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(Elder's Conference—2019)
Eduardo Elizondo—May 18, 2019
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Good morning, brethren! It's good to be with you all again, and to see this room full. It was wonderful to hear all the voices singing together praises to God. It's been a tremendous conference, and I'm sure you'll hear a lot more about it and have been hearing all those of you who have been here the whole time.
I wanted to begin today by going to a prayer. I wanted to begin with a prayer, but not a real prayer, but going to a prayer that is recorded in the Psalms. It is a real prayer, just a recorded prayer; we're not going to pray again. Psalm 86:11 is a Scripture that was repeated a couple of times during the conference. Very interesting!
This is a prayer of David, it says at the top of the Psa. 86, and v 11 is the one that I'd like to focus on today in the sermonette. We know that David was a man after God's own heart. He shows really the depth of his understanding and the depth of his relationship with God, his closeness.
Psalm 86:11: "Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your Truth; unite my heart to fear Your name."
Fred has mentioned during the conference that we are to pray this every day, that we would ask God to teach us His way. That we would ask Him to help us walk in His Truth! It's very interesting when we really analyze this and dissect this piece by piece. What is it really saying and showing is the depth of David in his heart toward God. It says, "Teach me Your way…"
Let's do a little bit of a comparison, because it says two things in Psa, 86 that are also in John 14.
John14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.'"
Jesus is declaring that He is the Way and He is the Truth. That's exactly what David was praying: "Teach me Your way, O LORD"; Jesus is the way that shows the depth of the connection that David had with Jesus Christ. "Teach me Your way O LORD; I will walk in Your Truth.
What is Jesus saying in John 14? 'I am "…the Truth…" David had that close relationship! He knew that he was to walk in God's way! But it was even deeper than that. He wasn't just to walk in His Truth, it wasn't just to walk in His way, he was to become that. God must have revealed to David really what He was, and He's obviously inspired this to be the same exact words, the Way and the Truth, exactly as it says in john 14:6.
Then he says, Psalm 86:11: "…unite my heart to fear Your name."
John 6:44, Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father, Who sent Me, draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."
The Father draws, and we are to come to Christ. That's what He said, "…No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him…" Obviously, the Father drew King David, and drew him to Christ, to His Word. That's why David said, "I love You, O LORD." That's why David meditated on His Word day and night, all the time.
Verse 45 "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'…."—another thing that was mentioned in the conference. We all, brethren, are to be taught by God.
Obviously, He uses His servants—the elders and the ministers—to teach us. Those are tools in His hands, but the One Who is teaching us is God, the Father and Jesus Christ Himself. That's what He says, "And they should all be taught by God…."
Therefore, everyone who has heard from the Father has learned, comes to Me—Jesus Christ—to the Word, comes back to the Word. That's one of the things that is amazing, how everything connects all the things we saw in that prayer from David, the Way and the Truth!
That's exactly what Jesus said about Himself. We see how we are all to be taught by God, which is exactly what God is doing with us. We're no different than David, we have that same calling. Obviously, David's going to have a special place in the Kingdom, because being a man after God's own heart, but we all have the same potential. God is not a respecter of persons!
That's what He says, that 'nobody can come to the Father except through Him.'
- we know Who is Jesus Christ
- we know that we are to come to Jesus Christ
- we know He is the Word
Johm17:17: "…Your Word is the Truth." That's when David says in Psalm. 86:11: "Teach me Your way O LORD…" Jesus said, "…I am the Way…" you said, "…I will walk in Your Truth…"
Who is the Truth? Jesus is! His Word is the Truth (John 17:17).
John 1:14 ties it together as well: "And the Word became flesh… [Jesus Christ, God and flesh] …and tabernacled among us (and we ourselves beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten with the Father), full of grace and Truth."
This is so important that we understand these connections. This obviously was all inspired to be all together, but for us to get the depth of what these words mean, these words are Spirit and Life. But when Jesus says, "…I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life…"
When David prays, "Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your Truth…" David knew that he was following Christ. He knew he knew who Christ was, the Lord God of the Old Testament.
