1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,960 We're going to worship you forever, the angels and the 24 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,000 elders around the throne. The Bible says crying, holy, 3 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:15,600 holy, holy Lord, God Almighty, which was and is and is to come 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:21,920 Hallelujah forever. So it's good to get used to 5 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,040 worship right here. It's going to be a for 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:31,360 everything Amen over Yonder. This is just a little just a 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:37,120 little prep session for a forever praise session a man 8 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:39,800 someday and it'll be a glorious time. 9 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:44,720 Just a few reminders tonight that this coming weekend on 10 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,600 Saturday, there's going to be a kind of a spring cleaning type 11 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,720 situation going on. There is sign up list out there 12 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:57,160 if you can be a part of that. I'm hoping for that between 9:00 13 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:02,520 and 12:00 time frame of being able to get accomplished that. 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,080 And there's also going to be the travel outside is going to be 15 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,840 tilled up this Saturday sometime. 16 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,000 So it might require, I don't know yet, the time frame of all 17 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,960 that yet. So it might be if you're here 18 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:18,600 cleaning everybody park on one side because they might till up 19 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:20,160 one side and everybody have to move to the other. 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:21,840 It might overlap while you're here. 21 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:23,680 Amen. But they're going to bring that 22 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,200 gravel back to the top. Also, there is a sign up sheet 23 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:29,400 just for being a part of the cleaning crew or the cleaning 24 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,000 team that's out there in the foyer as well. 25 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,760 Next Wednesday will be a communion and foot washing 26 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:42,560 teaching and practice here. Next Wednesday. 27 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,080 This coming Sunday is our third week of Sunday school campaign 28 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:51,360 along with Pastor David Scott being here ministering in our 29 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,120 fifth Sunday service. Only one service in the AM, no 30 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,560 service in the evening. Just in the 5th Sunday that 31 00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:59,240 morning he'll be here ministering the word of the 32 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:00,960 Lord. You don't want to miss that. 33 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,440 That'll be a good time. Amen to the Lord as well. 34 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,240 And then Resurrection Sunday be the week after that. 35 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,240 It's just that quick. That's why that's where the 36 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:09,400 calendar year goes. Folks. 37 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:11,160 We're about race. Step into April. 38 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,040 Blows my mind. Blows my mind. 39 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:18,040 But here we are, a man here. We are going to turn to the book 40 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:23,880 of Genesis chapter #2 Genesis chapter #2 tonight. 41 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:26,120 Just going to pluck a verse there. 42 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:28,280 Again, it's going to be a jump off point. 43 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,520 Also, with everything that's being said, on Resurrection 44 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,320 Sunday, we plan on doing a candy rain from this side of the 45 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,960 building to the South side of the Kingdom. 46 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,920 Yeah, whatever you want to call it, but none the less we're 47 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:44,480 asking for people part of the church bring candy, kid 48 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:49,040 appropriate candy, like younger vibe candy than some of the 49 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,800 older stuff for for throwing, for throwing off the roof. 50 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:58,280 All right, on that Sunday, say, well, you just going to throw it 51 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,960 away? Genesis 2 verse #8 The Bible 52 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,880 says the Lord God planted in the garden eastward in Eden. 53 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:09,520 There he put the man whom he had formed. 54 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:11,680 There he put the man whom he had formed. 55 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:15,680 We've been looking at this concept of Jesus by the house. 56 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,080 We're continuing with that tonight. 57 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,320 I want to talk to you tonight about the Genesis face. 58 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:24,680 The Genesis face, All right. Amen. 59 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:32,080 Can we say God bless? His word may be seated tonight. 60 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:34,800 Yeah. His words are already blessed. 61 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:35,920 I'm the one that needs to bless him. 62 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,400 My wife's thrown down on me up here and that's OK. 63 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:42,560 I can handle it. We've already talked about in 64 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,640 previous weeks. And just for a a little recap, 65 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:50,440 remember that the principles of holiness are eternal principles. 66 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:52,360 They have their origin in eternity. 67 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:56,280 We looked at that to a great length last week. 68 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,640 And so they do not become obsolete. 69 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,120 And so God really has put them on display to a certain degree 70 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,880 in the Garden of Eden. And they they are things that he 71 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,680 used. Again, if we can use Romans 120, 72 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:14,760 he uses some of the things that he created to give expression to 73 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,440 invisible things. The Bible says for the invisible 74 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,839 things of him Speaking of God, which remember when there was 75 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:24,520 nothing else, it was just kind of totally invisible because 76 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:26,040 there was no one else to appreciate. 77 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:28,760 So all of these invisible things, the traits, the 78 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,560 attributes of God from the creation, the world, are clearly 79 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:39,320 seen being understood by the things that are made, even his 80 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:43,040 eternal power and Godhead. And I think it's important, it 81 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:45,000 says even his eternal power and Godhead. 82 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:48,320 In other words, it's not just limited to those things are even 83 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,480 understood by what is made, but also other things that are 84 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,680 understood by what is made. And so they are without excuse. 85 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,120 And so the Garden of Eden showed us really God's pattern, his 86 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,840 ideal pattern for man prior to the fall, right? 87 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,920 We oftentimes go back to the fall as that, that marker on the 88 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,800 timeline for humanity. But really there's a time that's 89 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:15,720 between the creation and the fall, right? 90 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:21,120 There is this pristine time that God had to idolize the idea for 91 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,560 humanity, for mankind, for the world. 92 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:28,240 It was God intention for man from the very beginning. 