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Alright, good morning, good morning, good morning.

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Alright, we are in just the right place this morning to hear from the Lord.

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I mean, you really can do that anywhere, but together, collected, looking to God to hear

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what he might have to say, and we intend to work together to reach new heights in Jesus.

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Alright, so we're going to praise God together, spend a little time doing that today, and

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what an exciting, so I am so excited to be part of this church that when we celebrate,

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we celebrate with service, and that's a great way to do it.

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We're praising the Lord, it's our service to God, but it's just due, you know what I'm

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saying, we owe him that a million times over better than we could ever do, and then Lord,

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we're prepared to be here today, the musicians, instrumentalists, the singers, we've all worked

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hard to be here.

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I have not worked hard to be here to sing, because I'm not that guy, but I'm glad to

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be here to be able to praise the Lord, and then I've studied, and I've prepared, I think

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whether the Lord will lay on my heart, excited about that.

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Our teachers have prepared their lessons, and fought through the technology struggles,

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and went through the Word, and pulled the lessons together for the kids, and you prepared

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to be here today, every single one of us prepared to be here today, but it doesn't stop there,

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because this afternoon, we get to have a block party outside, and I've already heard people

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texting me, calling me, and saying they're coming to block party, and so we get to serve

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the community, we get to serve and give, and that way, and of course we'll have a little

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preaching the gospel along the way, we'll have a little bit of being taught by God along

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the way, a little bit of strength by God along the way, he'll fill us up, and he'll make

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us able to reach New Heights in Jesus today, I'm grateful for that.

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So today is May 22nd, on this day, six years ago, and I know there was a leap year in there,

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but we're not worried about that.

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Anyway, so six years ago on this day, we had a nice big contract up here, Constitution

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of our Church, and we signed that Constitution to become New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church

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of East Toledo.

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Previous to that, get this, we were New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church, a mission of East

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Toledo Baptist Church, which is up here on Navarre, East Broadway, and they helped us

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in our early stages, and some of our folks, including myself, came out of that church

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initially to plant, and we're praising God for all of that.

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Man, there is some stories, are there not?

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And so if you don't know the stories, glad to share them with you, we just had some incredible

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times.

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You are sitting in a building that formerly belonged to TPS, given by Toledo Public Schools

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to the city of Toledo, as long as it would be earmarked for us, they could give it to

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them, and they did, and then give it to us.

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And so this building, which is worth $10 million, cost us $42.

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And that alone is a miracle of God, is it not?

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Now, obviously a lot of money went into renovating and getting it ready, but you're sitting in

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chairs that were donated, above carpeting that was donated, in front of sound system

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that was donated, under lights that were donated, the ceiling was built by volunteer labor from

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guys that came from Mississippi, and there used to be a wall right there, and a wall

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right there, and they tore those out, 6,000 pounds of block, because they're 14-inch thick

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block walls, tore those out, helped bring the baptismal in, and it's mounted, and we

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baptize, but we're so blessed with what God has done.

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And it's not that there aren't other churches, there are other good, godly churches in the

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world, but for whatever reason, God's sovereignty, he said, I'm putting the church right here,

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and praise God he did do that, because here we are.

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And so I'm grateful.

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So that's, six years ago we constituted, obviously we worked for 12 years or something like that

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as a church plant, to get to that point, and then also, a few years ago, maybe even a few

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years before that, God brought into being our deacon, deacon Tony Brister, this is his

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birthday, and what great symmetry that we get to celebrate his birthday and celebrate

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the anniversary of the church on the same day, and deacon Tony's probably greatest gift,

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I don't really know what his greatest gift is, but I know one of his great gifts is that

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he is a servant, and that's what the word deacon means.

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And so he is standing in the hallway right now greeting the last of our folks as they

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come in, and he has served us as a body and served me and my family, and we are so grateful

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for that gift.

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So as I open my opening prayer this morning, which I'll do in just a second, I'm going

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to pray that God would bless everything that we have in our hearts to do for him today,

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that he would send the right folks to hear, that he would help us glorify him through

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all of this activity, because we don't want to have a whole bunch of activity, and in

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the end find out it didn't glorify God, that would just be a waste of strength and blessings,

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we don't want to do that.

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So we are going to pray, asking God that he will fill it with that which will glorify

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him, and then we are also praying a blessing on brother Tony, because it's his birthday,

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praise God, and then we are also praying that folks would come and they would hear the gospel,

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and they would know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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So let's pray together as we open our services today.

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Father in heaven, you are that awesome and powerful God who reached down with a mighty

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finger, a strong wind, a Holy Spirit-empowered movement to say, I'm going to put, geographically

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speaking, a local body, a church right there on that corner of Hefner and Kelsey.

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Lord, I'm so grateful that you decided to do that, and know that there was a lot going

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on, and you did miracles for a dozen years in our body before that, miraculous healings,

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miraculous interventions, miraculous provisions, you are an awesome God who has blessed his

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people for really going on 20 years, and we are not celebrating only six since the Constitution,

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because we don't recognize all the awesome things you did before, no, we know that that

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was the fruition of those moments, and then from then we have been trying to work just

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to glorify you and show that we recognize how many awesome things you have done, and

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what you still intend to do, because there are a lot of folks who need to hear.

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So Father, we praise you, we ask you to take these songs as praise to your Holy name, use

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them as you see fit.

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Bless us, yes, but Lord let us be a blessing to you in some way.

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And then Father, we pray for this day, we pray that we would do all these activities,

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all these things that we have done, all these things we have planned, we brought, our generation

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brought the block party wagon, we are parking a lot, so we would be breaking out the candy

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machine, the snow cone, the popcorn, and we would be setting up the grill, and some folks

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would be slaving over the grill, and folks would be serving in so many ways, the moon

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bounces, and the hula hoop challenge, and we have things that are going on, and we don't

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want anything to go on that doesn't glorify you today.

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So we would ask that you would guide us and correct us and where necessary chastise us,

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that's a painful thing to ask for, but Lord that you would lift us up and move us in the

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right direction and make us able to work in a way that glorifies you in each of these

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activities.

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So the one that is coming today just because they are thinking, I want to get me a hamburger,

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Lord let them get so much more.

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Let them get loved.

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Let them get served.

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Let them get the gospel.

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Let them get faith, Lord, as you will.

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Father we pray special blessings upon Deacon Tony and his family today, they served so

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faithfully, and he's got strength, but he knows he's got strength that's from you.

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He's got brains, but we know he's got brains that's from you.

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He's got faith, and he's got faith from you.

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Lord we are blessed to have him as part of our fellowship, and we ask you to bless him

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today, as he marks out such a large part of his birthday to spend serving other people,

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that's just awesome.

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That's testimony to who you are in his life and in ours.

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And then Father we pray for those who are thinking about coming this afternoon, there's

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many, blowing up my phone this morning, sending texts to Facebook and stuff, and they have

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all the information that they need to be here, to be on time, to enjoy that which we intend

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to present.

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And so Father we just ask you to bring them, bring them safe.

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We know it's not supposed to rain very much if it rains at all, 15% chance of rain in

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our block of time, and so we pray Lord that that holds and it doesn't rain.

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And we're able to have fun, and the kids can play and run, so they'll be exhausted, so

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they'll sleep good tonight.

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The Gospel will be preached, souls will be reached, and people will be served and loved.

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Bless it all as your people seek to do your will.

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We pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.

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Alright, if you never want to stand up, stretch out a little.

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We're going to do a couple more songs.

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So those of you that were at New Heights way back when, we were meeting in my parents,

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Pastor Dan and Sheri's living room and rec room way back when, can you think of a song

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that we used to do that long ago?

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I'll Fly Away.

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So how about when we first started meeting in this building, and I know this for a fact

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because I went back and looked, the very first Sunday that we had service in this room, what

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was the song that we started with?

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No idea.

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Anybody?

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I could guess.

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Take a guess.

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I'll Fly Away.

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No?

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Not up there.

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You can't cheat.

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Trading My Sorrows was the first worship song we did in service in this room.

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What a great trade.

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So we're going to do Trading My Sorrows and I'll Fly Away as tribute to our anniversary

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for the next two songs.

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Here we go.

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I'll Fly Away.

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I'll Fly Away.

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I'll Fly Away.

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I'll Fly Away.

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I'll Fly Away.

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I'm trading my sorrows.

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Okay, Alicia, I'm going to call an audible before we go to the next song.

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We're going to take a break for a second.

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This will be up in a minute.

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Okay.

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Apparently Myers is one of the only people that can get cyber attacked on a Sunday.

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So if everyone would just have a seat for a minute, just have a seat.

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All right, we're going to go to inspiration mode.

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Okay.

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You'll have this up in a minute.

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We're replacing the laptop because it was locked on.

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Go ahead.

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Laptop's not working.

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We're just switching inspiration mode.

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Thank you so much.

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You know, ironically, this will make you laugh if you think about it.

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Over the years, we have had many opportunities to struggle through technological difficulties.

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One of the things about being a relatively small, relatively new church is that technology

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kind of isn't always the newest thing that's out there, right?

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We don't always have the biggest and the best.

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We are very blessed to be able to put the words up on TVs and use the laptop to do the

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all that.

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And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

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So you'll have that to do in a minute.

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Now, we're at that.

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So we've jumped ahead a little bit.

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We'll come back to I'll Fly Away.

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I don't know.

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We may do I'm trading my sorrows again because I didn't get to sing it.

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Yeah, it's that.

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We probably know that one, right?

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Okay.

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Anyway, so we'll jump ahead.

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If you're following along, your bullet's into the inspirational moment time.

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And so you'll see that was supposed to be I'll Fly Away next and then inspirational moment.

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We'll go back to I'll Fly Away in a second.

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And so in the inspirational moment time, we take a moment to say, how has the Lord been

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speaking to you this week?

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What has happened in your life or what did you see in the Bible or what did you see in

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the Word or what did you encounter that made you go, I think God is at work in that.

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And so that's our I know for those of you who were planning on doing it when we got

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there, we're there now.

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All right.

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We jumped ahead a moment.

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And so what do you got?

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How's the Lord been speaking to you this week?

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I got a couple that I didn't get to share last week.

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So all right.

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So I just think what just happened just now, not the cyber attack, but like trading the

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sorrows and I Fly Away was there when we guys were first at the house.

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I was thinking of encouraging or re-encouraging.

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The thing is encouragement is something you may not know, something you did not hear,

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something that gives you courage.

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It's encouragement.

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And it's like, or re-encouragement is like, I already heard that, but I needed the reminder.

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So we were reminded that like we've heard Trading the Sorrow's Offer, but that was

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the song we had before we first got here.

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That's that re-encouragement, something we need a reminder of.

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Here's a verse that I just want to share.

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It comes out of 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 22 through 24.

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It says, Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom.

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But we've preached Christ crucially, as something blocked to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.

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But to those whom God has called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the

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wisdom of God.

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Amen.

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I don't have a chance to read the whole chapter, so if you're getting encouragement, just

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the whole chapter.

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But what I like is that Jews are demanding for signs.

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Show me this, show me that.

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Because they know the miracles of God.

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They know that they've heard it over and over.

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I have to see it to believe it.

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I have to see it.

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And there's nothing wrong with that, because God does show himself through miracles sometimes.

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There are signs and wonders, and it does bring people.

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But that's all they can think about.

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Show me, show me, show me.

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And then the Greeks, they're searching for wisdom.

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They just can't stop looking.

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I'll explain this to you.

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Well, I need this.

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I need more of this on my plate.

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I need this, I need this, I need this.

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But Paul says, man, we preach Christ crucified.

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We don't need signs.

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We don't need wisdom.

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We have everything we need in Christ Jesus.

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We have been crucified.

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And so what I encourage you today is that the quick way to say it is because He died, we

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can die.

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Not to the things that, you know, there's some great things out here, there's glorious

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things, but to die to the things that are not good.

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Die to the things that don't do anything for us.

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Die to the things that aren't keeping us strong and healthy for God.

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And then He lives a weakening.

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I've said before, we have everything we need in Christ Jesus.

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And we're going to mess up.

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We're going to fail.

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That's part of the program.

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Because if you take a step, you're always going to have something in your way, opposition,

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adversity, because you won't take another step.

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You know, it's adversity.

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It's the things in our life that gets us to keep on walking.

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So if nothing was happening, we'd be sinning.

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Yeah, that's right.

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Someone said, rough times make great men.

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And I think Jesus agreed.

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He sure went through it on life.

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And He said we're not better than Him.

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So we're not better than our Master.

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He went through some stuff and so will we.

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Good stuff.

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All right, who else?

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This church has been a pundit daily.

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We thank for him every day a million times a day, every four Mondays, five Mondays, since we've seen you on Monday.

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Good job, buddy.

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Way to keep her in line.

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And then when we got here, the doors were locked.

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He was like, oh no.

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But then it all worked out.

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Good, good, good.

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Wonderful.

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Thank you.

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I appreciate that.

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All right, anybody else?

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OK, let me share one.

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All right.

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So this last, you may or may not know this, but not this past Friday, like two days ago, but a week ago Friday, I went on a prayer and fasting retreat with some men from our association, really a lot of people from all across the state were there.

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And we spent the night overnight in a tent store in a bunk, like it was really was made for kids.

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So I stayed in the tent because I wanted to, I mean, the whole point was to kind of be alone with God and I didn't want to be in a bunk room with other people.

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And then got there and like everybody could have their own room, so it really wouldn't have been a problem.

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I enjoyed sleeping in the tent and I encountered two things and I probably need to do ten, but I have two things that I really felt like I needed to share with you.

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And the first one was that evening.

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I knew what we were supposed to do, the order of what we were supposed to do, right?

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Go set up your tent and then spend time with God.

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And I went to set up a tent and first of all, I drove all around trying to find a spot that's kind of secure away for everybody.

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But then, you know, if I got to go to the bathroom, I'm not like super far away from a bathroom and stuff.

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So I had this perfect idea of where my tent would be set up at.

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And I drove and I'm driving along.

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That's not the first. That's not right. That's not the right idea.

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And then I'm driving, I'm blasting up. It's not quite right.

