John Launchbury – Class 4: Crucified with Christ

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You’re listening to a Bible.
Talk recorded of the 2011

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Western Chris, Duffy and bio
escalope Manuka.

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The speaker is John launch
Brewery.

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And this is the fourth class in
this series.

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The transformed mind, this
address is entitled crucified

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with Christ and was recorded on
July 28, 2011, a Buddhist is in

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New York City because up to the
hot dog vendor and he says make

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me one with everything.
So here’s my question.

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Why isn’t it the Christian Why
isn’t it?

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You know what, you’re a
christadelphians.

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When you go up to a new, add to
a hot dog vendor and say make me

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one with everything.
Because it’s a command of Jesus.

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And and one of the challenges
that we have in Christianity, is

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this inheritance back from the
second century, the third

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century, and so on.
When Christianity started to

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become very creedal from the
Nicene Creed and the athanasian

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Creed, and his whole idea that
we’re going to Define ourselves

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explicitly in intellectual
correctness, or particular sets

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of precise, beliefs as opposed
to wait.

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You matters that Jesus described
them of things like mercy and

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compassion.
How come those aren’t the

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defining characteristics of what
it means to be followers of

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Christ?
I think it’s going to be

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fascinating to explore some of
these.

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The Story Goes On, by the way,
the Buddhist pays with a ten

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dollar bill, and the vendor
receives it Pockets it and turns

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to the next customer.
Hey, since the Buddhist.

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Where’s my change change is
within I’m not, of course, is

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what we’re talking about in this
whole series of classes.

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Yesterday we part of what we
were doing in thinking about

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meditative prayer, was exploring
the idea that the past and the

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future are actually mental
constructs that we build and

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hold.
And if we’re not careful, we

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spend our time living in these
worlds that we have created,

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there were previous moments
there will be future moments,

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but the sense we have of the
past isn’t Leave those

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individual moments, it’s the
construct, the model, the

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interpretation that we’ve built
of those things that have

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happened in the past.
And indeed, we don’t have any

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experience of the future
moments.

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But nonetheless, we build up.
Imagining we build up mental

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constructs and to the extent
that we spend our life living in

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the past, or living in the
future, we’re living in the

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world, we create rather than the
world God creates, which is the

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world of this moment now.
And Jesus tells us to let go of

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the past.
Just that it’s done, it’s gone

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and not to worry about the
future and to be anxious about

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the future, but to step into the
reign of God.

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Today, we’re going to carry on
this idea of exploring things

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that are within us as mental
constructs, that get in the way

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of our ability to actually
connect with the things of God.

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And today, we’re going to
explore the idea of crucified

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with Christ. we’re going to see
that our sense of self is also a

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mental construct that we build
and that gets in the way of

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connecting with God and with
each other, If you look at

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Matthew chapter 10 so it’s very
famous passage.

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We read it many times.
Matthew chapter 10 and verse 39,

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Verse 39, whoever finds his life
will lose it.

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Whoever loses his life, for my
sake will find it.

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I don’t think he’s just talking
about the Stevens and the peters

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and the Paul’s of this world who
were stoned or even the Jesus of

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this world who was crucified I
don’t think it’s talking about

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physical martyrdom.
So much as actual spiritual

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martyrdom to, actually allow
ourselves to die before we die.

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It’s about losing life, it’s
about being willing to give up

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this.
This sent this thing that I so

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desperately guard and protect
this sense of me.

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It’s being willing to give that
up and Jesus says, look if you

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work to get that life to find
your life as it were to build

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that life, that sense of self I
think is what he’s talking

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about.
You’ll actually lose life.

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But the extent to which you’re
actually able to die before you

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die, the extent that you’re able
to give up life, is the extent

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that you’ll be able to find it.
And he actually gives an example

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in the previous two.
Verses, anyone who loves his

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father or mother more than me
is?

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Not worthy of me.
Anyone who loves his son or

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daughter more than me is?
Not worthy of me, anyone who

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does not take his cross and
follow me is not worthy of me

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and I think we sometimes think
of this simply at the level of

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relationship that I have to be
willing say with Rachel and Zoe

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and Nathan to say no they’re not
as important to me as Christ.

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As if it’s diminishing somehow
them and and I don’t think

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that’s what Jesus is talking
about.

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I think what Jesus is talking
about is my sense of Pride and

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status and position because I
am.

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So incredibly fortunate to have
Rachel as my wife to have Nathan

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and Zoe as my children, that is
what I have to give up.

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That sense of, of status,
almost, did you see what I’m

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saying?
That’s what he’s don’t, don’t so

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much.
Love the idea of This wife or

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this son or so, but be willing
to give that up for my sake,

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lose your life, and then you’ll
be able to find it and this

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phrase of take up your cross.
And follow me.

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If you ever heard people moan
about someone at work and then

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say, I guess that’s my cross to
bear and things like that is not

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what Jesus is talking about.
He’s not talking about enduring

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and in just a difficult
situation with a bit of

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resentment, as often comes
across in that kind of phrase.

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He is actually talking about
allowing yourself and your sense

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of self to die to truly die.
And he says it strongly anyone

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who does not take his cross.
And follow me is not worthy of

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me.
Again, I don’t want us in any of

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these.
I don’t want us to see them as

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as law to the provokes guilt.
When we realize that we fail,

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that’s not the intent of these
things.

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The intent of these things is
for, Jesus is shining a light on

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us, so that we can make honest
assessments of where we are in

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the And following him.
And so we can look at this and I

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can say, I realize I may have
picked it up occasionally and I

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kept putting it down and I
certainly haven’t yet.

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Got to Golgotha and I certainly
haven’t let them Drive in the

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nails.
Do you see what I mean?

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And it’s not guilt Associated
and will develop that a little

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bit more.
It’s about making an honest

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assessment of, where am I in the
transformation process?

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That the Lord is working in me.
I need to learn to die before I

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die.
And then the life of the father

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will be fully manifest within me
because it’s not going to be

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this pale shadow of the life of
John the self of John but it

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will be the brilliant glory of
the father.

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That is Manifest.
So I’d like us to think about a

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number of steps in this process
about learning to die before we

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die, this idea of crucified with
Christ the first step of this

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process and it’s kind of sound
stupid to say it, but it’s

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Again, where you are?
Actually really hard to do.

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I’m reminded of the joke.
I think it was a joke or the

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story.
This guy in rural Countryside

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and he’s asked, he’s completely
lost.

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He’s trying to get somewhere in
the roads were all wind, and he

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sees a farmer leaning against
the fence.

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And so, he pulls over and goes
over to the farmer and his

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chewing on the stalk of grass or
whatever.

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He says, how do I get to such?
And such a town, says the

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farmer.
If I was Now, I wouldn’t start

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from here.
What is astonishing about that

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story?
Is that it is an accurate

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description of our path of
faith.

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Where we are unwilling to
actually accept that we start

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from where we are today.
As a rule that is, we are

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unwilling to take on exactly who
we are.