93 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,400 What, what God had intended really for the world from the 94 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,200 very beginning and mankind and what he intended for mankind in 95 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,720 the beginning, even prior to the fall, He still has intended for 96 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,720 us today or he has a desire and a wish for us today. 97 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,200 And so with that being said, whenever we're born again of the 98 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,760 water of the spirit and we're regenerated or, and God desires 99 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:54,880 that we be born again, he, he wants to take us back to a, a, a 100 00:05:55,120 --> 00:06:00,000 pre fall type of setting, a reset button, if you will, a pre 101 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,560 fall type of setting. He doesn't want us to be as the 102 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,920 world around us, but he wants to be as things were before 103 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,640 iniquity and transgression came into the world. 104 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,280 And we can observe then what some of those things are in 105 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:19,360 Eden. James even expresses it this way 106 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,920 in the New Testament. In the book of James chapter #1 107 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:28,320 and verses 23 through 25, it says, For if any man be a hearer 108 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:33,280 of the word, and not a doer, he is likened to a man beholding 109 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:38,600 his natural face in a glass, where he beholdeth himself, and 110 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,280 goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he 111 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:45,120 was. But whoso looketh into the 112 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:51,000 perfect law of Liberty, and continueth therein, he be not a 113 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,680 forgiveful, but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed 114 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,040 in his deed. And so he he's likening this man 115 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,680 that's beholding his natural face in the glass, as a man 116 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,360 that's looking into the counsel of God's word as beholding his 117 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:10,760 natural face in the glass. Interestingly enough, the word 118 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:15,080 natural in this passage comes from a Greek word, Genesis. 119 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:21,760 Genesis, that's what it is. It's the same same word that is 120 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,800 the OR at least the transliteration of it is the 121 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,920 same word as the first book in your Bible. 122 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:32,560 So that whenever we look into the mirror of God's Word, we are 123 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:39,400 seeing what God intended man, the Genesis, Genesis space, but 124 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:44,240 he intended man to be. And so God shows that us by 125 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:46,800 that, by his word. Let's admit, how many times do 126 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,120 you look in the Word and don't see that face? 127 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,280 You see what it should be, but you don't necessarily see that 128 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,160 in you. But He has something in store 129 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:57,680 for mankind. Amen. 130 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,560 Even from the beginning, as we looked at last week quite in 131 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,520 depthly, He had all that plan in place. 132 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,760 And so the Bible even tells us that in the beginning, right? 133 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,520 These are verses that we read and have read in the book of 134 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:15,520 Genesis that so God created man in His own image. 135 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,400 And so this is God's plan. This is God's plan for each 136 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:20,920 individual. Amen. 137 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,560 Even there in the new birth experience, that He could get 138 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:27,760 them back to being conformed to His image. 139 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:33,640 The Bible states this in Romans chapter #8 and verse #29 for 140 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:36,600 whom he and we had some of this language last week. 141 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,320 We read some passages out of Ephesians that are similar to 142 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,720 these. But for whom He did for know, He 143 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:49,240 also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His 144 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:55,400 Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren, He 145 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,200 says, for whom he did for know. Remember. 146 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:02,080 And here in the Scripture, the foreknowledge or the foreknowing 147 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:08,600 pertains to the whom there in verse #929 for whom he did for 148 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,160 know. So the word whom is not 149 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,480 singular, the word whom is plural. 150 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,200 So it's not, it's not relating to a individual, It's relating 151 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:22,200 to a grouping of individuals predominantly as we looked at 152 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,960 last week, his church, he foreknew his church and he 153 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:33,480 predestinated his church to be conformed to the image of of his 154 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:35,240 Son. And where we talk about 155 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:38,960 predestinated, that means that he had a purpose for his church. 156 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:44,600 He had a plan for his church to be conformed to the image of his 157 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:45,920 Son. Amen. 158 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,280 Which is what God in human form is Christ Jesus. 159 00:09:50,680 --> 00:09:52,520 God in human form is Christ Jesus. 160 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,840 And so Christ Jesus became a model for all of humanity, came 161 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,080 a model for the church. So if if you're sitting here 162 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,080 tonight and you have repented and you've been baptized in 163 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:05,520 Jesus name and you've been filled with the gift of the Holy 164 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:10,600 Ghost, then this is the way that God desires to see us. 165 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:14,320 He no longer sees us if we went through this plan of salvation. 166 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:19,160 He no longer sees us as the corrupt man or the sinful woman 167 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:24,000 or as the man that's bound by by lust of the flesh, but he sees 168 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,800 us Amen. As the righteous man. 169 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:28,640 We spoke about it just Sunday morning. 170 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:33,880 He gave us his righteousness. We we, we and he took on our 171 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,800 debts and our mishaps and our our shortcomings and our sin. 172 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,800 And so he sees them us as a righteous man, a godly man wants 173 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,920 to see us as a holy man and woman that would serve God, that 174 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:48,920 would love their neighbor as their self. 175 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,520 All of these things. And the word of God then acts as 176 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,360 our mirror. It tells us what we are in 177 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:59,560 Christ Jesus. It tells what we are as a new 178 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:02,480 creature in him. It tells us, Amen. 179 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:07,240 It advises us, Amen, how we should should act and how we 180 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:11,120 should do certain things in light of this glorious gospel, 181 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:15,000 in light of what God has said to us through and by his Word. 182 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:17,600 Amen. The word does this, folks. 