10 Minute Bible Studies

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central? So what do I get for going live and I'm nowhere near ready? Do it? Do I win an award for foolishness? Do I win an award for going live before you're ready? Do it? Do I get an award? Now? I'm gonna sit here and and and and make and waste some time? Here? You see what time? Did this? Is this? Oh no, that's not the one? Oh wait here it is? Okay, I'm gonna load. Okay, I found it? All right, good, all right, ladies and gentlemen. I apologize. I was not ready. I was not even close to ready. But I have the audio ready to go. So now so now I can now do we just do we pretend that that wasn't there? We just do we just pretend that wasn't there? Can we? Can we do? We can't pretend?

0:56 But I wasn't ready. I look full transparency. As soon as I as soon as I hit our intro music, I was like, what have I done? The audio that I need? That file is not loaded? What am I doing? So I played the intro and I just full I just I just you know. I just told you I was fully transparent that I wasn't ready. But good evening everyone, I hope you're ready. It is Thursday, July the eleventh, twenty twenty four. It is currently eight forty three pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I do something in this studio that many of you strongly disapprove of. Many of you criticize me for it. And what I do is I turn on this microphone and I do broadcast that are just fifteen minutes long, Are not just thirty minutes long, are not just forty five minutes long, are not just an hour long? But in some cases they go in hour fifteen to say an hour and a half. I have a tendency, especially lately, that almost everything is going over an hour, almost every it doesn't matter what I'm doing, reviewing something, not reviewing something, it's almost an Ever, it just

2:27 feels like it's almost a guarantee. Now it's going over an hour. There are some rare exceptions, and I don't know exactly why. I think part of the reason, and I could be wrong. Now I know I'm making excuses here, but this is really not trying to make an excuse. It's kind of an explanation. Remember for twenty three years, for twenty three years, with just rare exceptions when I would miss a Sunday, maybe because I was on vacation, but that would only be like, you know, one Sunday. I mean when I took a vacation, I always tried to work it where I missed as as as less of church as possible, because you know, if I wasn't there, in many cases there was no one to preach. But for twenty three years, I taught for an hour Sunday school.

3:13 I taught for an hour Sunday morning, So every Sunday morning between Sunday morning would be the Sunday School hour in the morning Worships hour hour. Those would be two hours of teaching, two hours plus of teaching, come back Sunday night, teach another hour. That's three hours of teaching, and then come back Wednesday night and teach an hour. So that would be four hours a week teaching from behind a pulpit. That doesn't even count all of the hours of broadcasting. And I did that for twenty three years. Hour after hour after hour, week after week, month after month, year after year, teach, teach, teach well. Now, because of circumstances and things changing, I don't do that anymore. So now when I turn on the microphone, I think I'm just like, I haven't. I haven't taught near as much as I typically have in the past, so that each week is not filled with as much teaching, and so maybe now I'm trying to.

4:12 It's just it's almost inevitable it's going to go that long. I don't know. I know some of you don't like it. I know many people have criticized. To be fair, the well, I don't think the criticism has been that I don't want to, you know, exaggerate it. There have been some who say I go way too long. Usually it's on YouTube. They'll say I'm not going to listen to all of that. I listen to fifteen minutes and I stop. You repeat yourself too much, or whatever the criticism is. And I'm always like, well, okay, thank you for telling me. There's plenty of other podcasts that will be much more in your willhouse, so you go find them if you need to. I'll find them for you, Okay, but thank you for telling me that I talk too much. So I know I do that. And look, let me be honest with you. It bother there's me sometimes, right, Sometimes I know I've gone too long. Sometimes I know these people are busy. They got life to live, they got things to do, they got hobbies, they they got responsibilities, they have a lot. They can't listen to me all the time. I know there have been times in my brain like, you know, do five hours in a day? Well, why didn't they listen to all five hours? I know that's kind of ridiculous and naive, but I mean there's probably been times I've thought that way. But I'm very aware that people are busy. So there have been things that you know, I created the Today's Focus, you know, series, because the goal was to try to just turn on the microphone and do ten fifteen minutes, you know, of just giving someone some kind of spiritual food and move on. But

5:45 I'm so bad at that, right. See, I can't just I can't just open the Bible. I'm like, all right today for your Today's Focus. Blessed as a man who walks not in the Council of the Ungodly. I saw chapter one Verse one. A part of verse one, blessed is the man who walketh not in the council of the ungodly. So for today's focus, how can you not walk in the council of the ungodly? You know, for me, I'm gonna be like, well, wait a minute, so can we do that? How can we do that? What does that actually mean? What does that not mean? Can anyone actually accomplish this? Christ accomplish this? Is this law? Is this gospel? And then I just go on and on and on and on and on, and I can't just stop myself and go no, no, no, no, this is only supposed to be ten or fifteen minutes. Because I feel like I'm ripping you off. I feel like I'm I'm not only do I feel like I'm ripping you off. I feel like I'm being disrespectful to the scriptures.

