Bob Lloyd - The Way of Life - Class 1 - Thank God for Hurdles

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   It's now with great pleasure that we invite our brother Bob Ford to speak to us to the subject, Thank God for Hurdles. Brother Bob.

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   Good afternoon, my beloved brethren and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all you young people and all our friends. I can't tell you how happy I am to be here with you. I never thought I'd be back, and here I am again. And I'm so thankful that you were kind enough to remember to invite me.

3. 0:28

   I have this problem. If you invite me, I have to say yes, and sometimes it disturbs my wife a little bit. But if you can do something, and God's asking you to do it, I believe we need to try to do it. So as long as God gives us the strength, we're going to try.

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   But it's sure getting less every day as you get older. I can say something to you that none of you can say. I left Los Angeles Wednesday evening. And I did not sin on Thursday.

5. 1:08

   Because when we landed, it was Friday. So I had no Thursday to sin. Unfortunately, on the way back, I get two Mondays. So I probably wake up for lost time. But it's wonderful to think that you can get on an airplane and a few hours later be with so many people you know and love that you haven't seen for such a long time.

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   I know there's some new ones here that we are meeting for the first time. And I'm looking forward to talking to you. And it's certainly wonderful to see the faces of those that we've known and loved over the years. I see Stephen Eggington down there. I raced him in 1979 across a bridge.

7. 1:52

   And I won because I cheated. I've been doing that all over the world. But the last time I did it, I was already in my 70s. And the guy beat me so bad, I could hardly see him at the end. So I don't do that anymore. But maybe I could beat him now.

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   We both aged the same amount. Except I had such a big head start. Well, our subject is the way of life. There are two ways you can go in your life. And you have a choice. We can choose the way of life, which is our subject, and live forever. We can choose the way of death and perish forever.

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   Now, that doesn't sound like a very difficult decision to make, does it? Life or death? And yet, I know you're going to realize this is true. Nearly everybody in the whole wide world, every year, every decade, every century, they all choose death. Because they do not want to take the way of life.

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    And so that's going to be our subject. How can we be sure that we have taken and are in the way of life? So our studies this afternoon, this evening, and tomorrow, God willing, are going to try to help us see clearly the way. And then walk ye in it. The prophet Isaiah told us, And thine eye shall hear a voice behind me, thee saying, This is the way.

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    Walk ye in it. When ye turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. And that's what we need to do. We need to hear this voice of God, which we get from our scriptures, saying, This is the way. Walk ye in it. In Jeremiah's day, the Lord said to Jeremiah, And to this people ye shall say, Thus saith the Lord.

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    Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Simple, right? Choose life. Most people don't. But we want to make sure that all of us make the right decision and choose life. Again, words you're familiar with, and you might want to look them up there in Deuteronomy chapter 30, because Moses is challenging the children of Israel just before he dies.

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    And he's an old man. He's even older than I am. And that's pretty old. And he calls them together as you have come together this afternoon. And he says, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day. I have set before you life. Life and death. Blessing and cursing.

14. 4:42

    Choose life that you and your descendants may live. And again, if you know the history of the children of Israel, nearly all of them chose death. Out of some two and a half million or more who left Egypt, two of those original ones, over 20, walked across the Jordan into the promised land.

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    Joshua and Caleb. All the rest perished in the wilderness. And so history attests to the fact that most people do not choose the way of life. And we want you to do that. Now, the term the way is a biblical term. And we don't use it as much today as we used to in years past.

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    In fact, the word appears 374 times in the King James Version of the Bible. And many years ago in the Christadelphian magazine, in what they used to call the intelligence section, it's really the news. But they would report something like this. Our dear sister XYZ has fallen asleep in the Lord. She had been in the way for over 60 years.

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    Now, we know what they meant. But it sounds like she was blocking traffic for a very long time. But this phrase, the way, is quite scriptural. So we're just going to look at a few of them. Solomon says, He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction. So now there's a little clue for us.

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    If you want to stay in the way of life, you've got to listen to some instructions. The instructions we're going to find are in our Bible. And so he says, I have taught thee in the way of judgment and wisdom. I have led thee in right paths. The Bible was written so that we would know the way of wisdom and judgment.

