WEBVTT 00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:10.019 Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:12.800 We are a Bible -believing church located in beautiful 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:15.400 British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:17.500 of the Christian Fellowship Ministries with 3 00:00:17.500 --> 00:00:20.019 ,000 churches around the world. We are a church 00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:22.839 focused on world evangelism, discipleship, and 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:25.760 church planting. Here we will share recent sermons 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:28.559 from PHSA Church and other sermons from throughout 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:31.079 our fellowship. I'm Pastor David Bickford, and 00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:33.420 I will be your host for this podcast. I thank 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:35.579 you for listening today, and we hope these messages 00:00:35.579 --> 00:00:38.000 are a blessing to you and bring you closer to 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:49.119 God. Hello, and welcome back to the Potter's 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:51.840 House Salmon Arm podcast. I am Pastor David Bickford, 00:00:51.899 --> 00:00:58.689 and I am the host of this adventure. Give a little 00:00:58.689 --> 00:01:00.969 bit of announcement. We are having our conference 00:01:00.969 --> 00:01:04.870 this week in the fellowship down in Prescott, 00:01:04.909 --> 00:01:07.010 Arizona. So this would have been last week if 00:01:07.010 --> 00:01:10.030 you're listening this Sunday. So what you can 00:01:10.030 --> 00:01:12.109 expect is I'm going to be putting up some of 00:01:12.109 --> 00:01:15.370 the sermons from the conference that occurred 00:01:15.370 --> 00:01:17.950 last week, your time this week as well. So you'll 00:01:17.950 --> 00:01:20.489 be additional podcast content this week as I. 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:24.420 cut and paste those into the podcast format. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:27.540 So yeah, that should be pretty exciting. I've 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:29.359 listened to most of the sermons, and they're 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:31.239 just powerful words of God, and so you're going 00:01:31.239 --> 00:01:34.340 to be able to enjoy those as well in this stream 00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:37.579 as well. So today's message, though, is you can 00:01:37.579 --> 00:01:41.260 talk to God, but do you listen? And our text 00:01:41.260 --> 00:01:43.140 that we're going to be using is 1 Thessalonians 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:46.459 5, 16 through 18. So if you have your Bible, 00:01:46.540 --> 00:01:48.700 you're following along, then great. If not, you'll 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:51.590 hear the Word of God. when we get to that point 00:01:51.590 --> 00:01:57.310 in the message. So, be still or hear. In his 00:01:57.310 --> 00:01:59.609 book, Directions, author James Hamilton shares 00:01:59.609 --> 00:02:02.909 this insight about listening to God. Before refrigerators, 00:02:02.969 --> 00:02:05.790 people used ice houses to preserve their food. 00:02:05.909 --> 00:02:08.610 Ice houses had thick walls, no windows, and a 00:02:08.610 --> 00:02:11.750 tightly fitted door. In winter, when the streams 00:02:11.750 --> 00:02:13.770 and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were 00:02:13.770 --> 00:02:15.949 cut, hauled to the ice houses, and covered in 00:02:15.949 --> 00:02:19.090 sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the 00:02:19.090 --> 00:02:22.180 summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:24.219 in an ice house, and he searched diligently for 00:02:24.219 --> 00:02:27.099 it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but 00:02:27.099 --> 00:02:29.539 didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:35.539 but their efforts to proved futile. A small boy 00:02:35.539 --> 00:02:37.360 who had heard about the fruitless search slipped 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:39.960 into the ice house during the noon hour and soon 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:42.539 emerged with the watch. Amazed, the man asked 00:02:42.539 --> 00:02:46.250 him how he found it. He said, I closed the door, 00:02:46.310 --> 00:02:48.569 the boy replied. I laid down in the sawdust and 00:02:48.569 --> 00:02:52.090 I kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking. 00:02:52.909 --> 00:02:55.710 So often the question is not whether God is speaking, 00:02:55.830 --> 00:02:58.569 but whether we are still enough and quiet enough 00:02:58.569 --> 00:03:01.650 to hear. Yes, Jesus assures us that our heavenly 00:03:01.650 --> 00:03:04.169 father always listens to us. But do we really 00:03:04.169 --> 00:03:06.689 listen to him? Do we follow the instructions 00:03:06.689 --> 00:03:11.370 of Psalm 46, 10? Be still and know that I am 00:03:11.370 --> 00:03:18.020 God. So I think it's a pretty interesting illustration 00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:20.780 for us to use as kind of a jumping off point 00:03:20.780 --> 00:03:22.939 for today's message because I do believe that 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:26.879 we all battle this in ourselves. I know myself, 00:03:26.979 --> 00:03:28.900 I listen to a lot of music. I listen to a lot 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:31.580 of podcasts. I listen to them at two times the 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:34.400 speed typically because I feel like there's just 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:37.520 so much to learn, so much to listen to. I find 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:40.879 myself, though, oftentimes being stuck. not willing 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:43.939 to just take a step back and sit in silence. 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:46.639 And oftentimes that's why we need our time in 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.159 prayer and quiet meditation with the word of 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:52.639 God, because we're so busy. We're so used to 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:55.080 just filling ourselves with input that we're 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:58.419 not quiet enough to actually listen to that small 00:03:58.419 --> 00:04:01.819 stirring voice that is God speaking to us. So 00:04:01.819 --> 00:04:05.080 let's look at our text in 1 Thessalonians 5, 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:08.580 16 through 18. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, 00:04:08.580 --> 00:04:11.159 give thanks in all circumstances for this is 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:15.460 the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. There's 00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:17.779 some very basic core tenets to a successful Christian 00:04:17.779 --> 00:04:19.980 life. I said this many times and I will continue 00:04:19.980 --> 00:04:22.160 to repeat this for as long as I'm alive. This 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.199 is something that I will routinely use when I'm 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:26.300 pulling an altar call or when I'm witnessing 00:04:26.300 --> 00:04:28.939 one -on -one. It's the simplicity that seems 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:31.540 to be often overlooked in our society and even 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:35.269 in many churches today. Often we come to Christ 00:04:35.269 --> 00:04:38.110 in a period of desperation. We cry out to God 00:04:38.110 --> 00:04:40.709 in prayer. In our turmoil, we might even open 00:04:40.709 --> 00:04:43.029 up the Bible. We scour the word of God looking 00:04:43.029 --> 00:04:45.310 for something or anything that will help us to 00:04:45.310 --> 00:04:48.930 understand why life is so hard, where is God, 00:04:49.009 --> 00:04:52.709 or who am I, or countless other things that we're 00:04:52.709 --> 00:04:56.129 going to reach for. Why is it then that this... 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:58.720 Once a situation has passed, we're so quick to 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.040 leave behind the word of God or stop in our prayer 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:03.319 life or stop listening for that small, still 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:09.560 voice of the Lord in our life. Alfred Brendel 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:12.779 said, the word listen contains the same letters 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:17.160 as the word silent. This is a battle for all 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:19.699 of us, whether we are new believers or seasoned 00:05:19.699 --> 00:05:22.600 saints, we all battle against entropy. The word 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:25.160 entropy can be defined as the gradual decline 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:28.579 in disorder. It can also be a sign of lack or 00:05:28.579 --> 00:05:31.720 sign of a lack of order or predictability. We 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:33.540 battle this because we are fallen creatures. 00:05:33.579 --> 00:05:35.879 And when separated from God, we tend to fall 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:39.139 back into old habits and routines. How do we 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:41.759 overcome the slide backward in our life and salvation? 00:05:42.100 --> 00:05:45.199 How do we contend towards sanctification? The 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:48.930 answer is perseverance. Yes, persistence. Yes, 00:05:48.930 --> 00:05:52.189 but what actions do we need to contend to keep 00:05:52.189 --> 00:05:55.509 in place? The answer in the Word of God is to 00:05:55.509 --> 00:05:57.910 live a life of prayer, to live a life in the 00:05:57.910 --> 00:06:01.509 Word of God, the Logos. Jesus is the Word of 00:06:01.509 --> 00:06:04.170 God, and we abide in Christ by abiding in Him 00:06:04.170 --> 00:06:07.310 and connectedness with the Father, the Son, and 00:06:07.310 --> 00:06:10.870 the Holy Spirit. So we pray, we read, and we 00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:13.149 listen. And that brings me to my first point, 00:06:13.170 --> 00:06:16.209 which is pray. Salvation begins and ends with 00:06:16.209 --> 00:06:18.620 prayer. What do I mean when I say that? Well, 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.379 when we get saved, it is through the recognition 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:23.899 of our sin and the acceptance of Jesus as our 00:06:23.899 --> 00:06:26.519 Savior. This is done through prayer and by faith. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:29.680 We start our journey by stepping out in faith 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:33.160 and placing our trust in Jesus. So prayer is 00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:35.199 at the center of the Christian life, but it seems 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:37.459 that it's oftentimes the first thing that we 00:06:37.459 --> 00:06:40.620 neglect after coming to Christ. We move from 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:42.779 salvation to entertainment almost immediately. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:45.899 For example, you pray for salvation and God moves 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:47.800 in your life. This is tremendous. So you start 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:50.139 to surround yourself with all things Christian. 00:06:50.759 --> 00:06:54.040 Russell Brand recently became a Christian. He's 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:57.120 a famous actor and comedian and different things. 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.060 But this was after many other attempts to find 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:02.420 peace through other religions and lifestyle choices. 00:07:02.819 --> 00:07:04.800 So when you look at Russell, he is wearing all 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:06.839 sorts of crosses and surrounding himself with 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:08.720 all sorts of Christian music and paraphernalia 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:11.029 right now. And I'm not making an argument against 00:07:11.029 --> 00:07:12.930 Christian music or Christian entertainment. I'm 00:07:12.930 --> 00:07:16.269 simply sounding the alarm that this is not where 00:07:16.269 --> 00:07:18.870 you will find peace. Our Lord is not in the stuff. 00:07:19.009 --> 00:07:21.649 He is in our hearts and we find peace in him. 00:07:21.910 --> 00:07:24.310 So when you deal with new converts, whether they're 00:07:24.310 --> 00:07:27.290 famous new converts or just, you know, someone 00:07:27.290 --> 00:07:31.740 off the street. We have to remember to keep the 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:35.180 core tenets of Christianity, the core tenets, 00:07:35.180 --> 00:07:37.300 basically. Keep the foundation, the foundation, 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:39.860 and that is Jesus Christ. All this other stuff 00:07:39.860 --> 00:07:42.920 is great. It's nice. It's, you know, it's totally 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:46.180 fine. But you have to remember to keep doing 00:07:46.180 --> 00:07:49.860 the simple things as well, because prayer develops 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:52.939 peace. In Philippians 4, 6 through 7, it says, 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:55.379 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything. 