Latest / 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast / Priceless Gain | Knowing Christ Over Works — Philippians 3 Explained (Oct 2)

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Priceless Gain | Knowing Christ Over Works — Philippians 3 Explained (Oct 2) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

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I once thought all these things were so very important, but now
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I consider them worthless because of what Christ
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has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared
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with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
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I have discarded everything else, counting it all
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as garbage, so that I may have Christ
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and become one with Him. I no
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longer count on my own goodness or my own ability to
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obey God's law, but I trust Christ to
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save me. Can you hear
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the passion and the heart of Paul in those
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words? He learned an important and
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valuable lesson, and that is this: Being
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religious and following a set of rules and
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leaning on your own strength and effort to try
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to please God by following His law is like
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walking around in a big heavy spacesuit on the
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bottom of the ocean trying to reach Mount Everest
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while you're stuck at the bottom of the ocean in your spacesuit.
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Listen in as we unpack Philippians chapter 3
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today. Welcome to the Daily Audio
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Torah. Today is October 2nd. Now let's continue
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our journey reading through the entire Bible in one year.
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This week we are reading from the New Living Translation for the Old Testament
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and for the New Testament.
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Isaiah 66.
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1-24. This is what the Lord says: Heaven is my throne,
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and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build
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me a temple as good as that? Could you build a dwelling place for
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me? My hands have made both heaven and earth, and they are mine.
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I, the Lord, have spoken.
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I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts.
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Who tremble at my word.
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But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins,
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are cursed. Their offerings will not be accepted.
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When such people sacrifice an ox, it is no more acceptable
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than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb or
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bring an offering of grain, it is as bad as putting a dog or the
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blood of a pig on the altar. When they burn
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incense, it is as if they have blessed an idol.
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I will send great troubles against them, all the things they feared.
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For when I called, they did not answer; when I spoke,
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they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before
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my very eyes and chose to do what they know
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I despise. Hear this message from
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the Lord: and tremble at his words.
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Your close relatives hate you and throw you out for
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being loyal to my name. Let the Lord
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be honored, they scoff, be joyful in him!
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But they will be put to shame. What is all the commotion
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in the city? What is that terrible noise from the temple?
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It is the voice of the Lord taking vengeance against his enemies.
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Before the birth pangs even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to
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a son. Who has ever heard or seen of anything as strange
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as this? Has a nation ever been born in a single day?
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Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?
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But by the time Jerusalem's birth pangs begin,
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the baby will be born, the nation will come forth.
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Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver
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it? asks the Lord. No, I would never keep
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this nation from being born, says your God.
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Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her,
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all you who love her and mourn for her! Delight in
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Jerusalem! Drink deeply of her glory, even as an
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infant drinks at its mother's generous breasts. Peace and
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prosperity will overflow Jerusalem like a river, says the Lord.
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The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be
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nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and treated with love.
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I will comfort you there as a child is comforted by its mother.
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When you see these things, your heart will rejoice.
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Vigorous health will be yours. Everyone will see the good
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hand of the Lord on His people and His anger against His enemies.
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See, the Lord is coming with fire, and His swift chariots
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of destruction roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment
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with the fury of His anger and the flaming fire of His hot rebuke.
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The Lord will punish the world by fire and by His
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sword, and many will be killed by the Lord.
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Those who purify themselves in a sacred garden,
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feasting on pork and rats and other forbidden meats, will come
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to a terrible end, says the Lord. I can see what
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they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all
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nations and peoples together, and they will see My glory.
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I will perform a sign among them, and I will send those
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who survive to be messengers to the nations: to Tarshish,
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to the Libyans and Lydians, who are famous as archers;
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to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea
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that have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. There they will
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declare My glory to the nations. They will bring the remnant
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of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to My holy
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mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord.
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They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons,
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and on mules and camels, says the Lord. And I will appoint some
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of those who return to be My priests and Levites. I,
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the Lord, have spoken. As surely as My new heavens and
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earth will remain, so will you always be My people
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with a name that will never disappear, says the Lord.
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All humanity will come to worship Me from week to week and from month
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to month. And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of
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those who have rebelled against Me. For the worms that devour them will
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never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out.
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All who pass by will view them with utter horror.
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Philippians 3:4-21.
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Yet I, Paul, could have confidence in myself if
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anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in
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their own efforts, I have even more. For I was circumcised
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when I was 8 days old, having been born into a pure-blooded
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Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin.
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So I am a real Jew if there ever was one.
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What's more, I was a member of the Pharisees
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who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.
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And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted
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the church, and I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I
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was never accused of any fault. I once thought all these
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things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless
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because of what Christ has done.
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Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain
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of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded
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everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have
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Christ and become one with Him. I no longer
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count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's Law,
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but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of
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making us right with Himself depends on faith.
