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["Running in the Rain"]

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["Running in the Rain"]

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["Running in the Rain"]

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And what would happen if we ran?

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The boat turns out to be the way

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The rainy season pours a dream

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And I watch them feel out of place

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But if the life could be for real

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If all our hearts were on the road

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What if the man who turns the dream's eyes

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Got that she longed for what to do

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What if his people prayed

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And loved him as he saved

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What harm did he do?

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["Running in the Rain"]

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["Running in the Rain"]

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Alright.

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Okay, so we come to that moment in time

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where we ask ourselves how Lord is speaking this week

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or what have you seen happening that God is doing.

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And so it's really up to you, up to me

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to provide these inspirational moments

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to listen really from God

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and then bring it here and share with others.

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This is your opportunity to testify

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how God has been working or what you've seen.

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And asking you to pray.

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Our spiritual discipline focuses on prayer.

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So I would hope that you would pray

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and listen to what God would say to you.

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And then when God says something to you

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then you come and you share with us

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what the Lord has said to you.

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Okay? And here we go.

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What do you got?

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It's like RJ's trying to film a video.

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Have you prayed this week

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and been listening to what the Lord would say?

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Is there a testimony?

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You made RJ?

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I got some.

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Go ahead. Yeah, we got some. Let's go.

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So yes, just once again

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people that know me already know me.

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But those that don't, I just thank God

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that I'm in a healthy church.

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The greatness of God is in this church.

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Not that people are great, but God is great.

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And the greatness is in every person,

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every born-again believer.

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It's let people know that I was in an unhealthy church

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and not here to talk about that or this.

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But it left me with a lot of consequences.

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But I am sure thankful that I could turn back to God

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and follow Him.

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Back.

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So last week I was taught the top five things

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about prayer.

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Number one was the goat.

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He's the greatest of all time.

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We can go before God at all times.

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He's not like us. He is God.

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He's always been God.

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And through Jesus, and it is a born-again believer,

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anyone can pray to God.

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But through Jesus, we can actually speak to the Father.

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We can actually, through the Holy Spirit,

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we can ask for strength and grace.

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The whole world can ask God for hope.

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But to the born-again believer,

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we are His and He is ours.

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There's a true relationship.

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So the second one that I would share today is freedom.

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The word freedom, if you look at the word free in the Bible,

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it always comes with the word freedom.

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It's not free like something's free.

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Because if you get something from the store and it's free,

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you're always going to say, well, what's the catch?

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It has to be some kind of catch, right?

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Because nothing's really free.

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So when you say the word free, it's freedom.

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And the word freedom literally means that you're set free.

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You're free to follow God.

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You're free to follow His will.

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You're also free to do whatever you want.

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But it will always lead to not being able to be with God,

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not being able to work in His strength and His grace.

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But the thing with prayer is that we can ask God

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that freedom we have for His strength, for His grace,

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for His love, for His mercy,

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to be something that we can't be.

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I'll tell you what, and I'm not the only person,

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but if anybody has known what I've gone through

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in the last three to seven years, who knows what it is,

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just the pain of just unhealthy teachings

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and had to scarl that,

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but I still ask God through His will, through His strength,

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to have that freedom to still follow Him again,

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have that freedom to be who He says I can be.

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And that's for anyone.

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This isn't like, oh, Tony has freedom.

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No, every born-again believer has freedom in Christ,

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freedom to turn to Him.

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And if you think about it, and I'll be really quick with this,

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but think about a video game.

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Who wants to play a video game where you lose every time?

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Who wants to play a video game where you play like

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your half-average person?

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No, you want to be a superhero. You want to be a superstar.

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You want to win the game.

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You want to be the best you can be.

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In sports, who wants to just say,

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hey, I just want to be just above average?

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No, you want to win. You want to go.

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Or you just say, I just want to give a little bit.

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You know you want to give it all you've got when you train,

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when you practice.

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So if that's your concept every day,

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then that's who we should strive to be in Christ,

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to be everything that God says we can be.

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So the last thing I want to share was really cool.

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I was talking to a basically God gave me this counselor.

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I asked to see a counselor, and I was going through a lot.

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And I said, do you have any advice or some encouragement?

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And they said, when you're going through stuff

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and you can't find control, you can't find out what's going on,

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they said, take a step back.

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And I was like, that really meant a lot to me.

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And the idea is to take a step back,

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take a step back and see God's view.

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Take a step back and see my view.

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Take a step back from the other person's view.

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Because the thing is, we're running in this life.

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If we're running in on our own, we're going to hit a wall.

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We're going to go through something.

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It's going to hurt, and it's going to knock us back.

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But if we run this with God, if we turn to Him, we follow Him,

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we can take a step back and just kind of say, OK, God, what are you doing?

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OK, not everybody is going to be faithful, but you are.

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Not everybody is going to get this right, but you are right.

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I can't do this in my own strength, but you can.

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And so I just encourage you today,

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what God was sharing with me this week, is that because we are born again,

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and not just here at New Heights,

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everyone on Facebook, everybody hears this message,

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anyone that has turned to Jesus and Jesus has given the Holy Spirit,

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turn to them, and now and forever, even into eternity, forever His,

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that you can have that, that we can take a step back and just say, OK, God,

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this is your day, and give it to Him.

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Anyone else?

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Yeah, I think it's your turn.

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OK, we're not going to try. If not, you just tell us what you're going to tell us.

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For those of you who are in the wrong country, sorry, not sorry, guys.

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Oh, man.

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Sorry, not sorry.

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But this song, there's a lot of deeper meaning to it if you really think about it.

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I'll explain it a little bit more out of words, but it's a really good song,

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and it's got a lot of meaning.

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I said, Grandpa wants this picture here, it's all black and white,

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it ain't real clear is that you there.

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He said, yeah, I was a lover.

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Time for a tub back in 35, that's me and Uncle Joe just trying to survive a cotton farm

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in the Great Depression.

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If it looks like we were scared to death, like a couple of kids just trying to save each other,

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we should have seen it in color.

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So I guess one of the biggest things that I really like about the song is it tells a story,

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but not only does it tell a story, it shows how certain details can be missed.

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I mean, obviously everyone's heard the saying a picture says a thousand words

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because you don't really know what's going on in that picture.

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So you don't really understand what that person's going through.

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Like when he was talking about how he was overseas in the wintertime, it was cold,

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you can't see that kind of stuff in the picture.

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However, you still remember those days.

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So I guess what I'm trying to say is as we live, as we live our life, as we get older and grow more,

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we have to remember those moments.

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And not just some of the bigger moments, but some of the smaller, more down moments,

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like at the beginning when he says that they were just trying to survive a cotton farm

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in the Great Depression.

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I mean, obviously those were probably one of the roughest times in America.

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And you have to remember those low times too so you can be more proud of the higher times.

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Like when he was talking about getting married, you have to understand that life,

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the value of a human life is so important and so amazing.

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And yet our existence on this planet is just a blip of our actual existence with our father.

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So everything we do here has purpose, has meaning, ultimately so we can hopefully get to that point

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where we're in heaven and can live for the eternity and look back at this little blip of our life

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and go, you know what, I really, I tried.

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I did my best. I did everything I could.

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I did everything to the best of my ability to follow God.

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And you know what, I'm here now and now I know where I'm going to be forever.

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Alright, we're going to put it together?

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Oh, yes please.

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I'm new here at the moment.

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I see.

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I'm beginning to confess some of the things. Now, you want to tell everything and you tell the bigger things

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and the little things will eventually disappear as you go along, as long as you're doing what the Lord wants you to do.

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I recently in April I had a heart attack and it took me to the hospital and everything like this.

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And knowing he was there, I got stench proven, I got 200 on this side, 80 on this one, 180 on the bottom

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which would have been a cardiac arrest, would have been really bad.

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But the man says, he said, I remember him saying, do you need an order?

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And he wouldn't even matter, I said yes, he's right.

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He said, because there's nothing wrong with the right man, he's right.

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For me and that man to have been stenched with men, it would have definitely been, you know, me.

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Like I said, I'm just getting into it, I can't comprehend too good what I do.

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But people, you know, that's told me along the way, like if I'm doing exactly what he wants me to do in any way,

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I don't have no conscience feeling, I won't have no worries.

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And like they said, someone said, if I'm wrong, I'll prepare myself for whatever happens.

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So what I do here is bring my people there.

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Another thing I just kept going, June 2nd I had 18 years old.

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And that I know with a lot of hope in me to do. Like I said, I'm trying.

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Sometimes I want to get someone to keep saying something to me instead of walking away.

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I want to be the ocean, you know, and I know I shouldn't, you know, I don't want to be talking about things like that.

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But like I said, I'm just starting, I got in the Bible.

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It's got a big print. She knows a lot of it. She knows a lot of the Bible. She's helping.

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We used to have an army of shape or form that God would have to read the verses of the Bible.

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And we'd have to come around and share a lot of that stuff. But like I said, I'm available to do anything.

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The things that we probably, I guess, not the only thing, overlook.

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Overlook the things that we know can be dangerous.

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Like I said, we don't do this. We have that point. If I don't know, I still don't.

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We want to do this. We want to do this.

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I'm not going to do it. I'm going to start to learn how to do it because I'd be lying to you.

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I wouldn't say that I'm not yelling back at someone. I snap and you know when they snap back.

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It's not so much a friend of the country. It happens and happens and happens.

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We, you know, like I said, by doing these things and helping each other, I said there are things that I can reach out and talk to someone about.

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That's the way I feel.

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So, like I said, I really appreciate the support you've given us this year.

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And I hope it will be my better year.

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Thank you for sharing. I appreciate that.

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Okay, so at this time we're going to pray.

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Ariana, you're on here to pray for the third prayer.

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And then you call on someone to pray after you, okay?

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Pray and then call on someone.

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Dear God, again I want to thank you for this day. Thank you for bringing us here to learn about you.

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Lord, I know there are distractions. There's always distractions.

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That doesn't mean that we can't still focus on you.

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Bless the offering. Be with those that are sick and in pain and hurting.

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Be with those that could not be here today. Jesus, my hybrid.

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Amen.

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Let's listen to the next song.

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If I could have everyone on their feet this morning, spread out a little bit.

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If I could have the young people towards the front, take the aisles, give yourselves some space.

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You need about this much space.

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If you don't want to jump and move, you can just say.

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Get somewhere that you're not going to kick anyone.

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Stop doing that, you're going to hurt someone.

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Alright.

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Not that cool.

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Perfect.

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Alright, so we are going to do a song this morning, a motion song called the Joy Song.

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The kids have seen this one before.

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You can stay right there with me.

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Alright, so we're going to start, we're going to do it really slow so we can get the motion.

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So get where you can see one of us. Are we ready?

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I've got the joy down in my heart, deep, deep down in my heart.

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Spell it, J-O-Y, deep down in my heart.

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Deep, deep down in my heart, where'd it come from?

