Celebrating The Word (day seven) Luminaries

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give the glory, for You are merciful love and fidelity. Why should the nation say, Where is their God? But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He wills. Their idols in silver and gold, the works of human hands, they have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear. They have nostrils, but they cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel. They have feet, but cannot walk. They make no sound from their throats. Their makers will come to be like them, and will all who trust in them. Glory to God the Father, Almighty in heaven and earth. Where is their God? We look to You, Lord, and not to us, but in Your name we give the glory. Listen, I say listen, it's the voice of someone shouting, clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord, make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God, fill in the valleys and level the mountains and the hills, straighten the curbs and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all, all people will hear together, the Lord has spoken. O Zion, messengers of good news, shout from the mountaintops, shout it louder, O Jerusalem, shout it, and do not be afraid, tell the towns of Judah, your God is coming. So Satan comes and tries to take the word out of your heart, the word of God. If he is successful, he gets your joy, because joy is a product of something that was spoken by God. Because the joy of the Lord is your strength, when you lose your joy, you become weak, you become helpless, unable to overcome, you become an open target for Satan's attacks. So remember what Nehemiah said, the joy of the Lord is your strength, Nehemiah 8, verse 10. God's word produces joy, and joy produces strength. So here we are in the book of John 16, 22, and you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, says the Lord, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man can take away from you. We have seen that if no man can take your joy, neither can Satan. He does not have the legal right to do that, unless you give him that right. So let's fill our cups with joy as we feast on the word of God. You are listening to the Gospel Trail. How far down. When I came here today, Don, I came down Kevin's toboggan run. It's called Riley Road, the toboggan run. Yes. Because we have more snow. We have snow again. Yes. We have snow again. We've only got 72 inches of snow so far this year. Just six feet. That is six feet. That is. Well, Kevin, we're going to definitely need your services here in Florida because I've decided to begin a toboggan run here. And we're going to call ourselves the Elks. And it's going to be a really wonderful thing. The only problem is we can't find any snow making machines. So we may have to just kind of do it on foot. I don't know. Do you have Elks or toboggans down there? The Elks name has been taken. Don, just telling you, the Elks name has already been taken. Oh, dear. It's a fraternal organization. Oh, really? The Elks Club. Oh. Oh, no, no, no. This is the Elks toboggan team. Oh, OK. OK. Pardon me. There you go. Wow. Wow. We don't want to do any copyright infringement. So maybe we should call it the Elks Fans or something. Yeah, we don't want to infringe on anybody. Except here. Are you ready? Are you ready, Kevin? Except Satan. Could it be? Satan. We will attack him always because we know what his future is. That's right. Yeah. I think I would rather have the Holy Spirit do that work for me. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. Apart from him, I can do nothing. And that's what I realized. Right. That's good. Yeah. I put myself in the right position. So are we recording? Are we on? What's happening? Oh, certainly. We're on. It's been recording for quite some time. Oh, boy. And I did find the New Testament Psalms material. Oh, good. So it took me a long time to find it. But anyway, I don't know what use will you make of it, if any. But it's there. New Testament Psalms? Oh, it's all good. Yeah. It's all good, Don. I went through all of the New Testament looking for psalms and psalm-like material and footnotes that said this was a song in the church and so on. And came up with 100 psalms. Wow. And that is a devotional exercise. I wrote out each psalm by hand just to get a personal involvement with the psalm. So anyway. Well, that would be great to have as I go into the jail, Don. I would love that. Okay. Because I was telling the guys on the last couple of Tuesdays, I was telling them how I started learning Scripture was that the first church I went to, we sang out of psalms. Well, go figure. Psalms are songs, and we sang, and that's how I learned Scripture. And in fact, I found an old praise book from the 1970s that had all these psalms and other songs that we were singing when I first became a Christian. And the guys loved it. I handed it out. I made copies of it. So we were singing, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Great. And we had all the, well, here we are. Yeah. It had all the verses, biblical verses in the song. So they loved it. And for men to sing, because I don't play the guitar, not yet, but we sang a cappella. And for men in jail to sing before other men join in, I'm just blessed beyond compare. So if you would send me that stuff, because I'm always in the Word, and it would be great to have those to show in the New Testament, the psalms from the Old Testament. Right. That would be