3ABN On the Road

Real Religion - Getting Back To The Basics

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: David Asscherick

Home

Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000554


01:00 I'm thrilled that you have chosen to attend this seminar.
01:04 It will be a seminar and I hope that you will be blessed.
01:07 I trust that you will.
01:09 And I'm really looking forward to the messages
01:11 that we will present just now.
01:13 Before we commence though,
01:14 I'd like to have a word of prayer
01:15 with you and just ask
01:18 the Spirit of God to be with us
01:19 and to speak right to our hearts.
01:25 Father, in heaven,
01:28 we are gathering together
01:30 just now as men, as leaders.
01:35 Father, we didn't ask to be born as men.
01:40 This is something that You and Your sovereign
01:42 will have seen fit for us to be.
01:46 And, Father, we freely confess
01:47 that we are not worthy to be the leaders
01:49 You have called us to be.
01:52 And yet, Father, we have a sense
01:54 that because of Christ
01:56 and through Christ all things are possible.
02:01 And so, Father, we pray now
02:02 that as we get back to the basics,
02:04 as we long to investigate
02:06 and to inculcate real religion.
02:11 We pray that Your Holy Spirit
02:13 would come and speak to our hearts.
02:17 Father, may the spirit that inspired the scriptures
02:22 now become the spirit
02:23 that instructs in the scriptures.
02:28 Father, I pray also, for every other seminar,
02:31 please be with the presenters and the hearers.
02:35 And may minds be opened, may hearts be malleable,
02:39 and may eternal decisions be made for Christ
02:43 and for His kingdom.
02:45 Be with us now, Father,
02:47 as we study in Jesus' name. Amen.
02:53 All right, I want you to stand up.
02:55 Stand up with me.
02:59 I want you to turn to the personon your right
03:01 and I want you to say to them,
03:02 there's not enough time to get it all done.
03:09 I want you to turn to the person
03:11 on the other side and say,
03:12 there is not enough time to get it all done.
03:18 Now I want you to look up to the God of Heaven
03:21 and just say, Lord there is not
03:23 enough time to get it all done.
03:29 Now do you believe that? Have a seat.
03:34 Have you ever been to a time management seminar?
03:38 Anybody here ever been to a time management seminar?
03:41 Those time management seminars proceed on the notion
03:44 that there is enough time in the day
03:47 to get everything done,
03:48 that you need to get done.
03:49 You just need to organize
03:51 and prioritize yourself in such a way
03:52 that you can get it all done.
03:55 This seminar entitled "Real Religion,
03:58 getting back to the basics,"
03:59 will proceed on exactly the opposite premise.
04:02 I do not believe there is enough time to get it all done.
04:06 Imagine, how long you would have to stay at home
04:10 in order to do everything
04:11 you ever wanted to do with your children,
04:13 to be everything to your children
04:14 that you want to be, that you need to be,
04:16 and to be everything to your wife
04:19 that you want to be, that you need to be.
04:20 How much time would you have to spend at home?
04:26 Now imagine with me, similarly,
04:30 in order to accomplish all of the things,
04:33 if you're an independent businessman
04:34 that you want to personally accomplish in your business,
04:37 or if you're under the employee of somebody else
04:40 to accomplish all of the things, to reach all of the goals,
04:43 to attain of the aspirations that your boss has for you.
04:46 To make all of the return phone calls,
04:48 to answer all of the emails,
04:50 to get to all of the voice messages
04:51 that you want to get to and to be everything
04:53 that your job expects of you.
04:56 How much time would you have to spend at work?
05:00 Yeah, you're all murmuring cause you know.
05:03 Now imagine that you're going to get everything done
05:06 that your Pastor really wants you to get done in church,
05:08 or if you are a Pastor, you're going to get everything done
05:10 in church that is expected of you.
05:13 Everything. Your Pastor wants you
05:15 to help with this, and he wants you to assist with this,
05:17 and you're the leader in this area.
05:19 All the things that you want to get done in church,
05:22 in ministry, and in your own personal outreach to others,
05:26 you're going to get all of that done as well.
05:28 Now remember, you're also going to be the father
05:31 that you have to be, doing all of the things
05:33 that you want to do and wish you could do with your children,
05:35 be the husband, all of the things
05:37 that you want to do and wish you could do with your wife,
05:39 and all of the that you want to do
05:41 and wish you could do for your job.
05:43 How much time do you need
05:45 to get all of those things accomplished?
05:50 You think there's enough time to get it all done?
05:54 Friends, listen to me, there is
05:55 not enough time to get it all done.
05:58 You need to settle that in your mind, right now.
06:01 I do not believe that the premise
06:04 upon which many of these Time Management
06:06 seminars proceed, mainly this,
06:08 there is enough time in the day to get it all done.
06:10 You just have to prioritize and work your schedule out,
06:14 and put emphasis on the important things,
06:16 and deemphasize on the non-important things,
06:18 but it can be done if you just become very systematic
06:21 and methodical about your schedule.
06:23 I do not believe that.
06:27 I am firmly convinced that
06:29 there is not enough time to get it all done.
06:34 Now consider with me that Christianity
06:39 is like Mathematics, right?
06:42 You've taken a Mathematics course, haven't you?
06:43 Sometime in your life.
06:47 Mathematics is an interesting discipline
06:49 for the following reason,
06:51 at least for the following reason.
06:54 In order to proceed into the more advanced
06:58 and more sophisticated disciplines of Mathematics
07:01 say Algebra or Probability and Statistics,
07:04 Topology other kinds of advanced,
07:06 more sophisticated kinds of Mathematics.
07:08 It is absolutely essential that you not lose
07:12 sight of the basics of Mathematics
07:15 namely Arithmetic, the Timetables addition,
07:17 division, subtraction, etc.
07:20 Does that make sense, yes or no?
07:22 In other words, as you advance,
07:24 as you learn Algebra and Calculus and beyond,
07:26 you'll never stop using the basic things.
07:29 In fact there's more sophisticated
07:32 kinds of Mathematics will actually be impossible
07:35 if you lose sight of the basics.
07:39 I fear that for many of us,
07:44 we are desiring to advance into great
07:47 and high and lofty spiritual ministerial,
07:51 you name it religious realms,
07:53 but we have forgotten the basics.
07:58 Similarly, consider this analogy.
08:01 A building can only be as strong
08:04 as its smallest component is strong.
08:08 Okay, so this building, say it's made of bricks,
08:11 if the individual bricks are weak,
08:14 everyone of those individual
08:15 bricks is itself structurally comprised.
