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1 Corinthians 2:6,16 -Gods Wisdom- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-02-18
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First Corinthians two six through 16. Would you please stand with me? Verse six. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, eyes not seen or ear heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of men the things God has prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed it, revealed them unto us by the spirit, for the spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but with the that which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things, he himself is judged of no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. Father, we thank you for your holy word, and we do pray for the mind of Christ today. We pray today that as we as we rest, as we settle in, Lord, that our hearts would be stirred this morning to learn all that we can learn, to come to a greater knowledge of who you are, a greater measure of your love for us. And father, pray that we'd be watching, that we'd be ready, that we'd have the secret knowledge, Lord. Not as the gnostics sought, but Lord, the mysteries that were once hid now revealed by your spirit through the teaching of your word. Lord, we thank you that our eyes are open. We thank you that we have a spiritual ability to hear from God. To see the things of the spirit. To walk by faith and not by sight. Thank you, Lord, that we're not just unbelievers sitting here trying to make sense of the bible and have no capacity to understand the bible because we're not born again. So, father, thank you for saving us. Thank you for illumining our hearts and minds. Lord, we don't want to stay in a recitative development. Lord, we wanna grow today. Help us to grow in the grace and knowledge of you. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Would you please be seated? So Paul presents a contrast of the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of God, God's wisdom. He illustrates the utter folly of ascribing value to man's wisdom when a clear understanding of God's wisdom is apprehended. So Paul will demonstrate that the world's wisdom isn't even in the same league as God's wisdom. So Paul shows us that God's wisdom is secret. God's wisdom is spiritual. And God's wisdom is superior to the wisdom of the world. God's wisdom is first of all, number one, secret wisdom. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. That word perfect means mature. We have a mature wisdom. As believers, we enjoy a fuller, a more complete wisdom that the rulers of this age are ignorant and uninformed concerning. He says, verse seven, but we speak the wisdom of God and the mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. That word mystery means a sacred secret, a truth hidden in past ages, but now revealed to God's people. And so this isn't a puzzle difficult to solve, but rather impossible unless God reveals himself unto us. And so, look at the wisdom of the world. Bill Gates and Soros, this week, we've been hearing about it, but they're funding the blocking out of the sun. Is there any more anything more ludicrous and more stupid than sending airplanes up and using various metals and such to try and silver the skies. We already see them doing it, the chemtrailing forever. And when I first started talking about chemtrailing years ago, you know, nobody believed me. And even if you pointed up the sky, they didn't believe me, you know. And, you you could see a beautiful beautiful blue sky, and within a day, they don't even give you three days, but within a couple days, they're up there already crisscrossing back and forth. And guys that fly airplanes will say, oh no, those are contrails. Those are contrails. You're not a pilot. That's not a contrail. Watch. The whole sky gets all silvery, and then that metals and all that stuff comes down to the to the soil, and we're breathing it, and there's all sorts of, you know, poisons and stuff in it. And it's not good for our health, it's not good for the earth. And but now they wanna go to even higher degree to go up a little bit higher and try and put balloons and other means of of dusting and using things to block out the sun. Who's coming up with this idiocy? You know, what what what are you talking about? Block the sun. And they're trying to say that the planet's getting too warm. We need to cool it. And they don't have any polar ice caps melting. They don't have You know, they'll buy houses at Martha's Vineyard. Obama will buy a house with a one foot above sea level. You're not gonna go buy a billion dollar house if you think the the the oceans are gonna, you know, overflow you, you know? It's total lunacy. It's lunacy. But it's a means of deceiving people and trying to gain control. And and also if your objective is to kill the human race, then yeah, block the sun. Because photosynthesis and everything we are depends upon us getting that vitamin d in the sun. The sunshine to work upon the plant life and get the plant life going and regenerating and all. And so, just mind boggling that people wouldn't be, you know, outraged about it. What about bugs? What about the crickets and all the different stuff already in your food? Not my food. I don't buy it. Now if I go to a restaurant and they slip it in, okay, I'm eating some bugs. But to my knowledge, Kathy and Brittany are very good at looking at products now and looking at everything. And a lot of times, they're they're putting the cricket protein in there with just a number. Number 17, you know? Well, what's number 17? And and Ravi and some people have apps on their phones. They come up to the products and, you know, the Apple show you, you know, what's what's in that stuff, you know? Which is a great use of technology. I mean, great. I don't I don't want it want it slipped in any way, shape, or form, you know? I'm not a bug eater. And, they're incredibly anti human. They're genocidal. They're murderers. Now, who is their father? In John eight, Jesus said, your father's the devil. He's a liar and he's a murderer from the beginning. So that's their father. That's their inspiration. That's what they're doing. That's man's wisdom. But we have God's wisdom. And his wisdom is so far superior to anything the world can come up with. I mean, they're they're they're satanic. It's the demonic world order. And so it's not a puzzle difficult to solve, but rather impossible unless revealed by God. So we liken it to, you know, a light switch going on. I was I was blind and now I see. I was in darkness and when the Lord presented himself to me, the Holy Spirit bore witness of Jesus and no work on my part. He apprehended me. He revealed himself to me. And he gave me the measure of faith. And when I leaned toward him in repentance away from my old life and raised my hands in submission to him, he came into my heart and life and the light bulb went on. And I never tried to read the bible before that day. And some of you will talk about how before you were saved, you tried to read the bible and you couldn't understand it. Well, that's because you weren't born again. As soon as you're born again, as soon as you have the spirit of God living dwell within you, the holy spirit bears witness. You have the secret knowledge. A guy could have 50 doctorates and be unregenerate. A natural man, which we're gonna see. In verse 14. And he understands not the things of God, neither can he know them. Because it's not an intellectual pursuit per se. Intellectually, yeah, you can you can work hard at in study, but you need the help of the Holy Spirit. You need to be taught by the Holy Spirit. As you as you invest, study to show yourself approved unto God. Yeah. There's some effort there. But it's it's not a fleshly effort. It's an effort in the power of the spirit and God revealing, himself, you know, unto us. In Matthew eleven twenty five, Jesus said, I thank thee, oh father, lord in heaven of earth because thou hast hid. God has hid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Children can understand who God is. Children can understand that there is a God. Take them camping, look out at the stars. It's it's intuitive knowledge. God places it in them. It's the nurturing years. But oh no, we gotta put them in public school, we gotta destroy that faith that God's placed there by telling them there is no God, they just evolved. They evolved from the monkeys, you know? And, it it's mind boggling to me, you know? Why not take advantage of those those years where they're like sponges and pour Jesus into them, you know? And so this mystery that's hidden and so mysterious hidden wisdom that Jesus spoke of. And why can't they understand? Because they're the wise and the prudent. Because they're prideful. The pride gets in their way. And that's that's that's in the way of a lot of so called theologians even to this day. I believe the pre wrath guys and the preterist and the replacement, All all of that type of theology is based upon guys who think they're smarter than us. Who