Shawn Snobelen – Be Not Ashamed – Class 1 – Does God Exist

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The week is Be not ashamed.
This is class #1 and his title

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is Does God Exist?
The reading for this class was

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Colossians 1, verses 15 to 23.
We’ll call brother Sean forward.

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Well, thanks, Brother Dan, and
good evening to everyone

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tonight.
Welcome to Class 1.

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It may seem like a funny
question.

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But does God exist?
And I mean does God exist for

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you in this moment, right now,
today?

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And if He does, can you prove
it?

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If He does exist in your life,
is it manifest in the things

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that you do?
Is it evident in your world

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view?
Does it direct your very

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thoughts and actions?
Does it guide your steps every

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single day?
Does it cause you to make right

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decisions?
And are you unashamed of that

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reality?
You know, in a world that says

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that God does not exist,
certainly a world that does not

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want God to exist, the reality
for us as believers, brethren

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and sisters, is that we have to
live in that world.

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We have to go to work in that
world.

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We have to raise a family.
In that world.

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We have to build our ecclesias
in that world, in a world that

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has tried systematically to
remove the Creator of the

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heavens and earth and cover it.
With its own human darkness.

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You know, I think it’s a a
fundamental question that we

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have to ask ourselves.
I think it’s a fundamental

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question that we should ask
ourselves very often, Does God

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exist?
In our life and can we prove it?

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And really the, the theme of
this whole series comes from the

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book of Romans, but but
primarily Romans chapter 1.

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And we, we talked a little bit
about that last night.

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And so just turn back to Romans
chapter 1 and let’s just take a

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look again at the things that
the Apostle Paul says that we

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might just sort of understand
how he sets us up to understand

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the things that he’s going to
talk to us about.

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And this this powerful statement
that that he makes to us, these

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powerful statements that I think
we all love to hear and that

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motivate us.
Now Paul opens his letter, as I

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said last night, and in a in a
different way than than the rest

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of his apostles.
He says some very, very specific

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things.
He opens by saying Paul, the

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servant of Christ Jesus called
to be an apostle, set apart for

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the gospel of God.
And that word set apart there

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means to make a demarcation, to
set a boundary around oneself.

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And this gospel of God that he
talks about, which Paul says he

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promised beforehand through his
prophets and Holy Scriptures

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concerning his Son who is
descended from David according

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to the flesh, declared to be the
Son of God in power according to

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the Spirit of holiness, by his
resurrection of the dead.

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Jesus Christ our Lord, through
whom we have received grace and

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apostleship to bring about the
obedience of faith for the sake

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of His name among all the
nations.

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Including you who are called to
belong to Jesus Christ.

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Now, if that is not a powerful
mission statement for us as

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believers in Christ, I don’t
know what is.

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And so all of those facts are
bound up in this statement that

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He makes.
He goes on to say to the Romans

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and to us, For I am not ashamed
of the gospel, for it is the

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power of God for salvation to
everyone that believes.

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There was no part of anything
that God had given Paul that he

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was ashamed of.
Is that a statement that we can

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speak with the same boldness of
the Apostle Paul?

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I, I always shrunk back from the
things that Paul said that we

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can boldly approach the throne
of grace.

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I, I felt that there was a
certain arrogance in what Paul

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said or I dismissed it.
He said, well, it’s the apostle

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Paul.
It’s certainly not something

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that I can say, but this is
something we have to be able to

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say with conviction, brothers
and sisters, that we are not

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ashamed of the word of God.
And Paul dedicated his life to

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this principle.
He changed his life.

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For this principle, he dedicated
his new life to this principle,

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and he died for this principle
that he was unashamed of

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anything that God had given him.
And we know, of course, brethren

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and sisters, that that many have
gone before and have done this

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very thing.
The characters that we are given

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in the Old and the New
Testament, many of them live

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their lives unashamed of the
Word of God.

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Even when it went against
everything all around.

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Even when their families
disowned them, even when their

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friends left them, even when the
authorities came knocking at the

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door to take them, such was the
resolve of their faith.

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We only have to read through
Hebrews Chapter 11, I think, to

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get a little bit emotional about
the things that people gave up

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for our sake, that are waiting
in the grave for us to be

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perfected with them.
And so it must be for us.

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And so.
This is why it’s so imperative,

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I think at this time, brethren,
it says at this moment in our

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lives that we know and we
understand who our God is.

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And so Paul’s words to these
early Christians in Rome were to

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us as well, a declaration of
faith and encouragement to stand

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firm to sight despite the
prevailing cultural and

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religious and political
pressures of the day.

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And we talked about some of
those things last night.

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And just as those early
believers stood in stark

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contrast to the world that was
around them, so we are called to

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do the same thing.
And it’s not an easy.

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Thing to do.
It’s a difficult thing to do, to

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stand in opposition.
To the power of the world.

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But the point of the series,
brethren and sisters.

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Is that while the world has
changed, and while the world is

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changing before our very eyes,
we.

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Cannot change with it.
As much as sometimes it feels

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like we should, or it feels like
it would be easier if we.

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Did we cannot change, You know,
the stark reality is that we’ve

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either committed our life to God
or we have not and.

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There’s there’s no middle
ground, there’s no half truth.

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You know, we don’t get into the
Kingdom by trickery and deceit

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and of the things that we
believe revealed to us by the

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power of God in the gospel of
God himself, those things must

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be manifest in our lives and
also.

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We have to accept the
consequences of those things

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that we believe, and there will
be consequences, and we’ll talk

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about some of those, God
willing, throughout the course

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of this week.
There are consequences for the

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things that we believe if we are
to receive the benefit of God’s

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love and mercy.
You know I.

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I think that the title of the
slide seems maybe a little bit

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provocative.
And I I wrote it and I rewrote

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it many times, but but in actual
fact, it’s, it’s biblical.

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This is our reality.
We live in an age.

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Of the systemic dark forces of
evil.

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And we talked about this with
the young people this morning

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and I think they totally agreed
that there was a lot going on in

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this world and it wasn’t light,
it was darkness.

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And, and I’m 56 years old and
I’m a very positive kind of guy.

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I’m a, I’m a glass half full
kind of guy.

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But I look around at the changes
that have just happened in my

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short 56 years of life on this
earth and they are dramatic.

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And I told the kids this morning
that when I was in grades 6-7

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and eight that we were still
reading, you know, God’s the

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Lord’s Prayer at at the opening
services of our school,

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creationism was still a
component part of the science

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classes.
It was a very small part.

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But it was still.
There and now here we are today.

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Turn over to while you’re
already there in Romans chapter

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one.
Just look at verse 28 and I

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don’t like.
Reading this list of things out

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but.
Paul tells us what’s.

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Going on he tells us what was
going on in the time of the

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Roman Ecclesia and it’s it’s
exactly the same thing now

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Romans chapter 1 and verse 28 he
says and since they did not see

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fit to acknowledge God.
These are the unrighteous, of

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course, of the world.
God gave them over to the base

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mind to do what ought not to be
done, and they were filled with

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all manner of unrighteousness,
of evil, of covetousness, of

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malice.
They were full of envy, murder,

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strife, deceit, maliciousness.
They were gossips, slanderers,

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haters of God, insolent,
haughty, boastful, inventors of

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evil, disobedient to parents,
foolish, faithless, heartless

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and ruthless.
Now, if this isn’t a description

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of what’s going on in our world.
Today, then, I don’t know what

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is, brothers and sisters.
But the other thing that’s added

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to this particular problem,
those overt issues in society,

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is also the persecution.
That is very subtle.

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It’s darkness masquerading as a
light, as Paul warns us in

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Ephesians 6 and 12.
For our struggle is not against

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flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities,

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against the powers.
Of this Dark World and against

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the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms and and

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similarly Peter writes in first
Peter 5 he says be alert and be

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of a sober mind your enemy of
the devil prowls around like a

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roaring lion looking for someone
to devour resist him standing

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firm to the faith and so our
battleground in this day and age

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brethren and sisters is no
longer the Coliseum, but it’s a

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cultural battleground this
darkness identifies as as

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educated as socially progressive
as right and it has infiltrated

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our social standards our.
Political scene and our

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educational systems.
It is, as Paul says, a dark

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spiritual force.
Philosophical Humanism.

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And I’m only.
Going to use this term once

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often called wokeism.
I just don’t like that term is

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what we have in this world
today.

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But what does that look like?
And, and we’re going to, we’re

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going to get into detail in the
subsequent classes of this, but

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here’s just a short list of the
things that we have to deal with

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today.
And, and I’m sure you’ve heard

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of all these.
The first one is social

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relativism.
And, and under the banner of

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social relativism are a number
of of things.

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But really relativism means that
everything’s relative.

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In this particular case, it’s
relative to the individual human

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experience.
And we’re we’re living in

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humanism 3 point O.
What’s humanism 3 point O?

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It’s the age of the hyper
individual.

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We’ll look at some charts.
In a in a couple of days, you

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always have to have a chart on
postmodernism.

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We’ll look at that.
And where we came from and, and

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why we’re here today in this age
of hyper individualism.

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But anything is contextual.
And that means whether it’s

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social or individual,
historical, right, historical

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relativism, moral relativism,
whatever it is, it’s relative to

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the individual human experience.
What happens to me is relevant

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to me.
And it might be different than

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what happens to you and is
relevant to you, right?

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Our personal lived experience
the problem?

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Is with this.
Well, it, it fundamentally

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denies the absolute truth of
Scripture, right?

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But it, it works on our mind.
It twists us into thinking that

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maybe some things are relative,
you know, and that’s why we have

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debate within our communities.
About well, you know, Paul said

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things, but it was relative to
the culture of the day.

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That’s just one example.
The worst of it is.

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That society’s preaching that a
man can be a woman and then can

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have birth.
And not only is it biblically

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false, it’s scientifically
false.

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It’s an impossibility.
And yet we’re being taught not

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only.
To accept it, but to talk about

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it like it’s a reality.
As somebody once said, we’re

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being forced to participate in
somebody else’s delusion that

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that that’s the problem with
this.

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It’s, it’s not something so
stark and overt.

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We can go, oh, I can understand
that.

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I’ll just stay away from that.
It, it’s invasive, it works on

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us slowly, it grinds us down, it
challenges our sensitivities and

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it’s already affecting how we
operate within our communities.

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Another component part of social
relativism in this new social

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contract.
Is something called

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deconstructionism?
Who’s heard of that

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00:13:36,280 –> 00:13:38,160
deconstructionism?
Right.

