Bible Study with the Cincottis – Three Spheres of Life - 12/22/2024 - S4, E43

Welcome to the M.t. Clark Christ 24/7 podcast. But this isn't just the M.t. Clark Christ 24/7 podcast, and this isn't even just a Zoom meeting. This is a Bible study, and it's a little program that we produce called Bible Study with the, uh, Sincatis, the Christmas edition. Uh, today, um, basically, um, we're here and we're happy to, uh, say that Arthur sent over a study called The Three Spheres of Life., and we're going to get ready to juggle those spheres. But before we do, we'll kick it over to Arthur, say good morning, and invite him to welcome us in with prayer. So good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Good morning. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas. The Sunday before Christmas.

What a privilege to pray. And Lord, we are mindful of the season. Lord, we thank you and praise you for the richness of life. It's always effervescent around this time of year, and we're grateful for that, Lord God. We're grateful that even secular radio stations are playing "Joy to the World." Mm-hmm. There is a recognition and an understanding that simmers in men's souls that You've placed there, Lord, and that You have nurtured over the ages. And we pray that You would give that unction all the more this Christmas season. We stand as Your faithful servants. Our lives are laid down as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you, which is a reasonable service. We pray, have your way in us, Lord God, to advance the kingdom, to share the gospel, and to demonstrate your love for mankind, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We thank you for that privilege. We ask Holy Spirit, to move in us and upon us in such fashion. And we thank you for one another, Lord God, as we're richly blessed with good fellowship this time of year as well. We ask your blessing over our study this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Excuse me. God bless you, everyone.

Everyone. Yes.

Yes, Scrooge, that was prodigious deeds.

It certainly was. Well, here we are. This is not specifically a Christmas message, which I would humbly apologize for, except for the fact that this is what the Lord has given me, and I'm anxious to share it. It's actually kind of an an ancient, throbbing message for me, something that I've been chewing on for a long time. Actually, quite surprised. I've probably used snippets of this, um, in the past, but I've never really congealed it for like one— okay, this is, you know, this is what I'm talking about, this is, this is what we're doing. So, um, our opening verse is very familiar. Uh, the thief comes not— the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. And that's from John's Gospel, chapter 10, verse 10. And as I said, they're very familiar verses of scripture which can be interpreted in so, so many different ways.

And it's not like Yeah, I love it because it's the bad news and the good news all at once. It admits to the spiritual forces of darkness being out there, but then that Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly.

So, right, there's an answer. Yeah, answer to it.

You make a good point, Mark, uh, starting right out. You know, without a contrast, then what do we have? You know, It's the bad news and the good news. And the way we distinguish— one of the ways that we distinguish the good news is in contrast to the bad news. So I used to have an acting coach who said, there are no formulas for success. But there are formulas for failure. And the best formula for success is to know the formulas for failure and don't do them. So contrast is really important in life.

And making the Bible is full of the contrast. Specifically between dark and light. It is, you're right, darkness and light, and you know, the two kingdoms. So, um, Jesus is always making some kind of reference to things that you can contrast things against.

Indeed. Uh, and as I said, uh, being a very familiar verse of scripture, folks out there have probably heard many takes on this and interpretations. The simple truth that God has shown me in this passage are useful, I believe, in understanding the universe that he created and our place in it. Proverbs 4:7 is a favorite verse where it says, therefore, get wisdom, and in all you're getting, get understanding too. And it's of vital importance for us to understand God's order. If we are to align with it and agree with him. And that's our calling. That's what we're created to do. We do it sometimes kicking and screaming, thinking that we have got a better— oh, I've got a better idea. Yeah, right. Science. Science in ages past aimed to decipher God's design, that we may better understand God and better steward his creation. As believers, we're called to steward both our, our own lives, certainly creation, and also the lives of whom we may have some priestly authority over. Such as family, children, over households, maybe over a ministry if you're in pastoral ministry or any other form of ministry where you've been given some authority, a sphere of authority.

And even as you can say, oh, it's all spiritual, but in the secular world, when I was a teacher— and Tami Van understands this too— we've been given stewardship over children, over people that we work with, over the school that we work in, or the place— for you and Arthur, Mark, the place that your, your businesses and your work is in. We're not— because we're spiritual beings, because we're part of God's plan, those are the, the pools that we're swimming in, and we have to be good to those people there too. We have to steward that too.

That's very well said. Authority is not a bad word, even though it's framed as a bad word in our culture, in our current culture, which is determined to just throw off all semblance of authority. And when you do that, you inadvertently take on new authorities. You know, it's not— there's no escape on that one. It's a great responsibility to steward the things that I mentioned, which— and it requires wisdom and understanding. You know, we just— we should never approach life so— in such a cavalier fashion, in such a subjective fashion, as if to say or to think that I'm a self-made man and I have it all figured out. So, you know, that typically goes badly. We've seen examples of that.

