WEBVTT

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On the way to Salome When shepherds call and

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angels sing Did you know that your baby boy would

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someday walk on water? Mary, did you know that

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your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

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Did you know that your baby... And the strong

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will make you new. This child that you delivered

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will soon deliver you. Oh Mary, did you know?

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For something to be unattainable means that it

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is out of reach or impossible to achieve. And

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coordination means when two things work together

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well, usually to achieve a greater result than

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they could have separately, but not necessarily

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always the case. Before we begin the sermon today,

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we're going to do a little bit of homework for

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a second. I'm going to catch you up to a couple

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of things. So the first one is the name Jesus,

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the word Jesus. Most people don't realize that

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the word Jesus... has a meaning built into it.

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And it means essentially Yahweh, that is the

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creator God of the universe, saves. So in the

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Greek, it is Iesus. There is no J sound in the

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Greek language. And so when it came over to the

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English, it got the J sound and it was developed

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later. And so we get the word Jesus and we say

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Jesus. It's Iesus in the Greek and it means Yahweh

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saves. Emmanuel, which he would also be called

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Emmanuel, comes originally from the Hebrew, and

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it's Iman El. And they didn't have a lot of vowels

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or any vowels, really, or punctuation in the

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Hebrew. And it means God with us. And so Jesus

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would be both God with us and also Yahweh saves.

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So now you've got that in your, if you didn't

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already have it, you have it in your retinue

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of knowledge. I have two more. I'm not done yet.

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So this... This passage of Scripture we're going

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to look at is taking place at the time of Jesus'

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birth, but I want you to understand a little

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bit of the mindset of the people who lived in

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that time. The Jewish people were looking for

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a Messiah, one who would be sent by God. They

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had lots of prophecies. In fact, they were always

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searching the Old Testament, looking for prophecies

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about the coming Messiah in hopes that they would

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figure it out, right? Just kind of like people

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are doing now. You know there's a lot of people

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out there who are real concerned about the end

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times. You know, like, oh, this could be a sign,

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that could be a sign, this is happening, that's

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happening. You know, the Bible says there'll

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be earthquakes. Oh, there's earthquakes. You

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know, the Bible says there'll be wars. Oh, there's

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wars, right? And rumors of wars. Oh, there's

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rumors of wars. And people are like, oh, Jesus

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must be coming again soon. I submit to you that

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probably people have been doing that in like

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every generation, looking for signs of Jesus'

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next coming. Well, they were doing the same thing.

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They were looking for signs of the first coming

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of the Messiah. And they had lots of references.

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They probably, in the day in question, the story

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that we're looking at today, they had located

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easily over 200. getting close to 300 prophecies

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in the Old Testament about the coming of Jesus.

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And so Jewish men would have known many of these

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prophecies, but I want you to understand that

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they were a long time before. The main prophecies

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about Jesus being called a certain thing, born

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of a virgin, for example, 740 to about 700 BC.

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So about 700 years before the birth of Jesus

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to 740 years before the birth of Jesus, it was

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prophesied that he would be born of a virgin.

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And then the characteristics of the Messiah were

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also in that same, that he would live a sinless

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life, that he wouldn't kill anyone, how he would

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die even, where certain things would happen,

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all were in that same realm coming out of Isaiah

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chapter 7 and chapter 9. And then about 700 to

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800 years before, Micah prophesied, and he prophesied

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that... Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. And

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so when they look up, remember that story in

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the Christmas story, when they look up, where

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will he be born? And they look up and they get

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Bethlehem. They're looking at the prophet Micah

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and places like that. But again, that prophecy

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was 700 to 800 years old. Hosea prophesied the

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part of it, like where Jesus would be brought

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after he flees because of the Magi warned them

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that King Herod is seeking to kill him. And they

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flee and they go to Egypt and they come back

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out of Egypt and they go back to Galilee. Well,

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that was prophesied 750 years earlier by the

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prophet Hosea. And then Daniel was more recent,

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538 years before. Daniel gave, he said days,

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but they're symbolic of years. And he gave a

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pretty good idea in years when Jesus would be

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born. But he did that 538 years before. And then

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Malachi prophesied 400 years before, but his

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prophecies were all about the guy who would come

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before Jesus, the forerunner of Jesus, which

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we know now, looking back at it, was John the

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Baptist. So the most recent prophecies they had

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about the birth of Jesus were 400 years before,

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at least those that made it into Scripture. Now

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we know there were a couple of prophets that

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lived in their day right then. There hadn't been

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for 400 years, but the prophets who lived in

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the temple were talking about the coming of Jesus.

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Simeon and Anna, but they weren't broad scope.

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The ordinary man would not have known about that,

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only somebody who was in the temple. So nobody

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had any prophecies of the coming of Jesus for

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400 years. And that was really about John the

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Baptist. Then 530 years, and that was hard to

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interpret because it was about from the rebuilding

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of Jerusalem to when the Messiah would be born,

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and they were looking at it symbolically. So

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700 years. That matters because of the story

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that we're going to look at. One more. It's the

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parable of the four soils. So I'm not going to

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dig into it deeply, but you need to know the

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basic premise of it. Jesus gave a parable. He

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said that there was a farmer who went out to

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lay seed, and the seed fell along the way to

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lay the seed. He dropped some. Some of it landed

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on the path and was snatched away by the enemy

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before it could take root. Some of it landed

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on the thin soil next to the path and took root

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right away. and began to grow, but since it didn't

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have any good roots, as soon as the sun came

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out, it was baked and destroyed. Some of it landed

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amongst the thorns, good soil, basically, but

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thorns were growing there, and so it grew up

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and then was choked out by the thorns, and some

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of it landed on good soil and produced a hundredfold.

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Then Jesus, this is one of the few parables that

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Jesus went and he explained exactly what he was

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talking about. So on the path, that means you're

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in proximity, you get the teaching, but it's

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taken from you before anything good comes of

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it. So the enemy steals it, temptation, sin,

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the world system never really takes, never begins

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to grow. Probably that person didn't get saved.

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They were in proximity to the gospel and the

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word, but they didn't get saved. But those who

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were in the thin soil, they got saved, they get

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excited, and they want to get right after it,

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right? They're going to do everything that God

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wants them to do. They're born again, maybe.

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They feel like they are, and they want to do

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everything that God wants them to do. But then

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as soon as the sun comes out, difficulty arises,

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boom, they're gone. No root. They don't stand

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their ground and keep doing what they're supposed

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to be doing. The ones that are amongst the thorns,

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he said, that's the cares and the riches of this

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world. So there are things in this world that

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will take from you whatever you planned to do

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from God if you just take their eyes off. Like

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when Peter got out of the boat and started walking

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on the water, looking at Jesus, he's literally

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standing on the water, but as soon as he took

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his eyes off Jesus and started looking at the

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storm, down he went. And these are the cares

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and the riches of this world, Jesus says in the

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parable of the four soils. Then the last one

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is the good soil on which the seed will take

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root and produce a hundredfold. So why am I bringing

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up this parable if this is not our text for the

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day? For two reasons. So the first one is this.

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Jesus said, if you cannot understand this parable,

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how will you understand anything that I have

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taught to you? That's why he explained it just

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as I have briefly explained it to you today.

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But also because... That parable is a very good

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picture of the Christian life as we face. So

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we face persecution, that's the sun came out,

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difficulty, whatever, tribulation arises, and

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we don't have a good root, and we die off and

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don't do the things that we intended to do for

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God. Or we come up amongst carers and riches,

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and we start thinking, oh, I've got this, I've

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got to deal with my job, my relationships, my

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health, my struggles, my whatever, and we get

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focused on those things and don't do the things

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for God that we intended. And what we're going

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to be talking about in the text today, then,

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is the unattainable coordination between us and

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God's efforts. How hard it is, and I submit to

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you, unattainable means impossible. It is for

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us to actually be in line with what God is actually

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doing. We're going to see a motivation to do

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that and a desire to do that, where it comes

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from, and then maybe why a little bit, why it's

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so difficult. But the parable of four soils already

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speaks to it. And Jesus said, if you can't understand

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that parable, how do you understand anything

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that I've taught you? Okay? All right. So now

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we've done all our homework. That was a lot.

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I hope you drunk in some of it because you're

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going to need it as we look at the text. And

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then give me a little holler, a little louder

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than normal because I can only hear you a little

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bit out of this ear as we go to Matthew chapter

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1. Thank you. I heard you. That's good. Keep

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that up when I can hear because then I'll hear

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it even better. Okay. Matthew chapter 1. It's

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verse 18. It is a story that we are not altogether

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unfamiliar with. You know that last week we looked

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at the story of Mary and her visit from the angel.

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And now there's another player here. There is

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a human dad to Jesus who has to adjust to the

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concept that Mary is having a virgin birth. And

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this is that scene. But we are going to drill

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down on a couple of key points that maybe a lot

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of people glance over, I think, in reading this

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text. So here we go. Matthew 1, 18 says, now

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the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. You

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now know Jesus, Yahweh saves Christ, Messiah,

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the anointed one, was as follows. This is how

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it went down. When his mother Mary had been betrothed

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to Joseph before they came together, she was

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found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. So

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right away, you can imagine Joseph's mindset.

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We've talked a little bit about this before.

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My wife to be is pregnant. That's a real problem.

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But also notice in there, it's already an assumed

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fact, a child of the Holy Spirit. Notice that

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she's not supposed to be pregnant. That is the

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problem, right? But God has made her pregnant.

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So she's not supposed to be pregnant, but God

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has made her pregnant. Keep that in mind as an

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out -of -time thing. It's a thing that doesn't

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look timely. Verse 19, and Joseph, her husband,

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noticed that even though they were just betrothed,

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they were already considered husband and wife.

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By the way, until roughly the 1960s in America,

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until about the 1960s in America, if you ask

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a woman to marry you and then broke off the engagement,

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you had to pay alimony until she was married.

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It is a relatively new adjustment in United States

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society that you could propose to somebody and

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then later decide not to get married. And you

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can imagine the reasons why that was so. Right?

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And so from the moment a man would say, will

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you marry me? And she says yes. From that moment

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on, they were basically considered legally married.

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Even in the U .S. and across the world, it's

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still true. Right? A lot of places in the world,

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there's still arranged marriages. So if the parents

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are involved, it doesn't mean anything. No matter

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what. Will you marry me? Yes, I will. Go ask

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his dad. No. Or her dad. No. You can't marry

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her. Then it's over. It doesn't mean anything.

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Right? But. The point is, it used to be, and

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then they did away with it. They also did away

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with common law marriage. If people lived together

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for a long time, they were considered married.

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That also has gone away. So Joseph, her husband,

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really they were betrothed. They've not had an

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actual wedding ceremony, but they were considered

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married. Being a righteous man. Okay, so I want

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you to see something right here before we go

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any further. The Bible says, inspired by the

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word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says

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he was a righteous man. That means that we can

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safely assume. that the choice that he's making

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is a right choice. You understand? He's not sinning

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against God. He's a righteous man. He desired

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to do what was right. Does he get everything

00:14:21.460 --> 00:14:23.659
right all the time? Probably not. But we can

00:14:23.659 --> 00:14:25.460
safely assume that anything he gives serious

00:14:25.460 --> 00:14:27.179
thought to and then makes a choice, he's making

00:14:27.179 --> 00:14:29.580
the right choice. And he's about to make a choice

00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:32.100
in this text, or he's already made one, and we're

00:14:32.100 --> 00:14:34.120
going to get the account of it. It says, being

00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:37.580
a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her,

00:14:37.740 --> 00:14:41.389
planned to send her away secretly. So she's been

00:14:41.389 --> 00:14:42.990
found with child when she shouldn't have been,

00:14:42.990 --> 00:14:46.690
an untimely pregnancy. And instead of sending

00:14:46.690 --> 00:14:49.289
her out in the street to be stoned, he's going

00:14:49.289 --> 00:14:51.509
to put her away secretly. And we know that he's

00:14:51.509 --> 00:14:54.289
a righteous man. So in righteousness, and this

00:14:54.289 --> 00:14:55.990
could be a sermon all by itself, it's not here,

00:14:56.070 --> 00:14:59.429
but in righteousness, there is grace. If you're

00:14:59.429 --> 00:15:01.850
a righteous man or woman, you need to understand

00:15:01.850 --> 00:15:04.169
that when somebody screws up, it's not your job

00:15:04.169 --> 00:15:06.370
to hammer them down, to put them in their place.

00:15:06.629 --> 00:15:11.279
That's not your job. So it is right. to forgive.