183 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,440 This is a pride, if you understand how much of A prized 184 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:24,960 thing that this really is, the word of God. 185 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:29,120 The Bible says in the same book of James that I just read to you 186 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,480 just a little while ago, the Bible says that this same word 187 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:34,760 is the word that can save your soul. 188 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:40,080 Bible says in James 121 Wherefore lay apart all 189 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,640 filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with 190 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:49,080 meekness the engrafted word which is able to save yourself. 191 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:52,680 Folks, that's something I want to, you know, brush up against 192 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,360 day-to-day, huh? Because there is in here. 193 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:58,320 Why? Because it tells me how, how to 194 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,960 be saved, how to be begotten, how to maintain all the letters 195 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,760 of the epistles that's written to the churches, speaking to 196 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,280 people that's been repentant, received the Holy Ghost, been 197 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:11,560 baptized, all the instruction how to continue in my walk, Man, 198 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:14,240 that's important. It's tell me the doom and 199 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,040 destruction of the world to come if I reject the Lord. 200 00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:20,040 I mean, that's that's tremendous. 201 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:21,960 That's tremendous information right here. 202 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:27,000 And so through God's word, he even gave us then the Eden model 203 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:32,360 where we can learn principles, Amen of holiness that God even 204 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:36,000 revealed right there in the very beginning and have a better 205 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,880 understanding of the expectations of the Lord. 206 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,320 So there are several phrases in your Bible, even the New 207 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,720 Testament, there are several phrases that are used that point 208 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:51,760 back that point us back like a sign pointing back to the Eden 209 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:53,920 model. We've already used one of them 210 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:58,320 of course there in James that Genesis face or that natural 211 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:00,840 face. But Jesus also used similar 212 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,480 language. The apostle Paul, he also used 213 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,760 some similar language and and when you look at this and and 214 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:08,800 please what I'm about ready to say isn't here to make any 215 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:13,000 anyone to feel uncomfortable. But whenever Jesus was asked in 216 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,840 the Gospels about divorce, the Pharisees wanted to discuss 217 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:18,120 this. Here's what they want to talk 218 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,720 about. They wanted to talk about how 219 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:22,960 and when a person can break a marriage. 220 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,360 They want to emphasize when can we do it? 221 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:29,800 And then Jesus and they brought up the idea of Deuteronomy 24 222 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:34,560 where Moses wrote a, a, a law and a letter of divorcement, a 223 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:36,200 bill of divorcement for the people. 224 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:39,480 Jesus didn't come. He didn't reject what Moses's 225 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,600 concession that he made, but he kind of recast everything in 226 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,720 different terms because Jesus was wanting to focus on the 227 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,400 sanctity of marriage. So they want to look on, well, 228 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,320 how can you break it? He's saying, well, how can we 229 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,680 just keep it whole, right? It's kind of like 1. 230 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:58,120 Kevin Deyoung actually one time said said if all you, if all, if 231 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,520 all you hear are the reasons a marriage covenant might be 232 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:03,560 broken. He said it's like learning to 233 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:07,040 fly by practicing your crash landings or training for battle 234 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:10,680 by practicing your retreats. He says you're just kind of 235 00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:14,000 focusing on the wrong thing. He said, but here's the thing, 236 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,640 The law was making the best of a bad situation. 237 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:19,480 Jesus was basically giving them to them. 238 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,200 But he said this in Matthew 19/8. 239 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:25,440 He said Moses, because of the hardness of your heart, suffered 240 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:29,160 you to put away your lives. But here's his Eden pointer. 241 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,240 But from the beginning it was not. 242 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:35,080 So in other words, she's saying whatever exceptions that are 243 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,280 acceptable, there may be or might not be. 244 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,040 He says from the beginning it was not. 245 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:44,640 So he's pointing people back to the original intent from the 246 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:47,680 very beginning a man. So he's pointing backwards. 247 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,520 And again, there's other occasions in the scripture. 248 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:55,800 Paul used the term nature in scripture and the Greek word in 249 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,720 in this term where Paul was using the word nature. 250 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:03,920 The Greek word translated nature in the Greek is fusus if anybody 251 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:08,400 wants to know, but it's where we get our English word physical. 252 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,800 The Greek word actually refers to that which was brought forth 253 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:18,160 and therefore means the original or inherent constitution of a 254 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:21,720 thing. What that means is this the, 255 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:26,160 the, the thesis or the nature pertains all created things that 256 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:28,840 are in their original state before anything else is 257 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:32,000 happening. The original constitution of 258 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,440 those things before Brother Pat, they were ever corrupted by 259 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:40,680 mankind before they were ever contaminated by mankind. 260 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,520 If I can say it like this, the natural state, the original 261 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:49,480 constitution of a thing right in Eden before the fall. 262 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,000 And Paul said this is where he uses this word Bishop in first 263 00:15:54,000 --> 00:16:01,480 Corinthians 11/14 when he says does not even nature itself 264 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:06,200 teach you that it's a shame for a man to have long hair. 265 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:12,000 It's in that instance, he said, does not the original intent, 266 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,400 the original constitution of a thing, before there's any 267 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,040 corruption, before there's any other way in? 268 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:22,280 Does that not teach you another less obvious place where there's 269 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,680 Eden reference in New Testament scripture oftimes, when we see 270 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:30,080 the word renew in the original language, that word conveys the 271 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:35,080 idea that you're returning back to the original condition to 272 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:41,120 renew to renew a commitment or to return to original commitment 273 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:46,240 or to then recommit to it. And so whenever Paul writes then 274 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:50,440 in the gospel or in the the letter of Romans chapter 2, talk 275 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:55,080 about transformed by the renewing of your mind. 276 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,920 He's telling us that we need to go back and think as the 277 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:02,840 thoughts were prior to there ever being a fall, because 278 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,920 what's going on then Adam and Eve is walking with God in the 279 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:11,400 cool of the day, right that their their lives are absorbed. 