Father in heaven, we thank you for this Tuesday
evening. Lord, we thank you for the warmth of
fellowship. We ask you to be with those who are
still on their way here. Lord, we ask you to
take over this time. We're going to do something
a little different, a little exciting, a little
fun. Somebody might think it's not their preference
of how it's done. But Lord, we just ask you to
watch over us and guide us and show us the way.
In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so I passed out a
paper. You have a paper like this. It says, 570
on one side and 565 on the other side. We are
on the 565 side. It's the narrow side. Looks
like this. So flip it over. It has that, okay?
Because that's the way I did it. Why are you
worried about it? He thinks thou dost protest
too much. It's Shakespeare for you. Okay, so
y 'all are going to read the... Ooh, it's kind
of hard to tell the difference. You guys are
going to read the dark part, okay? The bold.
When I say bold. So it starts with in. If you
look at it, you see the bold starts with in.
And then it starts again with I am the way. Everyone's
listening? Not talking right now, Caleb? Thank
you. And then you start again with even the spirit.
And then that's it. Got it? So I have the first
line. It looks a little dark. I apologize for
that. And then you start with in my Father's
house, and then you stop and you go again with
I am the way, and you start again at even the
spirit of truth. Got it? All together. It's worship.
The idea is all together. By the way, then after
this we're going to have a whacked out simple
stuff. Okay? All right. So here we go. Let not
your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe
also in me. My Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have sold you. I go
to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. And whither I go, you know, and the
way you know. I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No man comes unto the Father but by me.
And I will pray the Father. And he shall give
you another comforter, that he may abide with
you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. Peace
I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Whacked out simple stuff. In the early, early,
early days of the church. Not the earliest days,
but in the early days of the church. The church
would get together and they would do essentially
what we just read. They would read a little scripture
and then somebody else would read a little scripture.
Or they would ask a question and then somebody
would read a little scripture to answer it. And
then somebody else would ask a question and they
would read a little scripture to answer it. They're
back and forth. Now, there was a persecution
that broke out, and the Roman government and
governors ordered that they go and observe the
Christian church and determine whether or not
all of the Christians should be put to death.
When the report came back to the governor, they
said, this is what the Christians do. They get
together. They chant back and forth, some asking
questions, some answering. And they read out
of their holy scriptures what they call worshiping
their God. Now we know that the church has developed
a little more structure over the years. And so
our worship a lot of times has songs, instruments.
We have a set prayer time, like we'll pray at
a certain time before we transition from offering
into something else. We pray when we first open
the service, right? Or we pray at the end. But
they didn't do that. And there's nothing that
requires us to do that in a certain order or
in a certain way. We can take that bulletin.
I don't have one. Yes, I do. We can take this
bulletin that's right here on Sunday morning,
and we prayerfully consider the order of our
worship for Sunday morning. But we can start
here, and it says, when we all get to heaven,
and it says, welcome and opening prayer. And
then we go on to the next song. It says, you
lift me up. And we can be just about to do you
lift me up. And the Lord can speak to my heart
or to the heart of the worship leaders up here.
And God might say, do you lift me up again? Do
it twice. Or do the chorus three times instead
of once. Or you can say, go on and do the Revelation
song. And then we're supposed to do spiritual
discipline focus next. And the Lord could say.
I want you to do this spiritual discipline focus
right then. So the people that are serving the
congregation to lead as worship leaders or to
lead as the pastor are trying to be obedient
to the Lord, and if God changes the order, we
change the order. But here's what we're not going
to do. We're never going to cut out worship.
We're never going to cut out service. We're never
going to cut out prayer. We're never going to
cut out the ministry of the Word. Why is that?
Why is it that those things always have to remain?
Regardless of what they look like, why do they
always have to be there? Go ahead. Because it's
what God wants. You can actually see throughout
the New Testament, in fact, in Colossians, it
gives a very specific list of things that are
supposed to be part of what we do when we come
together. And so those things will always be
there. But you could come to church on a Sunday,
and if the Lord so led, we did this a long time,
it's been a long time ago now. But you can come
in here and the chairs can be laid out in a completely
different way. And you might go, oh my gosh,
my chair that I normally sit in isn't even there.
Or it's facing a completely different way. Or
all the chairs are facing the back of the room
instead of the front. Whatever are we going to
do? We can't have church like this. And is that
true? It's not true. You can come in and there
could be no chairs. There could be pillows on
the floor. Or no pillows. You've just got to
stand around. But you know that until Constantinople
was built, which was the second, what happened
was they moved the capital of Rome to Constantinople.
The Roman emperor became a Christian. And he
declared that the entirety of the empire of Rome
would follow God through Christ. Emperor Constantine.
First his grandmother and then him. And he won
being the emperor. By praying to God. So he believed
in God. And then he supposedly, I mean, he had
a weird kind of version of Christianity, but
he was supposedly following God. And so he declared
that the whole empire would be Christian. And
to do that, they built a new city, Constantinople.
And in Constantinople, they built church buildings.
It was like the first time church buildings existed.
They built them there so Christians could come
there and have a place to worship. And in the
church buildings, there were no chairs. There
were no pews, there were no pulpits, there were
no instruments, and there were no choirs. They
were just big rooms for people to come together
and worship God and listen to the Word. That's
all they really needed, right? That's all they
had ever had. But guess what else they built
in Constantinople? Temples. To false gods. Why
would they do that, do you think? Because there
were people who worshipped false gods. And who
do you want to win to Christ? People who worship
false gods, right? So you know people in your
school, on your job, or whatever, that don't
follow God, they follow something else or someone
else, right? It could be a demon. If it's a false
god, it's probably a demon. That kind of thing.
And so they follow something else. And you want
to win those people to Jesus. And those people
would not move into Constantinople because there
were no temples. So they built temples. And then
when they built the temples, guess what happened
in the temples? They put in chairs or pews. So
now, people who don't know God, they're going
to decide to go to worship here where there are
chairs or here where there are not. Oh, I guess
we'll go where there are chairs so we can sit
down while we're worshiping. That's more comfortable,
right? Okay, well, you know what? The temples
had choirs that had music. And you go down Temple
Row, temples are on the right -hand side, church
buildings are on the left -hand side, and out
of the Temple Row buildings come beautiful singing
and voices, four -part harmony. Some instruments,
right? And you're going to hear that. Over here,
you just hear people chanting back and forth.
