Episode 58 - Who am I?

Speaker 1 00:00:07 Hi, and welcome to the unveiling. I'm Tim, one of the hosts, and along with Andrey and Mark, we are three guys discussing the one true gospel. We hope you're encouraged by this episode. Let's dive right in. Yes, indeed. Hello and welcome to the unveiling. This is episode 58, and the title is, who Am I? Uh, mark and I are here today. Um, mark vci and Ajay. Speaker 2 00:00:37 Uh, he's, I, while he's like the prodigal son, we're just waiting for him to have enough eat in the pig slot before he returns back to us. Speaker 1 00:00:45 <laugh> <laugh>. Yep. IJ is traveling. He, uh, is a, he's a busy and important man, so, yes. Uh, mark, you and I are gonna cover today again, um, today's topic, as I mentioned, is who am I now, mark, I don't, I don't, I want to preface this with a little bit of humility. We, we are not stacking ourselves up. This is one of the age oldest questions of human, of of humanity. Who am I? What am I? Why am I here? Bill Cosby, why is there air <laugh>? You know? Um, but I don't think we're going to have all the answers, but we, I think we're looking at this from a Christian viewpoint, ultimately, but, uh, I think we have to kind of work our way there. This is in fact, indeed an old, an age old question. It's been addressed by philosophers, by theologians, by, uh, pretty much anybody who's drawn breath as wondered at one point or another, why am I here? Who am I and what's my purpose? So what I guess I'm hoping we're going to do with this, mark, is I'm hoping this is gonna be more of a conversation than a lecturer reading or a going through something step by step. So, um, why don't you start us off with some of the background of this question and how humanity's dealt with it and, and what we, what we came up with. Speaker 2 00:02:06 Sure. Yeah. You're definitely right when you say mankind has been asking this question from the beginning, uh, from the philosophers in the 400 to 300 BC range, Socrates, play-Doh, Aristotle, we all know these names. Up until the 20th century existentialists like Nche and Sart and Kegar, and, and even coming up, oh, through the sixties, what was the big catchphrase? I've gotta find myself, I'm finding myself. And so this is a very important question, uh, because the way you answer it, I can't think of another question. That the way you answer it has as much consequence in your life and the life of those that you come into contact with. We know how, uh, the existentialists answered it. They said they were what's called neli, meaning there's nothing, we're all just an accident. And, and the consequence of that was Maun. It was Adolph Hitler people that Nche was their hero. Speaker 2 00:03:14 And when you take that, uh, logical end to existentialism to saying that, who I, it means who I am, doesn't matter. I have no purpose. We're all just accidents. Uh, but I think, I think that's a real nice philosophical, uh, academic argument for people to make. But I think as we all hit our beds at night, and, uh, we're by ourself or we're in foxholes where there are no <laugh>, you know, philosophy goes away fast than a foxhole like the old saying, there are no atheists in foxholes, because sooner or later we're all going to face the end of our lives. And, and how we've answered that question is gonna profoundly affect, you know, how we go through that experience. So, um, not to get too much into a philosophical argument about this, um, but just wanna set that backdrop that all people are looking to know who they are. Who am I? What's my purpose? Why am I here? Speaker 1 00:04:20 And, and I think one more thing we might address briefly is why is this important? And I think part of that is because if we take the nearest point of view, uh, we are not here for anything. There is no purpose to us. And if we take the Christian view, um, or even the, just a theological view, there is a reason for our being. We were created. We have a purpose. We have life. Uh, and, and there's something, there's something that will be everlasting about us. I think there's a lot of hopelessness outside of that viewpoint. And, and I think that if you believe that you come from nothing and you're gonna go to nothing, it's a pretty bleak view. And it's a, it's a reflection of who you feel you are as well. And I, I would rather have the reflection of what we're gonna be talking about coming up here, which gives me hope and, uh, a future and a promise. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:05:18 That's awesome. And the thing to remember is that we didn't create God for us so that we can answer this question. He created us for him. And, and many of the existentialists, that's what they say, oh, religion's a crutch. And you know, and it's just a manmade construct because we're afraid of death. And Speaker 1 00:05:40 I may be misattributing this, but was it Nche who said God made man in his image and man returned the favor? Speaker 2 00:05:48 Something like that. Yeah. <laugh>, he said, he said a lot of clever things. Yeah. That, so what you gotta, you, you're brilliant. No one's saying you're not brilliant, but you're basically sitting there thinking up your own and co imagining up your own constructs to explain everything. That is where I think mankind knows, you know, even the Apostle Paul that we even know as we look at creation, as we see in the creation, God's power and invisible qualities, that we're all without excuse. Because as much as we can get into academic endeavors of philo, of philosophical philosophy, um, we all know in the core of our being that this, that's not all there is. Because out of nothing comes nothing to use the word that the needleless used about life. There's also the oldest scientific law, which is something like alo ex nelo, which means out of nothing comes nothing. So if you've got nothing, it doesn't matter how much time and chance you multiply against zero, you still get zero. Not to mention the fact that if there's nothing, then there's not time and chance anyway. So it's a bit of a, a circular, ludicrous argument that they use. So we're gonna kind of go back and obviously take the Christian Judeo-Christian answer to this question. We're gonna start out in Genesis 1 26. Literally, let's go back to the beginning. Okay. Speaker 1 00:07:19 Before we start, let me just correct myself. It wasn't Nichi, it was, um, it was, uh, Jean Jacque Russo. Okay. Who said, who said that line? I don't wanna misattribute, I don't want anyone yelling at their headphones. Speaker 2 00:07:31 Okay. Thank, thanks for that education in philosophy there. I actually haven't heard of that guy. So Speaker 1 00:07:38 French. Speaker 2 00:07:39 French, okay. Yeah. As was Sartan. Okay. So here, we're gonna move on then. So Genesis 1 26 says, then God said, and let, just so you know, this was revealed and written by Moses revealed to him by God, the Holy Spirit himself. Okay? So when it said then God said, that's Moses writing down what God told him, how he created the world. So let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky over the livestock, and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. So right there, just for should give you a huge shot in the arm out there to know that you were created by God. Speaker 2 00:08:39 You're not an accident. You should have massive self-esteem to know that you are creation. And scripture tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And I think the more and more that we, uh, grow in science and see the, the construct of creation and of the human body, the more, the more humbled we are, the more fearful and wonderful we can see things are and the depth of complexity and, and synchronicity between all the things that have to happen for life to exist. So, so I'm gonna fast forward now from Moses account in Genesis 1 26 to the Apostle Paul in Act 17. Now this, what's interesting about this is, this is the Apostle Paul speaking to the Aeropagus, which I believe, if I remember correctly, was an Athens. And it was a place that all the top thinkers and philosophers and educators came to discuss important issues of philosophy and religion. Speaker 2 00:09:44 So Paul is coming before them to address the so-called intellectuals of that time. And this is what he says to him. He says he himself, meaning God gives everyone life and breath and everything else for from one man. He made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole Earth. And he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him. Though he is not far from any one of us, for in Him, we live and move and have our being. And then he says, as some of your own poets have said, we are his offspring. And I, I love this because he's actually giving us a key to the reason or the purpose God made us. He said he did this so that we would seek him and reach out for him and find him. And he's not hiding from us. Cuz Paul says he's not far from any one of us. Speaker 1 00:10:48 Yes, we weren't to create, just to be and to figure things out for ourselves, we were created for God's pleasure. And that is a huge part of the identity issue, is how do you see your, what do you see yourself being created for? Speaker 2 00:11:04 You know what's interesting? I can't remember if it was you or Audrey or somebody else, somebody else said, why do we have children? We don't have children to love us. We have children to love. That's why we want them, for us to love them and bless them. And I just love God saying the same thing. You know, he, he wants communion. And just a little afterthought here before we move on to the next section, Ephesians for the apostle Paul says, for this reason, I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven on earth derives its name. God knows each of our names. He knows us. Um, he considers us his offspring. And now as we move into the next section, we're gonna talk about going from offspring to actual children, sons