This song goes by forever!
And oh, happy day, happy day, wash my tears away
Oh, happy day, happy day, I'll never be the same
Oh, for I am changed
When friends suddenly pass through me, you face your friends like your disturbing background
I'll never be the same
Forever I am the same
Oh, what a glorious day
What a glorious day
That you have saved me and I
What a glorious day
And oh, happy day, happy day
Watch my sin away
Oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Oh, happy day, happy day
Watch my sin away
Oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Alright, good morning, good morning, good morning
You have your announcements in your bulletin
I'm happy to say that our faith
Spiritual Gifts Fellowship did go well on Thursday
We made an attempt to make a recording
We'll try to podcast that a little bit later
But it went well
I encourage you, if you do not know your spiritual gifts
Figure out what they are and visit one of those
Because that was really helpful to me
To think about the difference between faith, belief, trust, whatever I'm calling it
And a spiritual gift for the faith
And so I felt very empowered by that
So I encourage you to do that
Also coming up, we're getting ready to start our candy drive for the Fall Fest
Individually wrapped candy, if you're going to participate in that
And then also you can get ahead
It's only September, I know, but you can get ahead and think about games for the Fall Fest and that kind of thing
And then we are actively in visitation and inviting
Visitation and game promotes, so
The folks can come
And then if you are somebody who had an invitation
Or had a visit to make with somebody who invited them, I hope you did do that
And then if they said they would come and they didn't, feel free to follow back up with them
We say hey, I miss you, love to see you
Let's work together and let's learn and grow
On my heart this morning, Reaching New Heights
Is about everybody together, working together to take the next step
So obviously we're not all taking the next step
It would be nice if we could all form a line, link arms and take the next step together
Because you don't have the same next step that somebody else has
But we can nonetheless work together
To, for each person to be able to take that next step
And that's what that's all about
We're all on a journey, all in different places
We'll all take them to the next step
So let's work together
Focus your eyes on the Lord
And let Him lead us forward
And that being said, let's pray together
Tommy, I know I caught you off guard, did you pray for us?
I'm sorry, go
Good praise report
I just want to thank God
Always is always there for praise, always our power
He hears us
But it wasn't the same praying for me last Sunday
It was God's intervention for sure
My body felt better, stronger
Which I'm doing a lot of stuff, I'll tell you later
But because of that
I unfortunately just messed up myself
I could not get back on first shift
My tendons are terrible
But I really believe it
Because it was not happening last week, two weeks ago
There was somebody that needed to switch on shifts
So I got back on first shift starting last week
Which was really important for me
Because that night shift was filled
And so just for the men praying for me
I just want to say there is power in that prayer
And I believe it really wouldn't have happened
Because I messed up
If you knew what I did
And just messed up my intensa stuff
I don't deserve that chance
But the men stepping up and praying for me
I'm back on first shift
And I'm starting to feel a lot better
A lot mentally healthy, strong
So I just want to say thank you guys
I just thank God for prayer
He had known that it really would help me get back on first shift
And He had requested it
And they told him no
It's not available to you
You can't do it
Can't do it on first shift
And then after we prayed
He said, can you go around?
He said, God is the one who does that
And I said, alright
I'll be right there
Dear God, we thank you for the time and place
That we have to worship you
We came for the rain today
And we grow the plants
And sometime we'll come after
We pray for everyone here
That we be able to pray for the sermon
And we pray for the blessing
And we pray for the grace
Bye bye
Loving kindness, loving kindness, better life
The grace of God's sufficient
It's an auspicious grace
Your power and your glory are forever on display
And your loving kindness, loving kindness, better life
Oh, it's better, oh, better than life
Oh, so much better, Jesus
Oh, loving kindness, better life
There is nothing about me
Nothing about you, I pray
And nothing in this world could ever
When you are gone
You have loving kindness, loving kindness, better life
All your ways are just so
You'll just be by your way
And don't let my hand go on
To grab you and pray
For your loving kindness, loving kindness, better life
Oh, it's better, oh, better than life
Oh, so much better, Jesus
Oh, loving kindness, loving kindness, better life
Jesus, your loving kindness
Is better than life itself
Better than life itself
Jesus, your loving kindness
Is better than life itself
Better than life
Oh, it's better, oh, better than life
Oh, so much better, Jesus
Your loving kindness
Is better than life itself
Oh, better than life
Oh, so much better, Jesus
Your loving kindness
Is better than life itself
Better than life itself
Oh, so much better, Jesus
Your loving kindness
Is better than life itself
Better than life itself
All righty, if I could have you on your feet this morning
You could give yourself some room if I could have some young persons towards the front
We're gonna get moving this morning
Get up here, come on, you can do it
But I don't get your name all night
But I don't want to see your faces
I'm so glad you're in my life
I'm so glad you came to save us
Jesus, you came from heaven to earth
You will show the way from the earth to the stars
By the death of faith from the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
But I don't get your name all night
But I don't want to see your faces
I'm so glad you're in my life
I'm so glad you came to save us
Jesus, you came from heaven to earth
You will show the way from the earth to the cross
By the death of faith from the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
But I don't get your name all night
You came from heaven to earth
You will show the way from the earth to the cross
By the death of faith from the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
But I don't get your name all night
Okay, so we've come to that inspirational moment
time that we had earlier this week
and today we're going to do something a little bit different
with more light on my heart
So I'm going to ask you to focus
the way your distractions, whatever's distracting you right now
the side you think, that person's on your mind, that's okay
All right, so pay attention
Zadah, pay attention
Thank you
All right, what we're going to do is we're going to pray together
I don't want you to do it in your head
or out loud while you're sitting and praying with me
We're going to ask God to remind us
what He's been showing us for the last seven days
to remind us what we've read in His Word
and to tell us if He chooses to, tell us something new right now
and then that's what we're going to talk about
whenever He brought back the mind, okay?
So join me in prayer, here we go
God in heaven, you are an awesome God
We love your people
We realize your Word says that you have been working
every moment of every day, even up until now
We realize that you have been showing us things, that you speak to your people
and that sometimes we are dense to hear or recognize what you're doing
You do so through your miraculously protected, powerfully inspired by you, Word of God
Then we might see a verse that really speaks to us
or a verse that leads us to a chain of thought where you really speak to us
or we also know that sometimes you just say, hey stop right there
that's wrong, you're crossing the line
Other times you say, hey go forward, go faster, go stronger, go harder
because it is what's right
So while we're looking back on the week since we were here last
we're asking you right now in this moment
point out to us what it was that you've been saying
what it was that we saw that we need to pay attention to
what it was that you were, how you were working on us
Father, I know that even as we sit here now praying
there are people who have thoughts in their head
that are evil spirits, distractions, or thinking about something else
It's hard to have a single minded focus today
because the world has many voices
and our many evil spirits, they outnumber us
but they don't outnumber your angels, and they don't outnumber you
and they do not have strength that you do not have
and the greater is he that is in us and the greater is he that is in the world
So right now we're praying in the name of the Lord Jesus
to review voices that have nothing to do with you
Lord pass them all out and help us today
listen to what you are saying
show us what you've been saying
and if necessary show us something new right now
that we may speak up and show others
what it is that you're saying in our hearts
and what you're saying in Jesus' name
Alright?
What do you got?
What came to mind?
Go ahead, I got one
So in my journey through the Bible
I'm up to the point where
Saul, Israel's first king, he's king
he doesn't like David, he's looking for him to get rid of him
David's already been anointed by Samuel
and here he was to do the next cave
he's on the run, Saul's trying to kill him
so he's hiding up with his men in a cave
in a cave
and this was just after
I'll get a little ahead of myself because I was reminded of when
here being critical of Jesus about his disciples
meaning the leaf of the field of the Sabbath
and we were reminded of that
they gave David a holy bread
that it was not the grace of God that used David's bed
as a part of this
and one thing I didn't remember about the story I didn't pay attention to
was the priest had asked if his men had
men of the lives of men who made themselves ceremonial
on cleaning at the end of the day
and he said no, that when these men are on the job
they're not going to be able to do that
so David's already feeling a value
as to that about serving God
and being in a proper mindset
and now we're in the cave and Saul finally is in that area
and goes in the cave to take care of some business
and didn't know David was there and David snuck up a cup
he's a robot, this man told him
you know what, this is a good opportunity for you to get rid of him
so this is the key point, he could have went in and killed him
and then take us from
but he knew that it would be wrong to raise a hand on that scouts and goyans
which he totally was
so he cut a piece of the robot
and instead when he left the cave he showed up and said hey I could have taken you out
so sometimes
when sucker tips come to life
you think you're getting directed
in a certain direction, you think you should do something
just based on circumstance, take time to think about
what does the Bible say about it
what does God teach us or something
that I think seems to be the right way to go
but after all we're relying on the scripture
and rethink what you're doing because if David would have killed Saul
then once he teaches those men
and what Bob did, maybe when he's king
and some of them don't like to be killed
they'll come after him and start to value it
and so
also if he would have killed King Saul
then he probably would have killed his entire family
and anyone else, Saul's side
and the whole country would have been in trouble
so take your time and think about doing things right
sometimes there's a way that seems quite, you know, it could quite push you away
Robert says there's a way
that looks right at a man but it leads to death
and I guarantee you
if he'd gone against Saul in that cave
that was not a way that he wanted to go
that was a way that he was taken into a place where God would not want him to be
Good work, very good. Ok, who else?
