Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
240716 Tuesday night bible Class/ fixing your eyes on Jesus - 2024/07/16
[BLANK_AUDIO] Tell me when we're ready, Sam, tell me where we're going. [BLANK_AUDIO] >> We're up. You see me? >> Yep. >> I'm up, I see me, I'm down. >> Okay. >> I love that. >> Keep doing. >> How are you? >> Hell yeah. >> All right. [BLANK_AUDIO] And this is another fun evening coming together, and our study and our chapter, our scripture will be Hebrews, will continue with Hebrews as well, for us. [BLANK_AUDIO] And next few moments will be devoted to silent prayer, giving each one of us, the opportunity to sit in everything else aside and focusing upon the Lord Jesus Christ and whose words were about to study. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, ensure that you are filled with the Holy Spirit, filling up the Holy Spirit is God's unhindered ministry in that he's able to do all that he was placed out or just to do. You have any other confesses? Now it's the time to name them quietly and privately to God the Father who is faithful and just to give us those sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Let's take these next few moments and I'll open this up in prayer. [BLANK_AUDIO] Father, I have a thank you for this opportunity once again to fill the ship in your work, and we ask to have them call the God who was spiritual and lightness and continue in this wonderful chapter of Hebrews. It seems like we've worked very hard to get here and where a wonderful chapter is. Open our hearts through the truth today, and we pray these things in Christ's name. I saw it in Pastor Bolander yesterday. It's Tuesday, right? Yeah, yesterday. And he brought the mind about, and as we were talking a little bit earlier in the nation, probably a world is talking about the assassination attempt of President Trump. And it might be in that aspect to look back and consider your own reactions to that. And we live in a time of crisis. We live in a time when just about anything, within one inch, that would have been fatal, and the nation with that would have been crippled in many different ways. But the Christian life should never be crippled. And we talked a little bit about it yesterday. In these days, we can be expecting quite a bit of anything that can happen on a day-to-day basis. These days are perilous times, but this is what we train for, your spiritual life. And this is why we come and set in Bible class, week after week after week, studying the word of God, verse by verse, studying about God, studying about our spiritual life, where we're going. And so when the crisis hit, we're still human. And we're still that carnal nature is much more than just dealing with sin. But the carnal nature is the humanistic side of us, that's just a carnal. It wants to take over. Emotions and a time of crisis, your emotions will want to seek to find a place. And it wants to be dominant. It wants to, your emotions will want to dictate. And this could be, this could be any time in your personal life, it can be in personal issues, but in a time of natural crises or something, we get to news. First thing I heard, George, only thing George said, we were watching a movie or maybe we weren't, I don't know what we were doing, but George broke the news to me. Trump's been shot. That's all he said. So I don't know how he is and where he is, if he's been killed or what. But I stopped. I mean, I stopped, it wasn't, I get emotions or I had to figure out where I was. Charlie Klopp, he, the colonel wrote a book called Faith Breast, he does a series on Faith Breast while the pastor themes off to be with the Lord. Charlie Klopp also, he took that and he broke it down into three, three steps. I believe it was three steps. And when you come into a crisis, again, what's going to happen is that your emotion, you So the first thing that's going to happen is that your emotions are going to take over and your mind's going to go this way, that way, all over the place. So the first step in the Faith Breast through is to stop. It's to stop. Stop wicking out in this way. If somebody was back and you slap them in their face and bring them back to reality, well, you slap yourself in their face. Just, just stops and get a hold and that's the, how to get a hold of yourself. Okay, you've heard, you've heard that before, get a hold of yourself. You've heard that, get a hold of yourself. Stop wicking out. Okay, relax. Okay. At least relax your mind a little bit. And then step two is to recall something from the Bible, maybe a Bible verse. It may be a section Bible. It may be maybe a story like David and Goliath that may be something, something that it's like the water in a old pump, the old crank pump. As you put water in it, prime it to get the water flowing, that, that Bible verse or the passage becomes like a quick reaction force. Now you start thinking. Now the next step is apply doctoral rationales. That means be thinking God's thoughts after them. Now you've got, you've primed the pump. Now start making conclusions from the Bible doctrine and the truth and applying truth to the situation at hand and allowed. And this is when you're thinking now dominates over your motion. You can't have emotions. Nothing wrong with emotions, but your emotions have to be subordinate under your thinking. And I say that because this, things are not over folks. We talked about that a little bit early. Things