So we're going to go with just chanting back
and forth, or we're going to go with this beautiful
music. So they started going to the temples with
beautiful music. The people at church said, well,
they've got chairs. Is there any reason why we
can't have chairs? So then they put in chairs.
There's no reason they couldn't have chairs.
God doesn't say you can't have chairs. You can
have chairs. They said, well, couldn't we have
a choir? Well, yeah, you can have a choir. They
had a choir in the Old Testament. Of course we
can have a choir. Could we leave worship with
music? Well, sure we could. So here's the thing.
The most important part of the chairs, the most
important part of the choir, the most important
part of the music is that it's focused on God.
And as long as it's that, then we can have it
all. But whenever it's not that, whenever the
chairs become a problem, like you're too busy
talking to your buddy, Liam. Too busy talking
to your buddy because you're sitting in a chair
next to you? You could be standing up. Then you
could be focusing on God. Right? Where you see
the little kids get down and they play with their
cars on the chair instead of paying attention?
That happens sometimes, right, Tyson? The chairs
could be gone. If it's keeping us from following
the Lord, it should be gone. But at the same
time, realize if they're lost people and they
come in here, y 'all are standing around with
no chairs to sit down in, they're probably not
going to come back. especially if they're not
healthy or whatever, right? And they can't stand
up the whole time. So we have chairs. It's fine.
We can have chairs. But all of those things have
to be about God. And this reading that we just
did was all God's word. All you did was read
verses from the Bible. And if you look down at
the bottom, you can see the references from John
14, 1 to 6, 1 to 4, 6, 16 to 17, and 27. And
that's what they did. And then they added music
and a lot of other ways to honor God. And in
the Old Testament, they did music. David did.
In fact, the Bible commands us to sing praises
to the Lord. And the New Testament tells us as
a church we should have music. So, I just wanted
to share that with you. That's our whacked out
simple stuff about the order of worship and the
way it is and the why it is. But it does not
have to be what it is. Do not let yourself get
stuck in the mud. Because if you ever come in
here on Sundays and something doesn't fit the
way you think it should be, Don't be surprised
because we're going to follow God, not the way
you think it should be. Does that make sense?
All right. Another brief prayer. Josh has a song
that we're going to sing to worship the Lord,
and then we'll release the children. Father in
heaven, we do praise you. We do want to praise
you. We do seek to praise you. We work to praise
you. We would pay to praise you. We would bleed
to praise you. And that's hard for someone to
say. We would go out of our way to praise you.
If our choice was between breathing and praising
you, we would praise you. If it was between eating
and praising you, we would praise you. Because
everything that's ever been, that's ever been
good, every good gift comes from you. Ask you,
Lord, to help us praise you this song. Help us
sing in a way that honors you. In Jesus' name,
amen. If you can't sit together, then sit apart.
All right, let's go ahead and stand for this
one. Stand it up. Let's go. Stand up when asked,
please. All right. You ready? I'm so glad you're
in my life. I'm so glad you came to save us.
You came from heaven to earth to show the way
from the earth to the cross. My debt is paid
from the cross to the grave, from the grave to
the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord,
I lift your name on high. Lord, I love to sing
your praises. I'm so glad you're in my life.
I'm so glad you came to save us, Jesus. You came
from heaven to earth to show the way. From the
earth to the cross, my debt is paid. From the
cross to the... to the sky. Lord, I lift your
name on high. Alrighty. At this time, we will
release the children and their leaders to the
classroom. Behave, have fun, learn something.
Okay, so we have some readings that we're going
to do. The first one, Jason has. Then we're going
to do... 570, the big one on the back of your
page. And then after that is Tommy, and then
after that's RJ. Okay? So 570, I have the bold
print, you have the light print. 570. Am I on
still? Nope, I turned it off. I never can remember
whether I pushed a button or not, but I did now.
Okay? God is light, and in him, no darkness at
all. If we say that we have fellowship with him
and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
Your turn. But if we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with
the another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanses us from all sins. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we
say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar
and his word is not in us. If any man sin, we
have an advocate, the Father, Jesus Christ, the
righteous. And he is the propitiation for our
sins and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world. Jason. One ship drives
east, another west, with the selfsame winds that
blow. Tis the set of the sails, and not the gales,
which decide the way to go. Like the winds of
the sea are the waves of fate, as the voyage
along thou through life, tis the will of the
soul, that decides its goal, and not the calm
or the strife. Kingdom. The kingdom of God is
a society of the best men, working for the best
ends, according to the best methods. Its law
is one word, loyalty. Its gospel, one message,
love. If you know anything better, live for it.
If not, in the name of God and of humanity, carry
out Christ's plan. After a party, after... A
party of engineers became lost in a forest in
Africa. Their supply of food was exhausted. They
found some berries, which seemed to perfectly
satisfy the appetite. They ate them for several
days, but became weaker and weaker, and one after
another died until help came. There was only
one left to tell the sad story. They still had
some of the berries. When they were analyzed,
they were found to be absolutely worthless as
food. While their appetites were satisfied, they
were actually starving to death. Many people
are like that, perfectly satisfied to starve
their nature on food and which is no value while
they might feast on the true bread from heaven.
Thank you very much. We have really more. Okay.
All right. For the moment, continuing our series
on commands and promises. All right. So we have
two today. The first one is short, and the second
one is a little longer. They both come from the
book of Matthew. That first one on top up there,
it is Matthew. So that's a sink. You see the
sink under the line there? That's a sink. So
what chapter do you think it is? Any puzzle makers
in the house? Sync -O. What chapter is that?
5. That's correct. It's 5. Synco. Goodbye. Get
with the program. I'm just kidding. Yes, Matthew
5. And the chapter is 44. I gave you 2 squared
times 11. Yeah, it's a little hard to see. It's
2 squared times 11. So 44, Matthew 5, 44. I don't
know how to say 44. So if this is a command,
here you go, test your knowledge. If this is
a command from Matthew chapter 5, then it is
toward the beginning of Matthew's record of what
great speech? Beatitudes are in Matthew chapter
5, but what is the great speech of Jesus that
Matthew begins talking about in chapter 5? Sermon
on the Mount. That's right. So the Beatitudes
also are toward the beginning of the Sermon on
the Mount. In fact, they are before. They're
the first thing. So some people might even call
the Sermon on the Mount the Beatitudes, but they
would kind of be cutting a little short because
it goes on all the way through chapter 9, and
he covers a lot. But the Beatitudes are the first
thing in chapter 5, and we're a little later
in chapter 5. So it's 544. Okay, so I'm going
to read the verse. And then we'll see how you
can do on filling in the blanks. It says, but
I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you. So that's the command, pretty
much, right? Someone is pounding on the door.
