John 10 – Safe in the Arms of Jesus

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The following transcript is a direct copy from the Youtube automatic transcript. It may not be 100% accurate but it is being provided until we can produce a better and more accurate transcript of the sermon.

good morning how's everybody doing today

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awesome isn't it awesome to be in the house of the Lord yeah yeah I just got a few announcements

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before we get started and uh some of those are men related and some

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of them are lady related so let's see here we've got uh church

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tonight all right I'm loving that so yeah you guys show up that ought to

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be a lot of fun and then after church uh let's see we got Wednesday Bible study still

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of course well I'm just checking making sure you're the pastor so we don't cancel

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Wednesday ever do we that's a good point

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and then on this Thursday I'm a little excited because this Thursday we get to continue our study us men uh six o'clock

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here on the post-exilic prophets so the first and third Thursday of the month uh just

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mark your calendar guys we're going to be talking about week two in our book uh that's going to be on haggai

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kind of going to cover the first chapter of verse 15 verses and there's uh some questions in our study book so just

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bring that Thursday night and we were there about an hour and a half last time so we'll see if we can keep that in the

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same parameter and then also the next day on Friday

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April 21st apparently there's a church game night

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that's the women's ministry will be hosting a game night for the whole church that's really excellent each

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family that comes is encouraged to bring a food dish to share with everybody and

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their favorite board game I remember doing this last year Miss Betsy this is where we had in the fellowship hall

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wasn't it yeah I think it was it was a good time I really enjoyed that and that's from 6 30 to 9 00 pm

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and you're encouraged to sign up if you're planning on attending and then also uh the following week on

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Monday April the 24th at 10 A.M at Becky's house you ladies are going to be

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doing the Women's Bible study you girls are in Romans I think you're going to be ready to discuss chapter 3 in the book

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and then there at the the last Saturday of the month April the 29th at 8 A.M us

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guys are getting together here at the church to cook breakfast any of you that want to show up and eat

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that's at 9 00 a.m and then we're going to have a devotional about 9 45 and

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Brian Underwood's going to be here for that that ought to be pretty exciting he's our missionary and he's been in a

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lot of the countries in Asia and some countries in Africa looking forward to

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hearing what he has to say and uh if you have any questions about any of

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the Men's Ministry you could ask me directly here after church be happy to talk to you and then the spring carrion

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it's Sunday April 30th Cali I love to eat at this church don't you Joanne man I love it so the church is having fried

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chicken and then there's a sign up sheet in the back that way if you want to put

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down a covered dish it'd be real important that we do that that we all don't bring biscuits you know we need a

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little variety and that'll be absolutely amazing because that's after church so if you

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know some guys or ladies that like to eat good opportunity to invite him to church just saying

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and then also uh in the in the month of May we have one thing so far to announce

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in May and that's the women of the Bible are having their ladies banquet and

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that's going to be Friday May the 12th at 6 PM mark your calendar tickets are

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10 bucks and on sale you know through the month of April so

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you got to see Megan to purchase tickets you've still got a bunch of tickets for sale right okay because I think I need

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to still buy one from you or maybe four you got to buy them for kids too right okay outside

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okay well you'll have to talk to Miss Sherry about the wording in this because that's throwing me all off it says women

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of the Bible ladies banquet I mean I don't know I don't write this stuff you know

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yeah you girls you girls talk after church and get your grammar straight because I'm terrible at grammar in case

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you didn't know but uh I appreciate the clarity Miss Carrie thank you and uh then we also

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have some April birthdays uh uh Megan is having well had her birthday and then

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Devin back there Hosanna nesba Julia be sure to wish all of them this month a

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happy birthday happy birthday soon Devin and uh and uh also uh let's uh let's go

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to the Lord in prayer this morning before we uh start off with our worship service that's a Heavenly Father uh great and

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wonderful you are oh Lord you are the Lord of Heaven's armies the Creator

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of everything and without you we are nothing O Lord that's why we humbly beseech you a

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heavenly father to uh have your will done on Earth as it is in heaven

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please use us Lord to do your will as we administer to those around us

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as we try to be helpful please Lord help us to pause when

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agitated throughout this week and uh be mindful of asking you for the right

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thing to say please help us to be slow to speak and give us the words to say when we're

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dealing with situations in life this week and may we be more christ-like as we try

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to practice that Lord I also humbly ask that all those

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that we know that are sick we just want to give them up to you Lord that you are the great physician and we just ask for

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wisdom for the doctors and nurses that are caring for our loved ones and those that we know of

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and Lord we just also humbly uh just asked that may our worship service today

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be pleasing and uh we thank you thank you Lord for uh just the very air that

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we breathe we also thank you Lord for allowing us to have a a building such as this that

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we can come and worship Your Great Name I just humbly asked to uh

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just say thank you thank you for those that you have led to share your word today

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may all the word that's being shared with us may we be able to learn from it even if it hurts our Heart Lord

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um just just tell us exactly what we need to do to apply it to our life

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moving forward and thank you thank you for all of these Christian brothers and

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sisters that have decided to be faithful and be here today to worship Your Great Name in Jesus name amen

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if you'll stand as we sing Our First song

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[Music]

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it's the song [Music]

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it's the song again

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[Applause] [Music]

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tried every tongue every day [Music]

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[Music]

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[Music] He reigns

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let it rise [Music]

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Towers [Music]

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[Music]

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of all the bells run from thousands goals nine rings

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Glory

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Hallelujah [Music]

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[Music]

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we raise [Music]

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all the powers of Darkness

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[Music]

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[Music] babe

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here baby it's all about children swinging Glory Glory

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he raises

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[Music]

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He reigns

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[Music]

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and blessing in your name is

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[Music]

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the world through the winter days

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[Music]

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[Music]

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when the darkness

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[Music]

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blessed evening [Music]

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with a sun shining down on me

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let's take me your name but Mark it is

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[Music]

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[Music]

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when the darkness anymore

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[Applause] [Music]

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[Music]

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[Music]

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take away [Applause]

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[Music]

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[Applause] your name

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[Music]

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everything you've delivered

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[Music]

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[Applause] [Music]

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blessed in the name of the Lord

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thank you [Music] seated for the scripture reading

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good morning I'll be in the first John today if you

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want to turn there can be kind of difficult to find so I'll give you a minute

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we'll be reading from chapter two verses 15 through 17.

