Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW018028A
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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 00:50 Mending broken people 01:10 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Family Worship. 01:13 We are so excited that it's Sabbath, 01:16 and I don't know about you but I know there are people 01:19 sitting at this table who would work themselves to death 01:22 were it not for the Sabbath. 01:24 So as the Sabbath rolls in on Friday evening, 01:27 it's kind of... 01:29 We inhale and exhale and we get to all this time 01:32 to focus on our Lord and our loved ones. 01:36 And I'm Shelly Quinn. 01:38 I'm JD Quinn. 01:40 And, honey, why don't you introduce 01:41 the rest of our family here? 01:43 Well, we'll just start over here to my left, 01:44 to your right, CA Murray. 01:46 Good to be here. 01:47 We love CA. Yes, we do. 01:49 Jill Morikone. 01:50 We love Jill Morikone. 01:52 My precious wife who you just met, I love her. 01:56 And then we have Gary Will and Tim Parton. 01:58 Yeah. 01:59 And this... 02:01 And we love them too. 02:02 That's what I was going to say. 02:04 I was going to say. 02:05 Thank you for reminding me. 02:08 Anyway, great, great people here, 02:12 not only know how to have fun but loves Jesus 02:16 and that's what we're here for. 02:17 We're sitting here around the table to talk about 02:20 a topic that Shelley is going to bring forward here 02:22 in a few minutes and just asking that 02:24 you get out your notepad and that you follow along. 02:27 Amen. Amen. 02:29 We thought tonight... 02:31 Let me just ask this question, 02:32 how many of you would like to be blameless before God 02:37 at the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? 02:40 Well, we're going to look into that topic tonight 02:43 because this is a work God promises to do in us 02:48 and to me that gave... 02:50 I mean, if we talk about being blameless before God 02:52 and we think it's up to us, boy, that is frightening. 02:57 It is. 02:58 You know, I mean it just will leave you without hope 03:00 but when we recognize this is God's work in us, then, 03:05 wow, how liberating that is. 03:07 Amen. 03:08 And the joy it gives to our hearts. 03:10 So first though, we would like to have a prayer, and I think, 03:12 well, let's just do this, Tim, we'll start with you, 03:15 everybody just give the Lord a word of praise. 03:19 Father, I want to thank You so much for wonderful week, 03:22 thank You for strength, thank You for seeing us 03:24 through many trials but many victories. 03:27 So we give You praise and thank You 03:28 for this time together to worship You. 03:30 Thank You. 03:32 Lord, I thank You for Your life and love that You gave for us 03:35 so that we can share it with others. 03:36 Amen. 03:38 And, Father, I just want to thank You for our families, 03:40 Lord, I just thank You for just being in our heart, 03:44 and, Father, that just gives us 03:46 that peace and confidence knowing, Lord, 03:48 that it's You that's working in us. 03:50 Oh, and, Father, we're so grateful that 03:52 You gave to us... 03:54 Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Holy Spirit, and Your Word, 03:58 and, Father, I thank You that 04:01 the Sabbath You said in Exodus 31:13, 04:04 this is a sign that You are the one 04:06 who is sanctifying us. 04:08 Amen. 04:09 So we're very grateful. 04:11 Thank You, Father, for the work You want to do 04:13 in and through us. 04:15 Thank You that it's not of ourselves 04:17 that we make ourselves acceptable to You 04:20 or we make ourselves righteous or holy but You are the one, 04:24 the author and perfecter of our faith, 04:27 that You are the one who cleanses us from all sin 04:31 and empowers us to live in You, 04:33 and we praise You that all the victory 04:35 and all the glory belongs to You alone. 04:38 Amen. 04:39 Father, if there is indeed a note of sadness, 04:41 it may be that there are so many millions 04:43 who don't understand the blessing 04:45 that You intended the Sabbath to be to humanity. 04:49 You created the Sabbath to be a blessing to us, 04:52 for time to come aside and to talk with You, 04:55 and to fellowship with You, and to hear from You, 04:57 and to dialogue with You. 04:59 We praise You for this temple in time, dear Father, 05:02 and we pray that those who are part of this experience 05:05 will be drawn that much closer to the precious Savior, 05:09 who is coming soon, and we thank You, 05:10 dear Father, in Jesus' name. 05:12 Amen. 05:13 Amen. Amen and amen. 05:15 Well, we are so glad that you are joining us tonight 05:17 because you're part of the family too, 05:19 so family worship wouldn't be the same without you. 05:23 What I want to do, you know 05:25 how I love to put scriptures together 05:27 and make an affirmation and pray that affirmation, 05:31 and this affirmation is called Blameless Before God. 05:36 Let me read this to you, and then what we will do is 05:39 we'll look at the scriptures in just a moment 05:42 from which this affirmation came. 05:45 But something about speaking God's Word over our life, 05:50 it is so powerful because God has promised 05:52 His Word won't return void, 05:54 He's promised He's watching over His Word to perform it, 05:57 and He calls things 05:58 that are not as though they already were, 06:00 so here's the affirmation. 06:02 "Through God's grace given to me by Christ Jesus, 06:06 I am enriched in every way as I eagerly await His return. 06:11 In faithfulness, He will strengthen me to the very end, 06:15 so that I may stand blameless, free from sin and guilt 06:19 in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." 06:21 Thank you. 06:23 "The Lord pours His love into my heart 06:24 by the power of His Spirit causing me to increase in love. 06:29 He causes me to be all that He has called me to be, 06:33 equipping me with everything I need to carry out His will 06:37 and working in me to accomplish what is well pleasing to Him." 06:42 Amen. 06:43 "In this way, He establishes me in holiness, 06:48 keeping me blameless before God at His second coming. 06:53 I am kept by the power of God." 06:56 Hallelujah. 06:58 And we're going to look at all of the scriptures 07:01 that support this just as soon as we sing our song. 07:07 And JD picked this song out 07:09 and I think it's just a perfect match 07:12 for our topic and it is just when I needed most, 07:16 number 512 in your hymnal 07:19 or the words should be at the bottom of the screen. 