As a staunch individualist, uh, in my past, and a rebel, um, you know, philosophy was to question authority with— yeah, quite frankly, you know, it might have not been written, but it was basically to resist it. You know, I'm gonna question it and do things my way. Um, how do I get around it? You know, and, uh, you know, I'm a, uh a law unto myself.

And that's a frightening place to be.

You might get away with things, and you know, but you don't. You might think you get away with things.

Yes, thank you.

But you, you pay the consequences. Um, we've said before in the past, you know, the, the thief that gets away with it becomes in bondage to being a thief. Um, he starts— his whole worldview changes. You know, it's not a matter of, of, you know, is that mine or yours? It's, it's mine. It's just a matter of how am I going to get it. Um, and it— that, that's— that, that puts you in the realm of darkness, you know, when you start to view the world that way, um, according to yourself, and, uh, you know, to disregard others and, you know, what's right. Uh, so it's— yeah, dangerous, dangerous thing to, uh, you know, question the authority and, you know, resist it.

Yes. Uh, D.L. Moody once said, if you take a thief who's been stealing nuts and bolts off the rails and you educate him, he'll steal the whole railroad, you know. So without a moral framework, right, or, uh, a, you know, and that moral framework gives us a, a substantial non-subjective sense of, of, of, of morality, right and wrong, understanding God's order. And the way he created the universe. Without that moral framework, then people are liable to do just about anything. And we do. Again, we've seen examples of that. The above verses is a centerpiece of the lengthy parabolic type discourse that starts in John 10:1 and goes to 18. Therein, Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd. In verse 11. He also describes himself as the door in verse 10, you know, which suggests that he's using figurative language, right? Um, we must always be careful, uh, to consider the deeper meaning when Jesus is using such language. Obviously, he is neither an actual door nor a professional shepherd, nor is he a loaf of bread, right? You know, so we've, we've got to see the metaphors. He often uses agricultural metaphors for clarity since he's engaging with an agricultural people. You know, today I suppose he'd quote popular TV shows.

Movies. Mark and you and I are always talking to him, you know, talking about, well, this movie or that movie. Before we got started, we talked about it's Christmas and everything, and is this a Christmas, you know, message. And so we, you know, we really love A Christmas Carol, you know, with Charles Dickens. We do. All the different varieties of it. Yesterday, while Arthur was out doing some things, I put on the Muppet Christmas Carol, and I, you know, I love that little version. Growing up in that era of the Muppets and Jim Henson and all that, those characters. But the truth of the matter is that even something as simple as that shows the three spheres of life. In that one, it's the past, the present, and the future. And I think that that's part of this scripture, too.

Well, I'll leave you to that. It's certainly not where I was going in terms of—

I was going to say, we'll see about that.

Beer is a concern, but all right.

That's well, one example.

Exactly. So we strain to understand or draw meaning from agricultural metaphors. Just as I've said before, we have difficulty understanding kingdom, for instance. We have difficulty understanding redemption. These are not part of our daily fare, even our vernacular. Like, how many times does somebody use words like kingdom or, uh, redemption in the course of their day. So, uh, the general commentary is that the thief is referring to the Pharisees who are present during this discourse. Um, they're kind of maybe a secondary audience. Uh, Jesus is, is speaking, you know, he's, he's speaking to the, to the multitudes, but he's keenly aware that the Pharisees are, are listening and taking notes. And they get kind of bent out of shape over these sayings that they do a lot of things that he says. And by verse 19, they're kind of steeped in division. They're even arguing maybe among themselves, perhaps, as to what this guy is talking about and who this guy is. It makes a huge statement in verse 11 where he says, all or 8— thank you, sweetheart— all who ever came before me are thieves and robbers. I believe that it is appropriate to say that in an overarching manner, the thief is Satan. Perhaps not him personally, but certainly those who are willingly under his sway have made a choice, right? Jesus makes more glancing references in, uh, places like John 14:30 where he says the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me. Uh, he also says in, in Matthew 13, uh, 39, he's explaining a parable and he, he— it's very plain to say the enemy who sowed the, the bad seed in this case, the enemy who sowed them is the devil. And finally, in, in 1 John 5:19, it says, we know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. So this is to paint a backdrop of— again, we're looking at design, all right? We're looking at God's order, uh, and, and so that we can find our place in it and come into alignment. To steal has to do with our prosperity, or what sometimes the Bible calls increase. What other function would the thief have in mind? The thief comes to steal, all right? And he comes to steal our prosperity, our financial well-being. Has great significance in God's creative order. The late Larry Burkett, he's an author and speaker and founder of Christian Financial Concepts, which later merged with Crown Ministries. I think now it's morphed into FaithFi, which you can— they have— they do a daily radio piece and have published quite a bit. He has rightly said that the Bible speaks more on the subject of money and finances than any other subject. That was a very sobering truth when I first heard that, uh, and read that with, uh, uh, used to really delve into Larry Burkett's teachings, uh, as a businessman. You know, I've read, um, uh, uh, Business by the Book, which is one of his, uh, and he says, uh, That was really sobering. You know, when you think of the weighty subject matters in Scripture, like love, like authority, like forgiveness, all those, really, there's a warp and woof to the universe that finances kind of is a great example of the way everything works.

