Principles of Perfection, Part 8

Yeshuans Sunday Schooled w Shawn McCraney

Transcripts:

We are talking about part eight of Principles of Perfection. It's the last part. Next week, we're going to embark on a new series, whatever it is. I'm not sure yet. It hasn't hit me. But also, just to let you know, next week, we also have Ratio Christi here. But also, just to let you know, next week we also have Ratio Christi here.

And our afternoon call-in will be Ratio Christi live with Delaney and I as we talk to them. And so look forward to that. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Hear the word of God set to music. Sit in silence and get into our final part on how we are his workmanship, how we test the love, and all that stuff.

So let's get into it. Father, thank you for your scripture, for your spirit, for your son, and that you guide us in faith and love. Help us to grow in faith and love. Faith for you and love for you and others. And by this, we know that we are your disciples. So forgive the things that I say that aren't correct today.

As they come forward, we're just trying and bless Mags and Delaney behind the scenes. You get this out to our studio audience. I mean, our live audience and that our studio audience will be filled as well by your spirit and your spirit alone. In Yeshua's name, amen. The wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are His judgments And His ways past finding out For who has known the mind of the Lord Or who has become his counselor Or who has first given to him And it shall be repaid to him.

For of him, and through him, and to him are all things true. Be glory forever, amen. Oh, the depth of the riches, gold, love The wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are His judgments And His ways past finding out For who has known the mind of the Lord Or who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his counselor? For who has first given to him, and it shall be him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.

4 Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. forever amen Oh the depth of the riches loath of the wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgments And his ways that's finding out For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? For who has first given to Him, and it shall be repaid to him? 4 For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

5 For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen. Be glory forever, amen. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his counselor? Or who has first given to him? And it shall be repaid to him. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.

For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Forever amen. Diolch yn fawr. Thank you. Okay, so we left off last week talking about giving the best form of selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, kind of a definition.

And today we're going to wrap up discussing why giving glory and honor to God is the last way to sort of test and vet the labors that we do. And I'll try to make sense of that. We said that we ought to examine first our motives for doing things from the heart. first our motives for doing things from the heart and the giving. We said the giving that we do of time and attention and love, etc. The transference of our energy to another for their well-being.

And we said, look at your motives. Then we said, also look at what empowers you to do these things that you are doing? You know, and we said, you know, is it what men say of you? Is it your own self-aggrandizement? Is it because you're serving gold and silver and power? Is it because the dark forces are what motivate you and empower you? We talked about all of that.

And today we're going to talk about the last way to vet and test a third way, the things that we choose to do in our lives as believers. And that is to ask, to whom do we give the glory for anything that we do? And I don't mean verbally. I mean from the heart, which will hopefully come out verbally. To better grasp to whom we give the glory, let's get our minds around, if we can, what glory is in the first place. Because I've struggled with really trying to understand it.

In the Bible, glory in Hebrew is kavod, and in Greek it's doxa. You've heard of doxology. Doxa is praise. It's glory. And it primarily refers to, this is the way it seems to be summarized, beauty, weightiness, splendor of God's character, presence, and actions. God's character, presence, and actions. And because of our humanity and what is really a limited perspective on almost everything, I mean, you think of it, you think you're an expert in an area, you are probably far from being an expert in any area, especially relative to God.

God. We all possess or we tend to have these envisions of God and his glory through lenses that we have been given and developed. And we imagine things like, you know, he's a man with a long gray beard. We've seen pictures of that. Or, you know, we use paint to make him bright and white because that's how the scripture describes him. Fire, consuming fire.

But it gets difficult because he's also described as invisible. And it's a light that can warm and sanitize or burn. And, you know, so for me personally, God's glory has always been slippery in my mind and difficult to understand. And so I find myself wondering about it and try to imagine what is the beauty, weightiness, splendor of God's character and his presence, at least in my mind's eye, to give me some idea of what we're looking at.

The scripture assists us in this by assigning words to him and his glory, but these defy description, as I've said, because they're using human ways to see it and understand it in a spiritual sense, because God is spirit. That's what Christ said. And we must worship him in spirit and truth. and truth.

So when we try to take material ideas about him and transfer them to the truth about him and his glory, it gets kind of difficult to understand what spiritual light is, spiritual fire is, spiritual good of an invisible God, and concepts that can truly capture his beauty, his weightiness, the splendor of his character and presence as human beings. And that's why I think all of us, when we go to that place outside of the NDE experiences many people have, I think that when you come into the place of really, as a disembodied spirit, coming face to face with God, I think it is not going to be what we think. We cannot come close to imagining it. Cannot in our mortal lives. So what are we to

say about the fire that can both bless and destroy? Or a light that can blind people or can illuminate their path? Or a power that is greater than the power of all the creations? If there's a multi-universe, it's a power greater than all of it. And if there's just one universe, the power of that.