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00:13:38,160 –> 00:13:41,800
And this is not a term that a
builder would necessarily use,

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right?
You want to build things, not

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tear it down.
And deconstructionism is really

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all about tearing down
everything, tearing down all the

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traditional values, all the
traditional institutions.

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You’ve heard about, you know,
colonialism.

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We got to tear down colonialism,
traditions, norms, including the

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natural family, the nuclear
family.

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That’s an institution that needs
to be torn down, that’s

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patriarchal.
And involved in this are all the

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issues with gender roles.
And so in a, in a broader sense,

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what this new social contract is
about is deconstructing

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everything in society so that it
might be reconstructed after the

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manner of humanism.
And so that goes against the

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biblical teachings on marriage
and sexuality and the sanctity

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of life and, and the challenge
to our own institution and our

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own ecclesial structure, which
is being challenged.

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Why do we have to have?
You know, it was, it was really

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00:14:34,880 –> 00:14:37,080
small during COVID.
Why do we have to have 4 hymns

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00:14:37,080 –> 00:14:39,200
during COVID?
We’re we’re just online on Zoom.

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Can we just have 3?
And I know that’s.

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00:14:41,120 –> 00:14:43,720
A minor thing, but it it became
other things.

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00:14:43,720 –> 00:14:45,480
Why do we have to meet four
times a week?

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Why are our meetings so long?
Why are they so dry?

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Why can’t we talk about things
that are more positive?

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00:14:50,440 –> 00:14:51,600
We always talk about the dark
things.

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Why can we talk about things
that are positive?

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All those things are part of
this change in values, including

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at the worst of it, the new
gender debate and about

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00:15:04,600 –> 00:15:07,680
inserting sisters into
brethren’s roles, but even the

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other gender debate, which is
accepting those of alternate

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00:15:11,520 –> 00:15:14,960
genders and change genders and
transgenders and accepting

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00:15:15,240 –> 00:15:17,560
alternate lifestyles.
And that is happening in

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00:15:17,560 –> 00:15:20,800
ecclesias in this world.
It’s happening.

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And you know what?
It’s knocking on our door.

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The rejection of objective
morality is all part of this

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this theory of of relativism.
Right, the belief that that

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00:15:33,680 –> 00:15:37,360
morality is socially
constructed, that my morals are

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00:15:37,360 –> 00:15:40,880
different than your morals
because it’s relative from for

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you in your situation, from your
time, from your culture.

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But the Bible teaches that
morality is the same no matter

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who you are or where you’re
from.

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00:15:50,240 –> 00:15:54,560
It’s exactly the same.
And so when we start to our

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00:15:54,560 –> 00:15:58,240
sensitivities get impinged about
objective morality, that’s when

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00:15:58,240 –> 00:16:01,240
we start saying things like,
well, we shouldn’t judge.

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In our ecclesia, right, you may
have heard that we’re too

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00:16:05,720 –> 00:16:08,600
judgmental.
We need to be more tolerant, we

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00:16:08,600 –> 00:16:12,120
need to be more accepting.
And we’ll look at that in the

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4th class, where tolerance and
acceptance are actually not

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00:16:15,040 –> 00:16:18,600
biblical principles, certainly
not in the way that we might

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00:16:18,600 –> 00:16:19,960
understand.
And then of course, we have

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00:16:19,960 –> 00:16:22,480
social justice.
The shift to social justice,

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00:16:22,640 –> 00:16:25,280
which promotes the victim
mentality, puts oppressors

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against the oppressed, and it
conflicts completely with the

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biblical understanding of.
Justice.

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00:16:30,040 –> 00:16:32,760
We’ll spend a whole class on the
difference between social

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00:16:32,760 –> 00:16:35,840
justice and biblical justice,
right?

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00:16:35,880 –> 00:16:39,200
What God teaches in his Word is
individual responsibility.

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00:16:39,200 –> 00:16:42,480
It teaches forgiveness and it
teaches reconciliation, because

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the issue here is sin.
Which is another thing I feel we

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00:16:47,040 –> 00:16:50,000
don’t talk enough about in our
ecclesial model.

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And then there’s this thing
hyper individualism.

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00:16:53,920 –> 00:16:57,200
We’ve already talked about, you
know, personal autonomy.

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You know what autonomy means.
If you look up the Greek who’s A

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00:17:01,680 –> 00:17:05,720
and I hope you’re right, it’s in
my notes.

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00:17:06,240 –> 00:17:10,640
What does autonomy mean from the
Greek autonomia?

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00:17:11,920 –> 00:17:16,440
So auto means self.
And what does no most mean?

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00:17:17,319 –> 00:17:20,800
Law.
When we talk about a personal

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00:17:20,800 –> 00:17:22,680
autonomy, we talk about
ecclesial autonomies.

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00:17:22,800 –> 00:17:24,760
Our ecclesias make decisions on
their own.

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00:17:25,000 –> 00:17:27,880
When the world talks about
personal autonomy, they talk

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00:17:27,880 –> 00:17:31,600
about self law and that’s
exactly what it is.

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00:17:31,760 –> 00:17:34,440
That we all become a lawn to
ourselves.

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00:17:34,640 –> 00:17:39,600
Not a society that is a lawn to
themselves, but individual

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00:17:39,600 –> 00:17:42,880
members of that society.
That each are a law unto their

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00:17:42,880 –> 00:17:45,120
own selves.
That’s where we’re going in this

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00:17:45,120 –> 00:17:47,160
new social contract.
And here’s the the last thing

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00:17:47,160 –> 00:17:49,680
we’ll talk about before we.
Move on to something that

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00:17:49,680 –> 00:17:52,760
hopefully is a little more
positive, social media and

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00:17:52,760 –> 00:17:54,680
entertainment.
And I I am going to.

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00:17:54,680 –> 00:17:58,680
Talk to the young people about
about social media and TikTok.

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00:17:58,760 –> 00:18:01,640
But I’m talking to you right
now, brothers and sisters.

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00:18:02,760 –> 00:18:06,520
Because when I scan now look I.
I, I have an Instagram account

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00:18:06,520 –> 00:18:09,720
for my business and I have AI
have a Facebook account.

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00:18:10,320 –> 00:18:12,560
And you say that to young people
like Facebook.

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00:18:12,560 –> 00:18:14,520
What’s, what’s that?
What are you 90?

307
00:18:15,480 –> 00:18:17,160
Right?
I have a Facebook account and,

308
00:18:18,160 –> 00:18:20,640
and, and that’s really just, I
just have it.

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00:18:20,640 –> 00:18:22,080
There’s no justification why I
have it.

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00:18:22,080 –> 00:18:26,520
They’re both silly.
The issue is, and I fall victim

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00:18:26,520 –> 00:18:28,800
to this as well.
And I’m not judging anybody in

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00:18:28,800 –> 00:18:31,200
this room here today.
Yet.

313
00:18:32,800 –> 00:18:36,120
But do you know?
Most of the posts that I see

314
00:18:36,120 –> 00:18:41,840
from Christadelphia far and wide
has changed from when I first

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00:18:41,840 –> 00:18:47,200
entered Facebook 10 years ago.
It’s now, this is my favorite

316
00:18:47,200 –> 00:18:50,360
wine.
Here’s my favorite beer.

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00:18:50,960 –> 00:18:54,160
Here’s this place we went to and
we bet on the horses.

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00:18:54,160 –> 00:18:58,160
Like, like that’s what I’m
seeing posted on social media.

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00:18:58,400 –> 00:19:01,880
Now, look, you can have your own
reality and I’m, I’m, I’m not

320
00:19:01,880 –> 00:19:04,360
saying that, you know, I don’t
have a glass of wine now and

321
00:19:04,360 –> 00:19:08,960
again, but when that becomes the
model by which you define your

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00:19:08,960 –> 00:19:11,520
life, then I think we have an
issue.

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00:19:12,000 –> 00:19:14,360
So let’s set that aside and
we’ll talk about that in a

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00:19:14,360 –> 00:19:17,280
subsequent class.
Here’s another thing about

325
00:19:17,280 –> 00:19:18,760
entertainment.
We all like to veg, right?

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00:19:18,760 –> 00:19:22,760
And we, we look, I do too.
I have a Netflix account.

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00:19:22,760 –> 00:19:26,800
I’m not going to deny it.
It’s it’s a problem for me and I

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00:19:26,800 –> 00:19:28,520
shouldn’t have it.
And we cancel it.

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00:19:29,000 –> 00:19:32,200
And then we sign up again, and
oddly, it’s more money every

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00:19:32,200 –> 00:19:33,280
time.
And it’s almost like there’s

331
00:19:33,280 –> 00:19:36,400
that little punitive big there.
But here’s the problem.

332
00:19:37,520 –> 00:19:40,960
When I was a kid growing up and
when we were allowed to watch TV

333
00:19:40,960 –> 00:19:44,040
from the antennas, literally
that’s all we had.

334
00:19:45,120 –> 00:19:48,560
Good guys wore white hats and
bad guys wore black hats.

335
00:19:48,680 –> 00:19:50,600
And that was just pretty much
the way it was.

336
00:19:51,000 –> 00:19:56,040
You could watch a show and as a
kid and understand the morality

337
00:19:56,040 –> 00:19:57,440
that was being projected in the
show.

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00:19:57,520 –> 00:19:59,400
Now, I’m not saying that any of
those shows were good

339
00:19:59,400 –> 00:20:01,080
necessarily.
It’s just at least there was a

340
00:20:01,080 –> 00:20:04,400
very simple black and white
understanding of morality.

341
00:20:05,320 –> 00:20:09,000
Today, it is very different.
Movies Now portray sin as a

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00:20:09,000 –> 00:20:11,760
virtue and virtue as a vice.
I’m sure you would agree.

343
00:20:12,160 –> 00:20:15,520
Characters now have this
distinct moral ambiguity.

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00:20:15,520 –> 00:20:17,440
Now, I don’t know if you notice
it, but when you start, when you

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00:20:17,440 –> 00:20:19,680
see some of the the movies that
are out today, you have

346
00:20:19,680 –> 00:20:22,520
villains.
That are actually the heroes

347
00:20:22,520 –> 00:20:24,920
kind of this odd anti type of
hero.

348
00:20:26,080 –> 00:20:29,280
How confusing is that for us?
Let alone our kids.

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00:20:29,680 –> 00:20:32,200
And it’s not like you can’t
watch a show and go, oh, that’s,

350
00:20:32,720 –> 00:20:35,320
you know, that’s clearly wrong.
The problem is when you watch

351
00:20:35,320 –> 00:20:37,280
twenty of those shows, or 50, or
a.

