1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,040 Welcome to the Holy Fellowship South. We're in the, I don't know where we are country, 2 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:09,520 in in sweets in Elizabeth Town, Kentucky and having a, not impromptu really, but a gathering 3 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:14,960 of worship. We're going to pray together. But one week from today, one of our number, Aaron, will be 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,320 hopefully after he endures the ordination council getting ordained as a deacon. 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,960 And so we pray that this last week of freedom is really enjoyed. 6 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:31,680 All right, let's pray. Father in heaven, we praise you for letting us be here together. 7 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,120 We know that even as a family, we're separated right now. 8 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:43,120 Comfort my mom and my brother in Tennessee. Be with RJ as he is essentially leading and 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,480 Deacon Tony and the other team leaders who care enough to step in and make things happen 10 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:54,720 in the building in East Toledo. And if there is a guest today, Lord, if there is someone who comes 11 00:00:54,720 --> 00:01:01,440 hurting today, we pray that there and that place they will encounter you. And so be broadly affected, 12 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:08,400 changed, reborn. And we pray that we'll do the same. We know that enduring trials is part of the walk, 13 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,880 part of the job, part of the eternity that you've prepared for us. And at the same time, 14 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:18,240 where we are so blessed and strengthened by your presence every day, ask you to just take these 15 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:23,200 praises that we sing and the word as we go to it and use them for your glory today. We know that 16 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:27,680 you want to empower us and change us and grow us and we're willing, but really Lord, we want to 17 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:32,720 glorify you. We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. I've got you lead next. 18 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:44,080 He got the melody. She was singing yesterday. 19 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:58,080 He got the melody. 20 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:09,720 We're going to need some knee clasping because we don't have a woodblock. 21 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,720 So we can bang on the table. 22 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,720 If we have a cup, you can bang a cup and I can make a drum. 23 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:18,720 If there are any spoons in here. 24 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:20,720 If you turn a cup over, it'll make a drum. 25 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:22,720 We make do. It'll be fine. 26 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:24,720 We're going to get a noise at this point. 27 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:26,720 No, we warned them. The manager said it was okay. 28 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:28,720 We're not giving quiet out. 29 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:30,720 We're also tucked in the corner. 30 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:32,720 And most people have checked out their cleaner. 31 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:34,720 She knows. 32 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,720 We're good. Manager approved. 33 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,720 I just wait for me to wake up and then go home. 34 00:03:40,720 --> 00:04:05,720 Music 35 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:17,720 Music 36 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,720 Music 37 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:34,720 Music 38 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:39,720 Music 39 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:44,720 Music 40 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:49,720 Music 41 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:54,720 Music 42 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:59,720 Music 43 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:04,720 Music 44 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:09,720 Music 45 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:14,720 Music 46 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:19,720 Music 47 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:24,720 Music 48 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:29,720 Music 49 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:34,720 Music 50 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:39,720 Music 51 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:44,720 Music 52 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,720 Music 53 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:54,720 Music 54 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:59,720 Music 55 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:04,720 Music 56 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,720 Music 57 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,720 Music 58 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:19,720 Music 59 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:24,720 Music 60 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:29,720 Music 61 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:34,720 Music 62 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:39,720 Music 63 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:44,720 Music 64 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:49,720 Music 65 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:54,720 Music 66 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,720 Music 67 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:04,720 Music 68 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:09,720 Music 69 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:14,720 Music 70 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,720 Music 71 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:24,720 Music 72 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:29,720 Music 73 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,720 Music 74 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:39,720 Music 75 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:44,720 Amen. Aaron, would you lead us in prayer as we go to the Word here in a second? 76 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:45,720 Yes. 77 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:51,720 Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank you for us still being only a gather and worship you and 78 00:07:51,720 --> 00:08:04,720 just learning to grow closer to you even though we're out of town and far away from our church family and we'll still be here with our blood family and law family and do those things together. 79 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,720 Lord, we're so blessed to be able to do that. 80 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:21,720 I'm blessed and thankful that the hotel is able to accommodate us to do this and that you'll be with us and lead us and guide us to what you want us to see and take from your word today, Lord. 81 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:23,720 In Jesus' name, Amen. 82 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:28,720 Okay, so a couple things. So here shortly I'm going to hand out coloring sheets. 