absolutely wonderful. That would be so good for me to have as a resource. That's it. Do you want me to just send it to Kevin, or do you want me to send it to you? Well, I don't know if we want an intermediary. I don't know if Kevin will remember to give it to me. I can print it out. He could print it out. He might adjust it a little bit. Yeah, he might edit. Edit? Yeah, Kevin's edition of Don's research. That's right. Yeah, that would be good. Suddenly it dawned on me I shouldn't do that. Suddenly. Suddenly. Suddenly. As the fawn panteth after the water. Panteth. Yeah, panteth. Panteth? Yes. How's that? We'll do sound effects, too. That's right. Just like the news, it's getting pretty bad, and we need prayer. There was this lady who came home. Is this a joke, or is this true? No, this is true. Okay. This is canon. And as the VR people says, this is head canon. No, this is, just like that's a biblical term, true. Yeah. Right. True. Yeah. True. Go on with your story. Anyway, she saw this guy entering into her house as she drove up the driveway, and the guy broke in the front door, went inside, and, you know, rifling through the stuff, you know, pulling drawers out, I don't know, ripping up pillows, whatever home intruders do. So she just got out of her car and ran right up to the door, went in there, stood in the living room with her hands on her hips, and said, Axe 238. And the guy just froze. So you know what Axe 238 means, right? It means repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. So that's all the Bible she knew, but it worked. The guy just froze there. He didn't move. He didn't look like he wasn't breathing. He just had his hands in the air. The police arrived, asked the guy, you know, why were you just standing in the corner and didn't even turn around? And just, why did you just freeze? It's, you know, a frail woman came in, and, you know, you could have ran out the back. Better not move since she yelled out she had an axe and 238s aimed at me. That's great. And 238s. The power of the word. The power of the word. That's what we're doing today is celebrating the word. Day seven. We have day seven. He probably was wondering why she was drawing water in the bathtub. Oh, God. Oh, God. That's right. Oh, my. Axe 238. I won't forget that. So I'd put that on my front door. I mean, just in case. Yeah, instead of your property being serviced by ADT. Right. Axe 238 out there, and then people go like, what? Wow, I like that. How about the axe 238 security system? There you go. The real truth. Sounds good. That's really good. Thank you for sharing that. That's really good. So do you want to open up in prayer? Let's open up in prayer, and then we'll listen to day seven. Day seven. Oh, yeah. And it's another short study. It's a short study about the letters of Paul. Just a short study. We could go through each of those letters. I mean, it would take a year to go through the five or six letters we're going to be talking about today. We could do it in a year because there's so much. And don't you agree, Don? There's so much in each of those letters, and they focus on different things. So let's open up in prayer, and then we'll listen to Brother Don about this day seven. The day seven. So, Don, would you like to open in prayer? I can. We're both still on the toboggan. Sure. Coming down the hill. Yes. The oak toboggan. Father in heaven, our Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you for who you are. We thank you for how your word draws us into praise and draws us into worship of you. And, Lord, we pray that you will help us as we look at Paul's letters and how they fit with Acts and how they fill out our understanding of the New Testament church, that we will just be open and receptive and receive everything that you have for us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. So with that, I got up early today, and I queued it up, so we have it right here. Let's listen to day seven, Brother Don. This is Brother Don, and for 10 days we are celebrating the Bible. Today is the seventh of the 10 days, and the topic is Paul's letters. In the previous podcast, I mentioned that Paul wrote you some letters. Perhaps I should explain that. Paul wrote letters to individual churches and sometimes to individual people, but they were passed around from church to church and from person to person. People began to realize that these letters were not just written to those churches and people, but to the entire church. And thus, we can read these letters as if they were written to us and learn many things as a result. I am sure Paul intended them to be passed around, even if they did highlight issues in specific places. What's interesting is that those problems and concerns still exist, and Paul's comments are still great advice for us. But just what is in these books? Let me list a few things. Number one, Romans provides some of the basic beliefs of the Christian and especially emphasizes that faith justifies us, not just trying to do good things. He also provides a personal example of where he does things he does not want to do and vice versa. I know that. I've been there, and I'm sure you have as well. But he ends the description of his struggle by praising God and concluding, there is no more condemnation in Christ. Hallelujah. Number two, the two books written to the Corinthian church speak of difficulties the church was having, and churches still have those problems today. Yet the first book to the Corinthians has one of