Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000976
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01:00 Hello and welcome to 3ABN's
01:03 Spring Camp Meeting and Pillars 01:05 of Our Faith Event. How many of you 01:08 were really blessed last night. Amen. 01:11 Wasn't this incredible and you know 01:14 we know that God's anointing is on this event. 01:19 Because he is anointing is on his word 01:22 and we are definitely going to be hearing a 01:26 lot of words through this whole weekend. 01:28 We want to welcome all of those 01:31 who are joining us from around the world 01:33 wish you could b here in person the fellowship 01:35 is sweet but you still get to here some 01:38 wonderful messages and wonderful singing 01:43 and speaking of singers we have someone with 01:46 us that you may not even recognize 01:48 even though she doesn't really need a lot of 01:51 introduction. Melody David Asscherick is 01:55 going to be speaking this hour. And 01:56 he just got through telling melody your 01:59 half the person you use to be. You know, 02:02 after how many babies Melody? Six. 02:06 After six babies she is down to a size four, 02:11 and she can't even find clothes. So, anyway Melody 02:17 is going to be singing a beautiful song 02:20 "My Hiding place". Amen. 02:42 Lord you know sometimes I have just hard to bear 02:50 And their were time when it seems like no one cares, 02:58 Sometimes I get so tired and I need to take a break 03:06 Apart from my tiny tasks and a peaceful hiding way 03:14 You're my hiding place, I wanna run to hide in place. 03:27 The hand that I hold on to when the precious 03:32 all around me And it seems there is no 03:36 way I have You make a way 03:41 I have just came For your my hiding place 03:54 Lord they were days when everything use to go wrong 04:02 And there were times when my strength is almost gone 04:09 When the enemies surrounds me I don't know what to do 04:17 Lord I need a shelter my only hope lies in you 04:26 Your my hiding place, I wanna run to hiding in place. 04:39 The hand that I hold on to when the precious 04:43 all around me And it seems there is no 04:48 way I have You make a way 04:53 I have just came For your my hiding place 05:02 I long to ringer in the shadow of your wings 05:09 And peaceful nest where I found my rest 05:12 Underneath your covering, 05:18 Your my hiding place, 05:23 I wanna run to hiding in place. 05:31 The hand that I hold on to when the precious 05:36 all around me And it seems there is no 05:40 way I have You make a way 05:46 I have just came For your my hiding place 05:54 You make a way I have just came 06:00 For your my hiding place. 06:20 Thank you, thank you, so, where would bear 06:24 we go thank you so much Melody. 06:25 We have a real treat in store this morning, 06:28 I really enjoyed David's sermon last night 06:33 on the trinity and the nature of God as he said 06:38 and I particularly enjoyed how he explained 06:41 love and what is love. 06:43 Love is giving yourself to others. 06:46 David is going to, David Asscherick is our 06:49 speaker and he is the director of ARISE, 06:52 he is very familiar to so many of you. 06:54 Anybody who watches 3ABN often, 06:57 this young man is extremely intelligent 07:02 and I am so glad that the Lord got his 07:05 attention through the book The Great 07:07 Controversy that's what brought him into 07:09 the church. But I am so glad that he is 07:13 putting this intellect to work for the Kingdom 07:15 of God. Aren't you? Amen. And you know what? 07:17 David has I discussed through back 07:21 of the stage I told him David you need to 07:22 the write a book. I just did he said. 07:25 We he just gave me a copy of his brand new 07:28 book and its called God in Pain. 07:32 We all know that there is a lot of evidence 07:34 that there is a living God. But apart from the 07:39 empirical evidence how we do explain 07:42 if there is so much evil some what pain 07:46 in this world. How do we explain that 07:49 God is love? Well, that's what this book 07:52 is all about and you can get this book 07:54 if you go his website for arise.com and I believe. 07:59 And if that's not correct you correct me 08:01 or it available at the ABC's stores but right 08:05 now please help me welcome David Asscherick 08:08 he is going to be speaking to us about 08:10 the friend of God. 08:12 Amen. Thank you, so much Shelly. 08:14 Alright, good morning everyone. 08:15 Good morning. Alright, my website 08:17 is ariseinstitute.com. I think if you go 08:20 to arise.com its for like elicitive. 08:25 Either that or any my through, its something 08:27 like just want to clarify for the viewing 08:31 audience ariseinstitute.com okay. Great. 08:35 Yeah I really excited about the new book just, 08:38 just wrote it. And I hope it would be a 08:40 blessing to you, I came to be a believer in Jesus 08:43 after reading the book The Great Controversy 08:45 and of course The Great Controversy 08:48 details to the history of the Christian Church. 08:50 The conflict between good and evil, 08:52 light and darkness, God and Satan 08:54 and so this, this battle and this biblical 08:57 motive have always been very near and dear 08:59 to my heart it was the thing that arrested my 09:01 attention and made Christianity credible 09:04 in my sight. It's the thing that I said that 09:06 make sense and so over the course of 09:09 last 12 years becoming a believer sort of 09:11 storing away ideas. Storing away thoughts, 09:13 storing away anecdotes and biblical illustrations 09:16 on this theme of this conflict between good and 09:19 evil. I felt it was the time for me to write a 09:21 book on it. So, that I can start articulate my 09:23 thoughts about the nature of the great controversy, 09:26 the nature of God and how do we explain that God 09:30 is so good, so loving, so beneficial in the 09:33 context of a world. That is so corrupt, 09:36 so evil, and so anyway that's the book 09:38 and I hope that you get your hands on it. 09:41 If you hear the local camp meeting it just available 09:42 right outside but for those of you that are 09:45 viewing you can get hold of it through 09:46 ariseinstitute.com. So, let's pray 09:48 together, our presentation this morning is title the 09:51 friend of God. The friend of God. 09:53 And I am so, excited about this message 09:55 it's a presentation that have been preaching 09:57 a quite little bit lately, not because 09:59 I don't have other sermons to preach but because the, 10:02 the central message of this presentation 10:06 is something that just thrills my soul every 10:08 time I preach it and I can assure you I have heard it 10:10 more than any of you. And it never 10:14 sees to through my soul not because of the 10:16 presenter, and certainly not. But because 10:19 of the content of the message and its, its, 10:22 its not new truth in the sense of being new light but 10:25 I think its definitely a new perspective on an 10:27 old truth. And so we are going to be talking about 10:29 being the friend of God. So, let's pray together. Amen. 10:32 Father in heaven, it is our great privilege 10:36 to come before you here at camp meeting 10:39 and truly these is A Pillars Event anytime 10:43 that a group of people come together and say 10:45 Sola Scriptura. Your word and your alone 10:49 father that is very much in the spirit of the 10:51 reformation, the Protestant in the reformation 10:53 and father some of us are still protesting. 