Then it says, so that you may be children of
your Father in heaven, for he causes his Son
to rise in the evil and the good and sends a
rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Does
anyone have a King James Bible? You need to check
something. There's one. Let's check this real
quick. Yeah, I got King James here. Because it
feels to me like there's something missing from
when I read it before. Yeah, it does. Okay, so
this is, now you'll love this. This is King James
5, 44. It says, but I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, pray for them which despisefully
use you and persecute you. That's 44. Then in
44. Yeah, that's a good question. And I left
my phone in the car. So I can't really answer
that question for you right this second. Yeah,
the New American Standard does not have it either.
Would be one of those knights. I will come back
to you with the answer to that question, okay?
But I don't have it right now. Okay, so we're
going to work off the King James Version. Because
that's the one that I wrote the lesson off of.
So, what do you got for L -Y -E? It's pretty
easy. Love your enemies. One of probably the
most challenging commands in the Bible. Love
your enemies. But he goes on. He doesn't stop
there. He says what? Bless them or those that
curse you. Perfect. Good job. And then this is
where it starts to get into the... More controversial
text, apparently. Did you catch it when I read
it out of there? Yep. Do good to them that hate
you. A lot of blanks there. So we've got love
your enemies, bless those that curse you, do
good to them that hate you. Say it again. Correct.
Pray for them or those that despitefully use
you and persecute you is the whole verse. Okay.
Now we will look at 45 because it's kind of like
the continuation of the thought, but not yet.
Okay. So we're right next to the scroll. Go to
your right. Go over to the right. Over to the
right. Love. So based on this verse, give me
a simple definition of what it means to love
based on this verse. When it says love your enemies,
what is Jesus telling them to do? I have no idea
what that was. Something fall over? Yep, I see
it. We'll just leave it. Okay. Okay. Kind of.
Yeah, that's an example. Could be help them.
So there are three Greek words for love. Okay.
And one of them is the Christian word, if you
will, is our Christian word for love. And it
is agapao. And what does it mean? We've talked
about this before at least once. Agapao. What
does that kind of love mean? Say it again. Yeah,
you're really nailing it pretty much. You say
unconditional. So what it means is you choose
to love them regardless. And that is the word
that's here. So he is telling them to choose
to be for them regardless of the fact that they
are enemies. That's problematic, isn't it? We
think like in terms of football, you got the
guys on the one team and the guys on the other
team and they're going to drive it down over
top of them, right? Or you got war. Guys on that
side fight the guys on this side, and they're
going to kill each other to take the land, to
win the oil rights, to prove their country is
better, whatever. So that's what we think of
when we think of enemies. That is not the idea
of what God has when he thinks of enemies. Another
idea might be the Duke boys. Remember the Duke
boys? I picked them on purpose because they were
not Christians. That show is nothing about Christianity.
Almost didn't really exist in the show. So the
Duke boys were enemies sometimes, weren't they?
Duke getting out, throwing each other through
the wall, punching each other in the face, trying
to run each other over the car. Sometimes they
were enemies, right? But really they were brothers.
And when old Jesse got involved, what happened?
Shut it all down. And that's the idea that God
has between us and our human enemies. These are
human enemies that we're talking about. We're
not talking about loving demons or loving Satan.
That's nothing like that. Or even loving the
world system. Those are different kinds of enemies.
This word enemies means people that are against
you. And so what we're being commanded to do
is to choose to be for them. Choose to be, if
you will, on their side. So if you have an enemy,
let's say they're punching you in the face. You
have an enemy, hates you, punching you in the
face. Maybe punching you in the face specifically
because you're a Christian. What is the best
thing for them? Say it again. To come to know
Christ. To come to know Christ. To get saved.
That is the best thing for them. So if you kill
them while they're punching you in the face,
will they come to know Christ? Not in the biblical,
not in the way they want to. They'll meet him
face to face for a second. or for however long
it takes, but they will not know him. They will
not be saved, right? And so that goes back to
Nate Saint. I don't know if you know this story
or not, but the Ecuadorian missionaries down
in Central America, they carried rifles in their
plane, and they found one day they were dropping
gifts to the natives that don't speak English,
and they were able to land their plane on a dry
stretch of, like a gulch right next to the river.
It normally would have water in it. And they
were able to land their plane there. And they
were giving away gifts and preaching about Jesus
to the natives, even though they couldn't speak
their language. And the natives murdered them.
And everybody was like, they had repeating rifles.
How did the natives with spears? The tree line
was over 50 yards away. So there's no way they
threw spears at them from a distance. They charged
up and murdered them. And not one native was
shot or killed or hurt, as far as anybody knew.
So how could that possibly be? Well, the week
before, Nate Saint, and that's the only reason
he's the most famous, right? He wasn't even the
more missionary -minded necessarily, or he didn't
lead the mission or anything like that. But a
week before he was interviewed and he was asked,
he said, you carry rifles? Then they said, yes,
we carry rifles. And they said, well, what would
you do with the rifles if the natives attacked
you? And he said, nothing. He said, if the natives
attacked us and they killed us. we would die
and go straight to heaven. If we killed them,
they would die and go straight to hell. And I
could never send a man to hell. And then a week
later, they were attacked by the natives and
the rifles were never fired. Now, whether they
were never fired because they were ambushed or
surprised, we don't know. But the point is, God
sees your enemy as somebody who could be saved
and go to heaven. And he is commanding us to
choose to be for them, even in that state where
they would be coming against us. Yes, sir. And
you can defend yourself, you can disarm opponents,
you can even wound if necessary to protect yourself,
right? but you'd never want to escalate beyond
what's necessary. Because if you kill them while
they're punching you in the face, they go straight
to hell. But if you punch them, for example,
or you restrain them, or you take their weapon
away, things like that, that's all acceptable.
Because that's actually also what's best for
them, because they're going to get judged for
the sin of persecuting you, so it would be good
if you stopped them from doing that. So they're
going to pay for that. So it would be good if
you can stop them from hurting you, but at the
same time you're stopping them, you want to show
love, which means you don't go beyond that. I
always teach my kids growing up, I taught them
all, I said, if you've got to fight, fight. And
the rules are, if they're trying to hurt you,
you stop them from hurting you, but it is not
whatever it takes. Now let's say it comes to
a point where they're going to hurt you so badly
that you might be paralyzed for life, or they
might put your eye out, or they might kill you.