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And then I was driving, I saw two rabbits sitting on a little, it was a kind of a grass road.

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There was no gravel either. Two rabbits.

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And I thought, oh, maybe the rabbits are a sign.

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That's like a really good place for me to camp. I'll sit there, I'll see rabbits.

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You know, that'll be cool.

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But now that I'm not really a guy in the sign, so I don't think that's it.

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So I drove on and then there was a place on the left and I drove on and a place on the right.

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Oh, that looks really good.

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I thought there might be one better place coming, you know, I mean like down the road.

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And I went past that last place that looked really good.

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And then the road turned sharply and went down a hill and it like narrowed.

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There were bushes sticking in from the sides.

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And there was a big old boulder on the right side and a pole on the left side and then the road.

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And that was it. So that was the end of the campground. I had driven all the way.

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But by the time I got down in there, there was no way to turn around.

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I'm driving my white van. I drive a van that's got a turning radius about the size of a white whale basically.

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You know, you can turn around and go around like that.

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So there was no U-turns. Like the Stevenson-Patton U-turn required like a six-lane highway in that van.

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So I'm like, what do I do?

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And I'm like, I can back up.

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But it's like a hundred yards backing up through the bushes to get back to where I can turn around.

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And so I thought, well, I'm going to try to make the sharp turn and get down.

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And then I'll get on the road and then I'll turn around and come back in.

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And I'll take that spot that I should have taken.

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And so I'm trying and I couldn't quite make the angle.

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And then I heard this kind of clunk. I'm like, oh, that's it. I hit something.

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So I backed up and I got out and I looked and I got back in the van.

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Finally, I managed to navigate that turn, get out of the road.

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And then I get out on the road and there's a sign as I'm getting ready to go back in.

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And it says, do not enter.

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And I'm like, OK, well, to get around to the front of the campground, it's like five miles to get back.

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It was all the way down to the state route, all the way back around and around.

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It was a big outside lap.

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And I'm like, do I have to follow the sign? Do not enter.

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Can I just, no one's around.

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Like it's on private property. So technically that means, you know, I can get away.

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And plus I'm a guest of the campground. I had all these excuses.

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And so I said, OK, fine.

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So I drove back in the road and I navigated that really tight turn again.

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I barely made it through it. I went back and I stopped at the campground spot that I should have stopped at in the first place.

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So I set up my tent, because that's what you're supposed to do.

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So as it goes today, find your campground spot, set up your tent, spend time with God.

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This is my agenda. So I set up a tent.

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The tent went up great, smooth as silk. New tent.

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I've only set up one time before, but I set up the night before so I knew how to do it.

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Set it up. Pumped up my air mattress in the van because, you know, I'm an old man.

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I can't sleep on the ground like those young men can do.

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And so I get in there and I put the air mattress in there.

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I got my Bible in there, set up the air mattress and I fell asleep.

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Missed the third point of the agenda.

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I fell asleep. I was like, it was fine. It was like, it was only like nine o'clock.

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You know what I'm saying? I'm going to show my colors here a little bit.

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It was like nine o'clock and I fell asleep. I'm supposed to be spending time with God.

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And then I woke up and I had no idea what time it was, but it was still kind of dim light outside.

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Like it was, it's going to have been too long, maybe half hour or something.

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So I grab my Bible and I'm praying and I'm trying to spend time with God.

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And I felt like, you know, yeah, I'm hearing some things from God. This is cool.

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But it was only like 15, 20 minutes and I fell asleep.

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And then I woke up again a little while later. It was dark.

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I got my flashlight out and I'm trying to spend time with God.

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I'm praying, reading my Bible and spending time with God.

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And then I fell asleep again. I woke up. I fell asleep again.

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And I woke up. It must have been like three o'clock in the morning.

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It was pitch dark and there was animal noises.

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We were starting to die down already outside.

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And I'm using my flashlight and I'm studying my Bible and I'm praying and talking to God.

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And I felt like God was saying some things back to me. It's pretty cool.

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And then I fell asleep. The next thing I know, I'm waking up. The sun's coming up.

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And so I probably, I went to this prayer and fast retreat and the first meeting was all about rest.

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You're going to get rest here. You're going to spend some time with God.

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It's going to be restful. You know, rest. You know what I'm saying?

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So then these are the things that God told me about.

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The first thing is that searching for a campground,

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that thing that I did where I'm going to put my tent up,

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that is exactly how a lot of people are living their lives.

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You can run into a person that knows God, a church that knows God,

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a Bible verse that tells you what you need to know about God,

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a TV commercial, a radio program.

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People are all the time getting the gospel in some sense, right?

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And they're going, oh, you don't know that. I'm just going to pass on it this time.

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And then later somebody will come up and they'll be like, well, here it is.

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Here's rest in the Lord. You can walk with God and serve God and be saved.

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And I'll pass on it this time. It looks pretty good. It does. I'll pass on it this time.

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And then I had one guy say to me, and he said, well, how do I know?

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If God would just send somebody to tell me about everything I need to know about Jesus,

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then I would believe. And I'm like, me? I'm right here.

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And he's like, I just need a sign. I need a sign.

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Brother Tony Tate talking about sign, that verse.

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And I thought, man, we look for a sign. We're searching for the Word.

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And it's right there. And we keep passing it up.

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And then you know what's going to happen?

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You're going to get to the end of the road.

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And you're going to want to turn around and go back to that place of rest,

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that place where you can pitch your tent, that place where you can really spend time with God.

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And you're going to see, do not enter.

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And I thought, the Lord was telling me, you know, when I give you something,

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whatever I give you, just be grateful. Just enjoy my presence.

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And then with that, right along with that, I went to set up the tent.

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I had to pump the air mattress up. I had to put everything in.

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I had to lock up the van. I had to do everything, get all in there.

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And then I went to spend time with God, and I fell asleep.

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That's what we're supposed to be doing, spend time with God.

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I mean, I guess an easy way to do that would be let's spend time with God before we set up the tent.

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But then, you know, you're setting up the tent in the dark. You know what I'm saying?

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So I think what I discovered when I went to spend time with God is that I've been very busy doing a lot of things.

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And they are good things. Don't get me wrong.

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But sometimes I think you might need to just say, spending time with God is the most important thing.

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It's more important than my shelter, because God will provide that, right?

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It's more of not, I don't think God was going to actually set up my tent. I'm not saying that.

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But the absolute worst case scenario, I could have slept in the van.

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I had a van sitting right there for my tent.

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But I just think we get so tired because we are trying to do so many things.

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And we need to realize that that tiredness is actually keeping us from God.

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So, see, he first became a God, and all these things will be added unto you.

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That's what the Lord told me. So I would say, and I've been doing it for a long time now.

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So starting next Sunday, we'll start a new episode on spiritual discipline.

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For six months we've been emphasizing study.

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And for almost that entire six months, first thing in the morning when I woke up, I've been studying my Bible.

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I've been a Christian for 25 years. 26 years. 26 years. I've had a loose crack.

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And I've never done that before. I've never had time for a while.

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I've never said that first thing in the morning when I'm studying my Bible.

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And you know what? It's restful. It changes my day.

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So, I'm not saying you have to do it that way, but I do think we're supposed to discipline ourselves with study.

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Probably could share some more stories, but if God starts to do something in your life,

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God's calling you to do something, God's moving you to do something,

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and you're thinking about joining in it, or maybe just kind of passing on this one opportunity,

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and I'll come back to it later, just remember there may not be any later.

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I'm coming back to it, and don't be so tired that you miss those opportunities.

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I cannot believe, as much as I love the Lord, I cannot believe I actually said to myself,

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hey, maybe those two rabbits are a sign that that's where I should camp.

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Are you kidding me? We don't do signs. We just listen to Jesus.

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Alright, let's pray together again. And I'm going to ask Deacon Tony.

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We already prayed for your birthday, brother, so now I can actually call on you to pray.

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Alright, so Deacon Tony, would you lead us in prayer as we transition?

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We'll do, I'll fly away, or the offering in whatever order the praise team leads us in.

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However they do it, we'll follow them. Go ahead.

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Father, Lord, thank you for another day of giving us thanks, especially for this day.

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Now, it's an anniversary of me coming into the world, but it's an anniversary of this church,

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and it's a good part of it. And I did this morning, Lord, I thank you, Lord,

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for many things that you've given me in my life.

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Thank you, especially for this church, and the people that you brought in here,

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to come and God made it so we're still here as a church and as a people.

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I ask the Lord to be with us today, not only this day, but in the days coming up,

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the years, the weeks, whatever it may be that you established for us to be here.

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And Lord, help us to do the work that you put us here to do.

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We're just thankful that we can this day and time to stand and sing.

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Yes.

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And hear your word preached to us from the pastor that you picked for us,

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the people that you picked to be here, the people that haven't come yet, Lord,

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not only this day, but in the days to come, the years to come.

462
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,000
Help us, Lord, to be welcoming to them.

463
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:20,000
Thank you that we are an active church, that we do block park parties, that we work,

464
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:25,000
we do different things. We're involved in so much.

465
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:31,000
Just thankful, Lord, that you let me be a part of it.

466
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,000
So I ask the Lord to be of service today, be of every part of it,

467
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:40,000
be of offering as we pick it up. Thank you, Lord, those that want to give.

468
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:45,000
And thank you, Lord, that we can give because you've given so much to us.

469
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,000
Jesus, I'm over here.

470
00:29:47,000 --> 00:30:12,000
Alright.

471
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,000
Alright, we're going to stand up again.

472
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,000
You have words now, which means you can sing along.

473
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:46,000
I'm going to stand up again.

474
00:30:46,000 --> 00:31:13,000
I'm going to stand up again.

475
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:28,000
I'm going to stand up again.

476
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:43,000
I'm going to stand up again.

477
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:58,000
I'm going to stand up again.

478
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:15,000
Amen.

479
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:19,000
Okay, you can be seated at this time.

480
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:28,000
It may make us stand up again in a second.

481
00:32:49,000 --> 00:33:12,000
Alright, so we are going to ask you to stand again because,

482
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,000
and this is not my fault, we changed it all up,

483
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,000
but this is our kids' motion song.

484
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,000
So kids, could you make yourselves a little room?

485
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,000
You can come towards the front if you want.

486
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:25,000
I am not a kid. I'm going to dance.

487
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:36,000
So if you all want to dance, here we go.

488
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:51,000
I'm going to stand up again.

489
00:33:51,000 --> 00:34:06,000
I'm going to stand up again.

490
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:21,000
I'm going to stand up again.

491
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:36,000
I'm going to stand up again.

492
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:51,000
I'm going to stand up again.

493
00:34:51,000 --> 00:35:06,000
I'm going to stand up again.

494
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,000
Alright, thank you, kids. You did an excellent job.

495
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:13,000
At this time, we are going to release the children to their classes.

496
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:26,000
So go ahead and follow your teacher.

497
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:30,000
You can stand or sit or whatever is most comfortable for you.

498
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:35,000
We probably have to stand again in a second.

499
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,000
Alright, you can stand or sit, whatever is most comfortable for you

500
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:47,000
and we'll see you next time.

501
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:54,000
Praise the living morning, the time of the trees.

502
00:35:54,000 --> 00:36:00,000
Praise the believing, the children underneath.

503
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:07,000
Praise the name of new day, the gentle birds that sing.

504
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:14,000
Praise Him all who be born. Praise the King.

505
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:21,000
Praise the King. Praise the King.

506
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:28,000
Let it ring. Praise the King.

507
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:35,000
And praise Him for a peaceful voice and happy, chance-less way.

508
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:42,000
And praise Him for the rolling hills where children laugh and pray.

509
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:49,000
And praise Him for the wandering souls that never lost their way.

510
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:55,000
Praise Him all who be born. Praise the King.

511
00:36:55,000 --> 00:37:05,000
Praise the King. Praise the King.

512
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:16,000
Praise the King. Praise the King.

513
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:22,000
Let it rain, let it rain

514
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,000
And praise the Father, the Lord, the Father

515
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,000
And bloom the rose that day

516
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:33,000
And praise the nice of the crew

517
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,000
The guilt, the grief, the shame

518
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:40,000
Oh, and praise the man whose hand in love

519
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,000
Will still forgive today

520
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:49,000
Oh, and praise the Almighty, the Lord There is a King

521
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:56,000
There is a King

522
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:10,000
There is a King

523
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:23,000
Let it ring, praise the King. Praise the King. Praise the King.

524
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:41,000
Let it ring, praise the King.

525
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:58,000
Thank you, Jesus. You are my hiding place.

526
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:25,000
You are my hiding place. You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance.

527
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:41,000
Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. I will trust in you.

528
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:57,000
Let the weak say, I am strong in the strength of the Lord.

529
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:15,000
You are my hiding place. You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance.

530
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:32,000
Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. I will trust in you.

531
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:51,000
Let the weak say, I am strong in the strength of the Lord. I will trust in you.

532
00:40:51,000 --> 00:41:17,000
You are my hiding place.

533
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:29,000
You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance.

534
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:44,000
Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. I will trust in you.

535
00:41:44,000 --> 00:42:02,000
Let the weak say, I am strong in the strength of the Lord. I will trust in you.

536
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:27,000
I will trust in you. Let the weak say, I am strong in the strength of the Lord. I will trust in you.

537
00:42:32,000 --> 00:43:01,000
One of the great ironies of ministry, by the way, is that while I love to preach the Word,

538
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:09,000
and I think I would probably just die if I couldn't do it, I feel so compelled by the Lord to preach the Gospel, preach the Word of God.

539
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:16,000
That being said, my favorite time is praise time. It's worship time. I feel like that's when I'm filled up.

540
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:24,000
That's when I'm empowered. That's when I'm rested and blessed by God. I'm so grateful that we get to do that.

541
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:33,000
You may have noticed that I get a little carried away some. I know that they probably sometimes have to really try hard not to listen to me when they're singing,

542
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:39,000
because I don't sing on tune and stuff like that. I remember years ago I sang in a choir and the guy next to me said,

543
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:45,000
Can't you sing on tune? I was like, I guess not, because I don't know what you mean exactly.

