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This is Pastor Dan. Just want to thank you for choosing this podcast by New Heights Fellowship

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Baptist Church of East Toledo. Join us today in reaching New Heights in Jesus. In this

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episode, look for the well-worn way. It's the wrong way, but it's a way that a lot of people go.

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And we're going to choose to go a different way today. We're going to take the path less traveled by.

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I'm gonna live without believe. I'm gonna live without believe.

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Alright, so I hope you've been inspired this week. Does anybody know, Tony Tate, does anybody know what the word inspired actually means?

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Alright, tell me. What does it mean?

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It means that someone does something that you feel like it would be like a good thing to do.

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That's what we use it for most of the time. Like I was inspired to go to work. Or I was inspired to give a gift. That's how we usually use it.

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What is the actual definition of the word? Does anybody know?

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Getting closer. That's really close now. You're really almost on target. You guys really got it.

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The original place that it comes from is it means God breathed. That's what the word actually means.

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So when we act in a way that encourages somebody to do something or feel good about what they did,

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or encourages them to move forward, motivate them, whatever like that, we are sort of acting out what God did.

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So we know that all scripture is inspired of the Lord, and so it's all God breathed.

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God gave us the word of God to study it, to live by it. I guess David would certainly say that we ought to hide it in our heart.

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We have plenty of encouragement, inspiration, motivation in the word of God itself to push us to want to know it better and live by it and so on.

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So have you studied your Bible this week? Did you see anything in scripture? Something that might have made you go hmm.

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Maybe something that you could share with us. Even if it felt like it was only for you.

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Because sometimes in how you see things, that's how others learn to see things.

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I see how that's specific to you. Now I'm looking for something that's specific to me in the same way.

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How about it? What do you got to share? Spent a rough week?

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I had an interesting experience in studying my Bible this week. I went and I've been using the U version Bible app to do my Bible study every morning.

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And my Bible study, like sometimes it's only, you might literally only take a few minutes.

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You know, the idea of a discipline is you plan to do it a certain way, right?

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So when people do like discipline their bodies, they say, well, I'm going to make sure I go to sleep at a certain time every night.

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I'm going to make sure I drink this much water. I'm going to make sure I work out this many times a week or on this day of the week.

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And then they start going, I'm going to do 10 reps like this, 10 reps like this, 10 reps like this.

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And then a few weeks later, it's like, I'm going to do 12 now because the 10 is pretty easy. And then it's 20 and then it's 30.

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So you might start with, I'm just going to do three minutes or whatever. Or you might say, like I tried to do that.

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I'm going to do first thing in the morning every morning before I do anything else.

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So I've been laying in my bed in the morning before I do anything else, grabbing my U version Bible app.

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I read the Bible verse or more than one in some cases and then writing something, typing something on my phone.

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And I discovered that for the last, and I was putting them on there publicly, but somehow the public got switched to private.

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And so I had to go on yesterday morning after I did my Bible study and go on and I had to change all of the last two and a half weeks or so of those to public.

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Because that was my, that was part of my discipline. I said I was going to do that. I was going to make it public.

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So if people wanted to see what I was doing, they can. So if you're in the U version Bible app and if you have notifications turned on and you're following my public posts,

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I apologize for yesterday morning because I probably sent you about 20 posts. If you're not, you can.

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And you don't have to turn the notifications on, but they're there. And then you might have something different and you can comment on my comment.

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You're like, well, I can't be motivated. But then if you remind and disagree with me, that'll motivate you.

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But yeah, Pastor Dan said this, but I can say this is that, you know, whatever. And we'll get, we'll get some discussion going if you want to do that.

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But this morning I went to bed, I was working my sermon late last night and I had a bad headache and it lasted. It started about 830 and it lasted until about 1 30 in the morning.

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And it was really bad. And I couldn't hardly finish my sermon. I was trying really hard to finish it up and put it in final form and I couldn't get there.

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And my head hurt really bad. I finally broke down at 1 30 in the morning, took some ibuprofen and said I'm going to have to do it tomorrow morning.

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So I woke up this morning, first thing, guess what was on my mind? Finishing my sermon. And for the first time in 58 days, the first thing I did in the morning was not study my Bible.

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So no matter what you do, no matter how you set the disciplines, your rules, you realize, you know, it may fall apart.

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There may come a time where you don't do it the way you intended to do it. But guess what I'll do? I hope I'll do first thing tomorrow morning is study my Bible.

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So it ain't over yet. And I did. I started with my sermon and then I was like 10 minutes into it. I went, wait a minute, I didn't do my Bible study.

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And so I stopped and went back. But I cannot say that 58 days, 59 days in a row, whatever it is, I can't say I did it every day that many days in a row, first thing, because I blew it this morning.

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Okay. So I'm being transparent about my Bible study and by my saying, have you seen anything this week? And everybody's saying, no, I really haven't seen anything.

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Y'all are being transparent about your Bible study too. Either you're saying I didn't study my Bible this week, or you're saying I did and I just don't have anything to share.

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And I would encourage you to think it's a service. Think of it as a service. Think when you're reading your Bible, think what can I share? What can I talk about? Okay.

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So we're just going to pray and jump back into worship. Remember, we are in the middle of our push for Bible study as a discipline and it will end.

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And you will not see us push this hard for Bible study for probably five years. So if you can't begin to train yourself, discipline yourself to study your Bible now,

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then you're going to have to do it without somebody standing up here week after week after week, pushing you to do that. Okay. So I encourage you to do that.

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All right. So we need somebody to pray for us as we transition. And, you know, always the safe bet and the courage. All right. You want to do that? All right. All right.

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Stacy's going to pray for us. Oh, no, I want to pray. Oh, you want to say something. Stacy wants to say something.

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I listen to people in worship a lot because sometimes when I read some days I don't do good and I can't remember.

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But there's a hand that's related to what's called from when I was younger. But it was before that. It's called trust and obey.

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And some of the words are when we abide with the Word, we can guide us accordingly. The Word, it shuts on our way.

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And there's no way to do it. It's as simple as trust and obey. Even the days I don't feel God, I know God's there because God is faithful.

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Not that Stacy is faithful, God is faithful. And some days it's just as simple to trust and obey.

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And that's very good. I love that song. I had forgotten about it until you just mentioned it, but I can hear a little bit of the chorus.

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All right. So how about we pray? Is there a young person in the room who will pray with us? Pray for us today.

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Would you do that, Ariana? OK, Ariana, pray for us. Remember the tithes and offerings. OK. All right. Here we go.

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Jesus said, take this person for your saved beings, and help them.

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TFK Jacob said,ственный, Drag it away.

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I got about half of it and I trust that you were praying to Jesus and so was I and we're

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united.

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Let's praise Him today.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Love this song.

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I've sung it so loud I ran out of breath but I'm going to try to do it again today.

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Let's go.

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Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh Lord of my soul, worship this holy name.

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Oh my soul, worship your holy name.

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This song comes up into new day morning.

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Let me be singing when we eat, may God.

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Oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.

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Oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.

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Oh my soul, worship your holy name.

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Oh my soul, worship your holy name.

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Oh my soul, worship your holy name.

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Oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.

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Oh my soul, worship His holy name.

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Oh my soul, worship His holy name.

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Oh my soul, worship His holy name.

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Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.

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If I never before, oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

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Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.

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If I never before, oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

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Worship your holy name, Lord, I worship your holy name.

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Seek like never before, oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name.

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Worship your holy name, worship your holy name.

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What is God, and what is He, holy, holy is He.

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Say, if you saw, if you saw, heaven's mercy see.

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What is God, and what is He, holy, holy is He.

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Sing a little song, to hear the sweet song, heaven's mercy see.

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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

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It's a creation that's been raised to be in your face.

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You are my everything, and I will adore you.

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Come and bring her to me, I'll give her color, and she's the one I need more than light to.

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Let's sing in honor, she said, glory, and power to me, and to you be all that I need.

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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

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It's a creation that's been raised to be in your face. You are my everything, and I will adore you.

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Filled with wonder, eyes filled with wonder, at the mention of your name.

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Jesus, your name is power, breath and living water, such a marvelous mystery.

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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

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It's a creation that's been raised to be in your face. You are my everything, and I will adore you.

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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

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It's a creation that's been raised to be in your face. You are my everything, and I will adore you.

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I thought those little balloons were punctuation.

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I got waves that are coming crashing all around me.

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And in all sincerity, Lord, I'm a Vivian.

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You call me out of my sight, please, because I know I'm on my way.

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You were so back from the dead, I'm a Vivian.

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You're a sponge and brush that pours, but you're not a real thing.

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You leave, I'll follow, with your hands on my tomorrow. Your breath, your grace, you know the way your mind is handling me.

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You leave, I'll follow, just like the way I'm handling you.

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You're not going down to me, nor more than I can take. Don't get me on and on and on and on. Just leave me on and on and on.

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You're a child after your boys, but as the God made my choice, there's no one here to be good to you.

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You're my big son and I'm big. You're my mother and I'm big.

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You're my daughter and I'm big. You're my father and I'm big. You're my mother and I'm big.

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Now, slowly, I'll follow, just like a rain-and-thunder flow

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And I know that you've got me, and all that I can see

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So, lead me on and on, on and on

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Just lead me on and on, on and on

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So, don't wanna wait, I don't wanna get up on my bed

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To make thoughts in my head, don't wanna be who I used to be

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So, let's sit back, sit and let you in

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I, need to stop, need to stop, cause I'm going too fast

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I, know my God is the God, and you've got my back

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You lead, I'll follow, your hands from my simple throw

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Your grip, your grace, becomes the way that I pretend to be

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You lead, I'll follow, just like a rain-and-thunder flow

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And I know that you've got me, and all that I can see

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So, lead me on, lead me on

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I, need to stop, need to stop, cause I'm going too fast

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I, know my God is the God, and you've got my back

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And you've got my back, and you've got my back

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And you've got my back, lead me on

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Thank you very much

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Any other young people that wanna take notes?

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Take notes?

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I could usually talk dust in this room

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You wanted your hand ready? Nothing wrong with your hand ready, girl

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You want your hand ready? Better my hand ready

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Alright

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We are in the midst of a project, in case you didn't know

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With that note-taking thing, we are writing a book

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We're gonna put the notes all together and give credit where credit is due

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When we are through, and I think it's gonna be really cool

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I'm super excited about it, but the youth have been working on that with me

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And growing a lot through that process, and I read their notes and I'm blessed

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I read a note over the week, RJ and I met Friday afternoon actually

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And we read through some of those notes, and the one note that one of the young ladies had written

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About made me cry, it was so perfectly on target and summed up the scripture

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I was like, wow, that felt inspired, it was really good, and it's always good

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But that one just really touched my heart

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So, we went into an ice cream shop, you ever go into an ice cream shop?

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I hope so, because that's a nice place to be, an ice cream shop, you know what I'm saying?

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But that being said, some people like ice cream, some people don't

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But I like ice cream, and I went to an ice cream shop

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And in the ice cream shop, they had 30 wonderful flavors of ice cream

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But they really only had about 5 that I really like, you know what I'm saying?

