Identification Truths

passed out next week's questions. Today, we're going to talk about, on that list number 21, I haven't updated the list for you in a while, but there's a couple of verses we're going to focus on today. And so, the first one is 1 Peter 2.9. Somebody has it. Go ahead and read it. for today or for next week. I think I do. I put them all up here because they're good enough. I don't know. You might be out of luck, pal. I don't think I do. Here we go. Yeah, this is for this week. Okay, somebody with a great voice read 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. Okay, somebody with a lousy voice.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Isn't that something? A few verses before that, Peter says, you also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. And next week we'll talk about what it means, part of being a priest.

You didn't know you were peculiar, did you? He was, but this is a plural. We're all peculiar. So how would you describe yourself as a chosen race? Do you think of yourself as a chosen race? How would you describe it? Are you different than them other guys? Yes or no? Yes. Yeah, you're a lot different. What's the first thing that makes you different?

We have Christ. So the issue is that those who have Christ are different, those who don't have him are the same. What specifically made you a chosen race? The choice of Christ. What's that? Christ. identification with Christ. So, you know, this is a class on identification. So, the issue is your identity with Christ, and your identity with Christ begins by being chosen. And when were you chosen? That's right. That's right. So, you're begotten again of God, you were chosen before then, and you're not only set apart for the Lord Jesus in heaven, but you're also nourished. Being a chosen generation makes you different.

I live in a very interesting neighborhood, the old Bellevue Bible Chapel that was bought by a Jewish group who are very strict. A lot of those Jewish people are buying in our neighborhood. When a house comes up for sale, they're the first ones to look at it. They have an aura of set-apartness.

They're different. And everybody in the neighborhood knows they are, because they make sure you know it by the way they dress. I've told you about the wire they have around. On the Sabbath, they can't go outside the wire. On Saturdays, they're always walking all over the place, kids all dressed up. Everybody's got the yarmulke on. The women have these great big hats.

And they have a school over there where they exhibit what you might say is that they're a different race. That's how they think of themselves. I'm not sure we as believers think of ourselves that way. Not that we need to be Jewish. But our race is where? Where's the origin of our race? Christ is. But my next question was, what's your ancestry as a chosen race? You know what I meant by that? People in America seem to like to go back and look up their ancestry, so they call Salt Lake City. Where is your ancestry? In Christ, and where is He?

So it's important to understand, I think, that we are a heavenly race of people. We are not earthly. It's not like being an illegal alien. We are really aliens compared to everybody else on this planet. We don't belong here. We're not from around here. We're just passing through.

Do you see that? To come to the understanding that our ancestry, if you're going to trace it back, where are you going to trace it? To Christ. And who is he? Where did he come from? He came from heaven. And so your ancestry is back to him. And once your ancestry is in him, your history is his history. And his history is eternal.

So, do you view yourselves as heavenly people? A heavenly race of people? I mean, you think the Klingons are different. You know, you showed up on this planet when the day that you were saved, it's like you went to heaven and came back. And now you're here, as a totally different race of people, but you look the same. Most of the time you act the same. But we really are this heavenly group of people. And we're here with a whole different set of principles and here to do things that are not earthly.

Does that make sense? So you could say that not only is what is true of him going forward true of us, but what is true of him going back is also true of us. Our buddy Bob Strong used to say in class, when you read the New Testament, whenever you see the Lord Jesus' name, put your name next to it, because what's true of Him is true of you, because that's where your ancestry is. It's Him.

In John 17, how are we described? Do you remember when we studied John 17? How did the Lord Jesus describe us? Those that the Father gave me, your unique people. And so, the Lord Jesus then had a desire that we would be with him and with the Father where they are.

See that? I don't think that this principle is emphasized enough in Christianity today. When it isn't emphasized, then people begin to think, well, all we are is just an extension of Judaism. No, we're not. Jews are earthly people. We are not earthly people anymore. No matter what the government says, we are not earthly people. So it's important, I think, to think of yourself that way.

Concerning a chosen people, what does your relationship say to sin? What's that? Well, again, if you're going to go back to your ancestry, you have to go back to what's Christ's relationship to sin? What's his relationship? It's not an issue. In Romans it says, for the death that he died, he died to sin, unto sin, once and for all. But in the life that he lives, he lives under God. So what's your relationship to sin? Same thing. Do you see that? Same thing.