are not over. Any and every day will bring, and it's, when it starts, I believe when this starts, it's like in Revelation. And Revelation it says, the message to John is that, communicate these things which soon must take place. When it says soon, it means in rapid order. That's what the phrasing in the Greek is. It's in rapid or one thing after another thing after another thing. And so you, so these things, we just had one count as one thing. You have to learn to use the faith's rest on a continual basis, continue thinking, husbands and wives, and being, and looking out for one another. Parents and the children continue to keep a safer way through the, the situations. And this, thanks to me. Bob talked about yesterday. I thought that was, that's what he said, just as a reminder, even a reminder to me. We are in Hebrews, chapter 12. Therefore, since we have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that, which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance. And by the way, that word, endurance is here. If I remember, it's one of my favorite words in the Greek. Any good guesses? We saw in James, James, 1-3. Hoopomone. Hoopomone. And endurance. And the, so as we continue to apply faith, as we continue to come into endurance, or when we come into a, we, we stripped ourselves off from those things that hindered us. And as we are applying Bible doctrine, as we're applying, as we're utilizing faith, we're going to develop a momentum. There's another thing about Hoopomone. It's a, it develops a momentum in the spiritual life. All right? The, so the race that, uh, run with endurance, Hoopomone, the race that is set before us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, and this is where our subject lies. Fixing our eyes. That first word, go ahead and get us up there, son. And, uh, Ophora, uh, oh. And Ophora, oh, it is to keep thinking about without having one's attention distracted. To think about, to fix one's attention on. Um, this is occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is, this is our personal love for Christ and a number of reasons. And a number of reasons why we're fixing our, our attention upon Him. Occupying our mind with Him. Occupying our hearts with the Lord Jesus Christ. Uh, first of all, he is, uh, first of all, he is the one who models the Christian way of life. He did what we are supposed to do. Our goal in this life, after salvation, is to reach a place where we are Christ-like. Where we are, where our hearts are so saturated with the Lord that we are, and that we are making decisions. It used to be a, a fact some years ago, the little bracelets and necklaces. What would Jesus do? And, um, not, not a bad way of looking at it is putting our minds upon Jesus and becoming a student of Jesus. Um, nothing different than combat leaders. Who study history, who study, um, leaders in the past. So remember, um, Mad Dog Maddox, and we've, we've talked about that before. And he'd have his library wherever he went. And he'd take his library and he expected his subordinate leaders to read. Because reading, whether you talk about Caesar and then golic wars or, um, other leaders have different, different times and same decision, civil war leaders and whatnot. We learned by them through the readings and studying. And, and, and this is what, um, General Maddox did. He had this library that he had brought into his thinking. And so he could make decisions. And this is exactly what we're doing. We are making a student as the greatest, the greatest leader of all time, our Lord Jesus Christ. And we are modeling our lives after him by bringing, um, by understanding who and what Jesus is. And you're going to become what you focus your heart and your, your eyes on and your mind on. You're going to become that. You're going to take on the image of it. So when you focus upon Christ, you're going to take upon yourself the image of Christ. And that's what we need to do. We need to be images of Christ, um, images of him. Um, so with the establishment of right priorities related to the spiritual life, the Christian value system changes. And we began to value those things that Jesus, um, valued. We began to walk like he walked. Um, there's also the sense of encouragement. He is the hero at the cross. He won the great victory upon the cross. He holds the banner. He is our, you know, Hova Nessie. We learned that back in, we know that back in Exodus. And in Exodus, Jehovah Nessie, it means the Lord is my banner. He is the one who, um, and we finished off last. I still didn't get that article, um, in that book followers colors, but he's the one that we keep our eyes on. He is the leader of the spiritual life. Uh, and so it's also the fact that he's a hero. We were trusting in him and therefore, and therefore we can. He has won the victory. He has already won the victory in the end. We are going within him. We have all already won the victory as well. And so this life we can face current. Listen to this. Courage with God, courage in God, courage, courage in Christ. Or no, let me try this a different way. Occupation with Christ. Occupation with Christ will give you courage before man encircumstances. Okay? When we're fixing our eyes on Christ and we become occupied with Christ, we will also have courage with man encircumstances. Um, with that, with that, we can overcome. Jesus said, you know, that, you know, heart be troubled. I have overcome the