Sunday Sermon: Believing the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 1:18-19, 2:14-16, Luke 24)

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You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

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New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament, and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

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Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. 1 Corinthians 1, we are going to be looking at two sections in our liturgy, and then we're going to go to the

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Gospel of Luke after this. So 1 Corinthians 1, in honor of the word of the King, would you please stand? I'm going to begin reading in verse 18, and then we're going to go to chapter 2.

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1 Corinthians 1 .18. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

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For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning

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I will thwart. Now in chapter 2, reading verses 14 through 16.

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The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

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The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

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For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

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All God's people said, Amen. Thank you, you may be seated. So as we've been going through Corinthians, a very secular culture, one that is not too unlike our own.

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The Corinthians themselves, the Corinthian Christians in particular, in this church there in Corinth, they thought of themselves as something spectacular and great because they had this new truth that had been revealed to them.

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Well, I've got the next big thing that's out there right now, it's called Christianity. The Greeks were always looking for new knowledge, and so if you were the first person to come up with this new knowledge, you could say that you had something that nobody else had.

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Well, look at this new truth that I have found. See, your truth is incomplete because you don't have my truth yet.

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So it wasn't a matter of sharing the gospel message because they wanted souls to be saved, but rather so they could think something great of themselves, that I'm the one that gave you this knowledge, and so that makes me better since it originated with me to you.

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That was the way the Corinthians behaved. They were behaving this way in the church. Those who were more knowledgeable in the things of God saw themselves as being more important than those who were new believers, had just come into the faith, did not know the gospel message as well.

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And so Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for behaving in such a way, for being segregated from one another because one would have this knowledge and the other not be as smart as I am.

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Or even in the life of these Corinthian Christians, believing that they were better than the unbelievers because they had

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Christ and the others did not. And Paul is pointing out to them, do you not understand that the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing?

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They're not impressed. The world who is perishing, who is following the devil, is not impressed by your message, by your piety, by your chest -thumping, by your preaching.

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They're not impressed by it. The message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.

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It is not in our wit or our wisdom that we came into this knowledge of God, it's by the power of God that we were brought to salvation.

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Romans 10 .17, the verse that's posted on our sign out here, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

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We came to this faith by the word of God. The very same word that was spoken and brought all things into existence, let there be and there was, is the same word that brought life into a dead man.

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We were dead in our sins and our trespasses in which we once walked, as it says in Ephesians 2 .1,

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following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience in whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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There was nothing special or unique about us. God didn't look at you and say, oh, I love your beautiful face, but rather we were wretched before God because we had taken that image that we were made in, all made in the image of God, and we had taken that image and desecrated it with our sin.

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What we deserved was the wrath of God. We were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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Praise God for Ephesians 2 .4, but God, who is rich in mercy, didn't leave us dead in our sins, in our trespasses, but made us alive with Christ.

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By grace, you are saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves.

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It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no man may boast. And yet the

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Corinthians boasted in this knowledge, in this gospel that they had, thinking that they were now someone great because I learned the new knowledge.

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But it is not by your power or your ability that you came into the faith, but by the power of God that raised a man who was dead in his sins into the life and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

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For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning.

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I will thwart. If you think you're something great, surprise.

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For it says in Psalm 2 that the Lord laughs at such pride and holds them in derision.

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Do not adopt a behavior or a mindset that is opposed to God, but rather understand what

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James said when he said, humble yourself and he will exalt you by the mighty hand of God.

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We go now to 1 Corinthians 2, and the other section that we read, verses 14 through 16, the natural person does not accept the things of the

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Spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned.

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You know, apologetics is a good ministry. Apologetics is being able to give an answer for the hope that lies within you.

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That's 1 Peter 3 .15, and the Greek word that appears there is apologia, that's where we get the word apologetics from.

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It's being able to make an argument for the faith that we have. You are able to give a practical answer to a person for the faith that you have.

