Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW018021A
|
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 01:10 Hello, happy Sabbath 01:12 and welcome to 3ABN's Family Worship. 01:15 You know, I believe we're going to have 01:16 a wonderful evening here together. 01:19 We're going to be talking about working out your own salvation. 01:22 Now, before you change the channels, hold on a minute, 01:26 because I truly believe once we begin to unpack this, 01:29 you're going to receive a blessing. 01:30 We have already, and I would just pray 01:33 that the Holy Spirit will for you as well. 01:35 You know, the subject we're thinking about 01:37 is one that as a young person 01:40 I really had some questions, still do, 01:42 haven't learned everything. 01:44 But I really did because this seemed 01:45 to go against the grain of scripture 01:48 working out my own salvation like how can this be done. 01:51 So we pray tonight, 01:53 you know, is gonna answer the scripture. 01:54 So well, yeah, there it is. 01:55 I believe it. Well, I truly did. 01:57 And before we get any further 01:59 I think we need to tell everybody at home who we are. 02:01 I'm Chris Shelton and I'm with my husband. 02:04 And what is your name, husband. 02:05 Well, it's Kenny. 02:06 Pastor Kenny Shelton. 02:09 And to our right, 02:11 you know, once in a while I slip out the word Timmy... 02:15 And it's my sister-in-law has done that to me. 02:18 But it kind of fits, Tim Parton. 02:20 What a wonderful 02:22 and I just love it that he is here today 02:23 because he's going to lead us in music in a few minutes. 02:26 But you know, Tim, I was thinking this week 02:29 'cause we had such a wonderful week together 02:31 last week all of us. 02:33 And I was thinking, 02:35 you know, years ago I used to watch you on TV, 02:36 I never thought one of these days we'll be friends. 02:39 Well, see. And I love it. 02:40 That's wonderful. 02:41 It's a privilege for me to be here. 02:43 I appreciate you 02:44 even if it's just for my musical skills. 02:46 Oh, no. 02:48 We want more. I know. 02:49 There is some depth to me, I promise, 02:51 but there is help, we'll see. 02:53 But anyway it's always a privilege to be with you. 02:55 And thank you for your friendship 02:56 more than anything, 02:58 thank you for your insight into the Word of God. 03:00 So I look forward to sharing together. 03:02 We just love the musical program with you 03:04 because you're so... 03:06 I mean you're going out there and signing there 03:07 in the quartet, whatever and he's back here, 03:10 telling, directing us and singing, 03:12 he can do all kinds of things, 03:14 oh, God has given him that kind of a gift. 03:16 But you know what? It was a blessing. 03:18 I couldn't mow a straight line in my yard 03:20 and I don't know how to change the oil in my car... 03:22 Hey! I can do that. 03:24 So I got one thing I know how to do. 03:25 All you have to do, Brother Tim, is come over, 03:28 we'll help, we'll teach you those things. 03:29 Okay. 03:31 Oh, I'm afraid, yeah, once I get started. 03:33 Yeah, I see that coming. 03:35 Hey, maybe he'll teach us how to play and sing better, 03:38 that would be a trade up. 03:40 And Tim has been with us before in Family Worship. 03:43 And to my left, we have two people 03:45 that haven't been 03:46 Sister Janelle and Brother Don Owen. 03:49 And you guys are a couple, right? 03:51 Yes, we are. All right. 03:53 Yes, we are. 03:54 Yes, bingo, but that was a stutter, 03:56 no, we know that one you stuttered. 03:57 We are. 03:58 But tell us, Don, what do you do? 04:00 I know you do a lot of things for Jesus 04:01 so share some of the good things that you do. 04:04 Well, just been privileged, 04:05 you know, I just recently went to a pastoral department 04:08 back in November. 04:09 And that's been a huge blessing. 04:11 God is definitely chiseling me, and shaping me, 04:13 and getting me fitted up for a position, 04:16 He has set for me but also, we work together 04:19 doing addiction recovery in a community. 04:22 Just saw a need, a great need in this community, 04:23 there's a lot of hurting people. 04:25 As the song said mending broken people. 04:27 So we want to mend broken people. 04:28 And the Lord opened a door in January of this year 04:30 to go into men's prison. 04:32 Actually just last night I had several men, 04:36 I've been doing addiction recovery with them, 04:37 and they are beginning to see that God does value them 04:40 as the son of God. 04:42 And I think that's been a key. 04:43 So, yeah, lot of stuff we do, we meet with other couples, 04:46 I'm actually a Bible worker for Thompsonville as well, 04:49 so you know we're everywhere... 04:50 And you've been to our church just a couple times. 04:54 And I love it because you're hands on person 04:57 and you get out there and you open doors 05:00 before we realize there's a door to open 05:01 and I love it. 05:03 Well, the Holy Spirit's the one that does. 05:04 I can't do anything, I'm... 05:06 As I like Jesus said in Psalm 23, 05:07 said, I'm a worm and I'm no man, so... 05:10 I'm a worm and I'm no man, 05:11 so let's praise the Lord for that, 05:12 and Janelle, she's been a wonderful help to me. 05:16 We've been a blessing growing with each other in Christ. 05:20 But if it wasn't for Him, 05:21 I don't know where our marriage really would be. 05:24 Learning more about each other through marriage, 05:26 we're learning more about ourselves through our marriage. 05:29 It's interesting how that works. 05:31 And you'll never stop learning. 05:38 No, it doesn't end. 05:39 It's an adventure, it's a work of a life time. 05:43 So, Sister Janelle, what do you do here at 3ABN? 05:45 I work in the publishing department. 05:48 I know you've helped us 05:49 with a lot of different advertisements, 05:51 and pictures, and things, 05:52 and you do a lot of graphic work, don't you? 05:54 Yes, it's print, web, social media, 05:58 our department does all of that kind of stuff. 06:01 That's wonderful. 06:02 I wish I could steal all of you guys. 06:05 But I'm glad to be a part. I'm glad to be a body. 06:08 It is a body, absolutely. 06:11 And as I mentioned earlier 06:13 we're so blessed that Tim is here 06:14 because Tim's going to lead us in a medley. 06:17 I called it a melody a while ago 06:18 and he said no it's a medley. 06:20 And it is entitled I have decided to follow Jesus. 06:23 Are we going to pray first 06:24 or you want to give me a chance to get on the piano 06:26 while we pray? 06:27 Well, sure, we'll do that. We'll do that. 06:29 Go ahead. Yeah, good thought. 06:30 All right, we pray. 06:33 Our kind loving heavenly Father, 06:34 we thank You again for another Sabbath, 06:36 we thank You for Your love, Your mercy. 06:38 We thank You for getting us through another week. 06:40 Now we pray as we break the bread of life together, 06:43 Your Holy Spirit will lead guide, 06:44 and direct in each of our hearts 06:46 and each of our lives. 06:48 Lord, there are many out there who are watching, 06:50 may be listening that they've had a heavy week 06:52 and we asked now that as we come before thee 06:56 that You will strengthen and encourage them 06:58 to realize there's a brighter days ahead, 07:01 specially we get into the Word of God 07:02 as we get into tonight 07:04 and study this most wonderful subject 07:06 of working out your own salvation. 07:08 We pray Your Holy Spirit will lead, guide, 07:09 and direct and open hearts and minds 07:11 that we may understand the subject well. 07:14 Thank You for hearing, thank You for answering prayer 07:16 and we ask the blessing upon all of our viewers 07:18 which we're very grateful and thankful for. 07:20 Now may we each be filled with Thy Spirit, 07:22 may we just have a good beginning 07:24 of the Sabbath together, 07:25 studying the Word of God, in Jesus name, amen. 07:28 Amen. 07:36 I have decided to follow Jesus 07:44 I have decided to follow Jesus 07:51 I have decided to follow Jesus 07:58 No turning back, no turning back 08:05 Though none go with me, still I will follow 08:12 Though none go with me, still I will follow 08:19 Though none go with me, still I will follow 08:26 No turning back, 08:29 No turning back 08:35 Where He leads me I will follow 08:43 Where He leads me I will follow 08:49 Where He leads me I will follow 08:57 I'll go with Him 08:59 with Him All the way 09:11 Amen. 09:12 Praise the Lord. I love that song, medley. 