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 --> 00:00:31,600 and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be 6 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,880 your host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages 7 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:42,000 are a blessing to you and bring you closer to God. 8 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:51,520 Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. My name is David Bickford. 9 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:57,760 I am the pastor here in Salmon Arm, our little church that is growing to reach the world 10 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:04,640 and many, many nations. The message I put together today is called The Spirit of Conviction, 11 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:09,840 Sinners, Saints, Salvation and Service. The text that we are going to be using is John 12 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:18,480 16, 5-11. If you are following along, you can go ahead and turn there. 13 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:23,160 A well-known professional golfer was playing in a tournament with President Gerald Ford, 14 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:29,560 fellow pro Jack Nicklaus and Billy Graham. After the round was over, one of the other 15 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:35,360 pros on the tour asked, hey, what was it like playing with the president and Billy Graham? 16 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:41,960 The pro said with disgust, I don't need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat. With 17 00:01:41,960 --> 00:01:45,740 that he headed for a practice tee. His friend followed and after the golfer had pounded 18 00:01:45,740 --> 00:01:50,840 out his fury on a bucket of golf balls, he asked, was Billy a little rough on you out 19 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:59,080 there? The pro sighed and said with embarrassment, no, he didn't even mention religion. Astonishingly, 20 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:05,160 Billy Graham had said nothing about God, Jesus or religion, yet the pro stomped away after 21 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,960 the game, accusing Billy of trying to ram religion down his throat. 22 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:16,040 This is an interesting illustration that we have before us. In the past, I've spoken about 23 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:22,200 the mob ruling, Israel's call for a king and the general decline of our current society. 24 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:27,880 I believe all these ideas have a similar route and we can all tie them back to an idea of 25 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:35,060 conviction or in our time, the spirit of conviction. When people sin or do something that goes 26 00:02:35,060 --> 00:02:40,320 against their conscience, it seems that often we are faced with an emotional or spiritual 27 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:46,580 quandary within ourselves. We start to act funny or in a weird way, we will act differently 28 00:02:46,580 --> 00:02:51,760 to our friends and loved ones and those in authority above us. I can come up with countless 29 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:57,320 examples. A kid with his hand in the cookie jar, how everyone tends to slow down when 30 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:02,560 they see a police officer, emotional outbursts when someone questions our behavior. Just 31 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:07,360 recently I came across how they are going to start using the prayer of Adon in Minnesota. 32 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:13,600 They are going to have the Islamic call to prayer five times a day. I find this to be 33 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:18,920 an interesting idea. I feel that they are convicted to be godly but in a way that they 34 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:25,800 don't want to admit their own sins. People will bend over backwards to placate different 35 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:33,160 faiths that they have no conviction over so they can feel that they are giving an heir 36 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:41,280 of godliness without accepting the reality of God and Jesus Christ. It is a spirit of 37 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:47,840 conviction. When people try to run away from godliness in their own lives, they have to 38 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:53,400 create their own gods. That is the whole purpose of idolatry in most of its forms. They need 39 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:58,440 to have something bigger than themselves but also something small enough that they can 40 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:04,320 control for themselves. The reality is that we do not like to be challenged or tested 41 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:10,120 in our lives. When someone comes along to shine the light of day on our actions, we 42 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,820 tend to instinctively recoil. The same thing happened to Adam and Eve in the garden in 43 00:04:14,820 --> 00:04:20,160 Genesis 3, 7-8. It says, then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were 44 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:25,000 naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves in loincloths and they heard 45 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,720 the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his 46 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:36,640 wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord of God among the trees of the garden. 47 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:41,000 This instinct is due to the spirit of conviction. This is also something that has come about 48 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,240 lately. I don't mean to be overly political even though it is the political season but 49 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:51,320 there is a vice presidential candidate who has been charged with stolen valor in many 50 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:57,880 instances throughout his political history. It is interesting not the charge of itself 51 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:05,120 which it hits very close to home to me as a veteran myself but the reality is the fact 52 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:10,560 that once these charges started coming out at a much larger light, there was not a rebuttal 53 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:16,900 of these charges. There was just behind the scenes trying to change the wording of certain 54 00:05:16,900 --> 00:05:23,520 things or hide certain things. It wasn't a repentance of an error. It was a let's try 55 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:31,760 to hide this failure. This instinct again is due to a spirit of conviction and we all 56 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:39,400 battle with this in our own lives. The conviction to be a convict is a Greek word or comes from 57 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:44,040 a Greek word, elencho which when it is used in the New Testament it is used to express 58 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:49,000 both the convicting work of God's spirit and the ministry of rebuke within the Christian 59 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:56,040 community. Generally the word means to convince or to refute. It gradually took on additional 60 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:02,440 meanings to correct often by accusing or to convict is used in the Septuagint to translate 61 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:09,880 the Old Testament term and to the NIV and the NASB translations to correct. So again 62 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:18,280 