Beth Jones - Oct 10 - 8:30 am

0:00I am a sample. Long before I'm measured, long before I'm named. Each piece of me has a message, a nuanced role. When you look beyond the average, when you see where I belong, you see why I behave the way I do. When you start looking at my details, when you include my context, I start telling you the truth. I always had a story. You just need it away to hear it. Every sample has a story. Learn more at 10Xgenomics.com. Hi guys, I'm Beth Jones and welcome to the basics with Beth where learning God's Word is a joy. In every message, we will do our best to teach you the Bible basics in such a way that it strengthens your faith foundation. In addition, I want to empower and equip you so that you have confidence to share these Bible basics with others. So lean in and listen with your heart. If you'd like to know more about our ministry, just go to the basicswithbeth.com and get all the scoop.

1:06With all of that said, now let's jump into today's message. God is good all the time and all the people said Amen. We are in a brand new series called The Good Life. And so this is week one. And I'll tell you what, it's just a good thing to be in a church where they sing in English. I was in Mexico City last weekend for my niece's graduation. And so my sister and brother-in-law passed her Rayma Bible Church, Mexico. And so we were with them last Sunday, my sister preached and the kids are on the worship team. And so it was so fun to be in another country where they're singing some of the same songs we sing except of course they're in Spanish. And so we just faked it. My kids and I just faked it. You know, just moved our mouth and said, Glorio di Adios every now and then. And we were good, but it's nice to sing in English. Don't you love bless you. Don't you love the worship of the Lord? I tell you why there's just nothing like the Lord's presence. There's no replacement for it.

2:07In his presence is what? Foleness of joy. And the Bible says he inhabits the praises of his people. Pastor Brad talked about that even during the offering. God inhabits the praises of his people. When God shows up, it doesn't matter if anybody else shows up, like the preacher that is. Right? Because when God shows up, he does things that only he can do. And so, you know, like Brad was sharing, you know, come every week, come expecting God to touch you during the worship. When you're singing songs like Chains be broken. Those aren't just nice little diddies. You receive that, yes, God in my life right now. Chains be broken. Amen. You receive that kind of stuff. I mean, that's the whole point of worship. It's to get into God's presence and receive the things he wants us to receive and minister to him the things that he wants out of our hearts to be given to him. How many of you know God can have anything he wants? He's God.

3:07But the one thing he can't have is your worship unless you give it to him. That's why the Bible says he's seeking true worshipers because they're so rare. He can have anything he wants. He's got all the planets, planets and all the galaxies. He's got anything he wants. He lacks for nothing. But what he can't just manufacture and won't manufacture is worship. But when you give it to him freely from your heart, man does that bless the Lord. That's why we say bless the Lord. Oh my soul, I want to bless you, Lord, because you've been so good to me. And this is the one thing you can't give yourself. And I want to give it to you. I want to give you worship. And I know that you inhabit the praises of your people. And his anointing comes in and breaks jokes and breaks burdens and breaks chains and refreshes you and wakes you up. And all the things way before we ever even get to the message. You know, that's why we have worship. That's why we worship. What an offering we can give to God. Apart from our offering, apart from our money. I mean, our heart just worshipping God.

4:09So be encouraged in that. And really every week boy come with a heart to give God something. He can't give himself. But what a gift you can give to him and then how he meets us with his goodness. And so that's what we're talking about in this series, the good life. God is good. So let me tell you where we're going to head next couple of weeks. We are going to head today. We're going to talk about the idea that God is good. And the reason we're taking some time to talk about it is because there's confusion on this subject. Sadly, there's confusion on the fact that God is good and he is good all the time. And his intentions toward you and towards me are always good. Week number two we'll talk about the devil is bad. God is good. The devil is bad. And again, we're talking about that because so many times people attribute things that the devil does to God. No, the devil is the bad one. And we're going to look at it next week a little bit. What are some of the things the Bible says? Don't be ignorant of Satan's devices. As a believer, you don't focus on the devil, obviously, but you have to be wise to his devices.

5:11We have to be aware, listen, we have to be aware that he is endeavoring if we're gullible and duped and ignorant, he is endeavoring to send packages to our homes. And if we don't know any better, we'll sign for him. We'll sign for packages. The devil sends thinking, well, it must be from the Lord. How many of you know a lot of us put myself in there to a lot of us over the years have signed for packages that didn't come from God. But it's because we didn't know the devil's bad. There is an enemy. There is a demon personality called Satan called the devil. And he's bad and he doesn't want anything good for you. God only wants good things for you. And we'll talk about that some next week. Week three we're going to talk about reasons bad things happen. There are reasons bad things happen. It's not just arbitrary. And so we want to be wise to those things and let's avoid them where we can, let's pay attention. And then week four ways to live the good life. We'll talk about some real specific ways to tap into and really walk out the good life that God has for us.

6:14And so it's kind of where we're going to go. And today we're going to talk about God is good and sort of the subtitle is. And he wants his kids to live the good life. He's not just good in hoarding it all for himself because he's good he gives. And he wants all of his kids to experience the good life. Now I don't know about you, but I know for me when I first became a Christian. I was 19 years old. And I remember looking at Christians watching Christians. Do you all remember doing that? Maybe some of you here you're doing that today. You're new. You're visiting. Who are these people? And what are they like? And you know, you watch people. I did. And I remember there was a season. I remember watching these Christian people. And I thought, I'm not like them. They're all so together and they're also happy. And they're also blessed. And they're also goody, goody. And I remember thinking, I'm not like them. I came out of a messed up home. And I got issues. And I just felt so unworthy to be blessed.

