Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP200047S
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00:01 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn,
00:02 and this is 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:04 We are 00:05 on the quarterly entitled Education. 00:08 Today is lesson number eight, Education and Redemption. 00:13 We hope that you have your Bible, 00:15 a pen and paper, 00:16 and your quarterly to follow along. 00:18 If you haven't already gotten a quarterly, 00:21 you can go to ABSG.Adventist.org 00:27 and download one to follow along. 00:29 So please stay tuned 00:31 and join us for this wonderful Bible study. 01:07 We're so glad that you stayed with us. 01:09 We're getting into lesson number eight 01:11 on Education and Redemption. 01:13 There's nothing more important that we can learn about. 01:16 Let me introduce you to our wonderful panel here. 01:20 Pastor John Dinzey. 01:21 We're so glad to have you with us. 01:23 It's a great blessing and an honor to be here, 01:26 to learn from Jesus and from His disciples. 01:29 Amen and amen. 01:30 Well, we always learn so much from each other. 01:33 And then my dear sister Jill Morikone. 01:35 Privileged to be here, Shelley. 01:37 Thank you so much, excited to open up God's Word. 01:39 Me too. 01:41 And then my pastor, Pastor John Lomacang. 01:44 That's right, education and redemption 01:45 has a message for all of us. 01:47 Oh, boy. So I'm excited about that too. 01:49 Me too. 01:50 And then, what can I say for Pastor Ryan Day. 01:55 You don't have to say much 01:56 because the Word of God is going to say at all. 01:58 Amen and amen. I like that. 02:00 I love that. 02:02 And I just have to apologize to you at home. 02:04 If I squeak I noticed sometimes when I go up, 02:07 I got a little vocal fold damage. 02:09 But let's jump right into our lesson. 02:14 We know that our Lord God is a covenant-making, 02:19 covenant-keeping God of love. 02:23 And He reveals Himself to us. 02:26 I mean, His whole purpose in creating us 02:30 was that we could be 02:31 in a love relationship with Him. 02:33 And He wants to communicate with us. 02:37 So let's look at some of the ways 02:38 that God reveals Himself to us. 02:41 He reveals Himself to us through creation. 02:44 We look around, we see His intelligent design, 02:48 His creativity and His power. 02:50 He reveals Himself 02:52 through the conscience of humanity 02:54 because God by His Holy Spirit, He's always moving us, 03:00 showing us the right way. 03:03 He revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ, 03:09 who walked this earth 03:11 to show us exactly who the father was. 03:16 And He reveals Himself to us in Scripture. 03:20 But before we open up the Scriptures, 03:23 we need to have a prayer. 03:24 John, I'm gonna ask you to pray, please. 03:26 Gracious Father in heaven, 03:28 education is what we all receive 03:31 when we open our hearts to your Holy Spirit, 03:33 send that power today, Father, 03:35 to be the active agent 03:37 in what is said and what is done. 03:39 And may all the glory go to You. 03:41 We pray in Jesus' name. 03:43 Amen. Amen and amen. 03:45 So we open this lesson 03:47 with the memory text from 2 Timothy 3:16. 03:51 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. 03:55 And what is it profitable for? 03:57 For doctrine, reproof, correction, 04:02 and instruction in righteousness. 04:05 When it's talking about all Scripture here, 04:07 at the time this was written, 04:09 it's referring to the Old Testament. 04:11 You know, I grew up as a New Testament Christian 04:13 and I was taught that the Old Testament, 04:15 forget about it. 04:16 I'm going to tell you something. 04:18 The New Testament is contained in the Old 04:23 and the Old is explained in the New. 04:25 If you don't study from Genesis to Revelation, 04:28 you can't understand 04:30 what God is trying to tell His people. 04:33 He is... 04:35 God says, "I'm the Lord changed not." 04:37 He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. 04:41 So when we look at what this is good for, 04:45 for doctrine. 04:46 What's doctrine? 04:48 Teaching. 04:49 And, you know, this is the instructions 04:52 for how to have an abundant life in God. 04:55 Sometimes people will say, 04:57 "Oh, don't talk to me about doctrine. 04:58 I don't want to hear that word doctrine." 05:00 And I think, "Are you kidding?" 05:02 Doctrine is God's truth encapsulated. 05:06 I love it. 05:07 It is good for reproof, 05:09 that is when we are shown the error of our way. 05:15 And then God brings us to repentance, 05:18 confession and repentance. 05:20 It is used for correction. 05:22 Hey, that word correction, 05:24 this is the only time 05:25 it's used in the Old Testament... 05:26 I mean in the New Testament. 05:28 And it means to restore someone, 05:31 it's like if someone has fallen from their feet, 05:34 it's to help them back up 05:36 from the ground and to restore them. 05:39 And instruction in righteousness. 05:43 You know, people ask me sometimes, 05:45 "Do you believe in righteousness by faith?" 05:46 I believe 05:48 that's the only kind of righteousness 05:49 there is. 05:50 But we know that John tells us in 1 John, 05:53 that the righteous will practice righteousness. 05:58 So we are learning 05:59 how to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. 06:03 So God reveals himself to mankind 06:08 in a father-child relationship, 06:11 a teacher-student relationship and He invites us, 06:17 "I want you to come to Me, I want you to learn Me. 06:22 I want you to know who I am and how much I love you. 06:25 And I want you to know your identity as My child." 06:32 How precious. Did you know God... 06:35 Just think about it. 06:36 He walked in the Garden of Eden teaching, 06:40 He walked on the face of the earth 06:43 in the person of Jesus Christ teaching, 06:45 He's going to be teaching us throughout all eternity. 06:48 We're just going to be marveling 06:51 at the things that we learn. 06:52 So let's look at Sunday. 06:55 We're going to open our Bibles to Genesis 1:26 07:01 is where we will begin. 07:03 And there's something interesting. 07:06 Genesis 1: 26. 07:08 Sunday's title is In the image of God. 07:12 Well, what does that mean? 07:14 Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God," 07:17 Elohim, which is a plural name, 07:22 El was the name for God, Elohim is the plural of El. 07:27 Listen to how God expresses himself 07:31 in plural pronouns. 07:33 He said, "Let Us make man in Our image, 07:37 according to Our likeness, 07:39 let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, 07:41 over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, 07:43 over all the earth, 07:44 over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 07:48 So who is the earth? 07:51 It's not the angels 07:53 'cause he's getting ready to say right here in verse 27. 07:56 "So God created man in His own image," 08:01 that's the us, 08:02 "in the image of God He created him, 08:04 male and female He created them. 08:07 And He blessed them and He said to them, 08:10 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, 08:14 have dominion over the fish of the sea, 08:16 over the birds of the air, 08:17 and over everything 08:19 that moves on the face of the earth.'" 