July 7, 2025 • 30 mins
What separates the true God from countless imitations? He's alive – and He interacts with us personally.
The message from Acts 14 cuts through religious fog to reveal an incredible truth: while false gods remain distant and demanding, the living God draws near. From Adam in Eden through the prophets and ultimately through Jesus Christ, God consistently demonstrates His desire for relationship with those He created.
This stands in stark contrast to both ancient idols like Jupiter and Mercury and our modern substitutes – whether alcohol, entertainment, relationships, or success. These "vanities" demand our worship but deliver only emptiness. They control our lives much like gods, yet lead inevitably toward destruction.
The living God offers something radically different. Instead of requiring endless religious performance, He did everything necessary for our salvation through Christ's sacrifice. He leaves us only to believe. And when we turn to Him, He doesn't merely save us from hell – He transforms us completely, giving us a new mind, heart, and purpose.
Ready to turn from empty worship to the One who gives abundant life? Respond to His call today. Your journey from spiritual paralysis to leaping with new life begins with a simple act of faith – turning from vanities to the living God who is reaching for you right now.
NEW BOOK! I'm pleased to say that we have completed a new book that has been years in the making. The Ten Shirot: Songs of Redemption looks at ten songs that were sung through pivotal times in Scripture. It's an examination of the redemption of Jesus, of worship, and of Scripture in a way that we believe you probably haven't seen before. Check it out at https://a.co/d/0a4KIooL .
The Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast is a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're located at 121 Arborside Lane in King, NC and we can be reached at welcome@gracebaptisttabernacle.org. Please continue to share these episodes, and please consider coming to visit our church. We are excited and expectant for you to come!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Greetings, hello and welcome to the Redeeming Love
Bible Broadcast.
My name is Phil Duddy,evangelist with Grace Baptist
Tabernacle of King, northCarolina.
Glad to have you with me on theprogram today.
Glad you're here, as always.
Please do reach out to us atredeemingthelove at icloudcom.
Come with me to Acts, chapter14.
(00:36):
I'm going to read a little bitof a longer account in the
scripture today, and that'sgoing to be found in Acts,
chapter 14, and we will bestarting in verse 8.
So Acts, chapter 14, startingin verse 8, this is what the
Word of God says.
And there sat a certain man atLystra, impotent in his feet,
(00:56):
being a cripple from hismother's womb, who never had
walked.
The same heard Paul speak who,steadfastly beholding him and
perceiving that he had faith tobe healed, said with a loud
voice Stand upright on thy feet.
And he leaped and walked.
And when the people saw whatPaul had done, they lifted up
(01:20):
their voices saying in thespeech of the Laconia the gods
are come down to us in thelikeness of men.
And they called BarnabasJupiter and Paul Mercurius,
because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priests of Jupiter,which was before their city,
brought oxen and garlands to thegates and would have done
(01:40):
sacrifice with the people which,when the apostles Barnabas and
Paul heard of they, rent theirclothes and ran in among the
people, crying out and sayingSirs, why do ye these things?
We also are men of likepassions with you and preach
unto you that you should turnfrom these vanities unto the
(02:02):
living God, which made heavenand earth and the sea and all
things that are therein, who intimes past suffered all nations
to walk in their own ways.
Nevertheless, he left nothimself without witness, in that
he did good and gave us rainfrom heaven and fruitful seasons
(02:23):
filling our hearts with foodand gladness.
Now I want to draw yourattention to how God identifies
himself in this account, becausethis isn't strictly something
that was written down by a mannamed Luke thousands of years
(02:45):
ago, but this was something thatwas written by inspiration from
the Holy Spirit.
This is something that Goddirectly gave because he wants
you and I to have it, and heused a man named Luke to write
this account down.
And the reality is that everysingle word in the scripture,
(03:12):
every single word, no matterwhat book you look at in the
Bible, whether you're looking atActs like we are today, or
whether you go all the way backto Genesis, or whether you go
(03:34):
all the way forward toRevelation, or whether you're in
the prophets or in thehistories or in the gospels,
wherever you are in the Bible,every single word is exactly
what God wants you to hear.
Every single word is exactlywhat God wants you to have.
God didn't give us any less andGod didn't give us any more
than he wants you to have.
God didn't give us any less andGod didn't give us any more
than he wants us to have.
And in this account, heidentifies himself as the living
God.
And not only in this account,but you can see this in the Old
(04:00):
Testament.
God identifies himself as alive.
He's the living God and he'sdifferent from you know, in this
situation, he's different fromZeus and he's different.
You know how does the scripturesay here?
(04:23):
He's different from Jupiter.
I'm sorry, I got my Greek andmy Roman mixed up.
He's different from Jupiter andhe's different from Mercurius.
Those were entities that wereworshipped as gods, even though
they're not alive, even thoughthey're not really gods.