07:22 Please sing along with us. 07:30 Just when I need Him, Jesus is near 07:36 Just when I falter, just when I fear 07:42 Ready to help me, ready to cheer 07:48 Just when I need Him most 07:53 Just when I need Him most 07:56 Just when I need Him most 08:00 Jesus is near to comfort and cheer 08:04 Just when I need Him most 08:09 Just when I need Him, Jesus is true 08:15 Never forsaking, all the way through 08:21 Giving for burdens pleasures anew 08:27 Just when I need Him most 08:32 Just when I need Him most Just when I need Him most 08:40 Jesus is near to comfort and cheer 08:44 Just when I need Him most 08:48 Just when I need Him, Jesus is strong 08:54 Bearing my burdens all the day long 09:01 For all my sorrow giving a song 09:07 Just when I need Him most 09:12 Just when I need Him most Just when I need Him most 09:20 Jesus is near to comfort and cheer 09:24 Just when I need Him most 09:29 Just when I need Him, He is my all 09:35 Answering when upon Him I call 09:41 Tenderly watching lest I should fall 09:47 Just when I need Him most 09:52 Just when I need Him most Just when I need Him most 10:00 Jesus is near to comfort and cheer 10:04 Just when I need Him most 10:10 Oh, wow. 10:11 Amen and amen. 10:13 That's a wonderful song. Amen. 10:15 How true it is. Amen. 10:17 Thank you for picking that song, JD. 10:18 Amen. Thank You, Jesus. 10:20 You know, it seems like so many times, 10:21 just when we need someone, they're not there, right? 10:24 That's exactly right. 10:25 I mean, just you think okay, you're my friend 10:27 but just when I needed you, you weren't there 10:29 but that never happens with Jesus. 10:31 Amen. He is always there. 10:32 Amen. Amen. 10:34 Wow, good words. Well done. 10:36 Just when I need him, 10:37 the battery on your cell phone died 10:39 and I couldn't get you... 10:42 The battery on His cell phone never dies, praise the Lord. 10:44 Amen, amen. 10:46 Well, tonight, we're going to look at 10:49 how God is the one who keeps us blameless before Him. 10:53 Now this doesn't mean that we don't participate 10:57 and cooperate with Him. 10:58 Amen. 11:00 But it means it's His responsibility 11:01 and that gives me great hope. 11:03 CA, why don't you kick this off 11:05 with 1 Corinthians 1:4-9? 11:10 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, 11:12 "I thank my God always concerning you 11:16 for the grace of God 11:18 which was given to you by Christ Jesus 11:21 that you were enriched in everything by him 11:25 in all utterance and all knowledge, 11:27 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 11:32 so that you come short in no gift eagerly waiting 11:36 for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 11:40 who will also confirm you to the end 11:43 that you may be blameless 11:45 in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 11:48 God is faithful by whom you were called 11:51 into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord." 11:57 What a wonderful text. Amen. 12:00 You know, the Corinthian church that had any number of issues 12:03 that Paul had to deal with, 12:05 so he greets them and right away 12:07 he brings in the thought of the grace of God, 12:13 the grace of God that has given so much to the church. 12:16 In fact, he says, "Enriched us in everything by Jesus Christ." 12:21 He talks about grace, which to me 12:22 is the operative word. 12:25 The thing that comes to my mind immediately is that 12:28 grace which we say is a merited favor and that... 12:31 But that's just really the beginning of what grace is, 12:34 it's not the sum total of what grace is 12:36 because grace though it is a noun, 12:38 functions in the life of a Christian 12:41 more like a verb. 12:42 Amen. 12:43 It's dynamic, it's kinetic, it actualizes, 12:49 once it is shed in your life, 12:51 it begins to do things in there. 12:53 You know, it's like swallowing a pill 12:55 and it begins to do some stuff, you know, things happen inside 12:59 because the pill is in a little capsule 13:01 but then the capsule kind of breaks apart 13:03 and things begin to happen in other parts 13:05 of your Christian experience. 13:07 Grace is the way that God to my mind has chosen 13:11 to interface with His creation. 13:14 He is a God of love, we know from 1 John 4:8. 13:17 But out of that love, 13:19 there comes this dedication to us, 13:21 this leaning towards us, this long word "propitiation," 13:25 one of the meanings of propitiation 13:27 is the leaning in the direction of, 13:28 you know, you don't have to say... 13:30 You don't have to pull God towards you, 13:31 He's already leaning in your direction, 13:33 you know, Christ has done that. 13:34 Amen. 13:36 So since He's leaning in your direction, 13:37 He wants to shed grace in our life, 13:38 He wants to do those things. 13:40 And, of course, out of that grace, 13:42 it operates in mercy, and we mentioned before 13:47 and I love this idea of the preexisting condition. 13:50 Yes. 13:52 You know, in medicine, and your wife, Gary, 13:55 is involved in medicine, a preexisting condition 13:59 can get you kicked out of your policy. 14:01 You know, one of the big things about in medicine, 14:03 this preexisting condition, things that are hidden 14:05 that become so expensive once you get your insurance, 14:07 "Oh, I had this years ago." 14:09 But in Christianity, in our relationship with God, 14:13 a preexisting condition is necessary 14:17 for Christ to work in your life. 14:19 And as we are saying before, a preexisting condition, 14:22 I like this idea, really can be the most expensive in medicine, 14:28 and I guess it's that way in the Christian life too, 14:30 a preexisting condition was made possible 14:33 through the blood of Jesus Christ, 14:35 the most expensive transaction ever done in humanity. 14:39 So as such, 14:43 we are justified by Him, 14:46 which means we are immediately given credit for righteousness. 14:50 And then God goes about making us 14:53 the righteous person that He has already called us to be. 14:55 So that if at any point in your life, 14:58 you close your eyes in death, 15:00 you're accounted righteous, you are blameless. 15:03 And that's how we get to be blameless 15:05 because I'm blameless because God says I'm blameless. 15:07 Yeah. Amen. 15:10 He looks at me as blameless, and we can thank Him for that. 15:13 So I'm so thankful 15:17 that I serve a God 15:19 who is doing everything possible 15:21 to get me in, not keep me out. 15:24 Exactly. I love that. 15:25 You know, 'cause if He wanted to keep me out, He has plenty, 15:27 you know, to deal with, right. 15:29 That preexisting condition, right? 15:30 Right. 15:32 But He wants to get me in and so I can trust in Him 15:34 because I know that if I will cooperate with Him, 15:38 if I'll but surrender to Him, 15:39 if I will let grace have its work in me, 15:43 God's going to get me in, and I thank Him for that. 15:45 You know, I just have to add this 15:46 'cause it's just one of my favorite things is that... 15:50 God totally changed my idea about grace 15:54 when I realized the unmerited favor, 15:56 the gifts of grace, 15:57 His greatest gifts were Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Word. 16:00 Well said. 16:02 So when you think these are the gifts of grace, 16:05 then grace is the divine assistance 16:07 and supernatural power of God unto salvation. 