back to indexWed Bible Study Philippians Lesson 9
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Let's bow our heads together for a word of prayer, asking the Spirit to help us. 00:00:10.160 |
Lord, Lord God, we in each week pray for you to bless us through your Word. 00:00:18.040 |
And God, we want to absolutely acknowledge that we have not made it. 00:00:23.480 |
Lord, there is various aspects of us that are so deeply stained with sin. 00:00:30.520 |
Lord God, each one of us has felt the frustration of not seeing growth, not seeing certain sins 00:00:40.680 |
But Father God, I pray, Lord, that that would not hinder us from learning all the more. 00:00:46.320 |
And especially tonight, again, as we look at your Word, would you help us to be washed? 00:00:51.720 |
Would you help us to be inspired and strengthened with your truth? 00:00:55.960 |
Knowing full well, Father God, that apart from your truth, apart from your Spirit, our 00:01:05.040 |
And so God, we request and pray that your Spirit would help us in the reading and in 00:01:17.920 |
And before I read the passage, I want to go through a quick review and kind of introductory 00:01:28.960 |
And I want to recall with you guys that, remember, Apostle Paul has been actually giving various 00:01:38.440 |
And if you remember, Apostle Paul, from the beginning of the letter, has been trying to 00:01:45.960 |
He's been giving his observation and interpretation about all that's happening in his life, which 00:01:52.240 |
makes sense of the suffering, the persecution, his current imprisonment. 00:01:58.120 |
And remember, he asked, you know, he challenged the church to make his joy complete by being 00:02:04.560 |
of the same mind, meaning having that same perspective, maintaining the same love, united 00:02:09.720 |
in spirit, and tend on one purpose, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with 00:02:14.960 |
humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. 00:02:19.120 |
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 00:02:24.000 |
Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. 00:02:30.640 |
So recall that already there was a previous command for us to have a certain attitude. 00:02:36.760 |
And then later on, he said, "Join me in this great joy." 00:02:41.120 |
What he said was, "Even if I'm being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice 00:02:44.920 |
and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 00:02:49.920 |
You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." 00:02:56.080 |
And if you recall, I said, when he says this, he is talking about his entire worldview, 00:03:01.040 |
which says, "My joy is to have Christ exalted. 00:03:07.440 |
Whether in life or by death, if Christ is proclaimed, I'm happy." 00:03:13.320 |
That was his interpretation and judgment of everything. 00:03:16.800 |
And so, in the very last passage that we studied the previous week, he continued to expound 00:03:21.760 |
upon his goal, that what he wants is to know the power of his resurrection, Jesus' resurrection, 00:03:27.560 |
the fellowship of his suffering, becoming like him the whole way through death, only 00:03:33.080 |
so that he may obtain the power of the resurrection of Christ. 00:03:36.720 |
And if you recall, the way I summarized it was, all the way Jesus, right? 00:03:43.760 |
Now, I do this review with you guys because the section that we're at now is an exhortational 00:03:59.760 |
I haven't obtained it yet," and all this kind of stuff, he's actually summarizing a lot. 00:04:05.000 |
And so, therefore, we had to do a little bit of a review, thinking through all the various 00:04:10.160 |
perspectives and worldview that Apostle Paul has. 00:04:13.840 |
Now, I would like to make a quick comment about Bible study, that sometimes when you 00:04:19.080 |
come across an exhortational passage like this, you can still do very close observations. 00:04:25.960 |
So you're asking the questions about, "What does he mean by obtain? 00:04:29.600 |
Why does he say obtain when this is stuff that we are given as a gift? 00:04:43.560 |
And so, these are moments when you should be thinking, "Hmm, this is highly applicational. 00:04:49.120 |
Do I conceptually understand what he wants me to apply? 00:04:53.560 |
And when he uses these words, do I understand what they mean, right? 00:05:02.080 |
And so, you should be thinking like, "Have I already seen this applied in a certain way 00:05:11.000 |
Do we as a community understand how this should be applied?" 00:05:14.800 |
So, the thought should really meditate upon application and to understand, "Do I know 00:05:21.360 |
even what and how I'm supposed to apply this?" 00:05:25.040 |
