Now they let me go far out of turn right to pray
When the dark is through they live on still I will stay
Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name, blessed be your name
Listen, be your name
We're the fountains of deserts
Now walk through the wilderness
Listen, be your name
Everybody see you far out
Turn back to face
When the dark is over and gone
Still I will sing
Listen, be the name of the Lord
Listen, be your name
Listen, be the name of the Lord
Listen, be your glorious name
There's a view of me
And the sun shining down on me
On the world long as it shines me
Blessed be your name
Listen, be your name
When the road parts with the wind
There's a view of me
Blessed be your name
Everybody see you far out
Turn back to face
When the dark is over and gone
Still I will sing
Listen, be the name of the Lord
Listen, be your name
Listen, be the name of the Lord
Listen, be your glorious name
Give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will just stand
As woman blessed be your name
And I see you far out
Turn back to face
When the dark is over and gone
Still I will sing
Listen, be the name of the Lord
Listen, be your name
Listen, be the name of the Lord
Listen, be your glorious name
I'm going to pray for the men who went to Campy Can this week
And myself and RJ Sherwood will test me about what went on there
So you can know a little more first hand what that was like
And we're just going to do all the glory to God
I actually have to pray for my family this coming week
As we travel Tuesday through next week
It's the first away vacation that we've taken in a number of years now
So we're glad to be able to do that
God arranged it, saved us for it, that kind of thing
I actually will pray for us
And then pray for some recent diagnoses
We'll get into the details of that
We've got a couple members in our church that have recent diagnoses with health concerns
And they'll share with you about this if they want to
Probably just ask you to pray for them
Because we know that God is the ultimate healer
He's an amazing man
We've seen cancer miraculous heal before
We've seen all kinds of amazing things
So we'll ask God to do His amazing work and trust Him for us
Let's pray together
Father in heaven, this is your day
It's a Sunday
It's an opportunity to gather together in this building
That you provide as a bond to the church
And we are the church
We are grateful to be a part of the bond
To each be a member
And our members that are missing
Because they're far afield
Except for traveling, or just hurting, whatever
Are greatly missed
And for those who are here today
And aching because somebody is missing
Or aching because of circumstances
That happen to me and Lord
We want to set those things aside
We want to trade them
For the glory that you have
For the love that you have for us
For the peace that you instill in us
We want to give up our own
Worries, regrets
Concerns, struggles
And instead
Let you leave
Let you heal
Let you provide
Let you empower us to do the things
That we have to do
That right now at least is worship you
And hear from your word
Spend a little time together
Spend a little time learning and growing
To pray for those who are absent
We praise you for what went on this week
You can't, you can't
Even with my 24, 36 hours of recovery
And I know others probably want to do the same thing
Lord, you are still well worth it
Everything that it could have been
And more
Whatever the problems
Whatever the stumbling, Lord
You were there and helped us through it all
Plus our time of worship
With your presence
We know you are everywhere that you want to be
And you want to be here
So we want to just tell you that we don't want to be in the way
We submit this to you
This time, this effort, our voices
The conditions of our hearts
Thank you Lord for taking our hearts of stone
And giving us hearts of flesh
To care about one another and others in what they are going through
And to make a difference
We pray Lord that we will do that now
By worship and by sending this out
Over the Facebook
And by putting it out on podcasts
We pray for those all over the world
In 11 countries that are listening to our podcast
Probably later
Probably next week, this episode
Next week because I don't know if I'll get it
Before I go out of town
But Lord we pray for them
So that they hear the messages, they hear the words
They sing the words of hope
That they will be touched by you
Affected by you, drawn closer by you
We just want to hear your voice
We pray for just that today
Work through us and in us
And on us in Jesus name we pray
Amen
Alright, I need children to the front
Zaden, come here
Everybody on your feet
We're going to do some fun stuff
But we have some Bible verses first
Come here Zaden
I need you to read this
No? No? Alright
Do that
Really loud
Come on, read it
So come God, ready
Gladness come before
And restore for sinning
Come up here
Come on, come on, come on
You can be a child, get up
Therefore you too
Have grief now
But I will see
You again
And you, your heart will rejoice
And no one will take
Your joy away from you
For his anger is
But for a moment, his favor is for a lifetime
Weeping may last for the night
But a shot of joy comes in the morning
Now may the God of hope
Share you with all joy and peace
In believing so that
You will abound in hope
By the power of the Holy Spirit
Amen
You are our glory and joy
You will go out with joy
And be led forth
With peace
The mountains and the hill
Will break forth
Into shouts of joy before you
And all the trees
Of the film
Will clop their hands
But the angels said to them, do not be afraid
For behold, I bring you good news
Of great joy which will be for all people
Those are all Bible verses
About joy, so now
We're gonna do
The joy song
If it's not up there
Go, it's not ready
Alright, so what I need you to do is
Everybody stand up
And put your foot out like this
Make sure you're not kicking
This much space
Stand up, come on
Don't get in my kick
You can do it, you can do it
I'll stand here on one foot and wait
Right here, this is your spot
Alright
So if you go to the next slide
We're gonna do this four times
The first time we're gonna do it slow
Really, you can learn the motions if you don't already know it
Okay
Ready?
You should
I've got the joy down in my heart
Deep, deep down in my heart
Sell it
J-O-Y down in my heart
Deep, deep down in my heart
Where'd it come from?
Jesus put it there
And nothing can
Destroy it, destroy it, destroy it
Hooh!
I've got the joy down in my heart
Deep, deep down in my heart
Okay, a little faster
I've got the joy down in my heart
Deep, deep down in my heart
Sell it
J-O-Y down in my heart
Deep, deep down in my heart
Where'd it come from?
Jesus put it there
And nothing can destroy it
Destroy it, destroy it, hooh!
I've got the joy down in my heart
Deep, deep down in my heart
I've got
I've got the joy down in my heart
Deep, deep down in my heart
Sell it
J-O-Y down in my heart
Deep, deep down in my heart
Where'd it come from?
Jesus put it there
And nothing can destroy it
Destroy it, destroy it, hooh!
I've got the joy down in my heart
Super, speed
I've got the joy down in my heart
Deep deep down in my heart, deep deep down in my heart.
Where'd it come from?
Jesus put it there and nothing can destroy it,
destroy it, destroy it.
I've got the joy down in my heart,
deep deep down in my heart.
Yay!
Yeah!
Woo!
Whoa!
All bad, girl.
Tyler.
ganz.
Sugger Callers.
Oh, I can tell you, you raise a smile on a starry night
You are the blessing you have
You bring me good news, oh, I can tell you
I'll show you the stars every day as we love you all the way
You are the blessing you have
You bring me good news, oh, I can tell you
I'll show you the stars every day as we love you all the way
You are the blessing you have
The goofy picture is the only one where everyone was looking
It makes perfect sense
Okay, so yes, we'll talk briefly about Camp You Can
and our main focus is obviously on what got this
I'm going to ask a few questions that we have with the boys with us today
and we'll see if they can answer the questions
Okay, so first of all, name one speaker from Camp You Can
Jaycee
Jaycee, okay, tell me a little bit about Jaycee, anything you know
He comes from a very big, not a lot of people
He used to work for a very bad company down in Mexico
and he was jailed for 9 years
Jaycee went to jail for the first time when he was 9
In fact, he actually was working for the Colombian drug cartel
and taking a contract to kill people by the time he was 9 or 10 years old
and spent most of his life in jail
and then fairly recently actually, he was about 5 years old
and he was our camp pastor
and he had his life for the Lord
and he was our camp pastor for the week
So that's pretty cool
Alright, somebody else give me another speaker
Anybody else got one?
Jaycee's got another one, are you listening Caleb?
You had your hand up before and I doubt you remember the same person
Do you have another speaker?