And when we look at what astronomy says, it's insane, right? And so this being is incomprehensibly unknowable in terms of our perception as limited created beings. Very, very hard to describe or understand his glory with any amount of accuracy. And so I tend to do this, and please forgive me. This is when I pray, forgive the things I say which are wrong. I'm going to share with you what I have imagined based off what I've learned from the Scripture of what I think God is like, and I can't prove it all right and the way I imagine God's very presence that we worship is are you ready it's absolute motionlessness

perfect stillness, embodying the ultimate sense of peace, serenity, silence. I base this idea on him as being the ultimate source of everything, including governance and control, and not as a being that is controlled. He's not a being that reacts. He's a being that acts. I react. We react. We're human. He acts.

I react. We react. We're human. He acts. And he is the operator and assessor of everything below him where action, motivation, movement, noise, friction, tension, warfare thrives. We are in that state of action and unrest and warfare because we are not certain and we are not in control. And we have other forces that operate contrary to what we want. And so we engage in a lot of this.

whether it's our thoughts or what we want to do or against a neighbor or against an enemy. There's action and friction and it thrives. And I tend to believe that that does not exist at all in the living God. James, I think it was, said there's no shadow of turning in him. Nothing. No shadow. So there's no obstacle to create a shadow.

He's the light. Absolutes is what he is in terms of complete certainty and power. And in my mind, to experience him is to experience this power and resolve that was embodied when Christ walked the earth and did things on his father's behalf. Like when he calmed the storm-tossed sea. I mean, these waves, the apostles think they're going to drown.

If you've ever been in a storm-tossed sea on a vessel, it's frightening. He's out there walking on it. Boom. Peace. He gets on the back of a donkey that's never been ridden. Now, I don't know much about him, but I know that if you get on the back of an animal that hasn't been ridden, you're in for a bucking or a kicking or a biting.

Nothing. Peace. Animal totally submits to his power. And the demoniacs are thrashing about and they're gnashing in their teeth. They're throwing themselves in the fire. Or the guy at the Genesares Island or whatever it was when Christ says, and when they saw him, he was sitting at peace with himself. These images echo in God's paradoxical words found in Psalm 46.

10 when he said, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Exalted. His glory. I describe these words as paradoxical because our very definition of love is action. It's motion. Right? And so that verb, and it's actionable in our world, but God's directive here in Psalms explains the paradox when he tells others, be still and know that I am God.

There's not much to do when that's the case, right? When you know, I mean, in the sense of great faith, I can't help but wonder if because he's the source of all glory, he exists again, paradoxically, in a state of absolute still environs, state of absolute still environs, rest, fixed, clear, immovable, bright, indescribable, calm, because he is the ultimate source and answer for everything outside of him.

Within himself, there is no conflict. And I think with those who are able to actually enter his presence, we're removed from the conflict that comes outside of his presence and experience him. I've long imagined that to enter his presence and glory might be like, you know, you see in movies that maybe, you know, we're outside here on this earth and we're at war over everything.

Our diet, our friends, our family, the cops, driving, how to get through life. It's just relentless. And then let's just imagine that we die. And let's say that our spirit can then transfer through the heavens to get to the kingdom we're going to. And as we're going, we hear the cacophony of war between the spiritual forces of dark and light outside the kingdom.

They're screaming and yelling at each other. And we pass through it and we get to the outside of the new Jerusalem and we enter in and there's quiet, but there's movement because all those inhabitants, the sons and daughters of God are in there. They're on assignment. They're carrying out God's love.

And then we get closer to the throne room that's described in Revelation. And as we get closer and closer to that, we notice things start getting quieter, more calm. And then we enter into the very throne room where the God sits on that throne. Stillness. Order. And then we enter into the heart of God. And then you know him intimately and what he brings to you when he is abiding.

And it's not chaos. It's not insanity. It's a rest that we can't imagine. Absolute stillness, peace. And guess what? Absolute non-concern for anything else. People say, oh, I want to die and I'm going to be up there wondering about my kids. You will know him and you will know what he will do. You will trust him completely without worry, without conflict. Well, but what about God? Can you? No way.

You want that peace? This is what I think is being promised because we know he will see things through that we care about. And it's not going to be a place of unrest and worry. Right or wrong, that's how I understand the living God but then pull back got to take you back like the movies do pull back from the heart of God get outside the throne right the throne room right outside the door of the throne room and there's people like we need to get somebody on this down here you know we got all kinds of activity going here And we got Michael the Archangel saying, we need 10,000 people to go over to Judea right now

because there's all kinds of conflict, you know, Washington, wherever. And we reenter into activity. Why? Listen, because that's what we were created for. Activity. We are not God. We're created to act on his cause, on his plan in this realm, to be bearers of his will in the material and even in the immaterial realms through the transference of his energy and glory in us to others.

