Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP220035S
|
00:01 Hello friends and welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. We're
00:03 so glad you've joined us. This week's lesson is 00:05 A Life of Praise and of course the quarter study is 00:09 In the Crucible With Christ. Again, we're glad you've joined 00:12 us. If you need to get a copy of the lesson, you can go to 00:14 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com Don't go away. 00:18 We'll be right back. 00:19 ♪ ♪ 00:50 Hello friends and welcome to our Sabbath School lesson In the 00:52 Crucible With Christ. My name is James Rafferty and we are in 00:56 lesson number nine, A Life of Praise. Before we get into our 01:00 lesson let's introduce our 3ABN Sabbath School panel. To my left 01:03 is Jill Morikone. 01:05 Thank you, Pastor James. I have Monday which is Praying Down 01:07 Walls. 01:09 Amen. And then we have Pastor John Dinzey. 01:11 It's a blessing to be here. I have Tuesday, The Life of Praise 01:14 Amen and Pastor Ryan Day. 01:17 Man, I'm excited about Wednesday's lesson which is 01:19 entitled A Witness Who Convicts. 01:22 Finally, we have Pastor John Lomacang. 01:25 I'm down here and I have A Weapon that Conquers. Looking 01:31 forward to this lesson. 01:33 Amen. So before we get started on our lesson, we want to pause 01:36 and ask the Holy Spirit to be here with us. I'm going to ask 01:38 Pastor John Dinzey if he would have prayer for us. 01:40 Sure. Let's pray together. Our wonderful and loving 01:43 heavenly Father. Lord you are great and marvelous. We praise 01:47 you for your goodness and mercy to us. And Lord we ask for the 01:51 blessing of your Holy Spirit. We dare not trust in ourselves but 01:55 in You. So we pray that You will speak through us and 01:59 we pray that 02:00 Your blessing will be extended to all those that hear this 02:02 message wherever they may be in this world. And heavenly Father, 02:07 help us to learn new things and to praise You for them. 02:10 In Jesus' name, Amen. 02:13 Amen. So we're starting with Sunday's lesson or Sabbath 02:17 actually, a bit of an overview of the lesson here. We're going 02:21 be looking this week at Philippians chapter 4:4-7. Those 02:24 are the verses I'll be covering and we'll also be looking in 02:27 Joshua chapter 5, Psalm 145, Acts chapter 16 and 02:31 2 Corinthians chapter 20. I love the fact that the lesson 02:34 quarterly is saturated with the Bible, with the word of God, 02:37 because that's what we need. We're going to be looking at 02:39 praise, A Life of Praise. You know, sometimes when you think 02:42 about praise, you think about being happy. You know, Praise 02:44 the Lord. I feel so good today, I'm so happy today. We're going 02:47 be looking at it, at least in my lesson, from a different angle. 02:50 And that is, the importance of using praise when we're not so 02:54 happy, when things aren't going so well and tapping into that 02:58 power of praise. So the memory text for the lesson for the days 03:02 that I have is found in Philippians chapter 4. If you'd 03:06 like to open your Bibles there to Philippians chapter 4 and 03:08 we're going to look at verse 4 specifically. 03:11 Philippians chapter 4 and verse 4. It says there: Rejoice in the 03:17 Lord, always and again I say rejoice. Now it's really 03:23 significant to understand the context in which this is written 03:26 Paul, at this point, is in prison. He's in jail. He is a 03:32 prisoner for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is emphasized 03:35 several times in the context of the book of Philippians chapter 03:39 1. He's in bonds for the gospel's sake. And yet he's 03:43 calling out to his fellow believers to rejoice always and 03:49 again I say rejoice. Because you got to understand, they 03:52 understand his context and for him to be saying rejoice and 03:56 then to add the word always. Well wait a minute, this isn't 03:58 a time to rejoice, you're in prison. We're mourning, we're 04:00 weeping, we're praying, we're sad, we're...no, no, no. Always. 04:03 Always, and again I just want to emphasize just in case you 04:07 didn't understand what I was saying. I was actually, actually 04:09 saying Rejoice. I was saying rejoice. I want you to do it 04:13 always, even when you're in circumstances that are dire, 04:16 that are not so great and I want to say that again, I want to 04:18 repeat that again just to make it crystal clear, Rejoice in the 04:21 Lord, always and again I say Rejoice! So the author goes on 04:25 to say, it's always easy to shout with joy to the Lord when 04:28 you feel joy. It's not so easy, however, when things are bad. 04:33 When we are in the worst situation imaginable. When the 04:37 crucible heats up. Yet, it is precisely then that we need 04:42 perhaps more than ever, to praise God, for praise, is a 04:48 means of helping us to sustain faith. Indeed, the author goes 04:54 on to say, praise can transform even our darkest circumstances, 04:57 maybe not in the sense of its changing the facts around us 05:01 but in the sense that it can change us and those around us. 05:06 In a way, it helps us to face our challenges. Praise is faith 05:11 in action. It may not always be natural to us, but when we 05:16 practice praise so that it becomes a natural part of our 05:19 lives, it has power both to convert us and to conquer. So 05:24 it impacts us and it impacts those around us. So This Week at 05:29 a Glance: Some questions that are asked here in the quarterly: 05:32 What is praise? And how could praise be a powerful spiritual 05:37 weapon in difficult circumstances? 05:39 And then how can praise transform us and the situation 05:43 around us? Right? So we're going to be looking at some of those 05:47 questions. That's the framework for Praise. And that's Sunday's 05:51 lesson, The Framework for Praise Basically, we want to look at 05:55 praise as a power that we can tap into and not a happy flight 05:58 of feelings that we get when everything's going well. O yeah! 06:01 We want to look at praise as something that can be a weapon 06:04 for us. We're going to look in Philippians chapter 4, let's 06:08 start with verse 4 where we left off and we'll read all the way 06:11 through verse 7. Philippians chapter 4, if someone has that 06:14 for me. Let's read Philippians 4 verses 4-7. Jill would you 06:18 like to read that for us? 06:19 Sure. Rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice. 06:22 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be 06:27 anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and 06:30 supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known 06:33 to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all 06:37 understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ 06:40 Jesus. 06:42 Amen. So when you think about these verses in the context of 06:46 Paul's surroundings the quarterly asks well how could 06:50 Paul have written such things when he himself is sitting in 06:54 prison? Right? And again in this passage what are the keys of 06:58 of gaining peace with God. So I just went through the passages 07:01 and just highlighted a few points. In verse 4 one of the 07:06 first points that you read here is rejoice, rejoice. I mean 07:10 that's the obvious point that Paul is making. I want you to 07:12 be...and that word means to be cheerful or calmly happy. And I 07:17 think there is a difference. You know sometimes when things are 07:19 going really well we're uncalmly happy. That's not a word of 07:22 course but we're just like naturally happy. It just kind of 07:25 flows out of us and we do goofy things, you know. We act goofy, 07:29 we sing goofy songs. My wife You know, I just make her laugh 07:31 sometimes when I'm really happy I'm just like I'm out of myself. 