280 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:14,119 Amen. With the presence and the power 281 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,000 of the Lord. The NLT says it like this. 282 00:17:17,079 --> 00:17:21,000 Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that 283 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:25,599 you think. Amen, by the way, that you think 284 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,440 it's not, it's not a way necessarily to change, to think 285 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,920 like the world, but it's to change back to the original. 286 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,880 Change back to the original, to the Garden of Eden mentality, 287 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:43,120 the Bible says in Ephesians 423 and be renewed in the spirit of 288 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:48,480 your mind that you may put on the new man, which after God is 289 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:53,720 created in righteousness and true holiness, our minds are 290 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:57,280 renewed. We become what God intended at 291 00:17:57,280 --> 00:17:59,160 the beginning. All right. 292 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,120 We'll also then be able to recognize then our walk and be 293 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:05,720 able to participate in things such of righteousness and true 294 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:09,520 holiness when our minds are reset to back to where they 295 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,640 were. The original Constitution, the 296 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,600 original constitution. In a letter to Titus, Paul 297 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,960 described, he described God's merciful salvation and he 298 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:24,480 described it like this, that it came through Titus 35, that it 299 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:30,600 came through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of 300 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:33,840 the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. 301 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,440 Amen. Because how many know tonight 302 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:43,200 that the Spirit has power, Amen, To help us with our mind, with 303 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:49,160 that regeneration of our lives, to take us back to an original 304 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,600 form. Hey, man, take us back to 305 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,040 original form. Not only that, John said that 306 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:59,760 Spirit then can lead us and guide us into all truth, Amen. 307 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:04,240 And so it's the objective of the Spirit's work to do that in our 308 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:05,720 life. Going to return them back. 309 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:07,720 We're going to have a factory reset on them. 310 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,280 You ever you ever heard of that? You know, you do that sometimes 311 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,080 you go sell your computer you like, go do a factory reset, get 312 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,080 rid of everything, take it back the way it was when you got it 313 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,200 out-of-the-box. Factory reset. 314 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,840 I mean, we'll take it back to a factory reset. 315 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:26,320 And so Genesis 127 told us that God created man in his own image 316 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,400 and the image of God created he him male and female created he 317 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:32,480 them. Here's the thing. 318 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:38,040 Your God, we saw this last week. Your God is not some impersonal 319 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:44,760 force so distant from you. He's like, not some inexplicable 320 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:49,480 mystery, huh? No, he's not. 321 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:54,120 He's a personal God. He's a personal God. 322 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,000 And he's identified himself to us, brother Fred, with a 323 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,360 personal name. What's his name? 324 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:04,160 Jesus. Not only that. 325 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,040 He even allowed us that before a person, before a person was born 326 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:12,680 again, before we can move onward. 327 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,640 I believe this is this is very much so contingent here on His 328 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,000 word. Before we can move forward after 329 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:23,800 being born again into areas of holy holiness, we must come to 330 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:32,640 terms with who God really is. We we got to get the identity of 331 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:34,840 God down. I mean, New Testament, whenever 332 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:37,480 some came to Lord and said which are the great commandments you 333 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,640 have all these commandments. You know, when he goes to 1st 334 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:45,880 the Shema hear O Israel, the Lord our God. 335 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,640 Why was that so important? Because if you don't have God's 336 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:53,320 identity right, you'll get a lot of other things wrong. 337 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,360 Amen. And so it's vital, it's vital to 338 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:02,320 know about the identity of God. And we looked a little bit last 339 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,200 week. We know that God is God all by 340 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,280 himself. He alone is God. 341 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:13,280 There are no others in the New Testament scripture, I believe 342 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:15,640 was Paul said, he said they speak of gods and this, they're 343 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:17,760 gods, but they're no gods. He said. 344 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,680 They talk about Lords and gods, he said, but they're in reality, 345 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:26,800 there is no other Lord or God. There's only our Lord, So if 346 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,640 they want to talk about suppose Lords, then we'll just say that 347 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:34,720 he's the Lord of Lords, huh. If they want to talk about 348 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:37,640 suppose that their gods, then we'll just clarify that he's the 349 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:43,800 Almighty God. There's no others, Amen. 350 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:47,560 The Lord even affirmed in Isaiah we we read it probably last week 351 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:51,040 or one of these other weeks, Isaiah 45 and verse 21 and there 352 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:56,040 is no God else beside me. Again, the the exclusiveness 353 00:21:56,040 --> 00:22:00,400 that's quite exclusive, Amen. A just God and Savior. 354 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:05,640 There is none beside me. That means there's nothing else 355 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:09,560 that can be identified as God except God. 356 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,800 And that's important because I can't start talking about 357 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:22,520 holiness and this holy God from which holiness comes from if I 358 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:26,760 don't even know who God is. See, you've muddled the whole 359 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,520 waters. If you don't have a clear 360 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,520 identification of your God, you won't have a clear 361 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,280 identification of His attributes and His traits. 362 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:46,920 We know John 4/24, the Goddess Spirit, we said. 363 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:51,680 We know in Hebrews 9 that he's also spoken of as the eternal 364 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:58,680 spirit, meaning he's always been, he is, He always will be. 365 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,520 He has no beginning, He has no ending. 366 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:09,640 He's the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and ending. 367 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,840 Beginning is something that begins and continues to begin. 