You In Christ and Christ in You
Courtney Hemenway · Oct 18, 2009
You in Christ & Christ in You, No. 42
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926145284633

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, we are completing lesson 27. You guys all have 27? Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I apologize on the tape, guys. Coughing. All right, I'm just going to go through. Mike and I talk a lot about this. We talked before he was putting this together and then after he'd started through this. And just wondering, and if I have time in the end, depending, I'm going to do something a little different too. Basically, have you understood going through these verses? As I told Mike, we have all the pieces here, but has the puzzle been put together at all?

Or are these just, we see one tree, and that's a really nice tree. Then we go on to the next tree, and that's a really nice tree. But what does the forest look like? What does it all mean? So I want to kind of go back through and walk through these just a little bit and try and at least see where Mike was going with this. And I agree with this and then something like I said at the end, I want to grab some time.

Starting off in the 2 Corinthians 3.18, that's the very first verse up there in Lesson 27. And this is one, as you know, you know, with Micah. This is his favorite verse. And I think, you know, understanding it more and more, I think it's very appropriate for us to understand this verse.

And so 2 Corinthians 3, 18, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit. The key on this is for us. And then he starts out with 2 Corinthians 3.18, but then we move through some Old Testament ones. And the purpose of it was to see the difference between us now and Old Testament saints. And just the difference in the privileges that you have right now. And so we started out with where we're at, unveiled face, which I love. which I'll get in some later verses, we have the boldness to come before it with unveiled face.

The unveiled face, to me, is the intimacy. We don't have to talk through a curtain anymore. We don't have to talk in a prayer, flowery verse. When we pray, we don't have to go in this veiled face and humbled and down we have intimacy, we have this difference than what the Old Testament saints had. And that's what Mike's trying to point out by what 2 Corinthians does, is that boldness, that freedom that we have, and what that does to us, and what fellowship, and the key word that is in there, the beholding. Behold, what does that mean? Behold. And so, Mike started to develop these verses, and just showing the differences.

So if we go on to Isaiah, the verses in Isaiah 6, 5 through 7, beginning in verse 5 of Isaiah 6. Then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity has been taken away, and your sin is forgiven.

What's Isaiah saying when he comes? Is he coming with unveiled face? Is he coming as one who feels fit to be there? No. You know, I always remember this one too. I thought, you know, be honest. How many would be like Isaiah? How many would do that? How many would feel that same way? Putting that before the Lord of hosts.

Do you feel worthy? No. That's why we're going through these verses. You should be. As a believer, you should be. And that's why the contrast of these verses is Isaiah is before the Lord a host, and what's he doing? He's going, whoa, I am not fit to be here. And so he comes over with the burning coal, and OK, you can speak, because I touched you. You're worthy. That's why I asked that question. You all, that's why we're going through these verses.

You should feel worthy. You are fit to be there. You shouldn't be like Isaiah. You really shouldn't. What about our sinful nature? Yeah, okay. What about it? Well, so, you know, it's a great thing that Christ died for our sins, but we still have it. Little bad thoughts creep into our brain. They do for you. Well, I never have that. I never have that. No, I'm joking. We all have that.

We all have the old man. We are dead unto sin, but that doesn't mean that the old man is dead. We have two natures within us. And yeah, those still crop up. We all struggle with that. I think as what is the Second Corinthians were being transformed. And what does that transformation mean? Is that for the old man? No. So the transformation is the new man being, and I say with spiritual maturity, that means just, to me, that means the new man is being manifested more than the old. That's what I say is maturity.

When you start to, you know, and I think of my own life, there's things that used to either irritate me, bother me, whatever, get me angry. those things start to fade away as you behold Him. The focus becomes more on the Lord. I always go, what's that hymn? Strangely dim, the things of earth grow strangely dim. I think the thing is you mature, those things of the old man start to fade away.

As you become focused beholding, beholding as in 2 Corinthians, you're beholding Him. And how do you do that? You look in His Word. That's the mirror of the truth. And then you're transformed. And the transformation is more of the old man becoming kind of the dominant one of your existence. Right, I know, it makes you grow into the image of Christ, behold Him, right? Yeah. But you still have that sinful nature, it's not going to go away. No, but it becomes less and less dominant. You know, as you behold Him more, if I'm focused on the Lord, Am I going to be looking at something else and, oh, look over there. What happens when I look over there? Well, yeah, that's the old man looking over there.

