John Chapter 17:12-14

God will use the situation or you use a person to point out to you that your joy is not full and here's the thing you look at that person go person is a problem. Note the reason you've gotten upset lost your peace and lost your joy is not because there's a problem with other people's ghosting for just a little bit because there's something wrong in here and see we do that the body of Christ, and it's a dangerous thing. Welcome to cross the bridge with David McGee.

David is a senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina, and today we have a very joyful brother with this. This is brother Pastor DA Brown, one of David McGee's associate pastors here at the bridge, DA, do I have joy in Jesus Bob we all want to be full of joy in Jesus is offering us that opportunity. I don't know what you're going through today. I don't know what battle or storm you're in, but the Lord is about the blessing. While the Bible does reveal our problems in our shortcomings.

It also reveals how we can have ultimate joy in Jesus today. Pastor Dave explain this more as he continues in the Gospel of John chapter 17. So let's jump in. As David McGee teaches part four of the real Lord's prayer John 17 verse 12 says while I was with them in the world. I kept them in your name those whom you gave me. I've captained none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. This is interesting center perdition, who do we think that is Judas.

He was only one loss than what you notices he was the only one that wanted to be lost it and want to follow Jesus, I have kept them in your name understand God can keep you understand that some of you think you gotta keep yourselves, and to some degree, there's some truth in that. You gotta watch what you do watch the places you go watch the positions you place yourself in but is the one who keeps you got is a keeping they have to allowing to keep you. He says I don't go in there here you're gonna get in trouble and you go in there anyways and there. So when everything that goes on but God is able to keep you our God is a keeping God when he starts he finishes what he starts. He finishes couple verses reinforcing that Romans 838 just when I am persuaded that neither death or life, nor angels, nor principalities, or powers or things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can get between you and him not. It's an amazing thing. Now I'm not going to get into the free will and the sovereignty thing. But again, Judas elected Judas decided to walk away from Jesus. If you decide that friend dear your job.

You're in a bad place we can sit here and academically discuss what your eternal destination is but again the discussion is is merely academic. Because we spoke of this last week.

Why would you want to spend an eternity with the God that you didn't want to fellowship with here on earth. I understand that the Philippians chapter 1 verse six is being confident of this very thing that he has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. While love that verse unnoticed, who started the work he did understand that he started it. See a lot of us think well yeah he started, but I was actually the one that responded in and went forward, really, how long did God chase you before that happened. How long did God try to soften your heart and will you before you responded. You can't take credit for that.

So God started the work in a course once he starts work. You guys have started this thing and you and I hope it all works out quickly like that. What he does know somebody does many of us think, what happened in my life. To be honest you got started to work in me. You know, and I was like okay God thanks for saving me and take from your God was like all man are you headed for trouble because I jumped over there and grab the wheel. The course would happen.

The cars of our ends up in the ditch got what you doing I thought you could do me faultless. You present me follows before the third I can but you got the wheel leave hands off the wheel. God is able to keep you God is able to key started school finishes keep walking with keep serving and keep loving stay in fellowship and watch what he does in your life and don't walk away. Verse 13 but now I come to you in these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves is interesting.

Verse have my joy been christened and have anything to do with joy doesn't. If you look at some people's life.

That's what you think and you think that appeals to people.

The joy of Jesus, man is so contagious. It is so contagious and that's what he wants to give to us and there is a jewelry in the Lord that so surpasses everything the world has to offer us that those things don't even compare is what Paul says I don't compare. And Jesus wants our joy to be full. First John chapter 1 verses three enforces that which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and his son Jesus Christ. In these things we write to you that your joy may be full. Chapter John says after Jesus says it the life lesson God desires that are joy be full is your joyful is your joyful. Here's what happens in our lives. God will use a situation or you use a person to point out to you that your joy is not full and here's the danger you look at that person go person is a problem. Note the reason you've gotten upset lost your peace and lost your joy is not because there's a problem with other people's ghosting for just a little bit because there's something wrong in here and see if we do that in the body of Christ, and it's a dangerous thing when you're in the line at Walmart. You get upset with what's wrong you can talk about mismanagement or in inefficiencies or whatever. What's really wrong you have enough patients in God's point that out to, but you'll sit there and got cash new clerk all around then and in another problems in here and let me get a little closer to home. We do this in the body of Christ. And here's the form it takes. We go to a church to godly church. The word of God is being taught that we sit back and we go with this is not right.

