Podcasts about god before

A Devotional Study on the Attributes of God 1. The Solitariness of God "Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God." — Psalm 90:2 Before there was time, before there was light, before there was an angel in Heaven or a speck of dust in the cosmos—God was. He dwelt in solitary majesty, needing nothing, lacking nothing, desiring nothing outside Himself. He was eternally perfect in all His glorious attributes. There was no heaven for Him to inhabit, no earth to govern, no creatures to praise Him—and yet He was altogether blessed. 2. The Decrees of God "The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations." — Psalm 33:11 Before the foundation of the world, in the infinite recesses of eternity, God established His eternal decrees. These decrees are the manifestation of His sovereign will, the blueprint by which all creation unfolds. They are not formed in response to events, for nothing takes the Omniscient by surprise. Instead, they are the cause of all that transpires, the predetermined plan that governs the universe. 3. The Knowledge of God "Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit." — Psalm 147:5 The knowledge of God is infinite, perfect, and eternal. There is no learning with God, for He has always known all things. He never discovers, never forgets, never improves in understanding. His knowledge is not acquired—it is essential to His very nature. He knows Himself fully and knows all things outside Himself perfectly, from eternity past to eternity future. 4. The Foreknowledge of God "For those

Examining Oprah Winfrey and her promotion of John of God.Show Notes: Athousandautumns "Marina Abramovic in Brazil" -https://youtu.be/iZVGREvMA78?si=Xk0J39ghB_b-H_77 Lakisha Johnson "Oprah Interview with John of God Before..." - https://youtu.be/k-OXAdhLjHI?si=HQUPzX--2o4zZvU_ Lakisha Johnson "Oprah John of God Simple Farmer Lie" - https://youtu.be/snAxfNpo3YE?si=43O8kLOsoyvEGgNK Lakisha Johnson "John of God Glass Eating Trick" - https://youtu.be/Bm7pYt0upKY?si=bFnm1RqF3EC3j-Gy CNN "John of God Faith Healer" - https://youtu.be/OyyyQ8noCQo?si=2NO8S0UeHGCzti43 Lakisha Johnson "John of God Devotee's Account" -https://youtu.be/zCxJAtpCnhM?si=_WPiXQk-eYpJxoqz "John of God Faces a 370 Year Prison Sentence" -https://www.longisland-ny.com/2023/07/14/john-of-god-oprahs-faith-healer-faces-a-370-year-prison-sentence/ The Art of Deception "John of God Spiritual Healer Turned Criminal" - https://youtu.be/2JZKSItXCNg?si=ZwrE7mPf161_4Bdb O Magazine "Meet John of God" by Susan Casey - https://cosmic-visions.blogspot.com/2010/11/leap-of-faith-meet-john-of-god-by-susan.html Lakisha Johnson "John of God..." -https://youtu.be/FV7TqR7N5X4?si=A4uAuVjgvREtq7wXThank you, Patrons! Cindy G Yurts, Kay Bee, Dana Natale, Debra Couture, Cindy Poschesci, Riverdale Pilates, Luanne Miller, Rachbaum, Kevin Crecy, Renee Chavez, Angela Smith, Melba Pourteau, Julia K Thomas, JS, Stephanie Roach, Stark Stuff, Robyn Ray, K, Kayce Taylor, Yvette Jockin, Karen Cote, Tammie Sheppherd, JenTile, LadyLex, Shari Davis, AussieDood, Katrina Hetherington, Susan Swan, Dean, GiGi 5, Susan, Manjit Ender, Mentour Mentor's Mentee, Kee Sardi, Dana Natale, Marie Patrignani, Bewildered Beauty, MotherofHens, Pepper, Joan, Pat Dell, Blythe, Laura, Plai Braik, Lorraine R, Sandra Guse Van Zealand, Isa, Krissy G, Michelle B, TB , Maria, Erin Faesen, Regan Johnson, AJ Foster, Hugh Ashman, Melissa V, Heyy Manny, Victoria Gray Bross, Toni Woodland, Danbrit, Evan Scott, Holly from Dallas, Kenny Haines, Maureen P and Toni Natalie.Get access to exclusive content & support the podcast by becoming a Patron today! https://patreon.com/robertaglasstruecrimereportOr throw a tip in the tip jar! https://buymeacoffee.com/robertaglassOr support Roberta by sending a donation via Venmo. https://venmo.com/robertaglasss://youtu.be/gx_-N4BiX4M?Get $10 credit towards your next livestream using this affiliate link! Want to create live streams like this? Check out StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6616403606241280

The editors discuss the theme for February 2024 of "Conversations with God: Before the Covenant (Job)". Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/zoo/clarityLicense code: UL9CSCKZ4YPM52DF

The theme for February 2024 is "Conversations with God - Before the Covenant (Job)". One of our guest authors for the month, Lori Asher, discusses the question from God to Job - "Who is this who obscures my counsel with ignorant words?".Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/zoo/clarityLicense code: UL9CSCKZ4YPM52DF

The theme for February 2024 is "Conversations with God - Before the Covenant (Job)". One of our guest authors for the month, Vicki Stevens, discusses the question from Job to God - "Why have you made me your target?".Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/zoo/clarityLicense code: UL9CSCKZ4YPM52DF

The theme for February 2024 is "Conversations with God - Before the Covenant (Job)". The editor of the month, Amy Schlosser, discusses the question from God to Satan - "Have you considered my servant Job?".Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/zoo/clarityLicense code: UL9CSCKZ4YPM52DF

What is faith?  It is trust in the PERSON of God BEFORE  the PROMISES of God care evident.  It is knowing before seeing. There is a timing gap.  Before we get everything all evident, there's something we are supposed to be doing.  We are to have this faith before everything is clear.Faith is the reliance on His character before we have clarity.  It is reliance before revelation. It is resting in the assurance of His character before it all has been made clear.Noah is a good example of this.  He believed God.  He built a boat before a drop of rain fell.  He trusted in the person of God before the promises of God were evident.  Maybe tomorrows podcast will be good.  If you have faith that it will, subscribe at bewithme.us to find out. 

Roz and I are celebrating our 46th anniversary today. I want others to have as wonderful of a  marriage as we have had. It starts with honoring God BEFORE you enter into marriage. Join me for Today's Daily Word & Prayer to discover how I honored God in choosing my spouse.Scripture Used in Today's Messageaç1 Thessalonians 5:23Join us at our Faithwalers Conference, December 27-30, in Black Mountain, NC. Go to Faithwalkersconference.com to learn more and to registerWho do you know that needs to hear today's message? Go ahead and forward this to them along with a prayer that God will use it in their life.To become a TSCM Ministry Partner, click herehttps://www.tomthepreacher.com/supportTo find Tom on Instagram, Facebook, TicTok, and elsewhere, go to linktr.ee/tomthepreacher Have you read my book, "Takin' it to Their Turf"?If not, you may request a copy on my website, www.TomthePreacher.comWe send a copy to anyone who donates to our ministry, but if you can't do so, simply request a copy by sending us an email.************ Do you want to have all your sins forgiven and know God personally? *********Check out my video "The Bridge Diagram" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Kjwrlind8&t=1sCheck out my website, www.TomthePreacher.com, to learn more about my ministry and sign up for my daily email. And make sure to request a copy of my book, Takin' it to Their Turf, when you visit my website.Check out my videos on this channel to learn how to answer tough questions challenging our faith.

Jesus, the Lamb of God: Before we get to Jesus, we must be prepared to see him. This was what the ministry of John the Baptist was all about: to prepare the way for the Lord. John did this through a baptism of repentance and his testimony about Jesus, the Lamb of God. But John's ministry is still needed. Why? It's only when we behold Jesus and see him for who he truly is that we can find the life-to-the-full that God created for us to live. Recorded on Jul 9, 2023, on John 1:19-34 by Pastor David Parks. Finding Life in Jesus' Name is a sermon series on the gospel according to John in the Bible. Have you ever felt unsatisfied with your life? Or, even when things were going well, something was still missing? Many people sense there must be something more. But what?? John, one of the closest friends of Jesus, believed that Jesus came into the world so that we may have life and have it to the full. Jesus turned John's life upside down, and John claims this new life — marked by God's power, presence, and purpose — is available for all who believe. Sermon Transcript So, last week, we started the new annual theme of Finding Life in Jesus' Name. As I said last week, normally, we'd have a selection of sermon series under our annual theme from the whole Bible. But this year, we're doing something a little different. For almost the whole next year, we'll go slowly, chapter by chapter and verse by verse, through the gospel according to John. And last week, we kicked off this series/theme by working through the prologue of John's gospel. We met the Apostle John, an ambitious and hot-tempered young man, one of the Sons of Thunder. But John found a new life with Jesus, and eventually, he was changed so much that by the end of his long life, he was known as the Apostle of love. We said that reading through John is like walking through an art gallery. John has curated many different artistic images and portraits under one theme. And the theme is all about who Jesus is, what God has done and is doing through him, and the reality of the new life, eternal life, a life to the full that is possible when we believe. If you missed the introduction, you can always go back and watch it online or listen to the audio podcast if you'd like. But today, we'll meet another man named John, not the Apostle, but the baptizer. And this John, John the Baptist, had the special God-given task to prepare the way for the coming of the Christ (Messiah). And John the Baptist's ministry is fitting for us even to this day. Because before we get to Jesus, we must be prepared to see him. We must first understand that God had promised that Jesus would come. Second, we must have a realistic view of our own sin and struggle that we need help; we need a savior. Third, and finally, as John encourages us to do, we must behold Jesus. We must really look at him and listen to him. We must carefully consider his words and deeds and meditate on what all that says about who he truly is. But if we do this, if we prepare ourselves and if we walk through this gallery that John has prepared for us, we just might find the life-to-the-full that God created for us to live. If you have a Bible/app, please take it and open it to John 1:19. Let's jump in. John 1:19-23 (NIV), “19 Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.' ”” Ok, let's pause here. So again, the John in this passage isn't the author, but the baptizer who had a very popular ministry early i...

We would all love it if God would multiply our money, our resources, and our impact. Good news: God can do it! Let's talk about how God can work miracles with your money and bless your generosity. Many people have heard the story from the Bible when Jesus turned 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into enough food to feed a crowd of at least 20,000 people (that's a conservative estimate). And there were even leftovers!  When you examine this story, we discover that the food didn't multiply in Jesus' hands when He blessed it. It happened when He put the food in the hands of his disciples to give away. But catch this principle – your resources must be blessed by God BEFORE they can multiply in your hands! You bring your FIRST resources to Jesus, He blesses it, and then He gives you more to help others. That's another principle to pick up on here… only what is GIVEN AWAY can multiply. Jesus doesn't want to bless you so you can have a fat bank account. He wants to bless you, so that you can make a difference by helping others: feed the hungry, support single moms, care for the homeless, etc.  This is next level generosity. Starting to tithe, and giving God your first fruits is a wonderful way to follow God's command and calling. The next step is multiplication… giving offerings above and beyond so that God can do miracles with your money.  Watch this message from Pastor Tim Lucas, and be challenged as you learn about “the principle of multiplication” and how to lead A Blessed Life.  #LiquidChurch #MultiplyYourMoney #BeGenerous #HowToBeGenerous #PutGodFirst #PutGodFirstInYourFinances #Tithe #GiveToTheChurch #BlessedLife #FavorOfGod #BlessingOfGod #DontBeBroke #Jesus #Christianity #ChristianChurch 

I bet you would like God's hand of blessing on your plans and your life, right? Good news: God wants to bless you! He wants to bless your family, your finances, and your faith, so you can be a blessing to others. But, guess what? You gotta learn to put God first. You gotta learn how to be generous with your finances. In our series, The Blessed Life, we're learning about 2 principles guaranteed to attract the favor and blessing of God.  This week we look at “The Principle of First.” When God is first in your life, everything else comes into order. Now, this doesn't mean you won't have problems. What this means is you can survive whatever situation you have, because God is in charge. He's in control in your life, because you have put him first. And putting him first also applies to your finances.  The Bible makes it clear that the people who put God first should give a tithe every week (tithe means a tenth, so that's 10% of your income) to the local church. And it gives faith to give the first of your finances! Tithing means you're giving to God BEFORE you know if you're going to have enough. Ultimately, God doesn't just want you to put Him first, he wants you to have a heart like His… He wants to bless you so you can bless others. Listen, all of us are born as “takers.” But when you're born again in Jesus Christ, you should be a “giver!” If you want to see the supernatural blessings of God upon your life, start by giving generously. Watch this message from Pastor Tim Lucas, and be challenged as you learn about “the principle of first” and how to lead A Blessed Life.  #LiquidChurch #BeGenerous #HowToBeGenerous #PutGodFirst #PutGodFirstInYourFinances #Tithe #GiveToTheChurch #BlessedLife #FavorOfGod #BlessingOfGod #DontBeBroke #Jesus #Christianity #ChristianChurch 

While it can be confusing, the trinity—God as 3 persons—illustrates the relationship between God and humanity, not the relationship within the Trinity. So we need to understand that Jesus even though we think of him as a baby in a manger with a chronological birthday, was with God BEFORE creation. Jesus is carrying the attributes of the everlasting father to you and me even as a babe. He is everlasting. There will never be a time that exists outside of Jesus. Why is this important? Because Jesus is eternal, he can take on our sins to give us that gift as well.

