WEBVTT 00:00:10.699 --> 00:03:11.560 When this life is over. Because we are slightly 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:14.300 lower percentage voices than normal, I need you 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:17.780 to help me get through it. I hate to be talking 00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:26.939 to myself. That's true. That's right. You will? 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:34.319 I love it. All right. Okay. Continuing with the 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:39.219 series, Commands and Promises. Okay? And the 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:43.740 reference is... is Matthew, and the clues are 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:48.439 there for the numbers. So what's the first number? 00:03:50.020 --> 00:03:57.000 Nope. The clue is 6. 6. Yeah, so 6. And then 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:01.139 it says, the next clue is 7th prime. Josh, do 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:03.080 you know the 7th prime off the top of your head? 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:08.360 No mathematicians, we're missing out. Let's count 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:12.560 them up. Is he getting there? 17 is correct. 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:21.779 Good job. And then 2 .9. 18, right. So it's Matthew 00:04:21.779 --> 00:04:27.160 6, 17, and 18. So that's the text. And verse 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:39.370 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, and the big old 17. When 00:04:39.370 --> 00:04:41.370 people say prime numbers, like 13 is the very 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:43.009 first number that pops in my head. I don't know 00:04:43.009 --> 00:04:46.709 why that is. Seven. I love seven. Seven is like 00:04:46.709 --> 00:04:54.569 my favorite number. Almost. Okay. Matthew 6, 00:04:54.629 --> 00:05:16.019 17 to 18. Okay. Oh, geez. I left my Bible. Matthew 00:05:16.019 --> 00:05:18.839 6. As soon as I start to read it, you're going 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:22.839 to go, oh, I kind of know that verse. It says, 00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:26.160 but when you fast, anoint your head and wash 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:30.160 your face so that you may not be seen fasting 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.920 by men, but by your Father who is in secret. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.759 And your Father who sees in secret will repay 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:39.629 you. I could have gone a little bit before that, 00:05:39.709 --> 00:05:41.029 right? Because it talks a little bit about the 00:05:41.029 --> 00:05:42.850 fasting before that. So I broke up the topic. 00:05:43.569 --> 00:05:46.410 But the command is here, what we're supposed 00:05:46.410 --> 00:05:50.970 to do. So it starts with W. It says when, YF. 00:05:51.089 --> 00:05:54.329 When you fast. That's easy, right? And then what? 00:05:56.170 --> 00:05:58.810 Perfect. Anoint your head and wash your face. 00:05:58.829 --> 00:06:03.230 What does anoint your head mean? Yeah. So back 00:06:03.230 --> 00:06:05.879 then that was a thing. So now we have shampoo 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:09.480 and we wash our hair probably way too much. But 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:14.540 a fine oil for your hair to make it look nice 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:17.139 and be able to keep it straight and your skin, 00:06:17.339 --> 00:06:20.519 that kind of thing, anoints your head. But there 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:24.579 was also symbolism in it about health and strength 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:28.509 and closeness to God. And anointing, like in 00:06:28.509 --> 00:06:30.649 the Old Testament, they would pour oil down over 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:33.149 their head. In fact, there's a really cool image 00:06:33.149 --> 00:06:34.910 of it in that series that's out right now, The 00:06:34.910 --> 00:06:37.829 House of David. When he anointed David, that 00:06:37.829 --> 00:06:43.350 was really cool to see. No, it's a lightweight 00:06:43.350 --> 00:06:45.649 oil, like extra virgin olive oil. In fact, if 00:06:45.649 --> 00:06:47.709 you ever need to anoint, as a Christian, if you 00:06:47.709 --> 00:06:50.350 ever need to anoint anybody, the closest thing 00:06:50.350 --> 00:06:51.829 we can get to the oil that they would have used 00:06:51.829 --> 00:06:54.610 is extra virgin olive oil. Which is not even 00:06:54.610 --> 00:06:58.680 terribly expensive. Hi there! Sarah? Yes. Welcome, 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:03.319 welcome. I know you. You're okay. I know you. 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:11.139 All right. So when you fast, anoint your head 00:07:11.139 --> 00:07:13.439 and wash your face. And we know what washing 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:18.480 our faces is, right? And so you wash your face 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:20.939 to look better, to look okay, right? So you won't 00:07:20.939 --> 00:07:23.980 look peaked or you won't look sick or weak or 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:28.040 anything like that, right? So Matthew 6, 17 to 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.720 18 says, when you fast, anoint your head and 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:35.120 wash your face. That's the command. Okay? And 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:38.879 the purpose of the command then, he says, and 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:40.519 it's also part of the command, I guess now that 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:42.040 I think about it, I didn't realize it was worded 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:46.600 that way, is to appear. You want to take a stab 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:54.670 at it? We're going to appear not too fast. Okay, 00:07:54.709 --> 00:07:56.610 so we're going to look like we're not fasting. 00:07:57.370 --> 00:08:00.170 That is the command. Jesus says, look like you're 00:08:00.170 --> 00:08:02.709 not fasting. And then it says two men. That's 00:08:02.709 --> 00:08:04.790 right. So the blanks are two men. So you're going 00:08:04.790 --> 00:08:08.829 to appear not to fast to men. So people should 00:08:08.829 --> 00:08:11.329 not know. So when you're talking about like, 00:08:11.370 --> 00:08:13.970 I gave up food for a day or a week or like that, 00:08:14.110 --> 00:08:18.029 you shouldn't be doing that. Jesus was telling 00:08:18.029 --> 00:08:20.529 them, when you fast, anoint your head, wash your 00:08:20.529 --> 00:08:23.639 face, appear not to fast to men. And he goes 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:31.399 on to say, the next line, only to God in secret. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:36.279 And then I put in parentheses there, I'll give 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:40.759 it to you, where he alone sees. So there's a 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:45.320 teaching about private prayer space in your house, 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:47.659 like a prayer closet or an internal room that 00:08:47.659 --> 00:08:51.019 you go get away from everybody. The war room, 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:55.039 yeah. That's a biblical teaching. And if you 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:58.179 get in there, what goes on in there should be 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:00.679 just between you and God, especially if you are 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:02.299 smart enough not to take your phone in when you 00:09:02.299 --> 00:09:04.340 go in. So you pretty much divorce yourself from 00:09:04.340 --> 00:09:05.940 the world, and it's just between you and God. 00:09:06.500 --> 00:09:10.580 And then when you go out into the world, you 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:12.240 don't have to go, oh, I spent four hours in my 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:14.399 prayer closet today and tell everybody about 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:16.460 that. And it's the same kind of thing. When you 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:18.600 spend time alone with God, what happens there 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:21.480 a lot of times is just between you and God. And 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:23.639 God is working in you and on you and so on. So 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:27.279 Jesus is telling them, when you fast, anoint 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:29.379 your head, wash your face, appear not to fast 00:09:29.379 --> 00:09:33.100 to men, only to God. So only God would be the 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:35.320 only one that knows that, if possible, and sometimes 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:36.960 you can't really do that because somebody is 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:38.460 close in your life and you have to kind of give 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:41.220 it up. But otherwise, you're trying to only let 00:09:41.220 --> 00:09:45.700 God know. And, and I mean it's all capitals, 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:51.169 A -N -D, and here comes the promise. Did you 00:09:51.169 --> 00:09:57.049 catch it? In verse 18, this is what it says. 00:09:57.429 --> 00:09:59.950 So that you may not be seen fasting by men, but 00:09:59.950 --> 00:10:02.129 by your father who is in secret, and your father 00:10:02.129 --> 00:10:05.590 who sees in secret will repay you. Or in other 00:10:05.590 --> 00:10:08.730 translations it says will award you openly. And 00:10:08.730 --> 00:10:11.049 so that's what I put on the page. So the first 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:16.470 word is God, and it is will award you openly. 