Chris Sales - Paul's Enemies and Friends - Class 5 - Best Friends and Worst Enemies

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

1. 0:00

   This is day five of the 2023 Palm Springs Bible School. Our second period teacher is Brother Chris Sales. His general subject is Paul's enemies and allies. Today's topic is best friends and worst enemies. Brother Chris. Good morning, brothers and sisters. That's great. Not bad. Last day, that was pretty rousing. That's impressive. Thank you for that. And just to echo Brother Kitson's words, certainly it's been a great pleasure for Martha and myself to be here this week. It's been a great week. It's been great reconnecting with people that we've known for many years. Great meeting many people, new people.

2. 0:41

   It's certainly been a very welcoming and joyous experience. So thanks for that. So our last class, we've been alternating, you know, friends and enemies. And it's an odd number, so we can't can you alternate. So we've gone with best friends and worst enemies. So quick little recap and kind of just bringing our mind together. Just shout out from your, you know, discussions and thoughts.

3. 1:09

   If you had to pick one, Paul's best friend. Barnabas. Barnabas. Okay. Silas. That's, yeah. Timothy. Luke. He might not be on my list. How could I have missed Luke? I don't know. I don't know if I had. Wow. Note to self. Okay. Oh, Sandy. A future friend in Steven. There's, I think there's a poem that a sister wrote. Has anyone seen this poem about Paul and Steven meeting in the kingdom.

4. 1:52

   It's like, oh, the sister Galbraith from Australia. Wow. It's a tearjerker for sure. You'd love it, Sandy. So where we're going today for our final class is, is this one. Jesus. Yeah, that's where we're going today. Thanks for not calling out there. Perry and Nancy Lee, they knew that. This was, this was test run in Collingwood. So, all right. Good, good, good. Okay. Who was Paul's worst enemy? Do you think? Ah, I shouldn't have called on Jerry. I should have known that Jerry's going to like jump to the top of the queue. Should have known. I should have known. Sure. But I mean, think about it. You think about some of the people we looked at and, and some of those that he had interactions with, but I don't know how many people heard Jerry, but she's, he said, uh, yeah, himself. So that's where we're going to start. Um, we're going to start with, uh, his worst enemy being himself. So let's go open up our Bibles. I'd ask you to go to, um, to Romans chapter seven. And, and hopefully as we wrap this up, um, and, and take some exhortation from it moving forward. Cause we've been with, we've been with Paul all this week. So now some, some introspection, uh, cause we share this, we shared this enemy with Paul because each of us is ourselves.

5. 3:16

   Um, and of course then we'll, we'll conclude with, with our best friend who's Jesus. Um, so Romans chapter seven, um, and, and just a couple of verses, um, you know, this is that, that tongue twisting verse, uh, or section of, of Romans seven that brethren, when they get called to read, they're like, all right. For that, which I do, I allow not for what I would that do I not, but what I hate that do I. All right. Romans seven verse 15. Um, maybe NIV is a little bit, uh, um, easier.

6. 3:48

   I do not understand what I do for what I want to do. I do not do, but what I hate I do. All right. So this is, this is Paul wrestling and, and, and Romans chapter seven is, is helpful. Do you find it helpful? Right? Because this is the apostle Paul. I mean, in other places he says, be imitators of me, even as I am of Christ. So he's a great role model, but even in this, like it's okay to struggle. It's okay to think what just happened. What did I just do? I hate that stuff. And I just did it. Okay. Um, a little further on this section here, um, Romans seven verses, um, 18 and 19.

7. 4:28

   For I know that in me that is in my flesh, he says, dwells no good thing for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good. I find not for the good that I would, I do not, but the evil, which I would not that I do. Uh, and again, just NIV perhaps helpful here for, I know that a good itself does not dwell in me. It doesn't come naturally to me or to us, any of us that is in my sinful nature for, I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out for, I do not do the good that I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do this. I keep on doing now. If you've got your Bibles open, a great exercise is to color in, if you're a color in type person, um, the word sin and the word flesh. Okay. And it's, it just jumps out off the page here, um, all over Acts, uh, sorry, Romans chapter seven, sin and flesh. We come to chapter eight and that's, that's where, that's where we're going.

