A Sharper Focus

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: ASHF

Program Code: ASHF000178A


00:20 Hello friends, and welcome
00:22 to our Wednesday night Bible study here
00:24 at the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:26 We thank you so much for taking the time to tune in
00:28 as we study the Word of God together.
00:30 And all you need is a Bible, and we're going to pray
00:34 in just a moment to ask the Lord to guide us.
00:36 And we'll let you know
00:38 where to get the copy of the lesson.
00:39 But tonight we're beginning a new lesson
00:41 called Living in Victory.
00:43 And we'll tell you in just a moment
00:45 how to get a copy of that.
00:47 But at the website I'll give you after our prayer,
00:50 you'll find all the resources there,
00:52 the lessons that are in the past,
00:54 the lessons that are coming up from this point on,
00:56 and also our videos, which you can share
00:58 with your friends and your family.
01:00 Now before we sing our theme song tonight,
01:02 we'd like to invite you to bow your heads with us
01:04 as we go to the Lord in prayer.
01:07 Loving Father in heaven,
01:08 thank You so much for the opportunity
01:10 of studying Your word.
01:11 Your word is the lamp unto our feet
01:14 and a light unto our paths.
01:15 And we do pray tonight
01:17 as we study this important topic,
01:20 "How to win?
01:23 How to be victorious in Christ?"
01:25 That You'll guide us with Your presence.
01:28 And we thank You, in Jesus' name, amen.
01:33 The website to go to is ASF.3ABN.org.
01:39 That is A Sharper Focus.3ABN.org,
01:42 and download lesson number 40.
01:45 What number did I say? Forty.
01:47 Lesson number 40.
01:48 And you'll be able to walk along with us
01:50 through the topic of the study tonight.
01:53 Now, we don't usually get to all our questions.
01:56 Come on in.
01:57 We don't usually get to all of our questions,
01:59 but we thank you for taking the time to walk with us.
02:03 We always sing our theme song.
02:05 And our theme song is Victory in Jesus.
02:09 Let's sing that song together.
02:19 I heard an old, old story
02:22 How the Savior came from glory
02:26 How He gave His life on Calvary
02:30 To save a wretch like me
02:34 I heard about His groaning
02:37 Of His precious blood's atoning
02:41 Then I repented of my sins
02:45 And won the victory
02:49 O victory in Jesus
02:53 My Savior, forever
02:56 He sought me and bought me
03:00 With His redeeming blood
03:04 He loved me ere I knew Him
03:08 And all my love is due Him
03:11 He plunged me to victory
03:15 Beneath the cleansing flood
03:19 I heard about a mansion
03:23 He has built for me in glory
03:27 And I heard about the streets of gold
03:30 Beyond the crystal sea
03:34 About the angels singing
03:38 And the old redemption story
03:42 And some sweet day I'll sing up there
03:46 The song of victory
03:48 Key change.
03:49 O victory in Jesus
03:53 My Savior, forever
03:57 He sought me and bought me
04:01 With His redeeming blood
04:04 He loved me ere I knew Him
04:08 And all my love is due Him
04:12 He plunged me to victory
04:16 Beneath the cleansing flood
04:19 He plunged me to victory
04:23 Beneath the cleansing flood
04:30 Amen? Yes.
04:32 Victory in Jesus.
04:35 To win is the only thing.
04:40 If you are involved in any kind of sport,
04:44 and I'm not speaking about competition,
04:45 but any kind of sport, there's a saying that
04:49 people that are not involved in sports often use, they say,
04:53 "It's not whether you win or lose, it is..."
04:56 what?
04:57 "How you play the game."
04:59 Obviously, they are not involved in sports
05:01 because people that are
05:03 professionally involved in any kind of sport,
05:05 whether basketball, baseball, football,
05:07 hockey, running, cycling, whatever it is,
05:10 unless they do it for a hobby or for health,
05:15 no one wants to lose, am I right?
05:18 But in the Christian life,
05:22 it is whether you win or lose.
05:25 And it is also how you live the life.
05:28 It is whether you win or lose, but more specifically,
05:32 it's how you live the life.
05:33 And how you live the life
05:35 determines whether you win or lose,
05:37 vitally important focus.
05:39 I want to start with something that many of us
05:41 may not think of.
05:42 And the topic by the way is Living in Victory,
05:45 what is that together?
05:46 Living in Victory.
05:49 Something that we all want to do,
05:51 but how you do it is the important question.
05:53 How do you live in victory?
05:56 We'll find out a little tonight.
05:57 But let me start with a couple of examples
06:00 that I think really are important.
06:02 Go with me to Hebrews 12.
06:05 I did some research earlier today.
06:07 I'm not a runner, I play basketball,
06:11 and with all the injuries that I sustained,
06:14 I should be getting paid.
06:16 But I really don't get paid, it's just for exercise for me.
06:20 Didn't play yesterday
06:22 'cause I wanted to just feel good today.
06:26 But Hebrews 12, and I'm going to set this up
06:30 with a particular story.
06:32 Now whenever I choose
06:37 basketball shoes or sneakers, as they call them in New York.
06:41 I try to choose the lightest pair
06:43 because I want to be able to have
06:45 the least amount of pull on my knee,
06:48 the quickest movement on the court,
06:50 and the least strain on my foot when I'm playing.
06:55 I discovered something also, and I did this, I looked up,
06:58 I asked on Google a particular question,
07:01 "What is the lightest running shoe
07:02 that Olympians use?"
07:04 And I heard about one.
07:06 Let me bring this up on my iPad here.
07:08 I heard about one called the Vibram Five Finger.
07:12 The Vibram Five Finger,
07:14 it's a shoe that has been designed
07:16 to most closely simulate having nothing on your feet.
07:21 It literally has an independent slip
07:24 for each of your toes.
07:25 And those who are professional athletes,
07:28 they often get them made specifically for their feet.
07:31 In other words, if I go to the store
07:32 and buy a pair that has five toes
07:35 while they use a model maybe or dummy
07:38 to just estimate, this is where my toes go.
07:42 But people that are into professional running,
07:44 they get a mold made to fit their feet
07:45 so when they're running,
07:47 it's like they have nothing on it at all.
07:48 And I wondered, what is the shoe like that way?
07:51 And in some cases, it's between 4 and 5.1 ounces,
07:56 and some of those could go as little as 3.5 ounces.
08:00 Now I don't know if you know what 3.5 ounces is,
08:03 but for something to be on your foot
08:05 to give you the support to run a race.
08:10 So when you put it in your hand,
08:11 it's like there's nothing there,
08:13 3.5 to 5.1 ounces,
08:15 need not tell you how much that costs.
08:18 But the reason why this is important,
08:19 there's a lesson here is because the runner
08:21 is focusing on winning the race.
08:24 Is focusing on what?
08:25 Winning the race.