544
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:51,000
Yeah, exactly. It's a joyful noise. So don't worry about that. Let's praise the Lord. Yeah, that's it.

545
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:59,000
So this is a topical sermon. So a topical sermon is where we talk about something, we ask a question of Scripture, or we say,

546
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:07,000
Okay, let's study this. The first time I ever preached, ever, I preached a topical sermon. My topic was the Holy Spirit.

547
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:12,000
And you can imagine, it was a very broad topic. Yes, a very broad topic.

548
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:18,000
And about an hour and 20 minutes later, those gracious people, they just sat there and they listened, and we got to the invitation.

549
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:23,000
I think it was about an hour and a half, I'm sure I could probably tell you better, hour and a half, hour and 40 minutes later.

550
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:28,000
And God moved and it was awesome, don't get me wrong. And we learned a lot about the Holy Spirit.

551
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:32,000
But I learned that if you're going to preach on a topic like the Holy Spirit, you've got to preach a series.

552
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:37,000
That's going to take a while. You can preach a year on the Holy Spirit. So the topic today is a strange one.

553
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:41,000
And so I'm going to give you an illustration to understand what I'm talking about.

554
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:52,000
So some many years ago, I was doing youth ministry and at the time I was still working at Pizza Hut. And I was probably a manager in training, which is like an assistant manager then.

555
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:58,000
And we had scheduled a flag football, or I'm sorry, not flag football, Ultimate Frisbee.

556
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:04,000
And what is the other game? Yeah, like capture the flag. That's what I was trying to say.

557
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:11,000
Capture the flag and Ultimate Frisbee event out at our apartment complex in Prairiesburg, which is where we were living at the time.

558
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:15,000
And this apartment complex was pretty vast and wide, even had some rolling hills in the middle and stuff.

559
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:20,000
And there was a big flat ground in the middle. And so you could run for a long, long way.

560
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:25,000
And so we divided the entire place up and we put the flag on one side and flag on the other side.

561
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:30,000
You run in like three eighths of a mile, half mile to get to where the flag was on the other side.

562
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:38,000
But I set up the event and then I was late getting there because I was working at Pizza Hut and I had trouble getting out of work.

563
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:43,000
And so I got there and my wife had started everything and the other youth leaders had started everything.

564
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:50,000
And as I came up out in front of my apartment and parked my vehicle, there was a group of teenagers,

565
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:55,000
two or three girls and I think one or two boys, and they all come running from around the corner and they're running.

566
00:45:55,000 --> 00:46:00,000
And they go, run, run, run, run now, run, he's coming, run now.

567
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:03,000
And I'm like, I don't know what's going on. So I just ran, you know what I'm saying?

568
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:06,000
What do you do when a crowd of people runs by running? So I just ran along with them.

569
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:14,000
And so this is the question. The question is really, why are they running? That's really the question.

570
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:18,000
And you could break that down a whole bunch of different ways, I understand.

571
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:22,000
But there is a group of people in the world today that are running. That's what they're doing.

572
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:29,000
And I know that you could stretch it and say that we too, as Christians, are running, running the race, as Paul put it forward.

573
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:34,000
But these folks are running, they're running all over the place. They're running in batches.

574
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:38,000
They're running in groups. And they would have you go with them.

575
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:41,000
And if you go with them, you will get wherever it is that they're going.

576
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:45,000
And so we better know why they're running before we decide to run along with them.

577
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:48,000
And so that is the context that we're talking about in the sermon.

578
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:53,000
Some years ago, I was a huge Tom and Jerry fan. Does anybody even remember Tom and Jerry?

579
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:58,000
Some of us are like, oh yeah, Tom and Jerry. Even the young people. Youngish people.

580
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:03,000
Nicole, Tom and Jerry? All right, yes. We are almost unanimous. Awesome.

581
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:07,000
So Tom and Jerry was a huge Tom and Jerry fan. I would watch that every day after school.

582
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:13,000
And even up until I was 17, 18 years old. And so I didn't tell my friends I was watching it.

583
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,000
But I was watching it every day after school.

584
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:26,000
And there was an episode where Jerry was around the corner from Tom and Tom was stalking up on him.

585
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:32,000
And Jerry put a light shining just so that it made his shadow really big. It was really huge.

586
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:36,000
And so he sees Jerry, the little mouse, walking in front of the light.

587
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:41,000
And he's coming up on the corner and there's the shadow. And it's like, it's bigger than Tom, right?

588
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,000
So twice as big. So it looks like a big, giant, muscular mouse.

589
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:49,000
And he takes off running. Because he doesn't want to face the big, giant, muscular mouse.

590
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:52,000
And then you see little Jerry come walking around the corner, right?

591
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:56,000
So grab your Bibles if you would. We're going to be flipping some. I hope you brought a Bible.

592
00:47:56,000 --> 00:48:01,000
If you didn't, it's okay. I'm going to read every text and I will explain every text that we see.

593
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:08,000
If I quote it, you can know that I'm quoting it. I've written down. I'm quoting it exactly as I wrote it down.

594
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:11,000
How about that? But as close as I possibly could to writing it down correctly.

595
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:18,000
And so grab your Bibles if you would. For those of you who are not normally here at this moment in time,

596
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:21,000
we'll hoot, we'll holler, we'll say, Amen. Take a breath right now.

597
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:28,000
This is your opportunity to get out your last noise, your wiggles, your shouts, and focus on the Lord as we go to Psalm 34.

598
00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:31,000
Okay, that was weak. All right. So we need some.

599
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:37,000
So Lisa, if you can't, thank you. Nina's with me. Brian, are you in, man? I didn't hear you.

600
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,000
Can you say Amen? I will. Amen.

601
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:44,000
All right. There we go. All right. We're trying to get all at once. Ready? We're going to God's Word, Psalm 34.

602
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,000
All right. Thank you so much. I know it's hard. It isn't easy.

603
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:53,000
And the reason that it isn't easy is tied up in what we're talking about today. Okay. So now.

604
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:58,000
Just to clarify, you don't like anyone to say Amen and say everything.

605
00:48:58,000 --> 00:49:04,000
Oh, you absolutely. Oh, no, please. Yeah, no, no, no. You participate.

606
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:07,000
In fact, I'll say this and it's only come up a few times.

607
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:13,000
But if you have a question about something that I'm preaching on, this is no, no, no, just raise your hand.

608
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:18,000
Now, if it's a question that cannot be answered in, you know, and I'll say, well, we need to talk about that more.

609
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:22,000
Okay. But if it's a question that can be answered and shortly, I would just answer it.

610
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:27,000
I try to do that like I try to think ahead of what the questions are and try to cover those things.

611
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:32,000
We don't do Sunday school as adults before church. And so we teach and preach at the same time.

612
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:36,000
So you're going to get both. All right. But that being said, we're going to go through because we have multiple topics.

613
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:41,000
Multiple verses to get through. They will go by fairly quickly. And I'll just try to explain.

614
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:46,000
Now, we we hit Psalm thirty four hard a couple of weeks ago.

615
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:50,000
So I don't I'm not going to really dig deeply into Psalm thirty four.

616
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:54,000
But I want you to see a verse and we studied this verse at that time.

617
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:59,000
And this is the first point. So the question is, why are they running?

618
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:05,000
And Psalm thirty four, verse twenty one says this evil brings death to the wicked.

619
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:09,000
And those who hate the righteous will be punished.

620
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,000
And so the first question, the first simple answer to why are they running?

621
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:14,000
They're running from each other.

622
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:19,000
When you watch the social media, when you watch TV or something and you'll see.

623
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:31,000
In fact, this came up in a conversation I had yesterday about talking about how something a plot that seems to be sort of like that has been perpetrated on our country will come to light and it will become evident.

624
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:35,000
And people will realize that. And somebody else said, well, it may never really come to light.

625
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:38,000
And the truth is that why? Because you've got people who are pushing an agenda.

626
00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:41,000
And then over here you've got people saying, oh, don't listen to them.

627
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:45,000
They are this and that. And they're they only they don't want what's best for you and so on.

628
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:50,000
And then when this people over here get into power and they're pushing their agenda, these people over here will say, well, don't listen to them.

629
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:53,000
Right. Because everybody wants you to listen to them. Right.

630
00:50:53,000 --> 00:51:01,000
So they're back and forth nitpicking. And it's so hard to really discover the truth of things that you have no firsthand knowledge of.

631
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:04,000
That's the reality. And so there's a lot of that out there.

632
00:51:04,000 --> 00:51:08,000
And they're sort of trying to devour one another. And that's what's happening.

633
00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:11,000
There is a fight in America. And most people don't realize this in America.

634
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:16,000
The least of the wealthy who have income. So it could be on SSI disability or something like that.

635
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:21,000
They have a very limited income. They are in the 95th percentile worldwide for income.

636
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:25,000
They make as they make more money than 95 percent of the people in the world.

637
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:29,000
And the people who are at the high end, not like Elon Musk.

638
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:32,000
OK. Or what is it? What's his name? Elon Musk. OK.

639
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:34,000
Not like him. Not talking about him. He's a little bit of a weirdo.

640
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:37,000
But that being said, and you could tell him I said that maybe I'll come to New Heights.

641
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:44,000
It'll be awesome. All right. But anyway, the point is people who are making, let's say, couple hundred, three hundred, four hundred thousand dollars a year.

642
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:47,000
Right. Those people, which are rare to us, we think of them as being rare.

643
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:52,000
They are in the 97th percentile. So all the wrestling that's going on, all this.

644
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:59,000
I need more money. I need a shiny or this or that. All of that is all happening within two percent of the world's wealth.

645
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:04,000
It's all in that two percent range. So everybody's struggling to move from ninety five point one to ninety five point one five.

646
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:08,000
You know, we're all trying to be a little wealthier. It's ridiculous.

647
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:14,000
And in so doing, the idea by the way you ever heard the saying this actually from Tom and Jerry.

648
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:19,000
Tom tried to do this a lot. Build a better mousetrap. If you build a better mousetrap, the world will be a path to your door.

649
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,000
That's an old saying. And it was about the American dream.

650
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:25,000
And if you can invent something or you can get something everybody wants, everybody will give you everything you want, basically your money.

651
00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:29,000
And they'll come by from you and so on. Everyone's trying to do that.

652
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:34,000
Well, you know what a mousetrap does, right? It catches mice. It kills mice.

653
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:38,000
It breaks their neck or breaks their leg or grabs onto them, whatever.

654
00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:42,000
And if it just gets their leg, a lot of times you just find their leg there and they've crawled away because they left it behind or whatever.

655
00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:49,000
The point is, everyone's trying to build a better mousetrap and draw everyone else in because that's how they're going to get successful.

656
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:55,000
That's how they're going to get wealthy. That's how they're going to move from the 95.2 to the 95.7 mark, right?

657
00:52:55,000 --> 00:53:05,000
That's what's happening in the world. So if you join that race, if you run along with them, you will have to devour other people along the way.

658
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:12,000
Now, if you're comfortable with that kind of spiritual, emotional, and psychological cannibalism, then you probably have a problem with your relationship with God.

659
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:19,000
Because God is not comfortable with it. We are to be loving and kind and merciful. We are to be patient.

660
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:25,000
We are to have joy. We are to pour into other people, not devour them along the way to get ahead a little bit.

661
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:31,000
Psalm 34 verse 21 tells us that the evil and the wicked, they devour each other. And that's what they're doing.

662
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:38,000
It's very much like what happens in the animal kingdom. The little bird eats the worm and the big bird eats the little bird.

663
00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:43,000
The little bird never eats the big bird. And trust me, there's a bigger bird.

664
00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:48,000
You join in that race and at some point in time you've now become like them. You will devour some people along the way.

665
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:55,000
You will cannibalize them. You will get them to say what you want them to say. You will get them to encourage you at certain moments when you need it and so on like that.

666
00:53:55,000 --> 00:54:00,000
But the bottom line is, someone else is going to come along and do the same thing to you. Is that a race you want to run?

667
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:07,000
Is that a running that you want to join? They are prey. The other people, the wicked, the evil in the world, they are prey.

668
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:12,000
They are to be devoured and really they're to be devoured by other people of the same sort that they are.

669
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:20,000
So then the second thing I want you to see then is from Leviticus. So if you're following along, flip to the left.

670
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:24,000
Now it's true that not a lot of sermons get preached out of the book of Leviticus.

671
00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:31,000
I personally have preached out of the book of Leviticus dozens of times over the years but a lot of them don't.

672
00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:38,000
And there's two reasons why that's true. The first is it can be challenging to understand because it is largely written to the Levites who were to be the priests of God

673
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:43,000
and they're getting some pretty technical teaching in a lot of places and so it's challenging to understand how that applies to us.

674
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:48,000
I'm going to try to make sure we get that today. Leviticus. 26.

675
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:56,000
And then the second reason why that's so is because a lot of the teachings of Leviticus are again repeated in Deuteronomy.

676
00:54:56,000 --> 00:55:04,000
Deuteronomy was the two speeches of Moses that he gave as he's about ready to transition out and no longer be the leader of God's people, the human leader.

677
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:11,000
And he repeats a lot of what's in Leviticus but the blessing of that is he repeats it and he sort of explains it as he goes.

678
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:19,000
So a lot of the stuff that we might hear out of Leviticus we would actually preach out of Deuteronomy because Deuteronomy would give us not only the what's going to happen

679
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:23,000
but also the why and maybe a little bit of why God said what he said and so on.

680
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:27,000
But we're going to look at it from Leviticus and we're going to start in chapter 26.

681
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:35,000
We're going to start in 16. We'll take 16 and 17 of chapter 26 and then also 36 and 37 of the same chapter.

682
00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:43,000
So it's just four verses really. So 26, 16 says this. It says, oh wait it's in the middle of a sentence.

683
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:46,000
So I will do it justice and I'll go back to 14 and just kind of read you into there.

684
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:56,000
But if you do not obey me and observe all these commands, if you reject my statutes and despise my ordinances and do not observe all my commands and break my covenant.

