1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 I'm going to show you a picture of me doing up here. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Oh, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. 3 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Oh, shepherds, have you watching for silent blood's by life? 4 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:59,000 Behold the Lord God above, the shown Lord holy, the whole wide. 5 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:08,000 Oh, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and down the railing. 6 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:17,000 Oh, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. 7 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:25,000 The shepherds here to travel, when lo, above the earth, 8 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Make of the angel cometh, and hail the Savior's blood. 9 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Oh, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and down the railing. 10 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Oh, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. 11 00:01:53,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Down in the glory manger, the hope of Christ was born. 12 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:13,000 Then God's final salvation, then blessed Christmas was born. 13 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:22,000 Oh, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and down the railing. 14 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:30,000 Oh, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. 15 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:36,000 That Jesus Christ is born. 16 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Grandpa, Caleb, and Tony Tate. 17 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,000 Tony Tate? 18 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,000 I got three boxes here. 19 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Come on. 20 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,000 You can have this box. 21 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,000 You can have this box. 22 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 You can have this box. 23 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:30,000 You're going to open your box last, okay? 24 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,000 And there's a purpose to that. 25 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Go ahead and open yours. 26 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,000 I got a buck. 27 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,000 No, leave you. 28 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,000 Sometimes good things come to fell back. 29 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:52,000 Okay, go ahead and open yours. 30 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:58,000 You got a foot. 31 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:07,000 So before you open up your gift, people know that a lot of people think that Christmas is all about the gifts and the fun that you get. 32 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,000 But there's a true meaning to Christmas. 33 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Go ahead and open up your gift. 34 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:20,000 Yeah! It's just everything I wanted. 35 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,000 So, and there's a meaning behind that. 36 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 You don't need a gift for Christmas, for Christmas to be Christmas. 37 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:35,000 If you get a Christmas gift, that's just something someone is giving to you. 38 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,000 You don't need a Christmas gift to celebrate Christmas. 39 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:44,000 What you need is the Holy Spirit and a Bible. 40 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:51,000 You need the Holy Spirit to know that God is the reason behind Christmas. 41 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:59,000 Because Jesus was born supposedly on Christmas by Mary and Joseph. 42 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:07,000 And you need a Bible so you can look up verses on the Bible Christmas story. 43 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:11,000 Which actually, Tommy, if you could switch to the next slide. 44 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:21,000 I'm going to read a little bit of the Christmas story. 45 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,000 Sorry. 46 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Oh, it's up there. 47 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,000 It's up there. 48 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,000 Yeah, you guys can sit down. 49 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:41,000 It's my dollar. 50 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,000 I'll go to my dollar. 51 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,000 Okay. 52 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Yeah, give me a sec. 53 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,000 Okay. 54 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:07,000 I'm going to follow along. It's Luke 2, 3 through 14. 55 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:12,000 Give it a second for everybody to get there that wants to follow along. 56 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,000 I know. I know. 57 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,000 So, starting at verse 3. 58 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:29,000 And Joseph went to the city of Nazareth and Galilee to Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem. 59 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:38,000 Because he was off the house and family line of David to be registered along with Mary who was engaged to him and pregnant. 60 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,000 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 61 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:52,000 Then she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him snug in a cloth and laid him in a feeding trough because there was no room for them in the lodging place. 62 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:58,000 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in their fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 63 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:06,000 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. 64 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:16,000 But the angel said to them, Don't be afraid for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 65 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:24,000 Today a savior who is the Messiah, the Lord was born for you in the city of David. 66 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:32,000 This will be the sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped snug in a cloth and lying in a feeding trough. 67 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:44,000 Suddenly there was a multitude of heavenly hosts with the angel praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace to earth to the people he favors. 68 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,000 Amen. 69 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:52,000 I read that story and I also know it's sung by heart. 70 00:07:52,000 --> 00:08:03,000 Every time Christmas comes around, I always think back to it because it shows that when they get to Bethlehem, God already has set out. 71 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:11,000 People sometimes think that there's no room in the lodging place because everybody came in. 72 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:24,000 But God wanted the son to be born in the manger around with all the animals to show that he is going to be the land of the earth and of the animals. 73 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:38,000 So he made the lodging place full so that they would have to go into the manger not because they wanted to, but because it's what God had planned for the birth of his one born son. 74 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:55,000 If anybody here knows John 3.16, for God so loved the world he gave his one and only son to us. 75 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:14,000 That ties into the Christmas story because he gave Jesus to live a life on earth, to do miracles in his favor, and to share his word in his favor as a walking image of God himself. 