world. Meaning in him, we can also in him conquer and overcome. So the rallying point is the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus just did not save us. He just didn't come to save us. He just didn't come to die on the cross to save us. But he came also to model the spiritual life for us. Acts 4, 12, we read this Sunday. And there is salvation and no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. And that salvation comes in three phases. Justification. And what's the second one there, Grady? Sanctification. And what's the third one there, Beck? Oh, what's that? Okay. Some one in the back? Glorification. Glorification. All right. So, I don't remember now. Justification, sanctification, and glorification. Grady tells us to grow and grace in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Again, he is the model of the spiritual life. Coming back to our passage, facing our eyes on Jesus. The author. Okay. Bringing up authors there. Okay. The author. Archagos, and Archagos is one who calls us something to begin. He's an initiator, the founder, the originator. And the one who institutes salvation. Again, like a Christ, he sets a pattern by which we ourselves live according to the way, the truth and the life. Jesus said, "I am the adults. I am the one who, I am the way, the path, the road." And he sets up. And so, there's a pattern before us. We don't have to try to figure out the spiritual life. Again, he is the author and the perfecter of our faith. The faith that we live by. We should be learning about Christ, to be living like Christ. Jesus suffered. And Paul promises us that those who seek to live the Christian, listen to Paul's promises in 2 Timothy 2, 12. That if you seek to live God, how many of us want to live a Godly life? I do. Like I said, our value system, when our value system begins to change, and maybe it wasn't at the start, but you get busy with life, but when your value system changes, then something changes inside you and there is an ambition to live a Godly life. You should buy it. As Peter said that, I think it was Peter, either Paul or Peter, after staying corrected on it, but he said this, the matter of fact, I think it was Paul and Timothy, that the spiritual life that you should buy it has a great benefit. Not only for this life, but the life to come. Ted, you probably already know in that version. You're telling me, and I just can't hear you say it, but I'll look it up later. But you should buy it, it gives you the, it gives you, it has great benefit for this life and the life to come. And we want to live the Godly life. We want to live the life that God was, the life that's already God is a God in life. But Paul promises in 1 Timothy, for 1 Timothy 3.12, that those who seek to live Godly lives will be persecuted. We'll end up for, ah, let's, 2 Timothy, what is it? 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 3.12. Nope, better go 2 Timothy. Yeah. And go ahead and read that to somebody. Indeed, all who desire to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. That, that kind of leaves out any, um, might or potentials or anything to that degree. But first three supposes know, while evil people and postures will go all from bad words. What's that? It says, well, evil people and imposters will go all from bad words deceiving and being deceived. That was being facetious, it's not positive. Um, but none of that, um, but evil, evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to work deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things that you have learned. Key right there, folks, what is it? Continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them. And that, ah, from childhood, you have known the sacred writings. The, um, listen, that's what we do. That's what we do as, that's why we gather here to learn the word of God. Now, the assembly come together, the assembly point, yes, we have our fellowship together, we eat together, we, ah, do things together, but the primary function that we do in this church and the most important is the study of the word of God. It's to prepare you for the times that's coming, to prepare you for that, um, the challenges that are ahead. Again, what I said earlier, you have to think your way through these things. Faith isn't, and great, I want you to make sure, make sure that you understand this. Faith isn't just something I was like, well, I just won't believe everything's going to be alright. It's not based on your belief. It's based on who you know and who you trust. And faith has to have an object. And, um, so, just, I can't tell you, just to have faith, you have to know what you believe in. And that's the purpose of why we gather together to study God's word. All right, Jesus gives us an example by which we also are to carry our crosses in Matthew 16, 24 to 26, as Jesus said that we are to, that he said, and when he said, pick up your crosses and Matthew, and Matthew, it is continually, it says continually pick up your cross. Not just one time, it is a, it is a, um, an active, it's an active imperative. I'm losing something there. Anyway, it means an active. It's what you're doing. You continually pick it up your cross and following him. And picking up a cross is, and all the things that's related to it, like the cross, you're talking about the suffering. You're talking about the persecution. You're talking about the humiliation, the humbling. All of these things are connected with carrying your cross. And, um, there, and once again, going back to what Paul says in Timothy, that you will, um, suffer persecution. All right. Moving on. Hebrew, Hebrew, chapter 12. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, focusing, uh, uh, occupation with the author and the perfecter. That perfecter is, you got that out there? Tella Otakes, Tella Otakes, and it means one who makes possible the successful completion of something, one who completes a perfecter. Looking to Jesus, the one who initiates and completes faith, or looking to Jesus on whom our faith depends from the beginning to the end. I like that, from the beginning to the end. Our faith starts at the moment that we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. But that doesn't stop there. Now there is a spiritual life that we must learn. Jesus perfected that spiritual life. He initiated it. He perfected it. He brought it to completion on the cross when he said it is finished. And it's not just talking about our salvation one. But he had demonstrated all the way to death. All the way to death. He becomes every example from every situation that we can come into. You see, when, if we continue listening, I can't imagine myself going through the suffering that we have read in just the previous chapter. I can't imagine suffering like those previous Christians had it. I mean, what were some of the things? You get that they were placed in logs and sawed in half. They were burned at the stake. I mean, every evil that you can think that can be done to the human body and the suffering that they had, they were made to go about town and clothing. And it's hard to think of the suffering. How can I do that? I don't know. But you know what? I'm studying for the test. I'm studying so that when the time comes, it's like Paul says in First Corinthians that you will not be, he will not bring upon you any more than what you can handle. So to prepare and listen, the greater the suffering, the greater the blessing in some regards. But because the greater blessing is how greater glorification of God. Greater testimony. Because these people had a testimony. Sometimes God will use us in a suffering situation, in a dreadful suffering situation. But I am confident. And how do I get through it, because I keep my eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, who is the author in the complete or the faith. And that I do not have to come up with my own religion. I do not have to come up with my own faith. I do not have to come up with a new way of doing things. I look upon Jesus, who models it. Jesus is not only the author of that faith life. The operating system by which we as Christians function in. But he tested it all the way to its furthest conclusion. You know, Thomas Edison. Okay, Thomas Edison really never read something on Thomas Edison, a book or whatever. He was a remarkable character. And they had a piece of machinery out there. And the Thomas and Mr. Edison kept trying to get the operator to push it even harder. Or to give it more power to push it. And again, it will take much more. And Edison says, I do not care, give it more, give it more. And finally, the machine just broke down. And I told you, I told you Mr. Edison, it broke down. He says, and Thomas Edison smaller, he says, you know what, we just did? We proved that that machine could give us 20 more percent than what the manufacturers said we could. And that's why things are tested. Equipment is tested to its fullest potential, and then they back it off to recommendations. They take submarines down further than as far down as it can beyond operating, normal operating conditions. Just to test them to make sure that they are reliable. Jesus took this fake life further than we will ever take hours. So we can trust in what the Lord did for us in my life. John 1930, therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Mission accomplished. We do not have to add anything to what Jesus had established. It is foolish for anyone to even attempt to come up with an alternative of that which Jesus Christ had established. Let me move on to the next book that comes out, next bestseller, that says he got it all figured out. This is how a Christian should live his life and everything. You already got the book. It's called the Bible. Learn it. So ours, by focusing on Jesus Christ, is focusing upon the battle plan. It was our Lord Jesus Christ who blazed the trail. All we have to do is follow that path. And to choose any other course will certainly lead to failure. Joshua, let's go to Joshua 1/6. Joshua 1/6 through 9. And Greg, I'm going to give you that one. Joshua 6, 1 through 9. Joshua 1/6 through 9. Yeah, Joshua 1/6 through 9. Be strong and courageous for you shall give this people a possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give you. Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful and to do according to all of the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left. So that you may have to assess wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. So that you may be careful to do according to all that is written for anything. For then you will make your way prosperous. Right. And then you have to assess. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed. There? Okay, I'm sorry. Just want to. The law of your God is with you wherever you go. So, here it is that Joshua to have success. Okay, great. You just read that. What is it that Joshua was to do to have success? And success is to find what God says is success. It is God who defines success. Not you. But if we are going to live God a lot, we are going to follow that pattern. So, what do you find in there, Grady? That will lead to success. Meditate. Okay, meditate. Meditate on what? Well, what does it say on there? And it is on God, but the book of the law, the word of God, the instructions, the Torah. For them, they only had the first, maybe not, they may not even have the first five books. Why did they answer the wrong? They had the first five books. And so, it was meditating on the word of God. That is the secret to the success that is the secret to our faith. It is the meditation on God's word. And he says, do not deviate from it. That is what he means by not turning to the left or turning to the right. Don't deviate from the word of God. Is your actions. That is the thing that we should be asking ourselves. Is our actions in line with what scripture is telling us to do? Do not turn to the left. It turns to the right. And then that is the written logos. That is the written word. We have the completed canon of scripture. And we also have the Lord Jesus Christ who John calls and first John, or not first John, John 1-1. That he is the logos. He is the word. Meditate on him. Because, again, not only is he the word, but he also is the example of the way to follow. Christ is our Joshua. And it is Joshua. Now, Joshua is a leader. Joshua is going in, listen. He says, you are going to have success. Jesus, or I don't know, but the Lord God way is talking to Joshua. He says, my servant Moses is dead. He goes, well, here is your instructions there, General Joshua. You are taking over. Meditate on this word day and night. That means always. When the Hebrew and the Semitic language, you have one extreme to the other. Just like heavens and earth, God created the heavens and the earth. It means all things. Everything He created, all things. It just takes it. Well, this same thing, day and night. Meditate on this day and night. That means always. You are always meditating on it. You don't let the part you. They say, this is your instructions, this is your path. This is Joshua's path. Now, those who followed Joshua will also share in that success. Joshua, you will have success. The unsaid thing here, he is a leader. So if I am going to line myself with Joshua, guess what they are doing. I am going to succeed too. I am going to be under Joshua. He is leading the armies. So his success is the army's success. And that is what we want. So if we are, and Jesus is our Joshua, so we are following our Joshua, Jesus. His success is our success. We are in him. And as we are following him, we are having that success. So arrogance takes our eyes off Jesus, off God, and places them on ourselves in circumstances. This one arrogance is humility is seeing ourselves rightly before God. So arrogance takes our eyes off God and places them on ourselves. Take our eyes off Christ and we lose. Take our eyes off Christ and we deviate it off the course. We turn to the right or turn to the left. Couple examples of this, we have a few more minutes. Couple examples. Exes 17, 8 to 13, we read about the battle of the Amalthites. And just real quick, in the battle, Joshua is fighting, he is leading the troops. Actually Moses is leading the troops and Moses is up on the hill. And Moses with his staff, he is holding his staff up. And as long as the staff is up, the Israelites were winning. And as soon as his army got heavy and the staff started coming down, then the Amalthites started winning. And finally, the two came beside him and was holding the staff up, holding his arm up with the staff. And the Israelites won the battle. He is that Jehovah and Nancy, he is the banner. He is the one when their eyes were fixed upon that raised staff, they were winning. So in the battle of faith, we must keep our eyes on the one who is holding up the staff. And of course, the other example I have for you is Peter. And Matthew 14, we can go ahead and turn to Matthew 1428. And man, I'll give you that one. Matthew 1428, and read to 31. Peter said to him, "Lord, as it is you, command me to come to you on the water." And he said, "Come." And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But during the wind, he became frightened and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me." He immediately used the stretch down his hand and took hold of him and sent him a few of little faith. Why did you doubt? How many of us have taken their eyes? We've sorted out. How many of us have done this, exactly what Peter did, except not in the boat. We weren't walking the water. Let me set it up again. Let me go back. Here it is that Peter sees Jesus walking out there on the water with the waves and all that. And Peter turns to us and says to the Lord, "Command me to come on out and I'll come." He says, "Come on." And he starts out. And he's good to go. He initiates. He's probably taking a few steps on there. And tell what did he do wrong there, Grady? What did he do wrong? What did Peter do wrong? He took his eyes off of the Lord. If he kept his eyes fixed upon the Lord, he'd have been all right. But as soon as he took his eyes off, he started looking at the troubles and the waves around him. There's a lot of application for us today, folks. When he started looking down