8. 5:37

   And you've got the word sin and flesh still, or carnal nature, but what word starts to now come out spirit. Okay. And, and this is, this is the battle, right? This is the battle. And as you go through chapter eight, there's this transition where there's both. And then towards the end, you know, it's the spirit and the spirit helps us in our infirmities and so on. So just a little aside, there's something good little Bible reading technique there because he basically says there's these, there's this enmity, right? This is right out of Genesis chapter three, right? Verse 15.

9. 6:17

   I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. And, and at the end of chapter seven here, there's this, this heart rending plea. This is the plea. This is the apostle Paul speaking, of course, as, as, as directed by the, by, by the spirit. He's inspired to write these things, but he's feeling in himself, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, right? Who, who should deliver me? And, and we can picture Hezekiah or Gehazi with Elisha.

10. 6:57

    We haven't got a hope against this army, right? But those that are with us, he that is with us is more than they does with them, right? Because with him is a arm of flesh. And if we rely on the flesh, we're going to lose. We can't fight flesh with flesh, right? If Hezekiah had said, all right, rally the troops. We're going to go out and, you know, take on the, because we're so mighty and strong, they would have got obliterated, right? But with us is, is the Lord. So in this context, with us is the, with us is the, the mind of the spirit. We fight the flesh with the spirit. So he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, so that with the mind of myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And, and this enmity is, is never going to go away all our lives.

11. 7:51

    All right. We're going to, going to be in, in, in the battle. In fact, I've heard it said, if, if you don't feel there's a battle raging inside you, you've lost and the flesh has won. So we battle, we battle the flesh versus the spirit, the enmity, you know, the, the mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit have this enmity. And that enmity was there in Jesus, right?

12. 8:13

    Because he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. And he crushed the head of that serpent finally through his, his death and his resurrection. And, and we follow, we follow with that. So we understand where, what, what Paul is saying here. We can, we can relate to it. And I think that's helpful when we step back and reflect upon this week and, and Paul fighting the various, you know, literal enemies, if you will, that he had, you know, and I think we have to see sort of ourselves in our enemies that they're facing the same things, whoever your enemy is, like what inverted commas, whatever that, that person or that individual or, or whatever that circumstance, you know, they're struggling with these things as well. And so hopefully we can be a bit more empathetic and understanding to others because we acknowledge in ourselves that same weakness, those same challenges. And maybe that's how Paul got through. He understood those, those Jews and the zeal that they had, not according to knowledge, right? But he understood where they were coming from.

13. 9:14

    And maybe that helped him deal with it and get through it and, and turn it over to God. So by acknowledging or recognizing that this is us, we have failings and shortcomings, we can have a little bit more empathy and understanding, but, but those that kind of rub us the wrong way, if you will, you know, so before we judge the actions or, or the words or behavior of others, we can reflect upon our own inadequacies, our own challenges. They may be different. Maybe, maybe the person who is, you know, maybe comes across very arrogant or boastful or prideful, you know, maybe we don't struggle with that, but, but maybe we, you know, maybe we have some other lust of the flesh, lust of the eye challenges and, and we can reflect upon that. Okay. I'm not going to, you know, think too harshly of them because who knows, maybe they were just in a bad way, or I know their background and their circumstances. And we can turn that over then to God, spread that before the Lord, if you will.

14. 10:12

    So, um, just, just flip over to Galatians chapter five. We know this, this passage well, um, you know, this is, this is the passage about the lust of the flesh and, and, and the works of the flesh compared to the fruit of the spirit. This is, this is where the battle's engaged, right? This is, it's, it's everywhere in scripture. So just let's pick it up a bit of the context before we get to the, um, the works of the flesh. Look at the context. Um, there there's in verse 15, there's, there's some, um, biting and devouring amongst the believers, right? And we're having trouble to, to fulfill this law. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself in verse, in verse 14. And why, why, why do we have this challenge? Well, the solution, the antidote, verse 16, this, I say, then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the lust for the flesh lusteth against the spirit.

