WEBVTT 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:03.180 You are listening to the podcast of Richland 00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:06.660 Hills Baptist Church. We are located in Richland 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:09.919 Hills, Texas. Our desire here is to believe, 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.119 live, and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:16.600 As you're listening to our podcast today, if 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:18.640 you have any questions, you can find us on the 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:25.359 web at richlandhillsbc .com. God bless you. Would 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.260 you open your Bibles this morning to Luke chapter 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:34.780 18? And we'll be looking at 9 through 14. Luke 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:42.100 chapter 18, 9 through 14. This past year, I think 00:00:42.100 --> 00:00:45.539 it was last year, I was looking online one day 00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:50.939 and I saw a house for sale. Looked like a good 00:00:50.939 --> 00:00:56.200 house. For our family, it was big. It was not 00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:00.060 huge, but it had two stories. It had a basement. 00:01:02.890 --> 00:01:05.150 It was yellow, but you know, you can paint a 00:01:05.150 --> 00:01:08.670 yellow house. That seemed okay, right? You know, 00:01:08.709 --> 00:01:12.989 it had enough bedrooms. Again, it had even a 00:01:12.989 --> 00:01:15.090 mother -in -law suite. I thought, wow, maybe 00:01:15.090 --> 00:01:18.530 one day my mom could come to live here. And so 00:01:18.530 --> 00:01:21.829 it seemed nice. Not that we were in the market 00:01:21.829 --> 00:01:26.109 to buy it, but you know, it looked nice. So one 00:01:26.109 --> 00:01:30.909 Sunday afternoon, Just on kind of a whim, Brayden 00:01:30.909 --> 00:01:34.109 and I jumped in the van and we drove over there 00:01:34.109 --> 00:01:36.989 with a friend who's a realtor. It wasn't her 00:01:36.989 --> 00:01:41.150 property, but she went over there with us. This 00:01:41.150 --> 00:01:45.829 house was not at all like the pictures online. 00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:51.629 It was indeed yellow, that is true. It was definitely 00:01:51.629 --> 00:01:55.659 yellow, more mustard yellow. It had three different 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:58.799 types of wood siding on it. You know, it all 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.799 looked very, you know, that can look nice. Sometimes 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:06.099 this did not look nice. You walked inside, and 00:02:06.099 --> 00:02:08.879 I think the living room could fit about four 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:12.360 of eight people in our family. You said, well, 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:14.479 just knock the wall out. Well, you can't because 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.460 behind the wall was the stairwell going to the 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:21.060 basement. Let me tell you about the stairs. It 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:24.000 was like a mountain climbing up and down. But 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.120 I tell you that it was very, very steep. I mean, 00:02:27.139 --> 00:02:29.360 when you climb back, it was like climbing a ladder 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:33.240 almost. Well, you know, it's okay. We went through 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:35.740 the house and they did have bedrooms. So that's 00:02:35.740 --> 00:02:40.819 true. Then they said, well, there's a bonus room. 00:02:40.860 --> 00:02:42.680 I said, well, that's nice. Okay. And then on 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:45.500 the bonus room, there was a nice deck. And I 00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:47.919 said, well, that's nice. Okay. That could redeem 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:51.330 this house. Well, the deck, they had a sign that 00:02:51.330 --> 00:02:53.430 said, please don't go out on it because it was 00:02:53.430 --> 00:02:59.289 bending down like this. The driveway looked like 00:02:59.289 --> 00:03:01.930 a little earthquake had hit it. It was so concrete, 00:03:02.050 --> 00:03:05.409 it was all messed up. The basement, if we could 00:03:05.409 --> 00:03:07.270 just live in the basement, that was the best 00:03:07.270 --> 00:03:11.409 part of the whole house. You know, it's funny 00:03:11.409 --> 00:03:14.750 that online it looked a certain way. Like it 00:03:14.750 --> 00:03:18.469 looked doable. In person, Braden and I were like. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:20.539 That was the worst house you've ever seen in 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:23.120 our entire life. I mean, it was terrible. Even 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:25.960 the realtor, she couldn't find anything good 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:31.479 to say about the house. You know, sometimes that's 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:35.919 the trick of being a realtor, isn't it? You clean 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:39.159 up something on the surface, on the pictures, 00:03:39.460 --> 00:03:44.080 on the wording, to try to make it seem better 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:47.949 than it really is. You see, in the spiritual 00:03:47.949 --> 00:03:51.189 realm, it's not much different than that for 00:03:51.189 --> 00:03:54.210 a lot of people. You see, for a lot of people, 00:03:54.289 --> 00:03:57.729 we spend a lot of times cleaning ourselves up 00:03:57.729 --> 00:04:03.490 on the surface to really mask or hide what's 00:04:03.490 --> 00:04:07.430 on the inside. You know, you can post all the 00:04:07.430 --> 00:04:10.939 really nice quotes when you're Facebook. You 00:04:10.939 --> 00:04:14.240 can put the Christian bumper sticker on your 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:17.500 car. You can do all the religious things. You 