0:00:00 - 0:00:26 So um gonna talk about Psalm 107. But before I do, I want to set that up by telling you about a revelation I had uh I don't always remember what I've told people about. So if you've heard this one before, sorry, but whatever, I don't think I've published this. Um So a few years ago seems like an eternity 0:00:26 - 0:00:53 ago, but it was about three years ago, I was praying, I was having a really hard time and I prayed and just as I was about to ask for help to be relieved of the situation that was in um the Lord recounted to my mind, one of the first uh visions that I ever had and I was uh walking around this corner 0:00:52 - 0:01:24 and up some steps and just on that corner where the steps started, there's a concrete tube like like a construction concrete tube but set up, right? And it had a uh a little window like this. That's a good representation as if it were a bunker and inside of that tube were people. But um so there they 0:01:24 - 0:01:47 were the color black and I want to just like uh elaborate a little on what I mean by that. So heavenly colors are different than earth colors. And I'm not sure how to describe that for those who don't already know what I'm talking about, but they are much richer. And so when you see blue in heaven, you 0:01:47 - 0:02:11 say, oh that's blue, but in the same token, it is not blue, it's, it's like there's another dimension to color of intensity or experience. Um I don't know how else to say it. If you've ever edited photos, you crank up the saturation. That's a very limited analogy for many reasons. One of them being that 0:02:11 - 0:02:29 it gets to be too much where it doesn't look better. Imagine if there was some magic way of doing that where the more you crank it up, the better it gets and there's no limit to that and you crank it up to the absolute max. That's what colors are like in heaven. And that's actually a really, really important 0:02:28 - 0:02:52 rich idea in itself because all things of value are like that in heaven anyway, that we could talk about that for hours. Uh So when I say black, I don't mean black, like if, if, if you saw it and you saw what we call like, uh there's a screen in front of me, it's off right now. It's black or that, that 0:02:52 - 0:03:22 we would call black, that wood, that headboard. Um That's not what I'm talking about. It was the complete absence of light and everything on these people was the same total absence of light, their eyes, everything, but they were staring at me and I knew what they were feeling and they just, their eyes 0:03:22 - 0:03:56 followed me and just walked by like this. They didn't have that expression. I can't mimic their expression. Um But it was at rest but they were so full of rage and hatred and misery and um malevolence embodied. And at that time, God gave me to understand that there were forces that were interested in 0:03:55 - 0:04:21 uh my destruction, but that they were contained by him and um that they would not be allowed to do what they wanted to do to me. And uh this was a very long time ago and like I said, it was, it, I don't think it was the first vision I ever had. It might have been the second. And uh these things are always 0:04:21 - 0:04:51 very surprising to me. I didn't like Moses said I had never supposed and I was just full of uh um I don't know what word, I just had zero expectation of those things happening. And then when they did, uh it, it just um it was really something. So, um anyway, he recalled that to my mind. You know, the 0:04:51 - 0:05:13 spirit does that calls things to your remembrance that you have gone through before. And usually it adds a little bit here and there sometimes a whole lot and this was a whole lot situation because that was a flash of memory. And then all of a sudden I saw a giant field. It went on as far as you could 0:05:12 - 0:05:44 see and uh everything was black. Um But there were people there who weren't the absence of light. Um The field was full of people. It was, they're all arranged, just packed in there but arranged systematically and all of us because I was there too. I saw myself there. We're kneeling down and we had chains 0:05:43 - 0:06:17 around us. We were kneeling down, all hunched over and just staring at the ground in the darkness. And these chains were thick heavy chains just wrapped around us. And the lord appeared to me there and he said, why are you here? And I mean, I didn't do this because I couldn't, right. But uh I was like 0:06:16 - 0:06:49 , well, we're, we're all here. And he said, but why are you here? And I said, well, I'm chained up just like everybody else here. And he said, did it ever cross your mind? Did you have power to break those chains? You don't need to be here? And uh it was like an instantaneous thing where the second he 0:06:48 - 0:07:17 told me, you don't have to be here. These chains can't contain you. Everything changed. And in an instant I just, I went like this and it was like, I had a wet paper bag on me and these things that I thought were absolutely inescapable hopeless. We were all hopeless without hope, kneeling in the darkness 0:07:16 - 0:07:53 in this field alone, even though we were surrounded by people and in silence, I ripped off these chains and I stood up and he said, I'll read this part to you if I can find it. I thought I had this pulled out. He said I have forged you in my word. No weapon can prosper against you. So, uh that was the 0:07:52 - 0:08:22 end of my prayer and I didn't ask him to help me. Uh I was done asking for help because I learned something about the way that uh the best way that God can help us. And I, this is not what this is about, but I will tell you, we can ask for him to provide a way for us to escape, to take something away 0:08:21 - 0:08:55 a trial, or we can ask him to sanctify us in his word to make us stronger, to overcome what the chains that are on us, whatever situation we're in. And that is by far, the better way is by far the better way that could be its own video. But let's get back to the point here. So I just told you two experiences 0:08:54 - 0:09:28 I've had and um I think that there are a lot of people who are hearing that we're gonna rush right to who does this guy think he is? Oh, he's something special. Look at that, you know, whatever. Um I do have a lot about me that is special but it is not from me, it's from God and you can have it too cause 0:09:27 - 0:09:59 it's from Him, not me. And he's no respecter of persons, which means he's completely impartial. He operates by the same rules with everybody. So the funny thing about light and truth from true messengers who have it is that everything they say about themselves in relationship or, or about their relationship 0:09:58 - 0:10:27 with God can be yours as well. And they can't tell you anything about it without giving you the keys to get it for yourself. And that's the wonderful thing about the gospel. So everything that Jesus said about the father, he was also saying about himself because he's one with the father and everything 0:10:26 - 0:10:49 he said about himself. He was actually just demonstrating the father because he was talking about all the things that were from the father inside of him. And that's the way it goes all the way down in a tree where you go down into uh lesser and lesser light as you go down. It's all from him like he said 0:10:49 - 0:11:15 , um and John, he said, without me, you're nothing. And the converse of that is equally true. Anything in you is worth anything. It's actually from him and you can't get around that. So we don't have to tiptoe around God's goodness. If you've got a chunk of it, light up that candle and hold it up high 0:11:14 - 0:11:41 , not bragging about yourself, but helping people to see how they can be more like God. If there's an opportunity for that and the inverse of that, if you see a candle that's brighter than yours, go find out what the difference is and here's another, uh, clue or, or, um, I don't know another property 0:11:40 - 0:12:07 of the gospel. A lot of people get really upset when God corrects them. Here's the thing. He can't correct you without giving you the key to become more like Him in that way, right? Do you get that? If he says here's the difference between you and me? People are like, oh, you know, so just go read the 0:12:07 - 0:12:32 end of job. He really, really dresses down job, but he doesn't dress down job at all because he can't show you how to be better without showing you more of himself. And he can't show you more of himself without showing you how to be better. They can't be separated because they're the same thing. So in 0:12:32 - 0:12:59 the spirit of that, God did tell me no weapon can prosper against you. But if you read Isaiah 5417, you find out that promise had nothing to do with me. It has to do with Him and it's open to anybody that fulfills the qualifications. So we'll read it. Um He says no weapon that is formed against thee 0:12:59 - 0:13:28 shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord. So go learn more about Jesus and do everything you learn in your own life and don't be scared to uh share that 0:13:28 - 0:14:02 with other people and you'll have that promise too. So let's talk about those chains because an awful lot of people are wrapped up in these chains. You don't have to be Jesus has the power to free you. So Psalm 107 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy. Endure forever. Uh I just wanna 0:14:02 - 0:00:00 say um I love the songs. I love Proverbs. I even love Ecclesiastes people. Oh I won't get into it. I love the scriptures. But one thing I find is it's so easy to read them flatly without any feeling without connecting your brain to I wonder what the writer of this was thinking when he wrote it. Now, 0:00:00 - 0:14:51 I wonder what he was going through and I wonder what it would be like for me to go through those kinds of things and maybe I'm in a different life situation. But what would it be like? Like what would the equivalent be in my situation in life? In these words? In English? The translations tend to fall 0:14:50 - 0:15:18 flat for a whole lot of Hebrew words. There's not a good match for most of them. So uh I'm not gonna sit there and dive into everyone. But I think in our path towards God, part of that path is better understanding these ideas. And it takes a lot of time and effort and prayer and revelation to figure 0:15:17 - 0:15:47 out more of what these words actually mean. A lot of living and a lot of suffering to figure out what these words mean. But anyway, the Lord is good and his mercy does endure forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy? If you're redeemed, you should 0:15:47 - 0:16:21 say so because it's hard to say how good God is and to say anything meaningful about His mercy being. Uh so everlasting, if you haven't experienced the