Bible Study - February 10, 2021

Yes, so then you click on that and then it will send it to you.

We have a lot of time to set the pace for us of what we're going to be talking about. We've talked about all the men and women of the Old Testament who sleep, who are going to be among the first fruits, just like we will be. And God says in verse 40 that He has provided something better for us. There's that word better. We have seen the word better throughout the book of Hebrews. Jesus Christ is a better high priest. The New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. We have better promises than the people of the Old Covenant.

So we know that what God has allowed us to live in is the time that there are tremendous blessings and the tremendous opportunity that we have. We know who Jesus Christ is. We know God's plan. We have the tremendous advantage of being able to look back on 6,000 years of human history and see how it all fits together. And that should be encouraging to us. Even as we look forward into the world around us and as we begin to see things develop that fulfill or that give us the picture of the prophetic times that we see in the Bible that lie ahead. In one sense, that they can be kind of scary as we look at those things and see somewhere down the road we're going to be the ones who are highlighted as enemies and people who are against this and against that and people who will not cave to the culture of the time. But at the other end, as we see that, it should also excite us to see the plan of God coming because we know that we're closer to the return of Jesus Christ, closer to the time that we have been praying for, thy kingdom come, that he will return in the world and the earth and everyone who's alive at that time will be able to know the goodness of God that they just don't see in the world around us today. But it says God has provided something better for us that they, without us, should not be made perfect apart from us.

I mean, in a sense, he waited for us. He could have stopped the world and said, you know what, that's enough. We can see with the people we have here. But he allowed time to go on, and you and I have the opportunity of having been born so that we have this opportunity that God has given us. Life itself and just the prospect of what God has called us to should render us very, very, very grateful people. So as we move into chapter 12, last week we did get through, you know, the first seven verses. Let me just briefly go through the first five again, because as we move from the inspirational chapter of chapter 11, God gives us some marching orders. You know, we've been inspired by the lives of these people. So he says in chapter 12, you know, therefore, lay aside every weight. What's holding us back? What is so important? Why? What are we holding back from God from? Whatever weight that is out there, whatever thing is in our road, pick up the stone and get it out of the path. Just march forward with God. Whatever it is that whatever the world has on us, whatever our mental hold as it, that we don't yield something to God, get it out of the way. There is no other. There's no future in the world. There's no future in our way of doing things. The future in eternity is in God's way of doing things. And that's the path to joy and peace and everything that everyone wants. Lay aside that weight. Lay aside that sin that does so easily beset us. And we all have those sins, every single one of us. They're different for all of us, but those are the things that pop up on us. You know, Edgardo Lago gave a sermon last week in Orlando, and he did a very good job of showing just how that happens. We can think we have something overcome, and then boom, out of nowhere, something happens. And we find, you know, our jealousy, in light, in rage, we find our anger, well up. Those are the things we have to overcome. God will not have those sins, and people who have not worked on getting those sins in his kingdom. Sometimes I think we might, you know, we know God is a merciful God. He wants us all there. He's patient with us. But he is absolutely direct, and he is absolutely clear on who, what the character we need to be developing is if we're going to be there. He simply will not have people that haven't even tried or haven't made the progress, and then he can see their heart is, I am going to overcome this, and I am going to dedicate myself to becoming the way God wants me to be. If we fool ourselves, you know, someone made a comment after the Bible study last time, when we were talking about deceiving, we can deceive ourselves into thinking we're okay. God expects us to be making progress. So we have to lay aside that sin. We have to get it out of our way. And believe me, we all have that, and we all have to learn, and we all have to learn and be prepared to, when they, when we're confronted with it, to be able to say, you know what? I sacrifice it. I'm not going to make excuses for myself. It's not what God wants me to do. It gets this, gets discarded from the path. So lay aside every weight, lay aside every sin. You know what? Look, look unto Jesus. We can't, we can't do this without Jesus Christ.

We have to have a relationship with Him. We have to learn how to have a relationship with God.

You know, when the Bible says, you know, we need to be in contact with God, and Paul says things like, you know, pray without ceasing. He doesn't mean that we're on our knees 24 or seven, but in every aspect of our lives, we are in contact with God. When we go to work, we ask God, you know, be with us. If we're in a situation, ask God, what do you, how do we handle this?

That we are in contact with God? You know, Jesus Christ, you know, made the, made the statements that what He did, He did the will of His Father. He did what the Father told Him to do. And He gave, He said the words that the Father gave Him to give. Now, where did He find all those words? Where did He get that? You know, it's because He was in such close contact with God.

He had the mind of God, and God gives us that same spirit. And as we grow in grace and knowledge, as we use that Holy Spirit, as we develop that relationship with God, as He sees that our heart really is being circumcised, and our conversation with someone last night about the circumcision of the heart, that we peel that away, and we give it, we give that to God, that He sees, as He sees that that's what we're doing, and that's what our heart is, He will give us that spirit, and we'll get to the point as we grow through time that we will become like Him.

But we have to put effort into it. It just doesn't happen automatically. Our hearts have to be in it. Look unto Him and realize there's only one way, and that's His way, and there's only one, and God is clear on what He expects us to be, and that takes work. It isn't just a matter of checking off boxes and doing things, it's who we become, and He will let us know, He will let us know what it is we need to overcome, and what is in the way of the eternal life that He wants to give us.

Look unto Him. You know, we talked about enduring to the end, the hupomoni we talked about last night, having that unswerving dedication to God, that we don't let anything stand between us and Him, that we continue to march forward. We don't let the winds of time, the storms of life, whatever comes our way, we don't let that distract our attention or have us to get off the path. We keep on the path, and we are committed and determined in our heart.

We will stick with God, and we will follow Him no matter what. So if we come down to verse 5, you know, we talked about this Greek word, pihadea, that is translated chastening here through the next several verses of Hebrews 12 here, and He says, tells us in verse 5, you've forgotten. Now remember the book of Hebrews, it was written to a group of people who God introduces, who kind of lets us know back in the second chapter of Hebrews, these people are beginning to drift away.

They're not the same zealous people they were when they first became Christians. They're not doing the things. They don't have the same zeal. They've kind of gotten lax in the way they've done things comfortable in the world, comfortable in the things, and there's not progress that's happening. In fact, He sees them drifting more and more and more away from them. So the book of Hebrews, written to them, but very, very importantly written to us in the 21st century, is to motivate us and get us back to where we need to be if we really are serious about God's kingdom.

And He says, you've forgotten. You've forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons. There are so many things that we have forgotten. Throughout the Bible, you know, Revelation 2, it tells us, remember. You know, rekindle the first love. Remember what it was like when you first came into the church, how excited you were, how you wanted to know everyone there, how you wanted to do everything.

You could just not get enough of God's Word and what He wants us to be and to understand and to learn those things. Is that the way we are today? Do we still have that same zeal and that same burning desire to please God? And He tells us, you've forgotten. The exhortation which speaks to you is to sons. And through the next several verses, God reminds us, He sees us as children and He treats us as children. And as we read through those verses, and as we read about God the Father, you know, those of us who are fathers, who have kids still at home, or even if we review our lives back when our kids at home, we can learn how fathers act because God is the perfect Father.

And as we read through these verses, we see one of the responsibilities of what a Father is. So verse 5, you've forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as the sons. You've been called for a purpose. You and I, God sees as children of His. And as children, He's got a purpose in mind. He is getting us ready for what He wants us to do when we're spiritually mature and we're born into the kingdom.

