1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000
I pray.

2
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,000
Have me blessing you, O'er and O'er,

3
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,000
Come and pray to me.

4
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,000
When the darkness closes in one,

5
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,000
Still I will say,

6
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,000
Blessed be the name of the Lord,

7
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000
Blessed be your name.

8
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,000
Blessed be the name of the Lord,

9
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:32,000
Blessed be your glorious name.

10
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:41,000
The land that is meant to rule,

11
00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:45,000
Which brings all that by their soul,

12
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,000
Blessed be your name.

13
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,000
Blessed be your name,

14
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000
Found in the desert plains,

15
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,000
Come through the dawn with your name,

16
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000
Blessed be your name.

17
00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,000
Have me blessing you, O'er and O'er,

18
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,000
Take back your faith.

19
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,000
When the darkness closes in one,

20
00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,000
Still I will say,

21
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,000
Blessed be the name of the Lord,

22
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,000
Blessed be your name.

23
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000
Blessed be the name of the Lord,

24
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,000
Blessed be your glorious name.

25
00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,000
Blessed be your name,

26
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000
The sun shines down on me,

27
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:48,000
The world of essence should be,

28
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,000
Blessed be your name.

29
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,000
Blessed be your name,

30
00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,000
The road marked with suffering,

31
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,000
Was made in the offering,

32
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,000
Blessed be your name.

33
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,000
Have me blessing you, O'er and O'er,

34
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,000
Take back your faith.

35
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,000
When the darkness closes in one,

36
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,000
Still I will say,

37
00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,000
Blessed be the name of the Lord,

38
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,000
Blessed be your name.

39
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,000
Blessed be the name of the Lord,

40
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,000
Blessed be your glorious name.

41
00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,000
Come and take away,

42
00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,000
You can come and take away,

43
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,000
Our heart will choose you,

44
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,000
Our flesh shall be your name.

45
00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000
Have me blessing you, O'er and O'er,

46
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,000
Turn back your faith.

47
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,000
When the darkness closes in one,

48
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,000
Still I will say,

49
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000
Blessed be the name of the Lord,

50
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,000
Blessed be your name.

51
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,000
Blessed be the name of the Lord,

52
00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:45,000
Blessed be your glorious name.

53
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,000
I'm so happy today about recent events,

54
00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,000
because yesterday Erin did manage to get married to his bride,

55
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,000
and Caitlin got married to her groom,

56
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,000
and now they're husband and wife,

57
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,000
and praise God for that.

58
00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,000
That's close to what wasn't quite like childbirth,

59
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,000
but it was quite something else.

60
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000
It was a little bit more like death of thousands of deaths

61
00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,000
than childbirth, which is like death

62
00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,000
getting hit by a roller coaster or something.

63
00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,000
But praise God, we made it through,

64
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,000
and thank you for the support,

65
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,000
prayer support and whatnot,

66
00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,000
and we're very pleased.

67
00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,000
We had a lot of good positive comments,

68
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,000
a lot of witnessing that went on,

69
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,000
and talking from the sermon to the mini-sermon,

70
00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,000
and a lot of people talking about God at the dinner afterwards,

71
00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,000
so that was kind of cool.

72
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,000
That's what it's supposed to be about.

73
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,000
We'll come back together at this inspirational moment,

74
00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000
and I want to encourage you to remember to pray for one another.

75
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,000
We have been in lots and lots of attacks,

76
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:56,000
in health and in different ways.

77
00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,000
We've been pretty blessed overall,

78
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000
but there's been lots of attacks,

79
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000
so pray for one another.

80
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:04,000
We'll pray for ourselves,

81
00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,000
but also pray for our world, which is struggling

82
00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,000
as we open up for a prayer together.

83
00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,000
Father in heaven, you are an awesome God,

84
00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,000
a greater God,

85
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,000
and you're not the God of the deists,

86
00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,000
as you say, you just set it running and let it go,

87
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,000
but you are the God on the throne.

88
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,000
You're the God of all creation.

89
00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,000
You're the God of love.

90
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,000
You're the God who is love.

91
00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,000
You're the God who gives.

92
00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,000
You give infinitely, abundantly, above and beyond

93
00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,000
that which we can imagine.

94
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,000
We are grateful for all that you've done.

95
00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,000
For at the same time, we confess to you,

96
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:44,000
we recognize that we deserve something less

97
00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,000
than all the blessings that we get.

98
00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,000
We do this in the work of the grace of Jesus,

99
00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,000
and it would be hell for eternity.

100
00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,000
We are grateful for your forgiveness.

101
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,000
We ask for it again today,

102
00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,000
in any way that you fail me.

103
00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,000
Thank you that it's available to Jesus.

104
00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,000
Thank you for this place.

105
00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,000
Thank you to those who came this morning

106
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,000
to work and to serve and prepared a lesson

107
00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000
and prepared a sermon for your word,

108
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,000
to those who protected your word,

109
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,000
to those who rewrote and copied copies

110
00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,000
for thousands of years

111
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,000
so we could have it in its inherent form

112
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000
for us to read, for us to study,

113
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,000
for us to learn from today.

114
00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,000
Thank you for protecting your people,

115
00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,000
for providing for us,

116
00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,000
and giving us the blessings that you have received,

117
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,000
for making us strong to overcome

118
00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,000
things like illnesses and relationship troubles

119
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,000
and getting injured and changes in finances

120
00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:37,000
and inflation.

121
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,000
Lord, we see that in our church.

122
00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,000
We've always been blessed.

123
00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:46,000
We're grateful that it continues.

124
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,000
We're asking now, Lord, to bless our world.

125
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:53,000
I know that that's a big ask

126
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,000
because you don't want to bless folks

127
00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:59,000
that that blessing will keep them from coming to you.

128
00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,000
And so we're asking, Lord, to give people

129
00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,000
what they really need.

130
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,000
For those who will wake up, give a wake-up call.

131
00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,000
For those who want to serve you,

132
00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,000
give them strength to do so.

133
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,000
For those who are endeavoring to become faithful,

134
00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,000
help us stand true and do what it is

135
00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000
that you have us to do.

136
00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,000
Be found faithful.

137
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,000
For those who are encountering difficulties

138
00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,000
in this world, whether it be everything

139
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,000
from ailments to temptation,

140
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,000
demons and evil spirits,

141
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,000
and everything in between and everything else

142
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,000
that can go on that list,

143
00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:39,000
we ask you, Lord, give us enough light.

144
00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,000
Give us enough strength.

145
00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,000
Give us enough faith to see our God at work

146
00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,000
and to join you wherever you are working.

147
00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,000
Bless this service, Lord,

148
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,000
because we worship you today.

149
00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,000
We have more reason to worship you.

150
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:57,000
We are not the complainers who died in the sand.

151
00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,000
We are the glorious children of our God, recreated,

152
00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,000
being recreated daily in the image of Christ.

153
00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,000
Help us stay focused and put our eyes

154
00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:08,000
where they belong on the shepherd.

155
00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,000
The sheep follow.

156
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:14,000
He is our glorious good shepherd.

157
00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,000
Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice

158
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,000
in making this possible.

159
00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,000
We pray all this in Jesus' name.

160
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,000
Amen.

161
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,000
Amen.

162
00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,000
He's on me.

163
00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,000
He's on me.

164
00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,000
Alright, would you stand and join us?

165
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,000
It's up to me.

166
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,000
I can do it this time.

167
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,000
Alright.

168
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,000
Stand in line.

169
00:08:38,000 --> 00:09:00,000
It goes.

170
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:08,000
Everyone means forgiveness and this I will say to you all,

171
00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:16,000
the love of nation.

172
00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:30,000
The Savior, He handles the mountains. My God is fighting to save. He is fighting to save.

173
00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:38,000
Forever after our salvation, we will stand strong for the great.

174
00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:56,000
Jesus, conquer the great.

175
00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:08,000
To make me as you find me, all my people will follow.

176
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:26,000
I give my follow, everything I believe in. Now I join my own.

177
00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:38,000
The Savior, He handles the mountains. My God is fighting to save. He is fighting to save.

178
00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:48,000
Forever after our salvation, we will stand strong for the great.

179
00:10:48,000 --> 00:11:04,000
He is fighting to save.

180
00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:32,000
The Savior, He can move the mountains.

181
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:40,000
My God is fighting to save. He is fighting to save.

182
00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:50,000
Forever after our salvation, we will stand strong for the great.

183
00:11:50,000 --> 00:12:06,000
The Savior, He can move the mountains.

184
00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:32,000
The Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is fighting to save. He is fighting to save.

185
00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:40,000
All right, you are already on your feet.

186
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:48,000
If I would have some young people that would like to join me at the front, this morning.

187
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,000
A little too much yelling song here.

188
00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,000
Come on, come on, come on. Give me some young people.

189
00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:02,000
Get up here.

190
00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:08,000
Good morning Tyler. Good morning, good morning. All right, here we go.

191
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:36,000
All right.

192
00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:42,000
Get up here.

193
00:13:42,000 --> 00:14:04,000
Good morning, good morning.

194
00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:14,000
Good morning.

195
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:28,000
Good morning.

196
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:38,000
Good morning.

197
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:48,000
Good morning.

198
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:58,000
Good morning.

199
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:28,000
Good morning.

200
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:38,000
Good morning.

201
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:48,000
Good morning.

202
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:58,000
Good morning.

203
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:08,000
Good morning.

204
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:22,000
Good job, good job, good job.

205
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:32,000
Good morning.

206
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:36,000
It's an inspirational moment. I get that. It's a subliminal message.

207
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:42,000
All right. Well, so I just want to remind you of this quick thing about prayer and then we'll move right into it.

208
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,000
So this is your last run up. The drum roll is rolling right now.

209
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,000
Thinking about how the Lord would have you to share this morning.

210
00:16:50,000 --> 00:17:02,000
So I have an opportunity through Bless Every Home website to and you can sign up and you can get the addresses and the names first and last name usually whoever's listed on the house of the house around you.

211
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:10,000
You can do 25 houses, 50 houses, 250 is the maximum houses of people around you whose names and addresses you would get.

212
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:22,000
I get emails and it's been a blessing to me for about 100 houses right around and during COVID I was able to go out and deliver letters to those houses and know the names of the people that I was in.

213
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:30,000
It's not always accurate because if people just move and things like that might not be accurate, but you can do that and then it's free.

214
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,000
So you can get a little prompt and get it as often as you want.

215
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:46,000
If you only want to pray once a week, then they'll send you an email once a week reminding you to pray and if you want to pray for five people once a week, then they'll put five names in there, five names and addresses of people that live nearby you.

216
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:57,000
And if you want to pray every day, I pray Monday through Friday generally speaking for people that live around me.

217
00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:04,000
So if you want to do that, you'll walk this free. I bless every homeless website. I can send you a link to sign up if you want to do that or I can sign you up.

218
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,000
Some people in here are already signed up. I don't know if you've looked at it recently, I'm going to encourage you.

219
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:19,000
Also, this is a somewhat new thing we've talked about before, but you can get the list on paper if you don't want to do it by email.

220
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:30,000
They'll give you the list of the names and addresses. Now that would be, that could be useful like if you want to send out a little card or a little letter or a little notice to let your neighbors know that you're praying for them, then you can do that.

221
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:39,000
So you can take the 50 houses nearest you, get their names and addresses. Now, you know, if somebody just moved, then it won't be the right name, but otherwise they get their names and addresses.

222
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:50,000
And then you can send out a little card or you can drop it off, put it in their door handle, whatever, and tell them, hey, I'm praying for you, just let me know and I'll pray for a specific request for you if there's something that you need.

223
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:59,000
In my prayer life, there has been nothing more impactful than when we have seen actual requests come true.

224
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:17,000
Now, obviously that's cool when it's cancer. The guy who was at the light station who had had a job in 16 years was sleeping on somebody's couch and off and on doing drugs and came to the light station and asked us to pray for him to get a job.

225
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:29,000
Left the light station and that day got a request to come drive forklift and he had to do a drug test and he had used drugs like four days prior to that and he was like, oh no, I won't pass the drug test.

226
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:40,000
And he not only got the job, but passed the drug test, which was scientific, it should not have happened. And then that led him to quit the drugs, work full time and provide for himself.

227
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:47,000
So that wasn't miraculous healing from cancer, but it's definitely a miracle. We see those things all the time.

228
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:53,000
So they'll give you a specific request and you pray for them. There is a wide open door to talk about Jesus.

229
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:59,000
Why did God, I prayed for that for so long and nothing happened and you pray for it, something happened. Why did that happen?

230
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:10,000
You say, well, you know, it doesn't always happen that way, but it has happened on a fairly regular occasion. I pray to my Jesus, pray to my God through Jesus and he answers.

231
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:14,000
So I encourage you to take a look at that if you like. I can definitely send you the link.

232
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:23,000
It's also in the app on the sign up page, there's a page with all the current events under contact us.

233
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:31,000
It's also on the website, trick website, where in the app you can grab that and you can click there and sign yourself up. If you do that, you'll be signed up on your heart charge.

234
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:48,000
If I have a vision or desire, I would like to get, and we're going to work on this on the third one, I would like her to get, I would like to get every house in Toledo being prayed for.

235
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:54,000
That's my goal. So we're going to start promoting that. I'm going to start promoting that. We're going to start promoting that civilization.

236
00:20:54,000 --> 00:21:04,000
And so here, you know, because a lot of people know they can sign up for car warriors and then the goal would be, and they can sign up for as many as they want, whatever, and then the goal would be to get every house being prayed for.

237
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:13,000
What do you think might happen? What might God do if we can get every house in Toledo being prayed for? That would be awesome. What God might do would be phenomenal.

238
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:20,000
All right. What about you? What did you see this week? What touched your heart? Would you read the description? Arjun?

239
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:28,000
So over the last couple weeks, I've been taking Jason and Caleb with me to the gym to try to get Jay.

240
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:37,000
And the first time I went, Jason was really excited about it, he was really happy. He really wanted to go. Like the whole week he was asking about it.

241
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:46,000
And then I got there to pick him up and he didn't want to go. And I told him, I was like, look, it's not about, I don't care if you want to go or not.

242
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:56,000
I said, the fact is you made a commitment, so you have to at least try it. And I got him to finally get in the car with me and I told him, if you don't like it, that's fine. You don't have to go again.