00:10:16.529 --> 00:10:20.629 God will award you openly. Now that sounds great, 00:10:20.809 --> 00:10:24.009 right? And there are a few verses in the Bible 00:10:24.009 --> 00:10:26.710 that are like this, that have these blatant and 00:10:26.710 --> 00:10:30.690 obvious promises of the Lord. Malachi 3 says, 00:10:30.789 --> 00:10:33.750 test me in this one. But here's one. Obviously, 00:10:33.750 --> 00:10:36.029 we looked at a couple the last time I was up 00:10:36.029 --> 00:10:42.889 here, and RJ did Isaiah 53 last week. So, there 00:10:42.889 --> 00:10:45.309 is a problem here, though, because it says, if 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:47.330 you will do this, if you will fast in this way, 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:50.659 So what is the motivation for fasting? There 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:52.440 are several possible motivations for fasting. 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:55.320 But he says, if you will fast and you will do 00:10:55.320 --> 00:10:58.480 it where only you and God know, God will repay 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:02.539 you or will award you openly. And so then it 00:11:02.539 --> 00:11:04.759 becomes about, and the next two big words are 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:08.440 faithfulness. So the first part is faithfulness 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:13.139 versus sorcery. Now, Christians should never 00:11:13.139 --> 00:11:17.950 do sorcery, right? You can nod, yes, Christians 00:11:17.950 --> 00:11:21.129 should never do sorcery. Sorcery is not our thing. 00:11:21.210 --> 00:11:23.789 We don't have anything to do with sorcery. Now, 00:11:23.870 --> 00:11:27.409 somebody will argue, well, sorcery has a word 00:11:27.409 --> 00:11:29.750 like where pharmaceuticals come from, and so 00:11:29.750 --> 00:11:32.409 Christians should never do drugs. And I agree 00:11:32.409 --> 00:11:34.029 with that, generally speaking, but it doesn't 00:11:34.029 --> 00:11:37.389 mean you can't take medicine. So they use some 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:39.590 of the drugs they use as medicine, and there's 00:11:39.590 --> 00:11:41.230 nothing wrong with medicine as long as it's prescribed 00:11:41.230 --> 00:11:43.149 properly and it's for the right reasons, and 00:11:43.149 --> 00:11:45.350 you want to do it under the leadership of the 00:11:45.350 --> 00:11:49.830 Lord. But sorcery is really about forcing God 00:11:49.830 --> 00:11:52.250 or forcing the spiritual realm to do what you 00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:55.009 want it to do. So let's look at it backwards. 00:11:55.629 --> 00:11:58.509 If we would say, well, I want to be openly rewarded 00:11:58.509 --> 00:12:02.909 by God. Therefore, I am going to fast this way. 00:12:03.509 --> 00:12:06.429 Keep it a secret. Know it in my head. Wash my 00:12:06.429 --> 00:12:09.710 face. No men will know. And then I'll be rewarded 00:12:09.710 --> 00:12:15.090 by God. That is sorcery. That is trying to force 00:12:15.090 --> 00:12:18.970 God to do what you want him to do. I mean, you 00:12:18.970 --> 00:12:21.370 hear it all the time, right? So, well, I'm struggling 00:12:21.370 --> 00:12:23.750 with depression, anxiety, whatever. Well, read 00:12:23.750 --> 00:12:25.590 your Bible more. If you read your Bible more, 00:12:25.710 --> 00:12:27.809 you'll have faith and trust in the Lord. Your 00:12:27.809 --> 00:12:30.370 heart will not be distressed. That's not the 00:12:30.370 --> 00:12:32.110 way it works. We don't get to do that. You don't 00:12:32.110 --> 00:12:34.750 get to wield the disciplines that the Lord has 00:12:34.750 --> 00:12:38.210 given us for your own purposes. That's sorcery 00:12:38.210 --> 00:12:42.360 if you do that, okay? And we say, well, God says 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:44.799 if you pray and you believe that you have what 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:47.639 you pray for, you shall have it. And we say, 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:50.240 well, I want to have what I pray for, so I'm 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:53.980 going to believe what I pray for. So that's sorcery. 00:12:53.980 --> 00:12:56.000 You're twisting the words of the Bible, coming 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:57.620 at it from the backside. You're trying to get 00:12:57.620 --> 00:13:00.080 to the good thing that you want by doing the 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.279 things that God has told you to do. And that's 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:04.559 not how that works. We do the things of fullness. 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:07.659 We do them because it's what God wants us to 00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:10.250 do. Because we love him. Now, he first loved 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:12.169 us. We didn't know love when we were unsaved. 00:13:12.169 --> 00:13:13.929 We love him because he first loved us, but we 00:13:13.929 --> 00:13:16.429 do it because we love him. And Jesus said, those 00:13:16.429 --> 00:13:18.389 who love me will follow my commands. And so we 00:13:18.389 --> 00:13:21.830 do it out of faithfulness. But if you do it out 00:13:21.830 --> 00:13:25.629 of sorcery, look out. That's going to be a problem. 00:13:26.090 --> 00:13:28.809 In fact, it goes so far as to say, the Bible 00:13:28.809 --> 00:13:30.769 says that those who practice sorcery will not 00:13:30.769 --> 00:13:33.590 inherit the kingdom of heaven. So be careful. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:36.600 About saying, well, I want this, so I'm going 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.059 to do this that God told me to do just so I can 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:43.220 get that, that sorcery. So we can't want to be 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:47.100 rewarded openly by God and then say, okay, we're 00:13:47.100 --> 00:13:48.580 going to fast the way that Jesus commanded us 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:51.360 to. It's a command. We have to follow Jesus' 00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:54.860 command and faithfulness. And it happens when 00:13:54.860 --> 00:13:56.360 we follow Jesus' command and faithfulness that 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:00.799 God will openly reward us, which is what I want. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:03.720 But I just can't want it before I want being 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.000 faithful to the Lord. Does that make sense? Okay. 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:12.240 All right. So the next one, I worded it a little 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:14.279 bit confused, but I will explain. Okay. It says, 00:14:14.379 --> 00:14:20.740 if, comma, not, when you fast. And then put a 00:14:20.740 --> 00:14:22.779 big old fat question mark right behind that. 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:27.379 Okay. So here's what's happening with Christians 00:14:27.379 --> 00:14:31.240 all over the world. I don't know what percentage, 00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:33.200 and I'm not trying to slam anybody or anything 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:34.799 like that, but there are lots of people who are 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:39.419 not fasting in any way, shape, or form. I'll 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:41.559 never forget, many years ago, we did the Purpose 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:44.059 Driven Life by Rick Warren. I see this would 00:14:44.059 --> 00:14:50.360 be 24 years ago. We did that as a Bible study. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.679 And in there, it talked about fasting. And we 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:56.200 went around the room, and we talked about how 00:14:56.200 --> 00:14:58.720 we were going to fast, because we felt... He 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:00.580 taught us from the Bible what it was supposed 00:15:00.580 --> 00:15:02.539 to be, and we said, we're going to do it. And 00:15:02.539 --> 00:15:04.519 Rick Warren, in the writing, he said, consider 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.179 how God will lead you to do this. So we all were 00:15:07.179 --> 00:15:08.639 supposed to be, we talked about it, come back 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:10.440 the next week, and how God's going to do this. 00:15:10.899 --> 00:15:12.779 And around the room it was, well, I can't fast 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:15.899 because, I can't fast because, I can't fast because. 00:15:16.980 --> 00:15:20.139 And I hadn't gone yet. Well, hold up a second. 