1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,440 Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,680 in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,920 Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, 4 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:27,300 discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church 5 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:31,880 and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your 6 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:36,420 host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing 7 00:00:36,420 --> 00:00:40,560 to you and bring you closer to God. 8 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:52,440 Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. Today I've got a message 9 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:57,640 that we've heard before. It's actually would have been the first message that I put onto 10 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,360 the podcast. It was entitled Core Values and so I had ended up preaching this one a second 11 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:08,680 time. I revamped it a little bit and so that's what we're going to look at today. But I'll 12 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:15,840 use this opportunity to really dive into my testimony a little bit deeper hopefully just 13 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:22,200 to kind of give you an idea of where I came from, who I am and what the purpose of this 14 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:29,720 whole podcast is and why it's so important to me. We hope to reach the world with the 15 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:34,440 gospel message of Jesus Christ but really there's always a back story to whatever we 16 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:40,400 do and maybe I'll be able to divert and ad-lib a little bit for that as we go through this 17 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:45,520 message. I did change this a little bit from the first time I preached it in the church 18 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:50,860 so there are some changes if you were to compare the original episode to this episode but not 19 00:01:50,860 --> 00:01:56,560 to begrudge the point. It's something that is near and dear to my heart as a Marine Corps 20 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:01,240 veteran, a United States Marine Corps veteran and having a couple brothers that are now 21 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:07,480 serving in the Michigan National Guard and the military is something that's very important 22 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:15,240 to me, the culture, the family atmosphere. I'd spent about a decade exactly in the service 23 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,600 to the United States government both in the United States Marine Corps, the United States 24 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:24,000 Navy as civilian and with the United States Air Force in the reserves. It's very important 25 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,220 to me so I've been touched by just about every branch of the military. I have two brothers 26 00:02:29,220 --> 00:02:34,100 that are in like I said the Michigan National Guard, the Army National Guard. That's kind 27 00:02:34,100 --> 00:02:42,440 of why this particular message is important to me is just the idea of having respect, 28 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:49,840 having proper honor, courage and commitment to a calling higher than ourselves. We obviously 29 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:56,880 elevate that above whether it's a military, a country, a government or anything earthly 30 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:01,440 because as Christians we are all called to be citizens of heaven. We are called citizens 31 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:06,840 of heaven and so with that in mind we should be living an honorable, courageous and committed 32 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:11,760 life to the kingdom of heaven more than anything here on earth. 33 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:20,600 With that let's go ahead and jump in. The text that we will use as a jumping off point 34 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:26,140 for this message is John 5, 19 through 24. If you have your Bibles you're following along 35 00:03:26,140 --> 00:03:31,560 you can go ahead and turn there and we'll get to that verse of scripture here shortly. 36 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:37,840 When I was 14 years old I read a book and this book set me on a path that affected all 37 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:45,980 aspects of my life. It really changed my viewpoint just prior to this even. I remember a friend 38 00:03:45,980 --> 00:03:50,760 of mine, we had just moved to a new town in California and so a friend of mine from the 39 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:56,620 old town we lived in came to visit and I remember there was this summer where I was being pretty 40 00:03:56,620 --> 00:04:02,200 lazy and he came and he visited but I remember it got back to me word that he had said that 41 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:06,800 I was being pretty lazy. I didn't really want to do anything and so that really impacted 42 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:13,760 me in a kind of a negative way. I felt pretty bad about it and so pretty soon afterwards 43 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:22,440 this book came to me when I was 14 and it really set me on a very different path. This 44 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:28,040 book had a mammoth impact and influence on my life. It helped mold my view of the world, 45 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:33,240 what was right, what was wrong and it began this long long process of self-revelation 46 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,840 that has been with me ever since and even to this day we're constantly having to look 47 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:44,040 in the mirror and judge ourselves and today hopefully if you're a Christian you're judging 48 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:50,280 yourself against the Word of God not against your fellow man or anything earthly but rather 49 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:56,720 against what God has called you to be. But it's important that we do have that in our 50 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:02,080 lives that ability to look at our actions, look at our thought life, look at our prayer 51 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,560 life, look at everything that we're doing and really judged against the Word of God 52 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:12,520 but we're jumping ahead a little bit too quickly. So now you might be thinking that I'm obviously 53 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:17,080 talking about the Bible. You might be thinking oh of course you became a Christian at this 54 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,080 young age and that just dramatically changed your life and you were perfect from that point 55 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:27,840 forward. That of course would be your silly assumption and you'd be dead wrong. At this 56 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:33,200 point in my life I was about as far from a relationship of God as you could be. In fact 57 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:39,140 I was a pretty angsty teenager. I wasn't particularly a good athlete. I was only a marginally above 58 00:05:39,140 --> 00:05:44,640 average student and I also tended to lead towards laziness as I kind of hinted at and 59 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:49,040 so I ended up in a group of kids that would have been the uncool group. Now most of us 60 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:54,960 