Well, I think it's very true that if you're in financial difficulties, your ability to love is hindered. Your ability to care for some other people is hindered. Your ability to even just pray and think about others.

Yeah.

Because if you're so steeped in your financial difficulties, that just eats into everything.

Yeah, everything's compromised when you're—

when your basic needs aren't being met. It's all about being survival mode. And, um, right, speaking of survival mode, me and Tammy went to, um, a Christian-esque film, um, you know, Christianese, you know, sort of Christian film, um, sort of, um, uh, called, um, Homestead. And it's about— it's a post-apocalyptic, uh, scenario where a nuclear bomb has gone off, the grid's gone go on down and these, these people gather together in a homestead like in the Rockies, uh, fortified with, uh, you know, with fences. And, and these guys come to be security for the place and they have, you know, sustainable living. And, and, um, the owner of the place has this blackboard where he writes down calories, number of people, you know, the crops and all the food. And he's doing calculations of how long their, their supplies will last. And when you're look— you know, when you're looking at life that way, you can't let your neighbors in. You know, they keep people at the gate. You know, they keep them on the outside. And, you know, no spoilers, but basically that really challenges, you know, the people inside the thing. Or the wife especially is, is a Christian, and, you know, she's questioning. She wants to you know, give to her neighbors, and security says that's not a good idea. And so it's a real, you know, real play on, you know, what's important. And, uh, in hard times, and when you're thinking about survival, you know, love, love goes out the window. So the prosperity is, uh, you know, what we're looking at there. And, you know, and when, when you're just getting your needs met, suddenly you're not so spiritual. Um, you have to get the bills paid and get the food on the table and, and everything. However, that's the worst thing you can do because you really want to be spiritual at that time because you need the Lord's help, right? The Lord's strength and peace regardless of your circumstances to make a way. You know, I've had times in my life where it was like, we don't know when— we don't know what the future holds. Uh, we just know we have to work and work around the clock for 16 hours a day and You know, we don't know when the end's going to come, but, you know, in the midst of it, because I had the Lord, I was able to have peace and joy, uh, in the midst and be able to walk that long road, um, to a new life. And so, you know, don't— you don't look at your, your means, your circumstances, and think, you know, God doesn't have a place in there. Which the people in this movie go, well, we don't have the luxury of having, you know, And they're saying, 'Your myth, your fairy tale.' So there's a mixed bag in the camp, um, for sure. And, uh, you know, it brings up an interesting point. And it was, uh, it was certainly worth checking out and thinking about. It was— it really stirred you up, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, you know, from the beginning. Yes, Tammy Lynn smiles and laughs at me now because I literally was, you know, waiting for the bad thing to happen or whatever. And it was so suspenseful, it was good. Um, but it points to that, you know, that scarcity, that feeling of scarcity. When you have that scarcity feeling, you know, you can— there's two ways to go. Always there's two ways to go: the Lord's way or the world's way. And the world's way would say steal, lie, cheat, and kill to get what you need to get ahead. And, uh, the Lord's way doesn't necessarily tell you to do that. It says to trust in him for provision.

So yeah, God transcends, uh, all these fears and all our presuppositions about them. And I'm compelled to think, as you're describing this movie, there must have been more than one bean counter coming out of Egypt, right? Saying, how are we going to feed all that?

Yeah.

What are we going to eat in the desert, in the wilderness? Where are we going to put all our stuff? And God provided, and he always does. There are beautiful accounts of God's transcendent provision. In so many ministerial stories, Bob Costello, you know, I mean, he's a great one for that sort of thing. As he was planting churches all over the Northeast, in Pennsylvania and New York and parts of Massachusetts, you know, God's provision suddenly would swoop in out of nowhere, you know. And, and one of the things about finances is it drives us to trust, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding is a foundational scripture that we can apply to finances. And Susanna and I have had to write that on the tablets of our hearts and trust God on many occasions throughout our marriage. If the financial well-being of His children is important to God, it's safe to say that financial chaos is on Satan's radar as well. Consider the suffering that it causes, whether self-inflicted or by happenstance. It's, you know, it's pretty harsh when you come up to that, that brick wall where there's just no more money. And, you know, we think of in the Christmas season, we think of George Bailey, right? All of a sudden, suddenly, $8,000 are missing. Oh, and he is— he's frazzled by it. He, he, he perceives, uh, jail time, you know, going to prison.

