Participants:
Series Code: WHO
Program Code: WHO220001S
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00:26 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:27 And we welcome you to the Worship Hour. 00:30 And that's what we're going to do today 00:32 is worship the Lord in spirit and in truth in His Word. 00:37 Wherever you are, whoever you are, 00:40 whether you've never walked into a church, 00:44 or if you've been in church for 30 years, 00:48 God is calling you. 00:50 Do you hear Him? 00:51 Today, we are going 00:54 to look at scriptures 00:58 so we can understand 00:59 how to recognize the call of God. 01:02 This is actually a three-part series 01:05 but it is a standalone teaching. 01:07 What I mean by that, is that this first lesson, 01:11 whether you don't hear the other two or not, 01:13 it will still have a spiritual blessing for you. 01:18 I know that when God first gave me this, 01:21 I was amazed 01:23 at how it paralleled the three steps 01:28 to surrender that He had taught me, 01:30 and those are to know God. 01:35 Second, was to stop and submit, stop resisting His love, 01:39 stop resisting His plan 01:42 and submit to His instruction, 01:45 His direction and His correction. 01:48 But the third step was yielding to the Holy Spirit. 01:51 And here's the bottom line. 01:53 We can't recognize God's call 01:57 if we don't know God, 01:59 if we don't understand His character, 02:03 His measureable love for us, 02:05 His infinite knowledge 02:08 and His exceedingly great power. 02:11 But we also cannot receive God's call 02:16 unless we stop resisting. 02:21 Stop resisting His love and His plans, 02:23 stop resisting 02:26 and submit to His instruction, 02:30 His direction and His correction. 02:32 And then thirdly, 02:34 we cannot respond 02:38 to God's call 02:40 if we don't yield to the Holy Spirit. 02:44 Let's pray. 02:45 Heavenly Father, we come in the name of Jesus. 02:48 And, Father, I thank You for this teaching 02:51 You gave it to me. 02:52 I pray You'll help me deliver it now in a way 02:56 that people can understand. 02:57 Oh, Lord, let the Holy Spirit touch our ears, 03:02 open our ears and help each one of us to hear 03:07 and recognize Your call. 03:10 We thank You. 03:11 We praise You. 03:13 We're so grateful for Your love 03:16 and Your plan of salvation by grace in Jesus' name. 03:20 Amen. 03:21 We're going to begin with Isaiah Chapter 6. 03:26 Isaiah Chapter 6 is perfect for this, 03:30 because in Isaiah 6 we see, 03:35 Isaiah recognizing God's call, 03:38 receiving God's call and responding to God's call. 03:41 So let's look at that. 03:43 "In the year that King Uzziah died..." 03:46 This is Isaiah 6:1. 03:48 And let me just say this, with the death of the king, 03:52 and the rise of the opposing power, 03:56 the nation of Assyria, 03:58 this created a time of great crisis. 04:01 There was great peril in the land of Judah. 04:05 "So in the year that King Uzziah died," 04:08 Isaiah says, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, 04:12 high and lifted up, 04:14 and the train of His robe filled the temple." 04:19 Isaiah was a man of God. 04:22 He was in the earthly temple, and he was worshiping the Lord. 04:27 But as he pressed into the presence of the Lord, 04:30 God expanded his vision 04:35 of who He is to Isaiah. 04:39 And you know as he saw the robe 04:42 that was filling the temple, 04:47 what God was showing, 04:49 that was a symbol of His authority and His power. 04:52 And He was reminding Isaiah that no matter what happened, 04:57 God was still in control. 04:59 No matter what happened on earth 05:01 and we need to remember that. 05:03 Isaiah saw the Lord high and exalted. 05:08 And here's what I want to say about that. 05:12 When the powers of darkness start closing in on us, 05:17 what we need to do is like Isaiah did, 05:21 press into the presence of the Lord, 05:23 so that we can take a closer look at Him. 05:28 God is inviting us to come to His throne of grace, 05:32 so that we can have peace in our heart. 05:36 And Isaiah 6:2, he says, 05:39 "Above it, above His throne, stood the seraphim." 05:44 Those are angels. 05:45 "Each one had six wings with two he covered his face, 05:48 with two he covered his feet, with two he flew." 05:52 The seraphim covered their eyes 05:55 because they couldn't look on the brilliance of God's glory. 05:59 And they covered his feet, 06:01 I would think that was showing submission. 06:03 Verse 3, "One cried to another and said: 06:08 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. 06:13 The whole earth is full of His glory." 06:16 This three fold declaration of God's holiness 06:21 shows His perfection in holiness. 06:24 And you know what holiness means? 06:26 It simply means to be separated from sin. 06:30 God is completely separated from sin. 06:33 He cannot sin. 06:35 As a matter of fact, 06:37 the reason that we can't stand before the Lord 06:41 without the robe of Christ's righteousness 06:44 is love consumes sin. 06:48 That's why the Bible says, "God is a consuming fire." 06:51 If we stood in front of Him 06:54 in our own rags of righteousness, 06:58 it would just be... 06:59 We'd be consumed. 07:01 But it says then in verse 4, 07:05 "The posts of the door were shaken 07:08 by the voice of Him who cried out, 07:10 and the house was filled with smoke." 