Trusted with God’s Words V: Two Vital Questions

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Welcome to the Whole Council Podcast. I'm John Snyder, and with me again is Teddy James. And Teddy, I know that you don't prefer to be on this side of the camera.

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No, but no complaints this week. Yeah, no complaints officially, but I have to say that I did see a complaint.

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So this week I was down on the coast of Mississippi. There's a kind friend of mine who has an extra little house behind his house, a little kind of a guest house.

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And he let me stay in it just for a few days and left me to myself. And so I could just have a few days, you know, to read and to think.

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But while I was there, I attended church and I wasn't preaching. One of the men in the church came up and said,

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I listened to your podcast. And he showed me a picture of the podcast. And it was a picture of you that was kind of blurry.

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Oh, yeah. And it said, I still blame John Snyder for this. Because when you asked me to focus the camera,

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I focused it on the books behind you. I'm like, yeah, it looks good. Yep, yep. It looks good. And you were blurred the whole time.

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So that was your professional caveat. Like, I don't normally focus the camera this way.

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This is John. If you want to know what we're talking about, and you are a listener. So the majority of people who find us are listening to us on audio.

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And we don't really talk a lot about this, but you can watch this on YouTube and see our lovely faces.

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Oh, dear. It's scary. Yeah. So. All right. But speaking of seeing, though, we do have an announcement to make.

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Yeah, we do. You've got a new study. Yes. So we have been working on this study. This is called

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Christ, Our Treasure, Enjoying the Preeminence of Jesus in the Local Church. And this is done, written.

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And there's also the video component. We've been working on this for several months. Jordan Thomas.

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So longtime listeners are familiar with Jordan. He's been on the podcast a few times. He's also a contributor in both of the

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Beholder God studies. So if you've been through those, you're aware of Jordan. But this is an eight week mini study.

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And it's on how the church is to treasure Christ. Now, there is a new form factor to this.

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It is, you know, when we did our first mini study, which was with you, John, walking through the book of Judges.

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It's a hardback. We opted to go for a not a paperback.

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It's a matte, soft finish book, but it lays open a lot easier.

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It should take a lot more abuse from being written in and open and kind of having that spine cracked. So, John, we're really, really excited to have this out.

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Yeah. And I'm really grateful that Jordan found time to do that. He's busy and Jordan is a continual, we've been friends for over nearly 30 years.

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And so he's just been a continual encouragement to see how he pursues

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Christ into, you know, his 40s or he may be, I don't know,

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I don't think Jordan's 50 yet. I think he's close. And he pastors a church down in Midtown, Memphis, an area that is pretty dark and a lot of crime and his family and families of other elders moved down into that area and they've been very faithful.

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Well, this week we're going to... Real quick, before we go, I do want to just say, if you want information linked to the study, where you can get it, everything will be in the description of the episode.

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All right. So this week, we're not going to be talking about that rare little book by Hudson Taylor, which was a compilation of his talks in later in life to missionaries in the

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China Inland Mission, which he was the leader of in the Northern part of China. He traveled there.

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He had these, he had a conference with these missionaries and one of the missionaries took down all the talks.

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They're, they're really interesting to see what Taylor says toward the end of a life of trusting the

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Lord and serving God in China. So we're going to be talking about that in coming weeks, but not today.

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Right. No, we're going to continue talking on the theme that we have started several weeks ago on, do not let the word of your mouth or the word, do not let your word leave my mouth.

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And last week we talked about how it's just, you know, having the word of God on the tip of your tongue and it can be removed and how we must be a people who can be trusted with the word of God.

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And before we even get into it, there is this idea that I want to go ahead and address that what we have talked about and what we're going to focus on in this particular episode, it is not for only and exclusively the pastor or the leader or the, you know, insert title here.

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This is for the mom and dad, for the grandparents, for the Christian sibling who is dealing with, with other siblings who were lost or for the employer, employee, who is the only

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Christian in the workplace. We, and I'm including myself in this, we must be a people whose words carry weight.

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Yes. With so many conflicting voices that are offered to us as guides for understanding life, how to view ourselves, our families.

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It's important that we be a people that God can trust with his word and that men can trust.