83 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:35,720 Zoe, I've got a coloring sheet for you and Ari, I've got a coloring sheet for you and I need one adult to also volunteer to do a coloring sheet. 84 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,720 Alright, so I'll be taping. So the three of you and not yet, not yet. I'll let you hand them out in a minute. 85 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:44,720 Okay. And then also, we've got three verses that will need read. 86 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:49,720 So we need three readers and it can't be any of those three that just volunteer to do coloring. You'll be coloring by that time. 87 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,720 Okay, so Aaron's a reader, Ari's a reader, and Amalia's a reader. 88 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,720 Okay, so Aaron, you're going to take Psalm 37-4 when that time comes. 89 00:08:55,720 --> 00:09:01,720 Ari, you're going to take Proverbs 13-19. 90 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:07,720 And, Ma, you're going to take Romans 8 where it begins, neither death nor life. 91 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:08,720 Okay. 92 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:10,720 Proverbs 13-19. 93 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:13,720 Correct. We'll get there in a minute. 94 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:25,720 So, Harkin back to about eight years old and my parents took my brother and I to Shipsoana. 95 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:33,720 It was one of the times when we did not take a friend along. We almost always took a friend along whenever we went on trips and stuff like that because my brother and I did not get along well. 96 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,720 He was four and a half years older than me and we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things. 97 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:45,720 And so my mom and dad would let me bring a friend along to kind of hang with me and then my brother who was four and a half years older than me kind of could do his own thing. 98 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:50,720 And so by the time I was about nine, he was about 13, 14 years old depending on the part of the year. 99 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,720 And he would kind of roam on his own and I would have my friend with him. 100 00:09:53,720 --> 00:10:00,720 This time we did not. And after a long day at Shipsoana in 90 degree heat, you can kind of in your memory kind of imagine what that's like on the ground. 101 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:06,720 It's covered in gravel and that were covered in dust up to our knees and it's in your nose and your mouth. 102 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:08,720 And it was 90 degrees outside. We're hot and tired. 103 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:11,720 We're standing there waiting for my mom to finish up doing something. 104 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,720 I don't even know what it was. I'm waiting for my brother at first to meet up with us. 105 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:19,720 And my dad's standing there and he's in his work shoes. 106 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:25,720 He worked at Dana at that time and so they had the big heavy heels on the shoes because of metal shavings with pierced your shoe. 107 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,720 And so he would get metal shavings on the bottom of the shoe, but never in his feet. 108 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:33,720 And he was wearing his work pants as he wore every day 365 days a year. 109 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:35,720 Didn't matter where he was. He had his shirt on. 110 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:41,720 He had his little pocket protector and his pens in his pocket protector, short sleeve white shirt that he wore at work all the time. 111 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:44,720 That's what he wore all the time everywhere. As we're standing there, I got tired. 112 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:47,720 There's nowhere to sit down, no bench, no chair. 113 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,720 And I thought, you know, nine years old, I'm a little too big to ask my dad to pick me up. 114 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:53,720 And I didn't think he would do it anyway. 115 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:56,720 And as we're standing there together and he looked at me, I think he saw I was tired. 116 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:58,720 And he said, son, you can lean on me. 117 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:00,720 And I'm like, no, it's okay, dad. I'm good. 118 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,720 But a few minutes later, I was pretty used up. 119 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,720 And so I started leaning on my dad. So my brother came up. 120 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:09,720 He got there before my dad, before my mom did. 121 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:15,720 And he was he was obviously hot and tired. He goes like, he said to me, can we go somewhere where we can sit down? 122 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:17,720 So I said, well, this is where we're supposed to meet mom. 123 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:19,720 And I'm leaning on my dad the whole time. 124 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:23,720 And after a few minutes of that, he looked like he was pretty fed up with it. 125 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,720 We've been standing there about 15 minutes. 126 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:28,720 I've been leaning on my dad for the better part of 10. 127 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,720 And I said to my brother, I said, you can lean on my dad. You can lean on dad. 128 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:33,720 Go on the other side, lean on dad. 129 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:35,720 And he said, no, no, I'm not going to do that. 130 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,720 And I said, it's okay. It's working for me. 131 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,720 And he said, no, I'm not going to do that. 132 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:44,720 And I said, well, if you lean on the other side, then he won't tip over so much. 133 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:46,720 And he goes, no, I'm not going to do it. 134 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:49,720 And so he stood there and waited for the remainder of like 10 minutes in 90 degrees. 135 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:55,720 He tired dancing around from foot to foot, pretty exhausted, but refusing to lean on my dad. 136 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:59,720 I want you to bear that in mind then as we look at Psalm 68. 137 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,720 So those of you who are not marking a page can go there. 138 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:06,720 And if you're marking a page, if you can do that and go there as well, we'll do that. 139 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:11,720 So Psalm 68 and it begins in verse 19, just three verses. 140 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:16,720 Psalm 68, 19 says, 141 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:23,720 Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. 