WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Core Strength Workout - Joy - Part 2 Publishing Date: 2024-09-08T06:04:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/core-strength-workout-joy-part-2/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.040 It was broken up into 107 questions. 00:00:13.040 --> 00:00:17.360 And if you knew some of the main questions, you got to know the doctrine because you didn't 00:00:17.360 --> 00:00:20.240 have to go through the entire text. 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:25.920 And so one of the questions that was asked or the most famous question that was asked 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:31.920 in this Westminster shorter catechism is what is the chief end of man? 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:41.880 And the answer, people have played around with it and the answer that was originally 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:54.640 given was man's chief end, man's chief end is, there were two parts to it, to glorify 00:00:54.640 --> 00:01:03.720 God, and the second part was, man's chief end was to glorify God and the second part 00:01:03.720 --> 00:01:12.040 was and to enjoy him forever. 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:17.160 So many of the things we're talking about now, guys 500, 600 years ago were already 00:01:17.160 --> 00:01:18.160 discussing. 00:01:18.160 --> 00:01:21.000 There wasn't some great revelation that happened recently. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.640 This has been going on for years. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:26.140 And so these were the two answers that they came up with. 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:29.860 The first one was, the question was what is the chief end of man? 00:01:29.860 --> 00:01:34.620 As in what is man's main goal or aim here on earth? 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:40.140 And the answer, and this was a group that was made up of theologians, it was made up 00:01:40.140 --> 00:01:42.520 of lay people. 00:01:42.520 --> 00:01:46.920 What answer do we come up with so that if we asked our kids, the kids could come up 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:52.060 with an answer that would tell us what the chief end of man was. 00:01:52.060 --> 00:02:01.380 And the answer was, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. 00:02:01.380 --> 00:02:06.460 And people like A.W. Tozer and Piper and others have played with it. 00:02:06.460 --> 00:02:19.500 And perhaps what we can do is combine these two and not separate them and say, man's chief 00:02:19.500 --> 00:02:28.780 end, or in other words, main goal or whatever, however you want to put it, or you can say 00:02:28.780 --> 00:02:33.140 my main goal. 00:02:33.140 --> 00:02:51.300 Man's chief end is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. 00:02:51.300 --> 00:02:56.500 So instead of breaking it into two and saying and enjoying him, we are changing it to by 00:02:56.500 --> 00:02:59.980 enjoying him forever. 00:02:59.980 --> 00:03:07.100 When you think of it, you can't glorify anything you don't enjoy. 00:03:07.100 --> 00:03:09.400 Can you see me glorifying broccoli? 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:11.500 Can you see me glorifying cats? 00:03:11.500 --> 00:03:14.180 Can you see me glorifying the maple leaves? 00:03:14.180 --> 00:03:15.780 Absolutely no. 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:19.440 And so you can only glorify what you love. 00:03:19.440 --> 00:03:28.140 And so the answer then is man's chief end, or my main goal, is to one, glorify God but 00:03:28.300 --> 00:03:30.340 by enjoying him. 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:33.620 Can you embrace that? 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:37.260 That this is an old truth that we are just visiting. 00:03:37.260 --> 00:03:38.980 Many have studied this. 00:03:38.980 --> 00:03:39.980 Many have gone over it. 00:03:39.980 --> 00:03:42.700 We are just visiting a very, very old truth. 00:03:42.700 --> 00:03:45.680 And we'll see from scripture if it's true. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:49.540 Just because a few people sat together in 1647 doesn't make it true. 00:03:49.540 --> 00:03:51.260 That is a bad year actually. 00:03:51.860 --> 00:03:58.380 But if we look at scripture, we'll find out that this is true. 00:03:58.380 --> 00:04:01.640 Any questions? 00:04:01.640 --> 00:04:02.640 Other than that? 00:04:02.640 --> 00:04:03.640 Sorry? 00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:10.620 Yeah, we'll define glorify. 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:11.620 Yeah. 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:15.100 Any other questions? 00:04:15.940 --> 00:04:17.380 Alrighty. 00:04:17.380 --> 00:04:21.820 So let's define this idea of glorify from God's perspective. 00:04:21.820 --> 00:04:35.900 So one of the things we have to come to grips with is that God is intent upon preserving 00:04:35.900 --> 00:04:40.420 and displaying. 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:43.780 Preserving and displaying his glory. 00:04:44.460 --> 00:04:52.260 See, we find that sometimes a little offensive or obnoxious that someone would want to preserve 00:04:52.260 --> 00:04:54.780 their glory and display it. 00:04:54.780 --> 00:05:01.300 Usually we are taught to not preen our feathers, not to show our glory, not to display our 00:05:01.300 --> 00:05:02.300 glory. 00:05:02.300 --> 00:05:05.180 But one of the things God, and we look at scriptures right from the Old Testament to 00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:11.940 the New Testament, we'll see scriptures where God's intent is, can I both preserve my glory 00:05:12.140 --> 00:05:15.820 as in he ain't going to sell it cheap. 00:05:15.820 --> 00:05:20.380 He's not going to part with it as in it's just something base. 00:05:20.380 --> 00:05:25.340 No, there is in God's view things that are sacred and things that are profane. 00:05:25.340 --> 00:05:30.220 And glory is definitely not one of those things that's profane. 00:05:30.220 --> 00:05:35.540 In fact, when people messed with his glory, he used to call it ikabot, which is the glory 00:05:35.540 --> 00:05:36.540 has departed. 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:41.460 Or when they messed with his glory, they'd find that his glory was way too much to handle, 00:05:41.460 --> 00:05:47.100 like Uzzah and Ahiyo found when they were transporting the ark from the Philistines 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:50.900 to Jerusalem or to Zion. 00:05:50.900 --> 00:05:54.580 So God doesn't mess around with his glory. 00:05:54.580 --> 00:06:00.300 And in that sense, he is intent upon preserving his glory and displaying his glory. 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:09.500 So another way to define his glory, many different ways, but let's go with his infinite and awesome 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:10.500 greatness. 00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:29.620 His infinite and awesome greatness and worth and splendor and weight and magnificence and 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:37.540 power and presence and laughter and goodness. 00:06:37.540 --> 00:06:39.500 Tell me when to stop, eh? 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:40.500 Thank goodness. 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:47.260 You see now how hard it is to define glory because it can go on. 00:06:47.260 --> 00:06:53.860 And he says that unlike humans who he is actually advised not to boast about what they have 00:06:53.860 --> 00:06:58.180 because in the New Testament it says, what do you have that you didn't receive? 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:00.460 But that doesn't apply to him. 00:07:00.460 --> 00:07:05.500 And so God is intent upon preserving his glory and displaying his glory. 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:06.500 Preserving what? 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:11.740 Preserving his infinite and awesome greatness and worth and splendor and weight and magnificence 00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:15.900 and power and presence and laughter and goodness. 00:07:15.900 --> 00:07:20.580 He likes preserving this and he wants to display it. 00:07:20.580 --> 00:07:23.900 So let's look at scriptures just so we know this is true. 00:07:23.900 --> 00:07:27.380 Go to Exodus 14.4. 00:07:27.380 --> 00:07:31.100 We'll go through maybe fifteen scriptures so you see throughout scripture. 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:33.700 Exodus 14 verse four. 00:07:33.700 --> 00:07:38.580 Exodus 14.4. 00:07:38.580 --> 00:07:39.580 Let's read from the NIV. 00:07:39.580 --> 00:07:41.300 Exodus 14.4. 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:43.860 And he does it through different ways. 00:07:43.860 --> 00:07:50.620 Sometimes the way he displays glory may not fit our human way of linear thinking but because 00:07:50.620 --> 00:07:55.700 he sees future, present, past at once, his way of functioning is different. 00:07:55.700 --> 00:07:57.700 Exodus 14 verse four. 00:07:57.700 --> 00:08:03.540 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them but I will gain glory for myself 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:07.980 through Pharaoh and all his army and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. 00:08:07.980 --> 00:08:11.220 At the end of the day that's so critical to him. 00:08:11.220 --> 00:08:14.500 People need to know I am the Lord because it's the only way they're going to be rescued 00:08:14.500 --> 00:08:15.500 from what they've done. 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:17.580 We'll talk about that a little later. 00:08:17.580 --> 00:08:18.580 Next one. 00:08:18.580 --> 00:08:20.380 Deuteronomy 5.24. 00:08:20.380 --> 00:08:23.900 Deuteronomy 5.24. 