magnitude of those things in this life, and if you haven't been redeemed, you haven't. So um verse three and gathered them out of the lands from the 0:16:20 - 0:16:47 east and from the west and from the north and from the south. I don't wanna talk about that one for right now. Um But places can also refer to dispositions. Each of those has a corresponding um life circumstance and trajectory. Um And basically what that means is that the hand of God is out towards all 0:16:47 - 0:17:12 people no matter where they stand in life and draws them to him from there. Um They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in that word way is another really rich one. I'm not trying to dissect all of this. I'm trying to get to a later verse without skipping over everything 0:17:11 - 0:17:39 . Uh But I'll have to skip over a lot. There's a way of life and there's a way of death and that word way. It means a journey. It's not just a path, it's a journey. It's a process. It's a, it's a sequential experience. It's uh and so this solitary way that's, that's, um that's not the one you want, right 0:17:39 - 0:18:05 ? Um Continuing to verse five, hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them, then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses. Uh You know, of anyone who's in a solitary waste until they called upon God and he delivered them out of their distresses. That 0:18:04 - 0:18:28 sounds like the situation of Lehi. And it's parallel to many situations. In fact, you could probably name just about anyone in the Scriptures uh who is righteous and they had a similar pattern in life. Jeremiah, for example. Uh And he led them forth by the right way. So you have the way of death and 0:18:28 - 0:18:55 the way of life and you start on the way of death. Everyone does because everyone sins and alienates themselves from God and he calls you to the way of life the right way. And he led them forth by the right way from wherever they were towards him that they may might go to a city of habitation um habitation 0:18:54 - 0:19:24 dwelling, um uh sustained, living, persistence, continuation. Uh And we're approaching the concept of eternity. Uh way of life is eternal life and the way of death is destruction, uh degradation, decay. So on verse 80, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the 0:19:24 - 0:19:51 Children of men. Couldn't agree more with that. Did you know that the word glorify? Do you know what that means? Or magnify or sanctify in terms of the Lord of hosts or the Lord? Um Do you know what it means to praise the Lord for his goodness? So a lot of people would say like praise the Lord and that 0:19:51 - 0:20:20 has its place. But all of these concepts fuse together with this idea of making more evident God's goodness. And how do you do that? Well, maybe that's a topic for a different day, but it's really important because I've said, I've said I've shared themes like heaven is an acquired taste axioms if you 0:20:20 - 0:20:44 will. And uh the fact is that the natural man does not find God's goodness, very good. This is a shocker because we think like, oh, well, holiness that, that's evident, right? If, if holiness smacks you in the face, you'll say praise the Lord, right? No, no, that's not what's gonna happen. You'll, you'll 0:20:43 - 0:21:14 run the other way or um you'll turn against the person that showed it to you in, in, in surprisingly bad ways. Um You have to come up to that. And it's a process, it's a process of learning more accurate value, uh learning what's good and beautiful and true. It's, um, a lot of people think that they 0:21:14 - 0:21:42 just know this naturally and the opposite is the, is the case. The opposite is the case. What you naturally value is garbage compared to what God offers. And um, the good news is the good news, the gospel. This is exactly what the word means. The good news is. He will guide you in the way to come to 0:21:42 - 0:22:06 value better and better things. And he turns the bitter, sweet and the sweet, bitter. And that transformation is into what's actually more true and more real than whatever you had before. And this is called um bringing people into immortality and eternal life or giving them life more abundantly. It is 0:22:06 - 0:22:41 the very work of God because joy requires desire. You can give someone the best gift there is, which is eternal life and they will cast it down and they'll stomp on it like it's nothing. If you don't believe me, read what they did to Jesus because he was the embodiment of eternal life and love. And they 0:22:41 - 0:23:19 ignored him and they fought him and they nailed him to cross. But we don't have to do that because he came and he illustrated to us what is good, beautiful and true. He leads us forth by the right way that we might go to city of habitation. In terms of uh verse eight. Here, there's actually a, a, well 0:23:18 - 0:23:55 , I'll skip over that. OK. Verse nine for he satisfies the longing soul and fille the hungry soul with goodness. Side note. Have you ever thought about the, the variation of hunger and longing in life among people? So uh just uh here's a quick proof. OK. Uh That there is such a, that there, that a variation 0:23:54 - 0:24:20 exists without trying to qualify the the school think of your own life. Have you always? So I'm, I'm, I'm, I wanna blur out what it is that you desire. Don't care what it is you long for, don't care. Blur all that out and imagine a graph and here's your years of life, right? And here's your desire and 0:24:20 - 0:24:41 longing. Is it like this? Seriously? Doubt it, right? I seriously doubt it. If you've been through any experiences in life, you probably have this vastly differing desire and longing right now. We've squished down all the richness of life in one dimension. Just we're just talking about the existence 0:24:41 - 0:25:11 of desire and longing. Not all this stuff we could be placed in, but it, it varies vastly. Um So um I'm, I'm just so, you know, I, when I blank out, I'm blocking off things that I don't wanna say right now and it just takes a minute to turn off that faucet. So um he satisfies the longing soul and fille 0:25:11 - 0:25:34 the hungry soul with goodness. This is one of those opportunities to flatten what that actually means. And I will tell you uh sometimes we, we hear or say things like, oh, if you could only imagine what heaven's like. Uh Paul talks about this very often and he says, oh, I have not seen ear hath, not 0:25:33 - 0:25:58 heard what awaits the righteous, right. And he's quoting Isaiah. But the theme is all through scripture and that's kind of a common thing. I'll tell you this, you have no idea what longing and hunger is as far as what's possible in this life. You have no idea. And why does that matter? Well, one of the 0:25:58 - 0:26:21 ways that God teaches us how to correctly value things is through leading us through suffering. And in that process, you can go through such intensity of experience that you can uh I don't know that attain is the right word. I know it is technically correct, but it's something we're just dealing with 0:26:21 - 0:26:50 such a contradiction of senses here because the the connotation of suffering is bad and also longing and hungering. But what I'm trying to tell you is that it's actually good because God can only fill up a cup to the point. It has space to fill and uh you need a higher volume cup to experience more of 0:26:50 - 0:27:18 what He can give. So that longing and that hunger um in the sermon of the mount, he talks about hungry people being filled and he talks about um this longing, being satisfied. And I know that that's true. Um But there's a very important dimension of this where you have to yield to him. As he, he carves 0:27:18 - 0:27:52 out, he carves out that dish inside your heart, that bowl, that cup, he carves it out. So there's more room for him and his goodness cause we're just satisfied with such, such a triviality and shallowness and what he offers is endless. It's bottomless. The path to perceiving and obtaining that is also 0:27:52 - 0:00:00 endless and bottomless. But I'll talk more about that at a later date. Um And finally verse 10, which is where I wanted to get to such as sid in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron. And that's the field I saw. And that's the circumstances of many people here today. 0:00:00 - 0:28:44 Many people are wrapped up in these chains and they don't even know it. And those that do know it, they'd like to be better than they are. They have an idea of what that would look like and they actually desire it, but they don't know how to break the chains. So here's verse 11 because they rebelled 0:28:44 - 0:29:07 against the words of God and condemned the council of the most high. And it goes into verses that are actually more relevant for people who uh like nations who turn away from him but rebelled against the words of God. And now I'm gonna paraphrase Maliki. How have we rebelled against the words of God 0:29:06 - 0:29:34 ? Don't you know that his voice is unto all people. And you say, well, how is that? Let me share with you a little thought experiment and you may find traction doing this with other people, especially folks who are not sure if they believe in God or not. Um So uh in a second, I want you to pause the 0:29:34 - 0:29:57 video and I want you to think about, there's a question if you're, if you're a woman, I want you to imagine this for a woman. If you're a man, I want you to imagine this for a man. I don't need to get into why it doesn't matter now. But I want you pause the video and here's my question. I want you to 0:29:57 - 0:30:22 , I want, I want, it's not a question of invitation. I want you to think about every aspect of a person. And then I want you to think about what the absolute ideal fulfillment of that aspect would be. I know that you don't actually know anybody like that, who's all these things and you might know like 0:30:22 - 0:30:42 one person who has one of these things and then another person who's like almost there with this other thing, but they're abysmal in this other thing, right? Think about this is like spokes on a bike wheel and each spoke is one character attribute and the length of it is how good they are. OK? But you 0:30:42 - 0:31:05 can visualize in your head exactly what this would look like. So maybe if you were thinking about like, I'm a dude. So thinking about a dude, I might say, well, this guy, he would have a family and he'd be the kind of guy that always puts his family before himself, even when it really hurts and even 0:31:05 - 0:31:29 when he really needs help himself, he always thinks about those other, those other guys, his wife and his kids first. OK. That's one spoke. So I want you to pause this and I want you to enumerate as many character traits as you can think about the absolute best that that