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How to Make Decisions

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Winning Walk with Ed Young
December 1, 2019
27:30

Winning Walk with Ed Young

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How to Make Decisions

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  • Ed Young: As we begin today, I want to share with you a story
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  • of how God is using this ministry.
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  • We recently heard from Derek, who found "The Winning Walk"
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  • daily devotional so inspiring that he started sharing it
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  • with his family and friends, and now consistently shares
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  • God's Word with a dozen people.
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  • That's what "The Winning Walk" is all about.
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  • It's only possible thanks to the generosity of people just
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  • like you.
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  • So today, I want to ask for your help to keep God's Word going
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  • out into more and more lives, like yours, like Derek's,
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  • and like those he's reaching.
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  • Right now we've been presented with a $75.000 challenge grant.
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  • In other words, every dollar we give, it is matched.
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  • Therefore, your giving, my giving, will be twice as
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  • powerful.
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  • Our end of the year goal is to reach $300.000.
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  • We can do it if we all step up to the line and say, "I want
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  • God's Word to go out."
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  • People like Derek, his friends, and family, will be able to hear
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  • the truth about Jesus Christ changes every life.
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  • And that means more lives equipped for, you would guess
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  • it, a winning walk with Jesus Christ.
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  • So as we close out this year, please consider how you will
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  • give generously to this ministry.
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  • Every penny is used only for airtime.
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  • Thank you for standing with us.
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  • Ed Young: Noah was a man of faith, the Bible tells us,
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  • and he had a wife.
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  • His sons married wives and they had a household, a family
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  • of faith, which was countercultural, going
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  • in the opposite direction of everybody else on the planet,
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  • so judgment came in the form of a flood.
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  • The flood waters came and destroyed everybody,
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  • but they had at least 120 years.
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  • Genesis 6:3, 120 years to turn back to God.
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  • Oh yeah, 'cause that's when God said to Noah, "Go build a boat."
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  • Now that's crazy.
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  • He was 100 miles from any body of water.
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  • Nobody had ever seen it rain.
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  • Moisture came from the Earth.
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  • The first rain that was recorded in history was with the flood
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  • waters that came those 40 days and 40 nights.
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  • Here he is building a boat, this righteous man, this God-fearing
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  • man, this worshiping man, and you can imagine
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  • the ridicule.
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  • Well, Noah, what are you building there, man?
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  • Large proportions, isn't it?
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  • By the way, you remember the dimensions of the ark?
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  • A hundred and fifty feet long, a football and a half long, you
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  • know, onto the Super Bowl.
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  • I'll give you that most measure.
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  • A football and a half long field long, 25 yards wide, 15 yards
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  • high.
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  • It wasn't for going anywhere.
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  • It was for existence.
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  • Now, people have studied the art for many years and some scholars
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  • and people who're supposed to know about boats said, you
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  • know, "That boat wouldn't float.
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  • It couldn't possibly inhabit two of every kind and keep people
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  • alive for all those 40 days, 40 nights, et cetera."
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  • But now, go to Branson, Missouri, you can see a replica
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  • of the ark.
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  • Go to other places on the earth, you see the ark has been exactly
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  • reconstructed.
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  • And now there is common belief that what is reported
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  • in the Bible that many people just said, "Oh it won't work,"
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  • now they see exactly how it could have worked and it did
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  • function.
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  • Amazing, isn't it?
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  • Noah built that big ol' ark by faith.
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  • He got in, the rains came, then he floated out there a million
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  • miles from nowhere and his boat ended up on Mount Ararat.
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  • Remember, we climbed up Ararat a few months ago?
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  • And I can imagine that Noah walked out of that ark and he
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  • looked around.
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  • There was nobody, no people, no inhabitants, no landmarks, no
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  • nothing.
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  • He started over from zip.
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  • A lot of people think that Noah exercised more faith
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  • after the flood than he did before the flood, because what's
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  • the first thing Noah did when he got off the boat?
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  • The Bible says he built an altar.
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  • He worshipped in thanksgiving.
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  • The ark was salvation, the altar was transformation.
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  • You can be saved and not be transformed.
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  • But that's the transformation that took place as Noah had
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  • a new chance to begin life on this earth by faith.
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  • Noah. Noah.
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  • Let me ask you a question.
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  • What is faith?
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  • How would you define faith?
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  • How do you get faith?
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  • How do you continue to live in faith?
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  • Does faith grow?
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  • Can it grow?
