See, and your face is all I see
And your face is all I see
Now we're into your mountain
We must set the degree
We come out strong-towered
Shout out over me, when I'm born almighty
I am the best in heat
You are my strong-towered
Mournful, sweat and bleed
Name us to the police
You are my strong-towered
Shout out over me, when I'm born almighty
I am the best in heat
You are my strong-towered
Mournful, sweat and bleed
Name us to the police
And your face is all I see
We're gonna do the service, do the first workshop
If you know children who want to sign up, especially Erin, Artie, or Katelyn, anybody who works with the kids
Make sure they're getting their opportunity
On there they can ask for a partial scholarship or a full scholarship
If they can't afford their kit to make their car
But we want to give them opportunity, if they can pay for it, it's $6 for the car kit
Which comes with a block of wood and the parts to build it
So that's getting rolling and the actual event is December 18th
And I'm kind of excited about it
Looks like it's going to be a lot of fun
I intend to try to make a car
I haven't done that in a real long time
And so I think it's going to be fun
I may make something that looks kind of like a car
I don't know if it will roll fast or not
Maybe it will be kind of cool looking, maybe it won't
We'll see
Alright, so everybody's welcome to do that and join in
But if you're an adult and you're going to make a car and you can't race against the kids
You're just going to be there for the showing off your skills
Or being in a gooky contest or that kind of thing
Okay?
And then pray for Amalia and really the heart base
Carson is now sick
He's got the stuff that some other people had last weekend
And so people apparently shared it around a little bit
And so he's got it now
And they're not here, obviously
And those of you who helped with furniture, and that includes some folks online
And there are people helping with furniture
Both Lynn and James and Samantha have pretty much all the furniture they need
The only thing that we know of that is still needed is
Lynn still needs a microwave
The kitchen also needs a microwave because the microwave in there stopped working
So if you have an extra microwave sitting around that's in good order
We can do that
Also saw some used ones like cashmine had to use a microwave
Somebody needs a microwave, they can buy one there
But if you want to buy one there, donate to the church building
You can do that
Or to Lynn, she needs one too
And then also Lynn needs silverware
So they only have plastic silverware right now
So she'd like to go and have actual silverware so she can wash it and reuse it
And not have to keep
Because plastic silverware doesn't last
Okay?
And so other than that, it's pretty well getting around
Oh, I'm sorry
And I want to mention Donovan still needs a twin size bed
He's sleeping on that twin air mattress
That was donated for a use for a while
He's not like it
He says, I can't do it, I sleepwalk
She says, you do not sleepwalk
I sleepwalk
She says, he just doesn't want to sleep on the air mattress
So he needs a bed
So that's what I know is still going on
So if you are still looking or shopping
Those are the focus for right now, okay?
And then there's one more thing I was going to say
I'll pray for Brother Tony and Sister June
Leaving Wednesday to go visit family in Mississippi
And they will not be with us next Sunday
So I'll pray for traveling overseas for them
And then there are folks that have things going on
That make it impossible or very difficult for them to be here
And so that's, life has a tendency to interfere
And we praise God that God does tend to work those things out
Over the long run, if it's really what you want
God will take care of it
And so we pray for them without naming them
That's okay, we'll pray for that, okay?
Anybody else got something real quick on the announcement side?
No
All right, let's pray together
And then we'll do a little more worshiping
The awesome, powerful, holy, amazing God of the universe
As he raises us to the highest of Jesus
Father and Heather, you are that God
You are the awesome, amazing, powerful God of the universe
You are the only God
It's not like there are really other gods
There are things that people call God
Things that people make out to be God
They worship aspects of creation
Rather than the Creator who created those
Father, we give you all honor and glory and praise
Asking you to draw out of us some kind of praise and worship today
That will honor you the way you deserve
Given where we've been, what we've done
Even now, maybe where our minds, our hearts are, Lord
It's hard for us to just unleash ourselves
Open up and to let flow the praise that is written on the walls of our hearts
About how awesome you are
And so I'm asking you, Lord, to rebuke those things
Rebuke the things that distract us, tempt us
Cast out any evil spirit that may have brought into this room with us
Lord, save me be gone
Let this place be simply about you during this time
This is your geography at all
We know it's contested that the enemy would like to be in charge
And we cannot
And so Father, we confess to you
Our tarrying with distractions
Our yielding in some cases to temptation
And that resulting in sin
And we know, Lord, for those of us who are here today
We know you through Jesus Christ
It is not possible now to be unsaved
And we're so grateful
But for someone who might be here today who does not know you through Jesus
They're not saved
And yielding to those temptations then equals sin, equals death
And Lord, we confess our weakness and our need for healing and salvation
And we're grateful, thankful that your Son gives us
Thank you for those of us who've had great blessings this week
We've seen you at work powerfully
We discovered you through your word or through prayer or through some event
You took care of our needs
Thank you, thank you, thank you
I'm gonna ask you, Lord, to do just that
I ask you to do that for those that are still on the way here
We know there's at least one family on the way right now
Just bring them safely here
And Lord, we ask you to heal our hurt
I ask you specifically, Lord, to heal Becca's back and to ease her pain
I ask you specifically, Lord, to watch over Tony and June as they travel
I ask you to be with those who are separated from us because of travel
Or because of work or whatever it might be that's interfering with their ability to be here
Especially sickness, Lord
We know that you are powerfully able to heal
You created it and you can rewrite it as you need to
And so we ask you, Lord, to do just that
That even now as we're praying
Your presence would powerfully alter the circumstances of those amongst us
And those who can't be amongst us who are suffering for whatever reason
And lift them up to heal them
To make them strong and able to do as you would have them to do
And then Lord, as we worship you and learn from your word
Help us reach new heights in Jesus today
We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen
I love you, yes, for a dwelling place
Oh Lord Almighty
Oh, my soul longs and even prays for you
Oh, hear my heart, it's satisfied
Within your presence
I think beneath the shadow of your face
Better is the one thing you're for
Better is the one thing you're not
Better is the one thing you're for
Than that which I've found
Better is the one thing you're for
Better is the one thing you're not
Better is the one thing you're for
Than that which I've found
Oh, take my hand and guide the team
To see your beauty
To find you in the face of the people
Oh, hear my heart, it's satisfied
Within your presence
I think beneath the shadow of your face
Better in the one day in your house Better in the one day in your house
Oh, you don't care anymore You're very far from my goal
I've made the enemy Don't ever get to me
I will grow new to you I will grow new to you
Better is one day in your courts Better is one day in your house
Better is one day in your courts Than thousands elsewhere
Better is one day in your courts Better is one day in your house
Better is one day in your courts Than thousands elsewhere
Better is one day in your house Better is one day in your house
It's a great self-sufficiency, it's a self-sufficiency
You know what it means, you're forever on your feet
And you'll never be blinded, you'll never be blinded, you'll never be blinded
Whoa, it's better, whoa, better than life
Whoa, don't mind the time, Jesus, you're a loving kindness, better than life
Here in something thousand, up to thousand you won't bear, nothing in this world could ever measure or compare
To your loving kindness, loving kindness, better than life
All your ways are just so long, your trust is all you'll wait, God will lift your hands all over, gratitude and praise
For your loving kindness, loving kindness, better than life
Whoa, it's better, whoa, better than life
Whoa, don't mind the time, Jesus, you're a loving kindness, better than life
Jesus, with your loving kindness, is better than life itself, better than life itself
Jesus, with your loving kindness, is better than life itself, better than life
Whoa, it's better, whoa, better than life
Whoa, don't mind the time, Jesus, you're a loving kindness, better than life
Whoa, it's better, whoa, better than life
I can make it like that
Alright, so I hope you've been reading your Bibles, I hope you've been praying, I've looked into the Lord, been inspired in some way
It's interesting that when we talk about the word inspiration, if you trace it back through the word of the trance and inspiration, the Bible is talking about God reads
So when you had that moment in time, you go, whoa, what was that? Pay attention to that, think about that, God is trying to get your attention
And so maybe you've had that experience this week, or you've been reading and saw, man, that really speaks to me or something, and you'd like to share it with us now
Who's got something? I've got something in my hand, but I'm not going to go first, I'm not going to hold it
What did you see this week?
I had an interesting thought this week, we've got a lot of stuff going on in our country right now, there's a divide in our nation
And in Jesus' day it was the same thing, the Jews and Samaritans, they didn't like each other the way groups don't like each other in our country today
There's a lot of animosity between them, Jesus told a parable about the good Samaritan
And the thing that caught my attention, I don't remember anywhere in that parable where it says the Samaritan liked a Jewish man he found on the side of the road that was almost beat to death
He may have not even liked, the Samaritan may have hated the Jews, may not have liked him at all
And the Jew that was beaten on the road probably didn't like the Samaritan, he probably didn't even know the guy, they didn't know each other
But he took care of him, he put him in the end, he paid for his medical expenses, all that kind of stuff
There's somebody he didn't know, somebody he likely didn't like
And the thing is, I don't remember ever God commanding us to like everybody, there's no biblical command to like everyone to be
But we are commanded to love even our enemies, and this is what the Samaritans showed in the Tarot Balls, love for somebody that was potentially an enemy
We try to make the Samaritan out to be some sort of saint, and he was probably just an average person like any of the rest of us
And so he did the right thing, despite of who he met on the side of the road
So if you beat somebody you think is your enemy or competitor or somebody you don't like, you don't have to like them
But show them love, show them respect, like anybody, somebody you do care about
And man, that's a good word, I think, in fact Jesus taught him that when he said love your enemies
And we always kind of like try to distance ourselves from our enemies, I think, more than anything else
But loving somebody is not about distancing yourself, he went on to do it
He took a great risk in helping that man on the side of the road and great expense to himself
But I found it really interesting, I always find interesting about that parable, Jesus tells that parable in response to the question, who is my neighbor?
And then at the end of the parable he says, who was neighbor to the man who fell on the road?