But the new man, what did Christ do every day? What did he do every day when he was here? He did the will of the Father every day. And Mike's brought this out a lot. Did he get up every morning and say, OK, today I'm going to do the will of the Father. OK, and what is the will of the Father? OK, let me think about this. Let me think about it. If our life is his life, shouldn't we start to be that way? As we're transformed into the image of Christ, it's not like we get up and, OK, I've got to do the will of the Father today.

To me, it's as you are transformed, that life comes out. And less of the old is the dominant part of you. It's like I said, things that used to irritate me don't irritate me as much. Things that I may have craved or looked. Now as I become more focused on the Lord, and we'll get into the verses about how when you enter in, you transform, you're changed. Those things of the world become dim, they become less and less. So as you behold him, that sinful nature is less and less a part of you.

I mean it's still there, it'll always be there until we're taken. So to me it's the maturity part. Maturity means to me the manifestation of a new man being transformed into the image of Christ. in our condition. Again, remember position and condition, too. Positionally, we're there. Condition, we're here. But shouldn't we keep in mind that Christ took care of that old sin, didn't He? He only healed it through the cross. And we must reckon that that is true. And He has provided for the daily sins that we do by 1 John 1, 9. You took care of that.

You know, maybe this is something from Miles' spiritual anthology exposition papers. I was going to say this to the end, but maybe, if you indulge me for a minute, this was one that I read the other day. I try to read one of these and one of The Hungry Heart every day, and this one caught me. It was, For to me, to live is Christ. Okay? And the transformation. I've been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I live, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live, I live in the flesh by faith.

Galatians 2.20. I live because of course the person, the individual remains still the same. It's not a platonic mysticism nor pantheistic absorption into the ocean of being. Our identity is still the same. He created us with identity. Monique. Calvin. Steve. We're all individuals. Those are individuals. He created us individually. So that part, that individuality is still there in each one of us. Going on.

But it is no longer I, because of the blessed fact of my death unto sin and the Lord Jesus on the cross, and because of his risen and ascended life for me in heaven, which I by faith have laid hold of. I have come into the infinite blessedness of my Father's thoughts and actions concerning me, Him whom God has accepted for me, and as me I have learned to accept in the same way for and as myself. as the life which he has given me is his own very life, and has in him its source and spring, a life hid with Christ in God. So in me Christ lives down here. I have by faith realized identification with him as his, part of himself, for we are members of his body."

Ephesians 5.30. His peace, his joy, are mine. His life and spirit are mine. His pursuits, objects, interests are mine. The love of his father is mine. His present rejection and future glory are mine also. And all this and the power of love with which he has, at his own personal cost, set me completely free from all that I but now had title to or which had title to me." So, you know, he set me completely free from those things, the reckoning.

I have now rest for my heart. I am no more at the impractical work of trying to be what I am not. I thought that was a really good one. I'll read that again. I have now rest for my heart. I am no more at the impractical work of trying to be what I am not. I am all I desire to be.

Do you believe that? In Christ? What are you trying to be? You know, I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to do this. Oh, I'm going to work hard. I'm going to do this. As Mike says, spiritual push-ups. Ooh, if I do it, you know, I'm going to be... You are in Christ. Only sense and experience do not present me rue self at all. My life is in Christ Jesus. I am in Him, and this only faith recognizes, which recognizes also the cross of Lord Jesus, as that wherein my old man was judged, and set in death for God. My old man was crucified with Christ. The new man is the man in Christ alone. Here the perpetual sunshine settles down on my soul. God is for me, with me, and must ever be. No cloud is there of His putting. No hiding ever of the Father's face.

I may turn away, true. I may forget. But I am only to turn to Him again his glorious face shining upon me in his own beloved and in his presence I am welcome and at home. The spirit who has come to take of these things of Christ and show them to my soul comes not to fill me with my own righteousness or gladden me with my own beauty or set up another object before me outside of the Lord Jesus whom whom I love and before whom I stand in glory. The Lord Jesus and he alone is faith object for it knows no other. Ought I to have faith in myself?