the idea of conviction or the spirit of conviction is one that's meant to lead people to repentance, 63 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:24,420 turning away, correcting their path. God's correcting is a powerful ministry. It confronts 64 00:06:24,420 --> 00:06:32,400 human beings in their sin. In John 16, 18, June 15 we can see this. The Holy Spirit is 65 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:39,280 an active agent in this ministry. John gives us Jesus' promise that when the spirit comes 66 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:43,600 he will convict the world of guilt regarding sin and righteousness and judgment. So let's 67 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:52,720 look at our text in John 16, 5 through 11. But now I am going to him who sent me and 68 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,720 none of you ask me where are you going? But because I have said these things to you sorrow 69 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:02,600 has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is to your advantage that 70 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:08,200 I go away for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you. But if I go I will send 71 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:14,800 him to you and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness 72 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:21,080 and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness 73 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:27,680 because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer concerning judgment because the 74 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:33,200 ruler of this world is judged. So this brings me to my first point which is sinners. We 75 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:38,400 are all sinners and we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If you have 76 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:43,680 given your life over to Jesus then you have been redeemed but we were all born still like 77 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:49,680 still born into sin and without the grace of Christ we would have died in our sin. The 78 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:54,680 active ministry of the Spirit has been carried out since Jesus' coming at Pentecost. This 79 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:59,800 does not guarantee conversion. A person may hear the gospel recognize his or her personal 80 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:04,920 sin and need yet may choose not to believe. Even the brilliant light of God's revelation 81 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:10,320 directed by his Spirit to reveal an individual's heart does not release that individual from 82 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:17,560 responsibility of personal choice. So again we see this in our society today. People actively 83 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:24,680 try to put band-aids on problems that are sin problems. So rather than dealing with 84 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:29,840 the root sin, rather than turning to Christ and repenting and accepting salvation and 85 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:36,040 grace people will try to stick band-aids on things. People will look for politicians or 86 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:43,400 leaders to assuage their guilt by changing laws to make something legal that should not 87 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:49,080 be legal. There's some movements to normalize pedophilia within certain parties within Canada 88 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:56,240 and the United States. These ideas of normalizing sinful behavior is because we're trying to 89 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:05,420 put a band-aid on our soul rather than disinfecting the grievous sore or wound that we have. 90 00:09:05,420 --> 00:09:10,760 So in Samuel 8, 1 through 9 we get the story of Israel demanding a king. When Samuel became 91 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:15,960 old he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn son was Joel, the name 92 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:20,680 of his second Abijah, and they were judges in Beersheba, yet his son did not walk in 93 00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:26,360 his ways. But turned aside after gain they took bribes and perverted justice. Then all 94 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:31,480 the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, Behold 95 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:37,460 you gather together, or behold you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now 96 00:09:37,460 --> 00:09:43,200 appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel 97 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:47,960 and when they said, Give us a king to judge us, and Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the 98 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:53,880 Lord said to Samuel, Obey the voice of the people and all that they say to you, for they 99 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:59,640 have not rejected you, but they have rejected me for being king over them. According to 100 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:04,160 all the deeds that they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt, even to 101 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:10,840 this day forsaking me and serving other gods so they are also doing to you. Now then obey 102 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:18,600 their voice, only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who 103 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:24,520 shall reign over them. Give us a king like all their nations. So here's an interesting 104 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:29,820 situation right like an interesting picture because we see this today in our society. 105 00:10:29,820 --> 00:10:36,640 We want to be like everybody else. We want to be free, liberty, liberty for everything. 106 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:44,240 We want no condemnation. We want no conviction. We want no judgment outside of the judgment 107 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:55,320 that we choose to apply to others. It's this idea that that we do not want God to be the 108 00:10:55,320 --> 00:11:03,880 arbiter of truth. No, we want to be our own arbiter of truth. Our world today is rejecting 109 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:11,400 God and the danger of this idea of rejecting God is that it could be that God will let 110 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:21,200 us have the new kings placed over us. He is warning us of days ahead where we might be 111 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:29,000 in this same situation. We might be in a situation where the governments that we choose to elect 112 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:37,120 could end up taking everything from us. So these are very interesting things. So again, 113 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:41,500 the situation with Israel is the desire of the Israelites to have a king was both from 114 00:11:41,500 --> 00:11:47,240 a place of unbelief and envy. Again, very similar to the time we live in now. There 115 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:54,520 are certain groups that believe that in the idea of not equality, but equity. And what's 116 00:11:54,520 --> 00:12:00,560 the belief of equity is that everybody should have the same thing at the end of the day, 117 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:07,120 regardless of how they started at the beginning of their day. So if someone works really hard 118 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:13,240 all day, then they should be given the same reward as someone who works not at all. That's 119 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:17,880 