00:08:23.900 --> 00:08:26.980 Deuteronomy 5.24. 00:08:26.980 --> 00:08:31.760 Now you said the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty. 00:08:31.760 --> 00:08:33.980 We have heard his voice from the fire. 00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:38.720 Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.740 He would display his glory to Israel. 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:43.820 First Chronicles 29, 11. 00:08:43.820 --> 00:08:49.220 First Chronicles 29, 11. 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:52.040 First Chronicles 29, 11. 00:08:52.040 --> 00:08:56.380 Yours Lord, I love this one, yours Lord is the greatness and the power. 00:08:56.380 --> 00:08:59.820 All these words are part of that amazing word called Kabodah. 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:07.580 Yours Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:10.740 for everything in heaven and earth is yours. 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:12.560 Yours Lord is the kingdom. 00:09:12.560 --> 00:09:15.180 You are exalted as head over all. 00:09:15.180 --> 00:09:16.600 This is who we worship, eh? 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:19.140 This is why it's so hard to segue. 00:09:20.140 --> 00:09:25.340 When you get caught up in any one of his facets or aspects, how do you break away from it? 00:09:27.540 --> 00:09:33.380 All these words we just heard in 1st Chronicles 29, 11 exemplify his glory. 00:09:33.380 --> 00:09:38.740 Let's look at another scripture, Psalm 19 verse 1, where he displays his glory in nature. 00:09:38.740 --> 00:09:42.140 Psalm 19, Psalm 19 verse 1. 00:09:44.140 --> 00:09:45.340 Beautiful. 00:09:45.540 --> 00:09:49.340 I mean, beautiful British Columbia should know this every day. 00:09:49.340 --> 00:09:52.340 The heavens declare the glory of God. 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:55.540 The skies proclaim the work of his hands. 00:09:55.540 --> 00:09:58.040 Day after day, they pour forth speech. 00:09:58.040 --> 00:10:01.340 Night after night, they reveal knowledge. 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:05.540 In his handiwork, you see, shout to the Lord the last... 00:10:05.540 --> 00:10:06.740 That's what the chorus says. 00:10:08.740 --> 00:10:11.040 I sing for joy at the works of your hands. 00:10:12.040 --> 00:10:17.040 His intent is, can I preserve and display my glory? 00:10:17.040 --> 00:10:21.040 Isaiah... Let's go to Psalm 24 verse 8. 00:10:21.040 --> 00:10:22.040 What do they call him? 00:10:22.040 --> 00:10:24.540 Who is this king of glory? 00:10:24.540 --> 00:10:27.540 The Lord God Almighty, strong in battle. 00:10:27.540 --> 00:10:29.540 He's called the king of glory. 00:10:29.540 --> 00:10:31.040 He wants to be known that way. 00:10:31.040 --> 00:10:35.540 Those are titles he gave himself through David's Psalms. 00:10:35.540 --> 00:10:37.040 The king of glory. 00:10:38.040 --> 00:10:39.040 Isaiah... 00:10:41.040 --> 00:10:44.040 Isaiah 6 verse 3. 00:10:45.040 --> 00:10:47.040 My eyes have seen the glory of the Lord. 00:10:47.040 --> 00:10:50.040 This is Isaiah when he sees the vision of heaven. 00:10:50.040 --> 00:10:52.540 And he says, my eyes have seen the glory of the Lord. 00:10:52.540 --> 00:10:55.040 And one of the things the glory of God initially does 00:10:55.040 --> 00:11:00.040 is it ruins you because you realize how inglorious you are. 00:11:00.040 --> 00:11:04.040 And that begins the process of getting back to him. 00:11:04.040 --> 00:11:08.040 There's a reason he both preserves and displaces it. 00:11:09.040 --> 00:11:10.040 Next one. 00:11:11.040 --> 00:11:15.040 Isaiah 42 verse 8. 00:11:15.040 --> 00:11:17.040 Isaiah 42 verse 8. 00:11:17.040 --> 00:11:21.040 Isaiah 42 verse 8. 00:11:23.040 --> 00:11:24.040 I am the Lord. 00:11:24.040 --> 00:11:26.040 That is my name. 00:11:26.040 --> 00:11:32.040 I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. 00:11:33.040 --> 00:11:39.040 That's why Mount Carmel, the enemy always loses. 00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:42.040 That's why in Ephesus, Artemis falls. 00:11:42.040 --> 00:11:45.040 That's why in the temple, Dagon crumbles. 00:11:45.040 --> 00:11:51.040 Because he will not allow or yield his glory to another. 00:11:54.040 --> 00:11:56.040 Habakkuk 2 verse 14. 00:11:57.040 --> 00:12:02.040 The earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of God 00:12:02.040 --> 00:12:04.040 as the waters cover the seas. 00:12:04.040 --> 00:12:06.040 As the waters cover the seas, 00:12:06.040 --> 00:12:10.040 so the earth is actually filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. 00:12:10.040 --> 00:12:15.040 And that's why in Romans he says that people knowing and seeing my glory 00:12:15.040 --> 00:12:20.040 yet chose idols and therefore I have abandoned them to their desires. 00:12:21.040 --> 00:12:23.040 Let's turn to the New Testament. 00:12:24.040 --> 00:12:25.040 New Testament. 00:12:25.040 --> 00:12:27.040 John 17 verse 24. 00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:30.040 John 17 verse 24. 00:12:35.040 --> 00:12:37.040 John 17 verse 24. 00:12:37.040 --> 00:12:41.040 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am 00:12:41.040 --> 00:12:45.040 and to see my glory, the glory you have given me 00:12:45.040 --> 00:12:48.040 because you loved me before the creation of the earth. 00:12:48.040 --> 00:12:53.040 If you go to 17.4, he talks about how he used to have this glory. 00:12:53.040 --> 00:12:57.040 He put it aside while he was on earth and now he's praying again saying, 00:12:57.040 --> 00:13:01.040 can you make sure that these guys see my glory, 00:13:01.040 --> 00:13:04.040 these guys as in us and the disciples then. 00:13:06.040 --> 00:13:08.040 2 Corinthians 3 18. 00:13:08.040 --> 00:13:09.040 2 Corinthians 3 18. 00:13:09.040 --> 00:13:12.040 Jacob, why are you going over so many scriptures about glory? 00:13:12.040 --> 00:13:17.040 Because it is important to establish that the chief end of man is to glorify God. 00:13:17.040 --> 00:13:19.040 It is God's desire. 00:13:20.040 --> 00:13:22.040 And may the scriptures speak. 00:13:22.040 --> 00:13:24.040 The scriptures are life. 00:13:24.040 --> 00:13:27.040 May it be established through the word than through any man's words. 00:13:28.040 --> 00:13:30.040 This is important to God. 00:13:30.040 --> 00:13:33.040 He saved you for this so that you may display his glory. 00:13:33.040 --> 00:13:36.040 We'll read about that in 1 Peter 2. 00:13:37.040 --> 00:13:39.040 2 Corinthians 3 18. 00:13:40.040 --> 00:13:42.040 2 Corinthians 3 18. 00:13:43.040 --> 00:13:47.040 And we all with unveiled faces contemplate. 00:13:47.040 --> 00:13:49.040 We are supposed to do that. 00:13:49.040 --> 00:13:53.040 We contemplate the Lord's glory and are being transformed into his image 00:13:53.040 --> 00:13:57.040 with ever increasing glory which comes to the Lord who is the spirit. 00:13:57.040 --> 00:13:59.040 As in he wants to share this. 00:14:00.040 --> 00:14:02.040 It's not something he wants to keep to himself. 00:14:03.040 --> 00:14:04.040 Next one. 00:14:05.040 --> 00:14:07.040 Hebrews 1 3. 00:14:07.040 --> 00:14:08.040 Hebrews 1 3. 00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:10.040 Hebrews 1 3. 00:14:13.040 --> 00:14:16.040 The sun is the radiance of God's glory 00:14:16.040 --> 00:14:18.040 and the exact representation of his being. 00:14:19.040 --> 00:14:22.040 Sustaining all things by his powerful word. 00:14:22.040 --> 00:14:28.040 The sun is the radiance as in the brilliant visible shine of God's glory 00:14:28.040 --> 00:14:31.040 and the exact representation of his being. 00:14:31.040 --> 00:14:33.040 Sustaining all things by his powerful word. 00:14:33.040 --> 00:14:34.040 2 or 3 more. 00:14:34.040 --> 00:14:36.040 2 Peter 1. 00:14:36.040 --> 00:14:38.040 2 Peter 1. 00:14:38.040 --> 00:14:40.040 2 Peter 1. 00:14:41.040 --> 00:14:42.040 Verse 3. 00:14:42.040 --> 00:14:47.040 And then verse 7. 00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:50.040 Sorry 17. 00:14:50.040 --> 00:14:51.040 2 Peter 1 3. 00:14:51.040 --> 00:14:56.040 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life 00:14:56.040 --> 00:15:00.040 through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 00:15:00.040 --> 00:15:02.040 And then if you go to 17 it says, 00:15:02.040 --> 00:15:07.040 He received honor and glory from God the father when the voice came to him 00:15:07.040 --> 00:15:08.040 from the majestic glory saying, 00:15:08.040 --> 00:15:09.040 This is my son whom I love. 00:15:09.040 --> 00:15:11.040 With him I am well pleased. 00:15:11.040 --> 00:15:13.040 God bestowed that glory on him. 00:15:13.040 --> 00:15:15.040 Now let's look at two scriptures from Revelation. 00:15:15.040 --> 00:15:17.040 Revelation 15.4. 00:15:17.040 --> 00:15:19.040 Revelation 15.4. 00:15:19.040 --> 00:15:21.040 Revelation 15.4. 00:15:21.040 --> 00:15:26.040 Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? 00:15:26.040 --> 00:15:28.040 For you alone are holy. 00:15:28.040 --> 00:15:31.040 All nations will come and worship before you, 00:15:31.040 --> 00:15:33.040 for your righteous acts have been revealed. 00:15:33.040 --> 00:15:34.040 One more time. 00:15:34.040 --> 00:15:37.040 Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? 00:15:37.040 --> 00:15:38.040 For you alone are holy. 00:15:38.040 --> 00:15:40.040 All nations will come and worship before you, 00:15:40.040 --> 00:15:42.040 for your righteous acts have been revealed. 00:15:42.040 --> 00:15:43.040 And one last one. 00:15:43.040 --> 00:15:45.040 Revelation 21.23. 00:15:45.040 --> 00:15:47.040 Revelation 21.23. 00:15:47.040 --> 00:15:51.040 I love this. 00:15:51.040 --> 00:15:52.040 We'll experience this. 00:15:52.040 --> 00:15:53.040 Crazy, eh? 00:15:53.040 --> 00:15:55.040 That we'll actually experience this. 00:15:55.040 --> 00:15:58.040 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, 00:15:58.040 --> 00:16:00.040 for the glory of God gives its light. 