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Jesus put it there, and nothing can destroy it, destroy it, destroy it.

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I've got the joy down in my heart, deep, deep down in my heart.

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Okay, are you getting it? We're going to go a little faster. Ready?

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I've got the joy down in my heart, deep, deep down in my heart.

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Spell it, J-O-Y, deep, deep down in my heart.

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How'd it get there? Jesus put it there, and nothing can destroy it, destroy it, destroy it.

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I've got the joy down in my heart, deep, deep down in my heart.

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Super fast, here we go.

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I've got the joy down in my heart, deep, deep down in my heart.

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Spell it, J-O-Y, deep, deep down in my heart.

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How'd it get there? Jesus put it there, and nothing can destroy it, destroy it, destroy it.

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I've got the joy down in my heart, deep, deep down in my heart.

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Alright, good job, guys. You did a great job. Thank you.

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Alright, go sit down. Go sit down.

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Alright, this time we're going to release the children to your lessons.

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The kids are on the side right here. Teachers will meet you there.

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Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

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I lost, was lost, but now I found, was blind, but now I see.

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Grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears freely.

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How precious did that grace appear, beyond I first believed.

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When God our friends set free, my God, my Savior, has restored me.

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And I can't stop, feels no sea-rains, unending love, will you raise in me.

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The God has promised good to me, His word my hope secure.

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He will my shield and portion me, as long as I can do.

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My chains are long, and I'm set free, my God, my Savior, has restored me.

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And I can't stop, feels no sea-rains, unending love, amazing grace.

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My chains are long, and I'm set free, my God, my Savior, has restored me.

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And I can't stop, feels no sea-rains, unending love, amazing grace.

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Fear shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbath the shrine.

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My God who called me here below, will be forever mine.

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Will be forever mine, you are forever mine.

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Thank you.

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You are my light in place, who always fill my heart with songs of deliverance.

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Wherever I am on the break, I will trust in you.

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I will trust in you.

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Let the weak sing, I am strong, in the strength of the Lord.

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You are my light in place, who always fill my heart with songs of deliverance.

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Wherever I am on the break, I will trust in you.

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I will trust in you.

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Let the weak sing, I am strong, in the strength of the Lord.

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I will trust in you.

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Alright, praise the Lord.

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I'm going to have a little object lesson before we begin, so in just a moment I'm going to call for two volunteers.

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So you can be thinking about whether you want to volunteer.

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I will clear warn you that the volunteering involves handcuffs, so if your wrists are claustrophobic, I would not recommend you volunteer.

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Alright, need two volunteers.

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Nicole and Tony, come on.

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The first two hands I saw.

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Stand right there.

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I feel like I've done this before.

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Oh yeah, this is going to hurt.

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These are the ones you don't have the key for?

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Oh, crap.

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Actually, I have a key.

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Here's one key. That's your key there, Tony.

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Alright, so when I say go, when I say it's okay to start, the two of you are going to try to get out of the handcuffs.

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Now, that's your key, and that's your key.

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That's all we're doing.

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Go.

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Thank you so much.

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I don't think she was going to resist you.

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But also, Nicole's pretty wise. She doesn't always get credit for how wise she is.

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She's very wise.

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Alright, so I want you to bear that in mind then, that little object lesson that we just saw there as we go to the scripture.

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You may recall that we are working through the book of Deuteronomy, and this continues that today.

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So maybe you'll say amen, or just give a little hooter holler as we go to Deuteronomy chapter 15.

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Amen. Thank you very much.

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This is the word of the Lord, and from here on out, as much as I get it right anyway,

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as much as I get it right, this will be the word of the Lord, and God will be able to speak to our hearts,

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and we'll be able to grow and even be changed by what God is doing.

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Now, I may not get it all right, so you have a responsibility to know the word of God yourself.

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Study, listen, listen to God's Holy Spirit as He is speaking to you during this message.

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So we're going to be doing the first 18 verses of chapter 15 of the book of Deuteronomy,

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and you'll see the title is up on the screen there.

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It's a little blurred in because we've got this fall beautiful background thing going on,

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but contingencies that say it all. A contingency is a backup plan.

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If you don't know the definition of that word, a contingency means a backup plan.

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And so we're going to read today about God's backup plans that He gives the Israelites

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in lieu of His primary plan.

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We'll see the primary plan as we go through it, and then we're really going to learn from the contingencies.

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So Deuteronomy chapter 15 beginning in verse 1, and it begins like this.

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It says, At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts.

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So in other words, those who owe people money inside the Israelites, those who owe people money,

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at the end of every seventh year the debts are gone.

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So if they borrow $10,000, we'll just say dollars, they didn't have dollars,

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we'll say $10,000 from another Israelite because they need it to pay for whatever,

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then when the seventh year rolls around the debt will be gone.

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Then it goes on to say in verse 2, it says, And this is the manner of the remission.

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I love that because basically what he's saying is, let me put this as simply as I possibly can for you,

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this is how this will be done.

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Okay?

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Every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor.

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In other words, whoever is owed whatever will say, you no longer owe it to me.

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It's very simple, right?

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The reason I think that's put there and made so simple is because as soon as you start talking about money,

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everybody wants to complicate everything, right?

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And they say, well, okay, now it's the seventh year and yeah, we can do that,

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but the bottom line is you still got to pay me a little bit.

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You got to pay me some interest or whatever, right?

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And he says just this simple, the manner of the remission will be this,

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every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor.

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He shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother because the Lord's remission has been proclaimed.

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In other words, when the time comes, you're not going to look to get paid back.

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It's over. It's done. It's settled.

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God says no more on the seventh year.

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Verse 3, from a foreigner, you may exact it,

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but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother.

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Okay, so now we've got a different standard.

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Your God's a different standard.

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If you've loaned money to somebody from another country, somebody who is not an Israelite,

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or in our case, somebody who is outside the king of God, somebody who is not a believer, right?

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Then you can ask for that money back if they pay back in 20 years, they pay back in 30 years.

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You can ask for a reasonable amount of interest or other verses that disallow what's called usury,

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which is a lot of interest, right?

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But bottom line is you can ask for it back if it's from a foreigner, somebody outside the king of God,

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but at a certain point, he's saying you're not supposed to get it back if it's from your brother.

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Meaning, if it's from a member of the kingdom of God, or in this case, he was talking about Israelites.

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So I'll read verse 3 again so you can see it clearly.

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It says from a foreigner, in other words, somebody who is not an Israelite, you may exact it.

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For us, that would be talking about people who are outside the kingdom of God.

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But your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother, verse 4.

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However, there shall be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you in the land

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which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess.

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So there is the actual plan of God, right?

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Here is the actual plan. The actual plan of God is God's going to take care of it.

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God's going to make sure everybody's got what they need.

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God's going to make everybody wealthy in a sense, not rich.

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We're not talking about riches like I'm going to be a billionaire or something like that.

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Or not you can have all kinds of fancy cars, things like that.

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But you're going to have everything you truly need.

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You're going to be okay because God is going to take care of it.

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Okay? That's the primary.

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Verse 5 says, and it's a continuation of that, God is giving you as an inheritance to possess.

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If only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God

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to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

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In other words, it's saying, if you'll just do it this way that I'm telling you to do it,

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God is going to bless everybody inside his kingdom and there ain't going to be anybody that's poor.

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About 15 years ago, I had the opportunity to preach at First Baptist Tullahoma,

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which is actually called Highland Baptist, it's on the high ground in Tullahoma.

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Anyway, in Tullahoma, and when I was driving down there,

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I noticed as we were driving that there was this huge snowbank on the side of a water reservoir.

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It was a pit basically that had been dug out to make a hill in the expressway.

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And there was a huge snowbank on the side of it that wasn't melting because the sun wasn't hitting it.

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And I thought, well that's peculiar.

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Everything around was pretty clear, but there's a huge snowbank.

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We're talking about, it must have been a ton of snow, literally,

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like 2,000 plus pounds of snow on the side of this reservoir.

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Then I get in Tennessee, and when I get to Tennessee and I'm going to preach,

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they're in the midst of a two-year drought where they had not had a half an inch of rain in two years.

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And their land was drying up. They couldn't grow anything.

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And people were freaking out. The water reservoir is down there.

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The water had drained down so much.

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And this is what the Lord expressed on my heart that day, and it wasn't out of Deuteronomy 15,

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but this is what he said. He said, that water that's being trapped here belongs over there.

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And it's the same way with the wealth of God.

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People are blessed, and they're not sharing what they're supposed to be sharing with others who are not blessed.

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In my time preaching, I've had two separate families.

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One of them came to me, the man came to me with his wife standing behind him, and he said,

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we have a problem. And I said, what's the problem?

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He said, it seemed like you're preaching that we should be helping other people in the body who are in need.

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We feel like we're wealthy. We have all the money we need.

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He made $30 an hour. She's a full-time person. She made $50,000 a year, whatever.

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He said, we feel like we're wealthy.

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And when you preach, we feel a conviction that we should help other people in the body who are struggling

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when they don't have enough to pay for medications or when they don't have what they need to put food in their fridge

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or when one of their appliances break down or something.

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And I said, well, I certainly never use those words, but I absolutely think that's true.

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And he said, well, we have a problem with that. And I said, well, what's the problem?

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He said, the problem is it seems like that's a never-ending road.

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There's always going to be people that need help.

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And I said, well, that might be so, but if it's so, has God blessed you and given you what you have?

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And he said, well, yeah, we're blessed. What we have is a blessing from God, and we know that.

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And I said, so if God has blessed you and given you what you have, do you don't think God can do it again?

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You don't think God can keep adding money in the pot?

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So if you give, you're saying if you give too much, which is what God calls us,

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if you give too much generously out of what you've been blessed with, that God can't replace it or won't replace it.

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And that is the opposite of what his word says.

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It went long, and that person came to tell me that they were leaving the church.

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Fast forward another half dozen, 10 years.

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I'm particularly not naming these people because I don't have their permission to do so.

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And I had a young man come to me and he said, you know, we've been saving hard for retirement.

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And we see people are struggling. Are you saying we should be taking part of that money that we're saving hard for retirement

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and taking care of those people who are in need?

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And I said, well, I haven't used those words.

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I said, but I surely think that is something God would want us to do if you know if somebody has it.

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So you're saving for years that are 20 years down the road, making sure you're going to have enough money when that time comes.

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But here's somebody over here who doesn't have enough money today to pay for their medication.

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So you're saying you want to make sure you have the money in 20 years and you're willing to make allow them not to have what they need now.

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Yeah, I think I would make sure they have what they need now and then still try to save for the 20 years.

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And they said, I don't agree with that. I saw.

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It's not me. It's the word of God. So let's check what it says in the word of God.

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And here's what he is saying.

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He says there shall be no poor among you since the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess.

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If only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all this commandment which I command you today.

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And by the way, what was the commandment? Well, it started out with and as much as we've gotten of it so far is that in the seventh year there to release whatever they have loaned to someone and say they don't need it back.

