1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:06,600 Tonight I walk to use Ezekiel chapter 24 as a basis from which 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:12,100 to begin the sermon Ezekiel chapter 24, introduces us to the 3 00:00:12,100 --> 00:00:16,000 time when Ezekiel was a contemporary of Jeremiah and 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,900 Daniel at the time of the Babylonian exile while Jeremiah 5 00:00:19,900 --> 00:00:23,600 Was ministering in Judah and Daniel was serving in the court 6 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,100 of King Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel was preaching to the 7 00:00:27,100 --> 00:00:32,100 Jewish captives in Babylon. Sometimes when we look at the 8 00:00:32,100 --> 00:00:37,300 writers of the Bible, the prophets, the apostles, those 9 00:00:37,300 --> 00:00:42,800 individuals who become very well known to us. 10 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:49,300 Sometimes we lose sight that they were human beings also. 11 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:54,200 Yes, they were inspired by the Lord to do great things but they 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,200 also were just folks you know, they were people. 13 00:00:57,600 --> 00:00:59,800 They were people that had to get up. 14 00:01:00,100 --> 00:01:04,700 Day and dedicate themselves to the task at hand of serving the 15 00:01:04,700 --> 00:01:10,100 lord and being faithful to him. So, just like all of us gathered 16 00:01:10,100 --> 00:01:16,500 here, the prophets of old had times of sadness, times of 17 00:01:16,500 --> 00:01:18,800 Happiness. They had times when they were 18 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:24,400 tired times when they were sick times, when everything was going 19 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,200 great for them and times when they were in the depths of 20 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:31,100 Despair times, when they were doing things, Things right 21 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:34,500 times. When they made mistakes, all of 22 00:01:34,500 --> 00:01:40,100 the Old Testament, people that we're familiar with were people. 23 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:44,500 Let's remember that. Just like us the Apostle, Peter 24 00:01:44,500 --> 00:01:48,000 tells us by inspiration how these men of old were able to 25 00:01:48,008 --> 00:01:51,200 speak on God's behalf. Second, Peter 1, verse 21 says, 26 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,500 for the prophecy came not in Old Time by the will of man, but 27 00:01:53,500 --> 00:01:56,400 holy men of God, spake. As they were moved by the Holy 28 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,900 Ghost, the word moved here. I understand is a sailing terms. 29 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:05,300 And the concept there is if you raise the sail on a vessel and 30 00:02:05,300 --> 00:02:10,500 the wind is blowing that sale is going to meet the wind and the 31 00:02:10,500 --> 00:02:14,600 wind is going to move that vessel along the vessel cannot 32 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:19,000 help but be moved. Jeremiah the prophet, you know, 33 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,800 tried for a while to say I just had all this I can take he was 34 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,800 going to just not prophesy anymore and he says Thy Word was 35 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,200 like a fire shut up in my bones. I Tried to forbear, but I could 36 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:38,000 not, they just had to speak. Whenever God gave them those 37 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:45,100 messages to say. Now, it would be rather Fun by 38 00:02:45,100 --> 00:02:48,700 dare use that word to be a prophet upon occasions. 39 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,500 It would be nice to be able to stand up and deliver great 40 00:02:52,500 --> 00:02:56,000 truths, that people didn't know, or to be able to foretell 41 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,500 wonderful events. But what would it be like to to 42 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:03,100 be told by the Lord to go appear before a king? 43 00:03:03,100 --> 00:03:05,400 And to look that King in the eye and say the Lord? 44 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:07,300 God Of Heaven says, you're about to die. 45 00:03:08,700 --> 00:03:13,600 That wouldn't be too much fun. Wasn't always real Pleasant to 46 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:18,500 be a prophet, but they still had to go and they still had to say 47 00:03:18,500 --> 00:03:23,600 the things that were given to them to say the nearest. 48 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,500 I come to that, you know, these are personality facets. 49 00:03:27,500 --> 00:03:31,600 I've tried to study personality Through The Years, thinking that 50 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,500 the better, I understand me, the better. 51 00:03:34,500 --> 00:03:37,500 I'll be able to cope with things that I encounter in life. 52 00:03:37,500 --> 00:03:40,900 And so, anytime a personality test is available to me. 53 00:03:40,900 --> 00:03:43,500 I take Take that everyone I've ever taken. 54 00:03:43,500 --> 00:03:47,300 Says that I should be in a rubber room somewhere and so 55 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,400 sometimes I've had people ask me, you have trouble holding a 56 00:03:52,408 --> 00:03:54,700 job. Well no I've really not had 57 00:03:54,700 --> 00:03:58,300 trouble holding a job. Well, do you have trouble 58 00:03:58,300 --> 00:04:01,500 getting along at home? Well, you know, no more than 59 00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:05,300 usual, I wouldn't think and and you you have these problems and 60 00:04:05,300 --> 00:04:07,100 you and I finally say what are you saying? 61 00:04:07,700 --> 00:04:11,500 Well with your personality is how it starts and I And I 62 00:04:11,500 --> 00:04:14,900 usually come back. Look, if it wasn't for my 63 00:04:14,900 --> 00:04:19,500 relationship with Jesus Christ. I would be in a rubber room 64 00:04:19,500 --> 00:04:23,300 somewhere and yes, I would have trouble holding a job. 65 00:04:23,300 --> 00:04:27,100 And yes, I would not even begin to be, who I should be in my 66 00:04:27,100 --> 00:04:32,300 home and That's what I always look to. 67 00:04:33,100 --> 00:04:38,200 So, personality issues, I try to understand for me because I 68 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:43,300 really need stuff like that. And so, when somebody says, you 69 00:04:43,300 --> 00:04:46,900 know, I just felt like I had to say something to somebody. 70 00:04:47,700 --> 00:04:50,700 I understand that. That's a facet of my personality 71 00:04:51,500 --> 00:04:54,400 given something that I think needs to be fixed. 72 00:04:54,600 --> 00:05:00,000 I always think I'm the fixer. And sometimes, even among total 73 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,500 strangers, I've been known to say, excuse me, if you would 74 00:05:03,500 --> 00:05:07,200 just. And whenever I do that, my sweet 75 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:11,100 wife. Oh, she's just so embarrassed 76 00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:14,500 and humiliated and said, oh, can't you just keep your mouth 77 00:05:14,500 --> 00:05:17,900 still? And it's like no, I'm inspired. 78 00:05:18,700 --> 00:05:21,300 Well, I'm not but that's the way it feels. 