Jim Styles – Living as a Member of God’s Family – Class 4 – You Cannot Serve God and Mammon

1
00:00:01,480 –> 00:00:05,200
Good morning everyone.
So if you can’t hear me right

2
00:00:05,200 –> 00:00:08,400
now, you might want to relocate.
I have been told that some of

3
00:00:08,400 –> 00:00:10,920
the speakers aren’t working and
I can’t shout.

4
00:00:10,920 –> 00:00:13,960
I don’t have that kind of voice.
So anyways, if you don’t want to

5
00:00:13,960 –> 00:00:16,760
listen today, you could always
just like look up up on Chris

6
00:00:16,760 –> 00:00:19,840
Adelphian bibletalks.com and you
can listen to it there.

7
00:00:20,200 –> 00:00:22,800
You can speed it up, slow it
down, whatever you like.

8
00:00:22,800 –> 00:00:25,800
It’s that’s the great thing
about technology, isn’t it?

9
00:00:25,800 –> 00:00:28,760
It’s like now some people tell
me I speak too fast.

10
00:00:28,760 –> 00:00:31,480
Sue used to laugh at me ’cause I
would play tapes and I would

11
00:00:31,480 –> 00:00:33,680
speed them up when you could
actually adjust the speed.

12
00:00:33,960 –> 00:00:37,000
I like to speed up the classes
and listen to them a little bit

13
00:00:37,000 –> 00:00:39,480
faster.
But anyways, everybody except

14
00:00:39,480 –> 00:00:41,200
John Martin, I could never keep
up with him.

15
00:00:41,760 –> 00:00:43,680
So that was always a great
lesson.

16
00:00:43,840 –> 00:00:47,920
Anyways, so our goal today is to
have a look at the idea of not

17
00:00:47,920 –> 00:00:50,600
serving God and mammon.
I’ll do that probably for maybe

18
00:00:50,600 –> 00:00:53,920
half the class right there.
But the rest of that I think I’d

19
00:00:53,920 –> 00:00:55,800
like to spend some time on God’s
election cause.

20
00:00:55,800 –> 00:00:58,080
A number of you have talked to
me about it and I’d like to at

21
00:00:58,080 –> 00:01:01,480
least give you a a summary of
Cliff Notes version of that

22
00:01:01,480 –> 00:01:03,160
class.
If you want more, you could look

23
00:01:03,160 –> 00:01:05,680
that up in
christopherbibletalks.com and

24
00:01:05,680 –> 00:01:07,680
you could find like an entire
class on that.

25
00:01:08,400 –> 00:01:11,240
So our goal today was to have a
look at the idea we can’t serve

26
00:01:11,240 –> 00:01:14,360
God and mam.
And I think this one, especially

27
00:01:14,360 –> 00:01:17,560
for the younger people that are
here, this one is the challenge

28
00:01:17,560 –> 00:01:20,280
of your life right now about
serving God and mammon.

29
00:01:20,280 –> 00:01:23,960
Because those of us that are
older and have gone through

30
00:01:23,960 –> 00:01:27,440
life, we we pretty well have
established life patterns.

31
00:01:27,440 –> 00:01:30,200
And we’re we don’t have all
these ideas like what we would

32
00:01:30,200 –> 00:01:33,080
like to to be and what we’d like
to buy and what we’d like to

33
00:01:33,080 –> 00:01:35,280
have.
Like for Sue and I, we we bought

34
00:01:35,280 –> 00:01:37,880
a house we’ll probably you know
we’ve retired in that house.

35
00:01:37,880 –> 00:01:40,880
We’ll die in that house and it’s
probably that’s it let’s say put

36
00:01:40,880 –> 00:01:43,080
us kids put us in a nursing home
or something.

37
00:01:43,400 –> 00:01:45,240
But that’s probably what I’ll
end up with.

38
00:01:45,240 –> 00:01:47,920
Although it’s possible we may
trade homes with one of our kids

39
00:01:47,920 –> 00:01:51,200
because he has A1 level house.
We have a two level house and we

40
00:01:51,200 –> 00:01:53,480
may get to the point where we
can’t walk up those stairs.

41
00:01:53,960 –> 00:01:57,440
But when you’re younger, right
now, this is a challenging time

42
00:01:57,440 –> 00:01:59,800
for you, for the younger people
that are here.

43
00:01:59,800 –> 00:02:02,960
You’re making decisions about
your career pathways, who you’re

44
00:02:03,000 –> 00:02:05,040
going to marry, where you’re
going to live, what kind of

45
00:02:05,040 –> 00:02:07,720
house you’re going to have, your
car, all these different things.

46
00:02:08,120 –> 00:02:11,920
And if we’re not careful, what
can happen is that we get these

47
00:02:11,920 –> 00:02:14,760
ideas about, oh, I’d like to
have that, and I’d like to have

48
00:02:14,760 –> 00:02:17,000
that.
And it’ll be great if I have one

49
00:02:17,000 –> 00:02:19,240
of those.
And sometimes younger people

50
00:02:19,240 –> 00:02:21,440
actually want to get a house
that’s bigger than their parents

51
00:02:21,440 –> 00:02:24,080
ever had because maybe you got
squished into a bedroom with

52
00:02:24,080 –> 00:02:26,120
your brother or sister and, you
know, kind of let that happen

53
00:02:26,120 –> 00:02:28,640
again, although you probably
wouldn’t mind your spouse.

54
00:02:28,640 –> 00:02:32,040
That would be OK.
But what happens then is that if

55
00:02:32,040 –> 00:02:35,040
we’re not careful, we make
decisions about our career

56
00:02:35,040 –> 00:02:37,800
pathways based on all these
things that we want to

57
00:02:37,800 –> 00:02:40,120
accumulate all the stuff of this
world.

58
00:02:40,560 –> 00:02:43,680
And before you know it, you can
fill up your life with working

59
00:02:43,680 –> 00:02:46,360
and working and working to have
all these toys and all this

60
00:02:46,360 –> 00:02:48,680
stuff and you have no time for
God.

61
00:02:49,080 –> 00:02:51,440
And I would say probably for all
of you that are here in the

62
00:02:51,440 –> 00:02:54,360
front area, this is probably one
of the challenging things you

63
00:02:54,360 –> 00:02:57,920
will run into in your life.
And I just, I warn you about

64
00:02:57,920 –> 00:02:59,920
that because I can still
remember when Sue and I bought

65
00:02:59,920 –> 00:03:02,800
our first house, a realtor
looked at us and he said what

66
00:03:02,800 –> 00:03:05,280
are you doing buying such a
small house and a cheap house?

67
00:03:05,520 –> 00:03:07,560
He said we could use Sue’s wages
too.

68
00:03:07,560 –> 00:03:10,320
She could work too.
And then we could get more than

69
00:03:10,320 –> 00:03:12,440
they.
They try to push you into bigger

70
00:03:12,440 –> 00:03:14,360
and better things.
And we looked at him and said,

71
00:03:14,360 –> 00:03:17,160
no, we’d like her to stay home
with the kids.

72
00:03:17,160 –> 00:03:19,360
And they they just couldn’t
understand that kind of

73
00:03:19,360 –> 00:03:23,080
philosophy, philosophy of life.
But it makes a big difference

74
00:03:23,080 –> 00:03:25,920
and the freedom and the time
that you have for the truth and

75
00:03:25,920 –> 00:03:28,920
for serving God.
So as Matthew said, as Jesus

76
00:03:28,920 –> 00:03:32,640
said in Matthew 6 and verse 24,
it’s a pretty black and white

77
00:03:32,640 –> 00:03:35,520
statement.
You really can’t serve 2

78
00:03:35,520 –> 00:03:37,680
masters.
You just can’t do that.

79
00:03:38,520 –> 00:03:41,600
It’s like you can’t go out there
and get all the the drinks and

80
00:03:41,600 –> 00:03:44,520
the coffee and the all those
buns that we ate this morning

81
00:03:44,520 –> 00:03:46,000
and all that good stuff out
there.

82
00:03:46,160 –> 00:03:48,720
You can’t spend your time out
there and and fill up out there

83
00:03:48,720 –> 00:03:58,040
and still get back here on time.
You’re either serve the

84
00:03:58,040 –> 00:04:01,520
presiding brother and get back
here on time or you serve our

85
00:04:01,520 –> 00:04:05,120
belly and we go fill up anyway.
That’s just funny.

86
00:04:05,120 –> 00:04:07,200
It’s Christadelphians all around
the world.

87
00:04:07,200 –> 00:04:10,360
Wherever you go we’re always
late getting back to classes

88
00:04:10,680 –> 00:04:13,480
with with breaks.
We just we like to socialize.

89
00:04:13,480 –> 00:04:15,680
That is the way we are.
Doesn’t bother me at all.

90
00:04:16,160 –> 00:04:20,160
So, but he says very clearly,
you cannot serve God and mammon,

91
00:04:20,480 –> 00:04:22,760
’cause you already either hate
the one and love the other one,

92
00:04:22,760 –> 00:04:25,400
or else you’ll be loyal to the
one and despise the other.

93
00:04:25,680 –> 00:04:29,640
But you can’t do both.
That’s a pretty, you know, black

94
00:04:29,640 –> 00:04:32,760
and white statement.
You won’t be able to satisfy all

95
00:04:32,760 –> 00:04:35,720
the stuff of this world that you
want to have the God of this

96
00:04:35,720 –> 00:04:38,200
world.
You can’t do that and also serve

97
00:04:38,200 –> 00:04:40,400
God there.
There just isn’t time.

98
00:04:40,760 –> 00:04:44,120
You don’t have time in your life
to do that, You know, It’s it’s

99
00:04:44,120 –> 00:04:48,480
far better to make your
decisions now about what you

100
00:04:48,480 –> 00:04:51,600
want to do spiritually and put
those up at the top of the list

101
00:04:51,960 –> 00:04:54,680
and then let the other stuff
fall into place and God will

102
00:04:54,680 –> 00:04:56,520
take care of that.
He He really will for you.

103
00:04:56,840 –> 00:04:59,560
You may not have the biggest
house, You may not have all the

104
00:04:59,560 –> 00:05:03,000
best toys, caravans and boats
and all this kind of stuff that

105
00:05:03,000 –> 00:05:07,120
people invest in today and fancy
cars, But God promises he’ll

106
00:05:07,120 –> 00:05:09,600
take care of us and you’ll have
time for serving him.

107
00:05:10,040 –> 00:05:12,000
And that’s what we want to look
at this morning.

108
00:05:12,400 –> 00:05:14,240
So you wonder, like, what in the
world is mammon?

109
00:05:14,240 –> 00:05:16,120
Those of you that have
researched this, you might have

110
00:05:16,120 –> 00:05:19,200
found out that some people think
it originated with an Arabic

111
00:05:19,200 –> 00:05:23,320
word, mammon, which was really
riches or money, or from a

112
00:05:23,320 –> 00:05:25,800
Hebrew word that meant that
which was to be trusted.

113
00:05:26,080 –> 00:05:30,200
But you can see either way, the
problem is we, we trust in the

114
00:05:30,200 –> 00:05:32,840
riches of this world.
And you can see how they’re

115
00:05:32,840 –> 00:05:36,480
connected, that we end up
thinking that these riches that

116
00:05:36,480 –> 00:05:39,360
we go out to get and all this
stuff that we accumulate, we

117
00:05:39,360 –> 00:05:40,800
think it’s going to make us
happy.

118
00:05:41,480 –> 00:05:43,640
That’s that’s what we think.
We think, oh, I just, I just be

119
00:05:43,640 –> 00:05:46,120
so much happier.
And we sort of deceive ourselves

120
00:05:46,120 –> 00:05:49,000
into thinking that, oh, I could
serve God so much better if I

121
00:05:49,000 –> 00:05:52,280
had this bigger house and I had
this more expensive car and I

122
00:05:52,280 –> 00:05:54,200
had all these all these toys out
there.

123
00:05:54,760 –> 00:05:59,440
And if we read Ecclesiastes and
believe Solomon, we’d realize he

124
00:05:59,440 –> 00:06:01,560
already ran the test.
He did it.

125
00:06:01,880 –> 00:06:04,800
He had all the money imaginable.
He tried everything he could,

126
00:06:04,800 –> 00:06:06,960
all the things you might think
about that were going to make

127
00:06:06,960 –> 00:06:09,120
you happy.
And he tried them all and he

128
00:06:09,120 –> 00:06:10,840
ended up concluding.
It’s all vanity.

129
00:06:11,240 –> 00:06:13,200
It’s like striving after the
wind.