15. 11:12

    There's enmity. There's no reconciliation possible between, you know, there's no, there's no common ground between the flesh and the spirit. It's a battle to the death and the spirit against the flesh. They are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. That's what Romans seven was all about. We, we can't, if you're trying to, well, if I just, if I just try harder, you know, if I just, if I just think, um, against those things, you know, coming to my mind is several, you know, Bob Lloyd isms, right? I'm not going to think about the pink elephant, right? You know, or I'm not going to, you know, I don't really want to buy that fancy car, but I'm going to walk past the showroom every single day, right? Those kinds of things. He was much better at those analogies, but we, we, we remember, right? If we're going to think that by just sheer will power, we're going to overcome, we won't. We need the, we need the flat, the, the flesh to be overcome by the spirit, the mind of Christ, the mind of the spirit. So this is going on. And he says, but ye are led of the spirit. You are not under the law. And then of course we've got the works of the flesh, verse 19 up to 21. And we have the fruit of the spirit. And this is, this is our goal to, to develop this fruit of the spirit, you know, love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, temperance, meekness, temperance. You know, the, this is, this is where we want to go. And this is,

16. 12:39

    this is why we need Jesus Christ as our best friend. And, and perhaps we, you know, this, this passage might come to your mind. Philippians four, verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. All right. This is the, the counterbalance to this passage is of my own self. I can do nothing, right? If I just trust in myself of my own self, I can do nothing. Who said that? Who said of my own self, I can do nothing. Jesus.

17. 13:17

    Jesus. So do you think you can do things by yourself? Because Jesus couldn't do them by himself. He needed his father. Why my father is greater than I. Okay. So, and Paul said, I can all do, I can do all things through Christ. The mind of Christ, the thinking of the spirit is how we overcome the flesh. But the context of this is interesting. I'll have it here on the screen, but if you want to turn it up, you know, this, sometimes we, we pluck verses out and, and they're powerful, you know, these sort of one-liners, you know, the, the plaque that's on the wall. Okay. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But look at the context here. It fits with what we were talking this week with, with Paul. He says, not that I speak with respect of want. This is verse 11 to 12.

18. 13:59

    So leading into Philippians 4, 13, for I have learned in whatsoever stead I am therewith to be content. There, there's a great antidote to all the anxieties of, of life, right? This is, this is what Jesus said as well, right? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Put first things first. I know both how to be, to be abased and how, saw that coming, how to abound everywhere. And in all things, I instructed both to be full and to be hungry. Oh, peaks and valleys, right? Both to abound and to suffer need. So anyone find this easy? Contentment. That's an easy one, right? Just be content. I mean, we live in a world and I don't know if there's anyone in marketing here and it's fine if you are, but you know, the goal of marketing is to make you discontent, right? That's the goal. So whatever advertising that you see out in the desert, filming, you know, off-roading stuff, they want me to look at that and go, wow, I want one of those things.

19. 15:06

    My car's not good enough. I can't go out into the desert, right? It's to make us discontent. This is hard. This is hard stuff. So how are we going to do it? How could we possibly, in whatever state we are, be content? I could do all things through Christ who strengthens me, right? It's like when Jesus is saying to the disciples, especially to Peter, you know, like how often should we like forgive our brother, you know? And he says, all those words he says, you know, 70 times seven and so on. The disciples go, strengthen our faith, right? It's the same thing here. How could we possibly do this only through the mind of Christ? Okay. So we all have a worst enemy and that is ourselves. It's our nature. And we do battle as Paul did. Now what we want to do, before I put that up there, the account of what turned Paul around, the so-called Damascus road, right? And we've kind of used that now as a, you know, an idea. What's your Damascus road?

20. 16:17

    Okay. So it's, the original account is in, I'll put this up now. The original account is in Acts chapter nine, verses three to eight. He recounts it several, well, twice that we know of. It's recorded in Acts 22, six to 11 and Acts 26. And I didn't put the verses there. What I've done is I've taken the Acts 26 account and I've interleaved the others to make one kind of combined account.

21. 16:46

    All right. Just to get the full, the full picture. And the reason I picked the Acts 26 account is it was the fullest. And I also made it into a first person account. See, Acts chapter nine, it's what's happening to Paul, but then he recounts it. It's what's happening to me. All right. So we're just going to read through this. And, and this is, this is what sort of turned him around. And hopefully we can, we can draw some, some exhortation from it. So the words, when there's a square bracket, it's just I've put inserted words to kind of make it flow. But so if it's in italic, it's from Acts nine. If it's bold, it's Acts 22. And just the normal font is Acts 26.