08:19 Can the structure, the building be strong
08:21 if the individual things that make it up are not strong?
08:24 Can that happen, yes or no? No, it's impossible.
08:28 In order for a building to be strong
08:29 the basic components must be strong.
08:34 Even the keenest mind that develops
08:36 the most sophisticated and well thought
08:39 piece of architecture, even these great
08:42 and lofty and very artistic and structurally
08:44 sound buildings, all of them are built
08:46 with very simple materials
08:50 bricks, wood, nails and screws.
08:56 And no matter how keenly designed
08:58 the building is if the blocks that make
09:01 that building up are not been so sound,
09:03 if the basic building blocks are not themselves strong,
09:06 the building no matter how keenly
09:08 designed will not be strong.
09:11 Are you comfortable with this idea, yes or no?
09:14 So whether in Mathematics or in Architecture,
09:17 the basics are essential.
09:20 If you forsake the basics in Mathematics,
09:22 you can never responsibly
09:24 advance into the more advanced themes.
09:27 If you forsake the basics in Architecture
09:29 and design a very sophisticated building,
09:31 you cannot make that building structurally sound
09:33 if the blocks that constitute the infrastructure
09:36 of that building are not themselves sound.
09:42 This seminar is going to proceed on several
09:44 very important premises and the first one,
09:47 the first two actually we have already introduced to you
09:50 and that is there is not enough time to get it all done.
09:55 Settle that in your mind, right now.
09:58 We will develop that thought more in a moment.
10:00 Secondarily, we will proceed on the premise
10:04 that if we are not strong in the basics,
10:08 we will never be able to advance to the higher
10:11 and more sophisticated realms of anything in life,
10:14 much less, spiritual things.
10:18 So in order to keep this seminar very simple,
10:20 they are whateveryone? Simple. Very simple.
10:23 In order to get back to the basics
10:25 to have an encounter with real religion,
10:28 we're going to ask and answer
10:29 just two questions, very simple.
10:32 How many questions, everyone?
10:34 Two questions, the first question is, what is the Gospel?
10:39 That's the first question
10:41 that we're going to ask and answer.
10:43 What is, the what everyone?
10:46 The Gospel.
10:47 The second question that we're going to ask
10:49 and answer is what is a relationship? That's it.
10:55 If we get this done in 30 minutes,
10:56 then we'll wrap it up in 30 minutes and go home,
10:58 but that is the whole purpose of this seminar
11:00 is to answers these two questions.
11:02 Question number one, what is it everyone?
11:05 Gospel. What is the Gospel?
11:06 And question number two, what is it?
11:08 Relationship.
11:09 What is a relationship?
11:13 Friends, if we fail in the basics, we fail.
11:19 You get that.
11:21 If we fail in the basics, we fail.
11:26 Let's begin by answering the question,
11:27 what is the Gospel?
11:29 Go with me to Romans Chapter 1,
11:30 Romans Chapter 1.
11:35 Romans Chapter 1.
11:36 Now the etymology of the word Gospel
11:38 is really quite interesting.
11:41 The word Gospel is transliterated
11:42 from the Greek word 'euangelion,' euangelion.
11:47 And this word came into popular vernacular,
11:50 into popular parlance probably about three centuries
11:53 before the time of Jesus,
11:55 when Greek speaking people
11:56 had immigrated to the North of Africa.
11:59 Okay, so you had Greek speaking people
12:00 living along the North shore of the African coast.
12:03 And these are people that had emigrated from Southern Europe,
12:06 Greece, Macedonia and other places.
12:08 And during the seasons, the dry season,
12:11 the wet season, the drought season,
12:13 the rainy years on and off,
12:14 it would become necessary that ships from the land
12:20 that they had left, would bring wares,
12:22 and foods, and merchandise,
12:23 and even mail and messages from the former land.
12:26 And as these people
12:28 that were living there along the coast,
12:29 as they would look out on the ocean there,
12:31 looking Northward from the North African coast,
12:34 as they would look out 'and would see a ship
12:36 appear on the horizon
12:37 they would shout euangelion, euangelion.
12:43 And the word meant good news, glad tidings,
12:49 good publications something that is needful,
12:52 something that is necessary has come from a land afar.
12:56 And so that cry would ring out throughout the earth,
12:58 euangelion, euangelion,
13:00 and it would go all the way back,
13:01 even to the peoples who were living further in inland,
13:04 further away from the coast, euangelion, euangelion.
13:07 And people knew a ship was coming
13:09 that was bringing important goods.
13:10 A ship was coming that was bringing merchandise,
13:12 some mail or food, whatever it might be,
13:14 it meant good tidings has come from a land afar.
13:21 And so too, when Mathew, Mark, Luke
13:23 and John began to employ this terminology euangelion.
13:26 Jesus Himself employed this term.
13:30 In the common vernacular,
13:32 what that word meant was good news.
13:36 Good, what everyone?
13:37 And more specifically,
13:39 good news has come from a land afar.
13:45 What is the Gospel? Romans 1:1,
13:48 we're going to be exceedingly simple in this seminar.
13:51 We're going to strive for simplicity.
13:55 Roman 1:1, who wrote the book of Romans?
13:59 Paul, its right there, isn't it?
14:01 "Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ,
14:03 called to be an apostle,
14:06 separated to the Gospel of God"
14:11 separated to the what everyone?
14:13 To the Gospel, to the euangelion,
14:15 to the Gospel of God, to the good news of God.
14:18 So Paul begins this queen of his epistles by saying,
14:21 I'm Paul, the apostle,
14:24 separated as an apostle to the Gospel of God.
14:29 And notice verse 2, "Which he promised
14:33 before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures."
14:36 Now verse 2 functions essentially
14:39 as a prepositional phrase.
14:42 As a what did I say, everyone? Prepositional phrase,
14:45 now how many of you remember grammar class or English class?
14:48 Do you remember what a prepositional phrase is?
14:50 It's very easy to understand.
14:53 It's easily illustrated, if I take this microphone
14:56 I could say something like the mike is there,
15:00 the microphone is there.
15:01 Is that a sentence, yes or no? Yeah, that is a sentence.
15:04 It has all of the necessary components of a sentence.
15:07 The microphone is there. So you have the noun,
15:09 you have the object, it's all there.
15:11 The microphone is there, but if I take the microphone
15:13 and I set it on this chair and then I say
15:16 the microphone is there on the chair.
15:20 On the chair is a prepositional phrase.