(04:44):
People worship them as if theywere alive.
People worship them as if theywere gods, but they're not
really gods.
And so, through Paul andBarnabas.
Here God identifies himself asliving, he identifies himself as
(05:05):
alive.
He's different from Jupiter andhe's different from Mercury.
He's different from any sort ofold, you know, ancient idol
like that, and he's differentfrom any sort of modern day idol
(05:26):
that is worshipped as though itis God.
He's different because he's theliving God and he's the only
God who is real.
He's the only God who is true.
He's the only God who is trulyalive.
Jesus, hallelujah and amen.
John chapter 10, jesus saysthat he gives eternal life.
(05:50):
John, chapter 11, jesusidentifies himself.
He says I am the resurrectionand the life.
Not only is God alive inhimself, but he gives life, he
gives an eternal life.
He is the resurrection and thelife.
(06:11):
He is alive and he gives life,and he's different from any
other thing that claims to beGod.
Jesus, the Son of God, fullyGod and fully man.
He stepped down from glory tocome to us.
He doesn't stay up at adistance and say okay, all of
(06:35):
you down there, way over there,worship me while I am going to
stay up here at a distance.
He did not do that in the OldTestament, he did not do that in
the New Testament.
He has never been that type ofGod.
That type of God is a demonicinvention.
(06:58):
That type of God is somethingthat people come up with under
the influence of the demonic.
Because the real living Godinteracts with people.
The real living God I mean yougo back as far as the book of
Genesis the real living Godpersonally interacted with Adam.
(07:22):
The real living God personallyinteracted with Adam.
The real living God personallyinteracted with Eve.
The real living God personallyinteracted with even with Cain,
even with Abel.
The real living God interactedwith Enoch.
The real living God interactedwith Noah.
(07:42):
The real living God interactedwith Abram.
The real living God interactedwith Isaac and Jacob.
The real living God interactedwith Moses.
The real living God, heinteracts with people.
He interacted with the entirenation of Israel.
He gave a word to Moses to giveto the people.
(08:08):
He did not stay distant in theOld Testament and he certainly
didn't stay distant in the NewTestament.
God himself came.
Oh, and generations beforeJesus was born, there had been
men like I just mentioned.
(08:29):
There had been also prophetsthat God raised up at different
times in history to speak to thepeople.
There was an entire law thatGod gave.
That was a framework thatdescribed who he is to the
nation of Israel, so that thenation of Israel might describe
(08:50):
who he is to the nations.
So, god, my friend, I hopeyou're getting a sense of this.
God interacts because God isalive.
He interacts because he's alive.
He's not someone who's far away.
He's not someone who's far off,even if you don't believe him.
(09:12):
Today, god is interacting withyou.
Today, god is interacting withyou through this message.
He's drawing you to himselfBecause, my friend, jesus is
different from anything andanybody else.
Jesus personally came, the Lordpersonally came to us and he
(09:32):
bore witness to the truth.
He did good, he spoke withpeople, he interacted with
people.
He wept and he cried and he washungry.
There were instances where hewas angry.
There were times when he wassinging.
There was times when he waslaughing.
There was times when he wasrejoicing.
(09:54):
There were times, you know,where he healed people.
There were times where hepreached.
There were times when hepreached to great crowds and
great multitudes, and then wehave accounts of just times
where he was with just a smallgroup of people or even with one
other person.
We have times, we have allthese things that Jesus did,
(10:17):
these very, very, veryrelational things that Jesus did
and, oh, my friend, he laiddown his life, he shed his blood
, he finished the work ofatoning for your sin and he gave
(10:41):
you access to God by a new anda living way.
He made salvation, eternal life, relationship with God possible
, all by grace and through faith, and not of works, lest any man
should boast.
You see, god did everything,and what does he leave you to do
(11:06):
?
Believe on him.
What does he leave you to do?
Respond in faith.
What does he leave you to do?
Trust him.
That's what God literally dideverything.
(11:26):
This is another way that God isdifferent from so many others
that are worshipped.
He doesn't require you to gothrough all of these religious
rites.
He doesn't require you to giveall this money.
He doesn't require you to giveall this time.
What does he do?
He comes to you by thefoolishness of preaching.
(11:49):
It says in the Word of God.
By the foolishness of preaching,it pleases God to save those
who would believe, and so Godraises up people.
He raises up men like me whowill preach Jesus to other
people, and through that, godstarts drawing you.
(12:10):
Through that, god startsinteracting with you.
Through that, jesus startsdrawing you to himself so that
you might believe him, so thatyou might take that measure of
faith which God gave you, thatability that you have to believe
on things, and you mightexercise that belief.
You might place that belief,you might place that trust
(12:35):
squarely on Jesus and on nobodyelse, because he's the living
God and he made you, becausehe's the living God and he made
you, he formed you and he madeyou to be a living soul.