were more academically inclined than athletically inclined and oddly enough this group of kids 61 00:05:54,960 --> 00:06:02,240 we ended up being the core of a cross country team at this school that had never been there 62 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,180 before. So all the people who couldn't make the football or the basketball team would 63 00:06:06,180 --> 00:06:10,080 end up coming onto the cross country team because it was brand new and there wasn't 64 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:18,840 really a clique of kids that were involved with it yet. Anyway, so if this book that 65 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:24,460 changed my life wasn't the Bible, then what was this book? What could have been such a 66 00:06:24,460 --> 00:06:32,240 dramatic shift in one's life? Well for me this book was entitled Marine Sniper 93 Confirmed 67 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:37,440 Kills and it tells the exciting true story of Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, a legendary marine 68 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:43,120 sniper in the Vietnam War. And part of the heading of this book or the description of 69 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:48,600 this book is he is silent and invisible. He lies in one position for days barely twitching 70 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,520 a muscle able to control his heartbeat and breathing. His record has never been matched 71 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:59,600 93 confirmed kills. This is the story of Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, a marine sniper, a legend 72 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,960 of military lore. Now since the writing of this book because this book is a Vietnam era 73 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:10,040 book there are others who can say that they can claim matching 93 confirmed kills. We're 74 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:15,760 not going to get into that. Who cares? That's not the point of this message. This message 75 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:22,640 is not even about his capability as a marine sniper or the fact that he was a marine at 76 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:27,920 all. It comes to a different point of the message. When we look at this book about a 77 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,760 sniper you're going to ask yourself what does this have to do with Jesus? What does this 78 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:36,000 have to do with the cross? What does this have to do with God? Why did this book have 79 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:44,240 like this impact on my life? So as we jump into our text we'll be able to dig into the 80 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:48,880 purpose of this message but then also we'll be able to circle back around to this tale 81 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:56,280 of this book from when I was a child. So in John 5 19 through 24 it says, So Jesus said 82 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:01,120 to them, Truly, truly I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only 83 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,360 what he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, the son does likewise. For 84 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:12,540 the father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works 85 00:08:12,540 --> 00:08:17,940 than these will he show him so that you may marvel. For as the father raises the dead 86 00:08:17,940 --> 00:08:23,440 and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will. For the father judges 87 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:28,360 no one but he has given all judgment to the son and that all may honor the son just as 88 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:33,240 they honor the father. Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent 89 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:39,360 him. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal 90 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:46,800 life. He does not come in judgment but is passed from death to life. So as we look at 91 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:52,440 the tale of Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Halfcock, we want to really hone in on the ideas of 92 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:58,200 having core values within yourself. And we'll reference back to the Marine Corps with this 93 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:05,640 because in the Marine Corps we have set standardized core values that are based off of honor, courage 94 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:11,840 and commitment. So Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Halfcock's story resonated with me immediately 95 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:16,860 when I read it. He was a young man with few options in his life. He was from a poor family 96 00:09:16,860 --> 00:09:22,800 from the South. He even helped put food on his table by having to shoot like squirrels 97 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,860 or whatever he could find. What other little critters were running around in the South 98 00:09:26,860 --> 00:09:32,560 there that he could shoot in Arkansas and Mississippi. It wasn't his hard life that 99 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:38,040 spoke to me so much. It wasn't the valor of his battlefield accomplishments, which there 100 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:45,160 were many. The real story of Carlos Halfcock is that even though he mostly served alone 101 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:50,160 as a sniper, he also served his brothers. So you have to conceptualize this because we 102 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:55,800 oftentimes think of snipers today as just long distance shooters, whether it's on a 103 00:09:55,800 --> 00:10:02,280 law enforcement or whether it's in a unit like the Navy SEALs or it's part of a battalion 104 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:09,360 or it's a part of a larger group. So you have designated marksmen. That stuff's all good. 105 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:15,400 Those guys all have skills. But Marine snipers were typically sent out either alone or in 106 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:20,840 a team of two, a sniper and a scout. And they would spend most of their time not moving, 107 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:27,880 sitting very quietly in the field in the bush serving out their mission. So it's important 108 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:35,160 to understand this isolation can cause some people to turn very inward and to lose themselves 109 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:41,480 in the mission. I've had friends that luckily have gotten saved. I've had friends that were 110 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:50,120 part of the sniper group in the Marine Corps. And one of those guys who did luckily became 111 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:56,800 quite on fire for God. And he's been miraculously healed and set free from what he went through 112 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:01,300 during his time of service in the Marine Corps. But I remember hearing stories from him and 113 00:11:01,300 --> 00:11:06,480 about him where when he first came back and got saved, people would have to wake him up 114 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:13,340 with like a stick because he would just go right into kill mode if someone woke him up 115 00:11:13,340 --> 00:11:18,980 because of his time in the service. He was so worn out because he had spent 12 years 116 00:11:18,980 --> 00:11:25,360 deployed primarily overseas in the function of being a Marine sniper. So what resonated 117 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:32,040 with me about