Now, in thinking about that, okay, in thinking about that, I want us to now read the passage. 00:05:31.960 |
So, let's turn to our little packet of hand out there, and I'll read that for us. 00:05:36.800 |
It says, "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press 00:05:42.200 |
on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 00:05:49.640 |
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting 00:05:54.720 |
what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for 00:05:59.760 |
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 00:06:04.200 |
Let us, therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude. 00:06:08.000 |
And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. 00:06:13.360 |
However, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained." 00:06:20.000 |
Now, I'm going to ask this question, "What is the summary, main exhortation of this passage?" 00:06:25.720 |
I just finished saying this is a very exhortational thing and it's very repetitive. 00:06:31.040 |
In first sight, we may think that the challenge is persevere, press on. 00:06:39.360 |
But actually, I think it's more so at the bottom where it says, "Have this attitude." 00:06:49.600 |
Yes, he does repeat the words, "Press on, press on." 00:06:54.520 |
But the way I'd like to summarize this for you is, there is this outline I want to give 00:06:57.840 |
to you, is that Apostle Paul in verse 12 through 14 is showing you a self-example again of 00:07:06.560 |
It started in chapter 3, verse 1, where he talked about... 00:07:58.920 |
So, Apostle Paul is showing us his mentality, which started in chapter 3, verse 1 through 00:08:07.920 |
And he's actually saying in verse 15, the exhortation comes strong, not just this expectation 00:08:13.280 |
like you better go, you better not quit, but he's actually saying, no, I want you to have 00:08:17.960 |
this whole perspective, understanding that you're not there yet, this humility that you're 00:08:23.680 |
not perfect, but pressing on towards the goal that God has given you and has called you 00:08:30.440 |
That whole entire mentality I want you to have. 00:08:40.320 |
The first part of that is his mentality is not yet. 00:08:46.320 |
And what we have here, I highlighted it for you, it says, not that I've already obtained 00:08:53.600 |
And then he repeats the idea in verse 13, brethren, I do not regard myself as having 00:09:02.280 |
And therefore, we see this reiterated concept like I'm not there yet. 00:09:17.160 |
For the sake of time, I'm going to run through, perhaps in our table we discussed a couple 00:09:22.960 |
It could be like, since he just finished saying that I want to fully understand Christ's experience, 00:09:27.760 |
maybe he's talking about really understanding it all. 00:09:33.960 |
Could it be simply the resurrection, which was his last thought in verse 11? 00:09:39.640 |
Because in the immediate context, he actually parallels those two thoughts, right? 00:09:43.680 |
When he says, I have not obtained it or have already become perfect. 00:09:50.720 |
Or is it later in verse 14 when he talks about this upward call? 00:09:56.280 |
There's not going to be a way to say, no, this is it, right? 00:10:00.960 |
However, you do typically operate off of what is the immediate context that you see 00:10:05.960 |
What's more, you think about the idea of his use of the term perfection. 00:10:12.160 |
So in verse 12 when he says that I have not already obtained it or already have become 00:10:18.780 |
perfect, that's the best indicator for you in the immediate context about what he could 00:10:24.960 |
The apostle Paul says, I haven't become perfect yet. 00:10:28.640 |
And I want to show you this dictionary entry that the term really generally refers to a 00:10:37.040 |
To make perfect by reaching its intended goal, right? 00:10:42.280 |
So is it wrong for someone to say what he's talking about is not so much that he hasn't 00:10:47.040 |
reached glorification, but that he's still in the process? 00:10:54.640 |
Is he talking about the fact that he is not 100% in the maturity of Christ, meaning he's 00:11:00.080 |
not in perfect conformity to the character of Jesus? 00:11:06.880 |
Now in thinking about this though, I think what's important for us is remember thinking 00:11:11.980 |
and reflecting how does this apply in the way that I'm thinking? 00:11:18.880 |
Because I can't remember ever a time when I showed up and I was like, dang, look at 00:11:24.000 |
you, like looking in the mirror and thinking you're perfect, right? 00:11:40.300 |
In what way have we in contrary fashion thought that we've already made it? 00:11:47.460 |
