Avenue Black
is a lonely time
And oh, happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
And oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Alright, praise the Lord
We're reminded this morning that His mercies are new every day
Doesn't matter what happened yesterday
Today is the Lord's Day
And it is a happy day
And I am grateful to be alive
And grateful to be able to be here to rejoice in what God is doing
And I hope you are as well
We're going to pray in just a moment
Before we do, I just want to remind you that we are less than a week away from the Grand Prix
So next Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock
The Grand Prix event will be taking place over there in the multi-purpose room
Along with that, we will have a concession stand, which is all free food
So the current plan is to have several things like 10, 12 things on the menu
And then people come up and order and then go to the pickup window and pick up their food and like that
And we are going to promote
Everyone is welcome at that
So you are welcome to come and volunteer and serve at the concession stand
You are welcome to come and volunteer
Or I guess it says volunteering
Volunteer to eat our food that comes from the concession stand
There is no charge
And then we really want people to come and be fans for the race
The race will not take a real long time
We will race and we have a format
And then we have a judge coming in, at least one, probably up to three judges
That will come in and judge the car by design
What looks most like a car
What looks most fantastic
There will be two different categories
And all that is going to be going on Saturday
And then we will race
And we will race kind of by age group
And so we will have a lot of opportunity to win in speed
And then we will kind of have some fun races
At the end, I really would like to race that person again
Or I would like to race the fastest adult car
Or the fastest young kid cars
Or whatever, things like that
So we will have some fun with it
And that is going on Saturday
We will do some more promotions
Invite everybody
We need fans
We need race fans
We want to be able to make a loud roar when the cars go down the track
We will have sound effects
But it will be really cool if we have the voices to add to that
So plan your Saturday afternoon accordingly
And enlist some people to come
And I know not everybody even got a chance to make a car
That would like to make a car
And that is okay
There will be some extra cars there
They will not be able to race against the made cars
Until you get to the kind of exhibition races
But we will do some of those
And they can race against the made cars
And some of the cars that were made in past years
May still be faster than the cars that were made this year
And it will be fun to find out
And race cars against cars
And so we are going to do that all on Saturday
And it is a fun event
And the concession stand will be running out of the kitchen
We will feed everybody
It is going to be a good time
So that is all coming Saturday
Also remind you
We are in our memorization of scripture
Focus our discipline for this six months
Through the end of May
Through our anniversary
Our church anniversary is May 22nd
It is also Deacon Tony's birthday
So you will not forget that
The two days go together
You can give Deacon Tony a pat on the back
A hug, a handshake
Or some kind of special little gift thing
That the Lord might need you to do
Or whatever it is you do
That is fine
If you do not, that is fine too
Brother Deacon Tony is here to serve us
To serve you
And that is what that is all about
But May 22nd is his birthday
It is also the anniversary celebration
And so there will be some more details
We will not actually be able to do
A lot of the celebration on that day
It is a Monday night
But we are going to do some things that week
And something that Sunday
And Sunday after
And there is a lot of Sundays
That have a lot of stuff on them in May
So keep your ears peeled for the differences in that
But the bottom line is
Through then we are memorizing scripture
If you do not want to memorize the verses
That I set out every week
And I am trying to help you do that
By sending you a reminder
Or putting it on Facebook
Or through messenger
That kind of thing
But if you do not want to memorize
The verses that I set out
Then at least memorize some verses
And if I may just make this plug for the Lord
You would do well
It is a spiritual discipline
You would do well to memorize scripture
Some small portion
Even if it is a few words
Every single day of your life
Okay?
Knights carry their swords with them
Almost everywhere they go
Because anything can go wrong
At any point in time
This is the sword of the spirit
Essentially loaned to us by God
And it is His word
And it is wise to know His word
Very wise
And so you could use
You just took a verse
And did a few words a day
Every day
You would still be making progress at least
Okay?
Alright
So we are going to pray together at this time
And worship God a little bit more
And I lost RJ
Did you take the baby?
He is getting Zoe
Okay
Alright so I will call on
He was set up to pray
But I will pray now
And then I will call on him later to pray
Let's pray together
Father heaven
We are grateful for this day
For the breath in our lungs
The strength in our muscles
The fact that we are able to think
Imagine
Dream
Problem solve
You have blessed us
Even in the midst of our trials
Even in the midst of our struggles
We know the word says
Consider it pure joy my brethren
When you face all manner of trials and tribulations
And so we should be grateful
When we are going through difficulty
Because the fact is
That there are those who are just not going
They are not with us anymore
And they have gone to heaven
And probably are grateful for that
Or they are not with us anymore
And they have gone somewhere else
And they are probably not grateful for that
And so Lord
We are still going
We are still working
We are still doing
We are still overcoming
We are still bringing the light into the world
And as long as we are doing that
We have everything to be joyful about
But we pray for the struggles that we have faced
That you would intervene as you see fit
And fix things that you are fixing
Overcome financial trials
To deal with health concerns
I pray for Sherry
And I pray for Chris
And I pray for June
And I pray for Michael
All who are facing significant health concerns right now
Lord that you would overcome them
And there are others
Probably some in this room
Who have overcome their health concerns to be here
To be serving you
To be worshiping you
To be looking to you
Father we ask your blessing upon this time
We know that it was ordained by you long ago
Before any of us were ever born
That we be in this place
Worshipping you today
Giving you first place in our lives
That there be somebody in this room
Who does not know you personally
Through Jesus your son
I pray that before they leave today
Before they leave their Sunday school class
Before they leave this room
That they will settle the matter
Of who they live for
And where they are going
Thank you Lord for paying for sins on the cross
For overcoming and providing forgiveness
We pray that we will reach new heights today in Jesus
In worship
In scripture memorization
In applying the word to our lives
In serving
In giving
In loving others
True with Lord as you see fit
And we pray all this in Jesus name
Amen
Alright we can ask everybody to stand up
Alright come on now
Stretch your legs
Shake out your arms
Wake up a little bit
It's like almost noon
Shake it out
Alright now
There are 25 people in this room
Not including the ones on the stage
Okay 25 people that are here right now
To worship God and learn about God
And right now we're worshipping with music
That talks about God and talks to God
So we're going to pay attention
We're going to listen to the words
If you don't want to sing out loud
That's fine
If you do that's fine too
We don't care what it sounds like
Everybody sounds different
Okay
But we're going to participate
And pay attention to what
We're saying to God
And the worship that we're giving him
Amen
Can you hear
There's a new star
Breaking out from the children of freedom
Every race
And every nation
Singing out
Singing to
Hallelujah
When I sing out
To a nation
Making hope
On the next generation
Making hope
And make a brand new life
Singing out
Okay so I had a fun time studying
Our Bible Melorization verses this week
And I imagine some of you did
I know Miss Sherry said hers
And Ariana got at least verse 12
Which the truth is if you've been in the Bible
Even off and on for a while
Verse 12 is pretty easy to get
It was do unto others
That you would have them do unto you
For this is the law and the prophets
That's it
So it's a gold rule
Right
11 is a little more challenging
13 is a little more challenging
And altogether is a little more challenging
But it was
Each of them is pretty good stuff
And I actually did a video this week
And I'm going to try to do that again
And you get an opportunity to kind of
A little help memorizing
That kind of thing if you want to do that
But you don't have to do that
But hopefully you did spend some time
In the Word this week
So I want to ask you
What did you see in God's Word this week?
How's the Lord been speaking to you this week?
How many take?
