I could rest you in your arms forever
Cause I know nobody loves me better
Hold on to me
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family
Protection while we sleep
The sermon title today is
Inside Out and No Quit In Ya
I know that's kind of slang and whatever
But I'm hoping it helps us to remember a little bit
We have been working through a series
Of God's creation called
Being a Fanatic
And each week we've talked about
What it takes to become a Fanatic
And then as just a little bit of a snippet at the opening
I've talked about why it is that you might want to become a Fanatic
So I've just got to real quick go down the list
Part one we talked about dying with Christ
We talked about how we had died with Christ
In fact the Bible says that
Jesus died for all of us
And if he died for all of us then all of us have died
That's what the Bible says
And we are now living beyond our own deaths
If you've been saved
Part two we talked about storing up treasures
And how the treasure houses of our family
Of the family of God, our treasure houses are in heaven
And how we store up our treasures
In heaven rather than on earth
Part three we talked about
Seeking first the Kingdom of God
In particular as we talked about
Seeking first the Kingdom of God
We talked about seeking it
In our relationships between us and other people
In our person
Inside us and then is the local church
And we want to see the Kingdom of God come
And I think that when it says in the Lord's Prayer
We pray, thy Kingdom come
That's what it's talking about
We talked about worry and regret
And we talked about the two greatest enemies
In particular we talked about how God cares about us
And he cares about this moment in time
Right now, right here
And what you do with it
Matters to God
Even though as we heard C.S. Lewis say
Earlier
God has no limit
In the amount of time he can have
But if he is present in every single time
It makes sense that he is concerned about
Every single moment in time because he is present there
And that we would use it in a way
That honors him not in worry
Which means thinking about the things of the future
Or in regret, thinking about the things of the past
But living right now in the moment
And then we talked about having an answer for everything
Last week we talked about having an answer for everything
And we essentially summed it up as
That he is the answer for everything
And our faith in him
And scripture provides us
With the right thing at the right time
To deal with what we're facing
And then today we're talking about
Our insides out
And no quit in you
That's the title for today. We are not done
There will be two more sermons in this series
And I can tell you their titles now
But I won't. You'll have to come or listen in
To hear what they are, okay?
And then after that point in time we will be transitioning
Into kind of a new topic
So that's where we're at
I want to talk to you today about
There's a little quote from C.S. Lewis
There is one thing
And only one thing
Now get this, there is one thing and only one thing
In the whole universe which we know more about
Than we can learn
From external observation
And that one thing
Is mankind
We do not merely observe
Men or women if you're a woman
Rather
We are men or women
In this case
We have so to speak
Inside information
You know what it is like to be a person
You've been there, you've experienced it
In fact you have a unique load of information
About what it is like to be you
And so we can say we are in the know
I submit to you then
Because we are in the know, we know
As we've been looking at it for the last several weeks
We know that we were
Created to be like what we've been studying
You can feel in your
Inner most being a need to be
A fanatic, a need to be
About something, a need to be
About purpose and focus
One thing, and God
Made us that way
And as C.S. Lewis
Being a theologian and a teacher
And a famous author of children's stories
And was on the radio
In World War II explaining all the bases of Christianity
All while the war was raging around them
All of that was going on
C.S. Lewis was making the statement
That you kind of get this already
Right? So I don't have to argue
With you or try to convince you
About becoming a fanatic
Solomon said, and I'm very much paraphrasing
But he said, this is the best way to go
Just kind of put one foot in both worlds
One in the kingdom of God and one in the kingdom of men
Because there's a lot of good stuff in the kingdom of men
All kinds of good things to entertain and be a part of
And there's a lot of good stuff in the kingdom of God
And all kinds of good things and an eternity awaiting
Then later he said, oh no
That was a horrible idea
I was being ripped in two
And I submit to you that most men lived their lives ripped in two
Most people
Are struggling with should I do this or should I do that
Should I be like this or should I be like that
And the reason is because we were
Not created to have that
Roaring debate going on all the time
We were created to be going one way
The way, the right way
And going with all that we are
But the world is so tempting
And so full of other things
Even things that will rear up and try to be gods themselves
That we latch onto them
As they're passing by
If you
Get the picture for a moment, a man on a skateboard
He's going about 15 mile an hour
Three times walking, max walking pace
Going down the street and a car
Goes by in the opposite direction
Doing about 35 mile an hour
Now he's thinking to himself
I'm going about 15 mile an hour
I'm doing pretty good, got a pretty good pace on
But that car is going 35 mile an hour
Now if I just reach out
And latch onto that car with all
My might
I'll whip around and I'll be doing 35 mile an hour
In that direction, it's not the direction I really want to go
But I'll whip around and I'll do it
And you know what the results of that are
Right? So at the best you're going to crash
And probably at the worst you're going to be
Ripped apart, your arms are going to be ripped off
Or whatever. One time I was driving
Into Cedar Point and they had all
These cones lined up and we were coming a little bit later
And they didn't have cars lined up or anything
And there was orange cones going by
And I thought it would be the coolest thing to open the door
And reach out and grab an orange cone
We were driving by about 20 mile an hour
I about broke my hand
And I thought, if you're going to go one way
And you should be going the other way
The process of turning is
A process, right?
And we understand that, okay?
If you say for example, like I know I should go to bed
At a reasonable time every night
And you say I'm going to start going to bed at a reasonable time
I'm going to stop staying up late watching movies
And reading books and playing games
Where I'm going to go to bed at a reasonable time every night
And if I want to do any of that kind of stuff
I'll do it in the morning before school or before work
Or when I have, and I'll be more energetic
Than carrying that out and trying to do that
That's another thing, right?