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  • Does faith decline?
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  • What do you do when you lose your faith?
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  • Can you get it back?
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  • Is there such a thing as lose your faith and then reclaiming
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  • your faith?
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  • We have a lot of questions about faith.
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  • You go to Hebrews chapter 11, there's a whole chapter
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  • on faith.
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  • It's the centerpiece in the Bible on faith.
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  • It gives us in the opening verses sort of a general
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  • definition of faith.
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  • Look at Hebrews 11:1-3, "Now faith is the substance of things
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  • hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
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  • For by it the elders obtained a good testimony."
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  • And by the way, this is the rest of Hebrews.
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  • You have a general definition of faith, and then the rest
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  • of the chapter tells us men and women in history who lived
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  • by faith in all kinds of circumstances.
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  • Then he says a key verse in verse 3, "By faith we
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  • understand."
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  • "Understand" there means something you come to believe
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  • by evidence, by proof.
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  • "By faith we come to believe we understand that the world--
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  • the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that
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  • the things which are seen were not made of things which are
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  • visible."
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  • In other words--by the way, the scientists came
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  • up with the Big Bang.
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  • Remember the Big Bang?
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  • Said Bang, the world came into being.
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  • There it is right there in Hebrews, is it not?
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  • The world was made by God out of things that were not
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  • seen, and boom, there's an explosion and now there are
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  • things that are seen.
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  • And this gives us understanding. Let's talk about faith.
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  • Three levels.
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  • Three levels of faith.
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  • Now, they're all sort of subsets here, but let me tell you
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  • a basic understanding of faith.
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  • First of all, faith is reason.
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  • It's reason.
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  • It's understanding.
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  • It's reason.
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  • And then on top of reason, faith is belief.
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  • And on top of belief, there is commitment.
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  • And then you have faith is reason, and then reason leads
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  • to belief, and belief leads to commitment.
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  • And then with those three, you have certainty.
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  • You see a lot of people try to move from reason
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  • to certainty.
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  • I'm goin' to figure all this out.
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  • I'm going to work through it, then I'm going to be certain.
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  • It never works like that.
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  • Reason is the base.
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  • It moves to belief, then it moves to commitment, and then
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  • hopefully it comes to certainty.
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  • Up 'til that point, it's all tentative.
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  • It's all, "I hope."
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  • It's perhaps.
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  • It's experimental.
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  • Let me tell you something.
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  • Except in math, every decision you make, every decision I make,
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  • comes by way of faith.
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  • Therefore if somebody might say, "Well, you know, I don't need
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  • faith.
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  • I don't--I don't think about those things," every
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  • decision, every choice we make about everything on the planet
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  • comes by the way of faith.
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  • You say, "Well, is it practical?"
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  • How practical is that?
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  • If we can't do anything, accomplish anything, make any
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  • decision without faith, that's pretty practical, isn't it?
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  • So let's seek to understand faith from the very, very
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  • beginning.
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  • When you decide who you want your plumber to be, it's a faith
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  • decision.
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  • You decide who you want to marry, faith decision.
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  • You decide, if you need surgery, who your surgeon is going to be,
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  • a faith decision.
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  • Pretty important, wouldn't you say?
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  • Well, how's this work?
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  • Let's take a plumber.
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  • Alright, you got pipes that are rusted all over your house.
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  • Need to get a plumber.
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  • So you go and use what?
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  • Reason. Reason.
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  • Try to find a plumber who can do this.
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  • You use your mind, you use understanding, reason, and then
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  • you move to belief.
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  • Then you say, "You know, I believe enough, I've
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  • investigated enough, and I have reason that this would be my
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  • plumber.
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  • Now I believe he will do it."
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  • And then you commit and you give him the job.
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  • And once it is completed, all those process is sorta
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  • tentative.
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  • It's sort of, you know, I don't know, but when it's completed
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  • and it works, you have certainty.
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  • Picking a mate.
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  • A lot of people are not married.
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  • You know why?
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  • They think they moved from reason to certainty.
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  • Oh, I'm going to figure all this out.
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  • She's the right one.
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  • He's the right one.
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  • Bang, bang, I'm certain now.
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  • No, no, no, it started with reason, then you go
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  • through a belief.
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  • You begin to put it together.
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  • And then you make a commitment, which may be engagement.
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  • And then when you say, "I do," and he says, or he says, "I
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  • will," there is the certainty that comes.
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  • Faith has three basic steps.
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  • You don't move from reason to certainty.