00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:14.120
It is right to practice grace, mercy, and so

00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:16.460
on. And he's a righteous man, and he doesn't

00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:18.419
want to disgrace her. He doesn't want to publicly

00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:22.259
see her ruined, right? Stoned. It probably would

00:15:22.259 --> 00:15:24.019
be stoned, but she might not get stoned. But

00:15:24.019 --> 00:15:25.600
even if she didn't get stoned, she'd be ruined.

00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:28.419
She'd never be able to marry, right? And he doesn't

00:15:28.419 --> 00:15:30.539
want that to be the case, so he plans to put

00:15:30.539 --> 00:15:33.259
her away secretly. And then, you know, the details

00:15:33.259 --> 00:15:34.519
are going to have to be worked out, because she

00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:36.080
is going to have a child. What do we do now?

00:15:36.340 --> 00:15:38.259
You know, and she's going to be a single mother,

00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:40.940
that kind of thing. So basically, he wants to

00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:45.779
set her right gracefully. He wants to do for

00:15:45.779 --> 00:15:48.759
her what is graceful. Now verse 20. But when

00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:51.240
he had considered this, now that word there that

00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:53.580
is interpreted in the English considered means

00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:56.740
he gave it long thought. He put some serious

00:15:56.740 --> 00:15:59.399
mental power behind figuring out what to do with

00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:03.419
this. And so we really can reason that he was

00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:05.559
making the right choice under the circumstances,

00:16:05.740 --> 00:16:09.179
except... He is denied valuable need -to -know

00:16:09.179 --> 00:16:12.480
information at this point. Mary has told him

00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:14.799
that the child is conceived of the Holy Spirit,

00:16:14.899 --> 00:16:17.799
and we see in the previous verse, right, found

00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:19.259
to be a child of the Holy Spirit. So we have

00:16:19.259 --> 00:16:21.639
a reason to believe that, but Joseph doesn't

00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:23.779
really have a reason to believe that. Remember,

00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:29.019
it's been 700 years. since the prophecy was written.

00:16:29.059 --> 00:16:31.360
And he probably is aware of it, but it is a prophecy

00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.379
amongst over 200 other prophecies about Jesus.

00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:36.639
So he may not be aware of it. He may be aware

00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:38.720
of it. Either way, it's not like he's not going,

00:16:38.820 --> 00:16:41.639
well, she's for sure telling the truth. There

00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:43.860
were lots of other women probably over the time

00:16:43.860 --> 00:16:45.639
that had been found pregnant when they shouldn't

00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:47.500
have been. And then it was kind of like, oh,

00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:49.799
how did this happen? It all found out that they

00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:53.519
did the wrong thing. They got pregnant by doing

00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:57.320
the wrong thing. And so he's denied at this point

00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:01.360
confirmation so far. But he's thought hard about

00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:05.900
it and decided that he should put her away secretly.

00:17:06.099 --> 00:17:09.339
He should be graceful toward her. But now it

00:17:09.339 --> 00:17:13.220
says, Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to

00:17:13.220 --> 00:17:17.460
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David,

00:17:17.660 --> 00:17:20.380
do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for

00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:23.390
the child who has been conceived in her. is,

00:17:23.410 --> 00:17:26.210
and I submit to you that that is could be all

00:17:26.210 --> 00:17:29.190
caps, right? Capital I, capital S. Is of the

00:17:29.190 --> 00:17:32.029
Holy Spirit. The truth that he had already heard

00:17:32.029 --> 00:17:36.170
is now confirmed by the angel in a dream. Now,

00:17:36.190 --> 00:17:38.250
it is in a dream. It's not in person like it

00:17:38.250 --> 00:17:40.670
was for her. But nonetheless, in a dream, the

00:17:40.670 --> 00:17:43.430
angel confirms for him that the child is of the

00:17:43.430 --> 00:17:50.990
Holy Spirit. Verse 21. She will bear a son. And

00:17:50.990 --> 00:17:55.430
you, and the you there is Joseph and Mary, shall

00:17:55.430 --> 00:18:00.269
call his name Jesus, for he will save his people.

00:18:00.670 --> 00:18:03.490
So now I submit to you that Joseph is being asked

00:18:03.490 --> 00:18:05.789
to extend himself. He was already going to extend

00:18:05.789 --> 00:18:08.910
himself. Now he's being asked to do even more.

00:18:09.069 --> 00:18:12.670
Not only is he not going to disgrace her, but

00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:15.829
now he's being asked to take her as his wife.

00:18:15.890 --> 00:18:18.349
He's being told, it's okay, take her as your

00:18:18.349 --> 00:18:20.960
wife. It's true. Not only that, but you're going

00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.799
to be part and parcel with raising this child

00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:27.779
who will save his people from their sins. Notice

00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:31.680
the name is given to the father, to the human

00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:34.599
dad. The name is now given. That pretty much

00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:39.119
settles it. Okay. Verse 22. Now all this took

00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:42.680
place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord

00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:47.059
through the prophet, which you now know. It was

00:18:47.059 --> 00:18:52.339
over 700 years before. Verse 23. Behold, the

00:18:52.339 --> 00:18:56.099
virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son

00:18:56.099 --> 00:19:00.880
and they shall call his name Emmanuel. And that

00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:06.140
was from Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. That name

00:19:06.140 --> 00:19:10.039
Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.

00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:13.700
That's the end of verse 23. Verse 24 says, Joseph

00:19:13.700 --> 00:19:17.099
awoke from his sleep and Did, and boy, there's

00:19:17.099 --> 00:19:19.880
a big word, and that big word should apply to

00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:22.240
us any time we know what God has already told

00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:25.980
us to do. Did is the right word. Not maybe I

00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:28.539
will, or I'm working on it, or I'm building up

00:19:28.539 --> 00:19:31.640
to it, but I did it. Past tense, ideally. If

00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:34.240
you know what God told you yesterday, what you

00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:36.839
should do, it either better be already going

00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.539
on, or it should already be done. Because he

00:19:39.539 --> 00:19:41.099
told you yesterday, or otherwise you're in sin.

00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:43.859
So he did as the angel of the Lord commanded

00:19:43.859 --> 00:19:48.740
him. He took Mary as his wife. Notice verse 25.

00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:53.059
It says, but kept her a virgin until she gave

00:19:53.059 --> 00:19:58.059
birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

00:19:59.380 --> 00:20:02.160
Okay, so there's a few things in here. It's a

00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:05.339
different angle on a text that we are somewhat

00:20:05.339 --> 00:20:07.579
maybe familiar with. The first thing I want you

00:20:07.579 --> 00:20:10.680
to see in there is that we have what would be

00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:13.880
considered out of time or what seems untimely.

00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:17.599
And in her case, it is a pregnancy prior to marriage.

00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:21.460
That is untimely. It doesn't seem like it's scheduled

00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:24.700
in the proper way. And the truth is, if God wanted

00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:27.680
to preserve her as a righteous woman before all

00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:30.279
Israel, that she would not be found with child

00:20:30.279 --> 00:20:32.359
before being married, he could have done that.

00:20:33.859 --> 00:20:36.240
It wouldn't have fulfilled the prophecy. It wouldn't

00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.460
have been the sign for everybody that it was

00:20:38.460 --> 00:20:40.579
going to be, but he could have done it. He could

00:20:40.579 --> 00:20:45.680
have had the Messiah be born to Israel. a righteous

00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:49.319
woman already married to a righteous man. So

00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:52.859
this seems untimely. I want you to understand

00:20:52.859 --> 00:20:57.579
that sometimes when God is doing something, reason

00:20:57.579 --> 00:21:03.079
fails and it just does not seem right. This week,

00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:05.380
as you might have heard, I mentioned a little

00:21:05.380 --> 00:21:08.160
bit earlier, I stepped into the tailgate of my

00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:11.660
van. and I busted my ear pretty good, ripped

00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:13.759
it, didn't tear it, I mean, didn't cut it, I

00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:16.099
ripped it. And so when I ripped it, I thought,

00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:17.759
oh, that probably means stitches. So I go to

00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:19.220
the urgent care, and he says, yeah, you need

00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:21.660
stitches, but it's in a place I can't do them.

00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:22.900
You'd have to go to the hospital and have a surgeon

00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:26.000
do it. Or I can glue it and put a stair strip

00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:27.940
on it, and you might get a little scar, but it

00:21:27.940 --> 00:21:29.720
should heal fine. It'll just take a little longer.

00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:31.720
And I didn't want to go to the ER and go to a

00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:33.119
surgeon and blah, blah, blah. I saw too much

00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:35.039
work and extra money and stuff, and so that's

00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:38.930
what we did. While I was there, I said, would

00:21:38.930 --> 00:21:40.650
you take a look at my ear infection? Because

00:21:40.650 --> 00:21:42.329
it really doesn't seem to be getting better.

00:21:42.410 --> 00:21:43.910
I've been off antibiotics for three days. And

00:21:43.910 --> 00:21:46.190
he said, well, I don't know how long he looked

00:21:46.190 --> 00:21:48.029
at it. He said, I don't know how bad it was when

00:21:48.029 --> 00:21:49.650
it started, but I can tell you right now, it

00:21:49.650 --> 00:21:52.250
ain't healed. It's the same as it was, or it's

00:21:52.250 --> 00:21:54.769
bad. It's a bad ear infection. So he says, well,

00:21:54.789 --> 00:21:56.130
I'm going to give you a broad spectrum of antibiotics.

00:21:56.329 --> 00:21:58.369
So I got double bang for my buck, right? I paid

00:21:58.369 --> 00:22:00.569
one trip to urgent care, and I got glued on this

00:22:00.569 --> 00:22:04.750
side and antibiotics for this side. Had I not

00:22:04.750 --> 00:22:10.539
stepped into the tailgate, it well could be that

00:22:10.539 --> 00:22:12.500
the antibiotic would go on and it may still yet,

00:22:12.619 --> 00:22:14.640
right? So once when I, about 25 years ago, I

00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.619
had an ear infection that went on for almost

00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:18.940
nine months and that's when I lost 25 % of my

00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:22.059
hearing. And so it can happen. The point is,

00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:25.019
stepping into the tailgate, that is an untimely

00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:27.299
event. Getting the broad spectrum antibiotics

00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:30.940
looks like could be what God intended all along.

00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:33.680
It hurt when I hit the tailgate. It hurt a little

00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:35.650
bit last night while I was sleeping. But the

00:22:35.650 --> 00:22:37.789
bottom line is sometimes the events that God

00:22:37.789 --> 00:22:42.470
is using to do something, reason fails. It just

00:22:42.470 --> 00:22:45.150
doesn't seem right to us. But we can crutch,

00:22:45.150 --> 00:22:47.750
if you will, on Isaiah 55 where it says, his

00:22:47.750 --> 00:22:50.730
ways are above our ways. You don't have to understand

00:22:50.730 --> 00:22:52.809
it. You don't have to be able to put it together

00:22:52.809 --> 00:22:55.170
mentally as to why it works the way it works

00:22:55.170 --> 00:22:58.730
or what God is actually doing. Why? Because you

00:22:58.730 --> 00:23:02.160
should be walking by faith, not by sight. So

00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:04.019
you don't judge everything by reason. You judge

00:23:04.019 --> 00:23:06.059
some things by I trust in the Lord and that God

00:23:06.059 --> 00:23:09.140
has a better plan. Except sometimes faith falls

00:23:09.140 --> 00:23:11.720
short. The truth is that sometimes we are distracted

00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.859
by the cares and the riches of the world. See

00:23:13.859 --> 00:23:16.500
how this plugs in now to the parable of the four

00:23:16.500 --> 00:23:20.049
soils, right? Sometimes we say, yes, I'm following

00:23:20.049 --> 00:23:22.809
God, but we get distracted by the cares and riches

00:23:22.809 --> 00:23:25.109
of the world. Sometimes we're impatient. We want

00:23:25.109 --> 00:23:27.109
to go super fast and do what it is that God wants

00:23:27.109 --> 00:23:28.809
us to do right now. I want to get it all under

00:23:28.809 --> 00:23:31.509
my belt right away. I want to do this and do

00:23:31.509 --> 00:23:33.769
that and everything else, but we don't have the

00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:36.089
roots that are necessary to sustain us, and then

00:23:36.089 --> 00:23:37.809
a little something develops that goes not quite

00:23:37.809 --> 00:23:40.630
right, and suddenly you're wilting, right, falling

00:23:40.630 --> 00:23:42.589
apart. See how the parable of the four soils

00:23:42.589 --> 00:23:46.920
applies to this? Sometimes we are distracted

00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:48.940
and we don't even get it. God's doing something.

00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:51.640
We're like, I don't know. I'm worried about this

00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:53.259
over here. We don't even get what God's doing.