You see, you have some sort ofa relationship with God, even if
(12:58):
you don't believe him, you havesome sort of relationship with
him.
You see, unbelief, just becauseyou may not believe in God today
, unbelief doesn't make Godirrelevant.
Unbelief doesn't cause God tocease to exist.
Unbelief doesn't change thereality that God formed you, god
(13:23):
made you, god made you to be aliving soul and that God loves
you, this God who is alive.
You see, he also describeshimself as love.
He is love.
And so, because he's love, heshows his love, he displays his
(13:44):
love, he shows who he is and heis love.
And he loves you, even if youdon't love him, he loves you,
even if you don't believe on him.
He loves you.
You were made by him, you areloved by him, even if you don't
believe on him.
You were made by him, you areloved by him, even if you don't
(14:06):
believe on him, and he's thetype of God who is going to go
to people.
Jesus would say this that heseeks and he saves that which
was lost.
And so if you're separate fromGod today, in the eyes of God
(14:33):
you're lost.
And so God is coming after you,not to destroy you, not to you
know, just rub your face in howevil you know.
Not in any sort of demeaning,bad, threatening way.
But God is coming to you sothat you might be saved, so that
you might be born again, sothat you might be with him,
(14:53):
because he made you, he knowsyou, he loves you with a love
that is passionate, and he wantsyou not to be out there in your
sin.
He wants you not to be outthere in death.
(15:15):
He wants you not to be outthere in destruction.
You see, god loves you and heknows better than anybody else
that the wages of sin is death,and he knows better than anybody
else that the wages of sin isdeath.
He knows that if you continueon in a life apart from him, if
you continue on in a life that'sseparate from him.
(15:36):
Invariably your life is going tobe found and revolve around and
based on sin.
You know God is over here andyou're over there.
God, you know, values the truth.
God is the truth, yet you valuesomething that's not the truth.
(15:59):
God is holy in his nature andyet you, being separate from God
, you are unholy in your nature,you're a stranger to holiness,
and you live a life, and we alldo.
We live our life before beingborn again, before God saves us,
(16:24):
before we trust God.
You know I was that way.
You know my entire life waswrapped up in lust.
It was all lust of the flesh,lust of the eyes, the pride of
life.
It was all wrapped up in sinand it all revolved around sin
and it was all based on sin andit was bearing out what sin
(16:46):
bears out.
It was having the consequencesthat sin has.
It was death, it was anger, itwas frustration, it was despair,
it was hollowness, it wasmisery, it was sorrow.
That's what life was.
It was sorrow, that's what lifewas Brief, little flashes of
pleasure, but mostly torment,mostly misery, mostly emptiness,
(17:12):
mostly isolation and lonelinessand sorrow.
That's what it was.
And I know from the Word of Godthat that's basically what it's
like in your life.
(17:32):
You might not have the samedetails as I did, but it's
basically the same way.
There's lust of the flesh, lustof the eyes, pride of life, and
that's what you pursue, that'swhat you go after, that's what
your life revolves around.
In some way, shape or form, theexpressions of it are
individual, but the base of it,the core of it, the foundation
(17:54):
of it, is sin.
And God right now is bridgingthat gap.
He says I know you're separatefrom me.
I know that sin is all you know.
All you know is lust.
(18:17):
All you know is fear.
All you know is isolation andloneliness.
All you know is isolation andloneliness.
All you know is a brief littlething that gives you some flash
of pleasure.
(18:40):
But then, when that moment'sover, it's just sort of back to
the grind and it's back to theregular way that things are.
And God knows that that's goingto end in your destruction.
That's going to end in yourdeath.
That's going to end in aneternal alienation from him.
(19:01):
That's going to end in fire.
That's going to end if youcontinue to be separate from him
.
There's going to be a physicaldeath.
There's going to be physicaldestruction.
There's going to be physicaldestruction in you and in other
people around you, but eternally, my friend, your sin is going
(19:26):
to be put out of this world, andit's going to be put out of
this world by fire in a veryreal place called hell.
Or, my friend, and this is thegospel, this is the good news
(19:46):
Jesus, jesus.
Jesus became your sin and heshed his blood, and so, if you
turn to God this moment andtrust in Jesus, you turn to God
this moment and put your faithin Jesus, your sin is put out,
(20:09):
your sin is forgiven, your sinis covered, your sin is
forgotten and, my friend, youreceive eternal life.
You see, if you go back to Acts, chapter 14, for just a moment,
let's see where is it here.
(20:32):
Let's start at verse 15.
Sirs, why do ye these things?
Why do you worship things thataren't God's as though they are
God?
Why do you worship thesevanities, these hollow, empty
(20:55):
things?
Why do you worship as though itis God?
You might not think of it thisway, but why do you worship the
alcohol as though it's God?