are prideful, arrogant. And many of them are leaning back toward historical proofs that the Catholics recorded in Catholic church history. And, they they get they stumbled at, you know, 1830 with Darby and and all that, and and they stumble. But they don't do good referencing. They don't do good with with truly looking at church history. You got a couple several different streams of church history. Even our bible, the King James bible, versus, you got the Codec Vaticanus, Codec Sinaiticus, which came along, later. But, they date them as earlier than the Byzantine text or what we would call the Texas Receptus, the Received Text. So, from family of manuscripts, there's over 5,000 extant pieces of manuscript for the King James Bible. The family that this comes from. And so, it's the received text. There's two others, the Codex Vaticanus was a codex that was found in The Vatican in a in a trash can. And then the Codex Sinaiticus, which is from the Alexandrian text out of Egypt, Alexandria, Egypt. And these texts came along and the textual critics, Westcott and Hort, came along and they're like, hey, we gotta get rid of the these and the thous. We found two two manuscripts that predate the King James family of manuscripts. And and so sometimes when you're looking at your bible, they'll say like, you know, Mark 16 isn't in the earliest of the manuscripts. Well, they're referring to the Codex Vaticanus Sinaiticus. So these guys think they're so smart, and they changed 33,000 changes to the King James bible. And I'm all for getting rid of the these and the thous if you're stumbling there, the Elizabethan language if you can't handle it or whatever. But don't attack the trinity. Don't attack the incarnation. They made 33,000 changes, many of which, you know, ruined much of the context of the bible. Much of what was being taught. And so, so this has been going on forever. Guys thinking they're smarter than everybody. Now, this is the bible that was written in the Koine Greek, which was the common people's language that they spoke. So this was made so that people below the the, you know, the upper echelon of intellectuals, you know, that we could understand. But no, they want a control. They want a monopoly on information. So the Catholics, when they get a hold of it, they're going to have Jerome make the Latin Vulgate. So the Latin Vulgate's gonna be in a language that only those who know how to do Latin. Do you know how to speak Latin? Some of you, maybe. But you don't read the Bible in Latin, do you? You you read the Bible in your native tongue. Well, the native tongue of these people, you know, was Koine Greek. And then later, now we're wanting to present it with Erasmus to English speaking people. So now we have the sixteen eleven with Tyndale and Erasmus and others, and losing their lives because they're trying to get the word of God into the hands of the common people, and let them just read it and understand it. Well, you're born again, you can read it and understand it. But if they take it away from you and they make it something only intellectuals, you gotta go through them to get an understanding, Now that what they're doing is heretical, it's control, it's manipulation, where you see the church mixed in with the state with Constantine three thirteen, and nationalizing the church. Now you've got a lot of wicked unbelieving people in the church. And then what happens is the dark ages. Why? A lack of information. A lack of natural information. And then you have a renaissance period or a reformation that takes place with Martin Luther discovering the just shall live by faith. Right? And it's at the protestant reformation where the word of God is given out into the hands of the common people and the missionary movement to send the word of God all around the world as a result of a central theme in Romans, the just shall live by faith. Justification by grace through faith alone. Imagine that. Concealed from people. A works effort. A cath Catholic work system Where you pay them and you can do indulgences. Where you pay them and you can pray your family out of purgatory. Aberrant heretical doctrine, unbiblical doctrine, but the common people didn't have a bible to read it and to refute it. So, it took a a lawyer, a priest named Martin Luther to come to a crisis in his life as he's crawling up the steps, you know, to realize the just, those justified shall live by faith. And then, he spends his life trying to get the rest of the people through evangelism and such, get the word of God, into their native tongue and and so we've enjoyed that period of time. But then but then we protestants, who used to teach the bible from Genesis to Revelation, we succumb to Rick Warren's idiocy of, alright, it's deeds not creeds, which it should be both. It should be teach the bible and do good works. Not do good works and act like a catholic and be dumb about the word of God and not understand prophecy. That's what's led to this place. A famine and a land for the word of God. People don't know. Well, it's easily understood if you're born again. Even a child could understand. If you're not born again, you're not gonna understand no matter how many degrees you have. Because it's spiritually discerned. The natural man understands not the things of God neither can he know them. Because they're spiritually discerned. So you can be a great atheist and you'd be attacking a young little girl and trying to destroy her faith. And she says back to you, all I know is for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. And then the guy tries again, well, all I know, all I know. And you just stay there. The onus, the proof is in in their court. They have to disprove the truth of God's word. That's the whole objective of the time we're living in. Just let the truth out. The truth will do the work. Don't let them censor you. Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and cut them down. Powerful, the word of God. So the religious leaders, they didn't understand. That's why Jesus said, except you become as a child, you'll no wise enter the kingdom of God. You guys are too proud. You think you already know. Very difficult to teach people to think they already know. People come to me with with statements. Not questions, but statements. Already convinced of what they think they know. Well, you don't know. You're regurgitating something you read from somewhere or a YouTube prophet. You don't know, and you haven't done your homework. So quit wasting my time. I'll spend two, three hours with you. But you just keep coming back to the same thing. Show me one verse. Show me one verse. What's the fruit of that? What's the fruit of a of a pre wrath rapture? What's the fruit thereof? What kind of fruit's gonna come from that? Who's ever come up with that idiocy? Rosenthal in the eighties? Well, it's picking up steam now. Because the devil the devil wants people to be drawn away from the pre trib rapture, the blessed hope, Titus two thirteen. But we gotta listen to these guys who are not doing their homework, not putting the scripture together, not connecting the dots. I mean, have they ever studied the book of Revelation? Do they tie in the book of Daniel? Do they look at Zechariah? Do they do they look at the bible as a whole? They're gonna try and find one verse. And it it's picking up steam. It's just crazy. That Eric McTaxis man, he's on a rampage. And, he's trying to find as many as he can to to go along with them. They wanna save America. They're afraid in this election cycle, they're gonna lose. That's what it's all about. That's the heart of it. It's not eschatology. Which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And so, in Matthew thirteen thirty five, he says, I'll open my mouth in parables and utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. So the Lord Jesus comes along and he's gonna bring out that secret knowledge, that secret information. So in Hebrews one chapter chapter one verse one, he says, God who at sundry times and diverse manners spake in times past to our fathers through the prophets, has in these last days, you're in the last days, has in these last days spoken unto us through his son. Imagine that. Jesus is on the scene. You're gonna get more information now. You've got the God man there walking with you. He's teaching. He's a teacher. Never a man spake like this. If you just listen, Pharisees, just listen. Okay? Listen. But you guys are so dumb, you actually crucify your Messiah. What could be more dumb than that? Trying to block out the sun or something, you know? I mean, what could be more idiotic, you so called experts? And Jesus says, father forgive them for they know not what they do, these idiots. You know? It's just like, he doesn't have the disdain I have for him, but he says just how ignorant to murder God. Yeah. We're gonna murder God. Well, what did he do wrong? I find no fault in him, Pilate says. Oh, but for envy, we're gonna crucify him. We're gonna kill him. Oh, he just raised Lazarus from the dead? Let's kill him. Is there anybody that's ever caused a man born blind