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so just a few verses

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I'll start in verse 15. do not love the world or the things in

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the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him

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for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life

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is not of the father but is of the world and the world is passing away and the

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lust of it but he who does the will of God abides forever thank you

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if you'll stand with us as we sing Our next song instead of building our lives on the

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world and on the things that will pass away we need to stand and build our lives on the solid rock

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[Music]

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the sweetest friend [Music]

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on Christ The Silence [Music]

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I think [Music]

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on Christ the solid rockers

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[Music]

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is sinking sin is

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[Music]

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when all around my soul gives

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[Music]

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[Music]

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is sinking sand when he shall come with trumpet sounds

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[Music]

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on Christmas

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[Music]

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this is [Music]

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if you may bow your heads please thank you Lord for bringing us all here today we're grateful to be here and to

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praise you in your name thank you again for the great weather that we're having and thank you Lord for watching over all

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of Richmond as the fire and the plume um May you please bless all the families

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that were affected Lord may you please forgive us of all of our

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sins and thank you for everything that you do amen

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[Music] foreign

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[Music]

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[Music]

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[Music]

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[Music]

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foreign [Music]

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how are you this morning are you sure about three of you said I'm

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great wonderful I didn't hear the wonderful over the two other greats

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it is it is wonderful to see all of you this morning I'm it feels are you guys feeling a little

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like uh tired or something I was going to say it seems like everyone feels

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tired this morning the whole service just feels like it's I mean Meandering

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on we're remember we're here to worship we're here to worship God and everything we do whether it's praying singing or

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preaching the word or reading the scripture it's all here to worship God so so wake up you know I was gonna I was

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thinking in my mind sitting down there I'm like should everybody stand up and do some you know some motions and try to

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we don't have to do that but wake up it's time to time to hear the word of God and to listen and hopefully to

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engage and hopefully you know to amen when it's appropriate I don't call for

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amens but I think if you're going to engage you should engage in the sermon this morning especially if you're a

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little tired keep you keep you on your toes a little bit well as we always do if you would open

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your Bibles with me to John chapter 10 we're going to open the word of God and we're going to take a look at a passage

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we've been in John 10 for three or four weeks already at this point and there's probably at least this sermon and maybe

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one more before we get out of John 10. but this is really important material

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this this passage if you'll recall if we if we can all just look back at the very beginning of John 10 Jesus said most

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assuredly I say to you he who does not enter the Sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way the same as a

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thief and a robber but he who enters by the door is The Shepherd of the sheep to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep

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hear his voice and he calls his own Sheep by name and leads them out and when he brings out his own sheep he goes

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before them and the Sheep follow him for they know his voice yet they will by no means follow a stranger but will flee

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from him for they do not know the voice of strangers and if you look at verse 7

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he says then Jesus said to them again most assuredly I say to you I am the door of the Sheep

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and in in verse 11 I am the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd gives his

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life for the Sheep and so we've had several sermons on those

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subjects and then we had Resurrection Sunday last week and we saw we I read

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through the narrative you know I took all four gospels put it together in an order and read to you the very Narrative

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of the Lord's kind of last night as he had the Lord's supper or the last

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Passover meal and then he made his way to a cross the next morning through a whole series of horror harrowing

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beatings and mockeries and trials and he goes to a cross and he dies on that

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cross and if you've trusted Christ you know from this passage here in John 10 he died for you

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he shed his blood to pay for your sin and so if you are one of his sheep then

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you hear his voice and you follow him and so as we move down in the passage we're going to pick up today in verse

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22. but I need to ask you a couple of questions and the title I don't think will make

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sense as I open up the sermon the title won't make much sense until we get to

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the end towards the middle or the at least you know the middle but maybe the end of the sermon

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but I need to ask you a couple of questions these are serious questions you ought to really consider

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are you dedicated to God are you truly dedicated to God

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do you devote your life to the work of God now you may have another job you may

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have other things you do but are you devoted to God with everything you're doing are you living for him are you

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hearing the voice of the shepherd and are you following him in everything that you do

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and then secondarily and this will this will become clear hopefully as we move into the beginning

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of the sermon what good is a temple for God if it is profaned

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and and again you're probably thinking what in the world does that question mean

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but what good is a temple to God if it's profaned

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and then hopefully to start to get the wheels spinning where is God's temple on Earth today

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where is it it's not in Jerusalem so start to think about where it is what

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the Bible says and where it reveals the temple of God is today and then ask yourself that first

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question about what good is the temple if it's a profane Temple if it's been

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profaned let's pray together then we'll get into this sermon

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Heavenly Father you are the almighty the Great and the Living God you are the Creator God

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and father you have created each one of us father you have developed in your word a

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form of worship and it is a form of worship where it starts off with sacrifices being made to

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you and father we learn as we go through your word that those sacrifices of

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animals they can't take away sins the book of Hebrews tells us very plainly

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the sacrificing of animals does not take away sin but father we learn that your

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son your very son the Eternal Son of God came down and put on

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the Flesh of mankind and went to a cross to pay for our sin but father we are so grateful and we are

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so grateful in this season where we celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord even though as Christians we do this all

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the time we are so grateful for the sacrifice he made help us to see now as we move forward in

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this text that he is not only the door of the sheep he is not only the Good Shepherd

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but he is the one who is atoned for sin being the Lamb of God who takes away the

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sin of the world and father we need you to do this work in the hearts of men

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you must change the heart we can only preach the word we can only be faithful to be messengers of the word

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but father you are the one who brings the change and you do that through the power of the

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blood of Christ and the gospel message as it's preached the heart can be transformed and changed

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so father we ask that you'll do that work today and we ask for the Believers here that

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you will inspire us and embolden us to be faithful and holy to be righteous

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truthful to be people who love to serve

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father teach us what Jesus's words mean that if you desire to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven you'll become the

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servant of all father show us as Christians to live our lives this way

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father I thank you for each one you've sent this morning I pray God that you would bless them that you would grow

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them into your faithful servant and father that you would have them serve and plug in and do everything that

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you're calling them to do to hear the voice of the shepherd and to follow and God we will give you all the glory

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and praise we thank you for the local church we thank you for the word of God and again we thank you most of all for

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Christ and his sacrifice and we pray all of this for your glory in the name of Jesus

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amen Genesis 10 let's start

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read down through verse 1. now it was the Feast of dedication in

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Jerusalem and it was Winter and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch

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then the Jews surrounded him and said to him how long do you keep us in doubt if

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you are the Christ tell us plainly Jesus answered them I told you and you

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do not believe the works that I do in my father's name they bear witness of me

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but you do not believe because you are not of my sheep as I said to you

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my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them

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eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand

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my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to

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snatch them out of my father's hand I and my father are one