Okay, Caleb, go
Okay, tell me about H Good a little bit
Anything you remember
Tell me one of the things that he told us
If you do easy things, your life will be hard
If you do hard things, your life will be easy
Yeah, if you do the easy things, your life will be hard
but if you do the hard things, your life will be easy
and I really suck about that, we're at the neighborhood of us
You got another thing, go ahead
He said, he said, we must overcome hate
That's right, one of the things that we have to overcome
a number of things, one of the things we have to overcome
is haters, people who hate us, people who hate God
What was his name?
Doug Worthamson
Okay, Doug Worthamson, tell me a little bit about Doug Worthamson
He spoke about the Christian diet
Yeah, do you remember what he said before?
Did I earn today?
Yeah, that's good, very good
Did I earn today?
Somebody later said in the morning, but he always
get ready to go to bed, or at night he asked himself, did I earn today?
In other words, did I do the things today that
I should have in light of who I am, in light of what God has already done
Did I do it right? Did I earn today?
I mostly expect, not just about food, right?
But about life in general, discipline is the only thing
that we're supposed to do, very good, very good
Okay, what's an M&M?
Remember an M&M?
That's right, go ahead
Measure an L on the same table
This is like a real difficult thing
Measure and manage
Can't manage what you can't measure
So you can't adjust or correct if you don't measure
If you don't check yourself or check what it is, check how big it is, how small it is, how fast it is, how long it is
If you don't check it, you can't change it
So you cannot manage what you don't measure
Okay, so what was your big thing, what was the big takeaway from the camp?
What was the big thing that affected you or you thought about? Go ahead
What did you think was important? What do you remember the most?
Don't say swimming, although that was very cool
What was the takeaway?
If you tell somebody about Camp You Can, what are you going to be sure and tell them about?
It was the thing that I don't think we're going to be doing
That's the most important thing, how he changed up from last year
Yeah, that was neat, wasn't it?
We're talking about Lawrence Punderberg, Lawrence Punderberg played in the NBA for many years, retired from the NBA
And he told some interesting stories about winning in the NBA
Who was the basketball star that he dunked on one time?
Shaq O'Neal, right? Was that Shaq?
Yeah, he dunked on Shaq one time and he talks back to, was that Shaq? One time?
I think I don't remember, but I think it was last year
Yeah, I might have been, I'm not sure
One professional basketball player who's considered to be one of the best in the world
He talks back to him one time and then Lawrence, you don't talk back
They're really great players, it just makes you look like an idiot
So I think it's probably a lesson you can take away
Anyway, so he was saying this year what he did was instead of just coming and just talking, he showed them
He did exercises and he had a bunch of, yeah, he brought other professional basketball stars and college coaches and stuff like that with him
Right? Two others
One was from football
And they actually did activities like conditioning activities and passing and shooting and all kinds of stuff that they did
Instead of just talking, they got up and they did all kinds of cool activities
So that was really nice
Yeah, it was hard too though, right? Some of those look like they were pretty hard
Okay, Jason, what was your takeaway? You're going to tell somebody one thing for sure about Camp O, what would you say?
Nice and loud
It's a fact that over 100 kids decided to come and we had about over a quarter of kids
Probably like a fourth of the kids there, they'd like to use us
That's right, so we had about 110 kids between the ages of 9 and 15
And over a quarter of them, I don't know the exact number, over a quarter of them made first time students
That's right
I would more than that, I know that
It was probably about 25, 30
But I also know that not everyone was tracked because they didn't have a way to make sure that everybody got their name all list or anything like that
The one, I can't be taken, I had three myself
So, nobody got my numbers from me
I did, I don't have to
I like you, hi
That's right, yep, and then there were another, equal to roughly that many at least that region of their life, right
And there were a lot of boys who came forward for prayer about situations in their life
And it was pretty powerful moving of the Holy Spirit
So, for me, I just want to say I was blessed to be able to do it
It was exhausting because I got about four and a half hours broken sleep a night
By the time they would go to bed and get up, I think they were, and it's definitely synthesized that they had a rough cabin
They were getting sleep, those
Maybe they were all around, I don't know, but
There were about, I think, three kids who were calm
One of them was me, and the person above me was the person above me
Yeah, so three kids in a cabin of 12 that were calm at night
And the others were talking until, until somebody made them shut up basically
We had to at least get a Torrell, I mean, what time limit?
A what?
A Torrell
Oh really?
Wow
And he said it was like two o'clock and we all fell asleep
Yeah, well I went in there the one night and they were all sleeping by one o'clock, so
Had I known that it was like that every night, I would have gone in there more often, but
My room was actually really good, but they didn't go to bed until close to one
They were supposed to get up at seven, but I had to get up plenty of time before that
I was taking my shower and organizing because I was getting up by six
I said one, get up at six, one, one thirty, get up at six, and four and a half, five hours sleep
And every time somebody would unzip their sleep bag, every time the door would open, every time somebody
Step on the floor, every time the bed was creak, I would wake up because I was sleeping by the door
And I had to make sure they weren't sleeping in the room, so I was waking up all night long
So I came home, I was pretty exhausted, but I would say, that being said, it was well worth it
I did enjoy myself a great deal
I got the blessing of taking the hikers camping, 18 hikers went camping on the first day
And only six went on the second day, and both trails were awesome
And they said, we almost got lost, they kept saying, we're lost, we're lost
You really cannot be lost, I knew exactly where it was at, I knew the direction to go
You can't be lost, we may have lost the trail, which we did, like three times, lose the trail
But we were never lost, okay, it was pretty cool
There was a point at which the trail ended here, and then about like 50 yards away
The trail started again, and there was a river in between, we had to cross the river and look for the trail
And we got on the trail again
We saw the rock line, we started to run around the river, and I saw the look-wise
It looked like there was a waterfall, but the water was so still
And it looked like there was a waterfall, but then there was just the reflection
Yeah, cool, very cool
Alright, RJ, what would you like to say about camping?
Actually, it was just a huge blessing
To see all these kids come in from different backgrounds, different families
The coolest thing about it that I really enjoyed is watching them all get to know each other
And learn each other's story, and see how different backgrounds can come together and become best of friends
And obviously, God was there, he showed up in great ways
I think for this year, for me especially, there was a lot in me that I was taught by some of these kids
And it's crazy to think that an 8-year-old kid can teach you so much
As far as it goes, I would say, yeah, definitely exhausting
It was very exhausting
We ended up doing black football for the first time, and I did the playing quarterback
And it's exhausting
But it was a lot of fun, it was cool to see these kids come together and have fun
And most importantly, to understand that God is here, he's with us, he cares about us
And it's cool to see that these young kids are given the opportunity to learn, God really is
We have the planners to do a black football tournament next year, that's true
A couple things I would add, in total a dream of one
We ate three square meals a day, and basically with Buffet, you go back up and get as much as you want
And one thing that struck me was that many, many of the kids that were there
And it probably applies to some of our own kids, they're not normally getting three square meals a day
Grabbing a bowl of cereal, that's not a square meal, contrary to what some people might think
So they had three square meals a day, and by the second day, I never heard so much flatulence coming out of 110 boys
Everywhere you walk, you walk in a hall here, all over the place
Because they're eating real food for the first time in their lives, or the first time in months or years, and a lot of it
And then, that was a factor, and then also the decompressing from all the time
No phones, no tablets, for the better part of four days
And starting on the second day, you could actually see people's eyes opening up
Like they were paying attention to what was going on around them
And it's not like we have a lot, it's not like that a lot of times
It's a lot of, walking down the hallway, I look at my phone, right, or I'm just listening to you
But I'm actually playing a game, or whatever
And that was, that was powerful, because they were alive, they were doing stuff
And I thought about that at Lord's Court to my heart, how we can focus on something
It doesn't have to be your phone or electronics, it could be anything
It could be your relationship, it could be your job struggles, it could be your health struggles
We get focused on that, and everything else dims
And that's, we're supposed to be like that, because that focus then is supposed to be on Jesus, right
So we focus on Jesus, and everything else dims
But when we focus on something else, then our relationship with God dims
So it becomes hard to see clearly
And so it was really cool that they were able to put that down, put it away, and live
You know, and then it was just, it became about, okay, what are we doing next?