15:24 On the chair is a what, everyone?
15:26 A prepositional phrase.
15:27 Now follow this very carefully.
15:29 A prepositional phrase is that which modifies
15:33 something in a sentence, but it's not itself necessary
15:36 to the structure of the sentence.
15:38 So for example, I can say the microphone is there
15:41 and that's a sentence that stands on its own,
15:43 or I can add the prepositional modifier,
15:45 the microphone is there, on the chair.
15:48 On the chair can be removed from the sentence
15:51 and the sentence still stands on its own,
15:53 but if you include it in the sentence
15:55 it adds an additional modifying element.
15:58 Does that make sense, yes or no?
15:59 That's a prepositional phrase.
16:01 Now verse 2 in Romans 1, 2
16:04 and 3 basically functions as a prepositional phrase.
16:08 Okay, look at it again there.
16:10 At the end of verse 1, he says
16:11 "Separated to the Gospel of God"
16:13 and then here's your prepositional phrase verse 2,
16:16 "Which he promised before through
16:18 his prophets in the Holy Scriptures".
16:21 When Paul adds that basically what he's doing is,
16:23 he's modifying the Gospel.
16:25 He's just letting you know that the Gospel
16:26 didn't just appear in a vacuum,
16:28 the Gospel didn't just appear in some
16:30 sort of a vacuum or situation.
16:31 The Gospel was the logical outworking
16:33 of the Messianic identity of Jesus
16:36 from the Old Testament scriptures.
16:39 But here's the point verse 2,
16:41 can basically be removed at least temporarily
16:45 so that we can keep the continuity of thought
16:47 from verse 1 right into verse 3.
16:49 Okay. Now watch this,
16:51 what we're going to do is read verse 1,
16:53 we're going to leave out verse 2 temporarily,
16:55 what it says is very important
16:57 but we're just going to remove it temporarily.
16:58 So that we lose that modifying element
17:01 and we're going to go right into verse 3.
17:03 Okay, listen to it.
17:05 "Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ,
17:08 called to be an apostle,
17:11 separated to the Gospel of God
17:13 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord,"
17:19 or you could render it this way,
17:21 "Separated unto the Gospel of God
17:24 which concerns Jesus Christ our Lord."
17:29 For the Apostle Paul the Gospel was that
17:33 which concerned who, everyone?
17:35 Jesus Christ our Lord.
17:37 Do you see how you remove verse 2,
17:39 you remove that modifying sentence there.
17:41 It's not that it's important, it's very important.
17:42 But you remove that and you can see how it is,
17:45 that Paul defines the Gospel.
17:49 Verse 1, "I'm Paul, the apostle,
17:51 separated to the Gospel of God,
17:52 which concerns Jesus Christ",
17:55 and this is the first point you've got to get.
18:00 The Gospel is that
18:03 which concerns a person.
18:07 The Gospel is that which concerns what did I say,
18:10 everyone? And who is that person?
18:13 Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
18:15 Now I want to emphasize that,
18:16 for Paul the Gospel was that
18:19 which concerned a person,
18:22 which concerned a what?
18:23 A person and now you say, but we know this.
18:25 Yeah, this is basic stuff.
18:28 Follow this more carefully.
18:30 Go with me to First Corinthians 15.
18:32 Okay, stay right here in the New Testament.
18:33 Go to First Corinthians 15.
18:37 Now who wrote First Corinthians?
18:39 Who wrote First Corinthians?
18:40 Paul, I was having trouble hearing you there.
18:43 Beginning in verse 1, First Corinthians 15:1
18:46 remember we are asking and answering the question,
18:49 what is the Gospel? That's the question
18:53 that we're seeking to answer.
18:54 What is the Gospel? First Corinthians Chapter 15,
18:58 beginning in verse 1,
19:01 "Moreover, brethren I declare to you,"the what everyone?
19:07 "The Gospel which I preached to you,
19:09 which you also received and in which you stand".
19:12 All Paul is saying here is hey, when I was with you,
19:15 I was preaching the Gospel and that the Gospel
19:17 that if you stand in it, it will save you.
19:19 Look at verse 2, verse 2 of First Corinthians 15,
19:22 "By which also you are saved, if you hold fast
19:25 that word which I preached to you
19:27 unless you believed in vain."
19:29 Okay, so verses 1 and 2, all Paul is saying is hey,
19:31 when I was with you I preached the Gospel,
19:33 this is the Gospel that will save you if you hold on.
19:37 Now if I begin to sing this song,
19:41 you tell me if you could finish it
19:43 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
19:48 Join me, Praise Him,
19:50 all Creatures Here below
19:53 What are you singing? What are you singing?
19:57 You're singing the doxology.
19:59 Now by raising of hands, be honest.
20:03 Who is in this room, knows what a doxology is?
20:05 Raise your hands.
20:07 You know what that word means? We got one, anybody else?
20:12 Isn't this remarkable? Every Sabbath
20:16 we sing the doxology
20:18 and one in 300 know what it means.
20:22 Does that strike you, is a little strange?
20:25 You know, I love to sing, don't you?
20:28 I said I love to sing, don't you?
20:31 Amen! And one of my favorite hymns is
20:32 "Come thou fount of every blessing".
20:34 You like that hymn? And I love that line it says,
20:38 Here I raise mine Ebenezer
20:42 Hither by thy help I'm come
20:45 Now have you ever sung that before, yes or no?
20:48 Okay, you know what an Ebenezer is?
20:52 How many people by raising of hands,
20:53 know what an Ebenezer is?
20:55 Oh, wow, the numbers are increasing dramatically.
20:57 We're up to about 10.
21:00 Isn't it interesting, that we participate in a significant
21:03 amount of religiosity that we do not have
21:05 a clue of what we are doing? Amen to that one.
21:08 You're getting quiet now because you're nervous.
21:11 An Ebenezer friends, and Ebenezer was the stone
21:14 that Samuel erected when he told the children of Israel,
21:17 hey God has lead us this far,
21:20 it's a stone that you raise in your life
21:21 that says God lead me this far
21:24 and he's not going to leave me alone to perish.
21:26 Amen! That's an Ebenezer.
21:27 Now a doxology even though we sing it every Sabbath
21:31 and only one of us claims to know what it is.
21:33 A doxology is a succinct statement of belief
21:39 that is crafted for the purposes
21:41 of memorization, okay.
21:44 A doxology is a succinct statement of belief
21:48 that is crafted for the purposes of memorization.
21:53 Does that make sense, yes or no?