352
00:20:37,280 –> 00:20:40,560
Hundred of those shows, at what
point does your mind just start

353
00:20:40,560 –> 00:20:47,760
to think that’s normal?
And of course, children’s

354
00:20:47,760 –> 00:20:51,320
programs now being filled with
LGBTQ transgender character is

355
00:20:51,320 –> 00:20:54,640
about, you know, there’s a
secret recorded conversation

356
00:20:54,640 –> 00:20:56,520
with the head of the Disney
creative department.

357
00:20:56,520 –> 00:21:00,960
I don’t know if anybody has seen
this where he says that pretty

358
00:21:00,960 –> 00:21:05,880
much quote, pretty much the
entire Disney creative team for

359
00:21:05,880 –> 00:21:10,360
kids programming today is from
the LGBTQ or transgender

360
00:21:10,360 –> 00:21:13,360
community, he said.
Pretty much every single

361
00:21:13,440 –> 00:21:19,480
creative person in that
department representation, right

362
00:21:20,800 –> 00:21:25,480
and you no wonder why Disney
movies have gone so far left

363
00:21:26,200 –> 00:21:28,520
because that is the political
agenda.

364
00:21:28,520 –> 00:21:30,520
Now I’m going to bring up one
more thing and my wife’s not

365
00:21:30,520 –> 00:21:33,040
going to like this, but.
How many put up your hands?

366
00:21:33,040 –> 00:21:35,480
Let’s just go on record here.
How many of you have watched The

367
00:21:35,480 –> 00:21:40,360
Chosen?
OK, it’s OK.

368
00:21:40,360 –> 00:21:43,480
I’ve watched it too.
And I’m not saying don’t watch

369
00:21:43,480 –> 00:21:46,200
The Chosen.
I do think it’s amazing.

370
00:21:46,720 –> 00:21:51,920
That over 200 million people are
watching a show about the life

371
00:21:51,920 –> 00:21:53,520
of Christ.
Here’s the problem.

372
00:21:53,520 –> 00:21:55,640
When Marty and I started to
watch it, we were asked to watch

373
00:21:55,640 –> 00:21:58,200
it and we were told, oh, it’s
great, watch it.

374
00:21:59,080 –> 00:22:01,440
So we started to watch it and at
first you’re like, oh, this is.

375
00:22:01,680 –> 00:22:03,480
This is really interesting, but
you know, you start noticing

376
00:22:03,480 –> 00:22:06,560
certain things.
The first thing is they are

377
00:22:06,560 –> 00:22:12,800
humanizing Christ, making him
human, like not divine, not

378
00:22:12,800 –> 00:22:15,120
God’s Son.
He makes mistakes.

379
00:22:15,440 –> 00:22:19,160
He’s unsure of himself, right?
He does human things that are

380
00:22:19,160 –> 00:22:23,000
not part of the biblical record.
The second thing is why does

381
00:22:23,000 –> 00:22:26,520
Peter have a back story with
gambling debts and insurrection

382
00:22:26,520 –> 00:22:28,960
with the Romans?
That’s part of his back story.

383
00:22:28,960 –> 00:22:31,280
In in the program.
That’s not biblical.

384
00:22:32,400 –> 00:22:36,440
Now, I don’t know, maybe it was,
but God saw fit not to record

385
00:22:36,440 –> 00:22:37,920
those things.
The third thing is.

386
00:22:38,320 –> 00:22:41,600
Is the undertone of the other
characters, especially Mary who

387
00:22:41,600 –> 00:22:44,680
keeps recidivating to her old
problem and they make it a a

388
00:22:44,680 –> 00:22:46,840
dramatic thing.
There’s also a romantic

389
00:22:46,840 –> 00:22:49,120
undertone between Matthew and
Mary.

390
00:22:49,240 –> 00:22:52,400
Matthew has OCD, interesting
characteristics.

391
00:22:52,480 –> 00:22:54,840
Maybe he did.
But they play everything is a

392
00:22:54,840 –> 00:22:57,640
dramatic reproduction.
So the problem is, even when we

393
00:22:57,640 –> 00:23:02,920
watch The Chosen, a Christian
program, we are being subjected

394
00:23:02,920 –> 00:23:06,600
to social relativism and
postmodernism.

395
00:23:08,120 –> 00:23:10,600
Actually, all you have to do is
listen to the director’s cuts

396
00:23:10,600 –> 00:23:12,920
when they talk about the
different, different episodes.

397
00:23:12,920 –> 00:23:15,800
They tell you exactly.
Why they do the things they do

398
00:23:15,800 –> 00:23:18,640
and change the narrative because
Christians e-mail in and

399
00:23:18,640 –> 00:23:20,120
complain, Hey, you didn’t use
that verse.

400
00:23:20,120 –> 00:23:22,840
Hey, how come John the Baptist
was portrayed in that way?

401
00:23:22,840 –> 00:23:24,280
Why do they have that
conversation?

402
00:23:24,280 –> 00:23:26,560
And they defend, they say, oh,
wow, this was this was a highly

403
00:23:26,560 –> 00:23:36,600
controversial, you know.
Episode I fall prey to all these

404
00:23:36,600 –> 00:23:41,160
same things, but we have to be
alert because the systematic

405
00:23:41,160 –> 00:23:44,560
pressure on our faith is slow
and it’s relentless.

406
00:23:44,680 –> 00:23:47,160
It’s like the tide.
It just keeps coming in and

407
00:23:47,160 –> 00:23:51,440
coming in and coming in and
eventually we wear down and we

408
00:23:51,440 –> 00:23:55,280
have no more resistance.
That’s why I love Paul’s bold

409
00:23:55,280 –> 00:23:57,480
statement in Romans 12 and two.
And I’ll just read this out,

410
00:23:57,920 –> 00:24:01,640
this call to action.
Do not be conformed to the

411
00:24:01,640 –> 00:24:05,240
pattern of this world, the mold,
the mark of this world.

412
00:24:05,240 –> 00:24:07,800
Do not be conformed to the
pattern of this world, but be

413
00:24:07,800 –> 00:24:09,320
transformed.
And we talked about that

414
00:24:09,320 –> 00:24:12,920
metamorphosis, which you know,
from the from the Caterpillar to

415
00:24:12,920 –> 00:24:17,200
the butterfly is the single most
miraculous event I think we

416
00:24:17,200 –> 00:24:21,120
could ever see that a
Caterpillar could go from that

417
00:24:21,120 –> 00:24:24,440
form into mush.
If you open up the, the, the

418
00:24:24,440 –> 00:24:26,960
larva, it’s just like a
marshmallow inside.

419
00:24:26,960 –> 00:24:29,520
And then it reconstitutes itself
into a butterfly.

420
00:24:29,520 –> 00:24:32,880
It’s just unbelievable.
This is why Paul uses the word

421
00:24:32,880 –> 00:24:37,840
Metamorphu be transformed.
A complete transformation from

422
00:24:37,840 –> 00:24:41,160
one form to another by the renew
of your mind, and then you’ll be

423
00:24:41,160 –> 00:24:43,920
able to test and improve what
God’s will is, His good and

424
00:24:43,920 –> 00:24:49,840
pleasing and His perfect will.
So the question is, in being

425
00:24:50,320 –> 00:24:56,400
unashamed of the gospel of God,
are we setting about to deny

426
00:24:56,400 –> 00:24:59,120
self or are we trying to gain
the world or are we trying to do

427
00:24:59,120 –> 00:25:02,880
some facsimile of both?
Because we have to walk around,

428
00:25:02,880 –> 00:25:05,440
as it were, brethren and sisters
in a small pool of light

429
00:25:05,440 –> 00:25:08,040
surrounded by this darkness.
That’s that’s our goal.

430
00:25:09,280 –> 00:25:11,080
And you know the interesting
thing I said to the to the young

431
00:25:11,080 –> 00:25:13,680
people, I said, you know what
happens when, when an individual

432
00:25:13,680 –> 00:25:16,720
believer that’s a small pool of
light gets together with a whole

433
00:25:16,720 –> 00:25:18,880
bunch of other individual
believers, You know what you

434
00:25:18,880 –> 00:25:20,920
have?
You have a large pool.

435
00:25:20,920 –> 00:25:24,240
Of light.
And that’s what we have here.

436
00:25:25,840 –> 00:25:31,160
That’s what we have this week.
Turn to Luke Chapter 9 and

437
00:25:31,160 –> 00:25:32,760
verse.
We’ll start at verse 26.

438
00:25:39,000 –> 00:25:42,960
I forgot to reset the timer on
my PowerPoint, so we’ll probably

439
00:25:42,960 –> 00:25:45,840
go over time.
You can blame Microsoft.

440
00:25:50,640 –> 00:25:52,920
Brother says we have to endure
to the end and we have to stand

441
00:25:52,920 –> 00:25:56,480
with faith, because when the
Lord comes to collect his

442
00:25:56,480 –> 00:25:59,160
Saints.
He will look for a number of

443
00:25:59,160 –> 00:26:00,920
things.
Number one, he’ll look for those

444
00:26:01,200 –> 00:26:06,840
that know His voice, He will
look for those who have faith,

445
00:26:07,040 –> 00:26:09,600
and he will look for those, as
we will find out in this

446
00:26:09,600 –> 00:26:13,640
reading, those that are
unashamed of His words.

447
00:26:15,800 –> 00:26:19,200
Luke 9 and 26 For whosoever
shall be ashamed of me, and my

448
00:26:19,200 –> 00:26:22,680
words of him, shall the shall
the Son of man be ashamed when

449
00:26:22,680 –> 00:26:25,080
he comes in his own glory, and
in his Father’s, and in the holy

450
00:26:25,080 –> 00:26:26,160
angels.
Now if you understand, of

451
00:26:26,160 –> 00:26:28,840
course, the context of this
verse, what Christ is talking

452
00:26:28,840 –> 00:26:31,880
about, or what He was just
talking about, was explaining to

453
00:26:31,880 –> 00:26:34,760
His disciples and His followers
the things that would shortly

454
00:26:34,760 –> 00:26:37,080
come to pass, that He would have
to die on the cross.

455
00:26:37,080 –> 00:26:39,760
And this is where, you know,
Peter stands up in opposition.

456
00:26:39,760 –> 00:26:41,960
There’s no Lord, you know these
things cannot be.

457
00:26:41,960 –> 00:26:45,280
And Christ says you have the
things of man in your mind, not

458
00:26:45,280 –> 00:26:48,200
the things of God stand beside.
You are an adversary.

459
00:26:48,200 –> 00:26:49,920
So all those things have just
happened.

