September 23, 2026 • 51 mins
Trials, persecution, suffering, and weakness do not indicate abandonment by God; rather, they reveal His sustaining power, produce humility, and point toward the resurrected life given to us by the Lord and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. Eyes up, pressing on and looking toward eternity.
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Firefall Talk Radio episodes are archived, allowing you to download them for future listening or to share with others.
Feel free to share them with others as the Lord leads. Help us spread The Word. If our teachings are a blessing to you, let us know by using the contact button on our website.
If you would like to support what we do, there are ways to do so on the main page for Firefall Talk Radio. We appreciate your support and encouragement.
Follow us on YouTube at The Firefall Network.
Links for all social media and streaming platforms can be found on the main page at firefalltalkradio.com.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Firefall Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Radio. Hello. Welcome to the porch on Firefall Talk Radio.
I'm Richard Grund. This is where you will find the
(00:31):
uncompromised red-letter basics of the Word of God. We focus
on the Book of Acts Church, the purest, most effective
form of the Church, to see how they served the
Lord and to follow their example. When we do that,
we find the Church the Lord intended and not the
one man created. The Porch is a non-denominational, full-gospel approach
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to the Bible. It's based on the examples from the
Book of Acts Church, and it aims to restore the
priesthood of the believer and regain the world-shaking influence that
the early church had. The church age isn't over. The
Upper Room experience is as much for today as it
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was on the day of Pentecost. It's yours if you
want it. We offer you the word as the apostles
would have to the Jewish and Gentile believers of their day.
We use both Yeshua and Jesus when speaking of the Lord.
We prefer to use the term Messiah rather than Christ
as it more accurately reflects how he was referred to
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by those who knew him. And when needed, we will
offer you definitions in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Getting back
to basics, it's not just a motto, it's a mandate
from the Lord. Links to all of our social media
and streaming sites can be found on the main page
at FirefallTalkRadio.com. One word, FirefallTalkRadio.com. Subscribe to us wherever you
(02:03):
listen so that you know when new content is posted.
If you'd like to support us, go to the bottom
of the main page at FirefallTalkRadio.com. There are multiple online
ways to support us, as well as a P.O. Box
mailing address. We appreciate you, your support, your encouragement, and
your prayers. Thank you for being a part of the porch.
(02:25):
Contact us if you need prayer. Remember, we care about you.
Starting out with praise, well, I praise the Lord for
my home, my wife, my family, sons, daughter-in-laws, grandchildren, furry kids,
everything we have is because of him. Without him, I
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have nothing and I am nothing. I praise him for
provision and protection for the dreams and the visions. I
praise him for divine health and healing that is available
to us, for his abiding favor, for the continuing revelation
of the Holy Spirit, and for being a new creation
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and living in these prophetic times. And I thank him
for you. I thank him for fellowship and the people
that care about us and pray for us. Let's pray.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who
love you. Peace be within your walls. Prosperity within your palaces.
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For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will
now say peace be within you. Psalm 122, verses 6
through 8. We've been grafted into the vine. Therefore, we
need to pray for that vine because what affects them
affects us. So I pray for Israel. I pray for
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their protection. I pray for their guidance. I pray that
for America. Protection, guidance, and God would bestow upon us
his grace and his mercy. Let's pray for the fatherless,
the widows, the persecuted, and the martyred, the innocents, and
those who are victims of injustice. I pray for divine wholeness, health,
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and healing in me, in my wife, my family, As
we get back to our divine design. We live in
a fallen world. And things happen. Things go wrong. The
cells in our body respond to the world that it's in.
Someday it won't be that way. I pray for healing.
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For all who are sick right now. That in the
name of Yeshua HaMashiach you be healed. I pray for protection.
For inspiration. Pray for the remnant. Pray for us to
rise up, answer the call to action, and do what
he has asked us to do, that we who have
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been blessed to be a blessing, financially, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
I pray against the schemes of the fallen, that we
would confront the enemy with the confidence, purpose, and power
of the Holy Spirit, knowing full well that the day
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of the Lord is at hand. So let's pray for
that Psalm 91 protection covering us in these dangerous times
that we live in, both naturally and supernaturally. Pray for edification, encouragement, inspiration,
that we would rise up for the kingdom of God
and tear down the kingdom of darkness, setting the captives free,
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destroying the work of the enemy. And doing what he
needs us to do in this hour. So, Abba, Papa,
we boldly approach your throne of grace and mercy. We
thank you for how much you love us. We thank
you for what you've done for us. Most of all,
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forgiving us, Yeshua, to pay our debts. So, Lord, thank you.
Thank you for the bloody cross. And we're so thankful
that you're not on it. You're not in the tomb.
You are a risen Savior sitting at the right hand
of the Father in fullness and in power. And you
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have allowed us graciously to sit with you in the
heavenly places. So we ask that you bless this time.
Bless the technology. Bless me, Lord, that this Word does
what you would like it to do, what you need
it to do, what we all need it to do.
So I I just ask these things in Yeshua's name.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Amen. These lessons are proprietary information except where note of
(07:21):
the information comes from outside sources. Combination of that information
the matter presented is exclusive, cannot be repeated or used
without permission. The date of this broadcast serves as the
registered date of the following information.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So my apologies for not being here last week. We're
dealing with an illness in the family. I'll just leave
it there. And it you have to know it takes
a lot for me to not show up or at
least post an old lesson. But I was just unable
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to do so, but I was not going to let
that happen this week, and we are still in the
midst of what we're dealing with. My goal has always
been to prepare you to be used by the Lord
as a part of his remnant. That has not changed.
And we learn by doing. by experiencing both the good
and the bad. As believers, we are building his kingdom
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with no distinctions. It's all him. It's all about him.
So we need a mindset that has no distinction, no restrictions,
and we need to be strong in adversity. The one
thing I've always... noticed, commented on, or believed, however you
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want to put it, is that the Lord doesn't call
the prepared. Passed by the Sadducees and the Pharisees and
the religious leaders. No, he found those who were willing
and prepared them. So he prepares those he calls. The
disciples weren't ready. They were just willing. That's all we
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have to be is willing. And there are two kinds
of people, not just in the world, but in the church,
natural and spiritual. You meet a lot of natural believers.
It's the spiritual ones that make the change. So you're
either led by the Holy Spirit or you're led by
your flesh, the world, and the devil, by schemes or
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by plans or by all the things that man thinks
he needs to do instead of trusting the Holy Spirit.
which one of those you will be. See, the Spirit
is willing to teach and to transform anyone who wants it.
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And if you decide to walk in this kingdom of
God lifestyle, as we've called it here on the porch,
you must understand the ramifications. It's not easy. We're in
a fallen world under the sway of the wicked one.