Sermon series:
- The Lord God and the Most High
- God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament
It takes on a whole lot of dimension to see these things. When we understand that he prayed, 'I will walk in Your Truth' and if we all pray the same thing He can do that, He will take us to Christ. He will show us by His example, exactly what He did.
Now the last part in the in Psalm 86:11: "…unite my heart to fear Your name."
Proverbs 9:10: "The fear of the LORD… [which is what David has to fear: His name] …is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding."
This is how everything relates, because if we go back to the knowledge of the Holy, we go back to the Word, and to coming to Christ when the Father has drawn us so that we can get to know Them both. That's the understanding.
After we read here in Prov. 9 the knowledge of the Holy is understanding, knowing God is a true understanding.
Proverbs 16:22: "Understanding… [it begins with the same word, words have meaning and all these connections are deep] …is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the instruction of fools is folly." That's the Holy Spirit, it's "…a fountain of life."
Everything comes back to Who Christ is, and what He did and His Word, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. We've seen that understanding is a stream, a fountain. John wrote about what Jesus said:
John 7:38: "The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said… [it's the same thing that we talked about coming to Him] …out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
It's no coincidence, this is all over the Bible. Psa. 1—blessed is the man who walks in the Law of the Lord. And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water,' because that water is the Holy Spirit and never will fail, will produce fruit.
Rev. 22 talks about the exact same thing, talks about the tree, talks about the river. It's very inspiring to see these things, how they come together.
Revelation 22:1: "Then he showed me a pure river of the water of life… [the Holy Spirit] …clear as crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the middle of the street, and on this side and that side of the river, was the Tree of Life, producing twelve manner of fruits, each month yielding its fruit; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him" (vs 1-3).
The point is, this water is coming from God, the Father and Jesus Christ, from Their throne directly from Them. And with us right now, that's a promise as well. If we really believe in Jesus Christ in His Word, with all the Old and New Testaments, this is the same God, He's going to give us that living water, they're going to flow out of us.
It is no coincidence that John 15 is the same thing with the vine. Christ is the vine, we are branches, the only thing that the branch does is carry the water and the nutrients, so the fruit can be produced. But the one that produces is the vine. All of these Scriptures connect around these very things.
Who is the Word and the Water? I know it's a very broad subject. But just analyzing this one verse in Psalm 86, and all the things that are in it. "Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your Truth; unite my heart to fear Your name." To get to know him, because knowledge of the Holy ts understanding.
Brethren, there are different levels—Fred has also mentioned this in the conference—of understanding and different levels of comprehending the Word of God. There's one thing to keep the letter of the Law. There's another level of keeping the spirit of the Law
But there's a whole other level, one that God really wants to do with each and every one of us, which is really to have the mind, and the character and the very nature of the One Who gave the physical and the spiritual, One Who magnified. That each and every one of us would look like Jesus Christ.
Sometimes, I don't know if you do, if you look in the mirror, do you see God working in the image of His Son? It's important to see that because only when we know that we're work in progress, we are made in His image, and He's fashioning into His likeness, that's the process of conversion! When we can see that, we can actually have more compassion and mercy on ourselves, not be so hard on ourselves.
But truly focus our energy not in trying to perfect ourselves, but to come to God. As David said, 'Teach me your way you teach me I will walk in Your Truth, You teach me, You guide me.' Many times it has happened that I feel like I have to find out what God's will is. That's not our job! He will reveal it to us. Our job is to come to Him and to ask this very thing.
God the Father and Jesus Christ are in charge, we're not in charge. They will take care of us. That's why He said that 'all these things shall be added unto you,' if you if you focus on the main thing. 'Focus on Me, on the Kingdom of God,' and He is the Kingdom of God. That's why he said to 'dwell in Me, and I in you.' But that transformation, to go step by step to understand the laws in the letter to understand them in the spirit. Then to understand the real transformation that He wants, and expects from all of us. That's something amazing to see.