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:58.480 By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, 00:07:58.660 --> 00:08:02.240 let your requests be made known to God. In verse 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:05.160 7, it says, And the peace of God, which surpasses 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:07.620 all understanding, will guard your heart and 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:11.339 your minds in Christ Jesus. So one, prayer helps 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:14.019 us to manage our anxiety. Two, prayer helps us 00:08:14.019 --> 00:08:16.959 to foster thanksgiving. And three, prayer protects 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:19.759 our hearts and minds. The power of prayer cannot 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.100 be understated. The beauty of prayer is that 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:26.250 it can be done anywhere. We can tap into the 00:08:26.250 --> 00:08:28.189 power of God when we're sitting waiting for an 00:08:28.189 --> 00:08:30.290 appointment. We can pray when we are exercising, 00:08:30.589 --> 00:08:33.129 driving, you name it. We have every opportunity 00:08:33.129 --> 00:08:38.429 to tap in into God through prayer. Prayer is 00:08:38.429 --> 00:08:41.610 also a lifeline for our souls. In Luke 18, 1 00:08:41.610 --> 00:08:43.409 through 8, the parable of the persistent widow, 00:08:43.490 --> 00:08:46.769 it says, and he told them a parable to the effect 00:08:46.769 --> 00:08:50.230 that they ought always pray and not lose heart. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.740 He said, in a certain city, there was a judge 00:08:52.740 --> 00:08:55.360 who neither feared God nor respected man. And 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:57.419 there was a widow in that city who kept coming 00:08:57.419 --> 00:09:00.139 to him and saying, give me justice against my 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:02.740 adversary. For a while he refused, but afterward 00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:05.720 he said to himself, though I neither fear God 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:08.399 nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:11.120 bothering me, I will give her justice so that 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:13.860 she will not beat me down by her continual coming. 00:09:14.179 --> 00:09:17.120 And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:21.149 judge says. Will not God give justice to the 00:09:21.149 --> 00:09:24.610 elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay 00:09:24.610 --> 00:09:27.970 long over them? I tell you, he will give justice 00:09:27.970 --> 00:09:30.610 to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son 00:09:30.610 --> 00:09:33.570 of Man comes, he will find faith on the earth. 00:09:33.990 --> 00:09:37.549 So then we have to ask ourselves, how do we pray 00:09:37.549 --> 00:09:40.730 with purpose? Well, part of that is that consistency 00:09:40.730 --> 00:09:45.029 is king. It's key. You know, it's a key component 00:09:45.029 --> 00:09:48.370 of our prayer life is that we consistently do 00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:50.429 it. The Bible tells us to do it unceasingly. 00:09:50.850 --> 00:09:53.549 And so that's imagery is that we are always praying. 00:09:53.649 --> 00:09:55.250 We're praying with our actions. We're praying 00:09:55.250 --> 00:09:57.870 with our words. We're praying with our thoughts. 00:09:57.990 --> 00:10:01.409 We're constantly trying to bring our needs before 00:10:01.409 --> 00:10:03.909 God, but we're also bringing our praise before 00:10:03.909 --> 00:10:08.299 God in prayer. We also have to pray with expectancy. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:11.940 You have to train yourself through faith to pray 00:10:11.940 --> 00:10:14.139 with the belief that what you're praying for 00:10:14.139 --> 00:10:18.320 is going to happen. So this is something that 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:20.899 we want to extrapolate a little bit because in 00:10:20.899 --> 00:10:23.679 this day and age today, everybody has these ideas 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:29.200 of being a visionary or when you think about 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:31.179 something hard enough, it's going to happen in 00:10:31.179 --> 00:10:34.820 your life. And part of that, From a Christian 00:10:34.820 --> 00:10:36.879 perspective, it's fine. If you're praying that 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:41.120 God will bring about your prayers, if they're 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:44.220 in line with his will, that's all fine. The danger 00:10:44.220 --> 00:10:46.759 is if you start to think that if you will it, 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:49.580 it will happen in your life. That's different. 00:10:49.740 --> 00:10:51.559 That's where you're turning yourself into God 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:54.200 and you're not allowing for God's timing to happen 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:57.039 in your life. So we pray with expectancy, but 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:02.440 not with a spirit of demand. So we're praying 00:11:02.440 --> 00:11:04.279 that God's going to do something because we know 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:06.860 that he wants to help his people. He wants to 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:10.600 help his children, but it is in his timing. So 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:12.860 even though we expect it, we don't know when 00:11:12.860 --> 00:11:16.419 all these things will necessarily come to fruition. 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:20.279 And then thirdly, we pray without ceasing because 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:22.899 we are expecting something to happen. But just 00:11:22.899 --> 00:11:25.179 like the parable that Jesus gave us about the 00:11:25.179 --> 00:11:28.799 widow, we are going to continue to pray because 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:32.049 God loves us and we are showing him. that we 00:11:32.049 --> 00:11:35.730 believe with expectancy, but we also love him 00:11:35.730 --> 00:11:39.029 and we want to pray that he is unceasingly because 00:11:39.029 --> 00:11:42.629 he tells us to. So then life -changing conversations 00:11:42.629 --> 00:11:46.029 at its core, prayer is simply this conversation 00:11:46.029 --> 00:11:49.340 with God. But never forget that it's also more 00:11:49.340 --> 00:11:51.299 than that. It's a connection to the very one 00:11:51.299 --> 00:11:53.679 who breathed life into us. If we want to know 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:56.620 who God is and the secrets to life that only 00:11:56.620 --> 00:11:59.259 he has, we must learn to pray without ceasing. 