1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,620 Avenue Black 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,000 is a lonely time 3 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:41,000 And oh, happy day, happy day 4 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000 You washed my sin away 5 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,000 And oh, happy day, happy day 6 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:52,000 I'll never be the same 7 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,000 I'll never be the same 8 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:02,000 I'll never be the same 9 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Alright, praise the Lord 10 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,000 We're reminded this morning that His mercies are new every day 11 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Doesn't matter what happened yesterday 12 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,000 Today is the Lord's Day 13 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,000 And it is a happy day 14 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,000 And I am grateful to be alive 15 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,000 And grateful to be able to be here to rejoice in what God is doing 16 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:29,000 And I hope you are as well 17 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,000 We're going to pray in just a moment 18 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:35,000 Before we do, I just want to remind you that we are less than a week away from the Grand Prix 19 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,000 So next Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock 20 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:43,000 The Grand Prix event will be taking place over there in the multi-purpose room 21 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Along with that, we will have a concession stand, which is all free food 22 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000 So the current plan is to have several things like 10, 12 things on the menu 23 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,000 And then people come up and order and then go to the pickup window and pick up their food and like that 24 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,000 And we are going to promote 25 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Everyone is welcome at that 26 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 So you are welcome to come and volunteer and serve at the concession stand 27 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,000 You are welcome to come and volunteer 28 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,000 Or I guess it says volunteering 29 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Volunteer to eat our food that comes from the concession stand 30 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,000 There is no charge 31 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,000 And then we really want people to come and be fans for the race 32 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 The race will not take a real long time 33 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 We will race and we have a format 34 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 And then we have a judge coming in, at least one, probably up to three judges 35 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,000 That will come in and judge the car by design 36 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:26,000 What looks most like a car 37 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,000 What looks most fantastic 38 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:29,000 There will be two different categories 39 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,000 And all that is going to be going on Saturday 40 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:32,000 And then we will race 41 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,000 And we will race kind of by age group 42 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,000 And so we will have a lot of opportunity to win in speed 43 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000 And then we will kind of have some fun races 44 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,000 At the end, I really would like to race that person again 45 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,000 Or I would like to race the fastest adult car 46 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,000 Or the fastest young kid cars 47 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Or whatever, things like that 48 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,000 So we will have some fun with it 49 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:51,000 And that is going on Saturday 50 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:52,000 We will do some more promotions 51 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:53,000 Invite everybody 52 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:54,000 We need fans 53 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:55,000 We need race fans 54 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,000 We want to be able to make a loud roar when the cars go down the track 55 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:00,000 We will have sound effects 56 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,000 But it will be really cool if we have the voices to add to that 57 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,000 So plan your Saturday afternoon accordingly 58 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,000 And enlist some people to come 59 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,000 And I know not everybody even got a chance to make a car 60 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,000 That would like to make a car 61 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:11,000 And that is okay 62 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,000 There will be some extra cars there 63 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,000 They will not be able to race against the made cars 64 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000 Until you get to the kind of exhibition races 65 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:19,000 But we will do some of those 66 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,000 And they can race against the made cars 67 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 And some of the cars that were made in past years 68 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,000 May still be faster than the cars that were made this year 69 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,000 And it will be fun to find out 70 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:29,000 And race cars against cars 71 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,000 And so we are going to do that all on Saturday 72 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,000 And it is a fun event 73 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,000 And the concession stand will be running out of the kitchen 74 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000 We will feed everybody 75 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:37,000 It is going to be a good time 76 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,000 So that is all coming Saturday 77 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:40,000 Also remind you 78 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,000 We are in our memorization of scripture 79 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,000 Focus our discipline for this six months 80 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000 Through the end of May 81 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Through our anniversary 82 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,000 Our church anniversary is May 22nd 83 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,000 It is also Deacon Tony's birthday 84 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:53,000 So you will not forget that 85 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,000 The two days go together 86 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,000 You can give Deacon Tony a pat on the back 87 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:58,000 A hug, a handshake 88 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Or some kind of special little gift thing 89 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,000 That the Lord might need you to do 90 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:03,000 Or whatever it is you do 91 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:04,000 That is fine 92 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,000 If you do not, that is fine too 93 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Brother Deacon Tony is here to serve us 94 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:08,000 To serve you 95 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:09,000 And that is what that is all about 96 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:10,000 But May 22nd is his birthday 97 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,000 It is also the anniversary celebration 98 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000 And so there will be some more details 99 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,000 We will not actually be able to do 100 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,000 A lot of the celebration on that day 101 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:19,000 It is a Monday night 102 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,000 But we are going to do some things that week 103 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:22,000 And something that Sunday 104 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,000 And Sunday after 105 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:24,000 And there is a lot of Sundays 106 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,000 That have a lot of stuff on them in May 107 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,000 So keep your ears peeled for the differences in that 108 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,000 But the bottom line is 109 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Through then we are memorizing scripture 110 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,000 If you do not want to memorize the verses 111 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,000 That I set out every week 112 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:36,000 And I am trying to help you do that 113 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,000 By sending you a reminder 114 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Or putting it on Facebook 115 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Or through messenger 116 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,000 That kind of thing 117 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,000 But if you do not want to memorize 118 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,000 The verses that I set out 119 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Then at least memorize some verses 120 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,000 And if I may just make this plug for the Lord 121 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:48,000 You would do well 122 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,000 It is a spiritual discipline 123 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,000 You would do well to memorize scripture 124 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Some small portion 125 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Even if it is a few words 126 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Every single day of your life 127 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Okay? 128 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 Knights carry their swords with them 129 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000 Almost everywhere they go 130 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:03,000 Because anything can go wrong 131 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,000 At any point in time 132 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,000 This is the sword of the spirit 133 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,000 Essentially loaned to us by God 134 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:10,000 And it is His word 135 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 And it is wise to know His word 136 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,000 Very wise 137 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:14,000 And so you could use 138 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:15,000 You just took a verse 139 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:16,000 And did a few words a day 140 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Every day 141 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,000 You would still be making progress at least 142 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:20,000 Okay? 143 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Alright 144 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:22,000 So we are going to pray together at this time 145 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,000 And worship God a little bit more 146 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,000 And I lost RJ 147 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Did you take the baby? 148 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,000 He is getting Zoe 149 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:29,000 He is getting Zoe 150 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Okay 151 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,000 Alright so I will call on 152 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,000 He was set up to pray 153 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,000 But I will pray now 154 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:34,000 And then I will call on him later to pray 155 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,000 Let's pray together 156 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Father heaven 157 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:39,000 We are grateful for this day 158 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,000 For the breath in our lungs 159 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000 The strength in our muscles 160 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000 The fact that we are able to think 161 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:44,000 Imagine 162 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:45,000 Dream 163 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,000 Problem solve 164 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,000 You have blessed us 165 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,000 Even in the midst of our trials 166 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,000 Even in the midst of our struggles 167 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,000 We know the word says 168 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Consider it pure joy my brethren 169 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,000 When you face all manner of trials and tribulations 170 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,000 And so we should be grateful 171 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,000 When we are going through difficulty 172 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:02,000 Because the fact is 173 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,000 That there are those who are just not going 174 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000 They are not with us anymore 175 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:08,000 And they have gone to heaven 176 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:09,000 And probably are grateful for that 177 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Or they are not with us anymore 178 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,000 And they have gone somewhere else 179 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,000 And they are probably not grateful for that 180 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,000 And so Lord 181 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:17,000 We are still going 182 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:18,000 We are still working 183 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:19,000 We are still doing 184 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:20,000 We are still overcoming 185 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,000 We are still bringing the light into the world 186 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:23,000 And as long as we are doing that 187 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,000 We have everything to be joyful about 188 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,000 But we pray for the struggles that we have faced 189 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,000 That you would intervene as you see fit 190 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,000 And fix things that you are fixing 191 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,000 Overcome financial trials 192 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:36,000 To deal with health concerns 193 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:37,000 I pray for Sherry 194 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,000 And I pray for Chris 195 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,000 And I pray for June 196 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,000 And I pray for Michael 197 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,000 All who are facing significant health concerns right now 198 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Lord that you would overcome them 199 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:46,000 And there are others 200 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:47,000 Probably some in this room 201 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,000 