368 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,200 It's like a circle. You don't find where it starts 369 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,240 or where it finishes. There's a beginning and the 370 00:23:20,360 --> 00:23:22,760 ending. He's also called the Holy Ghost 371 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,520 or the Holy Spirit. So that tells me then that this 372 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:32,240 same God, this true God, is eternal, but he's also holy. 373 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,840 And we start then picking up on things about the identity of our 374 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:41,320 God, even from the book of Genesis, that no one else is in 375 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:45,920 reality except him. In John, in Genesis 11, we pick 376 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:50,600 up on the identity that He is identified as the creator of all 377 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,920 things. No one else has that office. 378 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,320 He's a creator of all things. Genesis 127 we pick up on the 379 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,920 identity that He is the maker of humanity. 380 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:09,080 There was not a committee. God did along and all by 381 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,200 himself. Genesis 216 identifies him as 382 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,680 the Lord and the Lawgiver of humanity. 383 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:22,560 Genesis 317 through 19 identifies him as the Judge of 384 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,680 humanity. Genesis 321 identifies him as 385 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:31,200 the Savior of humanity. All of these roles, they belong 386 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,400 to God alone. He is our creator, he is our 387 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,640 maker, he is our Lord, he is our lawgiver. 388 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,920 He is our judge, he is our savior. 389 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:42,480 All of that belongs to God alone. 390 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:46,000 And perhaps one of the greatest identifier marks of our God is 391 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,520 this being that he came and was our savior. 392 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:59,520 Our God came in flesh. Paul declares concisely the the 393 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,800 the verses bigger than this of First Timothy 316. 394 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:10,920 God was manifest in the flesh, and throughout the New Testament 395 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:18,080 that flesh is called the Son, the Son of God. 396 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,120 When you read terminology like that in scripture, the Son of 397 00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:27,120 God, it is talking about the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. 398 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,960 It's that which was made of a woman according to Galatians 44 399 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:38,600 John, though, does something like many things happen greatly 400 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:44,160 in the Bible, but John connects that son, that son identity to 401 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:51,600 God when he wrote in first John 520 these words and we know that 402 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,320 the Son of God has come and have given us. 403 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,280 I love this and have given us an understanding. 404 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:03,480 I got to pause here because Christ Jesus didn't just give us 405 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,240 an understanding by what he said. 406 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:10,240 He gave us an understanding just by being, because he was the 407 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,480 express image of the invisible God. 408 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:20,960 The moment that Jesus came, he was the expression of God. 409 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:26,160 He's what John, the Saint John chapter 1 talks about that He 410 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,680 was declared. That's what you have, Christ 411 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,920 Jesus. He's the declaration of God. 412 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:37,960 He gave us understanding that we may know Him. 413 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:45,320 That is true and we are in him. That is true even in his Son, 414 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,640 Jesus Christ. Look at this next phrase. 415 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:52,720 This is the true God and eternal life. 416 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,320 You know, John's right, John's saying the Son of God has come. 417 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,400 He was saying God has come in human form. 418 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,760 God has come in human form and through this human being we can 419 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:13,280 identify the true God and also receive eternal life. 420 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,240 That's awesome. We got to understand we got to 421 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,400 have the identity of God, right? And with the identity of God 422 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,440 then comes the name Jesus. Amen. 423 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,760 Because God has chosen to identify himself to all of 424 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:35,360 humanity by his name, Jesus, that name which literally means 425 00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:39,240 to us salvation. And so when the Bible tells us 426 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:44,520 to call on God by the name of Jesus, it means that we can be 427 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:50,640 certain we're calling on the only true God that there is in 428 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,360 the universe. Whenever we can call on God by 429 00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:56,240 the name of Jesus, Jesus, that means we're calling on that 430 00:27:56,240 --> 00:28:00,560 creator, that Lawgiver, that maker, that judge, that 431 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:08,080 Redeemer. Yes, he identifies himself, 432 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:10,920 identifies himself by the name of Jesus. 433 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:15,000 You know the verse of Scripture, Brother Reese of Acts 412. 434 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:18,120 Why? Peter declared neither is there 435 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:24,760 salvation in any other, for there is none other name under 436 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:29,240 heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. 437 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:34,720 It's through the name of Jesus, and that name is attached, Amen 438 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:40,120 to our Savior, Maker, Creator who manifested Himself in the 439 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:46,360 flesh, who is the Holy One. And that's important. 440 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:52,360 There's this connection. Jesus also even stated that 441 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:57,320 basically the identity of God cannot be separated from the 442 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,840 name Jesus. John chapter #16 verses 23 and 443 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:05,160 24 you can read, but he says, she says whatever you ask the 444 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:12,760 Father in my name, He will give it you, because the identity, 445 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:18,120 the identity of God is inseparable from the name Jesus. 446 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,200 There's no other name, no other name. 447 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:28,400 So Moses again, he summarizes this whole principle of identity 448 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,680 in the Shema, or what the Jews call the Shema of Deuteronomy 6 449 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,320 and 4. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God 450 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,440 is 1 Lord. And after that you start to get 451 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,240 these commands, how you should love the Lord your God with all 452 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,560 of your heart and your mind and your soul. 453 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,320 But those things are true, and those things are meaningful, but 454 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:53,720 they are secondary to recognizing who God is. 455 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:58,600 How can you direct love appropriately if you don't know 456 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:02,520 who you're really directing it to? 457 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,960 Well, do you love Mabel? Well, I would love Mabel if I 458 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:10,400 knew who Mabel, You know what I'm saying? 459 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,440 I have a, I'm not sure what you know, maybe you talking about, 460 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:16,840 well, you know, she's got the long hair and she's got, you 461 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:18,240 know, freckles on her cheek. You know what I'm saying? 