You see, that's what we're doing. And it's as I'm going to say this again, before we end, it's as much labor and work as a branch labors to bring forth fruit. What does it do? Do you walk through a farmland and you hear the plant screaming, I'm giving birth to more fruit. They are just laying there and the vine courses through it to bring forth what the vine wants the branch to give.

I'm trying to paint for you what it looks like to walk in him versus in the works of religion it's letting go it's walking in that peace for me the only time I'm willing to be still is in his presence that's when I'm willing to be still and in that place as a devoted acolyte of life, there is no reason to even think of moving.

There's nothing to say. There's no action to do. There's still and know that he is God. Be still. And to immerse ourselves in knowing the immensity and power of him and his glory will stop every act, every word, every concern. It will stop it because then we will know who he is and what he does. because then we will know who he is and what he does.

I tend to think that the departed from this world enter into his rest in part because there we experience the capacity of his will and ways and the power and we have zero concerns. I don't think anybody who is in his presence has a concern for anything on this earth. I think that is an old structure that existed when hell was still existing.

And I think that what troubled us back on this war-torn earth and the people we care about will not trouble us because we know him. In other words, there we will know that he is at the helm of everything and that in that place, true trust, certainty, true peace, true peace exists. Pull back from that, you're back into the location of the created realm.

The angels, dark and light, the warfare, the world, all of that. But those are the realms which we were made to operate in. The Hebrew word kavod implies weightiness. weightiness or importance relative to God's glory. It's the supreme value of his attributes, weighed, the weightiness.

Glory describes visible, dwelling presence of God among people in the scripture. We read about a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. We read of him burning in a bush that wasn't consumed. We see about him coming upon the Shekinah glory of God, falling upon the Holy of Holies once a year for the nation of Israel and abiding upon it. And most significantly in the incarnation of Christ.

We have the radiance and splendor, the glory of God. When was it shown? First, on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the flesh was kind of like, he unzipped himself like those alien movies. Get rid of his body. Here I am. Peter said, oh man, can we do something to hide here? He was in full glory there, transfigured to show what he is, that glory, right? And then when he returned, as promised in Revelation, he comes out from the clouds.

That's when they saw who he was. We read a fascinating story, and I'm going to read it in the fifth chapter of the book of Daniel, because it is a great way to start to see the glory of God when it abides in certain human beings. And as some background, there is a guy named Belshazzar. And Belshazzar was the last of the kings of Babylon.

And he was an indirect son of the great king Nebuchadnezzar. Okay, it's all the thing. Nebuchadnezzar had a son indirectly. It wasn't his direct son. And named Belshazzar, and he was a king. Well, when he was still young, Belshazzar decides to have a party. And he invites a thousand of his lords, could just be a representative number.

And when he was drunk with wine, they decided to go and get all the cups and things that his father, Nebuchadnezzar, took from the temple when the Jews were put into Babylonian captivity. So Nebuchadnezzar, he cared for them, but Belshazzar says, let's take them and drink from them. So he turned it into this wild party, drinking out of it. And that night, by doing that, was the end of the kingdom of the Chaldeans.

That's what the story tells, that action that Belshazzar took. As an interesting aside, just to let you know something, if we lived back in the mid to late 1800s, do you know that most of the archaeologists and most of the critics of the Bible said the book of Daniel was a joke, that it wasn't archaeologically supported by anything, and that the story of Belshazzar is a lie made up.

So don't trust the book of Daniel because never have they found any kind of artifact that had Belshazzar's name on it. And the standard thing all the way up to 1854 was, yeah, you can't trust that at all. So then around that time, there's this guy named Sir Henry Rawlinson, and there was a mudslide in a ravine. And it took out the whole side of this mountain.

And was revealed a bunch of pottery and pots that all kinds of artifacts stuffed inside of them and this dude named sir henry wallinson they go and look at it and guess what's the name they found all over those uh manuscripts and scripts inside of the pots belcheser and the critics shut their mouths from that point forward. Can you see how the world works? It's constantly trying to dig at, but back in there, there could have been people like in 1850, like, I don't even believe in the book of Daniel.

We haven't found anything. Mudslide hits, brings it forward. They have a physical proof. I believe again in the Bible, right? Just a little interesting aside for you. But let's read Daniel 5 for some subtle but beautiful insights about God's glory. Are you ready? It says in verse 1, Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand.

Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the gold and silver vessels, Boy, that's a party. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem, and the king and his princes and his wives and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, brass and of iron, of wood and of stone.

So, full-on idolatry. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. And the king's countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loins were loosed.

Do you know what that means? He lost his ability to retain his defecation. So that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another. He was terrified. And the king quite allowed to bring in the astrologers and the Chaldeans and the soothsayers.