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So I could narrow it down real fast to about 5 types of ice cream

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Then I looked up on the board, and they had like 30 different toppings

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That you could choose from for your ice cream, different kinds of candy, and chocolate syrup

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And just all kind of variety

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But I was able to narrow it down to about 10 that I really like, you know, that I could stomach

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And I wasn't going to eat anything that was just purely candy, because I don't eat candy

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I gave that up quite a long time ago now

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And so, I was looking at different toppings and things, and I got down to about 10

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And then I thought to myself, if there are 5 kinds of ice cream

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And there are 10 toppings that I might put on each of those kinds of ice cream

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How many total combinations are there?

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And I thought, man, that's got to be a lot

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I'm going to have to come back to this ice cream shop like every day

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Until I get through all this. Woe is me

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Is there a mathematician in the house that knows how to calculate that mathematic formula?

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5 types of ice cream, 10 toppings?

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You're the mathematician

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I am not the mathematician

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I may be the closest thing, but if it's true, it's only because I prepared

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So I want you to bear that thought in mind

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The many permutations of 5 flavors of ice cream and 10 toppings

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Only 10, not the 30 wonderful flavors, not the 30-40 toppings

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But just 5 types of ice cream, which is 10 possible toppings

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Bear that thought in mind then with me as we go to the scripture today

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And we'll come back to it when we get to the points

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So grab your Bibles, if you would, and go with me to 1 Samuel chapter 15

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This is God's Word

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You know what? This is maybe one of the least pleasant passages of God's Word

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It is a painful experience to apply the truths that are herein laid out to our own lives

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Not like all those flavors of ice cream, but just kind of tough to swallow

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So we're in 1 Samuel chapter 15, and I'm actually going to begin in verse 10

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Now, I think on the board we have... oh, we do, through 29

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I'm going to go through 29, so awesome

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And if I feel so led, I may go to a little further, but here we go

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1 Samuel chapter 15, beginning in verse 10

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Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying

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This is God speaking

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I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me

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and has not carried out my commands

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So real quick, let's break down some things

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First of all, you've got Samuel, he's the high priest

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You've got Saul, he's the ordained, anointed king of Israel

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And then you've got God

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God is the one who made Samuel high priest, God is the one who made Saul king

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But in this story, we hear God saying to Samuel, the high priest, I regret

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And the word there is like a Hebrew word, it's knock-home

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And you could use it for regret or repent, like I repent of having done this

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I regret I did this, right? So it's sorrow at the action

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So here we have God saying, I am sorry, I wish I had not

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As if God is regretting making Saul king, and he said it

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So you've got to take it for face value

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God said, I regret having made Saul king, and he says because, or for because

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He has turned back from following me, as he's not doing what I would want him to do

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And he has not carried out my commands, and that's very specific

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So now we know there is something that God told Saul to do that Saul did not do

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And it's going to come out in the passage

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And Samuel was distressed, ah, that hurts a little bit, doesn't it?

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And he cried out to the Lord all night, all night he's crying out to God

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He's begging God, he's talking with God, how can this be so?

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And it's kind of like when you read that you start thinking maybe he's sad for Saul

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That the king of Israel is now going to be kicked down, right?

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That God regrets he made him king, so maybe he's praying for Saul

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I submit to you that he's praying for something else

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He's praying about something else, and you're going to see what it is by the end of the passage of scripture

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All night he cried out to the Lord, and verse 12 says

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And Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul

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So Samuel gets up and he goes to Saul

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And it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel

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And behold, he set up a monument for himself and then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal

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Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him

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Blessed are you of the Lord

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So Saul is given this awesome greeting, faith greeting to Samuel

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And he says, I have carried out the command of the Lord

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Well, that's good

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So then Samuel's going to go, man, that's a relief, right?

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God said you were not carrying out his commands, but you say you are carrying out, you have carried out his commands

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So God must have just been wrong

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I doubt that

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That doesn't sound right, does it?

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I don't think Samuel would say that

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So I think immediately he's recognizing the contrast

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And I would submit to you that Saul has so far gone that he has not carried out the commands of the Lord

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That he thinks despite he's not carrying out the commands of the Lord

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That he actually has carried out the command of the Lord

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That's where he's at

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And he would actually say to God's high priest

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I have carried out the commands of the Lord

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Even though the high priest has already been told by God that he has not carried out the commands of the Lord

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Verse 14

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But Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears

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And the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

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And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites

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For the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God

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But the rest we have utterly destroyed

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Which is an interesting phrase there, utterly destroyed

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If you just bop back just one second toward the beginning of the chapter

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You see it says in verse 1

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Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people over Israel

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Now therefore listen to the words of the Lord

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Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek

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For what he did to Israel and how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt

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Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy

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There's the phrase, utterly destroy

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And the next word says everything I think

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All, utterly destroy all that he has

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And do not spare him

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But put to death both man and woman, child and infant

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Ox and sheep, camel and donkey

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And then over here we have Saul saying, well I followed the command of the Lord

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And he says, the people kept back and spared the best of the sheep, the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God

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But the rest we have utterly destroyed

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See the contrast?

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He did not utterly destroy that which God told him to utterly destroy

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He actually kept it back thinking he could do a better thing with it

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He's smarter than God, don't you know?

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That he would keep it back to do a better thing than whatever God told him

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Just utterly destroy the best of the sheep and the oxen

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What a waste that we would do that

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That can't possibly be right

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And so they kept it back

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Now it goes on a little further

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Samuel said to Saul, wait

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And let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night

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You tell me you followed exactly what God told you to do

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You tell me that you spared the best to sacrifice it to God at Gilgal

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Now let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night

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And Saul said to him, speak

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And Samuel said, is it not true though you were little in your own eyes

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And that is true, right?

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You remember the story of Saul being anointed?

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Like right before he was about to be anointed, where was Saul?

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He was hiding amongst the baggage

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He was afraid

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He knew he was not worthy of being king

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And he was hiding

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Right?

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So they call him out, they're going to anoint him

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And he says, and then now a little fast forward to this point

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Samuel says, is it not true though you were little in your own eyes

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You were made the head of the tribes of Israel?

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Now before we go any further, I want to say to you, you can submit right there

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Is it not true that you were unworthy in your own eyes

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And when you were unworthy in your own eyes

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The God of heaven said you could be called a child of God

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He's the king of kings and the lord of lords and he chose you

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If you were never not worthy in your own eyes

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Then when he elevated you to this position

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It probably didn't come as any surprise to you

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And maybe that leads you to a place where you don't feel like you have very much commitment to God

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But if you realize that you were unworthy of the great grace of God

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Of salvation, heaven, being called a child of God

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Then you like Saul need to pay attention to what's going on here

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Because we are in danger of doing the very same thing

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Is it not true though you were little in your own eyes

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You were made the head of the tribes of Israel

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And the lord anointed you king over Israel

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And the lord sent you on a mission and said

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Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites

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And fight against them until they are exterminated

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There's a very simple word which we understand what it means

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Why then did you not obey the voice of the lord

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But rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the lord

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Then Saul said to Samuel

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I did obey the voice of the lord

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And I went on the mission which the lord sent me

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And I have brought back Agag the king of Amalek

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And have utterly destroyed the Amalekites

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But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen

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The choicest of the things that were devoted to destruction

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To sacrifice to the lord your god at Gilgal

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So he's reasoning, it's very close, he's very close

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But he didn't follow the commands of the lord

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And the only person in this conversation who doesn't seem to know it

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Is Saul

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I submit to you probably in his heart of hearts he does know it

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But he's arguing, if you will, just this little compromise

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We just did it a little bit differently

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But we're going to sacrifice all those things

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Notice that he doesn't mention that they're going to sacrifice the king

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Agag

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Verse 22 it says

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And Samuel said

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And now this, if you're reading along in your Bibles

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You may have this like in poetic phrasing

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Because the words are very poetically organized in the original

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It says, has the lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

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As in obeying the voice of the lord

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That fits beautifully with this topic

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Because he's saying

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Does god want you to bring it back and sacrifice it to him

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Or did god want you to do with it what you were supposed to do with it

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What he told you to do with it

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You say you're keeping it so you can sacrifice it and use it for the lord

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But the truth is, god just wanted you to do what he told you to do

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But he says it poetically

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He says, has the lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

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As in obeying the voice of the lord

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Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice

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And to heed than the fat of rams

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To heed is to listen to what god is saying and do it

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Verse 23

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For rebellion is as the sin of divination

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Now your translation may be there slightly different

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This is the new American standard I'm reading

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But the rebellion word always sticks

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But the divination word doesn't always stick

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Divination is basically witchcraft

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It's about telling the future by whatever it means

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By controlling the future to a degree

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But mostly by telling it the future

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So that you can maybe react to what might happen

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So you get to figure out what's going to go on

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And you're going to be who you want to be

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To try to fix what's going to go on

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So it's divination or witchcraft

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For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft or divination

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And in subordination

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That means not following the directions of your leader

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Which in this case is god

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Is as iniquity

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Which is just straight up sin or wickedness

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And idolatry

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Which means worshiping someone or something else

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Declaring someone or something else valuable like god

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Because you have rejected the word of the lord

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So back it up for a second for the full thought

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He says rebellion when you don't do what you're supposed to do

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Is as the sin of divination or witchcraft

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By the way rebellion is as the sin of divination or witchcraft

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Not only when it's talking about god

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Because there are other authorities

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We have the king, we have the president, the governor, police officer, your parents

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Whoever in your life that god has placed as an authority

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When you rebel that's still rebellion

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And he's saying this rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft or divination

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You're rebelling trying to see or control the outcome

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You know better than the authority that god has placed over you

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Other than god himself is really what it's saying

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So you rebel against any authority

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And so rebelling against any authority

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You're really rebelling against god

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And this rebellion is like divination, it's like witchcraft

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Which by the way at least would say

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It's disgusting to god, he hates it, he despises it

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He wants nothing to do with it and he doesn't want it in his people

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That's the minimum it says

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It also says things about it being addictive

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About it being an easy road to go down

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About it being comfortable

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The more you rebel the more comfortable you are with rebelling

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The more you rebel and kind of get away with it

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The more comfortable you are rebelling

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Thinking you're going to get away with it and so on

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Rebellion is as the sin of divination

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And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry

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And again insubordination is not only insubordination to god

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It's whenever you're insubordinate

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Whenever you resist the leadership that god has placed in your life

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The people that god has put over you

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You're insubordinate and so being it's like iniquity or wickedness and idolatry

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And we're comfortable with it

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And it summons evil spirits

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And it does all kinds of bad things that surround iniquity and idolatry

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Insubordination does

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All of that is true because you have rejected the word of the lord

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When you are rebellious to someone who's an authority over you

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You have rejected the word of the lord

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That's what he's saying

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When you are insubordinate to someone who has been placed over top of you

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You are rejecting the word of the lord

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And then he says he has also rejected you from being king

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And he tells Saul that Saul will lose his kingship

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Chosen, ordained, and anointed by god

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He will be removed

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We'd like to think, wouldn't we

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That these high standards are only applied to leaders

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Moses was not allowed to go into a promised land

444
00:43:30,980 --> 00:43:34,980
Because he struck the rock and chastised the Israelites

445
00:43:34,980 --> 00:43:37,980
When he was just supposed to talk to the rock

446
00:43:37,980 --> 00:43:39,980
But he was a leader and got a set an example

447
00:43:39,980 --> 00:43:41,980
He's got to be right and he wasn't right

448
00:43:41,980 --> 00:43:43,980
And so god can't let him receive the same rewards as everybody else