Why do you worship the drug asthough it's God?
Why do you worship sex asthough it's God, why do you
(21:17):
worship entertainment as thoughit's God?
Why do you worship these thingsas though they are gods?
And you might say well, how doI do that?
Well, you give it your passion,you give it your time, you give
it your money, you give it yourattention.
It controls your life, it has aplace of authority in your life
(21:40):
, it affects you in you know,moment by moment by moment by
moment, and you follow it.
You know, I have one of these.
My more controversial opinionsis that every bar is a house of
worship.
It's just worshiping somethingelse instead of the living God.
(22:06):
It controls your life, myfriend.
You know, and in a way it's aquote-unquote God that's going
to lead to your destruction.
But I'll tell you the truth theliving God leads to life
(22:31):
because he gives life.
And so, paul and Barnabas, wayback in Lystra, we preach to you
that you should turn from thesevanities unto the living God,
turn from your idol and turn tothe living God, which made the
(22:54):
heaven and the earth and the seaand all things that are therein
, who in times past, sufferedall nations to walk in their
ways.
But now, my friend, jesus,jesus, jesus, hallelujah and
amen.
Jesus has died on the cross foryou and Jesus is risen again
(23:16):
and Jesus is alive today andJesus is calling you to him.
He left himself not.
He left not himself withoutwitness and that he did good.
And, oh, my friend, jesus didgood.
And Jesus does good today.
(23:38):
In a world that seems to valuelies, in a world that seems to
value deception, in a world thatseems to value pride, in a
world that seems to value all ofthese things, you know, instead
of God, jesus still does goodtoday.
(23:59):
He does good and he's speakingto you.
He's speaking in yourconscience, he's speaking in
your heart.
He says I know you, I love you.
I know you're separate from menow, but you don't have to
(24:20):
continue in that.
Turn to me today, turn to menow.
He says, nevertheless, he leftnot himself without witness in
that he did good and gave usrain from heaven and fruitful
seasons filling our hearts withfood and gladness.
My friend, god has done good toyou in your life.
(24:42):
He's done good already and he'slooking to do more good now.
Respond to him today, as hespeaks to you today.
You're separate from him, yethe is drawing near to you and he
draws you to himself, even thisvery moment.
(25:04):
Oh, you've lived a life.
You know, at the top of thisaccount there's a man.
He was a cripple from hismother's womb who never had
walked.
And, my friend, let that be atype and form of you today.
Let that be a type and form ofyou because you've never known
(25:29):
anything but sin.
You've never known anything butseparateness from God.
You've never known anything butwalking in your own ways.
You've never known anything butjust following your lust.
You've never known anything butfollowing somebody or something
(25:53):
that isn't really God, somebodyor something that isn't really
God.
You've never known anythingother than just trying to get by
in this world, just trying tolive, just trying to survive,
just trying to scratch out a fewmoments of pleasure here and
there.
Whatever that looks like inyour life right now.
(26:16):
You know whatever that lookslike in your life right now.
You've never known anything butmaybe an awareness that there is
a God, but God being far offand God being far away and you
just kind of being on your own,and there's a real sense of
isolation there.
There's a real sense of fearthere.
There's a real sense of stressthere.
(26:38):
There's a real sense of fear.
There there's a real sense ofstress there, there's a real
sense of anxiety there, and Godis drawing close to you now and
saying I know all of that, Iknow you, I love you and I don't
want you to be separate from mefor one more minute Because, my
(26:58):
friends, god gives yousalvation and God does save you
from hell.
God does save you from his wrath, but that's only the beginning.
He gives you eternal life, hegives you a new mind, he gives
you a new heart, he gives younew life.
He gives you a new mind, hegives you a new heart, he gives
you new life, he gives you anabundant life.
(27:20):
He gives joy and hope and peace.
He gives wisdom andfruitfulness.
He gives and gives and givesand gives and gives and gives.
And, my friend, will youbelieve him today?
(27:42):
Will you turn from thesevanities unto the living God and
believe him this very moment?
Call upon him today.
Ask him to save you, ask him tobe born again, ask him to blot
out your sins, ask him to washthem away, ask him to make you
new.
Ask him, ask him, ask him,trust him.
(28:07):
Trust him and yield yourself tohim as Lord, as Savior, as
mighty God, as King of Kings, asLord of Lords and as the lover
of your soul.
Hallelujah and amen.
I want to thank you today forbeing a part of the broadcast.
Thank you for joining me forthis broadcast today and I do
(28:28):
hope it's been a blessing to you.
Again, reach out to us atredeemingthelost at icloudcom.
We would love to hear from youat that email address,
especially if you've been bornagain.
We want to hear about it.
We want to pray for you.
We want to be a continuingongoing ministry to you and I
want you to check out our churchwebsite.