Um, he has an insurance policy, so he says, yeah, I'm, I'm worth more dead than I am alive. Exactly. Satanic.

And it really is.

He's gonna— yeah, to meet the need, he's gonna, he's gonna kill himself. You know, it's the story. And then, you know, That's a slow— that movie is a slow burn for sure, but it's worth it, worth it. You know, if not, just watch the last 40 minutes or the last 30 minutes, uh, because, you know, the buildup's a little rough. Um, but that's a real— I, I love that film because it's a real gospel, uh, gospel moment, because he, um, he realizes that he's, you know, the wonderfulness of his life, because God literally intervenes by putting an angel in his life. To show him. And, you know, in that movie Homestead, you know, you know, I can't not give a spoiler. Spoiler alert, if you're— we're gonna watch that movie, turn this off for 5 seconds. Um, you know, basically in that, you know, something happens to the husband to incapacitate him, and the wife is sort of left to run the show. And she literally wipes that blackboard clean and lets the people in. And because she does that Like, they were like, there's no way we're gonna make it as is, okay? Like, even with everything we've done, we're gonna be done, we're done. But she lets those people in, and the, the people waiting outside had skills and knowledge that, that they brought into their community that found a way to sustain, you know, all of them. And it was like, so good. But, you know, that's, that's, that's not much of a spoiler alert because it's the The movie leads to a series, so, you know, it's like, to be continued, 8 episodes more. But they, they brought him in, and this guy had this skill, that guy had this skill, and it really, you know, you're saying about George Bailey's wonderful life, you know, because his life touched so many, you know, they all came running in. And, you know, he touched so many lives through his life. And, you know, It's a Wonderful Life and Homestead really show the importance of community that we're not just these lone wolves on our own to, to survive on our own, um, that we really need one another. And that's what God— that's God's plan for us, you know. His greatest commandment, second greatest commandment, is to love our neighbor as ourselves. And that goes against the world, um, and that's really what Satan does. He puts forth that you, that you aren't gonna— you aren't gonna make it, and you have to do these terrible things to survive, and you know, there's no room for love. But you know, um, in community we discover that's, that's different. And the miracles of what God can do through people, you know, you're not going to realize them unless you come together. And exactly, so you know, you come together.

Um, I don't mean to go down a huge rabbit trail, but as you're describing this movie, I can't help but think and unveil that this is the core argument, or at least the underlying core argument behind the whole abortion debate. The notion that the planet is not sustainable, you know, for this huge population boom that we have, you know, been engaged in and experiencing— 8 billion people and more on the way kind of thing. And it's just— it is an unsustainability. So we've got to manage and control that. But who's to say that we haven't aborted geniuses or people that could figure out, you know, how to draw more out of sustainable living and energy? And there's no telling what was buried.

And just the simple concept of workers.

And workers too.

We're in a situation now where um, our Social Security monies are being questioned because there's not a workforce out there putting in money into— right, right, because we've killed them all, right?

And there was, and there was the, an issue in the camp in this movie where like some people got depressed and weren't contributing, and they were You know, and, and it was both sides of it because you could say, oh well, we're gonna, you know, they're a drain but they're not working. And the— it's never one way or the other with the Lord. It's, it's his way. And yes, he says, you know, you know, those who don't eat don't work, and we are to care. And similarly, we are to take care of the people who can't. So, so there's no, there's no cut and dry. It's not get rid of the weak. It's— but It's, it's a combination of both. If you can, then you should, um, you know, um, so it's never simple, um, you know, our, our, our Lord knows what's going on. He understands all the variables, and he tells us to do all of it, um, to love one another and to work and to rest and, and to care for those who can't, um, it's not about your value according to the Lord, isn't, you know, as much as we can contribute, isn't because of what we can contribute. We're to love one another anyway. Sure.

So, yeah, that brings us right into the next one.

But the other, the other thing on the, the numbers game is like, oh, well, we got, you know, we got to allow abortion because could you imagine what it would be like with all these people? The other, the other side of it is like, well, you're too old now, so we have to kill you because you're a drain on society. Um, or you're— you, you can't contribute to society and we're going to get rid of you. That was the plan of the Nazis, okay? Um, you know, these like, oh, makes sense. No, it's desperately wicked. It's the, the rendering of the— it's the world philosophies that the enemy pours out in there. And, um, you know, that's not God's way, you know.

