1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,500 Crossing family. How you doing today? 2 00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:05,400 You guys doing? Well man, it's good to be with 3 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:08,500 you. I am so excited because today 4 00:00:08,900 --> 00:00:11,700 all across this region and all of our different locations 5 00:00:11,700 --> 00:00:14,600 online and those of your part of the crossing inside, we are 6 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:18,200 beginning. A brand new sermon series called 7 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,400 Romans. For the next 15 weeks. 8 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:26,000 We are going to travel through the 16 chapters 433 verses of 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,000 the book of Romans and our goal in this sermon series is to 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,500 help. It's become better acquainted 11 00:00:32,500 --> 00:00:35,900 with perhaps the clearest presentation of the power of the 12 00:00:35,900 --> 00:00:40,400 Gospel of Jesus Christ. My hope is that at the very end 13 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,400 of this journey, you'll have a better understanding of who 14 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,600 Jesus is a more accurate knowledge of the Gospel. 15 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,300 The good news that makes a difference in your life and my 16 00:00:51,300 --> 00:00:56,100 life, the gospel that has the power to save a burning desire 17 00:00:56,100 --> 00:01:01,300 to abandon sinful Behavior. A more meaningful experience 18 00:01:01,300 --> 00:01:07,300 with the grace of God in short. My hope our hope as a church is 19 00:01:07,300 --> 00:01:11,400 that this sermon series and this study in the Book of Romans will 20 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:14,000 change us, that it will change you. 21 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,600 And it will change me all too often I hear people who start 22 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,000 reading their Bible and they get, you know, they want to 23 00:01:21,008 --> 00:01:24,500 engage in God's word and then they get completely confused or 24 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:27,300 frustrated and discouraged and I want, you know, we're going to 25 00:01:27,300 --> 00:01:31,800 go on this journey together and We believe that by going on it 26 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,700 together, it will minimize some of the frustration. 27 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,300 It will minimize some of the confusion and give every single 28 00:01:38,300 --> 00:01:41,600 one of us an opportunity to learn and grow together in order 29 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:48,900 to help you do that. We created this Romans Bible 30 00:01:48,900 --> 00:01:51,800 study Journal. I'm being your fat male Vanna, 31 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:53,100 White right here. Okay. 32 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,700 Clayton, white, okay, tell them what they want. 33 00:01:56,700 --> 00:01:59,100 Jack are no path. That's it was Pat. 34 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,800 Here are a couple. If you haven't got one of these, 35 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,000 please go grab one. You can grab one after the 36 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,100 service at all of our different locations, this will help you, 37 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,000 and I want to issue a special thanks to all the people who 38 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:13,500 helped to make this thing happen. 39 00:02:13,900 --> 00:02:16,200 I had nothing to do with this much. 40 00:02:16,500 --> 00:02:19,200 Better people than me made this happen. 41 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:20,400 I just said, wouldn't it be great? 42 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,300 And then there was a group of people or like we can do this. 43 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,600 So to all of you who worked hard to write all the devotionals, 44 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,000 God bless you. Super thankful for you to those 45 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,900 of you who are editors and content supervisors. 46 00:02:30,900 --> 00:02:33,700 Many thanks God's blessing. May be poured out upon you. 47 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,900 The media team who made it look so elegant. 48 00:02:35,900 --> 00:02:39,500 God bless you as well. Here is what I'm hoping is that 49 00:02:39,500 --> 00:02:43,500 every day between now and September, 7th and 10th, that's 50 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:46,000 the weekend that this sermon series close closes. 51 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,100 All across this region, people who look just like you and me, 52 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:54,000 us will spend a little bit of time every day and God's word 53 00:02:54,300 --> 00:02:57,100 that you would be changed by God's word that you would study. 54 00:02:57,100 --> 00:03:01,200 God's word, pray, God's word, and maybe even go so far as to 55 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,200 share God's word. Now, to those of you who are 56 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,200 traveling and doing all kinds of fun things over the summer, you 57 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:12,100 can just take this with you when you take your makeup, okay? 58 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,100 And then you can watch the service online and stay 59 00:03:15,100 --> 00:03:19,200 connected now To issue a special challenge husbands. 60 00:03:20,500 --> 00:03:25,800 Here is what I want to encourage you to consider doing this. 61 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:31,200 Bible study with your wife, women will sometimes say I just 62 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,900 wish my husband was a spiritual leader in the home or would be 63 00:03:35,100 --> 00:03:37,600 more spiritual, okay, that's great. 64 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,700 But then he comes to talk to your cold self ladies and he 65 00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:46,100 doesn't know how to, you know, if he came home and said, hey, I 66 00:03:46,108 --> 00:03:49,100 would like to do a Bible study with you, babe, you be like, how 67 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:51,500 drunk Are you right? That's just not. 68 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,400 Okay. So I'm being the ice breaker for 69 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,200 you. Here's fellas, when you get 70 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:57,500 home, go ahead. You want to do that thing. 71 00:03:57,500 --> 00:04:00,400 That Clayton was talking about. It's all you have to say and she 72 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,300 says, no, you're off the hook. If she says, yes, here's what 73 00:04:04,300 --> 00:04:05,900 you're going to do. I'm gonna make it super simple. 74 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,500 You're going to do the Bible's the the journal every single day 75 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,200 and then you're going to pick a night during the week where you 76 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,800 and your wife will Circle up ordering your favorite food at 77 00:04:15,808 --> 00:04:19,500 your favorite Jack's, Pizza. Just have a little Meal Time. 78 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,200 I'm get your favorite beverage and then go hey, what did you 79 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,900 learn? And then you tell them what you 80 00:04:25,900 --> 00:04:28,000 learned and then go, how can I pray for you? 81 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,200 And then they go, how can I pray for you? 82 00:04:30,300 --> 00:04:33,200 And then you pray together and see what happens in your 83 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:35,400 marriage? See, if at the end of September 84 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,400 you're going, you know what, you know, I was really trying to put 85 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,500 our family on a foundation of Jesus has been the worst thing 86 00:04:41,500 --> 00:04:42,900 ever. See if that is what comes out of 87 00:04:42,907 --> 00:04:44,200 your mouth. Now, some of you might be gone 88 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,600 but I don't have a husband. What do I do? 89 00:04:48,100 --> 00:04:51,300 Circle up with a couple friends and say, hey once a week do you 90 00:04:51,300 --> 00:04:54,000 want to get together for like 30 minutes and just talk through 91 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,000 what we learned and see if 30 minutes, doesn't turn into an 92 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,900 hour and a half and turn into something meaningful and 93 00:04:59,900 --> 00:05:02,400 advantageous. Now I know that at the Crossing, 94 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,100 there are a lot of people who are brand new to Faith, who are 95 00:05:05,100 --> 00:05:07,700 trying to figure out how to grow in the Lord. 96 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:09,800 And so part of the things we're going to do is we go through the 97 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,800 sermon series is we're going to try and teach you how to engage 98 00:05:13,300 --> 00:05:15,400 with the Bible. So what I want to do is before 99 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:16,800 you start reading a whole bunch of stuff. 