Latest / #Faith4TodayPodcast / Episode 65 of the #Faith4TodayPodcast – The Guarantees of Worship

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Episode 65 of the #Faith4TodayPodcast – The Guarantees of Worship · #Faith4TodayPodcast

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What if worship is shaping your life far more than you realize?
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In this episode of the Faithful Today podcast, we're going to
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talk about the guarantees of worship.
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Everyone worships something, and whatever has your heart will
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shape your future. We'll explore how celebration
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resists cynicism, how idols quietly form beneath good
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things, and how worship can become an act of repentance that
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restores our joy. If your heart has been feeling
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distracted, numb, maybe even overwhelmed, this episode is
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going to help you realign your loves and rediscover the power
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of praise. Let's go.
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Hey, welcome to episode 65 of the Faith for Today podcast.
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My name is Matthew. I am your host and I am
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delighted that you are coming along for today's episode.
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Whether you're you're driving, you're out for a walk, you're
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running on a treadmill or getting some exercise in, or
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maybe you just do some housework, cleaning up, getting
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ready for for the weekend, whatever it is that you're up to
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getting, getting out and doing. I'm, I'm really glad that you
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are listening and I hope that today's episode will help you
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have faith for today. We want you to to not just be
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inspired on Sunday, but we want to help you integrate those
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truths into a life of loyalty to Jesus every day of the week.
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And so as we release an episode Wednesday evening, Thursday
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morning, every week, man, we're hoping that this episode is a
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blessing to you and your walk with the Lord.
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I'm going to recap our Sede message.
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I'm going to share a little bonus content and then respond
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to some questions. And that's going to be our time
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together. This week we're talking about
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worship guarantees. And in the message we looked at
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Joshua 23 and I talked about the guarantees of worship.
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The first guarantee was was simple, that we all worship
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something. Worship is not less than
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singing, but it is more than singing.
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It's whatever captures our attention, affection and our
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allegiance and has our trust. For some people, that's money,
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success, sports, relationships, even our kids.
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I shared how for years, sports had too much of my own heart and
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worship it. It wasn't the game itself as
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much as it was how I felt about myself with regards to sports.
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My mood, my identity, and my joy were all tied to sports and
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outcomes. That's how you know something
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has crossed the line from healthy passion into unholy
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worship. That Joshua warns Israel to stay
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loyal to the Lord and not turn to the left or to the right
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because worship always moves your life in the direction of
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what you treasure. Whatever we repeatedly praise,
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trust, and sacrifice for will eventually shape the person we
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become. The second major truth that we
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looked at was simply this. That worship is never really
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neutral. It is either an act of
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resistance against the world or it is an act of rebellion away
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from God. Israel's drift into worshipping
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the bales and asterisks in in Judges chapter 2 and throughout
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the book of Judges shows how people often pursue prosperity,
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pleasure and power through forceful means, trying to
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achieve God designed desires in rebellious methods.
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The same temptation still exists today.
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We connected this to the triumphal entry in Luke Chapter
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9 where praise kind of filled the streets, but it quickly
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turned into silence and opposition against Jesus.
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That progression happens in our hearts.
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Silence of our worship leads to cynicism if praise ever stops
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flowing. Celebration is what resists
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cynicism and it keeps our hearts soft.
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The good news is, is that worship can also become an act
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of repentance for us as we turn back to God, giving Him our
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praise and worship. He fulfills this promise in
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Ezekiel 36 where He talks about removing our hearts of stone and
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giving us a tender, responsive heart.
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Again, where worship doesn't just express love, it renews our
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loves and it reorders our hearts and our lives, all while
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building up the joy center of our souls.
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I want to share a little bit of bonus content with you.
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A couple things that I thought was really interesting as we
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looked at Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem and them singing
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Hosanna blessed to see who comes in the name of the Lord kind of
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riding on this, this donkey, this cult, which is just a
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beautiful sign of humility in, in, in Jesus's own nature.
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And, and one of the things that I love about Jesus riding on the
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the donkey is that it really does symbolize humility.
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In fact, the only time Jesus describes his character in the
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scriptures, he says that he is humble and lowly of heart.
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Like like that he is gentle and lowly of heart, I think is what
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it says. And so Jesus is gentle in his
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demeanor and his his disposition is lowly or humble in his heart.
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And so this is what you see about Jesus.
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In fact, those were the words Jesus used to describe him
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himself. But he is that way and and I
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love that about about him. But did you know that in Judges
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chapter 5, Deborah, one of the judges is singing the song and
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it's a bit prophetic in in in a way.
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Listen to what it says in verse 9, chapter 5, verse 9.
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Now again, we're talking about worship, right?
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How how they worshipped often Israel worshipped other gods.
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But then when they did worship God, there was something
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beautiful that happened and good that took place.
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And not just like people were singing and worshipping,
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celebrating Jesus as he was entering in listen, listen to
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these words, part of Deborah's song that says this, My heart is
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with the leaders of Israel, with the volunteers of the people.
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Blessed be the Lord, which is something the disciples were
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singing on the road in Luke 19. And then it says this in verse
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10. You who ride on white donkeys,
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who sit on saddle blankets and who travel on the road, give
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praise. Let them all tell the of the
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righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous deeds of all his
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villagers in Israel, the voices of the singers at the watering
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places. I love that phrase, right?
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It's just such a cool picture when you're thinking about
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worship and how it looked in the Old Testament and kind of what
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they were singing about. And then you Fast forward to
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Luke and you see the disciples in Luke 19.
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They're saying blessed is who comes in the name of Lord.
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And they started singing blessed be the Lord, blessed be God.