Most of the time when you make a decision about how to change your life
It just doesn't just click
It's not just all of a sudden, I'm going to change this behavior
And maybe if it does
It goes for a while
I remember years ago, Judy wanted to quit smoking so bad
And she went and got hypnotized to quit smoking
And she quit smoking for 60 days
It lasted for 60 days after she got hypnotized
And then one day
She had a frustrating day and she picked up a cigarette
From that moment on, she was smoking every day again
And she was like, I've never smoked before
And so she had that
Moment in time where she made the decision
She got the hypnotism and then for 60 days
She was able to stop and then she was right back at it
I submit to you, you've had all of these experiences
You know what this is like
You know what it's like to tame your doubts
You know what it's like to struggle with your decisions
You know what it's like to make a decision that you think will be good for yourself
And be unable to carry it out
The fact is, we are complex beings
And we have first hand knowledge of this
And some of the things I'm going to say to you
They're going to go by kind of quickly
But part of that reason is because you already have this experience
You already know, as a human being
You already know what I'm talking about
Whether you're lost or saved
I think saved people who have Christ, have wisdom, have the Holy Spirit
They kind of can discern it a little bit
And maybe see when it's one and when it's the other
But everybody can feel it
In Psalm 139
The psalmist writes this
He says in Psalm 139, 13
For you formed by inward parts
You wove me in my mother's womb
So basically he's recognizing
We have inward parts
Notice it doesn't say inward part
We have inward parts
We have outward parts
And we have inward parts
If we didn't have outward parts, there would be no reason to distinguish that we have inward parts
You have parts
But he says, you wove me in my inward parts
God did it, God authored you as a person
And you can say
Well, I went through this, I went through that
All these things changed me
I'm dealing with this lack of self-discipline
Because of the experiences I had when I was a kid
Yes, I get all of that
In fact, the Bible says that God orchestrated
All of those factors so that you might
Search around for him, that's Acts 17
And find him and realize he was never far away
In the first place
But the fact is, God wove your inner parts
He made you while you were still in your mother's womb
To be who you would be
You have inward parts
And God made them
And then in 1 Samuel 16, 7 it says
Now this is the story
I'm going to give you the preface so you understand the story
This is the story where David is being chosen as the next king
And Samuel is coming to anoint the king
And they bring all the brothers of David
He's the smallest, probably least attractive
Least masculine looking
Least physical of all of them, he's young
And they bring all of the older brothers
Who are strong, some of them are handsome
Some of them are kind of regal looking
Look like they make good kings
They bring all of them before Samuel
And God says, nope, nope
Nope, nope, nope
Every single time he says, no that's not the one
And finally David comes
And then
The Lord said to Samuel
Do not judge from his appearance
Or from his lofty stature
Talking about whether he is able to look like a king
Or not, because I have rejected him
That's talking about the other brothers
God does not see
As a mortal who sees the appearance
The Lord looks into the heart
And then he goes on right after that
To choose David
The youngest, least regal, least strong
Least attractive of all of the brothers
Possibly
He may have had some traits that were better than others
The bottom line is
God looks on that inward self
Now you and I both know
That the outer self
While it has its troubles
Is easier to change
Than the inward self
You get a diagnosis and the doctor says
You can't eat that anymore, you can't live that way anymore
Or you're going to die
And you're like, I've got to change it now
And you finally change it after years of trying to
And it's changed, and it doesn't bounce back the other way
Because your life is now at stake
Or your pain goes away
And you realize, hey, I had pain, now I don't have pain
So changing that was the right thing to do
And I'm not going to go back
You were 40 pounds overweight, you worked out, you lost all the weight
Now you're not going to go back to being the person before
That you were
It is easier to change the outward
Than it is to change the inward
And the inner part, he sees the interior
The inward parts then include
Your heart, while the outward appearance
And inward heart condition
Are two different things
So even as you sit here today
You may be coming across
As a pretty good guy or a pretty good girl
You may be, everyone's thinking
Hey, they're in the right place, the right time, doing the right thing
Look how respectful they're being
Look how well they're handling themselves or whatever
I'm so glad for that
But God is not looking only at the outward appearance
In fact, it says he judges
By the inward, the heart
Which then it's two different things
Which is a problem
Because the heart is not good
Our heart is not good
Jeremiah 17, 9-10
Says, the heart is more deceitful
Than all else and is
Desperately wicked
Or desperately sick
Who can understand it?
And then it goes on to say
I the Lord search the heart
I test the mind
Even to give to each man according to his ways
According to the results of his deeds
So there's a couple things to see in there
The first thing is that God, again
Recognizes that your heart is messed up
Or at least outside
Christ is messed up, right? We'll get there in a minute
The heart of man is messed up
And we realize that if you're a Christian
You remember what it was like when you were not
I do, my heart all over the place
One day this, one day that
I want this, I'm going to get it no matter what it takes
Now I really screwed up my life
And I'm going to heal it no matter what it takes
I'm going to go back the other way, I'm going to make everybody think I'm okay
And so on and so on and so on
Because our hearts were wicked
Outside Christ, you can remember
What that was like
God says I search the heart
I test the mind, so you've got two inward parts
You've got the heart and the mind
Those are both inside you
Is your mind outside? You ever hear the old saying
I give you a piece of my mind? What does that mean?
What does it mean when somebody gives you a
piece of their mind?
Hannah, what does it mean?
What would that mean?
I'm going to give you a piece of my mind
What does that mean?
Have you ever heard that saying before?
Yeah, had your mom ever said it?
Put her on the spot
Have you ever said that? Okay Holly, what does it mean?
I'm going to give you a piece of my mind
Yeah
Yeah, so that you dress them down
You yell at them, you tell them why they're wrong
That's what it means to give a piece of your mind
So that's an outward behavior, right?
But your mind is not outward, it's inside
That's what we understand
Human condition, we understand these are inward parts
Your mind, your heart, that's your inward parts
Your actions, the things you do outside, those are your outward parts
When you touch something
With your hand, that is an outward action
Your hand itself is an outward
Action, this is the skin
It's outside all of the other organs
I feel it on the page
The page is clearly outside me
And the skin senses it outside me
It is outside me as well, it is how I connect with the world
My mouth, my actions, these are how I connect with the world
And God is judging my heart
And my mind, it says
Testing my mind and judging my heart
Even to give
Each man according to his ways
According to the results of his deeds
So in other words, what you do
You're going to get it back from God
That's what he's saying
Because he is searching your heart
And testing your mind
Remember, God formed our
Inward parts
He wove us in our womb
You have inward parts, God made them
But the world killed them
Your inward parts
You submitted
Your inward parts
To the world
You submitted your inward parts
To outward actions
Had a little bit of
Altercation
Controversy between me and Ariana
Yesterday, and then as I was explaining
It to her, saying, you know, okay
Our actions
Govern our feelings
Or our feelings
Govern our actions
That's the choice that people tend to make
But notice that your feelings
And your actions, that's
Both pretty outward
Your heart and your mind
Govern your feelings, which then govern your actions
Or your heart and your mind
Govern your actions, which then govern your feelings
People are so
Surface
Everyone's going around, he said to me, she said to me
She behaved a certain way, he looked like
It tasted like
Everything is about the outside
But God's not like that
God's all about the inside
Right?