16:10 Yes. 16:11 I mean, we even obey by grace. 16:14 There's no way we could obey other things. 16:15 I love what you said, divine assistance. 16:18 Yes, yeah, yeah. 16:20 He has laid it out for you and it's there, it's done, 16:23 you just have to walk in that, surrender to that. 16:27 Well, I want to point out in verse 8, it says that, 16:31 you just read 1 Corinthians 1:8, 16:34 it's talking about our Lord and it says, 16:37 "Who will confirm you to the end?" 16:40 It's God who is going to confirm us to the end 16:44 that we can be blameless in the day 16:46 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 16:48 Amen. 16:49 So it shows that it's God's work 16:51 and that's what I love. 16:53 Okay, I have 1 Thessalonians 3:12 and 13, 16:58 and you know how I always 17:00 let you all choose what you want. 17:02 Well, I chose this one. 17:05 Good for you. 17:06 I usually take the leftovers but... 17:08 And, you know, I've said this on the air several times 17:12 but we learn through repetition, 17:14 and I had someone who said, 17:16 "I've heard you say this number of times 17:18 but it finally hit me." 17:20 So let me read 1 Thessalonians... 17:23 Well, first let me start this way, 17:25 Romans 5:5 says what? 17:27 That God pours His love into our hearts 17:32 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 17:35 So God is love, right? 17:40 And as the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, 17:45 God makes us... 17:46 I mean, He gives us the ability by grace to love 17:51 as that is the essence of His nature. 17:54 So when the Holy Spirit's in us, 17:56 we're going to be loving. 17:58 And here is what Paul writes 18:00 to the Thessalonians, I love this. 18:03 He says, 1 Thessalonians 3:12 and 13, 18:07 "And may the Lord make you increase 18:11 and abound in love to one another 18:14 and to all just as we do to you," 18:16 hit the pause button, who's doing the work here? 18:19 The Lord. The Lord. 18:21 "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love 18:25 so that," 18:27 and any time you see "that" or "so that," 18:30 it's a purpose statement. 18:32 So he's saying, "Boy, let God, may God make you 18:37 increase and abound in love for this purpose, 18:41 that He may establish your hearts 18:45 blameless in holiness before our God and Father, 18:49 at the coming of our Lord 18:51 Jesus Christ with all of His saints." 18:52 Amen. 18:54 Do you realize what he is saying here? 18:56 As we increase in love, 19:01 we increase in holiness. 19:05 And this to me, he says that, 19:09 you know, "As God is working in us, 19:11 He establishes our hearts blameless and holiness." 19:15 You know the scripture that says, 19:18 "God is a consuming fire." 19:20 See, love consumed sin. 19:21 Right. 19:23 So when sin... 19:24 If you and I were to stand before the Lord 19:26 without the robe of righteousness of Christ, 19:29 if we were just to stand 19:31 in our natural human sinful condition, 19:34 the love of God, it would... 19:36 He would consume us. 19:39 But when we... 19:41 The more love as we open our heart to the Holy Spirit, 19:44 He pours his love, his essential essence, 19:47 and this is divine other-centered love. 19:52 It's not love like I love JD, 19:56 or pizza, or whatever, it's like... 20:00 We use that word in so many... 20:01 And sometimes JD had the pizza. 20:03 Very common... 20:06 At least she made it in the same sentence. 20:09 Same list. It did not come out well. 20:11 But what I'm saying is we use that word "love" 20:14 in such superficial... 20:16 We use it for a lot of words. 20:17 Yeah. Yeah. 20:18 It's true. But what this is... 20:20 Is this is when I can love JD in the natural sense 20:24 but when God's love is in me, 20:26 I love him in a very other-centered. 20:30 I mean, I want what's best for him, 20:33 I am willing to sacrifice for him, 20:35 I'm willing to lay down my life for him. 20:37 So the more loving I become, 20:40 God establishes me in holiness. 20:44 So I just love that thought. 20:46 Amen. That it is... 20:47 You know, and when people ask me, 20:49 "How do you know if you're filled with the Holy Spirit? 20:51 How do you know if somebody is Spirit-filled?" 20:54 The number one thing that I will say 20:58 is it is by their love. 21:01 If they have other centered, unselfish, 21:05 self-sacrificing love for people, 21:08 those people are filled with the Holy Spirit 21:10 because that's who God is. 21:11 Amen. 21:13 Is it love fulfilling the law? 21:14 Yes. 21:15 And so if the law is a character of God, 21:18 the transcript of His character, 21:19 when we love, we're fulfilling that law. 21:22 So it's not legalism, 21:24 it's growing in the grace that we've been talking about. 21:26 Amen. Amen. 21:27 Love is a way of approaching the world, it is... 21:31 You know, if you are a loving person, 21:32 you're not immune to being offended 21:35 but you certainly are resistant to that. 21:37 You know, you're not wearing your feelings on your sleeve 21:40 because you're coming from a whole different place. 21:42 You're taking what you have and sharing it out to the world 21:45 as opposed to constantly trying to draw things into yourself. 21:48 It's a pleasant way to live. 21:51 You know, it's a graceful way to live, 21:52 a gracious way to live, and a calm, and peaceful, 21:55 and it makes you attractive. 21:56 Amen. That's right. 21:58 And it's more unconditional. Yes. 22:00 And that's basically, are you a conditional person 22:03 or by nature are you an unconditional person, 22:05 that doesn't mean that things, 22:07 that you're just purposely going to walk into the fire, 22:12 you know, there's common sense involved here. 22:14 But I think it's just the way you approach life, 22:16 do you look at it in... 22:19 Yeah, and the love you show 22:20 makes the truth that you hold more attractive. 22:22 Amen. 22:23 Amen. 22:24 So and, you know, when you say that 22:26 about conditional and unconditional, 22:28 I think we could all agree. 22:30 I may get in trouble for saying this, 22:31 some people are easy to love and some are more challenging. 22:35 Yeah. 22:36 And there are people that I know, 22:38 even people in my life that were it not for God, 22:41 I'm not sure that I could love them. 22:43 But I always... 22:45 The more challenging a person is, 22:46 the more I go to Him and say, "Lord, 22:48 pour Your love into my heart for that person." 