And as the king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, whosoever shall read this writing and show me the interpretation shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Big rewards. Then came in all the king's wise men, but they could not read the writing, nor make known the king the interpretation thereof.

Then was the king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonished. Now the queen, and that means his mother, not his wife, the queen, by reason of the words of the kings and his lords, came into the banquet house, and the queen spake and said, talk about the effects a good woman can have over her children. O king, live forever.

Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods was found in him. She's a pagan so she's calling the singular God, Yahava, gods.

Whom the King Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king I say thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. For as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding, interpretation of dreams and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, to make it even more complex.

So the king names him just similar to Belteshazzar. His name is Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. So we see the power of God, his wisdom, in one over all the others on the earth. Then Daniel was brought in before the king, and the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thou art Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry.

Is that who you are? I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, and that they should read this writing that's on the wall, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof.

But they could not show the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of you, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts. Now if you canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, if you can, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be a third ruler in the kingdom.

Listen to the heart of Daniel. And Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to yourself. Love it. Love it! Let thy gifts be to yourself. Love it. Love it! You keep your frickin' gifts to me for speaking in God's name. And give thy rewards to another, yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the interpretation.

That's the heart. Don't come to me and reward me with the things of this world. You keep them, but I'm going to tell you what it says. O thou King, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor. And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, language trembled and feared before him whom he would subjugate.

slew, whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive, and whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, Daniel says to his son, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.

And he was driven from the sons of man, and his heart was made like wild beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men. Nebuchadnezzar got his head handed to him. He went crazy. He was like a beast of the field as the king until he knew who God really was.

And he that appointeth over it, whomsoever he will, and thou his son, says Daniel, O Belshazzar, has not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this. We talk a lot about the humble heart. You're going to err on anything. Make it humility, and that's humility before this invisible God and his glory.

Make that the first action, the constant action, the continuous action, that the first action, the constant action, the continuous action, humility before him and him alone. But thou hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels of his house before you. And you and thy lords, thy wives, thy concubines, have drunk wine in them. And thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold and brass and iron and wood and stone, which see not nor hear nor know? And the God in whose thy hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified?

That's what we're talking about. To whom or what do you give the glory? Your own genetics in your brilliant children? Your own money? Your own fame? Your own power? Is that what you give glory to? I had my own dad say, I'm a self-made man. Nobody's done anything for me. I just closed my eyes in shame for the ignorance.

Then was the part of thy hands set from him. Then was the part of the hand. So God sent a part of the hand to do the writing on the wall. And this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written. Mene, mene, tekel, oparsin. I'm not going to get into what it means, except it says it. This is the interpretation of the words that were written on the wall.

Mene, mene, tekel, oparsin. God has numbered thy kingdom and finished it. That's the first mene. Tekel, thou art weighed in the balance and you're found wanting. The third one, it says Perez. It's just a different way to say you partial. And it means thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

Daniel tells him, Nebuchadnezzar, I mean, Belshazzar, you've lost your kingdom. It's over. Then commanded Belshazzar and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, put a chain around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be a third ruler in the kingdom. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

And Darius the Midian took the kingdom about three score and two years old. In Daniel, we find the active, even the visible display of God's glory, perfection, and power in contrast to the haughty, arrogant, uncaring display of Belshazzar, which like many of God's glorious creations ignore. He was partying it up as if that's all that mattered.

But Daniel embodied the very glory of God, and unlike Belshazzar, always gave rightful glory and honor to the rightful place. The bottom line reality, which I think will be manifested clear to all of us someday, is that glory refers to the fame, honor, and recognition of the one that's do it, who is do that and deserves it alone, which human beings elect to see as manifest in all through the universe and through mercy and judgment and creation, but especially we see it in the incarnation of his son.

That is where we see it. And in the new heaven and new earth established above by him, and in the midst of dark, vague, glorious forces, in the hearts of all who humbly recognize him still today, in this world, and they give him the glory. He's the motivation. He's the encouragement. empowering spirit, and he's the one who gets the glory from the hearts of those who are his.

So ultimately, glory is the radiant display of God's incomprehensible person, power, and purposes, which can only mean, in my estimation at least, that because it originates from him, it originates from him, it is always recognized as coming from him alone. Always. Not the church. Not my pastor. Let's do a simple biblical audit to support this fact. I'm going to begin with Romans 11 36. Listen to what Paul says. For from him and through him and to him are all things.

Didn't we just sing that? To whom be glory forever. Amen. Nobody else. Not Paul. To whom? I suggest that glory to him is not done because his tender ego needs it. I had a good relative of mine, a close one, tell me, God's not an egoist. He doesn't need your praise. I'm like, I don't praise him because I'm afraid his ego won't be swelled.