100 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:18,600 In scripture. I want to give you a couple, 101 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,800 like, life hacks and there's a note section in here. 102 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:29,200 I think it's page seven page 9. Yep. 103 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:30,700 Thank you. Somebody's somebody's an 104 00:05:30,700 --> 00:05:33,400 overachiever, okay. Page 9, they're sitting in the 105 00:05:33,407 --> 00:05:35,000 front row. Good students. 106 00:05:35,900 --> 00:05:38,800 If you go to page 7, you can our page nine day 7. 107 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:40,100 You can write this stuff in there. 108 00:05:40,300 --> 00:05:42,900 So anytime you're reading scripture, you want to remember 109 00:05:42,900 --> 00:05:48,000 this word aim. What is the aim of scripture? 110 00:05:48,300 --> 00:05:54,100 And this is short for authors. Intended. 111 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,500 We're trying some new technology meaning there we go. 112 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:06,500 For the series hear me. Every time you read scripture 113 00:06:06,500 --> 00:06:09,400 there is an author's intended meaning. 114 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:14,000 The text can never mean what it was never meant to mean. 115 00:06:14,100 --> 00:06:18,900 There is one intended meaning but there are many, many, many 116 00:06:18,900 --> 00:06:23,000 applications worst question you can ask in a Bible study. 117 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,200 What does this scripture mean to you? 118 00:06:26,900 --> 00:06:30,300 To you, is irrelevant. It is. 119 00:06:30,300 --> 00:06:33,800 What does this scripture mean? And then what does this 120 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,100 scripture require of you? How do you apply it? 121 00:06:37,100 --> 00:06:40,900 So there is one meaning, lots of applications, okay? 122 00:06:41,300 --> 00:06:43,200 When the Bible says, love your enemies. 123 00:06:44,300 --> 00:06:48,600 Has an intended meaning. Lots of different applications 124 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,200 because different circumstances, different situations. 125 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,300 The second thing I want you to remember when you're studying 126 00:06:55,300 --> 00:06:57,100 scripture, actually I'll do it over here. 127 00:06:57,100 --> 00:06:58,500 I'm going to go over here for just a second. 128 00:06:58,900 --> 00:07:03,100 As I want you to remember, this is the second one context is 129 00:07:04,300 --> 00:07:06,900 King. I'll draw a little. 130 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:12,100 This is my crown. Okay, look at Clayton Ross, 131 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:16,900 doing all of his stuff. Okay, context is King and here's 132 00:07:16,900 --> 00:07:20,400 what I mean by context is King, when you are in your scriptures 133 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:24,300 you're going to find a word or you're going to find a verse. 134 00:07:25,500 --> 00:07:28,700 And you want to take that verse in context, think of that verse, 135 00:07:28,700 --> 00:07:30,700 as a rock. That's just been thrown into a 136 00:07:30,700 --> 00:07:32,800 lake. And there are all kinds of 137 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,500 ripples. All around it, okay? 138 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:40,700 And that verse or that word it has a sentence that goes before 139 00:07:40,700 --> 00:07:44,800 and it goes after it, there's a paragraph before and after it 140 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:49,300 there's a chapter before and after it there is a book of the 141 00:07:49,300 --> 00:07:53,600 Bible that is before and after it and then there is a testament 142 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,700 is this Old Testament or new testament? 143 00:07:56,700 --> 00:08:00,900 How many of you have ever been taken out of context if you're 144 00:08:00,900 --> 00:08:03,500 married, raise your hand? Yeah, I didn't say. 145 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:05,900 Say that. Right. 146 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,700 God gets frustrated. When we make his word, say 147 00:08:08,700 --> 00:08:12,500 something that his word never said you can create a lot of 148 00:08:12,500 --> 00:08:15,900 frustration to people to give them a promise from God. 149 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:20,100 That was never actually from God context is King if I'm walking 150 00:08:20,100 --> 00:08:23,600 out to my car after church today and I'm talking to my boys and 151 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:29,900 you hear me say she is so dirty. You might be going. 152 00:08:29,900 --> 00:08:31,200 Whoa whoa. Whoa. 153 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,100 Was he talking about? One of the greeters, was he 154 00:08:35,100 --> 00:08:37,000 talking about one of the youth workers? 155 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:42,100 Is he talking about Mom or does Clayton have a female named for 156 00:08:42,100 --> 00:08:45,800 his Chevy Suburban? And she needs to go to the car 157 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,000 wash, which is true context matters. 158 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,800 And so, when you are reading scripture, you're not just 159 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,200 pulling some random bursts out. You are putting it in the 160 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,600 context of what you're trying to, or if you want to understand 161 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,100 it, put It in context. Now as you're studying the 162 00:09:02,100 --> 00:09:05,100 Bible, here's just a couple easy goals for you to hit every 163 00:09:05,100 --> 00:09:07,300 single time when you're reading a chunk of scripture. 164 00:09:07,300 --> 00:09:10,200 Here's the first one, just write this question down. 165 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,200 Keep it for later. What is the important idea of 166 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,400 the chapter? This will help you start to 167 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:19,200 understand at a higher level? What's going on in scripture? 168 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,200 What's the important idea? What's the big thing? 169 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,600 They're trying to get across, you can usually, if I do a good 170 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,800 job Boyle, an entire sermon down to like one or two sentences. 171 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,600 Sometimes fellows. Wouldn't you like your wife to 172 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,800 not tell you the whole story. And just say Becky had a bad day 173 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,200 instead of well I was at McDonald's and when I ordered 174 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,500 mine and then like 45 minutes later and she's like and Becky 175 00:09:43,500 --> 00:09:46,500 had a bad day, just give me the Becky had a bad day part. 176 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,400 Okay, just give me that part second thing. 177 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,500 What is the verse? I would most like to memorize. 178 00:09:53,900 --> 00:09:56,300 David says, I've hidden your word in my heart that I might 179 00:09:56,300 --> 00:09:58,700 not sin against you. Have you ever done something 180 00:09:58,700 --> 00:09:59,700 stupid? Raise your hands? 181 00:10:00,500 --> 00:10:02,100 The reason you did something stupid, just cause you got 182 00:10:02,100 --> 00:10:06,500 stupid in your heart. And the only way to get stupid 183 00:10:06,500 --> 00:10:08,800 out of your heart is to fill your heart up with other things. 184 00:10:09,100 --> 00:10:12,100 The reason you do what you do is because what you do is in you 185 00:10:12,900 --> 00:10:15,000 and your heart is like your garage fellas. 186 00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:18,500 If your garage is full of all kinds of knickknacks, when 187 00:10:18,500 --> 00:10:21,700 someone gives you a Corvette, you have no space to put it in. 188 00:10:21,900 --> 00:10:24,300 So you got to get rid of the bad stuff so you can put the good 189 00:10:24,300 --> 00:10:26,700 stuff in memorize God's word in your heart. 190 00:10:26,700 --> 00:10:29,800 That way when you're trying to talk to somebody about Jesus or 191 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,800 when you're trying to navigate a difficult situation, the answer 192 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,200 is already in you but it's Not coming from you. 193 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,200 It's coming from him that you've put in you next one. 194 00:10:39,700 --> 00:10:41,600 What is the most challenging idea? 195 00:10:42,100 --> 00:10:44,400 It could be something that you have a hard time, understanding 196 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,100 a hard time hearing and a hard time applying sometimes when I 197 00:10:48,100 --> 00:10:50,800 am reading scripture, I go. That doesn't make any sense. 198 00:10:51,300 --> 00:10:53,500 I'm having a hard time understanding. 199 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:55,900 That's okay. Just acknowledge it. 200 00:10:55,900 --> 00:10:56,900 Do you think you're gonna have everything? 201 00:10:56,900 --> 00:10:59,800 Figured out know. There might be sometimes you're 202 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:01,300 going. I'm having a hard time hearing 203 00:11:01,300 --> 00:11:03,300 this. Another times, you'll have a 204 00:11:03,308 --> 00:11:07,200 hard time applying it for instance, love your enemies. 205 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,600 I don't understand what he means. 206 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:14,700 Have a hard time hearing it is, I don't like this verse. 207 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:17,100 Raise your hand. If you found a verse in the 208 00:11:17,100 --> 00:11:20,000 Bible, you know like yeah. Okay, let's start there. 