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As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power
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that raised Him from the dead. I can learn what it means
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to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that somehow I
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can experience the resurrection from the dead.
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I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things, or that
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I have already reached perfection. But I keep working toward that day
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when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved for me
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and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters,
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I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing
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all my energies on this one thing: forgetting the past
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and looking forward to what lies ahead,
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I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the
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prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us up to heaven.
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I hope all of you are mature Christians, will agree
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on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe
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God will make it plain to you. But we must be sure to
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obey the truth that we have learned already. Dear brothers
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and sisters, pattern your lives after mine and learn from those who follow our
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example. For I have told you often before, and I say it
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again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct
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shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. Their future
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is eternal destruction. Their god is
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their appetite. They brag about shameful things, and all they
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think about is this life here on earth. But we are citizens
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of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives,
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and we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our
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Savior. He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and
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change them into glorious bodies like His own,
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using the same power that He will use to conquer everything,
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everywhere.
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Psalm 74:1-23.
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O God, why have You rejected us forever? Why is Your anger
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so intense against the sheep of Your own pasture? Remember that
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we are the people You chose in ancient times, the tribe You redeemed
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as Your own special possession. And remember Jerusalem,
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your home here on earth. Walk through the awful
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ruins of the city. See how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary.
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There your enemies shouted their victorious battle
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cries. There they set up their battle standards. They chopped down the entrance
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like woodcutters in a forest with axes and picks.
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They smashed the carved paneling. They set the sanctuary
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on fire, burning it to the ground. They utterly defiled
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the place that bears Your holy name. Then they thought, Let's destroy
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everything! So they burned down all the places
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where God was worshiped. We see no miraculous signs as
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evidence that You will save us. All the prophets are gone;
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no one can tell us when it will end. How long, O God, will You
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allow our enemies to mock You? Will You let them dishonor Your name
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forever? Why do You hold back Your strong right hand?
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Unleash your powerful fist and deliver a death blow.
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You, O God, are my King from ages past,
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bringing salvation to the earth.
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You split the sea by your strength and smashed the sea monsters'
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heads. You crushed the heads of the Leviathan and let the
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desert animals eat him. You caused the springs and
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streams to gush forth, and you dried up rivers that never run dry.
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Both day and night belong to You. You made the starlight
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and the sun. You set the boundaries of the earth,
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and You make both summer and winter. See how these enemies scoff
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at You, Lord. A foolish nation has dishonored Your name.
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Don't let these wild beasts destroy Your doves. Don't forget
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Your afflicted people forever. Remember Your covenant promises,
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for the land is full of darkness and violence. Don't let the
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downtrodden be constantly disgraced. Instead,
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let these poor and needy ones give praise to Your name.
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Arise, O God, and defend Your cause.
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Remember how these fools insult You all day long.
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Don't overlook these things Your enemies have said. Their uproar of
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rebellion grows ever louder.
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Proverbs 24:15-16. Do not lie
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in wait, like an outlaw at the home of the godly,
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and don't raid the house where the godly live. They may
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trip 7 times, but each time they will rise again. But one calamity
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is enough to lay the wicked low.
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I want to speak to you today from Isaiah chapter 66, and then we're going
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to jump into Philippians chapter 3. And Isaiah
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66 is the final chapter of the book, and it almost
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reads and feels and sounds like we're reading the Book of Revelation.
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There are 66 chapters in the Book of Isaiah,
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and there are 66 books in all of the Bible.
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And if you, you could, some have compared reading the Book of Isaiah
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is like reading the entire Bible. And so Isaiah chapter
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66 definitely has tones and themes about
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the end of days and about God's final judgment upon
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the wicked of the earth and about His new
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heavens and new earth. So I have a question for you.
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Do you tremble at the Word of the Lord?
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And this is brought up a couple of times in this chapter.
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In verse 3 it says, I will bless those who
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have humble and contrite hearts,
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who tremble at My Word.
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And when God circumcises
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your heart, it's like a cutting,
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a cutting of your heart. And sometimes there
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are parts of our heart that can become calloused or
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hardened, and God has to do a work to cut away
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that callus, to cut away the hardness that's
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there. And when He does that cutting, it's hurtful.
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It hurts, but it's good. It's because it
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tenderizes our heart and it makes our heart soft.
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And so when we take time, when the Holy Spirit moves upon us to
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repent, that's a tenderizing of the heart.