142 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:30,720 God is to us a God of deliverances and to God, the Lord belong escapes from death. 143 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:37,720 Surely God will shatter the head of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds. 144 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:39,720 Okay, this time we're going to pass out the coloring pages. 145 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:41,720 We're going to put those in one for each of you. 146 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:43,720 At the end we're going to ask you to show us what you colored. 147 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:45,720 So do a good job. 148 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:53,720 It's not a contest, but it is a challenge to do well. 149 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:56,720 All right, crayons and markers. 150 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:01,720 There was a box of crayons in there. 151 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:10,720 If you want to take a picture, you can show the markers. 152 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:15,720 Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burdens. 153 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:18,720 So where it says that God daily bears our burdens, 154 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:26,720 we realize that God is willing, God desires, he is more than able. 155 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:32,720 He can recreate entire universes or destroy whatever he needs to do to be able to do what it is. 156 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:38,720 God is faithful and that faithfulness is the same one thing that he's looking for from us, 157 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:43,720 which is an interesting challenge then because if he is the one who is willing to bear our burdens, 158 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:48,720 then in theory the faithfulness is just to continue to lay our burdens upon him. 159 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:51,720 He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. 160 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:56,720 Going all the way back, people have been getting saved by the Lord. 161 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,720 Going all the way back, if you think about how Moses got saved, 162 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:04,720 he looked forward to a way that God would make and that way would be Jesus. 163 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:10,720 Going all the way back, if you think about how Adam and Eve repented and turned to God after they were out of the garden. 164 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:16,720 We know they did that because you can look at their lives and Adam lived for a long, long time worshiping God. 165 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:22,720 They did not walk in the coolness of the Garden of Eden or really relish the garden as they had before because they were cast out, 166 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:30,720 but they had turned to God and it wasn't until a few hundred years after Adam died that the people of the earth became so wicked. 167 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:35,720 Noah was already alive. Adam was still alive while Noah was alive. 168 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:42,720 But a few hundred years after Adam's death, the people of the earth became so wicked as they no longer looked to God. 169 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,720 In Matthew 18, Jesus tells the parable of the sheep. 170 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:51,720 There are a hundred sheep and there are 99 sheep that the shepherd is taking care of. 171 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:56,720 One of the sheep has wandered off and been lost. He is no longer under the shepherd's watchful care. 172 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:04,720 The shepherd leaves that 99 sheep then in a safe place theoretically and goes off and hunts down the one that has wandered off. 173 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:09,720 God has always been saving people. That's what the verse said. 174 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,720 Verse 68-19. 175 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:21,720 Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burdens, the God who is our salvation. 176 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,720 It's not that God will ever lead you to go searching for the one. 177 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,720 That's not what that parable is talking about. It's not that God says, 178 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:34,720 I'm going to put Dan away in Toledo while I go off to the darkest Africa and search out a lost soul. 179 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:43,720 It's not that he goes away from us in a simple sense, but rather this parable is to demonstrate his love for the lost. 180 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:52,720 And so it is to teach us to go after the one who is failing or who is distracted or tempted or wandering from leaning on the Lord. 181 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,720 It is to say to us, go and do likewise. 182 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:06,720 Every Christian, every parable, early Christian teaching this story and all the stories of the New Testament 183 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:11,720 are to say that we love God's pursuits, God's pursuit of the lost. 184 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:16,720 What God desires is to win souls and we ought to desire to win souls with him. 185 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:22,720 But the truth is there are a lot of challenges in life. We face a lot of crazy things. 186 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,720 And then it says again, God is to us a God of deliverances. 187 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,720 And the God, and to God the Lord, belong escapes from death. 188 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:36,720 We're all dying. It's not a thing we like to look at or face, but our cells are dying off and being replaced. 189 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:41,720 And if you're still kind of youngish, then your cells are being replaced more rapidly than they're dying off. 190 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:48,720 And if you kind of made the other side of that line, then your cells are dying off more rapidly than they're being replaced. 191 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:54,720 Nobody likes to think about death, but there are daily deliverances from death, a separation from God, 192 00:16:54,720 --> 00:17:01,720 a bleak existence where we have ceased to lean on the Lord of the universe and allow him to take on our challenges. 193 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:03,720 And we are taking them on ourselves. 194 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:09,720 Jesus said in John 8, to those who had believed in him, if you believed in me, come follow me. 195 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,720 And then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. 196 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,720 Notice that they had already believed in him. A lot of times we make salvation is in the believing. 