Participants:
Series Code: LGS
Program Code: LGS200406S
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00:01 Hello, I'm Lyle Southwell.
00:02 Welcome to Let God Speak. 00:04 Today, we focus on the only solution 00:06 to our greatest problem, the problem of ourselves. 00:10 We are going to study the life 00:12 of the master teacher Himself, Jesus. 00:40 Well, on our panel today, 00:42 we have Morgan Vincent and Danny Milenkov. 00:44 And as we begin our program, 00:46 as always, let's start with prayer. 00:49 Father in heaven, we thank You so much 00:50 that we have the privilege of being able to read 00:53 and study Your Word 00:54 and to hear Your voice speaking to us. 00:57 We pray that as we do so today, 00:59 that Your Holy Spirit will be here to guide us 01:01 and to draw us into Your presence. 01:03 We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. 01:07 So modern education today 01:09 and modern philosophy really teaches us 01:12 to focus on ourselves. 01:14 You know, we hear these mantras 01:15 that go around, you know, you deserve it, you can do it. 01:18 And I guess, you know, 01:19 my pet peeve is the one that says, 01:21 you know, be true to yourself. 01:25 Morgan, isn't this kind of like the very first thing 01:29 that Satan ever sent to Eve in the Garden of Eden, 01:32 the first great temptation? 01:33 Yeah. Absolutely, it is. 01:35 And, Lyle, we'll go straight to the Bible. 01:36 And it says in Genesis 3, we find the words 01:39 that the serpent says to the woman. 01:42 And in Genesis 3, and we read verses 5 and 6, 01:46 the Bible says, "For God knows that in the day 01:47 you eat of it your eyes will be opened, 01:50 and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 01:53 That's this lie. 01:55 And that's what you were saying earlier 01:56 that modern thought is, 01:57 will you be like God, you'll advance, 01:59 you get to this place where you'll be like God and... 02:02 It's all about you. Yeah. 02:03 It's all about... You're the center of evidence. 02:05 That's right. You have a solution. 02:06 Exactly. 02:08 In verse 6 it says, "So when the woman saw that 02:10 the tree was good for food, 02:12 that it was pleasant to the eyes, 02:13 and the tree desirable to make one wise, 02:16 she took of its fruit and ate. 02:18 She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." 02:22 So again, it's all about themselves. 02:25 Focus is there on themselves. Okay. 02:27 Now, of course, their lives were vastly different. 02:29 Danny, was it improvement 02:30 when they decided to be like gods 02:33 and to receive all of this information that, 02:36 you know, Satan was promising them 02:37 as a result of eating the fruit. 02:40 It was certainly different, was it better? 02:42 It was a disaster, to put it in a word. 02:45 Unfortunately, they recognized 02:48 what God had told them 02:50 that the day that you eat in this, 02:51 you will die and that day, 02:54 they had a spiritual sever from God, 02:59 in a way that they had never experienced before. 03:01 They experienced shame 03:03 and pain and guilt and ultimately, 03:06 they held the death of their son Abel, 03:09 not so long afterwards. 03:11 And they experienced the true fruit 03:13 of what it means to sin, 03:15 of what it means to live in separation of God, 03:17 of what it means a distrust the Word of God. 03:21 And to me, it's really interesting that 03:24 the serpent tempted Eve into believing that 03:28 God was withholding something from her and Adam, 03:31 that would be to their good. 03:33 And that has been a temptation that has gone all the way 03:35 down through history, where you cannot trust God, 03:38 that He doesn't have Your best interest in, 03:41 you need to take matters into your own hands, 03:44 you need to do, as you pointed out, 03:47 you need to do it your way was Frank Sinatra 03:50 saying that very popular song, you know, I did it my way. 03:53 And we experienced, sadly, 03:55 the consequences of doing things our way. 03:58 That's right. Absolutely. 04:00 And, you know, I started off by mentioning 04:01 that mantra that we have today, you know, be true to yourself. 04:05 And we hear all the time, 04:06 we even hear Christians make this statement. 04:09 You know, the last thing in the world 04:11 I ever want to do is to be true to myself. 