0:01 [Music] I hope we paid attention to the memory verses and we're excited that our children say it, but also I think one of the benefits of hearing it so many times is that uh 0:19 it sinks in and uh I I don't know what your experience is like when I sit there and I'm listening all of a sudden like the eighth time something hits I got something that happened again. Take courage, son. Your sins are forgiven. 0:34 I've heard that verse before. I know it intellectually, but something happened when I was sitting there just now. Take courage. There's nothing you have to face that you can't face with courage. And uh Jesus is holding his hand out to 0:50 you, as it were. If I was holding out my hand and uh offering you $1,000, I think none of us loves money, so we will all be very holy. We will sit in our chairs and say, "No thanks." But most people in the world would like $1,000 here. And 1:07 Jesus is saying, "Take courage. I give you courage. Take it. Do you want courage today? Do you want courage this week?" He wants to give it to you. no situation that we don't have to walk in courage and uh I was also thinking with our 1:25 memory verse behold I will do something new a roadway in the wilderness and rivers in the desert what do you think it takes to see a river in the desert what do you think it takes to see a roadway in the wilderness I'd like to speak on that actually uh 1:44 it's interesting that that's our verse for this You need faith. And I found that often you have to in a sense close your eyes from the wilderness and close your eyes from the desert in order to see the river 2:03 in in order to see the roadway. And so often our eyes, our earthly eyes are open. We're seeing the wilderness. We're seeing the desert. We're living by our senses. We're living with our physical eyes. So taken up by that. so affected 2:16 by what we see, what we hear, what we feel, what we taste. We're so taken up with that that we miss the roadway. We miss the the river. That's why that verse in 2 Corinthians 5, let's turn there. Maybe I'll begin 2:33 that with that verse. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, as you know, is the verse. Most people know, verse 17. It's a good verse uh that's often used to tell people after they're born 2:50 again, you're a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17. A new thing. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17. But that's not just, oh, you were on your way to hell, now you're on your way 3:08 to heaven. You'll never read that phrase in the Bible. You read about heaven, but that is just because I want to be with God, and that's where he is. That's what heaven is for me. But God says, you can be with me now here on this earth. So 3:25 all things have become new. What things? You'll find that there are many things but one of the things he talks about in verse seven which it's easy for miss for for us to miss and I know I missed it for many years. One of the things that 3:38 should become new when I am in Christ behold if anyone is in Christ verse 17 he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold new things have come. Now another one I just want to mention in passing is verse 16. We know no man 3:57 after the flesh. And yet you have so many Christians today whose allegiance is to their family, to their husbands or wives or brothers or sisters or children. And they have family churches where as a family unit you try to build 4:09 a church. No. Once you're in Christ, I know no man after the flesh. Not my wife, not my children, my brother, sister, father, mother. I love them, but I know them in Christ. And Jesus said that's the first condition of disciplehip. You cannot 4:25 love your fleshly relations more than me. I know no man after the flesh. Verse 16. That's one thing that should become new. When before I was in Christ, my attachment was, and by flesh, it doesn't just mean relatives. Also, it could be 4:40 my personal preferences of the kind of people I like to hang out with. Has that changed since you got to know Christ? Do you like to hang out with a certain group of people who like the same things as you are cultured like you are or 4:53 speak the same language as you do? Now, in our case, we all speak English, but in some other countries, it's you got language churches and language clicks and language communities, religious Christian communities. I don't want to 5:04 call them Christian communities because there's no such thing as a Christian community. It's Christ. That's the community. So, but verse seven is what I wanted to us to see. One of the things that should become new when I am in Christ that is I do not 5:21 walk by sight we walk by faith not by sight not by what I see not by appearance my margin says that's the literal translation not by the appearance of it I was convict I've been convicted over the last few weeks which is why I wanted to speak on that today 5:40 how much the Lord has shown me that I still live by appearances I still find that I judge people by appearances. I think if you were to be honest, pause for a moment and think about how you think about people, the appearance that we see has an 5:58 immediate effect on our assessment of who they are and what they must be like. I see how they're dressed or what they look like or how they talk, the appearance. Has that become new? Dear brother, dear sister, if you're in Christ, are you 6:12 walking by faith, not by sight? Now looking at others is one thing but what about circumstances? That's the area that really has been convicting me recently that I tend my relationship with Christ for many years. I thank God 6:27 that he's brought me into a deeper life where it's not so much the case anymore. But it used to be as a Christian that my day, how my day went or how my week went or how my month went or how my year went was determined by my the appearance of 6:43 things. How things looked to me. Oh, the company's downsizing. I'm probably going to lose my job. Or, oh, this so and so did this to me. Or, oh, so and so said that, or this other person treated me this way. And that had a a way of 6:59 affecting me much more than it should have if I am really in Christ, walking by faith, living by faith, not by sight. And I've been making it the habit of my life to close my eyes in a sense. Not physically, I have to walk on this 7:15 earth, but as I see things with my eyes, I put a filter in front of it. When I hear news or when I see things or I see things happening in the world around me, there's a filter that I now put in front of my eyes, when I read news on the 7:28 computer or I get a text message or hear something or see something else, there's a filter. Now, if anyone is in Christ, you can say there's a filter that says, I refuse to see this as one who is not in Christ. I refuse to see this based on 7:42 the appearance of things. Now, I see it by faith. Now I've got my faith glasses on and all of a sudden it changes my perspective. That's what it means to be in Christ. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old way of, oh, oh, 8:01 this is going to happen, that's going to happen. Oh, the doctor's report and this medical report and my child that happened or this is going on and they said that about me or my reputation or how how am I going to have enough saved 8:11 up and that's the old Santo has passed away. He died and a new Santosh exists. Christ living in him who says I refuse to look at things by the appearance of him but by faith. We walk 8:29 by faith not by sight. See I I think I always knew the walk by faith part. I didn't realize that to really walk by faith, you had to make a choice to not walk by sight. That's become a truth for me more recently. Um I a few weeks ago, 8:44 I think it was three weeks ago, I talked about the narrow gate and the narrow way. And I wanted to finish that message on and I might take another one yet, but today uh on another guard rail on this narrow way. It's a narrow way, but it's 8:59 important for us to have guard rails on it so that we stay on the narrow way. You know, I um I don't know if you've seen drawings of pilgrims progress. I'm sure you have. But one of the scenes where pilgrims walk in this narrow way, 9:11 you see it sort of like a narrow way with a cliff on both sides. And I think that's true to some extent. But I think the appearance of it is that there's a narrow way and beside it is a is a wide pasture. In other words, I think if you saw that 9:26 was a cliff, you would you would make sure you don't fall off. But what's on the other side and on on both sides is a wide broadway. Jesus contrasts the narrow way with the broadway. And I believe that the broadway is on both sides of the narrow 9:41 way. And the devil's constantly trying to get us to say, "Hey, why do you have to take your Christian life so seriously? Why be so sold out for the Lord? Why be so radical in living for him and his interests alone? Why not, 9:55 you know, yeah, still go to church and have your your prayer your your nice little Bible studies and your nice little prayer meetings and and your nice little uh family and and walk this Broadway on this side or on the other 10:07 side. And it's it's easy for us to stray off the narrow way and be walking the Broadway and not even know it. That's what I've realized. And it's it's not like a cliff where you fall down all of a sudden all the way to the bottom. It's 10:20 just, oh yeah, I'm walking alongside. There's somebody else who attends the same church as I do. Or there could be even my husband or wife walking alongside me. And here I am walking the Broadway right next to them and he or 10:34 she's walking the narrow way. Jesus said, "Two will be laying in a bed. One will be taken, one would be left behind. Two would be in the field. One would be taken. One would be left behind." Why? because the one left behind was 10:46 walking the Broadway right next to the one walking the narrow way in the same bed. He's talking about a husband and wife. So, we must take that to heart, it's a it's a narrow way. And that's why I want to talk about these guardrails. However, 11:01 I think in my if I was to think about it, for many years, I thought the guardrails were I got to grip my teeth and grab onto the steering wheel and make sure I don't go off and I hold on tight and all of a sudden my hands are 11:12 sweating cuz I'm gripping it so tight. And you know, sometimes I have to drive like that. We we had to drive over the a rabbiter pass last weekend and it was snowing and we didn't have four-wheel drive and I was clenching the wheel. 11:24 It's not It's not easy. That's not the Christian life, though. But it was for me for many years. Oh, I'm going to slip. I'm I'm I'm going to No, it's not. And I hope you remember the guardrail I talked about last last time. And that is keep yourself in the 11:41 love of God. God loves you. We sang about that today. He will hold you fast. Trust him. That's the verse in Jude. Keep yourself in the love of God. That must be that first guard rail. Keep yourself in the love of God. The second 11:55 one I'd like you to see. Well, before I do that, I want you to read a verse in with me in Luke chapter 13. You know the verse in Matthew 7 where Jesus talked about the narrow the gate and the narrow way. But there's a phrase 12:10 he uses here that he doesn't use in that other place that really stood out to me. Luke 13 23 someone said to him Lord are there just 12:30 a few who are being saved Luke 13:23 you know Jesus we did read that verse in Matthew 7 the way to life is narrow and few there be that find it in this parallel passage here in Luke 13 somebody asked him Lord is it only a few 12:47 it sounds like you're preaching such a high standard and I see a lot of other very moral upright people around me. Are you saying that only a few are going to be saved? Now, it's interesting. Jesus didn't actually answer that question, 12:57 but he did say something that we in answer to that that is very important for us to see. And that is verse 24. Strive. Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able to. Strive to 13:14 enter. Now, you might think, strive, okay, I got to go to the gym and work out. Strive. No. I like a paraphrase of this verse that reads, "Give it your full attention." That's what striving is. That means strive in your thoughts 13:28 and your affections to make sure that you're focused on this. Give this your full attention. Give this your full attention and you will make it through the narrow gate. If your heart is half-hearted, if you've got your heart somewhere else, you're 13:41 interested in some other things. You want Jesus plus something, you may not enter the narrow gate. You read in Matthew 19 of a man, a very upright, righteous man who wanted God plus something else. Wanted God plus something else. And he's 13:59 I think he's in hell today. The rich young ruler we know him. Jesus said, "You must you must give this your full attention." Because he came to Jesus and said, "Lord, I'm obedient. I keep all the commandments. I I love the Lord my 14:13 God with all my heart, strength. I love my neighbor as myself. I uh I give to the poor. I'm I'm generous. I'm What else must I do? There's a vacuum inside of me. And Jesus said, "You lack one thing. You must give up everything." 