22. 17:29

    And as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about midday, I saw suddenly in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them, which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

23. 17:54

    And I said, who art thou Lord? When you put the accounts together, there's quite a bit. He says, it actually goes on to the next slide. So just, just, this is what Paul hears. Paul says, while he's lying on the ground in this bright light, the Lord said, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutes. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks, but rise and stand upon my feet. For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. That's his commission.

24. 18:57

    And I, trembling and astonished, said, can you imagine? Put yourself there. He picks me. He's now blind. We find it later. And he's trembling and astonished. And all he can say is, Lord, what wilt thou have me do? That was a big commission. Like, where do I start? The Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with me saw indeed the light and were afraid and stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And I arose from the earth. And when my eyes were opened, I saw no man for the glory of that light. But they that were with me led me by the hand and brought me to Damascus. So that's the, that's the full experience of the Damascus road that Paul had.

25. 19:53

    So just focusing on this, you know, what, what, what do I do? What, what would you have me to do, Lord? Arise and go into the city, and then she'll be told thee what thou must do. I don't know what you imagine Paul to be like. I think he was pretty driven.

26. 20:14

    And I think he had it all mapped out what he was going to do. He didn't head out from Jerusalem to Damascus saying, I'll figure it out when I get there. That's what I would do. I'm a play it by ear kind of guy. There's no way. Paul was like, we're going to go to Damascus, got letter from the chief priest, first of all, right? And he's got all that, he's got everything in order, and he's going to go there. And Jesus says, just go into the city. I'll let you know what comes next.

27. 20:39

    Right? This may have been the first time that Paul had to act in faith in Jesus. Well, for sure faith in Jesus, but maybe for the first time ever, he's going to, he's going to take a step, not knowing where the next step goes, right? Get to Damascus and, you know, you'll be on a needs to no basis, Paul. This is my mission. You know, you're the instrument of me. So I think there's maybe something we can learn from that. That's how you deal with your worst enemy. Sometimes you just got to put him on, you know, put him in the background, get behind me, Satan, right? And walk in faith, trust Jesus. He was blinded that he could see. Someone mentioned to me yesterday, you know, about that was the first miracle that we know that Paul performed was smiting Elimus with blindness.

28. 21:27

    It's like, it worked for me, be able to work for this guy, right? Later, if Paul's the writer to the Hebrews, but certainly spirit directed here, the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastens everyone he accepts as his son. There's some exhortation there for us. You know, when we are going through those valleys, realize that is where the growth takes place, because the Lord disciplines the one that he considers a son. You know, if life is all rosy and everything's going great, according to Hebrews, that means you're an illegitimate son, because I'm not going to spend time trying to discipline that one. That one's going to go his own way. So we can be encouraged in these difficult, challenging times. And of course here, Proverbs 27, open rebuke is better than secret love, faithful to the wounds of a friend, Jesus is his friend. And he's, he's chastening Paul here. He's blinded him three days in darkness.

29. 22:28

    It's the kisses of the enemy that you need to worry about, right? And I think there's some encouragement there for us as well. Hopefully amongst ourselves as we, this is our friend group right here. You know, don't, don't be afraid to say that the challenging words, you know, the best friends are the ones that sometimes have to give you a wound, right? And we need to cherish those, not, not, not react negatively to those or, you know, get our pride hurt or whatever.

30. 22:55

    Be humbled by those experiences that perhaps that's the Lord working through that person. So we need to, we need to see Jesus in our friends. You know, we know in the parable of the sheep and the goats, it's, you know, our action to the least of these, my brethren, we're doing it to Jesus.