04:15 I want to be true to Jesus Christ. 04:17 I want to die to self. 04:19 But, you know, Morgan moving on from here, 04:22 God comes to Adam and Eve, 04:25 after they have fallen for this temptation. 04:27 And He asks, "Where are you?" 04:30 Isn't that the strangest 04:32 kind of question for God to ask? 04:33 I mean, doesn't God know where we are all the time? 04:36 He knows that we are right here, right now. 04:38 Yeah, absolutely. 04:40 It seems strange, and it's not as that 04:41 God's asking it 04:42 because He needs to acquire information 04:44 or know their geographical location 04:47 but rather God's asking 04:49 it because sometimes if you were to ask 04:52 someone a question a family member or friend, 04:54 you ask that question in the hope 04:56 that the person you're asking it to 04:59 will come to a realization. 05:01 And so God here is asking this question 05:02 where are you, not for His benefit per se 05:05 but more so that Adam and, the woman, 05:08 Eve can know, "Hold on, we're distant from God. 05:12 We've been running from God." 05:14 That's why He's asking the question. 05:15 And you can kind of imagine, 05:16 you know, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, 05:18 as you know, this question is asked, 05:20 they're hiding, 05:22 but they know that God knows where they are. 05:25 And then God asks the question, 05:28 you know, that would hit 05:29 pretty close to home wouldn't it 05:31 if you sort of just put yourself 05:32 in that kind of a situation? 05:34 Okay. 05:35 So, Danny, what does this tell us about 05:36 the results of sin? 05:39 Well, as I shared earlier, 05:40 the result of sin is experiencing that 05:43 which God never intended for the human race, 05:45 it was always God's plan 05:46 for the human race to enjoy the abundant life, 05:49 to enjoy a holistic life where they grow physically, 05:55 spiritually, emotionally, socially, in every aspect, 05:58 that was God's plan. 05:59 And so when sin comes into this world, it's a virus, 06:03 it's a rotten virus, and we're very well familiar 06:05 with a rotten virus doing the rounds 06:08 around the world right now. 06:10 And so as this sin problem comes into this world, 06:13 we discover the consequences of sin. 06:15 And as I pointed out earlier, 06:17 there's guilt, there's shame which comes into the story, 06:21 there's suffering, there's pain, 06:23 and the ultimate consequence of sin 06:26 is alienation from God, that separation from God, 06:30 which brings about with it, you know, 06:35 the greatest consequences that one can imagine 06:38 because God is the life force of the universe. 06:41 He is the one that gives the abundant life. 06:42 So ultimately, sin separates from God. 06:45 It's like a cancer. I illustrate it like a cancer. 06:47 Cancer separates loved ones from one another. 06:51 It brings pain, it brings hurt, 06:53 it brings suffering, and all of us at one time 06:55 or another have experienced either cancer ourselves 06:59 or someone who we love has had cancer. 07:01 And that's what sin is. It's a cancer. 07:03 So you're a pastor, and no doubt 07:05 you've come across people on occasion 07:06 who deny the existence of sin. 07:08 I mean, after all, if we come from an evolutionary process, 07:11 how can sin exist? 07:13 Do you think people who deny the existence of sin 07:16 actually are able to sidestep those feelings 07:20 of shame and guilt? 07:21 No, I don't think so. 07:23 Because we know firsthand 07:27 what it feels like to suffer pain, 07:30 we just know that that's part of the human experience, 07:34 and sin brings about pain and suffering. 07:38 And so whether you denied or not is irrelevant. 07:43 You can deny that if you jump off a cliff, 07:46 that you're going to end up in not such a good place 07:48 at the bottom of that clip, you can deny that 07:50 but the reality is that's what's going to happen. 07:52 And so regardless of what we might think or... 07:56 What we think or don't think, 07:58 the reality is that sin separates us from God 08:02 and the consequences of that follow. 08:04 Absolutely. 08:06 Now, you know, while we're talking about that 08:07 because that's an interesting subject. 08:08 You know, what is the modern notion 08:11 of sin today? 08:12 What kind of, Morgan, ideas are you finding 08:15 when you go out to the community? 