10:55 Help us father to be committed absolutely 11:00 committed to this great truth of Sola Scriptura. 11:04 May we not this way by tradition, may we not 11:07 this way by culture. May we remain 11:09 resolute in our commitment to your word. 11:11 Father as we learned last night from pastor Knott, 11:13 your word is inspired but father even 11:17 more than that, it is also inspiring 11:19 and its thrills our souls. Father we are so 11:23 happy that the Bible is not dusty old dried 11:26 book of, of obsolesces but it is a book 11:30 that is absolutely relevant even 11:33 in the modern age. And father it marvels 11:35 it and boggles the mind, how can 11:37 an ancient book speaks so eloquently 11:39 and so profoundly to a modern world 11:41 and here father we have had the experience 11:44 of hearing your voice through this book 11:47 and father we come now yet again 11:49 to hear your words not through a man 11:52 so much as through the son of man and his spirit. 11:56 Father as we learned last night your, 11:58 your nature is such that you're a family 12:00 fathers son and spirit. And so, we prayed 12:02 that the third person of the God had, the 12:05 Holy Spirit would come not just into 12:06 this room but even more importantly 12:09 into our hearts. Amen. That we may resonate 12:13 with you. Father I want to claim the promise 12:15 of Roman 8,15, and 16. that the spirit 12:18 would bear witness with our spirits 12:20 and that the spirit inside of us would fly out 12:23 above father that we would know that we are 12:26 the sons and daughters of God. Amen. 12:29 Father this morning as we open your word 12:31 may you open us and may the inspiring 12:33 spirit now become the instructing spirit. 12:35 Thank you for the camp meeting we had already 12:38 and we pray that this would be not just an 12:40 opportunity just soak up and become 12:42 spiritual fact Christians. But this would be an 12:45 opportunity for us to learn that we may give 12:48 freely we have received and father may we go 12:50 from here and freely give to those around us. 12:53 Be with us now we ask in the name of 12:55 Jesus whatever you want to say. Amen. Amen. 13:01 Alright so our presentation is called 13:03 the friend of God and I want I would like to do 13:05 is to spend the first sort of 15 or 20 minutes 13:08 on taking a look at one of the grand unifying 13:11 motives or themes of scripture. Now, 13:14 students of scriptures or what we might call more 13:17 technically theologians tend to come in two flavors. 13:21 Right ice cream comes in lots of flavors in jelly belly, 13:23 jelly beans come in lots of flavors but Theologian 13:26 is tend to come in two flavors how many flavors 13:28 everyone? Two. Two flavors, one kind of the theologian 13:32 is what we call a systematician. 13:34 A systematician, what's the root word of 13:36 that systematician. System, system 13:38 or systematic. The first kind of theologian is, 13:41 is the kind of Bible student could be a 13:44 technical theological in terms of scholarly 13:46 trained academician or it could just be a 13:48 Bible student like anyone of us. Novos 13:50 theologian and so the first kind of theologian 13:52 is what's called systematician 13:53 or somebody who studies Biblical theology 13:56 and what they do is they try and 13:58 systematize the great themes of Scripture 14:00 in other words what a systematician will do is 14:03 he will began in the book of Genesis he move all the way 14:05 through the Old Testaments to Melaka then 14:06 he will go Matthew and all the way through to 14:08 Revelation. He now ask the question what are the 14:10 big themes in this book, what's the big picture 14:13 may be the easiest way to think about the 14:15 systematician is their looking through the 14:17 telescope at the big picture in case they will ask 14:20 questions like what are the central themes 14:23 what are the unifying motives of this book. 14:25 What's the big picture? That's a systematician 14:28 that's one flavor of theologian. 14:30 The other flavor of Theologian they look 14:32 not at the, at the big picture so much 14:35 as at the guess what? just take guess at the, 14:38 smaller, the smaller picture. And we call 14:41 this people exegesis. Do you heard that 14:43 term before an exegesis in fact we look right 14:46 over there in house you will see that there is a 14:48 sign above that door can anyone read that 14:51 big read sign. Yes. Yeah the fire Marshall will 14:54 be happy to hear that you can read it. It 14:56 says exit and what is that word mean. 14:59 It's means that's how you get out, 15:01 it comes from the Latin Ec which means out. 15:03 Right, exit out. The word exegesis has the 15:07 same route Ec it means out. What an 15:10 exegesis will do as supposed to looking at the big 15:12 picture like the systematicians do. 15:14 The exegesis will look at the small picture. The 15:17 exegesis will go to a single passage or a single 15:19 verse and in many cases a single word and 15:22 single conjugation of that verb or a single 15:25 context of that noun and they will ask questions like 15:28 this. Did the Apostle Paul ever used 15:31 this word in this way in any other place. 15:34 Why did he used this word and what is the extra 15:37 Biblical evidence for the best usage of this word 15:40 for rather than looking at the greater big picture 15:42 of what all scripture teachers the exegesis 15:44 looks at the individual words the individual 15:46 conjugations and the individual verses 15:49 I have to gather everyone. Now, both are on 15:52 the same team alright it is a little bit like having 15:53 your offense and your defense. 15:55 The systematicians are looking at the great 15:57 big picture the great unifying themes. 15:59 While the exegesis are looking at the 16:00 small picture and they are tend to be experts in 16:02 the Biblical languages Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. 16:05 Now, most of us who are not classically trained 16:09 as theologians are not typically exegesis. 16:12 We tend to be more systematicians 16:14 that is to say most of us look at the big 16:17 picture of scripture, we look at the 16:19 central unifying motives of scriptures and I am 16:22 very much that way. As I said last night 16:25 I don't know Hebrew and I don't know Greek. 16:26 I am still working on English. 16:30 Alright, they say that if you can speak three languages 16:32 you are trilingual. Alright you are trilingual, 16:34 if you can speak two languages 16:37 you are bilingual and you can speak 16:40 only language likely you are from the 16:42 United States. Likely you are from the 16:47 United States and so, Hebrew for me, no Greek 16:50 for me. There are Bible study towards that gives 16:52 me access to those but, but as a systematician 16:55 I tend to look when I study scripture at the big picture. 