7:14I felt guilty or unworthy. And I watched these people and I didn't know if it was for me. And I thought, well, maybe you just have to be born into it. You know, maybe you got to be born into a Christian home. Or you got to be born into a preacher's family or somehow or another. You got to be born into it. But I'm not in the club. Anybody know what I'm talking about? That kind of sense. But here's the thing we're going to get into this today. I became, you know, over time began to realize. No, no, no, no, no. God has the good life for everybody. Everybody's in the club. So to speak, everybody's in the club. And of course, the enemy wants you to think you're on the outside. He wants you to think you're not good enough. You're not worthy. You're not smart enough. You don't know enough Bible verses. You've had too many mistakes, too many failures. You're disqualified. Oh, no, you're not. God has a good life for each and every one of us. And so we want to sort of locate ourselves. Where are we at now? What does the gods will tell us about the good life and how we can begin to cooperate with it? And then let's believe God, right? In these next couple weeks, let's believe God that wherever you're at,

8:15you might feel like you're at the bottom of the barrel. Well, then let's believe God, you're going to take a step up in the good life. At the end of these four weeks, you'll be equipped to take some steps up in the good life. Well, let's say you're on top of the barrel. You're sitting there saying, hey, my life is sweet. It's all good. My life is awesome. God has blessed us. I'm living the good life. Praise God for that. Then how about for you do this? Go beyond. Raise the bar, man. Go beyond. Take it up a notch. Be so ridiculous as to think God could take you even higher. Be so ridiculous as to think God could bless you in such a way that you could be a blessing. Because how many know that's the goal of the good life, right? The goal of the good life is we'll get into it. Isn't just so that we're blessed and happy. It's all wonderful for us. That's a part of it. But the goal of the good life is we're blessed to be a blessing. You can't give what you don't have. If you don't have an overflow of joy, an overflow of peace, an overflow of God in your life,

9:22you can't give that to other people because you need somebody to give it to you. So the goal is let's give the good life to the full in an overflow fashion so that we can give it to some other people. And so if you're already kind of in the good life mode, yay. Praise God for that. But then believe God, what could he do with you? What could he do with you? Some of you people listen, what could he do with you if you got a hold of the good life? Maybe you could buy a well for somebody in Africa. Maybe you could sponsor an entire orphanage in Cambodia. Maybe you could rescue girls that are in the sex trade in foreign nations. Maybe you could pay somebody's car off. That's what we're talking about, the good life. It's not just that my needs are met. It's like you get a vision for what this could look like, what God could use you to do to impact people, impact a planet. Amen. So that's all introductory. That's where we're heading. Okay. Let's go over then to John 1010, a verse you know. But this is out of the amplified Bible.

10:22So if you need a Bible, raise your hands. The extras will get you one. Look up John 1010 and then let's pray and we'll jump in. Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for the Holy Spirit's help. Lord, you're a good God. You are good all the time. You've always been good. From Genesis to Revelation, you are a good loving Father. And I pray, Lord, today that our eyes will be open to it. I pray that blinders will come off, that you'll give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you. Lord, I thank you that deposits, grace deposits of your spirit will be imparted into us and you'll help us today and over the next four weeks to get this on the inside of us in our spiritual DNA. It'll become such a part of us. We expect nothing less than your absolute goodness in us and through us to be a blessing. And so we thank you for it. In Jesus' name and everybody that agreed said, praise the Lord. Okay, so then let's talk about this John 1010. You guys know the verse, but this is from the Amplified. It says, the thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. Well, we know who the thief is, right?

11:32The enemy Satan is the thief. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. We'll talk about that later. But Jesus said, I came. Jesus, these are Jesus' words. He said, I came that they may have and enjoy life. Have it in abundance to the full until it overflows. John 1010, Jesus said, I have come. This is the reason I came. I came to the planet I created. I went to the cross as your substitute to die on that cross and take your place in hell and was raised three days later. And here's why I did it. I did it so that you can have and enjoy life. That's a good life. And that you can have it in abundance to the full until it overflows. The good life is the overflow life. Now, for every one of us is going to look different because we all have different reference points. What does it look like for you? Maybe get some things in your mind, you know, in your heart. What does the good life look like for you? What areas of your life? Spirit, soul and body. Jesus said, I have come that you would have and enjoy life. Do you know how many people do not enjoy life? How many Christians do you know they look like they've been baptized and pickle juice? Come on, bust a smile, dude. Yeah.

12:56To have and enjoy life. What kind of life? Abundant life. That's excess surplus more than enough to the full until it overflows. The overflow is for others. It's not enough. Somebody goes, well, I don't need the overflow life. Yes, you do. Well, I don't care about abundance. Yes, you do. You need to. Because that isn't necessarily just for you. That's for the others. It's that overflow. God infects us with an overflow so we can be contagious and give it to somebody else. Absolutely, you have to get this. You can't say, I don't need the good life. Yes, you do need the good life. And all the people said, yeah, you do. You need the good life. What kind of life? To have and enjoy life. Praise God for that. Just you can enjoy life. And then he gives us this description what this looks like. And we're going to talk about it like I say over the next few weeks. What does this life look like then in different areas? And why is it so many people are not experiencing the good life?

14:03Go over to Josea 4.6. Let's talk about this for just a bit. Why is it? If we ever get the revelation, and I believe we will, that God is so good. He is so generous. We have no idea how good he is. We've been taught by religion. We've been taught by people's opinions. We've been taught by experience. And we've been taught by everything but the Bible about who God is and what his nature is. And what his character is like, the Bible says, God is love. That's his nature. God is love and love by nature, by definition, love gives. For God so loved the world he gave. He can't help himself. He is love. He gives. It's just what he does. He's so good. He's so generous. And so many of us have not had this view of God to the degree that we need to. And there's a reason for it. So then a lot of us don't experience the good life to the degree that he intended. And here's why this is one main reason. Josea 4.6. The Lord said, my people, who? My people, believers. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. My people do not know what they do not know.