07:35 But in circumstances like this we want to be calmly happy. So 07:39 there's this atmosphere that we develop where we're saying, you 07:42 know what, I'm going to be happy in this situation. We're 07:45 thinking about it, we're purposing to be happy in the 07:49 Lord. And of course, that's the only way we can actually be 07:52 happy in a bad circumstance or situation. It has to be in the 07:57 Lord. Not because of the present trial, not because of what we're 08:00 going through or circumstances but because of Christ and 08:03 because we're in Christ. And in Christ, all things work together 08:07 for good. Right? In Christ we recognize that our names 08:12 are in the 08:14 book of life and that's of course the context of Paul's 08:15 writings here that we should rejoice because our names are 08:18 written in the book of life. And that, by the way, is verse 3 of 08:23 Philippians chapter 4. So we started in verse 4 but if you go 08:26 back to verse 3, he mentions you know that our names are written 08:29 in the book of life. And then another word that I think is 08:31 really significant here is the word always. Rejoice in the Lord 08:34 always. There's a consistency there you know and consistency 08:39 is a jewel. You know, we go up and we go down, based on our 08:43 feelings and our emotions. You know, we can feel one way and 08:45 then we feel another way. And maybe the weather is affecting 08:48 us or maybe the way people relate to us is affecting us but 08:51 Paul is laying out a principle for Christian experience here. 08:54 Rejoice in the Lord always. Be consistent, right? We need the 08:59 Lord always to guide us and to sustain us so that we can be 09:03 consistent. Because He's the Source of all we are, He's the 09:05 Source of all that we do. So this is a call to abide in 09:09 Christ. When we abide in Christ nothing comes to us except 09:12 through Christ. Everything that comes to us first hits Christ. 09:15 Christ is surrounding us. We're abiding in Him so anything that 09:19 comes toward us first comes to Christ and Christ decides, Hmm 09:23 whether or not this is going to be a blessing to us, a benefit 09:27 to us, a help to us, and then He'll let it in to us so that we 09:31 experience it in Him and with Him and we can trust Him for 09:34 that. We can trust Christ for that. And that's the blessing 09:37 about abiding in Christ. You know sometimes people say you 09:39 know it's so hard for me to abide in Christ. I'm like...You 09:41 know, if I'm in an ocean and the waves are coming up and down and 09:45 you know I'm out there swimming and all of a sudden the seas get 09:49 rough...I was at a lake once, beautiful lake, Christina Lake 09:52 in Grand Forks, Canada; huge lake, beautiful lake and it's 09:57 such a big lake that when a storm hits it you almost feel 09:59 like you're in an ocean. The waves start coming you know, 10:03 we're in this little boat and the waves are coming over the 10:05 part of this boat and you feel like wow what's going to happen 10:07 here? Well, I tell you when I was in the water and that storm 10:10 hit, I got in the boat. Right? Because the boat is going to 10:14 help protect me from the waves that are coming. The waves are 10:15 going to hit the boat and of course I'm going to be rocked 10:18 about. That's what we want. We want to get in Christ and we 10:20 want to let Him protect us from the storms and the waves of life 10:24 Right? We don't want to be out there floating without Christ. 10:27 Abiding in Christ is a protection. Abiding in Christ is 10:30 a safety. It's not just a duty or a responsibility. It's 10:34 something that God wants us to have in order to surround us 10:38 with His presence. And then verse 5, it talks about 10:39 moderation which means gentleness. That's the NIV. 10:43 Be gentle. The Lord is at hand. In other words, God wants us to 10:48 be gentle in the way we interact in trials and situations, 10:52 because I tell you what being gentle in trying situations can 10:56 be quite challenging at times. I'm so thankful that sometimes 11:00 when I get a trial through an email or through a text message 11:04 it's not something that I'm directly facing in person. 11:08 Because I can write out my response and I write out my text 11:12 I can give it to my editor, my wife and she can read it 11:15 through and she says, you know James, I'm not feeling what 11:17 you're feeling, I'm not going through what you're going 11:19 through. Let me edit this for you a little bit. You need to 11:21 take that sentence out, take that word out, change this. Or 11:23 maybe if my wife's not around I can just pray about it, I 11:26 should anyway, and say Lord help me to edit this down by the 11:30 Spirit of Grace. Right? To respond with gentleness. 11:33 Because we're on trial as a witness to the world and those 11:38 around us and God wants to use that trial to bring others to 11:41 Him. And then verse 6, I love this most of all. Be anxious 11:46 about nothing. The word in the King James is careful. It means 11:50 to actually...the root word means to disunite, to disunite, 11:54 to separate. You know a lot of times trials separate us. They 11:57 cause separation in the church. They cause division in the 12:00 church. They cause disunity in the church. And the reason for 12:03 that is because...and another of the Greek words here is to 12:07 differ. We differ in our trials. We differ and we separate. Due 12:12 to the anxiety we have fear, we have apprehension and it causes 12:16 division and separation. You've seen a lot of that recently, you 12:19 know, with some of the different crises that we've been 12:22 experiencing in this country and in the world, there's a lot of 12:24 division taking place. Why? Because of anxiety. Right? 12:26 Because of fearfulness and so Paul is encouraging us, Don't be 12:30 anxious about all of that. Give that to God in prayer. Pass that 12:34 burden over to the Lord and then verse 7: The peace of God shall 12:38 keep your hearts. Right? The Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ 12:41 is our Savior. He's not just our example but He's there for us 12:45 and he can keep our hearts through all of this anxiety, 12:48 through all of this trial. So again, no time to cover 12:52 everything in this week's lesson but just wanted to highlight 12:55 a couple of key points that the author brings out. He says that 12:59 first of all, if we take Paul's writing, what Paul writes 13:03 literally, there are two critical implications for us. First of 13:06 all we are to rejoice always. It must mean that we should be 13:09 rejoicing even when circumstances do not appear to 13:13 give grounds for rejoicing and secondly, if we are to rejoice 13:17 always it must also mean that we are going to have to learn to 13:20 rejoice at times when we do not feel like it. So we lay our 13:25 feelings aside and we go by faith. We don't look at our 13:27 circumstances, we look at the Father who is our Author and 13:31 Finisher, the Author and Finisher of that faith that 13:34 we're exercising. And we step in and through that trial as Paul 13:37 encourages us to do with rejoicing. In other words, 13:40 praise is an act of faith. Some times you don't feel like 13:46 praising, sometimes we don't seem like we should praise, but 13:49 praise becomes an act of faith. 