Carlos Hathcock was this commitment to service of others despite the role that 118 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:38,600 he was playing in the military. So on September 16th, 1969, Hathcock's career as a sniper 119 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:46,560 came to a sudden end along Highway 1. North of Landing Z Zone, Baldy went an LVTP, which 120 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:52,240 is just a troop carriers riding in, struck an anti-tank mine. This anti-tank mine blew 121 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:58,240 the truck, flipped it, it was destroyed. Hathcock pulled seven Marines from the flame engulfed 122 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:04,200 vehicle suffering severe burns, some of them third degree burns to his face, arms, legs 123 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:09,500 before someone else pulled him away from the wreckage and placed him in the water because 124 00:12:09,500 --> 00:12:15,480 he was unaware of how badly he had been burned. While recovering, Hathcock received a Purple 125 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:21,840 Heart. Nearly 30 years later, they upgraded him. They gave him a Silver Star as well for 126 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:27,720 his service and action. So Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock and the seven Marines he pulled 127 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:33,840 from the vehicle were evacuated by helicopter to the USS, or to the hospital ship USS Repose. 128 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:38,300 And then later on, they came to Tokyo and eventually made their way back to the States 129 00:12:38,300 --> 00:12:43,520 where Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock spent time at the Brooke Army Medical Center in 130 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:50,320 San Antonio in their burn unit. I remember reading the details of his experience in the 131 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:55,800 burn unit. If you haven't heard about what happens in the burn unit, oftentimes burn 132 00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:01,560 units in hospitals are put at the very bottom level basement of the hospital so that it's 133 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:08,640 surrounded by several levels of concrete between the burn unit and the rest of the hospital. 134 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:13,920 If you can't imagine why they would do this separation, it's simple. Being burned is one 135 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:18,640 of the most painful experiences that anybody can have. But the way that they treat burn 136 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:26,200 victims oftentimes is they have to scrape away the dead flesh off of the body. And so 137 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:32,360 they keep the people who are being treated from burns like this in the basement so that 138 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:37,120 people can't hear them screaming. Because the excruciating pain that they go through, 139 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:45,000 there isn't really an effective way, especially at this time, to medicate or to anesthetize 140 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:50,840 them in order to do this treatment. So they would have to scrape away the dead skin. And 141 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:55,200 this wasn't something you could just do once or twice because oftentimes the skin that 142 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,800 might have been alive would die after the first treatment or second treatment. So they 143 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:05,240 would do this over and over again. It was while I was reading this book and this part 144 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,160 of the book that I knew I wanted to become a Marine. Now you're probably thinking that's 145 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:14,440 insanity and you're probably a little right. Most of us who served in the Marine Corps 146 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:20,960 are a little bit off kilter. And that's why I thank God for being saved, getting saved 147 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:26,360 early in my time in the Marine Corps. But the reality is that that is what I came away 148 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:34,280 with from reading this book was this man's bravery, his courage, his ability to pull 149 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:38,800 himself together after the most horrible of defeats in some ways and to come back and 150 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:45,880 be of service to his brothers again. It was absolutely amazing. The sacrifice, the life 151 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:52,560 of sacrifice that was poignantly depicted in this book challenged me to my very being. 152 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:58,520 Now I'm going to preach about the core values from this launching point. And the Marine 153 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:03,480 Corps, like if you go to even their website, they say this, the values born from our nation's 154 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:10,500 ideals. So this is the way the Marine Corps identifies their core values. Marines live 155 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:16,360 by a set of enduring core values that form the bedrock of our character. These values 156 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,800 guide our actions and bolster our resolve. Honor, courage, and commitment leads us to 157 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:26,300 victory over the physical, mental, and moral battles faced during combat or while serving 158 00:15:26,300 --> 00:15:31,200 in our communities on behalf of our nation. These are the values that ensure every fight 159 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:36,800 and the current and past battles support our common moral cause. And I can't emphasize 160 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:42,520 this enough. This message is not a recruiting commercial for the military or life in the 161 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:50,200 military at all. It's definitely not a call to go join a sign up in the Marine Corps. 162 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,600 It's a very challenging thing to be in the Marines and to keep your faith in the Marine 163 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,800 Corps because it is where you're still part of the world and you're seeing some of the 164 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:04,320 worst stuff possible to humanity. The reality is that when we refuse to submit to the Lord, 165 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:08,840 we will always look to mankind for leadership and worth. The children of Israel did this 166 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:14,000 when they cried out for an earthly king. And we often see it today when people call out 167 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,400 for political leaders that are going to lead them to the promised land. So what I'm really 168 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:25,000 trying to express this morning is that we have to honor, we have the honor of serving 169 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:30,800 a living God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we should find courage in our Lord. And 170 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:35,560 when we abide in him, we can find the strength to remain committed to his message. At this 171 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:41,980 point in my life, I was not saved and I was not serving the Lord. So I was doing exactly 172 00:16:41,980 --> 00:16:47,940 what I said. I was clinging to something bigger than myself, something tangible that I