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 Bigford 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 --> 00:00:41,080 to you and bring you closer to God. 8 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:51,760 Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast or the P.H.S.A. podcast. 9 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:56,040 My name is David Bigford and I am the pastor here at the Potter's House. And so today, 10 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:01,800 I apologize that I'm a little late for this podcast. I was a little sick the last couple 11 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,640 days so it slowed me down. And today I wanted to start trying something new. So we're going 12 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,760 to see how this audio works and I might use it or I might not and you might not hear this 13 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:17,160 at all. But anyway, so today's message is, who are you listening to in the World Wide 14 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:21,760 Web or wisdom? So this is a rehash of something I've preached in the past, but I think it's 15 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:26,800 really important, especially given everything that's happened since the last time I talked 16 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:32,320 to you all. So with everything that's going on in the world, we've had a tremendous election 17 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:35,960 cycle down in the United States, a lot of changes happening in the world because of 18 00:01:35,960 --> 00:01:42,560 that, a lot of excitement or worry depending on who you're talking to. But I just want 19 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:48,280 to always make sure I represent myself and our church clearly in saying that Jesus is 20 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:53,480 our King, Jesus is our Lord, and He is in control of everything. And so that is where 21 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:59,100 we stand. Obviously, we follow the Word of God, we follow the Bible, and certain groups 22 00:01:59,100 --> 00:02:06,400 align more with the Bible than others. But we are first and foremost Christians in service 23 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:12,400 to Christ looking to grow in our Christ-likeness in moving closer to God. And that's why I 24 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:17,120 think it's an important time to talk about who are you listening to and looking at the 25 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,600 World Wide Web for wisdom. And so with that, our text that we're going to be using today 26 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,280 is Ezekiel 33, 33-33. 27 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:32,280 As for you, son of man, your people walk together about you by the walls at the doors of the 28 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:38,400 house and say to one another, each to his brother, come and hear that the Word is that 29 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:43,160 comes from the Lord, or what the Word is that comes from the Lord. And they come to you 30 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:48,760 as people come and they sit before you as my people and they hear what you say, but 31 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:54,760 they will not do it. For with lustful talk in their mouths they act, their heart is set 32 00:02:54,760 --> 00:03:01,400 on their game. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful 33 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:06,900 voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not 34 00:03:06,900 --> 00:03:13,140 do it. When this comes and come at will, then they will know that a prophet has been among 35 00:03:13,140 --> 00:03:14,140 them. 36 00:03:14,140 --> 00:03:18,880 So oftentimes, you know, in a small church or in a large church, you can look out and 37 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,920 you can think, I'm talking to people, I'm telling people about Jesus Christ. And a lot 38 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:27,000 of times people will hear me playing on the street with my bass guitar and be like, oh, 39 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,920 that sounds really good. Or maybe they say it doesn't sound good. And they're just like, 40 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:35,080 who would dare do that? I don't know. But the reality is, is that we're not really out 41 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:41,160 there to try to entertain. We're not out there trying to, you know, show off. We're only 42 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:46,640 out there to bring the Word of God to people and to try to get them to feel the conviction 43 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:52,200 of the Spirit of the Lord so they can make a choice to serve Him. And we run into this 44 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,620 quite a bit where, especially in mega churches, where you'll have tons and tons of people 45 00:03:56,620 --> 00:04:01,840 coming to church because it's entertaining, but they're not taking away from it anything 46 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,440 that they're meant to receive from the service. 