79 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,600 That's the way it feels. I just have to say something so 80 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:30,700 it would appear. Well, Ezekiel was a married, 81 00:05:30,700 --> 00:05:35,000 man. And he was very happily married, 82 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,500 but let's look at what happened to him. 83 00:05:36,500 --> 00:05:41,300 Is he, he'll 24 verse 15 and this is where God uses something 84 00:05:41,300 --> 00:05:43,200 that was about to happen. Anyway. 85 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,600 For his glory. The word of the Lord came unto 86 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,000 me is he Keel, says saying, son of man, behold I take away from 87 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,100 Thee, the desires of thine eyes with a stroke yet. 88 00:05:55,100 --> 00:05:58,400 Neither shalt thou more nor weep neither shall thy tears, run 89 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:02,000 down forbear to cry. Make no mourning for the dead by 90 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,800 the tire Vine head upon the and put on my shoes upon my feet and 91 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,300 cover not by lips and he came out the bread of man. 92 00:06:10,900 --> 00:06:15,600 Another translation says, on this particular passage with one 93 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:17,300 blow. I am about to take away from 94 00:06:17,300 --> 00:06:22,300 you, the Delight of your eyes. You see Ezekiel was a married, 95 00:06:22,300 --> 00:06:25,300 man. In addition, to be a prophet of 96 00:06:25,300 --> 00:06:29,300 God, he was a married man that loved his wife very much. 97 00:06:30,500 --> 00:06:34,300 And verse 18 says, so I spoken to the people in the morning and 98 00:06:34,300 --> 00:06:38,800 at even my wife died and I did in the morning as I was 99 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:43,200 commanded. Now, how much fun is it to be a 100 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,700 prophet? Even in the midst of what was 101 00:06:47,700 --> 00:06:52,600 going to happen in life, God wanted him to give a special 102 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,000 message. Now, we are given here the 103 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:01,000 customary pattern of morning in ezekiel's day when it says, bind 104 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,900 the tire of thine head upon thee, that's referring. 105 00:07:04,700 --> 00:07:08,400 I would, I would, I would pretty much understand that. 106 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,500 It's a turban, he was normally a person that wore a type of a 107 00:07:12,508 --> 00:07:17,200 turbine and keep your shoes on. Keep your sandals on your feet, 108 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,800 don't cover the lower part of your face, so that was customary 109 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:23,600 to do when morning was to cover the law. 110 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,800 Were part of their face, even for men, and do not eat the 111 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,200 customary food of those who are morning. 112 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,500 So there were special foods that they ate during that period of 113 00:07:33,500 --> 00:07:36,400 time. And Ezekiel was told, don't you 114 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:40,400 do that? And he was also told, don't you 115 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:45,000 cry, Don't You Weep? Don't you shed any tears? 116 00:07:47,500 --> 00:07:51,900 You ever tried to not cry? When you really needed to cry. 117 00:07:54,900 --> 00:08:00,000 I am 54 years old. I still remember some of my 118 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:06,100 father's spankings of me. My daddy did not believe in 119 00:08:06,100 --> 00:08:11,900 light little spats. He really felt like I should 120 00:08:12,700 --> 00:08:15,100 understand, I was being punished. 121 00:08:16,500 --> 00:08:21,400 And so it was real and it was genuine for me to cry. 122 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:27,300 Now, some kids had Daddy's and Mama's that really didn't hurt 123 00:08:27,300 --> 00:08:31,200 them and so they would they would know how to act like they 124 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:36,200 were crying. So they'd quit mine was no act. 125 00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:43,000 I mean I was sobbing hard. Daddy would handle me doing that 126 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:44,800 for all. I don't know. 127 00:08:45,100 --> 00:08:56,600 Five seconds. and then he'd say, one word, hush Have you ever 128 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,100 been there? Oh, that's the most awful 129 00:08:59,100 --> 00:09:02,800 feeling. I remember that. 130 00:09:03,900 --> 00:09:08,900 From well over 40 years ago. I remember how that felt. 131 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:18,100 Ezekiel was told yes she's the Delight of your eyes, don't you 132 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:26,800 even cry? When is our faith? 133 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:33,000 Really faith. You know, when everything's 134 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:39,600 great in life. We rock along and it's just it's 135 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:46,200 just fun to serve the Lord. But you let adversity strike. 136 00:09:47,300 --> 00:09:51,300 when things happen in our lives that we don't begin to 137 00:09:51,300 --> 00:09:58,600 understand, that is when Faith really is what we're basing our 138 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,900 life on That's what Ezekiel was doing. 139 00:10:03,300 --> 00:10:06,200 He wanted to cry, he wanted to mourn. 140 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,100 He wanted to do all of those customary things that anyone 141 00:10:10,100 --> 00:10:14,400 would want to do. But look at his faith, that was 142 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,700 obedient. I spake unto the people in the 143 00:10:17,700 --> 00:10:20,700 morning. I did just what I normally did 144 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:27,000 and then in that evening, my wife died and I did as I was 145 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,900 commanded. What an amazing man. 146 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,400 Ezekiel Wallace. Here's what happened. 147 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:36,500 God's people were just evil, their lives were not pure 148 00:10:36,900 --> 00:10:41,100 another passage in Ezekiel verses 13 and 14 of chapter 24. 149 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,000 They're the Bible says, and I filthiness is lewdness because 150 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,900 I've purged the year I've tried to cleanse, you, you were not 151 00:10:46,900 --> 00:10:48,500 purged. Thou shalt not be purged from by 152 00:10:48,500 --> 00:10:51,100 filthiness any mortal. I've caused my Fury to rest upon 153 00:10:51,100 --> 00:10:53,500 the I, the Lord have spoken it. It shall come to pass. 154 00:10:53,500 --> 00:10:54,900 I will do it. I will not go back. 155 00:10:54,900 --> 00:10:56,500 Neither will I spare neither. I Repent. 156 00:10:56,500 --> 00:10:59,000 According to thy ways and according to thy doing shall 157 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:00,900 they judge thee, saith the Lord. God. 158 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:08,300 You see because their lives were increasingly evil God decided to 159 00:11:08,300 --> 00:11:14,400 strike them in the area where they were the most delighted. 