Ought I to have an object here? The cross of Christ, then, is the death of the old man, his grave its burial, that, burying my dead out of my sight, I may be free to be occupied with him who is not dead, but living, and whom I live." Again, a lot of the identification in here, the reckoning, Do you believe this stuff? Are you dead unto sin? Does it hold you in power? I'd certainly fail.

I mean, there are days when, you know, what were you thinking? But as I study and look at Christ more and more, that's who I am. Positionally now, conditionally, that's what my image is being transformed into. And I just, you know, I think of all the things we go through in this class, you know, and I hope you start understanding that, putting the pieces together, and, you know, why we go through this. And at the end, I'll be touching the grace a little bit. So, sorry, little thing I was thinking about this morning when I went through. All right, so we have Isaiah then.

He put in Romans 12.1. We don't know why. We'll go past that one. I looked at his notes and it was like, it's there, but nothing else. And then we talked about it. When I put this together, there was a really good reason why I put that in there. But I, for the life of me, can't figure out why I put it in there right now.

So we'll move on to Psalm 73, 1 through 17. Again, basically, I won't go through all of it. It basically is the psalmist saying, you know, look at all these people out there, look at all this. I, I, I, look, ooh, ugly, wicked, I, ooh, wicked, ugly, I. But then, in verse 17, 16. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight.

17. Until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I perceived their end. So what transformed him? He began to be occupied with God. He came into the sanctuary and guess what? He got his perspective. And it changed him. He stepped into the presence of the Lord and guess what?

Changes you you're transformed Okay, we're gonna have Philippians 4 6 And number 5 be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God I So, what is the difference between the psalmist who went into the sanctuary and then this one, be anxious for nothing and everything, suffocation, let your request be, remain known to God. Straight in. What's the difference between the psalmist and Paul's case here in the Philippians? Is there a difference? We're transformed. We're fit to be there. We don't have to go into the sanctuary. We are fit right here, right now, to go to God with anything. So, that qualification is going into the sanctuary. We can go anytime, anyplace.

You know, this verse I always love. And I talk to a lot of people about this. And if you're honest with yourself, there are a lot of times when you go, God's busy. He's got all the rest of the world taken care of. I mean, do you do that? If there's some little tiny thing, do you not go to Him? Because, eh, I'll deal with that one. I do it. I do it.

And then I realize, that's stupid. The other is, oh, this is too big for God. God cannot do this. He cannot do this. Wow. You know, let's see. Created the earth, created the earth. I can't do that. I put Him in a box, and He can't do that. You know, so there's a micro and a macro that people get into.

You know, your sister, pray for her. It may answer, it may answer. You know, the comfort is answering. He knows about it. And he wants you to go with all, everything, with prayer and supplication, and he'll go. The peace that you have knowing that he knows that. He knows everything about her. He knows what's best for her.

And I'll get into some verses if I can. what that means to go. And sometimes it's a yes, sometimes it's a no, sometimes it's not an answer, sometimes it's a wait, sometimes it's a maybe. But you have peace knowing that He knows about it. And whatever the outcome.

You know, your mom and all these things, you know, their thing, my mom, you know, going through all this stuff, breathing, all the different things. I have complete peace in that God knows about it. You know, one of my isms that I always say, God never says, oops. Never says that. He knows exactly about it.

And we'll get into some verses that, if you know that, and you're comforted by the fact that he loves you, and you're never separated from that love, then would he be doing this maliciously? No. Okay. Then we, let's see. We were at six when he stopped. Oh, you know, the other one which I like at the end of that verse, We always say, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And we stop there. What does verse 7 say?

What? Reaches peace, the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension. Yeah. Hello. Don't stop at 6, go to 7. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will operative word, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So again, that's that knowledge that when you go before him, you can have peace because you know he knows about the situation. He's in control. Is he a sovereign God?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And if you know that, go back to the Halism. Do Christians have tragedies? You may think so, but in God's economy, he knows exactly what's going on. So, that's where you get that peace. If you truly understand that, you can have peace in any situation, in anything. Believe that. Understand that. Alright, 2 Corinthians 12, 7-9.