00:15:20.590 --> 00:15:22.230 I said, you know, he even says in the book you 00:15:22.230 --> 00:15:24.830 can fast in a light way. Like you can decide 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:28.110 not to watch TV or you can give up caffeine or 00:15:28.110 --> 00:15:31.889 you could give up something that entertains you 00:15:31.889 --> 00:15:33.629 or makes you feel good for a while. And you're 00:15:33.629 --> 00:15:36.870 saying you can't? Well, they were all just thinking 00:15:36.870 --> 00:15:38.889 of it as food. And two of the people were on 00:15:38.889 --> 00:15:41.649 medication and one of the person had a heart 00:15:41.649 --> 00:15:42.830 disorder or whatever. And they're like, well, 00:15:42.850 --> 00:15:45.009 I can't do that. I can't starve my body of what 00:15:45.009 --> 00:15:47.509 it needs and blah, blah, blah. And by the time 00:15:47.509 --> 00:15:49.789 we got done, everybody did agree to fast on something. 00:15:50.110 --> 00:15:52.750 But my point is, in America, we're training ourselves 00:15:52.750 --> 00:15:55.990 not to give anything up. You don't have to. You 00:15:55.990 --> 00:15:59.429 can have it and have it too and have it too and 00:15:59.429 --> 00:16:02.350 have it too. You can just keep eating. You can 00:16:02.350 --> 00:16:04.049 just keep buying. You can keep shopping. You 00:16:04.049 --> 00:16:06.750 can keep getting it. You want something, but 00:16:06.750 --> 00:16:07.850 you don't want to go to the store. Well, you 00:16:07.850 --> 00:16:09.490 can buy it online. It'll show up at your house 00:16:09.490 --> 00:16:13.330 overnight. So we're training ourselves to be 00:16:13.330 --> 00:16:16.129 able to have everything that we want. That's 00:16:16.129 --> 00:16:19.649 not biblical. It is not biblical to have everything 00:16:19.649 --> 00:16:21.610 that you want. In fact, if you're sitting here 00:16:21.610 --> 00:16:23.509 right now thinking, I have everything that I 00:16:23.509 --> 00:16:29.350 want, you need to fast. Because God has so much 00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:31.690 more for us than we can ever have in this lifetime. 00:16:32.009 --> 00:16:34.169 What you really want are the things that God 00:16:34.169 --> 00:16:37.049 has yet in store for you. You just don't know 00:16:37.049 --> 00:16:38.570 what they are yet, so you don't know enough to 00:16:38.570 --> 00:16:41.029 want them yet. When you fast and get close to 00:16:41.029 --> 00:16:44.539 the Lord, He will show you exactly how good his 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:46.440 presence is. He will show you exactly how good 00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:50.740 he is and what's coming in the future. So backing 00:16:50.740 --> 00:16:53.580 up on fasting then, he's talking about giving 00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:56.980 up food. That's what they were talking about. 00:16:56.980 --> 00:16:59.419 They're not talking about giving up sex or caffeine 00:16:59.419 --> 00:17:02.559 or nicotine. They're talking about giving up 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:05.920 food for a period of time. In fact, the Pharisees, 00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:08.559 they would give up food two days a week and they 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:13.240 would not eat at all. Now, I'm not saying we 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:15.859 should follow that pattern, but this is a pattern 00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:17.839 commanded by Jesus that we should follow. You 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:20.660 should find something to fast from as Jesus leads 00:17:20.660 --> 00:17:22.799 you to do. If it is food, then it's food. If 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.759 it's caffeine, then it's caffeine. As God would 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:28.099 lead you to, you give it up for whatever period 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:29.680 of time. And if it's going to be a discipline, 00:17:29.819 --> 00:17:32.039 it has to have a set period of time. So you say, 00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:33.579 well, I'm going to give up food until sundown. 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:35.599 I'll give up food for 24 hours. I'm going to 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:37.720 give up caffeine for 40 days. I'm going to give 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:39.980 up sugar for... Whatever period of time. And 00:17:39.980 --> 00:17:41.779 you set it in advance. And what you'll find is, 00:17:41.859 --> 00:17:43.819 if you set one day or 40 days, it doesn't matter. 00:17:43.880 --> 00:17:44.859 Somewhere in there, you're going to struggle 00:17:44.859 --> 00:17:47.599 with it. Because the enemy likes to mess with 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:48.880 you, and the flesh gets involved, and whatever. 00:17:48.940 --> 00:17:49.700 Somewhere in there, you're going to struggle. 00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:51.460 And then you're going to go to God and say, okay, 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:54.180 God, I set a day, but I'm struggling to get through 00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:57.339 a day here. And God helps you, shows up in stronger 00:17:57.339 --> 00:18:00.460 presence. Now, you don't go around yammering 00:18:00.460 --> 00:18:01.880 to all your friends about it, telling them all 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:04.960 how awesome you did. Right? Just between you 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:07.839 and God. And then... God will show you things 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:10.019 that you do not currently know. He will reward 00:18:10.019 --> 00:18:12.599 you openly for your doing it alone with him. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:16.339 So the reason I phrase it that way is because 00:18:16.339 --> 00:18:19.680 for most people the question is, if I fast. As 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:22.880 in, will I ever fast? Will I ever give up anything 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:25.279 that I don't have to give up? That's how most 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:27.940 people are thinking. But in reality, it's not 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:33.240 if. Notice the verse. When you fast. It's not 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:37.059 if. It's when. Go ahead, RJ. What's the word 00:18:37.059 --> 00:18:40.640 after sorcery? So it goes faithfulness versus 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.819 sorcery. That's it. The Y is the Y in sorcery. 00:18:44.660 --> 00:18:49.279 That's not a separate blank. The Y is the last 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:55.599 letter in sorcery. And notice that if you take 00:18:55.599 --> 00:19:01.700 the Y off, it becomes sorcerer. There's no reason 00:19:01.700 --> 00:19:04.759 to be a sorcerer. There's no reason to practice 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:09.059 sorcery. Anyway, so it's not if, it's when. So 00:19:09.059 --> 00:19:11.319 we will fast. It's just a question of how will 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:13.059 we fast. That's what Jesus was asking us was 00:19:13.059 --> 00:19:15.319 to fast in a certain way. He wasn't commanding 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:18.180 us to fast. He was assuming that we would and 00:19:18.180 --> 00:19:21.920 commanding us to do it a certain way. Then we're 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:28.599 moving on. Some will think stories of faithfulness. 00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:32.059 I'm just giving it to you for expedience sake. 00:19:33.379 --> 00:19:35.779 Will, anybody want to try to finish it from there? 00:19:36.740 --> 00:19:42.440 L, P, 2, F. Some will think stories of faithfulness 00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:49.480 will what? Lead people to faithfulness. Some 00:19:49.480 --> 00:19:51.400 will think stories of faithfulness will lead 00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:53.440 people to faithfulness. So we go talking to people 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:56.640 about how we fast, thinking that that will encourage 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:00.039 them to fast. Or we talk to people about how 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:02.019 we give, thinking that that will encourage them 00:20:02.019 --> 00:20:04.779 to give. Or how we serve, thinking that that 00:20:04.779 --> 00:20:06.799 will encourage them to serve. We even say things 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:08.319 like, I'll never forget, I was a young Christian, 00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:09.700 very young. I hadn't been a Christian more than 00:20:09.700 --> 00:20:12.480 three months. And they had a service in the church. 00:20:12.539 --> 00:20:14.619 They called it a stewardship service. And they 00:20:14.619 --> 00:20:16.759 had all the people in the service who were tithing 00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:18.440 potentially raise their hand and give a little 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:20.920 testimony about tithing. And one of the deacons 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:22.380 spoke up and he said, well, we always struggle 00:20:22.380 --> 00:20:24.440 with tithing. We never did that. And then we 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:26.140 always struggled with money until that time. 00:20:26.299 --> 00:20:28.569 And then we started tithing. And then we never 00:20:28.569 --> 00:20:30.529 struggled with money after that. We always had 00:20:30.529 --> 00:20:33.029 what we needed after we started tithing. And 00:20:33.029 --> 00:20:35.190 I was a very young Christian. And that was a 00:20:35.190 --> 00:20:38.269 real stumbling block for me because I didn't 00:20:38.269 --> 00:20:41.789 even know what tithing was until that day. Like 00:20:41.789 --> 00:20:43.569 at that service, that was the first I ever heard 00:20:43.569 --> 00:20:46.910 of what a tithe was. And now I'm going, okay, 00:20:46.970 --> 00:20:49.630 now I've got to do this. And so what happened 00:20:49.630 --> 00:20:51.289 was I'm like, well, I want to never struggle 00:20:51.289 --> 00:20:54.049 with my finances, so I'm going to tithe. And 00:20:54.049 --> 00:20:58.230 what is that? That's sorcery. So as a young Christian, 00:20:58.309 --> 00:21:02.670 I was led into sorcery by hearing the success 00:21:02.670 --> 00:21:04.430 that they had had by practicing that discipline. 