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    It's clear that God wants us to avoid the wrong way. So Solomon says, Forsake the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding. He is in the way of life that keepeth instructions. In the way of righteousness is life. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way. The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

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    He that is upright in the way is the abomination of the wicked. You wicked people don't like you to be in the way of truth. They don't like you to stand up for what's right. And so Solomon actually warned us and says, There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

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    So the consequences of choosing the wrong way is fatal. To choose the right way is life and peace. And so it's easy for us to deceive ourselves. And when we want to really do something, how often we rationalize it. What we want to do is right when we really know it isn't. So Solomon warns us in the very first chapter of his Proverbs, My son, walk not thou in the way of them.

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    Refrain thy foot from their path. Young people have a lot of peer pressure. As you get older, your peers start dying. My father-in-law lived with us until he was 102. And we had a big party for him of Christadelphians on his 100th birthday. And I got up and I said, Granddad, we called him affectionately, Granddad has solved the peer pressure problem.

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    He didn't have any peers. He was 100 and nobody else in the room was anywhere near that. But we do have peer pressure problem. And so Solomon is saying, Don't listen to those people who want to tell you to do the wrong things. And so we read in John chapter 14, Jesus trying to comfort us.

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    And he says, Let not your heart be troubled. You have troubles. I know that. You can't get a room of people this big and not have people a lot of troubles. You know, the only people in the world who have no trouble at all are dead. Be glad you have a few problems.

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    It shows you're alive. And so let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Then he said, Where do I go? You know. And the way you know. We're talking about the way. They didn't know what he was talking about. Thomas was bold enough to speak up and ask the question.

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    Thomas said, Lord, we know not whither you're going. How do we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. So the right way, the only way, is to follow Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

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    And so Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. So are you following Jesus? So our goal is to follow Jesus. He says, If any man will serve me, let him follow me. And where I am there, shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor.

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    And then he said, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Now what Jesus is saying is, it's not going to be easy. He's saying, if you want to follow Jesus, you have to pick up a cross, and follow him. And you know what crosses were for?

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    They were to die on. We don't literally die on a cross, but we have to crucify our flesh. We have to stop doing those things that our body tells us that it wants to do. So these things have I spoken to you that in me you might have peace, he says. In the world you will have tribulation.

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    He says, But cheer up! I've overcome the world. Now did you hear what he said? He said, You're going to have trouble. Big trouble. Cheer up! Now that sounds like a contradiction of terms, doesn't it? You're going to have trouble, and I'm supposed to cheer up? And that's what Jesus is saying, and that's what we should be trying to do.

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    Because we're going to talk about something in this first class that you've heard before. I am not going to tell you anything you haven't already heard. Because if I did, it probably would be wrong. You're all better Bible students than I am. But I'm going to try to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance and try to make it stick so that when a thought goes in here, it doesn't go flying out there.

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    We're going to try to put a huck in the middle. It'll hang up, and the thoughts will stay in the middle as we try to present them to you. And so Jesus is saying, You're going to have trouble. Cheer up! I've overcome. So can you. And that's why Paul, who understood that, said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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    He could, and you can too. So Paul traveled among the ecclesias, and he tried to comfort them with similar words. He said that he exhorted them to continue in the faith, and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. So Paul is telling us, like Jesus told us, that you're going to have troubles.

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    Be followers of me, said Paul then, even as I am of Christ. So the first lesson we want to learn in this class is that the way of life is the way less traveled. world is strewn with problems and hurdles and potholes and detours, and you have to expect them and know how to conquer them, because that means to overcome.

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    Now, not too many years ago, you had the Olympics here in Sydney, and it was a very big deal for the whole world, and particularly for New South Wales, and certainly for the city of Sydney. Now, just imagine that you were somehow able to get tickets to the field and stream, field and track, the fence, and you got in the stand, and this place is packed, and I know it was packed.