243
00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:04,000
And I asked him what the problem was, and he told me that he didn't want to make me mad. And I was like, why would I be mad at you Jason?

244
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:11,000
And he said, well, because I didn't want to go. And I'm like, dude, the whole reason I got mad is because you told me you wanted to and then you tried to change your mind at the very last minute.

245
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:20,000
And it's almost like, son, you can't be afraid to fail. And then I started thinking about that over the last couple weeks when we were going out to the gym.

246
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:27,000
And every day we're there, Jason and Caleb, I can see them improving and improving and I can see myself improving.

247
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:39,000
And it goes to show that, you know, in our walk with praise, if we are afraid to fail, we're not going to go any further.

248
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:54,000
Even as Christians, even as what you would consider, I guess, a mature Christian, if you are not afraid to take that next step, that next leap with the possibility of failing, then how are you going to know if God's not going to do something?

249
00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:14,000
You have to be willing to take those chances. You have to be willing to sacrifice that moment to realize, I guess, to let God do his work to show you that, you know, even if you don't make it, even if you don't quite get to that goal, look at the stuff you've learned on the way.

250
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:29,000
And I think as Christians, especially, we need to understand that as we try to serve people and help people and spread the word that, you know, we might not get to everybody, but we can learn a lot on the way of how to do it and how to do it better.

251
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:40,000
And with God's help, we can definitely see how what most people consider a loss is still a win for us.

252
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:47,000
I was thinking about how back in the day we had a blonde and a little, and we remember the memorization of the kids.

253
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:56,000
And we had one child come up, try to say a verse, and they wouldn't get it, and we needed two helps. They'd go back and study some more, come back up, next child come up, try, get two helps, so they couldn't get it, they'd go back.

254
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:01,000
And because they were working through the same set of verses, you're hearing the verses over and over and over again.

255
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:12,000
And then we were encouraged to work through the books as well at the same time, and you'd say a verse and try to do it with no helps, and we might have to say to another leader or sometimes to a kid, they were like, let me do that sometimes.

256
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:18,000
And the point is, while all that was going on, we were really helping them learn, but the truth is, we were learning.

257
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:26,000
Some of the verses that are from that era in my life have stuck with me until now, you know, and then sermon writing, right? Sermons.

258
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:31,000
And every time I preach a sermon, I've had to adjust every single time.

259
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:38,000
Like guys on the internet who are on my Facebook groups and stuff, and they'll say, when I write a sermon, it really impacted my life.

260
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,000
It's the first time that ever happened.

261
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,000
Huh, that's interesting how long you've been preaching.

262
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:55,000
Because I've been preaching since before 2006, I was writing in 2006, so about 2004, and I have yet to write a sermon that didn't crush me.

263
00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:00,000
You know, it's like God breaks you and then molds you back into a shape that can actually deliver the sermon.

264
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,000
That's kind of like how a sermon already goes.

265
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:08,000
And so, I think I talked with this a little bit, I think you will always be served best when you're serving others.

266
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:17,000
And if you're afraid to serve others, because you're afraid of what they'll do, how they'll respond, and they won't be satisfied with it or whatever, then you're not going to be serving others.

267
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:24,000
And if you just keep serving yourself, and there's nothing bad about taking care of yourself, nothing bad about working on yourself, you're going to keep doing that.

268
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,000
You're going to hold somebody else along, and it'll make somebody else better in the process.

269
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,000
It's not efficient. It's not.

270
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,000
Whatever you can do, you're only going to do for you.

271
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:41,000
But if you can take somebody along, and now you've got what you can do for them, and what they can do for them, and what they can do for somebody else, multiply, multiply.

272
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,000
And that's the whole idea of Christianity, is multiplying servants.

273
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,000
This is one of the reasons why as a church we believe everybody should serve.

274
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,000
It's good stuff. Anybody else? Jason?

275
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:55,000
So, I live Friday and Saturday.

276
00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:04,000
Me and my dad went to a farm, and this man came on, and the name of the man really struck me.

277
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,000
It was called the Ashes to Noo.

278
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:15,000
And what struck me is that we all came from the ashes.

279
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:26,000
We didn't, God made us from the ashes. He made us out of the imagination, out of the picture in his mind.

280
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,000
He made us in the picture of the mind.

281
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:38,000
And each one of us has one very unique thing that is impacted in our life that other people made that other people cannot have.

282
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,000
I would say probably more than that.

283
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,000
We are unique. Our equality, this is the mistake that the world makes.

284
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:50,000
The mistake the world makes is they want to take one and make it one.

285
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,000
One is one because it's identical.

286
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:58,000
So now you're going to be like this person, so we're going to make women to be like men, because that's the only way they can be equal.

287
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,000
That's the mistake that the world makes.

288
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:04,000
Every person is unique. We are equal because we are unique.

289
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:08,000
You cannot be equal if you are not unique because other people have uniqueness.

290
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:13,000
The only way you can be unique is to be, or the only way to be equal is to be unique.

291
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:14,000
That's the key.

292
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,000
One whole person, one unique person.

293
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,000
Now mind you, you need integrity because otherwise it's really messy.

294
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,000
It falls apart. The parts that are good fall away.

295
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,000
The parts that are bad take over and get emphasis, that kind of thing.

296
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,000
You need integrity to be one whole person.

297
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,000
And when you're one whole person, you need ashes to be unique.

298
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,000
That's the problem. That's good stuff.

299
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,000
Alright, who else?

300
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,000
Anybody else?

301
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,000
Alright, Deacon Tony, would you pray for us as we transition here?

302
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,000
And then we're all going to pray along with you and then we'll just get God to the work.

303
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,000
We'll be good.

304
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,000
I'd like to thank you for another day of goodness.

305
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,000
It's a pleasure to come to you and gather in worship.

306
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,000
It's a pleasure to hear from you.

307
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,000
It's actually a pleasure to be with us here and do a lesson for you.

308
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,000
And it's a pleasure to be here with you.

309
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:11,000
Of course, bring your mind something that you need to know that we will talk this about and discuss with us.

310
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,000
You said you were pretty in the middle of the day.

311
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,000
Who did you say you were?

312
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,000
You had to hear people.

313
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:25,000
I just asked where to be and there's few of those that could be here and just didn't come.

314
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:34,000
Working with hearts and minds, also a real interview.

315
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:40,000
Thank you for your presentation.

316
00:28:40,000 --> 00:29:07,000
Ten thousand reasons.

317
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:19,000
There's a mix up in the counting.

318
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:42,000
Ten thousand plus.

319
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:52,000
Sing the song boldly.

320
00:29:52,000 --> 00:30:14,000
Matt Redmond is out of London.

321
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:26,000
Oh my soul, oh my soul, worship your holy name.

322
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,000
Sing like never before.

323
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:39,000
Oh my soul, worship your holy name.

324
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:49,000
The sun comes up, it's a new day for me.

325
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:55,000
It's time to sing your song again.

326
00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:04,000
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me.

327
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:14,000
Let me be singing when the evening comes.

328
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:27,000
Bless the world, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship your holy name.

329
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:44,000
Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

330
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:57,000
Your vision well and your soul through anger. Your faith is great and your heart is kind.

331
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:06,000
For all your goodness I will keep on singing.

332
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:16,000
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to fight.

333
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:29,000
Bless the world, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship your holy name.

334
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:56,000
Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

335
00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:04,000
On that day when my strength is failing me.

336
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:10,000
The end was near and my time has come.

337
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:18,000
Still my soul will sing your praise unending.

338
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:29,000
Ten thousand years and forever more.

339
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:41,000
Bless the world, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship your holy name.

340
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:54,000
Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

341
00:33:54,000 --> 00:34:07,000
Bless the world, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship your holy name.

342
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:20,000
Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

343
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:42,000
Worship your holy name. Lord, I worship your holy name.

344
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:56,000
Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

345
00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:18,000
Worship your holy name. Lord, I worship your holy name.

346
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:31,000
I am not skilled to understand what God has willed, what God has said.

347
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:38,000
I only know what is right here.

348
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:50,000
Stands one who is my Savior. I take him by his word and lead.

349
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:56,000
Christ died to save me, that's our reason.

350
00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:09,000
And in my heart I'll find the name of Him to be my Savior.

351
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:22,000
That He will reign in flesh, not life, and come for sin, woman to God.

352
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:33,000
He'll crown His strength so once did I, before I was my Savior.

353
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:39,000
My Savior God, my Savior man, my Savior's always there for me.

354
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:52,000
My God, He is, my God, He is always to be. My Savior God, my Savior man, my Savior's always there for me.

355
00:36:52,000 --> 00:37:01,000
My God, He is, my God, He is always to be.

356
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:13,000
Yes, living time is like the rain, not shrink my solace from this rain.

357
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:38,000
That He will reign to be my King, one time to be my Savior. That He will reign in flesh, not life, and come for sin, woman to God.

358
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:50,000
He'll crown His strength so once did I, before I was my Savior.

359
00:37:50,000 --> 00:38:16,000
My Savior God, my Savior man, my Savior's always there for me. My God, He is, my God, He is always to be.

360
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:47,000
My Savior God, my Savior man, my Savior's always there for me.

361
00:38:47,000 --> 00:39:00,000
My God, He is, my God, He is always to be. My Savior God, my Savior man, my Savior's always there for me.

362
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:25,000
My God, He is, my God, He is always to be. My Savior God, my Savior man, my Savior's always there for me.

363
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:41,000
My God, He is, my God, He is always to be. My Savior God, my Savior man, my Savior's always there for me.

364
00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:24,000
One single drop of rain, your salty tears became the ocean.

365
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:35,000
One tiny grain of sand turned into hell, the world and your emotion.

366
00:40:35,000 --> 00:41:02,000
You're on the other side of this small star, close enough to hold me in your arms. At night, I lift up my heart and I hide my own eyes.

367
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:15,000
You are maker of each moment, father of my hope and freedom.

368
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:34,000
Oh, my Adam and Eve, once in a faithful love, we sound upon the rock of ages.

369
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:45,000
We turn our own souls, we turn to serve your Lord in the way of life.

370
00:41:45,000 --> 00:42:12,000
You come across the mountains and the seas, answer from the deepest part of me. At night, I lift up my heart and I hide my own eyes.

371
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:25,000
You are maker of each moment, father of my hope and freedom.

372
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:34,000
Oh, my Adam and Eve.

373
00:42:34,000 --> 00:43:02,000
You are maker of each moment, father of my hope and freedom. At night, I lift up my heart and I hide my own eyes.

374
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:15,000
You are maker of each moment, father of my hope and freedom.

375
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:32,000
Oh, my Adam and Eve.

376
00:43:45,000 --> 00:44:12,000
It happens occasionally that we will be worshipping and something strikes me and I just have to look it up and I was blessed right there and that was pretty cool.

377
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:18,000
I'll talk about that some more later. So, I will tell you as I went to write this sermon, I was kind of super excited.

378
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:26,000
I even posted on Facebook, the New Heights Facebook page or something about it because we are heading into the Ten Commandments.

379
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:30,000
And how can you not get excited about the Ten Commandments?

380
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:39,000
The Ten Commandments have been the foundation of all law essentially in what would be called a civilized world.

381
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:46,000
There are only a couple of other law codes that have ever existed that have really captured justice and righteousness.

382
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:53,000
And as a general rule, they all failed, fell apart or just kind of dwindled away over time.

383
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:59,000
One of the most famous is Hammurabi's Code. You may or may not have heard of that.

384
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,000
It was written a long, long time ago as well.

385
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:11,000
And in Hammurabi's Code, I might not be saying his name quite correctly, but anyway in his Code, if you stole, you lost your hand and so on.

386
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:21,000
It was a very, very stern code. However, they developed a society with enduring lack of crime.

387
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:28,000
They had crime, still existed, but it was small, small by comparison to societies all around the rest of the world.

388
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:34,000
The Ten Commandments do a similar thing, but I submit to you they do it in a different way.

389
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:42,000
Most people have thought, in fact I ask around and I ask everybody, you know, when I say the Ten Commandments, I didn't ask everybody.

390
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:45,000
I ask a bunch of people, when I say the Ten Commandments, what's the first thing that pops into your head?

391
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:50,000
And so I'm going to ask somebody right now. When I say the Ten Commandments, what's the first thing that pops into your head?

392
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:54,000
RG, don't ask. I have you on my list. Ron, when I say Ten Commandments, what's the first thing that pops into your head?

393
00:45:54,000 --> 00:46:00,000
The first law. Okay, the first law. Nicole, when I say Ten Commandments, what's the first thing that pops into your head?

394
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:06,000
First thing. Don't think about it. Julie, what pops into your head when I say Ten Commandments?

395
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:15,000
Rules to follow. Okay, rules to follow. Brother Tony, Deacon Tony, what pops into your head when I say Ten Commandments?

396
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:23,000
The laws of God. The laws of God. Okay, and absolutely all of those things were very true in the day that the Ten Commandments were published.

397
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:30,000
The day that they came out. Now I'll remind you that in Deuteronomy, we are not studying the day that the Ten Commandments were published.

398
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:36,000
They were actually put out in Exodus. Now, I'll ask you this. Who wrote the Ten Commandments?

399
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:42,000
God. Okay, God originated the Ten Commandments and the first set of the Ten Commandments, he did write.

400
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:44,000
And Moses brought them down on tablets from the mountain, right?

401
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:50,000
This is one of those, I told this story to Ariana about two months ago, it was part of the promotion, she went, what?

402
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:57,000
I mean, she was just blown away. Moses carried the Ten Commandments down off the mountain, but what did he find when he came down?

403
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:58,000
Did you remember?

404
00:46:58,000 --> 00:46:59,000
The worship of idols.

405
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:09,000
Yeah, they had begun to worship idols. Aaron cast a silver and gold oxen thing, which may have been an ox statue, and they were worshiping it.

406
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:17,000
And then they had begun to party, and historians think that there was illicit sex, like they were going around having sex with each other, stuff like that.

407
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:26,000
They were celebrating, and probably alcohol, whatever. Basically, it developed into a big pagan worship, which often included those kinds of things.

408
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:36,000
Misuse of drugs and sex, basically. And Moses comes down, he sees that, and he takes those Ten Commandments on the tablets that God wrote, and what did he do?

409
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:37,000
He threw them down.