(28:49):
I want you to look at thatchurch website Grace Baptist
Tabernacle in King, northCarolina.
Gbtministriescom is the churchwebsite and I want to invite you
to join us in person.
I want to invite you to join usat our services.
We've got services Sundaymorning at 10 o'clock, sunday
(29:09):
evening at 6 o'clock and we'vegot a service Wednesday night at
7 o'clock and you're welcome inall of those services.
We would love to see you there.
We'd love to meet you in person.
We'd love to worship with you.
We'd love to worship with you.
We'd love you to worship withus.
We would love you to be a partof what the Lord, god is doing
(29:32):
in North Carolina, and thank youagain for being here with the
broadcast and for helping us toreach so many nations around the
world, and I look forward tospeaking with you again, and in
the meantime, may the Lordrichly bless you.
Is all that's in freedom, thankyou.
Greetings, hello and welcome to the Redeeming Love
Bible Broadcast.
My name is Phil Duddy,evangelist with Grace Baptist
Tabernacle of King, northCarolina.
Glad to have you with me on theprogram today.
Glad you're here, as always.
Please do reach out to us atredeemingthelove at icloudcom.
Come with me to Acts, chapter14.
(00:36):
I'm going to read a little bitof a longer account in the
scripture today, and that'sgoing to be found in Acts,
chapter 14, and we will bestarting in verse 8.
So Acts, chapter 14, startingin verse 8, this is what the
Word of God says.
And there sat a certain man atLystra, impotent in his feet,
(00:56):
being a cripple from hismother's womb, who never had
walked.
The same heard Paul speak who,steadfastly beholding him and
perceiving that he had faith tobe healed, said with a loud
voice Stand upright on thy feet.
And he leaped and walked.
And when the people saw whatPaul had done, they lifted up
(01:20):
their voices saying in thespeech of the Laconia the gods
are come down to us in thelikeness of men.
And they called BarnabasJupiter and Paul Mercurius,
because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priests of Jupiter,which was before their city,
brought oxen and garlands to thegates and would have done
(01:40):
sacrifice with the people which,when the apostles Barnabas and
Paul heard of they, rent theirclothes and ran in among the
people, crying out and sayingSirs, why do ye these things?
We also are men of likepassions with you and preach
unto you that you should turnfrom these vanities unto the
(02:02):
living God, which made heavenand earth and the sea and all
things that are therein, who intimes past suffered all nations
to walk in their own ways.
Nevertheless, he left nothimself without witness, in that
he did good and gave us rainfrom heaven and fruitful seasons
(02:23):
filling our hearts with foodand gladness.
Now I want to draw yourattention to how God identifies
himself in this account, becausethis isn't strictly something
that was written down by a mannamed Luke thousands of years
(02:45):
ago, but this was something thatwas written by inspiration from
the Holy Spirit.
This is something that Goddirectly gave because he wants
you and I to have it, and heused a man named Luke to write
this account down.
And the reality is that everysingle word in the scripture,
(03:12):
every single word, no matterwhat book you look at in the
Bible, whether you're looking atActs like we are today, or
whether you go all the way backto Genesis, or whether you go
(03:34):
all the way forward toRevelation, or whether you're in
the prophets or in thehistories or in the gospels,
wherever you are in the Bible,every single word is exactly
what God wants you to hear.
Every single word is exactlywhat God wants you to have.
God didn't give us any less andGod didn't give us any more
than he wants you to have.
God didn't give us any less andGod didn't give us any more
than he wants us to have.
And in this account, heidentifies himself as the living
God.
And not only in this account,but you can see this in the Old
(04:00):
Testament.
God identifies himself as alive.
He's the living God and he'sdifferent from you know, in this
situation, he's different fromZeus and he's different.
You know how does the scripturesay here?
(04:23):
He's different from Jupiter.
I'm sorry, I got my Greek andmy Roman mixed up.
He's different from Jupiter andhe's different from Mercurius.
Those were entities that wereworshipped as gods, even though
they're not alive, even thoughthey're not really gods.
(04:44):
People worship them as if theywere alive.
People worship them as if theywere gods, but they're not
really gods.
And so, through Paul andBarnabas.
Here God identifies himself asliving, he identifies himself as
(05:05):
alive.
He's different from Jupiter andhe's different from Mercury.
He's different from any sort ofold, you know, ancient idol
like that, and he's differentfrom any sort of modern day idol
(05:26):
that is worshipped as though itis God.
He's different because he's theliving God and he's the only
God who is real.
He's the only God who is true.
He's the only God who is trulyalive.
Jesus, hallelujah and amen.
John chapter 10, jesus saysthat he gives eternal life.
(05:50):
John, chapter 11, jesusidentifies himself.
He says I am the resurrectionand the life.
Not only is God alive inhimself, but he gives life, he
gives an eternal life.