209 00:11:20,500 --> 00:11:23,500 And then applying I don't know how to love my enemies. 210 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:26,600 And just acknowledge this is kind of where I'm at in 211 00:11:26,608 --> 00:11:29,900 scripture, just acknowledge it and figure out, okay, maybe this 212 00:11:29,900 --> 00:11:34,000 will lead me down a growth track or something for me to do then 213 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,600 what is the application of my life in a sentence? 214 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:41,000 I want to say this, some of you right now, you need to 215 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,700 understand. God's goal is not that you would 216 00:11:44,700 --> 00:11:47,300 read his word, but that you would be a doer of his word. 217 00:11:47,300 --> 00:11:50,600 Scripture cries out, don't Simply Be hearers of the word, 218 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:54,100 be doers of it, to all of you who are doing your Bible reading 219 00:11:54,100 --> 00:11:55,700 plan and you've made it through before. 220 00:11:55,700 --> 00:11:59,800 I want you to know there is not like box seats in heaven for you 221 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,400 would like air conditioned space and extra, you know, Wings on 222 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,900 the buffet and then there's like a people who got you stopped at 223 00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:09,400 laviticus section. Oh, okay, there's not these two 224 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:11,900 different sections. Here is what God would rather 225 00:12:11,900 --> 00:12:13,300 have you do. If you're going, hey God check 226 00:12:13,300 --> 00:12:15,900 me out. I read 10 chapters today God's 227 00:12:15,900 --> 00:12:16,800 going. Okay? 228 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:22,000 What did you apply? God would rather you read one 229 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,400 verse and apply that verse then read all of scripture and do 230 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,500 nothing with it. His goal is transformation. 231 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:32,900 And then are there any promises of God to me? 232 00:12:34,700 --> 00:12:36,500 Are there any promises of God to me? 233 00:12:36,500 --> 00:12:38,700 There are going to be storms in your life. 234 00:12:38,700 --> 00:12:41,200 There's going to be storms in your parenting storms in your 235 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,700 marriage storms in your job. There are going to be us attacks 236 00:12:44,700 --> 00:12:48,000 of Satan and when those things happen, I want you to have 237 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,700 promises of God that you can rely on and that you can fight 238 00:12:51,700 --> 00:12:54,200 back with. And if you don't have access to 239 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,300 those promises, you're going to find yourself out matched on a 240 00:12:57,308 --> 00:13:00,900 regular basis. That being said, let's talk 241 00:13:00,900 --> 00:13:07,000 about the book of Romans Why are we doing the book of Romans? 242 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,200 I'll tell you because the book of Romans was written to a 243 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,500 church that was struggling. Pay attention to these. 244 00:13:13,700 --> 00:13:20,300 Two cultural pressures rampant, exposure, to sin and divisive 245 00:13:20,300 --> 00:13:26,000 issues causing challenges for Christians to get along cultural 246 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:30,200 pressures rampant exposure, to sin, divisive issues, causing 247 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,400 Christians to have a hard time getting along. 248 00:13:32,700 --> 00:13:34,400 Do any of those three things sound familiar. 249 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,900 Earlier, God's word is timeless, it is good all the time in 250 00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:45,700 season and out of season. Now, when this book was written, 251 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:50,300 it was written to unify a divided Church, defend God's 252 00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:54,000 righteousness. Clarify the gospel and bring 253 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:59,700 about a spiritual transformation with cultural implications. 254 00:14:00,700 --> 00:14:03,100 And I bet that that is exactly what we need. 255 00:14:03,300 --> 00:14:08,400 And this book did just that this letter that was written to a 256 00:14:08,408 --> 00:14:12,200 group of Christians in Rome. We're so transformed by what 257 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,900 they read and the gospel message and the power of the Gospel that 258 00:14:15,900 --> 00:14:20,500 it revealed that inside of the span of three hundred years. 259 00:14:20,900 --> 00:14:27,200 Rome went from murdering Jesus, murdering Christians to making 260 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,800 Christianity, its National religion. 261 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:38,200 This book, The Gospel has transformative power, not just 262 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,700 at an individual level, not just at a cultural level but at a 263 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,500 national level now here's what this sermon series is going to 264 00:14:45,500 --> 00:14:47,500 look like the first eight chapters. 265 00:14:47,500 --> 00:14:50,000 The first eight weeks, we're going to talk about, God can be 266 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:51,900 trusted. We've been building to this all 267 00:14:51,900 --> 00:14:53,500 year. That's why we took you through 268 00:14:53,500 --> 00:14:56,500 the entire apologetic series. We talked about the reliability 269 00:14:56,500 --> 00:14:58,400 of the Resurrection. The reliability of the word of 270 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:00,100 God, the philosophical arguments, forgot. 271 00:15:00,300 --> 00:15:02,800 All of that was designed to build trust in God. 272 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,500 So you can trust God with your everyday life. 273 00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:07,700 You can trust God with your salvation. 274 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,100 Then we're going to talk about trusting, God, when others 275 00:15:10,100 --> 00:15:12,800 don't, that's the cultural pressure that you guys, feel 276 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,200 today, that you are trying to go on this road with Jesus. 277 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:18,800 And you feel like people are constantly trying to push you 278 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,400 off of it. And then we're going to get to 279 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:22,800 the part that nobody likes which is how do we actually live this 280 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:24,800 out? And be noticeably be a 281 00:15:24,808 --> 00:15:27,700 noticeable neighbor among our friends. 282 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,300 That being said, I want to spend a little bit of time, talking to 283 00:15:31,300 --> 00:15:36,600 you about the author, the author of the book of Romans is a man 284 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:38,300 by the name of Paul. Those of you who grew up in 285 00:15:38,300 --> 00:15:40,400 church, you already know all the answers here. 286 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:42,600 But to those of you who are brand new, I want to give you at 287 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,700 least some context about the guy who God used to write this book 288 00:15:46,700 --> 00:15:49,400 called Romans. There's a lot of different words 289 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,200 that you could use to describe him, the first word that you 290 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,600 could use. Is that he was a Pharisee, he 291 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:01,000 was a religious zealot. He was as religious and as 292 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,800 serious as you can get. So means he was smart, he was 293 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,200 educated and he was overly rambunctious for the cause of 294 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,600 God. The problem is, is all of that, 295 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:15,300 you know, religious energy, made him a persecutor. 296 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:22,600 He was a religious terrorist, he was so on fire for in his 297 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:26,300 commitment to God that when God revealed his son Jesus he 298 00:16:26,300 --> 00:16:28,700 couldn't see that. Jesus was God's son. 299 00:16:28,900 --> 00:16:33,700 And so he started to persecute people who believed in Jesus, 300 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:37,000 talk about a guy who got it all wrong, but here's the crazy 301 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:42,900 part, he eventually became a convert On his way to Damascus 302 00:16:42,900 --> 00:16:46,100 to persecute more Christians. God revealed himself through 303 00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:49,400 Jesus and his life was absolutely and completely 304 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,100 transformed. Which means he eventually became 305 00:16:52,100 --> 00:16:56,400 a writer when you are reading the New Testament, 13 or 14 of 306 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,800 the books, depending on how you handle Hebrews were written by 307 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:03,100 this guy say what? Yeah, this guy which means he 308 00:17:03,100 --> 00:17:07,400 eventually became a church planter if Paul was on staff at 309 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:11,300 the Crossing we would have like 1,000 locations because Coz 310 00:17:11,300 --> 00:17:14,500 everywhere he would go, he would just drop off a church. 