08:23 Now I know that there's a lot of conversations 08:28 on what does it mean 08:29 to be created in the image of God? 08:31 Right. 08:33 We know that Jesus said in John 4:24 08:35 that God is spirit. 08:37 So does He have a form like us? 08:38 I mean, is He shaped like a man? 08:40 I don't know. The Bible doesn't tell me. 08:43 But what I do know is that image and likeness 08:48 that God created us 08:50 with moral sensibilities with He created us perfect. 08:55 He created us to be like Him with intellectual abilities. 09:01 We have a will, we have emotions, 09:05 He created us with the capacity to govern His creation, 09:10 His earth. 09:11 So it's interesting to me 09:14 that there is a law of reproduction 09:18 in God's creation. 09:20 He created male and female, and they had to be able, 09:25 by divine design, they had to come together, 09:28 to reproduce, 09:30 to fulfill what He said, to multiply. 09:34 So God has a purpose. 09:36 But here's what I want to share with you 09:38 'cause this is a thought God gave me, 09:40 some time ago, that I just love. 09:44 The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:8-16, 09:48 "God is love." 09:50 That is the very essence of God's character. 09:55 And all of His attributes, everything about Him has to... 10:00 I mean, that's the essence of His being, 10:02 all of His character has to line up with that love. 10:07 And it is another-centered love. 10:10 In other words, 10:12 it's an outpouring of self-sacrificing love. 10:16 You know, if we were created in God's image, 10:20 He is a relational being of love. 10:24 He created us to be beings of love. 10:29 And think about how wonderful that is 10:33 that He created us to have a relationship with Him. 10:37 He created us to love others and serve others. 10:42 And to me, 10:44 if we're going to live in right relationship, 10:47 we need to open up our hearts. 10:49 The Bible says in Romans 5:5, 10:51 God pours his love into our heart 10:54 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 10:56 The only way that we can love the Lord our God 10:59 with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, 11:01 and love our neighbor as ourself, 11:03 which are the most important commandments, 11:06 is to open up our heart 11:08 and let God pour His Holy Spirit, 11:11 His love, His essence into us. 11:15 Now let's look at Genesis 5 11:17 'cause we're going to see 11:20 that there is after the fall of mankind, 11:25 the image of God is marred in man. 11:30 In Genesis 5:1, let's see, 11:32 God created man and made them in the likeness of God, 11:36 He created male and female and blessed them. 11:38 Now jump down to verse 3, "And Adam lived one 130 years, 11:42 and begot a son in his own likeness, 11:47 after his image, and named this son Seth." 11:53 Now I believe that the second generation, 11:57 obviously, 11:58 procreation that the image of God 12:00 was passed onto man. 12:02 But what happened? 12:04 The image was marred because of the fall, 12:07 that fallen nature got passed on to us. 12:11 And that's why we needed 12:14 a new Adam, the last Adam, 12:19 when God became a man 12:22 so that we could be born again in His image. 12:29 I love what the Bible tells us, 12:33 Romans 8:28, 29, 12:35 and we can never separate those two scriptures, 12:37 Romans 8:28, 29 says, 12:40 that all things work together for good 12:42 for those who love the Lord 12:44 and are called according to His purpose. 12:47 That's your purpose. 12:48 But your destiny is right there in the next scripture 12:52 because those that God for knew He predestined 12:55 to be conformed to the image of His Son, 12:57 Jesus Christ. 12:58 That's your destiny. 12:59 Let me read to you very quickly. 13:01 1 Thessalonians. 13:03 And I want to get to verse 3 13:07 or chapter 3 at 1 Thessalonians 13:11 because, you know, some people are going to say, 13:14 "What do you mean 13:15 God created us in the image of love? 13:17 If He created us in His image, and He is love, then, brethren, 13:24 this is where it's all at." 13:26 Let's look 13:27 at 1 Thessalonians 3:12. 13:34 And it says, "May the Lord make you increase and abound, " 13:41 who's doing the work? 13:42 The Lord. The Lord is doing the work. 13:45 Increase and abound in what? Love. 13:47 In love to one another and to all 13:50 just as we do to you so that and any time you see, 13:55 so are that or so that, that's the purpose statement. 13:59 So Paul's saying, 14:01 hey, make God 14:03 cause you to increase and abound in love 14:05 for this purpose. 14:06 Here it is, 14:08 "So that he may establish 14:11 your hearts blameless in holiness, 14:14 before our God and Father 14:16 the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 14:18 with all of His saints." 14:19 Do you realize what he's saying there? 14:22 He is saying that as we grow in love, 14:28 we grow in holiness. 14:30 That is a beautiful thing 14:32 because we grow in the image of God. 14:36 Amen. Praise the Lord. 14:38 Well, I know you can consume the rest of the time. 14:41 I could. 14:42 Praise the Lord. 14:44 Well, Monday's lesson brings us to Jesus as Teacher. 14:48 And so now we want to encourage you 14:51 to follow along 14:53 because Jesus, 14:55 there are many names by which He is addressed 14:57 in the Bible, 14:59 including, one of my favorites is the Lamb of God 15:02 that takes away the sin of the world. 15:05 But He's also called Master, Rabbi. 15:09 And these words actually mean teacher. 15:12 And see, when you look at Jesus as your teacher, 15:15 you're going to do well. 15:16 Amen. 15:18 Let's go into the book Isaiah Chapter 11. 15:23 In Isaiah Chapter 11, 15:25 the study is for verses 1 through 9, 15:29 but we're going to focus on verses 1, 2, and 3. 15:33 "There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, 15:37 and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." 15:40 This is another name for Jesus, the branch, 15:42 "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, 15:46 the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, 15:48 the Spirit of counsel and might, 15:50 the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 15:54 His delight is in the fear of the Lord, 15:57 And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, 16:00 nor decide by the hearing of His ears." 16:03 These are words that speak of a teacher, 16:07 and He has the spirit of wisdom and understanding. 16:11 And when we talk of 16:13 when we consider Jesus as a teacher, 16:16 then we can pause and consider 16:20 that the words He spoke, 16:24 we need to listen to them. 16:26 Now there was a time 16:27 when Jesus was teaching the people. 16:30 And He was saying some things 16:32 that the Bible says that somebody said, 16:34 "These are things that are hard to hear." 16:37 And so some people started leaving, 16:40 some people started leaving. 16:41 And so Jesus apparently was getting sadder and sadder 16:45 because I see Him getting sadder and sadder 16:47 because He looks to His 12 disciples, 16:49 and he says, "Will you also leave?" 16:53 And Peter said the right thing. 16:55 He says, "Lord, where can we go? 16:56 You have the words of life." 16:59 And so I want to tell you 17:00 that Jesus has the words of life today. 17:03 Now when you go to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 17:06 and even into the book of Revelation, 17:08 you can see 17:10 that these are the words of Jesus. 