WEBVTT 00:00:00.170 --> 00:05:20.100 you me. and still somewhat to this day, I very 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:22.500 much enjoyed the Looney Tunes. Do you remember 00:05:22.500 --> 00:05:25.120 the Looney Tunes? Now, not the baby ones so much 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:26.540 where they were running around in diapers, but 00:05:26.540 --> 00:05:28.600 the actual Looney Tunes before that. Bugs Bunny, 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:31.560 Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd. You remember them? There's 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:34.899 one particular scene where the whole concept 00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:39.160 of the cartoon is Elmer Fudd is hunting and he's 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:42.480 hunting Bugs Bunny. And then even Daffy Duck 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:45.720 gets on board and he's hunting Bugs Bunny. And 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:47.060 then there comes a moment in the scene where 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:49.000 Elmer Fudd is standing there with his shotgun 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:52.660 loaded, ready to go. And Bugs Bunny and Dappy 00:05:52.660 --> 00:05:56.240 Duck are standing side by side. And Elmer Fudd 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:01.180 points his shotgun at Bugs Bunny. And Bugs Bunny 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:04.620 says, it's duck season. And Dappy Duck says, 00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:07.540 no, it's rabbit season. And Bugs Bunny says, 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:09.300 no, it's duck season. They go back and forth 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:11.199 and back and forth. And after about six times, 00:06:11.379 --> 00:06:14.079 he's pointing at Bugs Bunny. And Bugs Bunny says, 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:17.730 it's rabbit season. And Daffy Duck says, no, 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:20.009 it's duck season! And Elmer Fudd shoots him in 00:06:20.009 --> 00:06:22.990 the face. That's one of my most favorite scenes 00:06:22.990 --> 00:06:26.810 from Looney Tunes, and it's kind of comical because 00:06:26.810 --> 00:06:29.649 in that heated moment, Daffy Duck forgot that 00:06:29.649 --> 00:06:31.629 he was a duck and that he was arguing for rabbit 00:06:31.629 --> 00:06:33.990 season, and suddenly he's arguing for duck season, 00:06:34.189 --> 00:06:37.949 and then he gets shot in the face. But quite 00:06:37.949 --> 00:06:40.370 a bit more serious than that is that recently, 00:06:40.529 --> 00:06:43.769 a systematic review and meta -analysis, that 00:06:43.769 --> 00:06:47.639 means an over... broad view of looking at nearly 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:52.439 13 ,800 individuals aged 10 to 29 found strong 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:56.000 links between identity confusion and symptoms 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:58.060 of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. 00:06:58.740 --> 00:07:01.819 Another study identified that identity confusion, 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:05.100 that is to say not knowing who you are, and uncertainty 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:08.560 during adolescent are consistently associated 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:13.110 with lower psychological psychosocial adjustment, 00:07:13.350 --> 00:07:15.910 including increased anxiety, loneliness, aggression, 00:07:16.129 --> 00:07:18.470 delinquency, substance use, and depressive symptoms. 00:07:19.750 --> 00:07:22.670 Research around identity stress using tools like 00:07:22.670 --> 00:07:26.529 the identity distress scale shows that distress 00:07:26.529 --> 00:07:29.930 about long -term goals, career choices, and friendships 00:07:29.930 --> 00:07:31.889 correlates with higher likelihood of anxiety, 00:07:32.230 --> 00:07:34.529 depression, and even mental health treatment. 00:07:35.050 --> 00:07:38.839 A survey conducted by Lenovo revealed that nearly 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:42.560 46 % of Gen Z Americans report leading a double 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:46.079 life, presenting different personas online versus 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:50.360 offline. This disconnect is linked then to anxiety, 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:53.500 loneliness, and depression. I could go on, but 00:07:53.500 --> 00:07:56.060 I think you get the point. Knowing who we are 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:59.240 and how our choices line up with who we are is 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:02.220 an absolute necessity if we're going to be mentally, 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:04.779 emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually 00:08:04.779 --> 00:08:08.189 healthy. And that is not the state that we find 00:08:08.189 --> 00:08:11.990 the world in today. That's a fact. So even in 00:08:11.990 --> 00:08:14.490 this room, there may be people who are struggling 00:08:14.490 --> 00:08:19.069 with identity issues. Who am I? And if you're 00:08:19.069 --> 00:08:20.870 a young person, it's all the more likely, but 00:08:20.870 --> 00:08:23.029 the reality is it could be all the more likely 00:08:23.029 --> 00:08:26.129 if you're in a relationship with your husband 00:08:26.129 --> 00:08:27.970 or wife and struggling in that relationship, 00:08:28.089 --> 00:08:31.870 or if your health is in jeopardy. or if your 00:08:31.870 --> 00:08:35.529 choices surrounding your entertainment have wobbled 00:08:35.529 --> 00:08:38.389 slightly into the realm that you think you're 00:08:38.389 --> 00:08:40.110 now being entertained by things that you don't 00:08:40.110 --> 00:08:43.929 necessarily even agree with, and so on. We're 00:08:43.929 --> 00:08:46.649 going to see today a people whose identity essentially 00:08:46.649 --> 00:08:48.929 had almost been erased, and then we're going 00:08:48.929 --> 00:08:51.690 to see the solution that is proposed. It comes 00:08:51.690 --> 00:08:54.370 from a unique place in the Bible, and I'm going 00:08:54.370 --> 00:08:55.970 to explain to you why it's unique as we go there 00:08:55.970 --> 00:08:58.409 and look at it. But we are working through the 00:08:58.409 --> 00:09:00.149 book of Judges, and if you would kindly then 00:09:00.149 --> 00:09:01.909 give me a little who to holler amen as we go 00:09:01.909 --> 00:09:05.690 to Judges chapter 5. Amen. This is the word of 00:09:05.690 --> 00:09:08.389 God, what we're about to read, and it is a unique 00:09:08.389 --> 00:09:10.190 piece of the word of God, which you will not 00:09:10.190 --> 00:09:12.929 find anything like it anywhere else, even in 00:09:12.929 --> 00:09:15.190 the word of God. So what we're about to read 00:09:15.190 --> 00:09:17.809 is the first part of the song of Deborah and 00:09:17.809 --> 00:09:21.289 Barak, as your Bible probably subtitles it. We 00:09:21.289 --> 00:09:23.029 remember that Deborah was the prophetess. She 00:09:23.029 --> 00:09:25.129 sat under the tree. She judged Israel, at least 00:09:25.129 --> 00:09:27.629 the people that could come to her. She also prophesied 00:09:27.629 --> 00:09:29.830 on behalf of God. It was Deborah who told Barak, 00:09:29.850 --> 00:09:31.570 gather an army. It was Deborah who told Barak 00:09:31.570 --> 00:09:35.309 to go to face the massive army of Jabin under 00:09:35.309 --> 00:09:38.730 Sisera. And he did do what she said. As long 00:09:38.730 --> 00:09:40.289 as she would come along with him, he was willing 00:09:40.289 --> 00:09:42.809 to do that. So Deborah and Barak, now it says, 00:09:42.850 --> 00:09:46.009 Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, sang on 00:09:46.009 --> 00:09:49.759 that day, saying, So what we're about to read 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:52.600 is a song that is attributed that they sang it 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:54.980 on the day of the victory. They have just wiped 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:58.360 out the enemy army and freed Israel from oppression 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:02.600 of decades. So for the first time ever, the people 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:05.320 of Israel, some of them, never in their lifetime 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:07.179 have they seen it. They could walk on the road 00:10:07.179 --> 00:10:09.440 freely, not be afraid of being molested or killed. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:11.519 Never in their lifetime have they seen they could 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:14.259 just go get a job and work for an honest wage. 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:19.799 They were trapped. and now on this day they have 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:22.740 been set free. And Deborah and Barak are attributed 00:10:22.740 --> 00:10:24.720 with this song on that day. Now before I go any 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:27.080 further on this, I want you to understand that 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:30.299 this is believed to be some of the oldest writing 00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:36.419 in the Old Testament. So the Hebrew that we have 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:41.019 for this is written in such a way that it sort 00:10:41.019 --> 00:10:45.200 of predates in its structure even the books that 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:48.480 come before it. Now we do know that the Genesis, 00:10:48.580 --> 00:10:50.659 Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:54.700 of that had been reframed into Greek and Septuagint 00:10:54.700 --> 00:10:59.440 and then existed in both. And so that caused 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.019 a modernization of that language. But some of 00:11:04.019 --> 00:11:05.740 the language that's in these verses that we're 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:11.019 about to read is so old that the best scholars 00:11:11.019 --> 00:11:14.470 of Hebrew that we have today have a hard time 00:11:14.470 --> 00:11:17.169 interpreting it for sure. There's a couple of 00:11:17.169 --> 00:11:19.950 places in particular that that happens, and I'll 00:11:19.950 --> 00:11:21.549 try to point them out to you. I think there's 00:11:21.549 --> 00:11:23.909 only