00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:55.220
We don't understand that it's an untimely thing

00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:57.539
or seems like an unreasonable thing because we

00:23:57.539 --> 00:23:59.619
don't get it because we're focused on something

00:23:59.619 --> 00:24:01.380
completely different. And the enemy steals that

00:24:01.380 --> 00:24:04.079
realization from you that God is doing something

00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:07.220
right now in your midst. Faith falls short sometimes

00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:09.180
because we're distracted, sometimes because we're

00:24:09.180 --> 00:24:12.220
impatient, and sometimes because our belief is

00:24:12.220 --> 00:24:16.589
being choked out by cares and riches. The truth

00:24:16.589 --> 00:24:20.309
is, sometimes what God is doing is just finally

00:24:20.309 --> 00:24:24.509
fulfilled promises. God has promised the fruit

00:24:24.509 --> 00:24:26.369
of the Holy Spirit in you. And if, for example,

00:24:26.369 --> 00:24:29.089
let's say you're an impatient person, like I

00:24:29.089 --> 00:24:31.210
have been often most of my life, and God has

00:24:31.210 --> 00:24:32.470
grown a lot of patience in me. If you think I'm

00:24:32.470 --> 00:24:34.470
patient now, it would be comical if we could

00:24:34.470 --> 00:24:37.970
meet when I was 24. I was so unbelievably impatient.

00:24:38.670 --> 00:24:40.369
I couldn't do anything that took more than a

00:24:40.369 --> 00:24:42.309
minute or two if I had to wait. Like I never

00:24:42.309 --> 00:24:44.410
waited on hold. Never waited in a line at the

00:24:44.410 --> 00:24:47.230
grocery store. I'd shop, come up there, two people

00:24:47.230 --> 00:24:48.789
in line. I'd go back and shop some more. Five

00:24:48.789 --> 00:24:50.630
lines, every line's got two. I'd shop some more.

00:24:50.670 --> 00:24:51.869
Even if I didn't have anything else to buy, there's

00:24:51.869 --> 00:24:53.769
no way I'd wait in a line. I would go back up

00:24:53.769 --> 00:24:55.730
to register. If I went back up to register three

00:24:55.730 --> 00:24:57.250
times, the cart full of stuff, and there was

00:24:57.250 --> 00:24:59.150
two or more people in line every time, I would

00:24:59.150 --> 00:25:01.970
leave, shop later, leave my stuff in the cart.

00:25:02.150 --> 00:25:04.789
I was so impatient. And so now I've developed

00:25:04.789 --> 00:25:07.420
some patience. But sometimes God's just... Doing

00:25:07.420 --> 00:25:10.359
what he's doing to build patience in you because

00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:13.160
the fruit of the Holy Spirit is patience. And

00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:15.160
so on. You could go further with that. But the

00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:17.359
bottom line is, sometimes the finally fulfilled

00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:20.640
promises of God are finally coming true. Galatians

00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:24.559
4, 4 -5 says this, But when the fullness of time

00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:27.859
had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman,

00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:30.980
born under the law, to redeem those under the

00:25:30.980 --> 00:25:34.289
law. In Joseph's life, It's actually coming to

00:25:34.289 --> 00:25:36.269
fruition right now. It's being fulfilled, but

00:25:36.269 --> 00:25:38.910
he didn't know it until the angel showed up and

00:25:38.910 --> 00:25:40.990
spoke it. But as soon as the angel showed up

00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:43.630
and spoke it, and he really did know it, what

00:25:43.630 --> 00:25:46.430
did he do? He embraced it as the thing that God

00:25:46.430 --> 00:25:47.910
was doing. I submit to you, if you can figure

00:25:47.910 --> 00:25:50.009
out the thing that God is doing, even though

00:25:50.009 --> 00:25:53.190
it seems unreasonable, even though it seems untimely.

00:25:53.750 --> 00:25:55.890
Even though your faith might be failing you because

00:25:55.890 --> 00:25:59.289
you're distracted or impatient or concerned about

00:25:59.289 --> 00:26:00.950
the cares and riches of this world, if you can,

00:26:00.990 --> 00:26:03.210
in the midst of all of that, go, wait a minute,

00:26:03.289 --> 00:26:06.509
God might be doing something here. And FYI, he

00:26:06.509 --> 00:26:09.549
is, right? So at the moment that you go, okay,

00:26:09.630 --> 00:26:11.589
what is it that God's doing here? I realize that.

00:26:11.650 --> 00:26:14.910
And stop being distracted, impatient, and focused

00:26:14.910 --> 00:26:16.450
on the cares and riches of this world and start

00:26:16.450 --> 00:26:18.490
to realize God is bringing about the fulfillment

00:26:18.490 --> 00:26:21.779
of a promise. then you can embrace it and do

00:26:21.779 --> 00:26:24.400
your part. That's when you become coordinated,

00:26:24.420 --> 00:26:26.200
when you realize that this thing that you're

00:26:26.200 --> 00:26:29.279
thinking about doing today is either part of

00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:32.839
God's plan for you or it isn't. And if it isn't,

00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:35.940
you should change your mind. And if it is, then

00:26:35.940 --> 00:26:38.220
you should think about how is it part of God's

00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:40.539
plan, and that's how you attain the coordination

00:26:40.539 --> 00:26:43.160
that you can't otherwise attain. Otherwise, we

00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:45.099
wind up doing all kinds of things. How we're

00:26:45.099 --> 00:26:46.880
dressing, how we're eating, where we're working,

00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:48.799
what we're doing at work, how we're addressing

00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.819
people, how we're responding when people are

00:26:51.819 --> 00:26:54.680
saying things to us, right? All of that, we start

00:26:54.680 --> 00:26:56.660
doing all of these things out of our distraction,

00:26:56.920 --> 00:26:59.079
our impatience, our concern for the cares and

00:26:59.079 --> 00:27:01.259
riches of this world, our lack of being able

00:27:01.259 --> 00:27:03.890
to reason out what God is actually doing. In

00:27:03.890 --> 00:27:06.890
Romans 5, 6, it says, you see, at just the right

00:27:06.890 --> 00:27:10.569
time, when we were still powerless, Christ died

00:27:10.569 --> 00:27:13.430
for the ungodly. When did Jesus come? At just

00:27:13.430 --> 00:27:16.190
the right time. And if Joseph does not adjust

00:27:16.190 --> 00:27:18.569
to the fact that Jesus is coming at just the

00:27:18.569 --> 00:27:21.150
right time, then Joseph would no longer be a

00:27:21.150 --> 00:27:24.970
righteous man. But Joseph did adjust that Jesus

00:27:24.970 --> 00:27:27.670
was coming at exactly the right time. Knowing

00:27:27.670 --> 00:27:31.289
that the fulfillment will come and appear to

00:27:31.289 --> 00:27:36.410
the untrained, unready, unrenewed mind as untimely,

00:27:36.569 --> 00:27:41.230
we should desire, you should either be trained,

00:27:41.490 --> 00:27:44.309
ready, and renewed, or accept that you will be

00:27:44.309 --> 00:27:46.849
surprised. That is to say, you're going to have

00:27:46.849 --> 00:27:51.329
to be trained, you're going to have to be ready,

00:27:51.490 --> 00:27:54.349
expecting, and you're going to have to be renewing

00:27:54.349 --> 00:27:56.549
your mind in order that when God starts to do

00:27:56.549 --> 00:27:58.269
something incredible in your life, whatever that

00:27:58.269 --> 00:27:59.930
thing is, and I'm submitting to you that it's

00:27:59.930 --> 00:28:02.400
pretty often, actually. Otherwise, you're going

00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:06.259
to be surprised. We do these things by practicing

00:28:06.259 --> 00:28:09.700
seeking God. In Acts 17, it says that everything's

00:28:09.700 --> 00:28:11.920
set up for you, that you might seek God and having

00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:13.480
discovered him, realize that he's really not

00:28:13.480 --> 00:28:17.099
all that far away in the first place. As it says

00:28:17.099 --> 00:28:23.000
in Colossians 1, 9 -12. Hold on, next page. Right

00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:25.880
there. For this reason also, since the day we

00:28:25.880 --> 00:28:27.519
heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you

00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:29.660
and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge

00:28:29.660 --> 00:28:40.980
of his will. You see, you don't know everything

00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:42.700
there is to know about God or everything there

00:28:42.700 --> 00:28:45.759
is to know about what God is up to, and you're

00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.980
not required to. That's not your calling. In

00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:51.160
fact, for those who think they know everything

00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:53.960
about God or anything about God in a certain

00:28:53.960 --> 00:28:57.039
area, for those who are walking in what they

00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:01.039
know about God, you can safely assume, That they're

00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:03.259
going to be surprised when God does something

00:29:03.259 --> 00:29:06.700
that seems unreasonable. Right? Doesn't that

00:29:06.700 --> 00:29:09.079
make sense? I know. Therefore, I expect God to

00:29:09.079 --> 00:29:12.220
do this. What is that? That's your reason. That's

00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:14.200
your logic. That's your brain going, okay, I

00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:15.700
know who God is. I know what he's up to, and

00:29:15.700 --> 00:29:19.000
this is what I expect. When I was first asked

00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:21.039
to preach my first sermon, a brother at East

00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:23.119
Toledo said, hey, you know, I think God might

00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:25.059
be calling you to preach, and I think you should

00:29:25.059 --> 00:29:26.920
come and try to preach at the Gospel Rescue Mission

00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:29.059
downtown. We do it. Every other month. I've got

00:29:29.059 --> 00:29:30.799
two openings. I've got nobody scheduled. Why

00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:33.500
don't you come and do it? I'm like, no. He said,

00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:37.359
he was caught off guard. He stepped back a little

00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:39.000
bit and he was like, what do you mean, no? And

00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:41.819
I said, no. I said, there's no way that God is

00:29:41.819 --> 00:29:44.480
doing that. I said, I know who I am. I know who

00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:46.140
God has made me. I'm confident in who God has

00:29:46.140 --> 00:29:47.680
made me. I can see the journey that I've been

00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:51.319
on. And it does not make any sense to me that

00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:54.059
God would then ask me to preach. Because I'm

00:29:54.059 --> 00:29:56.319
thinking about... product rollouts at Pizza Hut

00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:58.299
where my hands were all sweaty, my mouth was

00:29:58.299 --> 00:30:00.200
full of cotton, and I could barely say, this

00:30:00.200 --> 00:30:02.160
is what you do next. And I'm going, there's no

00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:03.940
way God's calling me to preach. And he said,

00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:05.200
well, you won't even pray about it. I said, I

00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:06.680
don't need to pray about it. I don't need to

00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:08.079
pray about it. There's no way God's calling me

00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:10.200
to preach. See what I was doing? I was shutting

00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:12.039
down the fulfillment of the promise, the thing

00:30:12.039 --> 00:30:13.960
that God was doing. I said, when I got saved,

00:30:14.019 --> 00:30:15.619
I said, God's going to make everything different.

00:30:16.599 --> 00:30:18.559
And that's all God was doing. He was making everything

00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:20.319
different. And I said, no, no, no, I'm not going

00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:22.680
to do that. I'm not going to do it. And so then

00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:24.559
I went home, and God wouldn't let me sleep or

00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:28.380
eat or feel healthy at all for 48 hours. 48 hours,

00:30:28.460 --> 00:30:30.039
actually, even though I wasn't sick or anything.

00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:32.480
I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. Finally, I

00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:33.759
said to God, I said, God, is this about that

00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:39.720
stupid preaching thing? And he said, yes. And

00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:41.299
I said, you want me to call him right now and

00:30:41.299 --> 00:30:44.210
tell him I'll do it? And he said. Yes. And so

00:30:44.210 --> 00:30:45.910
I picked up my phone and I called him and I said,

00:30:45.990 --> 00:30:47.690
I know I said I wouldn't even pray about it,

00:30:47.710 --> 00:30:48.950
but I don't really have to pray about it now

00:30:48.950 --> 00:30:50.490
because God has put me through the ringer since

00:30:50.490 --> 00:30:52.250
I said no. And I don't know what it's going to

00:30:52.250 --> 00:30:53.529
look like or how it's going to happen, but I'm

00:30:53.529 --> 00:30:55.630
going to do it, whatever that is. And I proceeded

00:30:55.630 --> 00:30:58.089
to write a sermon based on basically John 3,

00:30:58.109 --> 00:31:00.390
16. It was written out on 23 note cards, front

00:31:00.390 --> 00:31:01.710
and back. And when I preached that sermon, I

00:31:01.710 --> 00:31:03.509
stood in front of people and I read the front

00:31:03.509 --> 00:31:05.210
and I flipped to the back and I read the back

00:31:05.210 --> 00:31:06.849
and I read the next front. I flipped to the back

00:31:06.849 --> 00:31:08.849
and I read the next back. 23 note cards, front

00:31:08.849 --> 00:31:12.609
and back, 25 minutes. That's all I did. I wasn't

00:31:12.609 --> 00:31:14.849
really preaching, but I wasn't, no way I was

00:31:14.849 --> 00:31:17.309
going to say no to God because at just the right

00:31:17.309 --> 00:31:20.109
time, God will want to do that thing in your

00:31:20.109 --> 00:31:22.670
life that you want to do. So what do you do to

00:31:22.670 --> 00:31:24.769
attain coordination in that moment? It is not,

00:31:24.769 --> 00:31:27.769
it is not respond only to what you know of God.