And they say, well the Samaritan was, reluctantly they say, they don't really want to say that, but they say well the Samaritan was
And he says, go thou and do likewise, you go be like that
And so when you were talking about groups that are divided against each other, it seems like the tendency in the world today is to look for reasons not to be someone else's neighbor
So that's what they were doing, they said, well who can we dismiss? Who can we not worry about it if they're in trouble?
Who can we let go if they're beaten up, laying on the side of the road, dying?
So he doesn't have the right tag, he's not a member of the right party, you know, and that kind of thing
It's also very interesting then that the Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were two of the primary parties in Jesus' day, were at each other's throats, constantly
And they finally agreed on one thing, you know what it was?
You do, don't you? They both hated Jesus, that's what they agreed on, they couldn't agree on anything
In fact, at one point in time, Paul was in trouble with the Sanhedrin, and he said, well really what I stand here and be charged against, against me, is about resurrection after death
That I believe in the resurrection after the death, and one of those groups believed in that and the other one didn't
And the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of the Jews, began to bicker with each other, they were so frustrated, so angry about that topic
They began to argue, and he sort of escaped that situation because they were arguing with each other because they knew that they didn't agree on that one belief
They were adamantly against each other so much that they would have literally, I mean, given the option, they wouldn't kill each other probably because that would be overtly going against the commandments
But they were so against each other, but when it came to Jesus, they finally agreed on something, which I submit to you was the one thing that was absolutely wrong
Everyone was absolutely wrong. So we need to not be looking for what divides us, it's a very good word
Instead we look for how we can stand up for those who we normally wouldn't care for maybe, that's a good word
Alright, who else? Becca
I would stand up if my back hurts
You're alright
It's fine, shut up
So earlier this week I was driving to work and I was listening to the song, What If I Stumble by Mrs. Hoffman
Yeah, I just listened to that song this week, I haven't heard it in 10 years and I just listened to it
See, look at that, it works in serious ways
But pretty much in that song he's just asking, what if I stumble, what if I fall, and he's pretty much talking about what if I mess up so bad that I can't be forgiven
But that's the beauty of the Lord, like you can mess up a thousand times and he will forgive you no matter what
And I just thought it was pretty cool to think about
I'm definitely someone that's going to be a testament that I do mess up, I mess up all the time
But it's good to know that I have someone to help that I can turn to if I need help or anything like that
Amen, that's a good word
I think there's an aspect of that too, talking about perception
Like how will people perceive us if we stumble or fall too, I think there's a second verse in that song
And the song basically says, you just stick with Jesus and he'll take care of you
That's good, that's very very good
Okay, anybody else?
So I watched a movie and I've seen it a few times this time in that place
It's called Sips Underground, it's a radar movie but I find it very hilarious
Because there's one of the funny parts of the movie
So it's highly not recommended but they're going to tell us all we need to know about it right now
But there's a scene in the movie where the movie is basically about this group of people who face their death
So they can go after even worse people that governments won't go after for various reasons
So this group of people, that's what they do, they go after them
And he asked the question in the movie, one of them asked the question, what's the best part about being dead?
And they all say, well you get out of the mortgage, you don't have to worry about immigration and all this other stuff
And then the leader of the group goes, no, you guys are missing it, the best part about being dead is the freedom
So I thought about that for a while and I'm like, okay, well I can see
Because you're essentially free to do whatever you want at that point if nobody knows you exist
And I started thinking about it and I'm like, you know, when we die to Jesus, that's the best thing
It isn't about getting released from sin, it isn't about all that other stuff that some people might think it is
It's about the freedom, the freedom in knowing that your death is for a good cause
And when I was thinking about it, I'm like, you know, that's a really interesting fact
Because, factisms for example are us dying to our own self and being raised anew
And that death is the freedom that we now have in Jesus
And it is the best thing in the world, but so many people misunderstand it
And they think it's about so many different other things and it's not
That's a good word, and Paul talks about that obviously, there's no longer an obligation
Because if Christ died for one, I'm sorry, if one died for all, then all died
Jesus died for us and we recognized that substitutionary comment, we recognized he died for us, now we're free
We no longer have those obligations to sin
And Jesus actually taught while he was alive that whoever sins, sin is his master
You may think you're getting away with something, but the truth is you're not getting away with something
You know, as you sin, it comes to master in your life because you've got to cover it, you've got to deal with it
You might do it again, the temptation will be stronger, easier to slip next time to do it
And that's what sin is, and in fact he told them that was so true that the Jewish people were
Roshan and John 8, and he told them that Abraham was not their father
They said, Abraham's our father, no one's ever ruled over us, and he said, whoever sins, sin is their master
You die, you get free, right? You die and you no longer have that master anymore
Now even like if you have died in Christ and been born again, then even if you sin
It's kind of what Beck was talking about, even if you sin, then you can repent and come back
And even if I lie, I'm not a liar now, right? I was a liar before I got saved
But even now, even if I lie, that doesn't make me a liar, it just makes me a Christian, born again believer
Who's doing something stupid that I shouldn't be doing, it's a contradiction with who I am
It doesn't become attached to me, and that's awesome
I don't know what the word is for that in theology, but it's powerful
Okay, so I have this journal, I wrote in it, I can't even kind of say approximately when
Back in August, and I wrote this little comment, and it's in amongst all kinds of things that had nothing to do with it
And I just happened to lump into it as I was looking through for something else
And the quote is this, it comes from somebody else, and I didn't write down his name
But the simple things of life itself will remind you that life is alive
And I was thinking about that, and I said, okay, so what do you like? What do you like to do?
And you'd say maybe you like ice cream, and you go get ice cream
And for a moment while you're getting ice cream, there's this surge of energy, this good positive feeling
Maybe you just like to spend money, and for a moment while you're spending money, there's this positive surge
And that's why it's so addictive, right? All these things, sweet foods, money, drugs, sex, a lot of music
Even can be that way for some folks, all kinds of things that you can go, oh, I need that good feeling
And you chase after the good feeling, but in that moment when that's happening, those feelings will remind you that life is alive
And for dead people who have not been born again in Christ, right? Because that's what it says
We were once dead and our hearts fastened in the sense that's the Ephesians 2, we were like that
And so for those people, that is the best taste of life, that is the best energy of life they're ever going to get
They're like, for a moment they enjoy themselves, that's why you get thrill seekers, right?
That's why you, you know, travelers who travel all the time, and want to travel all the time, they're always looking for everything that people go after
That's the best they're going to get. For us, we now have life gifted to us by Christ after He died with us
And we gave our lives over so that now we can live for Him, and in so doing, now everything, even bad things
Right? So like, I'll never forget, this is years ago now, but the night that Sherry and I came home
We found out that her grandfather had passed away, Becky Mack's grandfather passed away this week, by the way, so we gave prayer for her
But we found out, and we just sat together and cried
Now not broken or destroyed, you know, whatever we described, because He was a big deal to us
He was a great man, we loved Him, and yeah, you know, His issues and whatever He got
He truly got saved probably about six months before He died by His profession
But the point is, we just have, and that sorrow, that experience, had a life to it
It had something good to it, you know, I remember
Tons of bad things, whether you're getting cussed out or yelled at or whatever
And those experiences now, they have a hint of life to it
But how do you think it feels when you're dead, and the good things of life, you do that taste of life
But the bad things of life remind you that you're dead
It's hopeless, you know, you're drained
And that's why people will do really foolish things, they'll hurt people or hurt themselves or say things that hurt people or whatever
After experiencing something bad, because they're there, they're in that moment recognizing that they're dead
But if they don't know Christ, they don't know what that's like
And if you do know Christ, then if you start to act like that after something bad happens
You go, wait a minute, no, no, wait a minute, I shouldn't be like that, you know
And hopefully you turn back to Christ and He refills and He brings great joy
But it's the simple, just that it exists, the simple things of life, the little pleasures
You see all kinds of things about it, the internet, all over the world, in books
The little pleasures of life are everything, you hear the saying, stop and smell the roses
The smell of a rose is a beautiful thing, the color of a rose is a beautiful thing
Everything but getting pricked by a thorn about a rose is a beautiful thing, literally
And so stop and smell it, enjoy it, it's all about enjoyment
But the truth is, even the bad stuff, when you're a Christian, even the bad stuff can be like that
If you get your head in the right place and you realize that Jesus is working through that to do something amazing
When you're dead, everything just reminds you that you're dead
When you're alive in Christ, everything, even the bad stuff, can be a source of joy
As you realize God is going to overcome this, God is going to use this for my benefit
Anyway, I thought I would share that with you
Deacon Tony Brister, would you pray for us as we transfer, do a little more worship
Don't forget, by the way, the Christmas offering, 100% goes to International Missions, is underway
There are envelopes up here if you want to get an envelope, we've got about 15 left
Put a little whatever in that, and in the month of December we will look at this prayer of God
But if you want it now, you can pray for folks who are serving around the globe, sharing the gospel
Deacon Tony
The Father, Lord, thank you for this day, thank you for that we are just a small part of your church
Just around the world, just a small little church, we're joining in unison
They're all over the world, they're gathered worshiping you today
So thank you for that, thank you for those that came, we're here for a reason
We're from different homes, from different parts of the city
You brought us together for this moment, we just ask the Lord to come amongst us
Let us hear what you have to say, let us help us, the Lord, be focused on you
We have a pastor as he's, a little biblical, a Christian of your word
And the Lord, we will get something from that
Thank the Lord for these experiences we've shared, inspirations
Thank you Lord that you are always there, thank you for Jesus that's our advocate to you Father
To go between where we are, as Deacon Tony put it, we are all our school of x
And we thank the Lord that you forgive us
And we just ask the Lord to be with us at the service today
As we pass the offering plate, we will be able to tie it, we will be able to offer it
The Lord thank you that you can do that, thank you that everything you have given us
Is all a blessing from you, we ask the Lord just a blessing of the portion that we give back
So just ask the Lord to be with us today, and we stand on credit
Remember to receive the offering plate into your hand and pass it to the next person
So that it's the same as if we all gave, all the 10
Thank you
Oh
I'm always young and always a man You are here before the world began
I'm a man by all things known Above all pros
I'm a man by all wonders The world has ever known
I'm a man by all worlds The treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure what you're worth
Lose your power, lay behind the stone
Live the dark, you can't be held alone
By the rules, trample on the ground You took the fall
By the peace, you are alone
By the rules, trample on the ground You took the fall
By the peace, you are alone
So leave me now Under your wing
Come on in With big, almighty hands
When the ocean's wide and the island's in a bar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father, you are leading over the flood
I will be still and know you are gone
But rest my soul In Christ alone
No one is bound In quiet days and trust
When the ocean's wide and the island's in a bar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father, you are leading over the flood
I will be still and know you are gone
But rest my soul In quiet days and trust
When the ocean's wide and the island's in a bar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father, you are leading over the flood
I will be still and know you are gone
But rest my soul In Christ alone
No one is bound In quiet days and trust
When the ocean's wide and the island's in a bar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father, you are leading over the flood
I will be still and know you are gone
But rest my soul In quiet days and trust
When the ocean's wide and the island's in a bar
I will soar with you above the storm
I will be still and know you are gone
Not very happy
No, I'm just seeing the first three
And now Pastor Hamilton, inspirational dance
Lances and whoppers, sons and daughters
Hear that the throne, the grace
Losers and winners, sages and sinners
One day we'll see His face
And we're all bound now
Kings will surrender their crowns
And worship Jesus
For He is the Lord of fair in love
He is the Lord of love
Summer and winter, mountains and rivers
A friend to the weak, forever His love will reign
And we're all bound now
Kings will surrender their crowns
And worship Jesus
For He is the Lord of fair in love
He is the Lord of love
I am the one, Lord of all
And we're all bound now
Kings will surrender their crowns
And worship Jesus
For He is the Lord of fair in love
He is the Lord of God
The ins and outs of uncleanness
So before we get started, I just want to kind of share with you as adults in the room and we'll make sure the kids are in the meeting in the classrooms get it as well.