410
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:39,000
Boom, he threw them down.

411
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:47,000
And then proceeds to, there's a correction that takes place of the Israelites, it's very fierce, very fierce correction.

412
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:54,000
And then he proceeds to go back up on the mountain, and the second Ten Commandments, who wrote those ones? Physically wrote them.

413
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:56,000
Moses here.

414
00:47:56,000 --> 00:48:02,000
Okay? So God gave the Ten Commandments, he wrote with his own hand, to Moses.

415
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:09,000
But then Moses, basically I'm paraphrasing here, but he freaked out, and threw the Ten Commandments down the ground and broke them.

416
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:12,000
And when he saw what all the people were doing, right?

417
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:21,000
Then he goes back up on the mountain, there's a huge correction of the people, in fact, like they killed each other with swords at the command of God, and the lead by his proclaims, and all that.

418
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:26,000
But then Moses is back up on the mountain, and the Ten Commandments are written in Moses' hand. He wrote them.

419
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:31,000
Okay? And so that's the story in Exodus, and then they are given to God's people.

420
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:35,000
That had become their story.

421
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:41,000
The fact that they could not endure under God's commands had become their story.

422
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,000
Moses had become their mediator.

423
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:50,000
Okay? So Moses got the Ten Commandments, was bringing them to them, saw that they were clearly already breaking them.

424
00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:59,000
I mean, imagine you write the commandment, one of which we'll read today, which says, have no other gods, don't worship false idols, and they'd come down and find them doing exactly that, right?

425
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:09,000
So Moses' response, his breaking out, if you will, was because he saw they could not endure the commands and the rules that God was giving them.

426
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:23,000
Now, by the time Deuteronomy 4, which we preached through over the last three weeks, by the time of Deuteronomy 4, Moses had realized that there was something more to the Ten Commandments than what meets the eye.

427
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:29,000
They are the rules, they are the fundamental law, that's all accurate and true.

428
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:39,000
But what God was up to, obviously, and now we can see it from this side because we know Jesus lived a sinless life, got on the cross for sins, and fulfilled the law, right?

429
00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:43,000
So we see it from this side. But Moses was just getting it.

430
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:50,000
He was just understanding that God was doing something so much more significant than giving us rules to live by.

431
00:49:50,000 --> 00:50:01,000
The question that I'll pose to you, and then we're going to go to the text, the question I'll pose to you is this, is are the Ten Commandments still rules to live by and laws today?

432
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:10,000
That's the question. Now, it's a hotly debated question, so you can formulate the answer in your own mind, but we need to be educated by the text.

433
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:16,000
Okay? Alright, so grab your Bibles and go with me if you would. We are actually at the end of Deuteronomy chapter 4.

434
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:17,000
Say, whoop!

435
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:18,000
Amen!

436
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:22,000
Alright, thank you. Somebody's out there. I'm glad to hear that. One day I'm going to do that, and there will be nobody.

437
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:26,000
I'm going to have to, the people are going to think I'm just standing up here talking to them myself.

438
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:40,000
Okay, so we are reading beginning in 44. I will not be breaking down everything in 44, but in order to say we've seen everything, we already talked about this in the recent three weeks, but this is sort of like a recap, okay?

439
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:45,000
And then when we get into 5, that's new text for us. Alright? So we're going to read 44. It says,

440
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:50,000
Now this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel. So there it is. It is the law. That's right.

441
00:50:50,000 --> 00:51:08,000
These are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel when they came out from Egypt, across the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-Pior in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel defeated when they came out from Egypt.

442
00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:19,000
So basically that's where they were, that's what he did. Notice that it is, there's a nice little list there that could be preachable, testimonies, statutes, ordinances. It's fine, okay?

443
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:37,000
Moving on, 47. And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, king of Bishon, the two kings of the Amorites who were across the Jordan to the east from Eroar, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, which is like a river Arnon and a valley Arnon there.

444
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:49,000
Even as far as Mount Sihon, that is, Hermon, as called by other people, with all the Ereba across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Ereba at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

445
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:56,000
Now notice this technically means they took all that area and they now rule it. There are only two things that are significant I don't want you to forget as we go into this.

446
00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:08,000
Number one, that's not the promised land. So all this that they've taken, all this amazing stuff that God has already done, they're still on the east side of the Jordan River. They have not taken not a square foot of the promised land.

447
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:18,000
Okay? Second thing to notice in there is that the Amorites, the larger part of their kingdom is on the west side of the Jordan in the promised land.

448
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:29,000
So when they go in there to fight, they would have to fight the Amorites. And if God had said, oh, we're just going to leave them behind on the east side in a very prosperous, well fortified, etc. area,

449
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:35,000
then when they went in to fight the Amorites on the west side of the Jordan, they would always have these guys at their back.

450
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:41,000
And having the enemy at your back when you're fighting an enemy is a mistake. A two front war is always a mistake, it's very dangerous.

451
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:55,000
And so God systematically turns over all the land on the east side of the Jordan. And there, Moses gives all of that which he gives, the testimony, statutes, and ordinances, over to the Israelites.

452
00:52:55,000 --> 00:53:03,000
But mind you, this is a recap. Okay? Now, chapter five, this is new text to us today for sermonizing.

453
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:15,000
It says, then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully.

454
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:19,000
Now that phrase there, observe them carefully, basically means do them well. Okay?

455
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:27,000
So the original language is saying, like, you're going to do this, what I'm telling you to do, and you're going to make sure, take heed, be careful, do a good job, do them well.

456
00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:39,000
So the purpose or intent of Moses as he gives us what he's about to give us, and what he's been giving for that matter, because there are some in the previous chapters, that they would learn them,

457
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:47,000
in other words, we're going to absorb them, understand them, put them in us, and then observe them or do them well, practice them carefully.

458
00:53:47,000 --> 00:54:00,000
First two, the Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.

459
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:07,000
Now, did he make it with their fathers? Well, yes, he did. So what does he mean when he says that he didn't make it with their fathers?

460
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:17,000
He's talking about what people will tend to do, which is kind of put it off on somebody else. That's somebody else's job. That's somebody else's, they need to take care of that.

461
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:24,000
You see somebody struggling with a bird. Oh, they really ought to fix that, right? What he was reminding them was, don't do that.

462
00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:35,000
Don't say this is your father's covenant or your father's God. This is your covenant, your God, the younger generation that survived the desert, survived the wanderings, right?

463
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:47,000
God said would go into the promised land. This is your covenant. Now, very easily we could say, and we'll come back to this later, we could say that that statement right there of all the statements we're going to read today applies to us as much as any.

464
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:58,000
This is our covenant. Now, we have a new covenant. We'll talk about that later. We have a new covenant. But the bottom line is this is a covenant between God and human beings.

465
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:10,000
And we are human beings, therefore, it's not our father's God, it's not our father's God's rules. This is our rules. This is what we are supposed to be paying attention to as rules and laws, if you will.

466
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:18,000
I understand there's more. We'll get there. So the Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire.

467
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:29,000
While I was standing between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain, he said.

468
00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:34,000
He's going to go on talking here for a minute, telling us what God said. But I want you to get there.

469
00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:41,000
Notice that that whole little bit that I just read is all about Moses acting as translator and mediator for the people.

470
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:52,000
And there was one count on one thing that was keeping them from going face to face with God, from being with God, from drawing near to God, from hearing what God was saying.

471
00:55:52,000 --> 00:56:02,000
One. You hear it? What was it? Not rhetorical. It was one thing in the verse that said why they didn't go up the mountain face to face with God. Why was it?

472
00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:06,000
They were afraid. Was there fear? All right.

473
00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:13,000
Beautiful illustration that R.J. gave of this sermon during the inspirational moment was talking about Jason being afraid that his dad would be mad at him.

474
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:18,000
Right. The way I got the story was that his dad would be mad at him because he couldn't do well enough.

475
00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:25,000
And I think that's how I got it from Jason. He was afraid that he would get there, not do a good enough job, and his dad would be mad at him.

476
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:31,000
Now, I'll tell you right now that that is the plight of every son who loves his dad. Hands down, that's true.

477
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:38,000
Trying to do what my dad wants me to do. I'm 52 years old. Unless you read in the fitness app. Some days I'm 51, some days I'm 53.

478
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:45,000
But I'm literally 52 years old. OK. So the point is I'm still to this day, because I understand that the commands were not given to children.

479
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:50,000
They were given to grown people. And so I understand as a grown person, I'm still trying to honor my dad.

480
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:57,000
I still want my dad. And I do that primarily because I want my dad to draw closer to God because I love God.

481
00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:05,000
And I understand that my heavenly father is really my father. My dad is my dad. He's the earthly dad that my dad that my God gave me.

482
00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:09,000
But my father is in heaven and he wants a closer relationship with my dad. And I don't want to get in the way.

483
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:14,000
So I'm trying to do everything that I can to make my dad proud of me, happy with what I would do, etc.

484
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:22,000
Now, if I have to choose between the two, I'm going to choose my God. And I have had to in the past, in the years past, choose between what my dad want,

485
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:28,000
especially when before he gave his life back over to the Lord, before he kind of came back into the kingdom advance.

486
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:33,000
I had a lot of times I said, I'm sorry, Dad, that's just not what God want me to do. And I had to do what God wanted me to do.

487
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:43,000
And I last night after the wedding, after the reception, we're sitting outside and Aaron was explaining to Kyler and Carson that they should always do what their dad wants them to do.

488
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:50,000
He said, he said, your dad's I've heard him from a distance. He didn't know I was even there. And he said, your dad's very wise. Your dad's been around for a long time.

489
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:57,000
He's seen a lot of things. You should always listen to your dad. And he said, well, he said, unless your dad tells you to do something that God would not have you to do.

490
00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:03,000
So always choose God over your dad, but always choose your dad unless you know for sure God is telling you to do something else.

491
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:11,000
It was like I was teaching it myself. And he made me feel good, but he didn't even know I was there.

492
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:18,000
This is the way Moses was with God. But clearly, I mean, is this the way the Israelites are with God?

493
00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:23,000
No, that's not the way the Israelites are with God. That's not the way they're approaching their relationship with God at all.

494
00:58:23,000 --> 00:58:28,000
Right. And so they needed a mediator. They need somebody to stand between them at that time.

495
00:58:28,000 --> 00:58:31,000
They were afraid to go up in the mountain because they're afraid of what God would do.

496
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:37,000
They knew. I mean, when they transgressed and Moses ran out of the town, they killed thousands of men.

497
00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:42,000
The Levites, he said, the Levites strap on your sword, go through and kill your brother, kill people in the camp, all through the camp.

498
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:46,000
Thousands of men died because of what they strayed. God is scary.

499
00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:51,000
We did that sermon before consuming fire. OK.

500
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:56,000
He said, the Lord spoke to you face to face. I was standing between you and the Lord at that time.

501
00:58:56,000 --> 00:59:01,000
And I declared to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up on the mountain.

502
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:05,000
And this is what the Lord said. And this is Moses's recapping of the first part of the Ten Commandments.

503
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:13,000
We're now going to read. It says, for I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery.

504
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:17,000
He identified himself. I am. God is the pre-existent God.

505
00:59:17,000 --> 00:59:20,000
He was pre-existent before the Israelites went into slavery.

506
00:59:20,000 --> 00:59:25,000
But he is the pre-existent God who brought them out of slavery. He chose them to be his people.

507
00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:30,000
He could say the same thing of us. He brought us out of slavery.

508
00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:34,000
You know, we can unpack that a little bit. You can look at what your slavery is.

509
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:42,000
When I was at the reception yesterday, there was a woman there and she was bemoaning the behavior of somebody else in her life who had been.

510
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:47,000
She felt like disrespectful. And she was saying some negative things about him.

511
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:52,000
And I felt the Holy Spirit provoked me. And I said, well, let me stop you right there.

512
00:59:52,000 --> 00:59:57,000
I said, you know, I don't think we need to go there. So let me encourage you to say, he probably did.

513
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:01,000
She said, he said this and it was kind word, but he didn't mean it. I know he didn't mean it.

514
01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:05,000
And I said, maybe he meant it in the moment. Think about this.

515
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:09,000
People say things in the moment that they mean and then later they don't mean them. Right?

516
01:00:09,000 --> 01:00:16,000
But in the moment, he meant it. I said, but realize he's got prison bars. He's trapped.

517
01:00:16,000 --> 01:00:20,000
He can't really live out what he's saying because he's not free.

518
01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:28,000
Well, that's what God did for us. He freed us up to line up our speech with our actions, with our faith, with our relationship with him.

519
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:36,000
Across the board, we became free. He broke open the bar, severed the chains and made us free and able then.

520
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:43,000
As the Israelites were not primarily because of their fear, but notice that while it was primarily because of their fear,

521
01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:47,000
it was because of their attachment to the things of the world that they had experienced.

522
01:00:47,000 --> 01:00:53,000
Remember, they came out of a nation that had dozens of gods and now they're going to go down to just one.

523
01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:58,000
Yes, they were God's people. And for over 400 years, they tracked back their lineage and so on.

524
01:00:58,000 --> 01:01:03,000
But the bottom line is that they had lived a completely different lifestyle their entire lives.

525
01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:08,000
And they were young, under 20-ish when they went to the promised land the first time.

526
01:01:08,000 --> 01:01:14,000
And then they're now all of their adults have died off. This is rough stuff.

527
01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:20,000
And they're supposed to put all of that out of their heads and just believe and just follow and just do what God wants them to do.

528
01:01:20,000 --> 01:01:29,000
So, yeah, they were terrified. Right. Now, their parents were there then because that was that ish that incident of them at the mountain

529
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:33,000
where they didn't go up on the mountain because they were afraid. Their parents were there then.

530
01:01:33,000 --> 01:01:37,000
And surely their parents were saying, oh, for me, as for me, my house will follow the Lord.

531
01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:43,000
But we know that it's Joshua that actually puts them in check on that later and says, you better you have to decide.

532
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:46,000
Follow God or don't follow God. But stand on the fence won't get it done.

533
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:50,000
So, but as for me and my house, I'll follow the Lord. That's that's Joshua that does that later.

534
01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:53,000
So whether there were any men in that day, Joshua was young,

535
01:01:53,000 --> 01:01:59,000
whether any men in that day who were really saying that about their household is unknown.