could 173 00:16:47,940 --> 00:16:55,000 hold to that I thought would make me a better person. And, you know, not to not to jump ahead 174 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,240 too far, but the reality is I did become a Marine and I'm proud to have served in the 175 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:05,440 Marine Corps, but I almost didn't make it. There was a time before I got saved where 176 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:09,560 I was destroying what I'd worked so hard for. And I'll get to this later. But I want to 177 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:16,440 emphasize this point. You are not going to be saved by the things of this world. You 178 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:22,760 can only be saved by Jesus Christ. We will look for things in the world to save us or 179 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:28,400 to give us purpose, but they're all for not. That is not the things of the world that will 180 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:34,000 that will set you free from a life of sin or a life of struggle. You will only be able 181 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:40,360 to find freedom and joy and service to the Lord. And I do believe that wholeheartedly. 182 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:45,560 People will try to argue with it, but until you've come into a direct personal relationship 183 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:50,560 with Jesus Christ, it is nearly impossible for you to understand. It is only by the Holy 184 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:57,320 Spirit that you could possibly understand. Because it doesn't make on its face logical 185 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:05,520 sense. But when you come to a place of of utter destitute, you know, utter destitudiness 186 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:12,000 in your life, and then Jesus meets you there and lifts you out of it, then you have something 187 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:18,600 worth serving. You have something worth honoring, something worth showing commitment and courage 188 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:24,240 to. And that's Jesus Christ. And that's our Lord. So as I go forward, I want to get to 189 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:31,060 my first point, which is honor. Honor guides in the Marine Corps are honored guides Marines 190 00:18:31,060 --> 00:18:35,560 to exemplify the ultimate and ethical and moral behavior. The Marine Corps believes 191 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:40,720 that you should never lie, never cheat or steal. You should abide by an uncompromising 192 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:46,020 code of integrity, respecting human dignity and respect for others. Honor compels Marines 193 00:18:46,020 --> 00:18:53,520 to act responsibly and to fulfill their obligations and to hold ourselves and others accountable 194 00:18:53,520 --> 00:19:01,440 for every action. So let's take a look at how you could, you know, how you define honor. 195 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:06,680 That was the Marine Corps definition of honor. But other, you know, the dictionary definition 196 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:12,600 is that honesty, you know, is honesty, fairness or integrity in one's beliefs and actions. 197 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:19,360 A source of credit or distinction, high respect, merit or rank. Some other words that can be 198 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:27,860 used similarly to honor is dignity, faith, prestige, trust. You show honor to the things 199 00:19:27,860 --> 00:19:35,960 that you have faith in. You show dignity to the things you have faith in. You put your 200 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:41,960 trust in the things that you have faith in. You honor. The opposite, of course, would 201 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:48,400 be disregard, neglect, ignorance. Now let's challenge our thought process here. Ignorance 202 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:54,680 can be easily explained. It's the idea of not knowing, right? But neglect is something 203 00:19:54,680 --> 00:20:00,200 that we all deal with as Christians. Are we neglecting our soul? Are we neglecting what 204 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:06,160 we were sent on earth to do? To be, you know, stewards of the gospel, to be representatives 205 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:10,760 of the kingdom of heaven. Are we neglecting our own spiritual life? Are we neglecting 206 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:17,720 our prayer, our prayer time, reading the word, washing ourselves in the word? Are we neglecting 207 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:22,040 the gathering of the brethren, going to church? And you don't just go to church to hear the 208 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:26,440 preaching. Of course, the preaching is extremely important, if not one of the most important 209 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:32,480 parts of going to church. But it's the fellowship of the brethren. It's the idea of iron sharpening 210 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:37,960 iron and everybody else, you know, working together to be what they can, everything they 211 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:43,540 can be for the Lord. In Ephesians six, one through four, it says, children obey your 212 00:20:43,540 --> 00:20:47,600 parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first 213 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,960 commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in 214 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:57,560 the land. Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up and discipline 215 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:03,400 and instruction of the Lord. With the scripture, we can put honor in a more biblical context. 216 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:08,820 And when we look back on the text in John five, 22 through 23, we can see the importance 217 00:21:08,820 --> 00:21:13,000 of honor with the word of Jesus Christ. For the father judges no one, but has given all 218 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:19,880 judgment to the son that all may honor the son just as they honor the father. Whoever 219 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:26,420 does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. This is kind of a startling 220 00:21:26,420 --> 00:21:30,480 idea that, you know, people who will say, well, they, they, they believe in the general 221 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:35,000 idea of the Bible, but they don't, you know, there are certain, you know, sex or different 222 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:43,000 religions out there that minimize the importance of Jesus Christ. And so that's an important 223 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:50,420 thing to, to understand is that you need to put Jesus first. You need to give him as much 224 00:21:50,420 --> 00:21:55,880 honor as you're giving the father. But as we go back to that Ephesians six, one through 225 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:02,740 four, it's also important to understand. I left in verse four for myself. Fathers do 226 00:22:02,740 --> 00:22:06,520 not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up and discipline and instruction of 227 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:11,760 the Lord. I love that that whole verse or a section of scripture one through four chapter 228 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:17,460 six first, you know, one through four Ephesians. But I find it very interesting that he puts 229 00:22:17,460 --> 00:22:22,900 it in there for fathers. Do not provoke your children to anger because oftentimes as fathers, 230 00:22:22,900 --> 00:22:28,760 we like to do that. We think