15:18They don't even know what belongs to them. They don't even know what's in their inheritance. They don't even know the price that Jesus paid on the cross and the purpose for which he paid it. They don't even know what belongs to them in Christ. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. They have such little bits of information. But God is trying to encourage us. I believe in this series. God is trying to encourage us. I want to load you up with the knowledge of my will. I want to fill your heart and fill your mind with revelation knowledge that you don't just know some tidbits in your head, but that you get an impartation of the Holy Spirit. And God's goodness becomes a part of your spiritual DNA. It becomes a part of you. You know because you know because you know and nobody can take it from you. God is not skit so God. Good one day and then bad some other days. Well, you just never know. The Lord might be trying to teach you a lesson. You just never know. Yes, we do know we have the Bible.

16:20We have His Word. Amen. So we need this to get in us because if we don't get it in us, the knowledge of God's will for us concerning the good life and many other things. My people perish. My people are destroyed. You say, you know, the devil's been eating my lunch. Now that you mention it. Well, then get the knowledge. My people's lunch is eaten because of a lack of knowledge. That's why that's one of the number one things. The best thing you all can do. And I'm glad you're here. It's come to church. Get your Bibles. Study the Word. Learn the Word. Get a hold of the knowledge of God. So we're going to talk today about some areas that we need the knowledge of and some of the areas that we don't have the knowledge of. And we find ourselves destroyed in certain areas of life. So let's talk about it. The first one we'll look at is this. People don't know that God is good. They don't know it. We've talked about it just to tell, but people don't know it. It's amazing. It is amazing. You guys will find this if you haven't already. People will argue with you about this subject. How can you say God is good? Well, because the Bible does. How about that? How can you say God is good? We had a friend. No, seriously, we had a friend that worked for a Christian organization. Christian organization. Great people love God, genuine sincere and all that. Work through this organization. Although they didn't buy

17:47the book. I don't believe that God was good, which is weird to me. But this fellow was asked to do a chapel at this organization to do a chapel. And he knew that they didn't agree with him on certain things, you know, about the abundant life and about being filled with the spirit and about a variety of things. He understood they didn't agree with that. So he said, well, I want to pick a topic that is not controversial. I just want to be a blessing. They asked me to speak with their chapel. I'll just be a blessing. He worked for this group. He said, I'll just speak with their church. And so he said, I'll just talk about God is good. Surely nobody can get upset about that. So he did a message at chapel on the goodness of God. God is good all the time. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy Jesus came to give us abundant life. And afterwards, the next day he got called into his boss's office and was fired. Because they said, you can't say God is good. So people don't know God is good. And my people perish for lack of knowledge.

18:47People haven't discerned that some things are from God and some things are from the enemy. They just put everything into one big bucket. Well, you know, God is sovereign. It must all come from God. Well, then Jesus must not have known that. I don't, I think I forgot to say that I might raise more questions today than we answer. That's why you got to keep coming back. Come back all four weeks. You know what? We're probably going to stir up some questions today. That's okay. We need to think about this stuff. We better know what we know. We better believe what we believe. Right. And have the word to back us up. Otherwise, it's just another person's idea. So we may raise some questions. I'm aware of that. But that's all right. So God is good. A lot of people don't know. He's good. Look at this verse. Psalm 34 verse 8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Taste and see.

19:47Taste. Who knows? Taste is experiential. Is it not? Taste and see that the Lord is good. I've got a picture of put it up on the screen here. Can y'all taste that? How's that taste? It's a nice picture, isn't it? Can you taste it? No, because listen, if we're just hearing some words on a page, it's good theory, but I'm not tasting it. I'm not tasting those butter fingers. If I hear your testimony or you hear my testimony, well, that's great. I'm glad for your testimony, but I didn't taste it. You tasted it, but I didn't taste it. If you go on vacation and come back and show me all your pictures, I can look at your pictures and go, wow, it looks like you had a great vacation. You tasted the vacation. I got to see the pictures. Well, the Lord saying, listen, I don't want you just to look at pictures. I want y'all to taste this thing. I want you to taste and see that the Lord is good. You can't just look at the picture.

20:47You can't get a picture on a screen and taste. However, if you were to catch one of these, you could taste and see that a butter finger is good. Yeah, there's a difference, isn't there? An experiential difference? I don't want to throw this bracelet off, so hold on. I could hurt somebody. All right, here we go. Yeah, you can taste and see the sweetness of a butter finger. I mean, if you're Christian life is just the greatest sounding theory you ever heard, well, goodbye. Really, I mean, goodbye, because who wants that? Then it's just a club. Then you're just coming to a little meeting. We talked about this in our pre-service prayer a little bit. God wants people to experience his goodness. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said taste and see that the Lord is good. And it really does start. We'll get into this in a couple of weeks, but it really does start with beginning to see the Lord.