16:58 I ask questions like what this book really teach us. 17:01 If I meet a person who knows nothing 17:04 about scripture and this is happening 17:05 increasingly in a secular world, who knows 17:07 nothing about the Bible and they find 17:08 out that I am a Bible student perhaps 17:10 I am sitting on a Aeroplane reading the Bible 17:12 and they say to me, oh you read the Bible 17:14 and the conversation begins if they know 17:15 about scripture. How do I communicate 17:17 to them the basic essences of what this 17:19 book is about, what are the central 17:21 unifying themes of scripture. Now, let me just 17:25 ask you that question. Let me ask you 17:27 somebody said you want. Okay 17:28 what's this book all about? Its actually not 17:29 a single book of course its 66 books. 17:31 Its like encyclopedia. A compendium of 17:34 66 books but as somebody said you, 17:35 okay in the nut shell what is this book 17:38 about? What would you say? 17:39 Who is in-charge? Jesus who is in-charge 17:43 one like that, anybody else? Okay salvation. 17:48 Okay God's love for us. Central that's a very 17:51 good one all of them good. Anybody else? 17:52 Central unifying motive. God's character, 17:57 okay very good, God's character. Anybody else? 18:01 How to worship God? Okay, 18:03 so this are some of the, that's you 18:04 got it exactly. You have got it exactly, 18:05 this are the unifying motives 18:08 God is good, God as redeemer, God 18:11 as creator. These are some of the 18:13 central unifying themes in Scripture. 18:16 What I would like to do now is to spend about 18:18 15 minutes sort of walking as 18:21 through what is unquestionably one of 18:22 we and I would suggest may be 18:25 we great motive of scripture and so I will 18:28 going to begin as will be appropriate 18:30 as now as theologians this morning. As 18:32 systematicians we are going to be began in 18:34 the book of Genesis. So, go with me to the book 18:37 of Genesis. We gonna to see how the book begins. 18:39 So, go to Genesis Chapter 2, we spend sometime 18:41 last night in Genesis 1. Let us go now to Genesis 2. 18:45 Genesis Chapter 2, now just very quickly 18:51 my way over view you tell me 18:52 what is taking place in Genesis one and two. 18:56 Okay the creation account and what are the very first 19:00 words in Genesis 1, that God speaks. 19:02 Everybody says that, listen very carefully 19:06 to the question what are the very first words 19:09 in Genesis one that God speaks. Amen. 19:12 That to be right, very good Moses wrote 19:14 and of course he was under the inspiration of the 19:16 spirit but Moses wrote in the beginning right 19:18 but God speaks and his words are let they be 19:22 line. Okay, the picture that is presented in Genesis 19:24 Chapter 1 is a very sequential very Chronological 19:28 picture of creation. Right, it last six literal 19:31 contiguous continuous days. And so the first day, 19:34 the second day, the third day and the fourth day 19:37 extra. And God is presented as speaking 19:40 things into existence. Amen. He is presented as 19:43 what everyone. Speak. And its, its sort of 19:46 typified for us there. Right in Genesis Chapter1, 19:48 where God its almost as if this kind of over hear, 19:51 its almost as if God is here and he says 19:53 let their be light and then their suddenly is light. 19:58 But there is no light in no one's life. 19:59 And then God says let there be a firmament 20:01 in the mix of the water. There is a firmament 20:03 in the mix of the water that you find God in 20:05 Genesis Chapter 1, speaking things into existence, 20:08 let there be a greater light over all the day. 20:10 Wow! There is a sun. let there be a lesser light 20:12 overall night. There is a moon. 20:14 Let there will be stars, stars. God is 20:17 speaking things into existence. That's almost to 20:19 say this right. He would say though he 20:22 spokes on Psalm 33 verses 6 and 9. 20:25 He spoke and it was done 20:28 he commended and it stood fast. 20:32 So, what we have here is this idea that God 20:34 can just speak things into existence that the 20:36 creative energy that brings things to existence 20:38 is actually contained in the word of God. 20:41 So if the God says let there be light 20:44 there is light. There God says there would be sun, 20:46 there is a sun. let there be a moon, there is a moon. 20:48 Let there be a dry land, there is dry land. Let 20:49 there be a firmament, there is a firmament. 20:51 If David Asscherick says or if you say 20:54 by contrast, by way of contrast big pink 20:57 elephant. Nothing, right no big just a little pink 21:06 man. Right. no big pink elephant. 21:10 But the picture that is printed in Scripture 21:12 is that if God said big pink elephant there would 21:16 suddenly be a big pink elephant. This 21:19 is sort of Genesis Chapter 1, Genesis Chapter 1 21:23 is a very chronological very sequential, very 21:25 orderly treatment of creation. Genesis 1, 21:28 day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6 21:31 and God has depicted has speaking things 21:33 into existence. Now, some people 21:35 who are what we might call liberal theologians 21:37 or even skeptics of scripture they would 21:40 love us to believe there is contradiction 21:43 between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. 21:44 you might have heard this before. 21:46 All those two different creation accounts. 21:48 There is two contradictory creation accounts. 21:51 Hogwash and Poppycock. There is not 21:53 two contradictory accounts what there is 21:56 an account from one perspective which is 21:58 a sort of the sequential chronological overview 22:00 and then Genesis 2, transitions from that 22:02 sequence into a relational perspective 22:06 of creation. It sort of a recompilation 22:09 of the details from a relational perspective, okay. 22:13 Now watch what happens in Genesis chapter 2 22:15 as Moses now recompilate what he has 22:18 discussed in Genesis Chapter1 and 22:19 goes specifically to verse 7. 22:21 Go specifically to verse 7, 22:23 the Bible says Genesis Chapter 2, and verse 7 22:26 and the Lord God what does your Bible say? 22:28 Formed, formed man of the dust of the earth. 22:35 Oh! wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, 22:37 there is a change here. There is a difference 22:39 here, in Genesis chapter1, God is over the earth. 22:41 He is not aluff certainly not aluff 22:44 but he appears to be distant from creation. 22:47 He is speaking things into just let there be light, 22:49 there is light, let there firmament, 22:50 there is firmament, let there a sun, 22:52 a sun, let there be a moon. But Genesis 2, 22:55 in Genesis 2, God is not distinct 22:58 God is proximate God is not over there, 23:01 God is right here and Genesis Chapter 2 verse 7, 23:06 the Bible says that the Lord God formed 23:09 man of that what was it. Dust of ground, 23:13 of the dust of the ground, dust of the earth. 