Ok, I'll tell you mine real quick
So it's interesting how mine relates to yours
because it's Bob Rowe
We were talking about the woman who had the 12 year issue
she had an issue of blood for 12 years
and this came out of the spiritual gift fellowship
we talked about faith as a personal gift on Thursday night
and we talked about the woman who had faith that she could be healed by Jesus
She was looking at Jesus
and she was thinking, I've had this issue for 12 years
and I've literally tried everything else
I've tried every doctor, every medicine, she basically ran herself broke
tried everything she could
and she thought about Jesus and she thought
she didn't think, man I need to go beg him for healing
or I need to go see him
she didn't even feel worthy to go to his presence and ask him to heal her
but she thought if I could just sneak up and touch his robe
if I could just sneak up and touch his robe
then I would be healed
I've had people who believe
they have a conscious knowledge
that there is a God
but not only do they not come to God through Christ
which is the only way somebody can come to God
but they don't feel worthy to do so
I remember when I was a young person before I got saved I was 25
but between the time I was about 11 and 25
I believed there was a God
and I had some incredible
what I almost call holy thoughts about God
I told a story about
my organizational system in my bedroom
some of you young people might relate to this
I had a horizontal organization system
everything I owned was spread out on the floor
there was very little room
you had to nudge something to sit
I had to build the shelves
and then I went back to organizing everything horizontally on the floor
I did not have piles, that's different
I didn't make piles of things
I wanted everything out flat so I could see it
I was leaving with my parents
I was crossing the room and there was a Bible in the middle of the floor
I went to put my foot down and if my foot had come down
it would have stepped on the Bible
it was already a little beat up
it was just a book to me, but it was God's book
I believed in God, but I didn't trust God
I didn't know about Jesus at all
I went to put my foot down and my foot would have landed on that Bible
I said I can't put my foot there
I swung my foot out to try to put it somewhere else
I put it down on a toy and it hurt
I went up collapsing down into my pile of horizontal organization
I got all scraped up and bruised and everything
all because I didn't want to step on that Bible
I wasn't saved, I didn't know God
but I had a sense of His holiness
and I submit to you that in the world right now
amongst lost people there are a lot of people who have been called
to God who kind of get an understanding of that holiness
but they feel unworthy to come to God
or they feel like they can't or they feel like they don't know how
and that's what the Great Commission is all about
that's what Christians are all about, that's what the Church is all about
telling people everywhere, so we should be living for God in a way
that they'll look at us and know that person is something a little bit different
and that has to be perfect, but there's something a little bit odd about them
and then you get in a conversation and tell them
and one of the first things I encourage you to tell them is
it was never the road
or whatever it was, but it's not about coming into close proximity with Jesus
it's not about touching Jesus or touching something that was touched by Jesus
or even coming to church or singing worship songs
or acting like the Church, it's not about anything like that
it's about coming into a right relationship with God
through Jesus' Son
you can try to sneak up on Jesus and be healed
try to sneak up on Jesus and have the plan of your life unfold in a positive way
but it doesn't actually work
the only way to do it is to truly come to Him humbly
let's say confessing our sin, admitting that we have sin, admitting that we're not saved
believing in Jesus Christ as Lord
believing in Him as Savior, that means He paid the price for your sins
knowing that God raised Him from the dead
and receiving salvation, and that's it
and then after that there's no work other than those three things
that can essentially be done and belief is not really a work that we can do
but I submit to you that there are a lot of people in the world that are like that
and our job is to find them and show them what they're already looking for
and I'll end on this illustration
I went to Tony Pacos with a youth pastor and two teenagers
who were looking about bringing the mission team up
there was a young lady there and I got to witnessing with her
and I offered to pray for her and she said okay
and then she came back later and I asked her if she'd stop back at the table
she had a little bit of time, she was working the bar, she came over
she crossed the table and I asked her about her faith
she told me she'd been in a car accident, almost died
died actually right after the accident for like 13 seconds or something
and then almost died after that and wasn't able to walk
and all these things and she had to remake her life
and she said she felt like God was bringing her through that for a purpose
but she didn't know God or who God was
she's openly saying this, I don't know who God was, I don't know how to know God
I don't know anything about God but I felt like God was doing that
and I said well this is what the Bible says and I explained it to her
I did this in the middle of Tony Pacos
and these guys were looking at me like you're a little bit
weird for doing this, especially when we're trying to have a meeting
and then she wound up standing there, tears streaming down her face
and praying to accept she's Christ the Lord and Savior
but the point is she already knew
that God was real and was working in her life
Acts 17 says that God
oriented all of the parameters and boundaries of our lives
so that we might grope around for Him and by some chance find Him
and then realize He was never very far away in the first place
this is the problem, those people that are out there in the world are acting
like fools, they're acting like lost people
this is what they're doing, they're acting like lost people
and they're lost because they have not come into a relationship with God
and I'm going to be a little bit raw about this for a second
sometimes that's because we in the church have not gone as far
and shown them how to do that
sometimes it's because they're too fond of their sin
or sometimes because they're caught up in addiction
or they've got real problems, whatever it might be, there are lots of reasons
and some of them, then there are people that even think that they're saved
and I may be critical when I say this but I think people who think that they're saved in art
are usually worse people, worse, have more sin
more wicked, more problems to their nature and like that
there are people who are not saved
so I say not saved people, they might have a little fear about God and wonder
they might fall down rather than stepping on the Bible
but the people who think they're saved in art, they think they're ok
let's step on that Bible in a minute, I'm not going to hurt myself
and keep from disrespecting God because God loves me
He sent His sons to darkness, so whatever, I can do whatever I want
and they become pretty darn wicked, you know
and then there are people that say, well I know who God is
and I know that's pretty bad too, but I'm not trying to judge people
I'm just saying, that rub was never the issue
and it was when she came and said Jesus and your faith has healed you
and then He basically declared her as saved
and sent her away
don't sneak up on Jesus, come right out of the open
right out of the open and say, look I've got my issues
the Lord Jesus, I'll submit myself to you
alright, 28 and Arjun
real quick, your name just popped in my head, but I was just thinking
it was a book about Jonah, everybody loves Jonah
trying to flee because if you're supposed to come to Nineveh
you can have a whale and spit back out so you can go to Nineveh
but at first you just thought you could flee from God because you never could
and the book just shows him fleeing from God, and he's on a boat
and in the boat, he's in the bottom of the deck
and there's a hole, a little hole where the light can shine in
and it's really funny, so he went to them
across the other side of the earth, literally as far away from Israel as you could
as far away from him as you could
and he's hiding under this boat
and he's like, God can't see him, and there's a light
where the window is peering right through
and it's just missing Jonah, if you would just step up
the light would shine on him, and he's just right here
so it's just like, it's not like anything
but the picture is Jonah thinks he's completely
did it, I got away from God, I got away from my mission
and the light is really shining through this door
like a little doggy door on a boat
and Jonah's this close literally to letting the light shine on him
so God is not, even if you go to the farthest
ends of the earth, no matter where you go, even if you go to the bottom
you're there with me, and I fly in the highest eagle
in the heavens, you're there as well, but God is always there
so just something to think about, no matter what, you can't escape God
and God's not trying to get you to escape, he loves us
he's holy, he's right, he's true, and he's just waiting
for you to just look up and see the light shine
what's interesting about that is he couldn't get up
without getting touched by the light
okay, perfect, got a video blocking the light?
what about that?
so I've actually seen this guy's
talk to me this morning, and it's really, really amazing
but the message in this song is so incredible
because all of us
all of us have problems, and the problem is
we hold on to those problems inside, we don't like to
express them, we don't like to show them, we don't like to share them
but we all have them, and
it gets to the point to where it's so much that
holding onto you that you can't let go of anymore
you're afraid that people will find out the real you
and they might not like the real you
and you have to understand that
you might think that, well God knows who you are
God knows the real you
He knows who you are supposed to be, He knows who you
He wants you to be
so don't hold everything in
and always remember that God knows your pain
your suffering, but there's also His love
which is like no love you'll ever find anywhere else
no husband, no wife, no boyfriend
no girlfriend, no child, can show you the same love
that God can show you, it is not physically possible
for a human being to share the kind of love that God has for us
and that in itself
is an amazing thing because
we don't deserve that kind of love
because of the stuff that we do, the evil things that we've done
or have done or will do in the future
we don't deserve that kind of love
and yet God gives it to us freely and gives it to us daily
so when you ever feel like you're down
and out, just remember that
God knows that, He knows that pain, He knows that hurt
but He also has that
unattainable love that you can get
through His Son, Jesus Christ
the worst thing about the fact that we
that a lot of kids know that we early on memorized
the poor God so loved the world that He saved
or the copy that's on the God's side through several parishes
John 3.16 verse is the fact that we skim right over the force
of God's soul love of the world, that soul is huge
that soul means
in a way that we can't understand it
so much more, so much more intricate
so much more intense, so much more complete
so much more whole, it is a love that
that betters what it loves
and then of course in the Gospel Road, He is love
He is that love
I just wanted to talk about God's love
God's also put love in us, it may not be ultimate love
but it's like when you read out to that woman that she knew
it looked like they both strayed away in that video
but they were actually coming to find her, the other two weren't looking for her
but when they found her they consoled her
and so even though we are going through our roughest time
there are people just going through stuff just as worse
and if we are just caught up in our mess and deal with our own selves
we couldn't be a blessing to others as well
so we are not the only ones that are suffering
Sometimes we have to reach out, you know, even while we're suffering to help those and the same token
That woman that saw she was on her own
Her best friend found her because it looked like you know that she was struggling that no she found her
So I would say because God still loves his work
He's put loving people and we do need to sometimes be sincere to others to reach out
So that people can reach out to you. It's hard because we can't always love
You can't always be there, but there's still love inside of humanity
It's not to put your trust back in humanity
It's but it's to put your love and trust back in the God that he's given us humanity
Anybody else?