Who have overcome their health concerns to be here 202 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:51,000 To be serving you 203 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,000 To be worshiping you 204 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,000 To be looking to you 205 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,000 Father we ask your blessing upon this time 206 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,000 We know that it was ordained by you long ago 207 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,000 Before any of us were ever born 208 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 That we be in this place 209 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,000 Worshipping you today 210 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,000 Giving you first place in our lives 211 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,000 That there be somebody in this room 212 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:08,000 Who does not know you personally 213 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Through Jesus your son 214 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,000 I pray that before they leave today 215 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:12,000 Before they leave their Sunday school class 216 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,000 Before they leave this room 217 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,000 That they will settle the matter 218 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,000 Of who they live for 219 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,000 And where they are going 220 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Thank you Lord for paying for sins on the cross 221 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,000 For overcoming and providing forgiveness 222 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,000 We pray that we will reach new heights today in Jesus 223 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:32,000 In worship 224 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,000 In scripture memorization 225 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,000 In applying the word to our lives 226 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:37,000 In serving 227 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:38,000 In giving 228 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,000 In loving others 229 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,000 True with Lord as you see fit 230 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,000 And we pray all this in Jesus name 231 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:46,000 Amen 232 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 Alright we can ask everybody to stand up 233 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:50,000 Alright come on now 234 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:51,000 Stretch your legs 235 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Shake out your arms 236 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Wake up a little bit 237 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,000 It's like almost noon 238 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,000 Shake it out 239 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:57,000 Shake it out 240 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:58,000 Alright now 241 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,000 There are 25 people in this room 242 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,000 Not including the ones on the stage 243 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,000 Okay 25 people that are here right now 244 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,000 To worship God and learn about God 245 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,000 And right now we're worshipping with music 246 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,000 That talks about God and talks to God 247 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,000 So we're going to pay attention 248 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:14,000 We're going to listen to the words 249 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,000 If you don't want to sing out loud 250 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:17,000 That's fine 251 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:18,000 If you do that's fine too 252 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,000 We don't care what it sounds like 253 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:21,000 Everybody sounds different 254 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:22,000 Okay 255 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:23,000 But we're going to participate 256 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,000 And pay attention to what 257 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,000 We're saying to God 258 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,000 And the worship that we're giving him 259 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:30,000 Amen 260 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,000 Can you hear 261 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,000 There's a new star 262 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:50,000 Breaking out from the children of freedom 263 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,000 Every race 264 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,000 And every nation 265 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,000 Singing out 266 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:57,000 Singing to 267 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,000 Hallelujah 268 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:12,000 When I sing out 269 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,000 To a nation 270 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,000 Making hope 271 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 On the next generation 272 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,000 Making hope 273 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,000 And make a brand new life 274 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,000 Singing out 275 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Okay so I had a fun time studying 276 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Our Bible Melorization verses this week 277 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:32,000 And I imagine some of you did 278 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,000 I know Miss Sherry said hers 279 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,000 And Ariana got at least verse 12 280 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,000 Which the truth is if you've been in the Bible 281 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:40,000 Even off and on for a while 282 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,000 Verse 12 is pretty easy to get 283 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:43,000 It was do unto others 284 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:44,000 That you would have them do unto you 285 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 For this is the law and the prophets 286 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,000 That's it 287 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,000 So it's a gold rule 288 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:51,000 Right 289 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:52,000 11 is a little more challenging 290 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:53,000 13 is a little more challenging 291 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:54,000 And altogether is a little more challenging 292 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:55,000 But it was 293 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,000 Each of them is pretty good stuff 294 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,000 And I actually did a video this week 295 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,000 And I'm going to try to do that again 296 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,000 And you get an opportunity to kind of 297 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:03,000 A little help memorizing 298 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,000 That kind of thing if you want to do that 299 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:06,000 But you don't have to do that 300 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:07,000 But hopefully you did spend some time 301 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:08,000 In the Word this week 302 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:09,000 So I want to ask you 303 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,000 What did you see in God's Word this week? 304 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:15,000 How's the Lord been speaking to you this week? 305 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,000 How many take? 306 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,000 So you guys are familiar with this 307 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,000 But I think the kids 308 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,000 They've been 23 years 309 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Some of us have already been 23 310 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,000 Almost 23 twice 311 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,000 But when I was 23 years old 312 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:31,000 I'll never forget 313 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,000 That they had something to share Jesus with me 314 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,000 I cried a thousand tears 315 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:36,000 I tell everybody 316 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,000 I used to cry in my room all the time 317 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:39,000 Like why am I here? 318 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,000 Why am I alive? 319 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:41,000 No one ever talked to me 320 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:42,000 No one ever reached out to me 321 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,000 And then I was 23 years old 322 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:45,000 And I cried out to God 323 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:46,000 For the first time through Jesus 324 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,000 And He reached out to me 325 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:49,000 Saved me 326 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,000 I was never the same after that day 327 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:54,000 And I was just thinking of a song 328 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:55,000 That I remember 329 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:56,000 I was telling a brother 330 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:57,000 That I used to sing all the time 331 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:58,000 It was the first song 332 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,000 That I broke down in tears 333 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,000 Because I used to sing all the time to God 334 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:05,000 But I never sung in a way 335 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:07,000 That I was worshipping God 336 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:08,000 That He could hear me 337 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,000 That He loved me 338 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:11,000 That no one else could love me 339 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,000 Like I've never known a love like that 340 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,000 And so I have these lyrics I want to share 341 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,000 Not the song 342 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,000 Because I wanted to kind of do it this way 343 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:21,000 And you guys know this song 344 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:22,000 And I've got to be careful I don't sing it 345 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Because I love to sing it 346 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:24,000 But the thing is 347 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,000 It's like what I love about this song 348 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:29,000 Is power that God's given everybody 349 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,000 Talent, art, characteristics 350 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,000 It's all awesome 351 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,000 But it started with the Word 352 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,000 These words I guarantee will be sung in heaven 353 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,000 I mean I can't say that it will be 354 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,000 But because it's so good 355 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,000 But I'm singing like a seed 356 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:43,000 You know when a seed first starts 357 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:44,000 It's just a little seed 358 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:45,000 But when it grows 359 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:46,000 Whatever it goes through 360 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,000 The trials, the tribulations, the seasons 361 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:50,000 It grows into a beautiful flower 362 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,000 It grows into a tree 363 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:53,000 Or even like I said for the kids 364 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,000 Like Pokemon or Yalobuup 365 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:57,000 You're this little guy that you get bigger 366 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,000 And stronger and smarter 367 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,000 Or you don't look so cute 368 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,000 They become cuter or beautiful 369 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:04,000 Because that's what you are 370 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,000 When you're first starting out 371 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:07,000 And so this song 372 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:08,000 You guys know this song 373 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:09,000 It became so glamorous 374 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,000 And instruments came to this song 375 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,000 And you know it's worshiped all around now 376 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:16,000 But here's how it started 377 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:18,000 It started with a man writing it down 378 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,000 It started with Jeremy Camp deciding 379 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,000 I'm going to write these lyrics down 380 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,000 And then people loved it 381 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,000 And people appreciated it for God 382 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:27,000 And honored it 383 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:28,000 And it's a great song 384 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:29,000 And here's what 385 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:30,000 You guys know the song 386 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:31,000 Here's what it says 387 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,000 You spread out the skies 388 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,000 Over empty space 389 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,000 Said let there be light 390 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,000 And to a dark and formless world 391 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,000 Your light was born 392 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:43,000 You spread out your arms 393 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,000 Over empty hearts 394 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,000 Said let there be light 395 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,000 And to a dark and homeless world 396 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:50,000 Hopeless world 397 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:51,000 Your sun was born 398 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,000 So first God let there be light 399 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,000 But then we brought darkness 400 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:57,000 We brought sin in this world 401 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,000 So then God spread his arms out 402 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,000 His sun and gave us light again 403 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,000 Through Jesus 404 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,000 You made the world 405 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,000 And saw that it was good 406 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,000 You sent your only son 407 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,000 For you are good 408 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,000 What a wonderful maker 409 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,000 What a wonderful savior 410 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,000 How majestic your whispers 411 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,000 