449
00:43:43,980 --> 00:43:45,980
He's got to take him on

450
00:43:45,980 --> 00:43:49,980
You realize that Moses, that man that was able to debate with god

451
00:43:49,980 --> 00:43:53,980
That was able to intercede on behalf of the Israelites

452
00:43:53,980 --> 00:43:56,980
When god said I'm just going to destroy Israel and start over with you

453
00:43:56,980 --> 00:43:58,980
And he's like no just destroy me I don't want that

454
00:43:58,980 --> 00:44:01,980
That man was not allowed to see the promised land

455
00:44:01,980 --> 00:44:05,980
Because he did not follow the commands of the lord

456
00:44:05,980 --> 00:44:07,980
And we like to think that's because they are leaders

457
00:44:07,980 --> 00:44:09,980
Because they are dominant personalities

458
00:44:09,980 --> 00:44:11,980
They are held to a higher standard

459
00:44:11,980 --> 00:44:16,980
I submit to you no, as a child of god that man was held to a higher standard

460
00:44:16,980 --> 00:44:20,980
As an originator of things to come in the kingdom of god

461
00:44:20,980 --> 00:44:22,980
He was held to a higher standard

462
00:44:22,980 --> 00:44:25,980
And you and I are the same as that

463
00:44:25,980 --> 00:44:28,980
These are the reasons that people are held to this standard

464
00:44:28,980 --> 00:44:31,980
Because when they are rebellious or insubordinate

465
00:44:31,980 --> 00:44:33,980
They have rejected the word of the lord

466
00:44:33,980 --> 00:44:37,980
You don't have to be king, elected to some office

467
00:44:37,980 --> 00:44:44,980
You don't have to be a child rebelling against their parents specifically

468
00:44:44,980 --> 00:44:46,980
There are no specifics here

469
00:44:46,980 --> 00:44:48,980
If you have rejected the word of the lord

470
00:44:48,980 --> 00:44:52,980
You too will be rejected by the lord

471
00:44:52,980 --> 00:44:54,980
That's what it says

472
00:44:54,980 --> 00:44:56,980
It hurts

473
00:44:56,980 --> 00:44:58,980
Verse 24

474
00:44:58,980 --> 00:45:00,980
Then Saul said to Samuel

475
00:45:00,980 --> 00:45:02,980
I have sinned

476
00:45:02,980 --> 00:45:06,980
I have indeed transgressed the command of the lord and your words

477
00:45:06,980 --> 00:45:09,980
Because I feared the people and listened to their voice

478
00:45:09,980 --> 00:45:11,980
Now he's got an excuse, a reason why

479
00:45:11,980 --> 00:45:14,980
But other than that it sounds like repentance

480
00:45:14,980 --> 00:45:16,980
He's coming back to god, he's coming back to Samuel

481
00:45:16,980 --> 00:45:19,980
And then the church under the grace of Jesus Christ

482
00:45:19,980 --> 00:45:22,980
We'd be like, yeah, one sinner repented

483
00:45:22,980 --> 00:45:24,980
We're rejoicing, we're so excited

484
00:45:24,980 --> 00:45:27,980
We will receive you, we will cry with you, we will pray over you

485
00:45:27,980 --> 00:45:30,980
And the grace of god is sufficient, how wonderful it is

486
00:45:30,980 --> 00:45:32,980
Sounds like he's repentant

487
00:45:32,980 --> 00:45:36,980
But he does say, because I feared the people and listened to their voice

488
00:45:36,980 --> 00:45:39,980
So he's qualifying his decision

489
00:45:39,980 --> 00:45:40,980
Verse 25

490
00:45:40,980 --> 00:45:43,980
Now therefore, please, pardon my sin

491
00:45:43,980 --> 00:45:46,980
And return with me that I may worship the lord

492
00:45:46,980 --> 00:45:47,980
All he wants to do is worship god

493
00:45:47,980 --> 00:45:51,980
Isn't that just what anybody should want?

494
00:45:51,980 --> 00:45:54,980
Please, pardon my sin, forgive my sin

495
00:45:54,980 --> 00:45:56,980
And return with me that I may worship the lord

496
00:45:56,980 --> 00:45:58,980
Verse 26 says

497
00:45:58,980 --> 00:46:01,980
But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you

498
00:46:01,980 --> 00:46:04,980
You have rejected the word of the lord

499
00:46:04,980 --> 00:46:08,980
And the lord has rejected you from being king over Israel

500
00:46:08,980 --> 00:46:10,980
And as Samuel turned to go

501
00:46:10,980 --> 00:46:13,980
Saul seized the edge of his robe and tore it

502
00:46:13,980 --> 00:46:15,980
And it tore

503
00:46:15,980 --> 00:46:16,980
So Samuel said to him

504
00:46:16,980 --> 00:46:20,980
The lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today

505
00:46:20,980 --> 00:46:22,980
And let's be very clear, that is exactly accurate

506
00:46:22,980 --> 00:46:25,980
He had the kingdom of Israel

507
00:46:25,980 --> 00:46:28,980
He was given the kingdom of Israel to take care of, to rule over

508
00:46:28,980 --> 00:46:30,980
To lead, to be an example, all of those things

509
00:46:30,980 --> 00:46:31,980
He had the kingdom

510
00:46:31,980 --> 00:46:36,980
And he says, now, God has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today

511
00:46:36,980 --> 00:46:40,980
And has given it to your neighbor who is better than you

512
00:46:40,980 --> 00:46:44,980
And we know that that will be David, but he doesn't name him here

513
00:46:44,980 --> 00:46:50,980
And also the glory of Israel will not lie or change his mind

514
00:46:50,980 --> 00:46:54,980
For he is not a man that he should change his mind

515
00:46:54,980 --> 00:46:58,980
That verse at the end there where you see the phrase change his mind

516
00:46:58,980 --> 00:47:00,980
In the New American Standard

517
00:47:00,980 --> 00:47:03,980
That word there is nokom

518
00:47:03,980 --> 00:47:05,980
I mentioned it earlier, remember what I said?

519
00:47:05,980 --> 00:47:09,980
It means to repent

520
00:47:09,980 --> 00:47:12,980
To regret or draw back from the course of action

521
00:47:12,980 --> 00:47:17,980
I submit to you that it sounds like Saul was repenting or drawing back

522
00:47:17,980 --> 00:47:19,980
But we didn't start there

523
00:47:19,980 --> 00:47:21,980
We started with this verse

524
00:47:21,980 --> 00:47:22,980
Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying

525
00:47:22,980 --> 00:47:25,980
I regret that I have made Saul king

526
00:47:25,980 --> 00:47:29,980
For he has turned back from following me

527
00:47:29,980 --> 00:47:32,980
See, Saul had turned back from following God

528
00:47:32,980 --> 00:47:36,980
He had repented essentially from following God

529
00:47:36,980 --> 00:47:42,980
And God was repenting or regretting having made Saul king

530
00:47:42,980 --> 00:47:44,980
But now we see

531
00:47:44,980 --> 00:47:48,980
And I think this is why the New American Standard translates this way

532
00:47:48,980 --> 00:47:51,980
Most of them do, but some don't

533
00:47:51,980 --> 00:47:55,980
Because the original word is to repent or regret

534
00:47:55,980 --> 00:47:59,980
Now we see it says

535
00:47:59,980 --> 00:48:04,980
The glory of Israel talking about God will not lie or change his mind

536
00:48:04,980 --> 00:48:07,980
In other words, or repent or regret, come back from that decision

537
00:48:07,980 --> 00:48:15,980
For he is not a man that he should repent or regret his decisions

538
00:48:15,980 --> 00:48:16,980
But the first verse said

539
00:48:16,980 --> 00:48:20,980
God said he regretted or repented of his decision to make Saul king

540
00:48:20,980 --> 00:48:23,980
And the last verse Samuel is saying

541
00:48:23,980 --> 00:48:30,980
God is not a man that he should repent or regret his decisions

542
00:48:30,980 --> 00:48:31,980
Three things I want you to see in the text

543
00:48:31,980 --> 00:48:33,980
And I hope we'll bring it all together

544
00:48:33,980 --> 00:48:35,980
The first thing is

545
00:48:35,980 --> 00:48:39,980
This thing that Saul did is easy

546
00:48:39,980 --> 00:48:43,980
It's literally easy

547
00:48:43,980 --> 00:48:46,980
Any slight variance on a command of God

548
00:48:46,980 --> 00:48:50,980
Any slight variance of the truth and it becomes what?

549
00:48:50,980 --> 00:48:52,980
Say it again

550
00:48:52,980 --> 00:48:54,980
A falsehood, a lie

551
00:48:54,980 --> 00:48:57,980
If you take the truth and you change it at all

552
00:48:57,980 --> 00:48:59,980
Any slight variance

553
00:48:59,980 --> 00:49:03,980
For example, you're apologizing to somebody and you say you're sorry

554
00:49:03,980 --> 00:49:08,980
You say I'm sorry, but you have altered the I'm sorry

555
00:49:08,980 --> 00:49:12,980
Any slight variance of the truth becomes a lie

556
00:49:12,980 --> 00:49:16,980
And then let's say you wanted to change it back to be the truth

557
00:49:16,980 --> 00:49:20,980
Could you slightly vary the lie that you have now created

558
00:49:20,980 --> 00:49:22,980
To make it be the truth?

559
00:49:22,980 --> 00:49:24,980
No

560
00:49:24,980 --> 00:49:28,980
This is why it's so easy to vary from the commands of God and to vary from the truth

561
00:49:28,980 --> 00:49:31,980
Because when you say the truth it is the truth and it stops

562
00:49:31,980 --> 00:49:34,980
It has a period, there's no qualifications, there's no parenthesis

563
00:49:34,980 --> 00:49:38,980
There's no extra commas in there, it's just the truth

564
00:49:38,980 --> 00:49:43,980
And then when you vary the truth slightly it becomes a lie

565
00:49:43,980 --> 00:49:45,980
I'll give you an example, same analogy

566
00:49:45,980 --> 00:49:48,980
I'm so sorry I did that to you

567
00:49:48,980 --> 00:49:53,980
But I had a good reason, but I am sorry

568
00:49:53,980 --> 00:49:54,980
Right?

569
00:49:54,980 --> 00:49:59,980
You go back and restate the beginning but it doesn't fix the fact that you said you had a good reason in the middle

570
00:49:59,980 --> 00:50:02,980
At the very least we now have to understand the good reason

571
00:50:02,980 --> 00:50:06,980
Or we're required to accept your apology because you had a good reason

572
00:50:06,980 --> 00:50:10,980
You're messing with the truth and if you mess with the truth the truth becomes a lie

573
00:50:10,980 --> 00:50:14,980
You mess with the lie it just becomes a different lie

574
00:50:14,980 --> 00:50:19,980
There's no taking a lie and making it into the truth, you can't do it, it's not even possible

575
00:50:19,980 --> 00:50:21,980
That's why it's so easy

576
00:50:21,980 --> 00:50:23,980
The slight variances

577
00:50:23,980 --> 00:50:27,980
You choose a slight variance, you compromise just a little

578
00:50:27,980 --> 00:50:32,980
And from that compromise there is literally no going back

579
00:50:32,980 --> 00:50:35,980
There's no repenting of the compromise, there is no going back

580
00:50:35,980 --> 00:50:38,980
God always starts with, you guessed it, God and that's it

581
00:50:38,980 --> 00:50:43,980
It doesn't start with your position of ignorance, your position of compromise, your position of falsehood

582
00:50:43,980 --> 00:50:47,980
It starts with God, the only way to get to God is through God

583
00:50:47,980 --> 00:50:52,980
You go back to God and if you go over here and you say now how do I get back to God from here?