130
00:06:14,040 –> 00:06:17,800
And and you, you either believe
them or you go through life and

131
00:06:17,800 –> 00:06:20,480
experience it yourself.
That’s a choice you have to

132
00:06:20,480 –> 00:06:23,280
make.
But God wrote it in Ecclesiastes

133
00:06:23,280 –> 00:06:25,840
for us.
He recorded it so we could learn

134
00:06:25,840 –> 00:06:29,800
from somebody who made mistakes
and hopefully not have to do

135
00:06:31,080 –> 00:06:33,440
those same mistakes and live
through life and do it all over

136
00:06:33,440 –> 00:06:36,200
again.
But let’s face it, it it happens

137
00:06:36,200 –> 00:06:37,920
to a lot of us.
We just go back through

138
00:06:37,920 –> 00:06:40,280
Ecclesiastes, we relive it at
our own life.

139
00:06:40,560 –> 00:06:42,480
We never accumulate what Solomon
had.

140
00:06:42,480 –> 00:06:44,600
No way.
We’re nowhere near what he got.

141
00:06:44,600 –> 00:06:47,840
And we, but we still think that
all that stuff is really going

142
00:06:47,840 –> 00:06:49,920
to bring us happiness.
And it doesn’t.

143
00:06:50,040 –> 00:06:53,000
It, it doesn’t bring happiness.
People that travel around the

144
00:06:53,000 –> 00:06:56,680
world see that very clearly.
If you travel around to Africa,

145
00:06:56,680 –> 00:06:59,680
you travel around to India and
you Pakistan, and you see that

146
00:06:59,680 –> 00:07:01,880
his brothers and sisters and the
way they live, they don’t have

147
00:07:01,880 –> 00:07:05,920
all the toys that we have here.
And yet many of them are very

148
00:07:05,920 –> 00:07:08,400
satisfied in life.
They’re happy with the truth.

149
00:07:08,640 –> 00:07:10,400
They’re thankful for what God
has done.

150
00:07:10,400 –> 00:07:13,800
They are content because they’re
not striving after wind.

151
00:07:14,720 –> 00:07:17,520
So you look at Mammon today and
all the different versions of

152
00:07:17,520 –> 00:07:20,360
Mammon today, I think I may have
lost you entirely.

153
00:07:20,560 –> 00:07:23,720
I’m not sure there is that if
that happened, but it sounds to

154
00:07:23,720 –> 00:07:25,800
me like are the speakers still
on back there?

155
00:07:25,800 –> 00:07:27,880
Maybe a little bit.
But we may have lost the

156
00:07:27,880 –> 00:07:30,080
speakers.
So if I can’t project out there,

157
00:07:30,080 –> 00:07:32,280
I’m sorry.
These rooms just really aren’t

158
00:07:32,280 –> 00:07:35,480
designed for projecting voice.
But you know, the things that

159
00:07:35,480 –> 00:07:39,000
people strive after today we we
think these things are going to

160
00:07:39,000 –> 00:07:41,880
bring us happiness that’s that’s
our that’s our fallacy.

161
00:07:42,200 –> 00:07:46,000
It’s the deception of the flesh.
We deceive ourselves.

162
00:07:46,240 –> 00:07:49,680
But in reality, if if you talk
to people and you ask them what

163
00:07:49,680 –> 00:07:52,120
would really bring them the most
happiness, it isn’t all that

164
00:07:52,120 –> 00:07:54,520
stuff.
I remember talking to teachers

165
00:07:54,520 –> 00:07:58,040
when I was I was been teaching
for about 38 years in public

166
00:07:58,040 –> 00:08:01,480
schools back in Michigan, and I
would ask the people that were

167
00:08:01,480 –> 00:08:04,160
retiring, you know what?
When you look back at your life,

168
00:08:04,360 –> 00:08:07,560
what would you change now if you
could what?

169
00:08:07,560 –> 00:08:09,200
What have you learned from
teaching?

170
00:08:09,200 –> 00:08:12,240
Cause many of them have taught
for 30, some years, 40 years,

171
00:08:12,240 –> 00:08:13,800
whatever.
And now they’re going to retire.

172
00:08:14,520 –> 00:08:17,760
The sad thing was, and watching
them, I saw that when people

173
00:08:17,760 –> 00:08:21,560
retired from school, a lot of
them died within a couple years.

174
00:08:22,200 –> 00:08:25,240
That was really interesting
about teachers, and we don’t

175
00:08:25,240 –> 00:08:27,520
last long.
They always said that about math

176
00:08:27,520 –> 00:08:29,080
teachers.
We don’t really die.

177
00:08:29,080 –> 00:08:35,520
We just reduce to lowest terms.
But I I when I asked them about

178
00:08:35,520 –> 00:08:38,679
what they would have changed
about their life, the vast

179
00:08:38,679 –> 00:08:41,559
majority of them said they would
have spent more time with their

180
00:08:41,559 –> 00:08:44,920
families.
That’s a interesting concept to

181
00:08:44,920 –> 00:08:47,000
me.
That’s what they learned after

182
00:08:47,000 –> 00:08:49,600
all those years.
They gave their whole life to

183
00:08:49,600 –> 00:08:54,240
their career and died probably
soon afterwards, and wished that

184
00:08:54,240 –> 00:08:57,040
they had made the choice to
spend more time with their

185
00:08:57,040 –> 00:08:59,400
families.
And I think for some of us, it

186
00:08:59,400 –> 00:09:02,200
might have been that we would
have spent more time in in being

187
00:09:02,200 –> 00:09:05,160
involved in our collegias and
our and godly activities.

188
00:09:05,840 –> 00:09:08,720
It’s it’s not something that you
folks as young people want to

189
00:09:08,720 –> 00:09:11,560
live to regret.
You have to make those choices

190
00:09:11,560 –> 00:09:14,400
now of putting the priorities
right.

191
00:09:14,800 –> 00:09:17,520
And we don’t want to try to
serve God and mammon.

192
00:09:18,080 –> 00:09:20,520
So I just want to look at a
couple of characters that tried

193
00:09:20,600 –> 00:09:22,600
and you can see the results of
these things.

194
00:09:22,600 –> 00:09:24,000
You know these stories quite
well.

195
00:09:24,000 –> 00:09:27,080
Remember Naaman when he got
cured of his leprosy in Second

196
00:09:27,080 –> 00:09:30,000
Kings Chapter 5?
Remember how Naaman tried to get

197
00:09:30,000 –> 00:09:32,600
Elijah to take a gift?
You know you want to give him a

198
00:09:32,600 –> 00:09:34,840
gift.
And Elijah says no, no, no, I’m

199
00:09:34,840 –> 00:09:37,640
not going to take the gift.
You know, in verse 16 of chapter

200
00:09:37,640 –> 00:09:39,480
five, he says what he said to
the Naaman.

201
00:09:39,480 –> 00:09:42,600
As the Lord lives before whom I
stand, I will receive nothing.

202
00:09:42,960 –> 00:09:45,640
And he urged him to take it, but
he refused.

203
00:09:45,880 –> 00:09:49,200
He wasn’t going to take a gift
for this because Elijah realized

204
00:09:49,400 –> 00:09:51,640
he hadn’t done that.
He hadn’t cured Naaman’s

205
00:09:51,640 –> 00:09:53,880
leprosy.
God had done that.

206
00:09:53,920 –> 00:09:56,560
It’s not something he wanted to
take money for then.

207
00:09:56,560 –> 00:09:58,040
And yet he just says go in
peace.

208
00:09:58,040 –> 00:10:00,320
So he departed from him a short
distance.

209
00:10:00,840 –> 00:10:04,200
But then what ends up happening
is Gehazi’s watching all this.

210
00:10:04,480 –> 00:10:07,240
And Gehazi’s eyes are opening up
about the gifts.

211
00:10:07,560 –> 00:10:10,960
And he’s thinking about, oh wow,
what can we get this guy?

212
00:10:11,200 –> 00:10:14,720
He’s got connections to a lot of
money and good things, a lot of

213
00:10:14,720 –> 00:10:17,240
the toys of this world, the
garments of this world.

214
00:10:17,600 –> 00:10:21,440
So Gehazi, he runs after him and
he’s going to get something from

215
00:10:21,440 –> 00:10:22,040
him.
All right.

216
00:10:22,400 –> 00:10:25,960
And then he goes and tells he he
tells Naaman in verse 22, He

217
00:10:25,960 –> 00:10:28,520
says, oh, all’s well, my master
has sent me.

218
00:10:28,720 –> 00:10:31,960
Here come the lies.
See this is the deception of the

219
00:10:31,960 –> 00:10:34,120
flesh.
We end up thinking that we’re

220
00:10:34,120 –> 00:10:37,400
going to be able to pull this
off and somehow do it within the

221
00:10:37,440 –> 00:10:39,480
the realm of the righteousness
of God.

222
00:10:39,480 –> 00:10:43,960
And we can’t serve 2 masters.
So he makes up a line my master

223
00:10:43,960 –> 00:10:46,560
sent me saying.
Indeed just now two young men

224
00:10:46,560 –> 00:10:48,520
are the sons of the prophets
have come to me from the

225
00:10:48,520 –> 00:10:51,240
mountains of Ephraim.
Please give me a talent of

226
00:10:51,240 –> 00:10:55,360
silver and two changes of
garments And Gahe’s eyes was

227
00:10:55,360 –> 00:10:58,560
thinking, wow, we’re going to
cash in on this one, right?

228
00:10:58,680 –> 00:11:02,320
But you know, he comes back and
he and he talks to Elijah and

229
00:11:02,320 –> 00:11:06,400
Elijah knows what he’s done.
Just like the angels, they know

230
00:11:06,400 –> 00:11:08,720
where our treasure is.
They know what we’re doing.

231
00:11:08,720 –> 00:11:11,120
They know our goals and our
objectives in life.

232
00:11:11,120 –> 00:11:15,040
They know what we really want.
What do we really want?

233
00:11:15,200 –> 00:11:18,640
We can’t serve God and mammon,
and he lies to him.

234
00:11:18,640 –> 00:11:21,160
He says, Well, your your servant
didn’t go anywhere when Elijah

235
00:11:21,160 –> 00:11:24,040
questions him.
And Elijah knows and and he says

236
00:11:24,040 –> 00:11:26,560
in verse 27.
Therefore the leprosy of Naman

237
00:11:26,560 –> 00:11:28,600
will cling to you and your
descendants forever.

238
00:11:28,960 –> 00:11:32,040
And he went out of his presence,
leprous as white as snow.

239
00:11:32,680 –> 00:11:36,280
It it’s it’s just a huge mistake
to think that we can pull this

240
00:11:36,280 –> 00:11:40,480
off, that we can somehow deceive
ourselves and go after all the

241
00:11:40,480 –> 00:11:43,680
stuff of this world and at the
same time think we can serve our

242
00:11:43,680 –> 00:11:46,280
God.
Because as Jesus said in Matthew

243
00:11:46,280 –> 00:11:50,160
6, he said that you know your
treasure, what you really want

244
00:11:50,160 –> 00:11:53,840
in life, that treasure that
you’re hoping for, that treasure

245
00:11:53,840 –> 00:11:56,520
will really tell you where where
your heart is AT.

246
00:11:56,840 –> 00:11:59,160
And God reads the heart.
He knows what we really want.

247
00:11:59,640 –> 00:12:00,960
He knows when we’re young.
What are you?

248
00:12:00,960 –> 00:12:02,640
What are you really interested
in?

249
00:12:02,960 –> 00:12:06,000
Are you interested in a a life
and the truth where you can have

250
00:12:06,000 –> 00:12:10,000
free time to get to CYC, to work
in Sunday school, to serve in

251
00:12:10,000 –> 00:12:12,160
your ecclesia and be involved in
all these things?

252
00:12:12,480 –> 00:12:15,480
Or are you really wanting all
the toys of this world?

253
00:12:16,120 –> 00:12:19,520
You want the big house, You want
the fancy car, the fast car, the

254
00:12:19,520 –> 00:12:22,680
whatever it.
It’s just God knows And where

255
00:12:22,680 –> 00:12:26,280
your treasure is, Jesus said
there will your heart be also.

256
00:12:26,640 –> 00:12:29,480
So the question we ask ourselves
this week while we’re sitting

257
00:12:29,480 –> 00:12:31,240
here is, is meditate on the
idea.

258
00:12:31,240 –> 00:12:33,240
Like where is our treasure
chest?

259
00:12:33,240 –> 00:12:36,000
What’s in it?
What are we really hoping for?

260
00:12:36,600 –> 00:12:39,080
That that’s a that’s a real
question that we have to have.

261
00:12:39,080 –> 00:12:42,240
And then for our children, for
those of you raising children,

262
00:12:42,560 –> 00:12:46,080
you have to decide what are you
going to tell your children

263
00:12:46,080 –> 00:12:47,640
about what really makes you
happy.