This is not our home. Go with me to 2
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Corinthians 4. We'll pick it up at verse 6. For God,
who said, Let there be light in the darkness, has
made this light shine in our hearts so that we
could know the glory of God, which is seen in
the face of Jesus the Messiah. We now have this
light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like
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fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it
clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. Boy,
is that the truth. We are hard-pressed on every side
by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed,
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but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but
never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we
are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share
in the death of Yeshua, so that the life of
Yeshua may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we
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live under constant danger of death because we serve Yeshua,
so that the life of Yeshua will be evident in
our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death,
but this has resulted in eternal life for you. but
we continue to preach because we have the same kind
of faith that the psalmist had when he said, I
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believed in God, so I spoke. We know that God
who raised Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, will also raise
us with Yeshua and bring us to himself together with you.
All of this is for your benefit. And as God's
grace reaches more and more people, there will be great
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thanksgivings and God will receive more and more glory. This
is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying,
our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present
troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they
produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and
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will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles
we can see now, Rather, we fix our gaze on
things that cannot be seen, for the things we see
now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot
see will last forever. Now, Paul is really giving a
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defense of his ministry and everything he's gone through to
do that ministry, but I think it applies to us
in a much broader sense. But what treasure is he
speaking about? He's speaking about the unfading glory that accompanies
the new covenant, the message of the good news. That's
a great treasure. But it's truly housed in these fragile
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clay jars, our weak bodies. And his insight gives purpose
to the suffering we go through. And the power to
bring all this about lies only with God. We can't
do it in our own power. So clay jars are
a metaphor for fragile, mortal human bodies. And sometimes the
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more humble the container, the more glorious its precious contents appear.
You learn very quickly that suffering leads to humility. But
it leads to something else. Suffering leads to the resurrected life. Now,
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Paul's writing 1 Corinthians. He's writing these letters when he's
out and about in ministry. 1 Corinthians is written during
his last year of ministry in Ephesus on his third
missionary journey. 2 Corinthians is written shortly after 1 Corinthians
and is thought to have been written around A.D. 55, 56,
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maybe the early spring of 56. And according to an
early tradition, he wrote 2 Corinthians from Philippi. The New
King James Study Bible says 2 Corinthians is the most
autobiographical of Paul's letters, probably the most difficult letter that
Paul had to write. In previous letters, Paul had exhorted
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the Corinthian church to correct some abuses that were occurring
in the congregation. However, some false teachers in the congregation
were antagonized by Paul's rebuke and rejected his warnings. As
a result, in this letter, Paul was forced to defend
his character and, more importantly, his apostolic authority in the
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face of slanderous accusations. His defense reveals the trials and tribulations,
the problems and the pressures of his itinerant ministry more
than any other book in the Bible. Yet like the
rest of Paul's letters, 2 Corinthians points past Paul's sweat
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and tears to the power that lay behind his actions
and his word, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Because Paul
indicates that he experienced the comfort of the risen Messiah
in the midst of his hardship, he reveals that Yeshua
is the source of the believer's comfort. In 2 Corinthians 1.5,
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this is the Amplified, he said, Just as Messiah's sufferings
are ours in abundance as they flow to his followers,
so also our comfort, our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation
is abundant through Messiah, it is truly more than enough
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to endure what we must. It is truly more than
enough to endure what we must. Given Paul's personal tragedies,
Yeshua the Comforter is the major emphasis in this letter.
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So we see four pairs of opposites. The first element
The first pair characterizes frail humanity, especially humans in service
to God. And the second element gives the evidence of
God's power. We know that in his humanity, Yeshua was
subject to death, pain, everything we experience. But by God's power,
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he was raised to life and resurrection, a resurrected life.
Paul and all believers have the ability to follow in
Yeshua's example. Because for Paul, the resurrected life had already
been revealed in our mortal flesh. Ephesians 2, starting verse 4,
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But God, who was rich in mercy, because of his
great love with which he loved us, even when we
were dead in trespasses, made us alive together in Messiah,
By grace you have been saved and raised us up
together and made us sit together in the heavenly places
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in Messiah Yeshua. So believers are already made alive. They're
already raised. They're already seated with the Lord in the heavenlies.
But he states very clearly this is not easy. We're
hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed,
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but not in despair. And he's given a collective we
to he and the other apostles and disciples that are
out there, but he's speaking to us so we, as believers,
are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We, as believers,
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are perplexed, but not in despair. Hard pressed can be
translated as afflicted. In the Greek, it's the identical expression,
which is rendered and troubled on every side. 2 Corinthians 7, 5,
Paul notes, For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our
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bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side.
Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. So every side is
inside and outside, up and down, natural and supernatural on
every level. They were experiencing, we're experiencing. But Paul said
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he wasn't crushed. And the compound Greek word means to
be forced into a narrow space. Sometimes it feels that way,
doesn't it? Sometimes it feels like this world and the
things of this world and Everything that's going on has
jammed us into this narrow space. And at those moments,
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you have to cry out. You have to get your
praise on. You have to let that spirit explode from
inside of you and like Samson, just spread your arms
and knock the walls down. Perplexed means to be at
a loss, to have no answers, to see no way out.
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Yet Paul was not in despair. He was not utterly
at loss. He was not perplexed. He was not squeezed.
He was just living out the resurrected life. Bottom line is,
and I've never sugar-coated this walk, As believers, we're going
to face trials. We're living in a fallen world under
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the control of Satan and the fallen and their demonic offspring.
But we must remember that God controls those trials and
uses them to strengthen his people. God's glory is manifested
through broken vessels, through people who endure troubles and By
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relying solely on his power. 2 Corinthians 1, starting verse 5.
For the more we suffer for Messiah, the more God
will shower us with his comfort through Messiah. Even when
we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your
comfort and salvation. For when we ourselves are comforted, we
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will certainly comfort you. And then you can patiently endure
the same things we suffer. You know, we learn experiential knowledge.
That's always been my buzzword. You can't offer compassion unless
you have felt it. You can't be there for somebody
in their struggles unless you've been there. Otherwise, you're just
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going to offer words. You're going to offer platitudes. You're
going to offer something you read in a book, but
you're not going to be able to give them anything. internally,
from your experiences. Therefore, we have to go through these
things for him to be able to use us. So
when you're going through that struggle, when you feel all
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these things that Paul is mentioning here, stop and say, Lord,
what is it you want me to learn? Why am
I going through this? You know, we can spare ourselves
a lot of anxiety in our efforts to share the
good news. If we would just remember that witnessing to
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others about Messiah means serious spiritual warfare. Satan is actively
opposed to our efforts. You can feel it. You can
see it. Galatians 6.9 tells us, So let's not get
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tired of doing what is good. At just the right time,
we will reap a harvest, a blessing, if we don't
give up. Let us not lose heart and grow weary
and faint in acting nobly and doing right for in
due time and at the appointed season we shall reap
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if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
Is that easy? No, it's not. You need the Holy
Spirit in you, and you need the presence of the
Lord around you, and you need the support of the
family of God. Romans 8.28 tells us, We know that
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all things work together for good for those who love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose. I
quoted that scripture yesterday. emphasizing in the midst of everything
we're going through, all things work together for good. Not
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some things, not the things just that you want, but
all things. Everything he puts us through works together for
good when you love God and you're called according to
his purpose. So losing heart means to become weary, to
become tired, to despair. To want to give up. You
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can't do it. Because believers can and will face trials.