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  • Let's take a surgeon.
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  • Your GP says you need surgery.
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  • You go and try to pick a surgeon.
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  • You use reason, right?
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  • Good idea.
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  • You use reason.
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  • And then reasonably you think, "This is a person that can
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  • do it."
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  • Then you have a certain belief about methodology and how it
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  • will be done.
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  • And then you make a commitment.
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  • In that commitment, you lie on the table.
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  • Put that thing over.
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  • Count backwards to whatever.
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  • That's pretty committed, isn't it?
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  • Huh? Huh?
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  • Commitment.
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  • And then following the surgery, things go well, and then you
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  • have what?
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  • Certainty. Certainty.
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  • So faith isn't just something, well, pie in the sky over there.
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  • Faith isn't something that we say, "Well, Christians have
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  • faith and non-Christians don't have faith."
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  • No, we all have the same amount of faith.
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  • The difference is what you put your faith in, what I put my
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  • faith in.
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  • For example, let's look at--go back through and talked
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  • about reason, understanding.
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  • That's where we start.
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  • Scientists normally operate by faith.
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  • Scientists do not discover a whole lot of things
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  • through inductive reasoning.
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  • What is that?
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  • They don't say, "Well, I see this over here and I see that
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  • over there, and I understand that molecule over there,
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  • and this works over here," and they put all this together
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  • inductively and they come to a conclusion, something that
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  • works, something that's accurate.
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  • Normally that's not the way science works.
  • 00:12:49.010 --> 00:12:51.260
  • Science works with a faith assumption, with a thesis,
  • 00:12:51.270 --> 00:12:58.060
  • with an idea and a concept, and then this is deductive
  • 00:12:58.070 --> 00:13:03.250
  • reasoning.
  • 00:13:03.260 --> 00:13:05.050
  • They begin to deduce from that evidence as to whether or not
  • 00:13:05.060 --> 00:13:07.290
  • that faith assumption is accurate.
  • 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.180
  • Science operates by faith primarily.
  • 00:13:10.190 --> 00:13:14.170
  • And so we look at the universe.
  • 00:13:14.180 --> 00:13:18.010
  • Godless people say, Boy, the universe came together
  • 00:13:18.020 --> 00:13:21.080
  • by chance.
  • 00:13:21.090 --> 00:13:22.210
  • It just all came by accident, by atoms coming together,
  • 00:13:22.220 --> 00:13:26.180
  • like in some primeval moment billions of years ago.
  • 00:13:26.190 --> 00:13:30.060
  • It just evolved.
  • 00:13:30.070 --> 00:13:32.220
  • Let me tell you something.
  • 00:13:32.230 --> 00:13:34.120
  • To say this universe came together by chance is
  • 00:13:34.130 --> 00:13:38.260
  • like saying there was an explosion in a print shop
  • 00:13:38.270 --> 00:13:43.140
  • and out produced the Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  • 00:13:43.150 --> 00:13:45.290
  • Man, what are the odds of that?
  • 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.140
  • Explosion in a print shop and you have a dictionary
  • 00:13:48.150 --> 00:13:51.220
  • perfectly put together, what are the odds in that?
  • 00:13:51.230 --> 00:13:54.100
  • Ladies and gentlemen, the odds of that happening are less than
  • 00:13:54.110 --> 00:13:58.250
  • the odds that this universe would come together
  • 00:13:58.260 --> 00:14:01.140
  • without a designer.
  • 00:14:01.150 --> 00:14:03.010
  • Abraham Lincoln--I said it recently.
  • 00:14:03.020 --> 00:14:04.260
  • Abraham Lincoln says, "You go to outer space, you look back
  • 00:14:04.270 --> 00:14:08.110
  • on the earth, you may be an atheist."
  • 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:10.160
  • He said, "You stand on the earth and look at outer space," he
  • 00:14:10.170 --> 00:14:14.000
  • said, "you can't be an atheist."
  • 00:14:14.010 --> 00:14:16.260
  • So the idea that all of this came--for example, decisions
  • 00:14:16.270 --> 00:14:20.250
  • in your life, faith choices that we make, what if you think that
  • 00:14:20.260 --> 00:14:25.070
  • you came into being by chance, that all human beings are here
  • 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:28.210
  • by chance?
  • 00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:30.050
  • We came from some primeval mud puddle there.
  • 00:14:30.060 --> 00:14:34.130
  • We came here by chance.