Yeah, uh, the late Pastor Harry Reader calls it a culture of death. Steeped in, and it ping-pongs one another. And that leads us to the next point, which is to kill. Kill signifies ill health, because death is the ultimate form of ill health. It really is, right? That's it. It was—

I told you I was sick on the tombstone.

It wasn't a part of God's original design, but since the fall, it's stalked mankind with its predecessor, sickness. Much of Jesus' earthly ministry was to heal the sick. He demonstrated authority over sickness, disease, and even death. As with our financial order, Jesus had handed off to the church the ministry of healing by the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus sent out the 12 to minister in Matthew 10:8, he says, heal the sick and raise the dead. So he's imparted— there's been an impartation of power and authority to accomplish that in the world around us. And that's for his glory, to testify— it's a testimony to his goodness, to the restoration of his divine order once again. And we could make the case that Even the people that Jesus raised from the dead eventually died. Death is still, is still part of our pathos, but it's still, you know, a powerful example of the place that he's bringing us to, so to speak. Yeah. Finally, the thief comes to destroy, and I believe that this is is speaking of destruction of relationships. And in many instances, this is the most vexing weight of the fall. Uh, we can easily see how there's, uh, much in common with these three activities of Satan. They ping-pong one another. They wreak havoc in society and individual lives. His imperative is to tear down everything that God sanctioned and called good in Genesis 1 and 2. With regard to relationships, Satan's prime target is our relationship with God in Christ. God's antidote is reconciliation. Just as his antidote to financial chaos is giving— God's antidote is always upside down to the worldview. You know, the worldview is get what you can. Can what you get and sit on the can. But God's antidote is, you know, why don't you empty the can out and let me fill it for you? So 2 Corinthians 5:18 is a beautiful verse in regard to reconciliation. It says, "Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." And the vehicle for this is forgiveness, which is huge in God's economy. Luke 11:4, the Lord's Prayer says, "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us." So what we see here is evidence of the sway that Satan has over these three spheres of life in the natural plane. And there are only 3 spheres of life. I would challenge anybody to try to come up with another sphere. But the finances, health, and relationship are the 3 spheres of life. And they govern our attention and our affairs during our time here in the dash, so to speak. I speak of that, you know, the dash on the tombstone, you know, somebody who lived— that's our life. That's the snapshot. Of our life. And these time— these are time-based vehicles and realities which have no authority over eternity, but they do impact eternity. And so, um, to reaffirm this as a truth, I just want to take a quick peek at Job. Poor guy, right?

Who—

in Job 1:12, you know, things are damaged Yeah, God gives Satan latitude over Job's life to afflict him. Satan destroys his closest relationships, his children. He wipes out his prosperity, all his cattle and livestock, and is given sway over his physical health up to the point of death. So Job's relationship with his wife and closest friends is also harshly affected as a consequence of his affliction. Afflictions. Held in the balance is Job's relationship with God. Prior to his affliction, the Lord said to Satan, speaking of Job, He says, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil?" But Satan, you know, has contrived this idea that if he's afflicted, he'll He'll, he'll quake under the pressure and curse God, and he'll curse you to his face. Even his own wife tempts him in this regard in Job 2:9 and says, do you still hold fast to your integrity? Why don't you just curse God and die? So here we see in a microcosm, in the life of one man, all three afflictions in the three spheres of life coming to bear. And, um, uh, we know the story, you know. Job, amidst, um, much contemplation and, uh, tension, hangs in there. He hangs in the pocket. He really does. And, um, God blesses that. And he, he comes out the other end with a good report. Um, We might ask, where's the good news in the midst of this great unveiling? It seems like the deck is stacked against us, 3 against 1. We all have afflictions and may be tempted to curse God and die at any given time along the way.

Sadly, that's very true for our culture, as you said, the culture of death, because suicide. Yeah. Ever since all this foolishness with COVID and with, you know, free love and free, you know, you know, be your own person and woke society, all that kind of stuff. The numbers of people committing suicide has greatly risen. Yeah. And you can fact-check that on, you know, people who are listening, that that's to be true. And because people are feeling hopeless.

