WEBVTT 00:00:09.419 --> 00:00:14.300 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:16.579 an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.800 with dozens of nationalities worshiping together. 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:22.980 We invite you to connect with us from wherever 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:27.219 you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:31.059 mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 00:00:31.059 --> 00:00:37.420 by this week's sermon. Good morning. Would you 00:00:37.420 --> 00:00:43.859 please join me in prayer? Lord, the heavens declare 00:00:43.859 --> 00:00:48.780 the glory of God. That is what your word says, 00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:55.179 and I ask you that today you will teach us, guide 00:00:55.179 --> 00:01:00.560 us in such a way that we are in awe of you, more 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:06.739 and more deeply loving you. Use me, I ask, in 00:01:06.739 --> 00:01:09.500 the power of your spirit and in your grace. In 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:14.519 Jesus' name, amen. We've been studying a series 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:17.799 of studies that we call Songs for the Journey 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:20.319 because they're based on the book of Psalms. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:22.859 And the book of Psalms in the Bible is a collection 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:25.579 of songs. We have only the lyrics. We don't have 00:01:25.579 --> 00:01:28.659 the music to it. But the lyrics are profound 00:01:28.659 --> 00:01:32.900 enough because most of them are prayers to God. 00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:36.629 And at different moments, we learn different 00:01:36.629 --> 00:01:39.090 things depending on what stage of life you're 00:01:39.090 --> 00:01:42.609 in. We are inclined to a specific psalm because 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:45.569 we can identify with the words. And today, I'm 00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:50.030 going to be studying with you Psalm 19. And if 00:01:50.030 --> 00:01:52.250 I had to put a title to this song, it would be, 00:01:52.370 --> 00:01:59.150 who knows best? Before this psalm was written, 00:01:59.269 --> 00:02:04.439 if you rewind history, It's the time of Abraham. 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:09.020 Abraham was following God, and he's known as 00:02:09.020 --> 00:02:14.199 the father of faith. And he found himself at 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:18.139 a place that I call the crossroads. All of us 00:02:18.139 --> 00:02:20.819 find ourselves at one point or another at that 00:02:20.819 --> 00:02:24.039 location, the crossroads, where in following 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:27.780 God, you find yourself in moments in which you 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:31.000 have to make decisions of which direction you 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:35.379 are going to go. and God seems to be indicating 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:38.000 something, but other people tell you other things, 00:02:38.139 --> 00:02:40.060 your feelings tell you other things, and now 00:02:40.060 --> 00:02:42.780 you're at the crossroads. What are you going 00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:47.000 to do? And at the crossroads, even though the 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:48.879 direction that you're going to take matters, 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.439 what matters most is not the direction you take, 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:57.419 but which voice you are following. In other words, 00:02:57.419 --> 00:02:59.719 the most important question at the crossroads 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:07.699 is, who knows best? They, me, God. And Abraham 00:03:07.699 --> 00:03:12.699 is in this place of crossroads where he is growing 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:15.939 discouraged because he was following God. He 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:20.419 left his family. He moved out of their home country. 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:24.400 Now he's in this place. This is the sky before 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:29.360 him. Beautiful night sky. But he's thinking about 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:33.199 his future. God had promised him a son. The son 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:35.819 has never come. He's getting older. His wife 00:03:35.819 --> 00:03:38.699 is getting much older. And now it's like the 00:03:38.699 --> 00:03:43.000 hope of this ever happening is just fading. So 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:45.319 he's fearful about the future. He needs that 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:48.639 space of all the what ifs that you cannot sleep 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:51.460 at night. Thinking, what if this? What if that? 00:03:51.620 --> 00:03:53.919 And it's in that moment that God encounters Abraham. 00:03:55.020 --> 00:03:58.819 And says, Abraham, don't be afraid. Come on, 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:01.520 get up. Let's go outside. So they go outside 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:08.120 and God shows him the sky. And he says, Abraham, 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:13.960 look up into the sky and count the stars if you 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:18.259 can. That's how many descendants you will have. 00:04:19.379 --> 00:04:22.060 Now it's very hard to get this view here from 00:04:22.060 --> 00:04:24.839 Bangkok because in any city you're in, you have 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:30.029 light pollution. So to really see the sky. And 00:04:30.029 --> 00:04:32.470 the stars, you have to go to these darker places. 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:35.170 And Abraham was in a time in which there was 00:04:35.170 --> 00:04:38.029 no light invented yet, like electric light, like 00:04:38.029 --> 00:04:42.810 we have it today. So his view was amazing. And 00:04:42.810 --> 00:04:45.410 he's hearing God telling him, Abraham, can you 00:04:45.410 --> 00:04:50.569 count the stars? You get my point. That's how 00:04:50.569 --> 00:04:53.730 numerous your descendants will be. Did you believe 00:04:53.730 --> 00:04:58.660 me? So at that moment, we are told that Abraham 00:04:58.660 --> 00:05:02.220 really believed the Lord. And Abraham believed 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:05.699 the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous 00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:10.199 because of his faith. This is the foundation 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:12.560 of the doctrine, by the way, of justification 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:15.379 by faith that the Apostle Paul will develop in 00:05:15.379 --> 00:05:19.120 Romans later. That justification, this salvation, 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:21.519 being considered righteous before God is not 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:24.060 based on your works, but it's based on your response 00:05:24.060 --> 00:05:28.139 of faith to God. And this is what Abraham experienced. 00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:35.240 And years passed, and indeed God was right. He 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:41.339 knew what he was doing. He was trustworthy. And 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:44.819 the descendants of Abraham became a nation known 00:05:44.819 --> 00:05:48.339 as the nation of Israel, which by God's power 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:51.980 and his grace still stands till today, despite 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:54.500 of all the things that have come against her. 00:05:56.040 --> 00:06:00.199 But at this time in history, one of the kings, 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:04.120 most beloved kings of the nation of Israel, his 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:08.920 name was David. He was under the same sky and 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:12.019 many times as a shepherd, he would look at the 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:15.339 sky and see the same stars that God had invited 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:19.839 Abraham to watch and see and consider. And at 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:24.110 many moments, King David himself... Was exposed 00:06:24.110 --> 00:06:27.589 to these moments of crossroads. About his career. 