Participants:
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201908S
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00:00 ♪♪ ♪♪ >> It has stood the test of
00:13 time -- God's book, the Bible -- still relevant in today's complex world. 00:22 ♪♪ 00:24 "It Is Written," sharing messages of hope around the 00:29 world. ♪♪ 00:40 >> Thank you for joining us on "It Is Written Canada." 00:42 Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says "God accepts 00:45 you the way that you are, but He loves you too much to leave you 00:48 that way"? 00:50 It's really a question of growth. And we've been talking to 00:53 presenter and Christian author Lee Venden, and he's been introducing us to an 00:59 illustration of a three-legged stool, and really it's about making Christianity real 01:04 and connecting with God. And those three legs of the stool, it's just an illustration 01:08 of these building blocks of connecting with God through reading His word, through prayer 01:13 and through sharing what you have received by connecting with Him through Bible study and 01:18 prayer. >> And having a meaningful relationship, a real 01:22 relationship. >> Yeah. So, Lee, when you talk about 01:25 this, isn't it the question of growth? Like, how do we continue to go 01:30 and hit the target and not feel like such a failure at times? 01:33 >> Well, yeah, when you say is it a question of growth, that's 01:35 what the devil would like to have us think. 01:37 He puts it into our head that we're not growing rapidly 01:39 enough. 01:40 We're not overcoming, we're not becoming more like Jesus. He says, "You know, you're sure 01:43 messed up." And it puts me in mind -- growth -- puts me in mind of 01:47 Jesus in John 15. He said, "I'm the vine, you are the branches. 01:52 If you abide in Me and I abide in you, you will bear much fruit." 01:56 But He doesn't talk to us about bearing fruit. He talks to us about abiding. 02:01 And that's kind of like saying if you would spend time with me daily, that would be the 02:05 abiding, you will bear much fruit. >> Right. 02:07 >> And so the focus is not on my performance or my overcoming or my becoming more like Jesus. 02:14 The focus is on just Jesus. >> Yeah. >> Just get to know Jesus. 02:18 And He's saying that's what's going to make the difference. That's kind of like we've got 02:21 this broom here that we have on the set, and we would like to just try and demonstrate that, 02:25 Mike, so I can give you the broom. If you would be kind enough 02:27 to take an open palm and put one end if the broom, put the broom there, and then I want you to 02:33 try and balance the broom, but only look down at your hand. Only look down. 02:37 Don't hit your wife! [ Laughter ] Okay. Okay. Okay. Alright. 02:41 Let's try it again. This time use one finger, not an open palm, 02:44 and look at the top of the room instead and see how it works. >> Wow. 02:48 >> Whoa. >> There you go. >> It works. 02:51 >> There you go. >> So if I keep looking up, I can do it. 02:55 >> That's exactly the point. I think that's what Jesus is trying to say right here. 02:58 >> Yeah. >> He's like, "Keep looking at Me, and I'll produce fruit in 03:02 your life." >> Yes. >> If I don't see that fruit 03:05 being produced, if I feel like I flopped and failed, oh, man, then the devil's whispering. 03:09 He saying, "You blew it. In fact, you know what? You just soiled your spiritual 03:14 diaper and you stink. Certainly you aren't planning to to go sit with Jesus right now 03:18 smelling like that." >> Yeah, he wants us to feel guilty, right? 03:23 >> So maybe it's a question of not being sincere enough. >> That's what some people 03:28 would suggest. They may say if you're more sincere you wouldn't keep 03:31 flopping and failing. >> Yeah. >> And I remember a guy 03:34 coming to me one time, and he said, "Pastor, would you pray for me?" 03:37 And I said, "What would you like me to pray for?" He said, "I'd like you to pray 03:40 that I could be more sincere about following Jesus and living His way." 03:43 >> Okay. >> I said, "Well, why do you think that's the problem?" 