Faith Lesson 12 week 2

All right. We've got two. We are in less than 12. Right. Well, what a responsive audience you are. It's the easiest question of the day. And we did we get all the way through. Question six. What I wanted you to compare Colossians two, six and seven with Romans six, three through five. I can always tell the people that have been here every week they don't have to get up and go get a sheet.

By the way, I sent out 13 and I kept messing around with your email address and I think I finally got it right. It didn't kick it back, so either you or somebody else got it. So if you didn't get lesson 13 and you're on the group that's supposed to get it, let me know. 13, which Courtney's going to teach whenever I get done next year.

So Colossians 2, 6 and 7, therefore you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. having been firmly rooted, now built up in him, and established in your faith just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. That's the New American Standard translation.

Romans 6.3-5 is, O do you not know, or do you not know, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through the baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection."

So take those two passages and compare them. It's based on what we've been talking about in terms of what the essence of faith is. In Colossians 2, 6 and 7 when it says firmly rooted, what does Romans 6, 3 tell us about how we got firmly rooted? That's really where the comparison is.

Don't overdo your brains now, come on. Baptized into Christ's death. So if you put it in your mind in terms of planting or rooting, what the Holy Spirit did is he took you through the cross out of Adam and he planted you, he rooted you in Christ. Just like when you graft a tree, when you graft a tree, and the graft takes whatever it's grafted to, that's what it starts to produce. See that? So who does that work? God does it all. The Spirit of God does all of that. So when you see Colossians 2, 6 and 7 and you talk about rooting, really what the rooting is, is the work of the Holy Spirit to place you without you ever being able to come out of or baptizing you into Christ.

So therefore we're buried with him by baptism into death and death means separation so that death is separation from sin and the old man? It's sin. The old man, the world, and the dominating influence of our boy Beelzebub, Satan. So it's like with the Lord Jesus, you remember when he said that if a grain of wheat fall on the ground and it dies, it bears much fruit, but if it doesn't die, it's not going to bear any fruit? It's the same principle. Do you see it?

You're baptized into Christ for what purpose? So that all that's not of Him would be put out of business. That you'd be separated from it, rooted in Him, so that the Spirit of God can begin to establish you or build you up in Christ. It all happens at the cross in your identity with the work of the Holy Spirit in putting you into Christ. That's how those two verses fit together. Do you see that? identification and rooting, grounding, establishing are all passive voice, something that the Spirit of God does. Okay? You alright with that or not? Or do you understand it?

I don't think there's any more critical information for a believer to get their arms around than Romans 6 truth. Because if you don't know you've been placed into Christ, You don't know you've been rooted into him. What are you left with in terms of living your Christian life? What are your efforts? Where are they going to be focused? I'm trying to fix up the guy that was crucified. Make him look and act like a Christian. And you can only do that by law. That was the comparison that I wanted to show. God has a purpose in our walk. What is our involvement in carrying out God's purpose for us?

And I gave you 2 Corinthians 3.18. So what purpose does God have for us to walk? As you have begun in the Lord Jesus, so walk in him. What's the purpose? Be conformed to Christ's image. So how does he do that? How exactly? is that conformity accomplished.

Somebody read 2 Corinthians 3.18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Okay, so there is a purpose. that God has that we would walk in terms of being edified and being built up in the Lord Jesus. So how does he do it?

He does it by your doing what according to 2 Corinthians 3.18? Beholding. Beholding as in a mirror. So tell me about this beholding thing. How do you do that? Well, first of all, let me ask you this. This is a better question. What's the mirror?

It's the Word of God, right? So did it ever enter our pea brains that the Word of God is the vehicle through which you can behold Christ? And behold means what? See Him. Understand Him. What's that? To see Him. See Him? Is it more than that? And see what? What's expected of us? When's the last time you went to a play that you really liked? Or you went to a movie that you really liked?

You just get involved with it. Physically and mentally. I've told this story a bunch of times. When I was a little boy, I had an older brother, myself, and a younger brother, and then my sister, and then another brother, and then two more sisters. But on Sundays afternoons sometimes, my parents would ship us all off to the movies. We'd go watch Roy Roger movies. My brother, Pat, was one of those guys that he really got into the movie. So we'd be sitting there watching the movie, and the guy in the black hat would be sneaking up on the guy in the white hat, and he'd yell out in the theater, Look out! Was he beholding? Yeah, he was. That's what beholding means.