00:06:27.870 --> 00:06:31.310 About taking the kingdom. About fleeing for his 00:06:31.310 --> 00:06:34.050 life under persecution. About where to flee. 00:06:34.089 --> 00:06:37.149 He became a refugee. About military tactics. 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:42.790 About many things. That he faced in life. In 00:06:42.790 --> 00:06:46.910 which he had to ask. Who knows best? They? Me? 00:06:47.410 --> 00:06:52.930 God? What am I going to do? And he was able to 00:06:52.930 --> 00:06:56.430 live in different locations because of the persecution 00:06:56.430 --> 00:07:00.209 he experienced in his life. So he lived as a 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:04.509 refugee in a pagan culture for many years. He 00:07:04.509 --> 00:07:08.529 was able to see firsthand how many people looked 00:07:08.529 --> 00:07:13.029 at the sky and they worshipped the stars. Other 00:07:13.029 --> 00:07:16.470 people worshipped the sun and the moon. And they 00:07:16.470 --> 00:07:19.259 looked at the sky and they thought. That they 00:07:19.259 --> 00:07:22.120 needed to pray to these things to seek direction 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:26.620 for their lives. And he looks at the sky and 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:32.180 he says, oh no. No, the sky reveals something 00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:36.199 completely different. And now he writes the song 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:42.500 of Psalm 19. And this is what he says. First 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:47.899 section. The heavens. Proclaim the glory of God. 00:07:49.459 --> 00:07:54.959 The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:59.060 day they continue to speak. Night after night 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:04.560 they make him known. They speak without a sound 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:09.839 or word. Their voice is never heard. Yet their 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:13.339 message has gone throughout the earth. And their 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:18.439 words to all the world. God has made a home in 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:22.680 the heavens for the sun. My God is the one that 00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:26.680 created the sun. The sun is not a God to be worshipped. 00:08:27.220 --> 00:08:31.040 My God created the sun. And the sun bursts forth 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.960 like a radiant bridegroom. After his wedding, 00:08:34.019 --> 00:08:36.980 he rejoices like a great athlete, eager to run 00:08:36.980 --> 00:08:40.220 the race. But nothing else is not a God to be 00:08:40.220 --> 00:08:44.539 worshipped. It's just a star created by God. 00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:49.590 The sun rises at one end of the heavens. And 00:08:49.590 --> 00:08:52.470 follow its course to the other end. And nothing 00:08:52.470 --> 00:08:56.009 can hide from its heat. Because that's the only 00:08:56.009 --> 00:08:59.649 thing it produces. It's not a God that has presence. 00:09:01.909 --> 00:09:05.789 But my God is the creator of all these things. 00:09:05.889 --> 00:09:13.870 And the heavens declare his glory. Section 2. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:21.779 The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving 00:09:21.779 --> 00:09:25.539 the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:30.779 making wise the simple. The commandments of the 00:09:30.779 --> 00:09:35.460 Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:38.940 commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:44.690 for living. Reverence for the Lord is pure. Lasting 00:09:44.690 --> 00:09:49.470 forever. The laws of the Lord are true. Each 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:54.389 one of them is fair. They are more desirable 00:09:54.389 --> 00:09:58.509 than gold. Even the finest gold. They are sweeter 00:09:58.509 --> 00:10:01.389 than honey. Even honey dripping from the comb. 00:10:01.889 --> 00:10:06.289 They are a warning to your servant. A great reward 00:10:06.289 --> 00:10:17.350 to those who obey them. Section 3. How can I 00:10:17.350 --> 00:10:23.350 know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse 00:10:23.350 --> 00:10:29.049 me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant 00:10:29.049 --> 00:10:33.710 from deliberate sins. Don't let them control 00:10:33.710 --> 00:10:39.029 me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:47.340 of great sin. And last section of the song. May 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:51.700 the words of my mouth and the meditation of my 00:10:51.700 --> 00:10:58.399 heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:04.000 my redeemer. Beautiful song that King David writes 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:08.779 for us to remember what to do when we are at 00:11:08.779 --> 00:11:13.379 the crossroads. What voice are we following? 00:11:15.019 --> 00:11:20.299 Who is influencing our decisions? And what he 00:11:20.299 --> 00:11:24.840 wants to make sure is that we get it right. And 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:26.940 he starts by saying, look, when you are at the 00:11:26.940 --> 00:11:31.759 crossroads, look up. Because when you look up, 00:11:31.779 --> 00:11:35.360 you will see God's creation. And when you see 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:40.460 how amazing it is, then you will realize how 00:11:40.460 --> 00:11:46.480 amazing God is. So he says that at the very beginning 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:49.379 of the psalm. The heavens proclaim the glory 00:11:49.379 --> 00:11:54.580 of God. The sky displays his craftsmanship. Day 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:57.659 after day they continue to speak. Night after 00:11:57.659 --> 00:12:01.269 night they make him known. This is something 00:12:01.269 --> 00:12:05.610 that he designed, that he created, that he made. 00:12:05.809 --> 00:12:09.110 And once you understand that, your perspective 00:12:09.110 --> 00:12:12.950 on God and who he is changes. And your ability 00:12:12.950 --> 00:12:19.190 to trust him increases. Because he is awesome. 00:12:21.769 --> 00:12:27.490 Now we have the privilege that King David or 00:12:27.490 --> 00:12:31.220 Abraham didn't have. Perhaps we don't have the 00:12:31.220 --> 00:12:35.159 clear skies here in the city that they had, but 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:38.259 we have pictures and videos that they could never 00:12:38.259 --> 00:12:45.220 have seen. 35 years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:49.559 was sent to orbit. And for 35 years, we've been 00:12:49.559 --> 00:12:53.500 collecting pictures. Three and a half years, 00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:56.639 another space telescope was released in orbit. 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:02.600 This was a different type of technology, higher 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.259 than the previous one, but both of them have 00:13:05.259 --> 00:13:07.500 been generating images and our understanding 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:11.240 of the universe that astronomers are just so 00:13:11.240 --> 00:13:14.460 excited about. There's never been a better time 00:13:14.460 --> 00:13:17.700 to be an astronomer because the quality of these 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:23.279 images. And some of them are just so amazing 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:27.789 that it's hard to describe how beautiful this 00:13:27.789 --> 00:13:31.309 universe is and as you saw it at the beginning 00:13:31.309 --> 00:13:39.490 video this is vast it's so huge that we are just 00:13:39.490 --> 00:13:42.710 starting to understand a little bit more about 00:13:42.710 --> 00:13:46.649 it now i'm limited because i can only see pictures 00:13:46.649 --> 00:13:50.129 of it but there are people called astronauts 00:13:50.129 --> 00:13:53.929 that have actually gone into space and there's 00:13:53.929 --> 00:13:58.320 a particular one His name, Jeffrey Williams. 