31. 23:10

    Well, this is kind of like that in reverse, right? How does Jesus work with us? Perhaps it's through our, our, our good friends that are going to give us good godly advice, right? So I think we have to, you know, that helps us to understand how Jesus maybe works in our lives. Jesus may be speaking to you or working in your life through the words and actions of your friends. And so where do we go with this idea of, of go into the city and it should be told thee what thou must do? How do we, how do we walk with the Lord, if you will? Well, let's first of all, look at Paul because Jesus says, you know, I'm going to tell you what to do. I'll, I'll be with you through all circumstances. It started off a little bit difficult for Paul. There was some challenging circumstances. So we know that, um, after the Damascus road experience, he goes into Damascus and he preaches Christ boldly and he's so successful that you just want to kill him. So he escapes Damascus, heads back to Jerusalem and, and old Paul's kicking in here. He's like, it makes perfect sense. Now my life as a Pharisee, you know, all those wasted years, here I am, man, I'm going to be able to convert all those other Pharisees, all those people I know. Right? Like this is obviously what I can see it all. It's, it's clear as day now. All right. So he's in Jerusalem and Jesus says to him, make haste, get thee out quickly out of Jerusalem for they are not going to receive thy testimony concerning me.

32. 24:46

    Paul's like, what? Like I'm, I'm like the star witness here. I'm like the poster boy for ex Pharisees. It's obvious. This is my best thing to do. Right? Clearly Lord, this is what you intended for me. Right? I said, Lord, they know that I am prisoned and beat in every synagogue, them that believed on you. And, and when the blood of your martyr, Stephen was shed, I was there standing by consenting to his death, kept the raiment of them that slew him. And now I'm totally one of his disciples. What greater witness could there possibly be? Surely Lord, you know, leave me here in Jerusalem. I'll convert them all. Jesus said to him, just leave, Paul, trust me. I'm going to send you far hence to the Gentiles.

33. 25:38

    This made no sense to Paul at this moment. You know, I need to struggle with that. You know, we just have to trust that Jesus is our best friend. He always knows what's best, even if it's counterintuitive to us. Right? Like we're like, surely Lord, like I'm supposed to go here and do this and that. And no, no, just, you know, and how, how do we see the Lord, you know, speaking to us? A few minutes here. I didn't even look at the clock here. Well, we're, we're okay. We've had a couple of discussions over the last couple of days. I have people have come to me. We've talked about coincidences in our lives that just, you know, we go from here to there. Um, anyone want to speak? How do, how do, I mean, the Lord doesn't speak to us so overtly here as he did to, as he did to, to Paul, you know, maybe speaks to us through, through, through friends. We've mentioned that, but how do we see the Lord working in our lives and anyone I just suggest an idea.

34. 26:45

    Okay. So here's an idea. Oh, go ahead. Rick. Well, I think this, uh, on the way here from the airport, I couldn't see a thing. Good planning. Have you heard of this thing, a GPS or these things? No, no, no GPS. Hope you got here. Yeah. And so Jesus was in the back.

35. 27:24

    Perry, do you want to share the, the, the, the young, uh, girls in our meeting gave Perry, uh, was that a cup they gave you? And it says, uh, Jesus is my pilot. I'm just a co-pilot. All right. Cause Perry's a pilot. So yeah, he wasn't in the, he wasn't in the front seat. He was the back seat. He was, he was probably driving, yeah. Driverless car. So here's an idea for the, for maybe Palm Springs 2024. I think it'd be really cool to have an evening program where we get to share experiences that are coincidences. You might have to block in a couple hours worth, right? And, and pass the microphone around. It's, it's incredible. We've done it just a couple of times. We did it in the hot tub last night. Brother Kitson's got a story and a half. I'll tell you.

36. 28:11

    Right. And I think that's good. I think, I think that's okay. Um, all right, let's keep moving here. He's in the middle of, oh, his missionary journey. That's a typo there. I must've been thinking about something else and it kind of got in there, you know, right? Levi. Um, he's, and, and wow. Those, there it is. And it came to pass missionary. I have no idea. The gremlins were in my computer. And the Lord spake to Paul. Okay. I see it now. Okay. Missionary. Thanks.

37. 29:00

    Thanks. The gremlins were well at work. The Lord spake to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace for I am with thee and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in the city. He's in Corinth and he's, he's, you know, what goes, what goes on?

38. 29:17

    You know, what, how do I go now? Now for us again, you know, you have to kind of make your own decisions, how you see this. He ends up there a year and six months, 18 months, you know? So how do we see, you know, God opening doors or closing doors? What's that look in our lives? I think it's okay to, to think about that. Um, you know, we have the assurance that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.