it's just toughening up our kids. And there is a difference between, 231 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:34,000 you know, raising our children and bringing them up and discipline as it says in instruction 232 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:39,000 of the Lord. And there's another thing about antagonizing them. So as we go back to the 233 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:43,480 tale of Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Halfcock, I moved to enlist in the Marine Corps. I had 234 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:48,240 to wait a number of years before being able to join. In fact, I tried to join at 16. They 235 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,960 said, come back a year later. My dad during that period of time tried to talk me into 236 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:58,640 joining the Air Force. And so I tried to go to the Air Force. But you know, lo and behold, 237 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:03,200 the Air Force recruiting office was closed the day that I tried to go join them. And 238 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:08,480 so bam, now I am right back where I wanted to be, which was with the Marine Corps. And 239 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,640 you know what, my dad went out anyway, because in the Marine Corps, they ended up getting 240 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:17,640 me a trade working on an aircraft. And my dad had worked in aviation, you know, for 241 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:22,200 decades already. So we kind of got the best of both worlds. I ended up getting to be a 242 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:31,800 Marine and I ended up getting to work in aviation for a number of years. Nevertheless, I was 243 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:37,080 remain I, I remained focused on this idea of service. So I was able to enlist at 17, 244 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:39,900 but you're not actually able to go to boot camp in the Marine Corps after until you 245 00:23:39,900 --> 00:23:46,520 have a high school diploma. And I had to wait till finishing, you know, finishing my my 246 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:50,520 last year of high school before I went. And so they call that the delayed entry program. 247 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:55,960 And so I worked with, you know, my recruiter and Marines to try to be in shape and be ready, 248 00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:01,280 you know, mentally and physically for boot camp. But it wasn't until I was a Marine that 249 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,240 I came to fully understand that honor that I was searching for was not in the Marines 250 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:12,000 at all. It was this relationship that I alluded to earlier with Jesus Christ. But before I 251 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:18,000 could be saved, I still had some hard lessons to learn. My my first, you know, little bit 252 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:23,360 in the Marine Corps, and even in the delayed entry program, I was drunk and angry. I was 253 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:28,120 an angry young man, but I was focused on being a Marine. So I was able to push aside some 254 00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:32,560 of my angst, some of my anger. And I was able to make it through basic training and make 255 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:37,320 it through all my training, which I had quite a bit of because of the trade I was in, made 256 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:43,120 it through boot camp, made it through, you know, combat training or Marine Combat Training 257 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:48,760 MCT made it through water survival school, which is like NACA. It's a Naval Air Crew 258 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:53,640 candidate course. And I made it through seer school survival evasion resistance escape 259 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:59,200 school. That's where they beat you up and treat you like a POW. I made it through my 260 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:04,920 technical schools, both aviation, like my mechanic school as an as an aircraft mechanic, 261 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:10,040 and my flight school, which was being a flight engineer flying on board and crew. I did all 262 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:17,360 this, I made it into the fleet. But then I was let down. I had recognized that I was 263 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:23,160 missing something important. I didn't know what it was at that point. But I understood 264 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:29,240 that there was something big missing in my life, and it was destroying me. So in order 265 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:35,800 to be truly honorable, you know, I had to recognize I had to come to a place to recognize 266 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:42,080 and give honor to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. And first Peter 2 17, it says, 267 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:47,540 for the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor 268 00:25:47,540 --> 00:25:52,180 the Son just as they honor the Father, whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the 269 00:25:52,180 --> 00:25:57,400 Father who sent him. So let's take a look at the next step of our the next core value 270 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:02,320 and see what else we can learn. And the next one is courage, courage is the mental, moral, 271 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:06,660 physical strength ingrained in Marines. It carries us through the challenges of combat 272 00:26:06,660 --> 00:26:11,320 and AIDS and overcoming fear. It is the inner strength that enables us to do what is right 273 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:16,880 to adhere to a higher standard of personal conduct and make tough decisions under stress 274 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:24,680 and pressure. In Psalm 27 14, it says, wait for the Lord be strong and let your heart 275 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:33,080 take courage wait for the Lord. This is repeated again in Psalm 31 24. So what is courage then? 276 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:37,960 The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, something that 277 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:43,800 helps you to face danger and pain, and to do it to do so without fear or to do so with 278 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:49,160 bravery. Some other words that can be used obviously for courage are audacity, bravery, 279 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:57,500 determination, gallantry, or one of my personal favorites is grit. Obviously, the the opposites 280 00:26:57,500 --> 00:27:06,160 of that can be fear, weakness, cowardice. These are all things that we think of when 281 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:11,960 we think of either you know, the idea of courage, or we think of those who lack courage. In 282 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:17,440 Acts 23 11 says, the following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage, 283 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:22,000 for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so now you must testify also 284 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:28,280 in Rome. Think of this, you got Paul, who used to be Saul used to be persecutor of the 285 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:34,700 church of the Christians. He has this miraculous experience in meeting Jesus Christ on the 286 00:27:34,700 --> 00:27:42,280 road to Damascus. He gets baptized immediately and starts to preach immediately. Now you 287 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:46,640 fast forward, he's done all these amazing things in his missionary journeys. And now 288 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:54,240 he's back in Jerusalem and he's he's fine. He finds himself in bondage again. But this 289 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:59,760 time he's in bondage is not of the law. He's not in bondage of his life as Saul. He's in 290 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:05,000 bondage because he's being arrested for being a Christian and one of those that he persecuted. 