1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,600 Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located in 2 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:17,120 beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries 3 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:22,800 with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, discipleship 4 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:28,160 and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church and other sermons 5 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,480 from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your host for this 6 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:37,040 podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing to you and 7 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:50,400 bring you closer to God. Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Thank you for coming back again. 8 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:58,080 Today I have a message entitled, The Dangers of Distracted Fighting, Distractions, Confusion, 9 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:05,520 and Corruption. The text we will be working off of is Mark 4, 1-9. Before we jump into that, 10 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:12,640 it has been an exciting couple of weeks. Over here we have had lots of snow since the beginning 11 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:20,080 of January and it is a lot of fun to be able to get outside and get your cardio in by shoveling 12 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:25,280 just tons and tons of snow. Anybody who is in this area or lives in a snowy environment knows 13 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:31,600 what I mean. It is like the gift that keeps on giving in winter and it has been a lot of fun, 14 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:40,880 but it is also kind of tiring and I am quite sore from it. I came outside this morning before 15 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:47,120 recording this and yes, it was snowing again. I get to look forward to quite a bit of shoveling 16 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:56,400 after I am done recording today. It is another glorious winter day here in Salmon Arm. The text 17 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:01,440 we will be working from is Mark 4, 1-9. If you have that, you can go ahead and turn there. 18 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:08,800 We will be jumping into that in just a second. The title of the message is, again, The Dangers 19 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:15,520 of Distracted Fighting. With that, I found this article from Wired. It is an opinion piece. 20 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:21,840 Wired is a tech magazine if you are familiar with it. They do a lot of articles about technology, 21 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:28,240 computers, such that stuff. Anyway, it says, without proper guidelines, smartphones on the 22 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:34,880 battlefield may kill more soldiers than they say. This was written by John Spencer, the chair 23 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:40,000 of Urban Warfare Studies for the Modern War Institute of the United States Military Academy. 24 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:46,240 It says, We almost lost the entire patrol, said the lieutenant. It was horrific. We rocked right 25 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:52,560 into an enemy ambush, he continued. They easily picked off my men one by one because they were 26 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:59,200 looking at their screens. Thankfully, the young lieutenant was not describing an actual firefight 27 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:05,440 from Iraq or from Afghanistan. It was a recent live action simulation that used laser tag-like 28 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:10,960 equipment and a new tablet device that displays maps, live drone footage, and other critical 29 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:17,440 information. But if the military doesn't recognize the threat of soldiers distracted by the buzzes 30 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:24,080 and whistles of the latest technology, real lives could soon be lost. So let's jump into our text 31 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:30,560 here this morning. The Parable of the Sower. In verse one, it says, Again, he began to teach beside 32 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:36,240 the sea, and a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it 33 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,760 on the sea. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land, and he was teaching them many 34 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:48,080 things in parables. In his teachings, he said to them, Listen, behold, a sower went out to sow. 35 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:53,600 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 36 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:58,400 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it 37 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:04,400 sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no 38 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:10,400 root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, 39 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:16,480 and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and 40 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:23,680 increasing and yielding, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. And he said, Who has ears, 41 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:29,120 let him hear. So it's a good piece of scripture for us to use as a jumping off point, and we're 42 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:36,240 going to dig into the reason why I'm attaching this to the idea of this sermon being dangers 43 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:44,080 of distracted fighting. But as we look at this, I think we can all see this in our own lives. We can 44 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:50,880 all see ourselves being distracted constantly throughout the day. It's a never-ending battle, 45 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:58,400 oftentimes, to go through life and trying to keep on task or on purpose and not allowing ourselves 46 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:05,920 to be distracted by all the new technology and all the new bells and whistles that are in this 47 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:11,840 world. In 1 Peter 5, 8, it says, Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls 48 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:19,440 around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. We all know the dangers that digital 49 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:24,800 devices can cause. We have laws dealing with distracted driving. Maybe you've seen videos of 50 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:30,480 people texting and walking and falling into wet cement or a mall water fountain. And the funny 51 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,640 thing with those videos is we're watching those videos typically on a device laughing at someone 52 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:41,360 who's distracted on their device. So it's just kind of ironic that we would sit there and laugh 53 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:46,480 and judge, but at the same time, we oftentimes are just doom scrolling on our own devices. 