So you guys are familiar with this
But I think the kids
They've been 23 years
Some of us have already been 23
Almost 23 twice
But when I was 23 years old
I'll never forget
That they had something to share Jesus with me
I cried a thousand tears
I tell everybody
I used to cry in my room all the time
Like why am I here?
Why am I alive?
No one ever talked to me
No one ever reached out to me
And then I was 23 years old
And I cried out to God
For the first time through Jesus
And He reached out to me
Saved me
I was never the same after that day
And I was just thinking of a song
That I remember
I was telling a brother
That I used to sing all the time
It was the first song
That I broke down in tears
Because I used to sing all the time to God
But I never sung in a way
That I was worshipping God
That He could hear me
That He loved me
That no one else could love me
Like I've never known a love like that
And so I have these lyrics I want to share
Not the song
Because I wanted to kind of do it this way
And you guys know this song
And I've got to be careful I don't sing it
Because I love to sing it
But the thing is
It's like what I love about this song
Is power that God's given everybody
Talent, art, characteristics
It's all awesome
But it started with the Word
These words I guarantee will be sung in heaven
I mean I can't say that it will be
But because it's so good
But I'm singing like a seed
You know when a seed first starts
It's just a little seed
But when it grows
Whatever it goes through
The trials, the tribulations, the seasons
It grows into a beautiful flower
It grows into a tree
Or even like I said for the kids
Like Pokemon or Yalobuup
You're this little guy that you get bigger
And stronger and smarter
Or you don't look so cute
They become cuter or beautiful
Because that's what you are
When you're first starting out
And so this song
You guys know this song
It became so glamorous
And instruments came to this song
And you know it's worshiped all around now
But here's how it started
It started with a man writing it down
It started with Jeremy Camp deciding
I'm going to write these lyrics down
And then people loved it
And people appreciated it for God
And honored it
And it's a great song
And here's what
You guys know the song
Here's what it says
You spread out the skies
Over empty space
Said let there be light
And to a dark and formless world
Your light was born
You spread out your arms
Over empty hearts
Said let there be light
And to a dark and homeless world
Hopeless world
Your sun was born
So first God let there be light
But then we brought darkness
We brought sin in this world
So then God spread his arms out
His sun and gave us light again
Through Jesus
You made the world
And saw that it was good
You sent your only son
For you are good
What a wonderful maker
What a wonderful savior
How majestic your whispers
And how humble your love
With the strength like no other
And the heart of a father
But how majestic your whispers
What a wonderful God
And then right here
No eye has fully seen
How beautiful the cross
And we have only heard
The faintest whispers
Of how great you are
And then it goes to the same thing
It's pretty much the same thing after that
But what I just wanted to say is that
It started with just writing it down
I mean, today is a glorious song
So I encourage you, me, and
I definitely younger kids
Is it just starts with something
And look how beautiful it became
Look how beautiful God stretched that out
Because that song today is still known
And that song was written
It's not even His song
I mean, it's like a hymn almost
It's like this song has been around for
Thousands of years
And how God has stretched it out
Through generation
To just keep beautifully
Not just singing it to God
But God singing it over us
Amen, what is the name of the song?
Oh, What a Wonderful Maker
Awesome
Oh, Wonderful Maker
Sorry
Alright, anybody else?
How's the Lord been speaking?
Okay, somebody tell me
What does it mean to you
The verse Matthew 7-12
That says, do unto others as you would have them
Do unto you
Let me tell me what that verse means
Jason?
If you want somebody to treat you equally
You have to treat them equally
Okay, so you're taking
You're extrapolating from it
And you're kind of drawing back a point that says
If you want somebody to treat you well
You have to treat them well
That may be true
But if they're doing it right
And they're treating you the way
They would want you to treat them
Then it wouldn't have to be true, would it?
If they're doing it right
Go ahead, tell me
Treat others the way you want to be treated
Okay, so what does that mean?
Give me an example, if you have to
If you treat other people the way
Like, if someone's being mean
You can treat them nicely
Maybe they'll treat you nicely
Yeah, so he said
If someone's being mean
You can choose to treat them nicely
And then maybe they'll treat you nicely
Or maybe they won't
But what?
But even
You still did the right thing
Even if they didn't work
You still did the right thing
And you still did
Maybe you could change their lives
Or change their lives
You could change their lives
That's pretty good
Okay, anybody else want to add something?
Tommy?
Love others like you love yourself
Okay, yeah
Jesus actually said that elsewhere, didn't he?
He said, love your neighbor as yourself
That's good
Tim?
Probably a modern version of that
It's put yourself in somebody else's shoes
Yeah
What is that book that our generation was forced to read
To Kill a Mockingbird
Anybody remember it?
It's like coming back vaguely
So, Trying to Solve a Murder
Right, and the one guy says
I think it was the boy
He says, until you've walked a mile in a man's shoes
Don't judge him basically
And I'm probably messing up the words of it
But that's a good reality
Yeah, I realize that
There was a more recent one, a movie called
That's where Pay It Forward came from actually I think
But it was a movie where
He had a movie
The writer, the author of the short story
And they brought the text into the movie
He said, you know, when you run into somebody
You realize you should treat them well
Because they are in the middle of a fight
They're facing something horrible in their life
And you come in there and you should treat them well
Realizing that's what you would want for yourself, right?
So, there's a lot
It's all over popular culture
It's called the Golden Rule, right?
Obviously, Jesus spoke it
It's Jesus' words
And by the way
If it was anything in the world
That I would want to remember in my lifetime
It would be something that Jesus himself spoke, right?
But he spoke it
And so if he spoke it
It's probably important
Like I haven't found anything in the Bible
That says that Jesus said
That isn't like really important
So
It does not mean
Treat others
The way you would want them to treat you
In order so that they will treat you well
Or to try to manipulate them, right?
So think about that
In fact, if you treat others the way you would want them to treat you
As Jason and I were just talking about up here
They may not treat you well back
They may, or as Caleb said
They may come treating you poorly in the first place
And yet
You are commanded by Jesus to treat others well
Does anybody know why we can do that?
If you memorize the verses
You do know why, right?
What's the word of the
In everything
The actual verses
In everything
What's the next word?
In the N-A-S-A-V-E
No?
In everything
There's a clause word
And then it says do unto others
As you would have them do unto you
It's in everything
Therefore
That's what it says
Or your translation might say
Therefore do unto others
As you would have them do unto you, right?
So there's a therefore
So what's the therefore therefore?
It's telling you that the verse that's right before that
Right?
Is the reason why you can do unto others
As you would have them do unto you
It's a therefore
Therefore, since this is true
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
Right?
So what is it?
Did anybody memorize verse 11?
At least Sherri did, I did
Anybody else?
That's telling you why you can do unto others
The way you would have them do unto you
Verse 11 is
And it says
If you, being evil
Know how to give good gifts to your children
How much more therefore does your Father
Will your Father in Heaven
Good gifts, good
I'm getting it right
Give good gifts to those who ask Him
Got it?
So that's the therefore
We can treat others
The way we would want to be treated
Because if we know how to give good gifts to our children
Being evil
We know how to give good gifts to our children
Surely God is going to give good gifts
To those who ask Him
Because He is good, right?
So you don't have to get what you need or what you want
From other people
I mean if you're a child
You may have to get your food from an adult
If you're an adult in the room
You may have to get your paycheck from a place where you work
Right?
But ultimately God has provided you
With that adult or with that job or with the work
And if you don't work where you currently work
You may work somewhere else
Right?