6:35 I feel like that I'm not handling the scriptures accurately. Right. So I always envision, well, ooh, I could just find like maybe something from a devotional It's just a quote, and I just turn on the microphone like today for today's focus is this. But I never was able to pull it off because I would be like, today's focus is this, And as soon as I read the quote or any the next thing I know, I want to start talking about this and adding this, and then putting forth a hypotheses and then testing their theory and oh and next thing you know, it's turning into a fourteen month series. What am I doing? Okay, I'm not capable of doing. I'm just I'm trash at that. Look, there's no way to get around it. I'm just I'm just not I'm I should be better, but I'm not. And at this point, look like I guess you know they always say you can't teach an old dog, you know, new tricks. Well, maybe there's a little bit of truth to that.

7:31 At this point, I don't think I can ever really give people something that could be very beneficial in a short, concise way. I just don't think it's my strength. Now. I know what they say, if you want to be able to determine your skill as a public speaker, if you really want to be able to determine your skill as a public speaker, what you will be able to do is you'll be able to say very important things in a very concise and succinct way. If you can do that. That shows your skill as a public speaker, because you communicated this in a very compact and clear and effective and powerful way. So I think it does make me doubt my skill as a public speaker. But I think my approach just does not lend itself to that where other people can say, hey, here's what you need to know today. In ten minutes, I'll be like, no, no, no, no, no no no no no no no, no, no no no. I can't do that. What about this?

8:35 And what? Because my mind gives me forty questions that we have to ask. So but at the same time, I feel bad. And here's the reason I feel bad, because we know, as we all struggle with this right, since I have some one open blessed as the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. So this talks about meditating on God's word day and night. Now we know, on one hand, this is law. We know we will never truly ever come close to obeying this, But Christ did for us. So in Christ, his obedience to meditating on God's word day and night is accredited to my account is imputed to me and in Christ. In Christ, spiritually speaking, I'm like a tree planted by the river of water that bringeth forth its fruit in its season, whose liaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever you do, it shall prosper. This is all true of me positionally and Christ, because Christ did all of this on my behalf. But we know we are still called to try to meditate on God's word day and night. So a great thing to have is you know a number and I will refer to them as podcasts, but it's good to have in your podcast app or whatever app.

10:01 You're using a lot of these ministries that do provide you five minute devotionals or ten minute devotionals or fifteen minute Bible studies, and there are countless ones out there that accomplish that, and having them are great because sometimes you can't listen to me. You're like, look, my commute to work is fifteen minutes. It would take me, like, I can't listen to you because I'm already at work. In fact, by the time you're done, I've already driven to work, had a full day of work, getting off work, I've driven home and you're still talking. So you're not Your program is not really compatible to when I can listen. And I look, I understand that you can start listening to me at the beginning of your lunch hour, your lunch hour would be over and I would still be talking. And that's not always advantageous or beneficial to people. And I'm very aware of that, so I'm always trying to you know, I'm always looking at things out there, and when I can find things that I think will be beneficial to you, then I like to bring them to your attention. So we know my failure. And I'm very aware of your life and you not always having the time. That's perfectly okay. That doesn't make you less spiritual, just means you have a life. So what can I do? Well, I stumbled upon something and I'm gonna share it with you now. Before I get to it, here's what I want you to do. Remember all of this year, all of twenty twenty four, it's really about the sermons two point oh

11:31 app. So I have found something that's available on the sermons two point oh app that will allow you to listen to a Bible study. They refer to it as in fact, let me refer to pull up the series. They refer to it as where's their series Daily Bible Studies? Daily Bible Studies, which would seem to imply they currently have one thousand, six hundred and ninety one of them. And here is the description. We all need encouragement along the journey. The Bible provides the only true roadmap, and Jesus Christ is the only faithful companion for the journey of life. In this ten minute daily study, evangelist Scott Polly shares truth from the Word of God for enjoying the journey. Please note, in this ten minute daily study, every single one of us, no matter how busy we may be, can you say stop, pause, time out. I need ten minutes, and you grab a Bible you listen to it for ten minutes. So I'm going to tell you about this, and I want you to follow this now. Before I give you more information, I do want to challenge you on the sermon's two point,

13:03 Oh app, I do want to challenge you to follow broadcasters that you find interesting, that you find challenging, even if you disagree with him, you find it to be beneficial to you spiritually have I think you should probably be able to find about you want to kind of shoot for twenty, right, twenty different ones. If you can have a good, solid twenty that you follow, and here's the reason why. Then on a somewhat daily basis, you can go to your feed tab, right, your feed tab, and the ones you follow will be right there. Right, the ones you follow will be right there in the feed tab, and you can refresh that throughout the day to see if any broadcasters have given you new content. Right, So, before we tell you about this ten minute Bible study, I want you to follow and we're going to listen to part of one. Before we do that, I'm just going to take a quick journey through my feed on the Sermon's two point oh app. All right, so I've told everyone about the Sermon's two point oh app. You can go to the Google Play Store, Apple App Store just type in Sermon's two point oh. There it is. You should download that app and you should be utilizing it because it's spiritual food. It's a spiritual buffet, it's a spiritual feast. Whether you agree or disagree, you can find something every single day that will get you into God's word challenge you. And then of course what you do with what you hear really determines the benefit you gain from it. You can just listen,