21:55 So a doxological statement is a statement
21:58 that is made in order to teach something.
22:02 In order to what? Teach.
22:03 Teach. So for example,
22:05 we could jus jettison the seminar.
22:06 We could say okay, I changed my mind
22:07 I'm not going to deliver the seminar
22:09 I've got a better idea.
22:10 Let's all come up with a doxology, okay.
22:13 And you and I today, right now,
22:14 we could come up with a one or two
22:16 or a three sentence doxology like
22:18 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
22:19 Praise him, all creatures here below
22:21 Praise him above, the heavenly host
22:22 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
22:24 So what we're saying is, that's what we belief.
22:25 That's a succinct statement
22:27 about what we believe about God.
22:29 Does that make sense, yes or no?
22:30 And doxologies are frequently sung,
22:33 they are easy to memorize, they are frequently sung,
22:36 they are a brief statement of what we believe.
22:39 Now here's why I'm telling you this,
22:41 in First Corinthians 15:1 and 2 Paul says hey,
22:43 I'm preaching the Gospel to you,
22:45 this is the Gospel that will save you,
22:46 if you stand in the Gospel.
22:48 And then most Bible expositors virtually,
22:50 all Bible expositors agree that what Paul does in verse 3
22:54 is he introduces an early Christian doxology.
23:01 In other words, what you find
23:02 in the latter half of verse 3 and all of verse 4
23:05 and part of verse 5 is not,
23:07 listen carefully, original with Paul.
23:10 This is not something that Paul wrote.
23:12 Paul here is quoting an earlier doxological statement,
23:17 that is to say a brief succinct statement of what
23:20 it meant to be a Christian in the early years.
23:24 Some scholars traced this doxological statement
23:27 to within five years of the crucifixion event,
23:31 five years of the crucifixion event.
23:33 That's why Paul says look at there in verse 3,
23:35 "For I delivered to you first of all
23:38 that which I also received;"
23:41 colon, is that what your Bible has there, yes or no?
23:47 Does your Bible have a colon there, yes or no?
23:49 Yeah, the New King James Bible has a colon,
23:52 many other translations have a colon.
23:54 Now tell me, what function does
23:57 a colon serve in the English Language?
24:02 A colon. Okay, a list comes after,
24:06 that's exactly right.
24:07 Something comes after that refers back
24:10 to what you just said, so for example
24:12 this is a very easy to understand,
24:13 pretend like I had a blackboard up here I wish I did.
24:15 Okay, pretend like I wrote out the following statement
24:18 "These are my two sons: Landon and Jabel."
24:26 Does that make sense, yes or no?
24:27 Is that how we use a colon in the English Language?
24:30 "These are my two sons: Landon and Jabel."
24:33 So the colon says Landon and Jabel refers
24:35 back to what I just said these are my two sons.
24:38 So notice what Paul does there in verse 3.
24:40 he says for I delivered unto you
24:42 that which I also received colon.
24:46 In other words, I'm preaching to you
24:48 what was preached to me, and in the rest of verse 3,
24:53 all of verse 4 and all of verse 5
24:55 is a doxological statement that comes before
24:59 the time of Paul by more than 20 years.
25:04 Now remember what's Paul talking about in verses 1 and 2.
25:07 What's he talking about everyone?
25:09 Come on, encourage me.
25:10 The Gospel, the euangelion,
25:13 the Gospel and then he says in verse 3,
25:15 "I delivered unto you that which I already received."
25:17 Here it is, here is the doxology.
25:20 It is going to sound like a doxology
25:21 when you see it this way oh,
25:23 that's a doxology, it looks like a doxology.
25:25 It sounds like a doxology.
25:28 Latter half of verse 3, "Christ died for our sins
25:32 according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried,
25:37 and that he rose again the third day
25:38 according to the Scriptures,
25:40 and that he was seen by Cephas,
25:41 and then by the Twelve.
25:45 " Do you see the doxology there, yes or no?
25:48 It's a succinct statement of Christian belief
25:51 that was designed for the purposes of memorization.
25:56 So that in the years right after the crucifixion,
25:59 if you claim to be a Christian
26:00 and I claim to be a Christian
26:02 before we had the written word codified,
26:04 the New Testament codified you claim
26:06 to be a believer in Christ,
26:07 I claim to be a believer in Christ.
26:09 We could know that we are on the same page
26:10 if we affirm this doxology.
26:13 Hey, what do you believe? I'll tell you what you believe,
26:14 I believe that "Christ", what?
26:16 "Died according to the Scriptures,
26:18 then he was buried, that he rose again
26:21 the third day according to the Scriptures
26:23 and that he was seenby Cephas, and then by the Twelve".
26:24 That's what it meant to be a Christian
26:26 in the early centuries.
26:29 Making sense, yes or no?
26:31 So Paul here is simply quoting
26:34 an earlier doxological statement.
26:36 You says what's the big deal,
26:37 what does this have to do with time management?
26:39 Follow this. Watch this carefully.
26:44 I'm going to substitute Jesus Christ
26:47 for every time a pronoun occurs in the doxology,
26:51 okay, a pronoun that refers to Him occurs.
26:53 I'm in verse 3, "Jesus Christ died
26:57 for our sins according to the Scriptures,
26:58 and that Jesus Christ was buried,
27:01 and that Jesus Christ rose again
27:04 the third day according to the Scriptures,
27:05 and that Jesus Christ was seen by Cephas,
27:08 and then by the Twelve.
27:11 What is the obvious thrust of the doxology?
27:17 What is it everyone? It's the life of Jesus Christ.
27:22 Now remember what did Paul say in Romans 1
27:24 "Separated to the Gospel of God which concerns"
27:28 Which concerns, what everyone? "Jesus Christ."
27:31 And here he tells us hey, when I was preaching
27:33 the Gospel to you, I preached the Gospel,
27:35 this is what I preached that Jesus Christ
27:37 was--He died according to the Scriptures,
27:40 that He was buried,
27:41 that He rose again according to the Scriptures,
27:42 that He was seen by Cephas and by the Twelve.
27:44 For Paul the Gospel was about a person.
27:52 The Gospel is not a mere set of beliefs.
28:00 I'm going to say that again.
28:03 The Gospel is not a mere set of theological
28:06 beliefs or propositions.
28:09 The Gospel is a person.
28:14 The Gospel is the good news about a man,
28:18 and actual man that actually lived,
28:21 and is actually alive today, in an actual place.
28:25 That's the Gospel, friends.