584
00:50:52,980 --> 00:50:54,980
You get back to God the same way you got to God in the first place

585
00:50:54,980 --> 00:50:58,980
I submit to you if you're over here there's a possibility you never got to God in the first place

586
00:50:58,980 --> 00:51:01,980
Because why would you ever go over there if God made you a child of God?

587
00:51:01,980 --> 00:51:06,980
Why would you start to compromise? But it's so easy

588
00:51:08,980 --> 00:51:12,980
In an ice cream shop, five flavors of ice cream

589
00:51:12,980 --> 00:51:14,980
Ten toppings

590
00:51:16,980 --> 00:51:18,980
Ten toppings

591
00:51:18,980 --> 00:51:22,980
The answer is five flavors of ice cream times

592
00:51:22,980 --> 00:51:26,980
Ten, I'm sorry, times two to the tenth power

593
00:51:26,980 --> 00:51:29,980
That's the answer of the varieties, that's how you calculate that

594
00:51:29,980 --> 00:51:32,980
The reason you do that is because let's say you're going to have sprinkles as one of your toppings

595
00:51:32,980 --> 00:51:35,980
Either you have sprinkles or you don't have sprinkles, that's two

596
00:51:35,980 --> 00:51:38,980
Then you go to the next topping, you have chocolate syrup

597
00:51:38,980 --> 00:51:40,980
Either you have chocolate syrup or you don't have chocolate syrup, that's two

598
00:51:40,980 --> 00:51:45,980
But every time you have two possibilities you have to multiply it by all of the other possibilities

599
00:51:45,980 --> 00:51:47,980
Because you may have sprinkles and not have chocolate

600
00:51:47,980 --> 00:51:49,980
You may have no sprinkles and have chocolate

601
00:51:49,980 --> 00:51:51,980
So it multiplies by all the possibilities

602
00:51:51,980 --> 00:51:55,980
So the answer is five times two to the tenth power

603
00:51:55,980 --> 00:51:58,980
Two to the tenth power is 1024

604
00:51:58,980 --> 00:52:02,980
There are 1024 topping combinations

605
00:52:02,980 --> 00:52:06,980
But there are 1024 topping combinations for five flavors of ice cream

606
00:52:06,980 --> 00:52:10,980
So the actual answer is 5120

607
00:52:10,980 --> 00:52:15,980
Five flavors of ice cream, ten toppings, 5120 combinations

608
00:52:15,980 --> 00:52:19,980
Almost ten years there are a lot of combinations

609
00:52:19,980 --> 00:52:22,980
And you may go in there and you may say I'm going to get chocolate

610
00:52:22,980 --> 00:52:25,980
I'm going to get sprinkles, I'm going to get Oreo cookies

611
00:52:25,980 --> 00:52:28,980
You may pick the ones you like the best and you may eat it

612
00:52:28,980 --> 00:52:30,980
And you may go, that's the best ice cream

613
00:52:30,980 --> 00:52:33,980
I'll never eat another kind of ice cream ever

614
00:52:33,980 --> 00:52:36,980
Because I now am sworn to this flavor

615
00:52:36,980 --> 00:52:37,980
This is my flavor

616
00:52:37,980 --> 00:52:40,980
And you may go back for ten years and get the same flavor

617
00:52:40,980 --> 00:52:42,980
And in the eleventh year you may go

618
00:52:42,980 --> 00:52:46,980
I wonder what it would taste like with just a dab of strawberry syrup

619
00:52:46,980 --> 00:52:53,980
It's so easy to get off the perfect equation, the perfect formula, the perfect calculation of what it is

620
00:52:53,980 --> 00:52:59,980
Except there is a place where the perfect formula, the perfect equation, the perfect calculation actually does exist

621
00:52:59,980 --> 00:53:01,980
Do you know it? Do I know it? The answer is no

622
00:53:01,980 --> 00:53:03,980
But God knows it

623
00:53:03,980 --> 00:53:06,980
God knows the recipe for your life, He knows the variables, He knows where it's going to go

624
00:53:06,980 --> 00:53:10,980
We just sang the song, God alone knows the future He has for you

625
00:53:10,980 --> 00:53:13,980
You may be sitting here today thinking you're going to die

626
00:53:13,980 --> 00:53:17,980
You may be sitting here today thinking you're going to struggle to grow up and become a man or a woman

627
00:53:17,980 --> 00:53:21,980
You may be sitting here today thinking I don't know where my relationships go

628
00:53:21,980 --> 00:53:26,980
But God knows if you work the perfect combination and follow the commands of the Lord and stay faithful to Him

629
00:53:26,980 --> 00:53:36,980
He knows that He will take you to a place that you could never go by any variance, by any calculation, by any choice of decisions on your own

630
00:53:36,980 --> 00:53:41,980
It isn't over until it's over

631
00:53:41,980 --> 00:53:47,980
But when I read the text I see there is a time when it is over

632
00:53:47,980 --> 00:53:50,980
Oh, it's so easy to compromise

633
00:53:50,980 --> 00:53:56,980
So easy to make a minor adjustment, to make something important up near

634
00:53:56,980 --> 00:53:59,980
But it's not a God, it's just important

635
00:53:59,980 --> 00:54:07,980
But then you realize that you're taking some of the devotion, some of the attention, some of the worship from God and devoting it to these other times

636
00:54:07,980 --> 00:54:11,980
We read book after book after book but we don't read the Bible

637
00:54:11,980 --> 00:54:14,980
Oh, I'm disciplining myself, I'm reading my Bible every day

638
00:54:14,980 --> 00:54:16,980
So we read the Bible for five minutes every day

639
00:54:16,980 --> 00:54:22,980
But by the end of the week we've spent five hours on magazines or books or social media or whatever

640
00:54:22,980 --> 00:54:29,980
You tell me, if you budget your time this way, God gets five minutes a day, that's 35 minutes this week

641
00:54:29,980 --> 00:54:36,980
And of my free time, of the time that I get to choose to do whatever with, anything else gets five or ten or fifteen hours

642
00:54:36,980 --> 00:54:40,980
You're trying to tell me that that thing is not important to you like God?

643
00:54:40,980 --> 00:54:45,980
It's so easy to compromise, it's so easy to drift

644
00:54:45,980 --> 00:54:50,980
But it's a problem, it is the problem

645
00:54:50,980 --> 00:54:53,980
It is the problem of man's existence

646
00:54:53,980 --> 00:54:57,980
Assuming that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and become a follower of God

647
00:54:57,980 --> 00:55:01,980
This is literally the only problem that remains

648
00:55:01,980 --> 00:55:06,980
Because you're going to go to heaven one day and everything else, cancer, car accidents, broken relationships

649
00:55:06,980 --> 00:55:08,980
Not enough money at the end of the month to pay your bills

650
00:55:08,980 --> 00:55:11,980
All of those things are going to go away

651
00:55:11,980 --> 00:55:18,980
But this thing is a problem that persists because it says in this text as we have read it

652
00:55:18,980 --> 00:55:22,980
That there can come a moment in time where you have chosen to be literally a king

653
00:55:22,980 --> 00:55:26,980
Where you're chosen to be the child of God and there's no coming back from this problem

654
00:55:26,980 --> 00:55:30,980
And the kingdom of God can be torn from you

655
00:55:30,980 --> 00:55:33,980
I'm not talking about losing your salvation, I submit to you it's probable

656
00:55:33,980 --> 00:55:37,980
Saul's heart was never for God in the first place

657
00:55:37,980 --> 00:55:42,980
What I'm talking about is these variances that you can choose, these rebellions, this insubordination

658
00:55:42,980 --> 00:55:49,980
That you can choose on a daily basis, these slight variances can add up to take you to a place where you cannot come back from

659
00:55:49,980 --> 00:55:56,980
Notice the second important thing in this text that the Lord really laid heavily on my heart

660
00:55:56,980 --> 00:56:03,980
And that is that the reason behind why these things are so bad is that they have a continuing consequence

661
00:56:03,980 --> 00:56:09,980
And admittedly it is a continuing consequence that we do not know

662
00:56:09,980 --> 00:56:16,980
God may say you're driving down the road one day and you've been praying and you've been thinking, you're living for the Lord

663
00:56:16,980 --> 00:56:25,980
And you come to a turn on red and the Lord says turn on red

664
00:56:25,980 --> 00:56:30,980
And you say but Lord that's not the way to work or that's not the way to wherever I'm going

665
00:56:30,980 --> 00:56:35,980
But the Lord said clearly in your heart you know it's Him and He's speaking to you, so turn right

666
00:56:35,980 --> 00:56:43,980
And you say I can't imagine what the consequence, why would I do that, why would I not do what I was going to do

667
00:56:43,980 --> 00:56:47,980
And you delay and the light turns green and you go straight instead of turning

668
00:56:47,980 --> 00:56:51,980
You don't know what the continuing consequences of any decision can be

669
00:56:51,980 --> 00:56:55,980
But God does know what the continuing consequences of any decision can be

670
00:56:55,980 --> 00:57:04,980
Now you can understand that if the actions that God is asking you to engage in are radical in nature

671
00:57:04,980 --> 00:57:11,980
If He's asking you to take large risks, to get outside what He has already orchestrated in you

672
00:57:11,980 --> 00:57:15,980
To do something completely different than what you've ever done

673
00:57:15,980 --> 00:57:19,980
Something that seems like a break from the history that God has created in your life

674
00:57:19,980 --> 00:57:25,980
Then the continuing consequences by their very nature must be very large

675
00:57:25,980 --> 00:57:36,980
Does God sound gracious when God says I want you to go and wipe out every Amalekite man, woman, and unborn child

676
00:57:36,980 --> 00:57:38,980
Every last Amalekite, does that sound gracious?

677
00:57:38,980 --> 00:57:41,980
But we know God is a loving and merciful and gracious God

678
00:57:41,980 --> 00:57:46,980
That God would command such a radical thing, you'd be like man if God is asking me to do something that radical

679
00:57:46,980 --> 00:57:50,980
First of all, you'd be 100% sure it's what He wants

680
00:57:50,980 --> 00:57:55,980
And then being 100% sure that it's what He wants, you'd have to assume that you would not want to vary from the course

681
00:57:55,980 --> 00:58:02,980
Not in the slightest because any variation will result in continuing consequences, something that you can't imagine

682
00:58:02,980 --> 00:58:14,980
So this guy who really figures pretty small in the chapter, the king of the Amalekites, his name was Agag

683
00:58:14,980 --> 00:58:17,980
This is how good Agag gets it in the end

684
00:58:17,980 --> 00:58:22,980
Samuel eventually has him cut to pieces in front of everybody

685
00:58:22,980 --> 00:58:26,980
Cut to small pieces is what the text says

686
00:58:26,980 --> 00:58:34,980
But in the meantime, after the Amalekites fell and every Amalekite was slain except for him, he's the last living Amalekite

687
00:58:34,980 --> 00:58:39,980
Some point in time in there, oh Agag, he gets time with a woman

688
00:58:39,980 --> 00:58:42,980
Now should that happen? No, it shouldn't happen

689
00:58:42,980 --> 00:58:45,980
He's free enough to lay with a woman in that time

690
00:58:45,980 --> 00:58:51,980
Now I don't know why that happens, I'm thinking Saul must have been treating him reasonably well, you know what I'm saying?