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Give them a practical reason for the belief that you hold in Jesus Christ our Lord. So it's good to know how to do apologetics, but there are some out there that think that the argument is the thing that is going to win a person to Christ.

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So if I come up with the best argument possible to defeat the atheist, and they have nowhere else to go but believe in what

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I am saying to them, then they'll truly repent of their sins and they'll believe in Christ as Lord. But it is not about the knowledge that we can weave together that brings a person to Christ.

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Again, the only way that a person is brought to Christ is by the Word of God. In 1

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Peter 1, it says, you have been born again, not from perishable seed, we all were born from perishable seed, but we're born again by imperishable seed, by the living and abiding

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Word of God. It is by the Word of God that we have been born again, not by our ability to weave together a crafty argument.

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You will not win a person to Christ who is still thinking with the natural mind. They need to be transformed by the

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Spirit of God, have a heart that has been renewed, rejuvenated, restored, refreshed, in order to hear and understand the

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Word of God and receive it and believe it and accept it. It is by the Spirit of God that one understands the things of God, which is what

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Paul was talking about in the verses prior to this. Verse 15, the spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

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As we read in Romans 8, 1, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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And at the end of that chapter, there's nothing in all creation that will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord. The spiritual person is judged by no one, but we are able to discern from all things the truth of God that is revealed to us in His Word.

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Verse 16, for who has understood the mind of the Lord as to instruct him? Who are you to say, you know,

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God, this isn't good enough. Here, have you ever thought of this answer? How about this one? Or God, you're telling me to do this in your

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Word and I just don't think that applies to me? How about this way?

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I know that this way would make me happier, but we do not instruct

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God. We receive the instruction of God from His Word and we understand His Word because, end of verse 16, we have the mind of Christ.

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Let me ask you this morning, as we are in an Easter Sunday service, no doubt you go to church every

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Sunday to hear about, every Easter Sunday, I'll specify that, you go to church every

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Easter Sunday to hear about the resurrection. It's our Easter Sunday service, so we're going to be talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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But let me ask you this, as many times as you've heard that message and that story in your life, do you understand the resurrection?

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You could tell me the story, you could probably even teach the kids Sunday school class and tell them everything about Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection from the grave, but do you understand it?

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And do you understand it in such a way that you live it in your life?

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Have you thought about that? What does it mean to live the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

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Even the disciples themselves did not understand the resurrection and they saw it with their own eyes.

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Let's look at this together. Let's go to Luke chapter 24, Luke 24, and because it's resurrection

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Sunday, we're going to read Luke's account of the resurrection starting in verse one, Luke 24 verse one.

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But on the first day of the week at early dawn, let me stop there, what day of the week is that?

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Sunday. According to Jewish tradition, what day of the week is that? Sunday. No, not

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Saturday, that's Sabbath. That's the last day of the week, Sunday, first day of the week.

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This is the day that Jesus rose from the grave. Why do we gather together as the saints on a

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Sunday? Why do we have church on Sunday morning? Because that's the day that Jesus rose from the grave.

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All through the rest of the New Testament, this day is referred to as the Lord's day. It's why traditionally we gather together as a church on Sunday morning.

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So, as I send you out from here when we finish up the sermon and say, go and do likewise, you will be going to church every

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Sunday celebrating the resurrection of Christ, not just on Easter Sunday, right? There's one way that you can live the resurrection, but that's not necessarily the point that I'm getting to here.

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On the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

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But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

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And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead?

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Now, tell me, do you think the women would have understood what that statement meant? They think the body of Jesus has been stolen.

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And here's an angel adorned in white saying, why do you seek the living among the dead?

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See, if they had understood the words that Jesus spoke to them, they would know exactly to what this angel was referring.

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But even the disciples were clueless about this. When the women went back and told them what had happened.

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The angel goes on, verse 6, he is not here, but he has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the

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Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.

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He told you this. In fact, we read about it in Matthew chapter 16, when

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Jesus said to his disciples that he was going to go to the cross. He was going to be arrested.