00:21:05.130 --> 00:21:08.930 And all that's true, but you can't do that. You 00:21:08.930 --> 00:21:10.910 can't say, I want the results, so I'm going to 00:21:10.910 --> 00:21:14.309 do it. And so when you share stories of your 00:21:14.309 --> 00:21:16.069 faithfulness with people, that is not necessarily 00:21:16.069 --> 00:21:19.170 going to lead them to faithfulness. You can encourage 00:21:19.170 --> 00:21:22.039 them to be faithful. And you might use anecdotally 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:24.240 stories from your life to encourage them to be 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:26.799 faithful. But unless you say, please be faithful, 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:28.619 here's what you can do, please do this, this 00:21:28.619 --> 00:21:29.980 is what God would want us to do, show them the 00:21:29.980 --> 00:21:32.640 Bible verses. I mean, just, I did this, that's 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:35.140 not going to do it. And that's what you'd be 00:21:35.140 --> 00:21:36.140 doing if you're going around telling everybody 00:21:36.140 --> 00:21:37.619 you're fasting. You'd just be telling them what 00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:39.619 you're doing. That's not going to lead them to 00:21:39.619 --> 00:21:44.059 be more faithful. Under the scroll now, it says, 00:21:44.099 --> 00:21:47.420 a better message is... So right under the scroll 00:21:47.420 --> 00:21:49.759 to the right there, SS. A better message is, 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:54.079 and then you see a colon. I've given you a few 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:56.460 examples. There are probably a lot of examples 00:21:56.460 --> 00:22:01.079 here. The first one is, if you're talking to 00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:05.500 somebody else, you're talking all about God. 00:22:06.420 --> 00:22:09.500 So it shouldn't be about you. If you want to 00:22:09.500 --> 00:22:11.980 tell somebody that you managed to fast, let's 00:22:11.980 --> 00:22:13.880 say. Then when you talk to them, you don't talk 00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:15.900 to them about you fasted. You talk to them about 00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:18.559 how God was good to you while you were fasting. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:20.819 You don't have to tell them how long you fasted. 00:22:20.819 --> 00:22:22.200 You don't have to tell them what you fasted from, 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:26.059 whatever. But talk about God and how God was 00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:27.660 good to you during that time instead of talking 00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:30.500 about you. See, that's the difference. Otherwise, 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:31.619 if you're talking about you, you're breaking 00:22:31.619 --> 00:22:35.200 what Jesus, the command that he gave. So all 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:39.859 about God. The next one is what we have seen 00:22:39.859 --> 00:22:44.359 and heard. So when we talk to people, 1 John 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:46.720 1 .3 says, we proclaim what we have seen and 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:50.799 heard, your personal experience. You can share 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:52.980 your opinions, but your opinions are colored 00:22:52.980 --> 00:22:56.119 by your own personality. But what you have seen 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:58.160 and heard is not colored by your personality, 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:00.940 at least not to any great degree. It's what you 00:23:00.940 --> 00:23:05.119 saw. You can say, I saw, I heard, this is what 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:07.900 I know about God, right? But when you start to 00:23:07.900 --> 00:23:11.720 say, I think, give your opinions, then now, That's 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.259 filtered through your whole life experience. 00:23:14.180 --> 00:23:16.660 But if you just say, I saw. And we know that 00:23:16.660 --> 00:23:18.880 eyewitnesses' testimony can be altered slightly 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:21.039 by people's opinions, experiences, things like 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:25.380 that. It's not always the same. But a lot less 00:23:25.380 --> 00:23:27.059 so if you're talking about what you've seen or 00:23:27.059 --> 00:23:28.680 heard and the experiences that you've had than 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:33.380 if you're giving your opinions. And then the 00:23:33.380 --> 00:23:36.140 next one we should be able to get is JIA with 00:23:36.140 --> 00:23:40.539 an exclamation point. Jesus is alive. Two weeks 00:23:40.539 --> 00:23:42.339 ago we talked about that. That's the supreme 00:23:42.339 --> 00:23:46.720 message that Jesus called us in Matthew 28 to 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:48.759 go out and share. That's what people were authorized 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:52.740 to be witnesses to in Acts 1. Jesus is alive. 00:23:54.099 --> 00:23:57.660 These are all better messages than talking about 00:23:57.660 --> 00:24:01.700 your faithfulness. And then the last one also 00:24:01.700 --> 00:24:05.420 might be a good guessable thing. Say it again. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:09.319 I like that one, but that's not what I put, but 00:24:09.319 --> 00:24:10.900 I do like that one, so you could put that there. 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:15.859 I put salvation is available, but sin also is 00:24:15.859 --> 00:24:21.440 abolished, at least the effects of it. Now you 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:23.880 could add more to that list if you go through 00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:25.740 your Bible and look at anything that God or Jesus 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:29.000 has told us to say or do, and you could do that 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:31.440 instead, but what you won't find is a command 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:35.039 to talk about how well you did fasting or tell 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:37.809 people that you're currently fasting. Because 00:24:37.809 --> 00:24:39.890 those would be contrary to what Jesus just told 00:24:39.890 --> 00:24:46.109 us. Yeah, because they did it so that everybody 00:24:46.109 --> 00:24:49.369 could see them. And that's the danger here. So 00:24:49.369 --> 00:24:51.450 he very well could have called them sorcerers. 00:24:53.970 --> 00:24:57.170 Okay, now we're going to take one more. The next 00:24:57.170 --> 00:24:59.670 one is in the scroll there. It's rolled down. 00:25:00.569 --> 00:25:03.930 And it is a New Testament book beginning with 00:25:03.930 --> 00:25:06.680 L, so it's got to be Luke. That's right. And 00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:11.400 then the chapter is three squared, it says. Yep, 00:25:11.700 --> 00:25:15.559 it's 924. Three squared, two dozen. 924. Luke 00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:20.339 924. I'm going to have to come up with a whole 00:25:20.339 --> 00:25:22.400 bunch of little creative clues for verses now 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:24.480 that I started doing that because I don't want 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:28.900 to use them over and over again. All right. So 00:25:28.900 --> 00:25:34.839 I'll read Luke 924. You might recognize it. In 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:36.200 fact, if I gave you the first word, somebody 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:40.220 might say it from memory. It is this. For whoever 00:25:40.220 --> 00:25:44.599 wishes to save his life shall lose it. But whoever 00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:49.160 loses his life for my sake, he is the one who 00:25:49.160 --> 00:25:54.859 will save it. Okay, that's 24. And then you can 00:25:54.859 --> 00:26:02.450 fill in the blanks. For whoever wants to... save 00:26:02.450 --> 00:26:06.049 his life, we'll lose it. So that's the summary 00:26:06.049 --> 00:26:08.269 of the first part. I guess you'd call that like 00:26:08.269 --> 00:26:12.410 924A. Whoever wants to save his life will lose 00:26:12.410 --> 00:26:15.650 it. So this is a little bit like what I was talking 00:26:15.650 --> 00:26:17.150 about when I was talking about how we have everything 00:26:17.150 --> 00:26:18.890 that we want and we're used to the way things 00:26:18.890 --> 00:26:21.250 are in this lifetime and we're doing pretty good. 00:26:21.690 --> 00:26:25.569 And then we're not even picturing what's coming. 