14:26 That's the one thing you lack. You must give this your full attention. That may be the word that some of us need to hear today. You lack one thing in your Christian life. You haven't given Jesus your full attention. You 14:38 haven't given this narrow way walking with Jesus your full attention. I want to tell you, I I am seeking to do that. And yet I'm a man with a job. I have a job that I do every day. Um, and I have family to take care of. I have needs 14:54 that must be met. I have personal needs, family needs. All of th those things. And yet God is showing me a way by which I can give him my full attention and yet meet the needs that he want the work that he wants me to do. See, this is the 15:08 life that God wanted Adam to have in the Garden of Eden. He said, "Go take care of the garden. You've got trees to take care of, animals to name, and all that." But Adam, let me be your full attention. While you're naming the lion, think 15:20 about me. While you're taking care of that tree, think about me. While you're doing that other thing, while you're hanging out with Eve, think about me. Give me your full attention, and you'll find that I will give you the grace for 15:33 everything that you need to do. God gave Adam and Eve a work to do. He's given us a work to do, but he's also shown us a way by which we can give him our full attention. So, I talked about um keeping ourselves in the love of God. Let's turn to 1 15:49 Timothy chapter 1. Another guard rail on this narrow way is this faith. A faith that we fight for. 16:07 He says in 1 Timothy 1 verse 18, now look at the solemn words in a sense that Paul is writing to Timothy with this command I entrust to you. It's kind of like Paul's got this like a father giving his inheritance to one son. He's 16:25 got one son. He's giving it all to him. I'm entrusting it to you, Timothy. What was it? A ministry? Yes. but a uh a responsibility, a way of living your life. Paul said to the Philippians that Timothy uh had the interests of Christ unlike any other of 16:43 Paul's co-workers. And so Paul says, "Listen, Timothy, I've got a lot of other people. They're nice, you know, uh they're wonderful, but I got a responsibility for you. I'm entrusting it to you." If somebody with a lot of 16:54 money came to you and said, "Hey, I'm entrusting this to you. Keep this safe." What would you do? You would keep it safe. And this is Paul's words to Timothy. Timothy, I'm entrusting this to you in accordance with the prophecies 17:06 previously made concerning you that by them you would fight the good faith. Fight fight the good fight, keeping faith. This is the fight that we're called to fight. This is the striving that we must have. It's not a I need to be better or 17:22 I need to do this more oft or I need to get up and spend two hours in in the Bible or spend an hour in prayer and all. No. STRIVE TO KEEP YOUR FAITH. Strive to preserve how much you trust God and his goodness and his faithfulness. 17:39 Strive fight the good fight to keep faith. This is what Paul entrusted to Timothy in a sense. He told Timothy, Timothy, if you keep faith, it'll all go well with you. Yeah. The ministry, yeah, watching over the churches, all these other 17:53 things. God will take care of that. He will guide you. Timothy, you'll have to be an overseer now to churches after I've gone. How are you going to do it? Fight the good fight. Keep the faith. Keep the faith. And he shows us a little 18:07 bit in the previous verses of what this faith can be based on. And I want you to see a few things here. He says in verse 17, to the king, eternal immortal. And this is the first thing I this is the first basis of our faith. 18:25 God is eternal and immortal. That means he rules time. Yesterday, today, forever, it's all the same. The future, listen to this, the future is as certain 18:42 to God as the past is to us. Would you say, "Yeah, it's a known fact that Santos was born on April 3rd, 1973." That's a known fact. You have your birth date. or it's a known fact that yesterday that such and such happened. 18:57 It's a known fact or September 11th in this country is a big date or you know known facts that we have. Somebody comes to you and says hey question I I I don't think you went to the store yesterday. You can say no I did I know it. No 19:11 matter how many times somebody tries to convince you if you actually went to the store yesterday you know it it's sealed. I did go to the store. It's an experience I had. I know it. And to God, the future is as sure as the past is for 19:25 us. That means you say, God, are you going to hold me fast? He says, "Yes, it's it's certain. It's done. Your name is written in the book of life." That's faith. Where I can say that the future, my future is as written, as certain as 19:43 the past that I am certain of. This is what it means when it says in Hebrews 13, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, it has blessed me so much to know that as certain as I am about the past experiences I've had, 19:59 God is the certainty of the future is as certain for is as true for him. So yesterday, today, and forever, he's eternal and immortal. He can never die. His promise will be fulfilled. Then it says the second thing it says is 20:15 he's invisible. And it it's proclaimed here, you know, it says to to the God who the the latter part of the verse says, "Be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." Which God? The invisible God. This really hit home to me even a few weeks ago. 20:33 Can I praise and give glory and honor to God because he's invisible? Think about it for a moment. That's hard for me if I'm honest. If I could see God, I feel like God, I could praise you. I could give you glory and honor and how I wish 20:48 I could be in heaven with Maria and everybody else today because I would see you. But can I glory and honor and forever and ever the invisible God? You need faith for that. He hides himself. I can't see him. He's mysterious. 