And we can and will persevere through persistent prayer. Don't
stop praying. Don't stop praising. The enemy wants you to
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do that. The enemy wants you to turn your back
on God. At that moment, turn towards him. Get the
strength of your inner man or woman going. Stand strong
in the Lord and the power of his might. Stand up,
square your shoulders back, and say, I am a child
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of God. I will not doubt. I will not fear.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, starting verse 16, therefore
we do not lose heart. even though our outward man
is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day
by day. For our light affliction, which is but for
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a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look
at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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We just never give up. The New Living Translation Study
Bible says, This call to endurance is given with a
reminder of what is in store in the future. The
human body is in the process of dying in the
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normal course of growing old. And Paul was particularly worn
away physically and emotionally. Yet he was being renewed every day.
His spirit's life was being rejuvenated and revitalized by the
power of God, by that constant flow from the throne room,
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in and out like breathing. Literally, our inner being, yours
and mine, is being renewed every day. 2 Corinthians 4,
when he says we have this ministry, as we have
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received mercy, we do not lose heart. He keeps saying
the same thing over. And I would suspect that the
criticism and the attacks for everything, after everything he had
done for the church in Corinth hurt. But he wasn't
going to let him. He wasn't going to let it
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tear him down. So reflecting on the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit of God, Paul surmises that God indwells earthen vessels,
giving his power to his creation so that the excellency
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of his power might be magnified in these weak human vessels,
meaning it points back to him. And boy, does the
devil hate that. He doesn't want that light. Light dispels
his darkness. He doesn't want you to shine. He doesn't
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want you to witness. He doesn't want you to share
with people in the midst of what you're going through,
how much you love the Lord or all that he's
done for you and the hope that you have, if
not here in eternity. The Believer's Study Bible says this,
The very essence of the model of ministry Paul promotes
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is in stark contrast to the triumphalism of self-exhortation of
the false preachers, as well as to some present-day ministerial models.
God in Paul's day, as well as our own, is
looking for suffering servants, not spectacular superstars. While we do
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not look at the things which are seen, but the
things which are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporary, and the things which are not seen
are eternal. Verse 18. So we consider and look not
just on the things that we can visibly see and understand,
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but we also look upon the unseen. For those things
that we can see and understand are brief. They're fleeting.
They're temporal. But the things that are invisible are everlasting.
They do not die. That's our hope. Our hope is
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in the Lord. Our hope is in His grace. Our
hope is in His mercy. Our hope is in eternity
with Him. So if we look at the troubles we
see now, we're going to grow weak. We're going to faint.
We're going to lose heart. But if we flip it
and set our eyes on things above, on the light
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of the eternal reality that has been given to us
by the cross, we know that our troubles will soon
be gone. And the word look means to keep one's
eye on, to consider, to contemplate, not just a fleeting glance,
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but to grasp it. So, In order to not lose heart,
as believers, we shift our focus from that which is
seen in reality to the unseen in the spiritual, from
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temporary problems to the glorious eternal reward that we will receive.
No matter how difficult the task or how great the opposition,
Paul did not retreat in silence, but he spoke boldly
because he was motivated by the grace of God. There's
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a quote by A.W. Tozer. I've used it before, and
it's ever more applicable now. A frightened world needs a
fearless church. A frightened world needs a church that is fearless,
that is not bowed down, that is not retreating, that
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is not overwhelmed by circumstances. We need to be that.
Paul is a witness to the comfort of the risen
Messiah in his life, in the midst of his hardships.
And he's revealing that source of the believer's comfort, Yeshua himself,
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to us. That's why you read the Word. Faith comes
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And from
that faith, you will do things. You will speak. You
will minister to others. You will pray. 2 Corinthians 1,
starting verse 4, He comforts us in all our troubles.
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Not some, all our troubles, so that we can comfort others.
When they are troubled, we will be able to give
them the same comfort, God has given us. For the
more we suffer for Messiah, the more God will shower
us with his comfort through Messiah. This concept of suffering
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is rejected by the church at large. I'll just be blunt.
For some reason, somewhere along the line, the bless me, grace, grace,
prosperity concept has washed over, whitewashed over the fact that
the Bible is a document of the story of others
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who suffered, endured, and finished the race strong. And given
Paul's personal tragedies, Yeshua as comforter, is the emphasis of
this letter and others that he wrote. He is our triumph, Yeshua.
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He is our light. He's our reconciliation. He's our substitute.
He's our gift. He's our strength. All of those points
are made in 2 Corinthians. Did they get it? I
don't know. I really don't. The false teachers, the infection
of the false teaching, The cancer of it had already spread.
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But I'm sure one or two or three did. And
that's all you can hope for. Everybody wants to reach
the masses when in actuality you're just reaching people one
at a time. In verse 6 he said, For God
who said, Let light shine out of darkness has shone
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in our hearts so as to beam forth the light
So just as our Abba Father, just as God, just
as it was commanded that light shine in the darkness
at creation, let there be light and there was light,
Genesis 1, 3. He turns on the light in people's
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heart so that they can see Yeshua, Hamashiach, Jesus, just
as he is. And people who do not believe are
still in the darkness because Satan has blinded them. But
as believers, we see the light and we are the light.
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The God of the sage, Satan, who is called the devil,
he's the archenemy. He's the great adversary that we need
to stay alert for. We need to watch out for
this great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against
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him and be strong in your faith. Remember that your
brothers and sisters all over the world are going through
the same kind of suffering you are, 1 Peter 5, 8-9. Well,
guess what? When you're suffering with sickness, when you're suffering
through trauma, When you're suffering through pressures, it's him. He's
behind it. Oh, yes, sometimes we help him. We make
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bad decisions or we neglect things or whatever. But that
actual suffering, that desire to destroy you, that desire to
pound you into dust is the enemy. It's the God
of this age, the God of this world. And so
we're trying to share that light with others. We have
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a barrier. To overcome, their minds have been blinded. They
cannot see. Oh, they can see your faith and see
your hope, but then they have none of their own,
and for whatever reason, they don't want to see it.
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They don't understand Proverbs 14, 12. There is a way
that seems right to a man, but its end is
the way of death. And discussing eternity with a friend
the other night. He understood our faith. He understood our hope.
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But his attitude was, well, I guess I'll find out
when I'm on the other side. And I wanted to shout, no, no,
that's too late. If you wait till then, it'll be
too late. But. I keep praying, keep showing love, and
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I keep hoping that the witness gets through. The Lord
said in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, you can
enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway
to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for
many who choose that way. But the gateway to life
is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only
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a few ever find it. So the present age that
we live in right now, characterized by evil, some evils
that are beyond our comprehension, characterized by sin, debauchery, and
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characterized by death. And Satan, the ruler, the god of
this world, he just loves that. He just loves that.