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and I know it's reading across that title boundary there that is just interjected into the Bible but verse 31

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then the Jews took up stones again to Stone him and many of you who have been here

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hearing these sermons preached regularly you know that the Jews all the way through the Book of John here have

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continuously picked up stones to Stone Jesus because of blasphemy or him calling himself the Son of God they do

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it again here it's very important to watch those as they come through but in this text notice now it was the Feast of

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dedication in Jerusalem and it was Winter and you'll note this is a

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different now it's switching to a different scene than what has been before this not only in John 10 but also

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all the way back to John 9. remember they were at the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of booths in Jerusalem and the

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same thing the Jews were dealing with him over calling himself the Son of God and making himself out to be God but

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here we switch to a new Feast a new festival and this is in the winter time

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the Feast of of Tabernacles was in the fall it's one of three fall feasts part

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of the feasts of the Lord the Feast of trumpets the day of atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles are all fall feasts

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here we have a feast that is not listed in Leviticus 23 as a feast of the Lord

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and there's a reason there's a good reason this is called the Feast of dedication most of you will know this

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Feast by its common name that it's called today Hanukkah if if you're

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familiar with Hanukkah now Hanukkah is not a feast commanded in the Bible anywhere and there's a reason for that

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the the Feast of dedication or the Feast of Hanukkah is not an Old Testament Feast by the time you reach the prophet

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Malachi who is the last prophet prophet of the Old Testament before John the Baptist comes on the scene 400 years

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later you have nothing said about the Feast of Hanukkah and the reason is

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the Feast of dedication takes place in the period between Malachi's prophesying

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the last Old Testament Prophet before John the Baptist and when John the Baptist comes to announce Jesus as the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world who is actually the last Old

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Testament Prophet but we learn nothing about John until he comes on the scene at the time of Jesus in the gospels okay

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in that period it's called the inter-testamental period or some some

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Scholars call it the silent years because it's as if God went silent now

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God is never silent truly but he stopped sending his word through prophets to

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Israel during this 400 year period of time and so it is just a fact of history

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there is no Revelation given by God for this 400 years at least written

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Revelation that becomes scripture and then all of a sudden John the Baptist shows up well this Feast of

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dedication or the Feast of Hanukkah it is called this Feast is important it's

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established in in this place it's important to the Jews and it's important for a very specific reason around the

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year 167 BC there was a very famous Syrian King and again he's more he's

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more famous because he's notorious than he is like honorable his name was Antiochus IV and he called

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himself Antiochus epiphanies the word epiphanies meaning the Glorious one and

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so that's what he referred to himself the Jews changed one letter in that and called him epimenes which means the

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madman just so you can understand there's always a different perspective from a king or you know his own

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understanding of himself and the people but he but he really was a madman and so

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how this Festival comes about and I'll be very brief I'm not going to go into all the history

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I've already done that history preaching through Daniel a couple of years ago if you want to go back online and listen to

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those sermons we talked a lot about this guy but this guy came in he took over

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the temple in Jerusalem and with his armies and he desecrated the temple of

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God now this is we're talking not about Solomon's Temple remember Solomon's Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar

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in around 586 587 BC it was destroyed so the temple was rebuilt under a guy named

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zerubbabel Governor if you remember sent back King Cyrus allowed them to leave Persian

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Babylon the Captivity they were in for 70 years by God he allowed them to go back and start to build the temple in

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the city again and so they go back build that Temple that Temple lasts up

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until 167 and it is still standing but this guy Antiochus this leader of Syria

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he comes in and he desecrates the temple and the way he does this again to be

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very brief he takes a sow a very large hog and he has the thing boiled

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and so they boiled this very large sow they take the waters from this sow that

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had been boiled remember this is a non-kosher this is not a kosher animal and they take all of that water that

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juice all of that stuff and they throw it all over the temple of God

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they desecrate the entire thing the holy place the holy of holies the building the whole place

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and so again this defiles or desecrates the temple well through a series of

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revolts culminating in a Revolt under Judas Maccabees you can read about this

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in the the apocryphal or extra biblical books called Maccabees they they get a group together

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they go in and they push out Antiochus and his armies out of the temple compound they reclaim it recapture it

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they clean it up and they dedicate it back to the Lord back to Holy service to

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worship God and so they took what was desecrated and they made it holy again

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this is a very important festival for the Jewish people as you can imagine

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but it also should ring in our hearts and that's why I kind of opened up with

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some of the questions I did because where is the temple today on the earth we're going to talk about that in a

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second but think about a desecrated Temple that needs to be cleansed it needs to be

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rededicated to God and to his worship now you've heard of and their potential

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miracle that took place during this festival and I say it's a potential Miracle because it wasn't added to the

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narrative it's not in the book of Maccabees it's nowhere written until the talmud is written which is basically a

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commentary on the Bible from rabbis the Old Testament of the Bible

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they wrote of a legend that had developed many years later and the legend was that when they first went

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into the temple they had cleansed it they only had one day's worth of oil and yet the festival was going to last eight

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days or they needed it for eight days for whatever purpose

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and when they put the put the oil into the lamp stand the menorah the seven Branch Candlestick that's in the Holy

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place when they put it in there they only had one day's oil but the oil lasted all eight days until they could

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make enough holy oil to refill it and so there that's a legend now that's

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probably the thing you know most about Hanukkah though isn't it is you've heard that the oil lasted eight days when

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there was only one day's worth of oil but again that is a legend and I just want you to understand that is a legend

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some people believe it some people don't Bible scholars are mixed but it's

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unimportant for our purposes more than just to say that is the legend associated with Hanukkah so you also

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notice in this text verse 22 it says it's winter it's a different

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season the Feast of Tabernacles had taken place in the fall we are now several months away from that sometime

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around the holiday we call Christmas you notice that the Jewish people even today they celebrate Hanukkah somewhere near

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Christmas time the reason I say somewhere near and not exact is because the Jews use a lunar solar calendar the

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biblical feasts are all Moon based they're based on the phases of the Moon

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even the word month in Old English derives from setting setting dates based

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on one full moon one sorry one new moon to the next new moon and so this is

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really important in the calendar for setting feasts especially in ancient times we don't so much do our calendar the

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same way but this is how our word month works and you know we stay more in a

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solar calendar nowadays but they don't and the Bible has all of its timing in a

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lunar system that you need to understand that it's very important in Israel

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though in the winter it's a little warmer than here in Ohio but if you were saying somewhere like

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Tennessee or maybe Georgia it would be a very similar climate in the winter time it can get very cold it can snow like in