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And they were singing along the way as he rode on a donkey down
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the road and they gave him praise.
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And I love how Deborah's song and Judges 5 is kind of like
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this poetic picture pointing towards the reality of what
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Jesus did. The other thing thing that I
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love about the picture that we see of the sea where Jesus
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riding in on Palm Sunday and they're waving palm branches is
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this time he enters Jerusalem. He's on a donkey.
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But the next time he arrives in Jerusalem, Revelation says he's
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on a White Horse. See, in the first time, he comes
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in this humble servant way, unassuming way, lowly way.
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But when he comes again, when Jesus returns to earth and, and
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the new heavens and the new earth come, he's going to ride
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into Jerusalem, Scripture says on a White Horse with a sword
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dipped in blood, a robe dipped in blood, like, like Jesus is
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coming back as a conquering king.
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He's riding into on the donkey as a suffering servant, but he's
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going to ride on the horse as a conquering king and, and praise
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and worship will be accompanying him when he returns again.
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We'll be shouting and singing and celebrating Jesus, the risen
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king who is now coming to rule and reign on on the earth.
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And this idea that we see of Jesus riding in and all of the
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people crowding outside the city and ushering him into the city,
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celebrating him and working. This is a scene very familiar
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with the people of of the Bible. Like this is their
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understanding. This would happen in Rome and in
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other places whenever a a king or a or a leader would come back
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from conquest. The people there would be a
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herald and trumpets blast that would sound and the people would
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rush out of the city and meet together on the road and
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celebrate coronating, singing, shouting of victory, celebrating
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the victory as the conquering army would come back into the
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city. Please hear me.
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That idea of conquest, that idea that we see of Jesus writing
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into Jerusalem, that is the biblical picture of what it is
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when Jesus returns. In fact, it's a picture of a
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king returning. And this is the biblical
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understanding of First Thessalonians 4.
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Now where it talks about that we, when Jesus returns, there'll
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be a trumpet that sounds and we will go out to meet him in the
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air and bring with him and what walk with him.
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Celebrate Jesus's return as the new heavens and the new earth
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come in and Jesus is set up as the ruling reigning king of all
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of the cosmos in the earth. And so this picture of Jesus
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riding on a donkey is a foreshadowing of what will
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happen when Jesus returns as the conquering king on the White
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Horse. This is the understanding of in
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the biblical context of what it means to meet the king together
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and come in with him. In fact, let me read it to you
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in First Thessalonians chapter 4.
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And this is kind of, I would say, the biblical understanding
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of rapture, not necessarily Darby's version of of rapture or
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or perhaps the left behind version of rapture, but this is
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actually what the Scriptures say.
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Let me read to you First Thessalonians chapter 4.
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We're talking about the return of the King.
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He says this. We don't want you to be
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uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who
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are asleep so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no
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hope. In other words, those who have
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died who are followers of Christ don't grieve like they don't
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have hope because there is resurrection coming, says this.
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For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again in the same
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way through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have
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fallen asleep. God will bring with him those
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who have fallen asleep. Now we know from other places in
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the Scripture like First Corinthians that the trumpets
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going to sound the dead in Christ will and we will be with
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Christ and come and experience an embodied resurrected life
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with Christ on the in the new heavens and in the new earth.
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This is what the Scriptures teach us.
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First Corinthians 15 specifically, he says this for
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we say this to you by a word from the Lord.
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We who are still alive at the Lord's coming, we'll certainly
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not proceed those who have fallen asleep.
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In other words, we are going to show up at the same time.
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We all going to get new bodies. We're all going to meet the
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Lord. It's all going to happen at the
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same time. For the Lord himself will
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descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's
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voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will
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rise first. In other words, the trumpets
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going to sound just like a king coming in to returning to the
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city after winning the battle. The king would come, a trumpet
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would sound that heralders would would announce his arrival and
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all of the town, all of the people would go meet him
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together, meet the returning army together and together
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celebrate his arrival as he comes into the the city.
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And that, that's, that's what they're talking about.
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It says this for the Lord himself with the sun, with the
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shout, the archangel's voice, and with the trumble of God and
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the dead in Christ will rise first.
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Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up
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together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
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So we will all be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one
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another's with these words when it says that we will meet the
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Lord in the air and we will all be together.
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That phrase is referring to in the Greek.
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It is a word that refers to a king returning in conquest, just
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like a king riding a donkey into Jerusalem.
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And in Revelation, we see the king returning on a horse from
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battle. Here in Thessalonians.
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We see the trumpets going to sound.
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The King's going to return. He's coming from heaven to hear
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God himself, Christ himself, and we will meet him and join the
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procession into it. Now, it doesn't say we're going
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to meet him. There's going to be a
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procession. We're all going to sing Hosanna
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Blessed to see who comes in. It's it's, it's not filling in
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all of the gaps because in in the way the biblical writers
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work and the way teachers would work.
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They would say one thing that would be the starting point of a
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phrase and you would fill in the blank to know exactly what it's
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like. It's like you fill in the lyric,
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the missing lyric. And he's alluding to this
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understanding. They knew exactly what he meant.
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If I were to to say I'm not throwing away my shot.
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If I were to say that you, you know exactly what I'm referring
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to, you, you, you have keen understanding.
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I'm talking about Hamilton and the song and not giving up and
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not missing the opportunity and I'm going to take it.
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It means all of those things. But all I said was I'm not
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throwing away my shot. Now.
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In 20 years, are people going to know?
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In 200 years, would people know what I mean by that?
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Maybe not. But here in today's context, I
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could say that, and you know exactly what I mean.