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He was going to be tried. He was going to be put to death. But he said to his disciples, plainly, as plain as I'm telling you now, but don't worry,

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I'm coming back on the third day I will rise. And what was Peter's response to this?

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He opposed Jesus. No, Lord, no, I will never let you do this. See, his mind shut down at the moment that Jesus said,

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I'm going to be turned over and tried and put to death. And he didn't hear the rest. His mind just shut off.

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Like, no, Lord, I will never let this happen to you, far be it from you to go to your death.

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And Jesus' response to him was, get behind me, Satan. For you are not thinking with the mind of God, but with the mind of a man.

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I mean, how truly compassionate Peter may have thought he was being. He loved his

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Lord. He didn't want to see his Lord go to his death. And we might be able to sympathize with Peter in that.

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Who would want that, to see their Lord go to the cross and die? So sure, I can understand why

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Peter would oppose Jesus, but he was not listening to what Jesus said. Thinking with the mind of a man instead of with the mind of Christ.

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Remember, we have the mind of Christ, all those who are in Christ Jesus. So if they had truly been listening to him and understanding the words that Jesus was saying to them, he said that he was going to come back.

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And yet they didn't understand it even when they saw the empty tomb. Verse 8,

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And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and all the rest.

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Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale and they didn't believe them.

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Everything that Jesus said to them that was going to happen has happened and it's been fulfilled and yet they didn't believe even eyewitness account and testimony of what had been witnessed at the empty tomb.

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Verse 12, But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened.

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Read this as he went home going, okay, that's

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Peter. That's his marveling at this empty tomb. So verse 13,

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That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were walking and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.

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While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

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And he said to them, What is this conversation that you're holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still looking sad.

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Then one of them named Cleopas answered him, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

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And he said to them, What things? You can tell Jesus is kind of playing with them a little bit.

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And I believe God had a sense of humor, by the way, anyway. And they said to him,

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Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and they crucified him.

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But we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things have happened.

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Moreover, some women, they were at the tomb early in the morning, and they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.

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Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.

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And Jesus said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

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Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?

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Even the things that had been seen, even the eyewitness testimony were not enough for them to believe. Where does Jesus take them back to, to bring about belief in their hearts for what it is that has happened?

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He takes them to the Word, the Word of God, that which was written down by the prophets that spoke of the

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Christ who was to come and die for the sins of the world. Verse 27,

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Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

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We find Christ in the entire Bible, Old Testament and New.

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Genesis 1 .1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Christ is there, and we know

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Christ is there because then we get to John 1 .1, and it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the

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Word was God, and the Word was with God. He was with God in the beginning.

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So from that very moment that all things were spoken into existence, Christ was there.

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Furthermore, we also read in John 1 and in Colossians 1 that by him all things were made.

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So specifically it was Christ who was doing the speaking when he said, Let there be light, and there was.

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All of the scriptures from beginning to end point us to Jesus Christ. And Jesus showed this to the disciples who were slow of heart and did not understand the significance of the things that they had witnessed themselves.

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Verse 28, So they drew near to the village to which they were going. Jesus acted as if he was going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying,

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Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them.

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And when he was at table with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.

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And then he vanished from their sight. They said to each other,

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That's what they said to each other. But the way that Luke translates that in chapter 24 verse 32 is,

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Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?

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And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying,

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The Lord is risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

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I don't know what your background is concerning your Christian faith, how you came to know the

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Lord. A few of your stories I do know. I grew up in a Christian home. The very first Sunday that I was breathing in this world,

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I was in church. My dad made me go to church every Sunday, and there was nothing that I could do to get out of it.

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I tried. I didn't want to go to church. So I'd come to dad and I would say,

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Daddy, I can't go to church. My stomach is upset. He would say, Okay, throw up and prove it. And if I did throw up, he would say,

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Now, don't you feel better? Let's go to church. So there was no getting out of church for me.

