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All right. Amen. Okay. Anybody else got something to share?

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I have Google photos on my phone. Many of you, I have memories.

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Memories pop up all the time and I love them.

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Today, a memory popped up. Remember what happened four years ago today, Erin?

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No.

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Graduated high school.

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What year did you graduate?

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In the midst of COVID.

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Erin's graduation was very unique.

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Went to an auditorium and there were a couple administrators there and the whole thing set up.

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Erin stood off to the side in her cap and gown and they announced his name.

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Dan and I and Arjun and Ari had a cheer, but obviously, the only people there to witness this was COVID, right?

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You walked across the stage and picked up your phone off the stand and took a picture and walked away.

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About two or three weeks later, they released a video making it look like every graduate was there and walked one after the other.

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It was very cool. It was memorable.

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Anyway, that popped up today and it got me thinking. In the world today, we have a lot of rumbling and complaining and a lot of things that are sad that are wrong.

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I think that Google photo saying, God said to me, Cheris, go.

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Those photos come up. A lot of times I share them with my kids and my family.

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I go, let's just keep pictures of Amalia on a carousel with Arjun, Ariana and Tyler.

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Just cool things that happened in the past that I wouldn't even remember or think about,

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because they pop up and show me and God is saying, remember those rumbling and complaining and all the struggling and all those amazing things.

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I have something real quick.

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There's just a me and a saying here that I thought about earlier in the week.

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Wednesday, Clayton and I went to her brother's to help him build his wife's PC,

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which I really basically did because nobody else knew what they were doing.

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I told him, I built dozens and dozens of computers. I did it at work all the time.

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We got in under an hour. We were getting it out.

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Then we got there and it was one thing after another and there were so many problems.

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I have never had so many problems building a computer.

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It was like three hours and that night as I was laying down to go to sleep,

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God basically said to me, that's why you don't make the plans more or less.

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I am an exceptionally terrible planner.

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My plans never go the way that they go in my head.

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Even more so than the average person, I think anyway.

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But God just said to me, I have a plan and that worked out the way that I wanted it to.

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I don't know, but I know that God's got a reason and His plan is what I should be looking out for.

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Anybody else got anything on their heart they want to share?

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We're going to get back into worship at this time.

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Michael Brister, would you pray for us as we go into offering and worship?

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Father God, we do want to thank you for this time and this place.

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Come together and worship for you. Thank you for your sake and for your share.

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God, pray for us throughout this life's service.

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The kid goes, the pastor comes, screaming what you're giving him.

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You give to us, God, pray for you to offer us.

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You put us to work. God, again, bless us. Time together.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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We didn't plan this this way, but we pulled this music on Tuesday for service today.

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I'm kind of being a thief and I kind of feel like God might be speaking directly to me.

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So if you feel that way, I'm with you.

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There's a lot of times where we go about our lives and we're doing things and we're working together with other people, but are we really together?

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You still can feel alone. You feel like you're doing it on your own, like you're carrying your burdens on your own.

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And if you feel that way, and I have definitely felt that way this week even in a room full of people, realize whether you feel alone or not,

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whether there's a physical person standing next to you or not, God is always there.

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If you don't reach out to him, then you need to think about that the next time you feel alone.

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Wait a minute. I'm not alone. God is right here with me, regardless of where I'm at and what I'm doing.

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See within you, when the world ends, you have no luck like the end. So you soon lose it, you're afraid to start again. Right now I see your ashes where there was a flame.

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Truth is that you're not forgotten, because grace knows your name. God's not done with you, even with your broken heart and your wounds and your scars.

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God's not done with you, even when you're lost and it's hard and you're falling apart. God's not done with you. It's not over, it's only begun.

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So don't hide, don't run, because God's not done with you.

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And the light you don't notice until you're standing in the dark. There's a strength that's growing inside your shattered heart. God's not done with you, even with your broken heart and your wounds and your scars.

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God's not done with you, even when you're lost and it's hard and you're falling apart. God's not done with you. It's not over, it's only begun.

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So don't hide, don't run, because God's not done with you.

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He's got a plan, this is part of it. He's got to finish what he started. He's got a plan, this is part of it. He's got to finish what he started.

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He's not done. God's not done writing your story. No, he's not done. God's not done with you.

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Even with your broken heart and your wounds and your scars. God's not done with you, even when you're lost and it's hard and you're falling apart. God's not done with you. It's not over, it's only begun.

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So don't hide, don't run, because God's not done with you. God's not done writing your story. No, he's not done. God's not done with you.

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We are right now in the midst of talking about softball again for 2024. And I got to thinking years ago, we pretty much stopped playing softball in 2020.

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I thought about how pretty much every spring around May, it seemed like sermon illustrations would come up from playing softball.

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Because amazingly enough, when you go out to do something as a team and you work together and you work hard at it, that kind of thing, there are quite a few sermon illustrations that come out of that experience.

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And this one came up today before I really even thought about the fact that we were talking about softball. As of right now, there are quite a few of us that have said we want to play softball this year.

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And it's one of the churches for sure and committed in and we have fields lined up and it's just a matter of the money and see if we can get a couple more teams and we'll play softball starting at the beginning of June.

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I'm excited about that. But before that even entered into my mind, I got to thinking about this illustration.

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Some years ago, gosh, a long time now, I can't remember what year it was, mid 2000s. We would go out to play softball and we would go out to play softball to practice.

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And we practiced at that time, we were practicing on either Tuesday or Thursday night and Saturday morning. And that way, Deacon Tony, he was back at East Lido, he was the coach at that time.

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We'd go out there and we got there in the morning and everybody just kind of out, we warmed up our arms and started practicing softball. And I, Carrie Brister was out there at that time.

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I don't think she was old enough to play on the team. I can't remember for sure. Maybe she was. But anyway, she said, you know, really we should be stretching before we started playing softball.

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And we didn't really do a lot of stretches just a few things before that. And I was thinking about that, you know, she's right about that. We really should be stretching because it's a very physical thing and you're going to go run and you're going to slide.

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You're going to jump for the ball, dive for the ball, whatever. You really should be stretching before you do all that. So we started stretching.

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And after that, and mostly we did just kind of like high impact stretching because it was like tension stretching like you do for gymnastics or running long distances, not really necessary, but we do like high stepping and stuff like that.

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And I always felt more ready. Every time we would start practice, I felt more ready. I submit to you that if you're going to do something very physical, that stretching out the muscles that you're about to do something very physical with is a valuable step.

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And so you see football players stretch, you soccer players stretch, you track star stretch, everybody stretches, right? In fact, if you don't stretch before you start, the truth is it's going to affect your performance.

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Now, quickly enough, your body will generate enough heat, your muscles loosen up, you might pull a muscle if you go too far too fast, right?

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But you'll get doing it. But that first period of time while your body's warming up and getting going is you're going to be less effective. Like if you think of Ron Mack at first base, and he puts his left foot back and puts his right foot out and he stretches his way down like that, like he used to do when he was a hockey goalie.

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If he's not warmed up, he could tear something very important in that moment in time. Okay. If you think about all the professional careers that you can think of, nurses.

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I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but nurses work 12 hour shifts as their standard shift. And so they work one week, they work three 12 hour shifts, the next week they work four 12 hour shifts, then the next week they work three 12 hour shifts, the next week they work four 12 hour shifts.

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And the idea behind that is continuity of care. Well, first of all, I'm going to say to you that 12 hour shifts are tough, right? 12 hour shifts are tough. They're tough no matter what you're doing. They're hard.

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Okay, but when your shift is keeping track of every medicine, every stat, everything's on the chart in the computer, changing people's poopy bed sheets and cleaning them up when they're sweaty and stinky and taking care of them when they're delirious and listening to their ravings and listening to them cuss at you or yell at you because they're upset because they're not well.

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All of those kinds of things. Listen to the doctor telling you what care the person is going to get when you don't necessarily agree, right? All of that, doing all of that for 12 hours and then getting up the next day and doing it for 12 hours is a tough career, right?

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And nurses go through more than that. It's a lot worse than that to even become a nurse. They do all of that while they're doing schooling and they give up basically time with their family, time with their kids.

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They give up finance because they don't get paid well while they're in training and they do all of that to become a nurse. And I submit to you, they really go through the wringer. So by the time they become a nurse, they already know what they're in for and they're well respected in their industry.

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At least they well should be. Gymnasts do a routine on the floor that has dances and flips and they do a flip over five times, right?

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Or they get down on the floor and do the splits and then they spin around and do ways that like if it was me, it would literally rip me in half, right?

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But they don't do that without really paying their dues, without stretching and working out and toning those muscles. And listen, they don't eat cupcakes. You know what I mean?

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I mean, they or if they do, sell them or they get half a cupcake. You know, they keep their body toned and trim and strong. And I'm not saying that everybody has to look like a gymnast. I think that's a falsehood, right?

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But what I'm saying is they literally pay the price and stretch and work super hard and they go out and they can do that routine and people recognize them and they get recognition for what they can do.

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In part because, yeah, they can do the boopadoopadoopadoop across the mat, but really because they really paid their dues to get where they're at.

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What I'm saying to you is to be what it is that you're really supposed to be. To really be good at the thing that you're really, to be recognized as the top of your field or even good in the field.

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Like you don't have to be the top nurse, just to be recognized as a nurse. You don't have to be the top race car driver, but the guy that drives NASCAR that comes in 20th has paid his dues to get there.

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And you might like to be a NASCAR driver, but if you're not willing to pay those dues, you're not going to get there.

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And so the bottom line is this is about stretching first. It's pushing yourself, going beyond what you think you're capable of first before you start doing what it is that you really are supposed to be doing.

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So bear that illustration in mind then as we go to 1 Peter chapter 4.

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Amen.

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Okay, so just I would just kind of clarify things. So during church, while we're singing the worship songs, we sing the worship songs.

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While we're reading the word, we either read it ourselves or focus on it.

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You get one opportunity to be loud, obnoxious, not rude, but loud, creative, say anything you want. This is your chance to mark that moment in time.

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So when the pastor in our church, when the pastor or whoever's up here preaching calls out the scripture, that's your opportunity to say amen or whatever.

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And if you sit there quietly then after talking during worship to your buddy about whatever you're going to do after or whatever was going on, just want to make sure you get your priorities screwed up.

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Okay, that was your opportunity. We're not going to go back and repeat it, but we'll do it again next week.

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1 Peter chapter 4 verse 7, here we go. The end of all things is at hand, therefore be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

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Now I want to tell you that this verse alone, as I prayed about it, thought about it, broke it down, gave me enough material for the entire sermon.

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Except this is not the focus. It's just one of the points.

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Okay, so what he's saying is when he says the end of all things near, does anybody think that Peter was saying that Jesus was going to come back again in a day or two or a few weeks and claim the church?

