Has it ever occurred to you that $100.00 pianos all tuned to the same tuning fork are automatically tuned to each other they are of one accord by being tuned not to reach other but to another standard to which each one must individual. So $100.00 worshippers meeting together each one looking to cries are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become unity conscious enter in their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship the body becomes stronger as its members become healthier the whole Church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life. A Tozer. Full coverage of the Rocky Mountain region with the good news you're tuned to am 67 in Calle t t k o t t h Dean Commerce a Denver and now f.m. 95 point one and streaming worldwide at 670 k l t t dot com. Go he's still on the forum and prayer changes to. Our friends this is pastoral areas Barger Mino from Southwest radio and church I've been with his ministry since 1998 when Dr No one asked me to come to Oklahoma and serve with him that's a little more than 20 years ago in the past each broadcast has consisted of an interview with an author or expert in some field bearing on the Bible and the Christian faith that interview occupied most of the broadcast this week we are changing the format of our daily broadcast we are adding some commentary on some of the news items that we believe are of critical concern and of significance for our audience will open the show with news and commentary and then air the interview if your schedule permits you'll want to listen to the entire show every broadcast will have something for you we deal with a variety of topics ranging from Bible prophecy Bible Science to home and family the creation evolution debate of Angel ism and missions we will have something for everyone I hope that this change in format makes listening to or show both a learning experience and an exciting adventure. Greetings to all or a listening audience that is there is a and we're racing toward the weekend I'm looking at a photo in the July 20th issue of World magazine the accompanying article is titled weapons grade crisis escalating tensions with Iran have roots a new data on its nuclear capacity showing the regime could develop a fully functional nuclear missile in under a year now more than it's a photo of a huge missile I don't know it's $25.00 or 30 feet tall it's like an i.c.b.m. And it's an ugly thing it's a dull brown and it's it's a weapon of death and it's next to a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in downtown Tehran and while most of the words are in Farsi there are these words in English quote Israel must vanish from the entire world I think I know what that man believes I don't think he's making a sacred and I don't think that's going to happen Pastor Larry Jim Wallace has written a piece on the Sojourners website titled Faith leaders issue and phatic no to war with Iran diplomacy according to the article is the effect of unnecessary alternative to what would be a disastrous and defensible war a United States war with Iran would be an unmitigated disaster morally and religiously and defensible us faith leaders must be among the 1st to rise up and say no and call for better more effective and lifesaving ways forward therefore we as United States faith leaders demand that our political leaders seek real diplomatic and humanitarian solutions to the current crisis Henry Frayne from military confrontation with Iran now we want to emphasize that that's not what we believe that's Jim Wallace who as far as I can tell is a coward he doesn't. Doesn't represent Meg and he's the leader of Sojourners and there is this new group it's called Progressive Christianity it's progressing right to hell and leading our country straight more and you know diplomacy is always better than war I want to underscore that I'm not a war monger don't closely is always better than war but what happens if the belligerent party does not comply that's the real issue that these pacifists never deal with what happens if the belligerents are religious fanatics as is true with the later that Iran is a Christian thing to seek peace at any price and allow moral monsters to control the Persian Gulf and maybe someday the rest of the world and certainly to nuke Israel is that a Christian thing I want to address Jim Wallis I want to address these progressive Christian is that the Christian thing to do well if you think that's the Christian thing to do you don't know what Christianity is really like the real nuts and bolts of the issue Pesah Larry I think the piece written by Jim Wallace compartmentalizes justice they want social justice feeding the poor opening the borders but forget all about justice when it comes to a nation we are supposed to avoid all punitive action stop the sanctions allow them to develop nuclear weapons Jesus did say bless it are the peacemakers but sometimes peace can only be made by mutual defense and military action apparently Mr Wallace knows nothing about world history he knows nothing about world history he knows nothing about human depravity I know why he doesn't believe the Bible that always happens with these progressive Christian you throughout the Bible then you throw insanity but Marman you know it's interesting how the Iranians have been repeatedly caught hiding what they were really doing on the night of January the 31st 2018 agents from Israel's Mossad br. Going to a shabby warehouse in Toronto I don't know how they did it can you imagine a massage getting into Iran Shame on you know Iran you're half a slate you better not fight a war with Israel you'll be wiped out anyhow they carried hand George is hot enough to crack some of the $32.00 safes inside each containing black binders that documented years of secret work on atomic weapons warhead designs then production plans within a few hours the myside agents call from the warehouse some $55000.00 pages and $183.00 C.D.'s a half ton of material that represent only 20 percent of what was estimated to have been stored there the warehouse was an undeclared site that you looted inspectors far removed from government and military buildings as existence suggested the great length to which Iranians went to hide detailed nuclear records they were not you know they had agreed to disclose past research but they didn't do it they're liars Ok they're liars and they were supposed to let everybody know what they were