That's not right you know what like that to go over here go to another church and this is not right.

That's not right now. Don't like that. I'm going to another church and we spend our lives doing that.

Meanwhile, the understand what's going on at each place God's holding up a mirror going, or some wrong wrong in your life that you won't submit to godly authority and to the Scriptures and I'm trying to point that out to think long and hard about that before you run were too flippant about our commitment to the local body of Christ because sooner or later. Let me assure you I'm not just going to gingerly reach over there and tap on your toes. I'm just gonna get over there and dance on one morning. Now if this may be your morning. I don't see that's God speaking truth and you know what the book at some point is going to speak to issues in her life.

I'm the messenger the messages from him in a certain point, you know what you you need to let go of this. This is an issue in your life, not his wife on her life, but in your life.

Verse 14 I have given them your word in the world has hated them because they are not the world, just as I am not of the world. I have given them your word. Now this phrase the word here is different in verse eight. It was Rima. That's the face still work that's up right word at the right time kind of thing. This is the word Lagos and it speaks of the word of God.

Now this Bible points out her shortcomings. It reveals our problems is what happens. And so the problem that people have with the Bible is not the Bible is the mirror function of the Bible that causes people to go all this, this, that the other balances things like you know you can save yourself some people like that some Christians don't like the Bible says that you know what this earth is not your permanent home.

Some people don't like that but that's what a sentence you can't fix yourself is what this book says some people like that. So what they do is they reject word of God you're listening to Pastor David McGee on cross the bridge will be right back with more just a moment, but I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on cross the bridge.com there's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior.

You need people to pray for them.

You need someone to present God's word to them every day were present in God's word to them here on cross the bridge with Pastor David McGee.

We can pray for them as well. Just by simple going to cross the bridge.com and click on the pray for the lost button.

All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love, that need to know Jesus as Savior. Click on submit and immediately hundreds of people begin praying for your lost love ones awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from associate pastor DA Brown. They were really excited that you tuned in today and if you listen right now.

Taking a few moments in the program to pray for cities and our listening audience. So if you're listening right now are praying for you. Specifically, the cities in Missouri Springfield St. Joseph St. Louis and in Montana are really built Billings and Culbertson Lord, thank you for the people listening in the cities. Thank you for the work that you're doing in their life then listening is evidence that your work.

Father I pray that you would fill them with the faith to believe in what you're doing for Helton to say yes to everything that you want to do on their life.

We pray for the city leaders. The mayor, the police chief. The fire chiefs. We pray that you will give them wisdom. The town Council and Lord, we pray for your Holy Spirit to pour out in these cities give the pastors wisdom help people get plugged in the churches, and low. We thank you that we can ask for your help and expect you to move in Jesus name, amen, amen. Thank you brother and now get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse I want to take a couple minutes to give you a little history about this book, the sword of the Lord.

The word Bible comes from the word Greek word that Leo Simmons parchment sheepskin goatskin and it would actually for 1/4 century New Testament. It would take a whole flock of sheep to form one New Testament in the fourth century the 13th century Bible would've cost you about eight years salary years salary by a Bible.

It's interesting because well on the parchment issue.