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:20.800 carry your Bible with you. Wear the Christian 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:26.060 t -shirts. You're at church every Sunday. You 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:31.699 can do all the things. But if your heart is not 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:35.480 right with God, then none of those things really 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:39.769 matter, do they? You see, it's the inside. It's 00:04:39.769 --> 00:04:43.129 the spiritual realm. You see, there are many 00:04:43.129 --> 00:04:48.170 a people who on the surface may look good, but 00:04:48.170 --> 00:04:51.449 their hearts are rotten. And this morning, we 00:04:51.449 --> 00:04:55.769 are going to see a parable where Jesus is going 00:04:55.769 --> 00:05:00.029 to really ask that question. What is it or who 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:03.269 is it that can be right with God? What is it 00:05:03.269 --> 00:05:07.490 that makes a person right with God? What does 00:05:07.490 --> 00:05:11.649 that mean to be right with him? So this morning, 00:05:11.730 --> 00:05:15.129 we're going to look at that Luke chapter 18, 00:05:15.310 --> 00:05:22.170 starting at verse 9. He also told this parable 00:05:22.170 --> 00:05:26.970 to some who trusted in themselves that they were 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:32.689 righteous and treated others with contempt. Two 00:05:32.689 --> 00:05:38.019 men went up to the temple to pray. Pharisee, 00:05:38.019 --> 00:05:42.899 a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself 00:05:42.899 --> 00:05:46.579 prayed thus, God, I thank you I'm not like the 00:05:46.579 --> 00:05:53.060 other extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and even 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:58.660 like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. 00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:05.259 I give eyes of all that I get. But the tax collector, 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:11.139 standing far off, would not even lift up his 00:06:11.139 --> 00:06:14.420 eyes even to heaven, but beat his breast saying, 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:21.779 God, be merciful on me, a sinner. I tell you, 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:28.160 this man went down to his house justified rather 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:31.819 than the other. For everyone who exalts himself 00:06:31.819 --> 00:06:36.720 will be humbled. One who humbles himself will 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.980 be exalted. Father, may you bless your word, 00:06:41.060 --> 00:06:43.680 the reading, preaching, teaching of your word. 00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:50.300 May we see what it means to be right with you. 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:55.600 Lord, what a heart that is right with you looks 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:01.060 like. And so may we hear and obey your words. 00:07:01.459 --> 00:07:06.899 In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I believe to understand 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:09.220 this parable, we do have to look a little bit 00:07:09.220 --> 00:07:12.480 at the context of what Jesus is doing right even 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:18.420 here in this chapter of Luke. In Luke 18, right 00:07:18.420 --> 00:07:21.360 at the beginning, there's another parable that 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:25.199 Jesus tells. It's the parable of the persistent 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:29.740 widow. There was a widow and she was there and 00:07:29.740 --> 00:07:33.500 in this city there was a judge. In this judge, 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:37.779 it says that he neither feared God nor respected 00:07:37.779 --> 00:07:41.819 man. But this widow, she kept coming to him every 00:07:41.819 --> 00:07:46.079 day to ask for justice. She was having an issue 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.199 with an adversary, and she was asking justice. 00:07:48.339 --> 00:07:50.839 Every day, coming to the judge, give me justice, 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:55.060 give me justice. Now, he was unjust. He was really 00:07:55.060 --> 00:07:59.759 a wicked judge, and he wouldn't grant it. But 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:03.170 afterwards, I mean, after another time. This 00:08:03.170 --> 00:08:06.889 lady, she keeps coming day after day after day, 00:08:07.050 --> 00:08:10.170 and finally, even this wicked man, even this 00:08:10.170 --> 00:08:14.730 unjust judge, he even says, I don't even fear 00:08:14.730 --> 00:08:19.370 God or respect man, yet because this widow keeps 00:08:19.370 --> 00:08:24.209 coming to me, keeps bothering me, it says, I 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:27.610 will give her justice so that she will not beat 00:08:27.610 --> 00:08:30.600 me down with her intentional coming. He's like, 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:34.000 I'm tired of this. I'm going to give her justice 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:39.139 just so she can get her off my back. Just get 00:08:39.139 --> 00:08:43.759 rid of her. And it's really an interesting parable 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:49.879 because in the Lord says, hear what the unrighteous 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:54.659 judge says. And will not God give justice to 00:08:54.659 --> 00:08:59.490 his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will 00:08:59.490 --> 00:09:03.990 he delay long over them? I tell you, he will 00:09:03.990 --> 00:09:06.070 give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, 00:09:06.289 --> 00:09:09.669 when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith 00:09:09.669 --> 00:09:13.909 on earth? It's something that Jesus does quite 00:09:13.909 --> 00:09:17.629 a bit. He uses the parable of lesser to greater. 