Dennis Bevans - Class 5: Keep His Commandments

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 2019 Idlewild Bible School. Our first period teacher is Brother Dennis Bevins. His general subject is John, letters from the disciple whom Jesus loved. Today's topic is keep his commandments. Brother Dennis. Good morning.

2. 0:17

   So this morning we start the day by closing out the first letter. So we've pounded in the point for the last couple days of learning, knowing, and loving. And so as we close John's exhortation, as we close his concept, he finalizes it with really a last exhortation to the little children. So basically starting or ending where we started.

3. 0:45

   Let's pick up at the first verse. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Both these words are agapeo, the verb form. The RSV renders it this way. Everyone who loves the parent loves the child.

4. 1:07

   So the backdrop of this section then is going to be the very beginning of the Gospel of John chapter 3. The beginning of that interview with Nicodemus. It all starts with our belief in the love of God shown in the giving of his son.

5. 1:25

   But this we know intimately that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. Still the word agapeo. So think about all ten of the commandments. How many of the ten commandments can be broken if we truly are living the love of God? If we're truly living the love of God, we're demonstrating that love one to another.

6. 1:52

   We are indeed fulfilling the commandments. But it's interesting, this little subtext of the children. How many of the ten commandments are stated in the positive?

7. 2:05

   One. Number five. Honor thy father and thy mother. All the others have a thou shalt not somewhere in them. But honor thy father and honor thy mother is stated in the positive. Putting it in the proper perspective. So he essentially is summarizing all ten. Highlighting the purpose of parents and children. By giving one.

8. 2:30

   To be clear. Who are these children? Children. As many as are led by the spirit of God are called the sons of God. Jesus said, he who does the will of my father in heaven. And so that tells us where we have to start. This is not tolerating the ecclesia. This is loving the ecclesia.

9. 2:52

   It's also a reason we don't use the word church. It's not that there's anything wrong with the word. There's nothing wrong with the word. But what it means today in English is a building. And it has nothing to do with the building. The building cannot love. And we hopefully do not love that building.

10. 3:11

    But it's about our family. It's those who dwell together in that building where the emphasis lies. And if we can dwell together doing the will of the father. Demonstrating his love one to another. Then we are fulfilling this by being called out of the Gentiles to be part of that family. For this is the love of God, agape.

11. 3:37

    That we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not grievous. Now that's an interesting way to put this. The word keep in the Greek is to guard or to watch. It's part of the way that we show love one to the other. And to our God is to keep the precious truth alive.

12. 3:57

    It's to keep it from false influences from the world. Or from within. The next few verses spell it out with much more clarity. So we'll get to that in a moment. But the word grievous really in the Greek means heavy. It's used in Matthew 23 verse 4. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born.

13. 4:20

    Or it's translated weightier in verse 23 of Matthew 23. Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. For they pay the tithe of mint and anise and cumin. And have omitted the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy, faith. These ought ye to have done and not to let the other undone. The RSV renders that grievous as burdensome.

14. 4:42

    Which might paint a little bit better picture. So why is it there? Why does it say the commandments are not heavy? They're not a burden? Well, brothers and sisters, it's actually quite simple. Loving the brethren and guarding the truth should not feel like work. Because if it feels like work to love you, something's wrong with me.

15. 5:08

    It's not about whether you've earned it. Remember, we can't earn the love of God. And this gives us a chance to demonstrate the God of love and how we treat each other. So if we think we're working hard in the truth by demonstrating love and keeping the truth alive, that's not the burden.

16. 5:26

    There are plenty of burdens to bear, but this is not one of them. Keeping the commandment to love and demonstrate the love of God is not hard. It's not heavy. It's not a weight. It's not our natural inclination, for sure, which is why so much emphasis has been put on it in this letter.

17. 5:44

    But that's not work. That's an opportunity to demonstrate the love of our God. For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. So here's a little fun fact to know and tell your friends. You might be able to guess, based on the picture, what the word for victory is in Greek.