21:06 His His ways are mysterious. I don't I I wouldn't have planned this course for my life it were if it were up to me. He says that he loves me. He plans for me and yet he's invisible and I give glory. You see the faith of Paul. You see the 21:22 faith he wants to give Timothy. He says, "Timothy, you're going to face situations where you'll wonder why God isn't more visible to your natural eyes." He says, "To the invisible God, give glory and honor." See, this is the God who does something 21:38 out of nothing. Like I said, you must close your eyes. You must choose to not live by sight in order to live by faith. You must choose to not desire the visible God in order to glory and glorify the invisible God. The God who 21:54 doesn't explain everything that he does. Uh Hebrewsap 11, there's a little nugget um in Hebrews chapter 11 that that uh that is easy to miss. It's the chapter of faith. Yes. But it's also something that I I found repeatedly as I went back 22:13 and read it even yesterday actually that I saw was very interesting and that is this faith is tied very closely to things not seen and that phrase or that that attitude that that me that um mentality of the 22:32 things not seen is is sprinkled throughout this chapter that I missed for many years. It starts in the very first verse where it says faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction, the conviction, the knowing, 22:45 the certainty of the things not seen. That's what faith is. Verse three, by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things 23:04 which are visible. What is seen was not made out of things which are visible. So what you see with your eyes, what you see and hear with your ears, you see the mountain, you see the trees and all that. You can say, "Ah, I no long speak 23:19 is over there." You spin me around a few times and I figure out where's west. Yeah, I no long speak is over there. But can you believe that that came out of the invisible? what you see and are so sure of God simply said ah it is let there be and 23:39 there was let there be long speak and there was it's a wonderful words what you see was not made out of things which are visible in other words God had to take something invisible something which you couldn't see and create out of it he says the 23:58 same thing in verse 13 all these D now he talks about people okay it's easy to think about yes God the creator creating light all these things out of that which is invisible that which is not seen but now people what about me Lord are you going to 24:14 create things unse things out of things are you going to create the life of Christ in me that's ultimately what we're seeking are you going to create the life of Christ in me in a visible tangible knowable way not only by me but 24:28 by my wife and my children and others who interact with me out of the invisible. In other words, there's not even the shred of Christlikkeness in me. In my flesh dwells nothing good. Paul said, I'm a WRETCHED MAN. MY FLESH IS SO 24:41 HORRIBLE. YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THAT HORRIBLE flesh which is as uncristlike as the devil himself and make something visible, the life of Christ in it. I have faith for that. By faith verse, sorry, verse 13. All these, he's talking about Abraham, 25:01 Isaac, Jacob, and before that, Noah, Enoch, Abel, etc., and the mountains. Um, all these died in faith. Every one of these died in faith without receiving the promise, but having seen them. It's an interesting phrase. They didn't 25:20 receive the promise, but they saw them. Like that, that would be like me saying, "Hey, I'm going to give you a birthday." If I said to one of my children, um, I'm going to give you a birthday gift, and they can't see. Well, they they don't 25:33 receive it, but they can see it. That's exactly what he did for these Old Testament saints. These died in faith without receiving the promise, but they saw them and welcomed them from a distance. They saw them with eyes of 25:47 faith. They having received they didn't receive the promise but they welcomed them from a distance having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. One more verse verse 27 by faith. Now he's talking about Moses 26:01 also living by faith. By faith Moses left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king. Now I I've pondered on this. I always thought that Moses left Egypt because he was running away from Pharaoh. In fact, I went back and read 26:16 in Exodus uh chapter 2, it does say that he was afraid that the king would find out, that Pharaoh would find out. And then it says he fled to Midian. But for some reason here it says that he fled left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the 26:30 king. Now, maybe it's talking about when he left with the Israelites, but regardless, it says that Moses left Egypt not fearing of the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen. There's that word unseen 26:45 again. How was it that Moses now he did was afraid and he was a little bit timid when God confronted him with in the burning bush and then he came back and stumbling mumbling and yet he could stand in front of Pharaoh and said let 26:59 my people go why he stood in front of Pharaoh and looked at Pharaoh but he couldn't see Pharaoh he saw God he saw this man who was the most powerful man on the face of the earth at that time Pharaoh and yet he says I will not live 27:15 by sight I will live by faith. I see God. I don't care what you say, Pharaoh. I don't care what you do to me. I see God. And that's the life that God wants us to have. That's faith. Christ is the greatest example of that. Now, when you face a 27:29 trial, now when you face a person, now when you face the government authorities, which I believe we will, I think in our lifetime, that's my personal opinion. When they will confront us and we will have to stand before rulers and authorities, what will 27:40 we say? I I'm I'm I'm not going to embarrass my children, but my um uh Olivia told me this morning that she had a dream last night that she and Z were being persecuted like Richard Wormbbrand. And she woke up in a panic with Zav's feet 27:58 were I don't even think she's told Z yet. His feet were all beaten and scarred like that film we saw of Richard Wormbrand. and uh and she acknowledged to me, she said, "Dad, I don't think I'm quite ready for it yet, but maybe 28:10 someday we'll get to suffer for the name of the Lord." Um, and uh what will happen now, children, I'm not trying to scare you. The Lord will take care of you. He'll hold you fast. We don't have to fear. But even if you should face 28:22 that, as Richard Wormbbrand did, um what what will keep us? We'll see them and we'll see them coming with the whips and all that stuff, but we'll see God. He says, "Lord, you won't fail me. I know you'll take care of me. I know you're 28:37 going to preserve me. I know you will hold me fast. See, it is written. See, my name is written in the palm of his hand. He will hold me fast." So, um, the God who creates something out of nothing. It says, "God, Moses saw that 28:55 which is unseen as seeing him who is unseen." And unless we come to the place where we are living on the basis of seeing the one who is unseen, we will always be affected by the things of this earth. We'll see this and we'll see 29:09 that. We'll hear this news. We'll hear the other news. Oh, the government's going to do this or oh, they're going to have more restrictions or now they want us to wear five masks. I don't know what else they ask us to do. But I see him 29:19 who is unseen. I say, Lord, you will hold me fast. Preserve me. And um here's a verse in Colossians chapter 1. Let's look at this together. Colossians as you know is a wonder Colossians 1 especially is a wonderful chapter that exalts the supremacy of 29:38 Christ that Christ may be preeminent in all things. This is the the essence of Colossians chapter 1. Um but I want you to see this in verse 15. Colossians 1 verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God. 29:56 There's that word again. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. I don't I don't think I've really delved into this or dug into it enough. I want to meditate on it some more and I hope you will too. That Jesus is the image of the 30:09 invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. By him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible. Have you seen the visible things that God created? Oh, that's easy. Yeah, just look out around you. mountains, the 30:27 trees and all that. What about the invisible things that God created that Jesus Christ has created? Have you seen those? By him all things were created both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones 30:39 or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. That includes the president, the prime ministers, the rulers and authorities, dictators who have come and may come in our time. 30:56 But what I see here is that if I if Christ is not in me, if Christ the image of the invisible God is not in me. In other words, if I haven't gotten revelation of Christ, then I won't be able to see these invisible things. I'll 31:10 be affected by the physical. I'll be affected by the natural. I'll be affected by my senses, by what I feel, what I see, what I hear. The secret to seeing these invisible things is the image of Christ, the invisible God in 31:23 me. This is our hope. The hope of glory. Christ in you. He says in the same chapter, this is the hope of glory. Christ in you. And when Christ is in you, when the image of the invisible God is there planted on your heart, then the 31:38 invisible things and the visible things, that's the same. Can you see that God is going to finish the work he started in you? Not with my earthly eyes, but I can with my spiritual eyes because I have the image of the invisible God in my 31:50 heart. Things invisible. Wonderful phrase. You know that poem that talks about three men were walking on a wall. Fact, faith and feeling. Feeling took a fall and faith was walking so close to feeling that faith started to fall too. 32:06 But fact pulled faith back up and feeling followed too. This is a a lot of times I get questions asked uh one of the most common questions I get in especially speaking with young people Q&A sessions is I I find that I'm 32:20 affected by my feelings and I was too when I was younger especially my teenage and 20s something years my feelings I would wake up one morning just not wondering why I felt kind of kind of crummy no reason nothing's really 32:33 changed everything's about the same as it is but I just kind of feel crummy and it affected my spiritual life and I found that uh my faith was being affected by my feelings. The way I felt a particular day or if I woke up with a 32:47 headache or I was a bad mood or things didn't go my way especially then it would affect my faith as well. Our faith must be based on fact. That's what will pull faith back up. That's why we have our children memorize the promises. I 33:02 mean this week was a command but um uh no it's a promise. Yes. the last week memorized. I will make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, I will DO IT. THAT'S THE FACT. Everything else, even the newspapers or 33:15 your own idea of history, that's not fact. God's word is fact. That's the only thing that's fact. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Jesus said, "This is the only thing that I know is fact." And if it's 33:26 written here that God said he would make uh roadway in the wilderness, he would make a river in the desert, then that's a fact. And my faith is going to be based on that, not on how I feel a particular day or the fact that I can't 33:39 see the river. I can't see the roadway. All I see is wilderness. All I see IS DESERT. BUT FACT SAYS there will be a roadway. Fact says there will be a river and so it shall be. It says it says in Christ the promises of God are yay and 33:54 what? Amen. Yes. Who says the amen? You and I do. God said yes. What did you say? Amen. This is promise. This is faith that's based on fact. Keep this faith, brothers and sisters. If you can walk this life of faith, if we can walk this 34:12 life of faith, it doesn't matter what happens around us. This is what Paul said. I want to give you one thing, Timothy, not a gift. I'm not going to lay my hands and pray a double portion of the anointing or you'll become a 34:22 better preacher than me or you'll plant more churches than me. Keep the faith, Timothy, and then you'll fulfill God's plan for your life. Keep the faith, husbands. It doesn't matter if you don't have a public ministry or what gifts God 34:34 gives you or doesn't give you. Keep the faith. Strive. Fight that good fight to keep this faith that God has said it. Say amen and live out that amen. Keep the faith. Wives, mothers, in your journey as you raise children, as you do 34:49 the work in the home or whatever things you do, keep the faith. Keep the faith, children. When you go to school and it's hard and you're like, why am I wasting my time studying this? What good is it going to do going to do me? Keep the 35:00 faith. Keep the faith. And then he says um in back in first Timothy 1, the invisible God. And then he says the only God. So first I talked about the fact that 35:18 God rules time. There's no yesterday, today, forever. It's all the same with the Lord. A day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. It's all the same to him. the the future is as certain to God as the past. Secondly, 35:32 the invisible God's word. Just because God is invisible doesn't mean his word will not be fulfilled. There's power in the word of the invisible God. Remember that there is power in the word of the invisible God. Just because he's 35:47 invisible doesn't mean that his word doesn't have power. If he said it, you don't have to see it. It will come to pass. And the third one here is that he alone is God, the only God. Um I think it's in Jude 1, uh that same passage we 36:05 were looking at earlier. Um see if I can find it. Yeah, the last verse of Jude 1:2. To the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. 