  • 00:14:34.140 --> 00:14:36.120
  • By chance something that was inorganic became organic
  • 00:14:36.130 --> 00:14:39.290
  • by chance.
  • 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:41.100
  • If you believe that you're here by chance or if you are here
  • 00:14:41.110 --> 00:14:45.270
  • because you have been designed by a designer, what
  • 00:14:45.280 --> 00:14:49.150
  • a difference.
  • 00:14:49.160 --> 00:14:50.260
  • By design or chance?
  • 00:14:50.270 --> 00:14:52.110
  • That makes all the difference in the world on how we make
  • 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:54.180
  • decisions every day of our life.
  • 00:14:54.190 --> 00:14:57.060
  • What's right, what's wrong, what will work, what will not work,
  • 00:14:57.070 --> 00:15:01.100
  • and these are faith decisions.
  • 00:15:01.110 --> 00:15:05.100
  • So faith is reason.
  • 00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:08.100
  • Reason.
  • 00:15:08.110 --> 00:15:10.070
  • The idea to say, "Well, you know, I don't have faith that
  • 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:13.230
  • you have in the church."
  • 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:15.170
  • People here who are not Christians, somebody stand
  • 00:15:15.180 --> 00:15:18.220
  • up and tell how Jesus Christ came in their life and changed
  • 00:15:18.230 --> 00:15:22.210
  • everything, gave them a fresh new beginning, a new outlook
  • 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:26.040
  • on life, and there's a freshness there they'd never had.
  • 00:15:26.050 --> 00:15:29.090
  • Somebody who's not a Christian say, "Boy, you know I wish I
  • 00:15:29.100 --> 00:15:31.120
  • could believe that, but I don't have enough faith."
  • 00:15:31.130 --> 00:15:33.290
  • If somebody from Mars came down to this earth and we
  • 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:39.040
  • explain to them about procreation, how we
  • 00:15:39.050 --> 00:15:42.160
  • cooperate with God and produce life, and the martian would say,
  • 00:15:42.170 --> 00:15:48.030
  • "I can't even imagine that.
  • 00:15:48.040 --> 00:15:50.000
  • We procreate by the exchanging of earwax."
  • 00:15:50.010 --> 00:15:54.120
  • They have no frame of reference.
  • 00:15:54.130 --> 00:15:57.280
  • You see, we think people who see someone who comes to Christ have
  • 00:15:57.290 --> 00:16:02.220
  • a new life, they back up and say, "I have no frame
  • 00:16:02.230 --> 00:16:05.020
  • of reference for that.
  • 00:16:05.030 --> 00:16:06.130
  • I wish I had faith like that."
  • 00:16:06.140 --> 00:16:08.010
  • We all have the same amount of faith, ladies and gentlemen.
  • 00:16:08.020 --> 00:16:11.130
  • It's just what we put our faith in.
  • 00:16:11.140 --> 00:16:14.110
  • And when someone puts their faith into something other than
  • 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:17.100
  • Jesus Christ, and that occupies the core and the center of their
  • 00:16:17.110 --> 00:16:22.130
  • life, therefore it's no wonder that they have trouble
  • 00:16:22.140 --> 00:16:26.010
  • believing.
  • 00:16:26.020 --> 00:16:27.110
  • We all have the same amount of faith.
  • 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:29.090
  • All, we have the same progressiveness.
  • 00:16:29.100 --> 00:16:33.020
  • This is development from reason, to belief, to commitment,
  • 00:16:33.030 --> 00:16:38.170
  • and then to certainty.
  • 00:16:38.180 --> 00:16:39.280
  • That's how it works.
  • 00:16:39.290 --> 00:16:41.080
  • Someone who says, "I just--I just need more faith," let me
  • 00:16:41.090 --> 00:16:45.250
  • tell you something.
  • 00:16:45.260 --> 00:16:47.060
  • Let's talk about security of believers, for example.
  • 00:16:47.070 --> 00:16:52.010
  • Once saved, always saved.
  • 00:16:52.020 --> 00:16:53.160
  • Oh, we Baptists love that one.
  • 00:16:53.170 --> 00:16:54.290
  • Why do we believe that?
  • 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:56.100
  • It's taught in the Bible.
  • 00:16:56.110 --> 00:16:57.250
  • But let's say it another way.
  • 00:16:57.260 --> 00:16:59.250
  • Let's say, for example, how are we saved?