536
01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:02,000
But we know there was fear and they weren't coming to God and they weren't get it from God.

537
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:05,000
And God could say then rightly, I am the Lord.

538
01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:08,000
That means I will tell you that word, their Lord is actually Yahweh.

539
01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:12,000
I will tell you, Creator God, I made everything. I have that kind of power.

540
01:02:12,000 --> 01:02:16,000
And I exercised my power in some small way, really.

541
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:22,000
But I exercised my power to bring you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

542
01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:26,000
And then he goes on to say, for that reason, because of that logic, that's the overarching.

543
01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:33,000
That's the title page, if you will. He says, you shall have no other gods before me.

544
01:02:33,000 --> 01:02:40,000
Now, that's that that commandment has been misused so often because what we say is we're not going to put anything up over top of God.

545
01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:42,000
God is going to be the most important thing.

546
01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:48,000
So it's going to be, you know, God, family, church, hobbies.

547
01:02:48,000 --> 01:02:55,000
Or for some people, it's God, hobbies, family, you know, and we start prioritizing.

548
01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:58,000
And so long as God is on the top, I'm OK.

549
01:02:58,000 --> 01:03:02,000
But that's not actually what God was saying. Right.

550
01:03:02,000 --> 01:03:09,000
This have no other gods before me. And that's a little G notice means have no other gods in my presence.

551
01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:12,000
Nothing else that gets anything like that kind of authority.

552
01:03:12,000 --> 01:03:16,000
Nothing else that gets your praise. Nothing else that gets your worship.

553
01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:21,000
I want you to think about when you're talking about how good something is, you understand you're declaring the value of it.

554
01:03:21,000 --> 01:03:24,000
It better be different than what you're doing when you're with God.

555
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:27,000
And it better be not marginally different. It better be way different.

556
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:36,000
So when you have things that you like, things that you engage in, things that you do at the moment in time at which you start thinking that that thing is important or valuable as part of who you are.

557
01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:38,000
You may have to go, OK, hold up. Check this.

558
01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:42,000
The Bible says no gods at all in God's presence.

559
01:03:42,000 --> 01:03:47,000
Nothing that I declare is worthy or valuable, even remotely like God.

560
01:03:47,000 --> 01:03:57,000
Verse eight says you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

561
01:03:57,000 --> 01:04:04,000
OK, so this is literally talking about an image, a thing, a figurine, a statue, whatever.

562
01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:09,000
And in other words, you can't make an eagle out of silver.

563
01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:15,000
You can't do any of that. Right. Now, this is where the doctrine of what's called iconoclasts comes from.

564
01:04:15,000 --> 01:04:31,000
And so the Eastern Orthodox Church thinks that everybody that's in the Christian church, everywhere else in the world that has crosses representing Jesus's crucifixion or has, you know, the open Bible, the cross above it like we have there or three crosses on a hill like we have here.

565
01:04:31,000 --> 01:04:44,000
All of that would be considered sin because we're using representations of what we believe and they take this to the extreme to say you shall not make for yourself an idol means you can't have any image like that.

566
01:04:44,000 --> 01:04:46,000
We already know we can't know exactly what Jesus looked like.

567
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:50,000
By the way, you have a picture of Jesus in a kid's book preaching to kids.

568
01:04:50,000 --> 01:04:53,000
Anybody ever notice how American pictures of Jesus look like?

569
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:58,000
Because he's Caucasian, right? Sometimes he's blonde, Caucasian blonde.

570
01:04:58,000 --> 01:05:04,000
Right. That's what Josh Maddahl calls a Scandinavian Jesus. He's Caucasian blonde.

571
01:05:04,000 --> 01:05:10,000
Not not true. He's Mediterranean type looking. Right. He was with the call oxidant.

572
01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:16,000
But he was so what you didn't have slanted eyes, but he had olive skin and dark hair because that's where he was born.

573
01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:18,000
That's the blood he came from other than God. Right.

574
01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:23,000
God could have made him a Scandinavian Jesus, but that would have made him stand out.

575
01:05:23,000 --> 01:05:26,000
That would have made him pretty. And the scripture says he wasn't that he was ordinary.

576
01:05:26,000 --> 01:05:31,000
So he would have fit in right where he was at. But the writers in the Bible, they didn't describe what he looked like.

577
01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:36,000
Why do you think they did that? Because they don't want you to worship what he looked like. Right.

578
01:05:36,000 --> 01:05:41,000
And so basically the problem with creation is we get into something good. We like it. We see it. It's magnanimous.

579
01:05:41,000 --> 01:05:48,000
It's great. It's glorious. It's beautiful. It's shiny. Whatever. And we start making it into an idol.

580
01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:54,000
He says don't do anything like that with what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

581
01:05:54,000 --> 01:05:59,000
You shall not worship them. In other words, don't declare their worth. Don't bow down to them.

582
01:05:59,000 --> 01:06:03,000
Don't let them be in charge of you in any way. Don't serve them.

583
01:06:03,000 --> 01:06:08,000
Notice that's anything on the earth, heaven or water in the water under the earth.

584
01:06:08,000 --> 01:06:13,000
If you make an image or an idol of it, have a picture of it, have a thing. Right. You can't do that.

585
01:06:13,000 --> 01:06:18,000
You shall not worship them or serve them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

586
01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:23,000
He says visiting the iniquity, that's the sin, and it can be sins of ignorance.

587
01:06:23,000 --> 01:06:27,000
Iniquity can include sins of ignorance. So it's not wickedness, not you doing it after you've been told not to,

588
01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:31,000
but the sins or iniquity, the cross and the line like transgressions.

589
01:06:31,000 --> 01:06:35,000
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children.

590
01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:39,000
Notice that every time a dad does something wrong, his kids pay.

591
01:06:39,000 --> 01:06:42,000
And on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me.

592
01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:46,000
Now notice you can say, and elsewhere in scripture it says that that's not the economy of God.

593
01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:50,000
He doesn't do that anymore the way they were thinking he did it.

594
01:06:50,000 --> 01:06:55,000
But I'm here to tell you right now, if you sin against God, the price that you pay in your life,

595
01:06:55,000 --> 01:07:00,000
that will be replicated and magnified in the next generation.

596
01:07:00,000 --> 01:07:05,000
Look at the people who have walked away from the Lord. Look at what happens after.

597
01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:08,000
Now people who don't know the Lord aren't Christians. It's a different thing.

598
01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:15,000
Because then that person becomes born again, then they sever their ties from the teachings of their parents who were not godly.

599
01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:20,000
The woman who down here was from Walbridge, Ohio, who sued and went all the way to the Supreme Court.

600
01:07:20,000 --> 01:07:22,000
So that her son would not have to pray in school.

601
01:07:22,000 --> 01:07:28,000
You understand that Ohioans, the lady from Ohio, I think her name was Margaret, but I might not get that right.

602
01:07:28,000 --> 01:07:33,000
Anyway, from Walbridge who went to the Supreme Court to sue so that her son,

603
01:07:33,000 --> 01:07:36,000
because their family was atheist, would not have to pray in school.

604
01:07:36,000 --> 01:07:38,000
And the Supreme Court ruled and took prayer out of schools.

605
01:07:38,000 --> 01:07:40,000
When that happened, it was a woman right down here in Walbridge who did it.

606
01:07:40,000 --> 01:07:44,000
Her son grew up, became born again and became a Baptist preacher.

607
01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:49,000
The very one she sued so he wouldn't have to pray in school is a Baptist preacher now.

608
01:07:49,000 --> 01:07:55,000
So there will be a disconnection. Getting born again changes everything. All old things pass away.

609
01:07:55,000 --> 01:08:01,000
But if you're a follower of the Lord and you continue in iniquity in your household, your children will be affected.

610
01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:09,000
And then even if they manage to grow up and get beyond you, and they finally put behind you the stupidity that you embraced as a Christian,

611
01:08:09,000 --> 01:08:15,000
they will still have remnants of what they're going to be scarred or they're going to be hurt or they're going to have memories.

612
01:08:15,000 --> 01:08:21,000
You can't just ignore what you're doing in life and think that this lie, children are resilient. That's a lie.

613
01:08:21,000 --> 01:08:25,000
They're resilient, yes, but so are you. They're no more resilient than we are.

614
01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:33,000
They're actually absorbent. They take stuff into them and it becomes part of their personality for the rest of their life until God changes it.

615
01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:35,000
And so we have to realize that's what he's talking about.

616
01:08:35,000 --> 01:08:40,000
And then if I do that to my kids and my kids do it, if I picked up one false doctrine now,

617
01:08:40,000 --> 01:08:45,000
one thing about Christianity that I say is true that isn't and I teach that to my kids.

618
01:08:45,000 --> 01:08:51,000
Now I've got three grown married children and they'd be teaching that same false doctrine to their kids because they bought into it in my household.

619
01:08:51,000 --> 01:08:59,000
And then their kids would go on. And plus it drifts further from further from God automatically because the Antichrist spirit of the Antichrist is always at work in the world.

620
01:08:59,000 --> 01:09:01,000
So they would be further and further away.

621
01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:07,000
And that's what he's warning these things that you're doing that are not godly, that are not holy, that are not right by him.

622
01:09:07,000 --> 01:09:14,000
He's saying automatically it happens that to the third and fourth generations for those who hate me,

623
01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:22,000
but showing loving kindness, get this, but showing loving kindness to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments.

624
01:09:22,000 --> 01:09:25,000
Notice it's two things and they go together.

625
01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:27,000
Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

626
01:09:27,000 --> 01:09:31,000
Love me and keep my commandments. I will show loving kindness to thousands.

627
01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:33,000
Even it doesn't matter what you did before.

628
01:09:33,000 --> 01:09:37,000
So here's an image of being born again in the Old Testament.

629
01:09:37,000 --> 01:09:40,000
If you're living outside God's will, not doing what God made me to do.

630
01:09:40,000 --> 01:09:43,000
And one day you go, look, I recognize God is going to make way for me to do this.

631
01:09:43,000 --> 01:09:45,000
And I'm going to start living for the Lord.

632
01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:53,000
Now God shows his love to you in manifold many ways, so many ways because you love him and are keeping his commandments.

633
01:09:53,000 --> 01:09:56,000
We're almost done with the text.

634
01:09:56,000 --> 01:10:01,000
He says, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

635
01:10:01,000 --> 01:10:03,000
Doesn't matter how common it becomes.

636
01:10:03,000 --> 01:10:04,000
Doesn't matter if everybody else doesn't.

637
01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:08,000
It doesn't matter if you boil it down to OMG.

638
01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:11,000
You don't take the Lord's name in vain.

639
01:10:11,000 --> 01:10:15,000
He's saying there is a purpose for calling on God.

640
01:10:15,000 --> 01:10:18,000
God is a real person.

641
01:10:18,000 --> 01:10:23,000
And if I was in this room and I stubbed my toe and I said Tommy Mitchell, Tommy would look and see what's going on.

642
01:10:23,000 --> 01:10:24,000
And that's what God does.

643
01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:28,000
Every time somebody spews his name with venom in their mouth.

644
01:10:28,000 --> 01:10:31,000
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

645
01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:36,000
For the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain.

646
01:10:36,000 --> 01:10:38,000
You think that's not going on in the world?

647
01:10:38,000 --> 01:10:42,000
All these people who are using the name of the Lord in vain even now.

648
01:10:42,000 --> 01:10:44,000
Don't do it.

649
01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:50,000
Twelve, observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you.

650
01:10:50,000 --> 01:10:53,000
Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

651
01:10:53,000 --> 01:10:56,000
But the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God.

652
01:10:56,000 --> 01:10:59,000
In it you shall not do any work.

653
01:10:59,000 --> 01:11:11,000
You or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.

654
01:11:11,000 --> 01:11:13,000
That's like a stranger from another place.

655
01:11:13,000 --> 01:11:18,000
So that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well.

656
01:11:18,000 --> 01:11:23,000
This is one of the hotly debated questions in New Testament Christianity.

657
01:11:23,000 --> 01:11:29,000
Because very early on in the first hundred years after Jesus' death, burial and resurrection he came back to life.

658
01:11:29,000 --> 01:11:32,000
Christians began to worship on Sunday.

659
01:11:32,000 --> 01:11:34,000
It was the first day of the week.

660
01:11:34,000 --> 01:11:36,000
It was the day that Jesus came back to life.

661
01:11:36,000 --> 01:11:38,000
This is resurrection Sunday.

662
01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:42,000
We worship on the first day of the week because that's the day that Jesus was found to be alive.

663
01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:47,000
And the Sabbath command still exists in Scripture.

664
01:11:47,000 --> 01:11:51,000
Guess where in the New Testament it says you no longer have to practice the Sabbath.

665
01:11:51,000 --> 01:11:52,000
You won't find it.

666
01:11:52,000 --> 01:11:55,000
You can search, read the whole thing beginning to end, you won't find it.

667
01:11:55,000 --> 01:11:57,000
Now that's a problem isn't it?

668
01:11:57,000 --> 01:11:59,000
You say, well but our Sabbath is Sunday.

669
01:11:59,000 --> 01:12:03,000
No, not unless you make it so.

670
01:12:03,000 --> 01:12:05,000
What is the purpose of resting?

671
01:12:05,000 --> 01:12:07,000
What is the purpose of not working?

672
01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:10,000
And by the way a lot of people do a lot of work on Sunday.

673
01:12:10,000 --> 01:12:11,000
I do work on Sunday.

674
01:12:11,000 --> 01:12:14,000
So I know Sunday is not my Sabbath.

675
01:12:14,000 --> 01:12:17,000
Many of you as I look around this room work on Sunday.

676
01:12:17,000 --> 01:12:19,000
Not for money most of the time.

677
01:12:19,000 --> 01:12:21,000
But there's work that's being done.

678
01:12:21,000 --> 01:12:26,000
So what God was saying was as the Lord rested after six days he created and rested,

679
01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:28,000
that was an ordained command back to Genesis.

680
01:12:28,000 --> 01:12:33,000
And the bottom line is there needs to be a period of time in which you say no.

681
01:12:33,000 --> 01:12:36,000
So then you just sleep 24 hours right?

682
01:12:36,000 --> 01:12:39,000
No, you're awake but you can't work so what can you do?

683
01:12:39,000 --> 01:12:41,000
Well what you do is you focus on God.