13:52 Mm-hum, amen. Thank you so much Pastor James. I love that 13:55 passage in Philippians 4. Yeah. Beautifully done. Thank you. 13:58 I'm Jill Morikone. I have Monday's lesson which is 14:02 Praying Down Walls. And if you don't know where we're going, 14:05 we're going to Jericho. So turn over in your Bibles to the book 14:09 of Joshua. We're looking at Joshua 5 and Joshua 6, chapters 14:14 5 and 6. We do not have time to read all of that, but we're 14:16 going to hit some of the high points. You think about the 14:18 Israelites. When they came out of Egypt, they were in a hard 14:21 place, were they not? They had the Red Sea in front of them, 14:24 they had the mountains around them and the Egyptian army 14:30 behind them. They were in a hard place. Now they've gone through 14:34 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and they come to a 14:38 hard place again. Jericho. Highly fortified city. God, how 14:44 the world are the walls going to fall? How are we going to breach 14:49 this city? How are we going to get in? And of course, you know 14:52 the story. They marched once daily around the city six times 14:58 six days, for six days every day they marched around the city. 15:04 This was with carrying the ark, this was with the priests. 15:06 The soldiers, the warriors, marched in silence and then on 15:12 the seventh day they marched seven times around the city and 15:16 they shouted and the walls came tumbling down. I don't know what 15:24 Jericho experience you are facing. I think there are 15:29 lessons we can learn. So I want to back up before the story 15:31 actually takes place. We're going to divide the lesson up 15:34 into two sections: The first is the preparation for the battle, 15:37 and the second is the keys for victory. Now the preparation for 15:40 the battle when I study Joshua 5 I find three keys to the 15:45 preparation: Covenant renewal, Celebration of the Passover, 15:49 and the Theophany or the experience with God. And then I 15:54 look at the keys for victory which was the preparation, then 15:57 obedience and then praise. So let's look at the preparation 16:02 for battle. In Joshua 5 verse 2, this is the covenant renewal. 16:06 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make flint knives for 16:11 yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. 16:16 Now wait, wait, wait, does this mean they're being circumcised 16:19 twice. No it does not mean that. This is a first time 16:22 circumcision for the second generation that came out of 16:28 Egypt. If you read verses 4-7 it's very clear that they were 16:32 all circumcised coming out of Egypt. But many of those people 16:35 we know died in the wilderness and for whatever reasons they 16:39 had not kept up this rite of circumcision there in the 16:44 wilderness. We know circumcision marked every male as a son of 16:48 Abraham and a member of God's covenant-keeping family. It 16:53 indicated that the people were heirs of the covenant. 16:55 Circumcision was also a prerequisite for the Passover 16:59 which is the second step in preparation that will be coming. 17:02 Israel needed to renew their covenantal relationship with 17:07 God. Why is that? Canaan was a covenantal land was it not? 17:11 It was the land of promise that had been promised to Abraham, 17:15 Isaac and Jacob. And they could only possess it if they were in 17:19 covenant relationship with their God. Of course the outward rite 17:24 of circumcision merely indicated the circumcision that takes 17:28 place in the heart. I think of Jeremiah 4 verse 4. The Lord 17:32 says, Circumcise yourselves to the Lord. Take away the foreskin 17:37 of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of 17:40 Jerusalem. So this indicates the heart work. It was an outward 17:44 sign, yes, but it indicated the heart work that God wanted to do 17:48 that covenant relationship with His people. Romans 2:29, Paul 17:54 puts it this way: He is a Jew who is one inwardly. 17:58 Circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not of the 18:02 letter whose praise is not from men but from God. So takeaway 18:05 number one: Before going into battle be right with God. We 18:10 often think we can handle it on our own. We got this, God. Oh we 18:14 can take on Jericho. No we can't Before going into battle be 18:19 right with God. And that's what was happening with this covenant 18:23 renewal. Israel was becoming right again with God. Listen to 18:28 verse 8, Joshua 5 verse 8: So it was when they had finished 18:32 circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in 18:35 the camp till they were healed. So this time after the 18:38 circumcision when they couldn't go out and fight, they would be 18:42 more vulnerable to attack would they not? Because they weren't 18:45 able to fight. It demonstrated their faith in God. Take away 18:49 number two: Before going into battle wait on God to work in 18:55 your heart. Key number one was to be right with God but many 18:58 times we think okay I'm right, I prayed. Okay God will you take 19:01 my heart and we run off and we don't wait in the presence of 19:07 God. Wait on God. Don't be hurried. Surrender is a process 19:11 Prayer is a process. Time in His word is a process. Wait on God. 19:17 Don't just say okay God, I'm right with you, I'm rushing into 19:20 battle. Wait on God before you do. Let's read verse 9: Then the 19:24 Lord said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of 19:27 Egypt from you. Therefore the name of the place is called 19:31 Gilgal to this day. At Gilgal you could say the years of 19:34 wilderness wandering, their rejection for their rebellion 19:38 years before was ended. God rolled away Israel's past guilt. 19:44 Take away number three: Your past does not define your future 19:48 2 Corinthians 5:17: If you are in Christ, you are a new 19:53 creation. Old things are past, the new has come. So your past, 19:57 whatever you've done in the past that does not define your future 20:00 Now let's look at the second step in preparation which is the 20:03 Passover that's celebrated. We're just going to read one 20:05 verse, verse 10, Joshua 5 and verse 10: The children of Israel 20:10 camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the 20:14 month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. Now we know that the 20:17 previous, chapter 4, Israel had erected two stone monuments at 20:21 the crossing of the Jordan. Now they're erecting two living 20:25 memorials, circumcision and the Passover. What was Passover a 20:31 reminder of? A reminder of their deliverance from Egyptian 20:34 bondage. Take away number four: Never forget where God brought 20:40 you from. There's a quote I love from Ellen White that says we 20:44 have nothing to fear for the future except as we forget the 20:47 was the Lord has led us and His teaching in our past history. 