And how humble your love 412 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,000 With the strength like no other 413 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,000 And the heart of a father 414 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:24,000 But how majestic your whispers 415 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,000 What a wonderful God 416 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,000 And then right here 417 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:28,000 No eye has fully seen 418 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,000 How beautiful the cross 419 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,000 And we have only heard 420 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,000 The faintest whispers 421 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,000 Of how great you are 422 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000 And then it goes to the same thing 423 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,000 It's pretty much the same thing after that 424 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,000 But what I just wanted to say is that 425 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,000 It started with just writing it down 426 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,000 I mean, today is a glorious song 427 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,000 So I encourage you, me, and 428 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,000 I definitely younger kids 429 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,000 Is it just starts with something 430 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,000 And look how beautiful it became 431 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,000 Look how beautiful God stretched that out 432 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Because that song today is still known 433 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:05,000 And that song was written 434 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:06,000 It's not even His song 435 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,000 I mean, it's like a hymn almost 436 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,000 It's like this song has been around for 437 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,000 Thousands of years 438 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,000 And how God has stretched it out 439 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,000 Through generation 440 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:18,000 To just keep beautifully 441 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,000 Not just singing it to God 442 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,000 But God singing it over us 443 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,000 Amen, what is the name of the song? 444 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,000 Oh, What a Wonderful Maker 445 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:27,000 Awesome 446 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:28,000 Oh, Wonderful Maker 447 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:29,000 Sorry 448 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,000 Alright, anybody else? 449 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,000 How's the Lord been speaking? 450 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,000 Okay, somebody tell me 451 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,000 What does it mean to you 452 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,000 The verse Matthew 7-12 453 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,000 That says, do unto others as you would have them 454 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,000 Do unto you 455 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,000 Let me tell me what that verse means 456 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:46,000 Jason? 457 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,000 If you want somebody to treat you equally 458 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,000 You have to treat them equally 459 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:51,000 Okay, so you're taking 460 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:52,000 You're extrapolating from it 461 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,000 And you're kind of drawing back a point that says 462 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,000 If you want somebody to treat you well 463 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:57,000 You have to treat them well 464 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:58,000 That may be true 465 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,000 But if they're doing it right 466 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,000 And they're treating you the way 467 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,000 They would want you to treat them 468 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,000 Then it wouldn't have to be true, would it? 469 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:07,000 If they're doing it right 470 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:08,000 Go ahead, tell me 471 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,000 Treat others the way you want to be treated 472 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,000 Treat others the way you want to be treated 473 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,000 Okay, so what does that mean? 474 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000 Give me an example, if you have to 475 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,000 If you treat other people the way 476 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Like, if someone's being mean 477 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,000 You can treat them nicely 478 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Maybe they'll treat you nicely 479 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,000 Yeah, so he said 480 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:30,000 If someone's being mean 481 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,000 You can choose to treat them nicely 482 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,000 And then maybe they'll treat you nicely 483 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,000 Or maybe they won't 484 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:37,000 But what? 485 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:38,000 But even 486 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,000 You still did the right thing 487 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:41,000 Even if they didn't work 488 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,000 You still did the right thing 489 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000 And you still did 490 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,000 Maybe you could change their lives 491 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:50,000 Or change their lives 492 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:51,000 You could change their lives 493 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:52,000 That's pretty good 494 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:53,000 Okay, anybody else want to add something? 495 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,000 Tommy? 496 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,000 Love others like you love yourself 497 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:57,000 Okay, yeah 498 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,000 Jesus actually said that elsewhere, didn't he? 499 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:00,000 He said, love your neighbor as yourself 500 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:01,000 That's good 501 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:02,000 Tim? 502 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,000 Probably a modern version of that 503 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,000 It's put yourself in somebody else's shoes 504 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:08,000 Yeah 505 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,000 What is that book that our generation was forced to read 506 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,000 To Kill a Mockingbird 507 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:14,000 Anybody remember it? 508 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,000 It's like coming back vaguely 509 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:18,000 So, Trying to Solve a Murder 510 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:19,000 Right, and the one guy says 511 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,000 I think it was the boy 512 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,000 He says, until you've walked a mile in a man's shoes 513 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:25,000 Don't judge him basically 514 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:26,000 And I'm probably messing up the words of it 515 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:27,000 But that's a good reality 516 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:28,000 Yeah, I realize that 517 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,000 There was a more recent one, a movie called 518 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000 That's where Pay It Forward came from actually I think 519 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,000 But it was a movie where 520 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:36,000 He had a movie 521 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,000 The writer, the author of the short story 522 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:39,000 And they brought the text into the movie 523 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,000 He said, you know, when you run into somebody 524 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,000 You realize you should treat them well 525 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,000 Because they are in the middle of a fight 526 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,000 They're facing something horrible in their life 527 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,000 And you come in there and you should treat them well 528 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,000 Realizing that's what you would want for yourself, right? 529 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,000 So, there's a lot 530 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,000 It's all over popular culture 531 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,000 It's called the Golden Rule, right? 532 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:04,000 Obviously, Jesus spoke it 533 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:05,000 It's Jesus' words 534 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:06,000 And by the way 535 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,000 If it was anything in the world 536 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,000 That I would want to remember in my lifetime 537 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,000 It would be something that Jesus himself spoke, right? 538 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,000 But he spoke it 539 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:16,000 And so if he spoke it 540 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,000 It's probably important 541 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,000 Like I haven't found anything in the Bible 542 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,000 That says that Jesus said 543 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,000 That isn't like really important 544 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,000 So 545 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,000 It does not mean 546 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,000 Treat others 547 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,000 The way you would want them to treat you 548 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,000 In order so that they will treat you well 549 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,000 Or to try to manipulate them, right? 550 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,000 So think about that 551 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,000 In fact, if you treat others the way you would want them to treat you 552 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000 As Jason and I were just talking about up here 553 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,000 They may not treat you well back 554 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:45,000 They may, or as Caleb said 555 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,000 They may come treating you poorly in the first place 556 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:49,000 And yet 557 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,000 You are commanded by Jesus to treat others well 558 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,000 Does anybody know why we can do that? 559 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,000 If you memorize the verses 560 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,000 You do know why, right? 561 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,000 What's the word of the 562 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,000 In everything 563 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,000 The actual verses 564 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,000 In everything 565 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,000 What's the next word? 566 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,000 In the N-A-S-A-V-E 567 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,000 No? 568 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,000 In everything 569 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:16,000 There's a clause word 570 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,000 And then it says do unto others 571 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,000 As you would have them do unto you 572 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:20,000 It's in everything 573 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,000 Therefore 574 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:23,000 That's what it says 575 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:24,000 Or your translation might say 576 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Therefore do unto others 577 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,000 As you would have them do unto you, right? 578 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:28,000 So there's a therefore 579 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,000 So what's the therefore therefore? 580 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:35,000 It's telling you that the verse that's right before that 581 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:36,000 Right? 582 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,000 Is the reason why you can do unto others 583 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:39,000 As you would have them do unto you 584 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:40,000 It's a therefore 585 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,000 Therefore, since this is true 586 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,000 Do unto others as you would have them do unto you 587 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,000 Right? 588 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,000 So what is it? 589 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,000 Did anybody memorize verse 11? 590 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,000 At least Sherri did, I did 591 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,000 Anybody else? 592 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:56,000 That's telling you why you can do unto others 593 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,000 The way you would have them do unto you 594 00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Verse 11 is 595 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,000 And it says 596 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,000 If you, being evil 597 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,000 Know how to give good gifts to your children 598 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,000 How much more therefore does your Father 599 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000 Will your Father in Heaven 600 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:12,000 Good gifts, good 601 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,000 I'm getting it right 602 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:17,000 Give good gifts to those who ask Him 603 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:18,000 Got it? 604 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,000 So that's the therefore 605 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,000 We can treat others 606 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,000 The way we would want to be treated 607 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,000 Because if we know how to give good gifts to our children 608 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:29,000 Being evil 609 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,000 We know how to give good gifts to our children 610 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,000 Surely God is going to give good gifts 611 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:35,000 To those who ask Him 612 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:37,000 Because He is good, right? 613 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,000 So you don't have to get what you need or what you want 614 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,000 From other people 615 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:45,000 I mean if you're a child 616 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,000 You may have to get your food from an adult 617 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:48,000 If you're an adult in the room 618 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,000 You may have to get your paycheck from a place where you work 619 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:52,000 Right? 