08:27 Not just running on a casual basis
08:29 when he's chosen to represent his country
08:30 or she's chosen,
08:32 they're not out there for casual good afternoon nap,
08:35 they're out there to run.
08:37 Am I right, Brian?
08:38 They want to win.
08:39 They may be in a large, and they got there
08:42 by doing what this text is going to admonish us to do.
08:46 Look at Hebrews 12,
08:48 Hebrews 12:1, 2.
08:54 The illustration that is put here
08:56 by the writer of Hebrews
08:58 is very much in the Olympic mindset.
09:00 He says in verse 1, "Therefore we also,
09:04 since we are surrounded by so," what?
09:07 "So great a cloud of witnesses,"
09:09 that's the Olympic stadium, when they are running,
09:11 everybody is watching.
09:13 Today the whole world is watching.
09:15 And in reality,
09:17 when the Christian is living his or her life,
09:19 all the holy angels are watching.
09:22 There's a great cloud of witnesses,
09:24 but it goes on and it says,
09:28 "Let us lay aside, together, every weight,
09:33 and the sin which so easily ensnares or besets us,"
09:38 and look at the word now, "and let us do," what?
09:40 "Run with endurance
09:43 the race that is set before us."
09:46 Do you know what the word endurance means?
09:47 Be fit, because you got to finish this race.
09:51 The Christian journey is not a walk in the park,
09:55 it is a race.
09:57 And it's not necessarily given to the swift,
10:00 but as you look at the word here,
10:02 endurance as the Bible says in Matthew 24,
10:05 "He that endures to the end, the same shall be," what?
10:08 "Same shall be saved."
10:09 So endurance and laying aside every weight
10:13 and being conscious that when you're running,
10:16 there are witnesses.
10:17 So when you're living the Christian life,
10:19 somebody is watching.
10:21 And because you know someone's watching,
10:22 your holy angel, the Lord,
10:25 the heavenly universe is watching.
10:28 You know, you don't just run with endurance
10:29 and lay aside every weight,
10:31 but there's something else you have to do,
10:33 you have to focus your mind.
10:35 Look at verse 2,
10:36 where should you be looking,
10:39 together, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher."
10:44 In other words,
10:45 the starting line and the finishing line.
10:47 Your faith began,
10:49 it will take you to the finishing line,
10:51 "The author and finisher of our faith,
10:54 who for the joy that was set before Him," pause.
10:58 What joy is set before the runner?
11:00 What is it called?
11:02 The physical runner, what is it called?
11:06 The finish line.
11:08 When they go across the finish...
11:09 When they win what they do?
11:12 The joy that is set before them.
11:14 When we get to heaven, we're going to go like this,
11:17 right?
11:18 The joy that is set before us.
11:20 But you've got to focus.
11:22 And oftentimes we fail to win because where we're looking.
11:26 Runners don't look behind them, runners don't care
11:30 who's to the left, they make glance
11:32 but all that's an infinitesimal small amount of time
11:35 because they're looking at the finish line,
11:37 they're looking unto the finisher of that race.
11:41 We got to keep our eyes on Jesus to finish the race,
11:44 am I right?
11:46 But notice what it says, "Who endured the cross,
11:49 it's not an easy race.
11:51 Despising the shame..."
11:53 There are people in the audience
11:55 that don't want you to win,
11:57 it's the hecklers.
11:59 "And has sat down at the right hand
12:01 of the throne of God."
12:02 And then it says in verse 3,
12:04 "For considering him who endured such hostility
12:08 from sinners against himself,
12:10 lest you become weary and discouraged in your soul."
12:14 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed
12:18 striving against sin.
12:20 I learned some amazing stories about runners.
12:23 Some of them get blisters, right?
12:26 They fall sometimes, they get injured,
12:30 but they get up.
12:32 How was that?
12:35 Socks and shoes, they wear the lightest,
12:37 and some of them don't wear any at all
12:38 with some kind of simulation of a sock and the shoe
12:41 just to keep the moisture down,
12:42 but they know that
12:44 getting ready for this amazing race,
12:46 they don't concern themselves
12:48 with the things that happen to them,
12:50 they are just equipping themselves
12:52 for the winning of the race.
12:54 Let us lay aside every weight
12:56 and the sin that so easily besets us
13:00 because when the race is over,
13:02 they're going to reflect the medal
13:04 that represents the country that they're connected to.
13:07 What is it called? They want which one?
13:09 Which one did they want?
13:12 The gold, silver, and bronze.
13:15 Fourth place, there is no wooden medal.
13:19 Gold, silver or bronze, they got to focus themselves.
13:22 And so when we think about this,
13:25 I didn't look his name up,
13:26 but in the back of my mind
13:28 it keeps coming in and out one of the most...
13:31 One of the American athletes, Olympic athletes
13:33 that have the most medals, I think he's a swimmer.
13:37 Michael Phelps.
13:39 Michael Phelps, he's got nothing but medals,
13:42 gold medals.
13:43 And so whenever he smiles, he's gold from ear to ear.
13:48 He's proud of the country he represented
13:51 because he did his best.
13:52 He ran, he trained, and the Christian life
13:56 is very much like the life of an athlete,
13:59 you've got to train, you've got to eat right,
14:01 you've got to focus,
14:03 you've got to read the proper materials,
14:05 you have to condition yourself, you don't wait till a week
14:07 before Olympics and start running and saying,
14:09 "What are you doing?"
14:11 "I'm getting in...
14:12 I'm getting in shape for the Olympics."
14:15 You do that how many days?
14:17 The athlete live the life how many days?
14:20 Every day, that person remembers
14:22 that he or she is the athlete
14:25 and they're ready to run that race with endurance.
14:28 And it's important
14:30 because when those medals starts shining
14:32 and your country starts,
14:33 everybody in your country is saying, "Michael, Michael."
14:36 You know, all of a sudden, it's like,
14:38 "Wow, you remember
14:39 that the great cloud of witnesses in the homes,
14:42 in the cars, in the businesses,
14:44 in the banks or the insurance companies,
14:46 the sponsors, the sports companies,
14:48 the sneaker manufacturers,
14:49 everybody's looking for somebody
14:51 that they could say,
14:52 "He represents us."
14:55 That's what Jesus did.
14:57 He ran the race to represent us.
15:00 When we look and we train with Him...
15:01 One more thing,
15:03 when we look and we train with Him,
15:05 we will be fit to run the race.
15:07 And so every runner has a trainer, am I right?
15:12 Look at 1 John 1:7, let's look at our trainer.
15:16 Every runner has a trainer.
15:21 Laying some foundation before we dive into it.
15:24 Now chances are we might not do 14 questions tonight.
15:29 The chances are high
15:30 that we probably won't get through it.
15:32 I also looked up something else,
15:33 I like to learn new things.