47 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:10,640 So I regularly clean out my emails and unsubscribe. And I just did this again, you know, last 48 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:16,440 week to several email lists, to several podcasts or Instagram pages. You know, sometimes I 49 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:21,240 don't remember why I signed up for them in the first place. Other times I just have lost 50 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:27,680 interest in what they were all about to begin with. Other times I'll feel convicted and 51 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:33,560 say, you know what, I shouldn't be spending my time listening to this or looking at that. 52 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:40,560 And nothing flagrantly sinful, just that it's not wise as we grow in our love for the Lord. 53 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:48,000 Sometimes, like I said, I don't remember why I subscribe to these people. And, you know, 54 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:53,200 one of the key things like right now is I used to have a lot of tent companies because 55 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:58,360 I'm into backpacking, I'm into camping, not camping per se. I'm into hiking as far into 56 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,880 the dirt or the bush as I can go so that I'm too far away to get home that day and then 57 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:08,460 I'll have to sleep outside. So I'm not really into camping as much as hiking to exhaustion. 58 00:05:08,460 --> 00:05:12,120 But I would have all these tent companies that I would be looking at. I'd have all these 59 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:16,360 tent companies that I'd be following. But really, in the course of my life, I might 60 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:22,640 buy a handful of tents. Why do I need to follow 20 or 30 tent companies? In fact, in the back 61 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:28,520 of my head, I know of one tent company that I'll likely buy my next tent from. And that's 62 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,200 it. I probably won't ever need another tent again outside of that because I've already 63 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:38,340 got three tents right now. Two of them are really good. So why do I follow all of these 64 00:05:38,340 --> 00:05:46,440 things? Why do I allow it to be a distraction? So throughout the history of mankind, we strive 65 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:52,600 to find pleasure or entertainment in order to distract us from our lives and from living 66 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:58,080 a life of purpose. So I rarely find myself being distracted by all the new things that 67 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,700 are shining, that are coming across, the shiny little baubles that come out. But even more 68 00:06:02,700 --> 00:06:09,800 often, I'll put up like a sonic wall. I'll put my earbuds in. My wife and my kids will 69 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:14,080 even pick on me. And I usually tell myself, I'm doing this for you because you don't like 70 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:18,000 the music I listen to. You don't want to hear the radio that I'm listening to. And you guys 71 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,560 have got all your stuff playing in the background. And I'm just plugged in so that I'm not distracting 72 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:28,320 you. And that's a bit of a cop-out because the reality is that, yeah, I'm distracting 73 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:34,760 myself in the form of music or news and not allowing that still quiet voice of the Lord 74 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:40,720 to really impact my life. So these are all things that I deal with even as a pastor. 75 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:46,360 And so it's almost like putting this cocoon of noise around us so that we're shutting 76 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:52,240 out the Word of God. We're shutting out that voice. The simple question then becomes, who 77 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:58,040 are we listening to? Have we closed ourselves off from hearing God or hearing those around 78 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:03,560 us? So as I filter through my emails and review my podcasts, it becomes evident that we have 79 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:11,040 a natural desire to block out the world, to block out the things of God. We strive to 80 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:16,000 clog our minds and fill our ears with the pleasing things of this world. And this is 81 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:22,420 nothing new. We often will say to ourselves, this is just music or it's just entertainment. 82 00:07:22,420 --> 00:07:26,740 We'll tell ourselves that we need some time to relax or some time to chill out, some time 83 00:07:26,740 --> 00:07:36,240 to unwind. The problem is that this downtime will usually become all the time. We leave 84 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:44,140 no time for the things of God because we are so busy with the things of men. We successfully 85 00:07:44,140 --> 00:07:51,080 cut out the quiet times so that when God wants to speak to us, we can't hear him. The quiet 86 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:58,720 times when we could comfort those in need or listen to those that are closest to us, 87 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:05,060 we don't have time for it. There's a cacophony of noise that we surround ourselves with. 88 00:08:05,060 --> 00:08:09,640 So in the past, I've preached about the storm and how God is in the storm. And I believe 89 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:15,220 that in nature, the storms are used by God as a way to clean our environment, to bring 90 00:08:15,220 --> 00:08:20,860 attention to something that's truly important, which is life. Similarly, the storms we go 91 00:08:20,860 --> 00:08:29,460 through in our lives are meant to clean up our surroundings or point us back to our Lord 92 00:08:29,460 --> 00:08:34,740 in our life. A way of disrupting our endless pursuits of entertainment and pleasure to 93 00:08:34,740 --> 00:08:42,980 shake us and refocus us, but to refocus us on those who are around us so that we can 94 00:08:42,980 --> 00:08:50,340 show love and compassion by serving them and serving others. So