620 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,000 But ultimately God has provided you 621 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,000 With that adult or with that job or with the work 622 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:58,000 And if you don't work where you currently work 623 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,000 You may work somewhere else 624 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,000 Right? 625 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:02,000 Because you have work that you can do 626 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:03,000 And you can get paid for that work 627 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:04,000 The bottom line is 628 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,000 God is going to provide good gifts to those who ask Him 629 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:10,000 Because we know God is going to provide good gifts to us 630 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,000 We can treat others 631 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,000 The way we would want to be treated 632 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,000 Don't miss the therefore 633 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,000 The therefore is a scripture 634 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,000 They're where our strength comes from a lot of times 635 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:21,000 We know we can do this 636 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,000 So the next time somebody is treating you badly 637 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,000 Treat them good anyway 638 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,000 Treat them good anyway 639 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,000 Because then whether or not something positive comes out of it 640 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:35,000 Or whether or not you change their life over the next coming weeks 641 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,000 Either way you will have still done what Jesus told you to do 642 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,000 And I submit to you that we get what we get from God 643 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,000 And all the good things because we believe in God 644 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,000 In fact, it says in Hebrews it says you cannot please 645 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,000 No one can please the Lord except he at least believe that he exists 646 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:51,000 You must have faith 647 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,000 You have to believe that he existed in order to please God 648 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,000 You don't believe that God exists 649 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:56,000 You're not pleasing Him 650 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:57,000 That's about a lot 651 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:58,000 Right? 652 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,000 And so we in trusting in God 653 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,000 That He will give good gifts to His children 654 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,000 And then accordingly treating others the way we would want to be treated 655 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,000 That demonstrates our trust in God 656 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:09,000 We do trust in God 657 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:10,000 We believe in God 658 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,000 Because we're treating them the way we would want to be treated 659 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:14,000 Not the way they're treating us 660 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,000 Or not treating them a certain way to try to get something out of them 661 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,000 Or whatever 662 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,000 But we're doing it just because it's what God told us to do 663 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,000 In fact, Jesus said that the man who hears these teachings 664 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,000 This is chapter 7 665 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,000 Later, I think it's just later in chapter 7 666 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,000 The man who hears these teachings is like the man who dug, 667 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,000 He built his house upon the solid rock 668 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000 If you will treat others the way you want to be treated 669 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:41,000 Which you can do because God is going to give good gifts to those who ask Him 670 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,000 He's going to take care of you 671 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,000 So you can treat others the way you want to be treated 672 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:46,000 And if you would do that 673 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,000 You would be like the man who dug deep and built his house upon the rock 674 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,000 And when the storms come 675 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,000 And the other guy's house crashes because he built it on sand 676 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,000 Your house will stand because you built it on an organ 677 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,000 This is the value of studying the verses 678 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,000 Even if you don't get them memorized the way you'd like to 679 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,000 Even if you don't get it word for word or whatever 680 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,000 This is the value 681 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,000 You can take that out of the world and do something with it 682 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,000 Treat others the way you want to be treated 683 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,000 And you can do that because you are safe in the Lord because He's taking care of you 684 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,000 That will reoccur in this conclusion of the sermon a little bit today 685 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,000 Which was not, that was purely providential 686 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:23,000 God did that 687 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,000 Alright, so we're going to pray at this time 688 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,000 We have tithes and offerings 689 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,000 We have just a couple more songs of worship 690 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,000 The children are getting ready to leave us to go to their lesson time 691 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:33,000 And study the word 692 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:34,000 And that will be cool 693 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,000 And then we're going to go to the word 694 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,000 And we're in Deuteronomy 20 695 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,000 20 chapters into the book of Deuteronomy 696 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:41,000 Alright 697 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,000 We're going to pray together 698 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,000 Aaron, my brother, my son 699 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:46,000 Are you with me? 700 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:47,000 Would you pray for us, sir? 701 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,000 And lead us in prayer as we transition 702 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,000 And don't forget the tithes and offerings 703 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,000 Lord, thank you for this day 704 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,000 Thank you for the beautiful weather breaking 705 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,000 And us being able to gather here today 706 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:03,000 Thank you for the new faces that we see in the room 707 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000 And pray that faces new and old 708 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,000 And you can touch each of our hearts with the sermon today 709 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,000 And thank you, all this to learn and grow through you 710 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:14,000 And pray you bless the tithes and offerings 711 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,000 And lead us in our hearts 712 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,000 And bring us wisdom 713 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,000 And guide us through our daily walk 714 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,000 In the same name, Amen 715 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:24,000 Amen 716 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:52,000 Thank you 717 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,000 I'm a printed disturb 718 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,000 This winter 719 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:01,000 That river Ushua 720 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,000 Pretty 721 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:21,520 I'm really 722 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:28,520 And I know it all seems like I'm on my way 723 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:34,520 I go running to a mountain 724 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:40,520 Where the mercy sets me free 725 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,520 You are my strong tower 726 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,520 A shout from over me 727 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,520 Beautiful and mighty 728 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,520 Everlasting King 729 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,520 You are my strong tower 730 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,520 A fortress when I'm weak 731 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:02,520 Your name is true and holy 732 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:08,520 And your face is all I see 733 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,520 In the middle of my darkness 734 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,520 In the midst of all my fear 735 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:20,520 You're my refuge in my heart 736 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:25,520 When a storm of magic's raging 737 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,520 And the thunder's all I hear 738 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:32,520 You speak softly to my soul 739 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,520 Now I'm running to a mountain 740 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,520 Where the mercy sets me free 741 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:46,520 You are my strong tower 742 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,520 A shout from over me 743 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,520 Beautiful and mighty 744 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,520 Everlasting King 745 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,520 You are my strong tower 746 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,520 A fortress when I'm weak 747 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:05,520 Your name is true and holy 748 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:13,520 And your face is all I see 749 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:22,520 I go running to a mountain 750 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,520 Where the mercy sets me free 751 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,520 You are my strong tower 752 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,520 A shout from over me 753 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:38,520 Beautiful and mighty 754 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,520 Everlasting King 755 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,520 You are my strong tower 756 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,520 A fortress when I'm weak 757 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,520 Your name is true and holy 758 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:56,520 You are my strong tower 759 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,520 A shout from over me 760 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,520 Beautiful and mighty 761 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,520 Everlasting King 762 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:08,520 You are my strong tower 763 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,520 A fortress when I'm weak 764 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,520 Your name is true and holy 765 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:29,520 And your face is all I see 766 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,520 Jesus, King of my heart 767 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,520 Father, my peace and my life 768 00:28:35,520 --> 00:29:00,520 Jesus, King of my heart 769 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:05,520 Jesus, King of my heart 770 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:09,520 Jesus, King of my heart 771 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:15,520 Father, I rest in your care 772 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:22,520 Give me the heart of my heart child 773 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:27,520 Everlasting King 774 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,520 You are my strong tower 775 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,520 A fortress when I'm weak 776 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,520 Your name is true and holy 777 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,520 And your face is all I see 778 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,520 Jesus, King of my heart 779 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,520 Father, my peace and my life 780 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:49,520 Jesus, King of my heart child 781 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,520 Jesus, King of my heart child 782 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,520 Everlasting King 783 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,520 Jesus, King of my heart child 784 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,520 Jesus, King of my heart child 785 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,520 Everlasting King 786 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:07,520 You are my strong tower 787 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:10,520 A fortress when I'm weak 788 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,520 Your name is true and holy 789 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,520 And your face is all I see 790 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,520 Everlasting King 791 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,520 You are my strong tower 792 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,520 A fortress when I'm weak 793 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,520 Your name is true and holy 794 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,520 And your face is all I see 795 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,520 Jesus, King of my heart child 796 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,520 Jesus, King of my heart child 797 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:47,520 Everlasting King 798 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:25,520 I am fond of believing or even thinking that there are no excuses for not doing what's right. Do you agree? 799 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:36,520 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. 800 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:44,520 I think Jesus fairly clearly lays out for us that ultimately there is no excuse. 801 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:51,520 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. 802 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:57,520 In the book of Luke in chapter 14, Jesus tells a parable. It is the parable of a dinner feast. 803 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:04,520 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, 804 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:09,520 Come for everything is ready now. But they all alike began to make excuses. 805 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:15,520 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. 806 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:22,520 Another one said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to try them out. Please consider me excused. 807 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:26,520 Another one said, I have married a wife and for that reason I cannot come. 808 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:31,520 And the slave came back and reported this to his master and the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 809 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:37,520 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. 