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:27.900 We don't really have a good, there's nowhere 00:26:27.900 --> 00:26:29.880 you can, even in Scripture, you can't get a good 00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:31.859 foretaste of what heaven's going to be like. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:35.400 I know that if people, and if people have said 00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:37.539 they've had out -of -body experiences and they 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:39.400 died briefly and they experienced heaven and 00:26:39.400 --> 00:26:41.400 they came back, and some people said they died 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:43.160 and they experienced hell and they came back, 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:48.119 and they always, always, always say it changed 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:50.880 them forever. Like you don't find a story that 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:52.819 people say, well, I saw heaven, came back, and 00:26:52.819 --> 00:26:56.880 eh, wasn't any big deal. So we don't have a foretaste, 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:58.819 really. We have some teaching in Revelation about 00:26:58.819 --> 00:27:01.119 New Jerusalem and what it's like. We have some 00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:03.779 things where Jesus said what's being done away 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:08.000 with and what will be there. We know that it 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:10.640 will be eternally good, basically. The bottom 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:12.880 line is you don't have a good taste of what it 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:16.819 will be like. So if you think what you're dealing 00:27:16.819 --> 00:27:18.660 with, you want to hold real tight to that right 00:27:18.660 --> 00:27:20.339 now. Let's say you've become wealthy or you're 00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:21.779 doing pretty good financially. Not that you're 00:27:21.779 --> 00:27:24.099 rich. but your house is getting paid off or whatever, 00:27:24.180 --> 00:27:25.680 your bills are paid and you're feeling really 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:31.160 good. And then God wants you to be generous or 00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:33.240 wants you to be a servant and give up some time 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:38.940 at work or whatever. And you're concerned about 00:27:38.940 --> 00:27:40.880 keeping control of the things that he's blessed 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:44.819 you with. That's a problem. That means you're 00:27:44.819 --> 00:27:46.980 satisfied with this life and you're worried about 00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:51.299 saving this life. And then Jesus says, a person 00:27:51.299 --> 00:27:54.900 who's in that place will lose their life. So 00:27:54.900 --> 00:27:57.019 whoever wants to save his life will lose it. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:00.700 And then he goes on to say, though, whoever loses 00:28:00.700 --> 00:28:07.640 his life for my sake, or for me, for my sake. 00:28:08.779 --> 00:28:12.480 And then this is the Billie Jean verse. The musical 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:14.779 people in the room might understand that. It 00:28:14.779 --> 00:28:20.319 says, whosoever loses his life for my sake, He 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:23.619 is the one. Remember Billie Jean's Just a Girl 00:28:23.619 --> 00:28:28.500 Who Says, I am the one. So whoever loses his 00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:31.339 life for my sake, he is the one who will save 00:28:31.339 --> 00:28:36.599 it. So now, kind of generically speaking, we're 00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.319 talking about martyrdom. So if a person dies 00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:43.539 for Jesus, they die for Jesus, right? Not they 00:28:43.539 --> 00:28:46.059 just die. People die all the time. Even people 00:28:46.059 --> 00:28:47.880 who profess to be Christians die all the time, 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:49.039 and some of them go to heaven and some of them 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:51.279 don't. So whether or not their profession is 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:54.640 real or not, remember Matthew 7? He said, not 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:56.779 everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, will enter 00:28:56.779 --> 00:29:00.759 the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said that. But those 00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:02.759 who follow the commands of my Father who is in 00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:06.779 heaven. And so if you're not following Jesus, 00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:09.160 if you're not a follower of Jesus and you die, 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:11.559 you're not going to heaven, you're going to hell. 00:29:11.740 --> 00:29:13.480 There's only one way to go to heaven. That's 00:29:13.480 --> 00:29:16.740 through Jesus. So then, if you're a follower 00:29:16.740 --> 00:29:19.859 of Jesus, and you die, whether you die from cancer 00:29:19.859 --> 00:29:22.440 or a car accident or a bullet to the head or 00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:24.099 whatever, but you're legitimately following the 00:29:24.099 --> 00:29:27.619 Lord when you die, then you will have your life 00:29:27.619 --> 00:29:31.119 and have it for eternity. Right? And so the truth 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:33.039 is, if you have your life and have it for eternity 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:35.859 and you continue to follow Jesus, in other words, 00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:37.140 if you're born again and you're truly following 00:29:37.140 --> 00:29:39.200 Jesus from all the way through the end, then 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:43.660 we'll all die for Jesus. How we die will be different. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:45.579 Some of us are older than others and we die of 00:29:45.579 --> 00:29:48.680 old age. Some of us are, I'm standing here, might 00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:50.440 have cancer. Some of us might have cancer right 00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:52.460 now, and that might be what kills us, right? 00:29:52.680 --> 00:29:55.039 But if you live for Jesus through the end, he 00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:59.779 says, you will save your life, right? But if 00:29:59.779 --> 00:30:01.180 you, on the other hand, are worried about it, 00:30:01.220 --> 00:30:03.480 like I've known people who were, I've witnessed 00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:06.140 people on their deathbed who were professing 00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:08.079 Christians. and who were not professing Christians. 00:30:08.460 --> 00:30:10.339 And then in the professing Christian category 00:30:10.339 --> 00:30:12.079 and in the not professing Christian category 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:14.759 both, I have witnessed the people on their deathbed 00:30:14.759 --> 00:30:18.220 who were screaming and hollering like a wounded 00:30:18.220 --> 00:30:20.720 beast did not want to leave this life, even though 00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:23.259 they were a professing Christian. And also I 00:30:23.259 --> 00:30:24.920 have witnessed people who had the greatest peace, 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:26.380 knew where they were going, and they were perfectly 00:30:26.380 --> 00:30:28.960 okay as a professing Christian. Then over here, 00:30:29.059 --> 00:30:31.200 I have people who were not a professing Christian, 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:35.380 and they were perfectly content, perfectly peaceful 00:30:35.380 --> 00:30:38.019 to die. Because they'd had enough, they were 00:30:38.019 --> 00:30:40.220 worn out, and they felt like they had done enough 00:30:40.220 --> 00:30:42.880 good in their life. And by that measure of salvation, 00:30:42.940 --> 00:30:44.119 they'd done more good than bad. They thought 00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:46.660 they were going to go to heaven. Which just isn't 00:30:46.660 --> 00:30:49.599 true. That's not what the Bible teaches. And 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:52.700 then also, people were screaming like a wounded 00:30:52.700 --> 00:30:55.279 beast, did not want to go out. And I tell you 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:57.259 that whether they're a professing Christian or 00:30:57.259 --> 00:30:59.000 not a professing Christian, if they're screaming 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:00.799 like a wounded beast and don't want to go out, 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:03.220 according to this, they're not going to heaven. 