28:28 We sometimes confuse the Gospel with beliefs
28:35 and we believe as Seventh-day Adventist
28:37 that when you die, you do not ascend
28:39 directly into the immediate pristines of heaven
28:41 but you sleep the sleep of death and await the resurrection.
28:43 Do we believe that, yes or no?
28:46 Yes. Is that true, yes or no?
28:47 Yes. But friends, listen
28:49 that is the belief that we hold.
28:51 That is not in its most core sense the Gospel.
28:57 Okay. Do we believe that in 1844,
28:59 Jesus Christ entered the Most Holy Place
29:01 to begin the end, the final phase of judgment
29:04 and thus ushering the anti-typical
29:06 Day of Atonement? Do you believe that, yes or no?
29:07 Yes. Yes.
29:09 And that date and that phase of ministry
29:11 will tell us something about Jesus Christ,
29:13 but the date itself is a belief.
29:17 The Gospel is the good news about a person.
29:20 Now some of you are sitting there
29:21 and getting very easy and saying Oh,
29:24 no he's trying to separate between
29:25 what we believe and Jesus.
29:27 Not at all. Think of it this way.
29:30 How many of you today have wives?
29:34 Okay. Are there things
29:36 that are true about your wife?
29:39 Are there statements that could be
29:41 made about your wife, yes or no? True statements.
29:43 Okay. Imagine with me that we have up here
29:48 a great big sheet of paper or better
29:50 yet you have a laptop computer on your lap.
29:52 And we're going to start writing out
29:54 all kinds of true things about your wife.
29:57 Okay. You're ready? So in my case
30:01 I'm gonna write down Violeta Indochi
30:03 was born on October 5th, 1975.
30:09 She was born in Constanta, Romania.
30:11 She has two brothers and two sisters.
30:13 Her favorite color is this. Her favorite food is this.
30:15 She stubbed her toe when she was 13 years old
30:17 and broke it and it turns kind of funny.
30:19 I mean, I'm gonna have all of these things.
30:21 I'm going to write out all of these things about my wife.
30:25 Making sense, yes or no?
30:27 Now you do the same for your wife,
30:28 okay, you type them all up.
30:29 And after years and years,
30:31 you have finished your exhaustive list,
30:34 your exhaustive compendium of all of the things
30:37 that are true about your wife and then you burn it
30:41 to a CD or better get a DVD.
30:45 Now is that DVD your wife, yes or no?
30:50 Now imagine you print it out,
30:51 you've got 150 pages of true things about your wife.
30:54 Can you imagine crawling into bed one evening
30:56 and cuddling up with your DVD?
31:01 Cuddling up with your paper?
31:04 Friends, don't miss this point.
31:06 all of those things about your wife are not your wife.
31:11 You follow that. All of those things are true.
31:15 All of those things are good.
31:17 All of those things are informative and meaningful.
31:19 But not one of those things is your wife.
31:22 Can you imagine going out to a restaurant
31:26 your DVD under one arm? Table for two, please.
31:33 You sit down you put the DVD across the table.
31:37 Yes, I'll be having a lasagna
31:38 and she will take the angel hair pasta
31:42 with a tomato basil sauce, light on the cheese.
31:46 It's totally nonsensical to even think about that,
31:48 to talk about that it sounds foolish and ludicrous.
31:51 Friends, listen to this.
31:52 Many of us have substituted beliefs
31:55 about Jesus for the person of Jesus.
31:59 Do you see that, yes or no?
32:02 We have substituted a set of beliefs
32:04 about the person for the actual person Himself.
32:11 Remember, what's our question
32:12 that we're seeking to answer?
32:14 What is the Gospel?
32:19 Now I want to read to you from a pen of Ellen White
32:24 and I want to go and record of saying
32:26 I make absolutely no apologies for this.
32:31 Eight years ago, I was studying pre-medicine
32:35 at the University of Wyoming, was not a Christian,
32:39 had no interest in Christianity,
32:42 was fairing quite well in my self satisfied,
32:45 secular existence.
32:46 I was a 24-year-old person
32:48 who wanted to be a doctor made good money,
32:49 and just go on rock climbing the rest of my days.
32:52 This was my paradigm to use the modern term.
32:56 The Lord brings a tragedy into my experience
32:59 and I find myself one day with tears running down
33:01 my cheeks with a Christian book in my hands,
33:05 that Christian book is called 'The Great Controversy'
33:08 maybe you've heard of it.
33:12 Now let me tell you something,
33:13 I read that book and I didn't know
33:15 the first thing hardly about Christianity,
33:19 but in reading that book even with my limited
33:21 perfunctory understanding, I can tell you something.
33:25 I knew right off, that whoever wrote this book
33:28 and I didn't even know it was a she,
33:30 I just knew it was an EG.
33:33 Whoever wrote this book had a special connection with God.
33:39 Now this was before I, this was before
33:40 I was a Seventh-day Adventist, I was just reading this book,
33:43 was given to me in a health resort,
33:44 I was just reading it.
33:46 I didn't know that some church claimed
33:47 that she was a prophet, I knew none of that.
33:49 I could have told you even then,
33:50 this woman has some kind of special connection
33:53 with the God that she worships.
33:56 So this morning I make no apologies
33:58 for quoting from her pen.
34:00 And I tell you, you will be hard pressed
34:04 to find a better, more sublime
34:09 and more succinct definition of the Gospel than this.
34:12 I challenge you, try it. Here it is.
34:16 If you're interested in the reference
34:17 this is from Manuscript 49, 1898,
34:20 Manuscript 49, 1898. You're ready for the statement.
34:22 One sentence, one sentence,
34:28 "Hanging upon the cross,
34:33 Christ was the Gospel."
34:36 Can you say, amen?
34:42 "Hanging upon the cross,
34:45 Christ was the Gospel."
34:52 Friends, you cannot get anymore purer than that.
34:56 Knock yourself out trying.
34:59 See if you can do a better definition than that,
35:00 you cannot top that.
35:04 That is, that is non-toppable.
35:08 "Hanging upon the cross,
35:09 Christ was the Gospel."
35:14 For Ellen White as for Paul,
35:19 the Gospel is the good news about a person,
35:26 about a what everyone?
35:28 This cannot be over emphasized.
35:31 It is not just a set of beliefs.
35:33 Are beliefs important, yes or no?
35:35 Oh, come on, you're talking
35:37 to a Seventh-day Adventist Evangelist,
35:38 are beliefs important? Beliefs are very important,
35:41 extremely important, but not supremely important.