810 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:43,520 And the slave said, Master, what you commanded has been done and still there is room. 811 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:50,520 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. 812 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:57,520 Now listen to this last verse. For I tell you that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner. 813 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:05,520 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, 814 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:13,520 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, 815 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:21,520 when people make excuses and do not come, God's response to that is, alright then, then you won't get to come. 816 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:26,520 And that sounds like God is saying there can be no excuses. 817 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:34,520 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. 818 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:42,520 The title of the sermon today is Overcoming Objections Reconsidered. 819 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:49,520 We've looked at overcoming objections before. We've talked about why it's important to when someone expresses an objection to the Gospel 820 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:57,520 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. 821 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:02,520 We've been working through the book of Deuteronomy and I hope you'll get a little excited with me. 822 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:09,520 Maybe say amen or hallelujah or just exhale a loud breath as we go to Deuteronomy chapter 20. Amen. 823 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:15,520 This is God's word. From here on out what I read today will be God speaking to the hearts of men throughout eternity. 824 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:20,520 I submit to you that many great men have sat under this teaching that we're about to look at today. 825 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:30,520 Many great women, many great youth, young people, the entire nation of Israel initially, which were men, women and children of all ages. 826 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:36,520 And so here we go, Deuteronomy chapter 20 beginning in verse 1. 827 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:45,520 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. 828 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:49,520 For the Lord your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt is with you. 829 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:57,520 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. 830 00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:03,520 And that when a person fights from horseback or from a chariot they gain a substantial advantage. 831 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:08,520 In fact a chariot was the equivalent of an armored car for that vehicle. 832 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:15,520 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. 833 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:25,520 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. 834 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:29,520 They cannot be hurt. Arrows will bounce off the armor of the chariot. 835 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:34,520 And they are moving fast so it's already harder to target them. They can throw spears. 836 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:38,520 They may have blades attached to the side of the chariot and the horses are powerful chargers. 837 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:47,520 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. 838 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:53,520 A chariot is something to be afraid of unless you have a means to deal with it. 839 00:35:53,520 --> 00:36:00,520 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, 840 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:03,520 like the Templar knights and so on, they didn't really exist at this time. 841 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:09,520 But armored riders on horseback certainly did have a heavy chain and things like that, shield. 842 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:16,520 And a man in heavy chain and shield with a fairly long weapon or even a long spear is also very difficult to defeat. 843 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:23,520 In fact, men would have the job of gutting the horse or cutting the horse's legs. They were called dagger men. 844 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:29,520 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. 845 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:34,520 Because it was virtually impossible to hurt him unless you could unseat him. 846 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:39,520 He would ride through crowds of men on horseback and the horse would kill men as he would go. 847 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:43,520 And then he would swing his sword like this, like he was cutting down hay. 848 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:51,520 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. 849 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:56,520 A man on horseback is a thing to be feared unless you have a way of dealing with it. 850 00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:02,520 But here God was telling the Israelites when they would go out to battle against their enemies and see horses and chariots, 851 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:08,520 and even if they would see an army that was much more numerous than them, they were not to be afraid. 852 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:14,520 For the Lord their God who brought them up out of the land of Egypt would be with them. 853 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:20,520 Now it shall come about that when you are approaching the battle the priest shall come near and speak to the people. 854 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:25,520 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 855 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:31,520 that's possibly facing off with chariots and horses and a more numerous force. 856 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:36,520 And he shall say to them, hear O Israel. In other words, listen up all you guys. 857 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:40,520 All you warriors, all you nation, all you Israelites, listen up. 858 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:45,520 You are approaching the battle against your enemies today. 859 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:50,520 Do not be faint-hearted. In other words, don't let your heart get out of control. 860 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:56,520 Be fearful, trembling, not knowing what's going to happen, worried if you will. 861 00:37:56,520 --> 00:38:01,520 Do not be faint-hearted. Do not be afraid or panic or tremble before them. 862 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:08,520 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. 863 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:12,520 Now if I can stop right here after verse 4, you've got the priest declaring the truth about God 864 00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:15,520 which is that he was with their forces for victory. 865 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:20,520 Now let's look back just for a brief moment historically speaking. 866 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:27,520 Now chariots and horses notwithstanding, it didn't matter that the enemy came with chariots or the enemy came with horses or not. 867 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:35,520 The statistics are that every soldier, every Israelite soldier in battle was as good as 22 men. 868 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:39,520 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, 869 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:47,520 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. 870 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:59,520 That means 500 men could go out against 11,000 and 20,000 men could go up against 440,000 men. 871 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:04,520 22 times stronger. That's statistically, historically the way it went. 872 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:10,520 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. 873 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,520 He will fight for you and with you. That is literally true. 874 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:19,520 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 875 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,520 and it's a huge army still and hunting them all down and killing them was going to be tough. 876 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:28,520 And rocks, possibly meteorites or whatever, fell from the sky and crushed that fleeing army. 877 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:35,520 So God was fighting for them even when they could not fight for themselves because the army had out distanced them. 878 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:41,520 So the priest is declaring on behalf of God, fear not, don't tremble before them. 879 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:48,520 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. 880 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,520 But there's something else yet coming in this passage of scripture. 881 00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:57,520 It says the officers shall speak to the people saying, now listen, this is good. 882 00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:06,520 The officers shall speak to the people saying, who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? 883 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:12,520 Let him depart and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 884 00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:21,520 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. 885 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:27,520 Now you're excused. You can step out of the fight and go and dedicate your house. 886 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:30,520 By then the battle will be long over. 887 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:37,520 So you don't have to fight if you have this good reason, which is you need to dedicate your house. Verse six. 888 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:44,520 And it says, and who is the man that has planted a vineyard that has not begun to use its fruit? 889 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:53,520 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. 890 00:40:53,520 --> 00:41:02,520 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. 891 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:13,520 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. 892 00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:24,520 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, 893 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:33,520 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. 894 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,520 And who is the man who has engaged to a woman and has not married her? 895 00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:42,520 Let him depart and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man marry her. 896 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:45,520 So now we've got this guy's engaged and they're about to get married. 897 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:50,520 You're free to go. You've got a good reason. You're free to go. 898 00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:58,520 Then the officers shall speak further to the people and they shall say, who is the man that is afraid and faint hearted? 899 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:07,520 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. 900 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:15,520 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, 901 00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:21,520 you see the army side shrinking and you're getting a little fearful, you're free to go. 902 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:28,520 Let him depart and return to his house so that he might not make his brother's hearts melt like his heart. 903 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:38,520 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. 904 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:42,520 That concludes our text in Deuteronomy for today. 905 00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:47,520 There's a few things that we need to look at out of here that frankly really touched my heart, 906 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:56,520 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. 907 00:42:56,520 --> 00:43:08,520 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. 908 00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:13,520 You know what God's number one character trait is? Is God's number one character trait that he is eternal? 909 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:18,520 Is God's number one character trait that he knows all? 910 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:22,520 Is God's number one character trait that he's all-powerful? 911 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:28,520 If I say no to all three of those, then I ask you, do you know what God's number one character trait is? 912 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:35,520 How about if I tell you that Peter said God is love. 913 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:38,520 John, thank you, said God is love. 914 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:44,520 The release demonstrates first of all God's love and his value of life. 915 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,520 God does not want to be against you. 916 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:57,520 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. 917 00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:10,520 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. 918 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:18,520 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. 919 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:21,520 God is against them because they are bad. 920 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:25,520 They are evil and he will overcome them. They are wicked to the core. 921 00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:27,520 There is nothing good left in them. 922 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:31,520 God found that to be the case of all humanity in the day of Noah and wiped them all out. 923 00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:37,520 God was not just against them in a way that would bring them around to a course that would be better for them. 924 00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:39,520 He was against them because there was no saving them. 925 00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:57,520 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. 926 00:44:57,520 --> 00:45:06,520 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. 927 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:17,520 I hope I wouldn't, but that atrocity is so extreme that I'm not sure I could tolerate it. 928 00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:22,520 And we expect God to tolerate that kind of wickedness? No. 929 00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:29,520 He is a loving God, but he has his limits when it comes to wickedness and apostasy. 930 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:34,520 His number one trait is that he loves you. 931 00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:43,520 God wants you, get this, this will blow your mind, God wants you to be happy all the time. 932 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,520 You're like, but wait, because there's things, right? 933 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:50,520 There are tribulations, there are difficulties, people die. 934 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:52,520 If that's true, why doesn't God eradicate death? 935 00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:54,520 Why doesn't God wipe out suffering? 936 00:45:54,520 --> 00:46:00,520 Listen to me, if you lived in a world with no suffering, no death, no challenges whatsoever, you wouldn't be happy. 937 00:46:00,520 --> 00:46:02,520 You'd be fat, lazy on your deathbed. 938 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:05,520 Human beings were made to work. 939 00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:07,520 We are created to work and overcome difficulties. 940 00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:10,520 If there are no difficulties, you would not be happy. 941 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:22,520 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. 942 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:25,520 God wants you to be happy all the time. 943 00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:30,520 So if God wants me to be happy all the time, why does it make me happy all the time? 944 00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:37,520 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. 945 00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:42,520 And he will not run roughshod over your free will to make you happy all the time. 946 00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:44,520 God's not an opiate. 947 00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:46,520 He is an intelligent, loving being. 