264
00:12:48,360 –> 00:12:51,200
Because they’re watching what
you do you know and they’re

265
00:12:51,200 –> 00:12:53,840
watching how you live and
they’re finding out, well do mom

266
00:12:53,840 –> 00:12:55,720
and dad really care about
getting the meeting?

267
00:12:55,800 –> 00:12:58,800
Do they really care about being
involved in the ecclesia?

268
00:12:58,800 –> 00:13:01,720
Are they out there working,
working, working, working so

269
00:13:01,720 –> 00:13:04,520
that we can have all the stuff
of this world our kids are

270
00:13:04,520 –> 00:13:07,280
watching.
They know where our treasure

271
00:13:07,280 –> 00:13:11,160
really is and you can’t tell
your children to have God as

272
00:13:11,160 –> 00:13:13,680
your treasure.
When we’re we’re living a lie to

273
00:13:13,680 –> 00:13:17,400
them and and our within our own
families we have to show them

274
00:13:17,400 –> 00:13:20,800
that what we really love, what
we really want are the godly

275
00:13:20,800 –> 00:13:24,440
things we want the things that
that that they feed our

276
00:13:24,440 –> 00:13:28,200
spiritual life and that God will
take care of us on so many of

277
00:13:28,200 –> 00:13:30,360
these other things.
We don’t have to have the best

278
00:13:30,360 –> 00:13:32,800
of everything.
We can just live with smaller

279
00:13:32,800 –> 00:13:36,400
things and less stuff and have
more time for God.

280
00:13:36,680 –> 00:13:39,520
That that was a huge lesson to
learn as we’re young and I

281
00:13:39,520 –> 00:13:41,680
really do believe it.
It affects our children.

282
00:13:41,680 –> 00:13:44,800
They’re watching.
They’re watching what we do, and

283
00:13:44,800 –> 00:13:49,160
they’re making decisions based
on not so much what we say, but

284
00:13:49,160 –> 00:13:50,960
what are you really doing at
home?

285
00:13:50,960 –> 00:13:52,000
Where where are you really
going?

286
00:13:52,000 –> 00:13:54,240
It comes time from Bible class.
Do you really care about going

287
00:13:54,240 –> 00:13:57,360
to Bible class or do you just
figure I’m too tired tonight?

288
00:13:57,360 –> 00:13:59,760
I don’t want to go.
It doesn’t really help me.

289
00:14:00,000 –> 00:14:03,000
They’re they’re watching all
those things and they’re trying

290
00:14:03,000 –> 00:14:06,840
to figure it out and it’s it’s
an important thing for us.

291
00:14:06,840 –> 00:14:10,240
So look at the case with with
Ahab, you know, King Ahab, we

292
00:14:10,240 –> 00:14:12,880
know that he was full of a lot
of problems and a lot of

293
00:14:12,880 –> 00:14:15,400
mistakes.
But I think the story of Nabat’s

294
00:14:15,400 –> 00:14:20,640
vineyard just reveals again this
whole idea that you can’t serve

295
00:14:20,640 –> 00:14:23,800
2 masters.
And in his case, he’s, you know,

296
00:14:23,800 –> 00:14:26,880
he’s looking at this vineyard
out there and Ahab spokes.

297
00:14:26,920 –> 00:14:29,920
He speaks to Nabat in First
Kings 21 at verse two.

298
00:14:29,920 –> 00:14:33,120
And he says give me your
vineyard, that I might have it

299
00:14:33,120 –> 00:14:36,640
for a vegetable garden.
You know that that’s what he

300
00:14:36,640 –> 00:14:38,480
wanted.
He’s the king, right?

301
00:14:38,480 –> 00:14:41,280
He can add anything he wants.
And he figures he can just go

302
00:14:41,280 –> 00:14:43,040
after this.
And this is going to make him

303
00:14:43,040 –> 00:14:44,880
happy, right?
Sure.

304
00:14:44,880 –> 00:14:46,000
That’s not going to make him
happy.

305
00:14:46,000 –> 00:14:47,720
Once he gets there, he just
wants something else.

306
00:14:48,040 –> 00:14:50,960
See, there’s no end to this.
We we can’t.

307
00:14:50,960 –> 00:14:53,240
We as younger people, we got to
set parameters up.

308
00:14:53,240 –> 00:14:56,240
I only need this much.
And then be careful that we

309
00:14:56,240 –> 00:14:57,960
don’t just keep when we get to
that point.

310
00:14:57,960 –> 00:15:00,240
We want more and we want more
and we want more.

311
00:15:00,480 –> 00:15:02,320
That’s what happens in this
world today.

312
00:15:02,760 –> 00:15:04,960
That’s the whole strategy behind
marketing today.

313
00:15:04,960 –> 00:15:08,240
You you look at all the toys,
the the phones that we have and

314
00:15:08,240 –> 00:15:11,400
TV’s and all these things that
the the cars that we drive.

315
00:15:11,600 –> 00:15:14,680
You know, it used to be that you
could buy a washing machine and

316
00:15:14,680 –> 00:15:18,840
it would last for 20 years.
Everybody knows that works on

317
00:15:18,840 –> 00:15:20,480
them today.
They don’t last that long

318
00:15:20,480 –> 00:15:22,800
anymore.
Everything’s designed now so

319
00:15:22,800 –> 00:15:24,920
that you got to get another one
and you got to get another one.

320
00:15:24,920 –> 00:15:28,040
You get the upgrades and they
advertise, oh, wow, Now we can

321
00:15:28,040 –> 00:15:29,360
do this.
So we can do that.

322
00:15:29,600 –> 00:15:31,640
And the kids walk into school
and they see, oh, somebody’s

323
00:15:31,640 –> 00:15:34,840
got, somebody’s got an iPhone.
And then they find out, oh, you

324
00:15:34,840 –> 00:15:38,160
got, you got the new one none.
They line up overnight to get in

325
00:15:38,160 –> 00:15:41,560
the store, to get the new one.
And and it’s like we don’t want

326
00:15:41,560 –> 00:15:44,320
to get caught up in that.
Brothers and sisters, we don’t

327
00:15:44,320 –> 00:15:46,880
need the best.
We really don’t.

328
00:15:47,440 –> 00:15:49,720
And don’t let that drive our
life.

329
00:15:50,160 –> 00:15:52,600
Because if you’re not careful,
it takes over and that’s what

330
00:15:52,600 –> 00:15:54,960
it’ll do.
So look at what what Ahab does.

331
00:15:54,960 –> 00:15:56,520
You know and and well, Naboth
does.

332
00:15:56,520 –> 00:15:58,680
In verse three, he gives them
the godly answer.

333
00:15:58,680 –> 00:16:00,800
No.
The Lord forbid that I should

334
00:16:00,800 –> 00:16:03,160
give you the inheritance of my
father’s to you.

335
00:16:03,480 –> 00:16:06,320
I’m not going to do that.
This is the way God set up the

336
00:16:06,320 –> 00:16:08,240
land.
These are the godly principles I

337
00:16:08,240 –> 00:16:10,280
live on.
I can’t give you my vineyard.

338
00:16:10,560 –> 00:16:14,160
It passes down through the
family and then Ahab goes over

339
00:16:14,160 –> 00:16:16,280
to his house, all depressed and
sullen.

340
00:16:16,720 –> 00:16:20,240
See what happens when we get our
our ideas out there.

341
00:16:20,240 –> 00:16:22,880
I need this to be happy now.
I need this to be happy.

342
00:16:23,160 –> 00:16:25,760
We go away discouraged when we
don’t have it.

343
00:16:25,880 –> 00:16:29,000
We’re sullen, we’re depressed.
We we got all worried about the

344
00:16:29,000 –> 00:16:32,640
fact that I don’t have all this
stuff yet and if we never had

345
00:16:32,640 –> 00:16:36,160
wanted it in the 1st place, we
would have been a lot happier

346
00:16:36,160 –> 00:16:39,360
people.
No godliness with contentment.

347
00:16:39,360 –> 00:16:43,200
It’s it’s amazing how it changes
the way you live when you learn

348
00:16:43,200 –> 00:16:44,920
to be content with what you
have.

349
00:16:45,240 –> 00:16:48,920
But you can’t serve 2 masters as
as he found out as well.

350
00:16:48,920 –> 00:16:52,600
And covetousness.
Covetousness is a big one.

351
00:16:53,280 –> 00:16:55,040
Never noticed that in the New
Testament.

352
00:16:55,640 –> 00:16:58,360
Covetousness Paul calls it.
It’s it’s like idolatry.

353
00:16:58,640 –> 00:17:02,440
It’s it’s like idol worship and
the way it controls our life

354
00:17:02,440 –> 00:17:04,359
when we want what somebody else
has.

355
00:17:04,800 –> 00:17:06,359
And yet God has given us
something.

356
00:17:06,359 –> 00:17:08,839
And we’re looking around at what
do you have and what do you

357
00:17:08,839 –> 00:17:10,359
have?
And, you know, you watch the

358
00:17:10,400 –> 00:17:13,520
kids do this all the time.
You, you hand out ice cream

359
00:17:13,520 –> 00:17:16,160
cones to the grandchildren and
they’re looking at, well, how

360
00:17:16,160 –> 00:17:19,000
much ice cream did Papa put on
that cone?

361
00:17:19,000 –> 00:17:21,160
And they’re looking at.
And it’s like, I want one like

362
00:17:21,160 –> 00:17:23,480
that.
And it’s like it starts early

363
00:17:23,480 –> 00:17:25,680
on.
It’s this comparison idea and

364
00:17:25,680 –> 00:17:27,680
thinking that we got to have
what everybody else has.

365
00:17:27,680 –> 00:17:30,960
And yet it’s something that we
have been asked to fight.

366
00:17:31,280 –> 00:17:33,080
It’s part of the thinking of the
flesh.

367
00:17:33,680 –> 00:17:36,600
And so Jesus would say in Mark
seven, you know when he’s

368
00:17:36,600 –> 00:17:40,240
talking to the people there And
he enters a house in verse 17

369
00:17:40,240 –> 00:17:42,680
away from the crowd and the
disciples asked him concerning

370
00:17:42,680 –> 00:17:44,240
the parable that he had told
them.

371
00:17:44,560 –> 00:17:48,560
And he says, well, look it it’s
don’t you perceive that whatever

372
00:17:48,560 –> 00:17:51,360
enters a man from the outside
cannot defile him.

373
00:17:51,600 –> 00:17:54,280
It’s not about what comes in
from the outside.

374
00:17:54,280 –> 00:17:55,840
It’s not about the things that
we eat.

375
00:17:55,840 –> 00:17:58,720
It’s not about the stuff that
that come in from the outside,

376
00:17:58,920 –> 00:18:00,600
but it’s the stuff that’s
within.

377
00:18:00,680 –> 00:18:02,280
It’s in here.
Our heart.

378
00:18:02,600 –> 00:18:04,600
What our what?
Our what our brains want.

379
00:18:04,640 –> 00:18:08,120
That’s what defiles us.
It’s the devil in US thinking

380
00:18:08,120 –> 00:18:09,560
that somehow we’re going to be
happier.

381
00:18:09,560 –> 00:18:12,080
We’re going to be better people.
And you look around.

382
00:18:12,080 –> 00:18:14,120
I can imagine like Job’s three
friends.

383
00:18:14,520 –> 00:18:17,160
I I can really imagine it from
them looking at Job and thinking

384
00:18:17,160 –> 00:18:19,160
well, look at God.
Look, look.

385
00:18:19,240 –> 00:18:22,040
No wonder if he serves you.
Look what you gave him.

386
00:18:22,200 –> 00:18:24,320
You put a hedger on him.
You take care of him and his

387
00:18:24,320 –> 00:18:28,080
family.
If I had what Job had I’d be so

388
00:18:28,080 –> 00:18:29,680
much better.
I’d be serving you.

389
00:18:29,680 –> 00:18:31,600
I’d.
If he just gave me what he had,

390
00:18:32,120 –> 00:18:36,360
instead of being content with
what we have, so Jesus says so

391
00:18:36,360 –> 00:18:39,960
clearly, it’s what comes out of
a man that defiles the man.

392
00:18:40,080 –> 00:18:43,040
For from within, out of the
heart of men, proceed Evil

393
00:18:43,040 –> 00:18:46,320
thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts,

394
00:18:46,600 –> 00:18:50,440
covetousness, right Wickedness,
deceit, lewdness and an evil

395
00:18:50,440 –> 00:18:53,840
eye, Blasphemy, pride,
foolishness, all these things

396
00:18:53,840 –> 00:18:57,160
come from in here we are the
problem.