Just sort of stuck on the video and it reminded me of a theory and I'm listening to remember the names of it
But basically this theory that came into my head that I must have read about somewhere when I was watching that
Basically is about the versions of self
self image that should be said but basically the idea is that there are three
You's as you could say you that only you know
You that only your close friends and family, you know, your circle of people knows who there's a you that the world sees
And it just kind of got me thinking in that video. There's a whole nother you there's a you that God only knows and
You don't know that you
At least not all of it
There are pieces of yourself that are that are that you don't
You don't even see on your own
It's like you don't know the problem
Amen, that is hard
Especially considering how much we lose focus
When we start to go out of problems
Well, I'm the only person that has this problem with my situation or whatever
And you're just seeing how I'm the you that God only knows
That's all good stuff
Okay, we're gonna pray together. We'll be tied off a little more worship and then go to the word
Jason, would you pray for us as and remember the tithes and offerings and then as we go forward is do
Much
Oh
Is
Oh
As I was sitting there we were singing those last two songs I
Became even a little bit more intimidated by this word that the Lord has been sharing with me this last week
That's unusual actually because usually by the time I get up here. I have dealt with it
I have repented and committed myself to the Lord in the way that I'm best understanding it and now I stand before you
Even further convicted of what we've been studying what I've been God and I have been doing
I guess you could say this last seven days and so here we go
First of all, you see the act. There's a couple of four matters. We got to deal with before you see the title
It is a slow-acting poison and its antidote
We've been talking about and Moses has been preparing the Israelites to go into the promised land
We've been talking about what he was giving them like teachings that he was giving them to help them to understand
What they would face while they're in there and how they would eventually stray from God
That's what we've largely been talking about and he's been giving them some proactive
Suggestions and either there, you know, that's not really a strong enough word
But commands almost about how to be prepared and how to handle what would happen to them and through them and in them
And what God was going to be doing and what the enemy was going to be doing
Once they got into the promised land because he's not going with them as you may recall
So now in this in chapter 9
Moses talks to them about a slow-acting poison now
We've already talked about idolatry and we've talked about the being tempted or being distracted aside by the wealth that they would receive
Those were two things that he radically warned them about and we talked about those in the last two or three weeks
But now we see in this passage scripture that there is a slow-acting poison that is built into being God's people
That will eventually kill your forward progress if not your soul in the kingdom of God
And it so it's a pretty big deal
All right, so two more things so first second thing is
You may have heard and it's been it's been kind of tossed around and comments that people have made
About how sometime and it happened I can almost tell you what decade it happened in it happened around 2000 between
1995 to 2005 where there became this impetus to give everybody who participates in
Kids sports youth sports, whatever a medal
Okay, and so no longer was it you know
Most valuable player and so they just give everybody a medal everybody gets a medal
even the guy who only showed up to one or two practices and maybe only you know sat the bench and just played like a minute
Each game because he really wasn't practiced really wasn't there but they had to play him so they did so everybody gets the same medal
And then there's a lot of like backlash against that amongst and I'm going to be honest with you amongst people like me
Who feel like excellence deserves its own reward. That's justice, right? If someone does well, they should be rewarded
So if they are the they perform well are the most valuable player they should get it and if they only you know show up to
A few practices here or there and don't do what they are supposed to do
Then they shouldn't get the same medal as somebody else who shows up and performs and so that that fits with my sense of justice
But I'm going to show you today
the problem with the metal system and
even though the world got there to the place of
sharing the
Giving the medal to everyone the wrong way they got there the wrong way not in a biblical way not in a godly way
I'm going to show you how
Everyone getting a medal does have some merit and we should be a little careful
To to blow off that system. Okay. All right, then there's a third thing. I want to talk to you briefly about the underdog
Okay, so I wrote this there is an underdog
He fights for what he believes in he has continued to stand up against the system. He sees as unfair
He will never change
Resisting to the very end against what he sees as an oppressive overlord
Even until he is finally caught and will spend the remainder of his life in torment
But will never yield before then despite the obvious fact that he cannot win
a
Little paragraph about the underdog
Sounds good, right?
Almost kind of seems like how we sort of picture Christians a little bit
It sounds like the kind of tenacity that humans value the one who doesn't quit because they know they what they think they know
What the right is and the justice is and they just won't quit
In fact in some lesser way many would choose to emulate that person that's described there wouldn't they?
They might be inspired to rebel against perceived injustice
They might be inspired to stand for their beliefs and to do so against all odds based on this count this account alone
Is he not courageous?
according to this account
I'll read it again briefly. It says there is an underdog
He fights for what he believes in he has continued to stand up against a system. He sees as unfair
He will never change
Resisting to the very end against what he sees as an oppressive overlord
Even until he is finally caught and will spend the remainder of his life in torment
But will never yield before then despite the obvious fact that he cannot win
Almost sounds good
Is he not courageous according to this account?
Now what if I told you that that paragraph is about the devil and I said it this way the devil is an underdog
He fights for what he believes in which is his right to kill steal and destroy his rights to rule and the tainted
Wicked worship of the human race toward the false gods that he ordains
He has continued to stand up against the system
He sees as unfair human beings being allowed access to God and the good things of life a system
That places him below God's human creation man
He will never change
He will be evil always and the father of lies
He will be resisting to the very end against what he sees as an oppressive overlord
God who is love even until Satan is finally once and for all put down
And will spend the remainder of his life in torment
But will never yield before then devouring as many as he can luring humans into his traps
And all this despite the obvious fact that he cannot win
I am an underdog
Amongst the human race and faced with opposition like demons in the world systems
I stand up for my belief and I stand up against the system warped by Satan's hatred of God and people's confused emulation of him
I will never change
I have been regenerated by the God of heaven and his Holy Spirit and if I change it all it will be to be more like Jesus
I will resist even unto my death the tactics of Satan and my true enemies
This I will do knowing that if Jesus does not come again before my time I will die for my Lord
But I will not spend eternity in torment rather I will spend it with God in the place that he is preparing for me
This I will do knowing despite any losses I may take I cannot lose
I submit to you that the rebels of the world emulate Satan because they do not have Christians to emulate
They emulate Satan because the people who are in the Kingdom of God who are receiving the promised Kingdom of God
Who are receiving the destination the eternal destination that lasts forever and bliss
Those people are not standing up as examples as rebels against the world system
So that people who are in the world who feel inside themselves and need to rebel
Rather than rebelling against Satan and the world system which is what they should be doing
They rebel against God following the only example that they are given on a daily basis
Which is the devil and the evil system that he has so aptly put in place
Oh yes I know all creation glorifies God I get that
But a simple message of how good God is and that we should go to him
Compared to that every moment every day of their family friends TV social media everywhere that they go
Being pushed on them that God is not good that he is an oppressive overlord
And they should stand against him and their need to rebel which is created in them
So that they will rebel against the world system and turn to God
Their need to rebel is then harnessed to be that underdog more like the first chapter the one that they think is awesome
But they're rebelling for the wrong reason
Grab your Bibles if you would and turn with me then maybe a hoot a holler amen as we go to Deuteronomy chapter 9
This is God's word it is an effective word you can know that for sure whether we are affected by it or not
Will really be up to us in our willingness
I'm going to read the chapter here we go it's chapter 9
Here oh Israel you are crossing over the Jordan today to go into dispossessed nations greater and mightier than you
Great cities fortified to heaven a people great and tall the sons of Anakim
Whom you know and of whom you have heard it said who can stand before the sons of Anak
Okay so through this point he's basically telling them what's about to happen
I want you to notice a couple things first of all see the word today now it wasn't literally today right
In fact they would not go in that day it means in this era at this time it means this is what's happening
This is the era in which you live it has always been given to God's people to know the era in which they live
You should be realistic about the era in which you live and I think we could say certain things
It is the era in which many things buy for our attention
There era as in which we from childhood on are taught to not focus on one thing
But rather to live a balanced rhythmic existence absorbing and appreciating many things and that that by that means you will be blessed
And all of that is wrong by the way there is one place that our focus belongs and I think you know what it is
At least you should
Second thing in there it says a people great and tall the sons of Anakim this is a great enemy
And when faced with a great enemy and considering yourself an underdog
When you've heard the things like who can stand before the sons of Anak when you realize that the opposition that is before you
I'll just be plain with you in my flesh as a normal human being if Satan came in this room and said hey shut up I would be scared
He's an eternal being with power granted him by God I know he's only been granted that power only so much power
And he can't just kill me unless God says it's okay he can't actually make me shut up unless God says that he is allowed to and so on
But he's an eternal being and he might come as whatever he might look like whatever or whoever and I can admit I think I would be scared
At the same time I understand courage is when something inside you powerful motivating pushes you past your fear
And I hope I would know that he was in me is greater than he is in the world but our enemies are large or obtrusive
They stick out they make a big impact
Verse 3 says this know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire
I preached a sermon about a month ago now which was from Deuteronomy earlier on about how God is a consuming fire
And the phrase is in there God is a consuming fire and of course then it's been re-quoted in the New Testament
But the fact is that God has a trait that he is a consuming fire
And when I preached that sermon I took some heat and it was basically no pun intended there although that is kind of funny
But I took some heat because people were telling me that I was preaching a message that that nobody wants to hear
That nobody wants to hear that God is a consuming fire
Well if that's true that God is a consuming fire that I submit to you that if no one wants to hear it
It's because they think they're about to be burned up right they're about to be affected by that
But God is whether you like to hear it or not I'm here to say if you're one of those people in this room I apologize
For stepping on your toes but the bottom line is that God is a consuming fire and here it says that he would go before him
I want to use an illustration at this point kind of a little puzzle riddle that goes back a ways
And that illustration is if you were on an abandoned island there's no one else on the island right
And there's grass it's about waist high on the island if you were on that island and a fire broke out on one end of the island
It broke out on the west end of the island and the wind is blowing from the west to the east pretty quickly
And it's pushing the fire along so that where you're standing on the island will eventually be consumed in fire
Everything on the island has these weeds and you can cut down some and make a hole for yourself
But the bottom line is there will be fire all around you and even unless you got it all the way down to the dirt
You don't have a shovel whatever so the riddle goes like this what do you do?
How do you survive in that circumstance where you can't leave the island let's say the water is
Sharconfested or it's a deep cliff or whatever you can't leave the island but how do you survive when that fire is being pushed along the island
At you know seven mile per hour or whatever because whatever the wind pushes it that's pretty much how fast a fire goes generally speaking
It's running along the island you're going to be burned alive how do you survive it and some of us know the answer what's the answer?
Nope I mean you could pray for a miracle, somebody else got it? Say it again?
Nope because it's the whole I mean you could try that but the fire is covering the whole island
You wouldn't be able there's nowhere you could run that wouldn't be on fire
Say it again?