948 00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:48,520 He loves you. 949 00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:59,520 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, 950 00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:02,520 God says, okay, I'll deal with it. 951 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:07,520 Now, it may take months or years for God to crush that thing out of your life because you won't allow it. 952 00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:08,520 You won't participate in it. 953 00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:10,520 You're not working as part of the solution. 954 00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:13,520 You've actually become part of the problem, but he'll deal with it. 955 00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:21,520 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. 956 00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:28,520 Some people, it takes their entire life before they overcome some of the things that God is willing to overcome in an instant. 957 00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:33,520 Because they refuse and they make a good excuse and they have a good reason. 958 00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:38,520 God's release demonstrates, first of all, his great value of life. 959 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:43,520 He wants you to build and harvest vineyards. 960 00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:54,520 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. 961 00:47:54,520 --> 00:48:03,520 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. 962 00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:08,520 Caleb said in the inspirational moment, you may change their lives over the coming weeks. 963 00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:19,520 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. 964 00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:25,520 But sometimes you may find good reason not to. 965 00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:34,520 The importance of what he is proclaiming the release here is obvious to me. 966 00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:46,520 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. 967 00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:51,520 If you're following along in your Bible, you can flip with me to the book of Ezekiel. 968 00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:57,520 You'll find it back in the prophets in the back right back there of the prophets. 969 00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:04,520 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. 970 00:49:04,520 --> 00:49:05,520 You can find it. 971 00:49:05,520 --> 00:49:12,520 Book of Ezekiel chapter 11 beginning in verse 19. 972 00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:20,520 So this is the prophecy by which Ezekiel foresees the kind of people who will be God's people. 973 00:49:20,520 --> 00:49:22,520 And as part of that, he says this. 974 00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:27,520 He says, I shall give them one heart. 975 00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:37,520 Now, if you've got a reason to be elsewhere, go ahead, because God is going to give his people one heart. 976 00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:41,520 He says, I shall give them one heart. 977 00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:45,520 I shall put a new spirit within them. 978 00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:51,520 If the Holy Spirit is rising up in you and making you a courageous lion to stand up for God, 979 00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:58,520 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, 980 00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:03,520 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, 981 00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:06,520 a new spirit within you, his Holy Spirit. 982 00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:13,520 But if you've got a good reason not to, you're dismissed. 983 00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:17,520 Because this is the kind of people that God is raising up for himself. 984 00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:23,520 A people of one heart, a people who shall put a new spirit within, he shall put a new spirit within them. 985 00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:29,520 He says, and I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. 986 00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:35,520 If you've begun to care, you care about the people around you, you care about families, you care about goodness, 987 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:41,520 you care about honor and honesty and justice, you care about rightness in the world, you care about overcoming evil. 988 00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:51,520 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, 989 00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:57,520 then you may have become a child of God or maybe becoming a child of God, one of his people. 990 00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:03,520 But if you can always wave that feeling off, that feeling of that need to serve others, to make a difference, to overcome evil, 991 00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:11,520 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, 992 00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:14,520 then you're dismissed. 993 00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:19,520 Because that's not the kind of host that God is preparing to serve himself. 994 00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:24,520 Verse 20 goes on, it says that he would give us that heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone. 995 00:51:24,520 --> 00:51:32,520 It says that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. 996 00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:39,520 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, 997 00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:44,520 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, 998 00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:49,520 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. 999 00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:54,520 Now I find myself able to say no to that. Even if there are things you can't currently say no to now, 1000 00:51:54,520 --> 00:51:58,520 but if you find that there are things you wanted to say no to before that you couldn't but now you can. 1001 00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:03,520 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, 1002 00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:07,520 but now you can. Even if there are things now that you can't submit to, 1003 00:52:07,520 --> 00:52:11,520 it doesn't say you're going to get everything perfectly. It says if you have the ability, 1004 00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:15,520 if you have been given the ability to submit to God's statutes and keep his ordinances and to do them, 1005 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:22,520 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, 1006 00:52:22,520 --> 00:52:31,520 you're dismissed. He says then they will be my people and I shall be their God. 1007 00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:38,520 You hear it? You're being enlisted into the kingdom of God, the army of God, 1008 00:52:38,520 --> 00:52:42,520 and if you will join and set aside your reasons, whatever they may be, 1009 00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:47,520 then you can be his people and he will be your God and he will fight the battle for you. 1010 00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:52,520 And your part of that is so small it doesn't really even register. 1011 00:52:52,520 --> 00:53:00,520 And you will overcome things that you couldn't believe you could overcome because really it's about your willingness. 1012 00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:08,520 And then 21 says, but as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, 1013 00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:11,520 in other words, if you go after the things that the world sets up as good, 1014 00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:15,520 if your reason or your excuse takes you to somewhere where you really ought not be 1015 00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:20,520 or something that doesn't honor God or that includes breaking the rules of God, right? 1016 00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:27,520 That's what he's saying. He says I shall bring their conduct down on their heads, declares the Lord. 1017 00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:32,520 See, God loves you and the release of the people who don't really want to serve God, 1018 00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:38,520 who don't really want to overcome barriers, who don't really want to be released from the rest of the world's conformity 1019 00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:44,520 and rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind and really know the will of God and do what it is, 1020 00:53:44,520 --> 00:53:49,520 people who aren't like this but who want to be over here chasing after the things of the world. 1021 00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:55,520 Ezekiel says God will let them go, but worse than that, not only will he let them go, 1022 00:53:55,520 --> 00:53:59,520 he's also going to bring down their choices on their head. 1023 00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:06,520 We are to be unified in our desire to follow God and do what it is that God wants us to do. 1024 00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:10,520 We are to have a heart of flesh and care about what's going on. 1025 00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:14,520 If you sprain or break your arm, as I borrow an illustration from an unknown author, 1026 00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:19,520 if you sprain or break your arm and it hurts really bad, you may lay awake all night long, 1027 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:24,520 your whole rest of your body suffering willingly along with the pain and the ache in your arm. 1028 00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:27,520 You may have been there at some point in time, you're like I can't really sleep, 1029 00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:30,520 my whole body doesn't want to sleep because of what I'm feeling in my arm. 1030 00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:33,520 The body of Christ is supposed to be like that. 1031 00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:38,520 When one person is really suffering like that, the rest of the body should lay awake and going, 1032 00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:41,520 how do I fix what's going wrong? 1033 00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:44,520 How do I step in and make a difference? 1034 00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:49,520 But if your heart of compassion is blocked by your reason, then you're dismissed. 1035 00:54:49,520 --> 00:54:54,520 But don't think that God won't then do something about that person's pain, he will. 1036 00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:59,520 Whatever they're going through, he'll be there for them even if you choose not to be there for them. 1037 00:54:59,520 --> 00:55:02,520 And if by the way, when you choose not to be there for them, 1038 00:55:02,520 --> 00:55:06,520 you choose not to be there for them because you're running after the detestable things of the world, 1039 00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:10,520 then don't also think that God will be mocked. 1040 00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:12,520 You will reap what you sow. 1041 00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:14,520 As you run after the detestable things of the world, 1042 00:55:14,520 --> 00:55:18,520 and don't show up for that person that needed you as part of the body that you're supposed to be unified with, 1043 00:55:18,520 --> 00:55:22,520 don't ache with them, don't cry with them, don't care about what they're going through, 1044 00:55:22,520 --> 00:55:23,520 and you go after the detestable things. 1045 00:55:23,520 --> 00:55:28,520 So in other words, if you're too busy playing video games, or you're too busy eating too much food, 1046 00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:32,520 or you're too busy having sex outside marriage, or you're too busy pursuing drugs, 1047 00:55:32,520 --> 00:55:36,520 or you're too busy watching that crappy stuff that some people call TV, 1048 00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:40,520 there's good TV and there's bad TV, and you're watching the crappy stuff that some people call TV, 1049 00:55:40,520 --> 00:55:43,520 instead of showing up for somebody that's in need, 1050 00:55:43,520 --> 00:55:49,520 God is going to bring down on your head the results of the very thing that you went after 1051 00:55:49,520 --> 00:55:52,520 instead of doing the thing that you were supposed to do. 1052 00:55:52,520 --> 00:55:56,520 Not my words, but the words of the Lord. 1053 00:55:56,520 --> 00:56:00,520 Admittedly, prophesied hundreds of years before we could have become Christians, 1054 00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:04,520 or even were born thousands of years, but it is God's Word. 1055 00:56:04,520 --> 00:56:07,520 He called the people for Himself. 1056 00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:11,520 He called and, yes, gave the ability to have a release. 1057 00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:16,520 If you don't want to participate, you don't have to participate. 1058 00:56:16,520 --> 00:56:20,520 You're released. 1059 00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:27,520 Not only was it to protect the integrity of the host, but it was also to inspire confidence in the timid. 1060 00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:32,520 Those who would then go out to war against chariots or horses or armies, 22 times their size. 1061 00:56:32,520 --> 00:56:35,520 They could be confident and know that God was for them. Why? 1062 00:56:35,520 --> 00:56:42,520 Because they didn't have any wimpy, wicked apostates with them. 1063 00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:45,520 They all left. They were all dismissed. 1064 00:56:45,520 --> 00:56:48,520 Everybody that's here is living for the Lord. 1065 00:56:48,520 --> 00:56:51,520 Everybody that's here wants one unified thing. 1066 00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:54,520 Let's do what God wants us to do. Let's make a difference. 1067 00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:56,520 Let's overcome evil with good. Let's reach new heights with Jesus. 1068 00:56:56,520 --> 00:56:59,520 Let's do what it is that God wants us to do. That's why we're here. 1069 00:56:59,520 --> 00:57:02,520 We're here to worship God, to reach new heights with Jesus. 1070 00:57:02,520 --> 00:57:06,520 Some people just stippin' their toe in for the very first time and kinda liking the temperature. 1071 00:57:06,520 --> 00:57:08,520 Some people are going, I don't know, it's too hot in here for me. 1072 00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:11,520 I need a good reason not to be here reaching new heights with Jesus. 1073 00:57:11,520 --> 00:57:17,520 And if you find one, then on behalf of the Holy God of the universe, let me say to you, you're dismissed. 1074 00:57:17,520 --> 00:57:19,520 You're free to go. 1075 00:57:19,520 --> 00:57:23,520 If you find a good reason not to follow Jesus, you're free to go. 1076 00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:31,520 And those that remain will be unified in their desire to stand up on behalf of God in this world, 1077 00:57:31,520 --> 00:57:34,520 to be the literal body of Christ. That's what the church is. 1078 00:57:34,520 --> 00:57:39,520 Outreaching to a lost and dying world and sharing because we are confident that God is fighting for us 1079 00:57:39,520 --> 00:57:42,520 because there's nobody in our midst who would say, oh no, thank you God. 1080 00:57:42,520 --> 00:57:49,520 God proclaims the release out of His number one character trait because He is love. 1081 00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:52,520 He loves you and He wants you to be happy. He wants what's best for you. 1082 00:57:52,520 --> 00:57:55,520 He wants you to build houses and dedicate them to the Lord. 1083 00:57:55,520 --> 00:58:03,520 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. 1084 00:58:03,520 --> 00:58:07,520 But none of those things are truly meant to be an excuse. 1085 00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:10,520 But should you find that they are, you're free to go. 1086 00:58:10,520 --> 00:58:14,520 But should you find an excuse that leads you into detestable behavior or something that is sin, 1087 00:58:14,520 --> 00:58:18,520 you're not only free to go, but on top of that, you will face the punishment. 1088 00:58:18,520 --> 00:58:25,520 Man walked into an insane asylum. Thousands of people diagnosed with all kinds of disorders. 1089 00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:30,520 People screaming over here, people pretending to be somebody from history over here, 1090 00:58:30,520 --> 00:58:35,520 people running around in their underwear, people having their medications dosed right then and so on. 1091 00:58:35,520 --> 00:58:40,520 And he saw that there were three guards on the insane asylum, three guards, 1092 00:58:40,520 --> 00:58:44,520 to watch all those thousands of people who were in the common area and all their rooms and everything. 1093 00:58:44,520 --> 00:58:48,520 There were only three guards assigned at any one time watching thousands of people. 1094 00:58:48,520 --> 00:58:53,520 But he went up to the guard and said, are you not afraid that these people will unite and overpower you? 1095 00:58:53,520 --> 00:58:56,520 There's only three of you. They can overpower you and then they can all just leave. 