the most beloved chapters in the New Testament, chapter 13, which describes the overwhelming beauty of God's love and the love of Christians. Three, the book of Galatians speaks of faith rather than law as the basis of salvation. Four, Ephesians speaks of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, somewhat similar to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and Ephesians also describes the armor of God, a vivid metaphor for being prepared to enter spiritual battle. Five, Philippians describes Jesus humbling himself, the need to avoid legalism, a recurring problem in churches throughout history, and the need for peace. Six, Colossians tells us how Jesus is above everything else and also about our calling as Christians. Seven, the book of Thessalonians firmly states that we must not compromise and also provides some details of the second coming of Jesus. Eight, the books to Timothy are Paul's final letters, including the statement that all scripture is given by God and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training. See 2 Timothy 3.16. Nine, Titus describes the role of elders in the church and how churches should function. Ten, Paul's letters conclude with Philemon, which is written to a slave master. Paul states the master must love the slave as a brother. Paul undermines the whole idea of slavery many centuries before it finally ended, which was primarily due to Christians finally following God's word. The Lord bless you, guide you, and give you peace. Amen. Yes, before we jump into this in-depth conversation, and believe me today it could get deep, but speaking of deep, I was out shoveling my walk this morning before Sandy arrived. I can't do anything about the driveway. I leave that up to the younger people, and so far it hasn't been any issues getting in and out. But I'm shoveling my front driveway, or shoveling my front sidewalk, and along my sidewalk I have these things called luminaries. I froze some ice in a bucket, turned it upside down, and what people do in the northern regions, they often put candles or electric lights inside these things, call them luminaries, and what they're there for is to light the path. If you're outside, it's all white, and sometimes even the air is white with snow going by, that you need to see something to be able to guide yourself to the front door. And then even beyond that, we have these reflective rods that I stuck along the front of the property there where the driveway ends, and that's to let the plow know where to stop so he doesn't dig the grass or plow up my sidewalk. Anyway, it's there as a guide because oftentimes when the plow comes, it's dark out, and the snow is blowing, and it's really, really hard to navigate. And that just brought to mind the biblical ramifications or the spiritual thought of this is who lights your path? And I see many people standing and cursing the darkness. It's a topic of conversations in cold climates. It's a topic of conversation in warm climates. It's about as intelligent as cursing the wind. Nobody knows where it comes from. Nobody knows where it goes. But who lights your path? And I think Paul showed us who lights his path. He literally saw the light so much that it blinded his physical eyes. I ever read through the Bible or talk to a ministry and, you know, what inspired you or what inspired you or directed you into ministry? And I can think of a mentor of mine, and he had a verse. He said that I think his was the Bible verse that says, And he was a pastor and cared about people. And I think that's one verse that jumped out just like these luminaries across the path to let you know what door to knock on. And to Paul, Ephesians 3, 8 through 9, And to bring the light, what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages have been hidden in God who created all things. And I think that was Ephesians 3, 8, 9 was his marching orders. And that was his light in the whiteout. That was his light in the darkness. And rather than to stand there and curse God because he's now blind, he chose light. And what a wonderful, fruitful life he had. Well, not always so wonderful in the trials he had, but he didn't curse the darkness. He followed the light. What's interesting to know when I was doing this study and when Don was going through all those books, I didn't look at all those books. I mean, I wrote down because I just concentrated on his letters, not the books, not Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians and that, because there's so much. But what's interesting is Paul came to Christ. He was supernaturally spoken to on the road to Damascus. And he was Saul at that point. His name was Saul. And it's interesting to know when I looked up, when I was reading the Passion Translation, what Saul means, it means significant one or sought after. That's what Saul means. And when Saul came to Christ, when he had his sight restored in that, he was named Paul. And you know what Paul means? Little. It means little. So he went from the significant one to the little one. And I like how Simmons reads this. What great transformation takes place when an experience of profound change that Saul did. God transforms us from being important to being small in our own eyes. That is what qualifies God's apostles, servants. So he went from the significant one to the least. And that's what he said in Ephesians 3 verse 8 that I just quoted. The first thing he says, to me, the very least. The very least. The very least. Yeah, it's