685
00:55:56,000 --> 00:55:59,000
So he's talking about God's people not doing what God's people are supposed to do.

686
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:08,000
Then I will do this to you. I will bring terror on you, wasting disease and fever that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away.

687
00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:11,000
You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will steal it.

688
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:16,000
I will turn against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies.

689
00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:20,000
Those who hate you will rule over you and you will flee. Listen to this.

690
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:25,000
And you will flee even though no one is pursuing you.

691
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:29,000
You hear that? So some folks are running why?

692
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:36,000
They're running when no one is pursuing them. They're fleeing something. They're running away from something.

693
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:38,000
But what they're running away from, they don't even know what it is.

694
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:45,000
The reality is it may actually be nothing. Look at a little further, 36 and 37, skipping down a little ways.

695
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:49,000
I encourage you to study all that in the middle there. It's all good stuff.

696
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:55,000
36 says, I will put anxiety in the hearts of those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies.

697
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:59,000
So this is after he told them that after he kept trying to correct them, he would send them into the lands of their enemies.

698
00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:05,000
I will put anxiety in the hearts of those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies.

699
00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:14,000
The sound of a wind-driven leaf will put them to flight and they will flee as one flees from a sword and fall, though no one is pursuing them.

700
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:22,000
So they literally begin to run away from nothing. A wind, a little breeze picks up and a leaf flutters along the ground and they're like, what's that?

701
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:25,000
And they're gone. And you say, well no, that doesn't make any sense.

702
00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:29,000
Why would a human being, and we're essentially at the top of the food chain, right?

703
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:37,000
This might be a man with a gun or a sword or an intelligent man who has martial arts training or understands the way the world, he knows what the wind is.

704
00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:40,000
He knows what the leaf is. You know, he knows it. He shouldn't.

705
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:48,000
But according to God, God will institute a situation in which those who survive in the land away from God's great blessings that he intended for them,

706
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:54,000
because they have not followed the commands of the Lord, wind up running when there is literally no one chasing them.

707
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:57,000
They're not running to something. Now they may think they are and this actually happens.

708
00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:04,000
What happens is people will go, well, I got to run after that because now I see that having the new Lexus, that's the way to go.

709
00:58:04,000 --> 00:58:08,000
Well, I'm really stepping on Elon Musk's toes today, aren't I? That's all right. I don't mean to do that.

710
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:12,000
Anyway, the point is it could be the new Chevy, you know, whatever. It doesn't matter.

711
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:18,000
The new shiny car, the house, the bigger room, the better whatever, better food, a nicer meal.

712
00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:24,000
They think I don't have to go after that. I'm content. And then suddenly that little breeze, that little leaf starts to move.

713
00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:30,000
And they go, oh, I do have to run. Right. When I showed up at that capture the flag event, I thought, well, I don't have to run.

714
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:35,000
I can go inside and I can find out what's going on, figure out what side I'm supposed to be on.

715
00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:39,000
I'll get all figured out. I could change out of my Pizza Hut clothes and stop smelling like pizza and all that.

716
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:44,000
But then I thought, no, but here's a bunch of teenagers and they're running and they know what's going on and I'll just figure out later what's going on.

717
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:51,000
So I'll just run with them. I don't know what I'm running from, but I'll just run with them and later they'll help me figure out what's going on.

718
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:57,000
And that's happening in the world today. There's a lot of people who are surviving inside the realm of the enemy,

719
00:58:57,000 --> 00:59:03,000
surviving inside the nation that is not the kingdom of God, right, or the kingdom of God is in them, but they're in the nation.

720
00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:08,000
So it can be lost people or safe people. They go, oh, I'm not going to run with them. I'm not going to do it.

721
00:59:08,000 --> 00:59:11,000
And then fear sets in. Well, I better run with them.

722
00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:16,000
In the political arena, and I'm not trying to be political in any way, but the political arena, there is this vast stretch.

723
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:21,000
And they say there's the far right, the ultra conservatives, and there's the far left, the ultra liberals. Right.

724
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:28,000
And in the middle is where all the fighting is done. It's trying to get somebody who's moderate to switch over to be liberal or somebody who's moderate to switch over to be conservative.

725
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:31,000
Right. And most of the time those people in the middle go, well, I'm just not going to do it.

726
00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:50,000
I'm not going to participate in your ultra conservative or your ultra liberalism, which is why there's so much of an attempt to scare people, to get them to go, look, if you stay where you are, you're going to lose this thing that you value very much, or your children are being threatened, or your job is going to be gone, or your prices are going to go up.

727
00:59:50,000 --> 00:59:58,000
And they're trying to get people who are moderate, they're standing in the middle, to suddenly become afraid and to run after that agenda that they first said, no, I won't run after.

728
00:59:58,000 --> 01:00:05,000
And why do they do that? Well, here's the reality. Because they can. Because the people that are living in the middle, they're not standing for anything.

729
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:14,000
And so they're not standing, they'll fall for anything. They say, no, I won't. I won't do it. And for a while they don't. When I was at Radio Shack, I worked alongside some guys who were really good salesmen.

730
01:00:14,000 --> 01:00:23,000
This was many years ago. And I was never a good salesman. I sold a lot of stuff, but I was never a good salesman. Because I would ask somebody, do you want that? Do you need that? And if they said yes, I'd sell it to them.

731
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:31,000
But if they said no, I'd be like, okay, well, do you want anything? I mean, you're standing in my store, how about this? You want that? Whatever. I just ask people if they want stuff, and they'd buy it.

732
01:00:31,000 --> 01:00:37,000
But if they ever said no, I just stopped. I never overcame objections. But I worked alongside a good friend of mine who became a good friend. At first I didn't know him.

733
01:00:37,000 --> 01:00:45,000
And he became a good friend. And he was real good at overcoming objections. They'd say, well, no, I don't need that. That's a $400 stereo. I got a $100 stereo sitting at home.

734
01:00:45,000 --> 01:00:55,000
And he'd say, well, you know, this $400 stereo is way better than your $100 stereo. Let me show you. This takes compact disc. This has Dolby Surround. You won't believe what this sounds like.

735
01:00:55,000 --> 01:01:02,000
And it'd overcome the objections. And then he'd sell them something that they first said no, they won't. And so that's happening in the world today.

736
01:01:02,000 --> 01:01:08,000
People are going, no, I'm not going to run along after this agenda. I get that you think I need to be more wealthy, and you think I think I need to be more wealthy.

737
01:01:08,000 --> 01:01:12,000
But I'm not going to go that way. But then it comes along and says, but if you don't try to be more wealthy, you're going to wind up broke.

738
01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:15,000
You're not going to be able to buy that stuff you like. You're not going to be able to live the way you want.

739
01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:21,000
And they go, well, OK, I guess I do have to join the race then. I guess I have to try to be wealthy. And that's actually happening.

740
01:01:21,000 --> 01:01:29,000
Fear is a motivator. And before you say that doesn't make any sense in creation, pray is skittish. Pray is skittish.

741
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:35,000
The bottom line is the evil are eating the wicked. The wicked are eating the evil. There's a devouring fest going on. It's all about who can rise up to the top.

742
01:01:35,000 --> 01:01:38,000
And you're saying, I don't want to be part of that. And that's smart.

743
01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:43,000
But the reality is if you are not walking with the Lord, you are amongst the evil. You will eventually fall in.

744
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:48,000
Are you afraid of something? Are you enticed by something? You will fall in line and you'll start running.

745
01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:53,000
And then once you start running, you are prey. And once you are prey, everything scares you.

746
01:01:53,000 --> 01:02:02,000
Some years ago, I used to play a lot of paintball. Paintball is a 60 caliber kind of plasticized paint bullet that will break on your skin and make a mark.

747
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:09,000
And I used to play James Bond style. So I had this little splat mask I bought up at Woodville Surplus. I paid 40 bucks for it.

748
01:02:09,000 --> 01:02:13,000
And it had a tube of paintballs that would go on the top. It would hold ten shots. And it had a CO2 cartridge on the bottom.

749
01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:20,000
And it would shoot about 50 feet accurately. Now guys are coming out with 400 and sometimes $2,000 paintball guns.

750
01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:24,000
And I hung in with them. But the way I hung in with them is I played James Bond style.

751
01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:28,000
By that I mean I would sneak around, get behind them, and shoot them in the butt.

752
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:35,000
And I know technically that wasn't James Bond style. But James Bond would infiltrate and when they didn't expect it, that's when he would kill them.

753
01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:38,000
So that's why I called it James Bond style.

754
01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:46,000
It happened that one particular Sunday afternoon, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I was doing what I do.

755
01:02:46,000 --> 01:02:52,000
And I snuck behind enemy lines. And I even picked off a couple of guys. And I got in this village. It was like these little wooden houses that were made up.

756
01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:57,000
And I come around the corner. And just as I come around the corner, and I got a paintball in my gun, just as I come around the corner,

757
01:02:57,000 --> 01:03:01,000
another guy came around the corner in the opposite direction and he had a submachine gun.

758
01:03:01,000 --> 01:03:07,000
And it was about 10 feet apart. That's the perfect range for my Splatmaster. I could shoot anybody in the chest at 10 feet with this thing.

759
01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:14,000
Anybody. It was boom. I knew I had him. And he goes, he goes, pulls the submachine gun and he goes, surrender.

760
01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:26,000
And I went, ahhhh. He went, do do do do do do do do. He shot me from my knee, all up my face, hit me in my privates, blasted my goggles off and paint went in my eyes.

761
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:32,000
From that moment on, now it took me 6 months to be able to see normally again. I had this little white thing. Every time I blink it would go, eee.

762
01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:37,000
It's going in my eye. And 6 months I could see again. And it took me about 3 weeks to get over this. You know what I'm saying? That really hurt.

763
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:48,000
And then, and I didn't wear a cup, against advice. So that wasn't wise. But anyway, the point is, so it took me about 6 months to be able to play again.

764
01:03:48,000 --> 01:03:58,000
And when I went out, I bought a paintball gun. I bought a paintball gun that could shoot people at 150 feet, 200 feet actually.

765
01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:03,000
And very technically my then girlfriend, which was Sherry, bought that paintball gun from me. And I still have it in a box.

766
01:04:03,000 --> 01:04:12,000
Because it's kind of technologically behind, but it's fun to play with. But the point is, I was perfectly fine sneaking up on people and shooting them in the back.

767
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:20,000
Until I realized that somebody might actually be facing me. And then I had to have a bigger gun.

768
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:26,000
When you're a prey, you've got to do something about it. That's why the wicked are trying to devour the others.

769
01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:33,000
Because they need that fuel. They need something. They need to feel like tonight when they go to bed, that they're not going to be lost by tomorrow morning.

770
01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:37,000
That they're not going to lose their fortune. That they're not going to lose whatever it is they've been working so hard for.

771
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:46,000
Or that their family's not going to fall. Whatever. They need to feel like they're doing okay. And they get that little dose of being okay every time they eat someone else.

772
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:51,000
Of course I'm not talking about cannibalism. I'm talking about spiritual, emotional, and psychological cannibalism.

773
01:04:51,000 --> 01:05:03,000
So, still follow along in your Bibles? Go to Deuteronomy chapter 27. So it's just one to the right. Deuteronomy 27.

774
01:05:03,000 --> 01:05:12,000
Now remember I told you that a lot of the stuff from Leviticus repeats into Deuteronomy. This is not an exception to that.

775
01:05:12,000 --> 01:05:21,000
But it is different as you'll see. Okay. So 27 and 56 and 57 are the verses. So it's chapter 27 verses 56 and 57.

776
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:29,000
That's not the right reference. Okay. It's 28. I apologize. 28.

777
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:36,000
28, 56, and 57. There we go. Alright. We're not lost.

778
01:05:36,000 --> 01:05:47,000
Oh, I hope we're not lost. Don't you hate that? I told you I only write it down just as good as I write it down.

779
01:05:47,000 --> 01:05:55,000
Oh, it's 66 and 6. 28, 66. There we go. 28, 66. Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be in dread night and day.

780
01:05:55,000 --> 01:06:01,000
Never certain of survival. In the morning you will say, if only it were evening.

781
01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:08,000
And in the evening you will say, if only it were morning. Because of the dread you have in your heart and because of what you will see.

782
01:06:08,000 --> 01:06:15,000
And so now we realize that a lot of folks are running. They're participating in that race or they're participating in...

783
01:06:15,000 --> 01:06:23,000
It's all fear. A lot of folks are afraid. And you say, well, no, I'm not doing it because I'm afraid.

784
01:06:23,000 --> 01:06:27,000
People will say, I'm not doing it because I'm afraid. I'm doing it because I want more of this or that.

785
01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:34,000
But the underlying wanting more of this or that is a fear of not being adequate. It's a fear of not having enough.

786
01:06:34,000 --> 01:06:43,000
It's a fear of not having some later. Giving is cut short because I might not have enough for myself. And so on.

787
01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:49,000
So it's an underlying dread. And then we say, well, in the morning we say, I wish it was evening. In the evening we say, I wish it was morning.

788
01:06:49,000 --> 01:06:54,000
We're never satisfied. That's just the time of day. You can't actually change the time of day.

789
01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:59,000
It is whatever time of day it is. If it's morning, it's morning. You can't go, I wish it was evening and actually have something happen.

790
01:06:59,000 --> 01:07:04,000
Like, God's not going to go, oh, poof, I'll make it a nighttime for you. That's just dumb. But that's what we're doing.

791
01:07:04,000 --> 01:07:09,000
We're all wishing it for anything to be something different. I wish it was different.

792
01:07:09,000 --> 01:07:17,000
I'm going to break sorrowful news to you right now. If you're not living for the Lord, you're not following the Lord, you're not doing what God wants, your opinion really doesn't matter.

793
01:07:17,000 --> 01:07:22,000
It really doesn't. I wish it was like 50 years earlier. Yeah.

794
01:07:22,000 --> 01:07:28,000
And there's a lot of older folks who wish it was like that. I'll never forget the man who got saved in his 70s when I was up in Michigan.

795
01:07:28,000 --> 01:07:34,000
And he said, the only thing I regret was that I didn't get saved earlier. We always have regret, right?