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And that was going to be it. I submit to you, he might have thought Jesus would come back again soon at an unknown time, but that's not what he means.

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In other words, he is saying the conclusion is at hand. If you remember this from Tuesday night, those of you who were there,

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we talked about how a certain eschatology bases what we're doing now on when Jesus comes again rather than on Jesus on the cross.

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Okay, so yes, Jesus on the cross is super important, don't get me wrong, but we're not living for Jesus on the cross, we're living for the Jesus that's coming again for us.

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Right, because he's not on the cross anymore. That's one of the major religions of the world. They show all of their symbols to have Jesus on the cross, and we don't do that.

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So you can wear Jesus on the cross if you want to, that's called a crucifix, but our cross is empty. We know that because Jesus died on the cross, was buried, rose again on the third day, and is now at the right hand with the Father.

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So really, if you want to wear something around your neck that shows Jesus, you should show Jesus, whatever you think he looks like, standing next to a throne, and that would be really accurate.

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But not on the cross anymore, that's done. But he's coming again, and Peter was saying the end of all things is near, meaning it's settled now, it's done now,

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and you're living now as if it's done, stop living as if it's far away, as if it's done for somebody else. The end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound judgment.

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In other words, make good decisions. Make good decisions. And sober spirit.

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In other words, you're going to have to say no to the many things in the world that people enjoy that want to take up residence in your life and pull you away from God, or pull you even away from your focus on the things that God has given you to do.

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We'll come back to that. Above all, then it says in verse 8, above all, so by the way, whenever you see above all, that means it's like super important, right?

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This is more important, not more important than Jesus himself, but like right there. So if Jesus would come in the room today, and he would say, out of this sermon today, I want to make one point, let me tell you what it is.

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He says, above all, keep fervent in your love for one another. Now fervent is a word that we don't use much anymore, and in modern day English, it has become a word that basically means like passionate, or heated, or hot, or burning, like on fire.

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And so it would say that our love should be passionate, or burning, or hot, or on fire. However, in the language, that's not what it means.

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So in the Greek language, what it means is to stretch yourself. That's literally what it means. I mispronounce it if I try to say it in the Greek, but anyway, to stretch yourself in your love for one another.

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This love is agape love. Agape love is a choice. It is a choice that you make. If you cannot choose to love someone, if you cannot choose to love someone, then you are not a follower of God.

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If you cannot willfully choose to love someone, and this is the same word essentially that you would use then if your enemy was trying to hurt you, if you cannot love them while they're trying to hurt you, then you have a problem.

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Because the point is, as we've been singing all this time, God is in control. It's okay to trust the Lord. God points a gun at your head. It's okay to trust the Lord as to whether the guy is going to pull the trigger or not.

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So your job is just to love the guy. Now that doesn't mean you have to like, okay, go ahead and shoot me. It'll make you feel better. I'm fine with it. Beg for their destruction of your current earthly life.

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So above all, keep fervent means stretch yourself in love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. So why are we supposed to stretch ourselves? Because love covers a multitude of sins.

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We'll give you an illustration of this. There's a pastor, this is metaphorical, there's a pastor and he's going to demonstrate how love covers a multitude of sins.

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And so to surprise the church, so that, you know, it's kind of fun to do these object lessons to surprise the church. He put a stand up front that had enough space underneath it and he covered it over with a cloth.

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And he put the word sin on top of the cloth. And then throughout the sermon, as he was preaching about how love covers a multitude of sins, he kept putting another cloth, put another blanket, covering it over with a blanket and a blanket and a blanket.

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Well, unbeknownst to the congregation, he had enlisted one of his grandchildren, who was pretty small still, to sit under the stand during the whole thing. And he had a placard that said the word sin very boldly on the placard.

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And he's sitting in there. But as the blankets piled up and the blankets piled up and the blankets piled up, it started getting kind of hot under there, right?

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About halfway through the sermon, he's still preaching how love covers a multitude of sins. And he says, I want you to see that love covers a multitude of sin. In a moment, I'm going to reveal. And at that moment in time, his grandson had had enough and he stood up and threw the stand off and he's holding the word sin and he soaked in sweat.

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And the room got very quiet. I want you to understand that these sins that we're talking about love covering up, they are hard at work. We talked just recently about how hard sin can latch on to you.

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Wolverines are one of the most vicious fighters as an animal, not because they're tough, because they are a little tough, but not like a wolf or not like a mountain lion, right?

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Not because they're tough, but because once they latch their jaws on, they don't let go, even if they're dead. You literally can rip their bodies off their heads and their head will still be latched onto you after they're long dead, right?

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Sin is like that. And this is what we're trying to cover up or overcome. Might be a better way of saying it for our purposes.

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And it is revealed to be hard at work attempting to burst through these barriers of love that Peter was reminding us.

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And so, keep fervent, stretch yourself in love. Why? Because love covers a multitude of sins. Verse 9. Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

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And so basically, he says first, stretch yourself in love for one another, and then he's going to give us an example or an illustration to break it down a little bit. He says, be hospitable to one another without complaint.

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So in other words, you should be inviting, period. Not inviting people to your house, that's fine if you want to do that. That is an example of hospitality, right?

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But we think it's like the only example of hospitality, and it's not. You should be inviting. You should be welcoming people into your circle.

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Find somebody that doesn't quite fit with you and bring them in. Find a way. And you should be doing that all the time.

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The only way to be hospitable is to be inviting, to bring people in. But not just to bring them in once they're there, to care about that person, about their needs, what they're going through, the struggles that they have, what they might get.

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So you and somebody else from your church comes to the door at the same time, it ought to definitely be on your mind to hold the door for them.

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Now a perfect stranger, you and a perfect stranger at the gas station, it ought to be on your mind, but it's for a completely different reason, right?

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But he says, be hospitable to one another without complaint. Boy, we don't want to leave that ending off.

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Because it's so much work. The truth is, we're all a bunch of work, right? We disagree. We've got issues. We don't talk right. We don't act right. We don't think the same. Etc, etc.

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And our tendency is to highlight the differences. We'll say, well, I'm not complaining, but he and I disagree on this or that or the other.

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Listen, when you say, I'm not complaining, but we disagree, actually you're complaining, right?

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Because if you have a disagreement with somebody, then you can go and work out your disagreement with them.

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Because the truth is, if it matters enough to mention it, one of you is wrong. And if not, then it doesn't matter enough to mention it.

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And so he says, be hospitable to one another without complaining. Just two verses left for the passage for the day.

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Verse 10, it says, as each one of you has received a special gift.

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And so now there's a little bit of a debate here, and we're going to be real clear about it.

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There's a little bit of debate here as you're talking about spiritual gifts.

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So every Christian has a Holy Spirit, spiritual gift given by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit decides what's best for you.

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You have a minimum of one. You might have several. You might have them all, right?

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You might have some that we don't even know what they are kind of thing.

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But you always have one and it'll be corrected, set out, highlighted by scripture.

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So it's going to be something that you can track in the Bible so you know how to use this. You can learn how to use it.

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He's not going to give you a list with no instructions.

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Right? So he's going to give you a gift with no instructions and give you a gift, show you how to use it.

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So it's listed in the Bible. But this could be another special gift.

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It could be a special gift that's not a spiritual gift.

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And so the big debate is, is it only talking about spiritual gifts or is it talking about any good gift that God gives you?

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Anything that's special, anything that stands out, that's out of the ordinary.

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And I submit to you that those two things, I took a logic class and I got a D by the way at Bowling Green back in the day

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because in the middle of that semester a lot of bad things happened and I just basically quit going to class.

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Don't recommend taking that course. I actually like logic a lot.

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But I learned that those two possibilities that the theologians are arguing are not contrary to one another.

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So is it talking about your spiritual gift? Is it talking about a special gift that God gave you?

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Is your spiritual gift a special gift that God gave you? Yes.

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So they are not in contrast to one another. The truth is what he's saying is if God gives you something,

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and I'm probably not talking about a dollar, although if it's really special to you,

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if the dollar is really special to you, then there's that opportunity of sitting in church and an offering plate come around.

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A little girl asks her sister and says, hey, can I give my dollar? I have one dollar. Can I give it?

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Why did she want to give it? Because to her it was special and to her giving it was special.

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And you think about how much you've given. She gave her a dollar.

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The woman that gave the two mites, right? She gave more than those who gave everything. Why?

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Because it was a special gift. It meant something to her.

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So if you have something from God that means something to you, then he says, as each one of you has received a special gift, employ it.

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Let's be very clear about what it means to employ something. It means put it to work.

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It does not mean abandon it, leave it on the table, let somebody else do the work.

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It doesn't mean highlight somebody else that has that same ability so you can push off the responsibility on them, whatever.

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It doesn't mean do it and complain all about it all the while while you're doing it.

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It means if you figure out there's something about you and there is something about you,

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something about your stuff and there is something about your stuff, something about your time and there is something about your time,

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when you figure out what that is, put it to work.

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This is why it blows my mind that Christian parents would ever have to ask their children to take out the garbage.

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You understand? And I was not a Christian when I was growing up. I became a Christian at 25 years old.

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My parents had to ask me all the time to take out the garbage and I'd put it off and whatever.

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Do you know how many times now as we live in our house right now, my wife and I,

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do you know how many times I've ever had to ask my wife to take out the garbage or she's ever had to ask me to take out the garbage?

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Do we ever even have to communicate to talk about taking out the garbage?

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If we're the only ones there, the garbage always gets taken out. Always. Why?

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Because you have the ability to do it. If there's something that needs to be done, why would you not do it?

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Now I can go further than this and I'm not trying to step on everybody's toes today,

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but it amazes me the number of times I would visit someone's house or stop by to help them and find their living room is messy.

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And you're like, well, no, wait a minute. Now, wait a minute. Don't talk about that. That's my right.

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Because it's your house that God gave you. That's God's living room and it's your living room.

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And God ain't going to clean it up. He gave you life, gave you strength, gave you the ability to figure out, gave you the gift and gave you etc. etc.

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God's not going to just go whoosh and whip it all away to hell. All the stuff that you ate last week.

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He wants you to clean it up. He wouldn't give it to you if he didn't want you to have it cleaned.

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Now you can go on with this, but the bottom line is, as any one of you has received a special gift,

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employ it, put it into work, serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

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Get busy and stop being busy searching after all these things that you think will fulfill you because the fact is none of them will.

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The only thing that's going to fulfill you is serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

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I'm going to break those phrases down just so that we understand. First of all, serving one another means in the church.

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Let's be super, super clear about this passage of scripture. Peter wrote this letter to the church.

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You want these things to be true in your family. You want these things to be true with your friends.

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You want these things to be true in your friends' families, but this isn't written to them.