291 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:10,840 So now he's able to testify to the leaders in Jerusalem about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 292 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:15,020 And he's told, take courage because just as you just did this really difficult thing, 293 00:28:15,020 --> 00:28:20,280 now you must do an even more difficult thing in Rome. 294 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:25,320 And the Marine Corps courage and integrity were used together very often. It takes integrity 295 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,120 to do the right thing, even when nobody is looking. It takes courage to do the right 296 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:35,120 thing when everybody is looking, but it doesn't believe in doing the right thing. Right? So 297 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:39,120 let me say that again. It says it takes courage to do the right thing when everyone is looking, 298 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:44,200 but doesn't believe in doing the right thing. This is our walk of Christ. We are challenged 299 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:50,080 to live a life of courage, to live a life according to the word of God, even when it 300 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:54,200 is not popular, even when it's really hard. This is what the apostle Paul means when he 301 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:59,880 says he is a slave to Christ. In Romans 1, 1 it says, this is a letter from Paul, a slave 302 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:07,000 of Christ, Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his good news. This 303 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:12,600 takes courage, but we're not left to find this courage on our own. Throughout the Bible, 304 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:17,160 we are told to rely on God and Christ for our strength. Fear of the Lord is the beginning 305 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:22,880 of all wisdom, but with it, we can rely on the father, the son, the Holy Spirit to support 306 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:28,000 us in all things. That is why we're called to put on the full armor of God. In Ephesians 307 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:32,600 6, 13 through 20, it says, therefore put on every piece of God's armor so you will be 308 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:38,240 able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will still be standing 309 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:43,280 firm, stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness 310 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:47,880 for shoes, for shoes, put on the piece that comes from the good news so that you will 311 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:53,280 be fully prepared. In addition to all these things, hold up the shield of faith to stop 312 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:59,120 the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the Spirit, 313 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:04,600 which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert. 314 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:09,280 Be persistent in all your prayers for the believers everywhere and pray for me too. 315 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:15,040 Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that 316 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:20,640 the good news is for the Jews and the Gentiles alike. I am in chains now, still preaching 317 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:26,600 this message as God's ambassador, so pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him 318 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,800 as I should. So let's take another look at Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock as we're 319 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:36,120 coming to the end of this message. During his time in Vietnam, there was a point where 320 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:43,040 he had a bounty placed on his head. And this is one of the more renowned stories. You might 321 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:49,960 have heard a similar story, but this is actually attributed to Carlos Hathcock as a true story 322 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:57,160 that has been used in countless other movies and stories since. And I'm sure that it could 323 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:03,800 have happened. Right? And I believe that it did happen for Carlos Hathcock. So he was 324 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:12,620 being hunted by an enemy sniper. And during this attack or this fight between two snipers 325 00:31:12,620 --> 00:31:17,160 rounding each other out, going around in circles, trying to outwit the other and get a bead 326 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:23,040 on the other, Hathcock purposely took the bait of this rival sniper after this rival 327 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:29,880 sniper had taken several shots at fellow Marines. And so Hathcock said, okay, I'm going to go 328 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:34,040 out and deal with this. So he went out crawling on his stomach and Hathcock moved slowly until 329 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:40,680 he finally saw a small shimmer of light. And he recognized that this glimmer was the enemy 330 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:47,920 scope. So Hathcock took a shot from 500 yards away. And even though rifle scopes are only 331 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:55,080 typically a couple inches wide, he was able to beat in on the site, shoot, and it's a 332 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:59,680 fluke. Nobody denies it's a fluke, but the bullet that Hathcock shot passed clean through 333 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:05,960 and hit the enemy through his scope. So he shot the guy through the eye and he killed 334 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:10,920 him. The courage that it took Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock to get up every day and perform 335 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:16,840 in such a high level is nothing short of remarkable. And again, though, keep in mind that he did 336 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:21,480 this not out of a desire for his own glory, but out of a desire to save the lives of his 337 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:27,600 brother Marines. There's similar feats in the Old Testament with King David and his 338 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:34,200 mighty men, right? But with Carlos Hathcock, you got to understand, like, this is an exceptional 339 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:43,080 guy. He was an exceptional guy at the time. And even with the job he had, the stuff that 340 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:49,520 he had to endure seeing other fellow Marines being tortured and him being able to keep 341 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:56,120 his compassion was just something that overwhelmed me as a child. It's easy for us, though, to 342 00:32:56,120 --> 00:33:01,840 get caught