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And when our heart gets tender, that's when we can
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tremble at His Word. Because when we
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read it, we become convicted over
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some of the places in our lives where we're not— where
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we're in sin, we're in rebellion, and we don't line up
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with the Word. Continuing on in verse 5, hear this
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message from the Lord and tremble at
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His words. Now this next verse
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really spoke to my heart. It just really lit
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off the page to me, and I don't know if there may be some of
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you who can also relate to this. It says, your close
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relatives hate you and throw you out for being loyal
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to my name. Let the Lord be honored,
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they scoff. Be joyful in Him, but they
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will be put to shame.
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So do you have a family member, perhaps a brother
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or a sister or a son or a daughter that
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has basically canceled you.
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You're on their do not contact list.
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You don't get to see them very much. And there's not much of a
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relationship there. And it's mainly because they don't really want to be around a person
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who's filled with the Holy Spirit, who's filled with the Spirit of Jesus
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Christ. And, and they're off in the world and
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being around you brings conviction to them.
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So they don't really want to be around you.
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And how painful that is, how agonizingly painful
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that is, that rejection.
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So this verse really speaks to that.
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Your close relatives hate you and throw you out for being loyal to
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my name. And they scoff and mock and there's no honor.
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There's no respect. And yet God says
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that this would happen. Continuing on in this chapter,
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it goes on to say about Jerusalem
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being born like a nation,
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and I am going to use a different translation. The translation I am going to
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use is the New King James because I think it says it better.
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Starting in verse 7,
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before she travailed, she brought forth.
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Before her pain came, she was delivered
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of a man-child. Who has heard such a thing?
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Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to
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bring forth in one day, or shall a nation be born at once?
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For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth
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her children. Shall I bring to the birth and not cause
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to bring forth, says the Lord? Shall I cause to bring forth
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and shut the womb, says your God? So this is painting a
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picture of a woman who's giving birth, and what
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happens in this picture is that she gives birth, and then after she
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gives birth, then the labor pains come. It's backwards.
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Normally a woman has labor pains and then she gives birth,
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but in this scene, she gives birth to a man-child,
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which I believe is foreshadowing Jesus
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Christ. And afterwards, then she goes through the birth pangs.
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And then it goes on, shall a nation be born at once in one day?
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For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
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So in some ways, this verse has
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been partially fulfilled. The nation
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of Israel was born in one day on May
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14th, 1948. And immediately, within 24
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hours, the Arab nations around her declared
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war against her and came against her. So she
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was born in one day. But that was secular
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Zion that was born. Secular Israel as a nation has
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been born. But there's another birthing that's
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going to happen, and that is the Heavenly
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Jerusalem that's in heaven will one day descend to the
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earth, and there's going to be a biblical Zion that
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will be born. So she's going to give— this nation is going to give
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birth to her children. And this same
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picture is also painted for us in Revelation chapter
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12. So it's kind of describing, I believe, the same
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event from a different angle. And so in Revelation
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chapter 12, it says, and now a
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great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun,
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and this woman is Zion, with the moon
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under her feet, and on her head a garland of 12 stars.
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The 12 stars are pointing us to the 12 tribes
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and also to the 12 apostles. Then being with child,
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she's pregnant, she cries out in labor and in pain
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to give birth. And another sign— so she's pregnant
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and she's about to give birth, just like what we just read in Isaiah 66.
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Verse 3: And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery
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red dragon having 7 heads and 10 horns and 7 diadems
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on his head. His tail drew a third
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of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood
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before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her
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child as soon as it was born. So 1/3 of
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the stars of heaven, that would be 1/3 of the angels
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that rebelled and followed Lucifer, and those
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angels became demons and were cast down to the earth.
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And Satan tried to devour Jesus
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when he was born in that he worked through the
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king at the time, and the king made
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a decree to kill all boys 2 years and
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under. So this
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was Satan trying to cut off and to murder
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Jesus when he's just a baby. Then verse
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5, she bore a male child who was to rule all
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nations with a rod of iron. That's Speaking of Christ.
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He rules with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God
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and to His throne. That's talking about His resurrection after
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He was crucified, and then He was resurrected, and now He's up in heaven
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at the right hand of the Father. Verse 6, then the woman
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fled into the wilderness where she has a place
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prepared by God that she should feed her that they
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should feed her there 1,260 days.
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I believe that verse is talking about a 3.5-year Great
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Tribulation period where she flees into the wilderness and God
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takes care of her. This woman, you could, you could say, is like the
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Bride of Christ. She is Zion,
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the nation and people called Zion. It is
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one family. It's the Bride of Christ,
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and it goes on. So what
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we read in Isaiah 66 though is this woman called Zion who's
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a nation. She's pregnant, she gives birth to a son, and then afterwards she
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has her labor pains. So coming
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back into Isaiah 66,
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verse 20, they will bring the remnant of your people back from
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every nation. They will bring them to My holy mountain in
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Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord. This is talking
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about the ingathering of all of the Jews from all of the nations
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to where they have been scattered, bringing them back to the Holy
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Land. Verse 22, as surely as My new heaven
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and new earth will remain,
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so will you always be My people with
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a name that will never disappear,
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says the Lord. All humanity will come to worship
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me from week to week and from month to month. And as
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they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled
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against me. So again, this is talking about
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the end after the Lord has come back
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and judged the nations and judged the wicked. And now he's setting up his new
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heavens and new earth. And now Jesus is ruling and reigning.