462 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,560 You cannot direct your love if you don't have an identity. 463 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,280 David Hustin, he said this. He said until we can accurately 464 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:40,560 identify the true God, we could never be certain we are 465 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:42,800 identifying anything else accurately. 466 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:51,600 So with the with the concept of identity comes the needs for 467 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,480 distinction. What makes that Mabel the one I 468 00:30:55,480 --> 00:31:03,520 love rather than that Mabel with identity then is the need for 469 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,680 distinctions. So we talked about the principle 470 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:12,440 of identity, also known as could be the principle of distance 471 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:19,240 distinctions because it's the distinctions that help identify 472 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,400 a person or a thing. It helps us tell them apart. 473 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,640 Roberta Rebecca supposed to be identical twins. 474 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:33,800 Supposed to be supposed to be. But there are distinctions. 475 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,320 There are distinctions. They was harder to tell apart 476 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,920 when they were younger. The reason why Grandma McGee fed 477 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,560 one of them twice rather than one of them starved. 478 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:50,480 Had a hard time finding those distinctions, but they're there. 479 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,720 What are you saying? I'm saying the fact that a male 480 00:31:55,720 --> 00:32:06,000 cardinal bird is red and a blue Jay male is blue helps us 481 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:10,760 quickly tell them apart just by their colors. 482 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,800 If I say like this, their identities are partly defined 483 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:26,290 just by their colors. So when this this true God comes 484 00:32:26,290 --> 00:32:34,130 in the flesh and he comes a part of the fabric of humanity, he is 485 00:32:34,130 --> 00:32:40,880 still distinguished from other humanity and absolutely, Sister 486 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,560 Sheila, distinguished from other things that are so-called gods. 487 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,760 He came in the flesh for one, it's not wood, stone or 488 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:51,720 something like that that they had to their gods. 489 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:56,400 So coming in the flesh alone is solidifying identity. 490 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,560 But now he's among mortal man. So there's got to be 491 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:03,320 distinguishers. So the principle of of identity 492 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,960 or distinction teaches us that then God has sharp lines about 493 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:12,560 himself that distinguish him from us and he from any other 494 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:17,200 so-called God. Where we look at the Garden of 495 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:22,120 Eden, we read in scripture that of course Adam and Eve were 496 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:26,200 forbidden to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 497 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,880 And the serpent wove into their minds that the day that you eat 498 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:39,040 of that, you'll be like gods. They did, they did thought they 499 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:43,080 were going to maybe have the transformation, I don't know, to 500 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,920 be gods. But they found out that 501 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,280 absolutely known the intent of people's hearts of good and evil 502 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:55,200 is a prerogative that belongs to God alone, all by himself. 503 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,600 Even trying to blur the line couldn't be blurred. 504 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,880 There is a distinction between them and God. 505 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:07,080 There are qualities that make God God, There's qualities that 506 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:09,159 make us human, so on and so forth. 507 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:15,719 And so God has always wanted to make it very clear who he is and 508 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:22,040 who we are, and he started that right from the beginning. 509 00:34:23,159 --> 00:34:27,280 I'm not God. I know everybody's surprised. 510 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,520 I'm not God. You're not God, it's not our, 511 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:36,760 it's not my identity to be God number one. 512 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:45,080 I'm not inherently eternal or holy, just saying I can 513 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,040 participate in holiness, but I'm just not inherently holy. 514 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:55,080 And someday I hope to participate in eternity, but I'm 515 00:34:55,080 --> 00:35:00,000 just not inherently eternal as I stand here today without a 516 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,720 change happening. Oh, and I'm longing for the 517 00:35:02,720 --> 00:35:07,480 change. So that means, Sister Sheila, 518 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:12,480 I'm not creator, I'm not Maker, Lawgiver, Lord, Judge, whatever, 519 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:15,640 but I have been made in the image of God. 520 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,080 And if I've been made in the image of God, he's given us the 521 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:23,760 ability to participate in some limited ways. 522 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:28,280 And those traits, attributes and characteristics of himself. 523 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:34,040 Someone say Amen. So, Bishop, I'm not trying to 524 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:37,920 be, not trying to be what I'm not, but he's established 525 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:43,280 distinctions for himself and mankind. 526 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,680 And since I know this, and since I was bought with a price by 527 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:52,240 him, one of the distinctions is I don't own myself. 528 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,400 I don't own myself. He purchased me by his blood. 529 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:02,920 No one had to purchase him. He purchased me by his blood. 530 00:36:03,720 --> 00:36:06,600 I'm the property of another right? 531 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:11,000 So it's a distinction again, we'll look at this verse 1000 532 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,000 times before we're done with all this. 533 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:18,280 First Corinthians 619 What know ye not that your body is the 534 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:23,560 temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which he have of God, 535 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:28,120 and ye are not your own for your bought with a price. 536 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:33,960 Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are 537 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:38,480 God's. Now what that is not saying, 538 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,560 that's not telling us you no longer have free will. 539 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:47,240 It's not what that's saying. It only means that if I'm going 540 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:54,840 to fail to live the way that my owner would like for me to live 541 00:36:55,880 --> 00:37:01,280 and deny that I belong to him, then I might as well go on and 542 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,360 deny that he ever purchased me or shed blood for me. 543 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:10,880 There's another place the scripture says even denying the 544 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:18,760 Lord which bought you. I'm not my own, but if I'm if 545 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,640 I'm going to fail to live according to the manager of the 546 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:27,280 house, then I might as well just be rejecting that he has any say 547 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,920 any ownership or ever shed any blood. 