up with the thought that courage is for the battlefield. But the reality is 343 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:07,920 that the courage is for every day, every day. Witnessing and preaching the gospel to strangers 344 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:13,800 takes a huge amount of courage. Serving Christ takes a huge amount of courage. But we can 345 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:20,920 be strong and courageous as we throw our yoke upon the Lord. And as we can, we rapidly race 346 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:26,680 towards the end days, we have to understand that it's not going to be easier to share 347 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:33,080 the gospel. It's only going to be more challenging. But we have to take courage in the Lord and 348 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:39,080 know that we can throw our yoke upon him and he will help us carry the load. This brings 349 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:43,960 me to my final point, which is commitment. The Marine Corps defines commitment this way. 350 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,840 Commitment is the spirit of determination and dedication found in Marines. It's the 351 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:53,180 highest order of discipline for individuals and units. It is the ingredient that enables 352 00:33:53,180 --> 00:33:58,320 constant dedication to the Corps and country. It inspires the unrelenting determination 353 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:06,840 to achieve victory in every endeavor. The other ways you can define commitment is a 354 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:15,460 pledge or a promise, an obligation, dedication or allegiance. And then if you wanted to use 355 00:34:15,460 --> 00:34:20,360 similar words, it would be engagement. Obviously, if two people are going to get married and 356 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:25,960 they get engaged, they are making a commitment to the fact that they're going to be married. 357 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,640 And here's an aside. This is just something totally off the top of my head. I saw this 358 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:35,480 really cool thing because in Christian marriage and Jewish marriage, any marriage that puts 359 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:43,240 God first, there's an interesting idea that you can conceptualize. You think of it as 360 00:34:43,240 --> 00:34:51,280 a triangle, an isosceles triangle, meaning every side is the same length. I'm pretty 361 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,260 sure that's right. My geometry is old, so if I'm wrong, you can blast me in comments 362 00:34:55,260 --> 00:35:02,400 and emails and everything else. So anyway, you have a triangle with all the sides being 363 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,680 the same length. Then on one side you have the husband, the other side you have the wife 364 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:11,680 on the bottom. And then you have God at the pinnacle at the top. And so the closer the 365 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:17,060 husband and wife are to God, the closer they are together in relationship, the more committed 366 00:35:17,060 --> 00:35:21,420 they are together. But the further away they are from God, the further away they are from 367 00:35:21,420 --> 00:35:26,200 each other. And it's a beautiful picture of that idea of engagement. As you come together 368 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:30,500 in marriage, you're coming together in Christ. And so in a Christian marriage, there's always 369 00:35:30,500 --> 00:35:35,120 three individuals. There's always God the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, the Holy 370 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:40,360 Trinity, and then you have the husband and wife. And the closer you remain to God, the 371 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:44,480 better your marriage will be sustained. And I thought that was a really interesting thing 372 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:51,640 that I saw recently. And so it kind of fits in here with the idea of commitment. So it's 373 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:55,920 just a free one I'm throwing in. Because in that situation, in all these situations, if 374 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,680 you're committed to something, you're going to be dedicated to it. You're giving a guarantee. 375 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:04,880 You're giving a pledge. I'll go back to the marriage idea here. You're guaranteeing to 376 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:10,200 love and to hold till death do you part. You're pledging your love, your undying love. You're 377 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:16,200 exchanging rings. Right? There's a promise. There's a responsibility. And so when we look 378 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:20,680 at our relationship with Jesus Christ, we need to be committed as well. Just like in 379 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:25,100 the Marine Corps, they expect you to be committed to the Corps and to the country. They're used 380 00:36:25,100 --> 00:36:30,240 to say, you know, God, country, Corps, that was the way that you were supposed to, you 381 00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:37,200 know, give a hierarchy of your commitment, even in the Marine Corps. So obviously, like 382 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,920 if you're going to do the opposite of being committed, you're going to create a break. 383 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:45,920 You're going to create a breach in the agreement or refusal or denial. And we don't want to 384 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:50,000 do that with our soul. We don't want to do that with our relationship with Jesus Christ. 385 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:54,600 And Psalm 105, eight, it says, he remembers his covenant forever. The word that he had 386 00:36:54,600 --> 00:37:00,640 commanded for a thousand generations. God does not forget his commitment to us. He sent 387 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:06,280 his son to die for us, which was proof of his commitment to, to bridge the gap, to do 388 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:11,800 something to cover the sin of Adam and all of our sins that we could enter back into 389 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:17,840 direct relationship with him, the father at the root of commitment is discipline though. 390 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:22,400 We can see in our texts that discipline is necessary to grow in all of these core values. 391 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:27,080 It is through being disciplined and growing and self-discipline that you can grow in honor 392 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:32,380 by honoring the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. You can grow in courage to stand and 393 00:37:32,380 --> 00:37:37,640 preach the good news that you have received. The truth of salvation in Christ is in Christ 394 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:45,760 Jesus. That is what we're, we're, we're always talking about is that you are saved by grace 395 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:52,760 in Christ Jesus by giving honor. We find courage and that will solidify our commitment to Christ. 