would would look like. Ok, so 0:31:28 - 0:31:51 you probably didn't pause it and actually do what I said because you're a punk but whatever, maybe you can imagine imagining what I said. So um here's the thing, what you just enumerated, that's God. So this can spawn some really interesting conversations with people. Usually their mouths are just wide 0:31:51 - 0:32:17 open. The question is, where did you get that idea of that ideal person? Because the synthesis of those characteristics is the ideal person. Um And this is the way that God reveals himself to us. He uh uses life in our understanding and all the resources in our life, which if you read the scriptures 0:32:17 - 0:32:38 , of course, includes that, right? But also all the people in our lives. When you do that exercise, you're like Oh, you know, I know this guy Ted and I always use Ted in my examples. I know this guy Ted, I don't actually know any Ted. I know this guy Ted and he's a wonderful dad because one time I saw 0:32:37 - 0:00:00 that, you know, whatever. Um, or I know this guy Ted and he's a terrible dad and let me tell you why and you do the opposite of that. Right. So this could be its own very long topic. But the point is he's given us tools to um to elucidate the ideal. Now, I said this is God and some of you were like, 0:00:00 - 0:33:34 right? How could I me, God, me? Um Here's the thing, it's not God, it's your estimate of how God is and the point isn't, is this exactly how God is or isn't? Because I, hey, here's the clue. He's not like that. He's better than that actually. But you can't know how good He is just yet because you're 0:33:34 - 0:34:07 not like you bike chart yet and you have to grow in that direction before he shows you the next step towards how he is. That is a massively valuable key that I've just given you. But anyway, we approach everything that is good through everything we perceive as good right now. And the one isn't the same 0:34:07 - 0:34:27 as the other, but that's the pathway. And so, and I can make an argument for this from scriptures to knock your socks off. But it's gonna take some time to spell all that out in books and take some time. Um, but I'm giving you a massive free sample. Like you go to the mall. I don't even know if there 0:34:27 - 0:34:47 are malls anymore, but, uh, you get the little Chinese place free sample. You got one here and frankly, usually those are better than the meal, but I hope the books are better than this. Um, it's a good thing to get used to this taste. That's the thing is when you're eating the meal, you're just like 0:34:47 - 0:35:13 , ok, same thing, MS G Sugar got it. Um So, uh, with that whole spoke thing, um, back to Psalm 107, I think you probably thought we were way off track but not so much, not this time. They rebelled against the words of God. So, in what have you rebelled against the words of God, that thing, you just imagine 0:35:13 - 0:35:33 that ideal being that is the word of God to you. That is a construction of your conscience, which comes from Him. It's the holy ghost working on your understanding and it's calling you. It's a beacon, it's a beacon and it's, it's calling you and the signal from where you stand isn't perfect, but it is 0:35:33 - 0:35:58 enough, it is enough to get you closer to Him. This is the way of life. This is the highway of righteousness. And if you repent and you come up that path and you follow that filament. He will elucidate more of himself to you. And it's just line upon line, it runs in a ladder in all of these paths. The 0:35:58 - 0:36:16 thing is, is like one of, one of your complaints is probably, well, look, I know 10 different people that have 10 different answers to this question. Exactly. It doesn't matter if you're north, south east or west God will call you from where you are to where He is. And this is another key people say 0:36:16 - 0:36:41 , well, there's many, there are many paths to get to God. That is true and false. It's true in a technicality, but it's false in how you mean it if you say that. So, um the truth is there are many paths to God, but they converge as you draw nearer to Christ and they all lead you to that focal point and 0:36:40 - 0:37:04 God does not change. He is the same from everlasting to everlasting. And the path is prepared from before creation. And everyone who gets there will go as far as they are willing to receive towards that point. So 10 different answers. Yes. But if those 10 people follow that, they will converge on Christ 0:37:04 - 0:37:30 . And the higher they go, the closer they'll get to each other, that's the way it works because there's only one solution to life. And that solution is Jesus Christ. It's exactly how He is. And the, the closer we come to that, the more uh the better off will be the more joy we'll have and so on. So because 0:37:30 - 0:37:56 they rebelled against the words of God. Ok. Now let's skip down to uh 15. This is an echo of what uh which verse was this that we read this in? Verse eight, verse eight says all that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works, the Children and men. And then um we get down 0:37:55 - 0:38:12 to, well, I guess we'll start reading at 13. But verse 15 says, oh, that men will praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works, the Children of men. There's the, there's the end caps and then you go in and then they come back out. So um they rebelled against the words of God verse 11 0:38:12 - 0:38:33 , verse 12. Uh Therefore he brought down their heart with labor, they fell down and there was none to help. This is like, oh, is God gonna punish us? No, no, no, no, no. See what he does is when he gives you good things and you don't treat them like good things. He helps you have greater joy by taking 0:38:32 - 0:38:57 you out of that situation of grace so that he can put you back in and you'll have the value. So joy comes from value and value. If you don't have it already in the things that are good, the primary way to get it is to suffer. And you think like, wow, that's terrible. That's cruel. You gotta remember 0:38:57 - 0:39:31 this life. I know how bad it gets. And if you're in some stuff, I'm not minimizing that stuff. But I tell you and I know that is a drop in the bucket compared to what is on the other side. If you use it for what God intends and if you cleave to Him with all your heart, in spite of it all, you'll find 0:39:31 - 0:40:04 more room for his love. You'll find that you know Him so much more than you did before. Do you know it's possible to know God so well that you feel like you know Him better than you know yourself. Can you imagine what that would be like? I don't know if it's possible to without getting there. So verse 0:40:04 - 0:40:38 16 or maybe we're in 14, he brought them out of darkness in the shadow of death and break their bands in thunder. How do you know how Adam came to life? So if you read the scriptures, it says uh I don't even know what it says because the a more accurate description has is transposed that in me. Um But 0:40:37 - 0:41:11 I would pause the video. I really need to get an android, not an iphone. I can't pause this thanks to cook. Uh Let me look this up real quick breath of life. Mm All right. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life. And man became a living 0:41:10 - 0:41:39 soul. I don't wanna dive too deep into the front end of that, but I'll dive relatively deep into the, the second half of that when Lazarus was raised from the dead. Do you remember what Jesus said? He said, Lazarus come forth now. Uh Yeah, we could, we could really go off the deep end here. Let me just 0:41:39 - 0:42:04 say it's super important to learn. One of the principal purposes of life is to become more familiar with the Lord's voice and and not just a question of perception, but a question of response. So a lot of people today, they, they uh they talk about, well, I couldn't help this or that. It's just how it 0:42:04 - 0:42:40 made. We'll leave it at that level. Um So, so um here's the thing in the procession of our spiritual growth. We are intended to come to a point that we perceive the voice of the Lord so clearly and we respond to it so automatically without any restraint and with absolute appreciation and gratitude, no 0:42:40 - 0:43:36 matter what he asks of us, we interpret it without even thinking is the greatest gift that anyone could ever give us. Mhm You look at Mosiah 319, the at the end become as a child, submissive meek, humble patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him 0:43:35 - 0:43:58 even as a child, Doth submit to his father. I remember reading this for the first time, 20 years ago. Let me tell you, uh I was 18 years old. I remember I was just laying there reading in my bed, Mosiah that rocked my world. Man. Did I have some experiences going through there? So I'd read a verse and 0:43:58 - 0:44:35 I think about what does that mean? And my heart was just burning with uh this fire of desire to be better that I thought was even possible, let alone what I was to that point in my life. But the spirit just connected with something deep down inside me, pulled it out. First time I started reading the 0:44:35 - 0:45:03 scriptures at 18, when I first learned that God was real, um which was his doing hotline. Anyway, I read this. This is one of the mosaic experiences. I read this. I said willing to submit to all things, Lord Sele inflict upon him. Wait a second, right? What did I sign up for? This? Doesn't sound right 0:45:02 - 0:45:50 . And it's been 20 years since then. And I will just say that I understand why it says that. But knowing that I can tell you with full sincerity and solemnity, it is possible to get to the point that no matter, no matter what comes at you and how much someone else might think it's a uh infliction, affliction 0:45:49 - 0:46:22 . You can interpret it without any need to convince yourself or process it. You can absolutely get to the point where your heart overflows with gratitude and it's almost like cause the pain doesn't, I wanna be careful here. It's hard to be technically accurate with something that's so it, it's like trying 0:46:21 - 0:46:45 to tell somebody what the license plate number was on a car that hit you, right? You're like, I just got hit by a car. Don't talk to me about license plate numbers, right? And experience a process so intense, it is very hard to sit there and, and spell it out. And this is one thing that's very difficult 0:46:44 - 0:47:17 about writing these books at the moment. Um because our flesh is very limited, it gets overwhelmed easily. Anyway, it is absolutely possible to get to the point where you your, your natural, your your, your ins uh subliminal is the word I want your subliminal reaction instantaneously to this is to say 0:47:17 - 0:47:53 thank you God. And the the worse this is air quotes, the more grateful you