Because you have work that you can do
And you can get paid for that work
The bottom line is
God is going to provide good gifts to those who ask Him
Because we know God is going to provide good gifts to us
We can treat others
The way we would want to be treated
Don't miss the therefore
The therefore is a scripture
They're where our strength comes from a lot of times
We know we can do this
So the next time somebody is treating you badly
Treat them good anyway
Because then whether or not something positive comes out of it
Or whether or not you change their life over the next coming weeks
Either way you will have still done what Jesus told you to do
And I submit to you that we get what we get from God
And all the good things because we believe in God
In fact, it says in Hebrews it says you cannot please
No one can please the Lord except he at least believe that he exists
You must have faith
You have to believe that he existed in order to please God
You don't believe that God exists
You're not pleasing Him
That's about a lot
Right?
And so we in trusting in God
That He will give good gifts to His children
And then accordingly treating others the way we would want to be treated
That demonstrates our trust in God
We do trust in God
We believe in God
Because we're treating them the way we would want to be treated
Not the way they're treating us
Or not treating them a certain way to try to get something out of them
Or whatever
But we're doing it just because it's what God told us to do
In fact, Jesus said that the man who hears these teachings
This is chapter 7
Later, I think it's just later in chapter 7
The man who hears these teachings is like the man who dug,
He built his house upon the solid rock
If you will treat others the way you want to be treated
Which you can do because God is going to give good gifts to those who ask Him
He's going to take care of you
So you can treat others the way you want to be treated
And if you would do that
You would be like the man who dug deep and built his house upon the rock
And when the storms come
And the other guy's house crashes because he built it on sand
Your house will stand because you built it on an organ
This is the value of studying the verses
Even if you don't get them memorized the way you'd like to
Even if you don't get it word for word or whatever
This is the value
You can take that out of the world and do something with it
Treat others the way you want to be treated
And you can do that because you are safe in the Lord because He's taking care of you
That will reoccur in this conclusion of the sermon a little bit today
Which was not, that was purely providential
God did that
Alright, so we're going to pray at this time
We have tithes and offerings
We have just a couple more songs of worship
The children are getting ready to leave us to go to their lesson time
And study the word
And that will be cool
And then we're going to go to the word
And we're in Deuteronomy 20
20 chapters into the book of Deuteronomy
Alright
We're going to pray together
Aaron, my brother, my son
Are you with me?
Would you pray for us, sir?
And lead us in prayer as we transition
And don't forget the tithes and offerings
Lord, thank you for this day
Thank you for the beautiful weather breaking
And us being able to gather here today
Thank you for the new faces that we see in the room
And pray that faces new and old
And you can touch each of our hearts with the sermon today
And thank you, all this to learn and grow through you
And pray you bless the tithes and offerings
And lead us in our hearts
And bring us wisdom
And guide us through our daily walk
In the same name, Amen
Amen
Thank you
I'm a printed disturb
This winter
That river Ushua
Pretty
I'm really
And I know it all seems like I'm on my way
I go running to a mountain
Where the mercy sets me free
You are my strong tower
A shout from over me
Beautiful and mighty
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
A fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
In the middle of my darkness
In the midst of all my fear
You're my refuge in my heart
When a storm of magic's raging
And the thunder's all I hear
You speak softly to my soul
Now I'm running to a mountain
Where the mercy sets me free
You are my strong tower
A shout from over me
Beautiful and mighty
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
A fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
I go running to a mountain
Where the mercy sets me free
You are my strong tower
A shout from over me
Beautiful and mighty
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
A fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
You are my strong tower
A shout from over me
Beautiful and mighty
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
A fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
Jesus, King of my heart
Father, my peace and my life
Jesus, King of my heart
Father, I rest in your care
Give me the heart of my heart child
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
A fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
Jesus, King of my heart
Father, my peace and my life
Jesus, King of my heart child
Everlasting King
Jesus, King of my heart child
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
A fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
A fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
Jesus, King of my heart child
Everlasting King
I am fond of believing or even thinking that there are no excuses for not doing what's right. Do you agree?
When I was a child I had every kind of excuse. I got away with quite a few things because I could reason logically why some of the things I was doing was correct.
I think Jesus fairly clearly lays out for us that ultimately there is no excuse.
In the book of Luke in chapter 14, this is all in the pretext of what we're going to look today, this is not our text for the day.
In the book of Luke in chapter 14, Jesus tells a parable. It is the parable of a dinner feast.
It says a certain man was giving a big dinner and he invited many and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited,
Come for everything is ready now. But they all alike began to make excuses.
The first one said to him, I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. Please consider me excused.
Another one said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to try them out. Please consider me excused.
Another one said, I have married a wife and for that reason I cannot come.
And the slave came back and reported this to his master and the head of the household became angry and said to his slave,
Go out at once into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame.
And the slave said, Master, what you commanded has been done and still there is room.
And the master said to the slave, Go out into the highways along the hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.
Now listen to this last verse. For I tell you that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.
Jesus is basically saying those who would make excuses rather than to come when he calls, when the dinner feast is about to be served,
that time in heaven, that time of eternal life after death, that time of serving in the kingdom of God alive after hearing about Jesus,
when people make excuses and do not come, God's response to that is, alright then, then you won't get to come.
And that sounds like God is saying there can be no excuses.
However, I submit to you that in the text that we are going to read today, God takes a different position on the excuses of men.
The title of the sermon today is Overcoming Objections Reconsidered.
We've looked at overcoming objections before. We've talked about why it's important to when someone expresses an objection to the Gospel
to be prepared with an answer if you can. Jews says be prepared to give a reason for why you believe the things that you believe.
We've been working through the book of Deuteronomy and I hope you'll get a little excited with me.
Maybe say amen or hallelujah or just exhale a loud breath as we go to Deuteronomy chapter 20. Amen.
This is God's word. From here on out what I read today will be God speaking to the hearts of men throughout eternity.
I submit to you that many great men have sat under this teaching that we're about to look at today.
Many great women, many great youth, young people, the entire nation of Israel initially, which were men, women and children of all ages.
And so here we go, Deuteronomy chapter 20 beginning in verse 1.
When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them.
For the Lord your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt is with you.
Now you need to understand that they probably didn't have chariots and they didn't have horses in any large quantity, probably almost none.
And that when a person fights from horseback or from a chariot they gain a substantial advantage.
In fact a chariot was the equivalent of an armored car for that vehicle.
You can bust an armored car, you can hit it with something solid, you can get in if you can get a door open, you can smoke the people out inside.
But as long as the horses are attached, the chariot and the chariot is moving, the riders in the chariot are 60, 70, 80 percent impregnable to damage.
They cannot be hurt. Arrows will bounce off the armor of the chariot.
And they are moving fast so it's already harder to target them. They can throw spears.
They may have blades attached to the side of the chariot and the horses are powerful chargers.
And so they can go through whole crowds of men and destroy those that they're running over top of, making mincemeat literally of enemy troops.
A chariot is something to be afraid of unless you have a means to deal with it.
A knight or a warrior, even a heavily armored warrior, knights didn't really exist in the sense of the feudal times or that would come later,
like the Templar knights and so on, they didn't really exist at this time.
But armored riders on horseback certainly did have a heavy chain and things like that, shield.
And a man in heavy chain and shield with a fairly long weapon or even a long spear is also very difficult to defeat.
In fact, men would have the job of gutting the horse or cutting the horse's legs. They were called dagger men.
And their whole job was to gut the horse or cut the horse's legs so that they could get the guy down where they could actually fight him.