At that point in time, it's no holds barred.
If it's kill or be killed, then you do what you
have to do. But it shouldn't be. When you're
dealing with kids, it should never be like that.
And that's how I always taught them growing up,
and it worked for them, and I wish I had known
that when I was a kid. I hurt some people pretty
bad when I was a kid, when I was a kid and a
teenager. I got just about as bad as I gave,
but there were a few cases where I hurt people
pretty bad. I wasn't saved, and I didn't have
the restraint that I should have had. All right,
I digress. So love in this context means to choose
to be for them even while they are your enemy.
Okay? Then bless. What does it mean when it says
bless them? And you've got letters if you want
to work with the letters. S -W. You have an F,
but it's the last letter in the word. No, you
have an O. I'm sorry. I gave it to you. Of. So
you have S -W of them. So what is it? To bless
someone is to... Nope. Although it will succeed
in doing that, I think, but that's not the target.
Say it again? Yes. Literally, every time you
see the word blessed in the New Testament, it
means to speak well of someone. And it's based
on the idea that when God speaks well of us,
we do well. God brought all creation into being.
All creation is a blessing, right? That kind
of thing. So it means to speak well of them.
So in other words, you want to, even though you
see them doing something conniving or whatever,
you want to try not to judge in your head and
say, I'm either not going to make a decision
or I'm going to pronounce something good about
that person. And you can't lie. So you can't
say, for example, they did it out of a good motive
and not knowing whether it's true or things like
that. But you can say, here's a person who's
creative when they're actually being crafty and
trying to trick you. Or here's a person who's
determined. You can speak good things about them,
and then you can pronounce blessings for them
even when they don't deserve them. Like Jesus
said, forgive them for they know not what they
do. Did they really not know what they were doing?
Maybe, maybe not. But yeah, kind of they didn't
know. Should God forgive them for killing him?
He's not going to unless they're willing to be
forgiven, but Jesus still pronounced them forgiven
or tried to. So we want to follow that model.
And then also under blessing is to what? Because
Sean started off with this idea, I think. Pray
God's goodwill. That's right. You want to pray
God's goodwill for them. So the greatest will
of them, as Josh already told us, would be that
they would get saved. We pray that they would
get saved. Or whatever. Whatever they need. Maybe
they need clarity of mind. Maybe they need freed
from a demon. Whatever. You pray health, sustenance.
Pray God's good will for them. And then the next
one is DG. It's also in the verse. Do good. And
I gave you a list. I'll just rattle them off
in the interest of time. So you might help. You
might serve. Care. See how this is kind of contrary
to the way the world normally thinks about enemies?
Jesus is pushing the envelope here. And the overall
goal when you're trying to do good to someone
or for someone is to what? M -T -L -B. Make their
lives better. Now, we know that Scripture says
that if you're good to someone, if you show love
to them when they're persecuting you, then it'll
be like you heap coals on their head. But that's
their problem. It's not your problem. Your job
is to do good for them as commanded by Jesus.
Therefore, make their lives better if you can.
Okay, so note. Goodness. Somebody finish it.
Goodness is a... What? F? Fruit of the Spirit.
Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. So where will
the goodness come from that you're going to need
to practice to these people? Because it's not
going to come from your human nature. You're
going to feel vengeful, angry, hurt. You might
have psychological stuff that goes on like somebody
hurt you in that way before and now your mind
is freezing up and unable to act in a positive
way. Not that. Okay. And so the outcome, the
goal, which now we're verging into verse 45.
says that you may be children of your Father
which is in heaven. And so there it is. Be the
children of the Father. But we've got to ask
ourselves a couple quick questions. So what is
the promise? If we will follow the command, love
your enemies and bless those that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, pray for them
that despitefully use you and persecute you,
if we follow that command, What do we get? What
is the promise that he is saying we get? That's
V -L -H. Simple. Right? So right under where
it says, does it mean you would be disowned or
not saved? You know, the answer to that is no.
So if you choose not to love your enemies, do
good to those that hate you, pray for those that
spitefully please you, what will you get? Say
it again. I didn't hear what he said. I didn't
hear what he said anyway. Was it something funny?
Must have been. Okay. We're going to be like
him. That's our goal, isn't it? To be like him.
And that's what it says. You will be a child
as a child of the father. You'll be like him.
How so or why do we know if we would do this
that we would be like him? So if you do goodness
to people who are your enemies, how do you know
that that would be like the way God is? Well,
he gives us his example. And in the verses, it
talks about the rain and the sun, which I'll
read to you now. It says that you may be the
children of your father, which is in heaven,
where he make his son to rise on the evil and
on the good and sendeth rain on the just and
on the unjust. All right? So we want to be like
him, and we have his example of the rain and
the sun. So we're staying on the left for a minute
there. Stay with me on the left. And it says,
R -A -R -E, we becoming a, what do you think?
R -O, capital G, G. See a capital G in the middle
of the sentence, it's almost always God. Or in
this case, it's, yes, revealer of God's grace.
Okay, so the question is, are you becoming a
revealer of God's grace? Remember the mission
of God, what is the mission of God? What does
God desire to do more than anything else? Bring
people into relationship with him. So if you
are in a situation where someone's hurting you,
what does God desire to do more than anything
else? Oh, it just changed. Just changed. God
doesn't want to bring people into relationship
with anymore, right? No, it didn't change. He
still wants to bring people into relationship
with him. So if you're in a situation where God's
hurting you, his grand purpose, your purpose
for still being here on the earth, right, is
to reveal God's grace, to let people know that
God wants to come into relationship with them.
And you see that throughout history, throughout
scripture, everywhere. When they do that, that's
what Stephen did as he was being stoned. That's
what Paul did every time he was being stoned,
whipped. It goes on and on and on. There are
lots of examples. All the disciples except for
one died martyr's death as a revealer of God's
grace. And what is the supreme act by which God
revealed his grace to mankind? It was the supreme
act. The one thing that he did. S .S. What if
I make it a capital S? Okay. The Savior was sent.
He sent a Savior. A Savior sent. Okay. And Jesus
was the Savior of the world. He's not. I don't
mean to burst your bubble. Jesus is not the Savior
of the church. Jesus is not the savior of Christians.