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So you could say principally they are supposed to be willing to loan to someone if someone is in need.

452
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:27,000
And then they're supposed to having loaned it after a period of time when it becomes evident that the person is not paying it back in short order within the six years.

453
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:33,000
Then they should say it's OK. You don't have to pay me back. That's what they're commanded to do so far in this text.

454
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:43,000
Verse six then says because the Lord your God shall bless you as he has promised you and will lend to many and you will lend to many nations.

455
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:48,000
But you will not borrow and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

456
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:57,000
So basically God was saying he was going to elevate the kingdom of God, which at that time was the Israelites going to elevate that people to be up over top of other people.

457
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:01,000
If they would follow all the commands of God, he would elevate them to get now again.

458
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:06,000
He's not saying he's gonna make them rich or have a you know, 24 cars in the barn or anything like that.

459
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:13,000
He's saying that they will be have all that they need and more. That's what God promised.

460
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:18,000
If they will follow the commands of God, God will keep his promise. That's what he's going to do.

461
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:27,000
Verse seven. Then he says if there is a poor man with you now, remember he said there won't be any if they would do everything that God has told them to do.

462
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:40,000
But now he says if there is a poor man with you, one of one of your brothers, somebody inside the kingdom of God, which at that time was the Israelites in any of your towns in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart.

463
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:46,000
So now we're talking about something that goes on inside a person. We're not just talking about the practical practical being willing to help somebody.

464
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:55,000
We're talking about a condition inside you. Okay. So you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand from your poor brother.

465
00:41:55,000 --> 00:42:00,000
In other words, don't be stingy. Don't hold back from taking care of somebody who's in need.

466
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:10,000
But he says you shall freely open your hand to him and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

467
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:19,000
So I don't miss it that there are two different things happening there. The freely opening your hand to him is doing what giving right.

468
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:25,000
So out of my abundance, I see so and so has need. I give to them what they need. I open my hand. I let it go.

469
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:34,000
Here it is. You need it. I don't need it. It's yours. But now there are situations where you're talking about giving them more than that,

470
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:43,000
which is maybe to make them stable or maybe they're going to try to start a business or to help them with a job or to get something that they need ongoing like a car to get to and from work or things,

471
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:49,000
things where you're going to sustain them a little longer period of time than rather just getting them what they need right now.

472
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:57,000
And he is saying that you should be ready then to lend them whatever is sufficient for his need, whatever he lacks.

473
00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:01,000
Now bear in mind that at the end of the seventh year, you would still have to give it up.

474
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:08,000
So if you lend it and he can't pay it back in six years at the seventh year, you still would have to give it up.

475
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:13,000
So even though you might say, well, I see a person has a need. I give out of my abundance. Let me take care of your need. Boom. Taking care of.

476
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:19,000
Then the person has a more substantive need, something that you're just not carrying around in your pocket or whatever. You got to go into your bank account.

477
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:26,000
You might have to sell some stock or sell some appliance or something to have enough money to give them something more extreme than that.

478
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:29,000
You say, OK, well, I can do this, but you got to pay me back.

479
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:38,000
Now, if they can't pay you back in what would be considered a reasonable time, which according to their era was six years, then you're still going to release it.

480
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:43,000
You're still going to give it up and say, I no longer you no longer owe that to me.

481
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:49,000
Verse nine says, and we're halfway through the text, Beware, lest there is a base thought in your heart.

482
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:53,000
So now he's going to say to watch out because this is what you might think.

483
00:43:53,000 --> 00:44:06,000
Saying the seventh year, the year of remission is near and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother and you give him nothing.

484
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:11,000
Then he may cry to the Lord against you and it will be a sin in you.

485
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:16,000
So in other words, he's remember he's speaking to the condition of your heart and your thoughts.

486
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:24,000
So now you think, well, he's not going to be so in our text, for example, our context, they say, well, I can loan him this, but I'm saying I'm loaned to him.

487
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,000
But there really he really has no way he's ever going to pay this back to me.

488
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:29,000
I can see that it's probably not going to come back.

489
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:33,000
So I'm not going to give it to him because he's not going to be able to pay it back.

490
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:39,000
Even though the Bible says I should lend it to him, I can't give it to him because it's not something common.

491
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:40,000
So I can't give to him.

492
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:46,000
Bible says I should lend it to him, but because now I question whether he'll be able to pay it back to me, I'm not going to lend it to him.

493
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:50,000
And the word says don't have that thought.

494
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:51,000
Don't do it.

495
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,000
Don't question that.

496
00:44:53,000 --> 00:45:00,000
And all of this is part of the command in which God then says he will take care of us.

497
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:04,000
If that if you do that and you think, well, I don't think this person will pay me back.

498
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:06,000
And and so you don't give it to them.

499
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:09,000
And then they cry out to God and say, oh, God, woe is me.

500
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:10,000
I'm in a bad spot here.

501
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:12,000
No one is here to help me out.

502
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:14,000
Notice that last phrase.

503
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:19,000
It says it will be a sin in you.

504
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:24,000
That thought, that process, that step that you've taken there will be a sin in you.

505
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:29,000
A sin is what separates us from God is very dangerous stuff.

506
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:38,000
Ten says you shall generously give to him and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him.

507
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:45,000
In other words, don't be sad about it, because for this thing, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertaking.

508
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:49,000
So you give and God will take care of you.

509
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:53,000
For the poor will never cease to be in the land.

510
00:45:53,000 --> 00:46:01,000
Therefore, I command you saying you shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.

511
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:07,000
So notice he said you won't be there won't be any of these people who are poor if you just do all the right things.

512
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,000
And now he's saying it's always going to be that way.

513
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:13,000
Do we know why that is?

514
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:14,000
What do you think, Solo?

515
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,000
Why might that be?

516
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,000
Idea?

517
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:26,000
Why will there always be the poor people in the land if God said there would be no poor people if the people would just follow the commands of God?

518
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:30,000
Because people are not all going to follow the commands of God.

519
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:38,000
And there's going to be too few people following the commands of God and being generous and willing to lend to their brothers in the kingdom of God.

520
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:42,000
Too few people doing that to cover everybody that's in need.

521
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:44,000
That's the problem.

522
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:50,000
So God is pouring in and will pour into those who are generous and lending like they're supposed to.

523
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:53,000
And they won't be poor because he's still pouring into them.

524
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,000
But there's still going to be others and they can't cover everybody.

525
00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:57,000
You don't even know everybody.

526
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:58,000
Right.

527
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:01,000
And we we devise systems whereby we try to take care of the poor.

528
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:04,000
We make sure that there's food at least and so on.

529
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,000
But the bottom line is this verse.

530
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:13,000
These verses are commanding God's people to be do something more to be more generous, more giving, more lending.

531
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:20,000
Because they will never cease to be the poor does not mean then that you can restrain yourself from giving and lending.

532
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:25,000
Verse 12 says if your kinsmen a Hebrew man or woman is sold to you.

533
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:27,000
Now this was a real thing back then.

534
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:28,000
Somebody was in debt.

535
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:30,000
They would be sold to pay off their debts.

536
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:37,000
So if they were sold to an Israelite then he shall serve that Israelite seven six years.

537
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:40,000
But in the seventh year you shall set him free.

538
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:43,000
And when you set him free you know you shall not send him away empty handed.

539
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,000
OK. So get this.

540
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:47,000
You go to the market.

541
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:50,000
You see an Israelite being sold there for their debts.

542
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:54,000
And let's say you got ten gold coin in your pocket and you say OK I'm going to buy this guy.

543
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,000
He looks healthy strong whatever.

544
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:02,000
I don't want to be I don't be owned by some foreigner right or somebody that might whip him or beat him.

545
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:04,000
And I'm a good master because I fear God.

546
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:05,000
I don't want him to go somewhere else.

547
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:06,000
I'm going to buy it.

548
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:07,000
You pay ten gold coin for him.

549
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:09,000
Now he works for you for six years.

550
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:15,000
At the end of the six years all he's done is work off his debt.

551
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:19,000
Maybe not even all of his debt because in the seventh year his debt would be freed.

552
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:25,000
But maybe he didn't didn't work off all of his they got out a really big debt right in that period of time.

553
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:29,000
But he says in the seventh year you shall set him free.

554
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:32,000
And when you set him free you shall not send him away empty handed.

555
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:36,000
What do you owe this guy the guy that worked for you for six years.

556
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:37,000
What do you owe him.

557
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,000
You don't owe him anything.

558
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:41,000
So he calls on us for generosity.

559
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:51,000
He says you shall furnish him literally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat.

560
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,000
You shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you.

561
00:48:54,000 --> 00:49:00,000
You shall furnish him liberally liberally means go overboard.

562
00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:06,000
Don't hold back liberally is like if you really like hot sauce and you sit down to eat a taco salad.

563
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:08,000
It's how you apply your hot sauce.

564
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:10,000
You just shake it all over the place.

565
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:11,000
And that's what he's saying.

566
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,000
He's saying just shake it all over the place.

567
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:16,000
Douse them in your good fortune.

568
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:22,000
If you're OK and now you're releasing somebody from their debt to you in this case their servitude.

569
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:29,000
Pour into their lives so that they can be functional better than functionally can be doing really well.

570
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:33,000
He says do it as the Lord your God has blessed you.

571
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:41,000
Then he says in 15 and you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.

572
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:52,000
Therefore I command you this today and it shall come about if he says to you I will not go from you because he loves you and your household since he fares well with you.

573
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:57,000
In other words you go to release him after six years and say you don't have to be a slave anymore.

574
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:58,000
I'm just going to let you go.

575
00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:01,000
And then he says no I don't want to go.

576
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:03,000
I'm happy here.

577
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:04,000
My wife and kids are here now.

578
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:05,000
Let me get married.

579
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:06,000
I have kids.

580
00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:09,000
I'm prospering under your.

581
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:19,000
And he says then you shall take an all which is like a pointy thing and pierce it through his ear into the door of your house and he shall be your servant forever.

582
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,000
And also you shall do likewise to your maid servant.

583
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,000
So it's the same way man or woman doesn't matter.

584
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:29,000
Almost done.

585
00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:33,000
It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free.

586
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:34,000
Right.

587
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:35,000
So you've had this guy's been working for you for six years.

588
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:36,000
He's a hard worker.

589
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:39,000
You don't want to think about how hard it is to give him up.

590
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:44,000
Don't think about that and don't think about how hard it's going to be to really dress him up.

591
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:45,000
Give him all that he needs.

592
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:46,000
Right.

593
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:47,000
Don't do that.

594
00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:49,000
Again this is governing our thoughts.

595
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:53,000
Don't worry about it when you're required by the law to give because God's going to take care of it.

596
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:55,000
Don't think about it.

597
00:50:55,000 --> 00:51:03,000
It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man.

598
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:12,000
So now this guy who was owned we see he worked hard not like somebody who was paid but like somebody who cares about what God thinks.