Dragging others with him, so what does he do? He
blinds their minds, and then he masquerades as an angel
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of light, convincing the world that good is evil and
evil is good. We're seeing that every day. They're trying
to make excuses for the murder of children, the murder
of babies in and out of the womb. It's okay.
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It's your choice. Well, guess what? Yes, it is your choice,
but it is not okay. It is evil. Killing the
elderly just because they're a burden on your society when
they don't want to die, they don't want to be euthanized,
and doing it anyway is evil. That's why I'm dealing
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with this and enduring this in these earthen vessels. affects
us so strongly. You've got to realize the earthen vessels
Paul was talking about were clay hardened by fire. And
in its natural state, clay is seldom fit to be
used for pottery. It takes stages of preparation, mixing the
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clay with water, adding straw, sand, shells, or pulverized elements
to it of other pots. and kneading it with the
hands to remove the air bubbles. It has to be formed.
(40:00):
And the weakness of our humanity can be compared to
the weakness of those clay pots, even though once created,
maybe beautiful, maybe ornate, a unique design, they're still fragile.
And unlike bronze or the more stronger one. These clay
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pots are inexpensive. They're disposable. They were broken or declared,
you know, ceremonially impure. And Corinth produced some of the
fragile clay pottery that we're talking about. They made ceramic lamps.
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That's what they were known for. So depicting The body
is a vessel like this to the Greeks. Got the
point across. Hey, we're frail, but we hold inside of
us divine glory. Isaiah 29, 16. Shall the potter be
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as esteemed as the clay? For shall the thing made
say of him who made it, he did not make me?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
He has no understanding. This is a common problem. From
the prophet Isaiah to the apostle Paul, we just don't
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understand who we are sometimes. And when Paul, you know,
he mentioned being persecuted and struck down, which he was, literally.
In Lystrup, he was stoned. They left him for dead,
but he was not destroyed. He was not killed. The
Lord spared his life so that he could continue to
preach the good news and to testify to God's deliverance. Therefore,
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he was not forsaken either. Basically, stuff's going to happen.
When you're a believer trying to live in a fallen world,
serving the Lord and sharing who he is, stuff's going
to happen. But in the midst of the perils, we
will experience the life of Yeshua. We will be strong
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and sustained by him. in our weakness. And God's deliverance
of Paul was evidence that Yeshua is alive. See, you're
a living witness. I'm a living witness. Everything we go
through makes us a living witness. And we might say, well,
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you know what, Lord, use somebody else right now. But
he's the one who chooses. He knows what he's doing.
We just have to trust him In his suffering, he
participated in Yeshua's suffering and death. Enduring all types of
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hardship produced eternal life in those to whom he heard
him preach the gospel. Alexander McLaurin said, Only he who
can say the Lord is the strength of my life
can say of whom shall I be afraid. Of whom
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shall I be afraid? Shall I be cautious?
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
Shall I be alert? Yes. Shall I be afraid? No.
I know who my daddy is. I know who my
Lord is. And I know that no matter what I'm
going through, he's there with me and will be there
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on the other side. Psalm 100, verse 3. Know that
the Lord, he is God. It is he who made
us and not we ourselves. We are his people and
the sheep of his pasture. Well, if we're sheep, then
guess what? There are wolves out there looking to attack
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and devour the flock. That's just the given. So Paul's
message to the church in Corinth about not losing heart,
was based upon the fact that they would be raised up.
God would raise them up with Yeshua. Over and over,
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the psalmists, the prophets, it's all the same message. Psalm 31,
verse 24, Be strong and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for and hope for and expect
the Lord. Isaiah 40, starting verse 29, He gives power
to the weak. And to those who have no might,
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he increases strength. Even when the youth shall faint and
be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but
those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall
run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
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You and I, we wait for the Lord. We expect,
we look for, we hope in him. And that'll change us.
That'll renew our strength and our power. And when that happens,
it'll lift up, be able to lift up our wings
and mount up close to God, rising up as eagles,
mounting up towards the sun. We shall be able to
(45:29):
run and we won't be weary. We shall walk and
not faint or become tired. Because of the faith, that
we have in the future resurrection, and because of the
present experience of God's renewing power, we, just like Paul,
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can be beacons of courage and determination. Philippians 3.14, he said,
I press on towards the goal to win the supreme
and heavenly prize to which God and Messiah Yeshua is
calling us upwards. In 1 Corinthians 9, 24, he said,
(46:13):
do you not know that those who run in a
race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in
such a way that you may obtain it. Keep going.
Stumble towards the finish line if you have to, but
get the prize, the prize, the crown, the garland, the
(46:35):
the laurel, whatever it is in the real world, but
in the natural, it's one thing, but in the supernatural,
it's the crown of glory. It's our salvation. It's eternity.
It's incorruptible in paradise with him. So we can't lose heart.
We can't shift our focus from what is unseen to
(47:00):
the temporal things which are. We need to set our
minds and our hearts and our eyes on the glorious
eternal rewards that we will receive. Again, this is not
our home. He's made a place for us someplace else.
A glorious, wonderful place in which there is no pain.
(47:25):
There's no suffering. There's no disease. There's no rejection. So
we can't just look for the glory. We must accept
the suffering. We must live our life like they did,
(47:45):
like Yeshua did, in willingness to be weak, to experience
the power of God, in the willingness to be impoverished
so that others might be enriched. The Holy Spirit is
the power. It's the power of the new covenant. It's
the power that allows us to do this. He makes
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real to us the present and the future provisions of
our salvation in Messiah. And by the gift of the
Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, we are assured
that all God's promises are yes and amen in Messiah.
And that we are anointed and sealed and belong to him.
(48:32):
So this present experience that we go through, we have
the Holy Spirit in us as a guarantee of the
glorified bodies we will one day receive. So be encouraged.
(48:53):
No matter what you're going through right now, no matter
what's happening, no matter what your eyes see, Turn your
eyes above and set them on him. Set them on eternity. Endure. Overcome.
And let's live that resurrected life. So, Father, I thank
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you for this time. I thank you for the ability
to do this, to be with my brothers and sisters.
I pray it's done what you wanted it to do.
I pray your spirit went forth. More than that, I
pray that it touched the person you wanted it to touch,
to help them to take one more step to keep going,
(49:34):
to not lose heart. Holy Spirit, we thank you right
now for touching us, for healing us, for empowering us,
to walking with us, to holding us up. Thank you
for your love. We thank you for the guarantee of eternity.
(50:01):
So Lord, Adonai, Let your will be done in our lives,
on earth as it is in heaven. And I pray
all these things, all these things, in Yeshua's name. Amen.
(50:24):
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the
Lord make his face to shine upon you and be
gracious to you. May the Lord, Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus,
the Messiah, King of Kings, And Lord of lords, lift
up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Give
you shalom. I'm Richard Grund. This has been The Porch
(50:48):
on Firefall Talk Radio. Fireball Talk Radio.
Firefall Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Radio. Hello. Welcome to the porch on Firefall Talk Radio.