interesting because he didn't travel with Jesus. Jesus was already gone. That's right. And he spent three years. He went away and studied. And the Lord taught him in those three years. And then he went back to Jerusalem and met with Peter and met with James. And he brought correction to the church at that time too. So Paul is so significant in the New Testament. And there's no way that we can cover. I don't even know how we could cover Romans in one podcast. No, no. Agreed, Don? I mean, how do we cover? Because what he wrote, how he exposed everything, the Roman road to salvation is in the book of Romans. Right, right. I mean, there's all such practical instruction in teaching and solid truths that he brings forth in everything that he wrote. That's right, just like the luminaries along my driveway. He put them out there for us to read and relate to. Like you said, he didn't follow Christ like the disciples did. He just became a believer through an encounter with God. That's right. And just as you became a believer with your testimony, myself with my testimony, and Don with his testimony, and many, many others have that same encounter. I saw the luminary pointing to the door, and all you have to do is knock. Right. It says, Jesus said, you know, blessed are the ones who have not seen me and believe, who have not been with me and believe. Is that John 17? Yep. Chapter 17. Right. That was also a turning point in my, well, basically in my ministry. I saw that, and it just solidified everything that God has been telling me up to that point. And, you know, and it's just one more luminary on the trail that guides us. Yes. You know, there's a real counterpoint from Paul to Saul, because Saul was an Old Testament king, and he was wanting popularity, and yet he felt very, very inferior. And he even tried to be a prophet of the Lord there for a while, and yet his trip was downhill. He didn't go little. He went big, and it was to his detriment and to the destruction of the whole enterprise, the whole kingship for him. And what a contrast between the Old Testament Saul and the New Testament Paul. So true. Yes. So how do we discuss all that Paul wrote? I mean, Don, I mean, I don't know how we start. Like I said, I didn't look at the books, you know, and I know the books. I know the Word. I know that. You know, but you said Titus and Philemon and 1 and 2 Corinthians and Romans and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. I did not prepare for today. I prepared for hours and hours on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Timothy. And it's like there's so much in all of that. Where do we start? I yield the floor to my brothers. Why don't we go through the book of Acts and just look at the books that Paul wrote and where he wrote them, and we can sort of summarize those books to some extent, whatever we remember of those books, and then think about it in the context of where Paul was at the time. And what do you think? Does that make sense? Certainly. Okay. Go ahead. Lead us off. Okay. The first book, and, again, there's some question about this. Not everyone is in full agreement. But generally it is assumed Galatians was the first of Paul's books. And he wrote that just after the first missionary journey, and it was just before the Jerusalem conference. So why would that be significant when you think about the book of Galatians? Why would his writing that just before the Jerusalem conference be significant? I'm acting like a teacher now for some reason. That's okay. No, that's okay. I mean, the first, the Jerusalem conference was basically about what? It was in your lesson last week. Oh, dear. Well, the question was about the new believers, you know, how much did they have to take on of the Jewish rituals and rules and so on. And Galatians is definitely written in contrast to all the rules and regulations. So he's expressing his heart in Galatians for that Jerusalem conference. They go hand in hand. Not all of the books do, but go ahead. And to boil it down to a simple sentence, he's teaching all these groups of Christians how to run a church or how to run their group, how to manage their group, as well as how to respond to the world, respond to this. But, I mean, he's laying a foundation. He's laying a foundation that somebody should put that into print and distribute it so we're all on the same page. Yeah, the notes I took, and I took prolific notes as I was reading. Galatians 1.6, salvation by works has been distorted. That's what he was saying. And he says in verse 10, for if all I attempt to do is to please people, I would not be the true servant of the Messiah. Verse 13, I tried to preserve the Jewish tradition, so he tried to destroy the new church. And that's the way Saul was before he was converted. He was destroying the new church, the movement of Jesus Christ, because he believed that was the right thing to do to keep the Jewish tradition. Now, there is some question about exactly when Galatians was written, and there are some that say it was a couple years later. But Paul was still taking on the Judaizers, that's what they're often called, trying to make people into good Jews and conservative, law-abiding Jews instead of being set free by Christ. So the exact sequence is a little bit up to question. And then the next book that Paul writes is 1 Thessalonians, and this is during his second missionary journey. Is there any connection there? I'm going to go back to Galatians because I have quite a few notes on