Yeah. The latest numbers is the suicides, the 11th 11th, which it was 10th. Uh, I, I volunteer for the AFSP, but the, the, the— I know you do. The report I saw, uh, said it was the 11th leading cause of death, so I don't know what took 10th place or whatever, but, but it's, it's— the numbers have, have grown exponentially, uh, as time has gone on. And I can't help but think that it has a lot to do with people's worldview, and that goes to the core issue of how we're looking at life. Um, when we don't believe in any, you know, when we think empirically and only go with our five senses and what we see, uh, you know, hear, touch, smell, taste, or whatever the other one was, um, basically there's, there's, you know, we look at this world and it's, it fills us with despair because we see everyone who's gone before us go to the grave, and we, we watch science shows that tell us about the death of the universe. And so science tells us things are going to run out, and, you know, our supplies will run out or the universe will run out, but we're doomed. And that's, that's the, the necessary, you know, the logical, um, thing to do basically is to take your life in your own hands one way or the other, um, with that thing and, and despair over it. And, you know, the Bible talks about people who said, you know, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. However, uh, it doesn't— that's not— they're not telling you to do that. They're telling you that's wrong thinking because there's eternal consequences. There is, there is life beyond this. And this is where Jesus comes into, into the world to tell us this, you know, because life is so hard. He comes to heal, um, to show us he's God. He's risen from the dead to show he's defeated death. So this is the big thing, like, you know, oh, life is so hard. Well, I'm the healer. There is a God, and you know, he doesn't heal everybody. Well, why? Because he wasn't here to make everyone's life on Earth happy and pain-free. He was here to welcome me into his kingdom, and there had to be a choice made. And so he had to prove who he was, you know, basically through his teachings, through his sinless life, and through the miraculous works he did. He showed I'm God. And this is the way to go. And so if you want to— you want that, you know, I don't know how eternity will shake out, but if you want part in his kingdom, you have to follow him. And he, he, he gave us— he gave us healing and, you know, rose from the dead to just, you know, rose from the dead basically to show us that he's the way. And, um, that, that narrative that's so compelling that our experience tells us in the world supports, you know, is a lie. Um, there's something more, uh, there's something, uh, above and beyond, uh, the here and now, and that's God. And he's, he's come into— he came into existence to show us this, and he hasn't left. He's still telling people this story today. Um, and, you know, we're going to celebrate the coming of the Lord in a few days, um, because this is a true story. And there's great hope and joy in the contemplation of, of the coming of the Lord, coming back and claiming existence and welcoming us into his kingdom forevermore.

So, and I think that there's also, he, he gives us the understanding that because you have that kind of hope, you can live whatever you're, whatever existence you're living in right now. Mm-hmm. And it can be hard, but you can make it.

Yeah. You know, and hopefully that existence is not, you know, an atheistic or nihilistic worldview, because as you pointed out, it's extremely fatalistic. And it drives people to the brink and erases hope. So, um, you know, God's revelation of himself is to draw all mankind unto himself and to say that this was not, you know, the way that I created things to be, and there is a remedy. And, and Jesus is the remedy. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Romans 8:28 is, is our great— is our great leveler in this. It says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose." And following last week's study, we may be moved to say those who choose to love God. In the same chapter, Paul says, "I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." So that's having the eternal perspective, not the time-based perspective, but knowing that there is a hope of glory. Christ in me, the hope of glory. There is a hope that compels us to go on, to keep our integrity as Job did, and to press on because death is not the final chapter. There's a great graduation day. Susanna's mom, we've been processing her passing, and we look at it as graduation day, walking on streets of gold, ushered into the kingdom, into the presence of God. Peter weighs in on this when he says, beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial. Which is to try you in the spheres of finances, relationships, or health, so to speak, as though some strange thing has happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, and when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. Hallelujah. That's from 1 Peter.

One of the world's philosophies you know, to try to give us comfort is to point out suffering, you know, oh, you're suffering, you know, that's horrible, but look at that guy, he's suffering too. And so, you know, there's supposed to be some solace in the fact that we're all suffering, you know, like you're not alone in your suffering because everybody's suffering, which is true. And, you know, it should basically put things in perspective. However, you point out, or Peter points out, basically there's, you know, there's, there's something beyond the suffering, something beyond the, the fiery trial. And that's the, the hope that, you know, our suffering is temporary, and because, uh, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna go, uh, into Christ's eternal kingdom where there'll be exceeding joy. Um, so, you know, these are the great promises from scripture, and, you know, the— in Revelation, where there'll be no pain, no more death, you know. And that is like something very difficult to fathom. Um, but this is the promise, and that we can take hope in because of the resurrection, because— and that's exclusive to Jesus Christ. I mean, that's, that's it. That's exclusive to the, you know, um, to Christianity. Um, yeah, you know, other, other forms of, you know, false religion basically would say that, you know, there's, there's, there's eternity, but, uh, it's based on your works, or, you know, basically you're gonna end back right here in existence again., you know, on some wheel of reincarnation. But, um, um, Christianity is the only religion where God came to save us, and we're not trying to appease him, and we're not gonna— or he's, he's personal and not impersonal, and, uh, he came to save us. And that's, that's why Jesus is, is the way, uh, and the only way. Because that's the only way it works, because really, if we're honest, there's no way we're going to make up for our wrongdoing with what we could do.

