1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:16,000
I'll say you were just a man, but I say you are young, you are mighty.

2
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:37,000
I will shout your name to all the earth, and I will land your name on high. And the world will glorify your greatness. You are my God and I will shout your name.

3
00:00:46,000 --> 00:01:07,000
I know that you're just a man, but you gave your life for all these years. And I know you're the only way, because you are young, you are mighty.

4
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:26,000
I will shout your name to all the earth, and I will land your name on high. And the world will know your greatness. You are my God and Jesus.

5
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:41,000
I will shout your name to all the earth, and I will land your name on high. And I will show the world your goodness.

6
00:01:41,000 --> 00:02:05,000
As I live a life that shouts your name. As I live a life that shouts your name.

7
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:24,000
Jesus, as I live a life that shouts your name. Jesus, as I live a life that shouts your name.

8
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:49,000
Jesus, as I live a life that shouts your name. Jesus, as I live a life that shouts your name.

9
00:02:49,000 --> 00:03:13,000
You can be seated this time.

10
00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:29,000
Alright, this is the inspirational moment time. It's the opportunity for you to share how the words are going to work, that you've seen, that you've noticed, that you've heard a text with something that's going on. What do you got?

11
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:49,000
So, that's how we cover it over here. I've said it before, I always love to share my testimony. I don't know any way to do this because I was a little kid from Republic Ohio who was crippled by spiritually, mentally, emotionally.

12
00:03:49,000 --> 00:04:03,000
I had nobody talking to me and nobody encouraged me in my life.

13
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:21,000
Anyways, I've said it before and I'll just say it again, it's a testimony. I was a small kid from Republic Ohio and I grew up, I guess you could say spiritually crippled, mentally, emotionally crippled. I didn't have anybody talking to me in my life. No inspiration for anybody. Even today I don't get a phone call to see how things are going.

14
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:36,000
My best friend was a TV and video game. So, they were the only one that made me feel like welcome, made me feel like I was appreciated by anything or anyone. And I cried a thousand tears. I cried in my room every day wondering why I exist, why do I do anything, what's the point of life, any of that stuff.

15
00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:52,000
And I have a smile on my face every single day until a seven year old man witnessed to me and told me the reason that you're crying is indecidableness. But this is what I pretty much heard. It doesn't matter why you're crying because you never got a chance to cry out to God. You need to cry out to Jesus. You need to meet the true God.

16
00:04:52,000 --> 00:05:10,000
And I was never the same because I was a day I actually found the living and true God. The reason I share that is I tell anybody be on this microphone, anybody that's in the gospel, anybody get back in the work, anybody and everybody. If we talk about the word inspiration, I love this. We talked about before. It's God's breath.

17
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:24,000
I love that. I love it because I love it so much because this is God's breath. Peter even said when you speak, you will speak the words of God, not as if you're speaking but as God was speaking through you. So when you're in worship or when you talk, you're speaking through God.

18
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:37,000
People tell me all the time or I hear, I don't always hear everybody, but the claims are I don't see Jesus. I see Jesus all the time. I see Jesus in you. I see Jesus in you. I see Jesus in you. I see Jesus in you and you and you.

19
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:50,000
All of you guys, because the Holy Spirit lives inside of every born again believer. It's not just the hands and feet and the words. It's whatever you do, you do it for the glory of the Lord. We are the inspiration.

20
00:05:50,000 --> 00:06:07,000
I talk to my daughter all the time and she loves it that her dad doesn't act like any other day. If we start fighting, I'm like, I'm not fighting with you. Until we call this conversation, we're going to talk about this. I don't tell her what to believe. I don't tell her what she needs to believe. I even give her a chance.

21
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:21,000
I talk to God. You could pray to God and she doesn't. I'm not manipulating or pushing her. I give her the choice to follow Jesus. It's so cool because I don't do that. I'm a very impatient, bitter person that's ready to explode.

22
00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:33,000
Every five seconds of my life, I feel like there's nobody that would even care two seconds for me. But God's love and mercy is what keeps me going. And this is what happened the other day. I was on my phone, but I was driving.

23
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:47,000
This is where my inspiration came from. I got a poro by the police. You could pretend that God doesn't believe in you and God doesn't care about you. But guess what? When the lights go, I don't believe in that police officer. I'm pulling over. I'm rolling away.

24
00:06:47,000 --> 00:07:05,000
Okay, well, whatever you want to say, I don't care. I'm tough. I can handle it. He comes up to me and says, sir, I really pulled you over. He was loving and kind. He said, it's because you had your phone in your face and you're not allowed to have it. Even though I use it for Google Maps and I was watching a little YouTube. But he was nice to me.

25
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:19,000
But because I was a law abiding citizen and I said, you know, I'm like, okay, so I won't do it now. And now every time I try to do it, I don't do it anymore. I'm like, you know what? No, you said phone out of face because I'm a law abiding citizen. I just want to encourage you today.

26
00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:39,000
The reason he did ask because I'm a law abiding citizen. If my place said something else, or I wasn't going to pull over, then I'm not a law abiding citizen. He wouldn't be respectful. We are law abiding citizens of God. First and foremost, we are all if you're wrong, tell me, but were we all law abiding citizens to hell, death and despair?

27
00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:57,000
Sure. We were all in hell. It's Paul said in the word that the law broke me to come to Christ. We're not here to follow the law or follow every moment what God said because we can't. It's by the grace of God, Paul could do what he does. It's by the grace of God, we can do what we can. It's by the grace of God, I come up here.

28
00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:16,000
I want to do this. I'm going to watch my videos and stay home and pretend that I'm going to party all day long. I love it. But it's not who I am. And so I encourage you as well as me always is that you're a law abiding citizen because of who you are. You're not a citizen.

29
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:34,000
You're a citizen of hell. You're not a law abiding citizen because you did a good job. No, it's because God did the job for you. You're not a law abiding citizen because you got it all together. And so like you're going to figure out.

30
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:49,000
Everybody has a hard time getting the word everybody has a hard time wanting to go to Jesus everyone's to because that's why we know he's got because every time you do come to him. He's always there. And the reason I say all this is because I've always thought about this.

31
00:08:49,000 --> 00:09:04,000
And I think about this every single time. You can prove God every day if he's got it. Every time every second. I get his call his name. And when you call on his name. I don't mean like Jesus. I mean, call out to him.

32
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:19,000
Follow him. Listen to him grow with him and he will always show you his God. If I can do this. This frail insecure person you think I'm so bold and happily got it all together. No, I don't have it all together.

33
00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:39,000
God has no together. That's just something I want to share. But I will be sharing sooner or later. I hope it inspires you and that's the idea. Oh inspiration you is not just talking to you and then go that sounds pretty cool. But actually doing it as an inspiration is actually to hear it taking in live for I'm telling you everybody today.

34
00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:54,000
Let's get back on the road with Jesus. Let's follow Jesus because we can. We're not law abiding citizens in heaven.

35
00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:13,000
All right. All right. There you go. All right. Barely got it. So I have a there's a new song I heard. I don't know a whole lot about the artist so I don't know a lot of his music because he from what I've seen is relatively new.

36
00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:23,000
But there's a song I heard and I've listened to it quite a few times now and there's a few lines that really like hit home.

37
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:34,000
Especially for if you're contemplating accepting Christ and you're kind of on the fence trying to figure out what to do.

38
00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:45,000
One of the lines in the songs it says lie to yourself so much that you start to believe. So we begin the habit of or at least I know I did for a long time.

39
00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:54,000
I got the habit of lying and trying to make myself look better. And it got to the point where I started to believe my own lies. I started to believe my own reality.

40
00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:05,000
I guess what you do with the way to put it. And it's because I lied about it so many times that I just I literally started to believe that it was true even though it wasn't.

41
00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:19,000
And then there's another one a little further down a little farther in song and it says pray to God. Sir, please can you pull me out. But God said the test ain't done yet.

42
00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:29,000
So one of the biggest things I really like about that is as long as we're walking with God doing what God says our test is never done.

43
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:38,000
We're always we're always going to be put in situations where it seems hard or it seems stressful and we pray God get me out of this.

44
00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:45,000
But then God tells you your test isn't done yet. I mean look the first thing I thought of when I heard that is Joe.

45
00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:53,000
It all the stuff that man went through and God was testing him and using him to show his glory.

46
00:11:53,000 --> 00:12:04,000
And that's what God can do to us in our hard times when we're faced with situations where it doesn't seem like it's enough or it seems like we fall into many times.

47
00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:16,000
And God says our test isn't done yet because and James it says that trials trials produce perseverance to help us persevere through those hard times.

48
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:27,000
And it's cool to me to know that God does test us to make sure that we're still faithful even though he knows our hearts he knows where we are.

49
00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:38,000
I guess two things is one don't lie to yourself because you are the only one besides God you are the only one who really knows who you are.

50
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:46,000
So if you lie to yourself too many times eventually you're going to start believing that and then you're going to start turning into somebody who you're not meant to be.

51
00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:54,000
And when I was growing up that was what I did to myself. I lied to myself so many times that I started to believe that I was somebody I really wasn't.

52
00:12:54,000 --> 00:13:00,000
And that was I was a very mean nasty person I was angry at everybody and I just thought you know that's who I was.

53
00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:11,000
And then I got saved and God showed me that that's not who I am. It was all a lie that I made up but I started to believe it because I lied about it so much.

54
00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:21,000
And then the second thing is is don't be worried about your situations because even if God is testing you your test isn't done until you get to heaven.

55
00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:32,000
There's always going to be times in your life where it's hard but it's just a test and like I said in James it tells us that our tests and our trials produce perseverance.

56
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:41,000
Because we have to be able to persevere we have to be able to push through those things because it goes doing that also in James it says it builds endurance.

57
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:55,000
Because then when we do face those hard times the more we face the more easier we can get through it and the better we can handle ourselves when we're in those hard times.

58
00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:22,000
Last chance. I watched a Christian content creator and she said it's hard to hear God's voice when you already know what you want him to say and you think there's a lot of choices a lot of decisions we make just on day to day basis that we know what we want God to say and we might misinterpret what he's actually saying to us because we already have our own.

59
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:37,000
That's a good word. That's a good word. Alright we're going to pray together this time and then we'll jump back into worship. I would encourage you to come either A with something to share with the Lord the Lord is speaking to you or B prepared to hear because these are testimonies of what people have encountered.

60
00:14:37,000 --> 00:15:00,000
God at work sharing God speaking throughout day to day and that's valuable for all of us. You might not be on the same step you may not be that you're reaching new heights of Jesus might be a different height than somebody else and that doesn't matter where you are moving forward and the whole purpose of this church is we work together so each one of us can move to that next step even though it's a different step.