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In the context when Paul is writing to the church in
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Thessalonica and he's saying these things, they know exactly
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what he's talking about. What's he talking about?
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He's talking about a conquering king returning to the city, and
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the trumpet sounding and the herald is announcing his
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arrival, and all of the people who are remaining in the city
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sit the city, meet the Lord, meet the returning king, and
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celebrate with him in a processional to return into the
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king. It goes on to say this in
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Thessalonians. Therefore, encourage one another
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with these words. Chapter 5 begins about the times
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and and the seasons. Brothers and sisters, I don't
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want you. We don't you don't need anything
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written to you, for you yourselves know very well that
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the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
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In other, you're not going to know when he's going to show up,
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but when he shows up, you're going to know that he's going to
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come. You know he's coming, so you're
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ready for him. For you yourselves know very
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well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in
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the night. And when they say peace and
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security, then sudden destruction will come upon them
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like Lamber pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
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He's referring to the words of Jesus in, in in Matthew and in
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Lou. Or Jesus is talking about the
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end times. It's going to come on like, like
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child pains for all who are. But you, brothers and sisters,
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are not in the dark for this day to surprise you like a thief.
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No, no, you're not in the dark, you know, for you are all
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children of the light and the children of the day.
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We do not belong to the night or the darkness.
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So then let us not sleep like the rest, but let us stay awake
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and be self controlled for those who sleep, sleep at night, and
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those who get drunk get drunk at night.
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But since we belong to the day, let us be self controlled and
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put on the armor of faith and love in the helmet of hope of
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salvation. For God did not point us to
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wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ
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who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may
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live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another
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and build each other up as you are already doing.
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What is he saying about the day of the Lord?
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He's telling them, you know he's going to return and when he
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returns, you know that he's he won.
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So you're not in the dark. You know the light of Christ.
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You know that he won the victory.
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You know that he conquered death.
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You know that resurrection is coming.
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You know that that we don't have to grieve like those who have no
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hope. You know that that judgement is
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coming for the wicked and, and what what the language of
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judgement all throughout Scripture that those who are
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taken, those who are removed from the holy place, those who
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are removed from from God's sanctuary are the evil unholy
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ones. So, so when what talks about
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those who are leaving, those who are removed, those who are who
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are taken away, it's not the righteous who are taken away.
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It's the unrighteous who are taken away because the king is
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returning. And because the king is
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returning, all evil is dispersed, all evil is
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vanquished, all marauders are removed, all thieves are gone.
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Why? Because the king has returned,
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he's conquered and he is going to remain with his people.
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And he says, don't be ignorant. You don't have to be afraid of
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that. You know that he's coming again.
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You can be sober minded about your life.
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You don't have to get lost in the the way of the world and go
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to sleep and get drunk and live in a stupor, unaware of what God
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is saying and doing. No, no, you know he's going to
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return. You know, he's got the victory.
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You know, you don't have to grieve as somebody who doesn't
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have hope, but rather you can have hope even in the face of
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death because resurrection is the promise for us.
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And that's the language that that the Scripture is using.
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That's the picture we're getting a glimpse of Jesus coming into
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Jerusalem where they're celebrating and singing and
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rejoicing. And that's why it's important
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that our worship belongs to God alone, that we aren't
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worshipping the way of the world, that we are not getting
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caught up, falling asleep, worshipping the wrong things.
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This is why we talked about how worship has eternal consequences
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to it. Like, like, what has our
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affection? What has our attention?
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What has our trust, what consumes our life?
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It needs to be the things of the Kingdom of God, not the things
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of the Kingdom of the world. Now we looked in first John in
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chapter 2, how it says the to love the world is to not love
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God and to love God is to not love the things of the world.
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And then John tells us what are the things of the world?
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Lust the flesh, lust the eyes, pride of life.
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And we said that those three things are our power, prosperity
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and pleasure, a power to kind of get what you want, prosperity of
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your, the things that you have and your own security and those
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things. And then selfish pleasure, the
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lust of the flesh, to kind of grab your pleasures any way that
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you can. And, and these three things are
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like the human trifecta, are like the trifecta of humanism,
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if you will, but the full marking of what it means to
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worship the way of the world and to be marked by the spirit of
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the age of the world. And I mentioned how I really do
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believe that these three things, power, pleasure and prosperity,
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or greed, if you will, are, are, are the unholy mark of, of the
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beast. And I told you I talked about
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it. So let's go to a Revelation 13.
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We had a lot of extra teaching today because not not not things
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that I had time to cover on Sunday as we talked about
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worship and the power of our worship and how worship attaches
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our hearts to things and and it moves us in a direction in our
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life, those sorts of things. Let me Revelation 13, starting
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in verse 11 says this. Then I saw another beast coming
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up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb,
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but it spoke like a dragon. It's exercises all the authority
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of the first beast on behalf of the camels on behalf and it
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compels the earth rather and those who live on it to worship
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the first beast whose fatal wound was healed.
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It also performs great signs causing fire to come down from
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heaven to earth in front of people.
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It deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs
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that it permitted to perform in the presence of the beast,
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telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the
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beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
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It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast so the
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image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would
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not not to worship the image of the beast to be killed.
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It makes everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and
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slave, to receive a mark on his right hand and on his forehead,
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so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, the
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beast name, or the number of its name.
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This calls for wisdom. Let one who has understanding
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calculate the number of the beast.
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Because it is the number of a person, its number is 66, 6.
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Now, first, let me unpack it in this way.
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Here the beast is described as having authority and power all
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the signs and all the things to control outcomes.
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And it's doing things for you. It has this power to produce
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results that you want. It has this procreating image.