are actually because you know, so deeply, how much God loves you individually personally that you have unshakable. Trust that the reasons he has for putting you through this have to be that much greater than any of the pain or 0:47:53 - 0:48:33 sorrow or longing or any of these other words. So back to Lazarus. What do you think was his uh how do you think he felt about Jesus because he was dead for three days? And in spite of that, his spirit was so well tuned or his body or both his will say his soul to blur out that detail. His soul was so 0:48:32 - 0:49:04 well tuned to the voice of Jesus, to the being of Jesus that in hearing him call his name and tell him to come forth. It was an automatic reaction. It wasn't even a choice because he had made so many choices along the way. And this is the key. We're gonna tie it back in here in a second. He had made 0:49:04 - 0:49:42 so many choices for so long to perceive in value and trust God's voice that of course he arose and I don't wanna get into it. But this is the same way resurrection happens and it's the same exact way that Adam came to life. There's a lot more to say about that, suffice it to say that not all people respond 0:49:42 - 0:50:10 to the voice of the Lord the same. That's why when Jesus was resurrected, he didn't take everybody with him. He only took the ones that perceived, recognized, valued and trusted his voice. So often in the gospel all over the world, there are people that try to chop it up. They say like I wanna speak 0:50:09 - 0:50:33 in tongues, but I don't wanna read the scriptures. I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to suffer for his name's sake here or in other words, suffer because of trying to be like him and other people don't like that very much. Or um all these different things, we try to chop them up and we say like 0:50:33 - 0:51:01 , oh, well, here's this subset of things that I can be saved or, uh, I'm gonna minimize the gospel down and it, it, but it's the same, it's all the good stuff. You can't do it. God is what he is. He's the whole thing. And you have to be in line with that whole thing and you can't pick and choose so back 0:51:00 - 0:51:33 to where we started with this. Uh There might be one more thing to say about that. Yeah. So if you want to be the kind of person who comes forth in the morning of the resurrection, the first resurrection, you come forth to glory. When Jesus comes with all of those who are in heaven, who are those who 0:51:33 - 0:00:00 have perceived, received. Uh What are these words? I said, perceived, received, valued and trusted his voice. There are a billion other ways of saying that by the way, who have walked the path who have gone through the gate and traversed the way who have endured to the end, who have taken upon them, 0:00:00 - 0:52:22 the name of Christ. Um We've been sanctified by the spirit. We could go on all day with this. It's like shining a light through a um a prism, one of those ones with all the different facets and the rainbows just shoot out everywhere anyway. Uh If you want to be one of those, you start by cutting the 0:52:22 - 0:52:47 chains, it's all the same and the secret to cutting the chains back to Psalm 107. Um You brought 14. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands and thunder. How do we sign up? Verse 15? Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works. The 0:52:47 - 0:53:20 Children of men go learn about Jesus and find out, ask God what's the big deal? Why is this? Why is he so good? The gospel is the good news. God has to reveal to us His goodness because it's not apparent to the natural man. If he blasted everything, he is into your, into your face, it's just shined it 0:53:20 - 0:53:44 right into your face like a flashlight. It would make you very angry, you would cast him out as a thing of not there's a process. He has to show you why he's valuable. He has to show you his goodness. He has to show you why you should want to be like He is, why you should want to be around him. I can't 0:53:44 - 0:54:05 tell you how many times I've heard people say, why would anyone want that not to Jesus? Because they think they know Jesus, they have no idea but to everything that comes with Him because it's all one thing they say end times I don't want to deal with. Why would anybody want to deal with that? Just kill 0:54:05 - 0:54:35 me, just kill me. Do you understand how many righteous people wanted to live during our day. The most righteous people. Why? Because it's such a gift I can't go into. Why right now, time permitting, I'll explain it later. But it's a gift. And I'm telling you like, when God gives you a huge gift, you'll 0:54:34 - 0:54:59 swat it out of his hand, you'll run away screaming it. Our natural beings are repulsed by what's good, beautiful and true. That's the natural man. Josiah 319, you have to turn to him. You have to receive the holy Ghost line upon line. It will sanctify you and it will open your eyes to what is light and 0:54:59 - 0:55:33 what is good was valuable. So if you want to uh be drawn out of darkness in the shadow of death, you want your bands broken. Praise the Lord magnify his goodness, glorify his name. Learn about how he is and be the same that rhymed. I didn't intend to read the scriptures, read the stories about Jesus 0:55:32 - 0:55:55 and the things he says and apply them to your life and think, ok, man, born blind, he's blind his whole life and he was drawn out of the city to this pool called One Cent. And why did he listen to Jesus in the first place? And what's in my life? That's kind of like this and how would I have to act or 0:55:55 - 0:56:15 react to react the same way that this guy did? Because he did the right thing. All these Pharisees. They thought they knew everything. And same chapter John nine, they thought they knew everything and, um, they told, uh, they told Jesus that they see, how could they be blind. And Jesus told them, well 0:56:15 - 0:56:31 , if you say you see, you see, you truly are blind and now you're accountable, now you're blind and accountable for being blind because now it's your choice. What would that be like in my life? And what would I be doing if I were acting that way? And what sort of situations could come about? Because 0:56:30 - 0:56:49 , um I'm not in Jerusalem and Jesus isn't living a mortal life. So what sort of things could come about? That would be like this in my life. That's what you have to think about when you're studying the scriptures. And apart from the scriptures we did the bike spoke thing that's on you. You already, you 0:56:48 - 0:57:12 already by your own words said this is what good means to me. Are you living that way? Do you live up to your conscience in every single facet and moment of your life? Are you living? Exactly. Like you can imagine God living in your life now. Important ca caveat here. You probably have a long list of 0:57:12 - 0:57:29 things in a day where you're like, I don't know how God would clean the toilet. I don't know how God would pay his taxes. Maybe that one's easier. Uh, man, man, it's like, I don't know where I'm gonna get a fish with a coin in the mouth to pay my taxes. Um Whatever there are questions, right? This is 0:57:29 - 0:57:52 beautiful. So ask the questions to the one who promises not to a braid or to uh chide you for asking questions. He commands us to ask him questions because they're the conduit for revealing more. Why? Because they increase our appreciation for what he's gonna tell us. He's more, we're more likely to 0:57:52 - 0:58:11 act on whatever he tells us. If you don't have desire, you're not going to obey because you don't actually want what he's going to tell you to do. You don't actually believe it's going to lead to that, ask the questions, study the scriptures, but live up to what you already know and hit the scriptures 0:58:11 - 0:58:35 to find out more. But open your eyes to the things and people around you, you're accountable for everything you have access to. Whether you look at it or not. Those Pharisees don't get to say, well, I didn't believe that Jesus was Jesus. Did you hear what he said? Who cares? Well, you know, don't take 0:58:34 - 0:59:02 this too literally. Who cares if you thought he was Jesus. Let's start on, did you honestly respond to what he said? That was well reasoned enough to deserve your response and that alone is enough to condemn those guys. We're not condemned for rejecting these marvelous things that were too hard to understand 0:59:01 - 0:59:33 or you know, whatever we're in trouble for the things that we had every reason to do and believe and not do and not believe. Right? OK. So for he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron and thunder, the scissors are in your hands, folks, they're in your hands. Um You can keep reading 0:59:32 - 0:59:54 and it's valuable for f uh sorry fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted. Uh transgression is important word. Iniquity is an important word. So turning away from the right way, that's what it means. So, um everything in your life that you're doing is less than 0:59:54 - 1:00:17 your best. That's iniquity and that's where your chains are coming from. There's, there's a kind of chain that is on you and it's just the fall whatever and you can write that one, right? And you just do the wet paper bag, there's a kind of chain you put on yourself and that is a problem. You cause the 1:00:17 - 1:00:40 problem. You have to fix the problem also because God can't cut that for you. You have to cut that by turning to him. He gives you the tool to cut it, but you have to cut it. It's your choice. It's like you put bolt cutters in your hand and you're standing there with these bolt cutters saying help me 1:00:40 - 1:01:08 , I'm in these chains. I can't help what I'm doing. Use the freaking bolt cutters that I gave you, right? Listen to him. Trust him, obey him, seek him, learn more about him. You don't know anything about him. Let's just, you know, but you can, you can and you should. Well, this is long enough. We're 1:01:08 - 1:01:28 at an hour. Uh, if you may have this far. Thank you. I hope that you listen to these things that I've said I've given you some real treasures here. And what I mean by that are things that I treasure because I know what you can do with them. I've given you some bolt cutters here and any of the bolt cutters 1:01:27 - 1:02:02 I have are only functional if they came from God. So with all things, he gets the glory. He's good. Trust him. There isn't a thing in this life that he can't make better. There isn't a situation in his life that he has not overcome and it gives you the key to do the same in him, through him. So go learn 0:00:00 - 0:00:26 So um we gonna talk about Psalm 107. But before I do, I want to set that up by telling you about a revelation I had uh I don't always remember what I've