Lessons From The Tent

SECTION 4 
Everyone is well acquainted with purpose. The majority of things we do every day all have a distinct purpose for them. Some are obviously far more important than others, but we cannot function without purpose. This is how God made us and it is how normal responsible people live. 
This next section is all focused on the singular purpose God has for us humans. We started these lessons with the reason we humans are here on earth and that is to inherit the kingdom. 
But now we are shrinking down that purpose to an infinitely small one that is to actually touch every facet of our lives. I always find it amazing how much God is able to take what appears to be a small thing and expand it into truths of gigantic magnitude. That is what we will see with this section titled The Ultimate Purpose of The Good News of the Kingdom.  
I hope you are able to understand the purpose God has for your life in a whole new magnificent way as we work through section 4.   
LESSON 51 The ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom (part 7) 
Bible References: 
Hebrews 4:16 (1) 
Romans 8:1 (2) 
 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson from the tent. One of the greatest things that will come from praying without ceasing is the transformation of how we fallen, poor in spirit people think, feel and act. The reason this occurs is because the more we commune with God the more attentive we become to His voice and to His presence. The more attentive we are, the more we will learn new ways to think, act and feel and God certinally knows we desperately need that type of change.  
In the middle of intense struggles though, we can easily lose sight of what is important. The gentle voice of the Holy Spirit often gets pushed aside and the struggles of life become all we can think about. When this takes place, suddenly praying without ceasing will be nothing more than an expression of tears, anger, frustration, and questioning why God doesn’t change what is causing our difficulties. 
When life gets this way there is a verse in the Bible that addresses these difficult times. Listen to God speaking directly to this. 
“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (1) 
The original word translated confidence defines our ability to talk to God in the middle of intense struggles. It means we have complete freedom to say what we are thinking and feeling.  
When we come to God this way, the first thing to remember is He is not like us. He does not get riled up because we are. He doesn’t respond in kind to our hostile attitudes. As this verse says, He sits on a throne of grace where we can find help in our time of need.  
Let’s start with the word grace. This word is fundamental to our relationship with God, for without it there is no communing with Him. Truthfully, we have far too much wrong with us to freely come into His presence especially when our feelings, attitudes, or actions are clearly wrong. Let me share with you some of the words that define this beautiful word grace. They are sweetness, loveliness, favor, joy, delight, and good-will.  
While sitting on His throne of grace God asks us to bring Him all our hurt and pain, and when we do, we are welcomed with – sweetness, loveliness, favor, joy, delight, and good-will. 
As beautiful as this is God says we also receive mercy. Here are some of the words associated with this great word: compassion, a desire to help, kindness, tolerance, forgiveness and soothing. 
Even with all that these two words bring us there is still another concept that comes as the result of the salvation Jesus gives His favored ones. Listen to this:  
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (2) 
Another way to say this according to the definition of condemnation is, there is no damnable judgement to those who are in Christ Jesus. Put all three of these word definitions together and our praying without ceasing becomes a freedom to pour our hearts out to God no matter what we are feeling.  
This seems impossible when you understand the judicial nature of God, but that is the wonder of what Christ’s sacrifice for our sins has brought us – grace and mercy with no condemnation. What freedom God’s favored ones have while praying without ceasing.  
Maybe one of the truest things we can say about life is it is a contrast of experiences. In the morning we can have a great day and just after eating lunch the opposite can take place, and suddenly the rest of our day is full of problems. Human joy can turn into sorrow in a few minutes. Laughter can turn into anger when a difficult situation comes crashing down upon our fun. That’s life and we all experience this contrast of feelings. Good can turn into bad and vice-versa in the blink of an eye.  
This is also true of praying without ceasing. So often there are extreme contrasts between our thoughts and feelings and God’s. We can be angry one moment while God is happy. Later, we can be happy, while God sees a real need for a change in our attitudes. This contrast with God and how we approach Him and life is the result of how little we know and understand God.  
This is where memorization, meditation and praying without ceasing has its greatest value to us. The more we practice all three of these the more we will understand God and the less major contrasts there will be between His thoughts and feelings and ours.  
This is also where God’s throne of grace can nourish and soothe our struggling souls. We are free to pray without ceasing in the middle of intense feelings without fear of any repercussions from God. What a privilege it is to commune with our King knowing we do not have to fear retribution for being out of sorts with Him.  
Joan and I have experienced some challenging moments during our struggles with cancer. Recently we were both physically getting the hell beat out of us during our cancer treatments. It was a challenging time to say the least. But God stepped in with His grace and mercy and gave us a weekend retreat on the beach for four days which was incredibly refreshing for our broken-down souls.  
The crashing of the waves we could constantly hear. What a pleasant sound and very refreshing. The numerous playful dolphins that so often swam by brought much joy to our hearts. While lounging on the patio the smell of the ocean was always with us. During the four days we stayed in this beautiful beach house we were able to enjoy a wonderful refreshing of our souls. It didn’t take long at all, and we found ourselves praising God together for His goodness in the middle of our struggles with cancer.  
Yes, life is a contrast of experiences. One moment we can find humor in how God is doing something in our lives and the next moment our praying without ceasing can turn into frustration and complaining. 
What we can never forget is God is not a contrast of emotions and responses like we are. He is always consistent with His feelings and thoughts, and His are always in harmony with what His Bible says. This makes memorization and meditation on the Bible a necessity for praying without ceasing. Remember, we can be assured that there will be no damnable condemning response to us even when our thoughts and feelings are messed up. 
Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing ─ we can come boldly to the throne of grace whether we are happy or intensely discouraged and we will always find grace and mercy to help; so pray without ceasing no matter what you are going through. 
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
-------
Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com
 