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It gives breath and life to you that that's, that's language and
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metaphoric language for, for, for, for life being given for,
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for, for, for, for sexual procreation, if you will.
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And then that's the giving of life.
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And it says and, and all who have it can buy and sell, make
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you great and make you strong, rich and poor, free and slave to
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do what you want. You're going to get this mark so
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that you can buy and sell in this way.
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And so it talks to the of economic prosperity and access.
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And so these, these three things, power, prosperity and
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and pleasure are all linked and indicated within this passage
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about the beast. And it says, let let you know
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it's, it's the number 666. Now in apocalyptic language and
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literature, rather, numbers are always symbolic.
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And this number 666 is, is a symbolic #6 is the number of a
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sinful humanity, broken humanity.
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And that's why it says the number of the beast is 666,
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because it's the number of a person.
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In other words, 6 is the number of fallen man.
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Sinful humanity. 666 would be the the Trinity of evil
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humanity. What is it that makes humans
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walk in a way that is rebellious against God?
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Rebellious humanity? What are those things?
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Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
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And so in worshipping these things, the attitudes of our
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world begin to mark our lives. And when our lives are marked
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known by the things that, that we seek by pleasure, the power
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that we try to exert to, to get results the way that we want by
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any means necessary, and the, the drive for greed and, and,
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and, and, and possessions. And this, this greed and
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entitlement and these attitudes of our world, those are the
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unholy Trinity of humanism in our lives.
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And, and I believe that's the spirit and the attitude that
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fills us when we give our affection and our attention to
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those things. Listen, when you worship God,
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you're being filled up more and more with the Holy Spirit.
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How do I know that? Paul writes in Ephesians and in
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Colossians, he says to be filled with the Spirit, singing psalms,
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hymns, and spiritual songs into the Lord, making melody in your
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heart to the Lord, one to another.
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So what is he saying? When you're singing together to
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the Lord, you are making melody in your heart to the Lord, but
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you are being filled with the Spirit.
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So in our worship there is a filling of a spirit that
24:41
happens. Please, please hear me.
24:43
If we worship God in that way and He fills us with His Spirit.
24:48
When we worship the world in the ways of giving, our affection
24:52
and our attention and our loyalty and trust to money,
24:57
greed, the pleasures, sexuality, our own bodies are our own
25:03
lusts. Or to power, to, to, to, to
25:07
violence, to, to get what we want no matter what it takes
25:12
These three things, power, pleasure and possessions.
25:15
Then when we're doing that, our hearts, our souls are being
25:20
filled with the spirit of the age and it marks us.
25:24
So the question is, are you a person marked by the spirit of
25:28
God or a person marked by the spirit of the world?
25:32
Our affections and our loyalty has eternal consequences.
25:36
That either brings us into union with God or it brings us into
25:40
union with the way of the world. There is no to, there is no
25:43
middle ground. It's either the love of God,
25:45
where the love of the world is in you, the devotion to God or
25:49
devotion to the way of the world.
25:52
And it's really important. So the question then becomes,
25:54
well, how do I know if, if I'm, I'm having this idol worship, if
25:59
I'm really growing in the wrong direction?
26:02
And we talked a few different ways, right?
26:04
Like how do you know whether or not you're, you're worshiping
26:09
these things? How do you know if your worship
26:11
is something going in a direction other than toward
26:14
towards God and in in the Bible recap actually, they had a
26:18
resource kind of taken from that they distilled down from from
26:21
the late Timothy Keller talking about like idols in our lives.
26:25
How do we identify idols that are growing in our lives that
26:28
things that we're giving worship to and one of the things that
26:32
it's said to do was complete the sentence Life only has meaning
26:37
or I only have worth if you seek power, success, winning an
26:42
influence. If you are in control of your
26:46
environment, Life only has meaning or I only have worth if
26:51
my kids are XY and Z. My life only has meaning or I
26:55
only have worth if I'm in control of my environment.
27:00
Life only has meaning and I only have worth if I've got plenty of
27:05
money in my bank account and I I've got, I've got all of I get
27:09
to take vacation and I, I get to make memories and I get to feel
27:13
safe because I have money. Life only has meaning or I only
27:17
have worth if I'm winning at sports, if I'm if I'm the top in
27:22
my team or if I'm contributing in this way, Like life only has
27:27
meaning or I only have worth. If and if you can fill in that
27:30
blank with anything other than God, then there's an idol
27:36
growing in your heart. And it talks they they talk a
27:40
little bit about Timothy Kelly talks about power, approval,
27:43
comfort and control as kind of categories of sub idols.
27:49
Like there are a lot of lot of sub things that we chase in live
27:52
that become idols in our lives, but they kind of fit into one of
27:56
those those categories. I've kind of categorized them
27:58
into three, right? Power, pleasure and prosperity,
28:03
right? These are the things things that
28:04
in my mind I think see scripturally, but they talk
28:08
about power, right? Success, winning, influence.
28:11
And and if and if power is kind of your idol, then your greatest
28:14
nightmare is humiliation. People often around you can feel
28:18
used and your problem emotion is anger.
28:21
You get angry a lot. If you get angry a lot, then you
28:25
have an idol problem. When it comes to power.
28:30
They say this if you seek approval, which is affirmation,
28:33
love and relationship. Your greatest like nightmare is
28:37
to be rejected. People around you can feel
28:40
smothered and your problem emotion is cowardice or not
28:45
being courageous. This is one that I I struggle
28:49
with right? Because rejection is something I
28:52
meant. It's a deep, deep thing in me.