20:53 Now never forget where God brought you from. Now we have 20:56 the third step in the preparation which is the 20:59 theophany. We won't read it but it's in verses 13-15. And you 21:03 see Joshua was there by Jericho. I would imagine they've done the 21:05 circumcision, the covenant renewal. They've celebrated 21:08 Passover remembered where God brought them from and now he's 21:12 looking at this huge city. God, what's going to happen? And all 21:16 of a sudden, a man appears. And what does Joshua say? Are you 21:19 for us or against us? This is none other than the pre-incarnate 21:24 Christ and Jacob wrestled with Him by the river Jabbok. But 21:31 here He comes to meet Joshua before the taking of the city. 21:35 Take away number five: Before going into battle, behold Jesus. 21:40 You see, it's not enough to have your heart right with God. It's 21:43 not enough to know that your past is forgiven and that guilt 21:47 is washed away. It's not enough to remember where God brought 21:51 you from. It is important to behold Jesus. Now let's look at 21:55 the keys to victory. We have the preparation, that was key number 21:59 one and we covered that. The second key is obedience. We're 22:03 Joshua 6 verses 3 and 4. God was very specific in how they were 22:08 to overthrow the city of Jericho Obedience is important. You 22:14 shall march around the city all you men of war. You shall go 22:16 around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven 22:20 priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams horns before 22:22 the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city 22:25 seven times and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And see 22:28 our God is specific. Many times we think we're going to go into 22:32 battle; okay I'm going to prepare and then I'll do it my 22:35 way. I'll do whatever I feel like. God, I'm doing it my way. 22:39 You know we often say it doesn't matter what day we worship on. 22:41 Yes, it does. Our God is specific It doesn't matter who I marry. 22:47 Yes, it does. Our God is specific When you are facing your Jericho 22:53 know that it is vitally important not only to prepare 22:57 but to walk in obedience to what God's word has laid out 23:02 in your life, to walk in obedience to what His Spirit is 23:06 telling you. Finally key number 3 is praise. We have to get to 23:11 this. What happened at the end of the seventh trip around on 23:14 the seventh day. They shouted with a great shout. The lesson 23:18 brought out this fact that that was a shout of praise. 23:21 It reminds us of Psalm 66: Shout for joy all the earth. Sing the 23:26 glory of His name. Make His praise glorious. So what happens 23:31 here? First, they prepared. They were right with God. And they 23:35 walked in obedience to what God had said. Now did the walls fall 23:38 down through anything they did? Absolutely not. They praised God 23:42 they shouted and God stood up and God acted on their behalf 23:47 and God got the victory. 23:50 Amen, amen. Lots of good points there Jill. Wait on the Lord, be 23:53 of good courage and He will strengthen thine heart; wait, I 23:56 say, on the Lord. Lots of good points. We are studying lesson 23:59 number nine: A Life of Praise. We're going to take a short 24:01 break and then be back with Pastor John Dinzey Don't go away 24:04 ♪ ♪ 24:10 Ever wish you could watch the 3ABN Sabbath School panel again? 24:13 Or share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Well you 24:17 can by visiting 3ABNSabbathSchoolPanel.com 24:21 A clean design makes it easy to find the program you're looking 24:25 for. There are also links to the adult Bible study guide so you 24:30 can follow along. Sharing is easy. Just click Share and 24:34 choose your favorite social media. Share a link, Save a Life 24:38 for Eternity. 24:40 Hello friends and welcome back to our 3ABN Sabbath School panel 24:43 We are handing over our next study to Pastor John Dinzey. 24:46 Thank you so much, Pastor James. We are now moving into Tuesday's 24:51 lesson, The Life of Praise. The Life of Praise. And I invite you 24:57 to get your Bibles and see if we can follow along. We're going to 25:00 be looking into Psalm 145 but before we do this, I'd like to 25:04 read something from the lesson that brings out a message that 25:08 we need to consider. It says: Praise is something that we must 25:13 practice until it changes from being an activity done at a 25:17 particular time to an atmosphere in which we live. Praise 25:22 shouldn't be so much a specific act but a specific way of life 25:28 itself. Very powerful thought. And now I move to Psalm 29 verse 25:34 2 before we go to Psalm 145. It says: Give unto the Lord the 25:41 glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of 25:47 holiness. In reality, the Lord is worthy of praise. The Lord is 25:55 worthy of every praise. Really there's no other name under 25:58 heaven that should be praised. We sometimes give praise to 26:02 people and we bring up people for things they have done and 26:09 you know this is very dangerous for people to praise people. 26:12 It's a very dangerous thing. Their head becomes lifted up and 26:16 it leads them to a fall. So praise the Lord. There is glory 26:22 due to his name. In the manuscript release from 1900 26:29 it says this, very powerful. Our tongues should be used to 26:35 express the appreciation in our hearts for God's goodness. Thus 26:39 God requires us to return to Him gratitude offerings. But this is 26:44 not the only way in which we are to praise God. We are to 26:48 praise Him by tangible service, by doing all we can to advance 26:52 the glory of His name. By improving our entrusted talents 26:58 we are to offer God thanksgiving So even by living according to 27:04 the way God wants us to live is a praise to His name. And really 27:10 we have so much to praise the Lord for. I remember one time 27:14 many years ago, been here a long time at 3ABN, there was a 27:18 program on 3ABN and Danny said we want to hear you praise the 27:23 Lord, tell us what you're thankful for. Tell us something 27:25 that you want to praise the Lord for. And I was one of the people 27:28 helping to answer the phone. And a man called he said what do I 27:33 have to be thankful for? What do I have to praise the Lord for? 27:35 And the Lord blessed me to say to him, well are you in jail? 27:39 No. So are you in an insane asylum. And he said no. Are you 27:47 in the hospital? No. I said, so you do have some things to be 27:51 thankful for. I guess I do. Did you get to eat today? Yes, I did. 27:56 Well you have some things to be thankful for don't you? Yes I do 27:59 I didn't think about those things. And yes there are so 28:02 many things to be thankful to the Lord for and to praise His 28:07 name. Psalm 139 verse 14 says: I will praise thee for I am 28:12 fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy words and that 28:18 my soul knoweth right well. We are fearfully and wonderfully 28:24 made. We should praise the Lord for the reality that He made us 28:29 and not only did He make us and create us but we were created 28:33 in His image. Praise be to God for that. And so let's go to 28:38 Psalm 145 beginning in verse 1. We'll get as far as we can. Time 28:42 is limited. I will extol thee. This word extol in the Hebrew 28:46 is to lift on high and to be exalted. I will extol you my God 28:54 O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. He is 28:58 worthy to be blessed. And really bless the Lord. This is 29:03 interesting. You say, the Lord bless us. But we are also to say 29:07 bless the Lord. And notice how the psalmist says every day I 29:11 will bless you. It was a way of life. Every day I will bless you 29:14 and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the 29:19 Lord and greatly to be praised and His greatness is 29:23 unsearchable. I remember being in school one time and we were 29:26 taking a look at a single cell. And as we looked in there they 29:32 started talking to us about the different parts in the cell and 29:35 I said, Wow God is amazing. And this little tiny thing that you 29:40 cannot even see with the unaided eye, I was going to say the 29:46 naked, the unaided eye. Then you see and say wait a minute God 29:52 has so much creativity that you can see this in nature that even 29:58 in this tiny cell that you cannot see without the aid of a 30:01 microscope, He has beauty, and He has exact design that is worthy 30:10 of praise. Let's go quickly to verse 4: One generation shall 30:14 praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. 