17:12 And if they were Spirit, if they were life, 17:14 then they are like today. 17:16 And they are worthy of our study. 17:18 So when you go through Matthew, 17:20 Mark, Luke, and John, 17:21 don't dispense by the things that Jesus said, 17:24 focus on them, and ask the Lord, 17:26 "Lord, what is it that You have for me 17:28 in these Scriptures? 17:30 Be my teacher. 17:31 "And when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, 17:33 you know, He was the greatest teacher 17:36 that has ever walked upon this earth. 17:38 And today, there are people 17:41 that have been considered great teachers, 17:44 are highly intelligent, some people think of Einstein. 17:47 But when you think of all these great teachers 17:50 and compare them to Jesus, 17:51 they all need to humble themselves 17:53 before the Lord, 17:54 come and learn at the feet of Jesus. 17:57 I remember seeing a commercial many years ago, 18:00 and I don't know what it was about, 18:02 they were just kind of panning along 18:05 and they were showing people at restaurant 18:06 talking and talking, eating, eating, 18:08 and all of a sudden everybody goes silent. 18:11 And then the announcer said, 18:12 "When EF Hutton speaks, people listen." 18:16 And I say, "Wow, what a powerful message." 18:19 But this is what 18:20 we need to consider about Jesus. 18:22 So when we take time to pause and ask Jesus, 18:27 "Lord, teach me, " 18:29 then you can really begin to learn. 18:33 And Jesus did invite us to learn from Him. 18:36 Let's go to Matthew 11:28-30. 18:41 Matthew 11:28-30. 18:43 "Come to Me," Jesus says, 18:46 "all who labor and are heavy laden, 18:49 and I will give you rest." 18:50 Wow, in these words, 18:52 it's enough to study for a lifetime. 18:55 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 18:59 for I am gentle and lowly in heart, 19:01 and you will find rest for your souls. 19:04 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." 19:07 Dear, dear children of God, 19:10 Jesus wants you to learn of Him. 19:13 And His invitation is, "Come on to Me and lean on Me." 19:17 And His invitation is to all and I praise the Lord for that. 19:21 And so I want to read this to you 19:23 from Councils on Education, very powerful, very powerful. 19:29 Listen to this. 19:30 "It is right that you should feel 19:32 that you must climb to the highest rung 19:34 of the educational ladder. 19:37 Philosophy and history are important studies, 19:39 but your sacrifice of time and money will avail nothing 19:43 if you do not use your attainments 19:46 for the honor of God and for the good of humanity. 19:51 Unless the knowledge of science is a stepping stone 19:55 to the attainment of the highest purposes, 19:58 it is worthless. 20:00 The education that does not furnish knowledge 20:04 as enduring as eternity is of no purpose. 20:09 The education..." 20:11 I read that part. 20:12 "Unless you keep having in the future 20:15 in mortal life before you, 20:16 your attainments are of no permanent value. 20:19 But if Jesus is your teacher, 20:23 not simply on one day of the week 20:26 but every day, every hour, 20:28 you may have His smile upon you 20:31 in the pursuit of literary acquirements." 20:36 So don't let Jesus be your teacher one day a week, 20:40 you know, unfortunately, 20:42 there are a lot of people that open their Bible 20:47 for the first time in the week when they get to church. 20:49 When somebody says, "Turn your Bibles to, " 20:51 and that's when they're opening their Bible for the first time. 20:54 A sad and horrible mistake 20:57 because Jesus wants to teach us even every hour. 21:00 And I encourage you to take time to learn of Jesus. 21:06 And those that are listening, 21:09 that are teachers need to take time to learn 21:12 at the feet of Jesus as well 21:14 because through Him, 21:16 we can reach our highest purpose 21:20 in this life through Jesus Christ. 21:22 There is another quote that I want to read to you 21:24 because it is also very powerful 21:25 as it talks about how Jesus spoke 21:29 in the book Gospel Workers page 260, 21:32 I read to you from the book Education before. 21:34 "When Jesus spoke, 21:36 it was not with hesitating uncertainty, 21:40 His words came within earnestness 21:42 and assurance 21:44 appropriate to their importance, 21:45 and the momentous consequences 21:47 involved in their reception or rejection." 21:52 So this is the teacher whom we need to learn from. 21:56 And when you talk about learning from Jesus, 21:58 what did Jesus do? 22:00 He spent a lot of time in prayer. 22:02 You read in the Bible 22:03 that it says He rose a great while before day. 22:10 In other words, He got up 22:11 when everybody was still snoring away, 22:14 and it was still dark, He went a place apart, 22:17 to pray and have communion with the Father. 22:21 And we understand this as, 22:24 you know, we consider ourselves students of the Lord 22:28 but also the Lord uses us as teachers. 22:30 And we learn at the feet of Jesus as well. 22:33 And he who tries to teach others about Jesus 22:36 before learning at the feet of Jesus 22:38 is making a grave, serious mistake. 22:41 We need to humble ourselves before the Lord 22:43 because it is only by humbling ourselves 22:46 before the Lord that we really open our minds 22:49 and our understanding 22:51 so that He can feed us and teach us 22:54 and He has so much to teach us. 22:57 And yes, there's... 23:00 Let's go to it. 23:01 Let's go to John 3 23:04 and we're going to read that moment 23:07 when a teacher of Israel came to Jesus. 23:13 Beginning of verse 1, John Chapter 1. 23:16 I'm sorry, John 3, beginning in verse 1, 23:17 "There was a man of the Pharisees 23:20 named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 23:24 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 23:29 'Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher 23:33 come from God, 23:35 for no one can do these things that You do 23:38 unless God is with him.'" 23:41 He says, some very wise words, 23:43 "Jesus answered and said to him," 23:46 He ignored him, practically He said, 23:48 and He said, "Most assuredly, 23:50 I say to you, unless one is born again, 23:54 he cannot see the kingdom of God." 23:56 Jesus looked into the deepest deed 23:59 of Nicodemus 24:00 and spoke to his heart and spoke to his greatest need, 24:04 awakened his desire to learn more. 24:08 And then as you continue reading, 24:09 you will see that he began to ask questions. 24:12 Don't be afraid to ask the Lord questions 24:16 because the Lord has answers. 24:18 And that's why He says, "Come unto Me, 24:21 and learn of Me." 24:22 And so the Lord wants to teach us even today. 24:28 1 Corinthians 12:28, I got to read this quickly. 24:30 "And God has set some in these in the church, 24:33 first apostles, second prophets, 24:35 thirdly teachers, after that miracles, 24:37 then gifts of healings, helps governments, 24:38 diversities of tongues," and it continues, 24:41 but the Lord has blessed 24:43 with the gift of teaching as well. 24:45 You may have that, 24:46 use it to God's honor and glory. 24:47 Amen. 24:49 Thank you, Pastor Dinzey. 24:50 Now we have to take a quick break, 24:52 but we'll be right back. 24:54 So join us. 25:00 Ever wish you could watch 25:02 a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again 25:04 or share it on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? 