We do not own him. He is the savior of the world.
God sent his son to be the savior of the world.
And so the lost folks who do not know Jesus,
and that's why Jesus could say to some that the
tax collectors and whoremongers would come and
sit down in the kingdom of God before they would,
even though they were pretty holy men, because
they weren't believing in Jesus the way they
were supposed to. He could say that tax collectors
who were hated and whoremongers who were especially
hated, would come and sit down in the kingdom
of God before them because he is the savior of
the world. Which means in pertaining to the enemy,
is he the savior of your enemy? If anyone is,
he's the savior of your enemy. Otherwise, your
enemy has no savior. Does that make sense? It's
Jesus or nobody. There is no other name given
among men under heaven by which we must be saved.
Okay. So now flip over to the right side before
we go any lower. And by the way, there are a
couple of verses there in support Romans 5 .8.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,
right? Okay, over to the right side, you'll see
a P and a G. I'm going to introduce you to a
deep doctrine of the faith. If you remember these
words, the next time you're in a good, and you
can understand what they mean, then the next
time you're in a doctrinal discussion with somebody,
you can whip these bad boys out, and it'll make
you sound really intelligent. I wouldn't suggest
you be really intelligent rather than just sounding
really intelligent, but here we go. So it's a
P and a G. Does anybody know what this doctrine
is just off the top of your head? Nope. Prayer
is a spiritual discipline, and there is a doctrine
of prayer. This is a doctrine of, it's called
prevenient. Prevenient grace. It's the doctrine
of prevenient grace. It's P -R -E -V -E -N -I
-E -N -T. Prevenient. Pre -V -N -I -E -N -T.
Prevenient grace. Does anybody know, without
looking it up, what the definition of the word
prevenient means? Josh is close. He's got his
wheels are spinning. Okay. So, say it again.
Comes before. Yeah, specifically before what?
Say again. Yeah, before the need. Before the
need or the request. So, prevenient means it's
something that comes before it's needed or requested.
Okay. And prevenient grace, then, is the doctrine
of everything that came before you, wanted it,
needed it, requested it, deserved it, whatever.
So there's some lines here. I gave you blank
lines, two, four, six, eight of them. And I'd
like you to write a few things on those lines
that God gave you before you ever knew you needed
to be saved. Okay, so like one could be breath,
right? Whatever. So sun, if you like the sun,
if you enjoy sunshine. Or shade if you don't
like the sun. But those are things that are prevenient
grace. So write a list of things that God gave
you before you ever knew you needed to be saved,
got saved, before you met Jesus. And it would
be personal just for you. And while you're doing
that, I'll just talk about it just to make sure
we understand clearly. And that is that... Provenient
grace is the doctrine that there are things that
God gives to everybody before they are saved.
In fact, they would have them even if they are
never saved. Example, rain and sun in the verses
that we read. God makes the rain to fall on the
good man and the evil. He makes the sun to shine
on the evil man or unjust man and the just alike.
We all get that. Which means there are farmers
who know the Lord, they get rain. There are farmers
who don't know the Lord, they get rain too. Now
God can take away rain. God can control the weather.
He can do that if he wants to. It has caused
many droughts in his day. Or he can take away
your food supply, cause a famine. So there are
lots of things like that. But all of it was given
by God in the first place. So it was all given
by God in the first place. And the nature of
grace is that it is undeserved. So then you cannot
argue that when God takes it away, he has stolen
something from you because he gave it to you
in the first place. I understand for being at
grace now. So if God gave me everything I have,
even if I didn't get saved, if he gave it to
me and I didn't deserve it, then do I have the
right to have it taken away? Yes, he could take
it away from me, and he would not be stealing
anything from me because I don't own it. He still
continued to own it. He only lets us use it,
if you will, for a time. So the doctrine of prevenient
grace is everybody gets the same stuff. Everybody
should have the same. There are these certain
inalienable rights given by God to all men from
the Declaration of Independence. That is not
a Christian doctrine. per se, it's the doctrine
of provenient grace, that everybody should have
those rights. It's a Judeo -Christian doctrine,
right, in that God gives everybody those rights,
not in particular Christians. Okay, now we're
going to move on to the second command. Okay,
and it comes out of Matthew. Yep, it is 7. Yeah,
it's actually 15. It goes 15 through 20. Yeah,
that's where we'll get 20. Okay, so go right
in the middle, though, in the scroll in the middle.
And this is what Matthew 7 .15 says. Beware of
false prophets. which come to you in sheep's
clothings, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Okay, so that's the command. Beware of false
prophets. That's the top of the scroll right
there. Beware of false prophets. And then the
next line says, sheep's clothing. And then there's
the reference, Matthew 7, 15. And then the next
line tells us about the false prophets, and it
says that they are IRV. Got it? The verse said,
beware of false prophets. Yep, inwardly ravenous
or ravening wolves. Technically, it should be
ravenous if you're naming their state, but ravening
is the verb form or ongoing verb form of that.
And ravenous means two words that start with
an H. It means H and H. Hungry. Yep, hungry.
That's how we usually use it now. And... Nope.
Say it again. No, not violence. Hunting. Their
state is that they are hungry and hunting. And
the command is that we, or statement is that
we will, let me read a little more, beware of
false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but in reality they are ravenous, or ravening
wolves. And verse 16 says, ye shall know them
by their fruits. And so the next two words are,
Know them. Okay, I'll go a little further. It
says, do men gather grapes of thorns or figs
of thistles? Do you see it? Grapes of thorns,
figs of thistles. The answer to that question
is what, by the way? If we ask the question,
do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles,
the answer is no. You do not do that. That's
not where they come from. Grapes don't come from
thorn plants and figs don't come from thistle
plants. Okay, then 17 says, even so every good
tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt
tree bringeth forth evil fruit. So the next line,
every good tree, good fruit. Corrupt tree. Evil
fruit. Do you notice the kind of poetic justice
of the change there? So we have every good tree
makes good fruit and every evil tree makes evil
fruit, right? No, that's not what it says. It
says corrupt tree. What's the difference between
an evil tree and a corrupt tree? Surely true.
In fact, I submit to you, you can be good. and
be corrupted, right? So when God looked at Adam
and Eve when he created them, were they bad?
Why did they eat of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil? Wasn't that a horrible thing
to do? They sinned against God? Why did they
do that? Because they were corrupted, right?