397
00:18:57,640 –> 00:19:00,720
And what God’s trying to do is
teach us that, look, if you

398
00:19:00,720 –> 00:19:05,360
serve him, if you put God first
in your life, he will take care

399
00:19:05,360 –> 00:19:07,960
of the rest.
And it’s just something we, we

400
00:19:07,960 –> 00:19:11,360
really do have to be careful of.
So consciousness, what it really

401
00:19:11,360 –> 00:19:13,240
does.
And you see this in children, we

402
00:19:13,240 –> 00:19:14,880
sort of laugh at it all the
time, right?

403
00:19:15,080 –> 00:19:18,360
But that’s what happens in my
household, is that one one gets

404
00:19:18,360 –> 00:19:20,320
a Lally, the other one gets a
big old ice cream.

405
00:19:20,560 –> 00:19:23,240
And the guy with the Lally
sitting there, like, wow, I

406
00:19:23,240 –> 00:19:26,200
think I’d like one of those.
And I want it to be just as big

407
00:19:26,200 –> 00:19:29,000
as that, or bigger.
And that’s how people think.

408
00:19:29,400 –> 00:19:32,400
But what it does to us is it
eats away.

409
00:19:32,480 –> 00:19:34,480
It eats away us.
So we wish we had that.

410
00:19:34,640 –> 00:19:38,040
We think about somebody else
having this, and then we become

411
00:19:38,360 –> 00:19:41,880
we become selfish and
unthankful, people unhappy.

412
00:19:42,240 –> 00:19:45,040
It takes away your happiness in
life if you’re always thinking

413
00:19:45,040 –> 00:19:48,680
about having something else
instead of being thankful for

414
00:19:48,680 –> 00:19:51,080
what we have right now.
It does make a big difference

415
00:19:51,080 –> 00:19:55,400
and it drives us to work far too
much in this life.

416
00:19:55,720 –> 00:19:59,400
Take on jobs, take on overtime,
travel all over the place and

417
00:19:59,400 –> 00:20:02,160
have all this money that we that
we can get from a job.

418
00:20:02,560 –> 00:20:06,480
And instead of staying home,
working with our family with our

419
00:20:06,480 –> 00:20:10,720
collegias and taking less
because it will provide for us

420
00:20:10,720 –> 00:20:12,840
to really take care of the
things of God.

421
00:20:13,280 –> 00:20:16,280
These are challenging decisions
that we have to individually

422
00:20:16,280 –> 00:20:19,240
make and you have to do what
what works for you.

423
00:20:19,680 –> 00:20:22,840
But I would encourage all of you
to, like, just think about, you

424
00:20:22,840 –> 00:20:26,240
know, what’s happening to your
time to work in the Ecclesia and

425
00:20:26,240 –> 00:20:28,880
if it’s working for you and you
have plenty of time to show up

426
00:20:28,880 –> 00:20:32,000
all the classes and work and
preach the truth and all these

427
00:20:32,000 –> 00:20:33,840
things that we’d like to do,
that’s great.

428
00:20:34,200 –> 00:20:37,480
But if you find your job pulling
you away all the time, you’re

429
00:20:37,480 –> 00:20:40,280
never around to help the family,
to raise the children.

430
00:20:40,520 –> 00:20:42,480
You’re gone.
You’re travelling, which this

431
00:20:42,480 –> 00:20:45,880
world is a big thing today, Get
on airplanes, fly all over the

432
00:20:45,880 –> 00:20:49,520
place, travel and and be gone
before you know it.

433
00:20:49,520 –> 00:20:52,520
They hand out the carrot and
they say if you do it, you know

434
00:20:52,520 –> 00:20:56,000
you we will give you bonuses and
we will give you all this stuff.

435
00:20:56,480 –> 00:20:59,040
And then who’s who’s home with?
With our children?

436
00:20:59,040 –> 00:21:02,000
We’re the dads that are taking
care of the kids or the moms.

437
00:21:02,400 –> 00:21:05,320
Before you know it, everybody’s
gone and the kids are raised by

438
00:21:05,320 –> 00:21:08,160
somebody else.
And that’s not what God was

439
00:21:08,160 –> 00:21:10,640
after in our lives.
He wanted us to raise our

440
00:21:10,640 –> 00:21:12,520
children.
He wanted us to have time for

441
00:21:12,520 –> 00:21:15,320
our families.
You look back at some of the

442
00:21:15,320 –> 00:21:17,760
Bible stories that we know.
You’ve studied the time period

443
00:21:17,760 –> 00:21:20,120
of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Remember when they started

444
00:21:20,120 –> 00:21:23,520
building the temple in the time?
Well, Ezra wasn’t actually

445
00:21:23,520 –> 00:21:25,200
mentioned yet.
He was still up in Babylon.

446
00:21:25,200 –> 00:21:27,720
But in the early chapters of
Ezra, the people came back from

447
00:21:27,720 –> 00:21:29,360
Babylon.
They started working under

448
00:21:29,360 –> 00:21:32,000
Joshua’s rubble.
They started building the temple

449
00:21:32,000 –> 00:21:34,400
and they worked on it.
They got it going and they were

450
00:21:34,400 –> 00:21:36,800
working for a number of years
they did pretty good, but as

451
00:21:36,800 –> 00:21:40,600
time went on over 15 years, the
amount of work on the temple

452
00:21:40,600 –> 00:21:43,200
started to die off and people
weren’t as interested.

453
00:21:43,640 –> 00:21:47,120
It’s really interesting to me
that in Ezra Chapter 3, it says,

454
00:21:47,120 –> 00:21:50,520
or maybe at the end of Chapter
2, it says that when they got

455
00:21:50,520 –> 00:21:53,800
the foundation laid, do you
remember what happened with the

456
00:21:53,800 –> 00:21:56,800
people when they, when they set
out to have like a time of

457
00:21:56,800 –> 00:21:59,920
celebration to like, wow, we got
the foundation done.

458
00:22:00,040 –> 00:22:03,360
Yes.
And they got together and what

459
00:22:03,360 –> 00:22:05,120
happened?
There was a lot of yelling.

460
00:22:05,760 –> 00:22:09,800
The the younger people were
happy, they were thrilled, they

461
00:22:09,800 –> 00:22:12,960
were excited.
And the older ones looked at it

462
00:22:12,960 –> 00:22:15,720
and said, wow, it’s not as good
as the one we had.

463
00:22:15,720 –> 00:22:20,560
Did you never notice that we we
have to be careful, older

464
00:22:20,560 –> 00:22:23,560
brothers and sisters.
We can squash the work of the

465
00:22:23,560 –> 00:22:26,000
young people.
It may not be the same as what

466
00:22:26,000 –> 00:22:28,320
we did in our day and age.
They don’t have the resources

467
00:22:28,320 –> 00:22:31,880
maybe that we had some of the
things that we had but we have

468
00:22:31,880 –> 00:22:35,280
to support what’s going on.
It was the work of God and and

469
00:22:35,280 –> 00:22:39,120
So what what happened over that
time is that people get got

470
00:22:39,120 –> 00:22:41,440
this.
They got so discouraged by what

471
00:22:41,440 –> 00:22:44,640
was going on in the community.
People all quit working.

472
00:22:44,960 –> 00:22:47,840
Before you know it, God sends in
the Persian army at the end of

473
00:22:47,840 –> 00:22:49,800
Ezra 4 and he says you’re going
to stop.

474
00:22:50,120 –> 00:22:53,600
And they, the military came in
and made them quit until they

475
00:22:53,600 –> 00:22:56,120
realized that, wow, we should
get back to work.

476
00:22:56,880 –> 00:22:59,880
But Hagai challenges them during
this period of, you know, when

477
00:22:59,880 –> 00:23:03,040
he comes along, as God raises up
Hagai and Zechariah to stir up

478
00:23:03,040 –> 00:23:06,760
the people, he challenges them
and says, look, is it a time for

479
00:23:06,760 –> 00:23:09,040
you to dwell in your panelled
houses?

480
00:23:09,320 –> 00:23:13,240
And the temple lies in ruins.
And we know that what happened

481
00:23:13,240 –> 00:23:16,440
then is that when the people
quit working on God’s temple,

482
00:23:16,640 –> 00:23:19,880
when they weren’t working on
God’s house anymore, they went

483
00:23:19,880 –> 00:23:23,240
home and worked on their own.
That that’s what we do as people

484
00:23:23,240 –> 00:23:25,480
when we get discouraged.
You don’t want to work in the

485
00:23:25,480 –> 00:23:28,760
ecclesia, had enough trouble, We
go home and we just take care of

486
00:23:28,760 –> 00:23:31,960
ourselves, our own lives.
We work more, we get more money,

487
00:23:31,960 –> 00:23:34,080
we get all this stuff.
You know, if you’re a farmer,

488
00:23:34,080 –> 00:23:36,920
they build, they they plant more
stuff and their farms increase.

489
00:23:37,200 –> 00:23:40,240
And so he says, look, consider
your ways.

490
00:23:40,560 –> 00:23:43,160
I I like the way some of the
versions they they translate

491
00:23:43,160 –> 00:23:45,720
that consider how you have
fared.

492
00:23:46,080 –> 00:23:47,960
How are things going in your
life?

493
00:23:48,360 –> 00:23:50,120
You know, you’re you’re doing
all this stuff, thinking you’re

494
00:23:50,120 –> 00:23:53,480
going to amass all these things.
But, you know, how’s it working?

495
00:23:53,480 –> 00:23:55,960
You know, you’ve sown much, but
you bring in little.

496
00:23:56,440 –> 00:23:58,680
You know, you eat, but you don’t
have enough.

497
00:23:58,880 –> 00:24:00,960
You drink, but you’re not filled
with drink.

498
00:24:01,160 –> 00:24:03,560
You clothe yourselves, but no
one is warm.

499
00:24:03,840 –> 00:24:07,400
And he who earns wages, earns
wages to put into a bag with

500
00:24:07,400 –> 00:24:09,520
holes.
Sort of a way of describing

501
00:24:09,520 –> 00:24:11,720
inflation, right?
Well, you simply think you’re

502
00:24:11,720 –> 00:24:13,920
getting more money, but actually
you’re really not.

503
00:24:14,360 –> 00:24:18,480
But that’s God was working in
their lives ruining the things

504
00:24:18,480 –> 00:24:20,600
that they thought they were
going to accomplish and get all

505
00:24:20,600 –> 00:24:22,720
this stuff.
And he just makes it all.

506
00:24:22,720 –> 00:24:26,040
He blows it all away trying to
convince them to get back to

507
00:24:26,040 –> 00:24:29,040
work on his house.
And it’s fascinating when you

508
00:24:29,040 –> 00:24:32,560
watch in Zechariah chapter 4,
when Zechariah comes along

509
00:24:32,560 –> 00:24:35,840
talking about this and the night
visions that he sees in chapter

510
00:24:35,840 –> 00:24:39,360
four, that the word of the Lord
came to him this in this one

511
00:24:39,360 –> 00:24:41,960
night.
And you see in verse nine that

512
00:24:42,040 –> 00:24:45,040
God assured him the angel’s
talking to him and he says, look

513
00:24:45,040 –> 00:24:48,640
Zechariah that are Zorbable.
He says, look at the hands of

514
00:24:48,640 –> 00:24:51,080
Zerubbable have laid the
foundation of this temple.

515
00:24:51,080 –> 00:24:54,720
His hands shall also finish it
so that Zechariah could cut him

516
00:24:54,720 –> 00:24:56,760
out the next day.
And he said, I saw this vision

517
00:24:57,000 –> 00:24:59,840
and and the vision showed me
that look at Zerubbable, you,

518
00:25:00,160 –> 00:25:02,600
you, Zerubbel, you’re going to
be there when the temple’s

519
00:25:02,600 –> 00:25:03,880
finished.
We’re going to get it done.

520
00:25:04,040 –> 00:25:06,840
And you are going to operate as
the governor because he would

521
00:25:06,840 –> 00:25:09,760
have been the the king at this
time in the line of Christ, It

522
00:25:09,760 –> 00:25:12,240
would have been Zerubbable.
And then you will know that the

523
00:25:12,240 –> 00:25:13,720
Lord of hosts has sent me to
you.

524
00:25:14,680 –> 00:25:18,280
But look at that next section
there for who has despised the

525
00:25:18,280 –> 00:25:22,280
day of small things?
And I think it’s a warning to

526
00:25:22,280 –> 00:25:24,000
us.
Brothers and sisters, especially

527
00:25:24,000 –> 00:25:27,120
as older ones, don’t despise
what the young people are doing,

528
00:25:27,400 –> 00:25:29,760
don’t despise their enthusiasm
for the truth.

529
00:25:30,080 –> 00:25:33,080
We have young people today that
are great with music and do

530
00:25:33,080 –> 00:25:36,560
things that I could never do.
And they they can use technology

531
00:25:36,560 –> 00:25:38,200
in ways that I could never do
it.