I praise him because he deserves it in every way and gets the glory over all things. Giving honor and glory to any other thing, human beings, gold, horses, princes, presidents, kings, the self, dark counterfeits, is an indication that our praise is turned to idolatry. That's what it is. The scripture makes it plain that our very existence, hard it is for us to imagine, is actually designed to bring God glory.

Did you know that the scripture says that? He created us to bring him glory. And did you know that the scripture says that he is glorified in weakness, not in our strengths? When it's our strengths, you know, from our muscles and our intellect and our money and our power and our fame, he's is glorified.

Why? Because in our trials of life, we choose to glorify Him. We have other people who glorify everybody else and they complain along the way. We're suffering in our weakness and we still glorify him. That's how his strength is glorified in weakness. You take any man who is powerful, big freaking deal.

You take a broken woman who's been through hell and chooses to place her faith on a God that's invisible? You're talking, that is when God is pleased to be called your God. Again, Scripture. 1 Corinthians 10.31 says, Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. I have people say, I can't stand my job. I'll get another one. I can't because of this. Then do it to God.

Do the labors you hate for God. That means while you're at work, if something happens, you can share him with someone that the opportunity might open up even though you hate the job. Do it for God, you know, or change the job. And when you get the new one, do it for God. In this way, believers are liberated, totally liberated, to be and do and act so long as the actions are for the glory of God to whom they belong and not for anybody else.

Think about this. Human beings and all that he made us to be and do and our talents, our gifts, our actions, our ideas, the intelligence he's given the human race, the empowerment he gives us to do it, the sustenance, his bringing forth salvation is all for his glory. And to share it with any one thing, person, church, identity, government, political party, wealth, anything, your smarts, your education, to share it with anything is idolatry.

And you're giving glory to something that does not deserve it. Now here's the Christian angle that's overlooked or dismissed by those who deny, overlook, or are indifferent to the incarnation of Christ. Listen. To those who skip the incarnation and they go straight to God, this is where the Christian angle is overlooked and should be seen if you have the chance to see it, because someday you will.

Your knee will bow, your tongue will confess. First Peter 4.11 says, he says, in order that everything God may be glorified, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. This is the link Jesus Christ. This is the link that people who follow Christ understand. People who don't, but they give God glory, are doing that. They'll find out later.

But if you know Him, He's the link. He's who was sent, and there's no way to the Father but by Him. To Him belongs glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. To Him! In this verse, To him belongs glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. To him. And this verse, to whom, is written in the dative tense in the Greek, and therefore speaks to Yeshua, who is the immediate antecedent in the line.

Yeshua gets the glory. A lot of people don't want to do that. They backstep. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. He wasn't God in the flesh. Many non-Trinitarians say, we don't say that. But they give all kinds of reasons why. It's God, it's God. But the scripture is clear. He gets the glory. Wait, don't we have a contradiction here a Jew or a Muslim or an atheist might say, you know, doesn't God himself say in Isaiah 42.

8, you listen to this, what God said, I am the Lord. That is my name, my glory. I give to no other, nor my praise to be to carved idols. There's always a connection there, right? So what are we to do with John 3, 35, where we read, The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Does that include his glory? Does that include his glory? It does.

And think about it. Didn't Yeshua pray with his apostles in John 17, 4 and say, praying to his father, I have glorified thee on earth. I have finished the work you gave me to do. And now, oh, father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. which I had with thee before the world was.

Yeah, you getting it? God isn't sharing his glory with Christ. Christ has the glory because he's God. He came from glory, became incarnate. As a man, he didn't accept the glory until he overcame it. Here in John, he had overcome it. And so he says, now give me the glory I had. He didn't hesitate. People say, oh, he wasn't God. Come on. Come on. God with us.

How are we to make sense of Yeshua telling his father that he had glorified him on earth and then asked him to glorify himself with the father's own self with the glory he had with him before the world was? I don't believe it was a man, a person. I don't think it was a little smaller God. I think it was God who became flesh.

His words became flesh. We are talking about the literal request by the man Yeshua of Nazareth of his father to return the glory that he had with his father before he was incarnated, before he was a man, before when he was the very pre-incarnate word of God. Where Romans 16, 27 and Jude 1, 25 describe that the doxology, the praise is to God through Christ. praise, is to God through Christ.

The praise is to God through Christ. We have other passages that speak to Christ receiving the glory himself as Yeshua the man, like 1 Peter 5.10. Listen to this one. But the God of all grace who has called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, God of all grace who has called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish strength, and settle you.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Or 1 Peter 4.11, If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as the ability which God gives, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. There's our connection. To whom he prays in dominion forever and ever. Amen.