07:14 There was a radiant cloud of His Shekinah Glory. 07:18 So this is interesting. 07:21 Here's a man of God in the temple of God. 07:24 And when he gets his expanded vision of who God is, he says, 07:28 "Woe is me, I am undone, 07:33 for I am a man of unclean lips, 07:37 and I live in the midst of a people 07:42 of unclean lips: 07:43 for mine eyes have seen the King, 07:47 the Lord of hosts." 07:51 You know, it's interesting. 07:53 When you see somebody who's like, 07:55 I'm holier than thou, 07:57 I know they haven't been close to the Lord, 08:00 because the closer we come to the Lord, 08:03 and we're in the brilliance of His light, 08:05 the more we see our spotty characters, 08:09 the more we recognize our own sinfulness. 08:13 Isaiah was a good man. 08:15 But he says later in Isaiah 64:6 08:20 that our righteousness as human, 08:23 it's like filthy rags before the Lord. 08:26 And then in verse 6, he says, 08:28 "One of the seraphim flew to me, 08:29 having in his hand a live coal 08:32 which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 08:36 And he touched my mouth with it, and he said: 08:39 'Behold, this has touched your lips, 08:41 your iniquity is taken away, 08:43 your sin is purged." 08:47 What is happening here? 08:49 This is symbolic, figurative language. 08:52 I don't think he took a real coal and put it on his slips. 08:56 But God is responding to Isaiah's confession 09:00 of iniquity. 09:02 God is cleansing him and preparing him to receive 09:07 and respond to the call that God had for Isaiah. 09:11 He had a mission for Isaiah. 09:13 And then in verse 8, Isaiah says, 09:16 "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 09:19 'Whom shall I send? 09:21 Who will go for Us?" 09:24 And when he heard that, 09:26 spontaneously Isaiah says, 09:31 "Here am I, send me." 09:34 He had seen the Lord. 09:37 You know God is asking that question today? 09:41 It's a question. 09:43 When He asked Isaiah, He didn't say, "Go do this." 09:48 He was waiting for Isaiah 09:51 to respond with love, 09:55 motivated by love. 09:58 God never forces us to take a step. 10:02 He won't even force you to accept salvation 10:05 by grace through faith. 10:07 God woos us with His love. 10:10 When Isaiah saw God in a different light, 10:14 his heart was filled with increased knowledge. 10:19 You've got to know God 10:22 to recognize His call. 10:25 And his heart was completely humbled, 10:28 because he realized who he was, 10:31 who he is, a heart... 10:34 And his heart was touched when God said, 10:37 "Who shall we send for Us?" 10:40 Isaiah recognized that there are people 10:44 who are lost and suffering because they don't know God. 10:48 And he recognized God's call for help on the earth 10:54 without hesitancy. 10:56 He received God's call knowing that if he yielded 11:00 to God's leading, 11:02 God would use him in a mighty way. 11:05 So recognizing His call 11:08 we've got to know God. 11:10 And that's what I hope to do today, 11:13 is that we will expand your vision 11:18 of who God is, 11:20 because we have to know God 11:22 to receive or recognize His call. 11:26 We've got to stop and submit to Him 11:29 to receive His call. 11:32 And we have to yield to the Holy Spirit 11:34 to truly respond to God's call. 11:39 I have to say something that I want to apologize up front, 11:43 because I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings. 11:47 Please, don't take this wrong what I'm about to say. 11:50 Few Christians are totally surrendered. 11:55 It takes total surrender to respond to God's call, 11:58 and that's not a judgmental statement. 12:02 It's just an observation. 12:05 You know A.W. Tozer said that... 12:11 He was a great writer and he said, 12:14 "If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn 12:18 from the early Christian church after the day of Pentecost, 12:22 95% of what the church 12:26 was doing would have stopped." 12:29 But then he goes on to say, 12:32 "If the Holy Spirit were totally withdrawn 12:36 from today's church, 12:38 95% of what we do would continue on." 12:43 What's he saying? 12:45 He's saying we're not following the lead of the Holy Spirit. 12:51 We don't allow Him to control our conduct or character. 12:56 Sometimes, we busy ourselves with Christian service, 13:01 but we have no real prayer life, 13:03 no intimate relationship with the Lord. 13:06 Some people feel defeated, 13:09 and they feel like they've hit a wall. 13:12 I tell you what, I remember... 13:14 Don't think you're alone. 13:16 We all go through these times. 13:17 I remember once when I've been running after God. 13:21 And all of a sudden one day I woke up and realize, 13:24 "Whoops, what's happened?" 13:26 And I felt like I'd hit a wall and I said, "Lord, 13:29 explain this to me." 13:31 And what the Holy Spirit impressed on my mind is, 13:36 "I will soon explain the wall of resistance 13:41 that you are hitting." 13:43 And I thought, "Yes, yes, that's just exactly." 13:46 I felt like I was up against the wall, and it was a... 13:49 something was resisting. 13:51 And then it took a couple of weeks 13:54 of seeking the Lord, but you know 13:58 what I finally was impressed upon my mind was this. 14:02 "The wall of resistance that you are hitting 14:06 is a wall of self-preservation." 