While it can be confusing, the trinity—God as 3 persons—illustrates the relationship between God and humanity, not the relationship within the Trinity. So we need to understand that Jesus even though we think of him as a baby in a manger with a chronological birthday, was with God BEFORE creation. Jesus is carrying the attributes of the everlasting father to you and me even as a babe. He is everlasting. There will never be a time that exists outside of Jesus. Why is this important? Because Jesus is eternal, he can take on our sins to give us that gift as well.

Those who walk by sight celebrate AFTER the victory;Those who walk by faith praise God BEFORE the victory -- and thus, they live victoriously!Which type of person are you? What type of person do you think God wants you to be?Join me for today's Daily Word & Prayer as we see this principle lived out an amazing  Old Testament story.Who do you know who needs to hear this message? Go ahead and share it with them!Scripture Used in Today's Message2 Chronicles 20:21-22Mark 11:24To find Tom on Instagram, Facebook, TicTok, and elsewhere, go to linktr.ee/tomthepreacher Have you read my book, "Takin' it to Their Turf"?If not, you may request a copy on my website, www.TomthePreacher.comWe send a copy to anyone who donates to our ministry, but if you can't do so, simply request a copy by sending us an email.************ Do you want to have all your sins forgiven and know God personally? *********Check out my video "The Bridge Diagram" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Kjwrlind8&t=1sCheck out my website, www.TomthePreacher.com, to learn more about my ministry and sign up for my daily email. And make sure to request a copy of my book, Takin' it to Their Turf, when you visit my website.Check out my videos on this channel to learn how to answer tough questions challenging our faith.

Self-Brain Surgery Tip #9:  A key to holding onto happiness is to decide what you believe about God BEFORE something hard happens to you. The hard things in life happen to all of us; settle your God questions 1st, & let him be there for you when it hurts. Scripture: John 16:33 Music by Lauren Daigle Check out my writing on Substack! (Music shared on The Dr. Lee Warren Podcast is authorized under BMI license #61063253 and ASCAP license #400010513 )

"The Worship of God Before the Exodus" presented by David Hope

# Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-18# Big Ideas- God made us to rule along with him- Helper = partner, co-creator - Can't mean “lesser” or “subservient” because it's most often used to describe God- Before loneliness is felt or articulated, God sees the solitude of man. Something is wrong. So he fixes it.- Many of us have been told that religion is a private thing, that the most important thing for us is just relationship with God - God seems to disagree - The human was alone, and in a good creation, this state was not good- Our religion is love- We started Redemption because of this conviction, that we need each other- We can't be fully human without relationships- The Lord's Prayer is communal. “Our Father”, not “My Father”- You do not need permission to love the people around you- Sunday mornings are about us loving each other, not entertainment or shows- Spiritual fruit exists if and ONLY if you are growing in love shown to others- Everybody serves because the church needs to know you# Questions- How would you react if I told you I was lonely? - What do you do when you're lonely?- What would God say if you told him you were lonely?- Have you understood religion to be something private?- What do you think about the statement, “We can't be fully human without relationships and community.”- What if we judged our Sunday experienced based on this, “who did I get to love today?”- How can we help you get more plugged in at Redemption? - How can you serve your church?- Redemption is less complete if you're not serving. We need you. - If someone needs encouragement, try telling them something you love about them, that you think Redemption needs to experience through their service?

Key Thought: Jesus tells many stories in the book of Matthew to illustrate what the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Above and Beyond Kingdom, is like. In the parable of the talents, he shows us that his kingdom is all about MULTIPLICATION (A+B=X or the Above and Beyond kingdom is about Multiplication). This story is a symbol of our relationship with Jesus and how we are meant to represent his kingdom while we are still on earth. He ENTRUSTS the wealth of his kingdom to us and EXPECTS us to multiply the investment he has made into us, through the gifts and talents he has given to us, the relationships and influence he has blessed us with, AND through the invaluable gift of salvation which has given us the opportunity to dwell with him in his kingdom for eternity. HOW do we MULTIPLY the Above and Beyond kingdom on earth? And how do we multiply what God has already invested into us?1. Trust God2. Put the investment to work (and keep trusting God)3. Be prepared to wait for the return (and keep trusting God) Before answering these questions, refamiliarize yourself with this story by reading Matthew 25:14-30 in The Passion Translation. Discussion Questions:1. This story shows us that God has “entrusted” us with the wealth of his kingdom. What has been entrusted to you (relationships, gifts, talents) which you could begin to see as God's investment into you for the purpose of multiplying his kingdom here on earth?2. “What we worry about most tends to reveal where we trust God the least”. In what areas do you need to grow in your trust of God? What are some practical ways you can grow your trust in these areas?3. While we have access to supernatural power when we belong to the Above and Beyond kingdom, or kingdom of heaven, we are still expected to do the work that is required to MULTIPLY what God has invested into us. What are some practical ways you can begin to do the work to grow and multiply God's kingdom with what he has already given you right now?4. “Discipline is choosing what we want MOST over what we want NOW. Stay disciplined. Successful people do consistently what others do occasionally” - Craig Groeschel. Some people who belong to the Above and Beyond kingdom, or kingdom of heaven, forget that it doesn't mean we get everything we want, hope, dream or believe for without either WORKING or WAITING. How can we stay faithful to keep multiplying what has been invested into us even when we aren't seeing an immediate return?Connect with us today: https://beyondchurch.org.au/connectSubmit My Pledge https://beyondchurch.org.au/connect-and-giving-pageMake a Financial Contribution: https://beyondchurch.org.au/online-givingLet us know you're saying YES to Jesus today: https://beyondchurch.org.au/yes-to-jesusWe would love to pray with you: https://beyondchurch.org.au/prayerTake your next step with Beyond Church: Take a next step: https://beyondchurch.org.au/next-stepsSubscribe to our youtube channel here - http://tiny.cc/BeyondYouTubeSubscribe to our Podcast here - Follow us on Facebook here:Cessnock - https://www.facebook.com/Beyond.Church.CessnockScone - https://www.facebook.com/beyond.church.sconeToronto - https://www.facebook.com/Beyond.Church.TorontoOnline - https://www.facebook.com/beyond.church.online

This message, ‘Give Me That Mountain' was taught by Pastor Dustin Bates at Church Eleven32 in Allen, Texas. In the Old Testament, the only two people from a whole generation that were allowed to go into The Promised Land were the two that believed God BEFORE they entered it. Instead of focusing on outrageous faith, as Christians, we should focus on closely following the Lord.  Message: Give Me That Mountain Pt 3 Verse: Joshua 14:9-12 (NKJV) Join us live every Sunday at 9AM, 11AM, 1PM, 5PM, and 7PM.  (CT)    Follow Pastor Dustin Bates on Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustinbates Twitter: https://twitter.com/dustinbates Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pastordustinbates        Keep up to date with everything at Church Eleven32:  http://www.churcheleven32.com  https://www.instagram.com/churcheleven32 https://www.facebook.com/churcheleven32   Looking for something new? Listen to the Backstage with JamieKBates podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YvzEFVc7BUApGgbttZvO5?si=I_E2O79gSdKFZ13O9SmfUghttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/backstage-with-jamiekbates/id1487508370        Need more entertainment for your kids? Check out our 1132KIDS YouTube channel here:  https://www.youtube.com/1132KIDS

Self-Brain Surgery Tip #9:  A key to holding onto happiness is to decide what you believe about God BEFORE something hard happens to you. The hard things in life happen to all of us; settle your God questions 1st, & let him be there for you when it hurts. Scripture: John 16:33 Music by Lauren Daigle (Music shared on The Dr. Lee Warren Podcast is authorized under BMI license #61063253 and ASCAP license #400010513 )  

God governs this world through delegated authorities, through human beings, who carry His authority. There are 7 different realms of delegated human authority called the Divine Institutions. The spirit of lawlessness in the world comes from satan. Lawlessness is not just disobedience to God, but the very rejection of God's authority and His right to rule over us. It is rebellion against all law and authority. Jesus said in Matthew 24:12: “Because LAWLESSNESS will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” This spirit of lawlessness will come to its fullness in the antichrist, the man of lawlessness (2Thess 2:3), and it involves a rejection of all Divine Authority, including His Divine Institutions. The 4 Divine Institutions established by God BEFORE the FALL: (1) Free-will, (2) Work, (3) Marriage, (4) Family. Free-Will is the first and fundamental Divine Institution (D.I). The other DIs are built on the foundation of free-will. When they work properly, they protect our freedom by creating a society of order and peace. This video focuses on the what God's Word tells us about the DIs of WORK, MARRIAGE (husband and wife) and FAMILY (parents and children). The lawless view says authority is the problem, and if you remove authority then all will be well, but actually sin is the real problem. So, children need the restraint of authority, until they learn to master their flesh (sin-nature), at least in a basic way. They need authority to grow up properly, otherwise they become spoilt and selfish. If you just let children do whatever they want, their selfish sin-nature will be fully expressed and thrive, and you will spoil them, and they will end up disrespecting their parents, teachers and other authorities. When you take the restraint of authority away, lawlessness thrives, and as a result everyone loses their freedom, because it becomes a lawless environment - chaos reigns. Righteous authority creates an atmosphere of order, peace and unity. It protects freedom and good self-expression. Abusive authority should be dealt with, but not by diminishing or destroying the principle and institution of authority itself. Rather we need to teach authorities how to express their authority correctly in love. All authorities should sanctify God as the final authority, to whom they are accountable. Your authority is delegated to you by God, in order to represent Him. It does not give you the right to do what you want. God will hold you accountable and judge you for how you have used your authority. We are to carry our authority in humility before God and man. Don't be ashamed to claim and operate in your authority, but if you misrepresent God, and treat your children wrongly or unfairly, don't be ashamed to apologise, for you are acknowledging that you are under a higher authority. Let them know that you are under God's authority, and that your authority comes from God (it is not intrinsic to you), and that you are to represent God, and are accountable to Him. This is how you sanctify God. This makes you accountable, and will cause them to respect you more. If they understand that you are acting under God's authority, then you will carry more authority in their eyes, because they will see you as representing God and acting with His authority, so that by submitting to your leadership, they are also submitting to God. Sanctifying God also makes you accountable, so when you fail, you apologise, and that will cause them to respect you more.

God governs this world through delegated authorities, through human beings, who carry His authority. There are 7 different realms of delegated human authority called the Divine Institutions. The spirit of lawlessness in the world comes from satan. Lawlessness is not just disobedience to God, but the very rejection of God's authority and His right to rule over us. It is rebellion against all law and authority. Jesus said in Matthew 24:12: “Because LAWLESSNESS will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” This spirit of lawlessness will come to its fullness in the antichrist, the man of lawlessness (2Thess 2:3), and it involves a rejection of all Divine Authority, including His Divine Institutions. The 4 Divine Institutions established by God BEFORE the FALL: (1) Free-will, (2) Work, (3) Marriage, (4) Family. Free-Will is the first and fundamental Divine Institution (D.I). The other DIs are built on the foundation of free-will. When they work properly, they protect our freedom by creating a society of order and peace. This video focuses on the what God's Word tells us about the DIs of WORK, MARRIAGE (husband and wife) and FAMILY (parents and children). The lawless view says authority is the problem, and if you remove authority then all will be well, but actually sin is the real problem. So, children need the restraint of authority, until they learn to master their flesh (sin-nature), at least in a basic way. They need authority to grow up properly, otherwise they become spoilt and selfish. If you just let children do whatever they want, their selfish sin-nature will be fully expressed and thrive, and you will spoil them, and they will end up disrespecting their parents, teachers and other authorities. When you take the restraint of authority away, lawlessness thrives, and as a result everyone loses their freedom, because it becomes a lawless environment - chaos reigns. Righteous authority creates an atmosphere of order, peace and unity. It protects freedom and good self-expression. Abusive authority should be dealt with, but not by diminishing or destroying the principle and institution of authority itself. Rather we need to teach authorities how to express their authority correctly in love. All authorities should sanctify God as the final authority, to whom they are accountable. Your authority is delegated to you by God, in order to represent Him. It does not give you the right to do what you want. God will hold you accountable and judge you for how you have used your authority. We are to carry our authority in humility before God and man. Don't be ashamed to claim and operate in your authority, but if you misrepresent God, and treat your children wrongly or unfairly, don't be ashamed to apologise, for you are acknowledging that you are under a higher authority. Let them know that you are under God's authority, and that your authority comes from God (it is not intrinsic to you), and that you are to represent God, and are accountable to Him. This is how you sanctify God. This makes you accountable, and will cause them to respect you more. If they understand that you are acting under God's authority, then you will carry more authority in their eyes, because they will see you as representing God and acting with His authority, so that by submitting to your leadership, they are also submitting to God. Sanctifying God also makes you accountable, so when you fail, you apologise, and that will cause them to respect you more.