36:22 Now, what does it mean when it says the only God? I think for for those of most of us listening, if not all of us listening to this word, if I said that Jesus Christ is the only God, you'd acknowledge it intellectually. Yeah. I 36:35 don't believe in any of the other gods that are in the world, Jesus Christ is the only true God. But to really experience the reality of this word, I believe it means that God is the only one who needs to know. His wisdom is 36:51 what matters. So, who are the other gods that are in competition with Jesus? Me. What do I mean by that? I think I know. I think, well, this is how it should be. I think I'm wise. I think I have 37:09 understanding. And so, now all of a sudden, I'm in competition with the only wise God. Here's God's wisdom, and there's my wisdom. And I'm trying to elevate my wisdom to somehow be comparable or I got to decide whether should I do it this way or well God's 37:24 word says and then it becomes a and this is going on in Christendom. God's word says well but you know what let's go back and study the context and let's analyze this and read the Greek and all all this stuff. Well, God's word said 37:36 it. And if my wisdom is somehow in my estimation a even a consideration when it comes to the wisdom of God, then I'm trying to exalt myself as God. He's not the only God. Then you'll also think yourself as a God. You know, there's a 37:53 verse in uh 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians 2, Paul is writing to the church in in Corenth and saying verse one. Let's read from verse one. 38:12 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom. Now, it's very interesting. Paul was a very different preacher from most preachers of today. I would say the vast majority of preachers, I listen to a lot 38:26 of preaching just here and there. Usually I make it for a few minutes and decide no this is not going to help me turn it off because what is it? It's the wisdom of man. Superiority of speech very articulate very moving emotionally 38:39 and you know they know how to uh their inflections of their voices and prancing around the stage and all this stuff that goes on superiority of speech and of wisdom. And Paul said listen no I did not come to you with superiority of 38:53 speech or of wisdom. I didn't make my words so fancy that I could impress you. Oh, wow. What a cute sermon. I love how he tied all these little things together. That wasn't Paul. He wasn't interested in tying anything together. 39:03 He was interested in getting you to know God. Um, and he says, "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness." In a sense, I think Paul had the option of being with them in 39:18 power. Paul was a very smart man. absolutely the most brilliant of all the uh biblical writers in my opinion. You write look at how he writes. There's so much intellectual power in him. But he's saying when I was with you, I was in 39:31 weakness. I sat there silent while you guys argued about this and argue about that. And I and I have the intellect. I sat in Galiel's school for years and I could have proved all of you wrong, but I was there in weakness. And you guys 39:43 thought I was a dummy. Let's teach Paul. He knows he doesn't know something. I was with you in weakness. I was with you in fear. Paul, you planted this church. There are these junior uh preachers there. You know about that man that's living in sin 39:58 with his with his father's wife. You know about that other situation. You know that these guys are all just fighting with each other. They break bread and they're glutton. And you sat there with fear and trembling. Mighty 40:09 Apostle Paul. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom. I wasn't out to try to convince you. If you didn't believe it, that's fine. It doesn't change God's word. I wasn't with you in persuasive words of wisdom, but I 40:26 was with you in the demonstration of the spirit and of power. You see how Paul had to lay aside his prowess, his power, his intellectual ability, his persuasive words, which he could have used if I read these verses correctly. He could 40:41 have made the sermon sound real powerful and real emotionally stirring, but he said, "No, I'm not going to because I want the spirit of God to move. I'm going to give you a very plain, ordinary sounding sermon, and you're going to leave thinking, "Ah, 40:56 I didn't get anything out of it." Yeah. Because you weren't interested in the power of God, but in demonstration of the spirit and the power of God, so that your faith, See, this is what Paul was after. I want I want you to have faith. I don't want 41:09 you to leave with an intellectual stirring and an emotional stirring and this is what's going on sadly and I've fallen prey to it for years in many churches an intellectual stirring emotional stirring and I think yep this 41:20 is going to change MY LIFE NO IT'S NOT IF YOU DON'T GET faith the only thing that can change your life change our lives brothers and sisters is faith so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of 41:34 God you see how I love these the I I long I long. I'll tell you church family, I long, this is the prayer of my heart that I would preach this way. I don't know if I'm there yet. God is my judge. I'll have to answer to him. But I 41:46 say, Lord, if I'm not, change me or put me down and shut my mouth for some time until I come to the place where I'm not trying to impress people with my words or give some cute idea or who can do they were they offended by them by 41:59 saying that? No, NONE OF THAT. LORD, I WANT THEM to have faith and for that faith to rest on your wisdom, the only wise God. I am not God. I know that's easy to say, but you know, we act like that sometimes that somehow I have some 42:12 wisdom. They're going to impress me. Oh, you gave such a good sermon or you're saying this way. No, there's only one God and he's the only one that's wise. And if we and you know, some of us have to get up here and speak, but we're all 42:25 have to be fathers, mothers, husbands, wives. Can we lead our wives, husbands in a way that no, I'm not the wise one. God is the only wise one. Can we lead our children, fathers and mothers, with this way that I'm not the 42:39 wise parent. God is the only wise one. He's the only wise God. I don't have wisdom. Think about applying these verses now to with our children. I came to our children. Can we tell say our children? Say to our children, I didn't 42:52 come to you with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God, impressing you with how I said it. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ. I was with my child. Can they can I say to them I was 43:06 with you in weakness in fear and trembling. It says fathers bring your children up in the fear and the instruction of the Lord. You know that starts with us fathers. I have to be in fear and trembling as I raise my children. I'm learning that now 43:20 after having sex finally it's getting through this thick skull of mine. Santo live your life in the fear of the Lord and then it will go well with your children. Bring them up in the fear of the and instruction of the Lord. How? by walking 43:32 in fear and trembling, living before GOD'S FACE, NOT AFRAID of him, but say, "Lord, I want to treat these children of yours with reverence, with awe. Give me your wisdom, Lord. I dare not give them my wisdom. I dare not tell them, oh, you 43:45 need to do this in your life or do that other thing in your life if it doesn't come from you." The wisdom from above that is pure. Sister Annie was speaking to the children about how the other wisdom is to the women is demonic. 44:00 Do you know that if you give if we give our children I don't want I want to I don't want to say you if we give our children an earthly wisdom that's demonic. Would you ever want your children to be exposed to demonic activity? And do you know let's read 44:13 that James chapter 5. Oh, sorry. James 3. Who among you, verse 13, is wise and 44:34 understanding? Let him show by his good behavior, his deeds, in the gentleness of wisdom. What's the gentleness of wisdom? I'm convicted even as I'm reading that right now. I come to my children as wise, wiser than them. But 44:47 it better not be, I'm in my 40s, you're in your teens, so you should listen to me. No, it's a sure way to expose them to the demonic wisdom. Many fathers are trying to do that. I know what's right. I'm ahead of the home. You better listen 44:59 to me. Yes, that's true. But you could lead your children astray. We could lead our children astray. Instead, verse 15, this wisdom is not that which comes down uh this other wisdom is not that which comes down from above. But 45:13 the wisdom from above, verse 17, is first pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. The wisdom that is not from above, verse 15, is earthly, natural, and demonic. That's a powerful word. 45:31 If I treat my children, raise my children with an earthly natural wisdom, God's word calls it demonic. You know, we're careful about what movies we allow our children to watch or what books we allow them to read. How about the wisdom that we're giving them? 45:47 this earthly natural wisdom that's affected by the psychological psychological books that we read and these other cute ideas even in Christianity. Now I'm I'm all for good books that help us learn how to be good parents. But let it come as you read the 46:01 books as you read uh oh you know how to treat children with this temperament or that temperament say Lord okay this is helping me in some practical ways but I want you to guide me into the path of wisdom. Otherwise, I could read this 46:15 wonderful Christian psychological book about parenting and and expose my children to demonic influence, demonic wisdom. So, this this power must be the power of God. Um, let's go back to Hebrews 11 before I 46:34 close. Hebrews 11 verse 11. Fight this good fight of faith. Actually, before we do that, keep a finger in Hebrews 11. I'd like to go to 46:52 um 2 Corinthians chapter 10, if you will, with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. How shall we fight this fight of faith? I I I I think I should mention that Paul tells us, you he says, "Fight the good fight of faith. What do I do? Does it mean I need to 47:10 make sure my children have half an hour of Bible study or we have prayer meetings or I take them to a good church family or all these things? No. How do we fight this fight of faith? Um he says 2 Corinthians 10, though we verse three, 47:25 though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. And by flesh, you know, yeah, he's he's talking it could it could mean physical things like, okay, even though I um I live in in the flesh, I'm not raising my 47:39 children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord by physically shaking their hands. Hey, you need to fear God or punishing them, disciplining them. You know, that's not our warfare. We though we walk in the flesh, we do not 47:55 war according to the flesh. Again, it's this I cannot war in according to the spirit if I'm waring according to the flesh. It's an eitheror. Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to according to the flesh. 48:10 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. I'm thinking now especially about us as parents and even in our relationships with others where God has called us to 48:23 have spiritual authority to fight the fight of faith. How shall we fight it? He says in verse 5, first of all, destroy speculations. Do you know that so much unbelief comes through speculation? Yeah, I this is probably what's going to happen. And the 48:40 news media is great at speculating. They speculate this is going to happen the the stock market this is going to happen or the future in 5 years the environment or this and that speculation and all of a sudden Christians are influenced by 48:51 saying yeah you're right oh man this is going to happen that's going to happen speculation destroy it he says we have destroyed speculations the next time you read some speculation in the news media just imagine destroying it in an arrow 49:05 through that I refuse to listen to that no place in my heart for that speculation Every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. Every lofty thing that means that thought that says I know the world is full of loftiness. Christendom is full 49:23 of loftiness. Destroy it. Any lofting lofty thing that raises itself up against the knowledge of God and we say, "I know God. You love me. I remember how you revealed yourself to me. Now, this other influence is raising itself up against what I know of 49:40 you. And I refuse to accept it. I know you love me. I'm known by you. That's enough. And I refuse to allow anything else to raise itself up. You must fight the fight of faith, brother. What? Where? In our thoughts. He says, we are 49:55 taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Ready to punish all disobedience. Wherever your obedience, whenever your obedience is complete. So this fight of faith is in our thoughts. I find that in my thought I find a 50:08 speculation wanting to come in, perhaps influenced by what I see or read or what somebody says. Now all of a sudden