We're checking the schedule, what's going on next?
What is he saying, what are they doing?
And there were issues with kids falling asleep, because, again, they weren't getting out of sleep at night
And their bellies were full
And then they would wake them up, have them do exercise and things like that, wake them up
But I would just say, you know, it was a great opportunity
I would love to believe, initially at the end of the year, we thought we were going to have
Three or four more men come from New Heights, and we could definitely use it
Twenty leaders counting teenagers, twenty-two actually counting the student mentors
Is not enough to really interact with every boy
It really is, and to be able to bring the word and talk to one on one
Like, I couldn't even know it, I think I got maybe half their names, at most
You know, and they were wearing our name tags, so you didn't really half have their name
But then you had to walk up to them and flip, hey, and flip over their name tag to find out what it was
You know, to be able to talk to them by their name
And Terrell was up in the microphone, red shirt, yellow jacket
You know, calling people by what they're wearing, because he didn't know everybody's names
And so, the more leaders, and they wanted to plan an arrest period for the leaders
So each day you would get like an hour off
And it wasn't enough leaders to do that
There was maybe only one or two leaders that weren't physically doing something
So, that would be huge, and then, and here's the great blessing
One, 110 boys, two, 18 boys from Toledo
Up from 11 different neighborhoods, which is really cool
Might be that Councilor Oxford, so, but 11 different neighborhoods, and really cool
And then, next year, so this year they doubled from last year, about 50 last year
This year we had 110, next year they would like to have 200
And the gymnasium will hold it, there is room for it
And the housing will hold it, and the grounds will hold it, and the pool will hold it, and the pool is huge
So, that would be really cool
So, pray for that now, God just might do something awesome, yes sir
Two quick things, one, it's how all the kids were all tired during the day and at night, they don't want to go to sleep
And then another thing is, they were talking about if they were to have 200 kids, they might have to get another captain
Oh yeah, they definitely would, yeah
We were just, I think about 130 is the most we could put in that building, something like that
Or like, there were like four rooms not being used
So that's, so that's, they were hating those four, more than I am, I were
Yeah, eight bunk beds, so 16 kids, so that's room for 64
And then we had maybe like about eight or ten beds empty
So we could get close to 200 and then after that we'd have to be in two of those big buildings
So basically it was all huge big cabins, like this hall we've got three cabins on it with eight bunk beds
This hall we've got three, this hall we've got three, and then there were 10 showers on each side
Plenty of bathrooms, and then they had a big common area in the middle and that's where we all met
In the morning for devotional and stuff
Alright, RJ would you pray for us then and we'll worship God a little bit more and just be sure to thank God
I pray that all the kids there that made the decision to follow the New Lord that they can go to the church and pray for them
Your Heavenly Father I want to thank you for this time, thank you for the blessing that we had at camp, I pray that all the kids there that made the decision to follow the New Lord that they met sincerely and they continue to grow and learn
God I thank you for all the meddling that helped out, I pray for their well-being, their safety, their health and all that
I pray for Anthony's family and the other couple of wives and the loved ones and we all know how hard that can be
Even though his family member is always rough, but God I pray that you comfort them and let them know that he might be gone but he's rejoicing with you
And that is probably the greatest thing I've heard, pray for the kinds of offering that they use to glorify your name and make sure that you stay up top
Music
Before we begin, we're going to have a brief object lesson, so I need one volunteer, anybody want to volunteer?
I'll volunteer to hold somebody, going once, going twice, alright come on
Okay, so I have a fan, this is no different than all the fans that the ladies use to keep themselves cool during the service
And so if I were, we're going to play a little game of hide and seek, and I said to you I'd like you to hide that fan anywhere in the room, not on your person obviously, but anywhere else in the room
Where someone might not find it if they were searching for it, where would you hide it?
Anywhere in the room?
Probably in somebody else's first or something, or like under that stand, maybe inside the piano, somewhere hidden
So if you went right now and hid it, we would all know where you hid it, and so probably we would be able to find it, most likely, right?
So if you put it somewhere inaccessible, like if we put it up on top of the door up there, then Jamie couldn't get it
Maybe Alicia couldn't get it, but somebody would just push a chair over, right?
What if you had a ladder, does that change where you can hide the thing?
Yeah
Okay, so then we could put it up high, you could put it up in the heater vent, up there, in the heater vent
I have a frame that I can hold to you, and then it would also be out of view, okay?
Alright, so what if I take this away, and I ask you the same question about the bear
Would you hide the bear somewhere where no one can find it?
Go ahead, do it now, hide the bear somewhere where no one can find it
What bear?
What bear? Does anybody know where the bear is?
Jason knows where the bear is, so does he, do you know where the bear is Jason?
Where's the bear?
I see the bear
Okay, how many people knew where the bear was?
I saw it, I didn't see it
Alright, so there is a thing, it's kind of a literary quote called the case of the purloin letter
It's a story, it's actually by Sherlock Holmes, one of the investigators, sorry, by Edgar Allan Poe
One of the investigators, Edgar Allan Poe, created it that's like Sherlock Holmes
And the case of the purloin letter is they search for the letter all throughout the story
And then they eventually find it, guess where?
In plain view, right?
One of the places that things are often hidden that no one will find them is in plain view
Have you ever seen anybody stick a piece of paper on somebody's back that says kick me?
Don't do that, it's not nice, but have you ever seen that? Sure you have, right?
So it's in plain view, but it's behind you, so if you're not looking directly at it you wouldn't see it
If you're sitting over here like Josh, wouldn't have seen the bear because the piano's in the way
And that kind of thing, alright?
So it is possible to hide something in plain view and for it not to be found
Using a ladder, for example, you could set that thing up out of reach
So then it could be literally, there it is, but if you take the ladder away
They're going, oh I can't, I see it, it's right there, but I can't get to it
Right? And that could happen, for example, if you wanted to try to adjust the Wi-Fi extender up there
You would definitely need a ladder, even standing on a chair would not be enough, right?
We can adjust that camera by standing on a chair, but that camera you can't reach by standing on a chair
Does that make sense? Alright, so I want you to bear those things in mind with me
The text for today is just four verses and it continues in Deuteronomy 26 where we left off
So let's go to, thank you very much, let's go to Deuteronomy 26
I'm there, anybody else? Got your Bibles?
Uh oh, well you'll just have to listen real good, okay?
If you get too tired you can stand up or do push-ups
He's thinking, no I don't want to do push-ups
Alright, so Deuteronomy chapter 26 beginning in verse 16
Now we read 16 last week so this is a reminder so you can see how it bridges over
It says, this day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances
You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul
And that's where we stopped at last week, and we start in 17
17 says, the first declaration, here we go
You have today declared the Lord to be your God
And that you would walk in his ways and keep his statutes, his commandments and his ordinances
And listen to his voice, okay? So there's a list of things here
They have declared that he is their God, I hope that we have declared that the Lord is our God
In some cases that may not be so, and before we're done we're going to see why it's so important, okay?
Have you declared that the Lord is your God?
And having declared that the Lord is your God, you would walk in his ways
Now this word here in the Hebrew in the ways is very similar to a forest path
It's a direction that people have gone and so the ground shows passage
We realize this is the path because the underbrush, the detritus is worn away where people have walked before us
And so that's the word, it's talking about the way, okay?
So you would walk in his ways, the ways not only that God walks, but the ways that people who are in relationship with God walk
And that you would keep his statutes
Does anybody know the difference between statutes, commandments, and ordinances?