Next week's service will be a thankfulness service. So we focus around the theme of thankfulness or thanking God.
And so if you could bring something next week to share, and it could be anything at all on the theme of thankfulness, it could simply be a psalm reading.
If you want to read a psalm, it don't matter if we have a couple people read the same psalm or something like that.
But anything you would like to share concerning thankfulness, that would be ideal.
I will prepare a short sermon because I am thankful for the opportunity to preach and that God uses me to do this.
But we are the focus is the bodies going to have the opportunity to be thankful.
So hopefully we'll have that built into next week's service.
All right. Back on task.
So last week we were we were in the book of Matthew, Chapter 15, and we stopped short of verse 15.
And that 14, it said, if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.
And that took us to the end of the sermon or the end of the message.
I felt like God was bringing last week.
And I said, maybe next week we will start in verse 15 and we will talk about because Peter then goes and asks him to explain what had happened.
And I said, maybe we'll do that.
And I began to write over this week a sermon series, which I now believe that God will have me do after Thanksgiving, entitled How to Make the Naysayers Right.
And I got the first sermon in that series pretty well written.
It was about 90 percent done.
And the Lord said to me, Nope, we're going to go to Matthew 15, 15, as we had talked about possibly doing.
And now that's that's where we're going.
So maybe give me a little hoot or a holler and go with me to Matthew 15, 15.
But Miss Chris is watching us online right now.
She's hooting or hollering in her apartment.
She might still be hooting or hollering because you know, hoots or hollers once when she's here.
But when she's there, you know, there's nobody else. So she could do it much as she wants.
All right. Matthew 15, 15.
I'm going to jump right into the text and then I will do a little introductory thing before we go to the points.
OK, so that's the structure of the day.
First, the text, then a little introductory and then the points and then the conclusion.
15, 15 through 15, 20.
And Peter, you know who he was, disciple of Jesus, followed Jesus around, answered and said to him, explain the parable to us.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention to you that that verse right there is translated a little bit differently depending on which translation you have.
There's a couple of them in here.
The reason why that's true, because there's a confusion about what Jesus is being asked to explain.
So there really is no parable per se, right?
The two things that kind of come before it, one is where he says, and if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.
But pretty much everybody agrees that's not what he's asking about.
What he's asking about was what incited all of the problems with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and so on who did not like what Jesus had said, what they were getting upset about.
And that is what Jesus goes on to explain.
And so whatever Peter's heart was, whatever he said, whatever he asked exactly what did he mean when he said explain the parable, Jesus explains to him the statement that incited the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
It got them so upset. That's what he's going to go on to explain to him.
So it's happened recently in our lives, we've seen it a few times, where you pray one thing and God seems to give you something different than what you prayed for.
Sherry was flying back from Delaware on Wednesday and racing to the airport to catch her airplane and she said, Oh God, please, please let me make my flight.
I don't want to be stuck here in Delaware for overnight or something.
And she got to the gate and she missed the flight in Delaware.
But there was a lady there and she said, What is your home destination?
Her first flight was going to fly her first to New York City and then home to Detroit and then she'd have to drive home.
And she said, My end destination is Detroit.
And the lady said, Oh, well, the next flight leaving out of this gate is going to Detroit.
And the flight captain or whatever happened to be there.
Can you get her on that flight?
He said, Well, yes, I can do that.
And he got her on that flight.
And then not only that, she said, I don't like to sit against the window, kind of cramped in there.
She gets a little claustrophobic and she's all kind of stuck in there and amongst people.
And he gave her a good seat with nobody next to her and plenty of room, not first class, but next best thing.
And so while she's praying to get on the flight, God did not answer that prayer, but answered the prayer.
What she really wanted was she wanted to get home.
And he flew her directly to Detroit.
And then she drove home and she got home about an hour and an hour to an hour and a half sooner than she would have.
And she didn't have to go through New York City Airport Airport.
So whatever Peter was asking Jesus is the whole point.
Whatever Peter was asking Jesus, what Jesus goes on to explain to him is what really is important to us.
So different translators there have explained the parable to us or another one says explain the saying to us or
explain what is meant by the saying, things like that, depending on what translation you have.
The most literal way to say it from the Greek over to the English is explain the parable to us.
But technically, it's not a parable.
Verse 16 says, And he said, Are you still lacking in understanding also?
So Jesus now very strongly scolds Peter.
There's a word here, which again, this is translated a little bit differently depending on your translation.
There's a word here that is a sunetas.
And basically the a means not and the sunetas means understanding or intelligent.
So what Jesus basically asked Jesus or Peter is, Are you still stupid?
Are you still understand? Are you still without understanding or without intelligence?
Are you basically asking, Are you still dumb?
You know, that's a pretty harsh if you translate it directly, that's a pretty harsh saying.
So are you still lacking in understanding also means they didn't get it.
Do you also not get it? And what's the difference between Peter and the guys who didn't get it?
Well, Peter's a disciple of Jesus. He's with Jesus. He's learning from Jesus.
He's being taught by Jesus. Jesus has explained him lots of other things, right?
He says, Are you still lacking in understanding also?
17. Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?
OK, so now this is going back to the saying again that really offended them.
They asked, Why don't your disciples wash their ceremonially wash their hands before they eat, which is part of our tradition.
And he challenged them about their tradition and basically said,
Well, you teach in tradition, you're not living the law of God. You're not living for God.
Your heart is far from me. Your lips say, Yeah, Jesus, or yeah, not Jesus, but yeah, God and God's teachings.
But your heart is not for God. And he really kind of smacked them around a little bit, called them hypocrites.
OK, and then that all came out of the fact that he was saying that they transgress the commands of God in order to follow their traditions.
And then now he's going to explain the original saying.
Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?
And again, there might be slight slight changes in translation there.
But basically, it's the process of digestion, right?
But he says, The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and those defile the man.
So that word there defiling is uncleanness. It means not being able to be used by God.
So in other words, simply put, there are things that you can say, there are things that can come out of your mouth,
because they must originate in a heart that is not godly, not in a godly place.
They then make you unable to be used by God.
An example of this might be, for example, that you hurt somebody with your words out of malice, anger.
It could be slander, gossip. It could be they hurt you and it's revenge.
Right. And then you try and go and sing worship to God and nothing really has happened in between.
And just plainly put, God will not take those words of worship from you.
You have made yourself unclean. Now, there is an easy solution for uncleanness, right?
But it's easy because somebody else did a lot of work.
It's not easy because we don't have to do any work or because we've already done the work.
But it's easy because Jesus did a lot of work to get that solution.
And we'll talk about that later.
Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?
But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and those defile the man.
Realize the goal, if not what's actually already true, is for your regenerated heart.
The newly created part in you, reborn in Christ, to control your mouth.
That is the goal at least. And when that goal is not fulfilled,
then you will speak from your own flesh, your own irritation, your things that are not godly.
And those things too will take up root in your heart.
Verse 19, he says, for out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, and slanders.
Now, Mark tells the same story that we're reading here.
And Mark puts this list in different order and he actually adds some things, which tells us two things.
First of all, remember that the book of Matthew was written largely to Jewish people.
So there were the Jews who did not necessarily understand Jesus.
They weren't buying into Jesus. Matthew is sort of a polemic or an argument for why Jesus was the Jewish Messiah,
how they could know that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
And Matthew has a stronger than most Jewish background, stronger than most of the disciples.
So he has rearranged these in the order of the Ten Commandments.
So they would have had the Ten Commandments memorized.
He had the Ten Commandments memorized.
And it doesn't matter the order in the Greek when a person says the order doesn't matter unless they are trying to emphasize something.
And clearly all of these things are bad.
So he's rearranged them in the order of the Ten Commandments, which is the way that a Jewish audience would have expected them to be.
Why would you list them in a different order than the Ten Commandments?