He goes on in verse 5, He says, you know, my son, don't despise the chastening of the Lord. Now that word chastening is the Greek word paihedia, p-a-i-d-e-i-a. We spoke last week, and let me remind you and those of you in Orlando and Jackson, we've spoken about this word, you know, several times, but paihedia was the Greek rigorous training program that they would put their young men into, young men who they wanted to mold into the ideal members of society.

It was a body-minded spirit type thing. It was rigorous. It was disciplined, and that was a tough, tough program to be in. And so, but when they graduated from it, when they became, when they became and went through that rigorous training program through their teen years, they did become, they did become a great society. And as societies go, people still look to the Greek society as one of the strongest there was in man's history, because they were very disciplined, and they taught that discipline.

And God likens that to what the training program he has for us. We have been called into a rigorous training program every day of our lives. Body, mind, and spirit. That's why he says, love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul. My son, don't despise the pia dia of the Eternal. Don't despise that training program. You know, we can, you know, it's tough at times. It can be tough to be, you know, to find out that we're not doing things right.

Then we have, it's like, oh, our whole life, we've done this, and we have to unlearn this behavior and replace it with the behavior, you know, that, well, the fruit of, for instance, the fruit of the human spirit and replace it with the fruit of God's spirit, as we live and are led by that.

Don't despise it, he says. Understand, and as the Greek lads were reminded, look what you will become as you graduate from this. I guess modern day, we might even think about, you know, I've never been in the armed services or anything, but I hear how difficult the Marines are, and what a difficult process that is to be a Marine. So, and I understand that when people come out of it, they are very disciplined, they are very strong, they become different people, and some people even go into the Marines, I hear, just because they know they need that discipline to become who they need to become.

So we might liken that to what the Marines are, but the Greek system was body, mind, and spirit. They exercised, they learned health, they learned philosophy, they learned to trade, they all had their talents, and they were ready to go when they became adults to be productive members of society. It was tough. God says, don't despise it. Remember why you're there. You're there for a purpose. To when you are born into the kingdom, you are ready to do what he wants to do. I have no idea how many how many of the Greek youth failed that program or had to be issued out of it, but we don't want to be people who are ushered out of God's program.

When he's ready, when we're ready to be born in the kingdom, if we're going to be there, we have to go through the program and we have to delegate ourselves to it. It can be discouraging at times.

That's why he says in the next sentence, don't be discouraged when you're reduced by him.

Any training program, it's not just pat on the back like we have so much in America today. Everyone's great. Everyone does well. We don't want to tell anyone that this has to change or that has to change. You need to improve in this area. That's not God's way. We all have to improve. We all have things to change. None of us are perfect. None of us are where God wants us to be today. Sometimes, if you hear it from spouse, friend, God reading the Bible in a sermon, in a Bible study, from a minister, if you're talked to, he says, don't be discouraged.

We do get discouraged when we find out we have some things to work on, but he goes, just remember, remember the calling. Remember what the goal is. This is God working with you because he loves you and he wants you to be there. Don't despise it. Don't be discouraged. Pick up your... later we'll read, you know, strengthen your arms and your feet and get moving again. Verse 6, because who God loves, he chases. If he didn't have... when you think about what we've learned in Hebrew, what Jesus Christ has done for us, we can go into the throne room of God. I keep coming back to that to remind us what it... what it... I mean, it's like there's not even an English word to describe it. How unbelievable it is that we... when we go to God in prayer, we're going right into his throne room. The angels are there. Jesus Christ is there. They hear our prayers. How do we handle that? Yeah, how do we handle that when we go in there? And he takes the time. Every... the plan of God is waiting for you and me. You know, we read in Romans... in Romans 8 about how the whole world is groaning. They're waiting for the revealing of the sons of God until God makes ready the people who will be those who are the firstfruits that are in that Mary Christ and that are... work with him in the millennium. He's dedicating that time to us. He's very interested in us. That's why we can go into his throne room because he wants us to be ready.

But he also wants to know that our heart is in it and that we're not just playing games with him and getting by, but that we really are dedicated to becoming who he wants us to become.

Whom the Lord loves, he chases. He's going to be straight with us. Got to change this. This has to happen. This is the picture of who you need to be. You need to be working toward that. From the time we're baptized until the time we die, we're in a training program.

And we have to do it God's way. There's only one way for his piedia, as Jesus Christ tells us. He's the way. He's the truth. He's the life. Whom the Lord loves, he chases. And he scourges every son who he receives. I think the old King James, I like the way or maybe another translation, and scourges every son in whom he delights. You know, God delights in us. He loves to see us yielding to him.

He loves to see the progress. He understands that it doesn't happen overnight. He understands that we struggle, but when we make the determination to follow him and to change, and when we mess up, that we repent, and we are determined to go forward and not do that anymore. And he'll give us the strength. He gives us all the tools to make that happen.

Verse 7, if you endure, there is the verbal form of the Greek word hupomoni, the unswervoring dedication to the calling that we have. If you endure chastening, if you endure this paihedia, it's a rough program. It's a rigorous program. It pays dividends that we can't even imagine what they are. If you endure paihedia, God deals with you as with sons.

For what son is there whom a father doesn't chase him? Now, we've all had, you know, fathers, and you know, they've dealt with us in various ways, and you know, I know I was disciplined quite a bit when I was growing up, as many of you were. That's just part of what a father does. His job is to develop, or is to have his children trained so that when they become adults, they can go out and be productive, moral members of society dedicated to God and training in a Christian household. That that's what the mission is. We teach our children how to live, and as they grow, we see weaknesses develop, and we work with them and explain, you know, this is a trait that we have to work on.

This can't be done. Can't be lax in this area. Have to be strong. As you have had multiple children, you learn they have multiple, you know, have different strengths, and they have different weaknesses, and we work with each one of them individually. God does the same thing with us. He knows where our strengths are. He knows our weaknesses, and he loves us each individually, and he deals with us as a father. His mission always is because he loves us, and he wants us to be ready to do what we need, what he wants us to do, the same that we do with our children as they grow up.

In verse 8, it talks about, you know, those who are without chastening. You know, if you are without chastening, when he says, of which all have become partakers, then you're illegitimate and not sons. And so, and so we find in society, you know, I guess as society has progressed, and we have families that are blended families, and we have stepchildren involved, and that can be a very difficult process in a marriage where you have stepchildren involved in different factors and different leaders in life, and it takes a lot of strength, and it takes a lot of dedication and working between husband and wife, and dedication to the well-being of that child, that things get done the right way.

If both are in the church, the plan can be worked out. If both of them have God's Holy Spirit, the very many differences can be ironed out, you know, but sometimes stepfathers, when you read in the world, they'll just take an approach, it's yours, I don't want anything to do with them, I don't care, and whatever. They don't care about that child.

They may care about their own children from another marriage and what's going on with them. Unfortunately, too many fathers in the world today don't care about their children at all. They just don't train them in anything. That's the whole, you know, you know, edict on society that we live in today. But God says, if you are without chastening, but He says, all of us have become partakers. All of us have chastening.

You know, I think in a way it's an unfortunate word that the new King James uses here, chastening. It's an appropriate word, but, you know, discipline might be a better word for it, and I think the old King James might do that in some of the newer versions. But discipline, you know, the discipline that we endure, and that we're trained, and that we have to, that we have to have in our lives, is something, you know, that can come from many ways. Chasing chastening has to do with pain, and later on we even see the word pain in here. And, therefore, when we think of chastening, we think of pain.