I'm Richard Grund. This is where you will find the
(00:31):
uncompromised red-letter basics of the Word of God. We focus
on the Book of Acts Church, the purest, most effective
form of the Church, to see how they served the
Lord and to follow their example. When we do that,
we find the Church the Lord intended and not the
one man created. The Porch is a non-denominational, full-gospel approach
(00:56):
to the Bible. It's based on the examples from the
Book of Acts Church, and it aims to restore the
priesthood of the believer and regain the world-shaking influence that
the early church had. The church age isn't over. The
Upper Room experience is as much for today as it
(01:17):
was on the day of Pentecost. It's yours if you
want it. We offer you the word as the apostles
would have to the Jewish and Gentile believers of their day.
We use both Yeshua and Jesus when speaking of the Lord.
We prefer to use the term Messiah rather than Christ
as it more accurately reflects how he was referred to
(01:37):
by those who knew him. And when needed, we will
offer you definitions in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Getting back
to basics, it's not just a motto, it's a mandate
from the Lord. Links to all of our social media
and streaming sites can be found on the main page
at FirefallTalkRadio.com. One word, FirefallTalkRadio.com. Subscribe to us wherever you
(02:03):
listen so that you know when new content is posted.
If you'd like to support us, go to the bottom
of the main page at FirefallTalkRadio.com. There are multiple online
ways to support us, as well as a P.O. Box
mailing address. We appreciate you, your support, your encouragement, and
your prayers. Thank you for being a part of the porch.
(02:25):
Contact us if you need prayer. Remember, we care about you.
Starting out with praise, well, I praise the Lord for
my home, my wife, my family, sons, daughter-in-laws, grandchildren, furry kids,
everything we have is because of him. Without him, I
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have nothing and I am nothing. I praise him for
provision and protection for the dreams and the visions. I
praise him for divine health and healing that is available
to us, for his abiding favor, for the continuing revelation
of the Holy Spirit, and for being a new creation
(03:07):
and living in these prophetic times. And I thank him
for you. I thank him for fellowship and the people
that care about us and pray for us. Let's pray.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who
love you. Peace be within your walls. Prosperity within your palaces.
(03:29):
For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will
now say peace be within you. Psalm 122, verses 6
through 8. We've been grafted into the vine. Therefore, we
need to pray for that vine because what affects them
affects us. So I pray for Israel. I pray for
(03:50):
their protection. I pray for their guidance. I pray that
for America. Protection, guidance, and God would bestow upon us
his grace and his mercy. Let's pray for the fatherless,
the widows, the persecuted, and the martyred, the innocents, and
those who are victims of injustice. I pray for divine wholeness, health,
(04:15):
and healing in me, in my wife, my family, As
we get back to our divine design. We live in
a fallen world. And things happen. Things go wrong. The
cells in our body respond to the world that it's in.
Someday it won't be that way. I pray for healing.
(04:37):
For all who are sick right now. That in the
name of Yeshua HaMashiach you be healed. I pray for protection.
For inspiration. Pray for the remnant. Pray for us to
rise up, answer the call to action, and do what
he has asked us to do, that we who have
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been blessed to be a blessing, financially, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
I pray against the schemes of the fallen, that we
would confront the enemy with the confidence, purpose, and power
of the Holy Spirit, knowing full well that the day
(05:22):
of the Lord is at hand. So let's pray for
that Psalm 91 protection covering us in these dangerous times
that we live in, both naturally and supernaturally. Pray for edification, encouragement, inspiration,
that we would rise up for the kingdom of God
and tear down the kingdom of darkness, setting the captives free,
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destroying the work of the enemy. And doing what he
needs us to do in this hour. So, Abba, Papa,
we boldly approach your throne of grace and mercy. We
thank you for how much you love us. We thank
you for what you've done for us. Most of all,
(06:07):
forgiving us, Yeshua, to pay our debts. So, Lord, thank you.
Thank you for the bloody cross. And we're so thankful
that you're not on it. You're not in the tomb.
You are a risen Savior sitting at the right hand
of the Father in fullness and in power. And you
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have allowed us graciously to sit with you in the
heavenly places. So we ask that you bless this time.
Bless the technology. Bless me, Lord, that this Word does
what you would like it to do, what you need
it to do, what we all need it to do.
So I I just ask these things in Yeshua's name.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Amen. These lessons are proprietary information except where note of
(07:21):
the information comes from outside sources. Combination of that information
the matter presented is exclusive, cannot be repeated or used
without permission. The date of this broadcast serves as the
registered date of the following information.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So my apologies for not being here last week. We're
dealing with an illness in the family. I'll just leave
it there. And it you have to know it takes
a lot for me to not show up or at
least post an old lesson. But I was just unable
(07:59):
to do so, but I was not going to let
that happen this week, and we are still in the
midst of what we're dealing with. My goal has always
been to prepare you to be used by the Lord
as a part of his remnant. That has not changed.
And we learn by doing. by experiencing both the good
and the bad. As believers, we are building his kingdom
(08:24):
with no distinctions. It's all him. It's all about him.
So we need a mindset that has no distinction, no restrictions,
and we need to be strong in adversity. The one
thing I've always... noticed, commented on, or believed, however you
(08:50):
want to put it, is that the Lord doesn't call
the prepared. Passed by the Sadducees and the Pharisees and
the religious leaders. No, he found those who were willing
and prepared them. So he prepares those he calls. The
disciples weren't ready. They were just willing. That's all we
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have to be is willing. And there are two kinds
of people, not just in the world, but in the church,
natural and spiritual. You meet a lot of natural believers.
It's the spiritual ones that make the change. So you're
either led by the Holy Spirit or you're led by
your flesh, the world, and the devil, by schemes or
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by plans or by all the things that man thinks
he needs to do instead of trusting the Holy Spirit.
which one of those you will be. See, the Spirit
is willing to teach and to transform anyone who wants it.
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And if you decide to walk in this kingdom of
God lifestyle, as we've called it here on the porch,
you must understand the ramifications. It's not easy. We're in
a fallen world under the sway of the wicked one.
This is not our home. Go with me to 2
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Corinthians 4. We'll pick it up at verse 6. For God,
who said, Let there be light in the darkness, has
made this light shine in our hearts so that we
could know the glory of God, which is seen in
the face of Jesus the Messiah. We now have this
light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like
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fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it
clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. Boy,
is that the truth. We are hard-pressed on every side
by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed,
(11:04):
but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but
never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we
are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share
in the death of Yeshua, so that the life of
Yeshua may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we
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live under constant danger of death because we serve Yeshua,
so that the life of Yeshua will be evident in
our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death,
but this has resulted in eternal life for you. but
we continue to preach because we have the same kind
of faith that the psalmist had when he said, I
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believed in God, so I spoke. We know that God
who raised Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, will also raise
us with Yeshua and bring us to himself together with you.
