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Given Unto Us · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into this.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's some verses that I want to read.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: So for time's sake, we'll just jump right into this.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a wonderful message.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, we're going to talk about one of the reasons, one of the, to me, the biggest and best reasons that Jesus came.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Judy and I, we call him the all-in-one gift because he was the gift that was given to us, but there's so much wrapped in him.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things is, like I was talking about last time when I spoke, is it really is revelation or it's enlightening.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we can see the Father.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: We can see the revelation of the Father.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: We know the goodness.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that's a miracle.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: You ever stop to think about that?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: How while while you were in ignorance, maybe you thought one thing, maybe you believed a total different thing about God, and somehow a light dawned, like the sun rising up in your life, and you saw something else and you couldn't deny it because the light had shined on it.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And pretty soon you started to believe it, and and you became persuaded, and it became a part of your life, and it affected you, and it affected your life.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you would say that knowing the goodness and the grace and the love of God has made a big difference in your life?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's why we that's why we have fallen in love.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because we see his love for us.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, God before he gave the Son, God was good.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: God already loved the world before he gave, right?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know he didn't start loving us after Jesus came and he says, well, now that he shed his blood, I can start loving them.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: God already loved, right?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: But God so loved that he gave.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And God also, if you look into it, you can see it in the Old Testament, and I'm gonna read some Old Testament scriptures here because they're prophetically speaking about the coming of Jesus to the world.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: But we see things like in Jeremiah 9, where God said, Let him who glories glory in this, that he knows and understands me.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: See, God wants to be known.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said in John 17, he said, I pray that they may know you, the only true God and his Son Jesus Christ, that they may know you.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Paul said, I count everything lost for this one thing that's far more excellent, that I may know God.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I like to, I uh I often refer to John chapter 1, where it describes the coming of Jesus, where it describes the coming of the grace and truth to us, and he says, No man had perceived or known, seen God at any time, but the Son, he has declared him, or revealed him, or expressed him, or made him real.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so one of the greatest things about the coming of Jesus to the earth, and we celebrate it, he came as a baby born and laid in a major.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it changed things.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it had been prophesied for many years in Isaiah chapter 9, beginning in verse 2, prophetically speaking about our day in Christ, he says that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now, when we read this, do this when you read your Bible.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Pause a little bit, take a little time and let your let your thought, let your imagination work, and remember how think about what they may be thinking.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Think about this guy, this guy saying this, this prophet Isaiah, and he's saying, Those who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, he's looking, he's thinking of something in the future, and he said, something's gonna happen.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna be like a light turns on, and they're gonna see something that we're not seeing here.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's a light that's gonna be turned on.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Something big is gonna happen in the earth.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna be like the sun rising.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like there was a darkness and there was a blanket over something, and we're seeing through a haze and a veil of darkness, and and and but there's gonna be something happening.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: God's talking about it and saying, a light is gonna come.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna see.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death upon them a light has shined.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, you have multiplied the nation and increased its joy.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So he's saying, There's a light's coming, it's gonna bring great joy.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 4, for you, because you've broken the yoke of his burden, you've broken the staff of his shoulder and the rod of his oppressor as in the day of Midian.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus comes and says, My yoke is easy, my burden is light.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the reason that it's that it's easy and it's light is because when we're walking in that yoke with Jesus, he's bearing all the weight of this thing.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's grace.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh and so the burden of this world would not be on us.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: We would not be alone, we would not be orphans, we would not be by ourselves, we would not think that we're alone.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, have you ever felt like that?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's a hopeless feeling.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I can still have moments like that.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll get some bad news.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, you know, for the for for a little while initially you feel like, oh no.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, what am I gonna do?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And and it you'll see a way out.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: But we're not alone.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're not we're not orphans.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: We have a daddy, we have a father, we have a comforter, we have a counselor, we have a lover, we have a we have a guide, we have somebody who cares and loves us very, very, very much, and we're not by ourselves, and we have somebody with us, Emmanuel God with us.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we really and then we we we we get this sense that, oh, it's not upon us.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have a source.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when you know that you're not alone, it takes so much of the pressure of life off, doesn't it?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 for every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel the fire.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to take away the war, the fighting, the struggle.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Grace will do that in your life.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 6, for unto us a child is born.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Unto us a son is given.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's the gift.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called wonderful.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Think of this.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, they they already have this an idea of God.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: There are people very devout, there are people that are very devoted to God and serving in so many different ways, but he says, his name is gonna be called wonderful.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: What is this?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe the prophet doesn't even have a clue as to what that entails, but to think that something so good is gonna happen that they're gonna call, they're gonna call Jesus wonderful.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can't trust a God that you don't, if you're not convinced he's for you.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: But when you see a when you see a God that's wonderful, you can have faith in him, you can trust him, you'll be happy for him, you'll celebrate him.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Your thoughts towards him will be good and kind and loving, and you'll find gratitude coming out of your heart because you're living with a wonderful, wonderful Father, creator of God.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: His name shall be called wonderful, his name shall be called counselor.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: You won't be alone, you'll have somebody.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: His name shall be called mighty God, powerful.