00:16:00.040 --> 00:16:02.040 Gives it light. 00:16:02.040 --> 00:16:04.040 And the lamp is its lamp. 00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:09.040 The city, as in the place we will live when this life is over, 00:16:09.040 --> 00:16:12.040 does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, 00:16:12.040 --> 00:16:14.040 for the glory of God gives it light, 00:16:14.040 --> 00:16:18.040 and the lamp is its lamp. 00:16:18.040 --> 00:16:20.040 So what are we concluding out of this? 00:16:20.040 --> 00:16:23.040 That the chief end of man, based on scriptures, 00:16:23.040 --> 00:16:27.040 is that, hey, I made you so that you can glorify me. 00:16:27.040 --> 00:16:31.040 I made you so that you can glorify me. 00:16:31.040 --> 00:16:36.040 And to glorify is to take a telescope and bring God 00:16:36.040 --> 00:16:40.040 and make him larger for people who can't otherwise see him. 00:16:40.040 --> 00:16:43.040 1 Peter 2, verse 9 and 10. 00:16:43.040 --> 00:16:48.040 You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 00:16:48.040 --> 00:16:51.040 a peculiar people, called aside for what? 00:16:51.040 --> 00:16:54.040 To show forth the glory and the goodness of God. 00:16:54.040 --> 00:16:56.040 This is why I called you. 00:16:56.040 --> 00:16:58.040 This is why I made you a church. 00:17:01.040 --> 00:17:03.040 And if he wasn't glorious, 00:17:03.040 --> 00:17:05.040 then there wouldn't be any distinction 00:17:05.040 --> 00:17:08.040 between the moral excellence and perfection of God 00:17:08.040 --> 00:17:11.040 and the darkness and the distortion of the devil. 00:17:11.040 --> 00:17:14.040 If he wasn't glorious, 00:17:14.040 --> 00:17:19.040 he wouldn't be able to make new everything that is going to be made new. 00:17:19.040 --> 00:17:21.040 If he wasn't glorious, 00:17:21.040 --> 00:17:23.040 the earth wouldn't be as beautiful as it is, 00:17:23.040 --> 00:17:28.040 because it's again a reflection or a speaking out of his glory. 00:17:28.040 --> 00:17:33.040 Mount, Grouse Mountain, this lake, that lake, Bunsen Lake 00:17:33.040 --> 00:17:35.040 and every other blooming lake you can think of 00:17:35.040 --> 00:17:37.040 wouldn't be a blooming lake, 00:17:37.040 --> 00:17:43.040 because it came out of his ability to be glorious in everything he created. 00:17:43.040 --> 00:17:47.040 If this looks beautiful, can you imagine what it was before the fall? 00:17:47.040 --> 00:17:50.040 What was it like? 00:17:50.040 --> 00:17:55.040 It is important for God to both preserve his glory and display it. 00:17:55.040 --> 00:17:57.040 Who does he do it through? 00:18:00.040 --> 00:18:02.040 Any questions before we go on? 00:18:02.040 --> 00:18:04.040 I've heard that... 00:18:23.040 --> 00:18:26.040 Yeah. So Mark's question is, 00:18:26.040 --> 00:18:29.040 I've heard people, I've heard teachers say 00:18:29.040 --> 00:18:33.040 that God wants to glorify himself through suffering, 00:18:33.040 --> 00:18:36.040 like martyrs who get a special crown. 00:18:36.040 --> 00:18:40.040 And so that statement is actually true. 00:18:40.040 --> 00:18:45.040 God does glorify himself through people who decide 00:18:45.040 --> 00:18:48.040 that it doesn't matter what it costs, 00:18:48.040 --> 00:18:51.040 I will display who you are, O God. 00:18:51.040 --> 00:18:55.040 I will love, I will stand, I will not deny your name. 00:18:55.040 --> 00:18:58.040 And it does say that those that die that death 00:18:58.040 --> 00:19:00.040 will receive a crown of life. 00:19:00.040 --> 00:19:05.040 So I'm glad Mark qualified what suffering is in this case. 00:19:05.040 --> 00:19:10.040 Because there are other teachers who can take every suffering you can think of 00:19:10.040 --> 00:19:13.040 and put it under the same rug, and that does not apply. 00:19:13.040 --> 00:19:17.040 Because for certain sufferings, Jesus suffered 00:19:17.040 --> 00:19:21.040 so that we may find our comfort and our healing there. 00:19:21.040 --> 00:19:24.040 But in terms of this statement, absolutely. 00:19:24.040 --> 00:19:29.040 So he does glorify himself through the suffering of people who decide 00:19:29.040 --> 00:19:32.040 that I will stand for the moral excellence of God, 00:19:32.040 --> 00:19:35.040 regardless of what happens, and I will display it, 00:19:35.040 --> 00:19:38.040 and I will preserve it, and I will not deny it. 00:19:50.040 --> 00:19:53.040 Yeah. It is impossible to take a stance for God. 00:19:53.040 --> 00:19:57.040 I mean, we've always got to bring it back to, 00:19:57.040 --> 00:19:59.040 actually we'll deal with it a little later, 00:19:59.040 --> 00:20:01.040 but let me just put it this way. 00:20:01.040 --> 00:20:08.040 Someone who loves a person is able to sacrifice 00:20:08.040 --> 00:20:14.040 and lay down their lives for that person in great pain, through great pain. 00:20:14.040 --> 00:20:18.040 They will still do it, and they will do it better 00:20:18.040 --> 00:20:21.040 when they actually enjoy and love the person. 00:20:24.040 --> 00:20:28.040 Now we'll talk about it. We'll break it down. 00:20:35.040 --> 00:20:41.040 So my main goal, my main goal, you can write this down 00:20:41.040 --> 00:20:44.040 and try practicing it for the rest of your life. 00:20:44.040 --> 00:20:50.040 My main goal is to glorify God, is to glorify God 00:20:50.040 --> 00:20:58.040 by enjoying him forever. 00:21:01.040 --> 00:21:04.040 It's just that these words that we use, enjoy, 00:21:04.040 --> 00:21:06.040 we think differently of enjoy. 00:21:08.040 --> 00:21:09.040 We think differently of enjoy. 00:21:09.040 --> 00:21:14.040 Enjoy might be a car, a house, a wife, in Derek's case a dog, 00:21:14.040 --> 00:21:16.040 and things like that, yeah? 00:21:16.040 --> 00:21:21.040 But enjoy has a different sense when we actually look at it. 00:21:21.040 --> 00:21:25.040 And remember, if God is in the process of restoring Eden, 00:21:25.040 --> 00:21:28.040 Eden was a place where there was joy, 00:21:28.040 --> 00:21:32.040 and Eden restored will be a place where there is joy. 00:21:32.040 --> 00:21:34.040 We are caught in the middle in a fallen world, 00:21:34.040 --> 00:21:36.040 and therefore there are so many pressures 00:21:36.040 --> 00:21:38.040 that bring in different forms of suffering, 00:21:38.040 --> 00:21:41.040 but the intent is always that is where we came from 00:21:41.040 --> 00:21:43.040 and that is where we are heading. 00:21:43.040 --> 00:21:46.040 So joy is not something that God removed from the earth. 00:21:48.040 --> 00:21:50.040 How can he remove it from the earth when it is the essence 00:21:50.040 --> 00:21:53.040 of who he is and who the Holy Spirit is? 00:21:57.040 --> 00:21:59.040 So here's a question someone asked, 00:21:59.040 --> 00:22:01.040 what would your answer be to him? 00:22:02.040 --> 00:22:11.040 What could God give me to enjoy? 00:22:12.040 --> 00:22:22.040 What could God give me to enjoy that would prove him most loving? 00:22:30.040 --> 00:22:32.040 I really like this question. 00:22:34.040 --> 00:22:39.040 What could God, what could God give me to enjoy 00:22:39.040 --> 00:22:42.040 that would prove him most loving? 00:22:50.040 --> 00:22:52.040 His presence? 00:22:56.040 --> 00:23:00.040 Let me use another word for what Marcus said. 00:23:01.040 --> 00:23:05.040 What could God give me to enjoy that would prove him most loving? 00:23:06.040 --> 00:23:08.040 Himself. 00:23:10.040 --> 00:23:13.040 It would be the most loving thing he could do 00:23:13.040 --> 00:23:20.040 because anything enjoyable finds its source, its root in him. 00:23:21.040 --> 00:23:23.040 And when he gives himself, 00:23:25.040 --> 00:23:27.040 I mean that would prove him most loving. 00:23:27.040 --> 00:23:32.040 What could God give me to enjoy that would prove him most loving? 00:23:32.040 --> 00:23:33.040 Himself. 00:23:33.040 --> 00:23:37.040 And the crazy thing is he did and he still does. 00:23:39.040 --> 00:23:41.040 Once we lock on to this, 00:23:41.040 --> 00:23:45.040 then it's not that the other things don't matter. 00:23:45.040 --> 00:23:46.040 In fact, in Matthew he said, 00:23:46.040 --> 00:23:49.040 don't worry about that stuff, my father already knows it. 00:23:50.040 --> 00:23:52.040 But this is critical. 00:23:53.040 --> 00:23:54.040 Himself. 00:23:54.040 --> 00:23:56.040 And he has, it's not that he hasn't. 00:23:59.040 --> 00:24:00.040 Romans 832. 00:24:01.040 --> 00:24:02.040 Romans 832. 00:24:06.040 --> 00:24:08.040 Romans 832. 00:24:11.040 --> 00:24:16.040 He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, 00:24:16.040 --> 00:24:20.040 how will he not also allow us to be saved? 00:24:20.040 --> 00:24:22.040 He who gave himself, 00:24:23.040 --> 00:24:27.040 how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 00:24:27.040 --> 00:24:29.040 I mean there's nothing left to give. 00:24:29.040 --> 00:24:33.040 He gave himself and everything begins and ends in him. 00:24:33.040 --> 00:24:35.040 I like the way the message puts it. 00:24:35.040 --> 00:24:37.040 I'm the beginning and the end and everything in between. 00:24:38.040 --> 00:24:39.040 That's how it says. 00:24:39.040 --> 00:24:41.040 It doesn't say I'm Alpha and Omega. 00:24:41.040 --> 00:24:43.040 I'm the beginning, I'm the end and I'm everything in between. 00:24:43.040 --> 00:24:45.040 That takes care of everything. 00:24:45.040 --> 00:24:46.040 And it's real. 00:24:46.040 --> 00:24:49.040 He's not just spinning words. 00:24:49.040 --> 00:24:53.040 And so Romans 832, let's look at some other scriptures. 00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:55.040 1 Peter 318. 00:24:55.040 --> 00:24:57.040 1 Peter 318. 00:24:57.040 --> 00:24:59.040 1 Peter 318. 00:25:04.040 --> 00:25:05.040 I love this line. 00:25:05.040 --> 00:25:09.040 For Christ also suffered once for sins, 00:25:09.040 --> 00:25:10.040 the righteous for the unrighteous. 00:25:10.040 --> 00:25:12.040 To do what? 00:25:12.040 --> 00:25:15.040 To bring you to God. 00:25:15.040 --> 00:25:17.040 To bring you to God. 00:25:17.040 --> 00:25:20.040 The reason he suffered was to bring you to God. 00:25:20.040 --> 00:25:22.040 To bring you to himself. 