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And out of your own heart, express your thanksgiving, your praise, your adoration to him. Lord, we worship you. Thank you for that you are the Lord God omnipotent who reigns. We worship and praise you for you alone are worthy of all of the praise. There is none like you. There is none that can be compared to you. There is no like all, as you said, that the nations are as a drop in a bucket to you. They are counted as the dust on the scale of the balance that you sit in the heavens and you do whatever your heart pleases. And Lord, I thank you that what your heart pleases is altogether righteous. It's altogether holy. It's altogether pure. And it is altogether wise.
Well, there is no God like you. The creator of the ends of the earth who faints not and neither are you weary. Lord, our hearts are full of praise and worship and giving you the glory and the honor that is due unto you. It is due unto you, Lord. Oh, our Lord, our Redeemer, our Savior, our King. One reigns in righteousness. Gracious in heaven and forever and forever. May his name be in heaven and in earth. Oh, we sing those songs and my mind goes to thinking about the character of God and the nature of God. I love to sing the song, but then my mind reflects upon who God really is. I consider that we are worshiping and we are in a relationship with the one who creates all things. Who has come to dwell with us. He is transcendent, but he is also imminent. He is over all, but he comes. He said, I make my habitation.
Thank you, King. We worship God and be able to join with heaven and declare glory and the majesty of all that he does. Amen. Hallelujah. Would you just give him a praise and worship? Amen. We're going to release the young church in little bodies at this time. They can go to their place. And as you are seeing it, if you turn to someone and tell them you love them and don't lie to them and guys, you ought to say that to your wife, especially man reveals God to us. Some people don't read the scripture because they may think it's boring, but I think it's wonderful because the whole purpose. And we'll talk about that as we share the worst morning. But the whole purpose. Of the scripture is God revealing himself to us. The question, and I'll ask you the question, if if God desires and has expectation of us to praise and to worship him, how could we do that if we didn't know him? How could we do that if we do not understand who he is now? We cannot fully talk about and describe him. But to divide, to define him, we cannot do that because he is infinite. And how do you describe that? Which is infinite? You ever thought about this? And I'll get to the second Corinthians here in a moment. But have you ever thought about this? We talk about eternity, but how do you define eternity? How do you describe eternity? We describe it in terms of time and space. But eternity is not time and space. I mean, you know, I just think about that. I don't know if maybe that's just where my mind goes, but I think about that and and it just boggles me. He always has been, as the little child said, who was before God? Well, God is always it and we get to worship him. Well, we are in second Corinthians and my assignment today is from second Corinthians chapter number eleven, and it's the first 15 minutes. Now, I'm not as tech savvy as some are, and so therefore, I don't have slides on my note, so you get to look it up and follow with or take notes. I do want to read the passage of scriptures that we are preaching from this morning. And in second Corinthians, excuse me, chapter eleven, beginning at verse number one. The scripture says, as Paul is writing this to the church at Corinth. He said, oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly. And indeed, you do bear with me, for I am jealous for you with godly jealousy.
For I have betrothed you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow has the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness. So your minds may be corrupted. From the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things, that I commit sin and humbling myself, that you might be exalted, because I preach the gospel of God to you free of charge. I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. And when I was present with you and in need, I was a burden to no one. For what I lack, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boast of mine, because I do not love you. God knows. But what do I will continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are, in the things which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is of no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their work.
So we're talking about being steadfast in truth. Now, Paul, as we've read this and has been shared in the last couple of weeks, in chapter 10, especially, he's talking about dealing with those who proclaim that they are somebody. And they were, Paul says that they are false apostles. They come and they preach to you, really, another gospel. So he's dealing with false doctrine and false apostles. And he really tells us how to identify these false apostles. He said, they compare themselves, back in chapter 10, they compare themselves one with another. In fact, they try to outdo one another. I've got this, I've got this. Let me tell you what I got from God. And so they compare themselves and really trying to outdo themselves. And they go beyond their measure. And they are trying to influence people beyond that which God would have given to them. And Paul said, I'm going to stay within my measure. I know what I have. And I know what has been given to me. And I do not go beyond my measure. Then I say that I've, that's one of the things that God has dealt with me. And I try to stay within my length.
