Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10111 - God’s Grace Triumphs Over Evil - Genesis 6:1-10

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#10111 - God’s Grace Triumphs Over Evil - Genesis 6:1-10 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's word with pastor and author.
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Ed, Taylor recorded live from Calvary Chapel in Aurora,
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Colorado to learn more about the many resources available,
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through abounding Grace media, visit us online at Calvary
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Aurora dot org, or download our free app on all platforms.
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And now, here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Take your Bibles open in the Genesis chapter.
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Six, as we start a new chapter today, the title of our Bible
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study is God's grace triumphs over evil and you may want to
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pause there for a moment and let that sink in God's grace
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triumphs over evil. And as we open up the Bible
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study in the Book of Genesis, remember things started out
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exceptionally. Well God would look at his
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creation and seven times he would declare that it was good.
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Good. And there it was the Lush
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perfect environment, the garden, the perfect Creation, The Crown
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Jewel, Adam and Eve for how long, we're not sure.
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Exactly. But enjoying for as long as they
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did the intimate relationship and fellowship with God,
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untainted by sin, we've never experienced that ever in our
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lives. We look forward to it.
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But Adam and Eve enjoyed it and there was Harmony among the
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animals harm In marriage. There was Harmony and creation
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so much, so the harmony with animals so much so that he's
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struck up a conversation with the serpent that pursued her and
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dwelt by the Devil Himself and he tempted her to disobey God,
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questioned question, not only the word of God if that wasn't
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enough, but inferred in his question, he questioned the
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goodness of God. Let me just say that is a
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spiritual battle for your life day.
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After day, your spiritual health, your emotional health,
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Like Your vitality hinges on the fact that it doesn't hinge on
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the fact that whether God is good or not, God is good.
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That, that is a fact, it hinges on whether you believe it in the
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moment. Do you believe that God is good?
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When things don't go your way. Do you believe that God is good?
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When These aren't lining up the way that you wanted or your
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dreams have been shattered, or great difficulties of energy or
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life, or you're dealing with the consequence of sin all around
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you. Do you believe it and the
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Temptation was too much? And Adam and Eve both took of
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the fruit and it's been downhill from there immediately sin and
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death entered the world. Multiple cursors are given Adam
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and Eve are expelled from the garden.
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And the first deceit in the first murder.
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And even hints of things to come.
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I want you to jot this down and write it over.
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Genesis chapter 6, it's Romans chapter 5 and verse 20, Romans
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chapter 5 in verse 20, this in. This is what it says.
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Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound but
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where sin abounded Grace abounded much more Abounding
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Grace the goodness of God. Yes, sin abounded.
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That is the true story in the Book of Genesis abounding sin
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Met with abounding Grace, pick up with me in verse 1 of chapter
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6. Now, it came to pass when men
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began to multiply on the face of the Earth and daughters were
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born to them. That sons of God, saw the
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daughters of men that they were beautiful.
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And they took wise for themselves of all whom they
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chose. And the Lord said, my spirit
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shall not strive with man forever for he is indeed, flesh.
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Yet his days shall be. Twenty years, there were giants
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on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of
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God came into the daughters of men and bore children to them,
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those were the Mighty Men Who were of old men of renown.
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So let me pause here for a moment of before we jump into
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these verses and just say such a controversial verse.
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And most of the attention is spent on the controversy, we
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will address the controversy of who are these sons of God.
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And what's happening here? All dress it But there's so much
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more that surrounds it and I just want to encourage you,
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please church when you're reading the Bible, there's a lot
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of controversy lot of debatable passages.
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A lot of things that people like to argue about but can I just
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beg you as a brother? As a pastor don't be someone
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that argues all the time. About things that are debatable
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but rather be a brother. Be a sister that lives out the
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things that are not debatable live out, the things that are
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obvious and clear in the scriptures.
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It's it gets its Weary at times and perhaps, you've experienced
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this, where people just want to argue about things that have
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absolutely, no Eternal significance, whatsoever?
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You just want to stop and go who have you led to the Lord lately?
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All I don't have any time to lead in orcas.
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I'm doing all this time of studying.
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Yeah, but it's leading you. It's foolish and ignorant
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disputes. The Bible says, that's what they
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are. And by the way, the Bible says
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to Paul to Young Timothy but also To Us by application.
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Avoid foolish and ignorant disputes and this just happens
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to be one of them who and that what's happening here.
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But before we get to it, I want you to consider as we enter
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chapter 6, this one verse and it will be for the next couple of
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chapters. Remember this one teaching of
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Jesus? He said it in Matthew 24, verse
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38, he said for isn't the day as in the days before the flood.
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We're entering those days here in chapter 6.
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As in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking
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marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered
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the Ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all
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away. So also will the coming of son
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of man? Be Jesus said, you want to pay
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attention to what was happening in Noah's day.
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And for us, we have the scriptures here recorded for us.
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What's happening in Noah's days if you're taking notes, well,
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repeat this. But I want to give it to you
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today. Here are a few of the things
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that were happening during the days of Noah.
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Number one, there was a massive population explosion.
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Now, to some degree, some estimate, there was 130 billion
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people on the planet. You know, that seems like a high
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number to me, but there were a lot of people giving the math
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from Generations, from Adam and Eve, to the, it's possible
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billion. People, massive amounts of
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people. Secondly, there was abnormal
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sexual perversity in the days of Noah.