684
01:12:41,000 --> 01:12:42,000
So that's the command of the Lord.

685
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:45,000
It still exists to this day that there needs to be a time.

686
01:12:45,000 --> 01:12:48,000
You say but I am most in touch with the Lord when I am working.

687
01:12:48,000 --> 01:12:52,000
If there is work that you can do that is not physical in any way

688
01:12:52,000 --> 01:12:54,000
and your mind can truly be focused on God.

689
01:12:54,000 --> 01:12:58,000
Which means if any minute you needed to you could crack your Bible open and start reading.

690
01:12:58,000 --> 01:13:00,000
And during that Sabbath you should be doing that.

691
01:13:00,000 --> 01:13:02,000
And you're praying all the time and so on.

692
01:13:02,000 --> 01:13:04,000
Nothing's going to distract you.

693
01:13:04,000 --> 01:13:06,000
Then you could probably call that a Sabbath.

694
01:13:06,000 --> 01:13:10,000
This was all about focusing on God.

695
01:13:10,000 --> 01:13:12,000
That's what the Sabbath was all about.

696
01:13:16,000 --> 01:13:17,000
He says, he goes on, he says,

697
01:13:17,000 --> 01:13:20,000
And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt.

698
01:13:20,000 --> 01:13:25,000
And the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm.

699
01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:28,000
Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

700
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:31,000
Do you know why that phrase, you can just imagine right?

701
01:13:31,000 --> 01:13:36,000
Why that phrase, why is he telling them that the Lord their God brought them out of Egypt by a mighty hand

702
01:13:36,000 --> 01:13:40,000
and has done everything that they have done so far as part of the teaching about the Sabbath.

703
01:13:40,000 --> 01:13:43,000
Do you know why? Think about it for a second.

704
01:13:43,000 --> 01:13:48,000
Because what's one of the number one things that will keep you from practicing a Sabbath?

705
01:13:48,000 --> 01:13:50,000
You got things to do.

706
01:13:50,000 --> 01:13:53,000
Right? You got work to do.

707
01:13:53,000 --> 01:13:55,000
You got problems that arise.

708
01:13:55,000 --> 01:13:57,000
Things that need to be overcome.

709
01:13:57,000 --> 01:14:00,000
But who overcomes your problems?

710
01:14:00,000 --> 01:14:03,000
Who gets the job done?

711
01:14:03,000 --> 01:14:09,000
When you mow or fix or start and finish a project successfully, who is doing that?

712
01:14:09,000 --> 01:14:11,000
That you?

713
01:14:11,000 --> 01:14:13,000
If it's you, it's only you in part.

714
01:14:13,000 --> 01:14:21,000
Trust me, I know because I've taken a project that should take me no more than an hour and had it take me 12 hours.

715
01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:25,000
I've taken a project that should take me like six hours and it takes me an hour.

716
01:14:25,000 --> 01:14:30,000
I'm like, oh, what if I try this? Oh, boom, done, just like that.

717
01:14:30,000 --> 01:14:37,000
I'll never forget an inspirational moment that Deacon Tony Brister shared when we were on Main Street talking about a particular bolt trying to get off on the car.

718
01:14:37,000 --> 01:14:43,000
I'll probably mess up the details, but I remember it very like the teaching of it like it was yesterday.

719
01:14:43,000 --> 01:14:46,000
And he was saying how he just got to the point where he just couldn't do it.

720
01:14:46,000 --> 01:14:49,000
He tried everything. He had people helping him and then the people were gone.

721
01:14:49,000 --> 01:14:53,000
He was all by himself and he's just like, I just can't give up. I just I can't.

722
01:14:53,000 --> 01:14:55,000
I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

723
01:14:55,000 --> 01:14:59,000
And he prayed and he asked God and he tried one more way, a slightly different way.

724
01:14:59,000 --> 01:15:03,000
And it came off.

725
01:15:03,000 --> 01:15:05,000
God is the one fighting for us.

726
01:15:05,000 --> 01:15:08,000
God is the one who must get the glory.

727
01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:14,000
God's system is there is a time to stop your work and trust in the Lord.

728
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:15,000
Rest in the Lord.

729
01:15:15,000 --> 01:15:21,000
Has anybody noticed a slightly higher occurrence of insects or animals this year?

730
01:15:21,000 --> 01:15:22,000
It's all over, isn't it?

731
01:15:22,000 --> 01:15:30,000
Like we literally walking over to the Great Eastern Shopping Center to go to Myers and you had to step around baby frogs because they were all over the sidewalk over there.

732
01:15:30,000 --> 01:15:32,000
Thousands and thousands of them.

733
01:15:32,000 --> 01:15:36,000
Seen more lightning bugs this year than ever before. More snakes in my yard ever before.

734
01:15:36,000 --> 01:15:43,000
Yesterday, not yesterday. Yeah, yesterday morning before everything got started, I saw two hawks chasing a squirrel in my backyard.

735
01:15:43,000 --> 01:15:48,000
Hawks, I'm talking wings like this and they come down and the squirrels run through the backyard.

736
01:15:48,000 --> 01:15:50,000
He's running like a madman trying to get away from him.

737
01:15:50,000 --> 01:15:52,000
They come the first one took a pass at him, missed him.

738
01:15:52,000 --> 01:15:55,000
Second one took a pass at him, missed him and the squirrel got up the tree and he got away.

739
01:15:55,000 --> 01:15:57,000
The hawks in my backyard.

740
01:15:57,000 --> 01:16:06,000
I've lived in that house for the better part of 45 years with some little gap.

741
01:16:06,000 --> 01:16:08,000
Seventeen months while we lived in Michigan.

742
01:16:08,000 --> 01:16:10,000
So I've lived in that house for 43 of the last 45 years.

743
01:16:10,000 --> 01:16:12,000
I've never seen a hawk ever.

744
01:16:12,000 --> 01:16:17,000
And now they're sitting in the trees in my backyard chasing squirrels in my backyard.

745
01:16:17,000 --> 01:16:24,000
Last, early last year and into the previous year, we basically gave the earth the Jubilee.

746
01:16:24,000 --> 01:16:28,000
We rested, we polluted less, we used less, etc.

747
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:35,000
And so the animals are all, you know what this planet would be like if for every seventh year we just, if everybody stopped planting and whatever,

748
01:16:35,000 --> 01:16:37,000
you wouldn't need fertilizer anymore.

749
01:16:37,000 --> 01:16:39,000
Everything would change.

750
01:16:39,000 --> 01:16:42,000
You've got to rest. There was a brother that posted on Facebook.

751
01:16:42,000 --> 01:16:45,000
So you want to be, have more energy, you can rest.

752
01:16:45,000 --> 01:16:51,000
Now I also understand that it's not about the rest because Proverbs also says a little rest, a little slumber and destruction comes upon a man, right?

753
01:16:51,000 --> 01:16:56,000
So I'm not talking about becoming lazy or resting when you're supposed to be working, but you've got to orient your rest.

754
01:16:56,000 --> 01:17:05,000
If you rested that one day, truly rested and recharged, then you could work all day long, sun up to sun down the rest of the six days and you wouldn't get tired.

755
01:17:05,000 --> 01:17:08,000
If you really would let the Lord refuel you.

756
01:17:08,000 --> 01:17:11,000
And that's what they're saying. It's God who fights for you.

757
01:17:11,000 --> 01:17:13,000
It's God who gives you success.

758
01:17:13,000 --> 01:17:20,000
You're not going to get any more success, but trying to eke out a little bit more time to do a little bit more work.

759
01:17:20,000 --> 01:17:25,000
That is not the economy of creation. God made it. He knows how it works.

760
01:17:25,000 --> 01:17:29,000
Notice that he extended that to everybody that's under your control.

761
01:17:29,000 --> 01:17:32,000
The stranger staying with you, your ox, right?

762
01:17:32,000 --> 01:17:38,000
Everybody's, so you can't like, my neighborhood when I was growing up, there was a man who lived down around the block.

763
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:41,000
He's still there now. I don't know if he still practices it or not,

764
01:17:41,000 --> 01:17:45,000
but he wouldn't go to the store on Sunday. He wouldn't eat out on Sunday.

765
01:17:45,000 --> 01:17:51,000
He wouldn't pay somebody to do anything on Sunday because he did not want to be a part of somebody else not having the Lord's day off.

766
01:17:51,000 --> 01:17:56,000
Now, I think that's extreme. But what I'm saying is if it's under your control in your household,

767
01:17:56,000 --> 01:18:00,000
somewhere in your week, put a period of time where you're focused on God.

768
01:18:00,000 --> 01:18:02,000
Is it going to fail sometimes?

769
01:18:02,000 --> 01:18:06,000
The standards are given in the scripture for why you can not do it, right?

770
01:18:06,000 --> 01:18:09,000
You can haul an ox out of the ditch. You can rescue a bleeding friend.

771
01:18:09,000 --> 01:18:14,000
You can stop for the guy that's dying on the side of the road. You can do all those works on that day.

772
01:18:14,000 --> 01:18:18,000
But the truth is you probably won't encounter very many of those things because you'll be focused on God.

773
01:18:18,000 --> 01:18:21,000
Okay? It's still there.

774
01:18:21,000 --> 01:18:24,000
It doesn't have to be Saturday only as we'll see in a minute, but it's still there.

775
01:18:24,000 --> 01:18:29,000
The command to rest and focus on God.

776
01:18:29,000 --> 01:18:34,000
So that takes us through the end of our text for today, the 15th, and we're going to stop there.

777
01:18:34,000 --> 01:18:36,000
Now, I broke it there on purpose.

778
01:18:36,000 --> 01:18:41,000
What are the first four commandments that we just read all have in common?

779
01:18:41,000 --> 01:18:47,000
All those commands, what do they all have in common?

780
01:18:47,000 --> 01:18:53,000
Okay, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Don't make any idols.

781
01:18:53,000 --> 01:18:57,000
It's all about God. It's all about keeping God first. It's all about being close to God.

782
01:18:57,000 --> 01:18:59,000
It's all about how we relate to God.

783
01:18:59,000 --> 01:19:04,000
Some great theologians have broken down to say that there are probably four commands on one tablet,

784
01:19:04,000 --> 01:19:07,000
six on the other, and the first four are about how we relate to God,

785
01:19:07,000 --> 01:19:09,000
and the other six are about how we relate to mankind.

786
01:19:09,000 --> 01:19:12,000
If you look at 16, it'll say honor your father and mother.

787
01:19:12,000 --> 01:19:17,000
We're going to go into talking about relating to people probably next week if the Lord so leads.

788
01:19:17,000 --> 01:19:20,000
The bottom line is this is about how we relate to God.

789
01:19:20,000 --> 01:19:24,000
Okay, there's a few things I want you to see in the text and two other texts that we'll use before we're done.

790
01:19:24,000 --> 01:19:29,000
The first one is, as we talked about, these are commands and rules.

791
01:19:29,000 --> 01:19:36,000
Will you get there? Will you get it done by following the commands and rules of God?

792
01:19:36,000 --> 01:19:39,000
Now, we know that Jesus said, he who loves me follows his commands,

793
01:19:39,000 --> 01:19:48,000
but we also know that Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the book of Matthew

794
01:19:48,000 --> 01:19:51,000
are what's called the Sermon on the Mount.

795
01:19:51,000 --> 01:19:55,000
At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about what it's like in the Kingdom of God.

796
01:19:55,000 --> 01:20:00,000
He says, blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the gentle, and so on.

797
01:20:00,000 --> 01:20:05,000
Then he goes down and talks about how they are not meant to be like other people.

798
01:20:05,000 --> 01:20:07,000
They're supposed to be different. You are the salt of the earth.

799
01:20:07,000 --> 01:20:12,000
If the salt of the earth loses its tastelessness, how will it be made salty again?

800
01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:15,000
It's good for nothing anymore. Throw it out, trample it underfoot, and so on.

801
01:20:15,000 --> 01:20:18,000
So you are the light of the world. The city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

802
01:20:18,000 --> 01:20:20,000
You're supposed to be different.

803
01:20:20,000 --> 01:20:23,000
Nor do men light a lamp and put it under the peck measure, but on the lamp stand,

804
01:20:23,000 --> 01:20:27,000
that's a basket basically, so that it gives light to all who are in the house.

805
01:20:27,000 --> 01:20:30,000
You're supposed to stand up. You're supposed to be known as different.

806
01:20:30,000 --> 01:20:33,000
What was he doing with the law code again in the Old Testament?

807
01:20:33,000 --> 01:20:35,000
He was showing them how to be different.

808
01:20:35,000 --> 01:20:40,000
He was giving them a set of structures, teachings that they could follow

809
01:20:40,000 --> 01:20:45,000
so that they would be a different society, so that all men would be drawn to the Israelites in the promised land,

810
01:20:45,000 --> 01:20:49,000
and they could all then, through the Israelites, come to know God.

811
01:20:49,000 --> 01:20:51,000
That was the goal. So he's setting that up.

812
01:20:51,000 --> 01:20:53,000
And here it is again in the New Testament.

813
01:20:53,000 --> 01:20:56,000
But then he says this in 16. He says,

814
01:20:56,000 --> 01:21:00,000
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works

815
01:21:00,000 --> 01:21:02,000
and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

816
01:21:02,000 --> 01:21:05,000
So basically, stand up, be a light, so that they can see that you're doing the right things,

817
01:21:05,000 --> 01:21:07,000
and they'll glorify God who is in heaven.

818
01:21:07,000 --> 01:21:13,000
But 17 says, Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets.

819
01:21:13,000 --> 01:21:16,000
I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

820
01:21:16,000 --> 01:21:19,000
In other words, he didn't come to wipe out the Old Testament.

821
01:21:19,000 --> 01:21:24,000
He didn't go away. In fact, the Gospel is far more included in the Old Testament than it is in the New Testament.

822
01:21:24,000 --> 01:21:28,000
The only reason it's so obvious in the New Testament is because it's all about Jesus,

823
01:21:28,000 --> 01:21:30,000
and he was alive in the New Testament.

824
01:21:30,000 --> 01:21:34,000
But if you look at the Gospel, it's way more times as it's shown in the Old Testament

825
01:21:34,000 --> 01:21:38,000
than it is in the New Testament, which is probably because the Old Testament is twice as large.