God governs this world through delegated authorities, through human beings, who carry His authority. There are 7 different realms of delegated human authority called the Divine Institutions. The spirit of lawlessness in the world comes from satan. Lawlessness is not just disobedience to God, but the very rejection of God's authority and His right to rule over us. It is rebellion against all law and authority. Jesus said in Matthew 24:12: “Because LAWLESSNESS will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” This spirit of lawlessness will come to its fullness in the antichrist, the man of lawlessness (2Thess 2:3), and it involves a rejection of all Divine Authority, including His Divine Institutions. The 4 Divine Institutions established by God BEFORE the FALL: (1) Free-will, (2) Work, (3) Marriage, (4) Family. Free-Will is the first and fundamental Divine Institution (D.I). The other DIs are built on the foundation of free-will. When they work properly, they protect our freedom by creating a society of order and peace. This video focuses on the what God's Word tells us about the DIs of WORK, MARRIAGE (husband and wife) and FAMILY (parents and children). The lawless view says authority is the problem, and if you remove authority then all will be well, but actually sin is the real problem. So, children need the restraint of authority, until they learn to master their flesh (sin-nature), at least in a basic way. They need authority to grow up properly, otherwise they become spoilt and selfish. If you just let children do whatever they want, their selfish sin-nature will be fully expressed and thrive, and you will spoil them, and they will end up disrespecting their parents, teachers and other authorities. When you take the restraint of authority away, lawlessness thrives, and as a result everyone loses their freedom, because it becomes a lawless environment - chaos reigns. Righteous authority creates an atmosphere of order, peace and unity. It protects freedom and good self-expression. Abusive authority should be dealt with, but not by diminishing or destroying the principle and institution of authority itself. Rather we need to teach authorities how to express their authority correctly in love. All authorities should sanctify God as the final authority, to whom they are accountable. Your authority is delegated to you by God, in order to represent Him. It does not give you the right to do what you want. God will hold you accountable and judge you for how you have used your authority. We are to carry our authority in humility before God and man. Don't be ashamed to claim and operate in your authority, but if you misrepresent God, and treat your children wrongly or unfairly, don't be ashamed to apologise, for you are acknowledging that you are under a higher authority. Let them know that you are under God's authority, and that your authority comes from God (it is not intrinsic to you), and that you are to represent God, and are accountable to Him. This is how you sanctify God. This makes you accountable, and will cause them to respect you more. If they understand that you are acting under God's authority, then you will carry more authority in their eyes, because they will see you as representing God and acting with His authority, so that by submitting to your leadership, they are also submitting to God. Sanctifying God also makes you accountable, so when you fail, you apologise, and that will cause them to respect you more.

How many times Do you need to hear the word of God Before you realize? God is trying to tell you something. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/Teddy-G/support

How many times Do you need to hear the word of God Before you realize? God is trying to tell you something. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/Teddy-G/support

How many times Do you need to hear the word of God Before you realize? God is trying to tell you something. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/Teddy-G/support

(Heb.5:1-10;   Ps.110:1-4;   Mk.2:18-22)   “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”    Without beginning or end is the holy priesthood of our Lord; high above all sacrifices reigns His own. “Taken from among men” is Jesus our high priest “and made [our] representative before God.”  Like others He is in this respect; yet the “gifts and sacrifices” He offers are infinitely greater than any that have ever been, for it is Himself He lifts up for our sins.  “He is Himself beset by weakness,” though not His own; He is Himself pierced for transgression, though not of His making – and in the cross of our condition He bears “in the flesh,” in the crucifixion He suffers at our hands, does the high priest become the victim whose blood covers the earth with redemption.  Yes, “Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered; and when perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.”  What other high priest can boast as much? And yet the people would limit the grace that pours forth in the blood of His sacrifice, in the sweet-smelling flesh He offers, to a dying law which has been corrupted by the hands of man.  They fail to see that the old is subsumed by the new… and so the Lord seeks to teach them to receive the “new wine” He would pour into their hearts with minds open to the light of God.  They do not yet know the joy His disciples experience just being in the presence of the Messiah, the bridegroom of all faithful souls; as yet their hearts have not been circumcised by the nails of the sacrifice He makes in their name.  But soon their time will come, we pray.  When He is lifted up, perhaps they shall see. And in our psalm we have David's verse of Jesus: “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.'”  Jesus is David's Lord even then, for Jesus our Savior has always been.  Beautifully does David speak of this as well, in the voice of God: “Before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”  As the dew covers the earth unseen before the sun rises, so before the Father pronounced the words “Let there be light” – first bringing the universe into being by the power of His Word – Jesus was eternally present, even as the water the Spirit moved upon. And so He has “princely power,” seated at the right hand of God.  And so He “rule[s] in the midst of His enemies,” His sacrifice destroying the death which seemed to take hold of Him.  And so, like the order of Melchizedek, which came well before the institution of the Israelite's priestly line, from all eternity His salvific priesthood is – and shall last until the end of time.   ******* O LORD, you sent your Son to offer Himself in our stead; may we be clothed anew in His grace. YHWH, the priesthood of your Son is from all eternity and will last until the end of time for the expiation of our sins.  And the sacrifice He offers is Himself in the suffering and death He endures in our midst.  Though He rules forever at your right hand, He humbles Himself to suffer at our hands that the evil in our hearts might be washed clean by the blood He freely sheds.  O let us be made as new wineskins able to receive the grace He pours forth. Jesus is our Prince who fights our battles and puts all our enemies under His feet.  He crushes the head of the devil and destroys all the weakness by which we are beset, and He does this by the weakness He endures and the death He suffers for our sakes.  O LORD, let us know the glory He would bring to our poor souls, the salvation wrought by His holy sacrifice, and let us join ourselves to that sacrifice by fasting and doing penance in His stead as long as He is apart from us, until the Day He returns.

(Heb.5:1-10;   Ps.110:1-4;   Mk.2:18-22)   “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”    Without beginning or end is the holy priesthood of our Lord; high above all sacrifices reigns His own. “Taken from among men” is Jesus our high priest “and made [our] representative before God.”  Like others He is in this respect; yet the “gifts and sacrifices” He offers are infinitely greater than any that have ever been, for it is Himself He lifts up for our sins.  “He is Himself beset by weakness,” though not His own; He is Himself pierced for transgression, though not of His making – and in the cross of our condition He bears “in the flesh,” in the crucifixion He suffers at our hands, does the high priest become the victim whose blood covers the earth with redemption.  Yes, “Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered; and when perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.”  What other high priest can boast as much? And yet the people would limit the grace that pours forth in the blood of His sacrifice, in the sweet-smelling flesh He offers, to a dying law which has been corrupted by the hands of man.  They fail to see that the old is subsumed by the new… and so the Lord seeks to teach them to receive the “new wine” He would pour into their hearts with minds open to the light of God.  They do not yet know the joy His disciples experience just being in the presence of the Messiah, the bridegroom of all faithful souls; as yet their hearts have not been circumcised by the nails of the sacrifice He makes in their name.  But soon their time will come, we pray.  When He is lifted up, perhaps they shall see. And in our psalm we have David's verse of Jesus: “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.'”  Jesus is David's Lord even then, for Jesus our Savior has always been.  Beautifully does David speak of this as well, in the voice of God: “Before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”  As the dew covers the earth unseen before the sun rises, so before the Father pronounced the words “Let there be light” – first bringing the universe into being by the power of His Word – Jesus was eternally present, even as the water the Spirit moved upon. And so He has “princely power,” seated at the right hand of God.  And so He “rule[s] in the midst of His enemies,” His sacrifice destroying the death which seemed to take hold of Him.  And so, like the order of Melchizedek, which came well before the institution of the Israelite's priestly line, from all eternity His salvific priesthood is – and shall last until the end of time.   ******* O LORD, you sent your Son to offer Himself in our stead; may we be clothed anew in His grace. YHWH, the priesthood of your Son is from all eternity and will last until the end of time for the expiation of our sins.  And the sacrifice He offers is Himself in the suffering and death He endures in our midst.  Though He rules forever at your right hand, He humbles Himself to suffer at our hands that the evil in our hearts might be washed clean by the blood He freely sheds.  O let us be made as new wineskins able to receive the grace He pours forth. Jesus is our Prince who fights our battles and puts all our enemies under His feet.  He crushes the head of the devil and destroys all the weakness by which we are beset, and He does this by the weakness He endures and the death He suffers for our sakes.  O LORD, let us know the glory He would bring to our poor souls, the salvation wrought by His holy sacrifice, and let us join ourselves to that sacrifice by fasting and doing penance in His stead as long as He is apart from us, until the Day He returns.