25:07 Well, you can by visiting 3ABNSabbathSchoolpanel.com, 25:12 a clean design makes it easy 25:14 to find the program you're looking for. 25:17 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 25:20 so you can follow along. 25:22 Sharing is easy. 25:23 Just click share and choose your favorite social media. 25:26 Share a link, save a life for eternity. 25:30 We're back. 25:31 And now we'll continue with Tuesday's lesson 25:33 with Jill Morikone. 25:35 Thank you so much, Shelley and Pastor Johnny. 25:37 I love that we are made in the image of God. 25:40 And then Jesus as our teacher Rabbi, 25:43 on I have Tuesday's lesson, 25:45 we look at Moses and the prophets 25:48 looking at the teaching material 25:50 that is contained in the Word of God. 25:53 The educational thoughts, 25:55 the instruction that we can find in the Bible. 25:58 Noah Webster is called the father 26:00 of American scholarship and education. 26:04 His Blue Back Speller 26:05 taught five generations of Americans to read. 26:09 He said this, 26:10 "Education is useless without the Bible." 26:14 The Bible was America's basic textbook 26:17 in all fields. 26:20 If you fast forward quite a few years, 26:22 Time magazine had a cover in 2007. 26:25 That was called this, 26:27 The Case for Teaching the Bible. 26:30 And the article, the author in the article 26:34 argued for teaching the Bible in public schools, 26:37 which is amazing 26:39 thinking of the political climate today. 26:42 We look at teaching material 26:43 found throughout the Word of God, 26:45 hopefully, we're going to make it 26:46 all the way through the Bible, 26:48 we're going to look at the different sections 26:50 or genres of the Bible, 26:52 how it's divided up into sections, 26:54 and then we're going to take a different book of the Bible 26:57 and each one of those sections 26:59 and see the educational material 27:00 that we can find in the Word of God. 27:04 I just want to quote the memory texts 27:05 that Shelley did a beautiful job 27:06 with at the beginning. 27:08 We're going to go back a couple verses, 27:09 2 Timothy Chapter 3. 27:11 Open your Bibles to 2 Timothy Chapter 3, 27:14 we're going to look at verses 14 through 17. 27:17 Paul, of course, 27:19 speaking to his son in the faith, Timothy, 27:21 "But you must continue in the things 27:23 which you have learned and been assured of, 27:25 knowing from whom you have learned them, 27:29 and that from childhood 27:30 you have known the Holy Scriptures, 27:32 which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith 27:35 which is in Christ Jesus." 27:37 The Scriptures, 27:39 the Bible gives us everything we need for salvation, 27:42 that wisdom and knowledge of Jesus 27:45 and salvation. 27:46 Then the scripture Shelley read, 27:48 all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. 27:51 All Scripture is God breathed. 27:55 I love that word all. 27:57 Its pos in Greek, it means each and every one. 28:01 What I love about that is it doesn't mean 28:03 just a certain Scripture I like 28:05 or the passage 28:06 I particularly feel an affinity to, 28:09 it means each and every scripture 28:12 is God breathed. 28:14 The ones I like or maybe dislike, 28:16 the ones that I agree with, or maybe not. 28:18 The ones that make me feel good 28:20 and the ones that may be cut like a sharp two-edged sword. 28:23 All Scripture is God breathed. That's right. 28:27 It's given by inspiration of God. 28:28 It's profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, 28:31 Shelley already covered that. 28:33 Instruction in righteousness that the man of God 28:35 may be complete or perfect, 28:37 thoroughly furnished for every good work. 28:41 Scripture gives us knowledge of salvation, 28:44 and instruction in righteousness. 28:46 It teaches us. 28:47 It corrects and straightens out those areas in my life 28:51 that are maybe out of balance. 28:53 So let's look at the teaching and instruction 28:56 found in the Word of God. 28:57 The first section of the Bible is, of course, 29:00 the five books of the law. 29:02 This is Genesis through Deuteronomy. 29:05 Five books of the law known as the Pentateuch, 29:07 the Torah, the law. 29:09 Torah means teaching or instruction. 29:13 Instead of thinking of it as just dos and don'ts, 29:16 rules and regulations, 29:18 the Torah is filled with teaching material 29:22 with how we are to live 29:23 in covenant relationship with God. 29:27 There's also some history and biblical narrative 29:29 found there as well. 29:31 Let's look at the book of Genesis. 29:32 Of course we know Moses was the author of those books. 29:35 In Genesis we see origins, 29:37 the beginning of the world and humanity, 29:39 the beginning of light and darkness, animals, plants, 29:42 the beginning of the Sabbath, 29:44 the beginning unfortunately of sin, 29:46 and the beginning of salvation 29:48 or that plan of salvation 29:50 that was unfolded to Adam and Eve. 29:53 We have our foundational understanding 29:55 of basic theology, 29:57 the framework for our theology is laid 30:00 in those first few chapters of the book of Genesis. 30:03 We see God as Creator. 30:04 God as Savior. 30:06 We see humans coming from the dust 30:07 and returning back to dust. 30:09 We see marriage and family and community, 30:11 we see salvation, 30:13 we see this great controversy plan 30:15 between good and evil. 30:18 We see wonderful promises and covenantal relationship 30:23 in the book of Genesis, that first messianic promise. 30:27 And then the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 8, 30:29 the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis Chapter 15. 30:32 The next section of the Bible is the 12 books of history, 30:36 biblical narrative. 30:38 This is Joshua through Nehemiah. 30:41 And this really shows us 30:42 how well God's people master 30:45 the educational material they were taught 30:47 and how they lived by it. 30:49 And we see sometimes they really follow God 30:51 and master that educational material. 30:53 Sometimes they didn't follow him so well 30:55 and they had to be rebuked and chasten. 30:58 Some judgment came and they went back to Him. 31:01 The book I'm going to pick in that section is Nehemiah. 31:04 We see the return of the exiles, 31:06 of course, the first return under Ezra with 50,000 people, 31:09 the second return under Ezra maybe 6,000. 31:12 The third return under Nehemiah. 31:15 In the book of Nehemiah we see reconstruction. 31:17 Of course, Ezra we know 31:19 focused on reconstruction of the temple, 31:21 Nehemiah focused on reconstruction of the wall. 31:24 In Nehemiah, we see reform, 31:26 reform and commitment to the law of God 31:29 and to their covenant relationship 31:31 with God. 31:32 We see the covenant 31:34 and God is the keeper of the covenant 31:35 and covenant renewal take place in the book of Nehemiah. 31:39 And we see reading from the Word of God. 31:41 The next section is the five books of poetry 31:45 or the five wisdom books. 31:47 It's the Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. 31:52 The Book of Psalms, 31:54 there are at least three educational Psalms 31:58 that they call Educational Psalms 31:59 in the book of Psalms. 32:01 Now clearly the entire book would be educational, 32:04 but there's at least three, 32:05 Psalm 1, Psalm 37, and Psalm 73. 