54 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:51,040 The world we live in is full of these kind of distractions. These distractions can be entertaining, 55 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:56,320 but they can also lead us into calamity. And as Christians, we're called to remain vigilant and be 56 00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:02,480 sober-minded. Our calling, every one of us, is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the great 57 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:08,080 commission that gives us purpose, or at least it should. Now the world is full of entertainment 58 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:14,560 that can distract us, but even worse than ungodly entertainment is the realms and reams of material 59 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:20,960 out there that strive to distract, confuse, and corrupt the people of God. Oftentimes this stuff 60 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:26,080 will come in slowly and seem innocent, but before you know it, you are questioning your faith in the 61 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:31,600 Bible itself. These corrupting, confusing distractions are not limited to the entertainment 62 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:37,360 like movies or art. You can find this in political movements, philosophy, tenets of other faiths, 63 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:43,600 or offshoots from Christianity. As long as time, humans have questioned the word of God, 64 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:49,760 and it seems to alter it into individual interests. Adam and Eve had a direct relationship with God, 65 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:55,520 but we're still distracted, confused, and corrupted. This is why it's so important for us as Christians 66 00:06:55,520 --> 00:07:00,480 to remain vigilant. We are in a spiritual battle, and we must hold the line for Christ 67 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:07,440 and keep our focus on the great commission. This brings me to my first point, which is distractions, 68 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:13,680 and we jump back into our article. Never mind soldiers for a second, pedestrians glued to their 69 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:18,880 handhelds have become public hazards in major cities, a distracted bullseye for cars and 70 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:25,840 crosswalks. Since the ubiquitous explosion of cell phones in the U.S., emergency room visits for 71 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:33,280 pedestrian injuries tripled between 2004 and 2010 alone, and some cities have gone as far as to 72 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:40,560 making texting while crossing the street illegal. Imagine the peril one might face in a war zone. 73 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:46,480 War overwhelms every sense of the body. Fighting in urban environments, combat as hell is the worst 74 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:53,440 place to make war. Soldiers are exposed to extraordinary environmental stimuli and potential 75 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:58,880 threats that research has shown makes simple acts such as walking down the street extremely 76 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:05,360 stressful on the mind and the body. Every window holds a potential sniper, every pile of trash, 77 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:11,840 an improvised explosive device. Each soldier on patrol is expected to be scanning for threats, 78 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:17,680 observing the world around him, and now picture a group of soldiers walking down the street 79 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:21,920 where most are looking into their chest or wrist-mounted smartphones. 80 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:29,120 The moral here is that distraction can cost you your life. Even more important, it can cost you 81 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:34,560 your soul. Let's look at our text again. In verse 3 it says, Listen, and these are the words of 82 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:40,960 Jesus, Listen, behold, a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, 83 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:46,400 the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, 84 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:52,080 and immediately it sprang up since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, 85 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:57,680 and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up 86 00:08:57,680 --> 00:09:03,440 and choked it, and it yielded no grain. In this parable we see the sower casting seed. Now the 87 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:08,640 disciples did not fully understand this parable either, and they asked him to explain. So this 88 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:16,320 was Jesus' response. In Mark 4 we pick this up again in verse 10. And when the sower came 89 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,720 and when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables, and he said 90 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:27,280 to them, To you has been given the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for those outside of everything 91 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:34,160 is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, 92 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:39,520 lest they should turn and be forgiven. And he said to them, Do you not understand this parable? 93 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:45,440 How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word, and these are the ones 94 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:50,800 along the path where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the 95 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:56,800 word that is sown in them. And these that are the ones sown in the rocky ground, the ones who, when 96 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:02,000 they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, and then they have no root in themselves but 97 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:07,440 endure for a while. Then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, 98 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:13,840 immediately they fall away. And the others are the ones sown among the thorns. They are those who 99 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:19,680 hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of the riches and the desire for 100 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:24,880 those other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were 101 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:30,880 sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold, 102 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:35,840 sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. When I read this portion of scripture, I can almost imagine Jesus 103 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:42,560 rolling his eyes, you know, almost like he's imploring his disciples to wake up, pay attention, 104 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:47,680 just as the first lieutenant from our