Because it was virtually impossible to hurt him unless you could unseat him.
He would ride through crowds of men on horseback and the horse would kill men as he would go.
And then he would swing his sword like this, like he was cutting down hay.
And man after man after man would fall and slice open his skull or his neck or cut his arms off as they would try to fight the man on horseback.
A man on horseback is a thing to be feared unless you have a way of dealing with it.
But here God was telling the Israelites when they would go out to battle against their enemies and see horses and chariots,
and even if they would see an army that was much more numerous than them, they were not to be afraid.
For the Lord their God who brought them up out of the land of Egypt would be with them.
Now it shall come about that when you are approaching the battle the priest shall come near and speak to the people.
Okay, so they've got a man of God with them and the man of God is going to come up and he's going to speak to the army
that's possibly facing off with chariots and horses and a more numerous force.
And he shall say to them, hear O Israel. In other words, listen up all you guys.
All you warriors, all you nation, all you Israelites, listen up.
You are approaching the battle against your enemies today.
Do not be faint-hearted. In other words, don't let your heart get out of control.
Be fearful, trembling, not knowing what's going to happen, worried if you will.
Do not be faint-hearted. Do not be afraid or panic or tremble before them.
For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.
Now if I can stop right here after verse 4, you've got the priest declaring the truth about God
which is that he was with their forces for victory.
Now let's look back just for a brief moment historically speaking.
Now chariots and horses notwithstanding, it didn't matter that the enemy came with chariots or the enemy came with horses or not.
The statistics are that every soldier, every Israelite soldier in battle was as good as 22 men.
That he was good for the killing of 22. It didn't matter if he was on a chariot, it didn't matter if he was on a horse,
it didn't matter if he had heavy armor. It didn't matter if the army on the other side of the battlefield was 22 times stronger.
That means 500 men could go out against 11,000 and 20,000 men could go up against 440,000 men.
22 times stronger. That's statistically, historically the way it went.
So when the priest is saying, don't worry, God is with you, the God who came up out of Egypt will be with you and will give you this victory.
He will fight for you and with you. That is literally true.
There is even a story later when Joshua was taking them into the promised land where an army flees from the Israelites from the battle
and it's a huge army still and hunting them all down and killing them was going to be tough.
And rocks, possibly meteorites or whatever, fell from the sky and crushed that fleeing army.
So God was fighting for them even when they could not fight for themselves because the army had out distanced them.
So the priest is declaring on behalf of God, fear not, don't tremble before them.
The Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you and indeed that is what happened in the day.
But there's something else yet coming in this passage of scripture.
It says the officers shall speak to the people saying, now listen, this is good.
The officers shall speak to the people saying, who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it?
Let him depart and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.
In other words, if he has the good reason of having built a new house and needing to dedicate his house to the Lord, he can leave the fight.
Now you're excused. You can step out of the fight and go and dedicate your house.
By then the battle will be long over.
So you don't have to fight if you have this good reason, which is you need to dedicate your house. Verse six.
And it says, and who is the man that has planted a vineyard that has not begun to use its fruit?
So he planted a vineyard and he's not begun to take the grapes off the vine or whatever fruit was in the vineyard, take it down and begin to put it to use.
And it says, let him depart and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man begin to use its fruit.
So if he's got a good reason, which in this case, the good reason to use it as an illustration, if you will, is needing to use the fruit from the vineyard that he planted, you're free to go.
If you've got a good reason to be elsewhere, not serving the Lord today, not fighting on behalf of Israel today, not advancing to the kingdom of God today, not carrying out God's will today,
if you have a good reason, if you can come up with a good reason, and here's a couple examples, you can go. Verse seven.
And who is the man who has engaged to a woman and has not married her?
Let him depart and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.
So now we've got this guy's engaged and they're about to get married.
You're free to go. You've got a good reason. You're free to go.
Then the officers shall speak further to the people and they shall say, who is the man that is afraid and faint hearted?
You see those chariots? You see those horsemen? You see all these guys leaving because one's got to go get married, one's got to go harvest a vineyard, one's got to go dedicate his house and all these people are leaving.
If that's bothering you, if your heart is trembling, if your friend just left and you thought the two of you were going to battle together now and you're starting to get kind of scared because he left,
you see the army side shrinking and you're getting a little fearful, you're free to go.
Let him depart and return to his house so that he might not make his brother's hearts melt like his heart.
And it shall come about that when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.
That concludes our text in Deuteronomy for today.
There's a few things that we need to look at out of here that frankly really touched my heart,
especially because I found myself guilty in one place and had to repent and that does happen quite often when I dig deeply into any aspect of Scripture.
The first thing I want you to see in here is that the release of those who have a good reason first testifies about God's number one character trait.
You know what God's number one character trait is? Is God's number one character trait that he is eternal?
Is God's number one character trait that he knows all?
Is God's number one character trait that he's all-powerful?
If I say no to all three of those, then I ask you, do you know what God's number one character trait is?
How about if I tell you that Peter said God is love.
John, thank you, said God is love.
The release demonstrates first of all God's love and his value of life.
God does not want to be against you.
Hear me when I say this, 99.9999% of the time when God is against a human being, it is for the benefit of that human being.
I left that one tenth thousandth of a percent out because there are those who have just flat out turned against God in apostasy after having received the gospel.
After having believed and began to taste the fruit of the kingdom, they then turned from God and they want nothing to do with it and live that.
God is against them because they are bad.
They are evil and he will overcome them. They are wicked to the core.
There is nothing good left in them.
God found that to be the case of all humanity in the day of Noah and wiped them all out.
God was not just against them in a way that would bring them around to a course that would be better for them.
He was against them because there was no saving them.
The Palestinians, the people living in Palestine when the Israelites came in, God was wiping out their society because he gave them 430 years to repent with an ongoing consistent testimony and yet they burned their firstborn child in the fire religiously.
I cannot stand before you today and say that if you burnt your firstborn child in the fire, burnt them alive, that I might not come and kill you.
I hope I wouldn't, but that atrocity is so extreme that I'm not sure I could tolerate it.
And we expect God to tolerate that kind of wickedness? No.
He is a loving God, but he has his limits when it comes to wickedness and apostasy.
His number one trait is that he loves you.
God wants you, get this, this will blow your mind, God wants you to be happy all the time.
You're like, but wait, because there's things, right?
There are tribulations, there are difficulties, people die.
If that's true, why doesn't God eradicate death?
Why doesn't God wipe out suffering?
Listen to me, if you lived in a world with no suffering, no death, no challenges whatsoever, you wouldn't be happy.
You'd be fat, lazy on your deathbed.
Human beings were made to work.
We are created to work and overcome difficulties.
If there are no difficulties, you would not be happy.
In fact, sometimes it turns out that our greatest challenges actually bring us something that goes far further than happiness into enduring happiness, and we call that joy.
God wants you to be happy all the time.
So if God wants me to be happy all the time, why does it make me happy all the time?
God doesn't make you happy all the time because you and the world and all your worst enemies don't want you to be happy.
And he will not run roughshod over your free will to make you happy all the time.
God's not an opiate.
He is an intelligent, loving being.
He loves you.
That being said, when you face your greatest trials, if you have good reason to check out, to not help, to be a detriment rather than a positive thing,
God says, okay, I'll deal with it.
Now, it may take months or years for God to crush that thing out of your life because you won't allow it.
You won't participate in it.
You're not working as part of the solution.
You've actually become part of the problem, but he'll deal with it.