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I learned to read by reading the Bible. That's how I learned to read. In the first grade, my dad said to me,

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Okay, it's time for you to read the Bible. Pick a book, and that's where we're going to start. And I said,

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Well, you know, I really like the story of Moses in the burning bush and the parting of the Red Sea.

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So the Ten Commandments, I know those. My parents had taught me those. So let's do Exodus.

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I should have picked like Jude or something. So I started in Exodus and read through the entire

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Bible in the first grade. And that was what my dad,

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I never read Genesis until I was like 13 or 14. I'm just kidding. Anyway, so that was how my dad taught me to read and taught me the

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Scriptures. And I learned how to use Scripture to interpret Scripture. I could teach

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Sunday school classes by the time I was 9, 10, 11 years old. I preached my first sermon when

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I was 17. And I preached in something like 60 to 100 churches.

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By the time I resigned from my position in Christian radio, which was what I was doing throughout my 20s, and became a pastor of a church.

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So I knew the Scriptures very well. I don't say these things to you to boast in my knowledge.

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I say these things to you to say this, but I didn't understand it. I knew the

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Scriptures very well, but did not understand it. I could preach you sermons,

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I could quote you entire chapters from memory. That doesn't mean I understood the words that I read.

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And when I got to college, I'm grateful to the Lord that I didn't rebel as bad as I could have, like if I gave you my resume,

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I still look like a pretty squeaky clean young man for the most part. But there were still ways in my life that I was trying to tiptoe the line.

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See, I can go this close and not step over the line, and then I'm not sinning, all right?

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But that is sin, because my heart is focused on the sin instead of on God. Doesn't matter how on paper you would have thought

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I was a good young man for the most part, my heart was not focused on the Lord.

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It was focused on myself, my own passions, my own desires. And I remember my senior year of college, the

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Lord really breaking me down, and me weeping in my bed, and crying out for forgiveness.

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And part of that repentance meant that I had to break up with my girlfriend that I was dating at that time, who

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I was doing things with that was not honorable to the Lord. So I knew the scriptures, but I did not understand them, and they had no application in my life.

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After going through a really terrible engagement, in which my fiance actually left the faith and became an atheist.

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I was broken down to the lowest point that I had ever been in my life, and all I wanted was gospel.

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I had heard all the practical messages my entire life. Here's what the Bible says about saving money.

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Here's what the Bible says about your marriage. Here's what the Bible says about your job. Here's what the Bible says about your relationships, and sexual immorality, and all these other things.

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I had heard all of that. I did not need the practical explanation. I could do it better than you can.

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I wanted the gospel. And awakened in my heart a hunger for the message of Jesus Christ unlike I had ever experienced before.

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I truly came to understand what it meant to cry out to God and say, Lord, your will be done, not my will be done.

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And I came into great preachers that illuminated for me the gospel of Jesus Christ. This was in about 2007, 2008, when

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I finally started understanding them, the things that I had been hearing my entire life.

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There has always been a desire for the word of God. In the Psalms, David says, even when I took my own life into my hands,

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I did not forget your law. And so I'm grateful for the discipline that my parents instilled in me, that in my period of rebellion,

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I could have gone a lot farther than I did. But the Lord, by his grace, kept me in his law.

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There was still a love for the word of God even when I didn't want to follow it, and even when I didn't understand it.

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And it is by the power of God that I was brought from sin to repentance, and into his marvelous light, illuminating for me the scriptures in a way that I have never seen them before.

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And so I say to you, you may have heard this story your entire life. But has it ever really meant something to you?

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And even the disciples who saw these things with their own eyes didn't understand what it was that they were seeing.

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Jesus appears to them while they're eating, and after he disappears, did our hearts not burn within us while he was talking with us?

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And we still didn't know he was there? So they gather together, and they kind of all marvel together, still not really understanding what's going on.

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How do we know that they still didn't understand? Because the scriptures tell us they still didn't understand. Let's go on, verse 36.

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As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you.