76 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:28,000 And then to die on the cross to save us from our sins, even us now, we're still saved from our sins from when he died back when he lived. 77 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:33,000 We are still saved up to this day no matter what you do, no matter how you do it. 78 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:54,000 We are always going to be saved because of what he did when he died, because he died for us now when he lived and forward on in the generation we're living in now. 79 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,000 Well done. You want to lead us in prayer? 80 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,000 Yeah. 81 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,000 Alright, let's pray to Jason. 82 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,000 Jesus God, thank you for this day. 83 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:21,000 Thank you for giving us another opportunity for us to share your word, for us to celebrate your coming to earth, and to celebrate that we are always saved from our sin in the glory of you. 84 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:36,000 And to celebrate with our family, with our friends on the holiday we call Christmas, but we all know here that Christmas is to celebrate you, not just to celebrate with our family and friends. 85 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:50,000 Although that is a part of it because you love us and you love us to the day you're going to love us even till the day we die and so on and so forth. 86 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,000 In Jesus' name, Amen. 87 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Sing we know well, the King is born to well. Sing we go to Christmas, sing we know well. Angels come to shepherds, lay the flocks at rest. 88 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:55,000 Journey forth to Bethlehem, by the lamp in the house. Sing we know well, the King is born to well. Sing we know well, Christmas, sing we know well. 89 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:19,000 In the store they found him, just the very man. See it from the manger, watch the holy child. Sing we know well, the King is born to well. Sing we know well, Christmas, sing we know well. 90 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:42,000 From the Eastern Country came the Kings of God. Merry Christmas to them, glad you are a star. Sing we know well, the King is born to well. Sing we know well, Christmas, sing we know well. 91 00:12:42,000 --> 00:13:06,000 Go with God and talk that is your greatest prize. Never spare a single soul on the roadside. Sing we know well, the King is born to well. Sing we know well, Christmas, sing we know well. 92 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:31,000 Sing we know well, Christmas, sing we know well. Hear our people's praises, to the things so good. Sing we know well, the King is born to well. Sing we know well, Christmas, sing we know well. 93 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:41,000 The King is born to well. 94 00:13:41,000 --> 00:14:07,000 He's closing the door at night, singing sleep with the moon at night. And the mountains everywhere, and the way he's breathing right. 95 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:22,000 Oh, warrior, in the shadows he's sleeping. 96 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:38,000 Shepherds will be shepherding, while the stars are happy cheer. The green flag is the largest sign, when the tallying's in what you hear. 97 00:14:38,000 --> 00:15:05,000 Oh, warrior, in the shadows he's sleeping. 98 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:20,000 He'll come to earth, the heavens sing, and words like the angels sing. So little will there be, I fell on my new morning. 99 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:46,000 Oh, warrior, in the shadows he's sleeping. 100 00:15:50,000 --> 00:16:05,000 What, what? 101 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:17,000 I think I made an extra copy tonight. Thank you sir. 102 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:26,000 Real quick, while we're passing those out and getting organized, do we have that pen cut back there still? Yep, awesome. 103 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:38,000 With pen able. Real quick, so just to be clear, we all probably already know, but Mary was Jesus' mother, but God was Jesus' father. 104 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:47,000 Okay, just to be clear. So who raised him? Kind of Mary and Joseph, right, kind of physically raised him, right, but God was Jesus' father. 105 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:54,000 Okay, and also Jesus was God. So that's cool. 106 00:16:54,000 --> 00:17:00,000 Also, I'll tell you a quick story while you're looking over this amazing worksheet that I made. 107 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:08,000 I went to a concert years ago, a choir concert at Northwood, and they were singing a medley of Christmas songs. 108 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:18,000 And when they sang Gloria in Excelsis Deo, which we sang, it's part of Angels We Heard on High, they didn't sing the verses, they only sung the chorus. 109 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:27,000 And the whole audience joined in, and everybody, it was like 350 people singing Gloria in Excelsis Deo, right? 110 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:31,000 And I thought to myself, how many atheists do you think are probably in the room? 111 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:39,000 How many people that don't want God, don't want to know anything about God, don't believe in God, and everybody was singing? 112 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:46,000 And of course, that means they don't know what Gloria in Excelsis Deo means, right? It means Gloria in excess to God. 113 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:56,000 You can almost kind of see it, it comes from the Latin, but so that means there were people there who wanted nothing to do with God, who were singing Gloria in Excelsis Deo, which cracked me up. 114 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:01,000 Everybody knows that, even though they don't want it to be true. 115 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:11,000 Okay, so we're going to go kind of quick on the overall of this, because as you can see, there's a lot of information on your sheet. 116 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:22,000 It's kind of fun, that is a maze in the middle there, and there's symbolism in the fact that we kind of get in the maze of life, and the maze has a name, 117 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:29,000 and I'm going to give you all of that, but first we're going to look at the verses. 118 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,000 So if you look right across the top there, I've given you the last reference already. 119 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:43,000 So going from the left, it is Colossians 1, 24-27. 120 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:48,000 Yep, everything about the book of Colossians is awesome. 121 00:18:48,000 --> 00:19:06,000 Okay, and then the next one is 1 Corinthians 2, 1-16, and then the next one is Romans 16-25. 122 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:14,000 And then of course, the first one was Colossians 1, 24-27. 123 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:26,000 Okay, I'm going to do the reading, partially in the interest of time, but partially because we're going to go over the verses like multiple times, so I'll do it. 124 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:39,000 Before we start, most of the information is in the maze, and the maze has a name, and its name is written down the left-hand side, 125 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:45,000 and its name is Wisdom of Men. 126 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:55,000 Wisdom of Men. So you'll see that box there, it says, there's a blank, that's Wisdom of Men. 127 00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:02,000 And the reference is 1 Corinthians 2, 5, where it says, So that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men. 128 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,000 Okay, you don't need the reference, but it's called Wisdom of Men. 129 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:19,000 It is largely, the maze is largely composed of two things, and they go in the top boxes, one to the left of the gate, one to the right, and the one on the left says, Mystery. 130 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:27,000 So in the box to the left of the gate, up here, Mystery, and the box to the right of the gate, Hidden. 