15:35 I have a little laser on my pointer.
15:39 Not very necessary, but at this point of my hand
15:41 has a laser on it,
15:43 and I don't want to blind the guys in the control room
15:44 they might say, "What was that?"
15:46 But there's a green laser in this
15:47 and I asked the question earlier
15:49 to one of our technicians here at 3ABN,
15:51 "How does a laser work?"
15:53 And I came to find out that the laser,
15:55 that's not what it is,
15:56 it's an acronym for light amplified
16:00 by simulated emission of radiation,
16:03 that's an acronym, light amplified, L.A,
16:07 simulated, S, E, emission, R, radiation.
16:11 And what it says is because of the protons
16:14 and the amplification in the way that it works
16:17 is the waves that are in here to create a laser,
16:20 a single light, is when it goes from the lower state
16:23 to a higher state, it moves together.
16:29 Whereas in ordinary light,
16:30 they move in opposite directions,
16:32 therefore their waves get wider and wider
16:35 apart the further that light shines.
16:38 If we move with Jesus,
16:42 He's the laser that when we go
16:44 from a lower state to a higher state,
16:48 we stay in step with Christ.
16:50 Look at 1 John 1:7, look at that.
16:54 1 John 1:7, and this is the laser,
16:57 we are in... And the laser never loses...
16:59 There are many waves
17:01 but they never lose step with the other one
17:03 from a lower state to a higher state.
17:05 1 John 1:7, but the Bible says, "But if we do," what?
17:09 "Walk in the light as He," what?
17:11 "Is in the light," notice what happens.
17:13 "We have," what?
17:14 "Fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
17:17 His Son, does," what?
17:19 "Cleanses us from all sin."
17:21 But we have to walk in the light.
17:23 When He goes from one state to the next,
17:26 we have to move with Him.
17:28 And therefore our relationship stays pointed.
17:30 It doesn't go apart like a regular light beam does
17:33 in the distance of the reflection,
17:35 it doesn't move away from its source,
17:37 it stays together no matter how far that beam is reflected.
17:43 So tonight we're talking about reflecting.
17:45 Let's go to our first question.
17:47 Reflecting Christ and walking with Him.
17:49 Question number one.
17:52 Who are we called to reflect?
17:55 Now we know the answer.
17:57 But let's go and see what the Bible says,
17:59 Ephesians 4:13,
18:01 "Who are we called to reflect?"
18:05 All right,
18:07 since it is our first scripture for the night
18:08 and it's on the screen,
18:09 I'd like us all to read it together,
18:11 our home audience, and those watching
18:12 would surely appreciate it.
18:14 Are you ready?
18:15 Let's read the one on the screen.
18:16 It says, "Till we all come to the unity of the faith
18:20 and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
18:23 to a perfect man,
18:25 to the measure of the stature of the fullness of," what?
18:29 "Christ."
18:31 Notice where their unity.
18:32 Who are we called to reflect by the way?
18:34 Who is the...
18:35 What's the answer?
18:36 Christ, we're called to reflect Christ,
18:38 but it's done in unity.
18:40 As we are one with Christ, we become one with each other,
18:43 till we all come to the unity.
18:46 It's a lockstep.
18:47 We go from one state to the next together.
18:49 If that person is walking in the light,
18:51 and I am walking in the light,
18:53 and you're walking in the light,
18:55 and Yannick is walking in the light,
18:56 as we move, we move in the same state together,
18:59 and Jesus who is the guiding light,
19:02 we never lose step with Him.
19:04 We have to walk in the light as He is in the light.
19:07 And what that's saying is not in the general vicinity,
19:10 but we walk with Him, we walk with Him,
19:13 like the road to Emmaus, they walked with Him.
19:18 And when you walk in with the light, where are you?
19:21 You're in the light.
19:22 You're never in the dark.
19:24 So who are we called to reflect?
19:25 We are called reflect who?
19:26 We are called to reflect Christ.
19:30 Because of that, let's go to question number two.
19:34 Question number two.
19:37 What is Satan determined
19:40 to keep us from revealing?
19:45 What is Satan determined
19:47 to keep us from revealing?
19:51 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4.
19:56 Okay,
19:59 and here's the answer.
20:01 And the Bible says,
20:02 "But even if our gospel is veiled or hidden,
20:07 it is veiled to those who are," what?
20:10 "Perishing, whose minds the god of this age has done," what?
20:15 "Blinded, who do not believe."
20:17 Let me pause there for a moment.
20:19 If a person is blind, you don't put him in a race
20:24 'cause they don't know where they're going.
20:27 Before we enter the race with Christ,
20:29 one of the first things He does,
20:30 He restores our sight.
20:32 He opens the eyes of the blind.
20:35 It's not possible to reflect the glory of God.
20:37 And notice why He keeps us blind?
20:40 Look at the next as it goes on.
20:43 "Whose mind the God of the sage has blinded,
20:45 who do not believe lest the," what?
20:49 "The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
20:53 who is the image of God should shine on them."
20:58 What is Satan determined to keep us from reflecting?
21:02 The glory of Christ,
21:05 the glory of Christ.
21:09 And as you get closer to the end,
21:11 when you look at the three angels' messages,
21:13 you know, you find there's an angel flying
21:15 in the midst of heaven, and in Revelation 18,
21:17 the Bible says,
21:18 "The earth was illuminated with His glory."
21:22 You also find Isaiah 60,
21:24 "Arise, shine for your light has come,
21:26 and the glory of the Lord has risen on you."
21:29 The Christian life is really not one that...
21:32 See people...
21:33 I want to put this in right context.
21:35 People would rather see your Christianity
21:38 than you tell them that you're a Christian.
21:40 They'll say,
21:41 "Wow, there's something different about his life,
21:43 there's something different about her life,
21:45 there's something about her that...
21:47 I think she's a Christian.
21:48 And remember the wood, Allen, in LA
21:51 or I think a few years ago,
21:52 we went down the Northern California,
21:55 or Southern California...
21:56 I forgot what we were doing down there,
21:58 but we were going to someone's house
21:59 for Thanksgiving,
22:00 and we couldn't find where we're going.
22:03 And if you remember, let me know,
22:05 but we stopped in a restaurant,
22:09 very few restaurants are open on Thanksgiving,
22:11 but this one was,
22:13 we were trying to ask directions.
22:14 And we didn't have a GPS at that particular time,
22:17 so it must have been a while ago.
22:19 But we walked in the restaurant to get directions,
22:22 and when we were coming out, there was a gentleman going in.
22:25 And along the way he paused, he said,
22:29 "Are you guys Christians?"
22:32 And I said, "Yeah."
22:35 He said, "I can tell."
22:37 We didn't say anything to this guy, we didn't know,
22:41 he was on the way in to the restaurant.
22:44 We were, had just stopped to get directions,
22:46 and in that short period of time, what happened?