39. 29:38

    So my suggestion would be, you know, you keep, um, preaching, you keep testing, giving witness, you, and you keep doing the things, strengthening the ecclesia, working with the young people, whatever. You keep doing that and, and the Lord will bless that work and maybe other doors, uh, will open and, and you'll see what God has in store for you. Whoops. Yep. And then, okay, here's the one. Look for Lord speaking through so-called coincidences. I think that'd be a cool evening program. Later on, he's, he's in prison. This is, um, this is when he's with, well, let's just pick it up here. The night following, this is, he's, we're in, um, Acts 23. So he's been taken, he's been rescued by the chief captain before being pulled apart. And he's probably thinking, how did it come to this? I'm sitting here. I'm, I'm, I'm in, I'm incarcerated. I, you know, I can't do anything. What's, what's the plan here? And the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as that was testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome? Oh, I got to get to Rome. All right. And so he knew that he, that gave him that assurance.

40. 30:42

    He wasn't sure how he was going to get there and think what happened next. You know, um, Felix, Festus, Agrippa, the whole, um, you know, being taken up to Caesarea, that journey on the boat. He doesn't know, but he's now given kind of that end goal. So I guess it allows us to ask some questions. How do we see the Lord guiding our steps? How do we recognize open doors and close doors? You know, how do, how do we do that? I think that's, that's a fair question. I think that's a fair question. And, and it'd be good to, to share some ideas amongst yourself. Um, you know, sometimes you, you know, you put out that fleece as it were, right. And, and, and things happen and take place. Other times it's like, remember there was times they wanted to, Paul had a plan. He's go, and he saw in a vision, a man from Macedonia, come over to Macedonia and help us. You know, so we'll get that, we'll get that phone call. You know, we, you know, we, you know, we, can you come and help us here in, in, in our, in our city, uh, or in a different country perhaps, right? How, how do those, how do those things work? And I think it's worth thinking about them and sharing those experiences. So walking with God, there, there's a couple of individuals.

41. 31:51

    The only ones I could find were Enoch and Noah. It says Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. That's a great study in and of itself. Um, here, uh, in, um, there was, there was no one like, like Noah, a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God. What did that look like?

42. 32:09

    You know, well, we know for Noah, man, building an ark in the middle of the desert perhaps, or whatever, certainly, you know, there was no, and there's no way that boat's going to float unless a flood comes. So there, there's that. Okay. Um, Enoch's a great story that we could, we could go into.

43. 32:24

    There's, there's indication here, uh, this is Ammon. Uh, he forsook the Lord of his fathers and walk not in the way of, of Yahweh. So how, how do we, how do we walk in the Lord? What, what does that look like?

44. 32:38

    Well, this is a great segue. I think, I thank Kitson for, for setting this up pretty well. You know, you think of, of men of faith and action. Uh, we've got here, this is, uh, this is Jacob reflecting back, right? This is his discussion with, uh, with, uh, with Joseph and, and blessing his sons. He blessed Joseph and said, God, for whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God, which fed me all my life long unto this day. And, and at that time, I think if you read carefully those last few chapters, um, I think that it says, um, Jacob sort of put his legs over the side of the bed and he leaned on that staff. I think it says the bed's head or something in, in, uh, in the King James. I think that's that staff. Cause after he wrestled with the angel and his, his thigh was put out of joint, I think that staff was with him. That was a reminder to not trust in himself, but to, to, to trust in God, right? Israel power with God. Um, and so we can see that, but, but these were men of action as well. Um, here it says in Deuteronomy five, verse 33, walk in the ways, which the Lord, your God has commanded you. So that's how we walk with God. We, we keep his commandments.

45. 33:50

    And that's what Jesus said. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. All right. But it's, it's not a, that's not just an abstract thing. It's manifested in the things that we do. And, and Hezekiah was a great example, right? He couldn't take on that, that army. He knew he, he knew God was had to be the one who delivered him, but man, he, he went to work. That tunnel is one thing, but all the fortifications.