And I know that we have trials in life. I know that we have tribulations in life. We have things that happen in our lives. You know, there can be sickness, there can be financial setbacks, there can be relationship problems, there can be problems between, you know, people, family, whatever it is, that comes our way. We have to learn how to endure that and keep our focus on it. And, you know, as we discuss Last Sabbath, you know, go through the process of building those relationships with God and with each other. But never, but always remember part of Pidea is also the good times we live in. And I remind myself often, and I remind, you know, the people around here very often that living through good times, when we have plenty, when there's plenty of food on the table, we have money to do what we want to do, we got plenty of leisure time. Those are times of Pidea as well. What do we do with those times? Are we making use of the time? You know, we're told in Ephesians 6 about redeeming, Ephesians 5 about redeeming the time. What do we do with that? Because there's a discipline of what we do when we have leisure and a lot of things going on. And a lot of what times when people drift is during the leisure times of life, when things are good. And, you know, it looks like the world is good and we're not in pain, we don't have people knocking on our doors, accusing us, turning us in, and all the things that are prophesied will happen. During those times, we may find it, if I can use the word, easy, easier to turn to God because we know we need Him and we need us, but in easy times, what do we do? We slack off a little bit. We become like Sodom and Gomorrah as it tells us in Ezekiel 16. Don't forget that Piediah includes the good times, and God is looking to see and training us what to do there. Even in the good times, stay close to Him and developing that character that He wants us to have. Verse 9. If you look at my notes here for a minute. Furthermore, he says, if you are without chastening, no, that's verse 8. Furthermore, if we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect, that's what we should. That's the fifth commandment. But he says, you know, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? I mean, when we're young and we have our Father directing us, I mean, sometimes, you know, we would get upset with Him. We would think it's unfair. Most of the time they were spot on and was becoming adults. We look back at our time and, you know, we all have things that we could look back and say, oh, this wasn't right and this wasn't right and whatever. But overall, as we've become successful in life and we've seen the character that our parents have built into us, we're very thankful for the lives that we have.

And being under their subjection, especially if we were raised in the church and we understand the things of God and we're taught that and that was part of our life from the time we were very young. It's a tremendous, tremendous blessing. And all of us who are online tonight that have children at home, it's a tremendous, tremendous blessing for them to know God and to be trained in that way. Never let society think you, make you think different or your children think different. But that was our human fathers. You and I have God the Father who's watching over us. He sees you and me as his sons and daughters. He has taken a special interest in us.

And he wants us and he knows the way for us to be successful in every sense of the word. And I don't mean that. I don't mean financially successful for the eternity. And he's taken a special interest in you and me. That's a tremendous calling. Are we gonna, you know, sometimes we weren't able to ignore our physical fathers. I sure hope we're not ignoring God. I sure hope we're not ignoring the chastening, the discipline that he's trying to teach us, but that our ears are wide open and our hearts are wide open. And we're listening to what's going on and not just become dull of hearing and think I'm okay because God didn't call us to be just okay. He called us to become blameless, mature, perfect. All those words the Bible uses. And shall we not, shall we not, no matter how long we've been in the church, how long, how old we are, be respectful of God and ask him to be our Father and to watch what he's doing and to pay close attention to what he's teaching us and what he wants us to do? You know, there in verse 9, there's an interesting way the author, you know, writes that there. He says, shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

And you read, you know, you come across little phrases like that and you wonder, you know, why did the author put that in there? And there's, you know, we all know that the Bible from Genesis through Revelation is God's inspired word, and we live by every word of it. And it's very encouraging and inspiring to see the Old Testament, you know, reflected in the New Testament, just a greater understanding, the physical and the spiritual God's Spirit added to our spirit to complete who we are.

And as we look at this Father of spirits, you know, there are a couple places back in the Old Testament that that same phrase is used. Let's go back and just look at those.

And I'm not sure I understand all the significance of what the author of Hebrews meant when he was there, but back in Numbers 16, there's Numbers 22, hold on.

I should look at my notes, but I will, nope, I will look at my notes.

Verse 9, yeah, Numbers 16. Numbers 16 and verse 22.

This is the occasion where Cora, you know, Cora is in rebellion against Moses. You know, he's got this, he's got this attitude that, you know, Moses, who made you boss, I should be boss, I, you know, come from a better family, whatever it is that Cora had in his mind built up that he was better and he knew more and and he was above Moses and and Moses was just stricken by it that Cora could even have that that attitude. And so we come to verse 22 and, you know, God is about to show who he has chosen to be the leader over Israel. In verse 22, it says, they fell on their faces and they said, oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh shall one man sin and you be angry with all the congregation, the God of the spirits of all flesh. Now, it's an interesting phrase, you know, where we mind it, even though God was working with Israel back in the Old Testament times and today he's working with you and me, the first fruits, he's, you know, he still loves all of mankind. Jesus Christ came to die and pay the penalty for all of mankind. All of mankind, you know, we can reference back to 1 Corinthians 2. Every man has the spirit of man. We have our individual talents, we have our weaknesses, we have our backgrounds, you know, we've been formed in one way and as we, as God calls and we respond and we're baptized, you know, we see the Holy Spirit and when we receive the Holy Spirit, we become complete people. We have the spirit of man and the spirit of God and it enables us to become who he wants us to be, to have dominion over the physical world and our physical lives as well as our spiritual lives. So he says here, you know, he inspires Moses, you know, to record the God of the spirits of all flesh. I don't know, I don't know why God did that necessarily except to remind us that he is the God of all and these are, we are, you know, Israel was a special people he was working with. We're special people that he's working with and this time is 1 Peter 2, 9 verses. He uses the same phrase again over here in verse 27.

Verse 16, you know, Moses is about to die. He knows he's not going to cross over into the Promised Land and he's talking to God. Now, Moses has come to understand the people of Israel. He's come to understand a lot and grow a lot in the 40 years that he has led Israel and he sees something that the people need and it's instructive to us even in these verses because we see the same pattern that that God uses in the New Testament. What his people need and how he sets up the New Testament church similar to what he's done that Moses is praying to him about and asking him about in verse 16 and number 27. He says, let the eternal, the God of the spirits of all flesh, there's that, there's that again, let the eternal, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd. And there Moses realized, you know, so God says, okay, it's going to be Joshua. Joshua will be the shepherd of the people, you know, from that time, from the time that Moses dies. And in Ephesians 4, we see the same thing. Jesus Christ is our shepherd. He sets shepherds over us today. The people of God need that is the way God did it. Goes back to the body that he puts us in, what we're doing, how he's working with us, and how he's preparing us. What he was doing with Israel in the physical sense, he does with us today. Yeah, we can go back to Ephesians 4. We won't, you know, we won't do that right now. We're going to go back to Ephesians 4 for another reason later but we see how God sets up the church today. He's done the same thing. What he's done in the old covenant, he's done in the new covenant, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, then forever. And it's not something we should fight, it's something we should just simply yield to God to. This is what he's done. We follow his will, whatever it is. He knows best. He knows the way. And if we want to be there, we will follow him and yield to him. So the Father, the spirits of all flesh. I mean, you see those little phrases and they take you back to someplace else that you learn some things. And as we see those, as we see those phrases in the New Testament, you know, we might take the time to go back and look and see. We've seen that before. What is God trying to tell us? And again, I don't know everything he's trying to tell us, but it's very interesting that that shows up in those three places, you know, here in Hebrews as well as he's encouraging us and to move forward, to get on, to get back on the road and to get back on the track with God, and to remember that he is the God of all flesh. Not just us, but he is working with us today.

Okay, verse 10. We're going back to Hebrews 12 then. Hebrews 12 verse 10.