311 00:17:14,599 --> 00:17:18,000 He would be like the Dollar General of Jesus followers, like 312 00:17:18,099 --> 00:17:20,700 Dollar, Generals are giving birth to Dollar Generals like 313 00:17:20,700 --> 00:17:23,099 you can go in one Dollar Generals and then there's like, 314 00:17:23,099 --> 00:17:25,500 more doors to another Dollar General inside of there. 315 00:17:25,500 --> 00:17:27,700 Like, how did you that was Paul? That's what he was doing. 316 00:17:27,700 --> 00:17:31,100 He was the CEO of what? Never okay, I'll stop because 317 00:17:31,100 --> 00:17:33,200 I'm going to say something, I don't want to say, all right, 318 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:37,000 then check this out, not only has become a church planter, he 319 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,300 eventually becomes. A martyr. 320 00:17:41,300 --> 00:17:44,800 Now, I want to get you a picture of how cool our goddess if you 321 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,900 would have picked, who is like the worst person on planet Earth 322 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:52,100 to Christians at that moment in time, they would have said Paul. 323 00:17:53,500 --> 00:17:56,400 And God went oh that would be a perfect guy for me to just pour 324 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,600 out my grace on. In fact I'm going to use this 325 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:01,400 guy to advance my gospel in ways. 326 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:06,200 You can't even imagine do any of you know somebody who you just 327 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:10,000 want to say is too far gone to jacked up. 328 00:18:10,300 --> 00:18:12,500 Oh my goodness, when are they ever going to get it right? 329 00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:16,200 Those are the kind of people that God's, like, watch this, 330 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,800 don't you ever give up on somebody that God could end up 331 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:21,500 using? Because he starts off 332 00:18:21,500 --> 00:18:25,900 persecuting people for the faith and then he ends up dying for 333 00:18:25,900 --> 00:18:29,000 the faith. Here's what Paul would say about 334 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:34,500 himself, and he does. Chief of sinners. 335 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:37,700 In Paul's mind and this is something for you. 336 00:18:37,700 --> 00:18:40,800 And I to take home and Paul's mind he was the worst of the 337 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,500 worst. He's going to say some 338 00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:45,600 incredibly hard things in the Book of Romans, there's many 339 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:47,400 times you're going, why are we doing this? 340 00:18:48,100 --> 00:18:50,900 I want you to know it's written by a guy who sees himself as the 341 00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:55,700 worst of worst and our attitude among people around us should be 342 00:18:55,700 --> 00:18:59,200 that we have a serious understanding of our sin and how 343 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,900 we have messed things up so that way we can have the right 344 00:19:01,900 --> 00:19:03,300 posture. When we're trying to make a 345 00:19:03,308 --> 00:19:06,300 difference in the world around us that being said, let's jump 346 00:19:06,300 --> 00:19:11,900 into Romans 1:1 Paul a servant. That's another word he would 347 00:19:11,900 --> 00:19:13,000 use. Use of Christ. 348 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,300 Jesus, the word servant here is slave. 349 00:19:15,300 --> 00:19:18,100 Here's what Paul did. He was so consumed with what God 350 00:19:18,100 --> 00:19:21,000 had done on his behalf that he pulled out the handcuffs 351 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,700 voluntarily, and he voluntarily handcuffed himself to the 352 00:19:24,700 --> 00:19:28,000 mission of Jesus. I'm going to spend the rest of 353 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:33,400 my life serving Jesus, making Jesus known, I am chained to 354 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:34,500 this. I serve that. 355 00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:37,000 This is what I do. This is why I exist. 356 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,000 It is not about this is not about what is my occupation. 357 00:19:40,100 --> 00:19:44,000 It's my preoccupation tomorrow. Hopefully, all of you have jobs, 358 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,200 right? You are going to go out and you 359 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,900 are going to do your job, Paul would say, yeah, I have a job, 360 00:19:48,900 --> 00:19:50,200 too. I make tents. 361 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,700 You might paint. You might process insurance 362 00:19:53,700 --> 00:19:57,200 claims. You might want you do you, but 363 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,800 he would say, nope, but this is my primary responsibility. 364 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,400 I'm simply doing my day job so I can do. 365 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,400 The thing. I'm passionate about the thing 366 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,600 I'm passionate about is I am a servant of Jesus Christ called 367 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,000 to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel. 368 00:20:12,100 --> 00:20:16,100 Gospel of God, the gospel he promised beforehand through His 369 00:20:16,100 --> 00:20:18,900 prophets, in the Holy scriptures, regarding his son, 370 00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:22,200 who has to his Earthly life was a descendant of David. 371 00:20:22,300 --> 00:20:24,500 He's going to talk to us about Jesus here for a second. 372 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:29,400 And then through the spirit of Holiness was appointed the Son 373 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,900 of God in power by his resurrection, from the dead 374 00:20:32,900 --> 00:20:36,600 Jesus Christ, Our Lord Christ means anointed. 375 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,500 If you paid attention to our Christmas service, this past 376 00:20:39,500 --> 00:20:43,000 year, I talked about there were three offices that were anointed 377 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,500 into service in the Old Testament and Jesus fulfills. 378 00:20:46,500 --> 00:20:51,300 All three of those offices as Prophet priest and King and what 379 00:20:51,300 --> 00:20:54,100 what Paul is doing at the very beginning is he is showing us 380 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:59,800 the human Of Jesus, through the line of David and the divine 381 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,600 origin of Jesus through the power of God. 382 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:08,800 What he's getting across this is that Jesus is 100% God and 100% 383 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,100 man at the same time some of your going. 384 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:15,100 I'm not that great at math Clayton but 100 plus 100 doesn't 385 00:21:15,100 --> 00:21:17,000 equal 100? Well, that's because you're not 386 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,100 God. That's how that math works. 387 00:21:20,500 --> 00:21:21,800 You can't do that in your math class. 388 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:23,700 But you could do that when you're talking with God, why 389 00:21:23,700 --> 00:21:26,900 does this matter? That means that he knows what it 390 00:21:26,900 --> 00:21:29,400 is to struggle with sin in our Humanity. 391 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,900 But he also understands the power and the Holiness of God 392 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,200 this makes him uniquely qualified to offer all three 393 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,300 offices of prophet priest and King, this is evidenced by his 394 00:21:40,300 --> 00:21:43,700 death and Resurrection because only a human can die. 395 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,100 But only a God can raise you from the dead. 396 00:21:47,900 --> 00:21:50,700 This means that Jesus Christ is Lord. 397 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,600 He's in charge and everything else in your life has to be a 398 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,900 distant. Second, some of you I'm going to 399 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:57,900 do. We move forward. 400 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,300 This is some of you, you would understand this, if I thought 401 00:22:01,300 --> 00:22:03,600 you were to rate all the things that are the priorities in your 402 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,300 life, anything that you put in the number one spot. 403 00:22:06,300 --> 00:22:10,300 That's not God, that's idolatry. But sometimes what we'll do is 404 00:22:10,300 --> 00:22:13,500 we'll go, I'll put Jesus in the number one spot and then just 405 00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:16,200 right. Right behind number one. 406 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:18,200 I'm a Christian. Jesus. 407 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:24,300 Number one, Republican, 1.2 Democrat. 1.2 Cubs fan. 1.2 like 408 00:22:24,300 --> 00:22:27,700 will get it as close as we possibly can to Jesus. 409 00:22:28,500 --> 00:22:31,700 And he do know, when Jesus Christ is Lord, Jesus is in the 410 00:22:31,700 --> 00:22:35,500 number one spot. Everything else is a distant 411 00:22:35,500 --> 00:22:38,200 second way. Separated. 