doing guess what sneaky people are sneaky people and then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went public with an official assessment of the stolen documents in April of 2018 President Trump promptly withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal proponents of the deal dismissed the significance of Israel's findings claiming it was just a lot of of old documents on a weapons program Iran it shut down and Iran's leaders the Claire of the find to be a total fraud European leaders on the other hand and the International Atomic Energy Agency which is working to save the nuclear deal downplayed or ignored outright the documents a modern history and planned a cage that there are times when a just war is necessitated it should be the last option but in a sense fall and fall in world it must always remain an option and that's it. Fact it serves no good purpose to expect the free world to not conserve force when the fanatics and hate mongers are arming themselves and preparing for a war to further their destructive and aims and I praise the Lord for the military and I pray the Lord that we have a president who backs the military I know a lot of people in the military they really love our president the previous president didn't like the military and guess what the military didn't like them so Martin before we go to our interview what are some other items that we want to discuss all pestle Larry town hall is reporting that the a.c.l.u. Is joining Democrats on quote coaching illegal aliens to avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deportation the legals are being coached on how to break the law what Wait wait let me say that again larger than the Democrats are coaching illegal immigrants how to avoid ice Ocasio Cortez and people of her ilk are demanding that we suspend get rid of ice and these people are down there protecting us every day from people come across the border we don't know who's come across the border yes it's a shock So these these are just the Democrats are really one sided they have some justice but not true justice so they're dirty just kind of pulling the wool over America's eyes and fortunately you and I and millions of other Americans realize that that this is dangerous friends I hope you're listening and I hope your eyes that this is dangerous to for you for your neighbors and for your kids but just as Democrats goal is to bring down America and they're using organizations in America to help their their cause like the a.c.l.u. The a still you does not like the term illegal aliens they prefer the term refugee families the a.c.l.u. Warned about the wave of ice arrests that are going to involve several u.s. Cities. The a.c.l.u. Sent out a fund raising e-mail quote know this we don't have to open the door if ice comes knocking if the agents don't have a warrant signed by a judge then we can refuse to let them in we have the right to remain silent and we shouldn't sign anything before speaking to a lawyer close quote Well Margaret who pays for the lawyer well probably you and me and all the other techs peers it makes sense to them because the trumpet ministration is the bad guy now let me continue reading this a.c.l.u. Fundraising e-mail quote but for over 2 years now the trumpet ministration has been terrorizing our communities at a new level tearing thousands of families apart spreading fear and hate if this isn't the kind of country we want to live in then we must keep fighting to defend our communities now wait a 2nd that trumpet ministration has been terrorizing our communities now wait a 2nd the illegals have broken the law they are here illegally and they have to keep fighting to keep their communities Marvin's something drastically wrong here I think the people who wrote this are really smart but they think that the people who will read this are really idiots and people who believe this are it's interesting pass to Larry how they can be illegal immigrants and yet demand citizen rights like the right to remain silent they don't have any rights to anything they should even be here what's next they get the right to vote but President Trump is responded and said that he has an obligation to carry out ice raids against those who have already been told believe he said when people come into our country we take those people out and we take them out very legally they all have papers and it's a process and I have an obligation to do it they came in here even legally but they go out legally. Well we certainly do need to pray for the illegals they're being used by people who have a globalist agenda these people are really not interested in the immigrants I want to underscore that they are interested in something else their agenda is Agenda 21 they want a one world with no nation states and they think that the best way to do it is to use the immigrants the immigrants are being used they see them as usual idiots meaning they are useful to those with a global agenda but not very important of Noah's significance and you know we talk to Christians there are the poor immigrant Yeah the poor immigrant they're being used to you know all these kids these boys and girls you know the reports of them being molested and raped and receiving drugs and been bringing drugs into America you know the Democrats are support an open border are really not being nice I mean they are using these poor people these women who are actually you know selling their kids to be brought across the border then they come back and then the seller kid to somebody else who needs a kid to go across the border I think the kid thinks it's a big joke and it really is because there are some people in our government who think well this is the right thing to do you know the people that are being the the kids in and the young adults who are being raped and molested this is all happening on the south side of the border because once they come in the United States they're in detention centers so the rape and all the the robberies and all the murders are going on south of the border not in the United States but Marmont you were telling me about the pro-life movie on planned I mammal discussion about that tell us what's going on with one plan Pastor Larry when the Christian pro-life film unplanned hit theaters there was plenty of reason to believe it would be a big failure the movie received a controversial are reading for its graphic depictions of abortion adverts. As