We're going to list sins, you'd list them in the order of the Ten Commandments.
The second reason or second thing that we can learn out of that is that it really doesn't matter what's on the list, does it?
I mean, it does, but it doesn't. All the things on the list are evil. They are wickedness.
They are things against God. For example, murder is on the list.
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that if you've had hatred in your heart towards your brother or anger,
either one, in your heart towards your brother, that that is the same as murder.
So it doesn't matter that anger in your heart toward your brother is not on the list because murder is the same.
Also, if you go to James 2, you know that whosoever keepeth the whole law and yet offends in one point, he is guilty of all.
And so it could have just been murder on the list or it could have just been adulteries on the list or just fornications on the list.
And if you're a fornicator, which means if you're using sex in an improper way, then you are literally breaking the law.
And in becoming a law breaker, you are guilty of the entire law.
We have to stop judging one sin as worse than another as far as it comes to salvation.
They are all equally bad. We've got people out there who say they're living for the Lord Jesus Christ, but their pet sin is OK.
God's forgiving that. But then when it comes to somebody else sinning against them or sinning in their presence, that's not OK.
And they get all up in arms about it. You're going to get up in arms about something, get up in arms about the thing that you're doing that you should not be doing.
The chiefest of all sinners for me is me. Right.
Paul said that my sin is chief of all sins for you. Your sin is chief of all sins. Right.
Jesus said it this way. Why would you try to remove the speck from your brother's eye without first removing the beam from your own eye?
Right. That's paraphrased, but you get the gist of it.
Deal with what you're dealing with, because those things come out of an evil heart and you don't want an evil heart because it'll take you where you don't want to wind up.
So he says out of the heart comes these evil thoughts.
We'll come back to that phrase in a second. Murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and slanders. Right.
Out of the heart. Do we know what all those things are?
Know what it is when you murder somebody, including you be angry. Right.
Adultery involves when there is a marriage relationship and sex is misused outside that marriage relationship somehow.
Fornications is any misuse of sex whatsoever. That would include pornography.
It would include, I'm checking the room, that would include masturbation. It would include anything like that. Right.
Any misuse of sex. Fornications. Thefts. Stealing. Taking something that doesn't belong to you. Stealing time. Right.
Tricking somebody into giving something that they wouldn't otherwise give. That's all thefts.
False witness is perjury, but it also means speaking untrue facts about others.
And then slanders. Speaking something bad about someone.
Notice there can be a difference. You could say something good about someone that isn't true. That's a false witness.
Even if it's good. You say something bad about something, even if it's true, it's a slanderer. Right.
You don't have a reason to say, if that person is a saved being, they are a holy heaven dignitary.
They are going to heaven one day and you're talking bad about them?
You got a problem because you're going to answer to God for that.
So be careful talking to others bad about others even if it's true. Right.
Now that restriction does not exist between married couples.
If you want to sit down with your wife, talk about frustrations you're having with somebody else,
that is not gossip or slander because you're considered one being.
But other than that, you should not be talking to your kids, your friends, whatever.
You should not be spreading stories.
Now during prayer requests, we talk about what we're going to pray for,
but if your heart is in the right place, that's not gossip. Right.
But if your heart's all about, hey, let's talk about who did what bad and they're having this problem,
and yeah, they get what they deserve, that's your heart, that's just gossip.
It's not prayer requests. Right.
So bottom line is, all these things.
Now back up for one second to the idea of evil thoughts.
Strange on the list, isn't it? Doesn't fit the Ten Commandments.
Doesn't show up a lot in Scripture at all. Right.
They're there. It's there, but it's not a ton. Jesus doesn't talk about evil thoughts a ton.
The idea of evil thoughts then, in the way this is written in the original language,
is that these evil thoughts foster all of these other things.
So what Jesus is saying is there is a natural progression or a flow.
From the wickedness of your heart flows evil thoughts that then translate into,
and he gives us some examples, but any wicked behavior. Right.
So he has given us the chain reaction of how bad things, how you do, how I do bad things.
Starts with a wickedness in your heart, goes through your mind and forms an evil thought,
which you then act on.
Anybody here ever have an evil thought that you didn't act on? Absolutely. Right.
Happens all the time. I've had evil thoughts about suicide, I've had evil thoughts about murder,
I've had evil thoughts about stealing, I've had evil thoughts about lying,
and I'd love to say that all of those things only happened before I was saved, but that isn't true.
Evil thoughts happen. Okay. Now there's a difference.
So anger in your heart toward your brother is another thing, isn't it?
It's not an evil thought. It says anger in your heart toward your brother. Right.
So there's a wickedness in your heart that translates into an evil thought,
and then you go and carry it out.
So I think I might go murder him. I'm really mad at him. I want to hurt him somehow.
I want to get back at him. At least slash his tires or say something nasty about him.
Something. Post something on social media. Something. The guy's really upset me.
The wickedness of your heart is moved to be evil thoughts.
Now when you carry that out, then it becomes the named sinful actions from the Ten Commandments and other places.
Right. But if you get as far as the wickedness of your heart
brings it up to evil thoughts and you stop there,
you still have a real problem because there shouldn't be wickedness in your heart at all
that's generating that evil thought. Right.
Not if you're saved, not if you're born again, not if you have a regenerated heart.
So the goal then, the battle, if you will, is in the mind
from hopefully your regenerated heart, not your wicked heart. Right.
Now you can have a regenerated heart. You have that thought.
And you go, that's stupid. I don't know why I even thought that.
That's happened to me a number of times. I've gone, oh, I just had a weird thought.
That's a weird thought. Like I would never think that.
And it didn't come out of my heart because I know that's not my heart.
And so then I just can dismiss it. Right.
And my heart is too strong to even give that thought a place.
And it's disconnected. And then that's usually an evil spirit to get inside for a second.
That's usually an evil spirit that put that in your head.
And this is how you can know when evil spirits are putting thoughts in your head.
Because it's disconnected from your heart.
But when you have wickedness in your heart and it moves to your head,
it starts becoming a thought.
The greatest defense you have is already lost.
Because it's attached to your heart.
So Jesus is explaining how that works.
And then he says, so when that stuff proceeds out of your mouth,
and you can even say, and many theologians think that he was basically saying this,
that your actions then will not be wicked and evil,
because you have already breached every safety line that there was.
Your heart was wicked, generated a wicked thought.
Your thought was wicked.
And then you start to think, well, I know the law. I'm not going to do that.
Instead of in your mind going, well, I know the law. I'm not going to do that.
Instead of in your mind going, well, I know the teachings of Christ.
I'm not going to do that. I'm going to shut that down right now.
Instead of using your mind to stop that,
you then allowed it to flow out and you said something or did something
you should not have done.
And when that happens, the action,
Jesus is saying that action then makes us unclean.
It makes you unusable by God.
Even the issue, sin is just like the wages of sin is death.
But sin is so bad, spreads, affects everybody, etc.
We always kind of belittle it a little bit, but it's so bad.
If you sin willfully out of a mind that formulated that thought
out of a heart that had an anchor of wickedness in it,
you become unclean, unusable by God.
That's what Jesus is saying.
And truth is, they should have already known it.
And that's why Jesus said, what, you still don't get this?
Alright, then we've got just verse 20.
These are the things which defile the man, he says.
These are the things which defile the man.
But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.
To eat with washed hands was the tradition that they had put in place.
Is it a bad thing to wash your hands before you eat?
No, it's actually a good thing, right? It's good for your health, whatever.
But it was the tradition that they had put in place.
They saw lots of things that were designed to protect them in Scripture.
They then added the tradition of ceremonially washing your hands before you eat.
And then they said, well, if we must ceremonially wash our hands before we eat,
then eating with unwashed hands must make a person unclean toward God.
And Jesus says, no!
Let me say it simply.
No matter what tradition you start, no matter what rules you set for yourself,
if you break those rules or traditions,
they will not affect your relationship with God in the least.
You cannot create a road that God is not master of.
It is not possible.
But people are doing that all over the world still to this day,
teaching the traditions of men in contrast to the commands of God.
I would say don't. Don't do it. Don't set rules that are just...
So we have, for example, I'm just going to be real plain with you for a moment.
If you're in this room and you're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I am quite certain that by now you know that reading your Bible,
praying, and spending time with God is an important discipline.
Actually, it's several important disciplines, right?
I know you know that's important.
I also know if you're a parent in the room, for example,
that you know your child cleaning up their toys after they play is important.
Or doing their household chores is important.
Or doing their schoolwork is important.
Those are important things, right?
And what will happen is this.
Parents will go, get your room cleaned up!
I said get your room cleaned up!
Get your room cleaned up or I'm going to whip your butt.
Get your room cleaned up or you're going to be grounded for a week.
Get your room cleaned up or no more electronics, right?
We've got all the punishments in place for all the things that our kids are supposed to do.
And you could apply these very same things to yourself if you don't have kids.
We have all the set rules.
I'm not going to do that if this, right?
Where are those things for Bible reading?
Where are those things for Scripture memorization?
Where are those things for worshiping God?
Why don't we say you will worship God, at least for our believer children, right?
I get it. If your child doesn't know God, then you might be a little bit harsh erode.
But at least for those who are claiming the name of Christ,
where are the rules to punish for that?
You do understand that if it's a command of God that God has said spend time with me,
if it's a command of God that God has said spend time in my word,
that God our Father will punish us if we do not do what He commanded us to do.
God will not punish you for not cleaning your room.
You say, but James 4.17 says, for him that knoweth to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
And your parents told you to do that, so now you're not honoring and obeying your parents.
Congratulations. You are now playing the exact game that the Jews were playing with the Ten Commandments.
Is it wrong if a parent tells a child they have to clean their room and the child doesn't do it?
Are they not honoring and obeying? Yes. They're not honoring and obeying their parents. Yes.
But it is no more significant in any way, shape, or form than the commands that Jesus
and the teaching that Jesus gave us while He was alive that we are supposed to be learning from Jesus
daily. Stop coming up with 41 things that we have to do and let's get right down to what it is that we're supposed to do in Christ.