09:13 You know really that fits so well with tonight's lesson 09:17 because there at the end we'll go with Him all the way. 09:22 And that's part of working out our own salvation. 09:25 Now that title was not just made up, 09:28 it came from a Bible passage. 09:31 And, Brother Don, I'm going to ask 09:32 if you would read Philippians 2:12-13. 09:36 Sure. You guys open your Bibles. 09:39 Okay, opened. 09:40 It says, "Therefore, my beloved..." 09:42 This is out of New King James version, 09:44 "As you have always obeyed not as in my presence only, 09:48 but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation 09:51 with fear and trembling, 09:53 for it is God who works in you both 09:56 to will and to do for his good pleasure." 09:58 Amen. Okay. 09:59 There's a lot just even in that verse, 10:01 even though it does say work out your own salvation 10:04 with fear and trembling, God doesn't leave us there. 10:07 The next sentence, 10:09 "For it is God which worketh in you 10:12 to both will and to do His good pleasure." 10:14 So we're going to unpack that here tonight. 10:16 If you don't mind, I'm just going to read 10:18 maybe a couple sentences here 10:19 and then we'll just throw it to everybody else, okay? 10:23 It says, "There are many who give no decided evidence 10:26 that they are true to their baptismal vows." 10:29 If I asked you what your baptismal vows were, 10:32 I don't know if we could remember all of them. 10:34 You might remember part of them. 10:36 But I think that's kind of a heavy statement 10:37 'cause we really did take a vow, 10:39 we were talking about marriage earlier. 10:41 You took a vow. It's a covenant. 10:43 Their zeal is chill. 10:45 Now, I had to highlight this. 10:47 We could talk the whole rest of the time 10:50 on this one sentence. 10:52 Their zeal is chilled by formality, 10:55 worldly ambition, pride, and love of self." 11:00 Maybe we should just stop right there. 11:03 Formality chilled by formality, 11:06 have you ever been in the church 11:07 where that's what... 11:09 Worn and listless. 11:10 Exactly. Nothing going on. 11:11 And it's just formal, you're just repetition 11:14 'cause that's what we're supposed to be doing. 11:16 You know, I go into church 11:18 and I'm not trying to knock anything, 11:19 but when I see somebody just like just 11:21 listlessly reading the Word of God, I'm thinking, 11:24 this is the Word of God, it's living. 11:26 You should have life when you read it. 11:28 And when you go in and people are reading, 11:29 and just start falling asleep it's like there's no life. 11:32 Where is the life? 11:33 Well, hopefully we're going to get into 11:35 where the life is tonight. 11:36 And we're going to talk about that 11:38 'cause we don't want to just present 11:39 work out your own salvation without saying 11:42 how we're to do that. 11:43 And God does not leave us alone. 11:46 He equips us, He gives us a whole armor, 11:49 He is always there, but we just need to know 11:51 how to tap that. 11:53 When you talk and you say formality, 11:55 isn't that just something 11:56 that maybe you just kind of do over, and over, and over. 12:00 You know sometime we have that tendency to do, 12:02 you know, we've got a little list 12:04 and we just over, and over, and over 12:06 until it really doesn't mean anything. 12:08 I'll use communion service as an example, you know, 12:13 I believe in Scripture, it doesn't say 12:16 how often as far as numbers. 12:18 Jesus said do it as often as you do, 12:20 do it in remembrance of me until what? 12:22 Until I come again. 12:24 So it's kind of up to the individual. 12:25 Now to me, now some churches do it 12:27 and I'm not trying to criticize or condemn, 12:29 it may be all right. 12:30 If we had communion service every week, it just for me, 12:34 it might just lose a little less significance 12:37 and that power 12:39 that's my own mind, my own thinking 12:40 doesn't necessarily means that for everybody. 12:42 What I'm hearing you say is that there's a season, 12:44 there's always a season, there's always a time, 12:46 and place for things. 12:47 It's more special. Yeah. 12:49 Formalities almost like they talk about a rut. 12:52 Make sure we don't get in that rut 12:53 because we lose the spiritualness excitement, 12:57 you know, the dynamics of what we come together for. 13:00 You know what? 13:01 There are times when I eat 13:03 just because it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner time. 13:07 I have thought, you know, what would it be like 13:10 if you were really hungry when you ate? 13:13 And so I'll often like, maybe wait a couple of hours 13:16 after which you know makes winds it up 13:18 like in the middle of the afternoon 13:20 when I'm eating lunch and that knocks dinner 13:23 either off the day's schedule 13:25 or you know in the middle of the night 13:26 I'll wake up and think, oh, it's dinner time. 13:29 But when you hunger for it that's whenever you, 13:33 I think you get to sense more. 13:34 So I think in formality wise that's the way we are, 13:38 if we will truly hunger and thirst after righteousness. 13:41 Okay, good. And it's such a good analogy. 13:44 You probably will overeat as well. 13:47 But when we're talking about scripture, you know, 13:50 people that are hungering and thirsting, 13:51 they're going to spend more time overeating 13:54 as it were in the Word of God. 13:56 And I think a lot of the formality 13:58 comes because during the week we've left God aside. 14:03 He's a weekend God to many people. 14:05 And so it's just, we're going through the motions, 14:07 we don't have that living connection. 14:10 We've got to learn to get plugged in. 14:12 The next one is worldly ambition, guys. 14:16 What do you think about that? 14:17 Oh, boy. 14:20 No, the next two words. 14:24 We've only got to the second one. 14:26 This is a very needy... It truly, truly is. 14:30 I think the worldly ambition is, 14:31 you know, you want the praise and the glory you want it, 14:34 you want adoration, you want praise. 14:36 You're seeking after those things like 14:38 you're mentioning blessed are they, 14:40 you know, are hunger and thirsty. 14:42 It goes on in Matthew 6:33 says, 14:43 "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, 14:47 then all things shall be added unto you." 14:48 Well, we're running right into the world 14:50 to get what the world's got. 14:51 Well, and you think that the love of self 14:52 just kind of summarizes all of those, you know, 14:55 because really the formality is like a works type thing 15:00 and you're, you know, you're relying on yourself 15:02 and that's kind of what we tend to fall into, 15:04 and it's all just kind of wrapped up in self 15:06 like all of those words, formality, worldly, ambition, 15:09 pride, love of self, 15:11 that just immediate compasses all of that. 15:13 I agree. I agree. 15:14 Yeah, does it, does it... Where it talks about, you know, 15:18 love for, you know, God 15:20 and then you have the love for the world. 15:22 You can't serve God and Mammon. How does that fit in? 15:26 In other words, the love of the world, 15:27 can we really have the love of the world, 15:29 and ambition of the world 15:30 and still have a spiritual insight, 15:33 and do what we need to do in the cause of Christ, 15:35 or do we have to let go of one of the other. 15:37 Double minded. 15:38 Well, and the Bible also says pride cometh before fall. 15:42 So all of these things play a part. 15:44 And even those of us 15:46 who are seeking the kingdom of God many times 15:49 because in a word occupy until He comes. 15:52 And you get busy in worldly things, 15:55 not necessarily worldly things, 15:56 I'm thinking ambition to do your work basically. 16:00 And sometimes the work seems to take priority, 16:03 but it shouldn't. 16:05 You know, with us, we have a lot of other things 16:07 that we take care of. 16:08 We wear many hats as many of you do. 16:11 But when it comes to God, we put those hats aside. 