14:37 or you can take what they say and then do some work on it. All right, but here we go. Here's what's in my feed. First, some weird person did a program entitled Christians and Memento Moriy. What is that Christians and Memento Moriy. I don't know who that ridiculous podcaster is. Okay, that's me? All right now, you say, but oh, you follow yourself. Oh how narcissistic, how egotistical? Oh what is wrong with you? You think you're So I'll get some email that will say that you think I'm joking. I will not. I follow to ensure that it's showing up in the feed. It's another way for me to monitor, to make sure everything is working. Okay, So there's momento morey underneath that they shall come as a cloud Bethel Church that was dropped six hours ago.

15:37 All right, then do you not know these things? Westover Baptist Church declare him in the nations. Westover Baptist Church one with seven hours ago one was six hours ago. When I see two getting dropped on a Thursday like that, either that may maybe there's some kind of conference or something thing going on. I don't know. Then underneath that thy Rod and thy Staff radio program, Torches and Lanterns dropped nine hours ago. Daily United Prayer dropped nine hours to ago. What happens when we pray together? All right? That's there.

16:19 Oh and then some weird person did a podcast on Genesis chapter twelve, verses ten through twenty. Oh that was me. I'm joking. So I yes, I'm on there twice, getting ready to be in my feed three times, you'll please. You'll note typically Theology Central will be in your feed more than other broadcasters. Hint, hint, hint, hint hint. That's because we're better. Now I'm joking, it's just because I talk a lot. See going to my opening illustration, I talk way too much. All right, here we go. Next underneath that anchor Baptist Church, a Good God confronts religious pride Luke fourteen one through That actually sounds pretty interesting. Anchor Baptist Church ten hours ago. Then we have the Foundation and Goal for Education Part two from Church of Christian Liberty then we have Church of Christian Liberty, the suffering of our Prophet, Priest and King. And then we have the Church of Christian Liberty Deuteronomy chapter three, the Church of Christian Liberty, the foundation and goal for education, the Church of Christian the Church of Christian Liberty, Barabbas versus Jesus, the Church of Christian Liberty, Moses and Harriet can to update, all right, So there is a lot right there. So there's there's probably a conference. And look what happened. See, as soon as I make the joke that I'm typically will be in your feed more, someone just blew me out of the water. I can't even compare to that.

17:47 Now, that's probably multiple different speakers. But that's okay, that's okay. But no, that's a lot of content right there in my feed. Now here is the one that I want you to see. The very next one was posted thirteen hours ago. It is entitled the Joy of God's Presence, The Joy of God's Presence. If I click on the Joy of God's Presence, it will show up the Joy of God's Presence, and then underneath that it has the speaker Scott Polly, and then underneath that it has the broadcaster enjoying the journey. Enjoying the journey? Do you want to enjoy your journey as a Christian? I think that's kind of the concept. Now if you scroll down, you'll notice they use the kjav all right, it gives us a little bit about us. And then there's a comment on someone left.

18:48 They have speakers, they have three at least here, well there's three others, but they only have one sermon, so really they have one speaker, Scott Polly. And then recent series we have daily Bible studies which they say are ten minute Bible studies. So you should follow it. You should look up and enjoying the journey, enjoying the journey, and you should just follow the ministry itself, not just any particular series. And then all of their content will show up on your feed whenever new content is available. Be using that feed tab that feed though. I like it that it's called your feed tab, what's going on in your feed? But I look at it as this is kind of your spiritual feed store, right, kind of using that term a couple of different ways, like feed, like you're being fed.

19:42 This is where you can go to get spiritual food. Every single day, and you should and you should use it frequently. Now I haven't paid attention so tonight this is the challenge is on you. If you followed Theology Central, which why wouldn't you not be following us? I have no idea. Why are you not following us? That's insane? Okay, But if you're following us, let me know how quick when this message is uploaded, how quickly it shows up in your feed. I've never challenged. I've never paid attention to see how quickly. I just always look to make sure it's there, but I never pay attention to how quickly it's there. Because of course, one of the frustrating parts about the sermon's two point oh app is that doesn't have a notification system. I think everything in my feed I should get a notification for everything that appears in my feed, And personally, I think you should be able to set it up when you get a notification anytime someone goes live, whether it's your a broadcaster you're following, or just anyone.

20:44 Now, that would be crazy a number of notifications, but I think it would improve the chances of people tuning in. But okay, I digress, I digress. But the point is and enjoying the journey. I want you to follow it. And the reason I want you to follow it is because, look, I want to be able to accomplish something like a ten minute Bible study, a ten minute devotional. I really want to. I really do. I really Oh. I so wish I could, but I I just don't know if I ever can pull that off. I don't know. Maybe in the right set of circumstances I could. But you know what I want you to have. I want you to have something like that.