28:55
I don't like to feel rejection. And, and I'm having to learn how
29:01
my life has bowed down to this idol of approval in my life so
29:07
much that I have a hard time sometimes being not honest, but
29:12
but vulnerable with other people.
29:15
Because my greatest fear is that when I'm vulnerable, people will
29:19
reject me. And, and, and ultimately it's
29:22
because there's an idol of approval in my life and I have
29:26
to do everything I can to untangle that with within me.
29:31
It goes on to say this like, hey, if you seek comfort,
29:34
meaning privacy, a lack of stress, personal freedom and
29:37
autonomy, your greatest nightmare is stress and demands
29:40
on you. People around you often can feel
29:43
neglected or ignored and your problem emotion is boredom.
29:47
Like being bored like is not OK for you because you are
29:51
idolizing comfort in your life, privacy, lack of stress, freedom
29:56
in that way. And then finally they talk about
29:58
control. And if you see control, which is
30:01
self-discipline, certainty and standards, your greatest
30:04
nightmare is uncertainty. People around you can often feel
30:07
condemned or shamed. And your problem emotion is
30:11
worry. You worry all all the time.
30:14
So if you're worried all the time, it's likely control is an
30:17
idol in your life. If you're constantly fighting
30:21
boredom, then then then comfort might be your idol.
30:26
If you have trouble with with with courage and afraid of being
30:32
rejected, then then approval is likely an idol in your life.
30:35
And if anger is rampant in you and you are angry, often it's
30:41
because you want power over your life and over others.
30:47
This is an indicator of the idols in our life.
30:51
Things that have our affection, things that have our attention,
30:55
things that have control over us, dominion over us, things
31:01
that we are surrendered to outside of being surrendered to
31:06
God. They are drivers in in our life.
31:10
I I think it's important to ask ourselves what what do we easily
31:14
skip church to do or person to be with?
31:17
What do we easily ignore spiritual friendship in order to
31:20
do? What do we what do we easily go
31:24
to instead of running to the Lord?
31:26
What what is that thing for us that we escape to rather than
31:31
encountering the presence of God?
31:33
That's an indicator of idols growing in our life.
31:36
And I think we've got to continually come before the Lord
31:39
and say, Lord, search me, know me.
31:41
Is there any idolatry within me? Is there anything I'm doing that
31:47
I'm putting my my, my trust in, my loyalty, my affection in I'm
31:51
going to for satisfaction. So is there something that is
31:55
controlling my life, dictating my life?
31:59
Is there anything that is lording in my life just like
32:02
rejection or approval in my life?
32:05
Maybe it's pride, maybe it's a comfort, maybe it's control,
32:10
maybe it's materialism, right. Instead of comfort is that
32:15
materialism is a, is another way to say that I think that's an
32:19
important part of of discovering these discovering these things.
32:24
The end of the day, if we're going to resist worshipping
32:30
idols, we need spiritual acts of protest to intentionally move us
32:35
in the opposite direction. Think about it.
32:39
Power, prosperity, pleasure, power.
32:42
If power is an idol that you're attempted to worship, then find
32:48
a way to serve someone else that can't repay you.
32:51
It's an act of resistance, surrender, sacrifice if
32:55
prosperity if money and greed and materialism and comforts if
33:00
that is your God. If that is controlling your
33:03
life, find a way to be generous. Consistently giving helps fight
33:10
against greed in your in your life.
33:13
It is sexual pleasure and personal pleasure and
33:16
selfishness Are are things. A spiritual act of resistance
33:19
against the flesh or pleasure is fasting.
33:23
When you fast food you, you are denying your flesh control over
33:28
you and you're denying your cravings.
33:31
You're saying no to those things.
33:33
You're you're saying no to those things and instead seeking the
33:36
Lord. Fasting is a way of spiritual
33:38
protest against pleasure, against a selfish pleasure.
33:44
These things are important. So we have spiritual acts of
33:48
protest that we do in order to resist worshipping these false
33:53
things, these idols that we often will worship.
33:58
We talked in the message about the Joy Center, how how so many
34:01
of us go to these things in order to try to get some joy.
34:05
And the Scripture tells us that in the presence of the Lord is
34:08
fullness of joy, but in the presence of money, in the
34:11
presence of all these other things, it's only a form of joy.
34:15
It's not the fullness of joy. It's only a form of joy.
34:19
And that's an important part of recognizing what God is doing
34:25
and recognizing that what, what we get with God is the fullness
34:28
of joy, true joy, lasting joy, a source in the substance of joy
34:34
rather than a form of joy, which is like some substitute.
34:37
We, we use the illustration of icing versus cake, right?
34:41
We just eat the icing and we have a sugar rush and then we
34:43
crash. But there's not like that's not
34:45
all there is to it. There's cake too, right?
34:47
There's, that's the actual substance that we're having is
34:50
cake, not icing. Or I use the illustration 2 of
34:54
seasoning salt. Like you're adding seasoning to
34:56
things, but you're eating, just licking the seasoning and not
34:59
eating the burger, right? Like that's not actually giving
35:01
you protein. And so many of us, we take the
35:04
gifts of God and we turn them into gods themselves, where the
35:09
gifts of God are meant to enrich our lives, add flavor to our
35:12
lives, add delight and enjoyment to our lives as gifts from God.
35:16
But instead, we start worshipping the gift instead of
35:19
the giver of the gift. And something happens when we
35:23
worship, especially when we worship God, when we celebrate
35:27
God, when we celebrate in life, it, it fuels our joy center.