00:13:58.899 --> 00:14:03.960 Jeffrey Williams was going to several missions 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:07.860 into space. But one particular mission lasted 00:14:07.860 --> 00:14:10.960 a long time. He was there for almost six months. 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:15.720 And he tells us in his interviews that he was 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.600 just going around the earth, complete circle 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:24.409 around the earth, every 90 minutes. So imagine 00:14:24.409 --> 00:14:27.750 every 90 minutes going around the earth for six 00:14:27.750 --> 00:14:33.269 months. He got to see the best views and he had 00:14:33.269 --> 00:14:37.330 a very nice camera. He's just like me. He loves 00:14:37.330 --> 00:14:39.289 photography. So you know how many pictures he 00:14:39.289 --> 00:14:44.090 took? More than 3 ,000 pictures. And I understand 00:14:44.090 --> 00:14:46.090 I would have taken a million pictures. It's just 00:14:46.090 --> 00:14:47.950 like another one, another one. You know, a sunset, 00:14:48.129 --> 00:14:50.409 another sunset. How many sunsets can you capture, 00:14:50.509 --> 00:14:54.090 you know? Each one, beautiful. So he published 00:14:54.090 --> 00:14:57.730 a book called The Work of His Hands with his 00:14:57.730 --> 00:15:01.789 best photography of these 3 ,000 pictures. What 00:15:01.789 --> 00:15:06.990 was interesting is that as he was there orbiting 00:15:06.990 --> 00:15:11.870 the earth and seeing the universe and experiencing 00:15:11.870 --> 00:15:20.940 it, he says, I experienced God. And when you 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:24.519 see the magnitude and the beauty of the earth 00:15:24.519 --> 00:15:29.399 like that, to look out at this kind of creation 00:15:29.399 --> 00:15:38.120 and not believe in God is to me impossible. I 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:42.279 can simply echo what God had already said. Not 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:45.960 only David is telling us, hey, look up, look 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:49.019 at the sky, it reveals God's glory, his craftsmanship. 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:53.120 God himself had to tell through the prophets 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.519 that, hey, I am the one that created all this 00:15:56.519 --> 00:16:01.299 stuff. Because people started abandoning him 00:16:01.299 --> 00:16:05.379 and they started believing myths. They started 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:08.940 believing that they needed to worship the stars 00:16:08.940 --> 00:16:12.220 and the moon and the sun. So through prophet 00:16:12.220 --> 00:16:15.919 Isaiah, God tells them, for this is what the 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:20.259 Lord says. He who created the heavens. He is 00:16:20.259 --> 00:16:24.200 God. He who fashioned and made the earth. He 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:29.559 founded it. And when He designed it and when 00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:32.620 He created it, He did not create it to be empty, 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:38.799 but formed it to be inhabited. And He says, I 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:44.250 am the Lord and there is no other. Whatever other 00:16:44.250 --> 00:16:47.870 belief you have of how this creation came to 00:16:47.870 --> 00:16:52.750 be is a myth. Because I am the one who created 00:16:52.750 --> 00:16:55.730 it and I am the Lord and there's no other. And 00:16:55.730 --> 00:17:00.070 remember this, I created it so that it will be 00:17:00.070 --> 00:17:05.130 inhabited. We'll get to that. We'll get back 00:17:05.130 --> 00:17:11.599 to that in a minute. But even though there are 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:16.559 people like astronaut Jeffrey Williams that have 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.579 shown us the pictures and told us his story, 00:17:19.779 --> 00:17:25.319 not everybody that looks up sees the same thing. 00:17:26.299 --> 00:17:28.599 Some people say, well, Pastor Pablo, I look at 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:31.539 the stars all the time. I read my horoscope every 00:17:31.539 --> 00:17:36.220 single week because I am hoping, and can you 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:38.289 please... Pray to help me a little bit that the 00:17:38.289 --> 00:17:42.430 stars will align with my plans and my future 00:17:42.430 --> 00:17:47.990 so I'll get lucky. And you live looking at the 00:17:47.990 --> 00:17:51.130 horoscope. And for you it's not a joke. This 00:17:51.130 --> 00:17:54.750 is your life. And when you have to make decisions 00:17:54.750 --> 00:17:57.150 whether you dated that guy or not, you ask him 00:17:57.150 --> 00:18:02.170 for his horoscope information to see if he was 00:18:02.170 --> 00:18:09.460 compatible or not. And God says, No. I created 00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:14.880 the stars. You need to follow me. The stars have 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:20.079 no power to dictate your future and to tell you 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:26.640 what is right or best. It's me. Follow me. And 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:28.700 other people say, well, you know, I don't believe 00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:32.960 in the horoscope. But, hey, I look up into the 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:36.880 universe and I meditate often. To try to become 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:39.859 one with the universe. And you know you find 00:18:39.859 --> 00:18:42.420 so much peace when you are in that place of meditation. 00:18:42.940 --> 00:18:45.720 And you are one with the universe. Pastor Pablo 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:48.220 if I could just tell you how special that is. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:57.099 No. God says I created the universe. You cannot 00:18:57.099 --> 00:19:00.200 be one with the universe. Just like you cannot 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:04.539 be one with that tree or that rock. I created 00:19:04.539 --> 00:19:09.720 the universe. I want you to be in intimate relationship 00:19:09.720 --> 00:19:15.119 with me. Not with the universe. I want you to 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:18.779 be reconciled to me. You want to know peace? 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:23.180 Wait until you know me. Then you will know true 00:19:23.180 --> 00:19:28.940 peace. And there are other people that say, Pastor 00:19:28.940 --> 00:19:33.359 Pablo, that's myths. Horoscope. Becoming what 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:38.519 with the universe? I'm a rational being. I believe 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:43.740 in science. So when I look at the sky, I realize 00:19:43.740 --> 00:19:47.900 how lucky we are to even exist. Because, you 00:19:47.900 --> 00:19:50.880 know, evolution has brought us all of this life. 00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:55.759 And you know how everything began. And just to 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.299 imagine that from that accident, billions of 00:19:58.299 --> 00:20:02.200 years ago, all this showed up. And you know, 00:20:02.420 --> 00:20:06.240 scientists tell us that the universe is so vast 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.599 that it's just a matter of time before we find 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:14.200 extraterrestrial life. Because the odds for us 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:18.140 to exist through evolution, of course, it must 00:20:18.140 --> 00:20:24.220 be somewhere else too. So yeah, I spent a lot 00:20:24.220 --> 00:20:26.720 of time wondering when we're going to find extraterrestrial 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:36.799 life in other planets. And God says. No. I am 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:40.220 the one that created the heavens and the earth. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:45.660 I am the craftsman behind all of this. I designed 00:20:45.660 --> 00:20:51.900 it. And I want you to know me. Because when you 00:20:51.900 --> 00:20:56.279 realize that I am that person. Then you can start 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:59.599 trusting me. Because you realize. Not how lucky 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:06.420 you are, but how powerful I am. Sometimes I think 00:21:06.420 --> 00:21:09.380 of it like, if you were to invite me to have 00:21:09.380 --> 00:21:13.240 dinner at your home, and you are a great cook, 00:21:13.460 --> 00:21:16.079 everybody knows that when you cook the meal, 00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:18.460 it's going to be better than the restaurant. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:22.799 So you say, Pastor Paolo, I kind of like you, 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:25.019 so I want to invite you to have dinner with us. 00:21:25.180 --> 00:21:28.700 Will you come home? I say, sure. So we show up, 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:31.519 and you set the table, and you bring the food, 00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:36.200 and we start eating it. And I go, mmm, mmm, this 00:21:36.200 --> 00:21:41.400 is nice. This is really good. You know, the chicken 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:47.720 is not too overcooked. It's just right. You got 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:54.880 lucky. You know, it's just right. And it's not 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:58.740 too salty. It's just right. It's the balance 00:21:58.740 --> 00:22:04.119 of the flavors. You got lucky. You know how hard 00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:07.079 it is? The chances that all this would happen? 00:22:10.259 --> 00:22:12.359 At that moment, you would look at me and you 00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:19.000 would say, what do you mean? I got lucky. Yeah, 00:22:19.019 --> 00:22:22.000 you know, I mean. To put all these different 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.819 ingredients together to create this symphony 00:22:24.819 --> 00:22:27.180 of flavors that are all in harmony with each 00:22:27.180 --> 00:22:31.339 other. That's just amazing that happened. And 00:22:31.339 --> 00:22:34.359 how do you even manage to do something like this? 00:22:34.599 --> 00:22:37.960 You are really lucky. And at that moment you 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:41.559 will say, Pastor Pablo, can you just leave? I 00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:43.339 will never invite you again, never show up to 00:22:43.339 --> 00:22:46.480 a CV again. Because of course you will be offended. 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:51.339 It's like you are the cook. You made this thing. 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:54.640 You know how to get the chicken right. You know 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.619 how to balance all the flavors. You know the 00:22:56.619 --> 00:23:05.200 recipe. And yet, people like Dr. Michael Gulen 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:10.680 grew up believing that we were just lucky. And 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:13.839 he would look at the sky and say, how lucky we 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:19.440 are. And he had no idea. That it was not luck. 00:23:20.180 --> 00:23:23.200 But there was a cook that was an expert cook 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:26.039 who had designed all of this and brought it all 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:31.160 together. And he had created this planet to be 00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:36.579 inhabited. So Michael Goleman believed all of 00:23:36.579 --> 00:23:40.619 this stuff. He was a scientist. Very well accomplished. 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:45.950 As a physicist and astrophysicist. He has studied 00:23:45.950 --> 00:23:48.710 all these things. He says, I knew the universe 00:23:48.710 --> 00:23:52.349 like the palm of my hand. All the theory, all 00:23:52.349 --> 00:23:56.089 the physics, all the math, everything. And no 00:23:56.089 --> 00:23:58.869 joke, he was a famous professor of physics at 00:23:58.869 --> 00:24:04.170 Harvard University for several years. And not 00:24:04.170 --> 00:24:07.549 only that, but he was also a science editor for 00:24:07.549 --> 00:24:11.089 ABC News in the U .S. A very well accomplished 00:24:11.089 --> 00:24:16.279 man. But he was an atheist. And he had believed 00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:22.619 the whole theory of the whole thing that everything 00:24:22.619 --> 00:24:26.279 was a big accident and that we are lucky that 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:31.619 we even exist. But the more he started studying 00:24:31.619 --> 00:24:34.079 it, the more he realized that the scientific 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:38.619 evidence, as much as he loved science, was limited. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:43.250 And there were things that didn't add up. And 00:24:43.250 --> 00:24:45.190 he started asking questions he hadn't asked before, 00:24:45.470 --> 00:24:50.549 which led him to start seeking religion after 00:24:50.549 --> 00:24:53.769 religion after religion until he came to read 00:24:53.769 --> 00:24:56.369 the Bible and he encountered the God who said, 00:24:56.509 --> 00:25:00.410 I created the heavens and the earth. And he started 00:25:00.410 --> 00:25:02.890 finding compelling evidence that what the Bible 00:25:02.890 --> 00:25:06.829 was telling him aligned with what he knew to 00:25:06.829 --> 00:25:11.880 be true in science. And he was so amazed that 00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:14.400 this ancient book will say all of these things, 00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:17.940 that little by little, he started falling in 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:22.420 love with this creator. And he started looking 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:26.059 back at the things that he had believed 100 % 00:25:26.059 --> 00:25:28.579 with all of his heart, only to start realizing 00:25:28.579 --> 00:25:30.880 that many of the things that he thought were 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:36.700 facts, were actually not facts at all. They were 00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:42.329 theories. That he had accepted as truth. And 00:25:42.329 --> 00:25:45.210 now his eyes became open to things he hadn't 00:25:45.210 --> 00:25:49.430 seen before. One of them for instance. He realizes 00:25:49.430 --> 00:25:51.849 in the history of astronomy and the perspective 00:25:51.849 --> 00:25:56.029 of our understanding of the universe. Just as 00:25:56.029 --> 00:25:59.250 in the 1920s until now it has changed so much. 00:26:00.289 --> 00:26:04.710 From the time of Einstein. He himself believed 00:26:04.710 --> 00:26:08.769 what was the common truth. stated and believed 00:26:08.769 --> 00:26:11.549 in the science sector during that time that the 00:26:11.549 --> 00:26:15.549 universe was eternal, no beginning, no end. That 00:26:15.549 --> 00:26:19.089 was believed for about 200 years. So as smart 00:26:19.089 --> 00:26:22.609 and as accomplished as Albert Einstein was, he 00:26:22.609 --> 00:26:25.170 believed that the universe was eternal. And it 00:26:25.170 --> 00:26:28.410 was a common thing accepted among atheist scientists 00:26:28.410 --> 00:26:31.950 because it's convenient, right? If it's eternal, 00:26:32.130 --> 00:26:34.170 it means there's no beginning. And if there's 00:26:34.170 --> 00:26:38.180 no beginning, there's no creation. So they believed 00:26:38.180 --> 00:26:44.420 that for many centuries. But one day, this physicist 00:26:44.420 --> 00:26:50.940 from a... I forgot what country he was from. 00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:55.819 But he was a Catholic priest. Belgium. That's 00:26:55.819 --> 00:26:58.900 where he was from. And he started doing some 00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:00.960 studies and he noticed that there were certain 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:05.259 