22:51 And then I can honestly say, I've got people who've wounded, 22:55 and hurt me, and done bad things, but I love them. 22:58 Yes. 22:59 You know, I may not like their behavior 23:00 but I still love them because God enables. 23:03 Wasn't that what that verse 12 says? 23:05 "May the Lord make you to increase, 23:08 and excel, and overflow in love." 23:11 If it was up to us, He wouldn't have to do it. 23:14 I'll give that person back. 23:16 That preexisting condition, you know, I love. 23:20 So it doesn't matter whether you have a whooping coffee, 23:21 you have a cold, you have measles, 23:23 you have the mumps, 23:24 love will cover all of that stuff, 23:26 you know, I don't change, I love. 23:28 So regardless of what comes, 23:30 my response to it is the love of Christ. 23:33 Amen. 23:34 That's the character of Jesus. 23:36 You know, God is love. 23:37 So love is the fulfilling of the law. 23:39 But I mean, then the law 23:40 is the transcript of His character. 23:42 But it all goes back to Jesus, 23:43 it's just exemplifying the character of Jesus 23:45 and we can't exemplify it of our own 23:47 but He is the one who works in us. 23:50 Amen. Amen. 23:51 Well, Jill, what scripture do you have? 23:53 I have Hebrews 13. 23:55 So I'm going to turn there in my Bible here. 23:57 Hebrews 13: 24:00 20-21. 24:02 One of my favorite chapters. 24:04 Is that one of your favorite chapters, Hebrews? 24:08 Hebrews 13, and there's so much in these two verses, 24:11 I'm only going to look at three different words 24:14 that stood out to me when I read it. 24:18 Will tell you what the words are after we read it. 24:20 Let's read it first. 24:21 Hebrews 13: 20-21, 24:24 "Now may the God of peace 24:26 brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, 24:29 that great Shepherd of the sheep 24:30 through the blood of the everlasting covenant 24:34 make you complete in every good work 24:37 to do His will. 24:38 Working in you what is well pleasing in his sight 24:41 through Jesus Christ, 24:42 to whom be glory forever and ever. 24:45 Amen." 24:46 Amen. 24:48 When I read that, I mean, 24:49 I could jump on the God of peace, 24:51 we could spend a whole hour talking about the God of peace 24:52 or we could talk about Jesus being our great Shepherd. 24:55 But the words I want to focus are on our blood, 24:59 everlasting covenant, and good work. 25:03 Good work. 25:04 So if we look at blood, 25:06 what does the blood of Jesus do? 25:07 It cleanses us from all sin. 25:09 If we walk in the light as He is in the light, 25:11 we have fellowship with one another 25:13 and we know that the blood of Jesus 25:15 cleanses us from all sin. 25:16 The blood justifies us. 25:19 Romans 5: 9, "Therefore being justified by His blood," 25:22 what happens? 25:23 "We are saved from wrath through Him." 25:26 The blood brings us near to Christ. 25:28 This is one of my favorite scriptures, 25:30 Ephesians 2:12-13, what does it say? 25:33 "In Christ, we who are far off," 25:36 and that's all of us, 25:37 we all have the preexisting condition of sin, 25:40 we all have that chasm between us and God, 25:43 "in Christ, we who are far off are brought near 25:47 through the blood of Jesus." 25:50 The blood redeems us. 25:51 Ephesians 1:7, "In Him, we have redemption 25:53 through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." 25:56 "The blood makes us alive," John 6:53, 26:00 "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man 26:02 and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 26:06 The blood makes us an overcomer." 26:07 I love that scripture. 26:09 Revelation 12: 11, "They overcame him 26:12 by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony 26:16 and they love not their lives unto the death." 26:19 "The blood of Jesus ratifies the covenant," Luke 22:24, 26:22 remember the last supper, "He took the cup 26:25 after the supper saying, 'This cup is the new covenant 26:28 in My blood which is shed for you.'" 26:29 So when you read Hebrews 13:20-21, 26:34 if it weren't for the blood of Jesus, 26:37 verse 21 could never happen. 26:39 Yes. 26:40 If it weren't for His blood, 26:42 we could never be made complete in every good work. 26:45 We could never... 26:46 That work would never happen in our lives 26:49 without the blood Jesus. 26:51 I'm so thankful for that. 26:52 Amen. Amen. 26:54 The second thing that jumped out to me 26:55 was the everlasting covenant, and every time 26:57 we think of everlasting covenant... 26:59 And, Shelley, is I could say the queen of the covenant 27:02 because you teach on that 27:05 here at 3ABN more than anyone else, 27:07 and it's powerful teaching. 27:09 But the everlasting covenant is God's covenant of grace. 27:12 Many times we think the old covenant 27:15 was one of works and the new covenant 27:18 is one of grace in the blood of Jesus. 27:20 But the same covenant of grace, God gave to Abraham. 27:23 I think of Genesis 17 and remember 27:26 when God gave Abraham the covenant 27:28 and then the sign of that was circumcision. 27:31 But God wants to circumcise our hearts, 27:35 God wants to write His laws, it says in Hebrews, 27:38 write His law in our hearts and in our minds. 27:43 So through this everlasting covenant that 27:46 He ratified with His blood, what does He do in our lives? 27:49 Now we get to the best part, that's the next verse, 27:51 verse 21, "Make you complete 27:55 in every good work to do His will, 27:59 working in you what is well pleasing in his sight 28:01 through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever." 28:05 The word "make you complete" in Greek means to strengthen, 28:10 to perfect, to complete, 28:12 or to make one what one ought to be. 28:15 That's deep. Yes, it is. 28:17 When I think about that, okay, I don't even know, pastor, 28:19 what I'm supposed to be, right? 28:22 I mean, how do we even know what... 28:24 When God looks at me, He says, 28:27 "This is what I see, this is who I want you to be." 28:31 And I see junk. 28:34 Yeah, yeah. 28:35 I see mistakes. 28:38 I see times I have messed up, and He says, 28:40 "I don't even see that. 28:42 I see what you are going to be. 28:45 I see who you are in Me covered by the blood, 28:50 and then equipped, and empowered." 28:53 God's the one who does the work. 28:54 Yes. 28:55 He makes us complete in every good work. 28:58 Now in Greek, the word "work" is not there, 29:01 which to me is really deep 'cause when I read this, 29:03 I think, "Make you complete in every good work" 29:05 and it makes me even feel like, 29:07 I got to do some works in order to become complete. 29:10 But the word "work" is not even in the Greek. 29:13 If you read the exact Greek translation, 29:15 I have it here in my phone. 29:18 It says, "Equip you in everything good..." 29:21 Amen. 29:23 "In order to do the will of Him, 29:25 working in us that which is well pleasing 29:28 before Him through Christ Jesus." 