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    I don't know if any of you went. I had never been to an Olympic game. We had one in Los Angeles, but I couldn't get tickets. But just imagine, now we're in the stands, and your boy from New South Wales is the runner for the high hurdles representing the great country of Australia, and the band is playing, and the flags are waving, and we're getting all ready for this race, and all the, you know, I don't do this very good anymore, but they're all getting ready to go, and the blocks are out there for them to put their feet in, and the guy's got the gun.

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    He's going to sound the gun. He said, on your mark, get set, go. I said, take your position, and the Australian runner gets down, and he gets the feet of the stock, and he looks down the road. No hurdles! This is a high hurdle race, and somebody forgot to put hurdles in his lane, and the guy's saying, on your mark, on your mark, he says, don't shoot that gun, don't shoot that gun.

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    What's the matter? There's no hurdles in my lane. I can't win the gold medal for Australia if there's no hurdles to jump over. I want hurdles to jump over so I can win.

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    That's not too hard to understand, is it? Can you equate that to your life? That God is literally putting hurdles in your lane, in your life, so you can overcome. Jesus said, he that overcometh. You can't overcome if there's no hurdles. So, the whole stadium waited while the groundskeepers set up hurdles in the lane for the Australian runner, and then they ran the race.

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    and you and I are in this race for life eternal. And we've got hurdles in front of us. And every morning when you get up, there's hurdles for you to jump. Instead of saying, oh, woe is me. Look at all those hurdles. Just say, thank God for hurdles. A loving God is preparing me for something bigger and better than this life.

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    In order for me to achieve it, I have to overcome. And so, every hurdle is to jump. And I can do it because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Again, if you have your Bibles on your lap, Hebrews chapter 12, verses thoroughly familiar to all of you, and they're about the subject on which we're now considering.

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    Chapter 12 of Hebrews coming in at verse 6, for whom the Lord loves, he chastens. You want God to love you? And you know what's going to happen? You're going to be chastened. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom the Father does not chasten?

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    But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. And King James says, bastards, as you know. Furthermore, we have all had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. You're thankful when your Father loves you enough to correct you and teach you the right way.

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    You have a heavenly Father that loves you enough to correct you and guide you in the way of life. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as it seemed best to them, but he for our prophet, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

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    Now, this next verse is so obvious and you already knew it. No chastening seems to be joyful for the present. You can't say, wow, this is sure fun having this problem. Hurdles are to jump. Yes, they are an obstacle to overcome,

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    but strengthen the hands that hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet. You can do it, brothers and sisters, and that's the first lesson we want to drive home, is that you are going to have hurdles in your life and I want to talk about how you face them because they make or they break us.

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    So what does Paul say? Come to Romans chapter 5, and Paul is going to tell us about suffering. Romans chapter 5, beginning at verse 1, this is from the RSV. Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have obtained access to the grace in which we stand and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

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    More than that, this is Paul talking, we rejoice in our sufferings. Now, are you doing that? Are you rejoicing in your suffering? You've got a problem. I just met a very nice little boy out in the parking lot. He was explaining to me that he has some pins in his neck. It's not easy to rejoice when you have pins in your neck.

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    But if God has been put there by the medical doctors to help you, be thankful that they're there and that they're doing their job. So, Paul says, more than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which he has given to us.

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    Hope helps us to cope and he's saying there, we rejoice in our troubles. Now, Paul had a problem. you already know about it. He called it a thorn in the flesh. I know a lot of people know what it is. Paul didn't tell us what it was but I'm glad you already know.

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    We had lots of different answers to that and I'm willing to listen to yours. But the point is we don't need to know what it is, we just happen to know that thorns stick and they don't feel good. And if you have a thorn in your flesh, you don't like it either and Paul didn't like it and that's only normal not to like it.

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    So what did he do? He took it to God in prayer and he prayed to God once, twice, three times. God, please take away this problem, this thorn. It hurts, God. And God said no to Paul. Paul's going to be in the kingdom. He won't have the thorn then but he had it all his life.

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    Listen to this. It's in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Again, you know all this but three times I besought the Lord about this that it should leave me. But God said unto me, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. God says you're going to have to live with that problem.