532
00:25:38,360 –> 00:25:42,240
And they understand so many
things that we don’t understand.

533
00:25:42,440 –> 00:25:45,520
We got to tap into those
resources and and encourage them

534
00:25:45,520 –> 00:25:48,560
and and say, this is great that
you can do these things for us

535
00:25:48,880 –> 00:25:51,800
because this is maybe a day
that’s different than when we

536
00:25:51,800 –> 00:25:53,760
grew up.
And you might consider it to be

537
00:25:53,760 –> 00:25:57,600
a day of small things, but the
angels didn’t look at it that

538
00:25:57,600 –> 00:25:59,200
way.
Do you notice that?

539
00:25:59,760 –> 00:26:02,920
Look at what it says there about
the angels for these seven.

540
00:26:02,920 –> 00:26:05,920
Those are the seven eyes that
were looking on the capstone

541
00:26:05,920 –> 00:26:09,680
back earlier in the the seven
eyes from Chapter 3, waiting for

542
00:26:09,680 –> 00:26:13,120
the capstone.
The angels were looking at that

543
00:26:13,120 –> 00:26:15,360
stone, waiting for the day when
it would go up.

544
00:26:15,640 –> 00:26:20,160
These seven angels, they
rejoiced to see the plumline and

545
00:26:20,160 –> 00:26:23,680
the hand of the eyes of the Lord
was skinned to and fro

546
00:26:23,680 –> 00:26:26,840
throughout the whole earth.
Now here we are sometimes, you

547
00:26:26,840 –> 00:26:28,840
know, despising something that’s
going on.

548
00:26:28,840 –> 00:26:31,880
It’s not as good as what we did.
And we discourage people.

549
00:26:32,160 –> 00:26:33,920
And the angels are on the
sidelines.

550
00:26:33,920 –> 00:26:36,120
They’re like, yes, we’ve been
working with these people.

551
00:26:36,280 –> 00:26:38,760
We’ve been trying to get this
project going, and it’s going

552
00:26:38,760 –> 00:26:42,200
now, and they’re excited about
it and we’re tearing it down.

553
00:26:43,560 –> 00:26:46,320
You ever thought of that before
that that can actually happen?

554
00:26:46,320 –> 00:26:48,640
And that’s what was going on
back here in the time of

555
00:26:48,640 –> 00:26:51,320
Zechariah.
The angels couldn’t wait to get

556
00:26:51,320 –> 00:26:55,640
this temple done as as small as
it was and as unglorified as it

557
00:26:55,640 –> 00:26:57,880
was compared to the one earlier
with Solomon.

558
00:26:58,200 –> 00:27:01,560
They saw that this was the best
these people could do at that

559
00:27:01,560 –> 00:27:04,640
time with the resources the
angels had given them, and they

560
00:27:04,640 –> 00:27:08,520
realized it was really never
about the Temple in the first

561
00:27:08,520 –> 00:27:10,880
place.
But it was about people

562
00:27:10,880 –> 00:27:13,880
learning, people growing
together, finding how to

563
00:27:13,880 –> 00:27:15,720
function together in the
community.

564
00:27:15,960 –> 00:27:19,960
And they saw this as a mechanism
to train people into godliness,

565
00:27:20,200 –> 00:27:22,280
and angels totally understand
that.

566
00:27:22,800 –> 00:27:25,760
So be careful that our
covetousness doesn’t really turn

567
00:27:25,760 –> 00:27:28,120
into idolatry.
It’s one of those things that we

568
00:27:28,120 –> 00:27:32,640
got to be careful of ourselves.
So I want to spend the last 20

569
00:27:32,640 –> 00:27:34,480
minutes or so.
I’m looking at God’s election.

570
00:27:34,480 –> 00:27:36,120
I’ll give you the Cliff Notes
version of it.

571
00:27:36,640 –> 00:27:38,200
A number of you have asked me
about this.

572
00:27:38,200 –> 00:27:41,600
It’s one of those topics that it
was, this is not the way I grew

573
00:27:41,600 –> 00:27:43,600
up.
And I it’s, I really think it’s

574
00:27:43,600 –> 00:27:46,560
something that came to US one
time when we were reading Romans

575
00:27:46,560 –> 00:27:49,440
9 with our kids and we used to
use the Children’s International

576
00:27:49,440 –> 00:27:51,440
Bible.
And we read through this and it

577
00:27:51,440 –> 00:27:53,400
was like, I got one of those wow
moments.

578
00:27:53,400 –> 00:27:57,040
It’s like I’ve never understood
this before and it and it and,

579
00:27:57,080 –> 00:27:59,640
you know, I remember still
working one day on a lecture,

580
00:27:59,640 –> 00:28:02,640
realizing that when I was
talking about the gospel going

581
00:28:02,640 –> 00:28:05,760
out and the coming of Christ and
Christ setting up the Kingdom, I

582
00:28:05,760 –> 00:28:08,480
finally realized, oh, that’s
what Paul was talking about

583
00:28:08,920 –> 00:28:11,280
because that you start looking
at, well, what’s going to happen

584
00:28:11,280 –> 00:28:14,920
when Christ returns.
I think the apostle Paul knew

585
00:28:14,920 –> 00:28:18,120
this, the best of all the
writers of the Bible, because he

586
00:28:18,120 –> 00:28:19,760
had experienced it in his own
life.

587
00:28:20,160 –> 00:28:21,960
He wrote Romans.
This is Paul.

588
00:28:22,400 –> 00:28:24,600
He studied at the feet of
Gamaliel.

589
00:28:24,600 –> 00:28:28,080
He worked in, worked in his
Bible, study his Bible marking

590
00:28:28,080 –> 00:28:31,560
his Bible re.
He knew his Bible inside out.

591
00:28:33,240 –> 00:28:37,160
He was on the wrong side.
The wrong side.

592
00:28:37,160 –> 00:28:39,640
It wasn’t about, you know,
sincerity.

593
00:28:40,000 –> 00:28:42,280
It wasn’t that he he wasn’t
sincere enough.

594
00:28:42,920 –> 00:28:47,160
You know, it’s it’s that God
hadn’t opened his eyes.

595
00:28:48,000 –> 00:28:50,840
He actually got blinded, and
then his eyes were open to

596
00:28:50,840 –> 00:28:54,080
finally see it.
But Paul realized he would.

597
00:28:54,080 –> 00:28:57,480
He would have spent his whole
life on the wrong side of

598
00:28:57,480 –> 00:29:00,360
everything if Christ hadn’t
stopped him on the road to

599
00:29:00,360 –> 00:29:03,240
Damascus.
And he realized more than anyone

600
00:29:03,240 –> 00:29:07,520
that it was all about God
revealing it to him, opening his

601
00:29:07,520 –> 00:29:10,720
eyes to see it.
And he understood that a lot of

602
00:29:10,720 –> 00:29:12,720
other people never get that
opportunity.

603
00:29:13,400 –> 00:29:16,480
They don’t all get their eyes
open and I think you’ll see that

604
00:29:16,480 –> 00:29:19,000
as he writes through Romans,
Romans Chapter 9.

605
00:29:19,280 –> 00:29:21,400
Although I could clear from the
beginning, some people have

606
00:29:21,400 –> 00:29:23,800
misread this in the past and
talked to me later on and and I

607
00:29:23,800 –> 00:29:26,480
thought I was talking about who
gets accepted at the judgement

608
00:29:26,480 –> 00:29:28,320
seat.
That’s not what Romans 9 is

609
00:29:28,320 –> 00:29:31,680
about.
Romans 9 is who gets invited to

610
00:29:31,680 –> 00:29:34,440
the family of God, not who’s
actually accepted.

611
00:29:34,440 –> 00:29:36,200
And yet this is about the
invitation.

612
00:29:36,520 –> 00:29:39,880
Who does God invite into his
king, into his family today?

613
00:29:40,200 –> 00:29:42,800
Who does he invite?
Out of the 8 1/2 billion people

614
00:29:42,800 –> 00:29:45,040
on our planet today, who’s
getting invited?

615
00:29:45,560 –> 00:29:49,840
Who’s actually given the call?
It’s more about opportunity, and

616
00:29:49,840 –> 00:29:51,440
I do think it’s really
difficult.

617
00:29:51,440 –> 00:29:54,080
When we’ve been raised as a
Christadelphian and we’ve grown

618
00:29:54,080 –> 00:29:58,120
up in a culture, we sort of had
this cultural viewpoint of how

619
00:29:58,120 –> 00:30:01,440
God’s election worked.
But I would challenge you to say

620
00:30:01,440 –> 00:30:04,160
to really look at it today and
see whether your cultural

621
00:30:04,160 –> 00:30:09,280
explanation fits with Romans
Chapter 9, and mine did not.

622
00:30:09,280 –> 00:30:12,080
I have to admit that it didn’t
fit with what I read in Romans

623
00:30:12,080 –> 00:30:14,480
Chapter 9.
And that God, you know, he

624
00:30:14,480 –> 00:30:17,640
brings things into our lives to
help us sometimes get outside

625
00:30:17,640 –> 00:30:20,560
the box, which is what I needed.
So here’s the deal.

626
00:30:20,560 –> 00:30:22,960
We got 8 1/2 billion people on
the planet.

627
00:30:22,960 –> 00:30:26,000
I think most of us can’t even
really understand what that

628
00:30:26,000 –> 00:30:29,360
number is. 8 1/2 billion people.
That’s a lot of people.

629
00:30:29,880 –> 00:30:32,720
You know, the the population of
the earth was only about 1

630
00:30:32,720 –> 00:30:36,520
billion at early 1800s and now
it’s grown to 8 1/2 billion.

631
00:30:37,040 –> 00:30:40,440
You know, so does everybody get
an opportunity to to come into

632
00:30:40,440 –> 00:30:44,080
the, the, the into God’s family?
Does God invite everybody out

633
00:30:44,080 –> 00:30:47,160
there to come into the family?
Is that really how this works?

634
00:30:47,680 –> 00:30:49,840
Does everybody get the same
opportunity?

635
00:30:50,440 –> 00:30:53,240
And I grew up realizing, well,
there’s people that I know who

636
00:30:53,240 –> 00:30:56,160
have never read a Bible in their
life, never heard about a Bible.

637
00:30:56,520 –> 00:30:59,480
I met a lot of Muslims and they
they weren’t that that way.

638
00:30:59,800 –> 00:31:03,280
There’s a lot of people that we
found out in China or in North

639
00:31:03,280 –> 00:31:06,320
Korea, never had Bibles don’t
know anything about Jesus

640
00:31:06,320 –> 00:31:07,760
Christ.
They don’t even know who he is

641
00:31:08,480 –> 00:31:11,880
and realized that no, not
everybody gets the same

642
00:31:11,880 –> 00:31:15,240
invitation that I got.
It’s really not the same.

643
00:31:15,680 –> 00:31:19,040
So what’s actually going on with
this idea of God’s feeling?

644
00:31:19,960 –> 00:31:23,200
To understand Romans Chapter 9,
we first of all have to realize

645
00:31:23,200 –> 00:31:25,160
we’ve got to.
Hopefully we read Romans 1-2 and

646
00:31:25,160 –> 00:31:26,800
three before we get to Chapter
9.

647
00:31:27,120 –> 00:31:31,080
But in Romans 1-2 and three,
Paul lays out so clearly that

648
00:31:31,080 –> 00:31:34,320
God put the gospel out there.
He showed the Gentiles his his

649
00:31:34,320 –> 00:31:36,520
creation, and they turned it
down.

650
00:31:36,520 –> 00:31:40,360
They went into their godless
ways, and so God gave them up.

651
00:31:41,360 –> 00:31:44,480
That’s the way Romans one ends.
He gave up on the Gentiles.

652
00:31:44,800 –> 00:31:46,680
He called the few here and
there.

653
00:31:46,680 –> 00:31:49,640
He got rehabs and he got roosts,
and he got different ones that

654
00:31:49,640 –> 00:31:51,600
came in.
But, but most of the Gentiles,

655
00:31:51,920 –> 00:31:55,520
for some of the time of Abraham,
God only worked with Abraham’s

656
00:31:55,520 –> 00:31:58,240
family.
He didn’t invite everybody.

657
00:31:58,320 –> 00:32:02,280
He worked with Abraham’s family.
So that Paul would say that look

658
00:32:02,280 –> 00:32:05,760
at the Gentiles, they failed.
In chapter 2 of Romans, the

659
00:32:05,760 –> 00:32:08,560
Jews, you failed.
And he gets to chapter 3 and he

660
00:32:08,560 –> 00:32:11,600
says, look at all of you have
fallen short of the glory of

661
00:32:11,600 –> 00:32:13,680
God.
Everybody has.