Because of the passing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, There was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me, the thorns. And he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Then most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. So, why was the thorn there? Why did Paul have a thorn in his side?

He says to keep him from exalting himself. Yeah, yeah, it was... I didn't hear that. What did she say? Go ahead. She says in the verse to keep Paul from exalting himself because he had been so privileged. Yeah, he had just come back from the third heaven. And then he implores him three times. So, Paul's been in places where, I think it says, unspeakable, he can't even say the things of what he saw in the third heaven with him.

And so, how can we put it? You just got invited to, I don't know, I wouldn't say with the president now, that didn't work. Many of you, I should say. Whatever. The greatest person you ever want to know, and you sit down and, woo, what's the first thing you do? You want to tell everybody about it. I was with, woo, I was there. Paul, I think, he got to a place where we can't even imagine.

Third heaven, he's with the Lord. Third heaven, he's there, and he comes back down. The Lord has a little thorn in him for the purpose of, OK, bud, you think you're privileged? Well, this little thorn here is going to keep you from exalting yourself.

So what does Paul do about it? You look with mystified eyes. He rejoices in his weakness. What's that? He rejoices in his weakness. Well, what does he do first? He prays. He prays. He asks. He wants to remove. He accepts it. No, he didn't. First three times, what did he do?

Hello. Hello. Take it out of here. I'm done. This is not fun. He says, remove it. He goes not once, not twice, but three times. He goes to the Lord saying, I wouldn't be boastful, I wouldn't be proud, I wouldn't be exalted. Trust me, trust me. I'm sure the first time was that. The first time Paul goes, it was something like, what have we got here? I'm cool, I'm not going to be exalting myself. Second time, yeah, third time. He goes three times to the Lord about this. And after he spent time in what I think was called the third heaven with him, and he still goes to him going, hey, remove this. But what happens after the third time?

He accepts it. He accepts it. Why? He believes in God's perspective of what is occurring in his life, I guess. There's a definite change in his perspective. After three times, what does he say? I'm so, okay, I'll deal with this. What does he say? Thanks God for the pain. Most gladly. Most gladly. How many of you people around saying, thank you for this thorn? Yeah, my hip, my knees. I can go through the litany of things and I think there are some thorns in me that have gone through.

But after three times, he gets whose perspective? God's perspective, not his own. Again, between these verses now, what changes you? It's understanding the Lord, beholding the Lord, and you get His perspective. After the third time, I'm sure the Lord says, hey, Paul, this is to keep you humble. I know you. I made you. And Paul goes, OK. I understand.

Most gladly, therefore I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." So he was transformed by going to the Lord three times. He got his perspective rather than what Paul wanted. You know what, I can say that for myself. How many times have I... I go to the Lord three times, ten times, twenty times. Hey Courtney, whose perspective are you looking at?

If the Lord hasn't answered or done anything and I'm sitting there going, Lord, hello, this is what I want, this is what I want, this is what I want, until I go, oh Lord, You know, I'm getting so many thoughts here. When we get to the Kings one with, is that Joseph, or no, Genesis, the Genesis 51, and Joseph, and that perspective, that one I think really nails it. So, we'll go on. All right, first Kings, this one is first Kings, First Kings 10, 1-9 Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions.

So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king, which he did not explain to her. When the Queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiter, and their attire, his cupbearers, and the stairways by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her."

Remember that one. Then she said to the king, "'It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless, I did not believe the reports until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard.

How blessed are your men! How blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you to sit on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king to do justice and righteousness.

So who was the king of Sheba? Does anybody know? still there. Queen of Sheba, anybody know who the Queen of Sheba is? My wife has a note that says she was the ruler of the Sabeans in the southern part of Arabia. She traveled 1,200 miles on camelback to visit King Solomon, probably because his presence on the Gulf of Aqaba threatened the caravan routes that made southern Arabia rich. So powerful one, Southern Arabia.

She's coming up going, Hey, I got to find out about Solomon. Remember what she said? All these reports I heard about you. And then what did she find out when she got there? More. I only knew half of what this was. So, so, oh, that, that verse six or five, there was no more spirit in her. What does that mean? I mean, she was kind of deflated by our perception of her.

