We Are Complete In Christ

Raul Ries: We should be committed to come to the house of the Lord and to hear from God so that we're able to what? To worship him. To enter into his presence. Because whenever we come just once a week or I'm going to come twice a week or I'm going to come three times a week, you're making it a ritual. It should be something beautiful in our hearts.
Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio. The Bible Teaching Ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today's teaching from Raul continues our focus on bringing our lives into full conformity with the person and character of the Lord Jesus. We'll consider the Old Testament example of the patriarch Abraham and his astounding example of faith in God that caused him to trust him with everything he had. Here's Raul Ries with our study We are complete in Christ. If you have your Bible, join us in Psalm 122.
Raul Ries: Let me take you this evening to one of the great Psalms of the psalmist David. This is probably one of my favorite Psalms and we are going to be studying these Psalms pretty soon. And as I was reading the Psalms this morning, the Lord reminded me of all the times that I have gone to Jerusalem. If you've never been to Jerusalem, then I would pray that maybe you will get the opportunity of going with us this next year. Because it is not only one of the greatest trips you could ever take in your life. It is a great investment for you to go to Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem has a lot of history. Jerusalem is the city of our God, Yahweh. And Jerusalem has been a tremendous place in the history of the Jews. And as David is the psalmist writer, David was writing his Psalm and the Psalm 122, it is a Psalm that speaks about the joy of going to Jerusalem. Going to Jerusalem. Whenever you're going to Jerusalem from any part of Palestine, you're always say I'm going up to Jerusalem. You're never going down to Jerusalem. If you're coming from Jericho, you're going up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem is up in the mountains. It's actually surrounded by mountains. And it's on Mount Moriah where Abraham in Genesis 22 God called him to go ahead and to bring his son on a three-day journey to go to Jerusalem and there sacrifice his son Isaac. It tells us the story in Genesis 22 where he woke up his son and said, son, we got to go. Then he didn't even tell the mother. And he saddled the donkeys, got his son Isaac, got his servants, and they headed out to Jerusalem a three-day journey. And when they got to Jerusalem, when they saw Jerusalem, Abraham stopped and he what he did is he told his servants to stay with the donkeys and to stay with the stuff and he and his son would go up to Mount Moriah and a day both would return. Those were words of faith that Abraham was speaking. As Isaac picked up the wood and put it on his shoulder, Abraham got his knife and put it in his side. And he started walking up to Mount Moriah. When they got up to Mount Moriah, Isaac said to his father Abraham, father, where is the sacrifice? The wood is here. You have the knife, but where is the lamb? And in Genesis 22 8 it says this, God will provide himself a lamb. God will provide himself a lamb. That is he was saying that 2,000 years from that point in time, Jesus Christ would die on that same place where Abraham was asked to kill his son. That's the only time in the Bible where God is asking for a human sacrifice. But only to teach a lesson of faith. Because Isaac is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ where Abraham is a type of God the Father. Eliezer his servant is a type of the Holy Spirit, the comforter in chapter 24 of Genesis. But it's interesting because as Isaac was walking up to Mount Moriah, the picture of typology here is he's carrying the wood on his shoulder and the wood is a type of what? Of the cross of Jesus Christ. Who's carrying it? Isaac, a type of Jesus. The altar that is built there in Mount Moriah, very interesting place where Isaac is over 33 years old and Abraham's a very old man and Isaac can take his then on any time he wants to because he's stronger. He's a young man. But when Abraham says God will provide himself a sacrifice or a lamb, listen, this is what Isaac says. Isaac lays down on the altar as the father ties him up and Abraham takes the knife and begins to kill his son. The three-day journey. It's a beautiful picture in typology of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Three days. He told the kids that came along with him, the servants, I and the lad will go up and I and the lad will return. Abraham spoke words of resurrection. Even if God allows me to kill my son, God will give me back my son alive. Those were words of faith. As we see Isaac as Jesus Christ submitting himself to the Father on the cross, so thus Isaac to Abraham. And as Abraham raises the knife to kill his son, the angel of the Lord came and said Abraham, Abraham, stop. Don't kill your son. God has seen your heart. And the Bible says that God provided for him a ram that was already caught in the bushes to be sacrificed and he and his son walked back down just as he said to his servants. Let me read to you Psalm 22 but I'm not going to read in the new King James. I'm going to read it in another translation. Let me read it to you. He says verse one, I look to the mountains. Does my help come from there? He's asking the question. I'm looking up to the mountains. If you're sitting down in the city of Jerusalem and looking up to the mountains, you said does this the place where my help comes from? Is this where God dwells? And not that God is stationary because God is omnipresent. But this is the place that God chose for his people. So we see the psalmist here crying out. As he's crying out, he's saying, is this the place where God is? I was glad when they said to me, let us go up to the house of the Lord. Notice what he says there. Now he's talking about coming to the house of the Lord but at the same time, look what he says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go