How about your relationship to possessions? I put possessions in there. What kind of possessions do you have in terms of being a chosen person? What do you get being a chosen person? We're sons. I put down 2 Peter 1, 4, we're partakers of the divine nature. How about that? What's that word partake mean? It means you got it. It means it's yours. And you've escaped corruption that is in the world. Now, I know how you think. I'm me. and over here I got the divine nature and I added it on. Right? Isn't that how you think? Is that the way to look at it?

You're a partaker of the divine nature and all the rest you're separated from. I'll be taking into consideration where you came from, that you were chosen for the creation of the world. Don't you find it interesting how God has done things? Everybody in this room is this chosen generation. And you were chosen before the foundations of eternity, right? God knew you in Christ then. Knew you. I don't mean He knew what you were going to do. He knew each one of us personally, as a person then.

But in time-space reality, what does He do? He brings you into existence on the planet through Adam. and you show up here, being of the earth, with the sin nature, all that goes with it. And then at some point in your time-space existence, by the exercise of faith, you become positioning what you've always been, from his perspective. Do you see that?

And so now, the problem we have is that we think that if we're Irish, we're from Ireland. Well, the problem is that you're now from Christ, who is heavenly. You're not from Ireland anymore, or Denver. You're not from here. Even though you looked in the mirror the day after you were saved and it looked like the same old guy. But you're not the same creature.

I keep hammering that point because I think it's important for us to know what our position is. So what is our position as a chosen people? What's our relationship to the position that we have? Full entrance. We have a position as it relates to coming into the planet through Adam and sin. We have a position that relates to that now. And what is that position? We're separated, right? We have a position on the other side of which we are in our relationship to Christ and the Father.

We're not only free from, but we're free to. A lot of believers really work hard on being free from the power of sin, forgetting that the other half is to be free to abide in Christ. Stoney says there's a lot of people that haven't really went to God and seen how he feels about it. Once you do that, you can really be set free in who you are in Christ. Yeah, it's very interesting that, Don and I talk a lot about this, how the Word of God, especially in Paul's epistles, page after page lays out this incredible description of who we are in Christ, and who Christ is, and what He, you know, the favor He enjoys with the Father, which is the same favor we enjoy, page after page, and we as believers read it and look at it as though it's, well, maybe it's true. Maybe when I go to heaven I'll know what that's about. That's ridiculous. We're errors right now. Right now.

Colossians 2.9, a different translation says, for it is in Christ that the fullness of God's nature dwells embodied.

And in Him you are made complete. What's the word complete mean? To be made whole. It means that you've arrived at the fullness of what you were designed to be. In Christ, in your position in Him, you are everything that God designed you to be, now. Not next week when you get done praying a lot. Now.

Where does growth come in? That's a great question. Everybody hear the question? Where does growth come in? Anybody want to tackle that? It's a good question. If I have this position, you know, that I'm complete. Think about what Colossians 2.9 says. For in Christ Jesus is the fullness of God's nature. in this man Christ is the fullness of God. And then it says that in him I'm complete. So the beginning of the answer is understanding the difference between what my position is and what my condition is.

My condition may never line up while I'm here with my position, but I have a position that is can't be touched. No matter what happens conditionally, my position is always there. Okay? Don't you never really arrive? That's a double negative. Picked right up on that. Go ahead. That means I do arrive. Go ahead. Do I ever arrive at my position from a conditional standpoint? Yeah, no, I don't think so here, conditionally. But how do I say this? There are several important aspects here. One, we as this chosen people, how do we live our life? What is the one thing we do? How do we live? By faith, right? And in order to live by faith, you've got to know what to believe, don't you? You just can't say, George Bush. No. It's got to be specific, positional truth. It's got to be something about my position that God has revealed to me in His Word. He shows me who I am, what I have, and where I am.

As a chosen generation, I live by faith in the facts that God shows me, and not by how I feel about them. or how my circumstances confirm or deny them. I believe Him. Now, what's the growth part? The growth part is the Holy Spirit implementing in my conditional existence what's already true of me positionally. But I'm functioning by faith. I'm believing what God tells me.