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Jerusalem or the Galilee it can definitely snow in the winter doesn't always but it can and the

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Knights can be quite cold you know in deserts if any of you have been around deserts at all in the deserts it can get

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quite cold and chilly in the nighttime especially in the winter and so this is the time frame very different season

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and then verse 23 says and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch

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how many of you are familiar with what the Ancient Temple looked like in Jerusalem

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it's it's kind of a trick question because you'll remember the temple that

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stood at the time of Jesus here that Temple also was raised to the ground and

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destroyed fully and completely by the Roman armies of Titus the general Titus

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he raised the place to the ground fulfilling a prophecy that Jesus had made do you remember where he said not

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one stone of this Temple will be left standing on another and in 70 A.D that was true they raised

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the place to the ground if you've ever read josephus's the historian his account of this he said this this

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destruction was so full and complete and so devastating from his vantage point on another Hill across a valley

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he said Jerusalem looked like it was the entire world was on fire is the way he

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described this but anyway they they raised that Temple to the ground so it

44:11

no longer stands so we can't speak specifically about what it looks like other than some people have taken the

44:18

time from ancient documents the Bible and others to reconstruct to the best of their understanding what this place

44:24

might have looked like and so we we have some idea and it helps us to know that when he's talking about

44:31

the temple and Solomon's porch it's not the word porch as you and I think about

44:37

it you know we think of a portrait being outside of the house right right on the front of the porch or right on the back

44:42

porch but when you look at the temple it had a thing that was similar to a porch

44:47

on the very front of the building but that isn't what this is talking about this porch actually sits at the very

44:54

front edge of the temple complex so near the outer edges of where the

45:00

temple where the temple grounds were outside of it in fact it's beyond the

45:06

court of the Gentiles if you're familiar with that the temple itself faced East

45:11

so the temple itself was was something that faced East the doors were facing

45:17

out to the east side so I think this is East over here the temple would be facing this way and Solomon's porch is

45:24

that direction as well but it's all the way at the outer edge there's a gate

45:30

that people would come through and then up some stairs into this thing that

45:35

we're calling a porch here but other versions of the Bible call it a portico a portico or they call it a Colonnade

45:42

and that's the better word so the the porch is really a big long structure

45:48

that's covered with a roof it's a big Colonnade area with columns inside of it

45:53

and it's big it's long and it's wide and the the important part of this is this

45:59

thing comes up about three times in the New Testament in the book of Acts twice in Acts 3 and acts 5 it comes up again

46:05

this became one of the hangout spots for the early church as well and it seems

46:11

like Jesus taught in this area one it's covered so you're out of the direct sun but it's also open to the side so you

46:19

still have a breeze and things like that coming through but it's a shaded area and there would have been a lot of people coming through

46:25

here so Jesus would bring his disciples and he would teach them here often and so this is one of the things we can see

46:32

in the scripture so understand what this place is it isn't a porch on the front of the temple the way you might think

46:37

about it it's out at the edge of the temple complex and so anyway when he's in here and

46:45

maybe only one more note on the historical stuff here this place that

46:50

Jesus was standing in wasn't built by Solomon this was actually erected by a man named

46:56

Herod Herod the Great he was King in about 20 BC roughly 20 or 19 BC he

47:04

starts a massive building project that runs all the way to 63 A.D enhancing the

47:10

size and the scope of the temple and the grounds around the temple so the thing

47:16

we call the Temple Mount today or the temple structures around there he spent years and years having this thing

47:22

expanded Way Beyond the second temple that zerubbabel and the other other Jews

47:28

who came back from Babylon he had this thing expand massively and that is when

47:35

this particular thing dedicated to Solomon was built

47:40

and so just just understand now with all of this explanation of the

47:45

temple the questions I asked earlier and the thinking and the text here already I want you to understand something about

47:52

modern Church how many of you look at the church as a

47:57

temple I don't see any hands okay that's good

48:02

if you don't the church is and I'm talking not now about the church the people for the moment I'm talking about

48:08

the church facilities it's not the temple you know we call this room some of us just because it's

48:14

easier and people know what we mean a sanctuary but a sanctuary is actually a

48:20

place of sacrifice a place of worship towards God so in that sense in the in the sense of worshiping God it fits but

48:28

it's not actually a sanctuary you notice we'll call this thing up here like the

48:34

steps in the front an altar but in a spiritual sense maybe but

48:39

definitely not in a physical sense there are no blood sacrifices happening here there's no this is not a temple

48:46

these are facilities that's why some Churches can meet in a home some Churches can meet at the YMCA some

48:51

Churches can meet you know outside some these facilities are wonderful and we

48:57

praise the Lord that we have access to facilities to meet and to Worship in to do discipleship in

49:03

but don't think about this place as a temple this isn't the temple and I heard

49:09

Mike even say it this morning and we often Say It Isn't it nice to be in the house of the Lord

49:15

but in reality and I'm not I'm not beating you up brother I already had this plan before you said it so

49:22

I want us to think about our terminology for a moment no this structure is not

49:28

when we all leave this structure today the church is no longer here

49:33

right the church is not the building don't think about the church that way the church and let's answer one of those

49:39

questions I ask the church is the people it's the body of Christ the Believers

49:45

you are the temple now that means a couple of things and biblically it means

49:51

a couple of important things you personally are a temple for God meaning

49:57

God dwells there see God doesn't dwell in this building does he when we leave

50:03

his Shekinah Glory is not standing in here his glory his holy spirit is in The

50:09

Believer so it means first of all you personally are a temple in the sense

50:14

that the Holy Spirit resides in you that's critical that you get that but

50:20

secondly and biblically collectively as the body of Christ the Church of the Living God we are stones

50:28

in the spiritual Temple which Christ is building every believer is a part of

50:34

that church you're an individual Stone in his building of the fullness of the

50:40

spiritual Temple so we collectively as the body of Christ

50:45

are the temple of God and much of what the what the Bible the New Testament particularly has to say about the temple

50:51

of God is related to how the church behaves how the church lives how we walk

50:58

righteousness holiness don't defile the Temple of the Living God now you can take that personally

51:05

don't you personally defile yourself because you're defiling God's house in a

51:11

sense but also don't corrupt and defile the Church of the Living God because that is the house of God

51:19

how many times do we do something in these facilities in these buildings against another Christian or we get mad

51:27

or angry or we fight over the color of the carpet you know what what kind of Lights we're

51:33

going to hang or what kind of walls we're going to have why do we divide and fight over Petty