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So it's not just, it's, it's as Paul says in second Corinthians, more than once, I'm commending myself.

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He says in chapter six, as a servant of God, in the sight of men, I'm commending myself.

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I'm commending my message. And there's always two audiences God sees, and he puts his stamp of approval on what we're saying, but humanity, looking at our lives, our lives do not detract from our message.

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And while we are not perfect, perfect parents, perfect grandparents, perfect friends, perfect coworkers, perfect laborers in church, we're not that, but we are genuine.

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And the realities of Christ show through us and people can listen to us. Now, there are a lot of things that go into that type of a life, and we've talked about them in the previous weeks, but let me add one more this week.

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And that is if we want to be people that God can trust with his word and people that, that our fellow humans can trust and they can listen to us, then we need to be the kind of people.

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Then we need to be the kind of people who are frequently asking and correctly answering two big questions.

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The first, who is it that sends me forth today into whatever tasks

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I have? And second, who am I that God would trust me?

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Not complicated questions, but these really form the bedrock foundation for us to stand on, no matter what storm comes next.

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And they fuel our soul when our emotions and our physical energy sputter out.

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How can we be faithful servants and messengers on behalf of God?

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Well, we need to ask and answer two questions frequently. Who is it that's sending me and who am

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I to be sent? So let's look at three examples in the Bible, and we're going to have to hit them quickly. The first is

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Moses. And of course, extraordinary time in redemption's history, God is keeping his promises to Abraham 400 years later by rescuing the descendants of Abraham, which are now many, from Egypt, that furnace of slavery, and bringing them into the promised land.

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And there are a lot of promises that God has made in that covenant, which have yet to been to be accomplished.

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He has a great number of people, like God said, but God said they would be in a land, they would be his peculiar people.

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But he also said that kings would come from them. And we see that more clearly spelled out in the Davidic covenant.

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And all of that leads to the greatest aspect of the Abrahamic covenant. And that is that the

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Jews, through a single descendant of Abraham, a Jew, one would come who would bring blessing and be a blessing to every corner of the earth.

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And of course, that's the Messiah. Well, at the very beginning of all of this, we know that God attracts the 80 -year -old

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Moses to a burning bush, which is not being consumed, and God gives him his task.

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And as he gives him this task, there is the asking of these two great questions.

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Well, God, when I go back to Israel, and when I stand before Pharaoh, and I say, thus says the

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Lord, let my people go. Or I say to Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is going to bring us out.

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He's going to keep his word. He heard our cry. And if these people ask me, what is his name?

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What am I going to say? Who is it that I should tell them sins me? And that's the first big question.

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Now, Teddy, you've got your Bible. And in Exodus chapter 3, verse 6 through 9, and then again, in verse 13 through 16,

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God gives a description of himself. And this answers the first question. Well, God, who are you exactly?

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So you want to read that 6 through 9 and 13 through 16. So starting verse 6, and he said,

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I am the Lord. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the

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God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said,

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I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.

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I know their suffering. And I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the

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Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me.

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And I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. So, and then verse 13, then

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Moses said to God, if I am come to the people of Israel and they say to me, the God of your fathers has sent me to you.

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And they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who

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I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel. I am has sent me to you.

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God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the

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God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever.

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And thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, the

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Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob has appeared to me saying,

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I've observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt. So there are a couple of things that jump out.

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When we think of Moses's question, who am I supposed to say is sending me?

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Well, we could say so much. We could, we could give, you know, a list of God's attributes, each of them infinite in its perfection.

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And you know, we would be here forever. But what are the things that specifically

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God knows Moses needs to know to lead the people throughout his next 40 years?

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And what did the people need to know to trust the God of Moses, the

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God that's bringing them out. And he gives just a few things here. He is the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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And so obviously that brings to mind this covenant, this promise making and keeping God, a

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God that has chosen them, not they chose God. And in choosing them by choosing

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Abraham, there are a whole series of privileges they will enjoy.

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And there are obligations that they have, the responsibilities that they have because they belong to a king.

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And so this faithfulness of God then comes to play in the second big thing.