00:31:04.389 --> 00:31:06.869 Because he who tries to hold on to his life will 00:31:06.869 --> 00:31:11.390 lose it. That's what he said. So the trick is 00:31:11.390 --> 00:31:14.789 to be willing to give your life, however that 00:31:14.789 --> 00:31:16.630 looks on a day -to -day basis. You might have 00:31:16.630 --> 00:31:18.970 to take some risks. You might have to give up 00:31:18.970 --> 00:31:20.829 some money that you don't feel perfectly comfortable 00:31:20.829 --> 00:31:23.829 giving up with, or some time. Or you might have 00:31:23.829 --> 00:31:25.890 to listen to somebody that kind of grates on 00:31:25.890 --> 00:31:27.069 your nerves. You're like, I don't really want 00:31:27.069 --> 00:31:30.170 to deal with them. You might have to expend some 00:31:30.170 --> 00:31:34.640 resources to be found living for Jesus. And that's 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:36.859 what Jesus requires of us in order for us to 00:31:36.859 --> 00:31:40.900 gain our lives. Okay? Then he gives a four, and 00:31:40.900 --> 00:31:45.839 we're into verse 25. Okay? And so we just finished 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:51.839 24, and it says four, what? Yeah, four. What 00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:54.859 is a man profited if he gains the whole world 00:31:54.859 --> 00:31:59.240 and loses or forfeits himself? Now you said that's 00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:01.640 one of your favorite verses, but I wonder, is 00:32:01.640 --> 00:32:05.660 it this verse or the one over in Matthew 16 that 00:32:05.660 --> 00:32:08.779 you love? You have to decide. Or you like them 00:32:08.779 --> 00:32:10.359 both so much that they can both be your favorite 00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:14.859 verse. Because over there, it ends not with self, 00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:20.900 but soul. It's a little different. So Matthew 00:32:20.900 --> 00:32:25.740 said that Jesus said soul. Luke records, after 00:32:25.740 --> 00:32:28.059 talking to witnesses, that at least on one occasion, 00:32:28.490 --> 00:32:32.970 He said, self. So the question is, world or self? 00:32:33.089 --> 00:32:34.650 That's what you have on your page. The question 00:32:34.650 --> 00:32:38.210 is, choose, world or self? There seems to be 00:32:38.210 --> 00:32:39.529 an awful lot of people that think they'll be 00:32:39.529 --> 00:32:43.509 content if they get the world. But I think if 00:32:43.509 --> 00:32:45.569 they knew what losing themselves would really 00:32:45.569 --> 00:32:48.849 be like, they wouldn't be so content. There's 00:32:48.849 --> 00:32:51.009 a lot of stories about men who became super wealthy, 00:32:51.089 --> 00:32:52.789 had a lot of resources, whatever like that, and 00:32:52.789 --> 00:32:59.440 became very, very alone. Not only that, but if 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:01.880 you take the Matthew version and lose your soul, 00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:05.519 that's eternity in hell. And so we have to be 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:07.700 careful about wanting the things of the world, 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:10.240 basically. So I'll just read the verse one more 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:13.500 time. 25, for what is a man profited if he gains 00:33:13.500 --> 00:33:15.339 the whole world? That means you get everything. 00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:17.220 You get everything you ever wanted and more. 00:33:17.940 --> 00:33:19.880 Get the reins of the world. We know some people 00:33:19.880 --> 00:33:22.779 that are in popular media that have that now 00:33:22.779 --> 00:33:24.720 or seem to have that. They have so much control, 00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:28.039 so much power. billions and billions of dollars, 00:33:28.140 --> 00:33:30.039 things like that. But what would that really 00:33:30.039 --> 00:33:34.240 be worth if you got all that and lost or forfeit 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:39.660 yourself? Which implies all of you. Everything 00:33:39.660 --> 00:33:45.779 that you are was gone. And then verse 26, another 00:33:45.779 --> 00:33:50.259 for, so it's another because basically, for whoever 00:33:50.259 --> 00:33:54.210 is ashamed of me and my words, Of him will the 00:33:54.210 --> 00:33:56.589 Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory, 00:33:56.769 --> 00:33:59.690 and the glory of the Father, and of the holy 00:33:59.690 --> 00:34:04.789 angels. So the rest of that scroll is whoever 00:34:04.789 --> 00:34:11.809 is ashamed, then what happens? Jesus will be 00:34:11.809 --> 00:34:16.599 ashamed when he comes in glory. So there's going 00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:18.739 to be a moment in time coming. Remember Matthew 00:34:18.739 --> 00:34:20.840 28, it says that even under the end of the age, 00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:22.840 at the moment of the harvest, Jesus is going 00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:24.579 to come again. It's going to be a moment where 00:34:24.579 --> 00:34:28.199 everything is sorted out. And at that moment, 00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:30.679 you do not want Jesus to be ashamed of you. That's 00:34:30.679 --> 00:34:35.639 not what we want, obviously. So why would it 00:34:35.639 --> 00:34:41.420 be, taking those verses together, 24, 25, and 00:34:41.420 --> 00:34:44.460 26, it says, For whoever wishes to save his life 00:34:44.460 --> 00:34:46.619 shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for 00:34:46.619 --> 00:34:49.059 my sake, he is the one who will save it. But 00:34:49.059 --> 00:34:50.980 what is a man profited if he gains the whole 00:34:50.980 --> 00:34:54.480 world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever 00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:57.159 is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the 00:34:57.159 --> 00:34:59.199 Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory 00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:01.079 and the glory of the Father of the holy angels. 00:35:01.260 --> 00:35:04.780 So what's the problem? What is Jesus warning 00:35:04.780 --> 00:35:14.119 us to avoid? Selfishness, your own desires, pursuit 00:35:14.119 --> 00:35:17.019 of what you want. What the world could give you. 00:35:17.900 --> 00:35:21.760 In the first verse, it's so true that even your 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:25.619 life can't be that important to you. Then it's 00:35:25.619 --> 00:35:27.539 about, you could have everything. What if you 00:35:27.539 --> 00:35:31.380 had everything? If you had everything, but lost 00:35:31.380 --> 00:35:34.900 yourself, that would suck. That would be messed 00:35:34.900 --> 00:35:37.739 up. You wouldn't want that. And then in the end, 00:35:37.820 --> 00:35:41.590 he's giving us the... The final, if you will, 00:35:41.769 --> 00:35:46.329 nail in the coffin, which is, here's how you 00:35:46.329 --> 00:35:50.690 know when somebody is concerned about their life, 00:35:50.889 --> 00:35:55.710 when somebody is worried about the world, and 00:35:55.710 --> 00:36:01.769 the test is what? They're ashamed of Jesus and 00:36:01.769 --> 00:36:05.570 his words. So you can go to work all the time, 00:36:05.670 --> 00:36:08.289 go to school all the time, and nobody knows. 00:36:08.630 --> 00:36:11.170 Say you're a follower of Jesus, but you go wherever 00:36:11.170 --> 00:36:13.070 you go, and nobody knows that you're a follower 00:36:13.070 --> 00:36:15.650 of Jesus. Then you better ask yourself if you're 00:36:15.650 --> 00:36:18.349 ashamed of his words. Because if you're ashamed 00:36:18.349 --> 00:36:20.690 of him and his words, then according to what 00:36:20.690 --> 00:36:22.750 he says, when he comes again in his glory, he'll 00:36:22.750 --> 00:36:25.210 be ashamed of you. So if you would say, well, 00:36:25.230 --> 00:36:27.969 yeah, I don't really talk about Jesus. I don't 00:36:27.969 --> 00:36:29.230 think I'm ashamed of him, but I don't really 00:36:29.230 --> 00:36:30.789 talk about him. Then ask yourself, well, why? 00:36:31.579 --> 00:36:33.340 How could you possibly, a follower of the Lord, 00:36:33.380 --> 00:36:35.280 have the Great Commission, Acts 1 -8, all of 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:40.360 those commands, and not talk about him? Okay? 00:36:40.420 --> 00:36:43.280 And then the reasoning is kind of over in the 00:36:43.280 --> 00:36:53.719 right half there. It says, some say, if you totally 00:36:53.719 --> 00:37:02.010 dedicate your life to God, good job, Josh, Anybody 00:37:02.010 --> 00:37:05.630 want to finish it? RJ, you should be able to 00:37:05.630 --> 00:37:07.289 finish this because you tell the youth that it's 00:37:07.289 --> 00:37:14.670 not true all the time. The whole saying is, if 00:37:14.670 --> 00:37:16.730 you totally dedicate your life to God, you will 00:37:16.730 --> 00:37:20.889 miss out on a lot of fun. That's the worldly 00:37:20.889 --> 00:37:23.929 version of Christianity, that Christians miss 00:37:23.929 --> 00:37:27.889 out on the fun. Because they dedicate their life 00:37:27.889 --> 00:37:30.010 to God. And then inside Christianity, or proposed 00:37:30.010 --> 00:37:32.230 Christianity, a lot of people don't totally dedicate 00:37:32.230 --> 00:37:33.989 their life to God in order to make sure they 00:37:33.989 --> 00:37:35.949 don't miss out on the fun that the world is having. 