32:09 Psalm 1 is a meditation, it's a study on God's law. 32:13 It contrasts the ways of the righteous 32:15 and the ways that the wicked. 32:16 The righteous are like a tree 32:18 and the wicked are like the chaff, 32:21 which is blown away. 32:22 The way of the righteous is known by God, 32:25 the way of the wicked shall perish. 32:28 The next section is the 17 books of prophecy. 32:32 This is the major and the minor prophets. 32:35 The educational material here 32:38 is what the people ought to have learned 32:41 from the educational material. 32:43 And we see this judgment of God, 32:45 of course, the major prophets Isaiah to Daniel 32:48 and then the 12 minor prophets. 32:50 If you look at the book of Isaiah, 32:52 it's probably one of my favorite books. 32:55 His name, of course, means the Lord saves, 32:58 and that fits the theme of the book. 33:00 Isaiah's kind of divided into two books. 33:03 The first section would be the book of judgment. 33:06 The second section 33:08 being the book of comfort and restoration. 33:10 The first book shows... 33:12 The first half of the book 33:14 shows the results of following after idols 33:16 and after their own gods. 33:17 The second half shows God's mercy and forgiveness 33:20 and restoration if they came back to Him. 33:24 We see prophecies in the book of Isaiah, 33:26 we see promises in the book of Isaiah, 33:28 we see God's holiness in the book of Isaiah, 33:31 God's sovereignty, His trustworthiness, 33:34 His love and commitment to His people. 33:36 We jump over to the New Testament. 33:38 The first four books, of course, are the gospel. 33:40 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 33:43 The gospels are bound in educational material 33:45 because there's the parables of Jesus. 33:47 There's the teachings of Jesus. 33:50 And the book of Matthew, 33:52 we have what they call five discourses, 33:55 which are these teachings of Jesus. 33:57 The Sermon on the Mount, of course, Matthew 5 through 7 34:00 contains those central tenants of Christian discipleship. 34:04 Then there's the missionary discourse 34:06 and Matthew 10, 34:07 Jesus to the 12 apostles just before they're sent down. 34:10 There's the parabolic discourse in Matthew 13, 34:13 with the parables, 34:15 the church discourse in Matthew 18 34:17 and all of it discourse, that end-time events, 34:21 then we have one book of history, 34:23 biblical narrative, which is Acts. 34:25 And of course, the theme of that 34:27 is the early Christian church 34:29 showcasing the spread of Christianity 34:31 to the then known world. 34:34 We have 21 Epistles, 34:36 books of letters to churches and individuals, 34:40 14 of them written by Paul and then 7 written by James, 34:44 Peter, John, and Jude. 34:46 If you look at each one of them, 34:48 they begin with a gospel proclamation, 34:51 but they end with educational material, 34:54 practical material, 34:55 lessons for our lives today as Christians. 35:00 And then the final book, 35:01 the final section would be the book of prophecy. 35:04 That's the last book of the Bible, 35:06 the book of Revelation. 35:08 We see in there Jesus Christ, the Son of man, 35:11 Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb, the Word of God, 35:14 we see the heavenly sanctuary. 35:16 And the throne room, 35:18 we see the cross lifted up and the gospel portrayed, 35:21 we see the death resurrection, 35:23 ascension of Jesus, the church, the end of the world, 35:26 and end-time events. 35:29 So as we look at the Bible as a textbook, 35:31 the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation 35:34 shows us the character of God. 35:36 Amen. 35:39 Praise the Lord. 35:41 That was... 35:42 Praise the Lord. 35:44 I took 10 of my seconds to say that. 35:47 Praise the Lord. That was wonderful. 35:49 Wednesday, Wise Men and Women. 35:52 As you were reading, Jill, 35:54 you went to 2 Timothy 3:14 & 15 35:57 to talk about the Holy Scriptures. 35:59 I want to use that very same passage 36:01 to talk about wisdom. 36:04 But you must continue in the thing... 36:06 2 Timothy 3:14 and 15. 36:09 But you must continue with the things 36:10 which you have learned 36:12 and been assured of knowing 36:14 from whom you have learned them 36:16 and that from childhood, 36:18 you have known the Holy Scriptures 36:20 which are able to make you wise. 36:23 Wise men and women. 36:25 The word there wise comes from the Greek word, 36:28 [speaking in Greek], 36:29 which means the act of becoming wise, 36:33 not that you were wise prior to that, 36:35 but it's saying, 36:36 the more you read, the wiser you become. 36:39 And when the Bible talks about wisdom, wisdom, 36:42 in this sense, as Paul's writing to Timothy, 36:46 this is an ever-increasing wisdom, 36:48 which the Bible, 36:49 the entrance of God's Word brings light. 36:52 And so if you're in a dark tunnel, 36:53 as long as you have light, you can see where you're going. 36:56 If you don't read the Bible, you can be religious, 36:59 but your tunnel is going to be dark 37:01 and you have no idea where you're headed. 37:03 So desire wisdom above religion, 37:08 and wisdom will bring with it, 37:10 not just religion but knowledge of God 37:12 that cannot be attained any other way. 37:15 Also, in the book of 2 Samuel 14:2, 37:18 we find the Bible also talks about wise women. 37:20 Now oftentimes, we think of wisdom 37:22 in the Scriptures as well, 37:24 we know about Solomon, 37:25 but we often don't think about women 37:27 but after hearing what you just did, Jill, 37:29 that's wisdom. 37:30 Praise the Lord. 37:32 And so it's good to have people who allow the Word of God 37:34 to give them wisdom, 37:35 such as continually is displayed 37:37 when we study God's Word. 37:40 2 Samuel 14:2 says, 37:41 "And Joab sent to Tekoa 37:44 and brought from there a wise woman, and said to her, 37:48 'Please pretend to be a mourner, 37:51 and put on mourning apparel, '" 37:53 evidently she knew exactly how to mourn 37:55 because he said do it the way you know best, 37:57 she was wise, 37:58 "and do not anoint yourself with oil, 38:00 but act like a woman 38:02 who has been mourning a long time for the dead." 38:04 Now the word there wise meaning it means they're cunning, 38:09 she's able to display, 38:10 she was able to get into that mode immediately. 38:13 And actors today are some wise people. 38:16 I remember reading the story years ago about Tom Hanks, 38:20 when he played so many roles 38:22 that people thought they knew him, 38:24 but what they simply did is they knew him in their role. 38:27 And as he said, 38:28 "Life is like a bowl of chocolate, " 38:32 and so they knew him in all the roles he played 38:35 but he became that character 38:38 by following the director and the producer. 38:41 And in the reality of the comparison, 38:43 we can only become the character 38:45 that God intends for us to become 38:48 when we follow the director, and the producer. 38:51 Director God, the producer Jesus, 38:53 and the power of that ability to transform 38:56 is the Holy Spirit. 38:58 We need those active agents. 39:00 The Bible also says in Proverbs 16:23, 39:03 "The heart of the wise teaches his mouth 39:06 and adds learning to his lips." 39:09 I've discovered through the years, 39:11 now I'm not up to my sixth or seventh Bible now. 39:14 And I'm having a challenge going from my Bible. 39:16 That's so well marked to my remnant Bible. 