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God reminds Moses of, and that is that God has heard the cries of his people. He has noticed them.

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He has seen their oppression. And he is now, he says, coming down to rescue them.

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So even though he is this God that met Abraham four centuries ago, and from that point until this day, they might be tempted to believe the lie of the enemy who says, well, has

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God really made these promises? I mean, it was 400 years ago and it doesn't look like he's remembered that he made them.

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Maybe it's a fairy tale and we can be tempted with the same lies, but God explains to them that he has not been unaware of their needs and he has kept them, you know, as the apple of his eye.

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A third thing he mentions is something that's more fundamental to God, and that is he is the

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I am. He is the God who is existing, the only God that exists.

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He is, when you think of the word the I am coming from the Hebrew word to be, tell them the

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I am. I am who I am. We could say, some translate it, I always will be what

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I always have been. So the I am, there is a self -existence here.

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He is the only being that doesn't owe his existence to someone else. There is eternality here. He's not just the ancient of days.

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He's not growing older. He's actually timeless. He is always I am. One old writer said,

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God describes every place as here and every time as now, because he is the omnipresent God, not merely geographically omnipresent.

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He is on the edge of the universe and he is in our bedroom, but he is also temporally.

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When it comes to time, he dwells above the restrictions of time. And as the uncreated

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God, he is in all times at once and he's immutable.

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The God who is always the I am doesn't change. So these are the things that Moses needs to know.

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But in verse 13 that you read, there is something about that verse that I think is sad.

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As you look at that verse, what do you think is unusual about Moses's question? Right.

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What is his name? They have no idea who God even is. He's not talking about Pharaoh. He's not saying when

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I go and Pharaoh says, okay, I have a lot of gods. In fact, I am in my

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Egyptian system. I am the son of a God. I'm kind of a demigod.

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Well, it's not Pharaoh that's saying, can you remind me which God this is that's sending you?

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Uh, is he the sun God? Is he the, is he the God of cattle or the God of, you know, of, of nature, the, and you say, no, it's the

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God of the Jews. And Pharaoh would, you know, very likely say, um, sorry,

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I don't know him. I'm not a Jew. Tell me his name. But that's not what he says. Moses says, when I go there and your people,

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Israel say to me, who is this God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that you say is about to rescue us.

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That's quite a telling statement. Yeah. And, and keep in mind just historically and in the context of, of what's happening with Israel at this point, they didn't have the written word of God.

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So everything that was passed down to them was passed down through story. It was passed down. This is the, these are the promises that God has made.

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And for the last 400 years, they've had the oral tradition, but they've also seen the, um, the idolatry of Egypt.

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They've seen the false gods. And so it is heartbreaking that, that these people don't know who

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God is, but it's also how refreshing must it have been to see the false gods worshiped and, and then to hear from your own

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God, I am. When you were preaching yesterday, or yeah, yeah.

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Uh, Sunday, that was one of the things that just struck me was that was what God starts with.

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He starts with, I am, and it's his character. And it's so much of his character to encourage not only

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Moses, but also the people of God to what they have to do. They can because of who he is.

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Yeah. And I think that as we speak on God's behalf and serve people in God's name, we in North Mississippi, we still live in a culture that is officially very

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Christian -ish. And so it's likely that you work with people or live next to people that would officially say,

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Oh, I'm a Christian. I believe the Bible, not the Koran or not, you know, any Hindu text or some other, uh, you know, ancient texts.

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I believe the Bible is actually the word that God gave us. And when you're talking to them and you're talking about the way of the

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Christian, the path of Christ, it, it may be shocking to you that they say, wait, now

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I know Jesus, but the Jesus I know is a lot different than the Jesus you're talking about.

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So what's your Jesus's name? Not that they don't know J E S U S. It's, it's that name here refers to the whole of God's character.

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What's he like? This God of Abraham, what's your Jesus like? You know, I have a type of Jesus, a

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Jesus that my culture has given me maybe, uh, somewhat of an Americanized adjusted Christ.

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So why do you describe Christianity different than I describe Christianity?

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And it may be that they will have to be reminded who Christ is. Well, that's a great question.