the idea of equity. And in fact, it should be that at the beginning of the day, if one 120 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:22,600 party had more than another party, and at the end of the day, they still equaled off 121 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:27,920 is even it doesn't matter because they started with a benefit. So they still need to give 122 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:35,000 some of what they had in order to make sure everybody has equity. The idea is that everybody 123 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:45,040 needs to be equally poor. Because you can't have people striving to be to do their best. 124 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:49,120 And then getting ahead, you have to have everybody end with the same amount of misery in the 125 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:56,680 end. So that that's the idea of envy in this place with Israel, right? They envied for 126 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:02,480 what other nations had. They were convicted of the sins that they were harboring within 127 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:09,200 their own hearts. They wanted an earthly ruler who had the same frailties that had the same 128 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:16,440 sinful desires as themselves, because far be it for them to be judged by righteous king, 129 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:26,680 the God of heaven. It was be much nicer to be judged by a similarly sinful ruler. So 130 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:31,840 that they could also live in disobedience and sin. That this time in Israel's history, 131 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:36,920 they had yet to have a king outside of God himself. There were judges whom God rose up 132 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:41,400 to help the Israelites in times of need. And there were priests that were meant to point 133 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:46,360 Israel to the law of Moses and the covenant they had with God. If you consider the rights 134 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:50,560 and privileges that they had, and that were laid out in the viticule law, you could argue 135 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:58,620 that they were a constitutional form of government. They had a set of rules, a set of similar 136 00:13:58,620 --> 00:14:05,280 common guidelines, but each tribe fundamentally governed itself. They were just required to 137 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:11,680 rule according to the tenets of the law. Our constitution given by God himself. They had 138 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:16,680 tremendous freedom, but were bound by a heavenly covenant. And they did not want to have to 139 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:23,360 live up to that standard, because a constitution or a covenant is a responsibility. It's something 140 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,480 that needs to be protected and something that needs to be held with esteem. But no 141 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:35,280 they wanted a more lowly standard from men and women just like themselves. Something 142 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:40,840 similar again we see in our day to day and age today, right? We see a society that wants 143 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:47,680 to take our constitutions or take our tenets and our beliefs that made such great nations 144 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:55,000 as England or Canada or United States, many Western nations. Things that made them great 145 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:01,880 and made them be able to handle World War I, World War II. But now we want a more lowly 146 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:10,500 standard. We want a different standard that changes depending on who is in favor. This 147 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:15,800 brings me to a subsection of this thought process. So we looked at the situation of 148 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:22,920 Israel, but let's also look at their desire. The desire that they had was to be like other 149 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:29,840 nations. We hear this a lot in Western politics. Such and such country is far more this or 150 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:34,320 far more that. We never look at the whole picture. We never look at the continuity or 151 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:40,240 the demographic makeup of those places and judge it based off of it being a totally different 152 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:45,480 nation. No, no. We want to be like other nations. We see something we like so we want to take 153 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:51,040 that something we like without any context of what damage it will do to what we already 154 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:58,640 have. That's the idea of idolatry. We can just bring in more and more gods into our 155 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:07,420 pantheon without any regard for what is going on around us. Without any regard to what wickedness 156 00:16:07,420 --> 00:16:16,240 is being done in and around our towns. This happened when Moses was too slow coming down 157 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:23,080 from the mountain Mount Sinai. He went up to speak with God. He went up the God that 158 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:30,560 just rescued them from Egypt. Exodus 32 the golden calf. When the people saw that Moses 159 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:35,320 was so long and coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, come 160 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:40,440 and make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out 161 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,360 of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him. He was gone for a while. He wasn't 162 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:53,440 gone for years. He was gone for days, weeks, month, but they couldn't handle their own 163 00:16:53,440 --> 00:17:01,080 conviction. They couldn't handle not knowing what would be permissible in their society. 164 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:07,800 They couldn't hold to the standards that they knew. They had to go and try to grab something 165 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:13,120 different. They live. Remember, they just saw the miraculous, but the Israelites were 166 00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:20,980 very fickle with their faith. And we see examples of that today throughout our society as well. 167 00:17:20,980 --> 00:17:25,520 Christian culture constantly strives to bend the word of God to fit the secular world around 168 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:31,760 us. We're called to accept ungodliness in our society as something to be revered. There's 169 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:37,120 groups of progressive Christians that will throw out whole sections of the scripture 170 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:41,960 to suit their needs. And this is nothing new because that's how a lot of cults start too, 171 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:47,040 is by taking the word of God and changing it for their own purposes. And when I'm talking 172 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:52,680 about that, I'm not talking about denominational differences. I'm talking more explicitly when 173 00:17:52,680 --> 00:18:00,680 people will change the words more than just grammatically, but change the meaning to make 174 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:07,920 Jesus from being very God to being a God. We know about these things and this is no 175 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:12,960 