03:46 And he said, "Well, let me just level with you. I'll tell you the truth. 03:50 I'm a married man and I have a beautiful wife and three children. 03:53 But I have been so unfaithful to her and cheated on her so many times I couldn't even count them 03:58 or tell you the names of all the people that I've messed with. 04:00 In fact right now I'm living with a girl who's not even my wife and my wife hasn't divorced 04:06 me yet. I just feel like if I could be more sincere about living His 04:11 way that could make all the difference." He said, "Recently I decided to 04:16 go back to church, the church my wife still goes to and I used to attend. 04:19 And I got out of car in a parking lot, and a deacon came out and he said, 'What are you 04:23 doing here?' I said, 'I thought I'd come to church.' 04:27 He said, 'Not this church. We know what you're doing. We know how you're living. 04:31 We know you're shacking up with that girl. And for you to come into 04:33 this church with your wife who is wounded and broken over what you're doing, it's like 04:39 rubbing salt in her wound and we don't want her to have to have that salt rubbed in her wound. 04:43 So when you're sincere about following Jesus and living His way, you can come here. 04:49 But until then, you go somewhere else.'" And then this guy starts crying. 04:53 My initial thought was he was going to dump on that deacon for being so, you know. 04:57 But, no, he actually said, "I think he must be right." He said, "If I was sincere 05:02 enough about following Jesus and living His way, I can't imagine why I'd keep doing 05:07 this. So would you please --" he's weeping -- "would you please 05:09 pray that I could be more sincere?" I said, "Well I'll pray for you, 05:13 and before I do, I want to ask you a question. If someone asked you 'What is a 05:17 Christian?' how would you describe that? How would you answer that 05:21 question?" He said, "I would say Christian is somebody who's doing the best 05:25 they can to stay out of trouble and trying hard to do what's right." 05:28 I said, "Ah, that explains your problem." He said, "What do you mean?" 05:32 I said, "Well, you don't know what a Christian is." He says, "What?" 05:36 I said, "Christianity is not about what you do. It's about who you know and then 05:41 who you know changes what you do." He said, "I don't understand." 05:47 I said, "Well, what's the root word of Christian." He said, "Christ." 05:51 I said, "So, Christianity is about becoming friends with Christ." 05:59 He said, "So, how do you become friends with Christ?" And of course you guys would 06:06 probably imagine, I talked to him about the three-legged stool, you know? 06:10 And I told him, "If you spend some time in God's Word for the purpose of meeting Jesus, I 06:15 would suggest starting with the Gospel of John. If you talk to Him in prayer 06:18 as you would with a friend, if you will spill over to other people about how cool He is as 06:23 He starts to become real for you, that's how you get to know Christ." 06:28 He said, "Wow." He says, "Let me see if I get this right. 06:32 Are you telling me I should quit trying to overcome my besetting faults and failures 06:37 and sins? I should quit worrying about those, and instead I should 06:41 start focusing on getting to know Jesus as a friend, and then if I do that, He'll take care 06:46 of the faults and failures?" I said, "Oh, yeah. Bingo. Move to the head of the class. 06:50 You just got it." He goes, "Wow, I've never heard that in my whole life." 06:54 He says, "My entire life, I've been trying to be good by not being bad." 06:57 >> Mm. >> "I've been trying to do what Jesus would do, and I haven't 07:04 been able to do it. And I've just gotten bruises and bumps and butted my head up 07:10 against the wall trying to do it." He says, "It's been mission 07:12 impossible." He says, "Getting to know Jesus, that sounds like that can be 07:16 mission possible." I said, "It is." He said, "Alright, alright. 