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But the second question comes in verse 11, you want to read us, uh, Exodus three 11. Sure. Uh, but Moses said to God, who am

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I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? Yeah. So second question, not who are you, but who am

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I? And here at the emphasis seems to be that Moses feels that he is inadequate for a task.

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We know this because later Moses says things like God, I think you've chosen the wrong fella. My brother,

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Aaron is a great public speaker. I stumble. I get my words mixed up.

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I'm not good at this. So let Aaron be the one you choose instead. And God of course has chosen Moses and not

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Aaron and Aaron will assist Moses, but Moses is the man God chose. And it's not humble to argue with God and tell him you pick the wrong guy.

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All right. So who am I? It's a good question, but we have to accept God's answer.

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And the answer for the, the, um, the small, weak, insufficient

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Moses who could never bring all these people out from underneath the grip of the empire of Egypt.

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The answer is I who just described myself to you, I am

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God and I will go with you. So yes, you're weak and, uh, unimpressive and you can't do this, but you can obey me and I will go and I will see to it that it's accomplished.

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All of his promises rest upon him. And we plead with God, according to the integrity of your character,

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God do this. The application to the Christian, I hope is very clear.

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We have tasks that God gives us, whether it's speaking the truth to an adult son or daughter, uh, to a next door neighbor, to a coworker, to someone that sits next to you in church.

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And we know that they are facing a crisis or they've gotten themselves into a pit, you know, and they've made bad choices and here they are.

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And you think, but God, how can I help? You know, I, I can't get them out of that.

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I wish I could. And then we remember the answer to the question, well, who is it that's sending me?

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I'm weak, but he is not reminds me of Paul in second Corinthians chapter four, where starting around verse eight and going down, he gives a list of things, how he is, you know, confused.

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He is cornered. He is pressed hard. He is knocked down, but he is not.

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And then, but then he gives a long list of what he's not. And so even though these things have happened, you know, I'm not without hope.

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I'm, I'm not destroyed, but all of these expressions of my weakness,

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God, allowing Paul's weakness to be displayed when he is mistreated results in whatever

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God does through Paul, the people see that it's God. So Paul says at the end of this long list of mistreatment and his weakness, he says, so life works in you, but death in me.

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So I'm daily dying to self. And through that God is bringing life to others. But he also says so that the power, the glorious power would be of God, not of me.

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So it sounds like in a couple of episodes ago, one of the things we talked about was how we have to have the word of God and kind of give access to every area of our life, to the word of God and leave no corner darker in the shadow where the light of the word of God has not shined in.

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In a similar way to this, every area of our life must be yield to the call of the

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Lord and whatever that may be and whatever submission or whatever obedience may look like. So if it is speaking that hard word to that one person, if it was anybody else,

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God, I would do it, but not to this person. I'm not qualified to speak to that person or to that issue or to whatever.

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No, if the Lord has put it, has given it to us to do, then he will provide what we need to do it.

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Is that? Yeah, yeah, certainly. I think that's clear. And, you know, and the fact that God is the covenant remembering

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God, the God of Abraham, we think of the new covenant. There are so many promises. And when you sit across the table from a believer who is really struggling, not the normal ups and downs, an extraordinary season of need, you know that God will keep his word in his own time and in his own way.

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So we don't snap our fingers and, you know, quote the Bible to God and say, you've got to do it the way

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I think you should do it. But we can say to God, God send like the, like the

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Psalmist, Psalm 119, God send your covenant privileges, send your covenant blessings, your promises to us so that we will have an answer for those that mock our hope.

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Well, that's Moses. We're going to hit two more. So we'll have to go quickly. The second one is David.

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At the end of David's life in first Chronicles 28, he calls together the leaders of the nation and he's passing the baton to his son,

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Solomon. And David has already given Solomon the plans for the temple, which God gave

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David. So Solomon is going to be the one, not David. Solomon is God's chosen man to build the temple.

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But even though David's not been allowed to build it, David has been allowed throughout his life as a

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King to set aside materials and money to pay for the construction.

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And in first Chronicles 28, the other leaders, the princes of all of Israel, seeing

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David's generosity, they are inspired and they give too. And so it's, it's this great, you know, it's this crescendo, it's this high point.