160 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:19,800 That which they had the greatest Delight in was in the temple in 161 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,700 Jerusalem. That was the Delight of their 162 00:11:22,700 --> 00:11:27,700 eyes and verse 21 of Ezekiel 24. So speaking of a house of 163 00:11:27,700 --> 00:11:31,100 Israel, thus saith the Lord God behold, I will profane My 164 00:11:31,100 --> 00:11:34,300 Sanctuary the Excellency of your strength of Desire, the Delight 165 00:11:34,300 --> 00:11:37,600 of your eyes and that which your soul pitieth or the object of 166 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:39,800 your affection, and your sons and your daughters. 167 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:42,500 Whom you've left shall fall by the sword. 168 00:11:43,100 --> 00:11:45,900 You see the people held Jerusalem and in In particular 169 00:11:45,900 --> 00:11:49,400 the temple in high regard, but their individual lives were not 170 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:52,600 in keeping with God's rules. Here's what God Said, to 171 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,800 Jeremiah in, Jeremiah chapter 7, beginning with verse 8 behold, 172 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:58,400 you trusted lying Words that cannot profit will you steal 173 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:00,900 murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense 174 00:12:00,900 --> 00:12:03,800 unto Baal and walk after other gods who, you know, now Tim come 175 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:06,100 and stand with their be in this house, which is called, by my 176 00:12:06,100 --> 00:12:08,800 name and say we are delivered to do. 177 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,100 All these Abominations is this house, which is called, by my 178 00:12:12,100 --> 00:12:14,900 name become a den of robbers in your eyes behold. 179 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,500 Even I have seen it. Saith the Lord. 180 00:12:18,300 --> 00:12:22,000 That language is reminiscent of when Jesus cleansed the Temple 181 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,100 of the money changers. You know, you've made my 182 00:12:24,100 --> 00:12:29,100 father's house a den of Thieves. Well, that is reminiscent of 183 00:12:29,100 --> 00:12:34,600 what Jeremiah was saying, I have delivered you to do what to do. 184 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:37,300 All of these evil things, stealing murdering committing 185 00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:40,800 adultery and swearing falsely and burning incense unto Idols 186 00:12:41,100 --> 00:12:44,100 rocking after other gods. I've delivered you for that. 187 00:12:44,700 --> 00:12:48,800 And whenever the Bible says, behold even I have I've seen it 188 00:12:48,900 --> 00:12:55,100 that last phrase simply means I have been watching you. 189 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:01,100 Motors, always watching. We can't get away from the 190 00:13:01,100 --> 00:13:08,800 Lord's ability to see us and know us from the heart out. 191 00:13:09,500 --> 00:13:12,100 You see, Israel was pretending as long as they just appeared in 192 00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:15,900 the temple, everything would be fine, but God was only in the 193 00:13:15,900 --> 00:13:18,500 temple. It's kind of like folks thinking 194 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:21,500 God is only in the church building when we come together 195 00:13:21,500 --> 00:13:23,700 for worship. So we can go outside of the 196 00:13:23,700 --> 00:13:26,200 building and be what we want and do what we want. 197 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,500 But as long as we come in and pretend Things. 198 00:13:29,500 --> 00:13:32,500 Okay, but everything's okay. That's when God said to Israel. 199 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,800 I've been watching. I've been seeing you, you see 200 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,500 God's people were maintaining the outward symbols of religion, 201 00:13:40,500 --> 00:13:44,700 but they themselves were not in any way religious and God got 202 00:13:44,700 --> 00:13:48,600 tired of that. And he decided to make public 203 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:53,800 spectacles of them. Hence, their captivity by God, 204 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,600 taking away from them, their beloved Temple, and possession 205 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:58,800 of the city of Jerusalem. He revealed them for what they 206 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:03,000 really were, evil individuals, pretending to be religious. 207 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,300 Now, remember those things that are written aforetime were 208 00:14:07,300 --> 00:14:09,000 written for our learning and admonition? 209 00:14:10,100 --> 00:14:13,100 And so when we look back at things like this, we need to ask 210 00:14:13,100 --> 00:14:16,700 ourselves and say is it possible for us to follow in that path? 211 00:14:17,300 --> 00:14:19,900 And I'm afraid the answer is yes, it's very possible for us 212 00:14:19,900 --> 00:14:25,500 to do that and the tragedy is, it is possible for us to do any 213 00:14:25,500 --> 00:14:28,400 sin. That's in the Bible. 214 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:34,000 It is possible for us to do that and just as sure as we look at 215 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,500 Warren and say, well, I will never ever do that one. 216 00:14:36,500 --> 00:14:39,000 You know what, we've just done, we just lifted ourselves up with 217 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,300 ride and there's another one that gets us, we are capable of 218 00:14:43,300 --> 00:14:47,100 every saying and so when we look at Israel of all of them, say, 219 00:14:47,100 --> 00:14:50,000 well, we would not do that. Well, we need to be very careful 220 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,500 with that because we could be tempted in those areas as well. 221 00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:57,700 You see, I think it's possible to maintain outward symbols of 222 00:14:57,700 --> 00:15:02,000 religion, but not be religious. Yes, and the outward symbols of 223 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,300 our religion, the Bible's religion, the Lord's Church 224 00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:08,300 includes worship Plan of Salvation. 225 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:14,100 How we how we behave ourselves among others, how we appear, and 226 00:15:14,100 --> 00:15:18,600 all of these things are essential and necessary outward, 227 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:21,600 observable things. You know, when we observe the 228 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,900 Lord's Supper, we are showing or proclaiming his death till he 229 00:15:24,900 --> 00:15:27,300 comes. So that is a proclamation of 230 00:15:27,300 --> 00:15:30,900 what the Bible says. And so those are things that are 231 00:15:30,900 --> 00:15:35,800 seen outwardly by all. And of course, the obedience 232 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:39,100 that someone would have to the gospel is intend to intended to 233 00:15:39,108 --> 00:15:42,500 be heard and seen. And of course the way we behave 234 00:15:42,500 --> 00:15:46,600 ourselves, as how we conduct ourselves among all people and 235 00:15:46,700 --> 00:15:50,300 our personal appearance that God also talks about all of these 236 00:15:50,300 --> 00:15:55,300 things are necessary outwardly and they are part of God's will 237 00:15:55,300 --> 00:15:58,400 for us. But if these outward things are 238 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,600 not Actions of sincere and pure hearts. 