  • 00:16:59.260 --> 00:17:02.010
  • If we're saved by doing good and not doing evil, we can lose
  • 00:17:02.020 --> 00:17:07.180
  • our salvation, couldn't we?
  • 00:17:07.190 --> 00:17:08.280
  • If that's how we're saved, it's because when we begin to do evil
  • 00:17:08.290 --> 00:17:12.050
  • and not good, we'd be lost.
  • 00:17:12.060 --> 00:17:13.270
  • We were saved by doing good and not evil.
  • 00:17:13.280 --> 00:17:16.090
  • Now we can be lost by doing evil, not good, right?
  • 00:17:16.100 --> 00:17:18.180
  • But we're not saved by doing good, by works.
  • 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:21.060
  • We're saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
  • 00:17:21.070 --> 00:17:24.060
  • Therefore, we are eternally secure.
  • 00:17:24.070 --> 00:17:28.130
  • And we--when we wander away from God in Christ and we slide
  • 00:17:28.140 --> 00:17:32.070
  • back, because we are in Christ, we know that, and our faith
  • 00:17:32.080 --> 00:17:36.230
  • begins to operate, and we feel like someone who is no longer
  • 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:40.180
  • at home in this life.
  • 00:17:40.190 --> 00:17:43.210
  • We become a bomb.
  • 00:17:43.220 --> 00:17:45.240
  • You know what a bomb is?
  • 00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:47.050
  • A bomb is something that, in the center, in the core,
  • 00:17:47.060 --> 00:17:52.070
  • there is a compound that is unstable.
  • 00:17:52.080 --> 00:17:55.250
  • That's the reason it's a bomb.
  • 00:17:55.260 --> 00:17:58.090
  • And if your life and my life there's a compound that is
  • 00:17:58.100 --> 00:18:01.150
  • unstable, we haven't blown up, but we will blow up.
  • 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:06.260
  • We're bombs.
  • 00:18:06.270 --> 00:18:08.210
  • In the center of your life and my life, when there's God
  • 00:18:08.220 --> 00:18:11.160
  • and Jesus Christ, he gives us stability.
  • 00:18:11.170 --> 00:18:15.090
  • Stability.
  • 00:18:15.100 --> 00:18:16.200
  • And we understand this through reason
  • 00:18:16.210 --> 00:18:18.140
  • and through belief.
  • 00:18:18.150 --> 00:18:20.250
  • You see, as Christians, we look back on the facts of history.
  • 00:18:20.260 --> 00:18:25.130
  • You and I can believe that Christmas is real.
  • 00:18:25.140 --> 00:18:30.000
  • God visited this earth in human flesh, incarnation.
  • 00:18:30.010 --> 00:18:34.030
  • You can believe that.
  • 00:18:34.040 --> 00:18:35.190
  • We can believe that Jesus died on the cross for all your
  • 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:38.220
  • garbage and my garbage.
  • 00:18:38.230 --> 00:18:40.030
  • We can believe that, our substitute.
  • 00:18:40.040 --> 00:18:42.220
  • We can believe that God raised him from the dead.
  • 00:18:42.230 --> 00:18:46.250
  • We can believe that, the resurrection, Easter.
  • 00:18:46.260 --> 00:18:48.110
  • But you can believe that, but it really doesn't become yours
  • 00:18:48.120 --> 00:18:52.110
  • until that which happens in the past affects how we live
  • 00:18:52.120 --> 00:18:56.200
  • in the present.
  • 00:18:56.210 --> 00:18:59.050
  • In other words, we have to live on the basis of our--
  • 00:18:59.060 --> 00:19:01.230
  • of the gospel, on the basis of what Jesus has done.
  • 00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:06.160
  • Now, Peter and Paul were brought up as Jews, right?
  • 00:19:06.170 --> 00:19:12.280
  • And they were taught that a Gentile--and a Gentile is
  • 00:19:12.290 --> 00:19:15.030
  • anybody who's not a Jew in the Bible.
  • 00:19:15.040 --> 00:19:16.160
  • If you--you're either a Jew or a non-Jew.
  • 00:19:16.170 --> 00:19:18.030
  • If you're a non-Jew, you're a Gentile.
  • 00:19:18.040 --> 00:19:20.090
  • And Peter and Paul were taught that Gentiles could never know
  • 00:19:20.100 --> 00:19:25.160
  • God.
  • 00:19:25.170 --> 00:19:26.270
  • Why?
  • 00:19:26.280 --> 00:19:28.070
  • Because their pedigree and because of their practice.