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But they were startled and frightened, and they thought they saw a ghost. If you're reading the

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ESV, and I believe the NASB as well, it says a spirit. But specifically, they thought they saw a ghost. And he said to them, why are you troubled?

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And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is

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I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.

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And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything to eat?

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I'm kind of hungry. And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it before them.

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He basically was doing this just to show them, look, I'm not a ghost. Can a ghost do this? Verse 44, and then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the

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Psalms must be fulfilled. Then, verse 45, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

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And said to them, thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day, rise from the dead.

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And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

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You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you.

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But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Verse 50, and he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

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While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising, blessing

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God. At what point did this transition happen? But when it says, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

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This is a doctrine that we call regeneration. You read about it in Titus 3, 5, that the

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Spirit of God regenerates our hearts with the washing of water by the word of God, to understand the things of the

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Spirit of God. It is the work of God in us that understands the things of God. It is not by our ability to comprehend them.

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So if you want to understand the things of God, what must you do? James 1 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously.

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Jesus said to his disciples, the reason why you don't have is because you do not ask. Ask, and it will be given to you.

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Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

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Ask of God for the wisdom to understand these things, and he will give it to you.

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The scriptures say that he will. When we read these passages about ask, and it will be given to you, beware those prosperity teachers out there who try to say that asking means that God will make you rich.

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Asking means that God will heal your body. You will have health and wealth. That is not what

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Jesus meant in those passages, but that we would have spiritual understanding, not physical desires.

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The evidence of faith in our lives is obedience. Do you believe

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God? Then you will obey him. Jesus said to his disciples, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments.

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How do we know the disciples loved Jesus? Because at the great commission,

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Jesus said to them, Matthew 28, starting in verse 18 and 19 and 20, all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me, all authority.

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Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.

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I forgot a part. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Also part of that great commission.

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So how do we know that the disciples loved God? Because we see in the book of Acts that they did exactly what he commanded them to do.

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Go and make disciples. And they did. Their faith is evidenced in the fact that they obeyed

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God. And so I put it before you. You have heard the scriptures. You have heard the story of the cross.

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You have heard the story of the resurrection. Do you believe it in such a way that it has changed your life?

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Can you say before you heard the message of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, rising again from the grave with the promise of eternal life, before you heard that message, you can say,

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I was this man. This is who I was. I was this kind of woman. But after the gospel penetrated my heart and changed me, now

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I am this. We read in 2 Corinthians 5, 17,

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away.

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The new has come. Are you a new creation in Christ Jesus? Has your understanding of the resurrection of Jesus Christ truly changed your life?

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And I don't say that as a religious churchy platitude that we're used to saying and hearing in church.

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Has Jesus changed your life? Really, has he changed your life? Has your habits changed?

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Your desires changed? Your passions are different now. You're no longer sinning, but desiring the righteousness of Christ.

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John says in 1 John 3 that whoever practices sinning is not of God, but is of the devil.

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But whoever practices righteousness has his righteousness. We're talking about practicing sinning.

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We're not talking about, I had a bad thought, all right? In 2 Corinthians 10, we're told, take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

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You're not responsible for the first thought, but you are responsible with what you do with it. We are still fighting against the old

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Adam. That old Adam, the old man, the old woman who's still trying to get out and still trying to have the things of the flesh.

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We're constantly gonna be warring against that, and we will be fighting that battle until the day we die.

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You are gonna slip up and you are going to sin, transgress, commit trespasses against God.

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This is why Jesus taught us to pray. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

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Jesus taught us to pray that as a daily prayer because we will sin. We're still going to sin, but we should not be practicing sin, still doing the same things that we were doing before we came to Christ.

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So did you have a mind before you came to Christ that was generally malicious toward other people?

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You didn't like people all that much? You thought of only yourself and only what you could gain and only what you could attain, but after something in your mind transformed when you had the mind of Christ, no longer were you looking out for your own interests, but you were looking out for the interests of others.