22:51 In that short span of time, he saw something
22:55 that said to him, "They're Christians."
22:59 And, you know, that's a humbling experience
23:02 to know that in the little throes of life,
23:06 and just in the passing moments of life,
23:08 people can look at you and see
23:10 that there's something different in your life.
23:12 There's something that's making a difference,
23:14 but the reason why the devil doesn't want us to...
23:18 The reason why he doesn't want us
23:19 to reflect the glory of God
23:21 is because he doesn't want God to get any credit, any glory
23:25 for the transformation and the change in our lives.
23:29 Who doesn't want to be changed?
23:32 I'm glad you didn't answer.
23:33 Who wants to be changed?
23:34 Amen? Amen.
23:36 We all want to reflect God's glory.
23:38 But the devil tries to do things to keep our...
23:41 He tries to blind us
23:44 so that we cannot see the glory of God,
23:46 and then if we can't see the glory of God,
23:49 we don't believe, and if we don't believe,
23:51 we can't reflect
23:52 what we don't even have any reference to.
23:55 So he tries to blind us.
23:56 That's why it's so vitally important
23:58 in the simple things of life like your entertainment.
24:01 You have to make sure that your entertainment
24:03 doesn't blind you from the gospel
24:04 because the world doesn't give us
24:06 what we need to learn more about the gospel,
24:09 it pulls us away from it, the prince of this world.
24:12 Let's go on,
24:13 so what does Satan determine to keep us from reflecting?
24:16 What's the answer?
24:17 The glory, the glory or also the image of God,
24:22 the glory of Christ.
24:24 He's determined to keep us
24:25 from allowing Jesus to be revealed in our lives.
24:28 Okay, another question, very simple one,
24:30 but I think it's to the point
24:31 and it lays our foundation even further.
24:34 Question number three.
24:36 How do we obtain the image of God?
24:40 Let's go to the beginning.
24:43 Let's go to the beginning, Genesis 1:26,
24:46 look at that together.
24:50 Had any of you ever said,
24:52 "You look like somebody I know."
24:55 Ever had that experience?
24:57 Or have they have said,
24:58 "You know, I could tell who your children are.
25:01 They look just like you.
25:03 Is that your son?"
25:04 What did they see? What do they see?
25:07 They see the image. They say, "You've got...
25:10 My wife did that actually a couple days ago.
25:12 Today, I think you told me.
25:13 She said, "I looked at your dad's picture,
25:15 you have your dad's nose.
25:18 And we were talking about that
25:19 because we had a chance to meet someone
25:21 that we were talking about our, where we came from,
25:24 and, you know, kids like to...
25:26 What they say, who...
25:28 I don't know who had...
25:29 I mean, I have my mother's ears.
25:31 But I have my dad's nose.
25:33 Hello.
25:35 And it's a family trait.
25:36 If you ever want to pick my family out of a crowd,
25:39 just have them go like this, and you'll know exactly
25:42 who I'm related to, is that right?
25:43 Isn't it?
25:44 It's a fingerprint or an ear print in our family.
25:48 But the image that we reflect lets everyone know
25:52 who we are related to.
25:55 Look at Genesis 126, the image reflect
25:59 reveals our point of origin, our family.
26:05 Speaking of the creation of humanity,
26:08 "Then God said,
26:11 'Let Us make man in," together, "Our image,
26:16 according to Our likeness, let him have dominion
26:21 over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air,
26:26 and over the cattle, over all the earth,
26:29 and over every creeping thing that," what?
26:31 "Creeps on the earth."
26:32 So in whose image are we made?
26:36 Now... That wasn't a...
26:38 I didn't mean to trick you that quickly.
26:40 I didn't mean to do that.
26:42 In whose image was humanity made in the beginning?
26:47 In the image of God.
26:49 But I must put this in the context of today.
26:52 Is everyone in the world today reflecting the image of God?
26:56 No, because something happened along the way
27:00 that distorted the image.
27:02 I'm not a photographer, but I know
27:03 at least something called focus,
27:05 that's why we call this program A Sharper Focus.
27:07 And I always and look for this at the very end,
27:11 I'll say if it doesn't make sense,
27:13 continue studying,
27:14 one day it will come into A Sharper Focus.
27:18 And so what happens is, when our lives are out of focus
27:21 with God like a picture.
27:24 Have you ever seen a picture out of focus?
27:26 The one thing you can't do with a picture
27:28 that was originally out of focus
27:30 is put it in focus.
27:33 If it is in focus, you could unfocus it,
27:36 but you can't focus the picture that's out of focus
27:40 because it's a locked image.
27:42 But if it is clear, you can blur it.
27:45 But you cannot put a blur picture in focus.
27:47 You could do your best to try to make out the features,
27:50 but you cannot put a blurred image in focus.
27:53 That's the beautiful thing about Christ.
27:56 He took a blurred image
28:01 and brought it into focus to reveal Himself.
28:04 Amen, somebody? Amen.
28:06 'Cause you can't... There's no...
28:07 I don't know of any photographic,
28:10 I may be ignorant in this particular area,
28:12 but I don't know of any photographic tools
28:15 that will take a blurry picture,
28:17 now they might try to magnify it
28:19 and do some technical things,
28:20 but you cannot take a blurry picture
28:22 and bring it into sharp focus.
28:24 But the Lord took blurry humanity,
28:27 and applied His character, and when people look at us,
28:30 they say, "Are you a Christian?
28:34 You look like your Father."
28:35 Amen.
28:37 That image was given to us in the beginning,
28:38 but now look at this text one more time
28:40 because when God gave us His image,
28:43 going back briefly here, He gave us dominion.
28:47 Man had authority over everything
28:49 that was created.
28:52 But since Satan wanted to rule the world,
28:57 and this is where the great controversy began,
28:59 let me just develop this very quickly.
29:02 When God created the world, He gave Adam
29:05 dominion over the fish of the sea,
29:06 the birds of the air, or the cattle,
29:07 over every creeping thing.
29:09 In other words, Adam was able to command all of creation.
29:12 But when sin entered the world, he lost his dominion.
29:17 Somebody else took the path,
29:19 somebody else took the captain's chair,
29:22 who was his name?
29:23 Satan.
29:25 Satan took the captain chair and even up to the point
29:28 where Jesus came, matter of fact,
29:30 Paul even talked about the god of this world.
29:35 And then Jesus says,
29:36 "The prince of this world has come,
29:38 and he has nothing in Me."
29:39 So even up to the time of Christ, Jesus recognized,
29:42 I've got to restore man to the position and the image
29:48 that had been lost for nearly 4,000 years.
29:52 So that's why this topic is all about living in victory.
29:56 How does God restore that image?
29:59 And not only in His day and age
30:03 when He was on earth and in ministry,
30:05 but He wants all of us
30:07 to continue to reflect His image.