51:39

matters about facilities do you do that at your employer

51:44

do you get in a fight with your wife over how you're going to decorate your home

51:49

uh don't answer that most of us would have to answer that

51:55

with yes we have so yeah don't answer that one but it's true we shouldn't be doing that

52:01

and hopefully you and your wife have made up and if you're sitting arm and arm this morning you've made up over

52:06

those fights as silly as they are but in the church it's the same thing but don't

52:12

look at the church the building the facilities as God's Temple it's not you

52:17

are your behavior your activity the things

52:23

you do or don't do the way you are an ambassador for God both individually and

52:29

collectively with the body of Christ it matters it matters there's an ambassadorship

52:36

here this is an important point and I know you read the text and you're like well that's not even in there well well it's

52:43

not in there directly but if we're going to discuss the temple and where Jesus was and what the temple means in the

52:49

Bible we have to make sure we understand that the church building is not a temple

52:55

and we should certainly shouldn't be dividing the church or fighting amongst ourselves over matters here should we do

53:03

things in a in a good way in a in a excellent way and a healthy way and

53:08

should the church be inviting and oh of course of course we ought to do things for God with Excellence but it's not

53:15

worth it's not worth destroying relationships for things that do not

53:20

have spiritual significance okay that's that's the point hopefully you're clear on that I'm going to move

53:27

on I don't want to keep beating belaboring this so the text goes on

53:32

verse 24. then the Jews surrounded him and said to him how long do you keep us

53:38

in doubt if you are the Christ tell us plainly and you'll note here as we've said in

53:45

other passages anytime you read in John's gospel the Jews it's almost

53:51

certainly referring to religious leaders like the Pharisees the Sadducees these kind of people who were so rebellious

53:59

and hard against what God's word actually said yet they put these great burdens on people and they act

54:05

hypocritically saying you know we keep God's word and we are God's people but

54:11

you aren't you're a sinner this is the kind of thing that you ought to see there and they these people have been

54:19

condemning Jesus for the entire time he has been doing his Earthly Ministry

54:25

since the moment he was baptized by John the Baptist and started his Earthly Ministry Jesus has been under attack by

54:32

these guys and their criticism is always the same you call yourself the son of God

54:40

but notice here they're coming coming up and asking him tell us plainly are you the Christ and as you know the word

54:47

Christ means Messiah it means anointed one and so what they're really asking him is tell us plainly are you our

54:54

Messiah are you the coming one and of course Jesus has an answer for

55:01

them in verse 25. Jesus answered them I told you and you

55:06

do not believe now that that's a plain statement ending in a period that's as plain as it could

55:14

be isn't it I have already told you and in fact he's told them over and over we've read in the Gospel of John

55:20

preaching from verse 1 of chapter one all the way through to here we have heard Jesus say that he is the Son of

55:27

God he is equal to God he is God John 1 1 opens up with in the beginning was the

55:35

word and the Word was with God and the Word was God immediately you get the

55:41

idea from the Apostle John writing this book through the power of the Holy Spirit the inspiration of God breathing

55:47

it out that Jesus was not only with God when the world was created but he was

55:53

God and that very passage goes on to say there was nothing created that he didn't

55:58

create Jesus we're talking about so he has he

56:04

has plainly said it but look at his next argument because he's been saying this one too The Works that I do in my father's name

56:12

they bear witness of me but you do not believe because you are not of my sheep

56:18

as I said to you Jesus is very plain here again look

56:23

and he said this earlier to them if you don't believe me you don't believe my word at least believe the works that I

56:30

do because they testify of me and what did he mean he meant there were Old Testament prophecies many of which we've

56:38

looked at that that were about Jesus and what he would do or the Messiah when he

56:43

would come and when the Messiah came he was going to be able to do something quite unique that no one else could do

56:49

he could heal a man who was born blind from birth no other prophet in the whole of the

56:57

Bible ever did that and so you see here he says the very works that I do and he's been healing

57:03

non-stop remember us early on in the Book of John looking at the healings crowds would come to Jesus and he would

57:10

stand there healing all of their sicknesses all of their ailments casting out all of their demons I mean the Bible

57:17

said he would stand there and heal all of them and he did this from place to place to place

57:22

they have witnessed non-stop the power of God working through the son of God

57:28

and they do not believe they don't believe his word they don't believe his

57:34

works even though they they know for sure the works are a problem for their unbelief

57:42

because this man should not be able to do the things he does and I'll just it's not in this gospel

57:49

but in another gospel if you remember they attribute Jesus's Works to Satan to

57:55

be eligible it says in the text to another name for Satan at one point and

58:01

Jesus tells them very plainly that is the unpardonable sin when you attribute the work of the Holy

58:07

Spirit to Satan or Darkness or evil

58:13

you do not believe verse 26 because you are not of my sheep as I said to you

58:20

do you ever get frustrated as you share the gospel that some people just won't believe

58:26

and it doesn't matter how well you do it sharing the text and how well you do it sharing the gospel and demonstrating to

58:33

them that they are in a very precarious spot with their sin before a holy God

58:38

do you ever get frustrated that they just won't hear

58:44

they just won't believe will be encouraged because Jesus had the exact same thing

58:51

happening to him and he is the Son of God he is the very word of God he is the

58:56

one who worked the gospel in the first place he's not just one preaching it while he does preach it he is the one

59:03

who performed it and the very same thing happened to him

59:09

so be encouraged you're in good company if you share the gospel and someone won't believe

59:14

but there's another thing in his statement because he says you're not of my sheep that's why you don't believe

59:20

and we know there is a sovereign God who is responsible for salvation and a person who rejects the gospel

59:27

rejects God's word outright refuses to follow him it's because they don't belong to Jesus

59:34

it's sad and it breaks our heart and it devastates many Christians when

59:40

they start getting serious about sharing the gospel because there's much more rejection of

59:46

the gospel than there is acceptance of the Gospel and you'll recall that Jesus's words

59:52

were the way is narrow the path to life is narrow and there are few who find it

1:00:00

there are few on it but the path that leads to destruction

1:00:06

is Broad every other way but the path to life through Jesus

1:00:11

leads to death leads to destruction leads to being an enemy with God

1:00:18

but they're not his sheep so they won't hear his voice and they won't follow him and we demonstrated in some of those

1:00:24

earlier sermons in John 10 about the sheep and how when a Shepherd goes to a

1:00:30

Sheepfold whether it's a mixed Sheepfold or just his sheep when he makes his sounds whether he calls them by their

1:00:37

names or he makes the noises that he's made they look immediately and when he

1:00:42

calls them they follow they will follow him all over the

1:00:48

countryside like in ancient times and even probably in earlier times than we live in when there was much more pasture