one in the first 11 verses, but we'll see 00:11:23.909 --> 00:11:26.129 them over the next couple weeks as we look at 00:11:26.129 --> 00:11:28.970 the rest of it, okay? So then Deborah and Barak, 00:11:28.970 --> 00:11:31.110 the son of Abinoam, sang on that day, saying, 00:11:31.429 --> 00:11:35.149 verse 2, that the leaders led in Israel, that 00:11:35.149 --> 00:11:38.289 the people volunteered. Bless the Lord. In other 00:11:38.289 --> 00:11:40.490 words, because this happened, that the leaders 00:11:40.490 --> 00:11:41.669 stepped up and did what they were supposed to 00:11:41.669 --> 00:11:43.830 do, that the people volunteered to do what they 00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:46.710 were supposed to do, bless the Lord. Praise the 00:11:46.710 --> 00:11:48.769 Lord. Now that first phrase there, bless the 00:11:48.769 --> 00:11:51.370 Lord, is kind of unique in Hebrew. There's sort 00:11:51.370 --> 00:11:53.830 of two instances of it. One of them is you bless 00:11:53.830 --> 00:11:56.730 an underling, someone who has been, who's done 00:11:56.730 --> 00:11:59.049 for you, a servant, somebody who works in your 00:11:59.049 --> 00:12:02.029 fields or whatever. And that is to say that it 00:12:02.029 --> 00:12:05.600 lifts you, you lift them up in a way. You help 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:06.980 them in some way. Maybe you pay them a little 00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:09.240 more. You pat them on the back. You encourage 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:11.059 them with a word of encouragement. That's that 00:12:11.059 --> 00:12:13.480 kind of blessing. That's not this kind. And the 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:17.320 other is to just focus your eyes on that thing 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:19.840 or that person and recognize their greatness. 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:22.840 And then out of that, to respond, to do something. 00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:24.779 Not just to look and say, wow, that is a beautiful 00:12:24.779 --> 00:12:27.960 star in the sky. in your mind, but to respond 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.539 to seeing that beautiful star in the sky. So 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:32.259 you can bless that beautiful star in the sky 00:12:32.259 --> 00:12:35.139 according to this verse if it doesn't stop with 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:37.159 just looking at it. Does that make sense? So 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:39.620 if you just look at it and go, whoa. We were 00:12:39.620 --> 00:12:43.519 playing softball on Thursday night and we were... 00:12:44.169 --> 00:12:45.950 standing out there, I think it was after one 00:12:45.950 --> 00:12:47.070 of the games, getting ready to pray or whatever, 00:12:47.250 --> 00:12:48.730 and I looked up and I saw the moon and I pointed 00:12:48.730 --> 00:12:50.570 it out to somebody else and I said, wow, look 00:12:50.570 --> 00:12:53.049 at that moon. And she said, yeah, I saw that 00:12:53.049 --> 00:12:54.409 and that's incredible. And we're standing there 00:12:54.409 --> 00:12:57.210 talking about it. We were blessing the moon under 00:12:57.210 --> 00:13:00.429 this sense, okay? Now, I went on to bless God 00:13:00.429 --> 00:13:02.230 because God is the maker of the moon and God 00:13:02.230 --> 00:13:04.289 let us see such an incredible thing and so on. 00:13:04.549 --> 00:13:06.610 And so did she because she's a professing Christian, 00:13:06.710 --> 00:13:08.129 even committed to come to church here at some 00:13:08.129 --> 00:13:11.019 point. But the bottom line is, We understand 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:13.960 she is saying because these people stepped up 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:16.059 and made this difference, because they did this, 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:19.159 bless the Lord. Now that makes this a completely 00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:22.159 unique piece of literature. Not only is it already 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:24.379 the oldest text or one of the oldest texts that 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:27.220 we have translated into the Old Testament, but 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:31.179 on top of that, in its day, it is a unique ode. 00:13:31.340 --> 00:13:35.399 It is a unique song. The songs were all about 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:39.679 the people who did great deeds. So if the song 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:42.039 was about Deborah and Barak or about Deborah 00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:44.519 or about the leaders or about the people who 00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:46.700 volunteered, then it would have been the same 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:49.919 kind of song that others were singing in other 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.480 cultures, in other faiths, etc. But it was not. 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:56.820 It was unique because they did something incredible, 00:13:56.919 --> 00:13:59.340 no doubt about that. They responded in faith 00:13:59.340 --> 00:14:03.200 to the Lord, but their virtues are not extolled 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.299 because they responded. Because they responded 00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:08.899 to the Lord. Rather, the Lord is. So where does 00:14:08.899 --> 00:14:12.299 the credit lie in the entire song? It lies with 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:17.580 the Lord. She is saying, Barak is saying, that 00:14:17.580 --> 00:14:20.539 the leaders led in Israel, that the people volunteered, 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:24.159 bless the Lord. Let him get all the credit. So 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:26.519 the song in its pronunciation in the very first 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:29.500 verses is saying, this will all be about God 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:32.340 and what God has done. Verse 3 then says, Hear, 00:14:32.539 --> 00:14:35.759 O kings, give ear, O rulers. In other words, 00:14:35.779 --> 00:14:38.000 those people who are out there who have a lot 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.279 of authority yet, kings, governors, rulers of 00:14:40.279 --> 00:14:42.940 the surrounding lands, etc. He says, I, to the 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:46.200 Lord, I will sing. I will sing praise to the 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:50.360 Lord, the God of Israel. So she, Deborah, he, 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:54.019 Barak. calling them to recognize that the people 00:14:54.019 --> 00:14:55.759 are not taking credit. They're not saying, we 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:57.559 are an awesome and powerful people, we can repel 00:14:57.559 --> 00:14:59.159 you, our armies are greater than yours, anything 00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:02.860 like that, but rather that God did this, God 00:15:02.860 --> 00:15:04.539 is going to get the credit, and we are singing 00:15:04.539 --> 00:15:08.279 about God. Verse 4, Lord, when thou didst go 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:11.399 out from Seir, when thou didst march from the 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:14.200 field of Edom, the earth quaked, the heavens 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:16.840 also dripped, even the clouds dripped water. 00:15:17.059 --> 00:15:20.179 Now that second part of that, verse there, the 00:15:20.179 --> 00:15:22.179 earthquake, the heavens also dripped, even the 00:15:22.179 --> 00:15:24.379 clouds dripped water. That is one of those places 00:15:24.379 --> 00:15:27.179 where the Hebrew is very difficult to translate 00:15:27.179 --> 00:15:30.320 into English. But the New American Standard, 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:32.460 as I have it, and you may have something slightly 00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:35.259 different there, usually found in the prepositions 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:38.600 or in who did the what, right? But the bottom 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:42.240 line is, it's saying, God caused miraculous intervention. 00:15:42.970 --> 00:15:44.769 We already know that the chariots were bogged 00:15:44.769 --> 00:15:46.669 down in the mud and that's how this smaller sized 00:15:46.669 --> 00:15:48.570 army was able to defeat them in the lowlands 00:15:48.570 --> 00:15:50.470 where they would prefer not to have fought them. 00:15:50.529 --> 00:15:54.690 They defeated them because God perhaps had an 00:15:54.690 --> 00:15:56.789 earthquake, perhaps had a mudslide, perhaps had 00:15:56.789 --> 00:15:59.629 heavy rains, all of that picture there. Verse 00:15:59.629 --> 00:16:02.529 5, the mountains quaked at the presence of the 00:16:02.529 --> 00:16:06.529 Lord. So we have a recognition that God's power 00:16:06.529 --> 00:16:10.259 and authority when he shows up is so great. This 00:16:10.259 --> 00:16:12.679 Sinai at the presence of the Lord, the God of 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:15.379 Israel. And so that Sinai, of course, you know, 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:17.700 has symbolism. We're not actually necessarily 00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:20.799 at Sinai here, because Sinai is not actually 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.840 right by the promised land, right? But it has 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.519 symbolism, a moment of contact with the Lord. 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:29.080 Do you remember what amazing thing happened on 00:16:29.080 --> 00:16:33.740 Sinai? What was handed to the Israelites on Sinai? 