talked about soul if you can separate-- 40:33 He talks about here, you know the body and soul, 40:35 when we come they are same, 40:36 separate them, one deals with the mind, 40:38 the other deals with the senses, 40:41 our taste everything. 40:42 Our eyes what we behold what we hear. 40:44 So the Jews then said, uh-huh, that means the complete man, 40:48 bones, thinking, what I see, what I hear, what I taste. 40:53 Oh, the mind, the choices, all through Him 40:57 who wants to sanctify you and me holy. 41:00 I want to show, look at. I know. 41:02 Now that's exciting thing what we can do if we submit. 41:04 He says right. 41:06 He will be preserved blameless 41:08 at the coming of our Lord and Savior. 41:09 And faithful is He who calls you, 41:11 He will bring it to pass." 41:13 We can't. 41:14 You know that word sanctifies simply means 41:18 that you are set apart from sin. 41:21 You are set apart for God. 41:23 Sanctifying holiness are actually synonyms 41:25 and mean the same thing. 41:27 To be holy means to be separated from sin. 41:31 Thank you. 41:32 And you know 1 Thessalonians 3: 12, 13. 41:36 Paul writes saying, 41:37 "May you abound and increase in love 41:40 by the power of the Holy Spirit." 41:43 So that may God cause you to abound and increase in love. 41:46 So that you may be preserved blameless, 41:51 in holiness 41:52 at the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 41:55 So as God pours His love into our hearts, 41:59 by His divine love we can-- 42:01 Only by His divine love. 42:03 Can we love Him with all of our hearts, 42:04 soul, mind and strength 42:06 and then we're gonna walk in obedience by His power. 42:09 Only by His divine love, 42:11 can we love one another as we love ourselves? 42:13 So we're not going to sin against this. 42:15 But He is the one that's gonna do it. 42:18 I Shelley Quinn can't save Rochelle. 42:20 We can't do it. 42:21 You quoted basically in Jude 24. 42:23 Yeah. 42:25 He says, "If we're really sanctified by the grace of God, 42:29 then He will keep us and then He will present us 42:32 followers to the Father." 42:34 Oh, I got goose bumps again. He will present. 42:36 And get it, it's nothing about us. 42:38 It's nothing about the word. 42:39 Well, I'm preaching all the time, 42:41 we're teaching all the time, we're doing this all-- 42:43 Nothing to do with that. 42:44 We get to heaven because of the blood of Jesus Christ. 42:47 It's His life. It's His merits. 42:48 And the key word here 42:50 in the last sentence is faithful. 42:51 Faithful. Faithful. 42:53 Faithful. Faithful. 42:54 But you know we do have a part. So we don't have to doubt it. 42:56 Yeah, we're gonna get to your part. 42:57 We do have a part 42:59 because we have to be willing to submit. 43:02 We have to be willing to allow Him in. 43:04 Thank you. And He will continue this. 43:07 That's why we hear that this work of sanctification, 43:09 it takes a lifetime 43:11 because it's a daily, daily decisions 43:13 that we make with Christ every day. 43:15 Amen. 43:17 Well, let's-- You want to pray that back? 43:18 Sure. Let's pray. 43:21 Our loving Father in heaven we thank You for this passage 43:24 and all the passage we have read. 43:26 We thank You that we serve a God of peace. 43:29 Lord, I thought about this, God of peace. 43:32 You are in the word that God of peace 43:34 and that means You want to draw us. 43:36 You're drawing us back 43:37 into right relationship with You always. 43:40 Thank you that You promised that You want to, 43:42 You want to sanctify us entirely. 43:45 Thank You that You've included so that, 43:47 at least in my simple minds and my thought 43:49 that You said, Kenny, it's the mind, it's a soul, 43:52 it's the body and You want to preserve them 43:56 and You want them to be holy, 43:57 You want them to be without blame at Your coming. 43:59 And it can only be through Jesus Christ, 44:01 our Lord and our Savior, 44:03 through the power of the Holy Spirit, 44:04 through grace. 44:05 And, Father, I thank You and I give You praise, 44:08 I give You honor and give You glory 44:09 because I long for that day 44:10 that You will present us faultless 44:13 before the throne room of God 44:15 and none of us will stand there and say, 44:16 that's right, it's because I did, 44:18 we will throw our crowns at your feet 44:19 and say, it's because of Jesus, 44:22 because of His grace and His long suffering. 