61
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:08,000
We're going to pray together this time last evening when we do this in prayer and then we're going to take a thousand offerings and worship God a little bit more.

62
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:31,000
The Father in the name of God. Thank you for another day. Thank you for this place you come to gather fellowship worship and we hear from you and we hope you do best today. We just ask you to work with us in all aspects of our service. We have our pastor who is standing before us. We hope this offering will be as tight as we gather them up.

63
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:46,000
I ask you to bless them and help them use them in the right way. I just ask you to be with us in this state every day. We need you to do the good that holds everything together.

64
00:15:46,000 --> 00:16:09,000
I just ask you to be with us and our country as we're coming up on this election. We ask you to be with everybody. We know that you have the person to be the president of the United States. We just ask you to hold us all together and hold us accountable for who we vote for.

65
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:23,000
We would vote for you. Our nation, you and the things that are going on, you and the country of Israel, your chosen people. We pray for peace there, we pray for endurance through this hardship they're going through.

66
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:29,000
And we just ask you to be with us Lord. Again we thank you for bringing us all together.

67
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:49,000
I believe it is true that the true measure of worship is a heart condition. It's what you're about. Are you about worshiping the Lord? Because of that and also because God has blessed us mightily, I can tell you with absolute certainty that what you just experienced, you can't buy that for a dollar.

68
00:16:49,000 --> 00:17:08,000
God is good. He loves us. He set this scene. He set it up for us. He has worked in me as I have poured over the Word of God over the last seven days. And I am grateful for that right now because I am emotionally moved and it is hard sometimes to mentally focus when you are emotionally moved.

69
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:25,000
So I am grateful that God has laid this out for me. So when I was about, I think I was 12 years old, the first time ever, I got a good camera. I had had those little, I'm just going to date me and some people are older who understand, I had those little 110 deals, little black drop in.

70
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:40,000
You go click, click, click, click, click, click, and you take the picture, no flash, just line up the old plastic ring. But then when I was about 12, I bought a 35 millimeter camera. I learned how to crank the film in there. This is pre-digital camera. They existed at that time. I had never heard of them.

71
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:55,000
And we went on vacation. And I went on vacation, I took with me about five rolls of film. The five rolls of film, I want to say, I can't remember, does anyone remember how many shots was on a roll of film back then? 24? It sounds right. I think it was 24, something like that.

72
00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:07,000
And so, you know, 70-ish pictures on a five or six day vacation we were on. And I took pictures on the first couple of days and I took pictures on the second day, third day, fourth day, and I took pictures at the end of the trip, right?

73
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:21,000
And I came back home and I took those rolls, you have to crank the roll back every time before you take it out because light, you know, destroys the pictures, not like digital camera. And then I put it in the envelope and I took it to, probably Kroger's, I think, and it was sealed shut.

74
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:33,000
I wrote my name and address and everything on there and I shipped it off and then it came back. And when it came back, I got three rolls of films, negatives for three rolls of film. You get these little pictures that are in negative. They're brown.

75
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:40,000
And you can look in total up to the light and you can kind of see the picture and that's how you get more prints printed. This is all pre-digital age, right?

76
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:51,000
And the middle set of negatives was all just dark brown. There was nothing on them. There was no pictures. They said they were, you know, taken, the pictures were taken or whatever, but there was nothing on the pictures.

77
00:18:51,000 --> 00:19:07,000
And I thought, that's really weird. I can't imagine how that happened. How did I take these pictures and nothing at all? I mean, like you can imagine if it was like blaring out, the light was too bright, too much light or if it got even if it got exposed when I took the film out, film got exposed to light as I didn't crank it back in time or something.

78
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:19,000
You can imagine that the pictures would be all screwed up, but to have just black, just dark, nothing there is really odd. Does anybody know, anybody older folks in the room know what I did that I took an entire roll of pictures and they were all brown?

79
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:34,000
No, it wasn't in my pocket. The cap was on. I left the shutter cap on for the entire time, all 20-ish pictures, 24. It used to be like 24, but then like you get to the end of 24 and you can crank it a little bit more. If it was still go, you could take a 25th picture like that.

80
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:44,000
I think there's always like one more you could get in. And so what I want to say to you that is it does not matter how focused you are. And that's what we're going to talk about today is about focus.

81
00:19:44,000 --> 00:20:00,000
If you're blocked, if there is a block between you and your target, no matter how much you might grow down on it, no matter how much you desire it, no matter how much you might pursue it, no matter what that is true, if there is a block between you and there, you will not get there.

82
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:16,000
You will not see it. You will not experience it. Okay. And so that means we've got to just be 100% clear. When I was taking an advanced homiletics class at Great Lakes Christian College in my undergraduate degree, I preached a sermon. It was my final sermon in that class.

83
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:25,000
It was not my final sermon on campus, my final sermon in that class. And it was a sermon that I was really strongly convicted and the Holy Spirit gave it to me and I knew it was right.

84
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:35,000
And when I got done and they gave me the review, they said, well, the problem, all I heard you saying was that I'm really going to have to work harder to be saved. That's what I heard you saying.

85
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:47,000
And so I felt like that maybe kind of missed the point. That was not what I was saying. It was some constructive criticism that they tried to give. And then my professor came back and said, well, the truth is he said exactly what the word says.

86
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:56,000
If you're thinking, then you might want to think about that in relation to the word that he preached because he said exactly what it says. He didn't say anything it doesn't say. And I was like kind of redeemed. I felt better about that.

87
00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:02,000
But I was really hurt when they gave the feedback that I was telling them that they were not saved and they were going to have to work harder if they wanted to be saved.

88
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:16,000
What I'm saying to you is the gospel is very simple. We are saved through Jesus Christ. If you have been saved by some other means, if someone has told you how to be saved or if you have been following some other God or earning your way to heaven by certain steps or rules,

89
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:23,000
you might have picked out of sermons or you might have gotten off the radio or something like that. None of those things equal salvation.

90
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:38,000
There is a man's sin puts a block between man and God and Jesus tears a hole in that block. He opens the way. He literally became sin for us that we might have access to becoming the righteousness of God.

91
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:51,000
So it is totally free and there is nothing that you can do to earn it. However, when you say Jesus is Lord, that means now Jesus is in charge. He is the boss.

92
00:21:51,000 --> 00:22:02,000
And so Jesus said it will not only be those who say unto me Lord, Lord who enter the kingdom of heaven, not just those people, but rather those who actually follow the commands of my father in heaven.

93
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:12,000
So you can say Lord, Lord all you want. You can scream Lord. You can say I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian. But if you are not following Jesus, your words are hollow at best.

94
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:23,000
The lens cap is still on. Your target is still blocked to following Jesus until you at the very first moment are born again and that barrier is removed.

95
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:35,000
When the barrier is removed, then the idea is for you to remain for the remainder of your days focused on Jesus. There are other ways that you can screw up that focus.

96
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:43,000
Quite a few. I'll name a few, but there is probably no limit. You could probably be more specific if you want. If the vision is blurry.

97
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:53,000
So fast forward my life about 20 years, I bought a really nice digital camera that I wanted for myself. I actually got a digital camera. I had a digital camera and it was kind of unlucky and it broke.

98
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:59,000
And then I really wanted one. It was at Christmas time. And then Sherry bought me a very nice kind of small digital camera.

99
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:05,000
But I had my eye on one and I talked to her about it and she said, well, let's just we'll return this one. We'll get that one. And I bought it.

100
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:11,000
And I was super excited about it. I still have it at home in a camera case. It's not so great now because it's out of date, but it still works.

101
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:18,000
And I went out and I took some pictures and I posted them on a site where people can buy your pictures and you can make a little bit of money.

102
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:23,000
It's not a lot. 50 cents, a dollar each time somebody buys it or whatever. But if a lot of people buy it, you can make a lot of money.

103
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:30,000
And I put up 12 pictures and 11 of the 12 pictures came back and they said the picture is not good enough quality. It's blurry.

104
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:36,000
At least I didn't take all those pictures with the cap on. Right. I had the cap off. I put them up to my naked eye.

105
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:41,000
It appeared as if I was on the little screen on the back and whatever I could see. It looked good to me. Right.

106
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:48,000
But it was a pretty expensive digital camera and it had a lot of pixels. And to the naked eye, it looked clear.

107
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:54,000
But they said, no, this is too blurry. And then after they said that, I took the computer, the pictures on my computer and I zoomed in on them.

108
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,000
And sure enough, they were blurry. When they were small on the camera, they look great.

109
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:03,000
But on the computer, when I zoomed in, yep, it got grainy, like not a good picture.

110
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:09,000
But they took one picture of all the pictures and I zoomed in on that one and every pixel was clear.

111
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:17,000
So you can mess up focus by having blurry vision. You can mess up focus by having bad sight. I wear glasses every year.

112
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:23,000
I go to the optometrist right now, taking my glasses off and everybody in this room is slightly more blurry.

113
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,000
It's not a lot. I can see. I'm still easily recognized. Everybody's slightly more blurry.

114
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:33,000
Now I put them back on. Oh, there you are again. Everything looks normal. You can mess up focus by having bad sight.

115
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:42,000
Vibration will mess up focus. If you're trying to take a picture with a camera and you're standing on something that's vibrating, a train car, a vehicle or whatever,

116
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:49,000
most digital cameras have built into them a computer feature that overcomes that vibration.

117
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:54,000
If you take it without that, then the little pixels that make up the picture will vibrate over top of each other.

118
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,000
And you will not get a clear picture that you could sell for money on the internet.

119
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:03,000
The target could be moving. When I was a younger kid, and we have no young kids in here right now,

120
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,000
and if you're a teenager in this room, do not follow this example I'm about to give you.

121
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:10,000
We had a military club and we used BB guns, not paintball guns, BB guns.

122
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:14,000
And we would divide into teams and go in the back with behind my house and you'd shoot each other.

123
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:19,000
If you got hit, you'd be out with BB guns. And we'd never use the multi-pump BB gun.

124
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,000
Or if you did, you weren't allowed to pump it more than once because that'll break the skin.

125
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,000
You got hurt pretty bad. Well, you could have got your eye pulled out.

126
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,000
One kid had to get bandaged right because BB hit him right there and split his eyebrow.

127
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:34,000
Very bad idea. But while I was playing, I learned you got to lead a moving target.

128
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,000
So, Guy, you're running across the field and I'm tracking on him and I'm aiming here as he's running here

129
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,000
because the BB doesn't fly at the speed of light, right?

130
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:44,000
And so you aim it and you shoot, and you pick him in the leg and now he's out.

131
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,000
You've got to lead a moving target. It's hard to focus on a moving target.