14:12 Do you hear that? 14:13 The wall of resistance that we hit 14:16 when we are going forward in the Christian life 14:19 is a wall of self-preservation. 14:23 See, the more we give up of self, 14:27 the more we're emptied of self, 14:29 the more we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. 14:32 But there are times we can be walking 14:34 with the Lord in certain ways, 14:37 as long as He doesn't get over in this area of our life. 14:41 There's that self-preservation, "I want to keep this," 14:45 and that's what stops us. 14:47 You know, some people are just lukewarm carnal Christians, 14:52 they play church. 14:54 It doesn't have to be this way. 14:57 It doesn't have to be this way. 15:00 We need to ask ourselves, 15:03 what is it that surrenders me 15:07 or hinders me? 15:09 Let me repeat that. 15:10 What is it that hinders me 15:14 from total surrender? 15:17 What is it? 15:19 When we look to God... 15:23 I remember I had my own Isaiah moment. 15:26 I was God had... 15:28 I was praying for a couple of hours every day 15:31 and I was pressing into the presence of the Lord. 15:35 And I heard or recognized 15:39 the call of God on my life. 15:41 He expanded my vision of who He was. 15:45 The more I was in the Word, the more I was praying, 15:50 and communicating with God. 15:52 He expanded my vision. 15:55 And for the first time in my life, 15:58 I felt accepted. 16:00 I felt loved. 16:02 And what happened was, 16:04 I stopped resisting His love, 16:08 His plan, and I decided, 16:12 "Yep, this is God calling me." 16:16 And I completely turned away 16:21 from my former way of life. 16:24 I learned to yield to the Holy Spirit. 16:27 And I wish I could sit here and tell you 16:29 that I walk yielded, 16:32 totally surrendered every day. 16:35 I don't think any of us do. 16:37 I think it's something we're walking a goal, 16:40 we're walking toward. 16:41 But then on the other hand, 16:43 there's times that I feel like I'm doing service for the Lord. 16:47 I'm studying. 16:49 And maybe I didn't pray to be yielded, 16:51 and at the end I'm going, 16:53 "Lord, was I following Your lead?" 16:55 And I realized, yes, I was because I look 16:59 at what I've produced and I realized, 17:02 "You know what? 17:04 Only God could have done this through me." 17:06 So God will... 17:10 He's calling us. 17:11 He will use us despite our shortcomings. 17:14 Let's look at recognizing His call. 17:18 The idea of talking about knowing God 17:20 in such a short period of time. 17:23 I've been studying now 17:25 since I started really studying. 17:28 It's been over 20 years, 17:30 and I learned something new about God 17:32 and His character every day. 17:35 But what I'm going to do is just give you 17:37 a few scriptures 17:39 that will be like a silhouette of God 17:41 because I think there's three important things 17:44 to understand about God 17:48 to recognize His call on your life. 17:51 And the first of that 17:53 is to know God's infinite love, 17:57 His immeasurable love. 18:00 Jesus said in John 17:3, 18:03 "This is eternal life that they may know you, 18:08 the only true God and Jesus Christ 18:12 whom You have sent." 18:14 You know, 18:15 this isn't an intellectual knowledge. 18:21 I've met people that know a whole lot about the Bible, 18:25 but they don't have a living fellowship with God. 18:28 When He, when it's talking this Word, no. 18:32 This is like the intimacy between a husband and a wife. 18:36 They knew each other. 18:38 God is calling us into an intimate, 18:42 loving relationship. 18:45 And when you understand how much God loves you, 18:50 let me tell you something, 18:52 you're going to fall in love with Him. 18:54 You can't help but respond to His love. 18:57 And in 1 John 4:19, it says, 19:01 "We love Him because He first loved us." 19:05 God wants to be your father, 19:08 your Abba, your Daddy. 19:12 We just... 19:13 A dear friend of ours had a funeral service this weekend. 19:18 He was in his 70s. 19:21 He was a man of God, 19:23 and he always called God, his Daddy. 19:27 He had been the prodigal son. 19:30 He'd been in ministry, turned away, returned. 19:34 But he said God never left him, 19:37 not for one minute through it all. 19:40 So when we think of 1 John 4:19, 19:45 we love God when we understand 19:49 how much He loves us, He wants to be your Abba. 19:53 He knows the number of hairs on your head. 19:56 The Bible says that He captures your tears in a bottle. 20:00 He's recording every sorrow that you go through, 20:04 your name, 20:06 you are tattooed on His hands. 20:09 So if we don't understand His love, 20:13 we will never totally surrender. 20:16 1 John 4:8 says, "God is love." That is His... 20:20 The core of who He is. 20:23 It's not just emotional. 20:26 God is holy, because God is love. 20:29 And as I said, "Love consumed sin." 20:32 He manifest His love to us 20:36 by coming from heaven. 20:39 Get this. 20:41 God came down from heaven to become a man. 20:46 He condescended to become a man 20:51 and to fulfill His plan of the everlasting covenant. 20:56 The everlasting covenant is the Lamb, 20:58 who was slain from the foundation 21:01 of the earth. 