46. 34:14

    Okay. I think there's some great exhortation for us. So yes, we pray, we look for guidance, but in the meantime, you kind of get on with things, walking in the faith, obeying commands, doing, doing the things that, that we know are, are right. You know, Nehemiah is another one. Enemies on, on either side.

47. 34:34

    You know, we couldn't, can't stop building. We've got to have the trowel on one hand, you know, getting those bricks in place, but what's in the other hand? A sword, right? That, that's not presumptuous. That's not trusting in the flesh. He knew he didn't have a chance without God, but there was preparation. There was, you know, there was being wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. I think those are some really exhortational things for us. And again, what that looks like in your life, you know, you will know. And, and I think it's worth discussing amongst ourselves. And this is probably the, the classic one about walking with God, right? Micah 6 verse 8, he showed thee, O man, what is good? And what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to humbly, and to walk humbly with thy God. Perhaps you have a plaque like that in your home.

48. 35:19

    We have one, you know, just says, you know, justly, do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. And I think that's, that's, that's great, right? Because you can't walk humbly with God if you're not doing justice, if you're not doing right things, truthful things, and if you're not loving mercy. Here's mercy and truth coming together in Christ, okay? Just interesting, and, and other versions may be different, but in, in the, the King James version I have in the margin, it says the Hebrew here is to humble yourself to walk with God. I, I, I find that a little bit more powerful, right? Because we can't fight the flesh with the flesh. Flesh is, is proudful. So if we want to walk with God, it's going to be a humbling experience. So we need to humble ourselves to walk with God.

49. 36:09

    This is also in the New Testament. A couple of passages here come to mind. Ephesians 2 verse 10, that we are his workmanship. We're created in Christ to good works. We're these new creatures in Christ. Um, and we have to walk in them. It's practical. It's not theoretical. The truth is not theoretical. It's, it's practical. Colossians 1 verse 10, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Being fruitful. Dig about and dung it so it'll bring forth fruit. Roll up your sleeves.

50. 36:45

    Get your hands dirty. Be fruitful. The fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, patience, all the fruits of the Spirit. Increasing in the knowledge of God. It can't be done outside of knowledge. If, if it comes naturally to you, it's probably not good, okay? It, it needs, it needs the fruit of the Spirit, the mind of the Spirit. And we have to increase in knowledge. We have to, to get the, you know, this is the instruction book, if you will. Now, as we close, I thought this was a good place to close. Appealing to the Lord in times of trouble. It was, it wasn't easy for Paul.

51. 37:27

    Romans chapter 7, you know, he struggled each and every day, but he knew where to go for help. And so this well-known passage, if you, if you want to turn to it, second, second Corinthians chapter 12, um, you can go there if you like, if you want to see it in your own, in your own scriptures and see the context. And it's the famous, famous thorn in the flesh passage. And this, we're going to kind of wrap things up because the thorn in the flesh is, is an enemy of some sort, whether it's, you know, an external enemy like the Judaizers, whether it's a physical ailment that he had, whether it was his own nature that he was wrestling with.

52. 38:10

    He had this thorn in the flesh and he says, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations. And, and certainly just, you know, Paul was the right choice. He was a chosen vessel of the Lord. Not anyone could be a Paul. Are you think what he experienced, what he saw, what he went through? Um, he could have been very proudful.

53. 38:31

    So there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. And now again, Paul struggled with these things and he's like, Lord, I could serve you better if I didn't have this thing. And, and that thing for Paul is different than that thing for me and that thing for you. We all have that thing that we're like, ah, just, it's, it's, it's always dragging me down. It's tripping me up. It's, you know, whatever it is, if you could just remove that, my life would be the better, be better, but, but you know, I'd serve you much better. And, and I guess my, my, my, my point here is twofold. One is it's okay to ask those questions. It's okay to ask those questions. Paul did three times. I don't know how he got his answer. I guess the thing wasn't removed. Three times. And that's okay. You know, that persistent widow prayer, keep, keep praying about it. But at some point, I guess we need to submit and just know, says that it might depart from me.

54. 39:48

    And the Lord says to him, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. My strength says the Lord is made perfect in weakness. I think that's encouraging. That thing you're struggling with, that thing you're going through, that challenge you're having, that person in the ecclesia who just gets your goat every time.