It may be that he'll deal with it by eventually you die and go to heaven and whatever it is that you refuse to let go will go in the trash heap and you'll be eternal.
Some people, it takes their entire life before they overcome some of the things that God is willing to overcome in an instant.
Because they refuse and they make a good excuse and they have a good reason.
God's release demonstrates, first of all, his great value of life.
He wants you to build and harvest vineyards.
He wants you to build, set up, create, construct in your greatness and as a person made in his image, households and dedicate them to the Lord.
He wants you to do a work that goes a little beyond whatever you think the result of that work is and endures into eternity.
Caleb said in the inspirational moment, you may change their lives over the coming weeks.
Understand that we're raising children that understand that it is possible to change someone else's life for the better if you're willing to show up and do the work.
But sometimes you may find good reason not to.
The importance of what he is proclaiming the release here is obvious to me.
First of all, he is proclaiming the release of those who tremble or have good reason not to be there or whatever to protect the integrity of the host.
If you're following along in your Bible, you can flip with me to the book of Ezekiel.
You'll find it back in the prophets in the back right back there of the prophets.
It's a kind of kind of long one, so it pops up pretty easy if you just kind of flip through and if not, the table of contents is right in the front.
You can find it.
Book of Ezekiel chapter 11 beginning in verse 19.
So this is the prophecy by which Ezekiel foresees the kind of people who will be God's people.
And as part of that, he says this.
He says, I shall give them one heart.
Now, if you've got a reason to be elsewhere, go ahead, because God is going to give his people one heart.
He says, I shall give them one heart.
I shall put a new spirit within them.
If the Holy Spirit is rising up in you and making you a courageous lion to stand up for God,
and you feel like a spark, you feel like a world changer, you feel like you know what it is that God wants you to do to advance the kingdom of God,
then stand up and do that thing because you've become a child of God and he's given you one heart with others who are like that,
a new spirit within you, his Holy Spirit.
But if you've got a good reason not to, you're dismissed.
Because this is the kind of people that God is raising up for himself.
A people of one heart, a people who shall put a new spirit within, he shall put a new spirit within them.
He says, and I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.
If you've begun to care, you care about the people around you, you care about families, you care about goodness,
you care about honor and honesty and justice, you care about rightness in the world, you care about overcoming evil.
If you go to bed at night and you think, I just can't live another day without making some kind of difference in someone's position in life,
then you may have become a child of God or maybe becoming a child of God, one of his people.
But if you can always wave that feeling off, that feeling of that need to serve others, to make a difference, to overcome evil,
you can always wave that off with some kind of good reason, why you never get started or never do what it is that you're being called to do,
then you're dismissed.
Because that's not the kind of host that God is preparing to serve himself.
Verse 20 goes on, it says that he would give us that heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone.
It says that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them.
So if you find in yourself the ability, not always the perfect ability, or you may find yourself making mistakes or getting distracted or tempted or whatever,
but if finding yourself the ability to do what it is that God has told you to do, especially if you see this to be the case,
it used to be I could never do that. Now I can do that. It used to be I could never say no to that.
Now I find myself able to say no to that. Even if there are things you can't currently say no to now,
but if you find that there are things you wanted to say no to before that you couldn't but now you can.
You find that there are things before that you needed to do and you couldn't bring yourself to do them or you couldn't just submit to what God was saying,
but now you can. Even if there are things now that you can't submit to,
it doesn't say you're going to get everything perfectly. It says if you have the ability,
if you have been given the ability to submit to God's statutes and keep his ordinances and to do them,
you might be one of the children of God. But if you always find a reason or an excuse not to do what it is that God has told you to do,
you're dismissed. He says then they will be my people and I shall be their God.
You hear it? You're being enlisted into the kingdom of God, the army of God,
and if you will join and set aside your reasons, whatever they may be,
then you can be his people and he will be your God and he will fight the battle for you.
And your part of that is so small it doesn't really even register.
And you will overcome things that you couldn't believe you could overcome because really it's about your willingness.
And then 21 says, but as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations,
in other words, if you go after the things that the world sets up as good,
if your reason or your excuse takes you to somewhere where you really ought not be
or something that doesn't honor God or that includes breaking the rules of God, right?
That's what he's saying. He says I shall bring their conduct down on their heads, declares the Lord.
See, God loves you and the release of the people who don't really want to serve God,
who don't really want to overcome barriers, who don't really want to be released from the rest of the world's conformity
and rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind and really know the will of God and do what it is,
people who aren't like this but who want to be over here chasing after the things of the world.
Ezekiel says God will let them go, but worse than that, not only will he let them go,
he's also going to bring down their choices on their head.
We are to be unified in our desire to follow God and do what it is that God wants us to do.
We are to have a heart of flesh and care about what's going on.
If you sprain or break your arm, as I borrow an illustration from an unknown author,
if you sprain or break your arm and it hurts really bad, you may lay awake all night long,
your whole rest of your body suffering willingly along with the pain and the ache in your arm.
You may have been there at some point in time, you're like I can't really sleep,
my whole body doesn't want to sleep because of what I'm feeling in my arm.
The body of Christ is supposed to be like that.
When one person is really suffering like that, the rest of the body should lay awake and going,
how do I fix what's going wrong?
How do I step in and make a difference?
But if your heart of compassion is blocked by your reason, then you're dismissed.
But don't think that God won't then do something about that person's pain, he will.
Whatever they're going through, he'll be there for them even if you choose not to be there for them.
And if by the way, when you choose not to be there for them,
you choose not to be there for them because you're running after the detestable things of the world,
then don't also think that God will be mocked.
You will reap what you sow.
As you run after the detestable things of the world,
and don't show up for that person that needed you as part of the body that you're supposed to be unified with,
don't ache with them, don't cry with them, don't care about what they're going through,
and you go after the detestable things.
So in other words, if you're too busy playing video games, or you're too busy eating too much food,
or you're too busy having sex outside marriage, or you're too busy pursuing drugs,
or you're too busy watching that crappy stuff that some people call TV,
there's good TV and there's bad TV, and you're watching the crappy stuff that some people call TV,
instead of showing up for somebody that's in need,
God is going to bring down on your head the results of the very thing that you went after
instead of doing the thing that you were supposed to do.
Not my words, but the words of the Lord.
Admittedly, prophesied hundreds of years before we could have become Christians,
or even were born thousands of years, but it is God's Word.
He called the people for Himself.
He called and, yes, gave the ability to have a release.
If you don't want to participate, you don't have to participate.
You're released.
Not only was it to protect the integrity of the host, but it was also to inspire confidence in the timid.
Those who would then go out to war against chariots or horses or armies, 22 times their size.
They could be confident and know that God was for them. Why?
Because they didn't have any wimpy, wicked apostates with them.
They all left. They were all dismissed.
Everybody that's here is living for the Lord.
Everybody that's here wants one unified thing.
Let's do what God wants us to do. Let's make a difference.
Let's overcome evil with good. Let's reach new heights with Jesus.
Let's do what it is that God wants us to do. That's why we're here.
We're here to worship God, to reach new heights with Jesus.
Some people just stippin' their toe in for the very first time and kinda liking the temperature.
Some people are going, I don't know, it's too hot in here for me.
I need a good reason not to be here reaching new heights with Jesus.
And if you find one, then on behalf of the Holy God of the universe, let me say to you, you're dismissed.
You're free to go.
If you find a good reason not to follow Jesus, you're free to go.
And those that remain will be unified in their desire to stand up on behalf of God in this world,
to be the literal body of Christ. That's what the church is.