No predetermined can't go in the water whether sharks or cliffs you take your pick
Okay maybe we haven't heard this one before good that's fine you'll like it okay so what you do is you set what's called a backfire
You take some of the fire where it's burning you take it over to the other side of the island the last like third or whatever and you set it on fire
As that happens the fire that's pushing this way will burn up the middle space the fire that's there will be pushed that way will burn everything down that's in that remaining space
Then when the fire comes to you you walk into the space that's now been burned down to nothing and the fire comes to you and you're not burned
Because you're in the space that's already been burned down to nothing it's on the backfire okay
So God is a consuming fire is a very scary message I totally get that okay and as I said I took some heat from some people because that's a message nobody wants to hear
But I submit to you the very same messages that we sometimes don't want to hear are the very same messages that we desperately need to hear
And more than that employ them in our lives because here we see the consuming fire of God going before them into the land of Israel
I get it sometimes you're under wrath because you sinned against God in fact the truth is we probably all have sins all the time
And just God could just send us all to hell and be completely justified but because of grace he has saved us okay
So then you do things that you should do and God resists your course because it's not good for you and you feel the consuming fire of God
And you're like oh man I don't want to hear about that anymore because I keep screwing up and I keep feeling the wrath of God
And I get that it's an unpleasant message but here's the reality when you are doing what it is that you are supposed to be doing
Or at least advancing along the course that God has for you it is that very same consuming fire that is going before you to clear the path
Notice here in Deuteronomy what he says is
It is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire when God destroys the people in the promised land
It was God as a consuming fire that caused that to happen it says he will destroy them and he will subdue them before you
So that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly just as the Lord has spoken to you
We know in chapter 8 it said not too quickly so we don't want the wild animals of the land to become overpowering
But he said quickly he will destroy them just as the Lord has spoken to you
Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land
But it is because of the wickedness of those nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you
In other words God was not going in as a consuming fire because Israel was awesome
Or because they had matching uniforms or whatever right
He was going in as a consuming fire because the people that he was consuming the people was wiping out to make room for his nation
Deserved what they were about to get they deserved it
He held Egypt he held Israel in Egypt for over 400 years possibly 430 years
Waiting for these people to come to full measure in their sin now they have and God is going to send his people in
Notice the phrase also dispossessing you remember even though we always get kind of cracked on in the apologetic circle
Because God ordained the wiping out of everybody that lived in the promised land to make room for his people actually people were allowed to flee
They could run away if they wanted but there was the people that stayed and fought that died right
God wiped out everybody that stayed and fought including the man woman and child anybody that stayed and fought because basically they were hopeless
Because they didn't realize that God was doing what God was doing there's no stopping that so if they stayed then they were destroyed
But if they ran they were allowed to run the Lord is dispossessing them before you
I submit to you that all of your dreams will be built out of the shatters and the tatters of someone else's dreams
This is not a new earth it may be a new earth overall compared to what people think is an older
But the bottom line is your money if you pull out the paper money that's in your pocket it was not printed today
When you get new money from the bank and it looks like it was just printed it wasn't printed today
It was printed a long time ago may have been in storage for a while
But the bottom line is multiple people have had it since before you had it is not just money either your car
Right was in the hands of someone else unless you bought it like mint stock new from the factory
It was in the hands of multiple people before it ever got to you in fact people more people profited by it
In the process of getting it from where it was created to you, then you'll ever know
Untold people the bottom line is we're building all that we are building out of the tatters of all that went before us
And the creation is working against some people but the bottom but really God is dispossessing those who went before us
To give us something awesome if you have something awesome that God gave you
He gave it to you over top of the ruined hopes and dreams of others that went before you
Verse five says it is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land
But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you in order to confirm the oath
Which the Lord spoke to your fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob
So we've got really essentially two factors it's the not righteousness of the people in the land and the righteousness of God
And notice how when the righteousness of God meets the not righteous in the people of the land what happens
The not righteous get eliminated or dispossessed right but God's righteousness remains always that way
God's righteousness always remains and so if you run up against God's righteousness well what's going to happen to you the same thing
God is a consuming fire but if you will ride the wave of God's righteousness essentially then God will go before you
And do what it is that God wants to do and he will make for you incredible things rewarding you even in this lifetime
And I'm not I'm not preaching a health and wealth gospel with the bottom line is Jesus said they will whoever gives whoever leaves behind
Wife and home and blah blah blah for me will have that much more and more in this lifetime and he added the phrase in this lifetime
And so the bottom line is as you walk the path of holiness toward heaven God will pave the way before you
But what happens you start to get some good stuff this is a couple chapters back and you start thinking well now I've got some good stuff
And I got to protect it and you stop along the way in a rest area and start protecting your stuff
And you're not walking the path a consuming fire goes on before you and pretty soon it circles back and it destroys you too
Because you're more about the stuff that God gave you than the path that God had you on or you get into idolatry
You go a little ways along and things are going pretty well and over here is people want you to do this and you can just have sex
A few more times a week if you do it with these temple prostitutes and so on or you can feel that serotonin in that
Endorphins in your brain if you watch some more sports or if you if you go to more concerts or if you eat better food
Or go out and let people serve you and pay 50 bucks a meal to let people serve you and you'll feel better than if you made it yourself
And you believe all this idolatry essentially and then you're off the course again and the consuming fire will circle back and it'll deal with you
But that's the reality of what we're facing here
But if we continue on the road of holiness that God has put us on that consuming fire goes before the believers
And it does not go before the believers because of the righteousness of the believers but rather because of the righteousness of God
Second factor then is the oath that the Lord made God will always keep his promises
Jesus said if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and I will take you there to be with me period end of story
That's a promise you could take it to the eternal bank. That's what's going to happen
He's actively preparing a place for you believer right now in heaven. He's taking you there
If he's taking you there, why are you so concerned about what's going on here?
Unless you're trying to make it about God and take everything that's under your control in the direction of the kingdom of God
Then why are you so concerned and that is exactly what?
Moses is calling us to to make everything that we have control over about the kingdom of God verse 6
No, then it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess
For you are a stubborn people a stubborn people
Remember do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness
From the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place
They were always doing it you have been rebellious against the Lord even at Horeb
You provoked the Lord to wrath and the Lord was so angry with you that he would have destroyed you
When I went up to the mountain received the tablets of stone the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with you
Then I remained on the mountain for 40 days and nights and either ate bread or drank water
That's a long time to not eat or drink 40 days and nights verse 10
And the Lord gave me the two tablets of the stone written by the finger of God
And on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly
So he put all that stuff on there God did God put it on there and gave it over to Moses
And verse 11 says and it came about at the end of 40 days and nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone
The tablets of the covenant then the Lord said to me arise go down from here quickly for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly
They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them they have made a molten image for themselves
The Lord spoke further to me saying I have seen this people and indeed it is a stubborn people
Let me alone God said let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven
And I will make of you he said to Moses I'll make of you a nation mightier and greater than they
15 says so I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire
And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands and I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God
You had made for yourselves a molten calf you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you
And I told and I'm sorry and I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes
I fell down before the Lord as at the first 40 days and nights I neither ate bread nor drank water
Because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger
I think it's interesting that's 40 days plus 40 days and even if you got a little break in the middle
He had 40 days plus 40 days that's that's something else and you could make a lot of theology out of that
And say well it was 40 days learning the will the Lord then the will the Lord was broken
And then it was another 40 days repenting of the fact that he that the will the Lord had been broken
That follow for I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was wrathful against you in order to destroy you
But the Lord listened to me that time also and the Lord was angry also enough with Aaron to destroy him
So I also prayed for Aaron at the same time and I took your sinful thing the calf which you had made
And burned it with fire and crushed it grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust
And I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain verse 22 again at Taberah and at Massa
And at Kibroth-Hatava you provoked the Lord to wrath
Now I submit to you if we stop there for a second and we try to list our own list
My list of when I have provoked the Lord to wrath would probably be pretty long it's more than I know
And it would probably take me to a pretty dark place if I thought about it long enough
Verse 23 and when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea saying that's where they stopped before they were going to go into the promised land
He said go up and possess the land which I have given you then you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God
You neither believed him nor listened to his voice
You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you
I'm going to ask you have you been rebellious against the Lord from the day God invited you into the kingdom?
Verse 25 so I fell down before the Lord the forty days and nights which I did because the Lord had said he would destroy you
And I prayed to the Lord and said oh Lord God do not destroy thy people even thine inheritance
Whom thou hast redeemed through thy greatness Whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand
Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin
And so there's a whole sermon in there that we would beg God not to look at our stubbornness or our wickedness or our sin
And the difference between the three
Stubbornness is when you keep not doing what you're supposed to do
Wickedness is when you keep intentionally doing what you're not supposed to do
And sin is when you either don't do what you're supposed to do or do what you're not supposed to do
Generically speaking
And you could have a whole sermon right there
Verse 28 otherwise the land from which thou didst bring us may say
So now you're talking about Egypt right
Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he had promised them
And because he hated them he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness
So Moses made this argument to God
If you destroy them now then people are going to think about you that you were not able to do what you said you were going to do
And so you brought them out here and destroyed them rather than doing what you said you were going to do
It's an argument from God's righteousness an argument from God's power
Verse 29 we're almost done
Yet they are thy people even thine inheritance
Whom thou hast brought out by thy great power and thine outstretched arm
Alright so in this section of scripture we see several things
The first thing is the poison the slow acting poison that I warned you about
Has anybody figured out what it is?
The slow acting poison
The slow acting poison what he's warning us about what he's warning the Israelites about what I'm now here I think to warn us about
Is comparing oneself to others
See they were thinking that they took the promised land
That they were taking the promised land
That they were being led into the promised land
Because they were better than the people who lived in the promised land
They could say well we never sacrificed our children in the fire to the false god Molech
However while Moses was up on the mountain and the fire was still there receiving the command of God
They did take the gold and silver jewelry and make it into a calf sat down to eat and got up to play
Which means have an orgy basically
Have sex all over the place in honor of the false god that they have created for themselves
So are they really better?
But that's not really the point is it?