826
01:21:38,000 --> 01:21:42,000
He says, Do not think that I came to abolish or wipe out the law or the prophets.

827
01:21:42,000 --> 01:21:45,000
I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

828
01:21:45,000 --> 01:21:49,000
So what's the difference between abolishing and fulfilling?

829
01:21:49,000 --> 01:21:55,000
If I have a cup, I've got five cups lined up here, and I'm filling them with water.

830
01:21:55,000 --> 01:21:59,000
And I take the first four cups I fill with water, and I get to the last cup,

831
01:21:59,000 --> 01:22:02,000
and I look at what's left in the pitcher, and there's only a little bit, and I go to fill it.

832
01:22:02,000 --> 01:22:08,000
I can't fill it. If I want all of those cups to be filled, I'm going to have to abolish the fifth cup.

833
01:22:08,000 --> 01:22:12,000
That's the image. All I have to do is take the cup that's mostly empty and put it down.

834
01:22:12,000 --> 01:22:16,000
Now all the cups are filled. But that's not what Jesus did.

835
01:22:16,000 --> 01:22:20,000
He didn't come to wipe out any portion of the Old Testament. He didn't come to take away anything.

836
01:22:20,000 --> 01:22:24,000
Now, if anything, he packs it with meaning.

837
01:22:24,000 --> 01:22:28,000
And further on in chapter 5, he will actually go on to say,

838
01:22:28,000 --> 01:22:33,000
Well, you know how it was said, thou shalt not murder. That's in the second half of the Ten Commandments.

839
01:22:33,000 --> 01:22:38,000
When actually, what I'm saying to you is, if you hate your brother, that's the same as if you murder.

840
01:22:38,000 --> 01:22:41,000
You know how it said, don't commit adultery. I'm saying to you, if you lost after another,

841
01:22:41,000 --> 01:22:44,000
you've already committed adultery with that person in your heart.

842
01:22:44,000 --> 01:22:47,000
So he makes the Ten Commandments mean even more.

843
01:22:47,000 --> 01:22:52,000
But the fact that he adds that meaning and causes it to mean even more should take us somewhere.

844
01:22:52,000 --> 01:22:55,000
It should help us to see what Moses was really supposed to be doing.

845
01:22:55,000 --> 01:23:01,000
And here it is. Jesus says, Do you think that I came to abolish the law of the prophets?

846
01:23:01,000 --> 01:23:05,000
I did not come to abolish it, but to fulfill it.

847
01:23:05,000 --> 01:23:08,000
The laws of the Old Testament, they're not rules. They're not statutes.

848
01:23:08,000 --> 01:23:11,000
They're not limited to being laws or things that you are supposed to follow.

849
01:23:11,000 --> 01:23:13,000
In fact, you're not supposed to follow the Old Testament.

850
01:23:13,000 --> 01:23:17,000
Ooh, that hurts. Don't take that snippet out and put it on Facebook, right?

851
01:23:17,000 --> 01:23:23,000
You're supposed to follow Jesus. You can put that one on there.

852
01:23:23,000 --> 01:23:28,000
The laws in the Old Testament were framing the work that Jesus would do.

853
01:23:28,000 --> 01:23:33,000
They were setting it up and painting a picture. This is hugely important.

854
01:23:33,000 --> 01:23:39,000
He goes on to say, For truly I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass away,

855
01:23:39,000 --> 01:23:47,000
not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished.

856
01:23:47,000 --> 01:23:54,000
He says, Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others,

857
01:23:54,000 --> 01:23:57,000
shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

858
01:23:57,000 --> 01:24:02,000
But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

859
01:24:02,000 --> 01:24:07,000
So he was looking at the law of God and saying, I didn't come to wipe it out. I came to fulfill it.

860
01:24:07,000 --> 01:24:11,000
Now, anybody who takes some piece of it and says, Oh, that's just too hard,

861
01:24:11,000 --> 01:24:15,000
or you don't actually have to do that, or let me alter that slightly so that you can be okay

862
01:24:15,000 --> 01:24:17,000
without you don't have to struggle too much.

863
01:24:17,000 --> 01:24:22,000
You may be sitting here right now going like, there is no way that I could have a Sabbath.

864
01:24:22,000 --> 01:24:26,000
There's no way that I could take 24 hours in any week, even if I broke it down into eight hour periods.

865
01:24:26,000 --> 01:24:31,000
There's no way that I could do that and make that time about God and not work and so on.

866
01:24:31,000 --> 01:24:34,000
That's offensive. You're offending me with that message.

867
01:24:34,000 --> 01:24:36,000
That is not even what I think it's calling it to.

868
01:24:36,000 --> 01:24:40,000
Jesus said he did not come to abolish, but to fulfill the law.

869
01:24:40,000 --> 01:24:45,000
Therefore, the law remains. You can like it or you cannot like it, but it remains.

870
01:24:45,000 --> 01:24:51,000
Jesus fulfilled it means something different. It means something bigger, greater.

871
01:24:51,000 --> 01:24:56,000
Right? Remember how they wouldn't go up onto the mountain because they were afraid they would offend their father?

872
01:24:56,000 --> 01:24:59,000
They were afraid that God the Father would destroy them in his wrath

873
01:24:59,000 --> 01:25:01,000
because they knew they were not righteous.

874
01:25:01,000 --> 01:25:05,000
Remember how when we talked about in my sermon on God as a Consuming Fire,

875
01:25:05,000 --> 01:25:09,000
that Moses was showing the people, he was beginning to understand and showing the people

876
01:25:09,000 --> 01:25:14,000
that the God of heaven had a way for people to not be destroyed.

877
01:25:14,000 --> 01:25:18,000
If they had a heart for him, even though they were imperfect, they could not be destroyed.

878
01:25:18,000 --> 01:25:21,000
And that way was in Jesus. They were beginning to get that.

879
01:25:21,000 --> 01:25:26,000
Well, that's what Jesus is talking about here. That's what Moses was talking about.

880
01:25:26,000 --> 01:25:31,000
Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

881
01:25:31,000 --> 01:25:35,000
That's not what Jesus did. He stepped it up and made it stricter in a way.

882
01:25:35,000 --> 01:25:39,000
But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

883
01:25:39,000 --> 01:25:43,000
So who is great for sure in the kingdom of heaven? Well, Jesus. Duh.

884
01:25:43,000 --> 01:25:49,000
He is great. He is God the Son. And he is also 100% human.

885
01:25:49,000 --> 01:25:53,000
Lived a sinless life. And then great in the kingdom of heaven.

886
01:25:53,000 --> 01:26:01,000
What did he do as his triumph? What did he do as his great? He served everybody by sacrificing himself on the cross.

887
01:26:01,000 --> 01:26:07,000
Verse 20 then says, For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees,

888
01:26:07,000 --> 01:26:10,000
you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

889
01:26:10,000 --> 01:26:17,000
The scribes and Pharisees in their day would have been the closest thing that they knew to somebody who knew all the law, let alone followed it.

890
01:26:17,000 --> 01:26:21,000
They understood that they didn't know all the law and they didn't follow all the law.

891
01:26:21,000 --> 01:26:27,000
They were trying, but they didn't. And Jesus said, Unless you have righteousness greater than that, you will not see the kingdom of heaven.

892
01:26:27,000 --> 01:26:35,000
So the first thing I want you to see in there is that the laws that were laid out in the Ten Commandments, as Jesus says, they didn't go away.

893
01:26:35,000 --> 01:26:44,000
They didn't. Now you're looking at it and you're going, but see I lied or see I don't feel I don't know how I can do that.

894
01:26:44,000 --> 01:26:49,000
I'm not measuring up. I'm coming up short to this picture of what it means to truly be holy.

895
01:26:49,000 --> 01:26:55,000
And therein is Jesus. That's when he shows up. There is a part of the world that doesn't do that.

896
01:26:55,000 --> 01:26:58,000
They don't look at the Ten Commandments. They don't look at what God told them to do.

897
01:26:58,000 --> 01:27:02,000
And they don't frankly even care. Or if they do, they're literally going, well, see, well, it says don't lie.

898
01:27:02,000 --> 01:27:06,000
So if I do lie, look at all the benefits I can get. Right.

899
01:27:06,000 --> 01:27:09,000
They know they use it as the exact opposite of what they're supposed to be doing.

900
01:27:09,000 --> 01:27:13,000
And they do what they want to do, what their flesh requires them to do and so on.

901
01:27:13,000 --> 01:27:20,000
Jesus is saying, no, this law of God, these rules and laws that were laid out for the Israelites, they were good.

902
01:27:20,000 --> 01:27:28,000
Not as good as me. Right. So if you try to follow the law and you fail, you will go to hell for eternity.

903
01:27:28,000 --> 01:27:33,000
Paul even says it very clearly. That's the measure that you use is am I following the law?

904
01:27:33,000 --> 01:27:37,000
You will go to hell for eternity because you will not follow it perfectly.

905
01:27:37,000 --> 01:27:47,000
But if you try to follow Jesus and in loving the Lord, then try to keep the commands of the law to the best of your ability, wherever you're at and so on.

906
01:27:47,000 --> 01:27:53,000
Then, yes, you will grow. You will get a little better at this, a little better at that.

907
01:27:53,000 --> 01:27:58,000
Now am I saying then to you what I stand up before you and say, OK, that means you don't have to have a Sabbath then?

908
01:27:58,000 --> 01:28:05,000
No, I'm not going to do that. If you want me to stand up here and say you don't have to have a Sabbath because Jesus is Lord and he saved you and grace will cover it,

909
01:28:05,000 --> 01:28:12,000
then you will never hear me say that you can sin willy nilly if you want to and Jesus will cover everything that you do.

910
01:28:12,000 --> 01:28:19,000
Because the moment you want to sin and do all of that and ignore the Ten Commandments, then I think maybe you're not saved anyway.

911
01:28:19,000 --> 01:28:24,000
So you come here, you listen to the word, you study the word at your house, you do Bible study, all that kind of stuff.

912
01:28:24,000 --> 01:28:27,000
You do that so that you can better follow Jesus.

913
01:28:27,000 --> 01:28:31,000
And better following Jesus essentially amounts to being more like Jesus. And did Jesus keep the law?

914
01:28:31,000 --> 01:28:36,000
Oh, yes, he did. So there you go. Jesus is our perfect example.

915
01:28:36,000 --> 01:28:42,000
This law is not abolished. It has a purpose. Yes, it had a purpose to paint a picture.

916
01:28:42,000 --> 01:28:49,000
That's the second thing. When I was yesterday at the wedding, we had a couple of snafus as we were getting ready for the wedding.

917
01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:52,000
We were missing a few things like that. And I had to drive into BG.

918
01:28:52,000 --> 01:29:03,000
We went into BG to get a couple of parts that we needed and some natural petals for flowers because we found out we couldn't use the synthetic ones that we had.

919
01:29:03,000 --> 01:29:08,000
And as I'm driving up there, man, my phone just wasn't working good.

920
01:29:08,000 --> 01:29:17,000
Like I couldn't get navigation. So I go on my phone and I said directions to Floriana's flowers in BG.

921
01:29:17,000 --> 01:29:23,000
And it came up with some stuff that it took a really long time. And I pushed the button for directions and nothing happened.

922
01:29:23,000 --> 01:29:28,000
Literally like the little bar moved like a centimeter and then just sat there.

923
01:29:28,000 --> 01:29:31,000
And then we were just a fraction more. I couldn't get navigation.

924
01:29:31,000 --> 01:29:37,000
Well, fortunately, I kind of know the world a little bit in that part of the world.

925
01:29:37,000 --> 01:29:42,000
And so I knew BG was south of me. And so I headed south.

926
01:29:42,000 --> 01:29:47,000
Right. And then as I'm driving south, I saw a road that I know is in BG.

927
01:29:47,000 --> 01:29:52,000
And I was 95 percent sure that BG was to my left, which would be east.

928
01:29:52,000 --> 01:29:57,000
And so I turn left and I followed that road right into BG. And that's how I found BG.

929
01:29:57,000 --> 01:30:05,000
Now, if I didn't have some knowledge, rules and understanding of the way the world is connected, I couldn't have done that.

930
01:30:05,000 --> 01:30:09,000
I couldn't have got to BG because the navigation wasn't coming up. Right.

931
01:30:09,000 --> 01:30:12,000
I could have called somebody because I had phone service, but I couldn't have GPS.

932
01:30:12,000 --> 01:30:18,000
I couldn't use my maps, at least not for directions.

933
01:30:18,000 --> 01:30:21,000
The Old Testament was like that.

934
01:30:21,000 --> 01:30:32,000
God is explaining this is the way the system works in order so that you can find where you're trying to get to, which was Jesus.

935
01:30:32,000 --> 01:30:44,000
Your soul, my soul, the longing in all human souls is for someone that will fill that vacancy, someone that will be with us, someone that we were meant to be in relationship with.

936
01:30:44,000 --> 01:30:52,000
And I have a great relationship with my wife, but my relationship with Jesus was the relationship I was created for.

937
01:30:52,000 --> 01:31:01,000
When my DNA was woven together somewhere in there, and they may never find it in writing, but somewhere in there was woven into it a desire to be in relationship with God.

938
01:31:01,000 --> 01:31:06,000
And the Old Testament was that, pointing to the way, it was the directions that I needed.

939
01:31:06,000 --> 01:31:08,000
It was the steps that I could get there.

940
01:31:08,000 --> 01:31:17,000
When they preached the Old Testament and the New Testament at East Salido Baptist Church as I was there for the first six months and I was still not a Christian, I could feel it.

941
01:31:17,000 --> 01:31:18,000
Can't you feel it?

942
01:31:18,000 --> 01:31:27,000
When you read the Old Testament Commandments, when we read that commandment that says, mark out a day where you focus on God, can't you feel it like you're kind of going like, oh, I want to do that.

943
01:31:27,000 --> 01:31:33,000
I mean, I want that to be the way it is because I want to spend time with God, but I kind of can't.

944
01:31:33,000 --> 01:31:34,000
I mean, that's not the way life works.

945
01:31:34,000 --> 01:31:36,000
That's not what I think is right.

946
01:31:36,000 --> 01:31:39,000
It's not what I think I can do with my time and so on.

947
01:31:39,000 --> 01:31:41,000
The Old Testament was like that.