And those are the important things. But everybody gets so worked up, right?
The guy that cuts you off in the expressway that might just bring you to road rage, drop it. Forget it.
He could be an idiot. He could be rushing to the hospital because his wife's having a baby.
It doesn't matter what the reason are. Just drop it. Put away from you all anger and malice.
Put it away. Drop it.
Realize that what the world needs is Jesus.
Take Him with you everywhere you go. And every time you see somebody, I'm going to say it plainly this way,
every time you see somebody who's acting like a Sunnis believer or a Sunnis non-believer,
then you bring Jesus into the circumstances and teach them what that's supposed to be like.
You know, you're going through some of what you're going through because you're not honoring God.
Do you know God? Yes, I do. Do you believe in Jesus? Yes, I do. Have you had a born again moment?
Well, have you read John chapter 3? Do you know what that says?
There was a moment in time when you were lying in the sand where you began to live for Jesus and Jesus alone.
Oh, no, I've never done that. Would you like to? We can do that right now.
Oh, yes, I've done that. OK, well, then I see you saying, yes, you've done it. You're living for Jesus.
But I see that you're following some kind of teachings other than what Jesus teaches.
You've got some rules. What are you reading in the Bible?
Oh, I don't really read my Bible much, but I did one day last week. What? OK.
So you clean your house, you wash your dishes, you do your laundry, you pick everything up,
you encourage your family member, you spend time, you watch TV, you do all of those things,
but you don't read your Bible, the very words of life, the story of creation, God's history.
We have the very same hypocrisy in us sometimes that they had in them.
And Jesus was pointing that out. And Peter, God bless him, was trying to understand.
And Jesus' immediate response was, do you not understand?
And then that brings us into then our points for the day.
The first point that I want you to see in there that really hit me hard was that Jesus expects you, me,
He expects us to learn and grow and understand Scripture.
There are people in this world who are in their 20s.
They have autism, serious learning disability, something like that.
They struggle with reading. I ministered to a woman at the Life Station this week
who cannot read at a third grade reading level. She cannot do it.
She has dyslexia, which was never diagnosed when she was in school,
and they just kept letting her go on and on and on, and she never learned to read proper.
She can't read her Bible. She can't read one of my books,
which there's a chapter in there that speaks to exactly what she's going through,
and I was hoping she could read it, and eventually I will read it to her.
If it comes to that, if I continue to minister to her, I will read it to her myself,
or I will just explain to her what it says. You don't have to be able to read.
Hang on. Even if you cannot read, Jesus expects you to learn and to grow
and to understand His teachings. Do you not understand that when the New Testament was written,
Jesus was already dead, risen, started the church, and gone to heaven?
Peter is here being chastised while Jesus is alive.
Peter does not have the Holy Spirit of God. He's not sealed, regenerated.
He's not born again. He has not become a Christian like you and I,
and Jesus expects him to learn the teachings of Jesus, to grow in them, and to apply them.
When I was in Bible college, one of the classes that I took was basic sermon writing,
and my teacher taught me for the very first time OIA,
and I used it at East Lido when I was teaching in the youth group.
I've used it for every sermon I've ever written since then. I've used it without exception.
And the O is observation. You read it. What does it say?
The I is interpretation. You look at it. You take the parts of it, if necessary,
words, phrases that are in there. What does it mean?
And the A is application. What am I going to do about it?
And Jesus was saying, as a follower of Jesus, I expect you to get the interpretation
and to apply what my teachings are. Interpretation and application.
Listen, anybody can read it. So you read it and it says,
And Peter answered and said to him, Explain the parable to us.
What just happened? Observation. Peter answered, said to Jesus,
Explain the parable to us. Okay, I know what it says.
Observation is done. Now what does it mean?
What is a parable? Who is Peter? Who is him?
Right? Okay, now I know what it means.
Now what does it say? What am I supposed to do about it?
And Jesus is expecting you and expecting me to spend our time in the I and the A.
Let's figure out what he's telling us to do and do it.
It's understanding his teachings. What does it mean to understand?
To stand under. I get it. I understand what you're saying.
Okay, now if I say I get it and I understand what you're saying,
and I'm not saying it with some kind of cynicism or being rude,
then I mean I'm going to take it into account.
If somebody says to me, We've got to be there by two o'clock.
And I said, Okay, I understand. And then at one o'clock I'm going,
and at one thirty I'm going, Doesn't matter.
I know we're supposed to be there by two o'clock. I don't really care.
Twenty-five minute drive. Now it's a quarter to two.
I was supposed to be there by two o'clock. I don't really care.
I have not understood what they said.
You say, But you could be exercising your authority.
You can do that to Jesus. You can do that to his word.
If you understand what Jesus' word is, then you will stand under what Jesus' word is.
And that's what Jesus was expecting from Peter, and it's what he expects from us.
If you have a hard time reading the Bible, get it in audio and listen to it
four times as often as you would normally read it.
Because the retention for listening is one quarter what it is for reading it
and actually drilling down on it in your eyes.
So listen to it four times as often as you would normally read it,
and eventually you will get it.
Arianna lays down at bed every night, and every night she plays a,
we play a Bible CD, but we read her devotional with her and pray with her,
and then if there's time left in her reading time,
then we read a little something else or whatever, and then we turn the Bible stories on,
and she lays there and goes to sleep to the Bible stories every night.
Now they're not literally scripture, but they're the stories of the Bible told.
The other day we're talking, you'll like this, I think it'll tickle you a little bit,
and we're talking about it, and she said, Oh, that's like that story
where the three guys went in the furnace, and they went in there,
and there was another guy in there.
I think he might have been Jesus, but he was definitely like a son of God,
at least an angel. He was at least an angel.
And I said, and can you tell me any more about that?
And she said the one guy's name was Shadrach,
and the other guy's name was something like Mesuch, or something like that,
and the last guy's name was Abed, something.
And I'm like, Shadrach, Mesuch, and Abednego.
She's getting it because she's listening to it.
Her reading level is not third grade, but she's listening to it over and over and over again.
I would encourage you to do the same if you have trouble reading it.
And then it doesn't stop there. I said, So what does that story say?
And she said, Well, they trusted God. They would not bow down to that false God.
And because of that, they got thrown in the furnace, and because they trusted God,
God took care of them.
And I said, So what are you going to do about that then? What should we do about that?
And she said, Well, we just got to trust God with everything.
It's OIA.
Some of the stories, you know what they say,
but you're not stopping to think about what they really mean,
and you're not putting into application what you're supposed to do.
Jesus expects you and I to do that. We are supposed to do that.
In fact, Paul teaches it very clearly in a couple of different ways,
and one of them is that we are to be diligent to show ourselves approved
for workmen who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God.
Can you sit down with your Bible and read it and be told by God what you are supposed to do,
the kind of person you are supposed to be, and then go and do and be that?
If so, my friend, you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if not, then you are at best a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ who would say to you,
Are you in a sunnitas? You still don't get it?
After I saved you, after I paid for all your sins, I made you born again,
gave you a regenerated heart, you still don't get it?
You still don't take my Word, read it, understand it,
and put it into practice in your life and the lives of anybody under your control
or anybody under your suggestion?
You still aren't managing yourself and your courts around you in a God-honoring way?
That's the way it still is?
And Jesus expects that not to be the way it is.
So read, so study, so figure out what it means and put it into practice.
Second thing then is, and this has come back to me time and time and time again through Scripture,
how wickedness infects.
So I would assume, I would hope by this time that everyone has seen the process
or maybe experienced a firsthand of washing dishes.
So this is what we have in our minds.
So I'm going to ask you, Ron, when you go to your sink or get ready to put dishes in the dishwasher,
and you're going to put them in the dishwasher, why do you do that?
Because they're dirty? Why are they dirty?
How?
Okay, so if that is actually true, and that's the way we mostly think about it,
we put the food on the plates and that makes it dirty, right?
Then we're all eating off of dirty plates, right?
Because we put the food on it, that made it dirty?
It's not the food that makes it dirty, right?
Then you eat the food off, it's what's left.
It's what's left that makes it dirty.
Because you don't want to eat, let's say, spaghetti off a plate
and then put it on the counter and it's got the sauce and kind of, you know,
like concrete on there, you know what I'm saying?
And then the very next day go and eat your mac and cheese off that same plate
without having to wash it first.
Because now you're going to get leftover yucky spaghetti sauce,
bits of it, just bits of it, because a lot of it will still stay on a plate,
and plus bacteria and germs and stuff.
It's the leftover stuff that actually makes the plate dirty, right?
That's why we wash it. We think it's because we put stuff in it.
It doesn't matter if you have a bucket and you put leaves and twigs
and dirt in the bucket.
Bucket's just doing its job.
Then you dump all that out, there's going to be some residual in there.
And if you don't wash it off, then later you can put water in the bucket.
What's going to happen to the water? It's going to get dirty, right?
Jesus was saying, while we think it's what goes in that makes it dirty,
actually it's what comes out that makes it dirty.
Is there anybody here who has ever either on TV or in a movie seen a murder?
Anybody? Solomus, right?
Some show, something probably, or at least a violent attack against somebody, right?
Did that make you unclean?
Did you become a sinner because you saw somebody fictitiously get murdered on TV?
No. Jesus was explaining to us that it is not the stuff that comes at us
that makes us unclean.
It's the stuff that comes out of us.
Now there is an old saying that says, garbage in and garbage out.
So if you take a lot of stuff in that is inappropriate,
so you watch a bunch of movies that have nastiness in them,
you read stories that have explicit details that are nasty,
or you have a conversation with people, you listen to a lot of people
talking to you about stuff that you probably shouldn't be hearing, things like that,
then it's entirely possible at some point in time that you will embrace some of that
or be affected by some of that and you will begin to spew it back out.
That will be how you behave.