All of this is for your benefit. And as God's
grace reaches more and more people, there will be great
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thanksgivings and God will receive more and more glory. This
is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying,
our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present
troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they
produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and
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will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles
we can see now, Rather, we fix our gaze on
things that cannot be seen, for the things we see
now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot
see will last forever. Now, Paul is really giving a
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defense of his ministry and everything he's gone through to
do that ministry, but I think it applies to us
in a much broader sense. But what treasure is he
speaking about? He's speaking about the unfading glory that accompanies
the new covenant, the message of the good news. That's
a great treasure. But it's truly housed in these fragile
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clay jars, our weak bodies. And his insight gives purpose
to the suffering we go through. And the power to
bring all this about lies only with God. We can't
do it in our own power. So clay jars are
a metaphor for fragile, mortal human bodies. And sometimes the
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more humble the container, the more glorious its precious contents appear.
You learn very quickly that suffering leads to humility. But
it leads to something else. Suffering leads to the resurrected life. Now,
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Paul's writing 1 Corinthians. He's writing these letters when he's
out and about in ministry. 1 Corinthians is written during
his last year of ministry in Ephesus on his third
missionary journey. 2 Corinthians is written shortly after 1 Corinthians
and is thought to have been written around A.D. 55, 56,
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maybe the early spring of 56. And according to an
early tradition, he wrote 2 Corinthians from Philippi. The New
King James Study Bible says 2 Corinthians is the most
autobiographical of Paul's letters, probably the most difficult letter that
Paul had to write. In previous letters, Paul had exhorted
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the Corinthian church to correct some abuses that were occurring
in the congregation. However, some false teachers in the congregation
were antagonized by Paul's rebuke and rejected his warnings. As
a result, in this letter, Paul was forced to defend
his character and, more importantly, his apostolic authority in the
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face of slanderous accusations. His defense reveals the trials and tribulations,
the problems and the pressures of his itinerant ministry more
than any other book in the Bible. Yet like the
rest of Paul's letters, 2 Corinthians points past Paul's sweat
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and tears to the power that lay behind his actions
and his word, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Because Paul
indicates that he experienced the comfort of the risen Messiah
in the midst of his hardship, he reveals that Yeshua
is the source of the believer's comfort. In 2 Corinthians 1.5,
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this is the Amplified, he said, Just as Messiah's sufferings
are ours in abundance as they flow to his followers,
so also our comfort, our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation
is abundant through Messiah, it is truly more than enough
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to endure what we must. It is truly more than
enough to endure what we must. Given Paul's personal tragedies,
Yeshua the Comforter is the major emphasis in this letter.
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So we see four pairs of opposites. The first element
The first pair characterizes frail humanity, especially humans in service
to God. And the second element gives the evidence of
God's power. We know that in his humanity, Yeshua was
subject to death, pain, everything we experience. But by God's power,
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he was raised to life and resurrection, a resurrected life.
Paul and all believers have the ability to follow in
Yeshua's example. Because for Paul, the resurrected life had already
been revealed in our mortal flesh. Ephesians 2, starting verse 4,
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But God, who was rich in mercy, because of his
great love with which he loved us, even when we
were dead in trespasses, made us alive together in Messiah,
By grace you have been saved and raised us up
together and made us sit together in the heavenly places
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in Messiah Yeshua. So believers are already made alive. They're
already raised. They're already seated with the Lord in the heavenlies.
But he states very clearly this is not easy. We're
hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed,
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but not in despair. And he's given a collective we
to he and the other apostles and disciples that are
out there, but he's speaking to us so we, as believers,
are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We, as believers,
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are perplexed, but not in despair. Hard pressed can be
translated as afflicted. In the Greek, it's the identical expression,
which is rendered and troubled on every side. 2 Corinthians 7, 5,
Paul notes, For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our
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bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side.
Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. So every side is
inside and outside, up and down, natural and supernatural on
every level. They were experiencing, we're experiencing. But Paul said
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he wasn't crushed. And the compound Greek word means to
be forced into a narrow space. Sometimes it feels that way,
doesn't it? Sometimes it feels like this world and the
things of this world and Everything that's going on has
jammed us into this narrow space. And at those moments,
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you have to cry out. You have to get your
praise on. You have to let that spirit explode from
inside of you and like Samson, just spread your arms
and knock the walls down. Perplexed means to be at
a loss, to have no answers, to see no way out.
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Yet Paul was not in despair. He was not utterly
at loss. He was not perplexed. He was not squeezed.
He was just living out the resurrected life. Bottom line is,
and I've never sugar-coated this walk, As believers, we're going
to face trials. We're living in a fallen world under
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the control of Satan and the fallen and their demonic offspring.
But we must remember that God controls those trials and
uses them to strengthen his people. God's glory is manifested
through broken vessels, through people who endure troubles and By
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relying solely on his power. 2 Corinthians 1, starting verse 5.
For the more we suffer for Messiah, the more God
will shower us with his comfort through Messiah. Even when
we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your
comfort and salvation. For when we ourselves are comforted, we
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will certainly comfort you. And then you can patiently endure
the same things we suffer. You know, we learn experiential knowledge.
That's always been my buzzword. You can't offer compassion unless
you have felt it. You can't be there for somebody
in their struggles unless you've been there. Otherwise, you're just
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going to offer words. You're going to offer platitudes. You're
going to offer something you read in a book, but
you're not going to be able to give them anything. internally,
from your experiences. Therefore, we have to go through these
things for him to be able to use us. So
when you're going through that struggle, when you feel all
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these things that Paul is mentioning here, stop and say, Lord,
what is it you want me to learn? Why am
I going through this? You know, we can spare ourselves
a lot of anxiety in our efforts to share the
good news. If we would just remember that witnessing to
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others about Messiah means serious spiritual warfare. Satan is actively
opposed to our efforts. You can feel it. You can
see it. Galatians 6.9 tells us, So let's not get
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tired of doing what is good. At just the right time,
we will reap a harvest, a blessing, if we don't
give up. Let us not lose heart and grow weary
and faint in acting nobly and doing right for in
due time and at the appointed season we shall reap
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if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
Is that easy? No, it's not. You need the Holy
Spirit in you, and you need the presence of the
Lord around you, and you need the support of the
family of God. Romans 8.28 tells us, We know that
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all things work together for good for those who love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose. I
quoted that scripture yesterday. emphasizing in the midst of everything
we're going through, all things work together for good. Not
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some things, not the things just that you want, but
all things. Everything he puts us through works together for
good when you love God and you're called according to
his purpose. So losing heart means to become weary, to
become tired, to despair. To want to give up. You
(24:29):
can't do it. Because believers can and will face trials.