796
01:07:34,000 --> 01:07:43,000
Regret comes from fear. It comes from thinking, well, now there's not enough. But if you could go, look, everything I went through to get here or everything I went through yesterday

797
01:07:43,000 --> 01:07:48,000
or all the time I have left before the sun sets today can be something, can be something for God.

798
01:07:48,000 --> 01:07:53,000
There's no dread in that. There's just like God is going to use this to do something amazing.

799
01:07:53,000 --> 01:07:59,000
And it might even be, God forbid that you get crucified or burnt at the stake or something or chastised or cannibalized.

800
01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:08,000
But the truth is, if you don't get in the race, you won't be praying, you won't be cannibalized like a lot of people are. You'll be free in Christ. That's different.

801
01:08:08,000 --> 01:08:19,000
Now, those are the kind of metaphysical things. God says He's going to make us afraid of that leaf blowing in the wind and we start to feel dread and we react in a way that we shouldn't.

802
01:08:19,000 --> 01:08:30,000
Pray is skittish. That's just the reality. Once you start to feel like pray, you will do everything in your power to not be devoured and you'll kind of run on ahead.

803
01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:40,000
I told Ariana and she looked at me like I was kind of weird. If you're in the woods with a group of guys being chased by a bear, you only have to be faster than the last guy.

804
01:08:40,000 --> 01:08:50,000
Right? That's the old saying. And she's like, Dad, that's horrible. I'm like, oh gosh, it is. I've thought that my whole life and I just told my soon to be eight year old that.

805
01:08:50,000 --> 01:08:57,000
And she's like, that's horrible. I'm like, you know, you're kind of right. That is horrible. But that is the reality of society. That's the way it is.

806
01:08:57,000 --> 01:09:05,000
And if the bear is chasing you and you're faster than they take that guy out and you get away. Right? That's just. But is that the way it's supposed to be?

807
01:09:05,000 --> 01:09:10,000
You know, by the way, if there's seven guys in wood getting chased by a bear and they all stop and attack the bear, they win.

808
01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:17,000
Somebody still gets killed, probably because bear is a bear, but they will win. The little guys win if they stand together against the big guy.

809
01:09:17,000 --> 01:09:24,000
All right. So that being said, that's the metaphysical stuff. There's the dread and the fear and the wickedness and the devouring and being prey and all that.

810
01:09:24,000 --> 01:09:28,000
Then there's some various kind of specific intentional stuff that we need to look at.

811
01:09:28,000 --> 01:09:32,000
And so sometimes they're they really are moving away from something that they don't like.

812
01:09:32,000 --> 01:09:38,000
So if you go to the New Testament and Second Corinthians, we're going into the back of the Bible now.

813
01:09:38,000 --> 01:09:47,000
Well, it feels like the back. The Old Testament is two thirds of the Bible and the New Testament is only one third, really.

814
01:09:47,000 --> 01:09:54,000
So Second Corinthians, Chapter two. I'll get there in one second.

815
01:09:54,000 --> 01:09:58,000
Second Corinthians, Chapter two, and I'm going to read from verse 16.

816
01:09:58,000 --> 01:10:03,000
I'll give you a little bit for context. Second Corinthians, Chapter two.

817
01:10:03,000 --> 01:10:13,000
I'm going to read from verse 16. So 15 says to this, For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

818
01:10:13,000 --> 01:10:18,000
OK, so in other words, we got to think on us in Christ walking with God.

819
01:10:18,000 --> 01:10:22,000
We got to smell. We have an odor. If you don't have an odor, you probably don't belong to God.

820
01:10:22,000 --> 01:10:24,000
I'm sorry. That means I'm not talking about body odor.

821
01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:30,000
I'm talking about a metaphysical right. A thing about you that makes you a little bit different or maybe a little bit offensive.

822
01:10:30,000 --> 01:10:42,000
We're about to find out. So 16 then says to some that means to some people we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others and aroma of life leading to life.

823
01:10:42,000 --> 01:10:49,000
Who is adequate for these things? We do not market the word of God to profit like so many.

824
01:10:49,000 --> 01:10:55,000
On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ as from God and before God.

825
01:10:55,000 --> 01:11:01,000
Basically, as we're serving the Lord in the world, we're going to bother the people around us.

826
01:11:01,000 --> 01:11:05,000
Now, he uses the analogy of a stink. You got to stink on you.

827
01:11:05,000 --> 01:11:10,000
Just get up a good old body odor and then get in your friend's car and see how well that goes.

828
01:11:10,000 --> 01:11:14,000
You know, if they're really your friend, they're like trying not to say anything.

829
01:11:14,000 --> 01:11:18,000
Their eyes might start watering. You know what I'm saying? You're rolling all the windows down.

830
01:11:18,000 --> 01:11:20,000
Dude, you got air conditioning. All four windows are rolled down.

831
01:11:20,000 --> 01:11:25,000
We stink. That's the bottom line. If you truly are following the Lord, you have a strong smell.

832
01:11:25,000 --> 01:11:31,000
Now, here's the blessing of that strong smell to those who are also following the Lord. It smells good.

833
01:11:31,000 --> 01:11:35,000
I love it when I see people serve in their spiritual gift. I love it when I see people giving.

834
01:11:35,000 --> 01:11:45,000
It baffles me and at the same time strengthens my faith in God when I see people doing or giving in a way that I think is beyond what they're actually capable of.

835
01:11:45,000 --> 01:11:53,000
I've seen people spend their midnight oil or give very deeply of their finances or serve and you're like,

836
01:11:53,000 --> 01:12:03,000
oh man, there's no solution here. They show up out of the blue at just the right moment with the right tools or the right strength or the unwillingness to quit and they solve the problem.

837
01:12:03,000 --> 01:12:08,000
That's awesome. That feels good to me. Yeah, it's a stink, but it's a stink. I can just go like, give me more of that.

838
01:12:08,000 --> 01:12:13,000
Just bathe me in that spiritual BO. I'm ready. Let's do that.

839
01:12:13,000 --> 01:12:19,000
At the same time, to those who don't know the Lord, it's bad.

840
01:12:19,000 --> 01:12:29,000
When I was at Bowling Green State University, I had a professor in my second year there and he told me he was a composition professor.

841
01:12:29,000 --> 01:12:38,000
In composition, we had to write a paper every 12 days, a full length paper, 12 pages with bibliography, sightings, quotations, all that kind of stuff.

842
01:12:38,000 --> 01:12:44,000
This was before the day when the computers would do any of that. I was horrible. I've always been bad at formatting bibliographies.

843
01:12:44,000 --> 01:12:49,000
I really struggled with that class, but my writing was pretty good, but my formatting stuff was pretty bad.

844
01:12:49,000 --> 01:12:53,000
I was getting through and we got to the point in time, about two thirds of the way through, and he said,

845
01:12:53,000 --> 01:13:00,000
Okay, so now we're going to write about the topic that nobody ever wants to write about. I'm thinking to myself, well, I don't know what that topic is.

846
01:13:00,000 --> 01:13:05,000
I think I would write about just about anything. I was not saved. I didn't know Jesus. This is what he said.

847
01:13:05,000 --> 01:13:12,000
We're going to write about death. I was like, so? We're going to write about death. Okay, fine. What about death?

848
01:13:12,000 --> 01:13:16,000
Let's start asking some questions, figure out what we're supposed to write. People started asking questions.

849
01:13:16,000 --> 01:13:23,000
Right then, we had a class of 22 people, and right then in the class there were two people who refused to write the essay.

850
01:13:23,000 --> 01:13:27,000
Told him flat out, we shouldn't have to write about that topic. We don't want to write about death.

851
01:13:27,000 --> 01:13:31,000
He said, you know, I get that every year. He said, actually, here's what I've got.

852
01:13:31,000 --> 01:13:36,000
There's going to be those of you in the room who say you won't write about death, and you'll just tell me now, boldly.

853
01:13:36,000 --> 01:13:39,000
Then there's going to be people in the room who say you will write about death, and you'll leave, and you won't do it.

854
01:13:39,000 --> 01:13:44,000
He said, here's what I find. I find that three quarters of the class typically will not write this essay.

855
01:13:44,000 --> 01:13:47,000
He said, I want you to understand, it's worth 8% of your grade.

856
01:13:47,000 --> 01:13:53,000
So, you can still get an A in the class, but you better get an A on everything else if you're going to get an A in the class.

857
01:13:53,000 --> 01:13:58,000
He said, if you choose not to write it, fine. Most people do. Most people choose not to write it.

858
01:13:58,000 --> 01:14:06,000
That day, I'm thinking to myself, as I'm driving home, and I ate at the quad, like out in the sunshine, whatever, my fast food, and I have another class.

859
01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:11,000
I'm driving home from Bowling Green. I'm thinking to myself, why? Why do people have such a wrestle with death?

860
01:14:11,000 --> 01:14:22,000
Here's why. Because people spend their life, their strength, their intellect, their resources, whatever they get their hands on,

861
01:14:22,000 --> 01:14:28,000
they spend most of their time trying to avoid tragedy of any kind.

862
01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:34,000
You ever lost a job, like out of the blue? Like I got a job, and I'm liking this job, it's going pretty good, I feel like I'm doing okay,

863
01:14:34,000 --> 01:14:39,000
and then they come in and they lay you off, or close the place, or just tell you, you know, look, I know you thought you were doing okay,

864
01:14:39,000 --> 01:14:46,000
but actually you really screwed up here, and it's gone now. What's that feel like? It's tragic. It's terrible. It feels like death, right?

865
01:14:46,000 --> 01:14:53,000
You ever have a loved one just like really undercut you, and you're talking to them, and all of a sudden they say something, and you're just going, what? Ow!

866
01:14:53,000 --> 01:15:04,000
That hurts, you know, and you don't show them, you're trying to be strong, but later that day you're going like, oh man, I am just hurt inside so bad about what this is, it's tragedy.

867
01:15:04,000 --> 01:15:10,000
You ever have somebody die on you, like somebody younger, or somebody that was unexpected, didn't have cancer, and fighting it for ten years,

868
01:15:10,000 --> 01:15:19,000
or didn't go through treatments, didn't have a bunch of resections, but all of a sudden they're dead, and you're like, oh man.

869
01:15:19,000 --> 01:15:27,000
So we are busy all the time, it's a natural human state, because why? Because we're trying to overcome the failings of creation.

870
01:15:27,000 --> 01:15:33,000
That's what we were created for, we're supposed to manage it and control it on behalf of God, but ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden it's been messed up,

871
01:15:33,000 --> 01:15:39,000
and we're not able to manage it and control it, so we're trying, we're like, oh, you're not going to die, oh, you're not going to save that, oh.

872
01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:51,000
We're doing everything we can to kind of keep it under control and to avoid that tragedy, but in so doing, we start running a race of avoiding tragedy, and some people are trying to do that.

873
01:15:51,000 --> 01:15:59,000
And then when you get up in their face, and you start loving on them, start serving them, and start talking to them about Jesus, they're like, I don't want to hear what you have to say.

874
01:15:59,000 --> 01:16:04,000
They literally don't want to think about the fact that they're ever going to die, and that they literally could die in the next 24 hours.

875
01:16:04,000 --> 01:16:10,000
They don't want you to tell them, just tell somebody, look, you could die today, and if you die today, will you go to heaven or will you go to hell?

876
01:16:10,000 --> 01:16:18,000
And just see how positive that response is. Now, if God's already been working on them, occasionally they'll go, I'm in, I want to do that, I'm interested to hear what you have to say.

877
01:16:18,000 --> 01:16:21,000
But most of the time, people are like, don't talk to me like that, we tell men.

878
01:16:21,000 --> 01:16:29,000
I have a hard time with that. Talking to people, and I would just prefer to give them the Bible and tell them the truth.

879
01:16:29,000 --> 01:16:37,000
And it should be. And it should be. In fact, the greatest witnessing tool of all time, which I love, is called Share Jesus Without Fear.

880
01:16:37,000 --> 01:16:43,000
And you can just share what God's Word says, and talk to them about what it means. That is a great way to do it.

881
01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:46,000
Because if it's your idea about how to get to heaven, it may not even get them there, right?

882
01:16:46,000 --> 01:16:53,000
Your idea, your picture of Jesus may not be enough to save someone's soul. Jesus is enough, but your picture of Jesus may not be enough.

883
01:16:53,000 --> 01:17:00,000
So the point is, when you get in there and start doing that, you're wrestling with their ability to avoid tragedy.

884
01:17:00,000 --> 01:17:10,000
So you'll find a lot of folks running, a lot of folks trying to avoid tragedy all the time, and your odor will be offensive to them.

885
01:17:10,000 --> 01:17:13,000
That's what we just read. Now, if you'd go with me to Psalm 101.

886
01:17:13,000 --> 01:17:17,000
So now you're going back to the middle of your Bible.

887
01:17:17,000 --> 01:17:22,000
And we are closing in on the conclusion, but we've got a couple stops yet.

888
01:17:22,000 --> 01:17:35,000
Psalm 101.

889
01:17:35,000 --> 01:17:38,000
I'm using a new Bible that has all kinds of new notes in it, so I'm getting used to it.

890
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:43,000
Okay, so Psalm 101, and it's verses 6-8.

891
01:17:43,000 --> 01:17:46,000
This is what it says. It says,

892
01:17:46,000 --> 01:17:49,000
My eyes favor the faithful of the land.

893
01:17:49,000 --> 01:17:51,000
In other words, those who are following God do what they're supposed to be doing.

894
01:17:51,000 --> 01:17:55,000
God says, His eyes favor them, so that they may sit down with me.

895
01:17:55,000 --> 01:17:59,000
The one who follows the way of integrity may serve me.

896
01:17:59,000 --> 01:18:02,000
No one who acts deceitfully will live in my palace.

897
01:18:02,000 --> 01:18:08,000
In other words, if you get into that mass of tricking and cannibalizing folks, you're not going to make it.

898
01:18:08,000 --> 01:18:12,000
You can say whatever about, like, I'm a follower of Jesus, but if you start running that race,

899
01:18:12,000 --> 01:18:15,000
that's not the way Jesus is going.