35:32
And I, I read a quote that said that the joy center is the only
35:37
part of your brain that overrides the main drive
35:41
centers. Food, sexual impulses, terror
35:44
and rage, those four things drive your brain, but those are
35:48
the main drivers in your brain. Anger, fear, sexual impulses and
35:54
food, those things drive and dictate your life, and joy is
36:00
one of the things that can override those and drive you in
36:04
a different direction. And so without sufficient joy
36:08
strength, we spend our lives trying to fill that deficit.
36:12
When you find joy in something, it helps you create a new habit.
36:19
Think about it. One of the things that that they
36:22
say, like if you're trying to get healthy, find exercises or
36:26
activities that you enjoy doing so that you're likely to stick
36:30
with it. Like if you hate running and
36:32
don't start running, find something physically active that
36:36
you enjoy doing because then you'll want to do it.
36:39
And joy helps override the terror, the rage, the angst, the
36:45
the other things that enjoy helps kick start new habits.
36:49
That why? Because joy helps move your life
36:53
in a direction. So celebrate more than you're
36:56
critical that joy helps us form new habits.
36:59
Then find ways to celebrate more than you are critical.
37:03
Joy and celebration go hand and hand, and I think celebration
37:07
helps us resist being critical. Resistant attitude of cynicism.
37:14
Cynicism is a big issue in our world and I think God invites us
37:19
to celebrate so that man we don't grow cynical.
37:23
Cynical in our relationship, cynical towards him, cynical
37:27
towards ourselves or others around us.
37:30
In fact, it helps us keep hope alive because we're we're
37:33
celebrating what God has done and we're remembering that he
37:38
got us out of Egypt, that he brought us out of slavery and
37:40
sin, that he's rescued us from those things so then we can
37:44
worship him freely. And that joy keeps moving us in
37:47
the right, right direction rather than retreating and
37:50
rebelling against them. We're we're moving towards him
37:53
with celebration instead of the cynicism in Luke chapter 15.
37:59
It's like an exposition in parable form where where Jesus
38:03
tells a few consistent parables about God's desire to celebrate.
38:08
You get a glimpse at the heart of God that God like loves a
38:11
good celebration that there are things in life and those things
38:16
are we're celebrating a few about all the feasts and the
38:18
different things that got established for his people like
38:20
party after party after party, like week long parties, like
38:24
that's that's a legit form of celebration.
38:27
Like we do good to like celebrate one day, Independence
38:31
Day, Memorial Day, Christmas Day.
38:34
They had like week long celebrations, like they knew how
38:38
to party and celebrate in life. I love that about some of the
38:42
things that we see in Scripture and and Jesus tells some
38:45
parables in Luke 15 that tell us of that reality of, of God too.
38:50
In fact, in the final parable that Jesus tells in Luke 15, he
38:53
tells about a son that had rejected the house and rejected
38:57
his father and, and only one day came to a point where he
39:02
repented and realized, man, I, I didn't need to reject my father
39:06
or the household. I actually need to, to be a part
39:09
of his household and be a part of that.
39:11
So he returns and he he repents. And in the book The Beautiful
39:16
Resistance, Sean Tyson kind of is reflecting on these chapters
39:20
of celebration, specifically the story of the prodigal son.
39:24
And if you remember, the prodigal son comes home.
39:27
The the the father throws a huge party because he repented.
39:31
He, my son that was lost is now found.
39:34
Let's throw a party, kill the fatted calf.
39:36
Let's have a BBQ. Everybody's having a good time
39:40
except for the older son. The older son sits outside,
39:45
critical and cynical, rather than joining the celebration and
39:50
and John Tyson writes about this, reflecting on this
39:54
parable, he says the older brother failed to realize the
39:57
culture of his own household. His cynicism shut him out of his
40:03
own celebration. Cynics in every age miss what's
40:08
available to them. Jesus instead insisted that the
40:13
work of God demands celebration. Let me say it again.
40:17
Jesus insisted that the work of God demands our celebration.
40:23
He is in the world bringing good news, welcoming the out story,
40:27
restoring the loss, binding up the broken.
40:29
The question is, will we join the feast or are we going to
40:34
issue an excuse? And I think it gets to our heart
40:37
of cynicism, right, where we can look around and see the things
40:40
that are wrong in the world, see the see the ways in which people
40:44
aren't living well, see the way in which our lives are hard or
40:47
difficult or a challenge. But we're missing the point that
40:51
there are some things in life that are just continually worth
40:54
celebrating in some way. And, and if we don't celebrate,
40:59
we will become the cynics of our day.
41:02
We will become the religious leaders who have hard hearts,
41:07
will become those that that are that are locked in doing the
41:11
wrong thing and God is working to to bring about it.
41:15
And so we need to find ways to celebrate in life, celebrate
41:19
what God has done, celebrate good things and and continually
41:23
building rhythms of celebration. John Tyson goes on in his book
41:28
to conclude his chapter by saying this.
41:30
Imagine going into a house for a party and realizing this is one
41:34
of the liveliest celebrations you've ever attended.
41:38
There's good food and the people are friendly.
41:40
Everyone seems to be there. You find the host and you ask
41:44
her what, what are we celebrating?
41:45
And the host says, we're celebrating my 9th year of being
41:49
a Christian. Imagine if we had an entire if
41:53
we had entire parties where the only reason for the party was to
41:57
recount the mercy of God and his powerful work in our life over
42:01
that year. I think even our most cynical
42:04
friends would be drawn to a faith like that.
42:09
I think that's one of the reasons we need to celebrate
42:13
because celebration is attractive, helps people see God
42:18
clearly, and God is a God of worship and a God of celebration
42:22
and a God of joy and a God of delight, and he's worthy of our
42:28
affection, our attention, and our celebration, right?
42:33
That'll do it. For our bonus content.