And we can and will persevere through persistent prayer. Don't
stop praying. Don't stop praising. The enemy wants you to
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do that. The enemy wants you to turn your back
on God. At that moment, turn towards him. Get the
strength of your inner man or woman going. Stand strong
in the Lord and the power of his might. Stand up,
square your shoulders back, and say, I am a child
(25:11):
of God. I will not doubt. I will not fear.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, starting verse 16, therefore
we do not lose heart. even though our outward man
is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day
by day. For our light affliction, which is but for
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a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look
at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(25:55):
We just never give up. The New Living Translation Study
Bible says, This call to endurance is given with a
reminder of what is in store in the future. The
human body is in the process of dying in the
(26:15):
normal course of growing old. And Paul was particularly worn
away physically and emotionally. Yet he was being renewed every day.
His spirit's life was being rejuvenated and revitalized by the
power of God, by that constant flow from the throne room,
(26:39):
in and out like breathing. Literally, our inner being, yours
and mine, is being renewed every day. 2 Corinthians 4,
when he says we have this ministry, as we have
(26:59):
received mercy, we do not lose heart. He keeps saying
the same thing over. And I would suspect that the
criticism and the attacks for everything, after everything he had
done for the church in Corinth hurt. But he wasn't
going to let him. He wasn't going to let it
(27:20):
tear him down. So reflecting on the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit of God, Paul surmises that God indwells earthen vessels,
giving his power to his creation so that the excellency
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of his power might be magnified in these weak human vessels,
meaning it points back to him. And boy, does the
devil hate that. He doesn't want that light. Light dispels
his darkness. He doesn't want you to shine. He doesn't
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want you to witness. He doesn't want you to share
with people in the midst of what you're going through,
how much you love the Lord or all that he's
done for you and the hope that you have, if
not here in eternity. The Believer's Study Bible says this,
The very essence of the model of ministry Paul promotes
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is in stark contrast to the triumphalism of self-exhortation of
the false preachers, as well as to some present-day ministerial models.
God in Paul's day, as well as our own, is
looking for suffering servants, not spectacular superstars. While we do
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not look at the things which are seen, but the
things which are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporary, and the things which are not seen
are eternal. Verse 18. So we consider and look not
just on the things that we can visibly see and understand,
(29:17):
but we also look upon the unseen. For those things
that we can see and understand are brief. They're fleeting.
They're temporal. But the things that are invisible are everlasting.
They do not die. That's our hope. Our hope is
(29:41):
in the Lord. Our hope is in His grace. Our
hope is in His mercy. Our hope is in eternity
with Him. So if we look at the troubles we
see now, we're going to grow weak. We're going to faint.
We're going to lose heart. But if we flip it
and set our eyes on things above, on the light
(30:04):
of the eternal reality that has been given to us
by the cross, we know that our troubles will soon
be gone. And the word look means to keep one's
eye on, to consider, to contemplate, not just a fleeting glance,
(30:24):
but to grasp it. So, In order to not lose heart,
as believers, we shift our focus from that which is
seen in reality to the unseen in the spiritual, from
(30:45):
temporary problems to the glorious eternal reward that we will receive.
No matter how difficult the task or how great the opposition,
Paul did not retreat in silence, but he spoke boldly
because he was motivated by the grace of God. There's
(31:09):
a quote by A.W. Tozer. I've used it before, and
it's ever more applicable now. A frightened world needs a
fearless church. A frightened world needs a church that is fearless,
that is not bowed down, that is not retreating, that
(31:32):
is not overwhelmed by circumstances. We need to be that.
Paul is a witness to the comfort of the risen
Messiah in his life, in the midst of his hardships.
And he's revealing that source of the believer's comfort, Yeshua himself,
(31:53):
to us. That's why you read the Word. Faith comes
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And from
that faith, you will do things. You will speak. You
will minister to others. You will pray. 2 Corinthians 1,
starting verse 4, He comforts us in all our troubles.
(32:15):
Not some, all our troubles, so that we can comfort others.
When they are troubled, we will be able to give
them the same comfort, God has given us. For the
more we suffer for Messiah, the more God will shower
us with his comfort through Messiah. This concept of suffering
(32:42):
is rejected by the church at large. I'll just be blunt.
For some reason, somewhere along the line, the bless me, grace, grace,
prosperity concept has washed over, whitewashed over the fact that
the Bible is a document of the story of others
(33:09):
who suffered, endured, and finished the race strong. And given
Paul's personal tragedies, Yeshua as comforter, is the emphasis of
this letter and others that he wrote. He is our triumph, Yeshua.
(33:31):
He is our light. He's our reconciliation. He's our substitute.
He's our gift. He's our strength. All of those points
are made in 2 Corinthians. Did they get it? I
don't know. I really don't. The false teachers, the infection
of the false teaching, The cancer of it had already spread.
(33:55):
But I'm sure one or two or three did. And
that's all you can hope for. Everybody wants to reach
the masses when in actuality you're just reaching people one
at a time. In verse 6 he said, For God
who said, Let light shine out of darkness has shone
(34:17):
in our hearts so as to beam forth the light
So just as our Abba Father, just as God, just
as it was commanded that light shine in the darkness
at creation, let there be light and there was light,
Genesis 1, 3. He turns on the light in people's
(34:54):
heart so that they can see Yeshua, Hamashiach, Jesus, just
as he is. And people who do not believe are
still in the darkness because Satan has blinded them. But
as believers, we see the light and we are the light.
(35:16):
The God of the sage, Satan, who is called the devil,
he's the archenemy. He's the great adversary that we need
to stay alert for. We need to watch out for
this great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against
(35:36):
him and be strong in your faith. Remember that your
brothers and sisters all over the world are going through
the same kind of suffering you are, 1 Peter 5, 8-9. Well,
guess what? When you're suffering with sickness, when you're suffering
through trauma, When you're suffering through pressures, it's him. He's
behind it. Oh, yes, sometimes we help him. We make
(35:58):
bad decisions or we neglect things or whatever. But that
actual suffering, that desire to destroy you, that desire to
pound you into dust is the enemy. It's the God
of this age, the God of this world. And so
we're trying to share that light with others. We have
(36:20):
a barrier. To overcome, their minds have been blinded. They
cannot see. Oh, they can see your faith and see
your hope, but then they have none of their own,
and for whatever reason, they don't want to see it.
(36:40):
They don't understand Proverbs 14, 12. There is a way
that seems right to a man, but its end is
the way of death. And discussing eternity with a friend
the other night. He understood our faith. He understood our hope.
(37:03):
But his attitude was, well, I guess I'll find out
when I'm on the other side. And I wanted to shout, no, no,
that's too late. If you wait till then, it'll be
too late. But. I keep praying, keep showing love, and
(37:25):
I keep hoping that the witness gets through. The Lord
said in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, you can
enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway
to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for
many who choose that way. But the gateway to life
is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only
(37:48):
a few ever find it. So the present age that
we live in right now, characterized by evil, some evils
that are beyond our comprehension, characterized by sin, debauchery, and
(38:10):
characterized by death. And Satan, the ruler, the god of
this world, he just loves that. He just loves that.
Dragging others with him, so what does he do? He
blinds their minds, and then he masquerades as an angel
(38:30):
of light, convincing the world that good is evil and
evil is good. We're seeing that every day. They're trying
to make excuses for the murder of children, the murder
of babies in and out of the womb. It's okay.