18. 6:10

    It's a word Nike. In fact, it is only used once in the New Testament, and here it is. But in the context, it's not just winning. The context is victory over the flesh. Now it becomes an object lesson, doesn't it? And every time we see that little swoosh on our foot, or someone else's foot, or their shirt, or hat, or whatever, it's not just the concept of victory in the proper context, in its only New Testament usage.

19. 6:39

    It's victory over the flesh. That's where the work is. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? That's a culmination of those first four verses. It's a reference back to John 16, verse 33. So for us to tabernacle with the Father and the Son forever, we too must overcome the world.

20. 7:14

    So we remember the eclipse slide? The only thing getting in the way from us being a perfect reflection of the glory of God is how much we let the world mar our view. It's that same idea. Sometimes we're going to be more of an eclipse than others. The opportunity to see past the world and focus on the things of God is what gives us the opportunity to be a reflection of his glory and therefore his love.

21. 7:43

    This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. Now, we're going to pause for a moment and explain some coloring on the next few verses. Because we are going to be stuck in the midst of, well, we could say it is one of the worst translating errors, but I probably should better rend it as an intentional misleading section of scripture.

22. 8:08

    Part of verses six through eight is just simply a fabrication. I've shaded the items that are not included in the diaglot purple, and the items that are in a different verse in the RSV orange, just so you can kind of figure out my color coding for the next couple verses. We'll try to explain it as we go.

23. 8:26

    Hopefully it makes sense in the end. Many of you already know this, so you can take a two-minute nap if you'd like. But this is one of the Trinitarians' favorite places to go for obvious reasons. The Trinitarian translators did not know what to do with what was there. It didn't make sense to them.

24. 8:44

    So rather than change the theory to match the Bible, they changed the Bible to match the theory and therefore fixed it. So the orange in this verse is actually part of verse seven in the RSV, and it is the spirit that beareth witness because the spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record, and boy, it would be nice if that's where they stopped.

25. 9:08

    The purple is just not there. In heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth. And let's go back to what the Bible says. Spirit, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one thrown in just as a gift.

26. 9:25

    Now, in the RSV, it says it this way. This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. The Spirit is the witness because the Spirit is truth. There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree.

27. 9:49

    Very nice. If we remove all of the Trinitarian language, it's actually very straightforward. But as always, it's not enough just to know what it doesn't mean. We want to make sure we understand what it does mean because John put it there for a reason. So what is it? Well, the water and the blood, that's very easy to tie back to baptism and sacrifice.

28. 10:11

    It's an easy reference to the crucifixion as they pierced his side and water and blood came forth. The Spirit, we have already seen early in the epistle that it's the Spirit Word. And of course, the Word of God. The Word of God and the concept of atonement are in full agreement. So when we put God's Word and the atoning blood of Jesus, they are in perfect harmony from Genesis to Revelation.

29. 10:39

    Truth, baptism, and sacrifice build on each other. And what's amazing is John, again, is leaning from Leviticus. This is a very Old Testament concept that is being drawn into the new and expounded upon to apply directly to the sacrifice of Jesus. Let's look at Leviticus for a couple slides. Leviticus 8, verse 12.

30. 11:03

    And he poured out the anointing oil upon Aaron's head and anointed him to sanctify him. The Spirit is used in both Testaments to describe anointing. Here we have it, anointing the original priest. Can anyone recall something similar happening to Jesus at the beginning of his work?

31. 11:24

    This is the group participation part. Very good. So the dove descending upon him. The Spirit of God descending upon him in bodily form as a dove. Now, there's a lot of Old Testament language being drawn to us, and we don't have time to detail it this morning, but we'll whet your appetite. That, just that concept of the Spirit of God descending upon him in bodily form as a dove is a direct tie to one of the most specific uses of Jesus in his first advent in the entire Old Testament.

32. 11:58

    That is a direct reference to Jonah. Jonah, whose name means dove. And his father's name is Amittai. And so if we said, Dennis, son of iniquity, that means Dennis, full of iniquity. So when we say dove, son of truth, we have the dove filled with truth. And so when we see the Spirit of God descending in bodily form as the dove filled with truth, we have a cameo that brings us right back to the story of Jonah.