And He tells us these stupendous facts about who we are and what's happened to us. Not so much for us, but to us. Do you believe you're a chosen generation from heaven, positioned in Christ, complete? Do you believe that, moment by moment? Because that's who you are, whether you abide or not. When we think about our condition and our position, at least I find myself focused When I put my faith in Him, in His position, then the Holy Spirit shows me a peace and a rest.

But we're so generally trained to be that way. Yeah, we're so subjective and that's the curse of the sins. But without that there wouldn't be the need because of man's Well, see, it's interesting how God does that. He lets us go there, which in turn creates a need. You begin to see good old me from Adam for what I really am, the dog that I am, which creates the need.

Miles Stanford's most profound saying is, we have to trust the Lord. It's come to that. And it's got to come to that. It does. Otherwise, you're satisfied in your flesh. You know? And so, the more spiritual believer thanks the Lord for those things that come in his life because he knows what they're there for. Again, he's living by faith. He knows, not only does he know the position, but he knows the principles that God works under. And he rests in those, no matter what the circumstances are. Eloi is a good example of that. You watch how he's reacting to what's going on in his life. You don't see any woe-me's there. And it isn't put on.

And he would come to my room and write out, he wrote out this one thing I talked about before. And I thought, yeah, brother, but wait till it happens to yours. Well, it has. And he has done it a hundred times better than I could ever have done, but at least he had written that out for me. And by living by that, he gave me the strength And you know what's interesting about that?

If Al was sitting here, we asked him about that, he would not take any credit for it, because he knows the source of his life. It's not him. He recognizes probably more than anybody around here what a dog he is in the flesh. I still have this vision of a guy holding a bourbon, smoking a cigar, betting on blackjack. I still see that in my mind. I hope none of my buddies ever show up around here and tell you about me. It seems his position is more of a reality to him than his conditioning.

And it shows you that the other interesting principle about growth is it takes time. It just does. He has told me that he wants to come and teach Romans 6, because he feels so strongly that he has emphasized our position, condition, and he wants to emphasize our identity with the person of Christ, not just his works. Because when we talk about our position and our condition, we emphasize Christ's works for us, versus who He is. And he says that's what's missed by a lot of investigation truth teaching.

That's interesting. I had a call this last week from a guy in Branson, Missouri. And this guy was a missionary for 40 plus years. And back in the 70s, somebody gave him a copy of Miles' Green Letters, so he wrote a letter to Miles, and that started a 25-year correspondence in which Miles carefully nurtured this guy, and grew him up in Christ, is what happened. And he's a guy in his 80s now, and you can tell he's a very humble guy.

And he ordered this book I have called Positioned to Person, which is what you're talking about. And he said to me, you know, not everybody will understand what position a person is. He said, you have to spend quite a few years growing to understand that what God is really up to is taking you from the position that's yours, and all the facts about it, and your faith in it, to the person of Christ. So that there's this intimacy and fellowship with him in which he is the position. And so it is person-to-person. It's not intellect-to-facts. It's person-to-person. See that? Not to discount learning the position. You've got to learn it. You've got to be able to read, or you've got to be able to hear. You understand?

And comprehend via the work of the Holy Spirit. But it's all designed for this one goal. And that's that every one of these chosen people would have an intimacy, personal intimacy with Christ while still here. And that intimacy is what conforms you to his image. See that? Think about how God's principles work.

Nobody else, no other system, no other religion, and most Christian denominations don't get that point. And that's THE point. that God would want us to have fellowship with Him. There's still that barrier? No, there's not. I mean in other churches? Sure.

And that's the real tragedy of legalism. Legalism stifles that intimacy because it forces... Who was it? Somebody was saying a few weeks ago that they were listening to this guy we had here helping out with Wayne Blackney's funeral. that as he was teaching, or as he was speaking, their focus went from thinking about Christ right into themselves, as they were listening. That's what the law does. And what does it do? If you're focused on you, that means you aren't focused on Christ. There is no fellowship. I think it's because they're really not thoroughly convinced on how God feels about them. They may just be ignorant. They may not know. All there is left is just to try and please God. So, racing ahead here.

The next thing about who we are is that we are a royal and a royal priesthood. What does it mean to be a priest? In the Old Testament time, There were these two groups of guys. There were priests and there were prophets. And each one of them had a different job. Basically, what was their job?

The priest represented the people before God, right? And he's the one that did the sacrifices and all of that. And he approached God and he would say, OK, we've done all this stuff. I'm representing the people. And a prophet was a guy who came from God, representing God to the people.