21:26 I'm not saying I don't know if we're going to agree with all of their content. I doubt we will. You know I won't. But you know what if they give If every day I open up my feed and there it is ten minutes, I know, no matter what's going on today, no matter what's going on tomorrow, no matter how busy I may be, no matter how I am feeling, I can grab my iPad and for ten minutes. Listen, right, we can all pull that off. So what does a ten minute Bible study sound like? You want to find out? Well, here we go. This is the newest one, the joy of God's presence. It sounds like that for the Daily Bible Study series, they've been doing a lot of talk about joy, because here's what they have here, the root of joy, the joy of work, the joy of faith.

22:18 Now they do have one called a Conversation with our listeners that could be interesting. I wonder if that's some kind of an update. I don't know, we need to go listen to that, all right. So, but obviously for the lat maybe starting on Monday, they started a series on joy, the root of joy, the joy of work, the joy of faith, and the joy of work. I would probably be convicted by that, because I don't always find joy and work. Okay, but that's a that's the point is enjoying the journey. Go why are you not following? Come on, why are you not Go follow them? Okay, all right, get and see and once you follow them, go check your feed and the newest one will be there. Go follow them and they immediately Go check your feed. The new one will be there, all right, and maybe a little ways down based on because your feed is based on the hour of when something was added, all right, so you may have to scroll down, but go do that, all right. Now, let's see what a ten minute Bible study sounds like, and we're gonna listen to it right now. In our world, there is so much sorrow, misery, and sadness. We see indicators all around us that reveal to us that most people are looking for something, anything, that can bring them true joy. In this study on Joy, Scott Paul will take us to God's word and help us discover the source of true, lasting joy. And as we study the Bible together,

23:48 we will find that God's joy is readily available to us through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Aliah. That's a nut nice intro, and it's a voiceover. Very it's not just the general voiceover. That is a voiceover that is specific to the the series in which they are doing. So that means they are constantly changing their voiceover for whatever they're doing. That's pretty interesting. That's that's that's well done. That takes a little bit of work, right, You gotta you gotta then do that voice over, put the music under it, and you're doing it specifically for that particular series. Once you once you just make a general one, you can play the general one and you never have to do anything again. But if you're changing it every time you do a new series. Hey, it sounds good, sounds professional. Now you know what I'm gonna be curious of, though, ten minute Bible studies? Are these just simply going to be You take a sermon and you just chop it up into little ten minute bits and it's just edited sermons. Now, hey, it still gives you something ten minut to listen to. The only reason I don't like that is because it's just taking what's already been preached. I would rather you give me like you know, like you're actually turning on the microphone and giving everyone a Bible study. Say, if you do it this way, you can probably it's easy to break it down into ten minutes segments. You just need someone who will edit it for

25:18 you. Right. If you're trying to actually teach it live in ten minutes, that's a whole different ballgame. All right, Well, let's see what happens here. Places do not bring joy. People do. So you may be in the most beautiful place on earth, but the place is empty. The place is not nearly as wonderful as if you had people there with you who love you, and people that you love. Recently, we had a little trip together with our family and we spent several days together, and we enjoyed the place where we were, but we especially enjoyed one another. There's something about Okay, so it's not an edited sermon, all right, that's all right. So now I'm even more intrigued. I'm more intrigued, right, aren't you? Aren't you more intrigued? It's not an edited sermon.

26:15 It looks like this is something that actually was recorded and done so in ten minutes. All right. So the joy, the joy of God's presence. All right. So being in a place, no matter how wonderful it is, may still be empty. It may not be joy. But if there's something else, like the presence of loved ones, then there's joy. Okay, I think I see where he's going. Do you kind of see where he's going? I think I'll back that up just a little bit. Right Here we go, Let's let's let this all play through. Here we go. But the place is empty. The place is not nearly as wonderful as if you had people there with you who love you, and people that you love. Recently, we we had a little trip together with our family, and we spent several days together, and we enjoyed the place where we were, but we especially enjoyed one another. There's something about being in the presence of those you love. Well, if that's true humanly, how much more is that a reality? In the presence of God. We returned today to the Psalms, to Psalm sixteen to learn something about the joy of God's presence.

27:29 And I'm just going to testify for a moment and tell you there is no joy like being consciously in the presence of God. Now we are in the presence of God because God is everywhere. If you're a believer, you are in the presence of God because He promised he would never leave you nor forsake you. If you know Christ is your savior, you will be in the presence of God forever. Someday we have that to look forward to. But I'm talking about living consciously each day in God's presence. Oh boy, now see how for me? I don't know what that would do for you. I would already if I was like listening to this on the way to work, I would already just stop it and go, oh, this is a good theological question. The presence of God, He's his omnipresence, his dwelling presence, but he's talking about living consciously in his presence. Have you ever experienced living consciously in his presence? Is that a real thing or is it something you convince yourself is happening today? I'm living consciously in his presence and as a result, I have these things. What does it mean?