16:13 Okay, so it doesn't have to be anything bad then. 16:16 It doesn't have to be anything bad, 16:18 but it's something that maybe we absorb, our intention. 16:20 I think that's why... 16:21 That's what the great thing about this verse says, 16:23 "To work out, work at, work through your salvation." 16:29 And realizing in verse 13 that it's God 16:32 who is all the while effectually working in you 16:35 to do good, to do His will. 16:38 And so it's a matter of even though 16:39 we are in the world, 16:41 we don't have to be of the world. 16:42 And so we are able to keep in mind 16:45 all these things that, 16:46 you know, we're easily persuaded to be 16:49 if we get our eyes off of Jesus. 16:51 But once we make the vow to decide to follow Jesus, 16:55 then He gives us the ability to work. 16:57 And this is going to get good, gooder and gooder 16:59 as we break out what this work out means, 17:02 you know. 17:03 You know in the... 17:05 Maybe Don might talk about too. 17:07 In the Greek, it really states work out your salvation, 17:11 it's like, we're getting there, we're going to work it out. 17:15 It says to bring to completion. 17:18 We are to bring to completion, we're part of the process 17:22 to bring it to completion with Christ and us 17:26 and making a decision. 17:27 If I could add to that, 17:29 actually I found a really good translation 17:30 because I've always kind of wondered 17:33 fear and trembling, that to me always just popped out, 17:37 you know, what does that mean, what does that include. 17:40 And this is amplified classic version, 17:42 I mean, it actually goes into more depth 17:44 of what you're saying, Kenny, it says, 17:46 to work out and the work out part, it says, 17:47 to cultivate, carry out the goal and fully complete 17:51 and then the fear and trembling, it says, 17:53 self distrust with serious caution, 17:56 tenderness of conscience, 17:58 watchfulness against temptation, 18:00 timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God, 18:04 and discredit the name of Christ. 18:05 Wow. Amen. 18:06 Isn't that good? 18:08 That is good. 18:09 It just covers all of it. 18:10 It does. That's beautiful. 18:12 That was good. I like that. 18:13 Well, let's see if we can do one more then, shall we? 18:16 It says, those who experience the work of true conversion 18:20 which we've been hitting on that during our talk so far, 18:23 in their hearts will be revealed 18:25 the fruits of the Spirit and their lives. 18:27 And I thought it might be good for all of us to review 18:30 what are the fruits of the spirit. 18:32 You know, the Bible says, 18:33 "By your fruit you shall know them." 18:35 So we can look at Galatians 5:22 and 23. 18:39 Yeah, let's look at that. 18:41 Now when we look at these things, 18:42 somebody is looking at and be reading. 18:44 I read this is Spirit of Prophecy, 18:46 I can't help bring it up every time 18:48 somebody says go off the fruits. 18:50 And I look at all those fruits. 18:52 And as I look over every one of those fruits, 18:55 I sense in my own spirit, I failed on every one of them. 18:59 I look at it and I say, "I come up short, 19:02 " of the real meaning of these words. 19:05 And then as I studied little bit more, 19:07 Sister White said on there, 19:09 "If we lack one of the fruits of the spirit, 19:12 oh, heaven will not be your home." 19:15 Well that just really got to me 19:16 then because not just one of them 19:18 but I lacked in all of them, not intentionally, 19:21 not just, oh, I'm trying to profess to be this or that. 19:24 But I looked at those fruits, and if you really get down 19:27 to the depth of what the Bible defines 19:30 and Christ life of what He lived... 19:33 I missed the mark and I'm saying, 19:34 Lord, help me to learn these fruits of the Spirit, 19:38 help me to love because I can't afford to have not one missing. 19:43 When you have Christ sitting on the throne of your heart, 19:45 you won't have one missing. 19:46 Thank you. Yeah, yeah. 19:48 Christ sounds and that's what it is. 19:49 And that's what we're talking about tonight, 19:51 that's what we're trying to unpackaged 19:53 of how we can add all of this. 19:54 And there's the people though they are saved, 19:55 what Brother Don, just said, 19:57 "Well, He is lord of my life. He is that." 19:59 And then, "Oh, man, I lost my patience." 20:02 You know so... 20:04 But you're in that Paul scenario. 20:05 Yes, yeah, he's in there probably, 20:07 that you have to look at and say, 20:09 "You know, what do we do?" Yes. 20:11 But that's the cool thing 20:13 that this has been translated to work out from what you said, 20:16 it really didn't have it so much to do with working out 20:19 from what you said the Greek was, 20:22 but work out 20:23 even though it does in a long way but for us, 20:27 and I don't know how long this has been 20:30 translated this way, but work out indicates 20:33 there is an effort on our part and a process. 20:37 So it's not so much just having arrived, 20:41 you know, I would love 20:42 to be able to go out bench press 20:43 500 pounds first time or like a millionth time even, 20:48 but I won't even know about the millionth time 20:51 because I can't get through the first time 20:54 so I'm fooling on that. 20:55 So, but for the fact that we have the privilege, 20:58 God is so patient and loving and it is a process, 21:01 it's a journey just like your marriage, 21:03 it's the adventure 21:05 of going through all these, getting there, 21:08 arriving and I haven't yet arrived, 21:10 but I'm on my way. 21:11 Now you say the word in the Scripture says "own," 21:15 that means you have ownership. 21:17 You have to have ownership, what you just said you own it, 21:19 it's yours. 21:20 Yeah, you got to own it. 21:22 You got to come to completion is what we're looking at here. 21:23 You own it. 21:25 So I didn't get off of the fruit of the spirit though. 21:27 No, 'cause it brings to my mind. 21:28 You talk about Jesus, you're talking about, 21:30 it says first the blade, then the ear, 21:33 and then the full corn, completion's way up here. 21:36 You know what stage is this in when it first comes up 21:38 and that stage is perfection. 21:40 That's right. 21:41 Right, we're just popping through the soil, 21:44 you can't look and say, "Oh, it's not the ear corn, 21:46 it's perfect in that stage 21:48 that it's in for what a person knows." 21:50 I think that's awesome. 21:52 Say, I'm not, you know, I'm not where maybe you're at, 21:55 I'm not where somebody else is at, 21:56 but I just need to be 21:58 where I'm at with God in my relationship 22:00 what I understand is truth and right. 22:01 This is the true conversion, 22:03 you know, and that speaks to me because just like Peter, 22:05 you know, Peter was, I'll never leave you, 22:07 Lord, I'm not going to... 22:08 I'll follow you wherever you go." 22:10 Once the cock crows three time, you would deny me. 22:12 How many of us had done that and denied Him. 22:15 But true conversion is when you see like Christ said, 22:18 you know, I'm always about my Father's business. 22:20 And what did He go to do? 22:21 He went to seek and save the lost. 22:23 Is that our mission? 22:25 Is that our own personal mission 22:26 each one of us to seek and save those around us 22:28 who are perishing for want of knowledge of Jesus. 22:30 Good. So very, very true. 22:32 And this all plays a part of it 22:34 because as the Lord continues to bring these things to us, 22:38 part of this is through the Spirit of Prophecy, 22:40 part of it through the Bible, 22:42 then when we see as Pastor Kenny brought, 22:45 you know, some vividly to our minds 22:47 that we fall short, 22:49 okay then we partake that to the Lord 22:51 and allow the great physician to do an operation. 22:53 But let's go back for those, 22:55 there may be some of you who have never even heard. 22:57 You think what in the world are the fruits of the spirit? 23:00 What do you mean we have by them... 23:02 We'll know them by their fruits. That's right. 