35:50 The Gospel is Jesus Christ.
35:57 It's the good news about a man who lived,
36:02 breathed, who died, was humiliated and crucified,
36:07 who was buried in a tomb that was not His own,
36:11 who rose again hallelujah the third day
36:13 according to the Scriptures and who were seen by Cephas,
36:16 the Twelve and by 500 other brethren,
36:21 that my friends, is the Gospel.
36:25 Just ask Paul, just ask Ellen White.
36:29 Now remember we wanted to ask
36:32 and answer two questions.
36:33 How many questions, everyone? two questions?
36:35 The first question you wanted to ask
36:37 and answer is what is the Gospel?
36:39 Now you can add more layers to that,
36:41 you can add more elements to that,
36:42 you can do that if you want,
36:44 like an onion you want to pile on this,
36:45 and pile on this, fine, you can do that.
36:47 But if you strip the Gospel down
36:48 to its most basic element to,
36:50 to the basic germ of what the Gospel is?
36:53 The Gospel is the news about a person,
36:56 an actual person. Amen.
37:00 Second question, the second question
37:03 that we want to ask and answer is
37:04 what is a relationship?
37:09 What is a relationship?
37:14 Now in order to answer this question
37:16 I thought it would be a good idea to go ask
37:18 Mr. Webster, Noah Webster.
37:22 Here it is, a relationship
37:27 "A close emotional connection
37:30 between two persons".
37:34 That easily memorized, doesn't it.
37:36 Let's say that together "
37:37 A close emotional connection
37:41 between two persons".
37:44 Now notice this, it does not say,
37:47 a close emotional connection
37:48 between a person and a set of beliefs.
37:53 A relationship is by definition is a close emotional
37:56 connection between two, what?
37:59 Two persons. Two people.
38:05 Now I don't want to be laid with the point,
38:08 but friends this must be emphasized,
38:11 because many of us have surplanted
38:14 the actual Jesus with truths and things
38:18 that are correct about Jesus.
38:23 It's the functional equivalent of taking
38:24 that list of all of those things that are true
38:26 about your wife and calling that your wife.
38:30 Here you would have substituted beliefs about your wife,
38:32 true statements about your wife,
38:34 doctrines if you will
38:35 about your wife, for your wife
38:42 In the pop word today and the word
38:44 that is becoming increasingly popular in our modern
38:46 Adventist vernacular is this word relationship.
38:54 And many of us have been urged by our pastors,
38:56 and urged by our spiritual mentors,
38:58 and urged by our church leaders
39:00 to have a personal, you finish it for me.
39:02 A personal relationship, but some of us are struggling
39:05 with this and the reason I believe
39:08 that some of us are struggling is that
39:10 we're trying to have a relationship
39:11 with a set of beliefs.
39:19 I'm going to share with you right now,
39:20 the three most powerful words in the entire universe.
39:25 You search the universe over
39:26 and you will not find three words
39:29 that are more powerful than these three words.
39:33 Jesus is alive. Amen!
39:42 We serve a living Savior.
39:46 A good friend of mine, a pastor in this conference,
39:48 a man who I love dearly and have great respect
39:50 for a young man by the name of Jason Seiber was leading
39:54 his debauched, crazy life there at Humboldt State University.
39:57 And Jason Seiber went to hear some Baptist
40:01 preacher preach, and that Baptist preacher
40:03 said a whole bunch of words,
40:04 Jason didn't remember any of it,
40:06 but he said three words and these three words ignited
40:09 a revolution that took place in that young man's mind.
40:12 And those three words were, "Jesus is alive."
40:17 And this was like a lightning strike to Jason.
40:19 It was like, wait a minute,
40:22 religion is more than just a set of beliefs.
40:26 Religion is more than
40:27 a cacophony of creeds and doctrines.
40:29 Religion is about a person.
40:32 A man who actually lived,
40:34 a man who actually died and a man who actually,
40:36 praise God, rose from the dead.
40:39 Jesus is alive.
40:44 And Mr. Webster says,
40:45 a relationship is a close emotional
40:47 connection between two,
40:50 you finish it for me, two persons.
40:55 If we are struggling to have a relationship,
40:57 maybe it's because we have supplanted
40:59 the substance with the shadow.
41:01 We have supplanted the actual Jesus
41:05 with truths about Jesus.
41:08 And we are struggling and trying to have a relationship
41:11 with a set of beliefs and not with an actual living,
41:16 breathing, dynamic person.
41:26 Go with me in your Bible to Mark Chapter 1,
41:31 Mark what chapter, everyone?
41:32 One. Mark Chapter 1.
41:35 Here we find the remarkable comment,
41:40 remarkable element.
41:43 Just a little one verse statement here
41:47 that is absolutely remarkable.
41:49 Mark 1:35. The Bible says,
41:55 "Now in the morning, having risen
41:58 a long while before daylight, Jesus,
42:01 He, went out and departed to a solitary place
42:05 and there he prayed." Fascinating.
42:12 Jesus woke up and He went into a place
42:14 where He could be alone.
42:17 Why did He go there? Why does the scripture say
42:19 He went there? To pray.
42:22 Finish this for me if you can.
42:24 Prayer is the opening of the heart
42:27 to God as to a what? As to a friend.
42:30 Not to a set of beliefs.
42:34 Just try talking to your Bible someday.
42:37 Just try talking to--open up the wonderful book
42:41 that I love so much, Seventh-day Adventist beliefs,
42:44 27 fundamental beliefs, just open that thing up
42:46 and try having a conversation.
42:47 Just go ahead.
42:49 Your wife will think you have lost your mind.
42:53 And yet, many of us are trying
42:54 to do that very thing.
42:57 We are seeking to have a relationship
42:58 with a set of beliefs.
43:00 Jesus woke up in the morning
43:02 not to go back over in wrote,
43:03 everything that He believed,
43:05 not to go cogitate upon all the things
43:07 that He knew is true.
43:08 Jesus woke up in the morning
43:10 to spend actual time with an actual person,
43:12 His Father. Amen.
43:16 And Jesus knew that, if He was going to be
43:17 strengthened for the day to overcome the temptations,
43:20 the difficulties and the vicissitudes
43:21 of the Messianic life, He had to have
43:24 that quality time with His Father. Amen.
43:29 Now I tell you, this quality time
43:31 is a tricky one, isn't it?
43:35 I've been married now for five years,
43:36 five happy years. I'm glad to announce that,
43:40 five happy years that get better every year.