(38:52):
It's your choice. Well, guess what? Yes, it is your choice,
but it is not okay. It is evil. Killing the
elderly just because they're a burden on your society when
they don't want to die, they don't want to be euthanized,
and doing it anyway is evil. That's why I'm dealing
(39:15):
with this and enduring this in these earthen vessels. affects
us so strongly. You've got to realize the earthen vessels
Paul was talking about were clay hardened by fire. And
in its natural state, clay is seldom fit to be
used for pottery. It takes stages of preparation, mixing the
(39:38):
clay with water, adding straw, sand, shells, or pulverized elements
to it of other pots. and kneading it with the
hands to remove the air bubbles. It has to be formed.
(40:00):
And the weakness of our humanity can be compared to
the weakness of those clay pots, even though once created,
maybe beautiful, maybe ornate, a unique design, they're still fragile.
And unlike bronze or the more stronger one. These clay
(40:23):
pots are inexpensive. They're disposable. They were broken or declared,
you know, ceremonially impure. And Corinth produced some of the
fragile clay pottery that we're talking about. They made ceramic lamps.
(40:43):
That's what they were known for. So depicting The body
is a vessel like this to the Greeks. Got the
point across. Hey, we're frail, but we hold inside of
us divine glory. Isaiah 29, 16. Shall the potter be
(41:06):
as esteemed as the clay? For shall the thing made
say of him who made it, he did not make me?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
He has no understanding. This is a common problem. From
the prophet Isaiah to the apostle Paul, we just don't
(41:30):
understand who we are sometimes. And when Paul, you know,
he mentioned being persecuted and struck down, which he was, literally.
In Lystrup, he was stoned. They left him for dead,
but he was not destroyed. He was not killed. The
Lord spared his life so that he could continue to
preach the good news and to testify to God's deliverance. Therefore,
(41:54):
he was not forsaken either. Basically, stuff's going to happen.
When you're a believer trying to live in a fallen world,
serving the Lord and sharing who he is, stuff's going
to happen. But in the midst of the perils, we
will experience the life of Yeshua. We will be strong
(42:15):
and sustained by him. in our weakness. And God's deliverance
of Paul was evidence that Yeshua is alive. See, you're
a living witness. I'm a living witness. Everything we go
through makes us a living witness. And we might say, well,
(42:36):
you know what, Lord, use somebody else right now. But
he's the one who chooses. He knows what he's doing.
We just have to trust him In his suffering, he
participated in Yeshua's suffering and death. Enduring all types of
(42:57):
hardship produced eternal life in those to whom he heard
him preach the gospel. Alexander McLaurin said, Only he who
can say the Lord is the strength of my life
can say of whom shall I be afraid. Of whom
(43:18):
shall I be afraid? Shall I be cautious?
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
Shall I be alert? Yes. Shall I be afraid? No.
I know who my daddy is. I know who my
Lord is. And I know that no matter what I'm
going through, he's there with me and will be there
(43:44):
on the other side. Psalm 100, verse 3. Know that
the Lord, he is God. It is he who made
us and not we ourselves. We are his people and
the sheep of his pasture. Well, if we're sheep, then
guess what? There are wolves out there looking to attack
(44:04):
and devour the flock. That's just the given. So Paul's
message to the church in Corinth about not losing heart,
was based upon the fact that they would be raised up.
God would raise them up with Yeshua. Over and over,
(44:25):
the psalmists, the prophets, it's all the same message. Psalm 31,
verse 24, Be strong and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for and hope for and expect
the Lord. Isaiah 40, starting verse 29, He gives power
to the weak. And to those who have no might,
(44:45):
he increases strength. Even when the youth shall faint and
be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but
those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall
run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
(45:07):
You and I, we wait for the Lord. We expect,
we look for, we hope in him. And that'll change us.
That'll renew our strength and our power. And when that happens,
it'll lift up, be able to lift up our wings
and mount up close to God, rising up as eagles,
mounting up towards the sun. We shall be able to
(45:29):
run and we won't be weary. We shall walk and
not faint or become tired. Because of the faith, that
we have in the future resurrection, and because of the
present experience of God's renewing power, we, just like Paul,
(45:51):
can be beacons of courage and determination. Philippians 3.14, he said,
I press on towards the goal to win the supreme
and heavenly prize to which God and Messiah Yeshua is
calling us upwards. In 1 Corinthians 9, 24, he said,
(46:13):
do you not know that those who run in a
race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in
such a way that you may obtain it. Keep going.
Stumble towards the finish line if you have to, but
get the prize, the prize, the crown, the garland, the
(46:35):
the laurel, whatever it is in the real world, but
in the natural, it's one thing, but in the supernatural,
it's the crown of glory. It's our salvation. It's eternity.
It's incorruptible in paradise with him. So we can't lose heart.
We can't shift our focus from what is unseen to
(47:00):
the temporal things which are. We need to set our
minds and our hearts and our eyes on the glorious
eternal rewards that we will receive. Again, this is not
our home. He's made a place for us someplace else.
A glorious, wonderful place in which there is no pain.
(47:25):
There's no suffering. There's no disease. There's no rejection. So
we can't just look for the glory. We must accept
the suffering. We must live our life like they did,
(47:45):
like Yeshua did, in willingness to be weak, to experience
the power of God, in the willingness to be impoverished
so that others might be enriched. The Holy Spirit is
the power. It's the power of the new covenant. It's
the power that allows us to do this. He makes
(48:09):
real to us the present and the future provisions of
our salvation in Messiah. And by the gift of the
Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, we are assured
that all God's promises are yes and amen in Messiah.
And that we are anointed and sealed and belong to him.
(48:32):
So this present experience that we go through, we have
the Holy Spirit in us as a guarantee of the
glorified bodies we will one day receive. So be encouraged.
(48:53):
No matter what you're going through right now, no matter
what's happening, no matter what your eyes see, Turn your
eyes above and set them on him. Set them on eternity. Endure. Overcome.
And let's live that resurrected life. So, Father, I thank
(49:14):
you for this time. I thank you for the ability
to do this, to be with my brothers and sisters.
I pray it's done what you wanted it to do.
I pray your spirit went forth. More than that, I
pray that it touched the person you wanted it to touch,
to help them to take one more step to keep going,
(49:34):
to not lose heart. Holy Spirit, we thank you right
now for touching us, for healing us, for empowering us,
to walking with us, to holding us up. Thank you
for your love. We thank you for the guarantee of eternity.
(50:01):
So Lord, Adonai, Let your will be done in our lives,
on earth as it is in heaven. And I pray
all these things, all these things, in Yeshua's name. Amen.
(50:24):
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the
Lord make his face to shine upon you and be
gracious to you. May the Lord, Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus,
the Messiah, King of Kings, And Lord of lords, lift
up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Give
you shalom. I'm Richard Grund. This has been The Porch
(50:48):
on Firefall Talk Radio. Fireball Talk Radio.
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