948
01:31:41,000 --> 01:31:43,000
God was teaching us understanding how it works.

949
01:31:43,000 --> 01:31:49,000
However, something else happened after I got done in BG and I had to get back there.

950
01:31:49,000 --> 01:31:51,000
I didn't remember the way.

951
01:31:51,000 --> 01:31:53,000
I hadn't marked out the way.

952
01:31:53,000 --> 01:31:56,000
So that's us as imperfect humans trying to do what's right.

953
01:31:56,000 --> 01:32:04,000
You might even get up one day and go, oh, well, this is what I'm supposed to do today and start doing what you think you're supposed to do and realize you totally forgot what you were supposed to do.

954
01:32:04,000 --> 01:32:05,000
We're human.

955
01:32:05,000 --> 01:32:06,000
We're imperfect.

956
01:32:06,000 --> 01:32:07,000
We make a lot of mistakes.

957
01:32:07,000 --> 01:32:10,000
I couldn't find my way back to where I had the stuff that I bought.

958
01:32:10,000 --> 01:32:15,000
And of course, navigation wasn't working very well at all.

959
01:32:15,000 --> 01:32:16,000
Like I tried to pull up where I was supposed to be.

960
01:32:16,000 --> 01:32:17,000
I wasn't coming up.

961
01:32:17,000 --> 01:32:18,000
But here's what I could do.

962
01:32:18,000 --> 01:32:24,000
I could pull up a map like an actual map on my phone and I could shrink it and enlarge it.

963
01:32:24,000 --> 01:32:28,000
So the navigation was working enough for me to see the map, but not enough to get directions.

964
01:32:28,000 --> 01:32:36,000
Well, funny thing about that is my wife and I have permanently shared our locations with each other on Google Maps.

965
01:32:36,000 --> 01:32:39,000
If you haven't done that, you're a married couple, you haven't done that, I would highly recommend that.

966
01:32:39,000 --> 01:32:44,000
Not only does it add accountability, but on top of that, it can be very useful at certain times you're trying to find your spouse.

967
01:32:44,000 --> 01:32:50,000
OK, and so I pulled it up and there's my wife's face at the park down there.

968
01:32:50,000 --> 01:32:53,000
That's Eagle Park, what place is called Stone, Old Stone Fort Park, whatever.

969
01:32:53,000 --> 01:32:55,000
Yeah, Thompson Stone Hall.

970
01:32:55,000 --> 01:32:56,000
And there it is.

971
01:32:56,000 --> 01:33:04,000
And I brought it up, I opened it up a little bit larger and I could say, OK, so if I take this road down here and I turn on that road right there, I'll be headed right toward my wife.

972
01:33:04,000 --> 01:33:07,000
You see the picture?

973
01:33:07,000 --> 01:33:12,000
But the picture, the standard, what we're looking for is not my wife.

974
01:33:12,000 --> 01:33:16,000
And it's not the standard of an Israelite.

975
01:33:16,000 --> 01:33:19,000
It's the standard of a Christian.

976
01:33:19,000 --> 01:33:21,000
You share your location with Jesus.

977
01:33:21,000 --> 01:33:26,000
Open yourself up completely and give Him all that you are.

978
01:33:26,000 --> 01:33:29,000
And then invite Him in to touch every area of your life.

979
01:33:29,000 --> 01:33:34,000
And every time you start to take something for yourself, first ask yourself, does Jesus want me to have it?

980
01:33:34,000 --> 01:33:42,000
Should I really give it to Jesus before I take it for myself, before I enjoy it, before I do it, before I serve it, before I mark it, before I think it's important?

981
01:33:42,000 --> 01:33:44,000
Always do that.

982
01:33:44,000 --> 01:33:47,000
And then you'll always be able to find your way to Jesus.

983
01:33:47,000 --> 01:33:54,000
You say, well, that's kind of weird because the New Testament talks about Him being in us.

984
01:33:54,000 --> 01:33:56,000
And yeah, I get that.

985
01:33:56,000 --> 01:34:00,000
But then I also understand that James, in the book of James, he said this.

986
01:34:00,000 --> 01:34:08,000
He said, Submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

987
01:34:08,000 --> 01:34:12,000
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

988
01:34:12,000 --> 01:34:16,000
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

989
01:34:16,000 --> 01:34:18,000
Be miserable and mourn and weep.

990
01:34:18,000 --> 01:34:22,000
Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

991
01:34:22,000 --> 01:34:26,000
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you.

992
01:34:26,000 --> 01:34:30,000
See, we're living in this world today where people are like, I just, ah, man, I just can't.

993
01:34:30,000 --> 01:34:33,000
And according to what the world says, I shouldn't have to.

994
01:34:33,000 --> 01:34:38,000
And according to God's rules, I'm not going to follow them all anyway.

995
01:34:38,000 --> 01:34:45,000
And we've got those funky rules that were like cultural rules or medical rules or things like that over in Leviticus and stuff.

996
01:34:45,000 --> 01:34:51,000
And so some of those things don't apply anymore, like whether it's an immortal sin to have a tattoo

997
01:34:51,000 --> 01:34:54,000
or whether it's an immortal sin to wear clothing made from two fabrics.

998
01:34:54,000 --> 01:34:57,000
Those things were for their day.

999
01:34:57,000 --> 01:35:02,000
And so if I'm going to ignore that one, I may as well ignore the command about the Sabbath too, right?

1000
01:35:02,000 --> 01:35:07,000
Or the command about worshiping or declaring the work of something else too.

1001
01:35:07,000 --> 01:35:10,000
Here's what you need to do.

1002
01:35:10,000 --> 01:35:12,000
You need to follow Jesus.

1003
01:35:12,000 --> 01:35:19,000
And when anything or anything at all comes up that looks like it's important, check it versus following Jesus.

1004
01:35:19,000 --> 01:35:24,000
If it consumes so much of your time that you're having trouble finding time to read your Bible,

1005
01:35:24,000 --> 01:35:30,000
finding time to pray, then cut it out or cut it down because it's becoming an idol in your life.

1006
01:35:30,000 --> 01:35:37,000
Moses wrote the Ten Commandments, was beginning to understand that an imperfect people,

1007
01:35:37,000 --> 01:35:42,000
see when they wouldn't go up on the mountain because they were fearful, Jesus was going to take care of that.

1008
01:35:42,000 --> 01:35:44,000
And that's what he did.

1009
01:35:44,000 --> 01:35:49,000
Just like you were able to say to your son, and most fathers in here, most dads in here,

1010
01:35:49,000 --> 01:35:52,000
most people who have ever dealt with a little child probably had a similar instance,

1011
01:35:52,000 --> 01:35:54,000
you can say, it's okay.

1012
01:35:54,000 --> 01:35:56,000
It's going to be okay.

1013
01:35:56,000 --> 01:35:59,000
Let's just do what's right now.

1014
01:35:59,000 --> 01:36:03,000
That's what God was doing for us through Jesus.

1015
01:36:03,000 --> 01:36:08,000
How many times do you hear Jesus say, your sins are forgiven.

1016
01:36:08,000 --> 01:36:11,000
Now go therefore and sin no more.

1017
01:36:11,000 --> 01:36:13,000
Let's get our stuff in order.

1018
01:36:13,000 --> 01:36:15,000
Let's do it the right way.

1019
01:36:15,000 --> 01:36:21,000
Don't look at the Ten Commandments as rules or laws and say, well, if I follow that, God will be pleased with me.

1020
01:36:21,000 --> 01:36:24,000
You're missing a step.

1021
01:36:24,000 --> 01:36:29,000
The Ten Commandments and all of the commandments of the Old Testament are directions to Jesus.

1022
01:36:29,000 --> 01:36:34,000
You follow those directions by coming to Jesus.

1023
01:36:34,000 --> 01:36:36,000
You have Jesus as your Lord.

1024
01:36:36,000 --> 01:36:38,000
You get forgiven of your sins.

1025
01:36:38,000 --> 01:36:40,000
He fulfilled it on the cross.

1026
01:36:40,000 --> 01:36:42,000
He lived sinlessly and then died.

1027
01:36:42,000 --> 01:36:46,000
You'll never ever, ever be able to be at the place where you never had a sin in your life

1028
01:36:46,000 --> 01:36:48,000
because you already had a sin in your life.

1029
01:36:48,000 --> 01:36:50,000
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

1030
01:36:50,000 --> 01:36:54,000
But you can be at the place where Jesus is Lord of your life.

1031
01:36:54,000 --> 01:36:56,000
He has forgiven you.

1032
01:36:56,000 --> 01:36:58,000
And you can now try to follow the commands.

1033
01:36:58,000 --> 01:37:02,000
And when you fail, rather than thinking God's going to be ticked off at you, mad at you,

1034
01:37:02,000 --> 01:37:05,000
He will resist your way because you're doing what's not good for you.

1035
01:37:05,000 --> 01:37:10,000
That's the wrath of God, His resistance against doing what's not good for you.

1036
01:37:10,000 --> 01:37:13,000
But He's not going to be ticked off at you.

1037
01:37:13,000 --> 01:37:14,000
He loves you.

1038
01:37:14,000 --> 01:37:16,000
He sees you as His child.

1039
01:37:16,000 --> 01:37:18,000
Now, I've been spanked.

1040
01:37:18,000 --> 01:37:23,000
I've been corrected by my parents when I was a kid and by my God after I got saved.

1041
01:37:23,000 --> 01:37:27,000
And if you decide to willfully go a direction that God doesn't want you to go,

1042
01:37:27,000 --> 01:37:30,000
He will chastise you and correct you and bring you back in line.

1043
01:37:30,000 --> 01:37:33,000
Don't look at the...

1044
01:37:33,000 --> 01:37:35,000
Like, I don't want to read the Old Testament commands

1045
01:37:35,000 --> 01:37:39,000
because every time I do, I find something there that I'm supposed to do that I can't seem to do.

1046
01:37:39,000 --> 01:37:44,000
And I don't really want to try hard because I feel like I'm going to fail anyway

1047
01:37:44,000 --> 01:37:46,000
and then God's going to be mad at me.

1048
01:37:46,000 --> 01:37:50,000
Rather, I was talking to a young child in our church this week.

1049
01:37:50,000 --> 01:37:52,000
And they said, you know what's so cool?

1050
01:37:52,000 --> 01:37:53,000
And I said what?

1051
01:37:53,000 --> 01:38:01,000
I said when you read the Bible, if you think about it a certain way, it's all so interesting.

1052
01:38:01,000 --> 01:38:05,000
Now, is that how you feel about reading your Bible?

1053
01:38:05,000 --> 01:38:14,000
Or have we forgotten that this is a picture from cover to cover of our Jesus?

1054
01:38:14,000 --> 01:38:17,000
It's a picture cover to cover of our Jesus.

1055
01:38:17,000 --> 01:38:22,000
And you may never get to know what His eyes exactly look like or His hair color or the shape of His face.

1056
01:38:22,000 --> 01:38:30,000
But you can know Him exactly the way He is by studying His picture.

1057
01:38:30,000 --> 01:38:38,000
And you can get to where He is doing what He is doing by following His picture.

1058
01:38:38,000 --> 01:38:41,000
And the rules, that's what they were about.

1059
01:38:41,000 --> 01:38:44,000
They're a recipe on how to follow the picture.

1060
01:38:44,000 --> 01:38:48,000
I'm encouraging you today to draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

1061
01:38:48,000 --> 01:38:53,000
The side benefit, by the way, is it says resist the devil and he will flee from you.

1062
01:38:53,000 --> 01:38:56,000
So if you think in your house or in your life or in something you're going through,

1063
01:38:56,000 --> 01:38:58,000
there seems to be a force that's at work against you.

1064
01:38:58,000 --> 01:39:00,000
Here's how to conquer it.

1065
01:39:00,000 --> 01:39:02,000
Resist the devil and draw near to God.

1066
01:39:02,000 --> 01:39:04,000
He doesn't like God.

1067
01:39:04,000 --> 01:39:13,000
And He's not going to come against you or in you or in your life and mess with you if you're on the highway of holiness doing what it is God would have you do.

1068
01:39:13,000 --> 01:39:16,000
The rules were a picture of our Jesus.

1069
01:39:16,000 --> 01:39:19,000
They're a guide and direction on how to live for those who didn't know Jesus.

1070
01:39:19,000 --> 01:39:24,000
And then once you know Jesus, they're a picture, they're a guide and direction to Jesus so you can know Jesus.

1071
01:39:24,000 --> 01:39:29,000
And then once you know Jesus, you're now free to try to live them out.

1072
01:39:29,000 --> 01:39:37,000
And if you fail, you have nothing to fear, which just should mean you can try all the harder.

1073
01:39:37,000 --> 01:39:38,000
You can face it.

1074
01:39:38,000 --> 01:39:43,000
Face your greatest weakness and overcome in Jesus.

1075
01:39:43,000 --> 01:39:48,000
They were a picture of how to live that leads us to Jesus.

1076
01:39:48,000 --> 01:39:53,000
And in Jesus, we can follow them to the best of our ability with no fear.

1077
01:39:53,000 --> 01:39:57,000
And Moses was beginning to understand that that's what the Israelites needed.

1078
01:39:57,000 --> 01:39:58,000
They were afraid.

1079
01:39:58,000 --> 01:40:01,000
And what they really needed was God.

1080
01:40:01,000 --> 01:40:04,000
By the way, when Moses got saved, how did he get saved?

1081
01:40:04,000 --> 01:40:06,000
Did he get saved by following the law?

1082
01:40:06,000 --> 01:40:10,000
Did he get saved by the sacrifices in the temple?

1083
01:40:10,000 --> 01:40:11,000
No.

1084
01:40:11,000 --> 01:40:14,000
He got saved by believing in Jesus.

1085
01:40:14,000 --> 01:40:17,000
It's not by name.

1086
01:40:17,000 --> 01:40:21,000
By believing in Jesus, the way that God would make.

1087
01:40:21,000 --> 01:40:25,000
And everyone who's ever been saved got saved by believing in Jesus.

1088
01:40:25,000 --> 01:40:26,000
Why?

1089
01:40:26,000 --> 01:40:33,000
Because the picture of Jesus was clearly drawn, not in the shape of his face, not his shoe size,

1090
01:40:33,000 --> 01:40:37,000
but the picture of Jesus was clearly drawn in the Old Testament for those who loved God.