Some people in this room are wearing
Sweatshirts, somebody in this room
Is wearing a tie, I think I'm the only one
Right?
Neither is more appropriate for worship
God is concerned about the inside
Not the outside
But don't kid yourself, those
Outside actions, they say something about
The inside
You have inward parts, God made those inward parts
But the world killed them
You submitted those inward parts, your heart and your mind
You submitted them to your actions
Your actions are that which
Flows out of a man
Is that which makes a man unclean, Jesus said
And also the wages of sin
Is death, Paul wrote
And so when you engage
In sinful behavior
You submit your insides
Your heart and your mind
To the effect of that sinful behavior
And die, your inside dies
You become separated from God
Those inward parts that were created
To have that perfect union with the Lord of the Universe
To be one with God
Are now separated by the choices
That we have made
Or the ignorance that we have allowed
To persist
That's why Peter writes
This way, 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 3 and 4
He says, your adornment
Does anybody know what that word means, adornment?
It's like your dress or what's on your outside
What you look like, right? Your jewelry
Your dress, the hair, etc
He said, your adornment
Must not be merely external
So in other words, you shouldn't
Look like a certain thing, only on the outside
It shouldn't be braiding the hair
Wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses
But
Let it be the hidden person
Of the heart
With the imperishable quality of a gentle
And quiet spirit
Which is precious in the sight of God
In other words, you should
Be walking around
Looking like
And hold on, because I submit you will
Whether you like it or not, you should be walking around
Looking like what's on the inside of you
You find a young man who
Looks good, acts good, talks good
And you go, ah, I can have him
I mean, he's alright, I can have him as a friend
Or I can have him as a boyfriend, or I can have him as a husband
Right?
But then you get to know him a little bit
And you find out the inside doesn't look like
That at all, it's dirty, nasty, it's a problem
It's offensive and possibly dangerous
We're supposed to wear our
Quiet, gentle spirit
On the outside
These things are precious in the sight of God
You can wear all the jewelry
Dress up all the fanciest, you can say all the right words
You can do it all perfectly
But God is looking on your heart
And your mind
And if you do it all perfectly and God looks at your heart and mind
He's going to say, you're outside
Don't look like you're inside
I'm judging you not on your outsides
But your insides
In fact, your outsides are causing a break
Between me and you
This thing that I create in your insides
I created that to be a perfect relationship with me
But you're submitting it to your choice of actions
On your outside
And I can't be like that
I will not walk with you
I will not lie with you, I will not steal with you
I will not cheat with you, I will not murder with you
I will not lust with you
And so you choose to do those things
Outside me, away from me
That's how death
Enters in and we become objects
Of wrath, dead in our trespasses
And sin
Rather Peter was saying, you can wear
You can actually wear your heart condition
You can choose to do so
Any amount of good looks that are only
External are sin
Though possibly greatly desirable
In the world, people think, oh he shows up on time
Or he works hard, or he looks good
Or he's got all these different ways that fit
We're going to hire him, we're going to pay him, we're going to bless him
They may even temporarily
Yield wealth and great influence
He always does what he says he'll do
I can trust him
And so then you come and you tell them
What isn't true and they believe you
Because as far as they know, you always do
What you say you'll do
But you can wear your actual heart condition
And I submit to you that a lot of people do
It's written this way
To sum up, all of you be
Harmonious, sympathetic
Brotherly, kind hearted and humble
In spirit, not returning
Evil for evil or insult for insult
But giving a blessing instead
For you were called for the very purpose
That you might inherit a blessing
See, God has a better plan
God's blessings are eternal
And worth more than the world's
Best rewards
The problem is
We bought into as
Non-Christians and even as Christians sometimes
We bought into this idea
That we can get what we want
We can make our insides feel better
By taking the things of the world
Let's be realistic
Chocolate tastes good, produces
Serotonin in your brain
And you will feel better if you eat chocolate
That's a reality
Unless you don't like chocolate
In which case your particular
Thing might be something else
It might be ice cream or pizza
You have something that when you eat it
Makes you feel better
But feeling better is only surface
It's not truly
Affecting your heart and your mind
It's temporary at best
So you can wear your heart condition
But you also can go after
These other things that will
Overcome your feeling bad
About your heart condition
They will make you feel better
God has a better plan
His blessings are eternal and worth more
Than the world's best rewards
There are a lot of people running around
Even right now who are
Putting their outside appearance
Up pretty well
They look pretty good on the outside
It's been like that way for a long time
All the way back to Adam and Eve
Pretty much
See Adam and Eve's insides were messed up
And they knew it
And they knew that as soon as they ran into God
That he would know it
And so they hid
And that's what people are doing
That looks a little bit like what God would want
In Matthew 23
Verses 24 and 28
Jesus is speaking
He says, you blind guides
Restrain out a gnat and swallow a camel
Woe to you
Scribes and Pharisees
Hypocrites
For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish
But inside they are full of robbery
And self-indulgence
You blind Pharisee
First clean the inside of the cup and of the dish
So that the outside of it may become clean also
Woe to you
Scribes and Pharisees
Hypocrites
For you are like white-washed tombs
That means like white-painted with white paint
Which on the outside appear beautiful
But inside they are full of dead men's bones
And all uncleanness
So you too outwardly appear
Righteous to men
But inwardly you are full of hypocrisy
And lawlessness
Hear me now
Nor will I ever call you to be a better person
To look better to the world
Would it be nice that we could look better to the world
And everybody could think that we're honest
And everybody could think that we're true
And hardworking and giving and merciful
And serving and all those kinds of things
Would it be good so that then we could share the truth about Jesus?