Because there's a list here, we're going to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances
So a statute is a prescription
Has anybody here ever had a medicine?
It says take two pills one time a day, take one pill at bedtime, one pill at night, that's a prescription
These are not prescriptions for your medicine, these are prescriptions for the way that God would want you to live
So God's statutes are prescribed for situations
It might say if this happens then do that
When in this situation, do this and so on
God's prescriptions if you will, or his statutes, his commandments are pretty easy
That's God's directions
It's what he's commanded us to do
And before you say well I don't know the whole Bible
Understand that people were following God's commandments before the Bible was ever written
Even some of the ones that we have clearly written in the Bible now
People were figuring out that they were the right thing to do and what God wanted them to do
And doing them even before the Bible was written
And then there's his ordinances
Now an ordinance, if you think of it, kind of look at the structure of the word
You realize it has something to do with orders
Or the process of ordination or ordaining something, making something true
And so his ordinances are like his judgments
So when a priest decides or the church decides or the word makes a judgment about a certain thing
That that thing is bad, right
That's an ordinance, so really what we're talking about are his prescriptions
His directions and his judgments
And that we'll keep those things, that's what we've said
If the Lord is our God then we will keep those things
And it says and listen to his voice
And I submit to you that in their day, listen to his voice meant something different than what it does today
They did not have the written Bible
So they couldn't read it to get what God says
Moses right now in speaking and writing this down is writing down essentially the first five books of the Bible
And that's the first time they will have had that
Before that it was all oral tradition
So to hear God's voice was to hear directly from God or to hear through a prophet
Now you can hear directly from God
You can hear through the teaching of God's word
You can hear through God's word and you can hear from the Holy Spirit in your heart, in your person
So it's different for us
We have more access to God telling us what to do
More access to God's prescriptions, more access to God's directions
And more access to God's judgments than they did
Yet they were supposed to follow these things
In making him their God that was the first declaration
They declared that he is their God and they will do these things
Now the second declaration
The Lord has today declared you to be his people
A treasured possession as he promised you
And that you should keep all his commandments
So his declaration is two part
First of all he says you belong to me
You are my treasured possession, I claim you
And you will keep all of my commandments is part of his declaration
So is God ever wrong in his declarations?
No, God's people whom he claims for himself would keep his commandments
Now if you know a little bit of the history of what's coming for the Israelites
Do they keep his commandments?
They do not
They drift further away
Then a judge rises up and brings them back
And then they're good for a while and then they drift away again
And every time they drift away, they drift further away
So because God's declaration is two part and they are connected
He declares them to be his people, a treasured possession
And they would keep his commandments
Those two things are connected
So we always talk about the contradiction
Like I am a Christian, I love the Lord
Because I love the Lord, I'm going to honor him with this choice
And you see somebody else says, well I'm a Christian, I love the Lord
But I'm not going to honor him with this choice
That's a contradiction
So you're saying something is true
And you're saying it's going to affect your actions
But then it doesn't affect your actions
So you're not contradicting yourself
We make it out as if we're contradicting ourselves
I'm a follower of Jesus
I will do what Jesus wants me to do
There I did it again
I didn't do what Jesus wanted me to do
You didn't contradict you
You contradicted God
God is the one who says this is my people
And they will do as I command them
And then you don't do as he commands you
You're contradicting not the first declaration
Where you say I will keep his statutes, his prescriptions
I will keep his ordinances, his judgments
I will keep his commandments, what he tells me to do
But the second one where he says you will be my people
And follow my commands
So when you contradict God you become in opposition to him
Wrath sets in
You've picked a fight with the big guy
You're saying you say this but it's not true
And you're saying that to God
It'd be one thing if we say about ourselves I am a certain thing
And then we don't show up to be that thing
Maybe we just failed
Maybe we just made a mistake
Maybe we just forgot
But when you say what God says is not true
That's another thing altogether
That's contradicting God and you're opposing him
And therefore he is opposing you
And then we go on to 19
And 19 kind of shows us the setup if you will
One aspect of it
19 says and that he shall set you high
Above all nations which he has made
For praise, fame, and honor
And that you shall be a consecrated people
To the Lord your God as he has spoken
So again this is something that God has said he will do
And now it says he will do it
So as if we took the ladder and put the bear up high
And then we'll put the ladder away and nobody can touch it
God would set up his people
For what purpose?
For this purpose
Praise, fame, and honor
And so when you stand up for the Lord
And do what the Lord would have you to do
Taking based on the first two declarations
God will set you up for praise
That means he recognizes how good you are
And you recognize how good he is
There's praise flowing both directions
Others will praise you
And then you can redirect that praise toward him
Which is the hope
Fame you will be recognized
This word here in the Hebrew means
To be held in high esteem by anybody who knows you
So now you ask yourself
As I live for the Lord
As I function as a person of integrity
Are my family and friends able to esteem me well?
Do they look at me and go
Okay, yeah, he's stepping up
She's stepping up
She's doing what she's supposed to do
Now it doesn't mean that they see God in you
Because a lot of people in the world think
That other people in the world do well too
They do right things
But if they look at you and they see
Yeah, man, she's got character
She's really stepping up
I esteem her well
Then you can say pay attention to the Lord
This is not about me
I don't do this because of who I am
I do it because of who God is
So God sets you up then for praise
For fame and then for honor
Now we know it's ultimate honor
And that we'll be in heaven one day for eternity
But it's also honor on earth, right?
When the father runs down off the porch
And throws himself on the returning prodigal son
Kisses him on the neck and says
Oh, my son who was dead but now is alive
And he says kill the fattened calf
And he puts a ring on his finger
And a robe on his back
And shoes on his feet
He is honoring him in every possible way
Provision, power, purpose, protection
He's honoring him in every possible way
And God will honor you
And he sets you up for that
You don't do that
See it's he shall set you high above all nations
Which he has made for praise, fame, and honor
That's the setup that we want
Okay, so in this text
In these verses which we've already read
We've seen that as a people of God
And having declared ourselves as a people of God
We are to follow his commandments, his ordinances
His statutes, and his ways
And to listen to his voice
And that God then declared us as his people
A treasured possession
He promised us that we would keep his commandments
And then we see that in light of that two declarations
He will set us up
But we have a problem, don't we?
You with me, Jace?
Okay, stand firm
All right, we have a problem
So first of all, let's talk about the first declaration
So when I was not a Christian, 25 years old
I was searching, questioning, skeptical
I wasn't talking much to anybody about it
But I was reading, I was searching the internet
Such as it was at that time
It wasn't as good as it is now, but it was there
I was looking, trying to figure out
What was wrong with this Christianity thing
What was it that I was seeing in these people
Because they were clearly different
But also they were sort of the same as the world
You know, they're kind of like
There was problems, so they weren't quite right
But at the same time, they were proclaiming God
And they were better than most
And I was trying to figure it out
And the pastor would preach, and he said
Jesus died on the cross
And I said, well, what if Jesus didn't die on the cross?
They saw him again later, three days later
So I'm alive and thought he died on the cross
But what if he didn't really die?
And so I researched it, and I tried to figure out
How do they know that he was dead?
And there is factual evidence and proof
That we know that he was dead
There were witnesses by the hundreds who were there
Saw the Roman centurion run a spear into his heart
People do not survive having a spear run into their heart, right?
You can't just give them a drug and they fall asleep
Like they do in some sci-fi novels and stuff
And wake up a few days later
He got a spear run in his heart, right?
That Roman centurion would have sacrificed his life
If Jesus didn't die
They were experts in knowing when someone was dead
And it goes on and on
So Jesus really died
But it took me questioning it to get to that
And I know that there are people, young Christians and non-Christians
Who question all that
I was like that
I was not ready to make a declaration
Because I didn't think there was anything to make a declaration to
But then once I got to a point where I understood
That what they were saying was true
I realized it demands a declaration
What are you going to do about it?