33. 12:28

    It's a wonderful type of Jesus in his first advent. So let's keep going. Let's look at Leviticus 8, this time verse 6. Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. That's an easy tie to baptism. It's a cleansing, but not just a generic cleansing. It's a cleansing with the intention to serve.

34. 12:51

    The purpose of the cleansing was to serve the body. Let's look at verse 23. He slew it. Moses took off the blood of it, or took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear and the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot.

35. 13:12

    So we don't need to elaborate too much, but we have seen, just in this one chapter in Leviticus, how the use of cleaning, anointing, and the first sacrifice of Aaron, all of which are driving home, depicting the work of Jesus. And this is why John says, they all agree. It's working together. Using the language of John in the Gospel, chapter 10, the Scripture cannot be broken.

36. 13:41

    So when we see these things being brought in from the old to the new, it's just showing the continuity of the mind of God as he's delivering his word that we might be like him. The problem with the extra words, other than the Trinitarian error, is it forced us to spend time looking at what it didn't mean, which takes away from looking at the point of John's argument, and that's what makes it so heinous.

37. 14:07

    So let's keep going at verse 9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son.

38. 14:28

    We reference the baptism of Jesus as recorded in Matthew just a few minutes ago. The next verse in that section adds, And lo, a voice from heaven, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, which by definition is the witness or testimony of God. Paul says it this way in 1 Timothy 3 and 16.

39. 14:51

    And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, and believed in the world, received up into glory. I love that that starts with the phrase, without controversy. It's almost like he knew what they were going to do to John's words.

40. 15:14

    It's without controversy. If our nose is in the Scripture, it's crystal clear. This is the record, that God hath given us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. And so now we're going directly to immortality. This is bringing us right back to where we left off in chapter 4. The context, as we saw in chapter 4, this is another place we could consider.

41. 15:45

    Romans 4 and 17, speaking in reference to Abraham, before him whom he believed, even God that quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Our God knows the end from the beginning. He's invited us to dwell with him as his family eternally. He speaks to us in a language that suggests it's already ours.

42. 16:12

    The choice is up to us. The offer is there. Colossians 3 and 4, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall also ye appear with him in glory. That's that reflective words we looked at in Leviticus a couple days ago. It's a fairly simple equation. God, to Jesus, to us. The opportunity to dwell together.

43. 16:38

    It was the goal of God from the beginning of time, and it was the prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17, essentially repeated multiple times so that we would know what his desire was. So now that we've said it a number of times, let's read it a little bit.

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    John 17, verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in them, that they may also be one in us, that the world may know that thou hast sent me.

45. 17:22

    And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. One of the things I love about that small section of the prayer, it puts the focus on the singularity of purpose between the Father and the Son, and the invitation to invite us to enjoy that singularity of purpose for eternity.

46. 17:45

    And while we're playing a little bit with the Trinitarian concept, using that definition, that can't be a trinity. That's an infinity. And it's offered to us to be part of it.

47. 17:59

    Verse 12. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Pretty simple. These things have I written unto you that you believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know, and that's the perceive word, that you may perceive that you have eternal life.

48. 18:20

    But we don't know that. We know it will happen. What we don't know is if we'll be a part of that. That book is still being written. But we can perceive it, and Solomon says, for lack of vision, my people perish. So it is healthy for us to see ourselves in the kingdom.

49. 18:36

    It makes it so we will work towards it because it's real. We may perceive that we have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. That last part in red is not in the RSV. Not as damaging, though. Just thought I would make a note since we made the reference earlier.

50. 18:54

    There is only one way to become one with the Father and Son. Believe the truth followed by loving service showing we understand the truth. That is the prescription.

51. 19:11

    This is the confidence that you have in Him, that if you ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. That's Romans 8 and 25. James tells us the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

52. 19:37

    So we've got the ingredients together. Jesus is our mediator. He's our connection to our God. He is that which gives us hope to dwell with the Father and the Son.

53. 19:51

    And so both of these know words are perceived, so we will read them that way. And if we perceive that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we perceive that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. So this is perception. We perceive that our prayers are answered. Do we know it intimately?