told people about. So if you've heard this one before, sorry, but whatever, I don't think I've published this. Um So a few years ago seems like an eternity 0:00:26 - 0:00:53 ago, but it was about three years ago, I was praying, I was having a really hard time and I prayed and just as I was about to ask for help to be relieved of the situation I was in um the Lord recounted to my mind, one of the first uh visions that I ever had and I was uh walking around this corner and 0:00:53 - 0:01:24 up some steps and just on that corner where the steps started, there's a concrete tube like like a construction concrete tube but set up, right? And it had a uh a little window like this. That's a good representation as if it were a bunker and inside of that tube were people. But um so there they were 0:01:24 - 0:01:47 the color black and I want to just like uh elaborate a little on what I mean by that. So heavenly colors are different than earth colors. And I'm not sure how to describe that for those who don't already know what I'm talking about, but they are much richer. And so when you see blue in heaven, you say 0:01:47 - 0:02:11 , oh that's blue, but in the same token, it is not blue, it's, it's like there's another dimension to color of intensity or experience. Um I don't know how else to say it. If you've ever edited photos, you can crank up the saturation. That's a very limited analogy for many reasons. One of them being 0:02:10 - 0:02:28 that it gets to be too much where it doesn't look better. Imagine if there was some magic way of doing that where the more you crank it up, the better it gets and there's no limit to that and you crank it up to the absolute max. That's what colors are like in heaven. And that's actually a really, really 0:02:27 - 0:02:51 important rich idea in itself because all things of value are like that in heaven anyway, that we could talk about that for hours. Uh So when I say black, I don't mean black. Like if, if, if you saw it and you saw what we call like uh there's a screen in front of me, it's off right now, it's black or 0:02:51 - 0:03:22 that, that we would call black, that wood, that headboard. Um That's not what I'm talking about. It was the complete absence of light and everything on these people was the same total absence of light, their eyes, everything, but they were staring at me and I knew what they were feeling and they just 0:03:22 - 0:03:54 , their eyes followed me and just walked by like this. They didn't have that expression. I can't mimic their expression. Um But it was at rest, but they were so full of rage and hatred and misery and um malevolence embodied. And at that time, God gave me to understand that there were forces that were 0:03:53 - 0:04:20 interested in uh my destruction, but that they were contained by him and um that they would not be allowed to do what they wanted to do to me. And uh this is a very long time ago and like I said, it was, it, I don't think it was the first vision I ever had. It might have been the second. And uh these 0:04:20 - 0:04:50 things are always very surprising to me. I didn't like Moses said, I had never supposed and I was just full of uh um I don't know what word, I just had zero expectation of those things happening. And then when they did, uh it, it just um it was really something. So, um anyway, he recalled that to my 0:04:50 - 0:05:12 mind. You know, the spirit does that calls things to your remembrance that you have gone through before. And usually it adds a little bit here and there sometimes a whole lot. And this was a whole lot situation because that was a flash of memory. And then all of a sudden I saw a giant field. It went 0:05:11 - 0:05:42 on as far as you could see and uh everything was black. Um But there were people there who weren't the absence of light. Um The field was full of people. It was, they're all arranged, just packed in there but arranged systematically and all of us because I was there too. I saw myself there. We're kneeling 0:05:42 - 0:00:00 down and we had chains around us. We were kneeling down, all hunched over and just staring at the ground in the darkness. And these chains were thick heavy chains just wrapped around us. And the Lord appeared to me there and he said, why are you here? And I mean, I didn't do this because I couldn't, 0:00:00 - 0:06:45 right. But uh I was like, well, we're, we're all here. And he said, but why are you here? And I said, well, I'm chained up just like everybody else here. And he said, did it ever cross your mind? Did you have power to break those chains? You don't need to be here? And uh it was like an instantaneous 0:06:43 - 0:07:14 thing where the second he told me, you don't have to be here. These chains can't contain you. Everything changed. And in an instant, I just, I went like this and it was like, I had a wet paper bag on me and these things that I thought were absolutely inescapable, hopeless. We were all hopeless without 0:07:14 - 0:07:47 hope, kneeling in the darkness in this field alone, even though we were surrounded by people and in silence, I ripped off these chains and I stood up and he said, I'll read this part to you if I can find it. I thought I had this pulled out. He said I have forged you in my word. No weapon can prosper 0:07:46 - 0:08:19 against you. So, uh that was the end of my prayer and I didn't ask him to help me. Uh I was done asking for help because I learned something about the way that uh the best way that God can help us. And um this is not what this is about, but I will tell you, we can ask for him to provide a way for us 0:08:19 - 0:08:50 to escape, to take something away a trial, or we can ask him to sanctify us in his word, to make us stronger, to overcome what the chains that are on us, whatever situation we're in. And that is by far, the better way is by far the better way that could be its own video. But let's get back to the point 0:08:50 - 0:09:20 here. So I just told you two experiences I've had and um I think that there are a lot of people who are hearing that we're gonna rush right to who does this guy think he is? Oh, he's something special. Look at that, you know, whatever. Um I do have a lot about me that is special but it is not from me 0:09:19 - 0:09:55 , it's from God and you can have it too cause it's from Him, not me. And he's no respecter of persons, which means he's completely impartial. He operates by the same rules with everybody. So the funny thing about light and truth from true messengers who have it is that everything they say about themselves 0:09:54 - 0:10:23 in relationship or, or about their relationship with God can be yours as well. And they can't tell you anything about it without giving you the keys to get it for yourself. And that's the wonderful thing about the gospel. So everything that Jesus said about the father, he was also saying about himself 0:10:22 - 0:10:45 because he's one with the father and everything he said about himself. He was actually just demonstrating the father because he was talking about all the things that were from the father inside of him. And that's the way it goes all the way down in a tree where you go down into uh lesser and lesser light 0:10:44 - 0:11:11 as you go down. It's all from him like he said, um in John, he said, without me, you're nothing. And the converse of that is equally true. Anything in you is worth anything. It's actually from him and you can't get around that. So we don't have to tiptoe around God's goodness if you've got a chunk of 0:11:11 - 0:11:37 it, light up that candle and hold it up high, not bragging about yourself, but helping people to see how they can be more like God if there's an opportunity for that. And the inverse of that, if you see a candle that's brighter than yours, go find out what the difference is. And here's another, uh, clue 0:11:36 - 0:12:04 or, or, um, I don't know another property of the gospel. A lot of people get really upset when God corrects them. Here's the thing. He can't correct you without giving you the key to become more like Him in that way, right? Do you get that? If he says here's the difference between you and me? People 0:12:03 - 0:12:27 are like, oh, you know, so just go read the end of job. He really, really dresses down job, but he doesn't dress down job at all because he can't show you how to be better without showing you more of himself. And he can't show you more of himself without showing you how to be better. They can't be separated 0:12:27 - 0:12:57 because they're the same thing. So, in the spirit of that, God did tell me no weapon can prosper against you. But if you read Isaiah 5417, you find out that promise had nothing to do with me. It has to do with Him and it's open to anybody that fulfills the qualifications. So we'll read it. Um He says 0:12:57 - 0:13:23 no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord. So go learn more about Jesus and do everything you learn in your own life 0:13:23 - 0:13:56 and don't be scared to uh share that with other people and you'll have that promise too. So let's talk about those chains because an awful lot of people are wrapped up in these chains. You don't have to be. Jesus has the power to free you. So Psalm 107 oh Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for 0:13:56 - 0:14:28 his mercy. Endure forever. Uh I just wanna say um I love the songs. I love Proverbs. I even love Ecclesiastes people. Uh I won't get into it. I love the scriptures. But one thing I find is it's so easy to read them flatly without any feeling without connecting your brain to, I wonder what the writer 0:14:28 - 0:14:48 of this was thinking when he wrote it. Now, I wonder what he was going through and I wonder what it would be like for me to go through those kinds of things and maybe I'm in a different life situation. But what would it be like? Like what would the equivalent be in my situation in life in these words 0:14:47 - 0:15:14 ? In English? The translations tend to fall flat for a whole lot of Hebrew words. There's not a good match for most of them. So uh I'm not gonna sit there and dive into everyone. But I think in our path towards God, part of that path is better understanding these ideas. And it takes a lot of time and 0:15:14 - 0:15:43 effort and prayer and revelation to figure out more of what these words actually mean. And a lot of living and a lot of suffering to figure out what these words mean. But anyway, the Lord is good and his mercy does endure forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand 0:15:42 - 0:16:16 of the enemy? If you're redeemed, you should say so because it's hard to say how good God is and to say anything meaningful about His mercy being. Uh so everlasting, if you haven't experienced the magnitude of those things in this life, and if you haven't been redeemed, you haven't. So um verse three 0:16:16 - 0:16:44 and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south. I