239 00:16:01,900 --> 00:16:06,200 Then we are like Israel of old. That God was addressing through 240 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,800 Ezekiel. You see, there's more to serving 241 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:14,100 God than just those public functions that are observable by 242 00:16:14,100 --> 00:16:18,500 others. It is also intended that we are 243 00:16:18,500 --> 00:16:24,800 privately religious as well as publicly religious that we are 244 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:31,800 as spiritual privately as we are publicly Job chapter 27, Verses 245 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,000 4 & 6, my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter 246 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,400 deceit, my righteousness. I hold fast and will not let it 247 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:40,500 go. My heart shall not reproach me. 248 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:47,600 So long as I live job was a man that was determined to do what 249 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,900 was right. Proverbs 12 verse 22, lying lips 250 00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:55,800 are an Abomination to the Lord but they that deals truly are 251 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:59,700 his Delight, proverbs 10 and 9. He that walketh uprightly. 252 00:16:59,900 --> 00:17:02,300 He walketh surely. But he that perverted his ways 253 00:17:02,500 --> 00:17:06,400 shall be known. David said, in Psalm 17 verse 3, 254 00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:09,300 God has proved Mine Heart that has visited me in the night. 255 00:17:09,300 --> 00:17:11,700 Thou Hast tried be and Shout, find nothing. 256 00:17:11,700 --> 00:17:15,599 I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. 257 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:22,000 Now, you know, in normal olden, times most Mischief, it would 258 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,700 appear was done at night and so what David is saying to the Lord 259 00:17:26,700 --> 00:17:31,200 is even if you watch me at night, You'll not find anything 260 00:17:31,500 --> 00:17:35,200 with which to charge me of doing that, which is wrong. 261 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:39,200 That was David's desire. Now we know he struggled with 262 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,600 that. There are believe his desire is 263 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,000 an appropriate desire for all of us and then he said, I have 264 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,100 resolved that my mouth will not send, and that's a bold 265 00:17:50,100 --> 00:17:53,300 statement, isn't it? He didn't want to sin and what 266 00:17:53,300 --> 00:17:56,800 he said ever, I think that's something that we should do as 267 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,500 well. Second Corinthians 7 verse 1. 268 00:18:00,100 --> 00:18:03,200 Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse 269 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,200 ourselves from all filthiness of the Flesh and spirit perfecting 270 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:10,400 Holiness in the fear of God. Second Corinthians 7 verse 2. 271 00:18:10,500 --> 00:18:11,800 Receive us. We've wronged no man. 272 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,400 We corrupted no man. We've defaulted no man. 273 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,600 Patterns of Holiness, Hebrews 13, Verse 18. 274 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,500 Pray for us for We Trust, we have a good conscience at all. 275 00:18:20,500 --> 00:18:25,000 Things willing to live. Honestly 1st Thessalonians, 4, 276 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,800 11, and 12, and that you study to be quiet or to lead a quiet 277 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,500 life and to do your own business and to work with your own hands. 278 00:18:30,500 --> 00:18:34,300 As we commanded you that you may walk honestly toward them that 279 00:18:34,300 --> 00:18:37,400 are without and that you may have like of nothing. 280 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,400 You see the walk honestly towards those that are without 281 00:18:40,500 --> 00:18:45,800 doubt means that our daily life might win, the respect of those 282 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:50,800 who are strangers to the Lord's Church, our lives would be such 283 00:18:51,100 --> 00:18:55,400 that people would respect the Lord through how we live 284 00:18:56,300 --> 00:18:57,800 remember. Second Corinthians 7. 285 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:02,100 Verse 1 says that we are to perfect Holiness in the fear of 286 00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:05,000 God. And if our goal is to perfect 287 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,800 Holiness in the fear of God, Then that needs to translate 288 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:16,100 into some everyday behaviors. That should be part of our 289 00:19:16,100 --> 00:19:19,500 lives. Now. 290 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,700 In the day job that I have one of the areas that I supervise in 291 00:19:25,700 --> 00:19:27,700 the company as an area of safety. 292 00:19:28,500 --> 00:19:31,600 And there's a lot of vehicles delivery vehicles involved in 293 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:37,300 the company that I happen to work for and so it is company 294 00:19:37,300 --> 00:19:40,500 policy as well as law that before. 295 00:19:40,500 --> 00:19:45,600 A driver is to take one of those Vehicles out on the road. 296 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:50,400 He has to do a safety check. That's just part of his day. 297 00:19:50,500 --> 00:19:55,500 He just must do that. And the example I use with the 298 00:19:55,500 --> 00:20:00,600 drivers to talk about that when I'm doing training is an example 299 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,500 I got from Bill Ferguson some years ago, one of our preachers 300 00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:10,700 when Bill was living in the Cincinnati Ohio area and Bill 301 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:16,600 was a driver and he it was a cold morning he said oh it's 302 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,000 going to be cold on the ground this morning. 303 00:20:20,300 --> 00:20:24,800 When I'm checking out my vehicle and I baited him a little bit. 304 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,000 I said well how about just skipping it today Bill? 305 00:20:27,500 --> 00:20:29,200 No, no, no. Can't do that. 306 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:31,600 I'll come on now and I'll can't do that. 307 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,700 So the conversation kind of went and you see, Bill drives a 308 00:20:35,700 --> 00:20:40,300 school bus. Now, if you're going to put your 309 00:20:40,300 --> 00:20:45,700 kids on bills bus, do you want him to have checked out his 310 00:20:45,700 --> 00:20:48,600 vehicle? Yeah, you do. 311 00:20:49,300 --> 00:20:53,800 You really do and so I tell the drivers working for our company. 312 00:20:54,900 --> 00:20:58,000 You know, you're probably going to meet a few school buses on 313 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:02,400 the road today. And if those school bus drivers 314 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,000 did everything. They were supposed to do 315 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,900 checking their vehicles out and you haven't done what you're 316 00:21:07,900 --> 00:21:11,800 supposed to do. Then you might hurt somebody. 