08:16 What do people actually think of that sin? 08:18 Yes, some can just straight out deny it 08:20 and say that there's no such thing 08:22 as a like a moral fall or, 08:24 you know, a separation from God. 08:26 Of course, if you don't believe in God, 08:27 then there's nothing like sin 08:29 that surely would exist in terms of morality, 08:31 evil, these kinds of things, pain, suffering, 08:34 well, it's just a fact of life, 08:35 and we better just get used to it. 08:37 But if you come from a worldview of faith, 08:40 then you see it as something serious. 08:42 There's consequences, separation from God. 08:44 And when we read 08:46 the first few chapters of the Bible, the first six, 08:49 we find just the spiral downhill. 08:52 And just everything 08:53 that could go wrong, does go wrong. 08:55 Yes, absolutely. 08:57 Now as believers, 08:58 we recognize that humanity is the source of the problem. 09:02 We recognize our own depravity as human beings. 09:05 Danny, do you think that that solved the problem, 09:07 that recognition? 09:09 It would be nice if I could say yes. 09:14 But... Just recognize it. 09:17 The truth is right there in the garden, 09:19 when you read Genesis 3, 09:22 you discover God has to intercede 09:28 on behalf of Adam and Eve, 09:30 God has to intervene in order to help them understand 09:34 that they have sinned, 09:35 that the consequences of sin are horrible and horrendous. 09:41 And God has to help Adam and Eve recognize their sin 09:46 because what's their natural response is to blame. 09:50 And that's not how we deal with sin. 09:52 We don't deal with sin 09:53 by blaming someone or blaming the situation. 09:57 We deal with sin by confronting it, 09:59 realizing that, yes, I have sinned, 10:02 I need a Savior. I need a Savior. 10:04 And that's ultimately what God was trying 10:07 to help Adam and Eve understand, 10:08 what God is trying to help us understand. 10:11 So Adam and Eve were able to, you know, to learn 10:13 and to understand about God's grace. 10:16 And we have other examples in the Bible. 10:17 We're going to look at another example here 10:19 for just a moment. 10:20 And this is in Genesis 28 verse... 10:24 Let me say, starting in verse 10, 10:25 the Bible says, 10:26 "And Jacob went out from Beersheba, 10:28 and went toward Haran. 10:30 And he came upon a certain place, 10:32 and stayed there all night because the sun was setting. 10:35 And he took a stone of that place 10:37 and put them for his pillow, 10:39 and lay down in that place to sleep." 10:40 You know, interesting story right here. 10:42 I don't know how good of a sleep 10:45 he had that particular night. 10:48 What was Jacob doing sleeping with a stone for a pillow 10:51 under the stars. 10:52 I mean, he just gone on a camping trip 10:53 and forgotten his swag. 10:55 What's going on here, Morgan? 10:57 Well, he's basically doing the same thing 11:00 that Adam and Eve did as soon as they sinned. 11:02 He's running. 11:03 He's running from his family from what's familiar to him. 11:07 And that's the strange thing about sin. 11:10 In that selfishness, what we're talking about today 11:12 is that he's running away. 11:14 He's deceived his father, he's wronged his brother, 11:16 and now he's wanting to just get away from it, 11:18 hoping that the consequences will go away as well. 11:21 But obviously, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. 11:23 I mean, Danny, 11:24 what an epic sinner you've got right here. 11:26 Can you believe that God calls himself 11:27 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? 11:31 It's interesting, someone once pointed out to me 11:34 that the lower you are, the worse your condition, 11:40 the further God is willing to go in order to rescue you 11:44 and to save you. 11:45 And that's what we find all the way through Scripture. 11:48 And once again, you know, 11:49 like Morgan pointed out, Jacob here is running away. 11:53 And then we find ourselves 11:56 as humans running away from God. 11:58 And I remember, I think it was Dwight Nelson, 12:01 Pastor Dwight Nelson coined the phrase back in 1998, 12:04 many years ago, 12:05 God is not someone to be afraid of, 12:07 someone to run away from but God wants to be our friend, 12:11 someone to be a friend of. 12:13 And so this is quite interesting. 