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Today, we have a false image of
who we are, and if we have a

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False Image, that’s like asking
for directions of if I wasn’t

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here, if I was over there, how
would I get to the place that

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I’m trying to get to?
God, is actually offering us a

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great deal of help in starting
where we are today and this is

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the doctrine of forgiveness, it
should be a This principle

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amongst us, I have been
forgiven.

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I have been forgiven, it’s very
clear in the New Testament.

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I’m not going to go to all the
passages will dip into one or

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two as we as we go along.
God loves us and forgives us but

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we don’t believe that he should
You see, if we don’t feel

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forgiven, it’s not because there
is any lack on God’s side of

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extending forgiveness to us.
It’s about our inability and

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unwillingness to receive the
Forgiveness that God extends to

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us.
I’d like to look at Hebrews 10

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just for a moment just so that
you can see that.

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The sense here.
When Barnabas or whoever wrote

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Hebrews is talking about the law
and contrasts with the Covenant

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in Christ.
He says, in chapter 10 and verse

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1.
The law is only a shadow of the

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good things that are coming.
Not the realities themselves

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which should by the way makers
cautious when we’re trying to

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deduce Christ based just on the
law of Moses, the law is only a

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shadow of the good things that
are coming, not the realities

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themselves for this reason, it’s
the law can never by the same

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sacrifices repeated endlessly
year after year, make perfect,

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those who draw near to worship.
If it could, would they Not have

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stopped being offered for the
worshipers would have been

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cleansed once for all, and would
no longer have felt guilty for

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their sins.
He’s drawing a contrast between

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the old Covenant where they
didn’t feel cleansed, and they

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continue to feel guilty for
their sins.

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With the New Covenant, where the
clear implication is, we have

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been cleansed and we have no
reason now to feel guilty for

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our sins.
God loves and forgives us.

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What is it?
The stopping us actually.

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Take that on board.
What is it that has us still

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have that weight of the stuff in
the past that somehow it’s not

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all gone.
I mean, it one level.

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We could say it’s a lack of
faith.

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It’s a lack of belief in God
when he says, I forgive you and

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we say, no, you don’t.
Or it’s a matter of obvious.

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Pride in that God can forgive, I
know.

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God can forgive everyone else in
this room, but I am so much

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worse.
A sinner than them that.

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God can’t forgive me.
In fact, my sin is so bad that

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it was the phrase Mark was using
God, who created the whole

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universe, isn’t powerful enough
to forgive me.

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I mean, is that not a position
of pride?

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But I think it’s actually often
much more subtle than that.

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Here’s what I think goes on.
God shouldn’t have to forgive

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me.
I’m better than this.

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I shouldn’t have done this.
You shouldn’t need to forgive

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me.
This is pride slipping in sort

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of under the door seeping in.
And does this resonate at all.

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Just sometimes that, you know, I
wish God didn’t have to forgive

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me.
He ought to have had to forgive

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me because I shouldn’t have done
it.

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I am better than this.
I’m sorry, but you’re not.

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I’m not.
That is a position of

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confession.
That is when we actually get to

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the point that we say, it may be
that I wish I wasn’t like this,

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but I am.
I was, I don’t know, I was the

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kid who pulled the other kids
ears, and I had no excuse for

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doing that.
But it was me, I am the adult

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who was aggressive at work and
who did this particular

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situation?
It was me.

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That is a manifestation of
exactly where I was in that

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moment.
It was me.

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Ideas, like I’m better than
this, or I should be better than

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this, a statements of
non-acceptance of where we are

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today.
They’re resisting today’s

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reality.
And when we resist today’s

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reality, we put ourselves in
this imaginary world that we

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create not in the world that is
here.

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And now that God has formed and
that we are now in this

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position.
And so, it’s hard for us to

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actually take the Forgiveness of
God that comes upon us.

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Here’s another one.
I’m not good enough to be

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00:16:04,200 –> 00:16:10,500
forgiven.
Just just change the words a

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00:16:10,508 –> 00:16:13,700
little bit.
I’m not rich enough to be given

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money.
Pardon me.

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I’m not rich enough to be given
money.

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I mean, it’s just ludicrous when
you put it that way.

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I’m not good enough to be
forgiven.

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No, you are forgiven because
you’re not good enough.

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You’re given money because
you’re not rich.

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You’re given forgiveness because
you are a sinner.

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If you weren’t a sinner, if you
were good enough, you wouldn’t

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need to be forgiven.
In John’s letter his first

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letter 1, John 1.
This is what he says.

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End of that first chapter.
Verse 8 of 1, John 1.

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If we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves and the

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truth is not in us.
Now, we never do that as

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christadelphians.
We are very willing to say that

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we are sinners in in, it’s in
generality.

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We are sinners.
We said all the time, we’re not

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00:17:29,300 –> 00:17:34,200
so willing to actually even in
our own private contemplation

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before God to say, this is what
I have done.

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This is what I continue to do
this thing.

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And this thing and this thing
that’s actually the first step

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00:17:46,700 –> 00:17:52,800
of Claiming or accepting our sin
as opposed to claiming that

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we’re not Sinners is being
specific with ourselves with

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God.
But also, if we say, yeah, we

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sin.
I sin, but I wish I hadn’t, or I

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had a reason to do it or this is
what anytime that there’s a

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caveat anytime that there’s a
defensiveness anytime that

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there’s a non acceptance of,
this is genuinely how it was.

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00:18:20,800 –> 00:18:28,200
We are actually claiming to be
without sin. he is asking us

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00:18:28,200 –> 00:18:33,400
something so so simple and yet
so hard which is to empty

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00:18:33,400 –> 00:18:39,100
ourselves just to come before
him and say It was me.

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I did it.
I just did.

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And then what happens?
He rails it us, he’s angry at

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us, he’s dubious as to whether
he’s going to accept.

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No, we are already brothers and
sisters.

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We are already in a covenant of
forgiveness.

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Whereby, our sins are not
counted against us.

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00:19:05,900 –> 00:19:10,900
John says, if we forget confess
our sins, he is faithful and

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just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all

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00:19:17,100 –> 00:19:22,500
unrighteousness.
That that forgiveness is being

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00:19:22,700 –> 00:19:28,700
extended to us all the time.
It’s There’s No Lack on God’s

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00:19:28,700 –> 00:19:35,200
willingness to forgive the lack
is on our unwillingness to

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00:19:35,200 –> 00:19:40,900
receive and it comes from our
resistance and that resistance

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00:19:41,200 –> 00:19:43,900
is actually from the sense of
self.

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Because we haven’t been willing
to die.

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We haven’t been willing to lay
aside our ego, our pride.

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And tell him.
It was me, it truly was me.

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Who did that?
Even sometimes when we say and

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00:20:07,200 –> 00:20:14,100
I’m sorry, can get in the way of
just plain acceptance of what we

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did.
It seems to me that the only

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barrier to our forgiveness is
our willingness to receive it.