Take it plain for a moment and just say this
You realize that if you eat too many sweets
Repeat repeatedly
Continue to eat too many sweets
Your body will grow in size in ways that are not helpful to you
And ultimately your heart will struggle in your chest
Your lungs will struggle to function
Your liver will struggle to process
Your kidneys will struggle to process
And if you continue that for decades you will die
So what are you going to do about it?
Let's see, so I'm going to eat sweets in moderation
So the sweets don't kill me, right?
If you drive your car down the road
100 mile an hour on the expressway
And then crawl in the back seat
So no one's driving the car
You will have maybe a minute or two to live at most
However long it takes for that car to impact and then you'll be dead
So what are you going to do about it?
Well, I'm not going to do that, right?
I'm going to drive my car
I'm not going to drive it 100 mile an hour on the expressway
Unless I absolutely have to for an emergency situation
If I do, I'm going to pay very close attention
And make sure I'm not going to leave the wheel, right?
So when something is detrimental to you
Or something is extremely beneficial to you, Jason
You decide, Jason, to do that thing, right?
So when the preaching of God is beneficial to you
This is beneficial to you
So you have to discipline yourself
You have to try hard to get it
You have to go, this is for me, I want to understand it
What is he talking about?
It's a natural...
If you believe, you will take the steps according to what you believe
But what we have in the world is a people, a lot of people
Is a lot of people
He's with you, he's on your side
So there's a lot of people that will say they believe something
And it completely doesn't affect what they believe
Doesn't affect them at all, right?
For example, most people will say that telling the truth is the right thing to do
But most lost people will lie under the right circumstances
In fact, I've had this conversation a number of times with people
If they put a gun to my head
And they told me I have to renounce Jesus in order to survive
I'm just going to lie
Because grace covers it anyway
And a lot of Christians think, well if I get in that case, I'll just lie
I'll tell them whatever they want to hear, not to take my life
Because Jesus is going to take care of it anyway
And yet, that's not the declaration
That's not what the word calls us to
If you believe in Jesus and you believe that you will have life after death
Then you would be willing in that moment
And I believe that Jesus would give you the courage
To stand up and potentially die
And in dying, be ushered into eternal life
Do you believe?
And if you believe, there comes a declaration
And in a moment we'll talk about what happens if
Either A, you believe and the declaration never comes
Or B, the declaration happens and then afterwards you act like you don't believe
In the world, much of the world is at the crux of the first declaration
Do you believe?
That's the question
And once you believe and declare that you believe
It opens a channel of faith to God and according to scripture by grace are you saved
You cannot save yourself
You cannot make the second declaration true
You can say the first declaration and mean it
And make it true to the best of your ability
And that's where we're sitting at for most people in the world
The second declaration is also problematic
Because it is God's declaration as I said
And it occurs to me that many Christians contradict God
God says
He declares us to be his people
And we say yes, I am God's people
I want to be God's people
I want to go to heaven
I want to live for the Lord
I want to be forgiven of my sins
I want to confess my sins
Be cleansed of all unrighteousness
Like 1 John 1, 9 says
Yes, I want to be God's treasured possession
I want to be the sheep that wandered in the wilderness for a while
And God left the 99 in the field
And came and found me and brought me in
Jason, don't you want to be saved?
Don't you want to be God's treasured possession?
I want that
But there's no way to bring God to the point of doing that
I can't force it
I can't talk him into it
I can't bribe him
I can't lie to him
He sees the darkness that's in my heart
He sees the things that I do
There is nothing that I can do to cause that to happen
It's two separate declarations
Do you understand that you can say
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and I will live for Him
I will follow His prescriptions
I will follow His commands
I will walk in His ways and do the things that God wants me to do
And yet, not be saved
No, wait a minute
That's everything that a person needs to do to be saved
I believe in God
I believe in living the way God wants me to live
Walking in His ways
Unless you walk in one particular way
You will not be saved
And what is that one particular way?
Jason, what's that one particular way that a person has to walk in in order to be saved?
Anybody?
Close
Narrow in scope, right?
One particular way that people have to walk in in order to be saved
Don't make it harder than it is
It's a Sunday school answer
Jesus
I am the way and the truth and the life
No man cometh unto the Father but by me
Only one trail leads where you want to go
And it is through Jesus
So you can say
I believe in God
And I will follow His prescriptions for my life
And I will follow His statutes
And I will follow His commands
And I will follow His ways
And yet, if you do not follow that one particular way
You cannot be saved
Do you think that every Jewish person devout or otherwise is on the face of the planet and is going to go to heaven someday?
That's not what the Bible says
And even being in this room
Being in the right place at the right time to hear the teaching, the preaching
Preaching yourself
I could be standing up here trained to break down the word and preach it to you
Man, he's so good
His points are clear
I can understand him
His illustrations are awesome
It brings it home, whatever
And bless you
And I could go to hell when I die
You must come through Jesus
That is the only way
And that right there where it says
I will follow His ways
Includes clearly Jesus
So the declaration of God is contingent
Not on your personal declaration
But on your willingness to follow God's ways
In particular one way, which is Jesus
And so is it not possible?
Don't you think it's possible that we have a whole bunch of people in the world who are declaring themselves?
Declaration number one
I believe in God and I'm doing what God wants me to do
Just follow me
I very recently heard a man say
God told me to say this
God is speaking to me
He told me to say this
And then he said it
And I was like God may have told you to say that
But he didn't tell you to say it that way
There is no way
That's just not how God works
And yet he was adamant
And people believed him
That God was telling him to say it
And apparently to say it that way
Your declaration one will only precipitate God's declaration two
If it's done in Jesus
Then we come to the setup
Here's the thing
You've got to choose
There are essentially three setups that came to mind as I was preparing this sermon
The first one is the best one
It's where we are saved in Jesus Christ and set up and taken care of
And you can read about it in a whole bunch of places in the Bible
But I'm going to read about it today in 1 Corinthians chapter 3
And you can go there and read it in your Bibles if you want
1 Corinthians chapter 3 beginning in verse 10
1 Corinthians chapter 3
After we look at these setups we're on the conclusion already
1 Corinthians chapter 3 beginning in verse 10
It says
According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder
I laid a foundation and another is building upon it
But let each man be careful how he builds upon it
For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid
Which is, there it is, Jesus Christ
Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw
Each man's work will become evident
For the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire
And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work
If any man's work which he has built upon it remains he shall receive a reward
If any man's work is burned up he shall suffer loss
But he himself shall be saved yet as through fire
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him
But the temple of God is holy and that is what you are
Let no man deceive himself
If any man among you thinks he is wise in this age
Let him become foolish that he may become wise
For the wisdom of the world is foolishness before God
For it is written he is the one who catches the wise in their craft
And the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are useless
So then let no one boast in men for all things belong to you
Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death
Or things present or things to come
All things belong to you and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God
That's the set up that you want
The foundation is Jesus Christ and the goal then is to live building on that foundation
I was reading in the suburban press yesterday and it had all these dates about when things were started
And it talked about when the cornerstone was first set for Waite High School
To build Waite High School
And the date and the year when it was first set
And where that cornerstone was set
Everything else in that building was going to line up with that cornerstone
Jesus is our foundation and you have to ask yourself
And it's hard, I get this, okay
Because there are a lot of good things in the world and all these things are given to us to enjoy
But here's the deal, Curtis, give you an example
Whatever you watch, whatever you play, etc.
If you're believing in God and trusting in the Lord for what comes after
Has to line up with that initial cornerstone
And it's hard to do that yourself, isn't it?
Easier if you know the prescriptions
So something comes along
Oh, wait, this is in the prescriptions
I know what to do if this happens
RJ, what do you do if you get a headache?