changes that didn't just align with the idea 00:27:05.259 --> 00:27:09.660 of a... Universe that was static. And this evidence 00:27:09.660 --> 00:27:15.460 implied that there was movement. And then another 00:27:15.460 --> 00:27:20.759 physicist realized that the galaxies that were 00:27:20.759 --> 00:27:24.000 in the distance were actually moving away from 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:27.480 us. So these two guys were seeing evidence that 00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:32.039 was implying that if there was movement like 00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:36.259 that, it means that if you rewind, At some point, 00:27:36.339 --> 00:27:43.099 everything must have had a beginning. And as 00:27:43.099 --> 00:27:45.400 they are coming with these different theories 00:27:45.400 --> 00:27:48.420 that the universe is not eternal, but it had 00:27:48.420 --> 00:27:53.440 a beginning, this physicist from Belgium says, 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:58.779 look, my theory... Proposes that at the very 00:27:58.779 --> 00:28:00.960 beginning there was something like, what can 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:04.559 I call it, like a cosmic egg. That suddenly exploded 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:07.140 and all these parts and all these things created 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:09.759 the whole thing. And it's like the first atom. 00:28:12.299 --> 00:28:15.680 And as he was debating these ideas on radio in 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:19.039 England. Another of the scientists who really 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:21.460 believed the universe was eternal like everybody 00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:24.880 else had believed for centuries. He looks at 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:27.759 him and he says, come on. You really want me 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:30.460 to believe that everything started with a big 00:28:30.460 --> 00:28:37.500 bang. Like that. As a way of just being sarcastic. 00:28:37.559 --> 00:28:41.759 And that little phrase stuck. And this theory 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:44.440 became known eventually as the big bang theory. 00:28:46.380 --> 00:28:49.019 But they all believed that even though there 00:28:49.019 --> 00:28:51.140 was movement and there was a beginning of something. 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:54.170 That they could theorize maybe was this. atom 00:28:54.170 --> 00:28:56.849 at the beginning the point of singularity as 00:28:56.849 --> 00:29:00.309 they call it today they still believe that the 00:29:00.309 --> 00:29:03.670 movement of expansion was consistent but now 00:29:03.670 --> 00:29:06.910 another physicist another scientist says look 00:29:06.910 --> 00:29:12.109 i just discovered that the universe is not expanding 00:29:12.109 --> 00:29:17.109 at a steady space speed it's actually accelerating 00:29:17.109 --> 00:29:22.019 and if it is accelerating It means that there's 00:29:22.019 --> 00:29:24.079 something that is causing that acceleration. 00:29:25.420 --> 00:29:28.539 What is that? We don't know. Why don't we call 00:29:28.539 --> 00:29:32.980 it dark energy? Yeah, that sounds good. Let's 00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:35.720 call it dark energy. So dark energy, what is 00:29:35.720 --> 00:29:38.200 it? We do not know. Can you see it? No, we don't 00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:40.839 see it. But something is causing that expansion. 00:29:42.359 --> 00:29:45.119 Okay, and as they study more, they realize that 00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:47.619 there were all these points of gravity, you know, 00:29:47.640 --> 00:29:50.119 these black holes and all these things, and there 00:29:50.119 --> 00:29:53.519 was so much that they could not see. They say, 00:29:53.559 --> 00:29:57.500 you know, why don't we call it dark matter? Okay, 00:29:57.660 --> 00:30:00.700 that's good. Dark matter, dark energy. Can you 00:30:00.700 --> 00:30:03.279 see it? No. Can you tell me what it is? No, we 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:08.660 don't know what it is. But wait. Michael Gillan 00:30:08.660 --> 00:30:12.480 says, we discover that this dark energy and dark 00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:21.779 matter involves 95 % of the universe. Which means 00:30:21.779 --> 00:30:26.509 that we can only see... 5 % and all of our theories 00:30:26.509 --> 00:30:29.289 about the beginning of the earth and the calculations 00:30:29.289 --> 00:30:32.569 of the age of the universe, all of that is theory 00:30:32.569 --> 00:30:36.569 after theory of only a 5 % of the visible universe, 00:30:37.109 --> 00:30:40.289 which means that there's 95 % that we have to 00:30:40.289 --> 00:30:48.329 accept by faith. And at that moment, all of his 00:30:48.329 --> 00:30:53.089 solidity of his convictions as an atheist scientist, 00:30:53.799 --> 00:30:57.940 start becoming shaky but the one thing that really 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:03.839 like hit it was his understanding of the earth 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.000 because he realized that the more they studied 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:12.099 the earth this physicist started realizing that 00:31:12.099 --> 00:31:16.829 there were certain constants mathematical formulas 00:31:16.829 --> 00:31:19.690 that started revealing certain things that they 00:31:19.690 --> 00:31:22.890 eventually called this the fine -tuning of the 00:31:22.890 --> 00:31:27.730 universe. In the idea of evolution, that everything 00:31:27.730 --> 00:31:30.750 started with a point of singularity and exploded 00:31:30.750 --> 00:31:33.990 and it created all this chaos, in that idea, 00:31:34.210 --> 00:31:38.450 the earth was just a big rock. It was all these 00:31:38.450 --> 00:31:40.750 rocks flying everywhere. Imagine an explosion. 00:31:41.369 --> 00:31:44.549 And suddenly this big rock called earth got hit 00:31:44.549 --> 00:31:48.750 by another big rock. And that big rock, as it 00:31:48.750 --> 00:31:53.069 hit the earth, then a piece of this earth came 00:31:53.069 --> 00:31:55.650 out of it, you know, and it became the moon. 00:31:57.819 --> 00:32:01.539 And that's why the Chinese scientists today that 00:32:01.539 --> 00:32:03.700 have been in the moon have brought samples. And 00:32:03.700 --> 00:32:06.940 now we know that some of the minerals of the 00:32:06.940 --> 00:32:09.240 earth and the age of these things are similar. 00:32:09.380 --> 00:32:13.220 And they were surprised by it. So all of that 00:32:13.220 --> 00:32:17.859 idea that came is built on the idea that it's 00:32:17.859 --> 00:32:24.289 an accident. And that we just got lucky. But 00:32:24.289 --> 00:32:26.809 when they started studying all the factors required 00:32:26.809 --> 00:32:33.029 for life, everything was revolutionized in his 00:32:33.029 --> 00:32:36.289 understanding. Because he says, you know, Paolo, 00:32:36.369 --> 00:32:40.430 we discovered that all the factors for life to 00:32:40.430 --> 00:32:44.710 exist are so precise that there's no way that 00:32:44.710 --> 00:32:48.309 life could exist unless this was precisely tuned. 00:32:49.529 --> 00:32:53.250 Let me tell you some of them. If the position 00:32:53.250 --> 00:32:56.130 of the earth was a little bit closer to the sun, 00:32:56.269 --> 00:32:58.369 or a little bit farther from it, there would 00:32:58.369 --> 00:33:01.089 not be life. If the position of the moon would 00:33:01.089 --> 00:33:05.190 change, the gravitational system in the earth 00:33:05.190 --> 00:33:10.069 will change, and the seasons will not be there. 