it. Galatians 3.5, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us through the revelation and power of faith, not by keeping the law. The law was given to show men how guilty they were. It remained in force until Jesus was born to fulfill the promises given to Abraham. Chapter 5, verse 1, Let me be clear, the Anointed One, who is Jesus, has set us free, not partially, but completely and wonderfully free. Verse 13, freedom means that we become so completely free of self-indulgence that we become servants of one another. See, that's why it just gets me when I start reading it, because the word is so powerful. Servants of one another, expressing love in all we do. All. All. All. There we go. Verse 17, the Holy Spirit is the only one who defeats the cravings of our natural life and the self-life. Verse 19, and he goes into detail. What's the self-life and what's the fruit of the spirit? The self-life, sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography, chasing after things instead of God, manipulating others, being in love with your own opinions. Boy, talk about today. How about that? Being envious, ungrateful. Base your life on opinions. That's right. Or your business. That is the truth. That is the truth according to me. My opinion is what counts. Yeah, beware of creating a God in your own image. Right. Uncontrolled addictions. Those that use their freedom for thus will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's pretty clear. Paul is pretty clear. Instead, put kindness on display. Chapter 6, verse 10, take advantage of being a blessing to others. Being a blessing to others. And then he goes in chapter 5, verses 22, delineating what those are. So then you can tell what the immorality, the things that we were delivered from. He's real clear. And then he says, and those that do these things will not. And this is clear. Will not inherit the kingdom of God. Will not inherit the kingdom of God. I think that's where many of us fall short today. We have a God that's all mercy, all loving, all grace. But making God in our own image says God is all mercy and no justice. God is all love and no wrath. God is grace and no judgment. God is accepting, never rejecting. God is all heaven and no hell. Who is lighting your path? Right. Who are we serving? Who are we serving? Who are we serving? And that's why Paul keeps pointing. That's what he does. He keeps pointing us to the one that is our light, that he is our luminary. He is. He is pointing us to the luminary. I mean, every time I see a street light, that reminds me that to keep on God's path, follow the light. Yes. Amen. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Then you will see all mercy and all justice, all love, all grace, all accepting. And that's why it's so important for that surrender, realizing that you are not your own God. No. I always ask that question when I'm in the jail, too, is how is that working for you? How is your life working for you? Isn't that some of the stories about Satan and why he was kicked out of heaven? Yeah. He was trying to make his image an image of God or creating a God or himself to be a God in his own image. And that's what we read about in Romans, and that is they made images. Caesar and they were gods. They were considered gods. They were supposed to be worshipped. There's always statues. There's always what's stamped on your coin. Yep. So I gave my notes about Galatians. So what about Thessalonians? Thessalonians. Yeah. I don't have any notes on that, guys. There's a couple Thessalonians, weren't there? Yep. First and second. First and second. So when he wrote these letters, did he say, well, this is my first letter to you and this is my second letter? Or was it one letter and we've divided it in two parts? That could be. That's why we put numbers and chapter and verse on these things because it's really a letter, you know, to be digested in one group, not individual. Yeah. So is it true, Don, that they were written at different times, first and second Thessalonians? I believe so. I am checking that out as we speak. But I believe it is they are two different times. But there's some question about whether Paul actually wrote second Thessalonians. Oh, okay. But, again, go ahead. I think, yeah, the argument or he didn't sign it, but the language is very similar and it suggests that Paul wrote it within a few weeks of first Thessalonians. So he could have been writing them a weekly letter. Well, it's true, and a follow-up, perhaps. It's certainly in first and second Corinthians. Second Corinthians is clearly a follow-up to first Corinthians and addressing many of the same concerns and basically saying, I'm going to show up one of these days and I want you to address this and done something about it. Right. And his message, too, is growing in godliness, cultivating a dynamic devotion, pursuing holiness and walking in the faith. And I think that theme goes through both first and second Thessalonians as well. Again, trying to reveal Christ. The word apostle means in the Greek to send. And then also in that day they frequently in the opening address of this sent one called himself doulos, meaning in Greek a slave for Christ, or meaning a slave. And then he's a slave for Christ. And that in Romans 1.1 and Titus 1.1 in the beginning opening, that he reiterates that I am merely the sent one in bringing you a message from his Lord and Savior. With some of these books, translators have additional documents they're drawing upon, and