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It's nothing new, nothing new. We think we're experiencing
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things. The delivery mechanism might be
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new, but the root of sexual sin is not new thirdly.
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There were skewed views of marriage.
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There were skewed views of marriage, including Rapid sexual
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immorality. And you could say in a very real
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way, marriage was being redefined marriage was being.
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I mean already we've already seen bigamy and the flood hasn't
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even come yet. We haven't even got to the days
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of Noah yet and there was already bigamy.
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So marriage was being undermined and minimized fourthly, there
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was a wicked and corrupt Minds as will learn in a moment.
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There were vain imaginations. Like people will just spinning
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time, inventing evil to participate in and then finally
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there was evil violence and unbridled violence, man against
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man. And so the days of Noah, we must
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pay attention to as we study these chapters in the coming
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weeks. So, let's get to the
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controversy. It says, in verse 2, the sons of
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God, they saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful
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took wise for themselves who they chose, and then verse for,
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there's Giants on the earth in those days.
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Also, afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of
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men or children to them. And there were Mighty Men of
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old, men of renown. So first of all, before we even
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begin to Define them notice that the observation of this time
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frame in verse 2 or excuse me, verse 3, God's opinion of what's
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Happening Here is that his Spirit shall not strive with man
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forever because he's indeed flesh and his days shall be 120
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years. So there is no longer God's sees
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the perversity on the earth and he's not going to strive for
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ever He's not going to fight, he's going to allow you and give
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yourself. He's going to give people up to
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their own vile desires. Give them up.
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As we learn in Romans to a debased mind.
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So there's a lot of perversity sexual perversity here.
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So, here's a couple of use on the sons of God.
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Number one, many believe, the are simple.
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Simply Believers marrying unbelievers.
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Many people teach that possibly the sons of Cain with the
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daughters of Seth, as we saw The Godly and ungodly lines.
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I don't really see that. It doesn't seem to fit the
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context whatsoever at all because there's some descriptive
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words here. If God wanted to say it was the
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line of Seth. He would have said his line of
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Seth Lion King. Secondly another view the holds
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that the sons of God. Here are in fact, a references
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to a select group of fallen angels demonic realm.
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We see that in Job chapter 2 and Job 38 but also in Job 1, verse
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6. Now there was a day when the
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sons of God. To present themselves before the
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Lord, and Satan came with them, very direct reference to the
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Angelic Realm. Now in support of view, number
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two, we know that Satan was already in the garden and we
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are, we know that his demonic, demonic horde is already roaming
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throughout the Earth. We know in Genesis chapter 19
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later on in Genesis, that Angels Came in the form of men.
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To visit Abraham and they wanted to participate in a very carnal,
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sexual sinful way, and that time frame.
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So it's possible and one objection to that Viewpoint.
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If you want to turn over to go over to Luke Chapter, 20, and
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verse 34, In Luke 21 objection to the second view is here in
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verse 34. Luke chapter 20.
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Jesus is describing the Demonic realm, the Angelic realm, and he
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says, Jesus answered the sons of this age.
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Marry and are given in marriage, but those who are counted worthy
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to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead,
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neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor can they die
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anymore for their equal to the angels and our sons of God being
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sons of the resurrection. And and so there is a comparison
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of humans to the Angelic realm, and then the comparison to the
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Angelic Realm, Jesus says they don't marry, they don't have
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relations like that, they don't have Offspring so you can take
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the information. There's even more information
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available, you know, the reality is there the way that you can
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get around that if you look at the sons of men here is that
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they are demonic. There are the demons inhabiting
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humans and some weird thing happened between them.
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So, you know, a host of angels had already followed Lucifer in
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the original in the initial rebellion and now, some of these
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Fallen Angels Giles have fallen even lower so they've even done
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more vile Wicked. Now there's levels of the
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Demonic realm. We see that in 2nd Peter chapter
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2. When we studied that.
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We also saw it in Jude chapter one.
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There's only one chapter but he talked about the Angels who did
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not keep their proper domain and it says they left their own
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Abode. He's reserved in Everlasting
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chains. So there's even a group of
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angels, demonic of demons that are worse than other demons.
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But the key here is this, whether Our demons having some
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kind of sexual relations with humans.
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I don't, I don't hold to that view.
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There's no biblical evidence for that view at all.
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That the Demonic demons can have sexual relations with humans and
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have some kind of Offspring. There's no the idea that I could
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lean toward just as I look at this that their inhabitants
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there. These are demon-possessed men, I
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can see that in the scriptures but the point actually isn't
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that that's not the point of the passage.
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The point of the passage, is not to specifically Define what's
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happening, or even how it's happening.
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The point of the passage is this, it is happening.
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And it's perverse and it is weird and it is not God's desire
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and it is not God's will. And it is going to bring the
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precipitation of God's judgment on the world.
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That the Demonic realm is real Sin is abounding on the earth.
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I mean we're only a few chapters away from the garden.
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I know we're quite a few Generations from the garden but
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we're only a few chapters from the garden and look how bad it
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is gone. Let me just say this on a more
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personal level if you begin to compromise in your own personal
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relationship, With God, if you begin to dabble with sin, if you
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begin toward sin you take a step towards sin.