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It’s no, no barrier to
forgiveness on the part of God,

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00:20:34,300 –> 00:20:38,600
we’ll look at a couple of those
Rachel’s heavily involved in

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00:20:39,400 –> 00:20:43,600
working through things like
12-step programs with addiction.

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I think as fascinating to look
at you should you should dig it

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00:20:49,700 –> 00:20:54,200
out and think about it from the
perspective of Sin, Sin had made

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00:20:54,200 –> 00:21:00,100
our lives unmanageable Step 1.
We decided that we couldn’t do

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00:21:00,100 –> 00:21:03,500
it by ourselves.
We had to give it over to a

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00:21:03,500 –> 00:21:06,500
higher power.
God as we as we understand him,

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00:21:06,900 –> 00:21:13,400
step four is we made a searching
moral inventory of ourselves.

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00:21:14,900 –> 00:21:19,500
What one manifestation of that
might be to take a day where

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00:21:19,800 –> 00:21:24,700
every time we find ourselves
having a sense of annoyance or

284
00:21:24,700 –> 00:21:30,500
anger, or irritation, or fear or
any kind of negative energy

285
00:21:30,500 –> 00:21:33,200
within us, that we just jot it
down.

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00:21:34,400 –> 00:21:36,900
No judgment, no assessment, just
jot it down.

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00:21:38,100 –> 00:21:41,400
Take a day and just every time
something happens, just jot it

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00:21:41,400 –> 00:21:46,400
down and then at the end of the
day, look at this.

289
00:21:47,600 –> 00:21:51,500
At the very least, we stopped to
see something about ourselves.

290
00:21:51,700 –> 00:21:57,200
We can bring it to the Lord and
we can say, You read this?

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00:22:03,200 –> 00:22:08,000
Through not owning our sin.
We create a barrier that doesn’t

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00:22:08,000 –> 00:22:11,000
permit us to receive the
Forgiveness of God.

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00:22:11,300 –> 00:22:14,700
And we wish we were starting the
transformation process from

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00:22:14,700 –> 00:22:17,200
somewhere else than we actually
are today.

295
00:22:17,800 –> 00:22:21,900
We own our sin without caveats
without defensiveness, without

296
00:22:21,900 –> 00:22:26,100
wishing it were.
Otherwise it is what it is.

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00:22:26,900 –> 00:22:30,300
And we come before you Lord.
Open.

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And just showing ourselves.
But I think there’s also another

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00:22:36,400 –> 00:22:40,500
barrier, which I think we I’m
going to suggest a different

300
00:22:40,500 –> 00:22:44,000
interpretation from how we
normally give this that, I’d

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00:22:44,000 –> 00:22:48,300
like you to chew on and this one
just comes from the Lord’s

302
00:22:48,300 –> 00:22:52,300
Prayer, but it also comes from
elsewhere where, where Jesus

303
00:22:52,300 –> 00:22:58,200
said, forgive us our sins.
As we forgive those who sin

304
00:22:58,200 –> 00:23:01,300
against us.
Hey, you know that idea and it

305
00:23:01,300 –> 00:23:03,500
occurs in a bunch of his
Parables.

306
00:23:04,400 –> 00:23:08,500
I’d always heard in the past
that it was that God, is, is

307
00:23:09,300 –> 00:23:13,000
limiting his forgiveness based
on how much I’m willing to

308
00:23:13,000 –> 00:23:16,800
forgive someone else.
So, you know, you’d better learn

309
00:23:16,800 –> 00:23:20,700
got nowhere, nobody actually
said that but that was the idea.

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00:23:20,700 –> 00:23:23,400
You’d better earn God’s
forgiveness by forgiving other

311
00:23:23,400 –> 00:23:25,200
people.
I don’t think, I don’t think

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00:23:25,200 –> 00:23:27,500
that’s the idea at all.
Doesn’t fit with the other

313
00:23:27,500 –> 00:23:31,300
scriptures, which talked about
the Overwhelming forgiveness

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00:23:31,300 –> 00:23:35,800
that is pouring out of God.
It seems to me that it’s an

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00:23:35,800 –> 00:23:40,700
issue of us not being able to
receive forgiveness unless we

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00:23:40,700 –> 00:23:45,400
forgive, it’s like there’s this
spiritual equation at work.

317
00:23:45,700 –> 00:23:51,300
The amount that you extend
forgiveness to others. guides

318
00:23:51,400 –> 00:23:54,700
the amount of forgiveness you
are actually going to be able to

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00:23:54,700 –> 00:24:02,400
receive If your heart is closed,
if there’s a barrier between you

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00:24:02,400 –> 00:24:06,000
and someone else that barrier
will be reflected between you

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00:24:06,000 –> 00:24:10,800
and God, and you won’t be able
to actually have that sense of

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00:24:10,800 –> 00:24:15,400
forgiveness because of your
inability or unwillingness to

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00:24:15,400 –> 00:24:19,600
Extended to someone else.
So it’s not that God is saying I

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00:24:19,600 –> 00:24:25,600
won’t forgive you.
It’s that he’s saying, look the

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00:24:25,600 –> 00:24:29,900
way to actually access the
forgiveness from God, is to put

326
00:24:29,900 –> 00:24:35,500
it in practice in your life.
Make goat go out, go out,

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00:24:35,500 –> 00:24:40,100
explicitly and forgiving other
people as you as you see

328
00:24:40,100 –> 00:24:44,400
opportunity and have need and
that will start to allow you to

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00:24:44,400 –> 00:24:48,300
actually have the sense of the
Forgiveness of God coming upon

330
00:24:48,300 –> 00:24:51,100
you.
So I don’t think it’s God’s

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00:24:51,100 –> 00:24:53,600
refusal.
Forget to forgive it’s that we

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00:24:53,600 –> 00:24:56,100
can’t receive it.
When we hold something against

333
00:24:56,100 –> 00:25:00,000
someone else, Creates a barrier
within us.

334
00:25:02,300 –> 00:25:06,700
Had a wonderful example of
forgiveness and I slightly

335
00:25:06,700 –> 00:25:11,200
hesitate to give this because
it’s so so bizarre.

336
00:25:11,200 –> 00:25:13,900
But I tried it out on the teens
and they quite enjoyed it.

337
00:25:13,900 –> 00:25:17,800
So I’m going to inflict it on
you to have you ever driven

338
00:25:17,800 –> 00:25:20,300
around with a GPS unit in your,
in your car?

339
00:25:20,500 –> 00:25:25,000
You ever tried to mess it up?
So it says turn right.

340
00:25:25,000 –> 00:25:28,100
You know the next Junction, you
turn left and then it says

341
00:25:28,100 –> 00:25:30,300
you’re doing a U-turn and then
you turn, right?

342
00:25:30,500 –> 00:25:32,800
And then it says, well turn.
And you turn left.