00:25:23.040 --> 00:25:26.040 Why do we need forgiveness? 00:25:26.040 --> 00:25:29.040 Because forgiveness gets us God again. 00:25:30.040 --> 00:25:33.040 In saving us, he brought us to God. 00:25:33.040 --> 00:25:35.040 He brings us to himself. 00:25:35.040 --> 00:25:37.040 And in forgiving us every time we sin, 00:25:37.040 --> 00:25:39.040 what is it that we get out of forgiveness? 00:25:39.040 --> 00:25:40.040 A clean slate? 00:25:40.040 --> 00:25:42.040 The clean slate was done on Calvary. 00:25:44.040 --> 00:25:46.040 Accident-free driving? 00:25:46.040 --> 00:25:49.040 That's how you drive in traffic. 00:25:51.040 --> 00:25:53.040 So what does he get us when he forgives us? 00:25:53.040 --> 00:25:55.040 He gets us himself again. 00:25:55.040 --> 00:25:57.040 Every time he forgives me, I get God. 00:25:57.040 --> 00:26:00.040 I get God back in my life. 00:26:02.040 --> 00:26:06.040 So that was 1 Peter 318. 00:26:06.040 --> 00:26:08.040 Let's look at another scripture. 00:26:09.040 --> 00:26:10.040 Isaiah 5-4. 00:26:10.040 --> 00:26:12.040 Isaiah 5-4. 00:26:12.040 --> 00:26:14.040 Isaiah 5 verse 4. 00:26:19.040 --> 00:26:21.040 This is in different versions. 00:26:21.040 --> 00:26:22.040 It says it differently. 00:26:22.040 --> 00:26:24.040 God has dug up the vineyard. 00:26:24.040 --> 00:26:25.040 He's done everything. 00:26:25.040 --> 00:26:26.040 And he's talking about the church. 00:26:26.040 --> 00:26:28.040 And in that situation, Israel. 00:26:28.040 --> 00:26:30.040 And he says, tell me, O my people, 00:26:30.040 --> 00:26:32.040 what more could I have done? 00:26:32.040 --> 00:26:34.040 Why, when I planted you sweet, 00:26:34.040 --> 00:26:36.040 have you turned so sour and wild? 00:26:36.040 --> 00:26:37.040 What more do you want me to do? 00:26:37.040 --> 00:26:39.040 I've done everything. 00:26:39.040 --> 00:26:41.040 There's nothing he's holding back. 00:26:41.040 --> 00:26:43.040 Psalm 84 verse 11. 00:26:43.040 --> 00:26:45.040 The Lord God is my son and shield. 00:26:45.040 --> 00:26:46.040 He gives grace and glory. 00:26:46.040 --> 00:26:49.040 No good thing will he withhold 00:26:49.040 --> 00:26:51.040 from those that walk uprightly. 00:26:52.040 --> 00:26:54.040 Let's look at another one. 00:26:56.040 --> 00:26:59.040 1 Corinthians 2-12. 00:26:59.040 --> 00:27:01.040 1 Corinthians 2-12. 00:27:08.040 --> 00:27:10.040 What we have received is not from the spirit of the world. 00:27:10.040 --> 00:27:12.040 But the spirit who is from God. 00:27:12.040 --> 00:27:15.040 So that we may understand what God has freely given us. 00:27:15.040 --> 00:27:19.040 Listen, you do not have a spirit 00:27:19.040 --> 00:27:22.040 that is without the Holy Spirit. 00:27:22.040 --> 00:27:24.040 We've talked about this in the idea of Christ's life. 00:27:24.040 --> 00:27:28.040 Your spirit and the spirit of God have become one. 00:27:28.040 --> 00:27:30.040 There's nothing that he can do anymore. 00:27:30.040 --> 00:27:34.040 He's given himself by his own spirit to live inside you. 00:27:34.040 --> 00:27:36.040 That's it. 00:27:36.040 --> 00:27:39.040 There's nothing he can give me more. 00:27:39.040 --> 00:27:41.040 Everything else is just gravy. 00:27:41.040 --> 00:27:43.040 The meat is inside. 00:27:44.040 --> 00:27:46.040 Where's the beef? Inside. 00:27:46.040 --> 00:27:48.040 That was an old George Bush slogan. 00:27:49.040 --> 00:27:51.040 As a senior, don't worry about it. 00:27:51.040 --> 00:27:53.040 Most of you were not born. 00:27:58.040 --> 00:28:00.040 Ezekiel 16-8. We'll stop with that. 00:28:00.040 --> 00:28:02.040 Ezekiel 16-8. 00:28:05.040 --> 00:28:07.040 Ezekiel 16-8. 00:28:07.040 --> 00:28:09.040 Ezekiel 16-8. 00:28:13.040 --> 00:28:15.040 Later I passed by. 00:28:15.040 --> 00:28:18.040 When I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, 00:28:18.040 --> 00:28:22.040 I spread the corner of my garment over you 00:28:22.040 --> 00:28:24.040 and covered your naked body. 00:28:24.040 --> 00:28:26.040 I gave you my solemn oath 00:28:26.040 --> 00:28:28.040 and entered into a covenant with you, declared the sovereign lord, 00:28:28.040 --> 00:28:30.040 and you became mine. 00:28:30.040 --> 00:28:34.040 It's a story of retrieving Judah and Israel back. 00:28:37.040 --> 00:28:39.040 So at the end of the day, 00:28:39.040 --> 00:28:41.040 what is his delight? 00:28:41.040 --> 00:28:43.040 If he gives us himself, 00:28:43.040 --> 00:28:45.040 what does he want in return? 00:28:45.040 --> 00:28:47.040 What is his delight? What would he want? 00:28:47.040 --> 00:28:49.040 It's very simple. 00:28:49.040 --> 00:28:54.040 Display of his nature 00:28:56.040 --> 00:29:00.040 through his excellent nature, his brilliant nature, 00:29:00.040 --> 00:29:04.040 through my life and praise. 00:29:04.040 --> 00:29:06.040 Go to 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, 00:29:06.040 --> 00:29:09.040 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. 00:29:12.040 --> 00:29:14.040 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. 00:29:14.040 --> 00:29:18.040 But you are a chosen people, 00:29:18.040 --> 00:29:20.040 a royal priesthood, 00:29:20.040 --> 00:29:22.040 a holy nation, 00:29:22.040 --> 00:29:24.040 God's special possession. 00:29:24.040 --> 00:29:26.040 Crazy, eh? 00:29:26.040 --> 00:29:28.040 Let's look at that again. 00:29:28.040 --> 00:29:30.040 But you are a chosen people, 00:29:30.040 --> 00:29:32.040 a royal priesthood. 00:29:32.040 --> 00:29:34.040 A royal priesthood. 00:29:34.040 --> 00:29:36.040 A holy nation. 00:29:36.040 --> 00:29:38.040 God's special possession. 00:29:38.040 --> 00:29:40.040 Why? 00:29:40.040 --> 00:29:42.040 So that you may declare the praises of him 00:29:42.040 --> 00:29:44.040 who called you out of darkness 00:29:44.040 --> 00:29:46.040 into his wonderful light. 00:29:46.040 --> 00:29:48.040 Once you were not a people, 00:29:48.040 --> 00:29:50.040 but now you are the people of God. 00:29:50.040 --> 00:29:52.040 Once you had not received mercy, 00:29:52.040 --> 00:29:54.040 but now you have received mercy. 00:29:56.040 --> 00:29:58.040 He wants to display his nature through me. 00:29:58.040 --> 00:30:00.040 That's his payback. 00:30:00.040 --> 00:30:02.040 And so when you think like this guys, 00:30:02.040 --> 00:30:04.040 everything changes. 00:30:04.040 --> 00:30:06.040 Take prayer for instance. 00:30:06.040 --> 00:30:08.040 Take prayer for instance, eh? 00:30:08.040 --> 00:30:10.040 When you pray, what if you changed praying to 00:30:10.040 --> 00:30:12.040 I need this, oh I hope God will give it. 00:30:12.040 --> 00:30:14.040 God you said it in your word. 00:30:14.040 --> 00:30:16.040 There's a promise attached. 00:30:16.040 --> 00:30:18.040 Oh God, you are faithful. 00:30:18.040 --> 00:30:20.040 I will trust in you. 00:30:20.040 --> 00:30:22.040 What if he went to Isaiah, sorry, 00:30:22.040 --> 00:30:24.040 what if he went to Psalm 50, verse 15, 00:30:24.040 --> 00:30:26.040 and taught along the lines of 00:30:26.040 --> 00:30:28.040 Psalm 50, verse 15, 00:30:28.040 --> 00:30:30.040 which says, 00:30:30.040 --> 00:30:32.040 In call unto me in the day of trouble, 00:30:32.040 --> 00:30:34.040 and I will rescue you 00:30:34.040 --> 00:30:36.040 so that you can give me the glory. 00:30:36.040 --> 00:30:38.040 What if he thought of prayer like that? 00:30:38.040 --> 00:30:40.040 Every time we ask for something, 00:30:40.040 --> 00:30:42.040 we pause for a second and think about 00:30:42.040 --> 00:30:44.040 how he wants us to ask. 00:30:44.040 --> 00:30:46.040 And then the only chief aim 00:30:46.040 --> 00:30:48.040 in praying is 00:30:48.040 --> 00:30:50.040 I want you to get the glory. 00:30:50.040 --> 00:30:52.040 John 14, 13 talks about it 00:30:52.040 --> 00:30:54.040 where it says 00:30:54.040 --> 00:30:56.040 that thus far you have not been 00:30:56.040 --> 00:30:58.040 asked, but ask, and I'll do it for you. 00:30:58.040 --> 00:31:00.040 Ask in my name and I'll do it for you 00:31:00.040 --> 00:31:02.040 so that I can, 00:31:02.040 --> 00:31:04.040 so that my father in heaven is glorified. 00:31:04.040 --> 00:31:06.040 Call unto me in the day of trouble 00:31:06.040 --> 00:31:08.040 so that I can rescue you 00:31:08.040 --> 00:31:10.040 so that you can glorify me. 00:31:10.040 --> 00:31:12.040 What if prayer, that was the reason for prayer. 00:31:12.040 --> 00:31:14.040 So that you can glorify me. 00:31:14.040 --> 00:31:16.040 What if that became the chief reason for prayer? 00:31:16.040 --> 00:31:18.040 Because we are saying 00:31:18.040 --> 00:31:20.040 that the chief end of God 00:31:20.040 --> 00:31:22.040 is to glorify, the chief end of man 00:31:22.040 --> 00:31:24.040 is to glorify God. 00:31:24.040 --> 00:31:26.040 And then when you pray like that, 00:31:26.040 --> 00:31:28.040 look what happens in John 16, verse 14. 00:31:28.040 --> 00:31:30.040 It says that I am saying 00:31:30.040 --> 00:31:32.040 these things to you, that you ask me 00:31:32.040 --> 00:31:34.040 for things in prayer so that when you are answered, 00:31:34.040 --> 00:31:36.040 your joy may be complete. 00:31:36.040 --> 00:31:38.040 Crazy. On one hand you end up 00:31:38.040 --> 00:31:40.040 glorifying him, on the other hand 00:31:40.040 --> 00:31:42.040 your joy is made complete. 00:31:44.040 --> 00:31:46.040 Everything God does always has 00:31:46.040 --> 00:31:48.040 the element of joy in it. 00:31:48.040 --> 00:31:50.040 The ultimate purpose of God 00:31:50.040 --> 00:31:52.040 in all his ways is 00:31:52.040 --> 00:31:54.040 purpose of God in all his works 00:31:54.040 --> 00:31:56.040 is joy. We talked about it 00:31:56.040 --> 00:31:58.040 last week. If you are faithful 00:31:58.040 --> 00:32:00.040 what does he say? Enter into 00:32:00.040 --> 00:32:02.040 my joy. 00:32:04.040 --> 00:32:06.040 In Nehemiah 8, what does 00:32:06.040 --> 00:32:08.040 it say is your strength? The joy 00:32:08.040 --> 00:32:10.040 of the Lord is my strength. 