29:29 So it says, "Equip you in everything good." 29:31 So it translates it here, 29:32 "Make you complete in every good work." 29:34 But literally, what it is saying is 29:36 He makes us perfect, 29:38 He makes us what we ought to be, 29:41 and what is that? 29:42 That is good. 29:44 Now in Greek, good is inherently good. 29:48 You know that's not of us, 29:49 that's nothing that we could create. 29:52 It describes what originates from God 29:55 and is empowered by Him through faith. 29:57 Amen. 29:59 And so today, tonight, you might be saying, 30:02 "I'm weak, and I've messed up, and there's no way 30:05 God could complete the work in me." 30:08 He's the one who began it. 30:09 He is the one by the power of His Holy Spirit 30:12 who will carry it forward to completion. 30:15 So have faith tonight and joy in Jesus 30:18 that He's the one who does that. 30:19 You know, one thing that you said, Romans... 30:22 He sees us as completed projects. 30:26 Romans 4:17 says, 30:27 "God is the God who gives life to the dead, 30:29 calls things that are not as though they already were." 30:34 So when we see junk, when we see failure, 30:38 God is looking down and He already knows 30:40 what He's going to do in our life 30:41 and He just sees us perfect and that just somehow... 30:46 You know, so many of us 30:47 are always pointing fingers at people 30:49 and telling people off and you hear people 30:52 that make people feel less than they are or labeled, 30:56 God doesn't see as you junk. 30:58 Amen. That's right. 31:00 JD, my love. 31:02 My love too, you are in. 31:05 Before you go, I wanted to make a comment 31:07 about what she said that really touched me was, 31:10 we don't even know God's ideal for us. 31:12 So, you know, 31:14 we shouldn't even be playing church if we don't, 31:16 you know, people who go around, 31:18 who think they're better than what they are 31:21 and they try to pretend to be, 31:23 you know, sanctimonious and stuff in church. 31:26 They have no business doing that 31:27 because what's going to happen is 31:30 when the robes are revealed, 31:31 they're going to be walking naked 31:33 and everyone's going to be seen in the shame. 31:34 Amen. Does it sound right? 31:36 Yeah. 31:37 So we have no business playing church, 31:39 we need Christ to be in us 31:40 so that we can actually be the church. 31:42 "Lord, Lord, did we not cast out 31:44 many demons in Your name," 31:46 and He's going to say, 31:47 "Go away from Me, I don't know you." 31:49 Because the work are the fruit, not the root. 31:52 Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly right. 31:54 And, boy, that just segues right into where this is. 31:57 I mean, I love the scripture that I got 32:02 and we're combining two of them. 32:05 But I want to go back to the affirmation 32:08 that one half of a sense, "He," Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, 32:13 "causes me to be all that He has called me to be." 32:17 Wow, how deep is that. 32:19 But then Paul comes down here in Philippians, 32:22 Philippians 2:13 and I'm going to follow that up 32:25 with Philippians 1:6, 32:28 "It is God who works in you to will and act 32:31 according to His good purpose, 32:34 being confident of this 32:36 that he who began a good work in you 32:38 will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus." 32:43 Wow. 32:44 Let me back that up 32:46 and I'm going to walk you through 32:47 'cause this is the way that I kind of understood it. 32:50 So now we're going to go back to grade school stuff, okay? 32:54 I am convinced and confident, 32:57 what a wonderful place to be. 33:00 Amen. Amen. 33:01 What a great place to be if you're confident. 33:03 Yes. 33:04 That means that you know, that you know, that you know, 33:06 there's not too much that I know. 33:08 I mean, I get confused on what tie to wear. 33:11 I mean, here, we're talking about deep, deep stuff here. 33:15 So what a gift. 33:16 "I am convinced and confident." 33:19 But let's go back and start with Philippians 2:13, 33:23 "For is God who works in you 33:25 both to will and for His good pleasure." 33:27 God is the energizing source. 33:30 He's the one that's putting forth the power, 33:33 not Tim, not Gary, it's God. 33:36 Yes. 33:37 And that power then operates in us 33:40 so that that gives us the compassionate, 33:43 the compassion that we need 33:45 to make a difference in people's life. 33:47 It is... 33:48 And then it goes on to say, for God, 33:50 "For it's God who works in you both," 33:53 Wow, two fold, "to will and to do." 34:00 Listen closely to this because, boy, we can identify, 34:03 it is God, it's the Holy Spirit that provides the stimulus. 34:07 Amen. 34:08 Wow. 34:10 And, boy, the minute I read that, 34:11 it took me back to Mama Annie. 34:13 Mama Annie was my grandmother on my dad... 34:16 my mother... 34:18 my grandmother. 34:20 We got it. 34:22 We're not going to talk about it anymore. 34:24 Mama Annie was my grandmother 34:26 and, boy, could she bake good bread. 34:28 Oh. 34:30 And as I'd walk through the house 34:32 and you always knew 34:33 when she was baking bread, why? 34:36 Because there was a stimulus of smell. 34:39 Yeah. Right. 34:40 And, oh, my goodness, you know, 34:42 you just sit there and started rubbing your tummy 34:44 'cause you knew what was going to follow. 34:46 Well, here it says that God provides the stimulus 34:51 for our initial determination to accept salvation. 34:55 God also gives us that power 34:58 to make the decision effectively. 35:00 Now what does God do? 35:02 He awakens our desire to be saved. 35:05 And then He enables us to make that decision, 35:08 and then He supplies us with the energy 35:13 that we need in order to get over to the next place. 35:17 Thus redemption is figured as it's a cooperative work 35:20 between God and us. 35:23 And then we go back to, then, Philippians 1:6, 35:27 "I am convinced, 35:29 I am confident of this very thing that He," 35:34 capital H, "creator of all, the author of our salvation 35:39 has begun that good work in us," 35:41 and that is the work of salvation 35:43 that we were just talking about. 35:45 And then I took this strictly from the commentary, 35:49 "God completes every work to which He sets His hand." 35:53 Now that's what He does. 35:55 Uh-oh, if only... 35:58 Wow, here we come, 36:00 "If you have only the human material," 36:02 in other words, that's physically, 36:04 "permits Him to do so." 36:06 Boy. 36:08 Now we bring in cooperation. 36:10 And as we mentioned earlier, there's some people 36:12 that are more cooperative than others. 36:13 Right. 36:15 Furthermore, "The product of such workmanship 36:17 will be perfect." 