132
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:52,000
Also, poor lighting makes it difficult. Some cameras are low light and they work pretty well in the dark.

133
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,000
Most do not. Poor lighting makes it difficult to focus.

134
00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,000
And then poor quality or cleanliness of your sight.

135
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:09,000
What I'm going to talk to you about today during part seven of our sermon series on being a fanatic for Christ is obviously focus.

136
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:12,000
The title of the sermon is actually Focus and Unstickable.

137
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:17,000
Okay? Two, you're going to get two sermons for the price of one. It is going to go by quickly.

138
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,000
It is not going to be organized exactly like you might expect.

139
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,000
So keep your thinking caps on and help to process.

140
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,000
As we read this next text that I'm about to read, we're going to go through the whole text.

141
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,000
And what I want you to drill down on, because there's a lot.

142
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,000
I could preach four sermons out of the text I'm about to read to you.

143
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,000
Four to ones that I thought about in preparation for today.

144
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,000
But what I want you to ask yourself is what is the purpose?

145
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,000
What is the purpose of the text? What is Paul actually writing about?

146
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,000
So grab your Bibles if you're following along.

147
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:49,000
Maybe a little hoot, holler, amen, or just a deep breath as we look at 1 Corinthians chapter seven.

148
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:55,000
This is God's Word. I'm going to begin reading in 7.26.

149
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,000
We're going to read 15 verses.

150
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:04,000
I will not stop and explain them all because you don't need that in order to get the purpose of what he's talking about, which is the main one point.

151
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:12,000
26. I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

152
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:17,000
So in other words, your life situation, your life condition does not need to change radically.

153
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,000
Remember, we're looking for the purpose of all of this.

154
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:25,000
27. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

155
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:30,000
But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.

156
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:34,000
Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

157
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:41,000
But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none,

158
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,000
and those who weep as though they did not weep, and those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice,

159
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:52,000
and those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it,

160
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,000
for the form of the world is passing away. But I want you to be free from concern.

161
00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:00,000
He's given us two clues already as to what he's talking about, right?

162
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:05,000
One, he said, and I am trying to spare you, and now he says, but I want you to be free from concern.

163
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:10,000
One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.

164
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:15,000
But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife.

165
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:21,000
And his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried and the virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord,

166
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,000
that she may be holy, both in body and spirit.

167
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:29,000
But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

168
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:33,000
This I say to your own benefit, not to put a restraint upon you,

169
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,000
so now we see he's not trying to restrain us from doing one or the other,

170
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:43,000
but to promote what is appropriate, and here it is, and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

171
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:47,000
But if any man thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter,

172
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:52,000
if she is past her youth, and if it must be so, bless you, let him do what he wishes.

173
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,000
He does not sin, let her marry.

174
00:28:54,000 --> 00:29:00,000
But he who stands firm in his heart, being under no constraint, but has authority over his own will,

175
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:05,000
and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, he will do well.

176
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,000
So then both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well,

177
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,000
and he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

178
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:16,000
A wife is bound as long as her husband lives, but if her husband is dead,

179
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,000
she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

180
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,000
But in my opinion, she is happier if she remains as she is,

181
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,000
and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

182
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:31,000
So this passage of Scripture, even though it talks a lot about relationships, right,

183
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,000
is not actually talking about relationships.

184
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:39,000
What he is actually doing is using these decisions that people have to make about whether to be married,

185
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,000
whether or not to be married, and so on, using those decisions that people have to make

186
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,000
as an illustration for what he is really getting at.

187
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,000
How will you do well as a Christian?

188
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,000
How will you do well as a man of God or a woman of God?

189
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,000
That is what he is getting at.

190
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,000
He does not say a person should be married or should not be married.

191
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,000
He says, I think in a lot of ways it might be better off.

192
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,000
If you do not need it, do not do it.

193
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:06,000
But he is only saying that, he says, unrestrained, do whatever you would in the Lord.

194
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,000
If you believe the Lord is leading you, do whatever you would in the Lord.

195
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:14,000
But at the same time, he is saying that to secure undistracted devotion.

196
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:22,000
He is calling for undistracted devotion, but more importantly, secured undistracted devotion to the Lord.

197
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,000
That was the phrase that he used.

198
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:29,000
There is this danger in wanting something in general different for yourself.

199
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:35,000
If you are a normal human being on a given day, you are deciding, do I want to eat this?

200
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,000
Do I want to wear that? And so on.

201
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,000
That is really not a problem.

202
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,000
If you get out of bed one day and say, I am going to totally change my look.

203
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:46,000
I am going to dress different, wear different things, wear makeup or get my hair color different.

204
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,000
I am going to look like a completely different person.

205
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,000
That is a little bit different.

206
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,000
That is something a little more drastic.

207
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,000
There is danger in wanting something different for yourself.

208
00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:02,000
You may do something inappropriate if you start thinking that that is all that is left to do to get the thing you want.

209
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:08,000
An example might be, I would just be happy if my wife would just do what I want her to do.

210
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,000
But she is not doing what I want her to do.

211
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:14,000
But here is a woman over here who professes that she will do what I want her to do.

212
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,000
And you would say, I would never do that.

213
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:22,000
But when you get to the moment of thinking that this woman over here might, just being with her might be all it would take.

214
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,000
Just making the decision to move away from this woman to this woman.

215
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,000
And now I have got what I want.

216
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:32,000
Years ago I was sitting with a woman who had sinned heartily against our family.

217
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,000
And I said to her, you should not have done that. That is ungodly.

218
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,000
You need to repent of that and turn back to the Lord.

219
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,000
She was a professing Christian.

220
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,000
She said, well, this is what I wanted.

221
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,000
This is what I had to do to get what I wanted.

222
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,000
And I was going to do it.

223
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:49,000
It is very easy for us to say when we start to see something we want.

224
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,000
And he is using the illustrations here of marriage, but it could be anything.

225
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:57,000
It could be a car, a job, a career, a hobby, something, whatever it is.

226
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:03,000
When you start thinking that there is only one little barrier, one little step between you and having what you want.

227
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,000
I could be a great, oh, I don't know, podcaster.

228
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,000
If I just quit my job, quit preaching and go into it.

229
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:14,000
I could be a great professional card game player or a professional football player.

230
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,000
Or I could do that if I just would take this step.

231
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:25,000
And you are enticed then to take that step thinking it is all that stands between you and what you desire.

232
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:29,000
If you get that thing, you will then need to take care of that thing.

233
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,000
You will need to take care of it in a godly way.

234
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:35,000
If you would become a professional card player, a professional podcaster, a professional football player,

235
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:42,000
you need to take care of that new change in your life in a godly way, which may well be harder than not having it.

236
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,000
You love a woman. I can't live without her.

237
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,000
And you go after her and get married.

238
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:51,000
You take care of her and love her the same way that you loved her that made you think you had to have her.

239
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,000
You have to love her for your whole life, for all the rest of your life.

240
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:59,000
And those who are in this room, man or woman who have been married for more than a day,

241
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,000
realize that's not easy.

242
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,000
People are complex.

243
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,000
You can get a dog and love it like that and thankfully,

244
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,000
and I know this sounds a little bit cruel, but thankfully a dog does not live as long as a human.

245
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,000
So eventually you get another try.

246
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,000
You can get another dog and you can be like, well, I loved my dog the whole time, right?

247
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,000
But the truth is, did you really give your dog everything that your dog would have,

248
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,000
that your dog would be able to have it?

249
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,000
Did he get to go out every time he wanted or did sometimes he have to wait?

250
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,000
Did he get every treat he ever wanted or did sometimes he not allow it?

251
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,000
You were making decisions for him saying what's best for him.

252
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,000
And did he really get everything he wanted every time he wanted?

253
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,000
Was he always as healthy as he could?

254
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:38,000
Could he go to the vet immediately when he needed to or did it take a couple days for you to figure out he needed to go and so on?

255
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:43,000
And when you get that thing that you think you need to make you happy,

256
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,000
that you need to make you successful, to make you blessed, to make you have a good life,

257
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:51,000
you have to take care of it in a godly way, which might be harder than not having that thing.

258
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,000
Furthermore, you need to be cautious on this topic.

259
00:33:54,000 --> 00:34:02,000
There is danger in wanting something different for yourself because you may spend time plotting how to get it and or how to care for it once you get it.

260
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:07,000
Well, if I had a, I would, if this was the only thing standing in my way, I would take care of that.

261
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:12,000
I would say to myself, well, I can do that if I, and you start plotting steps to how to get to where you want to go.

262
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,000
And then what you'll do once you get there.

263
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:15,000
Has anyone ever done that?

264
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:20,000
If I get this promotion and I get extra $2 an hour, I'm going to buy myself a motorcycle, right?

265
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,000
Because that's, or I'm going to eat out one more time a month or I'm not going to do that.

266
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,000
I'm not going to eat out or buy a motorcycle because that would be, that would be frivolous.

267
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:34,000
Instead, I'm going to put my money in the bank and earn some money on it so I'll be ready for retirement or so I can help pay my kids way or something like that.

268
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:40,000
You make plans about what you'll get if you, what you'll do if you get it, how you're going to take care of it once you get it.

269
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:44,000
And a lot of times those are driven by the same mentality of I've got to have it.

270
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:45,000
I can't live without it.

271
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:53,000
The solution then as presented here is to leave it up to God no matter how much it seems you need it to survive.

272
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:54,000
Listen to me.

273
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:58,000
You do not need to eat to survive if God says otherwise.

274
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,000
You do not need to breathe to survive if God says otherwise.

275
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,000
If God says you are eternal, you will live forever.

276
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:09,000
You will live forever if you never sucked in another bit of air.

277
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,000
If God says you are eternal, you will live forever.

278
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:15,000
You will live forever if a steamroller ran over you and broke every single bone in your body.

279
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,000
And God said you will live forever.

280
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:18,000
You will live forever.

281
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,000
That's how life after death works.

282
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:27,000
But even on earth there are people who have gone through things so horrific that you and I have never experienced them even by hearing about them.

283
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,000
And yet survived and continue to do what it is that God gave them to do.

284
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:35,000
They stoned Paul while he was living in undistracted devotion to the Lord.

285
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:36,000
They checked him.

286
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:37,000
Oh yeah, he's dead.

287
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,000
They went back into town.

288
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:42,000
A moment later he got up and walked back into town and began preaching about Jesus again.

289
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,000
God is the one who decides what's necessary for us to survive.

290
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:50,000
And we have to leave it up to God no matter how much we think we need it to survive.

291
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,000
Feelings are not reality.

292
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:57,000
And survival with God is not a reality that you want anything to do with.

293
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,000
Because the people in hell can't die either.

294
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,000
They don't breathe.

295
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:03,000
They don't eat.