07:20 So you said the three-legged stool stuff." I said, "Yeah." 07:22 He says, "Okay." He says, "I'm going to go home and tell that girl I'm living 07:25 with she's gonna have to get out, 'cause I'm gonna get serious about getting to know 07:28 Jesus." I said, "Wait a minute. Time out. 07:30 You didn't understand." He goes, "What?" I said, "You're still confused. 07:35 I didn't tell you to tell the girl to get out." "Oh," he said, "you're confused 07:40 because I didn't tell you what I'm doing with that girl. See, we don't just share a house 07:44 and split the rent. I live in the same bedroom and sleep in the same bed, if 07:47 you get my drift." I said, "I got your drift, but it's not -- the girl's not 07:50 your problem. Your problem is...you're not spending daily time with Jesus. 07:54 And the reason I know you're confused is because you think you have to clean up your life 07:57 to come to Jesus. But the truth is we come to Jesus just as we are in order to 08:02 get our lives cleaned up. Otherwise, we'd never sing that song in the hymnal 08:06 "Just As I Am" -- "Without one plea except that Your blood was shed for me." 08:11 So he goes, "Wow." I said, "Here's more. Don't you think God's just as 08:15 interested in the girl as he is in you?" >> Yeah. 08:18 >> "So why don't you go home to that girl and tell her you just discovered you can become 08:22 friends of Jesus and ask her if she'd like to get to know Jesus with you and read the 08:27 Gospel John together?" He said, "Are you really a pastor?" 08:31 >> [ Chuckles ] >> I said, "I am." He said, "I never heard a pastor 08:34 talk like that." I said, "Well, I'm just telling you what Jesus said, alright? 08:37 It's not my words. It's Jesus. And He said, 'Whoever comes to Me I'll never cast out.'" 08:41 He goes, "Okay, I'll do it." I said, "Alright, then I'll pray for you." 08:45 So I prayed for him. He went home to the girl, told her, and she said, "Are you 08:51 kidding? I want nothing to do with that nonsense. 08:54 I'm out of here." And she packed up and moved out on him that very night. 08:58 But he did what he said he was going to do. He began spending daily time 09:01 with Jesus for the purpose of becoming better acquainted. And Jesus did what Jesus said 09:05 He will do -- "if I am lifted up, I will draw you to Myself." And this guy discovered that 09:10 as Jesus comes in, the garbage gets crowded out. All his life he'd been trying to 09:16 overcome the power of lust. He'd been focusing on trying to not be that way. 09:22 But he kept failing, kept failing. All of a sudden, Jesus comes in 09:27 and he finds out that lust got crowded out. He's been made pure. 09:33 You know, the fruits of the spirit, you know, is pure -- He was so excited. 09:37 He went back to his wife. He told her, "Man, Christianity's not about what 09:41 you do. It's about who you know and then who you know in Jesus. 09:44 Let me tell you what Jesus is doing in my life." And he starts telling her about 09:47 being friends and Jesus, he starts telling her about how this stuff is just vanishing 09:51 from his life that had been so addictive to him, and she could tell that this was not phony 09:56 baloney. She could tell that there was a real transformation 09:59 going on in his life. And then she asked this amazing question. 10:02 Remember she's the church member that hasn't quit going to church. 10:05 And she says to him, "So, how do you get to know Jesus as a friend?" 10:10 >> Wow. >> Mm! >> So it's possible to be a lost 10:14 coin in the church and not know you're lost. >> Yes. 10:18 >> Isn't it good that someone's looking for lost coins too? >> That's right. 10:21 x So he told her about the three-legged stool. She starts reading to know Jesus 10:25 in the Gospels, and Marji and I -- my wife, Marji, and I had the privilege of redoing their 10:30 wedding vows for them. And 25 years later, we bumped into them at a church and they 10:35 tearfully thanked us for introducing them to the glue that has held their marriage 10:40 together for more than 30 years now. And they also said, "And you 10:45 might be excited to know, we've had the privilege of helping more than 300 people become 10:49 friends with Jesus that didn't know you could." >> Right. Right. 