What I'm going to say is type A. There is a type A where pride settles in. 00:11:56.640 |
You might not think like you're Apostle Paul, right? 00:12:00.320 |
But sometimes we think we're better than at least our community. 00:12:14.220 |
For the viewers at home, I want to make sure this thing works, but I'm not sure what's 00:12:18.280 |
You know, I've got another trick up my sleeve. 00:12:21.240 |
I'm going to jam my pencil in there and see if it holds it up. 00:12:36.960 |
So there is that kind of mentality that can catch up with you where you've been living 00:12:42.040 |
your Christian life for a certain time and it's like sometimes there's this even subtle 00:12:46.320 |
thought I don't need to read because I already know. 00:12:50.760 |
That's pretty arrogant if you think that way, okay? 00:12:54.440 |
Sometimes I've caught myself where it's not so much that I think that I've already made 00:12:58.160 |
it, but if someone is trying to teach me, it feels like, you know, there's just this 00:13:04.720 |
weird resistance to someone pushing you more, right? 00:13:09.360 |
And you know what's really interesting about this is when we started the study of Philippians, 00:13:13.160 |
there was a passage I want to go to which was Philippians chapter 1, 6. 00:13:16.720 |
Please turn your Bibles over there really fast, okay? 00:13:24.080 |
And remember we started with this whole idea. 00:13:26.960 |
Apostle Paul's prayer for you was not, "I hope you have enough. 00:13:34.480 |
He actually kept praying and he wanted to admonish them to do all the more. 00:13:40.380 |
Verse 6, he says this, "I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will 00:13:46.080 |
bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." 00:13:50.480 |
What's more, later on, he talks about, oh goodness, oh, later on in verse 10, "So that 00:13:57.840 |
you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 00:14:03.200 |
filled with the spirit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and 00:14:10.200 |
Apostle Paul wants individuals to be filled and blameless before Jesus. 00:14:17.360 |
That is an incredible standard far above what we think is, "I think I did enough." 00:14:23.760 |
And what's more, for the sake of time, we're not going to turn there, but 2 Peter 1, 3-9, 00:14:30.800 |
If you think you have knowledge, you should add to that knowledge understanding. 00:14:34.280 |
If you think you have an understanding, then you should add to that diligence. 00:14:36.680 |
And if you have diligence, it just keeps going on and on and on about how we should be ever 00:14:44.700 |
If ever you've been tempted to think, "I'm at least ahead of the pack," God did not call 00:14:56.400 |
Every single Christian should have this ever-growing hunger, "I want more of Christ in my life. 00:15:02.120 |
I want more of teaching because there's so much I don't know. 00:15:07.320 |
Every individual who's serving should be thinking, not to the hurtful way, but in a genuine desire, 00:15:21.160 |
And even if you're already loving, Scripture says, "I want you to abound even more in love." 00:15:27.240 |
You love in a way where nobody has to even teach you, but I want you to even abound more. 00:15:32.640 |
Christians, good and godly Christians, should be some of the most spiritually ambitious 00:15:40.600 |
Does that sound weird to you when I say that, that Christians should be ambitious? 00:16:02.800 |
This passage is so exhortational and we need to hear it. 00:16:06.640 |
What's more, I think there's another way in which we have the wrong mentality and not 00:16:11.760 |
the "I'm not there yet" mentality, which is the hopelessness mentality. 00:16:29.040 |
You see, this kind of mentality is so incredibly dangerous because it absolutely diminishes 00:16:36.920 |
what we're supposed to be thinking about the "not there yet." 00:16:41.520 |
In reality, Jesus Christ is working in you and through you. 00:16:46.160 |
The Holy Spirit is deposited in you and has surrounded you. 00:16:50.560 |
And should we think that this, this kind of mentality is the sum conclusion of that power 00:16:56.000 |
working in us, we don't understand the "not yet." 00:17:00.400 |
I think when Apostle Paul is saying "not yet," he's saying so much more than "Oh, goodness, 00:17:18.000 |
Verse 12 and then verse 13 and 14, you see a parallel of Apostle Paul reiterating the 00:17:27.040 |
Right smack in the middle of his sentences, he says, "I press on so that I may lay hold 00:17:33.680 |
Verse 13, "Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press 00:17:41.360 |
So likewise, we want to do a quick word study and ask him the question, "What does Apostle 00:17:51.400 |