SECTION 4 
Everyone is well acquainted with purpose. The majority of things we do every day all have a distinct purpose for them. Some are obviously far more important than others, but we cannot function without purpose. This is how God made us and it is how normal responsible people live. 
This next section is all focused on the singular purpose God has for us humans. We started these lessons with the reason we humans are here on earth and that is to inherit the kingdom. 
But now we are shrinking down that purpose to an infinitely small one that is to actually touch every facet of our lives. I always find it amazing how much God is able to take what appears to be a small thing and expand it into truths of gigantic magnitude. That is what we will see with this section titled The Ultimate Purpose of The Good News of the Kingdom.  
I hope you are able to understand the purpose God has for your life in a whole new magnificent way as we work through section 4.   
LESSON 50 The ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom (part 6) 
Biblical references: 
Genesis 1:26 (1) 
Romans 1:20 (2) 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. I want to continue looking at the ultimate purpose for the good news of the kingdom. Today’s lesson is one of the key differences between God’s way of thinking about this and ours. It is fundamental to our communion with Him. 
I was just doing some premarital counseling with a couple I love dearly and the thing I wanted to talk with them about during the last sessions was; what is the first sign that a marriage may be in trouble. After fifty-six years of marriage my wife and I both agree that this is probably the first sign that a relationship is in trouble.  
What I see as an early sign that a marriage is struggling is also a sign that our relationship with God is not close to being what it should be. 
The sign that I am referring to is laughter and fun. When a couple who once desperately wanted to get married stop laughing and having fun, they have started down a road that only takes them further from the reason they got married in the first place.  
Laughter and fun are crucial to any good relationship, and this is true of our “relationship” with God. The reason we humans enjoy laughing so much is because God created us in His image and likeness. (1)  
I have found it impossible for many years now to not laugh with God often when I am memorizing, mediating and praying without ceasing. I have a lot of fun communing with Him and so often it leads to genuine laughter.  
When I was a young follower of God I learned by rote that God does not smile or laugh or see things funny like I did. I felt my relationship with Him had to always be completely serious and if it wasn’t then I would be disrespecting Him.  
No one ever said that directly to me in those exact words, but I learned this from watching others more mature than I pray and talk about God. Never once did I ever hear anyone refer to Him as fun. So, I learned this by rote, and it became influential in how I thought I should relate to God. Since then, I have learned how wrong I was.  
I am a fun person. I enjoy laughing at myself and life. Joan and I often laugh at how we relate to each other. Laughter is fundamental to our relationship. And to think that marriage – according to God – is supposed to be a picture of His relationship with His favored ones. If that is so, then why would we ever think that laughter and fun should not be part of our relationship with Him? How foolish. 
The world laughs and has fun because we were created too. Fun is crucial to life, and therefore laughter is such a good sign that we are enjoying life and therefore it should also reveal that we are enjoying God.  
I mentioned in a previous lesson about God having a sense of humor with something I did and that He smiled at me when I told Him this. Don’t know if you caught this but I was enjoying an intimate relationship with Him when this occurred.  
So often God makes me laugh when I am memorizing, meditating and praying without ceasing because my view of what I am thinking on is worlds different than His. As He shows me the differences His tone of expression is mostly cheerful because He is glad, I am listening and want to learn. And it often becomes obvious how foolish my view was.  
I was desperately asking for His help the other day and for some reason He was strangely quiet, for quite a while. To tell the whole story would take way to long but when God did answer me through a very unusual way that I was not expecting, I laughed out loud for twenty-minutes because it was just plain funny. 
At times He will interrupt me when I am serious about something and it will cause me to pause and think for a moment. Often, I will then end up laughing at myself for being so serious about something that had humor written all over it. I couldn’t see it at the time because I was so singularly focused on finding a fix for my problem. 
The other day my son Dereck and I were talking about the characteristics of God that no one ever mentions and the first one that came to his mind was that God is a comedian; no one ever brings that one up when they are talking about Him. And I agreed wholeheartedly.  
The Bible says that everything God created reveals His divine nature. And what creation reveals is so clear God says no one has an excuse for not knowing about Him. (2)  
Creation reveals a lot about God if we would just stop and pay attention to it. For example, when you have finished listening to this podcast do yourself a favor and look up funny cat videos on the internet. Then ask yourself what the funniness of cats reveal about the divine nature of God. It is very obvious. Creation reveals God not only loves to laugh but He loves to make us laugh too. There are so many funny animals out there.  
One thing this shows is, if we are to pray without ceasing there should often be laughter in our communion with Him or we are not communing with the God of creation. Instead, we are praying to an idol we have created in our mind as I did in my younger days.  
Does that mean every time we talk to God we must laugh? Of course it doesn’t. We humans don’t laugh every moment of the day, so we shouldn’t expect to be laughing every time we commune with Him.  
We all have some serious talking and listening to God when we pray without ceasing that would not necessitate laughter. But I want you to understand, that every problem we bring to God is almost laughable when we consider who we are talking to. Does God ever have a problem? No, never, there are no problems for Him. None whatsoever.  
We learn from creation that all He needs to do is say something and it happens. That’s why when we bring a problem to Him, if we could see the terrible thing we are dealing with standing next to God, I think we would just smile or maybe even laugh out loud at how small our big problem was to Him.  
We must allow ourselves to see things in a lighter way when communing with God because this is fundamental to a good and honest relationship with Him.  
Well, that’s it for today but once again there is just one thing – Christ’s suffering for our sin opened a way into the deepest recesses of God’s being and as it does don’t be surprised if you discover He has a funny bone. 
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
-------
Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com

SECTION 4 
Everyone is well acquainted with purpose. The majority of things we do every day all have a distinct purpose for them. Some are obviously far more important than others, but we cannot function without purpose. This is how God made us and it is how normal responsible people live. 
This next section is all focused on the singular purpose God has for us humans. We started these lessons with the reason we humans are here on earth and that is to inherit the kingdom. 
But now we are shrinking down that purpose to an infinitely small one that is to actually touch every facet of our lives. I always find it amazing how much God is able to take what appears to be a small thing and expand it into truths of gigantic magnitude. That is what we will see with this section titled The Ultimate Purpose of The Good News of the Kingdom.  
I hope you are able to understand the purpose God has for your life in a whole new magnificent way as we work through section 4.   
 