article, it is like, come on guys, keep your heads up, 105 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:54,880 your ears open, your eyes on the prize. In the text, he draws a clear picture of the gospel 106 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:02,400 being spread out like seed. We all received the same seeds of faith from the gospel, and in those 107 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:08,720 of us who are saved, it has taken root. Hopefully, it has taken root deeply, and we are producing 108 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:14,160 fruit and a harvest. But wait, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Let's go through the 109 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:20,560 parable. The first of the seed fell where? It fell along the path. We might think this is great. The 110 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:26,160 path is well traveled. Surely the seed will find a home here. Nope, as soon as the seed is laid out, 111 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:31,440 it's stolen by the birds. You can look at advertising example, you might see an ad or get 112 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:37,040 an email from something and think, oh, that looks good. But then immediately after you see it, 113 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:42,720 you see it. You see after seeing the ad, you you read a bad review or someone says 114 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:47,440 that looks like a scam. And so poof, you delete it, you ignore it, and you never think of it again. 115 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:54,880 It could be someone left a flyer or an invite for church and you never see it because someone 116 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,920 comes right behind you and takes the flyer and throws it away. Maybe you see a Christian 117 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:05,120 message pop up in your feed, but right away you see someone in the comments mocking it, 118 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:10,240 or the next thing in your feed distracts you and steals away the conviction you felt from the word. 119 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:16,800 This is a core issue for Christians today. We are meant to be sewers of the word, but all too often 120 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:23,600 we are distracted by the world and instead of sowing, we just let the world steal the seeds 121 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:29,040 of faith from those around us. The next picture was a picture of the seed on rocky ground. Jesus 122 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:34,400 tells us that this is like a sinner who gets saved, but has no depth. And once the persecutions of 123 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:39,040 the world come, they falter and they lose the small amount of faith they have. Rather than 124 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:45,280 cultivating their faith and nurturing it with the word, with prayer and Christian fellowship, 125 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:50,720 they let the world come in and cast judgment. The next picture is the person who allows all the 126 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:55,200 pressures of the world to choke out the message. The seed tries to take root, but they are so 127 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:59,920 crowded with their responsibilities and troubles of the world that they do not give the word room 128 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:08,240 to grow in their lives. All of these examples have a similar root cause. Whether us as Christians 129 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:12,800 or unbelievers, we are allowing ourselves to be distracted away from the purpose of God. And that 130 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:19,840 brings me to my second point, which is confusion. 1 Corinthians 14 33 says, for God is not a God of 131 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:25,760 confusion, but of peace. Have you ever heard someone bring up the name of angels that are not on the 132 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:30,720 Bible? How many angels are there? Michael and Gabriel are the only named angels. You also have 133 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:36,400 Lucifer, Satan or Abaddon, Apollyon. The issue here isn't angels and I don't want to get hung 134 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:42,240 up on that. But the reality that some can try and use this to confuse you and question your 135 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:47,040 understanding and mix you all up. That is my point. I did a quick internet search and I found an 136 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:52,880 article that said there were 15 angels. These other angels come from non-biblical or apocryphal 137 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:58,800 sources. They're of a story or statement. Something, an apocryphal source is something that 138 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:03,280 is doubtful authenticity, although it's widely circulated as being true. 139 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:09,760 There are a number of these areas where Christians and non-Christians can get blown off course. 140 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:15,520 Other world religions like Islam, you know, believe in Jesus as a prophet, but not as the son of God. 141 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:22,000 Others like the Jehovah's Witnesses believe he is only a small God and not very God. All of these 142 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:29,200 things are distractions that are merely meant to confuse you to inaction. In Mark 13, 5 through 7, 143 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:34,960 and then we'll jump to 22 to 23, it says, and Jesus began to say to them, see that no one leads 144 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:42,240 you astray. Many will come in my name saying I am he and they will lead many astray. And when you 145 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:48,240 hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 146 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:54,240 Jesus calls us to persevere for his name and not to allow the distractions of this world to confuse 147 00:14:54,240 --> 00:15:01,120 or distract us from our purpose. I know this can be very hard for us as Christians and quite frankly 148 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:07,120 simply just as people. It's not easy to ignore the craziness of the world around us, but it is what 149 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:13,200 we are called to do. In verse 22, it says, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and 150 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:20,880 perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible the elect. But be on guard, I have told 151 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:28,160 you all things beforehand. When he uses here elect, I'm not a Calvinist and so I believe the elect 152 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:34,320 is those who hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and they turn to Christ. And I believe that all can 153 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:42,480 turn to Christ if they persevere. And it's not anything that we do, it's that after the election 154 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:47,840 