00:11:59.379 --> 00:12:05.360 I had a conversation with a Buddhist monk. A 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:07.179 few times now, but several weeks back is when 00:12:07.179 --> 00:12:10.259 it started during our Saturday outreaches. And 00:12:10.259 --> 00:12:13.539 he kept thinking that there was some sort of 00:12:13.539 --> 00:12:16.600 intermediary between the eternal, as he would 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:21.039 call it. And and ourselves. And he was trying 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:23.139 to say that Jesus was this was this arbiter, 00:12:23.259 --> 00:12:25.980 if you will. But I kept telling him that, no, 00:12:26.019 --> 00:12:28.419 Jesus is very God. Jesus is God. It's part of 00:12:28.419 --> 00:12:31.340 the Trinity. And so we do not have an intermediary. 00:12:31.379 --> 00:12:34.240 We are directly connected to our God. We can 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:37.159 pray. We can communicate with our God directly. 00:12:37.659 --> 00:12:41.860 He was confused because in his faith, it's all 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:44.600 inwardly focused. It's all about yourself. They 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:46.679 try to say that it's selfless, but in reality, 00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:49.940 it's very selfish. Because it's all about you 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:54.100 and you having that change internally. Whereas 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:56.039 we as Christians, we don't believe that this 00:12:56.039 --> 00:12:58.539 change can happen by us. It is only through the 00:12:58.539 --> 00:13:02.700 grace and grace alone in Jesus Christ. But anyway, 00:13:02.820 --> 00:13:06.019 so we have to remember when we're doing this 00:13:06.019 --> 00:13:07.419 and praying without ceasing that we're going 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:10.799 to make a plan to pray. We need to set time aside. 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:12.940 If you're just starting out, then set five minutes 00:13:12.940 --> 00:13:16.970 aside to pray daily. I even had a talk because 00:13:16.970 --> 00:13:19.149 you guys know I have a day job as well. So I 00:13:19.149 --> 00:13:20.929 was talking to my boss and we were talking about 00:13:20.929 --> 00:13:23.870 fitness and stuff like that because I struggle 00:13:23.870 --> 00:13:26.750 to exercise probably too much, but every day 00:13:26.750 --> 00:13:31.210 because in my 30s, I was very weak and I was 00:13:31.210 --> 00:13:34.549 very sick because of some of the damage done 00:13:34.549 --> 00:13:36.330 to my body from my time in service in the Marine 00:13:36.330 --> 00:13:40.190 Corps. And what I noticed is that if I exercise, 00:13:40.230 --> 00:13:42.970 I'd be sore, but I was actually in less pain 00:13:42.970 --> 00:13:47.929 than when I was just not exercising. And so what 00:13:47.929 --> 00:13:50.110 did you do? What I did is I just had to start 00:13:50.110 --> 00:13:53.750 doing something. And so you start with the littlest 00:13:53.750 --> 00:13:55.909 amount that you can get away with so that it's 00:13:55.909 --> 00:13:57.990 not like a big issue. And when I was talking 00:13:57.990 --> 00:13:59.950 to my boss about this, I said, just do five minutes. 00:14:00.669 --> 00:14:02.929 You know, and I said, you could go out and buy 00:14:02.929 --> 00:14:06.110 two 15 -pound dumbbells and just do five minutes 00:14:06.110 --> 00:14:07.529 of whatever. And he's like, I've got a whole 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:10.970 gym at home. And, you know, we had a good laugh 00:14:10.970 --> 00:14:12.769 about it because he's got an entire gym at home, 00:14:12.809 --> 00:14:16.360 but it's like. Just set aside five minutes. And 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:17.799 that's the same thing you can do with your prayer. 00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:21.639 Just start with five minutes. But because then 00:14:21.639 --> 00:14:22.879 what's going to end up happening is you're going 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:24.600 to pray and it's going to be 10 minutes before 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:27.179 you know it. And as you have that interaction 00:14:27.179 --> 00:14:28.960 with God, you're going to end up lengthening 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:30.360 that time or you're going to end up doing multiple 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:32.419 times throughout the day. You're going to eventually 00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:35.759 get to that point of praying unceasingly. You're 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:38.860 going to continue to build on your success. As 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:40.720 you pray and you have answers to prayer, you're 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:42.139 going to write it down and you're going to log 00:14:42.139 --> 00:14:44.419 your wins. This is a very, very useful thing 00:14:44.419 --> 00:14:46.299 because you're going to see God working in your 00:14:46.299 --> 00:14:48.679 life. He's going to be opening up doors. He's 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:51.580 going to be helping you and strengthening you 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:55.090 and increasing your faith. And then God is our 00:14:55.090 --> 00:14:57.529 father. So you're going to, you're going to eventually 00:14:57.529 --> 00:15:00.070 learn to enjoy this process, you know, because 00:15:00.070 --> 00:15:02.870 God's love, God loves us and wants this relationship 00:15:02.870 --> 00:15:04.850 with us. And it's going to continue to build 00:15:04.850 --> 00:15:06.950 that relationship of your life. It's going to 00:15:06.950 --> 00:15:08.470 help you with wanting to witness. It's going 00:15:08.470 --> 00:15:10.509 to help with wanting to share the gospel because 00:15:10.509 --> 00:15:14.929 now you have a real connection to God, the father, 00:15:15.029 --> 00:15:17.210 and you're going to want to tell people about 00:15:17.210 --> 00:15:18.450 it. You're going to want to tell people, you 00:15:18.450 --> 00:15:20.070 know what? I was sick and I was praying and God 00:15:20.070 --> 00:15:23.350 healed me. Or, you