548 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:38,720 Someone say Amen. And if that's the case, Bishop, 549 00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:41,400 if that's the case, you know what that means for me is 550 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:43,120 humanity. If that's the case, if that's 551 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,880 the way I want to live, then then that would mean that I 552 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:50,960 would still be in my sins. I would still be in my sins. 553 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,320 And I don't think there's a single one of us that want to 554 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,680 continue living in sin according to the word. 555 00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:59,640 We know the wages of sin. According to Romans, it is 556 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:02,640 death. I don't think any of us want to 557 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:04,960 live in that. So I want to acknowledge and 558 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:09,560 live in the reality that yes, he shed blood and yes, it was my 559 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:13,000 purchase price and yes, he purchased me and yes, I don't 560 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:17,800 belong to myself. But with these sharp lines of 561 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:22,880 distinction, God has also brought then an understanding of 562 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:28,160 what's good, what's evil, what's true, what's false, what's 563 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:32,800 right, what's wrong, distinctive lines, what's holy, what's 564 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:36,200 unholy, what's of the spirit, what's of the flesh. 565 00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:39,400 You see this in God's word, God's word. 566 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:46,840 I mean it, it is quite, quite exclusive as far as in how it's 567 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:52,120 not like again, choices, you understand me, a few weeks ago I 568 00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,800 talked about, you know, there's no middle of the road. 569 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:58,120 There's only two ways. It's not like we're given 570 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:04,680 multiple choice, Amen. Lines have been drawn, the lines 571 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:06,680 of identity. So what do we get? 572 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,760 Then we go back to Eden. I won't hold you much longer, 573 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,640 but we go back to Eden and we find that it's important to God 574 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:18,240 that everything that he created that he clearly identified what 575 00:39:18,240 --> 00:39:25,200 it was he did. We see him stating things. 576 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:30,680 He even has Adam stating things. Certain parts of creation, 577 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:41,280 stars, moon, light, darkness, firmament, waters, male, female 578 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:51,360 gives distinct categorical items, Animal Kingdom separate 579 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:54,880 into what the Bible calls kinds, right? 580 00:39:55,240 --> 00:40:00,160 Each kind has its own distinctive traits and each 581 00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:07,640 reproduce according to its own. Each reproduce according to its 582 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:11,600 own kind. Not one could arbitrarily move 583 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:20,000 to another kind and reproduce. If an animal was born a monkey, 584 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:29,800 it would always be a monkey, can never be a lion, and each bears 585 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:35,360 all the distinctive marks of what it makes to mean and 586 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:42,760 identify a monkey. We do OK, so for the monkeys, 587 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,320 for so for so for so the monkeys. 588 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:51,960 It's wise for them to accept the reality that they're a monkey 589 00:40:54,120 --> 00:41:01,840 and commit to acting like 1 But Eden also teaches us that in the 590 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:05,080 beginning, God made everything exactly like he intended. 591 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:10,080 He created them, man and female, in his own image of the image of 592 00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:12,960 God created him, male and female created he them. 593 00:41:13,720 --> 00:41:19,120 It's a clear illustration of the principle of identity or the 594 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:25,440 principle of distinction. Some members of humanity are 595 00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:29,640 identified as being male. Some members of humanity are 596 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:34,400 identified as being female. Listen, I know that's not 597 00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:36,760 popular today because we have a list. 598 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:39,120 I don't remember the last time I checked, there was like 42 599 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:42,880 different classifications of who you are or what you are. 600 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,520 But let me be like the Lord talking about divorce for a 601 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:49,320 moment. From the beginning it was not so 602 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:59,840 it was male. God help me to be good boy 603 00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:03,800 tonight, folks. I'm, I'm, I'm just a little bit, 604 00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:07,440 I'm a little bit biblically frustrated because how in the 605 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,680 world you expect people to get God right when they can't get 606 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:13,680 themselves right concerning who they are. 607 00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:17,640 And part of the problem of not knowing who they are is because 608 00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:21,080 they don't know who he is. And the world is pumped into the 609 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:25,160 system, all of these multiple choices of what God could be or 610 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,160 God should be or what you would want God to be. 611 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:31,960 And as a result of that, we got a identity crisis on our hand, 612 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,240 not just about our God, but about ourselves. 613 00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:39,280 You can't see who you are, who you were made in the image of if 614 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,920 you got him incorrect. It just messes everything up. 615 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:57,240 So I'm not baffled. I'm not baffled. 616 00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:00,080 Let me tell you this. This is what happens when you 617 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,600 don't just push the envelope. You tear the envelope up. 618 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:11,140 Everything's chaos. I know there ain't going to be 619 00:43:11,140 --> 00:43:13,340 no popularity votes on this one. That's OK. 620 00:43:21,310 --> 00:43:27,750 There's distinctions. Does that spill over in our 621 00:43:27,750 --> 00:43:29,520 holiness? Yes. 622 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:31,960 We'll look at it probably eventually in the next century. 623 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:43,640 There's distinctions. I am not trying to be frank 624 00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:48,200 here, but before the fall, before there was shame because 625 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:53,040 of the neckedness of man and woman and no fig leaves and no 626 00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:57,120 clothes was required. There was automatic distinction 627 00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:03,080 by there was automatic distinction by the image of the 628 00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:08,920 body, who was male and who was female. 629 00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:15,800 Oh, God, let me know. No bunnies, Lord, no bunnies, no 630 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:18,440 chase, no rabbits. We're just staying right here on 631 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:22,840 the trail. But it's identity, it's 632 00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:28,080 distinctions. And so we got to recognize that. 633 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:32,200 Mm hmm. Affirm the distinctions of God, 634 00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:34,640 affirm the distinctions of ourselves, affirm the 635 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,720 distinctions to put between a man, affirm the distinctions of 636 00:44:37,720 --> 00:44:43,240 a woman, and then live according to our nature. 637 00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:52,360 Men distinctly men, women distinctly women. 638 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:58,920 Am I doing OK? I don't know, folks. 639 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:00,280 Something just kind of clicked in there. 640 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:06,520 This is a little while ago. Listen, I'll make the 641 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:08,400 disclaimer. Here at the First Apostolic 642 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:16,520 Church, we love you as you are. You can come here, smoke to 643 00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:21,000 cuss, shoot up heroin, lesbian, homosexual, cum. 644 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:32,320 OK, but I will teach still what the word says about these 645 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:41,190 various items. But you're welcome 100% in that. 646 00:45:41,230 --> 00:45:43,870 And just for a little mind shift here folk. 647 00:45:43,870 --> 00:45:46,070 And God, I hope you're here with me. 648 00:45:46,070 --> 00:45:52,990 Here you are. If you take two people with the 649 00:45:52,990 --> 00:45:55,310 same sex, they enter a relationship with one another. 