different than what we're doing with society today when we're trying to take sexual perversion 176 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:20,880 and may and be able to hold it up as something worthy and something that God would deem righteous, 177 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:27,880 even though we have clear reasoning to know that it's not. We are persecuted and judged 178 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:33,000 for holding godly standards and we should welcome that because we're told by Jesus that 179 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:38,440 it's going to come. We are told that times have changed and that we need to reinterpret 180 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,920 what the scripture of God's word means. We don't need to reinterpret anything. We need 181 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:50,660 to conform to our identity in Christ. Our desire to fit in is moving against our conscience 182 00:18:50,660 --> 00:18:58,480 and pressuring us to give up our beliefs in God. But I call to you, church, to hold fast, 183 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:05,440 to make your face as a flint. You might lose friends. You might lose members in your churches 184 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:11,360 if you're a pastor listening to this. But the reality is, is it's better to have a small 185 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:21,240 group serving God than to have a vast church that serves no one but themselves. And I'm 186 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:27,040 not singling out churches and that's not my place, but I am making the point that Jesus 187 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:34,960 Christ himself and his ministry, he had huge swings in the amount or the numbers of people 188 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:41,600 that he had. When he called his disciples, you know, as 12, there were periods where 189 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:47,520 it would, it would boom to hundreds and then go down to when he was being crucified to 190 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:58,680 having just, just John standing there. So we can't, you know, allow society to pressure 191 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:05,720 us to give up the word of God. Jesus didn't change his message to garner favor with the 192 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:11,620 elites. So if you're going to be a stumbling block in this world today, you should make 193 00:20:11,620 --> 00:20:17,120 sure that you're clinging to the rock of Christ and that they're stumbling over Christ and 194 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:23,840 not your own pride. So here's a warning to the people of Israel. This is what happened 195 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:28,560 when the Israelites and it became their downfall. God's plan to govern his people through the 196 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:34,800 prophets, judges, and priests, a theocracy based on his benevolence and covenant. His 197 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:39,800 plan did not include an earthly clinging and despite God's warning, the people of Israel 198 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:47,480 wouldn't relent. So God gave them what they wanted. He allowed them to fit in and don't 199 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:52,360 be deceived. If you live in the West today and you think, Oh, nothing can bad can happen 200 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:59,360 to us. Nothing can change this gravy train that we've been blessed with, with living 201 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:09,680 in the West. Don't be deceived because we are at a very dangerous part of our lives 202 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:17,360 where large swaths of our population are adamantly rejecting God. In first Samuel 8, 10 through 203 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:23,960 12 it says, so Samuel told the words of the Lord to the people who are asking for King 204 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:28,240 from him. And he said, these will be the ways the King who will reign over you. He will 205 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:34,560 take your sons and appoint them to his chariots to be his horsemen and run before his chariots. 206 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,240 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and 207 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:44,000 some to plow his ground and reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the 208 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,760 equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks and bakers. 209 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,620 He will take the best of your field in the vineyards and olive orchards and give them 210 00:21:52,620 --> 00:21:56,960 to a servant. He will take the 10th of your grain and your vineyards and give it to his 211 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:01,640 officers and his servants. He will take your male servants, your female servants, the best 212 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:07,000 of your young men and your young donkeys and put them to his work. He will take a 10th 213 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,880 of your flock and you shall be his slave. And in that day you will cry out because of 214 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:19,960 your King whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. 215 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:25,040 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel and they said, no, but there shall 216 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:31,760 be a King over us that we also may be like all nations and that our King may judge us 217 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:37,360 and go out before us and fight our battles. And when Samuel had heard all the words of 218 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:42,600 the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, obey 219 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:48,280 their voice and make them a King. Samuel then said to the men of Israel, go every man to 220 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:56,280 his city. Often when we encounter peer pressure, we could seek out advice. Sometimes that advice 221 00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:04,320 could have come from godly sources, but sometimes it's from the voice of our friends. So we 222 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:10,700 in this picture of Israel, we can see that they were choosing to look and see what they 223 00:23:10,700 --> 00:23:16,160 thought they were missing out on from the rest of the world. And they gave themselves 224 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:22,600 to utter destruction. It didn't happen immediately. They ended up having a couple good Kings before 225 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:27,920 everything started going really sideways. The first King wasn't good. The next two were 226 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:37,360 okay, but that didn't come without civil war and rebellion. But the reality is, is that 227 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:43,640 we're on the precipices as nations of the West of seeing a lot of this take place in 228 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:51,800 our own lives as we cast out, as we make decisions to cast our God out into the cold. It's not 229 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:59,080 going to phase him, but it might be something we regret because he might just give us exactly 230 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:05,280 what we're asking for. In first Kings 12, three through five, it reminds me of this 231 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:11,280 piece of scripture. I really like it. It says, and they sent and called to him and Jeroboam 232 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:16,600 and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, your father made our yoke heavy. 