00:32:14.040 --> 00:32:16.040 There is nothing he does 00:32:16.040 --> 00:32:18.040 that does not have 00:32:18.040 --> 00:32:20.040 its ultimate purpose as 00:32:20.040 --> 00:32:22.040 joy. And then we realize, oh 00:32:22.040 --> 00:32:24.040 shucks, we've been missing it by a mile. 00:32:36.040 --> 00:32:38.040 Not John 16, verse 14, John 16, verse 24. 00:32:42.040 --> 00:32:44.040 Which brings us to the question. 00:32:44.040 --> 00:32:46.040 Do you have any questions before we bring it to the question? 00:32:46.040 --> 00:32:48.040 Any questions? 00:32:50.040 --> 00:32:52.040 No? 00:32:58.040 --> 00:33:00.040 So how do you enjoy God? 00:33:00.040 --> 00:33:02.040 How do 00:33:02.040 --> 00:33:04.040 you enjoy 00:33:04.040 --> 00:33:06.040 God? 00:33:06.040 --> 00:33:08.040 How do you enjoy God? 00:33:08.040 --> 00:33:10.040 Just think of Eden, eh? 00:33:12.040 --> 00:33:14.040 You have this intoxicating fragrance 00:33:14.040 --> 00:33:16.040 of God every time you would come. 00:33:16.040 --> 00:33:18.040 And there would be this love and passion as the 00:33:18.040 --> 00:33:20.040 three of them walked together. 00:33:20.040 --> 00:33:22.040 And then there is the beauty of 00:33:22.040 --> 00:33:24.040 the newly minted 00:33:24.040 --> 00:33:26.040 world that they would witness. 00:33:26.040 --> 00:33:28.040 And there was this perfect relationship 00:33:28.040 --> 00:33:30.040 with the father. That's how they 00:33:30.040 --> 00:33:32.040 walked. And that's why God is taking us back. 00:33:32.040 --> 00:33:34.040 That's why he's taking us back. 00:33:36.040 --> 00:33:38.040 Let me say that again. 00:33:38.040 --> 00:33:40.040 They would walk with him, 00:33:40.040 --> 00:33:42.040 the three of them, with great passion and 00:33:42.040 --> 00:33:44.040 love, with the intoxicating 00:33:44.040 --> 00:33:46.040 aroma of Yahweh in the place, 00:33:46.040 --> 00:33:48.040 with the beauty 00:33:48.040 --> 00:33:50.040 of newly minted creation 00:33:50.040 --> 00:33:52.040 every day. 00:33:54.040 --> 00:33:56.040 With a perfect relationship with the 00:33:56.040 --> 00:33:58.040 father. These are things the 00:33:58.040 --> 00:34:00.040 Bible says, if you hope 00:34:00.040 --> 00:34:02.040 for these things, it will 00:34:02.040 --> 00:34:04.040 purify you. The Bible says that. 00:34:04.040 --> 00:34:06.040 Christians make themselves 00:34:06.040 --> 00:34:08.040 pure. They purify themselves when they 00:34:08.040 --> 00:34:10.040 remember what God is calling them 00:34:10.040 --> 00:34:12.040 towards. 00:34:12.040 --> 00:34:14.040 This purifies you. How does it purify 00:34:14.040 --> 00:34:16.040 you? Because you begin to realize that 00:34:16.040 --> 00:34:18.040 this temporal life that we live 00:34:18.040 --> 00:34:20.040 must be lived a certain way 00:34:20.040 --> 00:34:22.040 because there is another life waiting 00:34:22.040 --> 00:34:24.040 which is oranges to oranges. How 00:34:24.040 --> 00:34:26.040 I live here, I will be rewarded 00:34:26.040 --> 00:34:28.040 there. 00:34:30.040 --> 00:34:32.040 Passing phase. 00:34:36.040 --> 00:34:38.040 If you and I can enjoy worship like 00:34:38.040 --> 00:34:40.040 we did today, what will it be like? 00:34:40.040 --> 00:34:42.040 What will 00:34:42.040 --> 00:34:44.040 we do? How will we 00:34:44.040 --> 00:34:46.040 break away? There won't 00:34:46.040 --> 00:34:48.040 be any teaching there, thank God. 00:34:52.040 --> 00:34:54.040 Because we will know him just as he knows us. 00:34:54.040 --> 00:34:56.040 And yet we will not know 00:34:56.040 --> 00:34:58.040 him because he is infinite. So there's 00:34:58.040 --> 00:35:00.040 always something new to know. 00:35:02.040 --> 00:35:04.040 It will be water 00:35:04.040 --> 00:35:06.040 to a thirsty soul. You will 00:35:06.040 --> 00:35:08.040 joins David in Psalm 00:35:08.040 --> 00:35:10.040 63 saying, my body 00:35:10.040 --> 00:35:12.040 longs for you, my soul longs for you 00:35:12.040 --> 00:35:14.040 like a dry and weary land without 00:35:14.040 --> 00:35:16.040 no water. You will 00:35:16.040 --> 00:35:18.040 long for that. 00:35:18.040 --> 00:35:20.040 But what if we can begin to taste that 00:35:20.040 --> 00:35:22.040 long for it and show people what 00:35:22.040 --> 00:35:24.040 they're missing out on? Man, 00:35:24.040 --> 00:35:26.040 you eat. No, not 00:35:26.040 --> 00:35:28.040 important. By the way, 00:35:28.040 --> 00:35:30.040 try the big arch at McDonald's. 00:35:30.040 --> 00:35:32.040 It is good. 00:35:34.040 --> 00:35:36.040 It's only for a season 00:35:36.040 --> 00:35:38.040 so grab it before it goes. And you'll 00:35:38.040 --> 00:35:40.040 have to grab it with both hands, yeah? 00:35:46.040 --> 00:35:48.040 So how do you enjoy God? 00:35:48.040 --> 00:35:50.040 How do you enjoy God? 00:35:50.040 --> 00:35:52.040 The enjoyment of God 00:35:52.040 --> 00:35:54.040 it's 9.99 plus tax if 00:35:54.040 --> 00:35:56.040 it's not a combo. 00:35:58.040 --> 00:36:00.040 How do you enjoy God? The enjoyment of 00:36:00.040 --> 00:36:02.040 God, the first 00:36:02.040 --> 00:36:04.040 thing we need to understand, guys, 00:36:04.040 --> 00:36:06.040 it is critical. We think it's such 00:36:06.040 --> 00:36:08.040 an easy der, but it's not. The enjoyment 00:36:08.040 --> 00:36:10.040 of God is the enjoyment of 00:36:10.040 --> 00:36:12.040 a person. 00:36:16.040 --> 00:36:18.040 You have to think of 00:36:18.040 --> 00:36:20.040 him as a person. 00:36:20.040 --> 00:36:22.040 Sometimes when you 00:36:22.040 --> 00:36:24.040 think of God, we don't give him 00:36:24.040 --> 00:36:26.040 personhood. We don't give 00:36:26.040 --> 00:36:28.040 him personhood. 00:36:28.040 --> 00:36:30.040 We think Pawan can cry 00:36:30.040 --> 00:36:32.040 and that God can't. 00:36:32.040 --> 00:36:34.040 But the same 00:36:34.040 --> 00:36:36.040 time when Pawan cried, Jesus cried over Lazarus. 00:36:40.040 --> 00:36:42.040 It's important to give God personhood. 00:36:42.040 --> 00:36:44.040 And if you don't give him personhood, 00:36:46.040 --> 00:36:48.040 it's wrong because he is a person. 00:36:52.040 --> 00:36:54.040 So the enjoyment of God 00:36:54.040 --> 00:36:56.040 begins with the 00:36:56.040 --> 00:36:58.040 recognition of his 00:36:58.040 --> 00:37:00.040 personhood. And if he is a real 00:37:00.040 --> 00:37:02.040 person, then how would 00:37:02.040 --> 00:37:04.040 you talk to him? How would you talk to him? 00:37:06.040 --> 00:37:08.040 If you for a second thought of him 00:37:08.040 --> 00:37:10.040 as God the person, 00:37:10.040 --> 00:37:12.040 how would you 00:37:12.040 --> 00:37:14.040 deal with him? 00:37:16.040 --> 00:37:18.040 I mean, how in the world do we enjoy 00:37:18.040 --> 00:37:20.040 the person of God? Well, then the question 00:37:20.040 --> 00:37:22.040 is, how do you 00:37:22.040 --> 00:37:24.040 do 00:37:24.040 --> 00:37:26.040 How do you 00:37:26.040 --> 00:37:28.040 How do you 00:37:28.040 --> 00:37:30.040 How do you 00:37:30.040 --> 00:37:32.040 Brandon, how do you 00:37:36.040 --> 00:37:38.040 Brandon, how do you 00:37:38.040 --> 00:37:40.040 You can come and fix it. 00:37:40.040 --> 00:37:42.040 So here's a question. 00:37:42.040 --> 00:37:44.040 How do you enjoy a friend? 00:37:44.040 --> 00:37:46.040 How do you enjoy a father? 00:37:46.040 --> 00:37:48.040 How do you enjoy a lover? 00:37:48.040 --> 00:37:50.040 How? 00:37:50.040 --> 00:37:54.560 How do you enjoy a friend? 00:37:54.560 --> 00:37:57.300 How do you enjoy a father? 00:37:57.300 --> 00:38:00.840 How do you enjoy a lover? 00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:04.240 Time? 00:38:04.240 --> 00:38:05.240 What else? 00:38:05.240 --> 00:38:08.920 When you meet a friend, does it happen immediately? 00:38:08.920 --> 00:38:10.580 Here's the thing, guys. 00:38:10.580 --> 00:38:14.760 Everything we are teaching right now, we want right away by this evening. 00:38:14.760 --> 00:38:16.240 And it ain't gonna happen. 00:38:16.240 --> 00:38:23.360 Neither a friend, nor a father, nor a lover can get to a place where you delight, exult, 00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:26.040 a head over heels, can't get away from them. 00:38:26.040 --> 00:38:31.120 It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens day by day by day till it is impossible to 00:38:31.120 --> 00:38:33.080 break away. 00:38:33.080 --> 00:38:34.640 Sorry? 00:38:34.640 --> 00:38:36.120 Sure. 00:38:36.120 --> 00:38:39.640 It's working? 00:38:39.640 --> 00:38:41.360 Okay. 00:38:41.360 --> 00:38:45.720 Thanks, Brandon. 00:38:46.240 --> 00:38:58.960 How do you enjoy a friend? 00:38:58.960 --> 00:38:59.960 Pause for a moment, okay? 00:38:59.960 --> 00:39:01.680 How do you enjoy a friend? 00:39:01.680 --> 00:39:04.200 Think of your best friend. 00:39:04.200 --> 00:39:05.960 You love hanging out with the person. 00:39:05.960 --> 00:39:10.080 You are sometimes disappointed if you don't, if you find that they're not able to come 00:39:10.080 --> 00:39:11.560 because of work. 00:39:11.560 --> 00:39:13.860 You know the things they like. 00:39:13.860 --> 00:39:19.780 You sometimes do things before they come that will please them. 00:39:19.780 --> 00:39:23.300 How do you enjoy a father? 00:39:23.300 --> 00:39:29.220 I used to love going and helping my dad shop because I'd have to carry the bags, but as 00:39:29.220 --> 00:39:33.300 a reward for carrying the bags, man, I'd get anything I want. 00:39:33.300 --> 00:39:38.020 I'd love sitting on the back of a scooter going for rides because he would tell me stories. 00:39:38.020 --> 00:39:42.260 He would just regale me with stories. 00:39:42.460 --> 00:39:49.300 I love being with my father because once we had an argument or if he punished me, he'd 00:39:49.300 --> 00:39:53.220 come and I'd pretend I was sleeping and he'd pretend that I was sleeping and he'd run his 00:39:53.220 --> 00:39:58.220 hand through my hair and I'd love it and we would just pretend that I was sleeping. 00:39:58.220 --> 00:40:01.820 And then once he knew that I was fine, he'd get up and go. 00:40:01.820 --> 00:40:04.060 What is it? 00:40:04.060 --> 00:40:06.140 How do you enjoy a lover? 00:40:06.140 --> 00:40:08.780 How do you enjoy a lover? 