00:31:28.329 --> 00:31:32.769
It is to work, to be ready, to avoid the distracted.

00:31:33.470 --> 00:31:36.430
to avoid the impatience, to avoid the cares and

00:31:36.430 --> 00:31:38.190
the riches of this world choking out, to work

00:31:38.190 --> 00:31:40.589
to be ready, to not rely on reason, but to rely

00:31:40.589 --> 00:31:44.049
on faith, and then to avoid distractedness, impatience,

00:31:44.130 --> 00:31:47.170
and submitting to the cares and riches while

00:31:47.170 --> 00:31:51.690
training your mind, renewing yourself with the

00:31:51.690 --> 00:31:55.609
word of God, of preaching and teaching, and the

00:31:55.609 --> 00:31:58.009
spiritual disciplines. So we practice seeking

00:31:58.009 --> 00:32:00.259
God. and practice spiritual disciplines. Romans

00:32:00.259 --> 00:32:02.279
12, 1 and 2, the remembering of your mind. This

00:32:02.279 --> 00:32:03.940
is beautiful. At the end of that, you know what

00:32:03.940 --> 00:32:05.700
it says? It doesn't say that you'll always be

00:32:05.700 --> 00:32:07.859
right by God, that you'll always do the right

00:32:07.859 --> 00:32:09.619
thing. It'd be great if it did say that, because

00:32:09.619 --> 00:32:10.920
then we'd never screw it up, right? Wouldn't

00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:12.940
it be awesome to never screw it up? But it doesn't

00:32:12.940 --> 00:32:14.880
say that. What it says is, you will know the

00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:18.559
good and perfect will of the Lord. If you will,

00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:22.339
practice spiritual disciplines. Pray, study your

00:32:22.339 --> 00:32:26.579
Bibles, read, Bible intake, meditate. Get away

00:32:26.579 --> 00:32:32.119
with the Lord. Serve. Give. Right? Forgive. Be

00:32:32.119 --> 00:32:35.900
merciful and kind. Praise Him. Sing loud. Learn

00:32:35.900 --> 00:32:37.400
an instrument if that's what God wants you to

00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:40.339
do. Whatever. If you will do the spiritual disciplines

00:32:40.339 --> 00:32:42.720
and your mind will be renewed and you will know

00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:45.759
the good and perfect will of the Lord. Boy, that's

00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:48.940
good. That's what we really want. And then that

00:32:48.940 --> 00:32:50.779
way when God shows up and starts to do the will

00:32:50.779 --> 00:32:52.500
of the Lord in your life, you will not be surprised.

00:32:53.970 --> 00:32:55.430
Otherwise, you will be surprised. That's the

00:32:55.430 --> 00:32:56.730
bottom line. Because I'm telling you right now,

00:32:56.869 --> 00:32:59.250
if you're still here, it's because, number one,

00:32:59.349 --> 00:33:00.849
God wants to do something through you today.

00:33:01.390 --> 00:33:03.390
And number two, God's not done with you yet.

00:33:03.549 --> 00:33:06.309
And when God's not done yet, God always shows

00:33:06.309 --> 00:33:09.329
up and does something that will seem unreasonable.

00:33:10.549 --> 00:33:12.289
Because if it didn't seem unreasonable, it just

00:33:12.289 --> 00:33:14.470
seemed like, oh, that's not God. It just happened.

00:33:15.109 --> 00:33:19.670
That happens. No big deal. Right? But when it

00:33:19.670 --> 00:33:21.529
seems unreasonable to you, then you go, wait,

00:33:21.710 --> 00:33:24.779
was that God? That was God. I need to embrace

00:33:24.779 --> 00:33:27.200
this and figure out where are we going with this?

00:33:27.220 --> 00:33:29.059
How can I jump on board? How can I do the things

00:33:29.059 --> 00:33:30.819
that I want to get ahead of myself? Okay, so

00:33:30.819 --> 00:33:33.079
the first thing is that there is an untimely

00:33:33.079 --> 00:33:35.460
action of God, an out -of -time thing, a thing

00:33:35.460 --> 00:33:37.680
that does not seem reasonable, and even faith

00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:40.779
falls short, and we are called in Scripture to

00:33:40.779 --> 00:33:44.980
do this, to ready ourselves, to remove distractions,

00:33:45.220 --> 00:33:48.900
to be less impatient, trying to not running on

00:33:48.900 --> 00:33:50.599
ahead of God. Boy, I've done that so many times.

00:33:50.740 --> 00:33:52.900
To avoid getting distracted. wrapped up in the

00:33:52.900 --> 00:33:55.960
cares and riches of this world, seek God and

00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:57.660
practice spiritual disciplines so that when God

00:33:57.660 --> 00:33:59.420
does the thing that doesn't seem reasonable,

00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:02.019
instead of us going, oh no, I'm just going to

00:34:02.019 --> 00:34:04.539
be the nice guy. I'll just ride this out. We're

00:34:04.539 --> 00:34:05.819
going to say, okay, God's doing something here

00:34:05.819 --> 00:34:08.920
and I'm going to get on board. That surprise,

00:34:09.420 --> 00:34:11.340
I want to talk to you about the dangers of surprise.

00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:14.380
The danger in this verse was immense. You see

00:34:14.380 --> 00:34:19.480
what he was doing? He was caught off guard by

00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:22.480
the fact that God was sending The Messiah to

00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:24.780
be born of the virgin that he was betrothed to.

00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:27.940
He was caught off guard by that. So what was

00:34:27.940 --> 00:34:30.619
he doing? He was doing the gracious thing. Seems

00:34:30.619 --> 00:34:32.940
righteous. He was going to put her away so that

00:34:32.940 --> 00:34:34.619
she would not be disgraced. All good, right?

00:34:36.059 --> 00:34:40.380
Wrong answer. This is a chance for the Robinsons

00:34:40.380 --> 00:34:43.800
to steal. I'm telling you what. What Joseph was

00:34:43.800 --> 00:34:46.900
doing was putting away God's plan for his life.

00:34:48.839 --> 00:34:51.599
in doing what he thought was the gracious, righteous

00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:53.300
thing toward her. It's not that he was sinning

00:34:53.300 --> 00:34:55.460
against himself or his family or his name or

00:34:55.460 --> 00:34:57.300
that was going to come out later and ruin him

00:34:57.300 --> 00:34:58.820
or anything like that. It's not that. Not that

00:34:58.820 --> 00:35:01.119
it was sin to treat her graciously. That was

00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:03.539
righteous. But what he was doing was he was saying,

00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:05.820
okay, I'm not going to be the dad of the Messiah.

00:35:07.619 --> 00:35:10.559
He was literally throwing away God's perfect

00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:13.460
will for his wife by proceeding to be a righteous

00:35:13.460 --> 00:35:16.800
man doing the gracious thing. See how dangerous

00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:19.639
that is? You can be righteous in Christ doing

00:35:19.639 --> 00:35:22.840
the gracious thing and throw away God's perfect

00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:25.739
will for your life. That's really dangerous.

00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:30.519
You know that I run tabletop role -playing games?

00:35:30.659 --> 00:35:32.420
In tabletop role -playing games, the one I run

00:35:32.420 --> 00:35:34.039
anyway, there's a thing called a surprise role.

00:35:34.119 --> 00:35:36.239
And if you're surprised, all of a sudden everything

00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:38.880
happens really fast. If you happen to be the

00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:40.519
one that's surprised, you basically stand there

00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:42.079
and can kind of like stutter and do the best

00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:43.739
you can and really can't do anything while everybody

00:35:43.739 --> 00:35:46.880
beats the crap out of you. And vice versa. If

00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:48.480
you can surprise the enemy, you beat the crap

00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:49.940
out of them while they're still shocked that

00:35:49.940 --> 00:35:52.039
you're even there. In the military, there's such

00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:54.980
a thing called an ambush. When people are in

00:35:54.980 --> 00:35:56.340
the woods around you and you're walking down

00:35:56.340 --> 00:35:57.559
the trail and all of a sudden they pop up and

00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:00.139
start shooting and everybody's caught flat -footed,

00:36:00.139 --> 00:36:02.719
that's a thing. And people are dying all around

00:36:02.719 --> 00:36:04.340
you because you've been ambushed. You've been

00:36:04.340 --> 00:36:06.239
surprised by an enemy that you didn't know that

00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:09.539
was there. And so military troops move with...

00:36:09.980 --> 00:36:12.019
flanking people on the outside. And they have

00:36:12.019 --> 00:36:13.739
tactics so everybody's looking in every direction.

00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:15.679
And they have scouts, somebody walking out ahead

00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:18.079
to look. And if the scout walks into an ambush,

00:36:18.179 --> 00:36:20.739
that's one thing. But if the whole troop walks

00:36:20.739 --> 00:36:24.059
into an ambush, they're destroyed. In football,

00:36:24.340 --> 00:36:27.880
an explosive run play versus a prevent defense

00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:30.539
in football will yield yards and possibly a touchdown

00:36:30.539 --> 00:36:31.800
while they're going, we're not going to let them

00:36:31.800 --> 00:36:36.039
get big yards. $12 million running back, busts

00:36:36.039 --> 00:36:37.659
out of the backfield, runs 80 yards for a touchdown

00:36:37.659 --> 00:36:39.079
because they were running a prevent defense.

00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:43.420
It is dangerous to be surprised. We must not

00:36:43.420 --> 00:36:46.440
be surprised that God is doing something that

00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:48.480
we do not expect, even though we are called by

00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:51.059
Scripture to have the mind of Christ. This is

00:36:51.059 --> 00:36:53.840
part of having the mind of Christ. Joseph was

00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:57.039
responding in compassion toward Mary. So on the

00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:00.280
surface, it seems gentle and maybe even God -honoring,

00:37:00.340 --> 00:37:04.000
maybe making the best of a bad situation. But

00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:06.780
this baseline goodness was resulting in his being

00:37:06.780 --> 00:37:10.019
about to completely miss God's perfect plan for

00:37:10.019 --> 00:37:15.380
his life. God could do it another way. But God

00:37:15.380 --> 00:37:18.760
was going to do it through Joseph. By the way,

00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:23.179
who was it who had to report home during the

00:37:23.179 --> 00:37:26.679
census to Bethlehem so that the Savior would

00:37:26.679 --> 00:37:32.960
be born in Bethlehem? Not Mary. Joseph. The prophecy

00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:35.139
said that they would be in Bethlehem when the

00:37:35.139 --> 00:37:37.280
baby was born. God would have had to come up

00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:40.239
with another way to send Mary and whoever was

00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:42.019
taking care of her to Bethlehem. But he wasn't

00:37:42.019 --> 00:37:44.820
going to do that, right? Because God already

00:37:44.820 --> 00:37:47.440
had a plan. And all he really needed to do was

00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:49.760
get Joseph to adjust to it. And that's all he

00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:51.679
really needs to do for us too. And he's already

00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:53.440
given us the steps to do so. And we've already

00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:56.780
talked to them. Talked about them. Sometimes

00:37:56.780 --> 00:37:59.360
coping, dealing with what's going on in our life

00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:02.050
right now, is actually about replacing healthy

00:38:02.050 --> 00:38:04.849
habits with dealing with the outcome of unhealthy

00:38:04.849 --> 00:38:09.269
habits. So we have had unhealthy sleeping habits

00:38:09.269 --> 00:38:11.210
for our whole life. We stay up too late, watch

00:38:11.210 --> 00:38:13.289
too much TV, just screen time right before bed,

00:38:13.429 --> 00:38:15.889
etc. And so we turn 40 and we're like, man, I

00:38:15.889 --> 00:38:17.349
just can't keep coping with this. So we go to

00:38:17.349 --> 00:38:19.409
the doctor and get sleeping pills. And the truth

00:38:19.409 --> 00:38:22.659
is sometimes coping... is just about that. Or

00:38:22.659 --> 00:38:25.900
we've not worked on our problem resolution, right?