691
00:58:51,980 --> 00:58:55,980
So he gets time to lay with a woman and he has an offspring that has an offspring

692
00:58:55,980 --> 00:59:01,980
And pretty soon there is a man born, his name is, anybody know before I say it?

693
00:59:01,980 --> 00:59:05,980
Haman, Haman the Agagite

694
00:59:05,980 --> 00:59:08,980
Anybody recognize that name? Comes from the book of Esther

695
00:59:08,980 --> 00:59:14,980
Haman the Agagite, an offspring of Agag, which there were no other offspring of Agag that survived

696
00:59:14,980 --> 00:59:22,980
Because everyone in this text agrees that he wiped out the entire tribe of the Amalekites and all of Agag's offspring were destroyed

697
00:59:22,980 --> 00:59:28,980
But some time after he was captured, he laid with a woman and he birded the child and that child birded the child and so on

698
00:59:28,980 --> 00:59:30,980
And they got Haman the Agagite

699
00:59:30,980 --> 00:59:34,980
Does anybody remember the role of Haman the Agagite in the story of Esther?

700
00:59:34,980 --> 00:59:40,980
He's an advisor to the king, he has the king's ear

701
00:59:40,980 --> 00:59:47,980
He hates Mordecai, because Mordecai will only bow to God, not to Haman

702
00:59:47,980 --> 00:59:51,980
Esther is called to become the queen

703
00:59:51,980 --> 00:59:55,980
Mordecai comes here and says you need to intervene on behalf of your people

704
00:59:55,980 --> 01:00:02,980
Because Haman the Agagite has convinced the king to pass a law that says on a certain day

705
01:00:02,980 --> 01:00:09,980
That the Persians where they were in captivity in Persia was allowed to kill every Jew, every Jewish person

706
01:00:09,980 --> 01:00:14,980
Haman convinced the king to pass a law to say that they could kill every Jew on a certain day

707
01:00:14,980 --> 01:00:17,980
Now Esther was a Jew and Mordecai was a Jew, that meant they were both on the chop block

708
01:00:17,980 --> 01:00:21,980
Except nobody really knew that Esther was a Jew, she lived in the household of the king and she was kind of in secret

709
01:00:21,980 --> 01:00:27,980
And Mordecai says to her, don't you think if you don't go to the king over this that you'll be spared just because you're in the king's household?

710
01:00:27,980 --> 01:00:31,980
But I want you to understand that maybe you were called for just such a day as this

711
01:00:31,980 --> 01:00:36,980
And she does, she goes to the king and the king eventually does it in kind of a seductive way if you will

712
01:00:36,980 --> 01:00:41,980
But eventually the king passes a rule that says on that day when the Persians come after the Jews

713
01:00:41,980 --> 01:00:44,980
And if they killed a Jew they were allowed to take all their possessions

714
01:00:44,980 --> 01:00:49,980
It's like licensed piracy, kill the Jews, take everything they have, their land, their money, everything

715
01:00:49,980 --> 01:00:51,980
Anything they've got, take it

716
01:00:51,980 --> 01:00:55,980
But on that day anybody who came after a Jew, the Jews were allowed to fight back

717
01:00:55,980 --> 01:00:58,980
And if they fought back and they defeated whoever came after them then they could take their stuff

718
01:00:58,980 --> 01:01:02,980
So he made the law a two-way street

719
01:01:02,980 --> 01:01:08,980
And Haman the Agagite eventually is found out to be the betrayer that he is

720
01:01:08,980 --> 01:01:14,980
And he's hanged on the gallows that he himself built for Mordecai

721
01:01:14,980 --> 01:01:22,980
Now this is generations later after Agag sleeps with whoever while he's in captivity under King Saul

722
01:01:22,980 --> 01:01:26,980
And if he doesn't sleep with whoever, if he doesn't have an offspring

723
01:01:26,980 --> 01:01:29,980
There's no Haman the Agagite

724
01:01:29,980 --> 01:01:35,980
There's no person to be insulted over the fact that Mordecai won't bow to him like he bows to God

725
01:01:35,980 --> 01:01:40,980
There's no person to suggest to the king, to push the king, to prod the king, to make a rule

726
01:01:40,980 --> 01:01:44,980
To potentially wipe out the Jews

727
01:01:44,980 --> 01:01:47,980
Do you think God knows that?

728
01:01:47,980 --> 01:01:50,980
Do you think Saul knows that?

729
01:01:50,980 --> 01:01:54,980
See when you vary the commands of God, even the most extreme commands of God

730
01:01:54,980 --> 01:02:05,980
When you vary them even slightly, you're messing with the continuing consequences that God knows exist

731
01:02:05,980 --> 01:02:09,980
You say, you know, like I'm too busy

732
01:02:09,980 --> 01:02:11,980
I'm too busy to study my Bible faithfully

733
01:02:11,980 --> 01:02:13,980
And in so doing you send your children to hell

734
01:02:13,980 --> 01:02:15,980
No!

735
01:02:15,980 --> 01:02:17,980
Don't say my children are going to hell because of something I did

736
01:02:17,980 --> 01:02:19,980
God knows the continuing consequences

737
01:02:19,980 --> 01:02:21,980
You decide to take Bible study off

738
01:02:21,980 --> 01:02:22,980
You don't go to Bible study

739
01:02:22,980 --> 01:02:25,980
And in so doing you show your children that that's not that important

740
01:02:25,980 --> 01:02:28,980
And then when they get older they've got it in the back of their mind

741
01:02:28,980 --> 01:02:32,980
Well, when I was 5, 10, 15, whatever, my parents took Bible study off

742
01:02:32,980 --> 01:02:33,980
So I don't need to do Bible study

743
01:02:33,980 --> 01:02:34,980
It's not important

744
01:02:34,980 --> 01:02:38,980
The pastor stands up and you act like what the pastor says is just the pastor

745
01:02:38,980 --> 01:02:39,980
Because that's what the pastor is

746
01:02:39,980 --> 01:02:41,980
He's required to do that

747
01:02:41,980 --> 01:02:44,980
He's a little freaky, but he's only freaky like that because he's supposed to be like that

748
01:02:44,980 --> 01:02:45,980
Because he's supposed to be the pastor

749
01:02:45,980 --> 01:02:48,980
Because God kind of touched him and now he's kind of crazy

750
01:02:48,980 --> 01:02:49,980
Right?

751
01:02:49,980 --> 01:02:53,980
And your children watch you not follow the preached word of God

752
01:02:53,980 --> 01:02:55,980
You say, but I'm following the word of God

753
01:02:55,980 --> 01:02:59,980
But the variances that you develop have continuing consequences

754
01:02:59,980 --> 01:03:01,980
You say, my child will never walk away from the Lord

755
01:03:01,980 --> 01:03:05,980
I submit to you what about your child's child or your child's child's child

756
01:03:05,980 --> 01:03:07,980
What's on the line?

757
01:03:07,980 --> 01:03:15,980
This very situation that existed in Saul's life has existed in the church since the kingdom of God was made available

758
01:03:15,980 --> 01:03:20,980
And men failed to live with the Lord and not in our church, praise God

759
01:03:20,980 --> 01:03:23,980
But in a lot of churches you go in and you know what you see?

760
01:03:23,980 --> 01:03:25,980
Women and children

761
01:03:25,980 --> 01:03:29,980
And men won't step up and be the man that they're supposed to be

762
01:03:29,980 --> 01:03:31,980
They won't be godly

763
01:03:31,980 --> 01:03:35,980
And in our church, our women just wouldn't tolerate that, praise the Lord

764
01:03:35,980 --> 01:03:38,980
But some of our men have to come without women

765
01:03:38,980 --> 01:03:40,980
Because their woman won't do it

766
01:03:40,980 --> 01:03:42,980
Or because they're single at this point in time

767
01:03:42,980 --> 01:03:50,980
As a man, I submit to you that we can trust the Lord with the continuing consequences of following Him or not following Him

768
01:03:50,980 --> 01:03:57,980
Simply put, hell is the ultimate continuing consequence of the person who does not accept the Lord and follow the Lord

769
01:03:57,980 --> 01:04:04,980
And if you said when you got saved that you would follow Him and then you some point down the road repented

770
01:04:04,980 --> 01:04:07,980
Now we have a contradiction

771
01:04:07,980 --> 01:04:11,980
You say, but I never, I always said I'd continue to follow Him

772
01:04:11,980 --> 01:04:16,980
But if you take a strong analytic look at your life you will find things in which you need to act

773
01:04:16,980 --> 01:04:18,980
You need to, I need to change this

774
01:04:18,980 --> 01:04:19,980
This has to be different

775
01:04:19,980 --> 01:04:21,980
I'm supposed to be following, I'm a follower of God

776
01:04:21,980 --> 01:04:23,980
There is a contradiction in my choices

777
01:04:23,980 --> 01:04:28,980
I have slipped to the point that I altered this slightly, I altered that slightly

778
01:04:28,980 --> 01:04:30,980
And now I say, well I will follow the Lord

779
01:04:30,980 --> 01:04:35,980
But in this small list of things that I keep hidden away in a dark place that I never mentioned

780
01:04:35,980 --> 01:04:37,980
I'm not going to follow God in those things

781
01:04:37,980 --> 01:04:42,980
And I submit to you when you've got to that point and you recognize that point

782
01:04:42,980 --> 01:04:46,980
There is only one thing to do and that is repent and come back to the Lord as you did at the first

783
01:04:46,980 --> 01:04:55,980
And if you do not, then you like Saul are causing a situation to exist in the heart of our God that simply cannot exist

784
01:04:55,980 --> 01:04:58,980
The continuing consequences of our choices

785
01:04:58,980 --> 01:05:03,980
We're going to read two texts, I won't break them down for the interest of time but I think you'll get the gist

786
01:05:03,980 --> 01:05:04,980
First one's in Hebrews

787
01:05:04,980 --> 01:05:09,980
Go to the book of Hebrews if you're following along

788
01:05:09,980 --> 01:05:12,980
And if you're taking notes and not following along, make a note of this reference

789
01:05:12,980 --> 01:05:19,980
Hebrews 3, beginning in verse 12

790
01:05:19,980 --> 01:05:25,980
There is no substitute for hearing and reading the word of God at the same time

791
01:05:25,980 --> 01:05:29,980
And this is one of the few times you get an opportunity in a week to do that, so I do encourage you to do that

792
01:05:29,980 --> 01:05:31,980
Hebrews 3, beginning in verse 12, this is what it says

793
01:05:31,980 --> 01:05:41,980
Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God

794
01:05:41,980 --> 01:05:46,980
Now this is written to Christians, or people who profess to be Christian anyway

795
01:05:46,980 --> 01:05:55,980
And he says, take care, watch out, be careful, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God

796
01:05:55,980 --> 01:05:56,980
Ouch!