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    Well, how would you react if God tells you you must live with the problems that you have? And he said, I will the more gladly boast of my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ which I am content with for the sake of Christ I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecution, calamities, all these problems I've got.

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    Thank God for hurdles. Thank you God for giving me these problems. So you have problems like Paul did. How are you reacting? That's our lesson we want to learn from this first class. How are you going to react to the problems you already have and some that you're going to get that you haven't even had yet?

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    I have people say, I just can't take it anymore. Do you know that your subconscious mind does not have a sense of humor? When you talk to yourself and you tell yourself, I can't take this anymore, your body will react and you probably won't be able to. Somebody sees it and you say, oh, I'm going to get a cold.

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    You order a cold. Okay, you get a cold. Why do we program our sales to fail instead of to succeed? Don't ever say negative things to yourself. Oh, I just can't handle it. You can handle it. If you couldn't handle it, God wouldn't let you have it in the first place. So you see, we can take lots more than we think we can take if we just trust in God to provide us the strength to get through what it is we have to go through.

58. 22:08

    And so James, now, Paul has said that we gladly boast in weaknesses. James chapter one is going to say, consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of any kind. You're really being tried. Oh boy, you're full joy, right? No. Well, James says, yes. When you have problems, we are to thank God for our troubles because you know, this is not a maybe thing, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

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    Perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. So James is in complete agreement with Paul that how do you react when you have problems? Rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance. Now this is not normal. In the world, it's totally unknown. You're not in the world.

60. 23:08

    You come out from the world. We have to be different from everybody else. And we do have problems. But you see, God, because he loves you, is going to make sure that you never have a problem that you can't handle. If you couldn't have handled it, God wouldn't have let you have it.

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    And so, sometimes when I've had a really big problem, I've said, God, you think I'm up to this one? But since I've got the problem, the answer is yes, I am, or he wouldn't let me have it. And so now, this is what I really want you to look up. Luke chapter 6.

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    And this is Jesus. Because where did Paul get the answer to rejoice in trouble? Where did James get the answer to rejoice in trouble? They learned it from Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is going to answer this once and for all. How do we handle our troubles on the way of life? In Luke chapter 6, and coming in at verse 20, looking at his disciples, and this is what Jesus, he looks right at you, and he said, blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

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    We'd love to go to weddings. Christendomers go to weddings. That's one place you can get people out. They don't come to some other thing, but they'll come to a wedding. So, big wedding in your area, and all the little children were in the audience, and after they got home, they decided to play wedding.

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    So one little boy, he was going to be the preacher, and a little girl was playing the role of the bride, and the little boy was pretending he was the groom, and the little fellow who was doing the marrying, he said to the little girl, do you take this man for richer or for poorer?

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    And he said, she says, for richer. She thought she had a choice. She didn't understand what the whole thing was, but you see, that's what we normally do. Oh, we choose the rich, we choose the healthier. Now listen to what Jesus says. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

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    Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall lie. Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of God. But I don't want people to not like me.

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    I don't want people to reject me. See, pure pressure, you have to stand up for the truth against your peers, and if they're all going the wrong way, you don't go that way just because everybody else is going that way. Anything that everybody else is doing is probably wrong. So if ever you come to your parents and say, everybody's going, if I was your father, I'd say, well, that's why you're not.

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    Anything they're all doing is probably not a good thing to do. So, and when you do that, they are going to exclude you and insult you and reject you, and now we're coming to the key verse. Verse 23. Rejoice in that day and Jesus said to him.

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    That was a dumb thing to do, wasn't it? I just jumped. I don't jump as high as I used to. But he didn't really mean that, do you think? Do you think Jesus really meant, let's read it again. Verse 23. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.

70. 26:29

    I don't think Jesus ever said silly talk. I think Jesus meant that when you have a problem, you should leap for joy. Now, you look at this room and you look at the people in this room and you look at the problems that all of you are facing, this ought to be a jumping place.

71. 26:51

    Because we've all got problems. Now, I've taken this verse absolutely literal because Jesus said to. Now, I know I don't leap like I used to leap, and if you're at bed fast, you may not even be able to get, but you go, you could mentally leap even though you can't get out of bed.