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It's written to us. It's written to the church. So in the church, we are to be serving one another.

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And that says, as good stewards. What's a steward? A steward is a person who's been given something to take care of and put to use.

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And if the master comes and demands it of them, it better be in good condition and preferably multiplied.

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So it should be more available than it was when the master gave it to you.

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A good steward is a person who takes care of and puts into use that which his master gave him.

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Manifold. Manifold is not like the exhaust manifold on your car. And it does not seem as manifest.

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Manifest is something that's made obvious. Manifold means various. It means many or multiple ways.

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You could even say all of the ways. And so in other words, we're going to be good stewards of the manifold or much various grace of God.

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Do you understand that the grace of God that you received is different?

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This will blow your mind. Is different than the grace of God that I received.

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Salvation is the same. My soul saved, eternity, etc. Right? But the grace is different.

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God's grace for me that provided salvation is different than God's grace for you.

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My sin would send me to hell. Your sin would not. My sin would send me to hell.

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Therefore, the grace that was provided for me is enough to wipe away my sin and it's just right. Right?

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And it takes care of my sin. So my grace, your grace, it's all different. Each person's grace is different.

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And not only that, after I got saved, God gave me a Holy Spirit gifts and they were given to me by the Holy Spirit.

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The Holy Spirit chooses what and gives me exactly what is needed. What is going to be best.

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Now that might be and probably is what is best for you. Or best for my wife or best for my kids. Right?

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God knows how it all works together and the diverse grace of God, the various, myriad, many forms of the grace of God,

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we must be good stewards of that, serving one another and employing it. That's what he's saying.

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It's going to look like a special gift. There are many special gifts probably in your life and you're supposed to put them to work.

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The last verse. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God.

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When I was first working at the life station, we used to have a Monday service there.

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And so we would come in, people come in there and they would sit and we would preach the gospel.

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We have like a couple songs of worship if we had a worship leader or we play some music on the CD if we didn't have a worship leader.

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Or once I got to doing it and felt a little more comfortable because I was a young preacher. Right?

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Once I got a little more comfortable, I would read the Psalms. I'd read the Psalms and expound a little bit and pray.

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And then I would preach or a visiting pastor would preach and people were getting saved all the time.

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I had this young man who was just becoming a pastor. He was just getting involved, being called to preach and just starting.

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He came to me and he said, I want to ask you. And I said, okay, anything. And he said, I want to ask you about preaching.

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And I said, okay, what about preaching? I said, I'm no expert. I had a couple of classes, I've been to seminary, whatever, you know.

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But I'm no expert. But if I can help you in some way, I'll help you.

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And he said, so when I get up to preach, he said, I don't want to preach like you.

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I don't want to preach the way you preach, your style, anything like that.

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He said, it is expository preaching. Expository preaching is where you explain what the word says and then you draw out of that.

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Okay. And I said, I'm going to do that. But this is what I need to know.

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I've preached at that time, he said, I think 15, 20 times. And he said, what I want to know how to do is how do I preach it like you preach it

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that I actually believe everything I'm saying and I expect people to respond based on what it says.

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He said, like you preach. I sat in your art. It was like two weeks.

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So he was scheduled to preach, but he got there late and I had already started preaching. So I finished and he just sat in.

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And there was another time he heard me preach and he goes, so how do I do that?

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How do I preach it like it actually says what it says, means what it means. We're supposed to do something about it.

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And I was taking it back because I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how to do that.

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And he goes, no, that's what it's like when you preach.

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Like I listen to you preach and you're preaching it like it says what it says. It means what it means.

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We're supposed to do what we're supposed to do. And immediately, every time I hear you preach, I'm convicted and I'm thinking about that.

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And I'm going like, well, first of all, I guarantee you it's not me. Right.

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I shared my part of my testimony where I had to overcome like there was no way I could preach.

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If you knew me at 25 years old, that 25 year old could not stand up here and preach on Sunday.

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There's just no way. In fact, the truth is that 25 year old could not walk for these Toledo Baptist Church and say I'm living for Jesus.

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There's no way except he did. Right.

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Except he didn't because that 25 year old died and a new one was born in the same body and he walked forward.

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And then he became a preacher. And so I wanted to say tritely, simply, well, you know, it's got to be a gifting.

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It's got to be God. God's got to do it.

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But based on this verse, what we're what we're seeing here and based on what scripture says in general on this topic, we are commanded.

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You must choose to do these things this way.

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Whoever speaks, you are to do it as one who is speaking the utterances of God.

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These are the utterances of God. These are inspired scripture.

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You have to listen. You have to absorb.

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You have to be affected because if you don't, it's not me that you're saying no to.

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I get it. Some of you go like there are things about me that drive you nuts or things about me that that I don't say it quite right.

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Or I I speak something a little incorrectly. I ask a question.

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I step on toes. I shouldn't have made that comment about my living room. Right.

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The things you don't like. I get that.

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But when it comes down to the fact that these are the utterances of God, at that point in time, there's a line drawn in the sand.

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And I frankly don't care.

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Once I start talking about God, I fully understand.

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I preach the sermon, the sermon that I preached last week.

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I thoroughly thought that I was going to get backlash from that because I that was harsh.

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It was hard for me. It was hard for us.

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This sermon is a similar way. It's harsh.

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If you will not embrace what you are hearing in the preaching of the church, you better go get some candy church where it's not so hard.

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Because this is tough stuff.

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We're going to chew on steak until the juices come out.

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And if you can't swallow, you spit it out.

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We're reaching new heights in Jesus.

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These are the utterances of God. Not what I say. Sorry.

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Well, not what I say. But what's in this word is the utterances of God.

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And we must take it at what it is.

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But notice it's a command.

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If I'm speaking on behalf of God, I must speak them as if they are utterances of God.

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But it's not only the preacher on Sunday.

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Do you think you know what God wants you to say?

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Then when you go to say that, you better speak it as if you are speaking the utterances of God.

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It goes further. It says, whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies.

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We've got some real servants in our body.

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We've got some people who have a real servant's heart.

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There are quite a few of them in this room.

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And some of them are better at serving than others.

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But it's hard to discern whether they're better at serving than others because they're serving as if they are serving in the strength that God supplies.

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Or if they're just better.

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If tomorrow I won a lottery ticket and I was racing the NASCAR 500 this coming week,

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while I was sitting at the starting line revving the engine with everybody else and the pit crews all lined up and everybody's ready to go at the beginning of the race,

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most people would probably say, I don't think that guy deserves to be here right up front.

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And then if I raced that race and I came in third, they'd be like, what? What just happened?

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And if I got up on the podium and I said, well, you all thought I couldn't do it.

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But the truth is I've been training for the last five years secretly.

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And I went to and from Europe in a private jet and I raced on the tracks and I did all of this and I really stretched myself and I really got the skills.

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And look, I took my shirt off. You see how ripped I am, my six pack and I'm pumping the iron.

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You're like, oh, they're all like, yeah, he does deserve to be here.

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But if I get up on the podium and I say, look, I had no clue how I did it either.

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God just did this. This is just the thing that God did.

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I think it all so I could be here right in this moment and tell you that if God does it in you, you can be anything.

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There's a big difference there. But while you're sitting at the starting line, revving the engine, there's no difference.

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There's no difference between a person who's serving in their own strength and a person who's serving in God's strength.

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But there is a difference. This word is making clear that there is a difference, which I'll highlight for you in a moment.

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Back to the beginning of 11 so we get this right.

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Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God.

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Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies, which again looks different than one who is serving by the strength that God built into them over time.

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For example, or that the skill that they have figured out or the abilities that they have is different.

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This is so that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

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That's why we must do the things that we do, employing the gifts that we receive through God's diverse grace in a way that honors Jesus.

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So that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

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And it says, to whom belongs the glory.

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That means all the lights should be shined on him.

338
00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:29,720
All of the attention is shined on Jesus, not on me.

339
00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:32,720
All of the focus is on Jesus, not on me.

340
00:37:32,720 --> 00:37:37,720
And the dominion, dominion is reign, being in charge, the ruler, right?

341
00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:45,720
The dominion, forever and ever, not just next Wednesday or not just from now until Jesus comes again or not just once Jesus comes again.

342
00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:51,720
Now, as of now, all things, he has a right to rule over them forever and ever.

343
00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:56,720
And then he ends it so beautifully by saying, amein, which in the Greek, amein means so let it be.

344
00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:58,720
Let it be that way.

345
00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:00,720
And the sermon could have been so let it be.

346
00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:02,720
How do we let it be that way?

347
00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:08,720
All right, so there are three things essentially that are in here that really were to me commanding or demanding.

348
00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:11,720
And we're going to look at them briefly, each one.

349
00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:12,720
And the middle one, not so briefly.

350
00:38:12,720 --> 00:38:13,720
First one is this.

351
00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:18,720
It says, gurgle your mind and make your choices for the purposes of prayers.

352
00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:19,720
Now I paraphrased it, didn't I?

353
00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:22,720
What it actually said was, the end of all things is near.

354
00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:27,720
Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

355
00:38:27,720 --> 00:38:35,720
In other words, make your choices in a good way, logical, following the law, following the wisdom of the Bible, the way the kingdom would say.

356
00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:40,720
And control your passions and your thoughts and your desires, right?

357
00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:44,720
So I said it this way, gurgle your mind and make your choices.

358
00:38:44,720 --> 00:38:45,720
But don't forget why.

359
00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:50,720
Gurgle your mind and make your choices for the purposes of prayers.

360
00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:53,720
For the purpose of prayers.

361
00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:56,720
For the purposes of prayer.

362
00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:01,720
The interesting thing, the reason I'm saying it that way, because in the Greek, all three of those phrases are included.

363
00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:02,720
What is prayer for?

364
00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:03,720
It's for communicating with God.

365
00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:04,720
It's for making requests.

366
00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:06,720
It's for asking for forgiveness.

367
00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:07,720
It's for confessing sin.

368
00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:09,720
It's for adoring God.

369
00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:11,720
It's a method of praise and worship and so on.

370
00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:13,720
That's the purpose of prayer.

371
00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:21,720
And you need to be of sound judgment and sober spirit for all of those purposes of prayer to be fulfilled in your life.

372
00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:24,720
Then, what is prayer?

373
00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:25,720
Prayer is a process.

374
00:39:25,720 --> 00:39:29,720
It's the actual, when you and God get together and you're talking to God and listen to what he's got to say, right?

375
00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:30,720
So that's prayer.

376
00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:32,720
But it doesn't say prayer only.

377
00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:35,720
It also means prayers, right?

378
00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:38,720
So we pray and then we pray again, right?

379
00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:39,720
So it's a prayer life.

380
00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:40,720
We talk about prayer life.