00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:27.539
So we don't know how to address somebody that

00:38:27.539 --> 00:38:29.539
we have a problem with them and talk to them

00:38:29.539 --> 00:38:31.860
like a human being. We can only yell or fight

00:38:31.860 --> 00:38:35.219
or whatever. And so then we get in that situation

00:38:35.219 --> 00:38:38.320
with our significant other or with somebody that

00:38:38.320 --> 00:38:40.800
we just can't kick out of their lives. So we

00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:44.860
get coaching, counseling, therapy. We do study.

00:38:45.079 --> 00:38:51.769
We do begging forgiveness. We have all these

00:38:51.769 --> 00:38:53.269
coping things, but really what they're about

00:38:53.269 --> 00:38:55.809
is they're replacing healthy habits that we should

00:38:55.809 --> 00:39:02.630
have had all along with coping mechanisms. You

00:39:02.630 --> 00:39:05.670
can't do that. Church is not a coping mechanism.

00:39:05.949 --> 00:39:07.909
Being here for worship is not a coping mechanism.

00:39:08.889 --> 00:39:11.269
Giving, serving, they're not coping mechanisms.

00:39:11.409 --> 00:39:13.610
They're not making up for our inability to be

00:39:13.610 --> 00:39:15.989
the kind of person that God wants us to be. Rather,

00:39:16.269 --> 00:39:19.639
they are a part of who we have become. And so

00:39:19.639 --> 00:39:22.039
sometimes coping is about being the one in a

00:39:22.039 --> 00:39:24.159
position to make a decision and grasping at the

00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:26.860
most reasonable course, even when the most reasonable

00:39:26.860 --> 00:39:29.760
course does not align with God's plan. That's

00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:31.980
what Joseph was doing. He was coping with a bad

00:39:31.980 --> 00:39:34.219
situation, trying to make the best decision he

00:39:34.219 --> 00:39:35.880
could make under the circumstances. Other people

00:39:35.880 --> 00:39:38.579
are doing that too. And we've got to realize

00:39:38.579 --> 00:39:42.019
there are healthy things that we can do to avoid

00:39:42.019 --> 00:39:45.460
being surprised by what God is doing. We were

00:39:45.460 --> 00:39:47.719
not made to cope with a lack of understanding

00:39:47.719 --> 00:39:50.300
or to be trapped dealing with the ramifications

00:39:50.300 --> 00:39:53.539
of the very ignorance and sin and death that

00:39:53.539 --> 00:39:55.559
Christ died to free us from. You don't have to

00:39:55.559 --> 00:39:57.719
do that anymore. You say, well, I still have

00:39:57.719 --> 00:39:59.940
these old habits from before I got saved. Those

00:39:59.940 --> 00:40:01.840
old habits, they don't have to win. They don't

00:40:01.840 --> 00:40:03.000
have to take you back. They don't have to set

00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:05.719
you back. You can be new. That's what it meant

00:40:05.719 --> 00:40:08.400
when it said all old things passed away. If you

00:40:08.400 --> 00:40:09.659
can look at there's something about yourself

00:40:09.659 --> 00:40:12.889
that's a bad thing, and you don't really like

00:40:12.889 --> 00:40:14.449
it, and you're still struggling coping with it

00:40:14.449 --> 00:40:16.349
on a daily basis, and you've got some plans and

00:40:16.349 --> 00:40:18.389
some steps and things that you do, and that's

00:40:18.389 --> 00:40:21.230
how you're getting by, you don't have to do that.

00:40:21.630 --> 00:40:25.269
You can let that thing go. Let God erase it out

00:40:25.269 --> 00:40:27.050
of your life. You say, oh, but I still do it.

00:40:27.150 --> 00:40:30.010
I give it over to God, and I still. So what part

00:40:30.010 --> 00:40:32.650
do you think you're missing of this whole equation?

00:40:33.469 --> 00:40:38.050
Let go of the old. Stop being distracted. Stop

00:40:38.050 --> 00:40:40.690
being impatient. Stop dealing with the cares

00:40:40.690 --> 00:40:44.090
and riches of this world. Stop reasoning that

00:40:44.090 --> 00:40:46.929
somehow or other God has to do exactly what you

00:40:46.929 --> 00:40:49.469
expect him to do. What if God sends you something

00:40:49.469 --> 00:40:51.769
that will deal with that old thing and he's done

00:40:51.769 --> 00:40:54.510
it five times or ten times and you've used coping

00:40:54.510 --> 00:40:57.809
mechanism to avoid that, right? So you're making

00:40:57.809 --> 00:41:00.730
sure that you don't suffer. So you don't go and

00:41:00.730 --> 00:41:02.489
share the gospel with somebody that you think

00:41:02.489 --> 00:41:04.989
might not want to hear it. You don't go out late

00:41:04.989 --> 00:41:06.949
at night and do the thing that God told you to

00:41:06.949 --> 00:41:09.329
do because it's late at night and you're tired.

00:41:10.150 --> 00:41:12.489
It's your time to watch your program or hang

00:41:12.489 --> 00:41:14.969
out with your family, right? You don't give that

00:41:14.969 --> 00:41:17.130
extra dollar amount above and beyond your tithe

00:41:17.130 --> 00:41:19.130
or whatever. You're not sacrificing financially

00:41:19.130 --> 00:41:20.809
because you're like, well, but we got to pay

00:41:20.809 --> 00:41:22.929
our bills, right? So you're not doing the things

00:41:22.929 --> 00:41:25.190
that God's really pushing you to do. And in failing

00:41:25.190 --> 00:41:27.750
to do that, you've missed three, four, 10, 20

00:41:27.750 --> 00:41:30.969
times possibly the thing that God was going to

00:41:30.969 --> 00:41:33.980
do to bring you to the point That the thing that

00:41:33.980 --> 00:41:35.760
you're thinking should have been erased a long

00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:38.159
time ago should have been erased. You ever see

00:41:38.159 --> 00:41:43.960
the cartoon where the artist is drawing and the

00:41:43.960 --> 00:41:45.900
cartoon is talking to the artist and he's like

00:41:45.900 --> 00:41:47.940
erasing things and he's making it more difficult

00:41:47.940 --> 00:41:50.239
for him and stuff like that. And then the cartoon

00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:52.679
gets a hold of the eraser and starts erasing

00:41:52.679 --> 00:41:54.820
things and doing things himself. Well, you're

00:41:54.820 --> 00:41:58.699
like that. You want the eraser. You want to control

00:41:58.699 --> 00:42:01.199
the eraser. But God is the one with the eraser.

00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:03.940
You want to control with a drawing utensil. But

00:42:03.940 --> 00:42:05.739
God is the one with the drawing utensil. God

00:42:05.739 --> 00:42:07.539
is the one who will add to your life and subtract

00:42:07.539 --> 00:42:09.599
from your life. And if you add anything to your

00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:12.280
life that is outside God's will, if you reason

00:42:12.280 --> 00:42:17.280
your way to greatness, the Bible says, what if

00:42:17.280 --> 00:42:20.539
you gain the whole world? But if in the process

00:42:20.539 --> 00:42:24.809
you lose your soul? We were not made to cope

00:42:24.809 --> 00:42:26.849
with a lack of understanding or to be trapped

00:42:26.849 --> 00:42:29.389
dealing with the ramifications of the very ignorance

00:42:29.389 --> 00:42:31.550
and sin and death that Christ died to free us

00:42:31.550 --> 00:42:33.750
from. We were meant to know the mind of Christ,

00:42:34.010 --> 00:42:37.030
1 Corinthians 2 says. We are not as friends or

00:42:37.030 --> 00:42:40.230
acquaintances or even as servants of God. Hear

00:42:40.230 --> 00:42:43.110
me. I'm going to say that again. We are not as

00:42:43.110 --> 00:42:46.349
friends or acquaintances or even as servants

00:42:46.349 --> 00:42:51.489
of God. But now God has given us the right to

00:42:51.489 --> 00:42:54.690
be called children of God for those of us who

00:42:54.690 --> 00:42:56.510
have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

00:42:57.150 --> 00:43:00.210
You are a child of God. If you serve now, you

00:43:00.210 --> 00:43:03.690
serve as a child of God. Like Arianna comes home

00:43:03.690 --> 00:43:07.030
from school and about 65 % of the time she just

00:43:07.030 --> 00:43:08.469
walks around the house and looks and sees what

00:43:08.469 --> 00:43:10.750
she can do. And as I raised all my kids, you

00:43:10.750 --> 00:43:12.349
know what I did? Most of them did not have a

00:43:12.349 --> 00:43:14.090
chore list after school. If we got to the point

00:43:14.090 --> 00:43:15.550
of a chore list, it was by the way of discipline.

00:43:15.710 --> 00:43:16.769
Most of them would just say, you know what needs

00:43:16.769 --> 00:43:18.780
to be done. Let's get this done. What are you

00:43:18.780 --> 00:43:21.320
waiting for? Right? And they would just come

00:43:21.320 --> 00:43:22.579
in and they'd start looking around and go, well,

00:43:22.579 --> 00:43:24.199
I did this, this, and this. And if there were

00:43:24.199 --> 00:43:25.900
ten chores to be done, they'd pick three or four

00:43:25.900 --> 00:43:28.659
of them and just do them. Usually the ones they

00:43:28.659 --> 00:43:29.860
wanted to do and leave the ones they didn't want

00:43:29.860 --> 00:43:33.159
to do for me. And that's okay. Right? They were

00:43:33.159 --> 00:43:36.059
contributing. And that's where we are as children

00:43:36.059 --> 00:43:38.619
of God. We think, okay, if I'm a child of God

00:43:38.619 --> 00:43:40.159
and a household of God, now what am I going to

00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:48.050
do about that? You've heard. Possibly the illustration

00:43:48.050 --> 00:43:51.309
of insanity. One of the illustrations of insanity

00:43:51.309 --> 00:43:53.630
is doing the same thing over and over and over

00:43:53.630 --> 00:43:56.889
again and expecting a different result. So as

00:43:56.889 --> 00:43:59.230
I look around this room, I would say that there's

00:43:59.230 --> 00:44:01.909
no one in this room who's nuts. Not in that way.

00:44:02.309 --> 00:44:04.329
You might think of yourself as nuts in some other

00:44:04.329 --> 00:44:07.690
way. I'm a little crazy myself. But we don't

00:44:07.690 --> 00:44:09.250
just keep doing the same thing over and over

00:44:09.250 --> 00:44:11.960
again and expecting a different result. Because

00:44:11.960 --> 00:44:13.900
reasonably speaking, if you keep doing the same

00:44:13.900 --> 00:44:15.579
thing over and over again, you're going to get

00:44:15.579 --> 00:44:17.579
the same result that you've gotten in the past.

00:44:18.340 --> 00:44:20.840
Because that's true, we don't see ourselves that

00:44:20.840 --> 00:44:24.900
way. And so we look for something more, something

00:44:24.900 --> 00:44:27.659
different, something new. We're always looking

00:44:27.659 --> 00:44:31.059
for how we can serve. Change your perspective

00:44:31.059 --> 00:44:33.340
from, I'm just getting by on the kingdom of God,

00:44:33.400 --> 00:44:34.980
at least I'm saved now, whatever, that's good.

00:44:35.059 --> 00:44:37.380
And if God wants me to do something, he'll tell

00:44:37.380 --> 00:44:39.619
me. There's a whole book of things that God has

00:44:39.619 --> 00:44:42.550
told you to do. Just read the Bible, find a command,

00:44:42.650 --> 00:44:45.590
and go do that. And then once you think you got

00:44:45.590 --> 00:44:47.190
that down, read the Bible again, find a command,

00:44:47.250 --> 00:44:50.210
and go do that. But I know people say, well,

00:44:50.230 --> 00:44:51.909
I'll share the gospel when God tells me to. He's

00:44:51.909 --> 00:44:54.389
already done it. Jesus himself in the flesh told

00:44:54.389 --> 00:44:56.449
the disciples and delivered that message as the

00:44:56.449 --> 00:44:58.889
whole meaning of the church's existence. We already

00:44:58.889 --> 00:45:01.250
know what we're supposed to do. And we're not

00:45:01.250 --> 00:45:02.389
doing some of the things that we're supposed

00:45:02.389 --> 00:45:04.989
to do, but we're expecting God to do all the

00:45:04.989 --> 00:45:07.670
things that we want him to do. Are you a child

00:45:07.670 --> 00:45:10.619
of God? If you're a child of God, then you know

00:45:10.619 --> 00:45:12.599
you don't keep doing the same things that you've

00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:14.820
done. You keep looking for new things to do.