Okay, here's Solomon. He's so big. I've got to come up and see him. She comes up, and it's 50 times bigger than what she had imagined. It's almost like her drive to show that he couldn't be that good. Right. Yeah. So you give up. You know, so if you go to somebody and you think, oh, here's a great whatever teacher, and you find out they spend more time, it's like, wow. God really knows, you know, Solomon on a multiple scale.

So, what changed her? Beholden. She came in. She said, hey, I hear the reports, but I'm going to go personally there and see. And when she goes in and sees and finds out, she's transformed. She is like, wow, all this spirit See where I'm going with this? Do we do the same thing? The way I put it is, well, Mike had something.

Believers in general do not know the solemn aspect of Christ. The Corinthians had not known Christ as wisdom of God. They were boasting in their own wisdom. They did not know him. This is in the Corinthians one. They boast in themselves, not in who Christ is. I put, many contemporary Christians do the same thing as the Queen of Sheba. They don't believe or go in to see the greatness of the Lord. They only hear reports, but don't go in. You know, is that you? Is that me? I mean, I hear, oh, Christ is so good, so good, so good. But do I ever enter into that? Do I ever go more in?

This is the beholding. As you behold, it's greater than I ever could have imagined. It is, as you behold Him. Like the Queen of Sheba, this is just an example. She saw Solomon, just Solomon, not Christ, but Solomon. It's so big, it's almost uncooked. But beholding changes you. Getting back to 2 Corinthians, it transforms you. When you enter in, it transforms you. When you behold, if you step out and just hear the reports, oh yeah, Christ is good.

But until you personally behold that and enter in... I said, do we know what it is to go in and behold the Lord's glory without a veil? Or what it is to sit before Him and contemplate Him, His glories, His beauties, and His excellencies? Do we know what that is, what it is to sit before Him? How do we do that?

What is the beholding in the 2 Corinthians 3.18? How do we do that? Beholding Him as in a mirror. What's the mirror? The Bible. That's how you go in and know him. Genesis 50 verses 15 through 21. I really like this one and I have personal applications in this one. I use this a lot. Genesis 50 verses 15 through 21. You know the story about Joseph? What happened to Joseph? Yeah, they didn't like Joseph. He was the favorite, had the pretty coat, all this stuff. Said, eh, we're going to deal with you. We're going to throw you in a pit. We're going to kill you. Eh, maybe that's not so good. So we sold him to slave traders. See ya. Told dad, eh, he died.

So then later, through circumstances, he becomes a leader in Egypt. And then we have the, the famine and all that, the brothers have to come, and they find out after a while that Joseph is alive. Then they finally say, bring Dad along, bring him over here. Then what happens? They live there through the famine, and then 17 years, this is after 17 years, this verse happens. They've lived, they've come over, Joseph said, I'm your brother. Oh, great. Let's bring Dad. They're a little nervous. They bring Dad, bring Benjamin, bring everybody. So, then we're in verse 50, verse 15. This is after Dad had died.

And so, when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, what if Joseph bears grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him? So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father charged before he died saying, thus you shall say to Joseph, Please forgive, I beg you, the transgressions of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong. And now, please forgive the transgressions of the servants of God, of the God of your father." And what did Joseph do? Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came down and fell before him and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, do not be afraid, for am I in God's place.

As for you, you met evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about the present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them." Very critical thing in the application to us. For 17 years they had been recipients of Joseph's bounty, his blessings, his love, everything. The day dad dies though, what happens? Fear. Daddy was the thing keeping us between, you know, Joseph's anger. What?

He was the buffer. He was the buffer. Once the buffer is gone, both barrels are loaded and we're going after these boys. You know, I have a grudge that last 50 years, whatever it was, you know, I have a big grudge on you boys. And daddy was the only thing I'm not going to blow you away until daddy's gone. Once daddy's gone, I'm, I'm taking care of business. That's their thought. 17 years of bounty, 17 years.

They had been receiving this. Okay. Question is, did they know Joseph? No! 17 years with him and they didn't know him. They thought he was just a charged spring. Once daddy's gone, it's all over. Okay? Is this a commentary on believers today? 17 years with the Lord. As soon as I, one misstep, BAM! I sin today. Smack her off. Is that the way you think? I think so. I think yes. You think he's ready with a big stick to hit you? You mean God? Yeah. No. I don't know. Any other thoughts?