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Just understand the Second Step will also be toward sin and then
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the third step until before you know it you're going to have a
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problem a central problem on your hand with many consequences
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that is going to require repentance.
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Remember repentance is a Sail turning away.
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So, if you're taking step after step after step, and you think
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back to where you were in the Lord, in order to get back
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there, you're going to have to turn around and go back.
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It will require repentance compromise.
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You might want to jot this down compromise.
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Gives birth to more compromise. Compromise does not lead you
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toward the lord. Now I'm not speaking about the
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kind of compromise that you may have, you know, what are we
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going to have for dinner, honey, well, I want this and you want
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this. Well this mean the middle and
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not speaking about that. Not the kind of compromise that
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we might meet in the middle for the sake of each other.
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I'm speaking of spiritual compromise towards sin.
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I'm speaking of using the Liberties and freedoms that you
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have. And instead of using them for
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you to grow in the things of God, you use them for your own
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personal preferences. You no longer.
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Ask the question, is this Scott, what God really wants?
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But instead you elevate your own freedoms and let me just say it
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doesn't have to be gross in. And let me just say it's happens
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to all of us. The Temptation for compromise
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and ask anyone that's gone the long road where they made one
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little compromise. And a year later they are
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wholesale sold out to send, talk to them.
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Find them, they're all around the church.
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You might hear a testimony of somebody describing their
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backsliding their back, they came back after backsliding.
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Well, that's a story to be heard if they would be willing to tell
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it if they'd be open to share their testimony, that's one you
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want to hear. Because you two will be tempted
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with compromise. And if you choose the route, if
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I choose the route of compromise, we too will face
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great consequences of sin. I mean, do you really think and
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for the sake of those that might not agree with me?
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Do you really think compromise? Spiritual compromise?
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Simple compromise is something you can control well, you know,
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I can control my compromise pastor and I can go so far again
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hear the testimonies Hear the testimonies, do you think of the
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prodigal son? We spent a lot of time.
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Talking about his time away from that, don't we?
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We spent a lot of time looking at the emphasis of how far he
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was gone and what he got into in the prodigal living.
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But his prodigal decision, his, his life of prodigal living
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started way before he left home. How do you get to a place where
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you crave your father's inheritance.
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So much that you would leave your family, leave your dad high
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and dry. Literally, when you think of him
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asking for The Inheritance, literally he's looking as Dad.
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And I and saying, I wish you were dead.
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Because I want my money now, I don't want to wait for your and
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I want, I want my money now, which really wasn't his, and I
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want my own life and I want to leave you high and dry that his
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prodigal living didn't happen. The day.
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He left there was a series of decisions that we aren't told.
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We aren't given Insight that happened while he was home.
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And so the controversy here sometimes clouds the reality of
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how we got here. This is where we are from the
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Temptation in the garden. This is where we're at now.
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This is man's inherited sin, behavioral sin.
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And now the Demonic realm gets all mixed up and things are
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bouncing as a bounding God's response in verse 3.
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As I'm not going to strive with men, not always going to be
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striving with men and what a sad day when man turns his back for
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good where God gives them over to a debased mind.
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And second Peter, chapter 3 verse 9.
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It says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some
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count slackness but is long-suffering toward us not
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willing that any should perish but that all should come to
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repentance and hear that long-suffering God saying it.
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Not going to be forever. It's not going to happen forever
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God's. And when he says here, 120 years
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as you look in verse 3, I don't believe he's limiting but
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morning of a coming judgment warning of a coming judgment,
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that will be just a short time. It will happen very quickly,
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notice verse 5 now, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of
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man was great on the earth or in the earth and that every intent
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of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually And the
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Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth and he was grieved
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in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy
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man, whom I have created from the face of the Earth, both man
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and Beast creeping thing. And birds of the air for I am,
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sorry that I have made, man. Man's mine had become so
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polluted that even in his imagination or the new testing,
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would call vain or empty imaginations are dreaming up
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ways to commit evil. Imagination is from the Hebrew
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word root word that speaks of a Potter fashioning.
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So you have, you know, the illustration of the Potter being
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related to God the father and you and I the clade he's
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fasching us. But now, the same root word is
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used to describe the fashioning of.
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Man is fashioning evil and Godless philosophies and obscene
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Idols developing perverted and depraved sex acts and think, for
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a moment in the first century, they don't have any of the
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modern day technology that we have and yet their corrupt to
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the point where a whole worldwide judgment will come
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from God. They don't have TV.
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They don't have the internet, they can't DVR different things.
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They don't have Billboards, they can't flip on YouTube.
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They can't have all these that. They're, they don't have the
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Every systems that we have today, but they had similar
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Delivery Systems. What you could say that they
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were committing sin and creating sin and imagining sin with the
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latest technology of the day. What they had available to them.
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And it's important that we stay away from imagining evil.
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daydreaming about Sin and the like you know, thinking that
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you're in a hard time in your marriage right now and you start
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daydreaming about getting out of it, Maybe someone else you
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thinking ahead or you may be thinking behind, I can't tell
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you how many times. This testimonies crossed my
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desk, where there's some discomfort or there is some
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difficulty in marriage and they start looking back to high
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school, going back on Facebook, to go find an old high-school
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love or a old high-school flame. And before, you know, it,
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they're connecting up and then divorce, and you're like, what?
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Then what about the kids? What about marriage?