23:04 We do not believe 23:05 and we can work our way into heaven, 23:07 so we want to make sure, 23:09 just get that clear and then we want to go back 23:10 and discuss more and more, but people keep saying, 23:12 you know, lot of times add this, 23:14 you do things, you're working your way, 23:16 salvation is not by works. 23:18 I don't care if you work 24/7, 23:20 works is not going to make up for the sacrifice 23:22 that was made on which Calvary's Cross. 23:24 1 John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." 23:26 First loved us. Yeah. Okay kids. 23:29 Romans 3 talks about going right into the Bible, right? 23:31 Saved by faith, right? 23:33 By grace through faith, it's a gift. 23:35 I'm sorry, honey, we're going somewhere else. 23:38 I've promise them that I was going to read this. 23:44 I don't care if someone else reads it, 23:46 but we were going to read this for you, 23:47 it's Galatians 5 if you have your Bibles out. 23:50 Galatians 5:22 and 23. 23:53 But I'm going to start before they interrupt me again. 23:56 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 24:01 longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 24:04 meekness, temperance against such..." 24:07 And I love this because this work 24:09 so well with Galatians of Paul's writings, 24:12 "Against such there is no law." 24:14 How different our world would be, 24:16 how different our marriages would be, 24:18 how different bringing up our children would be 24:21 if we would just... 24:23 First of all be truly converted 24:25 because then God wants to impart 24:26 all these fruits of the Holy Spirit 24:29 into our hearts and into our minds. 24:31 So I think we've probably talked about it 24:34 before we told you what it was. 24:36 Yeah. Well, that's the way to do it. 24:38 It's interesting too like those verses, 24:40 you know, leading up to verse 22, it tells you, 24:42 kind of like what the opposite of those things 24:45 the works of the flesh and He unpacks and tells us, 24:49 you know, what our tendencies are. 24:52 But we don't have to have those tendencies 24:54 'cause, you know, it's kind of like 24:56 but in verse 22, "But the fruit of the Spirit," 25:00 you know, and then all those things that you read that, 25:04 you know, like, verse 19, 25:05 it says, "The works of the flesh," 25:06 and, you know, when we're in the flesh, 25:08 we're going to have all those other, 25:10 you know, bad things, bad tendencies. 25:14 But if we're filled with the spirit, 25:15 then we'll have all those things that you read. 25:18 And I think that's the beautiful thing 25:19 is He doesn't leave us to guess, 25:22 you know, what the works of the flesh are. 25:24 He just, you know, 25:25 He names out what those things are and... 25:28 I truly think people become discouraged many times 25:31 because they read that and they think, 25:32 "Oh, well, that's why I am," this is the type of thing. 25:34 I don't have these kind of fruits in my... 25:36 That's not part of my mind, it's not part of my heart. 25:39 But the beautiful thing working out our own salvation, 25:43 a big part of that even though we're not to that point yet, 25:46 is submitting our will, submitting our will and saying, 25:50 "God, help me." 25:52 God, you know, He wants to give new life to us. 25:56 He wants to recreate His image within us. 26:00 But we have to, 26:01 He doesn't have the right because the enemy, 26:03 remember, the enemy has controlled this world. 26:06 He has a right once we reach out and say, "Lord, help me." 26:09 Amen. "Lord I want this." 26:11 You go first, 26:12 because you'll say something spiritual. 26:14 Oh, 'cause... We're claiming. 26:16 Well, I was just going to say when I take a look around 26:19 and I realize people, this is coming from 26:22 where we've been doing addiction recover 26:23 and being in prison. 26:25 People don't realize their value. 26:28 That's the key, they don't really realize 26:29 their value in God. 26:31 And when they begin to realize their value in God, 26:33 then true conversion will take place. 26:36 When you realize that you are a son or a daughter of God, 26:39 that's when true conversion to me takes place. 26:41 It took me 40 some years to learn. 26:42 I'm still learning it 26:44 but I'm understanding more and more, 26:45 especially when you get in these prisons, 26:47 you see these men like asking, 26:48 you know, "Do you love yourself?" 26:50 I ask them the two greatest commandments 26:51 is love God with all your heart, mind and soul. 26:53 And second is like, love your neighbors as you love yourself. 26:55 First you have to love yourself 26:57 before you can love your neighbor. 27:00 Oh, I said, "Do you love yourself?" 27:03 I didn't really love myself. 27:04 So how can you have true conversion 27:06 if you don't even know how to love yourself? 27:08 It was, when you found out how valuable you are to heaven. 27:14 In other words, who gave His life for you, 27:16 King of kings and Lord of lords right there. 27:18 So I can never go around regardless of 27:21 how bad things might be, say, nobody loves me. 27:23 And I know, lot of you say that because you did maybe no, 27:27 but I know all of heaven loves them, 27:29 I know all of heaven does. 27:30 And you are so valuable that Jesus gave His life, 27:33 He came down here with the risk of not going back. 27:36 I can't bear people to preach something different than that 27:38 and you get railed up just to be honest 27:41 'cause He is my example, 27:42 you know, what would have been, 27:44 well, He's guarantee He's come down and guarantee 27:45 He's going right back, 27:47 you know, He's going to make it anyway. 27:48 No, with the risk of losing never going back to heaven. 27:51 Wow, awesome thought. 27:53 So you are valuable. I think it's beautiful. 27:56 I've heard somebody say sometimes 27:57 salvation is not of works, but it has to be worked out. 28:02 That's so interesting. Interesting thought. 28:03 Yes. Yes. 28:04 But it has to be worked out. 28:06 There is something that has to be done on our part 28:09 even though Christ has done it all, right? 28:12 He's done it all so don't everybody get confused here. 28:15 But there's, you know, sometime we go, 28:17 sometime we have to say, yes. 28:19 You know, something simple... 28:20 Go ahead. I'm sorry. Amen. 28:22 Well, let's start in another one. 28:23 Oh, let's start in another one. 28:25 Let's speak a little bit more 28:26 from Spirit of Prophecy as it reads, 28:27 "O that those who have so little spiritual life 28:31 would realize..." 28:32 Oh, boy, when I just read that part, 28:34 I thought of those I love, that would realize 28:38 "that eternal life can be granted..." 28:40 And I had to highlight this word, 28:42 "Only to those who become 28:46 partakers of the divine nature. 28:49 I mentioned it few minutes ago. 28:50 He wants to recreate in us His divine nature. 28:55 And escape the corruption 28:57 that is in the world through lust. 29:00 This is a big... 29:03 It's so panoramic when you break down, 29:05 when you begin to unpackage even that one sentence 29:08 because we know that the enemy is out to kill, 29:11 steal and destroy. 29:13 He's working sorcery throughout the land, 29:15 throughout the whole world. 29:16 And, you know, he'll give you so much truth, 29:20 but he'll put in just enough err... 29:22 Oh, a little poison. 29:23 To keep you from following Christ 29:24 the way that we should to keep us 29:27 'cause we're to worship God in spirit and in truth. 29:30 Amen. He's definitely a spirit. 29:32 He wants your worship, but it's not always in truth. 29:35 Yes. 29:37 So what do you guys think about that? 29:38 Well, what is our dependence? 29:39 You know, I've looked at it. 29:41 My dependence for salvation is on His merits. 29:44 It has to be on His strength, on His power, 29:47 on His victory because I have nothing myself 29:49 because all of sin... 29:51 Fallen short. 29:52 Fallen short, right? 29:53 We're on the death penalty. 29:55 So that we have nothing which is good to give. 29:57 But we have to live a life that's, I want to say, 30:01 operated and constructed and operated 30:03 by the Holy Spirit of God, you know, 30:05 and live out the principle, by the grace of God, 30:07 live out the principles of scripture here. 30:10 Live a life that's consistent with scripture right here, 30:14 principle of heaven. 