00:16:34.139 --> 00:16:35.779 The Ten Commandments, right? So they had this 00:16:35.779 --> 00:16:37.259 massive, they weren't allowed to go up on the 00:16:37.259 --> 00:16:40.120 mountain unless they'd be destroyed. Right? That 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:42.500 kind of thing. God's presence was there. So what 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:44.399 she's saying, the symbolism in the song, what 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:47.679 he's saying, the Sinai, this moment of contact 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:49.919 with God at the presence of the Lord, the God 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:53.240 of Israel, amazing things happened. We'll just 00:16:53.240 --> 00:16:56.000 take it that. Verse 6. In the days of Shamgar, 00:16:56.100 --> 00:16:59.000 the son of Anab, in the days of Jael, the highways 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:01.879 were deserted and travelers went by roundabout 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:04.619 ways. And we talked about this. a couple of weeks 00:17:04.619 --> 00:17:06.440 ago and looked at this text. We won't get into 00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:08.980 it too deep here, but just realize that the peasants, 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:11.740 the ordinary people of this society, were no 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:15.160 longer able to function in their roles. They 00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:17.759 had the supreme identity crisis, not just that 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:19.180 they were having trouble figuring out who they 00:17:19.180 --> 00:17:21.359 were, but even if they could figure out who they 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:25.519 were, they couldn't do it. Okay, verse 7. The 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:28.160 peasantry ceased. They ceased in Israel. There 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.660 it is laid out for you very clearly. Until I, 00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:34.019 Deborah, arose, until I arose a mother in Israel. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.960 Now, she's not taking credit for what happened, 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:39.519 but she's setting the time, the moment in time 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:41.779 in which Deborah, on behalf of God, began to 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:43.599 speak to Israel. That's when things started to 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:47.119 turn or started to change. Verse 8. New gods 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:51.279 were chosen. Then war was in the gates. Not a 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:55.059 shield or a spear was seen among 40 ,000 in Israel. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:58.059 That is to say, soldiers did not have weapons. 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:01.480 Did not have shields. Armies could not resist. 00:18:01.539 --> 00:18:03.839 They couldn't resist the oppressors because all 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:07.920 their weapons and armor were taken away. Nine. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.579 My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, 00:18:10.700 --> 00:18:14.019 the volunteers among the people. Bless the Lord. 00:18:14.180 --> 00:18:16.240 In other words, I love that people stepped up 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.480 and did what God was supposed to do. The commanders 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.420 of Israel, the volunteers, it was awesome. My 00:18:20.420 --> 00:18:22.819 heart goes out to you. And she doesn't stop there 00:18:22.819 --> 00:18:24.319 and say, I love you because of what you did. 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:26.299 I praise you because of what you did. No, she 00:18:26.299 --> 00:18:29.809 calls them. To bless the Lord. So you did an 00:18:29.809 --> 00:18:32.650 awesome thing. Now if you did an awesome thing, 00:18:32.750 --> 00:18:36.210 if that's who you are, bless the Lord. That's 00:18:36.210 --> 00:18:38.950 what she's saying. Verse 10, two verses left 00:18:38.950 --> 00:18:41.829 for today. You who ride on white donkeys, you 00:18:41.829 --> 00:18:44.470 who sit on rich carpets, and you who travel on 00:18:44.470 --> 00:18:49.230 the road, sing. So now, she's saying, those who 00:18:49.230 --> 00:18:51.150 are blessed, those who have much, those who are 00:18:51.150 --> 00:18:55.789 in prosperity, rulers, etc., recognize the Lord. 00:18:56.220 --> 00:18:58.880 So if you manage to make it through this time 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:01.240 when Israel was losing everything and you're 00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:03.599 still wealthy, bless the Lord. If you're from 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:05.700 outside the kingdom, if you're a king that doesn't 00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:08.859 know Israel's God, nonetheless, recognize who 00:19:08.859 --> 00:19:10.880 God is and that God did this, bless the Lord. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:13.599 So she's making an appeal to everyone who has 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:17.799 wealth to bless the Lord. But notice this, the 00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:22.660 very specific word there, sing. And so very simply 00:19:22.660 --> 00:19:24.680 put, without getting into it too deeply right 00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:29.200 there, if you know who God is, sing. That's what 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:32.059 she's saying. Verse 11 and the last one for today 00:19:32.059 --> 00:19:34.880 out of the song. At the sound of those who divide 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:38.599 flocks among the watering places, in other words, 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:41.859 as business gets going again, at the sound of 00:19:41.859 --> 00:19:44.380 those who divide the flocks, there they shall 00:19:44.380 --> 00:19:47.059 recount the righteous deeds of the Lord. So all 00:19:47.059 --> 00:19:49.380 the people will be doing what? They'll all be 00:19:49.380 --> 00:19:52.789 talking about what God did. Not so -and -so fell 00:19:52.789 --> 00:19:55.470 11 men, so -and -so took out 30 men, so -and 00:19:55.470 --> 00:19:58.329 -so brought down two chariots, right? Not so 00:19:58.329 --> 00:19:59.990 -and -so left his wife and family behind and 00:19:59.990 --> 00:20:01.690 sacrificed his life on the battle and honoring 00:20:01.690 --> 00:20:05.430 him, but rather the righteous deeds of the Lord. 00:20:05.569 --> 00:20:10.549 The righteous deeds for his peasantry in Israel. 00:20:10.650 --> 00:20:12.730 In other words, his poor, his people who were 00:20:12.730 --> 00:20:14.630 not doing well, his people who were hurting and 00:20:14.630 --> 00:20:18.150 crying out. Then the people of the Lord went 00:20:18.150 --> 00:20:20.450 down to the gates. And this last phrase is hugely 00:20:20.450 --> 00:20:23.369 important. Then the people of the Lord went down 00:20:23.369 --> 00:20:25.029 to the gates. So what they're saying is, so the 00:20:25.029 --> 00:20:29.289 gates were where business was conducted. So there 00:20:29.289 --> 00:20:31.970 was kind of a big room there, the wall on both 00:20:31.970 --> 00:20:35.789 sides, gate, room, gate. And the gate would be 00:20:35.789 --> 00:20:37.170 open and people would sit in the gate and they 00:20:37.170 --> 00:20:38.609 would talk business. They would make trades. 00:20:38.690 --> 00:20:41.859 A farmer comes, sells. His agriculture and somebody 00:20:41.859 --> 00:20:43.460 in the city would buy it from him and so on. 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:46.259 Or someone so and so offended so and so they 00:20:46.259 --> 00:20:48.339 would come to the gates to get justice. And so 00:20:48.339 --> 00:20:51.000 what she's saying is, what he's saying is, the 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:54.579 people of the Lord now are in the public eye. 00:20:54.819 --> 00:20:57.460 The people of the Lord are governing the business. 00:20:57.599 --> 00:20:59.660 The people of the Lord are setting the standard. 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:02.440 And when the people of the Lord turn back to 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:04.640 the Lord and they turn others back to the Lord, 00:21:04.740 --> 00:21:07.339 the standards of the Lord become the standards 00:21:07.339 --> 00:21:10.170 of society. Not because we're living in a theocracy, 00:21:10.390 --> 00:21:13.369 but because the people of the society recognize 00:21:13.369 --> 00:21:16.710 that God alone is God and they now know their 00:21:16.710 --> 00:21:21.950 own identity in God. This old and kind of hard 00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:25.329 to decipher text we've looked at today, and we'll 00:21:25.329 --> 00:21:26.710 look at some more of it over the next couple 00:21:26.710 --> 00:21:28.890 weeks, and we may see some places where it's 00:21:28.890 --> 00:21:31.269 a little bit hard to handle because of that. 00:21:31.329 --> 00:21:36.359 We saw one today. Note that the... State of affairs 00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:38.720 was that the common people had ceased their work. 00:21:38.779 --> 00:21:41.460 Crops were no longer to be planted. Where did 00:21:41.460 --> 00:21:44.480 those fields come from? Where did the seed come 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:46.339 from? Now, obviously, we know God created it, 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:48.880 but I mean, how did they get it? They took the 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:51.180 land while the crops were already growing. And 00:21:51.180 --> 00:21:53.819 then now this is generations later and the crops 00:21:53.819 --> 00:21:57.059 have fallen to the ground and growing again and 00:21:57.059 --> 00:21:58.880 fallen to the ground and growing again. And now 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:01.619 they're failing to plant crops in the land that 00:22:01.619 --> 00:22:05.480 God has given them because they are hiding. They're 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:08.000 not walking the roads. They're hiding. They're 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.000 waiting for the next time that they themselves 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.640 would be victimized. Every woman who was in the 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.099 middle class and below in Israel was living in 00:22:15.099 --> 00:22:17.779 fear that a soldier would raid her hometown, 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:22.859 rape her, and start offspring of half -breed 00:22:22.859 --> 00:22:27.980 society. Every man was fearing for the lives 00:22:27.980 --> 00:22:30.480 of his wife and children because he couldn't 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:33.380 do anything about it if somebody came. It had 00:22:33.380 --> 00:22:37.500 been stolen from them any security, any identity. 