most of the film were rejected by most major broadcast networks the film opened in about one 3rd as many theaters as its competitors and pestle where you remember we had a t.v. Show and they absolutely hated anything on abortion in fact we were finally kicked off the air because we had a cartoon of abortion they couldn't stand that but anyway back to the movie unplanned after its March 2931 opening weekend unplanned surprise Hollywood insiders and even its own studio by making $6100000.00 good enough for 5th among the movies in the United States the film also received an a plus Cinema Scope score it has become the 2nd best opening film and pure Flix history after God's Not Dead to well thank you Martin and we're coming up on our interview we hope everyone is enjoying air a new format it gives us an opportunity to speak on some important issues technology and the changing needs of the society sometimes does warrant some changes of course not in doctrine and corporation issues but marketing Christian material requires a willingness to make changes for example Marvin Lifeway Christian resources the nation's largest Christian retail chain has announced that all $170.00 stores will close in 2019 the organization will still have an online digital store and offer products for churches so the station was based on declining sales and the number of customers using the stores according to statistics put out in the official press release 5 times more people have visited lifeways on line store than have visited a brick and mortar store so you know we've got a big way sensitive to the needs and to what people think like us that we're not changing doctrine but we're just trying to reach more people and make our program more accessible more relevant so that we can tell people. What's going on in our country people need to know right Marvin absolutely Tesler there is so much going on in fact in Daniel that he says the end will come as a flood and the end is coming as a flood it's just one thing after another. Friends have you ever wondered how kids are responding to new curriculums that teach that there is no such thing as girls and boys full of Canadian family has filed a civil rights complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario after their 6 year old daughter became extremely confused and upset when her 1st grade teacher taught the class about gender fluidity the video that they watch contains statements such as some people are boys or girls and that there are people who do not quote feel like a she or a he close quote and therefore might not have gender Well test to Larry it sure must be confusing to little children it seems so unfair that little children are becoming victims of social engineering by some very confused people the story is really amazing Jason and Pamela before own could see that the teachers lessons on gender theory were having a very negative impact on their little daughter she would ask them repeatedly her identity am I a girl are my a boy she would ask Mrs biffo own said the teacher told the children that there is no such thing as girls and boys and girls are not real and boys are not real the child even asked her parents if she could go to the doctor about the fact that she was a girl the little girl was also not sure she wanted to be a mommy Her mother told her that when she grew up she could make that choice but was concerned because sexual reproduction was coming up as part of the grade one gender lessons history mentioned before and became alarmed by the. Her daughter's confusion she had never shown any signs of being confused about her gender before the phones met with the teacher who told him the teaching of junior fluidity was a school board policy and she was committed to teaching it due to a so called change in society they brought their concerns to the principal of the Devon chard community public school who told them the lessons were to accommodate another child in the Grade one class who had expressed interest and self-expression as a person of the opposite sex go fund is met with the superintendent of the school board and the curriculum superintendent according to the complaint quote the school board did not a great to communicate with parents when sensitive discussions took place nor did they agree to issue any directive or take corrective action in order to ensure their children a female gender identity were positively affirmed close quote pastoral Larry I feel bad for the little girl and for all the little boys and girls who are subjected to this kind of well let me call it what it is child abuse the good news is that the parents were forced to enroll their daughter at another school where things are more traditional the little girl is doing well and we are very happy for her. At this time we're going to continue the interview we started yesterday with Hilary Morgan for air about Mama Bear apologetics this mom to mom guide will equip you to teach your kids how to form their own biblical beliefs about what is true and what is false Here now is Pastor Larry with Hillary Morgan for rare women are they 1st apologist that a young child needs and you point that out in the book you know the. Group they're trying to proselytize the kids at a very early age and you know why do we need to wait until a childless 17 or 18 to teach them to defend the faith and to deal with what you're dealing with why not start early and I think that's a great idea Yeah in fact I think a lot of research shows that worldview is really kind of that fire around their feet and in fact I've heard it I think that I'm not sure where came from but that for marketers and for a 3rd grader thing I think you get a child by 3rd grade that child has a tendency to be loyal to a particular thing from that point on a 3rd grade is kind of when they take their And so I think we could say the same thing with Christianity if you're waiting till you're probably 17 or 18 They've already picked 131 finally go out they may not have told you what their theme is because they're just trying to be a beautiful child but in their own mind they've already started forming questions usually around the time either like around 8 and really I think that the research sometimes 40 percent of the effect that if something you thought of left that church had done so in their minds in middle school ride their thinking of leaving it even though they're young they've already left with their heart