10:54 So those three legs of the stool we're talking about, this isn't -- we're not talking about 10:58 a stool. We're talking about -- [ Laughter ] 11:01 We're talking about reading the Bible for the purpose of connecting with Jesus. 11:06 And he did that. >> And he did that. >> He lifted up Jesus. 11:09 He prayed to God as you open up your heart to a friend. >> Right. 11:15 >> And he had that communication with God. And then he started sharing it 11:18 with others. >> Exactly. >> He shared it with his wife. 11:20 He shared it with everyone he came in contact with, and it transformed his life. 11:25 >> Transformed him. So, your original question was sort of like, so how do we deal 11:29 with flops and failures? >> Correct. Yeah. Absolutely. That's it. 11:33 You stay connected with Jesus and you look at Him and not at yourself, and by looking at Him, 11:39 you are transformed. We're going to look at a Bible verse that says that just in a 11:45 minute, and we're going to take a break, and we'll come right back to that. 11:50 ♪♪ ♪♪ 12:01 ♪♪ ♪♪ >> ♪ Lord Jesus, I long to be 12:18 perfectly whole ♪ ♪ I want Thee forever to live in my soul ♪ 12:28 ♪ Break down every idol, cast out every foe ♪ ♪ Now wash me, and I shall be 12:40 whiter than snow ♪ ♪ Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow ♪ 12:51 ♪ Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow ♪ ♪♪ 13:09 ♪♪ ♪ Lord Jesus, look down from Thy throne in the skies ♪ 13:24 ♪ And help me to make a complete sacrifice ♪ ♪ I give up myself and whatever 13:38 I know ♪ ♪ Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow ♪ 13:49 ♪♪ ♪ Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly entreat ♪ 14:04 ♪ I wait, blessed Lord, at Thy crucified feet ♪ ♪ By faith for my cleansing, I 14:17 see Thy blood flow ♪ ♪ Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow ♪ 14:28 ♪ Whiter than snow ♪ Yes, whiter than snow ♪ Now wash me and I shall be 14:42 whiter than snow ♪ ♪♪ 14:49 ♪ Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow ♪ 15:13 >> Friends we are so thankful that you joined us today. If you would like to enhance 15:16 your relationship with God, we have an offer for you today that will help you to understand 15:21 the Bible better. >> Friends, our offer for you today is the "Discover" Bible 15:26 study guides. >> In these lessons, you will find the key to help you to 15:31 understand the Bible, God's holy Word, much better. >> Here is the information that 15:36 you need in order to receive these free Bible study guides. 15:40 >> To request today's offer, just log on to 15:43 www.ItIsWrittenCanada.ca. If you prefer, you may call 15:49 toll-free at 1-888-CALLIIW. That's 1-888-CALLIIW. 15:56 And thank you for your prayer requests and your generous 15:59 financial support. 16:03 >> And we are back, and we promised you a Bible verse, and it's really all about Jesus. 16:10 The story that that Lee showed with us of his experience of how he shared with this man who was 16:17 struggling. He thought that he was insincere, and really his focus 16:22 was really not on Jesus. And when he turned his focus towards Jesus, when he practiced 16:26 what Lee called the three legs of the stool -- and those three legs being bible study for the 16:31 purpose of getting to know Jesus and praying for the purpose of communicating with 16:37 Him and having that dialogue, that connection with Jesus, and then finally sharing, spilling 16:43 over and sharing His faith with others. He became so attractive to 16:48 other people, to his wife. And she fell in love with Jesus, and other people -- he led over 16:54 300 people to Christ. And so as he practiced that, as he looked at Jesus, he was 17:02 transformed. And so what is the key to our falling and our failing and 17:08 overcoming through the strength of Jesus? And so I'm going to ask Rene 17:11 to give us that bible verse that is really the key. >> It's found in 17:18 2 Corinthians 3:18 -- "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the 17:27 glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, by the 17:35 Spirit of the Lord." >> So, what is a verse saying to us? 17:40 >> I was just thinking as she said it that that's where we get the old 17:44 expression "by beholding we become changed." >> Mm-hmm. 17:47 >> That's a fairly common expression. >> It is. 17:49 >> I'm not sure if all of us realize that came from Corinthians. 