30:17 Why is that? It's because daily God loads us with benefits. 30:21 Daily God is doing things and so every generation, every 30:25 individual has something to praise the Lord for to tell 30:28 someone else. Hey, praise the Lord! This is what he did for me 30:31 I remember there was a pastor in this area several years ago and 30:35 the first time I met him, I went to say hello to him, he says, 30:40 the first thing he said, God is good isn't He? I said wow yes He 30:45 is. I had to say yes He is. And so I saw him weeks later and 30:49 again how are you doing? God is good isn't He? And I said yes He 30:54 is and I noticed that this was the way that he greeted people 30:57 set the stage for praising the Lord. We should praise the Lord. 31:02 He has so much to be praised for (Ps. 145:5) I will meditate on 31:06 the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous 31:13 works. Praise the Lord. Recently I saw this video of some birds 31:18 that were carrying something in their mouth and they were by the 31:21 water and they threw this thing in the water. I said why is 31:24 this bird throwing this thing in the water? Pretty soon I saw him 31:27 go and grab something. He grabbed a fish out of the water. 31:31 I said, hey wait a minute, who taught this bird to use bait to 31:36 catch fish. God is amazing. I've seen birds grab a stick and try 31:41 to dig little insects out of a log or a rock. I said what do 31:47 mean, they're using tools. God is amazing. He is worthy of all 31:52 praise. And there are more. I've see animals grab a rock and 31:56 throw it on an egg to break it. He is amazing, God is amazing. 32:00 Worthy to be praised. 145 verse Man shall speak of the might 32:04 of your awesome acts and I will declare your greatness. So much 32:10 we can say here. They shall utter the memory of your great 32:13 goodness and shall sing of your righteousness. Praise the Lord 32:17 for His goodness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion 32:19 slow to anger and great in mercy I'm going to read the next one 32:25 That is tied to this one. The Lord is good to all and His 32:27 tender mercies are over all His works. All of us, every single 32:32 one of us can praise the Lord for His goodness and His mercy 32:37 because His salvation, the plan of salvation is extended to all. 32:42 Consider John 3:16: God so loved the world that He gave His only 32:46 begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish 32:50 but have everlasting life. Whoever, whosoever can have 32:54 eternal life through the Lord. That is enough to praise the 32:57 Lord for eternity because of His great mercy. I mean, everyone 33:02 of us deserves the wages of sin. But God, Christ, has paid 33:08 the penalty, the wages of sin for us. We have much to be 33:13 thankful for. I just want to say when you consider God, He is a 33:19 gentleman. You know I was thinking that, I remember that, 33:24 everybody has experienced this. You're sleeping in a room. It's 33:27 nice and dark in there. And suddenly somebody who doesn't 33:30 know you're there turns on the light. Turn off the, wait, what. 33:34 Why did you do that? God is so good. Every day the sun rises 33:39 gently upon the world and slowly the light of day comes and 33:45 eventually, by noon, the sun is shining in its strength. What if 33:49 God decided tomorrow I'm just going to turn on the sun full 33:53 blast all of a sudden so that people will know hey I've been 33:57 good to you all these years in letting the sun rise slowly. 34:00 God is a gentleman and He cares for us. He is so good to each 34:04 and every one of us. Verse 10: All your works shall praise you 34:07 O Lord and your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of the 34:12 glory of your kingdom and talk of your power to make know to 34:15 the sons of men His mighty acts and the glorious majesty of His 34:20 kingdom. So my time is limited so I want to say to you get into 34:27 the daily practice of looking over things in nature and things 34:33 that God has done for you. Really God has blessed you just 34:37 as I'm speaking the very breath you took is a gift from God, the 34:40 fact that your heart is beating is a gift from God, so praise 34:44 the Lord for life itself and praise the Lord for He has given 34:48 you another day. 34:50 Amen, thank you so much every one. On that note, my name is 34:55 Ryan Day and we're going to continue on that theme of praise 34:58 with Wednesday's lesson entitled A Witness Who Convicts. You know 35:03 we know the Holy Spirit is the one who ultimately convicts but 35:07 yet God can use us, He can use us to be a witness that will 35:12 bring conviction by what the Holy Spirit's doing through us 35:15 It can bring a conviction to those who need Jesus. That's 35:19 what Wednesday's lesson is all about. We're going to find 35:21 ourselves in Acts chapter 16 so let's go there. Acts chapter 16 35:25 Man I'm excited because this is one of my favorite stories. 35:27 I love this story because I can just imagine, I can picture Paul 35:31 and Silas in jail. And oh man it's a horrible situation to be 35:36 in, right, to be found in jail at any time but nonetheless 35:39 we're going to learn that Paul and Silas made the best out of 35:41 their situation and someone came to Jesus because of it. We're 35:45 going to start in verse 16, Acts chapter 16 verse 16. It 35:48 says: Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave 35:53 girl, possessed with the spirit of divination met us who brought 35:58 her masters much profit by fortune telling. The girl 36:01 followed Paul and us and cried out saying, These men are the 36:04 servants of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of 36:08 salvation and she did this for many days. You know on one hand 36:12 you could say even the demons recognize when they see 36:15 righteousness when they know someone's led by the Spirit of 36:17 God but in this case it was kind of done, obviously, she's 36:20 possessed with a demon. It's being done in kind of a mocking 36:24 fashion, in an annoying kind of fashion and it kind of annoys 36:27 Paul. But I just made a note here You know the devil doesn't waste 36:30 his time on the wicked because he has them right where he wants 36:33 them to be. But the enemy has set his sights on the righteous 36:37 because they are a threat to the evil...the righteous are a 36:41 threat to his evil agenda. And so in this case he is annoying 36:43 Paul and Silas. He's going to be a thorn in their flesh all he 36:48 can. This of course brought to my mind Matthew chapter 5 36:51 verses 10-12 where Jesus says: Blessed are those who are 36:53 persecuted for righteousness sake for their is the kingdom