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David is passing the baton and he and the leaders are united in heart, glad to give sacrificially for the temple.

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And again, it's such a significant time in the history of redemption. It's not bringing people out of Egypt, but it's building a temple and the temple, it's priest, it's sacrifices, it's ceremonies, will for centuries, will preach.

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It'll be a living object lesson, a living sermon of who the Messiah will be, what he will do.

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He will be the Lamb of God. He will do these things. So it's very important that it's done exactly the way the

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Lord says to do. In first Chronicles 29, in verse 10, after talking to the crowd,

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David turns and talks to God. And in this prayer, David answers the question who

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God is and ask the question, but who are we, me, David and the, and the other leaders who have given so sacrificially.

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Teddy, why don't you read us verse 10 through 16 of first Chronicles 29. Sure. Therefore, David blessed the

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Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said, blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel, our father forever and ever.

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Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.

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Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

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Both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

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And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. But who am

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I and what is my people that we should be able to thus, that we should be able thus to offer willingly for all things come from you and of your own have we given you.

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For we are strangers before you and sojourners as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow and there is no abiding.

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O Lord, our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house and for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own.

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So in those verses, David raises these questions and we have this answer, right?

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So first, verses 10, 11, 12, God, who is this God? Who is the God that has given us the task of giving to the building of a temple and to this living picture of his son?

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And he describes him. He is the king. He is the ruler of all. He possesses all glory and all power intrinsically.

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It's not that he has achieved it. This is who he is. Every human king that possesses glory and power have achieved it and they don't do it themselves.

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They do it on the backs of their armies or their supporters. He says that this

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God possesses all riches. He exalts and he strengthens his servants.

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In contrast to that God, but who are we? David asks, who am I? Who is this people that we would be allowed to give?

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And he says, well, we're nobodies. I think the emphasis here contrasted with what Moses was emphasizing that he was insufficient for such a task.

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David seems to be emphasizing that he is insignificant. He and these leaders, who are we?

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We're sojourners. We just passed through this life. We don't own anything. We're travelers.

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We have lives that are short. This God is eternal. God has allowed us to be part of something that is everlastingly important.

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And yet in something that will last long beyond our earthly lives and everything that we have been able to give sacrificially to this work.

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Well, none of it was ours. It was all given to us by God. And so the point seems to be,

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God, we are so insignificant. And yet you have amazingly through a great mercy and grace, you have allowed the most insignificant beings to be part of an everlasting kingdom.

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So applications for the modern Christian, Teddy, do you see them here? Yeah, absolutely.

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And in so many ways, I mean, in just one way, when it comes to the promises of God, it would be so easy for us to look at those and to say, okay,

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God, I see these things, these promises that you've made, the things that you have commanded of the believer, but I am incapable and there's no way that I could do this.

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And honestly, what it comes down to is, it's a question. Are you sent by the

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God who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable? And if so, then walk forward in light of that.

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Yeah. Yeah. I think the amazing, you know, the amazing grace that nobodies who are insignificant might be noticed of God and not just noticed and given mercy themselves, but given the privilege of being co -laborers with God, like Paul says in 2

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Corinthians 6. So we are co -laborers. It's, you know, it is something that when we first cry out to the

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Lord for mercy, when we first turn in repentance and faith toward Christ, you know, we don't think of the fact that there is so much more in God's mercy.

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There's a wideness in God's mercy that we haven't even begun to consider.

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We think of forgiveness, of peace with God, you know, of receiving the love that we could never have earned, of being brought into his family from exile to as near as you can be.

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One preacher that we've had here before said, bringing us from the courtroom into the family room.

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But it's not just that. There's also the extraordinary joy of laboring alongside the eternal

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God in doing good to those who once were his enemies, to bringing the gospel to them, to laboring, to supplying, whether it's time or energy or emotions or thought, whether it's our money, our weekends.

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We laid down our personal rights, even in following the pattern of Christ.

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We give up our personal preferences. And instead of complaining and saying, why should

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I have to give up my personal preferences again to serve in the kingdom of God?