For they, speaking of our human fathers, they indeed for a few days, I mean we lived with them for 18 years, 21 years, whatever it is, our physical fathers, indeed for a few days, chastened us as the best of them. Well, you know, we have our children in the training program. Is it a rigorous training program? Is it a very lax training program? What is it that we're teaching them? How are we doing things? God has you and me in his program, which is a rigorous training program. We might look and see what we're doing with our young people. Are they in a rigorous training program? Are they being prepared for life the same way God is preparing us for our spiritual responsibilities? Are we doing the same thing? There's some child rearing lessons that we can glean out of these verses as we see how God works with us as well. For we, indeed, for a few days chastened us as seen best of them. You know, most of our parents did the best that they could do. None of us have been perfect parents. Our parents weren't perfect.

You know, we realize that. But we have, you and I today, we have the blessing of having a perfect father. Everything he does is perfect. We don't have to second guess him. We might think, oh man, that's too tough to do. But we absolutely know we must do it. We absolutely know it's what's best for us. We absolutely know if we are going to be in the kingdom, it has to be done. We can't make provision for self, as it tells us in the book of Romans, make no provision for yourself.

Give it all to God and lay aside the weights, lay aside the sins, lay aside the things in life that keep us from Him, yield to Him, and He will prepare us. He's willing. He's dedicated.

The question is, are we dedicated? Are we committed? Are we willing to do that and give what it needs, what needs to be done? For they, indeed, for a few days, Jason does, has seen best to them. But God does it for our profit. He does it for our profit. It's best for us. We will benefit.

1 Corinthians 2, 9 says, it hasn't even entered—I hasn't seen, nor have you heard—it hasn't even entered into the hearts of man the wonders that God has prepared for them. We don't even grasp what God has prepared for us. To go through this program when we're there, when we're done with the training, if we've done it with our heart, mind, and soul and given it to God, we will be eternally grateful and we will eternally look back and thank God for the opportunity to have gone through this program, no matter how rigorous and how tiring it might be.

And especially as we look forward and see the training, you know, that we're preparing for now so that we're ready for what will come even between now and the return of Jesus Christ. He does it for our profit. We'll reign with Him. We'll reign with Jesus Christ. I mean, our minds can't even conceive of what He's prepared. That we may be partakers of His holiness.

That we may be partakers of His holiness. You know, we talked about what it's like in heaven with the heavenly beings, and you see the joy and you read about what it's like in heaven. They are at peace. Jesus Christ who is on earth, you know, when He was living as a human being, He had the joy set before Him of what it was like when He was in heaven. It was worth going through the scourging. It was worth going through the death that was going to earth, going through the mocking and everything He went through to be resurrected and to be there for us.

Yes, He did it for us, but He kept His eyes on what it was going to be like when He got back there because it was the perfect environment where there was joy that we can't even imagine in our lives yet. We understand a little bit as we have God's Holy Spirit and as we walk and grow in His way, just the inner joy that's us that kind of defines words, different than the happiness that the world has.

You only know that joy when you have God's Holy Spirit and the inner peace that comes from it. So we know that, and God says, you know what? You could be partakers of His holiness. It right reminds you, that did of me, at 1 John, if we go forward a few books here to 1 John 3, that's what we're in training to become. That's what we're in training to do, that we can be partakers of His holiness. And we have to be working toward that today.

We're going to see this word holiness show up again, you know, in a few verses. In verse 14 of Hebrews 12, that's something that we adhere to and strive for. But 1 John 3 verse 2, the Apostle John, as he's later in his life, you know, in the 90s AD, he's now, you know, 60 years that he's been in the church, if we can use that. 60 years ago, he walked with Jesus Christ, learned who he was, and he's been following him all that time.

In verse 2, he says of 1 John 3, Beloved, now we're children of God. We're his sons, we're his daughters. He's working with us, he's training us. We're children of God in the literal sense of the word. And it hasn't yet been revealed what we will be. We're waiting to be born. We don't, you know, we have not yet become spirit beings. That is for a future time if we progress through the pia dea and the training in the way that God wants us to. It hasn't yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he's revealed, we'll be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Through our lives and through the growth that we have, as we yield to God, as we let him build his character in us and his traits in us, as the fruits of the Holy Spirit replace the unleavened thread, the unleavened traits that we have that we are putting out of our lives year by day, month by month, year by year, as those things more define us, the fruits of the spirit as opposed to the fruits of the flesh, that defined us thoroughly at the time that we were called by God. You know, we will begin to see and identify with Jesus Christ. When we see him, there will be that meeting of the minds.

Jesus Christ and God the Father were one because they had the same mind. Doesn't mean they were the same person, but they were the same mind. As you and I grow, we'll have that same mind as Jesus Christ. We will understand him.

When we're there, there will be the instantaneous connection with him because that connection has been being developed throughout our physical lives now as we develop that relationship with him. So that when we're born spirit, there he is. There he is. There's our elder brother. It's just kind of like when baby is born to human parents, there's the immediate bonding. The immediate bonding. They know each other even though baby has a scene that bonding develops. We shall be like him, for we should see him as he is.

In verse 3, if we have that hope, if we have that hope, there's work we have to do. Everyone who has this hope, verse 3, in him purifies himself. God will do it. We have to make the effort.

He won't do it for us. He'll give us all the tools. He'll be there as our support. He'll be there to answer every question. He'll be there to encourage. He'll be there to inspire.

He'll do it through various ways, through his Holy Spirit in our minds, through the Bible that we read, through the church sermons that we hear, the Bible studies as we hear it from husbands, wives, friends who encourage us. We're all marching toward the same thing.

It'll all be there. He'll give us what we need, but if we aren't making any effort, then we're telling God what we don't have. If we have the hope, we're going to be doing it. But if we're just counting it as a common thing, you know, well, okay, I've always been in the church. I understand the Sabbath day. I understand the Ten Commandments. You know, the da da da da. It's not about knowing. We have to know, but without applying, it's worthless. It won't be people who just have knowledge who get into the kingdom. It will be people who have learned and have submitted to God and are living the life and applying his principles in there.

It doesn't reward for knowledge only. We have to have it. But just like faith without works is dead, knowledge without growth, spiritual growth, is dead as well. So, you know, Peter, Peter really, in 2 Peter 1, he goes to the same type concept that we've read in Hebrews. In Hebrews, I'm sorry, 2 Peter 1, in verse 2, just a book back here, verse 2, it says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

He gives us everything we need that pertains to life, the life everlasting and to godliness. How do we become like him? How do our lives become like Jesus Christ? How do our minds, how are they transformed into the way God is? How is the way that we act, react? How do we respond to the chastisement, to the pah-hadi-ah? What do we do when someone tells us, this isn't right, and that isn't right? Do we rebel and reject and say, hey, I'm okay? Or do we think, oh, I have to deal with this? I have to deal with this. If I'm going to be in the kingdom, it has to be dealt with. That requires your and my effort. He gives us everything we need, all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which, verse 4, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises. The promises that God gives us are unbelievable. I mean, unbelievable. You know, we say them very often, but stop and contemplate what God has given us, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, partakers of his holiness, partakers of who he is, what he is like, partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, leaving self behind our unleavened, our annual unleavened bread reminder. Bury the old man. He has to disappear over the course of our lifetimes and be replaced with the spirit and the man that God wants us to become, that new creation that talks about in 2 Corinthians 5 or 17. Partakers of that holy, the holiness that he wants us to be, to be part of. Now let's go back to Hebrews 12. Again, remember if anyone's got any questions, comments, if something's not clear, absolutely feel always free to start talking, and we can stop and explore these things a little further. I hear nothing, though. I'm just going to keep on talking. So, okay. Okay, we're back in chapter 12. Chapter 12, verse 11. Mr. Shavey. Yes, sir. Yeah, I just have a comment. I think it's what we're studying and reading. I think it's just so, like what you're saying, so extremely important to remember what exactly it means to be a first fruit and how incredible it is that out of all the people in this world that God has called us at this time, it opened our minds to understand the truth at this time, how amazing it is to be, as he said, you know, you're part of the chosen generation at this point, not because we're better than anybody, because we're not, but for a special purpose. And I think continuing to keep that vision in our minds can help us get through all of those things that we have to go through in this life, you know, knowing that Jesus Christ is coming back. And like you were describing, you know, we're going to be kings and priests under Jesus Christ. It's just such an amazing thing. And just the fact that we've been called at this time to be part of God's first fruits, it's just an amazing calling. And something that, as you said, we should shouldn't take lightly at all. Shouldn't take lightly and remind ourselves, right? Keep reminding ourselves, this is what God has called us to. This is the program we're in. This is what it's about. And as we see the time grow closer, boy, it's time to double down and commit to Him and get with God and ask Him to help us make these things happen in our lives. But we've got to be the ones committed to do it. He'll put us through the program. He's put us there. It's a tremendous blessing that can't even, there's no words to describe.