He is the resurrection and thelife.
(06:11):
He is alive and he gives life,and he's different from any
other thing that claims to beGod.
Jesus, the Son of God, fullyGod and fully man.
He stepped down from glory tocome to us.
He doesn't stay up at adistance and say okay, all of
(06:35):
you down there, way over there,worship me while I am going to
stay up here at a distance.
He did not do that in the OldTestament, he did not do that in
the New Testament.
He has never been that type ofGod.
That type of God is a demonicinvention.
(06:58):
That type of God is somethingthat people come up with under
the influence of the demonic.
Because the real living Godinteracts with people.
The real living God I mean yougo back as far as the book of
Genesis the real living Godpersonally interacted with Adam.
(07:22):
The real living God personallyinteracted with Adam.
The real living God personallyinteracted with Eve.
The real living God personallyinteracted with even with Cain,
even with Abel.
The real living God interactedwith Enoch.
The real living God interactedwith Noah.
(07:42):
The real living God interactedwith Abram.
The real living God interactedwith Isaac and Jacob.
The real living God interactedwith Moses.
The real living God, heinteracts with people.
He interacted with the entirenation of Israel.
He gave a word to Moses to giveto the people.
(08:08):
He did not stay distant in theOld Testament and he certainly
didn't stay distant in the NewTestament.
God himself came.
Oh, and generations beforeJesus was born, there had been
men like I just mentioned.
(08:29):
There had been also prophetsthat God raised up at different
times in history to speak to thepeople.
There was an entire law thatGod gave.
That was a framework thatdescribed who he is to the
nation of Israel, so that thenation of Israel might describe
(08:50):
who he is to the nations.
So, god, my friend, I hopeyou're getting a sense of this.
God interacts because God isalive.
He interacts because he's alive.
He's not someone who's far away.
He's not someone who's far off,even if you don't believe him.
(09:12):
Today, god is interacting withyou.
Today, god is interacting withyou through this message.
He's drawing you to himselfBecause, my friend, jesus is
different from anything andanybody else.
Jesus personally came, the Lordpersonally came to us and he
(09:32):
bore witness to the truth.
He did good, he spoke withpeople, he interacted with
people.
He wept and he cried and he washungry.
There were instances where hewas angry.
There were times when he wassinging.
There was times when he waslaughing.
There was times when he wasrejoicing.
(09:54):
There were times, you know,where he healed people.
There were times where hepreached.
There were times when hepreached to great crowds and
great multitudes, and then wehave accounts of just times
where he was with just a smallgroup of people or even with one
other person.
We have times, we have allthese things that Jesus did,
(10:17):
these very, very, veryrelational things that Jesus did
and, oh, my friend, he laiddown his life, he shed his blood
, he finished the work ofatoning for your sin and he gave
(10:41):
you access to God by a new anda living way.
He made salvation, eternal life, relationship with God possible
, all by grace and through faith, and not of works, lest any man
should boast.
You see, god did everything,and what does he leave you to do
(11:06):
?
Believe on him.
What does he leave you to do?
Respond in faith.
What does he leave you to do?
Trust him.
That's what God literally dideverything.
(11:26):
This is another way that God isdifferent from so many others
that are worshipped.
He doesn't require you to gothrough all of these religious
rites.
He doesn't require you to giveall this money.
He doesn't require you to giveall this time.
What does he do?
He comes to you by thefoolishness of preaching.
(11:49):
It says in the Word of God.
By the foolishness of preaching,it pleases God to save those
who would believe, and so Godraises up people.
He raises up men like me whowill preach Jesus to other
people, and through that, godstarts drawing you.
(12:10):
Through that, god startsinteracting with you.
Through that, jesus startsdrawing you to himself so that
you might believe him, so thatyou might take that measure of
faith which God gave you, thatability that you have to believe
on things, and you mightexercise that belief.
You might place that belief,you might place that trust
(12:35):
squarely on Jesus and on nobodyelse, because he's the living
God and he made you, becausehe's the living God and he made
you, he formed you and he madeyou to be a living soul.
You see, you have some sort ofa relationship with God, even if
(12:58):
you don't believe him, you havesome sort of relationship with
him.
You see, unbelief, just becauseyou may not believe in God today
, unbelief doesn't make Godirrelevant.
Unbelief doesn't cause God tocease to exist.
Unbelief doesn't change thereality that God formed you, god
(13:23):
made you, god made you to be aliving soul and that God loves
you, this God who is alive.
You see, he also describeshimself as love.
He is love.
And so, because he's love, heshows his love, he displays his
(13:44):
love, he shows who he is and heis love.
And he loves you, even if youdon't love him, he loves you,
even if you don't believe on him.
He loves you.
You were made by him, you areloved by him, even if you don't
believe on him.