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Why do I have to give more? The right question is, who am

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I that God would let me? I'm insignificant. I'm here for a moment, and then my earthly life will be over.

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And everything I'm giving, thought, emotional energy, physical labor, time, money, relationships, everything is given to me by him first.

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And if I can add to that, John, one thing, it is so easy. So my wife is at home right now.

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She sent me a text just before we started recording. She's putting our youngest to bed.

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Typically, when our youngest goes to bed, she'll work from home. She'll stop in my office and knock on my door and say,

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Dad, I love you. Good night. And she goes on and gets a nap. And after she gets, when she's getting a nap, that's when my wife takes some time.

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She lets the others go outside and she'll pick up toys or she'll do laundry or do whatever the case may be.

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And I have come in and seen her doing these things. And there's a lot of things that she could be doing with her life.

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You know, I mean, she's, she's brilliant. And what the Lord has called her to do is the work of a mother.

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It is changing diapers. It is picking up toys. And the reason that I bring this up is we, individually,

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I think we're all tempted to have this idea that we were born for greatness. I mean, we all kind of see ourselves as, you know,

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Alexander the Great, leading our armies forward in great battles. And there will be great historic tomes written about us.

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But the reality is we are called to great work, to historic work. We work with the greatest

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King. We are the co -labors with this great King, even though from a world perspective, the task we may do seems small.

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It's picking up toys. It's, it may be, you know, inputting data into spreadsheets, or it may be, you know, coding software or building a house or cutting down trees, whatever it may be, but done for the glory of the

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Lord and done as a co -labor with the Lord, it gives a weight and it gives a reality to these tasks that I think we so easily overlook and even minimize.

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Yeah. It's good to remember. Yeah. So whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, do it as unto the

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Lord, the whole life can be an expression of our awareness of God's worth and are expressing it back to Him for His pleasure.

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And it becomes important because it's Him. It's connected. Yeah. Out of love. And then the world sees and He's honored.

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Well, the third example, and we'll hit it really quickly. I only have one verse. I'm going to get Teddy to read.

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But before we read that it's in first Timothy chapter one, Paul, the great apostle is writing to his protege to Timothy, his son in the

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Lord, who is now a pastor. And Paul, you know, has a special affinity for Timothy.

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And there's two letters in our new Testament are just for Timothy. And they give us so many helpful principles.

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And in chapter one of first Timothy, Paul describes the goal of the ministry, that there would be, you know, that the gospel would spread, that there would be obedience from, you know, sincere faith, from love, from a clear conscience.

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And then Paul describes his part in the work of the kingdom.

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So in first Timothy, Paul's going to answer the second question first, who am

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I? And then he's going to say, well, who is the one who sends me? So who am

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I to be sent? Paul says, well, I was a blasphemer. I mocked the claims of Christ. I was a persecutor.

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I opposed all that the Christians were doing to bring hope to the world. And I was violent.

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I hunted the people of Christ. I saw to it that they were imprisoned and killed. But he says, while that is true.

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And in my blindness, I thought I was pleasing the Lord, but the blindness doesn't make it not sinful because he goes on to say, even though that was true,

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Christ, God sent the gospel to me, Christ conquered me so that in me, the worst of sinners, the world would see this abundant grace.

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So if anybody wants to know, well, what's grace look like, or could grace be for a person like me?

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Maybe I've been an idol worshiper my entire life. I raised my children as a Roman or as a

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Gentile. I raised my children, worshiping idols, and they raised their children, my grandchildren.

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And I've been in complete agreement. And now I realized that all this time I have set my heart towards something that was not

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God. And God has rescued me, me of all people, the worst person

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I know. Could it be true that God could love me, forgive me and use me?

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And if you look at Paul, the answer is absolutely. Who am I? Here, he's not emphasizing his insufficiency like Moses, his insignificance like David and the princes of Israel, but his unworthiness.

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He is impure in himself, but God has washed him. And then he answers the second question here.

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But our first big question, well, who is it that sends me? Teddy, read 1 Timothy 1 verse 17.

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So to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

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Amen. Yeah. This invisible God that man can't see because we don't make this

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God. He makes us this King, this King of the ages or the eternal

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King forever, undying, always seated on the throne, never replaced, never preceded.