30:09 That's why this lesson is so vitally important.
30:11 We could talk about the Sabbath or other things,
30:13 but having the image of God and reflecting His glory
30:16 is the first and highest priority.
30:18 Look at the next one.
30:20 So where did we get the image from?
30:24 We obtained that by being created
30:27 in the image of God.
30:28 That's what God originally did,
30:31 He created man to reflect Him all through the earth,
30:35 He created man
30:36 to reflect Him all through the earth.
30:40 And I tell you today, if you look at...
30:42 Oh, matter of fact, I think, I was having a conversation,
30:46 I think Angie and I were having a conversation with somebody,
30:48 and we're from a large city, I won't mention the city
30:50 because some of the people that are from my city say,
30:52 "You're always down in our city."
30:54 Okay, I'm from New York, I love New York.
30:59 Just like God loves New York,
31:01 but I'm glad I live in the country.
31:03 But you can go to some cities in the world,
31:06 whether New York or Chicago or LA or Detroit or Miami
31:11 and, you know, you could look at people's faces and see sin.
31:16 You kind of see it.
31:19 Not that we're judging anyone and saying,
31:20 "Oh, there's a sinner, there's a saint,
31:22 there's a sinner, there's a saint."
31:23 But you could see what sin has done.
31:25 It has marred the image of God.
31:27 And the deeper in sin that a person gets,
31:30 the more sin seems to distort.
31:32 And when you look at examples in scripture,
31:34 you find all the places where Jesus set someone free,
31:37 something about them was marred,
31:39 either they couldn't see, or they were blind,
31:41 or they were lame, or they were hauled,
31:44 or they were demon possessed.
31:46 Something about them was affected
31:48 physically and mentally.
31:49 When Jesus restored them like He did Naaman,
31:52 He restored him to the point where his flesh was like
31:54 the flesh of a babe.
31:55 The restoration process is we are always better
31:58 after Christ than we are before.
31:59 Amen? Amen.
32:01 Now look at question number four,
32:03 let's try to move on.
32:04 Question number four.
32:06 How has the image of God been changed by man's fall?
32:12 How has the image of God been changed by man's fall?
32:15 A very short passage which we all know very well,
32:19 Romans 3:23, Romans 3:23,
32:25 to the point.
32:31 And this is why the Lord came to the entire world,
32:36 "For," how many?
32:38 "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
32:44 Now let's put this back in the athletes' corner.
32:47 Can you imagine God, He is moving,
32:51 I mean he is booking, I mean, what's that guy?
32:55 He's bolt, he's bolting.
32:58 You know, like somebody once who ran against Usain Bolt,
33:02 they said, "How fast is he?"
33:04 And the guy said, "Fast."
33:06 Well, that's relative.
33:08 Because a car is fast, a jet is fast, a bullet's fast,
33:11 a plane is fast.
33:12 How fast is he? Fast.
33:15 You'll only understand the definition of that
33:16 when you run against him.
33:20 But what if Usain Bolt ran his heart out
33:23 and right short of the finish line,
33:26 he just stopped.
33:28 Everybody's cheering,
33:29 "We're going to win, we're going to win,"
33:31 he just stops.
33:32 And all the other runners run by him.
33:34 Would there be an outcry in the audience?
33:36 Come on.
33:37 Would Jamaica be upset?
33:41 What wrong with him?
33:42 That was my West Indian, excuse me.
33:45 You know, they would go, they go West Indian ballistic.
33:48 What is wrong with him?
33:50 He just stopped short of the finish line.
33:55 The whole country would feel let down.
33:58 Do you know that without Christ
34:02 that reflects our lives?
34:04 We run as hard as we can
34:07 and we get to the finish line and we can't cross it,
34:11 for all have sinned and done what?
34:13 Fall short.
34:15 They can't say, "Oh, I...
34:17 Okay, put your hands down.
34:20 I want to...
34:21 But I can't claim the victory."
34:22 All have run a race
34:25 that they have become painfully aware.
34:27 "I know I have."
34:32 If the camera turned around,
34:33 you see everybody with their hands down.
34:35 I know I have.
34:38 We have fallen short at points in our lives
34:42 of reflecting the glory of God.
34:45 And we want to go like this and say, "Victory."
34:48 We tried in our own efforts,
34:50 and we've come to the finish line,
34:52 and the sign says, "Stop.
34:54 You cannot cross it
34:56 because you don't have what it takes
34:57 to cross that line."
35:01 Wow,
35:03 so...
35:05 I'm trying to kind of go ahead of myself,
35:06 but I'm gonna give you a preview.
35:08 Along comes Jesus to a planet of losers,
35:11 and decides,
35:14 I got the best sneakers,
35:18 I am ready to run against him, where is he?
35:20 And Satan is saying, "I was waiting for this match.
35:23 I have been waiting 4,000 years to take you on.
35:29 So he dogs the tracks of Jesus to see how he's training.
35:34 And then he finds Jesus in His morning devotions
35:36 talking to His Father.
35:39 There he sees Jesus
35:40 at the moments of great temptation
35:42 not losing His mind.
35:45 There he sees Jesus when He's even identified
35:47 as an illegitimate child, He says,
35:51 "I'm about My Father's business."
35:54 He looks at His life in every particular,
35:57 trying to find a way that when they get to the race,
36:01 he is going to beat Him.
36:04 And every point of his life, he's like, can't find a way.
36:11 And Jesus being aware of it says to His Father in heaven,
36:15 "The prince of this world has come,
36:17 but he has nothing in Me.
36:19 He cannot break My training routine."
36:23 When we are with our Father every day,
36:25 the devil can't break our training routine,
36:27 we have victory, am I right?
36:28 So that's what happens.
36:30 But until you get there, look at how incapable we are.
36:33 Go to the very next one.
36:35 The answer to number four, "What has made us incapable?"
36:39 We have all fallen short.
36:41 Question number four, the routine of Jesus.
36:43 That's why routines are so important in your life.
36:45 To be victorious, you have to have a routine.
36:48 You cannot be an athlete without a routine.
36:50 You cannot be a pilot without a checklist.
36:53 Everything in life requires some kind of accountability.
36:56 If you have a Christian life with no accountability,
36:58 with nothing that gauges whether or not you're growing,
37:01 then you're not really a Christian.
37:04 You're floating, you're meandering.
37:07 And the maze of mediocrity
37:09 will not take you to the place of victory.
37:11 Let's go to question number five.
37:13 What power has sin inserted over man?
37:17 What power has sin inserted over man?
37:22 When we look at the incapable...
37:24 When we run that race
37:25 and we get to the finish line and we stop,
37:28 somebody might say, "Why did you stop?"
37:30 And you'll say, "I didn't want to."
37:32 But what happens...
37:34 See a lot of people don't understand this part,
37:35 this is very powerful.