00:45:16.940 --> 00:45:19.659
Final point, then, is on the something extra.

00:45:21.400 --> 00:45:27.019
We are called to unashamed trust. We're called

00:45:27.019 --> 00:45:31.699
to unashamed trust in God, not in reason. Unashamed

00:45:31.699 --> 00:45:34.940
trust in reason can be a problem. Unashamed trust

00:45:34.940 --> 00:45:38.219
in general leads to A desire to do something

00:45:38.219 --> 00:45:41.880
more. I believe, I trust, right? So I trust in

00:45:41.880 --> 00:45:44.380
Allah, so I strap on a bomb vest that blows me

00:45:44.380 --> 00:45:50.360
up in a cafe. Or I take out a plane, right? I

00:45:50.360 --> 00:45:55.860
trust in Buddha, so I follow tenfold laws, right?

00:45:55.920 --> 00:46:00.179
Or whatever. So we look for extra when we trust

00:46:00.179 --> 00:46:03.280
in a thing. When reason fails and we're looking

00:46:03.280 --> 00:46:06.309
for extra, it results in legalism. We say, well,

00:46:06.429 --> 00:46:09.610
there's rules. You can't do that here. You can't

00:46:09.610 --> 00:46:11.730
do that here. You have to do this here. You have

00:46:11.730 --> 00:46:14.250
to do that here. Because instead of us looking

00:46:14.250 --> 00:46:15.789
for what God really wants us to do and being

00:46:15.789 --> 00:46:17.449
the kind of person God wants us to be, we're

00:46:17.449 --> 00:46:19.710
setting up a set of rules so that we can be the

00:46:19.710 --> 00:46:22.289
kind of person that we want God to want us to

00:46:22.289 --> 00:46:28.050
be. You follow? When faith fails, we get rituals.

00:46:29.489 --> 00:46:32.489
I always go to church. I'm always in church.

00:46:32.869 --> 00:46:36.480
I always give. I always serve. This is how I

00:46:36.480 --> 00:46:38.940
serve. This is what I do. I'm going to work.

00:46:39.079 --> 00:46:42.039
I do this, and I'm always there, and I'm always

00:46:42.039 --> 00:46:44.599
faithful. And based on that alone, I think I'll

00:46:44.599 --> 00:46:47.340
go to heaven when I die. No. People do not go

00:46:47.340 --> 00:46:50.380
to heaven when they die based on rituals or work.

00:46:50.539 --> 00:46:52.880
Not how many candles you lit. Not how many prayers

00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:54.780
you said. Not how many times you cleaned. Not

00:46:54.780 --> 00:46:56.840
how many times you gave. Not how many nice things

00:46:56.840 --> 00:46:58.380
you said. Not how many people you lifted up.

00:46:58.440 --> 00:47:00.639
Not how many hands up you gave. None of that.

00:47:01.589 --> 00:47:03.969
Outside Christ, those are all as filthy rags.

00:47:04.070 --> 00:47:07.949
And inside Christ, if faith fails, and that's

00:47:07.949 --> 00:47:10.489
the works that we wind up with, then that means

00:47:10.489 --> 00:47:13.550
reason has failed as well. Ananias and Sapphira

00:47:13.550 --> 00:47:16.650
sold a piece of land that they had, and they

00:47:16.650 --> 00:47:18.809
had seen Barnabas do the same thing. They sold

00:47:18.809 --> 00:47:20.309
a piece of land they had, and they brought the

00:47:20.309 --> 00:47:22.110
money to donate it to the church because people

00:47:22.110 --> 00:47:24.059
were hungry. And the church was taking care of

00:47:24.059 --> 00:47:25.960
a lot of people. So they sold a piece of that

00:47:25.960 --> 00:47:27.780
land, and they brought the money. But along the

00:47:27.780 --> 00:47:29.139
way, they thought, well, we could keep a little

00:47:29.139 --> 00:47:30.900
bit of ourselves, sort of a nest egg, in case

00:47:30.900 --> 00:47:33.780
we get hungry later. Now, that was all completely

00:47:33.780 --> 00:47:36.079
within their rights to do. They didn't have to

00:47:36.079 --> 00:47:39.320
give it all. Nobody had to give it all. We don't

00:47:39.320 --> 00:47:40.920
know that God told them to give it all. We don't

00:47:40.920 --> 00:47:42.320
even know that God told them to give anything,

00:47:42.480 --> 00:47:44.760
for sure. The scripture doesn't say. But they

00:47:44.760 --> 00:47:46.239
sold the land, kept a little back for themselves.

00:47:46.360 --> 00:47:49.480
But then when they turned it in, they said they

00:47:49.480 --> 00:47:56.190
gave it all. You see, faith failed. Reason dictated

00:47:56.190 --> 00:47:59.269
if they gave the money like Barnabas gave the

00:47:59.269 --> 00:48:00.829
money, then they would get a lot of honor in

00:48:00.829 --> 00:48:03.369
the church. Then they gave the money and the

00:48:03.369 --> 00:48:05.530
faith failed. Well, you know the end of the story,

00:48:05.630 --> 00:48:11.250
right? God killed them both. First he came in

00:48:11.250 --> 00:48:14.050
and he said, here's all the money. Peter said,

00:48:14.130 --> 00:48:16.110
this is all the money? And he said, yeah, this

00:48:16.110 --> 00:48:19.170
is all the money. And he said, well, you're lying.

00:48:20.519 --> 00:48:22.960
and here come the men at the door, and they're

00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:25.440
going to carry you out. God killed him on the

00:48:25.440 --> 00:48:27.340
spot. And then Sapphira came, and she had a chance

00:48:27.340 --> 00:48:30.519
to admit that they lied, and she didn't. And

00:48:30.519 --> 00:48:32.219
the same men that carried Ananias out carried

00:48:32.219 --> 00:48:36.219
her out next. They didn't have to give all the

00:48:36.219 --> 00:48:39.480
money. They didn't have to give any money. They

00:48:39.480 --> 00:48:41.619
didn't have to sell the property. They wanted

00:48:41.619 --> 00:48:44.019
to do extra. They wanted to do something more.

00:48:44.059 --> 00:48:46.360
They said, well, God is good. And the church

00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:48.460
is good. And what the church is doing is good.

00:48:48.599 --> 00:48:50.719
And so I want to do something extra. They want

00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:52.539
to do something extra. But then as they went

00:48:52.539 --> 00:48:54.679
to do something extra, they made a ritual out

00:48:54.679 --> 00:48:57.739
of it instead of a faith activity. And we do

00:48:57.739 --> 00:49:03.000
that sometimes. Distracted, impatient, concerned.

00:49:04.679 --> 00:49:09.480
When God acts, do something extra. When you know

00:49:09.480 --> 00:49:12.579
that God is acting, do something extra. God shows

00:49:12.579 --> 00:49:14.059
you something in Scripture that you never saw

00:49:14.059 --> 00:49:17.659
before. Apply it. Figure out what you're supposed

00:49:17.659 --> 00:49:20.400
to do about it. Look deeper. Is there more that

00:49:20.400 --> 00:49:23.679
he wants me to see? Get busy doing what God has

00:49:23.679 --> 00:49:27.119
called you to do. Do something extra and do it

00:49:27.119 --> 00:49:30.719
out of a righteous heart and of a mind that desires

00:49:30.719 --> 00:49:33.079
to know God. And it will not be caught off guard

00:49:33.079 --> 00:49:35.500
or surprised that God is doing something new,

00:49:35.539 --> 00:49:38.840
something extra. As Joseph was honoring God with

00:49:38.840 --> 00:49:42.599
his choice. There's a story in the Bible and

00:49:42.599 --> 00:49:45.719
then we're almost to the conclusion. about there

00:49:45.719 --> 00:49:48.360
were some men who had the blessing to be there

00:49:48.360 --> 00:49:51.920
when Jesus was transfigured. So Moses was there

00:49:51.920 --> 00:49:54.039
and Elijah was there and Jesus was there and

00:49:54.039 --> 00:49:57.440
Jesus is lit up with bright light and they show

00:49:57.440 --> 00:50:00.880
the disciples see and Peter says, Lord, it is

00:50:00.880 --> 00:50:03.400
good that we are here. We can build you tents.

00:50:03.539 --> 00:50:06.000
Now, no one said they were camping out for the

00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:10.639
day, right? Or at all, right? And so why do they

00:50:10.639 --> 00:50:13.019
need tents? But he said, we can build you tents.

00:50:13.690 --> 00:50:16.110
What was he doing there? He was making a statement.

00:50:16.250 --> 00:50:18.349
He wanted to do something extra. What could they

00:50:18.349 --> 00:50:20.329
do? They could build tents. Well, what can I

00:50:20.329 --> 00:50:22.309
do? I can build tents. There's no money needed

00:50:22.309 --> 00:50:24.710
here. Nobody's paying anything. There's no bills

00:50:24.710 --> 00:50:26.429
to be paid. There's no meals to be cooked. We

00:50:26.429 --> 00:50:27.949
don't have any food. But we can build tents.

00:50:28.110 --> 00:50:31.250
So he offered to build tents. They don't need

00:50:31.250 --> 00:50:33.329
tents. And that's what Jesus says. We don't need

00:50:33.329 --> 00:50:35.969
tents. And so they don't build the tents. But

00:50:35.969 --> 00:50:39.170
the point is the desire is part and parcel. When

00:50:39.170 --> 00:50:41.349
God is clearly doing something extra, something

00:50:41.349 --> 00:50:42.829
special, something that goes a little beyond

00:50:42.829 --> 00:50:44.889
reason, instead of being caught off guard by

00:50:44.889 --> 00:50:47.389
it, we should be ready to step up and do whatever

00:50:47.389 --> 00:50:50.309
comes next. And if it is part and parcel, then

00:50:50.309 --> 00:50:52.670
we can imagine that it is part of why the good

00:50:52.670 --> 00:50:57.769
soil produces a hundredfold. Because that unattainable

00:50:57.769 --> 00:51:00.489
coordination with God, that moment at which you

00:51:00.489 --> 00:51:02.889
and God are actually doing the same thing, putting

00:51:02.889 --> 00:51:05.150
your strength together, and I understand he's

00:51:05.150 --> 00:51:07.809
contributing a lot more than you are, But imagine

00:51:07.809 --> 00:51:10.610
what he can do if you would just say, okay, God,

00:51:10.769 --> 00:51:13.210
and jump right in there. That brings us to our

00:51:13.210 --> 00:51:17.710
conclusion then. Zeal uncoordinated is very possible.

00:51:19.230 --> 00:51:21.570
Lots and lots of people get super excited about

00:51:21.570 --> 00:51:25.570
doing things that God isn't doing. As a young

00:51:25.570 --> 00:51:27.530
Christian, people say, well, I'm going to do

00:51:27.530 --> 00:51:30.280
this. For example, I see people doing street

00:51:30.280 --> 00:51:32.400
witnessing. I've only been saved a week. I'm

00:51:32.400 --> 00:51:34.159
going to go street witnessing. I'm going to start

00:51:34.159 --> 00:51:35.519
going out there and telling people about Jesus,

00:51:35.599 --> 00:51:38.119
and I'm going to do it every day from 6 to 8

00:51:38.119 --> 00:51:39.219
p .m. Right when I got off work, I'm going to

00:51:39.219 --> 00:51:41.659
go 6 to 8 p .m. every day, Monday through Sunday,

00:51:41.820 --> 00:51:46.860
until Jesus comes again. You see it? I'm going

00:51:46.860 --> 00:51:49.000
to call every member of the church and pray for

00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:52.159
them. I'm going to immediately, I just got saved.

00:51:52.199 --> 00:51:55.079
I'm so excited. I'm going to give 100 % of my

00:51:55.079 --> 00:51:57.079
income in the offering plate for the next month.

00:51:57.639 --> 00:51:59.440
I'm just going to give all my money from now

00:51:59.440 --> 00:52:04.860
on. You see, running on ahead of God. It's easily

00:52:04.860 --> 00:52:07.400
enough done. Zeal is that energy, that passion,

00:52:07.420 --> 00:52:09.480
that desire to do something more. It should be

00:52:09.480 --> 00:52:13.579
there, but it is very possible for it to be uncoordinated

00:52:13.579 --> 00:52:16.639
with God, and it's also very dangerous when it

00:52:16.639 --> 00:52:20.639
is. Zeal, uncoordinated, has a tendency to forget

00:52:20.639 --> 00:52:24.840
human limitations. You are just one person, even

00:52:24.840 --> 00:52:27.840
indwelt by the Holy Spirit. If you're married,

00:52:27.980 --> 00:52:30.980
you're still one person. You and your wife, you

00:52:30.980 --> 00:52:33.280
and your husband are still one person. And you

00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:35.260
have human limitations. You can only be in so

00:52:35.260 --> 00:52:37.320
many places at once. You can only do so much.