21:02 I'll tell you, if you could get this in your mind, 21:04 and I'm getting out of order here. 21:06 But if you could get it in your mind 21:10 what God sacrificed for you 21:12 to become a man and to die for us... 21:16 I praise God every day 21:20 for what He has done for us. 21:22 And what He's showing us 21:25 is that salvation is by grace. 21:28 And let me tell you, 21:30 it was so in the Old Testament, and in the New. 21:34 As a matter of fact, Hebrews 11:7 21:37 is talking about Noah, who built the ark, 21:40 who was warned divinely of the things 21:44 that had never happened before. 21:46 And listen to what it says. 21:47 Hebrews 11:7, it says, 21:51 "He prepared an ark for the saving of his household 21:54 because he's moved by godly fear." 21:58 And then it says, "His actions condemned the world 22:02 who would not believe." 22:03 But here is the point, 22:05 "Noah became heir of the righteousness, 22:10 which is by faith." 22:12 What does that word righteousness mean? 22:15 Righteousness means to be in right standing 22:19 with God, 22:20 to do things His right way. 22:24 But it comes to us by faith. 22:28 You know, God never changes. 22:29 He says in Malachi 4:6, "I'm the Lord, I change not." 22:33 Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus is the same yesterday, 22:37 today and forever." 22:38 So trust me, we don't have time today, 22:42 but I'm doing deep Bible studies. 22:44 It has always been God's plan 22:47 to save His people by grace. 22:51 My mother, growing up, my poor mother, 22:55 she saw God as two different beings. 22:58 She looked in the Old Testament 22:59 and she saw God has been angry. 23:02 The Old Testament is all about Jesus. 23:05 God wasn't angry. 23:07 In Jeremiah when he was warning through the prophet, 23:09 He was trying to get His people to repent. 23:12 But I grew up, looking through that lens, 23:16 I had a love affair with Jesus 23:19 but I was scared to death of the Father, 23:21 because I thought He was watching me 23:24 ready to set me the second I did something wrong. 23:27 And then one day as I was reading Hebrews 1:3, 23:31 I realized it says that 23:34 Jesus is exactly like the Father. 23:38 He's the imprint. 23:40 He is the out ring of the glory of God. 23:44 So as loving as Jesus was, 23:48 so is the Father. 23:49 As loving and as compassionate as Jesus is, 23:55 so is the Father. 23:57 In Hebrew, I found a word, because sometimes people say, 24:02 "Grace isn't in the Old Testament." 24:04 Yes, it is but there's something even better. 24:08 There's a Hebrew word and we talk about it, 24:10 agape love, grace. 24:12 There's a Hebrew word that's used over 250 times about God. 24:17 It's hesed, H-E-S-E-D. 24:22 All throughout the Old Testament, 24:24 it's talking about God's steadfast love. 24:28 It's His loving-kindness, His grace, His mercy, 24:32 His faithfulness, His goodness, 24:34 His devotion, His generosity, 24:39 His patience, His loyal love. 24:43 It's a word that you cannot translate into English 24:46 in one word. 24:47 And you know, it's interesting to me, 24:51 His love is not a feeling. 24:55 God expresses His love by doing. 24:58 In Psalm 136:1, it says, "Give thanks to the Lord, 25:01 for He is good, His mercy endures forever." 25:05 That word mercy means hesed. 25:09 It means His steadfast love, His patience, His loyalty. 25:14 It's translated in the English Standard Version, 25:20 as His steadfast love 25:24 endures forever. 25:26 One of my favorite scriptures, 25:30 if you want to get good picture of God, 25:34 Zephaniah 3:17. 25:38 Zephaniah 3:17 says, "The Lord your God." 25:42 This is His covenant name. 25:44 "Jehovah, your God is in your midst, 25:49 the Mighty One will save." 25:53 Now, get this. 25:56 We know He's a Savior. 25:58 But let me ask you, do you see the way... 26:01 Do you see God the way 26:03 He's about to be described right here? 26:06 He will rejoice over you with gladness. 26:10 He will quiet you with His love. 26:15 He will rejoice over you with singing. 26:21 Is that how you see God? 26:24 God wants a very intimate personal Father 26:30 and child relationship. 26:33 And you know, when we come to Him... 26:36 You know, if a father sees a child fall down 26:39 and bang up his knee, what does he do? 26:42 He doesn't go over and scold the child. 26:45 He picks the child up, bandages his knee. 26:49 He helps him to overcome 26:52 so that he won't stumble again. 26:55 That's God. 26:56 And He quiets him with His love. 26:59 He sings over him with rejoicing. 27:03 That's what God does with us. 27:06 If you don't see God this way, 27:10 I hope you'll pray and ask Him, 27:13 "Lord, open my eyes, 27:15 open my heart that I may see 27:19 who you really are. 27:21 Help me to know You're singing over me, Lord, with rejoicing." 27:26 In John 15:12-14, Jesus says this, 27:31 "This is My commandment, 27:35 that you love one another as I have loved you." 27:39 And let me tell you something, 27:40 there is no greater love than for God 27:46 who established the penalty for sin, which is death. 27:50 But all along He planned on coming 27:53 and paying that penalty. 27:56 There's no greater love than what our God has done for us. 28:02 He says in verse 13, John 15:13, 28:05 "Greater love has no man than this than to lay down 28:09 one's life for His friends. 28:12 You are my friends 28:14 if you do what I command you." 28:19 You know, we think of a mother 28:22 who will lay down her life for her child. 