Mr. Shabby? Yes, yes. I also want to add that I like the point that you were emphasizing on chastising, that He chasing those He loves. And I know many of us, we are sick. We have different issues, but we just have to remember that, you know, the first verse in chapter 12, laying aside everything, Paul said he went through life that nothing can keep us from the love. So even when we are going to try us, that's just to show He's shaping us, He's sharpening us to be the best son or daughter that we could be. So I think for me, one of the things that I am going to take away is that chastisement. Not that He doesn't love us. Look at Job, so many chastisement he went through. So for me, one of the takeaways for today would be that concept of chastising. And to remind ourselves of that, right? I mean, something happens and we can immediately become discouraged, but we need to catch ourselves and think, God's in control of our lives. We need, what do we need to learn from this? Yes, I was saying after this Bible study, I have to go jump on my knees and pray for that. Thank you for all the troubles in my life right now. You're making me the best daughter I could be. Hold that thought and you know what? He will see us through and the character we got, we have to develop the character he wants us to. So yeah. Okay. Anyone else?

Okay. Verse 11, chapter 12. Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present. We can all relate to that, right? I mean, we all remember. I mean, if your parents ever chastised you and you ever got a spanking, it was not at all pleasant and not something you look forward to. And you know, we learned a lesson by that pain. Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present. We have to catch ourselves and hope, you know, okay, but God's doing it for a reason. He's just not mad at us. He's just not, you know, toying with us. He just hasn't lost his temper and doing things. He, everything is done for a reason. No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but it's painful. It's painful to go through these things. We have to, you know, but we have to remind ourselves of what the goal is, what's happening to us. Nevertheless, he says, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been, and notice the word, trained by it. You know, it yields the peaceable fruit. When we're, you know, when we're there, when the resurrection has occurred, and we're there with Jesus Christ, we will look back and we will say it was worth everything that we sacrificed. It was worth all the pain we endured, whatever it is that God has in mind for us to go through between now and then, it will be worth it. Just like, you know, you ladies can relate to this more than us men can, just like when you see that baby, it was worth all the pain that you went through in labor. It was worth all of it. And the same thing that we will look back and say, thank you, God. Thank you for being patient with us. Thank you for giving us the strength. Thank you for putting us in this program. And thank you for what we'll be doing for eternity as a result of what we learned by it. This is our training time. You know, just like the Olympic athletes, we didn't have an Olympics in 2020, maybe they'll have it in 2021, who knows? But, you know, when you hear those stories, when you watch that and you hear the rigorous training program those athletes have put them through, you know, as Paul even talks about in 2 Timothy, for a physical medal and the sacrifices they make, the strict training they go through day in and day out. That's what we are in. This is our training program.

We just have to want to be in it and have the same dedication toward the goal and keep our eyes on that goal that more and more God will have us become who He's like. But it takes the effort on our part. And it can be tiring, you know, He says. It can be discouraging. We can kind of want to just rest for a while and drift for a while as these Hebrews were doing and they were beginning to drift. But as He's encouraging us and He's told us about all the people in the Old Testament, not all of them, but several of the people in the Old Testament who made it to the end and encouraging us to do that, He says in verse 12, strengthen the hands which hang down. Get the energy again. Get alive again. Get moving again. You know, if we're tired sometimes and if we find ourselves drifting, you know, I hope that I've been saying it more and more lately that we understand that we can take anything to God. That when we go to God's throne, He's not just interested in hearing platitudes. Thank you for this. Absolutely, we should be thankful. And I don't don't take that away that I'm saying we should be thankful. But the generalities, the generalities of life can't be what our prayers are. We can't just say, bless this and bless that. Thank you for this and everything. He, like a father, wants to hear, wants us to bear our souls. I don't understand this. I keep having problem with this. What do I need to do? What do I need to understand? Will you help me do it? Will you bring to mind when I'm about to make have this sin that I do or this thing I do, will you bring to my mind the second before and help me to have the discipline to stop what I'm doing and choose you instead so I can weave this out of my life? Can you let me know when I'm looking at something there's a weight in my and a roadblock in my way? Can you show me what that is? Can you teach me? Can you teach me how to pray? Can you teach me that I can come to you with anything? That I don't have to be false with you and I don't have to be superficial with you, but I have to be real with you because you are really interested in what I'm doing and how I'm progressing. And he is and he will answer our questions and the more detailed and when we bear our hearts to him, he will show us the way. And he loves to have that just as our physical children when they bear our souls to us and they are looking for direction. It's the same thing that as you've had people, and I know when people come to me with questions that they're seeking God. God is so pleased with that. Those are the prayers that are in that rise up before him in Revelation 5. That is sweet incense to him.

He wants to help. He wants to give us what we need to be. We have to diligently seek him and when we do, and that means being honest with him and that means not just generalities. When Jesus Christ said, don't pray as the heathens do with vain repetitions, he didn't mean just a memorized prayer, but you know, heal all those who are sick. Thank you for the food we had today. Forgive my trespass. Our prayers need to be fervent at times. They need to be thankful at times. They need to be very, very humble at times and asking God, what is it you want me to learn? What and just, I don't understand this, help me to understand it. And you'll be surprised sometimes where the answers come and how they arrive, but we always have to have our ears open and not in always the way that God, we would have him answer. You'd be surprised when you pray prayers like that that an answer comes here from a book you read, from a conversation that you have, and you begin to see how God is working with all of us to prepare us who he wants us to be. So, you know, this should be energizing to us. And as we, you know, as knowing that God is working with us, strengthen the hands which hang down, strengthen the feeble knees, get up, get moving again, he will provide the energy.

If we ask him, and it's automatically there, if we remember who we are, if we have, you know, the joy set before us that he has offered us and the promises that he's given us, it says in verse 13, and make straight paths for your feet. Make straight paths for your feet.