131 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,000 Anybody here ever been through a maze? 132 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,000 Most of us probably, sometime or another, right? 133 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,000 Have you ever been through a maze of mirrors? 134 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,000 Yeah, I've been through a couple mazes of mirrors, went through one. 135 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:45,000 Yeah, it was kind of fun, I mean, don't walk fast, because you'll think you're going through an empty space, and you're actually going through a mirror, right? 136 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:52,000 So, I mean, you can't break the mirror, because they're pretty protected, but the one maze we were in did have a broken mirror, somebody broke it. 137 00:20:52,000 --> 00:21:03,000 But mazes generally are the mystery of which way do I go, and the correct path is hidden. 138 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:09,000 And this maze that we're talking about today is no different in that regards. 139 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:18,000 Alright, so we'll listen to the verses, and then I will try to plug in some of the parts of the maze as we go, and then we'll go from there. 140 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:24,000 Alright, so first we're going to read from 1 Corinthians, actually. 141 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:30,000 Okay, and I'm going to read all the verses, but as we get to it, I'll hone in on the first blank, you'll see a number one. 142 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:36,000 In the maze, you see a little number one, and then you have, there's two lines there, next to it. 143 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,000 Okay, I'm reading from 1 Corinthians, chapter 2. 144 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:52,000 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 145 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,000 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 146 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:05,000 And my message and my preaching were not persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 147 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:13,000 So that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, there is the name of our maze, but on the power of God, there is the goal. 148 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:23,000 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. 149 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:31,000 But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory. 150 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:40,000 The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 151 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:47,000 And here's coming on the first box. But just as it is written, things which eye has not seen. 152 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:57,000 And so the two blanks are not seen. So number one, in the maze, upper left hand corner, it's got a little box one, next to these two lines, not seen. 153 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:05,000 Continuing in the same verse, an ear has not heard. So that goes in the middle, just below the gate, not heard. 154 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:11,000 Number two is not heard. 155 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:26,000 And which have not entered the heart of men, that actually goes on number five, straight down in the middle, look at number five, not entered heart. 156 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:34,000 Okay, going on. 157 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:40,000 All that God has prepared for those who love him. Again, that's a synopsis of our goal, what's on the other side of the maze. 158 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:45,000 We'll come back to that in a minute. For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. That's good. 159 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:51,000 For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. All that's good stuff. We'll use it before we're done. 160 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:56,000 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? 161 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,000 So in other words, who knows my thoughts except my spirit? And vice versa. 162 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:08,000 Even so the thoughts of God, no one knows except the Spirit of God. And that is number four. 163 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:15,000 So go to the left, number four, no one knows. No one knows. 164 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:22,000 Okay, so we should have in the upper left hand corner, not seen, directly below the gate, you should have not heard, 165 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:30,000 over under the word, I'm sorry, straight down from that, number five, you have not entered heart. 166 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:39,000 And number four, you have no one knows. Now if you notice, this maze comes to those places a lot of different ways. 167 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:49,000 Okay, we're going to continue on. Twelve. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. 168 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:56,000 So that we may know the things freely given to us by God. Again, that's a goal. Which things we also speak, also a goal. 169 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:03,000 Not in words taught by human wisdom, that's kind of the name of our maze, but in those taught by the Spirit, 170 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:11,000 combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things. 171 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:23,000 And so number six in the maze, not accepted. So number six is to the right, about half way down, not accepted. 172 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,000 Okay, only a couple of verses left here in this and I'll finish them real quick. 173 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:37,000 Does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them. 174 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:43,000 And that is another one for number, that is number three, I'm sorry we didn't do number three yet. 175 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:54,000 So number three then is not understood. Up in the right hand corner up there, not understood. 176 00:25:54,000 --> 00:26:04,000 Because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual, there we go, he who is spiritual appraises all things. 177 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:10,000 Yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct him. 178 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:17,000 But we have the mind of Christ, again that's the goal. Okay, now you've got two left, number seven and number eight. 179 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:27,000 Number seven comes from Romans 16 25 where it says, now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel 180 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:36,000 and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which, quote, has been kept secret for long ages past. 181 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:44,000 And so it starts at the seven and there are four lines that go down to the right, has been kept secret. 182 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:57,000 And then number eight comes from Ephesians 3 and for the moment we'll just go read the verse we need which is Ephesians 3 5. 183 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:08,000 And it says, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of man as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the spirit. 184 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:19,000 So it was not made known. Okay, so if you start at the top of the maze you're in the wisdom of men. 185 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:26,000 Okay, and as you search in the wisdom of men, this is where I was for 25 years, as you search in the wisdom of men 186 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:32,000 and you're looking around for, you're going to run into these problems. The problem is that the truth has not been known. 