39:18 My wife keeps saying 39:20 use your new remnant Study Bible. 39:22 I said, "Honey, this Bible is like my right hand." 39:25 You know what I'm talking about? 39:26 After you get to use the pages, 39:28 you know how many pages to pick up to get to a book. 39:31 There's like all of a sudden you buy a brand-new sword 39:33 and although it's pretty, 39:35 it's going to take a while to learn how to use it. 39:37 But the Bible is a book of wisdom 39:39 that continues to guide us in Solomon 39:42 is referred to in 1 Kings 4:29-34. 39:46 It says in verse 34, "And men of all nations, 39:50 from all the kings of the east who had heard of his wisdom, 39:54 came to hear the wisdom of Solomon." 39:58 Where did Solomon get his wisdom from? 40:00 And the Lord said to him, "What would you desire?" 40:02 Now people that have that question 40:06 to pose to the Lord, 40:07 what will you desire? 40:09 The Lord said, Solomon could have said, 40:11 "I want wealth. 40:12 I want to be powerful. 40:13 I want to be the greatest military general." 40:16 But he said, "I want wisdom. 40:17 I want to be able to discern. 40:20 I want to know how to make right decisions." 40:23 And the Lord said, "That was a wise choice." 40:27 But since you didn't ask for the other things, 40:28 I'm going to give you all those things also. 40:30 And I'll tell you, outside of Uzziah 40:34 was the second wisest man in the Bible... 40:37 Uzziah was the second wealthiest man 40:39 in the Bible, 40:40 sorry, only second to Solomon, great possessions, 40:44 a man who reigned for 52 years, 40:46 but his life didn't end 40:48 in the way that was an honor to the Lord. 40:50 But what I want to bring out right now 40:52 are the different types of wisdom. 40:54 Let's go to Romans 7:18. 40:56 The first type of wisdom is practical wisdom, 40:59 practical wisdom. 41:01 Wisdom is defined 41:02 as the quality or state of being wise 41:05 knowledge of what is true or right, 41:07 coupled with just judgment 41:09 as to the action or the intelligence 41:12 that should follow the information you have, 41:14 discernment or insight, 41:16 scholarly knowledge or learning, 41:18 the wisdom of the schools, 41:20 wise sayings or teachings, precepts, 41:23 or a wise actor saying, 41:25 those all define what wisdom is. 41:27 But practical wisdom, 41:29 practical wisdom demands more than the skill 41:32 to be perceptive about others. 41:34 It also demands the capacity to perceive oneself, 41:38 this is practical 41:39 to assess what our own motives are 41:43 to admit our failures, 41:45 to figure out what has worked 41:47 and what has not worked and why. 41:50 That's practical wisdom. 41:51 Why did that not work? 41:53 You got to assess yourself, 41:54 you have to be willing to look at yourself in Romans 7:18 41:57 is a verse of practical wisdom. 42:00 "For I know that in me, 42:01 that is, in my flesh nothing good dwells, 42:03 for to will is present with me, 42:05 but how to perform what is good I do not find." 42:07 Paul is criticizing himself. 42:09 This is why I'm failing. 42:10 So I'm not going to keep looking to myself 42:12 'cause this is why I'm failing. 42:14 That's a practical wisdom passage. 42:16 But the transition from practical to theoretical 42:18 happens when we participate 42:20 in comparison of a vacillating character 42:24 to a non-negotiable regulation. 42:27 Now watch, you got to follow, vacillating character, 42:29 I keep changing. 42:30 But now all of a sudden, we go to theoretical wisdom 42:33 'cause we compared to non-negotiable regulation, 42:37 which is here now, this is where Paul transitions. 42:42 "For we know that the laws spiritual, " 42:44 a non-negotiable regulation, Romans 7:14, 42:47 "but I am carnal sold under sin," 42:49 that happened as what, 42:51 an assessment of self, practical wisdom. 42:54 Now we go to theoretical wisdom. 42:56 What is theoretical wisdom? 42:58 The application of knowledge based on what is really right 43:01 and what is really wrong, 43:03 a constant, a theoretical wisdom. 43:06 Psalm 111:10 says, 43:08 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, 43:11 a good understanding 43:12 have all those who do His commandments. 43:14 His praise endures forever." 43:16 That is the non-negotiable regulation, 43:19 the theoretical aspect that says to us, 43:21 I'm going to compare my life to the commandments of God. 43:24 That never changes but I need help 43:27 because I vacillate. 43:29 The non-negotiable regulation 43:31 uses theoretical wisdom to say 43:33 that your practical wisdom is not enough. 43:36 Then we go down to cumulative wisdom. 43:39 Cumulative wisdom. 43:40 Decision making skill 43:41 based on the knowledge gained by experience, 43:45 learning from past experience. 43:47 Job 12:12 talks about cumulative wisdom. 43:51 Wisdom is with aged men 43:53 and with length of days understanding. 43:56 So in other words, he's saying, 43:58 "You've been around long enough. 44:00 You know what to do and what not to do." 44:02 Can I get an amen? Amen. 44:03 And as I said to one young person 44:05 who is talking about how smart they were, 44:07 smarter than their mom, 44:08 I said, "How old is your sister?" 44:09 They said, younger, I said, 44:11 "Now which one is smarter you or her?" 44:12 They said, "I got it." 44:15 The cumulative knowledge, 44:17 young people that your parents have 44:19 can help you out 44:20 if you recognize that they've been around, 44:23 that's cumulative. 44:25 Then this conventional wisdom, 44:27 a body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true 44:31 by the public or by experts in the field. 44:33 It is wisdom that refers to all the commonplace ideas 44:37 and expert opinions 44:39 that have commonly been accepted as true. 44:40 Conventional. 44:42 In other words, they've been through this 44:43 how to make an engine, 44:45 ask somebody who've been doing it 44:46 for 50 years, 44:47 conventional wisdom. 44:49 Don't try to reinvent the engine 44:50 when somebody who's been doing it 44:51 already has done it. 44:53 Conventional text, Proverbs 11:14, 44:55 "Where there is no counsel, the people fall, 44:57 but in the multitude of counselors there is safety." 45:02 That's conventional wisdom, then the last one, 45:05 unconventional wisdom. 45:08 Thinking outside the box, when new ideas are introduced, 45:11 they usually are compared with conventional wisdom 45:13 on the subject 45:15 before they are considered to be true. 45:17 In other words, 45:18 when people think outside the box, 45:19 they say, "That's great. 45:21 But let's compare that with people that know 45:22 what they've been doing." 45:23 Here is here's the unconventional text. 45:26 Now this is amazing, great men are not always wise, 45:31 nor do the aged always understand justice. 45:34 So don't think that 45:35 because you've been around all this time 45:38 that you have all the knowledge, 45:39 still use 45:41 the theoretical non-negotiable regulation, 45:44 which is the Word of God. 45:46 Amen. Praise the Lord. 45:47 Man, that was deep, 45:49 that's a lot of a lot of good gems 45:51 to be able to hold on to. 45:53 You were talking about wisdom, pastor. 45:54 And Thursday's lesson, 45:55 which is talking about Education in the Early Church, 45:58 goes back into that wisdom, 46:00 how we received that wisdom, 46:02 and by whom we received that wisdom. 