460
00:26:49,920 –> 00:26:55,000
And then he says in verse 23.
And he says to them all, if

461
00:26:55,000 –> 00:26:57,560
anyone would come after me and
let him deny himself and take up

462
00:26:57,560 –> 00:27:02,960
his cross daily and follow me,
for whoever would save his life

463
00:27:04,240 –> 00:27:08,120
will lose it, and whoever loses
his life for my sake will save

464
00:27:08,120 –> 00:27:12,920
it.
And the Lord Jesus Christ has

465
00:27:13,960 –> 00:27:17,480
many powerful statements, of
course himself too.

466
00:27:17,480 –> 00:27:22,320
And this is one that I love.
What does it profit a man?

467
00:27:24,240 –> 00:27:28,760
If he gains the whole world and
he forfeits himself, and we can

468
00:27:28,760 –> 00:27:30,800
accumulate all kinds of things
in our life.

469
00:27:30,960 –> 00:27:33,000
And a lot of us have bucket
lists and things that we want to

470
00:27:33,000 –> 00:27:34,680
do.
And we want to jump out of

471
00:27:34,680 –> 00:27:36,480
airplanes.
We want to go on zip lines to

472
00:27:36,480 –> 00:27:38,560
things I can’t do because of my
fear of fights.

473
00:27:38,560 –> 00:27:40,400
But we want to.
We want to reach that next

474
00:27:40,400 –> 00:27:44,200
level, right?
Are we trying to gain the whole

475
00:27:44,200 –> 00:27:47,040
world and inadvertently going to
forfeit our lives?

476
00:27:50,800 –> 00:27:52,800
You know, I gave a talk a long
time ago and, and it was looking

477
00:27:52,800 –> 00:27:55,880
at the notes, it was, it was
that when I first was baptized,

478
00:27:56,200 –> 00:27:59,520
I wanted to be married.
I thought if I could just be

479
00:27:59,520 –> 00:28:04,720
married before Christ returns,
then I got married and then

480
00:28:04,720 –> 00:28:07,240
after marriage I thought I just,
I just want Christ to wait

481
00:28:07,240 –> 00:28:08,160
because I want to have.
Children.

482
00:28:08,160 –> 00:28:14,160
And then we had children.
And, and I wanted Christ to wait

483
00:28:14,160 –> 00:28:16,560
till I could just get to a
station in my life where I could

484
00:28:16,560 –> 00:28:20,880
support my family and, and I
enjoy.

485
00:28:20,880 –> 00:28:30,020
The work that I do and our
cliche is a very welcoming

486
00:28:30,020 –> 00:28:39,770
place.
I’m the emotional one in the

487
00:28:39,770 –> 00:28:40,450
family.
By the way.

488
00:28:42,770 –> 00:28:46,730
We have this 2 year old grandson
that’s just the light of our

489
00:28:46,730 –> 00:28:49,410
lives.
God willing, you’ll see a

490
00:28:49,410 –> 00:28:53,320
picture of him tomorrow night.
And sometimes, brethren and

491
00:28:53,320 –> 00:29:00,080
sisters, we might catch
ourselves thinking, well, I want

492
00:29:00,080 –> 00:29:08,680
the Lord to return, but just not
yet, you know.

493
00:29:08,680 –> 00:29:11,240
And I think the longer that this
world goes on, brethren and

494
00:29:11,240 –> 00:29:15,600
sisters, the harder it’s going
to be to keep ourselves

495
00:29:15,600 –> 00:29:21,720
separated unto Christ.
And so let the words of the Lord

496
00:29:21,720 –> 00:29:26,720
Jesus Christ ring in our ears,
that if anyone should come after

497
00:29:26,720 –> 00:29:29,440
me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross.

498
00:29:29,440 –> 00:29:32,480
One of the things that my dad
says often is.

499
00:29:32,720 –> 00:29:36,560
Have we forgotten how to carry
the cross of Christ in our

500
00:29:36,560 –> 00:29:40,640
lives?
Because in doing so, that is in

501
00:29:40,640 –> 00:29:44,760
effect the denial of self.
There’s no room for two crosses.

502
00:29:44,880 –> 00:29:47,680
We can’t carry ours and Christ
at the same time.

503
00:29:50,160 –> 00:29:53,120
And the Lord Jesus Christ says
in Matthew 24 as as as he’s

504
00:29:53,120 –> 00:29:56,680
giving us the the future of what
we have to expect in in the

505
00:29:56,680 –> 00:30:00,280
coming days, the coming years
and months, Matthew 2430, verse

506
00:30:00,280 –> 00:30:03,600
20 And for then there’ll be such
a great tribulation such as not

507
00:30:03,600 –> 00:30:05,400
being from the beginning of the
world until now.

508
00:30:05,400 –> 00:30:07,160
No one never will be.
He says.

509
00:30:08,960 –> 00:30:12,880
And if those days had not been
cut short, no human being would

510
00:30:12,880 –> 00:30:15,760
have been saved.
But for the sake of the elect,

511
00:30:15,760 –> 00:30:20,880
those days will be cut short.
You know, I think it’s going to

512
00:30:20,880 –> 00:30:23,360
get so bad, brethren and
sisters, that God will step in

513
00:30:23,360 –> 00:30:25,240
because it’ll just be too much
for us.

514
00:30:26,560 –> 00:30:27,960
And so we have to make that
choice now.

515
00:30:27,960 –> 00:30:29,760
Do we lose the world and gain
Christ?

516
00:30:29,960 –> 00:30:32,560
Or do we gain the world and lose
our life Because we can’t have

517
00:30:32,560 –> 00:30:34,680
it both ways.
We have to choose.

518
00:30:36,520 –> 00:30:39,480
And, as I said, that choice will
come with consequences, and

519
00:30:39,480 –> 00:30:41,760
those consequences may be
difficult to deal with.

520
00:30:43,360 –> 00:30:47,240
The consequences of believing in
God is often times accepting the

521
00:30:47,240 –> 00:30:49,840
shunning and the mockery of the
world around us.

522
00:30:53,040 –> 00:30:57,360
It is denying that the world has
any hope of anything close to

523
00:30:57,360 –> 00:31:02,200
salvation, but it means the
forfeiture of anything connected

524
00:31:02,200 –> 00:31:04,040
to this world.
But the reward, brethren and

525
00:31:04,040 –> 00:31:07,400
sisters, is greater than
anything we can imagine, and

526
00:31:07,400 –> 00:31:11,000
being unashamed of the Word of
God is pivotal, and it’s a

527
00:31:11,000 –> 00:31:12,960
crucial element to us as
believers.

528
00:31:14,120 –> 00:31:15,600
But there’s another aspect of
this.

529
00:31:15,760 –> 00:31:18,920
It’s not just enough to believe
in the existence of God.

530
00:31:18,920 –> 00:31:22,440
Turn over to Hebrews 11 and 6,
which was our title verse on the

531
00:31:22,440 –> 00:31:34,990
screen.
The apostle Paul gives us two

532
00:31:34,990 –> 00:31:38,110
parts to this question about the
existence of God.

533
00:31:40,030 –> 00:31:43,080
Hebrews 11 and six says.
And without faith it is

534
00:31:43,080 –> 00:31:45,880
impossible to please and forever
would draw near to God must

535
00:31:45,880 –> 00:31:49,600
believe that he exists or in the
King James, which I think is

536
00:31:49,600 –> 00:31:57,120
even better, must believe that
God is and that he is a rewarder

537
00:31:57,120 –> 00:31:58,400
of those who diligently seek
him.

538
00:32:00,880 –> 00:32:02,840
And and just just a quick bit of
Hebrew.

539
00:32:03,000 –> 00:32:05,080
And, and I know we all
understand this.

540
00:32:06,040 –> 00:32:08,120
But the word for exists there.
This word for is.

541
00:32:08,120 –> 00:32:13,200
It’s this very emphatic word.
It has A2 dimensional aspect of

542
00:32:13,560 –> 00:32:17,560
it that we can believe that God
exists now and that he has

543
00:32:17,560 –> 00:32:26,000
always existed.
And then Paul says that we also

544
00:32:26,000 –> 00:32:28,840
must believe that God is a
rewarder of those who diligently

545
00:32:28,840 –> 00:32:32,840
seek him to to search him out,
to crave, to worship him as as

546
00:32:32,840 –> 00:32:36,360
the force of the Greek is.
So it’s like there’s this

547
00:32:36,360 –> 00:32:39,800
two-part clarification to give
us a three-dimensional view of

548
00:32:39,800 –> 00:32:44,240
faith that we must believe God’s
always existed to bring him out

549
00:32:44,240 –> 00:32:47,120
the things that have brought us
to now, that he exists for us

550
00:32:47,120 –> 00:32:50,920
today and he will also exist in
the future to bring him out his

551
00:32:50,920 –> 00:32:53,920
promise.
Faith is 3 dimensional.

552
00:32:55,720 –> 00:32:58,840
And I think these these
clarifiers are inextricably

553
00:32:58,840 –> 00:33:05,680
linked because we can believe
that God exists and we can live

554
00:33:05,680 –> 00:33:08,720
our life that God exists, but
not believe.

555
00:33:10,440 –> 00:33:13,480
That God will exist in the
future to bring to bear his

556
00:33:13,480 –> 00:33:17,000
promises.
And you think, well, how is that

557
00:33:17,000 –> 00:33:19,040
possible?
Well, it is possible.

558
00:33:19,040 –> 00:33:26,280
We had a guy that worked for us
in the family business a number

559
00:33:26,280 –> 00:33:27,640
of years ago.
His name was Phil Thompson.

560
00:33:27,640 –> 00:33:33,160
He was a, the big Scandinavian
guy, 6 foot 5 strong, super long

561
00:33:33,160 –> 00:33:35,040
curly hair.
They called him Goldilocks.

562
00:33:36,080 –> 00:33:38,160
And he was a, he was a smart
guy.

563
00:33:38,160 –> 00:33:41,440
Like he knew his Bible.
He you could talk about

564
00:33:41,440 –> 00:33:44,000
philosophy, science.
Stuff.

565
00:33:44,000 –> 00:33:48,400
Going on in the world, but he
had a he had the worst addiction

566
00:33:48,400 –> 00:33:49,520
problem I’ve ever seen in my
life.

567
00:33:49,720 –> 00:33:53,560
He was addicted to drugs and,
and, and everything besides

568
00:33:53,560 –> 00:33:55,560
that.
And he would work for us for a

569
00:33:55,560 –> 00:33:57,000
month and then we wouldn’t see
him for a week.