They bought into the lie, they looked in, they
lusted, etc. So I think what he's implying there,
and it's not much of a stretch, is to say that
in some sense, every tree is a good tree, but
it's corrupted, so now it produces evil fruit.
But boy, if we could save it, if we could make
it clean, if we could make it good, then it would
be different. So it's like you can hear the heart
of God. This is Jesus speaking, by the way, so
you can hear the heart of God wanting to save
those trees. Corrupt tree, evil fruit. And so
you cannot, the corrupt tree cannot produce good
fruit. It's not possible. And you cannot not,
which is to say that the corrupt tree cannot
not produce evil fruit. That's what they do.
So the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. It cannot
produce good fruit, and it cannot not produce
evil fruit. How about the good tree? Can somebody
do that same sentence for the good tree? Describe,
how about the good tree cannot? Cannot what?
Produce what? Yeah. Right. Right, so the cannot
for the good tree is the good tree cannot produce
evil fruit. And also, the good tree cannot not
produce good fruit. That's part of its nature.
Right? So the nature of the trees are that they
will produce the fruit that they produce. Okay?
Then it says, the fate of the not good tree,
if you will. And this is what it says. I lost
my spot. Every good tree bringeth forth good
fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Again, we've only got one verse left. So here's
what we've got. After the cannot and the cannot
not, we've got... The not good equals what? Hewn
down. Perfect. So if the tree does not produce
good fruit, it will produce evil fruit because
it is a corrupt tree. And it will then be hewn
down and cast into the fire. And then verse 20
says, Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know
them. And so then our scroll ends with so you
will know them. Now we've got to break it down
and make sure we understand. That first word,
so if you look up under the castle wall on the
left, you'll see a little castle wall, kind of
like cannot. The first line is cannot, and then
it says and cannot not. So the good tree cannot
produce evil fruit, and it cannot not. produce
good fruit. So let's take that to the extreme.
Let's say you have a Christian, they're in the
church, they're serving God, supposedly, right?
And then something happens and they become disgruntled
or whatever and they stop serving God. Or somebody
stops paying their tithe because they don't like
the way the pastor preaches. Or somebody said
something that hurt their feelings and so from
now on they're just going to clam up. They're
still going to come because this is their church,
this is where they belong, but they're not going
to help anybody. They're not going to sing praises.
They're not going to serve. They're not going
to get money. They're not going to do any work.
They're not going to show up to their ministry
meetings. They're just going to be there. Is
that possible? Based on what we just read, is
it possible? Are they a good tree that's now
not producing good fruit? That's not possible,
right? So that is an untenuous situation. It
cannot last. They will either begin to produce
good fruit, like they'll go, you know what, whatever.
They hurt my feelings, but I'm over it. I'm just
going to start doing stuff. I can't sit back.
I want to praise God. I want to serve. I want
to give. But I can't stop. I can't stop. I can't.
Or they'll say, well, I'm going to go over here
to this other church. Right? And they're going
to abandon the church that God called them to,
go over here to this other church, and then they're
going to get there, and they're going to start
trying to produce good fruit in that other church.
And if they can produce good fruit in that other
church, then it may be a good tree. It's possible.
If they produce good fruit, that sounds likely.
Okay? But probably, remember, they were in a
situation, somebody hurt them, and they're pretty
venomous, they're pretty upset. So they're feeling
vengeful, they're feeling disgruntled, they're
unforgiving. Well, what are those things? Those
are bad fruits, right? Those are fruits you shouldn't
be producing if you're a good tree. And what
do we say about good trees producing bad fruits?
That's not possible. Right? So actually they've
become, I'm not saying they've lost their salvation,
but they've become a corrupted tree which can
now only produce bad fruit. See? And has to produce
bad fruit. And there's only one way to get back
to being a good tree, and that's to repent and
turn back to the Lord. If someone has hurt you,
repent and turn back to the Lord. You say, well,
you also have to forgive them. Yes, that's part
of it. You have to forgive them for what they've
done. You might have to forgive them 15 times.
But in the meantime, you've got to turn back
to the Lord. Otherwise, you're a corrupted tree
and you will not be able to produce good fruit.
Okay. Now we're over under the castle wall. So
we read the verses. The word says, beware. That
was the very first one. Beware. Verse 15, the
first word of... Verse 15, beware. And here's
what to beware means. It means to pay attention.
To apply oneself. It means there's a job you
have to do. You have to do that. You have to
beware, pay attention. You have to do it. It's
not somebody else does it, you do it. Give heed.
It means you have to... Act accordingly to the
stimulus, whatever it is. For example, if someone
hurts you, you forgive them. Not you mouth off
to them or snap at them or punch them in the
face, but you forgive them. Give heed. Pay attention.
Take care. Apply yourself. And then the last
one is to have regard. The easiest way to explain
to have regard would be you don't turn your back.
You don't close your eyes. Right? And that's
what people think. They're really disciplined
because they know that somebody's a butthead
and they're going to turn their back on them,
close their eyes, and I'm going to walk away
from them. I'm not going to have anything to
do with them anymore. That is not what Scripture
commands us to. Okay, there was the phrase in
there, sheep's clothes. The next line is sheep's
clothes. And sheep's clothes. The sheep's clothes
is defined as what? LG. What do you think? If
someone's in sheep's clothes, what about them?
So what are we supposed to be, wolves or sheep?
I know it sounds terrible to say it that way,
but what are we supposed to be, wolves or sheep?
Sheep. Right. So if they're in sheep's clothes,
they look good, right? They look like us. They
look like they belong. At least on the surface,
anyway. Only on the surface, really. Okay? So
then, to know them, this is that next line, to
know them is to contrast appearances to fruit.
Not appearances to actuality. It's not our job
to sort out that they're lost or saved. Right?
That's not what we're trying to do. But to contrast
the appearances, they look good, to the fruit,
what they're producing. It's to know them is
to contrast appearances to fruit. So, an example.
Caleb brings a friend to church who talks a lot
about God. Caleb went, finally, I got something
I can hang out with. I don't have to hang out
with my brother all the time. This guy, Bob,
he talks a lot about God. I'm bringing him to
church. He starts coming to church. He dresses
like we dress. He talks the part. He's got the
language. Everything is good. But then Bob starts
talking to Caleb when nobody else is around,
suggesting maybe they can smoke pot out behind
the trailer or something, right? Can Bob be a
good tree under those circumstances? If he is
a good tree, can he produce evil fruit? No. He
can't produce evil fruit and be a good tree.