46:04 You know, I could just imagine 46:06 what it would have been like to be taught by Jesus. 46:09 I think we've made it very clear, 46:10 Brother Dinzey made it very clear, 46:12 Jesus is the ultimate teacher. 46:13 And if you look 46:15 at the New Testament very clearly, 46:16 you know that obviously, the disciples 46:18 had this incredibly blessed period of time, 46:22 three and a half years, 46:23 where they literally walked and talked with Jesus 46:25 every single day. 46:27 He was their teacher, He gave them so much wisdom, 46:30 and I can only imagine all the questions 46:31 they were able to ask Him, 46:33 and it kind of, you know, makes me 46:34 just can't wait to go to heaven 46:36 because I have so many questions 46:38 that I want to ask Jesus, 46:39 and we're going to have that blessing too, right? 46:41 To be able to be with Jesus, 46:42 you know, pastors over here laughing 46:44 because he knows, he knows I love asking some questions. 46:47 In fact, I know for a fact 46:48 that there's anyone that's going to annoy, 46:50 if there's if it's possible to annoy God, 46:52 I'll be the one to do it with all my questions 46:54 'cause I have lots of questions because I like truth. 46:56 I love truth. 46:57 And I like answers. 46:59 So yes, pastor's going to show up one, 47:00 ask some questions. 47:02 I'm going to say, you got to come back 47:03 in a million years. 47:04 I got to get my questions answered. 47:06 But nonetheless, Jesus, again, 47:08 with the disciples for three and a half years, 47:10 and they're just probably like drinking from a lake 47:13 or a firehose, 47:14 or whatever you want to call it, 47:15 just amazing wisdom. 47:17 But did that teaching aspect from God to His people stop 47:21 when Jesus left? 47:22 And that's the point 47:23 that Thursday's lesson is bringing out in education 47:26 in the early church 47:28 because Jesus goes to heaven, right? 47:30 He goes into that holy place 47:32 where He is ministering on our behalf, 47:33 where He becomes our great intercessor, 47:35 our great high priest in heaven. 47:36 And now the education needs to continue, right? 47:40 It's kind of like a, you know, a road of transition 47:42 from high school to college, right? 47:43 You know, you have those three and a half to four years 47:45 in high school. 47:47 But, you know, for many of us, education doesn't stop, 47:49 we continue on. 47:50 Well, God gives the blessing of the Holy Spirit. 47:53 In fact, we're going to read about that right now. 47:56 The blessing of the promise 47:57 that God gives to the disciples is that when I'm gone, 48:00 I'm going to send you another comforter, 48:02 another helper. 48:03 We can read about that right now in John 14:15-18. 48:07 And we're also going to add verse 26 as well. 48:10 With this, the passage we've read many times. 48:12 In fact, most people read verse 15 48:14 because they've remembered John 14:15, 48:16 "If you love me, keep My commandments, " 48:19 and then they stop right there. 48:21 But ultimately, everything behind that 48:23 is a response to what Jesus just said, 48:25 in verse 14. 48:26 In fact, many people read that and go, 48:27 "Man, it's impossible 48:29 to keep the commandments," right? 48:30 And but Jesus just said, 48:32 If you love me, you'll keep them. 48:33 But the response to that is, look, 48:34 you're not going to do it comfortless. 48:36 You can keep the commandments. 48:38 And how do we keep it? 48:39 Well, verse 16 brings it about. 48:41 He says, "And I will pray the Father, 48:42 He will give you another helper, " 48:45 the original Greek there, 48:46 it just simply means another advocate, 48:50 another helper, 48:51 the Paraclete says it is in the Greek, 48:53 another helper. 48:54 God is going to send us the Holy Spirit 48:56 to continue that spiritual, wise education that we need. 49:00 He continues on that He may abide with you 49:02 for just a few years. 49:04 And the Bible says forever. 49:06 The spirit of, and I love this, truth. 49:09 Don't forget that. He is the spirit of truth. 49:11 It says, whom the world cannot receive, 49:13 because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, 49:15 but you know Him for He dwells with you 49:18 and will be with you. 49:20 "I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. 49:23 But the helper, the Holy Spirit," 49:25 there it is again, 49:26 "whom the Father will send in My name will," 49:29 I love this, "He will teach you," 49:31 how many things? 49:32 All things. All right. 49:33 Okay, this is verse 26. 49:35 So we just went from verse 18 to 26. 49:37 In verse 26 of John 14, 49:39 he makes it clear 49:40 that the Holy Spirit is in the business 49:42 of teaching us all things. 49:44 He wants to give us all of those beautiful things 49:46 and teachings from God. 49:47 He will teach you all things in bring, notice this, 49:49 bring to your remembrance 49:51 all things that I have said to you. 49:53 That's an awesome, beautiful promise. 49:55 In fact, we're going to transition now 49:57 over to 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 49:58 for the remaining time that we have. 50:00 Paul, actually, he amplifies this, 50:03 what Christ has given. 50:04 Christ gives the promise. 50:05 He says when you leave, when I leave, 50:07 you're going to go to Jerusalem, 50:09 you're going to wait 50:10 because I'm going to send you the comforter, the Holy Spirit. 50:11 And we know that the Holy Spirit 50:13 was poured out 50:14 in a marvelous, amazing way on that 50:15 on the day of Pentecost. 50:17 But notice the beautiful exposition 50:21 that we have here from Paul. 50:22 Paul is going to tell us 50:24 not only who we're going to get this wisdom from 50:27 but he's going to expound in how it's going to come about 50:29 and the significance and importance of that. 50:31 So we're in, again, 1 Corinthians Chapter 2, 50:34 and we're going to read verses, 50:37 well, let's just start with verse 1. 50:39 And we're going to continue through, 50:41 we'll see how far we go. 50:42 So 1 Corinthians 2:1, 50:45 I love how Paul starts this out. 50:46 Again, he's speaking to the Corinthian church. 50:49 And he says, "And, brethren, when I came to you, 50:51 I did not come with excellence of speech 50:54 or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 50:57 For I determined not to know anything among you 51:00 except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 51:04 I was with you in weakness, in fear, 51:07 and in much trembling. 51:08 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words 51:12 of human wisdom 51:13 but in demonstration, "I love this next part," 51:16 of the spirit and of power 51:19 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men 51:22 but of the power of God. 51:24 And he's going to confirm with that power of God 51:26 in just a moment is, 51:27 you can imagine, it's the Holy Spirit, 51:29 but I love how he starts to sound. 51:30 He's like, "Look, guys, I didn't come to you at first 51:32 with all of these clever words and, 51:34 you know, all of this special language, 51:37 you know, given you all of these deep themes 51:38 and deep elements, 51:40 this way beyond your understanding, 51:41 I can't deal with just the simplistic power 51:44 of the gospel." 51:45 Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 51:47 And that's why it always baffles me 51:48 that people want to go out with witnessing, 51:50 hey, praise the Lord, for witnessing. 