381
00:39:40,720 --> 00:39:45,720
I submit to you, if you're sitting here today, hang on, this will kick your butt if you're not careful.

382
00:39:45,720 --> 00:39:56,720
If you're sitting here today and you have not set aside time to talk to God and listen to God consistently a number of times in a disciplined fashion,

383
00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:04,720
which means you blocked out other distractions, not just while you're driving or while you're playing a game or something like that, in the last week, then you are not following this verse.

384
00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:10,720
You are a sinner against God as a saved person, not recognizing the grace of God.

385
00:40:10,720 --> 00:40:16,720
Do you not understand that when you kneel down or when you take time to cross your hands or when you close your eyes and put everything else out,

386
00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:19,720
okay, well that's when all the thoughts come rushing in, right?

387
00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:21,720
That's when you start thinking about, oh, I have to do this, I have to do that.

388
00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:23,720
Oh, I meant to write that down so I wouldn't forget.

389
00:40:23,720 --> 00:40:24,720
Oh, someone still said that and that hurt.

390
00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:26,720
I've got to figure out what I'm going to say back to them.

391
00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:29,720
Oh, and there's, oh, that's the missing ingredient in my bread recipe.

392
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:34,720
You've got a million things rushing into your head at the moment that you decide to just block it all out and just spend time with God.

393
00:40:34,720 --> 00:40:36,720
It all comes rushing in. Why?

394
00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:44,720
Because you're not willing to gird your mind and make your choices for the purpose of prayer.

395
00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:47,720
Because the moment at which you're going to sit down and talk to God, do you understand?

396
00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:54,720
In that moment, if you would sit down and talk to God and you could actually focus all that you are, you're a righteous man, the prayers avail us much,

397
00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:57,720
sit down and actually say to God, okay, God, this is what I want, this is what I need.

398
00:40:57,720 --> 00:41:00,720
Sorry for that. Forgiveness of sins.

399
00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:02,720
Justify me, cleanse me, purify me for all I'm righteous.

400
00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:04,720
Okay, now, God, this is what I want, this is what I need.

401
00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:08,720
And you could agree with God on the thing that you could literally change the world.

402
00:41:08,720 --> 00:41:11,720
Elijah was a man like us, prayed, didn't rain for three and a half years.

403
00:41:11,720 --> 00:41:13,720
We looked at that on Tuesday night.

404
00:41:13,720 --> 00:41:16,720
You're not any different from the next guy.

405
00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:19,720
But there is a difference in the way that you approach prayer.

406
00:41:19,720 --> 00:41:23,720
You've got to set aside time, you've got to discipline yourself, you've got to put aside distractions.

407
00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:31,720
So, and I'm going to be completely transparent here, we, all of us, are going to have to stop watching so much TV, reading so many books,

408
00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:33,720
playing so many games that invade our thoughts.

409
00:41:33,720 --> 00:41:41,720
If the next time, if the next time you sit down and have a quiet time with God and you go to pray, the first thing that pops in your head is a game,

410
00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:47,720
then you say, I will not play a game again until I can pray to God without that stuff popping in my head.

411
00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:52,720
If the next time you sit down and go to pray to God, the thing that pops in your head is a movie,

412
00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:58,720
then you say, I will not watch a movie again until I can sit down and pray to God without movies popping in my head.

413
00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:04,720
If it's a vacation you took ten years ago, now listen, all three of those things happened to me this week, you hear me?

414
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:08,720
I sat down to pray and I said, okay God, let's take some time, let's just talk.

415
00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:10,720
And all three of those things popped in my head.

416
00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:14,720
It's not me making this stuff up, this is real stuff.

417
00:42:14,720 --> 00:42:17,720
There is a battle for your mind going on.

418
00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:18,720
You understand?

419
00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:23,720
And you've got to decide what is it that's going to get between you and God.

420
00:42:23,720 --> 00:42:28,720
And then as Peter said it very clearly, the end of all things is near.

421
00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:30,720
Just understand, the end of all things.

422
00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:32,720
How many TVs in heaven?

423
00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:34,720
Shall we count them all?

424
00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:35,720
Done. None.

425
00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:40,720
No TVs, no airwaves, no transmitters, no streaming services, no computers, no Wi-Fi.

426
00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:44,720
All gone. Why? Because there's no need.

427
00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:46,720
There's absolutely no desire, no need.

428
00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:51,720
How many sports in heaven, competitive sports, listen, if you go play football in heaven,

429
00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:53,720
whoosh, boom, score a touchdown.

430
00:42:53,720 --> 00:42:55,720
Who will score the most touchdowns?

431
00:42:55,720 --> 00:43:00,720
The completely perfect body people who will never have to work out again,

432
00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:04,720
never have to restrain diet again, never have to worry about pollutants in the air again,

433
00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:07,720
never have to worry about hydration or anemia, right?

434
00:43:07,720 --> 00:43:10,720
So I guess it will be the guy who has the perfect body,

435
00:43:10,720 --> 00:43:16,720
who hasn't pumped iron for 10 more hours a day for the last 473,974 years,

436
00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:19,720
and he's the guy who can score more touchdowns than the other guy.

437
00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:21,720
No, we're talking about heaven.

438
00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:24,720
The purpose of all of this that we are talking about is,

439
00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:27,720
there is a purpose for sports, there's a purpose for games, there's a purpose for food,

440
00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:30,720
there's a purpose for medicine, there's a purpose for all of it.

441
00:43:30,720 --> 00:43:35,720
All of it is to come together to show us God.

442
00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:39,720
And if that thing that was meant to be used to bring you close to God

443
00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:42,720
instead interferes with your ability to spend time with God in earnest,

444
00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:45,720
then you cut that thing out.

445
00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:49,720
We have church essentially together in meetings maybe about four times a week.

446
00:43:49,720 --> 00:43:54,720
Sunday morning, Tuesday night, game groups, Bible study, arts and crafts, youth group.

447
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:58,720
About four times a week we have somebody in this building and they're doing church.

448
00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:00,720
We've got people that are here once a week, right?

449
00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:02,720
And I'll include cleaning sometimes, right?

450
00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:06,720
Sometimes you guys are cleaning, you're all up in here having church, right?

451
00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:08,720
Or doing projects, sometimes that's that.

452
00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:10,720
But you've got like four people coming together to do a project,

453
00:44:10,720 --> 00:44:13,720
or four people cleaning the building, or ten people in the youth group, right?

454
00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:16,720
Or ten people in a gaming group, at most it's never usually that many,

455
00:44:16,720 --> 00:44:18,720
it's usually like four to six, right?

456
00:44:18,720 --> 00:44:20,720
And church is going on.

457
00:44:20,720 --> 00:44:26,720
And we've got people that cannot get in the church building one time a week in seven days.

458
00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:32,720
There's too much in the world to be confused by, to desire the things of the world.

459
00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:33,720
You can't.

460
00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:41,720
You've got to draw a line and say, this mind of mine belongs to me and the God of heaven.

461
00:44:41,720 --> 00:44:46,720
And I will gird it up, I will protect it, I will practice sound judgment,

462
00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:49,720
I will make good decisions, and I will be of a sober spirit.

463
00:44:49,720 --> 00:44:55,720
I will say that's got no place because my person belongs to the living God.

464
00:44:55,720 --> 00:44:59,720
Gird your mind and make your choices for the purpose of prayers.

465
00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:03,720
Distracted, burned out mind doesn't pray.

466
00:45:03,720 --> 00:45:05,720
Or when they do pray, the prayers are worthless.

467
00:45:05,720 --> 00:45:08,720
After they didn't honor God and they didn't do what God wanted,

468
00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:12,720
God said, you fall on your knees and cry tears in the dirt,

469
00:45:12,720 --> 00:45:15,720
you're begging me and praying and your prayers are worthless

470
00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:19,720
because you chose the things of this world over me.

471
00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:21,720
Now you pray and you expect me to do something about it.

472
00:45:21,720 --> 00:45:23,720
That's scripture.

473
00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:26,720
God's chosen people, chose the world.

474
00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:28,720
That's the story.

475
00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:32,720
After people chose the world, God bought them back.

476
00:45:32,720 --> 00:45:35,720
Computer illustration, I understand fully that I am now going into a region

477
00:45:35,720 --> 00:45:38,720
I do not know as much about as maybe somebody could or should

478
00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:41,720
who really wants to do a good computer illustration.

479
00:45:41,720 --> 00:45:45,720
But in the process of doing something inside a computer,

480
00:45:45,720 --> 00:45:46,720
we run into this sum in the back.

481
00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:48,720
For example, bring up the PowerPoint or things like that.

482
00:45:48,720 --> 00:45:51,720
You got what's on the hard drive, that's a little disk in there.

483
00:45:51,720 --> 00:45:54,720
Now they got SD drives, really aren't even a little disk anymore.

484
00:45:54,720 --> 00:45:57,720
It's just like a microchip that things are written on.

485
00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:00,720
You got the processor, you got the memory,

486
00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:04,720
and that whole thing is driven by power, power supply.

487
00:46:04,720 --> 00:46:07,720
The power supply goes to those parts and the parts try to do

488
00:46:07,720 --> 00:46:09,720
whatever it is you've asked the computer to do.

489
00:46:09,720 --> 00:46:14,720
Which means if you click on the window and try to open it eight times,

490
00:46:14,720 --> 00:46:16,720
and it's trying to actually open it eight times,

491
00:46:16,720 --> 00:46:19,720
it's going to take longer to open all eight of them

492
00:46:19,720 --> 00:46:22,720
than if you had just hit it once and patiently waited for it to open.

493
00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:26,720
It also means that if your computer is operating under the effect of a virus,

494
00:46:26,720 --> 00:46:28,720
and in the background many processes are running,

495
00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:31,720
consuming the power of your processor to be able to do

496
00:46:31,720 --> 00:46:33,720
what it is that you've asked your computer to do,

497
00:46:33,720 --> 00:46:36,720
it's not going to be able to do what you've asked it to do.

498
00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:38,720
If your hard drive can only spin so fast,

499
00:46:38,720 --> 00:46:40,720
and you've asked it to do so many things,

500
00:46:40,720 --> 00:46:44,720
that the hard drive capabilities are constantly being consumed all the while,

501
00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:47,720
then your hard drive is not going to be able to give you the information you need

502
00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:49,720
to do what it is that you need to do.

503
00:46:49,720 --> 00:46:51,720
What am I getting at?

504
00:46:51,720 --> 00:46:55,720
Your hard drive in this analogy is where the information is stored

505
00:46:55,720 --> 00:47:00,720
and processed, essentially released from, if you will,

506
00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:02,720
put into play as your body.