and he started seeing the waves and the wind and all that stuff, he said, "What am I doing?" He started to think. See, many of us have done that. We started out in faith. And we've gone out. Maybe it's getting through a trouble or something. And we're navigating pretty good because we're fixed on the promises of the Lord. And all of a sudden, our mentality changes. And that's what it is. There's a mentality shift that our eyes are taken off of the Lord. And we start thinking about the circumstance where we're thinking about our current danger of welfare. And then we begin to sink. So before we enter the storm, we must know who we trust. We must know who we have our eyes upon. See, that's a challenge with faith. We must believe and we must keep believing. Most of the places you see in the Bible that speaks about believing is a present active participle. Or a present active is something that's continually going. It's not just, "Well, I believe." Peter couldn't just say, "Well, I believe you're not saying." No. You had a moment of belief. And when you stop believing, Peter stopped believing. He stopped trusting. And when we take our eyes off Christ, we have stopped trusting. That's the point where we begin to sink. All right, Hebrews 12-2 finishes up with fixing our eyes on Jesus. The author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, the joy, "Bring up Carah." There we go, "Carah." And it's the state of joy or gladness. Joy, gladness, great happiness. And it's elation of soul. This is the joy of the Lord. This is the joy that is inexpressible. See, fatalism is an attitude of doom and gloom. The sad thing is, I see, and we've all experienced many Christians who live in a life of doom and gloom. And sometimes it's so bad, you kind of avoid those folks. But all too many Christians are down. Where's the joy at? And it doesn't mean, listen, this joy doesn't mean that we have to be bubbly and all that. It may not be our first noun. This is a inner joy. It is even on our worst day. And even through the tears, there is a joy that is from the Lord. And what I say, well, you don't know what I'm going through. No, I may not. But God knows what you're going through. And the one there is the promise, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, though temptation has overtaken you, but such as in common to man. And God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with temptation will provide the way to escape also so that you will be able to endure it. So what the Lord has allowed you to come through and bring you through, you've got what it takes to get you through it. And for the joy that was set before him, that he endured the cross. He was able to look, this is a fatalism saying, I'm going to die, the whole world comes to an end, period, over and out, without looking beyond that to know that beyond that Christ. And we should be excited, there should be a, and today we may, the beatitudes, blessed is he who are, plus those who are poor spirit, they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. And all the beatitudes, they can be happy now with the prospect of what lies ahead. I'm going to, I'm going to that, I said, happy and precarious and happy. Happy are the four spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are those who are born, for they shall be comforted. Happy are those who are in the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Happy are those who hunger and thirst for rights, for they shall be satisfied. Though they are going through trials and tribulations of this time, they can have the joy, they can have the saved soul of happiness with the prospect of something better coming. Fatalism, the dreadful words, it is what it is, is this dreadful because you're looking at life and at circumstances with no hope set before you. And Romans 8, 18, for I consider that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that is revealed to us. We've got a wonderful future ahead of us that we should not, there should be, not a Christian, especially a Christian who is inculcated with the word God that sacrificed their heart. There is no, they, they, they, there is the competent expectation and that brings to joy. Therefore, since we have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the alternate perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He knew that there was a plan, he knew what the end game was going to be. That's closed out in prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for this opportunity of felt shipping in the word this evening. I pray Heavenly Father that these truths, I pray Heavenly Father that whatever we might be going for and whatever we're going to go for. For those that everything is just fine right now, who seeks to live a God in his life, we know that there is challenges ahead. For Paul said, and I don't know, inspired word that there are challenges ahead and that's coming and we must be prepared for it, prepared for it to glorify God in whatever challenges he has. I pray Heavenly Father that when we face those challenges that we are able and that we have the courage and we have the faith to take us through these things that we might glorify and suffer well through those challenges. We pray these things in Christ's name. We have about 10 minutes left on the clock, so let's hit this. Becky, you want that first question there? Darling, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9, 