00:33:11.869 --> 00:33:15.609 If from all the spectrum of light, we didn't 00:33:15.609 --> 00:33:18.329 have just the right particular spectrum that 00:33:18.329 --> 00:33:23.240 causes photosynthesis to... then there wouldn't 00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:27.140 be plants. If the earth did not have the right 00:33:27.140 --> 00:33:30.980 electromagnetic field that protects the earth 00:33:30.980 --> 00:33:35.319 from all the energy that is coming to it, then 00:33:35.319 --> 00:33:37.359 there would not be life on earth. It would be 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:41.519 uninhabitable. If the gravitational constant 00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:46.279 that keeps all of these things would change a 00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:49.599 little bit, there wouldn't be life. And if the 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:52.839 strong nuclear force that keeps the nucleus in 00:33:52.839 --> 00:33:55.599 the atom together and brings all the electrons 00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:59.000 and protons together and causes the connection 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:02.259 between all of these atoms to be able to create 00:34:02.259 --> 00:34:07.740 cells and life, if that changed a little, there 00:34:07.740 --> 00:34:10.980 wouldn't be cells, there wouldn't be life. All 00:34:10.980 --> 00:34:15.099 of these things have to add up for life on earth 00:34:15.099 --> 00:34:21.159 to exist. And the chances that any of these factors 00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:25.340 will all align together somewhere else in the 00:34:25.340 --> 00:34:30.119 universe is almost impossible. He says, look, 00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:37.360 just to put it this way, we're not talking about 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:42.280 changing maybe 1%, no, no. Changing these values 00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:47.730 0 .1%, no, no. I'm talking about a level of precision 00:34:47.730 --> 00:34:51.469 that if you were to change any of these constants, 00:34:51.789 --> 00:35:04.849 a 0 .0000000001%, that little, there wouldn't 00:35:04.849 --> 00:35:11.670 be life. And as they started discovering these 00:35:11.670 --> 00:35:16.579 things in astrophysicists, There were some of 00:35:16.579 --> 00:35:19.579 them that do not believe in God. Some are agnostics 00:35:19.579 --> 00:35:23.280 or atheists as well. But there was one particular 00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:26.099 guy from Cambridge who was an astrophysicist 00:35:26.099 --> 00:35:28.219 when they were discovering all this fine -tuning. 00:35:28.860 --> 00:35:31.420 He says, you know, according to all my mathematical 00:35:31.420 --> 00:35:36.280 calculations, it's the same probability. Just 00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:38.440 to give you an idea of what we're talking about 00:35:38.440 --> 00:35:43.840 here. Imagine a tornado passing through a junkyard. 00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:52.280 And then producing a Boeing 747. That is the 00:35:52.280 --> 00:35:54.699 odds that we are talking about. For the universe 00:35:54.699 --> 00:36:01.400 to produce life on earth. It has to be designed 00:36:01.400 --> 00:36:07.300 for life. There is no other explanation. And 00:36:07.300 --> 00:36:11.780 God says. Okay. Finally you are getting it. I 00:36:11.780 --> 00:36:16.250 already told you. I created. The earth. To be 00:36:16.250 --> 00:36:20.210 inhabited. When are you going to start giving 00:36:20.210 --> 00:36:24.269 me the credit. For who I am. When are you going 00:36:24.269 --> 00:36:26.849 to start seeing me. For the amazing God I am. 00:36:26.929 --> 00:36:34.869 So you can trust me. At your crossroads. And 00:36:34.869 --> 00:36:37.610 I love. I'm reading this book. Right now from. 00:36:39.030 --> 00:36:42.579 Dr. Gillen. It's called Amazing Truths. If you're 00:36:42.579 --> 00:36:44.619 a scientist, you will love the book. If you are 00:36:44.619 --> 00:36:46.699 someone like me who is not a scientist but loves 00:36:46.699 --> 00:36:49.780 science, you will love the book. He just goes 00:36:49.780 --> 00:36:54.219 through different things now as a Christian that 00:36:54.219 --> 00:36:57.539 knows the Lord. And how the Bible and science 00:36:57.539 --> 00:37:01.659 are just speaking the same language. Beautiful. 00:37:02.199 --> 00:37:12.110 Fascinating stuff. Who knows best? David says, 00:37:12.269 --> 00:37:16.469 look up. If you want to know the kind of God 00:37:16.469 --> 00:37:21.389 you have, look up. Because the stars and the 00:37:21.389 --> 00:37:26.309 sky reveals His glory. And when you know the 00:37:26.309 --> 00:37:29.769 kind of God you're following, you will be more 00:37:29.769 --> 00:37:35.230 quick to trust Him than any other expert that 00:37:35.230 --> 00:37:40.920 is telling you to disagree with God. The second 00:37:40.920 --> 00:37:47.079 part of the song tells us to look down. Because 00:37:47.079 --> 00:37:51.019 God who created the world and has made it to 00:37:51.019 --> 00:37:54.619 be inhabited and has placed you here. Because 00:37:54.619 --> 00:37:57.880 he has a vision and a plan for you. Has also 00:37:57.880 --> 00:38:03.579 given you the word to guide you. So that you 00:38:03.579 --> 00:38:06.400 have content. So that you have understanding. 00:38:07.179 --> 00:38:12.130 And that's why he says. In this section. About 00:38:12.130 --> 00:38:16.429 how reliable the word of God is. But now let's 00:38:16.429 --> 00:38:20.690 do this together. What if you read the section 00:38:20.690 --> 00:38:23.690 that is underlined. And I'll mention the section 00:38:23.690 --> 00:38:27.010 that is highlighted in blue. Let's do it like 00:38:27.010 --> 00:38:32.090 that. The instructions of the Lord are. Yes. 00:38:32.650 --> 00:38:36.510 They can revive your soul. The decrees of the 00:38:36.510 --> 00:38:43.070 Lord are. Exactly. They can make you wise. The 00:38:43.070 --> 00:38:47.190 commandments of the Lord are? Yeah. And they 00:38:47.190 --> 00:38:51.190 will bring so much joy in your heart. The commands 00:38:51.190 --> 00:38:55.190 of the Lord are? Not confusing at all. They will 00:38:55.190 --> 00:38:59.409 give you insight for living. Reverence for the 00:38:59.409 --> 00:39:04.039 Lord is? Yeah. And it lasts forever. Not like 00:39:04.039 --> 00:39:07.380 the opinions of the experts that change every 00:39:07.380 --> 00:39:13.119 other year. The laws of the Lord are true. Not 00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:17.219 an opinion. And they are fair. Each one of them. 00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:24.099 And then he says, they are a warning to your 00:39:24.099 --> 00:39:27.860 servant. They are a great reward to those who? 00:39:29.039 --> 00:39:35.449 Look down. At the crossroads, look down. Look 00:39:35.449 --> 00:39:38.929 at the word of God. Because God gave it to you 00:39:38.929 --> 00:39:43.969 so that you can indeed have clarity about where 00:39:43.969 --> 00:39:47.349 to go. Whether turn right or whether turn left. 00:39:47.530 --> 00:39:50.210 What is right? What is wrong? What is pleasing 00:39:50.210 --> 00:39:52.849 to God? What is not pleasing to God? What is 00:39:52.849 --> 00:39:56.369 going to go against you? And what is going to 00:39:56.369 --> 00:40:00.510 build you up? The word of God is trustworthy. 00:40:02.760 --> 00:40:09.480 You can count on it. But not everybody looks 00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:15.239 at the word of God and sees the same thing. Some 00:40:15.239 --> 00:40:20.199 people look at the word of God and sees an old 00:40:20.199 --> 00:40:22.579 book that is just another myth, like many of 00:40:22.579 --> 00:40:27.659 those ancient myths of Mesopotamia. Plus, it's 00:40:27.659 --> 00:40:32.650 so irrelevant to modern life. There was a woman, 00:40:32.690 --> 00:40:36.449 her name was Rosaria. Her parents paid for private 00:40:36.449 --> 00:40:38.670 school for her since she was young, so they sent 00:40:38.670 --> 00:40:41.510 her to Catholic school. Great education she was 00:40:41.510 --> 00:40:46.570 having. But she remembers that her father, often 00:40:46.570 --> 00:40:48.449 whenever he would say goodbye to her in the morning, 00:40:48.489 --> 00:40:52.070 would say, Rosaria, do everything the nuns tell 00:40:52.070 --> 00:40:54.969 you, but don't believe a word of what they teach 00:40:54.969 --> 00:40:59.940 you. When the father would say that to her, he 00:40:59.940 --> 00:41:02.139 was sending that message of, you know, that's 00:41:02.139 --> 00:41:04.219 a good education, lots of discipline, good stuff. 00:41:04.280 --> 00:41:06.579 But when it comes to the Bible and spiritual 00:41:06.579 --> 00:41:10.039 things, don't believe any of that. It's a myth. 00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:15.099 So Rosaria grew up, graduated from Catholic school. 00:41:15.579 --> 00:41:18.280 But thought that the Bible was an ancient myth. 00:41:18.539 --> 00:41:22.019 And she became a person who loved English. She 00:41:22.019 --> 00:41:24.539 got her doctorate. She became a professor at 00:41:24.539 --> 00:41:27.340 a famous university in the U .S. And then as 00:41:27.340 --> 00:41:31.340 she is just living her life in the academia. 