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: His name shall be called Everlasting Father, always a daddy, always having a daddy, always having a father, always having someone that cares.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: His name shall be called the Prince of Peace.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so the picture I'm giving with this first passage of Scripture here is that he's saying something wonderful is going to happen.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Light's gonna come, it's gonna bring peace, it's gonna take the burden of life off of people, things are gonna change when this promise is fulfilled.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love this verse.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establishment with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: This seed has been planted, it is going somewhere, and it will fulfill what God has had uh intended it to do.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, There's tribulation in this world, but he said, Be of good cheer.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I've overcome that.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that good news?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've already overcome that.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's not scared, he's not nervous about anything, not surprised, not upset.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: He said, There's trouble in this world, uh tribulation, but I've overcome the world.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So in me there's peace, and be of good cheer.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Isaiah 29.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now this describes the condition of the people in the land there, really of mankind.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he's talking about the darkness that they're in and the blindness that they're in.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Again.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I want to start in verse 11, but the preceding verse, verse 10, he talks about how your eyes are blinded, and even the seers are covered.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: The seers, the prophets, in other words.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Even they're not they're not getting it.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: They're in darkness.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: The prophecy was that a light would come.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 29, chapter 29, verse 11.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, your ability to see, he's likening it using a symbolic picture here.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Your ability to see is like a sealed book.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, uh, you know, a scroll with seals on it.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a sealed book.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: You can't you can't see what's what's in there.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: God's a mystery.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's mysterious.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Don't understand him.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: You might be devoted to him.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's the best choice you got, but they don't understand.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's a faraway God.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: They won't even say his name.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, part of the prop promise in another place, he said, he said, um, you know, my my my word is not too mysterious for you.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: It is not up in the sky or in the heavens where someone should say, who's gonna go up and get it?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's not in the deep, or someone's gonna say, who's gonna go down into the deep and get it, nor is it across the sea where someone's gonna say, who's gonna get over there?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: He said, it's it's near you, it's in your heart and it's in your mouth.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: But he's a faraway God, he's a mysterious God.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's he's he's by and large the unknown God.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now we see people had experiences him, and they and they saw certain things in the Old Testament, but for the most part, there's there's there's there's darkness.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, and your vision, your ability to know me, your ability to see, your ability to get it, and and and and clarity, it's all it's like a book that's sealed.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have it.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like a book that when men, it's like a book that which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, Read this, please.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, people want to know.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Show me what God's like.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, I cannot, for it is sealed.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mystery.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe some things God doesn't want us to know.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you ever heard of that one.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: I used to hear that one more back in the day.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I learned that God delights in us knowing him.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to be known.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 13 says, now we see through a glass darkly, but then when love comes, that's what he's talking about.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now that love came, you could say.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: We see face to face, then we know, just like we are known.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: God knows who we are, but he says, we know also.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: We we we really have a relationship where we're knowing the Father.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And and and not that that any of us here are anywhere close to knowing everything they're at is about God.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's he's just so he's just so big.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a good thing because we just get to keep keep enjoying knowing the goodness of the Father more and more.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: And don't you and haven't you found that this this walk that you're in right now, it's like you wonder, you you you kind of wonder sometimes, how far does this go?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: How good is he really?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because it seems like the more I see, the more I hear, the more I walk with God, it just makes him seem like he's better than I thought he was.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he's pretty good right now, but but but if it keeps going the way it has been, then next week, next month, next year, I'm gonna be more and more amazed at how good he is.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And there's something about knowing him, not knowing doctrine, not just knowing stuff written about him.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about knowing him.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about knowing him that causes you to rejoice because he's just so good.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: You've tasted and seen that the Lord is good, right?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes people will say things that are in error about him, and it's a little offensive.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little like, oh, you you no, no, no, no, you don't know.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: I know he's that way.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people will ask me a question from the Bible, you know, well, how come God did this?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And all I can say sometimes is, well, the God I know has been nothing but kind and patient.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Very patient.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've never felt any like he's been upset with me.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I really haven't.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there was a time when I used to think that God would do that, but I wasn't seen clearly.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Revelation happens.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: We talk a lot about that uh here.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and thank God that you know Jesus didn't have to come to change God's mind about me, but Jesus came and he changed my mind about God.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: And my mind's been changed and it's being changed, and the Father I know has just been kind, patient, understanding, good, counseling, encouraging, nurturing.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's just been all of those things more than I could ever have imagined, and he's just it keeps being that way.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: So when someone says, well, God's getting tired of these people doing this and that, and I'm like, I see what you're pointing at, but I don't, he hasn't, that hasn't been my experience with God.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because if that was true, then I probably should have been annihilated a long time ago.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we're talking about knowing.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is what he wanted, not just knowing about him, not just not just reading about him, not just having you know a religion about him, not just being devoted to him, not just serving him, not just any of those things.