00:09:18.629 --> 00:09:23.809 If even an unjust judge at times can eventually 00:09:23.809 --> 00:09:28.649 relent and give justice, how much more will the 00:09:28.649 --> 00:09:33.409 God of heaven give justice to his people? How 00:09:33.409 --> 00:09:36.750 much more if his people come to him in faith 00:09:36.750 --> 00:09:41.250 continually, if the wicked judge can do it, certainly 00:09:41.250 --> 00:09:45.710 God, who is greater and not wicked in any way, 00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:49.710 of course he will. And so what Jesus is showing 00:09:49.710 --> 00:09:54.429 here is a picture of faith. And one of the elements 00:09:54.429 --> 00:10:00.679 that we see of faith that is persistence. One 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:06.639 element of faith is persistence. Going to God, 00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:10.919 coming to Him in faith, believing that God will 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:14.799 do it. This widow, she believed eventually that 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:19.620 this judge would relent. And faith is that we 00:10:19.620 --> 00:10:23.799 come to God believing that He will do these things 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:28.570 for us. That He will give justice. That God will 00:10:28.570 --> 00:10:32.330 save us even as we think of the spiritual realm. 00:10:32.470 --> 00:10:37.710 We come to God in faith. So Jesus is showing 00:10:37.710 --> 00:10:41.450 what faith looks like. So really then He's going 00:10:41.450 --> 00:10:46.549 to give another parable. In essence, this is 00:10:46.549 --> 00:10:49.289 another parable that's going to show us what 00:10:49.289 --> 00:10:54.039 true faith looks like. True faith looks like 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:58.620 persistence. Now what does true faith look like 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:03.840 in this parable? So he tells a story. Now one 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.639 of the things Jesus does in this story that's 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:10.179 really interesting, it's a wonderful storytelling 00:11:10.179 --> 00:11:13.379 technique, is he's really going to juxtapose 00:11:13.379 --> 00:11:18.200 two people. He's going to take two people, you're 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:20.299 going to see the righteous man and the sinner. 00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:23.840 He's going to take two people and he's going 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:27.600 to paint a picture for us to see these two people 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:32.360 and for us to decide who do we want to emulate? 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:37.899 Who's the good guy and who's the bad guy? You 00:11:37.899 --> 00:11:41.840 know, it's a story technique that's used in movies 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:46.320 and books. And one movie in particular that I 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.899 was thinking of was Rocky IV. You know, I got 00:11:49.899 --> 00:11:54.000 to do a Rocky movie. Rocky IV is probably one 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:57.759 of the best Rocky of the franchise. If you remember 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:01.639 Rocky IV, this is where he's fighting the, he's 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:04.559 got to fight the Russian, you know, in the Cold 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:10.639 War era. And Rocky, you know, his, I hope I'm 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:14.279 not spoiling this for you. You know, his good 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:17.850 friend dies. So he's going to fight in Russia, 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:21.970 Ivan Drago. And so he goes there in the cold 00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:27.250 wasteland of Russia. And one of the techniques 00:12:27.250 --> 00:12:31.149 of this one particular scene, this is the training 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:34.389 montage of Rocky that they're famous for, right? 00:12:34.750 --> 00:12:38.669 In the training montage, they show, they juxtapose 00:12:38.669 --> 00:12:41.590 the Russian. He's training in the high -tech 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:44.940 facility. He's there with all the people. They're 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:48.200 watching him and they're looking at him, checking 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:51.259 his stats. They're even juicing him up, right? 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:54.419 Putting a needle in his arm. I mean, you see 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:58.419 this picture of it almost like a machine, right? 00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:03.259 That's the idea. And then you get Rocky. He's 00:13:03.259 --> 00:13:07.360 out in the, again, this wasteland. He's working 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:11.360 out in a barn, basically. He's doing all the 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:15.220 Just basic things, lifting up carts and people 00:13:15.220 --> 00:13:19.539 in the cart, running to mountains. And this picture 00:13:19.539 --> 00:13:23.860 in this movie, right, it's meant to elicit a 00:13:23.860 --> 00:13:29.419 response. You're like, oh, that Russian. That's 00:13:29.419 --> 00:13:33.179 not good. He's a bad guy. Barak, he's a good 00:13:33.179 --> 00:13:39.019 guy. He's doing it the right way. Same way, that's 00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:42.429 exactly. What Jesus is going to do here, he's 00:13:42.429 --> 00:13:45.889 going to show us. He's going to elicit a response. 