So this term here, when he says "press on," I wanted to highlight it because we should 00:18:00.080 |
When Apostle Paul uses this, the definition, the most frequent used definition is to move 00:18:06.240 |
quickly, energetically towards something of an objective. 00:18:10.480 |
You're literally trying to go and get something, right? 00:18:14.060 |
You pressing on isn't just like, "Oh, it's hard, but I'm walking," right? 00:18:22.840 |
You're rushing to go grab that objective you have, right? 00:18:27.720 |
And for those of us who love sports, we get the whole imagery. 00:18:32.040 |
It's like, man, if the ball's in the air and you're a receiver, go get it. 00:18:36.200 |
You don't sit there and wait for it to come to you. 00:18:42.040 |
So we know that Apostle Paul uses this kind of terminology and has that same concept in 00:18:48.880 |
1 Timothy 6, verse 12, "Fight the good fight of faith. 00:18:52.560 |
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession 00:19:00.900 |
I use this term, and what I want to highlight for you is this term here, "take hold." 00:19:11.320 |
Because the press on idea, he's going to repeat in the attain and hold idea, okay? 00:19:19.400 |
The next passage is 1 Timothy 6, "Instruct those who are rich in this present world not 00:19:23.160 |
to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly 00:19:31.760 |
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 00:19:36.560 |
storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that," 00:19:41.960 |
take a look at this, "they may take hold of that which is life indeed." 00:19:48.200 |
So when you look at this passage, and it talks about pressing on, so that I may hold, and 00:19:54.960 |
he uses that again, we realize there is actually an incredible sense of energy and urgency. 00:20:02.320 |
He wants you to have this mentality of, "I am literally reaching forward to grab the 00:20:10.240 |
When I talk about this, you know, there was a part of me that wondered, like, "Man, I 00:20:16.800 |
I don't know how to be like, 'Come on, guys, let's do it!'" 00:20:22.040 |
My temperament is not like that, you know, and it's just going to be awkward. 00:20:26.560 |
But part of me, I was thinking, like, "But that's what I should do." 00:20:30.620 |
Because what Apostle Paul is doing is saying, "Look, look at the mentality that I have. 00:20:46.280 |
Rather than that being a discourage to me, that is a huge, huge challenge and impetus 00:20:51.080 |
for me to have this desire to not sit back passively. 00:20:57.960 |
And honestly speaking, I think right now, you know, if I want to think about our generation, 00:21:09.320 |
We're constantly waiting for somebody else to go and lead the way. 00:21:13.440 |
We're constantly waiting for somebody else to pave the path. 00:21:17.320 |
We're constantly waiting, like, "Who's going to take care of this problem? 00:21:22.680 |
And honestly speaking, there should be in us a great, great challenge to what the passage 00:21:33.680 |
Now, as I say that, what's very interesting is I believe what Apostle Paul meant for an 00:21:39.560 |
added impetus, an added encouragement to that sometimes is confusing, which is the whole 00:21:49.840 |
So I ask you that question, how does this passage address it? 00:21:53.240 |
How does this passage speak to that issue a little bit? 00:21:59.000 |
You see that he says, "I press on so that I may lay hold of that," and then he says, 00:22:12.080 |
And what's more, I'm, like, pressing forward and I'm reaching ahead, but God already called 00:22:19.920 |
And so those two parallel constructions have both elements in there, right? 00:22:25.320 |
Now, I wanted to give some diagrams because I was like, "Oh, cool. 00:22:29.080 |
PowerPoint can show you these cool diagrams," right? 00:22:32.560 |
For us, I think our problem is that we regularly think in zero-sum game, meaning if I'm doing 00:22:45.680 |
But remember, God does not have to operate on our linear path. 00:22:53.440 |
What's really interesting, though, I thought about this for a little bit, and I started 00:22:56.240 |
for some reason thinking back to when I was young, when I first became Christian. 00:23:00.400 |
And what's really interesting is somebody actually explained it to me this way. 00:23:03.680 |
What happens is Jesus worked, and he set into motion your work. 00:23:08.720 |
So that's what it is, is he put you into motion and he released you, and now you must go and 00:23:19.000 |
Have you guys ever heard that kind of preaching? 00:23:21.080 |
That's the way I learned it when I was younger. 00:23:23.120 |