00:40:08.780 --> 00:40:11.740 Do you like it when she walks into the room? 00:40:11.780 --> 00:40:15.660 Are you sitting there on your sofa saying, huh, so you walked into the room or do you 00:40:15.660 --> 00:40:17.980 jump and grab her? 00:40:17.980 --> 00:40:20.340 Do you hold her? 00:40:20.340 --> 00:40:23.180 Do you want to not let her go? 00:40:23.180 --> 00:40:26.900 How do you enjoy a lover? 00:40:26.900 --> 00:40:29.700 You think this doesn't apply to God? 00:40:29.700 --> 00:40:32.580 This is why we struggle with the personhood of God. 00:40:32.580 --> 00:40:36.100 You better make sure you get this right to me. 00:40:36.100 --> 00:40:44.340 See, as I begin to say this, in all our minds is one thought, this is so impractical. 00:40:44.340 --> 00:40:45.620 How does it work with God? 00:40:45.620 --> 00:40:46.620 Why? 00:40:46.620 --> 00:40:52.060 Because we do not think of God in terms of personhood. 00:40:52.060 --> 00:40:57.740 We do not think how he is affected when you do not let him go. 00:40:57.740 --> 00:41:03.780 We do not understand the Song of Songs, which was written by two lovers, let's say Solomon 00:41:03.780 --> 00:41:08.100 to the Shulamite woman, but was meant to be a picture of the bride and the bridegroom 00:41:08.100 --> 00:41:09.100 of God and you. 00:41:09.100 --> 00:41:10.660 We don't think of personhood. 00:41:10.660 --> 00:41:16.460 And as long as we don't think of personhood, how do we even get to enjoy the person of 00:41:16.460 --> 00:41:19.940 God? 00:41:19.940 --> 00:41:22.900 When your spouse leaves, how do you feel? 00:41:22.900 --> 00:41:23.900 Is your heart rejoicing? 00:41:23.900 --> 00:41:31.340 Finally, she's left or does it hurt, hoping she'll come back soon? 00:41:31.380 --> 00:41:34.700 How do you feel when she's in pain? 00:41:34.700 --> 00:41:36.860 How do you feel when she's in pain? 00:41:36.860 --> 00:41:38.180 Can you handle it? 00:41:38.180 --> 00:41:44.420 Most men can't. 00:41:44.420 --> 00:41:45.620 What about him? 00:41:45.620 --> 00:41:49.340 How do you think he feels about your pain? 00:41:49.340 --> 00:41:54.540 Hey, we are made in his image. 00:41:54.540 --> 00:41:56.660 He's not made in our image. 00:41:56.660 --> 00:42:05.060 He is like this and so we have become like this. 00:42:05.060 --> 00:42:06.980 How do you enjoy a friend? 00:42:06.980 --> 00:42:08.700 How do you enjoy a father? 00:42:08.700 --> 00:42:10.180 How do you enjoy a lover? 00:42:10.180 --> 00:42:17.580 If you've had neither, if you don't have a friend and only have a cat, if you don't have 00:42:17.580 --> 00:42:22.340 a father or didn't know a father's love and if you don't have a lover yet, then imagine 00:42:22.340 --> 00:42:23.340 it. 00:42:23.340 --> 00:42:30.420 Imagine it because there's nobody here who cannot imagine it. 00:42:30.420 --> 00:42:33.420 Any questions? 00:42:33.420 --> 00:42:36.420 No? 00:42:36.420 --> 00:42:39.420 Okay. 00:42:39.500 --> 00:42:42.500 Song of Songs, Chapter 2. 00:42:42.580 --> 00:42:45.580 Verse 10 to 18. 00:42:45.660 --> 00:42:48.660 Okay. 00:42:48.660 --> 00:42:51.660 Song of Songs, Chapter 2. 00:42:51.660 --> 00:42:54.660 Verse 10 to 18. 00:42:54.660 --> 00:42:57.660 Okay. 00:42:57.740 --> 00:43:00.740 Song of Songs, Chapter 2. 00:43:00.740 --> 00:43:03.740 Verse 10 to 18. 00:43:03.740 --> 00:43:06.740 I'm reading from the ESV. 00:43:13.740 --> 00:43:14.740 Ready? 00:43:14.740 --> 00:43:15.740 Beautiful, eh? 00:43:15.740 --> 00:43:16.740 Listen to this. 00:43:16.820 --> 00:43:23.820 My beloved speaks and says to me, arise my love, my beautiful one, and come away. 00:43:23.820 --> 00:43:29.820 Guys, get used to being, when it comes to God, get used to being the bride, eh? 00:43:29.820 --> 00:43:32.820 Don't go gender funny on God. 00:43:32.820 --> 00:43:35.820 Yeah? 00:43:35.820 --> 00:43:38.820 You can be all guy you want, but you can't be all guy you want. 00:43:38.820 --> 00:43:41.820 You can't be all guy you want. 00:43:41.820 --> 00:43:44.820 You can't be all guy you want. 00:43:44.900 --> 00:43:49.900 You can be all guy you want with your wife or with someone you love, but when it comes 00:43:49.900 --> 00:43:52.900 to God, you're the bride. 00:43:52.900 --> 00:43:55.900 And sometimes you have to listen to how he speaks because one of the complaints I hear 00:43:55.900 --> 00:43:57.900 is all these songs are about love. 00:43:57.900 --> 00:44:02.900 You know, men aren't able to connect with God because the songs are sissy. 00:44:02.900 --> 00:44:03.900 The songs are not sissy. 00:44:03.900 --> 00:44:06.900 Men just don't know how to express their blooming feelings. 00:44:14.900 --> 00:44:17.900 How do you come up with a macho song only for men? 00:44:21.900 --> 00:44:24.900 It'll be Tim the Toolman's Taylor. 00:44:25.900 --> 00:44:28.900 Tim the Toolman what? 00:44:29.900 --> 00:44:30.900 Taylor, right? 00:44:33.900 --> 00:44:36.900 Oh, ho, ho, hallelujah. 00:44:44.900 --> 00:44:47.900 Song of Songs, chapter 2, verse 10 to 18. 00:44:47.900 --> 00:44:48.900 My beloved speaks to me. 00:44:48.900 --> 00:44:51.900 Imagine him saying this to you in the morning, eh? 00:44:51.900 --> 00:44:53.900 My beloved speaks to me and says to me, 00:44:53.900 --> 00:44:58.900 Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. 00:44:58.900 --> 00:45:00.900 For behold, the winter is past. 00:45:00.900 --> 00:45:03.900 The rain is over and gone. 00:45:03.900 --> 00:45:06.900 The flowers appear on the earth and the time of singing has come. 00:45:06.900 --> 00:45:09.900 And the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. 00:45:09.900 --> 00:45:11.900 You can change the words. 00:45:11.980 --> 00:45:14.980 The fig tree ripens its figs and the vines are in blossom. 00:45:14.980 --> 00:45:15.980 The gift holds fragrance. 00:45:15.980 --> 00:45:18.980 Arise, my love, my beautiful one, come away. 00:45:18.980 --> 00:45:21.980 Oh, my dove, in the clefts of the rock and the crannies of the cliff, 00:45:21.980 --> 00:45:23.980 let me see your face. 00:45:23.980 --> 00:45:24.980 Let me hear your voice. 00:45:24.980 --> 00:45:27.980 For your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. 00:45:27.980 --> 00:45:29.980 And then it goes on to say, 00:45:29.980 --> 00:45:31.980 Let's get rid of everything that has gotten in the way. 00:45:31.980 --> 00:45:34.980 Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards. 00:45:34.980 --> 00:45:36.980 For our vineyards are in blossom. 00:45:37.980 --> 00:45:39.980 And then he goes on to say, 00:45:40.060 --> 00:45:42.060 My beloved is mine and I am his. 00:45:42.060 --> 00:45:44.060 And he grazes among the lilies. 00:45:44.060 --> 00:45:47.060 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee. 00:45:47.060 --> 00:45:51.060 Turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains. 00:45:53.060 --> 00:45:54.060 Gosh, man. 00:45:54.060 --> 00:45:56.060 We can say this to women. 00:45:56.060 --> 00:46:00.060 You probably would hear these lines in a movie when I was growing up. 00:46:00.060 --> 00:46:02.060 Today the words have changed. 00:46:04.060 --> 00:46:05.060 But that doesn't matter. 00:46:05.060 --> 00:46:06.060 Change the words. 00:46:06.060 --> 00:46:08.060 Make the context modern. 00:46:08.140 --> 00:46:12.140 But please understand that just like you would speak to someone you love, 00:46:12.140 --> 00:46:14.140 is the way God speaks to you. 00:46:14.140 --> 00:46:16.140 And then expects a conversation back. 00:46:16.140 --> 00:46:18.140 And are we capable? 00:46:29.140 --> 00:46:35.140 My chief aim is to glorify God by enjoying him. 00:46:35.220 --> 00:46:38.220 And at the end of the day guys, what is love? 00:46:38.220 --> 00:46:40.220 The overflow of joy is love. 00:46:40.220 --> 00:46:43.220 The overflow of joy is love. 00:46:43.220 --> 00:46:46.220 The overflow of joy is love. 00:46:46.220 --> 00:46:53.220 If you begin to be joyful in God, it is impossible for you not to love others. 00:46:55.220 --> 00:46:59.220 The overflow of joy in God is what love is. 00:46:59.300 --> 00:47:04.300 You can imagine the guy when he got healed and started leaping and praising God. 00:47:04.300 --> 00:47:07.300 That guy must have been kissing everybody on the way. 00:47:10.300 --> 00:47:14.300 The overflow of joy in God is love. 00:47:20.300 --> 00:47:23.300 Yes, I think that's the point. 00:47:23.380 --> 00:47:42.380 The essence of enjoying God is delight, which is an admiring, 00:47:42.460 --> 00:47:49.460 desirous, exulting love. 00:47:53.460 --> 00:47:56.460 If you don't know what that means and if you're a mother, 00:47:56.460 --> 00:48:00.460 think of your baby boy or baby girl. 00:48:00.460 --> 00:48:05.460 If you know what that means and you're a newly married couple or an only married couple, 00:48:05.460 --> 00:48:09.460 or you are going to get married, 00:48:09.540 --> 00:48:12.540 think of how this works for you. 00:48:14.540 --> 00:48:16.540 Why do people enjoy something? 00:48:16.540 --> 00:48:19.540 Because they absolutely delight in it. 00:48:19.540 --> 00:48:21.540 Absolutely delight in it. 00:48:21.540 --> 00:48:23.540 What does delight look like? 00:48:23.540 --> 00:48:28.540 It is absolute admiration or adoration, being desirous, 00:48:28.540 --> 00:48:31.540 as in what took you so long? 00:48:31.620 --> 00:48:40.620 And then exulting, as in it's not just so exuberant, so completely abandoned. 00:48:40.620 --> 00:48:41.620 I love that song. 00:48:41.620 --> 00:48:44.620 That's why I sing it every opportunity I get it. 00:48:44.620 --> 00:48:49.620 I stand, my arms high and I love the next line, 00:48:49.620 --> 00:48:51.620 my heart abandoned. 00:48:51.620 --> 00:48:53.620 That's exulting. 00:48:53.620 --> 00:48:56.620 Abandoned. 00:48:56.700 --> 00:49:01.700 Guys, these words must become part of our vocabulary with the Father, 00:49:01.700 --> 00:49:03.700 with the Son, with the Holy Spirit. 00:49:03.700 --> 00:49:05.700 It must become part of our vocabulary. 