17:53 >> That's right, yeah. >> But it said as we look at Jesus, beholding Him, it said we 18:01 are transformed through the power in His likeness, into His image... 18:06 >> Yes. >> ...through the power of the Holy Spirit. 18:09 So it is kind of like sometimes people say, "I wonder what God's part is and what my part is in 18:14 overcoming sin." And I think that verse pretty much says it all in one concise 18:20 little package. It says, "Here's your part. You behold Jesus. 18:24 Behold the Lord, and as you keep your eyes on the Lord, the Holy Spirit transforms you 18:31 into His image." Well, if you were transformed in the image of the Lord, 18:35 would you be Christlike? >> Absolutely. >> Would you have the fruits of 18:38 the spirit? >> Absolutely. >> Would you be an overcomer? 18:40 >> Yeah. >> Would you be what we might call victorious? 18:42 >> Yes. >> Christian? >> Yeah. 18:44 >> And all of those things where the byproduct of keeping your eyes on Jesus. 18:50 >> Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> And so then what do you 18:55 become, if you become like Jesus, what do you look like? >> Well, you look like Jesus. 18:59 >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And this guy that we were 19:01 talking about, this story that we used, he got -- he became more and more like Jesus not by 19:07 trying to be like Jesus. He became more and more like Jesus by simply keeping his eyes 19:12 on Jesus. And that's one of our problems. I think, and I don't know, you 19:16 might disagree with me and other people watching this program might disagree with me, but I 19:20 think years ago there was a movement called WWJD. And the idea that was invoked 19:26 with that movement was what would Jesus do in this situation? 19:29 Figure it out, and then you behave like He would behave because you want to be like 19:33 Jesus. And so people were focusing on behavior trying to behave more 19:38 and more like Jesus, trying to act like Jesus, be like Jesus, behave like Jesus, and the focus 19:44 was on, "How am I doing? Am I doing a good job of behaving like Jesus? 19:50 No, not in this area. I need to work on this area. I need to work on this one too, 19:54 because I want to be more like Jesus." Those sound like really 19:57 wholesome things... >> They do. >> ...but I actually think that 19:59 was the devil sneaking in, and I think the reason is because the devil knows if by 20:04 beholding we become changed... >> Yes. >> ...then the only way I'd ever 20:09 become like Jesus would be by keeping my eyes on Jesus instead of beholding the defects in my 20:15 character that aren't like Jesus that I'm trying to get rid of so I can be more like Jesus. 20:19 >> Yes. >> Do you see how that's a trick? 20:21 >> Yes. I see that. Yes. >> It's like a little trick. >> So you're asking yourself 20:24 the question "How am I doing? How am I doing? How am I doing?" >> Yeah. 20:27 >> All about behavior, yeah. >> Instead of, you know, what's Jesus doing? 20:34 >> Yeah, what's Jesus doing? And the truth is Jesus does when He does kind of almost 20:39 imperceptibly to us. >> Yes. >> It's like while we keep our 20:43 eyes on Him, He is -- well, you know how Philippians says, "He who began a good work in 20:48 you is going to bring it to completion." And then it says, "By the day 20:52 of Christ Jesus." >> Yeah. >> And I think that's really 20:55 important because what that means -- it's His time frame. >> Yes. 20:58 >> Not mine. And if there's one thing that I've discovered is His time 21:02 frame and mine aren't the same. >> They aren't the same. >> I have all kinds of things 21:05 I'd like to see Him do more quickly in my life. And for whatever reasons that 21:10 He's got, He doesn't seem to think that the things I think that need to get done right now 21:14 are things that he needs to get done right now. >> That word "transformed" 21:18 is metamorphosis, right? It's this transformation, it's changing from one form to 21:26 another. So like a butterfly used to be a caterpillar. 