23:14 The picture here is not a God over there 23:16 speaking things to existence. The picture here 23:19 is of a God on his hands and knees 23:23 in the dirt and he is forming and fashioning 23:28 man. The picture that I give in my acetified 23:31 imagination as there is dirt under the finger nails 23:33 of God. There is, there is mud on the 23:37 pants of God if God wears pants. 23:39 God is, God is in the mud he is in the dirt 23:42 he is closed, he is intimate he is proximate, 23:45 he is involved and God is seen here not over 23:48 there but right here fashioning, forming, 23:52 sculpting he gets Adam just as he wants. 24:00 But at this point only has a sculpture. 24:03 Right at this point all he has a sculpture 24:06 this is not Adam yet this is sculpture. 24:08 This is a piece of art this is God as an artisan. 24:12 This is God as a sculpture, this is not 24:15 yet Adam. What is the next part of that 24:18 verse say? that we have got formed man of the dust 24:20 of the ground and then what did he do? 24:23 He breathed into his nostrils, 24:24 He breathed into his nostrils, 24:28 the breathe of what? He breathed into his nostrils. 24:31 We love it there a only three people on planet 24:33 earth into whose nostrils I would feel 24:36 comfortable breathing. 24:39 I am going to get that or not. There is 24:42 only three people in fact can I just borrow one of 24:44 our sound people. One of our sound people 24:46 just back there, just rush on out if you don't mind. 24:49 Come on out just for a moment 24:50 tell me your first name again. 24:51 Jonathan, Jonathan step into my office 24:53 okay. So, this is Jonathan and just this is gonna be 24:57 very helpful for some of you when your 25:00 speaking to some one you typically want to have 25:02 about arm length distance this is an, this is an 25:05 appropriate distance for your just social 25:07 interactions. So I say, hey Jonathan where are you from? 25:09 Thompsonville. You are local? 25:12 Yes. Were you born in Illinois? No. Where you born? 25:14 Oregon. Okay, so we are having, is this a normal 25:16 conversation. Okay, look at our distance. 25:18 Now watch how the dynamic changes 25:21 if I just go like this. So, where in Oregon? 25:27 Portland. Portland's. Yeah you like it there. 25:30 Yeah. Lot of rain. Yeah. And now watch how 25:32 the dynamic changes if I go like this. 25:34 So, how does it feel? Awkward, 25:38 awkward, yeah, good word, good word 25:40 feels like awkward doesn't it. 25:41 You see as well as you move closure 25:44 to something intimacy just arises. 25:47 If I am talking here, if I am talking 25:49 to somebody, by the way this is a good piece 25:51 of advice for some of you who have no sense 25:52 of social space or social personal space. 25:55 So, this is object lesson for you arms lengths. 25:58 Okay, and if you have really short arms 26:00 two arms length so it's okay. So, 26:02 this is an appropriate distance okay this is, 26:05 this is weird okay. He probably thinks 26:08 I am going to breathe into his. That's not 26:09 going to happen, okay thank you so much. 26:12 So, the point is this don't miss the basic point, 26:15 the Bible, the Bible in Genesis chapter 1 has 26:18 God here let There be light, there is light, 26:20 let there is a sun, there is a sun, 26:21 Let there a moon, there is moon, 26:22 Let be the firmament there is a firmament. 26:24 But in Genesis Chapter 2, Moses turns the 26:27 corner he recompliates from a relational perspective 26:29 and he says the Lord God formed man 26:31 here's man not over there but right here. 26:34 He is in the, he is the dust. He is forming 26:37 and fashioning man. Dirt under the finger 26:40 nails, dirt on the knees, he is involved in this thing 26:43 there is intimacy here. There is proximity here, 26:46 there is investment here and then 26:48 when he has got all sculpted. 26:51 The Bible says he in my sanctified imagination he 26:54 grabs him the chick. He sculpture. 27:00 He breathe into his nostrils Adam brings to 27:07 life. Now, question as Adam brings to live 27:11 what then would be the very first thing 27:15 he would see. What would be his first 27:17 conscious movements. The uninterrupted 27:22 non interposed non obfuscated face of God. 27:29 Amen. Amen. In my sanctified imagination 27:31 God kinds of leans back. 27:35 Welcome my son to life. Amen. 27:39 In Genesis Chapter 2, we see a God who 27:42 is close to humanity, we see a God who 27:44 is with humanity in the most emphatic sense 27:47 I mean he is so with humanity that there 27:49 is dirt under the finger nails, 27:50 there is mud on the knees and he is 27:54 breathing into his nostrils. There is a 27:58 closeness here there is a connection here. 28:00 Are you get together everyone. 28:01 Yeah. Okay now go with me to the first book of 28:03 the New Testament. First book of the New Testament, 28:05 well we being good systematicians this morning 28:07 we are looking at a central motive of scripture. 28:10 A unifying motive of scripture we 28:12 go to Matthew chapter 1. Now, in Matthew 28:14 Chapter 1, there is woman who is 28:15 pregnant she doesn't know how what's 28:16 her name? her name is Mary 28:19 and an angel appears to her and says Mary 28:20 you can have a Baby she says ah! ah! 28:22 How is that can happen saying I am not 28:23 yet married. And she says you have a 28:25 child because the power of the spirit will 28:26 always share you and then the angel says 28:28 and you call his name Jesus you assure. 28:30 For he will save this people from their sins 28:32 and then two verses later that verse 21. 28:34 Two verses later it was 23, the angel 28:36 and Matthew recording in, in thankful 28:39 in Matthew fashion. He is recording this from 28:43 the book of Isaiah and the angel extracts the 28:47 passage from the book of Isaiah of course the 28:48 cauterization of versification 28:49 was at many centuries later book that's 28:51 that's what we would call Isaiah 7:14, 28:53 Isaiah Chapter 7 verse 14 and this is 28:56 a originally prophecy that was 28:57 geared toward Isaiah son. 28:59 God, this the time of greater prophecy 29:02 and great delinquency in Israel 29:03 and God says okay, okay, you think I am 29:05 abundant you Isaiah you will have a son 29:08 and you will call his name. Immanuel. 29:11 God is still with us when its original permutation 29:15 this idea of Immanuel that was Isaiah 29:18 son's but here the angel Gabriel and Matthew was 29:21 recording takes that Immanuel and applies this to 29:24 new Oshawa, his name will be Oshawa he will 29:26 save this people from their sins but 29:29 in a fuller sense he will also be Immanuel. 29:34 God with us, originally applied to Isaiah son 29:38 now when it is most full and robust context 29:41 applied to Jesus. And you have notice 29:45 no doubt because your students of Scripture. 