570
00:33:57,000 –> 00:33:59,240
And then he’d come back and he’d
work for us for three or four

571
00:33:59,240 –> 00:34:01,160
days and we wouldn’t see him for
a month and then he’d work for

572
00:34:01,160 –> 00:34:02,280
us for.
Six months, then we wouldn’t see

573
00:34:02,280 –> 00:34:04,600
him for three days.
And this, this was the reality

574
00:34:04,600 –> 00:34:07,520
of his life.
He kept falling.

575
00:34:07,520 –> 00:34:09,960
Back on his addiction.
And I would always talk with him

576
00:34:09,960 –> 00:34:12,199
because we worked together.
He was, he was my, one of my

577
00:34:12,320 –> 00:34:14,520
employees.
And and we would talk about the

578
00:34:14,520 –> 00:34:16,760
truth, we’d talk about the Bible
and he’d even say things like

579
00:34:16,880 –> 00:34:18,480
he’d come to work in the
morning, you know, he’d be all

580
00:34:18,480 –> 00:34:20,560
fired up, he’d all be positive
because then things were going

581
00:34:20,600 –> 00:34:21,719
good for him.
He said, hey, John, have you

582
00:34:21,719 –> 00:34:23,360
seen your God today?
And I said, yes, Phil, I’ve,

583
00:34:23,719 –> 00:34:25,679
I’ve seen my God today.
I said, have you?

584
00:34:25,679 –> 00:34:27,760
He’s always all around like he,
he was that kind of guy.

585
00:34:27,760 –> 00:34:30,360
And we would talk about he could
quote Scripture.

586
00:34:31,560 –> 00:34:34,159
And I said to him, I said, Phil,
I said, you need to come out.

587
00:34:34,320 –> 00:34:35,480
I said, you need God in your
life.

588
00:34:35,480 –> 00:34:37,199
I said, you need to come out.
Look, I’m doing a lecture.

589
00:34:37,199 –> 00:34:37,800
Come on out.
It’s.

590
00:34:37,880 –> 00:34:39,080
It’s a great topic.
You’ll love it.

591
00:34:39,239 –> 00:34:42,120
No, no, Sean, I can’t do that.
He says my my past is too dark.

592
00:34:43,360 –> 00:34:49,719
I’ve done too many things.
He said God can’t save me.

593
00:34:51,199 –> 00:34:55,320
He believed in the existence of
God, but he didn’t believe in

594
00:34:55,320 –> 00:34:59,400
God’s future.
And in the spring of this year,

595
00:35:01,840 –> 00:35:07,000
in his truck in downtown
Victoria, they found him dead of

596
00:35:07,000 –> 00:35:11,560
a drug overdose.
And we didn’t even know until it

597
00:35:11,600 –> 00:35:12,840
was too late.
We couldn’t even attend his

598
00:35:12,840 –> 00:35:17,200
funeral.
Such is the problem of limiting

599
00:35:17,200 –> 00:35:23,280
God’s power to merely an
existence, says in Isaiah 55 and

600
00:35:23,280 –> 00:35:24,640
11.
So is my word that goes out from

601
00:35:24,640 –> 00:35:26,760
my mouth.
It will not return to me empty,

602
00:35:27,440 –> 00:35:32,800
but will accomplish what I
desire and the purpose for which

603
00:35:32,800 –> 00:35:35,760
I sent it.
We must believe in that aspect

604
00:35:35,960 –> 00:35:38,000
of God’s power, brethren and
sisters.

605
00:35:39,080 –> 00:35:40,920
And what is the weight of an
unbelieving heart?

606
00:35:40,920 –> 00:35:43,720
Well, it’s Phil Thompson that’s
the weight of an unbelieving

607
00:35:43,720 –> 00:35:45,800
heart.
But also it says, in fact, if

608
00:35:45,800 –> 00:35:48,840
you look at the marginal
reference for Hebrews 11 and

609
00:35:48,840 –> 00:35:52,280
six, you’ll get Hebrews 3 and 12
with the apostle Paul talks

610
00:35:52,280 –> 00:35:54,960
about the other example of the
unbelieving heart with the

611
00:35:54,960 –> 00:35:56,680
nation of Israel in the Old
Testament.

612
00:35:56,680 –> 00:35:59,360
Take care of brother, unless
there be any of you, he says an

613
00:35:59,360 –> 00:36:02,280
unbelieving heart leading you to
fall away from the living God.

614
00:36:02,280 –> 00:36:06,080
And so the writer of the Hebrews
gives us this example of exactly

615
00:36:06,080 –> 00:36:08,160
what happened with the nation of
Israel.

616
00:36:08,160 –> 00:36:11,200
We don’t have time to go through
it tonight, but God said through

617
00:36:11,200 –> 00:36:14,520
Moses and in Exodus 1411, and
the Lord said to Moses, how long

618
00:36:14,600 –> 00:36:17,160
those people despise me?
How long will they not believe

619
00:36:17,160 –> 00:36:20,320
in me, in spite of all the signs
that I’ve done among them.

620
00:36:20,320 –> 00:36:23,600
And the point here is that they
saw the plagues in Egypt.

621
00:36:23,840 –> 00:36:26,440
They saw the miracle as they
came out in the Exodus.

622
00:36:27,080 –> 00:36:31,840
They saw the destruction of the
largest army in the entire world

623
00:36:31,840 –> 00:36:37,480
at that time.
Every day they had the pillar of

624
00:36:37,720 –> 00:36:39,720
of cloud, and every night they
had the pillar of fire.

625
00:36:39,720 –> 00:36:42,200
Their shoes didn’t wear out.
They had the manna from heaven.

626
00:36:43,160 –> 00:36:46,000
The terror of God went before
the protective preventers.

627
00:36:46,080 –> 00:36:49,720
You can’t tell me that they
didn’t believe in the existence

628
00:36:49,720 –> 00:36:53,680
of God.
They might have doubted it, but

629
00:36:53,680 –> 00:36:57,360
he was there.
The problem they had, brothers

630
00:36:57,360 –> 00:37:01,280
and sisters, is they didn’t
believe that God would.

631
00:37:01,280 –> 00:37:05,720
Take them into the promised land
they didn’t believe in God’s

632
00:37:05,720 –> 00:37:08,960
future that he could overcome
for them the giants in the land

633
00:37:08,960 –> 00:37:11,400
and so they didn’t believe in
God’s future existence.

634
00:37:11,400 –> 00:37:13,920
They didn’t believe that God
would accomplish the things that

635
00:37:13,920 –> 00:37:16,240
he promised them and so they
died in the wilderness.

636
00:37:19,920 –> 00:37:23,280
We don’t have time to look at at
Mark Chapter 9, but that’s

637
00:37:23,560 –> 00:37:26,680
that’s the man with the son that
had severe problems.

638
00:37:26,800 –> 00:37:30,480
That’s the father that said I
believe.

639
00:37:31,640 –> 00:37:33,880
Please help my.
Unbelief.

640
00:37:36,800 –> 00:37:42,240
And the point of this particular
record in in Mark Chapter 9 was

641
00:37:42,240 –> 00:37:43,880
to set the young people up for a
question.

642
00:37:43,880 –> 00:37:47,640
And I’m going to ask you the
question too, because this is

643
00:37:47,640 –> 00:37:48,880
what I was taught in Sunday
school.

644
00:37:49,320 –> 00:37:54,840
Do you believe that faith?
Is like a gas tank because we’re

645
00:37:54,840 –> 00:37:57,360
all given a measure of faith and
so we’re all given a different

646
00:37:57,360 –> 00:37:59,560
sized gas tank.
Some of us have more faith and

647
00:37:59,560 –> 00:38:01,040
so we have a bigger gas tank and
some of us.

648
00:38:01,480 –> 00:38:03,240
You know, have a smaller gas
tank.

649
00:38:04,040 –> 00:38:07,600
And so we can, we can fill up
our faith tank, as it were, by

650
00:38:07,600 –> 00:38:10,840
studying and by prayer and by
reading the word of thought, by

651
00:38:10,840 –> 00:38:13,080
coming to Bible school.
And we, I talked to them about

652
00:38:13,080 –> 00:38:14,600
all the things we can do to fill
up our gas tank.

653
00:38:14,640 –> 00:38:17,880
And then, you know, when our gas
tank gets full, do we then drive

654
00:38:17,880 –> 00:38:21,760
around?
With the strength of that faith

655
00:38:21,760 –> 00:38:31,530
in our gas tank.
And then we run out, we coast to

656
00:38:31,530 –> 00:38:34,330
the side of the road and we’re
done.

657
00:38:36,920 –> 00:38:40,520
Faith is not a gas tank.
Faith, quite clearly

658
00:38:40,520 –> 00:38:43,400
scripturally, is a muscle.
And like all muscles, it needs

659
00:38:43,400 –> 00:38:45,040
to be worked on.
You need to lift things.

660
00:38:45,200 –> 00:38:46,960
And sometimes it’s just small
things at 1st.

661
00:38:46,960 –> 00:38:48,400
And you know what happens when
you work out?

662
00:38:48,400 –> 00:38:51,080
And some of the young people you
know, work out, right?

663
00:38:51,280 –> 00:38:54,840
You work that you’re ripping the
muscle fibers to pieces when you

664
00:38:54,840 –> 00:38:56,760
work out.
But then they, they repair

665
00:38:56,760 –> 00:38:59,320
themselves and they rebuild them
back a little bit stronger.

666
00:38:59,320 –> 00:39:00,600
And we can get stronger every
day.

667
00:39:00,600 –> 00:39:05,280
That’s exactly how faith works.
God gives us a measure of faith,

668
00:39:05,480 –> 00:39:08,080
a measure of strength of faith,
and then it’s up.

669
00:39:08,080 –> 00:39:13,920
To us to put it to work and this
man, he needed to work on his

670
00:39:13,920 –> 00:39:17,160
faith.
And each time we put our our

671
00:39:17,160 –> 00:39:21,520
lives in God’s hand, we develop
that face muscle a little bit

672
00:39:21,520 –> 00:39:26,280
more.
And as our brother Peter said

673
00:39:26,280 –> 00:39:29,680
this morning in his exhortation
and it it touched me.

674
00:39:31,280 –> 00:39:34,040
In a very real way, and that is
that we all struggle.