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He is the only one who possesses glory and majesty. He is the only

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King, the only God. So Paul can look at himself and say, well, who am

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I to speak of this pure King? Who am I to point men to Christ? And whatever happens, whatever the cost to Timothy to follow

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Paul as a servant of God, whatever the cost to Paul, whatever the cost to those

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Christians, those men and women and children who are embracing the gospel, every place Paul goes, even if they're put to death because he brought them the truth from God, Paul can step back and say, who am

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I to be allowed to do this? Well, who is he? He is the timeless

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King. And whatever the cost we incur to serve and embrace his rule, it's worth it.

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You know, there is something that you have said multiple times on occasions and Sundays, particularly, but that the

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Christian life is a self forgetful life. And it is the more that we can become self forgetful.

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And in these moments, when we see the life of worship, and we've talked about that before as well, but when we see a life of worship, so that worship is not just what we do on Sunday mornings when we sing, but all of life given to God and we become truly self forgetful.

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And our focus is not on our own limitations. It's not on our own failings other than to say, this is what the

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Lord has rescued me from and forgiven me of and shown mercy toward. And we're, we also don't look at our incapabilities, but rather we look to the one who is faithful and just and merciful and kind and patient and all of the things that God is.

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It truly does remove all fear and hindrance from doing what he's called us to do.

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Yeah. And as you just mentioned, to be self forgetful, we don't focus on self forgetfulness.

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We focus on something that is someone who is so superior that in seeing him, in a sense, our hearts are charmed.

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They're distracted by the great distraction, God. And it's almost as if we say to ourselves, it's not that I don't exist.

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It's not that, you know, my life is completely unimportant. It is that there is someone who is so much greater than me.

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I just don't have any interest in getting all tied up with me. Well, as we close, if we don't ask and answer the question correctly, and we've only given three examples from scripture, then there are some things that will surely enter in and make us incapable of being trusted as servants or spokesmen, spokeswomen for God.

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And that one is despair. If we forget who it is that's sending us, then it just, it will happen that we will eventually despair because this is a world that is a battlefield and there is a great deal of sorrow on a battlefield.

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It's not just talk of a battlefield. The cost, you know, the death on this battlefield, it far exceeds any, you know, human battlefield.

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There is eternal life and eternal death at stake. And there are many heartbreaking things that happen to the best of Christians.

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There are people that we love. There are people in our homes. There are people in our churches, best friends, close companions, and they, perhaps they turn away from the hope of Christ and pursue self -destruction and the sleepless nights come and they don't seem to go.

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And we cry out over and over and over. And if you don't ask and answer these questions correctly, you will forget these realities and you can despair.

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And that paralyzes us. And another is bitterness. So not just despair, but bitterness.

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Instead of asking, who is he that sends me today before I put my feet on the floor, getting out of bed in the morning, who is the one that woke me up and sends me to do whatever he sends me to do today?

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If I don't ask that question, then I won't ask and answer the second question. And who am

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I that I get to be a part of this? You know, it's such an amazing grace, but I forget that.

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And I start to ask this question. Why should I, why should I serve again?

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Why should I miss another night's sleep? Why should I hurt for these people?

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Why should I pay the cost for this person's sin? It's unfair. God, it's time for you to call on someone else.

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And bitterness creeps in. And even though we may stay in our job as a pastor or our task as a deacon, an elder, you know, a

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Sunday school teacher, an outreach minister, a parent, but deep within something's gone wrong.

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We're bitter. The cure to that is to ask the question and answer it biblically as many times a day as you need to do it.

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Who is it that is sending me into this present moment and its task, whatever it is, religious or irreligious.

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And who am I that I'm allowed to be sent by such a

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King accompanied by such a King ruled by such a King supplied by such a

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King, the only wise God who lives forever. And when we ask and answer those correctly, it alters our soul's perspective, brings it into harmony with what's real and not just living on the apparent things of life.

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Next week, we're going to look at how the Lord Jesus embodies all these things that we've been talking about in the previous weeks, how he is the perfect picture and instructor in the life of being trusted with God's message and God's honor.