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What about it was just a bump in the road.
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It wasn't the entirety. Why are you?
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Well because you're you have vain imaginations.
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It's like oh, it'll be better. No, I won't be better.
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No, you don't understand that it will be better.
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No, you don't understand. It won't be better.
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It'll be worse in many ways. And you don't want to have those
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the these Godless thought processes, you want to take
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every thought into captivity to what The Obedience of Christ.
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So you can pull down strongholds and you can take down those
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things that want to exalt themselves against the knowledge
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of God. That's second Corinthians
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chapter 10 verses 45 and 6. You may want to memorize that if
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you have a battle in the mind. The spiritual warfare for your
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life and mine is a battle of the Mind.
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What will you believe? Because what I believe will
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dictate how I behave, which means I can watch certain
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behaviors and work backwards from those behaviors and say, I
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think I know what you believe while.
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Could you possibly know that? Because I've been watching you,
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I've been seeing how you've operated and I can back through
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that. Like for example someone that
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would leave here today and go out partying tonight let's just
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say that certainly on Saturday night that happens quite a bit.
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You come to church Saturday night.
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We even had someone we remember that one time we had somebody it
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was a GAO changing in the restroom and she was going out
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to party right afterwards. What would that behavior I could
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tell you right now? I could tell you right now.
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A part of the behavior of that person, many years ago, they
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have no fear God, in their life. Well, he may have no fear of
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God. What are you doing?
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What are you doing? What are you going to be doing
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on? Me will be sharing the gospel at
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the club? You're not I mean you change
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your clothes, you change your clothes and you know what you're
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heading out to do and I can just say that's part of it, you have
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no fear of God and then the resistance of that.
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The resistance of that then starts to show again, you have
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no respect for God's word. The Bible is very clear about
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Peter saying, you know, I left the party scene behind the
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Bible's very clear. The party scene is not going to
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get you, you know, they're not going to stop the whole clubbing
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thing. They're not going to dry up the
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bar. Turn everything down and say,
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okay, sit down guys, let's have a Bible study.
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It's not going to take you to the Lord and that's just one
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little example. I remember the time speaking of
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bathrooms in our bathroom that I felt the Lord was leading me to
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share a little bit about doing drugs and about hey stay away
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from them and and you're right down in the bathroom doing drugs
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right now. And guess what?
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There was somebody in the bathroom that evening doing
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drugs, in one of the Stalls smoking pot and want to solve
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and the Holy Spirit grabbed ahold of their heart temporarily
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But I could tell you there's no fear of God in that person.
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And that's a big problem, isn't there?
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Because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
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So now I know you're not walking in wisdom.
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That's a very unwise thing to do.
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I mean we always wrong with smoking pot, it's legal kids,
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use that bathroom That's what's that's rule.
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Number one. This is this building Belongs to
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the Lord. This is God's house if you want
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to call it. That, what are you thinking?
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Well, I have freedom Ed. Not here, you don't.
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Not here. No, you cannot smoke pot in the
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bathroom. So if you're in a stall right
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now, stop it, stop it. And if it's not good in the
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bathroom, it's not good in your car.
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You shouldn't be driving after smoking pot, it's not good
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before you go to work. Or after you if it's not good
25:30
one place, it's not good. Another place and the fear of
25:33
Godly God would lead you that way he would lead you away from
25:37
things that harm you listen. God would lead you away from
25:40
things that harm you but you like it.
25:43
That's deceitful. Isn't it?
25:45
That we could like sense so much.
25:48
That we would destroy ourselves. All the while liking that were
25:55
being destroyed by Senate self. Now come back to this phrase.
26:00
Sorry lot of a lot of folks like to argue this as well, it's like
26:04
wait a minute, wait a minute, the Lord was sorry.
26:07
He says it twice in verse 7, sometimes this word can be
26:11
translated grieved. But many will many will read
26:18
into this. There's a geologist is one of
26:21
the proof texts of a false teaching known as open theism,
26:25
very simply open theism is a teaching that says God learns
26:30
what's happening at the same time, you learn it.
26:34
So that he doesn't know he's not omniscient, they ascribe that to
26:38
the Greek philosophies. And that God's not omniscient.
26:41
I don't know about you but I don't want a God that doesn't
26:44
know what's happening until I know what's happening.
26:48
I want to trust a God. That's working all things
26:50
together for the good because I love him.
26:52
I want to trust a God that has the beginning in the end already
26:57
known. And so, what about this
26:59
language? Well, first of all, understand
27:02
that human beings inspired by Holy Spirit are riding the
27:05
scriptures and they are writing the scriptures from a human
27:08
perspective, using human terminology to describe God so
27:13
that will help us to relate to him.
27:17
Now, God does the same thing. God does the same thing by
27:20
sending his only begotten son. Jesus Christ to relate to us,
27:24
how by putting on a human body, God living in human flesh.
27:31
So that through the Life of Christ through the Life of
27:34
Christ in a human body, we can relate to him.
27:37
So that Jesus would say to you and me, he would say, if you
27:40
seen me, you've seen the Father, the father who is unseen So
27:46
they're using human, there is a fancy word for that.
27:49
It's the word anthropomorphism and it's simply a word that
27:53
describes the Bible using human terminology to describe a
27:58
Timeless. God, he using limited language
28:04
to describe the unlimited God and it's an emotional word.