43:43 But let me tell you, I had a real struggle
43:45 the first two years of my marriage,
43:47 and my wife would say the strangest things.
43:52 She would say things like this, Sweetie,
43:57 we don't spend much time together,
44:00 I'd say what, I was incredulous.
44:03 What do you mean, we don't spend much time together.
44:05 We ate together just this morning.
44:09 We slept together last night.
44:12 We're going to eat together again tonight.
44:13 She said, no you don't understand.
44:15 I want quality time, quality time.
44:20 Have you men, has this men,
44:21 have any of you had this two phrase?
44:23 Has this been introduced into your marital vernacular,
44:25 yes or no? Quality time.
44:29 All right, quality time and so she was trying
44:32 to communicate to me this is quality time and this isn't.
44:34 And after about five years now,
44:36 I'm starting to get the feel for what quality time is?
44:38 I don't quite have it, though,
44:40 because this is a true story.
44:41 I would sometimes say to my wife when we are right
44:43 in the middle of an activity, we're doing something,
44:45 we've gone out to do something for the day,
44:46 I'll just lean over to her and I'll say now,
44:48 now sweetie, you can ask her, she'll tell you this is true.
44:50 I'll say now, sweetie, is this quality time?
44:54 And she'll say yeah, this is quality time.
44:56 I'll say, yeah, okay, good.
44:57 I just wanted to be sure because there have been times
45:00 where were spending what I thought was
45:01 quality time and then the day was done
45:03 and I'd say you know,
45:05 I've got to go away for a day or two,
45:06 and she'd say we're not spending anytime.
45:07 What are you talking of? We just spent time yesterday,
45:09 but that wasn't quality time.
45:10 That wasn't quality time.
45:12 I'm starting to get it, I mean,
45:13 slowly I mean as dense as can be,
45:15 but I'm starting to get this quality time thing now.
45:19 And quality time, are you ready for this?
45:22 Quality time is time spent I can say it
45:25 in one word "Time spent undistracted".
45:31 Time spent, what did I say? Undistracted and I tell you,
45:34 you want to talk about an epiphany.
45:36 I had a eurekan moment with my wife
45:38 about three years ago.
45:41 I had been busy running this way
45:43 and that way and trying
45:44 to get you know, everything done.
45:45 Some of us think that if we're not doing
45:47 everything in the world, that the world is just going
45:48 to fall apart and I fell victim to that,
45:51 I fell victim to that.
45:53 Let me just pause here for a moment,
45:54 let me give you a parenthetical statement I know your busy.
45:58 If you are a typical man and you have
46:00 an ounce of ambition in you,
46:02 you're a busy person, okay.
46:06 Now this is a parenthetical statement,
46:08 you don't have to pay any extra for this.
46:13 You are replaceable in your place of work.
46:21 You might think that if you don't do
46:24 the job that God has called you to do,
46:26 and your line of work that
46:27 the whole thing is gonna fall apart,
46:30 and crash and burn. Not true.
46:32 You are totally replaceable, even you.
46:36 In your line of work, you might be
46:38 sitting here today as a pastor saying no,
46:39 he's talking about all the no, no, no.
46:41 Even as a pastor if you suddenly die
46:43 in a car accident tomorrow,
46:44 the conference wouldn't go,
46:46 oh, know what happened to Pastor Keith Phillips
46:47 and the whole thing falls in upon himself,
46:49 they will just hire somebody else.
46:51 Where are you, Keith?
46:53 Yeah, I'm sorry Keith, I'm sorry, brother.
46:56 It's just not. Even Pastor Pelendee there.
46:58 Even if Pastor, if something happened to him,
47:00 you know, the whole thing wouldn't fall in,
47:02 he's replaceable. Amen.
47:05 Pastor Asscherick is every one of you
47:07 whether in a pastoral setting or in your work setting,
47:09 you are replaceable.
47:11 You are, you're not going to like this very much.
47:13 You're dispensable in your place of work.
47:18 But you want to know what?
47:22 You are the only father your children will ever have.
47:29 You are indispensable in your home.
47:33 If you die, or if you don't go home one day,
47:39 things will never be the same
47:40 for your children or for your wife.
47:45 Now let's think about that as we prioritize ourselves.
47:49 In your sphere of work, you are totally,
47:52 totally, totally dispensable,
47:54 but in your home you are indispensable.
47:59 And maybe this means cutting
48:02 back on some of those hours.
48:05 Oh, but you say Pastor Asscherick
48:06 you are all washed up.
48:08 You don't know my financial situation.
48:09 Maybe you've not taken a look
48:11 at the Michigan economy lately.
48:12 You have got to be kidding me.
48:13 Friends, listen to me, you're not gonna like this one bit
48:15 but maybe friends, just maybe what we,
48:17 what we mean when we say,
48:18 look you don't understand me I'm just busy
48:20 I have to work this much.
48:22 Maybe what we really mean is in order
48:24 for me to maintain this standard of living,
48:27 I have to work this much.
48:31 Are you hearing me?
48:33 Maybe what we're really saying is,
48:34 in order what me to have this new SUV,
48:37 I've got to work this much.
48:40 But I'm telling you something,
48:41 you are indispensable in your home.
48:44 If you're, like I told you in the beginning of this thing,
48:46 there is not enough time to get it all done.
48:49 You settle that in your mind, right now.
48:50 You cannot keep your boss as happy as he would like to be
48:53 and neither can you keep your family
48:54 as happy as they'd like to be.
48:55 And so you're gonna have to cheat somewhere.
48:59 You know, I've never yethad my wife
49:01 come to me and say, "Sweetie, you know,
49:02 I think you've been spending too much time with the kids and I".
49:05 Why don't you go to work and get some work done?
49:09 Anybody here ever had that experience?
49:12 I've not yet had my boss come to me.
49:14 Jason never called me up and said you know,
49:17 you've been working too hard.
49:20 Take a few months off, go spend sometime with your family,
49:22 come on get out of the office.
49:24 It's not gonna happen,
49:25 it's not gonna happen with your boss, either.
49:27 There is not enough time for you to get everything done
49:29 that you need to get done and so you're going cheat somebody.
49:32 You follow me, you're going to do,
49:34 you settle that in your mind, right now.
49:35 If you continue to proceed on the premise,
49:37 there isn't time enough to get it all done,
49:38 I've just got to buckle down and do it right. Forget it.
49:42 There is not enough time to get it all done.
49:43 You're going to cheat somebody.
49:45 You'll either your family or you'll cheat
49:47 your Savior or you'll cheat your work.