and daughters. And if you've listened to this podcast, you know the way that happens. And that's through the Lord Jesus Christ, that he came for us to take care of our sin problem that we had. Uh, we were condemned under the law because none of us can keep that law perfectly. But that wasn't God's plan in the first place. God's plans was for us to live with him. And Christ came to restore that plan. So we're gonna move on to that now, Tim. Speaker 1 00:12:25 All right. Take, take us away, mark. Speaker 2 00:12:29 Okay. Um, well, we've already established from the Bible that God created us. And despite what you might hear from different people, God loves unbelievers. He loves all mankind. And I just wanna give you a few scriptures here. Okay, John three 16, everybody knows this one, for God's soul loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. And then you've got Ephesians two, five that says, because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. Now, the Bible says, before we come to Christ, we are enemies of the cross, enemies of God, dead in transgression without hope, without God in the world. Even at that point, when we were at our lowest, God gave us his best. Speaker 2 00:13:29 He valued nothing more than his own son. And he sent him to sacrifice himself for us so that we could come into a relationship with him and really fulfill the purpose for which we were created. And finally, uh, Titu three four, Paul says, but when the kindness and love of God, our savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. So it's God's kindness, love and mercy toward all mankind. That was the, uh, impetus for him to send Christ on the greatest rescue, rescue mission of all time. Speaker 1 00:14:10 You know, John three 16 is the one you pointed out that says, you know, he came because he loved us. But people often forget to read the very next verse, John three 17, which says, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. So it's, it's not an, it's not an angry God sitting up there, just waiting for you to mess up so he can condemn you and, you know, throw you to, he has a plan. He gave you his son, his most precious son, and had a plan to bring us back into communion with him in the relationship that we were supposed to have from the beginning. Speaker 2 00:14:51 Thanks for reading that, Tim, because John three 16 is the one that's always quoted and the one that you see, the guy at the football games with the sign holding up in the rainbow wig. But 17 and 18 are just as astounding and as important. And that's where a lot of people, I'm un I'm unhappy to say even pastors get wrong. Jesus did not come to condemn us. It's the law that condemns us. The fact that because of the weakness of our own flesh, we can't perfectly fulfill it. God sent Jesus to perfectly fulfill it for us and then give us that righteousness and then lay his life down for us. So that's, that's a key point that many miss God is not an angry God up there just looking to squash you. He sent his own son for you. What more could he do than that? Speaker 1 00:15:44 I've mentioned this, uh, famous sermon before, sinners in the hands of an angry God, John three 16 through 18 do not sound like that sermon preaches, Speaker 2 00:15:57 Right? Absolutely. Uh, but when you, when you, when you misunderstand the role of law and the role of grace, that's what happens. You get things 180 degrees backwards and you start including the condemnation of the law in the gospel, which literally means good news. And if there's condemnation in that news, what's good about it, right? Speaker 1 00:16:20 Yeah, no, absolutely. Speaker 2 00:16:22 So then that next step for all mankind is to put their faith in Christ. And when we do that, there's a massive transformation, but we go from being enemies of God. Then in our transgression, uh, it says in James 2 23 that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. And Jesus even said in John 15, 15, I lo no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. So that relationship has gone from enemy to friend. And let's remember that Jesus told us to pray for our enemies and bless them. Why did he do that? Because that's how God is. God loves his enemies and said Christ to him. The ultimate blessing, Speaker 1 00:17:15 And and I want to bring this one up, and that is that when we do believe in him, we are instantly children of God. And it says it multiple places. John 1, 12, 12, Ephesians 1, 5, 1, John three, one, and two, I'll say something along the lines of, yet, to all those who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. So there you go. There's a transformation right there. Speaker 2 00:17:43 Absolutely. And that's the next point. I'm, I'm gonna just beef up a little and support ya and Tim. And that is, that is the answer to who I am. If you've put your faith in Christ above all things, he blessed us with the riches of a, of a glorious inheritance in Christ. And it says that no