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:40.839 Now we know that part of the problem was because 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:43.559 they were following false gods. They had begun 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.460 to follow the same gods as the people who were 00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:49.019 persecuting them. And so as they were focused 00:22:49.019 --> 00:22:51.880 on the false gods, they were not focused on God, 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:54.500 and the false gods could do nothing for them. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:58.299 Surely the middle and upper classes were having 00:22:58.299 --> 00:23:01.400 greater success even in following the false gods. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:05.880 All their wealth would have been worth less and 00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:08.859 maybe even made them a target from time to time, 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:13.519 but it was not worthless and maybe even gave 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:17.759 them something to cling to. Some promise of enduring 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:20.200 this horrible season. And I submit to you that 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:22.039 all that was happening there was that the wealthiest 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:24.319 of people were splitting their affections between 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:28.819 false gods and mammon, but not turning to God. 00:23:31.309 --> 00:23:33.190 The wealthiest people, of course, could make 00:23:33.190 --> 00:23:35.230 it expensive to challenge them. They could hire 00:23:35.230 --> 00:23:38.309 bodyguards. They could buy weaponry from brigands 00:23:38.309 --> 00:23:41.009 and so on. And they could maybe even marshal 00:23:41.009 --> 00:23:44.589 some protection for themselves. But God's people 00:23:44.589 --> 00:23:46.950 had lost the only protection that really matters. 00:23:48.470 --> 00:23:50.289 Three points in this text, then, that I want 00:23:50.289 --> 00:23:52.150 you to see in a conclusion. The first one is 00:23:52.150 --> 00:23:55.730 that God is getting the glory. God is getting 00:23:55.730 --> 00:23:58.309 the glory. It is God that defeated the army. 00:23:58.929 --> 00:24:01.329 Just as it was with Gideon, where he took it 00:24:01.329 --> 00:24:04.470 all the way down to 300, he had Barak round up 00:24:04.470 --> 00:24:07.910 10 ,000, go up on the mountain where fighting 00:24:07.910 --> 00:24:10.130 chariots might have made some sense, and maybe 00:24:10.130 --> 00:24:12.809 10 ,000 men might have taken out an army of chariots 00:24:12.809 --> 00:24:14.130 in the mountains, but they probably wouldn't 00:24:14.130 --> 00:24:15.670 have sent all the chariots if they were in the 00:24:15.670 --> 00:24:18.849 mountains. And they sent it down off the mountains 00:24:18.849 --> 00:24:20.829 into the lowlands where fighting an army of chariots 00:24:20.829 --> 00:24:23.930 does not make any sense, and they were sure to 00:24:23.930 --> 00:24:27.680 be massacred. And yet, God fought on their behalf 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:30.960 and they destroyed that army. Really, you could 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:34.839 say God did. Because we have repercussions of 00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:37.920 earthquakes. And we know that they were bogged 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:42.059 down in the mud and heavy rains and so on. As 00:24:42.059 --> 00:24:44.180 I mentioned before, the song is unique among 00:24:44.180 --> 00:24:46.779 period odes because it gives God the glory rather 00:24:46.779 --> 00:24:49.500 than any human hero. Now, is it not very possible 00:24:49.500 --> 00:24:52.680 that Deborah or Barak could have been the subject 00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:55.890 of the song? I mean, he was already resisting. 00:24:55.910 --> 00:24:58.309 We looked at that last week. Then he's called 00:24:58.309 --> 00:25:00.289 out to resist face -to -face. A great army, there's 00:25:00.289 --> 00:25:02.849 no chance he could defeat. Should he not be considered 00:25:02.849 --> 00:25:06.589 a great hero? Well, yeah, he probably is a great 00:25:06.589 --> 00:25:09.750 hero of the faith. He trusted God mostly. He 00:25:09.750 --> 00:25:12.400 did call Deborah out to go with him. Could Deborah 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:14.660 not be the great hero? She's the first female, 00:25:14.859 --> 00:25:17.759 other than possibly Eve, in the Bible that just 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:20.839 really shines as an example of what it means 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:22.759 to follow God. The song could have been about 00:25:22.759 --> 00:25:24.720 her, and it would have matched all the cultural 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:28.460 norms of her day. But it's not. The song is unique 00:25:28.460 --> 00:25:30.880 among periods of odes because it is about God 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:32.980 who gives the victory rather than any human hero. 00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:37.109 God is getting the glory. The people by and large 00:25:37.109 --> 00:25:39.769 give God the recognition, and they're doing so 00:25:39.769 --> 00:25:43.970 for his character, for who God is. And when you 00:25:43.970 --> 00:25:47.170 give God recognition for who God is, that has 00:25:47.170 --> 00:25:50.410 impact on who you are. You could say that it 00:25:50.410 --> 00:25:53.009 becomes who I am. I am a person who gives God 00:25:53.009 --> 00:25:56.210 the recognition that he deserves. And when people 00:25:56.210 --> 00:25:59.150 did that, the gates then were occupied. And notice 00:25:59.150 --> 00:26:03.859 that it said, among the flocks, at the watering 00:26:03.859 --> 00:26:06.299 holes, etc., recounting the righteous deeds of 00:26:06.299 --> 00:26:09.460 the Lord, the righteous deeds for His peasantry 00:26:09.460 --> 00:26:12.240 in Israel. And then the people of the Lord went 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:14.400 down to the gates. And so in the gates, among 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:17.140 the flocks, among the herds, everywhere, the 00:26:17.140 --> 00:26:19.400 people of the Lord recounting the righteous deeds 00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:22.759 of the Lord. Do you recount the righteous deeds 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:25.779 of the Lord in your workplace? Do you recount 00:26:25.779 --> 00:26:27.940 the righteous deeds of the Lord when you're shopping? 00:26:28.819 --> 00:26:31.339 Do you recount the righteous deeds of the Lord? 00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:35.579 In your school? The righteous deeds of the Lord 00:26:35.579 --> 00:26:38.779 have repercussions throughout all history. From 00:26:38.779 --> 00:26:41.460 long before you and I were ever thought of by 00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:44.440 anyone but God Himself. Do you recount the righteous 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:47.400 deeds of the Lord? If we did recount the righteous 00:26:47.400 --> 00:26:49.480 deeds of the Lord, if everything that we do that's 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:52.480 good became about what God has done, and we recounted 00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:54.460 the righteous deeds of the Lord, then that would... 00:26:54.650 --> 00:26:56.829 begin to mend our identity. It would begin to 00:26:56.829 --> 00:26:59.450 give us an identity. I am one who recounts the 00:26:59.450 --> 00:27:00.950 righteous deeds of the Lord. I submit to you 00:27:00.950 --> 00:27:03.150 that those of us who do not recount the righteous 00:27:03.150 --> 00:27:04.950 deeds of the Lord, those of us who do not ensure 00:27:04.950 --> 00:27:07.609 that God gets the glory, when you receive praise, 00:27:07.710 --> 00:27:09.730 when people say how strong you are, how creative 00:27:09.730 --> 00:27:11.390 you are, how beautiful, how handsome you are, 00:27:11.430 --> 00:27:13.609 how wonderful you are in some way, do you say 00:27:13.609 --> 00:27:16.470 to God be the glory? God is the author of many 00:27:16.470 --> 00:27:18.890 great things and you too are authored by the 00:27:18.890 --> 00:27:20.829 great God of the universe. You too are awesome 00:27:20.829 --> 00:27:24.349 in your way. and talk good about them, but not 00:27:24.349 --> 00:27:27.029 good about them for good's sake, but good about 00:27:27.029 --> 00:27:29.289 them for God's sake? Do you recount the righteous 00:27:29.289 --> 00:27:32.509 deeds of the Lord? I submit to you that the church 00:27:32.509 --> 00:27:35.269 has an identity crisis because the church is 00:27:35.269 --> 00:27:37.029 living in the world, and just as we talked about 00:27:37.029 --> 00:27:38.930 Gen Zers having two identities, one, they're 00:27:38.930 --> 00:27:42.220 on social media, and this is them at... Disney 00:27:42.220 --> 00:27:43.799 World and them doing their projects and their 00:27:43.799 --> 00:27:45.559 arts and their crafts and everything that they're 00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:49.000 doing out there in their short skirts or in their 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:51.740 muscle shirts or in the gym and then the rest 00:27:51.740 --> 00:27:54.119 of the time there they are being who they actually 00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:55.960 are or maybe that's who they actually are and 00:27:55.960 --> 00:27:57.640 the rest of the time they're faking it. I don't 00:27:57.640 --> 00:28:00.220 know which one's fake or if it's some combination 00:28:00.220 --> 00:28:02.440 of the two, but the bottom line is if you claim 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:04.200 to be a Christian and you are not recounting 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:05.799 the righteous deeds of the Lord, then you have 00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:10.480 an identity crisis. And identity crises are very 00:28:11.529 --> 00:28:13.910 Say that again. Identity crises, that's how you 00:28:13.910 --> 00:28:18.509 say it, are very dangerous. They yield mental, 00:28:18.750 --> 00:28:21.450 spiritual, emotional, and psychological damage. 