You're into it so much that you have put yourself in it. So does the Word of God have the capacity to grasp your understanding and your focus and your heart to the point that you're there? to the exclusion of all other distractions. Yes, the Spirit of God makes Christ that attractive and he does it through your just simply spending time in his word with the idea that I'm beholding him. That's what I'm here to do. I'm not here to memorize a bunch of verses or become a scholar. or a theologian, so that when Mike asks questions on Sunday I don't look dumb.

You're there to behold him. That beholding process, what kind of an effect does it have on you? According to the verse. What kind of an effect? It has a change. Now let's talk about that change. Notice the verse says we are transformed from what to what?

Glory to glory. Oh, what does glory to glory mean? You mean you were really full of glory in Adam and were just making Adam look cooler all the time? Alright, what's the word glory mean? If I said God's glory, what am I talking about with God? Talking about the sum total of his intrinsic attributes, who he is.

I'm also talking about exactly the same thing in Hebrews 11.1 where it says that faith is a substance of things, hope for, and the evidence of things not seen. What are those things? They're the glory of God. They're the things of God. and you get to see them only by faith.

2 Corinthians 3.18 says, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, you get to see those things, which are really not things, they are personal characteristics of a person who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is an effect that it has on you. It is just like this kind of an effect. If you are rooted, built up and established How do you respond to that? You respond with abounding thanksgiving. As you behold the Lord Jesus, there is a process that the Spirit of God takes you through. He begins to conform you to the image of Christ, from one state of glory to the next, to the next, to the next. You are beginning to manifest the absolute characteristics, or the fruit of the Spirit, of who God is. And that's what the Christian life really is, isn't it?

It isn't you trying to act like a Christian. It's the Spirit of God manifesting the life of the Lord Jesus through you. But you're not sitting in the bleachers. You're down on the floor playing the game. There's no audience in Christianity. We're all in the race. All of us. This conformity race. What's really cool about that, as you start to put these verses together, the intensity and the energy which God expends to make you like Christ. And how are you supposed to respond to that? You're supposed to let Him do it by believing Him and trusting Him. And when He tells you something, you assent to this, you agree to it. You alright with that?

I don't know where this quote came from, but I think it's out of The Hungry Heart someplace. There's nothing in the world so precious to our Father as a heart that appreciates His Son. And that's where this thanksgiving comes in, from a heart that is filled with gratitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ. As you begin to behold him and know him, the only response you can have is gratitude, because he has done everything. He says that when you pray, he's done more than you ever even can think or ask.

And we all thought we were so smart. Smarter than those guys in the Supreme Court, right? you don't understand this. That's right, you don't. Because what is there for you to do? Seriously, what is there, other than believe Him, what is there for you to do in terms of your being conformed to the image of Christ? Well, He even draws you into the Word. He even makes the Word valuable to you. Sometimes he does that.

He's always wooing us. He wooed us to Christ to save us. He didn't march us up with a bunch of soldiers around us. He wooed us. It's the same thing with spiritual growth. He woos us to Christ. But if you don't pick up the invitation, where you don't function by faith, which is a non-meritorious act, then the Holy Spirit comes along and gives circumstances to you that you're almost forced to go to. I love the commercial with the guy saying, I got this, and I got this, and I got this, and he says, I got this.

You don't got this. Do all human beings operate by faith? Yes. Alright, tell me how. We've spent months talking about how Christians operate by faith. How do non-believers operate by faith? You get in your car and you hit the road with all that heavy traffic rushing. You have faith in yourself. Faith in yourself, and what else? Organizations. Organizations. Governments. You could say the wisdom of men. Or money. Money. You just assume that because we have elected officials in Washington that they are reliable. Maybe we used to.

Here's the difference. If you have your faith in yourself, or in government, or in your bank account, or your Volkswagen, or your looks, or your personality, contrast that with the focus of your faith being on the Lord Jesus Christ. What word would you use to describe the contrast in those two? I think it fades, don't you think? Faith? No, it fades. It fades. Faith in yourself and all these things, it fades. It isn't forever. No vanity. Vanity is good. The word that I came up with, go ahead. Certainty and uncertainty. See, that's the word I came up with too. Certainty and uncertainty.