so consequently some of the differences between translations is what scholars have to draw upon. And at the end of second Thessalonians, this is the NIV, it says, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. And so at least with those manuscripts, it's definitely Paul. Right. And those scholars have questions about that. I guess I'd rather trust what the Bible says. Well, it's, yeah, we're not, I guess we're celebrating the word of God and the whole Bible as a whole. We put together and reflect the word, which in the beginning was the word. And the word was God and the word is God. And we were given the Bible, which is called the word. You know, you're going to read the word this week. And, yeah, regardless of who wrote it, it came from the very spirit of God to minister to us. Yeah, all Scripture is God-breathed. Right, right. The letters to Timothy state that. You know, and that's why it's so important for whatever we share that we share from the word what it says, not what word. And there's that word breath again. Right. Coming into play. So what's after 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Don? Then there's 1 and 2 Corinthians, which were apparently written fairly close to each other because they addressed many of the same issues. And certainly Corinth was a problem-riddled church. They had a lot of difficulties. Yeah, yeah, immorality. I remember that they were writing, and some of you are doing these things, and it should not be. I remember Paul saying that in the letters. It's like, you know, that, I don't know, sons are sleeping with their mothers and all sorts of things. And it's like, so it was a letter of correction, and it was talking about what love really is. And that's what we refer to in verse 13. That's in countless wedding ceremonies. It's amazing. He's confronting sexual sin, and then he writes the most beautiful chapter on love. I mean, just amazing how Paul does that. And here again. Yeah, go on, Don. Well, he was being led by God. What would you expect other than perfection? And here again, that's what blows my mind, because he did not travel with Jesus Christ when he was on this earth. He did not travel. He learned all this as a revelation through the Holy Spirit teaching him these things that he brought to the church to fill in and to provide correction. It's like, that's what blows my mind. That's the kind of relationship we can have to God, to God the Father, to Jesus Christ, that it's restored because of our relationship in his giving the Holy Spirit that teaches us all truth. And he brought all these things, you know, all these things, all these letters highlight different aspects of the Christian church and the Christian life that he wanted people to be aware of. And I was just thinking, I would suggest that we don't go through all those 10 today, guys. I want to do it justice, Don, you know, that we spend some time on those, because it's so rich. There's so much to discuss that I would feel badly just kind of doing some highlights because, I don't know, I want to be led by the Spirit. I want him to be glorified. I want him to be exposed. It's like the characteristics of God, because one of the letters talks about Jesus being the one that restored all things to the original, the original life we were meant in the Garden of Eden, walking in the presence of God, walking and talking without sin, without sin and without even any knowledge of that. And I would like to spend, you know, I would suggest that we spend more time on these, that we just don't, we don't try to do it today. So I appeal to Rome. No, I appeal to my brothers about that, because, you know, I have 20 pages on Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, 1st and 2nd Timothy. I've got like 12 pages of notes. And I didn't put those books down. I was an error with that, Don, because I hadn't talked to you about Titus and Philemon and 1st and 2nd Corinthians and Romans and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. There's just so much to cover. It would be nice to find out more about Titus and Philemon and the people who he was talking to. Exactly. And all his letters start out like, to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be His holy people. And another letter to the Church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be His holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their Lord is ours. In 1st Corinthians it says, the commentary on 1st Corinthians is that His letters are to teach rather than just be informational. And I think the church today could learn a lot from these letters. I mean, I think we should have a worldwide study on how we should be acting. Yeah, it's what you did. It went out of my spirit. All His holy people. Yeah, how are we to treat each other? And he lays it out, how we are to esteem others better than ourselves. We are to be listened. We are not to be critical. We are to be loving. We will confront, but we will confront in love. Right. And we won't be judging. I mean, it's all ways that we need today in today's church, in my church. And how we relate to each other. And how husbands are supposed to treat their wives and vice versa. And how you're supposed to select elders. And what is government, what is church government to look like? What does it look like, right? I know people who have studied just church government. I mean, just focused on that. And that's fine too, but that doesn't always turn out like you would think if you just focus