of 36:56 heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you 37:00 and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my 37:02 sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, Jesus says, for great is 37:07 your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets 37:10 who were before you. So this demon is just you know whaling 37:14 away and following Paul and Silas where they're going and if 37:17 you continue on in the verse there, in verse 18, it says: But 37:22 Paul greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit, I command 37:24 you in the name of Jesus to come out of her and he came out 37:27 of her that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope 37:31 of profit was gone they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them 37:35 into the marketplace to the authorities and they brought 37:38 them to the magistrates and said these men being Jews exceedingly 37:42 trouble our city and they teach customs which are not lawful for 37:46 us being Romans to receive or observe. And you know it's 37:50 interesting because Jesus forewarned the apostles and the 37:55 disciples of this. In Matthew chapter 10...and the message 37:57 still applies to us today. You might find yourself in a 38:00 situation where you are representing Jesus, you are 38:02 being faithful to Jesus and one of these days Jesus says 38:06 according to Matthew 10:16-20 He says: Behold I send you out 38:09 as sheep in the midst of wolves therefore be wise as serpents 38:13 and harmless as doves but beware of men for they will deliver you 38:17 up to the councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You 38:21 will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a 38:24 testimony to them and to the gentiles...I love this...but 38:28 when they deliver you up do not worry about what you should 38:32 speak for it will be given you in that hour what you should 38:35 speak. For it is not you who speak but the Spirit of your 38:39 Father who speaks in you. I love this that Paul and Silas in a 38:42 horrible situation, evil men who have taken them captive, brought 38:46 them before these magistrates, but God is about to show up and 38:50 show out through these men in a way that's powerful. So let's 38:53 continue on in verse 22 there in Acts chapter 16. It says: 38:56 Then the multitudes rose up together against them and the 38:59 magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be 39:03 beaten with rods and when they had laid many stripes on them 39:05 they threw them into prison commanding the jailer to keep 39:08 them securely. Having received such a charge he put them into 39:12 the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 39:17 So they're receiving some legit persecution. These men were beat 39:20 with rods. I can imagine their backs all bloody and cut open 39:23 and now they're placed in the innermost part of the prison 39:24 and you know all because they are representing Christ. They 39:29 are faithful in their work and in their characters and in their 39:32 deeds with Christ. And this brought to my attention or 39:35 brought to my memory a quote from Great Controversy p. 48, 39:39 which is a powerful one. It says here: Why is it that persecution 39:43 seems is a great degree to slumber...speaking of our time 39:46 ...The only reason is that the church is conformed to the 39:48 world's standard and therefore awakens no opposition. The 39:52 religion which is current in our day is not of the pure and holy 39:54 character which marked the Christian faith in the days of 39:57 Christ and His apostles. It is only because of the spirit of 40:00 compromise with sin because the great truths of the word of God 40:04 are so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital 40:07 Godliness in the church that Christianity is apparently so 40:11 popular with the world. Let there be a revival of faith and 40:15 power of the early church and the spirit of persecution will 40:18 be revived and the fires of persecution will be rekindled. 40:21 When you have a genuine faith in Jesus, it's an irritation to the 40:26 devil and it will bring sometimes harm upon God's people 40:30 but God will see us through it. God is with us through it all as 40:33 he was with Paul and Silas. So now we continue on. They're in 40:37 prison, right? They're in prison but notice what happens in verse 40:41 25. I love this. It says: But at midnight...in the middle of the 40:44 night these brothers, they're sore, they're hurting, they're 40:48 bleeding, they're dry, itching. Ooo they're there just itching 40:52 and stinging, you know, you can just imagine the discomfort 40:54 that they're experiencing. But they wait till midnight. I love 40:58 this...but at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing 41:02 hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. I just 41:06 got to make a note here. No matter what our situation is, 41:10 good or bad, it will never take away the fact that God is worthy 41:13 of our praise and worship. I hope I never have to end up in 41:19 prison but if I ever end up in prison, for God's sake, I'm 41:22 going to be just like these brothers right here. Everybody 41:24 in that cell, block's going to hear me praising the Lord. It's 41:26 going to be concert city every day when Ryan Day ends up in 41:30 prison. Because God is worthy. God is worthy. He should be 41:32 praised whether in the good situation or the bad situation. 41:35 He is worthy. Psalm 34:1-I love this: I will bless the Lord at 41:40 all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I 41:46 love that. Let's continue on to verse 26: Suddenly...okay so 41:52 they're praising God, right? They're praising God, singing 41:55 and just lifting up their voices in the darkest hour of the night 41:58 and it says in verse 26... Suddenly there was a great 42:01 earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were 42:05 shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's 42:09 chains were loosed. I love this. Because of their witness, 42:13 because these brothers in the most horrific situation found 42:16 time to stop and pause and say you know what, Our God is good 42:19 and we're going to let everybody in this prison know how good our 42:22 God is. Jesus is in the business of prison breaks. I'm just 42:26 telling you. He's in the business of prison breaks. 