30:15 Like character building. Yeah, like character building. 30:17 Romans 3, yeah, go ahead. 30:19 That word partaker... 30:20 You've hit on my head. 30:21 Partakers. 30:23 I was mentioning... 30:24 Kind of like you're one or something. 30:26 Yeah, it is. 30:27 Yeah, that happens a lot. 30:29 I think that's a great word though is partakers, 30:31 and how do we partake? 30:33 How do we partake of the divine nature? 30:35 See, part of this, 30:37 this is what this lesson is so wonderful 30:39 because we're going to find out 30:40 that there's power in the Word of God. 30:42 Amen. 30:43 There is power in claiming those promises. 30:46 And the only way that we can become partakers 30:49 is by submitting our will to God, 30:51 but it doesn't stop there. 30:53 He wants us to learn. 30:54 We are responsible for what we have time 30:57 to soak in, to learn, to drink up of God's Word. 31:00 You mentioned eating, to overeat 31:02 of that word many times 'cause we're hungering 31:04 and thirsting for righteousness. 31:06 We want those fruits of the Spirit. 31:08 Wonderful promises, I wrote a couple here. 31:10 One, 1 Peter, listen to this, 1 Peter 1:23. 31:15 It reads, "Being born again..." 31:17 See God wants us to be born again. 31:20 He knows we're as filthy rags, we've made mistakes. 31:24 He said, "Being born again not of corruptible seed 31:27 but of incorruptible by the Word of God 31:31 which liveth and bideth forever." 31:34 So when we claim that Word, there's power in His Word. 31:39 Many times when we're praying for those who are sick, 31:41 that's kind of a touchy one, you know, 31:43 for different ones that are sick 31:44 or have different problems, 31:47 we need to come back to God's Word 31:48 and claim those promises for them. 31:51 I mentioned a long time ago, 31:53 when we were gonna move to Thompsonville from Vienna, 31:55 and I had been laying there 31:57 for two hours crying and thinking, 31:59 "Oh, you know, Pastor Kenny and his brother Danny, 32:02 this is just one of their little concoctions." 32:05 Close your ears. 32:07 We had been there for a long, long time. 32:09 I didn't mind to travel, didn't mind to go. 32:11 I just liked to always come back home. 32:14 And I laid there, and I didn't have a peace, 32:18 I didn't have a peace. 32:20 And I remember telling God, 32:21 "God, You talk to us through Your Word." 32:24 Come on now. 32:26 "Would You please speak to me this morning from Your Word." 32:30 The first passage I opened up, part of it read, 32:33 "And in the land that thou goest to posses, 32:36 I will bless thee." 32:39 True. It didn't matter. 32:43 Start packing up. That's about it, Paul. 32:45 We're moving. We're moving. 32:47 So you see what I'm saying. 32:49 My will, that's part of this. 32:50 My will had to die. 32:52 My will, it was no longer. 32:54 It was not my will but Thy will be done. 32:57 So once He gave me that promise, 32:59 I thought, "I'm going. I'm going." 33:02 You know, in our recovery group, 33:04 we do hit on it, I was just going to share that. 33:06 Step three says, "We made a decision..." 33:07 Go on. 33:09 "To turn our wills and lives over to the care of God." 33:12 And that's what we share 33:14 and, you know, have made that decision. 33:15 Have you made that decision, you know, to really say, 33:16 like you're saying, you got to submit? 33:18 That's that vow. 33:19 Yeah, exactly. You make a decision. 33:21 It's cool. 33:22 Yeah, turning over, so are you going to turn 33:23 your will and life over to His care? 33:25 Yeah. 33:26 He knows the beginning from the end, 33:27 do you trust Him? 33:29 You know, I tell about people like if you were to, 33:30 somebody says, blindfold you and say, 33:32 "Lean backwards, I'll catch you." 33:33 Would you believe he'll catch you? 33:34 Yeah. 33:36 Even if somebody that you somewhat trust, 33:39 maybe a brother, he may be sometime say, 33:40 "Just come on..." You've been there. 33:42 Sometime we've been fooled a little bit. 33:43 Uh-huh. Yes. 33:45 But I like that we're talking about, 33:46 you know, keeping the promises, 33:47 you know, covenant we make with God agreement. 33:49 You know, Bible says it's better 33:51 not to make one than to make it and then break it, 33:53 you know, 'cause things really go, 33:55 but you got me going on 33:56 'cause I knew I marked something down here 33:57 because it says, "Partakers of divine nature." 34:00 You saw it and said, "Is this possible?" 34:03 In the little article in Review and Herald, 34:05 6, page 32 says this. 34:08 Just read it because that's what people are asking. 34:11 Is it really possible? Divine nature? 34:13 Right. Do we really need it? 34:15 You know, without divine nature we are in trouble. 34:18 Yes. We can't operate in the flesh. 34:20 We have to have divine nature, but knows how is this possible? 34:23 It says, "Of ourselves, we can do no good thing." 34:27 Okay? I think we agree on that. 34:30 "How then can we be partakers of divine nature? 34:34 By coming to Jesus Christ just as we are." 34:38 See, I like that. That's the first step. 34:40 Come to Him just like we are, 34:42 now, needy, helpless, dependant. 34:46 Amen. 34:48 Like a little baby, you can't feed yourself, 34:49 you can't change yourself, you can't wash yourself, 34:51 you're in a mess. Yeah. 34:52 Come to Him like we are. That's right. 34:54 "Lord, I'm..." Tell Him. "Lord, I'm in a mess. 34:56 I'm in a big mess." He knows. 34:58 He already knows that, doesn't that help us... 35:00 Yes. To say we're in a mess? 35:01 Notice what it says. 35:02 "He died to make it possible for us 35:04 to be partakers of His divine nature." 35:06 Amen. 35:08 "He took upon Himself humanity that we might uplift humanity. 35:13 With the golden chains of his matchless love 35:16 he has bound us to the throne of God." 35:19 Yes. I'm getting goosebumps. 35:21 "We are to have power to overcome as He overcame." 35:24 Amen. 35:26 See the goosebumps, they're jumping out on me. 35:28 Well, it's an awesome thing to think that our Savior, 35:30 the King of the universe would care that much 35:32 about the no good like me. 35:34 That's right. It's okay to say that. 35:35 We are no good, that's what the Bible says 35:38 that care so much for me, 35:40 He was willing to come down here, 35:41 He took our human nature after 4,000 years, you see? 35:45 But He was down right with us, 35:48 willing to go through whatever, so that we could do... 35:52 We could wind up with Him. Amen. 35:53 We could make contract with Him 35:55 that He's going to win in victory, 35:56 and I can take that by faith that victory into my hard life 36:00 and gain what I need for eternal salvation. 36:03 I just think it's awesome we serve such a Savior. 36:05 That last part that we can have the same power to overcome. 36:09 A lot of people, I think, they just think, 36:10 "Oh, I'll pray for that power and just automatically comes." 36:13 But how did Christ, on earth, 36:15 get His power when He became human? 36:17 Remember, at 13 He's in the temple, 36:20 what was He doing? 36:21 Expounding scriptures. Yes. 36:23 Expounding scriptures. 36:24 When the devil tempted Him relentlessly 36:28 after He had been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. 36:31 What did He do? "It is written. It is written." 36:37 So the power comes back to what God has 36:40 so wonderfully preserved for each and every one of us. 36:43 I want to give everybody one more wonderful promise 36:47 that we can claim. 36:48 This one is 2 Peter 1:4. 2 Peter 1:4. 36:53 It reads, "Whereby are given 36:56 unto us exceeding great and precious..." 36:59 What kind of promises? Precious. 37:01 Precious. 37:02 They're great and they are precious. 37:04 "That by these ye may be partakers of..." 37:06 Here we go. "The divine nature." 37:09 That's the key. 37:11 These promises, the Word of God that we may be partakers... 37:15 We couldn't have that, honey, could we? 37:18 We couldn't have the divine nature 37:20 unless He came down 37:22 and he lived a victorious life and died. 37:23 Yeah. 37:24 He died so that you could have that, 37:26 so that I could have that. 37:28 That's awesome. Amen. 37:29 And it goes... I mean, it's simple maybe... 