54. 20:15

    Now there's times we look back and we see evidence that supports the belief, so I'm certainly not taking that away, nor am I discounting it. But it is a different word, because there is a distinction being made throughout this epistle for the things that we know concretely concretely and intimately versus the things that we might see or perceive, both of which are understanding.

55. 20:39

    One is more concrete and one is more based on our personality and our perception. Making sure we distinguish between the two of them is relevant. That's why we've highlighted them. Now, the word petitions is only used in two other places in the New Testament. One of them is Philippians 4. So we're going to look at that one.

56. 21:02

    Philippians 4, verse 6. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication when thanksgiving let your requests or petitions be made known unto God. Our specific requests or petitions may not be granted, but we believe they will be heard and considered. Sometimes the answer is no. And that's why it's important for us to keep in mind it's up to us to line up the will of God to our prayers.

57. 21:38

    That's how they are answered. We mentioned a couple days ago that God's not our personal concierge. It's up to us to realign our thinking to His thinking and give Him something to bless in our prayer. Let's look at two examples from the Lord in Matthew. It says Matthew 6 and 10 first. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

58. 22:08

    Praying for that is in alignment with the entire plan of God. Chapter 26, verse 42, something else that Jesus prayed. When He went away again the second time and prayed saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done.

59. 22:33

    Surrender is the hardest part for all of us, including Jesus. It was the last hurdle He had to jump before He endured the tree to give us hope and access to life. Surrender is not easy for any of us. Have you ever been in an argument? Maybe you never have, but maybe you know somebody who has.

60. 22:57

    You've been in an argument, whether it's with a friend, a spouse, a child, it doesn't really matter. And before you know it, you kind of forgot what the argument was about. You just knew you had to win it. That's our natural tendency. Why? Surrender is hard for all of us. It's hard to submit to the will of someone or something else.

61. 23:19

    It's against our nature. But it's a requirement for us to line ourselves with the things of our God. That's where the work comes in. It's even harder to surrender when we think we're right. Picture someone arguing with an umpire. When we think we're right, it's even harder. But when we follow the example of Jesus, even when it's hard, trusting that God's way is the right way and surrendering myself and my prayers to God's way is the key to prayer being answered.

62. 24:00

    John 15, 13 says, Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. A verse we all know very well. That was only possible by aligning himself with the will of his Father.

63. 24:20

    Now this word we've highlighted in green is the word perceive or see that's been translated no for much of this book. It's the same word to see or perceive word. Hold the thought but I want you to plant that one just for a minute. If any man perceive his brother in a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall be given life for them that no sin not for it.

64. 24:45

    Sorry, let's read that one right. Give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. So let's be clear. The wages of sin is death. So with that fact the next verse says clearly. So we'll just let that one go as a stated point.

65. 25:05

    But in this letter there are three distinct types of sin that he touches on. The first one chapter three we focused on the sin of lawlessness. Then earlier just in the next verse verse 17 we'll focus specifically on wrongdoing. So missing the mark as we described in the first couple chapters. And what this verse is describing is unrepentant sin.

66. 25:32

    Let's look at Matthew 12 first. In Matthew 12 picking up at verse 31. Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. Whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come.

67. 26:04

    So in this section we talk about blasphemy against the power of God certainly unforgivable. And there are many that look at what John said in chapter 5 as this is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But I do not think the context of the letter of John supports that belief. The spirit of what John is saying really is Matthew 18 unrepentant sin.

68. 26:29

    So what's the basic process of Matthew 18? The process there's a problem and so we go to the source of the problem one on one. Now why is the prescription to start one on one? Well because the odds are if there's a problem you're looking front and center here you go James if you and I have a problem the odds are very high that if you and I talk the problem goes away.

69. 26:57

    It might be that I said something that I didn't mean and I can say hey if it came out that way I'm sorry and we've solved it. It might be that I did mean it and I shouldn't have said it and I've got a chance to say man I'm sorry and we've solved it.