72. 27:12

    And I have to tell you a story. We have a Bible class in our home on Tuesday nights. And a brother comes to this class who is in the television business. He's a producer for a newscast, Channel 7. And he has to be on duty at five in the morning. So he has to leave the house at about four.

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    so he, as soon as the class is over, he's got to get out of there because he's got to get up real early. And we talked about Jesus telling us to leap for joy. And as soon as the class was over, we closed with prayer. And we, my wife always has refreshments, and everybody sits around, and we have a nice time together.

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    But he, he says, thanks folks, and he's on. He's gone. So later on, this sister, his wife, was talking to my wife on the phone, and she said, you know, after we left your class, Fred was jumping all the way down your driveway. He was leaping for joy as he left the class because Jesus said to.

75. 28:16

    There's actually something therapeutic. I gave this in England at a place called Wessex Camp. Wessex was a farm. They rent a farm, and the farmer rents a great big field, and they bring in a big tent called, they call them a marquee. There were 750 people broke bread in a tent that weekend.

76. 28:36

    And everybody brings their caravans and their tents, and everybody camps. And on the Saturday, I mentioned this to leap for joy in the morning session. And then we all broke, and everybody went back to their caravans and tents for lunch. And we came back for the afternoon session, and this sister came up to me and says, oh, Bob, my head's killing me.

77. 28:58

    I said, what happened? She said, well, I went into my caravan, and I leapt for joy, and I hit the door here. So when you do it, make sure you have clearance. But there was a medical doctor in the audience, and I saw him later on that same week, and he says, you know, I went home, and I did some research medically about what you said.

78. 29:24

    It wasn't me. It was Jesus said it. He says it actually has therapeutic value. Now, you see, we've read that. How many times have you read Leap for Joy? And how many times have you actually done it? You see, Jesus meant what he said. And when you have a problem, the fellow doing the hurdles has got to leap.

79. 29:47

    He's going to hit the hurdle if he doesn't jump. So when you have problems, listen to Paul. Listen to Peter. Listen to James. Listen to Jesus, who said, this is how you handle problems. You thank God for your hurdles. You leap for joy. You recognize that God loves you or you wouldn't have this problem.

80. 30:08

    And so therefore, he's helping you to overcome it. We find as we get older, we can't move as quickly as we used to, but it doesn't need to be a physical leap at all. It simply needs to be a mental one. And so even when you are down in bed, you still can leap for joy.

81. 30:38

    Jacob had to limp for the rest of his life because he wrestled with an angel. That was a good limp. He didn't complain. He was one of God's chosen. God left him a limp to remind him of what had happened. And so when you have problems, God sometimes leaves you with reminders of them.

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    Our hearing may go. Our teeth may fall out. We may be able to walk. We have to use crutches or maybe in a wheelchair. Maybe we can't get out of bed. But just recognize the fact that our problems are sent to us by a loving father who's preparing us for bigger and better things.

83. 31:36

    And so when Paul was called on the way to Damascus, Ananias was to told him that he must learn those things which he must suffer for my sake, said God to Ananias about Paul. And then you think about Jesus, our Savior, our Lord. We're told that he had to learn obedience by the things that he suffered.

84. 32:04

    He was the Son of God. He never sinned. We sometimes suffer because of a sin that we've committed. And sins do bring consequences. But not all your problems are caused by your sins. Some of them are caused by God helping you to want to be in the kingdom more than anything else in all the world.

85. 32:27

    And so that dear sister who fell asleep in the Lord after being in the way for 60 years, she had 60 years of overcoming troubles. Because everyone who is a Christadelphian is going to have problems. promised by God, promised by Jesus, cheer up, the world you will have troubles. But be of good cheer because I have overcome the world.

86. 33:01

    So I want you to realize how special you are. You have come here because you've been called. There's millions of people in Sydney. This room couldn't hold everybody that wanted to come here if all the people realized that we had the answer to all their problems but they don't believe that and they wouldn't listen if they came.