Well, sure, that would probably be a wonderful thing
But if that becomes our motivations
If our job is to be better on the outside
Then we've totally missed what God has called us to
You don't become a fanatic by being better
In fact, there's an argument about Christianity in the early Christianity
All of the disciples pretty much died for their faith, all of them
They died because they believed that Jesus died and rose again
And they were willing to die because they knew that if they died
They too would rise again
So then there's an argument that basically says
That they wouldn't have died if they knew what they were dying for was a lie
See, they saw Jesus alive again after his death
At that point in time, what were they going to do?
They saw him die, then they saw him alive again after his death
So what were they going to do? Now you're going to kill me?
So, no, I'm going to recant, I don't believe in Jesus
No, you can't do that because they saw him dead, they saw him alive
So there was no way to go back
They were trapped going forward as fanatics
They were crying out praises to God for him allowing them to suffer like Jesus suffered
For him allowing them to die like Jesus died
They were grateful for the suffering that they experienced
Because they knew that Jesus, who experienced the same suffering
Had come back to life in a divine form
And so the argument goes like this
It says that some men will die and some men will even die for a lie
That's how it works in militant Muslim circles
For example, they die for a lie
But no men will die for a lie that they know to be a lie
Why not just recant and survive? It's a lie
And so that's the argument
And here's what he's saying
He's saying, these are men who lived a lie
They were hypocrites, they cleaned the outside of the cup
And I don't want to be, and I don't want you to be, a hypocrite
I don't want you to clean the outside of the cup and go around looking good
So that people will come to our church or serve in your ministry
Or treat you with respect or pay you more money
None of that matters at all
Cleaning the outside of the cup for all of those purposes
Leaves you where they were at
It makes you a hypocrite
And he says, whoa, and by the way, when God says, whoa to you, that's bad
Whoa is bad
And he says, whoa to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
Like whitewashed tombs, full of dead bodies, full of dead men's bones
So you too outwardly appear righteous to men
But inwardly you are filled full of hypocrisy and lawlessness
That must not be us
But again, we have a problem, don't we?
We have a problem because our hearts are messed up
They're wicked and nasty
And they need repair
Boy, you know, I bought a watch once
And then after I bought the watch I was like, man, I can't figure out how to
The battery went dead
I'm like, I can't figure out how to get the battery changed
And then I was out and about and I saw a jewelry store
The jewelry store said they could change the battery
I thought, well, I could just pop in there for a moment, get the battery changed
And I thought about it, I'm like, I'm busy today and I won't do it
I put it off a couple of times
And then I thought, you know where I should take the watch back to get the battery changed?
I should take it back to where I bought it
And I went back there and I had a sign that says, if you buy a watch from us
Your watch batteries are free for life
So I had them change the watch battery
I wore that watch for a long time after that
I never put a second battery in it
So had I, I could have got it for free
But my point is this
Who made your innermost parts?
God did
And when your innermost parts are messed up
And they are because they've been submitted to your outward actions
Who are you going to take them to to get them repaired?
God! You go to God to get them repaired because he made them
He wove them, it says
From the beginning he created them
You can wear an outside appearance in keeping with a heart condition
Unlike your own, but it's not going to do you any good in eternity
It's not going to do you any good in your relationship with God
So, hint, don't do it
Don't wear an outside appearance
In other words, if you get all dressed up and go to a meeting and pretend to be honest
And you might get the job
First think about what's really inside you
Is that who you are?
Before you tell somebody, for example, before you begin like this way
As young people are so fun
Let me be honest or I'm going to be honest, right? Comma, like that
We start that way, honestly, going to be honest, right?
And that's the thing that people say comes from the internet
It's proliferated conversation now
If you go into court, by the way, you say that, you know what the opposing lawyer will say
He'll say, so you say you're going to be honest, so what else are you lying about?
Why do you need to say I'm going to be honest with you?
Just be honest, right?
So the point is, if you would say I'm going to be honest
Then before you say I'm going to be honest, ask yourself, are you an honest person?
Is your insides in line with that course of action?
Are you just saying you're going to be honest this time?
Because you're trying to convince the person that you're listening to
That you mean what you say or maybe because you're hesitating to say what you're saying
James writes over in James chapter 1 beginning in verse 19
This you know, my beloved brethren, for everyone must be quick to hear
Slow to speak and slow to anger
For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God
Before I go any further, I just want you to know that I have been a person
And I have met many people over the years who have what I call a high sense of justice
They want things to be right
And when they're not right, they get angry and they get them fixed
Except you know what the problem with that is, according to what we just read
The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God
If you get angry and that gets it fixed, even though it is now right
It is still not the righteousness of God
Why do you think that is?
Because that other person is responding in their outward self to your anger
Rather than responding in their inward self
They won't respond in their inward self because they're protecting their inward self from your anger
So they're not going to change because you're misbehaving
They might do what you asked them to do that time because you were mad
But it's not going to bring about the righteousness of God
That's what James says now on in verse 21
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all the remains of wickedness
In humility, listen to this
Putting aside all filthiness
In humility, receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls
So what is your action?
What is your outward action that has the inward result of saving your inward parts?
The answer is
Receive the word implanted
That's what you do
You take the word of God and you allow it to affect you internally
This is a problem because then when you read a verse that says thou shalt not bear false witness
And you interpret it as you cannot lie
And you become an honest person because you have an instruction not to lie
Not to bear false witness
You have done exactly the opposite of that which will affect your inward parts
If you say I'm not going to steal because I know the Bible tells me I should not steal
And you choose outwardly to never steal again
And so you're never stealing
Because you read a verse that says you should not steal
And you mentally made a choice to follow the commands of the Lord
That is not what the Bible said you were supposed to do
Rather what you were supposed to do was take that word internally
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee, David wrote
Take that word internally and apply it to the dark areas of your heart
Apply it to the person that is in here
And when you apply the word internally
It is able to save, read, bring back to life into connection with God
Your internal parts
Receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls
Then he says but prove yourself, test yourself
Doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves
In other words if you just hear it and even if you just hear it and do
For a while for example
For if anyone is a hearer and not of the word and not a doer
He is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror
For once he's looked at himself and gone away
He has immediately forgotten what kind of a person he was
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty
And abides by it, that means lives by it
Not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer
That man will be blessed in what he does
The message is in there and the one has been preached so many times
I've personally heard it and I've never exactly preached it
But I've personally heard it preached multiple times
It is if you listen to the word and actually carry it out
You'll be blessed in what you do
You heard that right? You heard that in there
If you listen it and carry it out
You will be blessed in what you do
It's in there
He said but one who looks and abides by it
An effectual doer blessed in what he does
That's one message
But guess what that message is?