21:29 >> Yeah. >> And now it can fly, so it's a transformation. 21:32 So it's a complete change of character, becomes a new creation. 21:36 >> A new creation -- that is huge, and that puts me in mind of another thing. 21:41 The Bible is so clear there there is scripture -- I actually have a handful of them here. 21:47 Isaiah 64 says, "We are all unclean. 21:50 All of our righteousness is like filthy rags." 21:52 Romans 3 says, "There's no one righteous, not one." 21:55 Jeremiah says, "Can you change the color of your skin or a 21:57 leopard remove his spots? Neither can you change your 21:59 heart." Jeremiah also says, "Your heart 22:01 is deceitful. It's desperately wicked. 22:03 You can't fix it." Proverbs says, "You can't say, 22:06 'I've cleansed my heart. I'm pure and free from sin.'" 22:09 I guess what I'm trying to say is you just said "transformed" and you said "new creation." 22:13 The reason we can't really be like Jesus by trying to be like Jesus is 'cause we have sick 22:19 hearts. >> Yeah >> We are internally defective. 22:22 We're born defective. And people who are strong willed and self-disciplined can make it 22:27 look like they have gotten the victory 'cause they no longer get into trouble. 22:31 >> Yeah. >> A guy said to me, "I haven't smoked, you know, in 10 years. 22:35 I haven't wanted to in 10 minutes." He was a strong person. 22:39 He could keep. And I said, "Hey, the victory that Jesus wants to give you is 22:42 better than that. It's metamorphosis. It's transformed. 22:45 It's a new creation. It's the butterfly's not even a caterpillar anymore. 22:49 And He says, 'You can't change your heart, which is why I have to do that work.'" 22:55 That's why the Holy Spirit -- Isaiah says when the enemy comes in like a flood, the 22:59 Spirit of the Lord raises up the standard against him. Who's going to battle 23:04 temptation? Who's gonna battle sin? Who's going to overcome the 23:06 enemy? Not me. >> Yes. 23:09 >> Jesus. >> Yes. So that caterpillar is, you 23:13 know, "I am in sin, I am a sinner, I can't change my heart, I'm just on the ground, I'm a 23:20 snake," right? "I can't change. I'm just evil." And what changes that 23:25 caterpillar is that it goes into a cocoon, right? And when it's in there, it's 23:30 kind of resting, right? So I think of that in terms of a relationship with Jesus to get 23:36 into a relationship with Jesus. So there is an illustration your father used to use 23:42 about an elevator. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. >> Do you want to share that 23:45 with us? >> Well, he was comparing what we've been referring to 23:48 as the three-legged stool experience -- which is just out summary way of talking about 23:52 taking daily time alone with Jesus to become better acquainted with Him through His 23:55 Word and through prayer and then sharing that -- he was referring to that whole idea as a 23:59 relationship elevator. And he said, "Let's imagine you ring the bell, and you want to 24:04 get into the relationship elevator. The door opens and there's Jesus 24:07 and He's smiling and He says, 'I am so delighted you want to get into this elevator, 24:11 a relationship with Me.' So you get in, and He says, 'What floor did you want to get 24:14 out on?' You say, 'I'm going to go to the top, and He says, 'Good 24:17 choice," and He punches in a 777 or some number like that and the elevator starts going up. 24:22 As it's going up, there's a lurch in the elevator cable. You lose your balance, and you 24:26 fall on the floor. Now this is the cool part of the illustration. 24:29 If you fall down in an elevator, do you quit going up? >> No, you keep going up. 24:35 >> That's so awesome to me. I used to be I couldn't even say that story without crying 24:39 because it was just so in my heart. And it's not that it's not in 24:43 my heart right now, but you know, you've said it sometimes more than once, you kind of got 24:47 a little kind of -- Anyway... >> So you're in that relationship with Jesus. 