599
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:14,000
Almost done with the text.

600
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:18,000
So the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.

601
00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:19,000
There's that promise.

602
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:20,000
OK.

603
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:22,000
So the first few things I want you to see in here.

604
00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:28,000
First of all this text is another what I call care declaration.

605
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:32,000
The God of the universe who literally owns everything.

606
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:33,000
He cares about you.

607
00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:36,000
He cares that you have enough of what you have.

608
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:38,000
He cares that you're taking care of.

609
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:39,000
He cares about your health.

610
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:40,000
He cares about your relationships.

611
00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:43,000
He cares about where you live and what you have where you live.

612
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:45,000
He cares about your transportation.

613
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:48,000
He cares about your bank account although that's a fairly modern invention.

614
00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:51,000
He cares about you and your situation.

615
00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:56,000
And he has promised to take care of you and your situation if you are in the kingdom of God.

616
00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:05,000
Now I understand this is written to the Israelites originally who were to be God's people and the church has now replaced essentially the Israelites.

617
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:11,000
There are Israelites who are born of Jewish descent who have believed Christ and they are in the kingdom of God.

618
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:19,000
And there are Gentiles like you or I most of us in here I think everybody in here probably who is a Gentile meaning we do not have Jewish descent.

619
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:25,000
And we have believed in God through Jesus Christ and been saved and we have become part of the kingdom.

620
00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:27,000
We now live where God reigns.

621
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:29,000
Now that should be you.

622
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:33,000
It also should include your heart and it should include your mind.

623
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:39,000
And if it does then God has made a care declaration to you.

624
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:42,000
God will take care of you.

625
00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:44,000
Now that doesn't mean you can't suffer.

626
00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:51,000
In the New Testament we find out that it is a great honor to suffer as Christ suffered for the faith.

627
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:59,000
We also know that as it was described by Isaiah that there is a road of holiness and when you are on it demons and evil spirits can't come on there.

628
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:03,000
But when you are on the edge of it or you are near the edge they will come and try to entice you off.

629
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:07,000
And we know that there is sorrow and sighing.

630
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:08,000
Meaning there is difficulty.

631
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:09,000
Sometimes life is hard.

632
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:10,000
We get tired.

633
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:13,000
Sometimes life feels hopeless.

634
00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:15,000
And that is all on the road of holiness.

635
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:17,000
So it is for real.

636
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:33,000
And when I am on the road of holiness or you are on the road of holiness and you start to feel like that there should be somebody on the road of holiness that recognizes that that is what is going on for you and that steps up in their generosity and cares about you.

637
00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:46,000
This God declaration is not only declaring that God cares about your situation but he is saying he wants to use his people, the people in the kingdom of God to take care of you.

638
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:55,000
And if you are in the kingdom of God he wants to use you to take care of the needs of others who are in the kingdom of God.

639
00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:59,000
And I fully get that this is a challenging topic.

640
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:06,000
Because some days you might have a few extra dollars in your wallet and be thinking man I cannot get me this or that.

641
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:11,000
Your bank account might be starting to build up finally after years and years of dryness.

642
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:14,000
You are like man it has been really rough for a long time but now I am starting to get some money.

643
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:18,000
And then you start seeing somebody who is a follower of the Lord by their profession.

644
00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:20,000
Best you know they are a Christian and they have a need.

645
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:29,000
And you do not want to dip into that savings or that amount that you have that you have set aside to meet that need because you might need it.

646
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:33,000
I get it. I fully understand that this is challenging. But what did the word say?

647
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:38,000
It said do not think like that. Do not let your heart be like that. Do not let your hand be closed around that.

648
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:43,000
The tighter you choke something the less it becomes.

649
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:50,000
If you squeeze a handful of play dough really tightly if it does not come out your fingers it is just going to get smaller and smaller and smaller.

650
00:54:50,000 --> 00:54:53,000
And that is the way it is with all the blessings of God.

651
00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:57,000
The tighter you squeeze them the truth is the less you have them.

652
00:54:57,000 --> 00:55:10,000
Unless you are ready today to commit all that you are, all that you have and all that you will do in this lifetime into the hands of the Lord God of Heaven through his son Jesus Christ.

653
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:14,000
Then I would be a little cautious about saying I am a follower of God.

654
00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:17,000
Because that is exactly what we are asked to do.

655
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:21,000
Every penny you ever receive is grist for the mill. God can use it however he wants.

656
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:28,000
Any moment in time in which you say I am not going to let God use that particular penny the way God wants to use it then you own it.

657
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:33,000
He does not and for one it is not going to multiply and for two it is probably going to go down the drain.

658
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:40,000
I was talking with a young man who was a Christian and he was talking about how they had finally gotten ahead a little bit financially.

659
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:44,000
We finally have some money in the bank. Our bills are getting paid off. We finally have some money in the bank.

660
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:51,000
He mentioned so and so. A certain person was talking about it. We were thinking about doing this for them.

661
00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:55,000
We were real nervous about it, leery about it, whatever because we are finally getting ahead.

662
00:55:55,000 --> 00:56:00,000
And I said well I would encourage you if the Lord is laying on your heart definitely step up and do that for that person.

663
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:06,000
Because you do not want to say no to God. And I never heard anything else about it.

664
00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:13,000
And about a month later that person, the person saying they are finally getting ahead, finally getting money in the bank came to me and said look I do not have any money.

665
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:19,000
We need help. Will you help us or will someone help us because we do not have money to take care of this and this is a need.

666
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:24,000
It is not I want to pay for my Netflix subscription. We are talking about like prescriptions or something like that.

667
00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:27,000
This was a need. I need help now. And I am like well what happened?

668
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:31,000
Literally we had a conversation a month ago and you are like well we had all this money in the bank.

669
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:34,000
And we are getting ahead. I said what happened in the meantime?

670
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:38,000
And as we talked about it we found out that they had neglected the tithe.

671
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:41,000
They had neglected to give to the person that God laid it on their heart.

672
00:56:41,000 --> 00:56:47,000
And this broke down and that broke down and that fell apart and they spent money because they felt like they were finally getting ahead.

673
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:50,000
So they could afford to go out a few extra times and go to dinner and so on.

674
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:54,000
And the next thing you know they had no money and they are coming looking for money.

675
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:58,000
This is God's economy. He declares He wants to take care of you.

676
00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:01,000
And hold on because this will step on your toes if you are not careful.

677
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:08,000
He wants to take care of you and He disallows you to do that for yourself.

678
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:13,000
He wants to take care of you and you cannot take care of you.

679
00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:18,000
You are not allowed. You are His child.

680
00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:22,000
When you try to do it on your own and block God out and say no God I got this.

681
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:26,000
That will always go down the tank. It will always be burned up.

682
00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:29,000
It will always be consumed. It will always bleed out on the road.

683
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:33,000
It's useless to say no I'm not going to let God do it. I'm going to do it myself.

684
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:37,000
It's worse than useless. It is an insult to our Father in heaven.

685
00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:39,000
God's care declaration is not an option.

686
00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:43,000
Either you are in or you are out. Either you are kingdom material or you are not.

687
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:50,000
And if you are kingdom material then you are letting God take care of you and letting Him use you to take care of others.

688
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:54,000
That's God's care declaration. It is not don't worry I got you.

689
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:58,000
It's don't worry I got you as long as you are willing.

690
00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:02,000
As long as you are with me. As long as you are trusting me.

691
00:58:02,000 --> 00:58:08,000
And when you are hoarding for yourself even holding back sustenance while someone else is suffering.

692
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:14,000
That is not trusting God. That is trusting what God did yesterday or months ago.

693
00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:18,000
But it's not trusting what God is doing today or will do tomorrow.

694
00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:22,000
The second thing then there and this is really where the meat of the sermon is.

695
00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:26,000
Is these contingencies that God has placed in this text.

696
00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:32,000
There is a care declaration that said God will take care of you and He will use you to take care of others.

697
00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:35,000
As long as you are willing.

698
00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:39,000
But there are also contingencies. They are simple. Each one. I'll point them out of the text to you.

699
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:42,000
I don't think we need to do a lot of going through scripture and supporting them.

700
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:44,000
But I think they will resonate with you as soon as I say them.

701
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:50,000
First of all see that in this text God is very clear that justice.

702
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:54,000
You know what justice is right. Justice is when somebody gets what they deserve.

703
00:58:54,000 --> 00:59:00,000
Justice between brothers or between fellow kingdom members fellow Christians in our case.

704
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:05,000
Right. Justice between brothers has two feet upon which it stands.

705
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:09,000
The first foot is generosity. I think that's clear.

706
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:14,000
If you have somebody who is in need it is justice if you meet that need.

707
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:19,000
That's justice. Why. Because God has declared His care for you.

708
00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:24,000
Assuming you allow Him to use you to care for others and for Him to continue to care for you.

709
00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:28,000
So it's justice if you deal with others generously.

710
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:33,000
However there is a situation a business situation if you will.

711
00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:37,000
A community where you're lending to someone or you're giving.

712
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:40,000
Even if you're just giving to them and never asking for it back.

713
00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:45,000
There is a second foot to justice and that foot is diligence.

714
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:49,000
It's hard work. So in other words I say to you look.

715
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:52,000
This is just a gift. I'm just giving it to you. I don't need it back. It's just for you.

716
00:59:52,000 --> 00:59:55,000
You know I feel like God laid on my heart. I'm just giving it to you.

717
00:59:55,000 --> 01:00:00,000
Are you done? You got what you needed. But are they done?

718
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:02,000
No because they have a care declaration from God.

719
01:00:02,000 --> 01:00:07,000
If they would receive God's care and allow themselves to be used to care for others.

720
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:12,000
Then they will be okay. And somehow along the road they ran into some suffering.

721
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:16,000
That either was because they weren't operating in the care declaration.

722
01:00:16,000 --> 01:00:19,000
Or because there is sorrow and sighing on the highway of holiness.

723
01:00:19,000 --> 01:00:25,000
Difficulty just happens. Things just happen. Suffering is real. It just happens.

724
01:00:25,000 --> 01:00:28,000
Time and chance happens to all men.

725
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:34,000
And so they now have a responsibility to act out in the care declaration.

726
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:41,000
To be used to help others. To allow God to help them.

727
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:45,000
And that puts them in the situation. See now I have given them money.

728
01:00:45,000 --> 01:00:48,000
I have not asked for anything in return.

729
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:53,000
So the diligence that God would call them to is for them to serve me back.

730
01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:56,000
Now they may never have to pay me back. I'm not asking for it.

731
01:00:56,000 --> 01:00:59,000
But they may want to nonetheless.

732
01:00:59,000 --> 01:01:02,000
And if you're at the end of the six years and your debts are forgiven.

733
01:01:02,000 --> 01:01:05,000
Nothing says you can't pay it back. Right?

734
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:10,000
Just that you don't have to. It says that the lender lets go.