You were made by him, you areloved by him, even if you don't
(14:06):
believe on him, and he's thetype of God who is going to go
to people.
Jesus would say this that heseeks and he saves that which
was lost.
And so if you're separate fromGod today, in the eyes of God
(14:33):
you're lost.
And so God is coming after you,not to destroy you, not to you
know, just rub your face in howevil you know.
Not in any sort of demeaning,bad, threatening way.
But God is coming to you sothat you might be saved, so that
you might be born again, sothat you might be with him,
(14:53):
because he made you, he knowsyou, he loves you with a love
that is passionate, and he wantsyou not to be out there in your
sin.
He wants you not to be outthere in death.
(15:15):
He wants you not to be outthere in destruction.
You see, god loves you and heknows better than anybody else
that the wages of sin is death,and he knows better than anybody
else that the wages of sin isdeath.
He knows that if you continueon in a life apart from him, if
you continue on in a life that'sseparate from him.
(15:36):
Invariably your life is going tobe found and revolve around and
based on sin.
You know God is over here andyou're over there.
God, you know, values the truth.
God is the truth, yet you valuesomething that's not the truth.
(15:59):
God is holy in his nature andyet you, being separate from God
, you are unholy in your nature,you're a stranger to holiness,
and you live a life, and we alldo.
We live our life before beingborn again, before God saves us,
(16:24):
before we trust God.
You know I was that way.
You know my entire life waswrapped up in lust.
It was all lust of the flesh,lust of the eyes, the pride of
life.
It was all wrapped up in sinand it all revolved around sin
and it was all based on sin andit was bearing out what sin
(16:46):
bears out.
It was having the consequencesthat sin has.
It was death, it was anger, itwas frustration, it was despair,
it was hollowness, it wasmisery, it was sorrow.
That's what life was.
It was sorrow, that's what lifewas Brief, little flashes of
pleasure, but mostly torment,mostly misery, mostly emptiness,
(17:12):
mostly isolation and lonelinessand sorrow.
That's what it was.
And I know from the Word of Godthat that's basically what it's
like in your life.
(17:32):
You might not have the samedetails as I did, but it's
basically the same way.
There's lust of the flesh, lustof the eyes, pride of life, and
that's what you pursue, that'swhat you go after, that's what
your life revolves around.
In some way, shape or form, theexpressions of it are
individual, but the base of it,the core of it, the foundation
(17:54):
of it, is sin.
And God right now is bridgingthat gap.
He says I know you're separatefrom me.
I know that sin is all you know.
All you know is lust.
(18:17):
All you know is fear.
All you know is isolation andloneliness.
All you know is isolation andloneliness.
All you know is a brief littlething that gives you some flash
of pleasure.
(18:40):
But then, when that moment'sover, it's just sort of back to
the grind and it's back to theregular way that things are.
And God knows that that's goingto end in your destruction.
That's going to end in yourdeath.
That's going to end in aneternal alienation from him.
(19:01):
That's going to end in fire.
That's going to end if youcontinue to be separate from him
.
There's going to be a physicaldeath.
There's going to be physicaldestruction.
There's going to be physicaldestruction in you and in other
people around you, but eternally, my friend, your sin is going
(19:26):
to be put out of this world, andit's going to be put out of
this world by fire in a veryreal place called hell.
Or, my friend, and this is thegospel, this is the good news
(19:46):
Jesus, jesus.
Jesus became your sin and heshed his blood, and so, if you
turn to God this moment andtrust in Jesus, you turn to God
this moment and put your faithin Jesus, your sin is put out,
(20:09):
your sin is forgiven, your sinis covered, your sin is
forgotten and, my friend, youreceive eternal life.
You see, if you go back to Acts, chapter 14, for just a moment,
let's see where is it here.
(20:32):
Let's start at verse 15.
Sirs, why do ye these things?
Why do you worship things thataren't God's as though they are
God?
Why do you worship thesevanities, these hollow, empty
(20:55):
things?
Why do you worship as though itis God?
You might not think of it thisway, but why do you worship the
alcohol as though it's God?
Why do you worship the drug asthough it's God?
Why do you worship sex asthough it's God, why do you
(21:17):
worship entertainment as thoughit's God?
Why do you worship these thingsas though they are gods?
And you might say well, how doI do that?
Well, you give it your passion,you give it your time, you give
it your money, you give it yourattention.
It controls your life, it has aplace of authority in your life
(21:40):
, it affects you in you know,moment by moment by moment by
moment, and you follow it.
You know, I have one of these.
My more controversial opinionsis that every bar is a house of
worship.
It's just worshiping somethingelse instead of the living God.
(22:06):
It controls your life, myfriend.
You know, and in a way it's aquote-unquote God that's going
to lead to your destruction.
But I'll tell you the truth theliving God leads to life
(22:31):
because he gives life.