197 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:22,720 But at the same time, we know the scripture says that even the devil believes in God. 198 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,720 He knows, in fact, that God is real. 199 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:30,720 There are days where we might wonder whether God is real or not, especially if we don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, 200 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,720 but he knows that God is real, but he would never come and follow. 201 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:38,720 He would never lean on God. He will never let God bear his burdens. 202 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,720 Went to Camp You Can, had a life-changing experience that was unexpected. 203 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,720 I learned to jump into the pool, jump into the lake. 204 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,720 Struggled with that for 53 and a half years or whatever of my life. 205 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:51,720 I don't think I probably have that many more. 206 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,720 Fifty years, since I was about four years old, I've always had trouble getting used to cool water. 207 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:59,720 I still don't want to jump in cold water, but I can kind of tell the difference. 208 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:06,720 And two days in a row, I was forced by circumstances to jump into the water without taking the long duration of time to get used to it. 209 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,720 And now I just jump in. I realize my heart's not going to stop. 210 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,720 My brain's not going to stop working. My muscles aren't going to freeze up. 211 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:20,720 I'm not going to cramp up. I'm not going to get hypothermia in the first 90 seconds while my body is adjusting to the water, and I can jump in. 212 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:27,720 It's like that. I always believed I could do it, but I was always kind of slow and moving toward the point that I would do it. 213 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,720 Now I know that I can do it, and so I've gotten past that barrier. 214 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,720 It's like that with God. Do you believe in God? 215 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:39,720 When I was a young Christian, I struggled with lying for the first almost two, two and a half years, something like that. 216 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,720 I was still struggling with telling little lies, things that were convenient. 217 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:45,720 I kind of remember the last lie that I intentionally told. 218 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,720 Maybe I'll never forget it, because the Holy Spirit convicted me to stop doing that. 219 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:50,720 I struggled with foul language. 220 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:57,720 I worked in a restaurant with minimum wage employees by the dozens, and their foul language was—it was a lot. 221 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:00,720 It was all the time. And that's the way I was. 222 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:06,720 And I saw it on TV, and I watched rated R movies, and the F word was very common. 223 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:12,720 And so it was very difficult. In fact, I remember being a young Christian playing softball for East Toledo, 224 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:16,720 and sliding into second base, and getting called out when I debated whether or not. 225 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:21,720 And I'd give it my all, run as hard as I could, and slid in, and then got tagged, and they called it out. 226 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:23,720 And I still to this day wonder or not whether or not I was out. 227 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:27,720 I'll never know this side of heaven, but I was out because the umpire called me out. 228 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:32,720 And when he called me out, I said that cuss word out loud, and it was against the rules to do so. 229 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,720 I could have been cast out of the softball team, kicked out of the field, because back then, 230 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,720 if you said a single cuss word, you could be removed from the game. 231 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:42,720 And as a Christian, I struggled with foul language. 232 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:49,720 I've often struggled in my personal walk with a lack of personal courage, the ability to face a real challenge head on. 233 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:54,720 Somebody wants to cuss me out, or yell at me, or threaten violence, or they say, 234 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,720 well, I need to talk to you about something important. 235 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:05,720 And I've had that side of me that lacks courage, is lingering, wondering whether or not there's any way that I can avoid that confrontation. 236 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:08,720 But Jesus said it to those who already believed. 237 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:13,720 He said, believe first, and then come follow him, and then know the truth and be set free. 238 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,720 There is a real danger in our lives of compartmentalization. 239 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:21,720 These were people who believed in Jesus, but probably would have gone back to Judaism and lived like a Jew. 240 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,720 The reasons compartmentalization seems real. 241 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:27,720 It's like, well, this Jesus, he's for when I'm worshiping. 242 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:29,720 He's for when I'm giving my tithes and offerings. 243 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:31,720 He's for when I'm serving in my Sunday school class. 244 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:37,720 When Sherri and I were young Sunday school teachers at East Lido, which I didn't want to do, she sort of forced it on me. 245 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,720 I'm sure she was serving God in the process. 246 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,720 But when we were doing that, we never shared the gospel outside our Sunday school class. 247 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:46,720 We taught every lesson. 248 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,720 We knew the stories of David and Goliath, and we knew Noah's Ark. 249 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,720 I mean, eventually, after a while, we knew them all pretty well. 250 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,720 We've had kids who've been in church for years, in fact. 251 00:20:55,720 --> 00:21:05,720 But we never talked about Jesus with our coworkers or offered to pray with somebody or shared the gospel, the ABCs of salvation or one, two, three, Jesus. 252 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:10,720 Roman Road took me probably five years as a Christian before I even knew what the Roman Road was. 253 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:12,720 Areas where we are free to choose. 