507
00:47:02,720 --> 00:47:05,720
So they're now calling, and I'm not trying to be medical,

508
00:47:05,720 --> 00:47:10,720
but they're now calling dementia, like you get when you have Alzheimer's,

509
00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:13,720
diabetes three, now it's nothing truly scientific,

510
00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:16,720
but what they're saying is people eat so much sugar as they get older,

511
00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:19,720
and after people get dementia and then die from Alzheimer's,

512
00:47:19,720 --> 00:47:21,720
they check their brain and guess what they find?

513
00:47:21,720 --> 00:47:22,720
They find inflammation.

514
00:47:22,720 --> 00:47:24,720
Well, what's the number one cause of inflammation in the body?

515
00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:25,720
Sugar.

516
00:47:25,720 --> 00:47:27,720
So they examine the person's life, and they find out that the person

517
00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:30,720
was eating sugar right up until they died,

518
00:47:30,720 --> 00:47:35,720
and their processor was inflamed and could no longer process.

519
00:47:35,720 --> 00:47:36,720
Now, I'm not trying to be a doctor.

520
00:47:36,720 --> 00:47:39,720
What I'm saying to you is you've got parts,

521
00:47:39,720 --> 00:47:42,720
and you take care of your parts in order to make your parts work together,

522
00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:46,720
do the thing you want to do, and what he's saying is be sober-minded,

523
00:47:46,720 --> 00:47:50,720
sober-spirited, get you a person of a sober spirit

524
00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:53,720
and a person of a sound judgment for the purpose of prayer,

525
00:47:53,720 --> 00:47:55,720
for the purpose of prayer.

526
00:47:55,720 --> 00:47:57,720
Not for the purpose of praising, although that's good too.

527
00:47:57,720 --> 00:47:59,720
Not for the purpose of giving, although that's good too.

528
00:47:59,720 --> 00:48:01,720
Not for the purpose of serving, although that's good too,

529
00:48:01,720 --> 00:48:03,720
for the purpose of prayer.

530
00:48:03,720 --> 00:48:05,720
Now, you might think that's not that big of a deal,

531
00:48:05,720 --> 00:48:09,720
except that I have been present at the bedside of the saints

532
00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:13,720
and also of non-saints, so those who are sinners dying.

533
00:48:13,720 --> 00:48:16,720
I've seen it both ways, and in the last moment,

534
00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:18,720
the saint has one thing left.

535
00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:22,720
They got a little breath, breathe in a little rough,

536
00:48:22,720 --> 00:48:24,720
about to give out, about to go home.

537
00:48:24,720 --> 00:48:27,720
They got one thing left, and it's prayer.

538
00:48:27,720 --> 00:48:29,720
And they pray for the people around them, pray for themselves.

539
00:48:29,720 --> 00:48:33,720
They'll talk to God right up until the last second, usually.

540
00:48:33,720 --> 00:48:38,720
If you don't take care of yourself and govern yourself for the purpose of prayer,

541
00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:41,720
what will you do when prayer is the only thing you have?

542
00:48:41,720 --> 00:48:42,720
And you can't.

543
00:48:42,720 --> 00:48:43,720
You can't bring yourself to pray.

544
00:48:43,720 --> 00:48:45,720
I can't tell you how many times I just can't pray.

545
00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:46,720
I'm so distant from God.

546
00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:48,720
I pray and I don't hear anything.

547
00:48:48,720 --> 00:48:50,720
What will you do when it's like that?

548
00:48:50,720 --> 00:48:53,720
What will you do when you need a miracle and you need God to intervene with power

549
00:48:53,720 --> 00:48:54,720
and you can't ask Him to?

550
00:48:54,720 --> 00:48:58,720
Or you ask Him to and can't believe that He'll do it, even after He does it?

551
00:48:58,720 --> 00:49:01,720
I had a woman call me this week that I haven't talked to in 10 years

552
00:49:01,720 --> 00:49:04,720
because her husband said, don't you ever talk to me or my wife ever again.

553
00:49:04,720 --> 00:49:06,720
So I didn't.

554
00:49:06,720 --> 00:49:09,720
She called me yesterday, left me a voicemail asking me to pray for her

555
00:49:09,720 --> 00:49:11,720
and to pray for him because he's in the hospital.

556
00:49:11,720 --> 00:49:12,720
He's probably going to die.

557
00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:16,720
Why call me? Why call me? What am I?

558
00:49:16,720 --> 00:49:17,720
I'm just a person.

559
00:49:17,720 --> 00:49:21,720
Because I guess she figured I can still pray.

560
00:49:21,720 --> 00:49:23,720
The end of all things is near.

561
00:49:23,720 --> 00:49:27,720
Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

562
00:49:27,720 --> 00:49:31,720
The second one is about stretching yourself to love the brethren.

563
00:49:31,720 --> 00:49:33,720
Boy, this will kick your butt.

564
00:49:33,720 --> 00:49:39,720
This really was hard for me to think about how badly I have fallen short in these areas over the years.

565
00:49:39,720 --> 00:49:42,720
Stretch yourself to love others in the body.

566
00:49:42,720 --> 00:49:46,720
The truth is, if you're not trying hard, if it's not hard for you to love the people that you're loving in the body,

567
00:49:46,720 --> 00:49:48,720
then you're not following this verse.

568
00:49:48,720 --> 00:49:50,720
Now it's not about whether you're loving them or not.

569
00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:55,720
And by the way, again, this love is a choice and action. It is not an emotion.

570
00:49:55,720 --> 00:49:58,720
Most people want to get married. They want to get married because they love.

571
00:49:58,720 --> 00:50:04,720
They want to touch their significant other, their boyfriend, their girlfriend, whatever, because they love them.

572
00:50:04,720 --> 00:50:09,720
And I submit to you that those can be sometimes practical expressions of love,

573
00:50:09,720 --> 00:50:15,720
but most often they're practical expressions of something else, a physical need.

574
00:50:15,720 --> 00:50:18,720
I don't feel whole unless I'm holding on to that person.

575
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:20,720
I don't feel whole unless I'm touching them.

576
00:50:20,720 --> 00:50:23,720
That's not love. I'm sorry. It's not.

577
00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:28,720
If you love somebody, your whole desire is for them to be closer to God.

578
00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:32,720
And if you are personally standing in the way of somebody while they're supposed to be getting closer to God,

579
00:50:32,720 --> 00:50:34,720
then you better know a few things.

580
00:50:34,720 --> 00:50:37,720
The first one is you are not getting closer to God yourself. You're in sin.

581
00:50:37,720 --> 00:50:39,720
The second one is you will answer for God.

582
00:50:39,720 --> 00:50:44,720
One day God will say to you, why didn't you let so-and-so, your husband, your wife, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, whatever, get closer to me?

583
00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:49,720
I was trying to draw them in and you were just standing in the way, and you're not going to have any answer whatsoever,

584
00:50:49,720 --> 00:50:52,720
because there is no answer to that question. No good one anyway.

585
00:50:52,720 --> 00:50:58,720
And the third thing is I learned a long time ago from a man's point of view, and I'm not saying this,

586
00:50:58,720 --> 00:51:02,720
but men have a certain effect on women and women have a certain effect on men.

587
00:51:02,720 --> 00:51:07,720
So when you have that effect on them and the fact that you're having on them messes with their mind,

588
00:51:07,720 --> 00:51:10,720
you're interfering with their prayers. That's what the Bible says.

589
00:51:10,720 --> 00:51:12,720
Worse, you're interfering with your own prayers.

590
00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:17,720
Now, if you've been married for 25 years and you're all wrapped up, frustrated by what your wife is doing

591
00:51:17,720 --> 00:51:20,720
or things aren't working out the way you want it, you're interfering with your prayers.

592
00:51:20,720 --> 00:51:23,720
You're interfering with your wife's prayers. Come on.

593
00:51:23,720 --> 00:51:31,720
Stretch yourself to love that person means to stretch first, to push hard, to get there.

594
00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:35,720
If you're there, I love them, yeah, I love them, it's easy.

595
00:51:35,720 --> 00:51:38,720
That marriage ends in divorce, or worse.

596
00:51:38,720 --> 00:51:44,720
There's a good probability because I was really not a good person and I was violent as a teenager.

597
00:51:44,720 --> 00:51:46,720
I wasn't violent in my marriage ever, thank God.

598
00:51:46,720 --> 00:51:51,720
My wife was a good soul, sweet soul, when we got married even though she wasn't saved.

599
00:51:51,720 --> 00:51:55,720
But if we'd have stayed married long enough, there's a good probability that I would have become violent toward her,

600
00:51:55,720 --> 00:51:58,720
maybe even killed her. We were fighting all the time.

601
00:51:58,720 --> 00:52:00,720
That's not good to know that.

602
00:52:00,720 --> 00:52:05,720
But God saved me, called me out of that, made me a new person, and a few weeks later,

603
00:52:05,720 --> 00:52:10,720
two weeks later He made her a new person, and about a week after that we realized that our marriage would be completely different.

604
00:52:10,720 --> 00:52:13,720
It's not the same thing anymore.

605
00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:20,720
What He's saying is, you must do whatever is within your power to express love to others,

606
00:52:20,720 --> 00:52:25,720
and I submit to you that when necessary, that means you must increase your power.

607
00:52:25,720 --> 00:52:29,720
You must become more powerful so that you can stretch even further.

608
00:52:29,720 --> 00:52:33,720
How do the professional players do it in baseball again?

609
00:52:33,720 --> 00:52:37,720
They start out playing like T-ball, and they go up, and they go up, and they go up,

610
00:52:37,720 --> 00:52:41,720
and that first baseman stretch becomes about junior high, high school becomes really good.

611
00:52:41,720 --> 00:52:46,720
He can hit the ball over the fence, he can hit the gaps, he's running faster, and he's faster, and he's faster, and he's faster,

612
00:52:46,720 --> 00:52:52,720
until he hits the height of his manhood, and all of his testosterone is geared toward making his body do what it can do,

613
00:52:52,720 --> 00:52:54,720
and then every day he can use the work to live.

614
00:52:54,720 --> 00:52:59,720
He gets to the point where maybe he can shave off a thousandth of a second on his run,

615
00:52:59,720 --> 00:53:04,720
coming around first base to second base, and now he's trying to shave off a thousandth of a second.

616
00:53:04,720 --> 00:53:13,720
I submit to you that this includes increasing our power, our ability to love, as much as we need to love.

617
00:53:13,720 --> 00:53:17,720
So every time somebody does something, and you love that person, they do something you don't like,

618
00:53:17,720 --> 00:53:21,720
that's just an opportunity for you to increase your love.

619
00:53:21,720 --> 00:53:26,720
That's all it is. That's the throw to first, and you've got to reach further for it this time.