it's that as the seed is laid, sometimes in your life you might not be willing to hear the gospel 155 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:53,360 of Christ, but it you know God can soften your heart and over time you can hear the gospel Jesus 156 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:59,200 Christ and turn to him. So even when it looks like there is a power from an ungodly things, 157 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:03,360 we are supposed to test these spirits though, but we're supposed to test the false prophets 158 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:08,240 against the word of the Lord. The scriptures are our first weapon against false prophets and false 159 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:13,840 teachings. Secondly is our discernment through the Holy Spirit. That does not mean that we ignore the 160 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:19,040 word for the sake of the Spirit, but rather the word of God is the rule book and the Spirit 161 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:24,640 confirms the word of God. This is how we are meant to protect ourselves from being confused in this 162 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:30,720 fallen world. This is the story that it's as old as time. I kind of touched a little bit on Calvinism 163 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:37,920 and I believe these are that's a tertiary or a secondary theology within the within Christendom. 164 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,080 And it's also something that I don't want people to get hung up on. I believe that as a message 165 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:48,400 of Jesus Christ goes forth, the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can you can hear it and it can trigger 166 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:54,320 something in you from God that is going to allow you to receive the word of God, come to Christ in 167 00:16:54,320 --> 00:17:00,640 faith, repent, accept him as your Lord and Savior, and be saved. That is the fundamental belief and 168 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:05,200 that is the fundamental purpose of the gospel and the reason for going out and preaching the word of 169 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:11,200 God so that others might hear the word and be saved. I don't like getting hung up on anything 170 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:16,320 else outside of that because my purpose and the goal of the church here at Salmon Arm is to 171 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:22,640 preach the gospel of Jesus Christ so that people can be saved. Simple, simple as that. 172 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:28,880 In Jeremiah 14, 14 it says, and the Lord said to me the prophets are prophesying lies in my name. 173 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:35,600 I did not send them, nor did I command them to or them or speak to them. They are prophesying to 174 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:41,920 you a lying vision, worthless divination and the deceit of their own minds. In Ephesians 5, 6, it 175 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:48,000 says, let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things, the wrath of God comes 176 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:54,160 upon the sons of disobedience. So these two verses of scripture really highlight some of the stuff 177 00:17:54,160 --> 00:18:00,720 that comes in from the edges that are trying to confuse and distract you as a Christian. 178 00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:06,080 Or even as someone who's unsaved, they're trying to confuse and distract you so that you can't 179 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:12,400 receive the word of Christ. They want to make you so confused that you you're stuck in a state 180 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:18,640 of inaction. So whether it is in Jeremiah's time and the Old Testament or in Ephesians, 181 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:25,040 the New Testament, we have a clear direction of God to follow God's pattern. What do I mean? 182 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:29,680 Simple. In the Old Testament and in Judaism, it was a religion of doing work so that you might 183 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:34,640 grow to believe. But we are told in Isaiah and Jeremiah that God was going to bring in a new 184 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:40,160 covenant to his people and to the world. And this new covenant was going to bring salvation and grace 185 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:46,480 through belief in Jesus Christ and then or the Messiah and then works and fruit would follow 186 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:51,920 because of a changed heart. This means that the children of Israel were called to live a life 187 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:57,120 separate for God. They had rules and commandments that were clear as day, but they still failed. 188 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:03,760 They fell to the distractions and confusions of their day. This led them to be corrupted 189 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:10,720 countless times. The corruption of the northern kingdom was so complete that they were destroyed 190 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:16,880 by the Assyrian empire. The southern kingdom was nearly destroyed by the Babylonian empire, but God 191 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:23,200 made a way for them to be redeemed. And he also did that for us to be redeemed through Jesus Christ. 192 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:26,960 This brings me to my final point, which is corruption. 193 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:34,960 In 1st Timothy 6, 9, it says, But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, 194 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:41,280 into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 195 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,840 I see this with a lot of people. I see this with friends of mine, people who seem to be open to the 196 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:53,280 gospel, but really their primary goal is success and to some extent affluence. And there's nothing 197 00:19:53,280 --> 00:20:00,560 wrong with being successful. I'm a very success driven person in my own life. And I do believe 198 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:06,800 that having ambition and having drive are good as long as you keep your primary focus on that drive 199 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:14,800 and ambition in honoring God and God in your life. But I have friends that seek to be successful. 