1:00:54

land that maybe wasn't owned by a specific person they would just follow them all through

1:01:00

the countryside and hillsides feeding and grazing and listening to the

1:01:05

shepherd but an unbeliever a person who isn't

1:01:11

one of his sheep they won't listen and they won't follow

1:01:16

and yes it's devastating it's sad I mean it is one of the things that breaks my

1:01:22

heart in Ministry the most is watching people who should believe who should

1:01:27

turn who should humble themselves not humble themselves and not believe

1:01:37

so he keeps going in the text verse 27 my sheep hear my voice and I

1:01:45

know them and they follow me and this is true isn't it

1:01:51

when God speaks when the Lord Jesus speaks his sheep do what he says don't they

1:01:57

they don't continue living their life for them they walk after the shepherd and they do

1:02:03

what the shepherd has asked them to do what would you say let me ask would you say Jesus was faithful

1:02:13

I think see that's one of those places where I would have expected amen like everybody

1:02:20

but it's true Jesus is the most faithful human being that's ever lived he did the

1:02:26

will of the father perfectly not with some mistakes like we do like

1:02:31

even as a Believer you know you're a sinner right we we go over this material every week we know we're Sinners even

1:02:39

when we try to keep the Commandments and we try to follow Jesus perfectly we mess it up sometimes

1:02:45

but we do follow we do walk that road behind the Lord but the Lord did it

1:02:51

perfectly there was no sin completely faithful

1:02:56

and a sheep one of us should be a a

1:03:01

scribing so if I could get the words out of my mouth trying to become more

1:03:06

faithful and that happens through a process theologically we call sanctification we are being conformed

1:03:12

into the image of Christ now it's going to take time and our whole lives are going to be spent doing this work to get

1:03:19

better and better and better and more holy and more holy more less selfish less self-focused

1:03:27

oh if we could just get Christians to be less self-focused

1:03:33

the whole world would change around us if Christians would stop worrying about

1:03:38

what they got to do at home and what they got to do here that that job or whatever and I'm not saying don't fulfill your responsibilities

1:03:45

but they should not be the focus of your life Our Lives need to be lived for Christ

1:03:51

his sheep hear his voice and they follow him and look what else it says it says and I

1:03:58

know them see Jesus knows his sheep he knows them by name

1:04:04

we were through this earlier in the passage he knows each of you by your name and he calls you by your name it shows that God

1:04:11

Jesus has an intimacy with you do you remember Matthew 7

1:04:18

when Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount he tells people you know there will be many in that day

1:04:23

and he's referring to the time when the kingdom comes or you may even say it as when Judgment Day comes

1:04:31

but he's talking about he says many will say to me in that day Lord Lord

1:04:36

didn't I do this prophesy in your name didn't I cast out demons in your name

1:04:42

didn't I Lord didn't I do many wonders in your name

1:04:48

and what would Jesus say it'll be the opposite of what he says here I never knew you

1:04:55

now he's the son of the Living God the Creator himself he created every human

1:05:01

being so he certainly doesn't mean I don't know who you are or anything about

1:05:07

you God knows every human being and who they are and what they're made of better than we do he's the Creator

1:05:15

that isn't what he means what he means is we never had a relationship

1:05:20

and I've Illustrated this to you many times in sermons when I've brought this point up is if you go to 1600

1:05:28

Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C and you knock on the guard house gate

1:05:34

what's the guy going to say when you say I'm here to see Mr Biden

1:05:39

or at certain points it was Mr Trump if you remember I'm here to see the president

1:05:45

all right hold on one second and he's going to make a call right they're going to call back to the office of the

1:05:51

president they're going to talk to some secretary who knows the schedule and the and who can and who can't talk with the

1:05:57

man and they're gonna be like we don't know who they are they can't come in

1:06:04

and it's going to hang up he's gonna come back over sorry I can't let you in president doesn't know you

1:06:11

what he's my president I live in this country right he runs the place he works for me

1:06:20

you're not going to get in and most of us are going to walk away from that guard gate frustrated upset

1:06:28

but the truth is while we may think we know Mr Biden or Mr Trump or whatever

1:06:34

president happens to be in there we don't and they certainly don't know us

1:06:40

and this is the same thing that's going to happen to many on Judgment Day who keep claiming I'm a Christian I'm a

1:06:48

Christian I'm a believer I'm a follower of God

1:06:54

folks if we don't follow Jesus and listen to what he says and do the

1:07:00

Commandments and keep the Commandments and live our lives for God we aren't his

1:07:08

you need to understand that about you I need to understand that about me

1:07:13

now we are saying salvation comes through works but those who are truly saved those who

1:07:20

have believed the gospel and truly been transformed by the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit you will

1:07:27

over the general course of your life follow God you will

1:07:34

Jesus doesn't even give an exception at all in here he says my sheep hear my

1:07:40

voice I know them and they follow me don't miss these points it's a huge part

1:07:47

of this and then it moves on from there and he says I give them eternal life and they

1:07:54

shall never perish and we all know this from John 3 16 right for God so loved the world that he

1:08:01

gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him would not

1:08:06

perish but have everlasting life or shall not perish and I do it in the King James because

1:08:12

that's how I memorized it when I was a young kid or a younger man and maybe be the better

1:08:17

way to say it but I memorized that text and it and it is true all of those who

1:08:23

do are given eternal life

1:08:29

yeah your physical body may die but your soul will never die Souls don't die in

1:08:36

the first place but it also will never be confined to torment or even worse put

1:08:42

back in its body and thrown into a lake that burns with fire and brimstone you Believers will go on to be with the Lord

1:08:49

absent from the body is to be present with the Lord we're told in the scripture you will be given eternal life and it's

1:08:55

not just a temporary show up with God in heaven and that's it no you will forever be with the Lord when he comes back out

1:09:03

of Heaven to the Earth to set up the kingdom you will be with him believer Revelation 19 at least at one stage

1:09:10

riding on your white horse behind the Lord Riding on His coming back to the Earth

1:09:17

it's an important matter there is an eternity awaiting you of joy and peace

1:09:24

and God's blessings and and things we don't even know in heaven I mean think

1:09:29

about the rewards in heaven I hath Not Seen Nor Ear heard what God has laid up

1:09:35

for those who love him there are things in heaven that while we can maybe conceive of some of it from

1:09:42

descriptions in the Bible there are things we don't even know about there are Joys and rewards waiting us