675
00:39:36,200 –> 00:39:38,440
You know, we have those people
in our community, brethren and

676
00:39:38,440 –> 00:39:44,760
sisters, just recently that have
suffered immeasurable loss, and

677
00:39:44,760 –> 00:39:51,000
we pray for healing.
And sometimes it doesn’t come

678
00:39:52,800 –> 00:39:56,840
and it can shatter.
Our faith and we think, why

679
00:39:56,840 –> 00:40:01,880
doesn’t God answer our prayer?
Well, perhaps he has, but maybe

680
00:40:01,880 –> 00:40:04,160
just not in the way we’d hope,
we say to ourselves.

681
00:40:04,160 –> 00:40:06,520
But This is why I believe it’s
important that we understand not

682
00:40:06,520 –> 00:40:10,480
only in the existence of God,
but in God’s future.

683
00:40:12,520 –> 00:40:16,000
Because sometimes, brethren and
sisters, the immediate future of

684
00:40:16,000 –> 00:40:21,880
God is not easy to see, which is
why we have to focus on the

685
00:40:21,880 –> 00:40:26,600
eternal future.
We must believe in God’s

686
00:40:26,640 –> 00:40:33,400
outcome, whatever it is, and
whenever it happens, even if we

687
00:40:33,400 –> 00:40:36,360
can’t see it, turn to the
prophecy of Daniel.

688
00:40:37,480 –> 00:40:43,440
If, if, if ever, you need an act
of faith to bolster your courage

689
00:40:43,640 –> 00:40:46,520
and help you understand this
concept of believing in God and

690
00:40:46,520 –> 00:40:49,840
believing in God’s future,
you’ve got to go to Daniel

691
00:40:49,840 –> 00:40:51,640
chapter 3.
And we know what’s happening in

692
00:40:51,640 –> 00:40:57,080
Daniel chapter 3.
There’s a number of obviously

693
00:40:57,080 –> 00:41:00,240
faith of building events that
happen in the book of Daniel,

694
00:41:00,280 –> 00:41:03,040
but this is my favorite King
Nebuchadnezzar.

695
00:41:03,040 –> 00:41:05,200
He’s the supreme leader.
He’s all powerful.

696
00:41:05,200 –> 00:41:09,080
Whatever King Nebuchadnezzar
says, it literally happens.

697
00:41:09,320 –> 00:41:11,840
He’s had the conversations about
the dreams with Daniel and he

698
00:41:11,840 –> 00:41:14,040
interprets and he builds this
image of gold.

699
00:41:14,760 –> 00:41:18,360
It was over 100 feet tall.
Daniel chapter 3 and one King

700
00:41:18,360 –> 00:41:20,320
Nebuchadnezzar made an image of
gold whose height was 60.

701
00:41:20,320 –> 00:41:22,040
Cubits and its breadth was six
cubits.

702
00:41:22,600 –> 00:41:24,640
And he set it up in the plain of
Dura, in the province of

703
00:41:24,640 –> 00:41:26,040
Babylon.
And then King Nebuchadnezzar

704
00:41:26,240 –> 00:41:28,800
sent together the satraps, the
prefects, the governors, the

705
00:41:28,800 –> 00:41:32,120
councillors, the treasurers, the
justices, the magistrates and

706
00:41:32,120 –> 00:41:35,600
the officials.
Of the provinces to come to the

707
00:41:35,600 –> 00:41:38,680
dedicate of the image of King
Nebuchadnezzar that he had set

708
00:41:38,680 –> 00:41:42,040
up.
And you can think about being in

709
00:41:42,040 –> 00:41:44,840
the plain of Dura at that time.
We we don’t know exactly, but

710
00:41:44,840 –> 00:41:48,800
let’s just say there were 10s of
thousands of people, most of

711
00:41:48,800 –> 00:41:51,840
them showing up with music and
tambourines and yelling and

712
00:41:51,840 –> 00:41:53,640
screaming.
It would have been absolute

713
00:41:53,920 –> 00:41:58,840
mayhem.
And everyone begins to bow down

714
00:41:58,840 –> 00:42:00,120
to this 100 foot image of
worship.

715
00:42:00,480 –> 00:42:04,960
But not Daniel’s three friends.
And as these things often go, as

716
00:42:04,960 –> 00:42:07,000
it says in verse 8, their
neighbors, their Co workers,

717
00:42:07,000 –> 00:42:10,080
whoever it is, they rat on them
and say, oh, those three men,

718
00:42:10,080 –> 00:42:12,240
they’re not bowing down.
They bring them before the king

719
00:42:12,240 –> 00:42:13,440
and there they stand before the
king.

720
00:42:13,440 –> 00:42:18,320
Verse 14 And Nebuchadnezzar says
to these three young men, is it

721
00:42:18,320 –> 00:42:23,600
true, O Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego, that you do not serve

722
00:42:23,960 –> 00:42:26,840
my gods or worship the golden
image that I have set up?

723
00:42:26,880 –> 00:42:30,160
Now if you are ready, when you
hear the sound of the horn and

724
00:42:30,160 –> 00:42:32,240
the pipe and the lyre and the
trigon and the harp and the

725
00:42:32,240 –> 00:42:36,920
bagpipe and every kind of music,
that you should fall down and

726
00:42:36,920 –> 00:42:38,960
worship the image that I have
made well and good.

727
00:42:38,960 –> 00:42:42,400
But if you do not worship, you
shall immediately be cast into a

728
00:42:42,400 –> 00:42:45,920
burning fiery furnace.
Who is the God Nebuchadnezzar

729
00:42:45,920 –> 00:42:48,040
says, that will deliver you out
of my hand.

730
00:42:48,200 –> 00:42:51,760
And right there beside Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego was a

731
00:42:51,760 –> 00:42:56,200
gigantic fiery furnace which is
then stoked hotter and hotter

732
00:42:56,200 –> 00:42:59,400
and hotter.
And there they are, standing

733
00:42:59,400 –> 00:43:03,440
before the king of all the
lands, in front of thousands of

734
00:43:03,440 –> 00:43:06,520
people who are all conforming
and bowing down to the silly 100

735
00:43:06,520 –> 00:43:09,320
foot image.
And they are compelled by the

736
00:43:09,320 –> 00:43:13,120
King himself.
To do it or to die.

737
00:43:16,080 –> 00:43:17,200
And This is why I love their
answer.

738
00:43:20,960 –> 00:43:23,440
And I don’t think there’s any
sarcasm in this answer.

739
00:43:24,560 –> 00:43:28,920
I think this is just a.
Statement of the fact of their.

740
00:43:28,920 –> 00:43:31,600
Faith, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have
no need to answer you in this

741
00:43:31,600 –> 00:43:34,160
matter.
It’s like to say you.

742
00:43:34,800 –> 00:43:37,320
Should already know we are not
bowing down.

743
00:43:38,080 –> 00:43:41,600
And if this be so, and that’s
the threat of certain death,

744
00:43:42,640 –> 00:43:45,240
then our God whom we serve is
able to deliver us from the

745
00:43:45,240 –> 00:43:47,200
burning fiery furnace, and He
will.

746
00:43:47,200 –> 00:43:50,880
Deliver us out of your hand, O
King, He will deliver us.

747
00:43:53,960 –> 00:44:00,760
But if not, let it be known to
you, O King, that we will not

748
00:44:00,760 –> 00:44:03,480
serve your gods or worship the
golden image that you have set

749
00:44:03,480 –> 00:44:06,320
up.
Now, I don’t think for a minute

750
00:44:06,440 –> 00:44:09,440
that Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego didn’t believe in the

751
00:44:09,440 –> 00:44:13,840
future and in the resurrection,
or that they thought that maybe

752
00:44:13,840 –> 00:44:17,160
God wouldn’t be able to save
them in that moment.

753
00:44:17,640 –> 00:44:20,880
I just think they believed that
their God would save them.

754
00:44:20,880 –> 00:44:25,120
But if it wasn’t God’s plan in
that moment to save them on that

755
00:44:25,120 –> 00:44:27,600
day.
It didn’t matter because they

756
00:44:27,600 –> 00:44:32,000
believed in God’s future.
It’s like saying the

757
00:44:32,000 –> 00:44:35,800
significance of God’s eternal
future should surpass the

758
00:44:35,800 –> 00:44:40,560
importance that we place on our
present lives every single time

759
00:44:45,120 –> 00:44:48,600
that we would know of a surety
that God has a future for those

760
00:44:48,600 –> 00:44:53,400
who believe.
And if we have that surety that

761
00:44:53,400 –> 00:44:58,400
God has our future in his mind,
it will change dramatically how

762
00:44:58,400 –> 00:45:01,640
we Live Today.
It’ll change how we make

763
00:45:01,640 –> 00:45:05,160
decisions like the decisions of
these three men to stand firm

764
00:45:05,160 –> 00:45:06,560
against the influence of the
world.

765
00:45:06,680 –> 00:45:09,080
They were unashamed of what they
believed.

766
00:45:10,680 –> 00:45:12,200
Their times are no different
than ours.

767
00:45:12,480 –> 00:45:15,280
Rather than sisters, they had
all the social pressure to

768
00:45:15,280 –> 00:45:18,040
conform to this seeming
innocuous thing.

769
00:45:18,280 –> 00:45:20,320
You know, really, when you think
about it, just.

770
00:45:23,400 –> 00:45:27,320
Just bow down.
Just put your head down and just

771
00:45:27,320 –> 00:45:30,000
bow down and get out of there
and get back to doing the good

772
00:45:30,000 –> 00:45:34,880
things that they were doing and
they could have done that.

773
00:45:36,800 –> 00:45:40,440
But no, because I believe there
are certain spiritual lines that

774
00:45:40,440 –> 00:45:48,640
God draws that we cannot cross,
that the thing that we as God

775
00:45:48,640 –> 00:45:54,120
fearing believers must manifest
is his glory in our lives at all

776
00:45:54,120 –> 00:45:57,680
times.
Even when our lives are at

777
00:45:57,680 –> 00:46:02,840
stake, even when we have fear of
social cancellation, even when

778
00:46:02,840 –> 00:46:07,040
there’s fear that we’ll lose our
jobs, even when we might be cast

779
00:46:07,040 –> 00:46:10,600
out of our social circle.
It doesn’t matter because we’ve

780
00:46:10,600 –> 00:46:13,280
made the decision knowing that
God’s future.

781
00:46:13,280 –> 00:46:16,400
Is more important.
This is what it means to live in

782
00:46:16,400 –> 00:46:18,360
God’s world and under God’s
laws.

783
00:46:23,480 –> 00:46:26,680
Just a couple more slides.
I think it’s said in the manual.

784
00:46:26,680 –> 00:46:29,040
We have 55 minutes for the
class.

785
00:46:30,520 –> 00:46:36,920
You know, if we believe that God
exists and we believe that this

786
00:46:36,920 –> 00:46:42,360
is God’s world, then guess what?
We have to live by his rules.