42:28 If we are faithful to Him, He will move heaven and earth to 42:32 see that our fetters are broken and our chains are loosed. Just 42:35 simply surrender to Him. I love Psalm 107 verses 13-16. It says: 42:40 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and He saved 42:42 them out of their distress. He brought them out of the darkness 42:45 of the shadow of death and broke their chains in pieces. Oh that 42:49 men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for 42:53 His wonderful works to the children of men, for He, has 42:56 broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron in two. 43:00 There is no chain, there is no prison, there is no prison door, 43:04 there is no prison cell, there is no gate, there is nothing 43:06 that is going to prevent God from being there for His people 43:09 if we will stand firm for Him. Verse 27, let's continue on: 43:14 Then the keeper of the prison awakened from sleep and seeing 43:16 the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his 43:20 sword and was about to kill himself but Paul called out with 43:23 a loud voice saying, Do yourself no harm for we are all here. 43:27 Then he called for a light and ran in and fell down trembling 43:30 before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs 43:34 What must I do to be saved? This brother had a life-changing 43:37 experience. You can imagine him hearing Paul and Silas's voices 43:41 echoing throughout the halls at midnight. He was probably 43:44 thinking I wish these brothers would shut up. I might be going 43:47 down there and smack them on the head and telling them to be 43:49 quiet. But because of all of this happening, because of all 43:51 that the Lord allowed to unfold now his heart has been humbled 43:55 now the scenario is changed. He's now looking to Paul and 43:58 Silas and saying Man this is a mighty work from your God. What 44:02 shall I do to be saved. Because of Paul and Silas's powerful 44:07 witness it brought conviction upon this brother's heart and 44:10 also upon his family. I made a note here: God will use you 44:14 sometimes in the most unlikely circumstances to lead the 44:18 captive free. Isaiah 42 verses I the Lord have called you 44:24 in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and 44:27 give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the 44:30 Gentiles to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from prison. 44:35 Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. God wants to 44:39 use us to bring conviction upon others. Not in replacement of 44:43 the Holy Spirit but because of the Holy Spirit's work in us. 44:46 God will allow us to be a light to those who are in darkness. 44:49 Allow yourself, my friends, to be that beacon of light for 44:53 Jesus today and never ever cease from praising His Holy name. 44:56 Amen, Wow! Wow. 44:58 I'm starting to the think Ryan's getting excited. Are you a 45:01 little excited. Praise God. 45:03 I'm excited. 45:04 You know I believe it's true wherever Ryan is he will praise 45:06 the Lord. We experienced that in Australia. There will be a 45:10 Holy Ghost concert all the time. (John Lomacang) Thank you for 45:13 that Ryan. Wow it's been a blessing thus far. Mine is 45:17 Thursday-The Weapons That Conquer. Let's go to 45:20 2 Chronicles 20 verses 3-7. And you know this is the story of 45:26 Jehoshaphat facing a huge army and his immediate response 45:31 should be an example to us. Let's look at 2 Chronicles 45:35 chapter 20 verses 3-7. Thank you for that Ryan. And Jehoshaphat 45:41 feared and set himself to seek the Lord...What's the first 45:43 thing he did? Seek the Lord... And proclaimed a fast throughout 45:47 all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the 45:51 Lord and from all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord 45:54 Notice everyone is coming together because the leader set 45:57 the pace to seek the Lord. I believe that when the leader 46:00 sets the pace to seek the Lord the followers will do the same. 46:04 It says: And from all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the 46:09 Lord. Verse 5. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah 46:12 and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court. 46:17 And said, O Lord God of our fathers, Are you not God in 46:23 heaven and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? 46:27 ...What a challenge...And in your hand is there not power and 46:32 might so that none is able to withstand you? Are you not our 46:36 God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before 46:39 your people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham 46:43 your friend forever?...What a reminder. He's not trying to jar 46:49 God's memory. He is saying, I know you remember that. So you 46:53 see when we are overwhelmed by vast armies of thoughts that 46:57 oppose us, people that dispute us, circumstances that confuse 47:01 us, situations that stunt us, here is what we should do. 47:06 2 Chronicles 20 and verse 12, here's what we should do: 47:10 And he said, O our God will you not judge them for we have no 47:16 power against this great multitude that is coming against 47:19 us nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. 47:24 Here's my first statement: Never appeal to humanity for that 47:29 which can only be done by Divinity. (Amen) When we see a 47:33 vast army approaching the question is what is your 47:35 instinctive reaction? He said, my eyes are upon You. He looked 47:39 upon the Lord. So the statement is, it's not what's happening to 47:44 you but the question is where are you looking? You notice when 47:47 the Israelites were being pursued by Pharaoh's army 47:50 they looked to the army rather than to the Lord. In the very 47:54 same way Jehoshaphat said wait, wait, wait, let's remember what 47:57 they did and not do that. Let's look to the Lord. Our eyes are 48:01 on you. Exodus 14 verse 13, let's go there and the statement 48:05 is stop moving until God removes the opposition. Stop moving 48:09 until God resolves the circumstance. And Moses said to 48:12 the people, Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the 48:16 salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for your today. 48:19 For the Egyptians whom you see today you will see again no more 48:23 forever. Some of us cannot stand still. We are faced with anxiety 48:29 and we keep moving rather than waiting for God to resolve the 48:32 circumstances. If you let God resolve the circumstances, the 48:37 anxieties that contend with us will not be our experience. 48:40 Instead of waiting for God to try to solve our problems some 48:43 people exacerbate them by trying to solve the problems for God. 48:47 But notice 2 Chronicles 20 and verse 17. This is very amazing 48:51 what is being told here to us? We read: You will not need to 48:56 fight in this battle...I love these two words, this is a great 49:00 sermon title. Position yourself. That's a sermon right there. 49:04 Position yourself. Some people are in the wrong position 49:08 spiritually. Some people are in the wrong position in their 49:11 faith. Some people are in the wrong position mentally. 49:13 Whatever your position, if it's not in the right place, God's 49:17 counsel to you is, Position yourself, stand still, and see 49:21 the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. 49:25 Do not fear nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them 49:29 for the Lord is with you. And when they went out the next day 49:31 they realized the victory was not theirs, the victory was 49:34 really God's. You see God is able to resolve our situation 49:38 and God is also able to change our position. Many are in the 49:42 wrong position because they fail to put the situation in the hand 49:47 of the almighty God. Sometimes God allows circumstances to 49:50 challenge us, but those circumstances will never defeat 49:54 us if we follow the instructions of God. Joshua 1 verse 9. Here's 50:00 what the...and by the way the Lord didn't say here's what I 50:02 suggest. He says, have I not commanded you, be strong and of 50:06 good courage, do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord 50:10 your God is with you wherever you go. You see when you are 50:14 serving God, you can't go to the left or to the right without God 50:18 being with you because God is not following your steps but the 50:23 steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. You are 50:27 following the steps that God outlined so therefore God is 50:30 always with you. (Joshua 1:9) That's right Joshua 1:9, thank 50:33 you. Joshua 1:9: Haven't I commanded...Thank you James. 