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be known.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you're glory, he says, glory in this.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not that he does things for me, not that, not that he or she is devoted to me, not that he or she is serving me, but let them glory that they know and understand me.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's his heart.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the greatest things that Jesus came to do was to show us the Father.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So he says, I can't read the book.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's sealed.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Then the book's delivered to one who's illiterate, and they say, Read this to me, please.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Show me.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, I'm not literate, I can't.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the Lord said, Well, inasmuch as these people they draw near me with their mouths and they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And their fear toward me is taught by the commandments of men.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is this sort of describes my earlier Christianity when I was very devoted to God, serving very strongly and very hardly.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean serving a lot, um, very committed to him, um, very much respectful of him, which was more of a fear than a love.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the commandments of men that I received caused me more to fear God.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: I did fear uh retribution for my actions.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: I did fear that the way that he looked upon me.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: I did fear what he thought of.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: I feared it.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't run to it and embrace it.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I feared what he might have thought of me.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And worked hard to try to assuage that fear.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and that was it.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it was the commandments of men that did that to me.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God for Jesus.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God for him who is full of grace and truth.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God that he is the expression of the Father.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've seen him, you've seen the Father, and Jesus comes and rips open the veil, and a great light shines upon us, and he said, Here's your daddy.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why the Bible says that in the fullness of time, when the Spirit of Christ was came into our hearts, it made us cry, Ahma Father, Daddy, I'm home.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus pulled back the veil.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because the Father wanted to be known.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he saw, he describes the condition of the people.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Their lip service is there, and they have a fear toward me.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think it describes me how when I used to pray, Father, help me.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Help me to love you more.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: I used to pray that a lot.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing when I think of that.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was very devoted, but I also could tell that I didn't have not the kind of love that I wanted to.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I had a I I would say so many things, but my heart was struggled.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Struggled with feeling close to him, feeling approved, feeling good with God.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason for that is because I didn't know.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know his goodness.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know his grace.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he was thinking things that he wasn't thinking.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he had an attitude toward me that he didn't have.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know he the kind of love that I know now.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the cool thing is I wasn't even looking to know it because I thought I understood God.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was in ministry, I was teaching and preaching, and I was explaining people what I thought about to people what I thought about God.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: But then my mind got changed.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: How did my mind get changed?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: The light in you.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like Peter describes it as like a day dawning inside of you.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Malachi talks about it like the sun of righteousness rising with healing in his wings, and it brings restoration, and it brings wholeness, and it brings fullness, and it brings joy, just like he said.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you see, the goodness of the Father, and it changes your mind.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't looking to have my mind changed.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: I had a doctrine that I swore was right.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God for the living one who was inside me the whole time, loving me the whole time, and was taking me into unveiling of the goodness of God, and I will forever, ever, ever be grateful.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: While I sat in darkness, a great light shined on me.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And joy fills my heart because I have fallen in love with a God who loves me with no demands and no conditions.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: But Christ reveals that to me.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody else does.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus said, No man comes to the Father but by me.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't saying you have to join my club to get in, to get to heaven.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: He was saying, if you want to know the Father, I'm the only one showing it to you.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't buy what they're saying, don't buy what they're saying.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to know the Father, I'm giving it to you here, I'm revealing it.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 14, he says, Well, they're in this condition.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know me.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Their fear is taught by the commandments of men.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: They're saying some things, but their hearts aren't getting it.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 14, here's what I'm going to do.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is the coming of Jesus that we're celebrating in this season.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: A marvelous work and a wonder, because the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: We go down to verse 18 of Isaiah 29.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And verse 18 says, And in that day, here's what's going to happen.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: In that day, the deaf will hear the words of that book that has been sealed.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness, and the humble shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening in our hearts right now.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we're rejoicing in.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is why we are so in love with the truth, with the message of the gospel, because it is full of grace, full of truth, and it's brought so much joy and love to our lives that we're not on a quest.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: All we want to do is see more of this.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: But we're not still looking for the answer.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: We know what it is.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's the goodness of God as revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ to us.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: He is the way.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we preach Christ.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because the message of Christ unveils the fullness of the goodness of God to us, it unveils a wonderful God.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Not a scary God.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: It unveils a God who loves and says, I want you to know me.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's have something here.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than a mysterious God who wants to be aloof and far away.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'll do a work and they'll understand.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: I will open the ears of the deaf.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: They'll hear the words of that book.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: It won't always be light.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: It won't always be sealed.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: They'll see the words of that book.