00:37:36.389 --> 00:37:38.349 And I submit to you, they're no better off than 00:37:38.349 --> 00:37:40.150 the world who thinks that you will miss out on 00:37:40.150 --> 00:37:42.030 a lot of fun if you totally dedicate your life 00:37:42.030 --> 00:37:44.309 to God. Apparently, they agree. That's why they're 00:37:44.309 --> 00:37:47.769 not totally dedicating their life to God. According 00:37:47.769 --> 00:37:51.670 to Jesus, and this is where this becomes interactive, 00:37:52.070 --> 00:37:55.070 if I do not totally dedicate my life to God, 00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:57.039 And then this is for you. We're not going to 00:37:57.039 --> 00:37:58.639 talk about what you write there. You write whatever 00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:00.900 you feel is true in those blanks based on what 00:38:00.900 --> 00:38:03.619 we've studied today. So the first part says, 00:38:03.780 --> 00:38:06.000 if I do not totally dedicate my life to God, 00:38:06.139 --> 00:38:10.599 what? What does Jesus say will happen? And then 00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:14.239 you write in the blank. You don't have to tell 00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:15.360 us what you're putting there, but whatever you 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:19.380 want. And then the last part says, so I will 00:38:19.380 --> 00:38:24.079 and he will. So next to me, you write what you're 00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:27.960 going to do. And next to God, you write what 00:38:27.960 --> 00:38:33.880 God's going to do. Ideally, the me would be responding 00:38:33.880 --> 00:38:35.960 to some command of God that you know is true, 00:38:36.039 --> 00:38:38.519 something that God is telling you to do. And 00:38:38.519 --> 00:38:40.639 the God would be some promise of God, something 00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:52.159 that he's telling you he'll do. The only lingering 00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:54.639 question that didn't make the worksheet that's 00:38:54.639 --> 00:39:01.130 in my mind, is how on earth, how can it be that 00:39:01.130 --> 00:39:04.769 the teachings of Jesus are so simple and straightforward 00:39:04.769 --> 00:39:08.969 and yet people don't get it? There is an answer. 00:39:09.030 --> 00:39:10.969 There's a biblical answer to this question. You 00:39:10.969 --> 00:39:12.309 can't just go, oh, it doesn't make any sense. 00:39:12.389 --> 00:39:14.150 It's not me railing. I'm not just saying, oh, 00:39:14.190 --> 00:39:16.969 how can they possibly not get it? There is an 00:39:16.969 --> 00:39:20.230 answer. How is it that people do not, sometimes 00:39:20.230 --> 00:39:24.809 do not understand these simple commands and promises? 00:39:25.929 --> 00:39:32.650 What do you think? What does Scripture say? Say 00:39:32.650 --> 00:39:36.750 that again. Yeah, their eyes are closed, they're 00:39:36.750 --> 00:39:40.269 blind, they're fooled. There's duplicity, right? 00:39:40.349 --> 00:39:43.309 There is a great trick played upon mankind since 00:39:43.309 --> 00:39:47.610 the Garden of Eden. And God, Jesus, came to dispel 00:39:47.610 --> 00:39:50.590 that and to give freedom, to give an opportunity. 00:39:51.230 --> 00:39:54.289 So if that's the reason why people can't see 00:39:54.289 --> 00:39:56.530 these basic commands and promises and respond 00:39:56.530 --> 00:39:58.989 to them and say, okay, well, I'm going to do 00:39:58.989 --> 00:40:00.730 what God's telling me to do. That's the reason. 00:40:00.869 --> 00:40:04.170 And what would it take? What does it take for 00:40:04.170 --> 00:40:08.389 them to go, oh, my eyes are opened. I see. Somebody 00:40:08.389 --> 00:40:12.710 has to go and tell them. How will they know unless 00:40:12.710 --> 00:40:15.730 they hear? And how will they hear unless somebody 00:40:15.730 --> 00:40:19.250 goes and tells them? I paraphrase that, but that's 00:40:19.250 --> 00:40:21.619 Romans 10. And so that's it. That's what Jesus 00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:24.800 did. He died to start this process. Really, he 00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:27.179 rose again to start this process and spent 40 00:40:27.179 --> 00:40:30.059 days with the disciples, teaching them to start 00:40:30.059 --> 00:40:31.739 the beginning of the church and the gospel, the 00:40:31.739 --> 00:40:35.099 whole thing. So now we can dedicate our lives 00:40:35.099 --> 00:40:38.000 to God and tell others that they can too. We 00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:40.719 can tell others all about God, what we have seen 00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:43.960 and heard, that Jesus is alive and salvation 00:40:43.960 --> 00:40:47.880 is available. And it's not about us. It's not 00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:50.079 about our church. I can't tell you the number 00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:53.000 of times that I've said, if our church isn't 00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:54.559 really for you, if it's not really a fit for 00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:57.019 you, or you don't want to hang out with people 00:40:57.019 --> 00:40:59.179 of all ages, and sometimes people don't like 00:40:59.179 --> 00:41:03.420 being around kids, or you don't want to have 00:41:03.420 --> 00:41:07.019 upbeat worship music, or you don't want everything 00:41:07.019 --> 00:41:08.699 to be straight out of the Bible, you want some 00:41:08.699 --> 00:41:12.360 more poetry or things. I'm not saying that it's 00:41:12.360 --> 00:41:14.059 good or bad or whatever. I'm saying if they want 00:41:14.059 --> 00:41:16.840 it differently, then I'll help them find differently. 00:41:17.659 --> 00:41:19.659 As long as they can draw close to God in that. 00:41:19.840 --> 00:41:24.280 I'm happy to do that. So it's not about a certain 00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:27.059 church. It's not about a certain feeling or a 00:41:27.059 --> 00:41:30.679 certain opinion. Or one doctrine. Like at one 00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:32.719 point, I just absolutely believe this one thing 00:41:32.719 --> 00:41:35.340 is true and I can't get past it. Now if that 00:41:35.340 --> 00:41:37.400 doctrine is Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, 00:41:37.500 --> 00:41:39.900 then it is about that. I won't compromise on 00:41:39.900 --> 00:41:42.139 that either. But if they would say, for example, 00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:45.360 they believe in a doctrine of girls have to wear... 00:41:45.579 --> 00:41:47.619 long skirts who can never wear pants and they 00:41:47.619 --> 00:41:50.519 have to go to a church where that is, then that's 00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:52.920 fine with me. I think it can be saved in a church 00:41:52.920 --> 00:41:55.639 like that just the same. They're wrong in my 00:41:55.639 --> 00:41:58.159 opinion, but they can be saved in a church like 00:41:58.159 --> 00:42:00.539 that just the same. So I'm okay with that. But 00:42:00.539 --> 00:42:04.800 what I would say is we've got to get the message 00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:07.179 out that salvation is available. We've got to 00:42:07.179 --> 00:42:09.500 go and find people. And they say, I just don't 00:42:09.500 --> 00:42:11.400 see it. I just don't see it. And you can say 00:42:11.400 --> 00:42:15.210 to them, but I am it. You can say it, right, 00:42:15.250 --> 00:42:17.750 Jason? You can say, I am it. I can tell you with 00:42:17.750 --> 00:42:19.309 absolute certainty about the things that God 00:42:19.309 --> 00:42:23.329 has done in me. Right? All right. So we're closing 00:42:23.329 --> 00:42:26.889 prayer, and I'll give Jason and our honorary 00:42:26.889 --> 00:42:30.250 teenagers candy and stuff afterwards. We do have 00:42:30.250 --> 00:42:34.349 donuts and snack cakes and Kool -Aid and fruit 00:42:34.349 --> 00:42:37.750 in the cafeteria. And my guess is the kids will 00:42:37.750 --> 00:42:39.409 probably have beaten us there, which is okay 00:42:39.409 --> 00:42:41.650 because there's plenty by the time we get there. 00:42:42.090 --> 00:42:44.489 because they were doing crafts, and then I don't 00:42:44.489 --> 00:42:45.869 know if they were going to games, so I'm not 00:42:45.869 --> 00:42:50.869 sure what they were doing. Okay, so they may 00:42:50.869 --> 00:42:52.929 not be in there when we get there. All right. 00:42:53.210 --> 00:42:56.769 Any questions? Anyone want to add a personal 00:42:56.769 --> 00:42:58.929 little snippet of testimony to anything that 00:42:58.929 --> 00:43:02.090 I said? Do you think this needs to be known? 00:43:02.590 --> 00:43:05.989 God's speaking in your heart and like that. All 00:43:05.989 --> 00:43:08.710 right. Well, let's pray together, and then we'll 00:43:08.710 --> 00:43:10.849 be through. And I will be lifting up a number 00:43:10.849 --> 00:43:12.750 of names as I pray, and you may not know all 00:43:12.750 --> 00:43:15.369 of them, but we are missing quite a host of individuals 00:43:15.369 --> 00:43:18.670 who are sick or hurting in some way. And I'll 00:43:18.670 --> 00:43:20.530 try to name as many as I can, and then I'll just 00:43:20.530 --> 00:43:23.349 blanket pray for those that are... Yes, sir? 00:43:28.139 --> 00:43:30.400 Okay. That's why they're missing today. Inside 00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:32.619 their family? Yes, within their family. They 00:43:32.619 --> 00:43:35.420 are having a bunch of problems. I don't know 00:43:35.420 --> 00:43:38.440 any of the logistics. I don't want to know. We 00:43:38.440 --> 00:43:40.260 would want to know that anyway. So, okay, good, 00:43:40.340 --> 00:43:42.460 good. We'll do that. And I was going to break 00:43:42.460 --> 00:43:44.300 down. Caleb, yep, I was going to break down too. 00:43:44.460 --> 00:43:46.920 Just had his consults and had noise out yesterday. 00:43:47.340 --> 00:43:49.860 Well, it was bad news. Oh, they didn't take their 00:43:49.860 --> 00:43:52.159 consults. Oh, okay, well, there you go. But, 00:43:52.159 --> 00:43:54.639 you know, so I couldn't say anything. I was struggling 00:43:54.639 --> 00:43:56.440 really bad within the morning here. It hurts 00:43:56.440 --> 00:43:59.219 really bad. Well, it's drained. It's the prophet. 