In the busy world in which we live, we make all sorts of excuses for not connecting with friends. Too busy, too tired, too many hurts from the past … let's be honest, too selfish. But being alone is hard work because, as it turns out, we were never made to be alone.   We're Created for Community It's always exciting to kick off a new series of messages and starting today we are going to be talking about friendship. That's why I have called this series “A Friend In Need is a Friend Indeed.” It's a saying that most of us have heard of many times before and it's well … it's so true. There are some people who, right now, who are living their lives without a friend in the world – or so it seems to them right now. Sometimes that happens because we isolate ourselves and sometimes it happens, well, for a whole bunch of reasons that are completely outside our control. And sometimes we are just not sure why it's happening but we feel so desperately alone. Well, over the next few weeks we are going to explore this whole thing about friendship, because whether we realise it or not, we are made to have friends. We are made to be a part of a community; part of a family and we are made to connect with people who are our friends. And there is a reason for that. It's not just a quirk of fate as the primeval slime evolved over eons to become thee and me. No, that's just stretching the imagination a bit too far. The reason we are made to connect with other people is that that is exactly what God is like and you and I – the thing that makes us different from any other creature or species alive is this: you and I are made in the image of God. And that as it turns out, is the whole reason that we are meant to be in close relationship, at least with a few other people. It has always blown me away how the first few words of the first verse of the first Book of the Bible must have puzzled people way back when it was written. Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, starts out: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Hang on – let's just stop; let's just pare that back a little bit. In the beginning God … Before everything and everyone else, was and is God. Now most of the Old Testament is written in the Hebrew language – this verse certainly was – and the word that we translate as “God” is the strangest word. It's the word “Elohim”, which literally, in the Hebrew language, is the word “gods” – plural. “In the beginning Gods”, is what it actually says and it's what it said to them, thousands of years ago when it was written and what it still says to the Jewish Nation today. In the beginning Gods … And just a few verses down, when God tells us how He created us, this is what it says – Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 and 27: Then God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in our own likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Did you pick it up? God said, “let US” make humankind in our image.” “US!” Now back in those days, just about every nation had its gods – they were polytheistic, which means they believed in many Gods, much as Hinduism does today. But Israel … Israel believed in one God; they were monotheistic and in that way they were really quite unique. Have a listen, Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And so this One God, who declares Himself from the beginning, to be more than one, turns out as we later discovered, He is three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in one perfect relationship that we call “God”. Three persons in One God which is the mystery of what today we call the Holy Trinity. So from the very beginning, God is a God of community. And we – you and I, and every other homosapian that has ever trodden this Earth – are made in the image of God. And how did God make us in His image? Well, male and female He created us. He made us to be companions; to have friends; to have close relationships for this reason, because this is one of the key aspects of being made in God's image. Now, as you and I look at ourselves in the mirror, we realise that we are made to have friends, notwithstanding the fact that we are really all quite different. I mean, my daughter Melissa and I couldn't be more different. We both go exercising most mornings. I do it on a brisk ten kilometre walk all on my own. I have done exercise with other people when I was in the Army – I hated it. I love exercising just on my own. Melissa, on the other hand, she joins a group of twenty or so people under a trainer and they exercise together. For her, she simply wouldn't get out there in the morning if it weren't for the companionship of the other people. See how different we are! And yet, even I at the end of the spectrum where I really enjoy my own company, at that extreme – if I can put it that way – I need close relationships; I need friends; my wonderful, long suffering wife and a few good friends. They say “no man is an island”. It's true of women too. None of us is meant to travel through this life on our own. Yea, sure, there are times when people desert us. That even happened to Jesus, when He was arrested and tried and crucified – all His friends left Him. It happens, sadly, sometimes to each one of us. But that's not the norm; that's not how it's meant to be for most of the time, because that, quite simply, is not the way we have been created – in God's image, remember! And so in kicking off our chats about friendship and relationships, I guess I am hoping that you and I will examine our own lives. Come on, honestly, who are our close friends? Do we really share our souls with them, or have we built up protective walls to hide behind. Walls that protect us from getting hurt; walls that shield us from accountability; walls that save us from the pain and the expense of feeling someone else's pain and sacrificing for them? Or quite simply, walls that have grown up all by themselves because we are so … so busy racing around earning money, paying the mortgage on a house that is way too big and for possessions that are really way more than what we need? Well, come on, let's get real here! God made you and He made me in His image to be in this thing called “community” – to have friends and deep and meaningful and rich and rewarding and painful and sacrificial relationships. And one of the most profound turning points of my life – as someone who doesn't need quite as many relationships in his life as perhaps others do – is that until we enter into such relationships; until we start serving our friends with the gifts and the abilities and the resources that we have and until we see the impact on their lives through our service, there can, quite simply, be no sense of satisfaction or fulfilment or contentment in our lives. Why? Because it was for this purpose that God made us – to love Him and to love our neighbours as ourselves. That's it. That's what life is all about! And to the extent that we turn away from relationships of true friendship, it is to that same extent that we miss out on real life; rich life; a rich and abundant life; the sort of life that Jesus came to purchase for you and purchase for me on that cross.   It's Not Good to be Alone It strikes me that in one sense we are all incredibly different – different places, cultures, circumstances – and yet in another, though, we are all the same – we all need to feel God's love around us. We all need to experience the warm touch of a friend; we all need to know that there is someone we can turn to and talk to; someone who cares and who understands. It doesn't matter who we are or where we are, what we are going through, we all need at least one friend. You know what they say, “A Friend in Need, is a Friend Indeed”. Now the foundation of that need for friendship is found in the one thing that sets you and me apart from every other creature in the animal kingdom, it's the fact that we have been made in the image of God. And God is a God of love and of relationship and of friendship and of community – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three persons, one God – the mystery of the Holy Trinity. A God who has always lived in love and relationship. And so this one God; the three persons, creates thee and me in His image, so should it be any surprise then that we are just like Him in this? We are made to be in relationship with Him and with other people. And it's for this purpose that we have been created, as we saw earlier: Genesis chapter 1, verse 26: God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” This one God who talks about Himself as “us” and then in order to create humanity precisely in His image, He makes male and female to live in unity and relationship together. He didn't just make one or the other – He made both. And in a different part of the creation account, God actually speaks about this very issue of being alone, verses having a close companion. Genesis chapter 2, verse 18: Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” Now, let's just stop and think about this for a minute: here are the words that come from God's own mouth; from deep within His great and mighty heart – He tells you and He tells me that it is simply not good for someone to be alone. Now here He provides a wife for Adam but the principle spans across all human relationships and before I say it again, these powerful words from God, I just ask you to look at your life. How close are you to other people or how distant are you? Do you have people to share your triumphs or your failures with? Or are your victories empty and your burdens great because you can't share them with others? If your answer tends more towards the latter than the former, then listen again, deep in your heart to the Word of God: “It is not good for us to be alone.” It simply isn't good because that's not what we were made for. As you may have heard me say before, I am the sort of person who doesn't need a whole bunch of people to be close to me. Is that because I don't like other people? No. Not at all. Is that because I am overly selfish or standoffish? Well, I hope not. The reason is that my motivational gifting – and you can read about those in Romans chapter 12 – is to be a leader and the key thing that we leaders bring to the table is our strength, rather than say, our natural compassion or our bubblyness or anything else. Leaders are very much like eagles - when it comes to the important things they hunt in packs of one. They are naturally a solitary sort of person. And if we take that to the extreme, we leaders can become hermit like. I know I can. But … and there's a big “BUT”, even someone with that sort of personality still needs friends. I have a handful of very close and very trusted friends. I catch up with a lot of people. I love interacting with people but generally speaking, I rely on a small group of friends to help guide me and support me and when needs be – and we all have this need from time to time – to set me straight. One of my favourite sayings is that ‘a friend is someone is who stabs you in the front'. It's a great saying, isn't it? And there are a handful of people like that in my life, without whom - quite bluntly - I'd be pretty much useless to you. But there was a time in my life when I allowed my natural tendency towards a solitary existence, combined with my tendency to overwork myself and make myself so busy that I simply didn't have any friends. It was a time almost two decades ago when I found myself in an incredibly difficult place. I was very needy; at one point I didn't even have anywhere to live. And it was in the middle of that that I realised the compelling truth of what God said when He took a look at Adam – Genesis chapter 2, verse 18: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his companion. So today, let me challenge you, come on, let's be honest with ourselves. How many of us are living our lives in emotional isolation? How many of us are relying on ourselves to claw our way through life? How many of us have simply forgotten what it means to have some friends around: people who help us with their unique gifts and abilities and resources and outlook; people who one day we can help with our gifts, our resources, our abilities, our outlook? And as time goes by, sure, we are going to rub each other the wrong way from time to time, but as the days and weeks and months and years pass by, we, together with our friends and loved ones; the people whom we have invested in, the people who have invested in us, will have woven this rich tapestry that we call “community”. It's not good for us to be alone, we need helpers; we need to learn to become helpers because we can't do it on our own. So if you are someone who has become just a bit isolated – perhaps it's busyness, perhaps it's selfishness, perhaps it's a reaction to the hurts of the past, maybe it's just circumstances … whatever it is, listen again to what God has to say to you today: it is not good for you or for me or for anyone else, that we should be alone, it just isn't!   Friendship Makes Us Strong One thing that I'm not in life is an engineer or a builder and so when I see some massive bridge that seems to effortlessly span a ravine or a harbour and carry trains and trucks and cars and buses 24/7, I think, “How would you ever build that?” I mean, where would you start? Where would you turn the first sod or sink the first pylon? It is totally, totally inconceivable to me how they do those things. Pretty much everyone on the planet I guess, has seen a photo of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge – the “Coat hanger” as some people affectionately call it. It was built back in the 1920s and 1930s before computers and a lot of the high-tech stuff we have nowadays. And here's how they did it. They started at each end, on the northern shore, on the southern shore of the harbour and built their way into the centre – the thing met in the middle! I just can't imagine how they did that, can you? Now, I've seen photos of the bridge as it was being built and it looks quite uncanny because you sort of have like half a bridge reaching out from one shore and the other half reaching out from the other shore and the whole thing looks so lopsided you wonder how is it that the whole thing didn't just fall over before it joined in the middle? Well, here's what the experts will tell you: the strength of the structure comes from all the cross braces that are built into it. They don't look particularly pretty; they have no other purpose other than to work together with the rest of the structure to give it strength and stability. That's how come you can have half of this massive bridge stretching out from each side of the harbour, without the thing toppling over. It's the cross braces that did it. Now I have been sharing this whole thing about the strength of this amazing bridge with you because one of the key things about friendship is that it makes each of us stronger than we can possibly be on our own. Don't believe me? Have a listen to what God's Word has to say on the subject – Ecclesiastes chapter 4, beginning at verse 7: Again, I saw vanity under the sun: the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. See, he starts off here by talking about the solitary individual. Sadly, there are a lot of those in the world – people who work hard, labour hard and … for what? What's the point of having wealth and comfort and all that stuff if you don't have anyone to share it with? My wife Jacqui and I live in a comfortable apartment. It's nothing super flash, not a great stunning harbour view or anything like that, just comfortable. And we have decorated it as tastefully as we can, within our means and I love living there with her. But I have often looked around the place – I sometimes work at home, writing and preparing stuff – I look around and you think, ‘You know, without her in this place with me, it just wouldn't mean anything. The joy and the satisfaction I have in our apartment, is because it's not just an apartment, it's our home together. Not because it's anything fantastic architecturally, it's because it's ours. And that's what God is saying here. Stuff isn't where it is at. All that stuff is simply vanity if you are on your own. God's solution? Let's read on Ecclesiastes chapter 4, beginning at verse 9. He says, look: Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to the one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A Threefold cord is not quickly broken. You see, God's solution is that two are much better than one. Why? Because firstly, they have a good reward for their toil. In other words, there's great satisfaction in doing things together and achieving things together. But secondly, it's because two are stronger than one – if one falls, the other lifts them up. But woe to the one who is alone and falls and doesn't have another to help. And how often do we get it wrong or run out of steam or find ourselves bleeding on the ground, without even the strength to get up again? Right then we need a friend! A friend in need is a friend indeed! And again if we face adverse circumstances – the cold in this case – if you lie down alone, you'll freeze. If you have the heat of another, you'll probably both survive. If we are attacked, one may prevail against the other but two will definitely withstand the attack. Very simple logic! But doesn't it get you how in our busy-ness, with all the stuff we have going on in our lives or in our selfishness, we are not prepared to make the sacrifices that friendship demands and we become solitary individuals. And I love … I love how God finishes this teaching off. He says: A threefold cord is not quickly broken. Hang on! He was talking about one and then two – where did the third one come from? Here's how I understand this: I think God is introducing Himself into this equation of friendship and relationship. Two is great, it's much better than one. But three … two plus God binding them together is absolutely stunning. It's the strongest of the three options. I was preaching on this once in our church and demonstrated this truth by first having two people hold a single strand cord tight. Of course the moment I cut it, it fell apart. Then we platted two cords together and I was able to cut one cord here and another there and they still were held together. Although when you pulled them tight at the ends, they started coming apart. And then we platted three cords together and made six or seven cuts in the different cords over about two meters. You know something? They hung together in this incredibly strong formation because a threefold cord is not easily broken. That's the simple truth. When you are weak, I can be strong for you and vice versa. And when we are both a bit frayed at the edges, God can hold things together for us. Friends make us stronger, and when we introduce God into the friendship; when we forgive the way He wants us to; when we humble ourselves the way He wants us to, then that friendship cannot easily be broken. It's like those cross braces on the Harbour Bridge, friends make each other strong and in Christ, the end result is so much greater than the sum of the parts. That's the whole point. What bit about this don't we get??

Have you ever had an important decision to make and wanted so desperately to hear from God? Knowing if someone is right for you is one of such decisions. The trick is to cultivate the ability to hear from God BEFORE time. God loves you very much and wants you to know  His will for your life. He wants you to avoid danger and He wants to show you all the good plans He has for you! Because He's such a loving father, He has given us ways to know His will. Please don't ask for a sign and don't be deceived by dreams and supernatural occurrences. In this episode I tell you my own experiences with dreams and deceptions. For example, for years I dreamed and heard a voice that a former boyfriend was going to be my husband. I had a track record of my dreams coming to pass, so I didn't bother to date any one else. We lived in different states and had lost all communication (no Facebook either) so we didn't know what was happening in each other's lives.  I later found out that while I was dreaming & hearing this man was going to be my husband that he was actually already married with 3 small children

In John 7 the citizens are confused that the authorities LET JESUS TEACH in the TEMPLE.They were concerned about PLACE. Why? Because it is such a special place. Does the TEMPLE MAKE IT a special place? or, does the Temple just RECOGNIZE that it already WAS a special place?Let's find out how it got to be such a special place. We have searched to 2000BC to Mt. Moriah with Abraham and the NON-sacrifice of Isaac. The Lord picks this spot of substitutionary sacrifice. Not Abraham. Location Location Location.Then in 1000BC we looked at David's Heart in his DESIRE 2 Samuel 7.No Location yet. No Location yet. No Location yet.Today we start on a little series in 1 Chronicles 21. David takes a census. He sins in doing so. God opens up a can of wrath because of that sin. David repents. Then God RELENTS. And David builds an ALTAR in thanks. The Lord tells David WHERE.Same Location. Same Location. Same Location as Abrahams non-sacrifice of Isaac.Then in a few more years, Solomon builds the temple in Jerusalem. Guess what:Same location. Same Location. Same Location as Abraham's Non-sacrifice of Isaac. Same location as David building his altar.The LOCATION of the Temple that Jesus was teaching in was special to God BEFORE the Temple was even located there!