296
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:04,000
They don't watch TV.

297
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,000
They don't play sports.

298
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,000
They don't do anything that such life offers that is good ever.

299
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,000
And yet they'll never die.

300
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:18,000
Feelings will literally lie to you making you think you absolutely have to have something so that you start thinking about how you can get it.

301
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:19,000
What you would do if you had it.

302
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:20,000
How you're going to get there.

303
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:24,000
Even leading you to take one inappropriate step.

304
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,000
Most men who have been blackmailed.

305
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,000
Most spies who have been turned.

306
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,000
Most, it just goes on and on and on.

307
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:32,000
Right?

308
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,000
Most people who got wrapped up in pornography.

309
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:35,000
Right?

310
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:36,000
They just, I'm edgy.

311
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:37,000
I just need this.

312
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,000
It makes me feel this.

313
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:40,000
I think that.

314
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,000
And a little bit closer.

315
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:42,000
A little bit closer.

316
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:43,000
And then you're there.

317
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:44,000
And then you're stuck.

318
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:47,000
I had a conversation when I was a youth director at East Little Baptist Church.

319
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,000
I had a young man in my youth group.

320
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,000
He's 17 years old.

321
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:52,000
And this is kind of before the modern era.

322
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,000
And I don't know what would have happened now.

323
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:57,000
But he was 17 years old and he began to have feelings as if he was gay.

324
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,000
He began to think that he was in love with another young man.

325
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,000
And he was a professing Christian.

326
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,000
And he came to me and he said, I can't live without him.

327
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,000
I can't live dealing with these feelings.

328
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:09,000
Right?

329
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,000
He had come to the conclusion that there was no possible way.

330
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,000
So I showed him in scripture and we prayed together.

331
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,000
And we committed together to meet a couple more times and pray.

332
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,000
And every time we prayed and we asked God for wisdom.

333
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:21,000
We asked God for healing and so on.

334
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:26,000
On the third time he said, I realized this was a phase in my life that I was going through this.

335
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,000
That man, two, three years later, got married.

336
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:29,000
Now has three or four kids.

337
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:31,000
They've been married for 20 years.

338
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,000
Again, showing how old I am.

339
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,000
There was a young woman who thought she couldn't live without her boyfriend.

340
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,000
She ran away from her parents.

341
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,000
And she was called back.

342
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,000
It was a Christian home.

343
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:43,000
She was counseled.

344
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,000
And she realized that what she had done was a fool's errand.

345
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,000
She was chasing after something that she thought she had to have.

346
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:52,000
There was a man who thought he could not control his temper.

347
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,000
And this is just who I am.

348
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,000
And people are going to have to accept me for who I am.

349
00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:00,000
But the reality is that not being able to control his temper almost ruined everything about his life.

350
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,000
Everything that he loved, all that God had blessed him with.

351
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,000
And he had to say, no, I will not go there.

352
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:07,000
I will not be that man.

353
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,000
Instead, God will be first in everything.

354
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,000
There was a 20-something who thought he had to have his own place.

355
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,000
I can't live with my parents anymore.

356
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:15,000
It's just not the way you do it.

357
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,000
You go out and pay $900 a month for an apartment.

358
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,000
And after one year went, what on earth was I thinking?

359
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:22,000
It's crazy.

360
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:29,000
There was a young baseball player who thought he couldn't miss a game in order to get to be starting and to play well and whatever.

361
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:36,000
He thought he couldn't miss a game even if he had to miss the game for worship or Bible study or witnessing or whatever.

362
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:37,000
He couldn't do it.

363
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:38,000
He couldn't do it as a Christian.

364
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:39,000
He just couldn't do it.

365
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,000
He couldn't live if he missed a game.

366
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,000
But these things are not reality.

367
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:49,000
All that I described, every single one of these things, not reality.

368
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:52,000
You feel like they're reality, but they're not.

369
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,000
So in other words, you remember the story of Job.

370
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,000
It was mentioned in an inspirational moment today.

371
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,000
Remember the story of Job?

372
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:04,000
Well, Job lost everything, his entire family, all of his property, everything.

373
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:05,000
He lost it all.

374
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:09,000
And then how does the story end in Chapter 42?

375
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,000
He's blessed beyond measure.

376
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,000
But I mean, he lost it all.

377
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:18,000
You think he didn't wake up one morning and go, I miss my son who died and the house collapsed?

378
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:19,000
Sure he did.

379
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:20,000
I'm going to hit that again.

380
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,000
I think it didn't come all the way back on.

381
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:23,000
There we go.

382
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:30,000
Okay, and so now you could say about him, he had a really rough life and whatever,

383
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:35,000
but his undistracted devotion to the Lord led him to a place where everything that he thought,

384
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:39,000
that he would have thought he couldn't live without was replaced tenfold over.

385
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,000
If your husband or wife can't be faithful to the Lord,

386
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:46,000
God will give you everything you need to replace that once that husband or wife is gone.

387
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,000
He said, well, I'm the husband or wife that's not that faithful.

388
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:51,000
I'm the boyfriend or girlfriend that's not that faithful.

389
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:52,000
I don't want to be replaced.

390
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,000
I don't care what you want.

391
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:54,000
I don't think God does either.

392
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,000
God wants your undistracted devotion.

393
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,000
And if you're not going to give it, he's going to find somebody who will.

394
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:04,000
While you're living your life and you're thinking about, I think I want something different.

395
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,000
I think there's something I need or I'm missing.

396
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:10,000
Realize that the scripture teaches us about physical well-being and godliness.

397
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,000
In 1st Timothy 4, we talked about on Tuesday night at our potluck,

398
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:19,000
godliness on top of physical well-being is good for this life and the next life.

399
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,000
And we ought to have that perspective.

400
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:27,000
Also realizing that that is attractive to your wife, to your spouse, to your children,

401
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:33,000
to people who might come to Christ to be have integrity, to be whole and undistracted devotion to the Lord.

402
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:37,000
And then to spend your time in spiritual discipline so that you're growing yourself.

403
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:42,000
If you never have a husband, never have a wife, never have a boyfriend, never have a girlfriend, never have children,

404
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:46,000
what a man or a woman you will be if you spend your life following the Lord.

405
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:50,000
And if you had a husband or a wife and you lost them, God forbid, and you never remarried,

406
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:57,000
what a man or a woman you will be if you spend 10, 20, 50 years in undistracted devotion to the Lord.

407
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,000
I know nobody's going to be perfect, but you can see growth.

408
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,000
You can see godliness growing in you.

409
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:06,000
A man who had a wife, they were married for 40 years,

410
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:14,000
came out to our golf outing that we did for the live station a few years right before COVID.

411
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:19,000
And he came and he was a Christian, kind of like a part-time preacher and whatever.

412
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:26,000
He had had a wife for like 40 years and then he had since lived on his own with no wife for 15, 20 years.

413
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:30,000
And there was a man who came there that day who was not a professing Christian and he was okay with it.

414
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,000
He was like he understood Christianity, but he was not a professing Christian.

415
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:41,000
And that man who lost his wife after 40 years of marriage was the only person there that day who witnessed to that man who didn't know Christ.

416
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:48,000
Undistracted devotion comes in a lot of forms, but it always comes with caring about this thing that God has given you called your body,

417
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:52,000
submitting it to the Lord, and then caring about this thing called your spirit,

418
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:55,000
and practicing the spiritual disciplines to grow in godliness.

419
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:58,000
Those things are good for this lifetime and also the next.

420
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:05,000
Here the relationships between men and women are used as an example because we must focus on God,

421
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:12,000
which requires us to be willing to set aside things that make perfect sense in every other context.

422
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,000
In other words, should you be on time? Yes, you should always be on time.

423
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:18,000
But if Jesus says you're going to be late, should you be late? Absolutely.

424
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:21,000
Should you be honest? Yes, you should always be honest.

425
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:25,000
But if Jesus says, and you're certain it's him, that you don't have to be honest in this one instance,

426
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:30,000
I'm not saying you should lie, but you don't have to be honest, you don't have to be open about it, then that's Jesus.

427
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:34,000
He gets to decide that because he gets to decide whether you're a stumbling block or a problem for others.

428
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:37,000
You're submitting your life to the Lord.

429
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:45,000
Notice, we must focus on God, which requires us to be willing to set aside things that make perfect sense in every other context.

430
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,000
Things that call to us enticingly.

431
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:52,000
Oh, that would be good. Oh, it would be great if it went that way. Oh, I really want one of those.

432
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,000
Things that seem to be all beneficial.

433
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:58,000
There's nothing wrong with this. There's nothing at all. No reason I can't have this.

434
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:03,000
But they do inhibit our ability to be secure in our undistracted devotion to the Lord.

435
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:09,000
The guy who came to Jesus who was rich, God made him rich. God gave him his wealth.

436
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:14,000
And then Jesus said, go and take all that you have and sell it and give the money to the poor and come back and follow me.

437
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:18,000
And he went away sad. Is there anything wrong with being wealthy?

438
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:22,000
Is there anything wrong with having personal means? No, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

439
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:28,000
Did the man sin by being born into a family which yielded a lot of wealth or being successful in his job so he got paid a lot?

440
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:32,000
No, there's no sin in that. If anything, there is godliness in that, right?

441
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:37,000
He wasn't like the son who said to his dad, well, give me my inheritance and then ran off and squandered it all.

442
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:41,000
Or the son who said, yeah, dad, I'll go work in your fields today, but then didn't go.

443
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:48,000
Or the son who took whatever was invested in him and then went off and didn't learn or grow or work hard.

444
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:52,000
No, he was the son who worked hard and somehow or other wound up the rich man.

445
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:55,000
And Jesus said, now go sell all that you have and come follow me. Why?

446
00:43:55,000 --> 00:44:00,000
Because his money was a threat to his undistracted devotion to the Lord.

447
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:05,000
Even though he was right in front of Jesus asking Jesus what he needed to do,

448
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:08,000
which means at that moment at least was he devoted to the Lord? Was he focused on Jesus?

449
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:14,000
Yes, his attention was on Jesus. He was looking at Jesus asking the Son of God, God the Son, what does he do next?

450
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:20,000
What's the next step? Is anybody any better off than that stepping into the presence of Jesus and asking him what should I do?

451
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:25,000
No, nobody's better off than that. But the wealth was a sticky wicket. It was a tar baby. It was a trap.

452
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:30,000
It had enticed him to the point that now when Jesus told him exactly what he needed to do now,

453
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:34,000
what the next step was, instead of doing that, he went away sad.

454
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:39,000
Are you of one mind? I mean, let's be realistic. Are you of one mind?

455
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:44,000
Or do you debate about a lot of things? Most of us debate about a lot of things.