343
00:25:32,800 –> 00:25:35,600
And then it says turn left and
you go straight on and have you

344
00:25:35,600 –> 00:25:39,800
ever done that?
I have.

345
00:25:43,500 –> 00:25:55,500
Yeah, Randy has as well.
Imagine just just for the sake

346
00:25:55,500 –> 00:26:00,400
of argument, just just for
again, I’m not trying to lay any

347
00:26:00,400 –> 00:26:04,900
kind of law or rule or I’m just
trying to create a mental image

348
00:26:04,900 –> 00:26:10,600
for you to play with here.
Imagine that you are that GPS

349
00:26:10,600 –> 00:26:14,200
unit.
And you say to the driver turn

350
00:26:14,200 –> 00:26:16,100
right here, the driver turns
left.

351
00:26:17,200 –> 00:26:20,900
Without being in any sense,
upset you say when you have an

352
00:26:20,900 –> 00:26:23,700
opportunity to do a U-turn, they
turn, right?

353
00:26:26,600 –> 00:26:29,300
Two moves ahead turn, right?
They turn left.

354
00:26:30,800 –> 00:26:33,100
Jus just see what I’m trying to
point out.

355
00:26:33,400 –> 00:26:39,100
Just what an incredible spirit,
that would be if you could just

356
00:26:39,100 –> 00:26:42,700
be.
So completely accepting of, this

357
00:26:42,700 –> 00:26:45,400
is where we are.
And I mean there may be other

358
00:26:45,400 –> 00:26:47,700
factors going on that need to be
dealt with.

359
00:26:47,700 –> 00:26:50,100
So I’m not trying to say, this
is how you should be.

360
00:26:50,700 –> 00:26:55,000
But what it seems to me is that,
that shows just an incredible

361
00:26:55,000 –> 00:27:00,300
Spirit of forgiveness If you can
anyway, I don’t know if you find

362
00:27:00,300 –> 00:27:04,000
that idea helpful, but but I
thought it was an intriguing

363
00:27:04,000 –> 00:27:07,000
thing to play with just as just
as an idea.

364
00:27:08,200 –> 00:27:18,000
So the process of dying before
you die, Step 1 or step 0,

365
00:27:18,000 –> 00:27:22,300
essentially is start from where
you are today.

366
00:27:24,400 –> 00:27:30,000
Just accept fully fully Embrace
where you are today.

367
00:27:31,500 –> 00:27:36,600
Understand it, take it on board,
except it be it because you are

368
00:27:36,600 –> 00:27:41,000
it and don’t have an imagination
that you’re something different

369
00:27:41,300 –> 00:27:44,800
from what you are related to
that.

370
00:27:44,900 –> 00:27:47,300
We could think of, as step to,
they’re not really steps.

371
00:27:47,300 –> 00:27:51,900
They’re more like, sort of
aspects, is a continual process

372
00:27:51,900 –> 00:27:57,200
of acceptance of where we are.
Seems to me that as we become

373
00:27:57,200 –> 00:28:01,700
more practiced at
self-examination, will be able

374
00:28:02,000 –> 00:28:05,900
again and again, to present
things to God, without the

375
00:28:05,900 –> 00:28:08,100
burden of guilt getting, in the
way.

376
00:28:08,200 –> 00:28:11,700
Remember, we are in a covenant
of forgiveness whereby, our sins

377
00:28:11,700 –> 00:28:17,400
are not held against us.
Guilt is a problem because it

378
00:28:17,400 –> 00:28:20,400
doesn’t allow us actually to see
the thing.

379
00:28:21,500 –> 00:28:24,000
It’s like we put a barrier in
front of it.

380
00:28:26,300 –> 00:28:30,900
And so, we ought to bring things
before God without a sense of

381
00:28:31,100 –> 00:28:35,500
guilt.
Without a burden of guilt and it

382
00:28:35,508 –> 00:28:38,800
seems to me.
Each time we do this, another

383
00:28:38,800 –> 00:28:43,300
part of us Dies, this is a good
thing, remember?

384
00:28:43,900 –> 00:28:48,600
Because it’s another part of the
pride that I have of who, I

385
00:28:48,600 –> 00:28:55,100
think I ought to be Dies.
Here’s another one.

386
00:28:55,100 –> 00:28:58,600
God I want you to know that this
one.

387
00:29:02,000 –> 00:29:09,300
There’s no prideful positioning,
no wishing it were otherwise

388
00:29:09,300 –> 00:29:14,800
because we’re better than this.
It’s just honest acceptance.

389
00:29:16,000 –> 00:29:20,200
It seems to me that in the New
Covenant where to see the

390
00:29:20,200 –> 00:29:25,600
external Deeds as symptoms of
the state of our spirit as

391
00:29:25,600 –> 00:29:29,800
opposed to things that are
restricted by external mandate.

392
00:29:31,000 –> 00:29:35,900
That’s really what the first
class was all about those rules

393
00:29:35,900 –> 00:29:39,200
were there under the first
Covenant, to restrain the

394
00:29:39,200 –> 00:29:43,200
vicious dog.
Now, what we get to see is, how

395
00:29:43,200 –> 00:29:46,900
is my spirit being manifest in
day-to-day life?

396
00:29:49,400 –> 00:29:53,600
And we do things that a Shamus.
We bring it before.

397
00:29:53,600 –> 00:29:56,200
God.
Not as I’ve broken your rules

398
00:29:56,200 –> 00:30:00,200
again, Lord.
But I see that there’s

399
00:30:00,200 –> 00:30:06,400
manifestation of my spirit of my
character of my being It’s not

400
00:30:06,400 –> 00:30:08,800
christ-like.
I bring it before you, and I

401
00:30:08,800 –> 00:30:12,000
accept this and I acknowledge
it, and I’m not burdened down by

402
00:30:12,000 –> 00:30:13,500
guilt.
Because I know you’ve taken the

403
00:30:13,500 –> 00:30:17,700
guilt away.
But I bring it before you as a

404
00:30:17,700 –> 00:30:21,800
step in the transformation
process that you’re working in

405
00:30:21,800 –> 00:30:23,900
me.
Rules.

406
00:30:23,900 –> 00:30:28,000
I think can be useful as a test
to see whether our spirit is in

407
00:30:28,000 –> 00:30:33,200
tune with them, to see whether
there’s more growing to do.

408
00:30:34,200 –> 00:30:38,100
Well, see whether there’s more
dying to do.

409
00:30:39,100 –> 00:30:44,300
More transforming to do.
And part of this is, we might

410
00:30:44,300 –> 00:30:47,900
notice some of the things that
are actually the acts of the

411
00:30:47,900 –> 00:30:56,100
self in day-to-day moment.
Sitting quietly at home and and

412
00:30:56,100 –> 00:31:01,300
and then the car alarm goes off.
And how long does it take before

413
00:31:01,300 –> 00:31:05,200
you first hear that car alarm
for irritation and annoyance to

414
00:31:05,200 –> 00:31:08,500
Builder?
Boom, it’s there or the dog is

415
00:31:08,500 –> 00:31:10,400
barking.
Those neighbors should do

416
00:31:10,400 –> 00:31:16,200
something about their dog.
Irritation.