LESSON 49  The ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom (part 5) 
Bible References: 
Joshua 1:8 (1) 
1 John 2:27 (2)  
 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. Today I would like to take God’s ultimate purpose for the good news of the kingdom to another level. And to do so I would like to share with you one of my all-time favorite verses in the Bible. It’s one that God used to rescue me from years of internal turmoil and change my life into a deep, intimate life, with Him. The passage I am referring to is this: 
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” (1) 
To help take this concept to another level I would like to also talk about cows. There is nothing we could start this lesson with better than learning about how a cow produces milk. When a cow chews grass, she does it for a significant amount of time, then swallows it. From there it goes into one of her four stomachs to mix with her saliva and other enzymes to further break down the nutrients and turn the digesting grass into a cud. Then the cow will regurgitate the cud back into her mouth where she chews on it some more and then swallows it again. This time the chewed-up grass cud goes into her utter where more enzymes then turn it into life giving milk. 
This is no accidental evolutionary miracle here. This is designed by God, to give us a living example of what it means to meditate because this is almost the exact process we need to go through when we do. The only difference is the cow’s stomach represents our brain, the grass represents God’s word, and the life-giving milk represents our intimate life with Him.  
To meditate correctly we take something from God’s word and begin to think about it day and night trying to understand all He is saying. When we do that long enough, and do it with pleasure for this is key, our brain will then know this is important and will store it for further chewing on or meditating.  
We need to continually, night and day, regurgitate or pull out the words we were previously chewing on and begin to think about them some more. I know in my case this process is not a two-time event. It takes numerous times to get out what I need to learn from it. Often, I will chew on a thought for days or several weeks; and many times, for months or even years. 
But there is a difference between meditating day and night back in the Old Testament times and meditating while praying without ceasing today. Way back then the Holy Spirit did not live in God’s people. Only a very select few had this magnificent gift. God’s people had to learn about Him through their own meditation on the Law so they could then do everything it said. And, according to God this would be sufficient for them if they did it day and night, for that is the only way they would have the resolve to obey what His word says.  
Now let’s merge meditating on God’s word with praying without ceasing. Today when we meditate, while praying without ceasing, we have the Holy Spirit to do what cows enzymes do to help our minds “digest” the word of God so we can learn far more from it. We are not limited by our fallen flesh as the Old Testament people were. The Holy Spirit of God reigns inside all His favored ones and He will take God’s word and use it to teach us, which is exactly what the Bible says He does. Listen to this: 
“As for you, the Holy Spirits anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His Spirit teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him” (2)  
As you can see God wants to work with us and teach the things His word reveals so we can obey all it says, for this is the only way we can experience the abundant life Jesus came to give us.  
But you have got to realize – God wants us to ingest His truth deep into our hearts so it can help change our thoughts into ones like His through praying without ceasing while we meditate. 
Let’s connect these two concepts together so we can see how this is the key to abiding with God in an intimate partnership with Him.  
God said we must meditate on His word day and night and He also says we are to pray without ceasing. This means that these two concepts are meant to harmonize and work together; and that is exactly what they do.  
Now, to meditate on God’s word, we must first memorize it. And that is a somewhat lengthy process. I have spent years memorizing and one thing I have learned is to memorize God’s word to the degree I can continually regurgitate it for meditation; I need to go over it almost every day for a month or more. It takes that long for God’s word to get deep into my brain where I can then pull it out anytime I want, even years later.  
As I memorize God’s word, I constantly talk to Him about it every moment I can. He knows exactly what it means and how it fits into the many aspects of living.  
But the greatest value I find in God’s word is what it reveals about Him. When I memorize and meditate on His word, I continually talk to God about it so I can learn what He is revealing concerning Himself. And I love to listen as the Holy Spirit continually reveals things about God as I memorize and meditate on the Bible.  
That’s one of the reasons memorization takes so long, and it’s also why God wants us to meditate day and night. At best we have a thimble full of understanding of God while the Bible contains an ocean of truth about Him. And one of God’ greatest desires is to fill us with a river of life-giving truth about Himself. 
Meditating day and night and praying without ceasing are connected like our soul and spirit. They are inseparable and should always be thought of that way. Meditation and praying without ceasing are the only way to experience an intimate and personal relationship with God in the fullness He desires.  
Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – Memorization, meditation, and praying without ceasing are the greatest disciplines you can do for your mental and spiritual health. 
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
-------
Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com

INTRODUCTION TO SECTION 4 
Everyone is well acquainted with purpose. The majority of things we do every day all have a distinct purpose for them. Some are obviously far more important than others, but we cannot function without purpose. This is how God made us and it is how normal responsible people live. 
This next section is all focused on the singular purpose God has for us humans. We started these lessons with the reason we humans are here on earth and that is to inherit the kingdom. 
But now we are shrinking down that purpose to an infinitely small one that is to actually touch every facet of our lives. I always find it amazing how much God is able to take what appears to be a small thing and expand it into truths of gigantic magnitude. That is what we will see with this section titled The Ultimate Purpose of The Good News of the Kingdom.  
I hope you are able to understand the purpose God has for your life in a whole new magnificent way as we work through section 4.   
 