28:26 Maybe we think of the Secret Service, 28:28 a man who will take a bullet for the President. 28:33 Or we might think of a captain, 28:35 who will throw himself over a grenade 28:39 to save his troops. 28:42 God did much more than taking a bullet 28:46 or falling on a grenade for us. 28:49 When He came down from earth, 28:53 He became one of us. 28:55 That is so amazing. 28:57 And the love of God far exceeds 29:02 any sacrifice that anyone can make. 29:06 2 Peter 3:18 says this, and I encourage you, 29:11 2 Peter 3:18, 29:14 this is something we all should consider daily. 29:18 Peter writes, "Grow in the grace 29:21 and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, 29:25 Jesus Christ." 29:27 When we understand what He's done for us, 29:31 how He humiliated Himself, how in Philippians 2:5-8, 29:37 it talks about God coming down, 29:40 taking on the form of a man and dying for us. 29:45 We can see 29:47 that God loves us 29:51 above all. 29:54 As a matter of fact, the Lord once told me to try to... 29:58 I try to remember to do this. 30:01 God said, "Tell My people 30:06 they are worth nothing less than the price 30:09 that I paid for them 30:12 with My own precious life blood of My covenant Son." 30:17 You may have heard someone say to you growing up, 30:20 "You're worthless. 30:22 You'll never amount to anything." 30:24 And sometimes people will pray and they'll say, 30:26 "Oh, Lord, we're so worthless." 30:28 Now, I want to jump up and I want to say, 30:31 "No, no, no, we've got great worth to God." 30:35 Great worth. 30:37 We may be undeserving, yes. 30:39 We don't deserve anything God did for us, 30:42 but He puts a high value on us. 30:46 And the heart of the everlasting gospel 30:49 of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation 30:51 of the world is the incarnation of Christ, 30:56 the death of Christ 30:58 that His crucifixion 31:00 and His resurrection. 31:03 God has always planned to save humanity 31:07 in the person of Jesus Christ. 31:11 You know, it's interesting. 31:14 If you don't understand 31:16 why this was such, 31:19 how can I say this? 31:22 To think of the sacrifice, 31:23 to me of our God coming down 31:27 and taking on our flesh, it's a permanent sacrifice. 31:33 The cross, 31:34 He came up out of the grave and rose victoriously. 31:38 But listen to this. 31:40 Luke 31:42 24:36-39 31:48 is talking about after the resurrection. 31:52 Jesus showing the nail wounds in His hands 31:58 to prove it was Him that He wasn't a ghost. 32:03 He was flesh and blood. 32:04 But He said to them, 32:07 "A spirit does not have flesh 32:09 and bones as you see I have." 32:13 He walked the earth 40 days after His resurrection. 32:18 He ate with them. 32:20 And according to the scriptures, 32:23 He ascended to heaven in that flesh. 32:26 He will return in the flesh. 32:30 Acts 1:11 says, "The same Jesus, 32:33 who was taken up from you into heaven 32:35 will so come in a like manner as you saw Him 32:39 go into heaven." 32:40 So what is it saying? 32:42 It's saying that His physical presence 32:46 has been limited, 32:48 because He became the last Adam. 32:52 He replaced the first Adam 32:54 through whom death came to all of us. 32:57 Jesus became the last covenant Son of God, 33:02 the One who would be the representative 33:06 of mankind at the throne of God. 33:10 He is mysteriously fully God, 33:15 but fully man. 33:17 But He has limited His physical presence forever. 33:21 And what? 33:23 How does He live with us now? Listen to this. 33:26 Ephesians 3:16-21, 33:30 Paul was praying for the Ephesians and he says, 33:33 "I pray that you'll be strengthened 33:34 with might through His Spirit 33:36 in the inner man that Christ..." 33:39 This is Chapter 3:17 of Ephesians, 33:43 "That Christ may dwell in your hearts 33:48 through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love." 33:53 Now, let me stop. 33:55 How does Christ dwell in our hearts? 33:57 He's going to go on to say, 33:59 "It's through the power of the Holy Spirit, 34:02 because they are one." 34:04 Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. 34:08 When we receive the Holy Spirit, 34:11 God the Father and the Son dwell in us through faith. 34:16 But he says this and it's so great 34:19 that you being rooted and grounded in love. 34:24 Some people in the church are rooted 34:26 and grounded in fear. 34:28 Some people are baptized because they don't want to... 34:30 You know, they accept the Lord as their Savior, 34:32 because they don't want to suffer the second death. 34:36 You've got to be rooted and grounded in love. 34:38 Grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord. 34:42 God loves you so much. 34:44 And he goes on and he says, 34:46 "That you might know the love of Christ, 34:49 which passes knowledge that you can be filled 34:53 with all the fullness of God." 34:56 And then he says, "God's able to do exceedingly, 35:00 abundantly above anything we can ask or think, 35:05 according to His power." 35:09 And this is that dynamite power 35:11 that were strengthened through the spirit in our inner man. 35:16 When you understand God's love for you, 35:21 let me tell you something, 35:22 you're going to see a powerful change in your life. 35:26 I promise you, 35:28 you will not sulk around feeling self-pity. 35:34 You will not be fearful of God. 35:37 And then I love what Paul says. 35:39 He can't think of any other words. 