2 Peter 3.18 But growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be glory both now and forever. I don't share my glory with anybody God says. In the apostolic record we have Christ having the glory. There's no question. Romans 11 3 we just sang it. Oh depth of the Not me. For of him and through him and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The writer of Hebrews ends his epistle at Hebrews 13, 20-21. He says, Now, the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord, Yeshua, that great shepherd of the sheep, love that, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Yeshua the Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The mystery of God said he does not share his glory with another, but that Christ literally asked for the glory he once shared with his Father before the world is entirely predicated on Yeshua saying in his prayer with his disciples in John 17, I have glorified thee on earth.

I have finished the work you gave me to do. In John 12, before finishing the work his father gave him to do and prior to submitting himself to the cross, he also asked his father, saying as a mortal man, Father, glorify thy name. Remember we've read back in the Old Testament study, he wanted his name known. People say, we don't even know what it is.

I want my name known. He says, I've glorified your name. And he says, then came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. I've glorified my name through you, son, the mortal life you've lived, and I'm going to glorify it again when I raise you from the dead. I've glorified it. I'm going to glorify it again.

And guess what? He continues to glorify it through everyone who believes on his son through faith and chooses to love as his son commanded. Then after finishing the work given him, he asked his father to share his own glory with him, this time as a deified human being, and was given it, because he ascended into heaven. This caused John the Revelator, who had a direct vision into the heavenly throne, he's looking into the throne room of God. Okay. And he wrote in Revelation 5.

13, and every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such be unto him, singular, that sits on the throne, singular, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Isn't that weird? Why does he put it that way? Why is there one throne? And in the throne room, John only describes one being on that throne.

And when he refers to Christ, he doesn't say Jesus in the throne room. He always says the lamb that was slain for the foundation of the world. Why? Why does that happen? Because he is describing Christ's earthly work by calling him the Lamb. And the Lamb, the image of the furry little Lamb, is in the throne room. He saw revelation through images, but he always only saw one sitting on the throne.

Always only one. And again, no other throne there or mention of the holy spirit the person of by the way as an explanation of the one throne and the reference to the one receiving all the glory along with the lamb and these heavenly visions of christ he is always referred to in revelation as the lamb when it comes to his presence in the throne room.

We maintain that once God, I maintain this, you might not as a Yeshua, but I maintain that once God became all in all, which is what is described in Hebrews and 1 Corinthians, the Lamb left the side of the Father. He returned and he took his bride. He returned back up to the new Jerusalem with that holy and pure bride. And then he left the side of the father forevermore.

And I believe that that God-man took the throne. And in the God-man rests all of God now. that to see him is to see the Father. To see Christ is to see God. And it's not that he's any lesser or any more. It's God. But for us, it's God having overcome the flesh that we're in as well. So just as the Father gave his victorious resurrected Son glory, so do we as disciples of the incarnate Son receive glory from him.

Did you know that? It's something we don't talk too much about in the Christian world. In John 17, 22, when Yeshua says to the apostles, the glory that you have given me, I have given them. Did you know that? Christ said that to his apostles. He says, Father, the glory you gave me, I've given them. What is that about? This glorification suggests that those who embody the will and ways of Christ on earth will share in the glory given to the human Christ.

Even our brother in the flesh, that's what he was. He was our brother in the flesh, not our spiritual brother like the Mormons talk about. That's a complete line of BS. But he was our brother as a human being. In the trials of mortality, he was a brother. in the trials of mortality.

He was a brother, okay? Name Christ, our very inheritance, his splendor and his power and glory of his post-resurrection, post-ascension goes to those who are joint heirs with him. That's why we've gone through this eight-part cycle for us to test what we do, how we live, what's the meaning of life, what does it look like to love, and what are the sources of empowerment that we operate by. Because if you are following him, you are a joint heir with Christ as he shares his glory with you.

In other words, by and through faith in him and love from him, believers and followers of the Spirit of Christ within them are united with Christ in his death. We're buried with him. We rise to the power of his resurrection. We walk in that power, and ultimately we share in his reign. That's what the scripture says as joint heirs.

Listen to what John says in 1 John 3, 2. He says to the believers in that day when Christ appears, he says, and you'll be like him. You'll be like him. That's to share in his resurrection. That's the ultimate glorification a human could get, to be like christ in and through the resurrection and in that day and in ours this refers to those who willingly shared in his sufferings again listen to what paul says in romans 8 16 through 17 the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if we're children, then heirs.

Heirs of God, just like an heir of a family, the parents die, they leave their heirs, their inheritance, not saying God dies, joint heirs, joint heirs with Christ. Joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him. See, there's the word suffering in this life as a believer. That we may be also, ready, glorified together.

This is overlooked in the Christian world. It's not overlooked in the Mormon world. They got so many other doctrines messed up, but they get the idea of human beings being glorified. They turn it into a deification of self to become another god, to have your own planet with all your wives and all that crap. But those are postulations.