00:13:47.409 --> 00:13:50.210 But what's really kind of interesting is there's 00:13:50.210 --> 00:13:53.590 going to also be a twist. This is actually a 00:13:53.590 --> 00:13:56.690 twist ending. You may not realize it because 00:13:56.690 --> 00:14:01.269 we're not in that day. We're not a person in 00:14:01.269 --> 00:14:05.509 Jesus's audience listening. You see, we know 00:14:05.509 --> 00:14:09.980 the rest of the story. We know. who the bad guy 00:14:09.980 --> 00:14:13.179 is in this. But if you were a person in Jesus' 00:14:13.299 --> 00:14:18.299 day, an original audience member, this story 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:21.879 would hit a little differently. You see, when 00:14:21.879 --> 00:14:25.480 Jesus begins, he says, I'm going to tell you 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:30.879 a parable. There's two people, a heresy and a 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.919 tax collector. Well, if you were sitting in the 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:36.340 audience with Jesus, then right away, I mean, 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:39.639 you would know who the good guy was. The good 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.279 guy was the Pharisee. I mean, they believed that. 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:46.519 I mean, he was the righteous guy. We talked about 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:49.720 this a few weeks ago. Wow, I mean, he's the good 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.860 guy, obviously. He's got everything together. 00:14:53.740 --> 00:15:00.179 He's religious. He follows the law. The Pharisees 00:15:00.179 --> 00:15:04.399 often seemed to be admirable to the people. That 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:07.450 was who they wanted to follow. I mean, they believed 00:15:07.450 --> 00:15:10.370 God. They followed God. And so when he's telling 00:15:10.370 --> 00:15:13.129 this story, I mean, immediately he is going to 00:15:13.129 --> 00:15:21.649 be a good guy. But listen to the Pharisee. He 00:15:21.649 --> 00:15:25.429 says, God, I thank you that I'm not like the 00:15:25.429 --> 00:15:29.669 other man. So right away he's praying. So to 00:15:29.669 --> 00:15:32.590 set it up, he says, listen, there's two men in 00:15:32.590 --> 00:15:36.110 the temple to pray. You hear the beginning of 00:15:36.110 --> 00:15:39.570 that prayer. So they're there praying. So two 00:15:39.570 --> 00:15:43.070 men, the Pharisee, the good guy that people would 00:15:43.070 --> 00:15:46.730 think, and then the tax collector. D .L. Moody 00:15:46.730 --> 00:15:51.690 said that really this prayer of the Pharisee 00:15:51.690 --> 00:15:56.029 is what you would call a prayerless prayer. There's 00:15:56.029 --> 00:16:00.409 not really any prayer there. But here, as he's 00:16:00.409 --> 00:16:03.610 at the temple, he's there and he's praying to 00:16:03.610 --> 00:16:08.470 God and just listen to the words. I thank you, 00:16:08.509 --> 00:16:13.429 I'm not like the other men. Extortioners, unjust, 00:16:13.970 --> 00:16:19.929 adulterers, or even like this, tax collector. 00:16:21.350 --> 00:16:26.950 I fast twice a week. I give everything, I give 00:16:26.950 --> 00:16:30.549 tithes of all that I get. And so right there, 00:16:30.610 --> 00:16:35.549 you hear his prayers. Do you see how many times 00:16:35.549 --> 00:16:41.169 the word I was in there? I did this. I'm not 00:16:41.169 --> 00:16:45.789 like that guy. I'm better. Do you hear his boasting? 00:16:46.950 --> 00:16:50.850 It was as if he was saying, God, you've made 00:16:50.850 --> 00:16:53.570 a lot of good things in this world, but I'm your 00:16:53.570 --> 00:16:58.169 crown jewel. I mean, God, I mean, look at me. 00:16:58.210 --> 00:17:00.490 I mean, just look at my life. And I mean, I'm 00:17:00.490 --> 00:17:04.289 not like all these bad guys out there. I mean, 00:17:04.309 --> 00:17:10.130 I'm clean. I do all the things. I post verses 00:17:10.130 --> 00:17:15.869 to my Facebook page. I mean, I'm out there. I've 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:20.789 got a Jesus bumper sticker. I mean, there's many. 00:17:20.809 --> 00:17:24.259 He's got it all together. He's not doing bad 00:17:24.259 --> 00:17:26.900 things. He's not out there, you know, hurting 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:34.299 people or harming them. He is, in his eyes, righteous. 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:38.920 And the people, though, they would think, well, 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:42.279 I mean, this guy, look at him. He's tithing. 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:45.680 I mean, this guy would be on all the church committees. 00:17:47.059 --> 00:17:50.710 Everybody would like him. And the people would 00:17:50.710 --> 00:17:53.569 see that, yeah, he's not like these other people 00:17:53.569 --> 00:18:00.789 out there. And then comes the tax collector. 00:18:01.890 --> 00:18:05.950 I mean, immediately, when Jesus says tax collector, 00:18:06.009 --> 00:18:09.069 that would elicit an emotional response of the 00:18:09.069 --> 00:18:13.650 people. Immediately, they think, oh, gosh, tax 00:18:13.650 --> 00:18:21.599 collector, trader. Wicked, bad guy. The tax collectors 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:25.039 most certainly were the bad guys of that society. 00:18:26.099 --> 00:18:31.099 I mean, they'd work with the Romans, the occupiers, 00:18:31.259 --> 00:18:35.920 the people that were in charge, persecuting their 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:39.119 people. And the tax collector would work with 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:41.920 the Romans. They would pay what's owed to the 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:45.220 Romans and they'd take more for themselves. They 00:18:45.220 --> 00:18:52.000 were greedy. Sinful. They would shudder at how 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:54.619 wicked these guys are. They would think immediately, 00:18:54.859 --> 00:18:59.440 he's the bad guy. He's the guy we don't want 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.559 to be like. They're swindlers. We don't want 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:08.619 them. And so you see this picture. But I want 00:19:08.619 --> 00:19:15.569 you to hear his prayer. Standing far off. He 00:19:15.569 --> 00:19:19.509 wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but 00:19:19.509 --> 00:19:25.410 beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, 00:19:25.430 --> 00:19:32.430 a sinner. That was his prayer. His prayer wasn't, 00:19:32.430 --> 00:19:36.410 God, you know, I've tried real hard. Yeah, I've 00:19:36.410 --> 00:19:38.930 made some mistakes, but God, I've tried real 00:19:38.930 --> 00:19:44.299 hard to be good. God, you know, I thank you all 00:19:44.299 --> 00:19:48.740 to give me a chance. No, his prayer was much 00:19:48.740 --> 00:19:54.420 different. He said, be merciful to me, a sinner. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:58.480 You see, nobody had to tell this tax collector 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:03.259 that he was a sinner. Nobody had to point a finger 00:20:03.259 --> 00:20:07.000 in his face and say, you're a sinner. I mean, 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:10.460 he knew it. Everybody told him, but he knew it 00:20:10.460 --> 00:20:13.940 in his heart. He understood that he was far away 00:20:13.940 --> 00:20:18.319 from God. You didn't have to convince him of 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:22.859 his sin. He already knew it. I mean, he was so 00:20:22.859 --> 00:20:26.740 aware of his sin that he didn't even, couldn't 00:20:26.740 --> 00:20:32.160 even look up to the heavens. He couldn't even 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:35.539 look up. He just kept his eyes down and he was 00:20:35.539 --> 00:20:44.559 ashamed. Beat down by the world. This is a man 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:50.160 that, again, we, our day, would pass by and think, 00:20:50.200 --> 00:20:55.259 ah, he'll never get his life together. This guy. 00:20:57.779 --> 00:21:07.000 Here he was. Before God. And Jesus does something. 00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:14.119 So powerful. Again, the listener would say, well, 00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:17.839 yeah, I mean, of course. Of course he's like 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:21.940 that. I mean, he's a sinner. Jesus says, I tell 00:21:21.940 --> 00:21:25.559 you, this man went down to his house justified. 00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:29.220 It's like if Jesus asked that question, who is 00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:31.740 justified? They'd all say, well, the Pharisee, 00:21:31.740 --> 00:21:35.579 of course. He's a good guy. And Jesus says, no, 00:21:35.700 --> 00:21:39.599 no. The Pharisee, the one who went home justified, 00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:44.740 the one who God heard his prayer was not the 00:21:44.740 --> 00:21:51.240 Pharisee. It was the sinner. It was the lowly 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:55.579 man. It was the man that everybody cast away 00:21:55.579 --> 00:21:58.119 and said he'll never get his life together. Jesus 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.480 said it was that man who went home justified. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:06.720 Why? For everyone who exalts himself will be 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:11.519 humbled, but the one who humbles himself will 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:16.200 be exalted. Jesus right there is showing us a 00:22:16.200 --> 00:22:22.700 faith. An element of faith is coming to God in 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:30.400 complete humility. Coming to God without a charade. 00:22:31.130 --> 00:22:35.750 without a mask, without a facade. Not trying 00:22:35.750 --> 00:22:39.109 to clean ourselves up to somehow make ourselves 00:22:39.109 --> 00:22:44.369 more acceptable to God. Coming to God stripped 00:22:44.369 --> 00:22:51.750 down. Coming to God without any sort of anything 00:22:51.750 --> 00:22:55.190 that could somehow make himself look better. 00:22:55.250 --> 00:22:59.230 Did you see the tax collector there? He offered 00:22:59.230 --> 00:23:06.019 nothing. Absolutely nothing. He offered nothing 00:23:06.019 --> 00:23:09.980 to God. He just said, be merciful to me, a sinner. 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:18.940 God have mercy on me. That is the twist, isn't 00:23:18.940 --> 00:23:25.519 it? You see, what Jesus is showing is that the 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:30.190 person that God hears, is the person who realizes 00:23:30.190 --> 00:23:34.269 that they have nothing to offer. The person that 00:23:34.269 --> 00:23:39.269 God hears and justifies is the person who comes 00:23:39.269 --> 00:23:48.950 to God with empty hands, with nothing. Who are 00:23:48.950 --> 00:23:56.269 we in this story? You see, the Pharisee, here's 00:23:56.269 --> 00:24:01.230 the problem. The Pharisee wasn't actually as 00:24:01.230 --> 00:24:05.289 good as he thought, was he? The Pharisee actually 00:24:05.289 --> 00:24:10.990 really didn't have his life together. He worshiped 00:24:10.990 --> 00:24:16.289 who? Himself. You see, while he pretended to 00:24:16.289 --> 00:24:19.109 worship God, while he thought he worshiped God, 00:24:19.210 --> 00:24:21.549 when you see that prayer, he worshiped himself. 00:24:22.490 --> 00:24:26.829 It wasn't God, it was himself. God, I thank you. 00:24:27.500 --> 00:24:30.359 That I'm not like a sinner. God, again, he's 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:32.720 saying I thank you, but it's really, God, you're 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:39.380 lucky to have me. I mean, God, I'm a good guy. 00:24:41.700 --> 00:24:44.619 This man was really worshiping himself. And then 00:24:44.619 --> 00:24:46.859 the other thing that we know he didn't really 00:24:46.859 --> 00:24:50.099 have his life together is that one of the commands 00:24:50.099 --> 00:24:53.180 that he should be from the Old Testament is he 00:24:53.180 --> 00:24:55.980 was not loving his neighbor as himself, was he? 00:24:56.940 --> 00:25:02.000 He looked down on this guy. And Jesus shows in 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.339 other parables that, hey, he's your neighbor. 00:25:06.920 --> 00:25:10.619 This man wasn't really following the law as he 00:25:10.619 --> 00:25:19.900 thought. So Jesus, if he were here to ask us, 00:25:20.519 --> 00:25:26.519 is anyone here like that guy? Is there anyone 00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:30.779 here or listening that is spending their life 00:25:30.779 --> 00:25:34.299 trying to make themselves look good on the outside? 