The interesting thing about our faith and anything other than biblical faith is that we've placed our faith in something that's not certain. We're betting on the come. We're putting our faith and rest in something that's not on solid ground. When our faith is in Christ, it's absolutely certain every time. So the object of faith is really the critical thing, isn't it? And what you'll find in the world is that people will say, well, you know, I have faith that the moon's going to turn to cheese, you know, or whatever.

The point is, is that where do you get your facts? I mean, you know, I have people call me up and say, well, so-and-so and so-and-so, and I heard and I said, well, where did you hear that? Well, so-and-so said, and I said, well, how do you know that they're right? Well, they, I said, well, so your faith is in what they're telling you. And you go talk to them and they say, well I heard and I said, well where did you get your information? And how do you know it's true? You know? And it goes like that. Well, so and so said it, you know.

Or the example that happened today, the Supreme Court said that we have to honor gay marriage in all 52 states. Is that the final word on the subject? Is it or isn't it? No, it's not. And you know, today I heard that they said, oh, we finally can be so happy because we are well worthy of this, that they've missed it, so therefore they were only half a being. They're worthy of what's coming. Yeah, I know. They are. So if you put your faith in a bunch of guys in black robes to make decisions for you that are certain, I don't think so. I don't think so.

And I have noticed over the last six or seven years, and even before that, how much we Americans have always thought that we really had the government to be idolized. Boy, since the beginning of time, we're it. We're the greatest country on the earth, and that's where our faith was. And as the bricks around the foundation begin to crumble, so does your faith. And you think God allows that to happen? Absolutely He does.

Why? Because that isn't for us as believers where your focus is to be. When you start focusing on and have your faith in the gift rather than the giver, you're in big trouble. Because once the gift gets in front of the giver, then you've got the cart before the horse. See that? And so God in His grace has always blessing us. But sometimes our faith is in the blessing and not the blessor.

Yeah, please. I was listening to Fox News. Oh, they're a good reliable source. No, what I was going to say though is they had a guy on who's a Wilbert, he's a conservative Republican, and I've always thought, boy, you ride on and ride on for years listening to him. And then a couple nights ago he was on, and he's also gay.

He said he's a Christian, and he said the problem is we need more grace. Those were his words. That's sort of, that's not a definition of grace. How do you get more? Oh yeah, yeah. I mean that was his saying, because I'm a Christian. I'm gay and the problem is you guys don't have enough grace for us. It's interesting as we've been talking about being identified with Christ's death, burial and resurrection. Do you get resurrected gay? No way. Wow. Why not? Because. Why not? Because your resurrected life, whose life is it?

It's him. It's him. It's what he is. It's not what you were in Adam. It has nothing to do with... To understand the complete separation from Adam is really a tough go. Because we think we've got talents. And we're good looking like Courtney. And so it's really hard. It's really hard. But the resurrected life of Christ, all of the worldly distinctions go away. Corinthians, the verse is, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. And in Christ Jesus, there is neither what? No female. Well, that took care of the gay deal. Slave or free, bond or free, that took care of the discrimination thing. Barbarian, that took care of all the dummies. Scythian, that took care of all those guys coming across the border illegally.

There's absolutely no difference in Christ. We're all one in Him. Yet we spend all of our time studying the differences of an atom. That's not beholding the Lord Jesus in His Word. That's not it. You know, they said, talk about grace. You know, at the funeral, at the Baptist place, our leader, he gave the eulogy. all of a sudden because of this priest or minister that had also been shot and he's giving grace to everybody and hallelujah and amazing grace he's singing and I'm thinking well the things he does is really not faith how can you say oh yeah this one died and because of because of grace and all this it just didn't make sense what he was saying I don't think he knows what grace means you think He didn't notice, or he didn't notice, because I was listening, he didn't mention Jesus Christ once. Not one time.

Here's the other thing that's amazing to me. Did you guys listen to or replay of the bond hearing for the kid that did the shooting in the church? And the judge rarely does this ever happen, but he let people from the families testify at the bail hearing.

Five members, one member of each family came up there and they all said basically the same thing. You took my daughter from me and I'll never be able to hug her again and the pain that you caused me is almost indescribable but I forgive you. And the next lady gets up and she said, every part of me hurts. I'm just devastated, but I forgive you."

All five of them did that. And they mentioned Christ, too, I think. Everyone. So it wasn't like, we just forgive you because we're nice people. No, no. Because every one of them just heard, oh, you could hear it in them. I forgive you. One, you don't see much of that talked about, but not one of the people in the talking heads on TV understood what that forgiveness was about. They don't get it. Why not? Because a natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. He can't know them. They're foolishness. They think that forgiveness is foolishness. But God can be working on them. Well, I'm sure that there was a... people affected by that, you know? I mean, it has to be real, because they all mentioned the pain they were going through, but then they looked at this guy and they forgave him. You know?