12:16 It's just the consequences of sin, 12:18 we just run away from God 12:19 instead of running to God who is our only solution. 12:24 Of course, we have the story 12:25 of how God visited with Jacob that night. 12:27 And that tells us something 12:28 about the grace of God right there because, you know, 12:31 God hasn't gone anywhere. 12:32 God is with him the whole time. 12:34 And here in verse 16, the Bible says, 12:36 "Jacob woke out of his sleep and said, 12:38 'Surely the Lord is in this place, 12:40 and I did not know it.'" 12:42 More do you resonate 12:43 with Jacob's response to the dream 12:45 that God gave Jacob that night? 12:47 Yes, definitely. 12:48 You know, there are times in my life 12:49 where all I'm thinking about is myself. 12:52 And there is no solution to myself, 12:55 if I look to myself. 12:57 And he, Jacob, you know, he's alone, 12:59 he's faced with the trials, he's going through. 13:02 But then he realizes that God is actually with him. 13:04 And the lesson for each of us 13:06 and for those who're watching is that 13:07 God is with us in our trials, and maybe perhaps, 13:11 shame and guilt isn't something to separate us from God. 13:15 But God uses it as a bridge to bring us back to Him. 13:18 That's what I found... 13:20 Okay, we're just following this story through. 13:22 Danny, where does Jacob go in his life 13:25 from this particular point? 13:26 What impact is this event have on Jacob's life? 13:32 Well, this has a huge impact on him, 13:34 in that he makes a decision right there and then, 13:37 that he wants God to journey 13:40 with him all the way through. 13:42 And I might just continue reading here 13:44 from Genesis 28:20-22, 13:49 where it says, "Then Jacob made a vow, 13:51 saying, 'If God will be with me, 13:53 and keep me in this way that I am going, 13:56 and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 13:59 so that I come back to my father's house in peace, 14:02 then the Lord shall be my God." 14:04 Verse 22. 14:05 "And this stone, which I have set as a pillar, 14:08 shall be God's house, and of all that You give me 14:11 I will surely give a tenth to You." 14:13 So here Jacob makes a promise to God 14:18 and it's almost as if he's reaching out to God, 14:21 he wants a covenant with God. 14:23 He's, "God, you have revealed Your grace to me 14:26 in a powerful way, 14:27 and I want to make a decision today." 14:31 Here is a stone and stones are very symbolic. 14:33 In the Bible, we have stones established 14:36 and we have altars established in different places 14:39 as visible signs of a decision to follow God 14:43 and to be faithful to Him and to make that connection 14:46 with Him to make a covenant with Him. 14:48 And this is what Jacob does. 14:49 And he talks about tithe here. 14:51 I mean, at a time like this when he is penniless, 14:56 he's talking about tithe. 14:58 Morgan, any comments on that? 14:59 Yeah, it does seem a strange thing 15:00 but to follow on from what Danny was saying that, 15:02 you know, God wants our entire lives. 15:05 And this is he what God is wanting, 15:06 in what Jacob is to respond by doing. 15:09 And so then by giving a tithe or a tenth 15:11 of what he has as income, you know, 15:14 it's a test of his loyalty to God will God provide, 15:17 will God be with me, and he knows that to be true. 15:20 But we have a saying, you know, 15:21 put your money where your mouth is. 15:23 That's right. 15:24 And if you really believe in something, you will do that. 15:28 And even Jesus said, you know, where your treasure is, 15:32 that's where your heart will be also. 15:34 So you know, we know full well that, 15:37 you know, finances are important part of life. 15:40 But often, individuals will put their finances ahead of God. 15:44 But here, he had Jacob places his finances in the context 15:48 of being faithful to God. 15:50 "And, God, You have everything You have my life, 15:52 You have my finances, You have everything, 15:54 it's all belongs to You. 15:55 I want to be faithful, 15:57 and I want to have union with You 15:58 in every aspect of my life." 15:59 And what an experience, you know, 16:01 when you are feeling so far from God, 16:02 and suddenly realize that God is right there that 16:04 God is chasing you down. 16:06 You know, the Bible study takes us to John 1, 16:10 "In the beginning was the Word, 16:11 the Word was with God, the Word was God. 16:14 The same was in the beginning with God, 16:16 all things were made by Him, 16:18 and without Him was not anything made 16:21 that was made." 16:22 How important are these truths in actually doing this, Danny, 16:27 in giving our life completely to God? 16:29 Well, this for me is just an incredible passage 16:32 that reminds us of Genesis 1, 16:36 where it says, "In the beginning, 16:38 God created the heavens and the earth." 