Can he be a Christian? Yes. But if he is a Christian,
then what is our problem? Yeah. So he's corrupted.
So he could be a Christian, but he's corrupted
by evil desires, temptation, or as RJ said, sin.
Right? So he wouldn't be doing that if he wasn't
corrupted. And your fruit, the person's fruit
then, we detect the corruption. We're not detecting
whether they're saved or not. That's not our
job. We look at the appearance. They look like
they're saved. They say they're saved, but the
fruit says they're corrupted. Not that they're
unsaved. Be careful. You have to draw a line
there. Why? Because Matthew 7, 1 says, judge
not lest you be judged. We talked about that
last week. Right? So you have to draw a line.
You can't judge them as unsaved, but you can
judge their fruit as evil, which means they are
corrupt. Okay? Get it? Okay. I think we got it.
All right. So then we can trust that, capital
G -W -S, God will, we don't know for sure that
he'll save. They may elect not to be saved. He
will sort them. And that's what it said. It said
those trees that do not produce good fruit, they
do not bring forth good fruit, will be hewn down
and cast into the fire. So now we've got some
yes or no questions. I'll ask the question and
the whole team will answer. Should we burn them?
No. And that can be both literal and metaphorical.
You shouldn't burn them. And also, you shouldn't
burn them. Right? So, in other words, don't hurt
their emotions, don't attack them psychologically
or whatever just because you know they're corrupt.
Should we punch them? No, we should definitely
not punch them. So the first one was, should
we burn them? The answer is no. Should we punch
them? The answer is no. The next one's all blanks.
Are you keeping up okay? It's a lot of writing.
We're almost done. This one's a little trickier.
And actually, I think a lot of people do this.
Should we ignore them? Correct. Kishan had nailed
it. We should not ignore them. So when a false
prophet comes into your life, you don't want
to get wrapped up in their teachings, right?
You don't want to produce the kind of fruit that
they produce. In fact, you should not be able
to unless you are corrupted, right? But you also
are told not to ignore them. Ignoring them would
be the opposite of everything that we were just
told. Beware, pay attention, apply oneself, give
heed, have regard. There's no ignoring them in
there. Okay? Should we ignore them? No. Are they
lost without hope? No, they are not lost without
hope. No one is lost without hope until one of
two things is true. And one is that they die
and go to hell. That's the most clear one. And
the other is that they are adamant in themselves
and purposefully so that they cannot be saved.
They will not be saved. They'll have nothing
to do with God. They know that God exists, usually,
and they just refuse to accept him. That person
cannot be saved. Now, if something would happen
that would change their heart, change their mind,
then they could still be saved. Right? So lost
without hope is when there's no chance of a person
being saved through Jesus Christ. So, this is
the last line on that bottom there. So, what
must we do? And then we're going to answer it
with a B -A -B -L -T. What must we do? Bacon,
lettuce, tomato. No. Even though it fits. No.
B -A. B -A looks a lot like... So it's B -E,
be aware. Be aware, which looks a lot like beware.
In fact, in the Greek you would use the same
word to say it. So be aware. But now we're being
aware of more than just them. We're being aware
of what we do about them, what our response needs
to be, what God has commanded us, and what the
outcome is, right? So be aware, but love them,
right? And that's how these two verses, these
two commands tie together, right? So be aware,
but love them. So are false prophets your enemy?
And they would teach you bad things are false
prophets, your enemy. Yeah, they are. They would
take you where you don't want to go. They'll
bring you down from where you do want to go.
Okay? Then inside that little box to the right,
and then we're finishing through to the end,
the first word is assumptions. I gave you that.
The second word is are, and the last word starts
with a D. What do you think? Assumptions are...
No. Assumptions are... I can think of two words
you could actually put there. The one I put was
deadly. Assumptions are deadly. Remember, we're
talking about... Wolves in sheep's clothing.
They're ravenous wolves. They're hungry and hunting.
That's how the Bible describes them. To assume
that they're a sheep and safe means you're in
trouble before you know it. Right? You could
be deadly. Or you could just put dangerous. Because
you won't necessarily lose your salvation. You'll
just become a corrupted tree like them. And then
we have H -I -A -E. So this has all been about
being aware of false prophets and loving them.
And so I'm going to just say, is an enemy. So
what do you think that H is? There we go. That
H. Say it again. Nope. Well, that could be true
if you talk about the right he, but... Hatred.
Hatred is an enemy. And not a fruit that we produce.
That's why when you have your young teens or
young preteens and they say, I hate this, I hate
that, you really should just say, you don't want
to hate. You don't want to feel that strongly
about that. There is a thing to hate. Sin. That's
it. That's basically the only thing that hate
is for. Okay. Then the false prophets are coming
and they're teaching us, and I'm going to kind
of whisk through this in the interest of time
because we still have questions and we're done.
The doctrine of demons is what goes next. We
have a reference there. It's 1 Timothy. The chapter
is two times two. And the verse is only one.
Correct. So it's 1 Timothy 4 .1. It talks about
the doctrine of demons. And it basically says,
without going there and reading the exact verse,
it says that in the latter days, some will fall
away from following God because they will buy
into or believe the doctrine of demons. And so
the next line says, some will fall away. And
then if you're falling away, you're giving. Faithfulness.
You're losing or giving up faithfulness. Probably
should have been two blanks there, I apologize.
Give up faithfulness. And by the way, just as
an interesting correlation, faithfulness is also,
if goodness is a fruit of the Spirit, faithfulness
is also a fruit of the Spirit. And it is a good
fruit. All right? So instead of that, instead
of buying into the doctrine of demons, falling
away like they do, instead, there's that B again,
beware. Here's your plan. Beware. Produce good
fruit. And in particular, love and faithfulness.
I submit to you that every martyr that ever won
an entire society by dying used the good fruits
of love and faithfulness to do it. They said,
wow, he stayed true even while they were burning
him alive? He cried out for their forgiveness
even while he was crucified? He never recanted
being a follower of Christ even though they draw
and quarter him? So love and faithfulness. And
then it's not always mentioned, but at crucifixions,
people would come out, the whole town would come
out, and they would come out because while people
were being crucified, they would cuss and scream
like a sailor or worse, and they would tell everyone's
secrets. So they would look down into the crowd
and see somebody in the crowd, and they would
tell that person's deepest, darkest secret, whatever
they knew about them, and they would make up
stories, and they would try to cause all the
trouble that they could for everyone that was
in the crowd and everyone that they knew while
they were being crucified. So it was like watching
the Jerry Springer show. And so everyone would
come out to see crucifixions, not because they
wanted to see a thief die on the cross, but because
they wanted to see the show. Exactly. And when
Jesus didn't do that, the Roman soldier looked
at him and said, this man surely was a son of
God. Because he didn't die the way everybody
else died. And he had love and he had faithfulness.