900
01:18:15,000 --> 01:18:18,000
He's going a different way. He is a different way.

901
01:18:18,000 --> 01:18:21,000
No one who acts deceitfully will live in my palace.

902
01:18:21,000 --> 01:18:25,000
The one who tells lies will not be retained here to guide me.

903
01:18:25,000 --> 01:18:31,000
Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, wiping out all evildoers from the Lord's city.

904
01:18:31,000 --> 01:18:34,000
God Himself has pitted Himself.

905
01:18:34,000 --> 01:18:38,000
Now, technically, this psalm is a psalm of David.

906
01:18:38,000 --> 01:18:41,000
So, it's David speaking, and it's kind of musical and like that.

907
01:18:41,000 --> 01:18:48,000
But he's demonstrating God's position while he is king, or will be king, of Israel.

908
01:18:48,000 --> 01:18:50,000
He's saying, this is God's heart.

909
01:18:50,000 --> 01:18:55,000
God's heart is that the wicked who devour each other, those who are running because of dread,

910
01:18:55,000 --> 01:18:58,000
those who are running to avoid tragedy, they will not remain.

911
01:18:58,000 --> 01:19:00,000
They will not sit in my kingdom.

912
01:19:00,000 --> 01:19:01,000
This is not going to happen.

913
01:19:01,000 --> 01:19:04,000
And your odor reminds people of that.

914
01:19:04,000 --> 01:19:07,000
There are people who claim to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

915
01:19:07,000 --> 01:19:11,000
They claim to be in the kingdom of God, but they are not running with Jesus.

916
01:19:11,000 --> 01:19:12,000
They are not living for the Lord.

917
01:19:12,000 --> 01:19:17,000
They are not making sure that God is their highest priority in various areas of their life.

918
01:19:17,000 --> 01:19:20,000
And when you come in, I had somebody, I was witnessing to counseling,

919
01:19:20,000 --> 01:19:24,000
they were professing to be a Christian, and I said, well, you know, God says this about that.

920
01:19:24,000 --> 01:19:26,000
They said, well, I'm doing this.

921
01:19:26,000 --> 01:19:27,000
And I said, you know, God says this about that.

922
01:19:27,000 --> 01:19:32,000
And I showed them in the Bible, and I quoted it first, and then I couldn't get it, I couldn't quote it exactly right,

923
01:19:32,000 --> 01:19:34,000
so I opened my Bible and showed them the actual verse.

924
01:19:34,000 --> 01:19:36,000
And I said, God says this about that.

925
01:19:36,000 --> 01:19:44,000
And he says, that person said to me, well, I hear you telling me I'm a sinner and I'm going to hell.

926
01:19:44,000 --> 01:19:49,000
And I said, well, I'm not telling you that at all, but I'm just telling you what the Word is saying.

927
01:19:49,000 --> 01:19:52,000
And this is what it says, you just can't continue on that.

928
01:19:52,000 --> 01:19:54,000
It's got to be changed.

929
01:19:54,000 --> 01:19:59,000
If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you are doing this, those things are in contradiction.

930
01:19:59,000 --> 01:20:01,000
And so now you need to repent and turn to God.

931
01:20:01,000 --> 01:20:04,000
And as soon as I said the word repent, they were like, they were done.

932
01:20:04,000 --> 01:20:08,000
They totally closed off, weren't going to talk to me no more, didn't talk to me for six months.

933
01:20:08,000 --> 01:20:10,000
They're going to continue with their thing.

934
01:20:10,000 --> 01:20:14,000
Absolutely. And Christians ought to be doing it all the time.

935
01:20:14,000 --> 01:20:18,000
But the point is that person was not interested in my stink.

936
01:20:18,000 --> 01:20:22,000
My stink to them was an odor unto death rather than an odor unto life.

937
01:20:22,000 --> 01:20:24,000
And that's where we are.

938
01:20:24,000 --> 01:20:30,000
And don't go thinking that other people got it and they're running from that odor because they're okay, because they're not.

939
01:20:30,000 --> 01:20:34,000
They're running from that odor because that odor reminds them they're not okay.

940
01:20:34,000 --> 01:20:37,000
And so don't join them in running like that.

941
01:20:37,000 --> 01:20:42,000
Then the next one is a light.

942
01:20:42,000 --> 01:20:46,000
And I want to call it our light, but really it's Jesus' light.

943
01:20:46,000 --> 01:20:48,000
So if you go to John chapter one.

944
01:20:48,000 --> 01:20:52,000
John chapter one, so back to the New Testament again.

945
01:20:52,000 --> 01:20:58,000
These verses that I'm going to read to you, if you read your Bible, you studied this before, they may seem a little kind of vaguely familiar.

946
01:20:58,000 --> 01:21:00,000
And somebody might even have them memorized or whatever.

947
01:21:00,000 --> 01:21:04,000
But they have an implication in this topic that we're looking at.

948
01:21:04,000 --> 01:21:11,000
So John chapter one, I'm going to read first verse four and five.

949
01:21:11,000 --> 01:21:12,000
John one, four and five.

950
01:21:12,000 --> 01:21:16,000
It says, in him, now it's talking about Jesus, in him was life.

951
01:21:16,000 --> 01:21:19,000
And that life was the light of men.

952
01:21:19,000 --> 01:21:22,000
That light shines in the darkness.

953
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:26,000
And yet the darkness did not overcome it.

954
01:21:26,000 --> 01:21:27,000
Okay.

955
01:21:27,000 --> 01:21:30,000
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

956
01:21:30,000 --> 01:21:36,000
He came as a witness to testify about the light so that all might believe through him.

957
01:21:36,000 --> 01:21:40,000
He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

958
01:21:40,000 --> 01:21:46,000
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

959
01:21:46,000 --> 01:21:49,000
He was in the world and the world was created through him.

960
01:21:49,000 --> 01:21:51,000
And yet the world did not recognize him.

961
01:21:51,000 --> 01:21:54,000
He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

962
01:21:54,000 --> 01:21:59,000
But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God.

963
01:21:59,000 --> 01:22:05,000
To those who believe in his name, who were born not of natural descent or the will of the flesh or the will of man.

964
01:22:05,000 --> 01:22:11,000
That just means you didn't get there by any other way, but you got there by God, but of God.

965
01:22:11,000 --> 01:22:15,000
Bottom line is Jesus was a light.

966
01:22:15,000 --> 01:22:20,000
Has anybody in the room ever struggled with cockroaches in your house?

967
01:22:20,000 --> 01:22:22,000
I've dealt with cockroaches.

968
01:22:22,000 --> 01:22:27,000
Thank God, never had them in my house, but I've dealt with cockroaches in a couple of places at different times.

969
01:22:27,000 --> 01:22:31,000
And here's the thing, a cockroach runs from the light.

970
01:22:31,000 --> 01:22:35,000
Those wicked evil folks that we're talking about, they'll run from the light.

971
01:22:35,000 --> 01:22:37,000
They run from the light.

972
01:22:37,000 --> 01:22:40,000
And so it could be you're bringing the gospel, the truth about Jesus in there.

973
01:22:40,000 --> 01:22:42,000
It just could be you're being loving and kind.

974
01:22:42,000 --> 01:22:45,000
It could be you're being compassionate, merciful, gracious, something like that.

975
01:22:45,000 --> 01:22:46,000
And they will run from the light.

976
01:22:46,000 --> 01:22:48,000
We had a situation in the past.

977
01:22:48,000 --> 01:22:52,000
We were on Main Street, this was some years ago, and it was the most bizarre thing.

978
01:22:52,000 --> 01:22:57,000
We had a block party with a lot of people there, servant folks, just like we're going to do this afternoon.

979
01:22:57,000 --> 01:22:58,000
And it was a pretty good one.

980
01:22:58,000 --> 01:23:03,000
There were earlier ones that were pretty well attended, and we got up and started talking about Jesus.

981
01:23:03,000 --> 01:23:07,000
I held the microphone, and I did a little object lesson, and I started talking about Jesus, and I'm sharing the gospel.

982
01:23:07,000 --> 01:23:16,000
And as I'm sharing the gospel, all of a sudden, about maybe 20% of the people on the parking lot got up and literally walked off the parking lot.

983
01:23:16,000 --> 01:23:17,000
They walked away.

984
01:23:17,000 --> 01:23:19,000
They didn't want to have nothing to do with it.

985
01:23:19,000 --> 01:23:25,000
The light of Jesus began to shine, not because of me, but because of who Jesus is, and they didn't want anything to do with it.

986
01:23:25,000 --> 01:23:28,000
Look at John 3, 19.

987
01:23:28,000 --> 01:23:35,000
So just to the right, probably two or three pages, John 3.

988
01:23:35,000 --> 01:23:38,000
And it says this, this is the judgment.

989
01:23:38,000 --> 01:23:46,000
The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

990
01:23:46,000 --> 01:23:50,000
And then 20 says, for everyone who does evil hates the light and what?

991
01:23:50,000 --> 01:23:54,000
Avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.

992
01:23:54,000 --> 01:23:59,000
Some people are running away from the light because they are comfortable in the dark.

993
01:23:59,000 --> 01:24:05,000
And if you are in the light, and they are in the light, and they start to run, and you go, oh, they're running, and you start to run with them.

994
01:24:05,000 --> 01:24:07,000
Or you go, well, I better run with them because they're going somewhere.

995
01:24:07,000 --> 01:24:11,000
Or you go, I better run with them because I'm afraid of something that might be coming, or whatever.

996
01:24:11,000 --> 01:24:18,000
When you start to run from the light like they're running from the light, you're not understanding the light.

997
01:24:18,000 --> 01:24:21,000
You've missed the point of the gospel.

998
01:24:21,000 --> 01:24:23,000
You've missed the point of Jesus' love for us.

999
01:24:23,000 --> 01:24:26,000
Some people don't like the sound of the truth.

1000
01:24:26,000 --> 01:24:32,000
And there's a reference, and we won't go there and read it, but there's a couple of references in Acts 7 and Matthew 7.

1001
01:24:32,000 --> 01:24:39,000
And basically, the people that the gospel began to be preached and explained, and they literally put their hands over their ears like this.

1002
01:24:39,000 --> 01:24:43,000
In Acts 7, that's the story of Stephen being stoned.

1003
01:24:43,000 --> 01:24:48,000
And Stephen, basically what he did was he told the history of Israel and the coming of Jesus Christ.

1004
01:24:48,000 --> 01:24:49,000
He told the story.

1005
01:24:49,000 --> 01:24:54,000
Now, he told it with a little bit of a caustic tone, right? If you don't accept this, you know, it's a problem.

1006
01:24:54,000 --> 01:24:57,000
And then when he got to the end, he said, and this is the Messiah of the Christ.

1007
01:24:57,000 --> 01:25:00,000
This is the guy you crucified. You're going to be held accountable.

1008
01:25:00,000 --> 01:25:07,000
And they put their hands over their ears like this, and they rushed toward him to grab him, to shut him up, and stoned him to death,

1009
01:25:07,000 --> 01:25:11,000
because they couldn't stand the sound of the truth about Jesus.

1010
01:25:11,000 --> 01:25:17,000
Some people cannot stand the sound of the truth about Jesus because they can't stand the reality that they have not listened

1011
01:25:17,000 --> 01:25:21,000
or accepted the truth of the gospel. They have been wrong.

1012
01:25:21,000 --> 01:25:27,000
If I had ran with that group of teenagers and that illustration from the beginning,

1013
01:25:27,000 --> 01:25:31,000
and then found out I was actually on the other team, I'd have looked pretty stupid, wouldn't I?

1014
01:25:31,000 --> 01:25:33,000
I'd be like, oh, run over here. I'm standing by the flag. We'll guard the flag with you.

1015
01:25:33,000 --> 01:25:37,000
And the one I'm just result, I'm going to tag you and put you in prison, because actually you're on the other side,

1016
01:25:37,000 --> 01:25:39,000
and we just tricked you to get you to run to our side so we could tag you.

1017
01:25:39,000 --> 01:25:44,000
And that kind of stuff actually happens in Captured a Flag. So it could have been like that, but it wasn't.

1018
01:25:44,000 --> 01:25:49,000
But that's what happens when the light starts to shine. People go, wait, I'm on the wrong side.

1019
01:25:49,000 --> 01:25:55,000
But I don't want to be, I like that I can do this. I can get ahead. I can devour. I can cheat, steal, do whatever I have to.

1020
01:25:55,000 --> 01:26:02,000
I can be tricky, and I'm smart, and I'm wise, and God made me good, and God made me this way, and I can live this way,

1021
01:26:02,000 --> 01:26:07,000
even though it's contrary to what God says, but God has allowed me the freedom to live this way.

1022
01:26:07,000 --> 01:26:11,000
And I can do that, and I want to do that. So I'm going to stay away from the light that's shining,

1023
01:26:11,000 --> 01:26:20,000
because it will become painfully obvious to everybody, including me, that I'm not honoring God the way I'm supposed to.

1024
01:26:20,000 --> 01:26:26,000
People run from your odor, people run from the light, people run from the sound of truth,

1025
01:26:26,000 --> 01:26:30,000
and then the last one is people run from God's wrath.

1026
01:26:30,000 --> 01:26:36,000
The wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against the wicked.

1027
01:26:36,000 --> 01:26:43,000
Look at Romans chapter 1, and this won't take long, but we're going to go there and look at Romans chapter 1.

1028
01:26:43,000 --> 01:26:46,000
Now we could read this whole chapter and on into chapter 3,

1029
01:26:46,000 --> 01:26:54,000
because Paul is doing a really good job of describing here why the Gentiles who don't know the Jewish traditions,

1030
01:26:54,000 --> 01:27:00,000
didn't know the Word, etc., are just as responsible for their behavior before God as the Jews who did know.

1031
01:27:00,000 --> 01:27:04,000
And that means that we are lumped into that original passage of Scripture,

1032
01:27:04,000 --> 01:27:09,000
Leviticus and Deuteronomy that we read, we have the same responsibilities when we're not walking with the Lord,

1033
01:27:09,000 --> 01:27:12,000
we have the same responsibilities because of what he explains here.