417
00:31:17,300 –> 00:31:20,400
Is a mental construct.
It’s nothing.

418
00:31:20,800 –> 00:31:25,000
Absolute or fundamental in it.
It’s something that is created

419
00:31:25,000 –> 00:31:35,300
in our mind.
And somehow deep in our minds,

420
00:31:35,300 –> 00:31:41,100
in our sense of self our ego, if
you like, there must be some

421
00:31:41,100 –> 00:31:44,200
senses to this is serving a
purpose, otherwise it wouldn’t

422
00:31:44,200 –> 00:31:50,600
happen.
But what that purpose is if you

423
00:31:50,600 –> 00:31:54,900
look at it carefully and deeply
over time, is that it bolsters,

424
00:31:54,900 –> 00:31:58,600
the sense of self.
Because you get to take a

425
00:31:58,600 –> 00:32:02,200
position of rightness, against
somebody else’s position of

426
00:32:02,200 –> 00:32:06,400
wrongness, and it’s an
establishment, then of the self.

427
00:32:08,600 –> 00:32:14,600
Actually, what’s interesting
about irritation, Is that

428
00:32:14,700 –> 00:32:18,700
irritation is actually more
disturbing to you than the

429
00:32:18,700 –> 00:32:25,100
irritant itself.
Something very similar with said

430
00:32:25,100 –> 00:32:30,800
by the emperor Marcus Aurelius
who said, the effects of anger

431
00:32:31,200 –> 00:32:35,500
are almost always more serious
than the causes of anger.

432
00:32:38,600 –> 00:32:43,300
I think it’s fascinating that
when we allow that’s the wrong

433
00:32:43,300 –> 00:32:46,500
word.
When we notice irritation

434
00:32:46,500 –> 00:32:51,000
growing within us, we have
actually created a disturbance

435
00:32:51,000 –> 00:32:55,100
that is significantly greater
than the external effect.

436
00:32:55,100 –> 00:32:58,700
We have developed a whole
pattern of mental thinking

437
00:32:59,900 –> 00:33:01,500
Immediately just gets built,
boom!

438
00:33:01,500 –> 00:33:01,900
Boom!
Boom!

439
00:33:01,900 –> 00:33:02,800
Boom!
Built up.

440
00:33:02,800 –> 00:33:05,000
There’s this huge thing there in
our minds.

441
00:33:07,300 –> 00:33:11,400
And it is that thing, which is
more disturbing than the

442
00:33:11,400 –> 00:33:18,200
original irritant.
Or another Act of the self is

443
00:33:18,200 –> 00:33:24,400
feeling, sorry for yourself.
Where you just have this sense

444
00:33:24,400 –> 00:33:28,000
of of wallowing in the
particular circumstance.

445
00:33:28,200 –> 00:33:32,500
Again, there’s nothing in what
is going on in that moment that

446
00:33:32,500 –> 00:33:36,700
necessitates that particular
reaction in our minds?

447
00:33:37,200 –> 00:33:39,600
That is a construct of our
minds.

448
00:33:39,700 –> 00:33:45,000
That is the self.
Doing something, this is exactly

449
00:33:45,000 –> 00:33:49,000
the part of us that Jesus is
saying, allow that to die.

450
00:33:51,200 –> 00:33:54,800
Because that sense of feeling
sorry for ourselves then has

451
00:33:54,800 –> 00:33:57,700
consequences.
At the very least, what it does

452
00:33:57,900 –> 00:34:02,500
is takes us out of the joy of
living in the domain of God.

453
00:34:02,700 –> 00:34:06,700
And again, I’m not saying these
things to you as rules to be

454
00:34:06,700 –> 00:34:09,100
obeyed or to beat you on the
head.

455
00:34:09,100 –> 00:34:14,800
With I’m saying these things as
offers for you to examine in

456
00:34:14,800 –> 00:34:17,199
your prayerful contemplation
time.

457
00:34:18,400 –> 00:34:21,000
So you may look at some of these
things that have occurred in the

458
00:34:21,000 –> 00:34:26,600
day as you examine yourself and
there’s nothing to be done with

459
00:34:26,600 –> 00:34:28,699
them, you don’t have to fix
anything.

460
00:34:30,500 –> 00:34:35,699
That’s Christ job.
What you need to do is notice

461
00:34:35,699 –> 00:34:40,400
them and then the Light of
Christ will shine on whatever it

462
00:34:40,400 –> 00:34:42,900
is.
Wake up, o sleeper rise from the

463
00:34:42,900 –> 00:34:46,900
dead and Christ will shine on
you while we go about life,

464
00:34:46,900 –> 00:34:51,000
unconscious of these things.
We can’t let the light of Christ

465
00:34:51,000 –> 00:34:54,800
shine on it when we see them for
what they are.

466
00:34:55,100 –> 00:34:59,500
That’s all we have to do.
And Jesus is able to take over

467
00:34:59,500 –> 00:35:03,400
from that point, he shines his
light on it and it goes away.

468
00:35:08,500 –> 00:35:11,600
Another aspect of the process
and we’ll go to 2 Corinthians.

469
00:35:11,600 –> 00:35:17,500
12:4 this is to be willing for
God to take things away from

470
00:35:17,500 –> 00:35:27,500
you. 2 Corinthians 12.
Paul had been given tremendous

471
00:35:27,500 –> 00:35:32,200
Revelations into the nature of
the New Covenant, the removal of

472
00:35:32,200 –> 00:35:35,600
the dividing wall of hostility
between Jew and Gentile.

473
00:35:35,800 –> 00:35:38,200
The mystery of Christ.
He talks about all of these

474
00:35:38,200 –> 00:35:41,900
sorts of things and that allowed
him to write the incredible

475
00:35:41,900 –> 00:35:47,200
letters, that that he’s written.
He says in verse 7 to keep me

476
00:35:47,200 –> 00:35:50,400
from being conceited because of
these surpassingly.

477
00:35:50,400 –> 00:35:53,100
Great Revelations.
This is 2 Corinthians 12.

478
00:35:53,100 –> 00:35:56,100
Verse 7.
There was given me a thorn in my

479
00:35:56,100 –> 00:35:59,400
flesh, a messenger from Satan to
torment me.

480
00:36:01,300 –> 00:36:04,300
A lot of people have lots of
ideas about The Thorn In the

481
00:36:04,300 –> 00:36:06,400
Flesh, from a site and things
like that.

482
00:36:06,400 –> 00:36:11,500
And like, I don’t believe any of
those if you follow where we

483
00:36:11,500 –> 00:36:13,600
don’t have time to actually do
the work.

484
00:36:13,600 –> 00:36:16,800
But if you follow themes in the
Old Testament, where this word

485
00:36:16,800 –> 00:36:19,600
thorn, scroll UPS is used in the
Old Testament.