254 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,720 Well, gosh, that's all areas of your life. 255 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,720 You're free to choose what you do with the gospel at work. 256 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,720 You're free to choose what you do with the gospel in a hotel pool area. 257 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,720 You're free to choose what you do with the gospel when your server asks you what you'd like to drink. 258 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:27,720 You're always free to choose. 259 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:35,720 So if you're free to choose and you're choosing not to follow Jesus in that moment, then you will not experience the freedom that Jesus has prepared in that moment. 260 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,720 There are areas where we've convinced ourselves that choosing provides us with a good course. 261 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,720 So we think, well, I want to do this instead because it's got a better result. 262 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,720 If I do this, I'll get a better result. 263 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:55,720 If I'm quiet now or if I show respect or if I back down, this person will stop being angry or whatever, and we think we'll get a better result. 264 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,720 And you're free to choose in that moment. 265 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:05,720 The question is, if you choose something that does not include God's plan, what happens next? 266 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:06,720 You can say it this way. 267 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:11,720 The more you are following him, the more you will experience freedom, which purpose is to follow him. 268 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:12,720 That's the point of the freedom. 269 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:18,720 The more you experience freedom, the more you will recognize courses that are options but do not necessarily prioritize following him. 270 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,720 You never have so many ways to turn unless you enter a maze. 271 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:23,720 Leave your home and head south. 272 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:25,720 How many roads can you take? 273 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:26,720 How many detours are there? 274 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:28,720 What if there's an accident and congestion? 275 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,720 How many times can Google recalculate your path? 276 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:32,720 There is no limit. 277 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:33,720 You can do so many. 278 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:40,720 Notice seductive, these courses that are seductive, they can be due to your own desires. 279 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:42,720 They can be by ease of selection. 280 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:44,720 So there's just like a simple road to go down. 281 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:49,720 There can be an argument for taking a thing because it has no cost. 282 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:50,720 I may as well take this. 283 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:51,720 It's nobody's. 284 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:53,720 Nobody's claiming it, so I may as well take it. 285 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:55,720 It can be an argument that you can't live without it. 286 00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:04,720 We begin to think dramatically, oh, my goodness, I'm going to die if I can't have the purple marker, if I can't have more sweets, if I can't have the time off or whatever. 287 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,720 And we begin to think we just cannot survive unless we get what we want. 288 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:13,720 And there can even be an argument that it's a necessary sacrifice or stepping stone. 289 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:21,720 Well, I have to give in now and work the overtime and not go to church because I can't risk losing this job or I can't risk making the money. 290 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:27,720 And so we think it's a necessary stepping stone to achieving God's good plan for us. 291 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:34,720 But if you will cast yourself down and allow God to lead the plan, you will see his plans unfold. 292 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:36,720 These courses then try our metal. 293 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:42,720 They possess an extreme degree of divergence from the course. 294 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:44,720 And then we have those options. 295 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:55,720 We are to choose his plan, which he has laid out for us, not one that looks a little bit like his plan or one that offers great benefits. 296 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,720 OK, Psalm 37 for Aaron, is that you? 297 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,720 Psalm 37 for delight in the Lord and he will give you your heart's desires. 298 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:08,720 OK, so restraining desires, holding back the things that you want. 299 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:09,720 Not enough. 300 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:15,720 Recognizing those desires and say, hey, I want that, but I'm not going to go there because I know that's not what God wants from me. 301 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:16,720 Not enough. 302 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:18,720 What did the verse tell us to do? 303 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:20,720 What is the psalmist saying we must do? 304 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:21,720 The Lord our desires. 305 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:22,720 Exactly. 306 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,720 We've got to we got to learn to want what God wants. 307 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:30,720 It's not enough to want something and turn from it because you'll just turn to something else you want. 308 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:36,720 But if you can turn your wants into something that God wants for you, then now God will give you what you want. 309 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:47,720 And since God has a good plan for us and always desires for us to go in the greatest place, which will provide still more freedom, that's going to result in still more opportunities to choose what we want unless we refrain. 310 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,720 We reform our desires to be the desires that God wants for us. 311 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:59,720 Proverbs 13, 19 says desire accomplished to sweep to the soul, but it's an abomination to fools apart from evil. 312 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:04,720 Okay, so the dummies of the world, which we don't go around calling people a dummy, right? 313 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,720 They continually think that there's always the option. 314 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:09,720 I always can do what I want. 315 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:11,720 I can always do it my way. 316 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,720 That's a little different than God's way. 317 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,720 And I may get some advantage out of it. 318 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,720 I retain that ability to do the wrong thing. 