317 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:16,700 Somebody's little child. And are you sure you really want 318 00:21:16,700 --> 00:21:21,700 that on you? And so what I asked them to have 319 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:27,200 is the absolute habit and insistence of checking out their 320 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:32,800 vehicle every day without fail and when somebody just won't get 321 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:37,700 that habit, and one of the supervisors calls me and says, 322 00:21:37,700 --> 00:21:40,500 you know, so-and-so just won't check out his vehicle every 323 00:21:40,500 --> 00:21:42,000 morning. What should I do? 324 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,800 Or what have you tried? Well, I've done this. 325 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:46,700 I've done this. I've done this, I've done this. 326 00:21:46,700 --> 00:21:50,800 What do you suggest? I You fire him or her? 327 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:56,000 What of course fire them immediately. 328 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:57,700 Don't let them get back in the vehicle. 329 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:00,300 Well why not there the driver? No they're not. 330 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:05,500 Because they don't do the very first things that are essential 331 00:22:05,900 --> 00:22:09,800 to guarantee that they're going to go home in the same condition 332 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:11,900 in which they came to work that day. 333 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,200 When it's a school boss. With your children. 334 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:25,300 How is it bitch'll do you want that driver to be in checking 335 00:22:25,300 --> 00:22:28,200 their vehicle? You want them to be very 336 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:32,700 habitual. Don't, we perfecting Holiness in 337 00:22:32,700 --> 00:22:38,400 the fear of God means these things become habitual for us 338 00:22:39,100 --> 00:22:42,700 habitual. Bad habits. 339 00:22:42,700 --> 00:22:48,700 Take how long about second half? Good habits seem to take a 340 00:22:48,708 --> 00:22:51,900 lifetime, but that's what we need. 341 00:22:51,900 --> 00:22:56,300 We need good habits, and so perfecting Holiness in the fear 342 00:22:56,300 --> 00:23:00,100 of God needs to translate to some everyday behaviors that are 343 00:23:00,100 --> 00:23:05,200 just part of who we are. One of those, is that it means 344 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:09,900 we will pay our taxes. And yeah I'm going to metal a 345 00:23:09,900 --> 00:23:12,300 little bit here, okay? Just just tolerate me for a 346 00:23:12,308 --> 00:23:19,200 moment tax tax time is in April, you know, every year and we need 347 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,500 to do that. That's from Jesus himself render 348 00:23:23,500 --> 00:23:27,000 to God, that which is God's to Caesar that which is Caesars. 349 00:23:27,300 --> 00:23:32,100 To those rumors in the first few chapters of the book of Romans 350 00:23:32,100 --> 00:23:35,400 were told we need to pay our taxes are tribute. 351 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:40,200 Those things that are due. And the administration of the 352 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,900 Roman Empire was the most evil Empires far as I know that's 353 00:23:43,900 --> 00:23:47,100 ever existed. And yet the command to God's 354 00:23:47,100 --> 00:23:50,700 people was when you owe taxes, you pay taxes. 355 00:23:51,500 --> 00:23:57,300 Now within the tax structure of our great country, there are as 356 00:23:57,300 --> 00:24:00,900 many interpretations of those tax laws, as there are 357 00:24:00,900 --> 00:24:04,400 individuals who are hired to explain them to us. 358 00:24:05,700 --> 00:24:10,200 I do believe we are entitled as Citizens to take advantage of 359 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,000 every way we can to minimize our tax bill. 360 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,100 That's nothing more than exercising the right of a 361 00:24:15,100 --> 00:24:18,100 citizen and the Apostle Paul proved time and time again it 362 00:24:18,100 --> 00:24:21,800 was fine to exercise the rights of a citizen of a Nation. 363 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,300 However there's a difference between exercising, the rights 364 00:24:25,300 --> 00:24:29,100 to attempt to minimize a tax bill versus defrauding. 365 00:24:29,100 --> 00:24:33,200 The government of that, which is of And so when it's time to file 366 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,300 our taxes, we need to do that and we need to do so legally 367 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,400 when it's time to pay our taxes, we need to do that and we need 368 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:44,300 to maintain that to the very best of our ability. 369 00:24:45,300 --> 00:24:49,200 Perfecting Holiness in the fear of God means that we will do our 370 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,800 best to pay our bills and that we will do so on time. 371 00:24:54,900 --> 00:25:03,100 Now, the concept of having bills to pay means that we have an 372 00:25:03,100 --> 00:25:09,200 obligation to do what we have agreed to do in repaying those 373 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,500 dads. Now, let's get the exceptions 374 00:25:12,500 --> 00:25:15,900 out of the way. We can encourage debt in the 375 00:25:15,900 --> 00:25:19,500 best of good faith. And then things can happen to 376 00:25:19,500 --> 00:25:22,600 us. All of a sudden, a job that will 377 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,800 secure is gone. And all of a sudden our health 378 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:31,900 that was wonderful is ruined. Things can happen to us. 379 00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:37,400 We can have unexpected events that caused our financial world 380 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:42,900 to literally turn upside down. And there can be circumstances 381 00:25:42,900 --> 00:25:46,600 where even the most careful financial planners can find 382 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,500 themselves without the means to pay their bills. 383 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,300 Now, whenever that happens, I believe that's a totally 384 00:25:54,700 --> 00:26:00,800 Different situation from doing our best to incur debt that we 385 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:05,100 have no intention of ever repay. That's a totally different 386 00:26:05,100 --> 00:26:08,500 thing. Through the years, I've had 387 00:26:08,500 --> 00:26:12,700 individuals ask me questions about a lot of things, including 388 00:26:12,700 --> 00:26:18,800 finances and I guess one of the most difficult situations I ever 389 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,100 encountered was a family that wanted to talk to me about their 390 00:26:23,100 --> 00:26:30,000 finances and I asked about their debts and and I was told that 391 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,100 they had some credit card debt credit card. 392 00:26:33,100 --> 00:26:36,800 Debt can be very, very difficult, very difficult. 393 00:26:36,900 --> 00:26:40,600 It is possible to never pay off certain credit cards. 394 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,000 If the interest rate is high enough and the minimum payment 395 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,400 is low enough, you never you can't live long enough to get 396 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,300 those paid off. And so when the family said they 397 00:26:49,300 --> 00:26:52,100 had some credit card debt, I didn't know what to expect. 398 00:26:52,100 --> 00:26:55,200 So I just said well what kind of debt are we talking about? 