here's an illustration 95 00:08:50,340 --> 00:08:55,280 I came across, tried and true. A couple had been married for 50 years and a party was 96 00:08:55,280 --> 00:09:00,460 thrown for their golden anniversary. The husband was moved by the occasion and wanted to tell 97 00:09:00,460 --> 00:09:06,180 his wife how much he thought of her. She was hard of hearing, however, and often misunderstood 98 00:09:06,180 --> 00:09:10,620 what he had said. With family and friends gathered around, he toasted her and said, 99 00:09:10,620 --> 00:09:17,300 my dear wife, after 50 years, I found you tried and true. Everyone clapped for them, 100 00:09:17,300 --> 00:09:23,380 but his wife was a little irritated and asked, what did you say? He spoke louder. After 50 101 00:09:23,380 --> 00:09:29,860 years, I have found you tried and true. The wife was now visibly upset and shouted back, 102 00:09:29,860 --> 00:09:37,960 well, after 50 years, I'm tired of you too. So if we don't hear right, there's a danger 103 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:45,560 of misinterpreting and getting things wrong. Ezekiel 40, verse four, it says, and the man 104 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:50,660 said to me, son of man, look at your eyes and hear with your ears and set your heart 105 00:09:50,660 --> 00:09:56,980 upon all that I shall show you. For you were brought here in order that I might show it 106 00:09:56,980 --> 00:10:04,180 to you, declare that or declare all that you see to the house of Israel. This brings my 107 00:10:04,180 --> 00:10:09,140 first point, which is the world's decline. We cannot escape the world for we live in 108 00:10:09,140 --> 00:10:13,160 it. And those of us who are called by Christ are called to be emissaries for the kingdom 109 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:19,380 of heaven. So where does that leave us concerning the call and our place in the world? The easiest 110 00:10:19,380 --> 00:10:27,060 path is to fall in love with this world. In 1 John 2, 15, do not love the world or the 111 00:10:27,060 --> 00:10:31,580 things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For 112 00:10:31,580 --> 00:10:35,500 all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and pride of 113 00:10:35,500 --> 00:10:41,880 life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along 114 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:47,360 with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Since the fallen man, 115 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:52,100 when sin entered the world, we have lived in a corrupted creation. In the Old Testament, 116 00:10:52,100 --> 00:10:57,060 I'm always amazed how quickly humanity has turned to consumerism and to the pursuit of 117 00:10:57,060 --> 00:11:02,680 pleasure. We like to think that it's only in our day and age that people have become 118 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:08,760 subjugated or addicted to entertainment. We indeed have more channels and avenues for 119 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:14,560 entertainment than they did thousands of years ago, but it's not a new problem. In Psalm 120 00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:19,840 106, 36-39, they worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their 121 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:24,400 sons and their daughters to false gods. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons 122 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:29,580 and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated 123 00:11:29,580 --> 00:11:35,480 by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did, and by their deeds, they prostituted 124 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:42,240 themselves. There was already, in this period of time, an idea of free love expressionism. 125 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:48,440 There was rampant sex. There was prostitution in the worship of Asherah. Then with that, 126 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:54,360 there was also the human sacrifice to the idols of Molech and Baal. These things were 127 00:11:54,360 --> 00:12:01,920 already involved in this society at the time. Today, we do similar things. We say that you 128 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:06,080 can have rampant sex. You can do all these things in the name of pursuit of pleasure 129 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:11,120 and entertainment. Then when it comes time for the responsibility that naturally occurs 130 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:16,040 from sexual relations, we say you don't need to have that. You can go and absolve yourself 131 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:21,220 from that difficulty through the wickedness of abortion. 132 00:12:21,220 --> 00:12:24,400 Those are important things to recognize is that as much as things have changed, they've 133 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:30,880 stayed the same in our society. We seek entertainment. We also seek exclusion from responsibility. 134 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:36,360 In Genesis, it only takes until chapter 3 for us to see temptation win out with the 135 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:42,240 first battle of wills. In Genesis 3, 1-7, we read about the fall. We read about Adam 136 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:49,960 and Eve in the garden and then how Eve was deceived by the serpent. Subsequently, Adam 137 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:56,160 was deceived because nothing happened to Eve, and he partook as well. Then immediately, 138 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:01,920 their eyes were opened because as the headship of that covenant relationship, Adam was responsible 139 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,360 to hold the line. 140 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:09,520 The original sin is now an everyday occurrence. In the world we live in, we are challenged 141 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:15,000 