But still, the idea of being glorified together with Christ as a joint heir is the promise. Is the promise. This directly infers that those who are his by adoption through faith and love will share in Christ's divine nature. As Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1, 3-5 to the believers in that day who were waiting for Christ to show up. That's the text. And it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled

that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. that is a mouthful promise given to the members of the bride in that day. I believe it still contains today. God's not a respecter of persons. The divine empowerment is designed that while we are still mortal in the proving ground of life, that we choose first to accept that he's in us.

And then we allow for God's purposes on earth to be done through the spirit of his son gave the world as a servant, as a slave in this world. And we exert about as much effort in those things as a branch exerts producing fruit. This is also missed. The churches will say, you got to pay, got to pay to play, you got to volunteer, we need you to do this, God wants you to do this, God wants you to go out and do this.

Turn on Christian radio, they're telling you what God wants you to do, do, do, do, do. You do nothing but lay like a branch in the vine and let his power course through you. Oh, you'll be busy. Believe me, you'll be busy. But you're busy doing his stuff. Now, we all have a different call on how we do that and the way we do it based on our own lives, and God, he understands that.

In this way, we discover the very purpose of our existence. Very purpose. Summarized by Paul in Ephesians 2.10 when he wrote, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Yeshua for good works. The works are love, by the way. Which God prepared in advance for us to do. Love. And Philippians 2.

13, where we read, for it is God who works in you, both to will and work for his good pleasure. He gives you the will and he gives you the work. Just like a branch in the vine. Stop creating your own stuff. Stop listening to what your pastor wants you to do. Go to him. Wait. Rest. Trust. Live your life. Do the things you're supposed to do as a human. But when it comes to doing his work and will, relax.

Trust. Emphasizing the reality that we have no basis to ever boast. If we are doing that, we can't ever boast on anything we do. If that's the order. And this takes us back to Yeshua saying to the religionist who accused the disciples in John 5, 17 of breaking the Sabbath. the religionist, who accused the disciples in John 5, 17 of breaking the Sabbath.

He said, my father is always at work to this very day. This drove them nuts. And I too am working. That's what he said. Which means that those who are his in spirit and truth are working in the same way. Christ did nothing but what his father showed him. We do nothing but what Christ shows us. He's the vine. We're the branch. That's the whole thing. That's the order.

We're reminded of what Paul wrote to the believers at 1 Corinthians 3.9 when he said, We are co-workers in God's field. Are you? Do you want to be? For we are God's building. We are God's building. The state's littered with buildings that say that it's God's building. Holy, holy, holy unto the Lord. Forgetting that the writers of Acts say, God does not dwell in buildings made with hands. You know, forgetting all that. It's right there.

We are God's building, proving that we too, not unlike Christ, who lived perfectly, we too have God in us and are choosing how we are going to live according to that spirit, according to our will, according to our desires and the impulses that we have. And we're reminded of the fact that God completes his work in people, completes it.

As he says in Philippians 1.6, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. He says, until the day of Christ. For them that met until he returned. Everything's couched until he returned for them. Everything. For us, the day of Christ is going to be when we die.

Until the day of Christ. Why? Because when you die, you're going to have your day with Christ. You're going to have your second coming. You're going to have your meeting him face to face, right? Finally, we're left with what Yeshua said to his own in that day found in John 14, 12. He said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, whosoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.

Because greater works than these will he do because I'm going to the Father. Meaning you're going to do more and more works as my disciples because I'm leaving. But my spirit will be with you. I won't leave you comfortless. So abide in the vine, rest, and let God lead you. Now, it's hard to learn to do this.

I know, I've spent at least a decade and a half trying and failing to do it, but I've learned. And it comes with a decision to include Him in all you do. It comes with that initial decision. Include him in everything that you do and give him the glory for the outcome. So to wrap this series up, we embarked on wondering the best biblically derived definition of the meaning of life.

And we summarized it as to be loved, to love and to be loved. Then we broke that kind of love down into God's love, and the best definition for that love we said is work. It's labor, right? To act in the transference of our life source energy for the betterment of others. And then we concluded that the best way to really summarize this labor of love and to bestow it sacrificially and insufferably is giving.

It's giving. Why? Because God so loved us, he gave. We give to others. I'm not talking financially. That's the last area I'm talking about. That could be involved with your life if you're blessed. I get it. Everyone needs money to operate, but it's not money. It's giving your heart. It's giving your pride. It's giving your time.

It's giving space in your own life for him. It's giving to others in your family more than you give to yourself. It's his parents giving to their children the love that they need. It's spouses giving love to each other in his name, to neighbors. And then Jesus took it further and he said it's even to enemies.

Giving even to enemies, grace and mercy and truth. Then we decided that the best way to test the giving is to go against the biblical story of Christ telling people, you know, hold that up. He told people who did many wonderful works in his name. He didn't even know them.