37:37 When you're running the race, and you get to the finish line,
37:39 and you stop, somebody might say,
37:42 "Why did you stop?"
37:44 And based on this text, you'll say, "I didn't stop."
37:48 Let's read the text together.
37:49 "I didn't stop."
37:51 Look at the text, Romans 7:17, "But now," together,
37:56 "it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."
38:02 Sin says, "I'm not letting you cross that line."
38:05 And you're running,
38:06 and it's almost like the tether of sin,
38:07 you're running, it pulls you back.
38:10 Sin says, "You thought you were crossing the line,
38:12 didn't you?
38:13 I've got the rope."
38:15 He's in control.
38:16 What many of us don't know is sin is...
38:18 First, sin is first and enslaving power,
38:21 then it is a controlling power.
38:24 It first ties you, and then it tethers you,
38:28 and determines how far you can go.
38:33 When sin gets a hold of us, we want to do one thing,
38:38 but we come to the sad realization
38:41 as Paul did in Romans 7:17,
38:43 I want to cross that finish line,
38:45 but I'm not the one who decides that.
38:47 It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
38:50 So while the audiences yell, "Cross the line."
38:53 You're yelling back, "I didn't stop,
38:56 sin stopped me."
38:58 And that's why we need Jesus, amen?
38:59 Amen.
39:01 Because He comes to break the connection that stops us,
39:04 all of us will fall short without Christ.
39:07 The reason why I went back to this topic
39:09 is because I believe that
39:13 understanding how to win, how to be victorious daily
39:18 is more important than anything else.
39:21 If you can't be victorious, all the Sabbath, the diet,
39:25 how to dress, what songs you sing,
39:29 it all doesn't matter.
39:31 You could be a... You could be a...
39:32 You could be a...
39:33 You could be a prisoner
39:35 with a really wonderful curriculum,
39:38 but you're behind bars.
39:42 No experience of victory.
39:44 But Jesus comes to break the hold.
39:47 So let's answer the question.
39:50 What power has sin inserted over man?
39:54 Write this down, it's not obvious in the text.
39:57 Control.
40:00 Control, sin is first an enslaving power,
40:05 then it is the controlling power.
40:10 It first enslaves, then it controls.
40:18 Matter of fact, can I give it to you?
40:21 Go with me to Romans 6:16.
40:24 My wife knows where we're going.
40:27 Romans 6:16, let's go ahead
40:28 and, let's go ahead and confirm this point.
40:32 Romans 7:17, but Romans 6:16, it's not on the screen,
40:36 but it's in your Bibles.
40:37 Let's look at the enslaving aspect of it,
40:39 then the controlling aspect of it.
40:45 "Do you not know," Romans 6:16,
40:48 "Do you not know to whom you," what?
40:52 "Present yourselves slaves to obey,
40:56 you are that one slave whom you obey
41:00 whether of," what?
41:01 "Sin leading to death or obedience
41:04 leading to righteousness."
41:06 What do you find in both categories?
41:07 Leading.
41:09 Somebody's leading.
41:10 When you yield, somebody else is leading.
41:14 You're no longer in the driver's seat.
41:15 When you yield to sin, sin is leading to death.
41:19 When you yield to obedience or through obedience you yield,
41:23 obedience is leading to righteousness.
41:26 In both cases, it is not us who is in control.
41:29 In both cases, all you've got to do is decide
41:32 who you want to have in charge.
41:34 When you yield, do you not know...
41:36 And so the Apostle Paul says here, he says,
41:38 "Don't you know how this works?"
41:40 He said, "Don't you know how this works?
41:42 Where are you going to yield?"
41:43 And I've learned something very significantly here.
41:46 In this yielding,
41:48 in this whole aspect of yielding,
41:51 there is no third category.
41:52 Is there a third category?
41:54 There's no third category.
41:55 Either you're yielding from sin that leads to death
41:59 or obedience that leads to what?
42:01 Righteousness.
42:02 There's no third category.
42:04 So you might be thinking, "Well,
42:05 I'm not in either category, I'm not a Christian.
42:07 I'm sorry, you're in the first category
42:09 if you're not a Christian
42:10 'cause sin is leading in that one,
42:12 and then until you yield to Christ,
42:14 you're not obedient leading to righteousness.
42:18 It's amazing.
42:20 You put that down as an extra text
42:21 by number five.
42:23 Now...
42:24 But now let's go to the other side
42:26 because remember, I'm talking about effort.
42:28 I'm talking about what?
42:29 Effort. What's that word?
42:31 Effort.
42:33 Effort is...
42:34 Effort always leads us to fail
42:37 when the effort is based on our abilities.
42:40 But now when Christ comes in,
42:41 I want you to notice question number six.
42:44 When Christ comes in, how...
42:47 Here it is, question number six.
42:49 When Christ comes in,
42:50 how difficult is it to reflect His glory?
42:55 When Christ comes in, how difficult it is
42:58 to reflect His glory?
43:00 You'll find this word used by Matthew and by Paul
43:04 quite a bit.
43:05 If you just use that, if you just put up that one word,
43:07 you'll discover it in Matthew 5:16,
43:10 let us look at the text together.
43:12 What's the first word?
43:14 What is it together?
43:16 Let your light so shine before men,
43:21 that they may see your," what?
43:22 "Good words and glorify your Father in heaven."
43:27 What's the first word?
43:28 Let.
43:31 Let's illustrate let.
43:34 Ready?
43:37 This is let.
43:40 What am I doing?
43:41 Nothing.
43:42 Let.
43:44 Do I look happy?
43:45 I'm going to let my light shine.
43:47 Amen. Anybody got a mirror?
43:53 Well, that's good,
43:55 we don't think of ourselves that way.
43:57 But if you look in the mirror,
44:00 can you see a reflection?
44:02 What are you doing to see a reflection?
44:04 Nothing, just letting the mirror work.
44:08 When you shine a light,
44:10 is the flashlight shaken in your hand
44:11 and fighting to get the light out?
44:13 And what's it doing?
44:14 Letting.
44:16 You see the beauty of...
44:17 When Christ comes in, He takes us
44:19 from T-R-Y-U-M-P-H, T-R-Y,
44:24 that's try to T-R-I-U-M-P-H.
44:29 The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
44:32 He takes us from trying to win
44:35 to giving all the triumph
44:38 to the powers of heaven.
44:41 From trying to triumph.
44:44 And so when the Bible says, when Jesus says,
44:46 "Let your light so shine before men,"
44:48 He was speaking...
44:50 He was laying out the beatitudes,
44:52 and some writers call it the be-happy attitude
44:55 because when you live in harmony with the beatitudes,
44:57 you begin to understand that Jesus and the beatitudes
45:00 were outlining principles.
45:03 Look at it very quickly.
45:04 You're in Matthew 5, right?
45:06 Let me just show you something here real quickly.