See that? So, my question is, what does a priest do in this generation? He prays. He prays? He represents the people. What's that? He represents the people to God. So, everybody in this room is a priest. Who are you representing? Everybody. And how do you do it? I mean, are you going to God and begging him not to punish people because of their sins? What's that? We're a proclaimer of the excellencies.

If you go back in Hebrews 7, chapter 7, 1 through 28, not that we'll go through it all now, what's interesting about that is it's a description of the priesthood of the Order of Melchizedek. And there's a distinction made there that the Lord Jesus Christ is a high priest after the Order of Melchizedek and not after the Order of Levi. Levi, the Levitical priesthood was instituted for earthly men, sinful men. What's interesting about Melchizedek, what's the first thing Melchizedek did when Abraham met him? What's the first thing he did? Melchizedek. What did Melchizedek do?

He blessed him. That's the number one job of a priest today. You're to bless. And why? That's right, because everything is taken care of. As a priest today, your job is blessing. How do you do that? Good question. How do you do that? How do you do that? You rest.

Pick my buddy across the street, non-believer. How would I bless him as a priest? What would I say to him that would be a blessing to him? The one and only thing I would say to him is that your sins have been paid for. Receive the blessing. That's what I would say. Is he out there working? I better go over and talk to him. Now it's kind of brown. I don't know. It needs water.

So the number one thing as a priest today is blessing. And what you'll find As our discussion has evolved here this morning, what you're going to find is that if you're a priest, a holy priesthood, in amongst the chosen people, if you're the one doing the blessing, what are you doing? Really what you're doing is promulgating positional truth in amongst your fellow chosen people. Isn't that what you do? You're putting cookies on the lower shelf. Thank you, Jay. I got this from a guy named C.E. Stewart, who's an old brethren guy.

He said, the holy priesthood is a designation of all believers, every single believer. And here's what he says, to draw near unto the Father, having access through the Lord Jesus Christ, by one spirit unto the Father, is our privilege now. To enter the holiest is a favor granted to us now. The highest calling that a Levitical priest had was what? If you were the high priest, what was the top thing you got to do? You got to go into the holy of holies. Right? Guess what? Guess where you get to go?

And we're going to talk about that next week. That's what all the class next week is going to be about. is access. That's what a priest has. He has access. We get to tell people that they have access as well. Yeah, that's exactly right. Steve? Conversely, is there anything going on out there today that we typically hear that's claimed to be a blessing that isn't? What's that? I didn't hear that. What's interesting? Go ahead, Mike. How about Benny Hinn? Okay. What does Benny Hinn offer you? And is it all gracious? Is it all gracious? Here's two questions about Benny Hinn. Does he offer you heavenly blessings? No. Does he understand that he's a member of this chosen generation, a royal priesthood?

He has not a clue. Not a clue. So Benny's last name ought to be Hinnstein, because he's more Jewish than he is Heavenly. See that? Now, Benny Hinn could stand, if he were a godly man, to read the book of Hebrews to figure out who he is. He really could. Of course, it would screw up his ministry, but the Word of God has a tendency to do that. What you'll notice is that all high-profile, and I say all, televised and most of the radio ministries are Jewish in content because they're not gracious.

They're all based on you've got to do something to achieve some sort of favor from God. And in amongst there somewhere is your money. When the gospel and the truth is that you have been blessed with every spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that's where you start. All of that. It's all legal. Every bit of it is legal. I think that has a lot to do with experience.

A lot of people have an experience and as compared to just a natural believing God's word, you know, so subsequently they're looking for that extra experience If you want to spend some time in just a few minutes writing down what the facts are of you being a paroial priest, just read Hebrews chapter 7. It's a great chapter because it talks about Melchizedek, that Christ is of the order of Melchizedek, which means that's who you are.

Hebrews 7.4 says, this is a great verse, it says, Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who received the office of priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. but whose descent is not counted for them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises." The contrast there is between a Levitical priesthood and what you find today in contemporary Christianity is everybody is trying to make you a Levite, rather than a Melchizedek.