28:09
God is responding emotionally to what he sees on the earth.
28:13
Well, what how he already knew that was going to happen?
28:16
Why would he have a motion? Because we are created in the
28:19
image of God. But, like, let me say this, if
28:23
is so why would God be emotional over this?
28:25
Why would he look at an Express regret or sorry, or grief over
28:30
over? What's happening with men?
28:31
What would think about this now, let's just say you're in my
28:33
office and you're describing, you know, and I am going to go
28:37
party. That's what I want to do, and
28:38
you can't, Who are you? You're nobody.
28:40
Here's a pastor. I don't need your advice and I'm
28:43
my office. I'm sitting there I'm going,
28:45
look, the path. You're about to take.
28:49
It's going to be horrible. It's going to be difficult.
28:52
It's going to wreck your life. And they go on going.
28:57
I don't care what you say. You're nobody to me.
29:00
I don't know why I'm in this church, I really don't care.
29:02
I don't listen to you. I don't I don't care.
29:04
I'm gonna go do what I want and I watch you go and then I go
29:07
back into life, you come back a year later, I don't see you for
29:09
a year, you come back to a year later and you start telling me
29:14
everything that you were into for the last year.
29:16
It was just one little party. You were going to go to but it
29:19
started a series of events. Don't you think?
29:21
I'm going to be sorry inside. Don't you think that I'm going
29:25
to express something that I knew it was going to happen?
29:28
I mean I don't know exactly but I mean you could predict what's
29:31
going to happen. You make that choice.
29:32
There's a there is consequence. You you have someone a trusted
29:35
person in your life? You just blow them off.
29:37
Like they're no big deal because you disagree with them that
29:39
that's going to have a consequence.
29:40
So you come back a year later, it's not going to be in my
29:43
office. I told you so it's going to be
29:45
in my office crying over the destruction, it didn't have to
29:49
happen. And so when you read or when you
29:52
read something like this, God describing is like I'm sorry
29:56
it's grieving to him. He was grieved in his heart
30:01
verse 6. It says He is experiencing great
30:05
emotion. as Moses records, this And in that now God fully
30:13
knowing like you can fully know something and still experience
30:18
the full weight of it. You can have knowledge and
30:23
emotion. You know because you know,
30:26
something doesn't mean you're going to be less emotional.
30:29
I wouldn't suggest this to you, the more, you know, the more
30:32
emotional you'll become, you know, I know we always kind of
30:36
pray to God, I wish I knew what the future holds.
30:37
I wish I knew what next year would hold.
30:39
I wish I knew how the next five years are going to turn out.
30:41
I want to know, actually, it wouldn't be very good for you to
30:45
know the next five years, especially if in the next five
30:47
years, the worst tragedy of your life will take place.
30:50
You don't want to know that ahead of time.
30:53
You don't want to. You don't want to know day one
30:55
that something's going to happen on the last day of five years.
30:58
You're going to live miserably. You just want to live by faith.
31:02
That's why God says here. I'm going to tell you the best
31:03
way to live your life live by you, trust me.
31:07
You trust me? You trust me day one day, 365
31:12
days. 700, you trust me? Well, what if Calamity comes?
31:15
Well, you've already built up a life of trust, you'll trust me
31:17
when it comes. What if the greatest thing
31:19
happened? Well, you know what, you've
31:20
already learned? How to trust me.
31:21
So you'll celebrate and give me. Thanks for the best thing in
31:24
your like, it's like life is Faith.
31:26
It's not knowledge. It's not we don't live by
31:29
explanations. I think we're as we said, we
31:31
don't live by knowledge, we live by faith.
31:34
And the knowledge that we gain is to understand the character
31:37
and nature of God of whom our faith is in.
31:40
So notice now, world's going downhill fast and then verse 8
31:45
is beautiful, isn't it? But Noah found Grace in the eyes
31:50
of the Lord and this is the genealogy of Noah.
31:54
Noah was a just man, perfect or you might see in your Bible
31:57
blameless. So not perfect in like he's
32:00
never send but blameless and all his Generations Noah Walked with
32:05
God member back in 5:24 Methuselah lived or excuse me,
32:11
verse by verse 24 and Enoch walked with God and now we have
32:16
in verse 9 of chapter, six, Noah walked with God, it is a good
32:20
decision to walk with God. You have made the decision to
32:25
surrender your life, to your creator and live your life
32:29
following him, reading your Bible, praying, living a life
32:33
that reflects his Sir his love, it is a wise choice and many
32:38
have made the choice before you. It is a good thing to know that
32:42
you walk with God, that that's your reputation.
32:46
Now, in verse 8, this is the First Dimension and you want to
32:49
pay attention to the first mentions in the Bible.
32:52
This is the first mention of Grace.
32:55
The word Grace means. Unmerited.
32:57
Favor. Undeserved love.
33:01
Right there in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation
33:05
was a man who stood out. So we live to in a crooked and
33:09
perverse generation and I would I wonder what you're looking
33:12
for. I wonder what you're looking
33:14
for. Are you flipping on the news to
33:16
look for more things to complain about?