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: They'll understand.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: It won't always be sealed.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: They won't always be in darkness.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: They won't always be blind.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Think of this.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Something happened in the earth.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: History was changed.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: The power of darkness was really broken.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: The power of darkness to keep men deceived under ignorance and blindness and darkness.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: That power was broken.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Revelation could happen.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was opened up.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit was poured out and released upon men to reveal truth to us.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: An amazing thing.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: We're walking in a miracle.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what we rejoice in.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter 5.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where we see this book again.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I love this picture.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: In Revelation chapter 5, verse 1.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: John seeing a vision, describing it.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll or a book written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: You see the connection?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: You've got a book that's sealed, just like Isaiah said.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: What is this talking about?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: The ability of people to see.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: The ability for people to know God.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: The ability of people to perceive who God is and to know him the way he wants to be known.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: But they can't see, nor do they understand.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's what this book symbolizes.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: There was a book sealed with seven seals.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 2.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who's worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, and nobody in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: With all the prophets, with all the laws, with everything, with all the devotion, with all the rites, the rituals, the sacrifices, with everything, the book is still sealed.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: They do not know, nor do they understand.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 4, so I wept much.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: I cried because no one was found worthy to open and read the book or to look at it.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: When I first read this, I thought, what are you crying about?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: You're looking at this vision and you see this whole thing with this scroll and somebody sitting on the throne, and you big baby, what are you crying about?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I get it.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because I understand what the book means.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: They can't see, so he cried.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: They can't see.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look at what he's describing all around this whole thing, he's, I mean, what's he describing here?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Him who sits on the throne.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's a water of life, there's a tree of life, there's there's beauty, there's all around, but nobody can see.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's goodness, there's life.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Life.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: But they cannot see, nor do they understand.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I wept much because no one would open, could open it.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 5, but one of the elders said to me, Do not weep.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: The vision's about to be seen.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Eyes are about to be opened.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: God is about to be known.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 6, and I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne are the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as though it had been slain.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth, the Holy Spirit revealing truth to us all.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then he came and he took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Would y'all stand up?
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus has truly brought light to the world and opened our eyes and pulled back the veil.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: As you read the rest of that chapter, you'll see that those living beings, so I believe symbolize you and I, says, We sang as it were a new song.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we sang to him, You are worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for you were slain and have redeemed us unto God.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, you have made us kings and priests unto our God.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Another place, a few verses down, it says, Worthy, worthy are you.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: We sang this new song to the Lord.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the new song is called a new song because it's not like the old song, it's not about a mysterious vengeful God, a punitive God, or any other kind of God that we created in the blindness of our imagination.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you don't see the real, you have to make one up in your mind.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I had done that, I can look back and see that.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: But when he gives the vision, when he allows opens up the eyes, we behold the real God and we rejoice and we're amazed.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we're surprised.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: See, that's why I can tell you this isn't a God that you made up because you're surprised at how good he is.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you were making it after your own image, you wouldn't be surprised about it.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: But we keep getting amazed because he really keeps looking gooder and gooder and gooder.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we're all talking about it with each other.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you love how the conversations go among you and people like you that have seen something and how all you want to do is just talk about something good that you know about God and how good God is and how beautiful it is and how wonderful.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's that?
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's the humble have increased their joy.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's happening.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: All because of Jesus.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Worthy is the Lamb to take the book, to take the vision and open it up for us, to open our eyes.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: He is that one who was promised to come.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: We look for no other.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: He has revealed the Father once and for all to us.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a continual work.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we can always be excited about it.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: You once were blind, but now you see.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you're in the place.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: You're in the place where now you can behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire daily in his temple.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you can know the Father and know him more and more and more.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Judy and I talk about this, and I'm like, how good can this get?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's already really good.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're really happy with knowing God right now.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: But how good is it gonna get?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: What are we gonna act like?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: But but of the increase of his kingdom or of his government and of the increase of peace, there will be no end.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you found more rest for your soul since you've known the goodness and grace of God?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, of that rest and that peace, there's gonna be no end to it.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna keep increasing.
• 30:04
  unknown: Wow.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're really gonna be secure.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: You're really gonna be happy.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're really gonna know what it is to have life abounding all in you and through you.