187 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:38,000 When I was looking at possibly becoming a Christian and I thought I would go to church, I knew one person, 188 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:44,000 exactly one person who called themselves a Christian and I thought acted like a Christian. One. 189 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:51,000 That's not very many people living in America surrounded by churches. Church buildings are in Toledo, right? 190 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,000 I knew one person. And so when we thought, well, we think we want to go find out more about God, 191 00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:00,000 we thought we'll go to church, we better go to that church where that one person goes because that's the only person we know 192 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:07,000 who professes to be a Christian who acts like we think a Christian should act. So these things are not known. 193 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:12,000 Until I was 25 years old, it hadn't entered into my heart. I really hadn't even thought about it. 194 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:20,000 In fact, there was two young people that had shared Christ with me. Well, one person was 12 and the other person was probably in her 20s. 195 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:27,000 And I didn't accept Jesus Christ. I didn't really think of it. It didn't really concern me. 196 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:32,000 I was just living my life and I had all kinds of problems and stuff and I was doing all kinds of things 197 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,000 I probably shouldn't have been doing and I knew some of them I shouldn't have been doing, 198 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:43,000 but I really never even seriously considered it. I had not accepted it. But this isn't talking about my life. 199 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:50,000 This maze is not talking about my life and it's not talking about your life. The wisdom of man is not chronologically set. 200 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:56,000 We're not talking about the collective wisdom in this room or the collective wisdom on the earth in 2023. 201 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:05,000 We're talking about the wisdom of men always, since Adam and Eve, all the way till now and all the way to the future. 202 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:13,000 Now there come a moment in time when Jesus was born, laid in a manger, lived, died, was crucified. 203 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:20,000 From that moment in time, something has happened. Something really cool has happened. 204 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:26,000 And it is that there is a way through the maze, a way past the wisdom of men. 205 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:32,000 And if you'll notice, there is an exit to the maze down on the bottom. 206 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:38,000 And I've filled in some of the little words just to save time with your writing and like that. 207 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:49,000 But all of these things have essentially happened now, been made, I should say, been made available. 208 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,000 Let's say it that way. 209 00:29:51,000 --> 00:30:00,000 So the first one on the left, if you were walking out the maze, it would be on your right, but it's actually on your left, is power of God. 210 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,000 And you'll recall we read this verse, 1 Corinthians 2.5 says it, 211 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,000 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 212 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:19,000 So you realize that in Christ, in the resurrection power of Christ, the same power that brought God back to life as Jesus, 213 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:25,000 Jesus came, God the Son, died, came back to life, that same resurrection power is in us now. 214 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,000 It's in the church. It's in people. 215 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:33,000 Then across next to that is a phrase, freely given. 216 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:40,000 So it's given is written in for you and the other word is freely. 217 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:47,000 Okay. And then it's that comes from 1 Corinthians 2.12. 218 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:59,000 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. 219 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:09,000 Down under power of God, the next one down is a single word, and it is wisdom. 220 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:21,000 2 6 said, yet we speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. 221 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:29,000 Then to the right of that, from several verses in there, including that one we just read, we speak. 222 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:35,000 1 Corinthians 2.13 says, which things we also speak. 223 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:39,000 Right. So notice that we have a job to do. 224 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,000 Since we're saved, we're talking about something. What are we talking about? 225 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,000 I mean, yeah, we like to talk about football. We like to talk about games. We like to talk about the weather. 226 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,000 We like to talk about jobs. We like to talk about getting paid or not getting paid. 227 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,000 Let's talk about what we're going through, all of those things we're talking about. 228 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:57,000 But if you're talking about all of those things and you're not talking about the single most important thing, then you're kind of missing the point. 229 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,000 Because we speak about this. This is what we were created for. 230 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:09,000 This is why God made a way through the wisdom of man to get to the wisdom of God, if you will, so that we can talk about these things. 231 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:15,000 Then the phrase down from there to the left is riches of Christ. 232 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:19,000 That comes from Ephesians 3.8. 233 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:27,000 Riches, like money but not riches, R-I-C-H-E-S, of Christ. 234 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:38,000 And Ephesians 3.8 says, To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. 235 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:43,000 This is the whole point. What is it all about? The riches of Christ. 236 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:50,000 And over next to that, we have the depths of God. 237 00:32:50,000 --> 00:33:02,000 1 Corinthians 2.10 said, For to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 238 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:12,000 You understand, as a human being, you now have access to all the things, the Holy Spirit's in you, you have access to all the things that God does and He thinks and like that. 239 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:19,000 Now, He's not going to overload you so you get a bunch of stuff, you might know what somebody's favorite color is in China or something. 240 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:29,000 That's worthless knowledge. It means that you have the ability to understand what you're going through, what you're doing, what God is trying to accomplish. 241 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:34,000 We don't have to walk around bewildered. The Spirit understands. 242 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:42,000 Now, He may say to you, look, it's okay, just stick in there, wait and see where this is going, you're going to love it. Right? 243 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:47,000 The same as Ariadne would like to know what her Christmas present is, but she would never sneak and peek because she loves the surprise. 244 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:57,000 It's part of it. And it's the same way with God. The Spirit understands the depths of God, but it doesn't mean that He's going to reveal everything to us. 245 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:07,000 Sometimes that would be too much, but everything that we need is revealed. And the last one in that cloud there of good stuff is the manifold wisdom of God. 246 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:16,000 Manifold, M-A-N-I-F-O-L-D, like an exhaust manifold, but the other kind of manifold. Manifold wisdom of God. 247 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:26,000 And again, that comes from Ephesians 3.10 where it says, so that the manifold wisdom of God now be made known, might now be made known. 