LESSON 48  The ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom (part 4) 
Bible References: 
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (1) 
Proverbs 23:7 (2) 
Matthew 4:17 (2) 
Joshua 1:8 (3) 
 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. Today we will continue with the ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom, which is to pray without ceasing. 
It is summer here, and in my tent, it gets very hot. Canvas is not much of a deterrent from the heat. In fact, it creates more heat inside the tent than there is outside. So, I am glad this is not a video podcast. I look pretty ridiculous with a wet towel hanging over my head so the fans blowing on me can keep me cool. This works ok, but it does look weird. And that is life in a tent, but I still love it. 
Let’s continue our lesson on praying without ceasing. (1) Most of you listening to these podcasts probably work for a living. So, my question is, do you know how to pray without ceasing during work? This is crucial because work is something we must all do and most jobs take up a significant amount of time. God knows that. But He tells us to pray without ceasing anyway.  
Once again, I would like to remind you that, busyness, or in this case your work, is not an obstacle that should keeps us from communing with God. Everyone’s job needs individual attention and that’s the right thing to do.  
So then, how do you continually keep communing with God so you can pray without ceasing and still do your job well? It’s really not hard at all.  
If you had an electronic monitor on your brain recording every thought you had throughout the day, if you played it back after work so you could see what your thoughts were; you would find there were numerous moments when your mind drifts away from your job to something else.  All jobs require attention. But the longer you work at your job the easier it gets, and you end up experiencing times when your mind drifts away to other things.  
So, let’s start with your drift away time because this is an easy one to fix. What you must do is stop letting your mind drift away to thoughts that will not help you grow in your life and your relationship with God. Instead use those moments to talk with Him.  
Now if you are thinking about something that is important to you it’s most likely important to God. But there is also a need for His intervention into those things your mind drifts away to, that are sinful, lustful or just plain, not right. Sorry to say but that is life.  
There are those times when your mind drifts away also to a relationship you are struggling with or other difficult problems because everyone has problems. But God wants to be brought into your thinking moment by moment so you can get His perspective on whatever it is you are wrestling with.  
I have worked on this for over forty years and one thing I have learned is we all need help in how we process things in our mind, especially since God told us that whatever we think about is who we become. (2) 
And there isn’t one person on this planet who doesn’t need God’s help with their thinking. Even if you are involved with some very critical thing at work and must give it your complete attention. Remember, God is way smarter than you are and He is also right there in your brain listening to your thoughts. So, as you wrestle with something at work why not include Him in your struggle? You will be amazed at how smart you can become if you do. 
I can’t count the times God has helped me figure out some work issue problem that had completely taxed my brain. Remember, God wants to work with us. That is the personal relationship Christ died for. 
But the more conversations you have with God or “pray without ceasing” the better person you will also become if you learn to incorporate God’s thoughts into yours. This is one of the great blessings from praying without ceasing – you get to replace your foolish views on life with God’s brilliant ones. He is your partner and the more you practice praying without ceasing the more your intimate partnership with God will grow into a relationship that you could never have imagined before.  
God is waiting for you to start praying without ceasing, because this is the ultimate purpose He has for His favored ones. He wants to be involved with everything you do and think, and you need Him to be that involved with you.  
Life is so much richer when we pray without ceasing because we all need God’s involvement in everything we do.  
The first thing Jesus said when He started His ministry was that we needed to drastically change the way we thought about the kingdom. (3) This means God knows we really have no idea about the kingdom.  
But it’s not only the kingdom we know so little about. In another passage of the Bible God tells us we really don’t know much about how life was meant to be. Listen to what He said. 
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” () 
Obviously, God wants us to be something different than who we are. The original word for transformed, is much like remodeling a broken-down house and completely transforming it into something extraordinarily better. So, when God says this about us, He obviously doesn’t think we are on a very good path to live the way He wants us to. 
Be sure you catch what God says is the way to change though. He wants us to “renew our mind.” Everything about us is the direct result of how we think. And how we think works both ways. If we let our brains think wrongly about life, then we will live wrongly. But if we commune with God and pray without ceasing, filling our brains with what He wants us to learn from His word, we can be transformed into something far better. But if we let our minds constantly think about things going on in this dark world, we will be conformed to the domain of darkness way of thinking.  
Conversation with God is so fundamental to life in the kingdom. I know I have said this several times before, but it is still just as relevant – living in the kingdom is a completely different way to live than living in the world of the domain of darkness we are so familiar with. And the sooner we learn the ways of the kingdom, the better our lives will become.   
Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – Praying without ceasing is the way God wants us to live so our minds can begin to think the way we were meant to. 
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
-------
Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com

SECTION 4 
Everyone is well acquainted with purpose. The majority of things we do every day all have a distinct purpose for them. Some are obviously far more important than others, but we cannot function without purpose. This is how God made us and it is how normal responsible people live. 
This next section is all focused on the singular purpose God has for us humans. We started these lessons with the reason we humans are here on earth and that is to inherit the kingdom. 
But now we are shrinking down that purpose to an infinitely small one that is to actually touch every facet of our lives. I always find it amazing how much God is able to take what appears to be a small thing and expand it into truths of gigantic magnitude. That is what we will see with this section titled The Ultimate Purpose of The Good News of the Kingdom.  
I hope you are able to understand the purpose God has for your life in a whole new magnificent way as we work through section 4.   
 