to see? Is there ever a man, any of you, can any of you raise Lazarus from the dead? Lazarus come forth? They not only wanna kill Jesus, but they wanna kill Lazarus because many people are coming toward Jesus now. Oh, dudes. You don't believe me who I am? Search the scriptures for in them you'll see, you know, who I am. You're gonna judge me? Judge me for my work's sake. What have I done? You know, the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the poor have the gospel preached unto them, and the dead are raised to life. Well, you've all know a Harari. You know what? You crucify yourself, you'll be buried, and you raise yourself from the dead three days and we might listen to you. But until then, it's just fool's wisdom. It's demonic, demonic wisdom. You think you're a little smarter than the average person sees big words and big ideas and demonically inspired type things, but you can't produce. You can't produce. In the end, you're just another pretender in the history. But Jesus said, destroy this temple, in three days I'll raise it up. And his enemies knew, they said guard the tomb because this deceiver said, he's gonna raise himself up. They did us a favor, didn't they? Putting a criterion of soldiers and a Roman seal upon that 2,000 pound stone. Right? They did us a favor because those disciples didn't steal a body. That's what they tried to say later as they paid the soldiers. Well, if that were true, human nature is such, that if they did steal the body, and and they knew it was a lie, they would not be bold, they would fear death, and they would not be so emboldened to refuse the religious leaders and the governmental leaders in their threats to kill them if they don't shut up. Goes against human nature. But since he did raise them from the dead, and they're eyewitnesses, they don't fear death anymore. To be asked some of the bodies to be present with the Lord. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You can't get through my head with that threaten to kill me anymore. Not gonna happen. I'll be with Jesus. So they don't have that kind of wisdom, the religious leaders and such. And at the end of the age, they're gonna try and stop Jesus from returning. Imagine that. We're gonna try and keep Jesus from returning. We're gonna gather at Armageddon and stop him from protecting Israel and taking the planet back. Oh, how the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against his anointed. God laughs. He he holds them in derision. You guys are just so crazy. You believe the devil's lies. So he's hid these things from the wise and prudent, revealed them unto babes. So these things have kept secret from the foundation of the world. But in these last days, God who at sundry time and diverse manners spake in times past through the prophets, to our fathers, through the prophets has in these last days spoken unto us through his son, whom he's appointed heir of all things and by whom he made the world. That's the guy I wanna follow. The guy that made the world. The creator of the universe. The second person of the trinity. The Godhead. Jesus is God. God who at sundry times in a diverse manner spake in times past the fathers through the prophets. Has in these last days spoken to us. Anybody listening? Jesus has something to say through his son. Who is his son? Oh, he's the one that's the heir of all things. We're joint heirs with him, gang. We're joint heirs. Everything he and heirs, you and I are joint heirs with him. Amen. By whom he made the worlds. Oh, just a little footnote there. By whom he made the worlds. Yeah. That's a guy I wanna listen to. The creator, the redeemer of the world, know. I mean, mind boggling. Anytime I'm rejected, anytime people hate me, I just I walk up to this church and I'm like, you know Lord, it's been a long time. Lot of fighting, lot of lot of earnestly contending for the faith. Trying to teach the truth and get through to people. I don't know if I'm getting through to them, Lord. And then I and then I realize, man, these false prophets in our community, they got huge churches, Lord. Huge. Everything's easy. Just tell the people what they wanna hear. And then the Lord speak to my heart. How'd they treat me, Rick? How'd they treat Paul? How are the prophets treated? How are those who tell the truth treated? And then I feel real good. Then I'm in the right place I need to be, right frame of mind. No compromise ever. Just teach the truth and let the Lord build his church. Let him figure it out. I'm not gonna coward to these people. I'm not gonna give in to them. I've been here almost thirty years. I will never ever ever give in to the idiocy. Not gonna happen. And when COVID happened, it it proved they're idiots. But they still go back there. It proved. It was the greatest it was the greatest things to ever happen in my lifetime, COVID, from the standpoint of separating the sheep from the goats. Exposing people. Can't get away with it anymore. You're either for them or you're against them. You're either gathering with them or you're scattering abroad. You're either a saint or you're an ape. You're either pregnant or you're not. There's no in betweeners. You can't wash your hands of this man. It's the time to decide if you're for him or not. If you're gonna continue to walk, if you're gonna daily deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. There's no in between. There's no love of the world living on the fence, and the love of heaven, the love of God. You gotta decide. The devil's forcing you to decide. This compromising Christian existence, this compromising church is is gonna end soon. Gonna wind up in the tribulation period is what's gonna happen. The professing church. And then he comes to a verse. Verse nine, but as it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither has it entered in the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. He's quoting Isaiah 64 verse four. So God's wisdom, his plan is incomprehensible to the unbeliever. It is secret wisdom. His senses fail him. So the sermons today are geared toward your senses. Sensory. Our sermons are geared toward spiritual. Body, soul, and spirit. But if I wanna be popular and and liked, then I've gotta appeal toward you. It's all about you. But truly, the bible's about Jesus, and you getting to know Jesus by his spirit bearing witness with your spirit. But if you say, no, no, no. It's about me. It's all about me. It's my best life now. Now, I've got to try to placate you and boost you up with therapeutic messages to make you feel good. And I've got to appeal to your senses, the natural man. But if I wanna really tick you off and get you angry, then I preach the cross. Death to self. No self esteem. God esteemed. Love God with all your heart, your mind, all your soul, all your strength. No man ever yet hated his own self, but nourishes and cherishes himself. That's what sells. Joel Osteen's got a $100,000,000 building paid for. And 40,000 people a week going there. He's telling them what they wanna hear. Your best life now, you and I, it's our best life later. This is the worst we're ever gonna experience. So his sense fail him. His mind fails him to, no method of apprehension, no instrument can reveal God's wisdom to him. The cross is foolishness to him. God's wisdom is a mystery hidden from him. And so, that's why they have to water down the word of God, not even bring in the word of God, they gotta bring in a lot of psychology and man centered man wisdom. Rudimentary understanding, Colossians says. And so you've got these people who I don't even know if they're saved. You've got churches filled with unbelievers And some that are saved are when we get into chapter three, he's gonna use a word that speaks of carnality. Babes in Christ. Unable to apprehend, unable to grow, or unwilling to grow because they lean toward the flesh. The life of the flesh. The natural part of their being. Because we still have the natural, warring against the spirit. The spirit against the flesh in Galatians five. We gotta starve the flesh. We gotta feed the spirit. We walk in the spirit, we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. But if you wanna have a flesh, Cathy had me watch a video last night, during the Super Bowl. The woman, Pastorette, got on there and kicked the bible. You know, what the heck is that? And they thought they were hip and cool. I mean, why is it these guys prance around thinking they're hip and cool, that that's cool? If you if you wanna know what cool is, just look up the word in a dictionary. There's a picture of me. I'm cool. I wrote the book on it. You know? They can't fool me. They can't fool me. They parade around, prance around like they're so hip and cool. You're cool. We're cool. We don't need to act like something, you know, to emulate some sort of adoration from people. It's just idiocy. They're entertainers is what they are. It's just It's just That's high school. It's so high school. Grow up. You know? You could say a lot of other things, but it might be not very nice. I wanna be nice. So Jesus said in Matthew eleven fifteen, he