28:41 How do you know when you're living consciously in His presence? Is it based off feeling? Oh? Oh? Is it based off a feeling? Because I've seen that so many times in Christian Oh, you should have been there last night during the praise service. We felt the presence of God. You've felt it, so so you can determine God's presence based off a feeling, and then you go you look at the situation like interesting, there was mood lighting, there was you know, praise music, and then the music got low and then everyone started singing a cappella. Sounds like the feeling of God's presence was more the feeling that the atmosphere, that the music, that the words. It seems like that created the feeling, not God. So how do you know you felt God's presence? And what if you felt God's presence but the person next to you didn't feel God's presence? Are they wrong and you're right? Or are they right and you're wrong? Can you supposedly feel God's presence but it's not you're wrong about it. And someone may not feel anything and they're actually right because there is no special presence present other than just his omnipresence. Oh, we could have a long discussion one see why I can't do things in ten minutes. See if I was going to introduce this, I would immediately go into, Okay, how do we understand all of the different quote unquote presences, all the different ways God is present? How

30:15 do we understand his presence? And then I would probably go through there's this view, there's this view, there's this view. How do we determine based off this this? And then next thing you know, it would be like, Okay, we're gonna be doing a series on God's presence and this will be thirteen episodes long. And now we're going to be listening to random sermons on the topic, and then we're gonna be listening and now we're going to create our own hypotheses, and then we're gonna test it. And then I'm going to have you look up every verse in the Bible that describes God's presence, and then ask yourself is that applicable for us today or no? Because in the Old Testament God presented himself in a way. Clearly he's not doing so today, right, So well then can we? Oh? No, now we what do we do? All right? Well, let's see where he goes, practicing as they used to say of old practicing the presence of God. There's a definite joy there. There's a verse I want you to see in Psalm sixteen and verse number eleven. This is a psalm of David.

31:11 But it's not about David. It's about Jesus. This is a Messianic psalm. In fact, you should read the entire psalm because it references the death of Christ and the burial of Christ and then the resurrection of Christ. In fact, if you back up one verse verse ten, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. And here's our verse Psalm sixteen, verse eleven, Thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Now we know that this verse is about Jesus because it is quoted in Acts chapter number two on the day of Pentecols from Peter stands up in his preaching and he's preaching about Christ, the death, the burial, the resurrection and ascension of Christ. He quotes it Acts chapter two, verse twenty seven and twenty eight. See if they sound familiar. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance, So the joy. Now wait a minute here, If this is a Messianic psalm pointing to Christ, and if Christ then here is speaking to the Father.

32:38 You will not leave my soul and shield or hell, depending on your translation, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. This would be Christ speaking to God. So then Christ would be saying, you will show me the path of life, and your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand or pleasures. Ever more, would this not be Christ speaking about the Father? Now, then do we take that and then make us this about us? Now, if we make this about us, what presence Is this referring to that if I'm conscious of His presence now that there's fullness of joy? Or is this referencing that in this life I have God's omnipresence, maybe his indwelling presence, But really the fullness of joy will never be fully known until I am in His actual presence, when I am glorified, then I will have the fullness of joy, just as Christ experience this joy at the right hand of the Father. Maybe, what do you think?

33:40 Do you think my hypothesis? See why I can't do ten minute Bible studies? See why I can't do ten minutes because the minute I read that, I would be like, wait a minute, I got questions. If this is messianic? Is that speaking of Christ being in the presence of God, the Father, one God, three distinct persons, co equal, co eternal. Or is this about me finding joy and the presence of God. If this is messianic, then it's got about Christ and God, not about me and God. Right, And if I'm going to apply it to me, would this not then reference not me now, but would be referencing me in glory and heaven. Oh, inquiring minds would like to know see if I'm not careful, you see what this is going to turn into. This ten minute Bible study is going to turn into, you know, the summer of Psalm sixteen. We're already in the summer of Psalm eighty three. This may turn into the summer of Psalm sixteen. Don't you have questions? I've got questions. But you see one ten minute Bible study. If you'll do something with it, see how much spiritual food we're getting. Even though I'm whether I agree or disagree, it's very it's irrelevant. Let's listen to a little bit more. It is connected to Jesus. The joy is connect to our risen ascended, reigning Christ. The joy, of course, is found in the presence of Almighty God. The immediate interpretation of the passage is that our

35:13 Lord Jesus, who was separated at that moment on Calvary from the Father because of our sin, who then died and was buried, and went and took the keys to death hell and the grave, would not stay there. He would get up from that grave alive, very much alive. He would return to Heaven and sit down on the right hand of the Father, which for the record, he has now done. And the prophecy, of course in Psalm sixteen is that this would be his great joy. I'm reminded of the phrase will come to later in our study in Hebrews. He went to the cross for the joy that was set before him. What was the joy? I believe the joy was the completed work of redemption and entering back into the presence of the Father in heaven. Wow. I love this. He he's literally acknowledging the immediate context and how the interpretation of the immediate context. Now he may be applied, and he may try to apply this, and we can argue about the application, but his acknowledgment of what the text is actually saying, Man, I love Hey, Hey, I'm telling you right now, go put this in your feed. Go go find enjoying the journey and follow them on the sermon's two point. Oh, app go do it right now. Because hey, I thought this is going to go in a direction and I was going to try to make something from having a major disagreement.