Study Notes Ed Underwood Ecclesiastes Life Is Empty without God Fear God and keep his commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13) The five Books of Poetry bridge the past of the seventeen Books of History with the future of the seventeen Books of Prophecy. One-third of the Hebrew Bible was written in poetry. The five Poetical Books deal with the present experience of the authors in ways that speak to the experiential present of believers of all time. Though they come from an ancient culture they are timeless in their application. They do not advance the timeline of the nation Israel. The poetry erupts from the hearts of God’s people going through some of the eras and experiences documented in the Books of History. Ecclesiastes records an intense quest for meaning, purpose and satisfaction in life. I believe Solomon wrote the book during the latter years of his reign (971-931 B.C.), after he turned back to God following years of inattention and even rebellion. The lessons of the futility of seeking happiness from the experiences of “life under the sun” or “life on earth” (2:24, 8:17) were fresh in the experience of the repentant King of Israel. Solomon’s “intent in his writing is to pass judgment on man’s misguided endeavors at mastering life by pointing out its limits and mysteries. He would prefer that man replace such false and illusory hopes with a confidence based on the joy of creation as God’s gift.” (Ernest W. Hengtenberg, A Commentary on Ecclesiastes, p. 15) The Book of Ecclesiastes exposes the emptiness of seeking meaning in life on earth apart from God. The key word is vanity, also translated emptiness or futile, occurs thirty-seven times. Life under the sun, also translated life on earth, occurs twenty-nine times. Due to the injustices, inconsistencies, and seeming irrationality of life, earthly pursuits inevitably end in dissatisfaction and frustration. The only way to make sense of this world is to view life from God’s perspective. Solomon refers to God as Elohim (Powerful Creator) forty-one times in the book rather than Yahweh (Covenant-Keeping Redeemer). This emphasizes the universality of the truths for all people, not just followers of the God of the Bible. God will ultimately judge all people. Therefore we should “Fear God and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of man” (12:13-14): Solomon lays out his argument clearly. True satisfaction in life can only be found by looking beyond this world. If life on this earth is all there is, then all is futile (2:24). But for those who fear God and keep His commandments (12:13-14) life is full of meaning and purpose. I. THE TEACHER’S MAIN IDEA: Following a one-verse introduction Solomon states his theme: Everything is absolutely futile. (1:1-11) II. THE TEACHER’S PROOF: Solomon proves that he knows what he’s talking about from personal experience. He catalogues his amazing pursuits and his lifelong quest for meaning. He’s tried it all— wisdom, works, women, and wealth. Unsatisfied and empty, he concludes that all life on earth has to offer is disappointment and confusion. (1:12-6:12) Messiah: A Type of Christ in Ecclesiastes. This book about the emptiness of life on earth constantly refers to the God of Creation (Elohim). Solomon admits that God is the unmoved mover of history, but that men and women remain ignorant of His power (3:11). He concludes that only the “one shepherd” (12:11) can provide real satisfaction, joy, and wisdom. Jesus calls Himself the “Good Shepherd” who offers His life freely to all who believe (John 10:7-10). Ecclesiastes: Life is meaningless apart from reverence for God! III. THE TEACHER’S RECOMMENDATION OF A BETTER OPTION: The best this life has to offer is a self-disciplined life that will bring only temporary blessing or prosperity. The “good life” is only attained by turning to God and trusting Him enough to do what He says. (7-12) A. THE FUTILITY OF SELF-INDULGED PLEASURES AND ACHIEVEMENTS: Living for sensual pleasure is the worst option. Living to achieve is a somewhat better option. Nevertheless the only way to enjoy the fruit of self-effort is to remember that it’s fleeting. (7:1-9:12) B. EVEN THE WISEST MUST GET OLD AND DIE: Unlike fools who engage in meaningless talk and pursuits, wise people live the best life on earth. But even the wisest become feeble and wonder what it is all about. (9:13-12:7) C. ONLY REVERENCE FOR GOD TRULY SATISFIES: Real living begins and ends with relationship with God. Don’t look “under the sun” for meaning in life but beyond the sun to the “one Shepherd.” (12:8-14) IV. ECCLESIASTES AND YOU: The futility of human pleasure, effort, and achievement directs men and women, boys and girls to the only sane path of life: abandoned trust in and obedience to the God of the Bible! Do you know the “one Shepherd,” the “Good Shepherd” who wants to give you a life that is full of meaning and purpose—His life, eternal life? (John 10:7-10; 6:47) What preoccupies your life right now? Life’s pleasures? Life’s achievements? The Wisdom of Life? Or your relationship with God? Before you answer that, consider these clear indicators of the truth concerning you: Where are you investing your time? What do your schedule priorities reveal? Where are you investing your money? What do your budget priorities reveal? What do your dreams about the future reveal? What do your conversations with others about the church and God’s people reveal? What do you feel God wants you to do about your answer to the last question? If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. C.S. Lewis

Psalm 76 to Psalm 80 Often we hear the Psalms one by one, but today we offer you the chance to hear a group of Psalms read as a collection!   Right mouse click or tap here to save/download these Psalms as a MP3 file Psalm 76 For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song. 1 God is renowned in Judah; in Israel his name is great. 2 His tent is in Salem, his dwelling-place in Zion. 3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords, the weapons of war. 4 You are radiant with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game. 5 The valiant lie plundered, they sleep their last sleep; not one of the warriors can lift his hands. 6 At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both horse and chariot lie still. 7 It is you alone who are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? 8 From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet – 9 when you, God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land. 10 Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained. 11 Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfil them; let all the neighbouring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared. 12 He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth. Right mouse click or tap here to save/download these Psalms as a MP3 file Psalm 77 For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm. 1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted. 3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. 4 You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. 5 I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; 6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: 7 ‘Will the Lord reject for ever? Will he never show his favour again? 8 Has his unfailing love vanished for ever? Has his promise failed for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?’ 10 Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.’ 13 Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? 14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. 15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. 16 The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. 17 The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. 18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. 19 Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. 20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Right mouse click or tap here to save/download these Psalms as a MP3 file Psalm 78 A maskil of Asaph. 1 My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old – 3 things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, 6 so that the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. 8 They would not be like their ancestors – a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. 9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; 10 they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law. 11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them. 12 He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. 13 He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand up like a wall. 14 He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. 15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas; 16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers. 17 But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High. 18 They wilfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. 19 They spoke against God; they said, ‘Can God really spread a table in the wilderness? 20 True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?’ 21 When the LORD heard them, he was furious; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel, 22 for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance. 23 Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; 24 he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. 26 He let loose the east wind from the heavens and by his power made the south wind blow. 27 He rained meat down on them like dust, birds like sand on the seashore. 28 He made them come down inside their camp, all around their tents. 29 They ate till they were gorged – he had given them what they craved. 30 But before they turned from what they craved, even while the food was still in their mouths, 31 God’s anger rose against them; he put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel. 32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe. 33 So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror. 34 Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. 35 They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. 36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; 37 their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. 38 Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. 39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. 40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the wasteland! 41 Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. 42 They did not remember his power – the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, 43 the day he displayed his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan. 44 He turned their river into blood; they could not drink from their streams. 45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. 46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust. 47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet. 48 He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning. 49 He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility – a band of destroying angels. 50 He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague. 51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham. 52 But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the wilderness. 53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies. 54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken. 55 He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes. 56 But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. 57 Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. 58 They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. 59 When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely. 60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among humans. 61 He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendour into the hands of the enemy. 62 He gave his people over to the sword; he was furious with his inheritance. 63 Fire consumed their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs; 64 their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep. 65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine. 66 He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame. 67 Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; 68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. 69 He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established for ever. 70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; 71 from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. 72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them. Right mouse click or tap here to save/download these Psalms as a MP3 file Psalm 79 A psalm of Asaph. 1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. 2 They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild. 3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. 4 We are objects of contempt to our neighbours, of scorn and derision to those around us. 5 How long, LORD? Will you be angry for ever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire? 6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; 7 for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland. 8 Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. 9 Help us, God our Saviour, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. 10 Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants. 11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die. 12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbours seven times the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord. 13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you for ever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise. Right mouse click or tap here to save/download these Psalms as a MP3 file Psalm 80 For the director of music. To the tune of ‘The Lilies of the Covenant’. Of Asaph. A psalm. 1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us. 3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. 4 How long, LORD God Almighty, will your anger smoulder against the prayers of your people? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. 6 You have made us an object of derision to our neighbours, and our enemies mock us. 7 Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. 8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. 11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea, its shoots as far as the River. 12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? 13 Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it. 14 Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, 15 the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. 16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. 17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, LORD God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. Right mouse click or tap here to save/download these Psalms as a MP3 file You can now purchase our book commenting on the Psalms! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site! Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

With "Your Daily Psalm" I'm Chris Laning from NeighborhoodStage.com. As always I'll be reading from the NET Bible at NETBible.org. ----------------------- Psalm 79 A psalm of Asaph. O God, foreigners have invaded your chosen land; they have polluted your holy temple and turned Jerusalem into a heap of ruins. 2 They have given the corpses of your servants to the birds of the sky; the flesh of your loyal followers to the beasts of the earth. 3 They have made their blood flow like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them. 4 We have become an object of disdain to our neighbors; those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. 5 How long will this go on, O Lord? Will you stay angry forever? How long will your rage burn like fire? 6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not pray to you! 7 For they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his home. 8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! Quickly send your compassion our way, for we are in serious trouble! 9 Help us, O God, our deliverer! For the sake of your glorious reputation, rescue us! Forgive our sins for the sake of your reputation! 10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants be avenged among the nations! 11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! 12 Pay back our neighbors in full! May they be insulted the same way they insulted you, O Lord! 13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will continually thank you. We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts. -----------------------   And that's it for "Your Daily Psalm". To hear previous psalms and to find out other ways to listen go to YourDailyPsalm.com. The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.org. Copyright ©1996-2019. Used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Grace in the mind, mission, makeover and masterpiece of God- Before the world was made the grace of God in His mind planned your salvation- In history, God gracioulsy accomplished it and applied it to you- In time, God's grace will complete your salvation by giving you a -soul that cannot sin and a body that cannot die-- Listen and be blessed-

Summary of Days One through Four In this episode, I give a summary of what we have studied so far, in Days one through four. It is important to understand how God has prepared His Creation for the crowning jewel…His Man!  So I spent some time in this teaching discussing the Creation plan, the Plan of Redemption and how all of this has been planned since before Creation took place. It was all in the mind of God BEFORE the foundation of the world! Don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast so you will be notified of when a new episode is released. Also, please consider becoming a Patreon Supporter of this ministry work! Go to the link below to check out some of the special gifts we have for our supporters. https://www.patreon.com/mybiblestudypodcast (https://www.patreon.com/mybiblestudypodcast) Support this podcast

Never Never Never Give Up - Survivor of 3 Cancers and Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor If you ever felt like your cross was too heavy to carry, or you know someone who is fighting a medical battle, you won’t want to miss this episode. Paula Mayer is a remarkable woman of incredible strength, perseverance and grit! Paula has climbed mountains, physically and figuratively. She is a 3 time cancer survivor! Find out what keeps her going every second of every day. Paula Mayer is originally from the Midwest and was drawn to the Rocky Mountains where she not only fell in love with the mountains but where she met her husband. She is not defined by surviving three different cancers, a bone marrow transplant or living with 30% lung function. Paula has climbed mountains, physically and figuratively. She claims her “number is 3. She has three children and had three cancers and believes her purpose is to: “NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP!” One would never know Paula lives with daily chronic pain. Paula has not only climbed mountains but is a published short story author, co-author, speaker and Young Life board member. She is in pursuit of obtaining a masters degree in Theological Studies to become a Chaplain.  She is truly a miracle. While doctors and others asked her when she would write her own book, she surprised herself and wrote her chapter, “It’s Not Over Yet, People!” in an Amazon Bestseller anthology collection. Paula never asked, “Why Me?” But rather, “Why NOT me God?” Before being diagnosed with her first aggressive cancer, a 13cm wet sloppy non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma tumor, was brewing in her chest cavity, as she was out climbing Long’s Peak (14,259’) a class three climb in Colorado. “Can’t have Grit without the Grace of God!” Paula desires to impart hope to others through her unique life stories. She believes she is a connector of people! In order for her to keep pushing forward, and believes we all need to build reserve tanks. Her reserve tanks are one of faith, another of relationships and lastly, a reserve tank of keeping her temple healthy. (Physical, spiritual and relational) She also believes it is healthy to invest in relationships. If someone you know is struggling, come alongside them, let them grieve in their own way and Be Present!  Her words of wisdom:  Everyday is a GIFT!   Take-a-ways: “If you look good, you feel good!” “You don’t get unless you ask!” “Never never never give up!” “Why NOT me God?”  