The point is that there is a disease that human beings have
Not on the list of diseases
There is a psychological problem that human beings have
It's the natural outflow of the selfish nature
It's not on the list of insanities
Although it's getting close when you think about this what they call social media
Dysphoria basically you watch social media and you think that's real life
And you start feeling all depressed inside yourself
And you think that might actually be an insanity that people are creating
That's new relatively new
In our selfish nature we have a tendency to exercise our senses and perceive
When we see the image of God walking around in flesh
And we look at that other person and just as we are warned not to covet
Or to love our neighbor as ourselves
Just as we were warned in the Ten Commandments on how to relate to one another
At the same time we look at them and we think
Just as God was so gracious to us to share in the inspirational moment when we prayed and asked him to do so
We think oh man they've got it all together
They've got what they need
How often I have heard someone say to me and I'm not chastising anybody
I'm hurting or I'm going I'm in a dark place or I'm sad today or I'm depressed or I'm broken
Or I'm really struggling or this has been really hard or I'm mourning the loss of my loved one
And they are literally being crushed under the weight of a burden of internal stress
And their core is about to crumble
And they've become aware of it in their present circumstances
That my core is about to crumble
Alright here is the reality of life, are you ready? I'm going to tell you the reality of life right now
Everyone's core is about to crumble
That's it
Under death the wages of sin is death means that you will be crushed away from having a proper relationship with God
And the wages of sin is death doesn't end when somebody gets saved
It literally says the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life, bless you
So it doesn't end, so you are in sin, you sin against God
And the wages of that sin is a separation between you and the person you were created to have a relationship with
And the power source, I read an article, don't know if it's true or not, I'm not trying to preach the news
But an article said that California was telling people who own electric cars not to charge their electric cars
Which is super ironic because they were the first state to pass laws saying that eventually everyone has to have electric cars
So it was kind of ironic but I didn't read the article so I don't know the truth of it so don't hold me on that
But when I thought about that I thought this is what we do
We go to the ends of the earth to try to make somebody better, teach, preach, tell them what they need to do
While all the while we ourselves are just about to crumble
And what we do is then make that person, if they should even put in a serious effort, twice as much a son of hell as we are
There is only one way to be saved and that is to come into a proper relationship with God through Jesus Christ
And that's what it means when Jesus said you can do nothing except that which you go through me
Unless you completely depend on Jesus, again today you are on the verge of crumbling
You say no, no that's not true, I feel okay, I'm good
What if later today somebody that you love or yourself or whatever suffers a terrible tragedy
What if our church, God forbid, loses somebody integral to who we are today
Anybody that's in this room, anybody in this room, I'm being transparent right now
If somebody before me, and probably most people that are joining us online right now, dies today, I'm going to be hit
It's going to hurt me, it's going to strike through to my heart in a way that I cannot describe to you
And you've probably been there, because you've been hit at some point in time and felt like oh I can't take this
And I'm submitting that probably if you're here today and hearing this gospel we preach
Then you now realize that it was God who shored up your infrastructure, who gave you the strength and the power to continue under the worst of things
So many times in my life I've faced what I would never want to face and then God from the inside
It wasn't like somebody called me on the phone and said hey you're going to be okay
Because frankly I wouldn't have believed him, somebody calls me and says I'm going to be okay when I'm really hurting
I don't believe them, do you? Really? Who would it be? Would it be me?
Would you believe me if I called you when you were in the worst moment of your life and said hey you're going to be okay?
Now it takes something more than that, doesn't it? It takes a spiritual, emotional lifting up
Now sometimes God uses somebody to do that, don't get me wrong, there is a spiritual gift of encouragement
But even the spiritual gift of encouragement taps into the strength that is God, otherwise it's nothing
You get a phone call from somebody you haven't heard from in 10 years and says hey you're going to be okay
And you're like yeah I know you, I trust you, I'm going to believe what you say
If you do that, it is sorcery at best and idolatry probably, it's nothing to do with God
The bottom line is we are all at all times on the verge of collapsing down
We may get to heaven and find out that when you look into outer space and see those black holes
Where there are no stars and no light and you know the gravity there must be huge
And they occasionally see like a star or a planet or something that might be consumed, sucked in and just gone
Whether it goes to another galaxy or whatever, whatever you believe is true
Bottom line is that that black hole is probably the purest representation of the human soul in all creation
We are vacuous and when the Bible says the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence in us
He is the only one who can fill that space and shore up its walls and make it solid and to last
And so when we look at others, we go oh they got a new car, they got new shoes, they got new pants, they got a new storyline
There's something cool going on, oh look how cute she is doing the fancy dance
Right, well watch that 17 times and we're watching this crap or we're watching TV right
That's my favorite actor, every movie he's ever been in, I've always loved every movie he's ever been in
Oh this one's not that great, but I love him and so I must love this movie
Or look at my new car that I've got, now I'm going to be okay and I'm not going to have to worry about my transportation
While all of that is going on, it's not affecting your soul in any positive way
We're all on the verge of crash, there was a girl that was at Pizza Hut that I was witnessing too
I say a girl, but she was like in her mid-20s and she was the Pizza Hut store manager, just got promoted
And I had witnessed her at a management meeting about like a month before the incident I'm about to describe
I told her about Jesus, I told her about God and I asked her to be saved and she had declined
And I was terrified the whole time, I was terrified the whole time I was talking to her
And she's like, no, I'll think about it, I'll pray about it, whatever, and she let it go
And about a month later, her promotion came through officially, she got her salary increased and everything
And the day she got her salary increased, she went out and bought a motorcycle
And I heard she bought a motorcycle on the phone, she said she bought a nice new motorcycle
This is like 2000 or something, it's about like a 2000 or a 1999 motorcycle, like 8 grand, whatever she financed it
And I heard about it like almost immediately, because you know, I'm a motorcycle driver, in my core I enjoy driving motorcycles
But I don't worship motorcycles or idolize them, but God makes me like think and I'm not tempted to get on my phone
I have, I will admit, read the Ten Commandments while driving my motorcycle, I put them on the inside of my windshield
And read them over and over as I was driving down the road, and the books of the Bible, memorizing the books of the Bible
Put that on the inside of my windshield whenever I was, nothing going on, I was doing
So I have read while I was driving my motorcycle and while I'm driving my car, but the bottom line is, while I'm on my motorcycle
I feel like I can focus, I can think about God, I don't have a motorcycle currently because motorcycles are expensive
And I didn't, at that time, I did have a motorcycle, but it was broke down, it was like a 1200 dollar repair
And I didn't have the money to replace it, so when I heard that she bought a motorcycle, I'm like, holy crud, she has the life I want
I'm a follower of Jesus trying to tell her to get saved, and she, and that's what I thought as a young Christian, I thought
Oh man, she has the life I want, she just got a new motorcycle
Two hours later, I got the phone call that she drove the motorcycle off the lot on her test permit
Never having driven a motorcycle before, lost control of it, two blocks away from the lot, hit the curb, flipped the bike, totaled the bike, 8 grand bike
And was in the hospital
Took her three months to learn to walk again, she lost her job at Pizza Hut because she didn't tell them anything of what was going on
Or she didn't keep them in the loop after that, so she was no longer store manager, no longer had a motorcycle
And went through terrible agony and pain, and when I heard that she had, it didn't even strike me that I had said she has the life that I want
Didn't even strike me that I had done that
I just immediately went to prayer for her, prayed that God would miraculously heal her
And then later it came back to me and I was shamed by the fact that that initial report that she had the motorcycle that I wished I had
Had somehow affected me, listen to me, your soul is going to remain your soul
And there's only one person that can deal with your soul and your heart and regenerate it
And that is God the Father through his son Jesus Christ
Comparing yourself to others in whatever condition
They're cuter than me, they're fatter than me, they're thinner than me, they're smarter than me, they're faster than me, they're stronger than me, they're weaker than me
Listen, most people are physically stronger than I am
It's a fact, yet I do more physical labor than 80% of the people I know
I literally moved last year, wait for it, 100,000 pounds of groceries, myself
And Jamie moved almost that much
And by the time Tommy's done this year he will have moved that much
Now Tommy's pretty strong so he's not the best illustration
But Jamie and I are physically weaker than most people we know
And yet we move tens of thousands of pounds of groceries every year
While most people clickety clackety the keyboard or talk on the phone or drive their car for a living or whatever
Your physical strength is literally irrelevant
What you look like is irrelevant
You will die, go to heaven
The bottom line is we're all suffering under the effects of creation
Our bodies are all messed up
Now if you are willingly not taking care of your body and taking it to a place that it should not go
Then you have missed that command where the Lord says
This is a physical temple in which the Holy Spirit and your spirit dwell
And you have a responsibility to take care of it
I am not weaker than most people for lack of trying
I have literally done curls with weights to the tune of like 50,000 curls
Now I can show you my bicep and it looks pretty good
But compared to Michael's it's nothing
It's literally like a twig
Or to Tony or Ron
We got a couch out of a truck last night out of a van last night
I could barely lift it like an inch and Arjun just grabbed the end and hauled it out
Because he's twice as strong as I am I get that
Am I yearning for his strength?
No
Here's what I know
Physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually
There is absolutely no better person to be in the place that you are in
To have a relationship with God the Father
He has orchestrated your life and the boundaries of your life
Stop pitting yourself over your condition or your health concerns
Or say well somebody else is God
And just do what it is that God would have you to do
I run on ahead of myself but the bottom line is
Comparing yourself to others is going to lead you to either
A lack of repentance
Because you say I'm already better, I'm already doing a good job
What is this little problem that I have? It's okay, I'm doing that
At least I'm not doing that anymore, whatever
Comparing yourself to others, right?
Or maybe you say priestly I'm angry because I'm doing the best I can
And yeah they may be doing better than me
But why is God giving them so much more stuff than he's giving me?
Or so much more emotional?