And of course, that's what Satan tries to express to us. First of all, he tries to say, did God really say these words that's in the Bible? Did he really say that? Okay, all right, well, did God really mean it for you? You know, how could you? How could he mean it for you? You're a wicked, horrible person. You just thought those evil thoughts. But that's where you have to stop and step back and say, you know, I do believe that this is true. Yeah, I do believe that this is real. Yeah. And, you know, it makes me think of, um, one time when we were teaching in the prison ministry, and I said to the girls, I said, you know, I can tell you all this stuff about Jesus and God and everything and tell you that it's true, it's true in my life, that I believe it. I said, but let me put it to a more practical, natural level. I have a beautiful blue dress in my closet. It fits me perfectly. I love wearing it when I go out for something nice and fancy. It's in my closet. I love it. It's my go-to dress. And you could say, I don't believe that dress exists. I've never seen you wear that dress, but I know in my heart, I know in my mind, I know in myself that it's in there. So you can't tell me that my dress doesn't exist any more than you can tell me that my God and Jesus don't exist, because that's— I know it's true.

I have experienced the Lord in my life. He's real.

Yeah, yeah. And we know by, um, I've often said that our faith is not a blind faith because we know by revelation, and not just cerebral revelation of dreams and visions and goofy things. I mean real revelation. Susanna and I have seen some pretty significant God sightings in recent times. We call them God sightings, places and areas in life where I irony just doesn't cut it conceptually, where you just can't say, oh, that was a coincidence. And so God does reveal himself. He reveals his love for mankind. He revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ, and Jesus sealed the deal essentially with the resurrection and demonstrated his power and authority over death, hell, and the grave. He has the last word in John 10:10. When he says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. And what does abundant life look like? Is this the prosperity gospel that we're talking about? Careful. Certainly abundant life has elements of the antithesis of that which the thief overshadows, prosperity and good health. And sound relationships. And God wants us to be happy in this life. One of the definitions of blessed is happy. Another definition is abundant. So we saw last week that God put before us blessings and curses and told us to choose blessings. But what about Job? He had no choice in the matter of his affliction other than to curse God. It's noteworthy to point out that it ends well for Job and he receives abundantly from God. But we can't hold this as a precise level of transaction, as a steadfast principle with God. Some very good people suffer greatly in this life and never see their ship come in, so to speak. So what principles can we genuinely hold on to? Because God is steadfast. And the key principle is that your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. So the point is that this is not our life. This isn't it. This is a shadow, a type, a foreshadow of the way things will be in glory. Jesus compels us to say in the Lord's Prayer, my kingdom come, my will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we're walking out, we're bringing heaven down to earth and walking out eternal principles here on earth. But we're still engaged in this warfare. There is still a tension. Eternity still hangs in the balance. And in truth, this is not our life. Our life is hidden with God in Christ, and it's safe. This dash is not our life. If you are in Christ, then your real life or your true identity is safe and protected, and Satan has no sway over it. Um, Rob Reimer writes in his book, um, River Dwellers, which I highly recommend— River Dwellers by Rob Reimer— he says, uh, we try to borrow life from things which cannot give life. Good things often point us to the source of life, but they have no life in and of themselves. This is why there is restlessness in our souls that only God satisfies. It keeps folding back to that. I think it was Augustine who said, in this world, we cannot find satisfaction, which indicates that we weren't created for this world. That was a paraphrase of that statement, but you hit the bullet points, definitely hit the bullet points. The stirring in our soul indicates to us that there is— something's just not right here. And weren't really created for this. The fracture of relationships is so crushing. The weight of financial chaos, as we've already said, wreaks havoc. And sickness and disease, which can come on, you know, like out of nowhere, is just perplexing. These things really are. We've seen how God is transcendent over them all. You know, I've been endorsing the book by Brian Wills, 10 Hours to Live, in which at 21 years old he was miraculously delivered from a terminal cancer, in which one of his diagnoses early on was, all right, son, well, you've got about 10 hours to live. Such was not the case, you know. But all these demonstrations of His power and His transcendence are for His glory and to demonstrate to us that He's here, He cares, and He's determined to usher us into eternity in His presence. You know, it's God's will that none would perish, but that all would come to come to repentance. Of course, there's that power of personal choice which looms over us that we really, we still have that to make. There is in essence another sphere wherein our citizenship lies. And in this, we can rejoice. With all saints gone before us. So as I've thought about this over the years, I think it's wisdom to be a little circumspect, maybe coming up on the first of the year especially, to say, to look at the three spheres of life and put them under the microscope and ask yourself, how are you doing in each sphere? And is there place for change and repentance. And what part are you going to play in that? And what part is God going to play? It's not fair if you're in financial chaos to just pray that you'd hit the lottery every day. There are practical principles where wisdom is involved that we can apply. To rightly steward our finances.