248 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:30,000 And I'm intentionally not finishing that verse because there's a huge point in there. 249 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:34,000 So if you're following along in your Bible, you can look at it now and get the kind of like heads up before we get there. 250 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,000 But I'm not reading the second half, I'm only reading the first half. We'll get there in a minute. 251 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:46,000 Alright, so we've made it through the maze. Mystery hidden. Wisdom of men. We've got all those little numbers filled in in there. 252 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:53,000 Is everybody with me? How have we done? Who's got it? 100% every blank filled in. Raise your hand. 253 00:34:53,000 --> 00:35:00,000 Okay, alright, pretty good. We're doing pretty good. And some people do have it but didn't raise their hand because they were doing something. 254 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:06,000 So then you follow the arrow from the cloud down. Now we've got this. This is what the maze was all about. 255 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:11,000 God brought us through the maze so that we could have the power of God, the wisdom, the riches of Christ. 256 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:16,000 It could be freely given. We could speak of this. Depths of God, manifold wisdom of God. 257 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:26,000 And God Himself so that these things might, the first two blanks, be made known. 258 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:33,000 Ephesians 3.3. That by revelation there was made known me the mystery. So God made you know. 259 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:39,000 There's a moment in time where Peter comes to Jesus and he professes that Jesus is the Christ, the Lamb, the Son of God. 260 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:44,000 Taketh away the sins of the world. Something like that. I forget what phrases he uses exactly now. 261 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:51,000 But he comes and he confesses it and Jesus says, man did not reveal this to you. But God did. 262 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:56,000 You're not saved because you figured it out. You're not saved because someone convinced you. 263 00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:04,000 In fact, I'm just going to say, if you figured it out and that's how you think you got from being not saved to saved, 264 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:09,000 if you figured it out, then you're not saved. And if you think someone talked you into it, 265 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:14,000 somebody told you real well how this will go and you wanted what they said and they encouraged you 266 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:21,000 and they talked you into being saved, then you're not saved. This is something that God made known to you. 267 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:26,000 You could never divorce yourself of God now because you know these things about God. 268 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,000 Now you don't know everything. God's still revealing. God's still teaching, whatever. 269 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:37,000 But it's all available as need be. Right? And how do you go back from that? 270 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:44,000 Sherry's grandmother used to make cutout cookies and she had a certain cutout cookie recipe that she used. 271 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:52,000 And she handed that cutout cookie down to Judy, who's gone to be with the Lord, we believe. 272 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:57,000 And Judy handed that cutout cookie down to Sherry, the cookie recipe down to Sherry. 273 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:02,000 And about 15, 20 years ago, the first time we ever wanted to bake Christmas cookies, 274 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:06,000 she said, I want to make Christmas cookies like my grandmother makes. 275 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:10,000 And so she called her mom and her mom said, well yeah, just do it like this. 276 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,000 Throw this in there, throw that in there, measure, blah, blah. 277 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:16,000 And she's like, I really would like to have the steps and have it written down or whatever. 278 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:23,000 This is before texting. And so she said, well, I don't have it written down. I just make them. 279 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:29,000 So Sherry called her grandmother and her grandmother said, yes, I will give it to you. 280 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:35,000 Let me get my recipe book out. She got her recipe book out and she read it off and Sherry wrote it down word for word. 281 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:40,000 See, Sherry wanted the cookies that grandma makes. 282 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:45,000 Once you know the cookies that God makes, you'll not settle for the cookies that man makes anymore. 283 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,000 Why would you go back in the maze? That doesn't make any sense. 284 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:54,000 Why would you go back to living your life by the wisdom of men when you know that the wisdom of God has been made available to you? 285 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,000 It's been made known. 286 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:01,000 The next one right under that is you can understand. 287 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:06,000 And that comes from Ephesians 3, 4, which I'll read by referring to this. 288 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:15,000 When you read, listen to this by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. 289 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:20,000 Now, he's saying this is what I've figured out and you can understand it, too. 290 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:26,000 There was a great debate, a great theological debate going on in a Christian games group that I'm part of online. 291 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:31,000 And one of the guys basically said, well, I tend to listen to these big theologians. 292 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,000 They've done a lot of work. I read books on this. 293 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:43,000 And he was basically claiming that he knew what he was talking about because he went to the people who studied, who really knew a lot, doctors, you know, doctors of theology and stuff. 294 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:48,000 The other guy came back with, I hear what you're saying and I would take anybody's argument. 295 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,000 I would listen closely if somebody seemed like they knew what they were talking about. 296 00:38:52,000 --> 00:39:00,000 He said, but this is what I believe about the word of God, that we can read it and we can understand it. 297 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:08,000 Any man from any walk of life can read it and by God's Holy Spirit understand it if he wants to, if he's willing. 298 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:18,000 When I was 25 years old and started asking things about Christ, I started reading the book of Daniel and I read the first seven chapters and I did not understand it. 299 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:25,000 Now, when I was in sixth grade, I had a reading level probably way higher than I have now, but I had a college reading level in sixth grade. 300 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:31,000 So there's no reason at 25 years old I can't read anything. I could read very technical manuals. 301 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:39,000 I could look anything up online on eHow. That's pre Google, you know, pre like instead of asking Alexa to do something, looking up an eHow, whatever. 