don't wanna talk about that one for right now. Um But places can also refer to dispositions. Each of those has a corresponding um life circumstance and trajectory. Um It, it basically what that 0:16:44 - 0:17:08 means is that the hand of God is out towards all people, no matter where they stand in life and draws them to him from there. Um They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in that word way is another really rich one I'm not trying to dissect all of this. I'm trying 0:17:08 - 0:17:33 to get to a later verse without skipping over everything. Uh But I'll have to skip over a lot. There's a way of life and there's a way of death and that word way, it means a journey. It's not just a path, it's a journey. It's a process, it's a, it's a sequential experience. It's uh and so this solitary 0:17:33 - 0:18:00 way that's, that's, um, that's not the one you want, right? Um Continuing to verse five, hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them, then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses. Uh You know, of anyone who's in a solitary waste until they called upon 0:18:00 - 0:18:25 God and he delivered them out of their distresses. That sounds like the situation of Lehigh. And it's parallel to many situations. In fact, you could probably name just about anyone in the scriptures uh who is righteous and they had a similar pattern in life. Jeremiah, for example. Uh And he led them 0:18:25 - 0:18:47 forth by the right way. So you have the way of death and the way of life and you start on the way of death. Everyone does because everyone sins and alienates themselves from God. And he calls you to the way of life the right way and he led them forth by the right way from wherever they were towards him 0:18:47 - 0:19:20 that they may might go to a city of habitation, um habitation dwelling, um uh sustained living, persistence, continuation. Uh And we're approaching the concept of eternity. Uh Way of life is eternal life and the way of death is destruction, uh degradation, decay. So on verse 80, that men would praise 0:19:19 - 0:19:47 the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of men. Couldn't agree more with that. Did you know that the word glorify? Do you know what that means? Or magnify or sanctify in terms of the Lord of hosts or the Lord? Um Do you know what it means to praise the Lord for his goodness 0:19:46 - 0:20:16 ? So a lot of people say like praise the Lord and that has its place. But all of these concepts fuse together with this idea of making more evident God's goodness. And how do you do that? Well, maybe that's a topic for a different day, but it's really important because I've said, I've said I've shared 0:20:16 - 0:20:39 themes like heaven is an acquired taste axioms if you will. And uh the fact is that the natural man does not find God's goodness, very good. This is a shocker because we think like, oh, well, holiness that, that's evident, right? If, if holiness smacks you in the face, you'll say praise the Lord, right 0:20:39 - 0:21:08 ? No, no, that's not what's gonna happen. You'll, you'll run the other way or um you'll turn against the person that showed it to you in, in, in surprisingly bad ways. Um you have to come up to that and it's a process, it's a process of learning more accurate value, uh learning what's good and beautiful 0:21:07 - 0:21:36 and true. It's, um, a lot of people think that they just know this naturally. And the opposite is the, is the case. The opposite is the case. What you naturally value is garbage compared to what God offers. And um, the good news is the good news, the gospel. This is exactly what the word means. The good 0:21:36 - 0:22:02 news is. He will guide you in the way to come to value better and better things. And he turns the bitter, sweet and the sweet, bitter. And that transformation is into what's actually more true and more real than whatever you had before. And this is called um bringing people into immortality and eternal 0:22:02 - 0:22:31 life or giving them life more abundantly. It is the very work of God because joy requires desire. You can give someone the best gift there is, which is eternal life and they will cast it down and they'll stomp on it like it's nothing. If you don't believe me, read what they did to Jesus because he was 0:22:30 - 0:23:11 the embodiment of eternal life and love. And they ignored him and they fought him and they nailed him to a cross. But we don't have to do that because he came and he illustrated to us what is good, beautiful and true. He leads us forth by the right way. That we might go to city of habitation in terms 0:23:10 - 0:00:00 of uh verse eight. Here, there's actually a, well, I'll skip over that. OK. Verse nine. For he satisfies the longing soul and fille the hungry soul with goodness. Side note. Have you ever thought about the, the variation of hunger and longing in life among people? So uh just uh here's a quick proof. 0:00:00 - 0:24:15 OK. Uh That there is such a, that there, that a variation exists without trying to qualify the, the goal, think of your own life. Have you always? So I'm, I'm, I'm, I wanna blur out what it is that you desire. Don't care what it is you long for, don't care. Blur all that out and imagine a graph and here's 0:24:15 - 0:24:39 your years of life, right? And here's your desire and longing. Is it like this? Seriously? Doubt it, right? I seriously doubt it. If you've been through any experiences in life, you probably have this vastly differing desire and longing right now. We've squished down all the richness of life in one dimension 0:24:39 - 0:25:04 . Just we're just talking about the existence of desire and longing, not all this stuff we could be placed in, but it, it varies vastly. Um So um I'm, I'm just so, you know, I, when I blank out, I'm blocking off things that I don't want to say right now and it just takes a minute to turn off that faucet 0:25:04 - 0:25:30 . So um he satisfies the longing soul and fille the hungry soul with goodness. This is one of those opportunities to flatten what that actually means. And I will tell you uh sometimes we, we hear or say things like, oh, if you could only imagine what heaven is like, uh Paul talks about this very often 0:25:29 - 0:25:53 and he says, oh, I have not seen ear hath, not heard what awaits the righteous right. He's quoting Isaiah, but the theme is all through scripture. And that's kind of a common thing. I'll tell you this. You have no idea what longing and hunger is as far as what's possible in this life. You have no idea 0:25:53 - 0:26:19 . And why does that matter? Well, one of the ways that God teaches us how to correctly value things is through, leading us through suffering and in that process, you can go through such intensity of experience that you can uh I don't know that attain is the right word. I know it is technically correct 0:26:18 - 0:26:45 , but it's something we're just dealing with such a contradiction of senses here because the, the connotation of suffering is bad and also longing and hungering. But what I'm trying to tell you is that it's actually good because God can only fill up a cup to the point. It has space to fill and uh you 0:26:45 - 0:27:11 need a higher volume cup to experience more of what He can give. So that longing and that hunger um in the sermon of the mount, he talks about hungry people being filled. And he talks about um this longing, being satisfied. And I know that that's true. Um But there's a very important dimension of this 0:27:11 - 0:27:44 where you have to yield to him. As he, he carves out, he carves out that dish inside your heart, that bowl, that cup, he carves it out. So there's more room for him in his goodness because we're just satisfied with such, such a triviality and shallowness and what he offers is endless. It's bottomless 0:27:43 - 0:28:20 and the path to perceiving and obtaining that is also endless and bottomless. But I'll talk more about that at a later date. Um And finally verse 10, which is where I wanted to get to such as sid in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron. And that's the field I saw. And 0:28:20 - 0:28:38 that's the circumstances of many people here today. Many people are wrapped up in these chains and they don't even know it. And those that do know it, they'd like to be better than they are. And they have an idea of what that would look like and they actually desire it, but they don't know how to break 0:28:38 - 0:29:04 the chains. So here's verse 11 because they rebelled against the words of God and condemned the council of the most high. And it goes into verses that are actually more relevant for people who uh like nations who turn away from him but rebelled against the words of God. And now I'm gonna paraphrase Malachi 0:29:04 - 0:29:28 . How have we rebelled against the words of God? Don't you know that his voice is unto all people. And you say, well, how is that? Let me share with you a little thought experiment and you may find traction doing this with other people, especially folks who are not sure if they believe in God or not 0:29:27 - 0:29:53 . Um So, uh in a second, I want you to pause the video and I want you to think about, there's a question if you're, if you're a woman, I want you to imagine this for a woman. If you're a man, I want you to imagine this for a man. I don't need to get into why it doesn't matter now. But I want you pause 0:29:52 - 0:30:19 the video and here's my question. I want you to, I want, I want it's not a question of invitation. I want you to think about every aspect of a person. And then I want you to think about what the absolute ideal fulfillment of that aspect would be. I know that you don't actually know anybody like that 0:30:18 - 0:30:39 who's all these things and you might know like one person who has one of these things and then another person who's like almost there with this other thing, but they're abysmal in this other thing, right? Think about this is like spokes on a bike wheel and each spoke is one character attribute and the 0:30:39 - 0:31:01 length of it is how good they are. OK? But you can visualize in your head exactly what this would look like. So maybe if you were thinking about like, I'm a dude. So thinking about a dude, I might say, well, this guy, he would have a family and he'd be the kind of guy that always puts his family before 0:31:01 - 0:31:22 himself, even when it really hurts and even when he really needs help himself, he always thinks about those other, those other guys, his wife and his kids first. Ok. That's one spoke. So I want you to pause this and I want you to enumerate as many character traits as you can think about the absolute 0:31:21 - 0:31:49 best that that would, would look like. Ok, so you probably didn't pause it and actually do what I said because you're a punk but whatever, maybe you can imagine imagining what I