35:41 He talks about the width, the breadth, 35:44 the length, the depth, and the height of God's love. 35:48 The breadth of God's love, is it extends to all people? 35:52 The length, it extends to all time. 35:56 The depth, 35:57 it extends to the lowest human condition 36:00 and the height to heavens. 36:04 God wants to transform us. 36:07 John 3:16 says, 36:08 "He saves us from the penalty of sin." 36:11 Listen, "God so loved the world 36:13 that He gave His only begotten Son." 36:17 That only begotten means it's a covenant term. 36:21 He was chosen when He came down to earth. 36:25 He was a covenant Son, 36:28 begotten of God chosen to fulfill 36:31 the everlasting covenant. 36:33 And then he goes on, he says, 36:35 "That whoever believes in Him, 36:37 Jesus Christ, should not perish." 36:41 That word perish means 36:44 complete utter destruction. 36:48 If you believe in Christ and trust in Him for salvation, 36:52 you're not going to be utterly destroyed 36:55 when God remakes the new earth. 36:59 But it says you will have everlasting life. 37:02 Two choices, 37:04 you can end up utterly destroyed 37:06 or have everlasting life. 37:09 He saves us from the power of sin. 37:12 1 John 3:8 says, 37:14 "He who sins is of the devil for the devil 37:16 sin from the beginning, 37:18 and for this purpose the Son of God was manifested 37:22 that He might destroy the works of the devil." 37:27 And the beautiful thing is, 37:30 He is going to save us from the presence of sin. 37:34 When you consider Revelation 21:4, it says, 37:37 "God will wipe away every tear from our eyes 37:40 and there's going to be no more death, 37:43 or sorrow, or crying, 37:45 no more pain, 37:47 because the former things have passed away." 37:51 I don't know about you. 37:54 Recently, I found myself watching the news 37:58 and afterwards I sigh and I cry. 38:03 And I'm not talking literal tears 38:06 but I feel like my soul is weeping. 38:10 And I go before the Lord and it's like, 38:11 "Lord, how can people do this? 38:16 How can evil like this exist?" 38:19 And you know, 38:22 Jesus said in John 10:10, 38:24 "The thief, the devil comes not but to steal, 38:29 kill and destroy." 38:31 But then He says, "I've come that 38:32 you may have abundant life." 38:35 Satan is the one who operates 38:38 by the love of power. 38:41 God's Kingdom operates by the power of love. 38:46 So when we consider the Ten Commandments, 38:50 I just want to say something. 38:52 The Ten Commandments are God's law of love. 38:56 The first four are about love to God. 39:00 The next six on the second tablet 39:03 are about love to mankind. 39:06 And some people see that 39:10 as being a restriction. 39:12 I don't. 39:14 When I look at the Commandments, 39:15 I think of God has, kind of, 39:18 hedged me in to keep me on that narrow path of life 39:23 but He lets me run freely. 39:26 He enlarges my steps, and I have this abundant life, 39:30 living within the parameters of His Ten Commandments. 39:35 Isaiah 48:18. 39:38 Listen, you can get the point of God, 39:42 His heart, 39:44 His motivation for giving us His Commandments. 39:48 It's not that God's up there saying, 39:50 "All right, do it like this." 39:53 No, that's not our God. 39:56 Listen to his heart. 39:58 Isaiah 48:18, 40:00 "Oh that you had heeded My Commandments, 40:05 then your peace would have been like a river, 40:10 and your righteousness 40:13 like the waves of the sea." 40:16 God wants you to experience peace, 40:21 that perfect sense of being settled, 40:26 of being secure, of being comforted. 40:30 He wants peace for you, 40:34 and He wants righteousness for you. 40:37 In fact, He imparts His righteousness to us 40:42 when the Holy Spirit is living in us, 40:45 and Christ's righteousness is actually imputed 40:49 or credited to our account. 40:52 God is not a God who is restrictive and stern. 40:58 God is a God that everything He does is motivated by love. 41:03 Everything He does is for your eternal benefit 41:08 because our life here on this earth is a vapor, 41:13 is just a split second, on the line of eternity. 41:18 God wants you in heaven. 41:21 He wants you to be on the earth made new. 41:28 Romans 5:8 says, 41:30 "God demonstrates His own love for us. 41:34 In that while we were still sinners, 41:39 Christ died for us." 41:41 Do you think you are unworthy of God's love? 41:47 Think again. 41:48 God can't help but love you. 41:50 That's who He is. 41:52 And why wouldn't we trust 41:56 a love like that? 42:00 We've got to know God. 42:03 To recognize His call on our lives, 42:07 we need to surrender. 42:09 But we also need to recognize His infinite knowledge. 42:13 You know, we think we're pretty smart. 42:18 We think that... 42:21 It all started in the Garden of Eden. 42:25 The fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, 42:30 just one fruit, one some black fruit, 42:33 some red fruit, one fruit. 42:36 The point is the knowledge. 