70. 27:13

    But what's our natural human tendency? You're the only one I'm not going to talk to. Natural human tendency is to say you know what James said? You know what Dennis did? Our human tendency is to rally support to how we think but under inspiration we're told when a problem comes up round one face to face that solves most problems.

71. 27:38

    Now if that doesn't work the next thing is that we bring someone with us perhaps someone has a better relationship and that might be a more impactful conversation by bringing this other person in but only after we have gone to the first step. That's why the see and perceive word is used so often in this section because the problem may be of perception not reality and the sooner we align the perception the smaller the problem stays.

72. 28:10

    But the more people that are involved the bigger the problem gets. In fact there does come a point when it has to escalate and it gets to the larger audience of the ecclesia and ultimately the possibility of what drawing fellowship takes place. But in each of those steps we have to keep love as the centerpiece.

73. 28:32

    If we're not doing it in love we are doing it wrong. It's never easy to say hey we need to talk. No one likes that. It's hard. But it's the right thing to do because if I do love you and I'm showing God's love through my I'm showing the love of God through my behavior towards you I shouldn't be talking to you about the problem if I'm not presenting it in love to help overcome it that we might dwell together in the kingdom.

74. 29:07

    That's the spirit behind it. And as long as we keep love and recognize that my perception is only one possible rendition of the events it allows me to follow that prescription the way it's intended. James says it this way in chapter 5 verse 20 Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul or a life from death and therefore hide a multitude of sins.

75. 29:39

    That's the spirit of John's message. He separated it from lawlessness and from specific wrongdoing by a willful sinner and now it's making sure that the unrepentant sin is given an opportunity to become a repented sin. If we love our brethren we will help them to see the error of their ways and repent and it's a two-way street.

76. 30:05

    If my family loves me they will help me see the error of my ways that I might be given the opportunity to repent. without repentance there is no forgiveness. However if we as a family can successfully get the sinner to see and change we have hidden through forgiveness the sin and that's the point.

77. 30:33

    And so the question to us is that how we actually use Matthew 18 in practice? we all know the words the spirit must be in love to hide or have their sins forgiven that they would not be on the plate as unrepentant. And so Matthew 18 really is not about I didn't like your shirt color or something of that nature if it's not about keeping the kingdom away from our perception it's not at the same level.

78. 31:08

    It's got to be in love to help them overcome with the purpose of us dwelling in love together with the father and the son.

79. 31:19

    John continues all unrighteousness is sin there is a sin not unto death we know that's the perceived word again we perceive that whosoever is born of God sinneth not but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked toucheth him not it's that that wicked one is the same word translated wickedness in the next verse so that wickedness toucheth him not it's not that we don't sin we all do it's that we do not dwell in sin when we fall short we pray we repent we reconnect with the family of God and therefore we are dwelling with God and not in the sin we get to choose the house we live in we can choose to dwell in the sin and our own misery or we can dwell with the family of God getting closer to the father and the son the choice is ours and we perceive that we are of God and the whole world lieth in all wickedness or lieth in wickedness so who shall we serve we've got in this corner God it's a good choice and in this corner all that is in the world the lust of flesh the lust of the eyes and pride of life everything we're naturally prone to versus the only thing that doesn't equal death now both of the no words are used in this verse so we will read them as they should be noted we perceive that the son of God has come and have given us understanding that we may intimately know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his son Jesus

80. 33:09

    Christ this is the true God and eternal life what is the true God to intimately know him and through Jesus dwell with him eternally it's not only our hope but it's the father's desire from the beginning little children keep yourselves from idols the amen is omitted in the RSV it seems like an abrupt end to the letter does it not and I think there's a reason it's really not the end it's the springboard to two very small letters that are both very to the point they're pointed and short because they're built on the language and the concepts that John has described so eloquently for us in these five small chapters of the first letter the next two letters are built on them and we'll look at those letters tomorrow in our concluding class for the week so I'd like to close the class with some clear and direct command that our brother has given us little children keep yourselves from idols so what is an idol well we know the answer to this one any material object that takes our attention away from our God and his love can be in our lives it's easy to see them as pagan images and go well good thing we don't have statues to people in my house and indeed that is included in the definition but it's certainly not limited to them so keeping with the spirit of what we've done in the last couple days I thought it might be fun to play with a little bit of mythology as we wrap it up we referred to these three a little bit earlier in Egyptian mythology