49:49 And if you're like most men you are not cheating your family
49:52 and you know what you are cheating?
49:53 You are cheating your family
49:55 and you're not cheating your work,
49:56 if you are like most men.
49:58 But friends, this is remarkable
50:00 because in your place of work,
50:01 you are totally dispensable.
50:05 But in your home you are totally indispensable.
50:10 I told you this, this is not what this seminar is about,
50:12 so close parenthesis you don't have
50:13 to pay any extra for that.
50:17 This is what I learnt friends, we have an epiphany.
50:20 We had a eurekan moment in my marriage.
50:23 And my wife said to me, "Sweetheart,
50:26 if you would just come home, even when you're busy".
50:27 You get busy. Hey, I can appreciate that.
50:29 She understands that.
50:30 She's a very sensitive, understanding wife.
50:32 She said to me, "If you can give me",
50:34 listen to this, when I couldn't believe it,
50:36 I thought, tune in I didn't hear that correctly.
50:42 She said, "If you can give me 15 minutes,
50:44 just you and I on the couch everyday,
50:46 things will be just fine".
50:49 I thought she was kidding.
50:52 You know, what I've discovered she wasn't kidding.
50:56 When things get busy, I mean,
50:58 when things get really out of hand,
50:59 and I travel this week to Norway,
51:01 and then I travel this week to this place,
51:03 and I've got to be going this week,
51:04 and then I've got the ARISE class,
51:06 and I've got to teach, and sometimes life
51:07 is like that and I admit that.
51:09 I have learned that if I just sit down on the couch,
51:11 I come home sit on the couch,
51:13 and Landon's trying to jump upon my lap
51:14 and Jabel is learning to talk,
51:16 papa, papa, papa, open it, open it.
51:18 Fix it, papa, papa.
51:19 And I just put them aside
51:21 and I just looked longingly into Violet's eyes
51:23 and I say how was your day, sweetie?
51:27 Oh, tell me, you will go great lengths,
51:31 great distances, and she's talking
51:33 and I'm talking and I'm giving her what kind of attention?
51:36 What was that word I said? Undistracted.
51:38 Fifteen minutes and you know, what's remarkable?
51:40 I'm sitting there thinking she's getting 15 minutes of my time,
51:43 but you know, what usually happens,
51:44 it turns out to be like 20 minutes, 30 minutes,
51:47 45 minutes and I remember again
51:49 what it was that so attracted me to her,
51:51 it's just her and I on, we're just sharing
51:53 and I tell you friends that's quality time.
52:00 I'm not suggesting that you have to wake up
52:02 in the morning two hours early to spend some
52:04 sort of monastic existence pouring over the scriptures,
52:08 flagellating yourself and spending
52:10 so many hours on your knees,
52:11 that you knees bulge out like camels.
52:17 If I can survive, now I can't go long term
52:19 with my wife for 15 minutes a day
52:21 and you can't do that, but I can pull that off
52:22 for a week or even two in tight situations.
52:25 Friends, you don't need long periods of time
52:28 to have a meaningful relationship with Jesus.
52:32 You just have to have undistracted quality time.
52:39 Amen. So you're going to get discouraged
52:41 and think that I'm going to tell you
52:42 that if you don't get up at 5 o'clock in the morning
52:43 you're not a Christian. I'm gonna say no such thing
52:45 What I'm gonna say is? Whatever time it is,
52:47 you have to get up just set that alarm for 15 minutes
52:50 earlier and spend that quality undistracted time
52:54 with a person in a relationship.
53:01 Quickly Exodus 16, Exodus Chapter
53:05 what everyone? Sixteen.
53:10 The bread was raining from heaven
53:13 and the children of Israel came out
53:14 one day and all of this stuff was on the ground,
53:18 this stuff everywhere on the ground.
53:19 They've never seen anything like that before,
53:21 you know, what they said,
53:23 they said what is it?
53:26 The word "manna" means what is it?
53:30 They came out, they've never seen anything
53:31 like that before and they said what is it.
53:33 And they went out and they started to gather it and ate it.
53:35 What is it? And so the children
53:38 of Israel for 40 years they ate, what is it? Paddy.
53:40 What is it? Loaf and all,
53:42 you do the same at potluck.
53:43 Amen. Amen. I mean,
53:47 you know how it is at some Adventist potlucks,
53:49 you just pile it on and hope for the best
53:51 'cause you're just saying, what is it? It doesn't matter.
53:52 Put it on there, right.
53:54 This is what these guys, but now listen to this John 6,
53:57 Jesus says, "I am the bread of life",
54:00 your fathers ate bread in the wilderness and are dead.
54:05 What Jesus was saying there is?
54:07 What happened in Exodus 16 beginning there
54:09 and extending all the way through those 40 years
54:10 pointed forward to me?
54:13 Pointed forward to what everyone?
54:15 Pointed forward to what everyone?
54:16 Jesus, Jesus was the bread of life that came from heaven.
54:19 Jesus was the bread of life that nourished the soul.
54:21 Now look at Exodus 16: 21, look at verse 21,
54:26 "so they gathered it every morning" the what is it?
54:29 "Every man according to his need,
54:33 every man according to his need,
54:35 and when the sun became hot"
54:37 it what? "It melted".
54:41 If you waited to long to go out
54:43 and gather it, it was gone.
54:47 Now friends make the obvious application,
54:50 if Jesus is the bread of life and the Bible says here
54:54 that they needed to gather it in the morning
54:55 because if they waited till later in the day, it was gone.
54:58 The day had melted it away,
54:59 so, too in any relationship with Jesus.
55:02 It is harder to spend time, meaningful time with Jesus
55:05 at 11 A.M than it is at 7 A.M. You follow that.
55:11 Just as it would melt away,
55:12 so, too your phone starts ringing and your kids
55:14 are screaming and you got to take this,
55:16 I mean, friends, your day is up and rolling.
55:18 I don't know about your day but my day
55:19 is in full swing between 8:00 and 8:30.
55:21 That's when the cell phone is going ballistic
55:23 but before 8:00, that's where I've got to get my time.
55:27 I need to talk with Jesus, I have to sit down
55:29 and have a relationship a close emotional connection
55:32 between two persons with Jesus.
55:38 Friends, we know religion is not a set of beliefs.
55:43 We know that religion is not a set of doctrinal propositions.
55:47 All of those things are very important
55:48 but real religion is a relationship with a person.
55:56 And that person is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.


Home

Revised 2014-12-17