27, but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I preach to others, I myself will not be disqualified. What does Paul mean by disqualification? All right. Loss of eternal rewards. We can't lose our salvation can with grace. Can't lose our salvation, but there's eternal rewards. What are some of the eternal rewards that we might be losing? Crowns, roads, worship, luncheon, position. Yes, we can lose those things. There is an inheritance that we can lose. We can't lose our salvation. We have eternal life, but we can lose those things attached to it. All right, Greg, I'm going to be this one. How can I believe or suffer loss through one, though one is guaranteed eternal life through faith in Christ? How can I believe or suffer loss? What? I think we just covered it, didn't we? What can you lose by not living a godly life? Anybody? Eternal rewards. Eternal rewards, crowns, and remember we said Sunday that there are inequality in heaven. Those that have lived godly lives will be rewarded. While those that went about their lives has really cornered their carnal nature, all their lives. And they may have prospered on this earth, really, but then find themselves in heaven with nothing to show for a life that should have been lived for him. Amanda, in light, the believer in Christ can expect what? Persecution. Persecution, absolutely. What's the passage on that? Remember? 2nd Timothy 3, 12, 2nd Timothy 3, 12. I might also down here as a distractor of freedom for persecution. Prosperity gospel will tell you that God wants you healthy and wealthy and all that. If you're not rich and if you're not in this life and if you're not healthy, you're doing something wrong. Tim, you must be doing something wrong because you're not healthy. Yeah, oh my goodness. Of course, that's the prosperity gospel and that's a lie because all of us go through different things and go into different things. The period of blessing from God wants all of us to be healthy, rich, and wise. That's prosperity gospel. No. And just because we're believers doesn't mean that we're going to get crowns and robes. There is a qualifier for that. Okay, number four. Who's next? Becca, when comforting a brother or sister in Christ, what should we be attempting to accomplish for the fellow believer? He didn't want to die, but we've got this on the water. Very, very good. Yes, you got anything to add to that? Yeah, that is because they're probably preoccupied with theirself and they're, I don't know, they don't even know they're doing it, but they need to help them recognize where they're at. Where are you? Yeah. Where are you? Where are you in your spiritual life? So that's, that's, um, that's, um, you know, very good to recognize, to focus on the water. Um, you ever get out of sorts? You ever get your eyes on self? Yeah. Everybody does. Everybody does. So I would have to get in a rut to point where it gives them a little bit off. Too, too much. So our task, yes, our task is to help another get their eyes refocused on Christ. It's not about them. They're there. Everything's going to be alright. The sun's going to come out tomorrow. That's known. Our and counseling others. Our chief goal is to help them get their eyes off self or circumstances and back on. And back on the Lord. Okay. That's what we need. And those, those trying times. Okay. Number five. Grady, during the battle with the amylchites and X is 17. What caused the amylchites to gain the advantage of the Israelites? Exactly. When Moses lowers the staff. What does that tell us about? How can we apply that to our keeping our eyes on Jesus? Anybody? When we take our eyes off, Jesus, when we take our eyes off, he is. Remember that name for Jesus on the earth of Yahweh, Jehovah and Essie. The Lord is my banner. Okay. Six, man, explain the spiritual significance that teaches us the battle with the amylchites and X is 17. We just went over that. Okay. I'll kick your eyes off that. Okay. Man, I'll give you this one. Number seven. What Hebrew phrase means the Lord is my banner? Very good. Mecca and the Lord's instruction of Joshua. How would Joshua gain success? Anybody on it? Well, open up the floor in this one. How does Joshua, what are the things that Joshua must do or the thing that Joshua must do to be successful? I'm going to take on the book. Okay. Great. How does that apply to us today? Got to obey him. What do we do that Joshua had to do? We're going to obey his commandments. Amen. We need to keep our eyes focused upon the Word of God and meditate on it day and night. Always keeping it in the forefront of our minds. Okay. I'll jump down to 10 because we've pretty much answered 9. Romans 8, if the Christian is to be a fellow heirs in Christ and to go off and be glorified with him. What must we be willing to do? Sell all our possessions, suffer, rule with him, love our neighbors as ourselves. What must we be willing to do? Suffer. We must be ready to suffer if we are going to live Godly lives. All right. Anything else? Anything else you want to add? Thank you, Lord. We did that with others. We added some of the last words. And that was the Lord's amen from there or the weather angels. All right. Well, with that, we'll continue on. Is there anything we need to pass? I think that did it. Okay. All right. Until tomorrow morning, we'll be back with worship calls in the morning and we'll see you then. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]