44:25 Thank you, Holy Father, in Jesus' name, amen. 44:27 Amen. Amen. 44:28 Why don't you go ahead and take the next one as well. 44:30 I Peter 1:2. 44:33 Oh, okay. I like this one too. 44:36 You know, I like this one too. 44:37 It said, it said, "Who are chosen and foreknown 44:40 by God and Father and consecrated, 44:43 that's sanctified, made holy by the spirit-- " 44:45 And the word again comes out to be 44:47 "obedient to Jesus Christ." 44:49 He's talking about the messiah. 44:51 I thought how interesting that is because people say-- 44:54 And again there's some go on and on 44:55 because you're getting predestination. 44:57 You can get the call and the elect. 44:59 The call, He calls everyone. 45:02 But the whole difference is, you have chosen. 45:05 God's people today, you must choose. 45:08 Amen. You have to choose. 45:09 You are the elect. That's simply means chosen. 45:11 He's calling each and every one of us 45:13 to be saved in the kingdom. 45:14 He's made every preparation for it. 45:16 Knowledge, people say, oh, in the foreknowledge 45:18 simply means He knows everything, that's good. 45:21 But you can use-- 45:22 I think it's Romans, of what 8:28, 29. 45:24 Yes. 45:26 And it just gives some real good thought about, 45:27 if you want to go about predestination. 45:29 But we're predestined should become, 45:32 be conformed to the image of the son. 45:35 He knew that everyone who chose Christ 45:37 was gonna become like him because that is His job. 45:40 Amen. Amen. Praise God. 45:41 But the interesting thing here in 1 Peter 1:2 to me is, 45:45 it's saying, "You are chosen and foreknown by God, 45:46 you are consecrated by the spirit" 45:49 for what purpose? 45:51 You are consecrated to be obedient. 45:55 There goes that word again. 45:57 But she's saying, the call of the Lord. 45:59 She said, together with what? 46:01 The sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. 46:04 The grace of God leads us to obedience every time. 46:08 If we're sanctified by the grace of God, 46:10 we will be the loving obedience. 46:11 Yes. 46:13 But you know what, I just realized 46:14 we've only got ten minutes left. 46:15 And we've got a lot of scriptures to go. 46:18 But, JD, why don't you take this one 46:20 because I don't think we'll finish, 46:21 but this is such an important scripture. 46:23 Yeah, this is a good one right here Philippians 2:13. 46:26 "It is God who works in you, 46:28 both to will and to do for his good purpose." 46:32 So basically God, the Creator of the Universe 46:36 by His word it was spoken. 46:38 God, who works. 46:40 It's God that energizes us. 46:42 He's the one that empowers us. 46:44 He's the one that enables us 46:46 to, to will and to do. 46:50 In other words He enables that and what His good purpose is. 46:54 He said, He wants each one of us to be saved. 46:57 Yes. 46:59 And so He is the stimulus. 47:00 He is the one that starts the thing rolling 47:04 and then you brought the word a while ago, 47:06 Chris, cooperation. 47:07 Yes. 47:09 Then if we choose to cooperate, 47:10 He's given us the stimulus. 47:12 He's put the water in there. 47:14 Now do I want to drink it or not? 47:15 There you go. 47:17 That's right. Yes. 47:18 Vanity and humanity together. Yes. 47:21 And you know here's, 47:22 here's what the Lord showed me on this scripture. 47:24 And this is so funny when I recognized it. 47:27 It's really funny. I was sitting at home. 47:29 This is when I-- 47:31 I've just become an Adventist and I started watching, 47:33 I was watching 3ABN and Dick Nunez was on 47:36 and they were doing an exercise program. 47:38 Right? 47:40 Well, I'm sitting watching. 47:42 I'm sitting back watching this exercise. 47:44 Watching an exercise program. 47:46 And I thought, you know, I need to start exercising. 47:49 I really do need. 47:50 God was working in me 47:52 to cause me to will, to want to exercise. 47:56 But you know something? 47:58 Until you-- 48:00 When God works in you to change your desires, 48:03 align your desires, 48:04 He aligns your will up with His. 48:06 He aligns your desires up with His. 48:08 But until you take one step in faith, 48:11 it isn't gonna do any good because it can't work in you 48:15 until you step out in faith. 48:17 You take one step and the power of God, 48:20 the Holy Spirit shows up and He works in you. 48:24 So it is this cooperating. 48:27 It is you and the spirit working together. 