486
00:36:19,800 –> 00:36:24,600
It’s used of the nations in the
area where Israel were going to

487
00:36:24,600 –> 00:36:28,400
come in, they will be thorns in
your side and Barbs in your

488
00:36:28,400 –> 00:36:30,800
eyes.
That’s the idea that Paul is

489
00:36:30,800 –> 00:36:34,900
picking up.
So there’s a thorn in the flesh

490
00:36:34,900 –> 00:36:37,800
of the community that is being
created.

491
00:36:37,900 –> 00:36:41,200
Think of what Paul was doing.
He was going out, preaching, his

492
00:36:41,200 –> 00:36:46,300
preaching Liberation in Christ,
freedom from the old rules, and

493
00:36:46,300 –> 00:36:49,900
regulations of the law of Moses
transformation of spirit.

494
00:36:49,900 –> 00:36:53,400
This was the message of Paul.
This is the New Covenant.

495
00:36:55,700 –> 00:37:00,600
And immediately following him
came the judea’s who would say

496
00:37:00,600 –> 00:37:02,600
I’m sorry.
But Paul didn’t explain it all

497
00:37:02,600 –> 00:37:05,000
to you.
You do need to be circumcised,

498
00:37:05,500 –> 00:37:08,700
you do need to do this, you do
need to do that.

499
00:37:08,800 –> 00:37:12,000
And until you do, we’re not
allowed to break bread with you.

500
00:37:12,200 –> 00:37:15,600
And, and all of these rules that
followed, as the consequential

501
00:37:15,600 –> 00:37:21,300
effect of the judea’s is coming
in and destroying what Paul, in

502
00:37:21,300 –> 00:37:25,700
the Name of Christ was creating.
I should really say that Christ

503
00:37:25,800 –> 00:37:27,700
through.
Paul was crazy.

504
00:37:28,300 –> 00:37:34,500
Imagine this, your lifework
being dismantled before your

505
00:37:34,500 –> 00:37:40,300
eyes.
He says, I prayed to Jesus,

506
00:37:40,300 –> 00:37:45,000
three times to take it away from
me, verse 9, but he said, to me,

507
00:37:45,300 –> 00:37:49,300
my grace is sufficient for you
for my power is made perfect in

508
00:37:49,300 –> 00:37:51,300
weakness.
Therefore, I will boast all the

509
00:37:51,300 –> 00:37:55,500
more gladly about my weaknesses.
So that Power May rest on me.

510
00:37:59,800 –> 00:38:05,000
It’s a very powerful lesson.
I had this idea said, Paul that

511
00:38:05,000 –> 00:38:07,300
through the revelations that
were given to me.

512
00:38:07,400 –> 00:38:11,300
I was accomplishing these great
things and I saw this Thorn In

513
00:38:11,308 –> 00:38:14,500
the Flesh and it’s just
destroying it again and again

514
00:38:14,500 –> 00:38:17,200
and again.
And I know it’s Jesus is work.

515
00:38:17,200 –> 00:38:21,400
So I said, please take away this
Thorn In the Flesh so that we

516
00:38:21,400 –> 00:38:23,000
can accomplish something
together.

517
00:38:23,000 –> 00:38:31,000
Lord, and he says, no, No.
I need you to learn how to be

518
00:38:31,000 –> 00:38:34,400
weak.
And not be able to accomplish

519
00:38:34,400 –> 00:38:42,100
anything. because then when you
have realized that you have no

520
00:38:42,100 –> 00:38:48,700
strength, when you have been
able to empty yourself, then

521
00:38:48,700 –> 00:38:53,000
you’ll be strong.
And so, Paul said, I for

522
00:38:53,000 –> 00:38:57,000
Christ’s sake, I Delight in
weaknesses in insults, in

523
00:38:57,000 –> 00:39:01,300
hardships, in persecutions.
All the things that he faced

524
00:39:01,300 –> 00:39:04,900
from the judea’s in elements and
elsewhere as he was doing the

525
00:39:04,900 –> 00:39:09,300
work of the Lord.
It’s really actually quite quite

526
00:39:09,300 –> 00:39:11,700
sad.
If you look at 2 Timothy, this

527
00:39:11,700 –> 00:39:18,200
is the last letter we have from
Paul before his final defense,

528
00:39:18,200 –> 00:39:22,600
there’s some debate as to,
whether to Timothy was written

529
00:39:22,600 –> 00:39:28,700
before his first trial to Nero
or his first one, he got

530
00:39:28,700 –> 00:39:31,400
released and then went around
and traveled.

531
00:39:31,400 –> 00:39:36,900
It seems even as far as Spain.
And, and now he’s this may

532
00:39:36,900 –> 00:39:41,400
actually be The final letter,
just a short while before he

533
00:39:41,500 –> 00:39:45,800
dies that he writes to Timothy 1
verse 15.

534
00:39:46,800 –> 00:39:53,200
He says You know that everyone
in the province of Asia has

535
00:39:53,200 –> 00:40:00,700
deserted me, all of those.
Ecclesia has all of that effort

536
00:40:00,700 –> 00:40:02,900
that he put into establishing
it.

537
00:40:02,900 –> 00:40:08,300
His life work, he sees them
having turned away.

538
00:40:09,800 –> 00:40:15,300
And he dies, it seems to me not
having any sense of the Legacy

539
00:40:15,300 –> 00:40:17,900
that the Lord has actually
created through him.

540
00:40:18,100 –> 00:40:20,600
And I think that that was not an
accident.

541
00:40:21,900 –> 00:40:25,700
Paul says, it was to stop me
from being conceited and so

542
00:40:25,700 –> 00:40:29,600
genuinely, he died.
Perhaps thinking that his life’s

543
00:40:29,600 –> 00:40:32,400
work had been destroyed
completely destroyed.

544
00:40:34,900 –> 00:40:38,400
And why?
Because, that allowed him to die

545
00:40:39,000 –> 00:40:42,900
before he died.
And that’s what we’re being

546
00:40:42,900 –> 00:40:47,100
called, too.
So much of our sense of self

547
00:40:47,500 –> 00:40:52,600
comes for from our job.
I am a computer scientist.

548
00:40:52,600 –> 00:40:55,200
I’m a mathematician, those kinds
of things are family.

549
00:40:55,500 –> 00:41:00,700
This is where I am in here.
This was my father, my mother,

550
00:41:00,800 –> 00:41:04,400
these are my children, this is
my wife, my husband or our

551
00:41:04,400 –> 00:41:06,000
church.
I’m a third-generation

552
00:41:06,000 –> 00:41:09,600
christadelphians and I’m proud
of that or, or whatever it is.

553
00:41:11,000 –> 00:41:13,900
This is our sense of self, and
Jesus.