Outreaching to a lost and dying world and sharing because we are confident that God is fighting for us
because there's nobody in our midst who would say, oh no, thank you God.
God proclaims the release out of His number one character trait because He is love.
He loves you and He wants you to be happy. He wants what's best for you.
He wants you to build houses and dedicate them to the Lord.
He wants you to get married and have children if that's your path for your life and to take care of them the way you should.
But none of those things are truly meant to be an excuse.
But should you find that they are, you're free to go.
But should you find an excuse that leads you into detestable behavior or something that is sin,
you're not only free to go, but on top of that, you will face the punishment.
Man walked into an insane asylum. Thousands of people diagnosed with all kinds of disorders.
People screaming over here, people pretending to be somebody from history over here,
people running around in their underwear, people having their medications dosed right then and so on.
And he saw that there were three guards on the insane asylum, three guards,
to watch all those thousands of people who were in the common area and all their rooms and everything.
There were only three guards assigned at any one time watching thousands of people.
But he went up to the guard and said, are you not afraid that these people will unite and overpower you?
There's only three of you. They can overpower you and then they can all just leave.
And all those thousands of people were released back into the community because there's only three guards here to even hold them, right?
And the guard said back, no, he said lunatics never unite.
Either we will be united as God has laid out for us or we will be divided.
And united we stand and divided we fall.
The kingdom of God is a united people that cares about one another and cares about the work of God and advances the kingdom.
And frankly does not find reasons not to show up.
You call off work because you had a bad fish sandwich.
You're feeling mostly fine now, but yesterday was rough.
Your job should not interfere with your serving Jesus no matter what it takes.
Because your job is for this lifetime and Jesus is for an eternity.
And I use that as the most extreme example.
Because it's the one we feel powerless to do anything about.
Your spouse who does not feel the same way about God and being faithful to God as you do should not become your reason or your excuse not to show up and do the work of God and advance the kingdom.
Because your spouse is for this lifetime.
Jesus said they will not take husbands and wives and be married in the eternity like they are now.
But your God is for eternity.
Shall I go on?
Your addictions are the very thing that he's talking about turning to that are detestations of God.
Your hobbies that do not honor God are the very things that he's talking about turning to.
Things that you look at that you should never look at.
Things that you listen to that you shouldn't listen to.
Things that are impure that you focus on and the word says focus on the pure.
And so on and those things will be visited upon our heads.
We must unite and in uniting we gain great strength because we can trust the Lord.
In the military this is called closing ranks.
Foot troops closer get close stand together.
In the Roman legions everybody carried what's called a large shield.
Right.
And there was another group in the same period of time that did the same thing.
I'm blanking what their name was but it's okay.
Do you know?
Who are the other ones?
Come home with your shield or on it.
Spartans thank you.
Very good.
Couldn't think of the name.
And the mothers would say to their sons as they were going out to war that motto.
Come home with your shield or on it.
Because they would hold their shield in combat and when they all linked their shields together they were impregnable.
They could not be touched.
It was a wall of bronze.
And a million spears and arrows would bounce off and horses would charge up.
They would all stand with their shields on.
A horse, 1500 pounds of muscle with its hooves bound in steel with an armored knight on its back, forgive me,
would charge up to that line and they would hold their shields together and it would bounce off the line and the horse would fall on the ground.
It's a worm around with a broken leg or a broken collarbone because those men held their shields together.
Unity in the kingdom of God, under God, and we are undefeatable.
We must close ranks.
The release demonstrates that God loves us and is number one and chief characteristic of love.
But it's a practical release designed to protect the integrity of the host and to inspire confidence in those who were left behind.
To increase the courage in the brave even.
And it is also about closing ranks.
That we would stand together.
Listen, do you want to link arms with the guy next to you who claims the name of Jesus but also sort of wobbles all over the place about whether he's available or not to serve?
People got a lot of good reasons why not to do the hard work of serving Jesus.
Why not to put down certain things or overcome certain things or let God do what it is that God wants to do?
Now that we have become followers Lord Jesus Christ, there are works that are set aside for us to do.
We are no longer objects of wrath.
That is to say, we are not resisting God nor is he resisting us.
He is rather working with us on our side to do what it is that we are trying to accomplish if it is in the Lord.
And if we close ranks and if we be courageous.
And if we stop finding reasons not to do what it is that he is trying to do.
Men go up a mountain, a very tall mountain from which if you fall you will die.
And they often go at least in threes.
Free climbing is a thing that some people do but largely people go in threes or more.
Rope together so that if one of them falls, the next person in the line would see them start to fall and immediately brace for impact.
And hold them and the rope goes taut and they are dangling in space for a moment.
And then pretty soon they get back over and get perched on the rock and the team continues up.
When one of us falls, when one of us struggles, when one of us is difficult.
The rest of us got to push in, got to pull hard, got to stand strong to do what it is that God would have us to do.
So that that person can come back and over the years we have had people who have wandered off into sin.
And then came back and repented and turned back to the Lord and truly stood up for what it was that they believed.
Because the body continued to be the body.
The body continued to do things that they would do.
There are people out there right now who are former members of our church that are considering, should I step back in?
Should I really do what? I never felt as much joy. I was never taken care of the way.
I never was in unity with believers the way I was when I was in that church and now I'm not there.
And I know that something is lacking.
And they're considering it.
And what we do next is going to weigh in their considerations.
And for those who come and come in here and they say, yeah, I'm for Jesus.
And they're sort of for Jesus, but sort of not for Jesus.
We have to realize you can't lock shields with somebody that's partly in and partly not.
Because when that horse charges that line, if they're in a 30-minute stand and their shields lock, that horse will bounce off that line.
As long as their cumulative weight and strength is enough to stop that 12 to 15-hour count, they can stop that charging horse.
But if just one person in that line turns and runs, the 30 of them are there, and number 27 goes, you know what?
That's a big horse. I'm out of here. He turns and runs.
Everybody to the right of that line, no longer their strength, their weight is no longer in the equation.
And 20 men may die. 20 men may fall. 21 may be run over.
Because one person decided that they had a good reason.
The first, first the officers come through before the battle is joined.
And this is Ezekiel as one of our officers. And this is Moses as one of our officers.
And this is God Himself as our chief officer and His Holy Spirit as one of our officers saying to us,
if you've got a good reason not to follow God, you're dismissed.
And with that then we move into our conclusion.
We've probably said it a thousand times.
So we're saying again, you know what the chief aim of God is?
We talked about the number one characteristic of God today, which is love.
The chief aim of God is to bring all mankind into proper relationship with Him.
God wants what's best for you.
If you are on a road not following God, not having trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior,
but experiencing the opposition of God because God is trying to divert you onto the road
where He can be present in your life always.
And if you have God present in your life and yet you are on a road that does not honor God,
then you're experiencing the wrath of God as God is trying to divert you onto the road of holiness,
which is a safe place where demons and evil spirits cannot get any control over you
because they cannot get onto the road of holiness.
He wants to get you on it and He wants to get you in the middle of it where you're safe.
If you're not safe right now, that's a choice you're making.
God's chief aim is to bring every human being alive into right relationship with Him.
Now you and I both know that's not going to happen.
You're going to appeal with the gospel to somebody, you're going to explain to somebody.
The gospel is simply this, if you want to lead somebody to Christ, here's how you do it.
Explain to them, you say, can I tell you what the Bible says about that or whatever?
Get to the point where you can explain what the gospel is, what needs to be decision,
what decision they need to make, and it is simply this, that we all have sinned.