51:52 We need to witness, 51:53 we needed to share the gospel of Jesus, 51:54 but we need to meet people on their level. 51:56 And Paul understood that. 51:57 He understood that come into the Corinthian church 51:59 that these people, 52:00 most of them had never even heard of Jesus, 52:01 they don't even know the gospel, 52:03 they don't know that they have a savior. 52:04 And so he's saying, 52:05 "Look, I came to you like this at first 52:07 so I could give you 52:08 the simplistic elements of the gospel, 52:10 Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 52:12 That's the foundation. 52:13 That's the core. 52:14 But does he stop there? 52:16 He doesn't stop there. 52:17 Notice what he continues on this is verse 6. 52:19 He says, "However," 52:21 in fact, this is that love that, 52:22 however, 52:24 because he had some response to what he just said. 52:25 "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, 52:30 yet not the wisdom of this age, not the rulers of this age, 52:33 who are coming to nothing, 52:35 but we speak the wisdom of God 52:38 in a mystery, the hidden wisdom," 52:41 now we're getting deep, 52:42 some deep language here, 52:43 "which God ordained before the ages of our glory, 52:46 which none of the rulers of this age knew, 52:48 for have they known, 52:50 they would not have crucified the Lord God." 52:52 You know, it says that these people rejected 52:54 the simplicity of the gospel, 52:57 they wouldn't have probably crucified Jesus 52:59 had they known the deep wisdom 53:00 and the wonderful, hidden wisdoms of God, 53:03 but He's going to tell us 53:04 how this is going to come about. 53:06 Okay. 53:07 He's going to tell us here in verse 10, 53:09 notice how these deep wisdom has come 53:10 now that you've matured in the Lord. 53:12 He's saying, "Now that now that you've grown, 53:13 now that you've become more mature 53:15 in the Gospel of Jesus, 53:17 God doesn't want to stop the education." 53:20 You continue to learn, you continue to grow. 53:22 That's why it always amazes me. 53:23 I run into people all the time, and they have this spirit, 53:26 pastor, you've met people like this, 53:28 and it breaks my heart to see people reach a point 53:31 in their relationship with the Lord, 53:32 where they feel like, "I've got it all. 53:34 I've got enough knowledge. 53:36 I've got enough wisdom. 53:37 There's nothing else for me to learn." 53:39 And so right here in verse 10, 53:41 Paul is going to confirm, 53:43 "No, no, no, your education doesn't stop. 53:44 God has more deep, wonderful things 53:47 that He wants to teach you. 53:49 But how is that going to come? 53:50 Verse 10, he says, 53:51 "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, 53:55 for the Spirit searches all things," 53:57 yes, here it is, "the deep things of God." 54:02 So it's the guidance of the spirit 54:04 that when he joined 54:05 when we are joined together with the Holy Spirit 54:07 and the Holy Spirit is now leading and guiding us. 54:09 We learn more, we grow in that wisdom 54:11 as Christ did in wisdom and stature, 54:13 in knowledge, we grow expand in the education 54:17 by the Holy Spirit's guidance. 54:19 And this is drastically important 54:20 even today. 54:22 We're talking about the early Christian Church. 54:23 But this is just as important today 54:25 as it was for them back then for us today. 54:28 Because in Revelation 12:17, 54:30 we're told of how God has the people, 54:33 some saints that are being attacked 54:35 by the enemy, the devil, 54:37 and he's making war with those people 54:39 who keep the commandments of God 54:40 and have the testimony of Jesus. 54:42 But here's what's amazing. 54:43 The testimony of Jesus according to Revelation 19:10 54:46 is the Spirit of Prophecy. 54:49 God wants to not just teach you, 54:51 you know, the deep wisdoms of His character 54:53 and his knowledge 54:54 but he wants to expound to you 54:56 even more the deep prophetic elements 54:58 and understanding of what's going to happen to 54:59 in the last days that, my friends, 55:01 how's it going to come? 55:02 It's going to come by the Spirit of the Lord. 55:03 If you don't have the Holy Spirit 55:05 dwelling in you, 55:06 to teach you and to guide you, 55:08 how are you going to be prepared 55:09 for the soon coming to Jesus? 55:10 And that's the whole thing that Paul is mentioning here. 55:12 I'm not going to be able to read all of this. 55:14 But I want to get down here to this last part, verse 16, 55:17 because he uses the quotation from Isaiah. 55:21 And notice what he says here. 55:22 And by the way, this comes from Isaiah 40:30, 55:25 he's quoting Isaiah but notice, Paul adds something. 55:28 He says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord 55:31 that he may instruct him. 55:33 "According to Isaiah, Isaiah said, 55:34 "That's impossible, nobody can do that." 55:37 But now who knows the mind of the Lord? 55:39 Paul adds, he clarifies it now, notice what he says, 55:42 "but we have the mind of Christ." 55:47 That's why I always love 2 Peter 1:19-21 55:50 because it reminds us that when we pick up this word, 55:53 and we read all of the beautiful pages, 55:55 and all the beautiful messages, 55:57 and even the deep prophetic things 55:58 of Scripture. 56:00 It's coming 56:01 from the Holy Spirit of the Lord. 56:02 He's our teacher. 56:04 He's our educator, and we should listen. 56:05 Amen. 56:07 You know, I'm just sitting here as all of your teaching, 56:09 thinking, "How thankful I am 56:11 that this is posted on YouTube as well," 56:14 you can go back and pause 56:16 'cause you said wonderful things, 56:19 I'd like to give each one of you 56:20 just a little while to kind of sum up your day. 56:24 Well, Jesus is the greatest teacher 56:27 in the past and future and today. 56:31 I'm reading to you from Counsels 56:32 on Sabbath School Work, page 77. 56:34 Notice, the way the truth of God's Word 56:38 are for those who are humble 56:40 and willing to learn 56:42 at the feet of the divine teacher, Jesus. 56:45 Amen and amen. Amen. 56:48 I had Tuesday's Moses and the Prophets, 56:50 the Bible as text book. 56:53 And why is that so important? 56:54 Because the Word of God is living and powerful. 56:56 God's word is alive, 56:58 and it has life transforming power 57:00 for you and for me. 57:01 Amen. 57:02 Talking about wisdom, James says in 1:5, 57:05 "If any of you lacks wisdom, 57:08 let him ask of God who gives to all liberally 57:11 and without reproach, and it will be given him." 57:15 Amen. 57:16 Peter reminds us at 2 Peter 1:20 & 21 57:21 that there is no private interpretation 57:23 that the spirit, that the Word of God 57:24 came by the Spirit of God, 57:26 and we need to humble ourselves in these last days 57:28 to be prepared for the soon return of Jesus. 57:30 Absolutely. 57:32 And education should be on redemption. 57:37 This is why this is education and redemption 57:39 because we want people to know the truth 57:43 of the beauty of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 57:47 We are so excited that you've joined us. 57:49 We want you to join us next week, 57:51 as we will be looking at lesson number nine, 57:57 the Church and Education. 57:59 So we'll see you next time. 58:01 Bye-bye. Amen. |
Revised 2020-11-15