matter how many promises God has made, they're all yes in Christ Jesus. So all the promises in the Old Testament are also ours as his children. But to me, the highest blessing of anything we gain through salvation is to become the children of God, which answers the question who I am. It answers the question, why am I here and what's my purpose with just, uh, an answer that we'll thank him for, for all eternity, Speaker 1 00:18:32 Just, just to keep ij with us in spirit. You, uh, he said this, you've repeated it before, but our identity in Christ's, uh, or our, our identity says if, if we're not believers, the best we can be is servants. But if we are believers, the least we can be is sons and daughters. Speaker 2 00:18:52 I, I, I can't let you misquote, I know you're paraphrasing aj, but I try to memorize everything he says, <laugh>. And what he, what he said is very close to that. He said, under the law, the most will ever be is a servant under grace, the least will ever be as a child. And that's just beautiful, isn't it? And you said, you said the same thing virtually just, just different words. You know, <laugh>, <laugh>, I just gotta give AJ as due, you know, so, so I wanted to share a couple scriptures here. Uh, Ephesians five, one says, follow God's example. Therefore, as dearly loved children and walked in the way of love, justice Christ love us, loved us, and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Uh, Galatians four, four says, but when, this is one of my favorites, but when the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship, because you are his sons. God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out Abba Father. So you are no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you are his child, God has also made you an heir. Wow. That's good Speaker 1 00:20:17 Stuff. I'm sure that's where AJ got it from, but plays right into what we just said. Mark, I I, we could probably sit here for the next several hours rattling off verse the try and describe to us who we are. You know, the most important one being of course, that we are sons and daughters of God. Speaker 2 00:20:36 Yes. And because we're heirs, we inherit everything that Christ did on the cross, everything he bought us, every blessing, every promise. Speaker 1 00:20:45 Absolutely. And I'm sure we'll come through with a couple more verses, uh, that, you know, sustain who we are. But this is not a small topic. This is not a Oh, we are this and that, and this, this, there are mentions, literally Old Testament, new Testament, everywhere about who we are. Speaker 2 00:21:02 I know I used to feel this way. I don't know about you, Tim, but for many years when I became a Christian, I thought, okay, now I have to find out what God's purpose is for me. Show me God. Gimme a sign in the sky where I'm supposed to go, what I'm, what job I'm supposed to have, who I'm supposed to marry. There must be this big overriding purpose. But the more I studied scripture, and the more I see that God's purpose for us was to become his children, that's our highest purpose. Will he lead us in the lesser things of life? Of course he will. But that's our purpose. We don't have to keep doing, we're just being his children. Romans 8 28 says, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose, for those God for knew he also be, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined. He also called those, he called, he also justified. Those he justified, he also glorified. Well, I'm gonna give you one more scripture. Now, my wife always tells me that when I get the opportunity to share the gospel or preach, I tend to bludgeon people <laugh> with just so much scripture. But that's because that's who I am. I love scripture and I have a very analytical mind, and I love to prove and show from the scriptures what the truth is. So Speaker 1 00:22:39 I'd much rather that we, what we say is backed by scripture so people aren't going well. That's just you saying that. No, no, no. We're quoting, we're pulling out, uh, passages and we're not cherry picking. These are everywhere, Speaker 2 00:22:53 Right? Yeah. I mean, and I'm, I'm always gonna err on the side of giving you too much scripture, <laugh>. I'd rather give you a little too much proof. So you're like, all right, mark, uh, little tired of hearing you read the Bible for me. But there's such powerful stuff in here. Second Corinthians five, four, this is my last one on this subject says, for while we are in this tent, meaning our, our physical bodies, we've grown and are burdened because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling. So that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now, the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God who has given us the spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to talk. Come. Here's the apostle Paul answering the question for us. Who am I? What is my purpose? He says, for this very purpose, and what was the