48:30 That's right. Amen. 48:32 Oh, glory. That's a good one. 48:33 Amen, Chris, let's get you in it here. 48:36 I tell you what I wish we had more time for sure. 48:38 Well, bless your heart. 48:41 Well, because it's so good. 48:42 I think there's so many things 48:44 that we could continue to talk. 48:46 And I believe it would be a tremendous blessing. 48:49 You know, you talked about predestination. 48:51 There are people that truly believe 48:54 that they do not have a choice, 48:56 that, you know, either God has chosen them for eternity 49:00 in heaven, or for eternity in hell. 49:03 And you know, it's just, there's so many facets 49:05 that we could cover in this to help people to balance. 49:09 And hopeful maybe they want to get this book, 49:11 get these scriptures, 49:12 so that they can start to put this together 49:14 the way God wants us to. 49:16 But Titus 3, the whole chapter is wonderful. 49:19 It's dealing with all these character traits. 49:23 All these things that we need those test and trials for. 49:26 But looking at verses 5 through 7. 49:29 It reads, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds-- " 49:34 Those things which we have done, 49:35 "Which we have done in righteousness, 49:37 but according to His mercy--" 49:40 Not giving us what we deserve. 49:42 "By the washing of regeneration." 49:45 You know when you look at that word 49:46 regeneration right there, 49:49 it's, it's not just, 49:50 because it talks about renewing too. 49:52 It's not just renewing, 49:53 but it's actually bringing back to life." 49:55 Amen. Amen. 49:57 Bringing to life. Yes. 50:00 Because we are dead in our trespasses. 50:02 We are dead in our sense. 50:05 Even you were talking earlier about the things in the world, 50:07 the drinking, the drugs, the alcohol. 50:10 You know people that do not know Jesus, 50:12 they are looking for the same thing. 50:13 They are looking for peace. 50:14 They are looking for happiness 50:16 and the enemy gives them such a façade to say, 50:18 it's over here, look at the twinkling lights, 50:21 listen to that music, it's over here. 50:23 But it's just like, it's like a mouse trap. 50:26 You know, it's really his trap 50:28 and he wants to hold on to you. 50:30 Looking back at what Jesus has to say. 50:33 "By the washing of regeneration and renewing-- " 50:37 That is renewing our heart, renewing our minds 50:40 back to what they are supposed to be by the Holy Spirit. 50:43 "Whom He poured out upon us richly 50:46 through Jesus Christ our Savior." 50:50 Yes. 50:51 "So that being justified by His grace, 50:54 we would be made heirs 50:56 according to the hope of eternal life." 50:59 And we could spend an hour on this one, huh? 51:02 That's what I say these are all so good. 51:05 It's hard to sit here and not participate, 51:08 not say something about each and every one of these. 51:11 You know being justified, being made, 51:15 like Christ by his grace, what love? 51:18 What love when the enemy comes at you and says, 51:22 Jay, you're a sinner. 51:23 You can't be saved. 51:24 You look him straight in the eye and say, 51:26 but Jesus loves me. 51:28 That's right. That's right. 51:29 He's given everything for me. 51:32 The Father loves us. 51:33 He emptied all of heaven for us and that is grace. 51:37 That is grace. 51:39 That is power that we can't even understand. 51:41 Amen. 51:42 Taj, we just finished Anchors of Truth here. 51:48 And he was giving his testimony 51:51 and that he got into the drug world etcetera, etcetera. 51:55 But then I think it was Joel, 51:56 don't hold me with this Joel 2:25, 51:58 but don't hold me to that at all. 51:59 All right. 52:01 But I do what you can hold me to is that-- 52:04 Well, Jesus says, I will restore 52:07 what the locust has taken away. 52:09 Amen. And that is a promise. 52:12 So you see, you're talking about the regeneration, 52:15 renewing, you know, that just rocked it to my mind. 52:16 Beautiful. Beautiful. 52:18 Bringing us back from the dead. 52:20 Do you want to pray that scripture back? 52:23 Okay. 52:24 Sure. Let's go ahead. 52:26 Heavenly Father, we just thank You so much 52:30 because as we're putting scripture 52:31 where we're looking at line upon line, 52:34 we realize that our very best deeds are as filthy rags. 52:39 That's right. 52:40 We have no righteousness of our own, but by Your grace, 52:44 You're giving us Your righteousness. 52:47 You're calling us back from the dead, 52:49 literally dead and trespasses the sins. 52:53 And we're calling us back to life eternal. 