787
00:46:47,240 –> 00:46:50,480
Do we not follow God’s laws so
that we can be saved from

788
00:46:50,480 –> 00:46:52,960
ourselves?
And if that’s the case, which it

789
00:46:52,960 –> 00:46:57,320
is, we have no right to expect
that we can change God or change

790
00:46:57,320 –> 00:46:59,520
His laws to suit our own
desires.

791
00:47:03,520 –> 00:47:08,640
Isaiah says in chapter 46 and 9,
as the world around us tries to

792
00:47:09,520 –> 00:47:13,640
subvert God’s truth.
God speaking to the prophet,

793
00:47:13,640 –> 00:47:17,160
says this, I am God, there is
none else.

794
00:47:17,360 –> 00:47:19,800
I am God, and there is none like
me declaring the end from the

795
00:47:19,800 –> 00:47:23,200
beginning, the ancient times,
the things that are not yet done

796
00:47:23,200 –> 00:47:26,400
saying My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure

797
00:47:31,790 –> 00:47:35,510
once we accept, brethren and
sisters, what God says.

798
00:47:38,030 –> 00:47:43,280
We have to act on it and I
remember listening to a series

799
00:47:43,640 –> 00:47:45,960
from brother Nathan.
‘S father, Brother Roger.

800
00:47:46,560 –> 00:47:48,480
It was a school of the prophets,
started the school of the

801
00:47:48,480 –> 00:47:49,680
prophets.
And he said I’m going to

802
00:47:49,680 –> 00:47:56,120
paraphrase him badly, so don’t
quote me when we start the

803
00:47:56,120 –> 00:48:01,280
beginning of a study.
He said, before we even begin to

804
00:48:01,280 –> 00:48:05,160
allow the Scripture to reveal
its truth in that study, we have

805
00:48:05,160 –> 00:48:07,880
to be prepared to accept what it
will say.

806
00:48:11,640 –> 00:48:15,640
And then once we accept what it
says, we have to do it like it’s

807
00:48:15,640 –> 00:48:19,760
just a, it’s a simple fact of
being believers in God’s

808
00:48:19,760 –> 00:48:22,360
promises.
The word of God is not just a

809
00:48:22,360 –> 00:48:24,440
suggestion.
It’s not, it’s not a statement,

810
00:48:24,440 –> 00:48:27,560
a beautiful statement that we
print out and, and get sent to

811
00:48:27,560 –> 00:48:31,040
us from Etsy And we, we, we glue
it on our dining room wall.

812
00:48:32,880 –> 00:48:36,080
Which many of us do.
And it’s, it is beautiful.

813
00:48:36,080 –> 00:48:37,120
We’ve done it.
We have.

814
00:48:37,400 –> 00:48:42,600
A verse up on our wall.
We have to set out to believe in

815
00:48:42,600 –> 00:48:44,560
God’s Word and then do what it
says.

816
00:48:44,920 –> 00:48:46,600
Even if it.
Impinges on our personal

817
00:48:46,600 –> 00:48:49,360
sensitivities, especially
brethren and sisters, when it

818
00:48:49,680 –> 00:48:51,960
impinges on our personal
sensitivities.

819
00:49:00,380 –> 00:49:04,100
You know, it’s, it’s not like we
don’t know what the Apostle Paul

820
00:49:04,100 –> 00:49:08,400
says in the book of Romans as he
positions the sufferings and the

821
00:49:08,400 –> 00:49:11,040
persecution and the hardship and
the trouble and the affliction

822
00:49:11,040 –> 00:49:16,200
and the struggle for those in,
in the faith, the the issues of

823
00:49:16,200 –> 00:49:18,960
sin, the the internal struggles
amongst amongst believers.

824
00:49:18,960 –> 00:49:21,960
And he talks about that in in
Romans chapter 8 and 17.

825
00:49:23,160 –> 00:49:27,520
But even more in the Epistle to
the Romans is Paul encourages us

826
00:49:27,520 –> 00:49:30,880
to remember the benefits of the
things that we believe that are

827
00:49:30,880 –> 00:49:33,080
more important that overcome
those struggles.

828
00:49:33,080 –> 00:49:35,400
Romans 5 and starting verse 3
and I’ll just read this.

829
00:49:35,760 –> 00:49:39,760
Not only so, but we also glory
in our sufferings because we

830
00:49:39,760 –> 00:49:43,000
know that suffering produces
perseverance and perseverance,

831
00:49:43,000 –> 00:49:46,640
character and character hope.
And hope does not put us to

832
00:49:46,640 –> 00:49:49,960
shame because God’s love is
being poured out into our hearts

833
00:49:50,160 –> 00:49:52,400
through the Holy Spirit that has
been given to us.

834
00:49:55,160 –> 00:49:58,480
There’s one more element that I
just want to finish with in

835
00:49:58,480 –> 00:50:01,280
believing in the existence of
God and God’s future.

836
00:50:01,520 –> 00:50:06,440
And it’s something that I I know
we talk about a lot because we

837
00:50:06,440 –> 00:50:08,960
talk a lot about God
manifestation, but turn to.

838
00:50:09,000 –> 00:50:14,200
Genesis chapter 1 and 26 and.
I know we all know this and and

839
00:50:14,200 –> 00:50:17,440
as Christadelphians we’re unique
in our understanding of God

840
00:50:17,440 –> 00:50:19,280
manifestation.
But I just want to go over this

841
00:50:19,280 –> 00:50:22,040
one more time because maybe it’s
just maybe I’m the only one that

842
00:50:22,040 –> 00:50:24,600
doesn’t know this but.
Maybe there’s one or two more

843
00:50:25,200 –> 00:50:30,800
that need to hear this as well,
but it says in Genesis 1 and 26

844
00:50:30,800 –> 00:50:33,800
after the the unbelievable
amazing.

845
00:50:34,280 –> 00:50:38,680
A glory that is exposed as God
brings his infinite power, his

846
00:50:38,680 –> 00:50:41,640
creative power on the formless
and void earth, and his purpose

847
00:50:41,640 –> 00:50:44,320
starts to unfold.
And as he’s going through the

848
00:50:44,320 –> 00:50:47,560
creative process, of course he
gets to man and he creates man.

849
00:50:48,280 –> 00:50:51,280
And he says in Genesis 1 and 26,
he said, let us make man in our

850
00:50:51,280 –> 00:50:53,160
image and in our likeness.
Now, what does this mean?

851
00:50:53,160 –> 00:50:56,560
And we talked about this with
the teens this morning.

852
00:50:56,920 –> 00:50:59,760
Does it mean that we’re to look
like God in the angelic host?

853
00:51:01,280 –> 00:51:05,560
Well, I’m sure it does.
We we see the representation of

854
00:51:05,640 –> 00:51:09,480
of angels in the the word of God
and and they appear like men.

855
00:51:09,480 –> 00:51:12,440
So, so yes, and that’s kind of
how I’d always looked at it.

856
00:51:12,440 –> 00:51:15,400
But and I know these these.
Words have been parsed many

857
00:51:15,400 –> 00:51:18,280
times and I’m sure I’ll hear
your thoughts about this after,

858
00:51:19,520 –> 00:51:23,880
but these two words that we were
made in the image and likeness

859
00:51:23,880 –> 00:51:26,360
of God, I understand them like
this.

860
00:51:26,360 –> 00:51:29,720
The first word for for image in
the in the ancient Hebrews,

861
00:51:29,760 –> 00:51:32,280
fairly common word that’s used
about idols.

862
00:51:32,280 –> 00:51:33,440
It’s all through the Old
Testament.

863
00:51:34,800 –> 00:51:37,800
It’s a representation.
It’s something that that looks

864
00:51:37,800 –> 00:51:40,840
like something but it.
But in this particular context,

865
00:51:40,840 –> 00:51:43,000
I believe there’s also the
function and the role.

866
00:51:43,000 –> 00:51:46,360
Because right after this is when
God gives Adam his commands

867
00:51:46,360 –> 00:51:48,920
about the things that he has to
do to go out and have dominion

868
00:51:48,920 –> 00:51:51,040
on the earth like God has just
had in his creative acts.

869
00:51:51,040 –> 00:51:54,440
So the first part, I think, is
that we’re commanded to be like

870
00:51:54,480 –> 00:51:57,600
God.
And the word for likeness, this

871
00:51:57,600 –> 00:52:00,800
word DeMuth is similar, but it’s
different in that it’s more

872
00:52:00,800 –> 00:52:03,960
about the comparative to his
attributes and his character,

873
00:52:04,320 –> 00:52:11,960
which is to act like God.
And so God created us to be like

874
00:52:11,960 –> 00:52:14,720
Him in the human sense, to go
out and have dominion and to do

875
00:52:14,720 –> 00:52:18,240
things and to act like God in
benevolence and in love and in

876
00:52:18,240 –> 00:52:22,280
care and in guiding, and also to
act like Him in His attributes

877
00:52:22,800 –> 00:52:25,160
and His love and His grace and
His mercy.

878
00:52:25,720 –> 00:52:29,160
And so it means for us, brethren
and sisters, if we are to

879
00:52:29,160 –> 00:52:32,400
inhabit that image, we must do
those things.

880
00:52:33,000 –> 00:52:35,600
Have you ever considered the
magnitude of that spiritual

881
00:52:35,600 –> 00:52:39,920
reality that God created this
vast universe and made us in His

882
00:52:39,920 –> 00:52:45,080
image and then placed us in this
world to fulfill a purpose?

883
00:52:45,280 –> 00:52:50,560
And what was that purpose?
It was to be like Him and to act

884
00:52:50,560 –> 00:52:56,320
like Him to manifest God in our
lives.

885
00:52:56,680 –> 00:52:59,040
Hebrews one and three speaking
about the Lord Jesus Christ said

886
00:52:59,040 –> 00:53:02,120
who be in the brightness of his
glory and the express image of

887
00:53:02,120 –> 00:53:05,200
his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power.