00:52:37.420 --> 00:52:39.599
If God is not doing it, you run on ahead of God.

00:52:39.780 --> 00:52:41.820
He will not provide the resources. He will not

00:52:41.820 --> 00:52:43.300
provide the strength. He will not provide the

00:52:43.300 --> 00:52:45.960
finances. And you will hit rock bottom. Zeal,

00:52:46.159 --> 00:52:50.099
uncoordinated, is not only possible, but it's

00:52:50.099 --> 00:52:57.920
also very dangerous. coordinated results in situations

00:52:57.920 --> 00:53:02.000
like David and Goliath. Where I submit to you,

00:53:02.019 --> 00:53:06.059
Goliath was the great victim in that story. Because

00:53:06.059 --> 00:53:09.360
David's zeal was coordinated with God, and God

00:53:09.360 --> 00:53:11.119
wanted to show up and do something glorious,

00:53:11.320 --> 00:53:14.820
and he did. And he brought one stone home and

00:53:14.820 --> 00:53:17.659
felled one giant. And we're still talking about

00:53:17.659 --> 00:53:24.889
it almost 3 ,000 years later. Zeal coordinated

00:53:24.889 --> 00:53:27.369
with God results in something like surviving

00:53:27.369 --> 00:53:30.030
the fiery furnace, where three men are thrown

00:53:30.030 --> 00:53:32.489
in the furnace because they just won't stop living

00:53:32.489 --> 00:53:35.329
for God. But when people look in there, they

00:53:35.329 --> 00:53:37.849
see not just three men, but four, and the fourth

00:53:37.849 --> 00:53:40.269
looks like a son of God. And when they come out,

00:53:40.289 --> 00:53:42.409
an entire nation was converted so that the king

00:53:42.409 --> 00:53:44.849
made the law that the only God who could be worshipped

00:53:44.849 --> 00:53:47.650
was the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

00:53:48.650 --> 00:53:51.110
Zeal coordinated with God results in situations

00:53:51.110 --> 00:53:54.059
like the lion's den, Where Daniel, who was praying

00:53:54.059 --> 00:53:56.320
to God, spiritual disciplines, being ready that

00:53:56.320 --> 00:53:59.219
God would do something different, was not even,

00:53:59.320 --> 00:54:02.599
I submit to you, surprised. Read the story. See

00:54:02.599 --> 00:54:05.420
if there is even an undertone of surprise when

00:54:05.420 --> 00:54:08.760
Daniel is told that he will now be thrown in

00:54:08.760 --> 00:54:10.820
the lion's den. He's not surprised in the least.

00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:13.619
He's not taken aback. There was no surprise rule.

00:54:13.840 --> 00:54:17.460
He instead says, okay. And he gets thrown in

00:54:17.460 --> 00:54:19.280
the lion's den. And the lions do not consume

00:54:19.280 --> 00:54:22.769
him overnight as they were wont to do. And in

00:54:22.769 --> 00:54:26.449
the morning, again, everybody is repentant because

00:54:26.449 --> 00:54:30.150
Daniel's God saves from lions, Joseph interpreting

00:54:30.150 --> 00:54:35.610
dreams, and so on. Zeal uncoordinated with God

00:54:35.610 --> 00:54:38.269
results in situations like the Tower of Babel,

00:54:38.530 --> 00:54:46.429
Cain killing Abel, and the list goes on. We must

00:54:46.429 --> 00:54:50.130
be prepared to let God do what no one else can

00:54:50.130 --> 00:54:54.360
do. But at the same time, in idol worship, for

00:54:54.360 --> 00:54:57.119
example, there are extreme acts of fanaticism

00:54:57.119 --> 00:55:00.239
designed to prove one's faith. So, people who

00:55:00.239 --> 00:55:02.920
believe in false gods cut themselves, burn themselves,

00:55:03.320 --> 00:55:06.679
burn their children, etc., etc., strap on bombs,

00:55:06.900 --> 00:55:13.159
etc., etc. In fact, they all yield a desperate,

00:55:13.239 --> 00:55:17.730
growing conflict with the things of God. especially

00:55:17.730 --> 00:55:20.070
where those things could actually occupy hearts,

00:55:20.170 --> 00:55:22.969
minds, resources, time, direction of the one

00:55:22.969 --> 00:55:26.030
who is faithful. So idols and demons are at work

00:55:26.030 --> 00:55:29.610
to try to draw people into something that's zealous,

00:55:29.650 --> 00:55:38.369
like I'll never miss, insert whatever, a football

00:55:38.369 --> 00:55:46.710
game, a camping trip. A date on my anniversary.

00:55:48.789 --> 00:55:51.809
It's a birthday. We've got to go out. Right?

00:55:52.090 --> 00:55:54.369
All of those things are zealous things. They're

00:55:54.369 --> 00:55:58.949
zeal that belongs in a person. But probably the

00:55:58.949 --> 00:56:01.610
most dangerous aspect of this in idol worship

00:56:01.610 --> 00:56:03.789
is the ability to appeal to your reasonable mind.

00:56:03.869 --> 00:56:06.389
It makes perfect sense. We say, I'm going to

00:56:06.389 --> 00:56:08.210
do this. I committed to do it. I'm going to be

00:56:08.210 --> 00:56:10.250
there. And so as a righteous man, we keep our

00:56:10.250 --> 00:56:14.039
commitment. But then the commitment interferes

00:56:14.039 --> 00:56:17.159
with what God is doing, and we still keep our

00:56:17.159 --> 00:56:23.079
commitment. Caution. To offer a reasonable trade

00:56:23.079 --> 00:56:27.179
of that which you don't greatly value for that

00:56:27.179 --> 00:56:29.739
which has been presented as being of great value.

00:56:29.900 --> 00:56:33.960
So you're giving up whatever it is that God is

00:56:33.960 --> 00:56:36.579
offering, time in worship, time in service, giving,

00:56:36.920 --> 00:56:40.960
whatever, in exchange for what the world values.

00:56:42.279 --> 00:56:46.539
time on the TV, time in recreation, whatever.

00:56:47.480 --> 00:56:49.679
And people surrender the perfect will of God,

00:56:49.840 --> 00:56:54.340
first followed by the will of God, next as the

00:56:54.340 --> 00:56:57.719
extra becomes more obviously needed. So that,

00:56:57.800 --> 00:57:00.000
in other words, you start to not do what God

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:01.780
wants you to do and you're committed to it and

00:57:01.780 --> 00:57:03.340
it's a course of action and it seems to be working,

00:57:03.420 --> 00:57:05.960
but you want to do more. And so then, now you

00:57:05.960 --> 00:57:07.519
give up not only the perfect will of God, but

00:57:07.519 --> 00:57:11.820
also the will of God in its entirety. All the

00:57:11.820 --> 00:57:14.119
while, the fulfilled promises of God are in the

00:57:14.119 --> 00:57:16.639
offering and they cannot be received because

00:57:16.639 --> 00:57:18.599
the individual in question has abandoned seeking

00:57:18.599 --> 00:57:22.579
God and disciplining himself. Are you seeking

00:57:22.579 --> 00:57:27.099
God and disciplining yourself? If you're not

00:57:27.099 --> 00:57:28.880
seeking God and disciplining yourself, whatever

00:57:28.880 --> 00:57:30.440
it is that you see on the horizon that's coming

00:57:30.440 --> 00:57:35.860
that looks really good, kiss it goodbye. Because

00:57:35.860 --> 00:57:38.719
if it's not from God and you get it, that's only

00:57:38.719 --> 00:57:41.659
going to make your life worse. If you go after

00:57:41.659 --> 00:57:43.960
that person, young people, if you go after that

00:57:43.960 --> 00:57:45.280
person that you're dating and you want to get

00:57:45.280 --> 00:57:47.639
married and you're so sure that that's what God's

00:57:47.639 --> 00:57:51.659
doing, you better, darn well better, spend time

00:57:51.659 --> 00:57:56.860
in the spiritual disciplines and seek God and

00:57:56.860 --> 00:58:00.719
renew your mind because the journey that lies

00:58:00.719 --> 00:58:05.500
ahead is impossible without God on your side.

00:58:06.559 --> 00:58:09.079
And if you would say, well, I don't think God

00:58:09.079 --> 00:58:11.639
is doing it, but I'm going to do it anyway, you

00:58:11.639 --> 00:58:13.780
are literally committing yourself to live outside

00:58:13.780 --> 00:58:15.659
the perfect will of God and probably outside

00:58:15.659 --> 00:58:20.900
the will of God. I'm going to tell you a brief

00:58:20.900 --> 00:58:26.360
story. There was a man. He got to be older, and

00:58:26.360 --> 00:58:29.440
his dad was about to pass away. His dad called

00:58:29.440 --> 00:58:31.420
him in the study and sat him down. He said, I

00:58:31.420 --> 00:58:32.860
want to tell you, son, you know that we've always

00:58:32.860 --> 00:58:35.539
been fairly prosperous. And he said, that's true.

00:58:35.599 --> 00:58:37.380
Our family has always done fairly well for itself.

00:58:37.519 --> 00:58:39.500
Work hard, high integrity. He said, I want you

00:58:39.500 --> 00:58:43.340
to know that the integrity, all the hard work,

00:58:43.500 --> 00:58:46.480
none of that was it. And the guy's like, wow,

00:58:46.559 --> 00:58:48.900
okay, what was it? If it wasn't integrity and

00:58:48.900 --> 00:58:50.440
hard work, I thought that pays off. And that's

00:58:50.440 --> 00:58:51.440
what you always taught me growing up. He said,

00:58:51.480 --> 00:58:53.840
it was this. And he pulls out a little box, little

00:58:53.840 --> 00:58:56.539
wooden box. And he brings it over to him and

00:58:56.539 --> 00:58:58.719
he sets it in front of him. And he's wheezing,

00:58:58.800 --> 00:59:00.880
he's on oxygen, he's not long to live. And he

00:59:00.880 --> 00:59:04.119
shows his son a magic pebble. He says, this is

00:59:04.119 --> 00:59:07.159
it. This magic pebble is the thing. And he says,

00:59:07.239 --> 00:59:09.219
and I now bestow it upon you. You're the new

00:59:09.219 --> 00:59:10.639
head of our family, even though I probably have

00:59:10.639 --> 00:59:12.079
weeks to live. You're the new head of our family.

00:59:12.119 --> 00:59:13.599
This is the magic pebble. And he takes the magic

00:59:13.599 --> 00:59:15.820
pebble, and he's so grateful to have it because

00:59:15.820 --> 00:59:17.400
he's the new head of the family, but he puts

00:59:17.400 --> 00:59:20.380
it in his pocket. Now, unbeknownst to him, he

00:59:20.380 --> 00:59:23.199
put it in his pocket, and the threads at the

00:59:23.199 --> 00:59:26.420
bottom of his pocket were badly worn. So that

00:59:26.420 --> 00:59:28.440
afternoon, he and his family visit Pebble Beach.

00:59:29.199 --> 00:59:32.900
You can imagine where this is going. And while

00:59:32.900 --> 00:59:35.179
they're walking on Pebble Beach, The pebble of

00:59:35.179 --> 00:59:38.199
prosperity falls out of his pocket. He gets to

00:59:38.199 --> 00:59:40.900
the end of the beach. And he was talking to his

00:59:40.900 --> 00:59:43.320
wife. And he's finally going to bring it up.

00:59:43.360 --> 00:59:44.800
And he says, I know, you know, we've taught our

00:59:44.800 --> 00:59:46.860
kids about integrity and hard work and all that.

00:59:46.980 --> 00:59:49.000
But my dad says, it's not all that. It's the

00:59:49.000 --> 00:59:51.639
pebble. And he puts his hand there. And it's

00:59:51.639 --> 00:59:54.800
not there. And he's like, it's gone. And she's

00:59:54.800 --> 00:59:57.039
like, what's gone? And he says, the pebble. And

00:59:57.039 --> 00:59:59.960
he's like, it was in my pocket. And he puts his

00:59:59.960 --> 01:00:01.099
fingers through the hole. And he's like, it's

01:00:01.099 --> 01:00:03.639
gone. And so he and his wife and their three

01:00:03.639 --> 01:00:05.820
kids, they spend the afternoon searching where

01:00:05.820 --> 01:00:07.639
they walked on Pebble Beach for the pebble of

01:00:07.639 --> 01:00:10.960
prosperity. And they don't find it. And he purposes

01:00:10.960 --> 01:00:12.840
in himself he's going to work harder. And so

01:00:12.840 --> 01:00:14.960
he goes back the next day. He quits his job.