42:39 God didn't want us to experience evil. 42:44 But as soon as we choose the fruit from that tree, 42:48 as soon as we say, "I'll be my own god. 42:53 I'll decide what's good for me. 42:54 I'll decide what's bad for me." 42:57 Then we're going to experience the consequences of evil. 43:01 God has an intelligence 43:03 and a power that is superior to ours. 43:05 Isaiah 55:9 says this. 43:09 This is God speaking, 43:11 "As the heavens are higher than the earth 43:14 so are 43:18 My ways higher than your ways, 43:21 and My thoughts higher than your thoughts." 43:25 I want to tell you something. 43:27 There is no human whether he is a scientist, 43:31 a philosopher, theologian, 43:36 a pastor, 43:38 there's no body that completely understands God's ways. 43:43 They're beyond our comprehension. 43:47 What God calls, 43:48 He gives us plenty of information as to who He is. 43:52 And He says to us, 43:54 "Come and learn to trust Me." 43:57 Proverbs 3:5-6, 43:59 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 44:02 lean not on your own 44:05 limited understanding, 44:08 in all your ways acknowledge Him 44:11 and He will direct your path." 44:13 See knowing God, 44:15 when you understand His love, 44:17 when you understand that He is a God, 44:21 who, as he says, 44:23 in Isaiah 46:10 44:26 that He sees the end from the beginning, 44:30 and He declares it to be so saying 44:33 My counsel shall stand. 44:35 We don't see the end from the beginning. 44:37 Thank God. 44:39 Thank God we don't, but God does. 44:43 He looks at us. He sees us. 44:46 If you're in Christ, 44:47 He sees you as a finished project. 44:50 He knows you're under construction 44:52 but He knows what's coming. 44:55 So we cannot, 44:57 just because we don't understand God, 45:01 if we just recognize His love for us, 45:06 recognize His plan for us, 45:09 then what will happen is we'll trust Him. 45:13 Our God is all knowing. 45:16 He is a friend, not a foe. 45:18 And you know what? 45:21 He wants to be your life coach. 45:23 He says in Jeremiah 29:11-14, 45:27 "I know the plans I have for you. 45:30 Plans to prosper you not to harm you, 45:33 plans to give you a hope and a future." 45:37 But then He says this, 45:40 "Then you will call upon me 45:43 and come and pray to Me." 45:45 When? 45:47 When do we call upon God and come and pray to Him? 45:51 When we recognize He's a benevolent God, 45:55 and He's got a good plan, 45:57 a plan that's so much better than the one we're living. 46:00 When we see God as this all loving being, 46:05 who has our eternal benefit in mind, 46:07 then we call upon Him and come and pray to Him. 46:12 And God says, "I will listen to you. 46:14 You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me 46:16 with all of your heart. 46:19 I'll be found by you." 46:21 Why wouldn't we trust a God 46:25 of such superior knowledge? 46:29 If we know His love, know His knowledge, 46:34 we're ready to surrender. 46:36 But there is a third thing 46:37 I want us to consider in our short time today. 46:41 We need to recognize God's exceedingly great power. 46:46 His power is limitless. 46:48 In Isaiah 46:9-10, He says, 46:52 "Remember the former things of old, 46:54 for I am God and there is no other. 46:58 There is no other God." 47:00 He says, "I am God and there is none like Me. 47:04 Any other god is a 47:09 counterfeit set up and established, 47:12 I'll say by Satan." 47:14 He says, "I declared the end from the beginning 47:19 and from ancient times the things to come." 47:23 God will accomplish His will in every situation. 47:27 You can't thwart it. 47:30 But He will never force you. 47:33 God's power is creative. 47:35 The word in the beginning with God created, 47:37 it's bara and it's only used of God. 47:41 God can create something out of nothing. 47:45 Our creativity, 47:47 we're using things that are around us. 47:50 But all the heavens and the earth 47:52 were created by God, 47:55 who became a person. 47:57 Listen to this. I love it. 47:59 "Our creator is the one who came down 48:03 and took on the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ." 48:08 In Colossians 1:16, it says, 48:12 "For by Him," speaking of the person of Jesus Christ, 48:16 "all things were created, 48:18 both in the heavens and on the earth, 48:21 visible and invisible, 48:22 whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, 48:26 all things have been made through Him and by Him." 48:30 Jeremiah said, "Our Lord, God, 48:34 You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great arm 48:39 and Your outstretched power. 48:42 There's nothing too hard for You." 48:44 That's Jeremiah 32:17. 48:50 And then I love what the psalmist says 48:53 in Psalm 100:3, 48:56 "Know that the Lord He is God. 48:59 It is He who made us." 49:03 You didn't crawl out, 49:04 your ancestors didn't crawl out 49:07 of some primordial pool of sludge. 49:11 No, God created you in His image. 49:16 And you know, 49:18 I'm going to tell you a quick story. 49:20 I hope I have time. 49:22 I interviewed a policeman from San Francisco. 49:25 He worked with the gangs, 49:27 kids who were incarcerated. 49:31 And when he went in and he worked with these kids, 49:34 they all thought they came from monkeys. 49:36 But once they realize where they came from, 49:39 once they realized who created them, 49:44 their whole attitude on life changed. 49:47 And he said, "It was a remarkable transformation." 49:51 We cannot buy all of this garbage of evolution. 49:57 We have to trust the Word of the Lord. 50:01 Do you not know His power? 