233 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:21,480 Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us and we 234 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:26,200 will serve you. And he said to them, go away for three days, then come back to me. So the 235 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,600 people went away. So then the story of the key, the advisors of King Solomon, Rehoboam's 236 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:36,760 father recommended lightening the load and dealing with humility with Jeroboam and his, 237 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:43,960 you know, constituency stating that this would endear them back to the house of Judah. This 238 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:49,840 would help mend fences. Some wrongs were committed. Some heavy work was required of them. This 239 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:56,200 could help us to, to heal. The Rehoboam's friends, on the other hand, provided very 240 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:01,000 harsh advice and how to deal with the situation. They were recommended threatening a heavier 241 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:08,680 burden and harsher conditions and even punishment. The scenario played out the way that God intended, 242 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:14,440 but it illustrates that the point that often even a king can be led astray because of the 243 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:27,240 desire to follow his friends rather than, you know, heed the, the good advice. He resigned 244 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:35,360 himself to following the advice of his friends, the poor advice. This choice ended up leading 245 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:39,600 to the splitting of the kingdom of Israel. All but one tribe of Israel defected from 246 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:46,520 Judah because of Rehoboam's decision. So if only godly counsel was taken, if only the 247 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:50,720 spirit of conviction would have won the day, maybe the 10 tribes of the North would not 248 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:57,400 have been lost. All Judah was left with was the Judah Benjamin and of course some Levites 249 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:10,480 in the area, right? But the oath only he would have held to the, the covenant, the godly 250 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:17,880 covenant that is long forgotten. This brings me to my next point, which is the saints. 251 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:22,960 We're not responsible to the actions of others, but only for the message that we send or transmit. 252 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:29,080 Now, remember generally Alentio, Alenko means to convince or to refute, but when dealing 253 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:34,240 with the world, we are to strive to convince the loss that they need salvation. We are 254 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:42,320 also meant to refute the ungodliness of our culture. We're not responsible. You know, 255 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:47,640 we're not responsible for everybody else and how they respond to the message, but only 256 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:52,240 the giving of the message. So let's look at the saints with the Christian community, believers 257 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:59,080 are to exercise some responsibility for one another. And James 5, 19 through 20, my brothers, 258 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:03,840 if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know 259 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:08,240 that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and 260 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:16,600 will cover a multitude of sins. This responsibility is expressed by the other meaning of the word 261 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:21,600 Alentio, which is to correct or to reprove. The theme of reproof is often seen in the 262 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:28,480 pastoral epistles and first Timothy, second Timothy, the process outlined in Matthew 18, 263 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:36,280 15 through 17 is to be followed as to discipline. And as we read it here at 15, if your brother 264 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:40,800 sins against you, go tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you 265 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:45,160 have gained your brother, but if he does not listen, take one or two others along with 266 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:50,280 you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If 267 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:55,560 he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to 268 00:27:55,560 --> 00:28:01,760 the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and tax collector. Scripture makes it clear 269 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:06,960 that the ministry of reproof cannot be undertaken by a person with a wrong attitude. Paul provides 270 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:14,180 guidance or provides this guideline. Those who oppose the Lord's servant, he must gently 271 00:28:14,180 --> 00:28:18,960 instruct in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of 272 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:25,840 the truth. That's second Timothy 2 25. In our ministry of rebuke performed when we see 273 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:31,960 a brother or sister turn from the pathway that God's word marks out, as in the spirit's 274 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:36,640 ministry of conviction, it is the knowledge of God's word alone that will bring understanding 275 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:43,920 and lead to life transforming change. So as we look back at Exodus 32 and the golden 276 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:53,360 calf for Samuel eight and the demand for the king and or in our own life, it is a day it 277 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:59,320 is dangerous to follow the mob at the worldly culture, especially when it's in opposite 278 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:05,660 opposition or a direct conflict of God. And we see that in our society today. We look 279 00:29:05,660 --> 00:29:10,240 at man's wisdom. Socialism can provide us with a good example of the dangers of the 280 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:16,760 mob. This philosophy is is always able to sway people's desire for equality and equity. 