that has ears to hear, let him hear. So not everyone hears the secret wisdom. God's wisdom is secret wisdom. Secondly, God's wisdom is spiritual wisdom. Verse 10. But God has revealed them unto us by his spirit, for the spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. So in contrast to verses nine and ten, but God, the contrast, but God has revealed them unto us. So what has God revealed unto us? I've got a song. I got a song I wanna sing. I can only imagine. I can only imagine. Nice song. Partially true, but out of context. We don't know what heaven's gonna be like. I can only imagine what heaven's gonna be like. But you're out of context, dude. He's teaching you, he's contrasting worldly wisdom versus spiritual wisdom. The worldly wisdom, you know, is inferior to the secret spiritual wisdom. Eyes not seen nor ear heard, neither has it in the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them to love him. Can't stop there. Can't stop there. But God has revealed them unto us. By his spirit, the deep things of God. John the revelator, the revelation of God, the apocalypse. God revealing himself unto us. As you mine the the depths, as you mine the the the unsearchable riches of Christ, as God's revealing himself to us during our time in his word and worship and prayer and as Christians we're growing each and every day. Getting to know him, exploring the the grace and knowledge of him. And so I don't I don't don't care about the song the song. You can sing it. We can sing it. It sounds good. And we can think about heaven and hey, there's a certain truth there. But, so we can only imagine, verse 10, revealed? Contextually, God has revealed, verse nine, the things the eye couldn't see. The ear couldn't hear, nor the mind comprehend. That's what's being revealed. You went from being body and soul to body, soul, and spirit. And the life of the spirit is superior to the life of the flesh. Jesus said, I've come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. So not just, you know, quantity and eternal life, but a quality of life. A life of intimacy and a relationship with the true and living God. God revealing himself to us by his spirit. And so, the deep things of God. And so, the truth of God's unfathomable love, the deep things of God, how? How do we come to understand? He says, by his spirit, for the spirit searches all things, ye the deep things of God. And so God is omniscient, he's all knowing, and his ways aren't our ways, they're past finding out. So come now and let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be white as snow. Though they'll be red like crimson, they'll be as wool. God will reason, God will speak to us, but there's a certain level like with Job or many of us that circumstances and things that we go through, we're not gonna be able to comprehend. We're not gonna fully know because we don't have that kind of knowledge. You know, Job's trying to understand all the way through, and God says, where were you when? If you can't explain how I made the world, what makes you think you can understand the unsearchable wisdom of mine? So we only get to know what God reveals through his word, by his spirit. We don't get it all. But he's omniscient. He knows all things. So we walk by faith. We walk by faith believing and trusting that he's working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to my purpose. No. It's his purpose. God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. And he's working everything together for good for each of us. And we we apprehend this by faith and we dig down to get to know him. Paul said that I might know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. The power of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection power to lift us above the norm, and to live the life of the spirit in the power of the spirit, regardless of circumstances. We learn to be content because we're content knowing Jesus. We're content in knowing he's in control. It's all happening according to his will in our lives. And we can rest in him. We don't need to know all of it. In John sixteen twelve, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot hear them now. Bear them now. Howbeit when he, a person, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. The spirit of truth, the holy spirit's gonna guide us into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. Isn't that great that the Holy Spirit is still showing you and I things to come? Isn't it great to be a student of prophecy? Isn't it great to be in a church, to be in a relationship with God, where he has secret knowledge he wants to reveal to you that you're in the know? Isn't that exciting? Lord, you revealed this to me. You revealed this to us. This is so exciting, Lord. Thank you for not hiding it from us. No, I only hid it from those wise and prudent, those ones that think they know everything. I resist the proud, I give grace to the humble. All you gotta be is teachable. In Mark four, God says he's going to reveal, he's gonna lumen. Another word. Revelation, revealing, but illumination, where he where he enlightens you, dispelling the darkness, but you've gotta apply it. You can't just be a hearer of the word, you gotta be a doer. And when you're a doer, in Mark four, he's gonna give you more. But if you don't apply that which he's already taught you and already revealed, now you're in a rested state of development. Now you're not growing. So be doers of the word, not hearers only. The hearer only builds his house on sand. The doer of the word goes down deep into the deep things of God. Jesus the foundation of your life, the rock. Upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell not prevail. Verse 11. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. And so, a man's own spirit knows what is going on in his mind. So we're a we're a trinity when we're born again. Body, soul, and spirit, Adam and Eve. When they sinned, they died. The day you eat of it, you shall surely die. Death is separation from God. They're separated. They're expelled from the garden. Body and soul. You and I were born again. Nick, at night, you must be born again, Nick. Body, soul, and spirit. How does a man He's thinking of the natural. He can't get it yet. How does a man that is old go the second time in his mother's womb? No. You need to be born of the water and the spirit. You come out of the birth canal, burst the water, but you need to be born from above, born of the spirit. You need to be born again. And then Nick gets it. Joseph and Arimathea get it. Right? And they go and grab hold of the body of Jesus thereafter, a little while after. But but we we see that in in Jeremiah seventeen nine, if you're the Oprahites and you follow your follow your gut, follow your heart. Well, Jeremiah 79 says, the heart's deceitfully wicked of all deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and who can know it? You don't even know your own heart. But if you have a spirit, your holy spirit, and you're born again, now your spirit can evaluate what the soul, the seed of the mind, the will, the emotion is thinking, and you can say yay or nay. Because you're not under the sway of the wicked one anymore. You have free moral agency to choose, to act, to behave, because sin shall not have dominion over you in Romans six. You're free to choose. So it's your spirit that's evaluating the natural man, the natural mind, the reasoning of the world, and saying no based upon the word of God, based upon the holy spirit speaking to me. In my spirit, I don't have a peace about that, so I'm not gonna do that. Or in my spirit, I do have a peace and I'm willing to suffer for the true sake. Why would you do that? That's that's just crazy. Because it's God's will. I prayed and the Lord gave me a peace that that's what he'd have me do, to stand for him. Well, that's illogical. That's irrational. That goes against the grain. You're gonna suffer for that. You might lose your house. Well, so be it. It all belongs to the Lord. I wanna glorify him. That's what I want more than anything else is that he's pleased with me. That I'm living a life of obedience unto him, no longer me living, but Christ living through me. So even so, the Holy Spirit being God and knowing all things reveals his wisdom to us. Now, there's a guy running around named Yuval Noah Harari, and he's recently he said this, you've seen it before. Humans are new Humans are now hackable animals. So where does he designate you? An animal. Well, that's true. The natural man said animal. But he thinks he's above you. Humans are now hackable animals. The whole idea that humans have this soul or spirit and nobody knows what's happening inside them, and they have free will, that's over. Says who? The devil is not omniscient. The devil can't read my mind or know what all things, what's happening. But these nut jobs think that they're gonna put a chip in your brain, and they're gonna be able to read your mind. They're gonna be able You're not gonna have free will and be able to put They're thoughts in there to get you to do things they want you to do and such. And supposed omniscience. And so the devil's a liar. These guys won't be able to achieve that. They won't be able to do that. That's an attribute of God. That'd be an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. The devil can't be everywhere at once. That's why they need technology. That's why they need facial recognition cameras and all. To be able to track everybody down, to trace everybody down with a digital currency and digital everything. But you all know Harari don't wanna make you think that they can get in your head. They can't get in your head. And besides, some of you have seven different voices talking at one time, you know? Which one are they gonna listen to, you know? Right? So imagine how confused they're gonna be. Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out, you know? The two at Gadara, they were legion. Today, the psychiatrists and stuff, know, they'll they'll talk about demons channeling through people and different person persona, different people in there. So which one they gonna listen to? Which demon? Crazy. I'm just thankful that I have peace of mind, that I'm at peace with God, and that I experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. I don't have to understand everything. I have the wisdom to know that God's on the throne, he's sovereign, he's in control, and he hasn't revealed that to me yet. When he reveals to me when the rapture's gonna happen, I'll let you know. When he reveals to me my new name in the book of Revelation, I'll let you know. Because he says no man knows it. So some things are some things are, you know, are hid. They're still hid. And, until the Lord reveals. So verse 12. So now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So we, the spirit of God, not the world, we have the spirit of God, we have a wisdom, and that's why we're looking anymore like we don't belong here. We are aliens, we're strangers, we're pilgrims and sojourners passing through. This world is not my home. America's not the America I was growing up in. And I wanna go down with a fight. I wanna go up with a fight. I wanna fight these guys to the very end with truth. Exposing their lies, wake up as many people as can, and never be passive toward their lies. That that's number one. Just never be passive toward their lies. Expose them. Expose them. Expose them. Expose them. And for some reason, that really makes them angry. They don't like being exposed. They wanna control the narrative. They wanna use deception to control people. But you and I as children of light, we're going down with a fight. We're not going down. We're going up. And they're gonna be so glad when we're raptured. Because then that restraining influence of the church has been removed, and then, man, the the the acceleration of evil that's gonna take place in a short seven year period of time. Or eight years or ten years or twenty. I mean, the rapture's gonna happen before the signing of the peace treaty, but we could be raptured ten years before that signing. This thing could get worse and worse and worse and worse, and then a signing of a peace treaty with with the antichrist, the nation of Israel. It starts the 77 of Daniel. But the church age ends with Romans eleven twenty five, blindness in part is happening unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. So when that day is, when the Lord says come up, come up hither, that's the end of the church age. And then we see that there could be a gap there to the time frame of the start of the 77 of Daniel. And so we don't know. That's the that's the doctrine of imminency. We have to watch and we have to be ready. And he that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. I wanna be found watching and ready. I don't I don't wanna go back to living the life I did before, and then just use Christianity as a fire insurance. I wanna get to know Jesus. I like the life of the spirit. I choose the life of the spirit. I don't like the life of the flesh. It's it's disgusting. And I can't wait for the day where I see Jesus face to face and I'm I'm perfected physically. I'm perfected in my new glorified body. No more sin in my life. I'm waiting for that day. Have to carry this corpse around. So which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So the Holy Spirit unlocks the treasures of God's word unto us. The unsearchable riches of Christ revealed unto us. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Why do you think I use so much of the bible to teach the bible? We use the bible to teach the bible, not Rick's opinion. I can quote Yuval Noah Harari or the Sun Blockers or whatever. But nowhere in here did I try to get you to believe my wisdom. I tried to use the scriptures, even with the rapture. Overwhelming evidence that the rapture is pre trib. It'd be really hard to prove a pre wrath or a mid trib or a post trib rapture. You don't have verses that state that or teach that. You don't have them. That's imposed upon the text. So even even that rant, I'm leaning with the bible. I'm leaning with the bible teaching the bible, quoting verses of the rapture, quoting verses and teaching you that Jesus saved us from the wrath to come. What wrath to come? The eschatological wrath to come. The wrath that's going out during the tribulation period. We already were saved from wrath at the cross Of Calvary. That wrath is done. There is no fearful looking to of judgment. So when he speaks of the wrath to come, he's speaking of the wrath of the tribulation period. You've been saved from the wrath to come. You're not appointed under wrath. How many times you gotta say it? So we use the scripture. We use the treasury of scripture knowledge. A book written during the good King James era with a strong concordance written where great men and women of God, great theologians searched the scriptures and connected them. Or a Thompson Chain reference bible. We used the bible to teach the bible. The spirit bearing witness was spiritual things. The word of God bearing witness of Jesus. Now in Daniel chapter 12 verse four, Daniel is instructed, shut up the words and seal the book even unto the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. I believe we're living in that time where the knowledge is being increased. He says, go thy way Daniel verse nine, for the words are closed and sealed till the time of the end. Well, we just told you you're in the last days. How do I know? God who at sundry times and in a diverse manner spake in times past to the fathers through the prophets has in these last days. Ever since Jesus came, his incarnation, we're living in the last days. This is the end. This is the last of the last days, 2,000 later, But God has unlocked the scriptures. He wants you to learn. Case in point, the book of Revelation. He says in Revelation chapter 22 verse 10, seal not the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. And Revelation chapter one verse three specifies a blessing for anybody that reads it, that the book is not sealed. It's open. So Daniel sealed and was told that knowledge would increase in the end times, and we have the knowledge increasing. What a wonderful time to be a Christian, to have a bible, to have bible software, to have study helps. I have a huge library. I thought it was huge. Wonderful library. I had a place above our garage when we owned a house, and it was 750 square feet, and I had a workout area, and I had a big screen TV, I'd watch pastor Chuck videos while I'm on the treadmill, and then I had a wood burning stove to keep it warm, and and then I had all the walls with bookshelves of charts, time charts, know, a big long chart where I could look and see historically when things happen. And then all my books, all my commentaries. I just love my books. And now they're, you know, they've been in storage in boxes. But but I still love my books. I don't wanna get rid of my books. Now, you want a good library, just go to Goodwill. Just go to a thrift store because these young bucks coming up don't want books. And so, these libraries from people that used to study God's word are getting rid of them, they're dying. And you can get great books. I mean, I paid top dollar for these books. And and I and I loved to study. I'd set them out on the table, huge table, and have bunches of them open and a legal pad, and and be going through trying to discover trying to discover the truth, trying to trying to learn. And so the treasury of scripture knowledge is one of those things that I discovered that with a with a computer program's incredible, because you can be studying a passage and all under, downneath it, you click click click click, and it sends you to other places in the bible where that truth is taught. It's amazing. Absolutely amazing. And then you've got on the other side, you've got Strong's Concordance, the number, with the definition of each word. So if I'm doing an inductive bible study, I'm looking within and I'm looking at the words, the grammar, the context, and then I'm able to use the scripture to make sure I'm not an idiot that the bible that the