That's exactly the point. And the thing about Melchizedek is that his main job was blessing. And the reason it was blessing is because all of the requirements had been accomplished. You see that? And Melchizedek preceded the Mosaic Law. So Christ being a priest after the order of Melchizedek, the sin issue is resolved. We're studying Hebrews on Thursday night. By verse 2, you have Christ, the high priest, sitting down because the job is done. I remember years ago that Roy was teaching about the elements of the temple and what was in there.

You know the one piece of furniture that wasn't in the Jewish temple? A chair, or a bench, or a couch, or a barka lounger. There was none of that in there, because it wasn't done, right? But in Hebrews, in the first chapter, second or third verse, it says, when he had purged our sins, what did he do? He sat down. A Melchizedek priest functions from a sitting position. Job done.

Revelation 1.5, unto him that loves us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us a kingdom of priests, unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever.

So not only are you a chosen people, you're a kingdom of priests. So what does it mean to be a holy nation? This is way more information than you thought you were going to get today, right? You're a set-apart body of believers to Christ. Holy means to be set-apart. So not only are you chosen, but you're set-apart.

We're a nation of people. In the set-apartness, we're members of what? Of this thing called the new creation. We're the first fruits of that. Yeah, what is a nation? With the same identity. Wouldn't you say? Language. Ancestry. Citizenship. Ambassadorship. same ruler, same genealogy, same everything. That's who we are.

We're set apart. Now, notice, in the rest of that, it's an interesting verse, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Now, what does it mean to be God's own possession? You mean somebody owns us? Yeah, cool. That's peculiar. You're really oddballs. And the reason you are is that somebody... I couldn't find in the Constitution that I could be owned. That's right.

So, with all that in place, the next part of the verse says, "...so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of the darkness." What are those excellencies? What do you think they are? And the proclamation word here is, let's see if I can, ex angelo, to tell out forth, to declare abroad, to divulge, to publish, to make known, by praising or proclaiming, it even means to celebrate. Your position on blessings?

The evangelistic method these days kind of goes towards, you guys are all a bunch of bad guys and God is really going to beat you up if you don't repent and change your ways. You know what the real draw to Christ is? One of my favorite verses is Romans chapter 2 verse 4. Listen to this. or despises thou the riches of his goodness and the forbearance and longsuffering, and here's the key part, not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance.

It's not the threats, it's his goodness. So when we're proclaiming these things of God, what are we proclaiming? His goodness, his grace, his mercy, these marvelous things. And the unbeliever is contrary to that, so all he thinks of is law. Oh, if I don't do this, God's going to... Yeah. Well, and the Gospel message, it's interesting. The Gospel is a very simple, precise... Can somebody tell me what the Gospel is in three phrases? What is it? What is the Gospel? 1 Corinthians 15. Yeah. And what is it? According to the Scriptures. What's the next part? And what's the third part?

Rose. That's it. That's it. That's the entire good news. Why is that such good news? Because it was all done by Him. All of it. And notice the gospel doesn't require you to do anything, just the message. So what do you, as a non-believer, my buddy out working in his yard, I can go over there and give him the gospel, what does God require of him? That he believes it. Does he get credit for believing? Nope. Is there any credit in his faith? Where's the credit? The credit's in the gospel, not in his faith. So God goes to a man and says, I'm proclaiming out to you this incredible good news. Or you go proclaim this incredible good news, and what is the response? Do you believe him or not?

It's real simple. And if you believe him, it's the one thing you can do you can't take any credit for. It's very cool. And spiritual growth is the same way. It's the thing you continue to do you don't get any credit for. But look at the benefits derived. It just hit me hearing Galatians, it says, he who set me apart even from my mother's womb called me through his grace. It's unbelievable.

If you're of a legal bench, you're always trying to get some place of greater favor in God's sight. And all God is telling us is, you already are favored. You already are all these things. As a matter of fact, you are, according to Ephesians, beyond what you ever could think or ask. It's already true. What are you supposed to do about it? Believe them. That's it. That's it.

It's cool the way God set it up. Now, the mind of the flesh, the natural mind, how does he look at that? Apathy. If I live like that, my family won't get fed. If I live like that, boy, I'm going to be a failure in the world. That's okay. Nothing happens unless I do it.

Isn't Rush Limbaugh a member of the Twelve Apostles? I mean, isn't he a prophet? Am I not supposed to be out there doing what he proclaims we should do? The thing that we don't realize is that we live on grace, and grace is the greatest motivator there is, much more so than law. Should our zeal be just for conversions? I think there's more problem with growth than conversion.