Or he can preach like I wish I could preach
Or he can talk like I wish I could talk
Or he's bold like I wish I would be bold
Or whatever
Or it leads you to a lack of trusting God
The truth is that we are clay in the hands of the potter
If you would just be faithful and follow God
Then you are a clay in the hands of the potter
And if you're messed up, God will fix you
He'll take you back, start you over, and recreate you
Stop with the excuses and say I can't do what somebody else does
You can literally do anything that God sets before you to do
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
And yes I understand that's in a certain context
But the bottom line is if God sets it before you and empowers you to do it
You can do it
The trouble is that as clay in the hands of the potter
We look at the pots already made and say I'll never be that good of a pot
Or maybe God's making us out to be like a bedpan pot
And somebody else is a beautiful whole flowers pot
And we're like well the beautiful whole flowers pot is so awesome
I'll never be able to be like that pot
I'm really angry that I'm a whole poop pot
Right? I don't want to be a whole poop pot
I want to be a whole flowers pot
Who are you to tell the potter how he should make the clay?
Who are you to tell what God wants to do through you?
He literally cannot, wait for it
What God wants to do through you he cannot do through anyone else
Everyone is unique, a unique creation with unique gifts
Stop trying to follow somebody else's path
All our paths converge together in honoring God
And walking the kingdom of God and following his commands
I get that, but the bottom line is you have to get real with yourself
And say am I willing to be the clay so the potter can make me into whatever he wants me to be
What if he makes me into a bedpan?
What if he makes me into a door stop?
Am I cool with that?
Well better is one day in his courts than a thousands elsewhere
And we can and will be walking the way of holiness
Living our lives for God
We'll be thinking about his word
We'll be meditating on his word
And along will come someone else
And they will say something or do something that will get your attention
And while you're supposed to think about it in a godly way
You're supposed to ask God what do I think of that
You're supposed to let what you experience, everything in your five senses experience
Affect you internally only in that it is filtered through your God filter
That's how it's supposed to be done
Instead you will think about yourself compared to someone else
2 Corinthians chapter 10
If you want to flip there in your Bibles you're welcome to do so
I'm going kind of fast because I still have two points even though they're shorter
2 Corinthians chapter 10
2 Corinthians chapter 10 I'm going to read verses 2, 7, 12 and 18
And by that you will get the gist of the entire chapter almost
Chapter 10 verse 2, 2 Corinthians says
I ask that when I am present I may be bold with the confidence
With which I propose to be courageous against some
Some that is who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh
There were people that looked at Paul and his companions
And said they're not walking after Jesus they're walking according to the flesh
There were people that were comparing themselves saying
Well we're followers of Jesus but that Paul over there
He's not quite doing the right things
Down to verse 7
If you are looking at things as they, I'm sorry
You are looking at things as they are outwardly
If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ's
Let him consider this again within himself
That just as he is Christ's so also are we
Be careful when you look at others and judge their actions
Or judge them or think well they've got it all together or they're falling apart
Either one because it's not your place to do that
It's your place to be working between you and God
To be fixing you and letting God do the work in you that he wants to do
Verse 12 then says
For we are not bold
To class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves
But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves
They are without understanding
What you're essentially doing is when you look at somebody else
And compare yourself to them you're measuring yourself
Just the same as you're measuring yourself in comparison to them
You're measuring them in comparison to you and sometimes you'll say they're better in that thing
And sometimes you'll say you're better in that thing
You really need to not be doing that at all
Paul who preached the gospel was the first one to even go to Corinth with the gospel of Jesus Christ
Would not even dare to compare himself though
At one point in time somebody might be miraculously healed
He brought a guy back to life who fell asleep while he was preaching
All these crazy things that Paul did
And he would not compare himself with the young Christians in Corinth
I'm not comparing myself with you
I yearn that you would strive forward and try to be what God would want you to be
But I'm not comparing myself with you at any point in time
If I see something in you that I don't think is godly
I hope I'll have the courage to bring it to you
But when I think about having the courage to bring it to you
I understand it's my own weakness that would keep me from doing so
Not you, not yours, nothing about you
Paul said I don't even compare myself with those who commend themselves
But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves
They are without understanding
Stop it!
God loves you and is trying to make you into something awesome that will glorify him
And if you're busy looking at what others are and what others are doing
You're just messing all that up
Verse 18, last one in the chapter
He says this, because not he who commends himself is approved
But whom the Lord commends
It doesn't matter, go ahead, put it on Facebook that you're proud of yourself
Or proud of your kid or proud of your school or proud of whatever
Go ahead, tell everybody about what's going on in your life
You can do all that, but make sure that you do more telling everybody about
Who's the source of all your contentment?
Who's the source of all your power?
Who's the source of all your holiness?
Who's the source of all your righteousness?
Who it is that will take you through to eternity?
Who it is that is preparing a place for you?
Maybe if you get around to talking about God the way you're supposed to
You won't have quite as much time to talk about everything else
For it's not he who commends himself who is approved
But whom the Lord commends
The second thing I want you to see in this passage of Scripture then
That it is not because of our righteousness that we are being given the promised destination
Indeed it is because of his righteousness
Now it's interesting because the Israelites were being given a picture
Of what it's like for us knowing Jesus first hand
You know that it is not your righteousness, right?
I mean you should
You're not going to go to heaven because of your righteousness
Jesus does not make you righteous when you get saved
That's not how it works
If you think that's how it works you're confused
That's a process of sanctification
It happens long term over your whole life
What he actually does is he imposes his righteousness on you
So now when God looks at you he sees Jesus' righteousness
That is if you're saved
So if you've trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
And believe that God raised him from the dead
Called out to him to save you
Then God at that moment in time allowed Jesus to superimpose his righteousness upon you
And continues to this day every time you mar it, mess it up
Go somewhere you shouldn't go
Do something you shouldn't do
He continues to stand at the right hand of the Father
And to impress God with his own righteousness
The righteousness of Jesus
Not your righteousness but the righteousness of Jesus
And say God please forgive him, overlook it
We can just hear the words of Moses
As Moses is pleading with God not to destroy them
Jesus is doing the same thing for you and for me
That is if you're saved
He's doing the same thing for you and for me every day
So the next time you sin
Understand that immediately Jesus has to turn to God
Or God to Jesus and look at each other
Or they just talk without looking at each other
Whatever and Jesus says it's okay God
It's covered by the blood I shed on the cross
By the crushing sacrifice that was made
It's covered
So we've still got him
We've still got him
If ever they had you
They'll still have you because Jesus will eternally be standing there
Imposing his righteousness over top of yours
Now it is ultimately the goal that your righteousness will become
A little bit more like Jesus' righteousness all the time
Never fully arriving until that moment
Which come into God's presence
But always getting a little bit more
We're not sinless but as we grow we sin a little less
And that's it
It is not because of our righteousness
That we are being given the promised destination
We receive because of his righteousness
Because he is keeping his promise
But then you want to go on to say don't you
And because of his consuming fire toward others
That's what we want to say
But that has nothing to do with salvation
That has nothing to do with why we'll get to heaven
What happens to other people literally has nothing to do with when we get to heaven
Where did God's consuming fire play out?
Where did that happen at?
Where did God's consuming fire destroy or crush someone
So that we could have the course that we have into eternity?
On the cross
God's consuming fire crushed Jesus on the cross
So that we could have this course into eternity
That we could go to heaven
That's the math of it
He doesn't have to crush your neighbor to do that anymore
He doesn't have to crush the mayor
The crooked politicians or the child molesters
He doesn't have to crush any of them
For you to be able to have the eternal path
Between where you currently are and heaven
He doesn't have to do that
Because he crushed Jesus to pay the price for my sin
To pay the price for your sin
His consuming fire consumed his son
So it's not based on our righteousness that we're entering in
But based on his righteousness opposed upon us
And wait for it
His love for other people
You're like, well how do we see that in Deuteronomy 9?
Well we may see it elsewhere in Scripture
How do we see it in Deuteronomy 9?
Why?
What standard did Moses use?
Or what argument did he make with God
That God would not wipe out the Israelites?
Because if the Israelites don't arrive in the promised land
That God is taking them to
Who does that reflect upon?
Who was not able by an outside standard
To do what they said they were going to do?
Well it's not people
Because people are always under one circumstance or another
Not able to do what they said they would do
They make a plan
They commit themselves
They try really hard maybe even
They go out of the way
Block out the time
Everything like that
But still fail because it was outside their control
So it wasn't going to be the Israelites
That they were all going to be laughing at and mocking
It was going to be God
You see the Israelites were God's plan to bring every man in the world to heaven
And wait for it
You are God's now plan to bring every man in the world to heaven
Every man and woman in the world can go to heaven
Through the church of Jesus Christ that lives in our day
If they would accept Christ
If they would believe in him as Lord and Savior
And that God raised him from the dead and call out to be saved
They would receive salvation
And I submit to you many of them are looking for it
And not finding it because they are wrapped up in this
Long lasting poison of comparing to others
They look at the church and say
Well I'm more honest than that church is anyway
They are just a bunch of hypocrites
That's the poison
And it's killing them
It's a particular brand of sin that persists
But God is guaranteeing our walk on the highway of holiness
Even when we sin against him
Because of his righteousness imposed upon us through his son Jesus Christ
And because of his love for other people
That we might take Jesus' righteousness into the world
And that people might be saved
And then the third thing to see in the text
Which is blaringly obvious but I think just sometimes needs to be said
And that is he is able
Remember that from the moment they left Egypt
God could have snapped his God fingers
And they could have been in the promised land
Remember that from the moment they left Egypt
He could have snapped his fingers
And all the people that lived in the promised land
Could have been wiped out
And the animals not gotten out of control by eating them
Because he could have made them gone
God has the power because God created everything
So if God had the power to teleport them out of Egypt
Into the promised land
And wipe everybody out that was in their way instantaneously
What was the journey all about?