even though they are minors so to speak and they go with mom and dad because their mom and dad but really they've already changed their minds and you know many young adults as you point out excite skepticism as their cause for leaving Christianity there you know and this downward should come as no surprise I mean there are secular worldviews spreading everywhere like viruses targeting children in the classroom and from the media and from the mouths of their peers and you know even kids who are raised in Christian homes they have access to the Internet where they can pick up all the stuff that is very hostile to Christianity and these lines arrived only as statements but also. As entire ideology So I mean we're in quite a battle for dessert battle for the souls of our kids yeah that's basically what we're doing especially when you're talking about skepticism as being of a reason for us leaving I don't think it's just regular skepticism because we actually have a series on mama bear apologetics called Playground apologetics that one of the authors of this book the authors Philip Chapter 2 Heller a short has written but she says we want our kids to be skeptical be one sems to evaluate whatever it is that they're hearing in fact after streams the discerning mama bear goes to the whole process of what we call the chew and spit method of why do you want our kids to be skeptical of the difference between skepticism meanings of evaluating what you hear coming towards you versus what we talk about in the book is this hyper skepticism it's where anything that has to do with Christianity or the Bible is somehow. Held to an impossible standard of absolute certainty before someone will say Ok I believe that's true and like we talked about the debates with firemen and Daniel Wallace back in 2012 I remember the phrase he said over and over and over again where it just burned in my memory as he kept saying well how do you know for sure it's this idea of having to believe beyond any possible doubt and if someone thinks that that is being far by which we have to judge Christianity they are immediately going to have to walk away because there's almost nothing in this world that can pass that bar that is basically the laws of logic and math you can have absolute certainty in those and everything else is going to have room is going to have room for questions I mean in fact you even look at not a soul research if you ever see medical research where it is a 100 percent and there are no aberrations they would consider that faulty research because they know that not. It is over 100 percent but they're thinking boy. For theft of this and that for then if that with for then our children fear how do you know for sure and they don't have to and there's no evidence that will ever be enough because if you can always put another question it's when your thought Thank God there's always room for that. Right you point out that Dr Urman at one time was a strong conservative and he could not find sufficient proof that would enable him to have absolute certainty about the Thankful historicity and reliability of the New Testament and so you know because he demanded absolute certainty underscore that read he became sadly disillusioned but but his criteria it seems for a certainty was too stringent and to welcome realistic as you pointed out I mean we could I guess I could dance and I'm talking to you you know my penis illusion if we want to be hyper skeptical Yeah we won't be able to accept anything from history if we were going to use is laughable. Benchmark a certainty basically that we have to talk about all of this in order to use that benchmark for some reason we apply a different standard to Christianity and the Bible than we do to any other historical document and the Bible is a historical document and should be compared to other historical documents when we use the thing method that we compare and find the Often 50 of historical documents not only does the Bible come out on top it comes out way on top by. Well someone who's a skeptic you know if you think about it could down that cats have only one tale you know the skeptic could say that he heard of cats was 9 tails and you know he's never seen Kath with 9 tails but there is a sly chance that it is possible because while he hasn't seen account with 9 tails he has heard of mutations whereas some cats have 2 tails so. Some cats have details maybe some cats have 9 tails and so he's kept the goal of saying that cats only have one tail I mean you could take that you know where you would have to be just the Merced the nonsense all the time grow a long beard and hibernate on a beach somewhere are you ready to answer the rallying cry mess with our kids and we will demolish your arguments the moment they're apologetics is the book you've been looking for you can have a copy for a gift of $20.00 if you live in the United States and $34.00 if you live in Canada to place your order just call our call center at 180-652-1144 The call is free and the operators in the call center will be happy to help you if you would rather write and place your order the address is post office box 76834 Oklahoma City Oklahoma 73147 and you can order this much needed book any time on our website at s w r c dot com When you order the book we will include at no additional charge the cd of the complete interview get the book and get a free cd that number again is 180-652-1144 the website is s w r c dot com Perhaps this is the 1st time you've heard this program maybe you've listened for a while and you like this program and look forward to it but if never called or written in we invite you to do that today in fact for those I call or write today and say Jesus is Lord please send me the d.v.d. We will send you a complimentary d.v.d. Of our t.v. Show we call the journey if you like the radio program Wait till you see. The video version it was banned by some t.v. Stations as being too controversial the number to call is 180-652-1144 the website is as w r c dot com Thank you for being with us today join us tomorrow when Pastor Larry talks with Jeff younger about the unbelievable story of a young boy's mother who wants him castrated on the watchman on the wall program from Southwest radio. Southwest radio church ministry as a percentage of the prophecy says 933 making the oldest continuous Christian rock. And you can hear it became mornings at 930 right here on the mighty 670 Calle