That's, that's, you know, nobody in the world system can do that. You just can't do it. It isn't part of your DNA. That's that whole cool thing about wrong church, wrong people, because we are of Christ and we forgive you. So your whole big plan to get a great war just isn't going to work. How doctrinally sound is the AM and whatever that church is?

I don't know. But the five people that stood up there were believers and they loved the Lord and they forgave him because they knew that Christ died for them and him and the people that And that's why God picked those people. Sure. Amazing. Yeah. Isn't that what's going on in the persecuted church? We hear about all these testimonies of people that are like Saeed Abedini, or you've met with people like that, that are just, forget only. Get ready, it's coming to a neighborhood near you. You know, the liberal side just chastised that judge and said how cruel that he would put these people through it, which I think God wanted them there front and center to say. Well, it shows you.

It absolutely verifies the premise that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. He can't know them. They're foolishness. So when somebody, if they're from Adam, it doesn't matter if they're liberal or conservative or somewhere in the middle, they do not understand. So therefore, they have an emotional response some way or another, but they don't get it because it's a spiritual activity. That kind of forgiveness you don't do without a good old Adam. You just don't do it.

That was the one thing I heard Obama say that I was like, he seems like he, maybe not he's getting it, but he just repeated something else, but it's like God works in mysterious ways. And this is the way, you know, that God's working. And you know what's interesting about us? I don't think it's a mystery to us. Yeah. We know how God works. We know exactly what he does. We know how he does his thing and we know where he's going with it. It's not a mystery to me.

Is it to you? When you have a difficulty in your life, is it a mystery? No. I mean, how many times in the Word of God are you told that God child trains all those who He loves? The writer of Hebrews even said, boy, if you're not being child trained, you better check your ID. That He works all things together for good. and you know how I used to say there's no such thing as a tragedy in a Christian's life. He's right about that.

It's not a mystery to us. Those people in the AME church sounded like it wasn't a mystery to those five either. Okay, so can we walk by the principle of faith which is non-biblical? You're going to say yes, but I'm going to make you explain. What does it look like? What does it look like when a person walks by, we were talking Christians here now, when we walk by non-biblical faith, what's it look like? It can look like anything. It can look all nice and pretty and right. At first. At first, well, who knows, yeah.

As we said, Courtney said that uncertainty is the basic principle of non-biblical faith. So if we walk as Christians by non-biblical faith, we're walking in unreality. It's unreality that defines the things of a man. We are uncertain. We're totally uncertain.

How many times have people tried to define faith? Is that if I believe it hard enough, it's going to happen? You all came to Christ with that kind of idea of what faith is, and then you discovered, no, faith isn't my believing something hard enough and then it will be reality. My faith is believing in something that already is a reality, which is totally certain. But if I'm walking as a Christian with non-biblical faith, then I put my rest and trust in something that isn't certain. Right? Now, we've talked about the fact that why did God give us a will? To be able to agree with them or not. To believe them or not.

Okay, so here I am as a Christian, here comes a set of circumstances and it's in front of me and I get to exercise my picker. I get to choose. So I choose to walk by non-biblical faith. I made the choice and I'm walking by and have my trust in something that's not certain.

How's that going to work out for me? Well, you get bumped on the head because a lot of things don't work out the way you want to. So where do you think this focus or this information comes from in terms of the decision to walk by non-biblical faith in the believer? What's the source of that?

Adam. Well, it's your sin nature. We've talked a lot about how your sin nature, just because you were separated from it, it didn't die and it didn't go away and it didn't stop desiring. And so it knows the game, that if it can persuade you to focus your faith on what the solution it offers, then you're walking by an uncertain, non-biblical faith. And so you're kind of weak and your foundation isn't very solid.

So the conclusion has to be is that we as believers, Christians, just like non-believers, we live our entire life based on the principle of faith, don't we? Or not? Can you think of anything you've done with your will that didn't involve believing something? Yeah, okay, so we should say yes. No, you can say no. But you're going to have to back it up.