00:43:59.380 --> 00:44:03.599 It was full for months. She said the one here 00:44:03.599 --> 00:44:05.199 didn't have anything in it, but the other one 00:44:05.199 --> 00:44:08.340 was pretty bad. And that's the one that has hurt 00:44:08.340 --> 00:44:12.480 him a lot. Father in heaven, we do praise you 00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:17.380 for the good things of this life. By no means 00:44:17.380 --> 00:44:20.099 are we becoming monks in a monastery somewhere 00:44:20.099 --> 00:44:23.320 or giving up all of the good things that you've 00:44:23.320 --> 00:44:25.539 blessed us with for no reason at all. We're not. 00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:30.300 starting a convent -style community where everybody 00:44:30.300 --> 00:44:33.039 puts all their money in one kind of generic pot 00:44:33.039 --> 00:44:34.880 and then we just pay all the bills that way. 00:44:36.059 --> 00:44:41.579 We know that you have made us stewards of a variety 00:44:41.579 --> 00:44:45.320 of resources. There is first our time, 24 hours 00:44:45.320 --> 00:44:48.000 in a day to be used, we hope, in ways to honor 00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:52.289 you. There is our finances. whatever money that's 00:44:52.289 --> 00:44:55.329 been earned or whatever money that you've blessed 00:44:55.329 --> 00:44:59.090 us with. And we know that it is far more than 00:44:59.090 --> 00:45:03.190 we deserve. And I know that in America, it seems 00:45:03.190 --> 00:45:06.309 like everybody thinks that money equates to lifestyle 00:45:06.309 --> 00:45:09.090 or whatever, and it doesn't have to be that way. 00:45:09.150 --> 00:45:12.929 We can live normal, happy, healthy, kingdom -focused 00:45:12.929 --> 00:45:14.989 lives without acting like we're rich. And I know 00:45:14.989 --> 00:45:18.190 people who have done so and passed away. And 00:45:18.190 --> 00:45:19.909 then everybody went, wow, they were that rich? 00:45:19.929 --> 00:45:22.730 That's just crazy. And it's not about the money. 00:45:23.730 --> 00:45:26.789 And then, Lord, there's our strength, our creativity, 00:45:26.869 --> 00:45:31.969 our mental processing ability, intelligence and 00:45:31.969 --> 00:45:37.210 wisdom and keen thought. Lord, there's our presence, 00:45:37.389 --> 00:45:40.070 being around people, being willing to invest 00:45:40.070 --> 00:45:42.050 in them, just to be present, to let them know 00:45:42.050 --> 00:45:46.889 that we care. There's our mouths. And we can 00:45:46.889 --> 00:45:48.489 talk about a lot of different things, and a lot 00:45:48.489 --> 00:45:49.849 of things that we talk about probably aren't 00:45:49.849 --> 00:45:52.829 worth the time, but we can certainly talk about 00:45:52.829 --> 00:45:55.630 you and all the things that you're doing. Lord, 00:45:55.690 --> 00:45:57.190 even this is an example of that, that we can 00:45:57.190 --> 00:46:00.889 pray together and lift up verbally the concerns 00:46:00.889 --> 00:46:04.170 that we have. You have blessed us immeasurably. 00:46:04.409 --> 00:46:06.730 We are fearfully and wonderfully made, each of 00:46:06.730 --> 00:46:09.309 us individually, and then this group as a corporate 00:46:09.309 --> 00:46:12.349 whole, the church, the church at large in the 00:46:12.349 --> 00:46:14.949 world, all people who truly profess to be Christians. 00:46:15.400 --> 00:46:17.360 truly are following you, Lord. The kingdom is 00:46:17.360 --> 00:46:21.099 vast and powerful, and the fields are wide unto 00:46:21.099 --> 00:46:24.940 the harvest. And so we pray, Lord, that you would 00:46:24.940 --> 00:46:28.380 forgive us where in past days, weeks, months, 00:46:28.460 --> 00:46:31.760 years, decades, our childhood, whatever, where 00:46:31.760 --> 00:46:33.860 we failed to use the resources that you've blessed 00:46:33.860 --> 00:46:35.519 us with in a way that would honor you. We pray 00:46:35.519 --> 00:46:38.500 that as we go forward, we will regularly encounter 00:46:38.500 --> 00:46:40.960 opportunities to do just the opposite, that we 00:46:40.960 --> 00:46:42.500 will be able to glorify you, we will be able 00:46:42.500 --> 00:46:45.690 to serve you, we will be able to give. Let somebody 00:46:45.690 --> 00:46:48.929 look at us and say, why are you doing that? And 00:46:48.929 --> 00:46:52.570 we'll say, well, because God. Because salvation. 00:46:52.809 --> 00:46:55.650 Because Jesus. And we'll be found faithful. Forgive 00:46:55.650 --> 00:46:57.670 us for we failed you. Thank you that that forgiveness 00:46:57.670 --> 00:46:59.349 is available through Jesus. We thank you for 00:46:59.349 --> 00:47:00.909 every person who did make it here this evening. 00:47:01.030 --> 00:47:03.070 We thank you for those who are healing. The healing 00:47:03.070 --> 00:47:05.869 has been incredible. That Sherry did so well 00:47:05.869 --> 00:47:08.289 after her surgery. Caleb is doing well. We pray, 00:47:08.349 --> 00:47:12.110 Lord, that he will do even better. But it's already 00:47:12.110 --> 00:47:16.139 a huge blessing. And we pray for those who are 00:47:16.139 --> 00:47:18.960 struggling in their families. We don't know the 00:47:18.960 --> 00:47:20.699 full details. We pray for their response to the 00:47:20.699 --> 00:47:22.340 Macquarie family, Lord, that you just lift them 00:47:22.340 --> 00:47:24.619 up, pull them together, help them be clear and 00:47:24.619 --> 00:47:27.000 clean and strong and your people faithfully bound. 00:47:27.800 --> 00:47:31.500 We pray for healing for Sherry, healing for Kayla. 00:47:31.559 --> 00:47:33.860 We pray for healing physically and mentally for 00:47:33.860 --> 00:47:37.079 Mike Smith and for Tiffany. Lord, we pray for 00:47:37.079 --> 00:47:40.619 the new believers that came on Sunday and that 00:47:40.619 --> 00:47:42.929 are talking about joining the church. and trying 00:47:42.929 --> 00:47:44.630 to find their way. Lord, we pray that they'll 00:47:44.630 --> 00:47:46.550 not be scared off by what it means to dedicate 00:47:46.550 --> 00:47:50.730 your life to you, but rather be super excited 00:47:50.730 --> 00:47:53.610 about the things that you can do in their lives. 00:47:53.869 --> 00:47:57.070 Lord, we pray for Erin as an eye infection, and 00:47:57.070 --> 00:48:01.210 I guess it's contagious. And so we pray for Caitlin, 00:48:01.349 --> 00:48:03.369 that you gird her up and give her strength and 00:48:03.369 --> 00:48:06.230 keep her clean and help her to not follow the 00:48:06.230 --> 00:48:09.090 path that he's marching down right now, and that 00:48:09.090 --> 00:48:11.659 his healing would be quick. and he's had a lot 00:48:11.659 --> 00:48:13.800 of school work going on and screen time and stuff 00:48:13.800 --> 00:48:15.860 like that, but most of his school work is screen 00:48:15.860 --> 00:48:18.420 time, and so that's not good. His eye can't be 00:48:18.420 --> 00:48:20.159 messed up for long, Lord. You've got to fix it 00:48:20.159 --> 00:48:23.679 right away. We thank you that medicine and doctors 00:48:23.679 --> 00:48:26.119 are available, and we trust in them in as much 00:48:26.119 --> 00:48:29.579 as that you lead in that way. Lord, we pray for 00:48:29.579 --> 00:48:32.139 Tim Hundley, who's just getting better. He's 00:48:32.139 --> 00:48:34.820 been sick for all week, and he's just getting 00:48:34.820 --> 00:48:38.159 better. We pray for Jamie. for the thing that's 00:48:38.159 --> 00:48:39.860 going on with the imbalance and the pressure 00:48:39.860 --> 00:48:42.539 in her head and that she would, that they would 00:48:42.539 --> 00:48:44.179 get to the bottom of it, get it solved once and 00:48:44.179 --> 00:48:45.980 for all. At least now they know part of what 00:48:45.980 --> 00:48:48.219 the problem is and whether they know exactly 00:48:48.219 --> 00:48:50.400 a solution, I don't know. Lord, pray for healing 00:48:50.400 --> 00:48:52.500 there. Thank you, Lord, for the way that you've 00:48:52.500 --> 00:48:54.460 healed Michael. He's back to work. He's working 00:48:54.460 --> 00:48:58.420 full time. I pray that he would be healed once 00:48:58.420 --> 00:49:02.400 and for all permanently. Lord, we pray for Chris 00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:05.260 Mitchell. Just got over kind of a nasty yuck, 00:49:05.280 --> 00:49:08.219 and she's back to work, and she's feeling stronger. 00:49:08.400 --> 00:49:11.960 We pray that it'll be like that ongoing. Thank 00:49:11.960 --> 00:49:14.119 you for the good report Ron had. He doesn't have 00:49:14.119 --> 00:49:18.039 cancer in his colon. It was a real fear, and 00:49:18.039 --> 00:49:21.119 now he's cleared, and that's awesome. Thank you 00:49:21.119 --> 00:49:23.420 that Josh is here tonight. He was sick on Sunday, 00:49:23.500 --> 00:49:26.260 and the head stuff that he has, Lord, especially 00:49:26.260 --> 00:49:28.159 in allergy season and whatever, we just pray 00:49:28.159 --> 00:49:30.739 that you'll clear it completely. We pray for 00:49:30.739 --> 00:49:35.980 Devin. with the anxiety that he's facing, and 00:49:35.980 --> 00:49:37.980 a lot of that has to do with his baby Mavis, 00:49:37.980 --> 00:49:40.599 and they had a massive senior, and they hadn't 00:49:40.599 --> 00:49:43.340 figured out exactly why. So we pray for the doctors 00:49:43.340 --> 00:49:44.679 to be at the bottom of it and provide healing. 00:49:45.139 --> 00:49:47.460 I know there are names I'm not mentioning. That's 00:49:47.460 --> 00:49:49.840 okay, because you know every one of these situations. 00:49:49.980 --> 00:49:52.440 You love these people. There is no love like 00:49:52.440 --> 00:49:55.480 the love you have for us. You are almighty and 00:49:55.480 --> 00:49:58.559 all worthy. You are holy. We commend ourselves 00:49:58.559 --> 00:50:01.400 with your hands. Go with us as we go. Help us 00:50:01.400 --> 00:50:03.320 represent you well and take the gospel wherever 00:50:03.320 --> 00:50:06.539 we are. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:50:07.219 --> 00:50:09.820 Thank you very much. This concludes our Bible 00:50:09.820 --> 00:50:12.840 study. Praise ye the Lord.