16:40 And here you have that same language, 16:42 "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God." 16:45 God wants to be with us from the very beginning. 16:49 When I read these passages, I discover the beautiful truth 16:52 that God wants to be in union with us 24/7. 16:56 That was God's original plan for Adam and Eve. 16:58 But sadly, they chose a different route, 17:00 but God wants to be with us. 17:02 And this is God in human flesh, 17:04 coming to this earth in order to restore us 17:07 back to himself. 17:08 I think it's just a beautiful picture. 17:10 It is. 17:11 And it's something that John the Baptist, 17:13 I think, understood really well. 17:14 When you go a little bit further down here in verse... 17:16 Let me see, where are we? 17:18 Verse 26, the Bible says, "John answered them saying, 17:20 'I baptize with water, 17:22 but there's One among you whom who you do not know. 17:25 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, 17:29 whose shoe laces I am not worthy to unloose." 17:34 Morgan, what is it that John is saying right here? 17:37 You know, he's acknowledging how good, 17:39 how great how amazing God is in the flesh of, 17:43 you know, humanity being Jesus Christ. 17:45 And then interesting, I'll read on while 17:48 and it says in verse 29, it says, 17:50 "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward Him," 17:53 note that Jesus is coming toward John, 17:58 it's not the other way around, "And he says, 18:00 'Behold the Lamb of God 18:01 who takes away the sin of the world.'" 18:03 Verse 30, This is He of whom I said, 18:05 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, 18:08 for He was before me.' 18:10 He calls out and realizes that 18:12 Jesus is the one to fix this sin problem. 18:16 Danny, how did he know that? 18:18 Well, the Bible says, as you continue to read, 18:21 that the Holy Spirit impressed that upon him. 18:25 And I just wanted to pick it up in verse 33, 18:29 where he says, "I did not know Him, 18:32 but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me." 18:36 Okay, this is speaking of the Holy Spirit, 18:38 and he was imbued with the Holy Spirit, 18:39 the Bible says, from his birth, from his mother's womb, 18:43 "Upon whom you see the Spirit descending 18:46 and remaining on Him, 18:48 this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." 18:50 And then he goes on, 18:52 "And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." 18:55 Indeed. 18:56 And you can see here, you know, when we think about Jacob, 18:59 he's recognized this, 19:01 John the Baptist recognized this. 19:02 One of the things I love 19:03 about the story of Jacob is, you know, 19:05 when he wrestles with the angel, 19:06 which turns out to be Jesus Christ, 19:09 and there's that persistence, you know, 19:10 "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 19:13 And that comes through 19:14 in another one of these stories right here, 19:16 in if we go over to Matthew 15. 19:19 The Bible says, "And behold, a woman of Canaan, 19:22 who came out of the same coast cried to him saying, 19:24 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. 19:29 My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 19:33 But He answered her not a word. 19:36 And His disciples came to him and beseeched him 19:38 and besought him saying, 'Send her away, 19:40 for she cries after us.'" 19:41 Now if we go down through 19:43 this story a little bit further, 19:44 and we continue on to verse 25. 19:47 Then she came and worshiped Him, 19:49 saying, "Lord, help me!" 19:51 And of course, skipping ahead, down to verse 28, 19:55 "Jesus answered and said to her, 19:57 'O woman, great is your faith, 19:59 be it unto you even as you will.'" 20:03 I mean, what a story of faith God taking place right here. 20:08 What's God's attitude here, Morgan? 