understanding I have, that's that's what it's saying Rick. It's saying here, there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's he's letting you know that he's gonna be born of a virgin, Genesis three fifteen. Yeah. And Isaiah seven fourteen. Yeah. Emmanuel, God with us. Yeah. And Isaiah nine six. Yeah. You're you're pretty clear there, Rick. It's pretty clear he's the baby of Bethlehem. He's gonna be born according to Micah five two. He's gonna be born in Bethlehem, house of bread. Yeah. Yeah. You're you're on track, Rick. See, that's what I trust. I trust the word of God, helping me to stay on track. I don't trust myself. I'm not that smart. I haven't written any books. If I wrote a book, I'd probably write it on when the rapture would be or how to be a good father. I've been such a good father, a parent, know, something like that. No, I wouldn't. Being a parent's the most humbling thing you could ever be. How would I write a book on being a parent? You know? I really think I know that much. Or marriage. Should I write a marriage book? Should I tell you how we did it? We barely get through every day. Mark and Shelley said they've been in two fights their whole marriage. Man. I've met people like that. It's by the grace of God. So God's wisdom is secret wisdom, spiritual wisdom, and thirdly and finally, superior wisdom. Now, I have to back up a bit. You need to understand that Kathy said that if she knew karate, that I'd already have a broken neck. So that's that's that's where that goes. So, you just need to understand the pain she the pain she's in, the frustration being married to a guy like me. And, you know, it's till death do us part, so she's stuck. She's stuck. Verse 14, but the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. So there's three kinds of men. None of them are transhuman. Okay? No such thing. No transgender. The only thing trans is a transformation of your mind by the renewing of your mind. These guys are all corrupters. They're they're imitators. The devil's a counterfeit. He counterfeits God, the true and living God. So three kinds of men. The first is the spiritual. The Greek word, pneumatikos. The second is the natural, sukikos. The third is carnal, sarcikos. The sarcikos is the fleshly, the natural man. He's the unbeliever, body and soul. He's the animal man. He lives like an animal. He's a slave to his animalistic appetites. One who lives in natural state and under the influence of his animal passions. For means the inferior and central part of man, in opposition to the the understanding or pneuma of the spirit. So the pneuma, Sean was working on my on my truck. Any of you that done some mechanical work, you know, some of you buy battery operated, you know, wrenches and stuff now, zzzzz, and you take bolts out. Well, there's pneumatic wrenches. There's pneumatic where you have an air compressor, and that's pneumatic. And so the the air that flows, and so at Pentecost, there was a mighty rushing wind that blew in. That's the holy spirit blowing in. The experience upon the church that was told by Jesus to wait for the promise of the Father that the Holy Spirit come upon them. In John 20, Jesus The disciples were meeting. Thomas was absent, and Jesus came into the room. He doesn't use the doors. Right? He just comes on in, peace be still. And he breathed on them and said, receive you the Holy Spirit. That's being born again. The the within and upon work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes alongside the paracletus to convict of sin. That's how I got saved. The Holy Spirit was there saying, Rick, it's true, it's true. The Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to me. I I understood what was being said. He illumined my heart and mind. He gave me the measure of faith, and I acted upon that and I was born again. That's when the Holy Spirit came into me. So Adam, God formed him from the dust of ground, he breathed in him the air of life, the breath of life. Eve, I don't know about her, took from the rib. I'm not sure about that. To check on that. But he breathed on them the holy spirit, said receive you the holy spirit. The guys weren't born again until then. Thomas being absent. Eight days later, Thomas is there. Thrust here your finger. My Lord, my God, you know. And so, at Pentecost, the api experience. So within and upon. You need to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit to be born again. The api preposition is the Holy Spirit comes upon you, which Jesus promised. Wait for the promise of the Father when the Holy Spirit comes. You're gonna be, you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. You're gonna be my witnesses, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost. So it's in the power of the Holy Spirit with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, teaching us, getting us to know Jesus, and then we act, we're we're used of him, Jesus working through us in the power of the Holy Spirit. So that's the that's the difference. The natural man doesn't have that help. The natural man's on his own. The natural man is left with his own devices and his own ingenuity, his own education to try and do the work of the spirit in the arm of the flesh. We can choose to do the work of the spirit in the arm of the flesh if we're Abraham and Sarah and we can't get pregnant, so let's go into Hagar. Let's help God out. Well, that's a fleshly effort. You know, all that Ishmael might live before you. No, the work of the flesh is not gonna live before me. It's a work of the spirit, and Isaac shall they seed be called. It's a miraculous moving working of God's spirit for Abraham and Sarah to be able to conceive and bring forth Isaac, the true Israel of God. And so, the natural man, the unbeliever, So one who lives in a natural state under the influence of his animal passions, for the means the inferior and the central part of man in opposition to the the understanding or spirit. So his wisdom according to James according to James three fifteen, descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. And so Jesus spoke in Revelation two twenty four of the depths of Satan. People study the occult. The globalists today are studying the occult, wanting to get an edge on everybody else to study the depths of Satan. Occultic knowledge and technology, and every other sorts of means that that the devil can teach them. Devil's an old being. These angels have been around a while. They've learned a few things. They could teach Hitler and his guys in the occult with jet propulsion and atoms and all other sorts of technological advances and such. And that's what they're searching for in San Jose. They're always looking for an edge for the occult to, divulge something. But that's still basic level, you know, information compared to what we have, the life of the spirit. The life of walking in the spirit. And so it's it's descends not from above, but is earthly sensual. So again, that word sensual. If you wanna appeal to people, the natural man, you appeal based upon his senses. You entertain, you try and enliven his senses. And Jude one nineteen says, sensual, having not the spirit. Romans eight nine, now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So you're an unbeliever. So how do you know you're a Christian? Do you have the holy spirit? Does the Holy Spirit bear witness with your spirit that you're a child of God? If you don't have that bearing witness, then you're not you're just a professor, not a possessor. Does God possess you? He receives not the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. So one of the beautiful things when somebody gets saved is the enormous appetite they have for the word of God. Little babies. You don't need to tell them to eat. Hey, you eat. You don't get down from there till you eat. No. They make you get down from there, and they wanna eat, you know? They're not gonna give you any sleep. They're gonna eat. They have a voracious appetite for milk, and they're gonna wake you up all hours of the day. They're gonna make sure that you hear that they're hungry. So to the new believer, you don't have to convince them to come to church. You don't have to convince them and try and coerce them and bribe them, you know, to to come to bible study or to be in the word. They want to know Jesus. They have an appetite. Every time the church is open, they're there. Every service, they're there. There's nothing else that compares. Everything else trying to compete pales in comparison to simply studying God's word, worshiping the Lord, being with God's people. If you have to guilt them into it and force them into it, then maybe they need to go somewhere else, know. Give them some time away till they recognize and evaluate the true riches of God. People should be at church, they should be in the word, they should be in bible study, because they want to. I hope that Kathy loves me because she wants to. I can't force her to love me. That's not real love. God doesn't want that kind of love. And so a person that's been born again is so thankful, so grateful for that illumination, for that revelation, for God reaching down and saving them, for that forgiveness, that love, that grace, that mercy, that they wanna give back. And they want to get to know them. They're like Mary sitting at his feet just listening to his words. And I just love it because you guys must be born again because there's nobody in Kitsap County that can last an hour and a half, you know, sitting down like that. It must be a God thing. It truly must be a God thing. It's, it's hard on your backs and somebody's phone's gonna start beeping a minute. It's time to take some pills or whatever. Time for me to shut up. I don't know. But it's happening more and more. I get it. I get it. I go a little long, but but hopefully you're learning something, you know? That's a tricky way to let me know time's up, you know? Pretty smart of you. I get it. So he receives the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. In John ten twenty six, Jesus said, do you believe not because you're not of my sheep? As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. In John eight forty three, why do you not understand my speech even because you cannot hear my word? He's telling the religious leaders. Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. You know, look at the scriptures you guys. Testify of me. So why? They're just religious natural men. The religious leaders were not born again. That Nicodemus a religious leader, he wasn't born again. The apostle Saul, Saul of Tarsus was a religious leader of the Sanhedrin, he wasn't born again. Caiaphas was not born again. They're going to hell. They're gonna spend eternity in hell. They were religious professionals. They didn't know Jesus. Ignorant, unlearned men is how they describe the apostles, but they'd been with Jesus. So just natural men because they are spiritually discerned. They can't get it. A judicial, what that means is they're spiritually discerned, it means, by definition, a judicial investigation to scrutinize and examine. So they have no capacity to understand. They are deaf men judging music. They are blind men describing a sunrise. No capacity. Verse 15, but he that is spiritual judges all things, yea, he himself is judged of no man. So by contrast, the spiritual man can form a judgment. Yes, you can judge. You can form a judgment. When people are running around sinning, I I met a guy at the gym the other day, and I've known him a bit, and he claims to be a Christian. Insists he's a Christian. But then he goes on to describe all the women he's sleeping with. He's divorced and sleeping with a lot of women. They come to his door and knock, and he says they've got long coats on, and you know, I can't resist them, he says. I mean, that'd be rude. Right? You know? And I said, you're not a Christian. You know? Adulterous, fornicators won't inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, I'm a Christian. He didn't wanna talk to me after that, but I owed it to him. Right? I mean, we're told in first Corinthians six. Right? Be not deceived, knowing not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul goes through a whole list of what it means to be unrighteous. So those who practice these things, they're not believers. You fall into those things, that's different. That's sin that's missing the mark. Get back up, get going. We all sin. If we say we have no sin, we're a liar. Truth isn't in us. But we don't practice sin. We repented of that lifestyle of sin. That's not who we are as Christians. But these guys think they prayed the prayer, the sinner's prayer, hey, I'm gonna live like a worldly. You know? Live like an unbeliever. Hey, I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I don't think so. The Bible describes your behavior as that of an unbeliever, as a natural man. You're deceiving yourself. So the spiritual man can form a judgment, so you can judge. Anakrino is the Greek word. So he has discernment. Look at that word discernment. You had discernment. You have discernment. God is teaching you because of the Holy Spirit, teaching you to discern, to earnestly contend for the faith. To prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. You are learners. You're disciples. You're studying. And the holy spirit's illuminating your heart and mind, and there's a check-in your spirit and you say, that doesn't sound right. I'm gonna search the bible like a Berean and see whether those things be so. I'm gonna search the scriptures. I'm gonna try and try and check this out. I'm gonna be a fact checker right now. The Bereans that were more noble, you know? So an ability to judge all things and not be judged by the natural man. So you're proving all things. Verse 16, for who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? He's quoting Isaiah 40 verse 13. But we have the mind of Christ. So the indwelling Holy Spirit reveals Christ. We understand things from the viewpoint of Christ. So in Philippians two, Jesus is seated at the right hand of his father. Right? He he For all eternity. And then he takes and he comes into the place of time as the babe of Bethlehem. And we see him as the babe of Bethlehem and living to be about 33 years of age as the son of man, the son of God. And he is crucified, buried, raised from the dead three days later. And he is taken up to heaven and seated at the right hand of the father. Stephen sees him standing, giving him a standing ovation when Stephen's being martyred. But Paul says in Philippians two describing the kenosis, which means he's in his deity in heaven. He's praying in John 17 that he'd have that they'd see him in his glory. They hadn't seen him fully in his glory yet. Because as he took on the form of a man as the carpenter from Nazareth, he set aside the free exercise of his deity. It it means he's still God. He's still God. He just set aside the free exercise of his deity. He took on the form of a man. So let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. Who be in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took on the form of a servant servant. And was and made as a man. And he says, and and being fashioned as a man being fashioned as a man, he humbled himself and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So what it's showing is the emptying the emptying of the privilege of his deity being exalted, and the humility. So let this mind be in you. The humility of walking in obedience unto God, as he said, I do always those things that please the father. Let this mind be in you. James and John's mother, and James and John were fighting over who's gonna get the left hand, the right hand. That's carnal, that's fleshly. That's worldly wisdom. Jesus said, are you able to drink the cup? Don't be like that. If you wanna be great in the kingdom of God, learn to be the servant of all. He took on the form of a servant. It was made in the likeness of men. And being fashioned as a man, he humbled himself and was obedient unto death. And not just any kind of death, the death of the cross. Humiliating, horrible form of capital punishment. That's your Jesus. That's our Jesus. So let this mind be in you. Don't be striving and fighting over who's gonna be the greatest. God resists the proud, he gives grace to the humble. If you wanna really get to know Jesus, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he'll exalt you. He will lift you up. And then Romans 12 verse two, be not conformed. Conformity allow the world to put you in its pattern, force you into its pattern, social credit score, carbon scores, bank accounts, behavior. Larry Finks said he's gonna be able to control behavior by leveraging you with money, digital currency. So be not conformed to this world. Don't be a worldly. Taylor Swift, whatever her name is. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. There's our word. It's not their word. It speaks of a metamorphosis. Of a caterpillar, a worm becoming a butterfly. Right? If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things are become new. So be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You've been thinking like a worldling. That you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So as you're in the word, the Holy Spirit's transforming and changing your mind, washing away the filth of this world and the connections in your brain the way you think. You're thinking different. The mind of Christ is in you now. Now you're Christ like. You're a Christian. You think different. Your value system is a biblical value system, not a secular worldly value system that you impose upon Christianity. You want God to bless your secular worldly view. That means you're blessed. Right? No. No. That's not the way Jesus lived. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, Jesus said, neither cast your pearls before swine. Now, we're so wanting to reach people with the gospel, but a whole lot of people out there are unworthy of the gospel. They've so mocked and ridiculed, and you take that which is precious to you and you start to present it, and they just like pigs wanna just just crush on it, spit on it, mock it, and all that. So he says, don't don't cast your pearls before swine. Just walk walk away. Wait till they're ready. Let the Lord get them ready. You don't you don't have to force anything upon anybody. It's their loss. So don't take that which is precious and holy and just cast it to the dogs or cast your pearls before the swine. So we're to judge. We're to be discerning to who is worthy of the true riches of of God's wisdom. The wisdom from above. The wisdom of the cross. The Lord will let you know. There's some people that just walk on by. Prideful, arrogant, angry. Just walk to the next person. Walk to somebody that's hurting and ready and receptive. Ready to receive this wisdom. So we pray that God will open their hearts to understand the unsearchable riches of Christ. Now look at what Paul says to the church of Ephesus chapter three verse 16, the dimensions. The dimensions That he would grant you according to all the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit, the inner man. You wanna be strong inwardly. We place a lot of emphasis on the physical, which is perishing. Bodily exercise profits little, godliness profits much. So exercise yourself to building up your inner man. Right? By his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, the depth, the height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. Knowing the love of Christ surpasses knowledge, beyond knowledge, beyond human knowledge. That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. That God would overflowing. The service that we have for the Lord is the overflowing cup. Your heart is overflowing. And we don't rely upon yesterday's manna or yesterday's feeding. Everyday being filled. Be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Allow the Holy Spirit to overflow our lives. A perfected, complete, mature, fuller understanding of God. The secret, the spiritual, and the superior wisdom of God. Do you know him? Has God revealed himself unto you? Has he revealed himself unto you yet? I believe he wants to. I believe he's knocking on the door of many people's hearts. The question is, are you listening? Are you receptive? Are you willing? Are you treating him with respect? Or are we to walk by and not cast our pearls before the swine? It's your decision. God gives you a free moral agency to decide. Are you worthy of the true wisdom? Are you worthy of the wisdom of God? I am incredibly unworthy. But God had compassion upon me. God was gracious unto me. God is merciful unto me, a sinner. Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I cry out to God. I cry out to him, God be merciful. God help me. God, please bless my marriage. Lord, please watch over my children. Lord, please bless your church. Edify, build up this little flock here. Lord, help us as we as we navigate these last days. Lord, I need you more than ever. More than ever, Lord, I need your help. I can't do this in and of myself, Lord. I need you. And that's the way it's been since the very moment that he introduced himself to me. If any man thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. In me that is in my flesh, Rick Baudry, dwells no good thing. So I made a promise to a couple of the Karens in the church here. I let them know that I would never use that moniker to deride or mock people, oh, she's a Karen. So instead, if I ever reach that place where I wanna mock, I'm gonna say, oh, she's a Rick. It's a Rick. They act like Ricks, you know? Because in me, that is my flesh dwells no good thing. You're not getting it. It's a joke. Alright? So it's But it's true. It's like it's like, my biggest enemy, my biggest problem is me. Not Cathy. Not you, not the kids, not Kitsap County. Not the circumstances of my life. The thing that knocks me off my game is me, my selfishness. My selfishness needs to be crucified. And when my selfishness is crucified, and I enter into that love relationship with Jesus, just focus on him, everything goes back into balance. Everything works out. I quit trying to figure it all out and I begin to walk by faith again. In a faithful one who is so incredibly faithful that he died in my place. He died for me. And being confident in this very thing that he that has begun a good work in you, that he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. We have confidence in him. He's gonna complete this work that he's begun. And Ephesians two verse seven says that in the ages to come, after the church age, after the tribulation period, after the millennium, thousand year rolling ring with him. After all that, in the ages, plural, to come into eternity, he's gonna continue to pour out his kindness upon us and reveal himself unto us on into eternity. You're never gonna be able to exhaust the knowledge of God. Right? There's always new planets out there with surfers, know, surfing and stuff, and fishing planets, and all sorts of galaxies of really good stuff to go explore and see and learn. Don't you love to learn? We're gonna learn science. Right? He's gonna reveal some of his techniques of creation, maybe, you know? I don't know. I wanna fly. I mean, I just Hey. I wanna be able to walk through a door without turning the knob. Just walk right through that. I don't know how he did that. I wanna be able to walk on water. Wouldn't that be cool? You know? So, there's all sorts of things for us into the future. Cannot exhaust the things of God. He's just getting started. Our God's just getting started. Although he said, it is finished, the talus I paid in full. That plan of redemption's complete. He's paid for all your sins, past, present, and future. And today is your day. Do you know what time it is? It's time for you to get right with Jesus. It's time for you to lift up your head and look toward the author and the finisher of our faith. It's time to look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing. Jesus is coming. The gospel, just preach the gospel. Compartmentalize the gospel. No? Part of the gospel is making disciples of people and teaching them prophecy that Jesus come for them. That's good news. It's good news that Jesus is coming for his bride. Why would I compartmentalize that and not not teach that? Not divulge that he's coming, that we're in the last days. Anna and Simeon were in the temple waiting for the consolation of Israel. They knew. They were awake. Everybody else is asleep. They're asleep. His whole lifetime, even his own family didn't believe in him. Mary pondered these things in her heart. His brothers didn't believe in him till after the resurrection. Unbelief is powerful. It's overwhelming. But faith is infectious too. And so our faith is most precious thing that we possess is that we're born again, that we have the secret knowledge, the superior knowledge, this knowledge, this spiritual wisdom that God's given to us. We don't wanna live like the world ever again. They're they're just they're like animals. They're they are animals. Look how they're living. They're living like animals. Let's pray. Father, we come before you and we thank you, Lord, that you've lifted us. You've lifted us out of the sewer. You've lifted us out of the pigpen, Lord, and you've washed and cleansed us. You've transformed and changed us from within. We have a new nature. We're born again. We're born of the spirit, born from above. And Lord, we wanna walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. We wanna be filled with your love to overflowing. Lord, we wanna have the capacity to think and to prioritize, and to make sure that we're taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That we're not yabbits, that we're not just saying, yeah but, yeah but, but Lord that we're doers of your word, not hearers only. We pray that which we do know, which we can cultivate, which we can apprehend at this point, that we apply these truths to our lives. That Lord in in an effort to grow in the grace and knowledge of you, that you would continue to to pour out yourself into us Lord. That you would continue to change our brains the way we think, to transform and change us into the image of Christ, that we would be like minded. So Father, we thank you for this morning, we thank you for this time, we thank you that we're securing you, We thank you that everything is happening according to plan. We don't need to be anxious or confused. Lord, you're coming again for us, your bride. We're watching, we're looking. Anyone here this morning, you don't know Jesus as your Lord and savior, this is your moment. This is your time. Know what time it is. It's your birthday time. It's time for you to be born again. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you for the fellowship. Thank you for the eternal security that we enjoy. Thank you that, Lord, we we, have you in common. And Lord, because of that, Lord, we wanna partake of communion now. We pray that you bless as we partake of the bread and the cup, and that Lord, as we leave here, Lord, there'd be just a smile and a joy and a blessing and expectancy that you can come at any moment. You're coming, Lord. In Jesus name, amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