When I would sometimes visit other churches or visit other places, they actually had it 00:23:28.420 |
They were like, "You need to work because God helps those who work." 00:23:37.320 |
And then later I learned the Bible, I was like, "That's pretty off." 00:23:42.800 |
What the Scripture says is there is this power exerted by God where he has unified you with 00:23:56.840 |
For your later encouragement, read John chapter 17, which is Jesus' high priestly prayer. 00:24:04.060 |
I love it because what Jesus prays is not, "God, do this so that they are empowered to 00:24:13.620 |
He says, "God, protect and keep these people in your name. 00:24:22.440 |
You in me, I in you, they in me, we would be one." 00:24:29.680 |
There is this incredible power of God that causes us to be spiritually united with Christ 00:24:35.640 |
where he says, "It is me working in you and through you." 00:24:40.900 |
And then the apostle Paul says in Galatians, "It's no longer I who even live. 00:24:48.740 |
So if you notice, I hid this little you in there. 00:24:53.980 |
I hope you are encouraged and left uplifted by all that. 00:24:56.860 |
The reason why this all matters is because for some people, hearing about Christ's sovereignty 00:25:05.000 |
in his work, because it's all confusing, they're just kind of like, "I don't know what to do 00:25:10.340 |
And they lose out on this incredible, incredible opportunity, I would say, or foundation is 00:25:16.900 |
better word, incredible theological truth that's supposed to empower you to press on. 00:25:26.140 |
Because you operate by your human eyes and you're not seeing the incredible power that's 00:25:32.460 |
not just simply around you working your circumstance, it's with you. 00:25:44.660 |
And so when Apostle Paul is going to then say, "This is how I press on," we should be 00:25:51.920 |
And so he says, "I press on," and what's really interesting about all this is after that then 00:26:00.980 |
After that then he gives this major exhortation in part three. 00:26:03.980 |
"Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude." 00:26:09.620 |
And remember, here the exhortation is not simply, "You know what? 00:26:15.900 |
I know you hit a wall, but just suck it up and do it," right? 00:26:19.340 |
No, actually there's so much more than the biblical challenge to that, because your exhortation 00:26:25.960 |
of fighting and working and laboring is never outside of the context of the sovereignty 00:26:34.300 |
And the reality is, yes, you're not perfect, but rather than being all discouraged by that, 00:26:39.500 |
Apostle Paul is saying, "I want you to have this attitude." 00:26:44.660 |
Verse 15 through 16 reads really different in the ESV. 00:26:51.460 |
I'm sure a good number of you guys are, right? 00:26:54.860 |
Can someone read that out loud for us and then kind of highlight what do you think is 00:27:29.620 |
So you notice there he says, rather than just simply saying, "Hey, have this attitude," 00:27:40.400 |
Is it when you stub your toe in the morning and you're like, "Great, this is going to 00:27:43.260 |
be a horrible day," and then you get to work and then you're just grumpy? 00:27:51.100 |
What's really interesting is the word for attitude here, the most common definition 00:27:57.420 |
is to employ one's faculty for thoughtful planning. 00:28:02.220 |
Kind of different than maybe what we think of attitude, right? 00:28:04.400 |
Maybe we think of attitude as just like you're frowning. 00:28:07.100 |
It's like, "Hey, turn that frown upside down," right? 00:28:10.740 |
Your attitude is just typically your feelings, right? 00:28:19.300 |
But actually the scriptures talk about it as you need to think in this pattern. 00:28:23.980 |
You need to exercise your God-given ability to think by the truths that God has given 00:28:37.620 |
Now, this is super important because as you guys know, I regularly kind of talk about 00:28:45.100 |
arenas where I think it's really helpful to people on a day-to-day basis. 00:28:54.700 |
When I have somebody who says this, I believe they are in a judgment of their lives. 00:29:08.180 |
These things that people say where I'm already there, I'll never be there, those are conclusive 00:29:16.820 |
So in my perspective, attitude is a judgment. 00:29:22.940 |
Apostle Paul, when he has this mindset, a worldview, an attitude, he has a judgment. 00:29:29.140 |
And what he said was, "You know what I observe? 00:29:31.540 |
I observe that I've been saved by the Messiah, the Lord of all. 00:29:35.940 |
The Son of God has saved me, me, the greatest of all sinners, and he's given me the incredible 00:29:41.060 |
privilege to proclaim his name, to exalt his glory. 00:29:58.240 |