29:47 Good novice theologians, you have noticed 29:49 that there are many names in Scriptures 29:51 that either begin with or end with EL, 29:54 right so have like the name Elijah, 29:56 right and what it means El from what we learned 29:59 last night, Elokin, Elijah means jah or ya 30:03 is God. Elijah he sometimes have it as prefix Elijah, 30:09 Elijah you sometimes have it suffix 30:10 Methanuel, el methanuel gift of God, 30:15 Samuel asked of God. Daniel, 30:21 God is my judge or God judges 30:24 and in this case Immanuel the IM im coming from the 30:27 Hebrew with and El elohim Immanuel 30:31 God with us, God next to us. 30:38 Hey this is very much like Genesis Chapter 2, 30:40 in Genesis 1 we got a speaking things into 30:42 existence let there will be light, there is a light, 30:44 let there be a sun, there is sun let there be 30:45 a moon is a moon. In Genesis chapter 2, 30:46 the Lord got formed man at the dust of the 30:49 earth he is with man. He is what everyone. 30:52 Amen. He is with man but there is rupture 30:56 there is breaking in here in this relationship 30:58 we call that rupture sin or rebellion obscene 31:01 and transgression, whatever you but, 31:02 but there is reason that man is separated 31:04 from God. Notice very carefully the language 31:07 here. God is not separated from man. 31:08 So, much man is separated from God. 31:10 Wasn't God that one fleeing in the garden 31:11 it was man that he was fleeing the Garden. 31:12 Man is someone who is hiding and covering 31:15 behind the bush, its God who those looking. 31:17 And so never forget that we love it. 31:19 The Bible says in the book of Isaiah. 31:20 Isaiah Chapter 59, your sins have separated 31:23 you from your God. Your sins do not 31:26 push God away from you they push you 31:29 away from God. God has a looked right, if try to 31:33 move this piano right if its firm, it is firm. 31:35 If, if I try to move this piano right just 31:39 pretend like it's a car that's even 31:40 better or a huge boulder right. 31:42 And if I push with all of my mine against this thing 31:45 something is going to move. Yeah it will be 31:48 me right. if I push with all of my power I will, 31:51 this is what our sin does. Our sin does not 31:54 push God away. So, God is movable it is a movable, 31:55 our sin pushes us away from God, your sins 32:01 are separated your God. It was Adam who 32:03 ran in garden not God. Amen. It was not 32:06 God that went seeking are we together everyone. 32:08 And so there is distance here, there is, there is 32:12 fracture here and yet, yet the angel 32:15 says to that Mary. You have a baby 32:18 and he is gonna save this people from 32:20 their sins in fact you will call his name Immanuel. 32:25 God what is it? God with us, God with us. 32:31 John has put in this way in the first part of his Gospel. 32:33 John Chapter 1, the word became flesh and 32:35 dwelt among us, literally pitched his tent next to us 32:40 in modern colloquial language we will say he 32:43 moved into the neighborhood. God came be 32:46 with us. Now, its good systematicians 32:49 who rapt at this part of presentation that 32:50 I am going to Revelation chapter 21. 32:52 Revelation chapter 21 is not only 32:55 the climax of the new testament but in a, 32:57 in a very real sense it's a climax of all of scripture 33:00 I heard say that wisely once. 33:02 Why is the book of revelation at the end of the 33:04 Bible simple because you need the rest of the 33:06 Bible to understand it. Amen. 33:07 Its at the end of Bible because you need 33:09 write everything else to get to the place where you 33:12 can understand what is this book all about. 33:14 So, in revelation chapter 21, here is John 33:16 and he is on the Island. He is on an island 33:18 the name of the island is Patmos and what's 33:21 he doing there? He is on vacation? 33:25 He is in exile, he is in exile because he was 33:28 preaching fearlessly the word of God. 33:30 He says he was there for the testimony of 33:31 Jesus and the word of God and so, what it 33:33 happened is Roman emperor named Domitian, 33:35 who didn't like Christians had taken John 33:36 and thrown him to caldron of boiling oil. 33:40 Right they put lid on and it is like cooking 33:42 enough for the last of the apostles has 33:44 gone and now all is well. They gonna lift 33:46 of the caldron to see how the cooking is going, 33:48 here is John just oh! yeah the jet seems 33:54 not be working on the right side could you. 33:58 Do you have Lemon, not being see which, but 34:00 you get the point. He couldn't be killed 34:02 and Domitian oh! you know this guy can't be 34:04 killed and so what they did is. They 34:05 took John over here, well, this guy may 34:07 just nervous if we can't kill him we will put on an 34:08 island and we put him on a penal colony 34:10 called Patmos, which was 24 miles out 34:16 into the Aegean sea and they left him 34:19 there for death. They exile him, he was the 34:21 last living apostle don't you know how 34:22 old was probably in his 60's, 70's , may be 34:24 even in 80's and he is there and lastly apostles 34:27 has gone and the Roman Empire can kind of 34:29 wash there hands from apostolic Christianity 34:31 but here's the problem. God has set 34:34 his whole thing up so that on the island of 34:35 Patmos Jesus gives the fullest manifestation 34:38 and the fullest revelation, the fullest revelation 34:43 of himself to this last apostle who would have 34:45 certainly being attempted to discouragement. 34:47 He would intimated men and call 34:49 everything it is near and dear to him has gone. 34:51 He is separated from it. He would look out 34:53 lady on the best of the days those of you live. I 34:55 live in California and the very best of days 34:57 if you look out across the seaboard as long as the 34:59 clarity there is not a lot of fog. You can look 35:02 out and you can see on total about 40 miles. 35:05 About 40 miles so and the best of days being 35:07 24 miles out into the ocean. John could have 35:09 looked he could have seen lands, but he struck 35:13 here may be the old man is not swimming 24 miles. 35:17 So, look at there John concludes in the book of 35:19 Revelation, Revelation chapter 21, being verse 1 35:21 now I saw a new heaven and the new earth. 35:23 For the first heaven and first earth was passed way 35:26 and also there was no more sea but that's always being 35:30 troubling to some of us. We thought no more sea well I 35:33 kind like dolphins in the purposes in manatees and 35:35 the coral reefs. Half of biological life exist 35:38 under water more than half of biological life. 35:40 its someone like oh no there is not gonna be 35:43 an ocean I need to do all of my snorkeling in 35:44 the here now because their won't 35:46 be any in the new earth. 35:47 I don't think that God is making here, I don't 35:49 think that John is making here primarily 35:51 a geological or geographical statement there was 35:54 no more sea. For John the sea was that was 35:57 separated him from that what he loved 35:59 and he longed for. And John Jesus you 36:01 have in this new earth and, and he says there is no 36:04 more sea not primarily a geological or 36:06 geographical statement but a statement about the 36:09 nature of separation. Amen. There will be no 36:12 more separating sea because for John day in 36:14 and day out the sea is what separated him from that 36:16 which he loved and he says there is no more sea, 36:19 no more separation verse 2, then I John saw the 36:22 Holy city new Jerusalem coming down 36:23 out of heaven from God prepared as a bright 36:26 adore for her husband. 