620
00:53:26,720 --> 00:53:32,720
That's a hit to the outfield that barely you might make second, and the team really needs a double right now.

621
00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:37,720
And so you come around first base heading toward second, and you push yourself, and you dive and slide,

622
00:53:37,720 --> 00:53:39,720
even though you're wearing shorts.

623
00:53:39,720 --> 00:53:43,720
That's that opportunity to push yourself to love that person.

624
00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:47,720
But what do we think of it as? It's our opportunity to complain, our opportunity to judge.

625
00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:51,720
We say, well, see, I knew they really didn't love me. See, they're supposed to love me.

626
00:53:51,720 --> 00:53:55,720
We judge them as not loving us the way they're supposed to, and so on.

627
00:53:55,720 --> 00:53:59,720
But also it includes doing what is within our power to allow them to love us.

628
00:53:59,720 --> 00:54:02,720
See, they have the command to stretch, to love us.

629
00:54:02,720 --> 00:54:07,720
And if we do things that make it harder for them to love us, you can look at that from two ways.

630
00:54:07,720 --> 00:54:11,720
One, you can say, well, I'm only doing that because I want them to get better at loving.

631
00:54:11,720 --> 00:54:13,720
Yeah, that ends a certain way.

632
00:54:13,720 --> 00:54:16,720
They get better at loving, and you wind up out of the picture. That's what happens.

633
00:54:16,720 --> 00:54:21,720
Because you will have sinned too much, done too much, gone too far, and you won't, in your own mind,

634
00:54:21,720 --> 00:54:24,720
I can't tell you how many people feel, I can't believe that you could still love me,

635
00:54:24,720 --> 00:54:26,720
or you still care about me, or why are you even still talking to me?

636
00:54:26,720 --> 00:54:30,720
I had somebody say that to me just last week. Why do you still even talk to me after all this time?

637
00:54:30,720 --> 00:54:33,720
And that's how it gets to be when you keep doing that.

638
00:54:33,720 --> 00:54:39,720
So your job is to love others, and I submit to you, increase your power as necessary to do so,

639
00:54:39,720 --> 00:54:46,720
and also to allow them to love you, and I submit to you, increase your power as necessary to do so.

640
00:54:46,720 --> 00:54:49,720
This is talking about intentional charitable acts.

641
00:54:49,720 --> 00:54:53,720
So you do something for them because you want to. Why do you want to?

642
00:54:53,720 --> 00:54:57,720
Because of who God has made you. Not because you're better than them,

643
00:54:57,720 --> 00:55:01,720
not because you want a certain result, not just because you can,

644
00:55:01,720 --> 00:55:04,720
but because this is what God says will get the job done.

645
00:55:04,720 --> 00:55:08,720
This is what the kingdom is about. This is what the church is about.

646
00:55:08,720 --> 00:55:12,720
Loving in these kind of charitable acts means defending somebody.

647
00:55:12,720 --> 00:55:15,720
It means that if right now a man with a gun came in our church building,

648
00:55:15,720 --> 00:55:21,720
the men in this room who understand this verse have to get up and go at him.

649
00:55:21,720 --> 00:55:24,720
They're like, no, I'm ducking down. I'm hiding. We're fleeing. We're running out of here.

650
00:55:24,720 --> 00:55:28,720
Nobody has to get shot. Yeah, somebody's going to get shot because there's 30 of us,

651
00:55:28,720 --> 00:55:32,720
and he's in the hall over the gun, and he starts shooting. Somebody's going to get hit.

652
00:55:32,720 --> 00:55:38,720
So those of us that understand this verse go at him to stop him so that me and a few others,

653
00:55:38,720 --> 00:55:43,720
and I hope it's me, are the only people to get shot instead of he just kills everybody.

654
00:55:43,720 --> 00:55:47,720
And somebody is interposing themselves first off in front of the children,

655
00:55:47,720 --> 00:55:49,720
which I hope our children's workers would do that.

656
00:55:49,720 --> 00:55:54,720
Defense. Somebody bad-mouths your friend. Somebody bad-mouths your pastor.

657
00:55:54,720 --> 00:56:01,720
Somebody bad-mouths your church. You come to defense. Hang on, even if they're right.

658
00:56:01,720 --> 00:56:04,720
An outsider says, well, New Heights Fellowship is this that or the other thing,

659
00:56:04,720 --> 00:56:09,720
and they say something bad? You say, no, I'm not going to listen to that.

660
00:56:09,720 --> 00:56:14,720
Our church is godly, and we may have issues, but if we have issues, we'll work them out internally.

661
00:56:14,720 --> 00:56:17,720
We'll find peace with one another. We'll love each other beyond it. We'll grow beyond it.

662
00:56:17,720 --> 00:56:20,720
And even if somebody made a mistake, you telling me is not appropriate.

663
00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:24,720
And then if you know that person made a mistake, then you go to that person separately,

664
00:56:24,720 --> 00:56:28,720
and you say, I'm not judging. I'm not by gossip. I'm not responding to the gossip.

665
00:56:28,720 --> 00:56:32,720
I'm just asking you. So-and-so who's outside the church said this about you.

666
00:56:32,720 --> 00:56:36,720
Is it true that there's nothing wrong with asking? And they say, no, it's not true.

667
00:56:36,720 --> 00:56:38,720
Okay, good. What a relief.

668
00:56:38,720 --> 00:56:43,720
Well, yeah, it's kind of true. This happened, that happened, whatever, but they're twisting what it was.

669
00:56:43,720 --> 00:56:50,720
And in that, you realize there was sin, and the two of you work through it together as Matthew 18 says, defense.

670
00:56:50,720 --> 00:56:52,720
We defend one another. We defend one another.

671
00:56:52,720 --> 00:56:54,720
And I submit to you, that means you have to defend the people you don't like.

672
00:56:54,720 --> 00:56:56,720
You defend the things that they do that you don't like.

673
00:56:56,720 --> 00:56:59,720
You defend the church when the church seems indefensible.

674
00:56:59,720 --> 00:57:03,720
Jesus defended us when we were lost and dying and going to hell,

675
00:57:03,720 --> 00:57:06,720
when we were not part of the kingdom, when we had no spiritual gifts,

676
00:57:06,720 --> 00:57:08,720
when we were not good in any way, shape, or form.

677
00:57:08,720 --> 00:57:11,720
He died for us while we were yet sinners.

678
00:57:11,720 --> 00:57:17,720
Forgiveness. You go first to forgiving, and that makes it possible then to stretch to love.

679
00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:20,720
Bearing one another's burdens.

680
00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:26,720
I think what Peter was getting at is we're to be directed by the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

681
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:28,720
Galatians 5, beginning 16 and 17 says,

682
00:57:28,720 --> 00:57:32,720
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

683
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:36,720
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.

684
00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:40,720
But these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

685
00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:44,720
Did you catch that last part? You don't get to do what you want to do.

686
00:57:44,720 --> 00:57:46,720
You got to do what you're supposed to do.

687
00:57:46,720 --> 00:57:51,720
You don't get to do what feels good, tastes good, sounds good, looks good.

688
00:57:51,720 --> 00:57:54,720
You got to do what's right. That's what he said.

689
00:57:54,720 --> 00:57:58,720
And we do that because the Holy Spirit is living in us.

690
00:57:58,720 --> 00:58:02,720
Baby, you're a houseboat. A houseboat sail.

691
00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:05,720
And they take that Holy Spirit wherever that Holy Spirit wants to go.

692
00:58:05,720 --> 00:58:12,720
And if instead you pursue the things that are of this world, then you've missed the point.

693
00:58:12,720 --> 00:58:17,720
For the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

694
00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:19,720
Against such thing there is no law.

695
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:24,720
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

696
00:58:24,720 --> 00:58:27,720
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

697
00:58:27,720 --> 00:58:30,720
And you could stop right there, and by the way, most people do.

698
00:58:30,720 --> 00:58:36,720
But in 26 it says, let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

699
00:58:36,720 --> 00:58:38,720
Listen to me very carefully here.

700
00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:41,720
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is here.

701
00:58:41,720 --> 00:58:44,720
It is in us. It is from us.

702
00:58:44,720 --> 00:58:47,720
You should be gentle and kind to one another. Love one another.

703
00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:50,720
Patient. You should practice self-control.

704
00:58:50,720 --> 00:58:54,720
We should be found faithful because the Spirit of God lives in us.

705
00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:57,720
And he wants to bubble over in those fruits.

706
00:58:57,720 --> 00:58:59,720
And he wants to display and produce those fruits.

707
00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:04,720
And if you can't do those things to your brothers and sisters in Christ inside the church,

708
00:59:04,720 --> 00:59:08,720
then, and you want to end that statement with, you can't do them in the world.

709
00:59:08,720 --> 00:59:10,720
But guess what? You're not even asked to do them in the world.

710
00:59:10,720 --> 00:59:12,720
This is written to the church.

711
00:59:12,720 --> 00:59:15,720
We're commanded to do them in the church.

712
00:59:15,720 --> 00:59:18,720
And we do them here because this is the training ground.

713
00:59:18,720 --> 00:59:20,720
This is the place.

714
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:24,720
We ought not to be boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

715
00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:27,720
You don't get to disagree with your brother and sister in Christ in an unloving way.

716
00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:30,720
You don't get to be upset because they did something that you don't like.

717
00:59:30,720 --> 00:59:32,720
I'm sorry. That's not on the menu.

718
00:59:32,720 --> 00:59:34,720
That's not the kind of people that we are.

719
00:59:34,720 --> 00:59:36,720
If you have an issue with somebody, go and talk to them.

720
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:41,720
And if you talk to them for any purpose, like justice or vindication,

721
00:59:41,720 --> 00:59:45,720
or so I'll be known to be who I'm supposed to be, or so people won't be thinking bad things about me,

722
00:59:45,720 --> 00:59:48,720
if any of those things are your motivation, you've missed it.

723
00:59:48,720 --> 00:59:52,720
Because you go in love to call them to be what it is that they're supposed to be,

724
00:59:52,720 --> 00:59:56,720
to help them, to lift them up to be what it is that they're supposed to be.

725
00:59:56,720 --> 00:59:59,720
Galatians 6, 1-10 then says it this way,

726
00:59:59,720 --> 01:00:02,720
Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespassing,

727
01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:05,720
it means in other words, you know they sinned. You caught them.

728
01:00:05,720 --> 01:00:08,720
You who are spiritual, assuming you're walking with the Lord,

729
01:00:08,720 --> 01:00:10,720
restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness,

730
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:14,720
each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted.

731
01:00:14,720 --> 01:00:16,720
Because listen, we're tempted.

732
01:00:16,720 --> 01:00:18,720
The whole time we're trying to correct somebody else, we're tempted.