01:00:15.079 --> 01:00:16.980
He's like, it doesn't pay off anyway. So he quits

01:00:16.980 --> 01:00:18.539
his job and he goes back and he searches Pebble

01:00:18.539 --> 01:00:21.019
Beach every day, end to end, searching for the

01:00:21.019 --> 01:00:23.159
pebble of prosperity. He picks one pebble up

01:00:23.159 --> 01:00:25.099
and he looks at it and he says, that's not it.

01:00:25.179 --> 01:00:26.840
And he throws it down. He picks another pebble

01:00:26.840 --> 01:00:28.239
up and he looks at it. That's not it. He throws

01:00:28.239 --> 01:00:29.579
it down. He picks another pebble up. That's not

01:00:29.579 --> 01:00:31.750
it. He looks at it. Throws it down. And he keeps

01:00:31.750 --> 01:00:34.449
doing that over and over again. Days go by. Weeks

01:00:34.449 --> 01:00:36.690
go by. He's been doing it for months. Six months

01:00:36.690 --> 01:00:39.070
later, it's getting cold. It's rainy. He's walking

01:00:39.070 --> 01:00:40.989
Pebble Beach. He picks a pebble up. And he says,

01:00:41.090 --> 01:00:42.969
that's not it. And he throws it down. He picks

01:00:42.969 --> 01:00:44.250
a pebble up. And he says, that's not it. And

01:00:44.250 --> 01:00:45.429
he throws it down. He picks it up. And he says,

01:00:45.469 --> 01:00:47.690
oh, that's it. And he throws it down. And the

01:00:47.690 --> 01:00:52.409
waves wash up. And he's like, oh, crud. See,

01:00:52.489 --> 01:00:54.389
he was searching for the pebble all that time.

01:00:54.690 --> 01:00:58.869
But the process became the thing. And he threw

01:00:58.869 --> 01:01:01.989
away, now he's intentionally thrown away the

01:01:01.989 --> 01:01:04.650
pebble of prosperity back into the monks. And

01:01:04.650 --> 01:01:06.030
yeah, it's not the whole beach, but it's going

01:01:06.030 --> 01:01:08.449
to take some searching. And I submit to you that

01:01:08.449 --> 01:01:10.570
if you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,

01:01:10.849 --> 01:01:15.309
and you have not disciplined yourself, if you're

01:01:15.309 --> 01:01:18.550
not seeking daily to know God, to know more,

01:01:18.570 --> 01:01:21.010
to have a higher knowledge of the Lord daily,

01:01:21.230 --> 01:01:26.449
then the pebble of prosperity, when God starts

01:01:26.449 --> 01:01:28.969
to do a thing, When God starts to do something

01:01:28.969 --> 01:01:31.250
that seems unreasonable and untimely, and it

01:01:31.250 --> 01:01:35.269
will because He's God, you're going to toss it

01:01:35.269 --> 01:01:39.929
away. You're going to be surprised, and you're

01:01:39.929 --> 01:01:43.070
going to toss it away. And for this reason, young

01:01:43.070 --> 01:01:48.369
Saul, who loved God more than life itself, who

01:01:48.369 --> 01:01:50.449
had studied under one of the greatest teachers

01:01:50.449 --> 01:01:54.570
known to mankind, the name still rings in hallowed

01:01:54.570 --> 01:01:58.659
halls today, Gamaliel. Young Saul said, this

01:01:58.659 --> 01:02:02.139
upstart church, this upstart religion that's

01:02:02.139 --> 01:02:05.480
drifting from Judaism is wrong and nobody's doing

01:02:05.480 --> 01:02:07.400
anything about it. I'm going to do something

01:02:07.400 --> 01:02:09.780
about it. And he started persecuting Christians

01:02:09.780 --> 01:02:11.719
and killing them and taking their lands and having

01:02:11.719 --> 01:02:13.380
them in prison and putting them in shackles and

01:02:13.380 --> 01:02:16.000
carrying them off. And he got papers from the

01:02:16.000 --> 01:02:18.460
high priest to go and do the same thing in another

01:02:18.460 --> 01:02:20.860
city, one of the largest, oldest cities to ever

01:02:20.860 --> 01:02:23.420
exist. And he was walking down the road to go

01:02:23.420 --> 01:02:26.539
there and do that when Jesus said, Saul, Soul,

01:02:26.639 --> 01:02:31.860
why are you persecuting me? And do you now see

01:02:31.860 --> 01:02:37.739
that in your righteous and gentle spirit, if

01:02:37.739 --> 01:02:40.519
you will not discipline yourself, if you will

01:02:40.519 --> 01:02:43.579
not daily seek the Lord, that when the Lord begins

01:02:43.579 --> 01:02:47.780
to do something in your life, not only might

01:02:47.780 --> 01:02:50.599
you miss the perfect will of the Lord and not

01:02:50.599 --> 01:02:53.300
jump on board and coordinate with Him, but on

01:02:53.300 --> 01:02:55.900
top of that, You could leave the will of the

01:02:55.900 --> 01:03:02.920
Lord completely. And that's what Saul did, even

01:03:02.920 --> 01:03:04.619
though he knew the Bible better than any of us.

01:03:05.260 --> 01:03:07.559
Even though he was dedicated, he was in their

01:03:07.559 --> 01:03:09.679
version of church, was the temple, but he was

01:03:09.679 --> 01:03:18.079
there seven days a week, 20 hours a day. You

01:03:18.079 --> 01:03:20.659
think you know God? You think you know what God

01:03:20.659 --> 01:03:23.639
is doing? You think that knowing the Bible is

01:03:23.639 --> 01:03:26.880
what it takes to know what God is doing? Or showing

01:03:26.880 --> 01:03:31.320
up for church each week? If anybody could know

01:03:31.320 --> 01:03:34.159
it that way, it would have been him. And men

01:03:34.159 --> 01:03:37.179
and women and children lost their lives, lost

01:03:37.179 --> 01:03:41.800
their property. The flip side of that, David,

01:03:41.920 --> 01:03:44.800
pursued by Saul across the countryside by an

01:03:44.800 --> 01:03:47.010
army. With just a few refugees, essentially,

01:03:47.170 --> 01:03:49.869
or a few hundred refugees, essentially, to comfort

01:03:49.869 --> 01:03:51.710
him and to find food and all those kinds of things.

01:03:51.750 --> 01:03:53.869
People, criminals, and mostly rebels and so on

01:03:53.869 --> 01:03:55.269
that he was taking care of. And Saul pursued

01:03:55.269 --> 01:03:58.469
him. And three times, three times David had the

01:03:58.469 --> 01:04:01.489
right to kill or God gave him over into his hands.

01:04:01.750 --> 01:04:03.389
The one time he crept up and he cut a little

01:04:03.389 --> 01:04:06.090
corner off of his cloak. And then he went out

01:04:06.090 --> 01:04:07.710
and confronted him. And he said, look, I could

01:04:07.710 --> 01:04:09.929
have killed you. God gave you into my hands.

01:04:10.010 --> 01:04:15.280
I could have killed you. But he didn't. Even

01:04:15.280 --> 01:04:17.440
though David had been anointed king of Israel,

01:04:17.619 --> 01:04:21.159
had been chosen by God to replace Saul, and yet

01:04:21.159 --> 01:04:25.960
David didn't kill him. In Acts 4, after they

01:04:25.960 --> 01:04:28.059
healed that man sitting at the beautiful gate,

01:04:28.239 --> 01:04:31.880
they were being persecuted. And they brought

01:04:31.880 --> 01:04:34.659
him in and they said, you will not speak in the

01:04:34.659 --> 01:04:37.039
name of Jesus anymore. And they said, well, you

01:04:37.039 --> 01:04:40.059
tell us. Is it right to listen to you or to God?

01:04:40.119 --> 01:04:45.510
What were they saying? And they said, they beat

01:04:45.510 --> 01:04:48.130
him and cast him out, telling him not to talk

01:04:48.130 --> 01:04:50.869
in the name of Jesus anymore. But they thought

01:04:50.869 --> 01:04:53.070
about killing him. And you know why they didn't?

01:04:53.409 --> 01:04:56.130
Because Gamaliel was there. And Gamaliel said,

01:04:56.329 --> 01:04:59.349
many men have come and claimed to be messiahs.

01:04:59.530 --> 01:05:02.090
Many men have come and claimed disciples for

01:05:02.090 --> 01:05:06.369
themselves. And this Jesus, he was like them,

01:05:06.429 --> 01:05:09.630
but also miracles and things, but he was a lot

01:05:09.630 --> 01:05:12.489
like them. And he said, and the truth is, If

01:05:12.489 --> 01:05:14.489
he is not the son of God, he's not the Messiah,

01:05:14.489 --> 01:05:16.409
he's not the one we've been waiting for, then

01:05:16.409 --> 01:05:19.670
in time, he'll fade away and be nothing. End

01:05:19.670 --> 01:05:21.489
of the story. 2 ,000 plus years later, he has

01:05:21.489 --> 01:05:23.349
not faded away, right? He's not going to because

01:05:23.349 --> 01:05:26.289
he was the son of God. And he said, but if he

01:05:26.289 --> 01:05:29.349
really is who he says he is, and you resist him

01:05:29.349 --> 01:05:32.650
now, you might even be found fighting against

01:05:32.650 --> 01:05:38.469
God. And that he said to the high priests. We're

01:05:38.469 --> 01:05:41.190
not high priests. And we don't have the Bible

01:05:41.190 --> 01:05:44.489
memorized. We have not spent two days a week

01:05:44.489 --> 01:05:46.690
for our entire lives fasting and going without

01:05:46.690 --> 01:05:50.449
food. But the Scripture is clearly calling us

01:05:50.449 --> 01:05:54.630
to discipline ourselves and be ready for God

01:05:54.630 --> 01:05:56.750
to do something new. And how do you do that?

01:05:56.829 --> 01:06:01.650
You practice the spiritual disciplines. You eliminate

01:06:01.650 --> 01:06:06.969
distractions. Overcome, really let go, impatience.

01:06:08.460 --> 01:06:10.360
And separate yourself from the cares and the

01:06:10.360 --> 01:06:13.300
riches of this world. Don't run on ahead of God.

01:06:14.639 --> 01:06:17.900
Do it in a godly way. Start by giving your life

01:06:17.900 --> 01:06:19.400
over to the Lord if you never have done that.

01:06:20.099 --> 01:06:21.659
And then if you're thinking about making some

01:06:21.659 --> 01:06:24.500
kind of a radical choice, always run it by Him,

01:06:24.539 --> 01:06:26.219
run it by Scripture, run it by wise counsel.

01:06:27.719 --> 01:06:29.719
So that you restrain that zeal, so you don't

01:06:29.719 --> 01:06:32.340
run on ahead when faith fails or do something

01:06:32.340 --> 01:06:35.519
stupid, ruin your life or ruin God's chance to

01:06:35.519 --> 01:06:39.650
do something amazing in your life. And in the

01:06:39.650 --> 01:06:42.710
meantime, renewing our minds, practicing spiritual

01:06:42.710 --> 01:06:46.429
discipline, seeking the Lord daily. The truth

01:06:46.429 --> 01:06:49.789
is, if you have not been doing that, you've already

01:06:49.789 --> 01:06:54.849
missed an untold number of times that God was

01:06:54.849 --> 01:06:57.510
doing something incredible. God wanted to do

01:06:57.510 --> 01:07:01.150
something amazing. Repent today and say, Lord,

01:07:01.210 --> 01:07:05.570
if I have my way, I will not miss what you are

01:07:05.570 --> 01:07:08.199
doing. And then when you feel like you want to

01:07:08.199 --> 01:07:11.619
do something more, coordinate your efforts with

01:07:11.619 --> 01:07:14.920
the Lord. That is not unattainable if you'll

01:07:14.920 --> 01:07:18.639
prepare yourself, if you'll be ready, undistracted,

01:07:18.639 --> 01:07:22.059
not impatient, not wrapped up in the cares and

01:07:22.059 --> 01:07:25.079
riches of this world. You can do it. And you

01:07:25.079 --> 01:07:27.659
might be an evangelist and you might see dozens

01:07:27.659 --> 01:07:30.760
of people saved. You might give at just the right

01:07:30.760 --> 01:07:34.760
time so that people don't starve to death. Any

01:07:34.760 --> 01:07:37.380
number of things God could do. But the one thing

01:07:37.380 --> 01:07:40.820
you'll know is if you do that, then when God

01:07:40.820 --> 01:07:43.679
does something amazing, you'll not be surprised.