  • 00:19:28.080 --> 00:19:32.110
  • Their pedigree, a Gentile is not from Abraham.
  • 00:19:32.120 --> 00:19:36.000
  • A Jew's pedigree is from Abraham.
  • 00:19:36.010 --> 00:19:38.220
  • A Gentile's practice is not keeping the law, a Jew's
  • 00:19:38.230 --> 00:19:43.060
  • practice is keeping the law.
  • 00:19:43.070 --> 00:19:44.290
  • Therefore, Gentile could never know God.
  • 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:47.010
  • But you read the book of Acts, there is Peter over there and he
  • 00:19:47.020 --> 00:19:51.260
  • gets with Cornelius who was a Gentile, a centurion.
  • 00:19:51.270 --> 00:19:55.220
  • And he tells Cornelius about God in Christ, and zip, Cornelius,
  • 00:19:55.230 --> 00:20:00.270
  • a Gentile, accepts Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian.
  • 00:20:00.280 --> 00:20:04.260
  • There's a problem. Peter had no problem.
  • 00:20:04.270 --> 00:20:07.120
  • He saw that this Gentile had become a Christian.
  • 00:20:07.130 --> 00:20:11.100
  • He saw that the performance of Jesus was put in his life,
  • 00:20:11.110 --> 00:20:17.030
  • the pedigree of Jesus was put in his life, so he was
  • 00:20:17.040 --> 00:20:20.010
  • a Christian.
  • 00:20:20.020 --> 00:20:21.120
  • So Peter went over there and loved eating breakfast
  • 00:20:21.130 --> 00:20:23.170
  • with him, and he fell in love with bacon.
  • 00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:28.280
  • He lies to Jesus.
  • 00:20:28.290 --> 00:20:31.090
  • And Peter just loved the way the Gentiles ate, but some big
  • 00:20:31.100 --> 00:20:34.260
  • shots from Jerusalem came.
  • 00:20:34.270 --> 00:20:37.110
  • Some of the family of James there in the strict Judaism, who
  • 00:20:37.120 --> 00:20:40.170
  • believe you had to take all the practices of Jew after you
  • 00:20:40.180 --> 00:20:43.270
  • receive Christ as Messiah, and they saw that Peter was
  • 00:20:43.280 --> 00:20:47.150
  • eating with the Gentiles.
  • 00:20:47.160 --> 00:20:49.070
  • They heard about it, so while they were there, Peter didn't
  • 00:20:49.080 --> 00:20:51.290
  • eat with Cornelius anymore.
  • 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.120
  • He did without bacon.
  • 00:20:54.130 --> 00:20:57.170
  • Paul, in Galatians chapter 2, he faced Peter with this hypocrisy.
  • 00:20:57.180 --> 00:21:04.150
  • He said, "Pete, if these Gentiles are really Christians
  • 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:10.030
  • and you've been told that everything is clean, don't
  • 00:21:10.040 --> 00:21:13.180
  • change how you live, because those who come who haven't
  • 00:21:13.190 --> 00:21:17.120
  • yet caught up with what it means to be born again and a child
  • 00:21:17.130 --> 00:21:21.120
  • of God."
  • 00:21:21.130 --> 00:21:22.220
  • He looked in Peter's face and pointed it out to him.
  • 00:21:22.230 --> 00:21:26.150
  • This is what happens to us, ladies and gentlemen.
  • 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:29.040
  • We know all these facts historically, but we have
  • 00:21:29.050 --> 00:21:32.020
  • to take them and incorporate that into our lives and discover
  • 00:21:32.030 --> 00:21:35.280
  • this is how we then live.
  • 00:21:35.290 --> 00:21:39.040
  • Oh, I'm burdened with my sin. I can't handle this.
  • 00:21:39.050 --> 00:21:41.290
  • We have to live on the basis our sin has been covered
  • 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.170
  • by the blood of Christ.
  • 00:21:44.180 --> 00:21:45.270
  • We are forgiven.
  • 00:21:45.280 --> 00:21:47.080
  • Don't let that beat you down and keep you down.
  • 00:21:47.090 --> 00:21:49.280
  • Live on the basis of that.
  • 00:21:49.290 --> 00:21:51.100
  • That's a part of the belief system that we have.
  • 00:21:51.110 --> 00:21:54.160
  • And then finally, look at the last thing we see here.
  • 00:21:54.170 --> 00:21:58.110
  • Yeah, we're talking about faith, reason, belief, doctrine, what
  • 00:21:58.120 --> 00:22:03.270
  • we have.