735
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:14,000
I let go. I give you this. I let go. Same as if it were a gift.

736
01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:17,000
And now you say okay I receive it.

737
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:20,000
But at the back of your mind and in your heart because you love me as your brother.

738
01:01:20,000 --> 01:01:25,000
You say but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure your needs are met.

739
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:31,000
And soon if we practice this. Soon if we stand on the two feet of justice between brothers.

740
01:01:31,000 --> 01:01:34,000
The feet of generosity and hard work or diligence.

741
01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:37,000
We will have the kingdom of God in our midst.

742
01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:42,000
God will begin to act through people to do things that you're going to be one day going.

743
01:01:42,000 --> 01:01:45,000
Man I really need this. I'll never forget I was in my side yard working.

744
01:01:45,000 --> 01:01:48,000
It was about 85 degrees but it was in the fall.

745
01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:50,000
It was dry. My allergies were kicking up really bad.

746
01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:53,000
And I think Alicia and Amalia were young and they were out there with me too.

747
01:01:53,000 --> 01:01:57,000
And we had to do the leaves in our yard. And it was going to be a real chore.

748
01:01:57,000 --> 01:01:59,000
And we were like man we may not get done today.

749
01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:01,000
We figured we weren't going to get done.

750
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:04,000
Because a lot of leaves and pine needles and the pine needles get really heavy.

751
01:02:04,000 --> 01:02:07,000
And we're dragging them to the street to pile them up so the city can come get them.

752
01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:09,000
We're just like holy cow.

753
01:02:09,000 --> 01:02:11,000
And while I'm working I'm saying Lord you know we're not going to get this done today.

754
01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:13,000
And I don't know when we're going to get a chance to do it.

755
01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:17,000
And all of a sudden another family shows up from the church in force.

756
01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:21,000
Like five people show up and they're coming to do our to help us do our leaves.

757
01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:23,000
Now nobody called them. Nobody texted them.

758
01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:25,000
Nobody asked them to come.

759
01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:28,000
Nobody told them we were out working in the yard doing our leaves or whatever.

760
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:32,000
But I'll tell you what when they came and they started working with us we had a good old time.

761
01:02:32,000 --> 01:02:38,000
Everybody working together to do this job and it all got done in a couple of hours.

762
01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:42,000
Because people will suddenly start showing up because they will recognize you have a need.

763
01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:45,000
Before you even recognize you have a need to ask somebody.

764
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:49,000
By the time you go look I have a need. Can anybody help with this?

765
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:52,000
It's already too late. We've already dropped the ball.

766
01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:55,000
We've already failed to stand on the two feet of generosity and diligence.

767
01:02:55,000 --> 01:03:00,000
We should be working hard to have the necessary resources to take care of each other.

768
01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:04,000
And then diligently looking for an opportunity to show up and be generous.

769
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:07,000
You got five bucks in your pocket. It's got a name on it.

770
01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:10,000
And it ain't your name.

771
01:03:10,000 --> 01:03:14,000
Be ready to surrender it unto the Lord to make somebody else's life better.

772
01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:17,000
You say but gosh it's my only five bucks.

773
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:22,000
Listen if you can find a way, God's way to give that five bucks.

774
01:03:22,000 --> 01:03:26,000
I promise you in no uncertain term if you find God's way.

775
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:29,000
If you do it God's way under his care declaration.

776
01:03:29,000 --> 01:03:32,000
That the five bucks will get replaced and more.

777
01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:35,000
That's what his care declaration says.

778
01:03:35,000 --> 01:03:37,000
Now if you're the one supposed to spend the five bucks.

779
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:39,000
If you're the one that's supposed to use it for whatever.

780
01:03:39,000 --> 01:03:41,000
Then use it for whatever God wants to use it for.

781
01:03:41,000 --> 01:03:44,000
I'm not saying you have to give outside your means or anything like that.

782
01:03:44,000 --> 01:03:47,000
But I'm saying exist inside God's care declaration.

783
01:03:47,000 --> 01:03:50,000
And justice between brothers is two-feeted.

784
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:56,000
Generosity and diligence. We work hard and we are generous.

785
01:03:56,000 --> 01:04:00,000
Notice also in this text in 9, 10, 15, and 18.

786
01:04:00,000 --> 01:04:04,000
God makes it very clear that he is not addressing money.

787
01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:06,000
This is not about money.

788
01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:08,000
So if you're wrapped up in money, you're concerned about money.

789
01:04:08,000 --> 01:04:10,000
You're thinking I'm telling you got to give your money.

790
01:04:10,000 --> 01:04:12,000
If that's what your heart is as we're listening to this sermon today.

791
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:14,000
Or as we're reading this text.

792
01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:16,000
You understand God wasn't talking about your money at all.

793
01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:18,000
He said put money in the text. He says money.

794
01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:20,000
He says serve. He says give up the sermon.

795
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:21,000
He says open your hand. Right?

796
01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:22,000
You got to have something in your hand.

797
01:04:22,000 --> 01:04:26,000
God was talking about our hearts and our minds.

798
01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:30,000
Do you want to own the territory that is your mind?

799
01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:33,000
Do you want to overcome the struggles that you have mentally?

800
01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:35,000
Here's how you do it.

801
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:41,000
Start making everything in your mind about how somebody else might need to be taken care of.

802
01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:44,000
Live in the care declaration of the Lord.

803
01:04:44,000 --> 01:04:49,000
Brothers said to me, see, you know, I have to get used to the fact that I encourage others.

804
01:04:49,000 --> 01:04:51,000
And I don't get much encouragement.

805
01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:53,000
Now whether or not that's true is irrelevant.

806
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:56,000
But here's the fact. That's the way it's supposed to be.

807
01:04:56,000 --> 01:05:00,000
There are millions of people that you could potentially touch.

808
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:03,000
Millions. Now do you want millions of people encouraging you?

809
01:05:03,000 --> 01:05:06,000
Listen to me. If those millions of people encouraged you.

810
01:05:06,000 --> 01:05:10,000
You wouldn't have time to eat, sleep, or get a drink of water.

811
01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:14,000
You'd be so busy getting encouraged that you wouldn't have time to do anything at all.

812
01:05:14,000 --> 01:05:17,000
You should be walking around systematically going, now how can I help this person?

813
01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:19,000
How can I help that person get diligent?

814
01:05:19,000 --> 01:05:21,000
Plan time in your schedule. Plan time in your budget.

815
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:25,000
Then go beyond whatever time you plan and do even more.

816
01:05:25,000 --> 01:05:29,000
And as you do that, you will be walking in the care declaration of the Lord.

817
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:32,000
And God will deal with your thoughts.

818
01:05:32,000 --> 01:05:35,000
And God will deal with your heart.

819
01:05:35,000 --> 01:05:39,000
When the scripture says they'll take a stone cold heart out of you and give you a heart of flesh

820
01:05:39,000 --> 01:05:44,000
that is written in the context of you walking in God's care declaration.

821
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:48,000
If you are living your life, meeting out certain resources,

822
01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:50,000
making sure everything is covered,

823
01:05:50,000 --> 01:05:55,000
you've got a lawful organized plan or a chaotic, I don't know what the heck I'm going to do,

824
01:05:55,000 --> 01:06:00,000
but I'm just plowing forward today, neither one of those is what God is calling us to.

825
01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:03,000
He is calling us to allow Him to work in our hearts and our minds.

826
01:06:03,000 --> 01:06:14,000
Which He will do both because we and so that we stand in generosity and diligence in His care declaration.

827
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:18,000
And until we do, He will not deal with the thoughts that are in our heads.

828
01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:20,000
He will not deal with the thoughts that are in our hearts.

829
01:06:20,000 --> 01:06:24,000
Because every time He goes to deal with thoughts that's in your heart or the thoughts that's in your head,

830
01:06:24,000 --> 01:06:28,000
you go, nope, it's okay, got this. All the bills are paid.

831
01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:31,000
It's okay, got this. Going out to eat because I'm just too tired to cook.

832
01:06:31,000 --> 01:06:36,000
It's okay, got this. Already called the plumber.

833
01:06:36,000 --> 01:06:37,000
And that's what people are doing.

834
01:06:37,000 --> 01:06:42,000
You want God to deal with what's in your head and what's in your heart, then give Him your head and your heart.

835
01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:46,000
When it's His terrain, you better believe He'll clean it up.

836
01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:52,000
When it's your terrain, you're so busy messing it up, ain't no time to clean it up.

837
01:06:52,000 --> 01:06:55,000
This is about our thoughts. It is about our hearts.

838
01:06:55,000 --> 01:06:59,000
And it is about who will govern them. God says, don't have a thought like that.

839
01:06:59,000 --> 01:07:02,000
Don't say in your heart that. Don't do that.

840
01:07:02,000 --> 01:07:08,000
Because when you do that, you set yourself up for sin in you.

841
01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:16,000
And He says about our giving and lending, that it should be according to the need of the person that we're giving our lending to,

842
01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:22,000
not according to what seems wise or what seems like we can afford.

843
01:07:22,000 --> 01:07:25,000
Whew, ouch.

844
01:07:25,000 --> 01:07:27,000
Now I've written a lot of budgets in my day, a lot of spending plans.

845
01:07:27,000 --> 01:07:32,000
We do pretty good in our house now sticking to our spending plan, but we had 20 years to try to figure out how to do that.

846
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:36,000
So we've written a lot of them. Well, this one's not working. Scrap that one. Do it again.

847
01:07:36,000 --> 01:07:39,000
We've done a lot of that.

848
01:07:39,000 --> 01:07:46,000
But I submit to you that what He is saying in verse 8 is that it is according to what the need is,

849
01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:48,000
not according to what you think you can afford.

850
01:07:48,000 --> 01:07:51,000
It's in the middle of a sentence, so I'll go back a verse, but I'll read it to you. It says this.

851
01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:57,000
If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns and your land which the Lord your God is giving you,

852
01:07:57,000 --> 01:08:00,000
you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand from your poor brother,

853
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:09,000
but you shall freely open your hand to him and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

854
01:08:09,000 --> 01:08:12,000
Does that have anything to do with how much you have?

855
01:08:12,000 --> 01:08:17,000
It has to do with the fact that you recognize the need and you have a need you can do something about,

856
01:08:17,000 --> 01:08:22,000
and you've already chased out the thoughts and the fear in your heart of not doing it God's way.

857
01:08:22,000 --> 01:08:25,000
You've already let God take care of that. And you just go, boom.

858
01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:30,000
I had a friend of mine, he's gone with the Lord now, so I'll tell you his first name was Forrest, great guy.

859
01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:33,000
He called me up one day and said, can you go to lunch? I said, sure.

860
01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:37,000
And I said, where do you want me to meet you? We went to lunch. I sat down.

861
01:08:37,000 --> 01:08:40,000
He said, just before we start, I want you to know I'm paying for lunch today.

862
01:08:40,000 --> 01:08:45,000
I said, well, I can pay for my own, gladly. I'll pay for yours. You invited me out. I'd be happy to do that.