If you study the spiritual gifts, how many of them are for the body of Christ and how many of them are for outside the body of Christ? One of them is for outside evangelism, right? That's the recruiter. All the rest of them are for what? The edification of the body of Christ, right?

So why does contemporary Christianity put all of their emphasis on the one? Conversions. No emphasis on all the rest of them, which is the edification of the body. Don't understand. But we as believers, especially as royal priests, have to keep in mind that the rebirth of the soul is just the beginning of our priesthood, not the end of it. It's just the start.

The burden of us as Christians is to minister Christ to those who are in Christ. Do you see that? It's like around here. You know what the stated purpose of what we do around here is for? You know what we're doing around here is to equip saints for the ministry. That's the job, right? How do you do that? You teach. You teach the Word of God. I know. We knew that about you.

I want you to look at this verse again because it's interesting. Peter says that you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, but for what purpose has all of this been accomplished?" He goes on to say that you should put forth the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, but you are that you should. Do you see that? You are that you should.

Now, when I mean equipping saints for the ministry, I don't mean that you walk out of here and become a pastor someplace. What do you do if you're equipped? Wherever you're going, whatever you're doing, you're equipped. And trust me, as you get equipped, God will lead people to you. And you'll be ready. And what will you be doing? You will be functioning as a priest. You will be blessing people. That's what you'll be doing. Well, you just made it legal, didn't you? So, the whole reason that we're here, at a place like this, is to get equipped. For what reason? So that we can bless others. It may be in another body of believers. It may be just in the sphere of influence. It may be in a Bible study you have. It may be in your family. Somewhere, that's what's going on.

Brian and Julia White left here and they went to North Carolina. Do you think that God is going to put them in a place where they can bless people? You better believe He is. And they're looking already. Brian went to some deal last week where he spent three hours with a pastor in a church and now he's going to have lunch with a guy. What's Brian after?

He's looking for a place that God would plug him in so he could bless people. That's what he's looking for. Isn't he going about it the wrong way? I'm looking. Well, he's looking around at different churches, primarily motivated by the fact that he wants his family in a group of believers. But he recognizes now, humbly, that God will use him, because he's, to some degree, equipped. He really is.

So, how are we doing time-wise? Two minutes? Good. So in two minutes, list the good deeds that Paul refers to in Titus. Now they get quiet. What's that? What would some of those good deeds be? Okay. Sensibly, righteously, and godly in this present age. Oh boy. That's right. That you be what you are. In other words, Let's see here. I hate your taxes. Actually, yes. I'll read a paragraph that I copied from someplace.

He then rose, leaving them all behind, he introduced us into a position, a place on high with the Father, a fitting sphere for that life to grow and become fruitful. He gives us the glory he has as a man, the possessions of all he will inherit. Then he looks for the fruit, suited to that new condition which the Father has foreordained for us to walk in."

And how do you walk? You walk by grace. Now listen to this next part. This is for Steve. Slowly and painfully, you will learn to be dependent upon your Heavenly Father. He has ordained and laid out His plan for your life. And as you grow spiritually, you will be walking in the path He has chosen for you. I love when Hal talks about, in Corinthians, that we are an epistle of Christ for all men to read. You know what's terrific about an epistle? I got a letter from somebody today. How does a letter communicate? Non-verbally. We've got this idea that we've got to be talking all the time. An epistle of Christ is non-verbal communicator.

So how do they see? How do they get it? It's the work of the Holy Spirit. In you. They see. As the Spirit conforms you to the image of Christ, Hal likes to say, you may be the only Bible they ever get to read. You're the Bible. You're the Word. You're the one that manifests the life.

It's like, I can't hear what you're saying because what you're doing speaks too loud to me. Do you understand what I mean by that? So as the Spirit conforms you to the image of Christ, into this sacrificial priest who blesses, people notice. They notice. And you don't have to tell them. They see. You okay with that? Donna. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

And in John 17, he said, Father, I send them as you have sent me. To do what? What was Jesus here to do? Manifest the Father. What were we here to do? the Lord Jesus and the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And we're sons. I'm done, let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for our position in your Son. And as we grow slowly, ever so slowly, to understand our position, our possessions, and who we are. We look forward to beholding your glory and abiding in your dear Son, and we pray in his name. Amen.