36:37 That is awesome. He immediately brought it back to it. But in the immediate context, this is what it's saying. That is absolutely handled the text there perfectly, and that's good. Now we may question the application. We will see where it goes to be with the Father. Tell you, if that is Jesus great joy, that's our great joy. It is the joy of God's presence. So how can you enjoy him today? Now? Where the only place I would I'm struggling is Okay, our joy is found in God's presence, just like Jesus. Right, but this, this is referencing Jesus being back actually in the presence of God. Completely true. My joy will be complete and full when I am actually in His presence. But for now, I live in a world fielded with pain, sorrow, death, trouble, difficulty, you know, situations you don't even can't even imagine you ever found yourself in. How to deal with it? How to you?

37:45 Just? You struggle, You make bad decisions, good decisions, wrong decisions, you commit, sin, you stop, you all the different things you go through in life. But when I get into Heaven, my sin nature is gone full the full joy of my redemption will be known. So that to me is more the application. Right, But now this is where I'm gonna struggle. He wants to talk about how we can experience the presence now, Now he talked about practicing the presence, practicing the presence. Now, I'm not gonna look this up. I'm gonna leave this in your hands. But when you hear that phrase practicing the presence of God, practicing the presence of God, I believe. Now, I don't know where the phrase was first used, but it should take you. I believe to a Catholic monk by the name of Brother Lawrence who wrote a book or a book was entitled Practicing the Presence of God. I believe he was Catholic, and I don't remember the year. I'm just I'm gonna I'm gonna ask Ai, Okay, I'm gonna ask what can you tell me about the phrase practicing the presence of

39:15 God. Let's see if it leads me to Brother Lawrence in that famous book. I believe that's the name of the book. I'm going from memory here, Oh yeah, here we go. Practicing the presence of God is a spiritual phrase that originated from the teachings of Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth century Carmelite monk. Brother Lawrence emphasized the importance of cultivating a continual awareness of God's presence and every aspect of daily life, whether work, prayer, or mundane activities. The idea behind the practicing the presence of God is to maintain a sense of spiritual mindfulness and connection with the Divine throughout the day. This practice involves seeking God's presence and all circumstances, acknowledging his companionship, and living in a state of constant communion with Him. By practicing the presence of God, individuals strive to deepen their relationship with the Divine, cultivate a spirit of gratitude and humility, and find solace and strength in God's presence. It is viewed as a way to experience God's love, guidance, peace in the midst of life's challenges and joys. Ai takes it right back to where I thought it would take me a Catholic. So when we say we need to practice the presence of God, are we borrowing from Catholic spirituality. There's a Caramelite monk.

40:37 I don't know if brother Lawrence will be classified as a Catholic mystic. I don't know if he'd be classified in that category, So I don't want to go. I would have to start looking into the categorization the different categories. If I can speak correctly. Did that give you a little pause? Hey, I want to practice the presence of God and the term originates with a Catholic monk. I mean, does that give you a little bit like no, no, no, I don't know, I don't know. I know you probably don't say it that way, but you know it does it? Now, let's see, he's gonna tell us how we can how we can do this, how we can do I love the fact that he acknowledged Psalm sixteen is Messianic and when it talks about in your presence is fullness of joy, that is speaking of Christ and the presence of God the Father, that is we've got to be dogmatic about that. He even admitted that. Now he's going to take an application. I don't know if the application. If the text is about Christ, if you're going to apply it, then I think it applies to us. When we get into God's presence, then the fullness of joy is known. I don't know if I can apply this to my everyday life by practicing the presence. I think that becomes a very subjective, and I have a feeling it's going to be feeling base, but I could be wrong. Let's see what he has to say. Can you enjoy the presence of God not just when you die, but while you're living.

42:10 It is a living joy, and it is a full joy, and it is an available joy. Well, let me give you two or three thoughts. First of all, is it a full joy? Can you experience the full joy of God? Can you fill the full joy? Now? And a fallen, broken world where you maintain a sinful nature and you're constantly in sin. I struggle a little bit here. I struggle. Let's see what steps, because this is gonna turn into you know, three steps do these things? It's gonna you know, it's all. That's the only problem I have with so many things with christian It always turns into like if you write down everything you're supposed to do as a Christian, I'm telling you you there would not be enough volumes of books on this planet to fill all the things you're told, do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this, don't do this. Your life is a Christian Sometimes it's just a never ending list of dos and don'ts that you never are going to be able to pull off. Let's see what I'm supposed to be able to pull off.

43:21 So I can be practicing or living in the presence of God, then I can have joy. So let's see what I have to do to get this joy, because I have a feeling it's going to be things I have to do. Paul, Remember the resurrection. The Bible says that will show me the path of life. The whole passage is a passage about life, not Let me back that up a little bit. I feel like we miss something there. I'm going to back that up a little bit. Right here we go, Joy, Well, let me give you two or three thoughts. First of all, remember the resurrection. The Bible says that will show me the path of life. The whole passage is a passage about life, not about death. The Cross was not the end of the story. Calvary was not the climax when Christ said it is finished. It was just beginning.