45:09 He was outlining the characteristical traits
45:13 that are synonymous with a person
45:15 who is a Christian.
45:17 He was outlining the characteristical traits
45:20 to a person who is a Christian.
45:24 Notice what He says,
45:25 I'm going to just start with verse 1
45:27 and just go very quickly.
45:28 "And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain,"
45:31 Matthew 5:1, "And when He was seated,
45:34 His disciples came to Him,
45:37 then He opened His mouth and taught them."
45:39 Whenever Jesus sat, He was teaching,
45:40 when He stood up, He was preaching,
45:42 you'll notice that in the scriptures.
45:44 What did He say in verse 3?
45:45 "Blessed are the," what?
45:46 "Poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
45:48 It's not people that are financially poor,
45:51 but he's talking about humble spirit,
45:53 a person that's not proud and boastful.
45:56 Also, "Blessed are those who mourn
45:57 for they shall be comforted."
45:59 You know what that means?
46:00 The word mourn there doesn't mean,
46:01 "Oh, I'm always sad, the word there mean,
46:04 the mourning there means they have a desire
46:06 and a longing with something that the world cannot give.
46:10 They have a desire and longing for something
46:11 the world cannot give.
46:13 So they're not looking for joy from the world,
46:16 their minds are fixed on eternal joys.
46:19 It goes on to number five, or verse 5.
46:22 "Blessed are the meek," not the weak, the meek,
46:26 "for they shall inherit the earth."
46:28 Meek are people
46:29 that are not filled with themselves.
46:31 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
46:34 for they shall be" what?
46:35 "Filled."
46:36 That's the desire.
46:38 What is your thirst on a daily basis?
46:40 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
46:43 Remember that, but for the grace of God,
46:45 you could be in the scenario that other people are in,
46:47 be merciful.
46:49 When you're merciful, you get mercy.
46:51 Number eight, "Blessed are the," what?
46:53 "Pure in heart for they shall," what?
46:55 "See God."
46:56 You know it doesn't says pure in the words
46:58 because anybody can say pure things,
47:00 but what's happening in your heart?
47:02 What's going on in the heart
47:03 is really where the stand is going to,
47:04 is where you can determine,
47:06 where you stand on that podium of the final victory.
47:10 That's right from the abundance of the heart.
47:12 Thank you, honey, the mouth speaks.
47:13 What's in the heart is going to come out of the mouth.
47:15 Number nine or verse 9, "Blessed are the peacemakers
47:18 for they shall be called," what?
47:20 "Sons of God, children of God."
47:22 Some people don't want peace,
47:25 but when you seek peace and pursue peace,
47:27 we recently did a program on peace
47:29 for one of our family worships.
47:32 And then it says in verse 10,
47:34 "Blessed are those who are," what?
47:36 "Persecuted for righteousness' sake
47:39 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
47:41 These are all the things
47:42 that the Christian will go through.
47:44 These are the characteristical traits of the person
47:46 who's outlining his life or her life in ready,
47:49 in preparation for eternity,
47:50 and it goes on down to verse 16, which is read,
47:54 you can read the others together in your own time,
47:56 but it says, "Let your light so shine."
47:57 In other words, when your life
47:59 is in harmony with God,
48:01 it's clear who you are associated with.
48:04 You're letting His light as He says clearly
48:07 that He is the light of the world,
48:09 but when He's not here, we are the light of the world,
48:12 right?
48:13 Any evidence that person, if anybody ever argues
48:16 whether or not Jesus is real, the greatest testimony,
48:20 I think, Pastor Mark Finley once said this.
48:22 He had a motorcyclist, not a motorcyclist,
48:25 but a guy that was a motorcyclist,
48:27 yeah, a cyclist, he had a motorcycle,
48:30 big, tall, tough, strong, built guy, just muscle bound.
48:35 Did you ever see those guys, they have nothing,
48:37 muscle upon muscle, and leather jacket,
48:39 they look like, they could just blow bubbles
48:41 with your heart, I mean, just strong.
48:44 And he was standing next to Pastor Mark Finley,
48:46 I'm sharing your story, Mark.
48:47 It's a really great story.
48:49 And a guy came and was telling Pastor Mark Finley off
48:53 because he didn't believe in God,
48:56 and the guy standing next to Mark Finley,
48:57 who had not too long ago been converted,
49:00 he said, "What evidence can you give me
49:02 that God is real?"
49:04 And the motorcyclist guy looked like
49:06 he could blow bubbles with your heart.
49:08 He said, "If God wasn't real,
49:10 right now I'd rip your head off."
49:15 So it sort of changed his life.
49:17 Even the exterior that didn't look like it associated...
49:20 So I'm not just speaking about exteriors,
49:23 I'm speaking about people whose hearts, and minds,
49:25 and lives have been transformed.
49:26 Sometimes we only judge a person by the exterior.
49:30 Man looks at the outward appearance,
49:31 God looks at the heart.
49:34 God looks at the heart. Let's go to the next one.
49:36 Number seven, number seven,
49:39 I don't think we'll get seven more done
49:41 in eight minutes, but let's try.
49:43 Number seven.
49:45 What is the source of the light that shines through us?
49:51 We know the answer, but let's let the Bible speak.
49:54 I always like when the Bible speaks.
49:56 John 8:12, John 8:12,
50:00 we read in the beatitudes where he says,
50:02 "You are the light of the world."
50:03 But John 8:12 is where we find the answer.
50:08 And the scripture opens our eyes in this sense.
50:13 "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying,"
50:16 let's read those next five words,
50:18 "I am the light" four words.
50:21 I am the light of the world.
50:24 "He who," and this is powerful, "He who follows me shall not,"
50:28 what?
50:29 "Shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
50:34 The laser, as we are rising,
50:36 as He is rising, we're rising with Him,
50:38 as He's ebbing, we're ebbing with Him.
50:40 When you walk in the light, if you walk with Him,
50:43 you will not walk in darkness, you can't.
50:47 Because when you walk in the light,
50:49 as He is in the light, you'll have that fellowship.
50:51 So very quickly,
50:54 what is the source of the light that shines through us?
50:57 What is the source? Jesus is.
51:00 Not what, but who is the source?
51:04 Very important, I'm building,
51:05 and then I'm going to take a turn
51:07 in just a few more questions,
51:08 and come back to a very significant issue.
51:10 So I want to use our time wisely.
51:12 The source is Jesus,
51:14 that means we don't have any light on our own.
51:17 Amen?
51:19 We don't own the light, but we just simply reflect.
51:22 We are like refracted mirrors.
51:26 My wife and I are little amateur astronomers.
51:29 We want to buy a telescope.
51:30 And we were learning
51:31 the difference between a direct,
51:33 I'm using the word refractive,
51:35 you know, where you look that way,
51:37 but you actually see that way
51:39 or then the ones that look down,
51:41 and so we're learning.