Okay, I'm going to ask a few questions. Are we
through? All right. Okay, I'm not giving away
Tide Pods. Nope, sure not doing it. Okay. A couple
of hard questions here. Let's see. All right.
Okay. We are commanded. Are we ready? We are
commanded to love, bless, and do good. Because
in this way, we will be what? Haley. Nope. Although,
those things are good. Fruit of the Spirit. Kashan.
Yes, be children of the Father. Do you like meat?
Here you go. Here's dessert to go with the meat.
Alright. Here we go. Come on. Okay. I defined
the word ravenous as these two words. Jason.
Okay, do you like meat? Coming at you. Okay.
I said that this one action set the example for
us. It was the most extreme example of God being
like this. What was it? Haley? Say it again?
No, those are two examples, but this one's more
extreme than that. May I also take a stab at
it? Jason? Nope. Good try. Anybody? Hannah, what
is the most extreme example of God's grace? You
don't even need the paper. Go ahead. Yep, that's
right. Do you like me? Okay, coming at you. Okay.
All right. Listen, listen. False prophets are
probably most dangerous because they don these.
Caleb. Say it again. Evil fruit? Nope. They produce
evil fruit. That's true. Haley, can you do it?
I'll give you three seconds. Don these. Two,
one, and Josh. Sheep's clothing. Do you like
meat? You can't have chocolate. Oops, sorry.
A little high. Okay. Alright. Give me the first
and third definitions that I gave you of the
word beware. Caleb. Do you know how to pronounce
that word? Is that what you said? No, it's pay
attention and give. Heed. Okay. You didn't give
me yet, right? I didn't give you meat yet, did
I? No. Do you like meat? Yes. Okay. I guess everybody
likes meat, huh? Yay! Okay. All right. Complete
this sentence. A good tree cannot not. Complete
this sentence. It's kind of a weird sentence,
but a good tree cannot not, Haley. Correct. That
is correct. Okay. Do you like meat? Okay. She's
like, I'm waiting for meat. I have a whole other
bag, so I'm not out. Okay. That was loud, sorry.
Okay. All right. Natalie, are you ready? Okay.
According to this lesson, assumptions are what?
Yep. Do you like meat? Okay. Just let her have
the meat. Jeez, guys. All right open to anybody
According to this lesson When dealing with a
false prophet, we must beware and... Hannah?
No, that's part of beware. Josh? Okay, treat
them like an enemy, i .e. love them. I'll give
it to you. Okay, pick someone... Not yourself
because you already got a prize. It's an adult
that's in the room because no other adults got
prizes. Tim Hundley, would you like meat or chocolate?
Say again? Okay, coming at you. Oh, Chris, that
was a lousy throw. Okay, we're almost done. Here
we go. List three things that you personally
received as prevenient grace. Tommy. I put good
slash lucky help, church family creation. Okay.
Do you like me? Who doesn't like me? There you
go. According to this lesson. Finishing up. According
to this lesson. Tell me where you will not find
grapes and where you will not find figs. Jason.
Thorns and what? Thistles. Okay, thistles. All
right. And for the bonus question, which character
from Winnie the Pooh likes to eat thistles? Nope.
Nope. I'm going to make you guys go look it up.
I think the only adult that didn't give me that
one. I'm going to say I won. I'll take it for
him. You sure? Or do you want this? I'll take
that. That was the non -meat prize. Your only
eats thistles. Maybe. But guess who, not yet,
maybe another time. What character tried to eat
thistles but decided they were too hot? Higger.
Everybody else had a favorite food, and he tried
everybody else's favorite food. Don't have a
beard? I have no idea. That's a good question.
Drumpy? Dopey? Because he's the youngest looking
one. All right. We're going to pray and be done.
Thank you. Have fun. Stay tuned. There may be
some interesting things, changes, exciting stuff
going on Tuesday night. Not sure what that'll
look like in the next couple weeks. We'll see.
It might happen before you know it. Pretty interesting
stuff. There is a softball practice going to
be on Saturday. For sure, I don't know that we'll
get one sooner. If there is somebody that wants
to, listen up. If you want to practice softball
sooner and just kind of put the word out and
tell people, I just don't, I mean, we have adult
Bible study Thursday. I just don't really have
time to do it before then. But if somebody else
wants to just kind of get out. Do stuff you can.
The 17th, it is happening, no doubt about it.
I know, it was last night. The tentative schedule
is written. We just got to proof it and make
sure. And we'll have doubleheaders and we won't
have any games during BDS week, so that's really
cool. We're going to have three nights where
we'll have two softball games. And there will
be some games on Wednesdays and Thursdays, not
only Mondays, but there's too many games. Not
a lot. Okay? So let's pray together, and then
we'll hit the roadies. Do you know how many games
we had last year when we took a bike in the front?
We have one, for sure. As of right now, but it's
only an attendant schedule, so. Father in heaven,
we praise you and thank you for setting a standard
for us that is somewhat higher than what it means
to be a normal human. That we are to achieve
love and stay there. A love that lasts. A love
that changes the world. A love that makes all
the difference in decision making. A love that
might even win an enemy to you. I don't know
why it works that way, except that they have
to be in such darkness and looking for a light
of any kind. And then when we show up as a light,
even in the middle of being persecuted or whatever,
if they latch on, they just might find you. Lord,
I don't want to be persecuted, but I also know
that your word says that we kind of should want
to be persecuted. And that's just, that's hard.
But at the same time, Lord, I want to be faithful
to the bitter end, however long that is. And
if Jesus comes again before I die, I want to
come straight to be with you. I definitely don't
want anything other than that. And so I want
to be found faithful. Because I want to chase
away the doctrine of demons and just be found
faithful. And that means loving others. Stay
in the course. I pray that every person in this
room will do that. And we have a lot of fun here,
but the reality is, Lord, you're what's most
important. Not the way we do it or when we do
it, but who gives us the ability for being at
grace. And then through grace, for sure, once
we're saved, thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name,
amen.