Okay, starts by drinking water
Take medicine
Okay, starts by drinking water, takes medicine
Next week, if RJ gets a headache, he's going to start by hydrating
And if that doesn't work, he's going to take medicine for it so he can get past his headache
Because he has the prescription
So what do you do to make sure that all the things of this life that you choose to do
Line up with the cornerstone, the foundation that God has laid in Jesus Christ?
You ask yourself, what is God's prescription?
So what is God's prescription with regard to media?
Focus on the pure
What is God's prescription with regards to telling the truth?
Always tell the truth
Let all deceit and lies of any kind pass away from you
And it goes on
Those are prescriptions
They're also commands, but they're prescriptions for a certain case
So we learn the prescriptions, the ordinances, God's judgment
So what happens if I do get to that point where God puts a gun to my head
And he's going to pull the trigger if I don't renounce Jesus
And I renounce Jesus, what might happen?
You know that the Bible talks about that?
It says exactly, there's an ordinance, a ruling of God for what to do
I'll show it to you in the conclusion
Bottom line is, setup number one, the one that we want is this setup
It's where Jesus is our foundation
And everything else in our life must come in line
Or actually not be part of this building that God is building
And we say, I can't have that, it's not in me
Because it doesn't line up with the foundation
The problem is, there are at least two other setups that people choose from
The first one you can see clearly in Isaiah chapter 1
So if you're following along in your Bibles, go to Isaiah chapter 1
He's one of the bigger prophets in the back of the Old Testament
So you can kind of thumb through and find Isaiah no problem
Isaiah chapter 1
And I'm just going to read 27 through 31
But understand that Isaiah was recognizing that amongst God's people
There were those who were making their declaration
And God was making a declaration about them
Which is a two-part declaration
It says, they will be my people and also they will follow my commands
But they were breaking the second half and calling God a liar
They were in opposition to God
That's the day in which he lived
And then he wrote this
Zion will be redeemed with justice
And her repentant ones, that means the people of them that turn back to God
Will be redeemed with righteousness
But transgressors, those who cross the line
And sinners, those who live not in a way that God would want them to
Will be crushed together
And those who forsake the Lord
In other words, if they put him off
Shall come to an end
Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired
They went after oaks for them
Would be like TV or sweets or nice houses or nice cars for us, right?
Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired
And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen
For you will be like an oak whose leaf fades away
Or as a garden that has no water
And the strong man will become tinder
His work also a spark
Get this, we got some strong people in the room
RJ is strong, Josh is strong
Jason is strong, Tommy is strong, Aaron is strong
We got a lot of strong people in the room
I think Curtis is pretty strong
I've never put him fully to the test
But I think he's pretty strong
I'm getting stronger, right?
We have some strong people
This says that a strong man will become tinder
If you do it in your own strength
You know what tinder is, right?
Tinder is the stuff you use to start a fire
It's the little bits of stuff that burns real easy
So we strong men will become tinder
If we don't do it God's way
And then it says his work also a spark
So we're the tinder and what we do then in our strength
Becomes the spark and with a tinder and a spark
You've got a fire, okay?
Thus they shall both burn together
The man and his work
Catch that?
Will burn together
And there will be none to quench them
Isaiah is saying that there is another way
What is the way?
What is the set up here?
The set up is it's a people that declare
I believe in God
I will follow the statutes, the commands, the ordinances and the ways
But then when it comes down to it
They're not doing it
They transgress or they are in sin
Their work becomes tinder
I'm sorry, their strength becomes tinder
And their work becomes a spark
And now they're burning
And they are sad and embarrassed at that which they pursued
In the day that they realize what they've done
They will be sad and embarrassed
It's the thing that they thought was great
That they were so about
I really want a better job
I really want more pay
Listen, you got all the better jobs
And all the more pay and all the better house
And all the better health
You could be healed
And you could live to be 120
And by the time your 121st birthday comes
You're going to be embarrassed about all the things you pursued
Unless you build your life in Jesus Christ and live for an eternity with God
We think, oh life is so long
120 years God will tarry with a man
That seems like such a long time
So if I eat right, exercise, drink all the right water, sleep right
Do all those things
Manage my money right
If I honor my parents
I do all those things
I might live to be 120 years old
And on my 121st birthday I will rue everything I ever did
That wasn't building my life on Jesus Christ
If I do it as somebody who builds with perishable materials
And I truly am saved
But I'm hit or miss, hit or miss all the time
Then I'll still burn with the stuff
But ultimately I'll still make it in
Right, so I'll be burned, I'll be smoking
As the things that I treasure
The things that I desired are burnt off of me
But I'll still go into heaven
Because I truly am a follower of Jesus
But if I am not truly a follower through Jesus
And following the Lord
Then I won't go in at all
And I will rue all the things that I thought were awesome in this life
All the things that I wanted
Right, so that's the setup
I suggest to you that who's setting that up
Right, so if God is setting it up
1 Corinthians 3, 10 through 23
If God is setting it up like that
The foundation is Jesus Christ
And we're going to build on the foundation
Who's setting this one up?
The Isaiah 1 setup
That's humans, that's people
It's self, they look after the oaks that they want
They look after the gardens that they want
Choked out by the cares and riches of this world
Maybe they never become saved because they're too busy with the things of this life
Or they become saved and they struggle too much with the things of this life
And if they are saved and struggle with the things of this life
Then when they stand before Jesus
He'll burn that stuff off so they can enter in for an eternity
But if they are never saved, they'll burn with it for an eternity
It's not my word, it's his word
And people are setting themselves up
By pursuing the good things of this life
That are entertaining, that taste good, that are enjoyable
Right?
Alright, we've got one more, last one
And then we go to the conclusion
So this one is found very clearly in several places
But we'll read about it in John chapter 8
John chapter 8
And the blessings of this is we get it straight from the mouth of Jesus
As he's talking in John chapter 8
Okay?
John 8
And I'll read beginning in 39
John chapter 8 beginning in 39
Jesus is speaking
I speak the things which I have seen
This is 38
I speak the things which I have seen with my father
Therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father
They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father
Jesus said to them, if you are Abraham's children
Do the deeds of Abraham
By the way, what were the deeds of Abraham?
Anybody know?
The deeds of Abraham would go on the same nation
Yep, that's what he would do
That's what would, and really would be done through him
So the main deed of Abraham was faith
God saw his faith, that's when he was willing to sacrifice his son
He saw his faith and counted it to him for righteousness
So he built his foundation in faith in the way that God was going to make
That he didn't even know it was Jesus yet
But he trusted the foundation, which was God
But it also says that he walked upright before the Lord
In that faith, it says he followed all the commands of the Lord
Alright?
And so what they should be doing is following the commands and the ways
And the statutes and the ordinances of God
But Jesus says that's not what they're doing
They're following something heard from their father
I submit to you, they have another father
Someone else is setting them up
You follow?
They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father
And Jesus said to them, if you are Abraham's children
Do the deeds of Abraham
But as it is, you are seeking to kill me
A man has told you the truth
Which I heard from God
This Abraham did not do
You are doing the deeds of your father
They said to him, we were not born of fornication
We have one father, even God
Jesus said to them, if God were your father
You would love me
For I proceed forth and have come from God
For I have not even come on my own initiative
But he sent me
Why do you not understand what I am saying?
It is because you cannot hear my word
You are of your father the devil
And you want to do the desires of your father
He was a murderer from the beginning
And does not stand in the truth
Because there is no truth in him
Whenever he speaks a lie
He speaks from his own nature
For he is a liar and the father of lies
But because I speak the truth
You do not believe me
And we will stop there
The bottom line is
There is a third set up
And it is a set up by whom?
Or by who?
Who is setting up the third set up?