302 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:46,000 And I could do all that. But I couldn't read the book of Daniel and understand what God was talking about because I wasn't saved. 303 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:52,000 But once you're saved and you have the Holy Spirit, you can understand. And by the way, what does understand mean? 304 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:57,000 Does it mean you know what it means? That's what people take it to mean, but that isn't what it means. 305 00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:04,000 Say it again. Yeah, it means you stand under it. You can put it to use. That's what it means. So I've got it and I can use it. 306 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:08,000 So you can read your Bible, figure out what it says and do something. 307 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:17,000 What happens if you read your Bible and it told you to do something and you went to go and do that thing and it wasn't exactly what the Bible was telling you to do? 308 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:25,000 You didn't quite understand it exactly right or you did something that was kind of risky and there would have been another way to do it that wasn't so risky. 309 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:29,000 Well, that's all in God's hands. He can handle all of that. 310 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,000 You can end all you walk up and start telling somebody about Jesus that doesn't want to hear it. 311 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:36,000 And that guy might beat you up or knife you or throw you in a gutter somewhere. 312 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:42,000 God can handle all of that. Just trust what you read, do what you read and let God take care of the rest. 313 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:49,000 Because why? Because you can understand. And then the next one is now revealed. 314 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:59,000 So there's three there that are kind of down past the arrow from the cloud. It's made known, you can understand and now revealed. 315 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:13,000 And Ephesians 3, 5 says, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men and it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, by God's Spirit. 316 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:21,000 Now it's revealed. By the way, a thing that has not been made known that is now revealed is a good thing. 317 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:27,000 It needed to be in this case. Now follow the arrow up to the left. 318 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:31,000 We're almost done. But there's several really important things that we need to see here. 319 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:37,000 It's coming together as the mystery will be revealed. 320 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:44,000 Before we go and read this, I want to read Colossians 1, 24-27. And it says this. 321 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:51,000 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body. 322 00:41:51,000 --> 00:42:00,000 In other words, he was living pretty well, not perfectly, which is the church, and filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. 323 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:10,000 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. 324 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:15,000 That is the mystery which has been hidden. You hear it? The mystery which has been hidden. 325 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:20,000 That was the maze, the wisdom of God that people were trapped in. 326 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:28,000 He was preaching the word of God. That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations but has now been manifested to the saints. 327 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:40,000 In other words, now it has been revealed. It's been made clear to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, 328 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:45,000 which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And that last one again is the goal. 329 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:57,000 Now we're going to read Ephesians 3.6 again. If you'll look at this verse down here, I've given you quite a few of the little blanks. 330 00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:24,000 So Ephesians 3.6, not the first part, to be specific that the Gentiles are, might be made known through the church 331 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:37,000 to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 332 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:43,000 So that's not Ephesians 3.6 by the way. I misquoted the reference. 333 00:43:43,000 --> 00:44:03,000 So I read that, right? Yeah, 27. No, 3.10. Thank you. Yes, 3.10. My bad. I wrote it down wrong. 334 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:14,000 So that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. That's your blanks. 335 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:25,000 So I ask you, thinking caps on, this is the moment, drum roll please, no drummer in the house. 336 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:36,000 You went through the maze, which was the hidden, the mystery, the wisdom of men to come out the other side. 337 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:48,000 Power of God, wisdom, riches of Christ freely given, we speak depths of God, manifold wisdom of God made known to you, you can understand, now revealed. 338 00:44:48,000 --> 00:45:06,000 For what? Was it so that you could tell other people about Jesus? No, it wasn't. Was it so that you could go to heaven? No. 339 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:19,000 Okay, so what was it? It's in the verse we just read, Ephesians 3.10, that it might be made known through the church to, to who? 340 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:27,000 Who are we affecting? The rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 341 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:36,000 When you tell somebody about Jesus, they could get saved, it's true. That would be awesome, right? But it's not about that. 342 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:46,000 It's not even what it's about. It's not about getting saved. So I've told, I'm studying this, I'm like, that's awesome, because I've told, told bunches of people about getting saved, 343 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:55,000 and bunches of them didn't, and some of them did, right? And I always go like this, I go, oh man, I explained it the best I knew how. 344 00:45:55,000 --> 00:46:02,000 I asked them to get saved, I asked them to pray with me, I was ready to pray, you know, I was going to lead them in a prayer, whatever. 345 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:08,000 Got a great church where they can go and learn about Jesus, and I was kind of like, oh, I wish they would get saved. 346 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:19,000 Except, guess what? Not even the goal. It's not the goal. That is part of the process. They're in the maze. 347 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:28,000 See? They're in the maze, and they need to come out, they do, they need to come down here and begin the ministry of reconciliation, right? 348 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:33,000 So that's the same thing that's explained to us, we can explain to others, that's all part of that. But it's not the goal. 349 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:45,000 The goal is that this might be made known through the church, that's us, to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 350 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:54,000 Our ministry of sharing the gospel, of telling people all of these truths, and the great mystery that God prepared through Jesus, 351 00:46:54,000 --> 00:47:03,000 a way that people could get saved, no matter what your background, where you come from, whatever, the great exposition of that mystery, 352 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:15,000 is so that the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms can figure out what we know. Is that not awesome? 353 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:20,000 It has nothing to do with whether or not that person will pray. It has nothing to do with whether or not that person gets saved. 