The sheepskin issue. It is really interesting because what happened was some people accuse the guys who put the Dead Sea Scrolls together. They said you guys are just making it all fit together so it reinforces the bomb and for years they just said no we know we have no we didn't, but what happened now that we have the type of DNA testing that we have they been able to go back and DNA test the sheepskin shown that the passages that they put together actually from the same sheet and that cool God gave us the technology of nothing else to help push their mouth origin like in the 210 pretty much said this is the New Testament. These are the books that are in the New Testament, and again in 315. It was CBS and Athanasius gave us pretty much the 27 books of the New Testament that these are 27 but have nothing to do with the Council of Nicaea or any other thing now it's interesting is by 400 A.D. this book had been translated into over 500 languages and by 500 A.D. it had been reduced to two. What happened the church gained power. We come came to know this is the church of Rome.

The Catholic Church and Jerome wrote what was called the Latin Vulgate. Jerome took from the Greek Septuagint, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Old Testament and he took the Greek version any put into the Latin.

Now some people at that time spoke Latin. It you Rome was still at in power and so Latin was being taught Latin was being spoken.

But the problem is over the next hundred years more and more people quit speaking Latin and it became a language.

It was only taught at the upper schools. Fewer and fewer people spoke and the word of God begin not to be circulated anymore couldn't be trusted to the normal person, and then quite honestly, the text became corrupted to languages stilly Greek well three languages.

The Greek and the Hebrew the original languages still existed.

I get back to that second but the Latin version. The Latin Vulgate is what we call it did become corrupt over the next thousand years because it was pink became corrupt and this is just historical stuff. I'm not bashing the Catholic Church uses historical stock. Pope Leo the 10th said indeed it has been profitable, not how profitable it has been for us.

This fable of Christ was a pope that said that understand another pope decided that prostitution was a necessary evil for those in the ministry and it one time the church employed as many as 100,000 prostitutes in Rome because these are historical facts. They got in another fundraiser was indulgences where you could pay a certain amount to engage in a certain kind of sin was a fundraising thing not only for your sins but you could pay for the sins of those who would Artie God. Those who were in purgatory.

They came up with a saying when whenever a claim in the in the coffers brings a soul from purgatory springs very on biblical but see less and less people knew the word of God for a dollar 75 you could kill somebody for 225, a priest could have a mistress for $12 could be forgiven of all your sins twisted that God twisted that was not. This is one second okay but why this is going on and entered into a common history we call the dark ages there something else going on.

There was a church that began in England tradition actually tells us that Joseph of Arimathea went and started this church in England.

That's tradition were not sure about that, but a true remnant state with those original languages and about 535 there was a Bible college is sprung out in Iona Scotland that for the next thousand years. The evangelism happened all over the world came out of this one Bible, and Scotland. They were kind of the rebels if you will save a lot of things happened over the thousand years, but to blow it all down. We know that the Bible stayed uncorrupted in those original languages, and we know this man interesting thing we know about several things but one of the things is we have Hebrew school scrolls of the Old Testament over thousand years old. We've compared them to the Dead Sea Scrolls that were even work 1200 years going back 2200 years. We compare that Hebrew scroll with the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible that we have today. The text has not been corrupted. The Latin Vulgate was corrupted.

There was a man lawmaker who went in this study Greek and that he couldn't so he could read the original languages. He went to the Latin Vulgate and he read it niche. He was shocked. He said you know what either. This is not the gospel were not Christians because, as he read it he saw the disparity between what the church. The church at Rome was teaching what the Bible was saying about the just shall live by faith and and and were saved by grace alone and was staggered at it and in the course. This began the Reformation and you have heroes of the faith like John Wycliffe translated from the Latin Vulgate into the English and he started teaching these things. The church got very nervous.

They hated him. Later they hated him so much.

Later, 15 years after he.they excommunicated him 46 years after the he.they dug the Pope said to His bones Burnham and thrown in the river and his crime translate the Bible in English. It entered a dark time. It was a horrible time. They killed five men and two women, Burnham at the stake in order.

Crime was they were teaching the Lord's prayer to their children in English still got had around got had a ring that we got Fox's book of martyrs in the bookstore. If you're not familiar what all happened to believers during the time. Let me encourage you to dig a little bit when you think you're having a bad day.