200 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:21,440 And it's funny as they gain a little bit of success here or there, it becomes the focal 201 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:24,960 point of everything. Then it's like, well, I'm going to go to this retreat or I'm going to go 202 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:29,120 to this thing and I'm going to go do this thing. And the things they're doing are not in and of 203 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:36,560 themselves necessarily wrong. Sometimes it's wrong. Sometimes it's a total religious experience 204 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:43,280 that's going to lead you away from Christ altogether, lead you away from the conviction 205 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:47,760 of your heart. Other times it's just you think you're taking a new position, a new role, 206 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:54,640 and it's going to add tons of responsibility to your plate. It's going to take away for your 207 00:20:54,640 --> 00:21:01,680 ability to fulfill your purpose in God and in Christ. So it's just important for us to 208 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:07,200 recognize that when Israel was split into the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, 209 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:12,320 Jeroboam, the king of the Northern Kingdom, immediately led the 10 Northern tribes of 210 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:17,600 Israel in idolatry. So here he is. He's going to have all this new responsibility. God even 211 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:22,560 told him through the prophets that he was going to be the king of the North. And he had an option. 212 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:30,880 He had a choice to make here on whether or not to worship the one God, the God of Israel, or 213 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:37,440 to do something different. And so this is what he chose. He set up a calf immediately and has set 214 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:43,040 a path for them to be at odds with God. And all of their kings did evil in the eyes of God. And the 215 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:49,920 whole nation was corrupted partially because of this choice by King Jeroboam. In 1 Corinthians 216 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:58,000 1533, it says, do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Their corruption was a constant 217 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,920 threat to the Southern Kingdom. The people of Judah, some of their kings and the people were 218 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:07,760 led astray. The prophets of God warned both the North and the South, but they let themselves be 219 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:13,520 led astray from the word of God. So today, Christians are threatened by the same poles of the world. 220 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:20,160 We look at art, music, movies, entertainment, and we allow them to have a same value as the word of 221 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:26,800 God. We elevate the voices of those who are against God, and we refuse to judge them according to the 222 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:36,080 word. In fact, sometimes if I judge a movie, immediately people get, you know, uh, defensive 223 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:42,240 because they want to protect it because they like this story. And it's fine, you know, to, to, to 224 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:50,160 read stories, but to elevate it to the level of, of scripture or allowing it to change your ideology 225 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:57,280 that that makes that piece of work something totally different than what, than what it should 226 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:01,040 be in your life. And that's where it becomes something dangerous or even idolatrous in your 227 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:06,720 own life. So how often do you read or watch something that's clearly against the biblical 228 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:13,440 truth and you, you just let it go by? Oh, it's just a song. Oh, it's just a movie or it's a story. 229 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:19,200 I mean, we all do that to some extent, you know, but you can even almost hear people saying, 230 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:25,120 come on, man, don't be so tight. Drinking is fine after all, didn't Jesus turn water into wine? 231 00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:32,640 If God didn't want us to, you know, get high, why did he make weed and mushrooms? All love is love. 232 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:39,200 All these kind of elements that are in our media today, these things permeate our world, 233 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:44,000 but how do they stack up against the word of God? Doesn't the Bible tell us that we should write 234 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:49,920 his word on our hearts, that we should remain sober minded and vigil and vigilantly watch 235 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:55,680 for his return to preach the gospel so that others might be saved, that marriage is a covenant 236 00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:01,920 between God in man and a woman. And marriage is something particularly interesting because we see 237 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:09,440 that marriage biblically being just that. Yes, it's a man and woman, but it's between God, 238 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:16,560 a man and a woman. There's three parts to that marriage. It's a covenant between God and your 239 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:25,920 partner, your husband or your wife. We ignore the word of God. We ignore the Holy Spirit at our own 240 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:32,400 peril and the peril of those that we care about. As we leave behind the path that God has laid out 241 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:39,520 before us, it follow other paths. We become more and more corrupted. We begin to separate ourselves 242 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:45,440 from the presence of God, just like Adam and Eve, giving ourselves to other powers, other energies, 243 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:51,040 other spirits. In time, you will walk down these darkened paths and you will find yourself 244 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:59,440 totally distracted, totally confused and corrupted. In 2 Peter 1 verses 3 through 4, it says, 245 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:05,680 His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge 246 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:11,040 of him who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted us his 247 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:19,920 precious and very great promises so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, 248 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:24,320 having escaped from the corruption that is the world because of sinful desire. 249 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:31,360 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue 250 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:38,640 with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness 251 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:44,560 with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. 252 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:50,000 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective 253 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:57,760 or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So in conclusion, let's look at repentance, 254 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:05,840 grace and salvation. You do not have to stay in this state of confusion, of distraction or corruption. 