51:43 You know, what looks like a good,
51:44 so we ran into a guy in New York at B&H Photo.
51:48 And he had a white gloves
51:50 because he was in the telescope department.
51:52 He says, "Never..."
51:54 He was saying, "Never ever touch
51:58 the mirrors of a telescope with your fingers.
52:02 The oils will start to corrode it."
52:05 And he's giving us a lesson, and we're saying to each other,
52:08 "Hurry up, hurry up, but he said, okay,
52:13 which one of these thing do you think is good?
52:15 And we pointed at one that look elaborated, he said,
52:17 "That's a piece of junk."
52:18 "This," and he knew it very well,
52:22 and he told us about how it reflects light.
52:24 And I thought, "Wow, what a lesson."
52:25 He says, "If you live in a place
52:27 that's dark at night, this is what you want to get."
52:29 So my wife and I said,
52:30 "We live in a place as dark at night,
52:31 and we want to learn more about
52:33 where the light really is.
52:35 The light that exists in the heavens
52:36 always declare the glory of God.
52:41 Number eight, let's look at the question very quickly,
52:43 and here it is.
52:45 How does the transaction of accepting Jesus
52:50 change our standing?
52:53 How does the transaction
52:55 of accepting Jesus change our standing?
52:59 Because, you know what, the reality of it is
53:01 I know many people that don't want to be
53:02 who they always have been.
53:06 And sometimes it takes longer for some people to admit that
53:08 they say, "I am tired of being who I had been."
53:11 And when they were younger and vibrant
53:13 and life seemed to be going their way,
53:15 they didn't want to hear it,
53:16 but now life is beginning to catch up,
53:18 and the routine is starting to get old,
53:20 and everything in life is so predictable,
53:22 and they're starting to say, "I don't want to,
53:24 I'm just at the point where I have more time
53:26 behind me than ahead of me, I want something new."
53:29 When you accept Christ and the transaction is made,
53:33 notice how wonderful your standing is altered.
53:38 1 Peter 2:9, what happens these people
53:41 that could not see right from wrong,
53:44 what happens
53:46 when Jesus pulls us into the heavenly family?
53:49 The Bible says, "But you are a," what?
53:51 "Chosen generation," What else are we?
53:54 "A royal priesthood," and what else are we?
53:58 "A holy nation, His own special people."
54:04 And look at what he calls us to do,
54:06 "That you may proclaim the praises of Him
54:10 who called you out of darkness into His," what?
54:13 "Marvelous light.
54:14 The King James Version says, "That you may show forth."
54:18 I like that sometimes, you may show forth.
54:20 How are people going to see Him?
54:22 You are showing it in your life, how you live.
54:26 Not only proclaiming it as the writer here
54:30 in the New King James Version.
54:32 The word "proclaim" is often an audible thing,
54:34 but one that you may show forth.
54:36 How do you do it? By the way you live.
54:39 And I tell you, if you think it's easy,
54:42 if you think it's easy,
54:47 well, let me just say this, "It's not easy,
54:49 so don't ever lower your guards.
54:52 Because when you think you've got it,
54:54 the devil studying you to find a way to trip you up.
54:58 Be sober, be vigilant
55:00 because your adversary the devil walks around
55:02 like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
55:06 So how does the transaction of accepting Christ
55:09 change our standing?
55:11 If I could add anything there, we are royal.
55:14 Say that with me, we are, what?
55:15 Royal.
55:17 The royal family recently had a new child.
55:21 And I tell you, I'm going to say this,
55:24 I'm going to say this with a smile,
55:26 "As that child gets older,
55:28 they're going to have a royal pain."
55:31 'Cause all children are born in sin.
55:33 Come on, help me out somebody.
55:34 Amen.
55:36 You've got to train that child.
55:37 I don't care what kind of royalty they are born into,
55:40 until they are born into Christ,
55:42 they'll be a royal pain.
55:45 That's the human nature.
55:47 You can be born
55:48 with the heritage of 15 generations into royalty,
55:51 but unless you're born into the royalty of Christ,
55:54 you are royal pain.
55:56 I say that not in an insulting way,
55:58 but that's the reality, am I right?
56:00 All children, I was one.
56:03 And I had some royal pain incidences as an adult,
56:06 so I know this is true.
56:08 Am I telling the truth, Cindy?
56:09 It all happens, we all have our royal pain moments.
56:12 But praise be to God,
56:14 He hasn't finished the work in us yet.
56:16 He's working on us
56:18 until one day we'll be able to reflect His glory.
56:20 Now this is a good one,
56:21 and we're getting close to our time,
56:23 and I may spend a little time on number nine
56:25 because this is powerful.
56:26 We talked about Romans 7:17,
56:28 now let's see the opposite of that.
56:29 And here's the question.
56:31 What makes the difference
56:33 in being able to reflect God's glory?
56:38 I was going to put the word "Glory" there,
56:40 but I was in hurry, God's glory,
56:42 that's the word I'm going to include there.
56:44 What makes the difference in being able
56:45 to reflect God's glory?
56:47 Let's go now to Galatians 2:20,
56:52 now remember when we read Romans 7:17,
56:54 remember I talked about he fell short of the line,
56:57 when he fell short of the stop line,
56:59 and somebody yell, "Why did you do that?"
57:00 He said, "I didn't do it, sin did it."
57:03 But now let's look at the flipside of that.
57:05 Galatians 2:20, "I have been," what?
57:09 "Crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live,
57:14 but Christ lives in Me,
57:16 and the life which I now live in the flesh
57:20 I live by faith in the Son of God,
57:22 who loved me and gave Himself for me."
57:25 Amen.
57:27 Who's doing it?
57:28 It is no longer I.
57:32 It's no longer I,
57:33 in the same way that you didn't stop yourself,
57:36 but sin stopped you.
57:38 Now somebody said,
57:39 "How did you cross the finish line?"
57:41 I didn't do it, it's no longer me,
57:45 but Christ in me that pulled me across the finish line.
57:49 Amen, somebody?
57:51 In both cases, you'll discover in the yielding to sin,
57:55 sin will stop you.
57:57 And ultimately, death.
57:58 And yielding in obedience to righteousness,
58:01 Jesus will enable you,
58:03 and you will experience the joy,
58:05 and you won't give yourself any credit,
58:07 you won't glory in it,
58:08 you'll simply say, "It's not me,
58:12 but Christ lives in me."
58:14 When Christ is living in us,
58:15 the capabilities of reflecting Him
58:17 will be present.
58:19 And you won't take the credit, it's Christ who lives in me.
58:23 So, friends, as I said earlier,
58:25 if it doesn't make sense, keep studying,
58:27 one day it will come into A Sharper Focus.
58:30 God bless you.


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Revised 2018-10-08