36:27 There is no more intimate context its impossible 36:31 to be more intimate than the intimacy that a man 36:33 can share with his wife. In fact this intimacy 36:35 is so profound and so robust that in the book of 36:37 Genesis it goes apart to say that two shall 36:40 be one. There is proximity there in, intercourse, 36:44 there is proximity there, there is connectivity 36:46 there that is so close that is it is as if the two 36:50 become accord. The two become one 36:53 and John uses this immitari, he knows 36:55 the intimacy between a father and his, and 36:57 his between a husband and his wife this is what 37:00 I was demonstrating there for a moment I am not 37:02 breathing into anyone's nostrils but I breath into 37:04 my wife. There is an intimacy there, there is 37:07 closeness there and he says prepared as a 37:09 bright adore for her husband and you know 37:11 this is the point he is making because look 37:13 at verse 3. So, if you can pick up the 37:14 key verse, that occurs, the key word the key 37:16 idea that whole think on which the whole verse 37:18 turns is right there in verse 3, see if you can pick it 37:21 up verse 3, And I have heard loud voice from 37:23 heaven saying behold the Tabernacle of God 37:24 with men and he will draw with them and they shall be 37:27 his people and God himself will be with them and 37:30 be their God. What's the Key thing? Amen. 37:32 With, with, he doesn't say once or twice 37:36 but thrice three times it is if he is just 37:40 consumed with this idea. God will be with us, 37:42 God will be with us, God will be with us, 37:47 In fact in Revelation Chapter 22, look at verse 4, 37:51 and they shall see his face. Amen. That 37:57 intimacy that proximity that was their in 37:59 Genesis Chapter 2 verse 7 the Lord got breathe 38:01 into his nostril the breath of what? 38:03 the uninterrupted, uninterposed, non-obfuscated 38:06 face of God. Paul had said on earlier occasion 38:10 when he was riding to the Church Corinthians 38:11 now we see through a glass darkly; but then, 38:14 face to face. John says they will see 38:18 his faith this relationship of intimacy restored 38:23 and this word just comes to him, comes to him, 38:26 comes to him, with us, with us, with, with 38:29 and so it was good systematicians this morning. 38:32 Look at what we have done. We have found one 38:34 of the unifying motives in scriptures. 38:36 We can go to many other dozens even hundreds of 38:39 passages but what we have done Genesis Chapter 2, 38:42 we find God with men, close to men 38:46 breathing into his nostrils forming him 38:48 dirt under the figure nails dirt on his knees. 38:50 We come Matthew chapter 1 God Immanuel 38:53 will be what? with us in the climax of 38:56 scripture in the climax of the new testament with, 38:59 with, with no more separating sea we will see 39:02 his face and so we would say one of the grand 39:04 unifying motives in scripture is that apparently. 39:08 God wants to be with people. Amen. Amen. 39:14 God wants to be with people, it shouldn't really 39:22 come as surprise to us because it is to be 39:24 learned last night God by his nature 39:26 not just his character. 39:27 God by his nature he is a social being, father, 39:31 son and Holy Spirit and he makes other beings 39:35 in the very same way that we make children. 39:36 In the very same context we make children so 39:38 that are our social network and our love can 39:42 flow out to them. God makes others and he invites 39:45 us to participate in his try own love what you have 39:47 here is this marvelous picture that God 39:50 he wants to be with people. And there is 39:54 something that separates there is a transgression that 39:55 is obsceneness there is rebellion 39:57 but God penetrates that rebellion. He 39:59 penetrates that sin and he comes and he will 40:02 build the bridge at all cost to himself 40:04 he wants to be with people and the Bible 40:06 closes with John saying an almost ecstasy 40:09 he will be with him. Hee, wow he will be with him, 40:13 he will be with him. We will see his face 40:20 so one of the certifying central unifying motives 40:23 of scripture is that God likes people. Amen. 40:29 God likes people. We together everyone. Amen. 40:37 Now, we make a distention in our cheeky clever 40:41 little manipulation of English language 40:43 all of us have done it why I shouldn't say. 40:45 Most of us have done. I know I have certain 40:47 down and we will say things like this. 40:49 Oh! don't get me wrong I love him. 40:55 But I don't like him have you ever said 41:03 anything that can came to that. 41:06 Yes some of them are seeing here like no 41:08 I don't know what he is talking about 41:11 you are lying. We make distinction don't we, 41:18 we make a distinction we will say I love somebody, 41:21 out of kind of duty a kind of familial duty 41:25 oh yes, yes, yes. I love him. But the real question is 41:29 do you like him and we make a distinction 41:31 don't we do we make a distinction between loving 41:33 someone and liking someone. Indeed we do 41:36 in fact let me just introduce you a kind of radical 41:40 concept here. God loves you. Amen. Amen. 41:45 Many of us are comfortable with that idea 41:47 that God loves us but here something to 41:49 think about a question for about theologians. 41:52 Is there anything that you can do make 41:54 God love you anymore. No, no, oh come on 41:57 now, nothing what about become a vegan, 42:06 yeah, yeah, now I am speaking he was vegan here, 42:10 ah, ah, no your exactly right no. 42:12 and okay so then the converse of that is 42:15 anything you can do to make God love you 42:16 any less. No, okay so than the language 42:18 that we use what's the word that we use for that. 42:20 We say the Gods love is what's that word. 42:22 We say that God's love is unconditional now what that 42:24 means is this? God's love for you is not 42:28 conditioned on your response to that love. Amen. 42:30 Right so you may respond to God's love 42:33 if any positive way and God does love you 42:35 anymore for it and you may respond, respond to 42:37 God's love in any negative way and God's does not 42:39 love you less way. God's love for you is 42:41 perfectly unconditional it is not predicated 42:43 in your response to his love. Can you say Amen to that? 42:46 Now, that one love that is very, very comforting 42:48 and one love that's very comforting there is nothing 42:50 I can do make God love me anymore and there is 42:51 nothing I can do make God love any less 42:53 God's love is perfectly non-partisain but here 42:56 something very interesting to think about I am 42:57 looking down here in the front row and 42:59 I see very different people, very different people. 43:00 If God loves you sister just like he loves this man, 43:03 just like he loves this man and this sister. 