50:37 Now we go to Matthew 6 and verse 30. Fear causes trepidation and 50:42 this is often the reason for our concern but notice how Jesus 50:45 illustrates and addresses this. He says in Matthew 6 verse 30: 50:49 Now if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is and 50:54 tomorrow is thrown into the oven will He not much more clothe you 50:58 O you of little faith. I love the fact that God looks at our 51:03 circumstances, He rebukes our circumstances rather than rebuke 51:08 us. Here's the evidence. Matthew 8 and verse 26: It says, But He 51:13 said to them, Why are you so fearful, O you of little faith, 51:17 then he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was 51:22 a great calm. God rebukes our storms rather than our faith. 51:27 That's amazing. God rebukes our circumstances rather than His 51:32 children. Here's another one. The weapon that confronts us 51:37 can be reversed by the weapon that comforts us. Isaiah 54 51:40 verse 17: No weapon formed against you shall prosper...Can 51:45 we say that together? No weapon formed against you shall prosper 51:49 And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you 51:53 shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the 51:59 Lord and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord. So what 52:03 is God saying here? When you are His servant don't worry about 52:07 the weapons formed against you. Don't worry about the tongues 52:10 that rise against you, do not worry about those who seek to 52:13 judge you because in reverse God will allow your testimony to be 52:19 a judgment to those who stand in accusation of you. God will give 52:24 you the words that will cause your enemies to fall back. 52:27 That's why the 23rd Psalm verse 4 is so beautiful in one of our 52:32 prior lessons but it fits again here. It says, Yea though I walk 52:35 through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. 52:37 Why? For you are with me, your rod and your staff they do what? 52:42 They comfort me. So the writer of the lesson asked the question 52:45 What spiritual principles can you find and can apply to your 52:50 walk with God especially in times of trials? 2 Chronicles 52:55 20 verses 21 and 22: And when he had consulted with the people 53:00 he appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should 53:04 praise the beauty of holiness... Ryan, you had it right, you had 53:07 it on target...as they went out before the army and were saying: 53:12 Praise the Lord for His mercy endures forever...Now here it is 53:16 ...When they began to do what Ryan, sing and to praise the 53:21 Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount 53:24 Seir who came against Judah and they were defeated! Oh what am I 53:29 saying, Ryan? When we learn how to praise God in the midst of 53:34 our trials God will turn our praise into a triumph. Praise 53:38 God. That's why He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 53:42 4 and 5: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but 53:46 mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down 53:50 arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the 53:54 knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the 53:58 obedience of Christ. Why do we need that friends? Ephesian 6 54:01 and verse 12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood 54:04 but against principalities, against powers, against the 54:07 rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of 54:11 wickedness in heavenly places. And when we do that what can we 54:15 have the assurance of. Romans 8 verse 37: 54:17 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him 54:21 who loves us. For I am persuaded Paul said that neither death nor 54:25 life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor 54:29 things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor 54:32 any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the 54:37 love of God which is in Christ Jesus. So here's my statement, 54:40 once again, when you see the vast army it is not what's 54:44 happening it is where are you looking when you come up against 54:47 those who stand against you let the praise go up and the victory 54:53 come down. Trust God. He is the only weapon that will win the 54:58 victory in our behalf. 55:01 Amen, amen. 55:02 Thank you, Pastor John. I am reminded by Ryan that if I ever 55:05 get arrested for being a witness for Jesus and I want one request 55:09 and that's he gets arrested with me so I can praise... 55:13 We have a few more minutes now. We're just going to have some 55:16 closing thoughts. We'll start with Jill Morikone. 55:17 Thank you. What an incredible lesson. I'm just reminded that 55:21 praise makes an incredible difference in the life of the 55:24 Christian. So turn up that music and praise Jesus. 55:27 Amen, amen. (John Dinzey) Well we have much to be thankful for 55:31 and to praise the Lord for. I encourage you to look and see 55:34 that He has been good to you Psalm 146 verse 2 says: While I 55:40 live will I praise the Lord. I will sing praises unto my God 55:44 while I have any being. 55:47 Hmm. You may not feel that way at 12 o'clock midnight when I'm 55:50 singing ♪ Rise and shine and give God the glory ♪ 55:56 Oh, we got to praise the Lord. That's what 1 Chronicles 16 55:59 verses 8 and 9 56:00 says: O give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known 56:02 His deeds among the people! Sing to Him, sing psalms. Talk 56:07 of His wondrous works! (Ryan Day) 56:09 (John Lomacang) That's right and the most powerful weapon is the 56:11 weapon of praise. Isaiah 54:17 I must end with this again. 56:15 No weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue 56:20 which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. 56:23 Why? This is the heritage of the servant of the Lord and their 56:27 righteousness is from me. Praise His name! 56:31 (James Rafferty) Amen, amen. I'm thinking about the book 56:32 of Daniel. You know Daniel was praising God in Daniel chapter 2 56:36 because he and his friends through prayer had been revealed 56:40 the dream that the king had. And they were going to be delivered 56:43 from death, from the death decree. So he's praising the 56:45 Lord you know. And then you get to Daniel chapter 6 and 56:48 Daniel chapter 6, it wasn't prayer that delivered them by 56:52 revealing the king's dream. It was prayer that delivered Daniel 56:54 into a lion's den. And so because of his prayer, he was 56:59 going to be receiving the death decree and yet it says in 57:02 Daniel 6 verse 10 that he went to his room, opened his windows 57:05 and prayed just like he did beforehand but it also says and 57:08 praised the Lord. And you know what he was praising the Lord 57:12 for? Saying now it's my turn to be in that fiery furnace. You 57:14 know all my friends got to go through that experience and now 57:16 I get to go through that experience. And friends, we 57:19 don't need to be afraid of the fiery furnaces. God is going to 57:22 be with us and we need to praise Him by faith for that. Well our 57:26 lesson is all finished. Next week we're going to be looking 57:28 at lesson number 10: Meekness in the Crucible. We look forward 57:32 to studying with you then. God bless. 57:34 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2022-10-11