LESSON 47  The ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom (part 3) 
Bible References: 
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (1) 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. If there is anyone listening to this podcast that does not have a busy life, then this lesson will probably not mean much to you. But if you are like most people, and your life is very busy, even at times feeling out of control, then this lesson will fit right in with your life. 
It is easy to think that busyness is a great hinderance to God’s ultimate purpose for our lives, because during our busy moments, praying without ceasing (1) seems impossible. But make sure you hear this – your busyness is not the problem at all. The real problem is most people stop communing with God during their busyness; and that’s where they go wrong.  
I have been married for fifty-six years, and Joan takes up much of my time just as she should – we love each other and are partners in life. But let me bring back a paragraph from last week’s lesson to help us understand how to pray without ceasing during life’s busy distractions. Here is that paragraph. 
“Of course, I must stop verbally talking with God while I communicate with my wife or anyone else. But that doesn’t mean I stop communing with Him. I continue to “pray without ceasing” quietly in my mind even in those moments.”  
And here is a good example of this. Just as I started to copy and paste that paragraph from last week’s lesson, my wife Joan drove up to the tent. She wanted to make a run into town and asked if I would like to go with her. But she also said that I didn’t have to if I would like to stay and work on my podcast.  
A perfect wife, so how do I be a perfect husband? I said I would love to go with you because I have been missing you while I’m down here writing. And this is true because I expressed to her this morning my desire to spend more time with her.  
I find it interesting though that she came to the tent and “interrupted” me at the very moment I was starting to write about life interruptions. This is so often the way God works. He gives me practical illustrations of what I am thinking about. And when He does it gives me the opportunity to talk with Him so I can learn more about loving my wife during my busyness.  
God works this way with all of us because He wants us to learn how to commune with Him throughout all the activities of our days. So, the best way for Him to do that is give us opportunities in the middle of our busy lifestyles, just as He did with me today. So, what did I do?  
First thing I did was tell God that He sure has a good sense of humor. And then I laughed with Him about it and believe me He found it humorous also. Once in the car I focused on my wife and began exploring what she might like to talk about and how she was doing. That took a few moments to figure out through asking her various questions. And suddenly, I found something important that was on her mind. When I did, I dove into that discussion, but I was still communing with God while Joan and I talked, and believe me, God was very interested in our conversation.  
I silently asked God to help me understand what Joan was really saying underneath her casual words. I also wanted to engage with her emotions. After all, she is a woman. So, I talked to God about her feelings. Since He created them, He certainly knows how they work better than I do.  
Joan and I had a very pleasant conversation about all she was feeling and one thing that came out of it was the emotional tiredness she had been experiencing lately because she could not help me with my pain.  
I have been experiencing a lot of pain for the past five weeks due to a pinched sciatica nerve from a messed-up vertebrae in my back.  
And yesterday I had to go to the radiologist so they could map out the exact positions for the radiation they are about to start on my prostate and lymph nodes. Because of the sciatica pain though it was extremely difficult for me to get into the various positions they needed to map me properly. The slightest movement would send me through the roof. A forty-minute session turned into a two-and-a-half-hour torcher of my body. I hobbled into the City of Hope’s office and needed a wheelchair to leave, unfortunately though I only had a walker. I sucked it up pretty well, but I couldn’t cover up all the pain.  
I didn’t realize Joan was so emotionally struggling because she couldn’t do anything to help alleviate my pain. Add to that all the times over the past few weeks that the sciatica nerve had cause me an incredible amount of pain, and her emotions were really in a turmoil.  
So, how did I pray without ceasing and love Joan at the same time throughout our conversation? I know God understood her emotional struggle much better than I did and even better than she did. But more than just knowing all about it, God uses times like this to touch us with His love, grace, mercy and care in rich, deep ways. 
 And that’s what I silently asked God to do for Joan while her and I were talking. I asked that would He help her see Him in all her emotional struggles so she would not be so focused on my pain that she misses the great things God has been doing for me during all my pain, which has been astounding. But that is another story for another time.  
I also asked God to help me be more sensitive to Joans emotional response to my pain and help me be extra concerned with her needs. I also asked God to help me come up with something special I could do for her that would restore her joy. And so, I just continued communing with God about everything Joan and I were talking about.  
These type of “praying without ceasing” moments can take place every hour of the day. And that’s exactly what we need to do in the busyness of our lives.  
We must have time for the people around us and the many situations that pull us away from talking with God. Remember though, He wants to be intricately involved in everything we do, which gives us plenty of opportunities to pray without ceasing and learn from Him even during the busyness of our lives.  
Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – Jesus gave His life so we could pray without ceasing. It means that much to His Father. 
Hope to see you next week for part 4 - Oh, wow, great idea Lord, I will surprise Joan with a bouquet of red roses today and please let it help refresh her soul. 
-------
Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
-------
Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com

INTRODUCTION TO SECTION 4 
Everyone is well acquainted with purpose. The majority of things we do every day all have a distinct purpose for them. Some are obviously far more important than others, but we cannot function without purpose. This is how God made us and it is how normal responsible people live. 
This next section is all focused on the singular purpose God has for us humans. We started these lessons with the reason we humans are here on earth and that is to inherit the kingdom. 
But now we are shrinking down that purpose to an infinitely small one that is to actually touch every facet of our lives. I always find it amazing how much God is able to take what appears to be a small thing and expand it into truths of gigantic magnitude. That is what we will see with this section titled The Ultimate Purpose of The Good News of the Kingdom.  
I hope you are able to understand the purpose God has for your life in a whole new magnificent way as we work through section 4.   
 