Same thing with our health. We don't just go willy-nilly and just not try and take care of ourselves health-wise.

Yeah, eating potato chips with every meal is like probably not a good idea. I'm going to stop. It's my New Year's resolution. Shocking.

Yeah.

Same thing with our relationships, you know, to try and And like you were saying from this Homestead movie about, um, cloistering yourself away from other people, right? And, you know, not having relationships, or, or maybe you've had some, some tough goes in your family or some tough goes in your relationships. Doesn't mean that you shut everything off and you say, well, then I'm just going to close my doors and close the gates and nobody can come in. Well, that's foolish just as much as, you know, the financial foolishness or the health foolishness, right? You have to have relationships with folk just as well as you have a relationship with Jesus. And, uh, yes, that's the key. Your money, your health, and your relationships— can't— you can't do it. You can't do it. Yeah, you have to have God do it.

Apart from Christ I can do nothing.

Exactly. But I said I can do all things.

Amen. Hallelujah.

So, you know, that's where we stand for the new— the Christmas holidays and the New Year coming. And yeah, hope that helps somebody.

We are, you know, this is a Christmas message because these truths are birthed in our hearts and they take shape and produce fruit, and hopefully fruit that remains. It's God's desire that we would bear fruit unto righteousness. And so Mark, I ask you to pray for that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you that you're Lord of all things and that, um, you know, you cover all the spheres of our life— our, our prosperity, um, our health, and our relationships. Lord, that, uh, you play a part in them, and the fact that you provided all of them with us, and you drive all of them with us. And we can make choices in those, but when we go against your wisdom, Lord, we know we'll suffer, Lord. So we just pray for you to be with us, your Holy Spirit to reveal to us and to anyone listening to this message the truth, um, who is Jesus. But there's also a way to live, um, that you pointed out in your scriptures, Lord, that speaks of wisdom. And understanding, and that we're to seek it and to apply it to our lives. And, uh, Lord, we just, um, pray for you to give us revelation and to encourage us to trust you and to enter in, to align ourselves with your wisdom. And Lord, we pray for your Holy Spirit to go out today to give that spirit of wisdom, uh, through the pastors that are going to preach the word today, that their words will be anointed by to, to spark a change in someone's heart, to remember, um, who Christ is and, and to, and to make it— consider making a change now that we, we've come to a time of celebration and reflection. Um, and we just pray for, uh, uh, the body of Christ to rejoice today. Uh, let the, uh, the worship teams be anointed by your Holy Spirit to bring us joy, uh, so we can stand up and proclaim that Jesus Christ has been born and he's still with us, and he will come back someday to reclaim everything. And as always, we encourage you to bless the communities of the saints, that we're not going to go it alone anymore, and that we need one another. We all have something to contribute, um, or just to be served, um, by one another. Lord, you know, you know our purpose and our, our our direction in life, and you know the way we should go. And we just pray for you to bless us and guide us, um, to really, um, celebrate the reason for the season in a few days on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and to, um, to give you glory and, and how we live. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen. So that's, uh, another study. Um, you know, basically, if this message has touched your heart to make a change, uh, you know, I am doing Celebrate Freedom online, uh, the first time, um, starting in the new year on January 6th. Uh, if you'd like to sign up, go to mtforchrist.com and our group events coaching— a group of coaching events page where you can register. Basically, it's a long study. We're gonna do the whole thing for 25 weeks at least.

Oh my God.

We're gonna get everything on video, so we'll be able to, uh, share what we know. Um, you know, basically with Celebrate Recovery lessons as the basis, but with everything I know from Deeper Walk and my years of Bible study, Christian counseling, and, um, you know, Freedom in Christ Ministries, we're gonna bring it all in and my story, um, to try to encourage people to find a new life, a new way to live. And, um, you know, we tell you to bring your hurts, habits, and hang-ups to the Lord, and we can walk beside you, um, to try to encourage you to, to, to experience the new life, uh, and freedom that Jesus has for you. Um, so that's, that's what we're doing in the new year. We're going to do it one way or the other. Um, get those teachings done, and hopefully there'll be people in, in the Zoom meeting with me, uh, to encourage and people have been interested, and if any of them are watching this today, I pray for them to, uh, to pull the trigger and, uh, to register. Um, yeah, so that's my hope for the new year. Um, you know, just to keep sharing this message of hope that we bring every week with this Bible study and the podcast every day. Um, and so from me and, uh, Tammy Lynn and Arthur and Susanna, we say, uh, thank you. Have a Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. And God bless you all.

Amen.

Amen.