  • 00:22:03.280 --> 00:22:05.070
  • Then there comes commitment.
  • 00:22:05.080 --> 00:22:07.120
  • Commitment. Commitment.
  • 00:22:07.130 --> 00:22:09.010
  • You walk on the edge of a cliff, slippery rocks, and you slide,
  • 00:22:09.020 --> 00:22:14.190
  • and you start falling down that cliff hundreds of feet below.
  • 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:19.030
  • And as you're sliding down, you see ahead a branch sticking
  • 00:22:19.040 --> 00:22:23.080
  • up out of the cliff.
  • 00:22:23.090 --> 00:22:24.270
  • You're going to slide right by that branch.
  • 00:22:24.280 --> 00:22:28.230
  • How much faith is going to take for you to grab hold of that
  • 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:31.200
  • branch?
  • 00:22:31.210 --> 00:22:33.120
  • Huh?
  • 00:22:33.130 --> 00:22:34.280
  • "Oh, it's got--" no, it's gonna take--no, it's not gonna take
  • 00:22:34.290 --> 00:22:39.290
  • hardly any faith, is it, when you're sliding down that cliff,
  • 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.210
  • to grab that branch.
  • 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:45.120
  • But once you grab that branch, that's a little faith that you
  • 00:22:45.130 --> 00:22:48.290
  • have, but that branch, in its strength, will hold you
  • 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:53.130
  • up and save you.
  • 00:22:53.140 --> 00:22:56.170
  • When we extend our hand to Jesus Christ, we extend our hand
  • 00:22:56.180 --> 00:23:00.140
  • to him, he grabs us and he puts in you and me his pedigree.
  • 00:23:00.150 --> 00:23:05.110
  • He's the Son of God.
  • 00:23:05.120 --> 00:23:06.280
  • Is that a pretty good family to be in?
  • 00:23:06.290 --> 00:23:08.200
  • He puts in you and me his practice, a life of perfection.
  • 00:23:08.210 --> 00:23:12.190
  • Is that enough for you and me?
  • 00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:14.140
  • And therefore that gives us salvation.
  • 00:23:14.150 --> 00:23:19.170
  • Faith. Faith.
  • 00:23:19.180 --> 00:23:23.130
  • Faith.
  • 00:23:23.140 --> 00:23:25.290
  • It works everywhere, when we're on top of our game, when we're
  • 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:29.270
  • in the bottom of our game.
  • 00:23:29.280 --> 00:23:31.180
  • Faith.
  • 00:23:31.190 --> 00:23:33.090
  • What is it?
  • 00:23:33.100 --> 00:23:35.080
  • Faith.
  • 00:23:35.090 --> 00:23:37.010
  • How do we get it?
  • 00:23:37.020 --> 00:23:38.210
  • Faith.
  • 00:23:38.220 --> 00:23:40.090
  • We can't lose it.
  • 00:23:40.100 --> 00:23:42.080
  • Once we're in Christ and Christ is within us, and then we can
  • 00:23:42.090 --> 00:23:44.290
  • handle whatever life puts in for of us on our plate.
  • 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.000
  • And that is the certainty of our faith.
  • 00:23:49.010 --> 00:23:52.070
  • We see it works.
  • 00:23:52.080 --> 00:23:54.170
  • It applies.
  • 00:23:54.180 --> 00:23:56.260
  • It keeps us going. It sees us through.
  • 00:23:56.270 --> 00:23:59.290
  • Chicago Fire was in, I think, 1871.
  • 00:24:00.020 --> 00:24:03.250
  • I'm not sure.
  • 00:24:03.260 --> 00:24:05.290
  • In that fire, Horatio Spafford was a lawyer, owned property
  • 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:10.160
  • in Chicago, very wealthy, and everything he had was
  • 00:24:10.170 --> 00:24:13.270
  • wiped out.
  • 00:24:13.280 --> 00:24:15.080
  • He sent his wife and four little daughters to London to go
  • 00:24:15.090 --> 00:24:20.190
  • to a D. L. Moody crusade,
  • 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:23.100
  • to try to have a moment of getting over their
  • 00:24:23.110 --> 00:24:26.170
  • tremendous loss.
  • 00:24:26.180 --> 00:24:29.010
  • On that voyage from New York to London, middle
  • 00:24:29.020 --> 00:24:31.150
  • of the Atlantic, the ship went down.