00:28:21.890 --> 00:28:24.809 You struggle with anxiety, loneliness, aggression, 00:28:25.069 --> 00:28:27.809 delinquency, substance abuse, depressive symptoms, 00:28:27.890 --> 00:28:30.490 because you have an identity crisis. And you 00:28:30.490 --> 00:28:32.450 go to the doctor, and the doctor gives you a 00:28:32.450 --> 00:28:36.109 diagnosis, and the diagnosis locks that problem, 00:28:36.269 --> 00:28:38.470 which is a symptom of your identity crisis, into 00:28:38.470 --> 00:28:44.680 your life forever. Do you have an identity crisis? 00:28:46.140 --> 00:28:49.680 Or is God getting the glory? When people give 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:52.859 God his proper place, God's people will move 00:28:52.859 --> 00:28:57.220 to the forefront. And they will guide and they 00:28:57.220 --> 00:29:02.519 will shine. I worked two secular jobs after I 00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:06.039 got saved really full time. And in both of those 00:29:06.039 --> 00:29:09.880 jobs, even though I maybe wasn't the best person 00:29:09.880 --> 00:29:13.259 on the job, God kept pointing people in my direction. 00:29:13.859 --> 00:29:16.220 We are not a great big church, in case you hadn't 00:29:16.220 --> 00:29:18.279 noticed. We're not running 150 to 2 ,000 people 00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:21.920 today. But the reality is, all over the state 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:24.519 of Ohio, people are pointing people in our direction. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:26.960 And truthfully, all over the world. Why is that? 00:29:27.019 --> 00:29:29.619 How does that make any sense that 30 adults and 00:29:29.619 --> 00:29:32.960 20 or 30 children would get worldwide notice? 00:29:33.059 --> 00:29:35.759 That doesn't make any sense, except if we have 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:37.779 something to say, except if we have some glory 00:29:37.779 --> 00:29:40.039 to give to the God of the universe. And it allows 00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:42.420 people, little churches like our church, did 00:29:42.420 --> 00:29:44.039 you know that the most recent, not currently, 00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:45.700 actually it's still true currently, the most 00:29:45.700 --> 00:29:48.500 recent two Southern Baptist presidents of the 00:29:48.500 --> 00:29:50.279 Southern Baptist Convention, which means that 00:29:50.279 --> 00:29:52.680 they essentially are the president over tens 00:29:52.680 --> 00:29:55.200 of thousands of Southern Baptist churches all 00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:57.019 across the United States, both come from churches 00:29:57.019 --> 00:30:02.380 that have less than 150 in membership. What are 00:30:02.380 --> 00:30:05.519 we waiting for? Let us be people who decry the 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:09.519 enemy and praise God. recounting the righteousness 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:13.720 and power of our God, lest we should have a real 00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:15.700 identity crisis. Well, the people in this story 00:30:15.700 --> 00:30:18.579 had a real identity crisis. Many had forgotten 00:30:18.579 --> 00:30:21.759 who they were, who God was. Before they heard 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:24.339 this song, before they heard the story of God's 00:30:24.339 --> 00:30:26.519 conquest, before they were forced to measure 00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:29.240 God against all other things that were working 00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:32.319 to identify them, they may have felt secure in 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:34.279 their understanding of the way the world worked. 00:30:35.019 --> 00:30:37.259 Even though they were... afraid that someone 00:30:37.259 --> 00:30:39.480 was going to come into the village and rape all 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:41.240 their women and take all their children into 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:43.940 slavery and steal all their money and harvest 00:30:43.940 --> 00:30:45.980 all their crops. They were afraid to go into 00:30:45.980 --> 00:30:48.319 the field with a bag of seed because while they 00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:50.019 were out there, they might be picked off by a 00:30:50.019 --> 00:30:52.740 group of brigands or whatever. Even though they 00:30:52.740 --> 00:30:55.059 were afraid of all of that, they were secure 00:30:55.059 --> 00:30:57.200 in their understanding of the way things work. 00:30:57.259 --> 00:31:00.519 They would call Baal God. They would go to the 00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:03.220 temple and take part with the temple prostitutes 00:31:03.220 --> 00:31:06.079 and make donations in order to try to get Baal 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:07.799 to bless their field so they could go out in 00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:10.480 the field to raise crops. They had a secure understanding 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:12.119 of the way the world works, but they were just 00:31:12.119 --> 00:31:18.180 wrong. They just didn't get it. They may have 00:31:18.180 --> 00:31:20.579 felt secure in participating in various activities 00:31:20.579 --> 00:31:23.559 that seemed to add something to them, that seemed 00:31:23.559 --> 00:31:28.619 to enhance their identity. But when God enters 00:31:28.619 --> 00:31:32.240 in, he challenges everything. As a people, they 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:35.839 had already chosen. You go back to Joshua chapter 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:40.140 24, and Joshua challenges them toward the end 00:31:40.140 --> 00:31:43.299 of his time, ruling over them. Joshua is the 00:31:43.299 --> 00:31:44.839 book immediately to the left, and I'm flipping 00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:46.200 there, and I'll be there for a second, so if 00:31:46.200 --> 00:31:48.240 you want to go with me, you're welcome to. Joshua 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:54.319 24, beginning in verse 14, it says, Fear the 00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:57.640 Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. And 00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:00.339 put away the gods which your fathers served beyond 00:32:00.339 --> 00:32:03.400 the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. And 00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:05.839 that word Lord there is Yahweh, the creator God. 00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:08.740 And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve 00:32:08.740 --> 00:32:10.400 the Lord, that is to say, if you don't want to 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:13.180 have your identity being, I follow God, I serve 00:32:13.180 --> 00:32:17.119 God, I am God's man, I am God's woman. He says, 00:32:17.140 --> 00:32:19.180 then choose for yourself today whom you will 00:32:19.180 --> 00:32:22.079 serve. whether the gods which your fathers served, 00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:24.559 which were beyond the river, or the gods of the 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:28.940 Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as 00:32:28.940 --> 00:32:31.400 for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 00:32:31.779 --> 00:32:34.119 And the people answered and said, Far be it from 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:36.119 us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other 00:32:36.119 --> 00:32:38.599 gods. For the Lord our God is he who brought 00:32:38.599 --> 00:32:41.500 us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt 00:32:41.500 --> 00:32:43.480 from the house of bondage and who did these great 00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:46.680 signs in our sight and preserved us through all. 00:32:47.069 --> 00:32:49.490 the way in which we went, and among all the peoples 00:32:49.490 --> 00:32:55.049 through whose midst we passed. There we go. And 00:32:55.049 --> 00:32:57.690 the Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, 00:32:57.750 --> 00:32:59.529 even the Amorites, who lived in the land. We 00:32:59.529 --> 00:33:02.690 also will serve the Lord, for he is our God. 00:33:03.509 --> 00:33:05.609 Joshua said to the people, You will not be able 00:33:05.609 --> 00:33:08.069 to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is 00:33:08.069 --> 00:33:10.690 a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions 00:33:10.690 --> 00:33:13.069 or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve 00:33:13.069 --> 00:33:15.130 the foreign gods, then he will turn and do you 00:33:15.130 --> 00:33:17.930 harm and consume you after he has done good to 00:33:17.930 --> 00:33:20.849 you. And the people said to Joshua, No, but we 00:33:20.849 --> 00:33:23.589 will serve the Lord. And Joshua said to the people, 00:33:23.710 --> 00:33:26.430 You are witnesses against yourselves that you 00:33:26.430 --> 00:33:28.630 have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve 00:33:28.630 --> 00:33:31.509 him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore 00:33:31.509 --> 00:33:33.630 put away the foreign gods which are in your midst 00:33:33.630 --> 00:33:35.569 and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of 00:33:35.569 --> 00:33:38.099 Israel. And the people said to Joshua, We will 00:33:38.099 --> 00:33:40.940 serve the Lord our God, and we will obey his 00:33:40.940 --> 00:33:43.599 voice. So Joshua made a covenant with them that 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:46.420 day, and made for them a statute and ordinance 00:33:46.420 --> 00:33:48.880 in Shechem. Joshua wrote those words in the book 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:51.759 of law of God, and he took a large stone, set 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:53.779 it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary 00:33:53.779 --> 00:33:56.759 of the Lord. Joshua said to all the people, Behold, 00:33:56.779 --> 00:33:59.119 this stone shall be for a witness against us, 00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:01.700 for it has heard all the words of the Lord which 00:34:01.700 --> 00:34:04.380 he spoke to us. Thus it shall be for a witness 00:34:04.380 --> 00:34:07.849 against you, lest you deny your God. Then Joshua 00:34:07.849 --> 00:34:09.789 dismissed the people, each to his inheritance. 