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From Jerusalem for 1,000 years.
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So this is really another angle of
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what you're going to see and understand and read from Revelation.
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Isaiah 66 is giving us a glimpse of that time as
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well. So now I want to jump into Philippians
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chapter 3, and Paul is talking
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about, you know, who, who's going to have
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confidence in the flesh. And he
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talks about his credentials. He says, I was a religious person.
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I had all the credentials you could possibly think of.
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That he was circumcised when he was 8 days old.
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He was born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch
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of the tribe of Benjamin. He's a real Jew if there ever was one.
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He was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience
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to Jewish law. And very zealous,
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and he persecuted the early church. He obeyed the Jewish law
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very carefully so that he was never accused of any
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fault. That would be like if you say one day,
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oh, okay, I'm going to be a religious person.
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I'm going to go to church faithfully every Sunday. In fact,
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I'm going to become a Sunday school teacher, and, and then I'm
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going to go to Bible college and I'm going to get my degree. And then
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I'm gonna, you know, be a maybe an adult Sunday
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school teacher, and I do all of these things, and by
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the letter of the law, I'm there every Sunday. But if
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I don't have a heart relationship with Jesus Christ,
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it's all nothing but just dead works,
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and it means nothing. And Paul goes on to say in
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verse 7, I once thought all these things were
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very important, that were so very important, but now I consider
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them worthless. Or in another translation, I consider them as
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rubbish because of what Christ has
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done. Our righteous
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deeds are like filthy rags in the eyes
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of God. We cannot measure up.
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Jesus puts His robe of righteousness
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upon us when we don't deserve
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it. It's simply His grace that
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when we repent and our heart is circumcised
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and we turn from our wicked ways and we repent of our sins
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and we cry out to Him and ask Him to forgive us,
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He covers us with His blood. He covers
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us with His robe of righteousness. He covers our nakedness
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and our shame. It's a divine exchange.
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He did the work that we could not possibly
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do.
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Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless
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gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
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I've discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage,
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so that I may have Christ and become one with
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Him. Can you hear Paul's
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heart and his passion that he
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is on a journey? He's on a race, and he must
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have Christ. He's pursuing Christ. He wants to become one
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with Christ. I no longer
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count on my own goodness or my ability to
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obey God's law, but I trust Christ to
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It would be a little bit like this.
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If you're wearing a huge spacesuit outfit,
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it, and it's extremely heavy. And you have
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lead shoes that maybe each weigh 20 pounds each,
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20 pounds on your left foot, 20 pounds on your right foot. And you have
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this big, huge contraption that you're wearing as
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though you're going to walk on the moon. And then somebody throws you
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overboard from a ship into the ocean and
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you sink to the bottom of the ocean.
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And with all that heavy gear on, there's no way you're going to swim
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up to the surface and get any air. You've got all that heavy trappings
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on. And that's what
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it is if you try to have any kind of relationship
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with God by religion, by works.
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It's like wearing that spacesuit and those heavy boots.
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At the bottom of the ocean, you're not going to get to the surface.
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You're not going to get any air. That you have
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to jettison and get rid of all of that and
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ride on the back of the eagle.
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Almighty God, the eagle, ride on his back and he will take you up,
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upward, upward, upward to ascend into the
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spiritual heights. We're not meant to be walking around in
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a big spacesuit on the bottom of the ocean.
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But that's what it's like if you're in the works mode.
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If you're in the legalism mode, if you're in a religious spirit mode,
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that's what it's like. Because your efforts and your flesh, it's never
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enough. It's never good enough. And when you
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walk in the Spirit, you're tucked under the feathers of the Almighty.
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You're riding on His back and He's doing all the effort. He's doing all the
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work. You're just, you're there for the ride. And He's flying
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and soaring and taking you upward.
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Okay, that's all I have for today. Have a blessed day and
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we'll see you tomorrow. Shalom.
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विहिष्मरे का
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यह है आदुना
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है पनाविलका
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विकुन्ये का
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Yisrael Adonai,
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na'af eleka,
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vayesehe leka,
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leka shalom.
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The Aaronic Blessing from Numbers chapter 6,
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24 to 26.
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Adonai bless you and keep you. Adonai make his
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face to shine upon you and be gracious to
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you. Adonai lift up his countenance upon you and
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give you peace.