863
01:08:45,000 --> 01:08:49,000
He said, no, I refuse. I'll pay for it. I said, OK. So he's paying for my lunch.

864
01:08:49,000 --> 01:08:51,000
While we're talking, he says, well, what's things going like?

865
01:08:51,000 --> 01:08:54,000
And he's probing me. I understand what's going on. He's asking me about what's going on in my life.

866
01:08:54,000 --> 01:09:01,000
And I just started sharing about how our car, our van needed new tires because we got a used van.

867
01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:05,000
It was gifted to us. And then we're driving it. And all of a sudden, tires started to go bad.

868
01:09:05,000 --> 01:09:08,000
And we're like, I guess we need new tires. We had the money to put new tires. It was $600.

869
01:09:08,000 --> 01:09:10,000
We needed it. It was $600, $700, something like that. So we had the money.

870
01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:14,000
I said, we'll get it. Don't worry about it. We'll get it. We'll figure out how to pay for it.

871
01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:19,000
Then the lunch, the lady who owned the restaurant was serving us because she knew him.

872
01:09:19,000 --> 01:09:22,000
And she came give us the bill. He took the bill and he paid it.

873
01:09:22,000 --> 01:09:31,000
And then he got out his checkbook and he wrote me a check for the estimated amount of the tires, $1,200.

874
01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:36,000
I was like, but first of all, OK, the tires are only going to be $600 to $700.

875
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:41,000
He goes, I know. But just in case anything else comes up, just in case there's any way,

876
01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:45,000
he said, I want to give you this $1,200. And I'm like, but I don't need $1,200.

877
01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:49,000
I only need maybe $600, $700. And I said, truth is, probably only need about half of that

878
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:52,000
because we're already working on it. I'm like, I don't want to take your money if I don't need it.

879
01:09:52,000 --> 01:09:59,000
And he said, no, I want to give generously. And I said, well, but then maybe you need to give it to somebody else.

880
01:09:59,000 --> 01:10:03,000
He said, listen to me. If I need to give to somebody else, don't you worry.

881
01:10:03,000 --> 01:10:08,000
God's going to give to me before I give to them and I'll have plenty. That's not what's at stake here.

882
01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:13,000
What's at stake here is whether or not my heart and my mind are in the right place and I'm able to give the way I want to give.

883
01:10:13,000 --> 01:10:19,000
So I'm asking, will you, this is him talking. He said, will you let me give you this $1,200?

884
01:10:19,000 --> 01:10:28,000
I want you to understand that God has asked you that question a thousand times if you're 18 or older in this room.

885
01:10:28,000 --> 01:10:34,000
God has asked you so many times, will you let me give you X?

886
01:10:34,000 --> 01:10:44,000
And more often than not, you said no. And I'm in the same place because to say yes would be us walking around diligently,

887
01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:51,000
hardworking, looking for people who have need and finding ways to give away that which we've been blessed with.

888
01:10:51,000 --> 01:10:56,000
And instead of doing that, we're busy managing counting our marbles, making sure we have enough.

889
01:10:56,000 --> 01:11:00,000
We have a we have money marked out in our spending plan and give it. We give it people all the time.

890
01:11:00,000 --> 01:11:05,000
But then I look at my spending plan. I'm like, I also pay for a Netflix subscription, which really irks me sometimes.

891
01:11:05,000 --> 01:11:11,000
And I think it irks my wife that it irks me. But the point is we could cancel the Netflix subscription.

892
01:11:11,000 --> 01:11:16,000
That would be $15 a month that we could then go around and give people $15 extra a month.

893
01:11:16,000 --> 01:11:23,000
And then we give it and we want it with so much fun. Well, maybe we want Netflix. I don't know, because now we have more money than we started with.

894
01:11:23,000 --> 01:11:28,000
I'm not joking about this. I'm just as confused by God's math as anybody else is.

895
01:11:28,000 --> 01:11:33,000
But this is what I'm telling you. This is about our hearts is the battle for our hearts and our minds.

896
01:11:33,000 --> 01:11:41,000
And until we decide to stand firmly and generously to hard work, walking forward, looking for others to bless, until we do that,

897
01:11:41,000 --> 01:11:51,000
we are turning our nose up at God's care declaration. And we cannot start giving and lending should be done according to the need of the individual,

898
01:11:51,000 --> 01:12:04,000
not according to what you might feel is wise or affordable. We are to be a people that cares for God's people.

899
01:12:04,000 --> 01:12:11,000
That was clear in verses four and five. This is the kind of people God's people are. We are a people that cares for God's people.

900
01:12:11,000 --> 01:12:16,000
Now, I understand fully that there is a looming elephant in the room and we'll get back to it because I get it.

901
01:12:16,000 --> 01:12:20,000
You're going, wait, there's something in the back of your mind right now that's going, there's something that he's not saying.

902
01:12:20,000 --> 01:12:23,000
And it's there. We'll get there in a minute. Okay.

903
01:12:23,000 --> 01:12:34,000
Notice he also says that the prayers of the suffering amongst God's people might come up to God, pardon me, and they might wind up being against you.

904
01:12:34,000 --> 01:12:41,000
And then in the New Testament, Jesus said, if you're going to give your offering to God and you recognize somebody has something against you,

905
01:12:41,000 --> 01:12:46,000
he said, leave it there at the altar and go back and make it right and then come back and worship God.

906
01:12:46,000 --> 01:12:52,000
So in other words, if there's somebody out there that you're not taking care of, that you're supposed to be taking care of

907
01:12:52,000 --> 01:12:57,000
and you recognize it while you're on your way to worship God, you better take care of it first.

908
01:12:57,000 --> 01:13:07,000
Ouch. That'll hurt. You can't correctly, accurately, adequately, generously, lovingly, gently, kindly with self-control and faithfulness,

909
01:13:07,000 --> 01:13:16,000
serve a living God who has made a care declaration like this while not walking in his care declaration.

910
01:13:16,000 --> 01:13:24,000
You can't. You must take care of those who you are responsible to take care of, because if you don't, they will pray to God.

911
01:13:24,000 --> 01:13:28,000
And God and this will happen to be like this. Like a bill comes in the mail.

912
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:33,000
You know, God gets bills in a sense. And prayers come to him and he says, God, please help me. I need this on a box.

913
01:13:33,000 --> 01:13:37,000
I can't pay for my meds. Please help me. My car's broke down and I needed help. Right?

914
01:13:37,000 --> 01:13:41,000
And God pulls it up. And guess what our omniscient God does?

915
01:13:41,000 --> 01:13:49,000
What do you think, Dustin? When God gets a request for something, what do you think he does?

916
01:13:49,000 --> 01:13:56,000
Okay. So he's going to look at the request. He's going to consider it. And if it's within his will, he's going to grant it.

917
01:13:56,000 --> 01:14:01,000
But as he does that, guess what else is going to happen? He's going to go, wait a minute.

918
01:14:01,000 --> 01:14:09,000
I already assigned somebody to this task. I already put somebody in place who was supposed to provide this.

919
01:14:09,000 --> 01:14:15,000
Where are they? Now, I'm being a little bit funny, aren't I? Because God knows exactly where we are.

920
01:14:15,000 --> 01:14:21,000
And he says, oh, I told Dan to give that 100 bucks. I told Dan to take care of that problem.

921
01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:28,000
Or I told Dan, if it's a thousand bucks, it might be, I told these three or these five people, right, to take care of that problem.

922
01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:34,000
And none of them took care of the problem. So then God says, okay, well, now I've got this prayer and it's in the will of the Lord that I'm going to do it.

923
01:14:34,000 --> 01:14:43,000
So I'll assign somebody else. Or, you know, time's getting short now. So instead of assigning somebody else, I'll just take care of it and make a miraculous thing happen.

924
01:14:43,000 --> 01:14:52,000
And God takes care of it. And then the somebody else's that were assigned the task get disciplined by God because he chastises those whom he loves.

925
01:14:52,000 --> 01:14:57,000
And so you were supposed to give a hundred dollars to that person's cause. You're like, well, I don't know why I would even give them a hundred dollars.

926
01:14:57,000 --> 01:15:01,000
I just feel like I might. But no, I don't think I'm going to do that because I don't know why I would even do that.

927
01:15:01,000 --> 01:15:07,000
And you don't. And then God gives them the hundred dollars. And then God chastises you.

928
01:15:07,000 --> 01:15:12,000
Because you were supposed to be operating under his care declaration and letting him deal with what was in your heart and what was in your mind.

929
01:15:12,000 --> 01:15:24,000
And instead you said, no, thank you, God. I got a hundred dollars. I'll just keep my hundred dollars. I don't need you today.

930
01:15:24,000 --> 01:15:35,000
Notice that he says very clearly without any doubt. Listen to verse 18 and back in verse 10, he says, and I'll read 10 first, he says, oops, the wind blew my Bible.

931
01:15:35,000 --> 01:15:48,000
OK, verse 10 says this. You shall generously give to him and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

932
01:15:48,000 --> 01:15:56,000
That's verse 10. And then in verse 18, he says, it shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man.

933
01:15:56,000 --> 01:16:08,000
So the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do. Hear me very simply. God is saying giving will never be your undoing.

934
01:16:08,000 --> 01:16:17,000
When you fall down or come up short, you will never fall down or come up short because you gave when you were supposed to.

935
01:16:17,000 --> 01:16:25,000
It does not work that way. So when you have it in your hand or in your power to do so, you're debating with yourself whether or not to give.

936
01:16:25,000 --> 01:16:35,000
Just give because nobody ever under the sun inside the kingdom of God, if you're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, nobody ever.

937
01:16:35,000 --> 01:16:45,000
Was undone by giving a few been undone a million times, a billion times by being stingy or by having those thoughts in their hearts, feeling guilty,

938
01:16:45,000 --> 01:16:54,000
feeling abandoned themselves because they pushed God away. All kinds of bad things can happen when you hold back in generosity or when your laziness gets the better part of you

939
01:16:54,000 --> 01:17:01,000
and so you don't take care of others because you're not being diligent or you're not repaying the person you're supposed to repay because you're not being diligent.

940
01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:09,000
So that does happen, but no one has ever been undone by godly giving.

941
01:17:09,000 --> 01:17:17,000
And then the last one that was in here that was painfully obvious is that a closed heart is a heart. A closed hand is a hard heart.

942
01:17:17,000 --> 01:17:25,000
A closed hand is a hard heart. And so if you have a hard heart, you'll find yourself not wanting to surrender things.

943
01:17:25,000 --> 01:17:32,000
And the same is with God. You'll say, well, I have a thought and I need God to deal with it, but I don't want to give up that thought because my heart is hard.

944
01:17:32,000 --> 01:17:38,000
Not because God's not good enough, big enough, or strong enough because he is good enough, big enough, and strong enough.