on one thing. I mean, we need the full counsel of God. That's right. As written through these letters that Paul did to the church. Yeah. I mean, he's trying to establish it because there was people going off this way and that way with like, oh, come over here and we'll cast out all your demons. So they line up and 72 hours later they riled a lot of things up. But this is right down to earth where how we should treat each other, like you said, Sandy, how we should act, how we should portray Christ in our lives. And Paul is always admonishing us to build our faith. Because faith comes through hearing. And by hearing the Word of God as it is written. And Paul goes on and says to when he's writing letters, be imitators of me, be imitators of me as I'm following Jesus Christ. That's right. Be imitators. You know, he is bringing forth models and models of behavior, models of church and relationships. And this was written 2,000 years ago. I mean, it's written like 48 A.D. to whatever, 60 or 70 A.D. And it's like, and he's writing in prison when he's in prison. And he says in Philippians, the joy of the Lord is your strength. You know, he and Silas were singing at midnight while they were in the bowels of the prison and celebrating and praising God. And things happened. The earth shook and things happened. You know, so it's like we can learn. You know, I'm thinking about it's like all my lights are going on. The luminaries are on. The luminaries are on. And they were lighting up the darkness in that prison. Yes, because they were in the darkness. And a lot of those songs were Scripture or they are Scripture today. Yeah. And I'm going to have to photocopy that song book you have there before you leave, that one from the 70s. Right. So here I'm asking again of you two brothers or whoever is listening, how do we reign in today? How do we finish today? Because I want to continue on with this. I really feel moved in the Spirit. You know, how do we bring closure to today and then bring in the other books so that we do justice to Paul? Because Paul was incredible. It's miraculous. Paul is miraculous in what he brought as correction and clarity and instruction and love. You know, how he loved Timothy, his spiritual son, and how Timothy was an itinerant minister. He went from church. He went from town to town and did that. So he was an evangelist, Kevin. Wouldn't it be awesome to have Paul as a mentor? Yeah. Well, hello. And he can be. I mean, we can be. That's right. We can be mentored if we read his words that he spoke to us for instruction. So Don, oh, Teacher Don, how do we bring closure? I mean, do you agree that we need to do, I feel we need to do more because there's so much great instructions and things that we need to know from his letters and the books that he wrote. Do you agree? I think you're absolutely right. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because I'm overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed with the instruction. It's like, wow, how did you do this, Paul? He was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Duh. He was led. Yeah, the floggings and stonings didn't even stop him from getting the word through. Yeah, and the prisons. Was he standing there cursing the darkness? No. No. The chains fell off. I mean, get the picture. The chains fell off when they started singing, what is today's scripture? You know, the joy of the Lord is our strength. What is today's scripture? Think about that. And it was meant for us, those who are yet to believe. And that is the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. The anointed one. Those who are yet to believe, all who are yet to believe. And, yes, I'm a believer. Amen. So suggestions, Don? Yes, I think since you have so much background in Galatians that you might want to lead us next time, Sandy, and just guide us through that, because that apparently is the first book that Paul wrote. And then we can take these in sequence if you want. Now, I have to confess, scholars are not in universal agreement about sequence, but we can follow the NIV study Bible and we'll get the books done, and that's the important thing, I think. What do you think? Yeah, I guess I'm not too concerned with scholars. You know, I'm looking at what the Word of God and the impact it's going to have on each of us in our listening audience so that we can live and be the person that God created each of us to be. And, you know, I don't care about the dates. I mean, I've got a Bible reading done by chronologically, not the way the books are shown in the Bible, because Job is the oldest. I mean, Job is one of the oldest books, and that isn't, you know, so going chronologically. But what we want to get across is what the Word says and how it changes lives, how it becomes our rock and our truth that we can live a life, because we get to experience that every day. Every day. You know, it says, one of the letters that I was reading for today, you know, be ready in season and out to testify about what the truth, what the Word of God is. So, okay, I probably will go from Galatians to Ephesians, because Ephesians was one of my most popular letters, because the word all is used countless times. I would recommend all you readers out there in preparation for next week, read Ephesians, and read all, because all means all. That means every one of us. And it's so exciting. I get excited when you start speaking and you start reflecting on the words of God and how their instruction, how