the devil's trying to get ME TO SPECULATE. DESTROY IT. STRIVE. Give it your full attention. Keep the faith, brother, 50:21 sister, child. Destroy that speculation. Destroy that lofty thing that exalts itself against the wisdom of God. Now, let's go back to Hebrews 11 and I'll close. Hebrews 11:13, it says that they 50:40 died in faith without receiving the promise. Imagine if some if God said, "I want you to trust me, but you're going to die before you receive it." If I said, "Hey, uh um children, I've got this much money saved up for you, but 50:53 you'll only get it after you die." What kind of a what kind of a gift is that? You know that he this is the faith that they had in Hebrews 11:13. You know, in a sense, I think some of these men had more faith than most Christians today. You know, I really 51:07 think that's true. Abraham, the way I read this verse, they didn't receive this promise. Now, I don't know if they knew they wouldn't receive it in his lifetime. When God said, "Your your seed shall be the as the stars of the sea, stars of the sky 51:21 and the sand on the seashore." Did Abraham actually think, "Yeah, that's going to happen in my lifetime." I don't know. I don't think so. Cuz how does a man who's in his 100 years old expect to have like a million children? 51:33 And yet that's what God said. I mean, he actually said, you try counting those stars. You counted up to a thousand, guess what? It's more than that. And it says that Abraham and and these other men died in faith without receiving the 51:46 promise, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and confessed that they were strangers and exiles on this earth. In other words, Lord, your promise IS NOT FOR THIS EARTH. I'm looking to the reward which 51:58 is in heaven. And then he says in verse 39 these including the ones that we read about they gained approval through their faith. This phrase has really become dear to me again uh as I've been meditating on this that what God is 52:13 looking for in our faith is that his approval is more valuable to us than the answer that we're looking for. Let me say that again. God's approval. Gaining God's approval through my faith is more important to me than whether God 52:28 actually does some earthly thing that I'm asking for. Now, let's say, Lord, I want you to heal me of this. Yes, that's a good prayer to ask. You can pray in faith. Pray in faith for that. But there's something that's more important 52:39 that supersedes that request. Lord, I want your approval. All these having GAINED APPROVAL BY FAITH. That's why these ones are in heaven today. I believe because they gained approval by God. Now, when you pray for healing, when you pray for that 52:53 job, when you pray for that financial situation, when you pray for that child, when you pray for that circumstance, say, "Lord, yes, Lord, I have this need and it's pressing and I'm feeling the pressures of this earth, but there's one 53:04 thing that I want more than anything else. I want to gain your approval." What a precious way to live. And they gained it. It says, "A Abel also gained approval." Verse two, it is the men of old, it is by it, the men of old gained 53:19 approval. When the approval of God is more precious to us than the earthly answer we're looking for, even in good things, then he is pleased by it. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Let's trust this God. You 53:34 know, I um I was thinking about this that if you have if you built a bridge, how would you test that the bridge is really strong? Would you send a cat across the bridge? No, that's no test. You need to send a train over it or a 53:49 big heavy truck with weighing 1,000 lbs. Let's send the heaviest thing we got to see if the bridge is solid. Now, who's the bridge? It's God. He is faithful. He is the one on whom I'm putting my trust. And God is in the wants to 54:06 prove to the world around us that he is who he is. That he's the only God. He's the only wise God. He's the immortal, invisible, eternal God. He is that strong bridge. And so he's saying, "Santoh, come. I want to take you 54:19 through a trial, so heavy, so burdensome that it's going to take a strong bridge for it to go across." Not this light. Oh yeah, I had a little bit of a mosquito bite. That's the cat going across the bridge. And maybe that's where it 54:34 starts. And you you're learning to trust this bridge and you're not yet willing to drive this 1,000lb truck across the bridge. But God won't start there. He says, "Let's start with the cat." Okay. Now let's send the the dogs a little 54:45 heavier. Let the trials get a little bit more difficult. You know why God allows more and more difficult trials to come in your life? He wants to prove to the world that the bridge is strong. That he is who the word says he is that 54:59 who he is who you say he is. He's able to save us. He's able to cleanse us from all sin. He's able TO SANCTIFY US. WELL, PROVE it then. The world will say, I say, "Yes, Lord. Here I am. Send me to a a lost and a hurting world. take me 55:13 through what it is that you want me to go through. I it's not I don't relish suffering. Sometimes I preach about suffering. Perhaps you guys think, man, he must like suffering. No, I don't. But I say, Lord, I want to get to the end of 55:23 my life having proved that you are who you say you are. You are a faithful God. I'm going to quote um something from David Wilkerson which really blessed me. Please listen. What the world hungers for is the sight of a Christian who is 55:38 being deeply tested. someone who is in trouble. His back against the wall with no way out. Yet he sings. The This Christian rejoices trusting in his God. He doesn't complain of his situation. Rather, he sings of the 55:56 Lord's faithfulness. He trusts not in man nor in circumstances, but in God. This is the miracle that will win the lost. This is the miracle that will win the lost. Much more than the preaching, much more than all the tracks you give, God wants us a 56:14 a a Christian who's being deeply tested in his life. This is the miracle that will win the lost. The miracle of true peace in dark times. Why? The worldly and wicked are also in a hard place. And they want hope. The worldly and the wicked are also in a 56:33 hard place. Now, you look at them and they're smiling and all that stuff. You may not know it, but they're in a dark place. It comes out every now and then. You hear a glimpse of it and they want hope. What God needs is a somebody who's 56:46 willing to be taken through a trial. Somebody who will say, "Lord, that bridge is stronger than you proved in my life yet. Let's take something heavier." Amen. [Music]