know what? I was my, my. My 00:15:23.350 --> 00:15:25.129 brother's in a really hard spot, and I started 00:15:25.129 --> 00:15:26.830 washing it in prayer, and the next thing you 00:15:26.830 --> 00:15:30.529 know, he's this or he's that. We were in a financial 00:15:30.529 --> 00:15:32.429 bind, and I was praying about it, and just in 00:15:32.429 --> 00:15:34.529 the last nick of time, God gave us what we needed, 00:15:34.570 --> 00:15:37.789 and he helped us. These are all things I hear 00:15:37.789 --> 00:15:40.850 throughout our fellowship, these just miraculous 00:15:40.850 --> 00:15:45.190 prayers that are answered by pastors and disciples 00:15:45.190 --> 00:15:47.509 within our fellowship, but it's also things I've 00:15:47.509 --> 00:15:50.950 seen in my own life, and we need to be able to... 00:15:51.419 --> 00:15:53.899 to go through this process and continually remember 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:56.399 to go back to the beginning and back to the roots 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:59.200 of what we're doing. That brings me to my next 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:01.559 point, which is read. The second thing that most 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:03.440 new believers will do after praying the sinner's 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.259 prayer is they'll run out and get a Bible, or 00:16:05.259 --> 00:16:07.580 hopefully someone who prayed with them gave them 00:16:07.580 --> 00:16:10.600 a Bible. And this, of course, is an awesome thing 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:12.500 to do, and it's a right thing to do. The Word 00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:14.940 of God is a two -edged sword. It's a powerful 00:16:14.940 --> 00:16:20.409 tool, and it's the best book of all time. Much 00:16:20.409 --> 00:16:23.649 of this section I pulled from a Focus on the 00:16:23.649 --> 00:16:26.470 Family article, which is entitled Seven Things 00:16:26.470 --> 00:16:28.090 to Look at When You're Reading Through the Bible, 00:16:28.190 --> 00:16:31.049 because it is critical that we implement this 00:16:31.049 --> 00:16:33.690 into our life. But when you read through the 00:16:33.690 --> 00:16:35.409 word, you want to make sure that you're going 00:16:35.409 --> 00:16:37.870 through it with an understanding of who God is, 00:16:38.029 --> 00:16:41.490 the God that saved you through grace. So when 00:16:41.490 --> 00:16:43.529 you're reading through the Bible, our God and 00:16:43.529 --> 00:16:46.269 his relationship to grace is critical. The Bible 00:16:46.269 --> 00:16:49.159 isn't primarily about us. but about God. The 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:51.440 scripture has much to say about human nature, 00:16:51.500 --> 00:16:54.039 culture, and history, but it addresses all those 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:57.759 subjects solely with respect to God. Through 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.700 human language and the written word, God has 00:16:59.700 --> 00:17:02.159 chosen to reveal himself, his character, his 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:05.259 power, and his purpose to us through the word. 00:17:05.660 --> 00:17:09.119 He has told us who we are, why we're here, and 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:12.259 how we can be what he created us to be. He shows 00:17:12.259 --> 00:17:14.440 us his desire to be in a living relationship 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:17.180 with him. And so the first question to ask when 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:21.359 reading anything in the Bible is, what does this 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:24.180 say about God? What does this reveal about who 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:26.779 he is and what he's done and continues to do? 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:29.599 How does this help me know him and trust him 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:33.299 and love him more? As far as grace, there's a 00:17:33.299 --> 00:17:35.579 common misconception even among professing Bible 00:17:35.579 --> 00:17:38.059 believers that the Old Testament is all about 00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:40.740 law, whereas the New Testament is all about grace. 00:17:41.349 --> 00:17:44.990 But in fact, the early heretic name Marcion went 00:17:44.990 --> 00:17:47.109 so far as to claim that the two testaments portrayed 00:17:47.109 --> 00:17:49.670 two different gods, an inferior god of judgment 00:17:49.670 --> 00:17:51.710 in the Old Testament and a superior god of love 00:17:51.710 --> 00:17:54.230 in the New. But the scriptures themselves will 00:17:54.230 --> 00:17:57.329 have none of that. Of course, the Old Testament 00:17:57.329 --> 00:17:59.650 echoes with a repeated description of God as 00:17:59.650 --> 00:18:02.670 a compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and 00:18:02.670 --> 00:18:06.089 abundant in his steadfast love. And while Jesus 00:18:06.089 --> 00:18:08.450 is full of grace and truth, he also spoke at 00:18:08.450 --> 00:18:11.230 length about judgment and raised the bar of righteousness 00:18:11.230 --> 00:18:13.930 to include motives of the heart as well as outward 00:18:13.930 --> 00:18:18.210 actions. Both Testaments portray God as an eternal 00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:22.160 and unchanging. His law and his grace forever 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.720 intertwined, his love and his judgment meeting 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:27.799 at the cross of Christ. To read the Bible is 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:30.779 to discover and trace that braid of divine justice 00:18:30.779 --> 00:18:33.859 and kindness through all its turns, arriving 00:18:33.859 --> 00:18:36.819 at a perfect expression in the person of Jesus. 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:40.200 You also can see in the Bible the difference 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:43.819 between beauty and challenge. God is beautiful 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:46.480 and he's designed the universe to reflect his 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.220 beauty. It makes sense that... His written word 00:18:50.220 --> 00:18:53.740 would do likewise. It's full of this amazing 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:57.680 grandeur, the glory of our God, but also moments 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:00.079 of quiet intimacy to melt the heart and comfort 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:03.740 the soul. It illustrates a world that's fallen 00:19:03.740 --> 00:19:06.839 and yet enjoying the kindness and care of its 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:10.299 sovereign Lord. No accident, God has chosen. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.440 It's no accident that God chose to record a significant 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:19.299 chunk of his word as a historical narrative in 00:19:19.299 --> 00:19:23.880 poetry rather than as didactic instruction. He 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:26.160 designed it to appeal to the whole person, the 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.279 heart and the imagination, as well as the mind. 00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:31.799 To read it any other way is to miss at least 00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:34.259 part of the message. And then where do we see 00:19:34.259 --> 00:19:36.359 the challenge? Well, the essence of idolatry 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:38.900 is the desire to domesticate God, to make the 00:19:38.900 --> 00:19:42.269 creator more like his creation. easier to comprehend 00:19:42.269 --> 00:19:44.930 and control. But the God of our universe won't 00:19:44.930 --> 00:19:47.130 fit into our boxes, whether personal, cultural, 00:19:47.230 --> 00:19:49.710 or theological. In fact, he declares that his 00:19:49.710 --> 00:19:53.849 ways and his thoughts are as far above ours as 00:19:53.849 --> 00:19:56.589 the heavens are above the earth. I heard this 00:19:56.589 --> 00:19:59.450 talked about a little bit when I was listening 00:19:59.450 --> 00:20:02.230 to something else yesterday, was the idea of 00:20:02.230 --> 00:20:05.410 idol worship, little carbon images. I think it 00:20:05.410 --> 00:20:07.490 was one of the conference sermons from last week. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:11.400 Whenever you're creating an idol of anything, 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:15.559 you are taking it into yourself, this idol or 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:18.839 this idea of an idol, a God that will only give 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:21.700 you what you desire. Because then it becomes 00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:26.220 less about the God, our God, our Heavenly Father, 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:29.019 that one true God, and more about creating or 00:20:29.019 --> 00:20:31.490 crafting something that will just... Tickle our 00:20:31.490 --> 00:20:34.289 fancy and give us what we think is best for ourselves. 00:20:34.470 --> 00:20:36.769 So in essence, when you're partaking in idol 00:20:36.769 --> 00:20:39.329 worship, you're making yourself your own God. 00:20:39.769 --> 00:20:41.569 So it was an interesting idea, and I thought 00:20:41.569 --> 00:20:45.529 that was a pretty nice little idea that was in 00:20:45.529 --> 00:20:48.730 that sermon. But it's not surprising then that 00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:51.329 God's word should contain things not only difficult, 00:20:51.450 --> 00:20:54.450 but at times downright disturbing. What those 00:20:54.450 --> 00:20:57.150 things are will vary depending on the assumptions 00:20:57.150 --> 00:20:58.990 of each culture, but they'll always be present 00:20:58.990 --> 00:21:02.660 for people in the 21st century. The Bible's sexual 00:21:02.660 --> 00:21:04.940 ethics, its tolerance of slavery in the ancient 00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:06.940 world, and its portrayal of genocidal warfare 00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:09.839 are especially difficult to square with the idea 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:12.660 of a just and loving God. In the eyes of wider 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:14.940 culture, such passages may be a deal breaker, 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:17.279 but for the followers of Jesus, they're challenges. 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:20.720 Strange customs, lengthy genealogies, and even 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:24.680 the conquest of Canaan invites readers to think 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:27.160 deeply, pray earnestly, embrace mystery, and 00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:29.890 recognize that God is bigger than us. As Tim 00:21:29.890 --> 00:21:32.410 Keller observed, if your God never disagrees 00:21:32.410 --> 00:21:35.490 with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized 00:21:35.490 --> 00:21:39.410 version of yourself. So when you're looking in 00:21:39.410 --> 00:21:41.029 the Bible, too, you also want to pay attention 00:21:41.029 --> 00:21:43.890 to the diversity and the unity within the Word 00:21:43.890 --> 00:21:46.390 of God. In the natural world, beauty expresses 00:21:46.390 --> 00:21:48.549 itself through diversity, and once again, it's 00:21:48.549 --> 00:21:50.670 the same with Scripture. The Bible is a library 00:21:50.670 --> 00:21:54.069 of 66 documents or books written on three continents 00:21:54.069 --> 00:22:00.220 over some 1 ,500 years. The authors represent 00:22:00.220 --> 00:22:03.180 a huge range of temperaments and social classes, 00:22:03.259 --> 00:22:05.900 each writing to address issues of their day. 00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:08.839 The Word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit, 00:22:08.940 --> 00:22:11.259 and these authors wrote in an eclectic variety 00:22:11.259 --> 00:22:15.000 of genres, war stories, pastoral romances, songs 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.559 of love, songs of lament, prayers, letters, biographies, 00:22:18.619 --> 00:22:21.299 travelogues, memoirs, apocalyptic visions, among 00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:24.740 others. Such a diverse array of genres cannot 00:22:24.740 --> 00:22:27.430 read. or cannot be read with a one -size -fits 00:22:27.430 --> 00:22:29.710 -all approach, and it's hard to imagine why anyone 00:22:29.710 --> 00:22:32.529 would want to do so. Like the many flavors at 00:22:32.529 --> 00:22:34.769 a fine feast, they're meant to be savored both 00:22:34.769 --> 00:22:37.250 for their own qualities, but also how they blend 00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:39.829 with one another. Each one speaks with his own 00:22:39.829 --> 00:22:43.269 voice, and yet contributes its own unique facet 00:22:43.269 --> 00:22:45.950 to the overall message of the scripture. Discovering 00:22:45.950 --> 00:22:48.109 the unity expressed through the diversity is 00:22:48.109 --> 00:22:51.009 one of the genuine pleasures of reading the Bible. 00:22:52.329 --> 00:22:54.769 So finally, with unity, every great story worth 00:22:54.769 --> 00:22:57.710 following has a central plot line, a unifying 00:22:57.710 --> 00:22:59.970 narrative that frames it and gives it structure. 