So we said, well, what do we do with what we're doing? How do we know that it's right? And we said, well, listen, check your motivations first, check what you're empowered by. And we listed those things, and then look to see where you give the glory in the things that you do. Is it ever to yourself, to others, to empires, to false gods? All of this has been a full circle exploration, if you didn't catch it, on how to live and how to love and be loved.

We discover that God's only human son is our template. And that's why we preach him and teach him. And that he was able to tell his father that he finished the work given to him. to tell his Father that he finished the work given to him. And we too, as disciples of the risen Christ, while we inhabit flesh and bone, also seek to do the work he gives to us.

And it's individual. It's not in the collective. The Spirit works on you alone. He might tell you start buying up chalk. I don't know. Buy it up. Whatever he tells you to do, you're free. We don't need an institution to corral us together for a cause. You are an autonomous son or daughter of God, joint heir with Christ, operating by the freedom he gives you as a human being in this life to live as you want because he's taking care of the sin, and learn how to walk with him as you are led.

And no one can judge you but him. And if your conscience is clear and your heart is clear, you do not worry. That's called liberty. It's called freedom. That's what he brings. We conclude using the scripture that the reward for such is sharing in the very glory God gave his only begotten victorious son. That's the reward.

I believe it's bestowed on everybody by himself. through the resurrected bodies that are given by God, 1 Corinthians 15, that he will assess and your resurrected body will be the reward for all these things we've talked about. Not by compulsion. It can't be by compulsion. That's religion.

It's by what you are doing and allowing him, him, his spirit alone to work through you. In summary, we might read the words of Proverbs 16.3, which was said so long ago, commit to Yehovah, whatsoever you do, whatsoever you do, that's the freedom we have in life, and He will establish your plans. You ever heard that? Anything you want to do, commit it to him and he will establish your plans.

It's a fascinating inner working of the two-way street that we have between our maker and ourselves and the liberty he gives us in this life. When the motives are right, the empowerment is right, the glory is rightly given, all of us are at liberty to live as he has allowed us to live, and God himself will establish your plans.

We're going to embark on the next series next week, and remember this afternoon at 2, Mountain Time, we have a call-in show for an hour. And next week at 2, we have Ratio Christi coming where we will have a dog and pony show of me yelling and them yelling back. So, just kidding. Any comments or questions? Sorry, I was a little inattentive on the thing I try to pick up what you're saying I like about this kind of plays my life don't mean to be self-centered or conceited or narcissistic any of those three what's that not self-centered not conceited and not narcissistic well I'm not

trying to be full-blown you know the world is't run me but when god sets a plan in you uh i i mean correct me for wrong when you stick to it it's gonna happen unless it's not a part of his will i mean i don't know what the future is gonna hold like i said don't say you're gonna do this or that uh because you don't know what tomorrow brings you know but if god has a plan on you he's gonna work it out to fruition uh that's one thing i like about what you said about there i think you said that didn't you yeah yeah that's pretty good and uh you can

always get back on the horse and keep on riding you know we're all gonna make bumps in the road yeah but i'm doing the best i can to survive and do good thanks good job eric always an inspiration are we gonna sing do you want me to sing only if you want me to sing? Only if you want to. Oh. Um, no. Um, I'm thinking about the scripture.

And please forgive me. Help me out if you will. Yeah. Um, the scripture says, um the scripture says the christ said the word in him he please let him be and please let him be in he said let him be Then be... Oh, shit. It's okay. I love the spirit of it. Yeah. The spirit of it's beautiful. You say him, in him.

Yeah. That's what he said. He goes, then be as we are one. Then be as... One as we are in the intercessory prayer? Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Yes. John 17. I do too. Oh my God, Señor. Thank you. That's right. I love that too. Thank you, Alicia. Is that it? All right, let's pray and get out of Dodge. Father, thank you for the scripture, the things we learn, the things we hear from you.

And we pray that your wisdom and your logic and your knowledge will be imparted to us as we humbly seek you and you alone. Help us to reformat our lives and our minds according to your will and wishes and not according to the ideas of men and the things that we do in the name of you, but the things that you can bring and impart to us as we seek you.

Help us to not, I speak emphatically on subjects, Lord, but don't let that be something that beats us down or makes us enter into darkness of shame or not being satisfied with our lives. Help everything to teach us to turn in hope and to move forward from this present state to a better state. according to your spirit.

And as you move us, and without any kind of timeline or urgency that we must do something, but that we trust in you and you alone. We pray for those who are watching and seeking and searching, more and more people coming in every day. And we pray that we'll be able to continue to elevate your name, your will, and your cause in and through the faith that we have on your only begotten son, Yeshua the Christ, in his name, amen.

Thanks, guys. Good stuff.