Can you think of something? Something that you were, maybe you were forced into slavery. Maybe you had to pay your taxes. So we live our entire life based on the principle of faith. Like when you all went to bed last night, you all believed that you were going to get up this morning, right? Yeah. Some of you were hoping not. Some of you, by faith, know that your heart's going to keep on beating. Maybe. I don't think you think about it unless you're sick. Well, when you go to a restaurant and you buy a meal, your faith says that it's probably not poisonous. I never think of it. You don't think of it, but you're operating by faith. Oh, OK. OK. Yeah. So I went and bought this thing this morning. I'm hopeful it's not contaminated. Your slits. So I'm I'm almost to the end.

So what does scripture call non-biblical faith? What does scripture call it? Sin? Whatever is not of faith is sin. Okay. That's not my answer, but that's a good one. Foolishness. Okay. Doesn't scripture call it unbelief? Whatever is not a faith is sin. Whatever is unbelief is sin. Why would that be so? Why would Paul make a statement like that where he says, for you Christians, you understand that whatever is not a faith is sin, right? Why would he make a statement like that?

Is he accurate? Well, sin is missing the mark, right? So you're missing the mark. Okay, you're missing the mark. Okay, but if you have to stop at the green light and you stop, you're doing the right thing. Stop at the green light? I don't stop at green light. I mean, yeah, the red light. How silly was I? I'm not going to follow her.

No, but you do follow rules, you know. Yeah, you follow the rules that God put in place for society. And the world is under a legal system, is it not? So, you know, when you're on your way home this afternoon and you're speeding and a cop stops you, you can say, well, I live under grace by faith, so you can't give me a ticket. He's going to say, right. What's your last name?

Sure, but God put those principles and rules in place to keep a society organized. But we're not talking about a society here, we're talking about the body of Christ that functions only by faith. And anything that's not a faith is a sin, it's unbelief. But not unbelief in the sense that I'm not operating by faith, because I'm always operating by faith. What I decided not to do is to take God at His word.

So do you ever find yourself in a circumstance that comes along and you say, I wonder what the Lord would have me do here? Or I wonder what the biblical principle that applies to my dilemma is? So I don't really know what to do. You ever been in that circumstance? What do you do about it? You call it burn, right? What do you do about it?

That's right. You go into the Word and you search around. And sometimes I think the Spirit of God will put you in that circumstance just to get you in there. I think you're right. But with that look on your face, I thought you were going to drill me. That's where my faith went. So He will create circumstances where, you know, Like Miles Stanford used to say, you have to trust the Lord has come to that. And oh, by the way, it has to come to that.

You know, I think this when I was reading the verse last week in the main service, it hit me about the synagogue official and with his daughter who died. Oh yeah. And you know, the Lord comes and says, stop weeping for her. She has not died but is asleep. Yeah. And their reaction was, and they began laughing at him. Yeah. Yeah.

And I thought, man, throw stones at those people. Well, it really hit me, how much do we do that? All the time. All the time. I mean, we think they're just crazy. Here's the Lord, and He says nothing. We would just absolutely say, yes, we understand that, and we would be so positive. We're not.

And, you know, all the things, as I've been going through lots of the verses in faith, and the truths of God, even, you know, the 33 things that Lewis Barry Chafer put together, we've talked about this. If you just really understand those things, That's got to change you, but do we just laugh at him when he says, you know, it was the same thing last Sunday, when he says you can have the intimacy and call me daddy? Do you believe that? Do you truly, or do we laugh at him because of that?

Well, we don't do it out loud because we're afraid. Yeah. Not believe. And I just kept thinking, we laugh at him because, oh what do you mean that you're going to get me through this trial? Right. What do you mean you love me with an eternal love when I'm in the midst of the garbage disposal? And I kept thinking about that, that we do that. We laugh at him. All the time. Is our faith in ourselves or in him and what he says? Right. And repeatedly we choose ourselves many times and I think he just brings us back to the point. Okay. Yeah.

We'll let you do that and how good. How's that working out for you? How's that working out? You want to come back here? Yeah. What does that mean? You're supposed to be somebody special? What? Say that again. What does that mean though? Are you supposed to be special? You think you are special? Well, I hope I am in God's eyes. You hope you are or you're absolutely certain? I'm absolutely sure. You better be.

What do you mean special? I don't understand. Is that the first or second bound verse? I don't think, it's just that in faith, and that's what this whole class is, and I've been looking, I've just been compiling a bunch of things that I hope the last lesson will be able to do about Do you understand and believe this? And it's the biblical faith, the essence of these are the things of God, these are truth, these are reality, the certainty and the uncertainty, that's why. The certainty is in biblical faith. The uncertainty is in ourselves.