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You were putting others' needs ahead of yourself. Did you change when you heard the message of the resurrection?

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Were you brought from death to new life in Jesus Christ? Romans 6, 1 through 4, how can we who died to sin still live in it?

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Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

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We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

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Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Not just simply have a new belief, we're walking in newness of life.

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Galatians 3, 20, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.

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And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave

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Himself up for me. So what kind of things have changed in your life because you have become a follower of Jesus Christ?

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Perhaps you listen to different music now. Maybe you realize the kind of movies that you used to like are no longer pleasing and honorable to God.

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Now this is something that my wife and I discover, I think day by day as we continue this

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Christian walk together. Every once in a while, we'll be surfing Netflix and we'll come across a movie that we haven't watched since the 80s.

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We're both children of the 80s, so we like 80s films. So we'll click on that movie and say, hey,

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I haven't watched this in a while. I don't know if you're aware of this, but the rating system was different in the 1980s than it is in the 2010s, okay?

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Jaws was rated PG. Would you let your kids watch Jaws? So the rating system was a little different back then.

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So we'll click on a movie and we'll start watching it. And at some point during the film, we'll kind of be looking at each other going, we liked this?

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And it dawns on us and we become aware of the different people that we are now because we've been grown in Christ.

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The things that we used to enjoy, we don't like so much anymore. It's disgusting and repulsive to us.

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And we find no enjoyment in the things of the world, but enjoyment and pleasure in the things of God.

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Maybe your music and listening habits changed. Maybe your viewing

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TV movie habits changed. Maybe your language has changed.

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Before you came to Christ, well, you could swear the hind legs off a donkey, maybe, okay? And I know that this is a primarily, this is a primarily military church.

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And so you're around a lot of flowery speech on a daily basis. Within the first couple of weeks when

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I was working here, we were helping a new family move in. They were actually moving from town to living on post.

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And so we're helping unload furniture out of the truck into the house. And at one point, I was helping the gentleman move a dresser and we're kind of pushing it and not really watching where it's going.

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And so he's kind of looking back like this to see where the back of the truck is and not seeing how the dresser is turning.

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So his hand gets caught between the side of the truck and the dresser, slams his hand against it.

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Man, he jerked his hand back and word flew out of his mouth. And immediately he looks at the pastor and he's like, oh my.

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Can't believe what I just said in front of the pastor. He didn't say another word. I just said, you're forgiven. Don't worry.

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Skip the dresser off. I know that you're around that kind of thing.

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And I know that you're still struggling in your flesh to control your speech. So in that sense,

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I'm going to show you grace. I've had the same problem and still have that same problem when

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I'm alone in my car. But it is still just as important that I take those thoughts captive and submit them to Christ, even when there's no one around to hear me potentially say those words that I should not be saying.

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And so while I will show you grace and not condemn you on the spot for letting a word fly out of your mouth, nonetheless,

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I hope you are convicted about that. And realize that even our speech and the things that we say will change when we come to faith in Jesus Christ.

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Jesus said in the book of Matthew that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks and we will be judged by every word that we speak.

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How sobering is that reminder? And so even your speech, you should want to have changed.

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I remember a young soul here in the church, 19 or 20 years old, a few years back when he was here stationed at Fort Riley.

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And he had just become a believer by the time that he had moved here. As a matter of fact, he brought a friend to Christ and we had his friend baptized here.

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And he said to me that one of the thing, one of the first things he was convicted about when he became a

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Christian was realizing that the words that he was saying were no longer acceptable. I talk like the rest of the world.

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I should not be talking like the world. I should be talking like I'm a citizen of the kingdom of God.

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And he talked to me about this struggle that he had and how difficult it was and his words were still coming out of him that he knew that he should not be saying.

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But several months went by and every once in a while I would check on him and say, how are you doing with that thing you've been convicted about that you know you need to give to the

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Lord, right? And it came several months later when he said to me, it's now gotten to the point where soldiers are saying to me, what's with you?