1034
01:27:12,000 --> 01:27:16,000
And so Romans chapter 1, verse 18 says this, it says,

1035
01:27:16,000 --> 01:27:21,000
For God's wrath, and real quick, understand, wrath is God's opposition.

1036
01:27:21,000 --> 01:27:26,000
It doesn't mean his anger, it's not that God's frustrated with you or emotionally against you,

1037
01:27:26,000 --> 01:27:31,000
it means he's violently opposing. God's wrath is revealed from heaven.

1038
01:27:31,000 --> 01:27:37,000
It means it's made known, it's shown against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people

1039
01:27:37,000 --> 01:27:41,000
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

1040
01:27:41,000 --> 01:27:44,000
So just their being unrighteous and not being a true follower of God,

1041
01:27:44,000 --> 01:27:47,000
not being what God would have them to be, not letting God work in them, etc.,

1042
01:27:47,000 --> 01:27:51,000
just that suppresses the truth, their unrighteousness suppresses the truth.

1043
01:27:51,000 --> 01:27:57,000
And because of that, wrath of God, not my wrath, that wouldn't be very scary anyway,

1044
01:27:57,000 --> 01:28:02,000
wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against those who by their unrighteousness

1045
01:28:02,000 --> 01:28:08,000
are suppressing the truth. Since what can be known about God is evident among them

1046
01:28:08,000 --> 01:28:13,000
because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes,

1047
01:28:13,000 --> 01:28:17,000
that is his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen

1048
01:28:17,000 --> 01:28:21,000
since the creation of the world being understood through what he has made.

1049
01:28:21,000 --> 01:28:25,000
Do you understand? Some people are running because of who God is.

1050
01:28:25,000 --> 01:28:27,000
Some people are running because they're running from the wrath of God.

1051
01:28:27,000 --> 01:28:32,000
Running from tragedy is often running from the wrath of God.

1052
01:28:32,000 --> 01:28:35,000
The wrath of God is on creation and is on mankind and its sinful nature

1053
01:28:35,000 --> 01:28:38,000
because of what happened in the Garden of Eden.

1054
01:28:38,000 --> 01:28:42,000
And it's been that way since then. And Jesus didn't want that to be the end,

1055
01:28:42,000 --> 01:28:47,000
eternal state of mankind, and so he died. He suffered the wrath of his Father on the cross

1056
01:28:47,000 --> 01:28:52,000
to pay the price for sins. And for those who believe that and receive the gift of eternal life,

1057
01:28:52,000 --> 01:28:56,000
Jesus Christ becomes Lord. That means he's boss of your life, Savior.

1058
01:28:56,000 --> 01:28:59,000
That means he paid the price for your sins. God raised him on the third day

1059
01:28:59,000 --> 01:29:04,000
as testament to us that he is the man, he is the one, the way, he is the person

1060
01:29:04,000 --> 01:29:06,000
whom we are supposed to believe in. He is God in the flesh.

1061
01:29:06,000 --> 01:29:10,000
Because of that, we know we can go to heaven one day. There is life after death.

1062
01:29:10,000 --> 01:29:13,000
And you can endure anything that you're going through because ultimately

1063
01:29:13,000 --> 01:29:19,000
your eternal destination will be with God. But lest we forget where we began,

1064
01:29:19,000 --> 01:29:24,000
we started by asking ourselves, why do some run? Why are they running?

1065
01:29:24,000 --> 01:29:28,000
They're running because they're devouring each other.

1066
01:29:28,000 --> 01:29:31,000
They're running because they're prey and someone's about to devour them.

1067
01:29:31,000 --> 01:29:36,000
And prey is by its very nature skittish. They're running to avoid tragedy.

1068
01:29:36,000 --> 01:29:39,000
They're running because of the stink of Christians in the church.

1069
01:29:39,000 --> 01:29:43,000
They're running because of the light of God as revealed through His holy Word

1070
01:29:43,000 --> 01:29:47,000
and His Savior and His people. They're running because of the sound of the truth

1071
01:29:47,000 --> 01:29:50,000
that so bothers them that they would realize that they have not honored God

1072
01:29:50,000 --> 01:29:52,000
the way they're supposed to. They don't want to hear.

1073
01:29:52,000 --> 01:29:56,000
They're running because they realize the wrath of God is a very real thing

1074
01:29:56,000 --> 01:30:00,000
and they don't want to face it.

1075
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:04,000
The last verse of the day, Proverbs 28.

1076
01:30:04,000 --> 01:30:08,000
Proverbs is not a book of promises. It is a book of Solomon's observations

1077
01:30:08,000 --> 01:30:12,000
of how the universe works. So whenever you read a proverb

1078
01:30:12,000 --> 01:30:15,000
and it tells you something about how something works,

1079
01:30:15,000 --> 01:30:18,000
you can basically add this disclaimer. That's the way it is.

1080
01:30:18,000 --> 01:30:21,000
Take it or leave it. It's still going to be that way when you're done.

1081
01:30:21,000 --> 01:30:26,000
That's the way God made it. This is what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 28, verse 1.

1082
01:30:26,000 --> 01:30:27,000
He said,

1083
01:30:27,000 --> 01:30:31,000
The wicked flee when no one is pursuing them,

1084
01:30:31,000 --> 01:30:35,000
but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

1085
01:30:35,000 --> 01:30:38,000
Here is the beauty, though we may run for the cross,

1086
01:30:38,000 --> 01:30:41,000
run for the goal set before us, run to be like Jesus,

1087
01:30:41,000 --> 01:30:44,000
run to reach heaven one day, run in whatever strength that God has given us,

1088
01:30:44,000 --> 01:30:46,000
renewed strength.

1089
01:30:46,000 --> 01:30:49,000
Though we may run like that, we never run from the enemy,

1090
01:30:49,000 --> 01:30:52,000
we never run from anything that would hound us, we never run from tragedy,

1091
01:30:52,000 --> 01:30:56,000
we don't run from the stink of the gospel, we don't run from the sound of the word preached,

1092
01:30:56,000 --> 01:31:04,000
we don't run because we're afraid, for if He is for us, who can be against us?

1093
01:31:04,000 --> 01:31:07,000
There is no fear in being a follower of the Lord.

1094
01:31:07,000 --> 01:31:11,000
You will one day run with Jesus if you are a follower of the Lord,

1095
01:31:11,000 --> 01:31:15,000
if you have accepted Him as Lord and Savior, believed and received the truth of Jesus Christ,

1096
01:31:15,000 --> 01:31:22,000
you will one day run with Jesus right through death into eternal life.

1097
01:31:22,000 --> 01:31:26,000
It'll come for you, it comes for all of us. If Jesus doesn't come again, it will come for you.

1098
01:31:26,000 --> 01:31:28,000
You will die. If you're here today going like,

1099
01:31:28,000 --> 01:31:31,000
I'll die, but I don't want to die right now, and I'm not quite ready to go,

1100
01:31:31,000 --> 01:31:34,000
and I've got to soar all this out, and I'm thinking,

1101
01:31:34,000 --> 01:31:39,000
it's possible that you have developed a personality that is running with others who are running,

1102
01:31:39,000 --> 01:31:44,000
running with others who are running because you know that someone will devour you if you don't,

1103
01:31:44,000 --> 01:31:50,000
running with others because you know that you are prey, that someone is after you.

1104
01:31:50,000 --> 01:31:52,000
You hear the movement of a leaf and you go,

1105
01:31:52,000 --> 01:31:53,000
well I've got to go over here and I've got to do this,

1106
01:31:53,000 --> 01:31:56,000
you see the things that the world offers, I've got to go over here and I've got to do this,

1107
01:31:56,000 --> 01:32:00,000
you want what you want, and you don't want somebody like me or somebody like somebody else in this room

1108
01:32:00,000 --> 01:32:04,000
to step up into your life and give you a word of truth and honor and justice and righteousness,

1109
01:32:04,000 --> 01:32:08,000
which is Jesus Christ has right to be Lord of your life and tell you what to do when you do it.

1110
01:32:08,000 --> 01:32:11,000
You don't want that, so you're going like, well I'm putting that off.

1111
01:32:11,000 --> 01:32:16,000
You're driving in the campground, and heaven's there, and heaven's there, and heaven's there,

1112
01:32:16,000 --> 01:32:17,000
and you're going to get to the end of the road,

1113
01:32:17,000 --> 01:32:27,000
and there's no way you're going to get to heaven because you've turned down every opportunity to follow Jesus.

1114
01:32:27,000 --> 01:32:33,000
If you are running, and you don't know what you are running from, or what you are running for,

1115
01:32:33,000 --> 01:32:37,000
you don't know what you are chasing, and you don't know what is pursuing you,

1116
01:32:37,000 --> 01:32:46,000
it's time to stop running that race and turn yourself over to God through Jesus Christ, His Son.

1117
01:32:46,000 --> 01:32:54,000
You have nothing to fear when walking with Jesus, because no matter what tragedy you are required to endure,

1118
01:32:54,000 --> 01:33:00,000
nothing can separate you from the love of our Savior.

1119
01:33:00,000 --> 01:33:06,000
But there are things that the world has, and we are enticed.

1120
01:33:06,000 --> 01:33:13,000
Now as we have been talking, we've all been saying, that ain't me, and I ain't running.

1121
01:33:13,000 --> 01:33:18,000
I love that this sermon doesn't step on my toes today, because it ain't me, I ain't running.

1122
01:33:18,000 --> 01:33:22,000
I would ask you, how often have you retreated into a fantasy world

1123
01:33:22,000 --> 01:33:25,000
and streamed episode after episode after episode of your favorite TV,

1124
01:33:25,000 --> 01:33:29,000
because you don't want to think about what you did in your day?

1125
01:33:29,000 --> 01:33:33,000
Are you at work at 2 o'clock yearning to be home with your family?

1126
01:33:33,000 --> 01:33:38,000
Are you at work at 2 o'clock yearning to have more money or figure out how you are going to get somewhere?

1127
01:33:38,000 --> 01:33:42,000
Do you want something? I personally want a garage. I wanted a garage for 10 years.

1128
01:33:42,000 --> 01:33:45,000
I am right now standing before you repenting of wanting a garage.

1129
01:33:45,000 --> 01:33:48,000
If the Lord gives me a garage, that will be great. If He doesn't, it will be fine.

1130
01:33:48,000 --> 01:33:51,000
I am still going to make the joke about the little cubby that I have all my stuff in,

1131
01:33:51,000 --> 01:33:53,000
and I call that the garage. I am still going to make that joke.

1132
01:33:53,000 --> 01:33:56,000
But the bottom line is, if you are wanting something you can't have,

1133
01:33:56,000 --> 01:33:59,000
it's probably because you are not following the Lord.

1134
01:33:59,000 --> 01:34:01,000
If you are fleeing for something you don't want to have,

1135
01:34:01,000 --> 01:34:04,000
you are going, oh, I am so concerned that my kids are not going to grow up.

1136
01:34:04,000 --> 01:34:06,000
I am so concerned my kid might grow up and become a missionary.

1137
01:34:06,000 --> 01:34:11,000
I am so concerned that if I relinquish this tithe, this offering, if I give my service,

1138
01:34:11,000 --> 01:34:14,000
if I don't go do what I want to do now and I do what God wants,

1139
01:34:14,000 --> 01:34:16,000
I might not get to do what I want to do later.

1140
01:34:16,000 --> 01:34:19,000
If that's your personality, you are running.

1141
01:34:19,000 --> 01:34:25,000
You literally have joined yourself to the caravan of individuals that are running away from God.

1142
01:34:25,000 --> 01:34:28,000
And you are like, well, God might come in and tell me to do something that's uncomfortable.

1143
01:34:28,000 --> 01:34:33,000
Yes, He will come in and tell you to do something uncomfortable.

1144
01:34:33,000 --> 01:34:35,000
He will. He will do it today.

1145
01:34:35,000 --> 01:34:38,000
And He will say, well, I've got to work in my kid's school.

1146
01:34:38,000 --> 01:34:40,000
I've got to work in my kid's program.

1147
01:34:40,000 --> 01:34:44,000
If I am not right there holding my kid's hand, he can't do his math work.

1148
01:34:44,000 --> 01:34:48,000
If I don't tell my wife what to do, she will do the wrong thing.

1149
01:34:48,000 --> 01:34:51,000
If I don't tell my husband how I feel, he is going to keep acting like a little kid.

1150
01:34:51,000 --> 01:34:55,000
FYI, he is going to keep acting like a little kid.

1151
01:34:55,000 --> 01:34:57,000
She is going to do the wrong thing.

1152
01:34:57,000 --> 01:34:59,000
We are all going to get it wrong.

1153
01:34:59,000 --> 01:35:01,000
That's literally who we were.

1154
01:35:01,000 --> 01:35:05,000
And who we were is still with us in some sense.

1155
01:35:05,000 --> 01:35:09,000
God is building a new you if you have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

1156
01:35:09,000 --> 01:35:15,000
It's time to stop running to things that make you feel okay in your present situation.

1157
01:35:15,000 --> 01:35:22,000
Because there is literally only one thing that is supposed to make you feel any sort of way about your present situation.

1158
01:35:22,000 --> 01:35:24,000
And that is the love of Jesus Christ.

1159
01:35:24,000 --> 01:35:27,000
And that needs to become your main focus.

1160
01:35:27,000 --> 01:35:32,000
The next time you are, woe is me, I have been hurt, somebody is cannibalizing me, realize you are a prey.

1161
01:35:32,000 --> 01:35:35,000
They are cannibalizing you because you are allowing it.

1162
01:35:35,000 --> 01:35:39,000
Because instead of delving deeper into Christ and focusing on the things that are really important,

1163
01:35:39,000 --> 01:35:44,000
you are allowing the emotional, psychological, and even spiritual strain of life to affect you.

1164
01:35:44,000 --> 01:35:49,000
When if you are sealed up by the Holy Spirit, if you are regenerated by Christ, if you are living in the Lord,

1165
01:35:49,000 --> 01:35:53,000
the rest of that is all going to go like, yep, this happened to me this week, I got a letter in the mail.