If you on the outside, if you submit your outside to the word of God
You'll be blessed in what you do
Hence well, hence prosperity, trustworthiness, etc.
Right?
However, there is a second message in there, isn't there?
The second message was
Putting aside all filthiness in humility
Receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls
It's not good enough to get out of bed today and read
Thou shalt not lie and not lie
That's not good enough
It really never was
Because even while you were not lying
You were doing something else wrong, right?
You had a dirty flesh nature on the inside
What is called the natural man
And it was messed up and it was separate from God
And so it's not good enough to start doing the right things
After you've already done one thing wrong
And it wasn't just one thing
It was many things
And then Jesus said it this way
Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing
But inwardly are ravenous wolves
In other words, their outsides are so much different from their insides
You will know them by their fruits
Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
So every good tree bears good fruit
In other words, the outside comes in line with the inside
But the bad tree bears bad fruit
A good tree cannot produce bad fruit
Nor can a bad tree produce good fruit
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire
So then you will know them by their fruits
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven
But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter
Your outside appearance is tied to your actions
And your actions are tied to your inside condition
So yes, you can work it from the outside
Say what I look like is going to be tied to what I do
And what I do is supposed to be tied to who I am on the inside
And as a human being, because you understand the human condition
You can make a break with that
You can say I'm not going to do that
I'm going to be this way on the outside
And make everybody think a certain thing about me
While on the inside I'm all dirty and nasty and filthy and not doing it right
Not really walking with the Lord
God is not affecting me internally
I'm doing all this on the outside
That could get you through your whole life
People live that way and show up
And that's why he said
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven
Because there were people who prophesied
They said, we prophesied in your name
We healed in your name
And he didn't say, oh no, you did not
Rather they said they prophesied in his name
They healed in his name
And he said, get away from me
I never knew you
You see, you need an internal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ
That will then drive your actions
Which will create your appearance
When your actions bespeak an inward condition
That does not truly exist
Then that is hypocrisy
And Jesus said, woe to you hypocrites!
So first submit your inward man
And then match your outward man to your inward man
That's how it works
Get real
You as a human know that there are parts inside you that were broken
They were broken by the way people treated you
They were broken by the things that you did
Things that you said
Things that you wanted
They were broken by your desires
Whatever, they were broken
And you needed healing
And you get that healing by going to God
I've recently started playing pickleball
Invited out by one of my sons
Kind of enjoyed it
Then I read an article just recently that said there was a particular day
I think it was a Friday night
In which 13% of all the injuries that came into emergency rooms
Across the entire country were pickleball related
Is that crazy?
So it was a certain evening
13% of everybody that came to the emergency room was pickleball injuries
You know why that is?
Because anybody can play pickleball
It's fun
The rules aren't hard
Anybody can do it
Now, not everybody's going to be great at it
But you go out and play pickleball
And this is what you do
You play a little harder
You play a little faster
Now, you haven't worked out in months
You don't eat right or whatever
But you go and you start playing
Then you play a little harder
And then one moment you slam down
And you tear your Achilles tendon
Or whatever
Strain your back, etc.
And then you're done playing pickleball
And you can't move the next day
And you go to the emergency room
What's happening is people are allowing, wanting, desiring their outward man
To do something that their inward man can't do
This applies to sharing the gospel
You go to try to share the gospel
And you just can't
You're timid
You're afraid
You're like, I don't know how to say this
I don't know what to say to this person
I don't even know
What if they ask me a question?
I have no answers
You are a human
Saved by the God of the universe
With mended insides
You have all that you need
The only problem is you need to bring your insides and your outsides together
And walk like that
Because that's what you were created for
That's what will make you a fanatic
And that's what you were created for
Ezekiel 11.19 says
And I will give them one heart
And put a new spirit with them
And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh
And give them a heart of flesh
That they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances
In other words, follow the rules
And do them
Then they will be my people
And I shall be their God
But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations
And as you go after the things in the world that are not of God
I will bring their conduct down on their heads declares the Lord
So there was a people of God
There was always going to be a people of God
And we can become that people of God
If indeed we submit our hearts to that God
And if on the other hand you submit your actions
And try to work inwardly
I submit to you
You'll just never get there
That's why Jesus was able to say to Nicodemus on that fateful night
You must be born again
Even though Nicodemus fasted
No food or water
Two days a week
Probably Tuesdays and Fridays
Nothing
24 hours
No food or water
The entire book of Genesis
Word for word
We struggle to memorize verses
He had the whole book of Genesis beginning to end memorized
His entire preaching calendar was filled up every week
In a different worship place
Synagogue, temple
All the way around the circuit
Because he was a desirable preacher
And Jesus said to him
You must be born again
Or you will not see the Kingdom of God
Because his inward parts were not on the course that God had set for him
Because his inward parts were not aligning with his outward parts
Yes he was a preacher
Yes he was a faster
Yes he was a teacher
Yes he was desirable
Yes he was growing
But his inward parts were not aligning with his outward parts
And Jesus said
You've got to be born again
It starts that way
Babies don't learn to walk before they come out of the womb
They don't learn to make dietary choices before they come out of the womb
They don't learn to decide whether they're going to take medicine or not
Before they come out of the womb
First you've got to be born
Then those decisions are heaped on you
And it's the same way
If you're trying to live as a Christian
You've not yet become a Christian
Stop now
You're wasting your time
In fact you may get ahead in the world
Your actions may be blessed by following the things that the Lord has led you to do
Except he's not Lord
And he's not actually leading you to do that at all
You're just following the instruction book for life
When in reality what you need to do is submit your inward parts to the Lord of the Universe for healing and correction
And then he says this
36 of the same book
Chapter 36 verse 25
And that's what's been going on since the Garden of Eden
That's how God can say you have no excuse
Because you're a human being
And you can feel your first hand experience to know that your insides were broken, were incorrect
You needed healing, you needed resetting, you needed re-birthing
You knew that
And you kept making rules for yourself and living for them
And then breaking the very same rules that you made for yourself
Or that the world made for you
Or even the ones that you learned from me
Breaking them over and over again because your insides are screwed up
You get your insides healed by bringing them back to the one who created them
Who wove them in the first place
You couldn't fix your heart, you can't even find your heart
It's not the organ that beats in your body
It's the center of your decision making
It's the center of all that you care about and yearn for
It's your heart, it's your inward being
It's a spiritual thing
You can search the entire body from toe to toe
You can do a PET scan and you'll never find it
It's not there
It exists in a spiritual realm but it exists inside you
And God can fix it
And God can heal it
And then you can wear it on the outside
That's what we've read
It's happened a number of times
We're almost ready for that video, Arden
It's happened a number of times that I've seen people get saved
They've given their life over to the Lord
And then they've gone back into the same environment that they lived in before
Where their mom or dad are not Christians
Or the people that live in their neighborhood are not godly
Or whatever
And they go right back into that same environment again
And they really struggle with being who it is they have now come to be in Christ
You know why that is?