I've seen that play out in my life years and years.
And, by the way, that then also happens when you put out wickedness.
Not only does it make you unclean, but then when you put out that same wickedness,
then your audience, people are looking to you for leadership or guidance,
and they do what you do.
They go, oh, well, he's doing it.
He's the one who's teaching me about what it means to be X
or what I should do in X situation, and now I've seen him do it this way,
so now I'm going to do it that way.
But back on wickedness and facts for a moment,
there is a method that Jesus gave us to deal with the stuff that comes into us.
The Holy Spirit says, God says, He sealed your heart.
What do you think He sealed it from?
He sealed it from the ministrations of the world.
He sealed it from the wickedness that comes against you
and the things that get into your mind that probably shouldn't be there.
And your heart is sealed by the Holy Spirit for the final day of redemption.
That's why it's sealed, because it's going to be under attack
as long as it's on this earth, because it is uniquely different now
than everything else in creation.
A human heart regenerated by God has more in common with the Garden of Eden
than it does anything in Toledo.
And it's totally unique and different, and it's going to be assailed.
And then what it should be doing is putting out something to deal with the assailment,
the attack against it, and therein lies the spiritual disciplines.
Feed your heart the good stuff of God.
Read and pray and worship and serve and give.
Set up a barrier of good works and your passion around your heart.
Now, don't set rules yourself and make them as important as Scripture,
but really delve into the things of Scripture,
the things that God is giving you to do,
and then when that stuff comes against you, you're going to see the contrast.
So if you can manage just a few times, just a few times, to love your enemy,
just a few times to come back with a gentle word when somebody is mean to you,
just a few times, just manage it a few times, and then see the results of that,
the effect that it has on you and the effect that it has on them and the situation.
A gentle word turns away wrath. That's an observation. That's a reality.
So when somebody comes to you with opposition, you come back with them with a gentle word,
and it'll pretty well fizzle.
There are a few exceptions where the person will be insulted because you behaved nice toward them,
and if you're picked on because of that or they come against you because of that,
then God will take care of you.
But the bottom line is you come back with a gentle word when wrath has come against you,
do that just a few times, and then you're going to realize how you feel,
how the situation changes, the effect of that.
You're going to get an attaboy and a clap on the back in fulfillment from God,
if God goes, yep, that was the thing I wanted you to do,
Holy Spirit is going to leap inside you and say, yes, we're building fruit of patience
and steadfastness and faith, and then you're never going to go back.
But you have to build those things. You have to practice those things.
I talk to people all the time about reading the Bible.
I'm probably as guilty as anybody.
I'm better at listening to my Bible on U version while I'm driving
than I am at sitting down and reading my Bible.
And I'm just being transparent.
But the bottom line is I know the fruit of this,
which is why I always make sure and try to listen to it if I don't read it.
But we need to be doing it.
And when we do that and we see the benefits of that,
then we latch onto it, it becomes part of who we are, it becomes part of our armor.
And I won't go there, but you should hear undertones of Ephesians 6
as we're talking about it.
Our heart, our building right now as we sit here,
as an illustration, our building right now as we sit here
needs what's called a backflow preventer.
That plus a pipe repair, it's going to be $5,000.
We haven't figured out how we're going to pay for it yet.
Still working on that, see if we can get any bids cheaper, that kind of thing.
And if we don't, we're going to pay $5,000 to get a backflow preventer.
Well, a backflow preventer, what it does is it makes it so that the water
in your building cannot flow back into the city.
So if you get stuff in your water, your pipes are defective or something,
that kind of thing, then no matter what, if the city water shuts off,
that's the only way it would happen is if the city water shuts off,
then your water in your building could flow back into the city water supply
and then somebody in our neighborhood could be drinking our stuff.
It's called a backflow preventer.
Well, your heart has a backflow preventer built into it.
God's Holy Spirit and the cleanness of your heart has a natural backflow preventer
and it is the spiritual disciplines that God, that Jesus Christ Himself gave us.
That's how you're going to stop it.
When a wicked thought crops up in your head and you've been reading your Bible,
you're going to have a Bible verse and you're going to go,
listen, it says this in Matthew 16 or whatever, I know this.
In Ephesians 2 it says this, James 2 it says this, I know what it says.
And so then you give that to your heart and your heart will feed off of that and say,
yes, you're right, boom, that thought's gone.
We're going to do that because we know to whom we belong.
That's your backflow preventer.
Unfortunately, because we absorb a certain amount of bad things and whatever,
our hearts may generate some wicked thoughts.
And if they do, our heart needs to be empowered to squish those wicked thoughts
before they get into our heads and create the actual evil thoughts in us.
And if that doesn't happen and you get an evil thought,
then mentally your brain has to be activated, Romans 12,
has to be activated, prepared to know that that thought is not approved by God
and to put an end to it.
How are you going to get those things if you do not practice the spiritual disciplines to get there?
Wickedness infects. It's like this.
Once you say it and do it, your brain already hatched it, your heart already endorsed it,
and now you are useless to God.
Repent and turn to Jesus and put it away.
Then the last thing, which ties beautifully in with the backflow preventer,
is that we are not to be polluted by the world.
Jesus was not saying that anything that happens around us
is not going to be any kind of a problem,
that we can not potentially struggle because of it or do what's wrong because of it.
We're supposed to be using Jesus's methods, following his teachings, and different.
People have been literally martyred because they would not renounce the name of Jesus.
And you may be, or I may be as well.
So he wasn't saying that the world cannot do anything to us.
He wasn't saying that the world cannot try to stop us from being what we're supposed to be, etc.
Rather, he was saying that if you are following me,
then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
And you will be able to do what's right.
James, the brother of Jesus, wrote a book, several chapters,
and you can go there if you want to follow along.
We're going to read a little section from there, and we're getting to the conclusion.
James 1, beginning in 25.
The one who looks intently at the perfect law of liberty and abides by it.
Okay, wait a minute. What did he just say?
Look at it, understand it, do it.
That's what Jesus was expecting from us.
The law of liberty and abides by it.
Not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer,
don't just listen, but put it into practice.
This man shall be blessed in what he does.
God will speak well and make good things happen for the person who does that.
Observe it, understand it, stand under it, live what you've heard.
If anyone thinks himself to be religious,
and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart,
this man's religion is worthless.
So you can say you're following God, but if you keep spewing venom,
keep saying things that are not right,
that's coming out of evil thoughts of your mind.
You can't really say anything without thinking it first.
It may be simultaneous at best, but it just flows out,
and that's coming from your heart.
This man's religion, or religion is how a person comes to God,
or how they think they're coming to God, is worthless.
Then he goes on to define, he says,
this is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father.
So this is what God wants you to do, to visit orphans and widows in their distress.
In other words, put into practice the love of God that he has taught you,
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Which means, exercising your back blow,
prevent your spiritual discipline to stop the stuff of the world from infecting you.
Wickedness infects.
Nobody put anything out there that would infect you unless they first perceived it,
conceived of it in an evil heart,
translated it to an evil thought, and then put it out there.
So the things that people are doing that God would say are wickedness,
they're not just somebody's flippant idea of what will be entertaining.
Those movies, horror movies, things like that, where people have to saw off their arm,
that's not just somebody's, this will be fun, we'll just try this.
Everybody knows it's not really real, it'll just be fun.
It'll freak people out, they'll go watch it because it's exciting, whatever.
It's not just somebody's flippant idea.
It's not just some nifty thing that someone created.
It came via an evil thought, via a wicked heart.
Now you can say, no, no, they don't mean for me to sin, nobody thinks I'm actually going to,
you can say whatever you want.
But the bottom line is, if you don't do the work inside you,
then when you experience the wickedness that comes out of somebody else's hearts,
through their evil thoughts and out into the world, you too will be infected.
That's the bottom line.
People want to see the movie, The Passion of Christ.
Did you know that there was a woman who had a heart attack and died
watching Jesus be crucified during the watching of The Passion of Christ?
In a movie theater.
She was so moved emotionally, so affected internally by this crucifixion of Jesus,
that she had a heart attack and died in the movie theater.
The movie theater cleared out, she just didn't get up and go.
She went by herself.
They found her in her seat, dead.
There were people who had all kinds of, just that, now, that's the crucifixion of Jesus.
Which was, by the way, arisen out of a wicked heart, became an evil thought,
and it was more than one person's evil thought,
and many of them cried, crucify him, crucify him, and they crucified him.
And people watched it, and it affected them.
And you're going to go one of two ways.
You're going to watch something and say, that's the wickedness and evil that I do not want.
That is the opposite of who I am in Christ.
I do not want that.
And you're going to throw up the barriers, the holy armor that God has given you,
the spiritual disciplines, that which you have learned.
You're going to throw that up and say, I am not going to be a part of that.
I'm not going to aggrandize it.
I'm not going to glorify it.
I'm not going to declare its value.
I'm not going to be a part of that.
Or, you can say, I'm okay.
And just sort of shirk it off.
Right? It's going to be fine.
Is this some thought somebody had?
Just for fun things, it's not meant to be anything like that.
No. It is a wicked thought that arose out of some wicked person's heart,
their wicked heart, became an evil thought, and now is out there.
And you're going to absorb it if you're not prepared to make sure you don't.
Someone is going to cuss you out.
Before you're done, someone may take a swing at you or a pop shot at you.
There's a young lady, a professor of the Christian, walking her dog in East Toledo,
and somebody shot her in the arm with a BB gun.
She had to go to the emergency room and remove the BB out.
You'd just be walking down the street one day.
You're not doing anything, not bothering anybody, just walking down the street.
And somebody, nobody knows who did it, shoots you with a BB gun.
Now you've got a BB in your heart.
Somebody is going to hurt you.
And when that happens, the armor is going to have to protect your heart.
You're going to have to know to whom you belong,
and that God can use even that for your good.
And that brings us to our conclusion then.
I'll recap the points briefly.