456
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:49,000
Will I have chicken or beef today? What sounds good on the menu? I've narrowed it down to two choices.

457
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:54,000
All over the place. But when it comes to your Christianity, when it comes to your following the God of the Universe,

458
00:44:54,000 --> 00:45:00,000
you must be of one mind. Integrity of a person is centeredness.

459
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:08,000
When the target shakes, targeting is shaky. Jesus does not shake. His people do not shake either.

460
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:13,000
It seems like most Christians are comfortable talking about committing their lives to Christ

461
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:20,000
as long as they can still have all the things of the world, the things they like to eat, the things they like to do,

462
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:24,000
places they like to go. But if God came to you tomorrow and said,

463
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:28,000
no more steak for you, no more sweets for you, no more bars for you, no more TV for you,

464
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:34,000
no more sports for you, no more recreation for you, I want you to come and serve me undistracted devotion to the Lord,

465
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:41,000
would you too go away like the rich man? Sad. Or would you say, okay, Jesus said no more sports, so no more sports.

466
00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:47,000
Jesus said no more food of this particular variety, so I've got to eat fruits and vegetables only.

467
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:54,000
What if Jesus knows that on your 101st birthday, you're going to lead a future evangelist to Christ

468
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:57,000
by accident or by the leading providence of the Lord?

469
00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:01,000
And the only way you're going to make it to be 101, to have your 101st birthday,

470
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:07,000
and win that guy to Christ, is if you stop eating certain foods and live in certain ways now, and he knows that.

471
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:11,000
And so he says to you, okay, you're done with that. And you say to him, oh, really?

472
00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:16,000
And you spend all your time, instead of in the Word and practicing spiritual disciplines

473
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:21,000
and growing and drawing closer to Christ, you spend all your time moaning the loss of whatever it was he told you,

474
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:26,000
you can't have anymore. It seems like most Christians are comfortable thinking about committing their lives to Christ

475
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:31,000
as long as they can still have the things of the world. And you can! You're unrestrained.

476
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:36,000
That's essentially it. You're unrestrained. That's what Paul was talking about. You can do it.

477
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:41,000
You can participate in those things. But don't kid yourself.

478
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:48,000
While you participate in those things, they are a threat to your secured, undistracted devotion.

479
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:53,000
In 2 Chronicles chapter 9, beginning in verse 7, it says as follows, you can read along if you want,

480
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,000
I have printed this out for expediency.

481
00:46:56,000 --> 00:47:02,000
He, it says, appointed the judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah city by city.

482
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:06,000
He said to the judges, consider what you are doing, for you do not judge for man,

483
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:09,000
but for the Lord who is with you when you render judgment.

484
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:13,000
Now let me stop right there for one second and say, do you live for you? Do you live for men?

485
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:19,000
Or do you live for the Lord? Verse 7 says, now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you.

486
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:25,000
Be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness or partiality

487
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:31,000
or the taking of a bribe. And Jerusalem also, Jehoshaphat, that's who the he is in this story,

488
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:35,000
appointed some of the Levites and priests and some of the heads of the fathers' households of Israel

489
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:40,000
for the judgment of the Lord and to judge disputes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

490
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:48,000
Then he charged them saying, thus you shall do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and wholeheartedly.

491
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:51,000
Those are two big words, aren't they? Faithfully and wholeheartedly.

492
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:57,000
Whenever any dispute comes to you from your brethren who live in their cities between blood and blood,

493
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:03,000
between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, you shall warn them so that they may not be guilty

494
00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:09,000
before the Lord. And wrath may not come on you and your brethren. Thus you shall do and you will not be guilty.

495
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:12,000
That's what they were supposed to do. And how were they supposed to do it?

496
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:15,000
In the fear of the Lord, faithfully and wholeheartedly.

497
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:20,000
Behold, Amoriah the chief priest will be over you in all that pertains to the Lord,

498
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:25,000
and Zebediah the son of Ishmael the ruler of the house of Judah, in all that pertains to the king.

499
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:29,000
And also the Levites shall be officers before you, and then this command,

500
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:34,000
act resolutely and the Lord be with the upright.

501
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:38,000
How do we act resolutely? Well, there's no meh half-heartedness.

502
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:42,000
I like it, but not enough to do anything about it. I'm kind of in.

503
00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:45,000
No, there's no waffling. I'm in today, I'm out tomorrow.

504
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:48,000
I'm trying really hard, but now I'm tired. Things didn't go quite right.

505
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:51,000
I'm going to back off and think about this. And there's no doubt.

506
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:55,000
If you are following the Lord acting resolutely, none of those things fit in.

507
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:59,000
Has God not given us a reason to resolutely follow?

508
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:02,000
Did He not save your soul, which no one else could?

509
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:06,000
Did He not give you your family, your church, your Bible?

510
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:09,000
Did He not give grace when we deserved judgment?

511
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:13,000
God has given us everything. In fact, God was so resolute about His course

512
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:17,000
that He Himself became a man and died for it. That's pretty resolute.

513
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:20,000
We must then recognize and repel enticement.

514
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:26,000
Hold on to things, situations, and even your greatest life treasures in a manner subject to His will.

515
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:30,000
Think about what you've got, as good as it is, and realize two things.

516
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:33,000
One, it doesn't belong to you in the first place, it's really His.

517
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,000
And secondly, He could still give you something better if you wanted to.

518
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:42,000
I watched a show over the weekend, actually over Saturday.

519
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:46,000
It was kind of a neat mystery show and we enjoyed it.

520
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,000
There was a guy teaching a woman how to play chess.

521
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:54,000
I said to her, I said, every time you see a move, always think twice and see if there's a better move.

522
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:57,000
Now you have a limited amount of time, how long you can do that for,

523
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:59,000
but you always think and see whether there's a better move.

524
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:02,000
Let me tell you what the better move is.

525
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:06,000
Whatever you've got, put it on the table so that God can use it and watch what He does.

526
00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:08,000
That's always the better move.

527
00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:13,000
Cherishing what you have, using what you have well, all of those things are good moves.

528
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:18,000
But the best move of all is putting it on the table and letting God do with it what He pleases.

529
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:23,000
Ask yourself, how will these additions be submitted to the Lord?

530
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:26,000
If something is going to be added to my life, how will it be submitted to the Lord?

531
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:32,000
If you can't be 100% sure that they will be submitted to the Lord, then don't add them in.

532
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:38,000
If you have added them in already and it's not working out that they're submitted to the Lord, deduct them now.

533
00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:43,000
Right now. Doesn't matter how good it is or how bad you want it or how bad you think it fits.

534
00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:54,000
If it's not submitted to the Lord, cut it out. Because it has become an enticement to you that will make it impossible for you to have undistracted devotion to God.

535
00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:58,000
You will go away sad. That's what Paul is saying.

536
00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:03,000
Did that man not believe in Jesus? Did he not believe that Jesus could do what he said?

537
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:10,000
No, he probably did believe it, but he was enticed to hold on to that which in his life had not been submitted fully to the Lord.

538
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:14,000
In Psalm 119, beginning of verse 161, it says as follows,

539
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:19,000
Princess, persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.

540
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:23,000
I rejoice at your word as one who finds great spoil.

541
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:26,000
I hate and despise falsehood, but I love your law.

542
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:30,000
Seven times a day I praise you because of your righteous ordinances.

543
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:34,000
Those who love your law have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble.

544
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:38,000
I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and do your commandments.

545
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:41,000
My soul keeps your testimonies and I love them exceedingly.

546
00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:46,000
I keep your precepts and your testimonies for all my ways are before you.

547
00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:54,000
The psalmist is writing knowing that the games that we play, the diversions that we tarry with just for a moment,

548
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:59,000
all of those things, they are quite out. God knows. He sees them very clearly.

549
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:05,000
And so when you are devoted to God, but maintaining your distractions, God knows your heart.

550
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,000
He knows why you're keeping that sin in your back pocket.

551
00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:12,000
He knows why you're not going forward with the next step of what you're supposed to be doing that He's already showed you.

552
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:17,000
He knows. It's no game because it is all laid out in front of the God of the universe.

553
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:21,000
Do you love God? Do you love His word? Do you love His leadership? Do you love His lordship?

554
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:28,000
You have a new King in Christ. He is the one who created everything, including He wove us together in our mother's womb.

555
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:31,000
Jesus is not here to polish the world.

556
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:37,000
He does not even care, at least as high as priority anyway, to make your life a better place to live.

557
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:42,000
Jesus is looking at the eternity that you will spend and He's preparing the place that you will go.

558
00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:48,000
If He was going to make your life a better place, if that's what it was all about, then He would physically come

559
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:53,000
and He would carry your groceries for you and He would fix your car when it broke down and He would pay your bills when they come due

560
00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:58,000
and He would take care of all of the physical things of this life physically in His presence.

561
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:01,000
Don't you think He can't do that? He's the God of the universe.

562
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:06,000
There are enough angels for every human being. An angel could come and manifest physically and take care of all the things of your life.

563
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:11,000
But what He is doing is preparing you for the eternity that you will spend with Him.

564
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:14,000
Jesus is not here to polish your world.

565
00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:20,000
This world is ending. It is dying. It is subject to wrath and it will go away and then be renewed.

566
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:23,000
Jesus is not looking for fans like a rock star.

567
00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:30,000
If you came here today to make yourself feel good about worshipping Jesus, Jesus is not looking for fans like a rock star.

568
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:34,000
He's not looking to get a portion of your income or your lip service.

569
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:39,000
He's building you a better place and preparing you to live there eternally.

570
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:44,000
Jesus wants you. Nothing less than you and nothing more than you.

571
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:46,000
Wait, is there something more?

572
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:51,000
I submit to you that you can't give less because to give less is to give no real percent of yourself

573
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:54,000
and to pretend that you are giving Him more than zero.

574
00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:59,000
To only want to give is to know that He's worth it and yet remain aloof.

575
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:06,000
You can't give more because there is nothing more than you, although arrogance or ignorance might make you think so.

576
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:11,000
For example, if you have given your full self, the tithe doesn't seem so bad, you might go,

577
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:13,000
I want to give even more.

578
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:17,000
And you might think that God is somehow more pleased with you because you give even more.

579
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:24,000
I want to sacrifice even more time and God will somehow be more pleased with me because I sacrifice even more time.

580
00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:32,000
The pursuit of giving more money or more time or whatever is all about securing undistracted devotion to the Lord.

581
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:37,000
It is not about God loving you more, liking you more, or blessing you more.

582
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:44,000
Even though I think, many think that something else is of value, which is why we sometimes have to break it down like this.

583
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:52,000
We serve, we give, we tithe, we worship, and we have the spiritual discipline so we know,

584
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:56,000
because some people think that giving God a car would be better than giving God a prayer.