281 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:29,080 It at its core is built on covetousness. The reality is that it always leads to the same 282 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:34,960 disparities that it contends to fight against. But in the end, everyone has less than when 283 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:41,040 they started except for the one or two men people at the top. But again, keep in mind, 284 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:46,040 it is built on breaking one of the Ten Commandments. It's about envy. It's about coveting what 285 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:53,480 other people have. And we're told we shouldn't do that as Christians. But man's wisdom says 286 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:59,800 it's not fair. It's not equal. There's no equity. And so we're willing to throw out 287 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:09,000 God's word because we want somebody else's goods because we think it's owed to us. George 288 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:14,880 Orwell said, it was always the women and above all the young ones who were the most bigoted 289 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:19,840 adherents of the party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and the nosers 290 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:26,920 out of the orthodoxy of the unorthodoxy. This quote from Orwell highlights something that 291 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:32,400 we are seeing in today's society. The move to make everything overly emotional is a move 292 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:36,920 to push against rationality. There is this new wave of radicalization that is being led 293 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:41,680 in some part by the educated class. And when you look at the demographics of the educated 294 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:49,360 class today, it's fundamentally more younger women than younger men. And in fact, demographically, 295 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:55,520 you can see that women are being led to be far more liberal and socialist and in this 296 00:30:55,520 --> 00:31:00,840 direction because they care far more about fairness. And so they're being able to be 297 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:06,120 led astray because of that. And luckily, some of the men, a good chunk of men are rejecting 298 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:11,160 that and they need to turn to Christ because that could lead them to a different harsh 299 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:17,080 reality. But we have to be able to understand what is happening in our society today so 300 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:23,200 that we can stand against it. An anti-Israeli protester wept as a judge, arraigned her in 301 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:30,320 California on Friday after she allegedly threatened to murder public officials at a city council 302 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:37,880 meeting. Riddhi Patel, 28 years old, sobbed as she pleaded not guilty to 18 felony counts 303 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:42,840 as she directed comments to the Bakersfield City Council members and Republican Mayor 304 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:48,580 Karen Goh for not backing a Gaza ceasefire resolution against Israel and for installing 305 00:31:48,580 --> 00:31:55,200 metal detectors at City Hall. Patel was ordered to be held on a $1 million bail and stay at 306 00:31:55,200 --> 00:32:01,080 least 500 yards away from City Hall. Patel was seen on video during the public comment 307 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:07,480 section of the city council meeting on the earlier Wednesday, claiming she hoped oppressed 308 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:12,600 minorities would guillotine city government members, declaring that even Jesus Christ 309 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:17,500 would kill them and threatening to go to their houses and murder them. So once a promising 310 00:32:17,500 --> 00:32:24,720 athlete, 28 year old Riddhi Patel's fall into far left politics was pre was prelude to by 311 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:30,040 her joining the Center for Race Poverty and Environment, a nonprofit organization that 312 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:34,200 provides legal and technical assistance to low income and marginalized communities where 313 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:39,520 she worked as an economic development coordinator. Riddhi has had a controversial social media 314 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:47,020 presence and has had a history of going on anti-Hindu and anti-Modi rants. 315 00:32:47,020 --> 00:32:56,380 These ideologies that people gravitate towards can be extremely damaging. There's a there's 316 00:32:56,380 --> 00:33:06,900 a piece here where Mrs Patel or Miss Patel fell into far left politics. There was this 317 00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:14,520 idea of it's not fair that you know, some people have more than others. Some people 318 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:24,720 don't get the same things as others. But it's not it's not rational to act this way. And 319 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:29,560 to go to this extreme to wishing death because again, now we look at like the commandments, 320 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:35,160 the 10 commandments that we're all supposed to follow. You know, Jesus summed them up 321 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:39,320 into two love your God, you know, with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor 322 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:46,840 as yourself. He summed up all the commandments into those two. And here we have this idea 323 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:51,960 of well that doesn't matter because I see what I feel to be in justice. So I'm going 324 00:33:51,960 --> 00:34:00,400 to call for the murder of leaders. So these are ungodly ideas and we have to stand against 325 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:05,540 them as Christians, but we have to make those stands always with the purpose of seeking 326 00:34:05,540 --> 00:34:15,600 redemption. You know, I pray that Mrs Patel comes to know the real Jesus Christ. That 327 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:21,200 is if she ends up spending a decent amount of time in jail for these threats, that she 328 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:31,160 might have a road to Damascus kind of meeting with Jesus Christ. I pray that she would repent 329 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:36,440 and turn away from these kinds of thoughts and ideologies so that she would accept Jesus 330 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:42,080 as the loving savior, as the servant king that he is. But we have to remember that kids, 331 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:47,440 these kids didn't raise themselves and they were taught these kinds of ideas by our society. 332 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:53,640 And this brings us to God's wisdom. Levitical law provides us guidance on property rights, 333 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:59,020 a preferred judicial system, and even a sort of welfare rights. God's law succinct in its 334 00:34:59,020 --> 00:35:06,280 best form of law, it's the best form of law for any society. As Christians, we were ultimately 335 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:12,000 called to put nothing before God. He is to be our center. He was meant to be the head 336 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:17,760 of Israel's government. Humanity constantly strives to put celebrities in that position 337 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:23,840 today. Politicians, scientists, doctors, they all belong above God. There's a constant drive 338 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:30,720 to supersede God in our society. And we're called by the mob to deny God and our savior, 339 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:38,320 Jesus Christ, in order to please these other entities. We must strive to keep God at the 340 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:42,240 center of our focus. And when we're dealing with each other and when we're dealing with 341 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:47,760 the world, we must allow the Holy Spirit to convict sinners so that they have an opportunity 342 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:54,280 to repent. And we have to pray for the conviction of Christians so that we will continue to 343 00:35:54,280 --> 00:36:00,420 further ourselves towards the path of sanctification. All that fancy word sanctification means is 344 00:36:00,420 --> 00:36:06,500 moving closer and closer to Christ. Again, we're supposed to be becoming more Christ-like 345 00:36:06,500 --> 00:36:15,800 as we grow in our maturity, not less Christ-like. When you think of the Holy Spirit in salvation, 346 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:21,000 you have the application of the Spirit in salvation. When you get saved, you are saved 347 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:30,280 by grace. There's a calling that hopefully happens. And when that calling is received 348 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:37,000 and accepted, there's regeneration, which is conversion. You're saved and set apart 349 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:42,840 by the, and now you are made in union with Christ in the body of Christ. You are justified 350 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:52,320 by your faith, adopted in to the kingdom of God. And then you are on the path of sanctification. 