Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / 17.5 - James 1:17-18 - Where Do Your Good Things Come From?

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17.5 - James 1:17-18 - Where Do Your Good Things Come From? · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  We hope that this podcast will help you to know Christ, grow in
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  his word, and show his love to others.
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  Let's dive right in. Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  Today we are in James 1, verses 17 and 18.
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  Today we're going to answer the question, where does good stuff
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  come from? Where does good stuff come from,
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  the good in your life and in my life?
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  Why do we experience it? And is it on the basis of our
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  actions? Is it on the basis of random
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  happenstance? We're going to we're going to
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  discover that today. I'm looking forward to this once
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  again, letter of James the the book of James in Scripture is
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  written from one of the pastors or, or the lead pastor of the
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  church at Jerusalem. And he's writing to people that
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  were once a part of his congregation that through
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  persecution have now been scattered all around the Roman
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  Empire. And he's writing to encourage
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  them and and challenge them. And he writes this in James one
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  and verse 17. Every good and perfect gift is
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  from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not
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  change like shifting shadows. By his own choice He gave us
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  birth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first
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  fruits of his creatures. Love these verses.
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  These honestly are really comforting.
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  Even as I was reading over a couple of these, I was so
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  grateful for who God is and what He has done in my life.
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  And as we talked through a few of these, I hope that's the same
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  take away that you have today. Starting off in verse 17, every
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  good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
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  Father of lights. Everything that we receive in
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  our life, everything that is good ought to remind us of the
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  fact that God loves us, that the the time in which we live.
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  Even as we would read from Paul's sermon on the Areopagus
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  on Mars Hill in Athens, he tells us that the time in which we
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  live was ordained by God. That the amenities that you're
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  able to enjoy, frankly, the fact that you right now are watching
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  or listening to a podcast either on a computer or on a cell
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  phone, a tablet. I don't know if there's another
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  way to watch or listen to this on ATV.
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  The fact that you have those means that God has been good to
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  you and blessed you with those things.
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  The, the area of the world in which you live was actually set
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  up by God. So whether you are in North
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  America, if you're in Europe, I know we've got some listeners in
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  in the Pacific, if you are in Asia, if you are in Africa, if
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  you're in South America or Central America, God
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  specifically put you there when he put you there for a reason.
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  And it was so that you would be blessed by him with whatever you
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  have in your life, so that you would come to know him again,
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  I'm, I'm leaning heavily on, on Paul's interpretation of our
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  existence. We were made to know and love
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  and follow God with everything that we are.
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  And so for everything that we have, I've, I've got here some,
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  some earbuds that every night I go to bed listening to, to songs
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  or to a book or to scripture, even sometimes to like preaching
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  and, and sermons. And that is a gift from God.
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  And I have to be thankful for that.
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  I have to be thankful for the bed that I lay on every night
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  that God has given me a place to sleep.
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  I can be thankful for the gift of drink of of water of those
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  things that that, that gladden the heart as the, as the
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  prophets would put it. I can be thankful for the word
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  of God that I have. I can be thankful for the, the
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  computer and the microphone and the cell phone that I have that
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  all allow me to be able to record me going through the word
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  of God with you all. I'm so thankful for you all that
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  you get to join me in this study of God's Word.
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  And as I think about all of these things, they didn't just
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  come about by random chance. They came down from my Heavenly
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  Father and from your Heavenly Father.
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  What a good God that we have that as we think about our own
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  lives and the good things that we've received and every meal
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  that we have ever enjoyed. It all comes from our heavenly
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  Father that he has provided everything that we have ever
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  received. He has given us the parents, the
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  the grandparents, the families that we have.
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  He has given those to us. He's given us our friends.
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  He's given us salvation. Obviously that the first and
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  foremost and greatest thing through a relationship with
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  Jesus Christ. He has given us his Holy Spirit.
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  He has given us a, a church family.
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  And if you don't currently have a church community or a church
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  family, please reach out to me. I would love, I don't, I don't
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  know people all over the world, but I also know of some great
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  websites and resources that can, you know, connect people with
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  local churches. God wants that for your life.
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  Maybe if you're homebound and Tabernacle talk tends to be one
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  of the ways in which you are able to still have some sort of
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  a Christian community. So grateful for that and I would
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  love to hear from you as well so that we, you know, I can be
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  praying for you for things that you need.
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  If you have questions, I'd love to be there for you.
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  All of these things, they come from our Heavenly Father that He
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  has blessed us in so many ways. Every breath in our lungs, the
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  blood in her body, the ability to to have some health, to be
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  able to hear or to be able to read, all of those things are
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  gifts from God. When we view everything in our
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  life, every good gift as coming from God, man, we will feel
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  loved. Time would absolutely fail for
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  me to to think about everything that I could thank God for.
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  I think of the old song, count your many blessings, name them
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  one by one. Count your many blessings, see
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  what God has done. Count your blessings, name them
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  one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
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  And may we thank God for everything that we have.
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  So it says every good and perfect gift is from above.
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  It says coming down from the Father of lights.
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  OK, well what? What is the Father of lights?
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  This is the God that rules the days and the seasons.
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  He is the God that is the creator of the sun and moon and
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  stars above, and the one that gave us, if you will, light
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  during the day. The one that makes it so that
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  night itself still has lights and that we can find direction
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  through looking at the stars. And you can think of the, the
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  ships that would travel through a man, even the the
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  Mediterranean. I can think for many of these
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  people that experiencing persecution in Judea and in
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  Jerusalem might have had to take a ship to Italy or to Greece or
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  to Spain or to some, you know, North Africa or one of those
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  other places. That they could think back to
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  those trips and maybe a night that they were traveling and the
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  sailors were using the stars to navigate to where they needed to
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  go. And that James here saying the
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  God that determines that the years and the months that the
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  the lights determine and the God who determines day and night for
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  us, He is the same God that gives us everything.