to. Your tune am 670 calle t.t. Comer City Denver k o t t h d and streaming worldwide at 670 k l t t dot com the vision that we can evolve beyond our humanity by merging with machines has been funded by some pretty powerful folks calls and sat around Johnstone street this is breaking. One of the most repeated themes of science fiction movies as humans merging with are being replaced by machines entire movie franchises are built around these ideas such as The Matrix movies or the Terminator movies one of Star Trek's most iconic antagonists were the Borg a blend of biological and technological elements that were pretty near invent simple and they would tell every species they encountered that resistance is futile and movies the merger of man and machine is sometimes a blessing and sometimes occurs in real life however there is an entire movement committed to seeing this synthesis all the way to its logical and by. Logical in which they promise will be terrific It's called transhumanism transhumanism is the subject of the most recent must read 2 part series by Dr Glen sunshine it breakpoint dork popularized by the 2005 book The Singularity Is Near futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that advances in computing will eventually allow machines to match and then exceed the ability of our brains to process information and a parallel development technologies such as pet scans and M.R.I.'s will enable us to reverse engineer the human brain while all this may sound like science fiction Kurzweil insists that it's inevitably science fact as our computational power increases the reverse engineering of the human brain will supposedly make it possible to upload a human brain into a computer to over simplify what is a very complicated prediction here uploading our brains will result in neural implants that will augment our brains over time this augment Taishan would come to blur the line between what's natural and what's synthetic until any distinction at all is meaningless now of course trusting incurs while scenario especially that even if it is possible that it will also be good what's every bit an act of faith is believing in the 2nd coming only without a resurrection underlying the transhumanist faith is a purely materialistic world view has gone sunshine rights materialism assumes that matter and energy are all that exist our minds are therefore a product of our brains which are nothing more than highly complex computers in such a world it would only make sense that we could eventually create machines that can do everything that human brains can do and maybe even better and if as materialism suggests there is no essential difference between our brains and our computers we should be able to create interfaces between our brain and the super intelligent computer network allowing us immediate access to all the information on whatever it is that replaces the internet still as sunshine reminds us this is quite an assumption not to mention such a. Worldview forced to regard human consciousness the awareness of ourselves in the world around us as an illusion of sorts because this physicist Adam Frank has written it can explain consciousness or even the nature of the matter in materialism to put it in computer terms for the materialist there's no software all there really is hardware it's kind of like answering the question what's a mac book by listing all the components such as the processor and storage drive but completely ignoring an operating system go ahead by the way delete that operating system from your computer and see how well it works here's a hint it won't though transhumanism should remain the stuff of science fiction there's a lot of money right now being invested to make it science fact just this week for instance Microsoft invested about a $1000000000.00 in one of the line mosques transhumanist projects which is just another reason for all of us to understand the worldview behind transhumanism before our resistance becomes futile so come to break point out or to read Glenn sunshines 2 part series at the break point. I'm Johnston. This is the mighty 670 k. L.t. Your Crawford broadcasting station that proudly owners galled and contrary to. Our competitive culture is conditioned us to view life through the lens of wins and losses the same lens used by the Apostle Paul when sharing his testimony today on turning point Dr David Jeremiah unpacks the wins and losses of Paul's story and challenges us to pursue the only win that matters continuing his series Counting all Joy here's David to introduce today's message the joy of victory Well thank you once again for joining us I told you yesterday that today we were going to explore a portion of Scripture that is very motivational In fact it's almost like a locker room speech for Christians and we'll get to it in just a few. Let's as we explore Philippians chapter 37 The 14 you know this fall we are going to be visiting some communities that are a part of our turning point family as we unfold in introduce a brand new book called Everything You Need they've called this the everything you need tour and so we begin in Orlando Florida on Tuesday October the 1st at the Amway Center and then on Thursday of that week or the 3rd we go to Macon Georgia for the Macon Coliseum. Then Sunday October the 6th we're in Charlotte North Carolina at the Spectrum center and October the 8th that's the next Tuesday in Columbus Ohio at Nationwide Arena so it's Orlando Macon Charlotte Columbus tickets for these events are available from turning point and they're absolutely free but you must have a ticket we have to have tickets in order to. Determine what to do in the arenas and the arenas really don't want us if we're not going to have some sort of a ticketed format so we're trying to do this the best we can to make it is easy for you as possible get in touch with us tell us what events you want to attend and they'll give you all the information you need you give us the information we need and the tickets will show up in your mail in plenty of time for you to be a part of the event Well I'm anxious to get started with this lesson I've taught this one many times but it always is motivational to me personally so let's open our Bibles to Philippians chapter 3 and talk about the joy of victory. If you have your Bibles turn with me to the book of Philippians chapter 3 and I want us to read it verses that we're going to study together today let's let the Lord allow his word to wash over. Our hearts today as we read this together here we go 50 and 37 to 14 but what things were gain to me these I have counted loss for Christ yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being could form to his death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead not that I have already attained or am already perfected but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me brethren I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead I press toward to go for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus and all the people said amen since arriving on campus back in 1905 head coach Geno Auriemma has taken the University of Connecticut women's basketball team to the height of success just listen to this over the past 34 seasons early Emma has led the Huskies to 11 and see the championships. 