797
01:05:56,980 --> 01:06:03,980
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin

798
01:06:03,980 --> 01:06:11,980
For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end

799
01:06:11,980 --> 01:06:19,980
While it is said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me

800
01:06:19,980 --> 01:06:25,980
For who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses

801
01:06:25,980 --> 01:06:35,980
And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

802
01:06:35,980 --> 01:06:41,980
And to whom did he swear that they should not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

803
01:06:41,980 --> 01:06:46,980
And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief

804
01:06:46,980 --> 01:06:54,980
Remember what it said? Rebellion is as the sin of divination or witchcraft because you have not followed the word of the Lord

805
01:06:54,980 --> 01:06:57,980
And so on

806
01:06:57,980 --> 01:07:00,980
One more text, 2 Peter chapter 3

807
01:07:00,980 --> 01:07:04,980
2 Peter chapter 3

808
01:07:04,980 --> 01:07:08,980
It begins in verse 1

809
01:07:08,980 --> 01:07:13,980
And it is kind of lengthy, I won't break it all down, but you'll get it

810
01:07:13,980 --> 01:07:23,980
This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder

811
01:07:23,980 --> 01:07:30,980
That you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles

812
01:07:30,980 --> 01:07:34,980
Don't forget, I am writing you a second letter to remind you not to forget these things

813
01:07:34,980 --> 01:07:44,980
Know this, first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming?

814
01:07:44,980 --> 01:07:50,980
For ever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation

815
01:07:50,980 --> 01:07:58,980
For when they maintain this it escapes their notice by the word of God that heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water

816
01:07:58,980 --> 01:08:02,980
Through which the world at that time was destroyed being flooded with water

817
01:08:02,980 --> 01:08:11,980
But the present heavens and earth by his word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men

818
01:08:11,980 --> 01:08:20,980
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day

819
01:08:20,980 --> 01:08:29,980
The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance

820
01:08:29,980 --> 01:08:39,980
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat

821
01:08:39,980 --> 01:08:45,980
And the earth and its works will be burned up, since all these are to be destroyed in this way

822
01:08:45,980 --> 01:08:49,980
What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

823
01:08:49,980 --> 01:08:59,980
Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat

824
01:08:59,980 --> 01:09:05,980
That according to his promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells

825
01:09:05,980 --> 01:09:13,980
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless

826
01:09:13,980 --> 01:09:21,980
And regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you

827
01:09:21,980 --> 01:09:27,980
As also in all his letters speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand

828
01:09:27,980 --> 01:09:33,980
Which the untaught and unstable distort, that means they find variances or they make compromises

829
01:09:33,980 --> 01:09:37,980
As they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction

830
01:09:37,980 --> 01:09:49,980
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest being carried away by the error of unprincipled men you fall from your own steadfastness

831
01:09:49,980 --> 01:10:05,980
And then 18, but grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity, amen

832
01:10:05,980 --> 01:10:12,980
Number one, understand that it is so easy, I got into a debate with a man who is quite close to me, his family

833
01:10:12,980 --> 01:10:16,980
And he believes that he is a Christian, he believes that he is a homosexual

834
01:10:16,980 --> 01:10:23,980
And I said, what are you going to do with this verse? And you know what he did, you know what he did

835
01:10:23,980 --> 01:10:28,980
He said, well that verse doesn't mean exactly what you think it means, what it actually means is this

836
01:10:28,980 --> 01:10:35,980
And his interpretation of the verse is a slight variance, it's just barely off of what the actual wording exactly means

837
01:10:35,980 --> 01:10:38,980
And I said, but that's not what it says

838
01:10:38,980 --> 01:10:42,980
I was a young Christian, a Christian not even baptized, a young Christian for two weeks

839
01:10:42,980 --> 01:10:48,980
And I went to Sunday School at East Toledo Baptist Church for the first time I had been in Sunday School since I was five years old

840
01:10:48,980 --> 01:10:51,980
And I don't remember a single thing about the lesson from when I was five

841
01:10:51,980 --> 01:10:54,980
But I remember the very first day we were reading in the book of Revelation

842
01:10:54,980 --> 01:11:06,980
And the teacher said, where it says in Revelation that the streets are as pure as gold as pure as glass

843
01:11:06,980 --> 01:11:08,980
That's what it actually says, they are gold as pure as glass

844
01:11:08,980 --> 01:11:13,980
And he said that the streets in heaven were glass, he said they are glass, that means they are glass

845
01:11:13,980 --> 01:11:16,980
And I said, no it says they are gold as pure as glass

846
01:11:16,980 --> 01:11:20,980
And we never got to have our lesson that Sunday, much to my chagrin

847
01:11:20,980 --> 01:11:22,980
Because I would have liked to have learned more from the Word of God

848
01:11:22,980 --> 01:11:26,980
And I believe this person was a believer and he was trying to do the best that he possibly could to teach or whatever

849
01:11:26,980 --> 01:11:34,980
We spent 40 minutes, me, 25 years old, in a room full of men, all of whom were 50 or higher

850
01:11:34,980 --> 01:11:39,980
And all but one of whom were 60 or higher, who had studied the Bible pretty much their whole lives

851
01:11:39,980 --> 01:11:44,980
Arguing whether the streets of heaven are made of gold or glass

852
01:11:44,980 --> 01:11:50,980
Now ultimately I get it, who cares? I want to go there, if it was glass I'd be perfectly satisfied when I get there, right?

853
01:11:50,980 --> 01:11:52,980
It doesn't matter, I'm getting perfectly satisfied either way

854
01:11:52,980 --> 01:11:57,980
However it does matter because the Word of God says they are gold as pure as glass

855
01:11:57,980 --> 01:12:04,980
And to teach that they are made of glass because it says they are gold as pure as glass is just falsehood

856
01:12:04,980 --> 01:12:06,980
If you vary the truth, it's falsehood

857
01:12:06,980 --> 01:12:13,980
And who knows what the continuing consequence might be of someone believing that they are made of glass instead of gold

858
01:12:13,980 --> 01:12:16,980
When it says they are made of gold

859
01:12:16,980 --> 01:12:20,980
But it's so easy, I've done it

860
01:12:20,980 --> 01:12:24,980
I was teaching a lesson at East Littledo Baptist Church as a youth leader, teaching the teenagers

861
01:12:24,980 --> 01:12:28,980
And I taught what the book said

862
01:12:28,980 --> 01:12:33,980
The book said that baptism was part of your salvation

863
01:12:33,980 --> 01:12:36,980
You get saved and you get baptized, it's like two feet of the same statue

864
01:12:36,980 --> 01:12:38,980
You get saved and you get baptized

865
01:12:38,980 --> 01:12:43,980
That's why people were so quick to get baptized when they got saved because it's part of your salvation

866
01:12:43,980 --> 01:12:46,980
And you and I both know that's not true

867
01:12:46,980 --> 01:12:49,980
The thief on the cross was saved, he was never baptized

868
01:12:49,980 --> 01:12:54,980
The people that argue that baptism is part of your salvation will say, well he was baptized by fire

869
01:12:54,980 --> 01:12:56,980
Like Jesus did, he was hung on a cross

870
01:12:56,980 --> 01:13:00,980
He was hung on a cross for his sins as a thief

871
01:13:00,980 --> 01:13:01,980
Right?

872
01:13:01,980 --> 01:13:06,980
Judged in court to crucifixion

873
01:13:06,980 --> 01:13:09,980
The bottom line is, baptism is not part of your salvation

874
01:13:09,980 --> 01:13:12,980
And I knew that, but I taught the lesson as it was written

875
01:13:12,980 --> 01:13:14,980
And then I had to come back

876
01:13:14,980 --> 01:13:16,980
I think the next week, for some reason we didn't meet

877
01:13:16,980 --> 01:13:19,980
And the next week I had to come back and I had to say to everybody that was in the room

878
01:13:19,980 --> 01:13:21,980
Look, this is what we had last week

879
01:13:21,980 --> 01:13:23,980
But the truth is, this

880
01:13:23,980 --> 01:13:28,980
And we looked at the scripture and what it says

881
01:13:28,980 --> 01:13:32,980
I was teaching the material that had been provided for me and it was wrong

882
01:13:32,980 --> 01:13:36,980
And if you think you've never done it, you're probably struggling a little bit with arrogance

883
01:13:36,980 --> 01:13:39,980
Because you probably have, you've taught somebody the wrong thing

884
01:13:39,980 --> 01:13:43,980
You made a choice that to you made perfect sense, a slight variation

885
01:13:43,980 --> 01:13:47,980
A different set of toppings that are completely inside the bounds

886
01:13:47,980 --> 01:13:49,980
But one variation leads to another variation

887
01:13:49,980 --> 01:13:56,980
And these compromises will take you to a place from which you cannot return

888
01:13:56,980 --> 01:14:02,980
The last thing in the text

889
01:14:02,980 --> 01:14:04,980
Samuel is pointing out to Saul

890
01:14:04,980 --> 01:14:07,980
And I think then to us

891
01:14:07,980 --> 01:14:13,980
Sinful similarities that arise out of a haughty heart

892
01:14:13,980 --> 01:14:14,980
This is how simple it gets

893
01:14:14,980 --> 01:14:18,980
Literally every variance that is not straight up the truth

894
01:14:18,980 --> 01:14:23,980
Every reason that you would find to not follow the commands of God exactly as they are written

895
01:14:23,980 --> 01:14:28,980
Every single one of them has this same sinful similarity

896
01:14:28,980 --> 01:14:30,980
Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft

897
01:14:30,980 --> 01:14:35,980
Insubordination is iniquity, which is like lumps in all wickedness

898
01:14:35,980 --> 01:14:38,980
And idolatry, which is thinking anything is important like God

899
01:14:38,980 --> 01:14:42,980
Worshiping, false worship, etc.