554
00:41:13,900 –> 00:41:17,000
In the words that we read
earlier, I think he’s saying,

555
00:41:17,200 –> 00:41:21,800
don’t take your standing from
your, from your family.

556
00:41:22,500 –> 00:41:26,200
Hate father, mother brothers,
sisters, even your own life.

557
00:41:26,400 –> 00:41:29,700
Don’t take it from your job,
leave these fish.

558
00:41:29,700 –> 00:41:33,600
Leave this table where you’re
making money, come, and come,

559
00:41:33,600 –> 00:41:36,000
and follow me.
This is not what your life

560
00:41:36,000 –> 00:41:39,600
consists of.
It seems to me that the Book of

561
00:41:39,600 –> 00:41:46,400
Job, the one who truly died in
the Book of Job was job himself.

562
00:41:47,600 –> 00:41:52,100
Say incredible man of Faith,
just wonderful blameless, man.

563
00:41:53,500 –> 00:41:57,900
And he says, things like I had
thought to go to the grave in

564
00:41:57,900 –> 00:42:01,900
peace with my children and
grandchildren and possessions as

565
00:42:01,900 –> 00:42:08,100
it were all around me.
God says, you need to learn to

566
00:42:08,100 –> 00:42:12,600
give that up.
Job says, I will hold on to my

567
00:42:12,600 –> 00:42:17,500
integrity.
God says here are three friends

568
00:42:17,500 –> 00:42:21,700
to malign you to say things
about you and indeed when I come

569
00:42:21,700 –> 00:42:25,200
to you I will point out that
you’re not so perfect either.

570
00:42:27,900 –> 00:42:34,100
Job finally dies.
And that is when the Lord is

571
00:42:34,100 –> 00:42:37,900
able.
To resurrect him, we are

572
00:42:37,900 –> 00:42:43,100
crucified with Christ so that we
may also live with Christ.

573
00:42:45,100 –> 00:42:50,100
For us our sense of self may
come from many dimensions.

574
00:42:50,100 –> 00:42:54,300
It may come from our looks kind
of handsome, right?

575
00:42:55,800 –> 00:43:00,000
Yeah.
Give them up before they’re

576
00:43:00,000 –> 00:43:06,500
gone.
If you age and you’re still

577
00:43:06,500 –> 00:43:11,900
trying to hold on to your looks,
it’s a failing battle.

578
00:43:13,300 –> 00:43:18,900
If you can relinquish that sense
of yourself long before it’s

579
00:43:18,900 –> 00:43:23,200
gone, it will be replaced with
an incredible beauty.

580
00:43:23,200 –> 00:43:27,500
That is shining from the inside.
We’ve all seen older people, who

581
00:43:27,500 –> 00:43:32,200
just glow Beauty and it’s not
because of their outer looks

582
00:43:33,800 –> 00:43:38,200
Maybe your physical capabilities
that you’re strong and energetic

583
00:43:38,200 –> 00:43:42,300
and Powerful.
Give It Up.

584
00:43:43,400 –> 00:43:45,800
Don’t make that your sense of
self.

585
00:43:45,900 –> 00:43:49,600
Allow your sense of self to hand
that over.

586
00:43:50,700 –> 00:43:53,400
Maybe your intellectual
standing.

587
00:43:55,100 –> 00:44:00,900
I know many people in the
academic world bright people win

588
00:44:01,000 –> 00:44:04,300
all sorts of prizes, incredibly
insecure.

589
00:44:05,800 –> 00:44:09,300
Because anything like this, you
can always find somebody who is

590
00:44:09,300 –> 00:44:15,400
that bit better than you. give
it up, don’t take your sense of

591
00:44:15,400 –> 00:44:22,600
value from from that or on the
other side of things, your pain,

592
00:44:22,800 –> 00:44:28,000
and the story that you tell
yourself The kind of defines Who

593
00:44:28,000 –> 00:44:32,900
You Are.
You know, you can never be free

594
00:44:32,900 –> 00:44:36,500
of that pain.
Until you’re willing to give up

595
00:44:36,500 –> 00:44:39,000
your sense of identity that’s
rooted in it.

596
00:44:41,200 –> 00:44:44,400
Hand it over.
Give it up.

597
00:44:46,800 –> 00:44:50,300
These things all Define our
sense of self.

598
00:44:51,100 –> 00:44:55,600
And yet, they’re all imaginings,
there’s no depth to them, and

599
00:44:55,600 –> 00:44:57,900
they interfere with our
relationship with God.

600
00:45:01,400 –> 00:45:06,900
So another aspect of it and this
will be our final aspect is when

601
00:45:06,900 –> 00:45:11,300
we talk about the sense of self
and the sense of ego and Rec and

602
00:45:11,300 –> 00:45:15,000
we’re starting perhaps to
recognize at least many aspects

603
00:45:15,000 –> 00:45:18,100
of it that are mental
constructs, that are actually

604
00:45:18,100 –> 00:45:22,200
things that we have created in
our minds rather than actual

605
00:45:22,200 –> 00:45:24,300
realities that God has put
there.

606
00:45:25,800 –> 00:45:31,800
My separation as an individual
from you also is a fiction.

607
00:45:33,600 –> 00:45:39,200
It is a mental position.
It is a construct, it’s an

608
00:45:39,200 –> 00:45:42,800
illusion, it’s a mod, it’s a
model of reality.

609
00:45:43,400 –> 00:45:48,400
It isn’t reality itself.
And models of reality have value

610
00:45:48,400 –> 00:45:52,300
sometimes and they don’t have
value other times.

611
00:45:53,300 –> 00:46:00,700
We often confuse the idea of
model and an actuality There is

612
00:46:00,700 –> 00:46:02,800
no such thing as the force of
gravity.

613
00:46:04,300 –> 00:46:09,600
What I hear you say or you could
say that Newton invented gravity

614
00:46:09,800 –> 00:46:14,100
that is actually an accurate
statement and it’s surprising at

615
00:46:14,100 –> 00:46:17,100
first because we think, of
course, he didn’t invent it.

616
00:46:17,100 –> 00:46:20,800
He discovered it.
But actually gravity is a

617
00:46:20,800 –> 00:46:22,600
mathematical model as Newton
did.

618
00:46:22,600 –> 00:46:25,900
It is a mathematical model that
needed to be invented.

619
00:46:26,100 –> 00:46:30,300
What we have is a set of
phenomena that if I hold

620
00:46:30,300 –> 00:46:34,600
something and let go it will go
to the ground set a phenomena.

621
00:46:34,700 –> 00:46:39,300
What Newton did was he said, oh
you could you could see that as

622
00:46:39,300 –> 00:46:43,500
a force which is proportional to
the mass of the object.

623
00:46:43,900 –> 00:46:47,700
And so he constructed Newton’s
theory of gravity as beautiful

624
00:46:47,700 –> 00:46:50,800
Theory, it explained all sorts
of things about how the planets

625
00:46:50,800 –> 00:46:53,500
worked and so on.
But it was a model, it wasn’t

626
00:46:53,500 –> 00:46:57,400
reality.
We now know that there are flaws

627
00:46:57,400 –> 00:47:00,400
in that model, it doesn’t
explain How some of the planets

628
00:47:00,400 –> 00:47:03,700
move and Einstein got rid of
that.