650 00:45:55,830 --> 00:46:01,280 In today's world, often one of them, whatever part they are 651 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:06,360 supposed to be playing, is going to take on the attributes or 652 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:12,840 remove other parts of a certain genders attribute in order to 653 00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,480 play the role. Now if there are no 654 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:19,120 distinctions, why do you do that? 655 00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:28,400 If it don't matter, then why do people cut their hair? 656 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:38,120 Or why do people and not anatomically or dress certain 657 00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:44,240 ways to fit a gender? If it don't matter? 658 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:57,720 If distinctions don't matter. To live according to our nature. 659 00:46:57,720 --> 00:47:05,610 Stay with me. So before sin never entered the 660 00:47:05,610 --> 00:47:07,570 picture back. And even God was trying to show 661 00:47:07,570 --> 00:47:12,050 a picture of life, of identity, of holiness. 662 00:47:15,210 --> 00:47:17,330 And even after the fall he had to go. 663 00:47:17,330 --> 00:47:20,170 I want to, I want to take them back with there to be a 664 00:47:20,170 --> 00:47:22,010 regeneration, with there to be a reset. 665 00:47:22,010 --> 00:47:26,680 I want to restore what was lost. So as we opened in the pages of 666 00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:29,880 Scripture, Brother Fred again, it's not that just we're just 667 00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:32,960 reading Thou shalt not, thou shalt not thou shalt type of 668 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:35,040 thing. No, we're looking into the 669 00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:41,000 mirror of what he intended it to be as and who we were meant to 670 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,760 be as. Question we need to walk away 671 00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:46,800 with tonight. Is this right? 672 00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:49,000 To get real honest with ourselves, the question we need 673 00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:53,960 to walk away with is this have allowed the world to redefine 674 00:47:53,960 --> 00:48:07,230 what God has already defined. Because man, the pressure is 675 00:48:07,230 --> 00:48:13,390 heavy, isn't it? To have unlikeness compared to 676 00:48:13,390 --> 00:48:15,670 everybody else that looks like cookie cutters? 677 00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:26,640 Have we blurred the lines of what God drew in the beginning? 678 00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:34,520 So we live in brother Trout according to culture or 679 00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:43,420 according to creation. So what we do about that as a 680 00:48:43,420 --> 00:48:47,460 church, what we do about that as Christians, we go to the Lord as 681 00:48:47,460 --> 00:48:51,980 often as we need to and we're like, God help me help help 682 00:48:51,980 --> 00:48:54,820 realign, help realign my identity. 683 00:48:55,980 --> 00:48:59,980 God, I, I, I recommit, yes, kind of went off left field today, 684 00:48:59,980 --> 00:49:05,720 but kind of recommit today will respond in obedience because my 685 00:49:05,720 --> 00:49:09,200 life really don't belong to me. God, God, what's your wishes 686 00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:12,200 today? How do you want Paul McGee to 687 00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:13,840 act today? How do you want Paul McGee to 688 00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:15,920 talk to today? Where do you want Paul McGee to 689 00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:18,880 go today? How do you want me to 690 00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:24,080 intermingle with other humans today days? 691 00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:26,320 I get it wrong. I go back. 692 00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:28,680 Lord, let me realign with identity. 693 00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:33,520 Let's go back to the beginning, back to the beginning. 694 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:39,760 I'm not done with the identity, but there's probably going to be 695 00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:43,080 a pause, OK? Next week we're going to wash 696 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:48,240 and body and blood and so on and so forth leading into our 697 00:49:48,240 --> 00:49:51,560 Resurrection Sunday service. I wonder if we could pray 698 00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:54,840 together tonight, if you could just join your voice with my 699 00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:59,840 voice right now, and that we would ask God to allow us to 700 00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:02,800 have an awareness in these respects and that we would be 701 00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:05,240 easily led by His Spirit in these respects. 702 00:50:05,240 --> 00:50:08,680 Father, I come to you tonight, God. 703 00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:12,760 I'm thankful, Lord, this evening that God, you are who you are 704 00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:15,680 and help us start to recognize and realize who you are. 705 00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:21,000 God in the totality of it being the God that was manifest in the 706 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:24,960 flesh, being the God who was Spirit, who came down and robed 707 00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:28,840 himself, came a part of humanity for the saving of the soul. 708 00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:31,480 God, There's distinctions about you, Lord. 709 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,880 There's there's distinguishments, Lord, about 710 00:50:33,880 --> 00:50:35,800 you, Lord, that's been from the very beginning. 711 00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:39,600 And you've also created some, Lord, for us as humanity, God, 712 00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:42,760 male and female and otherwise, Lord, even within your Kingdom, 713 00:50:43,080 --> 00:50:44,720 Lord. And that's for the purpose of 714 00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:47,080 identity, God. There is no confusion. 715 00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:50,120 There is no chaos. I pray, O Lord, today, God, 716 00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:53,920 bring that type of harmony, God back, Lord, into the life, Lord 717 00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:55,840 of the church. Bring that type of harmony, 718 00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:57,960 Lord. I pray, God, for our world, 719 00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:00,560 Lord, though it may never get there, I pray, Lord, it doesn't 720 00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:03,480 keep us from praying the prayer. It don't keep us, Lord, from 721 00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:06,920 speaking it, Lord Jesus, over our generation and our community 722 00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:09,720 and our homes and our families. I pray, O Lord, bring an 723 00:51:09,720 --> 00:51:12,640 awareness, God, to ourselves and help us, Lord, to walk. 724 00:51:12,960 --> 00:51:15,640 God, will you want us to walk, Lord, to live as you would have 725 00:51:15,640 --> 00:51:17,800 us to live. Lord, help me to realize the 726 00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:19,400 blood that's been applied to my life. 727 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:21,720 That's not my blood. That's the blood of another. 728 00:51:21,720 --> 00:51:23,640 That's the blood of the purchaser, the Lord, the 729 00:51:23,640 --> 00:51:27,360 Redeemer, the Savior, the Maker, the Creator, he who is alone all 730 00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:30,000 by himself. That one has done it for me. 731 00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:33,120 Help me, Jesus, to acknowledge that in the lovely name of the 732 00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:35,560 Lord Jesus Christ and will not fail to thank you. 733 00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:39,440 In the name of Jesus, we pray Hallelujah and Amen of the 734 00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:43,840 church say Amen, Hallelujah. A reminder sign up sheet for 735 00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:46,360 cleaning on Saturday is out there. 736 00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:49,320 They'll start around 9:00 on Saturday. 737 00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:52,600 Also there is for cleaning crew for any time of the year to 738 00:51:52,600 --> 00:51:53,840 become a part of that that's out there. 739 00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:56,120 So you have any questions concerning those things? 740 00:51:56,120 --> 00:52:00,640 You can see Brother Reese, third the week of the campaign coming 741 00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:03,160 up this Sunday, folks, third week of the campaign. 742 00:52:03,480 --> 00:52:05,440 Amen. Invite someone, get the people 743 00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:07,440 that are on your team here, Amen. 744 00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:09,800 And God bless you in Jesus name. Have a great rest.