purpose? That we might be swallowed up by life. God created us for life, abundant life and life with him. And, and because we couldn't do that in our own power, he sent Christ to do it for us and usher us into his kingdom, into his family. Speaker 1 00:24:06 I'd also like one Peter two, nine for the same reason. It tells us a little bit about who we are and why. It says you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. Wow. Speaker 2 00:24:25 Beautiful stuff. Yeah. And I once heard a, I can't remember his name, but he was a famous psychologist who said that in his opinion that the cure for most mental diseases is understanding scripture and the promises of God. Because especially like things that have to do with so many people grow up without love and without people telling them how great they are. And that just does a lot of damage to kids as they're growing up. And when you find out of what great value you are to God, that that just evaporates that stuff. And I'm not trying to take, it's like a pill you take and it's gone. Obviously the things in our brokenness many times are healed immediately, but sometimes that takes continually bathing yourself in the truth over many years. So I'm not a psychologist, but a, I just remember one saying that, that what a, a healing thing that is for people that are broken, uh, to understand how much God loves them and how much he's done for them. Speaker 1 00:25:35 I think, uh, you and I, Jay and I were discussing this, um, earlier on one of our, our, uh, apps that we discussed back and forth on, but it doesn't always come instantly. This knowledge, understanding and acceptance of everything that we're saying now about who we are once we become Christians, we hear a lot of people, a lot of pastors, people theologians talking about how we have to, we have to grow into grace. And I don't, one of you said this, and I, I've been kind of struck by it all day. Um, we don't grow into it so much as we allow it to permeate us. It we're the problem, not the message. Right? And so understanding that we're a child of God, that God loves us, he loves us when we were sinners and loves us, you know, as, as much now that we have all these things and what our identity is isn't a process that God goes through to, to give to us, but rather that we go through to accept. Speaker 2 00:26:37 Yeah. If people tend to get the flow backwards, that once I become a Christian, now I've got to work into what God's done for me. Exactly. Speaker 1 00:26:47 Where Speaker 2 00:26:48 It's ju it's just the opposite. It says that when we turn to Christ, that we are seated in the heavenly realms with him. It's a done deal. And as we understand that, the flow comes out of that into us. The progression is from the truth of who we already are in Christ working into our life's this direction, instead of us trying to work real hard to somehow now be worthy of that. And I've gotta try harder to be holier and I need to sanctify myself and I need to do A, B, C, D, E, N F. And once I do 'em, then I need to keep doing them even better and better and better. So that, that's a hamster wheel. If we, as we've said many times, <laugh>, that leads to nowhere. And it's a wonderful thing. Cuz at the very beginning, Tim, you said, it doesn't all happen at once. Our growth and the great, the great thing is it doesn't have to, even when we were dead in transgression and his enemies, God loved us in sent Christ, now that we're his children, you know, we're, we've been elevated up even higher and we're not on some kind of scale that God's grading, how well we're doing. You know? Speaker 1 00:28:00 Exactly. He's not sitting up there with a clipboard keeping score so that when we die and come up, he's gonna sit there and judge us on a scale, on the scales, on the wall. It is like, no, that's not how it works. It's not how it worked with me and my kids. And if I'm, again, I love this passage. If, if you being, you know, an earthly father can do these things right, how much more can your heavenly father do? Yeah, I'm paraphrasing that heavily, but you get the point. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I ha I rely on that every day. I know how much I love my children and I know God loves me infinitely more than I can, I can show and do and be for my kids. And thank God for that. Because um, you know, if he's, if he's better than I am, then uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm saved for certain cuz I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm like any other parent, any other father or mother who loves their children, I love them com completely, deeply, passionately. So Speaker 2 00:28:56 That's a great illustration, Tim. And I was just thinking, uh, I haven't had a time to work this out cuz it's just kind flash while you were speaking. But when, when we are born as babies, our parents don't say, okay, well I'm, you need to grow now, grow, grow, grow. And once you grow enough, then I'm gonna