945
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:46,000
But because my heart is hard, I'm going to hold on to it. I'm angry at so and so, they mistreated me. And it was fair, it was right. They did. They mistreated me.

946
01:17:46,000 --> 01:17:55,000
It was true. I've forgiven them, but I'm still not going to give. In the New Testament, Jesus says, loan even to your enemies.

947
01:17:55,000 --> 01:18:04,000
Now mind you, almost all we've been talking about is in the kingdom of God today. I quoted Matthew 5 where he said,

948
01:18:04,000 --> 01:18:11,000
if you're going to go to the altar and you realize someone has something against you, go back first and take care of that thing and then come to the altar.

949
01:18:11,000 --> 01:18:18,000
I quoted Luke 14 and Luke 6 basically saying that we are to give and give generously even to our enemies.

950
01:18:18,000 --> 01:18:25,000
But there is an elephant in the room, isn't there? There's still something that we're missing and we're coming to the conclusion.

951
01:18:25,000 --> 01:18:34,000
So first of all, I want to read to you one last text for the day and then I'll explain the economy that it shows us. And it's in Psalm 49.

952
01:18:34,000 --> 01:18:41,000
Psalm 49, so if you're following along in your Bible, you can, which I recommend people do that if they can because that helps you see another translation,

953
01:18:41,000 --> 01:18:50,000
helps you read it as well as hearing it, so you're going to remember it more, that kind of thing. So Psalm 49, and I'm going to read from 16 to 20.

954
01:18:50,000 --> 01:19:02,000
Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased, for when he dies he will carry nothing away.

955
01:19:02,000 --> 01:19:11,000
His glory will not descend after him. Notice the word descend, kind of scary.

956
01:19:11,000 --> 01:19:22,000
Though while he lives he congratulates himself, I'm doing pretty good, got quite a bit of money in the bank, my property's nice, my horses are fine, my cars are good,

957
01:19:22,000 --> 01:19:28,000
my bank account's stuffed full of retirement money, whatever. He says, I'm doing pretty good.

958
01:19:28,000 --> 01:19:35,000
Though he congratulates himself while he lives. And though men praise you when you do well for yourself, people are like, yeah, I see you're doing well.

959
01:19:35,000 --> 01:19:43,000
Your bills are always paid, you're working hard, you're making good money, your skills are very marketable, you're doing well, man, that's awesome.

960
01:19:43,000 --> 01:19:49,000
That's all anyone could ever expect in the world, right? But I think if you've been listening, you know the answer to that question.

961
01:19:49,000 --> 01:19:55,000
That is not all anyone could expect. God expects something way more than you're doing okay.

962
01:19:55,000 --> 01:20:01,000
He expects a diligent, generous walk, looking for who you can help. That's what he expects.

963
01:20:01,000 --> 01:20:05,000
And that's how you get control of your heart and mind as you walk in his care declaration.

964
01:20:05,000 --> 01:20:12,000
Back to the top of 18, he says this, though while he lives he congratulates himself, and though men praise you when you do well for yourself,

965
01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:20,000
he shall go to the generation of his fathers, they shall never see the light.

966
01:20:20,000 --> 01:20:27,000
Man is his pomp, yet without understanding, in other words, he builds himself up, he thinks he's doing great without understanding.

967
01:20:27,000 --> 01:20:36,000
And it says, it's like the beasts that perish. When you think what you're doing well, you are like the beasts that perish.

968
01:20:36,000 --> 01:20:43,000
My kid asked me, she said, will every dog be in heaven like they say? No.

969
01:20:43,000 --> 01:20:46,000
I said, well, will there be dogs in heaven? Yeah.

970
01:20:46,000 --> 01:20:51,000
The Bible says every type of flesh, every type of thing will be in the new heaven and the new earth.

971
01:20:51,000 --> 01:20:56,000
Everything that God made that was good, probably lots of things you've never seen, probably dinosaurs, I don't know.

972
01:20:56,000 --> 01:21:04,000
But the bottom line is, won't be nobody there who trusted in their riches while they were alive, who thought they were doing really good,

973
01:21:04,000 --> 01:21:10,000
who failed to walk in God's care declaration. They won't be there. They will not see the light.

974
01:21:10,000 --> 01:21:15,000
The light comes from in heaven, the light comes from God's throne. They will not see it.

975
01:21:15,000 --> 01:21:22,000
They'll be so far off from it, they won't even see the light of the throne, because they did pretty well.

976
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:27,000
There's a parable, not even a parable, a story of Jesus. It's not a parable. It's a story, a true story,

977
01:21:27,000 --> 01:21:33,000
about a man named Lazarus and a rich man, and they both die. One goes to hell, one goes to heaven.

978
01:21:33,000 --> 01:21:39,000
The one in hell looks up and wants to get from heaven. He said, just send him there and let him take a drop of cool water and just put it on my tongue.

979
01:21:39,000 --> 01:21:47,000
Let that guy who was diseased and sick and sat at my door and I never helped him, let him just come and stick his finger in cool water and just stick it on my tongue.

980
01:21:47,000 --> 01:21:50,000
It's kind of intimate, isn't it? You want somebody to come and stick something on your tongue right now?

981
01:21:50,000 --> 01:21:56,000
How about if I just stick a drip of water and put it on your tongue? You good about that? No, that's creepy.

982
01:21:56,000 --> 01:22:01,000
I don't want nobody sticking nothing on my tongue. But he said, just let him put a drip of water on my tongue.

983
01:22:01,000 --> 01:22:08,000
And he was told that as a rich man, he had his sustenance in life. And I would put this text in there.

984
01:22:08,000 --> 01:22:13,000
He never lived in God's care declaration. He never walked in diligence thinking about who he could help and being generous toward others.

985
01:22:13,000 --> 01:22:20,000
He let that diseased, sick poor man sit there and rot outside his gate every day and never gave to him.

986
01:22:20,000 --> 01:22:24,000
He says, Lazarus is now being comforted in heaven because he walked in God's care declaration.

987
01:22:24,000 --> 01:22:30,000
Of course, I'm adding that into the text from what we just read. He walked in God's care declaration while you would not.

988
01:22:30,000 --> 01:22:38,000
So you had your riches in this lifetime and now you get nothing. And he had nothing in this lifetime and now he's getting everything.

989
01:22:38,000 --> 01:22:48,000
Jesus also said this way, he said, go ahead and lend freely knowing that your father will reward you in the book of Luke at the day of the resurrection.

990
01:22:48,000 --> 01:22:58,000
So if you start thinking to yourself that if I give this, I'll be just a little more poor and you forget that it's all about trusting God and really letting God pour into you.

991
01:22:58,000 --> 01:23:06,000
You're missing out on some great blessing at the moment you walk into God's presence. That's what Jesus said.

992
01:23:06,000 --> 01:23:12,000
What's the elephant in the room? It's the same elephant from last week. These directions are about the kingdom of God.

993
01:23:12,000 --> 01:23:15,000
And we don't have the ability to know who's saved and who's not saved.

994
01:23:15,000 --> 01:23:21,000
So you've been walking around and you have somebody come to you and you're wondering whether or not they're saved.

995
01:23:21,000 --> 01:23:26,000
You don't know. You start sharing Jesus with them and they say they're saved, but they need a hundred bucks.

996
01:23:26,000 --> 01:23:34,000
Should you give them a hundred bucks or not? Based on these verses, if they truly are saved and they truly need a hundred bucks, then you should give it to them because God's going to take care of you.

997
01:23:34,000 --> 01:23:39,000
But you can't judge whether they're saved or not. But these rules are for people inside the kingdom of God.

998
01:23:39,000 --> 01:23:52,000
So there we are stuck. Stuck because if I want to follow God and be a beating to God, I have to go around looking for people who are in the kingdom of God so that I can help them, so that I'm walking in God's care declaration.

999
01:23:52,000 --> 01:24:01,000
I have to be diligent and hardworking and generous at the same time to help people who are in the kingdom of God so that I'm walking in God's care declaration, which I really want to be doing.

1000
01:24:01,000 --> 01:24:05,000
But I don't have the ability to decide who's in the kingdom of God and who's not.

1001
01:24:05,000 --> 01:24:12,000
And you have no obligation to help people who are outside the kingdom of God in the same manner that you do those who are inside the kingdom of God.

1002
01:24:12,000 --> 01:24:15,000
Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't be generous. It doesn't mean you shouldn't be kind.

1003
01:24:15,000 --> 01:24:20,000
If you see someone truly in need, this is true religion, helping widows and orphans.

1004
01:24:20,000 --> 01:24:27,000
But at the risk of slighting my brother James, who died almost 2,000 years ago, we're not called to true religion.

1005
01:24:27,000 --> 01:24:33,000
Not even true religion. We're called to faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

1006
01:24:33,000 --> 01:24:38,000
We're called to believing. What is the work of God that's given to believe in the one who was sent?

1007
01:24:38,000 --> 01:24:43,000
That's it. Not true religion, not 74 rules, not 10 steps to get there, none of that.

1008
01:24:43,000 --> 01:24:47,000
We have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.

1009
01:24:47,000 --> 01:24:55,000
So, I'm a firm believer that if you get in that moment and you're diligently walking generously and you see somebody who's in need,

1010
01:24:55,000 --> 01:24:59,000
but you don't know if they're a believer or not, but you have the resources, what do you do?

1011
01:24:59,000 --> 01:25:07,000
You ask God. And you say, God, am I the one to meet this need? Am I supposed to lend here? Am I supposed to give here?

1012
01:25:07,000 --> 01:25:15,000
But guess what? There is one more process that is ours to use. And that is, who is the local church?

1013
01:25:15,000 --> 01:25:22,000
What do we do? We say, you can't, I'm just going to be blunt about this, you cannot join New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church

1014
01:25:22,000 --> 01:25:27,000
unless by your profession you are a follower of God through His Son Jesus Christ.

1015
01:25:27,000 --> 01:25:31,000
Anybody that wanted to join the church who's not a follower of Jesus, that would be worthless.

1016
01:25:31,000 --> 01:25:35,000
It would mean nothing because the church is Jesus' people. That's who we are.

1017
01:25:35,000 --> 01:25:38,000
You say, well, my name is on the roll somewhere, but it literally means nothing,

1018
01:25:38,000 --> 01:25:41,000
which is why when people come to join the church, we ask them for their professional faith.

1019
01:25:41,000 --> 01:25:47,000
Do you believe in God through His Son Jesus Christ? Have you committed your life into the hands of our Lord?

1020
01:25:47,000 --> 01:25:54,000
And if you have, then that's basically step one. Have you been baptized publicly recognizing who Jesus is?

1021
01:25:54,000 --> 01:25:58,000
That He died, was buried, and rose again? And we've essentially done the same thing.

1022
01:25:58,000 --> 01:26:03,000
Have you been baptized publicly? And if that's not happened, then you can't join the church.