900
01:14:42,980 --> 01:14:45,980
All sin has this component to it

901
01:14:45,980 --> 01:14:47,980
A haughty heart

902
01:14:47,980 --> 01:14:53,980
You have a heart that for somehow would make you think that you know better than the God of the universe

903
01:14:53,980 --> 01:14:57,980
And you say, well I don't have to do that even though God's word says I do have to do that

904
01:14:57,980 --> 01:15:00,980
And that's a problem with your heart

905
01:15:00,980 --> 01:15:05,980
And that's a problem you cannot fix, and he can

906
01:15:05,980 --> 01:15:15,980
But you don't want to depend on him to fix it because if you did, you would have to do what he tells you to do

907
01:15:15,980 --> 01:15:22,980
We want to live a life of content compromise rather than a life of content contriteness

908
01:15:22,980 --> 01:15:24,980
We read those verses in scripture where it says

909
01:15:24,980 --> 01:15:27,980
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

910
01:15:27,980 --> 01:15:32,980
And we want to claim the promise even though we realize we are compromising on other parts of scripture

911
01:15:32,980 --> 01:15:36,980
Not doing what God has commanded us to do

912
01:15:36,980 --> 01:15:39,980
Or not doing what we have discovered that we know God wants us to do

913
01:15:39,980 --> 01:15:42,980
Or his Holy Spirit convicted us and it's in line with scripture

914
01:15:42,980 --> 01:15:45,980
And so our heart is not contrite before the Lord

915
01:15:45,980 --> 01:15:51,980
We have not recognized that God who created everything then called you out of the darkness into his kingdom

916
01:15:51,980 --> 01:15:55,980
As a God of the universe who literally created everything and will recreate it

917
01:15:55,980 --> 01:16:00,980
Let's be very fair and realistic, he will destroy it all and recreate it all

918
01:16:00,980 --> 01:16:01,980
That's what the scripture says

919
01:16:01,980 --> 01:16:12,980
That God chose you to become a child of him

920
01:16:12,980 --> 01:16:20,980
And if you recognize the amount of what is there, just how much God did to make you a child of God

921
01:16:20,980 --> 01:16:24,980
Just how much he did that literally no one else can do

922
01:16:24,980 --> 01:16:27,980
Then somewhere in there is a contrite heart

923
01:16:27,980 --> 01:16:31,980
A heart that says Lord, I only just want to be what you want me to be

924
01:16:31,980 --> 01:16:35,980
I only just want to do what you want me to do

925
01:16:35,980 --> 01:16:37,980
Not I just want to do what you want me to do

926
01:16:37,980 --> 01:16:39,980
But please let me be alive to see my kids graduate from high school

927
01:16:39,980 --> 01:16:42,980
Or God, I really want you to come, I really want Jesus to come

928
01:16:42,980 --> 01:16:44,980
And I want to go to heaven with you and come

929
01:16:44,980 --> 01:16:49,980
But don't make me stop working all these hours and making this money

930
01:16:49,980 --> 01:16:53,980
Or controlling my relationships the way I want to make things turn out

931
01:16:53,980 --> 01:16:57,980
Or insert whatever it is you want to do

932
01:16:57,980 --> 01:17:02,980
If you have a pause or a clause or a variance or a compromise

933
01:17:02,980 --> 01:17:07,980
You need to let it go

934
01:17:07,980 --> 01:17:13,980
And let your contrite heart, a heart that recognizes who God is and what he has done

935
01:17:13,980 --> 01:17:16,980
By the little bit that you understand

936
01:17:16,980 --> 01:17:24,980
Leads you to set aside many activities that you would otherwise authorize

937
01:17:24,980 --> 01:17:35,980
And to adopt many activities which you can see from where you're sitting will make you uncomfortable

938
01:17:35,980 --> 01:17:39,980
The sinful similarities that Samuel was pointing out to Saul

939
01:17:39,980 --> 01:17:41,980
We all see them

940
01:17:41,980 --> 01:17:42,980
We all know them

941
01:17:42,980 --> 01:17:43,980
We all have them

942
01:17:43,980 --> 01:17:44,980
We're uniquely different

943
01:17:44,980 --> 01:17:45,980
Everybody's unique

944
01:17:45,980 --> 01:17:49,980
That's what makes us equal because we're all one unique person

945
01:17:49,980 --> 01:17:53,980
But that being so, we all have that tendency to go

946
01:17:53,980 --> 01:18:03,980
Well, maybe just a dab of syrup will make better the perfect mix

947
01:18:03,980 --> 01:18:09,980
Or maybe I just need to vary it slightly so it authorizes what I'm doing

948
01:18:09,980 --> 01:18:13,980
And the grace of God will cover it anyway, won't it?

949
01:18:13,980 --> 01:18:17,980
We are called not to compromise, not to take the easy road

950
01:18:17,980 --> 01:18:21,980
To recognize the continuing consequences and how we can never know what all they are

951
01:18:21,980 --> 01:18:23,980
But he can

952
01:18:23,980 --> 01:18:30,980
To see the sinful similarities and realize they do not arise out of the nature of what that thing is

953
01:18:30,980 --> 01:18:36,980
You don't get to go, well, I will lie but I will never rape anybody

954
01:18:36,980 --> 01:18:41,980
You don't get to go, well, I'm not a murderer but I'm sure ticked off of the guy who cut me off in traffic

955
01:18:41,980 --> 01:18:47,980
You don't get to go, well, I'll go to worship and raise my voice to God and praise him and really give him praise

956
01:18:47,980 --> 01:18:51,980
But when it comes to controlling my foot on the gas pedal, God's got nothing to do with that

957
01:18:51,980 --> 01:18:53,980
You don't get to do that

958
01:18:53,980 --> 01:19:01,980
A contrite heart, you're all in because the sinful similarities do not arise out of the nature of the sin

959
01:19:01,980 --> 01:19:05,980
They arise out of the nature of your regenerative heart

960
01:19:05,980 --> 01:19:09,980
The internal you that has been changed by God

961
01:19:09,980 --> 01:19:15,980
And if you willingly say, no, I want to vary it, I want to change it, I want to walk away from it

962
01:19:15,980 --> 01:19:17,980
You are repenting or relenting

963
01:19:17,980 --> 01:19:22,980
Naqam, you're backing down from who you said you wanted to be

964
01:19:22,980 --> 01:19:26,980
Don't back down from who you said you wanted to be in Christ

965
01:19:26,980 --> 01:19:33,980
You say, but God is asking me to do something that completely breaks and is different from everything in my history

966
01:19:33,980 --> 01:19:35,980
Everything that's my personality

967
01:19:35,980 --> 01:19:39,980
I have to step out and risk everything

968
01:19:39,980 --> 01:19:44,980
Because of who I am, I'm going to have to work ten times as hard to do this thing that God is calling me to

969
01:19:44,980 --> 01:19:48,980
Than anyone else would have to work

970
01:19:48,980 --> 01:19:52,980
I can totally see how that person who sits over there can easily do this

971
01:19:52,980 --> 01:19:54,980
And he's not doing it, but I know it needs to be done

972
01:19:54,980 --> 01:19:59,980
And for me to do it, I've got to go watch videos and learn skills and buy tools and do all of this

973
01:19:59,980 --> 01:20:02,980
To do what it is that I see needs to be done

974
01:20:02,980 --> 01:20:05,980
Because I'm just mad at that person because they won't do it

975
01:20:05,980 --> 01:20:07,980
I'm just mad at that person because there's nobody to do it

976
01:20:07,980 --> 01:20:10,980
Now I have to do it and it's going to cost me everything

977
01:20:10,980 --> 01:20:13,980
I literally have to lay my life on the line to do this thing that God wants done

978
01:20:13,980 --> 01:20:15,980
That I know what you want done

979
01:20:15,980 --> 01:20:19,980
Do you have a contrite heart or not?

980
01:20:19,980 --> 01:20:23,980
When God calls you out of who you are to be something new and different, completely changed

981
01:20:23,980 --> 01:20:26,980
It's no different than salvation

982
01:20:26,980 --> 01:20:28,980
And then you said yes

983
01:20:28,980 --> 01:20:32,980
So now he's calling you out of who you are to be who you're supposed to be to do something completely different

984
01:20:32,980 --> 01:20:37,980
And I submit to you that if he's doing that it's because he knows the continuing consequences

985
01:20:37,980 --> 01:20:39,980
That you do not know

986
01:20:39,980 --> 01:20:47,980
And you have to say yes to God and no to everything else

987
01:20:47,980 --> 01:20:50,980
And that brings us to our conclusion then

988
01:20:50,980 --> 01:20:52,980
And it is this

989
01:20:52,980 --> 01:20:53,980
Why?

990
01:20:53,980 --> 01:20:56,980
Why should God regret?

991
01:20:56,980 --> 01:20:59,980
See he said God said to Samuel

992
01:20:59,980 --> 01:21:02,980
I regret or I repent of having made Saul king

993
01:21:02,980 --> 01:21:04,980
God said it

994
01:21:04,980 --> 01:21:07,980
Samuel said to Saul

995
01:21:07,980 --> 01:21:11,980
God can't regret

996
01:21:11,980 --> 01:21:14,980
So did Samuel lie about God?

997
01:21:14,980 --> 01:21:18,980
No, what Samuel was doing was he was pointing out the contradiction

998
01:21:18,980 --> 01:21:20,980
He was showing how it should not make any sense

999
01:21:20,980 --> 01:21:22,980
It cannot be

1000
01:21:22,980 --> 01:21:29,980
That the God of heaven who has authored all

1001
01:21:29,980 --> 01:21:36,980
Could originate a circumstance which would lead him to need to regret having done so

1002
01:21:36,980 --> 01:21:38,980
It cannot be

1003
01:21:38,980 --> 01:21:41,980
It's the eternal contradiction

1004
01:21:41,980 --> 01:21:46,980
So if you or I take the easy road

1005
01:21:46,980 --> 01:21:50,980
The slight variances that make the compromises

1006
01:21:50,980 --> 01:21:55,980
If we don't think about or submit to God the continuing consequences

1007
01:21:55,980 --> 01:22:02,980
If we allow those sinful similarities to take root and stick

1008
01:22:02,980 --> 01:22:05,980
Because our prideful heart won't recognize that we're screwing it up

1009
01:22:05,980 --> 01:22:07,980
We're the ones doing it

1010
01:22:07,980 --> 01:22:10,980
That's a contradiction

1011
01:22:10,980 --> 01:22:14,980
We can readily see the contradiction that says I said I would follow God

1012
01:22:14,980 --> 01:22:15,980
And now I'm not

1013
01:22:15,980 --> 01:22:16,980
We see that contradiction

1014
01:22:16,980 --> 01:22:19,980
One thing is true or the other

1015
01:22:19,980 --> 01:22:22,980
Samuel was pointing out this contradiction

1016
01:22:22,980 --> 01:22:26,980
That if God has made you a child of God

1017
01:22:26,980 --> 01:22:30,980
If you truly have been saved and brought into his kingdom

1018
01:22:30,980 --> 01:22:38,980
Then it should never be so that he would regret having done so

1019
01:22:38,980 --> 01:22:40,980
Essentially what Samuel was saying is

1020
01:22:40,980 --> 01:22:42,980
You're the king of Israel

1021
01:22:42,980 --> 01:22:45,980
God made it so when you thought you were unworthy and you were nothing

1022
01:22:45,980 --> 01:22:48,980
God called you out to make you the king of Israel

1023
01:22:48,980 --> 01:22:50,980
And he didn't submit to you

1024
01:22:50,980 --> 01:22:55,980
You never really let that happen

1025
01:22:55,980 --> 01:22:58,980
It doesn't make any sense that God would make you the king of Israel

1026
01:22:58,980 --> 01:23:00,980
And then regret making you the king of Israel

1027
01:23:00,980 --> 01:23:04,980
That just doesn't work that way because God sees the past, the present, and the future

1028
01:23:04,980 --> 01:23:06,980
And all possible variations thereof

1029
01:23:06,980 --> 01:23:10,980
So what's actually true, Samuel was saying to Saul

1030
01:23:10,980 --> 01:23:13,980
Was that God made you the king

1031
01:23:13,980 --> 01:23:16,980
But you refused

1032
01:23:16,980 --> 01:23:17,980
You relented

1033
01:23:17,980 --> 01:23:19,980
You backed down

1034
01:23:19,980 --> 01:23:25,980
You quit

1035
01:23:25,980 --> 01:23:27,980
I have a favorite line from a poem

1036
01:23:27,980 --> 01:23:31,980
Which I am ashamed to say that until today I didn't even know the whole poem

1037
01:23:31,980 --> 01:23:36,980
But I've always loved this line from this poem

1038
01:23:36,980 --> 01:23:39,980
And basically I quoted the line like this

1039
01:23:39,980 --> 01:23:43,980
As I came to a place in a wood where two paths diverged

1040
01:23:43,980 --> 01:23:46,980
And I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference

1041
01:23:46,980 --> 01:23:50,980
Now when I was unsaved, living as a sinner, I had this poem

1042
01:23:50,980 --> 01:23:53,980
I had read it in high school and it attached itself to me and I was excited about it

1043
01:23:53,980 --> 01:23:58,980
And I said, I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference

1044
01:23:58,980 --> 01:24:00,980
And I said that about taking risks

1045
01:24:00,980 --> 01:24:03,980
I said that about jumping my motorcycle over railroad tracks or drinking and driving

1046
01:24:03,980 --> 01:24:09,980
I said it about violence, fighting, backing down bullies or taking a hit

1047
01:24:09,980 --> 01:24:11,980
I said it about all of these kinds of things

1048
01:24:11,980 --> 01:24:18,980
But I submit to you, I have now learned by this message here today

1049
01:24:18,980 --> 01:24:20,980
That I was misusing it

1050
01:24:20,980 --> 01:24:24,980
I'm going to read the poem to you and then I have an explanation and we'll be through

1051
01:24:24,980 --> 01:24:25,980
This is what it actually says

1052
01:24:25,980 --> 01:24:28,980
It says, Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

1053
01:24:28,980 --> 01:24:33,980
And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler

1054
01:24:33,980 --> 01:24:35,980
Long I stood

1055
01:24:35,980 --> 01:24:36,980
And looked down

1056
01:24:36,980 --> 01:24:38,980
One as far as I could

1057
01:24:38,980 --> 01:24:41,980
To where it bent in the undergrowth

1058
01:24:41,980 --> 01:24:43,980
Then took the other

1059
01:24:43,980 --> 01:24:45,980
As just as fair

1060
01:24:45,980 --> 01:24:47,980
And having perhaps the better claim

1061
01:24:47,980 --> 01:24:49,980
Because it was grassy

1062
01:24:49,980 --> 01:24:51,980
And wanted wear

1063
01:24:51,980 --> 01:24:54,980
Though as for that, the passing there

1064
01:24:54,980 --> 01:24:58,980
Had worn them really about the same

1065
01:24:58,980 --> 01:25:01,980
And both that morning equally lay

1066
01:25:01,980 --> 01:25:04,980
In leaves no step had trodden black

1067
01:25:04,980 --> 01:25:07,980
Oh, I kept the first for another day

1068
01:25:07,980 --> 01:25:11,980
Yet knowing how way leads on to way

1069
01:25:11,980 --> 01:25:14,980
I doubted if I should ever come back

1070
01:25:14,980 --> 01:25:17,980
I shall be telling this with a sigh

1071
01:25:17,980 --> 01:25:20,980
Somewhere ages and ages hence

1072
01:25:20,980 --> 01:25:23,980
Two roads diverged in a wood

1073
01:25:23,980 --> 01:25:26,980
And I took the one less traveled by

1074
01:25:26,980 --> 01:25:28,980
And that has made all the difference

1075
01:25:28,980 --> 01:25:32,980
Let me tell you today what the road less traveled by is

1076
01:25:32,980 --> 01:25:34,980
There is a road

1077
01:25:34,980 --> 01:25:38,980
One well-worn

1078
01:25:38,980 --> 01:25:41,980
Way, way

1079
01:25:41,980 --> 01:25:44,980
It is a sinful way

1080
01:25:44,980 --> 01:25:47,980
It is a way of compromises

1081
01:25:47,980 --> 01:25:51,980
It is a way of slight alterations of the command of God

1082
01:25:51,980 --> 01:25:54,980
There is a road that is well-worn

1083
01:25:54,980 --> 01:25:56,980
And many people have gone down it

1084
01:25:56,980 --> 01:26:01,980
Because it is easy

1085
01:26:01,980 --> 01:26:04,980
But I want you to say with me today

1086
01:26:04,980 --> 01:26:10,980
Knowing that there is no way that you can travel both worlds and still be one person

1087
01:26:10,980 --> 01:26:11,980
You cannot do it

1088
01:26:11,980 --> 01:26:13,980
You can't go down both roads

1089
01:26:13,980 --> 01:26:17,980
A road of faithfulness to the Lord and also a road of compromises

1090
01:26:17,980 --> 01:26:22,980
You cannot go down both roads and still be one person

1091
01:26:22,980 --> 01:26:24,980
And since you are one person

1092
01:26:24,980 --> 01:26:31,980
I am asking you today to take the road with me that is less traveled

1093
01:26:31,980 --> 01:26:33,980
The road that is not beaten down

1094
01:26:33,980 --> 01:26:35,980
Not trodden down

1095
01:26:35,980 --> 01:26:37,980
Not easy or smooth

1096
01:26:37,980 --> 01:26:41,980
The road that is rough and hard work and difficult to follow

1097
01:26:41,980 --> 01:26:45,980
Impossible to follow without the grace of God

1098
01:26:45,980 --> 01:26:51,980
Let us go down the road the way that is not well-worn

1099
01:26:51,980 --> 01:26:54,980
Take the commands of God at face value

1100
01:26:54,980 --> 01:26:59,980
Read our Bibles and stop trying to figure out a way to make them say what we want them to say

1101
01:26:59,980 --> 01:27:02,980
Not even the slightest variation

1102
01:27:02,980 --> 01:27:04,980
Not by any compromise

1103
01:27:04,980 --> 01:27:11,980
But simply do what is therein written

1104
01:27:11,980 --> 01:27:15,980
Take the commands of God in our heart

1105
01:27:15,980 --> 01:27:17,980
As the Holy Spirit fills you up

1106
01:27:17,980 --> 01:27:23,980
Just do what it is that you know God wants you to do

1107
01:27:23,980 --> 01:27:27,980
I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence

1108
01:27:27,980 --> 01:27:29,980
I know where that place will be

1109
01:27:29,980 --> 01:27:32,980
Two roads diverged in a wood

1110
01:27:32,980 --> 01:27:34,980
And I took the one less traveled by

1111
01:27:34,980 --> 01:27:36,980
And that has made all the difference

1112
01:27:36,980 --> 01:27:39,980
We stand at that intersection right now

1113
01:27:39,980 --> 01:27:43,980
And I am asking you to take the road less traveled by

1114
01:27:43,980 --> 01:27:45,980
No compromise

1115
01:27:45,980 --> 01:27:46,980
No backing down

1116
01:27:46,980 --> 01:27:50,980
I will live for the Lord Jesus Christ and do what He would have me to do

1117
01:27:50,980 --> 01:27:52,980
No matter the cost

1118
01:27:52,980 --> 01:27:53,980
Over any barrier

1119
01:27:53,980 --> 01:27:56,980
Past any burden

1120
01:27:56,980 --> 01:27:59,980
And ages from now let us say

1121
01:27:59,980 --> 01:28:04,980
There we stood that day and chose the road less traveled by

1122
01:28:04,980 --> 01:28:06,980
Saul didn't do it

1123
01:28:06,980 --> 01:28:12,980
And from him was torn the Kingdom of Israel

1124
01:28:12,980 --> 01:28:16,980
And if you won't do it out of a love for God and a contrite heart

1125
01:28:16,980 --> 01:28:19,980
Then do it out of fear

1126
01:28:19,980 --> 01:28:25,980
Because a loving fear of God is a healthy fear

1127
01:28:25,980 --> 01:28:28,980
Let us say we took the road less traveled by

1128
01:28:28,980 --> 01:28:32,980
I ask the praise team to come at this time and lead us in a closing hymn

1129
01:28:32,980 --> 01:28:34,980
But if you are here today and you know either

1130
01:28:34,980 --> 01:28:36,980
A. You have not followed the Lord

1131
01:28:36,980 --> 01:28:38,980
You have not committed your life to Christ

1132
01:28:38,980 --> 01:28:40,980
And said okay Lord come be Lord of my life

1133
01:28:40,980 --> 01:28:42,980
And let me live for you

1134
01:28:42,980 --> 01:28:44,980
If you have not done that then you do that right now in this moment

1135
01:28:44,980 --> 01:28:46,980
And you come and you say that's me

1136
01:28:46,980 --> 01:28:48,980
I want to live for Jesus from now on

1137
01:28:48,980 --> 01:28:50,980
I want to publicly tell everybody

1138
01:28:50,980 --> 01:28:52,980
And Jesus said if you will proclaim before men

1139
01:28:52,980 --> 01:28:54,980
If you will tell about me before men

1140
01:28:54,980 --> 01:28:56,980
I will tell about you before my Father in heaven

1141
01:28:56,980 --> 01:28:58,980
But if you will not tell about me before men

1142
01:28:58,980 --> 01:29:00,980
I will not tell before my Father in heaven

1143
01:29:00,980 --> 01:29:02,980
So don't deny Jesus

1144
01:29:02,980 --> 01:29:04,980
If you are accepting Jesus today you come

1145
01:29:04,980 --> 01:29:06,980
You come right here and you say this is me

1146
01:29:06,980 --> 01:29:08,980
Whatever it means not knowing the continuing consequences

1147
01:29:08,980 --> 01:29:10,980
I am going to live for the Lord no compromises

1148
01:29:10,980 --> 01:29:12,980
And if you already have accepted

1149
01:29:12,980 --> 01:29:14,980
The Lord Jesus Christ but you know

1150
01:29:14,980 --> 01:29:16,980
You've been playing around compromising

1151
01:29:16,980 --> 01:29:18,980
Making slight adjustments finding ways

1152
01:29:18,980 --> 01:29:20,980
To make it work for you backing down

1153
01:29:20,980 --> 01:29:22,980
From the tough things that God has asked you to do

1154
01:29:22,980 --> 01:29:24,980
Because they're just not the way you're wired

1155
01:29:24,980 --> 01:29:26,980
You don't just like it or it'll make you tired

1156
01:29:26,980 --> 01:29:28,980
Or people won't like it whatever your

1157
01:29:28,980 --> 01:29:30,980
Reasons have been you stop with your reasons

1158
01:29:30,980 --> 01:29:32,980
And just do what God has called you to

1159
01:29:32,980 --> 01:29:34,980
And today you repent and turn to the Lord

1160
01:29:34,980 --> 01:29:36,980
As you did at the first and say

1161
01:29:36,980 --> 01:29:38,980
I am living for God no compromises

1162
01:29:38,980 --> 01:29:40,980
And then let us all together

1163
01:29:40,980 --> 01:29:42,980
Take the road less traveled by

1164
01:29:42,980 --> 01:29:44,980
A road of no compromises

1165
01:29:44,980 --> 01:29:46,980
No rebellion

1166
01:29:46,980 --> 01:29:48,980
No insubordination

1167
01:29:50,980 --> 01:29:52,980
A road of grace

1168
01:29:52,980 --> 01:29:54,980
And then we grow in the grace of God together

1169
01:29:54,980 --> 01:29:56,980
Stand with me as we sing this song

1170
01:29:56,980 --> 01:29:58,980
But if you're responding

1171
01:29:58,980 --> 01:30:08,980
You're only the same you just can't

1172
01:30:08,980 --> 01:30:16,980
Oh, so you will reign and trust

1173
01:30:16,980 --> 01:30:24,980
No light in the darkness you see

1174
01:30:24,980 --> 01:30:32,980
There's light for all the campers, saviors

1175
01:30:32,980 --> 01:31:00,980
And life for all the tent and tree