said. So um here's the thing what you just enumerated, that's God. So this can spawn some really interesting conversations 0:31:48 - 0:32:15 with people. Usually their mouths are just wide open. The question is where did you get that idea of that ideal person? Because the synthesis of those characteristics is the ideal person. Um And this is the way that God reveals himself to us. He uh uses life in our understanding and all the resources 0:32:14 - 0:32:34 in our life, which if you read the scriptures, of course, includes that, right? But also all the people in our lives when you do that exercise. You're like, oh, you know, I know this guy Ted and I always use TED in my examples. I know this guy Ted, I don't actually know any TED. I know this guy Ted and 0:32:34 - 0:33:02 he's a wonderful dad because one time I saw that, you know, whatever, um, or I know this guy Ted and he's a terrible dad and let me tell you why and you do the opposite of that, right? So this could be its own very long topic. But the point is he's given us tools to um to elucidate the ideal. Now I said 0:33:01 - 0:33:29 this is God and some of you were like, right? How could I me, God, me? Um Here's the thing, it's not God, it's your estimate of how God is and the point isn't, is this exactly how God is or isn't? Cause I, hey, here's the clue. He's not like that. He's better than that actually. But you can't know how 0:33:29 - 0:34:04 good He is just yet because you're not like your bike chart yet. And you have to grow in that direction before he shows you the next step towards how he is. That is a massively valuable key that I've just given you. But anyway, we approach everything that is good through everything we perceive as good 0:34:03 - 0:34:26 right now. And the one isn't the same as the other, but that's the pathway. And so, and I can make an argument for this from Scriptures to knock your socks off. But it's gonna take some time to spell all that out in books and take some time. Um, but I'm giving you a massive free sample. Like you go to 0:34:26 - 0:34:46 the mall. I don't even know if there are malls anymore. But, uh, you get the little Chinese place free sample. You got one here and frankly, usually those are better than the meal, but I hope the books are better than this. Um It's a good thing to get used to this taste. That's the thing is when you're 0:34:46 - 0:35:11 eating the meal, you're just like, ok, same thing, MS G Sugar got it. Um So uh with that whole spoke thing um back to Psalm 107, I think you probably thought we were way off track, but not so much, not this time. They rebelled against the words of God. So, in what have you rebelled against the words 0:35:10 - 0:35:31 of God? That thing, you just imagine that ideal being that is the word of God to you. That is a construction of your conscience which comes from Him. It's the Holy Ghost working on your understanding and it's calling you. It's a beacon, it's a beacon and it's, it's calling you and the signal from where 0:35:31 - 0:35:55 you stand isn't perfect, but it is enough, it is enough to get you closer to him. This is the way of life, this is the highway of righteousness. And if you repent and you come up that path and you follow that filament. He will elucidate more of himself to you. And it's just line upon line. It runs in 0:35:55 - 0:36:14 a ladder in all of these paths. The thing is, is like one of, one of your complaints is probably, well, look, I know 10 different people that have 10 different answers to this question. Exactly. It doesn't matter if you're north, south east or west God will call you from where you are to where He is 0:36:14 - 0:36:38 . And this is another key people say, well, there's many, there are many paths to get to God. That is true and false. It's true in a technicality, but it's false in how you mean it if you say that. So, um the truth is there are many paths to God but they converge as you draw nearer to Christ and they 0:36:38 - 0:37:01 all lead you to that focal point and God does not change. He is the same from everlasting to everlasting. And the path is prepared from before creation and everyone who gets there will go as far as they are willing to receive towards that point. So 10 different answers. Yes. But if those 10 people follow 0:37:01 - 0:37:25 that, they will converge on Christ. And the higher they go, the closer they'll get to each other. That's the way it works because there's only one solution to life. And that solution is Jesus Christ. It is exactly how He is. And the, the closer we come to that, the more uh the better off will be the 0:37:25 - 0:37:50 more joy we'll have and so on. So because they rebelled against the words of God. Ok. Now let's skip down to uh 15. This is an echo of what uh which verse was this that we read this in? Verse eight, verse eight says, all that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works, the 0:37:50 - 0:38:10 Children and men. And then um we get down to, well, I guess we'll start reading at 13. But verse 15 says, oh, that men will praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works, the Children of men. There's the, there's the end caps and then you go in and then you come back out. So um they rebelled 0:38:09 - 0:38:29 against the words of God verse 11 verse 12. Uh therefore, he brought down their heart with labor, they fell down and there was none to help. This is like, oh, is God gonna punish us? No, no, no, no, no. See what he does is when He gives you good things and you don't treat them like good things. He helps 0:38:28 - 0:38:55 you have greater joy by taking you out of that situation of grace so that he can put you back in and you'll have the value. So joy comes from value and value. If you don't have it already in the things that are good. The primary way to get it is to suffer. And you think like, well, that's terrible. That's 0:38:55 - 0:39:28 cruel. You gotta remember this life. I know how bad it gets. And if you're in some stuff, I'm not minimizing that stuff. But I tell you and I know that is a drop in the bucket compared to what is on the other side. If you use it for what God intends and if you cleave to him with all your heart, in spite 0:39:28 - 0:39:54 of it all, you'll find more room for his love. You'll find that you know Him so much more than you did before. Do you know it's possible to know God so well that you feel like you know Him better than you know yourself. Can you imagine what that would be like? I don't know if it's possible to without 0:39:54 - 0:40:32 getting there. Ok. So verse 16 or maybe we're in 14, he brought them out of darkness in the shadow of death and break their bands in thunder. How do you know how Adam came to life? So if you read the scriptures, it says uh I don't even know what it says because the a more accurate description has is 0:40:32 - 0:41:08 transposed that in me. Um But I would pause the video. I really need to get an Android, not an iphone. I can't pause this thanks to cook. Uh Let me look this up real quick. Breath of life. Yeah. All right. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils, the breath 0:41:08 - 0:41:36 of life and man became a living soul. I don't want to dive too deep into the front end of that, but I'll dive relatively deep into the, the second half of that when Lazarus was raised from the dead. Do you remember what Jesus said? He said, Lazarus come forth now. Uh Yeah, we could, we could really go 0:41:36 - 0:42:02 off the deep end here. Let me just say it's super important to learn. One of the principal purposes of life is to become more familiar with the Lord's voice and, and not just a question of perception, but a question of response. So a lot of people today, they, they uh they talk about, well, I couldn't 0:42:01 - 0:42:37 help this or that. It's just how it made. We'll leave it at that level. Um So, so um here's the thing in the procession of our spiritual growth. We are intended to come to a point that we perceive the voice of the Lord so clearly and we respond to it so automatically without any restraint and with absolute 0:42:36 - 0:43:33 appreciation and gratitude, no matter what he asks of us, we interpret it without even thinking is the greatest gift that anyone could ever give us. Mhm You look at Mosiah 319 at the end, become as a child, submissive meek, humble patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord 0:43:33 - 0:43:56 seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child Doth submit to his father. I remember reading this for the first time, 20 years ago. Let me tell you uh I was 18 years old. I remember I was just laying there reading in my bed, Mosiah that rocked my world. Man. Did I have some experiences going through 0:43:56 - 0:44:34 there? So I'd read a verse and I think about what does that mean? And my heart was burning with uh this fire of desire to be better that I thought was even possible, let alone what I was to that point in my life. But the spirit just connected with something deep down inside me, pulled it out. First time 0:44:34 - 0:45:02 I started reading the scriptures at 18 when I first learned that God was real, um which was his doing hotline. Anyway, I read this, this is one of the mosaic experiences. I read this. I said willing to submit to all things. Lord seele inflict upon him. Wait a second, right? And what did I sign up for 0:45:01 - 0:45:47 ? This doesn't sound right. And it's been 20 years since then. And I will just say that I understand why it says that. But knowing that I can tell you with full sincerity and solemnity, it is possible to get to the point that no matter, no matter what comes at you and how much someone else might think 0:45:46 - 0:46:18 it's a uh infliction, affliction. You can interpret it without any need to convince yourself or process it. You can absolutely get to the point where your heart overflows with gratitude. And it's almost like because the pain doesn't, I wanna be careful here. It's hard to be technically accurate with 0:46:18 - 0:46:43 something that's so it, it's like trying to tell somebody what the license plate number was on a car that hit you. Right. You're like, I just got hit by a car. Don't talk to me about license plate numbers, right? And experience a process So intense is very hard to sit there and, and spell it out. And 0:46:43 - 0:47:12 this is one thing that's very difficult about writing these books at the moment. Um because our flesh is very limited, it gets overwhelmed easily. Anyway, it is absolutely possible to get to the point where you your, your natural, your, your, your ins uh subliminal is the word I want your subliminal 0:47:11 - 0:47:49 reaction instantaneously to this is to say thank you God. And the the worse this is air quotes, the more grateful you are actually because you know so deeply, how much God loves you individually personally that you have unshakeable, trust that the