55. 40:15

    You know, that, that, that thing from your past that keeps coming back and reminding you how bad you are. You don't deserve things. I mean, how much, how often did Paul think about Stephen?

56. 40:27

    But it, it didn't, it didn't hint. He felt it was hindering him in his work, whatever this was. But the Lord says, no, I've got you exactly where I want you. Trust me, you know, trust me. And, and Paul's response is incredible. It goes the other extreme almost, right? He says, most gladly, therefore, I would rather glory in my infirmities. He's understanding now the chastening of the Lord. He's got it. He understands that the Lord is working in his life and that there will be those valleys, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities. I don't, I don't think I can go that far, but maybe I can put up with them a little bit better with Paul's encouragement, right? Paul says, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities. Okay, he's gone too far. This is hyperbole, surely, right? In persecutions. That's how he got through it. All that being hounded in all those places by the Jews finally ends up in Jerusalem and the Jews from Asia have come and they've stirred up the crowd and said all kinds of lies. It's the only way he got through it. Persecutions in distress is for Christ's sake.

57. 41:40

    For when I am weak, then am I strong. That's, that's powerful. Okay. And that's only if you have Jesus as your best friend and, and develop this kind of relationship and understanding. And, you know, maybe we need to work on that. I know I do. And hopefully having journeyed with Paul this week and, and seeing some of these things, um, hopefully we can progress in that direction.

58. 42:08

    I think the, the, the main point here is it's okay to have hard and difficult conversations with the Lord. It's okay to challenge him. Lord, I'd be better off without this thing. That's okay. I think there's examples in scripture of, of faithful men who, who, who challenged the Lord. Jesus did. When did Jesus challenge his father? Is there any way else? Like, come on, do I have to drink this cup?

59. 42:38

    But then he always, it always ended with not my will be done, but thy will be done. What does that look like? How do we work that out in our life? Well, talk to each other and, and figure that out. Maybe you have a strategy. Maybe you, maybe you have a coping mechanism that, that helps and will help someone else. I think that's, that's worthwhile talking, talking about. So go ahead and challenge the Lord, but be prepared to listen and, and be prepared to get the answer that maybe you weren't expecting. No, Paul, you're not going to convert Jews. You know, I'm sending you the Gentiles.

60. 43:13

    No, Paul, that thing you think that's a hindrance to you, you need it because my strength is made perfect in weakness. So as we wrap up, what do, what do we, what have we learned today? We can be our own worst enemy and don't be discouraged by that. You know, keep working, keep reading, keep, keep interacting with, with your, your, your good Christ following friends, your Christadelphian friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ, share experiences. That's one thing we've really enjoyed this week is sharing experiences. We're like, we thought we were all alone. This was our battle. And you find out, no, there's lots of people facing those same battles. So what did you do? How do you handle that? Well, we do this. That's, that's so helpful and so encouraging because our own worst enemy ourselves wants us to give, to throw in the towel, right? To give up the fight. It's not worth it.

61. 44:08

    I can't take it anymore. That's what, that's what our adversary wants us to do, right? We can't do that. We have to keep strengthening the spiritual man, feeding it. You know what they say, you know, the two wolves that are in you, in, in your nature, right? One's trying to get you to do evil things and one's good. Well, which one wins? Well, the one you feed, right? So if we feed our, our fleshly nature, it's going to be hard to beat it. So we feed our spiritual selves. We, we, we, we follow Christ. We, we, we, we, we keep his commandments. Don't get frustrated. Trust in the Lord. Let your own weaknesses humble you to be empathetic to others. Realize that in your failings, you can be a bit more sympathetic to that brother or sister who maybe rubs you the wrong way. See Jesus as your best, best friend. We have friends in the truth.

62. 44:59

    You know, it's amazing, you know, and, and sometimes you don't see them all that often. Maybe only a Bible school or a couple of times a year, but like you can just connect, right? And it just, wow. And it's, but our best, best friend has to be Jesus. Trust him, follow him, look for his guidance in your life.

63. 45:17

    Look for him and your friends and their godly advice and encouragement. And don't be afraid to, to ask the hard questions and then listen to what he says to you. Thanks so much.