Those of you who were in the conference know that we're having a lot of the Scriptures from the conference, because we read them, most of them.
Luke 17:10: "Likewise you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, 'We are unprofitable servants, because we have done that which we were obligated to do.'"
We were told to keep the laws in the letter. Then Jesus Christ also commanded that we keep them in the spirit. But even then we're still unprofitable servants, because that was commanded, obligated to do. How can we be profitable servants?
- when we yield to God
- when we really know Him
- when we really have wisdom and understanding
He gives us that! We can generate that! But when He does that, and when He transforms our mind and our heart, to be like Jesus Christ Himself
- with that power
- with that strength
- with that wisdom
- with that love
- with that compassion
We have to start with ourselves, as God is working in us. That we can see a little bit, He can show us a little bit how He uses with love. It says in the Bible, as a father looks upon his children.
2-Corinthians 3:17 talks about this very process of transformation: "Now, the Lord is the Spirit…" The Lord is the Word. We talked about the water, and the water is the symbol of the Holy Spirit.
"…and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with uncovered faces beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (vs 17-18).
It's a Spirit that will transform us! It's only God that can change us like that, using his Holy Spirit that way.
Rom. 12:2 talks about this transformation. These are the instructions; Romans 12:2: "Do not conform yourselves to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind… [a whole process] …in order that you may prove what is well-pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God."
The perfect will of God is that every single one of us brethren makes it to His Kingdom. Every single one of us has the nature of God attains into the Kingdom and the very nature of God, be like Him. That process is now! It will be sealed at the resurrection, but that process is now. Just as the world is getting worse and worse, and they're unimaginable things happening out there in terms of lawlessness. God is also working with His people in a deeper way. He's teaching us He's going into depth into His Word. Every day He's teaching us deeper, because He wants us in His Kingdom. He's not going to let Satan take over, not over His people.
Ephesians 4:21: "If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him… [just exactly like David prayed] …according to the Truth in Jesus."
That's exactly what he said in Psalms. He said, 'Teach me Your way I will walk in Your Truth.' So, if we have been taught in according to the Truth in Jesus:
Verse 22: "That concerning your former conduct, you put off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts; and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (vs 22-23),
- This is the conversion!
- This is the transformation!
Verse 24: "And that you put on the new man, which according to God is created in righteousness and Holiness of the Truth."
Reading v 25 and on to the Eph.5, being imitators of God, is exactly we want a how: How do we do this? This is what it looks like. Those are the specifics of how.
How is going God's going to transform us through His Holy Spirit to change all of these things? Do not have corrupt communication! Do not steal!
Just one example, v 28: "Let the one who stole, steal no more; rather, let him labor with his hands, working at what is good, so that he may impart something to the one who has need."
If we can see a little bit beyond this is not just to steal, and to start giving, just for the sake of that's what it says in the letter of the Law. That is the mind of God. That is His nature!
- His nature is to give
- His nature is to love
- His nature is not to take
- His nature is to impart freely
That's the renewing of our minds to transform us with His Spirit into a different person, into the image of His Son.
So, in closing we just want to read it one more time, and hopefully we can see with a little bit different perspective, but that we may all pray this with a sincere heart. Ask God: "Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your Truth; unite my heart to fear Your name."
Scriptural References:
- Psalm 86:11
- John 14:6
- Psalm 86:11
- John 6:44-45
- John 17:17
- Psalm 86:11
- John 1:14
- Psalm 86:11
- Proverbs 9:10
- Proverbs 16:22
- John 7:38
- Revelation 22:1-3
- Luke 17:10
- 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
- Romans 12:2
- Ephesians 4:21-24, 28
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Psalm 1
- John 15
- Ephesians 5
Also referenced: Sermon Series:
- The Lord God and the Most High
- God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament
EE: po/bo
Transcribed: 6/3/19
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