33:18
You'll find them, you're living. Then there is more than enough
33:22
to complain about more than enough to freak out about more
33:26
than enough. I just got a notification just
33:29
earlier today that said, They found one rare case of monkey
33:34
pox and like all here it goes you want to I didn't even ask
33:39
for it. I so now I got to turn that off
33:41
no more monkey pox notifications but you have to ask yourself if
33:46
you turn the news local National particular channels and you want
33:51
to find stuff to be upset about no problem.
33:55
You want to find stuff? To complain about?
33:57
No problem. You want to find stuff to be
34:01
upset about no problem and they'll feed it and they'll feed
34:04
it and they'll feed it. Why?
34:06
Because that's how you make money in this country. -
34:12
difficulty. So here we got this.
34:15
This is Noah's day. We can't do anything about our
34:19
culture. Sin is Sin sends going to
34:21
continue. And the question though, is what
34:25
are you looking for? You can't really do much about
34:28
the culture. I mean on a global scale.
34:31
No macro scale, right? You can do a lot about the
34:34
culture by sharing the gospel goes on a family's change, the
34:36
whole generation changes. So you gospel is very powerful.
34:40
It is the hope of all mankind. No doubt to be changed from the
34:44
inside out, but what are you looking for when you turn on
34:48
that particular Channel? What do you think you're going
34:52
to find? What do you think you're going
34:56
to find Grace? Is there a Grace on that
34:59
channel? Is that what you're looking for?
35:02
I need more grace tonight. Okay, click click click.
35:06
It's not the grace Channel. Not the grace website.
35:12
That's not the grace email list, you're on.
35:15
Or the text messages you receiving that you signed up for
35:19
because it's a group of people that are also upset about what's
35:22
going on and you want to know more to be upset about.
35:25
So you signed up for all of that so you can you'll never have
35:29
written of you. If that's your life today,
35:34
you're not going to find Grace there.
35:36
Grace isn't in the complainers. Grace isn't in The perversity
35:41
Graces and in the human inventions and philosophies, you
35:45
know, every position has a philosophy and there are human
35:49
philosophies and there are spiritual philosophies What are
35:55
you looking for, because that's what you'll find.
35:59
And here. Noah found Grace in the eyes of
36:03
the Lord. Because he walked with God.
36:08
And I believe today Walking with God has been.
36:10
So redefined that there's behaviors among Believers today
36:16
that should never be named The Name of Christ, but they call it
36:20
Walking with God. Walking with God is going to
36:24
lead you to grace because you're going to be looking for Grace.
36:28
Yeah. So, you know, the crime is up
36:30
and it's very difficult, very hard and very challenging even
36:34
as we see it surrounding the church property here as of late,
36:37
increasing all sort of you, right?
36:41
But we must choose to look for the grace of God in situations.
36:48
We can't allow the world to swallow us up with evil and
36:52
darkness. Crowding out the grace of God.
36:57
I think of some of the things that happen around our city and
37:00
happen around, you know, even, you know, among the kids in our
37:02
school, and I think, you know, but for the grace of God, there
37:06
go, I, but that's where I was. Before I got saved.
37:09
That's where I lived. And God was so gracious, that
37:14
where sin abounded in my life Grace much more abound it.
37:18
And now that I've been walking with him for 33 years, 30, 31
37:22
years, I don't want to take for granted my walk with the Lord.
37:26
I don't want to take for granted that.
37:27
Well here I am. I'm the perfect example.
37:30
Just like Noah. I am perfect and all my
37:32
Generations. No.
37:34
But I do believe on blameless. I do believe I live a life above
37:37
reproach. But I also know, there are those
37:41
seasons and times where I'm tempted, not to look for Grace.
37:46
I'm tempted that when I hear something, it provokes, my
37:50
flesh. I was talking to a brother
37:51
recently and he asked me about a particular podcast and I said,
37:55
no, no, no, I don't listen to podcasts, it was why.
37:59
And I said because it provokes a part of My Flesh that doesn't
38:03
need to be provoked. That's just the straight-up.
38:07
He doesn't even know why. It's just it provokes my flesh
38:10
in a way. The Bible tells me I need to
38:12
obey the word. The Bible says, make no
38:15
provision for the flesh. So yeah, might be a great
38:18
podcast, it might be whatever. I don't even know because I
38:21
don't even want to go there because I know it will provoke
38:25
parts of me. That will be very harmful to
38:27
you. Oh yeah.
38:28
It would be harmful to me. Harmful to Marie harf old Mike,
38:30
but it would be harmful to you, too, because it will interrupt
38:33
my ability to serve you and hear from the Lord, on your behalf.
38:36
To pray for us to serve you. Well, Noah found Grace.
38:42
What have you been finding? What have you been finding that?
38:46
By the way, you know, God is looking to did, you know?
38:48
That just jotted down? Listen to this.
38:50
This is so good. It says and second chronicles.
38:52
16:9 listen, it says for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro
38:57
throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of
39:00
those whose heart is loyal to him.
39:03
So think about it, you're flipping on that channel or that
39:06
podcast, or that email, whatever, book you're reading,
39:08
whatever famous deal, whatever it Is the cultures, throwing
39:11
your way. Now, even in a way that makes it
39:13
sound Christian. All of that.
39:15
Okay. All of that, you define it.
39:17
I don't need to Define it for you.
39:18
I know it provokes, my reflects, do you know what, provokes your
39:21
flesh, that's the key. So, in all of that, do you think
39:27
you will be found by the Lord getting him in the flesh?