1:09:49

that we can't fathom today our eyes have never seen them our ears have never

1:09:54

heard them are you excited about that again I would expect more amens praise

1:10:00

the Lord hallelujah this is a very tired Bunch today

1:10:07

you guys need to get some rest this afternoon but anyway keep going with me in the

1:10:13

text verse 28 and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall anyone

1:10:21

snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to

1:10:29

snatch them out of my father's hand think about this

1:10:34

Jesus is saying to us look my sheep my people they're in my hand

1:10:42

and maybe I should use his right hand right the hand of power they're in his

1:10:47

hand we are in his hand believer who who could possibly take you from the

1:10:54

hand of the son of the Living God the Creator God who could pull you away

1:11:01

Satan no one no one you need to understand and

1:11:06

Jesus doesn't leave it there though he is powerful enough to hold on to his people but he doesn't leave it there my

1:11:14

father who is greater than all you're in his hand too and I picture it

1:11:19

like this Jesus is in the hand of the father having us in his hand now you're in the hand of the son of the Living God

1:11:26

and the father God in heaven who could take you from

1:11:32

two persons in the Trinity who could take you from their hand

1:11:37

and furthermore when you're a Believer the Holy Spirit indwells you and becomes

1:11:43

a seal now you're in the hand of the Triune or Thrice holy God who could possibly take

1:11:51

you away does the does the title make more sense

1:11:57

you are safe in the arms in the hands of God if you are a Believer you are a

1:12:04

Believer forever God doesn't give his holy spirit to someone then take it away doesn't work that way and Jesus is clear

1:12:11

about this he's he said of all that the father gave me I have lost none and he will lose none

1:12:19

there is no loss of people let me read to you Romans 8 just in case you still

1:12:25

haven't gotten the point Paul the Apostle at the end of Romans 8 which is many people's favorite passage in the

1:12:32

Book of Romans at the very end he says these words starting in verse 38 for I

1:12:37

am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers

1:12:43

nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other

1:12:48

created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our lord

1:12:56

so there you go you have it from the words of the Apostle as well through the

1:13:01

inspiration the breathing out of God's word through this man he says the same thing there is absolutely nothing and he

1:13:09

goes through a much larger list doesn't he angels time events there is nothing

1:13:16

nothing can separate you from the love hopefully believer this is real joy and

1:13:21

real comfort for you hopefully you're comforted by the fact that when you believe God and walk with

1:13:28

God he is taking care of you and he will forever guard and keep you

1:13:34

how does that mean you'll never suffer no of course not some suffering is meant

1:13:40

to help us grow and to become patient to become better than who we were yesterday

1:13:46

will you never suffer no look at Job look at Joseph we talked about this in Sunday school as we go through Joseph

1:13:54

Joseph job Jesus all three start with J it's nice little but all three of them

1:14:01

suffered Jesus the sinless Holy One suffered

1:14:08

you must understand suffering is not always a bad thing even though it

1:14:13

definitely feels bad in the moment suffering is hard but suffering is a promise from God too

1:14:20

you know that right suffering for the faith for the gospel we are called to

1:14:25

suffer Christians sometimes and it's good for us to suffer sometimes it keeps

1:14:31

us humble Paul was told he was given an Affliction in the flesh a thorn in the flesh it was

1:14:37

called and he asked God three times please God remove it from me please God remove it from me it's it's a pain it's

1:14:44

a burden remove it from me and what did God say well first he said no

1:14:49

but he said no my grace is sufficient for you and so don't always think about your

1:14:55

suffering as a Bad Thing remember the great people in the Bible Daniel being thrown in a lion's den

1:15:02

remember there are so many we could talk about don't think of suffering that way think

1:15:08

about what you're looking forward to there will be an end to the suffering

1:15:13

there will be a time when we go into eternity as Immortal beings a new body

1:15:20

eternal life Joys and rewards and rest forevermore amen

1:15:27

good job Kerry well let's finish this up verse 30 says I and my father are one

1:15:36

and this is this is really the biggie right this is the one they keep coming up to and calling him a blasphemer

1:15:43

because he keeps equating himself to the almighty I'm God's son making myself

1:15:49

equal to God this is exactly how they're hearing this some verses similar to this

1:15:55

one though when he says I and my father are one some verses like this can generate a great deal or I said in my in

1:16:02

when I wrote it down profound controversy and it's true in Jesus's day

1:16:08

we can see from the context just look at the next verse if you want to see that there's major controversy when he says

1:16:14

this but even in today's Church many will use this and interpret it incorrectly or say things about this

1:16:22

that isn't true or even apply certain things to us that don't belong to us

1:16:28

it's it's important to understand that we need to understand what the Bible says but we don't want to over

1:16:36

State terms either and so there's certainly uh there is

1:16:42

certainly a side to we cannot fully understand the infinite and almighty God

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I will freely admit that and I think every believer will admit that the infinite God how can a finite mind a

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finite person a finite Soul really come to grips with all that he is

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so what we do as Believers is we say we can believe and trust what he has

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revealed to us in his word though that's where we can land we can go into

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the word of God and we can believe the truth of what has been revealed now we have to be careful because what the word

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reveals is not always the same thing as what our opinions are what are our Traditions are

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what the viewpoints that we've always been told or maybe a certain cult or religion has been sharing

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you need to be very careful and the reason I wanted to go through this with you is there are a handful of things in

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the context of this sermon that I think we can pull out from the word of God and

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be very clear on so I want to do that with you and again they all relate to God

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first God is a trinity you do not know or well you might know I

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shouldn't say you don't know you may not know just how controversial that statement is

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but I say it to you and then I point you not at Rodney's opinion but at Matthew 28 19 and 20 and you'll know that as the

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Great Commission if you go read those verses Jesus says to baptize these disciples that have

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been made in the name of the father and in the name of the son in the name of the Holy Spirit

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you also see the trinity in full action and play in Jesus's baptism

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Jesus the son of God is being baptized God the Father in Heaven is saying this is my son in whom I am well pleased hear

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him and those types of things but you also we wouldn't have seen and the Jews didn't see but Jesus saw and

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John the Baptist saw the holy spirit in bodily form coming down like a dove as a

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dove does gliding down and landing on Jesus as the sign for John to know who the Messiah was that's

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the only reason I believe John could see the Holy Spirit normally the holy spirit is invisible

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when you look at a person can you see the Holy Spirit tag on their forehead it says holy spirit right here on all

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real believers I should have wrote that on my forehead this morning it would have been a better joke right

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but we all know that's not true we can't see and so he's very difficult to see in

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somebody immediately the way we discern this is the way Jesus told us to by