585
00:54:56,000 --> 00:55:00,000
Some people think that giving God food would be better than giving God service.

586
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:05,000
Some people think that giving God righteousness, I'm going to yell at you to get you to do what you're supposed to do,

587
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:09,000
will somehow be better than them submitting to God in compassion and mercy and kindness.

588
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:13,000
People have their priorities screwed up. They think that one thing is worth more than another.

589
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:18,000
But if your heart, if your person, if yourself is submitted to God and you've given him you,

590
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:25,000
then after that the things that you do, they are for you to secure undistracted devotion, not to win God's love.

591
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:28,000
But if you're totally in and actually have surrendered to God,

592
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:33,000
then you will not fail to give your all in all of these areas that I have mentioned and more,

593
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,000
because you belong to him and you know it.

594
00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:40,000
Be a fanatic. Give your secured undistracted devotion to the Lord.

595
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:47,000
Faithfully and wholeheartedly recognize that he has indeed given us all reason to live like that.

596
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:49,000
And that brings us to part two, Unstickable.

597
00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:56,000
Jesus lived his life and he knows, lived this life and he knows just exactly how sticky it can be.

598
00:55:56,000 --> 00:55:58,000
And so do you and so do I.

599
00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:01,000
I jokingly said this morning with Brother Chris over here,

600
00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:04,000
he was talking about he went to the store last night and helped carry groceries and whatever.

601
00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:09,000
And I said, yep, and no good deed goes unpunished, because that's the way this life is.

602
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:12,000
Most things in life are a sticky wicket or a tar baby.

603
00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:13,000
You know what I mean by that?

604
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:17,000
I know that both of those things are lost in equity and then re-framed in modern culture

605
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:20,000
to mean something that they never meant in the first place, right?

606
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:25,000
But a sticky wicket is when the lawn is wet from mud and it's a term from cricket.

607
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:29,000
And you try to hit in cricket and the ball will just stick in the mud.

608
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:32,000
And so now you get nothing. You can't run, you can't score.

609
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:34,000
It's hard because it's a sticky wicket.

610
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:36,000
The wicket is the course that you play cricket on.

611
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:42,000
And a tar baby comes from a certain story where a bear rabbit comes, a bear fox is trying to catch him.

612
00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:44,000
A bear rabbit comes up on the tar baby.

613
00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:48,000
The tar baby doesn't talk back and he winds up punching him and his hand gets stuck.

614
00:56:48,000 --> 00:56:52,000
And he punches him and he kicks him and his foot and all four are stuck.

615
00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:54,000
And then he tries to, and his head's stuck.

616
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:57,000
And then the fox comes, right? And the rest of the story unfolds.

617
00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:01,000
But the point is the things of this life are exactly like that.

618
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:02,000
And we know how sticky they can be.

619
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:05,000
Worship me, says Satan, and I will give you the world.

620
00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:07,000
Jesus experienced that first hand.

621
00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:12,000
Throw yourself down from here, Satan says, and God's angels will surely land you in safety.

622
00:57:12,000 --> 00:57:14,000
Make yourself some bread. You've got the power.

623
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:17,000
Don't suffer any longer. Don't go without.

624
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:21,000
What you can do and what you should do are two different things.

625
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:28,000
Be watchful of should because any should that doesn't come from the God of the universe is a sticky wicket at best.

626
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:30,000
You start thinking, well, I should dress a certain way.

627
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:32,000
I should talk a certain way.

628
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,000
And if it didn't come from God, it's just a mess.

629
00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:39,000
You're going to get wrapped up in that and then there'll be somebody right after that telling you you should do this and somebody right after that telling you you should do that.

630
00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:41,000
So be careful of that.

631
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:50,000
But also be watchful because any should that is from the Lord is a stepping stone on the road to ultimate freedom not meant to become a subject of worship in itself.

632
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:54,000
So we have churches out there that say that ladies can only come to church in a skirt.

633
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:55,000
That's not of the Lord.

634
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:59,000
It's a sticky wicket though because if they can only come to church in a skirt, then what?

635
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:00,000
What's next?

636
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:03,000
Well, the women can't sit with the men and so on and so on.

637
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:05,000
And so we have rules, rules upon rules upon rules.

638
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:06,000
Right.

639
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:10,000
But then we have churches out there that say that Jesus is not the only way to heaven.

640
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:12,000
You don't have to submit your life to the Lord.

641
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:13,000
You don't have to have a Lord and a Savior.

642
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:15,000
And they call themselves the church.

643
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:19,000
I said I debate that's even a church and they're not doing the one thing that you should do.

644
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:23,000
You must do in order to get into heaven for eternity, which is submit to Christ.

645
00:58:23,000 --> 00:58:30,000
Any should from the Lord is a stepping stone on the road to your ultimate freedom, but also is not meant to become a subject of worship in itself.

646
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:33,000
First Corinthians chapter 6 beginning in verse 12.

647
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:34,000
I think this is our last text for the day.

648
00:58:34,000 --> 00:58:36,000
No, we got one other small one.

649
00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:39,000
First Corinthians chapter 6 actually begin in verse 9.

650
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:42,000
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

651
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:43,000
Do not be deceived.

652
00:58:43,000 --> 00:58:44,000
Neither fornicators.

653
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:46,000
That's those who misuse sex.

654
00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:47,000
Idolaters.

655
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:50,000
That means those who worship things other than God.

656
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:52,000
You think that things other than God are important.

657
00:58:52,000 --> 00:58:54,000
Nor adulterers.

658
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:56,000
Those who misuse the marriage relationship.

659
00:58:56,000 --> 00:58:57,000
Nor effeminate.

660
00:58:57,000 --> 00:58:59,000
Those that mess around with their gender.

661
00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:01,000
Nor homosexuals.

662
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:02,000
Nor thieves.

663
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:04,000
Nor covetous.

664
00:59:04,000 --> 00:59:05,000
That means those who want what others have.

665
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:06,000
Nor drunkards.

666
00:59:06,000 --> 00:59:09,000
Those who take too much of a substance to feel better.

667
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:11,000
Or whatever for whatever reason because they're addicted to it.

668
00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:12,000
Whatever.

669
00:59:12,000 --> 00:59:13,000
Nor revilers.

670
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:15,000
Those who think negative thoughts about others.

671
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:16,000
Nor swindlers.

672
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:17,000
Those are tricky.

673
00:59:17,000 --> 00:59:19,000
Will inherit the kingdom of God.

674
00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:22,000
Such were some of you, but you were washed.

675
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:23,000
You were sanctified.

676
00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:26,000
You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of God.

677
00:59:26,000 --> 00:59:28,000
All things are lawful to me.

678
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:31,000
That means now I can do anything basically by the law.

679
00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:33,000
But not all things are profitable.

680
00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:37,000
Not all things will help me to secure my undistracted devotion as we were talking about before.

681
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:39,000
All things are lawful for me.

682
00:59:39,000 --> 00:59:41,000
But I will not be mastered by anything.

683
00:59:41,000 --> 00:59:43,000
Oh wait, now there are sticky things.

684
00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:45,000
Things that we can do that are sticky.

685
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:47,000
That can get control of us.

686
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:49,000
Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food.

687
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:51,000
But God will do away with both of them.

688
00:59:51,000 --> 00:59:53,000
Yet the body is not for immorality.

689
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,000
But for the Lord.

690
00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:57,000
And the Lord is for the body.

691
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:03,000
Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through his power.

692
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:05,000
We were created to care.

693
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:06,000
We care about things.

694
01:00:06,000 --> 01:00:08,000
What were Adam and Eve supposed to be doing?

695
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:10,000
Taking care of the garden.

696
01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:12,000
Humans were created to care, so we care.

697
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:17,000
But the cares and the riches of this world loom large in our minds eye.

698
01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:19,000
Because we were created to care.

699
01:00:19,000 --> 01:00:24,000
But we were warned that those very same cares and riches of this world could choke out our growth.

700
01:00:24,000 --> 01:00:26,000
So you've got grades.

701
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:28,000
Care about grades?

702
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:30,000
You should care about grades.

703
01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:34,000
But if you care about grades and you're working so hard to the extent that you're not following the Lord,

704
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:38,000
if you're spending time in your history book and not spending any time in your Bible book,

705
01:00:38,000 --> 01:00:41,000
his story book, then you've got a problem.

706
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:43,000
Do you care about family?

707
01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:46,000
Well you should care about family, absolutely.

708
01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:51,000
But if you spend time caring about your family more than you do caring about the Lord,

709
01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:55,000
that's the cares and the riches of this world choking out your growth.

710
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:59,000
Proverbs 27, 20-24 brings this to the table.

711
01:00:59,000 --> 01:01:04,000
Sheol and Abaddon, basically those are Satan and hell, are never satisfied.

712
01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:07,000
Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied.

713
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:08,000
See, we'll never be done.

714
01:01:08,000 --> 01:01:11,000
We'll never be done wanting, never be done needing, never be done thinking,

715
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:13,000
having feelings that something better could be coming.

716
01:01:13,000 --> 01:01:17,000
The crucible, it's a pot of melting, is for silver.

717
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:20,000
And the furnace, a furnace for melting, is for gold.

718
01:01:20,000 --> 01:01:23,000
And each is tested by the praise according to him.

719
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:27,000
And if we are crucible, our furnace is about praise according to us.

720
01:01:27,000 --> 01:01:32,000
Though you pound a fool in a mortar, this is a mortar, and a pestle,

721
01:01:32,000 --> 01:01:37,000
along with crushed grain, even if you would do that, pound a fool like that,

722
01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:40,000
yet his foolishness will not depart from him.

723
01:01:40,000 --> 01:01:44,000
Know well the condition of your flocks, so it says care,

724
01:01:44,000 --> 01:01:46,000
care about the condition of your flocks.

725
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:50,000
And pay attention to your herd, so it says care about the resources that God has invested in you.

726
01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:55,000
For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.

727
01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:58,000
This brings us to our conclusions for the day.

728
01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:00,000
You are a rebel.

729
01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:03,000
You might think, oh my dad raised me good, I'm not a rebel.

730
01:02:03,000 --> 01:02:04,000
You're a rebel.

731
01:02:04,000 --> 01:02:05,000
You're a rebel.

732
01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:08,000
And you ought to have renewed rebellious nature.

733
01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:13,000
Your renewed rebellious nature has a distinct purpose in Christ.

734
01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:17,000
It is to avoid being stuck after getting free.

735
01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:20,000
Remember, first the lens cap comes off, then we focus.

736
01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:26,000
If you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, now you keep your eyes on him.