up to the house of the Lord. You know, to a lot of people today, they're not glad to come to the house of the Lord. They're not glad. The psalmist is making a proclamation saying, are you glad when you come to the house of the Lord or has it become a tradition? Where you go, okay, well, got to go to church again. Or have we lost the excitement of coming to the house of the Lord? Why? Because when we come to the house of the Lord, we're going to worship. We're going to hear God's word. We're going to be exhorted. We're going to grow through God's word. We're going to become witnesses of his word that is given to our hearts and to our minds. That's why the psalmist is so excited here. He says, I was so glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Let's go see what's happening in the house of the Lord. Today, people are too busy to come to the house of the Lord. Too busy. Too busy with their kids, too busy with other things that are not really important. And yet we should be committed to come to the house of the Lord and to hear from God so that we're able to what? To worship him. To enter into his presence. Because whenever we come just once a week or I'm going to come twice a week or I'm going to come three times a week, you're making it a ritual. It should be something beautiful in our hearts. It's like when you're getting ready to go to a ball game and there's that excitement. Oh man, go see the Dodgers tonight. I can't believe. Man, I got to work but I'm going to be ready. I mean, do we get that excited? Tonight's Wednesday night. Tonight Sunday morning. Tonight Sunday night. Tonight's Friday. Whatever the day may be, do we get glad in our hearts because we're going to go to the house of the Lord. Coming into the house of the Lord should make us glad. Glad because we are here. Because we're hearing what God has to say to each one of us individually. Then look at verse two. And now we are standing here inside your gate, oh Jerusalem, going there, getting there, and being there. Notice what he says. Now that we're here, what a blessed thing it is. That here we are with my brothers and my sisters. Here I am in the presence of the Lord, sitting, waiting to hear from the Lord. So when I depart from the house of the Lord, I may have instructions in my heart. The joy, the peace that God brings to my heart as I come to seek after the Lord.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. It's our joy to support you on your journey with God. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of resources. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk every Tuesday morning on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel. Now back to more with Raul Ries with our study. We are complete in Christ. Remember back in Jeremiah chapter seven when the message was given called the Temple Message. And the people at that particular time they're in Jerusalem were called by God, by the prophet, and he told the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah, I want you go down this week to the house of the Lord because my house is torn in ruins. Torn in ruins. And as the people come, don't go inside, stand outside and say, stop saying the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these. Is that what you mean? The people were coming to church as a ritual. They would live like hell all week long but on the Sabbath day, they would come to the house of the Lord with all of their sins and they would say, as long as I do my Sunday duty, God is with me and then I have peace. And God says there is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord. You see? It's more than a ritual. It's fellowship. It's a relationship. It's something that we do 24/7 with God. It's not just on Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter or just every Sunday. No, it's Sunday through Sunday that we worship in the house of the Lord. And we worship the Lord. We have to be glad when we come to the house of the Lord just like he says here. And now that I'm standing here inside your gate, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem is a well-built city knit together as a single unit. When he looked at the city of Jerusalem, it was 12 fortified. Beautiful. As the temple stood there, temple was the glory of Jerusalem. As we come into this property, I always amazed as I look at this building and this property. Lord, you're too much. You've blessed us with so much. You blessed the city of Diamond Bar by placing us here, a place of worship where people can come and worship you. People can come to know you here. People can go from here to tell others about your place. And my relationship that I have with you, oh Lord, help me to be a great testimony to my loved ones and to my friends. The house of the Lord, Jerusalem. Verse four. All the people of Israel are the Lord's people make their pilgrimage here. So he begins to share how they would come once a year. Once a year they would come to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Millions would come. Even today they still come. Once a year they go to Jerusalem on Passover time. It's incredible. It gets packed out. Every hotel room is packed out. And then notice again, he says in verse four, he says all the people of Israel, the Lord's people make their pilgrimage here. They come to give thanks to the name of the Lord as the law requires. Why do we come? We come to thank the Lord for his word. We come here to hear God's word but we also come with Thanksgiving. Thanking God for my family, thanking God for my salvation, thanking God for my health, thanking God for everything that he's given, everything that he's doing in my life. And thanking him that he's coming again to receive me unto himself one of these days. We have so much to be thankful for just like the psalmist says here. Lord, thank you. They come to give thanks to the name of the Lord as the law requires. Verse five. Here stands the thrones where judgment is given, the thrones of the dynasty of David. This is the place where what? We learn the word of God and the word