00:25:35.980 --> 00:25:40.299 Are you trying to clean yourself up? Are you 00:25:40.299 --> 00:25:44.579 trying to make others think something about you? 00:25:46.779 --> 00:25:51.920 Are you pretending? You know, it reminds me a 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:58.720 little bit of this past week. at camp, the theme 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:03.799 of camp was God's relentless love. God's relentless 00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:08.160 love for us. And it was from Lamentations was 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:14.059 the main verse. But one of the passages that 00:26:14.059 --> 00:26:17.700 we studied was the passage of the parable of 00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:21.900 the prodigal son. We studied that on several 00:26:21.900 --> 00:26:28.250 occasions, really. And many of you know of the 00:26:28.250 --> 00:26:32.329 two sons, and the younger son goes to his father 00:26:32.329 --> 00:26:36.809 and asks for his inheritance early, which really 00:26:36.809 --> 00:26:40.269 was insulting. It was like, Dad, I wish you're 00:26:40.269 --> 00:26:44.589 dead so that I could get your money. And so the 00:26:44.589 --> 00:26:49.069 father gives his son his inheritance, and he 00:26:49.069 --> 00:26:53.420 goes off. He lives in wild living, right? He's 00:26:53.420 --> 00:26:56.019 out there. He's having the time of his life. 00:26:56.859 --> 00:27:01.660 He spends everything. Then there's a famine and 00:27:01.660 --> 00:27:05.839 he has nothing. And here, this young man, he's 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:09.920 out there and eventually he's so hungry, so broke, 00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:14.380 so in need that he goes to work to feed the pigs. 00:27:16.140 --> 00:27:22.839 The lowly pigs. In fact, he was so hungry that 00:27:22.839 --> 00:27:27.460 he desired to be fed with the pods that the pigs 00:27:27.460 --> 00:27:31.720 ate, but no one gave him anything. He couldn't 00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:35.700 even get pig food. And so he says to himself, 00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:38.180 he says, you know, I'm going to go back to my 00:27:38.180 --> 00:27:42.539 father as basically a hired servant. How many 00:27:42.539 --> 00:27:44.980 of my father's servants have had more than enough 00:27:44.980 --> 00:27:48.819 bread? I will say to my father, I've sinned against 00:27:48.819 --> 00:27:52.200 heaven and before you. I'm no longer worthy to 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:58.019 be your son. Treat me as a hired servant. Just 00:27:58.019 --> 00:28:03.599 like that tax collector almost. He's like, I'm 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:05.579 going to go to my father and just say, have mercy 00:28:05.579 --> 00:28:08.839 on me, essentially. I'm going to be like one 00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:11.519 of your servants. I'm not your son anymore. I'm 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:14.859 just going to let me work for you like a servant. 00:28:17.609 --> 00:28:22.930 Of course he comes and his father sees him along 00:28:22.930 --> 00:28:31.150 and embraces his son as his son. Not as a servant, 00:28:31.309 --> 00:28:38.609 not as a hired person, but as his son. And part 00:28:38.609 --> 00:28:42.289 of that was that young man's, it was certainly 00:28:42.289 --> 00:28:44.730 the father's love, but that young man's humility 00:28:44.730 --> 00:28:49.880 to come back to his father. We'd imagine if he 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:54.099 came back expecting, Dad, I'm back. Take me up. 00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:01.039 Dad, you have to take me back. I'm your son. 00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:07.019 But he didn't do that, did he? But then in that 00:29:07.019 --> 00:29:11.039 story, what's really interesting is we call that 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:16.119 the lost son. But I believe what Jesus is also 00:29:16.119 --> 00:29:18.960 showing here is that there's... Really two lost 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:24.779 sons. But one doesn't know he's lost. The older 00:29:24.779 --> 00:29:27.859 son, he sees all that his dad's doing. His dad's 00:29:27.859 --> 00:29:31.920 having a party for this son. But when he comes 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:34.799 near and he sees all the partying, hears the 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:39.859 music, sees the dancing, he brings his servant 00:29:39.859 --> 00:29:43.440 over and says, what's happening here? The servant's 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:46.900 excited. He says, listen, your brother has come. 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:50.619 Your father's killed a fattened calf and received 00:29:50.619 --> 00:29:53.599 him back. He's safe and sound, but the brother 00:29:53.599 --> 00:30:01.720 was angry. He was mad. His father came out. He 00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:05.119 said to his father, he said, look, look at all 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:09.519 these years I've served you. I've never disobeyed 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:12.119 your command, and yet you haven't even given 00:30:12.119 --> 00:30:17.430 me a young goat. But when this son of yours, 00:30:17.450 --> 00:30:22.589 this son of yours who devoured your property 00:30:22.589 --> 00:30:27.049 with prostitutes, you killed a fattened calf 00:30:27.049 --> 00:30:30.349 for him. I mean, what have you done for me, dad? 00:30:32.049 --> 00:30:36.029 And he said to him, son, you were always with 00:30:36.029 --> 00:30:40.519 me. And all that is mine is yours. It was fitting 00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:43.299 to celebrate and be glad for this your brother 00:30:43.299 --> 00:30:47.700 was dead and alive. He was lost and is found. 