737
01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:31,000
One of the greatest analogies of this ever is that when the sheep take their eyes off the shepherd,

738
01:02:31,000 --> 01:02:35,000
they turn their eyes to the other sheep, or to the grass beneath their feet.

739
01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:39,000
You are a rebel, and your rebellious nature has a distinct purpose in Christ.

740
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:42,000
It is to avoid being stuck after getting free.

741
01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:43,000
Remember the tar baby?

742
01:02:43,000 --> 01:02:45,000
You touch it, you get stuck.

743
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:47,000
Brayer rabbit, briar fox, sticky and stuck.

744
01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:55,000
Should we not learn to rebirth all our seemingly negative traits into ones that can do the work of the Kingdom of God?

745
01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:56,000
So you say, well I get angry.

746
01:02:56,000 --> 01:02:58,000
Somebody says, I get mad.

747
01:02:58,000 --> 01:03:00,000
So how do you use your anger for God?

748
01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:02,000
The anger of man never brings about the righteousness of God.

749
01:03:02,000 --> 01:03:03,000
You can't do that.

750
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:05,000
But there is something that you can do.

751
01:03:05,000 --> 01:03:08,000
The emotive energy drives you to work harder to share the Gospel,

752
01:03:08,000 --> 01:03:12,000
to encourage people to work in the Kingdom of God, to advance the Kingdom.

753
01:03:12,000 --> 01:03:15,000
And saved people will make you angry less often.

754
01:03:15,000 --> 01:03:17,000
They'll still probably make you angry, but they'll make you angry less often.

755
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:20,000
You are limited in your understanding.

756
01:03:20,000 --> 01:03:22,000
And so you have to learn to rely on His superior wisdom.

757
01:03:22,000 --> 01:03:23,000
God can see your heart.

758
01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:27,000
He knows that it was wicked and decrepit before it was made new.

759
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:31,000
He knows your mind and the things that you're getting distracted by and focusing on.

760
01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:35,000
And He knows all the circumstances of the world that you can't possibly know.

761
01:03:35,000 --> 01:03:37,000
He knows when someone will get hit by a truck.

762
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:43,000
And He can bring you there to share the Gospel with them an hour before that happens so they can go to Heaven.

763
01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:45,000
He knows all the variables of this world.

764
01:03:45,000 --> 01:03:47,000
But you are limited in your understanding.

765
01:03:47,000 --> 01:03:53,000
And if you will not rely on His superior wisdom by securing undistracted devotion

766
01:03:53,000 --> 01:03:56,000
and rebelling against the sticky things of this world,

767
01:03:56,000 --> 01:03:59,000
if you will not do that, then not only is that not pleasing to Him,

768
01:03:59,000 --> 01:04:02,000
but your Christian walk becomes that much more difficult.

769
01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:09,000
It doesn't make you unsaved, but it can make it really hard to walk out the life that God has laid for you.

770
01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:13,000
And that's what Paul was talking about in the first passage that we read.

771
01:04:13,000 --> 01:04:19,000
Then when you recognize a sticky wicked or a tar baby or a trap or whatever, an enticement, whatever you want to call it,

772
01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:22,000
you will turn to God instead.

773
01:04:22,000 --> 01:04:28,000
Modern TV, movies, books, none of those are bad things.

774
01:04:28,000 --> 01:04:37,000
But if you read fiction more than you read God's Word, if you watch TV more than you serve, give, pray,

775
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:43,000
if you play sports and you've got to be the first one on the field and the last one off and you're trying your full heart,

776
01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:47,000
that's all fine. To wholeheartedly, faithfully do that is fine.

777
01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:51,000
But you've got to give God at least that level of service or call yourself what you are.

778
01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:52,000
You're an idolater.

779
01:04:52,000 --> 01:04:55,000
If your job says, hey, if you work really hard, you can get a promotion,

780
01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:58,000
and you begin to think, well, if I could just get a promotion, a little bit more pay, I could pay my bills,

781
01:04:58,000 --> 01:05:00,000
I'll get where I need to be and so on.

782
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:03,000
And your job says that and you think, well, I've got to do that.

783
01:05:03,000 --> 01:05:04,000
That's an enticement.

784
01:05:04,000 --> 01:05:09,000
And when you start following that course of action, you need to realize that you've got to put at least that level of effort,

785
01:05:09,000 --> 01:05:16,000
if not, I would say tenfold, right, into following the Lord faithfully or you are an idolater.

786
01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:23,000
When someone in the world or the enemy's teaching comes to you and tells you too much is being asked of you

787
01:05:23,000 --> 01:05:28,000
or points out some capability that you have that you are not realizing by submitting to God fully,

788
01:05:28,000 --> 01:05:31,000
you will remember that he is the enemy king.

789
01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:38,000
Truly a thief come to kill, steal and destroy, and you will throw yourself on God's mercy again.

790
01:05:38,000 --> 01:05:40,000
In these ways, you will be a fanatic.

791
01:05:40,000 --> 01:05:49,000
Realize this one fact, Satan is old and he can wait for you to get stuck because until God casts him into the fiery pit of eternity forever,

792
01:05:49,000 --> 01:05:52,000
he's still out there still thinking, well, I can still get Dan.

793
01:05:52,000 --> 01:05:55,000
I've still got my schemes. I've still got my ways.

794
01:05:55,000 --> 01:06:00,000
He would love to see your unsubmitted human nature get you into trouble.

795
01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:06,000
Rather, believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, Lord, Lord.

796
01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:08,000
He is Lord. That means he tells you what to do when you do it.

797
01:06:08,000 --> 01:06:14,000
That means he teaches you how to walk and you walk that way. You walk as he walked. He is Lord.

798
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:18,000
And confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead.

799
01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:21,000
You ever stop and wonder why we have to confess that God raised him from the dead?

800
01:06:21,000 --> 01:06:25,000
Is that really necessary? I've known a lot of people that have been saved and they say,

801
01:06:25,000 --> 01:06:27,000
yeah, I believe in Jesus. I accepted the pre-gift of salvation.

802
01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:30,000
And he's my Lord and I follow him.

803
01:06:30,000 --> 01:06:37,000
I'll tell you why. Among other reasons, among other possible reasons why we must admit that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead are these things.

804
01:06:37,000 --> 01:06:41,000
Because that proves that ultimate victory is secured.

805
01:06:41,000 --> 01:06:47,000
You will go to heaven one day, at which point in time you will not have to worry about undistracted devotion anymore.

806
01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:50,000
Because you will be with the God of heaven in heaven at that time.

807
01:06:50,000 --> 01:06:58,000
But in the meantime, until you do that, you have to be aware of the distractions, enticements, temptations, pathways of this lifetime.

808
01:06:58,000 --> 01:07:02,000
Our ultimate victory is secured. But this life is not our home.

809
01:07:02,000 --> 01:07:08,000
Also, it is a reminder that this life is not our home. Jesus died and rose again and now is waiting for us to come there.

810
01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:13,000
God secures victory even when life attempts to prove that we can't live without something else.

811
01:07:13,000 --> 01:07:19,000
Remember, that's where we started. If you think you can't live without it, you need to realize if you die, you can actually finally live.

812
01:07:19,000 --> 01:07:24,000
So you can say to whatever is making you feel like you can't live without it, that you can actually.

813
01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:28,000
I can. God puts a gun to your head. You say, I can live. Shoot me. I can still live.

814
01:07:28,000 --> 01:07:31,000
If you blow my head off right now, I'll still live. I'll be in heaven in seven seconds.

815
01:07:31,000 --> 01:07:35,000
And you'll still be living the hell that is earth and going to hell unless you accept Jesus Christ your Lord.

816
01:07:35,000 --> 01:07:40,000
You can witness about Christ with a gun to your head because Jesus died and rose again.

817
01:07:40,000 --> 01:07:47,000
And if you've accepted a Lord who tells you what to do, but not accepted him as the Lord who rose from the dead after he died on the cross,

818
01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:53,000
then you might have trouble in that moment going, well, God secures the victory, but I might not be able to live without this.

819
01:07:53,000 --> 01:07:58,000
I may have to just, you know, just pretend to not be a Christian so I can survive this circumstance.

820
01:07:58,000 --> 01:08:04,000
We can put even our very life on the line because it has been entrusted to him.

821
01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:11,000
And as our life, then anything worth clinging to, if all it does is hold us here, and there is so much better.

822
01:08:11,000 --> 01:08:18,000
Jesus was a fanatic. We are called to be fanatics. The enemy wants anything but for you to be a fanatic.

823
01:08:18,000 --> 01:08:28,000
He is actively enticing Christians and his whole army is mobilized to entice Christians away from undistracted, faithful, and wholehearted following of the Lord.

824
01:08:28,000 --> 01:08:33,000
Start fresh today and commit yourself to this kind of relationship with God.

825
01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:40,000
And you will be born again if that has not already happened, and if it has already happened, you will be forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness.

826
01:08:40,000 --> 01:08:46,000
So let it be. If the enemy can pull you away by money, he will always dangle the money.

827
01:08:46,000 --> 01:08:49,000
If he can pull you away by health concerns, he will always mess with your health.

828
01:08:49,000 --> 01:08:53,000
If he can pull you away by relationship concerns, he will always mess with your relationship.

829
01:08:53,000 --> 01:09:01,000
But when whatever he touches cannot get you distracted from the Lord, then he has got no business, he is not going to mess with it.

830
01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:07,000
Why should he bother? It is effort. He is lazy. He does not want to mess with the things that will not touch you.

831
01:09:07,000 --> 01:09:19,000
He wants to mess with the things that will. So when you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, unless you have a fever, vomiting, or diarrhea that you will be sitting in these chairs on a Sunday morning, he will stop messing with your schedule so you cannot be here.

832
01:09:19,000 --> 01:09:26,000
When you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will be in your Word every single day, he will stop giving you reasons and things to do otherwise.

833
01:09:26,000 --> 01:09:31,000
Because he will know, it is already settled, it is already done, I am going to go mess with this guy over here that I can distract.

834
01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:35,000
And then he will be patient. And he will find another way to get to you if he can.

835
01:09:35,000 --> 01:09:41,000
If he can pull you away by any offensive person who says something and it gets under your skin.

836
01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:46,000
So somebody in the church says or does something you do not like, then he will again and again and again.

837
01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:52,000
I had somebody come to me about the church that they were in and they said, well something happened there and we are not discontented with that.

838
01:09:52,000 --> 01:09:57,000
I said, well you have got to deal with that first because if you do not deal with that, when you go to the next church, something is going to happen to you there.

839
01:09:57,000 --> 01:10:00,000
And the next church, something is going to happen to you there. It is just going to keep on keeping on.