20:10 'Cause it kind of seems like a strange story, doesn't it? 20:13 Yeah, it does seem a bizarre story, 20:14 but it's a posture of one where He's wanting to help. 20:17 You know, God looks... 20:19 Jesus, He's looking and He's wanting to help. 20:21 He's wanting to listen. 20:23 And so similar to that 20:24 if we're praying people, we can be like, 20:27 Jacob, we can be like this woman 20:28 and know that God's actually here. 20:31 God actually wants to help us. 20:33 He's he and how good is it that He is. 20:36 I think Jesus... 20:38 I think His face and His body language 20:42 gave Him away. 20:43 Even though, even though he said, 20:46 "You know, I'm sorry, I didn't really come for you." 20:49 And He's trying to put her off. 20:51 But the thing is, body language, gave Him away, 20:54 I think just His smile, 20:55 just the love on His face, and so forth. 20:57 He wasn't able to hide that, 20:58 and this woman is able to see through His words. 21:02 And she's able to see, this is my only hope. 21:06 And He really does care for me, he really does love me. 21:09 And my faith in Him will be shown that, 21:15 yes, He will do for me what I've asked Him 21:17 because I believe by faith. 21:18 Yeah, absolutely. 21:20 And that really does illustrate, 21:21 you know, why she was so tenacious 21:24 in this particular situation. 21:28 So Morgan just a question here. 21:30 What do we do when things we pray about and, you know, 21:33 we pray for something 21:34 and doesn't turn out as we expect? 21:36 What should we do there? 21:37 Often, I find when I pray, it can be, you know, 21:40 give me what I want, Praise Lord, I need this, 21:41 I need this, I need this, 21:43 and the focus is all about me, right? 21:46 That will bring disappointment. 21:48 But I want us to turn in our Bibles 21:49 to the book of 1 John, 21:51 right at the end of the Bible in 1 John, 21:53 and I'll read chapter 5, and I'll read verses 14 and 15. 21:58 And here's this amazing passage of the confidence 22:02 we can have in prayer. 22:04 Verse 14, says, "Now this is the confidence 22:06 that we have in Him, 22:08 that if we ask anything according to His will, 22:10 He hears us." 22:12 It's important for us to know God's will. 22:14 And verse 15, 22:15 "And if we know that He hears us, 22:17 whatever we ask, 22:18 we know that we have the petitions 22:20 that we have asked of Him." 22:22 When we yield to God's will, 22:24 it will bring the results from God 22:26 that He wants and so, you know, 22:28 sometimes that involves patience, 22:30 which can be a challenge, but we know 22:33 and it can have confidence, it says in praying to God. 22:36 Amen. Yes, indeed. 22:38 There's another story of great persistence 22:40 that we find in the Bible. 22:42 And I love to read this story. 22:44 We find this one in Mark 10:46. 22:47 The Bible says, "They came to Jericho. 22:49 And as He went out of Jericho 22:50 with His disciples and a great number of people, 22:54 blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, 22:58 sat by the highway begging. 23:01 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, 23:05 he began to cry out and say, 23:07 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!'" 23:11 Here you got this interesting story 23:13 where you've got blind Bartimaeus, 23:16 he's blind, Jesus is nearby, there is no way that 23:20 he's going to let this opportunity 23:21 get past him. 23:24 Why so much persistency here? Morgan. 23:27 Yeah. 23:28 You know, sometimes, 23:29 we will only seek something to the degree 23:31 that we know our need. 23:33 You know, I'm only going to seek to see a doctor. 23:35 If I really know, I need to see doctor 23:38 because I'm sick, right? 23:39 And he will see Bartimaeus you know, 23:41 he's crying out, "Jesus, 23:42 son of David, have mercy upon me." 23:44 You know, this persistence. 23:46 I love it because we cannot burden God 23:49 with persistence in prayer, we cannot tie God 23:51 or make Him think, "oh, boy, he's Morgan, 23:54 again, praying, 23:55 why don't you just get over it?" 23:57 God will always answer our persistence, 23:59 and see the persistence in our heart. 