37:31 But it's still awesome when you put it... 37:32 And it goes back right here to going back... 37:35 He died, so He preserved all of this for us, 37:37 but we get it from the book that He gave us. 37:41 So these great and precious promises 37:43 "That we may be partakers of the divine nature, 37:45 having escaped..." 37:47 As you mentioned earlier. 37:48 "The corruption that is in the world through lust." 37:51 That's the power, that's getting to know Him, 37:54 that's how He speaks to us. 37:55 Sure, there is times that He has spoken audibly, 37:58 there's been times He's visited people, 38:00 He visited John on the Isle of Patmos, 38:03 you know, we know of other times, 38:04 He's visited people. 38:05 Praise God that He left all of us His Word, 38:09 and that's why the enemy doesn't like this Word. 38:12 He tries to change the Word, 38:15 he tries to make the Word of none effect. 38:17 Oh, he's dirty. 38:18 I had someone I was working with many years ago, 38:22 and they were Catholic, and they wanted to talk, 38:26 they were beginning to read. 38:27 They had read a Sunday Law book 38:29 that was about the Sunday versus Sabbath, 38:32 and they wanted to know 38:33 if it was true, and they kept... 38:34 They said, "Well, I want to talk to the priest." 38:36 The priest here wouldn't talk to him, 38:37 he finally went to a priest up in Belleville, Illinois, 38:40 and the priest said, "The Bible, it's a good book. 38:43 Read it if you want to." Well. 38:46 "But honestly, do you really believe 38:48 that God parted the Red Sea 38:49 and people walked through under island? 38:52 Do you honestly believe that 38:54 He would tell Abraham to sacrifice His son?" 38:57 No. You see what he did? 38:59 He planted doubt. Yes, skepticism. 39:03 And I think it went out. It did went out. 39:04 It went out. 39:06 Man was wanting to hear that way anyhow, 39:08 and that wasn't all he needed. 39:09 And I was just thinking about what you said, Kenny, 39:13 about or what you read about the Christ took our nature, 39:18 and to me, just that makes Him even more personal. 39:21 You know, when we... He can relate to us. 39:24 He's just not there and we're here... 39:26 He can relate to us, He's been in our flesh. 39:29 You know, the flesh like we have, 39:31 and that is to me is just, you know, like sometimes... 39:35 You know, like when I was a kid, 39:37 I always thought of, you know 39:38 Jesus as a baby, and Jesus came as a baby, 39:41 but He's been here all along. 39:43 And, you know, He took our flesh, 39:45 did everything, you know, had the same temptations 39:47 that we face, that's very personal to me. 39:50 You know, when you're talking, too, 39:52 about relying on promises of God's Word, 39:53 and one of those stories 39:55 that I share with people on prayer line, 39:57 I've had people call, they're suicidal. 39:59 And I share with them Zechariah 3, 40:01 and I take them to the word picture 40:03 and I show them they have a part in that. 40:05 And Satan, of course, is accusing us, you know, 40:07 "Well, you're not worth, you're worthless, 40:08 you're trash, you're junk. 40:10 You're not worth getting into heaven." 40:11 And I say, there's somebody else enters the pictures. 40:14 His name is Angel Lord, but if you study it out, 40:15 it's actually Jesus, and Jesus says, 40:17 "Is not this a brand plucked by the fire," 40:19 and say, what I hear Him saying is, 40:22 "You see His nail pierced hand here?" 40:24 "I hung at cross for this one, I bled and died for him. 40:26 I purchased him with my blood, I own him now. 40:27 You can't touch him anymore." Amen. 40:29 And I share that with the young man, 40:30 and this young man had a list, 40:33 he was doing many different movies just... 40:35 But just how the Lord has changed his heart. 40:37 Broken down, and literally, he was crying, 40:39 I mean, literally he was crying. 40:41 I share on the phone as people crying. 40:42 When they see that they have value, 40:44 like, I've seen in Jesus. 40:45 When He finally, Jesus, is going to take 40:47 that filthy garment off you, 40:48 put His robe of righteousness on you, 40:49 and put a crown on your head." 40:51 That's when... Wow. 40:52 And we find all this out through those great 40:54 and precious promises. 40:56 Amen. It's powerful. 40:58 I mean Christ, our creator, 41:02 He was omniscient, He could be everywhere at once. 41:04 We can barely even fathom what that means, 41:08 we have no idea. 41:09 And I was just tearing up as Janelle was speaking 41:12 because, it brought us so close to home. 41:15 I can see it in her heart. 41:18 You know, that God, that Christ gave up 41:20 all of that to become one of us because He loved us so much, 41:24 and He would have done it for just one person. 41:27 He would have done it for you. Amen. 41:29 He would have done it for me. 41:30 That's beautiful when you think about it. 41:32 You know, because of the sacrifice 41:34 that we've been talking about here, 41:36 partakers of the divine nature, this is, 41:39 I mean, this is bigger than maybe most of us. 41:41 I can't comprehend, it's too big, except, 41:44 I know that's one of the stepping stones for me. 41:47 This is the power that He puts in me 41:48 so that I can obey His requirements. 41:52 The law of God, why? No, I can't do it on my own. 41:55 But you know what? It's His nature. 41:56 It's Him living inside me. Think about it. 41:59 That enables us to keep His law. 42:02 It's not me and you, I'm going to mess it all up, 42:04 but see how important the nature that He took 42:07 and the nature that He imparts to us 42:10 that we might gain the victory. 42:12 You know, I'd love to be a real muscular guy. 42:16 I would love to be tall and just, you know, 42:20 I would love to be all that and a bag of chips, 42:22 but that doesn't look like I'm working too hard at it. 42:26 And, you know, one of my favorite things, 42:28 I subscribed to this magazine called Men's Health. 42:30 Yeah. 42:32 I love to sit in an evening in my recliner 42:34 and eat ice-cream and watch 42:35 and then read through Men's Health. 42:37 Uh-huh. Well, you know what? 42:41 That ain't working so hard for me. 42:43 Okay, well... 42:44 So it's interesting how we have to apply 42:48 the Word of God, you know, 42:50 we've got a book full of directions 42:53 how to develop that divine nature. 42:57 But if we've got that list, that you mentioned 42:59 before the fruit of the spirit,. 43:00 that we are holding on to... 43:03 And we got to drop the bowl of ice-cream, 43:07 and hit the floor, do pushups, and all those other things 43:11 that I'm so reluctant to do 'cause it's hard. 43:14 You know, our nature, 43:16 our sinful nature doesn't want that. 43:19 But that's what makes it so much more precious, 43:22 the gift of God and His divine nature. 43:25 It's something to cherish 43:27 and to run with everything we can, 43:30 having us to become like Him. 43:32 So, I mean, this is what we're talking about 43:35 on this lesson is, many people, "I want to be a Christian." 43:39 I want to be a Christian, 43:40 but they're not willing to follow the principles 43:43 that God has set up in His Word. 43:45 You know, "I want to be muscular." 43:46 Well, you need to eat right, and you got to do some pushups. 43:50 "Well, I'm not going to do that." 43:51 You're never going to make it. Yeah. 43:53 I was just going to say Romans 12:2, 43:55 "And do not be conformed to this world, 43:57 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 43:59 that you may prove what is that good, 44:01 and acceptable, and perfect will of God." 44:04 You know, we get stuck, like you're saying, 44:05 you get stuck in a rut, you just keep on going 44:07 to the same thing, and you don't think 44:08 there's anything better out there. 44:09 You might see it, but you don't know 44:11 how to grasp it until you can come to know 44:13 Jesus as a personal savior, 44:14 I don't believe you'll get over that hump, 44:16 you know, we talk about in recovery. 44:17 It says without God, you know, there is no... 44:19 Repeated failures. 