Genesis 1:1 Pastor Jesse Hailey 8/18/19 --- * Romans 11:33 * Isaiah 55:9 * 1 Corinthians 2:9-14 * 1 Peter 21:18-20 * Genesis 3:15 * 1 John 21:2 * 1 John 4:9 * Revelation 13:8 * 2 Timothy 1:9 * Isaiah 53:6 * Romans 3:23-25 * 2 Corinthians 5:18 * Titus 2:11 * Romans 5:20 * Titus 1:2-3 * John 6:37 * Revelation 22:17 * Ephesians 1:9-10 “Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurred to God?” “Before there was a sinner there was a savior”

The Mercy of God Before the Floodby: Jack HughesTAUGHT ON:Sunday, June 2, 2019SERIES:The Book of Genesis: BeginningsSCRIPTURE: Genesis 6:13-22

How many times have we waited until we received our breakthrough to praise God? How would our situation change, and our feelings about our situation change, if we chose to praise God BEFORE the breakthrough happened? http://whitneybarbary.com

Psalm Chapter 79 מִזְמ֗וֹר לְאָ֫סָ֥ף אֱ‍ֽלֹהִ֡ים בָּ֤אוּ גוֹיִ֨ם ׀ בְּֽנַחֲלָתֶ֗ךָ טִ֭מְּאוּ אֶת־הֵיכַ֣ל קָדְשֶׁ֑ךָ שָׂ֖מוּ אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלִַ֣ם לְעִיִּֽים׃ A psalm of Asaph. O God, heathens have entered Your domain, defiled Your holy temple, and turned Jerusalem into ruins. נָֽתְנ֡וּ אֶת־נִבְלַ֬ת עֲבָדֶ֗יךָ מַ֭אֲכָל לְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם בְּשַׂ֥ר חֲ֝סִידֶ֗יךָ לְחַיְתוֹ־אָֽרֶץ׃ They have left Your servants’ corpses as food for the fowl of heaven, and the flesh of Your faithful for the wild beasts. שָׁפְכ֬וּ דָמָ֨ם ׀ כַּמַּ֗יִם סְֽבִ֘יב֤וֹת יְֽרוּשָׁלִָ֗ם וְאֵ֣ין קוֹבֵֽר׃ Their blood was shed like water around Jerusalem, with none to bury them. הָיִ֣ינוּ חֶ֭רְפָּה לִשְׁכֵנֵ֑ינוּ לַ֥עַג וָ֝קֶ֗לֶס לִסְבִיבוֹתֵֽינוּ׃ We have become the butt of our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. עַד־מָ֣ה יְ֭הוָה תֶּאֱנַ֣ף לָנֶ֑צַח תִּבְעַ֥ר כְּמוֹ־אֵ֝֗שׁ קִנְאָתֶֽךָ׃ How long, O LORD, will You be angry forever, will Your indignation blaze like fire? שְׁפֹ֤ךְ חֲמָתְךָ֨ אֶֽל־הַגּוֹיִם֮ אֲשֶׁ֪ר לֹא־יְדָ֫ע֥וּךָ וְעַ֥ל מַמְלָכ֑וֹת אֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּ֝שִׁמְךָ֗ לֹ֣א קָרָֽאוּ׃ Pour out Your fury on the nations that do not know You, upon the kingdoms that do not invoke Your name, כִּ֭י אָכַ֣ל אֶֽת־יַעֲקֹ֑ב וְֽאֶת־נָוֵ֥הוּ הֵשַֽׁמּוּ׃ for they have devoured Jacob and desolated his home. אַֽל־תִּזְכָּר־לָנוּ֮ עֲוֺנֹ֪ת רִאשֹׁ֫נִ֥ים מַ֭הֵר יְקַדְּמ֣וּנוּ רַחֲמֶ֑יךָ כִּ֖י דַלּ֣וֹנוּ מְאֹֽד׃ Do not hold our former iniquities against us; let Your compassion come swiftly toward us, for we have sunk very low. עָזְרֵ֤נוּ ׀ אֱלֹ֘הֵ֤י יִשְׁעֵ֗נוּ עַל־דְּבַ֥ר כְּבֽוֹד־שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וְהַצִּילֵ֥נוּ וְכַפֵּ֥ר עַל־חַ֝טֹּאתֵ֗ינוּ לְמַ֣עַן שְׁמֶֽךָ׃ Help us, O God, our deliverer, for the sake of the glory of Your name. Save us and forgive our sin, for the sake of Your name. לָ֤מָּה ׀ יֹאמְר֣וּ הַגּוֹיִם֮ אַיֵּ֪ה אֱ‍ֽלֹהֵ֫יהֶ֥ם יִוָּדַ֣ע בגיים [בַּגּוֹיִ֣ם] לְעֵינֵ֑ינוּ נִ֝קְמַ֗ת דַּֽם־עֲבָדֶ֥יךָ הַשָּׁפֽוּךְ׃ Let the nations not say, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes let it be known among the nations that You avenge the spilled blood of Your servants. תָּ֤ב֣וֹא לְפָנֶיךָ֮ אֶנְקַ֪ת אָ֫סִ֥יר כְּגֹ֥דֶל זְרוֹעֲךָ֑ ה֝וֹתֵ֗ר בְּנֵ֣י תְמוּתָֽה׃ Let the groans of the prisoners reach You; reprieve those condemned to death, as befits Your great strength. וְהָ֘שֵׁ֤ב לִשְׁכֵנֵ֣ינוּ שִׁ֭בְעָתַיִם אֶל־חֵיקָ֑ם חֶרְפָּ֘תָ֤ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר חֵרְפ֣וּךָ אֲדֹנָֽי׃ Pay back our neighbors sevenfold for the abuse they have flung at You, O Lord. וַאֲנַ֤חְנוּ עַמְּךָ֨ ׀ וְצֹ֥אן מַרְעִיתֶךָ֮ נ֤וֹדֶ֥ה לְּךָ֗ לְע֫וֹלָ֥ם לְדֹ֥ר וָדֹ֑ר נְ֝סַפֵּ֗ר תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ׃ Then we, Your people, the flock You shepherd, shall glorify You forever; for all time we shall tell Your praises.

Being umbilical is a constant and complete reliance on God: Before, During, and After.