412 00:22:38,500 --> 00:22:42,100 He is so preeminent in your life that everything else has to be a 413 00:22:42,100 --> 00:22:46,700 long long way away because some of us, we only like half of the 414 00:22:46,700 --> 00:22:50,000 Jesus equation. So here is the Jesus equation. 415 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,500 We've Got Heaven. And then we've got you, I'm 416 00:22:53,508 --> 00:22:56,600 going to draw you. Oh, Clayton. 417 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,400 You are so good at arts and make sure I get this right. 418 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:02,400 Okay, cool. This is you. 419 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:09,100 And here's Jesus as your savior and this is Jesus as your lord. 420 00:23:09,700 --> 00:23:13,400 Now some of us only focus on the Savior part and this is where 421 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:16,400 Jesus comes and he rescues us from the Dominion of darkness. 422 00:23:16,700 --> 00:23:19,900 And so when Jesus as your savior, he's trying to get you 423 00:23:19,900 --> 00:23:24,000 into heaven. But when you start following 424 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,900 Jesus, as your lord, what he's trying to do is he's trying to 425 00:23:26,900 --> 00:23:31,900 get heaven in to you. This is how you become a city on 426 00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:35,200 a hill, a lamp on a stand. Salt of the earth. 427 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:36,400 It is. When you start to live 428 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,800 differently because the values of the kingdom of God, take 429 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,100 place or take over in your heart. 430 00:23:42,100 --> 00:23:45,600 And it brings about transformation in your life. 431 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:49,500 Which gives people evidence to see that God can do a mighty 432 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:53,200 work now. I'm a mom. 433 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,600 Let's get into. A bigger chunk of scripture. 434 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,100 Now, before I get into this chunk of scripture, I want you 435 00:24:00,100 --> 00:24:02,300 to know that we're about ready to read some scriptures that 436 00:24:02,300 --> 00:24:05,000 some of you are going to go, this is fantastic. 437 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:12,000 And you want to clap like way to go way to take a stand and then 438 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,200 there's gonna be others of you who are going to find yourself a 439 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,500 little triggered, a little frustrated, a little 440 00:24:16,500 --> 00:24:20,200 disoriented, what I want you to do, as, as we get ready to read 441 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,900 this text clear and clean this up real quick. 442 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,600 Watch me work. Okay, here we We go when we get 443 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:29,000 ready to read these chunks of scripture. 444 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:35,900 Okay, here's you again. Boy, I'm good. 445 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,800 And what I don't want you to do is I don't want you to pick up 446 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,800 binoculars. And look out this way. 447 00:24:43,300 --> 00:24:44,700 What? Good Christians do when they 448 00:24:44,700 --> 00:24:48,300 read the scripture, what good Christians do when they pick up 449 00:24:48,300 --> 00:24:56,600 the scripture. Is they are looking at a mirror. 450 00:24:56,700 --> 00:25:00,000 This is this right here is supposed to be a mere okay, 451 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,600 dominate a Pictionary, okay? Because when if you are reading 452 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,100 scripture and your go, or you're listening to this sermon, you're 453 00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:11,200 going, oh I'm so glad. My husband is hearing this right 454 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,700 now. Bad Christian if you're going oh 455 00:25:15,700 --> 00:25:19,700 I wish so-and-so is here so they can hear the sermon When likely 456 00:25:19,700 --> 00:25:22,900 bad Christian here is what a good Christian does. 457 00:25:22,900 --> 00:25:26,100 A good Christian pulls up the mirror and they allow scripture 458 00:25:26,100 --> 00:25:31,500 to reveal things about themselves who is the worst 459 00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:34,700 person? You know Point Adam some of you 460 00:25:34,700 --> 00:25:40,300 are just idiots this person. Yeah no it's you you're the 461 00:25:40,300 --> 00:25:43,500 worst person. You know, it's not Person next 462 00:25:43,500 --> 00:25:46,700 to you, you, you need to be exposed to scripture. 463 00:25:46,700 --> 00:25:48,400 You need to be changed by scripture. 464 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,800 That's what has to happen to me. Is we have to allow ourselves to 465 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,300 be exposed to the truth of God. Now, here we go. 466 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,400 Take a deep breath. Will all survive. 467 00:25:59,100 --> 00:26:02,400 The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven, against 468 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,800 all the godlessness and wickedness of people who 469 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,500 suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be 470 00:26:08,500 --> 00:26:12,100 known about the about God is plain to them because God has 471 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,000 made it plain to them and some of you are going I knew it. 472 00:26:15,700 --> 00:26:16,800 You guys have been talking about. 473 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:20,100 God is a god of love for way too long, but there it is. 474 00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:22,300 I knew it existed. I didn't know where it existed, 475 00:26:22,300 --> 00:26:25,900 but you showed your hand. I know that God is an Angry God. 476 00:26:26,700 --> 00:26:32,500 I'm not hiding that he's angry. The opposite of love is not 477 00:26:32,500 --> 00:26:36,400 Wrath. It's indifference, it's not 478 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,300 caring. Let me ask you a question. 479 00:26:38,700 --> 00:26:42,400 Come here for a second. Who are the people you've been 480 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:49,000 the most angry at I'm guessing you made them. 481 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,900 Yeah. Oh, oh, oh yeah. 482 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,500 I mean, the amount of Grace you have going through the 483 00:26:57,500 --> 00:27:01,100 drive-thru Just eating his phone. 484 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,100 Oh no. Napkins in the bag. 485 00:27:03,300 --> 00:27:04,800 No problem. It's okay. 486 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:06,800 God bless. You have a church home. 487 00:27:07,100 --> 00:27:08,900 We went through the drive through the other day, just the 488 00:27:08,900 --> 00:27:12,200 four of us who was like, fifty, five dollars, which is a good 489 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:13,400 thing. We had a credit card so we can 490 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,000 Finance it over the next nine months. 491 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,300 But while I'm going through what I didn't do, is any pop off at 492 00:27:18,300 --> 00:27:20,200 the person? How are you doing this? 493 00:27:20,300 --> 00:27:24,100 I just went will pay for the person behind us, right? 494 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,100 But you come home to your house and your kid leaves 1 spoon out, 495 00:27:28,700 --> 00:27:31,400 Why are you leaving the spoon out on the counter every day? 496 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:35,700 I come home from a long day of work and there's a spoon on the 497 00:27:35,700 --> 00:27:40,500 counter and then everybody hides because you're an angry troll. 498 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,900 Yeah. We get the most angry at the 499 00:27:45,900 --> 00:27:51,200 people we make, because we know that they know better, we know 500 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,900 what they're capable of. Do you ever get frustrated and 501 00:27:54,900 --> 00:27:58,200 angry at what you see in the world to those of you who watch 502 00:27:58,200 --> 00:27:59,900 Fox? Fox News, the answer we already 503 00:27:59,900 --> 00:28:03,500 know for you is yes. And don't you think God looks 504 00:28:03,500 --> 00:28:07,200 down at the world and he sees all the pain and suffering and 505 00:28:07,300 --> 00:28:10,300 gets angry to. This is not what I wanted. 506 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,000 This is not what I wanted to see happen. 507 00:28:12,100 --> 00:28:15,500 This was not my design and don't you think God also gets angry 508 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,200 because people don't follow, God's will screw up the world 509 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,200 and then we blame God for a world that screwed up and he's 510 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:23,900 going it's screwed up because you didn't do what I asked you 511 00:28:23,900 --> 00:28:26,400 to do. Right. 512 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:32,500 Don't you think God, the conscious that you have is also 513 00:28:32,500 --> 00:28:35,900 in God that what he sees in the world angers him. 514 00:28:36,900 --> 00:28:39,400 The treatment of people angers him. 515 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,000 When people disobey him, it angers him, that's not the 516 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:48,300 opposite of love. It just reveals that he cares 517 00:28:48,500 --> 00:28:55,700 that it matters to him now. Well, here we go. 518 00:28:57,300 --> 00:28:59,200 For, since the creation of the world, God's invisible 519 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,100 qualities. His eternal power, his divine 520 00:29:01,100 --> 00:29:04,700 nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has 521 00:29:04,700 --> 00:29:06,900 been made. So people are without excuse. 