Because I know my measure. And if I try to go beyond that. You ever tried to talk about something you didn't know anything about? And you tried to make yourself look better than what you really are? Doesn't work. Eventually, you will be found out. Not as smart as what they made themselves out to be. Everybody thinks you're real wise until you begin to talk. And then your speech betrays you. And, you know. I just don't want to go beyond what God has given me. And his concern for Corinth. That they were being moved by a presentation. And an appeal to the senses. I've heard preachers preach. And they can turn a good phrase. They can sound wonderful. And they can stir up your emotion. They know how to work a crowd. And they appeal.
And people will follow after that. Which appeals to their senses. That which makes them feel good. It sounds so good. It sounds wonderful. And people begin to follow after that. Because it tickles their ears. It makes them. Instead of that which is established in the truth of the scripture. Paul says guard your devotion.
He said bear with me. A little and follow. You know Paul didn't want to. He really didn't want to quote unquote brag on himself. But he did need to establish the foundation that was there.
That he had laid with them in Corinth. And he said. For I am jealous for you. With a godly jealousy. Jealousy. When someone is jealous. That means that the one. That they have been given to. They take and they give something. To someone. That it doesn't belong to. A jealous wife. I'll meddle a little bit here. A jealous wife is probably jealous sir. Because you're giving attention to some other woman. And Paul says. I am jealous of you. With a godly jealousy. Because you're giving your affections. To someone. And to something. That you're not given to. He says. I have betrothed you. To one husband. I have promised you. To one husband. And that husband is Jesus. And you're moving away. From the gospel. That has been preached to you. You're moving away. You're running after something else. Because you see. Meddlesome.
Affairs. Do not start. Physically. They start. Emotionally. You begin to look. Because this person makes you. Feel good. They honor you. Why do you flirt? My wife has been such a good help. I don't think I'm being flirty. But she says. You are. Because of. What you're wanting to get. And elicit out of that person. Tell us. Because I'm trying to get from someone else. What she alone. Able to really give me. Glorify God. And to praise God. And to bring God. Glory. And to bring God. Honor. And just. Just feel. Not good. So guys. And gals. Those gals.
Can do this too. I want you to check yourself. I have checked myself. And again. I thank God. For my wife. Who helps me. To see things. That I don't see. I think I'm just having fun. And just being a. You know. You know. Me. I'm fun. Loving. And all. But. She helps me. To make sure. That I'm not desiring. And really. Giving something. To someone else. Something. That belongs. Only to her.
My devotion. To. The pure. Love. That God.
Has given to us. He says. He says. I fear. That somehow. Has the serpent. Deceived Eve. By his craftiness. So your minds. May be corrupted. From the simplicity. That is in Christ. So. The purity. Of the gospel. To run. After someone. Or something. Other than Jesus. How did. Eve. Get deceived. Well. The serpent. Came to her.
And said. Has God. Not said. That you could eat. Everything. That's here. In the garden. Now. He started off. With something. That was. To eat. This tree. Nor even touch it. Now. Here's. Where the. Deception. But then. He diverted. Her attention. And he. Said. In essence. You know. Yeah. God said. That. You know. Why. He didn't want. You to. Partake. Of that fruit. Because. He's. To keep. Something. From you. That's really. Good.
To come. And to. To. Give. Our. Devotion. To. Someone. Else. Or. To. Something. Else. It. Gives. Us. The. Idea. That. This. Over. Here. Can. Be. Even. Better. You. Ever. Heard.
The. Statement. The.
Grass. Seems. To. Be. Greener. On. The. Other. Side. Of. The. Fence. You. Know. Cows. Be. Eating. Or. Whatever. And. They're. Always. Draining. At. The. Fence. And. Trying. To. Get. The. Grass. Grass. Side. Of. The. Fence.