19 Final Fours 6 perfect seasons and more than $1000.00 wins the secret to his winning ways it's called the r.e.m. Away and it includes these principles. Principle number one break them down so you can build them up that's about conditioning number to demand perfection just so you can find excellence. Number 3 never survive in advance always dominate and conquer. Number 4 turn good into great and great into legendary number 5 Anything less than a national championship is unacceptable. Now I've watched this girl's team play a lot as you know my sister's a girls' basketball coach. And he lives these principles everything about this team is a statement about these principles being in play everything that he does falls in line with this purpose is not in the full issues going on campus when it comes to the girls' basketball program so because they're serious because they really believe in the doctrine that they have created that underwrites this program they win and they just keep on winning. And there's another person I want to introduce you to today who also has a winning philosophy as you know his name is the Apostle Paul. Paul is writing this letter to the Philippine believe years while he is under house arrest as a prisoner in Rome not the normal place you would be if you were going to write a victory speech. But Paul understands that victory is it just about standing on top of the mountain victory for the Christian is that which works for you no matter where you are or what's going on in your life so he's going to write for us in these verses that we've read a formula for winning this sport Miller will look at the past and the future and then give us a present structure and strategy for living our lives every day this is what Paul believed and just like Coach this is what he lived as a follower of Christ as an apostle as a missionary study his life read his letters and you will see that this is the way Paul went about life every day these verses could have been hanging on the locker wall where he worked out but whether they were or not we know they were on the locker wall of his soul and so they should be for us few people live with this kind of commitment few people know how Coach Geno lived his life. But Paul looked over his shoulder at his past and he made an honest evaluation as he looked forward to the future he charted out the course that he was headed on and then as he looked at the president he had some things he wanted us to know were important if you're going to live your life. In victory 1st of all let's talk about the liabilities of his past in vs 7 and 8 Paul wrote what things were gain to me I have countered for a loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish Saul was on his way to Damascus one day I was expecting what was about to happen to him. He had a life changing experience. At that moment when he met Christ all of his values were upside down the things that had been important to him were no longer of any consequence the things that had been gained to him he now looked upon as loss before he had met the Lord Paul measured the success of his life by his physical ancestry and his religious orthodoxy. Is spiritual activity his personal morality were important but when the Lord Jesus Christ took hold of him and he confessed his sin everything was altered the things he had never cared about now became the objects of his greatest concerns I don't know about you but that's what happens to a lot of people when they come to Christ all the things they made fun of and didn't want anything to do with now become so precious to them and all the things they thought were worthy of their time and money and experience they no longer had any interest in them at all when Jesus Christ comes to live within your heart He doesn't just forgive you of your sin the Bible says all things begin to pass away and all things become new That's what happened to Paul someone wrote it this way the bitterest folk became the greatest friend the blasts became the preacher of Christ love the hand that wrote the indictment of the Disciples of Christ when He brought them before the magistrates and into prison is the same hand that now pins the epistles of God's redeeming love the heart that once beat with joy when Stephen sank beneath the bloody stones that were thrown at him is now rejoicing in the scourge ngs and stonings that he himself is receiving because of Christ from this enemy persecutor blasphemer comes the greater part of the New Testament it all changed one day when he was confronted by the Savior. As Paul evaluated his life remembering that day on the road to Damascus he used a word that is really interesting he said that everything that he had before that that he thought was worthy all of his gains all of that now had become lost to him and the word that he uses SPRO loss from the language of the New Testament is an amazing word it's only used twice in all the Bible here and in Acts 27 Paul said that when I became a Christian everything that I thought was good before I realized it was not important it was loss the word in the Greek language was used in Acts 27 of a very interesting moment in Paul's life if you read the 27th chapter of Acts you will discover that it records the story of a shipwreck which Paul participated in he was aboard the ship in the story pictures how this ship was on its way for Italy and it was loaded with cargo This was their game this was their way of doing business they had wheat and other things aboard the ship on the way to Italy the ship hit a terrible storm and