00:41:33.280 --> 00:41:39.619 She starts pursuing her. committed relationship 00:41:39.619 --> 00:41:42.420 with her partner, and then she starts becoming 00:41:42.420 --> 00:41:45.980 an outspoken person for lesbian rights and becomes 00:41:45.980 --> 00:41:50.300 an activist for the LGBT community. And as she 00:41:50.300 --> 00:41:55.500 is living that life, she's getting annoyed by 00:41:55.500 --> 00:41:57.460 all these Christians that believe in that Bible. 00:41:58.300 --> 00:42:00.559 And she calls them the Christians of the far 00:42:00.559 --> 00:42:03.159 right. And she says, you know what, I need to 00:42:03.159 --> 00:42:05.940 write a book about them. I need to write a book 00:42:05.940 --> 00:42:08.219 about what is the mindset that these people have. 00:42:08.280 --> 00:42:11.480 Why are they so against us? And some of them 00:42:11.480 --> 00:42:14.599 are very mean. And they keep talking about that 00:42:14.599 --> 00:42:19.679 old myth, the Bible. So she decides that she's 00:42:19.679 --> 00:42:24.840 going to publish a book to be able to point these 00:42:24.840 --> 00:42:30.300 people to truth. So as Rosaria is in this place, 00:42:31.420 --> 00:42:33.920 researching all of these things, she realized 00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:37.460 that if she's going to be academically, you know, 00:42:37.500 --> 00:42:42.400 have academic integrity, she cannot just talk 00:42:42.400 --> 00:42:45.420 about them. She has to understand the book. So 00:42:45.420 --> 00:42:47.940 she's going to have to read the Bible. Yeah. 00:42:48.079 --> 00:42:53.119 That ancient, myth, irrelevant book. Yeah. So 00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:57.099 she started reading it. And as she started reading 00:42:57.099 --> 00:42:59.579 it and doing her research, this lasted years. 00:43:01.610 --> 00:43:04.969 She started experiencing something that I have 00:43:04.969 --> 00:43:07.730 heard before. When you read the Bible, you're 00:43:07.730 --> 00:43:09.449 not just reading the Bible, but the Bible is 00:43:09.449 --> 00:43:12.590 reading you. And that's what happened to her. 00:43:13.170 --> 00:43:15.769 She started becoming convicted. Even though there 00:43:15.769 --> 00:43:18.250 were all these other voices, all these experts, 00:43:18.389 --> 00:43:21.510 all these people telling her, this is the truth. 00:43:23.110 --> 00:43:26.230 You can do anything that you want with your body. 00:43:26.289 --> 00:43:30.039 It's your body. No one has a say in what you 00:43:30.039 --> 00:43:33.019 do with your sexuality. Do what makes you happy. 00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:40.699 Suddenly, she encountered a God. And she started 00:43:40.699 --> 00:43:44.079 feeling convicted and wrestling with that because 00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:48.639 it's like, why would I trust an ancient book 00:43:48.639 --> 00:43:53.380 full of mythology with my sexual life? It makes 00:43:53.380 --> 00:44:00.239 no sense. Until eventually it did. And page after 00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:04.639 page, encounter after encounter, God started 00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:09.440 drawing her to him. And she became a follower 00:44:09.440 --> 00:44:13.539 of Jesus. And in that process, she became convicted 00:44:13.539 --> 00:44:16.400 that the lifestyle that she had been pursuing 00:44:16.400 --> 00:44:20.460 was no longer the lifestyle that God had called 00:44:20.460 --> 00:44:24.840 her to pursue. And all of these things, she says, 00:44:26.219 --> 00:44:28.559 The lesbian lifestyle was part of my biography, 00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:34.480 but it's not part of my identity. She went through 00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:37.980 all this journey and she had to make a decision 00:44:37.980 --> 00:44:44.119 at her crossroads. Who knows best? This ancient 00:44:44.119 --> 00:44:47.239 book, could it be that it's really the word of 00:44:47.239 --> 00:44:52.320 God? And he gave me this book to give me insight 00:44:52.320 --> 00:44:57.699 for living? She wrote her biography in this book. 00:44:58.659 --> 00:45:01.019 If you want to know more about her story, that's 00:45:01.019 --> 00:45:04.980 where you will find it. But when you find yourself 00:45:04.980 --> 00:45:08.099 at these crossroads, where the Word of God is 00:45:08.099 --> 00:45:10.239 telling you one thing, everybody else is telling 00:45:10.239 --> 00:45:12.340 you these other things, what are you going to 00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:19.579 do? Who knows best? Maybe you are dating your 00:45:19.579 --> 00:45:22.409 boyfriend. He keeps insisting you having sex 00:45:22.409 --> 00:45:24.530 with him and you do not know how to say no. So 00:45:24.530 --> 00:45:27.130 you keep having sex with him. But now you're 00:45:27.130 --> 00:45:30.949 following Jesus. And as you're following Jesus, 00:45:31.070 --> 00:45:33.329 now you're feeling convicted because it's like, 00:45:33.449 --> 00:45:35.409 what should I do? What should I do? And the Holy 00:45:35.409 --> 00:45:37.389 Spirit is telling you what you should do. And 00:45:37.389 --> 00:45:38.989 the Word of God is telling you what you should 00:45:38.989 --> 00:45:41.349 do. And you realize what you should do. The Bible 00:45:41.349 --> 00:45:44.670 calls this sexual immorality. And you feel the 00:45:44.670 --> 00:45:48.130 guilt and you feel the struggle within. But everybody 00:45:48.130 --> 00:45:54.269 does it. And my friend tells me. Who knows best? 00:45:54.429 --> 00:45:59.449 May I ask you? God's word? Or your boyfriend? 00:46:00.510 --> 00:46:05.829 Who knows best? At the crossroads of life. You 00:46:05.829 --> 00:46:08.250 will have to decide whether you look up and trust 00:46:08.250 --> 00:46:11.449 the God. Who created you and trust the word. 00:46:12.070 --> 00:46:19.800 That he gave you. Or not. But then. He continues 00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:22.679 to the next part of the song. And he says you 00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:27.139 need to look inside. But not in the way that 00:46:27.139 --> 00:46:31.579 you are thinking. Because you have heard it said 00:46:31.579 --> 00:46:34.739 before. Hey, if you want to be happy, follow 00:46:34.739 --> 00:46:40.539 your heart. Just follow your heart. Because if 00:46:40.539 --> 00:46:42.739 you follow your heart, you will be happy. Be 00:46:42.739 --> 00:46:48.019 true to yourself. Don't deny it. True to who 00:46:48.019 --> 00:46:51.099 you are. You were born with these feelings. You 00:46:51.099 --> 00:46:54.619 were born this way. Just pursue your feelings. 00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:58.500 Follow your heart. And David says that's precisely 00:46:58.500 --> 00:47:02.039 what I want to warn you about. Don't follow your 00:47:02.039 --> 00:47:06.099 heart. Look inside. But not to follow your heart. 00:47:06.860 --> 00:47:09.940 Because Jeremiah told us about your heart. The 00:47:09.940 --> 00:47:12.940 heart is deceitful about all things beyond cure. 00:47:13.159 --> 00:47:16.599 Who can understand it? Your feelings fluctuate. 00:47:16.840 --> 00:47:19.199 What you're feeling today may change tomorrow. 00:47:22.059 --> 00:47:25.519 So yes, that's why I write this part of my song. 00:47:25.820 --> 00:47:29.599 I say to God, God, how can I know the sins lurking 00:47:29.599 --> 00:47:32.480 in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. 00:47:32.760 --> 00:47:36.760 Because I know that my heart is corrupt. I know 00:47:36.760 --> 00:47:40.380 I have desires that are shameful. I know I have 00:47:40.380 --> 00:47:44.119 things within me that I don't want to pursue. 00:47:44.670 --> 00:47:50.750 So God, keep me from this. Please, keep me from 00:47:50.750 --> 00:47:53.309 following my heart so I can follow you instead. 00:47:53.530 --> 00:48:01.690 Because that is where true peace is found. So 00:48:01.690 --> 00:48:04.269 he writes here at the end, the warning of not 00:48:04.269 --> 00:48:07.809 following your heart because your heart is corrupt. 