00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:51.299 You see, the older brother was really, I say 00:30:51.299 --> 00:30:55.319 he's lost because he didn't understand the grace 00:30:55.319 --> 00:31:01.019 of his father. He didn't understand what he had. 00:31:02.380 --> 00:31:05.380 He thought that by doing all these things that 00:31:05.380 --> 00:31:12.309 somehow that made him, But the father is saying, 00:31:12.369 --> 00:31:16.609 listen, you were my son. It's not that you're 00:31:16.609 --> 00:31:19.769 here. I love you and I love my younger son because 00:31:19.769 --> 00:31:25.269 you're my son. And the brother couldn't believe 00:31:25.269 --> 00:31:31.069 it. Imagine if these were the people in the parable 00:31:31.069 --> 00:31:35.720 of the tax collector and the sinner. Again, the 00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:37.740 older brother could do the same thing. He could 00:31:37.740 --> 00:31:41.019 come before God and say, God, thank you I'm not 00:31:41.019 --> 00:31:45.019 like my brother. I thank you I'm not like that 00:31:45.019 --> 00:31:48.259 guy who spent all my dad's money on wild living 00:31:48.259 --> 00:31:51.960 with prostitutes. I've been here all the time. 00:31:54.259 --> 00:31:56.960 And the younger son would be like that tax collector. 00:31:57.960 --> 00:32:07.279 Have mercy. Who are you? Are you the Pharisee? 00:32:09.099 --> 00:32:13.720 Are you the older brother? Who thinks, hey, I've 00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:16.200 done everything I need to. I live a good life. 00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:21.259 I live a clean life. God ought to accept me. 00:32:21.339 --> 00:32:23.200 I mean, nothing bad should happen to me because 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:27.259 I'm doing all the good things. I mean, I'll go 00:32:27.259 --> 00:32:32.319 to heaven because I'm a good church member. I 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:37.440 tithe. I go to Sunday school. I even come to 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:42.279 church on Wednesday night. I mean, there's not 00:32:42.279 --> 00:32:48.519 many people like me. There's a lot of people 00:32:48.519 --> 00:32:52.380 in this world like that. There's a lot of people 00:32:52.380 --> 00:32:57.380 in a lot of churches, on a lot of church roles, 00:32:57.559 --> 00:33:01.539 that think that somehow that coming to church, 00:33:01.579 --> 00:33:07.880 sitting in a pew, Being in a building is somehow 00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:13.180 sufficient to be right with God. That all the 00:33:13.180 --> 00:33:22.559 externals are what make a Christian. Or are you 00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:28.859 like the other guy who's broken? You see, we 00:33:28.859 --> 00:33:33.759 live in a broken world. We live in a world that 00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:38.819 is broken with sin. We live in a world of addiction, 00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:46.160 sexual morality. We live in a world of crime 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:48.859 and all the things, right? You just watch the 00:33:48.859 --> 00:33:54.059 news, you see it. And maybe there's somebody 00:33:54.059 --> 00:34:00.369 here today who's broken. Who realize they don't 00:34:00.369 --> 00:34:03.430 need me to say, hey, you're a sinner. Because 00:34:03.430 --> 00:34:09.269 they know it. And the message of this is that 00:34:09.269 --> 00:34:14.650 if you come to God in humility, say, God, have 00:34:14.650 --> 00:34:19.610 mercy. Forgive me. And we know the fullness of 00:34:19.610 --> 00:34:22.730 the gospel message is that we can ask for God's 00:34:22.730 --> 00:34:25.690 forgiveness because of what His Son, Jesus Christ, 00:34:25.750 --> 00:34:29.389 has done. We're eligible for forgiveness because 00:34:29.389 --> 00:34:34.250 Jesus has paid the price. He died on the cross. 00:34:34.389 --> 00:34:37.389 He took our place. And because of that, we are 00:34:37.389 --> 00:34:42.010 now allowed to have forgiveness. But we have 00:34:42.010 --> 00:34:45.269 to come in faith, believing, persistent like 00:34:45.269 --> 00:34:52.369 the widow, humble like the tax collector. And 00:34:52.369 --> 00:34:57.659 so maybe there's someone here that needs. God's 00:34:57.659 --> 00:35:04.179 forgiveness. You might be thinking, well, I couldn't 00:35:04.179 --> 00:35:07.940 do that because I've, you know, what would people 00:35:07.940 --> 00:35:10.099 think? I've been a church member my whole life. 00:35:11.840 --> 00:35:14.519 It doesn't matter what we think. It matters what 00:35:14.519 --> 00:35:19.730 God thinks. If there's anybody, someone who's 00:35:19.730 --> 00:35:22.789 listening, if you've never truly put your faith 00:35:22.789 --> 00:35:25.630 in Christ, you've never trusted in Christ, you've 00:35:25.630 --> 00:35:32.289 been trusting in yourself, come to Him. If you're 00:35:32.289 --> 00:35:34.710 broken and you have nothing to offer, you're 00:35:34.710 --> 00:35:37.110 not trusting in yourself, you're just broken, 00:35:37.630 --> 00:35:44.429 come to Him. Believe. But there's another element 00:35:44.429 --> 00:35:50.449 here. One of the things that Jesus is doing is 00:35:50.449 --> 00:35:55.510 he's showing, again, the error of the Pharisees. 00:35:58.570 --> 00:36:01.369 I've been guilty of this, and I'm sure many of 00:36:01.369 --> 00:36:06.909 us have. We sometimes look down on people in 00:36:06.909 --> 00:36:11.150 our society, don't we? I mean, if somebody walked 00:36:11.150 --> 00:36:16.820 in today, they didn't look like... We think they 00:36:16.820 --> 00:36:21.300 ought to look. They looked a little rough. You 00:36:21.300 --> 00:36:26.380 could smell the smoke of cigarettes or other 00:36:26.380 --> 00:36:30.780 things trailing behind them. Maybe you could 00:36:30.780 --> 00:36:34.519 smell alcohol in their breath or holes in their 00:36:34.519 --> 00:36:38.119 clothes. If they came in, we'd be a little suspicious. 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:45.530 What do they want? It's true. Sometimes their 00:36:45.530 --> 00:36:48.210 people do come in and want things and need things. 00:36:49.489 --> 00:36:51.610 But that'd be immediately what we think. What 00:36:51.610 --> 00:36:58.809 do they want? Why are they here? If they came 00:36:58.809 --> 00:37:03.650 in and maybe they didn't seem to live the lifestyle 00:37:03.650 --> 00:37:09.030 that we think they should live. They need to 00:37:09.030 --> 00:37:14.449 get their lives together. This is a respectable 00:37:14.449 --> 00:37:21.110 place. And we may not say things like that here. 00:37:23.070 --> 00:37:27.650 But sometimes we think it. Sometimes we drive 00:37:27.650 --> 00:37:31.730 by people in the road and think, there's another 00:37:31.730 --> 00:37:38.349 one. We see the person struggling with drug addiction. 