24:01 So when these stories of persistence, 24:03 and I guess this is the question, you know, 24:05 a major question of I've got, is it a situation where we are, 24:10 I guess, wearing God down 24:12 so that if we keep persisting enough, 24:14 sooner or later God will be like, 24:15 "Well, you know what, 24:17 I just can't handle these guys anymore. 24:19 I'll answer their prayer." 24:20 Is that what's going on here? No, I don't think so. 24:23 Or is it then a situation where God doesn't actually 24:26 know our need until you've asked him 24:28 like 20 times? 24:29 No, certainly not. 24:31 Is it then a situation that God doesn't want to help us 24:33 the first time that we asked? 24:35 Most definitely not. 24:36 So what's going on 24:37 with these stories of persistence. 24:39 This is for our own best. 24:42 God knows what's for our own best. 24:44 Like at the very beginning, 24:45 God knew what would bring the greatest joy, peace, 24:48 and happiness for Adam and Eve. 24:50 And He created that perfect environment. 24:53 So when it comes to asking and continually asking, 24:57 and it appears that God is not answering, 24:59 it appears that God is dead. 25:00 It's not that God is not interested, 25:03 it's not that God 25:04 does not want to answer us immediately. 25:06 But God knows that it's not in our best interest 25:09 just like a parent, a parent doesn't give in 25:11 to their child every single time, 25:14 they asked for something right away. 25:16 That's because the parent knows what the child doesn't know, 25:19 and that is they may need to wait 25:21 or they may need to understand a few more things 25:24 before they receive what they are asking for. 25:26 Or maybe they are best not to receive that. 25:29 So God is our heavenly parent. 25:31 So we need to trust in His timing, His ways, 25:34 and ultimately, His answer. 25:35 One of my favorite books 25:37 in the Bible is the Book of Daniel. 25:38 There's some great lessons in the Book of Daniel. 25:39 And in chapter 10, 25:41 you'll find the story of Daniel praying, 25:43 and he fasts and prays. 25:44 And of course, he's one of the great men 25:46 of the Bible, isn't he? 25:47 You know, when you think about Daniel, 25:48 he's fasting and praying, 25:50 you think, well, a great man like that. 25:51 He's just going to... 25:53 You know, God's going to answer his prayer on the spot. 25:55 While he's fasting and praying for three weeks, 25:59 and he sees nothing happen 26:02 for that entire period of three weeks. 26:05 And to me, that's a great illustration 26:07 because often we get discouraged 26:10 by God wants Him to keep praying. 26:11 You see, when we pray... 26:13 You know, if God just comes down 26:14 and intervenes in every little thing 26:16 in relationship to these people, 26:18 then Satan's going to have some accusations to make that, 26:20 you know, "God, you gave me this opportunity 26:22 to show what my plan looks like. 26:25 And you're just interfering all over the place." 26:29 But when we pray, God can turn up 26:32 and God can interfere 26:34 and Satan can come with his accusations. 26:35 And God says, "Look, I'm here by request. 26:38 Not only am I here by request, I'm here by persistent request. 26:44 Not only am I here by persistent request 26:46 but by persistent, earnest request." 26:49 And you kind of see that happening here 26:51 with the story of Bartimaeus. 26:54 You see, he's by the roadside, 26:56 and he is persistently earnestly asking for Jesus 27:00 to do something. 27:02 And he's crying out, you know, 27:03 he's not going to let this opportunity pass. 27:05 This is his one great opportunity. 27:07 He won't let it slip. 27:08 And of course, 27:10 you've got a great response to His healing right there. 27:13 When Jesus sets us free, like Bartimaeus, 27:16 we will want to follow Him. 27:17 We want to learn more from Him, 27:19 be like Him, we want to make our lives 27:21 to make a difference in the same way 27:23 His life made a difference. 27:25 Thank you for joining us on Let God Speak today. 27:29 If you would like to view any of our past programs, 27:31 go to our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:35 Teachers can download teaching notes there. 27:38 You can email us on lgs@3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:43 Do join us next time 27:45 and may God bless you in a special way. |
Revised 2020-11-15