733
01:00:18,720 --> 01:00:22,720
Bear one another's burdens, he says, thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

734
01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:25,720
Listen to that. I almost went past it too quickly.

735
01:00:25,720 --> 01:00:30,720
Bear one another's burdens and thereby, in other words, in bearing one another's burdens,

736
01:00:30,720 --> 01:00:32,720
fulfill the law of Christ.

737
01:00:32,720 --> 01:00:36,720
For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

738
01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:43,720
But each one must examine his own work and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone.

739
01:00:43,720 --> 01:00:45,720
In other words, you look at who you are, what you're doing in Christ,

740
01:00:45,720 --> 01:00:48,720
and if you're doing well, then you can feel good about the fact that you're doing well,

741
01:00:48,720 --> 01:00:50,720
but you don't compare yourself to other people.

742
01:00:50,720 --> 01:00:53,720
And that's the problem, the world teaches us to compare ourselves to others,

743
01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:56,720
and if we're doing better than them, then we're okay, and if we're not, then we're not.

744
01:00:56,720 --> 01:00:59,720
And that is not the way it works. It's not in God's kingdom.

745
01:00:59,720 --> 01:01:02,720
And it says, and not in regard to one another.

746
01:01:02,720 --> 01:01:04,720
For each one will bear his own load.

747
01:01:04,720 --> 01:01:09,720
The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.

748
01:01:09,720 --> 01:01:11,720
Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.

749
01:01:11,720 --> 01:01:14,720
For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

750
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:18,720
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

751
01:01:18,720 --> 01:01:22,720
But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.

752
01:01:22,720 --> 01:01:27,720
Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

753
01:01:27,720 --> 01:01:32,720
So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, listen,

754
01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:35,720
and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

755
01:01:35,720 --> 01:01:37,720
Colossians 3 says it this way,

756
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:41,720
Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord and not for people.

757
01:01:41,720 --> 01:01:46,720
Knowing that it is from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance.

758
01:01:46,720 --> 01:01:48,720
It is the Lord Christ whom you serve,

759
01:01:48,720 --> 01:01:53,720
for the one who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done.

760
01:01:53,720 --> 01:01:59,720
I submit to you, ignoring Peter's warning to stretch yourself to love the brethren,

761
01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:01,720
to stretch yourself to love the people in your church,

762
01:02:01,720 --> 01:02:04,720
the people who are in New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.

763
01:02:04,720 --> 01:02:07,720
If you're not willing to stretch yourself to love people,

764
01:02:07,720 --> 01:02:09,720
then you are ignoring what Peter is commanding you to do,

765
01:02:09,720 --> 01:02:11,720
and I submit to you that would be a wrong,

766
01:02:11,720 --> 01:02:16,720
and it says for the one who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done,

767
01:02:16,720 --> 01:02:18,720
and that without partiality.

768
01:02:18,720 --> 01:02:21,720
It doesn't matter if you're the pastor, a deacon, a leader,

769
01:02:21,720 --> 01:02:25,720
it doesn't matter if you gave the most, talk the least, or talk the most.

770
01:02:25,720 --> 01:02:28,720
If you sing the best or sing the worst, it doesn't matter if you can play an instrument or you can't.

771
01:02:28,720 --> 01:02:31,720
If you do not stretch yourself to love the others in the body,

772
01:02:31,720 --> 01:02:35,720
you will receive the consequences of the wrong which you have done,

773
01:02:35,720 --> 01:02:37,720
and that without partiality.

774
01:02:37,720 --> 01:02:41,720
Last one, and I'm sure you're grateful to hear this one's a little shorter,

775
01:02:41,720 --> 01:02:47,720
do what you alone cannot do so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

776
01:02:47,720 --> 01:02:52,720
Sober-minded, sound judgment, do this thing for prayers,

777
01:02:52,720 --> 01:02:55,720
stretch yourself to love, this is all pretty tough stuff.

778
01:02:55,720 --> 01:03:00,720
This is what we pretty much could not do outside of Christ.

779
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:02,720
Nothing more, nothing less.

780
01:03:02,720 --> 01:03:04,720
We are asked to push ourselves, be sober-minded.

781
01:03:04,720 --> 01:03:08,720
In other words, let's get your brain focused on what it's supposed to be focused on.

782
01:03:08,720 --> 01:03:13,720
Let's start closing out windows, swiping things off the screen.

783
01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:16,720
Put your phone away and actually worship.

784
01:03:16,720 --> 01:03:17,720
Sing when you don't feel like singing.

785
01:03:17,720 --> 01:03:19,720
Work when you don't feel like working.

786
01:03:19,720 --> 01:03:20,720
Be sober-minded.

787
01:03:20,720 --> 01:03:21,720
Practice sound judgment.

788
01:03:21,720 --> 01:03:23,720
Make the decision that's necessary.

789
01:03:23,720 --> 01:03:27,720
Man, I could buy this, but the truth is I'm really supposed to do this with my money.

790
01:03:27,720 --> 01:03:32,720
Man, I could go there and do that, but really I'm supposed to be over here worshiping God, praising God.

791
01:03:32,720 --> 01:03:34,720
Figure out what you're supposed to do and do that.

792
01:03:34,720 --> 01:03:36,720
Practice sound judgment.

793
01:03:36,720 --> 01:03:41,720
And these things for prayers because God gives us the ability to pray.

794
01:03:41,720 --> 01:03:42,720
God wants us to pray.

795
01:03:42,720 --> 01:03:50,720
He wants us to spend time with Him maybe above all things except for stretching ourselves to love one another.

796
01:03:50,720 --> 01:03:54,720
That brings us to our conclusion, but I want to restate that final point because it was kind of short.

797
01:03:54,720 --> 01:04:01,720
You need to do what you alone cannot do so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

798
01:04:01,720 --> 01:04:06,720
If you can't do it and you weren't meant to do it, then you just don't do it.

799
01:04:06,720 --> 01:04:14,720
But if you can't do it and you've been commanded by Scripture to do it, then you do it with the power that God has given you to do it.

800
01:04:14,720 --> 01:04:16,720
Maybe you're meant to serve, preach, or give.

801
01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:19,720
If you can serve just so much, then serve more than that.

802
01:04:19,720 --> 01:04:21,720
If you can give just so much, then give more than that.

803
01:04:21,720 --> 01:04:24,720
If you can preach just so much, then preach more than that.

804
01:04:24,720 --> 01:04:29,720
Go beyond your ability so that you know that your hat is not hanging only on your head.

805
01:04:29,720 --> 01:04:33,720
Until you stretch like that, there is a debate as to whether or not you are doing what God has called you to.

806
01:04:33,720 --> 01:04:36,720
Final conclusions.

807
01:04:36,720 --> 01:04:38,720
From the Scripture, Colossians 3, 23-25,

808
01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:43,720
Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord and not for people,

809
01:04:43,720 --> 01:04:47,720
knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance.

810
01:04:47,720 --> 01:04:55,720
It is the Lord Christ whom you serve, for the one who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done and that without partiality.

811
01:04:55,720 --> 01:04:59,720
It would be wrong to ignore this call of Peter.

812
01:04:59,720 --> 01:05:09,720
Most importantly, God, to go further, harder, more pointed, and self-disciplined in love of our fellow church members and in honor of God's gift.

813
01:05:09,720 --> 01:05:13,720
And most importantly, Christ's Lordship.

814
01:05:13,720 --> 01:05:15,720
Wouldn't it be wrong?

815
01:05:15,720 --> 01:05:17,720
Wouldn't it be wrong to not show up sometimes?

816
01:05:17,720 --> 01:05:24,720
Wouldn't it be wrong to not focus my life enough to be a good steward of that which God has blessed me and use it to bless others?

817
01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:27,720
Wouldn't it be wrong to employ it for his service?

818
01:05:27,720 --> 01:05:30,720
If you believe that God loves you, then what are you supposed to do?

819
01:05:30,720 --> 01:05:32,720
Let's be realistic.

820
01:05:32,720 --> 01:05:36,720
If you believe that God loves you, and I hope you do because if you don't, then you are probably not saved.

821
01:05:36,720 --> 01:05:41,720
But if you believe that God loves you, then you know that you are supposed to love the other people that God loves.

822
01:05:41,720 --> 01:05:43,720
That's what we are called to.

823
01:05:43,720 --> 01:05:46,720
And most importantly, it's about Christ's Lordship.

824
01:05:46,720 --> 01:05:59,720
1 Peter 1, 22 says this, Since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.

825
01:05:59,720 --> 01:06:01,720
1 Peter 3, 8, 9.

826
01:06:01,720 --> 01:06:04,720
To sum up, all of you be harmonious.

827
01:06:04,720 --> 01:06:06,720
Let me wish you peace.

828
01:06:06,720 --> 01:06:07,720
Working together.

829
01:06:07,720 --> 01:06:09,720
Tim could better explain harmonious, I'm sure.

830
01:06:09,720 --> 01:06:11,720
Sympathetic.

831
01:06:11,720 --> 01:06:12,720
Brotherly.

832
01:06:12,720 --> 01:06:13,720
Kind-hearted.

833
01:06:13,720 --> 01:06:14,720
And humble in spirit.

834
01:06:14,720 --> 01:06:19,720
Not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.

835
01:06:19,720 --> 01:06:25,720
For you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

836
01:06:25,720 --> 01:06:31,720
Ephesians 4, 30-32 says, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

837
01:06:31,720 --> 01:06:34,720
Gosh, I wonder how we could grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

838
01:06:34,720 --> 01:06:40,720
Well, 31 says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

839
01:06:40,720 --> 01:06:46,720
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

840
01:06:46,720 --> 01:06:55,720
Back to Colossians 3, 12 says, So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

841
01:06:55,720 --> 01:07:02,720
bearing with one another, forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

842
01:07:02,720 --> 01:07:07,720
Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

843
01:07:07,720 --> 01:07:13,720
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.

844
01:07:13,720 --> 01:07:23,720
Let the Lord of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another, with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart to God.

845
01:07:23,720 --> 01:07:29,720
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

846
01:07:29,720 --> 01:07:31,720
Now this story could end here.

847
01:07:31,720 --> 01:07:35,720
Basically what we've said is, you need to exhibit these qualities toward other church members.

848
01:07:35,720 --> 01:07:41,720
You need to draw together, we all need to draw together as a church to love one another, and stretch to do so.

849
01:07:41,720 --> 01:07:45,720
It's not enough to just do that. It's to stretch to do so.

850
01:07:45,720 --> 01:07:49,720
To depend on God to allow you to do more than what you could do by yourself.

851
01:07:49,720 --> 01:07:56,720
In order to stretch, I submit to you, you're going to have to pray, because that is one of the spiritual disciplines that God gives us.