44:20 There's repeated failures and... 44:22 Substitutions. Substitutions. 44:24 It's like without God you're going to keep going 44:26 at same old rut, you got to get out 44:28 of the things of this world, 44:29 as you're mentioning ice-creams, 44:31 and eating ice-creams. 44:32 This kind of goes along with what Tim 44:33 was saying about the, 44:35 you know, the third paragraph, it says, 44:37 "Man is allotted a part in this great struggle 44:40 for everlasting life. 44:41 He must respond to the working of the Holy Spirit. 44:44 It will require a struggle to break through 44:47 the powers of darkness, 44:48 and the Spirit works in him to accomplish this. 44:51 But man is no passive being to be saved in indolence. 44:56 He is called upon to strain every muscle 44:59 and exercise every faculty in the struggle 45:02 for immortality, yet it is God 45:04 that supplies the efficiency." 45:06 Amen. Ain't that beautiful? 45:07 That's the key. That's the key. 45:09 See, it's humanity and divinity working together. 45:14 We submit our wills, we cry out and say, "Lord, help me." 45:17 And the beautiful thing is, you know, many times 45:20 you've heard the allegory about... 45:23 And the story that God is, 45:25 which He truly is our potter and we're the clay. 45:28 But His ultimate goal is salvation. 45:31 Amen. 45:32 It's that we partake of the life 45:34 that He still wants to give us. 45:36 And so many times, we go through these valleys, 45:39 He allows these valleys. 45:41 When you were talking about the ice-cream, 45:43 I thought, you know, with the problem, 45:45 with that temptation, 45:47 many times He allows us to become sick, 45:50 and when we become sick, 45:51 we've got to make some changes 45:53 if we're going to become well again. 45:56 And so He's working in us to mould us 45:59 and to make us what He would want us to be. 46:03 "It is God that supplies the efficiency." 46:05 He makes it efficient every, our submission, 46:08 our reading, He makes it efficient. 46:11 It does the work 46:13 that it's supposed to do within us. 46:15 You know, in that what it says, 46:16 work out your own salvation in Philippians 2:12 and 13 46:19 that Don read there, 46:21 it says, "For it is God which worketh..." 46:23 We've already seen the work, and we talked about it. 46:25 "For it is..." 46:26 I love that because, "It is God which worketh in you..." 46:29 That word you can look it up, 46:31 and it actually say it is God who energizes you. 46:35 Amen. Amen. 46:37 It is God who energizes you, gives you the power. 46:39 He puts forth the power, 46:41 He's working inside of you to achieve salvation. 46:46 He's putting forth that first effort, right? 46:48 He's always drawing you. 46:51 1 Corinthians 12, I think it's 6, and it says... 46:54 And we won't read that now, but people at home can do that. 46:57 And in verse 11, 46:59 it talks about this, I think it's beautiful, 47:00 "But all these worketh the one and selfsame Spirit, dividing 47:04 to every man severally as he will." 47:06 Those are things that God wants all of us to have. 47:08 He's wanting to give us the gifts, 47:10 He's telling He's working in a... 47:12 He's giving the gifts, He's drawing us to Him, 47:15 and we must accept that drawing. 47:18 Here's where we may come in our closing moments, 47:20 we got to come in on, you know, somehow we have to accept 47:22 He's done it all, 47:24 we all give Him credit for everything, right? 47:25 Amen. That's right. We don't have... 47:27 I won't say we didn't have a prayer. 47:29 I need to be careful because... It's all we got. 47:31 The world's saying that's all we have... 47:32 To become like Him. 47:33 There's a prayer to be like Him, 47:35 but somehow along the lines, 47:36 since He's energizing, working us, 47:38 and giving His power, live the life, perfection, 47:40 and offers to him a free gift, salvation. 47:42 Somehow, you have to... I have to say yes. 47:46 Amen. It's our part. That's our part. 47:49 Why do we... 47:50 The question on my mind is like why do we use... 47:52 What is the energy for? What is it to be used for? 47:54 And that's why I want to read the second paragraph. 47:55 Oh, okay. Come on. 47:57 "Religion is not merely an emotion, a feeling..." 47:59 Wow, "It is a principle which is interwoven 48:01 with all the daily duties and transactions of life." 48:04 Lord gave me this, He said, 48:05 "If you're living it, you'll be giving it." 48:07 Amen. Amen. 48:08 "If you're living it, you'll be giving it." 48:10 "Nothing will be entertained, no business engaged in, 48:12 which will prevent 48:13 the accompaniment of this principle. 48:14 To retain pure and undefiled religion 48:17 it is necessary to be..." Uh-oh. 48:19 "Workers, persevering in effort. 48:22 We must do something ourselves. 48:23 No one else can do our work." Thank you. 48:25 "None but ourselves 48:27 can work out our salvation with fear and trembling. 48:29 This is the very work 48:30 which the Lord has left us to do." 48:33 I mean, you know, that's the thing is 48:34 when we're talking about this true conversion, 48:35 if God really come in your heart, 48:37 wouldn't you want to see others brought to know Jesus. 48:40 Oh, Amen. 48:41 I mean, to me, that's the true conversion. 48:42 Again, you know, if God first loved us... 48:45 That's right So we want to love Him. 48:47 Yeah. 48:48 And this persevering effort, our part, you know... 48:50 Number one, you just mentioned it's a principle. 48:53 If we did that take that principle, 48:55 no matter what we're doing, and the hardest place, 48:58 I believe, to live out those principles is in the home 49:02 because you're closer to your spouse, you're closest... 49:06 It gets real. Yeah, it gets very real. 49:08 Very much. 49:09 And, you know, you don't seem to have 49:11 the same respect at home and so on, and so forth. 49:14 But whether it is an action or whether it is your reaction, 49:20 it's this principle. 49:22 It is God living in us and through us 49:25 that we need to ask Him for His help, for His strength, 49:29 for His guidance, and we will not get that... 49:32 You mentioned, 49:33 "I'm going to go back to that food again." 49:34 Well, go on. 49:36 One thing we decided many years ago 49:37 is you do not partake, in our home, 49:39 we do not partake of the physical food 49:41 until we've had the spiritual. 49:44 Make that decided effort, start with 5 or 10 minutes, 49:50 whatever it may be, 49:51 and allow the Lord to grow that time of prayer, 49:55 grow that time of study 49:57 because that's the only way that we're going to be able 50:00 to have that principles living in our heart, 50:03 the fruit of the spirit, 50:04 that's the only way when someone comes in and says, 50:08 "You know, why did you say that?" 50:09 Or, you know, you say something and Janelle says, 50:12 "Well, why are you arguing with me?" 50:14 You're like, "I'm not arguing with you. 50:15 I didn't mean to argue." 50:17 You know what I'm saying? It's the tone of voice. 50:18 Right, right. It's the tone of voice. 50:19 "I didn't mean it, you know?" Yeah. 50:21 But you see what I'm saying? It can just happen. 50:23 The enemy wants to just divide the families like never before 50:26 'cause if he can divide the family, 50:28 many times he wins souls to his kingdom. 50:31 I wanted to, you know, really point out also, 50:33 religion is not merely an emotion or feeling, 50:35 so many people go by that nowadays especially. 50:38 Oh, that feeling, you got to know what is the principle. 50:40 I mean, what is the principle? 50:42 You got to be able to distinguish 50:43 because if you can see stuff... 50:45 And I don't want to get into it too much, 50:46 but just the people, you know, like speaking in tongues 50:49 and, you know, that kind of stuff, 50:50 that's emotional frenzy, 50:52 you know, and there is this supposed "spirit" 50:54 but where is the true spirit? That's where I'm... 50:56 The sad thing with that... 50:57 And we just had an experience with somebody 51:01 that just went into a church like that, 51:03 and it doesn't matter what the Bible says, 51:06 it's the feeling. 51:08 There's a problem. 