of God does what? It convicts us. It changes us. It makes us a different kind of people. This is where we learn to obey the voice of the Lord. We learn to obey the what? The word of God. We become citizens of God's kingdom. This is where we learn good morals. In the Sunday school, the children learn that. As you go home and you teach your children in the home about God's laws and ordinances so they can grow up to be God's people. From generation to generation to generation we do that. We teach. We speak. We don't want them to forget. Remember when Moses said in the law, he says when you guys have children and grandchildren, don't forget to let them know how God took you from Egypt and he took you through the Red Sea and he took you through the wilderness and how he fed you and how he clothed you and he fought for you and he defended you and then he gave you this beautiful land. Don't ever forget to tell the story. Tell it over and over and over and over and over, he said. Don't ever stop telling the story. And yet you know what happened? They stop telling the story. In Judges chapter two verse 10. As Joshua came to the end of his death in Joshua 22 to 24 and he gathered the people together as he's getting ready to die, he said, hey, for me and my house, we have chosen to do what? To serve the Lord. Choose you this day who you're going to serve. And they said, we will serve the Lord. And in chapter two verse 10 of Judges it says, and when that generation died, there arose another generation that did not know the Lord but they worship other gods. The parents and the grandparents failed to tell the story. And then here is what he says verse six. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Underline that. We should pray every day for the peace of Jerusalem. Why? May all who love the city prosper. Interesting. If you love the Jews, if you love the city of Jerusalem, God says you will prosper. It doesn't mean you're going to get a Cadillac or a Mercedes-Benz. Okay? A lot of these TV evangelists would say that. That's not true. You will prosper what? With the blessings of God, spiritual blessings of God. You will prosper, he says. Look what else he says. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all the love the city prosper. Oh Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your places. He's talking about the city of Jerusalem. Today there is no peace but peace is coming because the Prince of Peace is coming again to set up a worship place in Jerusalem very soon. Verse eight. For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, peace be with you. Shalom. Peace be with you. May the peace of God bless you, anoint you, use you, bring calmness to your spirit. The peace of God. And how do we experience the peace of God? When we surrender, we submit, we repent, and we receive by faith Jesus Christ. And we walk in obedience to his word. We have peace. Otherwise there is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is best for you, oh Jerusalem. What does he do? He aligns himself with the purpose and the will of God so that what? So that Jerusalem will continue to be blessed, the city of our God. The city of our God. Here we are tonight. Calvary Chapel Golden Springs. Here we are and we're learning that Jerusalem is the house of our God, the most beautiful beautiful city on the earth. And one day, check this out, one day you and I are going to be living in Jerusalem in the kingdom age for a thousand years reigning there with Jesus Christ our Lord. One day. I love it. It's so easy to slip into religious habits and lose some of the original excitement we felt in our relationship with the Lord but there's always room for course correction. So we encourage you today to turn to the Lord with true faith and repentance. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's study was titled We Are Complete in Christ. If you'd like to get an unedited version, we'll be happy to send one to you for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800 634 9165. And as you consider the ways you can put genuine love and devotion back into your spiritual life, we'd like to tell you about Raul's 10-part series titled Called, Chosen, and Committed. It's available on CD or thumb drive. Every message will point you back to the foundations of your faith, inspiring you to reset priorities and spend more daily personal time with the Lord Jesus. You'll also see how submission leads to strength when you follow and obey God's voice. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800 634 9165 to order Called, Chosen, and Committed. We'll send you the CD for $22 or if you prefer on flash drive for just 13. That's 800 634 9165 or write to Somebody Loves You Radio PO Box 4440 Diamond Bar, California 91765. Our many free resources can help establish your heart and life in the Lord. Download our app for live streamed Bible teaching and online scripture reading group and digital Bible studies. 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Raul Ries: When we come to the end of this age and the rapture takes place and we go to heaven in seven years from that point time, we'll be coming back at the Battle of Armageddon. Christ will set up his judgment for 45 days and then he'll get rid of all the wicked people and the Jew and Gentile that were living on this earth at that particular time will go in and repopulate the earth but we, the church of Jesus Christ, will come to be able to do what? To be with Jesus Christ over the earth and to rule and to reign with him for a thousand years as Satan is put away for a thousand years in the bottomless pit. And those that were killed in the seven-year tribulation and went to heaven because they were beheaded, they will come back and they will not rule and reign. They will serve Jesus Christ. They will be servants. We will be rainers with Christ. Man, we are so blessed. How we thank God tonight for his love, for his grace, for his mercies, and for everything that he's done and he's doing and he's going to do tonight.
Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.