1091
01:40:37,000 --> 01:40:42,000
God always found a way for them to understand what God was going to do.

1092
01:40:42,000 --> 01:40:45,000
And it's the same way for us today.

1093
01:40:45,000 --> 01:40:50,000
So I would encourage you if someone is talking to you about the Ten Commandments to say,

1094
01:40:50,000 --> 01:40:57,000
those were directions so that we could see who Jesus is.

1095
01:40:57,000 --> 01:41:00,000
So I'm saying, but you don't follow the Sabbath the way you're supposed to.

1096
01:41:00,000 --> 01:41:01,000
I understand.

1097
01:41:01,000 --> 01:41:02,000
I'm working on that.

1098
01:41:02,000 --> 01:41:03,000
I'm trying.

1099
01:41:03,000 --> 01:41:05,000
I know you lied once.

1100
01:41:05,000 --> 01:41:06,000
Yes.

1101
01:41:06,000 --> 01:41:07,000
I repented of that lie.

1102
01:41:07,000 --> 01:41:08,000
I turned back to the Lord.

1103
01:41:08,000 --> 01:41:09,000
I try never to lie.

1104
01:41:09,000 --> 01:41:11,000
I know you might take something that doesn't belong to you.

1105
01:41:11,000 --> 01:41:14,000
I see you talking on your phone on the clock like you're supposed to be working,

1106
01:41:14,000 --> 01:41:17,000
and you're talking on your phone with your buddy about whatever,

1107
01:41:17,000 --> 01:41:18,000
and you're stealing time from your employer.

1108
01:41:18,000 --> 01:41:19,000
Yes, that's true.

1109
01:41:19,000 --> 01:41:22,000
I see what you're saying there, but I'm working on that.

1110
01:41:22,000 --> 01:41:25,000
I am an imperfect being, but I am following the Lord the best I can.

1111
01:41:25,000 --> 01:41:30,000
I'm trying, and I'll try even harder now that you pointed that out to me.

1112
01:41:30,000 --> 01:41:33,000
Rather than looking at people and saying how stupid they are,

1113
01:41:33,000 --> 01:41:39,000
we need to look at people and realize they just haven't got the picture of Jesus yet.

1114
01:41:39,000 --> 01:41:42,000
Or maybe they have.

1115
01:41:42,000 --> 01:41:45,000
And you might talk to them like the lady that I talked to with Tony Paco's

1116
01:41:45,000 --> 01:41:49,000
or a couple of other times has come up where they really did have the picture.

1117
01:41:49,000 --> 01:41:50,000
They already knew.

1118
01:41:50,000 --> 01:41:54,000
And that's the moment when you come in and say, you know that God whom you are reading about?

1119
01:41:54,000 --> 01:41:56,000
I can tell you who he is.

1120
01:41:56,000 --> 01:42:00,000
I can tell you how to get saved like Philip did with the Ethiopian,

1121
01:42:00,000 --> 01:42:03,000
like Paul did in the Areopagus.

1122
01:42:03,000 --> 01:42:05,000
You can say, I can tell you.

1123
01:42:05,000 --> 01:42:08,000
I get, I see that you're seeing the outline of someone,

1124
01:42:08,000 --> 01:42:12,000
and let me tell you who that person is now.

1125
01:42:12,000 --> 01:42:14,000
But if you go into them and you say, look, you're supposed to have a Sabbath.

1126
01:42:14,000 --> 01:42:16,000
You're supposed to do this. You're supposed to do that.

1127
01:42:16,000 --> 01:42:20,000
Now I see what you did there. You're going to hell.

1128
01:42:20,000 --> 01:42:22,000
It's not about the directions to hell.

1129
01:42:22,000 --> 01:42:26,000
It's about the directions to Jesus so that everybody can go to heaven.

1130
01:42:26,000 --> 01:42:29,000
I would encourage you to use it that way.

1131
01:42:29,000 --> 01:42:31,000
And I want to try to use it that way.

1132
01:42:31,000 --> 01:42:37,000
I'm going to pray for us briefly and then we're going to have the praise team come and lead us in a song.

1133
01:42:37,000 --> 01:42:40,000
If you've been convicted today by something that we discovered in the text,

1134
01:42:40,000 --> 01:42:45,000
I would ask you to commit today to follow what it is that God is saying to you.

1135
01:42:45,000 --> 01:42:49,000
Look for that Jesus because he's incredible.

1136
01:42:49,000 --> 01:42:56,000
He makes it so that our God is no one to be afraid of.

1137
01:42:56,000 --> 01:42:59,000
We love him and are called according to his purpose.

1138
01:42:59,000 --> 01:43:06,000
Father in heaven, thank you so much for the history that went on before Jesus came.

1139
01:43:06,000 --> 01:43:11,000
The power and authority that you exercise to write the truth of salvation.

1140
01:43:11,000 --> 01:43:18,000
And I guess the reality is it's in every plant, every tree, in every breeze, in every person.

1141
01:43:18,000 --> 01:43:20,000
It's written in our DNA.

1142
01:43:20,000 --> 01:43:25,000
And mankind has now just in the last couple of decades gotten to the point where they can begin to understand

1143
01:43:25,000 --> 01:43:29,000
that DNA is there, it's the language by which everything functions.

1144
01:43:29,000 --> 01:43:36,000
And if that's not horrible testimony of a creator God and an intelligent God that put us all together,

1145
01:43:36,000 --> 01:43:43,000
only a fool could believe otherwise for a man with great faith in something that's fruitless.

1146
01:43:43,000 --> 01:43:46,000
God, I thank you that you wrote this world.

1147
01:43:46,000 --> 01:43:48,000
You wrote all creation.

1148
01:43:48,000 --> 01:43:54,000
Think about the blades of grass blowing in the wind, how they testify to the awesome glory of our God.

1149
01:43:54,000 --> 01:43:59,000
Think about the heat in the room and how it testifies to the awesome glory of our God.

1150
01:43:59,000 --> 01:44:03,000
Think about your word, the Ten Commandments, and all the commandments of the Old Testament.

1151
01:44:03,000 --> 01:44:08,000
It's said that there are 800 commandments, categories, really 1500 commandments,

1152
01:44:08,000 --> 01:44:10,000
but 800 commandments, categories in the New Testament.

1153
01:44:10,000 --> 01:44:16,000
In the short New Testament, 800 commands, all founded on the commands of the Holy Spirit.

1154
01:44:16,000 --> 01:44:18,000
Are they a picture of Jesus?

1155
01:44:18,000 --> 01:44:20,000
We believe they are.

1156
01:44:20,000 --> 01:44:22,000
Lord, help us.

1157
01:44:22,000 --> 01:44:24,000
Beat our Lord.

1158
01:44:24,000 --> 01:44:25,000
Teach us.

1159
01:44:25,000 --> 01:44:27,000
Set us on the right track.

1160
01:44:27,000 --> 01:44:32,000
Help us adjust and make our life something that brings you glory.

1161
01:44:32,000 --> 01:44:35,000
You know that the adjustment is in you, and the victory is in you,

1162
01:44:35,000 --> 01:44:38,000
and the overcoming enemies in you, and overcoming tasks in you,

1163
01:44:38,000 --> 01:44:43,000
and health and strength and intelligence and finances, it's all in you.

1164
01:44:43,000 --> 01:44:47,000
We can do nothing except that which we do to you.

1165
01:44:47,000 --> 01:44:51,000
And I thank you that that picture was painted long ago, thousands and thousands of years ago.

1166
01:44:51,000 --> 01:44:57,000
And there have been men, some of them worshiped in heaven now,

1167
01:44:57,000 --> 01:44:59,000
that we might be one.

1168
01:44:59,000 --> 01:45:04,000
And we might come to your holy mountain not as they did fearful,

1169
01:45:04,000 --> 01:45:10,000
but as a child of living God, owning every rock and every breeze,

1170
01:45:10,000 --> 01:45:14,000
having plenty of all that we need knowing that you will take care of us.

1171
01:45:14,000 --> 01:45:18,000
Lord, enlarge our hearts, enlarge our minds,

1172
01:45:18,000 --> 01:45:22,000
to trust, to trust in God.

1173
01:45:22,000 --> 01:45:27,000
You didn't write a song or a story,

1174
01:45:27,000 --> 01:45:35,000
but you wrote the directions to salvation.

1175
01:45:35,000 --> 01:45:37,000
In and on.

1176
01:45:37,000 --> 01:45:44,000
All of history, all of your Word, it's all there.

1177
01:45:44,000 --> 01:45:49,000
So that we can come in this present moment,

1178
01:45:49,000 --> 01:45:54,000
commit ourselves to Jesus first,

1179
01:45:54,000 --> 01:45:57,000
and following you,

1180
01:45:57,000 --> 01:46:01,000
and best we know how these days, as our understanding grows,

1181
01:46:01,000 --> 01:46:04,000
probably a little better, a little better, a little better,

1182
01:46:04,000 --> 01:46:07,000
that an imperfect people, purified by your grace,

1183
01:46:07,000 --> 01:46:10,000
can see the picture of a perfect Savior.

1184
01:46:10,000 --> 01:46:12,000
Lord, help us.

1185
01:46:12,000 --> 01:46:15,000
That there's somebody in this room who has not committed their life to you,

1186
01:46:15,000 --> 01:46:18,000
somebody in this room who has not committed a personal relationship with you,

1187
01:46:18,000 --> 01:46:23,000
or there's somebody in this room who has not attempted to grow near to you,

1188
01:46:23,000 --> 01:46:25,000
growing this high,

1189
01:46:25,000 --> 01:46:26,000
and what we ask of you,

1190
01:46:26,000 --> 01:46:27,000
to just do what you did.

1191
01:46:27,000 --> 01:46:31,000
We know you're a close-girth company, and they're gone the other way.

1192
01:46:31,000 --> 01:46:33,000
We've been working on you today,

1193
01:46:33,000 --> 01:46:37,000
and ask the Lord, all of them of yourself,

1194
01:46:37,000 --> 01:46:40,000
to remove our bars, break our chains,

1195
01:46:40,000 --> 01:46:43,000
set us free to approach you,

1196
01:46:43,000 --> 01:46:45,000
and to live for you the best we know how.

1197
01:46:45,000 --> 01:46:47,000
And when it gets scary,

1198
01:46:47,000 --> 01:46:50,000
and we're asked to do something that makes us feel shaky,

1199
01:46:50,000 --> 01:46:55,000
help us to remember always that you are not shaky.

1200
01:46:55,000 --> 01:46:57,000
You are solid ground,

1201
01:46:57,000 --> 01:46:59,000
our strong fortress,

1202
01:46:59,000 --> 01:47:01,000
our protector and our provider,

1203
01:47:01,000 --> 01:47:03,000
our guide and our Savior,

1204
01:47:03,000 --> 01:47:07,000
and you are preparing a place for us in heaven for eternity.

1205
01:47:07,000 --> 01:47:09,000
Help us to remember that,

1206
01:47:09,000 --> 01:47:11,000
and we face our greatest challenges.

1207
01:47:11,000 --> 01:47:13,000
And you are our God,

1208
01:47:13,000 --> 01:47:15,000
and you alone are our God,

1209
01:47:15,000 --> 01:47:17,000
and you've been showing us the way,

1210
01:47:17,000 --> 01:47:20,000
and it culminates in Jesus.

1211
01:47:20,000 --> 01:47:22,000
We praise you for what you're doing,

1212
01:47:22,000 --> 01:47:24,000
in Jesus' name,

1213
01:47:24,000 --> 01:47:25,000
Amen.

1214
01:47:25,000 --> 01:47:26,000
Ask the grace to come forward,

1215
01:47:26,000 --> 01:47:28,000
and lead us in our closing hymn today,

1216
01:47:28,000 --> 01:47:30,000
and if the Lord has touched your heart in some way,

1217
01:47:30,000 --> 01:47:31,000
you respond,

1218
01:47:31,000 --> 01:47:32,000
and you walk forward,

1219
01:47:32,000 --> 01:47:33,000
stand where you are,

1220
01:47:33,000 --> 01:47:34,000
and get my attention.

1221
01:47:34,000 --> 01:47:35,000
If you're online,

1222
01:47:35,000 --> 01:47:36,000
feel free to put in a comment.

1223
01:47:36,000 --> 01:47:37,000
If you're listening to our podcast,

1224
01:47:37,000 --> 01:47:39,000
feel free to put a comment below.

1225
01:47:39,000 --> 01:47:43,000
Share the gospel with anyone who will listen,

1226
01:47:43,000 --> 01:47:46,000
because the Adherent who gave to Jesus

1227
01:47:46,000 --> 01:47:49,000
is going to rip out of creation since the beginning,

1228
01:47:49,000 --> 01:47:50,000
and if you come to Him,

1229
01:47:50,000 --> 01:47:52,000
then His command to spread the word

1230
01:47:52,000 --> 01:47:54,000
should bring you free.

1231
01:47:54,000 --> 01:47:56,000
Stand with us and sing this song.

1232
01:47:56,000 --> 01:47:58,000
Oh, draw me close.

1233
01:47:58,000 --> 01:48:00,000
Good choice.

1234
01:48:00,000 --> 01:48:08,000
Draw me close to you.

1235
01:48:08,000 --> 01:48:15,000
Never let me go.

1236
01:48:15,000 --> 01:48:22,000
I've made it all down now.

1237
01:48:22,000 --> 01:48:30,000
To hear you say that I'm your girl,

1238
01:48:30,000 --> 01:48:37,000
you are my desire.

1239
01:48:37,000 --> 01:48:43,000
No one else will have to know,

1240
01:48:43,000 --> 01:48:50,000
because nothing else could take your place.

1241
01:48:50,000 --> 01:48:57,000
To feel the warmth of your embrace,

1242
01:48:57,000 --> 01:49:01,000
help me find a way,

1243
01:49:01,000 --> 01:49:10,000
bring me back to you.

1244
01:49:10,000 --> 01:49:17,000
You're all I want.

1245
01:49:17,000 --> 01:49:24,000
You're all I've ever needed.

1246
01:49:24,000 --> 01:49:30,000
You're all I want.

1247
01:49:30,000 --> 01:49:47,000
Help me know you are near.