319 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:21,720 And that's not what freedom is. 320 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,720 Freedom is not there for the purpose of retaining the ability to do the wrong thing. 321 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,720 Although God does guarantee you that down the road. 322 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:32,720 If you choose later to not follow God, if you choose later to not do what God wants you to do, that's part of your freedom. 323 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:33,720 You can do that. 324 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:38,720 But the fools of the world, they won't choose to do the right thing. 325 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:40,720 They won't choose to go the right way. 326 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,720 They will not submit themselves to the Lord and allow their desires to be reformed. 327 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,720 It is a wonderful thing to get what you really want. 328 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:49,720 And you probably felt that. 329 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,720 Like there was some time in your life, you think, man, it would be awesome if this happened. 330 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:53,720 And then suddenly it happened. 331 00:25:53,720 --> 00:26:00,720 Your husband, your wife, your girlfriend, your job, something came about that you were looking forward to, hoping for. 332 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:01,720 And it felt awesome. 333 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:05,720 That was a small, small taste of what it's going to be like to walk into heaven. 334 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,720 A small taste of what it's going to be like to walk into heaven. 335 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,720 Multiply that by infinity. 336 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:16,720 And now if that's what's at risk, that infinite desires met glorious moment is what's at risk, 337 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:23,720 then it makes a lot of sense not to choose what seems like a shorter, faster path or a better path to success here on the earth, 338 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:30,720 but rather to allow our desires to be reformed so we can experience again and again that sweet nourishing to our souls. 339 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,720 And then Romans 8 beginning at neither death nor life. 340 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:40,720 For I am persuaded that not even death or life, dangers or rulers, things present or things to come, 341 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:48,720 hostile powers, height or depth or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 342 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:49,720 Good. 343 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:51,720 Now, I didn't give her the verse. 344 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:53,720 How'd you find the verse? 345 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:54,720 I Googled it. 346 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:55,720 Okay. 347 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:56,720 No, nothing wrong with that. 348 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:57,720 Okay. 349 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:58,720 There is a way. 350 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:04,720 The direction of God does not always come with a book and verse reference. 351 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,720 Sometimes you got to do a little bit of work. 352 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,720 Sometimes you got to go, oh, I kind of know what it says. 353 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:12,720 And you Google a phrase. 354 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:13,720 All right. 355 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:14,720 And it's the same way. 356 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,720 Do you know what the good plan that God has for you? 357 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:18,720 Does anybody? 358 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:19,720 I mean, you might know some pieces of it. 359 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:24,720 God's calling me to this, calling me to that, showing me the way to that, providing that miraculously. 360 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:26,720 So that's got to have something to do with it. 361 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:34,720 You can discover those things, but no one really knows because ultimately the plan is to come into heaven. 362 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:40,720 And so going down the road with the Lord is going to require sometimes doing a little bit of work. 363 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:44,720 And it might be that God wants to order you to move a thousand pound boulder by yourself, 364 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:46,720 which you could never do without great assistance. 365 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:47,720 And he says you can have none. 366 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,720 And you spend years or decades trying to move that boulder. 367 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,720 And the end of it, he says, you didn't move the boulder. 368 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,720 He says, no, I've worked all this time. 369 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,720 You say, I've worked all this time and I could not move the boulder. 370 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:00,720 You gave me an impossible task. 371 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:01,720 And he says to you, but now look at you. 372 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:03,720 Look at what that task has turned you into. 373 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:07,720 Look how strong you are, how young and able despite the years that have passed. 374 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:09,720 Sometimes the task is mighty. 375 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:16,720 In the movie Robin Hood, as we're almost to the conclusion, Robin Hood says, 376 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,720 and it's with Kevin Costner, I don't know if it's in any of the others or not. 377 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:23,720 He says, even a child can be trained to target the gaps in armor with an arrow. 378 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,720 Because knights know that the gaps in their armor are real, they need a shield. 379 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:29,720 And we need a shield of faith. 380 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:34,720 If your head had no armor in Dungeons and Dragons and Low Moon, whatever, 381 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:38,720 one in 20 blows will land there and your AC will be considerably less 382 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,720 and you'll be more likely to get hit and dangerously so. 383 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:46,720 And then if you factor in called shot, the danger of not wearing a helmet becomes very real. 384 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:51,720 We need a helmet of salvation, the kind of helmet that is provided by God. 385 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:57,720 The cross section of a helmet of salvation and a shield of faith is believing that God is a God who, 386 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,720 as it says, God is to us a God of deliverances. 