399 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,300 Well, at that time, their credit card debt was an excess of 400 00:26:58,300 --> 00:27:03,900 100,000 dollars and it was on probably 20 or more different 401 00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:07,500 cards. And this family was on a fixed 402 00:27:07,500 --> 00:27:10,500 income. And I said, well, what, what? 403 00:27:12,500 --> 00:27:15,600 What are you doing? Well, every month we get sent 404 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:20,900 new cards. Okay, and every month we get an 405 00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:23,900 advance on a new card, to make the payments on the old cards. 406 00:27:25,100 --> 00:27:29,000 Okay, and said we're running out of new cards. 407 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:41,700 I didn't know quite what to do with that except to say, you 408 00:27:41,708 --> 00:27:44,300 have to stop. You know how are you going to 409 00:27:44,300 --> 00:27:45,900 pay this back? I don't know. 410 00:27:45,900 --> 00:27:50,700 Just declare bankruptcy I guess. And I said well you know 411 00:27:50,700 --> 00:27:53,500 bankruptcy is something that the law of the land has allow us. 412 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,600 But as far as I can understand, the obligation of a child of 413 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,300 God, declaring bankruptcy does not eliminate the obligation to 414 00:28:00,300 --> 00:28:01,200 repay. The death. 415 00:28:02,500 --> 00:28:07,400 And I said, so what that means to me is that you have a debt to 416 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:11,400 pay for the rest of your life, but this nonsense has to stop 417 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,900 and it has to stop now and you have to repent of this, and you 418 00:28:14,900 --> 00:28:17,500 have to come clean with your, with those people that are 419 00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:20,300 sending you credit cards and and not take them. 420 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,100 You can't do this. Well, we might lose our house. 421 00:28:23,100 --> 00:28:26,600 Yes, you bite. And you don't deserve a house. 422 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,100 If that's the case, where we might lose our car, sell it 423 00:28:30,100 --> 00:28:33,700 goodbye. Well, we might, I said, I really 424 00:28:33,700 --> 00:28:36,300 don't care. You asked me what to do about 425 00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:42,100 this debt, what you are doing is wrong, it is not who a child of 426 00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:46,100 God should ever be. That's perfecting Holiness in 427 00:28:46,100 --> 00:28:49,500 the fear of God in a very small town in Missouri. 428 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,400 My mama worked at a bank for many years and it was in the 429 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,200 days when the tellers also posted to the statements. 430 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:01,500 And so they got to know everybody in town and how they 431 00:29:01,500 --> 00:29:02,800 paid. Their bills. 432 00:29:03,100 --> 00:29:06,700 It was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. 433 00:29:07,100 --> 00:29:12,900 And so, mama would see somebody in town and she would say, they 434 00:29:12,900 --> 00:29:17,000 bounced checks all the time. She would say, all they look 435 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,000 like they have a lot of money, but they really don't and they 436 00:29:20,008 --> 00:29:22,800 never lost in a while. She'd see somebody that was just 437 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,900 plain nondescript and she said, you wouldn't believe how much 438 00:29:25,900 --> 00:29:29,500 money they have in the bank. You know, it just seemed like 439 00:29:29,500 --> 00:29:33,700 there were some folks that just insisted on making a show but 440 00:29:33,700 --> 00:29:38,200 they were doing so on the backs of the local business owners and 441 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,300 when individuals incurred debts that they have no intention of 442 00:29:41,300 --> 00:29:43,000 paying that's what they're doing. 443 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,300 They're saying this local business owner is going to 444 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:51,500 advance me what I need to look good, God's people really cannot 445 00:29:51,500 --> 00:29:55,900 have anything to do with that. And so we do our best to pay our 446 00:29:55,900 --> 00:30:02,200 bills and we do so to pay them on time and if we cannot afford 447 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:06,900 it then we don't get it now when young people I studied with 448 00:30:06,900 --> 00:30:12,200 with, for they get married, we go through a chapter on finances 449 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,500 and the workbook that I use and one of the concepts is, well, 450 00:30:15,500 --> 00:30:18,400 I'm we're getting ready to buy such and such and we're going to 451 00:30:18,408 --> 00:30:20,700 get a loan for great. How much is it going to cost you 452 00:30:20,700 --> 00:30:23,300 every month so much money? Wonderful. 453 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,900 Why don't you put that off for a few months and start saving that 454 00:30:26,900 --> 00:30:28,700 exact amount of money every month? 455 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:33,700 And here's the test, if you can save that amount of money, every 456 00:30:33,700 --> 00:30:38,100 month, probably, you can afford the payment, but if you can't 457 00:30:38,100 --> 00:30:42,600 find it in your, in your means to save that amount of money 458 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,700 every month, then, why would you want the debt? 459 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:49,300 It just means you can't afford it at all, and so you shouldn't 460 00:30:49,300 --> 00:30:55,300 get whatever it is, but it's a birthday, but it's this boat, 461 00:30:55,300 --> 00:31:02,500 it's that. Yeah, make do Make do you know 462 00:31:02,500 --> 00:31:05,800 what I've seen through the years of buying an awful lot of 463 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,000 presents for awful. Lot of people, I'll just use my 464 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,700 grandkids. As an example, we will buy for 465 00:31:12,700 --> 00:31:19,300 them some enormously wonderful toy and the afternoon is spent 466 00:31:19,300 --> 00:31:22,300 playing with the box that it came in. 467 00:31:25,700 --> 00:31:31,300 Guess what the box cost. It cost nothing but that two or 468 00:31:31,300 --> 00:31:35,300 three hundred dollar toys sets over there on used and is gone 469 00:31:35,300 --> 00:31:38,100 at the first garage sale because they never played with it. 470 00:31:38,900 --> 00:31:43,100 It's real easy to get so caught up in buying things that we 471 00:31:43,100 --> 00:31:50,800 cannot afford that we end up robbing who now, when we get 472 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:57,000 into Financial Straits, And we have all these debts to pay. 473 00:31:57,300 --> 00:32:00,800 Do we stop eating? No, we don't do that. 474 00:32:01,300 --> 00:32:06,800 That's have a place to live. Have to have a car to drive have 475 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,100 to pay those credit card payments. 476 00:32:10,300 --> 00:32:14,100 Where do we cut? We cut the Lord's Church. 477 00:32:15,700 --> 00:32:21,200 We cut, we cut our ability to raise our contributions by the 478 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,100 debt that we incur in increasing values. 