We all exercise the faculty, our mental faculty of planning and thinking. 00:30:03.060 |
And what we do is we observe, we interpret, and then we judge. 00:30:11.780 |
And what needs to happen is you have to surrender that to God. 00:30:16.780 |
If you are in here struggling with this downcast attitude, "My life is horrible. 00:30:30.860 |
He's telling me to grow and persevere, and I just can't. 00:30:37.260 |
Understand some of that is, yes, you're just discouraged. 00:30:44.260 |
But some of that is a pattern of you observing some things about yourself, interpreting it 00:30:48.780 |
according to your own wisdom, and then concluding and judging yourself. 00:31:04.500 |
I'm just going to use you as an example because you're right there. 00:31:06.860 |
And let's say one of his children were just like right here, right in front of me, you 00:31:10.780 |
And then, you know, they're just like, "Oh, my goodness, so cute. 00:31:16.220 |
And you know, his babies, when they were babies, they were like plump, right? 00:31:19.420 |
It's like, "Oh, my gosh, he's so plump and supple and so cute. 00:31:25.820 |
He would feel honestly like happy, like, "Yeah, that's my son. 00:31:32.820 |
But then imagine if, you know, Richard's right there, and I see his kid, and it's like, "Dude, 00:31:41.880 |
And I started making all these weird comments, like, "Why is he like that? 00:31:47.540 |
You know, like, I started commenting like, "Oh, he's never going to make it. 00:31:53.820 |
Imagine if I said that stuff, how would Richard feel? 00:32:02.980 |
You're not allowed to say that stuff about other people's kid," right? 00:32:11.200 |
When you make judgments about yourself, that's you making judgments about someone who's not 00:32:21.740 |
You've been purchased by the blood of Christ, and God calls you a child. 00:32:25.900 |
When you make those comments, think about the feelings of the father. 00:32:32.500 |
You don't have the authority to say that kind of stuff. 00:32:35.980 |
You don't have the authority to make those judgments of, "I will never be there." 00:32:43.760 |
What I found as I counsel people was that sometimes the reason why it's so hard to 00:32:49.020 |
change attitude is because they have to surrender all of that judgment to God. 00:32:56.580 |
You've got to surrender your observation, you've got to surrender your interpretation, 00:33:00.540 |
and you also have to surrender your conclusion. 00:33:13.580 |
The exhortation is have this attitude of humility. 00:33:18.060 |
I'm a work in progress that God is working on, and He's in me. 00:33:22.260 |
Have this mentality that you can persevere because God has enabled you, but He has enabled 00:33:26.460 |
you in a sovereign way where He has already held you, and He has already called you. 00:33:37.780 |
That's the confidence we have when Scripture tells you, "Press on." 00:33:42.820 |
And so I want to conclude there that the Scripture says in this incredible fashion at the very 00:33:57.180 |
It says standard here, but it's really interesting. 00:34:01.660 |
That part of it's just in order to make it make sense, they added that. 00:34:06.260 |
But the idea is, "Let us therefore live by the same standard to which we've attained 00:34:14.980 |
God has sovereignly called us, and it is His desire for us to press on with that kind of, 00:34:25.340 |
When we're operating by all those truths, when we're operating by all of those convictions, 00:34:31.460 |
all of those confidences in God, what we're doing is walking by faith. 00:34:39.620 |
Lord, we want to thank you so much for your grace. 00:34:44.220 |
And God, we thank you, Lord, that Christ has prayed for us, that we would be protected 00:34:50.660 |
and guarded and kept in the name of God, the powerful name of God. 00:34:55.780 |
And so therefore, with great security, with great assurance, Lord, when you call, then 00:35:02.260 |
Lord, when you give us this exhortation, we want to obey. 00:35:06.260 |
And Lord, I pray for any individual who's discouraged, who is feeling hopeless, would 00:35:11.300 |
you grant to them the great strength that comes from the power of your word, and what's 00:35:16.100 |
more, the awareness of your spirit, the powerful spirit that's working in us and through us. 00:35:21.860 |
And I do pray, Father God, that, yes, we are so susceptible to living by our sight. 00:35:27.680 |
And Lord, that's very discouraging, because all we see is deficiency, weakness, and brokenness. 00:35:32.380 |
But God, we pray that we would walk by faith, looking forward to the great hope we have 00:35:38.100 |
in Christ, looking forward to the great eternity in heaven, which you have prepared for us.