43:05 If God loves you all the same but wait a minute you 43:08 have very different person in this man. 43:10 So, God's love for you unconditional after you 43:13 tells me a great deal about God but it doesn't 43:17 tell me a lot about your personality as distinct 43:20 from his personality and it doesn't tell me a lot about 43:22 his personality as distinct from her personality 43:25 do you hear where this is going. 43:27 Gods love for us is unconditional offer 43:30 and shows us a deal about God but as individuals 43:33 it doesn't tell us a lot about the personality 43:34 that you process as approach to the personality that 43:37 you process it's a two different people 43:39 what's your name. Dean, Dean, and your name? 43:44 John, Dean and John are two different people 43:47 God loves John in the very same way the loves Dean 43:49 and just as much God loves Dean he loves John are 43:51 we together. So, this is largely a commentary 43:53 on God on God's Goodness and God's munificians, 43:57 and God's non-partisan unconditional love 43:59 it don't tell us the whole lot about Dean or John 44:01 as individuals. If God can love totally different 44:06 people radically fundamentally 44:08 different people in the very same way. 44:10 This tells us as a great deal about the non-partisan 44:12 and non conditional love of God. But it doesn't tell 44:13 you a lot of about your personality. 44:15 So, here is my question does God ever say 44:18 things like we say oh don't get me wrong 44:20 I love Dean. But I don't really like him. 44:28 Yes God loves us, this is a profound commentary 44:32 on the nonpartisan nature of God and love of God. 44:35 But does God like us? Well, for answer to 44:42 that question turn up your Bible to 44:43 2nd Chronicles, Chapter 20. 44:45 Second Chronicles, Chapter what everyone, 44:47 20, Second Chronicles, Chapter 20 44:51 and here we find a man by the name of Jehoshaphat. 44:53 What's his name everyone. Jehoshaphat, 44:56 Jehoshaphat, you know you mean people of Bible names 44:57 all the time. You meet Elijah's you meet Daniels, 44:59 you meet David's, you meet Matthews 45:01 but is any one yet met a Jehoshaphat. 45:04 We neither I think that will be great record 45:07 your name my name is Jehoshaphat Johnson. 45:11 Nice to meet you Jehoshaphat. Amen. 45:16 Jehoshaphat is praying Jehoshaphat has 45:18 concerned because the armies of Israel 45:20 are encroaching on Israel. The Ammonites, 45:22 and Edomites, are coming against Israel 45:24 Jehoshaphat is deadly concerned 45:25 and so he stands in front of Israel 45:27 and he prays the prayer and I want you to 45:29 notice this prayer and there is seamless 45:30 transition that takes place in this prayer 45:32 Second Chronicles, Chapter 20 the beginning verse 5, 45:35 when Jehoshaphat stood in the of Assembly 45:36 of Judo in Jerusalem in the house of 45:38 the Lord before the new court and said 45:40 now watch this verse 6, oh Lord God of our 45:43 father's are you not God in heaven and you 45:46 not rule over all the kingdom of earth 45:48 and in your hand is there not power and might 45:51 so that no one is able with stand you or you not 45:54 our God who drove out the inhabitance of this land 45:56 for your people Israel and gave it to 45:59 the ascendance of Abraham 46:02 and then three qualifying words. 46:06 Your friend forever notice this seamless 46:12 transition in Jehoshaphat prayer as he is praying 46:15 he makes the sense God your awesome, 46:16 God your omnipotent, God your mighty 46:19 no one with stand and they notice the 46:21 seamless transition and don't forget about 46:24 Abraham your buddy. For, for, for 46:29 Jehoshaphat there is no contradiction between 46:31 God is sovereign, God is mighty, God is powerful, 46:34 God is strong and God as a friend of people. 46:38 Notice this language here friend I just presented this 46:41 sermon last of this fall this last Sabbath at, 46:43 at the Reaching Hearts International Church, there 46:46 in near Washington D.C. and my good friend 46:49 Clifford Goldstein he came right up to me 46:51 after he, is it Jew and he came up to me 46:53 afterward and he flew into Hebrew and he 46:55 said to be me. He said David the word here for 46:57 friend it, it it's it can even lover. 47:02 You gave it to Abraham your lover 47:05 forever your friend forever now wait a minute I 47:10 was scratching my head God has friend 47:13 the infinite, illimitable, eternal, omnipotent, 47:17 omnipresent, omni benevolent, God 47:19 of the universe who transients time 47:22 and space and he is unfavor and unfavorable 47:25 and his broadness and is that God has friends. 47:29 Amen. Isaiah chapter 41, verse 8, uses 47:32 this very same language. Isaiah chapter 41, verse 8, 47:35 calls Abraham the friend of God. The friend of 47:40 God let me ask a question who do you spend most 47:42 of time with your free time. Where do you spend 47:45 your free time with? You spend with your 47:48 friends and with your family and the reason 47:50 that you spend time with your friends and family 47:51 because you love them and you don't just love 47:53 them you like them except their brother in law 47:56 that you really hoping doesn't come on the 47:58 crews. Right are we together everyone. 48:02 Now in case we are inclined to think 48:03 well this is something that applies to Abraham 48:05 look quickly at Exodus chapter 33. 48:08 Exodus chapter 33 and notice this Exodus chapter 33, 48:13 who wrote the book of Exodus. 48:14 Moses. Moses, and look at what he says Verse 11 48:16 Exodus chapter 33 Verse 11. 48:20 So the Lord spoke to Moses face, how did he speak 48:23 to him. In the face. Face to face look at this 48:27 a man speaks to his friend. But what we 48:35 are picking up here is absolutely phenomenal, 48:39 its this idea that the God of the universe 48:41 the infinite, illimitable God of the universe 48:43 has friends. Now nobody in this room can relate 48:47 to God as God. No one, you can't relate 48:49 God on omnipotent, on the presence, 48:51 he is on the Netherlands, he is on mission, 48:52 no one can relate to God in his goodness. 48:54 But god apparently at some level wants to 48:57 relate to you a evolutional, moral rational 49:01 loving being. He once not just you make 49:04 you as puppets as a Tom-toms pet rocks. 49:07 He wants to be your friend. See apparently 49:12 its okay to speak universe into existence 49:15 so there be a light, there be a sun 49:16 there be a moon, let there to be firmament 49:20 God could have spoken to Adam and told let there 49:21 be an Adam, let there be Eve, 49:25 but no, no but when it comes to make 49:27 not a star, not a stream, not a moose, 49:33 not a mouse, but a friend, our speaking 49:39 this into existence will never do. 49:41 For a friend you have to be close, 49:48 just making his friend, just forming his 49:53 friend, he has got to be, he gonna have 49:55 a friend, you have to be close, 49:57 its got to be proximity there. 49:59 Can't get to anyone from the distance 50:01 there has to be investment. 50:09 Welcome to life my son, my friend. 50:14 The Bible records fantastically amazingly, 50:20 audaciously that God wants people as his friends. 