00:23:00.430 --> 00:23:03.009 There can be a lot of different subplots, but 00:23:03.009 --> 00:23:08.109 the main storyline winds through and by turns 00:23:08.109 --> 00:23:11.190 hidden and exposed, it pulls the reader towards 00:23:11.190 --> 00:23:14.329 its ultimate conclusion. And this is what we 00:23:14.329 --> 00:23:16.910 come to is the central narrative of the Bible 00:23:16.910 --> 00:23:20.230 can be summarized as a drama in four acts. Creation. 00:23:20.970 --> 00:23:23.869 The fall, redemption, and restoration. For a 00:23:23.869 --> 00:23:26.250 human perspective, it began in the garden, reached 00:23:26.250 --> 00:23:28.710 its climax at the cross, and will conclude in 00:23:28.710 --> 00:23:30.829 the new Jerusalem and new heavens and new earth. 00:23:31.289 --> 00:23:34.950 From a divine perspective, it is written with 00:23:34.950 --> 00:23:37.670 the mind of God before he made the cosmos and 00:23:37.670 --> 00:23:40.630 will resonate into eternity to his glory. Because 00:23:40.630 --> 00:23:42.569 of this wonderful diversity in scripture, it's 00:23:42.569 --> 00:23:44.809 tempting to think of many of its parts as vignettes 00:23:44.809 --> 00:23:48.329 or anthologies, but loosely related to each other. 00:23:48.349 --> 00:23:51.099 But in truth, They combine to form a unified 00:23:51.099 --> 00:23:54.420 mosaic, their various literary shades and colors. 00:23:54.599 --> 00:23:56.980 The main storyline winds through them all and 00:23:56.980 --> 00:24:00.359 at times is clear and at other times is subtle, 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:02.799 but always there. And that's when reading the 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:05.420 Bible, it's critical to ask, what does this passage 00:24:05.420 --> 00:24:08.680 bring to the central narrative of creation, fall, 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:11.660 redemption, and restoration? With such powerful 00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:14.640 richness, it is a wonder why so many Christians 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:18.279 neglect to spend the time in the word. If worse, 00:24:18.380 --> 00:24:21.000 so many struggle but refuse to look at the word 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:23.200 for the answers they seek. It's hard to imagine 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:26.220 having such a wonderful toolkit and then when 00:24:26.220 --> 00:24:29.500 we refuse to even use it. The most important 00:24:29.500 --> 00:24:31.660 part of the Bible for Christians is, of course, 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:34.059 the gospel. The entirety of the Bible from Genesis 00:24:34.059 --> 00:24:37.440 to Revelation all points to Jesus and the salvation 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:42.740 we receive by him through faith in him. We have 00:24:42.740 --> 00:24:45.450 come full circle. But we're not quite done yet. 00:24:45.470 --> 00:24:47.230 There's one more thing that we need to look at, 00:24:47.289 --> 00:24:50.930 and that is the opening of our ears and listening. 00:24:52.210 --> 00:24:56.329 How often do you sit in silence? How willing 00:24:56.329 --> 00:24:59.069 are you to allow there to be space in your life? 00:24:59.490 --> 00:25:02.009 So many of us are uncomfortable with quiet. Our 00:25:02.009 --> 00:25:04.569 minds race. We end up turning on the radio just 00:25:04.569 --> 00:25:07.309 to fill the silence. The issue is that we need 00:25:07.309 --> 00:25:11.250 the silence. If you're working on a car or a 00:25:11.250 --> 00:25:13.539 piece of machinery, You need to hear what is 00:25:13.539 --> 00:25:17.619 going on. You have to actively listen. In our 00:25:17.619 --> 00:25:19.079 illustration at the beginning of this message, 00:25:19.140 --> 00:25:21.359 we heard the tale of a boy who took the time 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:24.079 to listen. Often, we don't take the time to listen. 00:25:24.180 --> 00:25:26.740 Just recently, my work truck, we were driving 00:25:26.740 --> 00:25:28.279 down the highway. I was taking my daughter to 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:31.359 work, and it sounded like my truck was on a rumble 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:33.099 strip, you know, little things on the side of 00:25:33.099 --> 00:25:34.720 the road to keep you from going off the road. 00:25:35.990 --> 00:25:37.509 I didn't know what it was at first. I thought, 00:25:37.569 --> 00:25:39.589 okay, it's feeling a little rough. Maybe I have 00:25:39.589 --> 00:25:41.470 a tire problem. So I pulled over, I checked it 00:25:41.470 --> 00:25:43.569 out, nothing there. I get back in, I'm driving, 00:25:43.670 --> 00:25:47.829 get up to speed and it happens again. And I noticed 00:25:47.829 --> 00:25:50.049 at this point that my check engine light's on. 00:25:50.970 --> 00:25:54.630 After all these tools, all of our stuff now is 00:25:54.630 --> 00:25:56.609 set up on phones. And so I was able to look on 00:25:56.609 --> 00:25:58.829 the Ford app on my phone and it told me that 00:25:58.829 --> 00:26:02.910 my engine was misfiring. Back in the day, you 00:26:02.910 --> 00:26:04.549 wouldn't have had a computer to tell you that. 00:26:04.589 --> 00:26:06.329 You would have just had to know by listening 00:26:06.329 --> 00:26:09.990 that something was wrong. And as I was driving 00:26:09.990 --> 00:26:12.549 back home to get a different car to take her 00:26:12.549 --> 00:26:14.930 to work, we were just listening. Be like, can't 00:26:14.930 --> 00:26:17.410 you hear that? Can't you feel that? Something's 00:26:17.410 --> 00:26:20.609 wrong. And we need to have that in our time. 00:26:21.390 --> 00:26:23.650 We need to be able to sit in silence and think 00:26:23.650 --> 00:26:27.130 about it. Because there's always a reason to 00:26:27.130 --> 00:26:29.190 be thankful, even when your engine's misfiring. 