522 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:09,300 What he's saying here, you'll remember in the sermon. 523 00:29:09,300 --> 00:29:11,800 Hopefully, if you guys came to church while back, we did a 524 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,200 sermon series on the philosophical arguments of God. 525 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:21,000 What Paul is saying here is that the argument of origin The 526 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:27,000 argument of design. The moral argument, God has made 527 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,800 himself known on some level to all people. 528 00:29:31,900 --> 00:29:36,800 So that nobody's without excuse. For, although they knew God, 529 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,800 they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but 530 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:43,900 their thinking became futile and their foolish Hearts were 531 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,600 darkened, people who don't follow God, get dark Hearts, 532 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,800 dark Hearts, do dark things. You want to know why the world 533 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:52,500 is dark? It's because people are doing 534 00:29:52,500 --> 00:29:55,400 dark things because they have dark Hearts because they're not 535 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,300 following the will of God. This is how it happens. 536 00:29:57,500 --> 00:30:01,300 And hear me, keep the mirror up, not the binoculars, the world is 537 00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:07,400 bad because we are bad. The world is bad because we sin. 538 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,600 Although they claim to be wise, they became fools and exchanged, 539 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,600 the glory of the immortal. God for images made to look like 540 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,600 Mortal human beings, and birds and animals and reptiles. 541 00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,900 Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their 542 00:30:26,900 --> 00:30:30,800 hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies 543 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:33,400 with one another, but Circle up on this one. 544 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,200 What does it mean that God gave them over? 545 00:30:37,700 --> 00:30:41,300 I'm gonna give you two options to think through this because 546 00:30:41,300 --> 00:30:42,900 you might be going. I don't know how I feel about 547 00:30:42,900 --> 00:30:48,500 God giving them over. Did God, make them do this or 548 00:30:48,500 --> 00:30:52,200 did God allow this to happen to God? 549 00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:57,000 Let go of the boat or did God push the boat away? 550 00:30:57,900 --> 00:31:01,600 Let me explain this to you in your world. 551 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:07,500 At my house from time to time. I will utter these words, boys, 552 00:31:08,300 --> 00:31:10,500 bring your dirty clothes downstairs. 553 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:13,700 Boys. Bring your dirty clothes 554 00:31:13,700 --> 00:31:17,900 downstairs, boys. You better bring your dirty 555 00:31:17,900 --> 00:31:22,800 clothes down tonight. You know what sometimes happens. 556 00:31:24,500 --> 00:31:27,100 My boys because they have a little bit of their mom and 557 00:31:27,100 --> 00:31:28,500 them. Don't listen. 558 00:31:31,300 --> 00:31:36,500 And the next day, you know where this is going, the kids come 559 00:31:36,500 --> 00:31:41,200 sauntering down the stairs and they say, I have nothing to 560 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:46,900 wear. You don't have anything to wear. 561 00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:51,700 Yeah, you do wear those clothes, those clothes are dirty. 562 00:31:53,700 --> 00:31:58,100 We'll put them on. Did I make my kids wear dirty 563 00:31:58,100 --> 00:31:59,900 clothes? No. 564 00:32:00,700 --> 00:32:03,200 Did I allow them to wear dirty clothes? 565 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,100 Maybe. Actually, it's not true. 566 00:32:07,100 --> 00:32:09,700 You know what happens? My wife goes up the stairs, pick 567 00:32:09,700 --> 00:32:15,300 some up. Bring some okay, this is for 568 00:32:15,300 --> 00:32:21,800 anybody over. 120 cash. Clayton, doesn't help out around 569 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:25,000 the house at all, does he? Yes, I don't know what this is. 570 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:30,200 How you wash stuff. All right, here's what's 571 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,600 happening. Paul chief of Sinners is saying, 572 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:38,700 hey everybody, we've all got dirty laundry and you take it to 573 00:32:38,700 --> 00:32:41,400 Jesus, you take it to the Holy Spirit and you allow it to 574 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,700 transform you from the inside out, but if you don't follow 575 00:32:44,700 --> 00:32:46,600 Jesus, if you don't turn your life over to him. 576 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,300 If you don't let the holy spirit in your clothes are going to get 577 00:32:49,300 --> 00:32:52,000 dirty and when your clothes, get dirty, you stink and when you 578 00:32:52,008 --> 00:32:55,000 stake, it's hard to make friends and you go down all kinds of bad 579 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,300 roads. Saying hey, God's been crying 580 00:32:58,300 --> 00:33:01,500 out. Take or bring down your laundry. 581 00:33:01,500 --> 00:33:04,200 Bring down the dirty clothes but if you don't, there's 582 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:08,200 consequences. So he gave them over to the 583 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:12,000 desires of our to the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity. 584 00:33:12,700 --> 00:33:15,700 They exchanged the truth about God, for a lie and worshiped and 585 00:33:15,700 --> 00:33:18,500 served created things rather than the Creator who was forever 586 00:33:18,500 --> 00:33:22,600 praised. Amen, because of this God gave 587 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:26,300 them over to shameful lusts, even their women. 588 00:33:26,500 --> 00:33:29,500 Exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 589 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:34,400 In the same way men, abandoned natural relations with women and 590 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,400 we're inflamed with lust for one, another men committed, 591 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,800 shameful acts with other men and received in themselves, the due 592 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:45,200 penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did 593 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,000 not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, so 594 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,900 he gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what not 595 00:33:51,900 --> 00:33:56,600 ought be done. Let me be clear. 596 00:33:57,100 --> 00:34:03,200 Paul is making a statement here about human sexuality and God's 597 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,100 design for sex. Now for those of you who are 598 00:34:06,108 --> 00:34:09,199 brand new to the crossing here is what God teaches is. 599 00:34:09,199 --> 00:34:13,500 How sex is supposed to operate. You have sex and God, put 600 00:34:13,500 --> 00:34:17,000 boundaries around it, and that boundary is marriage. 601 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:24,400 Which is a covenant and that is between men and women and 602 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:29,800 anything outside of this is called sin. 603 00:34:30,100 --> 00:34:33,900 So, help me out here. If you're having sex with your 604 00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:36,699 girlfriend. Is that sin yes or no? 605 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:38,900 Oh, everybody's real quiet. Oh yeah. 606 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:50,000 You're having sex with her boyfriend, is that a sin? 607 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000 Yes or no. Oh there you go. 608 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,400 Okay, okay. Alright, we're definitely gonna 609 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,900 let the girls know that what you just did is wrong but when the 610 00:34:56,900 --> 00:35:00,000 guy was having sex with his girlfriend and I mean, she's 611 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,800 pretty okay. Can you have sex? 612 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,700 If you're married with like your side piece, Is that a sin? 613 00:35:07,700 --> 00:35:11,500 Yes or no. Okay, your pet. 614 00:35:11,900 --> 00:35:16,100 Can you have sex with your pet? No, not somehow that's a no-go. 615 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:21,100 Can can you have sex? That's this. 616 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,900 No. Can you have sex? 617 00:35:24,900 --> 00:35:27,700 That's this. These are chromosome questions. 618 00:35:27,700 --> 00:35:30,900 For those of you, okay, the answer to that is no. 619 00:35:30,900 --> 00:35:33,700 When can you have sex? When you have decided that you 620 00:35:33,700 --> 00:35:37,600 are going to love and serve and cherish until death? 