the captain of the ship knew if he didn't offload the cargo the passengers wouldn't live the ship was broken apart they offload of the cargo the passengers were able to make it and no one was lost but the whole concept of taking all that was gained on that ship and off loading it so that the passengers could be saved is the word that Paul uses here in this text what he's saying is when I became a Christian all the cargo that I thought was so good for me I had to offload that I had to get rid of it so that I could become a Christian that's the truth for so many people today is it not we come to our faith from Christian homes from spiritual leaders. If we're not careful we think that because we're born into a good Christian environment that Texas I tell people all the time we need to remember God doesn't have any grandchildren he only has children you don't become a Christian because your parents are Christians you become a Christian when you have an experience like Paul had one on one with the Lord Jesus sometimes we have to come to the place where all of the advantages that we have have to be offloaded so that we ourselves can come to Christ. Jesus said it this way he desires to save his life will lose it whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul or what will a man give in exchange for his soul. Paul said not only were all those things that I thought were important to me before loss but he actually gives them a more colorful word he says I count them as rubbish and I'd explain that word to you more but it's rather indelicate so I'll let you work on that when you get it home. Paul said everything that I had that I cherish that I thought was going to get me where I wanted to go all of it when I finally met Christ I realized none of that was important how many of you know that when you meet Christ you get a whole new set of values a whole new set of loves and a whole new set of stuff that doesn't matter to you all that much anymore that's what happens when Jesus Christ comes into your life. So he looked at his past he has a good understanding of his past now he's going to talk about the possibilities of the future. Notice in verse 8 Post says I do all of this I see all of this I understand this because I have some new goals my new goals are that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conform to his death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. When Paul said he wanted to gain Christ. He's helping us understand that his new goal in life which should be our goal as Christians this is how we should think this is what we should be looking at now that Jesus Christ has dealt with our sin and we are in the family of God and we're fellow Christians our goal should be the goals that Paul set out here 1st of all he said that in his own life as he looked to the future the one thing that he wanted to do more than anything else was to know the person of Jesus Christ how many of you know it's possible to become a Christian Jesus Christ becomes your savior and if you're not careful that's just is the end of it in your heart you know he saved you from your sin you're on your way to heaven so what else am I supposed to do. Paul had a goal that was so all encompassing let me remind you he's writing this letter toward the end of his life. He's lived an incredible life unlike most of us could ever imagine you talk about a person who we would consider to be close to God it would be Paul most of the scholars that I have read believe Paul was the greatest man to ever walk on this earth apart from Jesus Christ yet here he is at the end of his life writing this letter talking about his own life and he is saying that my goal is to know Jesus Christ better to know him. Many You could sit of them selves Christians have a knowledge of Christ but it's just a head knowledge the knowledge Paul is talking about here goes deeper it's the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ in verse 3 of John 17 this is the Lord's Prayer for us and this is eternal life that they may know You the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent this is the prayer Paul prayed for the a fusion believers any fees in chapter one he said that you may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead a relationship with Jesus Christ is the key ingredient that makes Christianity different than any religion you have ever heard about it's not enough for us just to know about a leader and subscribe to his agenda but when you become a Christian you enter into a relationship with the Living Son of God and you deep in that relationship where you say Well Pastor I already know him as my Savior How do I come to know him better if I desire to be completely wrapped up in Christ if I'm supposed to get to know him better and have him become a better friend and be a better friend to him how will I do that. Well I found this paragraph in an old commentary man I'll tell you what when I read this I said amen to everything that was in it listen to this this is a guy named William Hendrickson He says one gains this kind of knowledge Now listen this by wide awake attendance at public worship. Not just attended spokes Why do wake at 10 and everybody wake up. One gains this knowledge of Christ by wideawake attendance at public worship by showing kindness to others by practicing and forgiving others above all by learning to be thankful by studying the Word of God devotionally and exegetical so that the Word of God dwells in your heart by singing songs and hams and spiritual songs to the glory of God and by continuing in prayer it's not rocket science folks it's like 5 things he said just pick one of them and say Ok this year by the grace of God I'm going to get to know Jesus better and I'm going to do this that will take me in that direction the problem with the stood a is that we don't even think about that. Church if we're not careful becomes an institution it becomes an activity it becomes an x. Turn no event but Christianity if it's real if it's the kind of Christianity Paul is talking about in this passage is a personal internal vital relationship with Jesus Christ and that's not something that's just going to happen to you in less you take the steps in that direction Paul said my goal is to know Jesus better that's a wonderful goal to have in your life this year I want to get to know Jesus better . Then he said I want to know the power of Christ and the power of His