21:47Let's see it. Begin to see God's goodness in your life. Beginning to imagine what would your life look like? What would be different if you were living the good life to the next level? What would that look like for you? What would you see and begin to get an image of that? God, according to your word, what does that look like for me? Don't say this. Here's the thing. Never do. Don't ever say things like, well, I could never imagine living in a house like that. Don't say that. In fact, Jeff and I, when we lived in Tulsa, we did say that once in the Lord of the world, we were correct at us. We were living in Tulsa. We went to this place in Tulsa called Utica Square. It's where all the really nice homes are. We walked around all these homes. We took pictures in front of a lot of them and sent them back to our friends. You know, it's at all the Lord's really blessed us. But we would say, who are these people? We couldn't imagine living in a house like that. And the Lord corrected us. He said, stop saying that. Because if you can't see it, you can't have it. Don't say, I could never imagine going here or there. I could never imagine

22:47getting this particular opportunity. I could never imagine driving that car. I could never imagine my kids doing this or that. Don't say that. Next that from the vocabulary. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Have to begin to see it with the eye of faith. Well, my people perish for lack of knowledge because they don't know how good God is. And here's the deal. Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God. And this is important because sometimes what will happen is people will say things like, well, you know, you read the Old Testament. And man, God looks mean in the Old Testament. Who thought when you read the Old Testament, you thought, oh, man, am I glad I didn't live then? Because you read the Old Testament. And it seems like God is mean. But he's not changed. He's the Lord. He changes not. So it's the same God in the Old Testament as in the new. And he's not skit so God. So what's the problem? Well, the problem is a lot of us don't understand. We read the Old Testament.

23:47We don't understand Hebrew tenses for one thing. We don't understand causative versus permissive. We don't understand being under the law and the judgment that came as a result of disobedience. We don't understand some of those things because it was a different covenant, a different time, a different dispensation. We're under the new covenant. The new end better. Who could say amen to that? The new end better covenant that Jesus came on the scene to bring. And Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. So if you ever said God, what are you like? Are you a mean God? Are you a good God? What kind of a God are you? Look at Jesus. Read the Gospel. Everything Jesus did was the visible manifestation of the heart of God. And Jesus, you look at his ministry. You look at his life. Jesus never wants ever said to somebody, well, it's not God's will for you to have the good life. Because he's trying to teach you a lesson. Never once was a person that came to him for healing. And he said, oh, well, no. Oh, no, it's not God's will.

24:47He's going to be healed. In fact, God put this on you because he's trying to humble you. That was a chair. He's okay. Never once. Is there a record in the Bible where somebody came to Jesus for healing? And he said, it's not God's will to heal you. But how many of you know you hear that all the time? Where's that in the Bible? Where's that in the New Testament? It's nowhere. Everyone that came to Jesus received from him what they needed. Whether it was food, finance, finances, money, and a fissious mouth, healing, wisdom, direction, blessing. Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. My people perish for lack of knowledge. They don't know how good God is. They don't know how generous he is. They sign for packages. They think God sent, but he didn't. And we'll explain that in weeks to come. Number two, people don't know that the good life exists.

25:47They might agree with you okay, fine. God is good. Of course, he's good. He's God. But they don't know that the good life exists. They don't know that God because he's good and because he's a giver wants it for you wants it for me. They don't know that it exists. They don't know that they can count on a good God to bless their life as they cooperate with him. They don't know that Ephesians 2 verse 10. This is from the amplified. It says, for we are God's own handiwork. His workmanship. Created, recreated in Christ Jesus, born and new that we may do those good works which God predestined planned beforehand for us. Taking paths which he prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them. Living the good life, which he pre-arranged and made ready for us to live. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which he prepared ahead of time. What kind of good works the good life. Blast to be a blessing. The good life exists. A lot of people don't know it exists because what happens so many times is people come up with the yeah, but what about.

26:57Y'all know what I'm talking about. Well, I'll find the good life exists, but yeah, but what about. What about sister Sally? I knew a little lady. She was a Christian. She loved God and things didn't work out for her. What about this person? I knew this person. They love the Lord. Things didn't turn out so good for them. Yeah, but what about. Listen, there are a lot of reasons things happen. Sometimes we know what those reasons are because God reveals them to us and sometimes we don't because he's chosen not to reveal it, but he's always revealed his word to us. We always have the word to go on. Never, never, never base your theology. Your view of God never base it on the experience of others. Never, and we know people and we've done it ourselves. You guys know people that do that all the time. Well, I don't know that God, I don't believe you can say God is good all the time because I knew this person. I knew this situation. Yeah, but what about. Never, ever, ever base it on the experience of others. We don't know. We might think we do, but we don't know every private conversation God had with that person. Every private conversation they had with God.

28:06We don't everything we think we do, but we don't. God does. And the Bible says the secret things belong to the Lord. Things revealed belong to us. And aren't you glad he's not a gossip. Aren't you glad he doesn't spill everybody's business. Things happen at different times for different reasons. A lot of it. We live in a fallen world. There's a lot of things that happen just simply because we live in a fallen world. But that doesn't change the fact that God is good all the time. Good to you and that his will for you his desire for you is the good life that he has pre-arranged and made ready. People say, well, what about Job? Who's ever heard about Job? Some people call him job. You guys know Job? Yeah, it's amazing. Some people don't know anything about the Bible. They know about Job and Paul's thorn. People say, what about Job? The story of Job, for those of you that don't know, Job was a man in the Bible. We're going to talk about him a little bit in the weeks to come, but Job was a man in the Bible that went through a terrible trial and an attack from the enemy. God didn't send it. God didn't cause it.

29:17It's an attack from the enemy. And that's part of the good life. Part of the good life is you're going to face some tribulations and trials you have to overcome. So in the end, God multiplied back to Job twice what he had blessed his life, multiplied things back into his life and historians say that Job's whole ordeal lasted nine months. So it's amazing people that will lot about Job. Some people, man, they glory in the idea that they are a Job. Well, I'm just like, poor old Job. Okay, well, praise God then. Because nine months from now, you're going to get double. Get to the end of the book. Some people have been poor old Job for decades. Get over a dude. It's been nine months for Job. What about Paul's thorn? You can't say that God wants people to have the good life because what about the Apostle Paul? What about the thorn? God gave him a thorn. Some people say some people believe it wasn't eye disease. This is the traditional religious view of it.