255 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:11,920 As long as you have breath, there is hope. Christian faith is built upon this hope. It is 256 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:17,440 established on the revelation of a risen Christ, the belief in an all-powerful God that cares enough 257 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:24,560 for us to send his only Son to die for your sins. If you will believe in him, repent of your sins, 258 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:30,160 and accept him as your Lord, Savior, King and Master, then you can be set free from the bondage 259 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:36,080 of your sin. Jesus is married also to the backslider. If you have wandered away from the path 260 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:41,040 and you find yourself distracted from the things of God, then you will be able to live 261 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:46,400 in the world of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not aware of the things of God, 262 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:52,640 confused by the mysticism or the hedonistic paganism that the world is offering you, 263 00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:56,640 it is not too late. Turn back to the Lord. 264 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:05,040 He is waiting for you. He is calling for you if only you have the ears 265 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:12,400 and ecclesiastes. And I close with this. Ecclesiastes 12, 13 through 14. The end of the matter, 266 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:19,600 all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of 267 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:26,960 man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. 268 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,760 So with that, if I could have every head bowed, every eye closed, obviously for 269 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:39,520 doing something that needs your attention, then give it your attention. But maybe if you can, 270 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:49,600 you just think of this for a little bit. Are you distracted? Are you confused? Or have you allowed 271 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:57,840 yourself to be corrupted? It is never too late to turn to God or to turn back to God, to turn to 272 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:04,160 Jesus or to turn back to Jesus. It is a very simple thing. And if this message has impacted you or 273 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:11,200 influenced you in that way, and you want to signify with it, please do that. Please do that. Because 274 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:17,760 even though I can't see it, God can and he knows your heart. And if you mean that, then it is very 275 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:23,200 simple. You can come to Christ. You can just say the simple prayer, Dear Lord God, I know that I am 276 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:28,240 a sinner, but I know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, and that he died for me on the cross. 277 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:35,840 But that even in death, he rose from the grave to set me free from the bondage of sin. So I repent 278 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:43,600 of my sin and I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I give you praise and glory for setting me 279 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:50,960 free and saving me. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. It's a very simple prayer. And if you said that, 280 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,520 if you said that and you meant it, and you know, I don't know if you meant it, but the Lord knows 281 00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:05,440 if you meant it, then you have been set free by the grace of Jesus Christ in salvation. And this 282 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:11,600 is nothing that we do for ourselves. This is something that is only because of the grace of 283 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:17,760 God for mankind and the sacrifice that he made with his son, Jesus Christ. But it says, if you 284 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:25,760 have ears to hear. So I pray that you did say that prayer and that you meant it. And if you did, I 285 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:31,600 pray that you'd reach out to me, let me know. Because that's the whole purpose of this, is to 286 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:40,320 reach as many people with the message of Jesus Christ as possible. So the next step is that you 287 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:44,080 find a church that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ for you. If you're in Salmon Arm, I'd love 288 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:50,000 for you to come and meet with us here in Salmon Arm. You can reach out to us. We have our Instagram 289 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:58,240 page. It's pottershouseSA on Instagram. And then our email address is just pottershouseSA 290 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:05,840 at iCloud.com. And so please reach out to us and let me know you prayed. Or if you're in Salmon Arm, 291 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:13,680 reach out and our services are 1030 on Sunday. And we're currently meeting at the boardroom 292 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:21,760 for the Salmon Arm Innovation Center. But please, if you're not close by, find a Bible-Believing 293 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:27,360 Church. Again, you could reach out because we have 3,500 plus churches global. And I'm sure I could 294 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:33,840 connect you with a great church, Bible-Believing Church. But the important thing is to just, 295 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:40,560 you know, allow God to do a work in your life. It's not going to be overnight, but God is going 296 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:47,920 to do a tremendous work in your life. So start reading the Bible. You know, find that church 297 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:53,280 to lock in to have fellowship with the brothers and pray. And praying is just simply having a 298 00:30:53,280 --> 00:31:01,440 conversation with God. But I want to thank you for listening to this message and thank you for 299 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:10,160 following the podcast. If you can, you know, like, share this podcast and subscribe. It helps us with 300 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:14,320 you know, our analytics to know that we're getting out there and the message is getting sent to, 301 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:19,440 you know, to where it's getting sent to globally. So again, I want to thank you for the time you've 302 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:25,840 taken today to listen to this message and I can't wait for you to come back next time. God bless. 303 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:36,240 Thank you for listening to the P.H.S.A. Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. Be sure to follow us 304 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:40,960 on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon arm to keep up to date on what we're doing. 305 00:31:40,960 --> 00:32:07,200 Join the conversation and discover how Jesus Christ can revolutionize your life.