reasons he has for putting you through this have to be 0:47:49 - 0:48:27 that much greater than any of the pain or sorrow or longing or any of these other words. So back to Lazarus. What do you think was his uh how do you think he felt about Jesus because he was dead for three days? And in spite of that, his spirit was so well. Tuned or his body or both his will say his soul 0:48:27 - 0:48:59 to blur out that detail. His soul was so well tuned to the voice of Jesus, to the being of Jesus that in hearing him call his name and tell him to come forth. It was an automatic reaction. It wasn't even a choice because he had made so many choices along the way. And this is the key. We're gonna tie 0:48:59 - 0:49:37 it back in here in a second. He had made so many choices for so long to perceive in value and trust God's voice that of course he arose and I don't want to get into it. But this is the same way resurrection happens and it's the same exact way that Adam came to life. There's a lot more to say about that 0:49:37 - 0:50:06 , suffice it to say that not all people respond to the voice of the Lord the same. That's why when Jesus was resurrected, he didn't take everybody with him. He only took the ones that perceived, recognized, valued and trusted his voice so often in the gospel all over the world, there are people that 0:50:06 - 0:50:30 try to chop it up and say like I wanna speak in tongues, but I don't wanna read the scriptures. I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to suffer for his name's sake here or in other words, suffer because of trying to be like him and other people don't like that very much or uh, all these different 0:50:30 - 0:50:54 things, we try to chop them up and we say like, oh, well, here's this subset of things that I can be saved or, uh, I'm gonna minimize the gospel down and it, it, but it's the same, it's all the good stuff. You can't do it. God is what he is. He's the whole thing and you have to be in line with that whole 0:50:53 - 0:51:30 thing and you can't pick and choose so back to where we started with this. Uh There might be one more thing to say about that. Yeah. So if you want to be the kind of person who comes forth in the morning of the resurrection, the first resurrection, you come forth to glory when Jesus comes with all those 0:51:29 - 0:51:53 who are in heaven, who are those who have perceived, received. Uh What are these words? I said, perceived, received, valued and trusted his voice. There are a billion other ways of saying that by the way, who have walked the path who have gone through the gate and traversed the way who have endured to 0:51:52 - 0:52:19 the end, who have taken upon them, the name of Christ. Um We've been sanctified by the spirit. We could go on all day with this. It's like shining a light through a um a prism, one of those ones with all the different facets and the rainbows just shoot out everywhere anyway. Uh If you want to be one 0:52:19 - 0:52:44 of those, you start by cutting the chains. It's all the same and the secret to cutting the chains back to Psalm 107. Um He brought 14, he brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands and thunder. How do we sign up? Verse 15? Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness 0:52:44 - 0:53:18 , for his wonderful works. The Children of men go learn about Jesus and find out, ask God, what's the big deal? Why is this? Why is he so good? The gospel is the good news. God has to reveal to us His goodness because it's not apparent to the natural man. If he blasted everything, he is into your, into 0:53:18 - 0:53:42 your face, it's just shined it right into your face like a flashlight. It would make you very angry, you would cast him out as a thing of not, there's a process. He has to show you why he's valuable. He has to show you his goodness. He has to show you why you should want to be like He is, why you should 0:53:42 - 0:54:04 want to be around Him. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, why would anyone want that not to Jesus? Because they think they know Jesus, they have no idea but to everything that comes with Him because it's all one thing they say end times I don't want to deal with. Why would anybody 0:54:03 - 0:54:33 want to deal with that? Just kill me just kill me. Do you understand how many righteous people wanted to live during our day? The most righteous people? Why? Because it's such a gift I can't go into. Why right now, time permitting, I'll explain it later, but it's a gift. And I'm telling you like, when 0:54:32 - 0:54:57 God gives you a huge gift, you'll swat it out of his hand, you'll run away screaming it. Our natural beings are repulsed by what's good, beautiful and true. That's the natural man. Mosiah 319, you have to turn to him. You have to receive the holy ghost line upon line. It will sanctify you and it will 0:54:57 - 0:55:30 open your eyes to what is light and what is good. It was valuable. So if you want to uh be drawn out of darkness in the shadow of death, you want your bands broken. Praise the Lord magnify his goodness, glorify his name. Learn about how he is and be the same that rhymed. I didn't intend to read the scriptures 0:55:29 - 0:55:52 , read the stories about Jesus and the things he says and apply them to your life and think, OK, man born blind, he's blind his whole life and he was drawn out of the city to this pool called One Cent. And why did he listen to Jesus in the first place? And what's in my life? That's kind of like this 0:55:52 - 0:56:14 ? And how would I have to act or react to react the same way that this guy did because he did the right thing. All these Pharisees, they thought they knew everything and same chapter John nine, they thought they knew everything and um, they told, uh, they told Jesus that they see, how could they be blind 0:56:13 - 0:56:29 . And Jesus told them, well, if you say you see, you see, you truly are blind and now you're accountable, now you're blind and accountable for being blind because now it's your choice. What would that be like in my life? And what would I be doing if I were acting that way? And what sort of situations 0:56:28 - 0:56:46 could come about? Because um I'm not in Jerusalem and Jesus isn't living a mortal life. So what sort of things could come about? That would be like this in my life. That's what you have to think about when you're studying the scriptures. And apart from the scriptures, we did the bike spoke thing that's 0:56:46 - 0:57:11 on you. You already, you already by your own words said this is what good means to me? Are you living that way? Do you live up to your conscience in every single facet and moment of your life? Are you living? Exactly like you can imagine God living in your life now. Important ca caveat here, you probably 0:57:11 - 0:57:28 have a long list of things in a day where you're like, I don't know how God would clean the toilet. I don't know how God would pay his taxes. Maybe that one's easier. Uh Man, man. It's like, I don't know where I'm gonna get a fish with a coin in the mouth to pay my taxes. Um Whatever there are questions 0:57:28 - 0:57:51 , right? This is beautiful. So ask the questions to the one who promises not to a braid or to uh chide you for asking questions. He commands us to ask him questions because they're the conduit for revealing more. Why? Because they increase our appreciation for what he's gonna tell us. He's more, we're 0:57:51 - 0:58:11 more likely to act on whatever he tells us. If you don't have desire, you're not going to obey because you don't actually want what he's going to tell you to do. You don't actually believe it's gonna lead to that, ask the questions, study the scriptures, but live up to what you already know and hit the 0:58:11 - 0:58:34 scriptures to find out more. But open your eyes to the things and people around you, you're accountable for everything you have access to. Whether you look at it or not. Those Pharisees don't get to say, well, I didn't believe that Jesus was Jesus. Did you hear what he said? Who cares? Well, you know 0:58:33 - 0:59:00 , don't take this too literally. Who cares if you thought he was Jesus. Let's start on. Did you honestly respond to what he said? That was well reasoned enough to deserve your response and that alone is enough to condemn those guys. We're not condemned for rejecting these marvelous things that were too 0:59:00 - 0:59:32 hard to understand or, you know, whatever we're in trouble for the things that we had every reason to do and believe and not do and not believe. Right? Ok. So for he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron and thunder, the scissors are in your hands, folks, they're in your hands. Um You 0:59:32 - 0:59:53 can keep reading and it's valuable for uh sorry fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted. Uh Transgression is an important word. Iniquity is an important word. So turning away from the right way, that's what it means. So, um everything in your life that you're 0:59:53 - 1:00:16 doing is less than your best. That's iniquity and that's where your chains are coming from. There's, there's a kind of chain that is on you and it's just the fall whatever and you can break that one, right? And you just do the wet paper bag. There's a kind of chain you put on yourself and that is a problem 1:00:15 - 1:00:38 . You cause the problem. You have to fix the problem also because God can't cut that for you. You have to cut that by turning to him. He gives you the tool to cut it, but you have to cut it. It's your choice. It's like you put bolt cutters in your hand and you're standing there with these bolt cutters 1:00:38 - 1:01:08 saying help me, I'm in these chains. I can't help what I'm doing. Use the freaking bolt cutters that I gave you right? Listen to him, trust him, obey him, seek him, learn more about him. You don't know anything about him. Let's just, you don't, but you can, you can and you should. Well, this is long 1:01:07 - 1:01:27 enough. We're at an hour. Uh, if you may have this far. Thank you. I hope that you listen to these things that I've said I've given you some real treasures here. And what I mean by that are things that I treasure because I know what you can do with them. I've given you some bolt cutters here and any 1:01:27 - 1:01:59 of the bolt cutters I have are only functional if they came from God. So with all things, he gets the glory. He's good. Trust him. There isn't a thing in this life that he can't make better. There isn't a situation in his life that he has not overcome and it gives you the key to do the same in him, through 1:02:01 - 1:02:26 of him because he's real. He's real. He's more real than anything here. Think about that and he's better than anything here. So go learn of him and beco become more like him and he will open your eyes wider and wider to see more of him. There's nothing that can compare to that.