621 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,900 Does you part? Then you can go. 622 00:35:40,900 --> 00:35:42,600 Yeah. This, this is for you. 623 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:44,900 This is God's purpose. This is part of God's plan 624 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:47,800 anything outside of this. Now, some of you I want to hear 625 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,800 me say this, this is just one of the sins that Paul's mentioning 626 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:52,300 here. So if those of you who are 627 00:35:52,308 --> 00:35:54,100 going, hey, you know, I'm not gay. 628 00:35:54,100 --> 00:35:57,800 So this was my favorite service ever because, you know, he was 629 00:35:57,800 --> 00:35:59,200 preaching at all of the bat. No. 630 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,600 No, no. We are all going to find 631 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:05,200 ourselves buried underneath the weight of our sin and just a few 632 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,100 moments, I just want to make sure what it was clear. 633 00:36:08,100 --> 00:36:09,800 What Paul is saying about sexuality now. 634 00:36:10,300 --> 00:36:13,500 Our church is going to do a sermon series in September on 635 00:36:13,500 --> 00:36:16,500 Hot Topics, which will include sexuality and gender and the 636 00:36:16,508 --> 00:36:18,800 like, and if there's anybody who's still a part of our 637 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,400 church, when we get to that sermon series, it will be a 638 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,000 careful thoughtful, sermon series that I believe will be 639 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,000 beneficial to all of you. We will unpack more of that 640 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:29,700 later. But what I want, you know, is 641 00:36:29,700 --> 00:36:32,900 Paul does call homosexual activity a sin, but he is also 642 00:36:32,900 --> 00:36:35,000 going to go on a long list that includes the send that you 643 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,400 struggle with even though there's this sin that maybe 644 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,500 other people struggle with and with the same level of Grace 645 00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:42,300 that you would like people to treat your sin. 646 00:36:42,300 --> 00:36:45,500 I think you should treat other people with their sins. 647 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:49,100 And here we go. They have become filled with 648 00:36:49,100 --> 00:36:52,900 every kind of wickedness, evil greed and depravity. 649 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:57,100 That pick any of you up yet? Oh no, I don't know. 650 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,800 Maybe, I've seen their full of Envy murder, Strife, deceit, and 651 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:01,600 mouse. Some of your gone. 652 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:03,600 All that's great news because I'm not a murderer, but just 653 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:04,900 remember. Jesus says, if you have Hate in 654 00:37:04,908 --> 00:37:07,900 Your Heart, you've already committed murder. 655 00:37:08,500 --> 00:37:11,500 So those of you who are hardcore, Republicans, how do 656 00:37:11,500 --> 00:37:13,300 you feel about Democrats or Joe Biden? 657 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:19,100 Okay, well, no, that we found you, okay? 658 00:37:19,700 --> 00:37:25,700 And if you're a Democrat and you have thoughts, I'm Trump and you 659 00:37:25,700 --> 00:37:26,800 have a little bit of Hate in Your Heart. 660 00:37:26,900 --> 00:37:29,500 Oh, yeah. Guess what you? 661 00:37:29,500 --> 00:37:32,000 And the Republicans just found Common Ground. 662 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:36,400 Okay, look at this. Here's one of my favorite things 663 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:38,700 about. Here we go. 664 00:37:38,700 --> 00:37:43,000 Here's one greed. Do any of us in America struggle 665 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,100 with greed? When our clothes have houses, 666 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,800 and our cars have houses. Oh, no, not us. 667 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,400 And we we have all the money in the world to do all the fun 668 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:55,300 things we want. But boy, we are just tight on 669 00:37:55,300 --> 00:37:58,100 cash when it comes to helping people out or advancing the 670 00:37:58,107 --> 00:38:00,400 mission of Jesus Christ. Oh man, you caught me at a bad 671 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,900 time. We're saving for Cabo. 672 00:38:02,900 --> 00:38:05,700 How do you okay? All right. 673 00:38:05,700 --> 00:38:08,200 Just so, you know, greedy people and homosexuals. 674 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:09,700 He's going. Hey, I got a problem with you. 675 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:13,100 No, no, Clayton. Homosexuals are like the worst 676 00:38:13,100 --> 00:38:16,500 of the worst and greedy people, they're just right. 677 00:38:16,500 --> 00:38:19,700 I think just they just got a they just got hit just a wittle, 678 00:38:19,700 --> 00:38:23,700 bitty sin. Nope, he's saying you screw-ups 679 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:25,900 and put on. I've got a mirror. 680 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,300 He's looking at me to it gets worse. 681 00:38:29,300 --> 00:38:32,400 We're gossips. Hey ladies, glad you could join 682 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:38,000 us slanderers. God haters insolent, arrogant, 683 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,500 boastful, they invent ways of doing evil. 684 00:38:40,500 --> 00:38:45,500 They disobey their parents. No, Clayton, not little Timmy 685 00:38:45,500 --> 00:38:49,300 with his button nose. Not my little Grand kid who just 686 00:38:49,300 --> 00:38:52,000 so precious balls. Going. 687 00:38:52,100 --> 00:38:57,100 Hey, homosexuals. Grady people, your grandbaby, 688 00:38:57,100 --> 00:39:02,900 that's super precious. Sinners who have rejected God 689 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:05,800 and brought about Darkness on the earth. 690 00:39:06,300 --> 00:39:10,900 Oh my goodness. We got 15 more weeks. 691 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:18,300 We've got 421 more verses to go strap on. 692 00:39:19,100 --> 00:39:24,100 Okay, although they knew God's righteous decree that those who 693 00:39:24,100 --> 00:39:26,900 do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do 694 00:39:26,900 --> 00:39:30,000 these very things but also approve of those who practice 695 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:37,700 them. Let me take you to my favorite 696 00:39:37,700 --> 00:39:42,800 verse. Versus one are 1:16 through 17. 697 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,100 If you're looking for like the key verse in this chapter one, 698 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:46,700 if you want me to give you the answer before you do the 699 00:39:46,700 --> 00:39:50,000 homework, if you want to know what verse you should probably 700 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,000 memorize, its this one, because Paul makes this statement, you 701 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,000 just heard some pretty heavy stuff and some of your going, I 702 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,200 don't know if I want to be a Christian and some of your going 703 00:39:58,200 --> 00:39:59,700 to. I do not like this at all and 704 00:39:59,700 --> 00:40:01,800 some of you are a little embarrassed, like, I can't 705 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,200 believe that. That's actually what Christians 706 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:04,800 believe some of you're going. I can't believe. 707 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:06,300 This is what the crossing actually believes. 708 00:40:07,500 --> 00:40:13,000 Stay With Me. Paul says, I am not ashamed of 709 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,900 the gospel because it is the power of God. 710 00:40:16,900 --> 00:40:21,000 That brings salvation to everybody say this word to 711 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,200 everyone. He's saying I'm not ashamed of 712 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:26,200 what I'm telling you because it's where the power of the 713 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:31,700 Gospel lies because God made this a reality that he brings 714 00:40:31,700 --> 00:40:34,600 about salvation to redeem our broken nature. 715 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,300 You might be gone but I don't like some of the things that God 716 00:40:37,300 --> 00:40:39,100 is calling sin. That's fine. 717 00:40:39,100 --> 00:40:42,400 Go create your own World and you create your own boundaries for 718 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:45,300 your own sin. Oh, you don't have a world. 719 00:40:46,100 --> 00:40:48,300 You didn't create one, you're living in his. 720 00:40:48,500 --> 00:40:51,700 Well, if he created it, he gets to Define what's in and what's 721 00:40:51,700 --> 00:40:54,400 not send, what you, and I have to do is live, according to his 722 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:58,500 purpose is not our purposes, but here is what Paul he's saying. 723 00:40:58,500 --> 00:41:03,400 So much more that brings salvation to everyone who 724 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:06,400 believes Paul is trying to show every single person. 725 00:41:06,500 --> 00:41:12,200 This is how bad you have been. But Look at how good God has 726 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:16,300 been, and he is here to save you from your sin. 727 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:20,100 He is here to save you from all the bad things that you have 728 00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:22,600 done. He is going out of his way to 729 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:27,300 show us that God is for everyone to bring about salvation. 