52:55 You're renewing a clean and a pure heart, 52:59 giving us those fruits of the spirit 53:02 and enabling us to live by those fruits 53:05 each and every day, 53:06 as the trials and temptations come our way. 53:09 You're refining, you're perfecting us, 53:11 you're getting us ready to live in heaven with You. 53:14 God, we thank You for these promises, 53:16 these precious promises in Jesus' name, amen. 53:20 Amen. 53:22 Amen. Oh! 53:23 You know I'm gonna do-- 53:24 We've just got three minutes. 53:26 So I don't want to leave one out, but I do want to-- 53:29 I'm gonna read 1 John 3:7 and 8 very quickly 53:33 It says, "Little children, let no one deceive you. 53:38 He who practices righteousness is righteous," Just a minute. 53:44 There's only one kind of righteousness in the world. 53:46 That's righteousness by faith 53:47 because the best that I can do. 53:49 Isaiah 54:6 says, 53:50 "It's nothing but filthy rags before Him." 53:53 But yet John turns around and says, 53:55 "He who practices righteousness is righteous, 53:58 just as He is righteous. 54:00 He who sin is of the devil, 54:01 for the devil has sinned from the beginning." 54:04 But here's the point. 54:05 "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 54:09 that he might destroy the works of the devil." 54:13 So it is-- 54:15 As God is working in us by grace, by the power, 54:19 the three greatest gifts of grace, 54:21 Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit, and His word. 54:24 As He works in us-- 54:26 Yes, He accepts us just as we are. 54:29 He receives us as we are, 54:30 but He loves us too much to leave us like that. 54:34 So He justifies us, 54:35 we've reaped the penalty of sin, 54:38 but then He sanctifies us by the spirit. 54:40 We are-- 54:41 Then we are rid of the power of sin. 54:45 Sin becomes powerless over us. 54:47 And we practice righteousness. 54:49 That simply means 54:50 we're walking in God's right ways that-- 54:54 He has stood us up. We're no longer bent over. 54:58 He stood us up 54:59 and we're walking in the ways of the Lord. 55:02 Halleluiah. Halleluiah. 55:03 Halleluiah. 55:04 His grace toward me did not prove vain. 55:07 In vain. Yes. Okay. 55:08 That's what we read. Thank you. 55:09 JD? 55:11 Philippians 1:6. 55:12 We talked about the word faithful while ago. 55:14 How faithful God is. 55:15 "He who has begun a good work and He will complete it 55:20 until the day of Jesus Christ." 55:22 I believe it. Amen. 55:24 He started the work of salvation, 55:26 that's what He wants for each one of us. 55:29 And so He says that I will complete it 55:31 and confidently I will faithfully, 55:34 I will do my job 55:35 until He comes and takes us home. 55:38 Yes. Isn't that wonderful. 55:40 What a promise. Absolutely. 55:41 You know He tells us that He will not leave us, 55:44 He will not forsake us, He will always be there. 55:47 So thank you, Jesus. Amen. 55:49 And this is a scripture that has brought me hope. 55:53 I don't know about you all. 55:54 The closer I get to the Lord, 55:56 the closer you get to the light of the Lord, 55:58 the more you recognize your own sinfulness. 56:00 And then there are times that you can just get 56:03 caught up in what you're doing for God, 56:06 ministering for God 56:07 to the point where you might not 56:12 be keeping that intimacy with Him any longer. 56:15 And then I'll feel like I come under condemnation, 56:17 then He reminds me, 56:19 there's therefore no condemnation 56:20 for those who are in Christ Jesus. 56:22 And He reminds me that He will complete the good work. 56:25 Yes, amen. 56:26 Amen. Also, amen. 56:27 I'm telling you we're going to have to pray 56:29 after the program because we have a few seconds. 56:32 But I just want to thank you, Chris, Kenny. 56:35 Thank you so much for being here 56:37 and the Lord used you today in what you've added. 56:40 And, Jay, thank you 56:41 for you being here in what you've added. 56:43 And we're just-- 56:44 Honey, of course 56:46 we don't do anything without each other. 56:48 But we are so grateful 56:50 that you've joined us for worship. 56:51 Our prayer for you 56:53 is that the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 56:56 The love of the Father 56:58 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 57:00 will be with you always. 57:02 God bless. 57:04 Amen. |
Revised 2016-01-01