to make the same decision over and over again. The world calls us in the same manner as the 142 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:20,640 serpent does. You will surely not die. In verse 5, for God knows even when you eat of 143 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:25,160 it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. There's this 144 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:31,360 contested idea that it doesn't matter if you sin or not, you're just going to be elevated 145 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,960 in your perceptions and your reality. We get that with a lot of the super spiritual mumbo 146 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:42,360 jumbo that's out there in the day where it's like, oh no, you have a godly spirit and you 147 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:46,760 will just be elevated in your perceptions, which is a dangerous idea because that's 148 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:53,920 exactly what the devil would use when causing Eve and Adam to fall. 149 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:58,520 In the very next chapter, we see Cain kill his brother Abel out of jealousy. Time goes 150 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:02,680 on and within two chapters we see the story of Noah and the ark and at this point in history 151 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:08,320 the world is beyond repair. God judges the earth with a great blood. I only highlight 152 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:14,120 these chapters to show how early on in human nature these types of things occurred. It 153 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:19,720 was almost immediate. The susceptibility to sin because the choice that God gave us with 154 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:30,000 free will. We all have a choice, but throughout history oftentimes we're pleasure seeking 155 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,640 and knowledge led us away from God in favor of the world. 156 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,920 This brings me to my next point, which is virtually connected but deaf, dumb and blind. 157 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:44,200 During the global pandemic, this worldwide pandemic occurred, but maybe not only in the 158 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:49,160 way that we think. The reality is the pandemic expedited the locking away of people, locked 159 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:54,200 away from reality, from close family, from the outdoors, from the word of God. Now we 160 00:14:54,200 --> 00:15:01,320 all look inward towards seeking that entertainment. Blashing light and vibrant colors from TV, 161 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:05,720 movies, internet. They've enabled us to remain connected like never before, but it's also 162 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:10,880 destroying our ability to connect in real life. 163 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:17,800 For many it has become a strong addiction. In Psalm 106, 36-39, they worship their idols 164 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:23,240 which became a snare to them. We read this, they sacrificed their sons and daughters to 165 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:27,560 false gods. They shed innocent blood, the bloods of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed 166 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:32,560 to idols of Canaan. The land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by 167 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:36,160 what they did. By their deeds, they prostitute themselves. 168 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:45,880 This is again highlighting the reality that when you choose this self aggrandizement, 169 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:51,320 just giving in to entertainment and pleasure seeking only for yourself, you are sacrificing 170 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:58,120 not only your life, but the life of your children. We are called to be in the world, but not 171 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:05,560 of the world. This is something I found when putting this together. It's an article, doing 172 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:10,920 what's right even when it hurts. Eva lives in the rural part of Germany where almost 173 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:15,380 everyone is a Christian, yet few are serious about following Christ. When Eva was 16, she 174 00:16:15,380 --> 00:16:21,560 decided to really live for God. Immediately, she found herself at odds with the culture. 175 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,920 This was a big decision because the culture in a region revolves around weekend parties 176 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:31,520 and lots of alcohol. This is from that book I was reading about doing hard things. We'll 177 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:35,800 go back into Eva's story in a minute. What we have to see here is that we battle with 178 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:42,360 similar vices in our society today. The question is always, who will you listen to? Are you 179 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:48,200 going to conform to what society tells you is right? Even then, it is difficult because 180 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:54,520 society can be very fragmented. At the DNC or the Democrat National Convention earlier 181 00:16:54,520 --> 00:17:00,480 on in the presidential cycle, you had one of the two major US parties. They came together 182 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:05,800 to announce their presidential candidate. Now, you might think that there would be some 183 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:12,320 semblance of connectedness or party cohesion. If