30:20Some people say, oh, God gave the Apostle Paul a thorn in the flesh. It wasn't eye disease. And the Apostle Paul, he prayed and he asked God three times to take it away. And the Lord said, no, my grace is sufficient. You all ever heard something like that? If you haven't heard it about Paul's thorn, you just heard it in life. Well, I prayed and asked the Lord and he didn't do it. So he must have not wanted it. The whole story of Paul's thorn, which we'll get into in a couple of weeks as well, wasn't even sent from God. It was a, the Bible says it was a messenger of Satan sent to Buffett Paul. God didn't send it. Listen, mark this down. God does not cause tragedy. God does not cause disaster. God does not cause bad things. God may have to permit them. God has to permit them. Part of it has to do with our free will. Part of it has to do with the fallen planet that we live on. Part of it has to do with the number of different spiritual laws. The law of sowing and reaping is one. The law of words is one. There's a number of spiritual kingdom laws. God may have to permit some things that are not his will.

31:29God has pre-arranged a good life. He's not causing those things. But how many of you know, man, a lot of people have, yeah, but what about? Well, let's just make sure that the answer to the yeah, but what abouts make sure it comes from the Bible, not from somebody's experience. And all the people said. Okay, then let me share this with you on this subject because it's a good one. The Bible tells us that we're supposed to study the word, right? Study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that need to not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. All of us have that responsibility. We'll stand before the Lord one day and give an account. How did we do in studying his word? How did we do in getting into his word? And he says here rightly divided. Well, that implies that it can be wrongly divided. So it's important to rightly divide the word to know what God's intention is. What does he mean? What happens is people lump everything together so many times and they just throw in one big bucket and try to make it make sense.

32:37It becomes very confusing, but when you begin to divide the word with itself, then all of a sudden light bulbs go off and you start to understand some things about God's kingdom and the way he has set things up. And so here's an example of that. Jesus, Jesus is our redeemer, our savior, our Lord, right? All of those things we know. But when you study his life, you can divide it out in this fashion. You can divide it out into two particular categories. In some things, concerning the good life, in some things, he was our example. And in other things, he was our substitute. You have to divide that out a little bit. In some things, Jesus said, listen, I'm your example. And in these things, watch how I do it because you're going to have to do it this way too. I'm your example. So for example, for instance, he is our example in persecution. Right? Jesus said, if they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you. That's part of the deal. Listen, persecution is a part of the good life.

33:42I got an email from somebody once. They said, you can't say that God wants people to be blessed because what about persecution? I'm like persecution is a part of the good life. Are you kidding? If people persecute you, that's a compliment. People persecute you for your faith. That's a compliment. Yay! Somebody noticed I'm a Christian. Must be one. Jesus said, if they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you. That's a part of the good life. I'm your example in that. So that one, for sure, you're going to experience temptation. Jesus was tempted in all the ways that we are, yet he was without sin. And he had to resist temptation. He said, God, if there's any way, let this cut pass for me. He was resisting the temptation to quit. And then that regard concerning temptation, we're all going to face temptation. The good life doesn't mean that you're never tempted. The good life means you are tempted, but you've got the power to overcome. Jesus is our example. Amen.

34:43But then Jesus is our substitute in other capacities. And where he was our substitute, we never have to experience those things. Don't ever sign for the packages where Jesus was your substitute. Don't let the enemy confuse you or deceive you by sending you a package. And because you're ignorant and don't know that Jesus was your substitute here, you're like, not signing for that package. Okay, what examples are those on the cross? Jesus went to the cross as our substitute, meaning you never have to go to the cross. Aren't you glad? The sub already went. Jesus went to hell for us. He was our substitute in hell. I mean, this is amazing. He was our substitute in hell, meaning you and I never have to go to hell. If Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life, he was your substitute in hell. He took your place. The sub showed up. You never have to go there. The Bible says in Matthew 8, I think it's like 17, 18 somewhere in there, it says that he was our substitute in taking on himself, sickness and disease and infirmities. He was our substitute, meaning you don't have to sign for those packages. You can resist the enemy. You can tap into God's goodness, concerning health and healing and wholeness. And I'll talk about that in a minute.

36:03So when you discern where he's our substitute and where he's our example, it makes all the difference in the world. But a lot of people because of a lack of knowledge, they don't know the good life exists. And they sign for packages that God never intended. Alright, go over to the next one. Number three, people don't know that God gives good things. People don't know that God is a giver and he gives good things. Matthew 7, verse 11, if you then being evil, human, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? James 117, every good gift, every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. If you then being human, you human fathers, you human parents, you have enough sense to know what a good gift is. You're not confused about what a good gift is, parents. Right?

37:08If you then being human, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your kids. How much more does your heavenly father want to give good things? Good what? Good things. Good things to those who what? Ask to those who ask him, good things. Now listen, that is huge. Sometimes we can over-spiritualize a little bit and think God only means spiritual things. Well, most first and foremost, let's say it that way, first and foremost, yes, absolutely. He does mean spiritual things. A relationship with God being filled with the Holy Spirit, living according to His Word, walking in the light, being filled with joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness and self-control, all of those things, absolutely. First and foremost, He wants to give us those good things. But it doesn't just stop with spiritual things. Jesus said, I've come that you could have and enjoy life. God is not against you having good things. Now He is against good things having you. That's the difference. He's not against you having good things. In fact, He's a good father. He delights to give you good things. How many of you parents, you delight to give your kids good things. It's a joy for you to give your kids good things.