351 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:59,440 And that path of sanctification is, is the growing closer to Jesus day by day. In Psalms 352 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,720 1, 1 through 6, it says, blesses the one who does not walk in the step with the wicked 353 00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:08,480 or stand in the way that the sinner take or sit in the company of mockers. Keep in mind 354 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:16,400 mockers. That's a good one. Verse 2, but who delight is in the law of the Lord and who 355 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:23,800 meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by a stream of water, 356 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:29,240 which yields fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither whatever they do, prospers. Not 357 00:37:29,240 --> 00:37:33,680 so the wicked, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will 358 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:37,640 not stand in the judgment, nor the sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the 359 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:42,720 Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. 360 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:48,040 So you really need to contend with your own life and service and your own understanding 361 00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:55,160 of the world we live in today. Are you standing with, with the mockers? Are you sitting in 362 00:37:55,160 --> 00:38:00,760 the company of sinners who are willfully sinning? Not, not with the purpose of trying to win 363 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:09,520 them towards Christ, but no, the acceptance of a sin. If you're doing that, then you're 364 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:14,080 really putting yourself, not only yourself in danger, but you're also doing a disservice 365 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:18,800 to those that you are with because they need to be hearing the gospel. And this brings 366 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:24,500 me my final point, which is salvation and service. Despite the sins of Israel, God provided 367 00:38:24,500 --> 00:38:30,200 deliverance to the nations through the kingly line. Similarly, we can see the path to salvation 368 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:36,600 is for all men and women as sinners. We need the spirit of conviction to prompt us to receive 369 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:42,800 God's grace and salvation. As Christians, we still need the Holy Spirit and conviction 370 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:49,400 to help us grow closer to God, to be regenerated in the, in Christ, to accept his call for 371 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:57,320 our lives and to run the race for Christ and to be as emissaries here on earth. 372 00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:05,240 Saul was chosen to be king and he was a good choice at the time. He initially presented 373 00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:10,020 humility, which we could see in first Samuel nine. He was founded obscurity and he was 374 00:39:10,020 --> 00:39:19,400 anointed in first Samuel 10. But what happened with Saul? Saul quickly allowed his pride 375 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:26,200 to be lifted up. Saul defeated the Ammonites, the Philistines, and then he made an unlawful 376 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:32,280 sacrifice. He took it upon himself to act as the priest outside of his role. But again, 377 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:39,520 he was the king. So what is above the king? Nothing in his mind. But yet there was something 378 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:45,360 about him. There's God above him and God says only the priest can make the sacrifice. And 379 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:50,200 that's at first Samuel 13. So then what ends up happening is the judgment of God falls 380 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:58,400 upon Saul and he has fallen into insanity, so much insanity that the Lord rejects Saul 381 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:07,640 because he refused to follow his commands. And then in his insanity, Saul just grasping 382 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:13,880 for the supernatural that he has now lost touch with his races off to the witch of Endor 383 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:21,080 for guidance. So then we see a picture of a better king. David is anointed king and 384 00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:28,840 he also comes to being king from an initial place of humility. In first Samuel 16, he's 385 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:35,480 anointed in first Samuel 17. He battles Goliath. He spares Saul's life multiple times in first 386 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:42,680 Samuel 24 and 26. He's humble, but he too succumbed to pride in second Samuel 11, where 387 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:51,560 he commits adultery and plots the murder of Bathsheba, Bathsheba's husband, his friend, 388 00:40:51,560 --> 00:41:00,900 one of his mighty men. What makes him different? What makes him better is that he took it upon 389 00:41:00,900 --> 00:41:07,960 himself when he was when when he was rebuked by Nathan, the priest in second Samuel 12. 390 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:14,000 He does something very odd. He does something very odd that we don't see for many of the 391 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:24,600 kings of Judah or Israel. He repents. He seeks redemption. And because of that, because David 392 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:31,440 is constantly seeking to be in right relationship with God, he is considered a better king. 393 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:39,360 But he's also guaranteed to have the kingly line of Israel of Israel or Judah go through 394 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:46,760 him in perpetuity. This brings us to the best, the perfect king, which is Jesus Christ, king 395 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:54,120 of kings, perfect and blameless, came as a servant who willfully sacrificed himself, 396 00:41:54,120 --> 00:42:00,760 taking all of the sins of humanity onto himself so that he could bring us after his death 397 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:07,040 and resurrection the opportunity of salvation through grace. It is through Christ that our 398 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:12,280 relationship with God is set right again. The sin of Moab is to turn away from God's 399 00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:20,040 teachings and to look only at man's limited understanding. Sorry, the sin of the mob, 400 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:28,360 not Moab. We are convicted by our own sins, and so therefore we all the time seek a lower 401 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:33,960 bar to live by. But we constantly need to turn our eyes back to the cross and to our 402 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:39,320 savior Jesus Christ. We constantly need to return to the word and the truth of the Bible. 