387 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,720 And to God the Lord belong escapes from death. 388 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:12,720 Lastly, surely God will shatter the head of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds. 389 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,720 Now it's interesting because if I say God's going to shatter the hairy crown of a man, 390 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,720 what kind of man are you thinking? 391 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:21,720 An unrighteous man. 392 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:23,720 An unrighteous man, that's the kind of man. 393 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:24,720 One with hair. 394 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,720 Okay, so what kind of man is a man with hair? Any man. 395 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:31,720 Is it? My brother doesn't have hair. He has hair. 396 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:35,720 True, but this is talking about the head obviously, it's the crown, right, it says his crown. 397 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:37,720 Talking about a young man. 398 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,720 In other words, God is not going to wait. 399 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:47,720 Once you know what calling there is, God is not going to wait for you to get around to it, right? 400 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:53,720 And then also notice if you take it from the back to the front, it says an enemy of God is one who goes on in his evil deeds. 401 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:58,720 We might fool a parent, fool a teacher, fool an officer, but we won't fool God. 402 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,720 We might do that which is wicked but not illegal. 403 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:03,720 There's a lot of that in the United States, right? 404 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,720 The law allows for things that are not wicked. 405 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:14,720 Or even things that are against the rules, but God expects nothing less than repentance, 406 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,720 which is us turning to him in every situation. 407 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,720 Acts 17, Paul says, now all men are called upon to repent. 408 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:27,720 If you're getting away with something, the scripture reminds us here and also in Galatians 6, 7, among other places, 409 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:29,720 we will reap what we sow. 410 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:35,720 We always talk about that, Ariana and I talked about it this last week, the verses, we will reap what we sow. 411 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:42,720 But we forget that verse 8 then says, for the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. 412 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:44,720 So let's put that in the context of freedom. 413 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:45,720 You are free to do what you want. 414 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:51,720 If what you want is governed by your flesh rather than by your spirit man, rather than by your soul which is submitted to God, 415 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,720 then you will go after at some point in time that which you want. 416 00:30:55,720 --> 00:31:00,720 And then for the one who sows to his own flesh will reap from his flesh corruption. 417 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,720 But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit, Holy Spirit, right? 418 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:10,720 Capital S spirit, one who sows to the spirit, Holy Spirit, will from the Holy Spirit reap eternal life. 419 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:16,720 Let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 420 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,720 So then, while we have opportunity, what's opportunity? 421 00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:20,720 Opportunity is freedom. 422 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:26,720 It is freedom of choice to go the good way or the bad way, to go God's way or a different way, to give in to temptation or to not. 423 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:34,720 While we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially to those who are of the household of faith. 424 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:39,720 So as we come to a close, we're going to look at our pictures here in a second. 425 00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:44,720 Are you about ready? Are we getting close? If you've got major things you want to finish, finish them up. 426 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,720 Paul introduces the armor of God in Ephesians 6. 427 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,720 But before the actual armor of God, before he begins it, he says, 428 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,720 Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 429 00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:04,720 Which is to say then that in 11 when he says put on the full armor of God, he is defining what it means to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. 430 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:05,720 What Lord was that again? 431 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:17,720 It was that Lord who daily bears our burdens, the God who is our salvation, the God who is to us a God of deliverances and to God the Lord belong escapes from death. 432 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:23,720 Surely God will shatter the head of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds. 433 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:29,720 And then Paul says, finally be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. 434 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:43,720 And then he goes into put on the full armor of God so you'll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 435 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:48,720 And right after that he breaks down what each piece of the armor is. 436 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,720 This life lived for God is full of good. There's a ton of it. 437 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:57,720 And we can enjoy it in passing. But we have to remember that's exactly what we're doing, passing. 438 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:07,720 If you grab a piece of candy on the way past the candy dish, it doesn't make you have to do less physical activity or sit ups to burn off those calories. 439 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:22,720 Right? If you enjoy a quick glance at a pretty girl, even though you're faithful to your spouse, your girlfriend, the person that you supposedly love, or whatever, but you take a quick glance at the girl in passing, it doesn't mean that that's not later going to bother your soul. 440 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:28,720 So we have to be careful about what we take in passing. But there are many good things that we can enjoy in passing. 