And so many times do we do just what they did. was we laugh at him. You can't mean that that's true, that you love me with an eternal love that can't be separated and you've got me in this trial. We laugh at him. What do you mean you love me? You wouldn't put me in this truck. Yeah, if you love me, I'd have passed the test.

Yeah, yeah. Or you... Sure. That's right. That's exactly right. If you love me, I wouldn't be doing an IRS audit, right? And what do we choose? And we laugh. I mean, that just came. We laugh at him. And we look at these people. What do you mean you laugh at him? He's right there. And he said, she's not asleep. She's not dead. She's asleep.

We do the same thing. We sure do. And it's all based on our faith. Yeah, and even if you know better, you still do it. You waver. Yeah, but it's based on faith. Biblical faith. The certainty, the realities, all the things we've been talking about. Do we believe that? Do we trust in that? Let me read something from A Hungry Heart from a couple of days ago. Can we just real quick go back to Mohamed's question then?

Like what do you mean about being special? See how much authority I have here? I don't know. Go ahead. Go. Oh, I was just wondering about Monique's question, what she meant about being special. Well, if you have faith, would you still waver with your faith? Sure. Sure you would. Sure. In biblical faith, though, I think that's... I mean, you disagree in that. Yes, you... I don't know if you do waver. If you trust in what he says... Oh, well, that's the issue.

Then there is no wavering. Yeah, no, I agree with that. Yeah, that there is no wavering. If you have trust in what he says, there is no wavering. Why can't you say, if you're not quite sure, God's will be done? Sure. And not to his will, because in some circumstances you just don't know. And your faith and my faith, biblical faith, is based in a person.

And we trust what he's telling us, but that's why 2 Corinthians 3.18 is so important to us as a believer. When God comes along in a circumstance that doesn't make any sense, we still know Christ intimately. And we know enough about him to know that he's been totally faithful to us up until this point.

So I don't have all the understanding of what's going on now, but I trust you. And no matter what happens, you still trust him. That's right. And that's it. I'm not saying that, you know, I don't understand a lot of things that are going on, but I trust that he's in control. And that's why, like in the Colossians, in him all things hold together. And that he loves me, the Romans 8, that I can't be separated from him. So if he's in control of all things, and he loves me with a love that can't be separated, I can go through things just because I trust him. I don't know why he's doing it. I have no clue what he's doing a lot of times. But just in those two things, I have rest and peace that he's also promised me.

Isn't Abraham with the knife? Isn't he an example of what you're talking about? Because he learned throughout his life and then it came to the point where he didn't waver. In Hebrew's words, his righteousness is... I like that example because he's a very visual, step-by-step example of how he got there.

That's the thing, we have so many things that happen to us and I think if you just start recognizing that it does give you the peace and rest. I don't understand why he's doing it. But I trust he's in control and he loves me. And then all these other scriptures, and that's why I've been compiling a bunch of these things. Just that if you have biblical faith, there are things that just, peace and rest and all these things. He's promised us those things. He's told us that. You know, I get upset when I look at what's happening in the world and then I have to go back to my Lord. and think, hey, he's in charge, he knows more than I do, and I have to rest in him.

Well, there's a lot that goes into that in terms of who you are, where you are, and what you have, and what are you doing here? What am I here for? I'm not here to fix the government, to fix the environment, to feed the poor. I'm not here to do any of that. I'm here so that Christ can manifest himself through me. That's what I'm doing here, to glorify himself. That's why I'm here.

I'm going to read a couple paragraphs. Experience may ratify or it may repudiate truth. The word alone, to faith, is truth unalterable. If I allow the thought that what I am towards God will in some way or other affect what God is towards me, I shall be filled with the specter of bondage. But when I see that what God is towards me is altogether the outcome of what He is, and that he is this, though knowing perfectly what I am, it puts my heart in the right direction for liberty. God speaks to us according to his estimate of our standing and our position. It may not be our heart's experience, There is a distinction between the operation of the Spirit of God in bringing me into the Lord Jesus, bearing witness to me of God's love and of the efficacy of what Christ has done, and his operation to my soul to produce the image of Christ. The issue is always God's word and faith there, no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what they are. It's always God's estimate of my value to him from his perspective only.