And so, paul and Barnabas, wayback in Lystra, we preach to you
that you should turn from thesevanities unto the living God,
turn from your idol and turn tothe living God, which made the
(22:54):
heaven and the earth and the seaand all things that are therein
, who in times past, sufferedall nations to walk in their
ways.
But now, my friend, jesus,jesus, jesus, hallelujah and
amen.
Jesus has died on the cross foryou and Jesus is risen again
(23:16):
and Jesus is alive today andJesus is calling you to him.
He left himself not.
He left not himself withoutwitness and that he did good.
And, oh, my friend, jesus didgood.
And Jesus does good today.
(23:38):
In a world that seems to valuelies, in a world that seems to
value deception, in a world thatseems to value pride, in a
world that seems to value all ofthese things, you know, instead
of God, jesus still does goodtoday.
(23:59):
He does good and he's speakingto you.
He's speaking in yourconscience, he's speaking in
your heart.
He says I know you, I love you.
I know you're separate from menow, but you don't have to
(24:20):
continue in that.
Turn to me today, turn to menow.
He says, nevertheless, he leftnot himself without witness in
that he did good and gave usrain from heaven and fruitful
seasons filling our hearts withfood and gladness.
My friend, god has done good toyou in your life.
(24:42):
He's done good already and he'slooking to do more good now.
Respond to him today, as hespeaks to you today.
You're separate from him, yethe is drawing near to you and he
draws you to himself, even thisvery moment.
(25:04):
Oh, you've lived a life.
You know, at the top of thisaccount there's a man.
He was a cripple from hismother's womb who never had
walked.
And, my friend, let that be atype and form of you today.
Let that be a type and form ofyou because you've never known
(25:29):
anything but sin.
You've never known anything butseparateness from God.
You've never known anything butwalking in your own ways.
You've never known anything butjust following your lust.
You've never known anything butfollowing somebody or something
(25:53):
that isn't really God, somebodyor something that isn't really
God.
You've never known anythingother than just trying to get by
in this world, just trying tolive, just trying to survive,
just trying to scratch out a fewmoments of pleasure here and
there.
Whatever that looks like inyour life right now.
(26:16):
You know whatever that lookslike in your life right now.
You've never known anything butmaybe an awareness that there is
a God, but God being far offand God being far away and you
just kind of being on your own,and there's a real sense of
isolation there.
There's a real sense of fearthere.
There's a real sense of stressthere.
(26:38):
There's a real sense of fear.
There there's a real sense ofstress there, there's a real
sense of anxiety there, and Godis drawing close to you now and
saying I know all of that, Iknow you, I love you and I don't
want you to be separate from mefor one more minute Because, my
(26:58):
friends, god gives yousalvation and God does save you
from hell.
God does save you from his wrath, but that's only the beginning.
He gives you eternal life, hegives you a new mind, he gives
you a new heart, he gives younew life.
He gives you a new mind, hegives you a new heart, he gives
you new life, he gives you anabundant life.
(27:20):
He gives joy and hope and peace.
He gives wisdom andfruitfulness.
He gives and gives and givesand gives and gives and gives.
And, my friend, will youbelieve him today?
(27:42):
Will you turn from thesevanities unto the living God and
believe him this very moment?
Call upon him today.
Ask him to save you, ask him tobe born again, ask him to blot
out your sins, ask him to washthem away, ask him to make you
new.
Ask him, ask him, ask him,trust him.
(28:07):
Trust him and yield yourself tohim as Lord, as Savior, as
mighty God, as King of Kings, asLord of Lords and as the lover
of your soul.
Hallelujah and amen.
I want to thank you today forbeing a part of the broadcast.
Thank you for joining me forthis broadcast today and I do
(28:28):
hope it's been a blessing to you.
Again, reach out to us atredeemingthelost at icloudcom.
We would love to hear from youat that email address,
especially if you've been bornagain.
We want to hear about it.
We want to pray for you.
We want to be a continuingongoing ministry to you and I
want you to check out our churchwebsite.
(28:49):
I want you to look at thatchurch website Grace Baptist
Tabernacle in King, northCarolina.
Gbtministriescom is the churchwebsite and I want to invite you
to join us in person.
I want to invite you to join usat our services.
We've got services Sundaymorning at 10 o'clock, sunday
(29:09):
evening at 6 o'clock and we'vegot a service Wednesday night at
7 o'clock and you're welcome inall of those services.
We would love to see you there.
We'd love to meet you in person.
We'd love to worship with you.
We'd love to worship with you.
We'd love you to worship withus.
We would love you to be a partof what the Lord, god is doing
(29:32):
in North Carolina, and thank youagain for being here with the
broadcast and for helping us toreach so many nations around the
world, and I look forward tospeaking with you again, and in
the meantime, may the Lordrichly bless you.
Is all that's in freedom, thankyou.
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