sermon transcript Introduction: The Retelling of the Christmas Story is Essential to Our Faith Few Stories Told As Frequently As This One Well, Christmas season is upon us, in case you didn't know; decorations enough to tell us that. Also the lavish time of busyness, and activity, and planning, and preparation. One of my favorite aspects of Christmas are the stories that go along the Christmas season. I love reading those stories or watching movie renditions of them. Last night we watched –it’s kind of a family tradition to watch - the 1970 Scrooge presentation with Albert Finney. It was kind of a musical thing; music is a little odd for me, how people just break out into song in the middle of things. I don't tend to do that, maybe some of your families do that, but the musical aspect doesn't interfere. It's really a poignant story, and we love to watch that and the transformation of an individual from a stingy miser, a wicked miser, to a very generous, lavish person by the visitation of some ghosts. We'll get to all that later, I'll talk about that later, but that's the story, you know it well. Or the story written by O. Henry, The Gift of The Magi; you know that one, a young couple penniless, living in the city, set in I think the late 19th century, and they're trying to think of a really nice Christmas gift they can get for each other, but they don't have very much money at all. And so they each give up something very precious to them to buy a valuable gift for the other. Though the wife gives up her long hair to, I think a wig maker or something like that, she sells her hair so that she can buy a chain for his pocket watch. And then he, for his part, sells the pocket watch, so he can buy her an expensive set of combs for her hair. And so, that's how that goes. You know that story, The Gift of the Magi. And then, of course, the story of the Little Drummer Boy. I don't know that that ever really happened, but there he was, and all he had to offer was his drumming, and then “he smiled at me” and all of that. And so, you know the Claymation one, have you ever seen that one? I don't know who invented Claymation, but the guy must have been a genius. And of course, It's A Wonderful Life, and some of you have seen that, trying to find out what life would have been like without George Bailey. I have no idea what life would - I guess we all know what life would have been like without George Bailey since he was fictitious. But at any rate, Clarence, the angel, his guardian angel, shows up and shows him the value of his life. And all of these stories kind of a rich part of the tapestry of our culture. Scripture Tells It a Variety of Ways But you know, the Lord has spoken a far more poignant story in the actual birth narratives of Jesus Christ. And as you go, you deal with all of them, some of it's just straight out silliness, frankly. Some of it, very poignant, but nothing trumps actually going back and reading in Luke and in Matthew, the account, the historical account of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. And by contrast, it's just so simple and profound. And it is vital for us as Christians to go over this Christmas story again and again. It's vital to our faith for us to remember the actual events of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And in Luke Chapter 2, I'm just going to read this account Verses 1-20. The value of hearing again of the birth of Christ. There it says: "In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria). And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth and Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. And he went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her first born, a son, and she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shown around them. And they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And this will be assigned to you, you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rests.' And when the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.' So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. And when they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." That's so profound, isn't it, as you look at that. And some time ago, I preached a sermon demonstrating the supernatural and natural aspects of that birth narrative. And it's good to meditate on that, some aspects of Jesus' birth are the same way every child has ever been born, and others are very unusual, supernatural even, the angelic visitations and the glory of God shining all around. And how perfect is it that there's a blending of both, because Jesus was both son of man and also Son of God. Matthew's gospel tells the story more from Joseph's point of view. It gives the genealogy of Jesus Christ, how through Joseph, through the lineage of David, Jesus had the right to be King of the Jews. And then it tells of Mary becoming pregnant through the Holy Spirit, and Joseph resolving to divorce her quietly, and then an angel appearing to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matthew then tells how Joseph obeyed the voice of the angel, what the angel told him to do. He married Mary, took her home as his wife, but he had no union with her until after the baby was born. Matthew 2 recounts the story of the Magi coming from a distant land to, following a star right to Bethlehem, the house where Jesus was, and how they gave him gifts of gold and incense and myrrh, and they bowed down and worshipped him, and then they returned to their country by another route. But how Herod jealous and wicked and selfish, his jealousy triggered by the visit of the Magi, unleashed the first persecution in direct connection with Jesus, and that is the slaughter of the babies in Bethlehem and its vicinity who are two years old and under. And so, we have these narratives, these birth narratives, showing that Jesus stepped into time, he stepped into history, he's an actual individual, a human being. He's not a myth, he's not a legend. We also have in the New Testament, doctrinal explanations of the birth of Christ. For example, in 1 Timothy 3:16 there it says, "Beyond all question, the mystery of Godliness is great. He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory." And then earlier in that same book, 1 Timothy 1:15, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst." I love that verse. And that just shows the purpose of Jesus being born to save sinners. Then in the Old Testament, you have all these prophetic foretellings of Jesus. The predictions through the eyes of the prophets, centuries before Jesus was even born. Like Isaiah 7:14, which is also quoted in Matthew Chapter 1, "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel". And that means God with us. The idea of the incarnation predicted there centuries before Jesus was born. Or the location of his birth in Micah 5-2, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Easy to Become Numb and to Tune Out Well, it's easy as you hear these verses, you hear all of these things, to become numb to it. I mean, we've heard it again and again, there's nothing new. And I would hope you'd be shocked if I came up with something entirely new. Like they recently discovered a new birth narrative of Jesus. I read about it in the National Enquirer. It's awesome. And you can find all kinds of new details; I hope you would all be sharp enough to reject any new birth narratives. And in fact, God is saying, you don't need any new narratives, you don't need any new insights, you don't need anything new here. The fact that any of this could make you numb, or you could become bored, just shows your own wandering hearts. What we need to do is have the Lord do a renewing work in us so that we can hear these things and remember again the significance of the birth of Christ. The World Garbles the Christmas Message - Worse Every Year The world garbles the Christmas message year after year, we hear about it, and it gets worse every year. Materialism rises up to confuse the message of Christmas. You know, it was Jesus that said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Doesn't it seem like, like the retailers are trying to challenge Jesus on that point? In effect saying, yes, your life does consist in the abundance of your possessions. And so, retailers are counting on a really good Christmas to save the year, and they want you to buy, buy, buy, you know, jewelry and electronic gadgets and automobiles and other things. I bet all of you are waiting for that Lexus in the driveway with a big red bow on the top, right? The spouse is going to say, take it back, we can't afford it. But along with this comes the secular kind of winter holiday kind of thing, you know, more and more, a sense of the secularization of our country and the fact that we're losing the sense of Christ being the center of Christmas and radio stations playing that seasonal music. And we hear that year after year, and then characters like Santa Claus and the Grinch who piggybacks on Santa Claus, I guess, Frosty the Snowman in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and all of that, just diverting attention from the center of everything, and that is Christ. Even Dickens classic, how much better a story would it have been if that regeneration had been done by the Holy Spirit because someone preached the Gospel to him, wouldn't have that been better than three ghosts, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, Future? And then he just throws open all of his benevolence and generosity to the poor, because Christ has changed his heart. Somebody ought to write that story, maybe someone has, I don't know. But GK Chesterton was talking about Dickens classic, defended it as literature and having some noble themes, but he said this concerning Dickens, "We must not ask Dickens what Christmas is, for with all his heat and eloquence, he does not know." And that really is a symbol for our secular nation, they just don't seem to know what Christmas is about any more than they know what Thanksgiving is about. Thanksgiving is about God, it's about thanking God for the blessings of our lives, and Christmas is about the gift of Jesus as Savior of the world. And so for us, as Christians, we know the center, we understand what Christmas is about, but we still need to be renewed. Here: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus…” We need our faith. Renewed faith comes by hearing, and faith is renewed by hearing about Christ, and that's what I want to do today. And I want to do it just from one verse. I want to look at 2 Corinthians 8:9, and I want to talk about how Christ, through His poverty, has made us rich. For those of you thinking, we're getting a Galatians sermon now because the title is wrong, we're not, okay? But we're going to talk today about how Christ through His poverty has enriched us. Look again at the verse, 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, so that you, through His poverty, might become rich." And isn't it interesting how the verse begins with what you already know? You know the grace of God in Christ, you know the grace of Christ. I'm not telling you Paul says anything new. And so it is with me in this sermon today, I'm not bringing any new insights, not bringing any new thoughts about the birth of Christ. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, it's my pleasure to keep reminding you of things you already know, so you don't forget them, and they don't fade from your heart. And so, the verse begins with a sense of what it is we already know. And it is vital to our faith to keep the sense of the mystery of the Godliness, the gift of Godliness through Christ fresh. The miracle of Christmas is summed up plainly in these verses. John 1:1, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the Word was God." Verse 14, "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory, glory of the only begotten, from the Father, full of grace and truth." And also in these verses, in Luke Chapter 1:30-35, as the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and says, "'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, and He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end.' 'How will this be?' Mary asked the angel, 'since I'm a virgin.' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And so, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.'" So there's the center of the mystery of Christmas, the incarnation, Son of God, Son of man, born of a virgin, son of his father, David, but also son of the most High God. And the reason for the incarnation made plan in these verses, Luke 19:10, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." How Jesus is seeking and saving lost people even now, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And again, Matthew 20:28, "The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many." Now, our text this morning puts the incarnation of Jesus in terms of wealth and poverty, and is worthy tracing this verse out phrase by phrase to try to understand it. The Origin of Christmas: The Grace of Our Lord Jesus The Text Begins with the Concept of GRACE The origins of Christmas, according to 2 Corinthians 8:9 is the grace of Jesus. It all starts with the Grace of Jesus in that Verse. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, it says, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich." Usually, when we think of grace; we focus on the first person of the Trinity, God the Father, and the gift of Jesus is definitely display of the grace of God, but here in this verse, it focuses on the grace of Jesus. What do we mean by grace? Grace is a settled determination in the heart of God the Father, also here in this verse, the heart of Jesus to do us good. It's a determination to do you good, you who deserved infinite wrath and judgment. And so, I think you really have to put those things together, what we deserved and what we receive. And as you put those two together, you really understand Biblical grace. We deserved wrath because we were sinners, we violated the laws of God. We had sinned against Almighty God, and that's an infinite sin, and therefore we deserved infinite punishment, but instead, what do we get? We get infinite wealth. We get riches beyond all measure, and that is grace. Christmas Started in the Mind of God Before the Foundation of the World So, Christmas started in the mind of God the Father and God the Son before the foundation of the world. Listen to 2 Timothy 1:8-10, speaking there about "God who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. But has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." So before the beginning of time, God worked out and determined to save you, and Jesus just determined in our verse to make you rich, he wanted to make you infinitely wealthy. And so this is the grace of Christ Jesus, where it all began. Before God said, Let there be light, before there were rivers or oceans or continents, before there were stars in the cosmos, before any of these things, God determined to do you good, and Jesus determined to pay the price. Christmas Started by the Grace of Christ Before He Entered the World And so, Christmas started by the grace of Christ before he entered the world. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich yet for your sakes, He became poor. Jesus was willing to leave the glory of Heaven for the suffering and death of the earth. Now, he's the only one, only human being that's ever been born, the only human being that's ever lived that made a conscious decision to enter this world. That's language that we could never use. It's what he said to Pontius Pilate. You remember when he was on trial for being King, this is the King of the Jews. Pilate said to Him, oh, so you are a king. And "Jesus said, You are right in saying that I am a king. In fact, for this reason, I was born and for this, I came into the world to testify to the truth." It's an extraordinary statement he's making there. I chose to enter the world. It says the same thing earlier in John 6:38-40, "For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Where Christ Began: Infinitely Rich The Simple Assertion of the Text And so Jesus made a conscious decision to enter the world. And so Christ began before he entered the world, and the text says, infinitely rich, infinitely rich. It's a simple straightforward assertion of the text. "…the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich..." How Rich Was Christ Before He Entered the World? Alright, how rich? How rich was Jesus? How many of you have ever been to the Biltmore Hotel? Don't raise your - or is it a hotel? No, it's a house. Alright, and I've been there, gold bathtubs, jewels and the walls. Extraordinary wealth. I've actually been to the Vanderbilt summer cottage at The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island. I've been to both of their houses. And The Breakers is just extraordinary, the lavish wealth; it's like one mansion after another there in Newport, Rhode Island. That wealthy? Or how about the Bill Gates home? Have you looked into that, $157 million home. Who is he going to sell it to? When you have a home worth 157 million, I don't know who you're going to - you're going to take a loss on it, probably. $157 million home there in Medina, Washington, overlooking Lake Washington. Spectacularly beautiful. There's kind of like an online tour, if you're so inclined. It's an amazing thing, state-of-the-art home where if you come in as a guest of Bill and Melinda Gates, they're going to give you a little electronic chip and you can kind of program the heater, temperature of the room, whatever room you want, you just program ahead of time and wherever you go, it will program the room to be climate controlled. What happens if you have two guests in the room. Frequently a husband and wife, one likes it hot, a little colder, I don't know how that works. But that kind of wealth or perhaps you've seen online, someone sent this to me once, The House That Golf Built, this was Tiger Woods home on an island off the coast of Florida, where he gets to see both the sunrise and the sunset over water, and it's this incredible house with all this glass, all the like glass windows, and it's like the master bedroom overlooking water right there, and then you find out at the end that he raised it and built his own mansion at that place. That kind of wealth. Friends, there's nothing on Earth that even comes close to the wealth of Jesus before he entered the world. Nothing comes close. I don't care what mansion you've seen, Vanderbilt or The Breakers. How rich was Christ before entering the world? Well, I want to focus on those things that He left behind. There were some things that he took with them into the world because he never stopped being God, but there are some things he left behind, and so as I was making this list, I was thinking specifically about those things he left behind to enter the world. Rich in Glory Shared by the Father First, he was rich in glory shared with his father. He was radiant in glory. What do we mean by that? Well, Jesus is the radiance of God's glory. And before He entered the world, Jesus was perfectly radiating the glory of God. Well, we learned in 1 Timothy 6 that "God dwells in unapproachable light." He's so blindingly glorious, sitting on the throne of Heaven, that the seraphim in Isaiah 6, have to cover their faces. They cover their face, they've got six wings. "With two wings they cover their faces; with two, they covered their feet; and with two, they're flying." And they're crying out, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory." And then John 12:41, it says, "Isaiah said this, because he was speaking about Jesus' glory." He saw Jesus' glory and wrote about Him. And so that was Jesus' glory that radiates heaven and earth. In Revelation 1:16, after Jesus has ascended back into heaven, John has a vision of Jesus. In Revelation 1:16, it says, "… his face was like the sun shining at full strength." He couldn't look at the face of Jesus, the radiant glory shining from him. In his incarnation Jesus left this radiant glory behind. At the end of his time on Earth, he asked his father for it back. In John 17:5, he says, "And now father glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world began." That's an incredible prayer, because it says in Isaiah 42:8, Yahweh says this," I am the Lord, that is my name, I will not share my glory with another or give My praise to idols." And so God will not share His glory with another but Jesus isn't another, the mystery of the trinity, and so he had the glory of God before he entered the world. Rich in Achievements of Creation He was also rich in achievements in creation. Heaven and earth put on display the handy work of Jesus. It says in John 1:3, "Through Jesus all things were made, and without him nothing was made that has been made." Colossians 1, 16 and 17 says, "For by Him, by Jesus, all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, where the thrones, or powers, or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him, and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Psalm 104 recounts, down here on Earth, all of nature, all of these realms of biology of animals in the sea and on land and moving through the air, and all of it displaying the glory of God. And it says in Psalm 104:31, "May the glory of the Lord endure forever. May the Lord rejoice in his works," but the Scripture teaches those are Jesus' works. He was rich in works and the heavenly hosts that were worshipping and knew that Jesus made all things, including themselves, and gave Him glory for that. Rich in Power over the Universe Thirdly, He was rich in power over the universe, directly reigning over the universe. He openly ruled over heaven and earth, his power was openly displayed and unquestioned. He ruled over stars and planets, over winds and rain, over birds and fish, over angels and men. Nebuchadnezzar said of Him, "He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth, no one can hold back his hand or say to him: 'what have you done?'" Rich in Possessions And Jesus was simply rich in possessions, he just owned a lot. As a matter of fact, he owned everything. Everything that could be owned, he owned. Psalm 95, 4 and 5 says, "In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land." I like Psalm 50, verse 10-12 says, "Every animal in the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, I know that creatures of the field they're all mine, if I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the World is mine and everything in it." He claims ownership over the nations of the Earth. In Psalm 60, 7 and 8, "Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine. Ephraim is my helmet, Judah is my scepter, Moab is my washbasin. Upon Edom, I tossed my sandal. Over Philistia, I shout in triumph." He owned it all. He was the King of kings and Lord of lords. Rich in Angelic Worship & Service Fifth, he is rich in angelic, worship and service. He had a 100 million angels doing his bidding. 