42:36
Let me take a minute and just respond to to four or five
42:39
questions today. Question #1 How can I tell when
42:43
something good in my life has crossed the line into becoming
42:46
an idol? I kind of addressed this and
42:48
kind of talked about some categories or some things to pay
42:50
attention to, some emotions that keep showing up earlier in the
42:54
the podcast. But let me kind of remind us of
42:56
a couple things. I think it has to come back to
42:59
this. Are you willing to surrender it
43:01
and cut it from your life or not?
43:03
If you're unwilling to surrender, if you're unwilling
43:06
to cut it out of your life, it's likely an idol.
43:10
I'm not talking about like, you know, you've got to go to work
43:12
because you're providing that's a necessity, but working so much
43:16
extra because you're afraid that you won't have enough When when
43:21
you're neglecting your family and you're neglecting your own
43:24
faith and you're neglecting your own health.
43:26
I don't know that that's the proper thing that there's some
43:29
things probably that could be cut back even.
43:32
I think you need to ask yourself, does this bring me
43:35
more joy than God brings me than than getting to know him,
43:39
growing in him? If it does, then either your
43:42
your concept of God is incorrect, thinking that God's
43:45
like some killjoy and unenjoyable, which isn't God at
43:48
all, or God's a party God. He loves celebrations.
43:51
We talked about that already. Does this thing bring you more
43:54
joy than God? I think you you've got to re
43:57
evaluate getting to know God and the value that you're putting on
44:00
that thing. And I think finally asking
44:03
yourself, is this tied to my sense of security and or my
44:07
sense of identity? If it is, it's likely becoming
44:12
an idol in your life. Here's the next question.
44:16
What practical habits help keep celebration and worship alive so
44:21
cynicism doesn't quietly take root.
44:24
OK #1 gratitude expressed specifically.
44:29
Like be specific in your keep a gratitude journal.
44:31
It's a great way to do it. Every meal before you eat and
44:35
pray, go around and just say 1 practical thing that you're
44:38
grateful for in that moment. Just that gratitude expressed
44:42
specifically helps. Here's another one way to to
44:46
kind of keep worship alive and and kind of work against
44:50
cynicism. Refuse to gossip or speak
44:53
negatively about anyone. I I found that I grow more
44:57
cynical when I'm more critical. So the more critical I am of
45:01
someone, the more cynical my heart becomes.
45:06
And typically critical words come out of my mouth when I am
45:10
gossiping or when I'm speaking negatively about someone.
45:14
And the same is true for you. So refuse to gossip.
45:16
Put parameters people in your life to call you out when you
45:20
start gossiping #3 I think don't compare yourself to others,
45:26
celebrate them. Just make it a practice.
45:29
When something good happens for someone else, you celebrate it
45:33
genuinely. You don't silently sit back and
45:35
compare your life to them. Pay attention to comparison.
45:39
It will cause cynicism to grow in your life.
45:44
Another thing is to weekly Sabbath.
45:47
Have a weekly Sabbath where there's a moment of celebration.
45:50
Lord, thank you for what you've done, a moment of worship of
45:53
praise that you, you give to God.
45:55
So, so I think part of your worship practice or part of your
45:58
Sabbath practice should involve singing, worship, having worship
46:01
music in your house, having a moment of just worship with the
46:04
Lord, personal worship with God. I think that's important.
46:08
And then also like man, throw more dinner parties, have more
46:10
dinner parties, go to birthday parties.
46:13
If there's a party to be had, go be a part of the celebration.
46:17
I think just finding a way to enjoy those moments and
46:21
celebrate moments as they come. Celebrate milestones, celebrate
46:26
those things, celebrate other people.
46:28
That has a way of building celebration in a practical way,
46:32
not just causing cynicism to grow.
46:36
Here's the next question. When Jesus was on the Mount of
46:39
Olives and he said that the stones would cry out, do you
46:41
think it was possibly talking about the gravestones that the
46:44
dead would cry out and worship him?
46:47
This is a solid question. And so when Jesus says, hey,
46:51
listen, religious leaders, I'm I'm, they're celebrating their
46:54
worshipping. And if they don't praise me, the
46:56
rocks themselves will cry out and praise.
46:59
It's possible that he was talking about gravestones, even
47:04
possible that he was talking about his own gravestone.
47:07
It's just not really hinted at though in the text.
47:11
I mean it's possible. Now, Jesus doesn't explicitly
47:15
explain himself, what he said, why he said so, so I would say
47:18
it's possible. I think it's more likely based
47:22
on the text and other supporting texts of Scripture, that there's
47:27
a couple things happening. Number one, I think it was a
47:29
statement about God's worthiness as creator, that God is worthy
47:34
to receive worship from created beings, insinuating that the
47:38
rocks were created to praise and give the Lord to God.
47:41
And so were the the, the Pharisees, but the Pharisees
47:44
weren't doing it. So the rocks would do it.
47:46
And and it's kind of like you're human, you should be praising
47:49
God, but this rock is praising me instead because it's created
47:52
as well. It's lower than you, but it's at
47:54
least doing the right thing. So I think it was kind of a bit
47:57
of that humble pie, a bit of sobering things.
48:00
It was a statement of his divinity and worth as creator as
48:05
much as it was anything else. And then second, I think it was
48:08
a statement of judgment. It was a statement of judgment
48:11
about their heart condition. In fact, think about the the
48:15
usage of stones metaphorically and thematically throughout
48:19
Scripture, stones of offense, Stony heart, the the stone that
48:25
the builders rejected. Habakkuk talks about stone of
48:29
judgment. In fact, it's the same kind of
48:31
language Jesus uses about stones crying out.