start loving you. Then I'm gonna start nurturing you. Same thing. And we become, become Christians. We're made to enter in to, to the enjoyment of our father, the pleasure of God from the start. W he's not waiting for us to clean up every sin out of our life or fix every weakness or learn this or stop doing this, start doing that. We enter into that relationship immediately. And it's all fully ours. He's not holding something back until we live better. It's all ours in Christ Jesus. Speaker 2 00:29:52 And that's why I just love the parable that we just talked about last week of the prodigal son. Um, he had one son who was twe, who took all his stuff, went out, blew everything on sinful living, who then felt so guilty and bad about his sin that when he went back he couldn't even fathom being a son anymore. That he just offered himself back as a servant. And as we talked about, the father was having none of that. He said, quick, put the robe on 'em, get him a gold ring, put sandals on him, kill the fat and cap. We're gonna celebrate with music and dancing. And then you've got the eldest son out slaving in the fields by his own description who said, I'm out here slaving in the fields, obeying everything you ever say to me. And you, you, you give him this grace and do all this stuff for him. Speaker 2 00:30:44 And the father said to him, and I think it goes for all of us, he said, don't you know that you're always with me and all I have is yours. And what a profound thing. And let's remember this is Jesus telling this as a parable of God and humanity. And he's telling it to people that were at the lowest spectrum of society and people at the highest spectrum, you know, rich Pharisees, religious rulers who looked all shiny and new on the outside. And then you had tax collectors, excuse me, tax collectors and sinners and prostitutes, the street people. And he's saying to them, don't you know you're always with me and everything I have is yours. If all Christians would just grab onto that and make it their own, much le I mean as much more the rest of the world that just come to God, all he has is yours. And he wants you to always be with him. Speaker 1 00:31:46 I'm willing to bet that every father, I won't speak for mothers cuz I think they get this bond even sooner than we do. But every father listening will agree with me when I say that moment that your child has been born and they place them into your hands, that moment is an explosive change in, well, I mean obviously it's a change in your life. You've got an infant that's gonna, you know, you're gonna go sleepless, blah, blah, blah. But that moment of putting that child in your hand is that bonding moment that is, it's like a flash of light that changes how you think and feel about everything and, and the love that you suddenly feel before you know who they are, who they will become, what they're going to do. You know? Uh, and I think it's a wonderful thing God gives that to you because, you know, there are are days in their lives when they're five years old and drawing with indelible markers, <laugh> on their brand new bed set that you, you could, you could think of things you would like to do rather than love them for a few moments, <laugh>. But you know, that, that is such a striking moment now, I think, uh, maybe women get this a little earlier than we they, than we do. They, they kind of get that bond immediately upon discovering that they're going to have this baby. I I think they, they have it a little bit differently in it, a little bit sooner. Speaker 2 00:33:10 Yeah. That that's an awesome point. And in my life, well, my daughter was born, I was 40 years old, I didn't get married till I was 38. And I had reached a point in my life where I truly believed I would never get married or ever have children. And I, I had actually matured enough in my relationship to God that I was okay with that. So when I was sitting there and they handed me my daughter grace, which uh, we named after obviously the grace of God, um, it was one of the most profound things I didn't know I could love that much. Yeah. And as they handed it to me, I saw myself in her because she looks like me, especially in the eyes. And I remember almost bursting into tears when I said, she looks like me. And that reminds me of, of the scriptures we read about God making us in his own image. Speaker 1 00:34:08 Amen. Speaker 2 00:34:08 And, and I'm sure it's very special to him when we are born too into the physical world. But when we put our faith in Christ, it, it tells us in that, uh, parable, the pro prodigal son that all of heaven celebrates. I can just say, I could just see him looking at us. We put our faith in Christ saying He looks like me. You know, we're made in his likeness and now we're being restored to that full likeness in Jesus Christ. Speaker 1 00:34:37 Yeah. Yeah. And I, and all we have to tie how we think God feels about us is our own experience in, in this life as human beings. And I'm gonna say it one more time, how much more our heavenly Father? That is huge because I am a human being with foibles there. I I never, never didn't love my children, but there were days I flattened didn't like something they did. And may have even said to my wife, but never in front of the kids, I don't like them right now. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:35:13 You never stopped loving them. No, Speaker 1 00:35:14 No. Never stopped loving them. But there were moments that I was like, yeah. Wasn't convinced that that would always be true, but it always was. Speaker 2 00:35:22 Yeah. And we, if you haven't had children out there, listener, we don't mean to be <laugh> pushing that in your nose, but we're just sharing our experience. And the very point is that God loves you in a profound beyond human fathoming way. You know, the manner in which he loves you. That really is the, the closest you could come to understanding it is looking at the cross, just contemplating and thinking about everything Christ went through for you. Speaker 1 00:35:52 Ken, we can only talk from our experience. I can't talk about, I can't talk from someone else's experience. I can't talk from Sure. Anything else? So, um, we are probably coming close to the end of the time that we have tonight. Mark, uh, I, I know that I have a, I have my summation I wanna make, but uh, I want to give you a chance to make a summation cuz I don't, I'm not sure we got through everything you wanted to talk about. Speaker 2 00:36:19 Oh, we're, we're getting there. Let me just close up here by saying the question, who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose? Our answers are found in God in Christ, but that's not why we're, we're imploring You, beseeching you as the apostle Paul would say, to turn to him, we're beseeching you to do that because it's the truth, because he's real. It's not like a self-fulfilling thing. Like, oh, you need to answer these questions. Here's a good answer. Take this. The the reason is because it's true. These things are true. And, and he brings you the greatest identity of all a child of God. Speaker 1 00:37:02 And Mark, you touched upon who we were a little bit and then why, you know, how the change is important. I just want to touch on, I'm gonna take, just take a couple of versions. I got a list sitting here in case we ever brought any of these up in our discussion about, uh, who are, who we are in Christ. And I'm gonna rattle 'em off fast. But uh, you guys, anyone who's listening, you can re-listen, catch the verse, go look it up for yourselves. Uh, once we, once we accept Christ, once we become a Christian. And first Corinthians 1227 says, now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it. Romans six, six says, we're no longer slaves to sin. I like Ephesians one, three through 14. I'm not gonna read all these and I'm just gonna name off a couple of things that come out of it. Speaker 1 00:37:53 Uh, it says, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places that we are equipped with all we need. We are chosen to be holy and blameless before God. We are seen as holy and blameless because we are in Christ. That's in second Corinthians three 18 all the way back in the Old Testament. Psalms 95 7 says, he is our God and we are the people of his pastor, the flock under his care. We've talked about the shepherd analogy many, many times. You are not from nowhere out of nothing to go back to nowhere God made you. Mark brought this one up earlier. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. I could not even before I believed, believe that something is complex and self-aware and intelligent as the human species could be for nothing. And finding Jesus, finding the Bible theology in Jesus has shown me why I was made, how I was made, and what I'm for and who I am now. And I would encourage all of you to continue to dig into this, to figure out for yourselves because I think it's the most important question humanity can ask itself. Who am I? Well, that's gonna do us for this episode, mark. Um, we we'll see if Andre rejoins us next week. <laugh>. We miss you Andre <laugh>. And until then, we thank everybody for listening and we'll talk to you again the next time. Speaker 1 00:39:30 Tim, again, thanks for listening today. We hope you were blessed by today's message. If so, we encourage you to subscribe and share our podcast with your friends and family. Our entire catalog of episodes can be found on our website at www.theunveiledgospel.com. Or you can listen and subscribe on most popular podcast apps. If you have any feedback or questions, you can send us an email to the unveiled gospel yahoo.com. You can reach out to us on our Facebook page, the Unveiling Podcast, or you can leave a question or comment on our listener line at 3 5 2 3 9 8 0 0 8 9. Maybe you'll hear yourself on a future episode. That's it for today. As always, God bless and we will talk to you the next time.