00:48:07.969 --> 00:48:11.500 But if you have Jesus. If you are a follower 00:48:11.500 --> 00:48:14.280 of Christ, you have the Holy Spirit in you. And 00:48:14.280 --> 00:48:17.900 the Holy Spirit now in you will guide you at 00:48:17.900 --> 00:48:20.619 the crossroads. Will give you peace. Will give 00:48:20.619 --> 00:48:23.420 you insight. Corroborate things in your heart, 00:48:23.500 --> 00:48:27.860 in your mind, from outside and inside. Follow 00:48:27.860 --> 00:48:32.780 the guide of the Holy Spirit. What is sad is 00:48:32.780 --> 00:48:36.139 that not everybody understands this. And the 00:48:36.139 --> 00:48:38.219 only thing they look inside is their feelings. 00:48:39.239 --> 00:48:41.719 And now they have to make a decision. Who knows 00:48:41.719 --> 00:48:46.079 best? And that is what happened to Walt. Because 00:48:46.079 --> 00:48:49.619 Walt was one of these engineers that was working 00:48:49.619 --> 00:48:54.099 at NASA for one of the Apollo missions. He was 00:48:54.099 --> 00:48:56.900 part of the big team making the mission possible 00:48:56.900 --> 00:49:01.000 and sending people to the moon. This was a guy 00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:03.860 that could look at the stars, but he didn't believe 00:49:03.860 --> 00:49:07.239 in God. So he couldn't see God. Therefore, he 00:49:07.239 --> 00:49:10.679 didn't believe in the word either. So the only 00:49:10.679 --> 00:49:13.980 thing he would do was look inside. And what he 00:49:13.980 --> 00:49:18.320 saw inside was all these feelings that nobody 00:49:18.320 --> 00:49:22.280 knew he had. You see, on the outward side of 00:49:22.280 --> 00:49:25.780 things, he was a successful engineer, married 00:49:25.780 --> 00:49:30.039 with children, a good family. But inside... He 00:49:30.039 --> 00:49:32.239 was working on all these things and having his 00:49:32.239 --> 00:49:35.059 family. He was struggling with these feelings 00:49:35.059 --> 00:49:41.639 that he should have been a woman. And since a 00:49:41.639 --> 00:49:45.340 very young age, he remembers struggling with 00:49:45.340 --> 00:49:48.139 these feelings. He wanted to be a girl, not a 00:49:48.139 --> 00:49:52.699 boy. But what would he do with those feelings? 00:49:53.579 --> 00:49:57.179 Well, he decided to pay more attention to the 00:49:57.179 --> 00:50:01.019 feelings. He worked with experts that could tell 00:50:01.019 --> 00:50:03.480 him what to do with the feelings. And he got 00:50:03.480 --> 00:50:08.119 the same message. Follow your heart. Those feelings 00:50:08.119 --> 00:50:12.139 are telling you the way you should go. So Walt, 00:50:12.360 --> 00:50:16.679 what you really need is to become a woman. Go 00:50:16.679 --> 00:50:18.440 through the surgery. Go through the hormonal 00:50:18.440 --> 00:50:20.559 treatment. Do the whole thing. Change your legal 00:50:20.559 --> 00:50:26.480 name. So he did. And he became Laura. For eight 00:50:26.480 --> 00:50:31.219 years he lived as Laura. And he was for all legal 00:50:31.219 --> 00:50:35.719 purposes a woman. But inside the peace that he 00:50:35.719 --> 00:50:40.360 thought he was going to get. He didn't get. Now 00:50:40.360 --> 00:50:43.239 his feelings were fluctuating back and forth. 00:50:43.320 --> 00:50:48.420 And he had no peace. And it's in that space that 00:50:48.420 --> 00:50:51.840 God encountered him. It's in that space that 00:50:51.840 --> 00:50:56.650 he heard about Jesus. And he. Gave his life to 00:50:56.650 --> 00:51:00.630 Christ. Once he believed in Jesus. Now he had 00:51:00.630 --> 00:51:03.190 the Holy Spirit in him. And the Holy Spirit started 00:51:03.190 --> 00:51:08.010 guiding Walt. And it was the Holy Spirit. Prompting. 00:51:08.670 --> 00:51:12.289 That Brad healing. And caused him to make the 00:51:12.289 --> 00:51:15.050 decision. That he was no longer going to remain 00:51:15.050 --> 00:51:18.389 Laura. But that he was going to embrace. The 00:51:18.389 --> 00:51:23.449 man that God had created him to be. And he writes 00:51:23.449 --> 00:51:26.349 his biography. In this book called A Transgender 00:51:26.349 --> 00:51:31.389 Faith. Amazing story. But even he says, look. 00:51:32.030 --> 00:51:34.409 What I want you to remember. The most important 00:51:34.409 --> 00:51:36.929 thing I'd like you to remember. Is the awesome 00:51:36.929 --> 00:51:40.590 truth that Jesus heals. No matter what the issue. 00:51:40.849 --> 00:51:45.289 Or how badly broken your life is. It is possible. 00:51:47.769 --> 00:51:55.150 Who knows best? God says, I know best. Therefore, 00:51:55.150 --> 00:51:58.610 do not follow your feelings. That's why David 00:51:58.610 --> 00:52:00.929 concludes the psalm with this last verse. God, 00:52:01.110 --> 00:52:06.090 I want to look up and be in awe of you and trust 00:52:06.090 --> 00:52:09.530 you because you're smarter than I am. I want 00:52:09.530 --> 00:52:12.329 to look down and look at your word and trust 00:52:12.329 --> 00:52:15.170 it and obey it because there's reward in obeying 00:52:15.170 --> 00:52:19.409 your word, in having the fear of God in me. But 00:52:19.409 --> 00:52:22.889 when I look inside, Lord, Don't let me be trapped 00:52:22.889 --> 00:52:28.010 by my feelings. Instead, may the words of my 00:52:28.010 --> 00:52:30.949 mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing 00:52:30.949 --> 00:52:36.489 to you. Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Let 00:52:36.489 --> 00:52:39.650 my feelings and my desires be aligned with your 00:52:39.650 --> 00:52:45.630 desires. Let it be that I'm growing in so much 00:52:45.630 --> 00:52:48.650 intimacy with you. Not with the universe or the 00:52:48.650 --> 00:52:54.190 stars. But with you, that the words I speak reflect 00:52:54.190 --> 00:52:58.150 what you say. That the meditation I have in my 00:52:58.150 --> 00:53:04.269 heart resembles what you say. Because now I realize, 00:53:04.469 --> 00:53:09.489 God, after all the crossroads in my life, that 00:53:09.489 --> 00:53:13.570 you are the rock. You are not a theory that will 00:53:13.570 --> 00:53:18.059 change by a new discovery. You are a rock. Your 00:53:18.059 --> 00:53:22.860 truth is steady. But also Lord, all the years 00:53:22.860 --> 00:53:27.619 that I lost because of sin. All the years behind 00:53:27.619 --> 00:53:32.280 me of deception where I did not know you. They 00:53:32.280 --> 00:53:35.320 are not wasted. Because what the enemy stole 00:53:35.320 --> 00:53:38.820 from me, you will restore. Because you are my 00:53:38.820 --> 00:53:44.099 redeemer. This is who you are. And because you 00:53:44.099 --> 00:53:47.860 are my creator, you are my rock, and you are 00:53:47.860 --> 00:53:52.000 my redeemer, Lord, I'm going to trust you at 00:53:52.000 --> 00:54:01.320 any crossroads in my life. Who knows best? It's 00:54:01.320 --> 00:54:03.380 the primary question you will have to answer 00:54:03.380 --> 00:54:07.599 at these crossroads you're in. And what David 00:54:07.599 --> 00:54:11.380 wants you to understand is that God knows best, 00:54:11.579 --> 00:54:17.059 period. And if you get that, you will be okay. 00:54:18.699 --> 00:54:21.500 It may seem like it's impossible to have the 00:54:21.500 --> 00:54:23.840 child and have the descendants that God promised, 00:54:24.039 --> 00:54:32.940 but trust me, it is possible. God knows best. 00:54:35.280 --> 00:54:38.940 So if you are in a moment in your life in which 00:54:38.940 --> 00:54:41.539 you are wrestling with these insecurities and 00:54:41.539 --> 00:54:44.320 these fears about the future, and you are tempted, 00:54:44.559 --> 00:54:48.159 really tempted, to go in a direction that you 00:54:48.159 --> 00:54:52.880 know is opposite to what God says, I want you 00:54:52.880 --> 00:54:58.719 to bring those fears to the Lord. Put them up 00:54:58.719 --> 00:55:05.820 to Him. And listen to these words. From God himself. 00:55:07.500 --> 00:55:10.800 This is what God the Lord says. The creator of 00:55:10.800 --> 00:55:14.260 the heavens. Who stretches them out. Who spreads 00:55:14.260 --> 00:55:17.320 out the earth. With all that springs from it. 00:55:17.679 --> 00:55:21.260 He who gives breath to its people. And life to 00:55:21.260 --> 00:55:29.380 those who walk on it. I. The Lord. I have called 00:55:29.380 --> 00:55:35.409 you. In righteousness. You can trust me. I will 00:55:35.409 --> 00:55:42.409 take hold of your hand. I will take hold of your 00:55:42.409 --> 00:55:49.530 hand. You're going to be okay. Trust me, I know 00:55:49.530 --> 00:55:58.190 best. And this is the song for the journey. Psalm 00:55:58.190 --> 00:56:25.690 19. If God is calling you to support our ministries, 00:56:25.730 --> 00:56:28.409 you will find giving options on our website. 00:56:29.230 --> 00:56:32.650 And remember to join us next week. God bless 00:56:32.650 --> 00:56:32.889 you.