44:13 Go to the tomb. He's not there, he's risen. As he said, Do you need joy today? All right, then think on the resurrection. Now, I agree, we need to remember the resurrection because by remembering the resurrection, we know that God accepted the sacrifice of Christ, that our redemption is finished, the work of redemption is done, and that in Christ all my sins are forgiven. And if Christ rose as he rose from the dead, is the first fruits, then I too will raise from the dead, and I will have joy evermore. That has nothing to do with living in the presence of God. That's living in a reminder of the completed work of redemption. Now that should give me joy. But I don't know where that has anything to do with the presence of God. That the resurrection of Christ. He's the first fruit. Meaning if heroes from the dead, we will be raised from the dead after him. He is like our guarantee.

45:12 He's like our down payment. And so guess what, I too will be raised from the dead. I will rise in Christ, and then my joy will be complete ever more. So, I think this seems to point to a future joy. And it may give me joy in the presence or give me hope. I think it gives me hope in the presence, but I don't think that. I don't think that helps me practice the presence of God or anything along those line. Let's see what number two is, at least in your mind and heart. Use your sanctified imagination. And walk into that empty tomb where the stone was rolled away, and remember he is alive. If he's alive, you have caused rejoice because if he lives, we live.

45:57 Remember you have a risen Christ. Remember the then number two. If you want to live in the joy of God's presence today, consider the ascension. I don't think we talk enough about the ascension of Christ and all that it meant. We speak of the death balin resurrection of our Lord. But look at him rising up into heaven in those clouds, being received back to the right hand of the heavenly Father. This is so important. Listen to Psalm sixteen again, Thou wilt show me the path of life. There's resurrection in thy presence, is fullness of joy at thy right hand. There are pleasures forevermore. Where's our Lord now? When he ascended, he sat down at the right hand of the heavenly Father. He went there to prepare place for us. He went there to pray for us. He ever lives, making intercession for us. But what is the right hand? I was reading today just devotionally in another place. In scripture and the Bible talks repeatedly about God's right hand. His right hand is exalted, His right hand will do valiantly. Is right hand is the place of victory. I may I tell you that the Lord Jesus Christ is the right hand man. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. What is the right hand? It's the place of access, and it's the place of authority. If you need joy today, and instead of looking at where you're sitting right now, look where Jesus is sitting right now. Okay, this has nothing to do with presence. Here's what I would say. You need joy today, Remember where

47:29 Christ is seated, and then remember you are seated with him in heavenly places. That in your position, you are at the right hand of the Father. You're seated in Christ Jesus. That means you are your eternity is guaranteed. You are already there. Positionally, you're at the right hand of God. You're right there, You're right at You're right with Christ and Christ. You're not at the right hand of the Father in a practical sense and in a positional sense, meaning you are in Christ Jesus. We're seated with him in heavenly places. No matter where you are in life, you may be in sin, you may be discouraged, you may be frustrated, you may be hurting, you may be dying, you may be going through horrible things.

48:16 But in your position, you're at the right hand of God the Father, in Christ Jesus. So I positionally I'm already in his presence in a special way, but practically that gives me hope that I will one day and experience that presence in a true, full way. I don't know what this has to do with living in his presence now or like none of that. Really, I don't know how you apply that to presence. The presence here is Christ is in the presence of God the Father, and one day I will be there practically, but currently I'm there positionally. I mean, that's the way I think to approach this and realize you're seated with Him in heavenly places. Your divine representative is praying for you. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he has all access to all the resources that you need. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. Robert Murry McShane said, if I could hear Jesus praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. And then he paused and said, but the distance makes no difference. He is praying for me. If you want to live in the joy of God's presence today, then remember the resurrection and consider the ascension, and then thirdly, live in anticipation. Do you understand that Psalm sixteen, verse number eleven is prophetic? It is it was looking ahead.

49:47 We have a lot to look forward too. There's a future tense to this. Let me read the verse again. Thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. There is a present tense to our joy. There is also a future tense to our joy. He will show us. He will let us see the pleasures at the right hand. Yeah, I would argue the joy in the present. The joy in the present time is me remembering my position in Christ, and because of that position in Christ, what I will experience in His presence and the present. I find joy because I am guaranteed and I can have the hope and assurance of the full joy that I will experience in His presence. In the present, I experience some joy by remembering my position in Him which guarantees the full joy I will have in the future practically in His presence. I don't think this has anything about me living or in the presence of God. This is all about me in the present remembering what my position is, which guarantees my practical my practical reality of

51:22 being in His presence. Then there will be fullness of joy. I don't I'm kind of like I know he got caught up on the phrase the joy, Uh, in your presence is fullness in the In your presence is fullness of joy. But once he established this as a messianic psalm talking about Christ, then the application here is not about the presence. It's about me being reminded of these truths which speak of my of a positional reality, which then points to the presence I will experience in a practical way in the future. Live every day in anticipation that the same Christ who rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the heavenly Father is coming again for you.