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You don't talk like the rest of us. And he said, that's when

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I began to realize that my words had changed and even my tongue

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I was submitting to the will of God. Has your general outlook on life changed?

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Like before you came to Christ, did you just have a negative disposition toward everything? Oh, everything's terrible.

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Everything's horrible. I could do better than that person. I don't have the right opportunities.

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This person had better opportunities than I did. If I had those same opportunities, I would have done this better. I'm not getting paid what

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I deserve. I'm not living up to my full potential. Nobody's giving me opportunities based on the talents, the abilities that I have.

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Oh, that movie is stupid. Oh, that person is stupid. Oh, why does that person drive their car that way? Okay, that was just your general sense of cynicism toward everything around you before you came to Christ.

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But when you came to Christ, everything changed, everything transformed and your heart broke for people.

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And instead of looking at a person as an obstacle who was preventing you from getting what you wanted, you saw a person who was broken in their sin who desperately needed the gospel of Jesus Christ like you need the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Instead of feeling negative about all your circumstances or your future or the direction of where things are going, you are now more hopeful and filled with joy and you had purpose and meaning in life because of what had changed at the cross of Jesus Christ.

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You understand Romans 8 .1 that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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But no matter how many people ridicule you, no matter how popular you're not, no matter how much recognition you don't get, you are fully satisfied in your

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Savior because His grace is sufficient for you. And that is how the resurrection changed you.

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Has your understanding of the resurrection changed the way that you do your job?

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As we were singing hymns this morning, I quoted from Colossians 3 .1. Let me read that whole paragraph.

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Colossians 3 .1 through 4. If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

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Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died.

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And now raised with Christ, your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

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Same context, end of that chapter, verses 23 and 24. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the

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Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive your inheritance as your reward.

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You are serving the Lord Christ. So it doesn't matter if you're not getting the zeros on your paycheck that you think that you deserve.

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Maybe you'll see it as nothing but zeros. But the job that you do, you do it with joy and with appreciation of the opportunity

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God has given you because you are serving Christ and you know that when you die, the inheritance that you receive will be far, far greater than however many zeros you can write across that paycheck.

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Has the way you have done your job changed because of your understanding of the resurrection?

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Has your understanding of the resurrection changed the way you love your family?

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Ephesians 5, wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and lay down your life for her as Christ did for the church.

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In summary, to be a good husband, to be a good wife in such a way that is honoring to God requires sacrifice.

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There's no meeting each other halfway. You give all of yourself to your marriage and you love your spouse expecting nothing in return.

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For this is the way that Christ loved us, giving up everything for us on the cross.

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We have it also said in Colossians 3 and in Ephesians 6, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

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Fathers raise your children in the training and the instruction of the Lord and do not be harsh with them. Has the way that you raise your children changed because of your understanding of the resurrection?

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And finally, has your understanding of the resurrection changed your worship?

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Do you know God in a way now with the knowledge of the gospel in a way that you did not know

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God before you had heard the message of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

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And in your heart is a praise and a worship for God unlike you have ever experienced.

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It's not just about having a knowledge that God is there and he exists. At least I have one up on the atheists but you truly know what he has done for you.

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Romans 5 .8 God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

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Romans 6 .23 For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. The apostle John said we love God because he first loved us and gave himself up for us to be a propitiation for our sins.

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As we sang this morning the wrath of God is satisfied in the perfect selfless sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

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Has that changed your worship? And every time you sing the songs and every time you hear the pages of scripture opened you get to experience a peace of God today and that has changed the way that you worship.

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Romans 12 .1 Tells us to present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto the

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Lord and this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and then you will be able to test and approve

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God's good pleasing and perfect will. Presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice unto the

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Lord. A living sacrifice as opposed to a dead one. As your understanding of the resurrection of Jesus Christ changed your life.

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Christ in power resurrected as we will be when he comes.

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This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours but this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

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Find a good gospel teaching Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again tomorrow as we continue our