852
01:07:56,720 --> 01:07:59,720
It is a way in which God empowers us. It is a way that God pours into us.

853
01:07:59,720 --> 01:08:02,720
It is a way that God communicates some of the things that we don't otherwise know.

854
01:08:02,720 --> 01:08:07,720
He provides conviction and teaching, and we recognize things from His Word as we pray, talk to God.

855
01:08:07,720 --> 01:08:17,720
Well, that brings us back to sober-minded, sound judgment, make some decisions, figure out what it is that's messing with your head, and get out of it.

856
01:08:17,720 --> 01:08:26,720
So that you can pray. And then as you pray, you and God work together to love people in your church the way that you could not alone.

857
01:08:26,720 --> 01:08:30,720
But still, sounds like we can stop there, don't you think? That's a powerful message.

858
01:08:30,720 --> 01:08:33,720
It's a reminder. It's a call to repentance.

859
01:08:33,720 --> 01:08:41,720
As you look around the room and you see people that maybe get on your nerves a little bit, or I don't understand why they say that, why they act that way, why they do that, whatever.

860
01:08:41,720 --> 01:08:47,720
So-and-so hurt my feelings. Sometimes they're not there when I need them. I think maybe somebody talked about me.

861
01:08:47,720 --> 01:08:54,720
Whatever. Make your list, right? Whatever your personal list of confusing circumstances that stops you from wanting to love the people in your church.

862
01:08:54,720 --> 01:08:57,720
There you go. Sounds like it's talking about that.

863
01:08:57,720 --> 01:09:00,720
Except, guess what? There's one piece missing.

864
01:09:00,720 --> 01:09:10,720
Because all of these commands don't inherently in them say that we have to handle the people that are our New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church different from the people that are not.

865
01:09:10,720 --> 01:09:19,720
So now, if we're called to love everybody this way, I submit to you that in God, even in God, it's pretty much impossible.

866
01:09:19,720 --> 01:09:24,720
Because they're not going to let you. Even if you wanted to, if you went out of your way, they're not going to let you, in some cases.

867
01:09:24,720 --> 01:09:29,720
Can't do what's best for them because they won't let you. Can't help them figure out what's best for themselves because they won't let you.

868
01:09:29,720 --> 01:09:34,720
So then you have to do it at a distance. And you want to say, well, I love them, but I keep them at a distance.

869
01:09:34,720 --> 01:09:41,720
I get what you're saying there, except that's not the word love here. The love here is actual charitable actions toward the other individual.

870
01:09:41,720 --> 01:09:45,720
It's actions that you carry out. So that doesn't work.

871
01:09:45,720 --> 01:09:49,720
Paul says it very clearly in Colossians 4, 5 to 7. This is what he says.

872
01:09:49,720 --> 01:09:55,720
Conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

873
01:09:55,720 --> 01:10:03,720
Let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

874
01:10:03,720 --> 01:10:07,720
That's actually through verse 6. No, it might be 7.

875
01:10:07,720 --> 01:10:14,720
Anyway, the point is this. There is a different standard. I am fond of saying there is only one race, the human race, and that is true.

876
01:10:14,720 --> 01:10:24,720
I do not believe that people of different skin colors are different races. That idea was invented by Darwin as he wrote the Origin of Species to basically say that people with fat lips were closer to baboons and worthless.

877
01:10:24,720 --> 01:10:27,720
It's ridiculous. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

878
01:10:27,720 --> 01:10:32,720
And so nowadays racism has been flipped around and people are, well, that person is better than that person.

879
01:10:32,720 --> 01:10:37,720
And that person needs to be punished because in the past that person suffered. And the whole thing is stupid.

880
01:10:37,720 --> 01:10:43,720
There's one race, the human race. That's it. Adam and Eve were the beginning of the human race and everybody else, dark skin, light skin, whatever,

881
01:10:43,720 --> 01:10:48,720
population anywhere on the earth, all came from Adam and Eve. So there's one race. But there's two peoples.

882
01:10:48,720 --> 01:10:55,720
One people is way smaller than I would like it to be. But that people is New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Aledo.

883
01:10:55,720 --> 01:10:59,720
That's the one people. And the other people is everybody else.

884
01:10:59,720 --> 01:11:04,720
The letters written to the Church of Colossi, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders.

885
01:11:04,720 --> 01:11:09,720
Outside what? Not saved. We're not talking about that. Outside what?

886
01:11:09,720 --> 01:11:18,720
Outside the church, out of the box, out of the building, out of the meeting place, not coming to meetings, not involved, not serving, not giving this way, not part of the body of Christ.

887
01:11:18,720 --> 01:11:24,720
So conduct yourself with wisdom toward anybody who's not in your local church making the most of the opportunity.

888
01:11:24,720 --> 01:11:29,720
In other words, you still try to love them as much you can, tell about Christ, draw them toward what's right, etc.

889
01:11:29,720 --> 01:11:36,720
Even though you may or may not ever be able to draw them to be part of our church, you still want to push them in the ways of God if possible.

890
01:11:36,720 --> 01:11:41,720
But he says, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders making the most of the opportunity.

891
01:11:41,720 --> 01:11:45,720
Let your speech always be with grace. In other words, you still want to be graceful toward that person.

892
01:11:45,720 --> 01:11:50,720
Explain the gospel. Tell them how they can be saved, how they can be forgiven. Try to forgive sins wherever you go.

893
01:11:50,720 --> 01:11:57,720
Do that as though seasoned with salt. In other words, still teach righteousness, holiness, the difference of God, God's judgment, how they're going to stand at the judgment seat of God someday.

894
01:11:57,720 --> 01:12:02,720
If they don't pay attention to God now, they're not going to like the results of that standing there.

895
01:12:02,720 --> 01:12:06,720
Do this so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

896
01:12:06,720 --> 01:12:13,720
There are two people, two types of people on the earth. New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo and everybody else.

897
01:12:13,720 --> 01:12:20,720
And in New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo, we are a people who, I hope, anyway, we're supposed to be, according to Peter,

898
01:12:20,720 --> 01:12:28,720
we are a people who gird our mind and make our choices for the purposes of prayers, or for the purpose of prayers, or for the purposes of prayer.

899
01:12:28,720 --> 01:12:36,720
And we are a people who stretch ourselves to love New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church, the other members, brothers and sisters in Christ.

900
01:12:36,720 --> 01:12:44,720
And we are a people who do what alone we cannot do, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

901
01:12:44,720 --> 01:12:48,720
And that means we must be sober-minded. It means we must practice sound judgment.

902
01:12:48,720 --> 01:12:52,720
We must do so for prayers. And we must stretch ourselves to love one another.

903
01:12:52,720 --> 01:12:58,720
Stretch first. If you love and have not stretched, you're lying to yourself.

904
01:12:58,720 --> 01:13:03,720
Because you're not doing your best. You're just doing what's easy or what you're already capable of.

905
01:13:03,720 --> 01:13:07,720
When people do that, people get hurt. Stretch first.

906
01:13:07,720 --> 01:13:10,720
Realize first that it's going to be hard. I had a man ask me, he said,

907
01:13:10,720 --> 01:13:13,720
what will it take to become a member of East Toledo or New Heights Fellowship?

908
01:13:13,720 --> 01:13:17,720
And I said, well, you're going to have to agree to work toward tithing.

909
01:13:17,720 --> 01:13:19,720
You're going to have to agree to participate in church regularly.

910
01:13:19,720 --> 01:13:23,720
You're going to be here pretty much every Sunday or as often as you possibly can be.

911
01:13:23,720 --> 01:13:25,720
And if you can't be there, there's a reason why you can't be.

912
01:13:25,720 --> 01:13:27,720
Be here whenever you can on Tuesdays if you possibly can be.

913
01:13:27,720 --> 01:13:29,720
If you can't be there, there should be a reason why you can't be.

914
01:13:29,720 --> 01:13:31,720
Be here regularly involved. What does that look like to you?

915
01:13:31,720 --> 01:13:34,720
You tell us and then the body will decide whether or not that qualifies.

916
01:13:34,720 --> 01:13:38,720
And you've got to be part of a ministry team, serving as part of your team.

917
01:13:38,720 --> 01:13:43,720
So together empowering a ministry. In the church, minimum one team doing the work.

918
01:13:43,720 --> 01:13:46,720
You've got to work in our missions that we do once a month or every six weeks.

919
01:13:46,720 --> 01:13:53,720
You've got to work in outreach and stand up for what Christ wants us to teach others and so on.

920
01:13:53,720 --> 01:13:56,720
By that time in the list, he'd already stopped listening.

921
01:13:56,720 --> 01:13:59,720
And he never did come. And he's never become.

922
01:13:59,720 --> 01:14:02,720
To which it's okay. Because maybe it wasn't meant to be.

923
01:14:02,720 --> 01:14:06,720
It's hard. It's hard to be this church. And it should be.

924
01:14:06,720 --> 01:14:11,720
Because if it's not something you and God do together, then you're not stretching yourself.

925
01:14:11,720 --> 01:14:15,720
And if you're not stretching yourself, then you probably weren't supposed to do it at all.

926
01:14:15,720 --> 01:14:18,720
You're just wasting your time and everyone else's.

927
01:14:18,720 --> 01:14:23,720
Will you please consider that Peter was calling you? That's as he's calling me.

928
01:14:23,720 --> 01:14:25,720
I ask the praise team to come forward at this time.

929
01:14:25,720 --> 01:14:27,720
And we're getting out of our closing hymn.

930
01:14:27,720 --> 01:14:30,720
And sing together. Opportunity to respond.

931
01:14:30,720 --> 01:14:33,720
If the Lord is convicting you in some way. If you realize, say, I'm not a calling God the way I should.

932
01:14:33,720 --> 01:14:35,720
You need to repent and turn to him today.

933
01:14:35,720 --> 01:14:39,720
Or if you realize you're not going to be in the church that you're supposed to be.

934
01:14:39,720 --> 01:14:42,720
You know what that looks like in some way. Or you need to know what that looks like when you respond.

935
01:14:42,720 --> 01:14:45,720
God's calling you to take on a ministry. Take on a task.

936
01:14:45,720 --> 01:14:47,720
Or talk to a certain individual. Where it might be.

937
01:14:47,720 --> 01:14:49,720
The Lord is speaking to your heart today.

938
01:14:49,720 --> 01:14:53,720
And you respond as we sing this song.

939
01:14:53,720 --> 01:14:56,720
Stand with me. If you're able to do so, let's sing together.

940
01:14:56,720 --> 01:14:59,720
And then you respond. God is with you.

941
01:14:59,720 --> 01:15:17,720
All to Jesus I surrender all, to him I freely yield.

942
01:15:17,720 --> 01:15:31,720
All ever love and trust in him in his presence daily there.