52:08 And when he comes, He's going to take you to live with him forever. You can live in God's presence today until the day that you enter into God's presence perfectly forever. I love the closing phrase of Psalm sixteen eleven. It says pleasures forevermore? Is hear the plural? The pleasure of sin last only for a season. That's singular. Oh, but with God, it's not pleasure, it's pleasures, and His pleasures do not last for a season. His pleasures last forever more. What is this? This is the joy of God's presence. And my prayer for you today is that the joy of the Lord will be your strength. Oh, that we would share Christ with our sad searching world. We encourage you to visit our YouTube channel and search for how to enjoy the Journey. This five minute video is a great way to share the Gospel of Christ with your family and friends, and also on your social media platforms. We also have a wide variety of resources that will equip you to share your faith, from free articles and blogs to our store where you can order personalized Enjoying the Journey gospel brochures in both English and Spanish.

53:30 May the joy of Jesus overflow in our own life and into the lives of those around us? And kind of ironic, but I guess it's right on point. To prove my introduction. This episode is now fast approaching fifth fifty five minutes. So if my episodes of fifty five minutes, sixty minutes, an hour and a half, an hour and forty five minutes, I always go way long. If that's too much or you just don't have time during the day to listen, well, since we're focusing on the sermons two point oh app all of twenty twenty four, then on the sermons two point oh app right now, please go look for Enjoying the Journey and follow them and they will give you daily ten minute Bible studies. We just reviewed one.

54:32 There was much good in that. We have somewhat of a difference there in the application of I don't know, I think, yeah, so we already covered all of that. But please note that was ten minutes. Now, of course, I now what you get out of that ten minutes is what you're going to put into it. You get you listen to that for ten minutes. Hopefully all the things I discussed would be things you would be thinking and meditating on throughout the day. Then that's spiritually atifying and benefit you. Please go follow them and again try to find twenty broadcasters that you follow so that your feed tab on the sermon's two point oh app Not only is that what's new in my feed, but that's where you go for spiritual food.

55:20 That's where you go to be spiritually fed. Right, that's where you go for your spiritual feed. All right? Utilizing using that is and every way I can possibly utilize it to get the point across. Try to find twenty broadcasters. Obviously Theology Central should be number one. Okay, I'm joking. Find twenty doesn't have to be me, but one of them, and I will strongly recommend this. Make it enjoying the journey those ten minute Bible studies. You're busy every day, you don't know time, you may not have time to listen to anything. You got ten minutes, listen, get something from it, and move on. Don't worry about what it's only ten minutes, take it and then do something with it, all right, so please go follow that. I just wanted, well again, my goal, this was going to be like a fifteen thirty minutes you know, I just wanted to share this with everyone, kind of like a FYI. But I but it, you know, turned into an hour. But hopefully you got something out of it. But hopefully the main thing you take from it is my long sixty minute things don't always work for you ten minutes. You've got ten minutes every single day enjoying the journey. Make it a priority, follow it, make sure it's in your feed. If you follow it now, the latest one will be in your feed all right now. Also, the thing I'm going to ask everyone to do is be check if you follow Theology Central. Okay, here's what's going to happen. As soon as this broadcast is over. The first thing I have to do is upload this to all of the podcasting apps. Boom, it goes out, It'll be out.

56:52 It'll be available in almost all podcasting apps, and within the next five to ten minutes. As soon as that's uploaded. Then I go to my podcasting hosting site, download the audio, run over to the Sermon Audio platform and upload it. So, in other words, it will be uploaded to sermon Sermonadio and probably about ten minutes. I want you to be checking your feed if you follow Theology Central, and tell me how quickly does the broadcast show up in your feed? How quickly after I've uploaded it, so you can email me newsif at yahoo dot com newsif at yahoo dot com NEWSI f at yahoo dot com, and let me know if you already listen or if you've already got enjoying the journey in your feed and you listen to them on a regular basis, let me know what you think. Is there a favorite broadcast?

57:46 How long have you been listening to them? How did you discover them? Anything along those lines. Because uh, and again, if you, if you, whoever you have in your feed, please do this, whoever you have in your feed on the sermon's two point, oh, app the ones you really enjoy, the ones that help you spiritually, encourage you, challenge you, even if it's challenging, because it's frustrating. If there's any spiritual benefit, contact them, let them know, let them know they get the negative emails, give them a possible or just leave a comment. Right, there's a comment section there. Leave a comment and just encourage them.

58:27 Hey, thank you so much for what you do. I appreciate it because broadcasting is a lot of work and sometimes you have to question if what you're doing is even worth it. So encourage someone else. Look, you may say, well, I'm a nobody, quote unquote, it's the nobody's who take the time to encourage the quote unquote somebody's the broadcasters that in many cases keep those broadcasters motivated to keep broadcasting. So don't ever forget that. All right, thanks for listening. You can give me your thoughts on Psalm sixteen, on everything we just discussed, whatever you wanted to discuss. You can email me newsif at yahoo dot com newsif Yahoo dot com. Thank you everyone, have a wonderful rest of your Thursday evening. And uh, well there you go. Now my sixty minutes it's maybe too long. I've given you a ten minute daily Bible study to subscribe to make use of it. God bless