00:26:29.930 --> 00:26:32.329 And so I came across this illustration. It says 00:26:32.329 --> 00:26:35.690 a cowboy was riding a stallion down a dirt road 00:26:35.690 --> 00:26:38.049 when a police officer flashed his lights and 00:26:38.049 --> 00:26:39.970 pulled him over. And he said, sir, I've been 00:26:39.970 --> 00:26:43.109 trying to pull you over for a mile. Do you know 00:26:43.109 --> 00:26:45.410 that your wife fell off the horse a mile down 00:26:45.410 --> 00:26:48.150 the road? The cowboy smiled and replied, thank 00:26:48.150 --> 00:26:50.890 God. I thought for a moment that I had become 00:26:50.890 --> 00:26:53.930 deaf. And every season of life, we can find a 00:26:53.930 --> 00:26:55.869 reason to be thankful, but we have to be able 00:26:55.869 --> 00:26:59.039 to find that in our. when we're being peaceful 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:03.680 and quiet. In Romans 8, 28, and we know that 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:08.440 for those who love God, all things work together 00:27:08.440 --> 00:27:11.440 for good, for those who are called according 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:14.640 to his purpose. If we're having a difficult time 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:17.880 hearing God's voice, make sure you haven't left 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:21.559 him somewhere back down the road. Sometimes we're 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:24.440 just so busy with life, we've gone deaf to the 00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:26.920 word of God, but that's because we're too loud. 00:27:27.529 --> 00:27:31.309 We're too boisterous. We're too crowded out with 00:27:31.309 --> 00:27:34.049 our life that we're not giving ourselves a chance 00:27:34.049 --> 00:27:38.049 to listen. In Matthew 13, 22, it says, as for 00:27:38.049 --> 00:27:41.029 what was sown among the thorns, this is one who 00:27:41.029 --> 00:27:43.170 hears the word, but the cares of the world and 00:27:43.170 --> 00:27:46.430 the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and 00:27:46.430 --> 00:27:49.609 it provides unfruitful and it proves unfruitful. 00:27:49.690 --> 00:27:52.009 Sorry. This is one of the hardest parts of the 00:27:52.009 --> 00:27:53.730 Christian life. We surround ourselves with so 00:27:53.730 --> 00:27:55.809 much noise and distraction. It's a miracle that 00:27:55.809 --> 00:27:59.589 any of us ever hear. God at all. But we serve 00:27:59.589 --> 00:28:02.329 the great high priest. We should have no place 00:28:02.329 --> 00:28:04.509 for anxiety or worry in our lives because we 00:28:04.509 --> 00:28:08.150 serve the king of kings. In Hebrews 4, 14 through 00:28:08.150 --> 00:28:12.990 16, it says, since then we have a great high 00:28:12.990 --> 00:28:15.410 priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, 00:28:15.470 --> 00:28:18.190 the son of God, let us hold fast to our confession 00:28:18.190 --> 00:28:20.450 for we do not have a high priest who is unable 00:28:20.450 --> 00:28:23.509 to sympathize with our weakness, but one who 00:28:23.509 --> 00:28:25.769 is in every respect has been tempted as we are 00:28:25.769 --> 00:28:28.880 yet without sin. Let us then with confidence 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.240 draw near to the throne of grace that we may 00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:34.859 receive mercy and find grace to help in time 00:28:34.859 --> 00:28:38.779 of need. Let us not neglect our Lord. Let us 00:28:38.779 --> 00:28:41.759 live in prayer unceasingly. What does it mean 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:44.779 to pray without ceasing? Jesus challenges us 00:28:44.779 --> 00:28:46.940 to look at our hearts and motives. He wants us 00:28:46.940 --> 00:28:49.359 to live in a way that allows us to pray at any 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:52.279 moment. Let's rely on the word of God daily. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:55.200 Make it a part of your life and your being. Remember 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:57.599 that the Bible is meant for us to know and understand 00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:00.059 God and his grace, his beauty and his challenge. 00:29:00.220 --> 00:29:03.220 And we are able to see a world of diversity in 00:29:03.220 --> 00:29:06.980 the scripture that is united in him through the 00:29:06.980 --> 00:29:09.680 gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen to that small, 00:29:09.720 --> 00:29:11.900 still voice of the Lord and remember that grace 00:29:11.900 --> 00:29:15.460 that was extended to you is meant for all mankind. 00:29:16.299 --> 00:29:20.309 Pray, read, and listen. If I could have every 00:29:20.309 --> 00:29:22.769 head bowed, every eye closed, thank you for listening. 00:29:23.009 --> 00:29:25.430 Just want to take a quick moment for an invitation. 00:29:25.930 --> 00:29:27.849 If your heart is not right with God, but you 00:29:27.849 --> 00:29:30.170 want to get it right with God, I want you to 00:29:30.170 --> 00:29:31.869 signify that wherever you are with an uplifted 00:29:31.869 --> 00:29:34.809 hand, obviously I can't see, but God can see. 00:29:34.869 --> 00:29:36.809 And if you did lift your hand and God is challenging 00:29:36.809 --> 00:29:41.529 you right now, and I want you to pray a prayer 00:29:41.529 --> 00:29:45.509 with me. Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner, 00:29:45.630 --> 00:29:50.119 but I know that you came to earth. And died for 00:29:50.119 --> 00:29:53.220 my sin. I accept you Jesus and my Lord and Savior. 00:29:53.339 --> 00:29:56.000 And I turn away from my life of sin. In Jesus 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:00.160 name. Amen. That's a simple prayer. And if you 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.759 said it and you meant it. God's already started 00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:07.680 that change in your life. So just start. Start 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:11.819 praying and talking to God. Start reading the 00:30:11.819 --> 00:30:19.700 word. And start living for him. And listen. and 00:30:19.700 --> 00:30:21.900 listen. I want to thank you for listening to 00:30:21.900 --> 00:30:24.720 me today for this quick message. And I just pray 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:27.339 that you continue to come and subscribe, like, 00:30:27.460 --> 00:30:31.059 share this podcast. You go over to our YouTube 00:30:31.059 --> 00:30:33.440 channel, subscribe over there. I'm doing a lot 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:36.819 of new things with shorts on Instagram, Facebook, 00:30:37.140 --> 00:30:42.960 YouTube, even on X under the PHSA church banner. 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:47.440 And we might be a small pioneer work right now 00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:50.099 in Salmon Arm, but we have a vision to touch 00:30:50.099 --> 00:30:52.640 the world, to touch the nations from this place. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:55.960 So partner with us together to do that. God is 00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:58.660 moving. He wants to do something, not just in 00:30:58.660 --> 00:31:00.539 Salmon Arm, but across the world. And I hope, 00:31:00.539 --> 00:31:04.019 I pray that you will partner with us in Jesus' 00:31:04.119 --> 00:31:09.470 name. Thank you for listening. Amen. Listen to 00:31:09.470 --> 00:31:12.029 the PHSAA Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. 00:31:12.309 --> 00:31:14.549 Be sure to follow us on Instagram at pottershouse 00:31:14.549 --> 00:31:17.289 underscore salmonarm to keep up to date on what 00:31:17.289 --> 00:31:19.430 we are doing. Join the conversation and discover 00:31:19.430 --> 00:31:22.450 how Jesus Christ can revolutionize your life.