50:04 You know what Jesus said in Mark 12:24? 50:09 He said that some people are mistaken in their beliefs, 50:13 because you did not know the scriptures, 50:18 or the power of God. 50:20 If you don't understand who God is, 50:23 find someone that can help you in a study or get online. 50:27 Go to Amazing Facts, 50:29 pick up their Bible studies online, 50:32 or Voice of Prophecy, or It Is Written. 50:35 There's so many good online Bible studies. 50:39 Learn for yourself. 50:41 Don't accept what someone has told you in the past. 50:45 Learn for yourself because with God Jesus says, 50:49 "All things are possible." 50:52 God's power is protective and sustaining. 50:56 Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus propels, 50:59 He maintains, He sustains all of the universe 51:03 by His mighty Word of power 51:08 and He never gets weary. 51:11 Isaiah 40:28-29 says, "Have you not known? 51:17 Have you not heard that everlasting God, 51:21 the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, 51:24 He neither faints nor is weary? 51:28 His understanding is unsearchable. 51:32 He gives power to the weak, 51:35 and to those who have no might, 51:38 he increases understanding." 51:41 One of my favorite verses 51:43 is 1 Peter 1:3-5. 51:48 Here, He's talking about, 51:51 "We are kept by the power of God 51:55 for salvation and will be ready 51:59 to be revealed in the last time." 52:03 Remember what we said about Ephesians 3:16 52:07 is that we are strengthened with might, 52:12 dynamite, with the power of God 52:16 when the Holy Spirit indwells us. 52:21 God's power is yours 52:25 if you will surrender to Him. 52:28 And 2 Peter 1:3-4 says, 52:34 "His divine power has given to us, 52:38 all things that pertain to life and godliness." 52:42 Did you hear that? 52:43 By His divine power, 52:46 God gives us everything we need when we call on Him. 52:49 He's just waiting for us to call. 52:52 So many of us suffer through our consequences 52:56 rather than going to God and saying, 52:59 "Help me overcome." 53:02 But then he goes on. 53:04 He says, "Through the knowledge of Him, 53:07 who called us by His glory and virtue," 53:11 and this is 2 Peter 1:4, 53:13 "By which, by God's glory and virtue 53:17 have been given to us exceedingly great 53:21 and precious promises 53:24 that through these promises..." 53:28 And not one word of God's promises have ever failed. 53:32 There's still many to be fulfilled in the future, 53:37 but you can count on that. 53:39 You can count on Philippians 1:6, 53:42 that He who has began a good work in you 53:45 will complete it, 53:47 because He says He's given us 53:48 His exceedingly great and precious promises, 53:53 that through these promises, 53:55 you may become partakers 53:59 of the divine nature. 54:01 Oh, hallelujah, think about that. 54:05 You know, I think of DNA, 54:07 spiritual DNA, DNA, Devil's Nature Acquired. 54:13 That's, kind of, 54:14 what condition we're in before we come to God. 54:18 But here, he's talking 54:21 about when we accept God's promises, 54:24 we can acquire the divine nature, 54:30 DNA, the Divine Nature Acquired. 54:34 He will cause you to be a new creation, 54:39 and the old will be gone. 54:43 Now, I just have to say this one thing. 54:47 God's plan of salvation isn't that 54:50 you fret with a furrowed brow, 54:55 trying to be accepted by Him. 54:58 God's plan of salvation isn't by works, 55:03 it's by grace. 55:05 And He will empower you to do the good works 55:08 He created you to do. 55:10 Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 18:17. 55:15 He lets us know that God's plan of salvation 55:18 is a life of total dependence upon God. 55:22 Luke 18:17, "Assuredly, I say to you, 55:26 whoever does not receive the kingdom of God 55:30 as a little child will by no means enter it." 55:34 You know what? 55:35 Children have no resources of their own. 55:37 They live in a state of trust and dependence. 55:42 And we've got to abandon our pride 55:44 and depend on our God. 55:47 Paul heard the Lord say to him, 55:50 and it's recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:9. 55:53 Jesus told Paul, 55:55 "My grace is sufficient for you, 56:00 for my strength is made perfect in your weakness." 56:05 Do you know that? 56:07 Are you trusting 56:10 that God can strengthen you to do all things 56:12 through Christ Jesus? 56:14 He can. 56:15 Why wouldn't we trust a power like that? 56:19 Like Isaiah, we've got to know God 56:22 to recognize His call. 56:26 And that's the first step 56:31 of surrender, knowing God. 56:34 Then we have to stop resisting His love, 56:39 stop resisting His plan, 56:42 submit to His authority 56:44 so that we can receive His call. 56:47 And then to respond to His call, 56:49 it's the third step of surrender. 56:51 It is yielding to the Holy Spirit's power. 56:55 I'm so glad that you joined us. 56:57 And I hope that you will be able 56:59 to join us next time 57:01 for Receiving The Call of God, part two. 57:06 Let me say a quick prayer for you. 57:08 Father, we come in the name of Jesus. 57:10 Help us, oh, Lord, to recognize, 57:14 receive and respond 57:16 to Your call for abundant life here 57:19 and eternal life everlasting in Jesus' name. 57:23 Amen. Thank you for joining us. Bye. |
Revised 2022-02-24