LESSON 46  The ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom (part 2) 
Bible References: 
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (1) 
Ephesians 4:17 (2) 
 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. This is a continuation of the ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom which is to “pray without ceasing.” (1)  
Let me start by explaining how these 46 lessons have come into being. They come from thousands of interactions between my thoughts and feelings about the kingdom, and God’s. And only when they become real to me and integrated into my life can I ever share them with someone else. Otherwise, what a hypocrite I would be if I teach something about God that I do not practice.  
Whenever God reveals some new truth about the kingdom from the Bible I begin to think about it constantly praying without ceasing. And I do mean constantly. I rarely stop talking with Him about them and always ask Him direct questions such as – What do You think about this idea Lord? How does it fit into what You have already taught me before about the kingdom? And does this express Your will? If it doesn’t, then what am I missing? 
When I ask Him questions like this, I then shut up, but I don’t stop listening to Him; I continue to pray without ceasing by continually talking to Him about them and trying to learn everything I can. And so many of these conversations turn into the absolute best moments of my life as God expresses His thoughts and feelings to me.  
Of course, I must slow down my talking with God while I communicate with my wife or anyone else. But that doesn’t mean I stop communing with Him. I continue to “pray without ceasing” quietly in my mind, even in those moments when I am engaged with others, but we will look at this more in the next lesson.  
I wish I could say I am perfect at this, but the truth is I’m not. And we will never be perfect at praying without ceasing here on earth, but we must continually work at it because this is absolutely the most right thing we will ever do with our brains. 
Now let’s talk about how this continual exchange of thoughts and feelings with God makes “praying without ceasing” a living reality. As I finished writing this last paragraph I had to pause and talk to God because I know I am attempting to explain something that I work hard at practicing, but I know my limitations on trying to explain it. So, what did I pray? I said, “Lord, is this the right way to say this and if not, how do I better express it?” 
When I ask that, I stop writing and thinking about it and just paused and listened for His reply. Sometimes the pause may be for a very short time as God starts flooding my brain with new thoughts. And sometimes I need to get up and go for a walk to clear my mind so I can listen to His voice and not something that is floating around in my mind that has nothing to do with what I am talking to God about.  
God’s voice is seldom loud and powerful. It usually is very soft, which over time has made me realize He doesn’t want to compete with my thinking. He wants me to willingly have a quiet mind so He can fill it with His thoughts and feelings. This is key to praying without ceasing because our minds are so cluttered with futile thoughts that make it difficult for us to hear the Holy Spirit’s quiet voice speaking to us. It is so easy for us to focus on trivial, unimportant things.  
So how do we quiet our minds during our everyday involvement in life’s activities? This is where continually communing with God has its greatest hurdle to get over because life is busy. There is no denying it.  
To begin to pray without ceasing we must recognize how distracting life is to a continual communion with God. Only when we recognize this can we begin to expose our minds to God’s interaction within our busyness.  
So, continually ask yourself, a simple question − is what I am thinking or doing right now helping me to pray without ceasing or is it getting in the way of doing this? 
If it is something that is not helping, the Bible refers to this as futile thinking. (2) But if it is something you love doing or need to do and want His involvement, then you are right where God would love to interact with your thoughts and feelings.  
Whatever you are involved with know that it will be different from everyone else, because God didn’t create us to be robotic followers of each other with each of us having the exact same interests. He made us unique and that means your thoughts, feelings and experiences will be different from mine or anyone else’s. But be sure you understand that God wants to be involved in how you process all the things you are doing in the busy life you have.  
This is how these Lessons From The Tent take place. These lessons about the good news of the kingdom have been the focus of my life for many years, and during that time I have been able to have a continual communion and interaction with God concerning everything I am thinking and learning.  
This is my life, but you have a different life that God wants to continually interact with. So, if you earnestly want to bring Him into every moment of your life, then you have taken the first step to “praying without ceasing.”  
Let me give you an example of how this works. The moment you finish listening to this lesson ask God to talk to you about what you need to learn from this. How does He want you to think and feel concerning the ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom? And it is easy to focus your thoughts on the one thing this lesson is about. And when you ask God this, quiet your mind and listen for His reply.  
If your thoughts go to things that you must get back to doing in your busy life, then go do them; but don’t stop talking to God. Commune with Him about the things you are learning and how they fit into what you now need to go do. Remember to keep your mind available to what He wants to teach you and talk to Him continually about it. When you have something you must now go do – don’t forget, He wants to partner with you in whatever that is.  
God is the rightful King and ruler over your thoughts, feelings, and actions so pray without ceasing by continuing to commune with Him during everything you do. This is the life blood of an intimate relationship with God. But there is still much to learn about this which means we will continue this lesson next week. 
Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – God’s voice is the most important voice you need to hear today. 
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
-------
Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com

INTRODUCTION TO SECTION 4 
Everyone is well acquainted with purpose. The majority of things we do every day all have a distinct purpose for them. Some are obviously far more important than others, but we cannot function without purpose. This is how God made us and it is how normal responsible people live. 
This next section is all focused on the singular purpose God has for us humans. We started these lessons with the reason we humans are here on earth and that is to inherit the kingdom. 
But now we are shrinking down that purpose to an infinitely small one that is to actually touch every facet of our lives. I always find it amazing how much God is able to take what appears to be a small thing and expand it into truths of gigantic magnitude. That is what we will see with this section titled The Ultimate Purpose of The Good News of the Kingdom.  
I hope you are able to understand the purpose God has for your life in a whole new magnificent way as we work through section 4.   
 