81. 35:09

    you've got Osiris Isis and Horus which effectively is the father the son and the wife and if you're ever wondering where the Mary the mother of God concept came from that error is driven right out of Egyptian mythology Greek mythology re-Romanized and made Latin which by the way the Latin Roman Catholic church took with it so an interesting thought ever consider that the golden calf in Egypt was actually as they left Egypt was actually the Egyptian god Hathor not impossible it would certainly match the connection John made to the law and to the exodus to keep this in our mind what about the days of Jesus well in Greek mythology we've got three different people a different man and a woman and his son a very different story on how they got there Zeus Hera and Apollo if we add Hades and Hermes we can have another class and since the New Testament was written in Greek it was the dominant language of the day and many of the Greek mythological issues found their way into the early Christian church over time evolved into some of the Christian mythology that exists even to today and so the Romans just renamed the three they didn't make new ones so we have Jupiter Juno and a sun god traditionally picked up on other cultures and made them Roman was something they did we used Easter as an example for that when we were talking about the council of Nicaea same gods as the Greeks gives them different names so it's quite easy to see that a triumphant god was very popular in ancient culture it's also to

82. 36:55

    see the mother and slash wife god role which could be detailed significantly further in another class for another day if the people already believed in multiple gods why not just change the names like the Romans did before and so we see that evolution and we can look at it and I'll shake our heads and go should have known better that was wrong how could they possibly let idols like that turn into idols like this it's the common symbol for the three in one concept if we add Mary we essentially have the basis for the Roman Catholic system and nearly every Protestant faith that has come out of the flawed doctrine as a basis a theme in John's letter is the denying that Jesus was a man as opposed to being a God making one an antichrist everyone here knew that most of you have probably done a class to that nature or a one on one with a friend that did much of what you just saw so why bother bringing it up I bring it up because when we look at it

83. 38:08

    how could they possibly let that happen are there any idols that we should be worried of in these last days that maybe there's no book in ancient history written to get our attention so we can go and if right now you're thinking I've got an android so I'm okay you are missing the point so let's have a little bit of fun and we've said this a number of times

84. 38:38

    this is the little hand on the inside no one needs to shout up and confess how much time does this little piece of technology take away from our readings what if we start adding how much time we spent saying anyone seen my charger probably only happens in my house if we're not squirming a little bit yet that's I'll just keep going we'll poke the bear a little bit more

85. 39:08

    where do we go first google or the word of god now perhaps it's not the phone for you not suggesting every phone that you have with you here or in your car is an idol you're worshipping at night so don't get me wrong perhaps it's something else maybe it's the internet maybe it's television maybe it's going to a movie maybe it's a car maybe it's your friends maybe it's virtually anything you can possibly think of but if the time it takes keeps us from doing the things of god it has become an idol now I'm not suggesting there's no value in technology and the phone is a neat piece to be able to use it allows some of us to work remote so there's some very valuable things to it but we've got to make sure it doesn't replace the things of god that it supplements them or supports them and whenever we find ourselves struggling to find time to come together as an ecclesia to attend bible class to get the readings in to put a little bit of time into personal study whenever we think we don't have time for that see how much time we spend on our phone or our computer or the movie or whatever it is and see if maybe we can cut some of that down and make room for our god so that the eclipse that is in our life which is inevitable if the word of god gets smaller can start clearing away and we can be a better reflection of the glory of our god you know what's funny have you ever heard the phrase

86. 40:46

    no rest for the wicked we've all heard it we've all said it have you ever heard the phrase man I'm so tired all the time you ever put those two together and wonder hmm because it's so much easier for me to see it in you than it is in me it's our human nature our natural inclination nothing in these things is wrong in themselves it's all about priorities it's putting our time and effort towards our god first so

87. 41:19

    give more love by enduring and giving more time the gods of today may look very different but the concept is exactly the same so we will repeat John's final words as we close in this letter little children keep yourselves from idols