50:24 And one day Jesus was speaking to his disciples 50:27 you can turn to John chapter 15. Jesus is 50:29 speaking to his disciples and words are failing him, 50:32 he is looking at the cross, the cross is just 50:34 hours in front of them. John chapter 15, 50:35 and then in John chapter 15 Jesus is speaking to 50:43 his disciples he has just given the parable of the 50:44 branch abiding me and then looks to his disciples 50:49 and he says no longer do I call you servants. 50:55 This relationship that we share disciples 50:58 transcends the servant master relationship. 51:01 This isn't just I command and you do. 51:05 No longer do I call you servants, 51:08 we need a new Norman Clayture we need a new 51:10 language, no longer would I call you servants 51:12 because a servant does not know 51:14 what his master is doing but I've told you 51:15 everything that father has told, 51:20 I call you friends, I call you friends. 51:30 Jesus here was picking up on the very same language, 51:32 the very same connectivity found in the old testament 51:34 Abraham was the friend of God, Moses spoke to 51:36 God as a man face to face as a man speaks to his 51:38 friend, and Jesus says the servant master 51:41 thing yes that is helpful, yes that does 51:43 inform our relationship to a degree, 51:45 but there is a point at which the servant master 51:47 thing comes to and end, its adequately describing 51:49 this connectivity that we have, I call you friends, 51:54 I call you my friends, and thus if you are the friend 51:57 of Jesus, you are the friend of God. 52:03 Beloved Jesus more than loves you, 52:07 he likes you, and you are the 52:11 only you available to Jesus. 52:14 There is no substitute for you. 52:17 You are the only you available to God. 52:19 There might be other people named to your name, 52:21 there are other Davids but there is no other 52:23 David Asscherick, nobody else possess 52:25 the unique idiosyncratic personality that I 52:27 possess and no one else possess the unique 52:29 idiosyncratic personality that you possess, 52:30 you are the only you listen very carefully possible, 52:33 not even God could make another you, 52:36 because you are the product of the three 52:38 choices that you have made. Even twins who receive 52:41 identical genetic inheritances from their parents, 52:44 do they become the very same people. 52:46 They become different people how, how did twins 52:50 become different people because they have been faced 52:51 with different choices, and they make different decisions 52:53 and those different decisions have made them the 52:55 people that they are today. So I have become 52:57 the David Asscherick that you see standing before 52:59 you, and I am thrilled that in the process of 53:01 becoming David Asscherick, I am not yet solidified 53:03 my Asscherickness because I am only thirty seven, 53:07 right. And some of you are twenty seven, 53:09 and fifty seven and sixty seven you are becoming 53:11 the person that you will be for eternity. 53:13 You are becoming the only one of you possible not 53:17 even God can make another you because God 53:18 would have to fashion another being just 53:20 like you with the identical genetic inheritance 53:22 and then he would have to make all of 53:23 your free choices for you. No, no, no 53:26 you are the only you possible. You are the only 53:29 you available to God, in fact let me put you this way. 53:32 You are God's only shot at you. Yours Gods 53:38 only shot at you, if De is saved and David is 53:41 lost Davids this sadness cannot make up 53:46 for Davids lossness because De and David 53:48 are different people. There would always be a 53:50 vacancy, there would always be avoid in the 53:52 heart of God that only David Asscherick 53:54 can fill because there is only one in me. 54:00 In classic keynesian economics, you have 54:02 a price point and then you quantity determining 54:08 price point as long as demand stays the same. 54:10 If you have the price point here and demand 54:12 remains the same, if you have lot of items 54:15 says a new car $20,000 new car, if you 54:17 have twenty thousand of them stock 54:18 the manufacture says we can sell this 54:19 for 20,000 bucks. But what happens what typically 54:23 happens to price points as quantity increases 54:27 now we have forty thousand of these cars, 54:28 what has happened to the price as long as 54:30 demand remains the same price decreases, 54:33 price point decreases but what happens 54:35 if we there is demand for twenty thousand but we only 54:37 have ten thousand to sell price will increase, 54:40 so they operate on inverse relationship right. 54:42 Okay so you take a $20,000 car, 54:45 there are twenty thousand in existence and 54:46 you contrast that with the collectors item like 54:48 a Porsche like a 1959 Porsche and there is just 54:51 fifty of them made in the first place, 54:52 and of those fifty that were made there is only 54:54 five remaining, just five remaining in 54:57 perfect pristine condition and collectors have 54:59 gobble this up, and three of them on a 55:01 truck to Las Vegas to go to a show, a car show 55:05 but that truck tips over and three of them 55:07 are obliterated. What just happened to the 55:09 value of those two. It increase because quantity 55:13 decrease, availability decrease, access 55:16 decreased. Now lets say something happens 55:18 to another one of them, the other one, 55:20 another one of the two is racked and only one 55:22 remains. What would be the value, what 55:24 would be the pride point of that remaining Porsche. 55:28 It would be whatever someone is going to 55:29 pay for it, it will be literally priceless 55:31 and beloved think this through. 55:32 What's worth more the $20,000 car 55:35 that we have 20,000 of or the Porsche that we 55:38 have one of. What's worth more. 55:40 Porsche. You are the Porsche. 55:45 There is only of you, and you are different 55:50 person from me or different person from you, 55:52 or different person from you and yes 55:54 God loves you. This is a profound commentary 55:55 on the nonpartisan love of God, 55:57 but according to scripture he more 55:59 than loves you, he likes you. 56:03 He wants to be your friend, he wants you 56:06 spend eternity with him because you are the 56:10 only you available to God. If heaven forbid 56:16 you are lost, you are irreparably lost, 56:20 you are irredeemably lost, you are perfectly 56:23 irreplaceable to God. Thousand and millions 56:27 may be saved, but if you are lost there is a 56:32 vacancy, an eternal vacancy in the heart of God 56:34 that only your personality could fill. 56:37 You might your nose is too big, that you 56:39 are too short, that you are too chubby, 56:40 and maybe you are through chubby, 56:44 but God likes you, and he is forming you and 56:49 fashioning you into a person whom he can say 56:53 in absolute transparency she is my friend, 56:57 he is my friend, and can invite you to 57:00 spend eternity with him. Beloved one of the 57:04 unifying motives of scripture is that God 57:07 wants to be with people. He wants to be 57:10 their friend, and God wants to be your friend. |
Revised 2014-12-17