Because their outside begins to take such a big priority
They're worried about it again, right?
And you've got to not do that
It seems a little selfish but in the midst of everyone else wanting something from you
There is one thing you must want more
So we're going to have an object lesson and a video at the same time
So first of all I need a volunteer
In fact I'll take two volunteers to do a little craft
There's Arden, I need one more, and Haley
So I'm going to give you these two straws
You guys are going to work together
And while we watch this little video that we're about to watch
I want you to create one single straw out of all four of those straws
That is as long as you can make it
So end to end
No tape allowed, you have to do it by craftiness
And then we're going to watch this video for a few minutes while they do that
And then we'll be in our conclusion
We can't find it
Should be okay
That's pretty close
We don't have to go back
Right where it ended was where we wanted to be
Unless it kept going
It doesn't have to take us in the lump
Okay
That's not bad
That wasn't as good as it ought to have been
The old story
What you are comes out in what you do
A crabapple tree can't produce eating apples
As long as the old self is there
Its taint will be over all we do
We try to be religious and become passive
We try to be kind and become patronizing
Social service ends in red tape and officialdom
Unselfishness becomes all showing off
I don't mean of course that we're to stop crying for the good
We've got to do the best we can
If the soul is just fool enough to go into battle with a dirty rifle
He mustn't run away
But I do mean that the rural cure lies far deeper
Out of ourselves and into Christ we must go
Two things to take away from the video right away
Is that one, this problem that we're dealing with today
Is not new
Ever since there have been Christians
People have said I'm going to do the good thing
I'm going to do the good thing
A Christian is a little Christ
A Christian is a little Jesus
A Christian doesn't do the things that he has done
Rather a Christian is a person like Jesus was
In fact it says we ought to walk as he walked
And that naturally will equate to being honest
Trying hard, showing up, doing the work
Spending your blood, sweat, and tears if necessary
It will equate to letting your insides govern, drive, and show
In the practical we say things like
Does this course of action line up with what God wants me to do?
And we say it all the time, don't we?
What if that is not the right question?
What if the question is does this course of action line up
With who God wants me to be?
And if it does, then you pour yourself into it
Is this what God has shown me to be and to do?
Does God's Word, which I am learning, command my choice
Or disallow a certain option?
There has never in all my life I sat and thought on this
And meditated on this and prayed on this
Been a time at which I could honestly say to you today
That I asked God what I was supposed to do
In a certain circumstance, did that, and regretted it later
Never once.
Now, have there been times in which I asked God what I was supposed to do
Did what he told me to do, and then as far as this world was concerned
It sucked, somebody got mad at me, I got hurt
A young man put out a hit on my life, you know, things like that
Have those things, bad things like that happen?
Yes, bad things sometimes come out of obedience to God in this lifetime
But never have I regretted it because I could always say to myself
I know, I did this, I am this because it's who God made me to be
And in that moment, I felt whole
And I don't know that there's any worse thing
Than to feel like what you're doing is hypocritical
To feel like what you're doing is not real
That it's not who you are
That you're somehow being forced to be something that you're not
Cassandra Clare, I won't forget you, don't worry
Cassandra Clare said, and you're going to go, and right away you're going to go
I have no idea who that is, and that's okay, that's good actually
Says, I believe people are more than one thing
It is one of the great lessons of growing up, learning that people can do both
That's the exact opposite of what I'm saying today
You can search that and find it all over the internet
What I'm saying to you is you couldn't do both, but you're not meant to
What you're meant to do is have a right relationship with God
And then have all of your actions line up with Him
That's what you're meant to do
Then, and we're in our conclusion now
There's no quit in you
There's no quit in you because not only does the eternal God of the universe
Create eternity new in you so that you will go to heaven and live for what we consider to be an eternity
I submit to you it's infinite, it's more than an eternity
But it's infinite that we will live with God once we get there
And He does that in people whose souls He mends
When He saves us internally, we do that
Now you can live like a dirt bag the rest of your life and still go to heaven
But you certainly shouldn't
You should wear your insides that God has now created on your outside and it will lead to all form of action
But it also will bring you into conflict with the world
Sometimes you will not be blessed the way you would like to be blessed
Then they will deliver you to tribulation, He says, and they will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of My name
At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another
Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many
Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold
But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved
If you're living on the outside something different than what's on your inside
I hate to break the news to you but you ain't gonna make it
It's not gonna happen
You're just gonna wind up in the spiritual emergency room trying to figure out why your insides couldn't power your outsides to do what you did
How did I wind up physically broken? How did I wind up not right? How did I wind up not able?