You know, all too often, you know, we begin walking with God and our eyes are on him. But just like Peter when he was walking on orders, he on water, when he would keep his eyes on Jesus Christ, he was walking straight from them, and he could do miraculous things, walk on water. But then he looked off to the side and looked off to that side, and, and he began to sink. And so what the author here, God is telling us is, keep your feet going straight. You know, we live in a world that has so many distractions that are there. There are things that can lure us. There are things that we can look back like the Egyptians did and say, oh, I want the meat of Egypt. I want the onions. I want the leeks. And I just want to divert my path and go back here for a little bit and do that. I'll participate in this for a while, but then I'll get back on the path. Keep your eyes on him and make your make your way straight. You know, David, keep your place there. Let's go back to Psalms, because David, David, you know, understood this. The book of Hebrews wasn't written when David was alive. But when he's resurrected and he sees the book of Hebrew, he's going to understand it perfectly and better than we do today, right? Every time we go through the book of Hebrews from here on out, we will learn more about it. But God worked with him, and he sought God, and he was diligent with God. And all those nights that he was laying out there in the fields praying to God and in his prayer repentance, you know, you can see his heart spilling it out to God, and God knew what was in his heart. That's the heart that God wants us to have. But here in Psalm 119, you know, David's kind of treat us to the law of God and how good it is and how perfect it is and how it is the is the path to our life. In Psalm 119 and 133, you know, he says, direct my steps by your word.

Direct my steps. You know, we can pray to God that every morning, order my steps. What I'm going to do today, you order my steps. Show me what it is you want me to do. You set my schedule. Help me to understand what it is I do. David says, buy your word. You know, we read the Bible. We read the Bible. We see his word. His Holy Spirit will direct us as well and let no iniquity have dominion over me. Let me keep my eyes on you and God keep me from sin. Don't let it rule over me. Your spirit, with your spirit, I can rule over it. You know, you can read down through those. Solomon said a similar thing back in or forward in Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3 verse 5, a memory verse for many of us.

If you don't know what it says already, you'll know it as soon as I start reading it. Proverbs 3 verse 5 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. And he means, really, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Not just part. And this part I'll trust God. This part I won't. This part I'll look at this. I'll look over to this side and trust him here. And I'll look over here and, you know, trust in the Lord with all your heart. And don't lean on your own understanding. Boy, that's a tough one, right? We all have ideas and, you know, we all have our ideas of how we should do things, even some of the things with the Bible. Don't lean on your own understanding. The Bible interprets itself. Listen to the Word of God and just do the Word of God. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Put that away. That's one of those weights that we have to put out of the way. Trust in Him. Follow Him. Do what His Word says. Do it the way He says. Jesus Christ says, I'm the weight, I'm the truth, I'm the life. He's not going to take an altered version of the path to eternal life. It's got to be the way He said it. And He gives us the clear path in the Bible. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, excuse me, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. Make Him part of everything you do in life.

You know, we'll take the time. You know, Deuteronomy, everyone knows what's in Deuteronomy 6 when it tells us, you know, when we're at home with our children. You know, have God involved when we wake up, when we're at rest, in the morning, in the evening, making part of everything we do.

In all your ways, acknowledge Him. And when we do all that, He will direct our paths.

Because He's very interested in who we are and what we're doing. And when He sees our heart in the right place, He'll direct it. You'll begin to see what it is that He, that the, what He needs us to do, or what not, what He needs us to do, what we need to do, what He wants us to do, so that we are ready for what He's preparing us for. Chapter 4, Proverbs, verse 26.

Chapter 4, verse 26. Ponder. You know, we could, we could use the word examine there. Ponder the path of your feet. You know, maybe as we head toward Passover, we take some time pondering the path of our feet. What do we do every day? What is our life like? How are we at work? How are we at play? How are we with our kids? How are we with our co-workers? How are we in the things? Hello, a comment? Which one?

How are we? How are we with, with all that?

Miss. Oh, okay. I just chucked someone off, yes, I'm sorry.

Hit your button again.

Okay, I'll continue. You can, you can hit your button when you're ready to talk. You know, ponder the path of your feet. Where are we going? Are we on the path that God would have us? If we ask Him, He'll show us if we are. We'll see the things that we need to, you know, how we need to direct our feet in a straightforward motion. Let all your ways be established. Don't turn to the right or to the left, and remove your foot from evil. In the New Testament, it says, come out of her, my people. You know, remove your foot from evil. Follow God, walk with Him, ponder the path of your feet, make your way straight. They all say the same thing, and as we're here in the book of Hebrews, as God is giving us the, you know, the, well, He's our teacher, He's our mentor, He's our coach, He's everything is He's giving us the encouragement here.

I'll do it, but you, this is what you need to do. You need to get back in the training program. You need to get back in the rigorous program that He has, and we have to use the self-control that comes from the Holy Spirit and all those other things, you know, that we're going to see here in verse 14 as we march forward with it. Make straight paths for your feet.

So that what is lame, you know, the word dislocated is added there by the translator. So that what is lame may not be, but rather be healed. You know, my margin there has Isaiah 35 verse 3.

Isaiah 35 is the scripture that says the deserts will bloom as the rows, that the lame will lock, the deaf will hear, you know, the mute will speak again. It's all those millennial verses that we often read at the piece of the Tabernacles. And what he's saying is do this, you know, we're all spiritually lame. When God calls us, we all have crippling effects in our lives. You know, we don't walk the way we have to learn how to walk. And we have to do the things that He says, and as we do, we're healed. We can walk straighter, we can walk faster, we can walk with more confidence when we have it in God. He wants to heal us. We have to do the things that He tells us to do.

Physical healing, spiritual healing, follow God's way. We learn what to trust in Him, and we learn to do things the way that He says. And so spiritually, He will heal us. And as we walk, and that's what we ask Him for, to heal our lameness, to heal the things that we can't continue, can't continue in. Or that we would, I'm sorry, I'm laying my mind wander for just a second as I saw something here, that we, you know, that we will ask Him to heal the faults that we have.

That's part of the training process. Verse 14, you know, we should have a star by this verse in our Bible. And as we come across similar verses like this, you know, we should keep them in mind and highlight them somehow. Verse 14 of Hebrews 12 says, pursue peace. Pursue peace with all people.

You know, peace, peace is a fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control. All those things that should become, should be becoming evident in our life as we walk with God. If we don't see the progress in those areas, we might want to take stock of ourselves and say, you know, why are these fruits of the flesh? Why do they keep propping up? And why don't people see more of the fruits of the Spirit? Why don't the people that I live with see more of the fruits of the Spirit and these old things disappearing, being replaced by what God's way is? If we don't see that, if our people that we live with don't see it, it's time to take stock of ourselves and see the path that we're walking on. How dedicated are we? Are we really committed to the program? Pursue peace with all people. Notice the word all. Notice the word pursue. You know, we don't like to be at peace. When Jesus Christ returns, the world will be at peace. We're told He's the Prince of Peace. We learn peace now, but we don't all have peace now, but it's something that we continue to pursue through our lives. You know, as we go through life, we'll learn how to be the peacemakers that God wants us to be. We'll learn how to sacrifice self. You know, last Sabbath, we talked about reconciliation and forgiveness.

Reconciliation is rarely all on the part of one person. Almost always, where there's a split and division between people, both parties need to change. We talked about that last week. Reconciliation requires change. It can't just be, you know, it can't just be going on the way we did.

Whatever brought us to this, this, this unity needs to be healed. And as I say, often, you know, both parties have God's Holy Spirit and committed to His way. Reconciliation is possible.

But we can't make people reconciler with us, but we can always keep the door of reconciliation open. Just like Jesus Christ, He will not make any of mankind ever reconcile with God. But Jesus Christ made reconciliation with God possible, but it's up to us to take the action. But pursue peace. It's something, it's a lifelong endeavor. We will learn it more and more as time goes on. Remember what Jesus Christ's goal for His people is? That they will become one with each other and one with Him, just as He and God the Father are one. A lifelong process. And I believe between now and then, we are going to learn many lessons about how God is going to make His body one.

And He will show us how that will happen, because I just do not believe we're there. I know we're not there. I know that God is going to work with us, because we will be one with Him. And that's what His goal is. And we will learn some things about ourselves and some things that we have to do.