87. 33:20

    You have been called by God. Jesus said, no man can come to me except the Father which has set me dry. So you're handpicked out of the millions of people, no, billions of people on this earth. How few of us really know the true gospel message. We know the plan and purpose with God.

88. 33:39

    We know what's going to happen. We're looking for Jesus. We are so blessed and sometimes we take it for granted. Yes, I'm a Christadelphian. I've been a Christadelphian for more than 60, 66 years last July I was baptized. So I've been in the way a long time. Some people think I'm in the way.

89. 34:00

    But because I gave my life to God he is directing my paths in the way of life to the kingdom and I believe that with all my heart. And when I stray from the way he gently brings me back. He's guiding your feet. You know, God will guide your feet but you have to get up and shuffle them yourself.

90. 34:28

    You say, oh yes, I want God to guide me but I'm just sitting back and taking it easy. God can't guide you if you don't try to get moving. But once you're going God can guide your feet in the way of life. So Jesus says, you can't even come to me unless my father has drawn you.

91. 34:51

    So those of you who are in this room not baptized, you're being called. You just haven't said yes yet. Some of you it's because you're too young. For others there's other reasons. We don't know what they are. But they've allowed me to have a special class not tomorrow but a week from tomorrow for everybody that's not baptized.

92. 35:10

    If you're baptized you can't come. Because everybody in the whole world that's not baptized is not baptized for a reason. And if you're not baptized there's a reason. And we want to find out what it is. See if we can help. So if you're not baptized please try to reserve that time a week from tomorrow in the evening for that special class.

93. 35:32

    But the fact is you've been called or you wouldn't even come today. Even if you just came to light day with a neighbor who's a Christodalphian you're hearing something maybe you haven't heard before. Most of us this is old stuff you're hearing. But the point is we are being called by God and it's up to us to say yes.

94. 35:55

    We may have to limp through life as a result of our encounter with an angel. But you see that's all right. God didn't promise us a bed of roses. Jesus said you will have troubles but be of good cheer I have overcome the world. So God said to Jeremiah back in Jeremiah chapter 1 just as Jeremiah book begins God says to him before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee.

95. 36:32

    Before thou came forth of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nation. So what's that got to do with us? Well God is telling Jeremiah that before he was even conceived God knew all about him. And you know that's true of you if you've been called. God knew you were going to be born when you were born before your parents even met each other.

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    You were in God's plan to be in the kingdom because he's calling you and he wants you in the kingdom and we have to respond by saying yes thank you father we want to be there. We're called to walk in the way of life and we have to know what that way is and then we have to get up moving and go that way.

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    Now Jesus warned us that the way would not be easy. In Matthew 7 he says enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction those that enter in by it are many. You have very good roads here in Australia I'm amazed you drive on the left side of the road but you have very good roads to go on and they're busy traffic everywhere but when you choose to go in the way of life you're going to turn off the big motorways you're going to take an off ramp from the road where everybody else is going and you're going to take that long narrow winding uphill road to the kingdom for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those that find it are few few that be that find it says the King James so this these talks are about the way of life and we want you this weekend to totally rededicate yourself that you are in the way and you're going to keep moving in the way you may have to take baby steps but don't sit down stay on your feet and keep moving toward the kingdom it's not an easy road God didn't promise it would be easy he just promised that he would help you if you would try but some people won't try can you imagine going back to that example of the Olympics and the morning of the big race our star hurtler went to the coach and he says coach I don't feel good today you know there are days when we don't

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    feel good it's true of all of us I don't think I want to try to ride you spend a lifetime getting ready to compete for Australia in the Olympics and you don't feel good and you're not going to try that would drive the coach crazy you get in there and do the best you can well I don't feel good coach we don't always feel good we don't always have energy we don't always know exactly what to do so we ask God to help us he will guide your steps trust in the Lord with all thy might and lean out into their own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him as God and he will direct your paths but he won't direct them if you won't try and so we who are baptized have already made that commitment on the day of our baptism we gave our life to the Lord now unfortunately all of us have fallen back taken steps in the wrong direction since our baptism because none of us are perfect but aren't you thankful for forgiveness because if it weren't for forgiveness none of us could be saved and so brethren and sisters you are now in the way of life you who are not baptized you now know about the way of life and you know it's the only right way there's lots of wrong ways but there's only one right way and God is inviting you to participate and offering you the greatest reward that's ever been offered to human beings to live and reign on this earth with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and people say no if we could