662
00:32:14,400 –> 00:32:17,880
So then he starts looking at the
fact, well, do you deserve to

663
00:32:17,880 –> 00:32:21,040
have a chance?
You deserve an opportunity.

664
00:32:21,760 –> 00:32:23,680
It’s sort of like, you know,
you’re going through Job and you

665
00:32:23,680 –> 00:32:25,800
only Job wants this opportunity
to talk to God.

666
00:32:25,800 –> 00:32:28,360
He wants to justify himself.
You know, would would you go to

667
00:32:28,360 –> 00:32:31,840
God at at the resurrection and
judgment And we we tell Jesus

668
00:32:31,840 –> 00:32:34,720
that it wasn’t really fair.
You didn’t call my neighbor.

669
00:32:34,720 –> 00:32:37,720
I really like that person.
You didn’t call my neighbor.

670
00:32:37,720 –> 00:32:40,440
I wish you would have.
Is that what we’re going to do?

671
00:32:40,440 –> 00:32:43,560
You know, we look across the
world, look at all.

672
00:32:43,560 –> 00:32:45,760
We saw what’s going on in
Pakistan right now.

673
00:32:45,760 –> 00:32:49,920
That wasn’t happening back 50
years ago, but it is now God’s

674
00:32:49,920 –> 00:32:53,280
calling people in Pakistan that
never got called before.

675
00:32:53,600 –> 00:32:55,160
That was really fascinating to
me.

676
00:32:55,440 –> 00:32:59,160
But this is what changing the
calling in our lifetime.

677
00:32:59,480 –> 00:33:02,600
We’re not using UK so much
America.

678
00:33:02,600 –> 00:33:05,560
He’s not using the the
countries, maybe even Australia.

679
00:33:05,720 –> 00:33:08,520
The truth is just sort of
stabilized there or the numbers

680
00:33:08,520 –> 00:33:12,360
are going down, but they’re
growing in Africa and India and

681
00:33:12,360 –> 00:33:14,120
Pakistan and all these other
places.

682
00:33:14,320 –> 00:33:17,040
He’s calling people in other
areas today.

683
00:33:17,720 –> 00:33:23,320
So the key is to realize though
from the start, nobody deserves

684
00:33:23,400 –> 00:33:26,720
the opportunity.
And if you think you do that

685
00:33:26,720 –> 00:33:28,280
this is not going to make sense
to you.

686
00:33:29,160 –> 00:33:32,680
But the humanistic spirit gets
in there and we think that we

687
00:33:32,680 –> 00:33:36,480
all deserve a chance.
And that’s not what Paul says in

688
00:33:36,480 –> 00:33:38,280
Romans Chapter 9.
He says, no, you don’t all

689
00:33:38,280 –> 00:33:41,880
deserve a chance.
The whole world is is God.

690
00:33:41,880 –> 00:33:45,240
It it wanders away from God.
You’re going to see as we get

691
00:33:45,240 –> 00:33:48,640
into Leviathan and Behemoth
tomorrow and Job that that was

692
00:33:48,640 –> 00:33:50,480
the challenge that Jack left us
with.

693
00:33:50,480 –> 00:33:51,640
He said he’s going to cover
tomorrow.

694
00:33:51,800 –> 00:33:54,360
Is that look at can you control
that?

695
00:33:54,880 –> 00:33:57,080
Can you get to my Kingdom on
your own?

696
00:33:57,800 –> 00:34:00,200
No, you can’t.
You won’t be a member of my

697
00:34:00,200 –> 00:34:02,320
family just by striving after it
on yourself.

698
00:34:02,320 –> 00:34:06,040
You can’t even control pride.
You can’t control these things.

699
00:34:06,040 –> 00:34:10,600
You need me to change your life.
And when God does that and he

700
00:34:10,600 –> 00:34:15,480
says, look at it’s all up to me.
He gets the right and the

701
00:34:15,480 –> 00:34:19,000
authority and his righteousness
to decide, all right, I’m going

702
00:34:19,000 –> 00:34:22,719
to do that for you and for you
and for you and for you.

703
00:34:22,719 –> 00:34:26,880
And he picks people that he
wants to invite into his family,

704
00:34:27,520 –> 00:34:29,520
and he doesn’t invite the whole
world.

705
00:34:30,120 –> 00:34:32,800
And we read passages like God so
loved the world that he gave his

706
00:34:32,800 –> 00:34:35,440
only begotten son.
And yes, he wished the world

707
00:34:35,440 –> 00:34:37,719
would have responded.
But you look to the history of

708
00:34:37,719 –> 00:34:39,800
the Bible.
They never did.

709
00:34:40,239 –> 00:34:43,320
God loved the world.
And so he picks people and he

710
00:34:43,320 –> 00:34:46,520
opens the eyes of their
understanding, as Paul says in

711
00:34:46,520 –> 00:34:49,159
In Ephesians One.
He opens their eyes.

712
00:34:49,320 –> 00:34:52,120
He says that the Jews that the
veil lies over their eyes and

713
00:34:52,120 –> 00:34:56,480
they cannot see until he removes
the veil, which he will do

714
00:34:57,160 –> 00:34:59,040
without God’s invention
intervention.

715
00:34:59,040 –> 00:35:01,880
Nobody would make it.
None of us would make it.

716
00:35:02,160 –> 00:35:04,960
The the Marvel brothers and
sisters and young people isn’t

717
00:35:04,960 –> 00:35:08,880
that he leaves so many outs.
The miracle of God is that he’s

718
00:35:08,880 –> 00:35:12,600
able to save anybody.
That’s the miracle.

719
00:35:12,760 –> 00:35:16,360
Without the active work of
angels in your lives and and

720
00:35:16,360 –> 00:35:19,160
working in you and giving you
the Bible to read and sending

721
00:35:19,160 –> 00:35:21,880
angels to work with you and on
the community at large to help

722
00:35:21,880 –> 00:35:25,760
us and spouses that do and
children Without that none of us

723
00:35:25,760 –> 00:35:30,360
would make understanding of
Romans one and two and three

724
00:35:30,360 –> 00:35:31,880
before you.
Chapter 9.

725
00:35:31,880 –> 00:35:35,840
It’s very difficult to save
people, as you’re going to see

726
00:35:35,840 –> 00:35:37,680
with with God’s challenge to
Job.

727
00:35:37,680 –> 00:35:40,760
You can’t even control pride.
How do you think you’re ever

728
00:35:40,760 –> 00:35:42,840
going to save yourself?
And your righteousness could be

729
00:35:42,840 –> 00:35:45,160
more than God’s.
It just isn’t going to happen.

730
00:35:45,480 –> 00:35:49,160
So God never intended for
everybody to have the same

731
00:35:49,160 –> 00:35:51,400
opportunities.
From maybe the time of Adam and

732
00:35:51,400 –> 00:35:54,160
Eve on up, you know, you get to
the time of the flood and start

733
00:35:54,160 –> 00:35:55,720
over.
Maybe then he was working with

734
00:35:55,720 –> 00:35:59,880
all of Noah’s family, but most
of the time God was only working

735
00:35:59,880 –> 00:36:02,800
with select groups.
And you see that so clear with

736
00:36:02,800 –> 00:36:05,360
Abraham, it’s like we’re not
going to work with everybody

737
00:36:05,360 –> 00:36:06,960
anymore.
We’re going to pick Abraham.

738
00:36:06,960 –> 00:36:09,480
And he says with Abraham, you
I’m going to have a family.

739
00:36:09,680 –> 00:36:12,000
I know you’re going to train
your children and we’ll work

740
00:36:12,000 –> 00:36:14,560
with that family.
And then when it comes time to

741
00:36:14,560 –> 00:36:18,520
Jesus dying, when he dies, now
Paul has to give an explanation

742
00:36:18,520 –> 00:36:23,360
to the Jews who had for 1500
years there, 2000 years.

743
00:36:23,360 –> 00:36:26,440
They they were the ones.
They were the family God was

744
00:36:26,600 –> 00:36:30,600
inviting into his Kingdom.
And now Paul has to be able to

745
00:36:30,600 –> 00:36:33,880
explain to Jews, God’s not
working with you so much

746
00:36:33,880 –> 00:36:36,480
anymore.
He’s turned to the Gentiles.

747
00:36:37,400 –> 00:36:39,640
And the Jews are like, that’s
not fair.

748
00:36:40,600 –> 00:36:41,720
I mean, that’s what they
thought.

749
00:36:41,720 –> 00:36:43,960
This isn’t right.
How can you do that?

750
00:36:44,240 –> 00:36:46,440
We’re the people of God.
We’re the ones.

751
00:36:46,880 –> 00:36:49,480
We’re the ones you should be
working with us, not those

752
00:36:49,480 –> 00:36:53,720
Gentiles.
Paul has to explain it’s not

753
00:36:53,720 –> 00:36:58,360
about what you want, and it’s
not about how hard you work.

754
00:36:59,440 –> 00:37:02,680
It’s about God’s mercy.
Nobody deserves it.

755
00:37:02,760 –> 00:37:07,400
Nobody can do it on their own.
It’s to have mercy on.

756
00:37:07,840 –> 00:37:11,240
And because it’s he’s doing all
the work, it’s really it’s his

757
00:37:11,240 –> 00:37:14,040
team he’s financing, He does all
the work for this.

758
00:37:14,360 –> 00:37:16,680
He can pick and choose who he
wants.

759
00:37:17,160 –> 00:37:20,160
It’s his choice.
If he decides to leave people

760
00:37:20,160 –> 00:37:22,600
out, that’s his choice.
It’s God’s family.

761
00:37:22,920 –> 00:37:26,080
So out of those 8 1/2 billion on
the planet right now, today,

762
00:37:26,280 –> 00:37:29,640
most of them have been left out.
And and don’t be fooled by the

763
00:37:29,640 –> 00:37:32,600
fact that when I was raised, we
were all told in Matthew 13,

764
00:37:32,600 –> 00:37:34,640
well, they’re not good soil now.
That’s it.

765
00:37:34,640 –> 00:37:36,120
They’re not soil.
That’s what we were told.

766
00:37:36,360 –> 00:37:37,760
That’s why they don’t accept the
truth.

767
00:37:37,760 –> 00:37:40,600
They’re not good soil.
But one day when I was given

768
00:37:40,600 –> 00:37:43,080
this lecture, it just dawned on
me through this lecture, I’m

769
00:37:43,080 –> 00:37:45,520
looking at these 8 1/2 billion
people and thinking, Oh my

770
00:37:45,520 –> 00:37:49,560
goodness, when Jesus comes back,
what’s he going to do with those

771
00:37:49,560 –> 00:37:54,000
8 1/2 billion people?
I mean, if you take, if you take

772
00:37:54,000 –> 00:37:56,720
the averages of the Jews and the
land, 2/3 are going to be cut

773
00:37:56,720 –> 00:37:57,760
off.
What if?

774
00:37:57,760 –> 00:38:00,880
What if That’s just a a a
representation of how difficult

775
00:38:00,880 –> 00:38:03,560
it is to save anybody and maybe
2/3 of the world is going to

776
00:38:03,560 –> 00:38:06,200
die.
So take away 2/3 of the 8 1/2

777
00:38:06,200 –> 00:38:07,560
billion people.
What are you left with?

778
00:38:08,200 –> 00:38:13,640
Do you realize over 2 billion
people today who are alive are

779
00:38:13,640 –> 00:38:17,080
going to respond to the gospel?
2 billion?

780
00:38:17,080 –> 00:38:19,640
That’s huge.
There’s no way we can reach

781
00:38:19,640 –> 00:38:23,400
those people today.
But God will open the eyes of

782
00:38:23,400 –> 00:38:26,160
their understanding.
Jesus Christ is going to be

783
00:38:26,160 –> 00:38:29,600
revealed to them.
These very same people that I

784
00:38:29,600 –> 00:38:32,520
would have called bad soil,
they’re going to all of a sudden

785
00:38:32,520 –> 00:38:35,800
become really good soil.
Those are the people we’re going

786
00:38:35,800 –> 00:38:38,400
to work with in the Kingdom age.
They’re not bad.

787
00:38:38,680 –> 00:38:41,480
They just haven’t been invited
yet.

788
00:38:41,480 –> 00:38:46,680
And if Christ had come back 200
years ago, if the same thing

789
00:38:46,680 –> 00:38:49,680
would have happened with those
people, a huge number of them

790
00:38:49,680 –> 00:38:52,440
would have been converted in the
Kingdom when all will know me

791
00:38:52,440 –> 00:38:54,000
from the least unto the
greatest.

792
00:38:54,560 –> 00:38:56,720
And yet they didn’t have that
opportunity.

793
00:38:56,720 –> 00:38:59,600
And they died not knowing, never
been invited, and they’re gone.