LESSON 45  The ultimate purpose of the good news of the kingdom (part 1) 
Bible References: 
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (1) 
John 17:3 (2) 
2 Samuel 7:12, 13 (3) 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. This is the 44th lesson about the good news of the kingdom. That’s roughly 4.6 hours of looking into why we are here and what is God’s ultimate purpose for us.    
It has been my objective all through these lessons to help anyone listening to understand why the good news of the kingdom is so good. With this lesson I would like to explain this through one short verse that illustrates everything God wants from our relationship with Him in the kingdom of His beloved Son. Here is the verse. “Pray without ceasing.” (1)  
No, I didn’t leave out anything. God uses just three words to explain all He wants to do with His favored ones. And His desire is that we would pray without ever stopping. What an amazing concept this is. 
Let’s first talk about what prayer is because without a good understanding of this, it will be difficult to grasp the concept of “praying without ceasing.” The simplest definition of prayer is communing or talking intimately with God. It is supposed to be an interchange of our thoughts and feelings with Him. But most of our prayers are asking God for something and too often these occur without “communing” with Him beforehand.  
It’s kind of like when a 16-year-old wants to borrow their parents’ car so they can spend some time with their friends. All they do is come to their father and say something like, “Hey pops, can I borrow the car tonight? I have some homework I need help with and a couple of my friends want to get together so we can all help each other. 
Usually when this happens there has been no communing with ‘pops’ before this. All the 16-year-old wants is the car. And if pops says no, then there might be some begging to try and make pops understand how desperately they need this.  
Too often this is how we pray. We appeal to God because we are desperate and our communication doesn’t flow from a heart that has been in constant communion with Him.  
The type of relational partnership God wants with His favored ones is one that is continually in a state of communion with Him – a communion that is involved with everything we do. Christ died to give us an intimate partnership between His Father, Himself and His favored ones that never ceases, (2) and should be part of every moment of every day. This is the relationship God created us to have with Him, and this is what inheriting the invisible kingdom is all about.  
I purposely referred to the kingdom as “invisible” just now because this is the only way that communion with God can be without ceasing. When Christ walked this earth as God in a human body, He was limited in His ability to have an intimate conversation with someone who wasn’t in His presence.  
The invisible kingdom changes all that because the Kingdom is God’s invisible reign over His favored ones from inside of them. This is where He lives and sets up His throne so He can “commune” with all His favored ones without ceasing. God takes up residency inside His people and therefore He can always be with us everywhere and at all times in the most personal, intimate way. (3) 
For example, when one of God’s favored ones is working on something – God is right there inside of them paying attention to everything they are doing so an interchange of thoughts and feelings can take place without ceasing.  
For this interchange of thoughts and feelings to be the way God designed them to be, I must warn you, we humans must learn to have a heart that is more concerned with God’s thoughts and feelings than we are with our own. Praying without ceasing will not be possible if we don’t learn this.  
We fallen humans are just naturally more concerned with ourselves than we are with God. Unfortunately, this is the nature of prayer from the fallen beast! But with the invisible reign of God living inside of us, the door is always open to an immediate and consistent exchange of ideas – no matter what we are doing. And this is why we need to commune with God all the time so we can get His perspective on what we are doing.  
God has no desire to have a silent relationship with us. His desire is to be completely involved with every thought and feeling and experience we have. Remember our relationship is an intimate partnership. And this is where “praying without ceasing” becomes so beautiful.  
Let me give you an example of how this works, right out of these Lessons From The Tent. These lessons began far before I started these podcasts. I have been involved with communing with God about His kingdom for twenty-five years. And this means God and I have been sharing our thoughts and feelings about all that the kingdom is this entire time. And trust me, God has done far more talking than I have.  
Every Lesson From The Tent has come about through an interchange of ideas with God. My brain cannot produce all the things I have talked about even though I have been “studying” the kingdom concept for many years. And your brain is no better than mine at knowing and understanding the fullness of these kingdom truths. We all have mental and emotional limitations to our humanity. But God doesn’t have limitations, and this is the beauty of praying without ceasing. We get to communicate with the creator of this magnificent universe every moment of the day. So, why would we ever stop or pause this? 
These Lessons From The Tent demonstrate what it means to “pray without ceasing” in several ways. For example, I have the option with each lesson to write whatever I want. But I had to ask myself, why would a poor in spirit, fallen human like me think I could teach about God and His purpose from my ignorant limited brain? That really doesn’t make sense.  
I know my limitations and they leave me desperate for God’s wisdom. When I pray without ceasing, He reveals amazing truths about Himself and His reign over me through our constant interaction. And that is where praying without ceasing is so valuable to us in the kingdom of God. But more on this in the next lesson. 
Well, that’s it for now and once again there is just one thing – Praying without ceasing is the greatest achievement we can ever do with our time.  
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
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Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com

SECTION 3 — SUMMARY OF EPISODES 22-44 
In this section I would like to point out some of the amazing concepts of the kingdom that make it unlike any government, culture, kingdom or religion that has ever existed. Once again we will have to apply faith and believing to these special characteristics that make the kingdom so unique, because as you will see there is nothing like the invisible kingdom of God in this world. 
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
-------
Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com
 

SECTION 3 
In this section I would like to point out some of the amazing concepts of the kingdom that make it unlike any government, culture, kingdom or religion that has ever existed. Once again we will have to apply faith and believing to these special characteristics that make the kingdom so unique, because as you will see there is nothing like the invisible kingdom of God in this world. 
LESSON 44  The uniqueness of the kingdom – The high requirement of righteousness (part 2) 
Bible References: 
Matthew 7:21-23 (1) 
Galatians 3:24 (2) 
John 6:40 (3) 
John 17:3 (4) 
Matthew 25:34 (5) 
Colossians 1:15/Colossians 2:9 (6) 
 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. This is part 2 of Jesus requiring a righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. 
As we learned last week, Jesus became the very transgression, sin, and iniquity we all are guilty of that keeps us out of the kingdom. And then His Father punished Him and He died separated from His Father which was the ultimate condemnation.  
Because of what Christ accomplished on the cross we poor in spirit humans can be declared as righteous as Jesus. And His righteousness far exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. So, does that mean everyone on earth is automatically now in the kingdom? No, it does not as Jesus reveals at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Listen to what He said. 
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord.’ Will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons. And in Your name perform many miracles?’  And I will declare to them, ‘I never knew You; Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (1) 
Here we have one of the most important truths taught in the Bible because what Jesus teaches defines the only way someone can be in the kingdom.  
When these great religious people are standing in front of Jesus at judgement and try to appeal to their great works of righteousness, it is obvious they were not poor in spirit because if they were they would never have thought of themselves as righteous. Jesus very quickly puts them in their place as He says, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” 
And here we see what makes the kingdom more unique than all other religions. Being known by Christ is the only thing that rescues someone from the domain of darkness and makes them more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees.  
As you can see, being in the kingdom does not happen because someone does great acts of righteousness; it only comes as the result of someone having an intimate relationship with Jesus. And that is only possible because of what Christ accomplished through His sacrificial death and resurrection. 
The Law was never meant as a way to become righteous. Listen to what the Bible says. “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so we may be justified by faith.” (2) The original word justified means to be declared as righteous as Christ.  
And now for the most important question that can ever be asked − how does someone have an intimate partnership with Jesus? That is obvious because He very clearly explained how to at the beginning of this passage; He said it is those who do His Father’s will. 
Then it is a must that we know what His Father’s will is. And of course, Jesus taught exactly what His Fathers will is. Here is what He said. 
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (3) 
If you remember how Jesus defined eternal life, He said it is an intimate relationship between God, Himself and His favored ones. (4) And as we see, this is what determines at the throne of judgement if Jesus says, “Come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom, (5) or He says, “Depart from Me for I never knew you.” 
You have got to understand this – Jesus is the only one who determines if someone has an intimate partnership with Him. It doesn’t matter what we think. Jesus decides this, not us. Our part in this comes down to conforming to what Jesus said we must do and that is, do the will of His Father and He defines doing the will of His Father as, everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life. 
Then what does it mean to behold the Son? The original word for behold means to look closely; to view attentively; to contemplate, perceive and look with admiration. There was always an extremely large group of people listening to Jesus every time He taught but, how many of them were actually “beholding” Him in the way this word means?  
Jesus also very clearly said those who behold Him must “believe in Him” and this is where the relationship becomes real or it dies. If you remember, believing is the action of a person’s faith. What action does Jesus want if someone “beholds” Him and believes who He says He is? If we go back to the definition of the kingdom which is, a people willingly surrendered to the reign of God and actively participate in an intimate partnership with Him, then it is easy to see what the actions of believing are.  
To “behold” Christ properly your faith must be absolutely convinced He is God and then you would admire Him for being God. And when you do then your faith will automatically cause you to willingly surrender to Him – because you know He is God in a human body! (6) If you are absolutely convinced of this then willingly surrendering to His reign is the most natural thing you would do. And if you “behold” Christ in this manner; your believing actions will automatically cause you to actively participate in an intimate partnership with Him. He is to be your everything and the love of your life just as your spouse would be the day you are pronounced husband and wife. All this is as natural as breathing if you have the faith that beholds Jesus and doesn’t doubt who He says He is and what He has done for you.   
This is what Jesus is looking for to declare someone more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. And with that kind of righteousness you are guaranteed to be in the kingdom just as Jesus said.  
Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – behold the Son and believe in Him, if you want a righteousness that surpasses the scribes and Pharisees. 
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
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Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com
 