resurrection Now this is something that I have to honestly tell you I try to grapple with this is I. I reflect upon it in my own life and I'm sure I'm like many of you because the scripture says in the book of the fees aeons that every believer that's all of us who know Jesus we all have available to us the same power that God used to raise Jesus out of the grave you say is that in the Bible it absolutely is. As be leavers we have known the power of Christ when He saved us but Paul tells us that as we walked a Christian life that power that resurrection power that brought Jesus out of the grave right through the Glave clothes and brought him back out to live in the same person he was before but with his glorified body that kind of resurrection power says the Scripture we have available to us and I have to ask myself and I'm sure you ask yourself Have I ever accessed that power. Have I ever in my life Bennett a place where there was no hope. But the power of God broke through Have I ever had anything in my life that can only be explained because of God You say well how do you have things like that well hang on you probably have a few opportunities before you die. But sometimes those things happen when we take steps of faith in the areas that are beyond our capability and we walk by faith and God shows us that he is able to do above and beyond all that we will ever ask or think I don't pretend to understand this completely I don't know that I understand it totally Personally I've had a few experiences like this but Paul wanted to see this in his life he didn't want to just live a normal natural Christian life he wanted to live a supernatural life he wanted to live a life that the power of God that was resident in the resurrection became his own personal power read his story and see if he didn't see that happen along the way. And then he said not only did you want to know the person of Christ and the power of Christ he wanted to know the passion of Christ and the fellowship of His sufferings being conform to his death. This is heady stuff this is not low hanging fruit. This is like I need to get up on the ladder and grab hold of it is because the imprisoned apostle is actually praying for the opportunity of identifying with Christ in his suffering. I have never asked for that in my life not even once I'm sorry I never got up in the morning and say Lord would you help me to suffer more today so that I can identify with your suffering. This is like how does that work. I would pretty much imagine there's not too many out there that would agree with me that you've never done that either but here's what I know I don't worry about it because you don't really have a lot to say about whether it's going to happen or not and God's in charge of it and when it's time for you to learn that lesson or for me to learn that lesson he knows exactly what to do how to do it and where to do it and for how long it will last Paul teaches us so much about victory in his own personal life but here especially in these words friends we are so excited about the opportunity has been extended to us to return to New York City during the Christmas holiday season we're going to be at the beautiful Beacon Theater. December the 12th and that event will certainly be sold out tickets will be available so and they of it will be produced and be a part of a very unique presentation on television during Christmas week I think I told you the other day that when we did this last year we had never done anything like it before and we had no idea what to expect and when the numbers all came in we found out that over $5000000.00 people watch that special during Christmas we think that's a worthwhile endeavor we're going to do it again it will be possible for some of you to come to the event if you get in early enough to get tickets but. Then all of us will be able to share it during the Christmas week well it's time for us to to also be thinking about the end of this month and the reason I say that is because when this movie ends the offer for the book Out of all Joy ends if you haven't asked for your copy of this book yet when you send a gift a turning point be sure and do it today that's right when you send Oh this is David Jeremiah was turning point meet me here study the Bible together and find help and encouragement to navigate the road of life with all of its twists and turns turning point weekend mornings at 730 on the mighty 670 k. L.t. God's word worldwide at 670 k l t t dot com and all over Colorado. H.d. On am 670 calle t.t. 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Dot com I think we better face something that the bowl leavers in the tribulation period and there's lots of arguments as to who they are it is important regardless of a view to understand that there are going to be thousands perhaps millions of people killed during the tribulation but everyone who does not receive them are at least Gentiles because God only spares the Jewish remnant So apparently all Gentile believers are killed in the tribulation the false prophet seized are. Welcome to your fold for today with David Hockney the Book of Revelation is a truly eye opening section of biblical prophecy David has taken a strew this incredible book of the Bible with an amazing attention to detail one thing this become clear from this ongoing study we don't have to be afraid of what . Revelation reveals and we don't have to skip over the more difficult verses with that in mind we're about to take on a subject in Revelation that sounds truly terrifying for those who will be left behind during the tribulation which is all the more reason to settle our relationship with Jesus Christ before them Dave's heading into Revelation 161 through 11 kicking off his message the final plagues stick around the head of our study time here's David with an important ministry update. We need your help folks we need we don't have a church or organization behind us we need your help right now just write out a check to hope for today not to me I'm David hocking bed I'm just a speaker of the broadcast and I don't take any money from all of books that you order either I want God to be glorified at all things can you help us right now just stick a little extra in your envelope or contact us by phone at 1875 Bible or in Canada 188875 bible let us know that you're listening and most of all that you're praying for. Revelation isn't really in Iowa Ohio put it in May.