Number one, Jesus expects you to learn and grow, to understand,
which means to interpret and apply His teachings.
Number two, wickedness infects.
And you have a backwash preventer, a backflow preventer,
in the spiritual disciplines to protect your heart,
to make sure that you're not infected by someone else's wickedness,
and to make sure that you aren't a part of the wickedness,
that things don't come out of your heart, that flow through your mind,
evil thoughts, and become wickedness that will infect other people.
And then lastly, we are not to be polluted by the world.
Jesus was not saying that just because your hands are not,
don't have to be ceremonially cleansed before you eat,
doesn't mean you shouldn't wash your hands.
And if you don't wash your hands, that means you're spiritually unclean.
But He's saying, don't be polluted by the world.
Realize that all wickedness arises from a patch, at least,
of a wicked heart through evil thoughts.
And don't think, oh, it's just for fun, because it isn't like that.
It came from a wicked place, and it can infect others.
And then the conclusion is this.
Jesus was asking His disciples to work and do as a disciple.
And He's asking us the same.
The truth is, the work of God is so much.
Sharing the gospel, it's so important, and yet, just,
if you tried to share the gospel in one day with all the people
that you're supposed to share the gospel with in your life,
it's impossible, you wouldn't be able to do it.
Even if God sent them all to your door,
the number of people that you're supposed to share the truth with
about Jesus would line up around your block and into the next city.
Because we have a job to do.
We're supposed to go everybody, everywhere, and teach the commands of Jesus.
Teach them all things as I have commanded you,
as part of Matthew 28, the Great Commission.
And how are you going to teach them all things He has commanded you
if you're not willing to study and learn and do the work
to know all the things He has commanded you?
And how are you going to teach them all things He has commanded you
if you're not living out the things that He has commanded you?
And how are you going to live them out if you don't figure out what they mean
and apply them in your life?
People's souls literally are at stake.
Walk out and do as a disciple.
Sounds easy on the surface.
I read what Jesus told me to do.
I interpret it best I understand it.
Ask for your best understanding with Holy Spirit help.
That's all you're asked for.
And then you put it into application.
That makes sense.
Except I want you to look for just a moment about some examples in our society.
What do you think about the YMCA?
YMCA started well over 100 years ago in London.
Spread throughout the city.
They had a high level of unemployment.
And somebody was looking for a safe place for young men to go.
Get them off the street because they were standing on street corners all over the place.
And get them things to do and places to sleep.
And like that, that was the idea.
A bunch of businessmen, bankers, etc. got together and they started the YMCA.
And it began to spread throughout London.
Now it's all over the world.
Somewhere along the lines they lost their Christian identity.
Mostly for money probably because they were partners with a lot of people.
And just about 15 years ago the YMCA started an initiative.
They hired a YMCA Christian initiative person in every city.
Millions and millions of dollars being spent to quote, put the C back in YMCA.
Put Christ back in YMCA.
It stands for Young Men's Christian Association.
That's what it stands for.
And they realized they had walked away from Jesus.
All the good they were doing.
They walked away from Jesus.
Boy Scouts of America started as a young men's club, boys club, trail club.
In Christian churches.
Became huge.
Just recently voted that transgender and homosexual leadership, including marriages, etc.
All could be leaders.
They combined the male and female.
And they are basically saying there's no longer a gender identity.
And so then there's this thing called trail club that's been started up.
Which is a Christian based.
Basically does the same thing as boys club.
And in six years they now have 30,000 members or something like that.
It's growing like wildfire because they're still attached to Christian values.
That boys club has walked away from their Christian start.
Their biblical start.
You say, but those thoughts, those thoughts, people just have those thoughts.
They just, that's how they were made.
That's the way it is.
And we shouldn't stand up against them.
I can only tell you what the Bible says, what it means, and what we're supposed to do about it.
That's all I can tell you.
Beyond that, you have to decide.
Do you believe that's what it means?
Do you believe that's what you're supposed to do?
That's all we can do.
And there are people that look at this, and I'm one of them, and say that that way won't work.
Jesus has a way.
We gotta go Jesus' way.
And there are other people that go, well, our way is just about as good.
Right?
And it just goes on and on.
People have lost a habitat for humanity.
Started as a bunch of churches, a mission organization.
It got together, and they were gonna Christian build houses, volunteer Christian sources and whatever.
Then they got lots of volunteers from other sources.
People rose up in their organization, and they became essentially a non-Christian organization.
Still doing a lot of great work.
Don't get run.
They give away free houses to people who need houses.
It's awesome.
Build them from scratch.
It's really awesome work.
But they're not doing it for God anymore.
God is not in the picture.
It's not a Christian organization.
So you can take any organization, and the truth is, I think this.
If you'd sell it over into the hands of Satan, you could probably make it huge.
If you take one wicked thought that people will resonate with, you could probably make it huge.
I was sitting at the life station with a young man.
Oh, no, he's not young.
I take it back.
He's probably like in his early 60s.
And he said, I used to hate Rush Limbaugh.
He said, I used to hate him.
Said I couldn't stand him, but I listened to him because I hated him.
And I would sit and I would think about how stupid he was and all the things he was saying and like that.
I'm not a fan of Rush Limbaugh, by the way.
I think he was over the top on a lot of topics, but I think he was right about some things.
On the bottom line, he said, now I realize that all the things that I heard from him were accurate,
including this man who's sitting in the front of the life station is telling me, now I'm a racist.
I actually think it's the right way to go.
I'm like, no, that is not the right way to go.
I told him flat out, I said, you cannot let hatred get ahold of your heart.
He said, well, that's the problem.
That's the mistake I've made.
I've pretty much already done that.
I've bought into that teaching and I've pretty much already gone there and I can't stop now.
And I said, you need to be born again.
You need to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only way you're going to get free.
And he did not accept Christ before he left the building.
And the bottom line is he went out slaving away under hatred of people that are just ordinary human beings
because he bought into one.
What he perceives, I'm not even saying it's right.
I don't know if Rush Limbaugh was racist or not, but he perceives that to be a teaching of a man who died.
And he took it and he sucked it in.
And he began to hate people.
And it's easy enough to do that.
Be careful because the wicked thoughts that come out of people will infect and they will change who you are
if you don't have your armor on, if you're not ready.
A lot of people are just all talk.
I love Jesus and I want to serve the Lord.
How many Christians have you known in your life?
And I'm going to be really transparent and blunt with you for a moment.
We've got a few in this room right now.
You love Jesus.
How much work do you intentionally do to spread the gospel, to share Jesus, to worship, to enact your spiritual gift inside the body?
How much work do you actually do seven days a week, 24 hours?
Jesus, for whatever part of three years, never had a home, roamed around, often had nothing to eat, was attacked daily in the streets.
They tried to kill him multiple times, but they couldn't until it was time.
And then ultimately he was crucified on the cross, whipped within an inch of his life, his bare, bloody muscles on his back stripped every time he pushed himself up so he could exhale to take another breath.
A crown of thorns embedded in his brow.
And you can't be troubled to work seven days a week for Jesus?
If that's true, then you better ask yourself, Jesus died for you, but have you let it stand?
Have you died to self in our not? He died for all so that all died and that all may now live for him.
In 2 Corinthians 5.
We now live for Jesus, not for your family, not for your hobbies, not for anything that's in your life.
You don't live for any of that.
The best food you ever had, I can't wait to have that again.
No, you don't live for that.
You live for Jesus if you live at all.
Some people are all talk.
And then there's people who are work.
I mean, they work.
They're working like nobody else is working.
But their work is not for the Lord.
They're working a ton of hours at their job, making a ton of money or whatever.
But they don't tell anybody about Jesus.
They don't serve.
They don't give.
They don't surrender.
They're not in the word.
They're not praying.
They're not worshiping God except on Sunday mornings.
And they don't even sing when we sing or in some other church.
It's true across the world.
There's a ton of people working their butts off.
Habitat for humanity.
Boy Scouts, right?
YMCA.
They're all working their butts off.
Billions of dollars spent every year to provide a home for people who don't have a home.
To provide food, to provide a place they can come and swim and shower and clean up and learn about Jesus.
Except there's no learning about Jesus in it because there's no Jesus in it.
Because even though they've spent hundreds of millions of dollars recently, they released this topic and said,
this statement and said, well, we've been trying to put the C back in YMCA.
But we're not making much progress.
Because if you leave Jesus out, the only person that can put Jesus in is Jesus.
You can't make a plan to do it.
You can't spend money to do it.
Remember this was a topic of uncleanness, right?
If you go back in Leviticus, you'll read, now this is my final illustration.
I think a topic of uncleanness.
If a woman was on her period, she was considered to be unclean.
She could not go to temple and worship God.
Before you think that was such a terrible thing, you know, for them it was a lot about health and stuff.
They didn't have a lot of ways to deal with it.
And that was what God had said.
But most women didn't have their period most of the time because they were pregnant most of the time.
Because there was no such thing as birth control.
You're married, you have sex, you're pregnant.
So you're pregnant most of the year around, right?
That's how it works. So you don't have a period while you're pregnant.
A woman is bleeding, she's unclean, based on Leviticus.
Do you remember a story where Jesus is walking amongst a crowd and he's going to heal a little girl?
And a woman who's had an issue of blood, she's bleeding, she's been bleeding for 15 years.
If anybody's unclean from bleeding, it's her.
She tried everything to stop it, she can't.
She sneaks up behind Jesus and she touches his robe.
Because she says in her heart, if I could just touch his robe, I believe I'd be healed.
And what happened?
She was healed.
And Jesus turned around and said, hey, somebody touched me.
The disciples are like, what the heck, everybody's touching us.
We're in this huge crowd of people, there's no room to move.
No social distancing here.
And she says, no, somebody touched me.
And she fell down on her knees in front of Jesus.
She says, I'm sorry, my lord.
I thought to myself, if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I could be healed.
And she was healed.
And he said, your faith has healed you.
She was unclean.
How do you get unclean?