1096 00:58:56,520 --> 00:59:00,520 And all those thousands of people were released back into the community because there's only three guards here to even hold them, right? 1097 00:59:00,520 --> 00:59:04,520 And the guard said back, no, he said lunatics never unite. 1098 00:59:04,520 --> 00:59:09,520 Either we will be united as God has laid out for us or we will be divided. 1099 00:59:09,520 --> 00:59:13,520 And united we stand and divided we fall. 1100 00:59:13,520 --> 00:59:20,520 The kingdom of God is a united people that cares about one another and cares about the work of God and advances the kingdom. 1101 00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:25,520 And frankly does not find reasons not to show up. 1102 00:59:25,520 --> 00:59:29,520 You call off work because you had a bad fish sandwich. 1103 00:59:29,520 --> 00:59:33,520 You're feeling mostly fine now, but yesterday was rough. 1104 00:59:33,520 --> 00:59:38,520 Your job should not interfere with your serving Jesus no matter what it takes. 1105 00:59:38,520 --> 00:59:42,520 Because your job is for this lifetime and Jesus is for an eternity. 1106 00:59:42,520 --> 00:59:46,520 And I use that as the most extreme example. 1107 00:59:46,520 --> 00:59:51,520 Because it's the one we feel powerless to do anything about. 1108 00:59:51,520 --> 01:00:02,520 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. 1109 01:00:02,520 --> 01:00:05,520 Because your spouse is for this lifetime. 1110 01:00:05,520 --> 01:00:09,520 Jesus said they will not take husbands and wives and be married in the eternity like they are now. 1111 01:00:09,520 --> 01:00:12,520 But your God is for eternity. 1112 01:00:12,520 --> 01:00:14,520 Shall I go on? 1113 01:00:14,520 --> 01:00:22,520 Your addictions are the very thing that he's talking about turning to that are detestations of God. 1114 01:00:22,520 --> 01:00:28,520 Your hobbies that do not honor God are the very things that he's talking about turning to. 1115 01:00:28,520 --> 01:00:30,520 Things that you look at that you should never look at. 1116 01:00:30,520 --> 01:00:33,520 Things that you listen to that you shouldn't listen to. 1117 01:00:33,520 --> 01:00:37,520 Things that are impure that you focus on and the word says focus on the pure. 1118 01:00:37,520 --> 01:00:40,520 And so on and those things will be visited upon our heads. 1119 01:00:40,520 --> 01:00:48,520 We must unite and in uniting we gain great strength because we can trust the Lord. 1120 01:00:48,520 --> 01:00:52,520 In the military this is called closing ranks. 1121 01:00:52,520 --> 01:00:56,520 Foot troops closer get close stand together. 1122 01:00:56,520 --> 01:01:02,520 In the Roman legions everybody carried what's called a large shield. 1123 01:01:02,520 --> 01:01:03,520 Right. 1124 01:01:03,520 --> 01:01:07,520 And there was another group in the same period of time that did the same thing. 1125 01:01:07,520 --> 01:01:09,520 I'm blanking what their name was but it's okay. 1126 01:01:09,520 --> 01:01:10,520 Do you know? 1127 01:01:10,520 --> 01:01:12,520 Who are the other ones? 1128 01:01:12,520 --> 01:01:14,520 Come home with your shield or on it. 1129 01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:16,520 Spartans thank you. 1130 01:01:16,520 --> 01:01:17,520 Very good. 1131 01:01:17,520 --> 01:01:18,520 Couldn't think of the name. 1132 01:01:18,520 --> 01:01:23,520 And the mothers would say to their sons as they were going out to war that motto. 1133 01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:24,520 Come home with your shield or on it. 1134 01:01:24,520 --> 01:01:30,520 Because they would hold their shield in combat and when they all linked their shields together they were impregnable. 1135 01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:32,520 They could not be touched. 1136 01:01:32,520 --> 01:01:35,520 It was a wall of bronze. 1137 01:01:35,520 --> 01:01:39,520 And a million spears and arrows would bounce off and horses would charge up. 1138 01:01:39,520 --> 01:01:40,520 They would all stand with their shields on. 1139 01:01:40,520 --> 01:01:50,520 A horse, 1500 pounds of muscle with its hooves bound in steel with an armored knight on its back, forgive me, 1140 01:01:50,520 --> 01:01:57,520 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. 1141 01:01:57,520 --> 01:02:04,520 It's a worm around with a broken leg or a broken collarbone because those men held their shields together. 1142 01:02:04,520 --> 01:02:14,520 Unity in the kingdom of God, under God, and we are undefeatable. 1143 01:02:14,520 --> 01:02:17,520 We must close ranks. 1144 01:02:17,520 --> 01:02:24,520 The release demonstrates that God loves us and is number one and chief characteristic of love. 1145 01:02:24,520 --> 01:02:32,520 But it's a practical release designed to protect the integrity of the host and to inspire confidence in those who were left behind. 1146 01:02:32,520 --> 01:02:36,520 To increase the courage in the brave even. 1147 01:02:36,520 --> 01:02:39,520 And it is also about closing ranks. 1148 01:02:39,520 --> 01:02:40,520 That we would stand together. 1149 01:02:40,520 --> 01:02:49,520 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? 1150 01:02:49,520 --> 01:02:53,520 People got a lot of good reasons why not to do the hard work of serving Jesus. 1151 01:02:53,520 --> 01:03:00,520 Why not to put down certain things or overcome certain things or let God do what it is that God wants to do? 1152 01:03:00,520 --> 01:03:05,520 Now that we have become followers Lord Jesus Christ, there are works that are set aside for us to do. 1153 01:03:05,520 --> 01:03:07,520 We are no longer objects of wrath. 1154 01:03:07,520 --> 01:03:10,520 That is to say, we are not resisting God nor is he resisting us. 1155 01:03:10,520 --> 01:03:18,520 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. 1156 01:03:18,520 --> 01:03:22,520 And if we close ranks and if we be courageous. 1157 01:03:22,520 --> 01:03:27,520 And if we stop finding reasons not to do what it is that he is trying to do. 1158 01:03:27,520 --> 01:03:32,520 Men go up a mountain, a very tall mountain from which if you fall you will die. 1159 01:03:32,520 --> 01:03:35,520 And they often go at least in threes. 1160 01:03:35,520 --> 01:03:40,520 Free climbing is a thing that some people do but largely people go in threes or more. 1161 01:03:40,520 --> 01:03:48,520 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. 1162 01:03:48,520 --> 01:03:52,520 And hold them and the rope goes taut and they are dangling in space for a moment. 1163 01:03:52,520 --> 01:03:56,520 And then pretty soon they get back over and get perched on the rock and the team continues up. 1164 01:03:56,520 --> 01:04:00,520 When one of us falls, when one of us struggles, when one of us is difficult. 1165 01:04:00,520 --> 01:04:06,520 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. 1166 01:04:06,520 --> 01:04:11,520 So that that person can come back and over the years we have had people who have wandered off into sin. 1167 01:04:11,520 --> 01:04:17,520 And then came back and repented and turned back to the Lord and truly stood up for what it was that they believed. 1168 01:04:17,520 --> 01:04:20,520 Because the body continued to be the body. 1169 01:04:20,520 --> 01:04:22,520 The body continued to do things that they would do. 1170 01:04:22,520 --> 01:04:27,520 There are people out there right now who are former members of our church that are considering, should I step back in? 1171 01:04:27,520 --> 01:04:32,520 Should I really do what? I never felt as much joy. I was never taken care of the way. 1172 01:04:32,520 --> 01:04:36,520 I never was in unity with believers the way I was when I was in that church and now I'm not there. 1173 01:04:36,520 --> 01:04:39,520 And I know that something is lacking. 1174 01:04:39,520 --> 01:04:41,520 And they're considering it. 1175 01:04:41,520 --> 01:04:47,520 And what we do next is going to weigh in their considerations. 1176 01:04:47,520 --> 01:04:50,520 And for those who come and come in here and they say, yeah, I'm for Jesus. 1177 01:04:50,520 --> 01:04:54,520 And they're sort of for Jesus, but sort of not for Jesus. 1178 01:04:54,520 --> 01:04:58,520 We have to realize you can't lock shields with somebody that's partly in and partly not. 1179 01:04:58,520 --> 01:05:04,520 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. 1180 01:05:04,520 --> 01:05:10,520 As long as their cumulative weight and strength is enough to stop that 12 to 15-hour count, they can stop that charging horse. 1181 01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:18,520 But if just one person in that line turns and runs, the 30 of them are there, and number 27 goes, you know what? 1182 01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:21,520 That's a big horse. I'm out of here. He turns and runs. 1183 01:05:21,520 --> 01:05:26,520 Everybody to the right of that line, no longer their strength, their weight is no longer in the equation. 1184 01:05:26,520 --> 01:05:31,520 And 20 men may die. 20 men may fall. 21 may be run over. 1185 01:05:31,520 --> 01:05:34,520 Because one person decided that they had a good reason. 1186 01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:40,520 The first, first the officers come through before the battle is joined. 1187 01:05:40,520 --> 01:05:44,520 And this is Ezekiel as one of our officers. And this is Moses as one of our officers. 1188 01:05:44,520 --> 01:05:49,520 And this is God Himself as our chief officer and His Holy Spirit as one of our officers saying to us, 1189 01:05:49,520 --> 01:05:57,520 if you've got a good reason not to follow God, you're dismissed. 1190 01:05:57,520 --> 01:06:04,520 And with that then we move into our conclusion. 1191 01:06:04,520 --> 01:06:07,520 We've probably said it a thousand times. 1192 01:06:07,520 --> 01:06:10,520 So we're saying again, you know what the chief aim of God is? 1193 01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:15,520 We talked about the number one characteristic of God today, which is love. 1194 01:06:15,520 --> 01:06:20,520 The chief aim of God is to bring all mankind into proper relationship with Him. 1195 01:06:20,520 --> 01:06:22,520 God wants what's best for you. 1196 01:06:22,520 --> 01:06:26,520 If you are on a road not following God, not having trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, 1197 01:06:26,520 --> 01:06:30,520 but experiencing the opposition of God because God is trying to divert you onto the road 1198 01:06:30,520 --> 01:06:35,520 where He can be present in your life always. 1199 01:06:35,520 --> 01:06:39,520 And if you have God present in your life and yet you are on a road that does not honor God, 1200 01:06:39,520 --> 01:06:43,520 then you're experiencing the wrath of God as God is trying to divert you onto the road of holiness, 1201 01:06:43,520 --> 01:06:49,520 which is a safe place where demons and evil spirits cannot get any control over you 1202 01:06:49,520 --> 01:06:51,520 because they cannot get onto the road of holiness. 1203 01:06:51,520 --> 01:06:55,520 He wants to get you on it and He wants to get you in the middle of it where you're safe. 1204 01:06:55,520 --> 01:07:00,520 If you're not safe right now, that's a choice you're making. 1205 01:07:00,520 --> 01:07:06,520 God's chief aim is to bring every human being alive into right relationship with Him. 1206 01:07:06,520 --> 01:07:08,520 Now you and I both know that's not going to happen. 1207 01:07:08,520 --> 01:07:11,520 You're going to appeal with the gospel to somebody, you're going to explain to somebody. 1208 01:07:11,520 --> 01:07:14,520 The gospel is simply this, if you want to lead somebody to Christ, here's how you do it. 1209 01:07:14,520 --> 01:07:17,520 Explain to them, you say, can I tell you what the Bible says about that or whatever? 1210 01:07:17,520 --> 01:07:21,520 Get to the point where you can explain what the gospel is, what needs to be decision, 1211 01:07:21,520 --> 01:07:25,520 what decision they need to make, and it is simply this, that we all have sinned. 1212 01:07:25,520 --> 01:07:28,520 We all have sinned. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 1213 01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:32,520 So you've done something wrong and if you didn't, you did. 1214 01:07:32,520 --> 01:07:34,520 Everyone has done something wrong. 1215 01:07:34,520 --> 01:07:36,520 They're too young to understand the concept of sin. 1216 01:07:36,520 --> 01:07:38,520 They're before the age of accountability. 1217 01:07:38,520 --> 01:07:42,520 If they would die, God forbid, a baby, a year old, a month old, something like that dies, it doesn't happen. 1218 01:07:42,520 --> 01:07:45,520 They go straight to heaven because they don't understand the consequences. 1219 01:07:45,520 --> 01:07:46,520 There's no accountability. 1220 01:07:46,520 --> 01:07:52,520 But at a moment in time, and in my experience, it usually comes six, seven, eight years old, something like that. 1221 01:07:52,520 --> 01:07:57,520 It's not 12 or 13, not like a teenager, not like when can you know you shouldn't drink, right? 1222 01:07:57,520 --> 01:08:00,520 But at a moment in time, they realize they have sinned. 1223 01:08:00,520 --> 01:08:02,520 And then when they're 30, they convince themselves they don't. 1224 01:08:02,520 --> 01:08:05,520 Or they say they do, but there's nothing they need to do about it. 1225 01:08:05,520 --> 01:08:11,520 And the next part of the gospel is that because of this sin, the wages of sin, the outcome of that sin is death. 1226 01:08:11,520 --> 01:08:14,520 It's a separation between us and God. We are separated. 1227 01:08:14,520 --> 01:08:16,520 God does not sin, and we sin. 1228 01:08:16,520 --> 01:08:18,520 If you sin and God doesn't, then God's not with you. 1229 01:08:18,520 --> 01:08:20,520 That's the bottom line. 1230 01:08:20,520 --> 01:08:25,520 Now if you're saved and you have sinned, God's still with you, but that results in wrath. 1231 01:08:25,520 --> 01:08:27,520 He's trying to direct you back on the right course. 1232 01:08:27,520 --> 01:08:30,520 You repent, you get back on the right course, and then that brings that part of your life to a close, hopefully. 1233 01:08:30,520 --> 01:08:33,520 It might happen over and over again, even, right? 1234 01:08:33,520 --> 01:08:37,520 But unsaved, you recognize the wages of sin is death. 1235 01:08:37,520 --> 01:08:44,520 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. 1236 01:08:44,520 --> 01:08:48,520 So when you trust in Jesus as Lord, that means he tells you what to do and you do it. 1237 01:08:48,520 --> 01:08:52,520 And we trust that Jesus as Savior, that means he paid the price for your sins. 1238 01:08:52,520 --> 01:08:54,520 Then you are born again. 1239 01:08:54,520 --> 01:08:57,520 You tell God that, you tell anyone who will listen that, and you are born again. 1240 01:08:57,520 --> 01:08:58,520 You get a fresh start. 1241 01:08:58,520 --> 01:09:01,520 And from then on out, you are part of the kingdom of God. 1242 01:09:01,520 --> 01:09:08,520 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. 1243 01:09:08,520 --> 01:09:16,520 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. 1244 01:09:16,520 --> 01:09:17,520 Dismissed. 1245 01:09:17,520 --> 01:09:26,520 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. 1246 01:09:26,520 --> 01:09:28,520 That's the equation. 1247 01:09:28,520 --> 01:09:36,520 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, 1248 01:09:36,520 --> 01:09:38,520 you need to do that right now. 1249 01:09:38,520 --> 01:09:42,520 Not at the invitation, not later today, not after you get some more time to think about it. 1250 01:09:42,520 --> 01:09:44,520 Stop making up reasons and just go, is that me? 1251 01:09:44,520 --> 01:09:45,520 Yes, I think it is me. 1252 01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:49,520 I need to accept the free gift of salvation and begin to live for the Lord today. 1253 01:09:49,520 --> 01:09:50,520 Okay? 1254 01:09:50,520 --> 01:09:51,520 There you go. 1255 01:09:51,520 --> 01:09:55,520 But let's say you have a good reason why you will not accept that. 1256 01:09:55,520 --> 01:10:02,520 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. 1257 01:10:02,520 --> 01:10:03,520 You follow? 1258 01:10:03,520 --> 01:10:13,520 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? 1259 01:10:13,520 --> 01:10:19,520 Our job is to go out and tell everybody by word and by deed those simple truths that I have just explained to you. 1260 01:10:19,520 --> 01:10:23,520 That everybody has sinned, the wages of that sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. 1261 01:10:23,520 --> 01:10:30,520 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? 1262 01:10:30,520 --> 01:10:32,520 Everybody needs to hear that message. 1263 01:10:32,520 --> 01:10:34,520 Now, what happens when they say no? 1264 01:10:34,520 --> 01:10:35,520 Nothing. 1265 01:10:35,520 --> 01:10:36,520 They're free to say no. 1266 01:10:36,520 --> 01:10:38,520 God releases them to say no. 1267 01:10:38,520 --> 01:10:39,520 They have some reason to say no. 1268 01:10:39,520 --> 01:10:40,520 It's okay. 1269 01:10:40,520 --> 01:10:42,520 God says, you can say no if you want. 1270 01:10:42,520 --> 01:10:43,520 I want you to be happy. 1271 01:10:43,520 --> 01:10:48,520 I would not want you to come be my follower if that was going to make you miserable for the rest of your life. 1272 01:10:48,520 --> 01:10:53,520 I want to provide you complete internal abiding joy. 1273 01:10:53,520 --> 01:10:58,520 I am going to provide you with tools and protections that you cannot fathom. 1274 01:10:58,520 --> 01:11:01,520 I'm going to do more in you than you can begin to imagine. 1275 01:11:01,520 --> 01:11:04,520 But if you have a good reason to say no, it's okay. 1276 01:11:04,520 --> 01:11:05,520 Go ahead. 1277 01:11:05,520 --> 01:11:06,520 And what do you do then? 1278 01:11:06,520 --> 01:11:09,520 You go on to the next person. 1279 01:11:09,520 --> 01:11:13,520 This release of God proclaims courageousness. 1280 01:11:13,520 --> 01:11:18,520 It is okay for you to tell everybody about the gospel, invite everybody to Jesus, because what? 1281 01:11:18,520 --> 01:11:21,520 Ninety-nine out of one hundred may say no. 1282 01:11:21,520 --> 01:11:28,520 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. 1283 01:11:28,520 --> 01:11:31,520 It could just work out that way in randomness or in God's providence. 1284 01:11:31,520 --> 01:11:36,520 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. 1285 01:11:36,520 --> 01:11:37,520 You're doing it reluctantly. 1286 01:11:37,520 --> 01:11:40,520 And then he's going to keep sending you people who will say no. 1287 01:11:40,520 --> 01:11:49,520 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. 