so, you'd be mistaken. Here is a list 184 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:17,000 of the groups within the groups of the DNC. You have the Black Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, 185 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:21,320 the Labor Council meeting, the Interfaith Council, the Ethnic Council, the Youth Council, 186 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:26,360 the Women's Caucus, the Rural Caucus, the Seniors' Council, the LGBTQ Caucus, the Muslim 187 00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:30,640 Delegates' Assembly, the Small Business Council, the Disability Council, the Jewish American 188 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:35,200 Community Meeting, the Native American Caucus, the Council on Environmental and Climate Crisis, 189 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:40,520 Veterans and Military Families Council, Poverty Council. This cacophony of noise almost perfectly 190 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:46,560 ensures that no one will be heard and that nothing can be accomplished. They're so fragmented. 191 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:52,680 They're so disjointed. How are they ever going to come together on a party platform that's 192 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:57,840 going to win over the masses? And now, as we stand after the election, we know that 193 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:03,640 they didn't. They weren't able to get a message that was able to penetrate into society because 194 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:09,820 of all these fragments, this fragmentation within their own party. But it's all a distraction 195 00:18:09,820 --> 00:18:15,400 from what should be our focus, which is Jesus Christ. When we give ourselves to hearing 196 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:22,460 all that the world wants us to say, we indelibly hear nothing of what God wants us to say. 197 00:18:22,460 --> 00:18:27,280 So we go back to Eva. Eva knew that she had made the right decision, but she still had 198 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:32,160 to face the consequences of taking a stand. Her friends and classmates immediately wondered 199 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:37,240 why she wasn't attending parties. Even some of the adults in the village couldn't understand. 200 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:42,560 At school, Eva was suddenly left out of all the gossip conversations because she quit 201 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:48,040 going to the weekend parties. Her classmates started to consider her a boring outsider 202 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:54,320 and a label that was very hard for Eva to take. She says, I have to admit that there 203 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:59,520 were times when I just wanted to fit back in. She says it was so hard not to be part 204 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:06,300 of the crowd and not to belong to the cool group, not to have a clique of cool friends. 205 00:19:06,300 --> 00:19:11,120 Taking a stand meant rejection for being misunderstood by her peers, but in other parts of the world, 206 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:16,080 the consequences are even more severe. In India, two teens were surrounded and beaten 207 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:21,640 for distributing Bible tracts. In China, a 16-year-old girl was shot in the head for 208 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:26,720 refusing to spit on the Bible. Christians all over the world are persecuted, tortured, 209 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:28,560 and killed for their faith. 210 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:33,580 Fortunately, Eva knew what she was getting into. She had already read the Bible passages 211 00:19:33,580 --> 00:19:39,320 that warn that some might hate us because we do not join the world in the world's ways. 212 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:44,380 She knew that she was called to follow Jesus not only when she gets patted on the back 213 00:19:44,380 --> 00:19:51,120 for it, she was called to follow Him even when it hurt. In John 17, 14-17, it says, 214 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:55,920 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the 215 00:19:55,920 --> 00:20:00,880 world. Just as I am not of the world, I did not ask that you take them out of the world, 216 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:05,560 but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not from the world, just as I am 217 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:14,120 not of the world, to sanctify them in truth. Your word is the truth. 218 00:20:14,120 --> 00:20:18,680 So this is a difficult reality for most, and it seems that it would be far easier just 219 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:23,240 to fall in line with what the world has to offer. In today's world, we're not amazed 220 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:28,040 by the power of God, but rather the creation of man. This addition to entertainment is 221 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:33,880 building calluses on people's souls. Fiction has become reality. The warping of reality 222 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:39,160 permeates our understanding of God and our trust in the world. When we look at the parable 223 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:45,240 of the prodigal son in Luke 15, we are shown a picture of the fleeting nature of sin. The 224 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:50,120 desire to seek only entertainment and pleasure can have disastrous results on our lives and 225 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:57,800 the lives of those whom we care about. In Luke 15, verse 11, it says, and then he said, 226 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,320 there is a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, father, give me 227 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,380 a share of my property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them. 228 00:21:05,380 --> 00:21:12,600 Not many days later, the young son gathered all he had and took a journey to a far country. 