396 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,680 It is in this committed place that we continue to grow in honor. And the cycle starts again 397 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:04,280 and again and again. These values become embedded into who, who you are, who we are, but it 398 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:11,720 always starts with Jesus Christ. As we saw in our text, the authority rests with the 399 00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:19,240 son, our text, John 5, 19 chapter 5, 19 through 24. Everything was given to the son so that 400 00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:26,340 we would honor him as we do the father, right? That's the core of the message is we show 401 00:38:26,340 --> 00:38:32,560 honor to the father by giving honor to the son. We do it with courage despite the world 402 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:40,620 being against the father and the son. And we remain committed to him for the, even unto 403 00:38:40,620 --> 00:38:46,680 death because we know that even in the death, we will not have to taste the second death, 404 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:52,280 the death of the soul. So just as a young Marine enters into service, lacking many of 405 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:59,240 these values, but they're built over time. But eventually the idea is, is that they will 406 00:38:59,240 --> 00:39:05,180 become involuntary. They're ingrained in your, they become your character. Now I can't tell 407 00:39:05,180 --> 00:39:10,660 you that you're going to be able to ingrain it in your character without Christ. I know 408 00:39:10,660 --> 00:39:17,300 for myself that living in the Marine Corps, I was far from those ideals and it wasn't 409 00:39:17,300 --> 00:39:24,040 until I gave my life to Christ that I was challenged in a way that I started making 410 00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:31,400 changes. We have to rely on Christ. We have to constantly rely on Christ so that these, 411 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:38,560 these, you know, values become second nature and reflexive. Guider Sergeant Carlos Hathcock 412 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:44,320 was blown up in an armored personnel carrier and while literally on fire, he climbed back 413 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:52,700 in to this burning wreckage to save his fellow Marines. He didn't stop until forced to stop. 414 00:39:52,700 --> 00:39:58,880 He suffered severe burns. He sacrificed his body. He sacrificed his career. He sacrificed 415 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:08,760 a lot, but this self sacrifice more than anything else is what called me to serve. Who sacrifices 416 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:15,680 themselves for others like this? He did. He didn't know these men. He was on his way back 417 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:20,960 to Vietnam for his second voluntary tour to Vietnam and he was just driving along with 418 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:26,800 these guys. They weren't snipers. They weren't part of his unit. Again, he worked primarily 419 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:35,300 alone and he had no ties to these men other than their bondage of service to the Corps. 420 00:40:35,300 --> 00:40:43,040 We have something far better than this. Christ died for all of us in an act of self sacrifice 421 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:53,520 because you are worth it. You're worth it. And through the sacrifice, you too can grow 422 00:40:53,520 --> 00:41:01,560 in honor, courage and commitment to his cause because he already sees your worth. He already 423 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:08,640 sees your value in the kingdom of heaven. Everybody's a sinner, but he calls us and 424 00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:17,600 says to turn from our sin and accept him as our Lord and savior. That is what led me to 425 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:27,440 get saved. And if some dirty crayon eating drunk Marine can get saved, then I know that 426 00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:32,720 you can too. So with that, as we close, if I could have every head bowed, every eye closed, 427 00:41:32,720 --> 00:41:35,440 if you're listening to this, if you're obviously driving, keep your hands on the wheel, eyes 428 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:45,060 open and don't blame me for hitting a pothole. But I want to take a moment to invite you. 429 00:41:45,060 --> 00:41:56,240 Take courage and honor God. Give your life to the Father. Accept Jesus as your savior. 430 00:41:56,240 --> 00:42:00,920 If you want to do that, if this message resonated with you, you can do that by signifying that 431 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:07,560 with an uplifted hand. I can't see it. This is a podcast, but God sees it. And if you 432 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:13,920 mean it, then that matters. So just repeat after me a quick prayer. Dear Lord, I know 433 00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:17,800 that I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, and that he died for 434 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:24,240 me on the cross. I repent of my sin, which means I turn from it, turn from my sin and 435 00:42:24,240 --> 00:42:32,240 I accept you as my Lord and my savior. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. That simple prayer 436 00:42:32,240 --> 00:42:37,200 is a recognition of your sin, a turning away from your sin, accepting of a higher power, 437 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:42,440 which is Jesus, and moving forward in the new grace that you have that only comes from 438 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:49,880 the Father. So I welcome you to the family. And so as we close, the last thing is, what 439 00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:54,160 do you do next? Well, I recommend, you know, get a Bible. You can download. There's tons 440 00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:59,120 of apps out there. Get a good translation. I like the ESV, the NIV, the, you know, King 441 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:07,120 James, the new King James. There's quite a few and read the word. If you're new to the 442 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:12,680 Christianity, you know, start with the New Testament, the Gospels and the Psalms, or 443 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:21,480 if you're tend to be a cynic, you could start an Ecclesiastes. It's a good one for cynics. 444 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:27,560 And read the word cry out to God in prayer. It doesn't have to be hard. Just tell them 445 00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:32,840 what you're feeling, ask them for help, and then find a Bible believing church to lock 446 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:41,120 into and to, you know, find brothers and sisters in Christ to serve Christ with. Now, with 447 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:44,740 the Christian fellowship ministries, with the Potter's house, the door, Victor Chapel, 448 00:43:44,740 --> 00:43:49,840 we have 3500 plus churches globally. So if you're in salmon arm, please come and visit 449 00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:57,800 us. We're a new church or a baby plant. We come out of the Chilliwack Church and we want 450 00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:03,320 to touch the world for God. But if you're not from around here, that's great. We have 451 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:10,160 tons of churches. Reach out, reach out either on Instagram or through Facebook or through 452 00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:18,400 our email, which will be in the show notes. And I'll find it. I'll help you find a church. 453 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:22,760 It's not a problem. I want to thank you for listening. I can't wait for you to come back 454 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:27,920 next time. And I just pray that God blesses you and that this message has impacted you. 455 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:34,560 And please share, like, or like share and subscribe to the podcast. It helps us to grow. 456 00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:52,160 And God bless. Have a great day. Bye.