354 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:26,000 It would be great if they do, and we always say things like, oh, you know, if you have a friend, and they're going to hell, 355 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:30,000 and you haven't told about Jesus, well, shame on you, because you're letting them go to hell. 356 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:34,000 You have everything they need, and they're going to hell because you won't tell them about it. 357 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:39,000 Or if you had a friend that had a terrible disease, and you had the cure, wouldn't you take it to them and share them? 358 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:45,000 We're saying all those things to try to urge people to do what Jesus gave us to do in the Great Commission, 359 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:51,000 but the reality is, that's not the point. The point is we hold the mysteries. 360 00:47:51,000 --> 00:48:01,000 Who fathoms the great depths of God? The Holy Spirit. And therefore, we do. 361 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:11,000 Angels don't. Demons don't. And many very wise men, or men that think they're very wise, don't get it. 362 00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:17,000 There's lots and lots of people, and lots and lots of evil spirits, and lots and lots of angels. 363 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:25,000 This is for us to witness to them. That's what it's all about. 364 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:32,000 The Church then composed the people from all walks of life. Isaiah 49, 6. If you look at the very bottom of your paper there, 365 00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:39,000 that's Isaiah 49, 6, two blanks on the left corner. And it says, 366 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:49,000 He says, it is too small a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. 367 00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:59,000 Who's He talking about? Talking about Jesus. It's too small a thing that the Christ would save Israel. That's too small. 368 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:10,000 He says, I will also make you a light to the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. 369 00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:19,000 Jesus couldn't just be the Christ of the Messiah just for the Jews and the Israelites, because that's just too small a thing. 370 00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:26,000 The Christ died for everybody, and that's the message we carry. But the people of every generation, and now, 371 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:35,000 and every generation coming, will struggle to understand that because they're wrapped up, stuck in the mystery until it is revealed to them. 372 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:39,000 And it has now been revealed to you, and you have a responsibility. 373 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:49,000 And Jesus said it this way with regards to this responsibility in John 15, 15. And that's the last blanks you have there. It's John 15, 15. 374 00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:59,000 And I kind of know it by heart, but I'm going to read it. Just make sure I get it right. 375 00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:09,000 John 15, 15, Jesus says, No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing, 376 00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:15,000 but I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you. 377 00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:21,000 You see, you've got a job to do. If you've become a Christian, you've got a job to do. 378 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:29,000 Your job is not as simple as, I'm going to go and be a witness to the nations. That's good, and you should. 379 00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:35,000 I'd be a missionary or a pastor or just tell all my friends at work and school and everything, witness wherever I go. 380 00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:43,000 That's all good. We should do that. But the fact that we can do that is the real truth that's been revealed, 381 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:53,000 that it's for everybody, and that message needs to be delivered to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 382 00:50:53,000 --> 00:51:08,000 We have the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2.16 says. This was prepared for us, 1 Corinthians 2.9 says. 383 00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:18,000 And Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1.27. Get it? Is that not awesome? 384 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:28,000 Now let's assume for a minute here that there's somebody in this room that has not in earnest given their life to Christ. 385 00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:34,000 Then this whole concept of being lost in the wisdom of men, they're going to spend their time not knowing. 386 00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:38,000 They're not going to be in their heart. They're not going to accept it on first pass. They don't understand. 387 00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:42,000 Not only do they not understand what we're talking about, they don't understand what Jesus was talking about. 388 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:47,000 They don't necessarily understand why it is that Jesus had to die to pay for sin. 389 00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:55,000 But the truth is, sin separates men from God. And that meant that nobody had the right to do what we've now been given the right to do. 390 00:51:55,000 --> 00:52:06,000 But Jesus began the church in a sense. And the church has this ministry that through us, 391 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:11,000 the rulers and the authorities and the heavenly places would learn this truth. 392 00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:19,000 That we're in, that God says so, he made it possible and he says so. People from all walks of life everywhere. 393 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:24,000 The question is, has he shown it to you? And if he has and he's shown it to you for the very first time now, 394 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:27,000 then you have a decision to make and decide who I'm going to be going forward. 395 00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:34,000 Why would you want to go back and live by the wisdom of men if you have access to the wisdom of God? 396 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:42,000 Why would you want to live in the shallow world of men where we go like, I'm happy, I'm not happy, I want this, I want that, I'm driven by my desires, etc. 397 00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:49,000 When you have access to the depths of God and the riches of Christ? 398 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:58,000 And the answer is, you wouldn't. People who make it out of the maze don't willingly go back in and get stuck there again. 399 00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:08,000 The only reason to venture into the land of the wisdom of men now is so that we can show others the way out. 400 00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:12,000 I want to share one story and then we'll be through. 401 00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:20,000 If there is a young person in the house who completed every blank on their page, I need to see it before you leave because I have prizes. 402 00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:24,000 So if all your blanks are filled in, make sure I see it. 403 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:35,000 Okay. What? No sir. Not for this. You're definitely a young person but not for this. 404 00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:43,000 I had a dream, it was a little over 20 years ago, and in my dream there was a skyscraper and the skyscraper, the lights were out. 405 00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:50,000 There's no lights. And I got the impression it was kind of like a holocaust dream, like there was a lot of suffering going on. 406 00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:56,000 And I went in this building and in the building there was a desk and the desk had flashlights. 407 00:53:56,000 --> 00:54:00,000 And you could take a flashlight to go up into the building. 408 00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:06,000 And everybody was going into the building looking for a way out to get somewhere we needed to get to. 409 00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:14,000 And in my dream I didn't know for sure what it was. So it was heaven, a safe place, a place where they have food or medicine or whatever. 