I keep a copy in my office when I think I'm having today a bad day. I did that out and I read a couple of stories ago, it ain't so bad as people are willing to die. Martin Luther translated from the original Greek into German and again this fueled fire to the Reformation in a man, William Tyndale, many of us have never heard of these called in some intellectual circles, the father of the English language. See because when he translated from the original languages into English and it was the first time in English that had been done. Shakespeare quotes over 5000 versus that this man translated the King James version contains 90% of what one man. Tyndale accomplished over a lifetime did a great price after he did this he had to stay on the run for nine years, moving from town to town and then finally, through betrayal, he was arrested. State, 500 days in a dungeon. The only writing we have from that period is that he said is if you could give me two things to the governor of the cost of you give me two things that I would sure like to Because of the congestion in the inflammation and since it's winter, but above all, please send me my scrolls and my Hebrew dictionary after 500 days, they brought them out. They gave an opportunity to recant and he said I'm not can or can't make God open the King of England's eyes and they strangled him in the Burnham at the stake.

We need to know who these men are because they paid such a price for us to have the un-corruptible word of God. What's interesting to me is that the modern church freely and carelessly gives away this book that these men of wisdom and honor God, that we might have that some people are saying you know what we don't need to teach the word of God.

We need to get out of the book.

This is a precious book. Hope it gains more and more value. I hope this morning. You've gained some insights and that you see it more as a treasure because you want the attacks against this book or not. Go slow down as we see Tom wandering down Quincy attacks against this book even speed up more this is the precious word of God in it. We can learn how we might have eternal life.

This book gives us hope. The hope is not a view it's of God, and you need to know your sword. I know for many of you because again I surveyed.

I walked around people and how do we get the Bible.

How did this happen, how did you know in and I got some interesting answers and we need to know these things you need to know these things and understand. I'm okay if you didn't know these things because I haven't been taught in the church today.

I understand that I sympathize with the please don't Americans think why don't even know so I don't know no friend your following Jesus, you need to know these things so that you can have discussions with people who don't know Jesus. And so you can know your sword. It's a weapon. Know your weapon. Know your weapon because this is what brings freedom to people in bondage. This is what gives hope to a world that is without hope, and this is the book where Jesus says come to me all you that are heavily and will give you rest.

Do you need rest this morning.

Do you think that your sufficient within yourself and you don't need any of these things I'm talking about will may the Lord bring you to the place that you realize that you're not sufficient of yourself so that you can gain which you will not lose (Lord, thank you for the word of God. Lord we corporately and individually ask for forgiveness for not valuing it is a treasure. Lord, thank you for the treasure that it is or thank you that it offers us hope and freedom. Perhaps you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus. Perhaps you set here this morning so I thought doing the best you could. Was was what Christianity was all about. The fact is without Jesus were without hope he died because our best is not good enough we can't reach that standard of perfection. Perhaps this morning you've been freshly convicted of that. I want to encourage you that the offer still stands. But Jesus has his hand extended toward you. I encourage you to come friend you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven. You can know right now only Jenna short, simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now.

Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I can have a new life not done wrong things I have sent and I'm sorry.

Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you.

All of my days in Jesus name, amen friend. If you prayed that prayer according to the Bible you've been forgiven you've been born again, so congratulations for you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make.

God bless you, if you pray that prayer with David for the first time we'd love to hear from you. You can visit cross the bridge.com to receive our first steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Or you can write to cross the bridge at PO Box 12, 515 Winston-Salem, NC 27117 and share how God is working your life you're the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio through the Internet and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use so if you like to support this ministry. Please go to cross the bridge.com. Click on the donate button and ask God how much he would have you give either on a one-time basis or continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through cross the bridge. Thank you so much ODA before we go. What are some ways that we can bless our listeners day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David to the word of God with his email devotional life lessons to consider daily reading and the thought to meditate on. Throughout today from the heart.

David McGee those are terrific and it's easy and it's free so folks sign up today@crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening and join us next time. As David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the gospel of God