It was all about the fact that
It's not about us
And they needed to learn that
And we actually read that in chapter 8 of last week
He said I brought you through all of that
And all that stubbornness and all that foolishness
To test your heart and see if you were willing and able
And up on Mount Horeb or the base of Mount Horeb
He said again that they were not willing and able
And yet Moses said but please don't destroy them
Because the people will say
You are not willing and able
And this is the reality
We are living in a day where if we as a church do not step up
If we as a church do not shine
If we don't give more than we've ever given
If we don't serve more than we've ever served
If we don't be outspoken more than we've ever been outspoken
The church will be dying
And they're saying it's already happening
It's happening in parts of the world
In some parts of the world the church is growing like crazy
But by and large the church will be dying
And it won't be the church that people will be mocking
It'll be God
He'll say yes, see they claim in the name of Jesus
But God wasn't able to do what it was
When churches doors close
It is not because God is weak or not able
When buildings stop being meeting places for churches
Pastors stop preaching the word
Or church staff or deacons get into an affair with the church secretary
Or children's teacher
When all of that evil happens
Or a pastor who preached the truth of God stands up after 10 years
And declares himself to be a practicing homosexual
When all of that stuff happens
It is not because God is not able
God is able
But along the journey of people discovering just exactly how able God is
They encountered his wrath by perhaps consuming this long lasting poison
That pastor who stood up for 10 years and preached the gospel
And said I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ
And you need to be too
And his church was growing
People were getting saved
People were like man our pastor is all that
Our pastor is so awesome
We love our pastor
Look how he grew our church from 100 people to 3000 people or whatever
And then one day he gets up and all that while he's saying
I'm better than all these 3000 people
I'm preaching the word
All these 3000 people are looking to me
And then he gets up and he said
And I'm practicing homosexual and I am not going to repent
And I'm going to keep coming up here every Sunday
And I'm going to keep preaching and teaching
Because this is the way I think it is
Even though for 10 years he taught what the word said
That day he said
And you know what happened
The next week guess how many people come to church
1300 not 3000
The next week 300
The next week 150
Because they knew that they had bought into something that was a lie
I am no better than anybody
Josh you are no better than anybody
Tony you are no better than anybody
Lynn no better than anybody
Right
We are not
Saved or not it doesn't matter
At best we become a servant of the servant king
Delivering the truth
And when we do that he is able
And when we don't do that watch out
Because he is able
And somebody else later on down the road will come
And they will build their life out of the remnants of your crushed dreams
Because you didn't do what it was that God called you to
He is able
Trust him
Stop thinking it's going to take this or that or whatever
And commend your whole life and all your variables into his hands
He is able
If a bullet should enter your brain and you should die
He is able to take you to heaven
And in that moment you will sure be hoping that's so won't you
But right now you are like I am not worried about that because there is no bullet
He is able
Get out of bed in the morning and remind yourself that he is able
And stop comparing yourself to others
And if you look at yourself in light of Jesus
That's what 1 Corinthians 3 18 says
That we are focused on the image of God in him
And by focusing on the image of God in him being transformed daily
A little bit into the image of God that we see in him
So focus on Jesus
And if you are not satisfied with who you are compared to Jesus
Repent and turn to the Lord
And by the way you should not be satisfied with who you are compared to Jesus
Because compared to Jesus you are just a piece of dirt
With a little bit of inspiration
And then when you are saved it's his righteousness written on that tablet of God's creation
Not your righteousness
The gospel is the unveiling of the meeting point of God's power and his righteousness and his love
I want you to think about 3 lines
Very bold bright glowing lines in the sky
And they are running all over the place
And finally they all meet the power of God
The power of God the love of God
And the righteousness of God
And they all meet in one place
And now you tell me what you see there
When the power of God and the righteousness of God and the love of God all meet in one place
What do you see there?
Do you see Jesus on the cross?
Because when those 3 lines met that was the only way
To satisfy the power and the righteousness and the love of God
That was the only way
Or if you are saved
Do you see the empty tomb?
Jesus risen
Or do you see the gates of heaven?
And that sick man Lazarus for his whole life sat at the gates begging
Sickly usually not having enough to eat
But there in eternity forever comforted
Never yearning for anything ever again
Do you see that?
His power his righteousness and his love
The gospel is the unveiling of the meeting point of all of those things
And that brings us to our conclusion because there is an antidote
The antidote for this sickly poison
Slow acting gouge
God's greatness out of your life over the longest possible period of time
Is the kingdom of God at work in you
The kingdom of God on earth is that place at which God's motivations and his power connect
Do you love God?
Do you believe in God?
Have you met God through his son Jesus Christ?
And believe he is able
And do what he would have you to do
And thereby be in the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God has its own antibodies
Because I can't know whether you're saved and you can't know whether I'm saved
So I can't look at Tommy even though realistically I might say that Tommy is more handsome than I am
He's stronger than I am, he's surely faster than I am
He's more intelligent in certain things like electronics
He can solder circuit boards which I can't do
He's great with little children
I might look at all of those things and I might say that he is better than me all of a sudden
But here's what I can't do
I can't look at Tommy and say for sure he's going to heaven
Nor can I look at anyone else in this room, doesn't matter what you've told me
I cannot look at you and say for sure I know that you're going to heaven
I cannot judge your salvation
And because of that it rules out my appreciating anything that you have
Or coveting anything that you have that makes you better than me
And I could go around the room and say this makes you better than me, this makes you better than me, this makes you better than me
This makes you worse than me, this makes you worse than me, this makes you worse than me
And I could balance it out and ultimately say well I think Ron is better off than Dan is
RJ is worse off than Dan is
Sierra is better off than Dan is
I could go around the room and I could do that
But because I can't know whether you're saved or not
The kingdom of God at work in me
The Holy Spirit of God testifying with my spirit
That I know where I'm going when I die
That I'm living as best I can on the road of holiness for as long as I can while I live here on this earth
I'm walking that path because I know that that's what I'm trying to do
There is no comparing me with anybody else
Because for all I know
Very realistically speaking for all I know
I might be the only person in this room that's actually saved
And for all you know you might be the only person in this room that's actually saved
You say no I'm sure Pastor Dan's saved
I submit to you that you need to repent and turn to God because the Bible says judge not lest ye be judged
And that means whether you judge me well or judge me poorly
Either way you're doing what God says you must not do
And it will not be he who cries out Lord Lord necessarily
Who will enter into the kingdom of heaven when the time comes
But he who follows God
He who is saved through Jesus Christ God's own son
And receives a righteousness that is not his own
Be careful that you don't automatically set up something that will cause others to compare themselves to you
When you say sometime for example
And I'm not saying you can't talk talk and say what God wants you to say
When you say sometime that I am so well off
You know that there are going to be others who are going to go well yeah I'm not that well off
You say to others I am so poorly off things are so bad
There are going to be others when you say that that are going to say
Well I must be doing much better
And if they lost and think that if they're lost and think they're doing much better
They're not because they're going to hell
And if they're saved and think they're doing much worse
Then that leads to a lack of trust in God they need to repent
The kingdom of God has a built-in inoculation against comparing ourselves with others
And that we can truly only know if the Holy Spirit is in us testifying that we're saved
And as soon as you go well I'm pretty sure he's saved and look at how awesome he is
Or look at how pretty she is
As soon as you do that you're crossing into that zone of consuming little bits of that poison on a daily basis
There is a practice in fact one of my favorite lines of all time from a movie
And I'm closing here in a second is from Princess Bride
Some of you will go I know that movie
There are lots of good lines for that movie
And there's a movie where he's in an intelligence battle with a duel essentially with Vincini
The Dread Pirate Robert says and they're supposed to guess whether the poison is in which cup
And he does this thing and he sets it down and he goes hahaha very funny
Ultimately he says he wins and then Vincini drank from his cup and he dies
And the Dread Pirate Robert says well I've spent the last few years building up an immunity to Iocaine powder
And so the poison was in both cups
And not that Vincini couldn't have essentially figured that out and refused to drink
But the bottom line is that's a fictitious thing
Building up immunity, poison to immunity, immunity to poisons in your body is almost impossible
There are lots of different kinds of poisons, all the metal based poisons
They actually build up a little bit, a little bit right
And so if you would consume the tiniest microgram of that poison today
And then again in a month and again in a month hoping to eventually build up immunity
What will actually happen is once you build up enough of it you'll die
Your body starts to shut down
So when you get to a thousand grains for example
Your liver croaks out and you start having organ failure and you die
So you can't do it on those kinds of poisons
You know about snake poison right
And so there have been a lot of people that over the years believe that you could actually
Get immunity to certain snake poisons by taking a little bit, little bit over a long period of time
And they figured out how it works, the liver produces this chemical that allows you to metabolize the poison
And you don't die from it if you only have it in very small doses
And these are animals that have natural immunities and they could replicate it
And there's this guy who goes and gets his blood drawn in Greenland every year
Because he's done this for like 30 years, injected himself with little bits of snake poison
And so far what they've determined is that he's not immune to snake poison at all
So you really can't do that either
Plant based poisons pretty much produce a certain chemical in your liver
And over a period of time if you produce too much of the cow
If you need to produce too much of the chemical, you don't have it
Then your body metabolizes the poisons into your fat cells or stores
And wherever it possibly can to try to keep you alive
But when there's too much of it or one day you're walking down the street
And you worked out a little bit and your body starts to burn off some of the fat
It goes to your liver, your liver's not prepared, you croak
There's really no becoming immune to poisons
There's some very limited success that people have had
But you can't take a little bit, little bit, little bit of a poison
And I submit to you, why am I talking about this?
Because that's exactly what people are doing today
They're taking a little bit of comparing themselves
A little bit here, a little bit there
They're like, well, no big deal, you know
I compare myself to that person but I'm not really letting it affect me and so on
I've got a little bit of comparing myself, a little bit more, a little bit more
And in doing all that, they think that they're building up an immunity
Because they're realizing that that person's trying to make them feel small
But they're not going to let that happen
They're realizing that that person's trying to make them big
But they're not going to let that happen
They're going to give glory to God
I submit to you that giving glory to God might be a good way to go
But here's what's not a good way to go
Don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever
Let's go on until God, until Jesus comes again
Compare yourself with someone else
It's a poison
You'll never become immune to it
You will eventually destroy your walk with God
Maybe yourself
And if that is so, and I believe it is
Then it's a sin against God
Which means it will also destroy your relationship with God
Because the wages of sin is death
I mentioned to you at the beginning three things
And I've covered one of them
The next one was the medals that are given to children
So here's the thing
I learned a long time ago when I was a kid
We used to get desserts for if we did well in school
My mom would give us desserts
She'd take us out for ice cream and things like that
That ever happen to you?