24:51 You just keep going up you keep 'cause Jesus is carrying you. >> I'm so glad you got that. 24:55 >> Even when you fall. >> Yes. I'm so glad you brought that 24:58 point out because we need to recognize that failures do not cast us out. 25:02 >> Yes. >> Mm. >> So many times we've thought, 25:05 "Well, my spiritual diaper's soiled. It stinks. 25:08 God must want me to just leave the room." >> Yeah. 25:10 >> But God's going, "No, we change diapers. That's what we do. 25:14 We clean up." You know, if there's one thing Heaven's good at it's taking 25:18 garments soiled dark with sin, dipping them in red, pulling them out white. 25:22 You know? "We clean you up. Just say in the elevator, and 25:26 I'll get you to the top floor." >> It's such a beautiful illustration, because when we do 25:32 do something wrong, we do soil our diaper, God's not gonna hit the stop button, let the 25:38 elevator doors open, and say, "Okay, out with you." >> Yeah. 25:42 >> Because He's still in there with us. He's gonna say, "Hey, you know 25:46 what? Give me your hand." >> Give me your hand. 25:49 >> He's hand is there already. We just have to grab onto him and just -- And he'll pull us 25:54 up again and then we continue to go up. >> He doesn't cast us out. 25:58 >> No. >> Yeah. >> So He takes us right to the 26:01 top. >> So I think that's -- There's two points I think that are 26:03 really worth underscoring when we talk about overcoming and becoming more like Jesus, 26:08 and the first one is that He promises to do the work that we can't do if we just stay in an 26:13 abiding relationship with Him. And then the other one is that we're not cast out when we do 26:21 flop or fail, so we don't have to give up in discouragement. >> Right. Right. Right. 26:26 So it's not about me. It's about Jesus. >> It's all about Him. 26:29 >> And then the more we focus on Him, we are transformed into His image. 26:33 And the things we used to hate... >> Yeah. 26:37 >> ...coming to the Bible. >> Yeah. It wasn't attractive. >> Yeah, it wasn't attractive. 26:41 The things we used to hate, we now love. >> Right. 26:43 >> And the things we used to love, we now hate. >> That's transformation. 26:48 >> Yeah, that's transformation. You are no longer a caterpillar. Now you can fly on, and by the 26:52 grace of God, by His strength abiding within you. >> Abiding. 26:56 So it's back to the vine. >> Absolutely. >> John 15. 26:59 >> Yes. Yes. So, I'm going to ask you as we close, John 15, that is it -- to 27:06 abide in Christ. Let's have a time a prayer to pray together and ask the Lord 27:13 to keep us strong and to stay strong to Him and pray on behalf of those who are listening to 27:19 this conversation that they will also find that abiding relationship with Christ so that 27:24 they can overcome in His strength. >> Alright. 27:26 Lord Jesus, thank You that You're bigger than the enemy and that You've never asked us 27:31 to try to overcome him. You've asked us to fight the good fight of faith, 27:36 to seek You, to spend time with You, to look into Your face, and You promise if we do that 27:42 You'll take care of the stuff that needs to be taken care of. Give us the grace to trust You 27:47 with that and to not grow impatient with Your time frame, and encourage us when we flop 27:54 and fail to recognize that we are not cast out, we are not abandoned, and we're not 27:59 forsaken. You are our heavenly Father, and even if we soil our diapers, 28:03 You don't -- You're a Heavenly Father. You change our diapers, You keep 28:08 loving us into wholeness and You promise to take us home and You promise to so clean us while 28:14 we're en route that when we get there, we're safe to spend eternity with You. 28:20 Give us that courage and that determination to continue seeking You first and foremost. 28:28 In Jesus name, amen. >> Amen. Thank you very much, Lee. 28:33 So, friends, I just want to remind you again of the words of Jesus when He said, "It is 28:37 written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth 28:43 of God.'" 28:45 ♪♪ ♪♪ |
Revised 2020-05-19