794
00:39:00,400 –> 00:39:03,640
But when Christ comes back, oh
wow, that’s what really

795
00:39:03,640 –> 00:39:07,280
clarified it to me, is that it’s
not about so much our preaching

796
00:39:07,280 –> 00:39:09,880
today, although we do have to
preach, and God blesses our

797
00:39:10,400 –> 00:39:11,520
efforts.
And it’s wonderful.

798
00:39:11,760 –> 00:39:14,960
I was fascinated by the growth
of the truth in Pakistan.

799
00:39:14,960 –> 00:39:18,800
It’s great, but God’s trying to
show us that it’s all about who

800
00:39:18,800 –> 00:39:21,320
he invites.
You can invite everybody you

801
00:39:21,320 –> 00:39:24,880
want here in Australia, and you
may not get many at all, not

802
00:39:24,880 –> 00:39:26,840
many at all.
But boy, over there, he’s

803
00:39:26,840 –> 00:39:30,760
inviting a lot of people into
his Kingdom, you know, and it’ll

804
00:39:30,760 –> 00:39:34,000
all change when Jesus Christ
returns billions.

805
00:39:34,000 –> 00:39:35,200
Just think about that for a
minute.

806
00:39:35,400 –> 00:39:39,800
Billions of people today who we
would just say won’t accept the

807
00:39:39,800 –> 00:39:41,080
truth.
We write them off.

808
00:39:41,080 –> 00:39:42,520
We don’t think God can work with
them.

809
00:39:42,920 –> 00:39:45,600
Oh no.
He’s going to open the eyes of

810
00:39:45,600 –> 00:39:49,120
their understanding, remove the
veil that they can’t see and

811
00:39:49,120 –> 00:39:51,480
wow, they’re going to become the
people we work with in the

812
00:39:51,480 –> 00:39:54,040
Kingdom age.
See, you know, you look back,

813
00:39:54,040 –> 00:39:56,320
this is all over the New
Testament if we just look

814
00:39:56,320 –> 00:39:58,480
carefully and we start to read
the Bible a little bit

815
00:39:58,480 –> 00:40:00,800
differently.
But you look at why did Jesus

816
00:40:00,800 –> 00:40:03,840
speak in parables?
Why did he do that?

817
00:40:03,840 –> 00:40:07,480
He said he spoke in parables and
he told his disciples, he said

818
00:40:07,480 –> 00:40:10,640
look to you, it has been given
to know the mysteries of the

819
00:40:10,640 –> 00:40:15,800
Kingdom of heaven to you.
It has been given, not you.

820
00:40:16,080 –> 00:40:19,680
You studied, you researched, you
worked, you did all this work

821
00:40:19,680 –> 00:40:21,760
and so now you’re going to be
invited to the Kingdom.

822
00:40:22,040 –> 00:40:25,920
No to you it has been given to
understand the mysteries of the

823
00:40:25,920 –> 00:40:28,160
Kingdom of heaven.
God has opened your eyes, He’s

824
00:40:28,160 –> 00:40:31,640
allowed you to see it.
But I speak to all these people

825
00:40:31,640 –> 00:40:36,920
in parables in verse 13, because
seeing they do not see, in

826
00:40:36,920 –> 00:40:40,000
hearing, they do not understand.
They do not hear nor do they

827
00:40:40,000 –> 00:40:43,600
understand.
He didn’t want all of them to

828
00:40:43,600 –> 00:40:47,120
understand and see and hear.
Their eyes were not being opened

829
00:40:47,120 –> 00:40:49,560
yet.
The Jews, the veil.

830
00:40:51,720 –> 00:40:54,000
He was not inviting those
people.

831
00:40:54,760 –> 00:40:57,840
And you see the results of that.
He didn’t want all those Jews

832
00:40:57,840 –> 00:40:59,680
understand.
He started opening the eyes of

833
00:40:59,680 –> 00:41:04,160
Gentiles and they began to see,
see, that’s so hard for us to

834
00:41:04,160 –> 00:41:07,080
understand, brother and sister.
I fought that for years until

835
00:41:07,080 –> 00:41:10,720
realizing Romans 9 was the key,
that that’s that’s where he

836
00:41:10,720 –> 00:41:14,160
finally lays all this out.
See, as as parents, what we want

837
00:41:14,160 –> 00:41:16,880
to do is we want to we want to
say that, you know, if I do all

838
00:41:16,880 –> 00:41:20,080
these things with my children, I
can guarantee that they will get

839
00:41:20,080 –> 00:41:23,440
baptized and be in the Kingdom.
That’s what we want to believe.

840
00:41:24,000 –> 00:41:28,320
But see, that’s humanism that’s
coming from humans up, not from

841
00:41:28,320 –> 00:41:31,320
God down.
What God wants us to understand

842
00:41:31,320 –> 00:41:35,920
is no matter what we do, no
matter how hard we work and how

843
00:41:35,920 –> 00:41:38,360
much we want our children to, to
be there.

844
00:41:38,920 –> 00:41:41,320
It’s about God who extends
mercy.

845
00:41:41,800 –> 00:41:45,040
And that’s Romans Chapter 9.
You’ll see this all over and

846
00:41:45,040 –> 00:41:47,160
over again.
That’s what God wants us to

847
00:41:47,160 –> 00:41:48,920
know.
It’s about His mercy.

848
00:41:49,360 –> 00:41:52,360
So instead of, you know, it’s
good to work hard, it’s good to

849
00:41:52,360 –> 00:41:53,800
get our children all these
places.

850
00:41:53,800 –> 00:41:55,160
I I don’t want you to
misunderstand.

851
00:41:55,320 –> 00:41:57,480
We did that with our kids.
We went to everything.

852
00:41:57,800 –> 00:42:00,560
Sue and I were involved in Cyc
and Sunday school.

853
00:42:00,560 –> 00:42:02,160
We taught the midweek kids
class.

854
00:42:02,160 –> 00:42:05,720
We we did all those things for
our children, but at the same

855
00:42:05,720 –> 00:42:10,520
time you’re praying and pleading
with God to include them in his

856
00:42:10,520 –> 00:42:13,640
election.
It is his choice and he and he

857
00:42:13,640 –> 00:42:16,600
doesn’t have to.
He doesn’t have to, but he

858
00:42:16,600 –> 00:42:18,480
usually does because he loves
us.

859
00:42:19,120 –> 00:42:22,320
So you look back in the past,
look at what God has done from

860
00:42:22,320 –> 00:42:24,200
Adam on.
He tried working with everybody,

861
00:42:24,600 –> 00:42:26,600
but then he wiped them out in
the flood.

862
00:42:26,680 –> 00:42:29,360
He wiped all those people out
and just picked Noah and said

863
00:42:29,360 –> 00:42:31,240
I’ll work with you and your
family, that’s it.

864
00:42:31,240 –> 00:42:34,280
We’ll go from there.
And then with Abraham, he got to

865
00:42:34,280 –> 00:42:36,840
the same point and instead of
wiping them out with a flood, he

866
00:42:36,840 –> 00:42:38,840
just picked Abraham and said,
I’ll just work with you.

867
00:42:38,840 –> 00:42:41,480
I’m going to invite your
descendants into the family.

868
00:42:41,920 –> 00:42:43,960
And then from there, he chose
Isaac and some of his

869
00:42:43,960 –> 00:42:46,320
descendants and so on all the
way down the line.

870
00:42:46,320 –> 00:42:48,960
And finally, in the New
Testament, Paul takes the gospel

871
00:42:48,960 –> 00:42:52,680
out to the Gentiles.
The the marvelous thing is, when

872
00:42:52,680 –> 00:42:57,440
you’re sitting here today,
appreciate that God has called

873
00:42:57,480 –> 00:42:59,480
you.
You’ve been invited to the

874
00:42:59,480 –> 00:43:01,240
Kingdom.
That’s why you’re here.

875
00:43:01,480 –> 00:43:03,560
You’ve been invited into the
family of God.

876
00:43:03,560 –> 00:43:07,160
You’ve been given something that
the rest of the people here in

877
00:43:07,160 –> 00:43:11,320
Australia don’t have.
Appreciate it and let it grow in

878
00:43:11,320 –> 00:43:12,160
you.
Like, that’s good.

879
00:43:12,360 –> 00:43:13,880
That mustard seed.
Let it grow.

880
00:43:14,120 –> 00:43:17,640
So in Romans 9, Paul gives the
best exposition you could ever

881
00:43:17,640 –> 00:43:20,680
ask for about God’s election.
That’s what he calls it, God’s

882
00:43:20,680 –> 00:43:25,400
election, because he’s trying to
explain to the Jews why the

883
00:43:25,400 –> 00:43:27,400
Gospel’s going out to the
Gentiles.

884
00:43:27,400 –> 00:43:31,000
And you Jews, you’re you’re
you’re not really the big family

885
00:43:31,000 –> 00:43:33,320
anymore.
The Gentiles are taking over.

886
00:43:33,680 –> 00:43:36,440
And what he does is he
illustrates this idea that it’s

887
00:43:36,440 –> 00:43:39,640
God’s choice of The Who he
brings into his family.

888
00:43:39,880 –> 00:43:43,360
And it’s he does that to make
sure we don’t boast in

889
00:43:43,360 –> 00:43:45,080
ourselves.
He doesn’t want any of us to

890
00:43:45,080 –> 00:43:46,720
glory.
In the fact that Sue and I could

891
00:43:46,720 –> 00:43:49,640
look back, somebody might say at
at a restaurant one day, they’d

892
00:43:49,640 –> 00:43:52,040
say, wow, your kids are really
well behaved and they’re amazed

893
00:43:52,040 –> 00:43:53,800
at that.
And you start, you learn over

894
00:43:53,800 –> 00:43:57,600
time, That’s not us.
That’s what God has done in our

895
00:43:57,600 –> 00:43:59,280
children.
It isn’t us.

896
00:43:59,760 –> 00:44:02,560
It’s the fact that the Bible,
through the word of God, has

897
00:44:02,560 –> 00:44:05,240
taken over their lives and
taught them how to behave.

898
00:44:05,560 –> 00:44:07,880
And it’s it’s something that God
has done for us.

899
00:44:07,880 –> 00:44:10,520
He’s allowed us to understand
and read his word.

900
00:44:10,760 –> 00:44:13,280
That’s what God has done.
So you just watch in a few

901
00:44:13,280 –> 00:44:16,080
minutes here, we’ll look at why.
Why did Abraham, Why did God

902
00:44:16,080 –> 00:44:20,160
allow Abraham to have two sons?
Why did he do this by Hagar and

903
00:44:20,160 –> 00:44:22,480
Sarah?
And then, you know, later on in

904
00:44:22,480 –> 00:44:26,600
The Next Generation, you have
ISIS got twins by Rebecca See.

905
00:44:26,640 –> 00:44:28,440
And reading through Genesis for
years.

906
00:44:28,440 –> 00:44:32,160
I got to admit, I I never really
saw this until I read Romans 9.

907
00:44:33,000 –> 00:44:36,160
So Paul says, look it, I could
have prayed for my community.

908
00:44:36,160 –> 00:44:39,080
I could have gone for them.
But, you know, Paul realizes

909
00:44:39,080 –> 00:44:41,280
that they were a curse from
Christ, his brethren, his

910
00:44:41,280 –> 00:44:42,480
countrymen.
But he loved them.

911
00:44:42,640 –> 00:44:45,800
He wanted his Jewish countrymen
to be saved, Look at all the

912
00:44:45,800 –> 00:44:49,160
things that they had.
But he realized God had turned

913
00:44:49,160 –> 00:44:52,120
away from the Jews and was
turning to the Gentiles.

914
00:44:52,560 –> 00:44:55,880
So he brings out the fact that
in Romans 9 and verse six, it’s

915
00:44:55,880 –> 00:44:57,960
not like the word of God has
taken no effect.

916
00:44:57,960 –> 00:45:00,160
In other words, God’s God’s plan
hasn’t failed.

917
00:45:00,480 –> 00:45:03,680
It’s not like God failed.
Somehow He’s moved on to a

918
00:45:03,680 –> 00:45:07,080
different group of people.
And he points out that look at

919
00:45:07,080 –> 00:45:10,240
folks, you Jews that that think
you were the people, that

920
00:45:10,240 –> 00:45:13,440
they’re not all Israel who are
of Israel, nor are all the are

921
00:45:13,440 –> 00:45:15,560
they all children because
they’re the seed of Abraham.

922
00:45:15,760 –> 00:45:18,440
They thought because they were
the seed of Abraham, they were

923
00:45:18,440 –> 00:45:21,280
the chosen people.
But he says look at the promised

924
00:45:21,280 –> 00:45:24,760
said in Isaac, your seed will be
blessed, that is, those who are

925
00:45:24,760 –> 00:45:27,320
the children of the flesh.
They are not the children of

926
00:45:27,320 –> 00:45:30,760
God, but the children of the
promised are counted as the sea.