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    just paint for the people we're trying to teach the truth to the picture of the goal of the kingdom we would be drawn to it and so wild horses couldn't keep you out of the water let me get baptized what we're finding in the mission field and it's sad in a way that we have to go so far God is working and he's calling people out of the Gentiles for his name in all these countries where there were no Christadelphians a few years ago and now there's lots of Christadelphians in India in China my grandson has been a missionary in China for the last year he went over there and learned Mandarin and he was actually doing translating in Mandarin in China and just a young boy but he's on fire for the truth but you see when you talk to your neighbors about this oh watch the telly I'm going to the ball game we're having a card party tonight we're doing this everybody in the world around you probably is crowding God out of their life and they've chosen the way of death and they're going to get what they chose I know that you have labor unions in Australia we have them in America and the people who belong to a union often times go on strike and they get little signs and they walk up and down picketing they want more money well now you have earned something and you're going to get it and you don't have to pick it to get it you earned it you're going to get it the wages of sin is death and nobody has ever

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     gotten out of this life alive nobody ever got out of this life not even the Lord Jesus Christ but he did not sin so the grave could not hold him and because of Christ and his sacrifice for us if we commit our life to him the grave will not hold us either so whether we live we live unto the Lord whether we die we die to the Lord whether we live or die we are the Lord's and we are in the way of life and we're thankful to be in that way and we're thankful that we've come together this afternoon to talk about this way we have two more classes today and then some more tomorrow but I just want to thank you for inviting me to come and share thoughts with you I realize it's not something you've never heard before but I hope that it will drive home this real affirmation in your mind this is the right thing and I am going to resist temptation I am going to give my life to the Lord I'm going to be able to say no to the problems and I'm going to be able to accept the problems that I have and rejoice that God loves me enough to give me these problems so be willing to turn off the broad way to the narrow way that leads to life eternal God promises to wipe away all tears from our eyes God gave us tear ducts on purpose us but in the kingdom we won't need them but Jesus wept it's okay to weep when you're having problems but then you have to get

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     a hold of yourself and say yes but I have this problem because God you're testing me and you're preparing me for something better and I can handle it don't say you can't because you can because the time is coming there should be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain can you imagine that almost all of us experience pain some of us are in pain all the time pain is very debilitating it's very hard to keep a stiff upper lip when you're hurting all over and that's true of some of you in this audience you're hurting thank God for your hurdles God is allowing this hurt if you can get medical care that will help you do it do it it's not wrong but what you have and you cannot change except and thank God for it and so we're bringing our first class to a close and you're going to be given a little handout and the brethren are going to be passing those out now and I've got one in my pocket but I don't want to deal with it are they ready to go now when you see it you won't know what it is so I got to explain it to you it's unpronounceable I like to tell you it's my business card but it doesn't have a phone number so there's no way you can contact me is there any more can pass them out from the back can we we're going real I want you to put this card in your pocket because I want you to look at it and be reminded

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     of what it's telling you and what it's telling you that's an acronym of a bunch of letters thank you very much and I don't know if you know what they are but now you will because I carry these cards with me and when somebody when I do something wrong not if because I do do things wrong people do make mistakes I do and I'll just hand them one of my cards tell you what it helps even if your boss is jumping on you because you did something wrong just hand him one of your cards you can make thousands of these they're easy to make and it stands for this please be patient with me God is not finished with me yet and that's the good news about our way of life God is not finished with you yet he's got big plans for you in his kingdom he's called you to be steadfast and unmovable and always abound in his work he wants you to hang in there and jump those hurdles and stop complaining about them the children of Israel were always complaining they even complained about the food they ate angels food and complained about it be thankful that God loves you enough to have number one called you number two given you some troubles some hurdles be of good cheer said Jesus in the world you're going to have troubles but I have overcome the world said Jesus and the good news is you can too