403 00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:45,560 We need to allow conviction to convince us of our need for Christ, to correct us when 404 00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:50,240 we are in the wrong and to guide us in a closer relationship with our father. If I could have 405 00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:55,560 every about every I close with wherever you're listening, as long as it's safe. I just want 406 00:42:55,560 --> 00:43:02,320 to take one quick moment. There's so much going wrong in the world today that we need 407 00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:07,360 to remember to be the happy warrior. But it doesn't it does you no good to be a happy 408 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:14,040 warrior while you're serving a wicked master. And what I mean by that is there's a lot of 409 00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:19,960 political puff going on right now, both in the Western world. A lot of people trying 410 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:26,480 to act like they're nice and they're friendly. Meanwhile, they're they're feeding wickedness 411 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:34,120 to the masses. We need to do what's right by God. We need to put our faith in him. And 412 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:39,160 we need to be ready for the wickedness that's going to continue to build until Jesus comes 413 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:46,340 back. You need to be strong. You need to understand that Jesus Christ died for your sins, but 414 00:43:46,340 --> 00:43:52,880 you have to accept it. So if this message is impacting you and you've recognized that 415 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,960 you're not right with God, maybe you've never given your your life to Christ, or maybe you 416 00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:04,400 have and you walked away, you know, lured away by the pretty lights of the city. I want 417 00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:08,400 to give you an opportunity right here now to change that, to get your life right, to 418 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:14,480 get your heart right with Jesus Christ. So if you've never accepted him into your heart, 419 00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:18,080 I want to use signify that up with Dan wherever you are, because I can't see it, but God can 420 00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:25,120 see it. And this is a a act of faith on your part. You need Jesus. You want Jesus. Raise 421 00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:32,680 your hand. God sees that hand wherever it is. We're going to pray here in just a second. 422 00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:38,720 But I also want to cry out to those who listen, who are safe. But maybe they've wandered away. 423 00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:41,520 Maybe they're on the verge of backsliding, or maybe you have and you just need to come 424 00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:46,800 back. Signify that up with Dan. You want to recommit your life to Christ in a real way, 425 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:52,800 in an active way. Too many of our churches do nothing, say nothing, stand for nothing. 426 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:58,380 But we have to stand for the redeeming power of Jesus Christ in our society. The only way 427 00:44:58,380 --> 00:45:06,940 that we get more time on this earth is to turn back to God. In mass. All the things 428 00:45:06,940 --> 00:45:11,080 you think are wrong with this world are because we're leaving the message of Jesus Christ, 429 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:15,960 the message of the gospel behind. And we need to turn back. So if that's you and you want 430 00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:24,040 to recommit, I want you to signify that with an uplift Dan as well. Now, I'm going to pray. 431 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:26,920 And if you rose your hand or if you just, you know, wherever you are, you just want 432 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:31,920 to follow along, please do. But I just want to say dear Lord God, and you can repeat this 433 00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:40,120 after me. Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you came. That you 434 00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:49,800 came to earth and you died for my sin. I repent. I turn away from my sin. I accept you, Lord 435 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:58,700 Jesus as my Lord, as my savior, as my King, as my master. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. 436 00:45:58,700 --> 00:46:08,400 That simple prayer takes you from being lost to being found. From being in the wilderness 437 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:14,940 to being redeemed. Now let's move towards the path of sanctification together. I pray 438 00:46:14,940 --> 00:46:22,600 this message is spoken to you. My messages might get a little bit edgier. I'm just trying 439 00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:28,240 to be more, you know, more honest with with what God's putting on my heart. And I think 440 00:46:28,240 --> 00:46:33,960 we're coming to a period of history that we need to be more honest. Everything we talk 441 00:46:33,960 --> 00:46:40,160 about is about the redemption of souls. We should hate nobody. We can hate the sin, of 442 00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:47,720 course. We have to hate sin. We're called to hate sin. But we're supposed to be so desperately 443 00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:57,880 wanting to see people redeemed. That we are willing to be mocked, persecuted, slandered, 444 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:05,320 or injured for the sake of the gospel. It's not about civil wars per se, because we hear 445 00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:12,760 that a lot today. And that could happen. It happened in Israel several times. But it has 446 00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:21,520 to be about redemption. It has to be about coming back together under the banner of Christ. 447 00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:25,520 So with that, I'll leave you and I thank you for listening. I pray that if you if these 448 00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:31,020 messages are helping you or or you are, you know, getting something out of them, reach 449 00:47:31,020 --> 00:47:36,480 out to me. You can find the show notes in several places. I'm going to do a better job 450 00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:40,820 of trying to make sure that it's out there easier for you to get. You can even email 451 00:47:40,820 --> 00:47:53,740 me at pottershouse, S A. So Sam and arm at iCloud.com. So potters house S A at iCloud.com. 452 00:47:53,740 --> 00:47:57,400 If you if these messages are impacting you or maybe you need help getting the Bible or 453 00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:03,680 finding a church, reach out. I'd be I'd be, you know, happy to help you. So again, thank 454 00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:07,480 you for listening. I can't wait for you to come back next time. God bless. 455 00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:14,900 Thank you for listening to the P.H.S.A. Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. Be sure to follow 456 00:48:14,900 --> 00:48:19,440 us on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon arm to keep up to date on what we're 457 00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:24,080 doing. Join the conversation and discover how Jesus Christ can revolutionize your life.