730 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,500 First for the Jew. Then to the Gentile will unpack 731 00:41:30,500 --> 00:41:34,200 Jew and Gentile. Next week for in the gospel. 732 00:41:34,300 --> 00:41:38,200 The righteousness of God is revealed. 733 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:44,400 What does it mean that he is the one who makes us, right? 734 00:41:45,100 --> 00:41:48,100 He is the one who purifies us. He's the one who deals with the 735 00:41:48,100 --> 00:41:50,600 sin. He is the one who turns us 736 00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:52,300 around. Just it is written or wait, 737 00:41:52,300 --> 00:41:55,100 righteousness. That is by faith From First to 738 00:41:55,100 --> 00:41:56,800 Last. We do not create the 739 00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:59,300 righteousness. We are not responsible for the 740 00:41:59,308 --> 00:42:02,700 righteousness. Our job is to take, hold of the 741 00:42:02,700 --> 00:42:05,600 righteousness. That's our part from first to 742 00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:07,400 last. We add nothing to it. 743 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:09,900 God is the one who's brought about all the righteousness? 744 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:13,400 On his own account, our job is just to grab a hold because the 745 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:17,300 righteous will live by faith hear me. 746 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:22,100 God can be trusted because he has done this marvelous work on 747 00:42:22,100 --> 00:42:25,100 our behalf. He, we will get into this in 748 00:42:25,100 --> 00:42:28,800 Romans chapter 5 that he moved before we moved. 749 00:42:29,100 --> 00:42:31,200 We had nothing to it. Is his work. 750 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:35,900 His Redemption, his glory, his Holiness and it is available to 751 00:42:35,900 --> 00:42:38,800 us how serious does God takes sin. 752 00:42:40,300 --> 00:42:43,600 So much so that he sent his son to die on the cross. 753 00:42:44,300 --> 00:42:48,800 How bad are we so bad? That he sent his son Jesus to 754 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:52,400 die on the cross. How serious is God about 755 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,400 Redeeming the world and restoring what's broken. 756 00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:59,700 So serious, that he sent his son to die on the cross. 757 00:42:59,700 --> 00:43:04,400 On our behalf, how angry is God at the condition of the world. 758 00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:08,700 So, angry that he sent his son to die on the cross. 759 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:12,600 How much? Does God want you to be saved? 760 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:17,300 How much does God want? You to be made righteous so much 761 00:43:17,300 --> 00:43:20,200 that he sent his son Jesus to die, on the cross? 762 00:43:20,500 --> 00:43:25,900 How does God make you righteous by sending his son Jesus to die 763 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:29,300 on the cross? Well, why did he send Jesus to 764 00:43:29,300 --> 00:43:33,500 die on the cross? So that absolutely everyone can 765 00:43:33,500 --> 00:43:39,000 come to Salvation if they will take hold of it by faith. 766 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,300 This Is a gospel message that we can get behind. 767 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,800 This is a gospel message that we can't be ashamed of we're moving 768 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:54,300 to a time of decision. If you're in this room and 769 00:43:54,300 --> 00:43:56,300 you're new to the church, or maybe you've never started an 770 00:43:56,300 --> 00:43:59,800 intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you've never 771 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:03,400 accepted and received the gospel that we were just talking about. 772 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:06,000 You see the sinful behavior of your life? 773 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:08,700 You've noticed, the trajectory that you're on and you're going 774 00:44:08,700 --> 00:44:11,900 this cannot be what I was. Created for, I have to have been 775 00:44:11,900 --> 00:44:14,800 made for something more, and if you're ready to get out of the 776 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,700 driver's seat of your life and allow Jesus to be Lord, which 777 00:44:17,700 --> 00:44:21,400 means you let him take over, and you do what he says, what you 778 00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:24,400 can do is, you can begin that intimate personal relationship 779 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:27,400 with Jesus Christ today. You are we going well, how do I 780 00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:30,300 get into that relationship with? The Bible is super clear that 781 00:44:30,300 --> 00:44:32,500 there's a couple things that every person who comes to Faith 782 00:44:32,500 --> 00:44:35,600 in Jesus Christ, do the first thing is, they believe it. 783 00:44:36,100 --> 00:44:38,000 They believe that God is real, Jesus is Alive. 784 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,800 The Bible is true and that Died on the cross on their behalf to 785 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:44,900 bring about the righteousness of God into their life. 786 00:44:44,900 --> 00:44:48,000 They repent of their sin, basically saying, I don't want 787 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,900 to be this person anymore. I want to be the person that God 788 00:44:50,900 --> 00:44:52,300 created me to be. That doesn't mean that you're 789 00:44:52,300 --> 00:44:55,200 not going to send any more but you were going to be start 790 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:57,600 sending less and less as the Holy Spirit as you allow the 791 00:44:57,600 --> 00:44:59,300 Holy Spirit to take over your life. 792 00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:02,600 Another thing that they do is they're baptized that they model 793 00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:06,100 what Jesus Christ did that, he was a barrier that he died and 794 00:45:06,100 --> 00:45:08,300 he was buried in the he was brought back to life and that is 795 00:45:08,300 --> 00:45:11,300 what happens with us. We are born again, our sins are 796 00:45:11,300 --> 00:45:14,100 washed away and then we are brought back to New Life In 797 00:45:14,100 --> 00:45:15,500 Christ. And if you have questions about 798 00:45:15,500 --> 00:45:18,300 that in just a few moments the people in this room, there's 799 00:45:18,300 --> 00:45:20,400 going to be a couple of them over there by the Baxter who 800 00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:22,900 would love a chance to talk with you about how to begin that 801 00:45:22,900 --> 00:45:25,200 intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 802 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:27,500 And the people around, you are going to stand and sing some of 803 00:45:27,500 --> 00:45:29,700 their going to come up to the steps and praying. 804 00:45:29,700 --> 00:45:31,600 And while they're doing that, I will be your cue your 805 00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:33,100 opportunity. That if you want to talk to 806 00:45:33,100 --> 00:45:36,700 somebody about how to start that relationship, you can to those 807 00:45:36,700 --> 00:45:37,800 of you who are Christians in the room. 808 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,400 I don't ever want the Gospel of Jesus Christ to get old us. 809 00:45:45,700 --> 00:45:48,600 I don't ever want us to lose sight of what he redeemed us 810 00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:52,700 from our posture. In this world, has become way 811 00:45:52,700 --> 00:45:57,500 too binoculars and not nearly enough mirrors. 812 00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:01,000 Our posture needs to be realizing what God has 813 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:04,800 constantly saved us from, and let that inform how we operate 814 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:07,700 and how we live and how we love the people around us. 815 00:46:08,500 --> 00:46:12,000 And if you're a person who's concerned about the direction, 816 00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:14,000 our country is going with the direction that our world is 817 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:15,700 going. And you're concerned about how 818 00:46:15,700 --> 00:46:17,900 people around, you are behaving and acting, and all of those 819 00:46:17,900 --> 00:46:20,100 things. What I would tell you is, I 820 00:46:20,100 --> 00:46:22,900 think probably the best posture is a posture of Prayer. 821 00:46:24,300 --> 00:46:27,300 That you would have a contrite heart before him being honest, 822 00:46:27,300 --> 00:46:29,500 about your own sin. So that way you can have 823 00:46:29,500 --> 00:46:31,100 Grace's. You deal with the shortcomings 824 00:46:31,100 --> 00:46:33,000 in the failures and the sins of others. 825 00:46:33,300 --> 00:46:36,200 Would you guys stand with me? Heavenly Father, Duo work. 826 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:39,400 That only you can do and this church right now. 827 00:46:40,500 --> 00:46:43,400 God, I'm praying that you would watch over this sermon series 828 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:47,600 that you would Start something in this church. 829 00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:51,200 A hunger for your word. A hunger to live. 830 00:46:51,300 --> 00:46:55,300 According to your ways and God that he would transform us and 831 00:46:55,300 --> 00:46:57,000 the people around us your name, I pray. 832 00:46:57,100 --> 00:46:57,500 Amen.