51:09 Now that doesn't mean that as a Christian, 51:11 that doesn't mean that God is not going 51:14 to envelope you with His spirit and you will not have feelings 51:17 and emotions, you will. 51:19 You will. That's right. 51:20 It's like goosebumps. Exactly. 51:22 Oh, praise the Lord. Those need to carry us through. 51:25 You continue that... 51:27 Those would have to like the principle was... 51:29 You just said it, it came out of your mouth. 51:31 It's not emotions, it's not feeling, 51:33 but we live by principle. 51:35 So as a guy say, after couple days, 51:36 you get up in a row, and you think, man, 51:38 you know, do I want to be a Christian or not?" 51:39 You know, if the people say... 51:41 No, you do because you live by faith 51:43 and you know it's all going to be worked out. 51:45 But strive... Just quickly make a couple of points. 51:47 The Bible stays to strive. 51:48 People say, well, then make it... 51:50 Strive to enter into the what? 51:52 Straight and narrow gate. It's a straight and narrow gate. 51:53 Try, just, you know, you do that... 51:55 In Luke 13:24, "Strive..." 51:57 So that means you have put forth an effort. 51:59 People say it. 52:00 James 4 says, "Resist the devil and..." what? 52:03 He'll flee. He's going to flee from you. 52:05 Before that, it says, "Submit to God." 52:07 Right. Submit to God. Yes, yes. 52:10 Colossians 3:9 says, "Put off the old man," 52:13 It's just the points of verbs. There's a lot of verbs now. 52:16 Action. Yes, yes, true. Working out. 52:18 You're going to strive, 52:19 you're going to put off the old man, 52:21 you're going to resist the devil, you know... 52:24 Hebrew 12:2 or 1 says, "Let us run with patience." 52:26 Run with patience. "Set before us." Yeah. 52:29 Matthew 24 talks about enduring to the end, 52:34 enduring to the end. 52:36 That means you're going to put forth effort 52:37 until the very end, 52:38 so this all comes together, that's simply saying, 52:41 "I have to do everything I can possibly do by, 52:43 you know, grace of God." 52:46 You know, you have to make a decision, 52:48 "I'll follow Jesus. I made that decision." 52:50 It's a lifestyle choice. 52:52 It's like eating right 52:53 and working out or following Christ. 52:55 Come on now. 52:56 Selling whatever, you're following Christ 52:58 is a decision to come... 53:00 And asking to come in and He begins to do the work... 53:02 That's our part. Through us. 53:04 And we have to fight, like say, we have to fight like... 53:06 Choose. You know, choose when I go to grocery store. 53:08 Right. Oh, yeah. Choose if you go for this or that. 53:10 There's choices to make. Yes. 53:12 And we have to make the best one 53:13 we know on principle, 53:14 not the taste buds 53:16 'cause taste buds are being troubled. 53:17 And the reason, principle... 53:19 He just mentioned, you know, we have to make a choice 53:21 because we may not feel good that day. 53:24 You know, I gave you the illustration, 53:26 and if you guys are starting a little argument 53:27 in your home, and it happens. 53:29 Right. 53:30 But right then you have a choice, 53:32 "How do I respond, how do I react." 53:35 Actually speaking of that, we had this morning 53:36 before we came here... 53:38 Oh, yeah. Satan's always trying. 53:39 That's what I think this last paragraph is really important. 53:41 But it was just the fact that, 53:42 you know, "Lord, I'm not choosing 53:44 to focus on those negative things. 53:45 You can look at the thorns and the thistles, 53:46 but you got roses all around you." 53:48 Amen. 53:49 If you want to see thorns and the thistles, 53:50 all you want to see is the negative 53:52 and that's where Satan will keep you suppressed. 53:53 Yeah. You have to go past that. 53:54 You know, I thought that, you know, 53:56 I really appreciate this devotional. 53:57 I thought maybe we could tell everyone 53:59 what we're reading from here, 54:00 so they could read it themselves. 54:02 Sure. Is this the book here? 54:04 That's the book, it's a devotional book, 54:06 it's entitled... 54:07 Fear Not Little Flock on October 10th. 54:10 And it really spoke to me a lot, 54:11 so I appreciate you guys having this topic, 54:14 but I wanted to read that last paragraph 54:16 'cause I think it's really important. 54:18 It says, "A relentless and determined foe 54:20 has prepared his wiles for every soul 54:23 that is not braced for trial, 54:25 and guarded by constant prayer and living faith." 54:28 There it is. Amen! 54:29 "We cannot individually, or as a body, 54:30 secure ourselves from his constant assaults, 54:34 but in the strength of Jesus every temptation, 54:36 every opposing influence, whether open or secret, 54:40 may be successfully resisted..." 54:42 That's beautiful. It is. Amen, powerful. 54:45 By constant prayer and living in faith. Yes. 54:47 Revelation 21:7, 27, it says, "He that overcometh," 54:53 that is what we're talking about, the living faith. 54:55 We have to have a living faith to overcome 54:57 because the enemy is out to kill, steal 55:00 and destroy in every fashion he possibly can. 55:04 "He that overcometh shall inherit all things. 55:07 I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 55:11 And there shall in no wise 55:13 enter into it anything that defileth, 55:16 neither whatsoever worketh abomination 55:19 or maketh a lie, God is truth, 55:21 but they which are written in the Lamb's book are alive." 55:26 I like that one. That's where our name is if we overcome. 55:29 We're in a warfare. 55:31 This is a great controversy. It truly is. 55:35 And if the curtain be pulled back, 55:38 we would truly be shaking. 55:41 Oh, yes. 55:42 And we each one have to, you're talking about. 55:44 Each one of us must work out our own salvation 55:49 with fear and trembling. 55:51 So that stands here because in Ezekiel, 55:53 it talked about, 14:20, what was it? 55:56 Through Noah, and Daniel, and Job, 55:59 they were here on the earth. 56:01 Bottom line is what? 56:02 No one can do it for you. No substitute. 56:05 It's not the preacher nor the teacher, 56:07 but it's me all over. 56:08 You know, I think, I was talking 56:09 to Janelle this morning, I was saying, 56:11 you know, when you look in the Book of Life, 56:12 you're not going to say, "Well, 56:13 Donald made it through his father." 56:15 So it won't say in the Book of Life, 56:16 it's not going to say, "Donald made it here 56:18 through his father." 56:19 And you just hit on something about overcoming, 56:21 Revelation 12:11 says, 56:22 "They overcame him, being Satan, 56:24 by the blood of the Lamb 56:25 and by the word of their testimony 56:27 and have not loved their life even unto death." 56:28 Yeah, unto death. That's right. 56:30 And the word of the testimony goes back to the scripture. 56:32 Amen. Chris, can we have just a little closing prayer? 56:35 Please, pray for everyone that's been studying with us, 56:37 for all of us here, we want to be overcomers. 56:40 Amen. 56:41 We want to work together with heaven to be victorious. 56:44 We want you at home be sure and pray with us too. 56:46 You know, we're having a study together here. 56:49 You know, by the grace of God 56:50 is reaching and touching somebody's life. 56:52 Somebody has made a decision right now for Christ 56:54 and we're going to thank Him for it right now 56:56 in the last 35, 40 seconds. 56:58 Let's pray together, shall we? 56:59 Heavenly Father, truly, it's been a great joy 57:01 and a privilege to study your Word of God together. 57:04 Here today, we thank You 57:05 for the clearness of the gospel. 57:08 Thank You that You give us proper understanding 57:10 of Your Word through the power of the Holy Spirit. 57:12 Thank you for those who have made that decision right now, 57:15 "I will follow Jesus." 57:16 We're determined to do it, 57:18 Jesus has paid the price on Calvary's cross, 57:21 and we realize that victory is through Him, 57:22 all victory is through Him. 57:24 Bless now, we pray to this end, 57:25 may we be ready to meet Jesus 57:27 when He shall come in the clouds of glory. 57:29 This is our prayer, this is our desire. 57:30 Help us, O Lord, we pray, 57:32 we thank You for every precious soul out there, 57:34 in Jesus' name. 57:35 Amen. |
Revised 2018-08-02