1166
01:35:53,000 --> 01:35:55,000
It says, well you owe $3,000.

1167
01:35:55,000 --> 01:35:57,000
Totally blindsided me.

1168
01:35:57,000 --> 01:35:59,000
I had no idea I owed $3,000 and I don't have it.

1169
01:35:59,000 --> 01:36:00,000
It's a reality.

1170
01:36:00,000 --> 01:36:03,000
I'm like, well we'll have it eventually over time, we'll be able to pay it.

1171
01:36:03,000 --> 01:36:05,000
But I'm like, ah, this is really something.

1172
01:36:05,000 --> 01:36:08,000
And I went, why did that happen Lord?

1173
01:36:08,000 --> 01:36:10,000
I got no answer.

1174
01:36:10,000 --> 01:36:12,000
I said, well maybe I screwed something up.

1175
01:36:12,000 --> 01:36:13,000
It's probably my fault.

1176
01:36:13,000 --> 01:36:18,000
Okay, well if that turns out to be the case, I'm going to have to pay that $3,000.

1177
01:36:18,000 --> 01:36:21,000
I'll pay it on payments, I'll pay it in one shot, I'll go without something, whatever.

1178
01:36:21,000 --> 01:36:22,000
It's a reality of what it is.

1179
01:36:22,000 --> 01:36:23,000
That's my life.

1180
01:36:23,000 --> 01:36:26,000
I didn't break nothing, I didn't hoot, holler, shout, scream.

1181
01:36:26,000 --> 01:36:29,000
I didn't run away, I didn't tear it up and throw it, pretend it wasn't there.

1182
01:36:29,000 --> 01:36:32,000
In our early Christian walk, we had a whole bunch of credit card debt.

1183
01:36:32,000 --> 01:36:34,000
And we had two houses going in foreclosure.

1184
01:36:34,000 --> 01:36:37,000
We were young Christians and we weren't tithing, we weren't giving to the Lord, we weren't serving.

1185
01:36:37,000 --> 01:36:40,000
When we were serving, we went to a new church and they wouldn't let us serve.

1186
01:36:40,000 --> 01:36:41,000
And then finally we got serving again.

1187
01:36:41,000 --> 01:36:44,000
But the point is, in that period of time, everything went to pot.

1188
01:36:44,000 --> 01:36:50,000
Two houses going in foreclosure, overnight, $29,000 with the credit card debt became $89,000 with credit card debt.

1189
01:36:50,000 --> 01:36:52,000
Because of all these fees and everything like that.

1190
01:36:52,000 --> 01:36:54,000
And you know how many creditors we talked to on the phone?

1191
01:36:54,000 --> 01:36:55,000
None.

1192
01:36:55,000 --> 01:36:56,000
Because every time they'd call, we didn't answer.

1193
01:36:56,000 --> 01:36:59,000
We hid from what was going wrong.

1194
01:36:59,000 --> 01:37:02,000
But if we hadn't hid, we could have mitigated a lot of the problems.

1195
01:37:02,000 --> 01:37:04,000
We could have solved it, we could have done a better job.

1196
01:37:04,000 --> 01:37:05,000
We didn't do that.

1197
01:37:05,000 --> 01:37:07,000
We hid from what was going wrong.

1198
01:37:07,000 --> 01:37:10,000
Now, I'm going to be like, we're going to take care of it.

1199
01:37:10,000 --> 01:37:11,000
I don't know how we're going to take care of it.

1200
01:37:11,000 --> 01:37:12,000
We're going to take care of it.

1201
01:37:12,000 --> 01:37:16,000
And I didn't get frustrated, I didn't kick nothing, break nothing, shout, holler, nothing.

1202
01:37:16,000 --> 01:37:17,000
You don't have to do that.

1203
01:37:17,000 --> 01:37:20,000
Because you're okay in Jesus Christ.

1204
01:37:20,000 --> 01:37:22,000
You're better than okay.

1205
01:37:22,000 --> 01:37:25,000
You're going to run one day over the heads of the enemies.

1206
01:37:25,000 --> 01:37:26,000
Check Malachi if you don't believe me.

1207
01:37:26,000 --> 01:37:29,000
We're going to run on the heads of all those people right now cannibalizing everybody.

1208
01:37:29,000 --> 01:37:31,000
They're all going to be dust on the ground.

1209
01:37:31,000 --> 01:37:35,000
We're going to run right over top of them, Malachi says, into heaven for an eternity.

1210
01:37:35,000 --> 01:37:37,000
You don't want to run.

1211
01:37:37,000 --> 01:37:39,000
You want to stand your ground.

1212
01:37:39,000 --> 01:37:41,000
Armor up.

1213
01:37:41,000 --> 01:37:43,000
And get ready.

1214
01:37:43,000 --> 01:37:46,000
Because the truth is, if you look at the way the world's going right now,

1215
01:37:46,000 --> 01:37:49,000
it's probably going to get worse for Christians.

1216
01:37:49,000 --> 01:37:54,000
And if it gets worse, we're not going to run.

1217
01:37:54,000 --> 01:37:57,000
And if you're running, I'm asking you to repent.

1218
01:37:57,000 --> 01:38:01,000
If you're spending a lot of time in things that help you distract yourself,

1219
01:38:01,000 --> 01:38:04,000
even though it might not be alcohol or drugs or whatever,

1220
01:38:04,000 --> 01:38:08,000
but if you're spending a lot of time to distract yourself to the reality of your life,

1221
01:38:08,000 --> 01:38:11,000
I'm asking you to stop running.

1222
01:38:11,000 --> 01:38:14,000
And search Jesus Christ as Lord.

1223
01:38:14,000 --> 01:38:17,000
I'm asking you to stop running and reach new heights in Jesus.

1224
01:38:17,000 --> 01:38:19,000
Grow in Jesus.

1225
01:38:19,000 --> 01:38:24,000
Study. Pray. Rest in the Lord.

1226
01:38:24,000 --> 01:38:26,000
Serve. Walk it out.

1227
01:38:26,000 --> 01:38:31,000
And by the way, we have the same application from Leviticus as they have.

1228
01:38:31,000 --> 01:38:37,000
If you know what to do and you don't do it, it's all downhill from there.

1229
01:38:37,000 --> 01:38:41,000
Because God will judge us one day by the choices that we have made.

1230
01:38:41,000 --> 01:38:44,000
And you say, well, I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not going to judge me.

1231
01:38:44,000 --> 01:38:49,000
I'm going to go to heaven. He's going to judge everybody.

1232
01:38:49,000 --> 01:38:53,000
This time I ask the praise team to come forward and we're going to have a closing hymn,

1233
01:38:53,000 --> 01:38:57,000
a hymn of invitation. This is your opportunity to say, listen, I get it.

1234
01:38:57,000 --> 01:39:00,000
I feel like the Lord is asking me to make some kind of a decision.

1235
01:39:00,000 --> 01:39:04,000
You might be here today and say, I'm going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time ever.

1236
01:39:04,000 --> 01:39:07,000
I need to in earnest say, okay, I recognize what Jesus did for me.

1237
01:39:07,000 --> 01:39:10,000
I'm running with Jesus and I'm not interested in what the world has to offer.

1238
01:39:10,000 --> 01:39:15,000
I'm not going to be intrigued to go that way. I'm not going to be feared to go that way.

1239
01:39:15,000 --> 01:39:18,000
I'm going to go the way that Jesus would have me to go.

1240
01:39:18,000 --> 01:39:21,000
And I'm going to follow the Lord from here on out.

1241
01:39:21,000 --> 01:39:25,000
If that's the decision you're making, say you're literally getting saved right now in this moment.

1242
01:39:25,000 --> 01:39:27,000
You're for the first time being born again, fresh, new.

1243
01:39:27,000 --> 01:39:31,000
Jesus is coming into you and saying, okay, we're going to go.

1244
01:39:31,000 --> 01:39:35,000
Bless me and you go be somebody new.

1245
01:39:35,000 --> 01:39:39,000
If you're here today and you say, I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I already know that.

1246
01:39:39,000 --> 01:39:43,000
But I listen to this message and I realize I've been running.

1247
01:39:43,000 --> 01:39:45,000
I'm running to fantasy. I'm running to falsehood.

1248
01:39:45,000 --> 01:39:47,000
I'm running after something that the world offers.

1249
01:39:47,000 --> 01:39:49,000
I'm running from something that I'm afraid of.

1250
01:39:49,000 --> 01:39:58,000
And if that's you, then I'm going to ask you today to repent and turn to Jesus anew and say, no, I am running with the Lord.

1251
01:39:58,000 --> 01:40:03,000
I'm not after what the world wants. I'm not trying to flee what I don't want to see happen.

1252
01:40:03,000 --> 01:40:05,000
I don't care if you can crash or you're stung.

1253
01:40:05,000 --> 01:40:07,000
I just want to walk with Jesus.

1254
01:40:07,000 --> 01:40:12,000
There comes a moment. There always has to come a moment in time when Jesus becomes the most important thing.

1255
01:40:12,000 --> 01:40:14,000
And if that's never happened, it better happen now.

1256
01:40:14,000 --> 01:40:20,000
And if it's ever happened, it better happen now.

1257
01:40:20,000 --> 01:40:25,000
Because Jesus is Lord.

1258
01:40:25,000 --> 01:40:27,000
Maybe you're here today and you say, I need a new church home.

1259
01:40:27,000 --> 01:40:31,000
I need somewhere I can serve and walk out my faith in Christ.

1260
01:40:31,000 --> 01:40:34,000
You keep telling me, you say that's I think God wants me to do that today.

1261
01:40:34,000 --> 01:40:36,000
Or I need to be baptized.

1262
01:40:36,000 --> 01:40:38,000
I need to confess to the Lord and accept Jesus Christ.

1263
01:40:38,000 --> 01:40:39,000
Or maybe right now I did.

1264
01:40:39,000 --> 01:40:46,000
And I know that God wants me to be baptized to show people that I put the old me behind and the new me is a living for Jesus.

1265
01:40:46,000 --> 01:40:49,000
Or maybe God's calling you to a certain ministry.

1266
01:40:49,000 --> 01:40:53,000
You say Jesus is going to want me for a while to do X and I've been putting him off.

1267
01:40:53,000 --> 01:40:55,000
And I see now I've got to stop.

1268
01:40:55,000 --> 01:41:00,000
Or I'm going to wind up running with the folks who are running for the wrong reasons.

1269
01:41:00,000 --> 01:41:04,000
And you commit today to do that thing that God has called you to.

1270
01:41:04,000 --> 01:41:06,000
Maybe the Lord has laid something else on your heart.

1271
01:41:06,000 --> 01:41:07,000
And as we sing this song you can do it.

1272
01:41:07,000 --> 01:41:09,000
You just come down front and say, that's me.

1273
01:41:09,000 --> 01:41:11,000
The Lord has been speaking to me.

1274
01:41:11,000 --> 01:41:13,000
And we'll deal with it.

1275
01:41:13,000 --> 01:41:18,000
And you know, you know that we're looking down on anybody in this room.

1276
01:41:18,000 --> 01:41:21,000
We're all hoping for the best for each other.

1277
01:41:21,000 --> 01:41:24,000
There's two new heights together.

1278
01:41:24,000 --> 01:41:28,000
So whatever it is the Lord has laid on your heart, if there is something then you come.

1279
01:41:28,000 --> 01:41:31,000
And if there isn't then you be singing praises to God.

1280
01:41:31,000 --> 01:41:36,000
But at the same time praying for those who are wrestling with whatever is going on in their heart.

1281
01:41:36,000 --> 01:41:39,000
If you're comfortable and able to do so, would you stand with me?

1282
01:41:39,000 --> 01:41:41,000
We're going to sing this song together.

1283
01:41:41,000 --> 01:41:45,000
I want to give God the honor and the glory for His word and how it speaks to us.

1284
01:41:45,000 --> 01:41:47,000
The song's going to be out on the screen.

1285
01:41:47,000 --> 01:41:49,000
They're going to lead us.

1286
01:41:49,000 --> 01:41:50,000
The Lord is moving in you.

1287
01:41:50,000 --> 01:41:54,000
You come forward and you share with me how He's speaking to you.

1288
01:41:54,000 --> 01:42:07,000
Just as I am without one dream,

1289
01:42:07,000 --> 01:42:16,000
One that I've got one shed for me.

1290
01:42:16,000 --> 01:42:18,000
And that I have been given to me.

1291
01:42:18,000 --> 01:42:19,000
You may be awesome.

1292
01:42:19,000 --> 01:42:21,000
You may be strong.

1293
01:42:21,000 --> 01:42:24,000
You may be great and you may be evil.

1294
01:42:24,000 --> 01:42:27,000
But this is how we get to heaven.

1295
01:42:27,000 --> 01:42:28,000
I love this.

1296
01:42:28,000 --> 01:42:31,000
Shed blood and lamb Jesus Christ.

1297
01:42:31,000 --> 01:42:32,000
That's how you get there.

1298
01:42:32,000 --> 01:42:35,000
You will not power through one or all.

1299
01:42:35,000 --> 01:42:40,000
Righteousness such as it would be without Jesus will be as filthy rags and it will not get the job done.

1300
01:42:40,000 --> 01:42:45,000
Accept the free gift of salvation and begin to live it out today.

1301
01:42:45,000 --> 01:42:50,000
And if you've already done so, commit yourself anew, a fresh, to be all about Jesus.

1302
01:42:50,000 --> 01:42:55,000
Walking with Him in you, not hand in hand with Jesus, but with Him in you doing what it is that He would have you to do.

1303
01:42:55,000 --> 01:42:59,000
Being who it is that He would have you to be.

1304
01:42:59,000 --> 01:43:02,000
Don't turn away.

1305
01:43:02,000 --> 01:43:05,000
Don't cry one by one.

1306
01:43:05,000 --> 01:43:09,000
In your heart moving right now, your response.

1307
01:43:09,000 --> 01:43:21,000
Oh, yeah.