479 00:32:24,100 --> 00:32:28,800 And so, in a lot of places are contributions have become 480 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:33,400 stagnant as Brethren have filled their lives with credit card 481 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,000 debt. That may easily take 20 to 50 482 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,500 years to pay off. We need to pay our bills. 483 00:32:39,500 --> 00:32:46,100 We need to pay them on time and we need to not Rob God in We do 484 00:32:46,100 --> 00:32:49,400 that perfecting Holiness in the fear of God means, we will not 485 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:53,300 steal from our employer from our neighbor, or from any business. 486 00:32:54,300 --> 00:32:56,300 Growing up on the farm. Our nearest neighbor was a 487 00:32:56,308 --> 00:32:59,900 quarter mile away. We came up, missing a Post Mall 488 00:32:59,900 --> 00:33:03,100 one time that he went to town to Second Street. 489 00:33:03,100 --> 00:33:05,500 To the second hand stores on Second Street, and started 490 00:33:05,500 --> 00:33:07,500 looking for and found his Post Mall. 491 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:13,400 Our nearest neighbor quarter mile away was a wino and so he 492 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,900 would steal anything from anybody when he needed to drink 493 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,500 and so Daddy, got that 16 pound, pull small and he carried it up 494 00:33:21,500 --> 00:33:24,700 to the counter with one hand and he said to the fellow wagging it 495 00:33:24,700 --> 00:33:27,800 slightly, you should not have bought this from the fellow that 496 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,600 you paid for it. I'm taking it home, it's mine. 497 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,000 The fellow started to say that he said it is mine. 498 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:41,700 And we walked out. That was interesting. 499 00:33:43,900 --> 00:33:46,500 Stealing from your neighbor, it's amazing. 500 00:33:46,500 --> 00:33:49,200 Some of you have just had some thievery going on in your 501 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:53,200 neighborhoods, what a vile person would steal from his 502 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,800 neighbor, a post mall or whatever. 503 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,200 But you know, if we're not careful, we can steal from the 504 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,700 people we work for and not even meaning to do it. 505 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:04,400 Here's kind of the way that works. 506 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:08,600 You know, if you're in a job where you are salaried, where 507 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,699 you get your pay and you got jobs to do and however much 508 00:34:11,699 --> 00:34:13,199 time. It takes you to do those jobs, 509 00:34:13,199 --> 00:34:15,800 they're yours. To do so, you may work 80 hours 510 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,500 in a week, you may work 30 hours in a week, but you've got those 511 00:34:18,500 --> 00:34:22,000 jobs to do and you get paid the same amount if you stop and 512 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,100 visit for a little while, and you're paid like that, nobody 513 00:34:25,100 --> 00:34:26,699 cares. Because you're going to work, 514 00:34:26,699 --> 00:34:28,900 however, many hours are necessary to get the job done. 515 00:34:29,500 --> 00:34:34,300 But if you're working by the hour, That means somebody's 516 00:34:34,300 --> 00:34:40,400 paying you for your time to be productive for them. 517 00:34:41,699 --> 00:34:46,600 They're literally paying you to apply your energy to their work. 518 00:34:47,699 --> 00:34:54,800 And if we as God's people waste our time and don't apply our 519 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,100 energy to their work. Then in essence, we're asking 520 00:34:58,100 --> 00:35:02,200 them to pay us when we haven't done anything in return. 521 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:07,400 And I think that's a form of being dishonest, and I don't 522 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,200 think that should be who we are now. 523 00:35:10,500 --> 00:35:13,300 Do our bosses want us to take breaks from our labors, of 524 00:35:13,300 --> 00:35:15,200 course, besides that, it's state law. 525 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:18,800 But do they want us to waste hours upon end? 526 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,900 Doing various things and they continue to pay us as though we 527 00:35:21,900 --> 00:35:23,900 had worked. No, they don't. 528 00:35:24,300 --> 00:35:27,000 And when it comes to being a good example, you know, who 529 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,800 should be at the head of the pack God's people. 530 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:34,600 We should always set a good example, for being willing to 531 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:39,500 work, hard and work, consistently for the people who 532 00:35:39,500 --> 00:35:44,600 are blessing us by employing us and paying us perfecting 533 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,100 holiness. In the fear of God means, we 534 00:35:48,100 --> 00:35:52,300 even watch those things many, many years ago, I was talking to 535 00:35:52,500 --> 00:35:56,500 the president of the company and I was just a teenager and he 536 00:35:56,500 --> 00:35:59,500 come out to the computer area where I was working and he said 537 00:35:59,900 --> 00:36:02,300 he wanted to visit for a while and so we did that. 538 00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:05,100 And finally I said, I better get back to work. 539 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:08,300 And he looked at me and said, when you're talking to me, you 540 00:36:08,300 --> 00:36:11,800 are working like, oh, okay, I knew that was okay. 541 00:36:12,300 --> 00:36:14,800 Now, if your boss is going to come out and talk to you, it's 542 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:16,800 all right. Have you talked to him? 543 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,500 That's what they want. But we need to be very careful 544 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:26,800 to be known as people who are honest as people who work hard 545 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:30,900 and as people who keep their word, I get calls from 546 00:36:30,900 --> 00:36:33,600 supervisors about various employee situations. 547 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,100 And they say, what are we going to do? 548 00:36:35,100 --> 00:36:37,300 If they complain to this or that agency? 549 00:36:37,300 --> 00:36:39,700 What are we going to do? And I always say, well, let's 550 00:36:39,700 --> 00:36:41,400 start with this, we're going to tell the truth. 551 00:36:42,100 --> 00:36:45,700 We are. Yeah, we are. 552 00:36:45,700 --> 00:36:49,700 We're gonna tell the truth but we did something wrong, okay? 553 00:36:49,900 --> 00:36:52,000 Then we'll say we did something wrong. 554 00:36:53,100 --> 00:36:56,900 Now, can we learn from this and never do it again? 555 00:36:58,100 --> 00:37:02,300 And the supervisors always say yeah we can okay then let's tell 556 00:37:02,300 --> 00:37:05,100 the truth. What's the cost of your honesty? 557 00:37:05,300 --> 00:37:07,900 I wants uncovered about a two hundred thousand dollar mistake 558 00:37:07,900 --> 00:37:11,200 in an insurance billing that would have given my company, an 559 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:12,700 extra two hundred thousand dollars. 