629
00:47:03,700 –> 00:47:08,200
And said, here’s a different
model of how things move in the

630
00:47:08,200 –> 00:47:11,200
universe.
It’s because of curvature of

631
00:47:11,300 –> 00:47:13,800
space time.
And space time is this four

632
00:47:13,800 –> 00:47:17,300
dimensional thing.
And it has curvature in it and

633
00:47:17,300 –> 00:47:20,800
gravity fits in as things are
actually moving in a straight

634
00:47:20,800 –> 00:47:27,900
line in space time.
But that’s another model, it’s

635
00:47:27,900 –> 00:47:30,700
not reality.
The reality are the individual

636
00:47:30,700 –> 00:47:32,400
things.
The models are ways of

637
00:47:32,400 –> 00:47:35,200
explaining in.
The reason I say this is that

638
00:47:35,200 –> 00:47:39,500
our sense of separation from
one, another is a model of

639
00:47:39,500 –> 00:47:43,000
reality.
It is not actually reality

640
00:47:43,000 –> 00:47:45,300
itself.
We are.

641
00:47:45,500 –> 00:47:48,200
And it’s a, it’s a model of
reality.

642
00:47:48,400 –> 00:47:51,800
That when you examine it, you
start to see flaws in it, you

643
00:47:51,800 –> 00:47:55,600
start to see failures in it.
And Actually a model of reality

644
00:47:55,700 –> 00:47:59,800
that creates suffering.
It is probably the primary cause

645
00:47:59,800 –> 00:48:04,200
of suffering in this world.
Is this model of reality that

646
00:48:04,200 –> 00:48:08,000
says I am separate from you so
much more.

647
00:48:08,000 –> 00:48:14,100
Like we’re waves on the sea That
come into being and that move

648
00:48:14,100 –> 00:48:18,600
for a while and then pass out of
being an each wave actually

649
00:48:19,000 –> 00:48:22,500
interacts and evokes.
Other ways, you can’t just take

650
00:48:22,500 –> 00:48:26,200
a single wave, get rid of all
the other waves and think that

651
00:48:26,200 –> 00:48:31,700
that wave will continue.
Waves are part of a whole that

652
00:48:31,700 –> 00:48:37,400
are connected below the surface.
I have no independent existence

653
00:48:37,600 –> 00:48:40,600
from you and we know lots of
scripture about it was so short

654
00:48:40,600 –> 00:48:44,800
on time, I hardly can go there.
1 Corinthians 12, you’re the

655
00:48:44,800 –> 00:48:48,500
body of Christ.
We’re all part of it.

656
00:48:48,600 –> 00:48:52,300
What Paul is trying to do is to
give us a different mental

657
00:48:52,300 –> 00:48:55,500
model.
He says, don’t have this idea of

658
00:48:55,500 –> 00:48:59,400
yourself as an individual.
That is Separate from one

659
00:48:59,400 –> 00:49:04,200
another, take on Instead, This
alternative model, which is that

660
00:49:04,200 –> 00:49:08,800
we are a single body, the
collectively we are Christ.

661
00:49:10,800 –> 00:49:13,600
And now I’m this portion of
Christ and you’re that portion

662
00:49:13,600 –> 00:49:16,100
of Christ and so on just you see
what I’m saying?

663
00:49:16,100 –> 00:49:19,900
He’s trying to shift the way
that we think about ourselves.

664
00:49:20,800 –> 00:49:26,500
I am a rock, I am an island that
song is pain.

665
00:49:26,600 –> 00:49:35,100
He knows he is not Where I end
and where you begin is a

666
00:49:35,107 –> 00:49:39,600
construct of my mind.
And through deep examination, I

667
00:49:39,600 –> 00:49:43,500
come to see that and again, as I
come to see it and the Light of

668
00:49:43,500 –> 00:49:48,300
Christ shines upon it, it has
profound impact on me.

669
00:49:48,900 –> 00:49:52,400
Let’s look at John 17.
Just as our final scripture,

670
00:49:53,200 –> 00:49:56,300
this is what Jesus was trying to
convey.

671
00:49:56,400 –> 00:50:00,500
So eagerly to them, you know,
when this prayer John 17 was

672
00:50:00,500 –> 00:50:04,300
given it was after the last
Upper that had the Last Supper

673
00:50:04,400 –> 00:50:08,200
he’d been giving all sorts of
teaching about the vine and the

674
00:50:08,200 –> 00:50:11,700
branches, and the comforter, and
then had the him, they’d left

675
00:50:11,700 –> 00:50:14,500
the upper room, and they’re
walking through through

676
00:50:14,500 –> 00:50:18,300
Jerusalem, and they’re coming
down to the kedron river and

677
00:50:18,300 –> 00:50:21,400
maybe it was at the shore of the
kedron river, and after this

678
00:50:21,400 –> 00:50:23,800
prayer, he’s going to cross the
river with his disciples.

679
00:50:23,800 –> 00:50:26,000
They’re going to go up to the
Mount of Olives and he’s going

680
00:50:26,000 –> 00:50:32,200
to now spend three hours in
meditative prayer about in the

681
00:50:32,300 –> 00:50:35,600
Garden of Gethsemane.
This is his prayer at that

682
00:50:35,600 –> 00:50:38,600
point.
This is the longest prayer Jesus

683
00:50:38,600 –> 00:50:41,400
ever gives us the theme of this
prayer.

684
00:50:42,300 –> 00:50:48,100
Unity and I don’t mean unity in
terms of documents and you know

685
00:50:48,100 –> 00:50:52,700
finally sort of I mean he’s
talking about real deep you can

686
00:50:52,700 –> 00:51:00,000
feel it in your bones Unity
verse 11 last phrase so that

687
00:51:00,000 –> 00:51:06,200
they may be one.
As we are one verse 21 that all

688
00:51:06,200 –> 00:51:09,400
of them may be one.
Father, just as you are in me

689
00:51:09,400 –> 00:51:13,500
and I am in you.
It’s an interconnectedness end

690
00:51:13,500 –> 00:51:18,000
of verse 22 that they may be one
as we are one verse 23.

691
00:51:18,000 –> 00:51:20,700
May they be brought to complete
Unity?

692
00:51:22,800 –> 00:51:28,600
This is the idea that Jesus is
wanting us to take on, its

693
00:51:28,600 –> 00:51:32,600
wondering, as to lay aside, this
notion that I am a separate

694
00:51:32,600 –> 00:51:38,400
being from you. and accept that
I am part of a much greater

695
00:51:38,400 –> 00:51:41,600
whole and that I’m connected
with you.

696
00:51:43,300 –> 00:51:45,800
Make me one with everything.