38:28God is like that. And man, have we missed the vote on that one or what, as believers, have we missed the vote on that? We've thought God was the stench of God. We thought God was like, you selfish thing, you don't need that. You shouldn't want that. You shouldn't have that. I mean, if it's someone, Godly thing, of course you shouldn't have that. But God, he's a good father. He delights and you enjoying good things. And especially if you're like him in that you're a giver, in that you're generous, in that you are blessed to be a blessing. I'll tell you what, what a blessing it is. Some of you, you got to lay calm and you share that with others. That's a blessing. Some of you, you got to second home, somewhere else in the world, you share that with people. That's a blessing. Some of you, you got an extra bedroom in the house and you let folks live with you for seasons if they're in a hard place. That's a blessing. You got an extra $100 bills, a $100 bill in your wallet and God prompts your heart to give it to somebody because they're in need. That's a blessing. When you have an extra 100, we call them crispy. When you have an extra crispy in your wallet and God puts it in your heart to be a blessing to somebody.

39:38That's a good thing. Isn't it? Isn't it not? It's a good thing to be the giver who knows it's a good thing to be the receiver. Well, God is like that. He gives good things. He is not the withholder. See, the enemy wants us to think. Well, God's the withholder. He's a taker. He wants you to feel guilty. He wants you to feel bad about having good things. Nothing could be further from the truth. In Proverbs, it says, the blessing of the Lord makeeth rich, rich in every way, spiritually, financially, emotionally, relationally, the blessing of the Lord makeeth rich and he adds no sorrow with it. He doesn't have any sorrow with it. It's a joy for him. Who thinks we need to get our eyes open to this? Quit apologizing. He adds no sorrow with it. Listen, girls, we are famous for this, aren't we? We go shopping. We get a great deal on something. Get a new outfit and somebody compliments you. Oh, I like your new outfit. It's so cute. What do we feel obligated to do? Oh, well, you know, I got it on sale.

40:40TJ Maxx. It's a good deal. We feel obligated to apologize. Why don't we just say, oh, yeah, praise God, full price. Lord and Taylor. We wouldn't do that. What do we? Why not? It's because our mind isn't renewed to this stuff. We should be saying praise God is a good God. He gives good things. What he did for me. He'll do for you. Amen. Here's what we do. This is a sad part. We do the exact opposite. I mean, we accuse God, this good father. We accuse him of doing things to people. That if we accuse the human father of doing, we accuse God of causing tragedies and accidents and injecting people with disease and cancer and all kinds of stuff. We accuse God. Well, you know, God put that on them to teach them a lesson. He knew they could handle it. We accuse God of doing all kinds of things to people. That if we ever accused a human father of doing, he would be considered abusive and put in jail. He would be a criminal.

41:46But we get all religious. People have gotten all religious. I mean, I feel sorry for God sometimes. God, we're sorry. People are saying all kinds of things about you. That is so not your nature. You're a good God. You're a good father. You give good things all the time. And forgive us for even thinking that you would be some abusive psychopath. And then we go, praise God, though he knew what I needed. He knew he's smarter. Are you kidding me? That's why a lot of people they don't want to serve God. I don't want to serve a God like that. No way. Why would I want to serve a God who when you turn around and when you least expect it, he throws some disease on you, some tragedy on you, some calamity on you. He took my mother when I was 12 years old. You think I want to serve that God? He took my baby. You think I want to serve that God? He caused that accident. You think I want to serve that God? I don't blame people. If they think that's the nature of our father, I don't blame them. Who would want to serve that psychopath?

42:48But religion, man, religion has messed us up with all kinds of unbiblical ideas about God. What's God like? Look at Jesus. He was the visible image of the invisible God. He's a good father. Every good and perfect gift comes down from heaven. He's got a whole warehouse in heaven. He's got a whole warehouse in heaven called good things. He's obviously he has the gifts. He is blessed. He can be a blessing. He's got the gifts because he says that they come down. That must mean that the gifts are up. Right? They've got to be up in a big Sam's club up in heaven. There's a whole palette, a whole section with your name on it. Good, good, perfect gifts. They're supposed to come down to those who ask and some other things we'll talk about weeks to come. I don't want to get to heaven and check out that warehouse and see like a whole quadrant never delivered. Never asked for. Never got the PO. Heaven never got the PO. Some people don't know. He is a giver of good things.

44:00Amen. Number four. People don't know God's will is good. God's plan for them is good. They don't know that. Jeremiah 29 and 11. For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. They are plans for good. I know the plans I have for you. I have these amazing plans for you. I have good plans for you. They are for good. Not for disaster. I'm not sending hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes to give you a future and a hope. I know the plans I have for you. I have good plans for you. A lot of people don't know that. A lot of people think, oh, I don't know. If I really surrendered to the Lord, it could be bad. I mean, how many people do you know that are running from God? They've been running their whole life because they're afraid that God's plan might be bad. You know, if I completely surrender, I mean, I don't know. He might tell me to go on the mission field or something. I don't know. He might make me start a church.