229 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,800 And there he squandered his property and reckless living. And when he had spent everything, 230 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:21,680 a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired 231 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:26,760 himself out to the citizen of that country who sent him into the fields to feed pigs. 232 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:31,900 And when he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, no one gave him anything. 233 00:21:31,900 --> 00:21:36,300 But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more 234 00:21:36,300 --> 00:21:41,560 than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger. So how do we find ourselves enraptured 235 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:46,000 by the worldwide web of entertainment, the noise of this world is a web after all, and 236 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:51,280 is meant to be so addictive we're trapped in it like a spider's web or in like a fowler's 237 00:21:51,280 --> 00:22:00,160 snare. Here we have a Jewish child who takes his inheritance and runs off into the hedonistic 238 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:07,320 world. And now he sees at the end of it, he's eating from the pig's food, which is an unclean 239 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:12,360 animal according to his upbringing. So he is in the most dire of straits possible. And 240 00:22:12,360 --> 00:22:17,080 then his senses come back to him and say, even my father's men are treated better than 241 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:25,760 this. But this brings me to my final point and closer to our close. The web, entertainment, 242 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:33,440 pleasure and self. The internet, movies, books and theater are not wicked in and of themselves. 243 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,760 They can be great tools to further the gospel of Jesus Christ. The trouble is not the media, 244 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:44,340 but rather the fallen nature of man. There's a reason that the Bible tells us not to forsake 245 00:22:44,340 --> 00:22:50,320 the gathering of the brethren or the church. The focus for us as Christians in the gospel 246 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:55,240 and in the kingdom of God. The problem within a lot of churches and a lot of Christians 247 00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:03,120 is the lure of the world's entertainment and the world's web. When we do not judge 248 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:07,760 our entertainment by first washing it in the word of God, we can become watered down by 249 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:14,160 the false gospel of the world. Eva's decision to skip the parties did provide her many benefits. 250 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:19,520 She grew closer to her family and over time she won the respect of many classmates. Most 251 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:24,920 importantly, Eva feels that God protected her from a lot of the heartache and pain. 252 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:30,160 I was kept safe and pure for him, she explains. He gave me strength and wisdom and didn't 253 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:35,160 let me become lonely. Many of the kids that Eva went to school with had to battle horrible 254 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:40,880 things. They struggled with the consequences of alcohol and drug addiction, broken relationships, 255 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:46,720 unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases. Sometimes what we think is the hard 256 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:53,560 decision is actually the easiest decision. When we zoom out a few years it becomes clear, 257 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:58,480 but unfortunately we have to trust God for that because we have to choose to live in 258 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:04,540 obedience. Hebrews 10 26 says if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the 259 00:24:04,540 --> 00:24:15,160 knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sin is left. Later on in Hebrews 11 24-25, by faith 260 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:20,100 Moses when he had grown up refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose 261 00:24:20,100 --> 00:24:25,480 to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures 262 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:31,280 of sin. So the reality is that if you're washing yourself on the world wide web then you are 263 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:36,680 at risk of being not only being trapped but also having your faith stripped away by the 264 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:42,640 false teachings of the world. So where do we turn and what hope do we have? Our hope 265 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,080 is always found in Jesus. It was his sacrifice on the cross that has the power to set us 266 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:54,520 free. And finally we have wisdom, salvation and a new life in Christ. God's wisdom is 267 00:24:54,520 --> 00:25:01,960 always our way out of a life of sin and pain. We can see stories of God's salvation throughout 268 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:08,740 the Old and New Testament. We know that Jesus is the word from John 1 1 and with that we 269 00:25:08,740 --> 00:25:16,000 can infer that the Old Testament draws one continuous line towards Jesus. The purpose 270 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:21,440 of the law was to draw attention to our need for a savior and our need for sacrifice. So 271 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:28,280 as we live in a world that is wide open with sin where there are webs of deceit masquerading 272 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:33,960 as entertainment and pleasure we could shed light on the world and on the word with those 273 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:42,320 uh we could shed light the light of the word on those traps right? We can avoid them ourselves 274 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:49,200 by washing our lives in the word and we could pull others out of the webs with the gospel. 