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  Every time you look up at the sun, every time you see the moon
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  and the stars, you can know that God is caring about you, that
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  he, he's just provided everything for you.
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  And this God who is so provided for us, he is worthy of all of
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  our praise. And even more so the end of
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  verse 17 because he does not change like shifting shadows.
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  God's nature is unchanging and there's never going to be a day
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  where he turns back on his love for you.
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  There's never going to be a day if you have turned to him, a
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  Savior. There's never going to be a day
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  where he goes, OK, well, you messed up, you know, for the
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  last time and I gave you salvation.
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  But then you send, you know, 701 times and that's one time too
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  many. So now you're gone.
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  No, this God who loves us, who provides for us, who has given
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  every good and perfect gift to us, he will never, ever change.
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  And so you can bank on the continued goodness of your
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  heavenly Father. And then verse 18 then turns to
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  the, if you will, the the spiritual side of things so that
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  we would think about God's goodness to us in this specific
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  way. Verse 18 by his own choice, he
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  gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind
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  of firstfruits of his creatures. The beginning of that by his own
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  choice, no one forced God to love you.
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  No one forced God to make you a Christian.
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  No one forced God to forgive you of your sins and to give you a
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  home with him forever. No, it was God's choice.
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  And yes, we respond in faith to God.
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  No one's going to get to heaven and be like, hey, I never
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  accepted the Lord. I never believed in Jesus.
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  No one's going to come to heaven saying that.
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  He's not going to force anyone into that.
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  But our salvation is God's choice.
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  It's not primarily our choice, we respond, but it is his action
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  of love that has given us salvation.
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  He says. By his own choice He gave us
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  birth. By the word of truth, He was, if
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  you will. Well, I was going to say, here
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  we have a, a illustration that's used of, of a mother that gives
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  birth and the love that a mother has for her child.
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  God loves us in in that kind of way.
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  And so he, he has given us birth.
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  And by what way did God change us?
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  What way did he give us new life?
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  It says by the word of truth there is no salvation that is
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  found outside of the truth of the Word of God.
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  Our basis of faith and new life is by believing the gospel.
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  Hear this word of truth. These people would not have had
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  the finished New Testament. This may have been the first or
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  second book of the New Testament that was written.
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  So here he's not saying, OK, if you have a Bible, you can, you
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  know, be given birth into God's family.
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  You know, it's saying by believing the truth of the
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  gospel, which was what these people did have, and by
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  believing in that word of God, we are transformed from the
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  Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of light, from death
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  into new life in Christ, from being an orphan, if you will,
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  into being the children of the Father of lights.
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  And so it is, it is Scripture, it is God's truth.
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  And and certainly now that we have the whole Bible, praise the
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  Lord that we have this word of truth.
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  And when God wants to make a people, he uses his word, his
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  truth, his message. So let's be faithful to learn
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  and know and memorize the word of truth because it is so
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  valuable for our souls. It is how God transforms us
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  through his Holy Spirit working through the communication that
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  he has given to us. So he gave us birth by the word
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  of truth for what reason? Just so that we He would be a
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  kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
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  Firstfruits refers to the best that the harvest produces.
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  God gives good gifts that yield wondrous fruit.
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  Not as we read in verse #15 not temptation that leads to death
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  through wayward desires. Following God results in the
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  fruit of the Spirit in our life. It results in a heavenly home.
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  It does not result in death, death and devastation like sin
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  does in our life. When we listen to God, when we
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  love him, when we follow him man, there are there are good
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  works ahead for us. We get to see our Father's hand
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  and everything. And at the end of our life we
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  experience free and full salvation forever from even the
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  very presence of sin. It will be gone.
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  So as a result of this, we can rejoice in the Lord, we can
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  praise him, we can follow him, we can love his word, we can
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  give thanks to Him we can tell other people about him here that
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  we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures that God
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  wants you to make more Christians.
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  God wants you to see your loved ones saved.
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  God wants to use you to see your coworkers come to know the Lord
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  and I I've often mentioned that doesn't mean like, OK, you got
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  to do, you know, the the A-frame bored thing and you know, shout
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  in your workplace, you better turn a burn.
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  You better get right or get left.
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  You better get sanctified or get chicken fried.
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  You you don't have to do that, but the same way that God saved
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  you, God wants you to pass that on to someone else and that it
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  can happen not because of you and not because of your choice,
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  not because of your like great salesmanship, but because again,
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  verse 18 by God's choice and by the word of truth.
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  So we proclaim the gospel message and we know that as as
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  I'm about to preach actually this, yeah, this Sunday when I'm
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  recording this that everyone that the Father has given to
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  Jesus will come to him and the person that comes to him Jesus
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  will never cast out. So no, know this God has a
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  people and that is we proclaim that God's people will listen
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  and they will come to him. Sometimes it might be, you know,
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  the very first time that they hear the gospel.
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  For some people it might be after 25 years they finally
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  yield to the gospel. But know this, you have a good
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  Father who loves you as who has given you everything in your
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  life. So respond in obedience and love
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  and praise to Him and see His handiwork in everything in your
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  life and what joy we find in that.
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  Thanks for tuning in today, tomorrow.
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  Really looking forward to the time.
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  Actually, my very first sermon I ever preached.
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  I preached from James 1 verses 19 through 21 and here now.
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  Oh man, I would have preached that in 6th grade and probably
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  15. Somewhere between like 15 to 17
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  years ago I preached this passage, and now I'm going to be
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  teaching it in a Tabernacle Talk episode and looking forward to
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  that time together.