SECTION 3 
In this section I would like to point out some of the amazing concepts of the kingdom that make it unlike any government, culture, kingdom or religion that has ever existed. Once again we will have to apply faith and believing to these special characteristics that make the kingdom so unique, because as you will see there is nothing like the invisible kingdom of God in this world. 
LESSON 43 The uniqueness of the kingdom – The high requirement of righteousness 
Bible References: 
Matthew 5:20 (1) 
John 17:17 (2) 
2 Corinthians 5:21 (3) 
1 Peter 2:24 (4) 
Isaiah 53:5 (5) 
Romans 4:21-25/Romans 5:1 (6) 
 
Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. The passage from the Bible I want to look at today shows us the uniqueness of God’s kingdom regarding the high degree of righteousness required for someone to be in God’s kingdom. Here is the passage I am referring to. 
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (1) 
Jesus is still giving His Sermon on the Mount and the “you” He is speaking of are all the people who have started following Him or who are just there to hear Him teach. Some of these people are the highly religious scribes and Pharisees. But you can see, Jesus was never afraid of offending people by what He said. He just simply speaks the truth and lets the chips of truth fly where they may.  
When Jesus was talking to His Father right before He went to the cross, He said, “Your word is truth.” (2) What Jesus teaches is recorded for us in the Bible and is God’s word, so it is true and can be emphatically trusted.  
This is very important as we examine what He says here. Jesus reveals something vital to every person on this planet regardless of what religion they belong to or if they are not yet convinced that God is real. What Jesus teaches is necessary for everyone on this planet to know. 
First let’s begin with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, for this is the measuring stick Jesus uses to determine who will be in the kingdom. For someone to be in the kingdom, their righteousness must surpass the scribes and Pharisees. So, who were these guys? They were the most knowledgeable people on earth concerning the Old Testament and they dedicated themselves to obeying the law of God. They knew the pages of this book better than probably anyone in history. What was missing though is they didn’t personally have an intimate relationship with God. They didn’t think this was necessary or humanly possible; therefore, their idea of religion was primarily concerned with keeping all the laws. 
As we learned earlier in Lesson 8, Jesus taught that eternal life is an intimate partnership with God and His Son.  
And this is the problem everyone on earth has. There are a lot of people who diligently study the Bible, and I am one of those. I have dedicated my life for the past 53 years to studying this book, and I can honestly say that my study of the Bible did not give me a righteousness that surpasses the scribes and Pharisees. Sure, it gave me a lot of knowledge of this beautiful book, but knowledge never gave anyone the righteousness, God requires. That only comes when God declares your poor in spirit, pitiful life to be as righteous as His Son. Listen to what God says about this. “God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (3) 
The righteousness of God surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Here is another passage about this. “And Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” (4) 
And here is yet another passage describing what Jesus did so we can become more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. “Jesus was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” (5) 
It is obvious from these three passages of the Bible that no-one can naturally become the high degree of righteousness that God requires. We are loaded with transgression, sins, and iniquity, so there is no way we could ever have the righteousness, God requires to be in the kingdom. It must come from Jesus, the One who gave His life so we could be declared righteous.  
This next passage tells us everything we need to know so we can become the righteousness of Christ. Here is what it says, and it is referring to Abraham; a man of great faith but it includes all those who come after him.  
“Being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to Abraham as righteousness.” “Jesus was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (6) 
I intentionally chose to list several passages about what Christ did so you could understand from the very truth of God’s word how someone becomes more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. My words are nothing more than to help point you in the right direction. But you must take God’s word seriously. And just as we have looked at before, faith and believing must be applied to these amazing truths.  
By now you have learned a lot of things that you must apply faith and believing to. And I must remind you that without faith it is impossible to become as righteous as God requires to be in His kingdom. 
If you have listened to these Lessons, just like the scribes and Pharisees, you have acquired a lot of knowledge, about the good news of the kingdom. But knowledge will not get you into the kingdom – wisdom will. And wisdom is the ability to take the facts that have been presented throughout these Lessons and apply them to your life personally. Especially the truth about what Jesus did on the cross so you can be declared as righteous as God requires. 
Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – You must have a righteousness that surpass the scribes and Pharisees if you want to be in the kingdom. 
Hope you join us next week for part 2. 
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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved
For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/
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Produced by Dereck Bradley
Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com