36:20 On His side is perfection. 36:24 Boy, sometimes if we do not cooperate, 36:28 it can get kind of dirty. 36:30 "And He does not weary in well-doing." 36:33 Amen. Amen, amen. 36:35 So the keynote of Paul's writings, 36:39 and it goes back to this, what we started with, 36:43 that confidence in God's constant... 36:47 confidence in God is His continual interest 36:52 and guidance in His children. 36:53 Amen. 36:55 He has our eternal benefit in mind at all times. 36:57 Yeah. Thank you, Jesus. 36:59 Amen, amen. 37:00 You know, people ask me sometimes, 37:04 "How are you doing?" 37:05 And I just came up one day and said, 37:08 "Well, you know, I'm a work in progress." 37:11 That's right. 37:13 And then as I was sitting here and I was just... 37:15 "I'm a work in progress." 37:18 If I'm a work in progress, 37:19 that means that I'm not a beginner. 37:22 Yes. 37:23 But I'm not a finished product either. 37:26 True. 37:27 So I'm in there in between someplace, 37:29 and it's through what we're seeing here, 37:32 "It is God who works in you to will and to act 37:35 according to His good purpose and being confident of this," 37:38 know that I know that I know, 37:40 "that God who began this good work in you 37:42 will carry it out to completion." 37:44 Amen. 37:45 So consequently, Lord, 37:47 thank You that I can be a work in progress. 37:49 Let me add one quick thought before we kick it to Gary 37:52 'cause that is so good. 37:54 I think that's two separate stages. 37:56 God works in us to will, He changes our desires, 38:00 He changes our will. 38:01 Suddenly, you find that you want to do His will. 38:05 But He didn't force us to act. 38:06 I think that there's, between when He works in us to will 38:11 and to do, it takes that we step out, 38:14 take one step of faith. 38:16 And as soon as we step out on that changed will, 38:20 the power of God shows up, the Holy Spirit directs us. 38:25 That's that divine assistance that we were talking about. 38:27 Amen. Amen. 38:29 Okay, Gary. That's a good segue. 38:32 The knowledge that He gives us out of His sanctifying power 38:35 gives us peace. 38:36 And the text I have is 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. 38:41 It's a bit of a goldmine, so hopefully 38:42 we can dig some of the nuggets out. 38:44 Amen, amen. 38:45 It says here, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly 38:51 and I pray God your whole spirit, 38:53 and your soul, and body be preserved blameless 38:56 unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, 38:58 faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it." 39:03 So I'd like to start with the context 39:05 is the second coming of Christ. 39:08 That's how I'd like to start. 39:09 And there's four points actually I pulled out of here. 39:13 And the very first one is actually in the... 39:16 It's the close of a letter. 39:18 This is the close of the letter to the Thessalonians, 39:20 and it's the God of peace. 39:23 It's really easy to kind of read over that quickly 39:25 because Paul says this a lot in his writings. 39:28 He closes letters a lot with the God of peace. 39:31 But I think every word in the Bible 39:33 has purpose and meaning. 39:35 And I've also discovered that it's kind of juxtaposed 39:38 against the beginning of the letter 39:40 in 1 Thessalonians. 39:43 Let's see, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 39:46 and it says... 39:47 and he's talking to them and he says, 39:49 "And you're to wait for the Son from heaven 39:50 whom He raised from the dead, 39:53 even Jesus which delivers us from the wrath to come." 39:56 So I wanted to put that against each other, 39:59 the God of peace and his wrath. 40:01 Yes. 40:03 So he starts the letter out that he wants to... 40:06 Jesus wants to save us from the wrath to come, 40:09 but he ends the letter that the God of peace 40:11 is going to preserve us from that wrath. 40:13 Amen. 40:14 And so what is the wrath of God? 40:17 It's interesting. 40:18 The wrath of God is actually 40:22 His final conclusion of how He's dealing with sin. 40:25 Amen. 40:27 He has been patient through the whole ordeal 40:30 that Satan has foisted upon the universe. 40:33 Amen. 40:34 And so He has intervened when He needed to, He's guided, 40:39 He's moved, He's worked His will in the whole thing, 40:43 but the wrath is the final conclusion of it. 40:46 And so God's peace will protect us 40:49 from His wrath in the end. 40:51 And the keys of that are in the text. 40:54 And the second point is that God is going to sanctify us. 41:00 He wants to sanctify us 41:01 and not just partially, He wants to... 41:03 What does that mean, sanctify? 41:04 He wants to change us and to make us holy, 41:07 to separate us out for a holy purpose, 41:11 to eradicate sin from our life. 41:13 And He wants to do it wholly, not partially. 41:14 He doesn't do a partial implant. 41:16 He does a full heart transplant in our life. 41:18 Amen. 41:20 And it goes on, 41:22 and the third point is preserves. 41:25 He wants to preserve us blamelessly. 41:27 So I want to unpack some of these to sanctify us. 41:32 Let's look at Jude 21, there's only one chapter. 41:35 So let's look at verse 21 there. 41:39 Jude 21 says, "Keep yourselves in the love of God, 41:42 looking for mercy." 41:47 It says, "Keep yourself in the love of God, 41:49 looking for the mercy of our Lord 41:51 Jesus Christ into eternal life." 41:53 That word "keep" in the Greek is tereo, 41:58 and it means to guard from loss or injury 42:01 by keeping the eye upon it. 42:03 Okay, so our part in the sanctification process 42:06 is to keep our eye upon Christ. 42:10 Amen. 42:12 So as we keep our eye upon Christ, 42:14 then His grace that we've been talking about 42:16 is able to come into our heart and to change us 42:19 and to sanctify us wholly. 42:22 And that begins the preserving process. 42:24 Another example for tereo 42:27 is Revelation 14:12. 42:31 And this says... 42:32 And it's talking about the patience 42:34 of the saints here, 42:35 they that keep the commandments of God, 42:36 that's the same word as the part that we're to do. 42:41 We're to keep our eye 42:43 and to guard the commandments of God, 42:45 to preserve them in our lives, to exemplify them in our lives. 42:49 And then Revelation 16:15, "Behold I come as a thief, 42:52 blessed is he that watcheth." 42:55 And the word "watcheth" is gregoreuo, 42:58 which means to keep awake and be vigilant, 43:00 "and to keep," that word again, tereo, 43:03 "his garments lest he walk naked 43:05 and they see his shame." 