45:06I don't know. He might, you know, he's a good father and his plans are the best and his plans are blessed. Tell you what, you're so much better off to be in the blessed will of God than trying to ask God to bless your plan. Just get in the blessed plan. Get in the good plan. And it takes surrendering to the Lord because here's what happens. You surrender to the Lord and the thing you thought you didn't want to do. I was raised Catholic. Listen, I did not want to be a nut. I can guarantee you that. I had no ambition or thought or even on my radar screen that we would I would ever do this. That Jeff, that would ever, you know, meet a guy like Jeff and we get married and we would pass to a church. I mean, it wasn't even on my radar screen. And, you know, and then the few pastors, wives that I knew, which was very few, I'm like, I am so not like them. You know, they sit on the front row and they play the piano and they work in kids church and they cook. And those are all the things I don't do.

46:08So I'm like, I am so not like that. So, you know, when God began to talk to us about pastoring, well, at first you think, no, God, do something else. But then you have to surrender to his will. And here's the amazing thing. He begins to put a desire in your heart. All of a sudden, he begins to put a love in your heart for people and you begin to have this like pastors heart, this shepherd's heart. You begin to have this desire to help people with the word. And you thinking, man, I didn't think I wanted to do this. But now God, please, can I do it? That's how it is. But he doesn't let you get the desire to do it until you submit to the plan. You got to submit first and just trust. It's good. I don't know. I'll trust you. And then you'll give me the desire. He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. People don't know that they don't know his plans are good. And there are so many, oh, my goodness, there are so many Christians that are a wall in the army. I hope you're not here. I'm serious. There are so many Christians. They're supposed to be in the army. They're supposed to have some weapons. They have an assignment. They're supposed to be in a platoon. They're supposed to be busy doing battle. And they are a wall.

47:20They don't know his plans are good. And so they're going to do their own thing. But how about you all? You're going to do God's plan. He's a good God. His plans are good. Number five, people don't know that health and healing is a part of the good life. They don't know that. In fact, they believe the opposite. X-1038, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing. He went about doing good and healing. What's God like? He's just like Jesus. God anointed Jesus to go about and do good. He just went and did good and healed. Going about doing good and healing all who are oppressed of the devil for God was with him. People don't know that health and healing, wholeness is a part of the good life. They just figure, hey, it's my lot in life. You know, it's what God wants for me. Now listen, wherever you're at physically, and I want to encourage all of you, wherever you're at physically, if you're fighting a physical battle, believe God to take it up a notch, believe God that at the end of this four weeks, you'll be equipped to begin to do some things physically that you couldn't do today.

48:32God, I'm going to tap into the good life. Okay, so maybe it's not going to be a lightning bolt zap. And the whole thing's gone in 10 minutes. Okay, that's fine. I can accept that. Although that's possible too. But God, I believe that I will take a step up in the good life. I believe that I'll be able to do some things physically. I'll be free from some pain physically in some areas in my body at the end of these four weeks that I'm not experiencing right this minute because I'm going to begin to believe you. I'm going to begin to believe that Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. And whatever he did yesterday. He went about doing good and healing all, then he must be doing that today. He must be doing that today. And so I receive it. I receive your healing. Say this in your own heart. Say things like this. I mean, seriously, say this. God, I believe I receive your healing power from the top of my head to the souls of my feet. Spirit, soul and body, every tissue, every cell, every fiber of my body, the DNA, the mitochondria, the Golgi apparatus, whatever you remember from science, from the study of the cell.

49:40Yeah, God, I believe I received because Jesus is the same. I received your healing power. Jesus healed people. Healed them. They were sick. They were dead. He healed them. And so you and I can get a hold of the good life. God, I believe I received your healing power in my nerves. I believe I received your healing power in my muscles, in my bones, in my joints, in my brain, in my digestive system. I believe I receive it. Yeah, it's part of the good life. Now let me say this. We absolutely 100% believe in doctors and medicines and surgery when needed and therapies, physical therapy, occupational therapy, those kind of things. Absolutely 100% believe in it. And in fact, we believe this. I believe God is the one giving the innovation in medicine. I mean, hey, use all of the above.

50:40Whatever pathway God uses with you, whatever pathway he leads you down, whether it includes diet, exercise changes, whether it includes medicines, therapies, surgery, etc., etc. And his supernatural healing power. I'd get him all working. I wouldn't just exclude one over the other. Get him all working for you. Seek the Lord. Find out what pathway he has for you knowing. Knowing this, knowing at the end of the day, the good life for you is health and healing and strength and energy to live a long life. Bless to be a blessing. Well, a lot of people don't know that. And so therefore the Bible says, my people perish for lack of knowledge. We just are barely scratching the surface, aren't we? Of how good God is. The Bible says, the faithful man will abound with blessings. Let's be faithful in the Word. Let's be faithful in some of these things.

51:42And we will abound with blessings. And I can tell you there's several people in here doing worship. I was watching you and thinking about you, dev houseman, you've been faithful. I think you're coming into a whole season of blessings. You have been a faithful person in prayer. You've done a lot behind the scenes. People don't know about. But God does. And a faithful person abounds with blessings. Same thing for you too. Faithful people will abound with blessings. Scott Michelle. And God has got new things for your marriage. New things for your family. Same thing as watching you doing worship and like you're lighting up over here. The good life for the Kesters, the whole clan. New season. Amen. There's somebody else. Marvin Judy. Same thing. You all have been faithful. And you guys are in a totally new season. And I believe God's going to unlock some things for you. Things that have been just in the little box because it wasn't the season, but you're coming into a whole new season of the good life. You guys are already blessed. You already know that you're blessed, but it's like he's taking you higher. You are overflowing with blessings. You're more contagious than ever. You're in a great season and coming into a great season where you are so freed up.