Say it again
Satan
Right
So there are three setups
You can pick and choose from
And one of them is God's set up
And one of them is Satan's set up
And one of them is the set up of people
Or the world
So anybody who has not been saved
Is probably going to choose
They are going to start with the set up of the world
But then when they know there is a contradiction
Or a conflict between God and Satan
They may choose Satan
They may choose God
And if you choose the set up of the world
And do not choose God or Satan
You have actually chosen
Eternal death over eternal life
There is only one way to get eternal life
It is through Jesus
We covered that
So that brings us to the conclusion
I just want to recap for one second
There are two declarations
There is one declaration that says
I am a follower of God
I believe in the Lord
I will live for the Lord
Follow His statutes
His ordinances
His commands
And His ways
And ultimately that will lead you to following the way
Which is Jesus Christ
And then your life is built on that
And you come into eternity with God
That is the one you want
But there is also a declaration
That is of the world
The world wants the trees
The world wants the garden
The world wants a job
The world wants a paycheck
The world wants a relationship
The world wants a better house
The world wants more help
The world is waiting for its ship to come in
And so busy focused on the docks
That it is missing the declaration
That would set it up for eternity
Which is in God
And then there is a third declaration
Which is a very persuasive declaration
Remember these are Jewish people
He was talking to men who fast two days a week
Memorize whole books of the Bible
Baptize people
Teach about God
That is who he was talking to
And he said to them that Satan was their father
You follow?
It is a very persuasive, very tricky
Right in the middle of your life
Set up that you do not want
So choose, I would say simply put
You want to choose the set up of God
Which brings us to the conclusions
Sorting the set ups
In your life you are going to have to make a decision
I liken it to this
There are two men who live side by side
One guy kept letting his dog run on the other guy's property
And pooping on his grass
Casing his cat
And so finally the guy whose cat was getting cased
And his property was getting pooped on
Said I am going to build a fence
I am going to put up a privacy fence
And that will keep his dog up
He calls the dog warden
But every time he calls the dog warden comes
The dog is on his back or blah blah blah
And he says well I am going to build a fence
Between my property and his property
So he goes out and buys the lumber
Gives the post hole digger some cement
Goes every eight feet
Put the hole in the ground
Put the post in the ground
Put some cement around it
There is water that soaks into the cement
It becomes solid rock
Turns all the way down
Turns the corner all the way back up to his house
And his whole backyard is fenced in
But the guy with the dog says
Hey we had a problem
What are you talking about we got a problem
He said you built that fence
On my property
I know you built it to keep out my dog
And we have had some trouble with that
But the bottom line is that line of fence
Between my property and your property
That line of fence
Is on my property
It belongs to me
Because you built it on my property
And the court sides with the person who says
You built a fence on their property and it is their fence
And he says and by the way
I don't want a fence
If I wanted a fence I would have put a fence up
So I am going to take the fence down
The guy is like
The guy takes the fence down
A few days later
His dog is chasing his cat again
Poops appearing in his backyard again
He goes out
He buys cement
He already got a post hole digger
He buys some posts and he buys a fence
And he puts the fence up
Guess where
On his own property
And now the fence cannot be taken down
Turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21
If you are following along
Revelation 21
I am going to read beginning in verse 6
This is a vision if you will
Of the coming of the new heavens
And the new earth
And God has taken care of all of it
It says in verse 6
And he said to me
It is done
I am the Alpha and the Omega
The beginning and the end
I will give to the one who is the first
And the second
And the second and the third
And the fourth
And the fifth
And the sixth
And let me have a look at the end
I will give to the one who thirsts
From the spring of the water of life
Without cost
So God says
I will give to the one who thirsts
Once you recognize you have a need
Jason have you recognized you have a need
I will give from the spring of the water of life without cost.
It's already paid for. It's free.
Remember, your declaration is good.
There are going to be a lot of people in the world who have said,
I'm moving for God and get there and they don't get to go to heaven.
Because they didn't do it through Jesus.
Jesus himself said, Matthew 7,
There will be many who say unto me, Lord, Lord, but do not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus said while he was preaching on the earth, okay,
It's free. You just have to recognize that you have a thirst, that you have a need and go to God for it.
And he says, I will give of the water of life without cost.
Continuing in verse 7, he says,
Then he who overcomes shall inherit these things,
And I will be his God, and he will be my son.
So God will let you drink of the water of life.
It's free, and then you just have to overcome.
So the foundation is laid. Get it?
Jesus is the foundation. The foundation is laid.
And now you build throughout the struggles of your life, throughout the difficulty, etc., etc.
You build on that foundation.
And the one who overcomes, so in other words, right now all you got to do is all you got to do.
And people say this all the time, and I think people then say they do it,
But they don't really do it in many cases.
You just have to say to God, OK, God, I recognize I have a thirst.
There is something in me.
One of the guys at Camp You Can said, I tried it all.
In fact, it was J.C. He said, I tried it all.
He said, I did drugs, I did party scene, I had people cheering me,
Shouts and praises and music, bar scene.
He said, at one point in time, I had a million dollars in cash in my closet.
And he wasn't being figurative. He's literal.
He literally had a million dollars of cash stacked in his closet.
And he said, and I realized I was empty.
I needed something.
And whatever it was, everything that I had tried, and he had taken everything from anybody in his life.
He said he was so big and so bad and so strong and so scary that anything he asked for, people give it to him.
He could take anything he wanted. No girl turned him down.
Somebody got a hundred bucks in their pocket, he asked for it.
They gave it to him, because if he wanted, he could just take it.
He killed so many people, beat so many people.
No one would turn him down. He could have anything he wanted, anytime he wanted.
And he realized he couldn't have the one thing he needed.
He recognized a thirst in himself.
Once you've recognized that thirst in yourself, God is willing to give you the water of life without cost.
And then He expects you to overcome in this life, to stick with Him,
to stand by His commands, His statutes, His ordinances, and His ways, and do it God's way.
And if you do that, you shall then inherit all thing, and you will be a child to God forever.
But listen, verse 8, and this is scary.
But for the cowardly.
Do you know what a coward is?
A coward is a person who doesn't act in courage to do the right thing.
They're the kind of person who will say something bad about you, but not to your face.
They're the kind of person who will say, I believe in Jesus, and I'm living for Him no matter what.
But when a gun is to their head, they'll renounce His name.
He says, but for the cowardly and the unbelieving.
Unbelieving is the kind of people who do not trust God, they do not believe God,
they do not believe God can do what God says He's going to do.
And for the abominable, and for the murderers, and immoral persons, and sorcerers.
Sorcerers are the kind of people who think that if they say the right thing, God will do what they want Him to do.
Or they can twist somebody else to get them to do what they want if they just do the right thing in this life.
Idolaters, that's someone who worships anything else.
If there is anything that comes remotely close to the value of God in your life.
It's not that you can say, well I can't have other gods before Him like greater than Him.
It's you can't have any other gods in His presence.
So if you're busy looking for a way to be entertained when you ought to be looking for a way to be grown in the Lord,
you've got to ask yourself, are you an idolater?
And it says, but for the cowardly, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and the murderers, and the immoral persons,
and the sorcerers, and the idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.
Notice that verse 8 starts with a but.
The drink is given freely for those who recognize the thirst.
And those who recognize the thirst and receive the drink that overcome shall inherit these things,
and become a child of God for eternity.
But for the cowardly, whether or not they are given the drink, the cowardly, the unbeliever, the abominable,
the murderers, the immoral persons, the sorcerers, the idolaters, the liars, their part will be in the lake of fire.
God wants to set you up.
By His grace, He is willing to give you a drink from the spring of life,
which He paid for with His very own blood through His Son Jesus Christ.
By His grace, as a free gift, you cannot earn it.
It's not about what you say.
A lot of times we want people to say, yeah, I believe.
And you should. That's your part. That's your declaration.
But somebody saying, yeah, I believe when they don't is worse than somebody who doesn't say, yeah, I believe.