00:34:10.190 --> 00:34:12.849 You see, the people, as a people, had already 00:34:12.849 --> 00:34:16.050 decided, had already submitted, had already come 00:34:16.050 --> 00:34:18.110 into contact with the living God. They had already 00:34:18.110 --> 00:34:20.309 seen Him do amazing things. Have you come into 00:34:20.309 --> 00:34:22.469 contact with the living God? Have you already 00:34:22.469 --> 00:34:26.690 seen God do amazing things? And yet, if you can 00:34:26.690 --> 00:34:29.469 persist, if you can struggle in an identity crisis 00:34:29.469 --> 00:34:32.150 after having experienced that, then I'm just 00:34:32.150 --> 00:34:33.909 going to say that you're just getting what you 00:34:33.909 --> 00:34:36.699 deserve. You're just getting what you've chosen 00:34:36.699 --> 00:34:40.019 for yourself. You're not choosing God above all 00:34:40.019 --> 00:34:42.219 things, not allowing yourself to be informed 00:34:42.219 --> 00:34:45.320 by God above all entities, not allowing yourself 00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:51.159 to be shaped by God as the people they had already 00:34:51.159 --> 00:34:54.699 chosen. But by now, they were wandering to and 00:34:54.699 --> 00:34:59.260 fro, often dying in their ignorance. But by Judges 00:34:59.260 --> 00:35:01.800 4, the people could not use the roads that God 00:35:01.800 --> 00:35:04.869 had given them. Generation after generation, 00:35:05.070 --> 00:35:07.210 as they did just what they thought was right. 00:35:07.289 --> 00:35:09.829 It says they did what was right in their own 00:35:09.829 --> 00:35:12.309 minds. They did just what they thought was right. 00:35:12.650 --> 00:35:15.769 They were pushed and drifted so far away from 00:35:15.769 --> 00:35:18.389 God. And now in this song, we see that God is 00:35:18.389 --> 00:35:21.010 redefining them. He's redefining them as a people 00:35:21.010 --> 00:35:24.539 who follow God alone and trust God alone. We 00:35:24.539 --> 00:35:26.360 don't trust each other like we trust God. We 00:35:26.360 --> 00:35:27.940 don't trust money like we trust God. We don't 00:35:27.940 --> 00:35:30.019 trust false gods like we trust God. We don't 00:35:30.019 --> 00:35:33.860 look for sustenance or enjoyment or success or 00:35:33.860 --> 00:35:36.659 strength or endurance in anything else. We follow 00:35:36.659 --> 00:35:39.860 God alone and trust God alone. We praise God 00:35:39.860 --> 00:35:42.320 with our whole hearts. He was saying, praise 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:45.699 God with your whole heart. Bless God, bless God, 00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:48.280 bless God. Praise God with your whole heart. 00:35:49.420 --> 00:35:52.699 We unite to be God's people. We stand together 00:35:52.699 --> 00:35:54.659 and we see somebody straying. We call them back. 00:35:54.699 --> 00:35:56.420 We see somebody struggling. We lift them up. 00:35:57.059 --> 00:36:00.320 We deny the efforts of redefinition by the peoples 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:02.780 around us. That's what they needed to do. Stop 00:36:02.780 --> 00:36:05.039 with the false gods being pushed on you. Stop 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:07.099 with the world's teaching. Stop with the internet 00:36:07.099 --> 00:36:09.119 telling you this is what you need to be. Or you 00:36:09.119 --> 00:36:10.619 just need this and you'll be healthy. Or you'll 00:36:10.619 --> 00:36:12.960 just need this and you'll be strong. No, follow 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:15.599 God alone. Praise God with all your heart. Unite 00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:18.079 with God's people. Deny the efforts of redefinition 00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:20.719 by the people around them. Recount the victories 00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:25.099 of God. Has God won the day? You darn well better 00:36:25.099 --> 00:36:27.980 believe that God has won the day. And if you're 00:36:27.980 --> 00:36:30.420 choosing to go against God, you're choosing to 00:36:30.420 --> 00:36:34.880 lose. And that doesn't make any sense. To know 00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:37.179 that he is the ultimate victor and to choose 00:36:37.179 --> 00:36:39.639 to lose, that's ridiculous. It certainly results 00:36:39.639 --> 00:36:42.099 in an identity crisis. And now she's calling 00:36:42.099 --> 00:36:44.739 them... He's calling them, recount the victories 00:36:44.739 --> 00:36:48.820 of God. Serve the greater good. Do what's right. 00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:51.800 Stop hearing from God what you should do and 00:36:51.800 --> 00:36:54.079 then finding other things to do instead. Just 00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:57.840 do what's right. Give of themselves. Remember 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:00.360 how we talked about the volunteers and those 00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:03.059 who came out. That the leaders led in Israel. 00:37:03.119 --> 00:37:05.539 That the people volunteered. That was the standard. 00:37:05.949 --> 00:37:08.829 Serve the greater good. Give of yourselves to 00:37:08.829 --> 00:37:12.050 minimize the suffering of others. And if everyone, 00:37:12.289 --> 00:37:14.469 even those who are suffering, give of themselves 00:37:14.469 --> 00:37:16.710 to minimize the suffering of others, suffering 00:37:16.710 --> 00:37:22.010 will be gone. It will be overcome. Show faith. 00:37:22.230 --> 00:37:25.670 Show courage. Show diligence in the face of adversity. 00:37:26.210 --> 00:37:29.690 And then more as God sees fit as we grow a little 00:37:29.690 --> 00:37:35.579 bit more, a little bit more in the Lord. So the 00:37:35.579 --> 00:37:37.420 three points that I wanted you to see then were 00:37:37.420 --> 00:37:40.539 one, God is getting the glory. Two, the people 00:37:40.539 --> 00:37:43.719 had a real identity crisis. And three, God was 00:37:43.719 --> 00:37:46.500 redefining them as a people who, and I listed 00:37:46.500 --> 00:37:47.900 those things for you. I will list them again 00:37:47.900 --> 00:37:54.239 in a moment. You know what the solution is to 00:37:54.239 --> 00:38:00.059 a real identity crisis? A real identity. The 00:38:00.059 --> 00:38:02.440 solution to a real identity crisis is a real 00:38:02.440 --> 00:38:05.679 identity. And a real identity happens when a 00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:09.079 person makes a bold choice. They look at the 00:38:09.079 --> 00:38:11.960 sum total of who they are. Naturalism says that 00:38:11.960 --> 00:38:14.239 you are nothing more than the product of your 00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:17.500 experiences. That your next decision will be 00:38:17.500 --> 00:38:19.519 the sum total of everything that you've done 00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:21.519 so far in your life and the new impetus, whatever 00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:23.960 it is, the new circumstances that arise. It'll 00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:25.619 be linked to whatever you did before, whatever 00:38:25.619 --> 00:38:27.460 results you got before, etc. And you'll just 00:38:27.460 --> 00:38:29.159 decide. You're not even free. You don't really 00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:35.530 get to choose anything. God says otherwise. God 00:38:35.530 --> 00:38:39.050 says, if you believe, Jesus said to those Jews 00:38:39.050 --> 00:38:41.510 who had believed in him, come follow me, and 00:38:41.510 --> 00:38:43.269 then you shall know the truth, and the truth 00:38:43.269 --> 00:38:48.469 will set you free. You have a real identity crisis? 00:38:49.190 --> 00:38:52.250 What you need is a real identity. That comes 00:38:52.250 --> 00:38:57.869 after a bold action, after a bold step. One place 00:38:57.869 --> 00:38:59.989 that the field of psychology and theology meet 00:38:59.989 --> 00:39:04.730 up is the need for identity. In the Bible, all 00:39:04.730 --> 00:39:07.929 the things can generally speaking be related 00:39:07.929 --> 00:39:10.530 to the new identity in Christ that God wants 00:39:10.530 --> 00:39:13.769 to give you. You can come to Christ and receive 00:39:13.769 --> 00:39:16.250 a new identity. Jesus said, in fact, that you 00:39:16.250 --> 00:39:18.630 shall not see the kingdom of God unless you be 00:39:18.630 --> 00:39:19.869 born again. What does that mean? It means get 00:39:19.869 --> 00:39:23.989 a new identity. In the New Testament, so many 00:39:23.989 --> 00:39:26.530 times the word metanoia, which is the same Greek 00:39:26.530 --> 00:39:29.570 word that psychologists use to talk about getting 00:39:29.570 --> 00:39:33.230 a healing or a rendering of your identity to 00:39:33.230 --> 00:39:36.510 solve these identity crises that we're talking 00:39:36.510 --> 00:39:39.469 about. The systematic review and meta -analysis 00:39:39.469 --> 00:39:43.909 of nearly 13 ,800 individuals aged 10 to 29 found 00:39:43.909 --> 00:39:47.510 strong links between identity confusion and symptoms 00:39:47.510 --> 00:39:49.469 of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. 00:39:49.889 --> 00:39:52.610 Another study identified that identity confusion 00:39:52.610 --> 00:39:56.130 and uncertainty during adolescence are consistently 00:39:56.130 --> 00:39:58.940 associated with lower Psychosocial adjustment 00:39:58.940 --> 00:40:01.420 including increased anxiety, loneliness, aggression, 00:40:01.619 --> 00:40:03.320 delinquency, substance abuse, and depressive 00:40:03.320 --> 00:40:06.880 symptoms. Research around identity distress using 00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:09.480 tools like the identity distress scale shows 00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:12.260 that distress about long -term goals, career 00:40:12.260 --> 00:40:14.820 choices, friendships correlates with higher likelihood 00:40:14.820 --> 00:40:17.239 of anxiety, depression, and even mental health 00:40:17.239 --> 00:40:20.460 treatment. International students and cultural 00:40:20.460 --> 00:40:25.469 identity gaps. A study of 171 international students 00:40:25.469 --> 00:40:27.650 found that a mismatch between how students see 00:40:27.650 --> 00:40:30.670 themselves and how they express themselves existed 00:40:30.670 --> 00:40:34.989 and is linked to greater depression, especially 00:40:34.989 --> 00:40:40.730 when combined with a culture rate of stress. 00:40:40.969 --> 00:40:45.730 That's stress out of your culture. Adulthood 00:40:45.730 --> 00:40:48.449 and major life disruptions. Among U .S. veterans 00:40:48.449 --> 00:40:50.969 facing difficulties reintegrating after deployment, 00:40:51.090 --> 00:40:54.869 nearly half, 49%, experienced identity disruption, 00:40:55.070 --> 00:40:58.650 which was tied to more severe PTSD symptoms, 00:40:58.829 --> 00:41:01.989 lower life satisfaction, and reintegration struggles. 