39:32
That's like I want to use. He's a very fleshly person.
39:35
I think I can use her a lot. No.
39:40
No, because the flesh, you know, especially the frustrations and
39:43
things that flush usually leads to anger, and wrath.
39:46
And the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of
39:48
God. And so, you'll hear these loan
39:53
Little Voices. These Quiet Little Voices, they
39:55
almost sound like Whispers And, and, you know, maybe even a
39:58
mousy type voice. We need to get back to the word.
40:04
We need to get back to prayer. We need to get back to trusting
40:08
God with the Affairs of life. We need to read our Bibles and
40:13
pray every day asking God for wisdom on how to live.
40:18
We need to live in the grace and the mercy of God.
40:22
Make no provision here. These little Whispers.
40:24
And if you don't you're not careful you won't hear it
40:27
because everybody screaming so loud.
40:30
And you're hearing all this screams and yet, that's simple
40:33
consistent. standing in the grace of God, God is looking And
40:41
I praised his eyes are going to and fro that they stopped on us,
40:45
they stopped on me. I still want to be used of God,
40:48
I don't believe God is done using my life.
40:51
I don't believe teaching a Bible study is all that God wants to
40:54
do in my life. I believe he wants me to visit
40:57
hospitals and he wants me to pray and he wants me to meet
41:00
with Pastors in there. Like I believe, I want to be
41:02
used more not less. I desire more from my release, I
41:08
want to walk with God more. Not less.
41:13
And so, here's Noah again. You've got this little bracket.
41:17
Because in verse 11, the Earth was also corrupt before God
41:21
filled with violence. So God looked upon the Earth and
41:24
indeed it was corrupt and All Flesh had corrupted their way on
41:29
the earth and God said to Noah. The end of All Flesh has come
41:32
upon me for the Earth is filled with violence through them.
41:36
And behold, I will destroy them with the Earth.
41:39
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark and
41:42
covered. Inside and outside with pitch.
41:46
And this is how you shall make it the length of the Ark shall
41:48
be 300 cubits. Its width, 50 cubits, its height
41:51
Thirty cubits, you shall make a window for the ark you shall
41:54
finish it to a cubit from above and set the door of the Ark and
41:58
its side. You shall make it with a lower
42:00
second and third decks and behold I myself and bringing the
42:04
flood of waters on the earth to destroy from under the Earth.
42:08
All the Flesh in which is the breath of life and everything
42:10
that is on the Earth shall die. But I will establish my Covenant
42:14
with you, and you shall go into the ark.
42:17
You and your sons, your wife, your sons, wives, with you and
42:20
every living thing of All Flesh, you shall bring two of every
42:23
sort into the ark, keep them alive with you.
42:26
They shall be male and female of the birds after their kind of
42:29
animals after their kind, every creeping thing of the Earth
42:33
shall after its kind two of every kind will come to you to
42:36
keep them alive and you shall take for yourselves of all the
42:39
food that is eaten, You Shall Gather to yourself, it shall be.
42:43
Good for you. And for them thus Noah did
42:46
according to all that God commanded him.
42:48
So he did. Well, the Lord had us going
42:54
another Direction in our Bible study.
42:56
So we're going to save the rest of this.
42:58
I don't want to just read through it and gloss over it
43:00
because it's very important. And I believe God had a word for
43:04
us today. For those of us gathered those
43:06
that are listening to this at a later time, I believe it was a
43:09
word from the Lord. You will find what you're
43:12
looking for church, take that to the bank spiritually.
43:16
If you're looking for Grace, you need to look in the right
43:19
places. Grace originates with God, it
43:23
will not be in the abounding sin that Grace is found We be bound,
43:29
found in the Lord, abounding sin will be all around us.
43:35
But you find Grace in the eyes of the Lord.
43:39
You find Grace in the presence of God.
43:43
You find Grace in his word. And then you take that and you
43:49
become a very gracious person in a very ungracious world.
43:54
And it doesn't seem like it works.
43:57
Let's just be honest. It doesn't seem like it works.
44:00
It seems like evil will Triumph. It seems like evils making
44:05
progress. It seems like Christianity is
44:09
just being dismissed like a byword and everything.
44:12
You know, you read. I just had a brother.
44:13
Sent me this article about how the kids are just being
44:16
swallowed up by this culture. But, you know, this, this is the
44:21
thing parents, grandparents. Your kids cannot be swallowed up
44:26
by the culture. You have a responsibility me
44:30
show you endure Deuteronomy, you know, it's sad for the kids that
44:35
are living in the world. But man, this just should not be
44:38
named among us as Believers parents.
44:41
Raise your kids in the ways of the Lord train them in the way
44:45
they should go. So that when they're old they
44:47
won't depart from it. Grandparents if it's never too
44:51
late to pour into those kids aunts and uncles that have
44:54
nieces and nephews listen, when you're reading an article like
44:57
that, let it not be. Named among the church.
45:01
Now again, we don't control our kids decisions when they come of
45:06
age. We don't control that so as a
45:10
parent today you go but had that's what I did.
45:13
And my son and daughter still X and Y, and Z.
45:15
And I know it's very painful, but what you did, you did unto
45:19
the Lord, you can trust him. But Ed, that's not what I did
45:25
and look where my kids are now. Okay.