Is. Just. Like. The. Grass. Inside. Of. The. Fence. And. The. Fence. Is. There. To. Protect. You. So. If. You're. Being. Tempted. And. Drawn. Away. By. False. Doctrine. Even. This. Just. Seems. To. Be. Where. It's. Going. Here. It. And. Even. Being. Tempted. To. Look. Somewhere. Else. Outside. Of. Your. Marriage.
The. Grass.
It's. It's. Grass. Remember. I. Talking. To. One. Guy. And. He. He. Was. Wanting. To. Divorce. His. Wife. They. Were. Having. Some. Problems.
And. Finally. He. Divorced.
His. Wife. From. His. Family.
And. He. A. Man. And. He.
Is. A. Man. He.
Is. A. Man. And.
He. Is. A. Man.
And. He. Is. A.
Man. Him. And. That's. What. Satan. Got. Kicked. Out. Of. Heaven. To. Begin. With. Scholars. Tell. Us. Isaiah. 14. Tells. Us. That. Lucifer.
Passed. Out. And. He. Said. In. His. Heart. I. Will. Rise. Up. In. The. Heavens. And. I'll. Be. Like. God.
He. Didn't. Say. He's.
To. Greater. Than. He. Said. I'm.
Just. Going. Be. Like. Because. See.
We. Want. To. Set.
Our. Own. Standards. We. Want. To. Do. That. Which. Is. Pleasing. To. Us. And. We. Become.
Man. Centered. Instead. Of.
What. The. Saints. Of. Old. They. Said. This. What. Is. The. Purpose. Of. Man. The. Purpose. Of. Man. Is. To. Glorify. God. And. Enjoy. Him. Forever. How. Do. We. Enjoy. Him. We. Enjoy. Him. By. Getting. To. Know. Him. That's.
Why. That. It. Is. Imperative. That. We. Take. Time. In. The. Word. For. Ourselves. Why. Were. They. Deceived. They. Were. Over. The. Other. Omniscient. Of. All. Is. The. This. In. Our. Mind. That. Is. The. Deceived. For. Our. Life. And. Our. we going to protect ourselves from being deceived except by us knowing the truth? You know, I don't want you to believe something just because I say it, just because I'm an elder here at DLC. I don't want you to believe just because I say it. I want you to be like those who were in Berea. And Paul went there and he preached there and he taught there. And he said they were more noble because they searched the scripture to see if what was saved. But James, I don't have time. You don't. Probably one of the best things that ever happened to me was when I came to DLC almost 40 years ago and I no longer was making my kid a job. I had family, family that was increasing because when we came, we had three children. And after we got here somehow, we had four more. And I had four of them. But it didn't matter. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. It didn't didn't take away from my responsibility of being in the Word and to study. Now, I couldn't maybe give myself as many hours, but I still had to give myself so that I could know God. You know, the Scripture says in John chapter number 8, Jesus was talking to the disciples and He said, Abide in My Word, and then you are My disciples indeed. Indeed, and then He went on to say, And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Now, He didn't say, people misquote this, they live part of it off. They just say, the truth will set you free. No, He said, you abide in Me, and My words are going to abide in you, and then you're My disciples, and then you shall know. That is, that you will have experience. Experience in the Word, that you will have communion with Me, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Always want an eternal life. Jesus came that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. What does that mean? That means you're going to have more money in your pocket, better houses, finer cars, more trendy clothes, and no, eternal life.
And the abundant life. Life is that you get to know God more.
Jesus, whenever He was praying to the Father in John chapter number 17, He said, He said, and I pray for them that they may have eternal life. And He said, this is eternal life. You know, be joyous and all this. No, He said, this is eternal life.
That they may know you. Know is not just about knowing about God, but that word know there means to, to experience that you may be the only God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. That's eternal life. The eternal life is a kind of life. Eternal is the kind of life that is that we enjoy the presence of God in the reality of God, and that we know Him.