When I thought my outsides were in line with the Lord
Because your outsides in line with the Lord have to be driven by your insides in line with the Lord
You've got to be born again, you've got to submit your internal for God's healing
And then having done so, unified, go forward
Or I would say don't go forward at all
If you're not willing to do the work like stretch, eat right, get a little bit of rest
Don't get a hobby like pickleball
If you're not willing to do a little bit of work, study your Bible, pray, memorize, meditate, share your faith
Serve, give, practice the spiritual disciplines
If you're not willing to do some work, then your hobby of Christianity
A. It's gonna cost you a lot more than you're willing to pay
You're gonna break up, fall apart in the process
It's gonna destroy you physically while your body is not able to pay what your soul could pay
But on the other hand, if you're willing to be a fanatic, you're willing to be born again, start fresh
Submit yourself to the God of the universe and live forward with all that you've got
Then all the rest, all your actions, your heart, your hands, your mind, your mouth, your eyes, everything
All of that will come in line with your interior which has been fixed by Jesus, rewoven to be correct
And you'll be able to stay the course
Apply this same standard to anything we choose to do in life
If you can't stay the course in a thing, if you think about something, you think, okay, like
So if the persecutions truly break out next week
And I don't think I'd still be doing this
Let's say you're playing a game or building something or whatever
And then you say, okay, but if the persecutions break out, I'm gonna be hiding my Christianity
I'm gonna be doing Bible study behind closed doors, I'm gonna be worshiping on my own
I'm not gonna let anybody know that I'm a Christian which means I can't do sports anymore
I can't do choir anymore, I can't do my hobbies anymore, I can't build this anymore
I can't do that anymore because I'm gonna be a different person on that day
Because I know right away, right around the corner is Jesus coming
I'm investing in these things now because it's gonna be a long time before he gets here
But now that I know he's coming like tomorrow or the next day, I'm gonna spend my time focused on God
If that's the way your life is structured right now
Then you need to start cutting out some things that are in your life
That aren't in line with your inward person
And instead build your inward person
Like C.S. Lewis said, why do you think the world thinks Christianity is a little bit selfish?
Because real Christians are concerned about the chief most important thing
Real Christians are concerned about the chief most important thing
And that is that their insides stay in line with the Savior of the universe sent by Jesus who died for that honor
He's in charge of everything now, which means if he's not in charge of your inside
Then something is isolating your insides from him
Ephesians 2, Paul writes that we are saved by grace
That means God will come and do this thing for you if you let Him
He will do the work for you if you let Him
But it also says that we are saved by grace through faith
Now is faith an external thing?
Is it something you can touch, draw, write, eat, wear?
No, it is not, it is an internal thing
But it is an internal thing that by the admission of that very verse
It says we are saved by grace through faith
It is able to create a channel between us and the living God
May I borrow the straw?
No, thank you very much
Here's our finely crafted instrument
Faith acts as a straw and if I had a cup of water here
And enough reverse pressure, it looks like it probably would work
I could suck some water through this straw
Or if I had water pouring down here and I had an empty cup over here
I could stick this straw just barely in the water that's pouring down
And I could watch it drizzle into the cup
I believe it would work
It might fall apart in the process
And it might get shorter
But I guess it would only probably take the smallest little bit of this straw
To redirect the flow of water
You don't need much faith
It exists in your human condition
If you're here and you're not saved, you're not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ
And you understand you have this faith already
You just need to believe in God for this salvation that he offers
And then to live as a fanatic, you just align your insides with your exterior choices
And wear your heart on the outside of your body
Stay the course
The greatest sports players, I can't remember the commentator who said this
But he said, talent's easy to come by
Like there are millions of guys in the US right now who have talent in basketball
Not hundreds, but millions
Talent's easy to come by
And in their neighborhood, it makes them always win
Because they have talent, they win all the time
They're talented and nobody else has their talent
Or a few guys do, but they still
Maybe they mix it up with a couple of them
One guy wins one time, another guy wins the other time
If they're on the same team, they always win because they have talent
So the guys who go pro or the guys who go the distance
They don't go based on talent
Because lots of people have talent
I have talent in basketball and baseball
I just never did anything with it
I'm not a good basketball player or baseball player
But I can do it as talent is when you can do it without really training in it
Lots of guys have talent
But when you add talent to effort
It turns out when you take your talent
And you wear it on the outside
So you get up before everybody else gets up
You show up before everybody else shows up
You do the work that nobody else is willing to do
You shoot a thousand baskets when everybody else shoots ten
You play hours and hours of basketball
When everybody else just plays around a little bit
And you turn talent into something new
Now talent won't get you to heaven
Nor will any other interior traits
Because your insides are messed up
And you need them fixed up
And you got them fixed up from God
So what am I saying?
To become a fanatic, here's what you do
Open everything that's in you
To God
No exclusive rooms or preferences
You're hiding nothing
And you humbly come to God and say
Okay God, everything that's in me
I give it to you
You fix it
You wove it in the first place
Now you fix it
And then once you've done that
You let that fixing of God
That born againness
Affect everything that's on the outside
And now finally, finally
You're moving all in one direction
No longer are you a car or a skateboard
Or going one way with a car going the other
Tempted to go
Maybe I'll just latch on
When the pastor preaches
Or when the Bible speaks
Or when the Holy Spirit convicts
You say, oh maybe I'll just do it
Maybe I'll just repent and turn
And go the other way
Maybe I'll just look to God
Maybe I'll just do it
Always, that's the human condition
Always wondering, would this work?
Can I do this?
No longer like that
But now you and you
All that is you
Your mind, your soul, your heart, your body
Your actions, your choices
All that is you
Moving at whatever pace in one direction
That's what it takes to become a fanatic
You gotta have your insides on your outside
And no quick in you
I ask the praise team to come forward at this time
And lead our closing hymn
And if you're here today
And you would say either A, you've never given your life
To the Lord Jesus Christ in earnest
Then you do that
Doesn't matter what people think
Or if people think you have
But if you know you haven't
Then you say to God today
Okay, Lord, fix my insides
Come and live in me and fix my insides
And then let's go forward your direction
If on the other hand you'd say
I'm here and I have
And I've experienced what you're talking about
But I've been putting on airs
Pretending to be somebody I'm not or whatever
Then you turn to God again today
And you say, okay, God, make my insides
Also my outsides
So I can be just one person
So I'll no longer be torn in two
And I can be that fanatic
That I know the only way I'll ever feel whole
Is when it's all of me going one way
And if you respond
The Lord is ready to respond
You just stand with me and sing this song
And if the Lord has spoken to your heart in some way today
Then you respond during this time
You can come forward, take my hand and pray together
Or you can pray right where you are and talk to God
And then let us know what conversation is taking place
However you want to handle it
We are Jesus
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lamb
We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The great next-day
Mercy and love at the feet of Jesus
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lamb
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lamb
We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The great next-day
Mercy and love at the feet of Jesus
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lamb
Holy, holy, holy
We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The great next-day
Mercy and love at the feet of Jesus
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
And we cry
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lamb
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lamb
Holy, holy, holy
All right, so Aaron came up here today.