We all have sinned. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
So you've done something wrong and if you didn't, you did.
Everyone has done something wrong.
They're too young to understand the concept of sin.
They're before the age of accountability.
If they would die, God forbid, a baby, a year old, a month old, something like that dies, it doesn't happen.
They go straight to heaven because they don't understand the consequences.
There's no accountability.
But at a moment in time, and in my experience, it usually comes six, seven, eight years old, something like that.
It's not 12 or 13, not like a teenager, not like when can you know you shouldn't drink, right?
But at a moment in time, they realize they have sinned.
And then when they're 30, they convince themselves they don't.
Or they say they do, but there's nothing they need to do about it.
And the next part of the gospel is that because of this sin, the wages of sin, the outcome of that sin is death.
It's a separation between us and God. We are separated.
God does not sin, and we sin.
If you sin and God doesn't, then God's not with you.
That's the bottom line.
Now if you're saved and you have sinned, God's still with you, but that results in wrath.
He's trying to direct you back on the right course.
You repent, you get back on the right course, and then that brings that part of your life to a close, hopefully.
It might happen over and over again, even, right?
But unsaved, you recognize the wages of sin is death.
But the very same verse that tells us that the wages of sin is death tells us that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, his Son.
So when you trust in Jesus as Lord, that means he tells you what to do and you do it.
And we trust that Jesus as Savior, that means he paid the price for your sins.
Then you are born again.
You tell God that, you tell anyone who will listen that, and you are born again.
You get a fresh start.
And from then on out, you are part of the kingdom of God.
At which point in time, there should be little or no reasons why you cannot participate in what God is trying to do to bring people unto himself.
However, there may be some, and if there are some, then you are dismissed from that for a time to take care of whatever it is that you need to take care of.
Dismissed.
However, if what you are dismissed for leads you into pretentious or detestable behavior, God will bring the results of that down on your head.
That's the equation.
So if you are here today, you realize you have sinned and you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and therefore received from God the free gift of his forgiveness,
you need to do that right now.
Not at the invitation, not later today, not after you get some more time to think about it.
Stop making up reasons and just go, is that me?
Yes, I think it is me.
I need to accept the free gift of salvation and begin to live for the Lord today.
Okay?
There you go.
But let's say you have a good reason why you will not accept that.
That does not mean that God's people should not be courageous in sharing the truth and doing the work of God, which is to bring everybody into right relationship with God.
You follow?
Our job is to go out and tell everybody, I almost want to say to myself, everybody who will listen, but it isn't even that, is it?
Our job is to go out and tell everybody by word and by deed those simple truths that I have just explained to you.
That everybody has sinned, the wages of that sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Will you accept the free gift of God and begin to live your life for your Lord Jesus and your Savior who paid the price for your sins?
Everybody needs to hear that message.
Now, what happens when they say no?
Nothing.
They're free to say no.
God releases them to say no.
They have some reason to say no.
It's okay.
God says, you can say no if you want.
I want you to be happy.
I would not want you to come be my follower if that was going to make you miserable for the rest of your life.
I want to provide you complete internal abiding joy.
I am going to provide you with tools and protections that you cannot fathom.
I'm going to do more in you than you can begin to imagine.
But if you have a good reason to say no, it's okay.
Go ahead.
And what do you do then?
You go on to the next person.
This release of God proclaims courageousness.
It is okay for you to tell everybody about the gospel, invite everybody to Jesus, because what?
Ninety-nine out of one hundred may say no.
And so if you only share the gospel ninety-eight times in your lifetime, you may not lead anybody to Jesus because the first ninety-eight may say no.
It could just work out that way in randomness or in God's providence.
If God knows your heart is not in it, God's going to keep sending you people to tell about Jesus because you don't really want to do it.
You're doing it reluctantly.
And then he's going to keep sending you people who will say no.
But when you get the point that you can ask everybody because you can be courageous because others are standing with you doing the same thing and that's what God is all about.
And you're all about what God is all about.
God is the one doing the fighting for you.
God is the one bringing the message home.
God is the one helping them make the decision.
The Bible says no one comes unto the Father except he be called.
So you share the gospel of somebody hoping they be called because you can't know if they're called.
You share the gospel of somebody hoping they be called.
And it turns out they are not called.
OK, move on to the next person.
This is so that we can be courageous.
The problem is and this is where I got convicted.
The reason we don't want to share the gospel with people is because we're not OK with the release.
I love God with all my heart almost all the time.
I want it to be all the time.
And I can't almost can't bear hearing people say that they don't want to follow Jesus today.
It's really hard for me to do that.
It's like a sliver under my nail or an emotional jab.
And yet I now realize that is part of God's love.
My being sent to do this work is part of God's love.
Them being allowed to say no is part of God's love.
If you're here today when I presented that simple gospel, you said no, I'm not ready.
I'm not going to do that.
You had an excuse, a reason, whatever.
That's OK.
I'm still going to ask.
We have Sunday after Sunday, sometimes months at a time where no one responds to the invitation whatsoever.
I'm like the and let me be clear about that.
I almost always respond to the to the invitation.
By the time I'm just studying the word, I am transformed almost every time I come and preach.
I'm here to say that sometimes us doing this is more about me being fixed than it is about any of you.
But if you're here and you recognize yourself and unwillingness to be courageous and tell people about Jesus because you have some logical reason, you're dismissed.
You don't have to do it.
Just be careful that when you don't do it, that you don't get led to something that's detestable and realize that if you're only dismissed for a time, this long enough to deal whatever was your reason.
You're not born again.
And you have a real problem because if Jesus comes again and asks you to go to heaven, you're going to say, wait for it.
I'm sorry, Jesus.
I'm just not that kind of person.
And he's going to say, yeah, I knew that.
But because I love you, I had to ask, is that where we want to live our lives?
No, this release of God's that's proclaimed by God's love that demonstrates God's love, this protection of the integrity of God's people, our closing ranks and standing together, knowing what God is all about.
God loves everybody and doesn't want anybody to be hungry.
But God is not about feeding people food.
God will make sure that everybody has enough to eat if they will look to him for it.
And we do need to do that.
We need to be part of God's efforts to feed the hungry.
I'm not saying we shouldn't.
But if you're feeding the hungry and not telling them about Jesus, don't think that you're living for God.
That is not how it works.
If you're raising your child and telling them, look, son, daughter, this is the way you have to clean your room.
You've got to take care of yourself.
You respect your mother, respect your father.
Be quiet when I ask you to be quiet.
Sit down when I ask you.
If those are the things that you're doing, those are all good things.
But if you're not getting the messages of God and Jesus in your family, in your children every single day, then don't pretend that that day was about fighting in the army of God because it's not.
It's about you trying to make a healthy child.
Oh, by the way, does God want to make a healthy child?
Yes, he does.
When will God start ensuring that you are successful in making a healthy child?
When you start making making making a healthy child about the things that God is about.
And what was that, by the way, the number one most important priority?
A right relationship with the Lord.
There are a lot of people in this world, good people, honest people, honorable people, the best they know how they are wicked in God's sight because they have sin.
But they are doing the best they know how to survive and maybe doing a pretty darn good job of it.
Somebody raised the people that are doing good works in the world who are not professing to be Christians.
Somebody did a pretty good job of raising them.
But the somebody that did a pretty good job of raising them, if they did not raise them with Jesus in the mix all the time, did not do it God's way.
And those people that have now been raised up and who are doing pretty good works, but there is no Jesus in it, they are not doing it God's way.