  • 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:34.250
  • All four daughters were lost.
  • 00:24:34.260 --> 00:24:37.260
  • Anna was saved.
  • 00:24:37.270 --> 00:24:40.060
  • Somehow she was on a board, and when she regained
  • 00:24:40.070 --> 00:24:43.170
  • consciousness, she looked around, all four of her
  • 00:24:43.180 --> 00:24:46.100
  • daughters had drowned.
  • 00:24:46.110 --> 00:24:48.170
  • When she found safety there, was rescued, she sent a telegram
  • 00:24:48.180 --> 00:24:53.080
  • back to her husband who was coming over later to be
  • 00:24:53.090 --> 00:24:56.140
  • with them.
  • 00:24:56.150 --> 00:24:58.060
  • And it said simply, "Saved, alone.
  • 00:24:58.070 --> 00:25:05.100
  • What am I to do?"
  • 00:25:05.110 --> 00:25:08.020
  • Horatio Spafford went over there, joined his wife,
  • 00:25:08.030 --> 00:25:12.090
  • and they saw and were led to believe that God had
  • 00:25:12.100 --> 00:25:15.060
  • a special calling for their life.
  • 00:25:15.070 --> 00:25:17.010
  • And so they moved to Jerusalem, and they bought this house,
  • 00:25:17.020 --> 00:25:21.200
  • which is now a hotel, and they began to take in orphans.
  • 00:25:21.210 --> 00:25:25.170
  • They began to take in street people.
  • 00:25:25.180 --> 00:25:27.010
  • They began to feed, and love, and share with those people,
  • 00:25:27.020 --> 00:25:30.220
  • Jews and Muslims, the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • 00:25:30.230 --> 00:25:33.130
  • And they did that for the rest of their life.
  • 00:25:33.140 --> 00:25:39.110
  • And on the way over, Horatio Spafford asks the ship he was
  • 00:25:39.120 --> 00:25:44.020
  • on to stop over the spot where his four little daughters had
  • 00:25:44.030 --> 00:25:47.290
  • drowned months before.
  • 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.120
  • And there he wrote, "It Is Well with My Soul."
  • 00:25:50.130 --> 00:25:57.110
  • "Peace like a river, attendeth my day."
  • 00:25:57.120 --> 00:26:00.050
  • Good things.
  • 00:26:00.060 --> 00:26:01.210
  • "Sorrow when like sea, billows roll."
  • 00:26:01.220 --> 00:26:04.010
  • Bad things.
  • 00:26:04.020 --> 00:26:05.270
  • Said, "Whatever, whatever, whatever the cost, thou has
  • 00:26:05.280 --> 00:26:12.040
  • taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul."
  • 00:26:12.050 --> 00:26:19.190
  • That, ladies and gentlemen, is faith in action.
  • 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:24.040
  • Ed Young: The story of Noah reminds us that the time to obey
  • 00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:29.100
  • God's instructions and genuinely walk with him is before the rain
  • 00:26:29.110 --> 00:26:34.050
  • begins to fall.
  • 00:26:34.060 --> 00:26:35.230
  • Noah obeyed everything God commanded him to do.
  • 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:39.260
  • He was consistent in his walk with the Lord and he trusted
  • 00:26:39.270 --> 00:26:43.220
  • God's timing.
  • 00:26:43.230 --> 00:26:45.150
  • Listen, walking with God is a daily thing.
  • 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:49.020
  • When you apply his timeless principles to your marriage,
  • 00:26:49.030 --> 00:26:52.090
  • your family, and your everyday life, you will discover
  • 00:26:52.100 --> 00:26:56.040
  • the favor that comes to those who walk with God.
  • 00:26:56.050 --> 00:27:00.220
  • Are you experiencing this daily walk with the Lord?
  • 00:27:00.230 --> 00:27:04.020
  • If not, we would like to help.
  • 00:27:04.030 --> 00:27:06.200
  • Call the number on your screen right now and men and women are
  • 00:27:06.210 --> 00:27:10.070
  • standing by to talk with you and help you have a deeper walk
  • 00:27:10.080 --> 00:27:15.010
  • with the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • 00:27:15.020 --> 00:27:17.020
  • Let me personally thank you for watching today.
  • 00:27:17.030 --> 00:27:20.010
  • Please join us again next time as we take another step together
  • 00:27:20.020 --> 00:27:24.170
  • on "The Winning Walk."
  • 00:27:24.180 --> 00:27:27.050