00:49:05.700 --> 00:49:10.700 And if it is not, we like babies must learn the language 00:49:10.700 --> 00:49:13.700 because this language truly reflects who you are 00:49:13.700 --> 00:49:16.700 because he made you like this. 00:49:16.700 --> 00:49:20.700 It has become alien because of the environment we've grown up in, 00:49:20.700 --> 00:49:23.700 but it is alien because of the environment we've grown up in. 00:49:23.780 --> 00:49:27.780 The environment we've grown up in, but it is you, 00:49:27.780 --> 00:49:30.780 especially if you're born again, it is you. 00:49:36.780 --> 00:49:40.780 That hulk of a man, Pawan, you should have seen him yesterday, 00:49:40.780 --> 00:49:42.780 was like blooming clay. 00:49:47.780 --> 00:49:50.780 That's what happens when someone loves someone, 00:49:50.860 --> 00:49:53.860 someone's enjoying someone, someone delights in someone. 00:49:57.860 --> 00:49:59.860 Any questions? 00:50:04.860 --> 00:50:06.860 I can't hear you. 00:50:09.860 --> 00:50:11.860 Just like you would enjoy a girl. 00:50:11.860 --> 00:50:13.860 You get that? 00:50:13.860 --> 00:50:15.860 Oh, come on, you get that. 00:50:17.860 --> 00:50:19.860 I can prove it. 00:50:19.940 --> 00:50:21.940 You don't want me to prove it. 00:50:26.940 --> 00:50:28.940 How do you enjoy a girl? 00:50:30.940 --> 00:50:33.940 The moment you see her, you think to yourself, 00:50:33.940 --> 00:50:43.940 oops, my heart just had paroxymal atrial tachycardia, 00:50:43.940 --> 00:50:46.940 which is basically what happens when the sinus rhythm is interrupted 00:50:47.020 --> 00:50:49.020 by a... 00:50:50.020 --> 00:50:52.020 That happens first, and then you think to yourself, 00:50:52.020 --> 00:50:54.020 gosh, I hope no one noticed. 00:50:54.020 --> 00:50:57.020 And then the next thing you know, you're glancing at her, 00:50:57.020 --> 00:50:59.020 you're looking at her, and you're hoping she doesn't notice 00:50:59.020 --> 00:51:01.020 that you looked at her. 00:51:01.020 --> 00:51:03.020 And then one day she notices, and then you turn away 00:51:03.020 --> 00:51:06.020 and you start looking at the speaker like it's some beautiful thing. 00:51:07.020 --> 00:51:09.020 Familiar, right? 00:51:10.020 --> 00:51:13.020 As a person, we are talking about this person called a girl. 00:51:13.100 --> 00:51:15.100 It is... See, this is why... 00:51:15.100 --> 00:51:18.100 Because we do not understand God as a personhood. 00:51:18.100 --> 00:51:24.100 We can't see the kindness of God that I experienced this morning in some way. 00:51:24.100 --> 00:51:28.100 I can't see the sudden embrace of God. 00:51:28.100 --> 00:51:32.100 I don't understand what it is to be embraced by the tangible love of God. 00:51:32.100 --> 00:51:34.100 We think love is some kind of, 00:51:34.100 --> 00:51:37.100 he has saved me, therefore he loves me. 00:51:37.100 --> 00:51:41.100 There have been days when you are wrecked by the love of God. 00:51:43.100 --> 00:51:47.100 I remember having done something really gross, 00:51:47.100 --> 00:51:50.100 and now don't start imagining, really gross, 00:51:50.100 --> 00:51:56.100 and then I'm thinking to myself, how am I going to get out of this? 00:51:56.100 --> 00:51:58.100 And all I hear is God saying, 00:51:58.100 --> 00:52:03.100 hey, go check the cover of the New Yorker magazine 00:52:03.100 --> 00:52:05.100 on March such and such a date. 00:52:05.100 --> 00:52:08.100 I'm thinking to myself, really? 00:52:08.100 --> 00:52:10.100 And so I go check the New Yorker magazine cover, 00:52:10.180 --> 00:52:13.180 and it is of a man sweeping the place clean, 00:52:13.180 --> 00:52:16.180 making it shiny bright. That's the cover. 00:52:16.180 --> 00:52:19.180 That is tangible love. 00:52:19.180 --> 00:52:22.180 I see that happen to me every week. 00:52:22.180 --> 00:52:25.180 People here see that happen to them every week. 00:52:25.180 --> 00:52:27.180 Some little thing that God does. 00:52:27.180 --> 00:52:30.180 He's been doing this since the beginning of eternity. 00:52:30.180 --> 00:52:33.180 Why is he asking, where are you hiding? 00:52:33.180 --> 00:52:34.180 Adam, Adam, where are you? 00:52:34.180 --> 00:52:36.180 What's the real cry? 00:52:36.180 --> 00:52:37.180 Adam, Adam, come to me. 00:52:37.180 --> 00:52:39.180 I can get this fixed. 00:52:39.260 --> 00:52:42.260 Because we don't think of him as a person, 00:52:42.260 --> 00:52:45.260 we think that love is salvation. 00:52:45.260 --> 00:52:47.260 Well, then he could have killed me after getting me saved 00:52:47.260 --> 00:52:50.260 because I could have gotten to heaven immediately. 00:52:50.260 --> 00:52:51.260 But his intent was, 00:52:51.260 --> 00:52:55.260 can you now experience what it is to be loved by me? 00:52:55.260 --> 00:52:56.260 Can you know what a father is? 00:52:56.260 --> 00:52:57.260 You didn't have a good father? 00:52:57.260 --> 00:52:59.260 Well, I'll show you what a good father is. 00:52:59.260 --> 00:53:02.260 It is tangible, guys. 00:53:02.260 --> 00:53:06.260 The very word tangible comes because God made Himself human. 00:53:06.340 --> 00:53:09.340 And now the same God begins to live in me. 00:53:09.340 --> 00:53:11.340 We talked about this last week. 00:53:11.340 --> 00:53:14.340 How do we enjoy God? 00:53:14.340 --> 00:53:16.340 How do we begin the process of enjoying God? 00:53:16.340 --> 00:53:17.340 By seeing Him. 00:53:17.340 --> 00:53:18.340 Where do we see Him? 00:53:18.340 --> 00:53:19.340 In the word. 00:53:19.340 --> 00:53:20.340 How do we see Him in the word? 00:53:20.340 --> 00:53:21.340 By hearing the word. 00:53:21.340 --> 00:53:22.340 How do we hear the word? 00:53:22.340 --> 00:53:24.340 By reading it and listening to the Spirit, 00:53:24.340 --> 00:53:27.340 the voice of the Spirit. 00:53:27.340 --> 00:53:31.340 This is why Peter stands and says in 1 Peter, 00:53:31.340 --> 00:53:34.340 we were there when we saw His majesty. 00:53:34.420 --> 00:53:37.420 And we now know He is real because He lives in us. 00:53:39.420 --> 00:53:42.420 So just as you would think, Abhishek, I'm not trying to... 00:53:42.420 --> 00:53:44.420 I mean, I'm kind of trying to make fun of you, 00:53:44.420 --> 00:53:46.420 but that's not the main intent. 00:53:46.420 --> 00:53:50.420 The main intent is just like you would enjoy falling in love. 00:53:50.420 --> 00:53:53.420 You have to learn how to enjoy falling in love 00:53:53.420 --> 00:53:57.420 with an invisible God who is absolutely tangible. 00:53:57.420 --> 00:53:58.420 And it is... 00:53:58.420 --> 00:54:01.420 The reason we don't have this is because we do not know. 00:54:01.420 --> 00:54:02.420 How? 00:54:02.500 --> 00:54:04.500 And the reason we won't get it tomorrow 00:54:04.500 --> 00:54:07.500 because everybody nowadays wants to get everything tomorrow. 00:54:07.500 --> 00:54:09.500 This ain't an instant God. 00:54:09.500 --> 00:54:12.500 He's been called the Ancient of Days, and there's a reason. 00:54:14.500 --> 00:54:16.500 It's going to take time. 00:54:18.500 --> 00:54:20.500 But we've got to speak this language. 00:54:20.500 --> 00:54:22.500 We've got to recognize His personhood 00:54:22.500 --> 00:54:25.500 and we've got to understand that what He does is tangible. 00:54:26.500 --> 00:54:28.500 Are you moved during worship? 00:54:28.580 --> 00:54:31.580 Sorry, that wasn't a rhetorical question. 00:54:31.580 --> 00:54:33.580 Are you moved during worship? 00:54:34.580 --> 00:54:36.580 Yes? Is it because of Thuney's face? 00:54:39.580 --> 00:54:43.580 The only one who's moved by Thuney's face is Anilay. 00:54:45.580 --> 00:54:47.580 Bless the Lord, you found a good wife. 00:54:47.580 --> 00:54:51.580 But the rest of us are not moved by Thuney's face 00:54:51.580 --> 00:54:53.580 or Sere's guitar playing. 00:54:53.580 --> 00:54:57.580 We are moved because Thuney's face is not moved 00:54:57.660 --> 00:55:02.660 because we suddenly know that God is in the place 00:55:02.660 --> 00:55:04.660 and He's doing something to you. 00:55:04.660 --> 00:55:05.660 What is He doing to you? 00:55:05.660 --> 00:55:06.660 Can you define it? 00:55:06.660 --> 00:55:07.660 Could you describe it? 00:55:07.660 --> 00:55:08.660 No. 00:55:16.660 --> 00:55:17.660 Who is this? 00:55:17.660 --> 00:55:18.660 Jacob. 00:55:19.660 --> 00:55:21.660 She's something else, Jacob. 00:55:21.660 --> 00:55:23.660 Ever since she's come into my life, 00:55:23.660 --> 00:55:25.660 I don't know, she's totally messed me up. 00:55:25.660 --> 00:55:26.660 She's changed me. 00:55:26.740 --> 00:55:27.740 I love her, Jacob. 00:55:27.740 --> 00:55:28.740 Who's this? 00:55:29.740 --> 00:55:31.740 It's either Don or Derek, right? 00:55:31.740 --> 00:55:36.740 My God, these were feelingless guys when I knew them. 00:55:37.740 --> 00:55:39.740 Now they're blooming, overflowing with feelings 00:55:39.740 --> 00:55:40.740 about their wives. 00:55:40.740 --> 00:55:42.740 How does this happen? 00:55:42.740 --> 00:55:45.740 And I said, they're thinking, oh, I lost a friend. 00:55:48.740 --> 00:55:50.740 This is tangible, guys. 00:55:50.740 --> 00:55:52.740 God is like that. 00:55:52.820 --> 00:55:56.820 Please believe me because this is what He says in the Word. 00:55:56.820 --> 00:55:58.820 Don't believe me because I'm trying to convince you. 00:55:58.820 --> 00:56:00.820 This is how He is in the Word. 00:56:01.820 --> 00:56:02.820 Experiment with it. 00:56:02.820 --> 00:56:03.820 Explore this. 00:56:04.820 --> 00:56:08.820 You got four months, meaning till the end of the year 00:56:08.820 --> 00:56:12.820 and then you got another year, just in case you thought. 00:56:14.820 --> 00:56:19.820 Okay, guys, if we don't get this, then here's what happens. 00:56:19.900 --> 00:56:22.900 Doing is always, doing is the fruit. 00:56:24.900 --> 00:56:25.900 Love is the root. 00:56:28.900 --> 00:56:30.900 Joy is the lifeblood. 00:56:32.900 --> 00:56:37.900 This is the case in human relationships and with God. 00:56:37.900 --> 00:56:38.900 Doing is the root. 00:56:42.900 --> 00:56:44.900 Ask Aaron to take out the trash. 00:56:44.900 --> 00:56:47.900 Doing, he may do, but is there joy in the lifeblood 00:56:47.980 --> 00:56:49.980 that surges through him and he takes out the trash? 00:56:49.980 --> 00:56:50.980 Absolutely not. 00:56:50.980 --> 00:56:52.980 Does he feel particularly loving towards ready? 