45:26
So now it's today's the day where you like I got to get
45:29
things right in my life so I can speak truth into my kids, I but
45:33
they won't. Listen, you know what the word
45:35
of God goes forth and accomplishes the purposes for
45:38
which his scent. So, we're not responsible for
45:41
the outcome. We're only responsible for our
45:44
obedience and faithfulness notice in Deuteronomy, 6 with
45:46
me, Foundational passage for us as parents.
45:51
Let it not be named among us as a church.
45:54
Please don't think the academy here is going to raise your
45:57
kids, don't think the Sunday School teachers are going to
45:59
raise your kids. Don't think we as pastors are
46:02
going to raise your kids. We're going to partner with you
46:04
to help you raise your kids. You're the ones that have the
46:08
responsibility to raise your kids?
46:10
We love your kids, we serve your kids will sow seeds of the
46:12
Gospel. Will discipline them will make
46:15
hard decisions when necessary will love them.
46:17
Praise. Celebrate with them but they're
46:20
your kids. We never confuse that here.
46:23
They're your children and we respect that place that you have
46:26
in their life. Why?
46:27
Because God puts you in that place.
46:31
They're your grandkids, they're your kids and this is your
46:34
responsibility ask from the Lord verse 4.
46:39
Hear o Israel. The Lord.
46:40
Our God. The Lord is one.
46:43
You shall love the Lord. Your God with all your heart,
46:46
with all your soul, and with all your might and these words,
46:51
which I command you today, shall be in your heart and you shall
46:55
teach them. How does it say in your Bible
46:58
diligently? This is more important to your
47:02
career, more important than your new car, more important than the
47:05
clothes. You're interested in, this is
47:07
more important than Activity in this world you shall teach them
47:14
diligently. And let me just say diligence is
47:18
in all of us. The question is, where is it?
47:22
Where is it pointed? This isn't something you need,
47:25
something you need to pray about something that you just what you
47:28
you know, you already diligent. There are parts of your life
47:31
that you are into, man, that this is just what you do.
47:35
The Bible says that your to teach these things to your kids
47:38
diligently talk about them. When you sit in your house when
47:42
you walk, by the way. And when you lie down and when
47:44
you rise up buying them on you, as a sign on your hand
47:48
frontlets, on your eyes, write them on the doorposts of your
47:51
house and on your Gates. And this is the word of the
47:55
Lord. For us today.
47:58
This is it. Look for grace even know you
48:03
read ahead. You guys know that Genesis
48:05
Noah's wasn't a perfect dad, he failed made mistakes had some
48:08
problem. Kid had a problem son for sure.
48:13
Nothing's guaranteed. Everyone makes their own
48:15
decisions. But if you don't raise your
48:18
kids, someone will. If you don't teach your kids,
48:24
someone will Don't buy into the eyes of the, the world about
48:30
quality quantity time all this. Trying just give your kids your
48:35
time. Raise them in the ways of the
48:38
Lord. I think of how many, you know
48:40
how hard it is? I know it's hard.
48:41
It's midweek, Bible study so hard.
48:43
But how many parents go? Nah, I don't want to deal with
48:46
my messed-up kid in the morning because I don't want them up all
48:49
night. Okay?
48:51
That's I respect. That's a decision.
48:52
You can make as a parent, but I want you to ask yourself.
48:55
What's the message you're sending?
48:58
What's the message you sent me? It's not just verbally, but also
49:01
by practice. And then again, if it's not
49:05
coming to bible study, not coming to event, whatever it
49:08
might be, that might help you. It's not going to do it for you,
49:11
but it will help you. And you choose an alternative,
49:15
it sends a message. I'm not speaking to you might be
49:18
sick tonight or things that happen in life.
49:22
But please, if this is a word to your heart, receive it and Obey
49:29
it just like at the end and that's where I'll close back and
49:32
we'll pick up these verses next time, but I'll take you back to
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Genesis 6 and the end there. This is a beautiful thing, a
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beautiful example of Noah, Notice what he says, he says in
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verse 22. Thus Noah did according to all
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that God commanded him. So he did isn't that great?
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I love it. Let it be the picture of our
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life. So father, I thank you for this
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excursion, not where I thought we would be, but I receive it
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want to be obedient to it even with a probably because the kids
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are on my mind with Junior High. Probably because the kids are on
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my mind from the field trip to the Ark in the Creation Museum.
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Probably because grandkids are on my mind for other reasons.
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My heart is just in my own life to find Grace.
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One of the lead others to find Grace.
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I don't want to find problems. I don't want to find
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difficulties in the sense that would disrupt Me In the Flesh.
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But I want to be in a place of Grace, so then I can be gracious
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in an ungracious world. My pray that into our churches
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like tonight. I realized most of the churches
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in here, they'll be here this weekend and they, I hope that
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listen and maybe check in some of them, at least the whatever
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that a sovereign work of your Holy Spirit.
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But even in their bed and even at their work, maybe they're
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working the night that you would Inspire them and Inspire them
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you say, in the last days you'll turn the father's Hearts back
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toward the kids. So let it be done according to
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your word in Jesus name. Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible.
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Study delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary, Aurora for
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prayer or a copy of the study, call us at 877 30.
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Race, that's eight 77304 2:53 or visit us online at Calvary,
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Aurora dot-org, be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.