And we will always follow Him as He does that. But He says, pursue peace with all people and pursue holiness. You know, we just read about holiness. And in verse 10, He'll make us partakers of His holiness. But we have to pursue it. He has to see that. So that's what our heart is, not just some nebulous thing that we've always heard, oh, I'm pursuing holiness. Not just words, but sees it in the actions in our life and in the mental effort and the discipline that we display as we pursue peace and as we pursue holiness. And He sees that's where our heart is.

That's a verse we should remember, especially looking at how He finishes that verse. Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

Several verses in the Bible that says, if these are your traits, you won't be in the Kingdom.

Maybe we gloss over those times, and maybe we don't deceive ourselves to thinking that God is okay with the weaknesses that we have. I mean, He's patient with us, but He does expect us to be perfecting ourselves as He leads and guides. Pursue peace without which no one will see the Lord.

Verse 15, you know, verse 15, it's one of those things that can be said to all of us so easily. Looking carefully. When we look at the words looking carefully, you know, replace it with the exam. We're here in Passover as we're leading up to it. Looking carefully. How many times does God tell us obey Him diligently and carefully? Pay attention to the detail. Build the house He's building exactly the way He says.

He isn't going to accept the house that's built to our standards. He's going to accept the house that's built to His standards as we yield to Him. Looking carefully at ourselves, examining ourselves, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. And no one, none of us, want that to be said of us.

That we fall short of the grace of God because we didn't, we didn't do what God wants us to do. We didn't put the effort into examining ourselves, and we weren't committed to the change toward the picture that He has of us that He wants us to be. Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. And then He says something that can befall any of us.

You know, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble. And how many? I don't think there's anyone that has ever lived, except Jesus Christ, who hasn't had this root of bitterness spring up in their lives. Someone says something that we take the wrong way. Someone does something against us, you know, and we kind of feel this, this, looking for a different word than bitterness. We feel we just don't want to be around that person.

We want to just, you know, we don't like what they said. They said something we just don't want to agree with. We don't want to accept that. Therefore, we're not going to talk to them anymore because we don't like what they say. How many marriages break up over the course of human history because bitterness ends up in that marriage and the parties don't come together and they don't reconcile. They don't talk things out. They don't see how each party has to become what the other party needs in that marriage to become one the way God wants us to become.

We have to change to become like God. We have to, you know, one of my prayers is that God will build me into who He wants me to be, but that I will be who people need me to be. You know, as I look at Paul, you know, when he says things like, you know, to the weak I'm as weak, to the strong I'm strong, to the Jew I'm as a Jew, to the Gentile I'm as a Gentile.

We need to be there for each other and we need to understand each other. If the oneness is going to occur, God knows you and me intimately. My personality is different than yours. My strengths and weaknesses are different than your strengths and weaknesses, but God knows that. And we're not going to in this lifetime understand each other perfectly, but, you know, but we don't want to let personality differences or the little stumbling blocks that can come in our path cause any kind of root of bitterness.

We can't let something that happened a year ago or five years ago, you know, be there always in our mind that we never let go of it. We never let it go. Those are the type of things because people grow and if they're walking with God's way, they're learning about themselves. We learn the things that we need to overcome and the people around us can see that progress.

You know, God says when he forgives us, he forgets. That's hard for us to do, but we have to, when we forgive, we have to give people the room to grow. And if we don't see that developing in us, you know, there's tactfully, you know, if it's husband and wife, if it's friend, if it's brothers, if it's, you know, sometimes it's minister to someone in a counseling session, always listen. Don't take the automatic thing. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it.

It's not me. It's all their fault. That's not the attitude that Christians have. If we harbor those things and bitterness erupts, it's a tremendous tool that Satan uses. We, frankly, we see it in the world around us today. Look at the division that's in this country today.

There is bitterness and hate all over. It's multiplied over the years that we're there to the point that there doesn't look there can look there can be any reconciliation. There can't be a coming together again in this country. The same thing can happen between people. That root of bitterness, when we sense it, root it out, he says, get that stumbling block out of our way.

Get that weight out of our path. Let it cause the trouble. He says, by this many, not just a few many, it's a tremendous tool of Satan. We have to be aware of what he has to say. We could have a whole sermonette and a sermon on some of these verses in Hebrews. Certainly, we individually can look and contemplate these scriptures as we're headed toward Passover. Of course, the examination is for all year around, but now we're in the season. God specifically says, if we're prepared for the Passover, examining ourselves, is there any bitterness in our lives? Is any of this?

Now allows the time to be going together and practicing some of the things we've been taught to get it out of there. It gives us, in verse 16, a very good example. He talks about Esau. We just talked about Esau last week as part of reconciliation. It goes on in the sentence, By this many become defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau.

Like Esau. If you look up the word profane, it's a wicked person. God calls Esau wicked.

Lest there be anyone among us who would be like Esau. What did Esau do? For one more soul of food, he sold his birthright. We look at that story. Here, in Old Testament times, if you were the firstborn, it was a tremendous advantage to be firstborn. You had the birthright, you had the blessing, you had it all. We don't have a society like that anymore, but that's what it was back then. But look what Esau did in God's eyes. He was the firstborn. By blessing of his birth, he had the claim to that birthright. Now think about us for a moment. We're firstfruits.

We're of all the people on earth. God has called us first to be his children. And there's tremendous, as we've learned in Hebrews and as we learn throughout the Bible, there's tremendous blessings in being a firstfruit. It's a better calling. It's a better resurrection. The promises that we have today are better than those of the old covenant that we have. Esau had that birthright, and what did he do with it? Well, I came home. I'm hungry. And so, you know, yeah, you know, I really want that bowl of soup. I really want that. I have to pay attention to the physical. Fine, just take the birthright. Now take that spiritually and look at it. Could it be that we could be doing the same thing? God has given us a birthright. He's given us an inheritance. He tells us earlier on in the book of Hebrews, we're heirs with Jesus Christ. Would we sell that birthright for what the world has to offer? Would we sell that birthright for the cares and concerns of the world? Would we sell that birthright because our kids, family members, co-workers, job, whatever it is, would lure us into that? That we'd say, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll take that momentary pleasure and I'll trade my birthright. Could we be doing? Could we do the same thing as Esau? There's a reason that God has this here as he's talking about this. He calls wicked. He calls Esau wicked. Let's go back to Hebrews 10. I think it's verse 29 here. Hebrews 10, yeah, verse 29. No, we read this a couple weeks ago here in chapter 10. We're talking about those who would fall away, and God is warning us, you know, there is no second sacrifice for sins if we fall away. In chapter 10, verse 29, it says this, of how much worse punishment do you suppose? Will he be thought worthy, who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

When we continue in sin, when we don't put any effort into the calling that God has us, when we drift away, when we choose the world more often and fear the world or fear of men more than we fear God, when we do all those things that we as humans so can easily do, and as we're told, in a time of plenty before the return of Jesus Christ, the love of many will wax cold because they will just gravitate toward the world and forget this. Look at how God looks at that. He's given us a tremendous blessing, firstborn, and we would just trade it all away. No recognition of the meaning of it. I'll take the world over it. I'll take the momentary pleasure over it just like Esau did. Count it as a common thing. Not that important. I don't really hold it up in esteem. I've heard about it all my life. God's okay with what I'm doing. I don't have to. I don't have, you know, we don't think about it. We don't count those things sacred and holy that God gives us, and that's what Esau did. He just let it slip through his fingers. Take it, Jacob. That bowl of soup is more important to me than my birthright right now.