Just touch Jesus.
Just go to Jesus.
Just let Jesus be the one.
Let him be in charge.
So you said something you shouldn't have said, it came out of an evil thought,
it came out of your head, it came out of a wicked spot in your heart.
Repent, turn to Jesus.
You don't need anybody, just you and Jesus.
Just go, Jesus, I screwed up.
Spare me.
Forgive me.
Heal me.
Translate me.
Transform me into my future me.
Jesus.
By the way, in that story,
you've got to already be guessing what's missing.
She's at an issue of blood, and she confessed she had an issue of blood for 15 years.
And she touched Jesus.
Where's the uncleanness?
Because what it actually says about a woman who has an issue of blood is that anybody touches her
while she has an issue of blood, they also become unclean.
Right?
Infected.
Because wickedness infects, uncleanness infects.
As an example, she touched Jesus.
Shouldn't he have become unclean?
But he didn't.
And this is what he said.
He said, I felt the power flow out of me.
You have a backflow preventer.
You have the armor of God.
You have your spiritual disciplines and your time spent with the Lord to protect you.
And you just might get to the place where something will try to touch you.
And instead of it affecting you, you affect it.
That's what Jesus wants from us.
The ins and outs of uncleanness is there's uncleanness everywhere.
And our job is to clean it up.
Let Jesus make your heart new.
Let your thoughts, if when they are evil or wicked, let them die.
But when they are godly, act on them and do what it is that you know he wants you to do.
And if you say, I don't know what he wants me to do, then spend time with Jesus until you do.
Because he is expecting you to no longer be an asunetos, but rather to be a disciple of the Lord.
Now we preach a sermon and we learn.
And you can go out from here and you can be affected by this scripture or not.
Your choice.
But I suggest that you think about what it means and apply it to your life.
And don't look back.
At this time I'm going to ask the praise team to come forward.
And we're going to sing a little song.
Our praise team is extremely light right now.
But we're ready.
So we're going to sing together and close out our service today.
But I'm asking you, I'm asking you for a commitment to follow Jesus, number one.
And in following Jesus to realize that Jesus expects you to learn and grow and apply his teachings.
Number two.
To realize that you may be affected by things in the world, but you cannot allow yourself to be internally affected.
To make that happen, you need to exercise spiritual disciplines to put on your armor, to be ready.
So when it tries to affect you, you will not let it.
And rather you will affect it.
That's why I'm asking you.
And if you make any one of those commitments, maybe you would say, you need this to be my home church.
If you don't already have a home church, you'd say, I need to follow the Lord in the way that I'm supposed to.
Or you'd say, I need to be baptized, whatever it might be.
You're making a decision for Christ, then you come.
As we sing.
Are we ready?
I have decided.
Okay.
So if you're able to do so, would you stand?
Beck will totally understand if you don't stand.
But you need me to come back there.
If you just let me know, I'll come back there.
But the rest of us, let's sing this song.
But if you respond, let the Lord know that you hear him and you're ready to do what he asks you.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back.
No none go with me, I still will follow.
No turning back.
My cross thou carry, till I see Jesus.
My cross thou carry.
If you're here, you know you've not given your heart to the Lord.
You've not turned your life over.
God called on the sand and said, this be God.
Make me born again, change me, make me new.
I'll live and rest my life.
If you've not done that, then you do that right now in a second.
If you have done that, but you know you've not been
learning the meaning of and applying His Word,
not been following the teachings of Jesus,
then you repent and turn to Him.
You say, okay, Jesus is the most important thing to me.
I'm not going to follow when He tells me to do so.
You make that decision publicly.
Maybe you're here today saying, I need to be baptized as He commanded.
I need to join the church.
Or I need help doing this thing that I know God called me to do.
Whatever it might be, you respond on this next verse.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back.
We're going to sing one more.
Make this your prayer to God today.
This verse, your prayer, my prayer, if you can't sing it, say it.
Though none go with me, I still will follow.
No turning back.
Dear those of us in this house, I would encourage you to take very seriously
the call of Jesus for us to learn His teachings
and to apply them in our lives.
He is not asking you to go to me or to somebody else.
He's asking you to go to Him.
That means you need to read, you need to study, you need to listen,
you need to do whatever you need to do to get the teachings of Jesus,
understand them, and stand under them.
That's what we're called on.
And then realize that as we live on this life, we will experience wickedness.
It is our goal not to generate any.
And you will be made unclean if you do.
So when you realize that, we're still going through this phase with Arianna
where she'll go, oh, there was this time about two months ago
where I did this, and she'll tell us one of the things that she did
that she shouldn't have done.
And she'll say, I feel bad about that.
And then we talk about she's given it over to Jesus, and she's moving on,
and she's not going to do it again, and occasionally she's had to make it right.
So God may do that with you.
He may show you something that you have done that was wrong
or failed to do that you should have done.
And then you repent of that, turn back to the Lord,
let him cleanse you of all unrighteousness like he is just and faithful to do.
And then if there is something on earth that you need to make it right,
then you make it right.
You fix it, right?
If you stole something, you give it back.
If you hurt somebody with your words, you go and apologize
and ask them for their forgiveness.
Whether they give it or not, it's the right thing to do.
If there's somebody who hurt you and you've not forgiven them
and you realize that you forgive them, it's the right thing to do.
It's what God would have us to do.
What Jesus has commanded us to do.
In fact, Jesus said, you cannot forgive, you cannot be forgiven.
So you need to do that lest you are in danger of hell fire.
It's very realistic, right?
So I encourage you to go and live the commands of Jesus.
That's what it means to be the church.
And what it means to reach new heights in Jesus is to know a little more
and apply a little more consistently.
I would say every day, and I don't know that even I hit that goal,
I think we need to try every day and know a little more
and apply a little more and grow.
And the reality is, if you don't do that,
you will still find things to fill your life.
And some of them will probably be wickedness.
They will probably be wrong.
If you don't fill your life with Jesus,
if you don't pursue the Lord in all things,
then you will still find plenty of things to fill your life.
And they will tire you out.
And eventually, to some extent, you will choose them over Christ.
That's just the reality of it.
Because you added them to your life, and you love them,
and you care about them, and you thought it was the right thing to do,
and you thought God wanted you to do, and whatever.
And if you eventually do that, that's when it truly becomes a wickedness,
when you choose them over God.
And then you have to turn back to the Lord and put it away.
And it doesn't mean you can't be there,
but nothing can be there that's going to allow wickedness into your heart.
So we're going to pray in closing at this time.
I do want to remind you of the Grand Prix,
those prayer requests that were listed earlier.
I remind you of the Christmas offerings going on.
I remind you next Sunday, I'm asking you,
if you're going to be on the Brother Tony Institute,
or not going to be here, if you're going to be here,
to bring something to contribute to the service in the way of thankfulness.
If you can't think of anything else,
bring a thankful heart and participate in all that we do.
But if you can make something, write something,
if you're not going to be here, if you're online,
Chris is online, a couple others, you're not going to be here,
send it, send it with somebody, send it online,
post it on the Facebook page, whatever.
We want to show our thankfulness that it is a thankfulness service,
that's what it's all about.
Remember to participate throughout the week in that.
Old school hand turkeys.
You can always tell you the old school hand turkeys.
And write on each finger something you're thankful for,
or each hand, or both,
it depends on how many turkeys you want to make.
Alright, so we're going to pray in closing.
I'm going to ask Brother Josh Mitchell to pray in just a second.
Does anybody have a specific request or concerns on this
in your heart that you need to say before we pray?
Last chance.
Dad.
Yes.
Just pray for RJ's mom, she started a new treatment yesterday for her RA.
Hopefully it works, because it's getting worse, not better.
Yes, okay.
Actually, we're going to tell you this, not know if Rod knows this,
but my Aunt Sue, at the hospital recently, she had a heart attack.
She had a stent put in, and my Uncle Roger had a 95% blockage,
and he had that stent put in.
Wow, so Sue and Roger both, they're not too far apart in age,
or she's a baby, isn't she?
No, David was the baby, Sue's the oldest, and then Roger.
Okay, so both had heart issues, and both got stents put in, wow.
That's crazy.
We'll be praying for that.
Any others?
Just remember Becky's family,
her grandmother's taking this especially hard.
They were together for 60 plus years or something like that.
Wow.
I can't remember her grandmother's name, we just always call her Grandma.
That's okay. Becky's Grandma, we got it.
But she's taking this especially hard, because the family is fighting.
Oh, jeez.
It is a terrible situation right now with the family, fighting over money and stuff.
Yep, and see how the wickedness just gets right in there, that's crazy.
Yep, yep, yep, and that's bad.
I had an aunt and an uncle who were married for over 60 years,
and they really did knock that off, because she needs to be comforted a little bit in this time.
My uncle passed away, and my aunt died, and on her death certificate,
the official reason for death was broken heart.
She died of a broken heart about eight months after.
So they really knocked that off, and we pray that God gets there, cuts out the strike,
and that they can pull together as a family tomorrow.
Becky's been doing that, she's been trying to help in that regard,
because she's been over there every day, cleaning the house, taking care of her grandma and stuff.
But it's hard on her too.
Sure, absolutely. So pray for Becky as she ministers to them.
And Lynn, did you have something?
My mom is not doing well, she needs to go to the hospital, she's having joint problems.
Okay, absolutely.
What's your mom's first name?
Teresa.
Teresa. Mom's first name is Teresa.
Okay, all right, Josh, would you pray for us then as we close?
Dear Father, thank you for bringing us all here today.
We came here to worship you, the Creator, God of the universe.
And we confess that we don't always come up to where you want us to be.
Every one of us in here can think of something that we lack in, that we need to build up to you.
We thank you for being the Creator God and being in our lives.
We just ask, especially since I've already forgotten all the prayer requests,
but you know what they are, and you will hand them in your way.
I thank you, Lord, I pray in the spirit of Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen. Thank you very much, go you there for, and be the church.