00:56:52.980 --> 00:56:53.980 No. 00:56:54.980 --> 00:56:56.980 But doing is the root. 00:56:58.980 --> 00:57:00.980 Sorry, doing is the fruit. 00:57:00.980 --> 00:57:01.980 Love is the root. 00:57:01.980 --> 00:57:02.980 Joy is the lifeblood. 00:57:02.980 --> 00:57:04.980 And we got to get this right. 00:57:04.980 --> 00:57:07.980 You know, we hear this line, right? 00:57:08.980 --> 00:57:12.980 If you love me, you will obey my commandments. 00:57:13.060 --> 00:57:17.060 How we think of this is not, we think of it as, 00:57:20.060 --> 00:57:22.060 I'll phrase it exactly right, 00:57:22.060 --> 00:57:25.060 so we get the gist of how we think. 00:57:28.060 --> 00:57:33.060 Loving me is keeping my commands, 00:57:40.060 --> 00:57:42.060 is how we hear it. 00:57:43.060 --> 00:57:45.060 But what Jesus is saying is, 00:57:46.060 --> 00:57:49.060 if you love me, 00:57:51.060 --> 00:57:58.060 you will keep my commands. 00:57:59.060 --> 00:58:00.060 What a difference, eh? 00:58:03.060 --> 00:58:04.060 What's first? 00:58:09.060 --> 00:58:12.060 We think God is saying loving me is keeping my commands. 00:58:13.060 --> 00:58:15.060 That's a doing. 00:58:15.060 --> 00:58:17.060 What came before that? 00:58:17.060 --> 00:58:19.060 The root, and what is the root? 00:58:19.060 --> 00:58:21.060 If you love me, you will keep my commands. 00:58:21.060 --> 00:58:23.060 It's very natural. 00:58:25.060 --> 00:58:28.060 And then he goes on to say, after saying that, he says, 00:58:28.060 --> 00:58:30.060 if you keep my commands, 00:58:33.060 --> 00:58:35.060 beautiful how the logic works, 00:58:35.060 --> 00:58:37.060 if you keep my commands, 00:58:38.060 --> 00:58:40.060 you will remain 00:58:43.060 --> 00:58:45.060 intimately 00:58:48.060 --> 00:58:50.060 in my love. 00:58:51.060 --> 00:58:53.060 And then he says, 00:58:53.060 --> 00:58:55.060 if you remain in my love, 00:58:59.060 --> 00:59:03.060 your joy will be full. 00:59:05.060 --> 00:59:07.060 What a virtuous cycle, eh? 00:59:08.060 --> 00:59:09.060 Look at this. 00:59:09.060 --> 00:59:12.060 He is not saying loving me is keeping my commands. 00:59:13.060 --> 00:59:17.060 He is saying, if you love me, Jacob, you will keep my commands. 00:59:17.060 --> 00:59:21.060 If you keep my commands, you will remain intimately in my love. 00:59:21.060 --> 00:59:24.060 If you remain intimately in my love, your joy will be full. 00:59:25.060 --> 00:59:27.060 Beautiful, eh? 00:59:38.060 --> 00:59:40.060 Let me end. 00:59:40.140 --> 00:59:43.140 Joy does not blind us or numb us 00:59:43.140 --> 00:59:45.140 to daily weeping, 00:59:45.140 --> 00:59:48.140 to suffering, to brokenness around us. 00:59:49.140 --> 00:59:52.140 Like in the midst of worship, why is he crying? 00:59:52.140 --> 00:59:54.140 Does that mean he's lost his joy? 00:59:54.140 --> 00:59:56.140 Does it mean he's sad? No. 00:59:56.140 --> 00:59:59.140 In the midst of worship, in the midst of enjoying God, 00:59:59.140 --> 01:00:02.140 one can remember one's mother, father, brother, sister, 01:00:02.140 --> 01:00:06.140 friend, husband, how weep and suffer. 01:00:06.220 --> 01:00:09.220 Joy doesn't blind us or numb us 01:00:09.220 --> 01:00:12.220 to daily weeping, to suffering, to brokenness. 01:00:12.220 --> 01:00:14.220 This is why that song, 01:00:14.220 --> 01:00:16.220 Yes, Lord, Yes, makes so much sense. 01:00:16.220 --> 01:00:18.220 2 Corinthians 6.10, 01:00:18.220 --> 01:00:20.220 hard-pressed but rejoicing. 01:00:20.220 --> 01:00:22.220 Sometimes laughing, sometimes leaping. 01:00:22.220 --> 01:00:26.220 Other times weeping but unshakably satisfied with God. 01:00:26.220 --> 01:00:29.220 That's what Remy was saying about Wilson's wife. 01:00:29.220 --> 01:00:31.300 One last thought. 01:00:41.300 --> 01:00:44.300 The one who brings us joy 01:00:44.300 --> 01:00:46.300 is the Holy Spirit. 01:00:47.300 --> 01:00:49.300 The one who brings joy 01:00:49.300 --> 01:00:51.300 is the Holy Spirit. 01:00:51.300 --> 01:00:53.300 It's not the spring of Christ, 01:00:53.300 --> 01:00:55.300 it's the spring of Jesus. 01:00:55.300 --> 01:00:58.540 It's the spring of the Lord. 01:00:58.540 --> 01:01:20.220 Spirit. One who brings us joy is the Holy Spirit. He is the person of the Holy Spirit. 01:01:20.220 --> 01:01:24.860 Again, we can't think of him as a ghost. He is the person of the Holy Spirit. One of the 01:01:24.860 --> 01:01:29.140 things that happened with English translating, early English translations is we would call 01:01:29.140 --> 01:01:35.020 him the Holy Ghost and so he'd become like Casper. But the intent was not Holy Ghost, 01:01:35.020 --> 01:01:43.620 the intent was a person. He's a person. He's in a wisp that comes in and goes, he's a person. 01:01:43.620 --> 01:01:52.540 So he's a person of the Holy Spirit. But strangely enough, he's also the spirit of the Father. 01:01:52.540 --> 01:01:59.180 Don't try to understand this. And he's also the spirit of Christ according to the word. 01:01:59.180 --> 01:02:27.260 And he has only one intent. Can I glorify Christ? Can I include you? Can I also have 01:02:27.300 --> 01:02:53.420 you participate in the joy and love of the Godhead? Can I help you delight in the Father 01:02:53.500 --> 01:03:16.460 and Son as I delight in them and they delight in me? We'll end with that. Just think of that 01:03:16.460 --> 01:03:24.380 for a second guys. He's the Holy Spirit. So there's a person of the Holy Spirit. He's a person. 01:03:24.380 --> 01:03:32.340 There's a person living inside me. There's a person. He's got the Holy Spirit. He's a person. 01:03:32.340 --> 01:03:40.020 I must relate to him as a person. I must understand he grieves. I must understand he gets disappointed. 01:03:40.020 --> 01:03:48.020 I must understand that he's hilariously happy. I understand that he likes my jokes. Some of them. 01:03:48.020 --> 01:03:59.740 He's the person of the Holy Spirit, but he's also the spirit of the Father. And he's the spirit of 01:03:59.740 --> 01:04:11.100 Christ. And go to the last line. One of the things he wants to do is, can I help you, Derek, delight 01:04:11.100 --> 01:04:17.700 in the Father and the Son as I delight in them and they delight in me? There's this joy between 01:04:17.700 --> 01:04:22.100 Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons, one God, but three distinct persons. 01:04:22.100 --> 01:04:28.580 The Father loves the Son. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. 01:04:28.580 --> 01:04:39.140 The Son adores the Father, thinks highly of the Father. Everything he does, he says, 01:04:39.140 --> 01:04:45.060 my Father, my Father, my Father. Matthew chapter eleven, that's what he's doing. I'm saying this 01:04:45.060 --> 01:04:49.900 just so in your hearing you understand that everything I have is his and everything he has 01:04:49.900 --> 01:04:54.860 is mine. And this comes out of a unique Father-Son relationship and that's why it's a unique Father-Son 01:04:54.860 --> 01:05:00.380 cooperation. Those are the words used in the message. Just like this. Here is a Father who 01:05:00.380 --> 01:05:09.860 dotes and enjoys his Son. You want to know how a Father can enjoy a Son and a Son can enjoy the 01:05:09.860 --> 01:05:24.740 Father? Watch. That is how real our God is. You want to watch how Lenny put her face into the 01:05:24.740 --> 01:05:34.260 other guy's chest and so weeping there for an entire song. Everybody is seeing the goodness of 01:05:34.260 --> 01:05:40.940 God and she's only thinking of the goodness of him. You want to see what it is to enjoy, 01:05:40.940 --> 01:05:48.340 how lovers enjoy, how Father's sons enjoy? Look at this. This is absurd. This is church, excuse me. 01:05:48.340 --> 01:05:58.100 This is how real it is. He is a person. He is a person and therefore the Holy Spirit is saying, 01:05:58.100 --> 01:06:03.980 hey, can I take you and show you how the Father delights in me and I delight in the Father? How 01:06:03.980 --> 01:06:10.540 I delight in the Son and how Jesus delights in me? Jesus at one point says, the Holy Spirit will 01:06:10.540 --> 01:06:16.580 come and look at the words he says. Just look at the relationship. How convoluted and how simple 01:06:16.580 --> 01:06:21.580 it is. He's saying, hey, I want you to know that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will lead you into 01:06:21.580 --> 01:06:26.740 all truth. He'll take all the truths I'm saying and he will show it to you. That's one verse. 01:06:26.740 --> 01:06:30.620 The next verse is, the reason I'm saying he'll take all the truths from me and show it to you 01:06:30.620 --> 01:06:37.900 is because all the Father's truths are mine. And you see this intricate connection between 01:06:37.900 --> 01:06:43.260 Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One of the joys of the Spirit of God is, Nick, can I bring you 01:06:43.260 --> 01:06:53.660 into that joy? Can I bring you into that oneness? Can I bring you into that wonder? That's the last 01:06:54.140 --> 01:07:01.580 sentence I want to say. This is impossible without childlike wonder. What we are talking about now 01:07:01.580 --> 01:07:10.740 is impossible without childlike wonder. You know guys, if you have children, may one of your parents 01:07:10.740 --> 01:07:22.140 have the ability to rediscover the joy of wonder. Otherwise, your child will learn everything but 01:07:22.140 --> 01:07:29.780 will not learn what it is to enjoy things around them because you're busy taking them to piano 01:07:29.780 --> 01:07:36.220 school and then to tuitions and then to soccer and the joy of wonder, discovering the joy of 01:07:36.220 --> 01:07:43.660 wonder. This, what we've talked about, is impossible unless a return to childlike wonder. The more 01:07:43.660 --> 01:07:53.820 intellectual you are, the more deliverance you need. That is meant as half joke but half serious. 01:07:56.060 --> 01:08:02.620 The more childlike I am, the more I can explore this. The personhood of God. 01:08:05.900 --> 01:08:07.580 How's it going to affect your prayer tomorrow?