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their fruits we will know them over the Long Haul of course of getting to know someone and being in relationship with

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them you'll see how they live are they Christ or are they not I can't walk up to somebody and they say hey I'm a

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Believer too I can't know for sure and they can't know about me we have to have a relationship that then

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goes on to see fruit being born for the kingdom of God and this is very important God is a

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trinity and listen to this if you want more more on that God is Holy Holy Holy

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this is repeated in the Old Testament and the new Isaiah 6 3 you can turn

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there and look at Isaiah who is seeing in a vision God on his throne in heaven

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and he sees these six-wing seraphim creatures attending to God and they they

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worship God and they shout constantly holy holy holy

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and then in Revelation chapter 4 verse 8 you also see six-winged creatures

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standing on God's Throne platform attending to God and it says there they

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fall down and worship him all at all the you know all the time or all day long or whatever it says specifically they

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continuously do this and what do they say holy holy holy

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God is a trinity and even even the angels worship God as a trinity even

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though you only ever see one throne that doesn't take away God the father or

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God the holy spirit because we know the Son of God is the visible person of God he is the one who shows up in the

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visible but God the father is still there God the holy spirit is still there God the

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Trinity the Triune Thrice holy God is working and acting in our lives and in

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his world and in his Universe at all times and he should be worshiped by his

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creatures and Creations and if you want even more evidence of

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who God is you turn to Genesis 1 1 and in the English we would read something

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like in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth now in English

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that's just plain and simple to us right well in the Hebrew it becomes a little

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tricky because what you have is the word for God there is the word Elohim and if

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you know anything about Hebrew Hebrew the I am ending makes a word plural similar to the way we put an S on

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something or an es on something and it becomes plural in Hebrew they put an I am I'm transliterating obviously it's

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different letters entirely but Elohim is plural so it says in the beginning a plural God

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but then yet the verb used for create

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is singular you have a plural God singularly creating the heavens and the Earth

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you go down further in Genesis 1 to verse 26 and many of you will know these

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statements as well it says let us make man in our image

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and for the Jews that becomes very very difficult they interpret that as God is talking to the angels

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but Christians hopefully with all of the Old and New Testament to come to bear on

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this you realize no God is three persons the godhead is discussing the creation

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and creating them in their image

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that's Genesis 1 26. and then here's another one that would really this would

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throw the juice for a loop Deuteronomy 6 4 the great Shema

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hear o Israel the Lord Our God the Lord is one

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but again here we have an amazing thing if you ask me but to them this is this

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would I mean seriously you're going to cause convulsions in Jewish people if you say this

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but you have Lord is capital Lord It's the name of God Yahweh

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and so what it what it says because also the word for God there guess what Elohim

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plural it says Yahweh R Elohim Yahweh is

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the word for one in Hebrew so you have the name of God used twice

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you have a plural word for God used use there and then you have the word for one

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the Lord is one yet he's three again it's as plain as it can be and

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then here Philippians you I knew you thought you'd wondered if I'd ever get to a New Testament verse Philippians

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chapter 2 verses 5 and 6 says this and many of you probably know it let this mind be in you which was also in Christ

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Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with

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God and and it ends on a comma because I'm going to use the rest of it in a moment but you'll notice here that Jesus

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while he was still in heaven before he ever put on the form of mankind was in the form of God was equal with

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God this is Paul the Apostle again writing to the Philippian Church

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saying that Jesus is almighty God himself

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he's not only with and in the form of God he is equal with God he is God

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we have revealed in the Bible that the godhead is three persons but one in nature one in action

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they're completely unified and equal in power and authority but yet as an illustration for us they

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present themselves to us in a hierarchy Father Son and Holy Spirit

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and I think in general that the purpose for that is to teach us how to submit to authorities

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in the human realm when even God himself all three persons they submit to one another willingly

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submissively and then look at verse 31.

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then the Jews took up stones again to Stone him as old as it does when Jesus plainly

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stated that he was God when every Christian hopefully here reading these texts knows

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that Jesus is God he said he was God he demonstrated he was God

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but over and over they rejected and today in today's world there are many who are doing the same

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I talk to people all the time who they the the thing they have the most trouble with is Jesus being God

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he just is so to conclude where is your heart today

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where is your heart considering this whole message considering the things of the temple

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considering the things of who Jesus is considering the things of being one of

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his sheep or not being one of his sheep the Eternal rewards and the eternal life that is there where is your heart are

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you truly dedicated to God or are you still in unbelief

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are you still in doubt are you still rebelling and walking away from God instead of toward him

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Jesus is the son of God he's God himself and he's the only savior of the world John 14 6 which is written out in our

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four year in a couple of places Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the father

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except through me there is no other way to God but through Jesus let me finish Philippians 2 verses

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7 and 8 that statement that he that we started to read up top

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but and again I know I'm coming in halfway through so at the end of six said who

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being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God verse 7 but made himself of no

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reputation taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of

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men and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the

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death of the cross see this God himself the Son of God the one equal

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and in the form of God lays his glory aside for a moment

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comes down and puts on the Flesh of his own creation a bond servant or better yet a Slave

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puts that on walks to a cross and dies shedding his blood for his people his

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sheep why because the Sheep can't save themselves we can't fix our relationship with God

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if Jesus doesn't shed his holy Precious Blood there would be no atonement for

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our sin and we would still be in our sins today

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so I implore you Christian walk as you're one of Christ's sheep doing what

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he said following him hearing his voice listening to the Commandments and being obedient

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and if you're an unbeliever please believe in Jesus believe in the Son of

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God who is the only lamb whose blood can be shed or was shed to pay for your sin

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this is where I'll leave it with you now it's between you and the Lord to do the work

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I pray that you will make the right decision and you'll be in you'll trust in faith the Almighty

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let's pray together Heavenly Father

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this is your word and we leave the results of your word in your hands

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you are the Lord who has made everything and you are The God Who has called his

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sheep out of the Sheepfold of the whole world so father we pray today that you would

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change many hearts that you would draw many souls to trust you and believe you and to bend their knee and bow their

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hearts to you but God we also know for those who are in Rebellion that father even that

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glorifies you as the righteous and holy judge punishing sin

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and causing wickedness to be judged properly but God we look forward to seeing what

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you'll do we pray that you will teach us to share the gospel as well and effectively as

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our Lord did and God we pray for your blessing on our lives

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and that you keep us busy and holy while we wait for Jesus to return

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thank you again for all you've sent this morning Father we give you all the glory in Jesus holy name amen thank you very

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much

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