410 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:18,000 And so we're all getting our flashlights from this table. 411 00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:27,000 And then we're going on the stairs and we're going up into this dark building and we're shining our flashlights around corners and in nooks and crannies and searching and searching and searching. 412 00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:30,000 And never finding a way out. 413 00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:34,000 So I'm 15 stories up in this building in my dream and Deacon Tony's with me. 414 00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:37,000 We'd been to the top already and we're searching the middle floors now. 415 00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:41,000 We thought it might be at the top. So we went all the way to the top and started there and then worked our way back down. 416 00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:49,000 About 15 floors up and I said to Deacon Tony, I said, you know, I think, I wonder, did we even need to come up here? 417 00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:55,000 And he goes, what do you mean? I said, I mean, don't exits of buildings, aren't they usually on the ground floor? 418 00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:58,000 Why are we up here in the 15th floor looking for a way out? 419 00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:03,000 And he goes, you know, it makes a lot of sense. In fact, I thought I saw something a way out down there. 420 00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:06,000 Let's go check it out. And so we go back all the way down to the first floor. 421 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:08,000 We have the stairs, our little flashlights, right? 422 00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:18,000 And just past the table that passes out the flashlights, just past the stairway that leads upstairs is the exit. 423 00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:28,000 You didn't really ever have to go into the maze. You didn't really ever have to get lost. 424 00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:32,000 It's by sin that we did that. We did it because we wanted it. 425 00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:39,000 We did it because we wanted something we weren't supposed to have or because we thought by lying we would get something we would we wanted or we were violent or whatever. 426 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:49,000 A funny thing was in that dream, Deacon Tony and I said, you know, if we just turn our flashlights in here and just go past the stairs, we can go right outside and we're done. We're free. 427 00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:57,000 And we said, no, we're not going to do it because if we go and we leave, then we're out. 428 00:55:57,000 --> 00:56:02,000 They can't come back in. The doors locked was locking. There's no way back in. 429 00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:08,000 And so we kept our flashlights and we went looking for people in the building, anyone who would listen to us, everyone was coming to get a flashlight. 430 00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:11,000 We tell them, don't get a flashlight. Just go out. It's right there. Just go out. 431 00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:15,000 And people would not listen to us. They just go out the door. It's right there. 432 00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:20,000 They're like, there's no exit sign. I'm like, I know there's no exit sign, but I'm telling you, I went and looked out. This is the way out. 433 00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:24,000 Just trust me. They still wouldn't do it. So we were go go up into the building. 434 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:31,000 We thought if people have been searching for a really long time, if they've searched every floor, they surely will be ready to exit. 435 00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:36,000 So we said, let's go looking for people who have searched every floor twice and know there's no exit up there. 436 00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:40,000 They all want to exit. And we took the flashlights and we went up to floor 11. 437 00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:46,000 We found some people that had searched the entire building twice. And we said, you don't have to search the building. It's free. 438 00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:51,000 We just go back downstairs. You don't need the flashlights. Go right where you got just past where you get the flashlight. 439 00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:57,000 Just pass the stairs and go right out. It's free. And they wouldn't do it. 440 00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:04,000 They had gotten so into the habit of searching. They were so they said, no, one guy said, we've searched the whole building twice. 441 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:13,000 We know there's no exit, but we have to have missed something. We've spent so much time searching now we can't possibly quit. 442 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:21,000 And they kept searching. But eventually we found a few. 443 00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:26,000 And we a couple of people said this is the way out. And they're like, oh, that makes so much sense. 444 00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:31,000 Of course, we've searched everything up here. There's no way out up here. It had to be down there. 445 00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:35,000 I don't know why we didn't think of that. And they started to go down. 446 00:57:35,000 --> 00:57:44,000 And I said, do you want to go down and go out? Or do you want to help us find other people and tell them how to go out? 447 00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:54,000 And almost to a man, they said, no, we'll help you find others as long as we get out before it's too late. 448 00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:59,000 If there ever is a too late, we'll help you find others. 449 00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:08,000 And I woke up from my dream, remembering it still to this day, knowing that that's our job. 450 00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:16,000 We are living in the world of the wisdom of man. We are living inside the maze. 451 00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:25,000 Explaining to people that as soon as they are ready to stop searching in their own strength, in their own wisdom, in the way the world says it can be done, etc, etc. 452 00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:31,000 And just willing to exit, then God will reveal to them everything they need. 453 00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:38,000 And then they can stay in the maze with us as the church, and we will reveal that same thing. 454 00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:45,000 Not only to those who are inside the maze, but more importantly, to the rulers and authorities of the heavenly realms. 455 00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:51,000 Would you commit yourself to that? Stop fussing about whether you're going to tell somebody else about Jesus. 456 00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:56,000 Because the truth is, this is what you were saved for. Tell everyone. Tell everyone. 457 00:58:56,000 --> 00:59:00,000 And if they don't listen, it doesn't even matter. I'm not saying be a jerk about it, but tell everyone. 458 00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:07,000 It doesn't even matter because the real witness isn't for them, it's for the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms who are watching us. 459 00:59:07,000 --> 00:59:11,000 To figure out, is this really true? 460 00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:19,000 God really saved some goofy dude that lives in Northwood who lied all those times, stole all those times, fought all those times, hurt all those people, 461 00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:28,000 who had traumatic flashbacks about all the stupid things he's done, dabbled in this and dabbled in that, ruined his life in almost every possible way. 462 00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:34,000 And God saved that person and made that person a preacher? No, God's going to crush him any minute now. 463 00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:49,000 But no, he isn't. And that's what they need to know.