There are two aspects that I think of, of knowing God. And that is, first of all, to know His transcendence. That's just a big word that means that He is over everything. That He is the creator and that He rules over everything. He is transcendent.
What I was having reference to a while ago, as we were wrapping up our time of, of our singing, is, is knowing that, that we experience God, the creator of the ends of the earth and all that He is. The galaxies that you cannot see and that you can't see. That God created everything, that He is transcendent over all, but yet He is imminent. That is, that He has come to dwell with us. We can abide with Him. People said, I'm jealous. He said, because I want to present you to the one you have been betrothed to as a chaste virgin. One who is pure. He said, for if He who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different Spirit which you have not received, or different Gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. Paul kept having to deal with this in all of the churches. Because if you read over in Galatians chapter number 1, he asked and said, how are you so quickly removed from the Gospel that's been preached to you? He, He kept having to deal with these guys that were coming in and expressing and trying. trying to share with these people, we really have something that you need to hear. And they were trying to be like Paul and they had a false gospel because they were drawing people to themselves. Follow after me. I got something better.
See, that's the craftiness of the serpent in the garden. Follow after me. Follow after me and you'll have full knowledge. You'll have full understanding of all things if you follow after me. Because I'll tell you everything and they don't focus on Jesus.
They're like, Reverend, I don't have lots of money. Do what I do. Send me money. How are we going to not be deceived? It starts with us guarding the truth and our eyes not being diverted from God's instruction.
Again, Eve saw that it was good. It looked good. It sounded good. And surely God wouldn't want me not to be happy. Doesn't God want me to be happy? And enjoy life in the fullness and believe that we enjoy the fullness of life is in Him. And besides that, the scripture does say, and this is what we don't like.
And we'll tell you, I have overcome the world because we're not just living for this moment and what we have in this world, but we are living for an eternal perspective. The eternal God. If God was just temporary and a temporal thing, then I, could understand that but our god is not temporal he's not just for a season but he is eternal and he has called us to enjoy him forever we we think about going to heaven and so many songs oh and by the way i'm gonna see jesus you know we can't forget about jesus because you know he's there but but really the big thing we're looking for is i'm i'm gonna see mama i'm gonna see aunt pearl i want to see grandpa i want to see all of these and we're gonna have us a big family reunion oh and by the way jesus is there too as if you know he's that he's that crazy uncle you know we we got to put up with him a little bit too i know i'm being funny but but you know that's really sometimes the way that we we look at this but every you know paul told timothy he said to show yourself approved unto god workman that does not need to be ashamed but rightly dividing the word of truth he said you have to give yourself i challenge you if you don't get any challenge out of me today other than this let it be this take time in the word so that you will not be deceived you will not be moved but you will be established firm and steadfast to glorify god because it's not about us and our our ease and our comfort it's about him and bringing glory to him all things the scripture says in in revelation chapter number four when they're there before the throne and they're saying holy holy holy is the lord for you have created all things and for your pleasure they are and were created for your purposes they are and were created you are here to glorify him you are here for him is he for here for you yes but our glory in him and in him alone paul said even though i'm untrained in speech because that's what they kept saying you're not a good preacher paul's not a good preacher may not be good poem homiletically you know you're supposed to have three points you're supposed to have three points and all of this and have it all wrapped up he said he said i may be untrained in how to speak but i'm not take care of me i wasn't taking an offering for myself i wasn't trying to do anything for me in fact there were others that were taking care of me he said maybe i did wrong in that but he said that's what i did he said as it as the truth of christ is in me no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of a gay or why because i do not love you he said god knows but what i will do what i'm going to do that i may cut off the opportunity from those now notice what he says in this phrase next phrase who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are he said in message that glenn preached so great in first in chapter number 10 about the weapons of all warfare not carnal but they're mighty through god to the pulling down a stronghold he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god my friend if it does not we just moved into this last year some of you may or may not know we purchased a home we've lived in a mobile home for years and we purchased a home but you know that