52:59You're going to have to do good things for God and the anointing on you together the way you guys counsel people and minister to people in the family care center and else wise. A greater anointing on you to help people to impart into people's lives. These things. These things we're talking about because you guys have it's in your DNA. You got this. But God, I believe is going to expand your ability to impart this into other people's lives. You hear this. You guys talk to people all the time. People need this. They need this imparted into them. They need like God is supernaturally imparted. It's not more head knowledge. It's an impartation of the spirit that God will give you to get it. And I believe God will anoint you guys in a greater measure to minister to people and impart it. So they get it and they get the victory and they start walking in the good life. Amen. Praise the Lord. A faithful person will abound with blood. That's the good life. And when we're faithful, God watches that and he will bless your life. And I know many of you have that testimony already. He has blessed your life. But he's got more. I will guarantee you that he has got so much more. Listen, he knows what season we're coming into as a church.

54:12He needs us to be strong in the good life and just give them an encouraging word and say, listen, God is for you. He is on your side. He's a good God. Thousands of people are going to need that. You all can't be the broken. You have to be the fixed. You have to be the people that have gotten a hold of the good life. You have an enjoy life in abundance to the full until it overflows and you guys splash on everybody that comes in contact with you. That is what we are praying for. I'm telling you we are praying. God will load you people up. Fill them up. Lord to the full till they overflow. This is the group. I don't know. Talk to God about it. But he picked you to come to the church at this season. So that means he wants to fill you up and he wants you blessed to be a blessing. He wants your needs met. He wants everything working in your life so you can be a blessing because there's just no doubt about it. Jeff and I and our staff can't do it by ourselves.

55:13We've got a great staff. We've got great volunteers. It's going to take not five or ten more people. It's going to take hundreds of us. Hundreds of us. Hundreds of us. They have this in our DNA. We know because we know because we know God is good. He's good all the time and he'll be good to you too, visitor. New person. Amen. Sorry, that was a rabbit trail. I've got to be done. Last one, number six. People don't know the role of their mouth to experience the good life. First Peter 3, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil into good. He must seek peace and pursue it. Whoever would love life and see good days. So it must exist. The ability to love life and see good days. It must exist. But one major hang up for a lot of us if we're not careful is our tongue. He said, look, if you want to enjoy this good life that I have for you, here's one place to start. Keep your tongue from evil.

56:18Put a lock on your lips. Evil is a variety of things. Doubt and unbelief is considered evil. Gossip. Being rude. Being critical. Being arrogant. Being opinionated. Being contrary. A person that stirs up strife and discord among the brethren. God hates that. You will completely disqualify yourself from the good life. If you're doing that kind of things, what do you have to do? Put a lock on your mouth. God, I want to live the good life. I want to love life. I want to enjoy good days. I'm putting a lock on my mouth. I'm throwing away the key. Let's just see what happens over the next month. Let's see if life gets a little better. How many of you husbands would agree that it might? If your wife did that, how many of you wives agree it might? If your husband did that, yeah, the good life exists and it gives us a clue here as to how to walk in it. Last verse, Psalm 27, verse 13, this is your encouragement. This is your conclusion. Be encouraged wherever you're at in this whole journey of the good life. Be encouraged wherever you're at. God knows he's got your number. It says here, I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

57:35If you're visiting with us, you're maybe coming just for a short bit of time and maybe you're looking around and you felt like how I felt when I first watched Christians. They all have it together. They all know the Lord, they're all happy. I'm not like that. You're not like that. You're not like that. You're not like that. You're not like that. You're not like that. If the Lord is in the land of the living, then they all have it together. They all know the Lord, they're all happy. I'm not like that. You're not like that. Yet maybe you would have lost heart unless you believed that you'll see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. If you've gotten discouraged and weary in your faith, walk some of you. Come on, get stirred back up. Blow some wind. Let the Holy Spirit blow some wind in your sails. I was getting discouraged, hope deferred makes the heart sick. I was getting down in the dumps about it. I was about to lose heart, but I believe today, starting today, I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord.

58:37I will see it. I will taste and see it. The goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Amen. It's a word of encouragement for you. So let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this great group of people. I just believe your heart is so wanting to bless them. You're so wanting them to get this. And I pray, Lord, like we did at the beginning, that you'll open up the eyes of our heart, that spiritual impartations would come into us. We could own this the way you want us to own it. God, and know you as a good God. We thank you for it, Lord, and we thank you in advance for all that you'll do in us and through us in these next four weeks. Jesus mighty name and everybody that agreed. I said, listen, well heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Let me finalize with this. If you're here and you don't know, Jesus Christ is your Lord, that is where the good life starts. There is no good life without knowing Jesus Christ. And the Bible says that it's God's goodness that leads us to repentance.

59:37Once you get the revelation that God is good in his for you and he is on your side. Once you realize he's not this mean judge ready to slam you. He's not this mean ogre that's just so disappointed with you. That's not the God of the Bible. When you begin to realize he's a good God and he cares about you and he loves you and he loves you so much he said is only be gotten sun. Jesus Christ to this world to die in a cross for you. Then it's easy to run to God. It's easy. God's goodness causes us to repent, to turn into a 180 and run right straight to God. And so if that's you today, you're ready to run to the Lord. Let's pray this prayer together. Let's all say it together. Say this, say, dear God, I do believe that you're a good God. Today I make a decision. I am running straight to you. Jesus, I invite you to be the Lord of my life. I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins

1:00:38and help me, Lord, to know you, to walk in the good life, to be blessed, to be a blessing. I thank you for it. Jesus name, amen. So I want to say once again, thank you so much for your generosity. It is your donations and financial help that enables us to make this podcast and all of our resources available for free, taking the gospel basics to the whole world. So I hope you enjoyed today's podcast. I can't wait to see you next time right here on the basics with Beth.