100 million. Thousands upon thousands attended Him. 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. Only geeks like me would do the math - that's 100 million angels. 100 million ready to do His bidding, ready to obey Him. They were the ones that are crying to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. And sixthly and finally, he was rich in happiness and satisfaction, completely blessed in heaven. Before he took on a human body, Jesus never knew pain or suffering. Book of Hebrew says "He learned obedience by what he suffered. He had never suffered anything before that," except perhaps one thing, he saw the damage that sin had done to the universe and specifically to his chosen people, and it grieved Him, and it motivated him to leave all of that comfort and power and pleasure behind and take on a human body and enter this world. And so that's where Christ started, that's how infinitely wealthy he started. Where did he end up? Where Christ Ended: Infinitely Poor Christ’s Free Choice Well, he ended up infinitely immeasurably poor. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor." Now, this was Christ free choice, but he became perfectly poor. Daniel read these verses earlier, listen to them again in Philippians 2:6-8, "Jesus being, in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross." Christ’s Poverty: The Infinite Downward Journey So Jesus at the cross, I would contend, is the poorest man that ever lived Any of those things that would alleviate the suffering of life were gone from him, and he had actually infinite suffering as our sin bearer. So he became a human being, He became weak, He became beset with suffering, He became a servant. He was temptable, it says in Hebrews 2:18, "He Himself suffered when He was tempted, and he was tempted in every way, just as we are yet was without sin, able to become hungry, and tired, and thirsty, able to feel pain, able to suffer and able to die." In Isaiah 53:3, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering." He was born a baby. And at one level, this absolutely had to be because he had to fulfill the fact that it would be the seed of a woman who had crushed the serpents head, but Adam was formed from the dust of the earth, fully formed as an adult human being. So we still need to see some aspect of volition on the part of Jesus to be born so completely helpless in the normal way, absolutely helpless, stripped of all visible glory and power, needing to be swaddled like a newborn baby does by a human mother and needing to learn everything. This will just blow the circuits of your brain. How can Jesus be omniscient and need to learn things? Does anyone know the answer to that? But Jesus did. He was God, and also needed to learn everything. He was completely mute as all babies are. I know they make sounds, but those aren't words. They'll let you know and they're hungry, and tired, and have needs or in pain, they definitely do. But he couldn't talk. He had to learn how to talk. He who was the Word incarnate, couldn't say a word when he was born. When he was born, a Jew, therefore a member of a conquered people under the heel of the Romans, they were effectively slaves in their own Promised Land, and within the Jewish nation born of unusually poor parents. If you look at the actual circumstances of his birth, very few babies in the world are born into that level of poverty. Joseph and Mary were clearly Godly, but they're also poor. Because it says in Leviticus 12, 7 and 8, "These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl, if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or young pigeons, one for a burnt offering, and the other for sin offering." So they met the criteria of too poor to offer the real offering, so they had to offer the poor man's offering. And look at the poverty of the circumstances of his birth, poor people generally have better birth circumstances than Jesus did: Born in a barn, laid in a manger where animals eat their food. In many ways, they were like homeless people at that particular point, and His poverty would continue throughout His life. To one disciple who wanted to follow him, he said, remember how the disciples said, "I'll follow you wherever you go" and He said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head." He was supported by a group of women who supported him out of their means. He was a servant of all, humble toward anyone who asked, hated and opposed by many, but the ultimate poverty was the death on the cross. The infinite downward journey was made complete when Jesus died under the wrath of God and the cross, as His clothes are being gambled for there in fulfillment of prophecy, He has no earthly possessions left, nothing, it's all gone. And then God pours out his wrath on Jesus. Our sin bearer suffering in our place, despised and rejected, hated and mocked, stripped of all possible dignity, he died, a death of an accursed man. No one ever has been as poor as Jesus was at that particular moment. Still Rich, Though! Still rich though. Still rich though. I don't like those theologies of what they call the kenosis, the emptying, how Jesus stopped being God, He would never stop being God. He was always the second person of the Trinity, and we can't quite fathom how he can be both sin bearer and also the second person of the Trinity, but the Father, the Son and the Spirit, that's eternal. It will never change. And so Jesus forever was and is God the Son. He never stopped being the son of God. He displayed supernatural power over the winds and rains, over fish, over donkeys, over people, over every illness, even over death. He displayed supernatural power. He was rich in wisdom. No one ever spoke the way he did. Supernatural knowledge, he knew people's minds and thoughts, even what they were thinking in the secrets of their hearts. And he was rich in love, his father loved him with a perfect love. It says in Hebrews 1:9, "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions." He was perfect in His character, and so the characteristics of Jesus, the nature of Jesus, the perfections of Jesus, drew forth the affections of his father, and so he testified at his baptism, "This is my beloved Son, whom I love. With Him, I am well pleased." And he was rich in love toward others, He poured out compassion and love toward others. What Christ Accomplished: We Became Rich It Was All for Us! “For your sake…” So, what did Christ accomplish? Well, he made you rich. That's what he accomplished. We know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes, He became poor. So that through his poverty, we might become rich. It was all for us. We Were Poor, Though We Didn’t Know It Now, perhaps you didn't know that you were poor, perhaps you didn't know. There was a group of people in the Book of Revelation that didn't know either. And in Revelation 3:17, it says, "You say, I'm rich, I've acquired wealth and do not need a thing, but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." If you are out of fellowship with God, it doesn't matter how much money you make every year, it doesn't matter where you live, it doesn't matter what's in the bank account, you are infinitely poverty-stricken in the eyes of heaven. Everything we own will someday be taken from us, "…we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it," 1st Timothy 6:7. The Vanderbilts left their beautiful homes behind, and now they're museums. Maybe someday Bill Gates's home will be a museum too if the Lord tarries, we don't know. But you can't bring it with you. And all of our beauty, and power, and strength, and skill are temporary and fading, as it says in Isaiah 40, 6 and 7, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall because the breath of the Lord blows on them." We are like grass, and you might be young and strong and vibrant and capable and skillful and healthy, but it's all temporary, because all of our human capabilities and acquisitions are temporary. And apart from Christ, we were rebellious and we were under the wrath of God, as it says in Romans 3, "There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." And again, in Titus 3:3, "At one time, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures, we lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. And we were powerless to resist the devil." As it says in Romans 5:6, "At that time, we were powerless. At the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." "We were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And we were dead in our transgressions and sins," Ephesians 2 says, "and we were under the death penalty, for the wages of sin is death." That's what we were. He Made Us Rich We were infinitely poverty-stricken, but Christ has made us rich, Amen. He has made us richer than your wildest dreams can imagine. Can't even imagine how wealthy we are. First and foremost, we are adopted as sons and daughters of the living God. We are heirs, as I said last week, with Abraham, heirs of the world. The meek will inherit the Earth, and if you're a child of God, you're one of those meek. If you're a son, daughter of Abraham, you're going to be named in his will and you will get some of the new heaven and new earth, infinitely rich, and death cannot take it from you, because you'll never die. You're rich in forgiveness, rich in righteousness, rich in adoption, rich in inheritance and rich in the Holy Spirit. Christ Richer Than When He Started: He Gained Us & Gets Richer Everyday (And So do We)! And Christ is richer too. What did he get? Well, he got us. Now, you would say that's not really much, but he doesn't look on it that way. We were created in the image of God and now redeemed through His blood and transformed back into the image of God, and he gained a "multitude from every tribe and language and people and nation" that will stand around the throne in white robes, holding palm branches in their hands and saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb." And he gets more and more and more of those people every day. It was a very, very good investment. He gets richer and richer every single day, as more and more of the elect come to faith in Christ. Application: How Christ’s Love Should Compel Us Receive the Gift of Grace, This is the Real Christmas Present So what application can we take from 2 Corinthians 8:9? Well, first, just receive the gift of God's grace. Receive the gift of God's grace. Perhaps you're a visitor here today, perhaps you're not a Christian, perhaps you're on the outside looking in, trust in Christ. You've heard the gospel plainly revealed this morning that God sent His son to save sinners like you. Trust in Him. You don't have to do any good works. As we've been saying in the book of Galatians, just by simple faith in Jesus, all your sins will be removed, and you will be adopted because he suffered wrath in your place. As JI Packer summed it all up in these words, “Adoption through propitiation, you are adopted as a son or daughter of the living God, because Jesus died in your place under the wrath of God.” Trust in Him. Revel in the Gift of Grace; Meditate on How Christ’s Poverty Has Made You Rich Secondly, if you've come to Christ already just revel in the gift of grace, feel your wealth, understand that you're an heir of heaven, understand this, meditate on how Christ's poverty has made you rich, and feel that. It has nothing to do with material possessions. Anything given to you this week will be, at some point, destroyed, as Isaiah 40 said, "It's grass, it's going to wither and fall." But you are rich in ways that no thief can steal from you, and no moth and rust can destroy. You are infinitely wealthy. Understand How this Grace Compels Us to Be Generous to Others And thirdly, understand how this grace compels you to act like Jesus and be gracious to the poor around you. That's the home base of 2 Corinthians 8:9, that's what it's all about. What is Paul doing in 2 Corinthians 8, he's raising money, he's raising money based on the example of the Macedonian Christians who were gracious, and despite the fact that they were really poor, gave lots of money to alleviate the poverty of Jewish Christians in Palestine. And so he's talking to the Corinthians, saying, I want you to know what the Macedonians did, you might want to think about giving. And then he talks about Jesus, and he says, "Look, Jesus is our example. You have been made rich by Jesus. Now, make others rich." Make others rich. How do we do that? Well we could start with money. Money is the beginning. Okay, we're surrounded by people who don't know the name of Jesus. They go to the ends of the earth, and we should care about unreached people groups. There are 7296 unreached people groups. We should care about them and desire to reach them with the Gospel, and money is involved in that. It takes money to send missionaries and support them on the mission field. We're about halfway to our goal, Lottie Moon. I have full confidence that this church will meet the goal, but I urge you to be sacrificial. Think about how much God has given you and be generous and have compassion on poverty-stricken people, have compassion on the poor and needy right around us and to the ends of the earth. As I was doing research for a talk I'm going to give a week from today at the cross-conference, I'm doing a talk on Mercy Ministry, lessons on Mercy Ministry throughout church history, good and bad. I can't think of a crueler topic, alright? I'm probably up to 36 pages, and they've given me 50 minutes. I think I'm going to appeal for another 50 minutes, but I don't think they're going to give it to me. I think I've got that length of time, and that's it. So now I have to go back and just get it down to these few stories. But one of the things I've learned is the incredible gap between the richest nations and the poorest nation, now it's wider than it's ever been in history. Before the industrial revolution, the gap was generally 4:1, that the wealthy nations per capita made four times as much as the poorest nations. Now, nearly half the world population, more than 3 billion people live on less $2.50 a day. The average American, $90 a day. Think about that. That's like 45:1. So what do we do with that information? What should we do with the fact that 1.3 billion people live in extreme poverty, about $1 a day, the fact that 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty, 22,000 children die every day, directly due to poverty? What do we do with that information, the fact that more than 1 billion people lack adequate access to clean drinking water and 400 million of these are children, the fact that almost a billion people, 870 million people worldwide do not have enough food to eat, the fact that there are preventable diseases that take out the lives of people, like diarrhea even? The first human being I ever saw die, died of diarrhea in Northern Pakistan. It was a little baby, 20 days old, and the parents had ignorantly cut off that child's fluids because they thought it would solve the diarrhea problem, with exactly the opposite. And gave, by the time that we had the child, got the child, the doctor got the child, child had double pneumonia and very low pulse, low blood pressure. We couldn't get a vein. We tried to give it fluids, and it died. And it was the first person I ever saw die. But you just feel like it's eminently preventable. It could have been prevented. So what do we do with that? What should we think? Well, I don't desire to make you feel guilty. I do desire to make you feel accountable, that all of the wealth that God has given you, you're accountable, and you're going to give an account for it so I'm I. I another lesson I've learned as I prepared for this talk, the most effective Mercy Ministry is intimate connection with the poor, not just money. If all you do is fly over and drop money down on them, you actually, in many cases, going to hurt them. A key principle in doing Mercy Ministry is don't do for others what they can do for themselves. That's key principle, because if you're doing for others what they can and should be doing for themselves, you're hurting them, but there are genuinely needy people who can't do certain things for themselves, start with orphans, and others. So I guess what I would urge you to do as 2014 comes near, ask the Lord, what does he want you to do with your wealth? Don't deny that you have wealth. Think about 2 Corinthians 8, that you have been made wealthy and say, Lord, give me an outlet, and challenge yourself with the verse I consider to be most challenging on Mercy Ministry in the entire Bible. It's Isaiah 58:10, it says there, "If you spend yourself on behalf of the needy," just that phrase is enough, it's a lot easier to spend your money than to spend yourself, but it's nowhere near as effective. If you're willing to give your time and your energy to build relationships with poor people, you're going to find out what their needs really are, and then you can help them in ways that will really be life transformational. So, I challenge you concerning Lottie Moon, be sacrificial, let's meet our goal, but let's go beyond that, and let's each of us find patterns of ministry to the poor and needy in the year 2014. Close with me in prayer. Lord, we thank you for the extraordinary wealth you've given us, and I don't mean material wealth. I mean the riches of the Gospel blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Thank you for that, thank you for the gospel that sets us free from sin. How are imprisoned spirits are no longer chained to sin, and we're set free to follow Christ. Lord, we thank you also for our material blessings, but we're mindful that they come with accountability. Help us to be wise, help us to be generous to the poor and needy, but not foolish. Help us to be willing to invest ourselves, so we can find out the best way to help poor and needy right here in Durham and to the ends of the earth. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Thanksgiving and victory are connected in the Bible. In this episode you will learn: * Is it possible to limit God on what He can do for you? * Faith gives thanks to God BEFORE it sees the answer. * The dangers of being unthankful for what God has already done for you.