00:41:02.429 --> 00:41:05.989 In broader adult contexts, identity disturbance 00:41:05.989 --> 00:41:10.639 marked by an unstable sense of self may be exacerbated 00:41:10.639 --> 00:41:12.980 by anxiety, social media, job stress, blurred 00:41:12.980 --> 00:41:16.059 life boundaries, particularly during the COVID 00:41:16.059 --> 00:41:19.599 -19 era, which is to say from COVID on. Here 00:41:19.599 --> 00:41:23.519 is the reality. We live in a day when everybody 00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:27.320 who is not truly Christian, who is not truly 00:41:27.320 --> 00:41:29.000 following the Lord and receiving a new identity 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:31.659 in Christ, is struggling with an identity crisis. 00:41:32.699 --> 00:41:36.280 You need to realize that the solutions have been 00:41:36.280 --> 00:41:39.289 laid out in Scripture. for that identity crisis. 00:41:40.010 --> 00:41:44.610 You need to allow yourself and to work to help 00:41:44.610 --> 00:41:48.889 others to receive an identity that will last 00:41:48.889 --> 00:41:54.230 for an eternity. Like Joshua said to them before 00:41:54.230 --> 00:41:56.670 they got to this point, choose who you will serve. 00:41:56.869 --> 00:41:59.489 But then he said, you are witnesses against yourselves 00:41:59.489 --> 00:42:02.769 because you choose God, but actually you will 00:42:02.769 --> 00:42:07.190 serve the false gods. I'm going to say it as 00:42:07.190 --> 00:42:10.869 plainly as I possibly can. If you are concerned 00:42:10.869 --> 00:42:16.289 in your life, one day, day by day, week by week, 00:42:16.309 --> 00:42:18.670 listen to me very carefully here. If you are 00:42:18.670 --> 00:42:24.369 concerned about money, you are in danger of an 00:42:24.369 --> 00:42:28.690 identity crisis. If you are concerned about sports, 00:42:29.050 --> 00:42:33.320 you are in danger of an identity crisis. If you 00:42:33.320 --> 00:42:35.960 are concerned about your own personal development, 00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:38.539 I want to grow, I want to get better, I want 00:42:38.539 --> 00:42:40.480 to get a better education, I want to be stronger, 00:42:40.679 --> 00:42:46.059 you are in danger of an identity crisis. If you 00:42:46.059 --> 00:42:48.480 are concerned about what your spouse does in 00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:51.119 their spare time or the way they talk to you, 00:42:51.239 --> 00:42:56.079 you are in danger of an identity crisis. Shall 00:42:56.079 --> 00:43:00.559 I go on? If you are worried... concerned or apprehensive 00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:05.400 about things of this earth that will go away 00:43:05.400 --> 00:43:10.119 when we reach heaven, you are not only in danger 00:43:10.119 --> 00:43:13.659 of an identity crisis, you have an identity crisis 00:43:13.659 --> 00:43:19.900 to which you must respond by, as the song of 00:43:19.900 --> 00:43:23.179 Deborah and Barak tells us, follow God alone 00:43:23.179 --> 00:43:27.130 and trust Him alone. Praise God with your whole 00:43:27.130 --> 00:43:30.489 heart. Unite with God's people. Deny the efforts 00:43:30.489 --> 00:43:34.409 of redefinition by the people around you. Recount 00:43:34.409 --> 00:43:38.349 the victories of God incessantly. Serve the greater 00:43:38.349 --> 00:43:41.190 good. Give of yourselves to minimize the suffering 00:43:41.190 --> 00:43:43.750 of others. Show faith, courage, diligence in 00:43:43.750 --> 00:43:46.150 the face of adversity and anything else that 00:43:46.150 --> 00:43:48.710 God decides to add to you. And hear me now, and 00:43:48.710 --> 00:43:52.650 absolutely nothing else that God has not decided 00:43:52.650 --> 00:43:58.440 to add to you. Our identity is not based on our 00:43:58.440 --> 00:44:00.940 current personal preferences or what we think 00:44:00.940 --> 00:44:05.260 is right. It is not based on your best understanding 00:44:05.260 --> 00:44:08.880 of the present circumstances. Your identity is 00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:13.340 based on what God says you are and that alone. 00:44:13.559 --> 00:44:17.260 When light was lingering just out of sight, God 00:44:17.260 --> 00:44:20.699 said, light be. And light leapt into existence. 00:44:24.010 --> 00:44:27.510 When you are lingering just outside the city 00:44:27.510 --> 00:44:29.809 gates where He wants you. When you're just outside 00:44:29.809 --> 00:44:32.730 sharing the incredible stories of God. When you're 00:44:32.730 --> 00:44:35.369 just outside making God your number one focus. 00:44:35.809 --> 00:44:38.590 And God says to you, come now. Come into the 00:44:38.590 --> 00:44:40.909 light. Come to the gates. Come to the forefront. 00:44:41.170 --> 00:44:45.269 Risk it. Take a bold action. And you refuse. 00:44:47.829 --> 00:44:51.010 You instead embrace the identity crisis. You 00:44:51.010 --> 00:44:55.440 diagnose yourself. and lock in your own failings 00:44:55.440 --> 00:44:58.420 going forward. You say, I'm not good enough. 00:44:58.460 --> 00:45:01.159 I'm not strong enough. I'm not capable. God does 00:45:01.159 --> 00:45:03.559 not care if you're good enough, strong enough, 00:45:03.639 --> 00:45:06.000 or capable enough. He cares whether you will 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:09.820 answer the call. Are you coming or not? When 00:45:09.820 --> 00:45:12.199 Jesus comes and the trump shall sound and He 00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:14.699 has prepared a place for all of us, it will just 00:45:14.699 --> 00:45:17.730 be a question of whether you will come. That's 00:45:17.730 --> 00:45:19.849 it. And in that moment, if you're thinking, but 00:45:19.849 --> 00:45:21.650 there's a date, but there's a schedule, but there's 00:45:21.650 --> 00:45:23.090 a calendar, but there's money to be earned, but 00:45:23.090 --> 00:45:24.849 there's a job to do, but I'm busy, I'm tired, 00:45:24.949 --> 00:45:26.809 I'm exhausted, I'm fatigued. I've got mental 00:45:26.809 --> 00:45:28.670 struggles. So -and -so said to me, I've just 00:45:28.670 --> 00:45:31.150 got to solve this problem first. The Trump only 00:45:31.150 --> 00:45:36.409 sounds once. And he calls once. And if he calls 00:45:36.409 --> 00:45:38.510 once and the Trump sounds once and you don't 00:45:38.510 --> 00:45:40.449 go in that moment because of any of these other 00:45:40.449 --> 00:45:46.550 things, you don't go. After the boldness to accept 00:45:46.550 --> 00:45:49.710 this reality about yourself that Jesus is going 00:45:49.710 --> 00:45:52.530 to redefine you completely from the bottom of 00:45:52.530 --> 00:45:54.070 your feet to the top of your head and everything, 00:45:54.230 --> 00:45:56.050 anytime, anywhere that you can ever possibly 00:45:56.050 --> 00:45:58.590 influence is going to be redefined by the new 00:45:58.590 --> 00:46:00.989 you, by being born again. That's what it means. 00:46:01.429 --> 00:46:05.849 A new identity. And if this new identity is... 00:46:06.139 --> 00:46:08.059 Oh, you know, pieces of the old identity, pieces 00:46:08.059 --> 00:46:09.619 of what so -and -so said you should be like, 00:46:09.659 --> 00:46:11.579 and things that you like, your personal culture. 00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:14.099 My dad always liked cars. My dad always liked 00:46:14.099 --> 00:46:17.280 football. My dad always liked overtime, whatever. 00:46:17.400 --> 00:46:20.719 If that's who you are, that is not a new identity 00:46:20.719 --> 00:46:25.079 in Christ. You have to be ready. To make that 00:46:25.079 --> 00:46:27.460 bold move to choose Jesus above all of that. 00:46:27.500 --> 00:46:28.940 There's got to be a moment in time in which you 00:46:28.940 --> 00:46:31.860 say, everything that I am, everything that I've 00:46:31.860 --> 00:46:33.659 become, however I got here, I don't even know, 00:46:33.780 --> 00:46:36.300 all that I am, I put it on the altar. Jesus, 00:46:36.360 --> 00:46:39.260 make me new. That's what it means to be born 00:46:39.260 --> 00:46:42.559 again. Then, if he chooses to use part of your 00:46:42.559 --> 00:46:44.300 history, if he chooses to use part of your culture, 00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:46.500 if he chooses to use part of your success in 00:46:46.500 --> 00:46:49.400 finances or your success in work or whatever, 00:46:49.559 --> 00:46:52.300 if he chooses to use that, then you, with some 00:46:52.300 --> 00:46:55.340 apprehension, says, For those who stand, take 00:46:55.340 --> 00:46:58.320 heed lest they fall, right? It says work out 00:46:58.320 --> 00:46:59.739 your salvation with fear and trembling. Why? 00:46:59.920 --> 00:47:02.179 Because if you take those things from your old 00:47:02.179 --> 00:47:04.159 life and add them into your new identity and 00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:06.960 God didn't say do so, then you are jeopardizing 00:47:06.960 --> 00:47:10.800 your new identity. So you work out your salvation 00:47:10.800 --> 00:47:13.900 in fear and trembling because here's a new thing. 00:47:14.019 --> 00:47:15.280 I really haven't dealt with this yet. What do 00:47:15.280 --> 00:47:19.019 I do with it? Okay, I focus on God. I follow 00:47:19.019 --> 00:47:21.780 God alone. I praise God with all my heart. I 00:47:21.780 --> 00:47:23.780 unite with God's people. I deny the efforts of 00:47:23.780 --> 00:47:25.940 redefinition by the people around me. I recount 00:47:25.940 --> 00:47:27.820 the victories of God. Oh, by the time I got there, 00:47:27.880 --> 00:47:30.900 this thing doesn't even belong. I throw it away. 00:47:31.539 --> 00:47:33.159 I don't sell it to somebody else because it probably 00:47:33.159 --> 00:47:35.579 doesn't belong for them either. I throw it away. 00:47:36.119 --> 00:47:38.840 It's gone. I drop it. I let go. I drop all things 00:47:38.840 --> 00:47:41.900 that would hinder me as I run the race for Christ. 