00:37:39.550 --> 00:37:45.150 Why can't they just stop? Why are they doing 00:37:45.150 --> 00:37:50.289 that? What Jesus is showing here, I believe, 00:37:50.570 --> 00:37:57.289 is that we should have mercy on people. But we 00:37:57.289 --> 00:38:01.809 should also believe that God can save anyone. 00:38:03.110 --> 00:38:06.590 That there is nobody too far gone. You see, that 00:38:06.590 --> 00:38:11.789 tax collector, he's too far gone. They would 00:38:11.789 --> 00:38:14.750 never think a tax collector, could come back 00:38:14.750 --> 00:38:18.969 to God or come to God. The people would think 00:38:18.969 --> 00:38:21.210 the tax collector was the worst of the worst. 00:38:21.309 --> 00:38:24.670 I mean, no tax collector could be a believer. 00:38:26.869 --> 00:38:29.809 And so part of this is for us to believe that 00:38:29.809 --> 00:38:34.889 God can save anyone. That if there's anyone in 00:38:34.889 --> 00:38:38.309 your life and in my life that seems so far gone, 00:38:38.429 --> 00:38:42.809 we never give up. We never stop praying for them, 00:38:42.829 --> 00:38:46.210 believing that God can save them. I mean, it 00:38:46.210 --> 00:38:49.969 doesn't matter how desperate in sin they've become. 00:38:51.969 --> 00:38:58.090 I believe that God can save the broken. That 00:38:58.090 --> 00:39:01.769 God can do a work of mercy in their lives. And 00:39:01.769 --> 00:39:04.969 listen, there are story after story after story 00:39:04.969 --> 00:39:10.389 of people who have been totally consumed by sin 00:39:10.389 --> 00:39:13.349 and they come to Jesus and he does a miracle 00:39:13.349 --> 00:39:18.190 in their life I mean that's really the miracle 00:39:18.190 --> 00:39:26.110 all of our lives God can do it and I believe 00:39:26.110 --> 00:39:30.750 that if we want to continue serving God in this 00:39:30.750 --> 00:39:34.510 church if we want to continue to be a church 00:39:34.510 --> 00:39:39.329 that Preaches the gospel, reaches people. I believe 00:39:39.329 --> 00:39:44.309 that we have to always be ready and open to serve 00:39:44.309 --> 00:39:49.889 all people. To be willing to bring in even the 00:39:49.889 --> 00:39:52.190 people that don't fit the part, look the part, 00:39:52.369 --> 00:39:58.130 smell the part. And say, you know what? In this 00:39:58.130 --> 00:40:00.929 room here, you're going to hear about Jesus. 00:40:03.449 --> 00:40:07.050 And my... or in my presence, you're going to 00:40:07.050 --> 00:40:11.550 hear about Jesus. Let me tell you about someone 00:40:11.550 --> 00:40:15.750 who can change your life. And I want us to be 00:40:15.750 --> 00:40:21.809 a place of reference. A place where people can 00:40:21.809 --> 00:40:29.369 hear about Christ. So who are we? Are we the 00:40:29.369 --> 00:40:33.349 Pharisees? Coming with self -righteous faith? 00:40:35.179 --> 00:40:39.239 Or are we the tax collector coming with humble 00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:44.519 faith? Let us pray. Father, we thank You for 00:40:44.519 --> 00:40:57.500 Your Word. Lord, that's a powerful parable. And 00:40:57.500 --> 00:41:00.440 Lord, sometimes we can see ourselves in different 00:41:00.440 --> 00:41:07.710 parts in a parable. Father, my prayer is if there's 00:41:07.710 --> 00:41:11.590 any of us in here today who maybe we feel like 00:41:11.590 --> 00:41:13.650 we've played the part of the Pharisee a little 00:41:13.650 --> 00:41:18.929 bit. Trusting in ourself and our good works and 00:41:18.929 --> 00:41:24.389 our righteousness. Trying to clean ourselves 00:41:24.389 --> 00:41:32.829 up. Trying to look Christian. But Lord, maybe 00:41:32.829 --> 00:41:40.460 our hearts aren't right. Lord, we can try to 00:41:40.460 --> 00:41:42.800 clean ourselves all up, but if our hearts aren't 00:41:42.800 --> 00:41:49.199 right with you, it doesn't matter. And so, Father, 00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:52.079 I pray that if there's anyone here who, Lord, 00:41:52.139 --> 00:41:56.119 needs to truly be right with you, to lay aside 00:41:56.119 --> 00:42:05.480 self -righteousness, lay aside religion, and 00:42:05.480 --> 00:42:10.900 to come to you in faith. Lord, if there's others, 00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:13.559 if there's someone else here who's tired because 00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:19.519 they've been living a life from you. They know 00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:23.840 their sin. They know that they're separated from 00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:28.099 you. Father, I pray that if there's anyone in 00:42:28.099 --> 00:42:30.559 here like that, that this morning they would 00:42:30.559 --> 00:42:37.639 come to you in faith. Believing that you can 00:42:37.639 --> 00:42:41.820 save them. That you can restore them to you, 00:42:41.900 --> 00:42:45.619 Lord. That you can bring freedom to their lives. 00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:54.760 Father, maybe even someone's listening in, Lord, 00:42:54.940 --> 00:43:00.519 but Lord, may they hear and believe and put their 00:43:00.519 --> 00:43:07.260 humble trust in you. Father, would you help us 00:43:07.260 --> 00:43:10.679 to be a church who Lord, doesn't look down on 00:43:10.679 --> 00:43:14.880 those who are struggling or lost in sin, but 00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:22.260 a church. Lord, the church that welcomes people 00:43:22.260 --> 00:43:24.619 and says, come, hear about Jesus, he'll change 00:43:24.619 --> 00:43:32.260 your life. God, may we be that church. Lord, 00:43:32.380 --> 00:43:34.960 a place, a people, not just a building, but a 00:43:34.960 --> 00:43:41.449 people. That love the broken. That love the hurting. 00:43:43.969 --> 00:43:47.050 Lord, the people even in our communities, our 00:43:47.050 --> 00:43:50.409 homes. Lord, that people that are hurting would 00:43:50.409 --> 00:43:53.550 come to us because they could sense our love. 00:43:56.369 --> 00:44:00.630 And God, may we always have the gospel on our 00:44:00.630 --> 00:44:09.099 lips. Ready to share what Jesus can do. God, 00:44:09.139 --> 00:44:13.719 let us not look down on people, but to help them 00:44:13.719 --> 00:44:21.199 look up. So God, may you teach us. May you guide 00:44:21.199 --> 00:44:27.980 us. May we leave here today with the desire to 00:44:27.980 --> 00:44:32.219 have a humble faith. May you work in our hearts 00:44:32.219 --> 00:44:32.480 now.