441 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:37,720 We can even have a measure of success as the world says. We can be very successful in our careers, whatever they might be, because we do them as if we do them unto the Lord. 442 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:44,720 So possibly very successful in our careers and make huge differences. And our name may become great in the sense that we have lots of fame or whatever. 443 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:56,720 Our church could grow to thousands, perhaps. But we must not be enticed away from the reality that is God's victory over his enemies. 444 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:08,720 And because God is going to have victory over his enemies, we must never be an enemy ourselves. And an enemy is one who continues in his own villainy, which you are free to do. 445 00:34:08,720 --> 00:34:15,720 And the truth is, the more you follow God, you will be all the more free to sneak. You'll get smarter, more crafty, more able. 446 00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:20,720 You'll have more opportunities to do it secretly, to do it on the sly, to get away from it. 447 00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:26,720 The more free you are, the more following you do, the more free you'll be, the more opportunities will come. 448 00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:35,720 And the more, at the very beginning, you must determine not to fall into those traps, which requires putting on the armor of God, 449 00:34:35,720 --> 00:34:41,720 which we must do in order to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 450 00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:47,720 Okay, what do we got? So, first of all, Zoe, let's see your picture. Let's go in order of age. 451 00:34:47,720 --> 00:34:54,720 Can you turn it over and show us what you got? Okay, just bring it up here. Okay. What have you colored here? What is this picture? It's very beautiful. 452 00:34:54,720 --> 00:35:01,720 Much work went into this picture, I can see. You worked very hard. And you worked something on the back, too, because you ran out of paper. That's very good. 453 00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:09,720 Okay, tell us what you drew. Okay, do you know who these people are? No. Well, you did a good job coloring them anyway. 454 00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:15,720 Do you want to work on the back a little bit more? I can tell you we're working on it. Okay. All right. And then, Ariana, show us your picture. 455 00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:22,720 I have one more second to add. Exactly one. Time's up. 456 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:31,720 My wonderful creative daughter who does not understand the concept of a deadline. 457 00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:39,720 I'm going to give you three seconds and then your display begins. Three, two, one. Okay, show us what you got. 458 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:49,720 All right. That is awesome. Very detailed, colored different pictures. I see you made his beard a certain color, his hair. They all look very realistic color choices. 459 00:35:49,720 --> 00:36:00,720 Okay, what is this picture? Tell us what it is. This is David and Goliath. Here I drew just the corner of the river where David picked the stones from. 460 00:36:00,720 --> 00:36:05,720 I'm thoroughly impressed. That's very detailed. Yes, there's even some extra stones that he didn't choose. 461 00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:13,720 And how many do you remember? How many stones David chose? That would be impressive. Three. It was five. But good try. Okay, very good. 462 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:28,720 And is this Goliath, the little guy with the sling? No, that's David. This is Goliath. And at the top of Goliath's hat, I gave him red and purple colors because those were the colors of royalty and champions. 463 00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:34,720 So very fancy colors back then. Very nice. Very nice. Okay. All right, Caitlin, let's see what you got. 464 00:36:34,720 --> 00:36:43,720 Did Goliath not carry his own shield? He did not carry his shield. Yeah, the picture is not historically correct in certain ways. Yes, he's wearing a helmet and carrying a shield. 465 00:36:43,720 --> 00:36:49,720 How would he die that way? He might not have. That's right. He had a shield bearer and he waved him off because David was so small. 466 00:36:49,720 --> 00:37:04,720 I know, a shield bearer could not have looked at the shield high enough to stop the stone from hitting him in the forehead. The stone was coming from three people. It was trajectory. It depends on how far away he was. 467 00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:19,720 Mathematically, we are fairly certain that the shield bearer would have reduced the likelihood of his death. He could have just shield bashed David. It depends on how high he was. 468 00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:27,720 He was only nine feet tall. So a lot of tower shields were six feet tall. So you'd only have to be like 10 feet closer. Yeah, he can hold it up. 469 00:37:27,720 --> 00:37:39,720 Okay, anyway, so but he didn't have you didn't carry a shield into combat. I think it's anyway, he's pretty cool. All right. So tell us what you've done here, Caitlin. I colored in David and Goliath. Yes, you did. Neatly. 470 00:37:39,720 --> 00:37:52,720 Very color. I like the color choices and the stone is flying through the air and Goliath's face looks like I'm not going to die by that stone little boy. And then down he goes. Right. Yes. Very good. 471 00:37:52,720 --> 00:38:02,720 Okay, so tell me how I will let you give a stab at tell me how the story of David and Goliath relates to what I just talked about and trusting God. 472 00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:31,720 Because all of David's older brothers and the whole Israelite army who were trained to fight could not trust in God even the smallest amount to go out and try but David, the little boy, their younger brother, who's never been on a battlefield before besides to bring food to his brothers. 473 00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:40,720 Trusting God so much that he went out there and defeated him with the stone this small. Amazing. 474 00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:52,720 There were every opportunity. If you read that stories every opportunity for David to say I'm not going to go. You know, even his brothers were mean to him saying why should he be there. 475 00:38:52,720 --> 00:39:02,720 And then when he made the comment like why isn't somebody going out against Goliath they said who are you basically I'm paraphrasing before you to even comment always stirring up trouble. 476 00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:10,720 Everybody attacked him and all he was doing was trusting God, the more free you are to follow the Lord the more opportunities you are going to going to have to choose not to follow Lord. 477 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:22,720 If you don't want to have opportunities to not follow the Lord, then you shouldn't start following him, because the opportunities to not follow him are vastly going to outnumber the good choices to following him. 478 00:39:22,720 --> 00:39:25,720 You may even have to hunt for them sometimes. 479 00:39:25,720 --> 00:39:27,720 But here is the great glory of it. 480 00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:29,720 God is a God who delivers. 481 00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:33,720 And he'll show you the way we're going to close in song and pray and be done. 482 00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:45,720 I sent you the song. It was in a sanctuary.