Come up here, son.
Sharing with me
kind of the way things have been going.
And just basically saying once I turn back to the Lord,
I'll let you share a little bit your own words.
Yeah.
I haven't lived with the inside.
It's in my heart.
On the outside, exactly the best of my ability.
I haven't been the husband that I want to be.
I want to show the world that what's in my heart is God.
And that's inside and outside.
My heart is in one place, and that's in this place where I'm looking for the Lord,
for the best of my ability.
I've been in prayer and repentance,
so things I've done that have not shown that
align with that that I have in my heart.
I actually would be in prayer for Aaron then, as he's committed himself.
We've already talked to the Lord.
I think the Lord's already done the work here today.
And now there's the living it out.
And you might be in a similar place.
You can be a Christian and be living what you think is right
or doing quote unquote your best.
And it's just not good enough.
It wasn't good enough to get saved.
And it's not going to be good enough going forward.
God can do what we cannot do.
In him, all things are possible.
He is able.
There was a moment in time when Jesus said,
Oh, it's hard for a rich man to come into the kingdom of God.
The truth is, we're all pretty rich.
Not necessarily wealthy rich, money rich, but rich in a lot of ways.
And even though we're here in this building,
I have this opportunity to live in the nation that we live in.
There are a lot of positive things made available to us,
and that would definitely have qualified.
It is hard to come into the kingdom of God when you got a lot going on.
You got a lot going for you when your relationships are pretty good
or your money's pretty good or it's hard.
So then they asked me, so well, then who can?
And God said, what?
So we've got all things are possible.
In other words, even a rich man can come into the kingdom of God.
Anybody can.
They'll take this one step.
And then I'm just I know for a fact, and I have struggled with it myself,
but I know for a fact that there is only one way forward.
You just you just don't get out of bed in the morning and leave your liver in the bed.
You just don't get out, get up from the breakfast table,
leave your feet under the table.
You go wherever you're going all together, all your physically and goes from one place to the next.
And it's the terrible thing to think you'd ever have to have an annotation
or to have a major part of your body removed.
So physically, we understand that.
And yet we want to leave our heart out of this.
Or leave our mind out of it.
What you put in your head will affect your actions.
Your mind is meant to go.
This is the hierarchy.
Your heart regenerated by Christ rules your mind and your mind makes your decisions and your body does the work.
That's the hierarchy.
And until you submit your heart to the Lord like that, you're not all going in the same direction at once.
And we feel skittish, you know, we feel nervous.
We feel frustrated.
We don't. Why is it going the way I want it to go?
You know, if you're safe, your soul will die again.
You won't go to hell.
But you can sure feel like that's going to happen.
You feel like there's a distance, a rift between you and God.
We don't want that.
I don't mean emotional, I mean spiritually.
And as I share with Aaron, since we started talking about these things, words seem to fail.
But this was not one sermon standing alone.
Also, it's the sixth in a series.
We are fanatic for Jesus.
That means all of us go in his way.
Whatever that is, you've got to turn your heart over.
Does anybody else need to say a word?
And then we're going to close in prayer.
All right, to remind you, after a brief break, we will have a membership meeting today with a few very important motions on that meeting and some information that I need.
Everyone is welcome, even if you be here and you're not a member of your welcome state.
That is where you would appeal for membership, if you're not a member.
After you say, yeah, I want to join the church or deal with any membership issues that may arise.
Yes, I'll go quick.
I found out yesterday that my nephew Miguel, my sister's kind son, his dad passed away in a work-related accident.
Oh, Jesus.
Yeah.
OK.
He's not taking it very well at all.
So your prayers are coveted for Miguel, who's going to the loss of his dad, and unexpectedly he's going to work there.
That's very good.
Father, I thank you so much for offering the opportunity, authoring the process, giving your son, Jesus, to make it work and also to make it abundantly evident.
Then writing in the structure of all creation that the God of the universe alone, you alone, our master, creator,
that you desire a personal relationship with us on an individual basis, one on one.
It is a beautiful thing when a man and a woman get married.
They love one another, hopefully, vimically, and they work toward oneness.
But you made it possible for each of them to be one with you, by the death of your son, atonement, repudiation for sins, by loving us.
And in your love, and in our relationship with you, we find peace.
We know that you, he who is in us is greater than me that is in the world.
We find hope, that hope which is in Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose again.
And I can say, and people might have a hard time understanding, but I can say that I have met him personally.
I have been in his presence, he's been in me.
And just the same as James, the brother of Jesus, while he was alive, might have said,
he's crazy, calls himself the son of God, even though they say he does miracles, whatever, but he's crazy.
And then after Jesus died and rose again, James was changed forever knowing that Jesus was indeed who he said he was.
And it would have been the same for me. For 25 years I thought Christianity was nuts, it was hard work,
there were so many things that I didn't want anything to do with.
And then when I met Jesus, everything changed. So there might be somebody in this room who has not met you personally,
not had that personal experience knowing that God has fixed their insides, that God is walking in them now,
that they can walk in him now.
I pray Lord that you'll be patient with that person and keep calling that person to yourself until it is so.
Maybe even right now in this moment if I think, I can do this, I think I can give my life over to the Lord.
And what if I did, what would that look like? And they're afraid because they know that being a fanatic means going forward,
energy going forward, one direction, going forward, serving and giving and loving and living for the Lord God.
And that's crazy until it's the only thing.
And I pray Lord for those of us in this room who can say it's the only thing that we will be united with,
our interior and our exterior. The truth, Lord, is bring our insides to the outsides so that all the world can see the love,
see the mercy, see the service. As your word says, that we might be your light.
In him was life and that life was the light of man. And now we are called the light of the world.
Help us Lord, not contain it, but rather display it.
Thank you for being with us during our service today. Bless each family, each person here as they go about living for you
and discovering the universe. We pray it all in Jesus name. Amen.
Thank you very much. This concludes our services, but we will be back in this room in about five minutes for the membership meeting.
So if you've got some business you need to conduct, please do that and then be back.