Either way, they still wind up in hell, unless they at some point truly do believe.
But it's worse to say, I believe when you don't, because then you paint a picture that God is a liar.
Paint a picture that God's declaration is false, and God's declaration is not false.
And it says, we were once objects of wrath, Ephesians 2.
But by grace, you have been saved through faith, through believing.
You let Jesus' death stand for you.
He became your Lord, and now you walk in His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His ways,
and follow His voice, and you overcome, and you get eternity in heaven with God.
And it's amazing.
In fact, a little earlier in that chapter is a brief description.
He says,
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men,
and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them,
and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be any death,
there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain.
The first things have passed away.
And He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.
Eternity with God is the exact thing.
But I ask you, when you're choosing your setups,
let's say if you were the enemy, and you wanted to have a good chance
that somebody would choose either Satan's setup or man's setup and not choose God's setup,
what would you do?
How would you hide it?
Where would you put it?
Would you put it up high where somebody couldn't reach it?
Well, that doesn't work, because God can easily make somebody be able to reach it
by providing a ladder, by providing a boost, whatever.
And all you have to do is see it and know that you need it,
thirst for it a little bit, and God will give it readily, freely.
So what would you do?
If you were Satan and you were trying to hide this setup of God, what would you do?
I submit to you, just put it in plain view.
Put it right there, so simple, so easy, not confusing,
and then distract people from looking at it.
Distract them with oak trees and gardens, sports cars, and cute girls and cute guys,
drugs, and whatever else you can.
For that thing that is right there in front of them that God has made open and evident to everyone
will not be chosen by those who think they want something else.
I got back from Camp You Can, and I was a little put out for a few minutes,
because for one, one of the boys left with their parents before I knew it.
I can just see their parents or say anything, and I'm like,
Holy cow, where is he?
I'm like, where is he?
And no one that was still there could remember seeing him after the rest area,
and so for a hot minute I thought, oh no, did we leave him at the rest area?
And then I called RJ, and I said, did you see him back at the building?
I was like, no, I didn't see him, but Jason was in the car with RJ,
and Jason said, oh yeah, he rode with me from the rest area back to the church building,
and so then we knew everything was fine.
Well, at the same time, and that's how easy it is, he was right there in plain view,
but I didn't see him, and so I began to wonder.
But at the same time, there was another boy who couldn't find his bag in the car.
His bag, he's looking for his bag.
He looked at the entire van for his bag, and he couldn't find it.
And his brother began to look for his bag.
Now everybody's looking for the bag.
We're all looking for the bag.
Nobody's got the bag, so I told RJ on the phone, I said,
RJ, I'm pretty sure you took the bag, because you took the other vehicle with the rest of the bags.
He said, no, I made sure I only had the bags of the people that are with me.
He said, I don't have anybody else's bags, and I said,
well, they're all looking at the van.
We're all looking at the van.
I don't see it.
They don't see it, and he kept saying, it's my blue bag.
It's my blue bag.
He thought it was a gray bag, but it was blue.
He kept saying, it's my gray bag.
It's my gray bag.
Finally, they found the bag, and it wasn't gray.
His bag that he used all week long at Camp You Can, that he packed, that he carried, his bag,
he thought it was gray, and it was blue.
And somebody else, which happened to be his brother, had to say, listen, that's not gray.
That's blue, and it's been blue all week long, and that's your bag.
And he looked at it, that's my bag.
Yep, that's right, it is blue.
Where are you going to hide the setup that God has?
You hide it in plain view.
Tell people it looks a little different.
Somebody in this room is going, but I'm not sure because I want this, this, and this.
Somebody brought into a prosperity gospel.
Listen, you can follow Jesus, and you may suffer.
You can follow Jesus, and you could get, probably not in our day, but it could happen,
especially if you became a missionary in a foreign country, you could get burned at the stake,
or crucified, or get your fingernails pulled out.
In the last week, somebody in the Arab community across the world has had their fingernails pulled out
because that's the common treatment that they use on them to get them, to tell them who told them about Jesus.
That's what they do.
They keep them awake all night long, deprive them, waterboard them, and pull their fingernails out
until they tell them who told them about Jesus.
And most of the time they don't, because they know they're going to die anyway.
So what good does it do? They just suffer until they're dead.
And then spend eternity in heaven with God.
So it isn't always going to be peaches and cream.
He said, I'll give you freely of the spring of life.
And for him who overcomes, you stay the course.
Follow the commands, follow the statues, follow the ordinances, and follow his ways,
and stick with Jesus, and build on the foundation that Jesus has given.
Then there's eternity.
The great blessing is God will strengthen you, he will provide for you, he will protect you,
he will give you purpose, and he will give you power while you are doing that to overcome.
Even if you get sick, even if you get hurt physically, emotionally, or psychologically,
you can overcome and stick with him.
It is not about getting rich.
It is not about getting healthy.
It is not about having prettier stuff.
It is about building on the foundation of Jesus Christ, which is largely about your declaration.
And we're right back to the beginning.
They could have been listed in different order.
The declaration of God happens first, now I'm saved, now I have the power, authority, etc.
to make my own declaration and to keep it.
Will you?
The question is, have you recognized a thirst in yourself? I thirst for God.
I need something more than what this life has thus far provided me,
and if so, then you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,
and he will give you a drink of the spring of life for free.
If you can honestly sit here and say, I do not nor have I ever recognized a thirst within myself,
and I can tell you flat out based on the scripture, you are not saved.
You are not ready to be saved.
But if you can say, I have recognized a thirst in myself, and I have reached out for God,
and he has given me a drink, I have been filled up by the Lord,
yes, I have troubles, but I am overcoming, then you are saved.
And you're set up for this life and for the next.
But let's not play games, shall we?
Don't say to God, yeah, I'll be yours, but I'm still going to do what I want to do,
unlike what you said, in contrast to what God said, I'm going to do what I want to do.
No, we do as God would have us to do, and we stand firm,
and God is still in the soul-saving business.
And so we have to go out there and find those people and say,
look, this is right here in front of you.
I know it's not complicated.
You want a rich formula with 17 ingredients, but here it's as simple as this.
Have you recognized a thirst in yourself, something that this world does not satisfy?
I have. If you have, Jesus says, go to Him, and He'll give you a drink of the spring of life,
and you will be made eternal. You'll be taken care of.
It's that simple.
And then just live for Him for the rest of your life and overcome,
and you'll sail on into the kingdom, regardless of any suffering you may have in the meantime.
So why are we not? Why are we not?
Everybody that we talk to, every opportunity that we get, ask that one question.
Have you noticed a thirst in yourself that this world cannot satisfy?
If they say no, you could stop right there.
Or you could say, well, if you ever do, I can tell you what it is.
And they may later that day or the next week or months down the road or years,
and you may see them in heaven, they may attribute their salvation to you.
Have you ever noticed a thirst in yourself that this world cannot satisfy?
Just go to Jesus.
Jesus is at the well, John chapter 4, final illustration.
The woman is there.
She's had a bunch of men married multiple times,
and the guy she's with right now is not her husband.
She's a Samaritan, so a Jew shouldn't even be talking to her.
Jesus sends the disciples on ahead to get food.
And they say, well, don't you need food? We'll bring some back for you.
And He said, I have food of which you know not.
In other words, I don't need food right now because I'm being fed.
And He said, His food is to do the will of His Father, and then you know what He did.
He stayed there, and instead of eating, He told that woman how to be saved.
He told her many things, all the things that she had done.
And He said, if you knew who I was, you'd have asked of me,
and I'd give you a drink, and you'd never thirst again.
And she said, well, you don't even have a bucket. How are you going to draw water?
Because she didn't understand what He was talking about.
But now, you do, and I do, and I submit to you, we need to go find others who do.
Thank you very much. This concludes our services.
Go be there for, and be the church.