927
00:45:31,160 –> 00:45:34,640
So, so far he’s got them to at
least accept that not all

928
00:45:34,640 –> 00:45:36,800
Abraham’s children are God’s
children.

929
00:45:37,120 –> 00:45:40,120
So you look back at Abraham, he
had what, three different wives?

930
00:45:40,280 –> 00:45:44,320
He had all these different kids.
But in the end, God only picked

931
00:45:44,320 –> 00:45:47,720
one Isaac, and said that’s the
one I’m going to work with.

932
00:45:47,720 –> 00:45:50,200
I’m going to invite Isaac and
his family, some of his

933
00:45:50,200 –> 00:45:53,720
descendants, not, not the rest.
And that’s what he did.

934
00:45:54,160 –> 00:45:57,800
So you’ve got God’s election is
Paul’s working out one man, one

935
00:45:57,800 –> 00:46:00,000
woman, and Hagar.
And now we got a child through

936
00:46:00,000 –> 00:46:03,720
Hagar and a child through Sarah.
Now, Paul knew that the Jews

937
00:46:03,720 –> 00:46:06,960
would say, well, the reason God
didn’t work with Ishmael is

938
00:46:06,960 –> 00:46:09,160
because he was the son of a
slave woman.

939
00:46:09,440 –> 00:46:12,640
They knew that, Paul knew that.
But at least that’s where the

940
00:46:12,640 –> 00:46:14,920
start was.
But did you realize that that

941
00:46:14,920 –> 00:46:18,720
God doesn’t even call Ishmael
Abraham’s son when he says to

942
00:46:18,720 –> 00:46:20,560
Abraham, you know that would
hurt Abraham.

943
00:46:20,800 –> 00:46:25,080
Take your son, your only son
Isaac, and offer him as a burnt

944
00:46:25,080 –> 00:46:27,200
offering.
This is the Abraham who had

945
00:46:27,200 –> 00:46:31,320
raised Ishmael for 14 years,
circumcised him, taught him the

946
00:46:31,320 –> 00:46:33,720
truth, All these things he’d
done for Ishmael.

947
00:46:33,960 –> 00:46:37,400
And he’s 14 years old.
And now God says, I’m going to

948
00:46:37,400 –> 00:46:39,960
work with Isaac, not with
Ishmael.

949
00:46:39,960 –> 00:46:42,120
And in the end, you’ve got to
send Hagar and Ishmael away.

950
00:46:42,200 –> 00:46:44,600
You’re going to divorce Hagar,
disown Ishmael.

951
00:46:44,760 –> 00:46:48,240
They’re not going to be part of
the family because it’s not what

952
00:46:48,240 –> 00:46:52,800
we want rather than sisters or
how hard we work, but it’s of

953
00:46:52,800 –> 00:46:55,760
God who shows mercy.
So that’s his start.

954
00:46:55,920 –> 00:46:58,920
But he realizes that the Jews
would have made-up this huge

955
00:46:58,920 –> 00:47:01,320
excuse about why they didn’t
call Ishmael.

956
00:47:01,600 –> 00:47:03,360
He realized they were both
circumcised.

957
00:47:03,600 –> 00:47:06,400
They were both in the covenant
or whatever you want to call

958
00:47:06,400 –> 00:47:08,960
that.
But God chose to only work with

959
00:47:08,960 –> 00:47:11,360
one He’s going to work with
Isaac’s descendants.

960
00:47:11,800 –> 00:47:15,240
So what happens next though, is
that in verse 9, the word of the

961
00:47:15,240 –> 00:47:18,520
promise at this time I will come
and say we’ll have a son.

962
00:47:18,560 –> 00:47:22,760
So now we have Isaac who’s come
along, and Isaac is going to be

963
00:47:22,760 –> 00:47:26,560
the child of the promise.
So what happens then in Chapter

964
00:47:26,560 –> 00:47:30,120
9 at verse 10, if Paul goes on
and says, did you catch that

965
00:47:30,120 –> 00:47:33,880
reading through Genesis?
Not only this, but when Rebecca

966
00:47:33,880 –> 00:47:39,120
in the next generation conceived
by one man the same dad, and

967
00:47:39,120 –> 00:47:44,720
she’s having twins born at the
exact same time, look at verse

968
00:47:44,720 –> 00:47:47,600
11.
Now this is challenging for us.

969
00:47:47,760 –> 00:47:52,520
This is Paul challenging us for
the children, not yet being

970
00:47:52,600 –> 00:47:58,440
born, nor having done any good
or evil that the purpose of God

971
00:47:58,440 –> 00:48:00,840
according to election might
stand.

972
00:48:00,840 –> 00:48:06,280
In other words, who God wants to
invite, not who we want, Not of

973
00:48:06,280 –> 00:48:09,920
works, but of him who calls.
It’s all about God’s calling.

974
00:48:09,920 –> 00:48:12,520
It was said to her, the older
will serve the younger.

975
00:48:12,560 –> 00:48:15,240
And as it’s written, Jacob I
have loved and Esau I have

976
00:48:15,240 –> 00:48:17,080
hated.
Now I know you can be sitting

977
00:48:17,080 –> 00:48:19,040
there thinking, well, God knows
the future.

978
00:48:19,080 –> 00:48:21,640
You know how Jacob would be and
Esau would be.

979
00:48:21,640 –> 00:48:24,720
And we make up all these excuses
about why God chose Jacob.

980
00:48:25,360 –> 00:48:28,040
But when you’re reading through
Genesis, is Jacob really a great

981
00:48:28,040 –> 00:48:30,120
guy from the beginning?
All right.

982
00:48:30,120 –> 00:48:32,920
And think about it.
He had a lot of things God had

983
00:48:32,920 –> 00:48:39,840
to work out of him, and we don’t
know what, what what Esau would

984
00:48:39,840 –> 00:48:42,120
have been like if God hadn’t
worked in his life.

985
00:48:42,320 –> 00:48:45,720
These are two people that Paul
had said earlier in Romans.

986
00:48:45,720 –> 00:48:47,680
None of them deserve to be
there.

987
00:48:48,120 –> 00:48:52,160
They’re not really good at all
in terms of like good people,

988
00:48:52,400 –> 00:48:56,200
their soil, their lumps of clay
that God could work with or not

989
00:48:56,200 –> 00:48:59,480
work with.
And he chose to work with Jacob

990
00:48:59,720 –> 00:49:02,480
and not with Esau.
That was God’s choice.

991
00:49:02,840 –> 00:49:07,080
Paul, you can’t read into this
God’s, for Paul says nothing

992
00:49:07,080 –> 00:49:09,920
about God’s foreknowledge.
He says look at it.

993
00:49:09,920 –> 00:49:13,040
God chose to invite Jacob and
not Esau.

994
00:49:13,360 –> 00:49:16,640
It was God’s choice.
He has the prerogative, the

995
00:49:16,640 –> 00:49:19,160
right, it’s the righteousness of
God to choose.

996
00:49:19,440 –> 00:49:22,760
So this time we got one mom, one
dad, twins born at the same

997
00:49:22,760 –> 00:49:24,640
time.
And God says I’m going to work

998
00:49:24,640 –> 00:49:27,040
with Jacob.
And you see what he does is he

999
00:49:27,040 –> 00:49:30,120
did this because brethren and
sisters, he wanted the Jews to

1000
00:49:30,120 –> 00:49:33,280
know forever.
He wanted them to realize it was

1001
00:49:33,280 –> 00:49:36,760
not about what they wanted.
You aren’t better people than

1002
00:49:36,760 –> 00:49:39,600
all those Gentiles out there.
It was never about that.

1003
00:49:39,600 –> 00:49:41,840
It’s that I chose to work with
you.

1004
00:49:42,120 –> 00:49:44,760
I’m extending mercy to you that
I didn’t extend.

1005
00:49:44,760 –> 00:49:48,920
To Esau and his descendants.
It’s all about what God did for

1006
00:49:48,920 –> 00:49:53,240
you, not about how hard you
worked or what you wanted.

1007
00:49:53,560 –> 00:49:57,600
And that’s what he’s the Potter.
As Paul develops later on in the

1008
00:49:57,600 –> 00:50:01,040
chapter, So what if God decided
to just work with South America

1009
00:50:01,040 –> 00:50:03,200
and that’s all.
And from that, that’s when

1010
00:50:03,200 –> 00:50:05,040
Christ comes back.
He just wants to save South

1011
00:50:05,040 –> 00:50:06,640
America.
Can he do that?

1012
00:50:07,520 –> 00:50:10,600
Is that fair?
See, if we’re struggling with

1013
00:50:10,600 –> 00:50:12,840
that idea, We don’t understand
God’s election.

1014
00:50:13,280 –> 00:50:17,360
God can choose to work with
whoever he chooses.

1015
00:50:17,560 –> 00:50:20,280
It’s his prerogative.
He’s the Potter, and if he

1016
00:50:20,280 –> 00:50:23,760
doesn’t work with with you,
nobody will make it.

1017
00:50:24,120 –> 00:50:27,040
Nobody.
And so he has the right to pick

1018
00:50:27,040 –> 00:50:30,280
who he chooses to work with.
So what this does, for me at

1019
00:50:30,280 –> 00:50:33,360
least, is it teaches me that
over time I’ve learned to pray a

1020
00:50:33,360 –> 00:50:35,920
lot more, that God will work
with our children, with all of

1021
00:50:35,920 –> 00:50:39,240
you, with your children.
We we pray that God will choose

1022
00:50:39,240 –> 00:50:41,960
them for his election.
But that’s what God has done.

1023
00:50:41,960 –> 00:50:45,160
And Paul reveals in Romans 9 is
that out of all the people

1024
00:50:45,160 –> 00:50:48,200
alive, there are some who are
soft clay, but there’s a whole

1025
00:50:48,200 –> 00:50:49,880
bunch of them that never get
invited.

1026
00:50:50,000 –> 00:50:52,360
They could have been, but they
were never invited.

1027
00:50:52,360 –> 00:50:53,680
Maybe they will be in the
Kingdom.

1028
00:50:53,680 –> 00:50:56,840
Finally, out of those thought
opens the eyes of some of those

1029
00:50:56,840 –> 00:50:59,400
people.
And he calls, Paul goes on and

1030
00:50:59,400 –> 00:51:03,080
says all of those people, some
of those are justified or

1031
00:51:03,080 –> 00:51:05,840
they’re chosen because they
responded by their free will.

1032
00:51:06,040 –> 00:51:08,560
And finally, in the end, some of
those are going to be glorified.

1033
00:51:08,960 –> 00:51:10,440
And you know, that’s the the
problem.

1034
00:51:10,560 –> 00:51:13,000
What Paul knew is that he knew
those Jews were going to say

1035
00:51:13,000 –> 00:51:16,200
that’s not fair.
Some of our Bible versions

1036
00:51:16,200 –> 00:51:18,960
actually say that in verse 14.
But he also says, I know what

1037
00:51:18,960 –> 00:51:20,640
you’re going to think, you’re
going to all step there and say

1038
00:51:20,640 –> 00:51:23,360
that’s not fair.
And he keeps reminding them that

1039
00:51:23,360 –> 00:51:26,520
God’s the Potter, None of you
would make it without the

1040
00:51:26,520 –> 00:51:30,720
influence of God in your life.
And it’s a lot of work to save

1041
00:51:30,720 –> 00:51:33,000
people.
And if God has picked this one

1042
00:51:33,000 –> 00:51:36,240
and this one and this one, he
has the right to pick who he

1043
00:51:36,240 –> 00:51:39,200
wants to invite into his family
and who he would like to save.

1044
00:51:39,800 –> 00:51:42,800
So, you know, balance out
brothers and sisters from all of

1045
00:51:42,800 –> 00:51:44,240
this.
Yes, we want to get our

1046
00:51:44,240 –> 00:51:45,880
children.
We want to get them out to we

1047
00:51:45,880 –> 00:51:48,200
have teachers Sunday school.
We want to get them to Cyc.

1048
00:51:48,200 –> 00:51:50,480
We want to get them out to all
these things.

1049
00:51:50,480 –> 00:51:53,360
But at the same time, balance
that with God.

1050
00:51:53,360 –> 00:51:57,360
Please do what I can’t do.
Open their eyes, change them,

1051
00:51:57,640 –> 00:52:01,200
Get involved in their life, Send
angels to work in their lives

1052
00:52:01,360 –> 00:52:05,240
and recognize all along the way
that when it’s successful, it

1053
00:52:05,240 –> 00:52:09,000
wasn’t because of what I did,
but it was because of God who

1054
00:52:09,000 –> 00:52:09,840
shows mercy.