Well, isn't it like, and this is what blows me away, is like our history past and our history future. I mean, he knows, he is such a sovereign God, he knows us and what we're going to do. And so it's, tomorrow's sin is already forgiven. Whether, you know.

And that's what blows me away. You can, almost like you can grovel and I'm so sorry. Well, it's already forgiven, so move on. He's done with it, why are you dealing with it? That's mine. Doesn't he send you something to remind you that this is not a good thing? I don't know how to say it.

No, there are consequences for action. There's child training. And there are things that, you know, if I do something dumb, there can be consequences to it. Right. There are human consequences. Human consequences, yes. But the purpose, he's in control of all things. So yeah, there are human consequences that can happen. And there's things that I think will, the sole purpose is to bring you back into fellowship, even if you're dumb. Okay, so God lets things occur to teach you. Absolutely.

You know, I'm on the board of directors of this camp, and we met with some of the camp people, and they said, you know, boy, and they've said this for a while. You know, Satan, when we have a great ministry going, Satan is going to, you know, just pray that Satan doesn't attack us and all this. Okay? Have you heard that before with a missionary or something, Satan?

My question to Grape, you know, who allowed that? Who allowed Satan to attack you? God did. Does that put that in a different perspective? You know, when you say you're being attacked by Satan, if that's true, who allowed it? God did. And so, are you to, your fist, and you're supposed to, ooh, God allowed it, and why did he allow it? I may have to steal some more time next week because I want to get through some other verses. It's all done in love. So when the attacks come, illness, something happens to your ministry, whatever, is that God just taking the big stick and whacking you? No. He's allowing it for what?

To turn your focus to Him and to His ways. Come in. Enter in. Understand. He wants you in. He wants the fellowship. That changes your perspective. All these verses, I'm trying to put the pieces together here, all these verses are when you enter in and you understand His perspective, not yours, His perspective, what happens? You're transformed. How do you do that? Beholding. How do you behold?

In His words. You know who he is. As I said, Mike helped me. One of the first things he told me when I met him and we talked about stuff was, go to the Bible to know him. Don't learn facts. You know, this is, we'll get into this in 17 years. How many people have been receiving blessings of the Lord for 17 years and yet they don't know him? Would the blessing stop or change? Lord, Lord, where'd you go? God is my co-pilot. He left me. How wrong is that? That's wrong. You know, so I mean, those are those things that, you know, you suddenly, his perspective, get his perspective.

Know him for 17 years. Well, know him. Don't just receive the blessings. Know him. Because then you'll understand how he deals with you. When the trials come, when the blessings come, you understand who it is. If you know him, it's a lot easier to understand what's going on. You know, when I hear that Satan's challenging me, God allowed that.

Why? To bring you back into fellowship, bring you back into focus. Get his perspective. Maybe I'll beg a little bit of time off, because there are a bunch of verses I want to get through that I want to add in here on some things. We'll try that and see if I can steal some time from Mike next week.

But think about these and go through these verses again and see how the differences between Old Testament, New Testament, new believers, or new creatures in Christ, and about entering in and what that, the key verses again in 2 Corinthians 3.18, how that applies in a new believer, in a new creature in Christ, versus an Old Testament. Look through those verses and what it means to enter in. Alright, let's close. Heavenly Father, we thank you again just for this time. Father, we thank you. Just for the time to look at your word again, Father, I'm just so thankful of what your word tells us about you. And we thank you just that as we come to know the Lord Jesus more and more, that's who we are.

And we can understand how you work and all the different issues in life, how you can use us. All these different things are predicated on us knowing you. And Father, we thank you for what you Father, it is not out of malice, it's out of love in all situations. The love is to draw us back, to behold you, to be transformed into the image of the Lord.

So Father, we just thank you for all the things that happen in our lives. Father, just give us that understanding of your working in our life and why. Let us get your perspective, not our perspective, but your perspective on what you have for us in this life. So Father, we just thank you for this time. We just look forward to the message with Vern, we pray for him as he delivers the word, just that he delivers it clearly and prepare our hearts to receive it.