00:47:42.829 --> 00:47:45.409 And you'll run into new things. And every time 00:47:45.409 --> 00:47:46.610 you run into a new thing, you've got to make 00:47:46.610 --> 00:47:48.929 a choice. Is it part of my new identity or not? 00:47:48.969 --> 00:47:52.130 Everything you eat, everything you do from now 00:47:52.130 --> 00:47:54.349 on, every intentional choice you make becomes 00:47:54.349 --> 00:47:56.610 part of your identity. Remember naturalism? You're 00:47:56.610 --> 00:47:58.070 only making the decisions based on everything 00:47:58.070 --> 00:47:59.269 you've experienced at this point. You really 00:47:59.269 --> 00:48:01.889 aren't free. Now you're free in Christ. To add 00:48:01.889 --> 00:48:05.010 it or not, to use it as an impetus to subtract 00:48:05.010 --> 00:48:07.250 something or not, you have to make those decisions 00:48:07.250 --> 00:48:12.900 as you go forward in Jesus. In the Bible, In 00:48:12.900 --> 00:48:14.539 the New Testament in particular, Jesus' message 00:48:14.539 --> 00:48:16.219 was essentially repent for the kingdom of hand 00:48:16.219 --> 00:48:18.900 is near. That's how he started. The kingdom of 00:48:18.900 --> 00:48:21.960 God is at hand. Repent. Repent. What is the word 00:48:21.960 --> 00:48:24.159 for repent? It's metanoia. Again, it's the same 00:48:24.159 --> 00:48:27.619 Greek word that psychologists use when they talk 00:48:27.619 --> 00:48:31.460 about getting a new outlook on life. Thinking 00:48:31.460 --> 00:48:36.360 differently now. Deciding about things differently 00:48:36.360 --> 00:48:39.340 now. That's what it means to be born again. Metanoia. 00:48:39.360 --> 00:48:42.230 56 times in the New Testament. 22 of those times 00:48:42.230 --> 00:48:44.269 in your Bible you'll find it translated as repent. 00:48:44.610 --> 00:48:48.010 It is not simply repent and turn away from sins, 00:48:48.369 --> 00:48:52.610 but repent and turn to God. And when you repent 00:48:52.610 --> 00:48:54.769 and turn to God, the Bible says God shows up, 00:48:54.789 --> 00:48:58.170 He makes you new. And then in being new, repentance 00:48:58.170 --> 00:49:00.750 becomes a thing. Every time something else new 00:49:00.750 --> 00:49:02.650 comes and tries to redefine me, every time something 00:49:02.650 --> 00:49:04.929 else comes and tries to pollute my identity, 00:49:05.150 --> 00:49:08.010 rather than allowing an identity crisis, I choose 00:49:08.010 --> 00:49:11.599 Jesus again. I look to God again. Not just to 00:49:11.599 --> 00:49:14.539 look to God, but to bless Him. To talk about 00:49:14.539 --> 00:49:19.039 Him. To recount His deeds. To praise Him. To 00:49:19.039 --> 00:49:22.280 sing. If you can't talk about God, get yourself 00:49:22.280 --> 00:49:24.500 a praise song and don't open your mouth unless 00:49:24.500 --> 00:49:26.760 that's what's coming out. Either talking about 00:49:26.760 --> 00:49:30.780 God or that praise song. Get yourself a Bible 00:49:30.780 --> 00:49:33.019 verse and every time you're talking, relate that 00:49:33.019 --> 00:49:34.400 Bible verse to everything you're talking about. 00:49:35.380 --> 00:49:39.820 That will bring to an end. your identity crisis 00:49:39.820 --> 00:49:43.880 because you'll be mounting an offense out of 00:49:43.880 --> 00:49:46.099 who you now are. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 00:49:46.099 --> 00:49:50.239 5, 17, that all old things have passed away and 00:49:50.239 --> 00:49:52.280 everything has become made new. And whatever 00:49:52.280 --> 00:49:54.480 is not made new to fit into your new identity 00:49:54.480 --> 00:49:57.639 has passed away. It is by definition old. It's 00:49:57.639 --> 00:50:02.559 gone. Let it go. Romans 12, 1 and 2 talks about 00:50:02.559 --> 00:50:04.900 the ongoing renewing of our mind. I get that. 00:50:05.719 --> 00:50:07.760 submitting ourselves to God, which is our spiritual 00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:11.260 act of worship. And I submit to you that Deborah 00:50:11.260 --> 00:50:14.199 and Barak had no idea of those phrases or the 00:50:14.199 --> 00:50:16.019 words that would be used that Paul would write 00:50:16.019 --> 00:50:19.300 to the Romans many years later. But if Paul did 00:50:19.300 --> 00:50:21.900 know what Deborah and Barak had said, he knew 00:50:21.900 --> 00:50:23.880 that we were to follow God alone and trust and 00:50:23.880 --> 00:50:26.440 praise God with our whole heart, unite to be 00:50:26.440 --> 00:50:28.639 God's people, deny the efforts of redefinition 00:50:28.639 --> 00:50:30.460 by the people around us. That's what it means 00:50:30.460 --> 00:50:32.400 when it says, do not be conformed to the ways 00:50:32.400 --> 00:50:34.340 of the world. We were to recount the victories 00:50:34.340 --> 00:50:36.900 of God. When you're sitting alone in the dark 00:50:36.900 --> 00:50:39.699 despair of a difficult moment, recount the victories 00:50:39.699 --> 00:50:42.460 of God and let who you are be informed by that 00:50:42.460 --> 00:50:44.320 rather than by your own impressions of what you're 00:50:44.320 --> 00:50:49.480 going through. Serve the greater good. And we 00:50:49.480 --> 00:50:53.320 can hear him saying, don't walk away. James writes, 00:50:53.400 --> 00:50:54.820 I believe, don't walk away from that mirror, 00:50:54.940 --> 00:50:57.599 but rather be found as a doer, not just a hearer 00:50:57.599 --> 00:51:00.019 of the word. Serve the greater good. Give of 00:51:00.019 --> 00:51:02.619 themselves. to minimize the suffering of others, 00:51:02.679 --> 00:51:05.199 show faith, Paul says, overcome evil with good, 00:51:05.280 --> 00:51:07.440 show faith, courage, diligence in the face of 00:51:07.440 --> 00:51:10.239 adversity, and more, but only as he sees fit. 00:51:10.440 --> 00:51:13.039 Too many supposed Christians forget that Jesus 00:51:13.039 --> 00:51:17.260 used the term metanoia. It's the same term that 00:51:17.260 --> 00:51:19.139 psychologists use to refer to coming to think 00:51:19.139 --> 00:51:21.760 about everything in your life differently than 00:51:21.760 --> 00:51:24.420 you do. And this is when they teach metanoia. 00:51:24.420 --> 00:51:25.619 If you go to a psychologist, this is when they'll 00:51:25.619 --> 00:51:29.400 teach it. When your life is crushed. When you've 00:51:29.400 --> 00:51:32.099 got almost nothing left. When your identity is 00:51:32.099 --> 00:51:34.239 broken and you can't figure out who you are, 00:51:34.360 --> 00:51:37.739 they'll say, what you need is a metanoia. You 00:51:37.739 --> 00:51:41.019 need a metanoia. You need a new way, a new reality, 00:51:41.199 --> 00:51:43.639 right? You need a new way of perceiving everything 00:51:43.639 --> 00:51:45.280 and thinking about everything. And Christianity 00:51:45.280 --> 00:51:47.460 is that. And without that, there's no Christianity. 00:51:48.260 --> 00:51:51.719 A new way of thinking about everything. Metanoia. 00:51:52.460 --> 00:51:55.179 And only a person who receives a metanoia and 00:51:55.179 --> 00:51:57.760 adjusts to the new normal will ever be healthy 00:51:57.760 --> 00:52:01.099 ever again. Everyone else will always be stuck 00:52:01.099 --> 00:52:03.159 in whatever happened in their past. You've had 00:52:03.159 --> 00:52:04.539 a tragic event. You can think about it right 00:52:04.539 --> 00:52:06.059 now. It'll probably flash in your mind. You'll 00:52:06.059 --> 00:52:08.039 probably see it as if it were happening again 00:52:08.039 --> 00:52:10.179 right now. You can be stuck in that event or 00:52:10.179 --> 00:52:12.099 you can live with a new way of looking at life 00:52:12.099 --> 00:52:16.119 that says that God alone will define me. Jesus 00:52:16.119 --> 00:52:19.000 simply said, Metanoia, for the kingdom is at 00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:26.039 hand. If you are standing at the door to the 00:52:26.039 --> 00:52:28.769 kingdom of God, please understand that it includes 00:52:28.769 --> 00:52:32.170 methanoia. It may take time, but your entire 00:52:32.170 --> 00:52:34.809 way of thinking about things, your whole identity 00:52:34.809 --> 00:52:37.469 must be rewritten, centered around not who you 00:52:37.469 --> 00:52:40.289 used to be or even who you are now, but who He 00:52:40.289 --> 00:52:44.489 is. And that's what it means to be born again. 00:52:45.829 --> 00:52:48.449 If you have had an experience with the Lord Jesus 00:52:48.449 --> 00:52:50.409 Christ, if you've come to Christ for salvation, 00:52:50.590 --> 00:52:53.389 if you felt the ground shaking, the pits of your 00:52:53.389 --> 00:52:55.929 gut filled with His Holy Spirit, knowing that 00:52:55.929 --> 00:52:58.340 you were approaching the living God, fearful 00:52:58.340 --> 00:53:00.420 that he wouldn't accept you, and you've been 00:53:00.420 --> 00:53:02.840 accepted. If you've come to Christ for salvation 00:53:02.840 --> 00:53:05.059 and for lordship, then it's time you realized 00:53:05.059 --> 00:53:08.179 the highest priorities of your life are following 00:53:08.179 --> 00:53:10.559 God and trusting him alone, praising God with 00:53:10.559 --> 00:53:13.679 your whole heart, united to be God's people, 00:53:13.760 --> 00:53:15.940 denying the efforts of redefinition by the peoples 00:53:15.940 --> 00:53:17.820 around you, recounting the victories of God, 00:53:17.900 --> 00:53:20.099 serving the greater good, giving of yourself 00:53:20.099 --> 00:53:22.440 to minimize the suffering of others, show faith, 00:53:22.579 --> 00:53:24.219 courage, diligence in the face of adversity, 00:53:24.340 --> 00:53:28.659 and more. as he sees fit. If you make that bold 00:53:28.659 --> 00:53:31.460 choice to be born again, your born again nature 00:53:31.460 --> 00:53:35.980 will include those things. And out of that boldness, 00:53:36.199 --> 00:53:41.000 God will get the praise. You will praise him. 00:53:41.980 --> 00:53:45.480 Others will come to praise him. God's people 00:53:45.480 --> 00:53:48.440 will move into the light. God's people will be 00:53:48.440 --> 00:53:51.000 the people doing the business. They will be the 00:53:51.000 --> 00:53:55.739 ones looked to. They'll try to celebrate us for 00:53:55.739 --> 00:53:59.340 our deeds and we will not allow it. We will redirect 00:53:59.340 --> 00:54:03.239 all the praise that we receive to the God of 00:54:03.239 --> 00:54:07.400 heaven. We will use our platforms to recount 00:54:07.400 --> 00:54:12.780 his mighty deeds. If indeed you have been born 00:54:12.780 --> 00:54:18.260 again. At this point in time, I cannot even say 00:54:18.260 --> 00:54:20.679 to you as Joshua did, if this is too difficult, 00:54:20.880 --> 00:54:24.309 if this is too challenging, Then serve whomever 00:54:24.309 --> 00:54:26.550 you will. I can't say that to you. Because it's 00:54:26.550 --> 00:54:29.070 akin to telling you to go to hell. And I won't 00:54:29.070 --> 00:54:33.690 do that. I will rather say. Choose the God of 00:54:33.690 --> 00:54:38.150 heaven. Choose Jesus Christ his son. Await his 00:54:38.150 --> 00:54:42.510 next coming. Be found faithful. Literally divorce 00:54:42.510 --> 00:54:46.730 yourself. Die. Die to your old self. Let all 00:54:46.730 --> 00:54:51.690 those things be gone. Let them all be old. And 00:54:51.690 --> 00:54:54.989 in yourself. in your new self, that all your 00:54:54.989 --> 00:54:58.670 days, day in, day out, decision by decision by 00:54:58.670 --> 00:55:03.010 decision, be without fear, anxiety, depression, 00:55:03.190 --> 00:55:06.929 or struggle. Because you, among a world full 00:55:06.929 --> 00:55:08.949 of people who have an identity crisis, have no 00:55:08.949 --> 00:55:13.170 identity crisis. Because you have a new identity.