1023
01:26:03,000 --> 01:26:08,000
And are you willing to come in and plug in and work and be the kind of person that got diligently and generously

1024
01:26:08,000 --> 01:26:12,000
working to serve God as New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church? Are you willing to do that?

1025
01:26:12,000 --> 01:26:16,000
And if you say yes, then you could be a member. But if you are unwilling and would say no to that,

1026
01:26:16,000 --> 01:26:22,000
then you cannot be. Are you willing to work toward tithing in the church, giving as the Bible commands?

1027
01:26:22,000 --> 01:26:25,000
And if you are not willing to do that, you can't be in. Listen to me.

1028
01:26:25,000 --> 01:26:32,000
Take your responsibility about who gets to be a member of your church way more seriously

1029
01:26:32,000 --> 01:26:40,000
than how you pay your bills or how you lay out your budget or how you respond to your boss on the job or anything else.

1030
01:26:40,000 --> 01:26:45,000
Because these people, when I look around this room, I know who's a member of the church, and you should too.

1031
01:26:45,000 --> 01:26:51,000
You have agreed to their profession. You have agreed to work alongside of them to meet their needs

1032
01:26:51,000 --> 01:26:56,000
and for them to meet yours and to meet the needs of the community the best that we can together.

1033
01:26:56,000 --> 01:26:59,000
We've agreed to walk in the care and declaration of the Lord.

1034
01:26:59,000 --> 01:27:04,000
And you know there's somebody in our church that's not doing that. Then let's have them out, shall we?

1035
01:27:04,000 --> 01:27:07,000
Let's remove them, because this is what it means to be a Christian.

1036
01:27:07,000 --> 01:27:11,000
I want to be able to walk in here on a Sunday morning, and if somebody who's a member of the church says,

1037
01:27:11,000 --> 01:27:17,000
I need a hundred bucks, I want to be able to faithfully, diligently have that hundred dollars available to them

1038
01:27:17,000 --> 01:27:25,000
and just go, done. Fine. Not even going to think about it.

1039
01:27:25,000 --> 01:27:32,000
When Forrest and I got done with our meal and he wrote me that check, he called me up about two months later,

1040
01:27:32,000 --> 01:27:36,000
and I thought he was calling me to check and see if we bought the tires for the van.

1041
01:27:36,000 --> 01:27:41,000
And the funny thing about it was I had texted him in between because we didn't want to have to buy tires.

1042
01:27:41,000 --> 01:27:43,000
We thought it was the tires. But there was another problem.

1043
01:27:43,000 --> 01:27:46,000
This is not actually the tires, it's something in the suspension.

1044
01:27:46,000 --> 01:27:52,000
And so I texted him and I said, is it okay if we use that money to fix the suspension instead because the tires are fine.

1045
01:27:52,000 --> 01:27:57,000
They said the tires are fine. And he of course said, yes, fine. That's what I was thinking.

1046
01:27:57,000 --> 01:28:02,000
And it was more expensive, by the way. It cost like, I don't know, eight, nine hundred dollars instead of the six or seven.

1047
01:28:02,000 --> 01:28:05,000
So if he hadn't given the extra, we'd have had to pay that out of pocket. It was fine. He took care of it.

1048
01:28:05,000 --> 01:28:10,000
We still had two, three hundred hours that we didn't have to have to get that repair done.

1049
01:28:10,000 --> 01:28:14,000
But I had texted him and said, is it okay? So he called me up and he said he wanted to go to lunch.

1050
01:28:14,000 --> 01:28:20,000
I thought he was going to ask me at lunch about the tires. And he didn't.

1051
01:28:20,000 --> 01:28:23,000
As we were sitting there talking, he asked me, he said, how's this going? How are things going?

1052
01:28:23,000 --> 01:28:26,000
How are your vehicles? How are your house? Whatever.

1053
01:28:26,000 --> 01:28:32,000
And I said, well, we're working on the house actually because the house needs a new roof.

1054
01:28:32,000 --> 01:28:36,000
And we had to get new gutters because the gutters basically can drain down and stuff.

1055
01:28:36,000 --> 01:28:41,000
And we have somebody who's willing to put the roof on for a certain dollar.

1056
01:28:41,000 --> 01:28:49,000
Oh, I know a roofer. And he said, I can I can get that roof put on for you for X dollars.

1057
01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:54,000
It was like less than half of what we thought we have to pay. And he said, and I'll pay for it.

1058
01:28:54,000 --> 01:29:03,000
He wasn't asking me about the tires. He was asking me about how he could help me again.

1059
01:29:03,000 --> 01:29:05,000
I said, of course, I can't let you do that.

1060
01:29:05,000 --> 01:29:09,000
I said, you paid for my tires, which we didn't want to need the tires, the suspension work.

1061
01:29:09,000 --> 01:29:14,000
And you and you paid for that. And he said, I did.

1062
01:29:14,000 --> 01:29:18,000
I said, yeah, you you wrote me a check. I was sitting in that booth right over there.

1063
01:29:18,000 --> 01:29:22,000
You wrote me a check. He said, I don't worry about it. Once I give it, I don't even think about it.

1064
01:29:22,000 --> 01:29:25,000
He said, if I went back and looked at my checkbook, it's probably there.

1065
01:29:25,000 --> 01:29:28,000
But once I give it, I don't even think about it. Listen to me.

1066
01:29:28,000 --> 01:29:30,000
He's gone to be with the Lord now.

1067
01:29:30,000 --> 01:29:35,000
Professing believers serve the Lord for over 40 years.

1068
01:29:35,000 --> 01:29:38,000
That's how it should be.

1069
01:29:38,000 --> 01:29:44,000
Diligently, generously, we give, then forget it. It's done.

1070
01:29:44,000 --> 01:29:49,000
Now, if you need to lend somebody money because it's a different kind of a situation,

1071
01:29:49,000 --> 01:29:52,000
you lend again generously.

1072
01:29:52,000 --> 01:29:56,000
And then if they can't pay it off in a reasonable period of time, then you go back to them and say,

1073
01:29:56,000 --> 01:30:00,000
look, you can still pay it off if you choose to. But I don't really need it.

1074
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:04,000
God's taking care of me. So I'm not worried about it.

1075
01:30:04,000 --> 01:30:07,000
That's the kingdom economy.

1076
01:30:07,000 --> 01:30:10,000
Remember the handcuffs? That's where we started at, right?

1077
01:30:10,000 --> 01:30:20,000
I submit to you that if standing here, Tony Tate and Nicole had yanked hard on the handcuffs,

1078
01:30:20,000 --> 01:30:24,000
pulled really, really hard, they both would have got hurt.

1079
01:30:24,000 --> 01:30:26,000
Their hands would be scratched up.

1080
01:30:26,000 --> 01:30:29,000
And Tony still would have gotten uncuffed first because he's probably about twice as strong as Nicole,

1081
01:30:29,000 --> 01:30:32,000
even though Nicole's pretty wild, so she might have done something.

1082
01:30:32,000 --> 01:30:34,000
He probably still would have gotten uncuffed first.

1083
01:30:34,000 --> 01:30:39,000
By that time, Nicole would probably be laying on the ground, beat up, hurt, scratched, whatever.

1084
01:30:39,000 --> 01:30:47,000
And then if he wanted to see her uncuffed, he'd have had to drag her over to the other key and uncuff her.

1085
01:30:47,000 --> 01:30:54,000
And it would have been a much more violent, how is it, hateful episode.

1086
01:30:54,000 --> 01:31:02,000
But instead, in her wisdom, Nicole said, it's okay. He can be unhandcuffed first.

1087
01:31:02,000 --> 01:31:08,000
She walked over with him, watched him, kind of patiently, I might add, uncuff himself.

1088
01:31:08,000 --> 01:31:12,000
And then walked over and uncuffed herself.

1089
01:31:12,000 --> 01:31:16,000
Who's first in their life? I hope it's Jesus.

1090
01:31:16,000 --> 01:31:19,000
I hope it's God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

1091
01:31:19,000 --> 01:31:23,000
Who's second in your life? I hope it's not you.

1092
01:31:23,000 --> 01:31:26,000
Because that's not God's economy.

1093
01:31:26,000 --> 01:31:34,000
God's economy, we walk in His care of declaration when we diligently work to bless others,

1094
01:31:34,000 --> 01:31:42,000
when we generously bless others. And if someone blesses us, we accept that, because then that makes them get poured into by God.

1095
01:31:42,000 --> 01:31:45,000
But that doesn't mean that we don't get to be part of pouring back into them.

1096
01:31:45,000 --> 01:31:50,000
We think about how we can help them back, how we can do something, how we can pay them back.

1097
01:31:50,000 --> 01:31:53,000
Anybody ever hear of a writer, Mark Twain?

1098
01:31:53,000 --> 01:31:59,000
Mark Twain, at one point in time, was not a writer. He was what was called a sack-friarist.

1099
01:31:59,000 --> 01:32:03,000
Basically, he did public speaking in Sarcasm.

1100
01:32:03,000 --> 01:32:06,000
People thought it was funny in his day.

1101
01:32:06,000 --> 01:32:12,000
If you think of somebody now who does these burns, you go for one person for the next burning people,

1102
01:32:12,000 --> 01:32:19,000
saying bad things about them in a tricky way, and it's sort of funny, and as long as it's not hurtful, it is kind of funny.

1103
01:32:19,000 --> 01:32:22,000
That's kind of what he was like. He would go around places and he would give speeches,

1104
01:32:22,000 --> 01:32:28,000
and he would tell, he would burn people, or he would say things that made you go,

1105
01:32:28,000 --> 01:32:34,000
that's kind of edgy, gross people. Yeah, that's what he would do.

1106
01:32:34,000 --> 01:32:40,000
And he was bankrupt. He had nothing. He was so broke and so beyond broke,

1107
01:32:40,000 --> 01:32:45,000
he owed more money than a bank had already in his lifetime.

1108
01:32:45,000 --> 01:32:47,000
So he filed bankruptcy. That's what you do in America.

1109
01:32:47,000 --> 01:32:53,000
By the way, do you know how often you can file bankruptcy? Every seven years.

1110
01:32:53,000 --> 01:33:01,000
Where do you think that comes from? You live in a nation that was founded by Christians, founded by people who read their Bibles.

1111
01:33:01,000 --> 01:33:08,000
So he filed bankruptcy and wrote off all that money, more money than a man could earn in his lifetime.

1112
01:33:08,000 --> 01:33:18,000
And then over the 10 to 15 years following his bankruptcy, he paid off every penny.

1113
01:33:18,000 --> 01:33:26,000
Because he became a very popular satirist, because he became a very popular writer, because he wrote a couple of books that are still famous to this day.

1114
01:33:26,000 --> 01:33:33,000
And Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain, and he became very popular.

1115
01:33:33,000 --> 01:33:43,000
So what I'm saying to you is, live in God's care declaration. Before, during, and after.

1116
01:33:43,000 --> 01:33:50,000
And according to God's Word, you'll be okay. So many people are not okay because they are unwilling to do it.