thing if you have a 150 room mansion get lost in there now i'm not saying anything if you've got a big house that's okay i mean i'm not i'm not saying anything but if that is our goal what is so super spiritual let's check our hearts and see our relationship is with god so we guard the truth we guard our devotion we guard our truth and we then we guard our discernment how are we discerning the truth paul did say in romans 12 he said don't be conformed or be fashioned after this world but be transformed by the renewing of how our minds renew it's in the how do we know what god desires how do we go away he gave himself he did not demand anything from him you know and i'll just take take a moment here i say this when some people don't read the scripture because they think it's boring well how you know that's like saying i you know i don't want to get to know my wife i don't want to get to know my husband because that'd be boring honey if you're bored you need to go back and start off with jesus and then thank god i saw my wife once in a while i love everything about you and i like everything about you even those things which irritate me because those things irritate me show me where i need some some changing and some correction in my life and we've had a lot of them i have had a lot of them but i search the world so that it will correct me they correct me they bring about the peaceable fruits of righteousness guard your discernment how do i guard my discernment in the world in the world i keep hammering this that has been so that you can be stead challenge us and stir us to desire you more than anything else that we would guard our heart we would guard that which you have given to us that we may glorify you and bring you praise and be bring you betrothed to one jesus christ we are married to him and when we come to communion we are celebrating his death and his resurrection what he did for us on the cross but on the cross it just simply brings us into that we are we are declaring our devotion to him that he has given himself to us and we are giving ourselves to him he has given everything that he could give his very life how can we love you have full devotion to jesus and we're taking just giving the moment that's coming lastly the side of the wealth we have we call our welcome card this is for anyone who may be a little newer to dlc that would be interested in getting a little more connected it's in the seat back in front of you you can fill that out it just asks for your name your email and your phone number what we'll do is we'll get in contact with you let you know of a few different ways here at dlc that you can get connected get some of our church leaders up here more about we are in the house that sort of thing so please um fill that out and we'll see you next time out and you can put it um offering buckets at the end of each of these double doors on your way out guys if you remember we've got compassion venezuela going on we are deeply connected with the venezuelan community out there through jerry and others in the church there and as you may have heard they face some tragic truly tragic conditions with earthquakes and other things going on and we're currently doing a clothing drive so lightly used clothing goes a long long way for them so go to our website for a full list of the needed items even outside of that um it'll be on the qr code on the flyer on your seat if you want to see like a full list of ways that you can support i've seen people coming in with full bags just clothes it's just wonderful wonderful wonderful and it's more of a blessing than you would realize so please consider doing that for us and lastly um dakota had a hard time saying we've got hermeneutics coming up um at christ college because it's called christ college you might think that you have to register for christ college but it's not registered for a full year or two years that is not true you can actually just do individual classes and i think it's very timely that james brought the word that he did today about hermeneutics because hermeneutics if you don't know is simply discovering the the meaning of a text the truth of the text and so who was written to or why it was written when it was written in the context as a whole of the word of god i am a graduate of christ college telling you it is incredible i learned all the things that i don't know but they give you incredible teaching tools and ways for you to grow um in your faith particularly with the word of god because the word of god can be you know sometimes for people it can be overwhelming as james has given us this call to be in the word to study the word that can be a challenge for many reasons i think it's boring or you might think it's over your head but the gospel is meant to be simple the truth the lord is meant to be simple to us and so thank you for your word to us god that we can come um with expectation that we will learn and grow in our faith and knowing who you are that we won't be swayed different doctrines but we will be able to get into the word and grow in your wisdom in your truth in your heart lord today i ask in jesus name god that there be if there be any need among us lord that that need would be met emotionally spiritually financially physically lord that you meet every need today in jesus name amen again if you guys need prayer please don't leave um we'll be here in this atmosphere for as long as we need to be you are dismissed thank you just probably end it like that sounds great