43:07 So again, God wants us, 43:09 this righteous robe that He gave us, 43:11 when we accept him, He wants us to keep it, 43:14 He wants us to guard it, 43:15 He wants us to keep our eye on it, 43:18 to watch it so that it doesn't get taken from us. 43:22 But what's interesting is so that word "keep" 43:24 is our part of the sanctification process, 43:28 but actually, in the preservation part, 43:31 that's God's part of the equation, 43:33 to preserve us. 43:34 Amen. 43:36 And so if you look at what is a preservative. 43:39 Preservative is a substance or a chemical that is added 43:42 to another product to prevent decomposition. 43:45 So God's grace and His love is to preserve us, 43:50 it's to keep us in a state so that when He comes, 43:54 we're going to be ready for Him to come. 43:56 Amen. Amen. 43:59 And so how does He do that? 44:00 Well, we find in Revelation 14, actually, yeah, 44:06 Revelation 14:1 is that 44:09 God writes His name in our foreheads. 44:13 So we are sealed, God seals us with His name into our minds. 44:18 And as we behold Him, 44:19 the principle is, as we behold Him, 44:21 we become changed into His character. 44:25 Now it's interesting. 44:26 Let's look at Jude 24 real quick. 44:30 'Cause the word "keep" is translated in English keep, 44:32 but it's actually something a little different. 44:34 "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling 44:36 and to preserve you faultless 44:38 before the presence of His glory 44:39 with exceeding joy." 44:41 So that word "keep" is not the same 44:42 as what we have to do, keep our eye and to guard. 44:47 It's actually philoso. 44:49 And it means to guard a person or thing 44:51 that he may remain safe 44:53 to keep him from being snatched away, 44:55 preserve safe and unimpaired, 44:57 to guard from being lost or perishing. 44:59 Amen. 45:01 So that's God's part in the equation. 45:03 Our part is to keep our eye on Him. 45:05 His part is to guard us and to keep us 45:07 from being snatched from Him. 45:08 He said that, you know, 45:10 there's nothing that can separate from His love. 45:12 And that's true, nothing can. 45:14 We can decide not to, but He is to guard 45:15 to keep us close to Him. 45:17 Amen. 45:19 And then I'd like to finish up with... 45:23 Let's see, and He's the one that does it in us. 45:26 So Titus 3:5-6 45:30 I think kind of illustrates Him working in us, 45:32 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done 45:35 but according to His mercy, 45:37 He saved us by the washing of regeneration 45:39 and renewing of the Holy Ghost, 45:41 which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ." 45:44 So God seals us with His Spirit, 45:47 so that preserves us, so that when He comes, 45:50 we will be found ready for Him to come 45:52 and take us and spend eternity with Him. 45:54 Amen and amen. 45:56 You know, and I loved... 45:59 You kind of... 46:01 He said something to me one day 46:02 that it must have been an epiphany 46:04 'cause when I mentioned it to him later, 46:05 he said, "Did I say that?" 46:08 What he said is he was beginning 46:10 to look at this scripture as he said, 46:12 "It's so exciting the God of peace, 46:17 it means unity." 46:19 So when I asked you about it, you were saying, 46:21 "I don't remember saying that." 46:22 It was an epiphany. 46:24 But the unity of... 46:26 And that's when you think about peace, there is... 46:30 I mean, to be at peace, you have to be united. 46:33 And so it's us keeping our eye on Him 46:35 and Him protecting us. 46:37 Oh, Tim, we saved the best for last. 46:40 Well, all right. 46:42 I feel that way. 46:44 I'm just going to go straight 46:45 to 1 Peter 1:3-5. 46:49 Amen. 46:50 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 46:53 who according to His abundant mercy 46:56 has begotten us again to a living Hope 46:59 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ 47:01 from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, 47:06 and that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you, 47:09 who are kept by the power of God 47:11 through faith for salvation, 47:13 ready to be revealed in the last time." 47:16 Amen, that's a mouthful. 47:18 That truly is a mouthful. 47:20 So it's really important for us to know in this situation 47:26 who Peter is writing to 47:27 because it'll kind of give us some context. 47:31 He's writing to the... 47:33 Verse 1 says, Peter, 47:36 to the elect exiles of the dispersion 47:39 scattered abroad, and then he mentions where they are all, 47:42 Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 47:44 So these are strangers in their land, 47:47 they're no longer at home. 47:49 They're no longer comfortable where they are. 47:51 They've been pushed out of their comfort zone. 47:53 Yeah. 47:55 They are basically kind of hopeless, 47:57 you know, to an extent, 48:00 other than the fact that they have Christ. 48:02 But so Peter uses a lot of verbage 48:08 in these verses 3-5 48:11 that will bring a lot of comfort to people 48:15 who are out of their comfort zone. 48:19 Verse 3, again, and I'm going to go back to the amplified 48:22 to read some of these, 48:23 "Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 48:26 By His boundless mercy, by His mercy, 48:29 we have been born again into an everlasting hope 48:33 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 48:37 It's by His mercy that we have been born again. 48:42 I love the fact that He made this plan 48:45 that we would have a hope by saying, 48:48 "I think we'll send Christ, He will die, 48:52 and then He will rise again, and it will give them hope." 48:55 In verse 4, "We're born into an inheritance." 48:58 Now these people that Peter's speaking to 49:03 probably didn't even have... 49:05 they didn't have... 49:07 just the shirt on their back maybe. 49:08 Right. 49:09 So for them to have an inheritance, that's like, 49:13 oh, they can't imagine having... 49:15 you know, having something to look forward to 49:18 but it is the inheritance 49:20 which is beyond the reach of change and decay. 49:22 All right, so that's just more, 49:24 the inheritance that is not going to fade away, 49:27 or can be corrupted, or be taken away 49:29 by somebody else's kicking us out of this, 49:31 of where we are now. 49:34 And then going on to verse 5, "Who are being guarded," 49:37 that insurance, "by God's power through faith 49:43 until you fully inherit that final salvation 49:46 that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 49:48 Again, the fact that they have an assurance 49:53 because they don't have that assurance really 49:57 since they've been kicked out of their motherland to... 50:02 They don't have just... 50:04 They have been assured. 50:06 Peter is giving them these words. 