888
00:53:05,320 –> 00:53:09,200
When he and by himself purged
our sins, sat down at the right

889
00:53:09,200 –> 00:53:12,200
hand of the majesty on high.
That’s the ultimate

890
00:53:12,440 –> 00:53:17,480
representation of God is in the
Lord Jesus Christ and we aspire

891
00:53:17,480 –> 00:53:23,840
to that form.
It says in Ephesians 4 and 22

892
00:53:23,840 –> 00:53:25,880
says you were taught with regard
to your former way of self to

893
00:53:25,920 –> 00:53:29,000
put off your old self which is
being corrupted by its deceitful

894
00:53:29,000 –> 00:53:32,000
desires, to make new in the
attitude of your minds and to

895
00:53:32,000 –> 00:53:38,160
put on a new self created to be
like God in true righteousness

896
00:53:38,360 –> 00:53:40,400
and holiness.
So, brethren and sisters, if we

897
00:53:40,400 –> 00:53:43,960
believe that God exists and will
will fulfill His promise in the

898
00:53:43,960 –> 00:53:49,960
future, do we manifest God’s
attributes and His character

899
00:53:50,120 –> 00:53:53,040
every day in our lives?
That’s why I asked the question

900
00:53:53,040 –> 00:53:57,880
to start Does God exist?
For you and can you prove it?

901
00:54:05,890 –> 00:54:07,650
Does the image of.
God, brethren and sisters,

902
00:54:07,650 –> 00:54:15,890
therefore exist in US.
You know, Peter, of this working

903
00:54:15,890 –> 00:54:18,970
class man, this regular man
running his own small business

904
00:54:18,970 –> 00:54:21,570
under the pressure of society’s
expectations all around him when

905
00:54:21,570 –> 00:54:25,800
the Lord was with him.
And, and his whole world was

906
00:54:25,800 –> 00:54:28,800
then shattered to the core as he
tried in his own human way to

907
00:54:28,800 –> 00:54:30,600
get closer to his Lord now under
trial.

908
00:54:30,600 –> 00:54:35,680
So this is the time when when
Christ was taken in trial and he

909
00:54:35,680 –> 00:54:38,240
tried to get closer and closer
as the Lord was taken away

910
00:54:38,240 –> 00:54:39,480
because he wanted to be with
him.

911
00:54:39,480 –> 00:54:42,440
But he, but he, he felt the
shame of that knowledge and he

912
00:54:42,440 –> 00:54:50,520
denied his existence 3 times.
He denied his Lord the last time

913
00:54:50,520 –> 00:54:52,800
emphatically.
Peter says, I tell you the

914
00:54:52,800 –> 00:54:58,680
truth, I do not know this man.
Can you imagine the heartbreak

915
00:54:58,680 –> 00:55:02,080
of Peter when he got that look
from his Lord before the the

916
00:55:02,080 –> 00:55:06,720
sign of his last denial, and how
the sword of the Spirit of the

917
00:55:06,720 –> 00:55:09,920
Word of God would have cut him
asunder, dividing the very

918
00:55:09,920 –> 00:55:12,640
thoughts of his heart.
How in in the fear of that

919
00:55:12,640 –> 00:55:16,920
moment it overrode his faith and
he denied the existence of his

920
00:55:16,920 –> 00:55:21,160
Master.
But we can be, we can rest

921
00:55:21,160 –> 00:55:23,960
assured, brethren and sisters,
that there is hope because of

922
00:55:23,960 –> 00:55:30,160
that man Peter that denied his
Lord, became this man in his

923
00:55:30,160 –> 00:55:33,560
epistle in first Peter 2 where
he says like newborn infants.

924
00:55:34,680 –> 00:55:37,960
Long for the pure spiritual milk
that bite you may grow up into

925
00:55:37,960 –> 00:55:41,040
salvation, if indeed you have
tasted that the Lord is good as

926
00:55:41,040 –> 00:55:44,280
you come to him as a living
stone rejected by men.

927
00:55:44,440 –> 00:55:47,400
But in the sight of God chosen
and precious, you yourselves,

928
00:55:47,400 –> 00:55:49,960
like living stones are being
built up as a spiritual house to

929
00:55:49,960 –> 00:55:54,160
be in holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifice acceptable

930
00:55:54,160 –> 00:55:57,200
to God through Jesus Christ, For
it stands in Scripture.

931
00:55:57,200 –> 00:56:02,600
Peter says, behold, I lands I in
a stone, a cornerstone, precious

932
00:56:03,120 –> 00:56:07,320
and chosen, and whoever believes
in him will not be put to shame.

933
00:56:11,160 –> 00:56:13,640
We have to wage war, brothers
and sisters, against the dark

934
00:56:13,640 –> 00:56:17,120
force of the world.
And we can only do this if we

935
00:56:17,120 –> 00:56:20,240
inhabit the image of God in our
lives, if it manifests in our

936
00:56:20,240 –> 00:56:23,920
lives every single day in our
hearts and in our minds.

937
00:56:24,760 –> 00:56:27,800
Second Corinthians chapter 10,
and I’ll just read this, says

938
00:56:28,240 –> 00:56:31,400
for though we live in the world,
we do not wage war as the world

939
00:56:31,400 –> 00:56:33,080
does.
The weapons we fight with are

940
00:56:33,080 –> 00:56:35,480
not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have

941
00:56:35,480 –> 00:56:38,280
divine power to demolish
strongholds.

942
00:56:38,880 –> 00:56:41,840
We demolish arguments and every
potential that sets itself up

943
00:56:41,840 –> 00:56:44,600
against the knowledge of God,
and we take captive every

944
00:56:44,600 –> 00:56:46,720
thought to make it obedient to
Christ.

945
00:56:54,020 –> 00:56:56,460
This is how we have to behave in
this World of Darkness.

946
00:56:57,560 –> 00:56:59,480
We have been given so much,
brethren and sisters, we’ve been

947
00:56:59,480 –> 00:57:01,920
offered life itself.
We’ve been offered a way out of

948
00:57:01,920 –> 00:57:05,440
this body of death, salvation
from our sins, and we’ve been

949
00:57:05,440 –> 00:57:07,760
reconciled through our Father in
heaven, through the Lord Jesus

950
00:57:07,760 –> 00:57:10,520
Christ.
And so if we get nothing out of

951
00:57:10,520 –> 00:57:14,080
this series this week, it is
from this first class that if we

952
00:57:14,080 –> 00:57:19,240
believe that God exists and we
believe in the future that God

953
00:57:19,240 –> 00:57:23,800
has given us, and that is the
first step in being unashamed of

954
00:57:23,800 –> 00:57:29,400
the things that we believe.
I want to close by reading from

955
00:57:29,480 –> 00:57:31,800
the same reading from
Colossians.

956
00:57:31,800 –> 00:57:35,600
So just turn back to that in
Colossians chapter one that our

957
00:57:35,600 –> 00:57:43,040
brother Justin had read for us.
Brother Tech Morgan in in one of

958
00:57:43,040 –> 00:57:46,880
his series on on the epistle of
Romans said something that that

959
00:57:46,880 –> 00:57:49,200
stuck with me and he says, he
says one of the beautiful things

960
00:57:49,200 –> 00:57:54,000
about the apostle Paul is how he
elevates God in all of his

961
00:57:54,000 –> 00:57:58,320
writings.
He elevates the majesty of God.

962
00:57:58,320 –> 00:58:00,640
He elevates the majesty of the
Lord Jesus Christ.

963
00:58:00,880 –> 00:58:04,920
He elevates it for us to see
this high and lofty goal.

964
00:58:05,360 –> 00:58:08,400
And in saying that, brethren and
sisters, we have to lower

965
00:58:08,400 –> 00:58:12,520
ourselves in terms of the
elevated majesty of our Father

966
00:58:12,520 –> 00:58:14,760
in heaven.
And so he does that here in this

967
00:58:14,760 –> 00:58:18,080
passage starting at verse 15,
Speaking of the Lord Jesus

968
00:58:18,080 –> 00:58:20,320
Christ, thinking about the
image.

969
00:58:20,880 –> 00:58:24,240
That needs to be manifest in US.
In the Lord Jesus Christ being

970
00:58:24,240 –> 00:58:26,400
the perfect image of God, he
says He is the image of the

971
00:58:26,400 –> 00:58:28,760
invisible God, the first born of
all creation.

972
00:58:29,680 –> 00:58:32,200
For by Him all things were
created in heaven and on earth,

973
00:58:32,280 –> 00:58:35,480
visible and invisible, whether
Thrones or dominions or rulers

974
00:58:35,480 –> 00:58:38,800
or authorities, all things were
created through Him and for Him.

975
00:58:39,720 –> 00:58:42,440
And He is before all things, and
in Him are all things held

976
00:58:42,440 –> 00:58:44,680
together.
He is the head of the body, the

977
00:58:44,680 –> 00:58:47,040
Ecclesia.
He is the beginning, the first

978
00:58:47,040 –> 00:58:50,720
born of the dead, that in
everything He might be pre

979
00:58:50,720 –> 00:58:54,720
eminent.
For in Him all the fullness of

980
00:58:54,720 –> 00:58:57,720
God was pleased to dwell, and
through Him to reconcile to

981
00:58:57,720 –> 00:59:02,640
Himself all things, whether on
earth or in heaven, making peace

982
00:59:02,640 –> 00:59:08,200
by the blood of His cross.
And you, brothers and sisters,

983
00:59:08,200 –> 00:59:14,040
you and I, who were once
alienated and hostile in mind,

984
00:59:14,880 –> 00:59:18,080
doing evil deeds, he has now
reconciled in his body of flesh

985
00:59:18,080 –> 00:59:22,560
by his death, in order to
present us holy and blameless

986
00:59:22,760 –> 00:59:26,160
and above reproach before him,
If indeed you continue in the

987
00:59:26,160 –> 00:59:31,120
faith steadfast and stable, not
shifting from the hope of the

988
00:59:31,120 –> 00:59:33,520
gospel that you have heard,
which is being proclaimed in

989
00:59:33,600 –> 00:59:34,920
all.
Creation under heaven.

990
00:59:39,560 –> 00:59:41,600
So, God willing, brothers and
sisters, over the course of

991
00:59:41,920 –> 00:59:44,480
these next five classes, we will
look with more detail at the

992
00:59:44,480 –> 00:59:48,560
issues that face us.
And the truth of God that guides

993
00:59:48,560 –> 00:59:53,160
us, so that we might stand firm
in our faith to the end, not

994
00:59:53,160 –> 00:59:56,560
being shaken or moved from the
hope of the gospel that we have

995
00:59:56,560 –> 00:59:59,840
heard, That we remain separated
unto Christ.

996
01:00:00,680 –> 01:00:02,960
So that we can stand with
courage until that great day

997
01:00:02,960 –> 01:00:05,240
when the Lord Jesus Christ comes
to gather his elect.

998
01:00:06,400 –> 01:00:10,320
And we’ll be redeemed from this
Dark World, and they will live.

999
01:00:10,320 –> 01:00:14,640
Forever in his light, because we
were unashamed.