And I learned from my psychology classes and so on
That that is the way to make your children have difficulty
Dealing with, when they grow up, eating habits
Because you say to your child, also by the way
Forcing your child to eat everything on their plate
Also screw up their eating habits
Forcing or allowing your child not to try new foods that they don't like
Also screw up their eating habits
Lots of ways you can screw up your child's eating habits
So now you think every time I'm down, I'm hurting, I'm sad
I'm going to go get some ice cream because I'll feel better
So you screwed up your psychology that way
Now, obviously it's all in the hands of the Lord
And you can say, well I'm not going to worry about that
God's going to take care of it
Rewarding children for their good behavior is dangerous in a sense that
They will think later if they do good behavior, they deserve a reward
And if they don't get a reward, then they'll be irritated about the reward
They didn't get a reward, right?
So if you try really hard on your sports team, really really hard on your sports team
And you do really really well
And at the end of the year you don't get a medal for MVP or Most Improved or anything like that
You get upset
If you get the same medal that everybody else got
That's no better because everybody got a medal, right?
The bottom line is, should we give medals to sports teams?
Probably because we should encourage good behavior
But we as parents have a responsibility to teach our children
It's not relative to what others did
When we say most valuable player, for example
We're saying you were the most valuable player over top of the other nine kids on the team
We're teaching them to value themselves
Responding to what they see in others
We're literally teaching them to compare themselves to others
Sporting events
My baseball team goes out, plays against another baseball team that my kids are on
At the end, the score tells which team was better
Team sporting events are awesome
They teach teamwork, they're actually perfect for this
Because does the 11-10 score at the end of a baseball game say that one pitcher was better than the other?
It does not
Does it say that one right fielder was better than the other team's right fielder?
It does not
However, if every member of that team gives their extreme best effort and does what they're supposed to do
Yet they lose to this other team who did the same thing
Then you can reasonably say that the team that won is better than the team that didn't
But maybe it was simply in their teamwork or in their coaching or in their planning or in their playbook
Or pure luck
Time and chance happens to all men
It is the responsibility of every person to be the best that they possibly can be
And we are being crushed under that burden if we're trying to do it outside Jesus Christ
So sporting events are a great place to help people remember
It is not about how well you did it in response to how well somebody else did it
It's about who you're becoming
What are you doing?
Are you following, in our case, are you following Jesus and becoming the person that God would have you to be?
Or not?
If you're playing sports or if you're playing games or if you're watching TV
And it is not about you following the highway of holiness or going to heaven when you die
You following Jesus and letting His righteousness be imputed to you and so on
If it's not about that, then you shouldn't be doing it
So if you have a kid who's playing sports or you have a kid who's watching or playing video games
Or you have a kid who's watching something on their phone
And you realize that it is causing them to compare themselves to somebody else
It's time to step up mom or dad or aunt or uncle or friend or brother or sister in Christ
And say, look, this is not so that you compare yourself to somebody else
Because it's really about who are you in Christ?
Let's not train our children
As I said, the world got there the complete wrong way by giving everybody a medal
Saying nobody is better than anybody else
It's a complete wrong way, it's a PC maneuver, politically correct maneuver
But better that, then we go to one kid and say, well, you're better than this other kid
And we go to this other kid over here and say, well, you're not as good as this kid, he did more for the team
If there's no, did everybody do their best? Are you doing your best?
Try your hardest, do what you can, do what it is that you're supposed to do
And the last illustration was of the underdog
And I wrote this at the end, I am an underdog
Amongst the human race and faced with oppositions like demons in the world system
I stand up for my beliefs and I stand up against a system
Warped by Satan's hatred of God and people's confused emulation of him
I will never change
I have been regenerated by the God of heaven and his Holy Spirit
And if I change at all, it will be to be more like Jesus
I will resist even unto my death the tactics of Satan and my true enemies
This I will do knowing that if Jesus does not come again before my time
I will die for my Lord, but I will not spend eternity in torment
Rather I will spend it with God in the place that he is preparing for me
This I will do knowing despite any losses I may take
I cannot lose
I want you to say to yourself right now this moment, Christian
I cannot lose
We're going to have the praise team come forward and lead us in closing him at this point in time
And I'm asking you
To think about you and about your relationship with God
You say well God is holy, Jesus is just and loving and kind and I'm not like them
Yeah, kind of the point, we're not
We're trying to be, but we're not
But if you've been comparing yourself to other human beings, even other human beings
That profess to be saved or other human beings that preach the word
Or whatever, you've been comparing yourself to others, I would ask you to repent and turn to God
And let God inform you about you because apparently you don't know you
There's a you that you don't know and only God knows
Let God inform you about you
I'm trying to tell God, God I'm not as strong, God I'm overweight
God I'm too young, I'm too old, I'm too poor, I'm too rich
I'm too, my health concerns get in the way
Don't do that
Just say to God, God here I am
Take this me and make of it
What it can be
God give you the medal
For first place in your life
After Jesus
You stand with me and sing this song and if the Lord has spoken to your heart with you
Respond and just make whatever decision
That God's all in our new faith, just say okay God I get it
I'm hearing you, I'm surrendering to you
I'm following you
And if anybody in this room needs me to say
If anybody in this room needs me to say something
Jesus, sit around with me
Have you decided?
Follow Jesus
Why would your eyes be open if you've decided to follow Jesus
I have decided
To follow Jesus
No turning back
Don't go with me
I still will follow
What if they won't come because they're not following him?
Will you still follow?
I still will follow
What if their sufferings are weighing them down? Will you still follow?
Don't go with me
I still will follow
No turning back
My cross I'll carry
Till I see Jesus
My cross I'll carry
Till I see Jesus
My cross I'll carry
Till I see Jesus
My cross I'll carry
Till I see Jesus
No turning back
No world behind me
No cross before me
No world behind me
No cross before me
No world behind me
No world before me
No world behind me
No world before me
No turning back
As I was just singing that last verse
I felt like the Spirit impressed upon me this image
I want to share it with you, you can vet it in the scripture and all that
This is what I was feeling like I was standing in a crowd
Of just an infinite number of people
And just outside the crowd on the other side was a line, right?
Like there was a barrier but there was no barrier, there was nobody
Everybody was just standing there all looking, they were all looking
And there's Jesus and he says, come
And I'm standing in a crowd, maybe like the seventh rank or whatever, there's people in front of me
But I peek between heads and I see Jesus and he says come
And I edge forward to make sure, he's not saying to me come
He's saying to everybody come, everybody come
And nobody's coming, they're all standing there all thinking about it
They've got their issues, they're wondering, they've got questions, whatever
Some of them are looking at each other, lots of them are looking at each other
Some are looking at aisles or things they think are important or whatever
They're looking everywhere else, Jesus just come
I'm looking at Jesus, he says come, and I edge forward, I'm like in the third row now
And he says come, and people are milling about in front of me
It looks like they're thinking about going but they're not coming
And he's going, he says come, let's go
And so I reach my hand between two people and I go like this like I'm swimming
And I push the people away and then suddenly now I'm in the very front
And I don't see anybody, all those infinite number of people that were there
I don't see any of them, all I see is Jesus
That's the Israelites coming out of Egypt
It's Peter running to the cave, to the tomb
It's me when I was sitting in the queue week after week after week thinking, thinking, thinking
And they were like, Jesus is saying come
And then finally it was like I think he's saying come to me, you know
And I'm like, so I'm going to go, but nobody else is going
Nobody else is walking forward, nobody else is making a decision
Nobody else is saying anything
I just go like this, and put everyone else
I'm not saying forget everybody, I'm saying dismiss your family
I mean if it takes you dismissing your family to get saved you better do it
Because in eternity you're going to regret it, you don't
Jesus doesn't want us to dismiss our families
We're called to be, and better called to be a dad
Called to be a husband before anything else
But before we're called to be a dad and a husband, we're called to be saved
To have an eternity, to have a relationship with God
And then in that God calls us to be a dad and a husband
And women to be a wife and a mother when that's how he ordains it
But you've got to swim your way forward out of the crowd
And say me and Jesus
And if your eyes are on Jesus
When Stephen was being stoned
You read the story for yourself
But I believe he did not see his attackers
He did not see the stones
He did not know that he felt the pain leading up to his death
But he was looking at the throne of God and could see Jesus
The word says he was looking there and could see Jesus
And the glory of God showed on his face
As he was looking there and all the more they wanted to kill him
If you will put the world behind you and focus on Jesus
Yeah, it's going to cause some problems with some folks
Some people aren't going to like what you have to say or what you're doing
I commit this to you that here in this place amongst us
If we can figure out that that's what's going on
If we can figure out that we're doing what it is that God wants us to do
We'll never have a problem with it, will we?
If we can have a problem with somebody in this room deciding to do what God wants to do
Even though you don't quite think it's the way it should be done
Assuming you know they're doing what God wants them to do
What problem would you possibly have?
And should you maybe even be noticing
Considering your eyes are supposed to be on Jesus in the first place?
God help us
The world wants you to compare yourself to everyone else
And Jesus just wants you
I don't know if I was in the room with you
I may have shared this a little before
But when we were at Cayman
Jason came up to me and he was sat in the middle of the room
He wanted to go up in the front and he danced
The rest of the kids were up there dancing
But he was too afraid
And I told him why are you afraid?
Because I'm afraid I'm going to punish him
Jason, it doesn't matter what people think about you
What matters is what you think
And what God thinks
I was like if you want to do it, just go ahead and do it
And I was like the problem is you're thinking about it too much
And I think that's what we get a lot
We start thinking about it too much
Instead of just jumping in and doing it
We think about it, think about it some more
And it never actually happens
So if you're around the fence of like
Okay, well is this really what God wants from me?