1288 01:11:49,520 --> 01:11:51,520 And you're all about what God is all about. 1289 01:11:51,520 --> 01:11:52,520 God is the one doing the fighting for you. 1290 01:11:52,520 --> 01:11:54,520 God is the one bringing the message home. 1291 01:11:54,520 --> 01:11:56,520 God is the one helping them make the decision. 1292 01:11:56,520 --> 01:11:59,520 The Bible says no one comes unto the Father except he be called. 1293 01:11:59,520 --> 01:12:03,520 So you share the gospel of somebody hoping they be called because you can't know if they're called. 1294 01:12:03,520 --> 01:12:05,520 You share the gospel of somebody hoping they be called. 1295 01:12:05,520 --> 01:12:06,520 And it turns out they are not called. 1296 01:12:06,520 --> 01:12:10,520 OK, move on to the next person. 1297 01:12:10,520 --> 01:12:12,520 This is so that we can be courageous. 1298 01:12:12,520 --> 01:12:17,520 The problem is and this is where I got convicted. 1299 01:12:17,520 --> 01:12:24,520 The reason we don't want to share the gospel with people is because we're not OK with the release. 1300 01:12:24,520 --> 01:12:28,520 I love God with all my heart almost all the time. 1301 01:12:28,520 --> 01:12:30,520 I want it to be all the time. 1302 01:12:30,520 --> 01:12:35,520 And I can't almost can't bear hearing people say that they don't want to follow Jesus today. 1303 01:12:35,520 --> 01:12:37,520 It's really hard for me to do that. 1304 01:12:37,520 --> 01:12:44,520 It's like a sliver under my nail or an emotional jab. 1305 01:12:44,520 --> 01:12:50,520 And yet I now realize that is part of God's love. 1306 01:12:50,520 --> 01:12:54,520 My being sent to do this work is part of God's love. 1307 01:12:54,520 --> 01:12:58,520 Them being allowed to say no is part of God's love. 1308 01:12:58,520 --> 01:13:02,520 If you're here today when I presented that simple gospel, you said no, I'm not ready. 1309 01:13:02,520 --> 01:13:03,520 I'm not going to do that. 1310 01:13:03,520 --> 01:13:05,520 You had an excuse, a reason, whatever. 1311 01:13:05,520 --> 01:13:08,520 That's OK. 1312 01:13:08,520 --> 01:13:11,520 I'm still going to ask. 1313 01:13:11,520 --> 01:13:17,520 We have Sunday after Sunday, sometimes months at a time where no one responds to the invitation whatsoever. 1314 01:13:17,520 --> 01:13:19,520 I'm like the and let me be clear about that. 1315 01:13:19,520 --> 01:13:22,520 I almost always respond to the to the invitation. 1316 01:13:22,520 --> 01:13:26,520 By the time I'm just studying the word, I am transformed almost every time I come and preach. 1317 01:13:26,520 --> 01:13:34,520 I'm here to say that sometimes us doing this is more about me being fixed than it is about any of you. 1318 01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:42,520 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. 1319 01:13:42,520 --> 01:13:43,520 You don't have to do it. 1320 01:13:43,520 --> 01:13:53,520 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. 1321 01:13:53,520 --> 01:13:59,520 You're not born again. 1322 01:13:59,520 --> 01:14:06,520 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. 1323 01:14:06,520 --> 01:14:07,520 I'm sorry, Jesus. 1324 01:14:07,520 --> 01:14:10,520 I'm just not that kind of person. 1325 01:14:10,520 --> 01:14:13,520 And he's going to say, yeah, I knew that. 1326 01:14:13,520 --> 01:14:17,520 But because I love you, I had to ask, is that where we want to live our lives? 1327 01:14:17,520 --> 01:14:28,520 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. 1328 01:14:28,520 --> 01:14:32,520 God loves everybody and doesn't want anybody to be hungry. 1329 01:14:32,520 --> 01:14:35,520 But God is not about feeding people food. 1330 01:14:35,520 --> 01:14:39,520 God will make sure that everybody has enough to eat if they will look to him for it. 1331 01:14:39,520 --> 01:14:41,520 And we do need to do that. 1332 01:14:41,520 --> 01:14:44,520 We need to be part of God's efforts to feed the hungry. 1333 01:14:44,520 --> 01:14:45,520 I'm not saying we shouldn't. 1334 01:14:45,520 --> 01:14:50,520 But if you're feeding the hungry and not telling them about Jesus, don't think that you're living for God. 1335 01:14:50,520 --> 01:14:52,520 That is not how it works. 1336 01:14:52,520 --> 01:14:58,520 If you're raising your child and telling them, look, son, daughter, this is the way you have to clean your room. 1337 01:14:58,520 --> 01:14:59,520 You've got to take care of yourself. 1338 01:14:59,520 --> 01:15:00,520 You respect your mother, respect your father. 1339 01:15:00,520 --> 01:15:02,520 Be quiet when I ask you to be quiet. 1340 01:15:02,520 --> 01:15:03,520 Sit down when I ask you. 1341 01:15:03,520 --> 01:15:06,520 If those are the things that you're doing, those are all good things. 1342 01:15:06,520 --> 01:15:20,520 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. 1343 01:15:20,520 --> 01:15:23,520 It's about you trying to make a healthy child. 1344 01:15:23,520 --> 01:15:25,520 Oh, by the way, does God want to make a healthy child? 1345 01:15:25,520 --> 01:15:26,520 Yes, he does. 1346 01:15:26,520 --> 01:15:31,520 When will God start ensuring that you are successful in making a healthy child? 1347 01:15:31,520 --> 01:15:37,520 When you start making making making a healthy child about the things that God is about. 1348 01:15:37,520 --> 01:15:41,520 And what was that, by the way, the number one most important priority? 1349 01:15:41,520 --> 01:15:44,520 A right relationship with the Lord. 1350 01:15:44,520 --> 01:15:51,520 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. 1351 01:15:51,520 --> 01:15:59,520 But they are doing the best they know how to survive and maybe doing a pretty darn good job of it. 1352 01:15:59,520 --> 01:16:07,520 Somebody raised the people that are doing good works in the world who are not professing to be Christians. 1353 01:16:07,520 --> 01:16:11,520 Somebody did a pretty good job of raising them. 1354 01:16:11,520 --> 01:16:21,520 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. 1355 01:16:21,520 --> 01:16:32,520 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. 1356 01:16:32,520 --> 01:16:36,520 They were released at some point in time and they have continued to be released. 1357 01:16:36,520 --> 01:16:44,520 Because it is an everyday experience as we close ranks, courageously facing our real enemies. 1358 01:16:44,520 --> 01:16:47,520 It instills confidence in us. 1359 01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:56,520 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. 1360 01:16:56,520 --> 01:16:59,520 They are like but they did not accept Christ, it is another loss for the kingdom. 1361 01:16:59,520 --> 01:17:05,520 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. 1362 01:17:05,520 --> 01:17:09,520 You did what it is that you were supposed to do. You followed the commands of Jesus, showing him that you love him. 1363 01:17:09,520 --> 01:17:15,520 You brought the gospel into that situation. You shed light in the darkness. You acted as salt and light and grace in this world. 1364 01:17:15,520 --> 01:17:21,520 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. 1365 01:17:21,520 --> 01:17:30,520 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. 1366 01:17:30,520 --> 01:17:38,520 Because that release that they do not have to get saved did what? It proclaimed the love of God. 1367 01:17:38,520 --> 01:17:47,520 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. 1368 01:17:47,520 --> 01:17:55,520 He also allows people to not get saved. And yet holds back the coming wrath, the end of this world as we know it. 1369 01:17:55,520 --> 01:18:01,520 It says that he is patient with all men, he is patient with us that all men might come to repentance. 1370 01:18:01,520 --> 01:18:09,520 Remember that parable that we looked at at the beginning? That Jesus told, the feast parable? 1371 01:18:09,520 --> 01:18:14,520 That talks about all those guys who started making excuses about not coming to dinner? 1372 01:18:14,520 --> 01:18:18,520 And the ones who made excuses about not coming to dinner? 1373 01:18:18,520 --> 01:18:25,520 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. 1374 01:18:25,520 --> 01:18:29,520 Well, he sends his servant out to make sure that somebody gets in. 1375 01:18:29,520 --> 01:18:35,520 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. 1376 01:18:35,520 --> 01:18:40,520 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. 1377 01:18:40,520 --> 01:18:50,520 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. 1378 01:18:50,520 --> 01:18:56,520 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, 1379 01:18:56,520 --> 01:19:03,520 you say, if that really is your reason, then you are excused. No hard feelings. 1380 01:19:03,520 --> 01:19:10,520 Continue to treat them with respect or as Matthew 7 says, treat them the way you would want to be treated. 1381 01:19:10,520 --> 01:19:17,520 In fact, we ought to treat them a little bit more nicer. 1382 01:19:17,520 --> 01:19:22,520 Because you and I are going to heaven and that person is refusing Jesus is going to hell. 1383 01:19:22,520 --> 01:19:27,520 So ultimately you will get your eternal reward and all things will be good for you. 1384 01:19:27,520 --> 01:19:32,520 But their eternal reward is going to be really bad. 1385 01:19:32,520 --> 01:19:37,520 So maybe we ought to treat him even a little bit better than we would treat somebody that we know that is saved. 1386 01:19:37,520 --> 01:19:41,520 But the word says we should do good to all men and especially the household of faith. 1387 01:19:41,520 --> 01:19:45,520 So we do need to take care of our brothers first and in priority. 1388 01:19:45,520 --> 01:19:55,520 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. 1389 01:19:55,520 --> 01:20:01,520 The United States entered into a war in Afghanistan. They entered into a war in Vietnam. 1390 01:20:01,520 --> 01:20:06,520 They entered into a war in Korea. They entered into a war in Iraq. 1391 01:20:06,520 --> 01:20:09,520 Do you know which one of those four wars the United States won? 1392 01:20:09,520 --> 01:20:12,520 Now they were not all called wars, but they were wars. 1393 01:20:12,520 --> 01:20:15,520 Do you know which one of them they won? The United States? 1394 01:20:15,520 --> 01:20:22,520 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. 1395 01:20:22,520 --> 01:20:26,520 Do you know which one of those four wars we won? 1396 01:20:26,520 --> 01:20:34,520 Somebody knows. Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq. None. 1397 01:20:34,520 --> 01:20:37,520 Didn't win one of them. Do you know why? 1398 01:20:37,520 --> 01:20:44,520 Because those wars started a thousand years before we showed up and they'll be going on a thousand years after we're gone. 1399 01:20:44,520 --> 01:20:55,520 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. 1400 01:20:55,520 --> 01:21:02,520 And those people try to win everybody around them to Jesus in whatever way they possibly can, demonstrating the love of God. 1401 01:21:02,520 --> 01:21:08,520 And those people learn this truth, which is that when people say no, no is okay. 1402 01:21:08,520 --> 01:21:15,520 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. 1403 01:21:15,520 --> 01:21:22,520 God still loves you and he's still going to keep working on you, keep tearing with you for a long time. 1404 01:21:22,520 --> 01:21:31,520 But if in the end, by death, by the return of Jesus, you're still making excuses, you will not taste of that feast. 1405 01:21:31,520 --> 01:21:39,520 That's our actual position. We don't have to overcome objections. This is not our fight. 1406 01:21:39,520 --> 01:21:43,520 If there is an easy way to do so, or if the Lord specifically leads you to do so, then do so. 1407 01:21:43,520 --> 01:21:51,520 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. 1408 01:21:51,520 --> 01:21:55,520 And if I could just get that sorted out, then I would take a serious look at this whole Jesus thing. 1409 01:21:55,520 --> 01:22:00,520 Then maybe you refer them to a different job, help them find a way to get to the point. 1410 01:22:00,520 --> 01:22:08,520 You know, or whatever. But if you can't, don't tarry. Don't waste your time. 1411 01:22:08,520 --> 01:22:15,520 Move on to the next person and share the gospel. Shaking the dust off your feet does not mean wishing ill on that person. 1412 01:22:15,520 --> 01:22:20,520 You're not allowed to bring down fire on their life. It just means move on to the next person. 1413 01:22:20,520 --> 01:22:28,520 And try to find somebody who will not be making excuses, who will be doing what they are called to do. 1414 01:22:28,520 --> 01:22:33,520 In Ephesians 6, Paul writes that our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but against rulers, 1415 01:22:33,520 --> 01:22:40,520 against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. 1416 01:22:40,520 --> 01:22:44,520 And I submit to you today, if you've had a problem with telling people about Jesus, 1417 01:22:44,520 --> 01:22:50,520 because number one, you're afraid they'll say no, or number two, you're just scared, timid, 1418 01:22:50,520 --> 01:22:55,520 you think your personality just doesn't fit, it's time to be born again into the Kingdom of God. 1419 01:22:55,520 --> 01:23:03,520 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. 1420 01:23:03,520 --> 01:23:13,520 It's time to take those slivers under the nail, or that stabbing in your heart when someone says no. 1421 01:23:13,520 --> 01:23:19,520 It's time to become the love of Christ. I'm asking you to do that. I'm asking you to be courageous. 1422 01:23:19,520 --> 01:23:28,520 I'm asking you to pull close together and stand strong against what can look like sometimes a very powerful enemy. 1423 01:23:28,520 --> 01:23:32,520 Demons, evil spirits, and even Satan himself. 1424 01:23:32,520 --> 01:23:39,520 The world system seems like it's running amok and changing everything, and we're in the face of it, and we're losing. 1425 01:23:39,520 --> 01:23:47,520 Scary. But not really. Because God is the one. 1426 01:23:47,520 --> 01:23:53,520 God's the one who's going to deal with all of that in time. 1427 01:23:53,520 --> 01:24:01,520 And I'm asking you to decide to be on God's side, to decide to set aside your reasons and your excuses. 1428 01:24:01,520 --> 01:24:08,520 Get up in the morning and say, today, I'm going to share with anybody I possibly can. 1429 01:24:08,520 --> 01:24:14,520 I'm going to live for God, and I'm going to let nothing hold me back. 1430 01:24:14,520 --> 01:24:21,520 It's been said that an excuse is a reason stuffed with a lie. 1431 01:24:21,520 --> 01:24:30,520 You don't need any excuses. But if you got a good one, you're dismissed. 1432 01:24:30,520 --> 01:24:38,520 Be careful not to use that excuse then to wander into detestable activity, because God will rain it all down on your head. 1433 01:24:38,520 --> 01:24:43,520 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, 1434 01:24:43,520 --> 01:24:46,520 which is what you should have done in the first place. 1435 01:24:46,520 --> 01:24:49,520 I ask the praise team to come forward at this time, if we can. 1436 01:24:49,520 --> 01:24:51,520 We're going to sing a closing hymn together. 1437 01:24:51,520 --> 01:24:56,520 This is your opportunity to make known whatever decision you might be making today. 1438 01:24:56,520 --> 01:25:01,520 If you're here today and you realize, hey, my sins have separated me from God, and what I was talking earlier or now, 1439 01:25:01,520 --> 01:25:06,520 you're accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior for the first time ever, then you come and make that publicly known. 1440 01:25:06,520 --> 01:25:09,520 You say, that's me. I'm standing up for Jesus in earnest for the first time ever. 1441 01:25:09,520 --> 01:25:20,520 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. 1442 01:25:20,520 --> 01:25:25,520 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, 1443 01:25:25,520 --> 01:25:29,520 or about telling people how to get saved, or whatever like that, because I'm afraid of what they'll say, 1444 01:25:29,520 --> 01:25:35,520 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, 1445 01:25:35,520 --> 01:25:43,520 or my personality, right? You say, you might say, I just need a little break. 1446 01:25:43,520 --> 01:25:47,520 It's okay, you can have a break. God says, yep, you can have a break anytime you want. 1447 01:25:47,520 --> 01:25:52,520 But if you take a break, make sure you come back to what's important. 1448 01:25:52,520 --> 01:25:59,520 If you take a break and wind up into testable things, be aware, it'll rain them down on your head. 1449 01:25:59,520 --> 01:26:05,520 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. 1450 01:26:05,520 --> 01:26:09,520 Come on, here we go. 1451 01:26:09,520 --> 01:26:18,520 Just as I am without one thing, 1452 01:26:18,520 --> 01:26:26,520 but that Thine was shed for me. 1453 01:26:26,520 --> 01:26:30,520 I couldn't have saved yourself if you wanted to. 1454 01:26:30,520 --> 01:26:46,520 Come to me, O Lamb of God, I come. 1455 01:26:46,520 --> 01:27:02,520 Just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blood, 1456 01:27:02,520 --> 01:27:16,520 to me whose blood can cleanse each smite, O Lamb of God, I come. 1457 01:27:16,520 --> 01:27:23,520 The Lord is speaking in your heart right now, and as we sing this next verse, you come. 1458 01:27:23,520 --> 01:27:26,520 You got a good reason not to, you don't have to. 1459 01:27:26,520 --> 01:27:33,520 Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me. 1460 01:27:33,520 --> 01:27:41,520 But that Thine was shed for me. 1461 01:27:41,520 --> 01:27:54,520 Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me. 1462 01:27:54,520 --> 01:28:00,520 Come, I come. 1463 01:28:00,520 --> 01:28:09,520 Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me. 1464 01:28:09,520 --> 01:28:24,520 Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me. 1465 01:28:24,520 --> 01:28:39,520 Come, I come. 1466 01:28:39,520 --> 01:28:53,520 Just as I am without one thing, but that Thine was shed for me. 1467 01:28:53,520 --> 01:29:07,520 I have no bit to give unto thee, O Lamb of God, I come. 1468 01:29:07,520 --> 01:29:19,520 I come. 1469 01:29:19,520 --> 01:29:35,520 Just as I am waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blood, 1470 01:29:35,520 --> 01:29:49,520 To thee whose blood can cleanse each smite, O Lamb of God, I come. 1471 01:29:49,520 --> 01:30:05,520 I come. 1472 01:30:19,520 --> 01:30:21,520 I come. 1473 01:30:49,520 --> 01:30:51,520 I come. 1474 01:31:19,520 --> 01:31:21,520 I come. 1475 01:32:19,520 --> 01:32:21,520 I come. 1476 01:32:49,520 --> 01:32:51,520 I come. 1477 01:33:49,520 --> 01:33:51,520 I come. 1478 01:35:19,520 --> 01:35:21,520 I come.