They were released at some point in time and they have continued to be released.
Because it is an everyday experience as we close ranks, courageously facing our real enemies.
It instills confidence in us.
When somebody speaks up and says I shared Jesus with this person but they did not accept Christ, it instills confidence in others to do the same.
They are like but they did not accept Christ, it is another loss for the kingdom.
No it is not. When you share the gospel with somebody and they do not accept Christ, that is not a loss for the kingdom, that is a victory.
You did what it is that you were supposed to do. You followed the commands of Jesus, showing him that you love him.
You brought the gospel into that situation. You shed light in the darkness. You acted as salt and light and grace in this world.
You did everything that he was supposed to do. As long as you asked them to be saved, you did everything that you were supposed to do.
And that is a great victory. And then when they said no, wait a minute, when they said no, that too was a great victory.
Because that release that they do not have to get saved did what? It proclaimed the love of God.
God allows people to get saved, in fact entreats them to do so, and shows up in power whenever they are willing to do so.
He also allows people to not get saved. And yet holds back the coming wrath, the end of this world as we know it.
It says that he is patient with all men, he is patient with us that all men might come to repentance.
Remember that parable that we looked at at the beginning? That Jesus told, the feast parable?
That talks about all those guys who started making excuses about not coming to dinner?
And the ones who made excuses about not coming to dinner?
God was saying, well, if they turn me down, they will never come. They will never get in my dinner. I am going to make sure that somebody gets in.
Well, he sends his servant out to make sure that somebody gets in.
Literally the era that we are living in today, you may go to somebody and they may say, no, I don't want to be born again.
I don't want to start my life fresh. I don't want to follow Jesus. I don't want to be forgiven for my sins.
I am not ready yet. Or I don't really believe that. Or I have a hard time trusting people so now I can't trust God.
I have heard all kinds of reasons. And you need to say to them when they give their reason for not, if you are sharing the gospel and they give their reason,
you say, if that really is your reason, then you are excused. No hard feelings.
Continue to treat them with respect or as Matthew 7 says, treat them the way you would want to be treated.
In fact, we ought to treat them a little bit more nicer.
Because you and I are going to heaven and that person is refusing Jesus is going to hell.
So ultimately you will get your eternal reward and all things will be good for you.
But their eternal reward is going to be really bad.
So maybe we ought to treat him even a little bit better than we would treat somebody that we know that is saved.
But the word says we should do good to all men and especially the household of faith.
So we do need to take care of our brothers first and in priority.
All of this lets us remember this release, lets us remember and recognize it is not really our fight, it is really God's fight.
The United States entered into a war in Afghanistan. They entered into a war in Vietnam.
They entered into a war in Korea. They entered into a war in Iraq.
Do you know which one of those four wars the United States won?
Now they were not all called wars, but they were wars.
Do you know which one of them they won? The United States?
The greatest power on the earth, the greatest arsenal on the earth, one trained soldier is worth 50 or 100 of the enemy because of the equipment they carried and training.
Do you know which one of those four wars we won?
Somebody knows. Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq. None.
Didn't win one of them. Do you know why?
Because those wars started a thousand years before we showed up and they'll be going on a thousand years after we're gone.
It has always been the desire of God to win all men to himself and in every generation there are those who become what Ezekiel proclaimed.
And those people try to win everybody around them to Jesus in whatever way they possibly can, demonstrating the love of God.
And those people learn this truth, which is that when people say no, no is okay.
If you don't want to be a follower of Jesus, that's okay. It's not as good as if you did want to be, but it's okay.
God still loves you and he's still going to keep working on you, keep tearing with you for a long time.
But if in the end, by death, by the return of Jesus, you're still making excuses, you will not taste of that feast.
That's our actual position. We don't have to overcome objections. This is not our fight.
If there is an easy way to do so, or if the Lord specifically leads you to do so, then do so.
Somebody says, well, I would, but you know, I'm too concerned about this job I'm on and how much trouble I'm having.
And if I could just get that sorted out, then I would take a serious look at this whole Jesus thing.
Then maybe you refer them to a different job, help them find a way to get to the point.
You know, or whatever. But if you can't, don't tarry. Don't waste your time.
Move on to the next person and share the gospel. Shaking the dust off your feet does not mean wishing ill on that person.
You're not allowed to bring down fire on their life. It just means move on to the next person.
And try to find somebody who will not be making excuses, who will be doing what they are called to do.
In Ephesians 6, Paul writes that our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but against rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.
And I submit to you today, if you've had a problem with telling people about Jesus,
because number one, you're afraid they'll say no, or number two, you're just scared, timid,
you think your personality just doesn't fit, it's time to be born again into the Kingdom of God.
It's time to become a person with a heart that is flesh and cares about the people around you who are lost and dying and going to hell.
It's time to take those slivers under the nail, or that stabbing in your heart when someone says no.
It's time to become the love of Christ. I'm asking you to do that. I'm asking you to be courageous.
I'm asking you to pull close together and stand strong against what can look like sometimes a very powerful enemy.
Demons, evil spirits, and even Satan himself.
The world system seems like it's running amok and changing everything, and we're in the face of it, and we're losing.
Scary. But not really. Because God is the one.
God's the one who's going to deal with all of that in time.
And I'm asking you to decide to be on God's side, to decide to set aside your reasons and your excuses.
Get up in the morning and say, today, I'm going to share with anybody I possibly can.
I'm going to live for God, and I'm going to let nothing hold me back.
It's been said that an excuse is a reason stuffed with a lie.
You don't need any excuses. But if you got a good one, you're dismissed.
Be careful not to use that excuse then to wander into detestable activity, because God will rain it all down on your head.
And if that's where you are, you have nothing left to do but repent, turn back to the Lord, and let God be in charge of your life,
which is what you should have done in the first place.
I ask the praise team to come forward at this time, if we can.
We're going to sing a closing hymn together.
This is your opportunity to make known whatever decision you might be making today.
If you're here today and you realize, hey, my sins have separated me from God, and what I was talking earlier or now,
you're accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior for the first time ever, then you come and make that publicly known.
You say, that's me. I'm standing up for Jesus in earnest for the first time ever.
From here on out, I'm born again, I'm starting fresh, I'm living my life with God's love and God's battle plan as the most important things.
But if you're here today and you say, I am a Christian, and I've been timid about sharing, telling anybody what I believe,
or about telling people how to get saved, or whatever like that, because I'm afraid of what they'll say,
or because I'm afraid of how they'll look, or whatever, and you look and you see I don't have a good reason why that's true,
or my personality, right? You say, you might say, I just need a little break.
It's okay, you can have a break. God says, yep, you can have a break anytime you want.
But if you take a break, make sure you come back to what's important.
If you take a break and wind up into testable things, be aware, it'll rain them down on your head.
So just stand with me and sing this song and maybe make whatever decision that God has laid on your heart today as we sing.
Come on, here we go.
Just as I am without one thing,
but that Thine was shed for me.
I couldn't have saved yourself if you wanted to.
Come to me, O Lamb of God, I come.
Just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blood,
to me whose blood can cleanse each smite, O Lamb of God, I come.
The Lord is speaking in your heart right now, and as we sing this next verse, you come.
You got a good reason not to, you don't have to.
Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me.
But that Thine was shed for me.
Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me.
Come, I come.
Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me.
Come, I come.
Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me.
I have no bit to give unto thee, O Lamb of God, I come.
I come.
Just as I am waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blood,
To thee whose blood can cleanse each smite, O Lamb of God, I come.
I come.