840
01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:07,000
Because until the enemy knows that his efforts to draw you away from undistracted devotion to the Lord in the church that he has put you in,

841
01:10:07,000 --> 01:10:13,000
until the enemy knows that that is not going to work, he is going to keep coming in the same way that he came before.

842
01:10:13,000 --> 01:10:22,000
Many a football game has been played and in the final quarter, the team that was on offense figured out the play that could get past the defense.

843
01:10:22,000 --> 01:10:26,000
And they just ran that same play over and over and over again.

844
01:10:26,000 --> 01:10:34,000
And the enemy is that way. If he knows the play that will get past your defenses, he is just going to keep running it over and over and over again.

845
01:10:34,000 --> 01:10:41,000
Three yards on first down, three yards on second down, three yards on third down, three yards on fourth down, first down, three yards on first down, three yards.

846
01:10:41,000 --> 01:10:44,000
If that is the way the enemy can get to you, then that is what he is going to get to you.

847
01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:52,000
And all the while you say, but I am a Christian and I love the Lord and I cannot figure out why my wife, why my life, why my money, why my job, why my whatever,

848
01:10:52,000 --> 01:10:56,000
is just flowing up and becoming such a problem so I cannot be devoted to the Lord.

849
01:10:56,000 --> 01:11:04,000
It is because you did not get out of bed this morning and say I will not be messed with by enticements and I will not be overcome by my own lack of devotion.

850
01:11:04,000 --> 01:11:08,000
Rather, I will stand firm in the Lord. I will focus on Christ alone.

851
01:11:08,000 --> 01:11:17,000
If you have become this kind of a fanatic for Christ, the enemy and his efforts will be forced to retreat until a later and possibly advantageous time.

852
01:11:17,000 --> 01:11:26,000
But if you remain an undistracted, faithful, wholehearted, armed against enticements Christian fanatic, he will probably never come.

853
01:11:26,000 --> 01:11:34,000
And that is what Paul wanted for the Church of Corinthians, of the book of Corinthians, and that is what he wants for us.

854
01:11:34,000 --> 01:11:41,000
And that, my friends, is freedom. And Jesus could say to those Jews who believed in him, believed in him, that means salvation, right?

855
01:11:41,000 --> 01:11:47,000
Those Jews who believed in him could say, you come and follow me and then you will know the truth.

856
01:11:47,000 --> 01:11:58,000
And the truth will set you free. Or you could keep on living over there, not really following me in undistracted, wholehearted devotion.

857
01:11:58,000 --> 01:12:03,000
And one day you will be flying high with Jesus, isn't this great, I am learning, I am growing, I am doing all this.

858
01:12:03,000 --> 01:12:08,000
And one week later, oh, if only I could have that, if only that would work out, why didn't that happen?

859
01:12:08,000 --> 01:12:15,000
Oh, I am so messed up, oh, they are so messed up, oh, I am so mad at them, oh, I have got to be there so I can't be where I am supposed to be.

860
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:18,000
And then maybe about a month later it will be like, oh, yeah, I am flying high with Jesus.

861
01:12:18,000 --> 01:12:25,000
And the roller coaster ride continues. If you are here today and you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, do that right now.

862
01:12:25,000 --> 01:12:29,000
A Lord is a person who tells you what to do when you do it. A Savior is a person who pays the price for your sins.

863
01:12:29,000 --> 01:12:34,000
Admit, believe in your heart, admit openly with your mouth that you know that that is who he is and that God raised him from the dead.

864
01:12:34,000 --> 01:12:38,000
And this life then becomes grist for the mill. It is a tool that you can use.

865
01:12:38,000 --> 01:12:42,000
It is a preparation period for the time that we have in eternity.

866
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:46,000
And you think about the things in your life that are enticements, they lead me away.

867
01:12:46,000 --> 01:12:52,000
Even if they don't take away your undistracted devotion and all they do is unsecure it.

868
01:12:52,000 --> 01:13:00,000
Last illustration. In medieval times, which I am pretty, I like that period of history,

869
01:13:00,000 --> 01:13:04,000
there are two periods of history that I really like to study and know about one of the most medieval times.

870
01:13:04,000 --> 01:13:09,000
A knight in heavy armor lowers this lance and charges along the list with another knight coming in the opposite direction.

871
01:13:09,000 --> 01:13:15,000
Those lances are going to hit, they are going to hit hard. It is a 1500 pound or maybe 2000 pound war horse,

872
01:13:15,000 --> 01:13:22,000
250 pound guy that can bench 400 in his sleep. And he is holding that lance and he is thundered toward the other guy.

873
01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:27,000
And it smacks and nine times out of ten it hits the shield. Sometimes it slips past the shield and hits into the armor.

874
01:13:27,000 --> 01:13:33,000
Sometimes it hits on the helmet. And when that hits, the first thing that happens, and they are braced,

875
01:13:33,000 --> 01:13:37,000
they are tight in the saddle, their thighs are clenching up through the armor against the horse,

876
01:13:37,000 --> 01:13:42,000
they are waiting for that impact and it hits. And the first thing that happens is not the knight falls off the horse.

877
01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:47,000
The worst impact he can possibly get, that is not the first thing. The first thing that happens is he becomes loose in the saddle.

878
01:13:47,000 --> 01:13:52,000
Now he doesn't get hit again. So as the horse is galloping along at near full speed,

879
01:13:52,000 --> 01:13:58,000
as long as he gets back solid in the saddle he won't fall off. When he takes that impact and he starts bouncing around

880
01:13:58,000 --> 01:14:04,000
and that horse is moving along at 30 mile an hour, it ain't easy. It probably wouldn't be easy for most of us to stay on the horse at all,

881
01:14:04,000 --> 01:14:09,000
let alone to stay on the horse in heavy armor clenching himself on. He has got to get back seated in the saddle after he took that impact,

882
01:14:09,000 --> 01:14:13,000
if he got loose in the saddle before he falls off.

883
01:14:13,000 --> 01:14:21,000
Most Christians today are living loose in the saddle. And God is asking you not to do that.

884
01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:31,000
He is asking me not to do that. He is asking us to be undistracted, whole hearted, faithfully following him.

885
01:14:31,000 --> 01:14:37,000
And there are good things. What you really ought to do is get out of bed and say, I will not do that. I will not do anything.

886
01:14:37,000 --> 01:14:43,000
I will not eat, I will not drink, I will not play, I will not train myself, I will not literally do anything, unless it is in Christ.

887
01:14:43,000 --> 01:14:47,000
And then you are seated firmly in the saddle. And then you can start and go, okay, well now I can have this.

888
01:14:47,000 --> 01:14:51,000
Now I have this skill, I have this education, I have this hobby, I have these things that I can do.

889
01:14:51,000 --> 01:14:56,000
And as long as they do not become enticing, so I get wrapped up in them, or they do not become something that subverts

890
01:14:56,000 --> 01:15:05,000
and makes my undistracted, whole hearted faithfulness to God, unsecure, then they can stay.

891
01:15:05,000 --> 01:15:12,000
But as soon as I recognize the threat, as soon as I realize it is actually an enticement that can stick me, it is gone.

892
01:15:12,000 --> 01:15:17,000
And then you will be saved, in Christ, and free.

893
01:15:17,000 --> 01:15:19,000
What do you think he was teaching the disciples?

894
01:15:19,000 --> 01:15:23,000
Oh, and how did they all end again?

895
01:15:23,000 --> 01:15:28,000
All martyred for their faith to a one, except for one. None of them back down.

896
01:15:28,000 --> 01:15:33,000
None of them cried out, oh, it was a mistake, I did not want to be a Christian after all.

897
01:15:33,000 --> 01:15:38,000
Even though it was drawn and ordered, even though it was crucified, even though it was burnt to the stake.

898
01:15:38,000 --> 01:15:42,000
No, because they were living as a fanatic in Jesus, and they were actually free.

899
01:15:42,000 --> 01:15:44,000
And they could give you their life.

900
01:15:44,000 --> 01:15:48,000
And by the way, if we could see where they are at now, what they are doing now, we could do the same thing.

901
01:15:48,000 --> 01:15:53,000
But that is not the way it works. We see what God did, we claim God's promises, and we live this way for the Lord,

902
01:15:53,000 --> 01:15:55,000
and we will wind up where they are.

903
01:15:55,000 --> 01:15:57,000
That is a crazy thing to come forward.

904
01:15:57,000 --> 01:16:02,000
We are finding out today, we are closed on our services, but if you have not actually embraced Christ and the Lord and the Savior,

905
01:16:02,000 --> 01:16:09,000
please do that now, and recognize that it includes that admission that God raised him from the dead,

906
01:16:09,000 --> 01:16:11,000
which means this life is gross for the middle.

907
01:16:11,000 --> 01:16:15,000
It is a tool that he can use to get from where you are now, that he can use it for you,

908
01:16:15,000 --> 01:16:19,000
to get you from where you are now, to heaven for eternity.

909
01:16:19,000 --> 01:16:22,000
And if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

910
01:16:22,000 --> 01:16:28,000
but you realize that you had unsecured, undistracted devotion to the Lord,

911
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:32,000
so you allow yourself to be distracted, then you repent and turn to God and say, I will not do it.

912
01:16:32,000 --> 01:16:36,000
I will not allow anything that I am experiencing to distract me.

913
01:16:36,000 --> 01:16:40,000
Or maybe there has been some things that have come in your life that have been staking, have been clinging to you.

914
01:16:40,000 --> 01:16:44,000
You just touched it at first, and you are like, I don't want to go like that, and now it is staking.

915
01:16:44,000 --> 01:16:49,000
And you say, well, as long as it is an enticement to me, as long as I can't stop turning from Jesus,

916
01:16:49,000 --> 01:16:53,000
I repent of that thing, and I will have nothing to do with it, and I will only be about Jesus.

917
01:16:53,000 --> 01:16:57,000
Or maybe the God in heaven has spoken to you in some way that has nothing to do with anything I have said,

918
01:16:57,000 --> 01:17:00,000
you may have heard me say something today that nobody else heard.

919
01:17:00,000 --> 01:17:04,000
And that's okay, if you respond to whatever God is saying to you, and publicly.

920
01:17:04,000 --> 01:17:10,000
Would you stand with me and sing this song with me, and then as the Lord will be here to respond, if you respond.

921
01:17:10,000 --> 01:17:38,000
I will be close to you, never let me go, and lay it all down again.

922
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:54,000
You say that I'm a friend, you are my desire,

923
01:17:54,000 --> 01:18:08,000
no one else will do. Stop me, I'll soon change your place.

924
01:18:08,000 --> 01:18:29,000
In the warmth of your embrace, help me find the way, bring me back to you.

925
01:18:29,000 --> 01:18:39,000
You are all I want.