275 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,500 When our Lord hung on the cross two others were hanging with them. One of those men chose 276 00:25:53,500 --> 00:25:59,380 to mock Jesus and the other made a different choice. He chose to repent of his sin and 277 00:25:59,380 --> 00:26:06,080 ask Jesus's forgiveness. Both these men were trapped by their choices but one man was able 278 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:12,560 to achieve eternal freedom through Jesus Christ. You too can turn from the world wide web of 279 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:17,600 entertainment and embrace the wisdom of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then you will be set 280 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:24,320 free broken out of this world's prison and able to help others and be rescued from the 281 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:31,080 same fate. Sinners saved by grace. So if I could have every head bowed every eye closed 282 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:36,220 just real quick as we bring this to an end wherever you are as long as it's safe you 283 00:26:36,220 --> 00:26:40,480 just close your eyes bow your head but I just want to give a quick invitation we do this 284 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:46,240 every day every time that if your heart is not right and this message has impacted you 285 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,280 I want to give you an opportunity to signify that an uplifted hand if you know that your 286 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:53,680 heart is not right with God you are not in right relationship with him but you want to 287 00:26:53,680 --> 00:27:01,320 be and if you rose that hand and you did that no matter where you are God can see it and 288 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:05,080 God knows your heart and I want you to just repeat after me dear Lord I know that I'm 289 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:11,160 a sinner but I know that you sent your son Jesus Christ and that he died and rose from 290 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:18,640 the grave for me I repent of my sin which means I turn away from him and I accept Jesus 291 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:26,080 Christ as my Lord my Savior and my King and Jesus name Amen that simple prayer is what 292 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:32,120 we colloquially call a sinner's prayer is just a recognition that you're a sinner and 293 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:39,200 your need for Christ so you leave from that with with it hopefully like you feel the difference 294 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,320 immediately because I know when I gave my life to Christ I felt it immediately but there 295 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:49,280 are other steps not for salvation but for sanctification for growing in Christ and that 296 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:54,340 would be to lock into a local church body if you're in salmon arm then we'd love to 297 00:27:54,340 --> 00:27:59,540 have you come and to church with us yeah all of the all of the information is in the show 298 00:27:59,540 --> 00:28:05,640 notes but if you're not you can reach out to me we have 3,700 plus churches globally 299 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:10,440 I'm sure I can find you a Bible believing church for you to lock into get a Bible download 300 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:15,520 the you version app get get the Word of God start reading it so that you can wash yourself 301 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:20,840 in the Word and that you can pray to God because you can do that anytime until the Bible tells 302 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:26,040 us to pray unceasingly and then I just pray that you know doing those things you will 303 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:32,520 grow in Christ and you will have the restorative change that you know many of us have enjoyed 304 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,640 as we became Christians and saved by grace so I just want to thank you for listening 305 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:44,120 to me today and if you could like share and subscribe to this podcast this YouTube channel 306 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:49,320 that would be a great help for us to get this word and message out and so I give you give 307 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,120 you back you the rest of your week thank you for listening can't wait for you to come back 308 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:54,320 next time God bless 309 00:28:54,320 --> 00:29:02,920 Thank you for listening to the P.H.S.A. Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast be sure to follow 310 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:07,320 us on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon arm to keep up to date on what we are 311 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:24,520 doing join the conversation and discover how Jesus Christ can revolutionize your life.