50:07 So all of these words indicate to me 50:10 the fact that these are words that Peter is encouraging, 50:16 motivating these people 50:18 who have less than perfect hope. 50:21 So for us, the... 50:26 I can't really think of myself as being hopeless, 50:29 in that I don't have... 50:32 You know, when I came here to 3ABN, 50:35 everyone welcomed me in. 50:36 So it wasn't like I was in a foreign land 50:39 even though Southern Illinois can seem foreign landish to me. 50:44 But I was surrounded by people that loved me. 50:47 These people didn't have that. 50:49 And there are people around the world who may, 50:52 you know, be scattered abroad, emotionally, mentally, 50:57 you know, they may feel like they don't have any hope. 51:03 But when you are... 51:05 when you commit your life to Christ, that is the hope. 51:10 He gives you that, by His mercy, 51:13 we can be born again to an ever-living hope 51:17 and into an inheritance, 51:20 we have that inheritance as Christians, 51:23 "Which is beyond decay, reserved in heaven for us, 51:28 we are being guarded by God's power through faith." 51:33 That's a hallelujah. Right, it is. 51:35 As you were talking about it, it is God who is guarding us, 51:38 who, you know, 51:40 the guard is the position on the football team 51:46 that protects the ball. 51:48 And so... 51:49 Not that I know a thing about what I'm talking about 51:50 because I don't know anything about sports, 51:53 but I do know that I thought that came to mind. 51:58 So if it doesn't apply, it should. 52:00 Anyway, but yeah, but we are being guarded 52:03 "By God's power through faith to salvation 52:09 that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 52:11 So I love the fact that I am kept by the power of God, 52:16 nothing more, nothing less. 52:17 Amen. Amen. 52:19 And you have one thing going for you 52:21 because there is a guard on a football team 52:23 that is there to guard the ball. 52:25 Super. 52:26 So thank you there, you did good. 52:28 So as we looked at these scriptures, CA, 52:32 your scripture from 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 52:37 said that God is the one who confirms us to the end. 52:42 And then my scripture says that 52:44 He's the one who establishes in that... 52:48 My scripture was 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, 52:52 "That He is the one who establishes us 52:55 as blameless in holiness." 52:58 And then we looked, Jill, 53:01 that He's going to make us complete, 53:03 Hebrews 13:20-21. 53:06 God makes us complete in every good work to do, 53:11 He makes us complete to do His will, right? 53:15 And then, JD, you looked at 53:18 "He works in us to will and to do His good pleasure," 53:21 and we can have absolute assurance 53:25 He's going to complete that good work. 53:27 Gary, yours in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 says, 53:32 "He, Jehovah-shalom, the God of peace 53:36 is the one who preserves us blameless." 53:42 And then, Tim, you've just read what Peter wrote 53:45 in 1 Peter 1:3-5 that, 53:47 "We are kept by His power," by God's power. 53:51 Can you see the picture here? 53:53 It's all about Him, isn't it? 53:55 It's all about Him. 53:58 It's us keeping our eye upon Him as... 54:04 Was that you or Gary that said that? 54:05 Gary talked about that. Gary. 54:07 It's us keeping our eye upon Him, 54:12 and then Him working it out in us. 54:14 Amen. 54:15 You know, I think that the one thing 54:17 that we all like to see 54:20 in a rear view mirror is guilt and condemnation. 54:24 Amen. 54:25 In the rear view mirror. 54:27 In the rear view mirror. 54:28 We're driving away from it, you know, it's behind us. 54:31 And this is a wonderful teaching here 54:33 because it's blameless before God. 54:35 And this allows us to see 54:38 that there is a way to get past this guilt 54:40 of past yesterday, of past condemnation. 54:44 And that is by allowing God to work in you. 54:47 Yes. 54:48 Because it all comes down to that, 54:50 you know, who do you choose to worship 54:52 and why do you choose to worship, so... 54:55 It's so liberating, don't you think so? 54:57 I mean just to understand that, in Christ, I am complete, 55:01 in Christ I am blameless, in Christ I am made new, 55:04 I mean, that is so liberating and that He calls those things 55:07 that are not as though they already were. 55:08 So whether I feel that way, 55:10 His Word says it true, so it's true. 55:12 Amen. 55:13 I just want to pop in a text real quick, 55:15 this is 1 Thessalonians... 55:16 Cancel, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, I've been trying to memorize 55:19 this text the last little bit, but it's so laden, 55:22 try to get through real fast, 2:16, 55:24 "Now may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself 55:27 and our God and Father who has loved us 55:29 and given us everlasting consolation," 55:32 which is the term that just kind of turns me on 55:35 because everlasting consolation comes 55:37 because we serve a covenant-keeping God, 55:39 not a capricious God. 55:40 So that every time I go to God, I get the same God, 55:43 I don't get a hot God one day, cold God one day. 55:44 Amen. 55:46 A God who doesn't want to be bothered one day, 55:47 a God who's having a bad day. 55:49 Every time I go, it's the same God. 55:51 So from that, I get everlasting consolation 55:54 because He's a covenant-keeper. 55:56 "And good hope by grace... 56:00 comfort your hearts and establish you 56:03 in every good word and work." 56:04 So everything that comes from you, 56:06 everything that comes out of your mouth, 56:07 everything that comes from your life is good, 56:09 it's intended for the purpose which God created 56:12 because you are now in Christ Jesus. 56:14 This is just a fabulous text. 56:16 Absolutely, that is perfect. 56:18 Put the cherry on our sundae here, on our... 56:22 And it's Sabbath. 56:24 Okay, I've got everybody confused. 56:28 I just want to thank you, Tim, thank you, Gary, 56:31 JD, CA, and my precious Jill. 56:35 I love the way each of you study, 56:38 and I love what you bring to the table room 56:41 when the family gets together, 56:43 you know, it's so much fun, and it's... 56:45 I think this is something that 56:49 I know that you appreciate at home too is that 56:51 we have many different personalities looking at things 56:54 from different ways, but we always come up 56:57 with the same bond in the truth, don't we? 57:03 Well, our time is just rapidly slipping away. 57:06 Do you have a final thought? 57:08 No, just remember that Jesus loves you. 57:10 Amen. That's right. 57:11 That's good. And so do we. 57:14 So our prayer for you, as always, 57:17 is that the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 57:20 the love of the Father, 57:21 and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit 57:24 will be with you this Sabbath and forevermore. 57:29 Keep your eyes on Jesus, 57:31 the author and finisher of your faith. 57:34 Bye-bye. Amen. |
Revised 2018-09-27