they bring light. They bring light to me. The Word of God brings light to me. And back to Kevin's luminaries, lighting the way, the gospel trail, we want to light the path of what the truth is, so that each of you listeners and us, that we can live a victorious life, that we can glorify Him, and that people, this is a key, guys and ladies, this is a key, that people will see a difference in our lives, that they will see you are different. I want what you have. What is going on with you? We should be magnets. We are either going to be repelled by people because they're cursing the darkness and cursing God, or we are going to be bringing people into His presence and into the glory and into heaven. It's all about bringing the truth to people to set them free, so that we can spend eternity. Isaiah said, and this is what we have on the front page of our website, pgn.church, Isaiah said, listen, clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord. Make a straight gospel trail through the wilderness for our God. And I added the gospel trail in there. That comes from 25 years ago, a luminary came upon me. Whether I was in the body or out of the body, I know not. I mean, how do you know? I mean, when you sit in the room and God is speaking to you, sometimes you don't know where you are. He said to make the path straight and showed me a vision of people with white earbuds. Now, this is not an ad for Apple, really. But with white earbuds, 25 years ago, many of them walking this direction, walking that direction. And then there was other people walking among them without earbuds, and their faces were distorted. Today, how many people have mobile phones in the world? And then just think, how many people are there in the world? I think there's, what, 8 billion? Yeah, probably, yeah. How many people have mobile phones? And that's not including computers that have at their homes that are on the Internet. and usually have earbuds, there's 7.33 billion people walking this earth today that could stumble across our podcast. Because they, and then you'd have to look how many use Spotify, how many, you know. But there's 7.33 billion people in the wilderness, is what God was telling me the Internet was. And that's 91.5% of people on the planet own mobile phones, or smartphones today, it says. That's 91.5%. That's the uttermost parts of the world. And then how many don't have phones, but they have a computer? Probably 100%. I'm sure there are exceptions. But that was the vision I had years ago about go online and share the gospel. So yeah, I put up a website, and I have how to get saved here. You know, the Billy Graham Association has a real good website, and other ones, and a lot of Christians. But that's why we're here today. That's really exciting. And I think about, you know, because I do that jail ministry, and you know, I saw five guys. But how many people are we reaching with this podcast? And it's the same preparation that I do for like the jail ministry when we get together here, because we want to glorify God. This would be a good time to plug in the telephone number that people should call if they have any questions, or if they want to discuss what we've been discussing, because our goal is to bring freedom to people and freedom in Christ. And just as you had that vision 25 years ago, the Lord has given me, it's always the same thing that He says to me, tell them, that means everybody, them, tell them about me. That's what my role is in the body of Christ, is to tell people about Him. 218-461-0164. Yeah, if you're listening to one of our podcasts and just have a thought or a reaction to something, or would like to ask questions or give us a praise report, text line is pretty popular, 218-461-0164. Yeah, the overriding thing is what we need to let people know is that we love you, that the Lord loves you, and that He created you in His image. And He's got a role and a purpose for each person's life that's listening to this. And it is, as in Jeremiah, He has called us to great things. And our job is to just bring forth His heart and His Spirit and His love for all of us. A Father that loved us so that He gave His only Son to die for us so that we could have that relationship that was started out from the beginning with Adam and Eve and Father God in the Garden of Eden. He gave us His Son to die for us to take all of our sins, all of our sins of the world on Him so that we could have that relationship. And it's all about Him. That's what I always say. It's all about Him. It's all about the Father. It's all about the Son. It's all about the Holy Spirit. He has given us those three persons so that we could live a victorious life and that we would fulfill what He's called us to do. And thank Him. Thankful and grateful for this opportunity to share. And as it says in Numbers 6, May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show His favor and give you His peace. Blessings to you and the church that meets at your house. See you next week. Amen. Thank you, brothers. Bye. Bye. Great indeed. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning. Isn't it good, Don? Turn the mic off. They're singing again. Your Gospel Network is an intergenerational, Christ-centered, not-for-profit Internet mission church, a network of believers from many different backgrounds who are passionate about reaching out to others. Your Voice in the Wilderness, a church online since 98, now known as pgn.church, operates 100% on your tax-deductible donations. ...