When we see what Esau did, we can see why God calls him a profane person. He insulted God. He just didn't count it important enough, what God has opened, and we can do the same to be guilty of the same thing. In verse 17, and we'll end in verse 17, it says, for you know that afterward, after Esau did this, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected.

Well, who, you know, who rejected? We know that Jacob and his mother conspired to have Jacob give the blessing to, or to have Isaac give the blessing to Jacob.

But was it their decision? Or did God say, you know, the servant Esau, you rejected the birthright. I already see what's in your heart. It's not important to you. You're not putting any effort into it. You chose a simple thing like a bowl of soup over what I offered you and gave you that inheritance of. So, no, you're not going to get the blessing. Did Jacob and his mother do what was right? No, absolutely not. But it was God's will that Jacob would receive that blessing because Esau had already rejected it. We don't want to be people who reject God's call. We don't want to refuse, because it says down here in verse 25, we're not going to get to that tonight, but we don't want to be refusing what God has given us. We don't want to give him the message. Not that important. All these other things are really important to me. Well, you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, and he found no place for repentance.

You look at the commentaries, and they like to say for some reason that it was Isaac who couldn't change the blessing. Once the blessing was given, he could not change it. Once it was said, it was done. Whether it's talking of Esau there or Isaac, it makes no difference. Esau forfeited all of the blessing of God by his actions. And we know that Esau cried heavily, but crying wasn't enough to bring it back again. When we look at Esau, after he sold the birthright, we never see Esau repenting. We never see that he's sorry. We never see him like, I can't believe I sold that birthright. He just went on with life, and you know, hey, whatever. Life is good. Whatever I need to do. I remember when he lost the blessing, he was so mad. He let anger set in that he wanted to kill Jacob. But we never hear about Esau doing any self-examination. What have I done? What have I done? Well, that can be us without God's Holy Spirit. You know, and so Esau didn't inherit it, and Jacob did. We want to be sure that we are people who are counting what God has given us to be very important and not to just count it as common, everyday things that we just take for granted. It is a training program we're in. I want to conclude here tonight, which I think is another inspiring verse here in Hebrews 10 and verse 39. We read it before we went into the faith chapter. You know, we've got to be here for each other. God wants us to succeed. He wants us to be in His kingdom. We have to want that same thing, you know, for each other. Verse 39, we have to remember we can't let our hands droop. We can't let our knees become weak. We have got to get ourselves up, and we have got to be there to encourage each other and look to God to give us the zeal. And as we do God's will, the zeal will be there. That's the magical thing of it. Magical is not a good word. That's God's spirit engenders the zeal. When we do His will, we're alive and we're energetic. Verse 39, we, that's you and me, we are not those of those who draw back to perdition. We can't be those people. We have to keep marching forward. We are not of those who draw back to perdition, but we are of those who believe to the saving of the soul. So let's conclude there, and the next time we'll pick it up in verse 18 of chapter 12. I wanted to leave. I can see I went right to 8 30. Sorry about that. I attended this afternoon. I got done 15 minutes early, so there was some discussion time, but anyone wants to discuss or anything, we can do that now, or we can call it a night, whatever you want to do. Just one point, Brother Chibi. Yes. And it's everywhere where it says better. Yes. Some translators translated as superior. Superior. It's a better word, right?

Anyone else?

Sir Chibi, as Bob, I'll call you about the Zoom setup. Okay. I'll call you tomorrow if you tell what's convenient for you. Okay, that's fine. Yeah, that'll be fine. You give me a call. Just leave a message if I'm out, and I'll get back with you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Okay.

Hey, Mr. Chibi. Yes. I'm looking for you. Okay.

Yeah. Good night. Oh, hey. Okay, hi.

Oh, are you going to say something? Or just... Okay, it's 830. Let me let you all go. I thank you for all being here. Thank you for all being here and taking the time for tonight. I hope you are. I have a question. Okay, okay. Jimmy Cork. Frank, go ahead. It's Vic. Oh, it's Vic. Okay, Vic. He saw was the brother of Jacob, right? Correct. He went out into the forest, hunt, whatever, and he came back hungry. Right. And Jacob was at home cooking, whatever. Why does Bartwright have to come in? He comes home, his brothers. Why can he not give him the food? Oh, he could give him the food. Jacob was well aware. He was well aware of what that birthright meant, right? Remember, they were twins. It's like, wow, he was just born a couple minutes. He was well aware of what that birthright and how important it was. So he was ready when he saw said it, fine, I'll give you this bowl of soup, give me your birthright. He saw Jacob wanted it, right? He counted it very important.

Why does Bartwright have to come in if a brother helps another brother and he's hungry?

Well, I could answer, Mr. Shaby.

Well, it really shouldn't be between the birthright and a food. But as Mr. Shaby said, Jacob was out to outsmart him and trick him to get the birthright. Because you remember, Jacob is the name that says supplanter. So he wanted to supplant Esau. So it's not a word that you supplant Esau. So it's not that he didn't want to give him the food. He wanted to give him the food, but he wanted to pay for the food. And he smarted him by saying, you know what, if you really want this food, then promise to give me a birthright. That's how I see it.

You can tell that Jacob had that birthright on his mind. It wasn't just for the moment. He wanted it. He wanted the value of it, and Esau didn't. That's the lesson in there. It would be the value of the calling that God has given us. So what would we trade it for? I see the kadok as hi, Esadok. It's Candace, but hi. Hey, Candace. Isn't there a verse where it says, before they keep a child had done an evil god that chose Jacob over Esadok? It's kind of one of those sovereignty things of God. Even before the children did an evil god, I hate it and Jacob I love.

I don't think it's like he went to the fire. But he saw the right spirit in Jacob as opposed to in Esau. I think Esau was starving to death, according to the passage.

He was starving to death, so he didn't really care about the birthright, but he didn't think twice.

Maybe he didn't know the scripture that says you can't live by bread alone.

He went a very crucial way. We could fast forward to us, right? If our lives are hanging in the balance and it's like, bow to me, or live and bow to me, or die and remain faithful to God, what would we choose? That's the same scenario that we could face one day, that others before us have have faced. We just have to remember we can't live by bread alone and we wouldn't die.

We wouldn't die. He wasn't at his last breath, exactly.

So let no man take your crown.

Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. Hold fast.

But thank you guys for having me. Okay, well good to have you with us, Candace. Candace will be visiting us in a couple weeks, if I am God willing, everything that goes well. So where is she from?

New York.

Mr. Javier is the one who was married to the next practitioner, yes?

I'm sorry? I think Javier asked who I am, but I think he's the one who married to the next practitioner.

Yeah, it wasn't me who asked, though. That was Brother Frankie.

I don't know who you are. I think Jo and Berga probably know who Candace is, too. They're originally from New York, so...

She came to visit you.

Okay, okay. I see many are beginning to sign off. I know it's getting late, so... Mr. Sebi? Yes, yes, Linda.

I wanted to know if I can call you tomorrow, sometime tomorrow?

Yeah.

Because I know you probably got my message earlier.

I don't know that I got your message earlier. I don't remember seeing one, so...

I had to call Lake County.

Okay, okay. Well, we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it tomorrow when you call.

Okay. Okay, okay. Good night. Okay, good night. And hey, we'll see all of you in Orlando and Jacksonville to Sabbath. Orlando at 1130. Webcast comes from Orlando at 1130. Jacksonville at three o'clock. So, okay, we'll see you all. Have a good week, and we'll be back on the Bible studies on March 3rd. But I will plan to get something to you to keep your mind on Hebrews while I'm away. Okay, everyone?

Thank you.

Take care. Good night. Good night.