48:35
Habakkuk talks about stones crying out in judgment against
48:39
injustice. And so I think Jesus talking
48:42
about stones crying out was that, hey, listen, I'm so worthy
48:46
of this, but your heart is so unjust and unholy that the rocks
48:50
and creation itself is going to cry out in judgment against the
48:54
way that you're living and your heart and your life in direction
48:58
to God Almighty. So I think it's really Jesus
49:02
talking about judgment and about his worthiness.
49:06
That's more specifically, I think biblically, thematically,
49:10
what Jesus was talking about, not so much about a tombstone
49:14
or, or bodies being resurrected. I think he was speaking more
49:18
about his worth as creator and a judgment that was being
49:22
pronounced on them in their hearts and and that the status
49:25
of of where they were. Next question, if my heart
49:29
already feels cold, critical, or spiritually numb, what does it
49:33
look like to return to worship as repentance?
49:37
I think it's it looks like sacrifice.
49:39
It looks like sacrificing your comfort zone, your pride, your
49:44
calendar, your finances. It's doing something physical
49:49
for someone else in secret where it's not all about you.
49:53
It's about being honest about your criticalness, about your
49:56
being spiritually numb. It's about being honest about
49:58
those things but choosing to worship anyways.
50:02
Worship really isn't about our feelings or what we feel when we
50:07
worship. Worship is about being faithful
50:10
to God and and telling our physical bodies what to do in
50:15
reverence of God. And so I think the expressions
50:19
of worship, when you sing, when you lift your hands, when you
50:22
clap, when you bow, when you dance and you celebrate, what
50:26
are these are actions that cause your pride to be sacrificed.
50:31
You are a living sacrifice, taking your bodies and offering
50:36
it to Lord in a worship that is pleasing to Him and and it
50:40
worship that's pleasing to him is worship on his terms, worship
50:44
his way, worship where where it's about him and not about not
50:49
about you. So if if, if, if you're thinking
50:52
about man, I feel cold and critical that my heart is here
50:55
and how do I return and worship and repentance.
50:57
You start to worship. That's it.
51:00
You just worship. Make worship a practice in your
51:02
life and be honest about what's what's in your heart with the
51:05
Lord. Repent, acknowledge it, confess
51:06
it, but then give an act of worship in some way to to God.
51:11
Final question, how can worship change the way you view
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challenges or disappointments in life?
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I think worship changes your focus and your attention.
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Just think about like when I start in my mind meditating or
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contemplating God and the character of God because of a
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song lyric, my mind is shifting and focusing on, on that versus
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the problems, the perception that I have, the, the, the
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suffering that I'm going through, the sorrow that I'm
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experiencing. It's a, it's like I'm taking my,
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my, my ashes and sackcloth and I'm, and I'm putting on a
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garment of praise. Instead, I'm, I'm taking the
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heaviness and I'm putting on a garment of praise.
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Worship helps you meditate on the truth of God rather than
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exaggerate to our own problems again and again and again.
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So I think worship, singing, worshipping the posture itself
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changes your view, not just on your challenge, not just on your
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disappointment, but it causes you to lift your eyes to the
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Lord. The scripture says I lift my
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eyes to the hills from where my hell comes from.
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David said put your hope in God. Why are you so downcast on
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myself? Put your hope in God.
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I will yet praise Him again and again like like there is this
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moment of of there is an act of trust and hope in God that we
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are doing when we worship him, when we sing to him, when we
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lift our hands, when we bow, when we grow silent, when we lay
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before him in his presence, when we are all of who he is, when we
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when we speak of his greatness and and describe our
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Thanksgiving to him. There's something that changes
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in our hearts, just like gratitude expressed, changes the
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disposition of your your soul and it brings joy and ability
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up. All these chemicals in your body
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that help you overcome sorrow, sadness and depression.
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Well, it helps you overcome anxiety.
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Even worship does exactly that. It's just like worry can create
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toxicity in you. Worship creates this treasured
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joy within you. And so I think worship is a very
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powerful thing that changes the atmosphere in our souls.
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And I think worship changes the atmosphere of our homes, of our
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cars, of, of the things around us.
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It just changes our disposition, changes our joy, it changes our
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outlook on things. And so again and again and
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again, we see that happen in Scripture.
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We see that alluded to in scripture.
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And man, I, I, I've seen it happen in my life.
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Worship changes the way I view the challenges, the seasons, the
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disappointments, the sorrows, the, the sadness, all of it.
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It it shifts when I praise him, when I give Thanksgiving and,
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and it it makes me kill my flesh to sit in a quiet room and all
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of a sudden just lift my voice in Thanksgiving and to give
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voice, verbal voice to thanks and praise of God's character.
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When I start to express that verbally, no one else is around.
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There's no music, there's nothing man, my affection, my
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something changes in me when I do that.
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Something changes in you when you do it, and I double dog dare
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you to give it a try to worship God on your own.
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Turn on the music. Have no music, doesn't matter.
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Give verbal expression of love and affection for God,
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describing who he is and thanking him for it and lifting
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your hands, lifting your body, kneeling before him, bowing,
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you're bowing in his presence. Do that on your own and watch
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what happens to your soul. Something will shift and change
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regardless of the situation and the circumstances because
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worship might not change the actual physical circumstance,
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but it changes our perspective and our inner body in those
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things that giving us resilience and courage and confidence to
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walk it out. I guarantee it.
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And so does the scriptures. Hey, I hope today's episode has
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been helpful to help you. Have faith for today, friends.
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I love you. I can't wait to see you again.
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I hope you have a great weekend and we'll see you for next
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week's episode.