560 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:17,400 So I call the insurance agent first and I said hey I owe you 561 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,700 200 thousand dollars, you didn't bill me for thank you very much 562 00:37:20,700 --> 00:37:22,500 for the call. I'll correct that bill and it'll 563 00:37:22,500 --> 00:37:25,500 be right out. Then I went in to my boss and 564 00:37:25,500 --> 00:37:27,500 said, the insurance company made a two hundred thousand dollar 565 00:37:27,500 --> 00:37:32,200 burst Take, who good? And then I just went ahead and 566 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:37,900 said I already called them. Oh, oh two hundred thousand 567 00:37:37,900 --> 00:37:42,400 dollars, two dollars. Two sense. 568 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:47,300 The amount should not make a difference. 569 00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:53,400 We want to tell the truth, even when the truth hurts examine 570 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:55,100 yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. 571 00:37:55,100 --> 00:37:59,200 Second Corinthians 13, verse 5. What is it? 572 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:05,700 That Delights, our eyes. My grandkids. 573 00:38:05,700 --> 00:38:09,700 Love the ice cream, man. When that music starts. 574 00:38:10,300 --> 00:38:13,500 Oh they get excited. Their little eyes. 575 00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:17,900 Just light up ice cream man. Ice cream man, which means money 576 00:38:17,900 --> 00:38:21,200 now. Now, that's excitement. 577 00:38:21,300 --> 00:38:25,700 That's delight. And we understand that like 578 00:38:25,700 --> 00:38:29,100 Ezekiel, our spouse should Delight. 579 00:38:29,100 --> 00:38:33,800 Our eyes. I heard Benny tell this about 580 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:38,500 his Edna's mother. She'd been ill for some time and 581 00:38:38,500 --> 00:38:40,300 didn't know any of the family anymore. 582 00:38:41,300 --> 00:38:43,400 One day, they showed her a picture of her husband, who'd 583 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:47,200 been dead for years, she looked at that picture for a while. 584 00:38:47,300 --> 00:38:53,600 Then she said, my what a handsome man, Does your spouse 585 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:57,200 Delights your eyes? Oh, I hope so. 586 00:38:58,500 --> 00:39:02,500 I hope your spouse Delights your eyes every day. 587 00:39:02,500 --> 00:39:07,600 You're blessed to be with them that you just can't wait to see 588 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:09,700 them. And to be with them. 589 00:39:10,700 --> 00:39:14,400 That's the kind of relationship. Ezekiel had our children, should 590 00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:18,300 Delight our eyes. It's great to have kids. 591 00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:22,600 In fact, Psalms 127 verse 3 says, low children aren't 592 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:25,200 Heritage of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is his 593 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:29,400 reward. It's great to have kids most of 594 00:39:29,408 --> 00:39:32,200 the time. It's wonderful to have 595 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:34,900 grandkids. We should have those first, you 596 00:39:34,908 --> 00:39:38,500 know. Children should Delight our 597 00:39:38,500 --> 00:39:42,000 eyes. And we should walk them to 598 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:43,400 Delight. God's eyes. 599 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,100 I brothers and sisters had Christ. 600 00:39:46,100 --> 00:39:51,100 Should Delight our eyes after all first Peter 217 says love 601 00:39:51,100 --> 00:39:54,700 the Brotherhood you know you can just see that in a gospel 602 00:39:54,700 --> 00:39:58,000 meeting when Brethren come from other congregations. 603 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,900 There's a lot of love in the Lord's church when we get to see 604 00:40:01,900 --> 00:40:06,300 one another, oh, what a wonderful thing it is to be able 605 00:40:06,300 --> 00:40:10,100 to see one another at times like this when we gather together. 606 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:12,700 Either in our worship is correct, according to God's 607 00:40:12,700 --> 00:40:16,300 truths, that should Delight our eyes. 608 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:21,300 And of course, when someone obeys the gospel, that should 609 00:40:21,300 --> 00:40:25,200 Delight our eyes. There are few things more fun 610 00:40:25,900 --> 00:40:29,700 than to baptize someone into Christ at all. 611 00:40:29,700 --> 00:40:34,700 What a great Delight that is all of these things and I'm sure 612 00:40:34,700 --> 00:40:38,400 there are so many more should Delight our eyes. 613 00:40:39,500 --> 00:40:41,800 What is it? That Delights, our eyes today. 614 00:40:42,300 --> 00:40:45,300 Have we been turning our eyes in the wrong direction. 615 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:50,100 Then we need to look to those things that God can always 616 00:40:50,100 --> 00:40:52,800 bless. And let's use Ezekiel as an 617 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:58,100 example, because he was not condemned for what delighted his 618 00:40:58,100 --> 00:41:02,200 eyes and that should be who we want to be. 619 00:41:02,700 --> 00:41:07,800 Well, that'd be hard for us. Yeah, it will be hard really 620 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:15,500 hard for us at times for us to do what we should do job didn't 621 00:41:15,500 --> 00:41:18,500 have the best of relationships with his wife. 622 00:41:21,300 --> 00:41:24,400 Now, I'm concluding that buy some inferences that are in the 623 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,300 Bible when he first went through his trials. 624 00:41:28,500 --> 00:41:32,000 She came out. And said, why don't you just 625 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,400 Curse God and die. Now there's an encourager for 626 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,400 you. There's a verse later on in the 627 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:43,100 book where she came out and made some remark about his breath 628 00:41:43,100 --> 00:41:46,700 being foul. What a helper. 629 00:41:47,900 --> 00:41:52,900 What a helper. You know what job said, he said, 630 00:41:52,900 --> 00:41:54,700 I've made a covenant with my eyes. 631 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:58,000 That I will not look lustfully on a maid. 632 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,200 He said, I am committed to my spouse. 633 00:42:03,700 --> 00:42:06,900 And I'm not going to look places where I shouldn't look. 634 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:15,700 Ezekiel was delighted with his wife and the Lord blessed him. 635 00:42:16,500 --> 00:42:19,200 Let's make sure at home and everywhere. 636 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:23,800 The Lord can be delighted with those things that we occupy our 637 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:28,600 attention with We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on 638 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:32,200 by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. 639 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:35,700 Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional 640 00:42:35,700 --> 00:42:39,000 information, or you would like to receive a free Bible 641 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:44,500 correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at her 642 00:42:44,500 --> 00:42:46,900 Church of Christ Bakersfield.com. 643 00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:52,800 Our service times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and 644 00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:57,200 Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us. 645 00:42:57,700 --> 00:43:00,000 We would love for you to be our honored guest.